Living history Once a history buff, he’s now a war re-enactor. Page 12 Monday, April 2, 2012
Not short on talont
SPOKE
5’2” volleyball player named All-Star. Page 11
A L E A R N I N G N E W S R O O M FOR J O U R N A L I S M S T U D E N T S
Conestoga College, Kitchener, ONT.
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44th year - NO. 12
Closed path causes uproar By TIFFANY WILSON
What once was a 10-minute walk is now a 23-minute trek. Conestoga College was told by the Region of Waterloo that the service road access along Homer Watson Boulevard had to be closed for liability and insurance rea sons. The road has been closed since March 9. Peter Schlei, manager of
facilities management at the Doon campus, said leaving the fence open was encourag ing students to use an unsafe area. “It is not an approved path way on the property. This leaves the college at a liabili ty if something happened,” he said. College staff was aware that not only students walk ing to the Cambridge campus were the ones who used the
service road, but also stu dents walking from the carpool lot and residence. Schlei said there have been many reports of close calls along Homer Watson because students weren’t being smart. Instead of using the cross walk, they were crossing at various points along the road to access the service road entrance. However, students are annoyed and frustrated by
the closure of the service road, resulting in some of them jumping the fence. Mitchel Vandenberg, a manufacture engineering student, has to walk from the opposite side of the Doon campus to get to the Cambridge campus for his classes every day. “It’s annoying. It takes much longer to get to school now,” he said. If the college were to pro
vide sidewalks and snow removal, the service road could reopen, but that takes time and money, said Schlei. In the meantime, the col lege was also told by the region to post signs on and around the red gates at the Cambridge campus because students continually jump them. The signs will say peo ple are to use the maintained sidewalks and entrances, he said.
Some putting hearing at risk By ANDREW SOULSBY
PHOTO BY WILLIAM WITCZAK
Biotechnology technician student Ashley De Foa (left) pretends to cheat off fellow biotech student Jillian Greb on March 27 in the Doon cam pus library.
Survey finds cheaters prosper By WILLIAM WITCZAK
You’ve heard teachers say it before every test, “anyone caught cheating will get an immediate zero on the test and face even worse penalties.” When handing out assignments it changes to, “anyone caught plagia rizing ... .” Despite the threatening words, a recent survey of Conestoga College students found they aren’t being scared off. In the survey conducted at the col lege’s Doon campus, 62 per cent of students admitted they knew some one who had cheated while attend ing Conestoga College. The survey asked 55 students (24 male and 31 female), who remained anonymous, to answer three very simple questions: Did you ever cheat during high
school? Fifty-six per cent (31) said they did. Have you ever cheated while at Conestoga College? Eighteen per cent (10) said yes. Do you know of someone who has cheated at Conestoga College? Sixtytwo per cent (34) answered yes. Most students were very forthcom ing with their answers, instanta neously shouting out, “Absolutely, couldn’t have gotten through high school without cheating,” or asking me, “is it cheating if ...” before humbly writing down their answer. One student was particularly boastful when filling out the survey, stating that there wasn’t a single assignment throughout high school that he didn’t cheat on. “I don’t think there was anything that I did honestly in high school. You name
it, I did it. Cheating on tests with the answers in my pocket, using websites for assignments ... every thing. I’ve gotten a little bit better in college but if anyone were to ever really thoroughly check my work I’d have no excuse,” said the student with a smile on his face. Surprisingly, the number of stu dents who admitted to cheating in college was particularly low. Also, for those of you wondering which gender is more likely to cheat, both genders answered the questions almost the same, with only a few percentages separating them. According to Conestoga’s student handbook, cheating includes copying from another student’s assignment, plagiarism, falsification, taking a test for another student, or using materi als not authorized by the instructor.
During Health and Wellness Week, students from Doon’s medical wing test ed the timeless adage, out of sight, out of mind. In the pursuit of raising awareness for noise induced hearing loss, students from the two-year hearing instrument specialist (HIS) program walked throughout the campus testing stu dents’ earphones for volume. “We’re finding iPod volume levels are down which is pretty good,” the pro gram’s co-ordinator and audiologist, Calvin Staples, said. Last summer dur ing a similar test, of the 70 earphones that were checked, five or six were well above safe listening levels, he said. “About 90 decibels (dB) and below is safe, anything above that and you’re starting to get damage,” Staples said. ‘Y ou ’ve got hours (of listening time) between 90 and 95, but as you get clos er to 100 dB it starts to get in the minute range and at 105 it’s down to three, four or five minutes before dam age will occur.” Results from the day’s tests showed students typically had their volumes set to 90 dB and below, however, dur ing last year’s test some students had their volumes set as high as 100 to 105 dB. “Most of them didn’t care, which I find fascinating,” he said, indicating their apathy might stem from their age. ‘Y ou ’re 20, you’re 19, of course you don’t care.” However, the nature of hearing loss itself could also indicate why there is a lack of concern among younger genera tions. See CAUSE, Page 3
NEWS
Page 2 ♦SPOKE
Now deep thoughts ... with Conestoga College Random questions answered by random students
W hat was your favourite childhood television show and why?
