The Concordian - Vol. 31 Issue 8

theconcordian Volume 31 Issue 8

Independent student newspaper at COnCOrdIa unIVersIty. sInCe 1983.

October 15, 2013

Concordia graduates take flight in If We Were Birds See pages 7-8

Photo by Keith Race

In this issue // news life

music

sports

Security enhanced Making green at library p. 2 alleys in MTL p.6

Britney, Gaga or Katy? p. 14

Baseball team takes Saving a buck not the gut p. 18 Carleton p.16

we tell your stories. Follow us on twitter: @theConcordian

opinions

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Tuesday, ocTober 15, 2013

Write to the editor: news@theconcordian.com

CITY KeLLy DuvaL anD SLoane MonTGoMery Co-news editors

Pervert prevention plan in place Concordia takes steps to make students feel safe

>> Signing chimpS move to Quebec

Two chimpanzees, Tatu and Loulis, who have made history by learning American Sign Language, have settled into their new home at the Fauna Foundation sanctuary on Montreal’s South Shore. Loulis’ adoptive mother was the first non-human to learn to communicate by American Sign Language.

Meg Mas, a caregiver at the sanctuary, said Loulis is “the first non-human to acquire a human language from another non-human, which makes him very, very special.” The chimpanzees were moved from a special research facility in Washington, D.C., which was built for five chimpanzees, but the three others have died over the past decades, leaving Tatu and Loulis alone.

>> virginity teStS banned Quebec’s physician college has warned its members to stop performing virginity tests. In the past 18 months there have been five cases where doctors were asked to perform this exam in Quebec. The president of Collège des médecins, Charles Bernard, told the Gazette, “The practice is outrageous […] and it’s degrading to women.” The reported cases don’t represent a trend, as the demands come from religious fundamentalist groups. Bernard said physicians should face disciplinary charges if they issue a “virginity certificate.”

>> con u profeSSor oppoSeS côté’S robocallS Montreal mayoral candidate, Marcel Côté, will not drop out after sending unauthorized robocalls. Opponents have called on the coalition leader to drop out of the leadership race after automated calls were made attacking opponent, Richard Bergeron. The main issue is that Côté did not identify his party as being behind these ads. While Côté insists the misidentification was an honest mistake, Harold Chorney, a Concordia political science professor, told CBC that, “It’s a terrible mistake to use robocalls in an environment like Montreal, after we’ve had all these allegations of corruption and bad practices.

So using them is an error of judgment, using them without actually identifying that they belong to you is actually a violation of the election act.”

Campus // neWS

SLoane MonTGoMery Co-news editor Since the publication of last week’s article “Perverts plague SGW library,” the university has been working to change and improve security.

The recent event involving a non-student perpetrator who inappropriately touched himself in front of several female students in the Webster Library, has left students suggesting that the library should not be accessible to the public. Although Webster Library’s priority is the university

community, as a public institution, a Canadian academic library’s principal mission is to support learning, teaching and research for everyone.

University spokesperson Chris Mota has informed The Concordian that the university has readjusted their protocol so that the police will be called immediately every time an incident is reported.

There will now be absolutely zero tolerance for harassment, inappropriate or offensive behaviour.

In addition, security presence in the library and throughout campus will be increased. Finally, although it is only in it’s beginning stages, the university has plans to spearhead a prevention and safety program on campus, teaching students how to protect themselves and what steps to take in such uncomfortable situations.

“We want our students to feel safe, and we want them to know we are working hard to ensure their safety,” said Mota.

Should any such circumstances happen to you, the university insists you inform security right away.

“Any incident must immediately be reported to security. Together, we can ensure that our library is a safe place for our students, faculty and staff, and still respect our commitment to share knowledge with the wider community,” said Guylaine Beaudry, interim university librarian.

photo by user tbonnin from fliCkr.

Campus // neWS

Young Liberals campaign for pot legalization Promotion takes places across Canada despite criticism from opposing parties Jane LyTvynenKo CuP ottawa bureau chief

have been working hard to promote “a conversation about legalization of marijuana.”

He said while there are a lot of issues out there, the Young Liberals are focusing the conversation on this one because of how important it is to both the young people in Canada and the leader of the Liberal party, Justin Trudeau. Valentin said current policies on weed possession are not working and desperately need reform.

“Real lives are impacted as a result of this [current policy],” he said. “Young people are getting criminal records and their entire lives are being impacted as a result.”

Another issue according to Valentin is the content of pot currently being sold on the streets.

While legal substances are subject to regulations, marijuana sold on the streets could contain other potentially harmful chemicals. Valentin also said the current system is expensive and unnecessary — a sentiment MP Francoise Boivin, NDP justice critic, echoes.

The NDP’s own policy advocates for the decriminalization, not the legalization of pot. In a phone interview with CUP, Boivin said the Liberals need to think of the specifics of legalization policy before pushing it to the public.

“It sounds good in theory but

OTTAWA (CUP) — More than 35 campuses across the country are seeing posters promoting legalization of marijuana as a part of a Young Liberals campaign. Tied to the Liberal party’s own agenda to legalize weed, the campaign seeks to educate and promote the policy.

Despite widespread criticism from both the NDP and the Conservative parties, David Valentin, vicepresident of communications for the Young Liberals, said legalizing weed is “a conversation in which everyone needs to be involved.”

Young Liberals have more than 35 chapters on campuses across the country, which have all signed on to the campaign of promoting weed legalization. Posters have been put up, pins handed out and fliers with information have been made available.

“We’re working hard to have presence everywhere in preparation for 2015,” said Valentin, alluding to the next federal election. He said since the legalization policy was passed at the Liberal Convention by the membership, Young Liberals 35 Canadian university Campuses promote pot legalization. photo by Jane lytvynenko.

the devil’s always in the details,” said Boivin. “I think it’s an easy catch phrase but it’s not going to be realistic.”

Boivin said throughout the years the Liberals have been supporting the Conservatives on pot policies.

As recently as 2009 Trudeau voted in agreement with the Conservative Party of Canada for tougher sentences when it comes to possession of marijuana. Despite Trudeau changing his mind, the Tories continue to oppose legalization of weed.

“We have been clear on our opposition to illegal drugs because of the harmful effects they have on users and society,” said Paloma Aguilar, Peter MacKay’s press secretary, in an email to CUP. “While the Liberal party is encouraging the use of drugs on campuses across our country, our government is focused on job creation and standing up for victims of crime.”

Despite criticism, Valentin said the campuses he visited are welcoming the pot legalization conversation.

“People are happy we’re being honest and talking about this,” he said. ”Promoting a conversation about legalization is not the same as promoting marijuana consumption.”

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Campus // neWS

Reggie’s Bar has major renovation plans The student bar will close its doors on oct. 19 to begin a revamping project SLoane MonTGoMery Co-news editor

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n Oct. 19 Reggie’s Bar will be closed indefinitely for major renovations and revamping, with the project’s estimated cost to be between $300,000 and $400,000.

The renovations will include a complete change of the bar area, ventilation, lighting, sound equipment, plumbing and electrical as well as a much needed upgrade to the bathrooms, and finally the addition of a full commercial kitchen.

The complete renovation plan is still being developed, however the initial proposal which will include a theme and design for the bar will be presented to the CUSACorp board of directors on Oct. 16.

James Tyler Vaccaro, Chairperson to the board of directors and CSU’s VP Clubs & Internal Affairs said, “The project will realistically cost between $300,000 to $400,000. The project managers understand that any funding that will be allocated to the renovation must be approved by the CSU’s financial committee; because of this, they will be able to make adjustments to the proposal according to the fund-

renovations inClude the addition of a full CommerCial kitChen.

ing allocated.”

CUSACorp and its board will be making all the decisions regarding the renovation project. Vaccaro informed The Concordian that the project managers have hired a designer to create illustrations of the bar’s planned interior.

“These illustrations will be based on conversations with the CUSACorp board and will be included in their proposal,” said Vaccaro.

In the to-be released press release CUSACorp states, “This project has plans to encompass a wholesome change to the space known as Reggie’s, transforming it into a respectable establishment which will cater to the Concordia community.”

Improvements to both sound and lighting are being made to allow the bar to host better events and offer a venue that can offer a greater variety of live performances and promote student bands. The ventilation improvements will be required with the addition of the commercial kitchen.

The kitchen will create a sustainable, student-run food option for all students and staff downtown.

The plumbing renovations will be needed to install a new ice machine,

mend existing issues, as well as supply the new kitchen and bathrooms.

While the Reggie’s bathroom renovations are long overdue, the project will provide functional, more hygienic and accessible rest room facilities.

The redesign of the bar area will be mostly aesthetic, creating a more welcoming environment for students.

“The goal is to create an establishment that is used by students throughout the week to grab a bite to eat or have a drink, not only on Thursday nights. We have a lack of space at Concordia, and students demand a place on campus that is theirs,” said CUSACorp. “After the renovations, we hope that Reggie’s will act as a meeting place that students are proud to frequent.”

The re-opening of the new revamped Reggie’s will only be known once the project proposal has been finalized and the construction has begun.

Although there are currently no plans for a grand re-opening, Vaccaro has assured The Concordian that there will be. The theme and date of the grand opening event will be widely publicized throughout Concordia closer to the end of the renovations.

Campus // neWS

Engineers and commerce students team up Concordia students plan new case competition scheduled for next year KeLLy DuvaL Co-news editor

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rganized by Concordia students, the Engineering and Commerce Case Competition is the first of its kind in Canada. It is scheduled to take place at the university from March 12 to 16, 2014.

This global case competition combines the strengths of engineering and business students in simulating a real world product development scenario.

Emphasis is placed on bridging the communication gap between the two disciplines.

“The aim of the competition is to break barriers in the industry from a communication perspective,” said ECCC president and engineering student Emran Ghasemi. “We’re enhancing the communication channel between the two faculties and making one thought process look at things from the other’s perspective.”

Ghasemi explained teaching communication skills, which students will need after graduating, is not part of the curriculum for Concordia’s engineering programs. The ECCC Organizing Committee believes this competition will help students develop the skills they’ll need in the industry.

“Most of the time, the problems in businesses is communication,” he explained.

A competing team from a given university will consist of two engineering students, two commerce students and a professor who will act as their coach.

The ECCC Committee will select 12 universities from those that apply

by Oct. 31; Canadian universities that have already applied include McGill, Université Laval and the University of Waterloo.

Students participating will get the chance to work with corporations in a networking scenario and create connections. The ECCC is looking for corporate partners for the first year of the competition, which would help lead to career opportunities for students and recruitment possibilities for

corporations.

While the Committee anticipates mostly Canadian universities at the first competition, they’re gaining international interest.

“Last week, we surprisingly had an email from a university in Prague that wanted to get involved,” said Ghasemi.

Ghasemi and his friend thought up the idea for the ECCC in the summer of 2012, wondering why these two disciplines haven’t collaborated before for a case competition.

“We thought about collaborating engineering and commerce together considering they’ll be working together when they graduate anyway,” he said.

The Committee is made up of engineering and business students, including industrial engineers, electrical engineers, marketing students, international business students and management students.

“The opportunity is there so we just want to capitalize on it,” said Ghasemi of the committee’s plans for the competition to take place annually.

NATION KeLLy DuvaL Co-news editor

>> alice munro

winS nobel prize in literature Alice Munro, described by the Swedish Academy as the “master of the contemporary short story,” made literary history Oct. 10, when she was awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize for literature.

Ontario-born Munro, who’s the first Canadian woman winner, found out when her daughter called her in the middle of the night as she had missed the call by the Swedish Academy.

Jim Munro, her first husband, still works at Munro Books, the Victoria bookshop they started together 50 years ago. He said, “One time, working in the store, she said, ‘I can write better than these people’, so from then on she quit the store and stayed home and wrote.”

>> fire chief

verbally abuSeS woman Danielle Duperre, a francophone woman from Montreal living in Saskatchewan, claims to have been the victim of anti-French verbal abuse. On Oct. 2, Duperre called 911, asking police to monitor a bonfire on her property which her neighbour started. Duperre recorded her conversation with the man who identified himself as the volunteer fire chief when he came to her door. He did not see her reason for calling and asked if Duperre was going to pay for the 911 call. When Duperre said her trees were burned, the man told her to “Go back to f--king Montreal where you belong.”

>> woman in ottawa Sexually aSSaulted A 25-year-old woman in Ottawa was allegedly dragged into bushes and sexually assaulted on Oct. 7.

The woman was exiting the Heron Transitway bus station shortly before 10 p.m. when a man grabbed her from behind. Once the attacker fled the scene, the woman got help from two men, after flagging down their car. The woman was taken to the hospital and treated for minor injuries and has since been released. Ottawa police are now investigating the situation, and believe the attacker was a stranger who potentially followed the woman home from the station.

