The McGill Tribune Vol. 31 Issue 7

Tribune The McGill

Published by the Tribune Publication Society Volume No. 31 Issue No. 7

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Massey lecture Occupy op-ed Keystone XL Chai tea CKUT festival Albertine Redmen hockey

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SONNY WOLFE, page 20

Occupy Montreal takes over Square Victoria Movement against financial excess sets up tents in Montreal, sweeps through cities worldwide

By Holly Stewart Managing Editor

Protestors at Montreal’s installment of Occupy Wall Street. (Sam Reynolds / McGill Tribune)

What started as a small protest in Vancouver and gained momentum on Wall Street became a global force on Saturday, Oct. 15, with occupations taking place in hundreds of cities globally. Montreal’s Square Victoria, in the downtown financial district, became the meeting point for almost a thousand ralliers and 30 to 40 tents over the weekend.

While the spirit of the movement was there, the message was less clear than that expressed on Wall Street. Most signs and supporters expressed dissatisfaction with the financial system and the lack of regulations which led to the financial meltdown in 2009. A few members of MUNACA were in attendance carrying banners, while others were waving Syrian flags.

Others raised the issues of higher welfare for unemployed youth, native land claims, and environmental activism.

Angelo Cinquino, a participant who carried a sign saying “Debt is the root of all evil,” acknowledged all the mixed messages of the occupation. “Everyone’s got their own —I’m not going to say agenda—but their own reason for being here, which is [what] I think they intended it to be, but I don’t think the people are getting to the root of the problem, which I was hoping they

would,” Cinquino said.

The root of the problem and his reason for attending the protest is Canadian debt, which he believes could be eradicated through a better financial system.

Others at the rally were not concerned by media reports of a the lack of a coherent, unified message.

“It’s always great to see people doing something about things that make them angry. The critique of this movement … is that there’s no clear project, and I guess I understand that critique, [but] first you have to get together and figure out what you want to do,” Bob White, a professor of anthropology at the University of Montreal, who carried his young daughter on his shoulders, said.

“But it’s hard, one of the problems in the movement is there’s an ethic of consensus, and there’s an ethic of egalitarianism and those things are great. But sometimes they limit the movement,” he added.

Underneath tarps that kept the rain off, free food was handed out by several kitchen collectives, all of whom intended to return with more food for the duration of the occupation. At times, the rally seemed as much like a festival as a political movement, with music blaring and spontaneous bouts of drumming. A medical table was set up mid-afternoon.

See “OCCUPY” on page 2

SUS motion budgets up to $4,000 for executive iPhones General Council votes 14 to 9 in favour of outfitting executives with society-paid iPhones and plans

By Anand Bery News Editor On Oct. 6, the Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) General Council passed a controversial motion which allocates up to $4,000 of the society’s budget to provide SUS executives with iPhone 4 devices

and paid data plans.

The motion, which passed with a vote of 14-9, had the support of all six voting members of the SUS executive and eight other representatives to the council. In addition to the executive, SUS General Council (GC) is comprised of two science student senators, three representatives from

SSMU, and 19 representatives from departmental organizations.

The issue of the paid mobile plans first came up during a reading of the budget in late September, when a council member noticed the amount as a line item, a single expense listed simply as “phone plans.” Prior to the reading, no men-

tion had been made of the executive’s intention to use society funds for this purpose. According to other representatives, the iPhones had already been purchased with signed contracts.

“They bought the [phone] plans [first], and then it was brought to council after that point,” Max Luke,

one of two science senators who sit on GC, said. “The budget was up for approval at this meeting, [and] someone asked about the phone plan on the budget. That was really the first time we heard about it.”

Luke suggested that if no one had noticed the line item, it would See “SOCIETY” on page 3

News Campus

Academic Amnesty proposed SSMU motion would allow students to not cross picket line

By Bianca Van Bavel Contributor Until now, students who wanted to avoid crossing the picket line in solidarity with MUNACA could not do so because of their required presence on campus. Fortunately for these students, SSMU proposed an “academic amnesty” measure to McGill’s Senate that could offer them some protection from any penalties they might otherwise incur.

“Students can suffer academically in an environment when they don’t feel like they have the support that they need,” Emily Yee Clare, SSMU VP of University Affairs, explained.

This prompted the SSMU caucus in McGill’s Senate to put forth the proposed motion.

SSMU VP Clare believes that students suffer not only from a lack of support because of the MUNACA strike, but also suffer a moral quandry between doing what they believe is right, and attending class.

The motion attempts to address key areas of concern regarding university policy and academic

conduct by providing students with the protection and support to express individual perspectives surrounding the strike, at any level of moral and/ or ethical conflict. In such cases, an Academic Amnesty would provide students with the choice to abstain from certain academic commitments without penalty.

“Even if the tendency may be for people to use [this motion] to justify more political, moral and ethical reasoning, we really just want the motion to stand on its own merit,” Clare said.

For some students, crossing the MUNACA picket line presents a moral dilemma.

“Whether you cross the picket line or not is a personal choice, but I think it is one that we should be allowed to make and students and professors who do so should not be punished,” Sean Phipps, a concerned U2 student, said.

“I understand the practical difficulties of this amnesty, but I still feel SSMU is right in pushing for it, even if just on the grounds of principle alone,” Phipps said.

There is some concern that the

Academic Amnesty policy could be misused. The motion attempts to address these issues with provisions that make notifications of all future absences mandatory 72 hours in advance. In addition, there have been restrictions placed on specific academic commitments from which a student can abstain. These include those that will affect the students’ final grade and opportunity of passing a course.

Despite these provisions, some still criticize the motion as being too far reaching, and even detrimental to students.

“By not crossing picket lines to attend university classes, [students] are ultimately just hurting themselves, not making a great stand for humanity,” Chelsea Gilliam, U3 Science, said.

The motion will be voted on by a secret ballot, which is done to prevent the political dilution of the motion itself and avoid any further disputes which may alter the results in any way. The vote is scheduled to occur at Senate this Wednesday Oct. 19 at 2:30 p.m.

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by Oct. 31.

News meetings Mondays at 5:30 in Shatner 110 Occupy Montreal continued from COVER “I found out on the internet that every occupy site has a medic site, and I’m a nursing student so I decided to come here. My plan is to come back, all the time I can,” a nursing student who chose to be identified only as Natalie, said.

At 3 p.m., demonstrators moved to the north side of Square Victoria for a general assembly.

Since there is no official organization, hierarchy, or leadership within the movement, decision-making was entirely consensus-based.

A few police cruisers blocked off traffic, part of the minimal police presence at the rally. Under Montreal’s bylaws Square Victoria is technically a square and not a park, but overnight camping is still illegal.

Police are observing the occupation and no arrests were made Saturday night.

Although most of the ralliers disbanded at the end of Saturday, those who remained intend to stay.

One protestor, a student at Cégep du Vieux Montreal, said he planned to stay “until I get way too cold or beaten up by the cops.”

He went on to explain his rea-

A protester at Occupy Montreal.

(Sam Reynolds / McGill Tribune) sons for occupying Square Victoria.

“Personally, I want the end of capitalism, and I want self-determination, and that’s what’s happening right now, people are gathering and making decisions by themselves. It’s anarchy in the sense that’s defined in the dictionary, not in the sense that the media uses it.”

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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

conference

McGill hosts conference on clergy sex abuse

Experts from Canada and the United States gather to discuss the crisis within the Catholic Church

By Eric Mauser News Editor To many, the clerical abuse scandal in the Catholic clergy was something that happened in 2002 when media reports were first released, and has only appeared in the public consciousness sporadically since then. This is certainly not the case within the Catholic Church.

On Oct. 14 and 15, McGill hosted “Trauma and Transformation: the Catholic Church and the Sexual Abuse Crisis,” a conference which drew together seven bishops, 50 nuns and priests, dozens of academics, and around 20 students to talk about clergy abuse, and how to resolve and prevent it.

“It is significant that this is the first time there has been a major academic conference that is at a secular university,” Dan Cere, a McGill Religious Studies professor and conference co-host, said.

“Most of the conversations that have gone to date [within the Catholic Church] have tended to focus on ... 'what are the codes, what are the protocols that we need to put in place to stop this?' They haven't really looked at what the systemic issues are.”

A study released in May 2011 by the John Jay School of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York looked at statistics of sexual abuse of minors within the Catholic Church from 1950 to 2010 in America. Principal investigator Karen Terry found that incidents of abuse had peaked in the 1970s and 1980s, implying that abuse may not, as previously thought, be endemic within the Catholic Church, but could be linked with particular phenomena of

Archbishop Anthony Mancini of Halifax (left) and Bishop Thomas Dowd (right) spoke at the conference. (Lindsay P. Cameron / McGill Tribune) that era.

“We found that the rise in abusive behavior within the Church was consistent with rises in other types of behavior in society,” Terry said.

These included rises in crime, drug usage, divorce, and premarital sex. While Terry emphasized that these behaviors did not cause abuse, the social factors that caused these behaviors to increase may also have contributed towards the increase in abuse in the Catholic Church.

“The dioceses at this point need to continue to provide safe environment programs … but they still need to be held accountable, and they need to increase their transparency in responses to abuse,” Terry said, recommending changes for the church based on the study.

Archbishop Mancini of Halifax

suggested that reforms need to be made within the church, including the church's age-old teachings on sexuality.

“The fact is that sexuality is part of the human condition, and when it is ignored, minimized, or inadequately understood, the result is devastation in people's lives.”

Instead of ignoring sexuality the way the church has in the past, Mancini urged more discussion on the subject, specifically to allow priests to understand themselves and develop.

Another conference participant, Fr. George Wilson, indicated that the Catholic Church should allow parishoners more power in matters of faith than had been previously granted.

“We should have laymen and

laywomen on the board [to ordain priests] making that decision [of who becomes a priest and who does not],” Wilson said.

McGill Student Ombudsperson Spencer Boudreau felt that the abuse that occurred within the Catholic Church could be examined as a case study for other large institutions.

“I think the conference has a message to students that it's important to speak about any kind of abuse,” Boudreau said.

“I'm in education. A big issue now for example is bullying that goes on in schools and on the Internet … that's a form of abuse that maybe all of us have to be more sensitive about … I think that we always have to be sensitive to abuse.”

Students felt that the experience was unique and contradicted

the views long thought to be true about the Catholic Church's attitudes towards sexual abuse.

“I think the image from this conference is one that sharply contrasts the one that the mass media has been portraying since this issue erupted ... that the church is complacent, that it's not interested in improvement ... but the sense that you get from a conference like this … is that they do care and that they are being proactive.... ” Julian Paparella, a U0 science student volunteering at the event, said.

“As the younger generation, we're not necessarily directly affected as individuals by this particular issue, but it's one about which we need to be knowledgable in order that in the future, we may not experience what we did in the past.”

Society’s sponsorship money put towards data plans continued from COVER likely have simply passed along with the general budget.

Following an onslaught of questions from other councillors, the issue was tabled, and the amount was temporarily removed from the budget. Representatives called for more information and a code of conduct regarding use of the phones.

Both were presented at the next meeting before the motion passed.

The updated motion states that the four executives who already owned iPhone 4s would not be eligible to have their plans paid for, leaving four plans to be covered by SUS. SUS executives have maintained that the phones will improve communication between them and

the students they represent, allowing them to communicate on SUS matters while in class. The phones, for SUS business use only, will remain the property of the society.

Akal Sethi, Executive Revenue Office of the SUS, pointed to collaboration over their last Listserv as an example of the necessity of the phones.

“In the span of three hours, we shot between 20 emails. We were all in class…[but] still in constant communication with each other.”

Elaine Xie, the VP Finance of the SUS, explained that funding for the phones comes from corporate sponsors and not student fees.

“No part of what students are giving us are going to these phones.”

Xie said. “We use [sponsorship]

money to better our ability to help the students, and we felt that getting these phones ... was a way to help the students better.”

Many representatives on the council voiced concern over the necessity of the expensive plans. Anthony Yu, Co-President of the McGill Biochemistry Undergraduate Society, voted against the measure because his organization wanted to see more concrete evidence for how the devices will benefit SUS. “BUGS thought that more preparation (facts, statistics) and more transparency (notifying everyone before actually getting [sic] the phones, even if it was inevitable) was needed in the affair,” Yu said in an email to the Tribune.

Luke echoed Yu’s concerns,

questioning the need for such expensive devices.

“The rationale was that the phones will make life more efficient ... but [other faculty associations] and [even] senators get a lot of email as well and manage,” Luke said. “[My vote against it] was really just on principle ... [that and the fact] that they slipped it into the budget ... without really consulting at all.”

While the funding did come from sponsorship, and the executive alleges that SUS events have their own funding and sponsors, that money could potentially otherwise be put towards student services and activities.

“Traditionally that [sponsorship] money has been used for expenditures which enhance SUS. In

the past it has also been used for events for students as well,” Luke said. “I guess you could say that by purchasing these phones you might be detracting from a student event, ... [but] it’s not outside the realm of normality to use it for something like phones.”

The meeting minutes of the General Council of Oct. 6, which give specifics on the motion, have yet to be released. Luke felt this may be in response to the public scrutiny the whole issue has received.

“Usually the minutes come out two or three days after GC, [and] it’s been over a week,” Luke said.