“SpongeBob SquarePants. It’s just so random.” Zak Whitford, broadcast television
“Power Rangers. I liked the costumes and fighting. It looked cool.” Kyle Moniz, police foundations
Monday, April 2,2012
The Hunger Games leaves fans hungiy for more By REYHAN ENVER
Whether or not fans read the book beforehand, the movie adaptation of the bestselling novel The Hunger Games did not disappoint. The story was easy to fol low even if you did not have the background from the books. That being said, the almost two and a half hour movie included almost every thing that Suzanne Collins created and imagined in the novel. The film is about the 74th Hunger Games, a televised event that the land of Panem hosts each year. Civilization as we know it is destroyed and all that is left are 12 dis tricts. The “government” is the Capitol, the richest part of the land. All other dis tricts are lower class; the
higher the number, the less developed the district. Each year, a boy and a girl between 12-18 years of age are chosen at random to par ticipate in the Hunger Games - a fight to the death where only one person sur vives and becomes victor. Katniss Everdeen, an expe rienced hunter, played by Jennifer Lawrence, volun teers as a tribute after her younger sister is chosen. A boy from her past, Peeta Mellark, played by Josh Hutcherson, is also chosen
from District 12. The imme diate sadness is evident when it is realized that only one of them may come out alive. The characters are welldeveloped throughout the film, making you fear and feel pity for each person who must be involved in the Hunger Games. The movie ends on a note that makes you expect a sequel - which you should, since the series is a trilogy. The film invokes every emotion and keeps you intrigued the entire length of the movie. There are no slow or dull scenes. The movie had the biggest non-sequel opening to date, raking in $155 million its opening weekend. I give the film five out of five stars.
Epica’s new album better than expected By ASHLEY WELFORP-COSTELLOE
“Arthur. It’s classic.”
Sam Colyer, human services foundation
“Arthur. I love the characters. I'm obsessed with them.” Jody Deboer, interior decorating
“The Simpsons. It’s hilarious, the dumb things they do.”
Chris Pflance, broadcast radio
“Scooby-Doo. I like dogs and talking dogs are awesome.” Terrence Osmond, police foundations
Smile Conestoga, you could be our next respondent!
Female-fronted Dutch sym phonic metal band, Epica, has released its fifth studio album titled Requiem for the Indifferent. While the group’s third full-length album, The Divine Conspiracy, was heavier than the first two full-length releases, their fourth album, Design Your Universe took things to the next level. I felt the band achieved the per fect sound on that album. It was heavy and progressive, but had the symphonic ele ment at the same time. On Requiem for the Indifferent, the band is suc cessful in carrying out the difficult task of creating a good followup to their previ ous album. Like all other Epica albums, this one starts off with a short intro titled Karma. This symphonic piece leads into Monopoly On Truth, a brutal, all-gunsblazing song complemented by the vocal talents of Simone Simons. The occa sional death growls add to
the tune and fans will be sur prised at how heavy this track is. Storm the Sorrow starts out in the typical musical style Epica has used on previous albums, but it gets heavier toward the end of the song, giving it an iden tity of its own. Delirium is a slow, soft bal lad which certainly sounds more peaceful than the previ ous two tracks. Next comes the title track which has a bit of everything. It starts out with the use of some interest ing instrumentation that has not been heard on previous albums, then moves to a typi cal symphonic metal sound followed by a ballad-type sec tion and a surge of death metal at the end. This was an enjoyable track to listen to as it was completely different.
The piano interlude Anima is followed by the dark and epic Guilty Demeanor. The next song, Deep Water Horizon, starts off as a slow ballad, but it eventually picks up the pace. Stay the Course is another fantastic song. At times, it’s heavy enough to be classified as straight-up death metal and that’s some thing I really enjoy, since that sub-genre of metal was what got me into the heavier music in the first place. Next up, Deter The Tyrant, does everything the album has done so far with a little acoustic guitar segment thrown in. Avalanche is more progressive and similar to Deep Water Horizon in its gradual build-up. Finally, the last song on the album, Serenade Of SelfDestruction, takes some time to pick up the pace, but once it does, it’s nothing short of amazing. Requiem for the Indifferent is an absolute must-have for all Epica fans. Even if you’re not an fan, try giving it a lis ten. You may change your mind.
NEWS
Monday, April 2,2012
Posters do the talking By BEN STOPPARD
Why was there a mini slutwalk in the middle of Conestoga College’s Doon campus on March 23? It was part of the annual Diversity Poster event, which took place in the F-wing’s lobby. Seven students held a mock slutwalk during which they wore protest signs to help display their poster topic. Each poster was made and displayed to generate discus sion about topics relating to diversity, social justice and equality. The event was put on by students in the human serv ices foundation program and overseen by Debashis Dutta, the program’s co-ordinator. “It’s really neat to see our students rise to the occasion and take on topics that aren’t often talked about,” Dutta said. “The students are required to argue and get cre ative. If they get people talk ing, they’ve done their job.” There were 11 posters this year, including ones on: cyber racism, racial profiling for
immigrants, religious oppres sion, inequality in education, same sex adoption, famous symbols which have tainted meanings, the shaming of women and victims of sexual violence, and misogyny. Shaming is the act of mak ing women feel guilty about being sexual, or making them feel ashamed after they’re raped. The slutwalk was started in Toronto last April to protest against this type of shaming. The misogyny group covered similar topics of strong hatred and discrimi nation toward women and how it’s still prevalent in North America. In Canada it’s around twice as difficult for same-sex cou ples to adopt than heterosexu al couples. In the United States it’s worse - most states won’t officially allow it. Mississippi and Utah in par ticular don’t allow non-married people of any kind to adopt, and they don’t officially recognize same-sex marriages. That’s not the only discrimina tion people still face. Did you know that racial
profiling is still prevalent in airports? Passengers of colour are often held in security if they are not Canadian or American citizens. This is especially true in the United States. One Conestoga College student said that she had been a victim of racial profiling in U.S. airports. For that matter, interracial marriage is still frowned upon and racist com ments are rampant on social websites such as Twitter and YouTube. Did you know that before the Second World War, the swastika was a symbol of peace? Did you know that First Nations students have a much higher failure rate in school than everyone else and many school boards don’t deal properly with children who have disabilities. “This is the seventh year we’ve done the poster ses sion,” Dutta said. “Before we’d have two or three pre sentations a week, but that seriously cut into class time. This is the same project, but now it’s open to the college and lots of people attend.”