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theconcordian

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Campus // neWS

WORLD SLoane MonTGoMery Co-news editor

Tension between VPs at council meeting Disagreements over CFC petition and standing committees’ spending KaLina LaFraMBoiSe CuP Quebec Bureau Chief

>> debate continueS in third week of Shutdown The shutdown of congress and the U.S. government has now entered its third week. The weekend negotiations between Democrats and Republicans failed to reach an agreement to raise the nation’s debt limit. The treasury department for the United States has been paying the nation’s bills by using what Treasury Secretary, Jack Lew says are “extraordinary measures” since the nation reached it’s original debt limit in May. Finalizing his statement, Lew has advised congress that “those ‘extraordinary measures’ will be exhausted

by Oct. 17.”

>> man with knife trieS to enter buckingham palace Scotland Yard states that a 44year-old, armed man was caught trying to enter Buckingham Palace. The man was seen trying to enter the north centre gate, the entrance of the palace in everyday use but was stopped immediately. The man was arrested on suspicion of trespassing and once arrested, the London Police discovered the man had a knife.

This discovery led to a second conviction of possessing an offensive weapon. He is now being held in a London police station.

>> hpv vaccine given to girlS in developing nationS A program to vaccinate girls against the HPV (Human Papilloma Virus), an infectious disease that is responsible for 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases, has begun in Laos, South East Asia. Laos is only one of a dozen developing nations being introduced to the HPV vaccine this coming year, giving poorer countries a chance to benefit from newer vaccines. The HPV vaccine was first offered five years ago starting in the U.K..

“The vaccine is considered to be crucial in developing countries because most of them lack a national screening program, which can detect pre-cancerous changes in the cervix, enabling timely early treatment” said Helen Evans, GAVI Alliance.

T

he Concordia Student Union’s council meeting last Wednesday showed an apparent rift amongst the executive team following two separate motions that left vicepresidents visibly frustrated with one another.

The Community Food Coalition, a student organization concerned with the ecological and health implications of food served at Concordia, presented a petition of more than 900 signatures in support of a fee-levy referendum for the CSU’s upcoming byelections. The referendum, if it is to be included on the byelection ballot, would include an increase in the fee-levy the CFC currently receives from undergraduate students.

The CFC was seeking an exception to Standing Regulation 138, which states that a fee-levy increase must be approved by the Policy Committee a month prior to the first day of the nomination period of the byelection for it to be considered by council.

“I think it would be really bad for the organization not to get

this fee levy,” said VP sustainability Ben Prunty, who has worked closely with the organization. “If we get a ‘yes’ vote then it will send a really strong message to the university and it will help transform the food system.”

Conversely, VP finance Scott Carr argued that granting an exception would set “a bad precedent,” while simultaneously voicing his concerns through social media saying that council would “empower” the CFC by “blatantly disregarding” the CSU’s standing regulations.

“We’re grossly neglecting our own standing regulations if we do that,” said Carr. “And that sets a bad precedent.”

Prunty then reminded council that the CFC has received more support for its petition than any executive or councillor received as votes during March’s election. However, council was wary of granting an exception to the CFC without consulting the Policy Committee.

Councillors instead voted in favour of a special council meeting, set for Wednesday, Oct. 16, following a review of the request from the Policy Committee. Council also approved Nov. 19 to 21 as the dates for the byelections.

Tension between Carr and

Prunty became more apparent while discussing a motion to allow standing committees to administer and approve small budget lines without seeking approval from the Financial Committee.

Ultimately, the motion would change the functioning of the CSU and amend Carr’s responsibilities as VP finance, something that did not sit well with Carr and various councillors. Carr argued it was a problem on the executive level.

“This seems to be sustainability versus finance,” said Councillor Francis Boyer. “I can honestly say that Scott respects my opinions.”

When Wendy Kraus-Heitmann called the motion “sneaky” and that it took power away from Carr, President Melissa Kate Wheeler immediately defended her executive saying that her “team is not sneaky and this is not a sneaky initiative.”

VP Academic and Advocacy Gene Morrow said he was “frustrated” by the motion and that the executives should be working with one another to resolve the issue.

“There’s a level of professionalism that we expect to occur and we don’t think we should be re-

adjusting the budget constantly,” said Carr. “As long as your budget is coherent and somewhat in line, we’re fine.”

However, both Prunty and VP External Caroline Bourbonnière explained that sometimes they need leeway with their budgets.

Ultimately, a motion was passed that will allow the standing committees to be empowered to administer spending lines under $1,000 without seeking approval from the Financial Committee.

The motion also mandates that an executive attend a workshop on budget procedures and that the CSU review how other Canadian student unions use their financial committees when forming a framework for financial controls.

Quebec // neWS

President steps down from FEUQ antoine Genest-Grégoire referenced mistakes made during mandate KaLina LaFraMBroiSe CuP Quebec Bureau Chief

President Antoine Genest-Grégoire of the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ) announced his resignation on Friday, Oct. 4, following the exodus of three student unions from the largest student organization of the province in the last month.

Genest-Grégoire wrote a public letter in French to his colleagues and student members of the association making a vague reference to mistakes since the beginning of his mandate that he was responsible for as part of his reason for leaving.

“Various errors have been made since the first of May,” wrote Genest-Grégoire.

“Some due to bad luck, others from a lack of vision. I’ve signed off on all the decisions taken by the FEUQ since the beginning of my mandate.”

Genest-Grégoire explained that the organization is undergoing a transition due to “tumultuous events” over the last few years that former President Martine Desjardins led the FEUQ through.

He refers to the 2012 student protests that lasted months against a tuition increase of 75 per cent over five years by the former provincial government led by Jean Charest. The immediate backlash from post-secondary students fueled the call for an election on Sept. 4, 2012 that the Charest Liberals subsequently

lost, after nearly a decade in power, to the Parti Québécois. Premier Pauline Marois cancelled the increase immediately but chose to index the tuition by $70 per year at the highly-anticipated Higher Education Summit in February 2013.

Genest-Grégoire wrote that these events resulted in heavy critiques — “some wrong or some with reason” — that put into question the fundamental principles of the FEUQ that guide the

organization and how to serve its student population.

The FEUQ is at a crossroads with its member associations in universities across the province since three associations located in regional areas in Quebec recently voted to leave.

On Friday, the Association générale des étudiants du Campus à Rimouski (AGECAR) at the Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQÀR) ended its three-week referendum period where

a majority of students voted to leave the FEUQ. In September, UQÀR’s other student union, the Association générale des étudiants du campus à Lévis (AGECALE) and the Mouvement des Associations Générales Étudiante (MAGE) at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQÀC) also voted to leave the organization. These departures bring the FEUQ down to 11 member associations as long as the latest referenda are accepted.

feuQ president resigns and explains the organization is undergoing a transition.

theconcordian

life

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Write to the editor: life@theconcordian.com Cancer // LiFe

Alyssa Brandone’s team helps light up the night This fundraising team will once again strut their stuff SaBrina Ponzo Contributor

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada will host their annual Light the Night Walk this coming Saturday. Alyssa Brandone, 23year-old cancer survivor, Concordia graduate and campaign coordinator for the foundation, is no stranger to this cause.

Diagnosed at the age of 11 with acute myeloid leukemia, a common form of leukemia present in adults over the age of 60, Brandone began treatment to eradicate the disease shortly after.

“The treatment was very intense, and could have killed me alone,” she explained. “Despite odds being against me, after my first treatment I was pronounced in complete remission.”

Brandone said joining the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society with the support of her family back in 2006 allowed them to move on from the experience and come to terms with what had happened.

“When we first started raising money, we were clueless,” she said. “Our galas started

with less than 200 people, and now we need to refuse people from how popular they’ve become.”

Known as “Alyssa’s Crew,” Brandone’s team has managed to raise more than $350,000 since their annual galas began in 2006. Their latest and largest success, Brandone stated, was a golf tournament held earlier this year which raised more than $75,000. Brandone and her team will be walking this year in hopes of continuing to raise more money to find a cure.

“The Light the Night Walk is a night where Montrealers join together at twilight to walk in unison for a cure,” said Brandone. “Individuals walk with a lantern that has a different significance depending on the colour: red means you’re a supporter, white a survivor, and gold in memory.”

Sofia Guay, national campaign director for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society, described Brandone’s team as being the most dedicated family the foundation has had.

Guay highlighted the importance of getting involved with charities.

“Charities receive absolutely no support from the government,” said Guay. “They need support by individuals who care for a cure.”

Guay also commented on medical advancements that have been found based on the funds that have been raised.

“The survival rate for leukemia has gone

from 40 per cent to 90 per cent. There has been a lot of progress but there are still deadly diseases out there that have no prevention,” she noted.

Five thousand people are expected to walk on Oct. 19 with the foundation hoping to raise one million dollars.

“What started off as just raising money to help, has turned into a career,” Brandone said. “Not only am I supporting my team, but teams across Quebec. If I can continue to help raise money and awareness for a disease that affects the lives of so many, I will.”

CanCer survivor alyssa brandone makes a differenCe for the llsC

Fashion industry // LiFe

The expensive outcomes of inexpensive price tags ‘Fast fashion’ affects more than just the industry Tania Di PaLMa Contributor

M

any of us are victims of ‘fast fashion’ and we do not even know it. Are you shop conscious, and do you know what ‘fast fashion’ is all about? If no, read on. If yes, still, read on, there is much more than you think.

Fast fashion is quite simple to understand: it is clothing and accessory designs churned out to quickly flood the market, constantly copied and adapted from the latest runway models but made for the general public from cheaper materials of poorer quality. The result is equally poor fashion clothing at an affordable price, a trend popularized in the past two decades by clothing retailers such as Zara, H&M, and Forever21.

Why is fast fashion so problematic when it seems to fulfill a market need? According to Kate Fletcher, author of Sustainable Fashion and Textiles, “Fast fashion — low-cost clothing collections based on current, high-cost luxury fashion trends — is, by its very nature, a fast-response system that encourages disposability.”

To see just how wasteful fast fashion is, a short video posted on onlinemba.com entitled “The Business of Fast Fashion” claims the disposable clothing trend produces two million tons of

waste, emits 2.1 million tons of carbon dioxide, and uses 70 million tons of water a year.

Fashion entrepreneurs like Angela Moscardi, manager of the clothing retailer Costa Blanca, seldom realize this. Moscardi was dumbfounded that this trend caused such harm to the environment.

“We receive and ship out clothing in the stores every single week, and though it may seem advantageous to us as a clothing company, it is just not right that we produce an overly high amount of clothing when it has such an imposing impact on our society,” said Moscardi.

Gabrielle Huot, also a manager at Costa Blanca, seemed less shocked.

“I am aware of the environmental situation, but not to that certain extreme and this is why I always wondered where our unsold clothes end up.”

The true cost of fast fashion is much more than the affordable prices we see on labels. Because fast fashion speeds everything up, the industry — in particular the fashion designers who have to keep up with the pace — are having trouble in maintaining originality, although some designers like 3.1 Phillip Lim, Versace, and Isabel Marant have adapted by producing clothing for the general public through retailers such as Target and H&M. Josie Baratta, designer of the Cozentine brand, agrees with the view that fast fashion can be harmful.

“Styles are being knocked off constantly like hotcakes, nothing is original anymore, and hopefully this situation will change and give designers a new creative she said.

Photos by venue,” Leah Balass

Marie-Sophia Morkos, a student in fashion design at Cegep Marie-Victorin agrees that fashion has become a fast-paced industry of rapid clothing consumption.

“Fast fashion simply works,” said Morkos.

“When someone buys an item that is in style and cheap, they do not think or care if it will last them for another year or no.”

This lends to the idea of how fashion struggles to be timeless especially with this ‘in-one-month and out-the-other’ system.

Yet cheap and fashionable clothing has its allure. As avid-shopper and Concordia student Andria Caputo explained, “It is always convenient to find that one designer covetable item for a lot less

at Zara and H&M, and more often than not, I end up buying it. But at the same time, the quality of a high-price garment does not even compare to the shoddy quality one finds at some fast fashion retailers.”

As consumers, it is important to be critical of what we buy given the effects the fashion industry’s immediate disposability has on the environment.

According to Online MBA, many designers are signing on to make a change by being a part of the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan, which includes producing, selling and disposing of waste without damaging the environment. To watch “The Business of Fashion,” check out their website.

sketCh from “the business of fast fashion video”

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Tuesday, october 15, 2013 urban development // LiFe

Ruelles Vertes Project rejuvenates alleyways neighbourhoods get involved in cleanup development Sara CorneTT Contributor

Montreal’s green alleyways, called Ruelles Vertes, is a clean-up project that helps neighbourhoods turn their destitute alleyways into a greener, ecological and prettier space that reflects the needs and tastes of its residents.

There are numerous environmental and social benefits to creating a Ruelle Verte. It reduces urban heat islands, purifies the air, improves soil quality and encourages biodiversity. It also makes better use of public space and creates a sense of community, belonging and safety. Some Ruelles Vertes like those of L’Arbre Fort, even host outdoor parties and activities.

The Ruelles Vertes of Montreal offer an opportunity for bringing the arts and culture not only to the streets, but also to people’s backyards L’Arbre Fort is a new Ruelle Verte in St-Henri that winds between Desnoyers street and a towering new condo development next to the Turcot interchange. Jody Negley, a resident of the area for 10 years, initiated the project. The alley used to be ugly, unmaintained, destitute, underused

and uninspiring explained Negley and an effort needed to be made to make the area enjoyable to live in.

