The Queen's Journal, Issue 9

T u e s d ay , S e p t e m b e r 2 7 , 2 0 11 — I s s u e 9

j the ournal Queen’s University — Since 1873

Gaels beat McMaster

Flanker Matt Kelly (left) and hooker Matthew Wolfe celebrate a try during the men’s ruby team’s win over the McMaster Marauders on Sept. 24. See page 15 for full story.

Academics

Fine Arts returns students to building Classes back to normal for third years impacted by over-enrolment B y B randon P asternak Staff Writer Third-year students in the Fine Art program have returned to Ontario Hall after an administrative error forced their removal from the building last year.

An unanticipated number of students accepted an offer to the Queen’s Fine Art program in spring 2010. Instead of the target number of 30 students, the department accepted 46 students for admission that fall.

“We kind of got shafted into Macgillivray-Brown Hall, which has insufficient space and supplies got stolen and what not,” Harmony Kan said, adding that the error impacted everyone enrolled in the mandatory second-year studio art class.

“A lot of students were not impressed with how the second years were moved … without notice. Everything was delayed, information was kept from us.”

Though the over-enrolment affected the class’ quality last year, this year things have returned to normal, Kan, BFA ’13 said.

“This year they so far have figured out everything,” she said.

Twelve students from the class of 2014 dropped or switched out of the Fine Art program.

Kathleen Sellars, Fine Arts program director, said that while this is a higher attrition rate than normal, she can’t attribute it to anything specifically.

While the class of 2014 is now closer to normal numbers, there’s still challenges.

“We have to see this group

all the way through now, so we will continue to address the need for additional space, teachers, technical support and equipment,” Sellars said.

“There are lots of positives, but I don’t want to minimize the challenge it has made and that it is something we want to make sure doesn’t happen on a regular basis.”

Sellars said the number of students who register in September

usually varies. Though a similar situation occurred about 10 years ago, it’s not often that more students are accepted than the department has room for.

Extra costs incurred by the over-enrolment in 2010 included the salaries of additional adjunct professors, and the extra cost for materials, equipment and technical support, Sellars said.

After faculty members receive

hundreds of applications to the program, they rank them and review applicants’ portfolios. It’s then Queen’s Undergraduate Admission that is responsible for sending out a specific number of offers to prospective students.

“When students apply they indicate where they rank Queen’s in terms of which university they expect to accept. Based on that, See Twelve on page 5

campus construction

New med building opens The $77-million medical facility will foster team-learning B y C atherine O wsik Assistant News Editor The Queen’s School of Medicine completed a new $77-million home at the corner of Arch and Stuart Streets.

The building had its grand opening on Sept. 22, with approximately 400 alumni, students and faculty in attendance.

The four-storey building will support a new patient-focused curriculum. Students will be taught in small groups to learn how to deal with patients directly.

Dr. Richard Reznick, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Director of the School of Medicine, said the new building will give the medical students at Queen’s a true home.

“Our nursing students and our rehabilitation students will be coming for various classes here as

well, and I imagine other students across campus,” Reznick said.

“When we’re not using the facility, it’s a Queen’s facility.”

The building was funded with $57.6 million given from the provincial and federal governments through the Knowledge Infrastructure Program, over $17 million from donors and $500,000 from medical students through an opt-outable fee of $100.

The building has 124,000 square-feet of teaching and learning space including two large lecture theatres, a clinical education centre, simulation laboratories, basic hands-on laboratories and 28 small meeting rooms that encourage team-based learning.

Research won’t be conducted in the building.

The Anatomy Museum, previously in Botterell Hall, has been relocated onto the third floor

of the new facility.

Reznick said the 20-room clinical education centre within the building will allow medical students to work on community patients while supervised by qualified doctors.

To be used exclusively by medical students, the clinic will eventually open as a working clinic to treat patients. During flu season the clinic will serve the community, for example.

It has not yet been finalized where patients will be coming from, but Reznick said the School will likely partner with a Kingston hospital.

“We don’t run patient facilities,” he said. “Likely one of the hospitals will run the clinic in our building.

“At the end of the day this building is purpose-built,” Reznick said, adding that the new building See Flu on page 5

Photo by Justin Chin

Inside graduate expectations More students are choosing to continue education over entering a narrow job market. page 3

don’t be that guy Kingston celebrated Take back the Night on Sept. 22. page 4

What’s in a name?

Dialogue examines the university district rebranding effort. page 9

homework hatred Singer/songwriter Peter Elkas discusses his turbulent relationship with social media. page 10

soccer slip-up Men’s soccer team loses to the Toronto Varsity Blues 1-0. page 15

Exploring hypnosis Postscript looks at what it’s like to be hypnotized.

Page 20

news

2 •queensjournal.ca

Food

Market expands on campus

Queen’s farmer’s market now has 20 vendors and new location b y s aVoUla s tylianoU Assistant News Editor

McKegney said Sodexo brought the farmer’s market to Queen’s to bring students fresh, local products.

“We wanted to give students The first farmer’s market at Queen’s was held five years ago something different from sitting in outside Stauffer Library with eight a cafeteria every day,” he said.

One change McKegney plans vendors. This year, the market to bring to the market this week has 20.

Sodexo Catering Manager John is to add live music, putting some McKegney has been running the chairs and tables out for the fall market for the past two seasons. and having local buskers perform.

“It’s for entertainment, He’s overseen the market move from outside Stauffer Library to something for the students while outside the JDUC this year, thanks they’re shopping.”

Matthew Reynolds is one of the to a new partnership with the AMS. “The location changed due to vendors from the Taste of Russia Meghan McDonald, [Facilities stand, the only vendor that comes Manager] from the AMS. She from Peterborough.

He said he’s travelled to the saw the potential for this market,” Queen’s market for two years and he said.

McKegney also said the new Taste of Russia also has a stand at location has resulted in more the downtown farmer’s market.

“It’s the only place that we do customers for market vendors.

“Last week, all our vendors’ food business,” he said. “The entire sold out by [1 p.m.]; while across business is set up on the model the street it would take us until [3 of using farmer’s markets to do business.” or 4 p.m.]”

The market will move into the Reynolds said the student Upper and Lower Ceilidhs of the market is steadier since students JDUC for the winter months. return each week.

Tuesday, sepTember 27, 2011

c o r r e c t i o n s The AMS met with Grey House groups on Sept. 8. The groups were told about the Sept. 14 re-ratification deadline on Sept. 12.

In the Sept. 16 issue of the Journal, it was incorrectly reported that the groups met on Sept. 13 and were told of the Sept. 14 re-ratification on Sept. 13.

“Once they know we’re here, they keep coming back over and over again,” he said.

Brenda Ravenscroft is the Associate Dean of Studies in the Faculty of Jeanne Brown, who runs the Arts and Science. Incorrect information appeared in the Sept. 23 issue of Blossom’s Home Goodies stand, the Journal. is a farmer’s market veteran, though this is her first year selling The Journal regrets the errors. on campus. “[It’s] the most personal way to get your food from someone who made it,” she said.

Brown said students are ideal clientele.

“The students are like my grandchildren, it’s really cute. I like young people,” she said.

At her stand, Brown will always bring a lunch item and a sweet snack for the students. She said she tries to fashion herself after a grandmother figure.

“These kids really want some kind of touch of home,” she said.

The farmer’s market runs on Wednesdays in the fall from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Thanks to a new partnership with the AMS, the Queen’s farmer’s market has moved from outside Stauffer Library to outside the JDUC.

Photo by JEFF PEtERs

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

queensjournal.ca

Feature After a four-year dip in participants due to the economic recession, the Queen’s career fair brought 86 organizations to Grant Hall for information sessions with students.

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Photo by Justin Chin

employment

Graduates face job market realities Queen’s remains a favourite in postgraduate hiring despite national media spotlight on partying B y J anina E nrile Assistant Features Editor The owner of a human resources consulting firm in Toronto says Queen’s students are still a favourite for hiring, despite national media attention for alcohol-related incidents in the past few years.

“Obviously Queen’s has a reputation for Frosh Week antics but it’s still an A-school,” Consultant Deborah Nanton said.

“If any clients were looking at schools, we’d look at A-schools before anyone else.”

Nanton said her A-school list includes Queen’s, Waterloo, Western and the University of Toronto.

She said Queen’s is best known for its Commerce and Engineering programs, while Waterloo gets attention for its Nanotechnology Engineering program and U of T gets looks for its Medical and Engineering programs.

“They’re difficult to get into and require very good marks,” Nanton said, adding that working in the technology sector has encouraged her to hire mostly Waterloo graduates.

A party school reputation isn’t enough to deter HR departments from hiring graduates, she said.

“An employer wouldn’t avoid a school unless they did something really terrible,” she said.

“If you get a whole bunch of young people together with a whole lot of beer, you’re going to have problems ... but this happens at all of the schools.” “[Queen’s students] party while at school but they still get the grades,” she said.

