The Cascade Volume 7 Issue 6 1999-11-24

with Joey

Student Union declares Refereridu·m -null

and void

by Christopher Bolster

From the same folks who brought you "Banner Madness" and my all time favorite "Exam Schedule Chaos," the UCFV Registrar now proudly presents "Referendum Insanity,". If you haven't yet heard, the recent referendum, as well as the recent SUS bi-elections, were deemed to be null and void.

The reason? Improper electoral procedure. On Friday November 12, the SUS declared the referendums void because they were conducted without having a master membership list to confirm the student status of the voters.

The Student Union proceeded with the polling even though they did not have a complete voters list. The Student Union has taken responsibility for the fiasco, but the Cascade has learned the majority of the fault lies with the Registrar's office.

The Student Union Electoral committee, the body responsible for running referendums and elections, requested a voters list from the Registrar's office three days before polling began. Approximately an hour before the polling stations opened, the Student Union received the voters list. However, the list contained around sixteen hundred student numbers, about fiftytwo hundred numbers short of a complete list. When the Student Union realized the sizable.error, a call was made to Registrar Bill Cooke's office requesting a complete list. Polling then began with only a partial list. It wasn't until three days later, just after polling concluded, that the Student Union received the complete list. By then it was much too late.

When questioned why the polling proceeded without the complete list, Stephanie Martin, the Chair of the Electoral Com mittee and President of the Student Union commented, "It was a judgement call. We proceeded in good faith that a new list was coming." She further commented, "We have never

questioned the accuracy of the voters list that we've received from the Registrar. It is possible that all the voters lists that we have received could have been incorrect."

As a registered society, the Student Union Society is required to have a complete membership list in th~ir office at all times. However, the University College, citing privacy legislation, refuses to comply. Instead, UCFV only gives a list of student numbers to the Student Union when they request a list for running an election or a referendum.

Martin commented, "They [the Registrars office/Administration] make it impossible for the Student Union to operate legally. In fact they_force the Student Union to operate illegally."

Shakespeare grows in Chilliwack

Shakespeare inspires Millennial garden project at UCFV

by Sandy Tait

The very first Shakespeare Garden in Canada will be constructed right here in Chilliwack. Already in the planning stages, the garden will be located on the University College of the Fraser Valley's Chilliwack campus. The project is being developed as a joint celebration of the Millennium, UCFV's 25thanniversary, and UCFV Theatre's 20th anniversary.

The idea for the garden was the inspiration of Richard Zingel, a member of the Friends of the Theatre fundraising committee.

''I've always loved gardens, and J've thought for a long time that the area between the Theatre building and the Health Sciences building was just begging for a garden. I envisioned the garden as a place of rest and inspiration, a place that will add to the quality of life on the campus." says Zingel.

The garden project has become a partnership between the UCFV Theatre, English, Agriculture, Health Sciences, Community Relations, and Groundskeeping Departments, and the Chilliwack ca~pus manager's office, as well as the Friends of the Theatre.

Ornamental Horticulture students are currently researching middle-class gardens from Shakespeare's era in preparation for submitting their proposals to a committee of expert adjudicators in December. The winning design will then be implemented in the spring.

"This is the first time our students have taken on a historical project," says UCFV horticulture instructor Nancy Moore, who is working with the students on the project.

"It's a wonderful opportunity .interesting, different, exciting, and maybe something they'll never have a chance to do again."

The groundbreaking is scheduled for midMarch providing the committee is successful in raising the $2,000 they need.

"We need about $6,000 to complete phase one of the garden," says Theatre departmenrhead Ian Fenwick. "The Agriculture department is putting in $2,000 and the government will give us a matching grant if we raise $2,000."

"The criteria for the garden are very specific. It must retlect middle class standards, values, and tastes from the 1600s. The gardens of that time provided beauty and aesthetic value, ha-

Harrison's Phyllis Stenson new UCFV Board Chair

by Bob Warrick · strategic plan will be in the area of community

Phyllis Stenson of Harrison Hot Springs has been elected as the new Chair of the UCFV Board of Governors. Stenson was appointed to the board in 1995 and was most recently vice chair. She replaces Noel Hall of Mission, whose term expired this past summer.

Marilyn Fane of Chilliwack and Rick Flegg of Abbotsford are the new Vice Chairs of the UCFV Board.

"I enjoy being on the UCFV Board very much," said Stenson. "It's made up of a really good group of people. They all have a healthy concern for the overall institution rather than simply focusing on the area or group that they're appointed or elected to represent."

The UCFV Board is made up of government appointees from communities throughout UCFV's region as well as elected students, staff, and faculty members. Stenson is the second woman to hold the position of Board Chair at UCFV. Betty Meagher held the post in from I 979 to 1982.

Stenson says she thinks it's a positive step to have a representative from one of UCFV's smaller communities elected to the chair.

"Our new strategic plan puts more emphasis on our community links as we celebrate the 25th anniversary of UCFV/FVC, so I think it's helpful to have the perspective that comes with being from a smaller, more peripheral community," she said.

The Board of Governors' formal role is to develop and/or approve policy related to the governance of UCFV. Board members' informal duties include helping to promote the university college in their communities and listening to community concerns.

"The Board's role in im lementin the new

relations," Stenson said. "For instance, we

have revised the terms of reference for our community councils so that they can be more proactive and involved with our institution."

Stenson, a long-time resident of the Harrison/ Harrison Mills/Agassiz area, is the executive director of the Harrison Festival Society and has just completed a term on the Harrison Hot Springs council. She has a long history of involvement with UCFV, ranging from working in partnership during the early years of the Harrison Festival, to working on special projects for the college on a contract basis in the 1980s.

She is married with two grown children, both of whom have attended UCFV. Her hobbies and interests include theatre, music, gardening, and advocacy work in the areas of human rights and the arts.

New Vice Chair Marilyn Fane has been on the UCFV Board since 1995. She said that she's excited about helping to implement the new strategic plan at UCFV.

"I'm looking forward to monitoring the process and assisting where I can," she said.

She echoed Stenson 's enthusiasm for her fellow board members.

"They're a great bunch who care a lot for UCFV's students, staff, and faculty."

Other Vice Chair Rick Flegg says he's happy to have been involved with the institution for over 15 years, first as a program advisory committee member, and then as a board member.

"UCFV provides good educational opportunities for everyone in the region," says Flegg. "I hope my contribution can help support UCFV's goals."

vens for meditation and reflection, and provided vegetation and herbs for the kitchen, flowers for internal decoration and medicines for the sick:

"Our garden will be as authentic as the conditions here will allow and so will be a great teaching aid as well. Our students are directed to research culture when they study Shakespeare. They'll be able to walk out of the building and into a 17th century middle class garden, soak up the atmosphere, and get a tangible feeling for the era.

Dr. Lisa Storozynsky of the UCFV English department is acting as a consultant on the project and liaison between all of the partners, and she will be providing information about what kinds of plants should go into the garden.

"I find this project exciting personally, professionally, and as a community member," says Storozynsky.

"It's allowing me to combine three of my favorite interests: English literature, theatre, and botany. I've already done a lot of research, some of it in England this past summer.

"I can see using the garden to teach English and Shakespeare lore, history, herbal medicine, and lots more. What a treat to have the actual experience of a traditional garden instead of just hearing about it or seeing pictures.

"I love the idea of such an interdisciplinary enterprise. Look at how many departments are involved. With this kind of enthusiasm we can make a garden the entire community can be proud of."

If you would like more information, or to be part of this special millennium/anniversary celebration, call Carole Higginbottom in the Chilliwack campus manager's office at 7022612. Donations can be dropped off at the UCFV Theatre box office or sent to the Community Relations and Development office at the Abbotsford campus.

Hero and villain still at large

by Dave Nicholson

After an attack on a female UCFV student on October 28, police are still looking for leads. The women who was attacked sustained no injuries, but the perpetrator and the hero who stopped the attack are both unknown to the police. The attacker's motives are still in question, and it could have been an attempted robbery or sexual assault. Gale Star of the Chilliwack RCMP said "the investigation is on going and leads are needed." Students are advised to use precaution. If you have any information about this incident please contacted the Chiliwack RCMP.

Student Union introducing the International Student Exchange Card

The Student Union Society is proud to soon offer UCFV Students the International Student Exchange Card. Applications for the ISE Cards will be made available at the UCFV Bookstore, International Education, Student Services, and at the Student Union Society offices on both main campuses. Completed applications can be dropped off at either Student Union Society office ( Abby A213 Chwk E 101). It will take approximately 3-5 days to process each application. For just $ I 6.00 per calendar year, students will be eligible for thousands of discounts world-wide.

In addition to the ISE Card, students will be able to purchase the discount catalogue an itemized list of worldwide discounts (students will also be able to access the discount catalogue free online!).

This program offers students cheap travel, accommodations and services. In addition, it also makes an effort to give back to the students ofUCFV. To this end, ISE will be returning to the SUS $5 from each card sold, for the purposes of building up the existing scholarship endowment fund, creating a

scholarship, or funding another equally important projects.

Feds allot $700,000 to develop UCFV online courses

Martin refuses.request to eliminate GST on textbooks

by Gordon Loane The Brunswickan

FREDERICTON (CUP) Federal Finance Minister Paul Martin has refused to eliminate the seven per cent goods and services tax on university and college textbooks.

Sam Saintonge, president of the University of New Bruns\\iick Student Union, was one of 30 Canadian Alliance of Student Associations' (CASA) lobbyists who met recently with Martin in Ottawa.

"Martin told us that if he eliminated the GST on textbooks, then he would have a flood of requests from other groups seeking a similar benefit," said Saintonge.

The federal minister, however, did open the door to the possibility of providing university students with a benefit in another program that could equal the amount Ottawa currently collects from GST on textbooks, said Saintonge.

Saintonge added CASA delegates from the Maritimes were hoping the federal government would follow the lead of provincial governments in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, which do not charge taxes on textbooks.

CASA delegates also asked Martin to reinstate federal funding to the provinces for postsecondary education to the levels provided in 1995.

"We asked the Minister to put back the $3.6 billion that has been cutback since 1995 which

has resulted in huge tuition increases for students," said Saintonge.

Students were also looking for improvements to the Canada Student Loans program.

"We have asked that interest rates on student loans be kept at prime plus one per cent for floating rates and prime plus two per cent for fixed rates," he said.

Saintonge said the delegates asked Martin to come out against inter-provincial differential tuition fees that are currently in effect for Canadian students from other provinces studying in Quebec. The Student Society of McGill University is currently challenging the Quebec government's differential tuition fee policy in the courts. A similar move was studied by the British Columbia government but recently rejected.