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local

Montreal native delivers 50th annual Massey lecture Gopnik discusses five windows of winter

By Elisa Muyl News Editor Each year, the CBC, in conjunction with the House of Anansi Press, and Massey College in the University of Toronto, hosts the Massey Lecture, a series of lectures given by an expert guest speaker on their original research. In honour of the 50th anniversary of the lecture, CBC invited Montreal native—and staff writer for the New Yorker— Adam Gopnik to speak on a subject that is inherently Canadian: winter.

The Montreal portion of the lecture was co-hosted by McGill and introduced by Provost Anthony Masi. He spoke of the compatibility between the series and McGill’s goals of pedagogy and community service.

“For half a century, the Massey Lectures have advanced these goals by serving as a forum to engage Candians that stimulates reflection, discussion, and debate,” Masi said.

“I would call [the series] a Canadian icon, but that might not be appropriate, since its lecturers are so often iconoclasts.”

Presented in a series of lectures that will eventually become a radio series, Gopnik’s treatise on winter is also available in book form. Winter: Five Windows on the Season offers a vista into the season’s historical and cultural relevance. As its name suggests, Gopnik has broken up the lecture and his treatise on winter into five sections, and will be traveling across Canada to deliver his discussion on each in a different city. The first section, on romantic winter, was delivered last Wednesday at the Telus theater. Romantic winter looks at the season’s transformation in European and Canadian cultural discourse.

Gopnik appreciated that the lec-

ture took place in Montreal, the city where he spent his formative years after moving from Philadelphia. It was here that he experienced his first Canadian snowstorm in 1968.

“In the course of a lifetime, we get to live in a lot of places, if we're very lucky, as I have been ... but there's only one place in life that we live that we can never get over ... and Montreal is the place that I can never get over. I walk the streets and I remember," he said. "But I remember everything, somehow, that happened: when you're small and young in a place you're remembering you; as you get older ... the you and the place mix together; and I remember even my first snowstorm as if it were yesterday, although it was in fact Nov. 12, 1968."

Gopnik’s lectured on the transformation of the conception of winter in European culture, then Canadian culture, to the modern understanding of winter that Canadians now hold. He noted that we encounter a lot of natural metaphors, and that it makes a lot of sense that winter and loss are equated. His lecture then followed the evolution of winter from something awful, bleak, and grey, to something beautiful— almost mystical—and the role that the progression of time has played in the season’s conception. The romance of winter is now possible, as it was for him the morning of the snowstorm: technology and the modern era allow us to appreciate winter from behind one of our five windows.

The lecture was well-received by the audience, and many lined up afterwards for a chance to speak with Mr. Gopnik and have him sign their copies of the book.

“He really engaged my sense of romanticism,” Genvieve Aboud, a teacher at the Champlain College

Adam Gopnik, essayist and staff writer for the New Yorker. (John Sutera / PEN American Center) Cégép in Montreal, said. “Then he countered that with the realism, with what we live every year: walking through the slush ... I think it was really neat the way he balanced the two ideas."

“I wouldn’t have immediately thought of Adam Gopnik for the 50th anniversary lecture,” Bethany Or, another teacher at the Cégép, said. “He writes for the New Yorker, and I know that he lived in Paris ...

but it was perfect and he obviously put a lot of thought into it.”

The lecture will air on CBC Radio 1 Ideas at 9 p.m. on the week of Nov. 7. Gopnik will speak next in Edmonton on Friday Oct. 21.

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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

campus

BaSIC survey gives voice to students on MUNACA strike Survey finds that students favour neutral policies towards strike

By Nathaniel Finestone Contributor On Oct. 1, the Bachelors of Arts and Science Integrative Council (BaSIC) asked its students what stance they wanted to take on the MUNACA strike.

When the results came in, the favoured response, with 44 per cent of the vote, was to maintain neutrality. Supporting the strike was selected by 37 per cent. The remainder, 19 per cent, were against the the strike.

As a result, BaSIC decided to remain neutral on the strike.

“We didn’t even discuss it in the executive. At AUS council, our VP external abstained. We would just go with whatever the surveys said," Hubie Yu, BaSIC's president, said.

In addition, the survey had an optional and anonymous comments section in which students could post their thoughts about the issue. Some questioned the validity of having a stance on this issue as a student group, while others criticized the lack of a fourth option condemn-

ing the strike. One commenter simply said they would rather see the money MUNACA might eventually get put towards more valuable uses like keeping tuition fees down.

Some students were pleased that BaSIC conducted the survey and consulted students before taking a stance.

“It’s just amazing that BaSIC, as an organisation, is willing to engage its membership and find out their views on a controversial topic such as this; it would have been unfair of them to assume their constituents are for the strike,” Brendan Stevens, a U2 political science student and member of Conservative McGill, said.

Other students wondered why more organisations did not conduct similar surveys.

“Student groups should consult their constituent members, which SSMU did at the General Assembly, but there were only 100 people out of the huge amount that represents SSMU at that and they tend to be the ones who are more politically engaged anyway and more likely

Nineteen per cent of Arts and Sciences students oppose the MUNACA strike. (Sam Reynolds / McGill Tribune) to support the strike so it really depends on the organisation,” Grace Khare, a student at McGill, said.

AUS and SUS have not taken positions on the strike due to opposition.

“We haven’t taken a position: there was a motion put forward two

councils ago saying that we take a position on the strike, which did not go through,” Jade Calver, President of the AUS, said.

SUS President Akshay Rajaram noted that while the society has not taken a stance, this is as a result of a lack of information on how the

strike affects their students.

“We discussed the issues affecting students in general council and with our dean but we haven’t formally taken a stance," he said.

"Depending on the year [at McGill], students are being affected differently in regards to the strike."

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Curiosity Delivers. www.mcgilltribune.com

campus

Life after Gaddafi roundtable discussion McGill professsors, other experts, explore challenges of a post-Gaddafi Libya

By Hannah George Contributor Montreal may seem worlds away from Libya and Muamar Gaddafi, but McGill professor Rex Brynen would argue otherwise.

Having spent the summer in Benghazi as a consultant to the rebel leadership, Brynen is all too connected to the Libyan situation.

Brynen took part in a roundtable presented by the Atlantic Council of Canada on ‘Life After Gaddafi: Prospects for Post-War Libya’ on Oct. 13 at McGill. The roundtable consisted of five guest speakers debating issues pertaining to the future of Libya.

“The real challenge in constructing and rebuilding Libya will not be physical reconstruction, but institutional,” Brynen said. He explained the need for widespread, functional changes in response to factionalism and cronyism currently present in the Libyan system of government.

“I’m absolutely gobsmacked by how many people have turned up for the event,” Dr. Bernd Goetze, one of the event hosts and director of the Atlantic Council's Quebec division, said.

The Atlantic Council works to build public knowledge of international peace, security, and NATO through the publication of articles, roundtable and youth events, and competitions.

At this particular event, speakers discussed a range of issues, from personal accounts of Libya’s history under Gaddafi to the much more optimistic current situation from Salhin Gheriani, who concluded that “Libya is full of activity, and you have to prepare to be amazed.”

Dr. Miloud Chennoufi of the

Professors Imad Mansour (left) and Rex Brynen (right) speak on Libya. (Sam Reynolds / McGill Tribune) Canadian Forces College explained the role of the rebel leadership in the National Transitional Council, cautioning against too much optimism for the country's future.

“The West is not interested in democracy in the Arab world. It has never been interested in democracy in the Arab world,” he said.

Dr. Imad Mansour, a faculty lecturer at McGill, took a more removed view in questioning Libya's prospects for peace or violence.

“We are seeing more continuities than ruptures, but the problems will continue,” he concluded.

The final panelist was former diplomat Mr. Paul Chapin. He took a positive stance, asserting that the revolution will provide peace and prosperity for the Libyans, but emphasized the importance of nuanced foreign involvement.

“We’re not going to make the mistake of coming in and telling them how to run their country,” he said.

After the presentations, the speakers discussed the results of the roundtable.

“I thought it was an excellent discussion,” Brynen said. “There

were a broad range of perspectives offered by the panellists, and the large student audience seemed informed and engaged.”

Tom Aagaard, a research analyst from the Atlantic Council, agreed.

“There’s so much momentum behind this issue,” Aagaard said. It was surprisingly easy to get people involved because it’s such a hot topic right now. Although the tone was a little cynical tonight, the council does go for honest and critical discussion with a variety of perspectives.”

Michal Khan, U3 Middle East studies and political science, found the talk especially relevant in its discussion of the impact of policy on the Libyan community.

“Often in university events on politics like these, academics like professors are the only ones involved. So we get the analytic academic side of the story. The strength of the panel in my opinion is that we not only got different academic perspectives but also how the events in Libya impact governments and their officials and the Libyan community,” Khan said.

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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

campus

Homecoming weekend draws parents, alumni to campus Students and visitors take advantage of weekend to explore McGill and Montreal

By Eric Mauser News Editor This past windy, rainy, weekend, students had a glimmer of hope: their parents came up to visit, and alumni from past years met current students at homecoming.

“Every year McGill welcomes back thousands of graduates for homecoming. Alumni not only get the chance to reconnect with the university and each other; they also have the opportunity to attend dozens of entertaining and educational events,” read a statement on the Alumni Association website.

Many parents and students took advantage of the weekend as a way to reunite after weeks apart.

“We came to see our daughter here at McGill,” Brad Klassen, one parent who came to McGill over the weekend, said.

“We just wanted to engage into her life, and so when she's telling stories, we know [what] she's talking about,” Angela Klassen, his wife, added.

The Klassens, who visited McGill from British Columbia, had not seen their daughter, Christina Klassen, U0, since she began the year at McGill in late August.

Christina Klassen added that she had several friends who were also excited to have their parents come up and visit them.

Another set of parents, the Mendelsons, said that they also enjoyed coming up and seeing how their U0 son has been doing at McGill.

“We went out on a pub crawl with our son last night, and today we went down to the Old Port,” Houston Mendelson said.

“He also introduced us to poutine,” Maggie Mendelson, his wife, added.

Even students who did not have parents coming to visit them seemed enthusiastic about the weekend.

“For students to have their parents here is a good support system,” Obed Cundangin, U0 arts student and New Rez President, said.

“All these first-years are kind

of lost, and to have their parents here stabilizes them and helps them put their feet back on the ground.”

Cundangin also encouraged his fellow New Rez students to go to homecoming last weekend.

“We're trying to get people out, show some spirit,” he said. “It's a precedent for the rest of the school year. If we can get people spirited now, then we can get people spirited the entire way through [the school year].”

While new students prepared for their first homecoming, many former students came back to McGill to enjoy the day as well.

“I really missed Montreal and I wanted to see some of my friends so I came [to homecoming],” Damian Burd, who graduated with an MBA with the class of 2001, said.

Burd encouraged all alumni to return to their alma mater.

“If I could,” Burd said, “I would come back every two or three years.”

Campus banner advertising Homecoming. (Anna Katycheva /McGill Tribune)

Opinion Piñata Diplomacy Ricky Kreitner rkreitner@mcgilltribune.com

The filling of a bucket Despite the obligatory pledges to myself that precede every semester, promising that this time will be different, I always end up choosing one or two classes to prioritize over the others. I track down interesting texts mentioned off-handedly by the professor. I start researching the day an assignment is announced. I brainstorm term paper topics in the margins of my notebook on the first day of class, already distracted. My other courses necessarily suffer.

It was for the sake of an upcoming exam in one of these latter courses—on moral philosophy— that I recently found myself speedreading through the used textbook I’d only just bought on Amazon, trying to cram at least some of its contents into my sleep-deprived, coffee-inflated brain as efficiently as possible. While skimming the readings for what I could only guess the professor might want me to be skimming for, I happened to stumble upon to the following passage

by John Stuart Mill: “Capacity for the nobler feelings is in most natures a very tender plant, easily killed, not only by hostile influences, but by mere want of sustenance ... Men lose their high aspirations as they lose their intellectual tastes ... and they addict themselves to inferior pleasures, not because they deliberately prefer them, but because they are either the only ones to which they have access, or the only ones which they are any longer capable of enjoying.”

Of course, this had nothing to do with the exam. If I were a bet-

Abraham Massouko

amassouko@mcgilltribune.com

Caring for Obamacare The Supreme Court may rule that the government can make its citizens buy health insurance later on in its term when it rules on the healthcare bill.

The recent bill, the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” has stirred up a tempest of controversy. While there are portions of the bill that are up for legitimate complaint, such as its continued reliance on the employer provided insurance model, the “individual mandate” is not one of them. This mandate requires each resident of

ter student, I would have used my time wisely and just kept skimming.

But I found myself drawn into the passage and had to lift my eyes from the textbook for a few seconds to let it sink in.

I realized that McGill is precisely one of these hostile environments, the life of the student today is precisely one of these positions in life mentioned by Mill. Instead of reading his essay for such thoughtprovoking, timeless truths as the one above, I had only been looking for little nuggets of information that would help me place Mill correctly in whatever theoretical schema the prof had devised for himself and for us, and thus hopefully to do well on the exam.

But good grades are just an updated version of the gold stickers we accumulated in elementary school as a physical embodiment of our precious self-worth: they’re an easy way to mark easy achievements, but fail to capture the difference between an hour spent meditating on Mill’s actual wisdom and an hour spent mindlessly compressing his whole philosophy into a few sentences of uninspiring dogma. Thus, an addiction to “inferior pleasures,” the petty Pavlovian morale boost of getting good grades, replaces our “capacity for nobler feelings” and “intellectual tastes,” which we can now neither enjoy nor pursue.