Queen’s good reputation has endured in the business world, Nanton said, despite lesser-known B-schools gaining a high profile among employers. “[Queen’s students have] got determination, adaptation and ability,” Nanton said.

A letter from Principal Daniel Woolf disclosing his concerns about Queen’s deteriorating reputation was leaked online this summer.

“It would have been unthinkable 20 years ago that the quality reputation of undergraduate education at Queen’s would be challenged by Waterloo and

McMaster (schools that have long been our equal in research), to say nothing of Guelph — but it is clearly happening,” he wrote in the letter addressed to Chair of the Board of Trustees, William (Bill) Young.

Last weekend a gathering on Aberdeen Street attracted only 500 people at its peak — a large decrease compared to previous years that saw attendances of over 1,500 people.

“Very subtly these things start to seep into the unconscious,” School of Business professor Kenneth Wong said. “When [employers] look at us now, what they see more often than not is the Aberdeen thing and the party attitudes and of course the students passing last year.”

Seven students died at Queen’s last year. The University’s attempts to quell the Aberdeen Street party have garnered national media attention since Homecoming was cancelled in 2008.

“I believe that [these events] do have an effect on how the University is seen, and to a certain extent how its graduates are seen,” Wong said.

Applicants’ alma mater can affect how they are perceived in

the job market, Wong said.

“When you say I’m from Queen’s, you’re saying I’m smart enough to get in and smart enough to pass my courses and graduate,” he said, “Now, does that make me a good employee?”

Wong graduated from Queen’s in 1975. Since then, focus on campus has shifted.

Issues in the Queen’s community affect alumni’s perception of the students, Wong said, adding that connections with alumni are important in pursuing a professional career.

“This is one of the reasons why, I think, alumni get so upset about Aberdeen,” Wong said, “When the University’s name is tarnished in that regard, I don’t think a lot of people realize the true consequences of those actions.

They are profound.”

Queen’s Career Services has put on an annual career fair for over 30 years.

A two-day fair ending today is hosting 86 companies and organizations in Grant Hall.

He said campus recruiting events can make or break an applicant’s chances after graduation.

“There are companies I know of that only visit three or four

campuses across Canada, and Queen’s happens to be one of them,” Wong said.

Turnout at the Queen’s career fair dropped substantially in 2008, but has picked up since.

Queen’s “hasObviously a reputation for

Frosh Week antics but it’s still an A-school.

”

— Deborah Nanton,

HR consultant

Career Services financial clerk Barbara Russell said the economic crisis brought only 45 organizations to a one day fair, though traditionally twice that amount have come for a two-day event “Fewer people were hiring at that time,” she said. “They weren’t interested in recruiting students during the recession.”

This year’s career fair was the first time in four years that the turnout surpassed 50.

When Lindsay Kline graduated Queen’s political studies in the spring, she hoped her undergraduate education would land her a job quickly.

“You just got your degree and

you’re ready to take the next step,” Kline, ArtSci ’11, said.

“The next step turns out to be a lot more difficult than a lot of people imagined.”

Though Kline went to Career Services before graduating, she said she felt unprepared heading into the job market.

“Thing that disappointed me with Queen’s is that the only ones who receive any help in looking for work are the Commerce students,” she said, “And a lot of them have jobs before graduation.

“The rest of us are just left fending for ourselves.”

A 2005 Ontario government review made several recommendations for Ontario’s higher education system, including an increase in the number of graduate student spaces.

“I think that’s what’s driving it, is that there are more spots coming up, especially in the master’s programs,” Career Services interim director Cathy Keates said.

According to an exit poll conducted by the Queen’s Department of Institutional Research and Planning, the amount of undergraduate students planning to pursue jobs after graduation dropped by two per cent last year.

The number of graduates interested in postgraduate education went up two per cent.

Hermann Leiningen, Managing Director at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), said the banking world still likes Queen’s graduates manning their desks.

“The competition has clearly become greater and a postgraduate degree all the more important,” he told the Journal via email. “But students with an undergrad from Queen’s Commerce are given a very close look.”

Leiningen said he couldn’t estimate how many Queen’s graduates work with him at RBC. “I wouldn’t want there to be a perception that we hire so many from any particular school,” he said. “The best candidate wins regardless of school.”

— With files from Terra-Ann Arnone

A Queen’s exit poll found that the number of students heading into the job market after graduation dropped two per cent last year.

Graphic by Janghan Hong and corey lablans

news

4 •queensjournal.ca

Tuesday, sepTember 27, 2011

ActiVism

Women fight for rights Don’t Be That Guy campaign takes different approach b y c orey l ablans Photography Editor

co-ordinator with SAC Kingston, said Take Back the Night was traditionally about raising awareness to promote safety in the In response to sexual assault awareness community at night. Since the first march campaigns geared towards potential victims, in 1980, new research has shown that many the Greater Kingston Area Safe & Sober assaults occur during the daytime.

Community Alliance launched the Don’t Be According to Toronto-based nonprofit That Guy campaign in Kingston this month. Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence “This campaign is one of the only Against Women and Children, 49 per cent of campaigns that target the perpetrators,” said sexual assaults occur in broad daylight.

Jennifer Byrd, counsellor with Kingston A large number of incidents seen by Sexual Assault Centre (SAC). the SAC are the result of sexual assaults Byrd said that ads promoting the campaign stemming from recent encounters, meeting have gone up in bars across the city and can acquaintances or dates, Graham said. be seen on the sides of city buses. Queen’s Along with other universities and colleges, campus security and the AMS have backed Queen’s is prone to an increase in the number the new campaign. of sexual assaults the first eight weeks of school and in January when students return This campaign is one of the from winter holidays.

“Most of it is alcohol-related,” Graham only campaigns that targets said. “We see an increase in the number of the perpetrators. phone calls to our crisis line.”

“

”

— Jennifer Byrd, counsellor with Sexual Assault Centre Kingston

The Sexual Assault Centre Kingston has a crisis support line open 24 hours a day. To speak with someone, call (613) 544-6424 or 1-877-544-6424.

Campaign posters have been spotted on campus near places like the Sexual Health Resource Centre in the JDUC. On Sept. 22, the Take Back the Night march attracted over 100 supporters, many of whom held signs promoting the campaign with phrases like, “Just because she isn’t saying no … doesn’t mean she’s saying yes,” and “Just because she’s drunk doesn’t mean she wants to f**k.”

Byrd said this campaign aims to challenge longstanding views of masculinity. She added that most of the perpetrators of sexual assault Photo by CoREy LAbLAns are males.

The 31st annual Take Kim Graham, community education Back the Night event happened on Sept. 22.

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news

Tuesday, sepTember 27, 2011

queensjournal.ca

•5

Flu clinics to be held at new facility the School of Medicine.

“It demonstrates that the public and our didn’t mean an automatic increase in donors have a real sense of trust in students,” Jeyalingam, Meds ’13, said. “They obviously program acceptance.

“We increased the size of the [medical] want us to succeed as students to become school about five to 10 years ago and we’re better doctors.”

Queen’s graduates currently make up 40 not looking at increasing it right this second,” per cent of Southeastern Ontario’s doctors. he said.

Jeyalingam said the updated medical Construction of the building took two years and was designed jointly by Diamond facilities now match the curriculum and will and Schmitt Architects from Toronto and Shoalts and Zaback Architects from Kingston.

Plans started roughly three years ago with a need for an upgrade in the medical program.

“It helps solidify our vision for the future; we know that our students will be trained in the best facilities,” he said. “It allows us to live in excess of our dreams; our dreams are always to create doctors but we want to create doctors that are beyond our imaginations.”

Thurarshen Jeyalingam, president of the Queen’s Aesculapian Society, said the project’s dependence on donations was a testament to the medical school’s public image.

The Aesculapian Society represents medical students, graduates and members of

Continued from page 1

Photo by CoREy LAbLAns

Principal Daniel Woolf speaks to the crowd at the new medical building’s grand opening on Sept. 22.

Twelve students go Continued from page 1

Admissions comes up with a percentage of who will say yes when they send out the offers,” Sellars said, adding that sometimes more students accept their offers than expected.

Officials from Undergraduate Admissions could not be reached for comment.

When capacity is exceeded, the University is still responsible for delivering the program.

With the admission deadline in July,

there was little time for faculty to deal with the overflow.

“Both staffing and timetabling were already done,” Sellars said. “It was given to us to see how we could deal with the increased need.

When the faculty office allowed additional funding, we split the class [of 2014] into two groups to accommodate.”

— With files from Katherine Fernandez-Blance and Meaghan Wray

make the learning experience at Queen’s more enjoyable. An example of this is the simulation lab, which provides students with hands-on practice for surgeries and inserting intravenous tubes.