Saintonge said he came away form the meeting with Martin with the impression that the federal minister is worried extra money from Ottawa for the provinces for post secondary education may not necessarily go where it should.

"I think the federal minister is concerned that the provinces in some instances might divert the federal money to other purposes such as road construction," said Saintonge.

The weeklong Ottawa lobby trip also featured meetings with at least 100 members of Parliament from each of the federal political parties, as well as senior bureaucrats with Human Resources Development Canada and the Millennium Scholarship Foundation.

by Miranda Matthewman

The federal government has allotted

UCFV a sum of seven hundred thousand dollars to further develop online courses. The school is one of three institutions in Canada that received a grant. UCFV students will soon have access to nearly forty online courses. UCFV has been expecting the grant for weeks and it is now finalized. The grant is in its early stages and no decisions have been made as to which departments will receive a portion of the money. The courses that are offered online will be available to an international market.

Professor Peter Such is the Associate Vice President of Academic Development. He is on leave from York University to work with UCFV in the area of online education. He started online courses at York and found it a successful method oflearning. He explains that the grant has the potential of creating fortyfive new online courses. The money will also be used towards establishing online Bachelors Degrees in certain programs.

According to Peter Such, the creation of on line courses, "will not cannibalize regular classrooms. The on line courses will be offered in the classroom as well." He admits that online education is an "elitist activity," possibly excluding students who do not desire receiving their education by means of a computer.

One student, Boyd Fletcher, feels that online education takes away from face to face interaction in a classroom atmosphere. He questions the motives ofthe government in initiating online education programs and how • far they will go. He comments that one day "they'll be taking kids out of the womb and sticking them in front of a computer. This will be the downfall of western society."

Heather Steen son, a communications student, is apprehensive about the move to adopt more online classes. "One problem is the way they are going about it," she said. "It is not the right way. If they make it happen they should teach us how to use computers in an online setting. She is concerned with the effect that this could have if the Communications Department receives part of the grant.

Kathleen Galarneau is an instructor who teaches in the Communications Department. She comments that, "Nothing substitutes people coming together, but the programs are sophisticated enough to have a good discussion." It is her personal feeling that this new technology can be used to "augment education, by extending a service, not replacing face to face communication."

This type of education appeals to Libby Munroe, a UCFV student and mother of two. She drives from Langley and finds it difficult to work her school agenda into a daily schedule. "I think it is good for convenience," she said. "It appeals to mature students, and would tailor more to my schedule."

At York University, Peter Such analyzed who the primary users of online courses were, and he found it was largely women many with steady jobs and children. Online courses made it possible for them to attend school without having to leave their homes.

Online classes will increase al UCFV within the next year. The fate of the grant money is still undetermined, and departments that are interested are required to apply for funding. Online education is an extensive topic, and this article will be followed by an update on its progress.

$120m-$130m in federal money for student debt

by Gordon Loane The Brunswickan

FREDERICTON (CUP) Leaked federal documents obtained by the National Post indicate Ottawa is considering spending an additional $120-$130 million a year on student loan programs.

But Sam Saintonge, president of the University of New Brunswick Student Union, says the new spending will only help students if the federal government increases student bursaries instead of just upping the maximum student loan from $12,000 to say $15,000 a year.

"If the extra money is in the form of student bursaries, perfect," said Saintonge. "If it is in the form of basically upping the maximum loan limit per year, that would not be welcome at all."

According to 1998 Human Resources Development Canada figures the average student debt load upon graduation in Canada is $25,000.

Saintonge says new statistics provided by the New Brunswick government to the New Brunswick Student Alliance, a provincial student lobby group, paint a grim picture about the number of students who must incur a large debt load to get a university education.

"In 1992-93, there was one student in New Brunswick with a debt load of more than $30,000 upon graduation, but last year some 495 students had debt loads in excess of $30,000 upon graduation," said Saintonge. "Not only are students indebting themselves, but they are indebting themselves a lot more."

The student union president adds that tuition increases-have been a regular fact of life for students for many years.

According to Statistics Canada, tuition fees across the country have increased by 126 per cent since 1990. Federal figures also show that, on average, tuition in Canada has increased at a rate of9 per cent annually over the last five years.

Saintonge also says a new trend seems to be developing.

"Students are taking longer to finish a university degree than ever before now because they have to work part-time in order to pay the bills and wind up taking only four courses per term instead of the usual five or six courses," he said.

"The net result is that students will spend more to get a university education with the potential impact of greater indebtedness."

AreCanadians really overtaxed?

b~ Gene Senior he Manitoban

WINNIPEG (CUP) The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) believes most Canadians are not overtaxed.

Fiscal Conservatives regularly say taxes are too high in Canada. This conclusion' is based on an analysis that averages taxes among the general population.

But according to the CCPA, averaging taxes can distort data to suggest Canadians spend more money on personal income tax than on any other expense.

The Centre points out that only high-earning Canadians spend a great deal of their income towards taxes. In contrast, for 40 per cent of Canadian households income tax represents the smallest share of expenditures when compared with shelter, transportation and food.

Therefore, the Centre argues, over-taxation is not as big a problem in Canada as it is often portrayed.

"When critics use averages to describe taxes paid by Canadians," reads a recent CCPA study, "it produces skewed results that ascribe tax rates to the average person that are in fact paid only by taxpayers at considerably higher income levels."

According to Murray Dobbin, social activist and author of "Ten Tax Myths," the focus of debate in Canada needs to shift from over-taxation to under-funded social programs.

"The debate over tax cuts versus reinvesting in our social programs promises to be the next big political fight in this country," he said.

On November 2, Federal Finance Minister Paul Martin released his yearly budget update a glimpse at the upcoming federal budget.

At the same time the CCPA and CHO!CES, a coalition for social justice in Winnipeg, have prepared their own "alternative" budget update.

According to Jim Stanford an economist and chair with the Macro and Fiscal Policy Committee and author of the alternative budget update over the next five years the federal surplus could accumulate to a whopping $117 billion. This could occur in the absence of any tax changes or major new programs.

In Canada, the taxation system is intended to work on the principle of progressive taxation working to even out incomes over time by taxing high inco,mes at a relatively higher rate.

However, according to a report by the Manitoba branch of the CCPA, when all taxes are taken into account Canada has a nearly flat taxation system with everyone paying a similar percentage of their income in taxes.

"This unbalanced system has made the rich richer and the poor poorer and the gap keeps growing," claims the report.

The -alternative budget update, prepared using an economic simulation model similar to the federal government's, considers the various effects of economic growth, inflation and interest rates on components of the federal budget.

The CCPA's simulation confirms Ottawa should be able to announce and fund new investments in human services and public infrastructure in its coming budget without significant tax increases.

It is expected Martin will try to implement both tax cuts and increase spending in his upcoming February budget.

Fuzzy

Perspectives\ of a Drunken Elitist

Cougars on crack: there's the making of a damned good· New Year's resolution bystuntfrau.

Given that my last piece sucked shit in hell, I thought that I had better remedy those difficulties. I have consumed copious amounts of vino and India Pale Ale and now, I feel comfortable sitting down to rant, ramble, and meander in the manner most appropriate to my caricatures. Using the excuse of sobriety might not work in many situations, but in regards to me specifically, well, I just seem to function better with thinner blood. What else can I say if not the truth. At any rate my friend, this is the last issue of the year, thus the last issue of the millennium, and though 1t seems like writing some sort of rite of passage, rah-rah new century pile of fluff might seem like a good idea, I'm not gonna do that. I think that I will tell you about last year instead. I don't know about you, but I'm already completely sick to death of the whole Y2K thing, which makes the idea of pampering the egos of Father Time and Baby New Year completely rhetorical. And, I'm just not a frau of rhetoric. Though I do like good ideas. For instance, last year, I went out ,with a good friend on New Year's Eve. This·was my first New Year's out as a single woman in six years (I had separated from my ex-husband several months prior to NYE), and my friend had just broken up with her boyfriend. We thought it would be a really good idea to hit the clubs and celebrate in fine form. However, once we got to the bar, we felt out of the loop and old. The evening dragged on, and we were slightly bored, fairly sleepy, and extremely suspect about all of the changes on the dance floor. Men just didn't dance together in the eighties; and they were never as groomed as they are now. I suppose that some of these suspicious young things were born in the eighties, which led to the interesting chapter of the evening. We found out that we were in fact 'Cougars' sigh. I should back up a bit here: in a fit of drunken brevity and spontaneity, we headed for the dance floor to pretend that we belonged amongst the young ones doing funky things with their hips. It all worked out, bec;i.use no one was really dancing with anyone. Everybody was just dancing. And hey, we're funky old bats, so we were able to assimilate with the crowd just fine. It was all fun till somebody asked for I.D. smirk. Actually, we became immensely popular once the young ones learned that we were members of the over-the-hill club. At first, we were somewhat horrified by the realization that we were now

perceived as old. Yes: old cougars. If I understand correctly. the general defining of 'cougar' is based on the characterization of vaguely sexy single women over 25; the appeal being that we are supposed to have mind blowing, toe curling abilities that make the certain danger of our sharp teeth and claws ripping off chunks of raw flesh and gnawing through bone strangely worth braving (not to mention that raw cunning edge). I say: giddyap. It seemed like a good idea to get much better at the mystique of cougardom. (Which became thematic for 1999, but to continue this comment would be to digress.) Though we were having heaps of fun, we realized that we didn't have any good resolutions to be made.

Most problematic to getting older is the definitive absence of wickedly bad habits; so we compromised.

We reckoned that it would be a really good idea to resolve to get some really bad habits established, so that we would have some really bad habits to break, and thus, some good resolutions for the year 2000. At the time, it seemed most expedient to become crack addicts. We just couldn't think of anything any more lewd and debauched. Pure logic. We thought that having that under our belts would allow us to each have a marvelous let's quit-crack-for-the-new-millennium resolution. hmm. This was sort of a good idea for about as long as it took to get sober, but what the hell, it was fun sorting it all out. So, even though I didn't become a crack addict this year, I still managed to have a hell of a good time. And as for being a cougar, well, I do still get the odd phone-call from an ardent twenty year old who wants to take me minigolfing; this is great for my ego, but I think that my wrinkles would horrify him in the · sunlight. Besides, my cougar senses directed me to the best idea yet; I hooked up with someone who is even older than I am. It's a first, but it's a great first. He has more wrinkles than I, so I don't have to worry about being in well-lit areas. And I don't have to fake him out on the dance floor, because his hips are already basically popped out; besides, his eyesight is shot. Though I don't have any bad habits, ok, any really bad habits, to break this year, I do have greater perspective. And, I have a marvelous invitation to spend the eve in a hot-tub, drinking frangelico, and sharpening my claws on a stuntfan.