According to Negley, the first step towards re-appropriating the space was to give it a name. L’arbre Fort, also fondly referred to as l’arbre du peuple (the people’s tree), is the tree that inspired the name of the Ruelle Vertes. It grows alongside a fence that used to separate the surrounding property. When residents removed the fence, they had to leave large pieces of the fence inside the tree as parts of the tree had grown over it.

In order to receive the borrough’s support and financial backing of a couple thousand dollars, residents, like those of L’Arbre Fort, must first convince the borough that they are willing to dedicate themselves to the project. Residents must form a committee and gather support from neighbours. Then, they submit an application to the borough and wait for a decision.

Although the Ruelle Vertes program is not widely advertised, some borroughs have a waiting list. City councillors give priority to areas known as urban heat islands, where temperatures are five to 10 degrees higher than the surrounding area.

The Ruelles Vertes help to reduce heat retention by adding more plants and removing asphalt where possible.

The success of a Ruelle Vertes has a lot to do with the people involved. The borough and other organizations that support

a new Ruelle Verte help to create it, but it is the responsibility of residents to maintain it. Eco-Quartier, a program of environmental action and education is in collaboration with Ruelles Vertes. They help provide overall supervision, manpower and finances to the project. Staff from Eco-Quartier of the St. Henri area is in collaboration with Ruelles Vertes and said that Negley, was the “mouth and heart” of L’Arbre Fort and her relentless help, perseverance and determination kept the

project moving forward.

Residents can design their own Ruelle Vertes as long as it respects the city’s budget and bylaws. Daniel Roy, a gifted landscape artist, joined Negley and her committee to work on creating L’Arbre Fort.

Along with dedicated and experienced workers from the local Eco-Quartier, Roy took charge of the design. Thanks to additional funding that was negotiated with the condo developer, Roy transformed the alley into a mini botanical garden.

the ruelle vertes proJeCt is on a mission to Clean-up montreal’s alleyways. photo by writer.

Social media // LiFe

Dissecting the digital medium and its use for creative good Social media’s effect on you — will it corrupt or contribute?

ing yourself to get a hundred views. You’re not getting paid for it...you’re just getting noticed by people and by your stupidity.”

Furthermore, “[Social media] can be a mode of expression, and it can be a mode of oppression as well,” said Davidson.

Even with recent movements in the UnitSaTurn De LoS anGeLeS ed States to fight dignity-infringing activities Staff writer such as “revenge porn,” and a law that youth under 18 can erase old online activity, Davidson reminds us that we need to always s we constantly catch up with techbe careful. As well as being a place to post nology, we often forget how much your own work, there is the freedom for othour online interactions can make a ers to post their work, even when it’s harmbig difference. Marshall McLuhan ful. There have been several documented once said, “The medium is the message.” Soinstances where what someone has posted cial media is our contempoabout themselves, or what rary “medium.” others have posted about However, there are pros them has had severe conseand cons to excessive online quences. activity. It is a gateway in Soar explained that negbridging people and ideas ative effects of the Internet together but at the same have always existed, except time sporadic privacy polithat it’s more amplified in cies that change often and social media. Though, he rapidly can be compromisremains optimistic and being to our online reputation. lieves that an open forum With the lack of a strucin good taste is essential to tured curriculum on how helping improve the way to behave online, professor we use to our medium.

Ann-Louise Davidson from “I think it’s a very exthe education department citing time,” he said. “The at Concordia University sugweb is profoundly imporgests that staying active on tant to human development social media is a better way and civil discourse. We to express our online presneed more conversation, ence instead of other people not less,” he said. doing it for us through tags He also imparts this and mentions. knowledge to his interme“If you’re not on Facedia students, “The way to book and your friends are, stand out from the crowd then there’s most likely a is to have incisive and ethichance you’re on it and you snapChat artist turns soCial media app into Creative outlet, “a mode of expression” as desCribed by ann-louise davidson. cally sound creative ideas.”

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don’t know it,” she explained.

But there are benefits to using social media. Matt Soar, who teaches a class on intermedia in Concordia’s communication studies department, explained that it can be challenging to teach students about tricks to help them express fresh creative ideas. Therefore, combining creativity and connectivity seems to be a good solution.

“We’ve seen some changes [in technology] incredibly quickly, so what I have to do is to keep up with those changes,” he said.

One of those changes was learning Vine.

Using his smartphone, he can record, edit, enhance and post a short video clip of six seconds. After learning about it from a friend,

Soar decided to make an interactive movie by putting together more than 60 short Vine videos of various circular objects. His finished product was a film titled Fibonacci Korsakow, a visual representation of the Fibonacci number.

On the other hand, there is a downside to social media in that it often turns into a popularity contest.

Vine patron, Armel Mzaliwa Shindano, who usually posts dance-related videos, observed how some people are just using Vine to establish quick Internet fame.

“There’s going to be lots of people who do stupid things for Vine,” he said. “Like this one guy who tried to jump a car. You’re kill-

arts

Tuesday, october 15, 2013

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Write to the editor: arts@theconcordian.com

Q & A // arts

Resonating loudly: voices from the chorus Concordia graduates and actresses talk about the award-winning play, If We Were Birds Michelle Gamage Staff Writer

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modern take on Ovid’s Metamorphoses, If We Were Birds is a play about breaking all of the natural rules of relationships. Concordia graduates Stefanie Buxton and Clare Schapiro play the parts of chorus women, The Pregnant One and The Dwindling One, who testify against the culture of war and the cycle of violence that relationships create. The Concordian caught up with the ‘90s graduates during a preview of the play earlier this week.

The Concordian: This play deals with some pretty heavy material, like sexual violence, murder and rape. Is the aim to educate, to condemn or to raise awareness?

Schapiro: I think it’s about awareness. Because it is the myth about these three characters. And the chorus women are also talking about their experiences, which are more recent than 2,000 years ago. It shows that continuum [of violence]. It’s just a cycle, and we have to break it. This is the 21st century, why aren’t we breaking the cycle? …

There’s this incredible scene where Tereus is raping Philomela [his sister in-law] and he explains he feels it in his teeth, it’s in his blood. [The play is about] trying to understand where that whole mentality comes from. The power and the need to possess, to own, to bite, and to destroy.

When playing the parts of the chorus women, are you affected on a personal level?

Schapiro: I think it’s a piece, because of the physicality of it and because it is a little bit extraordinary, and because of the visuals and the way in which Erin Shields [playwright] has melded all of these different kinds of devices to tell this story, to move it forward. Because it’s a very old story but told in a very contemporary way, of course it affects me personally. It affects me as an artist, it affects me as a woman, it affects me as a mother, it affects me as a neighbour. It affects me in every way, shape and form. And that’s what’s important, because we want theatre to have an impact.

What about the light-hearted moments?

Buxton: There’s some really funny stuff in there.

The characters, just in the way they are, are hilarious. Even if it is a tyrannical king. What he’s doing, the fact that he finds himself so funny with bad jokes, that in itself is so funny to watch and you’re in this world but you need a bit of that air to come in too. It’s good writing.

Final thought to add?

Buxton: It’s not something inaccessible. Like say [a] classical text or some kind of sitcom kitchen-sink thing that you just don’t really connect with at all. It’s kind of like going to an awesome concert. Like a full-on show that’s just like, ‘YEEAAAAHH’ for like an hour and 15 minutes, because it’s relentless and, yeah, we’re pretty hardcore, if I do say so myself.

As part of the chorus ensemble that remains true to Greek tragedy form, Buxton and Shapiro play voices of women from 20th century conflicts. Bottom photos by Keith Race.

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Review // arts

Ovid’s epic gets a revamp and is brought to life on stage If We Were Birds tells the effects of 20th century conflicts on women, in the style of a Greek tragedy Jocelyn Beaudet Staff writer

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n the world of theatre, symbolism is always ripe and often easy to lose an audience with. But in light of issues of persecution, shaming and violence towards women, the heavy-handed play If We Were Birds skillfully uses symbolism to give these struggles a voice.

The play is an adaptation of Book 6 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses and it remains reminiscent of ancient Greek tragedies, playing on the sensibilities of anyone with the ability to pay attention.

Following the lives of two sisters born into the high-society of ancient Athens, the tragedy pursues their evolution from girls to women. Sisters Philomela and Procne are brought into a world that they, at first, misunderstand due to their social status. Procne is married out to the handsome Tereus, a general and war hero. Philomela’s rape by Tereus, her sister’s husband, and the voices of his other captives, quickly shatters the prideful Philomela’s outlook on life, and brings forth the issues of violence, rape and the consequences of war as a stain on the pristine reality that she held so dear.

What follows is a Greek tragedy at its most masterful, full of emotion and gripping dialogue that will make you wish the play went on when it inevitably ends.

What makes this a special play is not only the almost legendary cast of actors brought together to perform this piece but also the dialogue; it speaks in the time period of the play itself and breaks the wall of time to help express the horrors that shun these women to silence. The stage presentation offers an

adequate setting and the transitioning between acts is done in a way that is smooth and almost seamless to the viewer. Props are moved in and out of scenes, as the five women who play the role of slaves swoop in like birds on the objects that are no longer needed for the next scene.

The dialogue between the actors is topical, but what stands out the most is the dialogue directed at the audience by the chorus, that breaks the fourth wall and expresses what it is that the character is thinking or maybe trying to tell the world.

Each and every act was paced accordingly and never felt too drawn out, and while the ending was a perfect (if shocking) twist, the subsequent three scenes to the ending provide a gratifying end to a tale that leaves every member of the audience deep in thought, grasping at the material that they were presented in this tragic tale of abuse and manipulation.

The only objection that may come up, and a selfish one at that, is that the play simply felt like it should have been longer. The majority of the performance builds up to a crucial five minutes, where the entirety of the story comes crashing down almost immediately, and with such speed and fury that it leaves the audience begging to hear more, even if there’s evidently no other direction the play could take.

If We Were Birds was more than a pleasant surprise — it was an accessible but serious play about important issues. It brings humanity into inhuman behaviour and makes us understand the desire to fly away when faced with such brutality.

You can catch the play for yourself at the Centaur Theatre until Oct. 19. Tickets are $18 for students and $25 for adults and are available on centaurtheater.com

Spotlighting crimes without dehumanizing the perpetrators, If We Were Birds brings fresh, contemporary persepctives on a multitude of women’s issues.

Talk // arts

Surviving Auschwitz: Anne Frank’s stepsister inspires millions with her story Schloss shared her childhood experiences in Vienna and Amsterdam at Concordia last week Nathalia Lacrocerie Contributor

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or a moment, everybody was silent and their faces mirrored the whirlpool of feelings inside them. Eva Schloss, childhood friend of Anne Frank, has deeply impacted her audience as she has been doing throughout the world for 13 years.

The otherwise noisy lounge of the CSU was the stage of a sweet-looking woman, a survivor of the Holocaust. Although she has published two books of her own, she is mostly known as stepsister and childhood friend of Anne Frank, author of the widely read book, The Diary of Anne Frank. This nonfiction narrative of the horrors suffered by a 13-year-old girl is 65-years-old and has been translated into 60 languages. Schloss was part of this scenario, and she decided to tell her own version of the story, speaking at universities and events.

Schloss was born in Vienna in 1929 and had a peaceful childhood until Hitler gained support of the Austrian population in 1938, obliging Schloss and her family to move to

Amsterdam. There is where she met Anne, who was also 11-years-old and immediately became her friend. Schloss offers us a more intimate view of Anne, as a lively girl, who talked a lot and had the habit of collecting boyfriends despite her young age.

Their friendship was suddenly interrupted two years later, when the Nazis started arresting Jews in Amsterdam, and the Schloss family went into hiding. Ultimately, they were denounced two years later by a double-agent nurse and arrested by the Gestapo. Schloss was sent to Auschwitz, where she remained for the duration of the war.

Schloss’s story of the atrocities she lived inside that place is one of fear but, above all, of hope. Her struggle to survive makes us wonder the limits to which human beings can be pushed.

When the Russians finally came and served them food, many of the people inside the camp died simply because their bodies could not manage basic nutrition anymore.

Schloss was able to return to Amsterdam with her mother but her father and brother did not make it.

She has confessed that although she was free, she felt like she had no reason to live

anymore. She did not have part of her family and her young soul had seen too many of the world’s maladies.

It was Otto Frank, Anne’s father and Schloss’s future stepfather, who gave her the courage to go on with life and learn to love people again. Otto also had lost his family but had dedicated his life to helping others.

Schloss kept her story to herself for many years, it was a hurtful memory. She thought that the world had learned a lesson but this proved to be false when she saw the brutality of the Vietnam War. She realized that people had not learned anything, and that she would have to speak up. She thinks that although there is no more Auschwitz, the world is full of discrimination of all types and that people are not yet ready to accept others.

This brave lady did not leave her cozy house in London to tell a sad memoir but rather to transmit a message of acceptance and encouragement. She explained the importance of getting to know people that are different from us, because ultimately we all want the same thing: to live with peace and dignity.

