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44TH YEAR - NO. 24
Toronto gets Robbed BY LAURIE SNELL
In light of Mayor Rob Ford’s laundry list of shenanigans, Torontonians gathered inside and out of city hall on Nov. 13 to hang him out to dry. Inside the chamber, city coun cillors urged Ford to respond to recent allegations and confessions of illegal activ ity, ultimately demanding he take a leave of absence or resign. Meanwhile, hundreds of citizens rallied outside in the hope that Ford will step down, saving Toronto from the man himself and international headlines that are destroying the reputation of the city. Ford has been accused of smoking crack, bringing pros titutes into his city hall office, public drunkenness, murder ous rants, vulgar language, drinking and driving, assault ing staff members, cocaine use in restaurants and associating with well-known gang mem bers in the city - allegations, that until Nov. 5, were evaded or denied. “Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine,” Ford declared at an unconventional press confer
ence in Toronto on Nov. 5 — a confession that has made international headlines and late-night comedy shows and rallied political organizations such as Save Toronto. After months of denial, Ford’s elu sive nature has intrigued even the least politically inclined individuals. The shock factor and residual disappointment keeps residents wondering, what sort of controversies or allegations could possibly come to light next? “Hey-hey, ho-ho, Rob Ford has got to go, hey-hey, ho-ho, Rob Ford has got to go,” angry Torontonians chanted outside city hall, carrying signs and writing demands of resigna tion in chalk on the sidewalk. With signs reading, “Step down or fall down,” “resign,” “My mayor smoked crack and all I got was this lousy sign,” and, most dramatically, a card board coffin that read “RIP Crackula” —with an image of Rob Ford below - protesters made sure they were heard inside city hall and all over the downtown core. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
PHOTO BY LAURIE SNELL
Protesters gather outside Toronto City Hall to demand Mayor Rob Ford resign as part of the Save Toronto rally on Nov. 13.
Mango King now the parking king BY MARK LORENTZ
If you think Conestoga’s parking fees are too high, you can save money by parking across the street in the Mango King Plaza, just be aware they are starting to ticket cars. You can buy a $245 semi annual pass at Conestoga for the winter term or you can park across the street for $240 for the rest of the year (November to May). You can also pay $140 for three months or $50 for a month. It is the same walking distance as those students who live in residence, and you can always catch the Conestoga Students Inc.’s shuttle bus if you so choose. “I think that parking is way overpriced here, sometimes parking in the orange parking lot seems likes just as far as a walk from res, so I’d be will ing to park over there to save money,” said Tracy Ferguson, a second-year student in the
public relations program. Up until this year, the ten ants at 2480 Homer Watson Blvd. didn’t need to hire pri vate security for parking con trol. However, this year the students who were parking illegally started to become a major headache for business owners, with a large num ber of customers complaining about the lack of parking. John Roche owns a private security company and is now in charge of issuing permits and maintaining parking rules at the plaza. “Last week there were 102 cars parked over here (a day),” he said. “The students try to blend in by parking in the front, which is actually the worst place possible, as it takes away the ideal spots from actual customers and patients.” Roche said the tenants have agreed to set aside 60 parking permits for students to pur chase on a first-come, first-
serve basis, with a potential for more permits to be issued at a later date. The parking spots will be marked in white, and will be located along the back, near the residence and also beside Pino’s pizza. Comparing what Conestoga charges to the lot across the street, students can save a con siderable amount of money if they’re willing to walk an extra five or so minutes to class. “Ya, I know the school’s parking fees are pretty high, they gouge you over there. We believe we keep it reason able,” Roche said. Conestoga Security and Parking Services was unavail able for comment. At the Mango King site, spots are limited and cars will be ticketed if a permit isn’t displayed on the windshield starting today. For more information on the parking fees and how to obtain a permit, contact John Roche at 647-409-6861.
PHOTO BY MARK LORENTZ
Students caught parking in the Homer Watson Boulevard plaza across the street will be ticketed if they fail to display a permit.
NEWS
Page 2 ♦ SPOKE
Now deep thoughts ... with Conestoga College Random questions answered by random students
“What is the best (or worst) gift you have ever received?”
“A sailboat from my parents.”