Lovely.

Happy New Year, Merry ho-ho blah blah blah.

See you next year.

Dvold

by Christopher Bolster

For my editorial this issue, I thought it appropriate to publish an open letter to the Student Union for all UCFV students to read.

Dear Student Union,

This Jetter is to express the Cascade's concern over the recent health, dental and Cascade autonomy referendum fiasco. The complete failure of the referendum has set the Cascade timeline for autonomy back by at least six months.

The Cascade is not willing to let this issue interfere with the past good relations that we have had with the Student Union, so this letter's intent is not damage any working relations between the two bodies. Rather, its purpose is to inform this student council of the Cascade's concerns.

Our primary concern is with the credibility of this body. This fiasco reflects poorly on the Student Union and it's abilities to represent the students of UCFV. I realize that we're not professionals. Most of us lack any formal experience with politics. But if this council can not even run its referendums or elections by the book, how can students be assured that this council is competent to represent students' interests?

Our secondary concern is with the pressure that the Student Union has been receiving from individuals at UCFV to draft a policy that requires a certain percentage of voters to participate before the vote can be recognized as valid. The drafting and implementation of such a policy would be a pro• verbial noose around the neck of the Student Union. It would be a grave mistake for the Student Union to bow to the pressure of these groups' demands for a minimum voter participation rate. Even if their argument is that ten percent of students coming out to participatein referendums is still a very small number, one has to keep in mind that the UCFV Student Union has never had near ten percent of students come out to vote. The effects of a minimum voter participation rate will be wide reaching and disastrous to the integrity of the Student Union's ability to pass any new policies or society resolutions. The Student Union has enough trouble getting the minimum number of students to their annual general meetings (a quorum of 68 students) let alone seven hundred people out to vote on Union issues. Just imagine for a moment, the Student Union wants to pass a resolution that would be clearly beneficial to students and non-controversial, but a ten percent minimum participation policy was passed at their last AGM, and no one pays any attention to the AGM because no one is in the least interested in the politics of the matter. A clearly good

resolution fails because of a reactionary policy enacted because of a few vocal students. What would be the point of the Student Union then? To put on craft fairs and bake sales? Keep in mind that the University of British Columbia just had a similar referendum on a Health and Dental Program, and 2.3 percent of UBC's students showed up to vote. At almost six percent, we actually had a higher percentage of our students come out to vote than at UBC.

The Student Union needs to let the issues speak for themselves instead of passing a reactionary policy that jeopardizes their ability to function.

I wouldn't want to point fingers at the reasons why students don't care about Union politics, but one complaint that is brought -up time and again is that students aren't properly informed about the issues. If the Student Union is itchy to pass policies on this matter, perhaps they should consider looking at how students are informed about the AGM and the issues that are to be decided at these important meetings. Maybe they should consider giving students more notice of AGMs both in time and publicity. Remember, the Student Union policy states that there should be at the very least fifty, 8 1/2 by IO inch posters at each campus. Maybe the.Student Union should look at diversifying the way students can be informed, i.e. website, mailouts, etc. Remember, in politics, a transparent government is a trusted government.

In closing, I want to relate a story that a friend told me recently. I asked him about the Varsity, the student newspaper at the University of Toronto, which is the flagship newspaper of the Canadian student newspaper movement. He told me that with high turnover of staff and volunteers, the Varsity produces top of the line newspapers because they have a solid policy and procedures manual <!-nd a clear mandate. I guess to relate this story to what is happening at UCFV would be to say t,hat the Student Union needs to be very cautious when it decides to draft policy. Perhaps some day the UCFV Student Union will have a clear set of policies and procedures and a clear operating mandate. In the mean time I have only this piece of advice: Look before you jump.

Christopher N. Bolster Editor-in-Chief

Editor-in-Chief

Bryan Miller Ma11agingEditor

Jesse Mac.Pherson Arts and Ent Editor

Deb MacArthur Business Manag~r

James Clark Staff Writer

Chrlstopher Bolster'. Jesse t.1a~pfier~ori Production slav~s

Christother

Sanctions against Iraq responsible for a million deaths, says UN

by Kathy Ramsey The Manitoban

WINNIPEG (CUP) Every month in Iraq 5,000-6,000 children die as a result of United Nations sponsored sanctions which bar nearly all trade to the Middle Eastern country, reports UNICEF.

The sanctions, imposed in August of 1990 shortly before the Gulf War began, continue to this day. The embargo is the most comprehensive ever imposed on a country, with items from syringes and medication to textbooks and chlorine for water treatment banned from trade.

"During the Gulf War 80 per cent of Iraq's infrastructure was destroyed the water system, the electricity, the sewage system- and with the sanctions in place they've been unable

to fully restore those systems," said Jillian Skeet, a founding member of the Campaign to End Sanctions Against the People of Iraq (CESAPI).

"Since the Gulf War there has been a genocide going on, every year more and more people die, malnutrition amongst the children is at 30 per cent."

Sanctions on Iraq have left one in four children malnourished, a 73 percent increasesince 1991 In Winnipeg, as part of a cross _Canadatour to raise awareness about the Iraqi sanctions, activists Irene Macinnes and Linda Morgan both spoke at the Universities of Manitoba and Winnipeg.

The pair were part of a group of eight Canadians and 16 Americans who travelled to Iraq under the auspices of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Black Panther says youth not radical enough

by Krishna Lalbiharie and Michael Winters The Manitoban and The Gateway

(CUP) Lorenzo Kom'Boa Ervin doesn't pull any punches when it comes to politics.

"The [U.S.] government, for black Americans in particular, is one of the worst forms of modem oppression and is the source of war and economic injustice," said the former Black Panther Party member and Concerned Citizens for Justice (CCJ) representative.

During a recent stop in Winnipeg, Ervin, cofounder of the militant anti-racism journal Black Autonomy, said the 1960's civil rights movement was successful "mainly because of student dissension."

But today's s~dents, the political activist says, are not following in the footsteps of their predecessors.

"The youth of today aren't active enough," he said. "When we were young, we had no rights against racist, government-supported terrorist groups like the Ku Klux Klan, and still we fought, and we fought hard. Myself and others went to prison and died for our beliefs."

Yet the social activist's vision goes well beyond the university campus.

During another stop at the University of Alberta, Ervin spoke out against the privatization of prisons.

The Edmonton talk, organized by the Industrial Workers of the World, focused on what Ervin sees as the corporate exploitation of prison labour.

According to Ervin, corporations such as Boeing, Microsoft and General Electric have taken advantage of cheap prison labour and made millions through what he called "plants behind prisons."

"[It's] the establishment of industrial plants under the guise of altruism," he said. "You will never, ever be able to undercut prison labour when an average prisoner will make seven cents an hour and you make a minimum wage of $7-$9 an hour."

Ervin warns the trend in private prisons might soon reach Alberta.

He noted the provincial government's mandate of privatization and that an American company, the Aguirre Corporation, is looking into establishing a privately owned prison in Hobbema, Alberta.

"I would hate to see some of the worst excesses of American capitalism come to Canada," said Ervin. "If there's one thing I want to get across, it's the urgency of this matter. At this particular time you can prevent the corruption, but if you wait until the contract is finalized your chance is much more minimal."

The former Panther has good reason to be wary of the justice system.

According to Ervin, the United States government targeted him for assassination, forcing him to flee the country in 1969. He was later arrested in Czechoslovakia and subsequently extradited to the United States, serving l 5 years in prison for firearms offences before an international defence campaign won his release in 1983.

Ervin and other '60s southern black activists staged demonstrations against the KKK, which defence counsel say led to his conviction and incarceration.

Now a community organizer on Black Anarchism and militant anti-racism, Ervin says African Americans are unfairly subject to police brutality and systems of oppression.

"Africans in America are colonized and exist as an internal colony of the U.S. white mother country," he said. "I believe that white workers must give up their privileged status, their 'white identity,' and must support racially oppressed workers in their fights for equality and national liberation."

"We were so devastated by what we saw [in Iraq], when we came back we brainstormed ideas about what we could do," said Macinnes, also a founding member of CESAPI. "One of the things Linda and I felt we wanted to do is a cross country speaking tour about this issue."

As part of their campaign, 25 dolls were • delivered to Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy's constituency office in Winnipeg each doll represented the approximately IO people who die every day in Iraq as a result of the sanctions.

But Ottawa's support for the sanctions has been justified as necessary to contain Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi dictator.

"I had a letter from Ax worthy when I got back [from Iraq in April] and hesaid 'It's regrettable but it's necessary, we need to contain Saddam • Hussein,"' said Macinnes. "Our government feels it's worth the price to continue these sanctions and killing the people until they can get Saddam Hussein to do what they want to do."

A million people have died since 1990 in Iraq as direct result of the sanctions from diseases due to malnutrition, polluted water and lack

of medical supplies, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. The mortality rate for children under five has risen from 48 per 1,000 in 1990 to 122 per 1,000 by 1997. One in four children are now malnourished, a rise of 73 per cent since 1991, says UNICEF.

Meanwhile the sanctions have been unsuccessful in weakening Saddam's regime, says Macinnes.

"It's strengthened his regime, he's become a lot stronger," she said. "The people are weaker so they can't rise up against him. And also [the regime] is not hurting because of the sanctions, the people are."

Suspected political opponents continue to be arrested by Baghdad, while hundreds of people were reportedly executed by the government in 1998, according the Amnesty International.

A current resolution on the floor at the UN Security Council to lift the sanctions was put forward by China, Russia and France. Macinnes says Axworthy, who has a seat on ·the council, must be pressured by Canadians to vote to end the sanctions.