Eva Schloss is a trustee of the Anne Frank Educational Trust, and is the author of The Promise and Eva’s Story.

Schloss has a simple message to share, one of universal peace, tolerance and acceptance.

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Film // arTS

Escaping paradise, and the pilgrimage back home Go in the Wilderness, a film about Lilith’s journey back to eden, makes it’s world premiere in Montreal DaviD aDeLMan Contributor

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aintaining her fascination of the fantastical, director Elza Kephart furthered her journey into the world of mythology and mystery by exploring the original story of creation with the story of Lilith. Go in the Wilderness is about Adam’s first wife, who rebelled against the Creator and Adam in search of self.

“Something awesome struck me about the legend of the first woman escaping paradise and waking up on shores of the red sea of an unknown world,” Kephart said.

The film begins with a naked Lilith experiencing the basic pangs of human existence: hunger, loneliness and fear. Not to mention, the earthly “curse” of female menstruation.

When a Guardian approaches from the stars above, he expresses his urgent need to bring Lilith back to Eden, where she will live forever and be unfazed by the problems of the world; the only problem is, she does not remember the journey back.

In their voyage back to Eden, the audience is aroused by the basic forms of curiosity and human emotion. However, Lilith does not want to return to Eden, a golden cage that has no sun.

When Elza Kephart’s first feature film, Graveyard Alive (2003) rattled more than 20 countries and won the Kodak Vision Award

for Best Cinematography at the 2004 Slamdance Festival, the Canadian filmmaker thought her road was set in stone. Now, 10 years later, with the release of her second feature-film, Go in the Wilderness, Kephart laughed at the unexpected turns her career has taken.

Since her horror-comedy, about a shy nurse who becomes a flesh eating sex kitten after being bit by a zombie, exploded, Kephart didn’t expect to continue to work on various Hollywood sets including The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005), The Last Kiss (2006), The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) and The Smurfs 2 (2013).

Instead, she wished to pursue her dream of creating fantastical films.

“I think when we go to film school, you

rebellious lilith’s Journey home with her guardian proves to be one of intrigue when they enCounter adam ... and his new mate, eve.

learn the craft and the tricks of the trade, but no one prepares you for the psychological roller coaster that you experience by yourself,” reminisced Kephart. “I made one successful film and I thought that it would be no problem for me to get more funding for future projects from Canadian organizations like SODEC, but I was [mistaken].”

Having been fortunate enough to grow up with supportive parents who encouraged her to pursue a career as an artist, Kephart learned from a young age to be proactive.

“It’s important to find your own voice and do what you truly want to do, because unless you believe in reincarnation, you only have one life.”

This way of thinking is what inspired Kephart to take matters into her own hands after production funding for Go in the Wilderness didn’t pan out.

“Some people say never spend money on your own film, but if no one is giving you money and you want to make a film, you have to make that investment.”

With the financial help of family and friends, Kephart was able to turn her dream into a reality, even if it took longer than expected.

About the film, Kephart said: “The twist is that Eden is like being in a casino with no ticking clocks. That’s why the film is called Go in the Wilderness, because of the contrast of sunrise and sunset of our world against the timeless world of so called Paradise,” said Kephart, whose film will walk the audience on a fine line between the boundaries of this world and the mystical, phantom world of long ago.

Go in the Wilderness premieres as part of Festival du Nouveau Cinéma Oct. 19 at Pavillon Judith-Jasmin Annexe at 1 p.m.

Theatre // arTS

An Italian tale of tradition and identity, told over dinner The St. Léonard Chronicles balances comedy and drama as it examines the importance of family CaSanDra De MaSi opinions editor

Italian family dinners are never short of a spectacle. It is no surprise Canadian playwright Steve Galluccio chose to have all the action in the Centaur Theatre for The St. Léonard Chronicles, which takes place within the confinements of a young Italian couple’s kitchen in their staple St. Léonard duplex.

Family, pride, heritage and identity are some of the main themes explored through the characters and dialogue.

Directed by Roy Surette, the play explores the Italian community’s need to stick to their roots. Young couple, Terry (Christina Broccolini) and Robert (Guido Cocomello) struggle to break the news to their families that they will be selling their St. Léonard duplex to move into a cottage in Beaconsfield.

Sick of their mundane life in St. Léonard, including the vegetable gardens and the noisy tenant in their duplex, the couple doesn’t want to follow in their parents’ footsteps.

As Robert says, “In St. Leo, it’s all about who has the nicest pavé uni and stocking up on Javel when it goes on special.”

The story turns to the reactions of parents Gina (Dorothee Berryman), Carmine (Michel Perron), Dante (Vittorio Rossi) and Elisa (Ellen David). They are outraged.

“What are you going to feed yourself

with in Beaconsfield, Tim Horton’s Lasagna?” Dante asked his son.

In true Italian fashion, one controversial topic brought up at the dinner table spirals into a full-fledged war, and shots are fired from all corners. Love affairs and lies are outed and thrown into the mix. It comes as a bit of a surprise, and while it makes sense, it also feels at times that the plot is moving a little too quickly.

Nonna Dora (Jocelyne Zucco) is the anchor of the ensemble. Coined by her daughter Elisa as having “a touch of dementia,” she delivers the cringe worthy stories and wisdom that Italian grandmothers always have up their sleeves, providing for many humorous moments.

However, her stories of forbidden love back in her hometown of Italy, and her unhappiness in her relationship with her late husband paint a picture of an issue often swept under the rug in Italian families.

The set decor is minimal, with the window to “outside” facing the audience providing a clear view of a St. Léonard duplex.

The Italian-English dialogue is not ignored, with an array of Italian swear words being thrown here and there from one cast member to the other, and the use of many common grammatical errors made by ItalianCanadians.

The play relies heavily on many stereotypes, and while it is not overdone, it does dance on the fine line between realistic characters and caricature. However, dialogue

about fears of immigrants and racism, the wasting of food, and the respect one must have for a man’s homemade wine blends well within the story.

The play begins with a family dinner, yet it ends with a funeral, all the while taking place in the same kitchen. Tears are shed as the story takes a turn for a more serious second half. The actors show great depth, switching from comedic lines to more heavy material quickly. It would have been nice to see them fleshed out a little more, especially with such a great cast.

Still, Galluccio does a good job at portraying the colourful, loud, resilient and proud (sometimes too proud) nature of the Italian-Montreal community.

The spectacle comes together providing laughter, tears, and self-reflection. One is left thinking about the short time they’ve been given on this planet, and how to surround oneself with love, happiness and family.

The St. Léonard Chronicles will be playing at the Centaur Theatre until Dec. 1. For tickets and more information visit: centaurtheatre.com

a young Couple’s deCision to move out of st. léonard turns this italian family on its head.

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theconcordian Ballet // arTS

Aurora’s down a road you’ve never seen her on before Dark, bold and downright breathtaking, Sleeping Beauty is a different kind of ballet oLivia LaTTa Staff writer

“All fairy tales have things in common...but each one has something unique about it,” said Mats Ek, whose modern adaptation of Sleeping Beauty is a truly unique fairy tale and ballet experience.

Le Grand Ballet’s production dances around the plot of the Disney adaptation most are familiar with, but strips it down to retell the story of family, love, and death.

We are presented with the ‘King’ and ‘Queen’, a young couple so wildly in love you quickly become both jealous of and hopeful for them. Then begins one of many suggestive scenes, this particular one entailing Aurora’s conception, then we are quickly swept to a birth scene. The four fairies — Gold, Emerald, Silver, and Ruby — work to deliver Aurora into the world, while warding off Carabosse, the modernday Maleficent. The scene is quirky and fun, somewhat distracting us from the dark comedy that is to come.

We watch, quite briefly, as Aurora grows, rebels against her parents, falls for a slew of men, and displays other normal teenage behaviour, until she meets Carabosse, who has been waiting for her the whole time.

Drawn to the glorified life of drugs, led in hand by Carabosse, Aurora falls to the prick of a heroine needle.

The second act opens with a haunting trip through an addict’s mind, in what looks like rectangular chunks of ash that have

fallen during intermission. The fairies enter to find the mess, and an unconscious Aurora, and struggle to clean up. Enter Prince Desire, who shouts directly at the audience, blaming us for being simple bystanders and not attempting to save the poor girl. The fairies plead for the prince’s help, and we continue to stand by as Aurora falls further into Carabosse’s soul-sucking lifestyle.

Hope finally seems on the horizon, as Prince Desire steps in to murder the dark forces in the princess’ life, and we are hopeful as the two take their first dance together and fall in love. And of course we cannot forget true love’s first kiss, which wakes Aurora from her coma. But just because the sun is shinning doesn’t mean we’re left with a happy ending.

Ek makes many bold moves within this production, such as the beheading of a raw fish on stage, and breaking ballet’s golden rule of no dialogue. He creates some strong images on stage using non-conventional light, sometimes as simply as by having a candle flicker as the King and Queen worry over their child.

Some scenes are a little too chaotic as you find yourself focused on trying to understand what is happening rather than focusing on the dance itself.

However, what makes this adaptation such a strong and stunning piece is the choreography. The King’s worry during the birth brings out the entire male cast and creates a dozen Kings rampant with worry, solos that clearly outline each fairy’s personality and, most especially, the trip through the addict’s mind at the opening of

the second act — itself no longer than two minutes — hits so hard and so accurately that you begin to feel bad for standing aside and allowing it to happen. Elegant, quirky,

and raw, each movement encapsulates the story and draws us down even further.

Sleeping Beauty runs until Oct. 26 at Théâtre Maisonneuve.

heroine-induCed trips make for an unusually somber narrative of prinCess aurora. photo by John hall

Cinema politica // arTS

Out, proud and yet still utterly silenced in Cameroon Filmmakers shed light on the plight of the african country’s underground LGBT community religionless upbringing, or a case of demonic possession.

The documentary follows the lives of multiple queer Cameroonians, paying particular attention to Gertrude and Cédric, ransporting us to a place where two youths coming to terms with not only homosexuality is considered one who they are, but where they are as well. of the worst crimes a human beCédric talks about Lady Gaga and mening can commit, Born This Way tions his love and admiration for her, findimmerses us in the struggles of Cameroon’s ing solace in such songs as “Born This underground LGBT community.

Way.” He gets through the day confident in Directed and produced by Shaun Kadlec how personally acceptable it is for him to be different, how each and every one of us should embrace these differences, and how they would help make the world a better place. Yet even his optimism is diminished when the focus shifts to the realities of Cameroonian discrimination.

“You can’t be out in Cameroon. Eventually the law will get you,” he says at one point.

Cédric’s story is one of survival, illustrating how difficult it can be for a homosexual to live where there is a constant fear of attack or imprisonment, simply because you are different.

Experiencing similar Born ThIs Way explores the private lives of gay Cameroonians and their not so private hardships and trials. anxieties, Gertrude, who

MaThieu DeMerS Contributor

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and Deb Tullmann, Born This Way is a documentary about the sometimes literal trials many homosexuals have to go through in Cameroon, where it’s considered a crime by law for anyone to sexually engage with a person of the same gender. Indeed, the documentary shows us that to even ‘look’ gay (in manner of dress or behaviour) is enough to be imprisoned for up to five years.

These discriminatory laws reflect the positions of a society where many consider homosexuality a misguidance, a product of

is deeply religious, takes us along on her personal journey in which she reveals her sexual orientation to a Catholic nun who had raised her since childhood, and anticipates a condemnatory reaction.

Not all is bleak however, thanks to local human rights organizations and the tenacious Alice Nkom, a renowned Cameroonian lawyer who has dedicated her life to fight for gay rights, and continues to take a stand for equality.

“You know, I’m just like a mother. When you have two kids that are different, one of them is vulnerable, you have to take care, you have to love him, you have to help him.

And this is what I’m doing,” Nkom says.

Concealing cameras and flouting the law themselves, the filmmakers manage to capture the realities of gay life in Cameroonian society. The personal testimonies presented throughout the film are both extraordinarily heartbreaking and remarkably enlightening, giving insight to not only how Cameroon’s LGBT community is coping with the prejudice, but by showing the viewpoints and convictions of those against it, all the while giving the documentary much warmth as it still manages to include tender conversations between couples, filmed amidst candlelight.

Born This Way premieres in Quebec as part of Cinema Politica at 7 p.m on Oct. 21, D.B. Clarke Theatre – 1455 de Maisonneuve W. The event is in collaboration with Festival de Films Massimadi Montréal.

theconcordian

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Cinema // arTS

In a grind, all you need is a little help from some friends

Thanks for Sharing takes a humourous look at the lives and struggles of recovering sex-addicts oLivia ranGer-ennS Staff writer

Addiction to sex seems to be a recurring theme on the minds of many film directors lately. Just consider the latest releases about sex addiction: Choke (2008), Shame (2011) and Don Jon (2013). Now, viewers can learn more about the affliction with Thanks for Sharing, which will open in theatres on Oct. 18.

The film asks poignant questions and raises some fiery issues. Centering on three men recovering from sex addictions, Thanks for Sharing is both funny and heartbreaking.