Ben Gravelle, third-year business management
My MacBook Pro
N ick Oliveira, third-year business management
Monday, November 2 5 ,2013
Movember started in 2003 BY BRUCE CHESSELL
November is a month that has become commonly associ ated with men growing facial hair to support and bring awareness to men's health, specifically prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health. But there is more to Movember than just growing some patchy hair and flaunt ing your 1980’s era porn-stash. Movember was started in Melbourne, Australia in 2003 when two friends, Travis Garone and Luke Slatery, were having a conversa tion about where the “Mo” had gone in current fashion trends. They both then talk ed more of their friends into growing a “Mo” for the month of November and renamed the month Movember. Soon after, in 2004, the group of now 30 men decided that they would grow their moustaches for a cause and made a company and regis tered a website. The decision to focus on men's health was made soon after and in 2004 450 people raised $54,000
for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia. In 2007 Movember made its way over to Canada and has since become an annual event that many Canadians celebrate by growing their moustaches and beards as well as donating to a number of charities. Last year more than $146 million was raised and over one mil lion people got involved. Mo Bro, a term used for a man who decides to grow a hairy upper lip, is also the term used by the official Movember organization to describe a man who is par ticipating in the festivities. This doesn't just apply to men exclusively though, Mo Sistas are, according to the Movember website, women who support the power of the Mo, essentially doing every thing a Mo Bro does, except without the Mo. Conestoga got involved this year with Movember when a group of five second-year events marketing students set up their own Mo Bro’s event at the school in The Sanctuary on Nov. 8. The Conestoga Mo
Bro’s event featured some games including “Pin the Mo on the Bro” that had a picture of Heisenberg from the TV show Breaking Bad with his moustache missing. Jessica McKay, one of the members of the team, was the only girl or Mo Sista on the team. “I’m with four other guys and they can all grow some pretty decent facial hair,” McKay said, and then went on to explain why they chose Movember to show case their event. “I knew that Movember was huge with peo ple our age and that it would attract people our age so that’s why we chose Movember.” The other members o f the group were Mitch Joiner, Landon Jones, Stephen Filipovic and Jonathan Mansilla. To support Movember you can try and grow your facial hair, or visit ca.movember. com to find out more about the month as well as where and how to donate. Donations can be made to a specific team such as The Conestoga Mo Bro’s or to the Movember organization directly.
Tayior Deboer, first-year early childhood education
My best gift? An iPad
Krystal Godin, first-year practical nursing
PHOTO BY BRUCE CHESSELL
Stephen Filipovic (from left to right), Jonathan Mansilla, Landon Jones, Jessica McKay and Mitch Joiner work at Conestoga’s very own MoBro event. The group is also a part of a Movember team The Conestoga Mo Bro’s. “Socks. I hate socks. Who gives socks as a g ift?”
Topher Wadey, first-year radio broadcasting
“ Ugly pyjamas. Thanks, mom and d ad .”
Karah Blandford, second-year public relations
INTERNET PHOTO Smile Conestoga, you could be our next respondent!
People lay down in the street to create the shape of a moustache to support Movember.
NEWS
Monday, November 25,2013
S POKE ♦Page 3
Protesters demand Ford’s resignation ♦ FROM PAGE 1
Nikki Thomas, a political com mentator, Toronto-based escort, online game show host, activist for sex workers’ rights and cur rent Save Toronto spokesper son, took to the stage to reiter ate the organization’s position that demands Ford step down. “Save Toronto is a commu nity effort that sprang up from an online board called Urban Toronto, where one particular thread has been going on for over three years. It was started by a member of Urban Toronto, and it has over 30,000 replies and a million views in the last three years. And it’s simply called 'Mayor Ford’s Toronto” ... In light of these allegations ... eventually people decided that something just had to be done,” Thomas said. Outside city hall, Thomas blasted Ford, calling the mayor an international laughing stock, emphasizing his history of lying, fading to accomplish election promises and, most notoriously, his very public substance abuse problem that has compromised his political legitimacy and the reputation of Toronto.
urging Ford to take a leave of absence, seek help or resign. Adding insult to injury, the council is being heavily scru tinized and is unable to focus on everyday issues in Metro Toronto. When Ford took to the podi um on Nov. 13, he was full of apologies and maintained that he is not resigning, much to the amusement of onlookers. “This has definitely been the most humiliating week in my entire life ... (but I’m) absolutely not taking a leave of absence. There is no need for me to take a leave of absence,” Ford said, as the chamber murmured and snickered in frustration. “It’s embarrassing and humiliating and degrading I wasn’t forced to admit what I did ... but we all have skele tons in our closet we wouldn’t want exposed,” Ford said. “It is crystal clear our future must change ... today the whole world is watching us,” said Coun. Denzil MinnanWong of Ward 34 - Don Valley east, who participated in a council-wide vote that resulted in 37 of the 42 councillors demanding Ford take a leave
The anger has just reached a fever p itc h ... - Nikki Thomas, Save Toronto spokesperson “The anger has just reached a fever pitch ... it takes a lot for Canadians to take to the streets over something and ... actually protest ... it’s basically a com munity effort from a bunch of pissed off Torontonians who are sick and tired of having Rob Ford destroy the reputa tion of our city,” Thomas said. The feeling of upset was echoed inside the chamber, where City of Toronto coun cillors have found themselves redirecting their energy toward restoring political authority by
of absence or resign. Coun. Minnan-Wong was also targeted by fellow Coun. Doug Ford, who demanded he answer whether or not he has ever used marijuana - a flawed attempt at drawing parallels to his brother’s crack use. “Everyone in this chamber is coming across as holier than thou,” Coun. Doug Ford said. The trouble, however, is that council does not have the legal authority to remove Ford from his position - that sort of action will have to come from
PHOTO BY LAURIE SNELL
As part of the Save Toronto rally, protesters gather outside Toronto City Hall on Nov. 13 demanding Mayor Rob Ford resign. the Ontario government. For the council, the only temporary solution is transitioning mayoral powers to Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly. The motion to remove as many powers as pos sible was approved at a meeting Nov. 18, where Ford continued his antics by disrupting coun cil and declaring war against his fellow councillors - claiming this act was much like Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. As the Rob Ford saga contin ues to grab national and inter national attention - including television show offers for the mayor and his brother Doug, Saturday Night Live skits based on the Toronto may or’s antics, continuous media attention, autographing bob ble-head versions of himself, being publicly uninvited from mayoral events and an endless cloud of infamy around the man - Torontonians can only watch in horror and wait for what’s next.