Cause of hearing loss varies ♦ From Page 1
“Hearing loss to me is like putting something out in the sun - it just fades over time,” Staples said. The damage may not occur today, but could sur face five or 10 years later. “When you’re 20, that puts you as a 30- to-35-year-old with a hearing loss, which is a little too early,” he said. According to the Hearing Foundation of Canada, “hear ing loss is the fastest growing, and one of the most preva lent, chronic conditions facing Canadians today.” While the cause of hearing loss varies from case-to-case, the two most significant contributors are age and noise related.
Statistics Canada reported in 2002 more than one million Canadians suffer from a hear ing-related disability. While some students were raising awareness throughout the campus, Larissa Luke, a first-year hearing HIS stu dent, carefully navigated the program’s video otoscope inside Gina Pereira’s ear. “Ew ... Wow,” the secondyear practical nursing stu dent said as she looked at lumps of earwax in her inner ear on the instrument’s dis play. Luke beamed in satis faction. “I love it,” Luke said about her program. “I am hard of hearing myself so, I’ve learned so much because I
SPOKE ♦ Page 3
A class for those going green By JAKE DAVIDSON
Rare’s green thumb is help ing the Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank. The first of six classes led by Amanda Newell of the Rare Charitable Research Reserve was held on March 21 to teach people how to grow their own food and to be more comfortable when doing so. Each class costs $5 or the series costs $25. The money from the class goes back to Rare where it is used to help fund other charitable proj ects. The class is for beginner gardeners who have very lit tle or no experience garden ing but want to learn and pos sibly save some money or get some satisfaction that they grew their own food. The class was altered slightly to also act as a training course for the Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank which partners with Rare on this project. “Food bank volunteers can now volunteer at our new food bank garden to put in some of the hours they need,” said Newell. “They’ll actually
be helping to grow and main tain the gardens where the produce goes to the food bank.” Rare has a large community garden that is maintained by the volunteers including stu dents from Conestoga College. Rare has been work ing with the recreation and leisure services program at the college to get volunteers for the summer. “We’ve got to prepare the land, we’ve got to tend the garden and we’ll harvest in the fall and that food will goto the food bank,” said Allister Thorne of the Cambridge SelfHelp Food Bank. The class on March 21 cov ered where you might want to put your garden and some information on the tools you would use in a backyard gar den. The instructor also talked about soil health and what you can do to make it healthier to improve your plants. The classes are for all ages. “Last year we had a girl who was 10 years old and we’ve had people who were in their 70s,” said Newell.
A FREE JAVA JOLT a t
co n esto g a
didn’t really know anything about it before.” Luke described the class of 40 as being a tightly knit group of friends taught by amazing teachers. This year’s class represents the first time in the program’s six-year history that all of the students were enrolled full time. In years past, according to Staples, the program was a mixture of full- and part-time students, however, due to the program’s growing popularity the switch to full-time enrol ment was made. “Our program is so well known now, it’s only six years old and I would think we’re one of, if not the best program in the country,” Staples said.
STUDENTS MAKE TAX TIME l e s s
t a x in g
The Canada Revenue Agency recent ly organized a tax preparation train ing session for Conestoga account ing students and anyone else inter ested. After the session, accounting teachers decided to hold free stu dent tax clinics to give their students som e practise. The clinics w ere held on March 27 and 28 at the college. Alyssia Dietrich (left), a first-year police foundations student, w as one of approxim ately 25 students w ho took advantage of the clinics. Second-year business adm inistra tion accounting student Candice Fendelet helped her with her return. PHOTO SUBMITTED
PHOTO BY BRADLEY ZORGDRAGER
Prachi Chaudhary, a first-year enhanced nursing practice - clinical and critical care student, fills up her new Conestoga Students Inc. m ug with free coffee on March 26. CSI was giving away free reusable m ugs as well as coffee and tea as part of their Green Week.
