Vol 39 issue 9

November 12, 2012 Volume 39, Issue 9 www.mediumutm.ca

UCS gets pied for cancer research The Undergraduate Commerce Society’s annual Fair For Hope raised $3,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society Larissa Ho news editor The stage at the Blind Duck Pub got messy when students volunteered to get pied in the face for the Undergraduate Commerce Society’s annual Fair for Hope event, which raised $3,000 in total.

UCS brought in crowds of people on Thursday afternoon to watch their friends get pied in the face for cancer awareness and research.

Sabiha Sultana, the corporate social responsibility director of UCS, gathered a committee to plan the event, which was a collective effort on the part of many of UTM’s clubs and societies. Sunil Shah, a UTM alumnus, returned to UTM to emcee the event.

Students volunteered to sit on wooden chairs on the main stage of the Blind Duck with plastic draped over them to protect themselves from the onslaught of whipped cream and icing. People gave the change in their pockets to the cause; whenever the proposed target for the victims was met, the donors got together onstage behind the wood-

Ayman Khan/THe MEdium

The executives of UTMSU all get pied in the face at the same time at the Blind Duck Pub. en chairs and pied the volunteers in the face.

“Fair for Hope creates a great environment where people are working hard together, providing an opportunity for others to give while also making connections,” said Deepa Agarwa, a UCS communications

associate.

The event brought together people from different clubs and societies at UTM to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society. The Sexual Education Centre and CFRE Radio promoted it, the CCIT Council sent photographer Ayman Khan to

take photos, and the Pakistani Youth Alliance sold multicultural food; they and their biryanis raised the most money at the fair. The Erindale Biology Society donated raffle prizes, including movie passes, gift cards for Winners and Square One, and an iPad that had been donated

by sponsors. The Erindale Gaming Association held a video game competition, and DECA hosted a “Minute to Win It” game.

The Math and Computational Sciences Society sent an executive, Eric Scott, to get pied in the face.

The Indian Students’ Association did the same. UTMAC also sent two executives to get pied. Andjela Ocicek, one of the executives, volunteered to have her hair cut onstage. The Tennis Players’ Association sent four executives to get pied, including their president, Leonardo Ortega.

All the UTMSU executives got pied onstage at the same time.

“It is always nice to take a break from our busy routines and make an effort towards giving back to the society,” said Suhavi Makkar, DECA’s director of events. “This is the very purpose of Fair for Hope, and everyone works very hard to make this happen. We have fun and raise money for a great cause, making it a win-win situation.”

All the proceeds from the event went to the Canadian Cancer Society.

Striking a pose for violence against women The U TM Women’s Centre held their annual “Walk Five Minutes in Her Shoes” Larissa Ho News Editor The UTM Women’s Centre raised $200 at their annual “Walk Five Minutes in Her Shoes” event, with all proceeds going towards raising awareness of violence against women.

A crowd gathered outside the Student Centre on Tuesday to watch male volunteers don women’s heels and navigate through an obstacle course, striking poses and walking down the “catwalk”.

The Women’s Centre gave gift cards to the two men who performed the best; the favourites were decided by applause from everyone who had gathered to watch. This year, the winners were Andrew Mifsud and the audience’s favourite, Chad Jankowski, who also won last year’s catwalk challenge.

The Centre also raffled off a basket worth $100, including a $25 gift card

Welcome to a new home City holds a welcome ceremony for international students, invites them to stay after they graduate.

Medium News, page 3

Why I’m dropping out With two and a half credits left to complete for his undergrad, Phillip Niedzielski drops out.

Medium Opinion, page 5

UMC Charity Dinner Junaid Imran/The MEdium

Chad Jankowski strikes a pose on the “catwalk” in front of the Student Centre. for Square One, two movie tickets, and a $20 gift card for Caffé Demetre.

“I believe the best part of the event was the enthusiasm we had amongst the male participants,” said Harsimer Singh, the events coordinator of the Women’s Centre. “They had a great amount of energy and seemed really supportive of the cause. They took

out time from their day to show their support in ending violence against women.”

Afterwards, everyone celebrated with pizza provided by the Women’s Centre.

All proceeds will go to the nonprofit organization Interim Place, a shelter for abused women and their

children in Mississauga. Each year, Interim Place provides shelter, support, and counselling to women in need, with a mandate “to create social change where women have economic, social, and political justice, and all forms of violence are eliminated in the lives of all women and their communities”.

Music Club entertains with food and music, all for a good cause.

Medium A&E, page 8

Happy Hour ends early Why does the Blind Duck close in the early afternoon on Fridays?

Medium Features, page 10

Men’s Div One wins 73–62 White team scraps out a late victory at home.

Medium Sports, page 11

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«NEWS THE MEDIUM

11.12.2012

Controversy over student voice Students and faculty appeal to governance committee for increased representation Stefanie Marotta Editor-in-Chief Student union executives questioned the procedures of the Elections Committee of the Governing Council on the planning of a decision-making body at UTM, alleging that the new structure and consultation process fails to adequately represent students.

Professor William Gough, chair of the Elections Committee, presented options for seat allocation on Governing Council, the highest decisionmaking body at U of T, and on the UTM and UTSC Campus Councils, the proposed decision-making bodies at the satellite campuses, at a consultation session at UTM last week.

The tri-campus Coalition on Governance, comprising representatives from the student, faculty, and labour

unions, advocated increased student and teaching staff representation on both the Governing Council and the Campus Councils and more opportunities for consultation with students and faculty.

Representatives from the UTM Students’ Union, the U of T Students’ Union, and the U of T Faculty Association stated that the Elections Committee had not afforded them enough notice about the consultation session.

An email had been sent out on October 25, just over two weeks before the session on November 8.

“I’m hesitant to even pick an option, because we clearly have not had enough time or notice for this discussion,” said Munib Sajjad, UTSU’s VP university affairs and academics.

Gough replied that, since the changes will not take effect until 2014,

there will be ample time for further consultation.

“Representation is important—but the representation to bring the perspective from different estates, not to represent the position of an estate.”

—Deep Saini The UTM Campus Council will replace the current Erindale College Council and restructure governance to grant UTM greater autonomy in local decision-making. ECC includes 75 positions for elected student represen-

tatives and reserves seats specifically for UTMSU executives.

In the new structure, four out of 26 council member seats will be allocated to students, none of which are reserved for UTMSU executives—an aspect UTMSU takes issue with, according to executives.

Student union executives can still run for student positions, but Andrew Ursel, UTMSU’s VP university affairs and academics, said the lack of guaranteed seats could result in undesired competition between students and UTMSU executives.

The Coalition proposed ex-officio non-voting seats to include UTMSU executives in governance. Deep Saini, the vice-president of U of T and principal of UTM, disagreed with this proposal, saying that the roles of student union executives and student gover-

nors have different purposes. Campus Council meetings will be open and student union representatives will be able to attend and relay information to students, according to Saini.

“Campus Council is a decisionmaking body. It is not a forum for advocacy,” Saini said. “Representation is important—but the representation to bring the perspective from different estates, not to represent the position of an estate.”

ECC, which comprises administration, librarians, faculty, and students, makes recommendations on academic planning and financial matters to the UTM principal. The UTM Campus Council will report directly to the Executive Council on matters to be sent for approval from Governing Council, giving UTM direct decision-making authority in U of T governance.

UTM community gathers to remember Jericho Tan

Write for

NEWS

A cloudy, chilly Friday morning loomed over the plaza between the Instructional Centre and the library as UTM staff and students, Peel police officers, Canadian army cadets, and, most importantly, veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces gathered to remember and honour those who have died in the line of duty for their country. All had bright red poppies pinned on their winter coats or uniforms.

The Remembrance Day ceremony was organized by Len Paris, the manager of Campus Police Services.

He conducted the call of order at the start of the Remembrance Day ceremony with a few words of warmth and comfort as he welcomed the attendees to the ceremony.

Jack Porter, a member of the Royal Canadian Legion (Branch 139 of Streetsville), opened the ceremony by commemorating the sacrifices of all members of the armed forces who served their country with distinction and with their lives. He pointed out that every one of those who died was a grandfather, father, uncle, brother, or a son.

Yasmine Youseef of the UTM Students’ Union read out “In Flanders

Fields”, written by a Canadian soldier in World War I. The sound of a trumpet filled the air as the Canadian and provincial flags were lowered, signalling the “Last Post”, a bugle call used mainly in military funerals in the Commonwealth, representing an end to a soldier’s duty. It signifies that they can now rest in peace.

Professor Scott Munro of the geography department played the “Lament” on bagpipes as floral wreaths were placed on stands. This was followed by two minutes of silence, the “Reveille”, and the raising of the flags.

Deconstructing politics UTM Young Liberals invite guests to talk Canadian politics

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The UTM Young Liberals and guests listen to a talk from the Liberal perspective.