2 For I Ice Cream,Smoothie,Espresso

Systems tech

You can,see clearly now

Robert Waisman;: Profile of a ·Holocaust Survivor bybgp

Video cards are thoroughly boring! The video card processes video data from the CPU into a form\lt that can be translated into an image on the monitor. Video cards are literally small cards that fit into slots on your motherboard. These cards range in speed, size of RAM, and chips. I won't go into detail about these features as they bore me to death. l·arn not a garner! What matters rnosno myself is that I'm getting quality without paying too high a price. I use a relatively cheap card: a sixty-dollar 1740 8MB card. People who are the hard core garners·will need a little more investment. Most people doli't need the biggest and· baddest cards out there. However, I rec;· omrnend that people don't get bottom of the line. When buying your new systerri make sure you're getting an AGP (Ad-'' vanced Graphics Port) card. These are definitely faster than PCI (Peripheral" Component Interconnect) cards. AGP has • overtaken PCI in the performance area within the last year. The data bandwidth of AGP offers more data to be transferred per second. RAM, as I said in my last article, is resident memory storage of information. New video cards come with RAM varying from 4MB to 32MB. The greater amount of RAM, the more throughput you will get. *Yawn!* Today, massive graphics applications require big balls on your video cards, especially at the higher reso-

To summarize, look at http:// www.pcworld.com vicleocard reviews. This will give you an idea what is the best out there. Go for the cheapest board on the chart. This card is still one of the top boards on the planet. Creative TNT2 with 16M AGP (OEM), for $ 140, is a decent card that should fill any users needs.

to hide Robbie were thwarted by incentives of rewards of flour and sugar to individuals by_D_a_r_r_e_ll_A_I_a_ry that were hiding Jews. To those who were hiding him, his life became worth nothing

How can one find meaning in "six more then a five-pound bag of sugar. As a million dead"? The number itself doesn't result, Robbie found himself along with, the allow a connection to be made with the rest of the Jewish community in o,n~.of the enormity of the loss and the_suffering of the many 'ghettos that ·were scattered across Jewish Community. The holocaust is an event Europe. • ': that stole six million lives and continues t6 •l}le"entire. Waisman family was to steal the voices and will to liveofrnany whom be interped•-iui_d·af~tternpts were rnl!de to managed to beat all odds and .emerge as rernain\togeth_et.' One evening a rumou~ survivors. The man that sits befor,e me I~ -circulaie4 that the following day th~,ghetto arguably one of the strongest persons that,!- • was t6J;,e Jiquified, a process of extracting_ have ever met. This is a man thath~ rnanag~p;;' ~ny. P.~?flle,d~emed .by the German~ to be to survive through the worst aspects of' •. usc;Iess·e.itersJusually the young and .~heold, humanity, and in spite of it all stif( manages. ,.Ai 4 irr(t!:iefollowing morning, Robbfe w~to embrace life with humour, :'p'asston,,cl,'n<f sinujgl~tf.'tq'a,1,1abandoned farm by liis'oider energy. Robbie W~isrnan, after thirty yeafs/ • brother; a~d told to stay put, bequiet, and.wait was finally able to find the strength to share until somebody could~omeback and-pickhim_ his story. up. He waited for 3 days without fo'oct:•.

Born in Skarzysko, a smal\ town in Nervous and cold his brother finally returned, • southern Poland with ·a population of but was in no mood to answer any of his approximately 5,000, of which 1,500 were pressing' questions. Back in the ghetto, his Jewish, Robbie was the youngest of six brother got him a job in a munition factory. children, the closest to him was his brother With determination, and the special bonus of Abram, who was three years his seqior. Like possessing small hands, Robbie proved to be any other seven-year-old boy, Robbie spent very useful at his new task, which gave him a his days playing with neighbourhood.children small degree o,fsecurity ,in the ghetto. People and dreaming of marrying his eldest brother's who were not needed did not.last very lolig.

wife. Wit~ innocence onlt~~own to chil~~f~, 1J't1~pjte~~f g_iii,eti_v~!,rn'o,not<;>no~~ "Yo~~, , he was blissfully unaware of events that were and with the ever present threat of bemg shot unfolding that would ultimately shape the rest indiscriminately by Nazis, Robbie managed of his life. to cultivate friendships. that could withstand

Robbie remembers people talking any Nazi hatred. One such friend, who like about the possibility of war with Germany, Robbie, was in desperate need of decent shoes but such thoughts didn't concern him too to protect himself from the.dampnessand cold much, given his tender age as well as being conditions of the camp, took it upon himself comforted by his father's warm assurances. to salvage some discarded leather pieces Tensions grew in his family after the events destined for the garbage, in an attempt to fix of Kristalnacht occurred in Germany, on his boots. After sharing half of his find with November 9, 1938.(Kristalnacht, orthe Night Robbie, a German supervisor saw the scrap Previously, I told you that I would reveal of Brol<enGlass, was a night when the Nazi pieces of material and'pulled the boy aside. where to buy computers for half the price Party of Germany used the murder of a minor After work that day, Robbie. and the other of Future Drugs. I must warn those users German official •in Paris, by a distraught 17 workers were forced to lineup, and the child who don't have·some technical background, year old Jewish boy, as an excuse to wreak was then marched out in front of them. As these,.shops that I will mention have lower • havo~ on the dom~stic Jewish community. ~ri, Robbie stood thert; with stolen )eath~r;in his prices, but they are lacking in the support the end over 1,000synagogues were destroyaj poc~et;:hi~ friend was s\lot in the heaq:&fter department. They don't deal well with th~ and 7,000 Jewish businesses were looted. 96 receiving a speech abput stealing frqm .the extreme laymen users. You should be able • Jews were killed and another 30,000 arrested. Nazi party. With the memory of his friend's to install a Windows 9X operating syst~m It was the strongest sign yet, that Jews could blood ,on_hisface, the young Robbie hadJo apd troubleshoot before you tackle.this yolir- not ,liv,eHfe ~s ~e_y(!esired, -~hil~ the Nazi contin,ueto endure the brutal conditio_~s.qf the self. The best place I have found is a smaller Party _contrqlled Gerir!lny). Robbie was, camp. ,, , cbmpany called ATIC in Vancouver. Tiits reassured by his father, who explained that a The Jewish prisoners were forced to cbmpany off~rs incredible prices. Informa- great country, such as Germany, would not sleep on.top of straw, were rarely able-to have tion can be found about them in The Corn-· stoop to killing people indiscrjrninately. a shower, and only had one set of:clothes. pµter Paper or their web site is at htt/11 On September l, 1939 W~rld War II lnevitablythisleQ-toascourgeofliceanqticks, ~ww.atic.ca. •Byte Computers in Missi6n was 'started in Europe. Bombs started flying that made sleeping next to impossible. niay try to inatch ATICS's prices although I over Poland almost immediately.Shortly after Typhoid .raced across the barracks at an don'thaveasmuchexperiencedealingwith soldiers followed. Some of the first epidemiclevetThosewhosurvivedsawdeath them. With alt the information I have given infantrymen to reach ,Skarzysko were put up so often they became callous to it. When in these articles, you should be able to teil in RobQie'shouse. Since the German language Robbie saw his brother Abrain stumbling them every component you want installed. ' and Yiddish are linguistically very similar, his around, with a glossy-eyed look, he Right? lo!. Well, maybe not quite yet. At father managed to talk with them. Tensions recognized the early ~igns of the dreaded least I've told you early where to look, so were slightly eased with this communication, disease. The barracks had a nice clean you can make out your Santa's wish list. as they proved to be nervous young men who hospital, but it was there just in case the

Keep the questions corning: systernstech@e\mal).com

Rernernber to live in love of ones computer is life's greatest challenge. It requires more flexibility, sensitivity, understanding, acceptance, tolerance, knowlLedge.and strength than any other human endeavor: •

had much in common with the average Polish International Red Cross ever paid a visit, to person. This quickly changed with the arrival the·camp. If a Jew wen;tinto the front of the of the German Schutzstaffel, the dreaded SS, hospital, they were instantly marched out the a few days later. All Polish Jews were soon back and shot. Weak Jews were not tolerated. forcibly moved into the closest ghetto. Robbie looked after "is brother diligently for Although in other parts of Europe, the next. two weeks, trying to hide. the sympathisers ltid many J~ws, ~obbie was noJ affliction from those in

be one

water portion, in the hopes that his brother would make a strong recovery. The fever finally broke and Abram went back to work, still showing some signs of his illness. Later, while walking back to the barracks after a hard day of work, the Gestapo noticed Abr11mand pulled.him out of the line. Robbie knew this was a horrible sign and ran to the officer, wanting to plead for his brother's life. He was hit from behind, on the back of the he,ad 11nd lost consciousness. ,When he woke, he saw his weak brother being lqaded onto a truck with 20 other prisoners. The trucks slowly left th~ camp and drove over a hill, on the far horizon. The soung of ~achine gun.fire rolled down the.valley,and the trucks made tlieir way back ,to the camp without their former passengers.

, Why qid Abrapi ll!lve ro, die?,,,}Vh~t, C was his;ctjrIJ\\?_ThfQ,nly,~qsw~J,~9~~i~9e~q, come.up ..yilh,}Vas:thattlie~e,w~ ~n ~cc~de~t' at birth. He was 'born Jewish, which at that time and that place was punishable by death.

In 1944 there were more rumours going around the camp. The Russians were closing in on the camp. Robbie entertained thoughts of freedom and an end to the madness around him. It wasn't to be. Just a few days before it was to happen, all the people in the camp were herded onto a train, 80 pe9,PlfJo ~}??.~Ja~•.Ih9t.h.'ri\~F~,5\~R~f. into German soil, going without food or water for days, only stopping to get rid of the bodies of those who couldn't survive the torturous trek. When the rolling procession stopped, Robbie found himself in Buchenwald, a camp for political prisoners. Less than half of the people completed the horrific journey.

While at Buchenwald, Robbie was put into a section represented by a German prisoner named Willy, who had been incarc.eratedsince 1937 for.not agreeing with Hitler's policies, Willy was determined to save all people in the camp that he represented, Once again rumours began to circulate, this time that the Americans were nearing,the camp. Two days before liberation, Robbie's section was taken to a field and the order, '!Jews step ouf' was snouted at. the group. Just before Robbie was to instinctively foliow orders.and leave the line, Willy yelled back,that there was :.•NoJews" in his sec~ion. This a9tjon, by a German, ~avedRobbie's.life, as thi Nazi's were trying ,to quickly exterminate all the. remaining Jews in their controlled area.

Leon Bass ,ail American so\dier not even 20 at the time, was .to be Robbie's liberator. As Leon cautiously approached Buchenwald, he saw a camp ~hatappeared to be deserted of German soldiers,. the only remaining inhabitants looked like the living dead. Robbie Waismam was on of the emaciated victims of the Nazi anti-Jewish policy. He was one of only three surviving Jewish children of his town.