COMMENTARY
Page 4 ♦SPOKE
Monday, November 25,2013
Mammograms save lives BY BRANDON HOMMEL
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian women (excluding non-melanoma skin can cers) and is the second leading cause of death from cancer. It is estimated that 23,800 women will be diag nosed with breast cancer this year, and 5,000 of them will die from it. With these statistics, it would seem that breast cancer screening would be a no-brainer. However, in Canada, the medical community doesn’t recommend women get a mammogram until they are 50 years of age, unless they are at high risk. This is despite the fact that mammograms have been credited with detecting breast cancer earlier in women, thus saving lives. In the United States, women are encouraged to go for breast cancer screening beginning at the age of 40. Amy Robach, an ABC news correspondent, discovered just how important it is, after reluctantly undergoing an on-air mammogram to raise awareness about breast cancer. The 40-year-old journalist is at the age when it is rec ommended that women in the U.S. regularly check for breast cancer, but she didn’t because she is married with two kids, has a full-time job and couldn’t find the time. By airing a segment on mammograms the show’s pro ducers hoped they could save one life. Little did they know it would be the life of one of their own. Robach’s on-air mammogram showed she had cancer, after which she had a double mastectomy and recon structive surgery. The screening saved her life and left her breast cancer free. “I can only hope my story will do the same and inspire every woman who hears it to get a mammogram, to take a self-exam,” Robach said. “No excuses. It is the difference between life and death.” If the new excuse for avoiding a mammogram is that women are too busy, it’s a poor one. And equally sad is that in Canada, women aren’t encouraged to undergo screening until they are 50. It’s understandable that some women don’t want to go because they fear the results won’t be favourable, but they must remember, the earlier it is caught, the better. And breast cancer screening should start at the age of 40 in Canada, which would surely save hundreds of lives. The views herein represent the position of the newspa per, 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 contact ed for verification. No unsigned letters will be published. Letters should be no longer
than 500 words. Spoke reserves the right to edit any letter for publication. Email letters to: www.spokeonline.com with the subject line “ Letter to the Editor,” or bring them to Room 1C30 at the Doon campus.
Rob Ford takes a page from Humpty Dumpty
Sexuality shouldn’t be labelled The spectrum is always expanding One of the biggest misun derstandings in our society today is the idea that one can only be gay, straight or bisexual. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people decide to label someone based on whom they are attracted to either romanti cally or sexually, or even by how they dress.
" I t is not OK for someone to label you."
At the end of the day, the only person who can tell you what you are is you. There is nothing wrong with label ling, but there is also nothing wrong with choosing not to label yourself. Just because one chooses not to, does not mean he or she is hiding something. There are different types of attractions, making it diffi cult for people to label them selves. Romantic attraction is NOT the same as physical or sexual attraction. For many,
sexual attraction doesn’t happen until an emotional or romantic attraction has. I think that sexuality is much more fluid than most people think it is. In other words, sexuality is a spectrum. While one may be gay, straight, bisexual or so on, there are also inbetweens. Pansexuality is an attrac tion to a person regardless of gender or sex. This is different than bisexuality, which pertains to men and women in that they can find attraction in any and all people including those who are trans men and women, androgynous and cisgender (cis men and women have gender identity that matches their sex - for example, males who look like how society thinks men should
look). Demisexuality and asexuality are similar in that a sexual attraction is rare or nonexistent. The first time I had expe rienced this realization of how the spectrum works was about three years ago. One of my closest friends started dating somebody of the same sex, who also happens to be my friend. It came as a shock to every body because they had both dated boys, but I realized that just because you date somebody of the same sex however many times does not necessarily mean you have to label yourself as gay or bisexual. Many people just fall in love with the person, regard less of what goes on below the waist. The important thing to remember is, it is not OK for somebody to label you. It is not OK for somebody to sug gest something about you to his or her friends or to your face. The best thing you can do for yourself is embrace whatever you are and take pride in who you love.