Matthew Butler staff writer The UTM Young Liberals hosted an educational political event in the Davis Building for students and club members interested in learning more about Canadian politics.

The event, entitled “What is politics?”, commenced at 7:30 p.m. last Monday. It featured two guests: Tasha Ismail, the senior manager of political operations for the Liberal Party of Ontario, and Omar Alghabra, a former Liberal MP. Although structured predominantly as an introductory guide to Canadian politics, the event was also an opportunity for the 30 students to participate and answer questions on a range of topics.

The major topic of the presenta-

tion was the importance of student civic engagement, which each speaker addressed.

“Politics is not a television show— it happens whether you’re engaged or not,” said Alghabra. “Start with issues you care about […] get involved and find parties and ideas that resonate with you.”

Ismail shared the sentiment. “You can’t complain if you don’t vote,” he said.

Alghabra spoke throughout the majority of the presentation and answered questions on a variety of hotbutton issues.

“It’s the most expensive election in democracy’s history: around $2.3 billion spent,” said Alghabra on the budget for the recent American election. By contrast, Canada has a $20-million campaign contribution

limit.

The concept of Canadian party leadership became an integral part of the discussion, and naturally raised questions on the current Liberal leadership race. Alghabra said that he is a senior strategist and supporter of Justin Trudeau’s bid for the Liberal leadership, and said, “I’m excited about Justin’s candidacy.

Trudeau can help unite Quebec with Canada.”

Ismail spoke about the operational management of politics from a Liberal point of view. She offered her thoughts on the Liberal election results in 2011: “We lost our way and we need more concrete policies.”

Ismail also chronicled her story as a young campaign worker rising through the ranks from volunteer to paid staffer.

11.12.2012 THE MEDIUM NEWS

Crime prevention pays The third annual Crime Prevention conference comes to UTM Saleha Faruque UTM collaborated with Safe City Mississauga to host the third annual Crime Prevention conference.

Professionals from various backgrounds came to speak on Friday in the Instructional Centre, including police, government officials, and crime prevention practitioners. In commemoration of Remembrance Day, this year’s conference also involved speakers from the Canadian Forces.

Student attendees contributed to the discussion on how to prevent crime.

The themes of this year’s lectures were “Harnessing the evidence: harnessing what works” and “Freedoms: how Canadians protect freedoms enjoyed”.

The conference was launched by plenary speaker Major Vanessa Hanrahan of the Canadian Forces, who discussed her deployment in Afghanistan, where she contributed to NATO’s efforts to establish a safe environment for the nation.

Hanrahan explained how her involvement in the NATO training mission increased her appreciation of Canadian freedoms and the importance of safeguarding them.

The talks that followed the

opening address were divided into three sessions. The first topic was the occurrence and implications of residential crime in neighbourhood communities. Dana Wilson of Peel Children and Youth Initiative spoke about the societal characteristics that limit residential engagement in Peel communities, and emphasized the importance of strengthening social connections.

Constable Scott Mills of the Toronto Police Service shared how social media can be used to achieve community success and safety.

This was followed by an introduction to “Crime Prevention through Environmental Design” given by Tom McKay of the Peel Regional Police and Wayne Nishihama and Randy Jamieson of the City of Mississauga. CPTED is an approach that uses innovative planning and development techniques to reduce crime, and has been fairly successful.

The second session concerned the influence of crime on society. Constable Scott Mills of the

Toronto Police Service shared how social media can be used to achieve community success and safety. Afterwards, Graham Clyne of the Peel Children and Youth Initiative gave a talk on the importance of community involvement to the economy. In his lecture he described how economic models can be used to study the outcomes and values of community and social service interventions.

The final part of the conference was focussed on criminal justice, such as at-risk youth and intimate partner violence. Melissa Punambolam of Ontario’s Ministry of Children and Youth Services summarized the duties of youth justice workers and the challenges faced by young individuals involved in the legal system.

For the conference’s two-part concluding lecture, Tina Hotton Mahony and Myrna Dawson of the University of Guelph highlighted some research on intimate partner violence, along with police responses to such incidents.

The goal of the annual Mississauga crime prevention conference is to provide a forum through which community leaders and professionals can “learn, share, and build partnerships that prevent crime before it happens”.

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»What did you think of the U.S. Election results?

Ali Lefcoe 4th-year, psychology

Ally Murray 4th-year, English

I wasn’t a big fan of Romney, but I liked Obama.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I found out. I was very happy. Good job, America.

Jason Prazeres 3rd-year, economics

Chris Sparks Director, library operations

I was happy when Obama won. I didn’t like Romney’s platform.

I was pleased, but it was such a bizarre process.

Mayor welcomes international students to the city The Mississauga Civic Centre teemed with students from UTM and Sheridan

The speakers encouraged students to stay and work in Mississauga after they graduate and to become ambassadors for the city in their native countries.

“Canada is probably the most exciting cultural experiment ever conducted on this earth,” Saini

said. “And the biggest part of that experiment is happening in places like Mississauga and Vancouver.

These are the places that are attracting the largest number of people from different cultures.”

He concluded, “So you are part of this experiment. Conduct that experiment really well and make a better world.”

After the talk, students mingled with the speakers and other international students over refreshments in the Great Hall.

Students talked to representatives of various city services, including recreation and parks, transportation, arts and culture, economic development, and the city library, which allowed students to set up a Mississauga Library card on the premises.

UTM is home to students from over 125 countries.

UTM Principle Deep Saini and Mayor Hazel McCallion greet students.

Canada honours war dead with service on Remembrance Day

Man arrested for stealing poppy boxes from Tim Hortons

CIA chief resigns after FBI discovers extramarital affair

Man sues wife for not telling him she used to be ugly, wins

18-year-old faces 27 charges for Danzig shootings

Flags flew at half-mast in the nation’s capital to mark Remembrance Day as crowds gathered outside the National War Memorial in Ottawa. The service included a military parade, a gun salute, and the laying of wreaths. Stephen Harper attended a Remembrance Day ceremony at Sai Wan War Cemetery in Hong Kong.

Nicholas Moorhouse, a 34-year-old Toronto man, was arrested for stealing poppy donation boxes from three downtown Tim Hortons locations. He was identified through video surveillance footage and had a poppy box in his possession when he was arrested, police said. The box contained about $50.

David Petraeus, 60, has resigned as the director of the CIA, admitting to an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.

The affair was discovered during an FBI investigation. Petraeus’ resignation shocked Washington’s intelligence and political communities. He had held the position since last September.

A man from northern China was “horrified” to discover that his baby was too ugly to be his or his wife’s. He accused his wife of infidelity, but she revealed that she had had about $100,000 of surgery to improve her looks before she met him. He won a lawsuit for $120,000 against her for marrying him under false pretenses.

Shaquan (Bam Bam) Mesquito, 18, has been arrested for the shooting at a Danzig Street block party that killed two bystanders and injured 24 others. He was charged with 27 offences on Thursday, including murder in the first degree. The investigation is ongoing; more charges are expected to be laid.

Source: The National Post

Source: TheToronto Star

Source: The Globe and Mail

Source:Yahoo! News

Source: The Globe and Mail

Jai Sangha Associate News Editor The City of Mississauga organized an event to welcome international students at the Mississauga Civic Centre last Friday to showcase the services and opportunities in the city.

About 80 international students from UTM and Sheridan College’s Oakville and Mississauga campuses gathered in the Council Chambers to listen to Hazel McCallion, the mayor of Mississauga; Deep Saini, the vice-president of U of T and principal of UTM; and Jeff Zabudsky, the president and CEO of the Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning.

“We want you to be a part of our city. We welcome people from all over the world in our city and

our university,” said McCallion.

“You’re very special, and we want to do anything we can to make you feel at home.”

“We want you to be a part of our city. We welcome people from all over the world in our city and our university.”

—Hazel McCallion

Jai Sangha/The Medium

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«NEWS THE MEDIUM

11.12.2012

Criticizing the local food movement

JASMEEN VIRK/THE MEDIUM

Pierre Desrochers explained the “Locavore’s Dilemma”.

Jai Sangha Associate News Editor Pierre Desrochers, an associate geography professor at UTM, criticized local food movement and policies in a talk titled “Locavore’s Dilemma” on campus last Thursday. The talk was organized by the Mississauga Freethought Association, a student club that seeks to promote logical thinking, scientific inquiry, and secularism at UTM. Locavores are people who try to eat only local food. Desrochers criticized the common assumption that “local” includes a political boundary. For Torontonians who hold to the literal “100-mile diet”,

he says, it means they can eat food from parts of New York State, but not from west of London and east of Belleville, Ontario.

Desrochers said the historical shift from locally grown food— which meant that food options were limited according to the season—to imported food happened as transportation technologies became cheaper and readily available and due to a growing concern about food adulteration.

“The amount of trust you can put in small operators that you meet in person, but who don’t have anything else to assure you that they are selling what they say it is, is not very compelling,” said Desrochers.