COMMENTARY
Page 4 ♦SPOKE
Monday, April 2,2012
Stop your neighbours from fearing you By ELISSA DEN HOED
On St. Patrick’s Day, fear and abhorrence gripped London, Ont. The cause was not a natural disaster or other unpreventable tragedy, but a celebration that got disastrously out of hand as aboutl,000 rioters, primarily Fanshawe College students, created a fiery pandemonium that stopped police and firefighters from intervening for fear of being injured or killed. University and college students are famous for several things. We are famous for endearing traits such as being broke and for cramming the night before an exam and yes, less endearingly, we are known for partying and drinking in excess —whether it’s always true or not. We are known for taking over entire neighbourhoods with student housing. But no matter how much we take over, there will still be some neighbours for whom the neighbourhood is home - and not just for two semesters a year. They should never be concerned about their safety. What one group of students does, especially locally, influences how the pub lic views us as a whole. Let’s face it: we already don’t have the greatest reputation for being good neighbours. London residents, especially neighbours near the Fleming Drive area where the St. Patrick’s day incident occurred, such as the mother who hid in a basement with her six terrified children during the riot, are without a doubt scarred after this experience. The same can proba bly be said for the authorities, who, along with their vehi cles, were pelted with bricks and beer bottles by the riot ers, preventing firefighters from extinguishing the mas sive bonfire. “They will pay,” London mayor Joe Fontana said, and police have made 13 arrests - it’s a start. But the damage has been done (literally, $100,000 worth including a fullyequipped CTV news van, as well as figuratively) and the public’s suspicion of post-secondary students has been further increased. We can’t undo what’s been done. We’d like to think that a riot as serious as the one in London would never be caused by Conestoga students - but how can we know? The answer to that question is up to us - all of us. As stu dents we have a responsibility to shape the way the rest of the population views us. For those of us who leave when school is out for the year, our neighbours might not remember us, but they will remember how we treated them and their properties. After a disgrace like this inci dence, we need to practise being good neighbours, howev er fleeting our presence might be. It’s the least we can do. The views herirt represent the position of the newspaper, not necessarily the author.
Letters are welcome Spoke welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be signed and include the name and telephone number of the writer. Writers will be
contacted for verifica tion. No unsigned letters will be published. Letters should be no longer than 500 words.
Chasing the fantasy romance What do you do when your best friend, the one person you long to talk to everyday, gives up on you and walks away? The whole world seems to just come crashing down and there’s nothing you can do about it. So many people go through breakups and all of those people hide their emotions and try to battle it out themselves, but doing that doesn’t help. It’s going to hurt. Especially when all you want to do is sit there and think about it. You start to bring yourself down say ing you’re not good enough and nothing you do is right. You try to think of ways to change your self to suit one person’s needs instead of going out into the world and being yourself like you’re supposed to. We have all of these expecta tions about how one relation ship is supposed to work. I, myself, could sit in my room and watch romance movies until I die, but doing this only builds up this fake reality and makes us believe in something that may not even exist. In any romance movie, there is always a happy ending. The guy is always the perfect person and the girl is always happy. What about those situations where the guy and the girl don’t see eye to eye on everything? What about those situations where the guy cheats and the girl keeps going back because she’s afraid to lose everything
Jazlyn Slack Opinion
she spent the last year building or the situation where the girl hits a low and the guy can’t han dle things anymore and says he “didn’t sign up for this.” Romance movies build up women’s confidence, making us believe that everything will always work out; therefore when things don’t we are crushed and it seems like the world is over. We sit in our rooms and watch these movies and cry our eyes out and dream that someday, and someday soon, our lives will turn into a Noah and Allie (the Notebook) or Johnny and Baby (Dirty Dancing) or even Jack and Rose (the Titanic) fairy tale. Even though these movies have bittersweet moments, they always end with unconditional, heart-wrenching love that every girl longs for. Noah and Allie fought over and over again, they were sepa rated by differences and every thing that could go wrong, did, but in the end they found each other and were together for the rest of their lives. Johnny and Baby had to hide their relation ship from Baby’s parents. They
had their ups and downs but Baby’s father accepted the rela tionship by the time the movie ended, and Jack treated Rose like his prized possession, did everything and gave everything up for her - including his own life. So when we see all of these heroes fighting for their love and dying for them, we expect every guy to act like that. I’m not saying it’s wrong to believe in eternal love and soul mates, it’s just that every time a relationship goes downhill we beat ourselves up over it, we cry and we blame ourselves, when reality is, stuff happens. This guy might not be your Noah; that guy might not be your Jack. We all have relationships go wrong and others that go right. Some may be high school sweethearts, others may be col lege sweethearts and some may not even meet their Johnny until they re out in the working world. Don’t bottle everything up inside because in the end you’re only hurting yourself. Eat ice cream, watch sappy love movies and cry to your best friend - just don’t believe everything Hollywood makes love out to be because things will go wrong and you will get hurt but it’s nothing to dwell on and beat yourself up over. You’ll find your Jack/Johnny/Noah, just be patient and let life take you there.
SPOKE IS P U B L I S H E D A N D P R O D U C E D W E E K L Y B Y T H E J O U R N A L I S M Editor: Karen Haynes Assignment Editors: Bradley Zorgdrager and Jazlyn Slack
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STUDENTS
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COMMENTARY
Monday, April 2,2012
SPOKE ♦ Page 5
A fte r ye a rs o f controversy, W o o d s m a y be o u t o f th e rough Two and a half years after he hooked his Escalade into an oak tree, Tiger Woods has a smile on his face and a spring in his swing. On March 25, after pushing through scandal, scorn and injury, Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational. This was his first major tournament win in the two and a half years since his per sonal and professional lives started their downward spiral from which many saw no sal vation. And up until now, they appeared to be right. Shortly after the incident with the oak tree, Woods found himself under attack. Rumours of infidelity turned into what seemed like droves
Devon Smith Opinion of women going public with proof of it. The golfer who millions came to idolize and adore shocked the world with his dark and dirty secrets. America’s golden boy went down in an inferno of public scorn, family trauma and corporate rejection. But such is the fate of a person placed on so high a pedestal, for no one is per
fect. And the higher the pedestal, the harder the fall. Maybe that pressure is what drove him to “market his balls” better than Nike ever could. Maybe the world held him to an unfair standard. These points could be argued indefinitely. In the end, only Woods himself knows why he did what he did. One thing that can’t be argued, however, is that this was a devastating blow to Woods’s career. He took what he called “an indefinite break from profes sional golf’ on Dec. 11, 2009, to attempt to fix the colossal divot that was his marriage. Less than four months later, after extensive therapy
and soul searching, Woods stepped back onto the course for the 2010 Masters Tournament. The man that teed up then, however, was n’t the same kid who took the golfing world by storm 10 years earlier. No, this man was much older, and it showed. Not only did he not win that tourna ment, but in the next two years he would be on and off the course with injuries, accomplishing little of any sig nificance. Unless you count losing his wife, his longtime coach, his loyal caddy and the respect of much of the golfing world. All of this only served to make last week’s victory that
much more momentous. The win came less than two weeks before the 2012 Masters is set to start and exhibited what Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press called “a per formance so clean that he was never seriously challenged.” The Masters will be the real stage for a comeback, if there is ever to be one. It will be the true test of whether or not Woods will ever again approach his former glory. There is no question he has supporters, although not as many as before. But mark my words, if he pulls through in this next tournament, his supporters will be coming out of the “wood”work, so to speak.