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NEWS
Monday, November25,2013
SPOKE ♦Page 5
Nursing through new eyes B Y TASHA LUNNY
In Africa, a Conestoga stu dent used two small buck ets to shower as well as to wash her clothing and dishes, during her three-month stay. Two other students got down and dirty with a local tribe while learning to build a mud hut. This summer, seven level four, Conestoga bachelor of science in nursing students travelled far and wide to learn and teach. Their experiences have forever changed the way they view nursing. On Nov. 11, Whitney Shore, Ashley Ratelle and Jacqueline Hovius shared the pros and cons of their international nursing experiences during an informational session with Conestoga students and fac ulty. They talked about living conditions, travels and most of all, their first experience in African hospitals. Shore stayed at a Zambian
nursing school she her mer ing at Hovius
when spent sum work Macha
Mission
Hospital in Choma, Zambia. Completely submersed in their culture, she got to room, live and work just as the Zambian nurs ing students do. Although she was warned prior, Shore didn’t realize how different the nursing roles were until she saw it first-hand. “It was cool to see how Zambian nursing students are taught,” Shore said. By the time they graduate they would have learned how to deliver a baby and they
would be expected to do that. They would be expected to take on a doctor’s role in case they go to a rural hospital and there is no doctor.” Shore spent her time in
their surroundings. The hos pitals often didn’t have incu bators and some would run out of beds or gloves. They also had to learn to use tools that were different than what they were used to back home. Cho ma, working in Instead of a stethoscope, the materni Ratelle and Hovius learned ty and labour to use a small blue, horn-like and delivery device to measure fetal heart wards. She beats using vibrations instead also got the of sound. opportu nity “One thing I took away was to get out just being flexible and work Shore side the hos ing with what I have. I think pital walls while working in a that was a really big challenge maternal health clinic, which at first, but it’s something we would offer family planning really took away from this and immunizations. Once a experience,” Hovius said. month the clinic would pack Another major challenge was up its supplies and travel to overcoming language barriers. different communities. They Although English is a common would supply HIV testing, language in most cities, all medications and child immu three women struggled when nizations as well as spend communicating with their time educating women on a patients and other staff. variety of topics from dehy “... Even some of the doctors dration to disease. and nurses did not speak very Hovius and Ratelle spent good English. Sometimes it their 13 weeks at Mount Meru was a real challenge work Regional Hospital in Arusha, ing, because we didn’t real Tanzania. They spent the ly understand some of the first six weeks in the hospi things that were going on,” tal’s maternity ward. There Ratelle said. they experienced their big The students learned to use gest moment of culture shock body language, hand signals while watching how the nurs and to memorize important es would interact with the words to make communicat ing with their patients easier. women during birth. “The women didn’t have any The experience taught the epidurals ... and they were students so much, personally expected to experience the and professionally, but with pain in silence. When they all the positives came nega screamed or anything like tives. The women all agree that, the nurses would slap that the hardest thing was them because it was just not how many lives could have tolerated. It was really, really been saved given the right supplies. hard to see,” Ratelle said. “Seeing the tragedy and the Not having the right equip ment or supplies was a major horrible things we saw in the challenge and forced the hospital, I just kept thinking women to have to adapt to that if they were in Canada
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Ashley Ratelle, a fourth-year Conestoga student, holds a prema ture newborn while working at Mount Meru Regional Hospital in Arusha, Tanzania. they would survive. With the lack of resources, they just didn’t have the capacity to save lives like we do,” Ratelle said. From milking a goat, safa ris, playing soccer with local students and visiting a spiri tual healer, the students got
to experience a different way of life, leaving them all with an overwhelming amount of appreciation. “I’m so blessed for every thing I have here,” Shore said. “You learn to not take anything for granted.”
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Level four Conestoga bachelor of science in nursing students, Jacqueline Hovius and Ashley Ratelle dress in traditional African garments while on their 13-week nursing experience in Arusha, Tanzania.
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Whitney Shore and Rachel Capeling, both Conestoga fourth-year bachelor of science in nursing stu dents, assisted at a mobile health clinic during their three-month nursing exchange this summer in Choma, Zambia.