William Butler Yeats once said, “Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire.”

I’ve thought a lot about that quote since I saw it on the Cyberthèque walls in first year, mostly not straying far from my original astonishment that people can manage to study down there, what with the ever-present stench of such incomparable hypocrisy. Perhaps, deeply focused on their studies, they’ve failed to notice a glaring truth: the university is where Yeats’ type of education now goes to die.

In an age when the letters CEO taste bitter on your tongue, Steve Jobs broke the mold. His death two weeks ago was met with a reverence unprecedented for a corporate leader, confirming that he had transcended his role, becoming a techno-celebrity.

Such a feat cannot be attributed solely to an untouchable sales record. Jobs harnessed imaginative design, defined our generation’s technological desires, and sold them to us accordingly. Jobs’ products were distinct and distinctive—their simple elegance stood out from the competition, and bestowed upon the purchaser the visible mantle of a differentiated, in-touch consumer. He made white chic, in a market hellbent on sleek black and grey. While Dell and IBM were fumblingly trying to win the How-Much-WillThe-Future-Look-Like-The-Matrix competition, Steve Jobs saw the universality of simple, functional aesthetics.

Unlike many companies, Apple avoided getting lost in its own product saturation. No matter how many white headphones dangled from ears of passersby, the iPod has not grown old; the Apple hasn’t rotted on the shelf. This was due to a supply of new and modified trinkets endlessly emerging on the Apple conveyor belt.

In an age when books, music, and photos are all going cyber, Jobs gave us the illusion of physical, hand-held access. Jobs also realized something about the technocrat generation: we like to believe

the United States not covered by a government insurance program to obtain health insurance or be assessed a fine. Several state Attorneys General have sued the federal government, claiming that the bill is unconstitutional because of this regulation. The Obama administration has countered chiefly by citing the “wide latitude Congress has been granted under the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause.”

The Commerce Clause is perhaps one of the most important provisions of the Constitution of the United States, directly or indirectly making many acts of Congress legal. The clause stipulates that congress shall have the power to regulate “commerce” between states, but interpretation of that intentionally vague statement has vexed politicians and given federal courts a steady stream of cases for centuries. A recent Supreme Court

case laid out three aspects of “commerce” that could be regulated by the federal government. The most relevant of these for our purposes is “regulat[ing] those activities having a substantial relation to interstate commerce.”

Does health insurance have a ‘substantial relation’ to interstate commerce? Absolutely. Health insurance coverage plans can cover conditions suffered throughout the United States, and many health insurance companies operate in all 50 states. The major objection raised to the bill’s legality is that taxing the non-purchase of health insurance is not an act of “commerce” that can be regulated in the first place. This line of thinking is also disagreeable.

The requirement to purchase auto insurance similarly regulates the “economic decision” whether or not to buy a product.

While individual states, not the

Compass Rose Noah Caldwell-Rafferty noahcr@mcgilltribune.com

iLove Steve Jobs

it is all about us. We view gizmos as windows to a broader world, a world controlled by our specific passions and interests. Apple products reflected this need, with the diminutive “i” antecedent suggesting that the product was merely a sophisticated void to be filled with your music, your pictures, your pursuits. Jobs’ proclivity for exploiting this generational desire allowed his products to spread like wildfire, as if sharing a not-so-secret secret with every young person.

Jobs’ uncanny interpretation of the emerging generation explains his celebrity status, untarnished and immune to criticism. Try to come up with another similar business personality. Donald Trump, epitome of corporate fame, is divisive and shrewd, favouring profit at any cost.

He has never occupied hearts and minds like Steve Jobs has, because he has never cared to peer into the eyes of the emerging generation.

The phenomenon that became Apple and Steve Jobs exonerated both from much criticism. True, there have been quiet grumbles about the price of its products. But despite the grumbles, people still pay for them with gusto.

It is no surprise that Jobs’ illness and death focused public perception even more unilaterally on his success. And although Apple never catered to low budgets, its market domination spurred imitation and drove down personal technology prices on the whole. Still, many commentators have erred by pointing to Jobs’ innovation as the basis of our reverence for him. It was the source of that innovation, the sophisticated reading of a generational landscape, which focused our endearment. Apple is lucky to have this legacy, and they should keep it alive by acting on this precedent.

federal government, enforce these requirements, they still demonstrate that the concept of such a mandate is not incompatible with constitutional precepts, and this action-inaction dichotomy misses the point. Citizens and residents of the United States already participate in the healthcare market by virtue of existence—one is usually born in a hospital, for example. But even if you buy the logic that it is important whether or not buying insurance involves activity, as another federal appeals court noted in a contrary decision, “No one is inactive when deciding how to pay for health care, as selfinsurance and private insurance are two forms of action for addressing the same risk. Each requires affirmative choices; one is no less active than the other; and both affect commerce.”

To put it more sharply, not buying insurance is just as much of a

Interested in photojournalism?

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Email photo@mcgilltribune.com for details. decision as buying it, and as such, forms a constitutionally valid act of “commerce.” Such an individual decision directly affects the larger economy—the uninsured victim of an illness, such as a heart attack, costs society more for two reasons.

Firstly, it costs more to treat a person when they suddenly appear in the medical system through an emergency room visit. Secondly, an insured person is more likely to visit a doctor, thus decreasing the chances of developing a catastrophic illness in the first place.

The Supreme Court is likely to rule on the constitutionality of the healthcare law early next year.

While “Obamacare” is imperfect at best, it is well within mainstream legal interpretations of the Commerce Clause and as such should be upheld.

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Editor-in-Chief Shannon Kimball editor@mcgilltribune.com Managing Editors Sam Hunter shunter@mcgilltribune.com Holly Stewart hstewart@mcgilltribune.com Production Manager Iain Macdonald imacdonald@mcgilltribune.com News Editors Anand Bery, Eric Mauser, and Elisa Muyl news@mcgilltribune.com Opinion Editor Richard Martyn-Hemphill opinion@mcgilltribune.com Features Editors Kyla Mandel and Kat Sieniuc features@mcgilltribune.com Arts & Entertainment Editor Ryan Taylor arts@mcgilltribune.com Sports Editors Steven Lampert and Adam Sadinsky sports@mcgilltribune.com Photo Editors Ryan Reisert and Sam Reynolds photo@mcgilltribune.com Senior Design Editor Kathleen Jolly kjolly@mcgilltribune.com Design Editor Susanne Wang design@mcgilltribune.com Copy Editor Marri Lynn Knadle copy@mcgilltribune.com Advertising Manager Corina Sferdenschi cpm@ssmu.mcgill.ca Publisher Chad Ronalds

TPS Board of Directors James Gilman (Chair): chair@mcgilltribune.com Johanu Botha, Kathleen Jolly, Shannon Kimball, Iain Macdonald, Alex Middleton, Zach Newburgh

Contributors Liya Adessky, Rebecca Babcock, Graeme Davidson, Hillary Dort, Jeffrey Downey, Nathaniel Finestone, Jacqui Galbraith, Hannah George, Alexander Hamilton, Davide Mastracci Alex Knoll, Reid Robinson, Bianca

iPhones are a wasteful perk for SUS execs The Science Undergraduate Society’s (SUS) decision to spend up to $4000 over the next two years on four iPhones for their executives is an inappropriate and unnecessary use of funds, an expense which the Tribune doubts is in the best interest of science students as a whole.

No other student association, except for SSMU, pays for their executives’ phone bills or equips those executives with phones. SUS executives are not the only students on campus dealing with an enormous volume of emails or coordinating events on a daily basis, but no other student executives—SUS and AUS councillors, SSMU committee mem-

bers, presidents of clubs and services—should expect that a smartphone will be provided to them as a part of those positions. Student executives need communication and organizational skills, for which technology is no substitute.

SUS should consider what is in the best interest of science students when allocating funds, whether those funds are collected from student fees or donated by external sources. The increased efficiency in responding to emails from students and other SUS members—which SUS execs have argued is the main goal of the iPhone purchases—doesn’t benefit science students in the same way that other

potential uses of that $4000 from the sponsorship might have. For example, another printer in the basement of Burnside, which might reduce the paper jam from hell that happens every day when a few hundred science students decide to print all their course slides at the same time.

It bears mentioning that there are thousands of computers on campus, and personal laptops, that SUS executivess could use to email each other and co-ordinate events.

The Tribune has concerns that the iPhones—among the most expensive phones on the market— which are meant to be used for SUSrelated purposes only, will be put to

other uses. The monitoring system in place to ensure the use of those phones may not be effective.

Instead of approaching the SUS council openly with the motion, SUS executives chose to print it in the budget as an unexplained expense, defying any and all consultation procedures. Even if the iPhones were a justifiable purchase, the Tribune questions the method in which the iPhones were written into the budget, and only turned into a motion when others inquired about the expense.

Admin should not punish online sharing Morton Mendelson, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning), has raised concerns about note sharing websites like Wikinotes and docuum.com. These websites allow students to upload lecture slides, course notes and past exams onto the web, making some aspects of a McGill education freely available to the world.

The university has responded with hostility to this new form of collaboration. In an email to course instructors, the Deputy Provost stressed the need for professors to display copyright symbols on their course materials; and he threatened “disciplinary procedures” on any online sharers who make “persistent infringements” of university copyright laws.

The Tribune believes it is nei-

ther right nor practical to discourage online note sharing. We have consistently argued for the need for abundant freedom of information. We believe it is both a vital component for transparent, accountable governance and for galvanising education.

Online sharing of McGill course materials does not supplant the need to actually take the McGill courses themselves; it merely supplements them. It does not undermine the unique value of studying at McGill; it advertises doing so. Having ready access to course notes and past exam papers can be extremely helpful for students both when choosing and taking a course.

Furthermore, the trend of online sharing is on the rise: educational institutions like Oxford, Yale, MIT, Stanford, and many others all offer

online access to large amounts of their courseware freely to the public.

As a public university, McGill has a duty to raise education levels of the public as well as its students. McGill should be looking to join this trend, not oppose it.

However, there must be limits.

We recognize the rights of intellectual property. We believe good ideas and thorough research should get the rewards they deserve, rather than just the “flattery” of outright plagiarism.

We also recognise and accept the survival instinct of the university.

It is understandable for McGill to be hesitant about sharing effective teaching methods, exam techniques, and research plans to rival universities. After all, McGill does have its position in the world university rankings to preserve.

A more nuanced approach ought to be adopted. Rather than unfettered openness or a locked ivory tower, McGill should collaborate with websites like Wikinotes. It should encourage the uploading of course notes that demonstrate the thorough nature of the university’s education; and it should shelter sensitive research that is yet to be finalised and risks being plagiarised. Each potential upload should be carefully thought through to make sure that no research is unfairly copied. And each upload should be examined on an individual basis to avoid this.

Threatening to punish a website devoted to sharing and improving education is not the right move.

Instead McGill should participate in a way that sets an example.

held solely accountable for their representation in the media. The bad press the columnist alluded to can (and has) happened, despite the overwhelmingly peaceful behavior of the protestors. Unjustifiable use of brutal force against civilian protestors has been well documented, but it is difficult to find examples of protestors employing similar tactics at this stage of the movement.

Readers who have read the column should also be aware that the police may have induced the Brooklyn Bridge sit-down protest — an action which, two weeks after the movement began, finally gave the movement its current level of media attention, both positive and negative.

Instead of regarding this peaceful assembly as a potential nursery for black bloc tactics, we should be questioning why is it that it seems to only take a few to "ruin" the ability for others to peacefully protest in a public space without being tased

or tear-gassed, when such peaceful objection is a constitutional right in the U.S. and Canada.

Ways in which the police and protestors are (or are not) working together to ensure the safety of the swelling number of temporary residents in Zuccotti Park is an aspect of this historical moment that also deserves more attention than it has received. The duty of maintaining peace and personal safety in such a collective is not the sole responsibility of the participants; police and non-participating New Yorkers also play important roles and should be held accountable.

The movement as a whole, and the protestors as individuals, should certainly not be above critique. But Occupy Wall Street has received more than its share of fair and unfair criticism in mainstream American media, chiefly for a perceived lack of clear goals, demands, and direction, and for assumptions about who is participating in these

protests. The protestors, despite maintaining peace, have already been dismissed as illegitimate troublemakers through these critiques, characterized as drumpounding, weed-smoking, in-debt students looking for a handout. A better picture of the movement’s participatory body is readily accessible at wearethe99percent. tumblr.com.

As the occupants of Zuccotti Park now face eviction at the hands of Canadian company Brookfield Asset Management, and the possible dissolution of the movement's symbolic centre before it has succeeded in making the media comprehend its demands, there is a lot more to consider than reminding a peaceful protest that they are obligated to remain tranquil in tumultuous times filled with mischaracterization and violent opposition.

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The McGill Tribune is an editorially autonomous newspaper published by the Société de Publication de la Tribune, a student society of McGill University. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of The McGill Tribune and the Société de Publication de la Tribune. and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University. Letters to the editor may be sent to letters@mcgilltribune.com and must include the contributor’s name, program and year and contact information. Letters should be kept under 300 words and submitted only to the Tribune. Submissions judged by the Tribune Publication Society to be libellous, sexist, racist, homophobic or solely promotional in nature will not be published. The Tribune reserves the right to edit all contributions. Editorials are decided upon and written by the editorial board. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the McGill Tribune, its editors or its staff. Please recycle this newspaper.