“The paradigm has historically been ‘see one, do one, teach one’ but now we’ve changed that paradigm to ‘see one, practice a thousand times, and then do one’ which I think is ultimately better,” Jeyalingam said.

news

6 •queensjournal.ca

NEWS IN BRIEF

new field ready

Wooden bear on campus

The $3.1 million West Campus turf field is now ready for use.

The new field, part of the first phase of the West Campus Fields and Stadium Project, will be used by Queen’s sports teams and will also be rented out to the public.

Philanthropic donations and fundraising covered the cost.

The new turf field was constructed on top of an old grass field. Leslie Dal Cin, director of Athletics and Recreation, said turf fields are beneficial because they don’t degrade as quickly as grass fields.

Less maintenance requirements on the turf field will increase the amount of programmed sports field time for students and community members by approximately 6,300 hours per year.

An initiative from the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada to celebrate its 100th anniversary is touring a wooden polar bear to Canadian universities and colleges.

Queen’s welcomed Ursula the bear on Sept. 23 as she made her way through many research labs, including one in the new medical building on campus.

The initiative, dubbed Ursula on Tour, is using the bear as a symbol of the association’s coat of arms.

Ursula started in Newfoundland and came to Queen’s from Manitoba. Her tour will finish late October in Montreal in time for the annual meeting for presidents and principals of Canadian universities.

— Meaghan Wray

— Savoula Stylianou

stAY on top oF cAmpus neWs

Follow @QJnews on Twitter

Tuesday, sepTember 27, 2011

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

News

queensjournal.ca

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8 •queensjournal.ca About The Journal

Editorial Board

The Journal’s Perspective

Editors in Chief

Clare Clancy Jake Edmiston

Production Manager

Labiba Haque

News Editor

Katherine Fernandez-Blance

Assistant News Editors

Catherine Owsik Savoula Stylianou Meaghan Wray

Features Editor

Terra-Ann Arnone

Assistant Features Editor

Janina Enrile

Editorials Editor

Andrew Stokes

Editorial Illustrator

Janghan Hong

Dialogue Editor Arts Editor

Brendan Monahan Alyssa Ashton

Assistant Arts Editor

Caitlin Choi

Sports Editor

Gilbert Coyle

Assistant Sports Editor

Benjamin Deans

Postscript Editor

Jessica Fishbein

Photography Editor

Corey Lablans

Assistant Photo Editors

Justin Chin Asad Chishti

Copy Editors

Jessica Munshaw Terence Wong

Blogs Editor

Editorials

Kelly Loeper

Assistant Blogs Editor

Carolyn Flanagan

Business Staff

Business Manager Kevin Imrie

Sales Representatives

Kyle Cogger Katherine Pearce

Staff

Writers Brandon Pasternak Anand Srivastava

Contributors

Dylan Haber Emily Lowe Peter Reimer David Sinkinson

Photographers

Jeff Peters

Tuesday, September 27, 2011 • Issue 9 • Volume 139 The Queen’s Journal is an editorially autonomous newspaper published by the Alma Mater Society of Queen’s University, Kingston.

Editorial opinions expressed in the Journal are the sole responsibility of the Queen’s Journal Editorial Board, and are not necessarily those of the University, the AMS or their officers.

Contents © 2011 by the Queen’s Journal; all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior permission of the Journal. The Queen’s Journal is printed on a Goss Community press by Performance Group of Companies in Smiths Falls, Ontario.

Contributions from all members of the Queen’s and Kingston community are welcome. The Journal reserves the right to edit all submissions.

Subscriptions are available for $120.00 per year (plus applicable taxes).

Please address complaints and grievances to the Editors in Chief.

Please direct editorial, advertising and circulation enquiries to: 190 University Avenue, Kingston, Ontario, K7L 3P4 Telephone : 613-533-2800 (editorial) 613-533-6711 (advertising) Fax: 613-533-6728 Email: journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca The Journal Online: www.queensjournal.ca Circulation 6,000 Issue 10 of Volume 139 will be published on Friday, September 30, 2011.

Student issues

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

““

The pledge is a silly idea that patronizes students, assuming incivility.

”

calling. When students pledge to be kind, truth might be sacrificed due to its consequences.

In a class discussion where opinions might be wildly different, does the pledge ask students to be limited to students’ academic refrain from being critical of one conduct. It’s simply not the another’s perspectives because responsibility of the institution to of the effect it may have on control the thoughts and habits personal feelings? of students.

If so, it’s counteractive to the Pledges should be taken university’s goal of providing the seriously, just as when doctors take best education possible. Harvard’s the Hippocratic Oath or when kindness pledge is a weak attempt police officers pledge to serve to alter the way people interact and protect. Harvard’s kindness with one another. pledge doesn’t measure up to If the university administration these promises. wanted to change the campus Harvard’s motto is “Veritas,” culture, they should’ve provided a Latin for truth, implying that the meaningful lesson and not a pledge pursuit of truth is a student’s highest of empty words.

Veritas not kindness

H

arvard University, regarded as one of the world’s best post-secondary institutions, recently instituted a voluntary kindness pledge for incoming first years.

Students who sign the pledge promise to be civil to one another and respect the values of integrity and inclusivity, reported the Globe and Mail on Sept. 23.

This pledge is a meaningless exercise that’s not only inappropriate, but may also hinder learning. When first-year Harvard students arrived at their residence buildings in September their residence supervisors invited them to sign the pledge.

It centres on the belief that the “exercise of kindness holds a place on par with intellectual attainment.”

The Harvard Crimson reported on Sept. 1 that the pledge wasn’t motivated by a specific incident, but by worries that students aren’t “thoughtful or considerate in their actions with their peers.”

A plan to display the pledges by the front doors of each residence building was discarded when it was decided that posting pledges would shame those who didn’t sign their name.

In all, the pledge is an informal promise. Breaking the pledge carries no consequences and there are no punitive measures in place to discipline those who break

their promises. It’s a superficial solution that won’t have any real effect.

Behaviour is learned and developed over years. Asking students to promise to act a certain way isn’t likely to change their personalities. The pledge is a silly idea that patronizes students, assuming incivility.

The pledge is an attempt by the administration to control students’ personal behaviour — a concerning concept. A university administration’s demands should

Academics

Blended not better Q

ueen’s offered two blended face-to-face interaction is preferable learning classes this fall, com- to email interface. With lecture bining lectures with online learning. time decreased in blended learning The movement is a necessary change courses, time spent interacting with essica ishbein as class sizes continue to grow, but professors is sacrificed.

Online courses also require selfthe blended format has some discipline and independent study inherent pitfalls.

Psychology 100 and Geography skills — qualities that are cultivated 101 are the two courses currently through years of study.

It will be harder for first-year offered in the new format with five more to be developed by next fall. students to succeed in blended Enrolment at Queen’s continues and online classes compared to to climb. The 2009/10 school an upper-year student who has ithin the stream of year had an increase of 1,367 experience with assignments Top 40 hits, there’s a undergraduate students compared and exams. nauseating sound that makes In the digital world, me uncomfortable. to the year before. With a shortage of staff and resources, alternative technological integration is Taylor Swift’s songs drip with methods of teaching need to be inevitable, but it needs to be studied the damn-that’s-catchy sweetness considered. The University needs and considered to find the best of saturated pop, but upon to adapt to enormous class sizes teaching methods. Less time in the closer examination they have a classroom is problematic, but so is hidden darkness. that are more common each year.

Excessively large classes having an excess of students.

Swift openly acknowledges that The expectation of coming to her songs are inspired by romantic disengage students from their learning and makes participation university is to attend lectures and relationships because men fascinate difficult. Students feel like part of a be part of an informed conversation, her. It’s okay to have relationship crowd, which makes it challenging and the new changes don’t meet issues, be in love and endlessly this expectation. to express ideas. ponder and pine over someone, but Students don’t pay why does Swift think it’s acceptable Hundreds of students together stifles conversation and makes a ever-increasing tuition for classes to advertize these trivialities as her they don’t actually attend. fluid discussion almost impossible. primary interest?

Blended learning may not be Using technology to improve It bothers me that Swift fans and the problem is a logical step, but better than strictly lecture-based the media worship a musician who online courses as they currently classes, but as long as classes is so unashamedly anti-feminist. continue expanding, it may be the stand aren’t the solution.

Here is someone in her mid-20s Having a professor who is best way to cope with the growth. who makes millions of dollars, has intelligent, educated and available the opportunity to travel the world is an important resource that can’t and has an undeniable influence on be replaced. The immediacy of a her peers and audience. But what is

J

F

Flawed model

W

her sole focus? Boys.

Each year, millions of girls — young and old — flock to Swift’s concerts, which I’m told are full of princess and fairy imagery. Are we five years old?

Girls can have careers, intelligence and even opinions on politics and foreign affairs. Yet the media has made a role model out of someone who chooses to indulge in fairy tale fantasy.

The media feeds on Swift’s damsel in distress persona. When Kanye West so infamously interrupted her at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Swift gained an atrocious amount of public sympathy, playing the victim in the situation.