For the first three days of liberation, Robbie was unable to grasp the reality of his freedom. When he finally left the camp, his first sight was of yellow daffodils, growing jus~outside the ~l!IDPfence. Forever becoming a reminder to ~9bbie pf loss of innQCenceand the ilbility to grow against all odd.s.

A strange trend seems to be occurring in the art department, excellent artwork seems to be popping up allover the place. Are they selling out to the all mighty art critic? While cruising along the art wing during the past few days I spotted several original, finished works of art with interesting, provocative subjects. What happened? Did they bring in ringers? Are they no longer stealing the artwork out of the halls of local kindergartens? Of course this trend is not universal, there were the usual pasty junk bits that made no sense to me. The gallery also reflected the unusual trend I noted.

One thing I'd like to mention is that a piece may look cool but if you rip off someone's style you make a replica, not art. I would have included the artist's names and titles but unfortunatly your handwriting is about as good as your artwork.

Dominating the entrance of the gallery were two prints. They looked like x-rays of the lower abdomen, pelvis and legs. The twist was that the spine segments developed into an insect. I get it...l think yeah, I get it. We humans are in a state of evolving into insects. Maybe it's a commentary on death, insects will feast on our bones and turn into beautiful bugs, what a charming thought. This piece is sure to give all those "we live in the dark ages, science sucks, except for the miracle of televangelism" a real shaking up.

Next up there was a print of street signs. Thank you artist, I now know that Vancouver is further away than Langley. See, art can inform and be 'artsy' at the same time.

Gallery review

Next the collection of children's art works. Maybe the artist should try to draw something on his own without help from his younger siblings.

The huge comic book cover, Real Excuses, a lino print, looked cool. I totally identified with the subject. My girlfriend is always finding some reason to be pissed at me. I always have to come up with some lame ass solution. My friend once painted 12 heads of his girlfriend and named it twelve angry girls because she was twelve times as angry as he had ever seen her. (And he couldn't fit any more heads on the canvas.) I wonder if a similar thing happened here.

Sex Sells, is a piece of art that repeats a cliche and at the same time does it in a sixtiesmodern-art look that has also become cliche. Sex may sell, but what's the point? (besides the ones Britney Spears paid to have implanted)

The sunflower was super cool but a little sticky. I have seen pictures of flowers before but few looked as cool as this one. The only drawback for me personally was that the flower was yellow, my least favorite color. But hey, who ever heard of a blue sunflower, hold on that gives me an idea look out art world, here comes James Clark!

Mirror image, old woman looks at herself in the mirror and sees a young woman. Ok, I get it, but for some reason it doesn't interest me much. When I came back to look at it again I was able to visualize the subjects naked and the whole mirror thing became a little more interesting in a porno sort of way. Also, the background kinda reminded of the end levels of Super Mario 3.

Then there were these crazy acid headed prints of squiggly lines and colors. They made me want to do acid. I like the artist's message to the impressionable, sheltered youth on campus. Even though the prints don't represent every day objects, and maybe don't have a message, they look cool, and that is what makes them good (the acid thing is just a bonus). The artist also caught on to an important theme in art; mass production. This way the artist is able to find his way into the bedroom of every acid head, long haired, Grateful Dead worshiping grade ten boy's room.

-James Clark

KMFDM are going to be pissed that this artist saw fit to rip off images from their videos. Way to catch that overused, American oppressed black man verses white middle class America look; I've never seen that before.

Ah-Ha, one of the coolest one hit wonders of the eighties, hit the top of the charts with the smash hit Take Me On. Now we don't have to wait around watching MTV to see the video because this piece is exactly the same. Thanks.

Maybe the whole idea of getting a girl loaded and having your way with her, depicted in this work, is what appealed to me. Pictures from a bar are commonplace but this one looks cool. I can tell that the artist spent a long time on this piece and I think that it's a solid 75%.

I liked this crazy picture of eyeballs and people with eyeballs; the whole eyeball thing really turned me on. I recalled a book, "The Story of the Eye." The whole thing gave me an erotic thrill.

I like the whole beauty and the beast thing going in the next three prints. The hot girl juxtaposed next to the sullen art fag with the big necklace and ripped jeans. They make a statement: "hang'around ugly people and it will make you look hot."

The next four prints depict the ugly side of life. They say, "this is what the inside of people looks like as drawn by talented, but clueless, artists." These prints allow me to see and interpret things that I see in daily life, but in a slightly different way. It's a novel idea.

The eccentric roots of Mordecai Richler

MONTREAL (CUP) Novelist

Mordecai Richler has spent a lifetime detailing the eclectic and eccentric aspects of his hometown neighbourhood in Montreal's Jewish working class district, better known to most McGill students as the ghetto.

And though his stories have not always been appreciated by the city's Jewish community, his writing captures the immigrant community's warmth, squalor and uniqueness.

Richler was born in 1931 and grew up on St. Urbain, in the heart of the Jewish ghetto, where immigrant families, escaping the pogroms and of Eastern Europe, came to settle. The area was transformed into a Jewish working class quarter, where many took jobs as taxi drivers, clothing factory cutters, junk dealers and peddlers, living in cold water flats.

Richler attended the Talmud Torah, a local parochial school that focused on the curriculum of the English Protestant School Board in the morning, and Hebrew studies in the afternoon.

During a recent talk at McGill University, Richter recounted his memories of smoking Turette cigarettes five for five cents while whistling at older girls and shoplifting small

items from Eaton's. It was by trading a pair of stolen socks that Richter obtained his first pocket novel.

After the rigorous trials of Talmud Torah, the soon-to-be author moved on to Baron Byng high school with a population that was almost 99 per cent Jewish. Here, he and his cohorts distressed many teachers with their pranks, and seemed to spend a lot of time watching girls in tight sweaters. Too short and gangly to attract the attention of desirable girls, Richter attempted to intellectualize his image by smoking a pipe and lugging around large books of non-fiction.

While the ladies at the local lending library were unable to woo him to the fiction section, one librarian brought him a copy of All Quiet on the Western Front, which lit the fire, so to speak. Richler found it so compelling that, "it didn't seem to be written at all it just flowed."

Richler's appreciation for the novel became even stronger when he found out it was banned in Germany.

"Obviously Hitler grasped that novels would be dangerous, something I learned when I was 13 years old. He burned them, I began to devour them." Upon graduation, Richler's low marks didn't qualify him for entrance into McGill, so he enrolled at Sir George Williams

College, now Concordia University. Even with a higher graduating average, he may not have made it into McGill the university had an anti-Semitic quota system that restricted Jewish enrolment.

But like many original thinkers, Richler soon quit college and sailed for Paris, leaving behind the "priest-ridden province" and "stagnant backwater" that he called home. Then he started to write.

The Jewish quotas imposed by McGill were not the only forms of discrimination that drove Richler away. As families began to establish themselves, many rented shacks or small cottages from French Canadians in the Laurentians during the summer months. While never taunted outright, many examples of antiSemitism were evident. Both the Hotel Chez Maurice and the Laurentian had restricted clientele policies and Richler recounts observing a swastika painted on some rocks along the highway. Even outside the ghetto, the two communities didn't mix.

"It's surprising that French Canadians and Jews did not get on better, certainly we had a good deal in common," he recalled. "A lust for life, a love of display, a fear for the survival of the momma lashon, French or Yiddish, and

a clear conviction that only our society was truly distinctive."

Richler's talked the harsh realities of growing up during the Second World War, in an environment where anti-Semitism was common while always focusing, with gentle humour, on the appetite for life the community adopted.

Many of his stories are already documented in novels like The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, and in a small semi-autobiographical collection of short stories, first published in 1969, called The Street.

Richler dispersed any notions that he would be writing an autobiography, but did mention another children's book is on the way.

"I stuck with my original notion just to be an honest witness to my time, my place and to write a novel that will last so I'm compelled to keep on trying," he said.

-Sarah Wolkowski

McGill Daily (McGill University)

Stone Temple Pilots

C

The Stone Temple Pilots are a band with some big problems. Scott Weiland, and his infamous heroine addiction, is always in jail. This makes devoting the required hours into making a band work ,very difficult. Also, both important parts of the group (Scott Weiland and the DeLeo brothers) have been involved in weak side projects (Magnificent Bastards and Talk Show) that has proven, to themselves, that it is as a collective group that they are the strongest.

The C.D. starts out with some of the heaviest S.T.P. songs to date, before turning the volume down with Church on Tuesday and the whimsical Sour Girl. The only song that I would highly recommend is No Way Out. For a band that has always been criticized for being noncreative, it doesn't seem to bother them to copy one of their own songs, as they did with the bass line for the new Heaven &Hotrods from the old Trippin'onA Hole in a Paper Heart' on their last C.D. Tiny Music It just seems this album was made with the attitude: "I have a week of parole, let's try and throw together an album!"

-Darrell Alary

Guided By Voices. Do the Collapse

The Dayton, Ohio group Guided By Voices is back with their eighth full length album, Do The Collapse. When I got this album, the first question that entered my troubled head was if the quartet could produce another consistent, catchy, smart album like l 994's Bee Thousand, or if this album was going to be another disappointment? Led by ex-fourth grade teacher, Robert Pollard, the band has never quite achieved the projected level of success that critics felt they could reach. The first thing I noticed was that the album was produced by ex-Cars frontman,

Ric Ocasek, which wasn't an encouraging sign. Remembering that Mr. Ocasek has produced decent albums for Bad Religion, Hole, and Bad Brains, I decided to give the record a listen. The first song, Teenage F.B.I., is a very clever, cat'chy tune with a Rentals sounding synthesizer. Unfortunately there wasn't enough songs like it on this c.d. A huge G.B.V. fan might find a few other tunes worth listening to, but mostly there are just too many bland, boring songs on this album.

-Darrell Alary

Rage Against the Machine

The Battle of Los Angeles

This album is exactly what you would expect from a Rage Against the Machine album. Political lyrics, high energy, and consistently odd sounds are coaxed out of lead player Tom Morello's guitar. With song titles like Calm Like a Bomb, War Within a Breath, and Voice of the Voiceless, my theory that Chuck D names all of R.A.T.M. songs, still holds. If you liked their previous two efforts;' Evil Empire and their self-titled first offering, you will enjoy The Battle of Los Angeles. If you didn't, there really isn't anything on this album that is going to convert you into becoming a fan. The best songs are Sleep Now in the Fire, Guerilla Radio, and Born of a Broken Man, but after these songs the album becomes fairly repetitive. Don't get me wrong, this is a decent album by one of the originators of the Rap and Rock high-bred bands (see Kid Rock, Limp Bizkit, and Korn) that is so popular these days. I think that I am just getting older. I still respect R.A.T.M. for their social message, but I guess that I would prefer to hear it from someone a little calmer.