R E ID ’S M A K E S BY JODY ANDERSON
Reid Chocolates is and has been preparing for the Christmas season for quite some time. It is their lon gest and most busy time, rivalled only by the brief rush of Valentine’s Day and Easter. The store offers plenty of chocolate choices as well as candy and other treats. Brenda Kemp, general man ager at Reid’s, said chocolate letters are one of the store’s biggest sellers. “Letters are a very big tra dition at Reid’s for stocking stuffers. It’s really hard to keep up with the letters. It doesn’t seem to matter how many we make we always need more.” M is the most popular let
HOLIDAYS SWEET
FEATURE
Page 6 ♦SPOKE
ter, but they all sell, espe cially during this time of year. Another big seller is the assorted box of choco lates, a safe bet for any given person. Various chocolates are included, but you are sure to see creams (choco lates with a cream filling of some sort). “When we’re doing an assort ed box we try and appeal to a wider range,” Kemp said. Reid’s can produce 150 pounds of creams at a time, seven or eight times a day. “The caramels don’t yield as much out of a batch,” she said. “So the creams definitely make us more money, they are a little more time effi cient, a little bit cheaper to make and they taste good too. It just depends on your per
sonal preference.” “To me, we do sell a lot of chocolate but we also sell a lot of nuts and that kind of sets us apart from other chocolate shops. We do roast our own nuts on the premises.” Nuts are used in many of Reid’s products; the most commonly used is the pecan. “We use them in our tor toise, and that’s our signature piece,” Kemp said. “We do more tortoises than we do assorted chocolates.” “Last year we did 4,350 kg of tortoises in the year. That’s the most of anything we do.” Kemp also said they are try ing for a 10 per cent increase on that for 2013. They have been packaging a lot of products but now with a new order of pecans in they can begin making more of
Brenda Kemp, general manager at Reid Chocolates in Cambridge, shows off some gift-ready prod ucts. The store is located at 42 Ainslie St. N.
PHOTOS BY JODY ANDERSON
Some of Reid’s products include edible houses, jelly beans and a large selection of chocolates.
Monday, November 25,2013
their signature product and in general begin making more products for this busy holiday season. “We’ve been doing a lot of packing. So now the onus is on getting a lot more product made. Now that we have the nuts we can do more tortoises. We’ve just done an order for 401 lbs.” In addition to in-store cus tomers, Reid’s sells a lot through orders whether they be from businesses, hospitals or families. “This time of year there are different companies that use our products for fundraisers,” Kemp said. “(We do orders) all over southwestern Ontario. Any corporation that is looking for gifts for their employees or for their customers or for their
referrals, we can customize to their needs.” “Dependent on what your budget is you can get some thing that is $2 or $150 or $300, it doesn’t matter, we can do anything. “We also do baskets, so there’s all sorts of different options for people and for every budget.” As the holidays approach Kemp has a theory on why they have so many repeat customers. “It’s a great place to work because you are selling to people for happy occasions, especially for Christmas. People are coming in, they’re in a good mood, they’re enjoy ing the whole experience of the store and everything it has to offer and that is why people keep coming back.”
FEATURE
Monday, November 25,2013
Santa Claus came to town
SPOKE ♦ Page 7
PHOTOS BY RANDI CLARKE
Presented by the Lions Club of Kitchener, the 2013 K-W Santa Claus Parade took place on Nov. 16, winding along a parade route that ran along King Street from Bridgeport Road in Waterloo to Cedar Street in Kitchener. Santa and his reindeer were the hit of the parade.
BY RANDI CLARKE
You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout I’m tellin’ you why. Santa Claus is coming to town. Actually, he has come and gone. The K-W Santa Claus parade made its way through Waterloo and Kitchener on Nov. 16 in the morning, while the Cambridge parade took place at night. The K-W parade featured 100 entries including 11 bands. Kids were lined up all along the streets waiting somewhat patiently for Santa to finally arrive. Parents holding cof fees eagerly waited as well. Logan Smith, 4, said he absolutely loves the parade. “I love it! My favourite part every year is seeing Santa and his reindeer!” “He sits here every year and gets so excited for Santa to visit. He has his letter waiting to deliver to him,” said Laura Smith, Logan’s mom. He wasn’t the only kid with a letter for Santa. Almost every child along the parade route had one in hand. Canada Post employees were in attendance to pick up the letters. Kids screamed excitedly
everywhere as Santa finally made his way into the down town Kitchener area. His rein deer pulled him along (on his float of course) as he yelled out greetings. “Good to see you Matt, Merry Christmas Jenny.” Adults were excited as well. Many called out to St. Nick themselves and recorded him on their cellphones as he passed. The mayors of the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo and Miss Oktoberfest made a brief appearance near the begin ning of the parade. Some of the other floats in the parade included a fire fighters float, a manger scene and a promotional float for 91.5 The Beat. There were also dance crews, more than one marching band and giant inflatable balloon characters like Snoopy, Frosty and a reindeer. Children and adults in the parade handed out candy canes and cotton candy to the eager children waiting on the sidewalks. For those who missed him, there’s no need to fret. Santa will visit again soon as Christmas Day is only a month away.