Ironically, it was Beyonce — whose discography proves she is no stranger to female empowerment — that rectified the situation. Swift simply looked confused in the corner.

Taylor Swift is not a role model. Her last album is called Speak Now. But what does she want to speak about? The boy next door who doesn’t like her?

As much influence as she has, she never speaks about real issues facing women.

For as much flak as Lady Gaga gets for being weird, at least she raised awareness of gay and lesbian rights, one of our generation’s biggest issues.

Swift fails to show girls that it’s acceptable and admirable to actually care about things that matter.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

DIALOGUE

Perspectives from the Queen’s community

queensjournal.ca

““

Rushing to rent a poor-quality house simply because it’s close makes it possible for landlords to ignore badly-needed renovations.

”

Student Housing

In defence of the District

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Talking Heads ... around campus Photos By Brendan Monahan

What do you think about the shift towards online classes?

Changing Student Ghetto to University District is just the first stage in a larger initiative involving participation of students, landlords and the City

D avid S inkinson While the Journal’s editorial on Tuesday Sept. 20 titled “Not ready for new name” was well written, I fundamentally disagree with some of the arguments within it.

I want to take this opportunity to respond directly to some of the ideas stipulated within the editorial in a way that contributes to a healthy debate on how the AMS approaches housing conditions surrounding Queen’s campus.

It’s worth noting at the outset that I appreciate the Journal’s comments and look forward to continued discussion of the issue.

I commend the Journal for highlighting why the term “ghetto” is an inappropriate use of a term to describe the area where students live. However, the editorial then continues by stating, “Our nomenclature is inappropriate. The Student Ghetto isn’t comparable to historical ghettos, but the term’s common acceptance at Queen’s will prevent the renaming from taking root.”

I wonder, then, why the Journal has consistently decided to refer to the University District (formerly Student Village) as the Ghetto or Student Ghetto. Given that the editorial represents the views of the editorial board, it would seem as if a majority of Journal staff believe that the common use of the word “ghetto” is incorrect.

Why would the Journal not take this opportunity to influence the “inappropriate” vernacular of students? It seems the Journal is not only contributing to the problem that the Municipal Affairs Commission (MAC) is attempting to fix, but criticizing the MAC for its efforts.

The Journal also mentioned that launching the advertising campaign to rebrand the area, prior to the full establishment of the Student Maintenance And Resource Team (SMART), is a mistake on the part of the MAC. This is a fair point to which I offer two explanations. First, it’s worthwhile to get the new name out there. If students start thinking about the name, then as the conditions improve when SMART service is fully established in May 2012, the term University District will become increasingly appropriate and find its way into the vernacular of students.

Second, the Municipal Affairs Commissioner, like all full-time positions in the AMS, is a one-year position. It wouldn’t be fair to drop the burden of an enormous advertising campaign for the new name solely on my successor.

While I understand the Journal’s

opinion on this, I simply disagree.

AMS employees must take decisive action to make use of the limited time they have in office.

I am completely in agreement that for any name change to take place, the housing standards in the area must improve. However, it’s unfair to say that the AMS should “start by improving housing conditions in the area.” The AMS and the City of Kingston have been doing this for years and have data which suggests that overall satisfaction with housing is on the rise.

In a paper survey first conducted in 2002 which included responses from over 400 individuals living in properties in the University District, 85 per cent of students indicated that they were satisfied with their housing situation. That number steadily increased until the last year of the survey, 2009, when it reached an overwhelming 90 per cent.

Of the students who said they were dissatisfied with their accommodations in 2009, only 37.93 per cent indicated that it was due to quality. 25.86 per cent ranked cost as their main cause of dissatisfaction, 18.96 per cent ranked location as their main cause and 17.24 per cent ranked other as the main cause.

This evidence suggests that the quality of the housing is not only meeting student expectations but is also not the overwhelmingly serious issue that the Journal’s editorial suggests.

This is not to say that the housing issue is resolved. The MAC will always strive to improve the quality of living of Queen’s students in the University District.

The other telling conclusion that can be drawn from the survey is that 63.23 per cent of students ranked location as their most important criterion for selecting a house.

This is problematic in that it suggests that students are willing to rent a below-average property, typically overpriced, as long as it’s close to campus.

I can hardly blame students for wanting to live close to campus, but rushing to rent a poor-quality house simply because it’s close makes it possible for landlords to ignore badly-needed renovations on their properties.

Renting these expensive and below-average properties sends the message to landlords that the terrible properties they are renting are still competitive in the market.

They have no incentive to update or improve the properties.

Moreover, there is no need for students to feel rushed into moving into a property, especially one close to campus. I can assure you that there is ample housing for every student.

Aside from the paper survey, each year Town-Gown Relations,

“I think it’s important to interact in a lecture environment.”

Michelle Linker, ArtSci ’13

Photo Illustration by justin chin

Paper surveys conducted between 2002 and 2009 suggest overall satisfaction with student housing is on the rise.

the AMS and the City partner in what have come to be known as VIP (voluntary inspection programme).

These inspections focus on houses on University Avenue which have been deemed potentially poor-quality properties. The AMS contacts tenants and the City sends letters to property owners.

On Feb. 29, 2008, the Kingston health unit, fire department and property standards and parking division teamed up and got access to 28 houses on University Avenue.

From those visits, only one serious offense was uncovered; many of the houses were in fantastic shape.

The most common concern had to do with sidewalk snow removal.

In the future, I suggest the Journal more keenly investigate the facts regarding housing rather than basing their editorials on speculation. The Municipal Affairs Commission, Town-Gown Relations, or the City of Kingston would have happily provided this information at your request.

The Journal also states, “Houses are rundown, unclean and many landlords treat students unfairly.” This is a very strong claim that I believe to be somewhat inappropriate.

Indeed, some houses are in poor condition. I lived in a house during second, third, and fourth year which saw $1,000 utility bills during the winter months.

However this is hardly indicative of every single house in the University District.

Moreover, to say that many landlords treat students unfairly is too strong a claim and too vague.

The Journal offers no support for this claim and doesn’t specify in what way students are treated unfairly. I agree that some students are taken advantage of because of their naïveté with regard to housing and the Residential and Tenancy Act, but to say that a majority of landlords violate the rights of the tenants or act unlawfully is simply untrue.

I agree that rebranding the area does require multi-faceted change. It involves the efforts of

students, landlords, the AMS, the City and the University. Support from all these stakeholders will be necessary to make this proposed change a reality. It’s on all of us to do our part to try to improve our community. The simple reality which the Journal alludes to is that landlords need to treat students better, and students need to treat their properties better. We all have a role to play and together we can create the change that’s so badly needed.

Indeed, it was the conclusion of the piece which most confused me. The editorial states, “Changing the Student Ghetto’s name is the recycling of an old idea that didn’t work. For the results to be different this time, the name change needs to be backed up with substantial action.”

Plans for substantive action are already underway. AMS assembly has approved, in principle, the implementation of a new government service which will pay students to clean and maintain properties in the University District. This is unprecedented.

In fact some of the steps, such as opening up applications for a SMART co-ordinator to help shape the new service, were already approved unanimously by AMS assembly after a lengthy debate.

Full assembly approval is a purposefully slow process. This is the testing year to ensure that the service is in fact worth the student dollars that would be invested in it.

Would the Journal have preferred that I rush to introduce this service without gathering input and simply watch it fail?

In my opinion, there are two things the MAC could have done with regard to the Student Village or Student Ghetto issue: take action to try to improve the area in an obvious and substantial way, or simply do nothing and pretend that Student Village is catching on.

I have chosen the former.

David Sinkinson is AMS Municipal Affairs Commissioner.

“Online class can be good if it accomodates students’ schedules.”

Caitlin Feller, ArtSci ’14

“I have a webinar on Fridays but it’s hard to pay attention.”

Andrew Osborne, ArtSci ’14

“I think it creates a greater divide between students who want to do well and those who don’t.”

Monica Pak, JD ’12

“I prefer a real class with real people.”

Lore Dewolf, Comm ’12

Have your say.

Comment at queensjournal.ca

10 •queensjournal.ca

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Interview

Arts

‘Weird around the edges’ Repeat Offender is Peter Elkas’ third album and his first self-produced work

By Alyssa Ashton Arts Editor Peter Elkas has been performing since he was a teenager. But, in his spare time, the 35-year-old walks dogs for his dog walking company, West End Walks.

“It’s an added source of revenue, which is kind of key for the level of artist that I continue to be,” Elkas said. “I’m really happy with the trajectory of my career, but I don’t think I could have the lifestyle that I would want as just a musician.

“It’s benefitted me. I don’t have to take every gig and I’m excited to pick up the guitar at the end of the night.”

For a time I was “wondering if I would

even have a third album out. Not because I didn’t have songs, but because I didn’t have a label or a manager anymore.