-Darrell Alary

The Ruff Ryders Ryde or Die Vol.1

Being presented with two Ryders CD's, all I could think of doing was getting in my truck, yelling at some people from the window, and maybe doing some drive by's. That's when I listened to the Ruff Ryders. My ego now slightly deflated, I decided to ride the couch. Not a fan of the production of Swizz Beats, I wasn't destined to like this album. In some cases I got more than I expected, but not always. The Lox prove themselves on their first venture out from under the ominous wing of P Diddy. Swizz Beats on the other hand is still trying to carry the Ruff Ryders success on

DMX's Get at Me Dog. Swizz is one of the most overrated producers who even stops to copy an Xzibit beat. Thanks to the presence of the Lox, Big Pun, and Juvenile, Ryde or Die receives a gracious 3 turntables out of 5.

-porn star

The Whoridas High Times

The Whoridas held my interest a little. With a definite West Coast style, the Whorida's bring some underrated Oakland style. Obviously influenced by Dr.Dre's the Chronic, High Times revolves around either gang activity or smoking pot. But don't let this sway you. The Whorida's not only bring good lyrics, with the help of Sundoobie and Yukmouth (of the Luniz), but they also show suprisingly good beats by some relatively unknown producers."! had three gripes with this CD: Firstly, the poor production on Godfathers, guest starring Xzibit-one of the best lyricists in the game, secondly, the over bearing tone of taking drugs, and finally, the massive urge it gave me to go to 7-Eleven to get munchies. Despite all this I'd rate High Times 4 turntables out of 5. -porn star

311 Soundsystem

This album has a seventies disco album cover, but this album has no disco. Soundsystem, despite not being an entire system, just a CD in a cardboard box, did not disappoint. One thing that gets me down about the new 'rap meets plink' bands is that all of their songs sound the same. 311 doesn't fall into this trap. They change melodies and styles as often as a Surrey girl changes boyfriends. Every song is original and different but maintain a consistent texture and flavour. Soundsystem offers catchy syntheticspacey-turntable melody backed up by heavy guitar and bass, and steady beats. This album seemed to mark maturity in 311 's style, the music has always been good, but now the lyrics are better.

Now that I think of it they did sample a little disco, but it was tastefully done. I liked it but Darrell didn't.

-James Clark

"WHI you follow me down?" -Scott We;Jand on Down

GuidedBy Voices Do TOOCoUap:SC

Curious-Jorj Meets- Joev Shi+head

It was a cool, crisp Wednesday night. DOA was playing a show at City Limits and I was determined to be there, as was my concert companion for the evening, Bubbles (on loan from the Never-neverland estates).

We pulled into the parking lot and were immediately able to pick out DOA's touring vehicle. It was the only'88 GM Grewman Step Yan in a crowd of lmp u Is es, Ci Vi Cs' Camaros, Ford 1/2 tons. and Bubbs and I knocked on the window and were greeted by the haunting visage of Joey "Shithead" Keithley pressed up against the glass. "We're from the Cascade," was all we had to say to gain access.

Once aboard we found a couple of comfortable speaker cabinets, sat down, and began the Q and A bull session. We began with the question that all first timers to Abbotsford need to be asked: "Did you notice the smell?" Joey Shithead responded with a surprised, "is that what that is? I thought it was Bob (sound guy from Kansas)."

Before we could start the interview the band gave us this warning: "If you print lies about us or make fun of us we'll come back and break every bone in your body, First question."

DOA recently returned from the Social Chaos tour around the States (with other staple punk bands like U.K. Subs, Business, Sloppy Seconds, Vibrators, TSOL, Vice Squad ) while the band members regaled us with tales of

their journey. Bass player, Kuba, showed us snapshots from the road with members from the other bands. It was like a cat owner proudly showing off photos of Sox, Boots, and Fluffy. They had a great time and found incredible support from longtime fans from N.Y. to L.A. to Boston.

Bubbs pulled out a bottle of _home-brewrum and after the boys in the band topped up their coffees, we got down to the political discussions, the type you can only tackle half plastered. Bubbles is the one with the handle on political matters, so he broached the topic of Joey's political concerns and his attempts at gaining a seat on the Burnaby city council. He first ran a few years ago with the Green party, with no success. He had plans to run again this year, but ran into political redtape bullshit. According to Mr. Shithead "I didn't get my contri- bution list in on time so they said I couldn't run. I didn't see why it would be [such a] big fucking deal, I didn't have any contributions!"

Of great concern to Joey is that in recent years environmental issues have "dropped off the face of the earth" in politics.

I asked Joey if he would someday hang up his guitar and pursue a political career fulltime. He laughed and told us that he'd rather rock out on stage than spend his afternoons discussing zoning proposals. Music is just more fun.

So when did this punk-rocking North Yan

school trustee (you read that right) first get into music? "I started playing the drums when I was 12." DOA hit the scene in 1978 and have not slowed down. Nuff said. He's been rocking longer than Dick Clark's been hosting New Years.

By now we were all drunk.

"Boys, favourite beverage?"

Joey- "free, or other people's, drinks"

Kuba~ "Old Stock"

Jam (drummer)- "Gibson's Finest" (also their worst, I might add) Bob- "none, I have to drive these guys around"

We didn't know what asking that simple question would lead to, the band went on for a good ten minutes listing off the worst drinks they've ever had.

Statesman Scotch (makes you act like one), Bell's (for whom the tolls), $ Roses bourbon (took the bourbon out of bourbon), and Kentucky Deluxe (misleading name) all made the list, but the topper was some Swedish Hooch they were forced to buy when they forgot to stop at the German Duty Free Store.

Eventually we all made it to the show. DOA ROCKS!

The opener band was The New Town Animals. They have a fresh sound, a combination of punk energy, 'Manchester' groove (complete with Hammond organ), and poprock song writing sensibilities. The crowd was • small and stuck in their seats until halfway through DOA's set, but The New Town Ani-

Being the poster boy for Canadian film can be a tough job. Just ask Atom Egoyan, a national cinema hero, whose latest film, Felicia's Journey, was released this past Friday.

When Egoyan's name was announced two years ago as a nominee for best director at the Academy Awards for The Sweet Hereafter, Canadians and the world finally took notice. The director had reached the big time.

"The nominations came out of the blue," said Egoyan. "I was suddenly elevated to this zone that had so little to do with my background and my fancy of who I was."

While Egoyan enjoyed the pomp and ceremony of the Oscars, he found that it was necessary to maintain a grounded sense of his life and his profession.

"I was very grateful to be working on [Felicia's Journey] because otherwise your agents and that whole culture is saying you are the rarest thing possible and you have to follow this up with a work that will be in that same zone," he said. "That is paralyzing. You can begin to think that you are carrying some sort of divine right to speak the truth. You can become messianic and that is dangerous."

Felicia's Journey, the subtle story of a young girl's relationship with a monstrous psychopath, challenges the audience in their

perceptions of the story.

But Egoyan says he has no regrets about making his films in the same mould that many unsuccessful art house films are produced. Which doesn't mean he totally abhors the Hollywood system.

"[Hollywood] is where most of the interesting work is being done," the director of 15 films said. "I really liked The Sixth Sense. I thought it was really smart and I was totally unprepared for the ending I'm a member of the Academy, so I' II probably give [director, M. Night Shyamalan] one ofmy votes."

Begining with 1993's Calendar and continuing with Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter and Felicia's Journey, Egoyan has been making his movies more accessible than some of his earlier works. This is a change the director credits to his new understanding of acting.

"In earlier films I really tried to find an acting style where the actors were literally catatonic and not able to express emotion," he said. "What I have found with Calendar and Exotica is that if you use a more

naturalistic acting style you can actually take the audience further."

Egoyan's new approach to filmmaking has proven to be a financial success. The Sweet Hereafter earned $5-million dollars in North America, making Egoyan one of the most successful English Canadian · di rectors.

But the filmmaker did not always enjoy this level of success.

"With the first feature, you recognize the incredible odds of getting attention. The odds are stacked against you," he said. "It wasn't until Exotica,that [the odds] began to change."

Egoyan now waits to see how his newest film will perform. Felicia's Journey has already garnered critical acclaim worldwide. It's a film that will shock and confuse the audience, especially surrounding the lead character played by Bob Hoskins, a character who appears to be one thing when he is actually quite another.

"What is so disturbing about this movie," said Egoyan, "is that you think you are

mals brought a solid energy to the evening and helped charge up the minimal audience in preparation for the headliners. It's a dirty job, but some as yet unknown band's gotta do it.

DOA played a great set of angst driven punker tunes including I'm right you 're wrong, Fuck

You, Disco Sucks, Kill ya Later; Don't Give A Shit, Death to the Multinationals, and Class War, to name a few. They also did a terrific coverof James Brown's War. They performed a song called Race Riot, preceded by Joey's comments on the skinheads who beat up and killed an elderly man, in Surrey, he thought they should get life. And halfway through their set they sang Marijuana Mothe,fuckers, then asked if anyone had any rollies, no one did, Joey said, "I didn't think so, [this is] Abbotsford."

It was a Great show. Kicking the air, J1>laying guitar with his teeth, and dropping to the ground in the middle of a rocking bridge, Joey can still kick ass! After the show I caught Joey at the bar and asked for a final quote to end our article. "It's hard to get a fucking beer after the show I NEED ONE!"

Check him out doing some solo shows, (they're listed in Qu'est ce qui ce passe at the back of the paper) and look for other bands on the Sudden Death label (owned by Mr. Shithead) that houses DOA.

Bubbles, thanks for comin' out!

Until next time, this is Curious Jorj signing off.

seeing somebody really compassionate, when really he is out of touch with any sense of feeling. That is what is so terrifying about the character because you don't want to believe that."

One of the themes of some of Egoyan 's early films, such as Speaking Parts, was the distance between people caused by the proliferation of video.

Given that, one would assume Egoyan would probably be opposed to the use of digital technologies. Surprisingly, he's not.

"Some people still say that the biggest single image in any of my movies is the bus crashing through the lake in The Sweet Hereafter," he said. "That is a digital shot. We went through trying to work the bus stunt out physically. What finally got [the use of computer imagining] in motion was that nobody could guarantee me that the bus would begin to sink within five seconds. I was so aware of those 15 seconds. It was the most understated use of digital technology."

Egoyan is currently working on two secretive projects: a book adaptation, and the other an original script.