“You have a better idea of what you are buying in a large grocery store or retailer.”

Consuming higher-priced local food destroys more local jobs than it creates, according to Desrochers.

“If you spend more money to buy local food, yes, you will create some farming jobs. But you will have less money to spend at the local movie theatre or to buy local furniture,” he said. “You don’t create jobs by paying more for lesser-quality products. You create jobs by paying less for higher-quality products.”

Global trade routes for food are necessary for food security and to prevent famines, according to Desrochers, who cited this year’s early

spring and late frost, and droughts in Ontario as a reminder of the vulnerability of the local food supply.

The concept of “food miles” is flawed, he added, saying that the energy consumed to transport food varies greatly between modes like container ships and pickup trucks, and because food transportation accounts for only about 4% of the energy required to get food. The majority of the energy is consumed in production, said Desrochers.

“If you want to cut down on transportation by, let’s say, growing tents in a local greenhouse, you will need to heat the greenhouse in the first place,” said Desrochers. “So overall whatever you save on trans-

portation will be more than made up on the production side because you will need additional inputs. […] So there are no real environmental gains.”

Desrochers cited the environmental impact on forest cover in the U.S., which was at a low in the 1920s because more land was used for low-yield farming. The forests resurged after global trade routes were established and food production moved to high-yield areas in suitable climates. “If you want to protect nature, stay away from nature,” said Desrochers.

Desrochers is a coauthor of the 2012 book The Locavore’s Dilemma: In Praise of the 10,000-Mile Diet.

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Editor-in-Chief » Stefanie Marotta

The students versus the student New governance structure brings about change in student representation UTM is big. Before you start laughing, I want you to know that I’m serious. With 12,000 students, the Mississauga campus is comparable to Guelph and Brock. For a campus that originated as a college of U of T St. George, UTM’s rapid expansion over the past decade has positioned our school to take on greater autonomy and independence.

And that’s exactly what’s happening. Under the current governance structure, all matters at UTM are determined by the Governing Council, the highest decision-making body at U of T, at the downtown campus.

The Erindale College Council, which comprises students, faculty, staff, and librarians, is a large advisory body that makes recommendations on matters such as academic planning and finances. With the coming introduction of the UTM Campus Council, elected members will vote

on matters that will then go directly to Governing Council for approval.

Along with the drastic change, the UTM Students’ Union will find itself without guaraneed representation on the Campus Council. Currently, UTMSU executives have reserved seats on Erindale College Council.

The rest of the 75 student representatives on ECC have to run for election each year. With only four positions available for student representatives in the new system—and it has yet to be determined how they will be allocated—UTMSU will lose the luxury of guaranteed seats at the discussion table.

UTMSU executives will still be able to run for student positions on the UTM Campus Council, but they claim the lack of guaranteed seats could result in competition between the union and unaffiliated students who want to participate in gover-

nance and represent the student voice.

But do UTMSU executives merit a position on the Campus Council?

Why couldn’t another elected student represent the student voice just as effectively?

Along with the drastic change, the UTM Students’ Union will find itself without guaranteed representation on the Campus Council.

UTMSU proposed the inclusion of ex-officio non-voting seats for students in addition to the four voting representatives to allow union executives the opportunity to speak at

Council meetings.

Then UTM’s principal, Deep Saini, made a solid argument: the role of a student union executive is very different from that of a student representative in governance. The Campus Council will not be a forum for advocacy of stakeholder interests; rather, it will be a formal authoritative body that will ultimately vote on matters that impact the infrastructure and direction of our campus.

UTMSU questioned the availability of these four student representative seats. Who better to represent us that our own student union, right?

I’d share the same concern if it weren’t for the example of one dedicated student last year. Aly Madhavji ran a solid race and achieved a position that few UTM students could ever have dreamed of achieving: he was elected as a student representative on the Governing Council. With

fierce competition from and strong support for downtown students, it’s challenging to make it to the top of U of T governance as a UTM student.

In my experience with Aly, he was not only accessible, but also effective.

He represented students with genuine concern and eloquence and cooperated with faculty and the administration to understand the bigger picture.

With that in mind, I’d throw my support behind an independent student candidate for Campus Council.

I don’t think I’ll be around when the changes are implemented, but I hope UTMSU will continue in their intention to engage students and allow student governance representatives to do their jobs without interference from special interests.

YOURS, STEFANIE MAROTTA

Why I’m dropping out of school Dear Editor, Many suggest I should finish my undergrad (chemistry, philosophy, and math) with only two and a half credits left to finish—but I think the university owes me an honourary PhD. The truth is that my marks won’t get me anywhere.

Hear me out. Stressed out of my mind, I approached mental health clinicians at this school, and they tried to make my life a living hell. I understand that the concept of Big Pharma is hard to fathom for some—especially firstyears and anyone else immature and naïve—that that very disgusting, despicable, morally outraging, and vomitinducing practice occurs at U of T. What vision can possibly guide it morally and scientifically when psychiatry has yet to overcome the barrier of credibility while its malicious practices extend their godforsaken roots to

compete with the flower of society and future of this country? Owing its limited existence to preserving a mindless profit in the most medieval manner in a struggle for survival of human decency and the intellect, the U of T psychiatric department sits like a boulder on what growing roots U of T may have, but hopefully not in the way of that secondgeneration tree, grown in the soil of Erindale, the fruit of which now ripens.

Turning a profit on cancer drugs may be rationalized, but there can be no excuse for promoting unnecessary, costly, and dangerous drugs at any university.

If UTM wishes to lead, let it do so first by purging this city of morally offensive practices.

I need not dwell on the growing rumblings of a multitude over the state of the quality of education. My own experiences with many professors and especially of the array of unqualified drones

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Stefanie Marotta editor@mediumutm.ca NEWS EDITOR Larissa Ho news@mediumutm.ca ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR Jai Sangha A&E EDITOR Colleen Munro arts@mediumutm.ca MEDIUM II PUBLICATIONS 3359 Mississauga Road, Room 200, Student Centre, Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6 Phone: 905.828.5260

ASSOCIATE A&E EDITORS Aristotle Eliopoulos FEATURES EDITOR Carine Abouseif features@mediumutm.ca ASSOCIATE FEATURES EDITOR Jillian Lim

that are most TAs have near rendered my wrath unquenchable to willingly present arguments for what I am to understand is common and self-evident to many of like mind, yet mysterious and upsetting to the naïve and immature.

The fact is I was prescribed an antidepressant after two one-hour sessions, with the only warning being that “you may read some crazy stuff on the Internet”. Amid the stories about the woes of education and of adverse “side” effects of drugs cooked in a lab half a century ago but that continue to be prescribed negligently since then, grant me to say this: I’m in severe anxiety over the way we are progressing at this university.

If I don’t have time for my classes, it is only because I am occupied with the university itself, and I intend to take the lead where there is none.

Phillip Niedzielski

SPORTS EDITOR Isaac Owusu sports@mediumutm.ca

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Amanda Braddock

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the editor will be edited for spelling, grammar, style and coherence. Letters will not exceed 700 words in print. Letters that incite hatred, violence or letters that are racist, homophobic, sexist or libelous will not be published. Anonymous letters will not be published.

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« 11.12.2012

Editor » Colleen Munro

Montagues and Capulets reinvented Fair Verona gets a makeover in Hart House’s hip-hop-inspired production of Romeo and Juliet SONIA DHALIWAL When I asked my best friend if she wanted to have a BFF date on Thursday, I pictured a delicate, girly-girl evening: sushi, gossip on the subway, and Romeo and Juliet at Hart House.

You can imagine my shock when the play kicked off with Friar Lawrence in a leather jacket, rumbling Italian hip-hop and more dry-humping than a Li’l Wayne rap video.

Director Jeremy Hutton is no sucker for the cliché portrayal of the star-cross’d lovers. In his rendition of Romeo and Juliet, Hutton transforms Old Verona into modern, urban Italy, the streets littered with drunken teenagers and a reeking promise of new mutiny lingering in the humid Italian air.

“There is an expectation,” says Hutton, “that I, like many others, must have some sort of special concept to make the play exciting again.

It was my goal from the outset to avoid that pitfall.”

But special and exciting it was.

In each scene, the audience was dazzled by the fresh makeover given to Shakespeare’s greatest romantic tragedy. Even the smallest details provided the grandest twists for the audience, from the Capulets’ strip club, equipped with wigged male and female strippers, to the rave-like atmosphere at the Capulets’ feast, and from Friar Lawrence’s garden nestled in the basket of his bicycle to his subtle purchase of drugs from

DANIEL DIMARCO/PHOTO

Dubstep and strip clubs reign in Hart House’s modern-day take on Romeo and Juliet. a Verona teenager.