”

— Peter Elkas

Peter Elkas didn’t have a dog when he started West End Walks because he feared it would be neglected while he toured. Elkas says his current companion, Muffin, is his favourite dog.

Supplied

Elkas’ realist attitude is noted on his official website, where he is praised for “keeping things real.”

“I know the trials and tribulations of what it takes to have a career,” he said. “And I do it genuinely and try to make it genuine for everyone

Literature

Autumn inauguration Coach House Books and Snare Books collaborate to unveil five new titles at the Kingston Fall Book Mega-Launch B y C aitlin C hoi Assistant Arts Editor A team of five Canadian authors will join forces in Kingston for a multi-book launch.

Montreal publishing company Snare Books teamed up with the Toronto-based publishers Coach House Books for a five-piece

book launch featuring collections from both houses at the Artel.

The launch, dubbed Kingston Mega-Launch, will showcase five authors, whose books push the boundaries of language with their poetry and prose.

The Mega-Launch will feature readings from new titles by

Leigh Kotsilidis, Tristan Hughes, Jenny Sampirisi, Pearl Pirie and Lesley Trites.

Event coordinator Georgia Webber said Trites’ Echoic Mimic is representative of what Snare aims to publish.

“She’s done a long-form poem that is also mixed genre,” Webber said. “It’s very interesting to read

because of the perspective you take as a reader; it’s thrown into so many different places. It’s a really experimental, risky book and that’s what we like.”

The three Coach House publications to be launched in Kingston also stretch poetic conventions. Hughes’ Eye Lake

involved so for the band and the audience.”

Elkas got his start as a vocalist and guitarist in the Montreal band Local Rabbits. After 12 years with the band, he went solo and released his debut album Party of One in 2004.

His new album, Repeat Offenders, offers a host of firsts for the singer-songwriter. It’s his third solo album and his first self-produced work. He split from label MapleMusic Recordings in 2009, and Repeat Offenders is his first recording on friend Joel Plaskett’s label, New Scotland Records.

“For a time I was wondering if I would even have a third album out,” Elkas said. “Not because I didn’t have songs, but because I didn’t have a label or a manager anymore.

“Repeat Offenders more accurately represents my own style, which is a little bit slick, but also a little bit weird around the edges.”

Elkas said working with Plaskett allowed him to bounce ideas off his friend.

“It’s really cool because there’s an unspoken communication you don’t have with other friends and that’s through your music,” he said.

“There’s sort of this sense of arrested development because you feel like teenagers forever.”

See Arresting on page 12

Next issue New Novellino Novellino adds a modelling agency alongside its trendy and vintage goodies.

Forever Young Tommy Youngsteen cover rock classics from Petty, Young and Springsteen.

Collett is Back After touring Europe and Australia, Jason Collett is finally home in Canada.

See Experimental on page 13

The Kingston Fall Book Mega-Launch will feature readings from five new titles. From left to right, Jenny Sampirisi’s Croak, Lesley Trites’ Echoic Mimic, Tristan Hughes’ Eye Lake, Pearl Pirie’s Thirsts and Leigh Kotsilidis’ Hypotheticals.

Arts

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

queensjournal.ca

• 11

Q&A

The frog princess Ahead of her reading at the Kingston Fall Book Mega-Launch, Jenny Sampirisi talks about Croak, her poetry collection centered around girls and frogs 1. What is Croak and what inspired you to start writing it?

Croak found me in many ways. In its many incarnations over the years it seemed it was tapping into a variety of emotions and ideas that were already present in our time and culture. I started writing it because I’d noticed the many intersections of body, environment, time and notions of “the self” so I started from there and it leapt its way into its current form.

2. You must have done lots of research into biology and the environment before starting Croak. As an artist, what interests you about science?

The language of science is fascinating!

It’s able to become intensely impersonal even while it depicts incredible and at times terrifying truths. I did do a lot of research.

I was looking for moments where affect could enter into the emotionless prose of science-speak. The most exciting moments for me were finding words, phrases or ideas that conveyed a larger fear at play or sense of risk faced by a vulnerable species.

Every time I came across something that made me nervous in the science, I wanted to see how that might enter the text and become amplified.

3. Why frogs?

Frogs are intensely symbolic in almost every time and culture. They play a big part in myth and fairy tale as well as being actual creatures in the real world in grave danger of disappearing. They are, in fact, absorbing toxins through their skins and as a result switching genders and physically deforming/morphing.

They’re ripe for poetic discourse, especially one that looks at the deforming and synthesizing of a self.

4. Why girls?

Girls and frogs already seemed attached at the hip through fairy tales so it was a very small leap for me to work with the two. Ultimately Croak is a story of the compromises we make in relationships and the many ways we gain and lose aspects of ourselves when we enter into a “love story” with another individual.

The girls in the book are struggling to understand themselves in relation to the frogs and the frogs are doing the same in relation to the girls. They’re all trying to figure out how to be “some other better.”

With all my writing, I look to see how this type of emotional confusion can be translated into physical confusion and having frogs and girls perform this given the many compromises already present in the source texts, it made a lot of sense to have this play out between the two.

5. You explore and push the boundaries of language, like in the paragraphs where much of the content is blacked out. How did you develop your own style of writing?

My style comes from reading a lot and talking to other writers a lot too. I get excited by people who try new things on the page and experiment with voice. There’s nothing in Croak that is particularly new in the world of poetry. It’s all been done before.

I think it looks strange because this isn’t a book that chooses a single formal path and uses it consistently. I didn’t want to write a book that had a template of form that could be followed at all times, though there

are certainly guiding principles such as the character’s names as headings and repeated ideas/phrases/voices throughout. Because these characters are struggling with the self, it seemed right to me that their voices take many forms.

6. What attracts you to poetry, as opposed to other forms of writing?

I think I’m attracted to poetry because it doesn’t have the same expectations that narrative has. Many readers understand that poetry will be challenging. Personally, I enjoy reading something that makes me think on multiple levels simultaneously. I like the feeling of uncertainty that I get from reading good poetry. It can be a place where multiple readings and interpretations are possible. It feels like a dynamic space to make multiple meanings present at one time.

That’s fantastic!

7. What do you hope readers take away from the book?

I hope people read it and see it as a question [or] series of questions rather than an answer. It really is a text that’s unnerving, not just about our distorted sense of self, but also about love, lust and sex, and how in our modern world these very natural things have been mutated and transformed.

We’re so self aware of everything that we are, and of everything that we aren’t, and of everything that we have to give up and compromise on for love. We’re all sort of flapping around in the muck, disquieted and disfigured.

Jenny Sampirisi co-founded the Toronto New School of Writing in 2010, which offers writing workshops ranging from one day to 10-week courses.

supplied

Literary Festival, a teacher at the Toronto New School of Writing and a professor at Ryerson University, how do you find time to write?

my silly brain just won’t let me, even after a long day.

Ha! I’m not exactly sure. The best I can say is that all of those activities feed into my writing in some way. I wouldn’t do them otherwise. I get a lot out of participating in the literary and academic communities and I’m always learning from other writers and thinkers. Finding time to write isn’t so hard when you spend all day every day engaged with writing and writers.

There’s also an element of “fight or flight” associated with writing. Every time I sit down to write, it’s usually that I’m looking to fight my way through some problem or curiosity I have around language. The alternative is to ignore those problems and questions and

Sina Queyras’ Autobiography of Childhood. It’s a fabulous novel. I think it accomplishes a lot of what we usually ascribe to poetry, that being a sense of simultaneity of voice and time and experience. The writing is incredible and gives me the itch to write novels again.

11. What are you reading right now?

Jenny Sampirisi submitted her answers via email. The interview has been edited for space.

She will give a reading of Croak at the Kingston at the Artel on Oct. 3 at 7 p.m.

— Caitlin Choi

8. How did writing Croak differ from writing your first novel is/was? is/was was my master’s thesis at the University of Windsor. I had an editor working with me right in the heat of the writing process and I had feedback from multiple trusted voices throughout. When Insomniac [Press] picked it up it went through another set of intense edits. I feel like is/was was a book that had a lot of attention and time gifted to it by very intelligent people.

Croak was written mostly alone, with guidance entering only in the late stages. In a way, I think Croak needed more silence to be written because the quiet allowed me to feel safe (and brave) while trying new ideas out on the page.

9. Croak can read like a play. Have you ever imagined it as a stage production? How do you feel about spoken as opposed to written language?

Yes! Absolutely. It is very much a play. So far it’s been staged twice in small formats.

Both times it was staged with a dancer and a musician. In future I would really like to stage it on a larger scale with multiple dancers and musicians and vocalists. There’s not much difference for me creatively between spoken and written word. They’re both enacting a performance. I’m hyper aware of how we construct ourselves with language — what we say and how we say it.