Marri Knadle

Preoccupied with occupy The Occupy Wall Street movement, especially as it spreads into Canada from its original locus in New York, deserves press attention and print space wherein its complex issues and implications for society are addressed. I was disappointed to see a recent column in the Tribune (“Peaceful Occupation,” Oct. 12, 2011) use this space only to entreat participants to commit to nonviolent protest, when nonviolence has been a core component of the movement since its genesis as a peaceful occupation of Zuccotti Park.

I was also disappointed to see that the protestors were

10

Curiosity Delivers. www.mcgilltribune.com

Letter to the Editor

Kaiti O’Shaughnessy’s recommendations (“Peaceful Occupation,” Oct. 12, 2011) for those involved in the Occupy Wall Street protests are misled. Primarily, O’Shaughnessy’s insistence on nonviolence as the “most important factor to their [OWS] success,” is wrought with error. Several factors, including more participants, more specific demands, and greater class consciousness, are more important to the success of OWS than the insistence upon nonviolent tactics.

In fact, those participating in OWS will likely need to consider the use of tactics which aren’t nonviolent at some point in the future in order to have their demands met.

The “one per cent” will not give up their domination of society if we say please. Subsequently, O’Shaughnessy gives far too much

credit to the police force. She claims protestors in OWS should solely use nonviolent tactics to prevent police from having “an excuse to arrest dozens and dismiss the protest.” Unfortunately, as the G20 protests and OWS thus far have shown, it takes far less than violence to provoke the police into using violence and arresting protestors. In fact, often times, there is no justification for the behaviour of police assigned to deal with protests. “Peaceful protest” is often synonymous with a monopoly on violence for the state. Therefore, the myth propagated by O’Shaughnessy of the few individuals ruining other protestors’ abilities to protest peacefully must be destroyed. The blame for police violence should not be placed upon fellow protestors, and instead should be shifted to where it rightfully belongs: police officers.

—Davide Mastracci U1 Joint Honours Political Science & History

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Commentary Hillary Dort

Perspectives on global food security This past week I attended the annual conference hosted by the McGill Institute for Global Food Security. Hoping to hear some new and interesting ideas or research, I quickly realized that I was at the wrong event once I had a glimpse at the list of sponsors and speakers.

A conference that was meant to address the risks and threats to food security presented only a small concentration of the problems causing food insecurity, those which were deigned to be important by global financial interests and elites.

While it is important to hear the values and opinions of representatives of government, the private sector, and academia, where are all of the other voices contributing to finding a solution to hunger (La Via Campesina, NGOs, etc.)? Why were they not invited to speak at a conference that promised

a 'cross-section' of thoughts and theories? And how we can develop a strategy to eradicate extreme poverty in the world by 2015 if we close our eyes and ears to alternative propositions?

This conference was merely an opportunity to perpetuate and reinforce the short-sighted solutions suggested by global companies and organizations such as the World Bank, FAO, and Syngenta.

Discussions were centred around technologies that would increase world food production by up to 70 per cent by 2050, increasing efficiency of production and improving and expanding infrastructure.

However, no one addressed the issues of waste, reduction of consumption, or simply a better model for distributing the food that is already being produced. There was no criticism of the greed and selfishness that keeps most of the world's food in the cupboards of the over-fed. Instead of discussing self-sufficiency and biodiversity the conversation was steered toward maximizing profit and a bastardized version of sustainability.

Why were waste and consumption reduction not addressed? The simple answer is that they are not profitable and

they do not promote economic growth. But how can we discuss global food security without talking about these problems since 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted globally every year? Ask anyone who has ever gone shopping in a garbage bin; the amount of food waste in Canada is shameful at best and gut-wrenchingly awful at its worst. To sit comfortably in a subterranean ballroom and enjoy access to a constantly replenished buffet of fresh food is an example of detachment, an obvious irony given the subject.

Fortunately, there was a panel organized by students and the speakers presented were the only ones who mentioned issues such as food and seed sovereignty, localism, and closed food systems. Food was discussed as more than a simple commodity, touching on its cultural value and links to traditional knowledge, personal empowerment, and biodiversity. It was a complete shift in perspective. What does this say about the divergence of institutional and civil values?

Hopefully the McGill Institute for Global Food Security took note of this, and will organize a more balanced and realistic conference in the future.

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Student Living Bar REview

Get your groove on when you go to Gogo Lounge Blast-from-the-past cocktails and atmosphere at St. Laurent bar

By Kyla Mandel Features Editor As a native Montrealer, I rarely see people over the age of 18 on the main strip of St. Laurent past midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

Imagine my surprise then, to find a place that’s exclusively 21-plus.

Better yet, imagine the bouncer’s surprise that my friends and I were using our real IDs. Gogo Lounge is located at 3682 Saint Laurent, and just as its name suggests, it’s very groovy baby.

Stickers on old vinyl records list the many signature drinks they offer. Not only are they creative concoctions, but their names are equally enticing. I decided on one called ‘Charlie’s Angels,’ a mix of raspberry vodka, cherry brandy, and grenadine. For $9, plus tip, it was definitely worth it. There are bars with cheaper cocktails, and clubs with pricier ones, too, so Gogo Lounge’s are just right. And in case you aren’t in the mood for cocktails, or are low on cash, the regular variety of beers and vodka-cranberries are also available.

The decor is a combination of ‘70s rock-style posters, ‘60s style candied fruit fixtures, and mod red

(Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune) lighting. That night the music was from the late ‘90s and early 2000s.

This may sound like quite the identity crisis, but somehow it all worked.

The atmosphere was fun and Austin Powers-esque. And the music makes you want to dance, which is ulti-

mately what it should do. That said, Gogo Lounge is not a club, and it shouldn’t be. It is the perfect answer to the ever-pesky search for a suitable middle ground between club and pub.

The service was average, but

ODDS AND ENDS

McGill, one month in

A U0’s reflection on life and lessons learned so far

By Jacqui Galbraith Contributor The class of 2015 has been here for just over a month, which is just enough time to reflect upon how our first-year experiences have compared to our expectations of McGill.

The majority of first years will tell you that most things surprised them simply because they had no idea what to expect. Even those of us with older friends or relatives at McGill could only get a vague idea of what was coming. The most I got from my sister was; go to Tokyo on Thursdays, buy your textbooks from McGill classifieds, and always wear shower shoes.

With that calibre of preparation, a lot of things have come out of the blue to surprise me, such as how assertive the pigeons on campus are.

And for those who don’t have a real person to give them some tips, a lot of information is garnered from Animal House (don’t be that guy who busts out his guitar at a party to get chicks), or Old School (if you’re going to streak, make sure you’re not alone).

Most U0 students will talk

about their school work. Some students (myself included) have remarked upon how much more work there is to do than they were anticipating. “It’s not how much work there is that surprised me, but how much of it I actually do,” Ellen Heinke, U0, said. Another first year, Rebecca Boire, said that “it’s a completely new experience to come to the very first day of classes and actually learn something.”

While it’s taken us first-years less than a month to realize that McGill is full of extremely hard workers, it’s taken just as long to realize that McGill is full of equally hard partiers. The “work hard, play hard” sentiment is very prevalent here on campus, which can take a little getting used to, but it’s generally admired and practiced by a good portion of this year’s U0 class.

Life in rez has delivered its fair share of shockers, but the biggest surprise seems to be how quickly we get over these surprises. Things like co-ed bathrooms, noisy common room pre-drinks, and realizing that no one cares what time you come home, are all discoveries of the past now.

September was also chock-full of awkward “rookie mistakes,” such as the time I spent 20 minutes lost, wandering the athletics complex looking for the fitness center, along with the realization that everyone who saw me pass by again and again must have known that I was a first year.

I still find myself rookie-ing out at least once a day, but most first years are starting to figure out university life. Just the other day, I loudly asked my friend, while standing in line at Subway, what building we were in (having just come from a lecture in Leacock 132). I was calmly told by the person in front of me that we were in fact now in the Arts building.

And as a native Vancouverite, I can’t help but worry that winter will bring with it a whole new slew of surprises. But for all the embarrassing moments, awkwardness, and reprimands for my awful sense of direction, I still feel myself becoming more and more in tune with life at McGill, and with this, a certain sense of satisfaction—and I’m sure any first years would agree.

I’m inclined to give our waitress the benefit of the doubt since it seemed like it was her first night. She seemed to have forgotten that we didn’t pay for our second round of drinks, and while it was tempting to drink-anddash, guilt got the better of us. I

hope to show my face there again sometime. The only real downside to Gogo Lounge is their washrooms, which were located in an extremely cramped section and only had one individual stall.

But if it’s crazy washrooms you’re looking for, then head up to Mont Royal and check out Candi Bar. The owner and creator of Gogo Lounge, Paulo Branco, also owns the more up scale Candi Bar. There you can find $11 cocktails, a bar made of Lego, and urinals shaped like lips. And to round out his franchise, Branco also owns Chez Serge, a significantly more casual bar that boasts a mechanical bull. Each one is exceptional to what Montreal has to offer and certainly worth experiencing.

Overall, Gogo Lounge exceeded all of my expectations. With a good crowd, far-out drinks, awesome music, and no cover charge I might add, what more could you ask for? Make sure to arrive just before 11 p.m. in order to snag their characteristic giant plastic hand chairs.

And, at the end of your night, go directly across the street for a $2.50 slice of greasy, cheesy pizza.

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The Proposed

Keystone XL Pipeline Project

By Kat Sieniuc

T

ransCanada Corp’s proposed 1,700 mile-long extension of the Keystone Pipeline (Keystone Gulf Coast Expansion Pipeline Project, also known as Keystone XL) would carry unprocessed bitumen from Hardisty, in eastern Alberta, to the oil refineries of the US’s Gulf Coast all the way down to Texas.

Although supported by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, this controversial proposal is yet to be approved by U.S. President Barack Obama. Project advocates stress the economic securities to be gained by its construction, but Keystone XL has faced strong opposition both in Canada and the United States—not only from politicians and environmentalists, but even more so from a larger, increasingly noisy citizen voice concerned about the project’s environmental implications.

Economic growth & energy security versus environmental cost & loss…

“An integration of Canadian and American energy markets is a great thing, not just economically but politically and strategically, for both countries.”

- Stephen Harper

SOURCES: keystonesign-texasvox.org keystoneprotest3-nebraska.watchdog.org keystoneprotest1-medilldc.net keystonepipeline-lewwaters.wordpress.com keystonemap-TransCanada

“The proposed Keystone XL pipeline will have a significant impact on the North American economy through the thousands of manufacturing and construction jobs it is creating… and [will] significantly improve North American energy security,” Russ Girling, TransCanada president and chief executive officer, said in a media release on the TransCanada website.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper concurs. In a September Bloomberg TV interview, Harper stated that “an integration of Canadian and American energy markets is a great thing, not just economically but politically and strategically, for both countries.”

Ian Hanington, spokesperson for the David Suzuki Foundation, condemns Harper’s rapid exploitation of oil resources as merely “a short-term fix for the current economy,” with long-term environmental consequences.

Girling and Harper’s emphasis on job and energy security raises an important debate over what better serves Canada’s future interests: short term economic growth and energy security for North America, or averting potential long-term environmental devastation for the country, continent, and the planet.

Many Alberta unions and politicians see the project as a bad idea for the Canadian economy. Former Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed has publicly stated he does not agree with shipping refinery jobs to the United States, and the

Alberta Labour Federation refers to the project, on their website, as “a massive bitumen superhighway taking Canadian resources and jobs south of the border.”

There is much evidence, however, indicating that there is no shortage of clean-energy jobs on either side of the border: water and sewage pipelines need to be fixed, bridges and tunnels are in need of emergency repair, and transportation infrastructure needs to be renewed and developed. Two presidents of major unions representing over 300,000 workers across Canada and the US, Larry J. Hanley of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) and James C. Little of the Transport Workers Union (TWU), voiced their opposition to pipeline expansion in a joint statement issued on aug. 11. “We call on the State Department NOT [sic] to approve the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline or to take any actions that lead to the further extraction of Tar Sands oil from Alberta, Canada,” the statement read.

“We need jobs,” they said, “But not ones based on increasing our reliance on Tar Sands oil.”

Realities of the Environmental Cost...

According to David Schindler, Killam Memorial professor of ecology at the University of Alberta, bitumen is very corrosive due to mineral content and corrosive contaminants, more so than conventional oil or processed crude.

Because of this, “there are many more pipeline breaks than people realize,” he said. “They have been kept well hidden until very recently.”

Hanington likewise stated that these “pipeline leaks or ruptures pose risks to

the environment’s watersheds.” Hanington further explains how the pipeline can disrupt wildlife migratory routes and will impinge on First Nations' rights and titles, as well as “ensure that we will continue with rapid exploitation of the tar sands, thus causing greater environmental damage and increasing greenhouse gas emissions.”