Meet Adam, Neil and Mike. Adam (Mark Ruffalo) is handsome, intelligent and five years sober. He attends meetings regularly, falls in love and seems settled. Neil (Josh Gad), an adorable doctor with frizzy black hair and a worrying love for doughnuts is a wreck; he

masturbates, rubs against women on the subway, and even films up his boss’ skirt. Finally, there’s Mike (Tim Robbins), a toughened guy who acts as a sage and saviour, having successfully overcome his addictions to sex and alcohol for 15 years.

The film opens with Adam praying on his bed in the nude, and the voice-over informs the viewers: “Five years. I remember I couldn’t manage five days.”

While walking down the streets of New York on his way to work, Adam desperately tries to ignore women’s legs, tight skirts, push-up bras and the like.

But things start to look up for Adam when he falls in love with Phoebe, expertly played by Gwyneth Paltrow. The two meet at a “bug party,” where Adam skewers bugs for a barbecue (odd idea, but whatever). As Adam and Phoebe get to know each other over several dates, Adam becomes increasingly worried about telling Phoebe about his past.

Phoebe is seemingly perfect: she has overcome breast cancer, she’s training for a triathlon and eats like a bird. But, things are not as they seem. When Phoebe learns of Adam’s former addiction, she reconsiders.

Issues of judgment are brought out in a fiery battle between the couple when Adam says, “Cancer gets you sympathy, addiction gets you judgement. Anyways, you think you’re normal with all that food shit and your obsession with exercise?”

As for Neil, his penchant for sex and food is hilarious to watch. When Adam asks him why he partakes in the meetings, Neil shrugs and innocently suggests, “Free bagels?” But some scenes are more serious, pointing to the fear that addiction brings about. At a meeting, a freaked-out Neil says, “The truth is I am out of control, I am scared, I need help.”

Slowly but surely, Neil is helped by Adam, his “sponsor,” with a regiment of no masturbation, no Internet, and no pornography.

Mike on the other hand is hard to like.

When his son appears on his doorstep after years of estrangement, Mike is hardly pleased. He begrudgingly permits Danny to stay. Working on a pond or meditating in the garden, the duo seem to be reconciling until the son confronts his father about being physically abused. Mike’s character, as a role model, suddenly takes on darker colours.

The point of the movie is clear: humans get addicted to things (sex, alcohol, gaming), but they need to be trusted and helped instead of judged, in order for them to get back on track. The best part of the film is the questions it raises: How often do we judge people based on their imperfections and why? Is Phoebe really exemplary? Do we ourselves have addictions we would like to sweep under the rug?

Thanks for Sharing will appear in theatres Oct. 18.

Thanks for sharIng follows the reCovery proCess of three former sex addiCts turned friends, as they struggle with Continuous temptation. photo is a still from youtube.Com

Poetry // arTS

Poet’s Corner Goldie Locks’ Romance By: Karina Licursi Goldie Locks Found herself on the rocks Because she was a stubborn little one She didn’t understand why every man Would only call her “pretty” Don’t be naive, she knew very well But she was much too keen and gritty To be admired for her looks As she loved to swim in books Goldie Locks dreamed of the Sun; she was the Moon She became a mystic far too soon Admired one suitor who was much too bitter And kept his heart in a box The second came along He adorned her with a song Alas he wanted her in a box She looked to her siblings the Stars And wished for one to share her scars “This one’s too greedy,” she said, “that one’s too needy This one’s too distant, that one’s too sticky” Soon one day with her nose in Poe She felt brightness in the room It was the Sun, here to brighten her gloom “This one’s just right,” said Goldie Locks So the Earth crashed, the Sun melted into the Moon (And he shared her love of books, too)

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Write to the editor: music@theconcordian.com

Profile // MuSiC

naTaSha TaGGarT online editor

>> Justin Timberlake tour to Montreal postponed Justin Timberlake’s Montreal fans will have to wait until next summer to see the superstar, as his concerts scheduled for Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 at the Bell Centre have been postponed. The 20/20 Experience World Tour was set to debut in Montreal, but a rehearsal extension is said to be the cause for the delay. The tour’s third show scheduled for Nov. 4 in Boston has also been pushed back. The 20/20 Experience World Tour will now debut in New York on Nov. 6. The new dates are July 25 and 26 for the Montreal shows, which might give enough time to save up for the $197 red-zone tickets. If you’ve already bought your tickets but can’t make the new dates, refunds are available at point of purchase.

>> Eminem The Mashall Mathers LP 2 tracklist revealed Eminem’s much anticipated eighth studio album will be comprised of 15 songs and a skit, including the already released “Berzerk.” Fans can expect collaborations from Skylar Grey and Kendrick Lamar, while Rihanna will lend vocals on a song called “The Monster.” Also, the band fun.’s lead vocalist, Nate Ruess, will appear on a song called “Headlights.”

The album is being released on Nov. 5.

For the full tracklist, visit theconcordian. com

>> Lorde’s single “Royals” racist?

By now, you’ve probably heard the breakthrough song called “Royals” by New Zealand native Lorde. The song’s lyrics discuss consumerism and wealth, and describe Lorde’s view of music today. In addition to that, according to feminist blogger Veronica Bayetti Flores, the lyrics are also racist. “We all know who she’s thinking when we’re talking gold teeth, Cristal and Maybachs. So why shit on black folks?” the blogger wrote in a commentary about the song. Her comments have received a lot of backlash on social media, though Flores sticks by her words, telling CNN she took offense to “a critique of excessive consumption to a genre both created and currently dominated by Black Americans.” Lorde’s reps have not yet released a statement.

Jadea kelly performed in montreal on oCt. 9 at upstairs to promote her latest album Clover.

Jadea Kelly finds optimism in the darkness The Canadian musician experiments with folk and orchestral sounds JeSSiCa KenWooD Contributor

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fter spending most of last year writing in her Toronto apartment, Jadea Kelly is back on tour to promote her third album, Clover, after a hiatus caused by exhaustion, according to her website.

The album is a new direction for the Ontario-based singer-songwriter. Clover, named after her grandfather’s farm in Ontario, has a darker, more sombre and orchestral feel that lends itself perfectly to Kelly’s haunting vocals while her previous albums were rooted more deeply in country and folk.

This new sound emerged from a collaboration between Kelly and her producer Stew Crookes. Crookes, with the help of other musicians including Jason Sniderman and Tom Juhas, allowed for Kelly’s album to take on much more musically complex and interesting harmonies than on her previous albums, Second Spring and Eastbound Platform.

“We have jokingly coined a new genre name for this record, ‘fire folk’ or ‘spooky

country’. The instrumentation is a lot more adventurous that our last recordings — a lot darker and orchestrated,” said Kelly.

Clover is a much more emotionally charged album than Kelly’s previous releases. While the tone is darker than what her fans are used to, Kelly claims that the driving message behind it remains optimistic.

“With this present album, I am trying to convey a message of hope and strength to my audience. I wrote this album from a tender and emotional place and hope to extend my newfound passion and strength to those around me.”

Kelly has high hopes for Clover when it comes to her fans. She hopes that they will connect their experiences with hers while enjoying the music.

“I would like them to feel relaxed and entertained. Even though these lyrics come from my own emotional experiences, I want them to develop their own personal sentiments and feel connected to one another in the process,” she said.

In order to get the rich sound found on Kelly’s new album, Crookes took the recording back to basics. Instead of recording on a computer or any digital form that is typical of music production nowadays, Clover was recorded on analogue two-inch tapes, ac-

cording to her website.

“This album had a bigger budget than the others, and therefore allowed for more time to develop the songs and marinate ideas. We recorded to tape, live off the floor as well over a short two week period. Instead of going back and forth on ideas for three months, we solidified them during pre, pro and recording,” said Kelly.

Kelly is most known for her work with the Canadian progressive metal band, Protest the Hero. She was featured on three songs from their 2005 concept album Kezia, playing the part of the eponymous main character and toured with the band to promote the album. She was also featured on their 2011 album, Scurrilous.

Her solo work has also garnered her much attention over the years and has won her a Toronto Independent Music Award in 2008 and a Canadian Folk Music Award in 2010.

When she’s not busy working or touring, the singer-songwriter takes time for the things she loves.

“I shop for stage dresses,” she laughs, “drink good coffee, writing songs, and sleep.”

Her latest album Clover was released in May and is now available in stores and online.

Tuesday, october 15, 2013

Profile // music

Embracing now, track by track

The Zolas decide to put off recording a full length album for the time being Jessica Romera Music editor

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ostalgia comes in different forms.

There exists the nostalgia filled with warmth that takes us back to a particular blissful moment in our lives, but there also exists the kind of nostalgia that leaves us feeling lonely and longing for the past. The latter form can often disable us from moving forward. Instead of dwelling on a moment or waiting for new ones to arrive, The Zolas have decided to embrace the now and release their music as it comes to them without the restrictions and obligations of a full-length album.

“We started really enjoying the idea of writing songs, recording them and releasing them immediately,” said Zachary Gray, vocalist and guitarist for The Zolas. “We as people in our culture, or in all cultures, I don’t know, we only seem to really appreciate a really great moment when it’s sort of in the rear view mirror when we’re looking back at it,” said Gray. “You only feel it really all the way when it’s not with you anymore.”

After releasing two studio albums since 2010, Gray and bandmate Tom Dobrzanski have decided to put the release of a fulllength album on hold — at least for the time being—despite having booked studio time for some point in December.

“For people who like, really want to hear cohesive albums from us, they might be waiting a little bit. But for people who just want to hear what is exciting to us right now, what we want to say at this very moment, it could not be a better time,” said Gray.

While their previous albums Tic Toc Tic and Ancient Mars had a more dreamy, psychedelic, alternative feel, their latest single “Invisible” offers listeners a catchier pop tune.

“It’s weird; we’re getting at the same time more pop-y and more experimental.

With this band, I just wanna write catchy songs,” said Gray, “I guess “Invisible” is a

good example of that because that is just, like, straight up pop,” he said.

Gray maintained that The Zolas are not overly concerned with having their sound be classified under any specific genre. “I’m okay being a pop-rock band. That’s the niche, that’s the kind of music we play well together,” he said. “We set a precedent where we can be pretty crazy if we want to be, but we also could write just like a three minute pop song.”

“I don’t think people are going to notice too big of a transition, except we’re a lot more interested in rhythm and about writing that comes out of drum and percussion and I think that’s sort of the way music feels right now. If you listen to any act, it’s all very rhythm based, more so than ever before.”

Initially a two piece band, the Vancouver natives have recently been veering off into new creative territory with fellow musicians James Younger and Cody Hiles, who is deemed by Gray to be “the best drummer in Vancouver.” While Gray and Dobrzanski met at the early age of 13 at choir, Younger and Hiles were introduced to the duo later in their musical careers through other bands.

“This is the first time the four of us have ever really been writing as a team. It’s always been either me, or me and Tom […] we’re having a really good time,” said Gray. “It’s a real blessing to be working with people who have better taste than you,” he laughs.

Despite all the flowing creativity that came along with their first album Tic Toc Tic, Gray and Dobrzanski were at a standstill when it came to picking the name of the album, or the name of the band for that matter.

“We came up with it because Tom and I never agree on anything,” said Gray, “and when we recorded the album before the band even existed, like our first album, we didn’t have an album title or a band name.”

In order to solve this situation, they engaged in what Gray calls a “no-compromise compromise.” Essentially, Gray would pick the band’s name, while Dobrzanski would pick the name of their first album. Gray de-

cided to pay homage to French writer Émile Zola with their group name.

“The band name is good! It’s short, it’s got a ‘z’ in it which is an interesting letter to start with […] it’s phonetic.”

When they’re not recording or touring, each member is busy on other projects. Dobrzanski owns Monarch Records, a successful studio back in Vancouver, where a number of other bands have spent some time recording (Said The Whale, We Are The City). Gray spends his free days “thinking about music all the time and I travel, and I play as much sports as possible.”

While in school, Gray indulged his athletic side and played for the ultimate frisbee team.

“It’s a really fun sport,” he said. “It’s a total cult, if you’re not part of it you won’t hear about it.”

Given the chance, he would travel to Central Asia.

“It’s a part of the world that’s the crossroads of three major civilizations,” he said.

“It’s gonna get rough over there and I’d like to see it.”

If he ever decides to retire his guitar, Gray says he would go back to school and get a degree in education to become a high school guidance counselor.

“I still might one day,” he said.

“Music is fun but it’s a really selfish thing to do,” he said. “I don’t know, you just travel around the world burning fossil fuels[…] it’s just very narcissistic.”

“I believe in the roller coaster of life where you take the crushing lows and the exhilarating highs and it averages out to about the same as a normal life…I like the extremes.”

No stranger to Montreal — his mother is an Outremont native and his brother went to Concordia — Gray has already compiled a list of things he would like to do while in town.

“I don’t want to say something super cliché like eat a smoked meat sandwich... but it’s actually something I want to do.”

The Zolas play the Cabaret du Mile End on Oct. 18.