What I like about the idea of staging it is that it allows for the voices on the page to become embodied, which is very much what the characters are struggling with. The dancer I’ve been working with, Megan English, has added so much to my understanding of the text.

10. As managing editor for BookThug, a facilitator for the WordPress blog Other Cl/utter, executive member of the Scream

The Journal We need one SGPS member and one community member to sit on the Journal Board

If you are interested in having a role in the policy and the business side of the Journal email journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca

Arts

12 •queensjournal.ca

Supplied

Peter Elkas’ Facebook page says at McGill he studied eating cheese danishes. Elkas says he started every day of university with a chocolate milk and a cheese danish from the cafeteria.

Arresting development Continued from page 10

Like most musicians Elkas has joined the world of Facebook and Twitter, but he didn’t step into social media willingly.

“It’s like homework, I don’t feel like doing it,” he said. “At the end of the day it’s the stuff that’s been added to being a musician that I never had as a kid. I was drawn to writing, recording, performing and touring. I played music in front of people before the internet even existed.”

He said he isn’t the first artist to be thrown off by what technology demands of performers.

“Going back further there was artists who never wanted to make videos,” he said. “As long as I can tour and perform, I feel like those things will always be a part of it and the rest I can deal with.”

Peter Elkas plays the Grad Club on Friday at 9 p.m.

Don’t Be Late Nominate!!

Special Recognition for Staff Award Nominations

This Award recognizes staff members who consistently provide outstanding contributions during their workday, directly or indirectly, to the learning and working environment at Queen's University at a level significantly beyond what is usually expected (e.g. improving the workplace efficiency, quality of worklife, customer service, problem-solving, etc.).

Informationand nomination forms are available from http://www.hr.queensu.ca/workandcareer/ awards-procedure.php.

Deadline: October 17, 2011

Tuesday, sepTember 27, 2011

Arts

Tuesday, sepTember 27, 2011

Get Out tHeRe Art Agnes Etherington Art Centre Samuel J. Zacks Gallery Vera Frenkel’s String Games Until Dec. 11 Agnes Etherington Art Centre R. Fraser Elliott Gallery The Constantine Collection of Northern Indigenous Art Until March 11

Modern Fuel Abbas Akhavan’s Correspondences Oct. 1 to Oct. 29 Reception on Oct. 1 at 7 p.m.

Modern Fuel Michael Amar’s Solar Flares and Spires Oct. 1 to Oct. 29 Reception with the artist on Oct. 1 at 7 p.m.

Film

Agnes Etherington Art Centre Frances K. Smith Gallery Home and Away: Dutch Landscape Prints of the 17th Century Until Jan. 15, 2012 Agnes Etherington Art Centre Historical Feature Gallery Adornment Until May 13, 2012 Agnes Etherington Art Centre Contemporary Feature and Davies Foundation Galleries Annie Pootoogook: Kinngait Compositions Until Dec. 11 Union Gallery Main Space Rebecca Soudant’s A Tapestry of Birth Until Oct. 28 Joint reception and artist talks with Rebecca Soudant and Andrew McPhail on Sep. 30 at 6:30 p.m. in room 121 of Stauffer Library.

Union Gallery Project Room Andrew McPhail’s CRYBABY Sep. 30 to Oct. 28

Screening Room Now Playing until Thursday: The WhistleBlower Cave of Forgotten Dreams The Devil’s Double Coming Up Sept. 30: Project Nim Guest speaker Dr. Valerie Kuhlmeier on Oct. 2 at 7:15 p.m.

Oct. 7: The Future See moviesinkingston.com Music The Mansion Tommy Youngsteen Sep. 30, 9 p.m.

The Grad Club Peter Elkas Sept. 30 at 10 p.m. $12 The Mansion Rueben de Groot Cd release with Andrew Hunter & Gatherers Oct. 1, 9 p.m.

The Grad Club Jason Collett Oct. 1 at 10 p.m. $13

Experimental editions Continued from page 10

uses rigid prose to tell the haunting tale of three families and three disappearances.

Kotsilidis’ Hypotheticals combines poetry with the exploration of the scientific method and its faith in certain truths. Sampirisi’s Croak uses metaphors of biology and reads like a play.

As far as snare is concerned “we’re still trying to figure out

where our place is, and trying to find where people are interested in the stuff we’re publishing ... it’s just a little bit of an outreach initiative.

”

— Georgia Webber, Mega-Launch coordinator Kingston was chosen for the launch party because of its proximity to both Montreal and Toronto. But, the city’s character and demographic was also taken into consideration when choosing a site for the launch.

“As far as Snare is concerned we’re still trying to figure out where our place is, and

trying to find where people are interested in the stuff we’re publishing,” Webber said.

“So for us it’s just a little bit of an outreach initiative that we’re taking on, just to reach out to some neighbouring cities.”

According to Webber, the two publishing houses have similar objectives, producing mainly poetry and prose that gives “a platform to the more experimental.”

Snare’s publisher, Jon Paul Fiorentino, is a Coach House author. He has published three books with the company, including a poetry collection, titled The Theory of the Loser Class in 2006 — the same year he started Snare Books with co-founder Robert Allen.

Snare puts out about five books annually, while Coach House publishes closer to 14 each year. Coach House publishes poetry as well as fiction and non-fiction books, while Snare focuses primarily on poetry collections.

Webber said it’s a coincidence that all five authors reading at the Artel are women.

“Unfortunately two of our authors from Snare live on the West Coast and couldn’t be there for this one, so we just decided to bring our local authors and for Coach House it’s the same kind of situation.”

The Kingston Fall Book Mega-Launch will start at 7 p.m. at the Artel on Oct. 3.

queensjournal.ca

• 13

14 •queensjournal.ca

Arts

Tuesday, sepTember 27, 2011

Are you interested in

the advertising field?

The Journal is looking to hire sales representatives!

For more information email Kevin at journal_business@ams.queensu.ca

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

queensjournal.ca

Men’s rugby

• 15

sports

Mac not a match Men’s rugby beats McMaster 47-3 to remain undefeated B y L abiba H aque Production Manager The men’s rugby team established itself as the provincial frontrunner on Saturday with a 47-3 dismantling of the McMaster Marauders, the 2010 Ontario champions.

In their last meeting, the Marauders ousted Queen’s in an Ontario University Athletics (OUA) semifinal. This year, strengthened by the return of veterans absent in 2010, the Gaels beat the Marauders in front of a crowd of Queen’s rugby alumni at Tindall field.

Third-year fly-half Liam Underwood, sidelined with an ankle injury last season, scored a try and kicked six conversions for a total of 17 points on Saturday.

Tim and Patrick Richardson — twins who graduated after the team’s 2009 Ontario victory — are back at Queen’s for graduate school, adding leadership and a physical presence to the team’s

back row. Tim Richardson scored a try late in the game, sliding into the end zone to ground the ball.

Third-year flanker Matt Kelly scored two tries, while captain Dan Moor, Liam Underwood, George

Gleeson and Andrew Kirk also scored for the team.

The team saw strong performances from rookies on Saturday, with hooker Dave Merrithew proving himself to be a presence in the scrum, giving his team consistent possession of the ball.

Our boys are just “ready to throw their bodies out on the line for the team. ”

The Gaels outworked a bigger and stronger McMaster squad on Saturday.

MEN’S soccer

PHOTO BY justin chin

Flanker Matt Kelly scored two tries during the team’s 47-3 win over the McMaster Marauders on Saturday.

PHOTO BY justin chin

Inside Streak broken Women’s soccer ties the Toronto Varsity Blues. page 16

unbeaten The women’s rugby team easily beat the York Lions.

—Dan Moor, men’s rugby captain

After the team struggled with communication issues in Waterloo last weekend there was a stronger connection between the forwards and the backs.

Moor said the Gaels outworked a bigger and physically stronger opponent on Saturday. At one point, prop Matt Wolfe stepped up See Western on page 19

page 16

Kingston fc Pro soccer team fails to attract local interest. page 16

big win for football team Gaels blow out Lions at York homecoming game.

Late goals cost Gaels twice

page 17

Men’s soccer extends their winless streak to three games with a tie and a loss at Richardson Stadium B y D ylan H aber Contributor

scoring position.

The Gaels couldn’t manage a win, despite the recent benching Late goals hurt the men’s soccer of the Rams’ star Alex Braletic, team in both games at Richardson after the midfielder was ruled Stadium this weekend. The Gaels academically ineligible.

Gencarelli said the team was too tied the Ryerson Rams 2-2 on Saturday and lost to the University comfortable after Klemencic’s goal. of Toronto Varsity Blues 1-0 “When they scored that first one, on Sunday. we didn’t maintain our composure,” After switching from left to right he said. “We were fortunate to wing at halftime, Nathan Klemencic come out of this game 2-2.”

On Sunday, the Gaels blemished scored two goals in seven minutes their previously-undefeated against the Rams.