Fanshawe students shame the shamrock The colour green is splashed across pubs, people and pints each St. Patrick’s Day. Yet, flaming red is all that will be remembered in London this year. While the holiday was cele brated across Canada and the world, a pocket of partici pants, mostly students of Fanshawe College, shamed the shamrock as they uncon trollably rioted on Fleming Drive on March 17. The incident, involving 1,000 highly intoxicated rioters, 65 police officers and 10 firefight ers, resulted in approximately $100,000 of damage. Brad Duncan, chief of London Police Services, and Howard Rundle, president of Fanshawe College, expressed their overwhelming disap proval after the incident. “Our (police) engaged in a dynamic, dangerous, highly charged situation and ensured that injuries to the crowd were kept to a mini mum ... The severity of this mob mentality could have easily resulted in a death,” Duncan said at a press con ference on March 18. Rundle added on March 19, “Sadly, I must say the actions of some of our students not only endangered themselves, but they put our emergency responders and our communi
Karen Haynes Opinion
ty at great risk. This is unac ceptable. It will not be tolerat ed. It will not be excused.” This mob mentality, as Canadians have witnessed before, should be just that; unacceptable, intolerable and inexcusable for all. And still this crowd hysteria is part of our past, our present, and undoubtedly our future. In June 2011 police worked to end a riot in Vancouver, B.C. that resulted in over 100 arrests. The upheaval occurred in the city’s down town after the Vancouver Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals to the Boston Bruins. Total dam ages surpassed $1 million. These behaviours are incredibly selfish, self destructive and create last ing consequences for the affected communities. These people’s actions are despica ble and incomprehensible. Drunken fools riot and deserve to be held responsi ble for the destruction they leave behind.
While contributing factors on March 17 included incred ibly warm temperatures, high levels of intoxication and the sheer fact that the holiday fell on a Saturday, it should be remembered that those facts were the same for the majority of cities across southern Ontario.
Over 5,000 people gathered on Ezra Drive in Waterloo, also a highly student popu lated area. This crowd was five times larger than that of London’s and although approximately 100 tickets were issued - mostly for drinking beer or liquor in public - there was no out-of
control mob. Those responsible in London have shamed their city, school and fellow Fanshawe students. But mostly they have hurt them selves. Any employer who learns of their behaviour will surely look for more suitable candidates.
FEATURE
Page 6 ♦ SPOKE
Monday, April 2,2012
Local store hangs on, despite hard times By VANDA DOBRITOIU
Encore Records has been in business for 31 years and con tinues to eke out an existence despite the industry’s move to online sales. The store was originally located on King Street in Kitchener, across from the Farmer’s Market, but was moved to its current location in 1989. Terry Brown, the original owner, died shortly after opening the store. His friend and co-worker, Mark Logan, took over the business. The 48-year-old Kitchener man is still the owner today. As a child Logan spent a lot of time and money in music stores, loving what they had to offer. “Soon enough, it became my dream. It sure beats a lot of other options,” laughed Logan. Although it was hard at first, the music business was thriving at the time and it was a good time to buy the store, Logan said. The music industry today, however, is not as kind to local music store owners. “There’s hardly any left, maybe a third of us are still hanging on,” Logan said. The store offers something for everyone, including new and used CDs, DVDs, LPs and merchandise.
The only thing that can’t be found on the shelves is chart pop music. The music is brought in from wholesalers, major labels and from all over the world. They also sell tickets to local shows, independent artists’ CDs and even promote shows. As a part of the community, they offer a great hangout spot by just being located in the heart of the city.
If it goes, when it goes, I’ll be very sad,
Encore Records, located in dow ntow n Kitchener, is surviv ing despite the recession and the glum days of Internet dow n loading.
PHOTOS BY VANDA DOBRITOIU
because it’s a very honest business. - Chris Boynd
After being open for 30 years, Logan feels that they can’t get much slower than they already are. A typical day would include him and his two part-time employees receiving new products, ordering new ones, filing them away and main taining the store. One of his employees, Chris Boynd, who has worked there for eight years, said the store is very familiar, since he has shopped there since he was
12.
Chris Boynd, an eight-year em ployee with Encore Records, stays busy cleaning CDs on a quiet m orn ing.