In addition to these warnings, Mike Hudema, climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace Canada, emphasizes that the biggest environmental consequence of the project, if built, will be that “it will further exacerbate all the issues we are currently seeing with tar sands development.” These issues include: impact on the First Nations peoples with respect to violation of treaty rights (the Cree nation has already filed a lawsuit citing over 20,000 treaty violations on their territory); the impact on rural land (as the tar sands are leasing an area of land the size of Florida, the boreal forest, one of the richest ecosystems on the planet, is under destructive attack); impacts to water (deformed fish are common, and have scientists warning people in these regions not to eat fish regularly); and impact to the traditional ways of life and health of many communities.

Schindler researches water pollution caused by the tar sands and has shown that potential carcinogens are reaching the Athabasca River, refuting what he calls “government and industry greenwash.”

“The previous excuse [for the tar sands] was that because nothing is going into the river, there is no need for an investigation,” he said. “We have shown that claim to be false.” Whereas the Lougheeds of Canada are decrying the lost jobs that would be streaming across the border if the pipeline reaches fruition,

many more Canadians are shouting about the destructive potential for these environmental and social consequences within our own borders.

THE PROTESTS AND LOBBYING...

Until recently, Keystone XL’s leading public critics have been climate activist groups and scientists. But national and international protest against the pipeline is growing noisier, and at an astonishing rate. September saw citizens of all different walks of life come together, in Ottawa and in Washington, with one unified message: “say no to Keystone expansion.”

For American protesters, the nationwide campaign aims to push President Barack Obama to deny the permit for an extended tar sands oil pipeline. Over 1,200 people risked arrest in Washington last month to remind Obama about the clean energy platform he ran on in 2008. As he must utter his final word on the project at the end of this year or early 2012, there is still time.

Canadian protestors have a greater challenge. Stephen Harper continues to lobby and pledge his allegiance to the project despite national outrage by many diverse groups. Harper told the Globe and Mail that Obama’s approval of the Keystone extension should be a “nobrainer” given the U.S.’s demand for energy and its less appealing alternatives to Canadian oil—namely, the Middle East.

Former Albertan premier Ed Stelmach agrees, and he told CBC News that protesters do not understand that (the U.S.) buying oil from Canadian tar sands is a better option than buying energy from the Middle East. Schindler argues that these “ethical oil” arguments are groundless. “Mideast sources might have a bad record for treatment of women, but ours is not so stellar for treatment of native people or honoring our treaties with them. And eastern Canada relies on the same unstable, ‘unethical’ Mideast sources because we ship most of the

oil sands production to the USA. This is not ethical,” he said, “it is nuts.” Many Canadians agree, and have expressed their opposition through forms of environmental civil disobedience. The September 26 antitar sands rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa is the largest example, so far. Hudema calls the rally “a history-making event.”

“We had people from almost every single province and territory in the country come to Ottawa willing to risk arrest to push our Prime Minister away from a dangerous tar sands industry and to start building a green future that prioritizes the health of our environment and community,” Hudema said.

Hudema predicts much more opposition to the tar sands in the future, not just in Canada and the U.S., but around the globe as well. Following promises by politicians who have advocated for protecting the environment and our communities, “people have tried issuing petitions, have tried meeting with their elected officials, have tried writing reports—the entire scientific community has cried out for action in this global climate crisis,” he said, “and when you have a government that refuses to listen to more traditional forms of protest, I think you will see more civil disobedience actions to try and bring change.”

Hudema estimated that six months ago, the majority of people would have most likely answered “yes” to the question of whether they thought the Keystone extension would be approved. Now, however, “because of the massive amount of public outcry—because we’ve seen people in the U.S. coming from all 50 states to Washington, because we’ve seen action in Ottawa, and because we are starting to see a growth of international movements against it—now if you ask commentators, the debate is up in the air,” he said.

Tar Sands Action organizer and longtime environmentalist Bill McKibben spoke recently at Occupy Wall Street in New York City, making a significant connection between the demonstrations there and the environmental fight against the Keystone XL project. McKibben explained in his speech

that the New York Times uncovered the fact that TransCanada had the option to choose another company to conduct the environmental impact statement on the pipeline, but the company that they chose was one that had done a significant amount of work for TransCanada in the past.

“The whole thing was rigged top to bottom,” McKibben said, “And that’s why the environmental impact statement said that this pipeline would cause no trouble, unlike the scientists who said that if we build this pipeline, it’s ‘game over’ for the climate.” Likewise, Hudema believes that with the Occupy Wall Street Movement, Canadians “have a political moment that we need to all try and take advantage of.”

According to Greenpeace Canada, the majority of opinion polls evaluating the Canadian stance on federal energy investments overwhelmingly show that over 80 per cent of Canadians wish to see clean energy investments. In light of these results, “the oil industry is calling shots within the federal government rather than the federal government doing what it should do, which is to operate in the public interest and replicate the demand of the people,” concludes Hudema.

For Schindler, it is clear that the Federal and Albertan governments are ignoring the fact that Canada has other alternatives for stationary power sources, and instead continue to favor dirty energy.

“In Alberta, geothermal and wind are scarcely tapped,” Schindler explained.

Schindler says that this is indicative of how the Canadian government is easily influenced by oil and gas remunerations and propaganda so that “both the feds and province do not hesitate to continue to ‘greenwash’ problems.”

According to Hudema, “the only thing that is going to change this is what we are already seeing, is people power.”

Protests and lobbying aside, President Obama’s decision will have far reaching consequences for North America and Canada.

Be heard.

Partagez vos idées : comment améliorer l’université de façon continuelle pour l’excellence

26 Oct. 2011 | 16h30-18h00 | SSMU Ballroom Register: www.mcgill.ca/deputyprovost/consultation

15

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Around the town

An inside look at the local Montreal restaurant Buns A McGill student chats with the owner of Buns

By Reid Robinson Contributor Buns makes one of the best burgers in Montreal. The staff is equally well-known for their friendly nature as well as their use of Canada’s most famous winter survival tool, the toque. If you’re still unclear what I am talking about, you should probably leave the library more often. With three locations open for three years, Buns has a special place in the hearts of most students in Montreal. I sat down with the owner and a staff member to discuss the history and lifestyle of Buns.

Vahe Dzaghouny, the owner of Buns, wanted to open a restaurant that served fresh, simple, and high quality food. When the first Buns opened on Sainte-Catherine in 2008, he chose to place the grill right in front of the window. This was a symbolic gesture, he explained, “If we could, we would be on the sidewalk.

Buns is meant to be street food. It is that type of grub. You can’t do it in Montreal, so we said, ‘let’s do it in front of the window.’” The patties are still made fresh each day and the owner takes great pride in the quality and taste of his burgers. “When you throw a lean piece of meat on

charcoal, it tastes better.”

As a testament to the success Buns has found in its simplicity, the menu has had the same few items since it opened, such as hamburgers and hotdogs, with seasonal variants tossed in from time to time. Aficionados of the burger will be glad to hear that they offer some off-themenu options, such as turning a double into a half–portabella-halfmeat, adding an extra patty for two dollars, or making a lettuce wrap.

“These things all start with a customer coming in and asking for it. I used to get upset about it, but now it is like ‘let’s go!’ because, that’s our culture,” Dzaghouny said. They let slip that in winter Buns will be offering some new options that are “geared towards the cold weather.”

If that isn’t enough to look forward to, Buns will also start selling their famous T-shirts within the next couple of weeks. If we’re lucky, some Buns toques will be up for sale soon as well.

When I spoke with one of the staff members at Buns, she said that her favorite parts about working there are customers and the fact that the staff can play their own music.

The owner agreed, adding, “Some of them actually play their own stuff. It

odds and ends

Sneaky sustenance How to eat in the library

By Shannon Kimball Editor-in-Chief Last week I found myself in a dilemma: I bought coffee at 8:00 a.m., but needed to print something at the library before my 8:30 class.

Thinking I was sneaky (I wasn’t), I wrapped my scarf around my cup of joe and proceeded as normal through the McLennan doors. I made it eight steps when the security guard abruptly yelled “Ey!” A scornful face and a wagging finger confronted my cappuccino and me.

This was one of my least successful attempts at sneaking food into the library, but I’ve managed to eat entire meals in the stacks without getting a single ticket. Most normal people would take their lunch down to the library cafeteria and socialize while refueling. I, however, won’t sacrifice a good study spot with excellent lighting and lots of desk space just so I can raise my blood sugar. To make the most of midnight cram sessions, follow the steps below.

1. Anything that can be sipped through a leak-proof coffee thermos

is legal in the library. This includes any beverage (except for alcohol), soup, and even thinned out oatmeal.

If you’re really into slushy food, you can blend just about anything. That’s how baby food is made, after all.

2. Never eat crunchy food in the library. The security guard will start writing you a ticket as soon as he hears that first chip crackle. Stick to granola bars for protein and chocolate for a sugar rush. That being said, no noisy packaging either. There’s nothing worse than someone slowly opening a bag of chips hoping, but failing, to diminish the sound.

3. Yawns are commonplace in McGill’s poorly lit libraries. Every time you feel a crash approaching, “cover” your mouth and sneak in a bite to eat.

4. Don’t chew gum. You probably won’t get fined, but it’s just plain annoying to everyone else.

5. You’re most likely to get busted for eating in McLennan.

Schulich is more lax, but it’s impossible to find a seat in that library, anyways. But you can get away with eating in the Education Library.

Seriously.

(Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune) creates a certain authenticity to the environment.” Working at Buns has its irritating moments, however, and they both agreed that no customer should ever set foot behind the grill;

“that is no man’s land.” She also said that one of the weirdest things a customer could do is say “no relish” because Buns doesn’t serve relish in the first place.

It is no wonder that with a great staff, an amazing burger, and three convenient locations, so many people are willing to say, “I love Buns.”

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Curiosity Delivers. www.mcgilltribune.com

Gizmos and Gadgets

Blackberry blackout brings smartphone doubts What actually happened when the service stopped

By Iain Macdonald Production Manager Early last week, Blackberry users across the globe experienced a massive service outage. The outage wasn’t caused by hackers, but by a core switch failure, the company said. As traffic flooded the network, a failure backup mechanism attempted to route traffic through an auxiliary switch. When the switch failed, there was nowhere for backlogged traffic to go, bringing down the network. Even after service was restored, many users still had trouble with their phones due to the incredible number of messages flooding the network.

Telecommunications networks operate by routing traffic around the globe through a series of routers and switches. Traffic is directed from source to destination according to routing algorithms. The Internet has many degrees of redundancy; when one link goes down, traffic through that link takes a detour to avoid the problem until it is repaired. The network is like a highway system operating at the speed of light, with many routes from one place to another. The elasticity of this topogra-

phy makes it very difficult to crash the network.

The Blackberry network, in contrast, routes much of its traffic through the same link. A backup route is in place, in case the first link fails. However, when the first path failed last week, the switch responsible for backup traffic went down as well. In this highway system, there are only two roads connecting major portions of the network.

When they both crashed, traffic had nowhere to go.

This seemingly poor design by Research in Motion (RIM), the company behind the Blackberry, is due to the explosive growth of the smartphone market. When there were only a few Blackberry users, the design worked fine. However, as usership grew, RIM simply increased the capacity on the single link, rather than adding more links. This is commonly referred to as scaling vertically, adding more resources to a single facility, as opposed to scaling horizontally, adding more facilities to share work. Horizontal scaling, while more difficult to implement, is usually more robust.

As the smartphone market continues to grow, three companies

(puremobile.com)

(logostage.com) have emerged as front-runners in the war for dominance: Google, Apple, and RIM. Google’s Android operating system, running on smartphones manufactured by companies like HTC, Samsung, and Motorola, is currently the most popular. Apple’s iPhone is the second, and the Blackberry is currently the third most used smartphone. Blackberry, however, is very popular among business users.

A three day service outage is a significant blow to RIM’s credibility. Following the outage, one in

five Blackberry users said they were thinking about switching to another phone. The failure came at an inopportune time, immediately before Apple’s release of the iPhone 4S, practically inviting users to make the switch. The outage could cost RIM up to a hundred million dollars, and puts its future in jeopardy.

As a token of appreciation, RIM issued a statement on Oct. 17, saying that they will be making select premium apps available free of charge, a value worth over 100 US dollars.

Write for Student Living and Features.

E-mail features@mcgilltribune.com. recipes

Warm chai for cold weather A homemade chai recipe straight from India

By Kyla Mandel Features Editor With cold weather and exams looming, there’s nothing better than a hot cup of chai tea to keep you going. Almost every café has its own version of chai, and everyone has their favourite. After travelling to India, and learning a recipe for the tea from my host family, I feel that nothing can compare to the authentic version. I was also highly amused—and still am—when I learned that ‘chai’ is simply the Hindi word for tea. Yes, “I’d like to order a tea tea please.” This tea is an excellent alternative to coffee, and always seems to do the trick when I feel a cold coming on or have an upset stomach.

This recipe calls for Indian dust tea, which can be purchased from ethnic grocers such as Marché Akhavan in N.D.G. or markets like

Jean Talon, but a trip to Little India in Montreal will surely work. In addition to the dust tea, you will also need water, milk, crushed ginger (to taste), and sugar. The recipe below makes roughly two cups of chai.

Directions: Boil one cup of water.

Once the water is boiling, add one heaping tablespoon of dust tea, one heaping tablespoon of sugar, and the crushed ginger. Let boil for five minutes.

Add one cup of milk and let boil on low heat for another five minutes, stirring occasionally.

To separate the dust tea residue and ginger from the tea, pour the mixture through a sieve into another pot, bowl, or directly into your mug.