The parade featured camels, candy canes and lots of eager children
NEWS
Page 8 ♦SPOKE
Monday, November 25,2013
Bogus bills circulate in city BY TONY MCLELLAN
Business owners and patrons alike, beware. Your $100 poly mer bills could, in fact, be worth nothing, as a number of counterfeit bills have recently been discovered circulating stores in the tri-city area. Waterloo Regional Police were alerted to the magnitude of the crime in late October after a media release prompted multiple victims of the fraudu lent bills to come forward. “We’ve now increased the number of victims to approxi mately 22 businesses so far,” said Olaf Heinzel, the public relations co-ordinator for the regional police. Heinzel had known of instances where counterfeit polymer bills were discovered, but never so close to home, as the first fraudu lent bills were discovered in the Hespeler Road area of Cambridge. Since the polymer bills were released, they gained a repu tation for being tough, both to damage and copy. However, the recent discoveries of unauthentic bills in circulation have been cause for worry, since the many complex holographs and illusions were designed to make reproduction of the bill
nearly impossible. “Like we’ve seen with many other instances of security, electronic or material, over a period of time criminals will find a way to start manufac turing counterfeit bills that look very close to the actual ones,” Heinzel said. In addition to working in collaboration with local police forces, the Bank of Canada’s official website states that it offers lessons for those spe cifically involved in cash han dling to identify and intercept counterfeit bills should they be offered as payment. There are certain ways in which someone working a cash register can identify a potential fraudster, but most attempts aren’t very elaborate. ‘What they’ll typically do is with a $100 bill, they will go in and buy an item for around $6 or $7 and they’ll get around $90 in real cash back,” Heinzel said. It is due in part to scams such as this current one that many small businesses have taken to flat out refusing to accept any bills over $50, as getting scammed with $100 bills would hurt their financial success noticeably. If a customer is suspected of trying to use a fake note, an
PHOTO BY TONY MCLELLAN
Although the new $100 polymer bills (one of which is shown above) were supposed to be difficult to counterfeit, some fake bills have been found circulating in Cambridge. employee is advised to contact police as soon as possible. “The community is a very important part of finding and stopping crime,” Heinzel said. “We need to tell the com munity when something has occurred in order for them to
know so that they, in turn, can report if they saw anything.” Police do not have any sus pects, but are looking for two young males driving a navy blue, four-door car. The com munity is urged to contact the Waterloo Regional Police Fraud
Branch at 519-650-8500 if they have any recent information involving possible counterfeit bills. Detailed information on fraudulent bank notes can be found on the Bank of Canada website at www.bankofcanada.ca/banknotes.
Kultrun Festival comes to Kitchener BY AARON CRECES
Multiculturalism, great food, fine art and some excel lent music. The four in com bination can be tough to find, but they melded together per fectly at the first ever Kultrun Festival (that’s “kull-troon”) two weeks ago. The event was put on by Neruda Arts, a community based non-profit organiza tion that, in their own words, “connects the diverse cul tures of our region through the arts.” The first activities at the festival’s premiere took place at Queen Street Commons in Kitchener, in the form of a spoken word/songwriting exhibition called KW Poetry Slam. The show started off with a performance by spokenword artist Janice Lee. Lee delivered poems about love, commitment and community with passion and raw emo tion, as did poets Awasis and Amanda, who followed after her. This event, however, was merely just the tip of the Kultrun festival iceberg. Starting on Nov. 14, the fes tival spanned four days and came to its end on Nov. 17. In that time, multicultural
music was abound all over downtown Kitchener. Kultrun featured perfor mances from artists such as H’sao, Santerias, Patricia Cano and Laetitia Zonzambe. Each performance featured its own unique cultural flare. A singer hailing from the Central Republic of Africa, Zonzambe delivered her songs in French, English and Central African dialects.
i f It’s pretty amazing, so many people coming together for something like this.
- Isabel Cisterna Isabel Cisterna, artistic director of Neruda Productions for Arts and Culture, met a lot of the artists performing at Kultrun personally. “I’ve met some through contacts, and some just from generally being a part of the Kitchener-Waterloo music scene,” Cisterna said. “I want to make sure that this festival brings the high est artistic merit, and is as inclusive and culturally diverse as it can possibly be.”
Kultrun also featured sev eral culinary events at vari ous restaurants around the city. Restaurants such as The Ren@41, The Walper and the Marisol Restaurant hosted multicultural dish banquets which gave the diner a taste of Aboriginal, Spanish, South American and Mexican cui sine. The festival concluded on Nov. 17 with Family Day, a free event that celebrated families of all cultures com ing together. The day fea tured musical performances by artists such as Nomadic Massive, Joel Maripil, and Cafe con Pan among others. Cisterna talked excit edly of Kultrun at the Queen Street Commons on Thursday. She said she was eager to see the rest of the festival play out. “It’s pretty amazing, so many people coming together for something like this,” she said. “A lot of work has gone into making this all happen, so it’s pretty wonderful to see it all come together. “I think people will really support this.” For more information on Neruda Arts and other events visit www.nerudaproductions.com/.