FEATURE
Monday, April 2,2012
SPOKE ♦ Page 7
Artist in residence attracts community By ANDREW OMRAN
Waterloo Region residents had the opportunity to leave their mark on their home towns in March. Visitors to Kitchener City Hall and Jefferson Campbell-Cooper’s unique, creative piece of art work could add their own per sonal touch. His artwork consists of a room-size map on the floor. Some people see a map as a form of direction ... nothing more than a way to get around the city. Campbell-Cooper sees it differently and that’s what has allowed his recent creation to have such a philosophical impact on the community. “We hope to highlight Kitchener’s diverse communi ty by focusing on the amazing stories of the area’s geologic history, the development of its human history, the per sonalities and experiences of its people,” Cooper said. He added that the map gives people an opportunity to look at their city from a perspec tive they may not be used to. “The map gives us a larger perspective of the Grand River and how it kind of flows through Kitchener and the railways and highways; peo ple get really thrown back by it. Like ‘oh, I had no idea the highway had so many curves and went in this direction,”’ he said. When it comes to trends or interests people have in the map, Campbell-Cooper said they are often interested in figuring out the same thing. ‘I ’ve been accumulating stuff, from what people tell me about the map, from their experiences walking on it and where they come from so I’ve been able to label areas, neighbourhoods, parks and creeks but right
away, people want to figure out where they li v e and where they work; that’s always exciting for people.” When it comes to actually getting people to draw on his creation, that’s a whole other story as some people are still getting used to the idea of drawing on art.
“People love dictating and telling me stories so I just kind of follow them around and I will add stuff as they’re telling me their stories. - Campbell-Cooper
“People really open up, they engage because they’re really excited ... but to get them to get the marker on the map is definitely a bit of a struggle. “The more outgoing, younger people have been more inclined to pick up a marker and help participate but people are reluctant like, ‘oh, I’m going to make a mis take ... it’s not going to look nice;’ it’s these types of things.” Luckily, Cooper understands their hesitation and has fig ured out a way that they can still get their memories and favourite places on the map. “People love dictating and telling me stories so I just kind of follow them around and I will add stuff as they’re telling me their stories. “If there’s any frustration in the program, it’s that I can’t keep up with (all the) infor mation. I can’t digest it fast
Th e thing Cam pbell-Cooper said people enjoyed the m ost w as find ing their hom es and places of business on the m ap.
PHOTOS BY ANDREW OMRAN
Jefferson Cam pbell-Cooper w as at City Hall in Kitchener with his piece of art, asking people to add their key locations to the m ap. enough and get it on the map.” Campbell-Cooper’s fascina tion with maps, geography and location goes back to his childhood. He has always enjoyed finding a way to con nect with rest of the world. “I’ve always been fascinated with maps ... it’s probably more of a fascination with ori enting myself within the rest of the world whether it’s with in a province or country even as a little child. “To do these maps at a larg er scale and I can walk on them, it’s enjoyable. But the information, seeing how a
two-dimensional view can depict a landscape so accu rately amazes me,” he said. The map, currently at Kitchener’s City Hall, may be the first that this commu nity has had an opportunity to see but Campbell-Cooper has done similar projects on even bigger scales. “The idea of a large-scale map that people can walk on as an art exhibit... I did it for Nuit Blanche in Toronto in 2009; I did a 44-x34-foot map with acrylic wooded areas and rivers.” There are normally about 500,000 people who attend the
annual Toronto art event, which gave Campbell-Cooper an opportunity to get creative. “Now, I didn’t seal the graphite as part of my inten tion ... I wanted the people and pedestrians participating at Nuit Blanche to walk over the map and distort it, thus letting the downtown core of graphite distort out into Lake Ontario and the rural areas farther up north. Which it did. They really muddied up the crisp, clean areas. In a sense, they finished the work.” The Kitchener piece of art is on display at City Hall until the end of the year.
Map and m arker in hand, Cam pbell-Cooper adds to the m ap he installed on the floor at Kitchener City Hall on March 16.
ENTERTAINMENT
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This flicks store is far out By KENNETH BELLIVEAU
What started out as a collec tion among friends, has now blossomed into a store full of over 20,000 movies. As soon as you walk into Far Out Flicks, located at 94 Queen St. S. in Kitchener, your eyes are instantly drawn to shelf upon shelf of movies that have never been heard of before. Broken down genre by genre, there is a good chance Far Out Flicks will have the movie you are looking for. Even if they don’t the friendly staff will be willing to help you track it down. Far Out Flicks has been open since 2002 and owner Rolf Glemsor said there was a period of time where he thought the business might not make it. “At that point we had been open four or five years, and things were going up, but not significantly.” Glemsor said it was the clos ing of many other independent stores around the area that ultimately helped his business. “Movietainment closed down, it used to be out on Pioneer Drive, and last year with Generation X closing and Blockbuster closing its
doors, that definitely helped us.” This fall Far Out Flicks will have been in business for 10 years. However, all is not rosy just yet and Glemsor said that the new age of film watching which includes Netflix and Rogers on Demand has hurt business slightly.
Movietainment closed down, it used to be out on Pioneer Drive, and last year with Generation X closing and Blockbuster closing its doors, that definitely helped us. - Rolf Glemsor
“It definitely has hurt us a little bit, probably because of the comfort of being able to just choose a movie from your couch.” However, in comparison Netflix has 8,000 films to rent, whereas Far Out Flicks has
17,000 DVDs for rent on any given day, plus Glemsor has his collection of VHS tapes that are for sale. He tries to maintain a competitive price with both major online servic es. Rogers on Demand charges $7.99 for a 24-hour rental, and at Far Out Flicks, it costs $5. Glemsor also said that with Rogers on Demand, you don’t really get the service, one of the major reasons he believes people still come to the store rather than shop online. “We talk to people and try and figure out what they like once they come in enough. We then begin to recommend films for them depending on their previous rentals, which is something you don’t get online.” Glemsor believes that other cities would be able to sustain an independent movie store similar to his. “There is definitely a niche not being fulfilled by Netflix or Rogers (that) those independ ent stores can fill. We offer DVDs that are off the map. On average it is more expensive to rent online, and Rogers wants you to walk away from the brick and mortar of the indus try which at one time was an independent store.”