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Quick Spins

Agnes Obel - Aventine (PIAS; 2013) Aventine is the sophomore release from Danish singer-songwriter, Agnes Obel. Following her multiplatinum selling debut Philharmonics, Obel has again decided to grant herself full creative control by writing, producing, arranging, and mixing the album herself.

Perhaps it’s that freedom which allows Aventine to feel so pure and impressionistic, both musically and lyrically. The album is cinematic, channeling lullabies and fairytales all within a dark and mysterious atmosphere. Decidedly slow-paced throughout, the songs follow the same piano-driven folk pop formula, but Obel’s vocals are more empowered and showcase an intensity that was lacking from her debut. Aventine is so pleasant and meditative that it will likely take repeated plays to fully appreciate its simplistic beauty. However, its mixture of romance, melancholy and darkness make it the perfect autumn soundtrack.

Trial Track: “Dorian”

7/10

- Paul Traunero

Korn - The Paradigm Shift (Caroline Records; 2013) In their 11th album The Paradigm Shift, Korn return to their early days of violent, in-your-face metal that does not disappoint. The appearance of a traditional Korn album could very well be due to the recent return of Head, the group’s original guitarist who had left the band in 2005.

The dreadlocked, nu-metal pioneers have distanced themselves from their previous album, 2011’s Path of Totality, which they had considered an “experiment,” as it had been heavily influenced by dubstep. The band does not completely drop the electronic elements however, they are lightly sprinkled throughout the new record in key moments rather effectively. While the lyrics are somewhat lacklustre, comprised mainly of the standard elements of the genre such as abandonment, self-seclusion and anger at societal norms, the guitar work is superb. Musically, this is one of Korn’s greatest works, and debatebly on par with their breakthrough album from 1998, Follow the Leader.

Trial Track: “Spike In My Vein”

Zachary Gray, Tom Dobrzanski, James Younger and Cody Hiles of the Zolas just released their latest single “Invisible.”

9/10

-Justinas Staskevicius

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Tuesday, October 15, 2013

rumbles through a quiet/loud arrangement and explodes with an infectious chorus that will get you grooving along to this good ol’ Southern gospel hand-clapper. “Family Tree” is definitely a highlight on the album.

9. “Milk” – Aha Shake Heartbreak You might find yourself pressing the ‘skip’ button on this one — but trust me, don’t.

Slow to start, the basic guitar and drumbeat allow the lyrics to speak for themselves.

Give this a listen on headphones to truly hear Caleb’s heartfelt vocals as he remembers a girl that was once his.

Kings of Leon songs Compiled by Angela De Cicco and Sabrina Giancioppi Like old-time minstrel families crisscrossing the countryside to tell their stories, the Followills — brothers Caleb, Nathan, Jared, and cousin Matthew — make up the Kings of Leon, traveling worldwide to share their music. Here are our picks for their finest songs.

10. “Family Tree”– Mechanical Bull Kicking off with some old-school KOL bravado and rolling drums, this funky tune has a fresh backbeat and Motown feel. The song

8. “Beautiful War” – Mechanical Bull KOL has come a long way from their raunchy debut album Youth & Young Manhood.

Written on the same weekend as hit-single “Use Somebody” back in 2008, this sultry down-beat song aches with sentiment and teaches us a lesson in love. Clocking in as the longest song on the album, Caleb definitely asserts his presence throughout. Get your lighters in the air for this future favourite.

7. “Back Down South” – Come Around Sundown KOL takes us back to the simple days of family gatherings on this country-inspired tune.

The lap steel guitar and violin give it that country twang, reminding us of their southern roots. Recorded in Nashville, “Back Down South,” embodies the laid back feel flowing through Come Around Sundown.

Top 10 // music

6.”Charmer” – Because Of The Times The Kings have surely met their fair share of girls on the road — I mean come on, look at them — but with the shrill of this tune one can only imagine how many times they’ve had their asses handed to them. Everything from the paranoid bass line, frazzled lyrics and Caleb’s high, piercing, schoolgirl yell makes this one of their most distinct songs.

commonly heard in Youth & Young Manhood, but their mother is. Unable to understand a word he’s saying throughout, much like a mouthful of marbles, Caleb purposely does this so his mother can’t understand the song’s salacious lyrics. The aggressive beat accompanied by Caleb’s highpitched shrills epitomizes the bands earlier stuff and gets the crowd ready to rock.

5. “Closer” – Only By The Night

2. “Cold Desert”– Only By The Night

This haunting tale of a torn soul lets us know the depths of vocalist Caleb’s thoughts. While his voice is nothing short of powerful on this one, it’s his brother Jared’s chilling bass line that captivates you from the very beginning.

Putting a spotlight on the sinning, searching and tortured faith in singer Caleb’s vocals, this song, despite never meaning to be on the record, is the track that closes nicely Only By The Night, an album fueled with anthemic rock ballads. The track was originally incomplete — with only the first verse written — but in a drunken stupor and a quick hit of the record button, an honest moment was captured. Most of the lyrics free-flowed off Caleb’s tongue — the most heart-wrenching “Jesus don’t love me” is a line that Caleb may not remember saying but will surely raise the hairs on your neck.

4. “Four Kicks”– Aha Shake Heartbreak The gritty guitar licks remind us that these boys were born and raised in the south and know a thing or two about booze and brawls.

Caleb and Nathan, the two eldest members of the four brother band, don’t fight often, but when they do, make sure to get the hell out of the way. In 2007, Nathan ruffled up some rooster feathers after a night out in Nashville that left Caleb with a dislocated shoulder. The song is a short two-minute bar-fight anthem that will pump you up and leave you bloody.

If anyone ever confused KOL for the Hanson brothers, this song is sure to set them straight.

3. “Red Morning Light”– Youth & Young Manhood We may not be strangers to KOL’s dirty lyrics

1. “Talihina Sky” – Youth & Young Manhood (Hidden Track) This hidden gem can be found eight minutes into their LP “Holy Roller Novocaine.”

Showing us a softer, more sentimental side to their usual head banging rock, the southern rockers literally step out of where they came from, foreshadowing their slower yet brilliant tracks heard on Come Around Sundown and Mechanical Bull.

Opinion // music

Pop princesses play-off on the charts Britney, Katy and Gaga compete for the number one spot on the charts Marco Saveriano Contributor

There’s a war underway in Hollywood.

If you pay any attention to the pop music scene, you probably already know that Britney Spears, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga are all releasing highly-anticipated albums over the next few months. This has caused passionate fans on sites like Twitter and Tumblr to start pitting the artists against each other.

But it’s not a competition...or is it? Britney and Gaga have been out of the music scene recently. Their last albums, Femme Fatale and Born This Way, respectively, came out in 2011. Katy, on the other hand, has had the pressure of following up her double platinum-selling album Teenage Dream, which spawned five Billboard Hot 100 number one singles since its release in 2010.

It’s difficult to predict who will come out on top. If the success of the lead singles and the early reviews are any indication of how the albums will sell, Katy’s album Prism will prevail.

The lead single “Roar” skyrocketed to the top of the iTunes charts after its release and went on to become her eighth Billboard Hot 100 number one single. Gaga’s “Applause” and Britney’s “Work Bitch,” on the other hand, both struggled to reach the top of the charts.

“Roar” doesn’t bring anything new to the table, but its empowering and catchy lyrics have made it an instant hit. However, the various promotional singles and song previews from Prism show that Katy’s experimenting with a new sound. Critics and fans alike have been praising the gritty trap beats used in “Dark Horse.” Meanwhile, “Walking On Air” is a ‘90s-inspired electronic dance track that is sure to be blowing up speakers in clubs around the world.

Nonetheless, we shouldn’t rule out Britney. Though she has not given fans much insight, this album is reportedly her most personal one yet. The lead single “Work Bitch” is a club-smasher that sounds unlike anything she’s ever released. She’s working with singer-songwriter Sia Furler on a song that is “both beautiful and heartbreaking” and “evokes SO much emotion,” she said on Twitter in August. She’s brought several oth-

er new songwriters into the mix, including Emeli Sandé and Charli XCX. If that’s any indication of how her album will sound, we should prepare ourselves for a diverse and unique assortment of songs.

Gaga’s new music, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired. At the iTunes Festival in September, she premiered seven new songs from her album ARTPOP, including “Swine,” “Aura,” and “Manicure.” The songs show growth as an artist for Gaga, featuring a mix of genres ranging from hip-hop to electronic. However, they simply don’t have the instant impact that past hits like “Just Dance” and “Telephone” boasted.

The real competition seems to be between Katy and Britney. However, Gaga’s passionate Little Monsters will definitely put up a good fight to get her to number one.

This may be one of the biggest pop music showdowns in years. Not since Christina Aguilera and Britney’s rivalry back in the early 2000s has there been such competition for the top of the pop charts amongst female artists.

Prism is due out on Oct. 22, ARTPOP on Nov.11 and Britney’s currently unnamed album is out Dec. 3.

Britney Spears (left), Lady Gaga (top right) and Katy Perry (bottom right). Flickr Creative Commons.

sports

Tuesday, ocTober 15, 2013

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Write to the editor: sports@theconcordian.com opinion // SPorTS

Does fighting belong in hockey?

The nhL, Stingers hockey team weigh in on dropping the gloves anDreW DaviS Contributor

The debate about fighting in hockey has once again risen from the ashes, following the opening night fight between Habs player George Parros and Maple Leafs tough guy Colton Orr. While some people claim that it is barbaric to have players punching each other in the head given everything we know about concussions, other people say that fighting is necessary in order for players to protect themselves and their teammates, especially their superstars.

Is there really a place for fighting in hockey? Several members of the Concordia men’s hockey team certainly think so.

“Fighting should always stay in the NHL,” said team captain George Lovatsis. “I think it’s part of the game, and I think it has to be a part of the game. It always has been, and I think it always should be.”

Alternate captain Olivier Hinse mirrored the comments.

“I think there is a place for fighting, because if there is no fighting, there will be more cheap shots. So it’s there to make sure players aren’t going too far.”

The main reason to keep fighting in the game is so players have their own form of vigilante justice, according to alternate captain Youssef Kabbaj.

“If you take out fighting, you get what you have in the CIS [Canadian Interuniversity Sports]. The pests do not have to justify what they’re doing.”

All three players (Lovatsis, Hinse and Kabbaj) see the value of fighting, and understand

its importance within the game.

“It’s there to police and protect the players,” explained Kabbaj. “Let’s say you get hit from behind and one of your players goes to fight him, that’s fine. With fighting, if you hit someone from behind you know when you turn around someone is going to be coming to beat you up. If there is no fighting, you will just take the two-minute penalty without having to answer for anything.”

After the Parros incident, several NHL general managers expressed their concern over player safety.

“I believe a player should get a game misconduct for fighting,” Tampa Bay GM Steve Yzerman, told TSN’s Darren Dreger. “We penalize and suspend players for making contact with the head while checking, in an effort to reduce head injuries, yet we still allow fighting.

Although Carolina Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford, Pittsburgh GM, Ray Shero, and former Habs head coach Scotty Bowman agreed with Yzerman, most players seem to disagree.

“I personally think you need fights in hockey to keep everyone honest,” Philadelphia Flyers captain Claude Giroux told TSN. San Jose Sharks forward Joe Thornton also feels it’s part of the game.

“I think it would be a shame to take it out of the game,” said Thornton in 2009, according to the Canadian Press. “It’s a part of hockey, like tying up your laces or shooting the puck.”

Athletes know that taking part in any sport comes with certain risks, and accidents and injuries are bound to happen. Montreal Canadiens defenceman Josh Gorges is also on record as saying he believes fighting is part of hockey.

“I see more players get hurt from hits, collisions, from pucks, than I do from fights,” Gorges told TSN. “I don’t think saying because a player got hurt in a fight that now we have to talk about taking fighting away. And I bet that

if you ask George [Parros], he’ll be the first to agree with me on that one too.”

Kevin Figsby, head coach of the Concordia men’s hockey team, pointed out that fighting is actually prosperous for the NHL. “Certainly when it comes to the NHL they’re looking at the dollar figure. Every time there is a fight, it drives up their revenue and the beer sales. It heightens people’s curiosity when there is a fight. For some reason fighting is linked to alcohol sales, and their sales drive up the revenue that pays the players.

From that perspective it is definitely a business decision.”

A Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey from 2009 showed that 68 per cent of NHL fans think fighting should stay in the game. Less than 30 per cent of hockey fans are in favour of abolishing fighting.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman admitted that fighting does sell tickets, and that the league is not looking into abolishing it anytime soon.

“I believe that most of our fans enjoy that aspect of the game,” Bettman said at the all-star game weekend in Montreal in 2009, according to the CBC. “I do not think it is the be-all and end-all of our game, but it is a part of the game.”

Although the debate about fighting resurfaces repeatedly, people get excited whenever there is a fight. Fights are usually in the highlights of televised games, and enforcers come to be some of the more popular players on a team.

“At the end of the day, it’s been a part of the sport since the day it started, and you can’t just radically change a sport like that,” said Kabbaj.

“We don’t even know what the consequences would be if we took out fighting.”

In today’s NHL, just as many people jump out of their seats for a fight as they do for a goal.