It is crucial to stay by the stove while the tea is boiling once you add the milk. The smell and mess of burnt, over-boiled milk on the stove

top is not fun. If it’s boiling too rapidly, lower the heat and let it simmer to avoid burning.

Dipping tea biscuits into the chai also tastes great, so grab a book or watch a movie, drink up, and enjoy.

(jeanetteshealthyliving.com)

With the Blackberry network back online, many are left wondering if such a serious failure could happen again. Until RIM has more backup mechanisms in place, it could. Simply put, the Blackberry network cannot indefinitely scale vertically. While the full effect of the outage remains to be seen, it’s clear RIM has work to do if it wants to continue competing with other carriers.

A&E music

CKUT music festival maxes out all possible radness Total Eclipse a community-building fundraising event for McGill radio station

By Ryan Taylor A&E Editor Do you remember rock and roll radio?

Total Eclipse is the first annual music series as part of CKUT’s annual funding drive. The three-day event runs Oct. 20-22 to help raise money and awareness about the volunteer-run and owned station.

The genesis of the idea was simple: music librarian and promotions coordinator Amber Goodwyn was tasked with planning a benefit concert for the station and thought the funding drive offered an opportunity to organize a festival to “max out all possible radness.”

Instead of selecting the bands herself, Goodwyn reached out to three different CKUT programs to help with curation and give each evening its own unique feel. The programs are as diverse in their focuses as the Montreal bands they selected. Underground Sounds (on-air Monday 8 p.m.), a show dedicated to Montreal and Canadian-focused indie rock, is curating Thursday’s show featuring Solar Year, Stranger, and Sean “Nicholas” Savage. Venus (on-air Thursday 12 p.m.), a women’s music programming show, is curating Friday’s event with Dekoder and UN. Saturday’s grand finale featuring LimbsWanderedAlone, Zimo, and Dirtyboots is being curated by Duck Truck Radio (on-air Tuesday 12 a.m.), a free-form overnight music show.

“I wasn’t this kind of ‘don’

choosing everybody, but really working in tandem with these different experts in their own musical niches to come up with bills that are relevant and fun,” Goodwyn says.

CKUT itself has been part of the Montreal and McGill community since it went on air in 1987.

Over the past 20 years it’s served as ground zero for those interested in learning about live radio and seeking an alternative and independent media source.

“We’re not influenced by commercial interests. Everything that we’re part of comes from our interest in support of that community,” explains Goodwyn. “We try to balance the media that’s out there. We play music that isn’t Top 40; we represent all different types of political views, not just the state-run political views.

We’re a learning site and ground for experimentation. Students come and help run programs and make radio and artists and communities from all over the city come and do that.”

One of the biggest challenges for the station has been how to remain relevant to new members of the Montreal and McGill communities. The station has been particularly resourceful in using the Internet to stay innovative and attract aspiring radio producers. For example, soon it will be launching “Campus Mixtapes,” a website where CKUT members and McGill students can upload and shares mixes with other users. In fact, while the Internet may have initially been seen as a threat to the traditional airwaves, CKUT

has embraced the opportunities it provides.

“Live radio in this new era of the Internet has different weights, but a lot of what we make is radio art and people can access that by tuning in in real time, but they can also download stuff online and listen to our archives,” says Goodwyn. “It’s an exciting, free way to share music and sounds and ideas with people.

I think radio is completely relevant still.”

While the days of sitting with your family by the transistor may be a thing of the past, for Goodwyn, radio still holds its mystical and mysterious allure.

“There’s also that magic … where when you’re done with your iPod on shuffle or choosing podcasts, there’s this unexpected element that’s there with radio,” says Goodwyn. “You never know what you’re going to get because you aren’t choosing, you’re just tapping into this greater—“consciousness” sounds really hippy-like—but into something that’s greater than your circle of awareness.”

It’s this circle of awareness that CKUT strives to create and nuture, and Total Eclipse is another attempt to do so.

“We’re hoping people don’t get a lot of sleep,” laughs Goodwyn when asked about her aspirations for the festival, adding that she’d like to see it become an annual event in CKUT’s fundraising initiatives. No matter the changes that come in future years, for now, she’s certain of

(CKUT) one thing. “[Those in attendance] can expect to be part of a totally righteous happening for a completely worthy cause.”

Total Eclipse runs Oct. 20-22

at Casa del Popolo (Thursday), Le Divan Orange (Friday), and the Old Hotel2Tango (Saturday). Threenight passes are $20, single-night tickets are $8. Visit www.ckut.ca for more information.

Pop Rhetoric 808s & fashion heartbreak

Kanye West is no stranger to fashion. The prolific rapper sits in the front rows of major industry shows and has long emphasized his allegiance to the world of fashion and its importance not only to his music, but also his life. It came as no surprise when he announced his eagerness to start his own fashion line, and those dreams finally came to fruition during Paris Fashion Week.

West premiered his much ballyhooed “DW by Kanye West” to mixed reviews at best. Despite filling the crowd with fashion heavyweights like Azzedine Alaia, Jeremy Scott, Alexander Wang, the Olsen twins, and Anna Wintour, the show’s biggest fans were less ‘fashion magnates’ and more ‘fashion en-

thusiasts,’ such as singer Ciara, who proclaimed the show to be “monumental.”

But, between the fur backpack, the tight and overly revealing bandage dresses, and the excessively appliqued jackets, the collection was, with a couple of exceptions, a mess of ill-fitting, trashy clothing.

West, if he was the primary designer behind the collection, clearly has very little understanding of fabric, fit, or relevance.

Women’s Wear Daily was one of the show’s tamer critics, calling it “neither triumph nor train wreck.”

The New York Times mentioned that the collection, intended for spring, was out of season given that much of the clothing contained over-thetop elements of leather and fur and that “most of the clothes suffered from a poor fit.” Style.com called the collection “heavy” with “more fur

than you’d want.” The International Herald Tribune put it best, saying that the collection was proof that “everyone can love fashion but not everyone can be a fashion designer.”

In West’s defence, the success of Victoria Beckham and Gwen Stefani’s fashion lines probably gave him hope that he too could cross the threshold that separates types of artistry. However, it’s completely egotistical and naive to think that a love and appreciation of fashion goes hand-in-hand with the ability to create it. It also disrespects designers who spend years and years learning and training in the art of design. Even some of the most talented designers out there aren’t given the opportunity to hold a fashion show.

The fact that West thought he could simply translate his eye for fashion into a successful collection based on his keen fashion sense, or the fact

that he has friends in high places, is a slap in the face to anybody who has struggled to learn the ins and outs of fashion design. It’s surprising to see any fashion designers support West’s misguided endeavour, regardless of any friendship between them, when they themselves have to work so hard year after year to create their own collections.

What’s most ironic is that West had the gall to call Lindsay Lohan’s work as the creative director at Ungaro the “9/11 of celebrities doing fashion,” and then come out with his own less-than-stellar line. Granted, West’s show wasn’t as much of an abomination as Lohan’s heartshaped pasties, but it was nowhere near passable either.

At the very least, Kanye, hire a half-decent ghost designer.

—Liya Adessky

The many hats of Kanye West.

(Marri Knadle / McGill Tribune)

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Curiosity Delivers. www.mcgilltribune.com

Album Reviews

Film

The Thing: as scary as it sounds No signs of life onscreen or in the audience

By Marri Knadle Copy Editor

Wilco: The Whole Love The first minute of the first song “Art of Almost” on The Whole Love introduces a new sound for Wilco. Embedded with static and a Radiohead-esque drum riff, you might forget you’re listening to the celebrated group until you hear Jeff Tweedy’s signature scratchy voice.

Chilling and bold, the song offers an enticing opening to the rest of the album and showcases Nels Cline’s guitar talent. The song ends with an aggressive guitar solo, offering an interesting transition into the colourful “I Might,” filled with organ, xylophone, and a cheerful-sounding Tweedy. Songs like “Black Moon” and “Open Mind” are more reminiscent of the subdued, emotional ballads we’re used to hearing from the band. “Capitol City” is a fun song with psychedelic undertones and a carnival feel, followed by the faster “Standing O” which demands headbopping. The album ends with the heartbreakingly beautiful 12-minute “One Sunday Morning,” a lovely song of simple lyrics backed by melodic piano and acoustic guitar.

The Whole Love is a wonderful conglomeration of the Wilco we know and love, perfectly mixed with some new experimental sounds, and an excellent display of the band’s broad artistic and creative abilities. Wilco continues to offer a new sound with each new album while maintaining Tweedy’s unique style.

The Whole Love is certainly no exception.

—Alex Knoll

Pink Floyd: Why Pink Floyd?

Why Pink Floyd? is a curious name to bestow upon a comprehensive rerelease of the band’s discography. While simply “why?” might have been more apt, there is plenty of appeal in these remasters of one of music history’s most popular and pervasive bands.

Arriving 21 years after the last series of re-issues, the new digital masters sound clear and crisp. Even non-audiophiles can hear the differences between the 1990 and 2011 versions; the recent releases are more dynamic, with the keyboards especially reaching a new level of clarity in the mix. By avoiding compression problems that plague many CD remasters, Pink Floyd remains as sonically impressive an experience as ever.

The only downside of the rereleases is the packaging. While the LP-style digipak cases are gorgeous, and might in some small way evoke the experience of putting on a vinyl, they tend to scratch the discs.

While there is little in the way of extra content via bonus tracks or multimedia, there is still much to appreciate about this rerelease campaign. Not only does it provide an excellent experience with one of rock’s greatest bands, but it also makes available, in stores, some of the band’s lesser known, pre-Dark Side of the Moon works, like the excellent film soundtracks More and Obscured By Clouds. Perhaps the world does not need remasters of every Pink Floyd album, but Why Pink Floyd? is welcome regardless.

—Graeme Davidson

The Thing is the most recent film in a genealogical tree that began with John W. Campbell Jr.’s 1938 novella, Who Goes There? In 1951, The Thing From Another World made its debut on the silver screen to excellent reception. From there, however, the cinematic adaptations followed a downward trend: The Thing (1982) was met with lukewarm reviews, and the newest successor to the title, in fact a prequel to the 1982 film, The Thing (2011) does not appear to have reversed the trend toward mediocrity.

Set in a visually inauthentic 1982, The Thing follows the fate of a group of multinationals stationed at a Norwegian Antarctic outpost, suddenly tasked with the exciting challenge of extracting and analyzing a ‘specimen’ found trapped in the ice. Heading this team is Dr. Sander Halvorson (Ulrich Thomsen), a man so driven by science that he has all the personality of a colourless Rubik’s cube: you sense you should be intrigued, but there’s really nothing there to puzzle out. He recruits protagonist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) to examine the specimen because of her experience in subzero-condition paleontology. Young, attractive (but not unbelievably so), and capable, it is with her the audience is supposed to relate.

While the screenwriters should be applauded for keeping her responses to the horrific situation very realistic, and it is a relief to see a female protagonist not being hyper-sexualized in the face of danger (Resident Evil, I’m looking at you), we are simply given too few opportunities to like her before she is in danger. All of her close calls are emotionally overshadowed by the death of a more charming tertiary character, the dependable and red-bearded Jonas (Kristofer Hivju).

That wasn’t a spoiler—in this

Pictured: sole survivor with soon-to-be corpse. (movies.ign.com) type of film, you can rightly expect that just about everyone is going to die. The gore and bloodshed is done creatively, and the computer effects are up to industry standard, if not groundbreaking. But the gore overwhelms the subtler psychological fear, making each subsequent death less surprising than the last.

The ‘thing’ itself lacks the characterization necessary to make it a chilling antagonist. Despite the ability to replicate human appearance and language almost perfectly, the thing can be depended upon to idiotically blow its cover and turn a suspenseful atmosphere into a senseless bloodbath at the slightest provocation. It appears to have no aim other than slaughter for slaughter’s sake.

Rather than add to an atmosphere of hopelessness, when combined with cardboard main characters, this simply makes the unfolding scenario

uninteresting.

The ending will only make narrative and dramatic sense if you’ve seen the 1982 film, which has an identical emphasis on gore over chills. It also builds anticipation and appreciation for the events in the 2011 prequel, so it’s a recommended watch (even though the modern viewer may grow so bored of the repetitive violence that they doze off in the middle, as I did).

Despite the general sense that it could have been so much better, The Thing isn’t a terrible addition to the genre, and those who like to jump at loud noises and cringe at creativelyportrayed methods of killing will be entertained. But those who are seeking a more complex science fiction horror film would do well to look back at the classics outside of the Thing franchise, or perhaps even Who Goes There? itself.

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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

music

In Concert: Dan Mangan With all of the success Vancouver singer-songwriter Dan Mangan has experienced over the past two years, it’s no happenstance that his newest album is titled Oh Fortune. A bigger and more orchestrated affair than his 2009 breakout “Nice, Nice, Very Nice,” Mangan brought his seven-piece band to Theatre Outremont this past Sunday night.

The 20-song set was split evenly between old and new material. Of the new, “Post-War Blues” and “Rows of Houses” were the most energetic, especially the latter with its impressive group harmonies, while quieter acoustic numbers “If I Am Dead,” and “Daffodil” fit nicely alongside old favourites “Basket” and “Tina’s Glorious Comeback.”