Monday, April 2,2012
Monday, April 2,2012
ENTERTAINMENT
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Start your quest By JAZLYN SLACK
Start your quest Conestoga. If you’re not a fan of role play ing games (RPGs) such as Dungeons and Dragons, then grab some drinks, some friends and bring out your inner nerd as you begin your quest, the Drinking Quest. Jason Anarchy, a graduate of the business administration management studies program at Conestoga and creator of the RPG drinking game, Drinking Quest, has had a love for RPGs since he was a child and was inspired to start a quest of his own. With the help of a 62-card deck, your story unfolds. Gain experience points, lose hit points and if your character dies — start chugging. Not a drinker? Not a problem. The game is designed for you to drink, but if you’re just looking for a good time with friends, grab some non-alcoholic punch and you’re good to go. “I’ve taken into account that there will be players who are driving or maybe just don’t drink but still want to play a humorous RPG,” said Anarchy. “The idea is to grab something that doesn’t taste great, maybe a green tea or prune juice. Those would actu ally be pretty healthy options, your bowels would thank you and your skin would be nicely oxidized!” In multiple places on the Drinking Quest box and in the instructions it says to know your limits and drink responsi bly. “I really made a point of being socially responsible with this. It’s very clear that the onus is on the player to know their lim its and drink responsibly.” Unlike other drinking games, Drinking Quest makes sure you pace yourself. “In a worst case scenario, you might have to chug every half an hour — to a maximum of five drinks throughout the
PHOTO BY JAZLYN SLACK
These are a preview of som e of the cards that you will find in Jason Anarchy’s role playing gam e, Drinking Quest. game — but it usually aver ages two or three and with the “one chug per quest rule” you’ll never have to do them back to back.” For those of you who know your RPGs and Internet memes, there’s plenty of inside jokes for you to pick up on. “The humour of the game is totally written for geeks in the Internet generation, there are a lot of geeky ‘in’ jokes,” said Anarchy. “I definitely didn’t try to make it appealing on a mainstream level. I wanted to make the best game I could for my niche. I never underes timate the intelligence of the player.” Like any RPG, you control a fictional character and interact in a fantasy world. In the case of “DQuniverse” your charac ter needs to earn the most Experience Points by the end of the game, and if you don’t win then “you probably drank the most so you still kind of won.” A favourite card of Anarchy’s is the “Booze Hounds.” In each of the four quests there is a new version of the card. In Quest 2 you fight a pack of them and it’s a pretty subtle
homage to the “3 Wolf M oon" meme.
“It’s not so obvious and I like that. People will be guessing “Is that ... is that 3 Wolf Moon?” Another favourite is a special ability called “Killer Buzz.” It has the Bar Room Hero char acter chugging a tankard of ale while holding a sword. “He’s just got this crazy look in his eyes and I think it’s very definitive of the game. “I’m working on Drinking Quest 2 right now and one of them is called ‘Obvious Troll.’ I have a habit of incor porating Internet memes into these cards.” In a little over two months, Drinking Quest has sold nearly 500 copies in 16 different coun tries with ‘lots of new orders and surprises every day.” You can buy the game online at www.drinkingquest.com for $25 with a $5 shipping fee. If you’re ordering from K-W you should have it within 2-3 days, personally delivered by the Drinking Quest administra tive clerk, and for the rest of the world, usually 1-3 weeks through mail depending on your distance from Ontario.
Noctumiquet a solid album The Mars Volta is part of a small, yet highly esteemed and respected community of psychedelic-infused rock. Their new releases are always met with enthusiasm from fans. Noctourniquet is a stellar addition to the band’s arsenal. Full of a combination of mod ern psychadelics, new wave, prog-rock and jazz-fusion, lis teners are sure to be left weaving through the absurd lyrics and idioms presented by frontman Cedric BixlerZavala. The album features many unlikely reference points,
Rachel Henry Opinion
such as Blondie’s Rapture (as heard in Dyslexicon) only to follow it with the reggaetinged The Malkin Jewel, which also echoes a curious prog-style Nick Cave. Elsewhere, swelling choruses give a nod toward Muse, while guitar squalls echo a Radiohead-esque soundscape.
With the emergence of new drummer Deantoni Parks from guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez’s solo proj ects, the album delves into eccentric rhythms to create vibrant visions of synergy, as heard in The Whip Hand, and the slow, beautiful musicality of Trinkets Pale of Moon and Empty Vessels Make the Loudest Sound. Every listen to the album will leave fans with a new discovery. This album is a kaleidoscope of fresh, experi mental prog-rock sure to leave even the most skepti cal listener intrigued.