I have never felt more convinced by a cast than at this performance of Romeo and Juliet. The actors were born for their roles. The audience feels the anxiety in Jeremy Lapalme as Benvolio, the most level-headed of the Montagues. His glasses slide down his nose as he flutters around and his peppy nature livens up the stage. Benvolio’s constant source of anxiety, Mercutio, was played by Joshua Browne. He executed Mercutio’s soliloquy dynamically, scampering about the stage and humping

anything he could get his hands on.

Lesley Robertson takes the role of the nurse by storm in her cute kitten heels and slim figure. Her articulation in the accent of a working-class woman, her frizzy blonde bun, and her awkwardly timed rants leave the audience begging for more stage time from her. Scott Moore sparkled in the shoes of Friar Lawrence. Even the role of Peter was cast perfectly to Cameron Laurie, who turned him into a hysterical character lurking around where he shouldn’t be and offering much-

needed comic relief.

Paolo Santalucia’s debut at Hart House Theatre brings life into the role of Romeo. His pained gaze locked with the audience, and he declared in a defeated whisper, “Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs.” Santalucia rekindled the beautiful lines of the play I had long forgotten existed in the wake of “O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?” and “I defy you, stars!” Darwin Lyons’ Juliet, though successful in channeling the virginal young Capulet, came up short com-

pared to her forbidden lover. Santalucia, with his effortless angst and saucy temperament, was a strong presence to share the stage with.

Throughout the play, the audience is enthralled as Romeo and Juliet, naïve in their love, transcend the hateful rumblings of Verona.

At the Capulets’ feast, this juxtaposition between the fresh love of Romeo and Juliet and the hatred between the Capulets and Montagues materializes through Melanie Mastonardi’s choreography.

When Romeo first approaches Juliet with his “unworthiest hand”, the thumping baseline of the dubstep blaring from the DJ’s speakers halts, snuffed out by Ludovico Einaudi’s delicate piano instrumental. The lively, dancing party guests abandon their wild dancing and pair up; the women sway gently in their men’s arms as each couple subtly acts out the words of Romeo and Juliet’s dialogue. The effect is amplified when the lovers’ brief encounter halts, and the dubstep and drunken stupor abruptly resume around the lovers.

Even disguised in Hutton’s rough’n’-tumble Verona, the tragedy of the young lovers’ demise crushes the audience. I still felt what Shakespeare originally set out to convey: pity, not so much for the tribulations the young couple endures, but for the senselessness of their deaths.

The show runs at Hart House until November 24. Visit harthouse.ca/ romeo-juliet for show times.

Spotting the familiar Bond influences New Bond instalment offers more of the same... But is that a bad thing?

CLIFF LEE STAFF WRITER Skyfall, the 23rd and newest instalment in the James Bond series, follows Bond (Daniel Craig) on a mission to recover a hard drive that holds top-secret information about undercover agents in terrorist organizations.

In a certain light, one would see in Skyfall many techniques from previous blockbusters. One is the use of smart guns, including a pistol that authorizes only one person to fire it. In Skyfall, Agent Q (Ben Whishaw) equips Bond with such a gun. This gadget was also seen in Dredd, another recent action movie; the only difference is that in Dredd, the smart gun backfires when used by another person.

Another similar technique is that the villain, Silva (Javier Bardem), is locked up in seemingly impenetrable glass cage. This device was also seen in the highly successful Marvel Comics movie

SONY PICTURES/PHOTO

Daniel Craig and his scowl are back for more adventure in Skyfall.

The Avengers, with its villain, Loki.

Skyfall seemingly pushes Bond beyond super-detective status into the superhero category, which is also further emphasized by his pre-

occupation with resurrection and the Mission: Impossible-like tasks he takes on.

We also see references in the film to the aging Bond.

This was also a theme in films like The Expendables 2 and Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol, which features action heroes (in the above cases Ar-

nold Schwarzenegger and Tom Cruise). Directors seem to like using this lately as a source of humour about how the action heroes are older and not as adventurous and physically able as they once were. In Skyfall, Mallory (Ralph Fiennes) humiliates Bond for being too old to function as a field agent anymore. At one point Bond also struggles to hold on to a rising elevator. Though this is a common trope, the aging aspect benefits the plot by contributing an obstacle played out in many hero movies: the overcoming of one’s own limits.

And yes, it has constant sexual tension with the Bond girls (Naomie Harris, Berenice Marlohe), Bond dodging bullets and explosives by an inch, and the world seemingly revolving in Bond’s favor. Skyfall fulfills the expectations of a typical Bond movie. But Bond movies—and most other action movies, for that matter—seem to run better on cliché anyway.

MMMM

11.12.2012 THE MEDIUM A&E

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Kanye’s influence on the rock world How Kanye West has subtly expanded his musical reach PHIL WITMER If you’ve been tuning into radio at any point this year (pick a dead or dying format: Top 40! Modern rock! “Hits”!), you’ve almost definitely heard songs from New York indie pop band fun.’s album Some Nights. A few elements have probably stood out: frontman Nate Ruess’s croon reminiscent of Freddie Mercury, the lyrics’ focus on teenage abandon, and the odd, fragmented song structures.

What’s not so apparent on the surface is what went into making the new soundtrack of choice for the hip and young. That primary ingredient is the influence of Kanye West.

This isn’t mere speculation, either. Ruess acknowledged in interviews around the time of Some Night’s release that he was listening to nothing but hip-hop during the album’s conception and that he was pursuing a vision for a hiphop/rock fusion. He singled out producer Jeff Bhasker specifically for his work on West’s critically acclaimed 2010 album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. That record’s powerful, symphonic take on hiphop still sounds like nothing else in popular music, so it’s only logical that a rock band searching for a new way to do “anthemic” would look to it instead of the usual U2derived Brit-rock posturing that’s been played out for about a decade.

So while Ruess is in some ways using “lowest common denomi-

THEM MUSIC DUDES/PHOTO

From fun. to Frank Ocean, Kanye West’s influence can be found throughout a variety of genres. nator” pop songwriting (“We’re young and drunk!” is Some Nights’ grand overarching theme) that’s not far removed from, say, LMFAO; his band’s allegiance to West’s innovations makes them very, very modern. Of today’s rock bands, fun. is just the most open about their debt to West.

West’s sonic signatures—pounding, almost tribal drums, distorted melody lines, vocal manipulation, and overloaded arrangements— have now germinated throughout much of contemporary popular music. Consider that, other than Florence Welch’s now-ubiquitous wail, Florence + the Machine’s primary musical trademark is their

thunderous percussion. Lana Del Rey pretty much raps most of her catalogue. Passion Pit had a slow jam on this year’s Gossamer. All of these artists nominally make “rock” music. It’s a reflection of quickly changing tastes, too. When Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon (himself now an associate of Kanye) made an AutoTune-heavy a capella number called “Woods” back in 2009, fans of his raw folk style were up in arms. Nevertheless, Bon Iver’s self-titled album from last year featured stacks upon stacks of electro-angelic harmonies festooned with horns. He sang the word “I’mma” in the middle of one song. The album was a massive hit

as far as indie releases go and won the band two Grammys. This is not insignificant.

A lot of this goes back to West’s 2008 therapy session, 808s & Heartbreak. With its icy bleeps and confessional lyrics, 808s allowed the normally extroverted genres of hip-hop and R&B to be incorporated into the vocabulary of the perpetually navel-gazing indie musician along with minimalist electronic music. The xx, James Blake, How to Dress Well, Frank Ocean, and the Weeknd have all been adopted as “underground music”— even though competition-friendly singing, odes to coitus, and the occasional familiar flutter of Auto-

Tune were prevalent in almost all of their recordings.

The larger result? Rock is no longer the backbone of popular music. James Murphy’s predictions of bands trading their guitars for turntables came true. If you want to do some soul-searching, learn to rap or make a synth-pop album, because that lo-fi, earnest indie rock EP you put up on your Bandcamp is no longer as relevant as it was. The ongoing rise of indie hip-hop speaks to this; Odd Future, Lil B, and Danny Brown all exhibit the mixture of introspection and braggadocio that characterizes West’s writing. They have been rewarded with surprisingly big and devoted fanbases composed in large part of middle-class white kids who would normally be listening to rock. Not fair? Go talk to Kanye, because it’s his fault for introducing the trend.

Any music that can call itself modern must at least acknowledge the presence of West, even if no direct influence is obvious. Grizzly Bear is modern. Purity Ring is modern. Coldplay’s last album was modern, if mediocre. Drake is more modern than most other artists right now because he practically is West, or at least a more feminine version of him. Kanye West, through sheer audacity and the power of an all-consuming ego, has done the near-impossible: he bridged the gap between indie and mainstream. A dark, twisted, beautiful fantasy indeed.

Album review: Placebo’s B3

From trade shows to weddings to cultural festivals, this program offers the unique

British alt-rockers Placebo return with their newest EP, B3.

KRYSTAL KANTZ B3 is the perfect example of that point in a band’s life when they don’t break up or move on, and proceed to butcher their sound. What did Placebo do instead? They went to rehab, fired their drummer, and began to sing about “new tomorrows”.