A surprising moment came during the encore with a cover of Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.” Covering such a celebrated piece, at least by indie rock standards, was a bold choice, but Mangan acknowledged his humility before playing the song, recognizing that it means so much to him and others. It wasn’t the greatest interpretation—it’s almost impossible to find any rendition as satisfying as the original—but it certainly wasn’t the worst, and was at least a valiant effort.

Fan favourite “Robots” also made its obligatory encore appearance and saw Mangan singing the delightfully silly refrain (“Robots need love too / they want to be loved by you”) atop the seats in the middle of the crowd.

An impressive musician in his own right, Mangan had a talented band behind him. Guitarist Gordon Grdina was incredibly animated, playing a blistering solo during “Some People,” and drummer Kenton Loewen attacked his drums with an intensity most often found in hardcore bands.

Mangan himself came off as personable, affable, and humble throughout the evening, sharing anecdotes and song meanings that were as funny and insightful as they were endearing. Judging from some of the cat calls (“You’re sexy!” “Take off your pants!”) it’s evident he’s cultivated quite a devoted, and deserved, following.

Photos by Anna Bock

–Ryan Taylor

Theatre

Albertine in Five Times: a woman remembers TNC faithfully depicts Tremblay’s vision of 20th-century Quebecois society

By Alexander Hamilton Contributor Filled with observations that are at times both regretful and hopeful, Michel Tremblay’s Albertine in Five Times presents a nuanced portrait of an elderly Quebecoise woman looking back over a long and troubled life. Tremblay is a playwright well known for his faithful depictions of working-class families in Montreal during the mid-1900s, and particularly of his portrayal of the position and role of women at the time. An important part of Tremblay’s legacy is his literary use of joual, the dialect spoken by working-class francophones. His championing of the dialect played a crucial role in helping with its initial legitimization.

Tremblay’s longstanding resistance to having his plays translated and

performed in English presents this production with the challenge of performing Albertine in a way that maintains integrity to the original.

Directed by Zoe Erwin-Longstaff and starring a cast of McGill theatre veterans as well as a few newcomers—TNC’s production quickly proves that it is up to the task. The play features the protagonist, Albertine, at five different times over the course of her life, each played by a different actress. The play draws out the thread of her life through discussions between these five incarnations, and also through her sister Madeline, the play’s only other character.

The play involves a compelling denunciation of 20th-century Quebecois society, specifically the lack of support or infrastructure available to women. Erwin-Longstaff sug-

gests that Albertine is a woman who is literally “screaming out for help,” despite the fact that no one is listening. Even apart from its important social message, the play’s subject matter has a timeless resonance to it. Albertine’s memories are tinged with emotions that will be familiar to any audience.

We watch as a 30-year-old Albertine (Arlen Aguayo Stewart) struggles to deal with the aftermath of her “defining moment,” a violent outburst that represents her perpetual inability to express herself in words.

Albertine at 40 (Rachel Benjamin) is played with a convincing from-the-heart anger, which is juxtaposed with the willful self-denial of Albertine at 50 (Michele Robison). Her anger rears its head once again, with added bitterness, at 60

(Claire Horn). Barely moving from her armchair, Horn does a wonderful job of showcasing Albertine at her lowest, a woman who has built a cage of guilt around herself, separating her from the world. Often in the background of the action, newcomer Fionnuala O’Donnovan plays the patient yet despairing Madeline with a competence that stands out.

Narrating the whole performance is Albertine at 70 (Alexandra Montagnese), whose quiet wisdom and acerbic wit prevent things from becoming too heavy.

Much of the production’s effectiveness comes from clever staging.

TNC Theatre displays a “dreamscape” of locales: a ‘60s diner, a chair and side-table stacked with medication, the porch of a country house in Duhamel, a balcony in the Plateau Mont-Royal, and the lonely room

where Albertine finds herself at the end of her life. These settings allow the five Albertines to interact interchangeably with one another, while maintaining distinct personae. The five actresses who play the protagonist convey these differences well, while remaining true to her persisting character, that “cancerous rage” which is the essence of Albertine.

This essence drives the play, allowing the actresses to speak to one another with a simultaneous familiarity and a distance that is possible only under the guise of memory.

Albertine in Five Times is revelatory in many ways, but the success of this production lies in the gracefulness of its revelations.

Albertine in Five Times is playing at TNC Theatre from October 12th-15th and 19th-22nd.

Sports football

Coach Wolfe’s last call

Sonny Wolfe resigns as head coach; despite losses he leaves a positive legacy for McGill football

By Steven Lampert Sports Editor A coach’s success in sports is often defined by his or her win-loss record. There are cases where this holds true, but in the case of Sonny Wolfe, the numbers don’t accurately demonstrate what he meant to the McGill football program.

Last Tuesday, Wolfe announced his decision to step down from his position as head coach of the McGill Redmen, something he had planned to do at the end of the 2011-12 season.

There were a couple of key reasons for Wolfe’s resignation. First, the team, at the time of his decision, was 0-6 and in last place in the conference. With a loss to Concordia on Oct. 8, the Redmen had effectively squandered any chance of making the postseason, so the focus had shifted to evaluating talent for next season—a season in which Wolfe would not be head coach. Second, by stepping down, he gave an opportunity for new interim Head Coach Clint Uttley to show the McGill athletic administration what he can offer. His decision also gives Uttley a chance to develop a head coaching relationship with the players.

Drew Love, executive director of Athletics and Recreation at McGill, was not surprised by Wolfe’s preemptive decision. “The reality is that Coach Wolfe finished his game on the long weekend where [the team] essentially put themselves out of the playoffs,” Love said. “We had several discussions that week about the future of the program ... and we ended up with his decision to essentially allow the team to move forward and start to think about the future.”

Looking backwards, Wolfe took his time working his way through the ranks of the CIS before becoming McGill football’s head coach. A McGill grad and former Redmen defensive back, Wolfe began his CIS coaching career as an assistant at McGill in 1976, before beginning a 19-year head coaching tenure at Acadia in 1983. After a successful period at Acadia where he won three Atlantic Conference championships, Wolfe spent a few years as an assistant for the Université de Montréal before taking

(Marri Knadle / McGill Tribune) over as head coach of the Redmen in 2007. Over 30 years of playing and working in the CIS, Wolfe accumulated a vast amount of experience and knowledge of the game. He translated this experience to many of his players.

Ben Thompson, a fifth-year defensive tackle, is one of those players, as he played under Wolfe since he took over the head coaching position at McGill.

“He was put in a bad situation after that hazing incident that wiped out a couple classes, so he just taught me perseverance,” Thompson said. “I was with him his first year as it was my first year and through the years we’ve just kept plugging away. It might not have been the best five years, record-wise, but we pushed through that and continued working hard.”

The Redmen produced a 3-36 record under Wolfe, including three winless seasons. Although these statistics cannot be entirely disregarded, Wolfe did inherit a mess. The McGill administration decided to

cancel the 2005 season after a rookie hazing incident. The incident took its toll on the program, as it wiped out a senior class and its effect trickled down to the next classes of football players. When Wolfe arrived in 2007, he inherited a program in disarray, which made recruiting much more difficult. This incident may be viewed as an excuse for Wolfe’s losing record, but the lack of talent he inherited is still a significant factor that must be considered when evaluating his tenure.

Love understands that the win-loss record is often used as the marker for how a coach and team may have performed. Nevertheless, he finds other ways to measure what Wolfe has meant to the McGill football program that are not as clearcut.

“In reality, the things that he’s done for this program over the last five years, to provide a sense of foundation and respect, are essential to having a good program mov[ing] forward,” Love noted. “Although the wins haven’t come ... I think the

program is in a much better place now with the work he’s done than it was when he took over almost five years ago.”

From a player’s perspective, Thompson also believes Wolfe has brought life back to the program.

“Again, even with the bad situation, he acted with class and worked hard.

He never complained once ... with the attitude he’s brought, we know good things will come and this program will get back on its feet.”

With his departure, Wolfe hands the reins over to Uttley, who was previously the team’s full-time defensive co-ordinator. Uttley has been with the team for four years and already established a relationship with many of the defensive players. He now has a chance to make a mark with the other Redmen, and show McGill how he runs a football team.

Uttley is aware of the problems of the past and understands there is still much to improve upon if the team is to return to its winning days.

“The biggest thing is to restructure

and bring in more coaches to our coaching staff, and improv[e] the recruiting because the admission standards are so high,” Uttley said. “The next biggest thing would be restructuring the offseason program, to get our guys a little bigger and faster.

Then finally, the guys [have] just got to win a game to get over it. They’ve got to win the game in their heads before they ever win it on the field.”

Wolfe and Uttley have a strong relationship after coaching together for four seasons. Uttley has learned a great deal from Wolfe, including things that are relevant beyond the football field. “Aside from the football field, the main thing I’ve learned is the importance of grooming young men and having top shelf morals and values while doing things the right way,” Uttley said.

This is telling of the type of person Wolfe is and the impact he has had on this program, and on the McGill and CIS community as a whole. “He provided a tremendous amount of support to many of our other coaches who sought out advice from him about many things,” Love said. “He is well known and well respected throughout football in Canada for more than 30 years....

He’s really been a great ambassador for McGill University and for McGill football.”

Wolfe will remain on the Redmen staff until his contract ends in April. Once this contract expires, he will probably stop coaching football. But, Love is more than comfortable if Wolfe decides to take a role on the team past this season.

“There are places for people to be involved in training camp, places to be involved in alumni relations, places to be involved in assisting in the recruiting areas,” Love said.

“You never take coaching out of the person ... I just don’t think he’ll take football out of his blood.”

The Redmen should be grateful if they are lucky enough to continue receiving coaching and training from Wolfe. His impact on this program extends far beyond the win-loss column. While he no longer resides on the sideline, both the McGill community and the McGill Redmen will surely feel his impact off of it for years to come.

Interested in writing for sports?

Meeting this Wednesday in Shatner 110 at 6:00 PM For more information, contact sports@mcgilltribune.com

21

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

redmen hockey — Mcgill 6, windsor 3

Longpré-Poirier makes it a long day for the Lancers McGill doubles up Windsor in home opener victory

By Rebecca Babcock Contributor This past Friday night, the McGill Redmen hockey team took to the ice for their regular season home opener against the Windsor Lancers.

Although the Redmen had lapses in focus and intensity, they dominated most facets of the game en route to a 6-3 win.

This was an early season test for the Redmen as both teams had 2-0-0 records coming into the contest. The Redmen started with a bang, as firstyear forward Marc-Olivier Vachon scored in the first 17 seconds of the game. The rest of the first period was marked by a strong defensive effort by the Redmen against a controlled Windsor offence. With only 18 seconds left in the period, the Lancers took a costly penalty. Clean and quick passing between Andrew Wright, Marc-André Dorion, and Christophe Longpré-Poirier led to the second Redmen goal.

It was déjà vu in the second period. Barely one minute in, Longpré-Poirier scored his second goal of the game with assists from Vincent Bourgeois and Alexandre PicardHooper. McGill kept on the attack as Justin Ducharme scored two minutes later with the help of JeanFrancois Boisvert and Guillaume Langelier-Parent. Down three goals, Windsor shook things up, replacing goalie Parker Van Buskirk with Dan Savelli.

McGill let their guard down as the period progressed, however.

Sloppy play and penalties resulted in numerous opportunities for Wind-

McGill has opened up its OUA title defence with four straight wins. (Sam Reynolds / McGill Tribune) sor. The Lancers finally capitalized and got on the board with five minutes left in the second period. Three minutes later, Windsor continued to close the gap by scoring their second goal of the game.

“I thought we played well in parts of the game but we had some let-ups,” Head Coach Kelly Nobes said. “We got penalties because we stopped moving our feet, we were leaving the zone early, and we were cheating a little bit. We needed to keep the pedal to the metal and keep

pushing.”

After a hard fought 40 minutes, tensions boiled over in the third period, and McGill raised their physical game in response. After a huge hit by McGill, captain Evan Vossen gained control of the puck and notched an easy goal in the bottom left-hand corner, extending the lead to three once again.

“Chirping and roughing is all a part of the mental game and we just needed to keep our composure,” Longpré-Poirier said. “Sometimes

we didn’t do that and that’s when Windsor took advantage and scored.

I think we are a better team than that and our next game will be better.”

McGill restored its lead to four when Benoit Levesque intercepted a pass leading him on a breakaway, where he slipped the puck past Savelli for the Redmen’s sixth goal.

Windsor remained persistent and slowed McGill’s momentum by earning a few more powerplays.

With eight minutes remaining, Windsor tallied another goal on a

man advantage, making the score 6-3. The rest of the game was filled with scoring chances from both sides, but no goals. Redmen goalie Hubert Morin was solid all the way through, making 34 saves in the win.

The Redmen followed this game up on Saturday with another win against Windsor. The Redmen look to continue their early season success against UQTR on Friday Oct. 21 at 7 p.m.

Third Man in Are these my Red Sox? Vibrant leaves, chilly temperatures, and shorter days bring me back to a time I associate with great memories. It was over two Octobers, those of 2003 and 2004, that I experienced my personal baseball golden years. To this day, I can’t walk through a pile of fallen leaves without getting nostalgic about Dave Roberts’ steal, the band of idiots, “cowboy up,” and even the anguish caused by Aaron Boone. They say that for male sports fans, the most intense memories stem from around the age of thirteen. If this is true, then my feelings make sense, as I had my Bar Mitzvah, my symbolic coming of age in May of 2004, directly between Boone’s fateful

homer in the eleventh and Foulke’s toss to Mientkiewicz to reverse the curse. Those were the days.