Given the anticipation that comes along with most of Egoyan' s films, the global film community will be waiting eagerly to see the finished product.

-Jason Carter excalibur (York University)

My Karmajust ran over your Dogma -a movie review

Dogma; A belief or set of beliefs held by an authority or group, which others are expected to accept without argument. If you haven't guessed by the title, or the big stink media has made about this movie, it is meant to be about religion But first things first. Who made this film? This film was written, directed, and featuring Vancouver Film School drop-out Kevin Smith. He isn't a Canadian and he isn't home grown talent. He is an intelligent independent film writer. You may have heard of some of his films: Clerks, Mallrats and Chasing Amy. These are all great 1 movies with almost the same cast. So if you hear a group of people

snickering during the movie, they are probably recognizing the characters from past movies. This movie has some good points and bad points, just like any other movie. Lets start with the good: the star studded cast, with names like Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino (that's Italian), Selma Hayek and Chris Rock to name a few; this movie pokes a lot of fun at the Catholic faith, but lets face it, they deserve it.

This movie is a comedy with a great sense of humour; there is a black man playing 13th apostle and a woman playing G od. To top it off, Linda Fioentina plays a Catholic who works in an abortion clinic. This is just a bit of the ironic humor that creates this as a funny movie, not the Bible. Besides, any religion that claims to be civilized and while practicing exorcisms is a joke. Even more ironic is that Smith, who is a practicing Catholic, wrote this movie. Smith, in his defense, said "See it, and if you still think it's blasphemous, all right then, man, I apologize that your sensibilities were offended. But it's not a blasphemous movie. I wouldn't make a blasphemous movie." Smith defends his film but I will not. By defending this movie you end up defending the Church. I say fuck the Church if they're too sensitive, and fuck the people that can't take a joke.

The only bad thing about this movie, besides how much tickets cost these days, is the awkward mix of drama and comedy. You may find yourself wondering how to take it all in. My suggestion is to remember that it's meant to be a comedy.

-Dave Nicholson

Ode to My B.

It's small; my balcony it has room for two, we can manage three, we can even fit four if we add one more sitting halfway through the sliding glass door. But that doesn't matter it's MY balcony. It came with the suite. I can put up my feet, drink bourbon neat, smoke aq extra mild menthol slim king cigarette. My toes go numb as cold whips between digits. My ass cheeks fall asleep from being wedged into my dirty, white patio chair. But that doesn't matter. The wind strangles the tops of the trees shaking their heads violently about. The rain shoots down on a slant, totally disregarding my pitiful overhang, soaking the outside side of one pant-leg. And the stars are occluded by the balcony one floor above me. But that's alright. But that doesn't matter. This is my balcony. The railing's painted piss-yellow, the floor's matted with rotting wet leaves and there's no light out here, on my balcony, except for the candle that's constantly snuffed by the whim of every passing gust. But that doesn't matter. "What light through yonder window breaks, t'is the lamp in my living room."

-jesse macpherson

Dowden on film: Dog movie a real dog

The Entertainment Editor asked me to review the occasional foreign film since I was (presumably) less likely to object to reading subtitles. It is annoying, of course, to be co,ntinually taking your eyes off minor details like the actors' faces in order to read in English what they are saying in Dutch. But consider the alternatives.

(I) No subtitles at all, so you never go to a movie in a language you don't already know, resulting in culpable ignorance of90% of the world's vernacular culture.

(2) Dubbing. Even with good dubbing, where the timing and dynamics of the dubbed words make a fair match with the actors' lips, what you get is the absurd premise that what you hear in a movie isn't as important as what you see. Dubbing also suggests that the nuances of life on the Russian steppe can be expressed just as well in the viewer's tongue as in the original. Translation, as somebody said, is like looking at a Persian rug from the bottom, and when you take away characters' and actors' voices you take away their souls. For me, for historical reasons I don't need to go into, dubbing a movie always turns it into third-rate mid-seventies soft-core Swedish porn.

My assignment was to go the Mission City Cinema's Monday Art Film Festival and • review A Dog of Flanders. This film, like Tea with Mussolini coming on Nov 8th and Jacob the Liar on the 15th, is in fact more foreignish than foreign: it's a European story shot in Europe, but the language is box-office English (no subtitles!) and the principal actors are either English or American. Here's what's weird, though: the only thing that might have saved A Dog of Flanders from complete stu-

pidity is dubbing! From English into English, I mean.

Jack Warden and Jon Voigt have big roles. And, Toto, they sure ain't Flemish! So director-cum-screenwriter Kevin Brodie gives them a generic 'European' accent that immediately makes them sound like immigrants in their own supposedly native land. Adult British actors, on the other hand, since the audience for this film is imagined as being too dumb to notice, speak British, while the kids, pure late- I 990's Californians to a boy (and a girl), do I 8th-century Flanders in contemporary American kid-speak: "But Rubens is the best, right?"

I probably should admit my incompetence to judge movies intended for children, but I wondered whether kids themselves would fall for this dreck. It wasn't only the complete lack of consistency or verisimilitu!ie in the way the voices were presented. The music was saccharine, the child actors terminally cute, and the adults were either wondrous beings who say "Never underestimate the power of love, boy" or cartoonish villains who screw the impoverished and beat dogs.

This brings me to the Dog. I haven't seen the "timeless classic" of which this is, according to the festival leaflet, a "wonderful remake", but at the film's 50-minute point I had yet to figure out why the dog was in the film at all. I didn't stay to find out. I tried to creep out unnoticed, but the lobby was small. There was the young woman who had taken my ticket, looking hurt. But wearing a brave smile. "Didn't you like it?" she asked. "Not too much," I lied.

-Graham Dowden

I am t)le same meal you had yesterday

And the day before Meat and potatoes Sit as you always do

Glass of wine, candle light, napkin, knife and fork Dinner is served

The disappointment on your face hidden by a smile

A sip of wine to numb the senses

It's dinner for two

The table was set for one No conversation, just straight to the eat Pasty yellow potatoes

F9rk rakes over Meat, the same meat from last year Stab and slice, up to the mouth Oh, not from last year

Never the less same flavor as last Spit out in to a napkin

No one saw, no one cares, no one there to see There was no need to do that, Fore the after taste of last years meal Is the dominant one,

All the same, salt, pepper, butter, red stuff You keep eating to sustain the blood in your veins blue Candle grows dim Swimming in its pool Drown and drowned out

The best dish Served cold Not to day, not with this meal

Many more meals to prospect, in the days ahead Maybe some bread and butter Better yet dinner for two

-Dave Nicholson

Time is a Spiral

Time is not a line

Even in theory, it cannot be One-dimensional, but must Curve bend and warp, as

Time, percieved in a line Would not express synchronicity Would not represent history As a significant design

And time does work in circles

However, is not spherical, because In this shape, closed Energy would form and go nowhere

Time, thus, cannot have A beginning or an end Change is the nature Of the uni versa! system

Time cannot be contained In conventional hours and days Subjective, and consuming It swells and advances

Time is assimilated

In lines of decades and centuries But the true interpretation Is an upwards reaching coil

Time, itself, as it happens Is represented by the spiral And the alternate, the possibilities By the void in the middle

Time is more easily understood In this structure, explaining Prophecies and coincedences Arrangements of ebents, because

Time, looking straight ahead, (linear) The present and near block the future But, looking up, the underside of Curves are apparent and clear, as

Time has an order of Seasons, cycles, and generations A creation of an established Original cosmic plan

Time, in theory, can be traveled Backward or froward, but, in the Spiral, there are three directions: Up, down, (they correspond), or sideways, to the center

Time is the vortex holds no shape Rendering outcomes infinate

On the spiral, you can climb or slide, but Anyway you go, you are not in control.

-Michelle Carr-Braint

Horrorscopes

Scorpio: October 23

November21

That dark brooding black man with the Helly

SCORPIO Hansen windbreaker is your man this week. If you are just a tiny bit creative (i.e. lick his balls) you are going to have great sex locked down for the rest of your life. Compatible with Capricorn.

Sagittarius: November 22 December 21

SA(;ITTllltlJS

Your career is going to take a drastic turn for the better when you start dressing in white and gold tights and playing the lute as you prance around the office. Call your co workers "tart stealing knaves" and skip to-and-fro like the 17th century pansy you are. Compatible with Libra

Capricorn: December 22

January 18

I see love; tough, gritty love for you this week. Jupiter, the tough gritty love machine is gonna give you some MC Hammer type loving. By that I mean as long as you have some money or a hit single everyone even Disney is gonna be your friend. Once the money is all gone, you and your silly haircut are going the way of the New Kids. Compatible with Scorpio.

1t

111',,\. /\Q~ARIV~

Aquarius: January 20 February 18

Your horrorscope depends on the water in motion around you. All that rain is going to give you a sensory overload and a big migraine headache. My fingers are tired from typing now.

Compatible with Aries.

Pisces: February 19

March 20

Everyone at work is going to love you this month. No matter how silly and stinky you are, artist types are going to rave about how deep and intense you are. You don't have to sleep with them just because they like you.

Compatible with Leo

Aries: march 21-April 19

Taurus:April 20 May 20

Leo: July23 -August 22

r~ l

_·

• • This month is going to be _ really fun. You're going to go on plenty of fun dates ARIES with candy and dancing. Don't get too committed. Like with Brittany Spears' records, you're going to start out all "this is the best thing I've ever heard" only to put her back in your collection and never listen to him again.

Compatible with Aquarius.

tAf

This month is going to be a compilation of people you've never heard of putting all this importance on something that doesn't even exist. All those drum and base groups are British so get some U.K loving. Compatible with Virgo

Gemini: May 21 June 20

When Jupiter shows up, you know that this is going to be a weird month. You are going to have to tolerate insanity more as it may lead to big time romance. The next time a 55 year-old with greasy ling hair and a teenage mustache comes along start necking with him. Compatible with Cancer

Cancer: June 21-July 22

You are in for a fortnight of getting totally annihilated. Laid, drunk, high and tattooed with home-made kits. Caution: Watch out for kittens, unicorns, flowers and tribal anything as they may give the tattoo artist inspiration. Also, don't let your boyfriend film you doing anything, it will end up on the Internet. Compatible with Gemini

Betty's Page

Jupiter emphasizes tradition, loyalty, and the family. Your mom is right, your partner is a bum (I know because he told me when we were in that peep show booth the day he LEO told you he had to visit his sick turtle at the animal hospital). Hook up with someone your mom likes. _Trythe repressed sales clerk at the Bible store. Remember, boring is beautiful. Compatible with Pieces:

Virgo: August 23 September 22

Virgo, as usual, you just don't understand. Compatible with Taurus. '41Rf.ll

Libra: September 23 October 22

Your romantic life this week revolves around your ability LIBRA to be experimental. Seek out strange people in stranger places like the )ate night Wendy's drive-thru or Kentucky Fried Chicken in the morning. Don't avoid the weird. You're going to fall in love with a guy that eats pop tarts with bacon and ranch dressing, who wears rubber goulashes indoors. Compatible with Sagittarius.