On the latest album from ’90s British rock band Placebo, frontman Brian Molko takes the listener into a world of self-contemplation and societal critique. Closely following the band’s previous album, Battle for the Sun, Molko embraces a newer “hipster” sound yet again.

In the main title song, “B3”, the band uses a new hippy-inspired drone as Molko pleads with listeners to “help me start to heal”. Molko threw away a life of drugs and sex for a more controlled lifestyle, and likewise, B3 offers a brighter sound than Placebo’s

grunge and glam roots. (Though he’s still proud of his androgyny, Molko pleads for MAC Cosmetics to sponsor him.)

The second track, a cover of Minxus’ “I Know You Want to Stop”, is more like the old Placebo than the rest of B3 is. Bassist Stefan Olsdal outdoes himself, wielding his bass and his voice on the background vocals like weapons to knock out the listener.

“The Extra” addresses the topic of control, with Molko asking the listeners to wonder who is in control of everything. “If I am an extra in the film of my own life, then who the hell is the director?” I don’t know, Brian Molko! Maybe it’s Quentin Tarantino? Or Diablo Cody?

“I Know Where You Live” opens with a dance feel; this is the kind of song someone can move to, despite Molko’s melancholic tone. The band’s new drummer, Steve Forrest, shines

VAGRANT/PHOTO

with his club beat in the background, keeping the song upbeat and contrasting with Molko’s depressing, brooding, self-contemplative lyrics.

In the EP’s final song, “Time Is Money”, Molko sends us off with what sounds to me like a dark, quiet “fuck off ”. On the topic of religion, Molko has said, “I’m very attracted to Buddhism because it’s not about some bearded guy in the sky telling you what to do; it’s about you.” But these lyrics definitely have something less straightforward going on.

I am not entirely on board with this new, cheerful sound that Forrest has brought to the band, but I’m devoted to Brian Molko in everything he does.

Molko and Osdal have the decency to incorporate a portion of their previous sound into this poppy, political, and personal EP, allowing listeners who prefer their former style to still enjoy it. MM

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«ARTS THE MEDIUM 11.12.2012

Are recording studios worth the price?

Everything you need to know about getting your music recorded LUCAS DI MASCIO The transition from stage to studio can be intimidating for those who have never set foot in one. Even established musicians can get studio fright. You might even wonder what the point is of recording albums when people aren’t buying CDs, and instead just downloading music for free. If there’s little or no money in it for the musician, why bother spending the time and cash on recording?

There are many good reasons. Some venues will only book your band if you have a CD or a website with your music, so they can estimate whether it’ll bring people into their venue.

The fans you earn from playing these shows could support you by buying a physical copy of your music, or at least downloading it on iTunes. You also need a recording to be played on a radio station, and it makes it easier to share it with someone who could get you a record deal. It’s very easy to distribute your music widely once you have a recording, especially over the Internet. But what’s the best way to approach recording?

Music recording technology has improved a lot in the past few years, and it’s showing no signs of slowing

JUNAID IMRAN/PHOTO

You’ve got the bandmates and the music ready to go, but what comes next? down. These days you can pop into the nearest music store and buy fairly good recording gear that won’t break the bank. But there’s still no guarantee that your recordings will be of the same quality as a professional recording studio’s. Music production and recording engineering is a craft in itself, just as playing the instrument itself drums is an art people spend years perfecting. You can’t just pick up the equipment and effortlessly make something that sounds good.

The first step in recording your mu-

sic is researching the equipment you want. Good equipment can be expensive, and some gear can cost almost as much as a new car—although as technology has improved, so has the more affordable equipment. Should you decide that music production isn’t for you, it might be best to check out studios instead.

You shouldn’t necessarily record everything at the same studio. You might want to get just your drums recorded at a first-rate studio that has the proper room and the good mi-

crophones and preamps to do them right. You can then get the other instruments recorded at a budget studio to save some cash.

After the recording itself is done, it has to be mixed and mastered. Every recording studio should be able to mix music, but the choice depends on your budget; bigger studios with more gear will charge more for mixing.

Smaller studios will be cheaper, but will probably be using plugins (digital versions of compressors, equalizers, and other engineering toys to make

your songs sound awesome) rather than high-quality equipment. Most studio list what plugins they own if they’re worth mentioning. Nothing is wrong with using plugins, but they can’t always get the same effect as the real thing.

The same applies to mastering, but keep in mind that not every studio is actually equipped to master properly.

It’s best to go to a studio that is primarily, or even exclusively, used for mastering. The talent of the engineer also varies from studio to studio.

After you’ve got your recordings mixed and mastered and sounding sexy, consider getting them burned onto CDs. There are tons of options for burning and packaging; most services require a minimum order of 100–200 CDs. If you just want to make a few and you’re not worried about having a fancy jewel case, you can buy blank CDs and burn the tracks yourself from your computer.

Of course, don’t neglect the online portion of music distribution; it might even be all you need.

Remember, there are many ways to get your music out there. It’s all about knowing what you want and researching every step of the recordmaking process.

Music Club rocks for a good cause The Blind Duck is transformed for UMC’s fourth annual Charity Dinner ROWAN ELSHABASSY Tickets? Sold out. Tables? Hauled in from other rooms. Chairs? Not enough! That was how the Mosaic Charity Dinner went on Friday.

The fourth annual Charity Dinner, a collaboration of the UTM Music Club the Erindale Biology Society, was held to raise and donate funds to United Way. UTM students, faculty, and community came out to watch UTM students perform. The first act included performances by the UTM Choir, Hilary Pearson,

MMPA

Edna Bovas, UMC’s own Joe Measures, and yours truly, as well as Go Diana—a lovely band whose original music I for one expect to go far. Dax Urbsatz, a UTM faculty member, got the crowd going with covers, including a crowd favourite by Coldplay.

The charity dinner also featured the UTM dance group Rhythm and, last but not least, St. Cecilia’s Youth Orchestra, who gave a half-hour performance of originals and covers that captured the crowd and even got some people swing dancing in the back of the

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Blind Duck.

UMC also raffled off a pair of Beats headphones. In the week leading up to the Charity Dinner, people had been asked to perform crazy tasks for a chance to win extra raffle tickets for this prize, including dancing and singing along to songs with “suggestive lyrics”, as UMC’s president, Nilabjo Banerjee, put it. The lucky winner, Suleiman Khan, had won 10 raffle tickets the day before the event by dancing and singing in the middle of the CCT Building.

JUNAID IMRAN/THE MEDIUM

Joe Measures and Rowan ElShabassy perform at the pub.

11.12.2012

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Editor » Carine Abouseif

Would you pay for Facebook fame?

Facebook to test Promoted Posts for personal accounts. We asked UTM: would you do it?

JILLIAN LIM ASSOCIATE FEATURES EDITOR “When I made Facebook two years ago, my goal was to help people understand what was going on in their world a little better,” Mark Zuckerburg wrote in a 2006 blog post.

Five years later, we click through company ads, requests to “like” a page to get a discount, and options to gain “subscribers”—a noticeable change from the simple design most of us encountered around 2006. This October, Facebook engineer Abhishek Doshi announced that the social media site will test a service where users can pay $7 to have their posts come up first on their friends’ newsfeeds. The charge will apply on a per-post basis.

Last May, Facebook debuted a different service, “Promoted Posts”, where pages run by both users and organizations could pay to get their posts moved up on their fans’, and friends of fans’, newsfeeds. But the service is being made available to regular users for $7 a post. Facebook cites baby and wedding photos as examples of posts that users can promote with the new service. It’s a great marketing tool for organizations seeking to attract more attention,

but it’s surprising that their latest test project would target everyday users.

To Rhonda McEwen, an assistant CCIT professor, the new service reflects the emergence of Facebook’s marketing- and money-driven mission. “It’s a bit of a social narrative that Facebook is more social,” McEwen said. “In reality, Facebook is marketing.”

But if Facebook is an unclear mix between personal relationships and marketing opportunities, where does it leave Zuckerburg’s mission to “make the world more open”—as he reiterated in a 2012 letter to investors? More importantly, how will Facebook’s marketing tactics affect people who do use the website to “understand what’s going on in their world a little better”?

In a campus survey of 20 students, all of them said they would not use Promoted Posts. Some had issues with the price of $7 per post, while others said they used Facebook for personal connections and had no need for it as advertising.

“Why would I pay money for people to see my posts when they don’t even want to see them in the first place?” said Steve Sothiratnam, a third-year biology specialist. “Out of all the Facebook friends I have,

I really only interact with about 12 of them, and those 12 will already know what I post.”

In the context of social connection, Sothiratnam felt that paying to have your posts appear higher in the newsfeed rankings is attention-seeking. “If your self-worth is defined by how many likes you have, that’s pretty sad,” he said.