But the Gaels couldn’t sustain record, with the 1-0 loss to the their lead. Rams striker Viktor Varsity Blues.

Anastasov scored on a breakaway The game was scoreless until in the 65th minute. He scored d’Elia accidentally deflected a long another late goal after the Gaels’ throw into his own net to put the rookie defender Marco d’Elia Varsity Blues ahead. botched a clearance, sending “[d’Elia] just had two unfortunate Second-year defender Dave Tom shields the ball from Toronto Varsity Blues players at the ball directly to Anastasov in See Errors on page 19 Richardson Stadium on Sunday.

PHOTO BY COREY LABLANS

Sports

16 •queensjournal.ca

women’s soccer

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

women’s rugby

Winning streak ends at six Women fly by York Women’s soccer beats Ryerson Rams 2-0, but tie with Toronto Varsity Blues ruins perfect record B y E mily L owe Contributor

the second half and we didn’t deal recovered from a summer injury with it well.” and is expected to play Thursday The team’s weekend wasn’t at Richardson Stadium against the disappointing Royal Military College Paladins.

It took 15 minutes to end the completely women’s soccer team’s six-game — defender Brienna Shaw has winning streak.

The Gaels beat the Ryerson Rams 2-0 at Richardson Stadium on Saturday, before giving up a 2-0 halftime lead on Sunday to tie the University of Toronto Varsity Blues 3-3.

“It’s frustrating,” head coach Dave McDowell said. “I hope the team learns that you have to play focused for 90 minutes, not just 75.”

The Gaels outshot the Rams 15-5, with goals from midfielder Riley Filion and captain Kelli Chamberlain.

On Sunday, the Gaels were off to a similar start with a comfortable lead. But, the Varsity Blues scored two goals in three minutes to start the second half. The Gaels led minutes later, but it wasn’t enough as their momentum slowed in the final 15 minutes and the Varsity Blues scored on a penalty shot to tie the game.

McDowell said his team was complacent and should have taken advantage of its chances in the first half.

“We could have been up by five or six goals, but instead we let PHOTO BY COREY LABLANS them sniff around,” McDowell Midfielder Alexis McKinty closes down a University of said. “They came out really hard in Toronto player on Sunday at Richardson Stadium.

Women’s rugby prepares for showdown with McMaster Marauders after beating York Lions 31-3 B y A nand S rivastava Staff Writer The women’s rugby team sent a message to their rivals, the McMaster Marauders, on Friday night. The Gaels cruised past the York Lions 31-3 in Toronto to improve to 3-0 and now look ahead to their game against the undefeated Marauders.

Head coach Beth Barz said she noticed Marauders staff in the crowd on Friday.

“They were there taping our game so I would say that they’ll be prepared,” head coach Barz said.

“There are a few things they haven’t seen for sure so we’ll be looking at running a few of those plays.”

Fly-half Andrea Wadsworth put down two tries against York, and scrum-half Susan Heald broke through with a terrific run to help the Gaels remain unbeaten.

Coming off a poor performance in a narrow 15-14 victory over the Brock Badgers, Barz said she was pleased see a more dominant effort from her team.

“It really came down to the defensive side of the ball,” she said.

“When you can put yourself in a position to put the other team on their back foot it makes things easier in terms of attack.”

Field conditions were wet

on Friday, forcing the Gaels to run their offense predominantly through their forwards to minimize handling errors with a slippery ball.

“We played quite well in spite of the conditions,” Barz said. “Most of the girls have played in conditions that are less than ideal.”

With only two games remaining in the regular season, the women will prepare for the Marauders next weekend — a game that could decide first place in the Russell division. The Gaels edged out the Marauders 15-14 last year to win the division.

Despite the win, Heald said the team still isn’t a championship caliber team.

“I don’t feel like we’re where we should be,” the team captain said. “I thought we’d have bigger improvements from each game.

McMaster will be a real test of our abilities to see where we stand against better teams.”

Heald said worrying about their opponent won’t help the team this week.

“We’re just going to play simple rugby and play our game,” she said. “Obviously we’ll have to play tougher defense because they’re a very skilled side.”

The women host McMaster on Saturday at 1 p.m. on West Campus.

kingston soccer

Pro soccer team overlooked by local players New Canadian Soccer League team holds open tryouts for inaugural season B y Peter R eimer Contributor Kingston’s new professional soccer team club has been holding tryouts for the past two weeks, but the open sessions haven’t attracted local players.

Kingston Prospect FC President Jim Hamrouni said he was disappointed by the lack of Kingston-based players at the sessions.

“Lots of clubs from around here haven’t sent their players to tryouts.

I’m surprised,” Hamrouni said.

“The door’s open to everybody.”

The new franchise, formed in July, has a pro team, a reserve team and an academy program within the Canadian Soccer League — Canada’s only pro soccer league.

Kingston Prospect FC will be targeting players from all over the world. League regulations stipulate that a team must spend a minimum of $75,000 on nine designated pro players. The rest of the first team will consist of unpaid players,

many of whom will come from North American universities.

“We’re trying to promote soccer at the grassroots level, with a view of bringing them up into the pro ranks,” Fraser said. “It’s great to see that Kingston’s on board and we’re

very happy to see that Queen’s is such a strong partner with us.”

Kingston Prospect FC will play regular season games at Richardson Stadium, the Queen’s men’s soccer team’s home field.

Prospect FC’s inaugural season

starts in May 2012. President Jim Hamrouni said he wants to include Kingston-based players in his team and has already spoken to some Queen’s players.

“It’s a nice community and See It’s on page 18

I would be shocked “if anyone on our team wasn’t interested. ”

— Jordan Brooks, men’s soccer co-captain

Kingston Prospect FC’s reserve team lost 9-1 to Toronto FC’s academy team at Tindall field on Saturday night. Club executive Sean Fraser said the reserve squad didn’t contain many players who will play for the pro team.

Kingston fans got their first chance to see the Kingston Prospect FC reserve team at Tindall field on Saturday night.

PHOTO BY COREY LABLANS

SportS

Tuesday, sepTember 27, 2011

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FootbALL

Gaels continue 40-year streak The football team spoiled the York Lions’ homecoming game with a 63-3 win in Toronto on Saturday B y B enJamin D eanS Assistant Sports Editor The football team extended a 40-year winning streak against the York Lions with a 63-3 win in Toronto on Saturday. It was the Gaels’ 14th straight win against the Lions.

Quarterback Billy McPhee looked like a veteran, throwing for 328 yards, three touchdowns and, most importantly, zero interceptions. McPhee said his goal was a 70 per cent completion rate, which he beat with 74 per cent.

Before Saturday’s game, McPhee had thrown five interceptions in three starts with the Gaels this season.

Running back Ryan Granberg rushed for 156 yards and two touchdowns on 18 attempts before leaving the game in the third quarter with a leg injury.

“I landed on my leg and took a helmet to the knee,” he said. “It just twisted on me funny. Felt pretty bad, but things look like they’ll be alright.”

With lead receiver Giovanni Aprile shut down by York’s defence, Justin Chapdelaine was McPhee’s favourite target. Chapdelaine had

six catches for 131 yards and two touchdowns — his first points of the season.

Fifth-year kicker Dan Village was 7 for 9 on extra points and one missed field goal attempt that could have put him in a tie for the team’s field goal record. A small leg pull in a Friday night practice threw Village off, coach Pat Sheahan said.

on my leg “andI landed took a helmet to the knee. ”

—Ryan Granberg, running back

The team’s defence only gave up a field goal in Toronto. Lions quarterback Dimitar Sevdin was sacked once and threw three interceptions. Rookie defensive back Yann Dika-Balotoken earned his first points as a Gael, returning an interception for a touchdown.

Halfway through the season, the 2-2 Gaels are tied for fifth in the OUA with the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. The two teams play in Toronto on Friday.

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SportS

‘It’s a different level’ varsity team, you want a good place to play in the offseason.” there’s no professional team around, so we’re Brooks said the lack of competitive soccer trying to get something going here,” Hamrouni in Kingston has hurt the men’s program in said. “There are a lot of kids playing soccer recent seasons. in Kingston.”

Brooks stayed behind in Kingston over the But Hamrouni said Kingston Prospect summer to stay connected with the Gaels, but FC’s pro team will be at a higher level than only played in a recreational league. what most Queen’s players are used to.

“The quality just isn’t high enough,” “It’s a different level — nice, he said. smooth, and technically sound,” No players from the men’s soccer team he said. attended recent open tryouts. Brooks said his The Queen’s men’s soccer team co-captain, teammates would have to consider conflicts Jordan Brooks, has already spoken with and time commitments before joining Hamrouni. Brooks said a local pro team Kingston Prospect FC. would allow players to stay in Kingston and “It’s still so early,” he said. “We’re just play at an elite level all summer. focused on the Queen’s season.”