PHOTO BY AARON CRECES
Spoken-word artist Janice Lee kicks off the Kultrun Festival at the Queen Street Commons on Nov. 14 in Kitchener.
NEWS
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PHOTO BY JOSH BURY
PHOTO BY JOSH BURY
Students race around the inside of an assembled circle during the second annual Student Leadership Conference held Nov. 16 and 17 at Bingemans.
Delatorro McNeal, keynote speaker, speaks at the leadership con ference.
Over 240 attend leadership conference BY JOSH BURY
The second annual Student Leadership Conference, aimed at developing student leaders at Conestoga College, was warmly received by the students. The conference, which took place at Bingemans on the weekend of Nov. 17, was orga nized by Conestoga Students Inc., who started the program last year. Two hundred and forty tickets were available, and nearly sold out. CSI’s leadership program also includes funding for clubs, a community leader ship ambassador program and a global service leader ship trip to a less-fortunate part of the world. Budgeted funding for the program is $160,000, with the leadership conference taking
“50 to 60 per cent” of that budgeted amount, accord ing to CSI president Jason Wright. Keynote speaker and best selling author Delatorro McNeal was one of the guest speakers, and presented three sessions during the two-day conference. One of his ses sions, entitled “We are one team,” featured several expe riential activities. “We start out with the rela tionship building stuff ... and then we graduate into the team building things,” he said of the session’s flow. One activity saw teams of students trying to build the tallest free standing balloon structure in under five min utes while using all available materials. Teams of newlyacquainted students scram bled to inflate the balloons,
design the structure and put it together. Another activity later in the session, called “Inner circle,” encouraged students to demonstrate courage by stepping into the middle of a larger circle when a ques tion was asked that applied to them. The questions became increasingly personal, but students remained engaged, with some visibly moved by the experience. “We take it to an emotional place where we talk about how, as a leader, you’re not only going to be called on to lead when everything is fine and groovy and perfect,” McNeal said. “A lot of the time, what makes the best leaders amazing is that they can lead through adversity.” McNeal, who was a return ing speaker from last year,
said that the authentic emo tion displayed by students during this activity isn’t something he ever gets used to. “People ask me all the time ... you never do. Every audi ence is different. These are people’s lives, and I take it seriously.” “I try to be a sledgehammer of positivity,” he said. McNeal’s sessions were just part of the event, which was well received by students. Some said the event managed to improve substantially over last year. “I think it’s better than last year’s (conference). I think everyone’s more involved, and there wasn’t as much ice to break this year,” said Mike Boraski, a second-year business administration — accounting student.
Kierstian MacLeod is a firstyear business administration — management student who also attended last year, when she wasn’t a student at the college, out of interest. “You need to be here ... I may not even have chosen this school if it wasn’t for the fact that I attended this con ference,” she said. Hayley Press, the vice-chair of the CSI board of directors and a second-year public rela tions student, said last year’s conference was transforma tive, and that this year’s event is helping her to build on that success. “I wouldn’t be where I am if it wasn’t for this conference last year ... and two weeks from now I’ll tell you the exact same thing. It changes you, but it’ll only change you if you let it.”
Lee’s X-rated show obscene but funny BY COLE FROUDE
Dildos, sex and even a hint of bestiality were all common subjects during Tony Lee’s X-rated hypnotist show on Nov. 14. Originally planned to start at 9:30 p.m., Lee did not take the stage until 10 p.m. after some hecklers in the crowd were yelling to start the show. Lee wasted no time tell ing sex jokes, first taking a shot at students who were still in school after four or five years by saying they were creepy and hitting on all the first years. Next Lee relaxed the crowd, telling them to close their eyes and put their two fingers togeth er. Those he convinced that their fingers were stuck together were brought up on stage as his volunteers for the evening. Lee made them pretend
PHOTO BY COLE FROUDE
Tony Lee hypnotizes his volunteers during his show, getting some of them to fall asleep. they were driving a car, as he would raise his voice then lower it and say the iconic “Friday the 13th” Ki-ki-ki-
ma-ma-ma. “Now you find out that you are in Jurassic Park and a Tyrannosaurus rex is chas
ing you!” Lee screamed. The volunteers all jumped and pretended they were driving erratically until Lee’s voice pierced the air again. “Now, you’re home stoned and watching Jurassic Park at home. But then you switch the channel to porn. XXX rated porn,” Lee said. Most of the volunteers were masturbating as Lee was laughing and describing the sex acts that were on the TV. Loud moans from the partici pants could be heard all the way in the back row. The final act was painful and gut wrenching to watch as Lee asked for the three toughest men in the audi ence to come up on stage. Once they were hypnotized he asked them to cup their crotch and protect their genitals. Lee asked the women on stage to line up and snap kick one of the three guys on stage in the
crotch as hard as they could. To make matters worse Lee would egg the girls on saying things like that guy cheated on you with another woman or that guy killed your pet to increase their anger resulting in harder kicks. Some of the kicks were so hard you could hear it in the back row and the crowd all cringed and let out gasping noises as the kicks made con tact. “I thought the show was awesome. I’ve been to a hyp notist show before, but this one was more engaging,” said first-year woodworking stu dent Cody Knight. Second-year public rela tions student Kara Blandford said, “I thought the show was interesting, seeing friends of mine on stage making a fool out of themselves,” “It can’t get any better than that.”