Another student, Catherine Le, shared Sothiratnam’s view. Le, a life sciences major, said the service would be “obnoxious” for personal posts. To political science major Janelle Saldanha, the option to impose your updates on a newsfeed represents a manipulation of news values.

“You’re basically paying to be deemed more important,” Saldanha said. “Can you imagine people paying to be noticed or ignored on a news station?”

Since many Facebook users treat their newsfeed as their most important—or, in some cases, only— source of news, Saldanha’s analogy seems apt. It also brings up another question: would Promoted Posts skew users’ ideas of what’s newsworthy among their friends’ posts?

Would you pay $7 to promote your personal post ?

Statistic from The Wall Street Journal

Promote continued on page 10

VOL 2 EP 8: I must be hearing things LUKE SAWCZAK COPY EDITOR Hi! Today’s topic comes from a friend of mine who posed a question to the world of Facebook in his status. That’s the best kind of topic.

He asks, “Can someone please explain vy many Indian people pronounce ‘v’ as ‘w’ and wice wersa? I’m wery curious what causes this.”

A similar question is asked by many people who’ve heard someone speak a second language: why are some sounds so difficult for non-native speakers?

A few people followed up on his post to give some other examples: Korean speakers substitute ‘p’ for English ‘f ’, Arabic speakers substitute ‘b’ for ‘p’, and so on. And believe me, English speakers are just as horrible in other languages. So what’s going on here?

To start with, every language has a limited inventory of sounds—in theory, around what’s needed to differentiate the language’s words. Everyone learns their own language, and ends up being able to make and distinguish all of its sounds. So why can’t they learn another language’s sounds?

It’s not just a matter of pronouncing it right. There’s another major obstacle: they often can’t even perceive the sound

properly. A language doesn’t just have an inventory of real sounds, which we call “phones”. It also has an inventory of abstractions from the sounds; we call these “phonemes”. Once you’ve learned your native language, your phoneme inventory is more or less set.

What does this mean, “abstractions from the real sounds”? Think about all the situations in which you hear language spoken: in a quiet room, but also at the bus stop, in a bustling cafeteria, in an echo-prone lecture hall, and so on. The complex torrent of sound waves coming at you is different in each. There’s also variation in who we talk to—their pitch, their exact pronunciation, their volume, the timbre of their voice, their accent, their dialect, and so on. Take the ‘b’ sound; what a miracle we can recognize all the million variations of the sound waves that pass for ‘b’ as the same sound!

How do we do it? One fairly well-evidenced theory is that the brain learns to discard all the minor variations and assimilate all those inputs under one “heading”, one abstraction; this is the phoneme. “Aha,” says your unconscious, “those sound waves I’m hearing are really ‘b’. I know to ignore all these irrelevant physical details that would only distract me from recognizing it.”

All well and good—for speaking one language. What happens when you encounter a language where some of those details aren’t irrelevant? What if one of those details is the tiny physical difference between the sound waves for ‘p’ and ‘b’? If your language doesn’t make the distinction, your brain has been unconsciously trained to consider it the same phoneme.

Here’s an example. Briefly pronounce “s” and “z” and you’ll feel how just about everything in your mouth stays the same between them. The same is true of “sh” and “zh” (the sound in “measure”). The friend who raised this question speaks Polish, a language with three different pairs in the range between the two English pairs I just named. I’d bet anything that English speakers faced with Polish will only perceive two pairs, even when they’re hearing three.

So the question is, can we ever train ourselves to hear new sounds?

First, a bit of background on how we learn our native language. It’s a well-accepted fact that our languagelearning ability as children is a superpower compared to what we have in our adult life. When a baby is born, it has no “preset” language; it’s ready for anything. Some fascinating studies

found that in their first few months, babies can distinguish between any given sounds (at least, among those found in human language). After a few months, that ability starts to diminish. As they become a fluent speaker of their language, an inventory of only the phonemes they need solidifies.

Changing it after that is very, very hard. What do you do if you can’t even perceive the sound you want to learn? It is possible. It depends partly on awareness of your language and its sounds (for example, many English speakers are surprised to learn that English even has a “zh” sound, perhaps because we don’t have a spelling dedicated to it).

Which sound you’re learning is also a factor, and probably the most relevant for my friend’s question. I once asked Professor Syme of the English department how it is that he can say “th” perfectly, but sometimes chooses the wrong sound between “w” and “v”. He explained that for German speakers, “th” is actually easy to learn, because they don’t have any phonemes to confuse it with. But to him, “w” and “v” sound similar and feel similar to pronounce.

Thus, because in English “w” contrasts with ‘v”, we’ve learned to carefully distinguish them. But speakers

of languages that never need to make that distinction—like the Indian languages my friend mentioned—are unconsciously conditioned to ignore the differences.

And this particular case is quite common. We know that “w” and “v” are acoustically and perceptually similar, partly because we frequently see fluctuations between them in the histories of languages. One person commented on the post that Latin had only “w”. True—and yet most of the languages descended from Latin have “v” where Latin had “w”, and it’s not that surprising a change. In the big picture, English is the odd one out for contrasting them.

Maybe one day we won’t.

(P.S. Someone once generously said I should pitch this column to some big paper. I said I’m just a student—my current handle on linguistics wouldn’t cut it in the outside world. Case in point: last week I said the fact that you change a real thing in the real world just by saying “I swear” is illocution. No doubt the illocution also has to do with swearing, but by the definitions I gave, what matters here is clearly perlocution.

Thanks to the perceptive reader who pointed this out!)

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«FEATURES 11.12.2012

Happy hour ends early at UTM Why isn’t the Blind Duck open late on Fridays?

CLIFF LEE STAFF WRITER Ever tried going for a drink at the Blind Duck Pub on a Friday night?

If so, you probably peered through the bars at the Student Centre entrance and realized there would be no drinks there that night.

In a letter to the editor titled “Rage against the campus”, Sami Karaman, a fourth-year student, pointed to the pub’s limited hours as one of UTM’s flaws. “What kind of restaurant and bar […] closes at eight Mondays through Thursdays?” he wrote. “Well, it’s not that bad. I mean, it’s probably open to midnight or something on Fridays, right? Wrong. The Blind Duck, that beautiful student sanctuary where I can forget about midterms and essays and have a nice, cold beer, closes at four in the afternoon on Fridays.”

According to the Blind Duck’s page on UTMSU’s website, the pub closes at 5 p.m. on Fridays. (Monday through Thursday, the pub closes at 7 or 8 p.m., though.)

Karaman has a point. It seems kind of strange that the campus’s only alcohol-serving venue should close so early on a Friday. His letter leads us to ask: why are pub hours implemented the way they are?

“When I started running the pub, the hours were only nine to five p.m.,” said Shane Madhani, the Blind Duck’s manager. After being appointed manager, Madhani ex-

JUNAID IMRAN/THE MEDIUM

A busy Tuesday evening at the Blind Duck. tended the pub’s hours. But the pub’s management says there tends to be less business on Fridays in general, so extending hours into the night would probably be a loss.

“We have 40 staff members employed and we don’t lack the manpower to do it, if needed,” Madhani added. “The only times when the pub does stay open past its usual hours [are] during pub events held on Thursdays and Fridays.”

“Extending pub hours past 8 p.m. would not work, as it wouldn’t be beneficial for the pub,” commented

Raymond Noronha, UTMSU’s VP internal and services. “With classes ending at 9 p.m., most students would be catching buses home.”

But doesn’t the need to leave campus the minute classes are over reflect on UTM’s campus culture?

And what about the people who call this campus home?

Some residence students said they would go to the pub on Friday nights if it were open. Obaid Said, a third-year political science student and campus resident, says that “proper lighting and the right atmo-

sphere” would bring him to the pub on Friday nights. The appeal? It’s a few minutes by foot and you’re already with your friends, he said.

Aside from the convenience, another residence student, Timothy Daniels, says the food is just better.

He says he’d come to the pub on Friday nights just because he prefers the food selection to off-campus pubs.

The other question is, why are students who don’t live on campus so eager to flee as soon as their classes are over?

“There are already pub nights on Thursdays that extend into the night,” said Noronha. “Most students would prefer to go out to outside pubs and clubs, and this creates a better balance between school friends and friends outside.”

But if that were the case for students outside of UTM, then why are other campus pubs open later than ours? For example, Ram in the Rye, Ryerson’s campus pub, stays open until 2 a.m. on both Thursdays and Fridays. York’s Cock and Bull pub does the same. Is it because we’re not in the city? Don’t UTM students like to hang at pubs and bars?

Somehow, it doesn’t seem like that’s the case, especially when we’re just talking about being able to have a beer and nachos with your friends on Friday nights.

At present, the pub holds club and society events on Friday nights after it’s officially closed. And it seems like the decision to keep limiting the pub to private events on Fridays isn’t really a decision made by management—in a way, it’s really a decision made by the students.

Then again, in an informal survey of 10 students, eight said they would go out to the pub on Fridays if it were open.