Only when people stop jumping out of their seats for fights will the NHL look at taking fighting out of the game. Until then, fighting in the NHL is here to stay.

Sports in the News ChriS CorDeLLa Staff writer

>> down to four St. Louis, Los Angeles, Boston and Detroit are the teams that have moved on to the American League and National League championship series in Major League Baseball. St. Louis was pushed to the limit against the Pittsburgh Pirates but pulled out a game-five victory to move on.

Detroit was in a similar situation against the Oakland Athletics, as they were down in the series 2-1 and were down 3-0 in game four, but climbed back to win game four and eventually game five to advance. Boston took a 2-0 stranglehold in their series against the Tampa Bay Rays which was too much for Tampa to handle, as Boston eliminated them in game four. The L.A. Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves in four games after the teams split the first two games. The Dodgers took the next two to finish the Braves off. Next, the Red Sox will face the Tigers in the AL championship and the Cardinals will face the Dodgers in the NL championship.

>> way bigger than football

As reported on ESPN this past Friday, the star running back for the Minnesota Vikings, Adrian Peterson, is dealing with every parent’s nightmare. His two-year-old son was killed on Friday afternoon after being assaulted by his ex-girlfriend, Ashley Brown’s, new boyfriend, Joseph Robert Patterson. Patterson was later arrested and his bail is posted at $750,000. Details are very minimal at this point. Before the little boy was pronounced dead, Peterson said he would play this weekend against the Carolina Panthers, which he did, but the Vikings fell 35-10 at home.

>> good newS for

alouetteS and habS

the ConCordia stingers men’s hoCkey players and nhl players believe fighting has a plaCe in hoCkey. photo by rae pellerin

This past week the Alouettes had their annual team photo taken. Injured quarterback Anthony Calvillo spoke to the media for the first time since suffering a concussion and shoulder problems. He told the media he expects to be ready for the last game of the regular season in week 18 and possibly for the playoffs. As for the Canadiens, general manager Marc Bergevin had great news to deliver this past week on injured forward George Parros. He told the media that Parros was almost symptom-free after suffering a concussion Oct. 1 against the Leafs.

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Tuesday, october 15, 2013 Baseball // SPorTS

Stingers sweep Carleton University in finals Concordia’s baseball team clinch championship MaTTheW Shanahan Staff writer

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he Concordia Stingers baseball team displayed plenty of heart and grit against the Carleton Ravens on Saturday with an easy first win and an impressive and motivating from-behind victory in game two that showed their right to move on to the League Championship.

Game 1 recap Stingers pitcher, Jonathan Raftus, gave an incredible performance right out of the gate, pitching a no-hitter heading into the top of the seventh.

“It was one of my best performances of the year, probably of my life actually,” Raftus said.

“Hopefully I can carry the same performance [into] the nationals.”

The first five and a half innings were especially quick and low scoring and the Stingers were lucky enough to have a 1-0 lead thanks to the base running credentials of Sam BelisleSpringer.

“They were sleeping, we jumped on them, they threw it away, got surprised, and threw it away,” said Belisle-Springer.

He would come around to score on a wild pitch on the throw to third base. The Stingers opened the floodgates in the sixth inning, scoring three runs to give them a comfortable 4-0 lead heading into the seventh inning.

“After they got their base hit, it kind of wore me down a little,” said Raftus. “I knew we just had to get the final three outs, and I knew we just had to get the win.”

The Stingers would allow the potential tying run to come to the plate, but that would be all as they won the game 4-1.

Game 2 Recap The Stingers didn’t let the Game 1 win get to their heads, as they came out firing in the bottom of the first inning. They scored a couple of runs as the first three men gave the Stingers a bases-loaded, no-out situation. The runs were manufactured off a groundout to first base by the catcher Jean Christophe-Paquin and a sacrifice fly to left-center field from Tim Riley.

The Stingers early 2-0 lead on the Carleton Ravens was short-lived. The starting pitcher Roberto Zapata would surrender four runs in the inning to give the Ravens a 4-2 lead by the top of the second inning, a lead that only increased in the fourth when the Ravens added another pair off a solid two-run single, taking it to 6-2.

At this point Stingers manager Howie Schwartz replaced Zapata with right hard-throwing rookie pitcher, Dan Connerty, who threw nearly three innings of shutout baseball which allowed the Stingers to climb back into the game.

“It was a hell of an effort and I was just trying to keep our team in the game,” said Connerty

afterwards.

The bottom of the fourth inning saw the Stingers rally and score four runs and tie the game at six after what should have been an inning-ending flyout in left centre-field turned costly error that allowed three runs to score and send Andre Lagarde to third base. Second-baseman Anthony Marandola’s hit would drive Lagarde in to tie the game.

While Raftus would go on to have an impeccable game at the plate, getting on base in each of his four at bats, Lagarde would once again come through with a clutch sacrifice fly to give the Stingers the lead. He then came in as the close-out in relief for Connerty and secured the victory.

“I don’t understand how you can come back in a playoff game where you’re just so out of it and flat,” said Schwartz. “They really convinced me they can do anything they want to at any time.”

Concordia will bring its squad to Windsor next weekend as they play in the Intercollegiate National Baseball Championships.

ConCordia baseball team off to windsor, ont., after two-game sweep against the Carleton ravens last saturday afternoon at trudeau park. photos by kevin J raftery

Profile // SPorTS

Never slowing down despite injury in 2012 Stingers’ rugby player hughanna Gaw gets back in the game after missing last season ChriSTine BeaTon Contributor

Hughanna Gaw doesn’t stop. She has come back full throttle, after injuring her knee in the 2011-12 season and has no plans of quitting rugby anytime soon.

“It took a while for it to actually happen,” she said about her injury. “I had problems with my leg for a while before the injury actually happened but no one knew what was wrong.”

That all changed when she felt something go horribly wrong during the Stingers’ final against Laval in 2012.

“I was playing and all of a sudden I heard a crack. I called over to [the athletic therapist] and he told me that in a way this was better than not knowing what was wrong, because now I could actually get better.”

“We knew from the final the year before she was really hurt, although we did not expect to lose her for the 2012[-2013] season,” said Stingers head coach Graeme McGravie. “But you need your knee for life, not just rugby. Getting her back at 100 per cent was the only real goal we had.”

Gaw also had to say goodbye to a season with her Quebec senior women’s team this past summer. However, knowing Gaw’s extensive knowledge and commitment to the game, her

coach, Jocelyn Barrieau, offered her a position with the under-18 Quebec development team.

“I’ve been playing for Quebec since 2004. I love playing for Quebec [...] It’s a community that always welcomes you with open arms. I wouldn’t have gotten the coaching job if it wasn’t for my coach,” said Gaw. “I was really happy to have the coaching job but I still missed playing. It’s hard to just sit there and watch and

not get to play.”

After coaching the nationals in June and junior Nationals in August, she played half a season with the Ste-Anne’s Rugby Football Club starting in mid-July knowing she would be going back to the Stingers in the fall of 2013. Gaw is currently finishing up a degree in leisure science with a minor in history.

“I think rugby helps me get through school,”

hughanna gaw helped CoaCh QuebeC under-18 teams this summer. photo by anthony isabella

she said. “It helps with time management. We practice four days a week and sometimes have to travel for games so it forces me to sit down and finish my schoolwork with the little time that I have between practices and games,” she added with a laugh, “and class, of course.”

When asked if she felt her skill diminished after missing not only a varsity season but a summer season, she responded with a simple, “Definitely.”

McGravie, however, feels differently. He has nothing but positive words to describe Gaw’s role with the team.

“I have no worries. She looks stronger and faster than ever,” he said. “Her physical presence is immense, whether that is tackling, supporting or running with the ball. Her game knowledge is calming not only to the coaches but teammates too.”

“She manages to inspire others around her to be better and push themselves on the field or in the weight room; she is always there to encourage others but somehow manages to push her limits to compete and be the best.”

The Stingers just won their final league game against the Bishop’s Gaiters, bringing their season to a close with an astounding 7-0 sweep.

Gaw has been playing rugby since the eighth grade; she has honed her skills and transformed herself into an ultimate competitor. With her last season with the Stingers coming to a close, there is no doubt she will be missed next season.

opinions

Tuesday, ocTober 15, 2013

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Write to the editor: opinions@theconcordian.com editorial // oPinionS

How do you pay for groceries and prostate cancer?

Season of fundraising campaigns means questioning how much, to whom and can we donate?

The beginning of fall also marks the beginning of many, many fundraising campaigns.

To name a few, there’s the Montreal Walk 4 Friendship, Movember, the Federation CJA annual campaign and Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Not to mention, the request for donations that organizations promote all year long.

With so many campaigns and organizations asking for donations, how is a student supposed to respond?

Many students live on a tight budget but many students are also inclined to want to help worthwhile campaigns raise money. This is perhaps best exemplified by the number of Concordia student participants in Movember.

However, it isn’t fair to expect a student to be able to donate to all campaigns or that they

can afford to donate at all. So, how does one decide who to donate to, how much to donate or whether to donate at all?

Donating one’s time is a good alternative to monetary donations, but like cash, a student’s time can also be in short supply.

It’s difficult to pit one cause against another and deem one to be more worthy, so how can you decide which cause to donate to?

If you want to be democratic about it you could seek information from Charity Intelligence Canada. This organization researches the effectiveness and efficiency of charities in Canada. On its website, you will find its top 12 Canadian charity picks, a list of 100 major charities and information about donating to large cause charities such as cancer, the environment and homelessness.

Or you could simply choose to support the charity one of your friends or relatives is involved in. Unless, a number of people you know are involved in the same or different charities. In that case you might want to help out the person who is farthest from reaching their fundraising goal.

How much is an acceptable amount to donate?

According to an article published on money.cnn.com by Jean Chatzky, Money Magazine editor at large, it’s important to consider your budget. If you know that in the fall months there’s going to be people asking you for money, you should look at your budget to determine how much you are able to give and factor that amount into your regular spending.

Then, based on the amount you have avail-

able to donate, you can decide how much to give to each charity of your choice.

The ultimate question, however, is do you have to donate at all? If you don’t have money to spare and donating to a charity will mean going without, then you shouldn’t feel obligated to give.

You are entitled to spend your money however you choose and you shouldn’t have to sacrifice for a fundraiser. Students are a small fraction of the population. A fundraiser shouldn’t need to depend on students to succeed.

Donating to a cause is a wonderful gesture, but you should always consider what is feasible and reasonable for you and if you can’t contribute to the fundraising season, you shouldn’t feel bad. Perhaps when you have the funds you can make up for it.

education // oPinionS

Professors are entitled to teach their preferences Why David Gilmour has the right to teach the material he enjoys GLoria MeLLeSoMen The Peak (Simon Fraser university)

way that I can prefer post-modern authors.

This is not necessarily a judgment on the authors themselves, or their ability to write — it’s about who one is as a reader. When I say I dislike sci-fi written by those with a background in science, it centres on me as a reader who does not have the patience for technical terms. Professors are also allowed to have preferences when it comes to literature, and to claim otherwise would be a double standard.

The best professors are always those who have an interest in what they are teaching, and this passion noticeably carries over into

the way in which they lecture. Taking this into consideration, it seems fitting that in a subject with content flexibility, professors should select texts with attention to their personal preferences. As a student, I would much rather get a passionate series of lectures about novels written by men than have a professor teaching me something that he dislikes out of mere obligation.

Moreover, it would be detrimental for an instructor to teach an author they dislike conveying their biases throughout the course, than to simply refrain from teaching them at

all. Those of us who like books written by women are far better off without people like Gilmour attempting to teach us about them. In one of his comments, Gilmour states that students looking to study women’s contributions to literature can “go down the hall.” Essentially, Gilmour is doing the University of Toronto a favour by letting other instructors cover what he is ultimately less enthusiastic about.

The truth of the matter is that there are a lot of us who do enjoy literature written by women for many reasons, and there are professors who are not only willing, but excited, to teach their works. And, in all fairness, there are a considerable number of courses dedicated solely to women authorship.

Gilmour choosing not to include women in his reading list is not going to change this fact. There is also a chance that some students might enjoy taking a course which focuses on male authors only.

So, at the end of the day, Gilmour is free to teach novels written by men if it makes him happy and students continue to enrol in his classes. Professors have the freedom to design their courses within the required parameters, and students have the freedom to choose what they want to take. While his public opinion on the matter is contentious, choosing books he likes is not.

BURNABY (CUP) — University of Toronto English professor David Gilmour has been the recent recipient of negative attention for admitting he elects not to include female authors in his lectures. This confession is problematic in that it judges and discredits an entire group of talented writers simply because of their sex, but while the way in which he defends his choice is poorly argued and riddled with sexism, there is nothing wrong with a professor opting not to cover female writers.

Personal preference is an important factor in decision-making for any medium and Gilmour’s rationale for teaching books written by men is that he likes them better. If we suspend the implications attached to how he words his assertion, this is a fair point: everyone who takes an interest in literature has preferences when it comes to what they study. As a person, Gilmour is allowed to prefer gilmour Came under fire for his reCent Comments about female and Canadian authors. photo sourCe: fliCkr (user tr_dr) male authors in the same

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theconcordian

Tuesday, ocTober 15, 2013

Diet // oPinionS

‘Dollarama Diet’ is clever, but not the best option how much you spend depends on where you go; healthy and fresh meals are possible on a student budget oLivia LaTTa Contributor

A

re you living on a tight budget this year? Constantly searching for the cheapest options and best deals?