As I watch the cy,cles of the lava lamp in my bedroom, it reminds me of the continuous cycles of female sexuality.· I can't imagine a more diverse creature in its needs for rampaging sex, something soft and slow, cuddling, or 'just talking.' The sad thing is that it's hard to tell which one of

these is coming at you, and no one wants to make a wrong move.

A little secret you ladies may have already figured out: it's all got to do with the female menstruation cycle. Let's just take a look at the cycle and you'll see how it all comes together.

Immediately following the visit from Aunt Flo, women are at their sexual low. There is no egg ready to be fertilized, and we've just gotten through that messy process of discarding the last one. The body may be almost depressed with the failure of producing during the last cycle. This is the time when we'll want to just cuddle in bed, and most probably won't be responding to.lame pick up lines at the bar.

About fourteen days into the cycle is when the egg is released and takes position along the fallopian tubes. The body is saying "Let's make babies!!" and women are generally more than happy to oblige by taking a man back to bed. It's not quite time for those popular rodeo riding sessions though; this is when we're going to want the slow and sexy stuff. We've got time to spare, and we want to do it right.

Now for the fun stuff. In the last few days before the most annoying part about being a woman comes, the body starts to get anxious. This is a last chance deal for another two weeks, and you'll notice that a woman's sexuality will skyrocket. These are the times a woman will become much more forceful and erotic. Guys might find themselves shoved into the closet for a quickie at a party, or picked up at a bar fasterthan that sexy Latino man. Don't expect anything long-term resulting from mad passionate sex in this stage though. Just lay back and have fun. For the long-term couple, anything can happen and since our inhibitions are down it would be a great time to introduce those new positions or ideas you've been holding back. We can always blame it on hormones later. Of course this is when you want to make extra sure that you're using lots of protection because this is the shortest swim sperm will ever have to make. '

During the period, most people will avoid sex altogether because it can get messy, make a lot of noise, and did I mention get really messy? Sadly enough, this is the time when a woman will more readily orgasm because of all the blood present in the vaginal and clitoral areas. Also, our sexuality is still raging for the first few days as we prepare for a new cycle. If you can get past your squeamishness from seeing blood, throw some rag towels on the bed and treat yourselves to a pre-lubricated romp that's fun for all.

Centre

The Women's Advisory Council of the Community Women's Centre at UCFV is pleased to announce its annual fundraiser, the Silent Art & Craft Auction. It will be held on November 23 & 24, 1999 from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the Great Hall at the UCFV. All proceeds from this event will be used to fund the Community Women's Centre a registered non-profit agency.

The December 6 Vigil is coming soon. The Vigil will take place in the breezeway (between building A and B) at 4:30 p.m. This is a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. On December 6, 1989, fourteen women (most of whom were engineering students) were forcibly separated

The UCFV Pride Network presents

An Early Frost

Wednesday,December !st (WorldAIDS Day), in the main auditorium of the Abbotsford campus, at 7 pm. A discussion will follow. Admission is free.

The film is historical in that it was the first ever feature length movie made about AIDS to play on a major American television network in the autumn of 1985, shortly after the death of Rock Hudson in the summer of 1985 brought AIDS to the general public's attention for the first time. It portrays the story of a young man who must coine out to his family both as a gay man as well as someone dying of AIDS. He returns to live with his family at the end of his life, where his father struggles to accept his homosexuality. The film stars Aidan Quinn, Ben Gazarra, and Gena Rowlands. The film won both Emmy and Peabody Awards.

British Colu~bia Legislative : Internship Program

Purpose

To providerecent universitygraduateswith an interest in public affairs an opportunityto supplementtheir academicinsights of the legislativeprocess with practicallegislativeand administrativeexperience.

Who is Eligible

Studentswho have received a degree from a British ColumbiaUniversityby the programcommencement date. 7 internswill be selected for the 2001 program.

Location

ParliamentBuildings,Victoria, British Columbia. from males and murdered by a gunman at

UCFV Pagan Student written by the gunman declared the act as a

When political statement against women who dared As O n to seek equality.

L'Ecole Polytechnique in Montreat A letter

Potluck lunches are happening every Tuesday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Bring your brown bag and chat with some cool women!

Want to earn $800 of tuition credits?

The Women's Centre is hiring a student to develop a website and produce pamphlets, newsletters, etc. Through the Youth Community Action program, the student will work I 00 hours and gain $800 to be used towards their tuition. If this is your forte, please drop a resume off at the Women's Centre.

A guide to the internet and . learning disablibities

by Kevin Armstrong

In looking for information on the ' Internet most people turn to the World Wide Web pages for the information. This is only one part of the Internet, but is an important part that has grown rapidly since 1990. With millions of pages to look at, there is a lot of information out there, but the big concern is that the web is controlled. Anybody with any point of v'iew, based on fact or not, can have a web page and do. The problem then falls to the person seeking the information and trying to decide if the information on a page is factual or not. This is where one must always check other sources, usually outside the Internet, to verify if the information or claims that a Web Site is making is factual or not.

I use the Internet a lot to find information, but I am skeptic. I have been in too many programs and paid too much money over the years looking for solutions to my Learning Disability and Attention Deficit Disorder. The Internet is full of programs and other solutions to help a persoi:iwith a learning disability. The question is do the programs and solutions work? At what cost? Is there any research? Is the research published and done independently? Is the program or solutions doable for the person? According to every site I visit yes they do. It is when you check out with other specialists and research into the program or solutions more closely that you may find the program or solution is not for you. I have yet to see a program or solution work 100% of the time. With a little skepticism and a lot of knowledge you will not be disappointed.

With knowledge in hand, question everything

The Pagan Students' Association is a club open to all students who wish to learn about the neo-Pagan and Pagan religions. These include but are not restricted to the following:

Januarythough June 2001.

Stipend

Application Deadline

Friday January31, 2000, 4:00 p.m.

$10,500for 6 months (under review). Wicca, Feminist Spirituality,Druidism,Asatru, Romuva, and neoPagan Goddess spirituality. We offer Pagan students the chance to gather in religious fellowship with others interested in the Pagan paths.

The objects of PSA are; to further the cause of PSA members within UCFV, to promote social and educational activities for PSA members, and UCFV students in general, and to spread information of concern or interest to

the members of.PSA. Non-students can become members but only students can be voting members or serve as officers of the club.

For more information on the PSA please contact Samuel Wagar, the Chair, at swagar@home.com or the Scribe through the PSA's box at the Student Union Society's office.

you read, see, and hear about learning disabilities both on and off the Internet. If you do this then the more you use the Internet the better informed you will be about learning disabilities. After all, there may be a program out there for you and me I am still looking.

I was asked to review some sites for this article and I will start with www.dyslexia.com

DYSLEXIA THE GIFT

This is a commercial site, which on the surface seems to be a general information site on dyslexia. This site's main concern is the Davis Dyslexia Correction program. The information and articles contained in the site seem to relate to the program. The site is a very professional site with lots of information, chat rooms and some very good links to other Web sites.

INTERNATIONAL DYSLEXIA ASSOCIATION

The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) (formerly The Orton Dyslexia Society) is an international, non-profit, scientific and .educational organization dedicated to the study and treatment of dyslexia. The IDA was first established nearly 50 years ago to continue the pioneering work of Dr. Samuel T. Orton, who was one of the first persons to identify dyslexia a.nd develop a remedial program. promote these companies over the other information that is out there, but does offer more general information on dyslexia than other· sites

Looking for a good site on learning disabilities then try _www.ldonline.org

How to Apply

ProgramApplicationsare availablefrom the Political ScienceDepartmentsand the Student Employment Centreson Campus, at the Universityof Victoria. Simon Fraser Universityand the Universityof British Columbia.They are also availablefrom the Assembly ServicesOffice located at 431 MenziesStreet, Victoria, British Columbia,vav1X4.

For further informationon the program, please call 250-9534645.

'A)\1~ssage from the. Student

BJi9nSociety;

"· 4\f{.,. / .:·;: At.\ th,emost recent SUS meeting, held on F11day,Npvember'12, 1999 on the ChiJliwack Cajppusl,~6ij11.~ilpasseda mo.t,iondeclarirlg the recenlreferendum (Health/Dental an~\'~~scade~Autonomy) t? ~f nulf and void. The m<?tionsprang from discussion surr~jp~ing .the absenc;e.2{ a;CQJllpl~fevp~rs list,.>(So~e,. h~story: the' St~de~J Union SocJ~ty ~as presented with•a vptfrS h~t t.hat contamed approximately··1440 students. At ·,thispoirt, polling sho.uldhave b~e~ sus~~deq, howeyer given that the SUS had no reason to belieVeJhat·a compJete Hst was not forthcoming,polling continued. It should be noted that the SUS has, during the last four years of pperation"always received a complete voters"ii~tfr6mthe UCFVRegisfrars Office prior to any referendum, election or bi.:election

polling:

not available until the fmal day of polling.)

generated during the polling times. The majbrity of those who dtc,iypte were interested in both a student h;alth/dental plan and in Cascade autonomy.

will

proceeding with new referendums in the Winter 2000 term. Benefits

for January 24 to 28, 2000.

The SUS Bi~electionsfall under the same polling procedure, and the falll999 bi-elections hive also been declared null and void by the SUS. The voters list issue has serious consequences for the UCFV Student Union Society.

The Student Union Society apologizes for any inconvenience this may have caused any students. If you have any questions or.concerns, please feel free to drop into any SUS office (Abby-A215 orChwk- ElOl) for more information or just to be heard.At the very least, this whole experience has served a couple of purposes: #1 question! question everything! (I know that I will now be questioning UCFV how do we know we are getting a complete list each time?) #2 students now have a chance to put aside their apathy, come out and vote, and let their preferences be known #3 !he _SUShas finally managed to lure Cascade Managing Editor Bryan Miller to a council meeting. All is not lost!

Stephaine Martin, SUS President

Op behalf of the Student Union Society