For now, though, when there are no special club events, the pub is officially closed at 5 p.m. on Friday. And unless something changes in campus culture, or unless more people speak up, it’s going to stay that way.

Bump up your FB post Promote continued from page 9

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Before we address that question, an introduction to Facebook’s current algorithm is called for. Only four of the 20 students said they knew about or understood Facebook’s current method for selecting which stories show up in their newsfeeds and with what priority.

Facebook uses a program called EdgeRank to do just that. The program has been described as “the most important algorithm in marketing” by marketing guru and podcaster Kelvin Newman.

An algorithm is a basically formula that takes an input and calculates a result. In a post called “The ultimate guide to the Facebook EdgeRank algorithm”, Newman provides suggestions for marketers on how to use EdgeRank to get their posts noticed.

The input in this case, as he explains, is every Facebook interaction—like a status update, an uploaded photo, or a like. Each of these is an “edge”.

The algorithm ranks each edge according to three criteria: affinity, weight, and recency (also known as time decay).

If you visit someone’s profile often or like a large number of their posts, the algorithm determines that you have a high affinity with them; as a result, their posts will appear more frequently in your newsfeed. If you post something with media content, such as a photo, video, or link, that post carries more weight, and so is

more likely to take precedence over other posts. And if your post is old, then it’s less likely to take precedence, because it does not fulfill the criterion of recency. Newman suggests that marketers take advantage of the algorithm and plan ahead.

His advice is intended to help businesses be seen, but the fact that there’s a strategy also implies that things aren’t as transparent as we might like to think they are. Newman points out that “the newsfeed isn’t really a feed of news”.

A visitor to econsultancy.com, where Newman’s article was published, commented, “EdgeRank is another way of making the popular kids or brands more visible on Facebook. It’s all about who has the edge.” After EdgeRank and the tools already in place for organizations to market themselves, the Promoted Posts service just seems like it will make it harder to sort through what you read to decide what’s really newsworthy.

For McEwen, Facebook’s increasing status as a way to promote oneself, even for profit, is part of Facebook’s natural progression.

“Facebook did put [out] the idea of ‘social’ at first,” McEwen explained.

“But now that we’re all there, it is their goal to monetize.” McEwen compared Facebook’s gradual changes with Highway 407, which provides faster commutes at an additional cost.

But McEwen also believes that

Promoted Posts may not be the best way to increase profit, considering the social behaviour of Facebook users. “The service would actually annoy your friends,” she said. “So you would actually be sabotaging your network rather than building it.” McEwen added that people might pay for more useful services, like storing documents or importing contacts to their phones. “Facebook needs to look at how to make their users want to pay for something,” she explained.

Still, although all 20 students answered “no” in the UTM poll, an interactive poll held by The Wall Street Journal did see some people saying “yes”. About 8,000 people voted “no”, and some 300 voted “yes”, making the service proposal seem a little less like a bad idea. Obviously, there’s room for speculation. Many of the 300 may want to use Promoted Posts to promote services or products rather than just personal details.

For now, Promoted Posts is only a test service, and it’s only available in select countries to users with fewer than 5,000 friends. Facebook will also be testing different price points for the service, so perhaps the students who said “no” will reconsider.

On that note, most students say they dislike the idea of paying money to promote their personal posts, but third-year biology specialist Suleiman Khan admitted otherwise. “I think I might do it,” Khan confesses.

“For a penny.”

11.12.2012

»

11

Editor » Isaac Owusu

Div One Eagles (White) beat U of T Law 73–62 Guard Zakariya Khan’s passing and late game heroics lead Team White to victory

EBI AGBEYEGBE ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR After losing their last game by a score of 72–58 to U of T Law, UTM’s Division One (White) men’s team were looking to put in a better performance against Physical and Health Education. During warm-ups, the Eagles were moving quickly up and down the court and their excitement was visible. Last game, their offence had been stagnant, and they didn’t run their plays effectively enough.

The first half started slow, and for the first two minutes of the game both teams went inside to their big men. UTM power forward Harris Nvrkanovic showed off his impressive court vision with a quick pass to the cutting Zakariya Khan, who finished with an open layup at the rim. But this was the only bright spot early for the Eagles; soon, their inability to run plays was showing again.

The Eagles were running a pickand-roll game, but PHE defended excellently against it and also forced turnovers to take an early 15–8 lead.

Juan Nunez, the Eagles’ head coach, called a timeout. He expressed his disappointment at the lack of commitment to the plays and the lack of effort on defence. His exclamation sounded throughout the gym: “Just run the plays we practiced!”

The Eagles didn’t improve much after the timeout; they were still stagnant on offence, and PHE responded by knocking down three straight

UTM frustrated U of T law with their dominance on the boards. three-pointers to make it 24–15 by the time there was 5:25 left in the first half.

But these three-pointers seemed to wake up the Eagles’ defence. Point guards Khan and Juan Ariado pushed the ball down the court every chance they got, and with effective rebounding from centre Jeff Thorpe, UTM was able to end the half on a 24–5 run and head to a half-time with a score

of 39–29.

The second half started off the same way the first half ended, with the Eagles pushing the ball and playing a strong defence. PHE visibly grew frustrated with their lack of penetration and their inability to get rebounds. The coach-less team called a timeout two minutes into the second half to rally each other and cut into UTM’s lead, which had now grown to

What to expect from the Raptors KAREEM RAMADAN Following a disappointing 23–43 campaign and their fourth consecutive season without a playoffs run, the pressure on the Raptors to improve and compete for the playoffs is high.

On the offensive end, the Raptors have a lot of work to do to become a legitimate playoffs contender. Last season the Raptors averaged 90.7 points per game, the third-lowest total in the NBA. Their hope is that coach Dwane Casey can better implement his offensive system with a full training camp and preseason schedule to iron out the wrinkles.

The Raptors have also made a number of key acquisitions in the off-season to improve their offence.

Among them are point guards Kyle Lowry and John Lucas III and small forwards Landry Fields, Dominic McGuire, Allan Anderson, and Terrence Ross.

The expectation is that Kyle Lowry and veteran point guard Jose Calderon will form a dangerous one-two punch and provide Casey with the luxury of playing one starting-calibre point guard at all times. Fields, Mc-

Guire, and Anderson are expected to rotate at the small forward position and provide defensive flexibility.

Ross and Lucas III don’t figure to play a significant role initially, but they’re both capable of scoring off the bench and spot-starting in the event of in-

“The Raptors are improved over last year on paper, but so are a lot of other teams.”

—Saif El-Aboudi jury.

The Raptors will also welcome Jonas Valančiūnas, a top prospect in 2011, to the squad. The Lithuanian centre comes highly regarded; it was rumoured that if he had been eligible, he would have been the second-best prospect in 2012 by general consensus, behind Anthony Davis.

If Valančiūnas’ play overseas is any indication, the Raptors are in for a treat. The young centre has already won the 2008 FIBA Under 16 MVP, the 2010 FIBA Under 18 MVP, the 2011 FIBA Under 19 MVP, and the 2011 FIBA Young Player of the Year.

Suffice it to say that expectations are high; by all accounts, Valančiūnas is the most talented centre prospect the Raptors have ever drafted.

Expectations are also high on the defensive end. Under Casey, the Raptors limited opponents to 94.0 points per game (tied for ninth-best in the NBA), a significant improvement over the 2011 squad, who surrendered 105.4 points per game.

The fans’ expectations of the Raptors this season are mixed. “The Raptors are improved over last year on paper, but so are a lot of other teams,” said Saif El-Aboudi, a third-year economics student. “Realistically, they will be battling to stay near .500 all season.”

Fazle Rablee, a fourth-year science major, offered a more optimistic outlook. “The defence was much improved last season, and with a full training camp, I expect the offence to improve with it,” he said. “The real test will be the first 22 games of the season, in which the Raptors play 15 games on the road.”

Rablee continued, “If the Raptors can hover around .500 through that span, it will be clear sailing the rest of the way, and they should make the

ALBERTO BECERRA/THE MEDIUM

10 points.

To their credit, UTM played exceptionally well at the beginning of the n second half. They continued pushing the ball, and with passing from Khan, both Thorpe and Nvrkanovic were getting rebounds above the PHE players. UTM had a 52–38 lead with 7:32 left in the second half.

But the lead affected UTM’s play; their offence stood still, shots weren’t

falling, and PHE increased their defensive pressure. PHE was gained possession of the ball, and with strong driving from their point guard and power forward, they got to the free throw line and cut down the lead to only five points.

With the score at 61–56 and 3:25 left, Nunez called another timeout.

After the timeout, UTM guards Ariado and Khan were able to hold on to the ball and get to the free throw line to hold off a comeback, sealing the win at 73–62.

“We are not playing to our potential yet,” said Khan, whose score of 12 points was the highest on his team, after the game. “We had a tournament on the weekend where we played against better opposition, and we played with an intensity that we aren’t used to. We need to get our defensive intensity up, and sooner or later, when we get it together, we’ll be tough to beat. The guys are coming together and we’re getting to be more of a team.”