Roaming the aisles of the grocery store doing choppy math in your head? Concordia graduate Jonathan Lemieux may have the solution for you.

Living off a food budget of $75 a month and too ashamed to ask for money from his parents to supplement what the loans and bursaries wouldn’t, Lemieux began living off of food from the Dollarama, and did so for nearly three years. About 90 per cent of his groceries came from Dollarama.

Lemieux found it too expensive to shop at grocery stores. By the time he had finished his second degree at Concordia, he had collected around 90 Dollarama based recipes, which he recently published in a cookbook, Survivre avec une poignee de change.

As innovative as this may seem, is the solution really to limit yourself to dollar store canned food?

There is no shame in purchasing staples at bargain prices. Beans tend to be beans no matter where you buy them. However, there have been some concerns raised about a primarily canned food diet. There are plenty of alternatives when it comes to saving money on food,

ones that may be a lot healthier in the long run.

It’s understood that frozen fruits and veggies are much cheaper, but if you’re looking for something a little more fresh, there’s always the growing fad of dumpster diving. Yes, it’s a little gooey, and you’ll have to get past that smell, but it can wield several meals worth of fresh fruit and veggies. A recent dive taken by student Malcolm McKinty-Desautels provided himself with “potatoes, red and white onions, red and white radish, eggplant, carrots, and corn.”

If you’re not quite comfortable with digging through trash, there is always the market right around the corner. Jean Talon market is open every day except for major holidays, and the fruits and veggies are relatively cheap. A basket, which often has around seven pieces in it, often goes for two to five dollars.

In terms of price alone, it is only slightly cheaper to buy off-brand dollar food. Items like pasta sauce and rice can be cheaper at the dollar store, but can often be bought in bulk and prove better deal-wise at the grocer.

Provigo and Loblaws provide daily deals at individual locations, and are very easy to come upon online. And above all, Supermarche PA tends to be the cheapest, often beating out Dollarama prices. Bread comes to the same price, though you’ll find name brand bread at PA for the same $2 as the non-brand Dollarama bread.

And chickpeas, a staple in Lemieux’s recipes, go for 99 cents for a 30-ounce can at PA. Dollarama offers a can half the size for the same

price.

There is always, of course, People’s Potato, on campus every day for free food.

Though Lemieux claimed to never fall ill because of his diet, it doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt

him in the long run, as some dietitians have been noting upon the release of the cookbook.

Considering all of these things, and with a little work, you’ll likely be able to avoid spiking your salt, fat, and cholesterol.

Column // oPinionS

Confessions of a 20-something Why your choices determine the outcome in the game of life

JoeL aBrahaMS Contributor

MiCRO TALkS

CUPFA

For me, it started three years ago, when I was 17. I slammed into a cement wall head-on at 90 kilometres an hour, compacting the front hood of my car into the length of a shoe, as my face slammed into the airbag-less steering wheel. I was told by the officer who charged me that this type of crash should have taken my life and the fact that I had come away with nothing but a bloody nose was nothing short of a miracle. You would think that kind of event would turn one’s perspective on life optimistic, but again, that was just the beginning.

Since then, life has been a mental struggle, or at least a strange jigsaw puzzle three years in the works. Depression and anxiety entered the mix after the accident, followed by suicidal thoughts about a year later, which have fluctuated to varying degrees ever since. It’s ranged from the typical, “I just want to go to sleep forever,” to actually trying to buy most of the materials necessary; and believe me, it’s a strangely surreal feeling staring down your death in the form of a helium tank on Amazon.com, but anyways...

The more I’ve thought about it the more I wonder...why?

If you told the 10-year-old me where I’m at today and what I’m doing, he would be very excited, and even I can recognize, at this moment, that I’m following the paths to (hopefully) living out two of my life dreams. But then again, he was way too naïve to know what

was to come in between, so you can’t really blame him.

He had no idea he’d enter such an emotionally draining romantic relationship for three years, or fall into the wrong crowd of drug-slinging “friends,” nor did he have a clue of the immense sacrifices necessary to pursue those dreams. And he definitely didn’t expect that the time spent in college would be some of the loneliest times in his life.

At this point, I’d like to think all the parties I’ve missed and the times where I just didn’t talk to anyone for days on end was all time spent perfecting my passions, but that would be just as naïve a thought as I would’ve had 10 years ago. An unfortunate fraction of that time has been spent in the same loop of negative thinking that weighs down your mind, and wears it out over time.

So, what’s the moral of the story? I’d love to tell you to follow your dreams blindly like I did but it probably wouldn’t be very smart, considering where I’m at, but I do think there’s at least a little bit we can do for ourselves, based on my own experiences.

End all your relationships that provide any sort of negative experience and find people that truly believe in you and what you do. I know from personal experience how difficult it is when it’s your best friend or a romantic partner but in the long run it’s so much better to have true support from one or two good friends than to surround yourself with tons of plaguing negativity or even apathy. Because whether you realize it or not, it will drag you down to their level, something below your own potential.

Try to think of life as a game of probabilities; in every aspect of your life, put yourself in a position where everything you do will make the success of doing what you love more probable. Who knows, maybe one day, I’ll be able to actually stick to my own advice.

Six minute talks by part-time faculty members.

CONTROL & IDENTiT Y Control and Identity addresses the often invisible forces of power we face everyday as twenty-first century global citizens living in a rapidly shifting and often uncertain terrain.

The presenters explore various mechanisms of control, how they shape us as individuals and at times circumscribe our future.

Oct. 22, 2013 Tuesday, 6:30-8:30 pm 1515 St. Catherine St. West EV6.720, 6th floor

professional development

Image: Adrian Norvid

JULIE PODMORE Geography, Planning & Environment

ANDREW FORSTER Design & Computation Arts

MATTHEW ANDERSON Theological Studies

CHRISTINE STOCEK Art Education

ADRIAN NORVID Painting & Drawing

KRZYSZTOF DZIECIOLOWSKI Business Technology Management

MICHAEL ROSENBERG Sociology & Anthropology

JAMES P. FREEMAN Geography, Planning & Environment

SUSAN J. PALMER Department of Religion

SIMON LAROCHE Intermedia/Cyberarts

Letter // oPinionS

Twitter was pretty silent this week. Have midterms silenced the loudest people of the Internet? I thought I would take this opportunity to pick out some of the best recent tweets from the First World Pains account. With Nobel Prizes handed out last week, I’m actually ashamed to be sitting here and realizing that I’ve said some of these things. Come join in my shame...

@firstworldpains: I broke a chip in dip, so I sent in a recon chip to save it, and that one broke too. @firstworldpains: I broke my iPad by dropping my iPhone on it @firstworldpains: The problem with waking up so late is that now I have less time to just lie in bed and do nothing.

Dear Malala, Courageous, inspiring, dedicated…these words, among others, are not strong enough to adequately describe your spirit.

I have never known what it feels like to be denied an education. Never known the feeling of fear caused by those who do not want me to succeed because I am a woman. I will admit that the value of education has sometimes been lost on me. The amount of times I have uttered the words “When am I ever going to use this?” or “This is pointless.”

After watching you actively fight for the rights of your fellow women to receive what I have always had, it is suffice to say that I am ashamed.

I woke up last Friday morning to a dark sky. I was exhausted, and the commute to school did not seem appeasing to me in the slightest. However, Friday was International Day of the Girl, and it was also the day that the Nobel Peace Prize winner was to be announced. The night before, I had watched your interview with Jon Stewart. Your passion, dedication and absolute resilience radiated through my computer screen. One thing was certain, I had absolutely no complaints about making it to my early morning university class the next day.

While I was rooting for you to win the Nobel Peace Prize, I am not as upset as I thought I would be that you did not win. People reading this will probably raise their eyebrows at that statement, but the reason I say this is because I believe you don’t need a prize to draw attention to your message. Your courage, intelligence and wisdom beyond your years has been heard and seen loud and clear. This will not be the only time you are nominated.

The sight of women and young girls being denied the most powerful weapon one could possess — an education — makes me furious. I find myself seething with anger. I’ve had conversations with people about the horrible thoughts we’ve had about how to punish those who rob these rights and freedoms, and I would expect you to be the angriest of them all. These men actively tried to silence you and deprive the world of your intelligence.

But then, I see that you are not angry. Your words on the Daily Show are stuck in my mind, and they have kept playing over and over for the past few days. When asked how you would react to an attack by the Taliban, you said you would explain your message to them, and would not fight. “You must not treat others with that much cruelty and that much harshly […] you must fight others, but through peace and through dialogue and through education.”

That left me speechless.

You are the kind of wise, forward-thinking young woman the world needs right now. The amount of pressure you must feel is something I cannot even begin to imagine.

We stand with you Malala. Your work has just begun, and I am so excited to see what you have in store as you grow older, continue your activism, and continue to empower women. The most I can do right now is make sure to let everyone know of the work that you do, and most of all of the message you are fighting to share. You are a true inspiration, and I strongly believe your words and actions will spark change in our world.

As Jon Stewart said during your interview with him, “I don’t know where you came from, but I sure am glad you’re here.”

CaSanDra De MaSi opinions editor

bizzare phobias

@firstworldpains: I was about to take a cute picture for instagram but my dog moved.

Nathalie Laflamme Production manager production@theconcordian.com Kelly Duval Sloane Montgomery News editors news@theconcordian.com Sabrina Giancioppi Life editor life@theconcordian.com Roa Abdel-Gawad Arts editor arts@theconcordian.com Jessica Romera Music editor music@theconcordian.com Samantha Mileto Sports editor sports@theconcordian.com Casandra De Masi Opinions editor opinions@theconcordian.com Keith Race Photo editor photo@theconcordian.com Natasha Taggart Online editor online@theconcordian.com Jennifer Kwan Graphics editor graphics@theconcordian.com

Besher Al Maleh Philippe Labreque Marilla Steuter-Martin Production assistants Editorial office 7141 Sherbrooke St. Building CC-Rm 431 Montreal, QC H4B 1R6

@firstworldpains: Ate my lunch too early, now I’m hungry again and it’s only 2p.m.

514-848-2424 ext. 7499 (Editor-in-Chief) Pascale Cardin Business manager business@theconcordian.com

@firstworldpains: The intro to every episode of “Orange is the new Black” is over a minute long.

@firstworldpains: I lost my parents in a Costco

Amanda L. Shore Editor-in-Chief editor@theconcordian.com

Elizabeth Tomaras Christina Rowan Milos Kovacevic Copy editors copy@theconcordian.com

@firstworldpains: Desperately need to pluck my eyebrows but I’m far too lazy.

@firstworldpains: I want to take a Yoga Class, but I can’t trust my farts.

Tuesday, Oct 15, 2013 Vol. 31 Issue 8

Tyson Lowrie Cindy Lopez Ruben Bastien Board of directors directors@theconcordian.com Contributors Joel Abraham,David Adelman,Christine Beaton,Jocelyn

Haphephobia Doraphobia Eremophobia Ergophobia Hypnophobia

Brontophobia Kakorrhaphiophobia Ophidiophobia Taphephobia Phobophobia

Beaudet, Chris Cordella, Sara Cornett, Andrew Davis,Angela De Cicco,Saturn De Los Angeles,Matthew Demers,Tania Di Palma,Michelle Gamage,Jessica Kenwood,Nathalia Lacrocerie, Kalina Laframbroise,Olivia Latta,Karina Licursi,Gloria Mellesmoen, Paula Monroy, Sabrina Ponzo, Olivia-Ranger Enns, Marco Saveriano, Matthew Shanahan,Justinas Staskevicius ,Paul Traunero

theconcordian

Open letter to Malala Yousafzai

Concordia’s weekly, independent student newspaper.

ART: Anarchism Without Adjectives @ Ellen Gallery until Oct. 26 Sol LeWitt Wall Drawings @ FOFA Gallery until Oct. 25 Sculptures by Élisabeth Melançon @ Galerie du Mile End until Oct 20 The Moved & The Shook @ Monastiraki until Oct. 27 Coven Ring @ Articule until Nov. 24

THEATRE: Ain’t Misbehavin’ @ Segal Theatre until Oct. 23 The St. Leonard Chronicles @ Centaur Theatre until Dec.1 If We Were Birds @ Centaur Theatre until May 23 Sleeping Beauty @ Theatre Maisonneuve until Oct. 25 Spring Awakening @ Centre Culturel Calixa Lavallée until Oct. 27

MUSIC: Swift Years @ BBAM! Gallery on Oct. 19 A Love Supreme @ Segal Theatre on Oct.20

OTHER: Fall Fiction Feast @ Drawn & Quarterly Library on Oct. 17 Dance Expo @ Place Bonaventure on Oct. 18 and 19 Montreal English Theatre Awards @ Rialto Theatre on Oct. 21