“I would be shocked if anyone on our team wasn’t interested,” he said. “As a player on the Continued from page 16

Kingston Prospect FC’s reserve team lost 9-1 to a Toronto FC academy team Saturday night.

PHOTO BY COREY LABLANS

Tuesday, sepTember 27, 2011

SportS

Tuesday, sepTember 27, 2011

Western up next Errors costly Continued from page 15

with a big block deep in Marauders territory to create a try.

“Our boys are just ready to throw their bodies out on the line for the team,” captain Dan Moor said. “It was probably the best it has been this season.”

The Marauders became frustrated as the score became lopsided. Near the end of the game, a Marauders player stomped on

eight-man Russell Gray’s torso, prompting a skirmish between the two teams.

“I didn’t see the incident personally so I don’t know how dirty it was, but that’s part of the game of rugby,” Moor said The Gaels will face the undefeated Western Mustangs in a game to determine first place in the OUA.

Continued from page 15

errors,” he said. “Unfortunately, those errors cost us those two games.”

At 3-2-1, the Gaels are tied for fourth in the OUA East. They will face the Carleton Ravens on Saturday and the Royal Military College Paladins on Sunday in Kingston.

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Winger Nathan Klemencic scored twice in the team’s 2-2 tie against the Ryerson Rams on Saturday.

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postscript student life

Focusing on hypnosis Hypnotherapy can fix behavioural issues, says local hypnotist B y J essica F ishbein Postscript Editor

people have about hypnosis. These stereotypes stem from stage shows, Robinson said.

“Stage shows make people To break bad habits and overcome lifelong fears, all it might take think it’s magic, like it’s a general is a stranger’s look into your anesthetic where I can just tinker with their minds,” she said. “In that unconscious mind.

Hypnotism puts individuals into way I just need to re-educate.”

“But it’s a team approach a state similar to sleep in which they act on external suggestion and not just giving up power. only. It’s used in a hypnotherapy, a It’s cooperative.”

As a result of this dynamic, type of psychotherapy.

It may be an unconventional hypnotherapy poses no risks to its solution, but local hypnotist clients, Robinson said.

“People still have control, and I consultant Penny Robinson said there are several reasons why am very cognizant of who wants to do what,” she said. “You can never people seek out hypnosis.

“Students come for fear of public get stuck in hypnosis.”

Though you can’t fall into a speaking, [if they] can’t settle down to do work, for smoking, wanting permanent state of hypnosis, to lose weight, because they want Robinson said it’s still difficult to remove someone from a to do better in sports,” she said.

Robinson’s method of hypnotic state.

“Often people are so comfortable hypnotherapy is eclectic and borrows from several and it’s hard when I want to get thinkers, including Milton them back to their full alertness.

Erickson. Erickson, a renowned The worst that can happen is American psychiatrist and someone will fall asleep,” she said.

According to Robinson, hypnotherapist, used informal conversation to access his patients’ some people don’t respond to hypnotherapy. unconscious minds.

“Some people could not shift “It’s a natural state we’re familiar with, we’re in it when were going from the conscious mind dominant into sleep at night,” Robinson said. to the unconscious mind dominant,” Hypnotherapy dates back to she said. “I’ve sent three people away because they couldn’t follow the 1700s.

“Doctors used to use hypnosis my instructions.”

A rejection of hypnotherapy can in surgeries because there was no anesthetic,” Robinson said. While ultimately be attributed to stress the unconscious mind may be and fear, Robinson said.

“It was tension so strong in their more accessible than we assume, there are certain misconceptions lives that they could not shut it

down,” she said of clients she’s had to send away.

If people have an extremely broad dilemma, hypnotherapy isn’t the right course of action, Robinson said.

“If someone said, ‘my life’s just not where I want it to be,’ I would direct them to a life coach,” she said.

“If I sense that someone has what looks like a psychiatric problem, I say ‘I can’t help you and you should get some medical attention,’” she said. “I deal with common, every day problems.

“A psychologist might use hypnosis for any diagnosed mental illness, but I use it for habits that someone wants to do away with.”

Specific issues ranging from a fear of travelling to insomnia bring many of her clients to try hypnosis, Robinson said.

Hypnotherapy is ultimately safe and effective because the client can learn to alter the behaviour that causes them to pick up bad habits, Robinson said.

“The unconscious mind is just soil. We can have weeds and flowers planted in it,” she said.

According to Robinson, the weeds, or bad habits, can stem from traumatic experiences from childhood.

A good example of a weed is a fear of public speaking, she said.

“I’m recalling someone who was five years old and grabbed a toy from another child, and the teacher put him in front of the class as

psychology

The psychology of hypnosis Director of Queen’s Psychology Clinic weighs in on risks and benefits of seeking hypnotherapy B y J essica F ishbein Postscript Editor

adverse effects, Parker said.

“It’s hard to do something powerful without having negative effects,” he said. “If you take a medication you might get sick to your stomach.”

The effect of hypnosis depends on the participant, says Dr. Kevin Parker, director of the psychology clinic at Queen’s.

“It’s not a game,” he said. “For a Most people have third of people I’d say it could have things they don’t want no effect at all. But for another to remember ... if all of third of people it can have real and the sudden something powerful effects.” reminds us of that The success of hypnosis depends on the subject’s particular skills. memory, it makes us “People can reject hypnosis uncomfortable. because they don’t believe in it, but there are people who would dearly

— Dr. Kevin Parker, Queen’s Psychology love to embrace it but don’t have Clinic director the abilities to do so,” he said.

Individuals more capable of being hypnotized rely on visual People who undergo hypnosis learning skills, Parker said. could experience headaches and Visualization is an integral notice an impact on memory, component to successfully Parker said. undergoing hypnosis.

“Most people have things they Any behavioural treatment or don’t want to remember,” he said. intervention is likely to have some “If all of the sudden something

“

”

reminds us of that memory, it makes us uncomfortable.”

The outcome of hypnosis also depends on the intention of the hypnotist, which varies depending on the particular setting, Parker said.

“Stage shows are like reality shows where you try to embarrass people or get people to embarrass themselves,” he said. “In any kind of ethical treatment, you are trying to help a person achieve their own goals.”

People who are interested in seeing a hypnotist should ensure that whoever they see is professionally qualified, Parker said.

“It’s a well researched field, but I’d see a psychologist or psychotherapist,” he said. “They could be a physician or have other training, but they should be a member of a college of psychotherapists.”

Penny Robinson holds hypnotherapy sessions in her Kingston office for less than $100.

an example of what not to do,” Robinson said.

As a result of this experience, the boy developed a fear of public speaking. Hypnosis helped him understand that it’s not always humiliating to be in front of people, Robinson said.

“Your unconscious mind is powerful — it’s fast and goes through memories to get an explanation that you think is keeping you safe,” she said.

“My whole approach is based on the belief that the unconscious mind wants what’s best for us.

Clients average five sessions to alter their behavior, Robinson said, adding that is varies by person.

“One is relatively uncommon,” she said.

Sessions range from an hour and a half to two hours and cost under $100, she said.

Robinson said she’s undergone

photo by justin chin

hypnosis herself to receive her training.

After graduating with a BA from Queen’s and an M.Ed from the University of Toronto, Robinson received a certificate of hypnotherapy training in Detroit from the International Infinity Institute of the International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association.

She initially thought of becoming a hypnotherapist when she worked with young offenders preparing for release from Kingston Penitentiary.

“I realized with young offenders there was something going on and it was tough to get at,” she said.

“But people have this innate sense that something will help. I saw a demo of hypnosis and decided that’s what I want to learn.”

First-hand hypnosis While under the effects of hypnosis, Jordan Reekie was convinced she was a fish.

“I believed I was in a fish bowl and saw everything around me,” she said.

Reekie, ArtSci ’15, volunteered as a participant in the annual Frosh Week hypnosis show.

“We sat on the chairs and [the hypnotist] started telling us to close our eyes and put our chin to our chest. It came to the point where my head was almost touching the ground,” she said.

Reekie said she couldn’t resist being hypnotized for more than half an hour along with seven other frosh.

“All you really had to do was focus on his voice and all he said is you’re going deeper and deeper into a sleep,” she said, adding that she started to feel the effects of hypnosis right away.

“You feel like you’re kind of in a trance … almost kind of like a dream. I felt very relaxed.”

The hypnotist was able to convince the volunteers that whatever he said was true.

“He convinced us whenever we heard the word ‘pinch’ we’d feel a pinch and we’d think it was the person next to us, even though nothing was happening,” she said.

“He hypnotized us to be scared of a water bottle. Even after the show was done, I felt like my water bottle was staring at me.”

After the hypnosis was over, participants were in a state of disbelief, Reekie said.

“Afterwards, I didn’t even believe I was part of it. As soon as we walked out the door, I started to remember everything and it all came slowly back to me,” she said. “When I started to remember everything, I was tripping out like ‘oh my god, I can’t believe I did that.’

“But it’s not like I was fighting against it.”