Thorpe commented, “We played well, built up a lot of momentum at the end of the first half, but we got complacent. We should have won the game by more.”

“They have a lot of potential, looked unsure at the beginning; second half, things got better,” said Chris Thompson, the president of UTMSU and a former UTM white player. “They’re my old team, so I want to see them do better. I know they can play a lot better than they played today.”

On to the show INGRID MELDRUM On Wednesday, the UTM Division One women’s soccer team braved the cold to play their semifinals game against St. Michael’s College at Varsity Stadium. Since the game was a playoffs match, it had both a referee and linesmen. By 7:45 p.m. the teams were on the field, ready to earn their spot in the gold-medal game.

Both squads had to adjust to playing in Varsity Stadium, since the field is bigger than what they’re used to, and the field is made of turf.

UTM controlled the play for the majority of the first half and had a few scoring opportunities, including a shot from Leah Smith that hit the crossbar, but the girls were unable to sink their shots. Late in the half, UTM had another great chance at scoring, but the forward was deemed offside, giving St. Mike’s the ball. At half-time, the score still stood at 0–0.

The Eagles came out strong in the second half, hungry for a goal.

The girls were rewarded for their effort after just two minutes of

play when Diane Fric and Leah Smith came down the right side.

Fric easily passed the St. Mike’s sweeper and crossed the ball into the goalie’s box, where Smith sent the ball into the left corner of the net. UTM had broken the score to 1–0, and all they needed to do now was keep their opponents from scoring.

St. Mike’s tried to answer with a goal, but only had one good opportunity, which was shut down

by UTM’s goalie, Christy Simbeya. UTM had a few opportunities to secure their lead with a second goal, but were unsuccessful: Sarah Atkinson kicked the ball just over the crossbar and Natasha Butzow was deemed offside.

On the defensive end, UTM had a spectacular lineup and prevented St. Mike’s from getting any chances to score.

“The girls played amazing,” said UTM’s coach, Robert Brown, after the game. “They limited the other team’s chances and they worked the flanks perfectly.”

UTM will play the women’s Division One final against UTSC on November 24 at Varsity Stadium.

12

«SPORTS THE MEDIUM

11.12.2012

What do you think about the NHL lockout and What have you been watching since the lockout?

History made on the pitch First campus rec intramural soccer playoffs series decided JACK KRIST History was made on Wednesday at UTM’s South Field as the firstever campus rec intramural outdoor soccer league came to a conclusion.

The league began with five teams playing 11-a-side soccer on the North Field. Severe rain and poor field conditions forced the cancellation of the last two weeks of the regular season games, so the final standings were calculated from the games that had already been played. The top four teams advanced to the playoffs. The semifinals took place last Tuesday, and the final was held on the following day.

The first-seeded Man-ChestHair United team, primarily made up of UTM staff members and a few students, faced the tough CUAUTM FC team in the semifinals.

With a total of only seven players, Man-Chest-Hair almost scored 30 seconds into the game when the CUA goalkeeper was forced to dive on the ball out of the box to prevent a breakaway goal. The play earned the keeper a red card and put the CUA team down to 10 players.

The first half ended with CUA up by a score of 1–0. The second half was all Man U: they pressed and got the equalizing goal, and then scored again with less than a minute left in the game on a free kick from just outside the box.

Mehdi Salemi ran over the ball and headed toward the goal, while Paul

Murray chipped the ball across the box to the far post, where Mark Higgins chested the ball down.

The ball rolled right to the foot of a breaking-in Salemi, who blasted the ball into the bottom corner to make the final score 2–1 for Man U.

Two late goals sealed Man-Chest-Hair’s fate at 5–0 and thrust the Ginger Ninjas into UTM campus rec intramural history as the first ever men’s outdoor soccer league champions.

In the other semi, the secondseeded Wheeler Nailers faced the third-seeded Ginger Ninjas. The Ninjas were looking to avenge a 2–0 regular season loss to the Nailers. Playing with only eight players, the Nailers were under constant pressure from the Ginger Ninjas.

The Ninjas scored two first-half goals, one at the 11-minute mark

by Tianyi Sun and then another right before half-time by Kunga Woeser. That second goal seemed to take all the steam out of the already shorthanded Nailers. The Ninjas controlled the second half but could not add to their final score of 2–0.

Since the final was to be held the very next day, the two teams

had less than 24 hours to rest. The Ninjas were out in full force for the final with a full 14-player squad.

Man-Chest-Hair United could only muster nine players.

The Ninjas scored the opening goal early in the game when Mousa Dojjani got control of a loose ball in the box and scored on a nice volley to the bottom corner. With less than 30 seconds to go in the first half, Dojjani struck again to make the score 2–0. Like the Ninjas’ goals had done to the Nailers in the semi, that late last goal seemed to take its toll on the Man U team. Early in the second half, Daryl Nu Nam Young was able to chip the goalie from distance to find the top corner of the net from just outside the box to make it 3–0.

Two late goals sealed Man-ChestHair’s fate at 5–0 and thrust the Ginger Ninjas into UTM campus rec intramural history as the first men’s outdoor soccer league champions.

Program coordinator Jack Krist was happy with the turnout for this brand new league. “UTM has some of the finest grass fields on all of the three U of T campuses, and with all the campus rec indoor soccer players at UTM, taking the game to the fields was an easy decision,” he said. “We had five good teams this year, and I’m looking to grow the league for next year.

All teams were able to play at least three games. And with better luck in the weather next year and some more teams, many more students can enjoy this exciting league.”

Men’s intramural soccer lose thriller

St. George Black makes an emotional comeback at Varsity Stadium INGRID MELDRUM

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The UTM men’s tri-campus soccer team travelled downtown to Varsity Stadium for a playoffs game against their rival team, St. George Black, on Thursday. It was a rematch for the two teams, who tied their last game.

UTM’s coach, Omar Jbaihi, talked to the team during their pregame warm-up. “If we don’t put in a consistent effort for 90 minutes, there will be no next game,” he said. “This is Ryan’s last year at UTM. We’re gonna win it for him.” Midfielder Ryan Tawil had been suspended from the game for having too many yellow cards in previous games.

The Eagles came out strong from the kick-off, keeping the ball in St. George Black’s end. UTM’s defence was standing close to the halfway line as a wall against their opponents’ strikers. Any chances St. George Black had to score were either blocked by UTM’s defence or stopped by goalie Akil Ladha. Ladha was spot-on between the pipes; he stopped shots and made great kicks to his midfielders, setting up some great plays.

UTM’s effort was rewarded with a goal by Sairam (Sammy) Montiel Landeros, who was congratulated with cheers from his teammates and coaches, and from the small group of fans who braved the cold to watch the game. St. George Black’s goalie, Mikhael Lamont, frustrated at having been scored on, began cursing at his own players; the referee spoke

with him before allowing the game to continue. A few minutes later, a St. George defenceman shoved Lamont, yelled “Shut up!”, and ran back to the play. Lamont was not the only frustrated one on his time; the coaches on the sideline also got into an argument about their strategy.

“The guys played like a team. We played hard and we played for each other. We are a young team and we have a lot to learn.”

—Ryan Darryl Nu Nam Young UTM had a number of scoring opportunities, including two free kicks from the 30-yard line, but were unable to capitalize on them. Finally, just before the end of the first half, UTM’s Carlos Lopez scored a goal, assisted by Landeros. When the whistle was blown at half-time, the score was 2–0 in favour of UTM. At the start of the second half, UTM’s Mamadou Tandia’s ankle was injured after an opposing player fell on it when they both went up for a header. This was the turning point of the game; St. George Black scored two goals immediately afterward, tying the score at 2–2. Immediately after St. George Black’s second goal,

UTM’s left-footed striker, Antony Said, scored a goal with his right foot, putting his team back in the lead.

UTM sustained various injuries throughout the second half: Tandia’s ankle, Giovanni MacDonald’s knee, Daniel Araoz’s pulled muscle, and Bryan Bourguignon’s muscle cramps. The Eagles were able to hold their lead until close to the end of the game, when St. George Black was able to score a third goal off a header from a corner kick.

The game went into overtime. Both teams were hungry for the win, playing with intensity and arguing over almost every call the referee made.

UTM’s lineup was changed due to player injuries, but some injured players were still on the field, as UTM only had two substitutes. The Eagles’ hopes for a tri-campus championship were defeated when St. George Black scored the final goal out of a scrum in front of UTM’s net after a corner kick.

UTM’s captain, Ryan Darryl Nu Nam Young, was disappointed, but was happy with the way his team played. “The guys played like a team.

We played hard and we played for each other. We are a young team and we have a lot to learn,” he said. “The best way to do that is to forget this season and move forward. We have an indoor season coming up, and we just have to play the game we know how to play.”

The indoor soccer season will start in January.