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FUN & GAMES
Monday, November25,2013
SPORTS
Monday, November 25,2013
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C o n d o rs fa ll sh o rt a g a in st S t. C la ir BY KELSEY DUNBAR
The St. Clair Saints marched over the Conestoga Condors during back to back games on Nov. 17. The Conestoga men’s and women’s volleyball teams hosted two home games at the Conestoga College rec centre with the women’s team playing first. The team which wins three out of five sets is the victor. The Condors had three very close matches but lost all of them, giving the Saints the victory. “We were leading and we didn’t close the matches when we needed to ... They were better than us at the end of each match,” Coach Marek Gwozdz said. The men’s team didn’t have any better luck. They lost the first match by 9 and the sec ond match by 17. The score of the final match was 25 to 18 for the Saints. “St. Clair is a very good team,” Coach Wayne Harris said. “They are more experi
enced than us, they are more technically sound and they are older than we are. They are a really solid team ... We competed with them well in the first match but our inex perience showed and then all of a sudden we were down five or six points. “We gave into our frustra tion, and we didn’t show up at all in the second set ... Then in the third set we competed again.” St. Clair is ranked fourth in the OCAA west division and Conestoga is ranked eighth. After the second match, Harris sat all of his play ers down for a mid-game pep talk, and whatever he said must have struck some sort of nerve because the team that played hard in the third and final match was not the same team as the first two matches. However, it was not enough to volley the Condors into a fourth match. The Condors’ next home games are Dec. 4 against Niagara College. PHOTOS BY KELSEY DUNBAR
Two Condors block a spike from St. Clair at a home game on Nov. 17 at the Conestoga College rec centre.
Leanna Sinclair (left and bot tom) of Conestoga spikes and bumps the ball during a game. Justin Reyes (above) of Conestoga sets up for a power ful serve.
SPORTS
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PHOTOS BY SCOTT DIETRICH
Conestoga’s men’s rugby team poses with their bronze medals after defeating Trent at the University of Waterloo on Nov. 16.
Rugby team delivers, brings home bronze BY scon DIETRICH
When the Conestoga men’s rugby team lost their first three games of the season, it seemed unlikely that they would finish the season with a medal. Yet when the 2013 OCAA men’s rugby season ended last weekend the Conestoga Condors took home some hard ware. The Condors won their bronze medal match against Trent at the University of Waterloo on Nov. 16, with a final score of 25-12. In the gold medal match played on Sunday Humber beat Algonquin in a battle of two undefeated teams, to win their fourth championship in a row. Conestoga played well defensively as Trent was only able to score two tries in the game, and made a couple of crucial stops in the second half as Trent was pushing up the field. Trent played hard until the very last moment of the game, trying to cut into the Conestoga lead, but it wasn’t enough as the Condors shut them down
each time they approached their zone. “We have had some shaky defensive efforts this year but today we came through when it counted,” said team captain Barry Vlasman. The players were all smiles after the game was over, cel ebrating the medals wrapped around their necks. In the post-game awards Condor Jacob Robertson received the Man of the Match award for Conestoga. He left the game injured with a mean charley horse, but was playing extremely well before he had to leave the game. Though the team had a depleted bench due to injuries and two players were playing injured during the game, they stuck together and pulled off the victory. “More today than any other game we were fight ing for each other,” head coach Kyle O’neill said. “We were low on the bench and a couple of guys were playing hurt that second half, and I think today was all heart.” For a full box score visit ocaa.com.
Mike Sullivan of Conestoga runs to tackle Trent’s Gabriel Epprecht.
Brandon Innis of Conestoga dives in for a try during the bronze medal game at the University of Waterloo on Nov. 16.
Sullivan and Barry Vlasman of Conestoga tackle Dustin Taylor of Trent. Conestoga won 25-12.