But those days are over. As summer turned to fall in 2011, I realized that my golden years were gone. A nine-game wild card lead vanished with the summer, and for the second straight year, my October would be spent studying for midterms rather than watching five-hour playoff marathons. The Red Sox’s epic collapse was complete. I finally had my Sox fan scar.

And then they started falling.

Within days of the stunning loss, Terry Francona was shown the door, and Theo Epstein is leaving for a new challenge in Chicago. The men who assembled the team that brought such joy to me in my prime baseball-watching years are gone.

The players left a long time ago.

Damon committed treason and left for New York, Manny was Manny one too many times and was shipped to California, Pedro didn’t play another game at Fenway after winning his first ring. But it felt like the good ol’ days were still here. With the same manager and the same GM, we’d keep gunning for another World Series. The additions of Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford would help get us there once again.

But they didn’t. Everything is different now. The loveable have become the hated, and the underdog has become the king. When they broke the curse my friends congratulated me, as if I had won it all myself. After this year’s failure, allegations of clubhouse disunity, beer drinking, and other personal is-

sues have leaked out, tarnishing the franchise that has had such success since the ownership change—when Henry and co. saved the Sox from the Yawkey Trust in 2002. Those congratulations of 2004 are a thing of the past. These Red Sox are less fun.

When the Sox won in 2004, everyone said, “these are not your father’s Red Sox.” After the collapse of 2011 and the complacency created by wells of cash and pink hats rather than navy and scarlet ones, these are no longer my Red Sox. As we learn more and more about why the season slipped away, it is clear that everything has to change, and with it, the identity of the franchise.

For decades, Boston fans took pride in not being the Yankees—instead, doing things the right way. Today,

many believe the Sox have become what President and CEO Larry Lucchino once dubbed the guys from New York: an Evil Empire.

Tito’s gone, Theo’s gone, the curse is gone, soon Papi will be too.

I was blessed that my own golden years coincided with those of the team. I’ll always be a Red Sox fan, but my favourite team of all was that team. I want to thank those men who were such an inspiring part of my life for so long. Thank you Theo, thank you Tito, best of luck creating new memories for a new generation of thirteen-year-old dreamers elsewhere… just not against Boston.

—Adam Sadinsky

22

Curiosity Delivers. www.mcgilltribune.com

Around the water cooler

In case you decided to occupy the financial district of a major city rather than your couch this past week, here’s what you missed in the week of sports…

Quick Hit McGill volleyball wins bronze at Martlet Invitational The McGill Martlets took home the bronze medal at the 21st annual Martlet Invitational Volleyball Tournament this past weekend. The Martlets swept all three sets against the Montreal Carabins (26-24, 26-24, 26-24) in the highly contested third-place match. McGill entered the tournament 9-1 in exhibition play. They opened the round-robin portion of the tournament with wins over Memorial and Dalhousie, earning them a spot in the semifinal against Saint Mary’s University.

While the Martlets were competitive in all three sets, Saint Mary’s

(Sophie Silkes / McGill Tribune)

won them all by scores of 16-25, 19-25, and 17-25. Saint Mary’s proceeded to capture the tournament title, defeating Dalhousie, again in three sets, led by tournament MVP Kerri Smith. The Martlets received contributions from middle blocker Kaiva Mateus, and libero Daphnée-Maude André-Morin as both players earned spots on the All-Tournament team. The tournament was the Martlets' final tune-up before they open the regular season on Oct. 28 at home against the University of Montreal­ —Steven Lampert

BASEBALL It turns out that Major League Baseball can, in fact, be exciting, even if the Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies are eliminated. The Texas Rangers and St Louis Cardinals were victorious in two of the highest scoring League Championship Series in recent memory and will now battle for the World Series starting in St Louis on Wednesday night. The Cardinals will be looking to add to their National League-leading 10 championships, while Texas has some unfinished business after falling in last year’s fall classic to the San Francisco Giants.

BASKETBALL Things took a turn for the worse last week as the owners and players failed in another round of negotiations to save the 2011-2012 NBA season. After 13 hours of negotiations over two days, the two sides are still in a deadlock and Commissioner Stern officially announced that the first two weeks of the season would be cancelled. This is the second ever lockout to cancel regular season NBA games. With the prospect of an entire lost season looming large, this is definitely a labour dispute for McGill students to get behind.

HOCKEY The NHL season is now underway, and there is a surprise team on top in the early going. That’s right Torontonians, as of Sunday night

the Maple Leafs are one of three remaining undefeated teams. While Leafs fans start planning the parade down Yonge Street, expectations have been tempered at Portage and Main as the reborn Jets are all alone in the league basement with zero points. Slow starts have also plagued the five other Canadian clubs as only Toronto would qualify for the playoffs if they started today.

With 79 games remaining, however, it’s safe to say that everyone still has a chance.

SOCCER Europe’s eyes were glued to TV sets last Tuesday as the final round of qualifying matches for Euro 2012 concluded. France, Greece, Russia, Denmark, and Sweden all punched their tickets for the finals that begin in June in cities across Poland and the Ukraine. Along with the two host nations, defending world and European champions Spain, and perennial powerhouses Germany, Italy, England, and the Netherlands clinched their spots earlier in the competition. The final four places in the tournament will be decided by two-legged playoffs to be contested on Nov. 11 and 15. Turkey will battle Croatia, Ireland will face the surprising Estonians, the Czech Republic will have their hands full with Montenegro, and Portugal will meet Edin Džeko and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

SCOREBOARD (Scores since Oct. 11) MARTLET CROSS-COUNTRY Finished 4th of 23 @ Albany Invitational REDMEN fOOTBALL Lost 18-33 vs. Montreal REDMEN HOCKEY Won 6-3 vs. Windsor Won 5-4 vs. Windsor MARTLET HOCKEY Won 6-1 @ Montreal Won 3-0 vs. Ottawa Won 15-2 vs. Queen’s REDMEN RUGBY Won 37-0 vs. Bishop’s MARTLET RUGBY Won 109-0 vs. Bishop’s REDMEN SOCCER Won 3-0 @ Sherbrooke MARTLET SOCCER Won 9-0 vs Bishop’s Lost 1-2 @ Sherbrooke MARTLET VOLLEYBALL Finished 3rd of 6 @ Martlet Invitational

Martlet Soccer ­— McGILL 9, Bishop’s 0

Martlets back to winning ways

Morin-Boucher scores four in McGill rout

By Sam Hunter Managing Editor A visit from the conference basement-dwelling Bishop’s Gaiters couldn’t have come at a more opportune time for the floundering Martlets, winless in their previous four games, as McGill ended the skid with a 9-0 win.

Alexandra Morin-Boucher was the story early and often, as she outpaced the Bishop’s defenders on her way to a four goal, two assist night.

Her most important goal came in the 42nd minute, when, off a long pass from Stephanie Avery, Morin-Boucher sped past her defender, found space, and changed pace to slot home a low, bouncing left-footed strike. The goal gave the Martlets a 2-0 lead, breaking open a contest that had been tight until that point, and was followed three minutes later by a goal from Alexandra Armstrong, putting McGill up 3-0 heading into the half.

“I thought Morin-Boucher was strong today,” Head Coach Marc Mounicot said. “She was part of many goals and her speed was good

and her finishing touch was good, but she was [also] able to set up a few goals for her teammates and for that I’m very happy for her. She works hard.”

Meghan Bourque and Alexandra Hoyte also had big games for McGill, scoring two goals and a goal and two assists, respectively.

Armstrong and Avery provided the other two markers for McGill.

The lopsided score was compounded by a lack of experience from the Gaiters keeper who, up until game time, was a defender.

The Gaiters were missing their three keepers, and were forced to turn to rookie Juliana Miele in desperation.

Miele was peppered with 15 shots on goal, six of which she saved. “[M]aybe it wasn’t their goalkeeper,” Morin-Boucher said, “but we took the opportunities and we scored.” “[W]e needed this game,” added Bourque.

McGill keeper Shimone Slomowitz made one save to register the shutout.

The Martlets have had an up and down campaign so far this

year, opening the regular season with four straight wins before a four-game winless swoon sent them tumbling down the Quebec conference standings. Since the win over Bishop’s, third-place McGill lost 2-1 to number-two Sherbrooke, falling six points back in the race for second place. Montreal has been the runaway leader thus far, going 9-01, with the one draw coming against the Martlets. McGill has a difficult, but manageable, slate of upcoming games with home contests against Laval and UQTR, and away games against Montreal and a fixture at Concordia to end the regular season.

Regardless of how their record turns out, as hosts of this year’s CIS championships the Martlets have a guaranteed spot; however, no one on the roster seems interested in “sneaking in” to the playoffs.

“We’re automatically qualified [for the CIS championships],” said Bourque, “but I want to make sure that we get there on our own merit and that people know we earned a spot and deserve to be there, and that we didn’t just get in because we’re hosting.”

23

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Redmen Football — McGill 18, Montreal 33

Sonny’s gone; dark clouds persist over Redmen Special teams get kicked in the loss

By Jeff Downey Contributor The Redmen were in action this past Saturday at Percival Molson Stadium, taking on the cross-town rival Montreal Carabins in the 90th annual McGill Homecoming game.

The Redmen entered the game looking to snap a 19-game losing skid dating back to 2009, but were in tough against the number-five ranked Carabins. Montreal was riding high following a stunning upset victory against the perennial powerhouse, and national favourite, Laval Rouge et Or last week. Ultimately, Montreal’s optimism proved wellplaced, as they were able to take advantage of costly Redmen special teams errors en route to a 33-18 victory.

There was a different face on the McGill bench on Saturday, as former defensive coordinator and now interim Head Coach Clint Uttley manned the helm for the first time in the wake of Sonny Wolfe’s resignation earlier in the week.

Throughout the season, McGill has shuffled all three quarterbacks on its 48-man roster in an attempt to cure its sputtering offence. On Saturday, it was fourth-year quarterback Ryne Bondy who got the call to take snaps, and he turned in a fine performance, despite the loss. Aided by slotback Bobby Mikelberg, and receiver Tristan Baldini, who both had over 100 receiving yards, Bondy orchestrated several strong drives, amassing 353 passing yards with both a passing and a rushing touchdown. The peak for the Redmen came in the waning seconds of the game when Bondy strung together a series of three completions for 73 yards that culminated in a 20-yard touchdown catch by Mikelberg, as

the clock reached zero.

On the other side of the ball, defensive end Courtney Bishop excelled. He had four tackles and a forced fumble and recovery, which helped limit the Carabins to only one offensive touchdown.

Despite these bright spots for the Redmen, the rest of their play was marred by costly mistakes.

These were most prevalent on special teams, where a lack of synchronicity ruined McGill. Twice in the first half, the Redmen fell victim to blocked punts returned for touchdowns and then again in the third quarter, a red-zone visit was squandered by a blocked 18-yard field goal attempt. In a game where 15 points was the difference and 14 of those are directly attributed to special teams errors, McGill has to ask itself what went wrong and seek to remedy it in upcoming weeks.

In addition to McGill’s mistakes, the Carabins received great contributions from third-year running back Rotrand Sené, who was exceptional throughout the game, amassing 160 rushing yards in the win. This included a brilliant 48yard streak with three minutes left in the third that helped set up Montreal’s only offensive major.

With the loss, McGill falls to 0-7 on the year and remains in last place, while Montreal improves to 4-3 and climbs into third place in the Quebec conference football standings. Despite its lowly record, it’s not time for the Redmen faithful to abandon ship just yet, as McGill’s final two games offer exciting win opportunities. The first test will be against the Bishop Gaiters on Oct. 22, before McGill returns home to end the regular season against Concordia on Oct. 29.

McGill’s special teams proved costly in loss. (Ryan Reisert / McGill Tribune)

Standings Soccer W L T PTS (M) Laval

6

2

1

19

McGill

5

2

1

16

Montreal

5

2

1

16

Sherbrooke

3

4

2

11

UQAM

2

3

4

10

UQTR

2

4

2

8

Concordia 1

7

1

4

Soccer W L T PTS Football W (W) (M) Montreal

9

0

1

Sherbrooke

7

1

2

3

2

28 23

McGill

5

Laval

4

3

3

15

UQTR

4

3

3

15

UQAM

1

6

3

6

Concordia 1

7

2

5

Bishop’s

0

8

2

17

2

L

PTS

Laval

6

1

12

Sherbrooke

6

1

12

Montreal

4

3

8

Concordia

3

4

Bishop’s

McGill

2 0

5 7

Hockey W L (W) McGill

3

Carleton

1

0 0

OTL

0 1

Hockey PTS (M) W L 6 3

1

1

0

2

Concordia 1

2

0

2

2

0

0

Montreal

6 4 0

Ottawa

0

OTL

PTS

McGill

4

0

0

8

Nipissing

4 3 3

1

0

8

1 2

0 0

6

1 0

Queen’s UQTR

Concordia 2

6 5

Toronto

2

2 1

Carleton

2

2

0

4 4

RMC

2

2

0

4

Ottawa

2

3

0

4

Ryerson

1

1

0

2

montreal’s GRAFFITI

Sam Reynolds and Ryan reisert