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Monday, April 2,2012
SPORTS
Monday, April 2,2012
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Conestoga student finds a w ay to stand out Lady Condor nam ed W est division all-star By JEFF BOMBEN
The game of volleyball is dominated by tall players but one Conestoga student is find ing a way to stand out. At only 5-foot-2, second-year marketing student, Samantha Singthong, co-captain of the Lady Condors, simply loves the game of volleyball. Singthong, 20, was recently noticed for her hard work when she was named as an Ontario Colleges Athletic Association second-team West division all-star. The Lady Condors finished the season with seven wins which placed them sixth in their division. Singthong led the way, finishing second in the league with 222 digs. “It wasn’t just a moment that defined the year. In a few games this year we were down by a lot and just picked our selves up,” she said. “The team would always go to a third match and it would come down to the final few points and we pulled them out.” Singthong uses her natural athletic ability to make her a stronger volleyball player, one who can play multiple posi tions on the court. One thing that never leaves her is a smile. “I always have a smile on my face because I love not only the sport itself, but also playing it,” she said. “I have a positive edge and it helps me focus on the game.” In addition to playing for the Condors, Singthong played six years with the Waterloo Tigers. She first started play ing the game while in elemen tary school and that continued into high school where she attended Forest Heights Collegiate Institute in Kitchener. Her volleyball career started in a unique fashion. “When I first tried out for the rep team, I didn’t know how it worked. I did all the fitness stuff and we were finally separated on courts. I didn’t realize it, but I was trying out for the ‘A’ team,” she said. Singthong has committed herself to the Waterloo Tigers’ development program, and started coaching four years ago. Her coaching resume has only expanded since; she now works with the rep U15 team and the development program. The coach also commits her time to running camps in the summer for players ages seven to 15. Her biggest coaching accomplishment recently hap pened when she was accepted as a coach-in-training at Ontario’s best summer volley
ball camp, Madawaska. When she first started coach ing, Singthong admitted that she was very quiet because she was still young and had to understand her role. Now she describes herself as a passion ate, competitive coach who stresses discipline. “I am brutally honest when it comes down to it. I let them know what they’re doing wrong and how they can fix it,” she said.
PHOTO BY JEFF BOMBEN
Second-year m arketing student, Sam antha Singthong, loves the ga m e of volleyball. She is co-captain of the Lady Condors and also coaches in her spare time.
FEATURE
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Monday, April 2,2012
A living historian stands on the front lines By ALEXANDRIA PEER
Rob McGuire is not your average 51-year-old sales rep resentative. When he’s not juggling raising two teenage daughters, travelling all over Ontario and entering operat ing rooms with surgeons who are using the medical devices h e sells, McGuire likes to shoot at Americans. Somewhere in the chaos, he finds time for his hobby —re enacting. McGuire has been involved in re-enactments for the past four years with a unit called the First Royal Scots Grenadier Company, which is based in London, Ont. “A few years ago I began singing in a choir and one of the ladies in the choir was a re-enactor. She introduced me to the hobby,” McGuire said. “It’s like any good hobby. Once it gets to you, and if you really like it, you don’t need a reason to contin u e , it just grabs onto you and holds you.”
McGuire has a love of histo ry, Canadian history in par ticular, and once dreamed of becoming a history teacher. “I have a large collection of books on Canadian history, largely Canadian military history. As any of my close friends will tell you, I eat up anything that’s history. I don’t care what it is,” he said. McGuire was a soldier in the Canadian reserve for six years. In the re-enactments he participates in, he plays the role of a private soldier. “We don’t pretend that we’re modern day soldiers. A num ber of my friends who are in the unit were in the military as well. It does tend to draw on some of that, but it’s not like a second home for ex-military people,” McGuire said. “There are a lot of people in the unit who were never in the military and are in the front line as well.” Re-enactors are often referred to as living histori ans. They impart their knowl edge of Canadian history on
others to give a sense of prospective into what it may have been like for people dur ing that time. That is one of the many aspects of re-enact ing that McGuire loves. “I get to talk about what I’m doing to people who don’t know the history, so I guess in that way, I get to become the history teacher I never had the good fortune of being,” McGuire said. Re-enactments run from spring to the fall. McGuire will be participating in a training session in Fort George in April followed by a large re-enact ment the first full weekend in May outside of London, com memorating the Battle of Longwoods, to kick off this year’s re-enactment season. “The re-enactment groups gather during the winter and they decide which battles we’re going to attend. The ones that tend to be standard for this part of Ontario are Chrysler’s Farm near Ottawa, Fort George, Fort Erie, Longwoods and Stoney
Creek,” McGuire said. The final re-enactment McGuire will be participating in this year will take place on Thanksgiving weekend to cele brate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Queenston Heights. “I think we live in a world that is very fast-paced. We represent a period of time in history where it was a lot more sedate, but it was based a lot more on community. People survived because they could rely on each other. I like the sense that I’m con nected to these people in some way.” During the re-enactments, McGuire often finds himself wondering what it would have been like for a soldier who was on the front lines during the War of 1812. “I find myself imagining, what must those people have done? What must that have been like for them, because I just face smoke and powder coming out of the end of that musket. I don’t face a lead ball and I don’t face cannons
and I don’t face people charg ing on a horse with a sabre. It’s very easy to let your mind go back in time and think what this must have really been like,” McGuire said. “It gives you a chance to explore a deeper sense of history within yourself and what that really means to you, especial ly with Canada and this being the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. For me, I think it gives me another opportu nity to appreciate the fact that I am Canadian.” McGuire encourages anyone interested in Canadian history and re-enacting to give it a try. “It is not an elite club. We would welcome anyone who wanted to join a re-enactment unit,” he said. McGuire is looking forward to having his 89-year-old father, accompanied by his sister, come out to a few of the major events this upcoming season. ‘W e all have a love of history, share a military background and understand the impor tance of the bicentennial.”