Feb. 6, 2013

THE

Feeling lost at home

The tie that binds Wilfrid Laurier University since 1926 Volume 53, Issue 21

Features, page 12 thecord.ca

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Dark side of K-W exposed

WLUSU’s new chief

Felker murder shows underbelly of local sex trade

Annie Constantinescu elected president with 36 per cent of the vote

HG WATSON CCE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Kelsey Louise Felker’s name can now sadly be added to the evergrowing list of sex workers who have been killed or are missing in Canada.

At a vigil in memory of Felker in front of Kitchener City Hall Monday night, Kelley*, a sex worker and long-time friend of Felker, spoke to The Cord about the lack of concern for the safety of sex workers in Waterloo Region.

Felker’s torso was recovered from a dumpster at 250 Frederick St on Jan. 26. Stephen Roy Johnson, 37, was charged with first-degree murder and indignity to a human body.

According to Kelley, Johnson was a known client in the sex trade community. “I knew him,” she said. “He wasn’t ever violent towards me and he wasn’t a drug user. He was a bit of a drinker, but you can never really tell.”

Kelley says she informed police that she knew Johnson. They approached her soon after the discovery of Felker’s body.

Police could only confirm that Johnson knew Felker. “We’ve not commented on the nature of that association or that relationship,” said Olaf Heinzel, public affairs coordinator for the Waterloo Regional Police Service. “There’s nothing in the investigation that suggests we should make any remarks about that.” Police also declined to comment on Felker’s occupation.

Kelley and Felker had worked together in the sex trade. Kelley noted that Felker was simply the latest of

CRISTINA RUCCHETTA LEAD PHOTOGRAPHER

President-elect Annie Constantinescu moments after being announced as the winner of the WLUSU presidential election.

“I was very, very nervous going into it. It was one of those elections where you didn’t really know what the results were going to be.”

—Annie Constantinescu, WLUSU president-elect

Local, page 8

ELIZABETH DICESARE CAMPUS NEWS EDITOR

After nearly two solid weeks of campaigning, Tuesday night the results from the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union elections were announced at Wilf’s with Annie Constantinescu being elected as the next president and CEO of WLUSU. Constantinescu picked up 36.29 per cent of the votes in her favour.

Chris Walker came in second place, followed by Caleb Okwubido, Dani Saad and Jennifer Taborowski.

After Wilf’s erupted in cheers following the announcements, Constantinescu popped a bottle of champagne and then shared her reactions with The Cord.

“I want to say, first of all, that I

was very, very nervous going into it,” she said.

“It was one of those elections where you didn’t really know what the results were going to be, but I had faith in my team, I had faith in the platform that everyone kind of contributed to, and I’m just so happy and just so proud of the results because I know a lot of work went into it; we worked hard and that’s where we are right now.” “[My first reaction was] literally was ‘oh my God, oh my God,’” she continued.

“And I fell completely back into my team [with] just sheer happiness.”

After winning a close race, Constantinescu expressed gratitude and thanks to her campaign team for helping her win the election.

“If it wasn’t for my team and their amazing, unfaltering support, I wouldn’t have in any way shape or form been able to accomplish what I’ve done in the past 13 days and be where I am right now,” she said.

“They are the most inspirational people because they came into this not really sure what to expect but gave it their all every single day, and again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you to them.”

As for her opposing candidates, Constantinescu continued to show them support even after the results were given. She expressed her gratitude for everyone running a clean campaign, and for the challenges that they presented to her at both Campus, page 4

Inside Online frustration Laurier students sound off on the recent outages of MyLearningSpace News, page 3

Surprising star

Sports, page 23

‘Rising’ in K-W

Whisky and coffee

Another shot at the pros

One Billion Rising movement looks to put an end to genderbased violence

Owners of Death Valley’s Little Brother discuss how they fused two passions

After playing a year in England, WLU soccer alum Alyssa Lagonia signs pro contract in Italy

Local, page 9

Life, page 15

Sports, page 22

2 •

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Editor-in-Chief Justin Fauteux jfauteux@thecord.ca

The tie that binds Wilfrid Laurier University since 1926

Editor’s choice ‘Purple looks good on me’

Editor’s choice online Video: WLUSU election night

Sports, page 23

thecord.ca

Photo of the week

Inside News ………………………3 Campus ……………… 4 Local ………………… 8 National ……………… 10 Features ……………… 12 Life ……………………… 14 Arts ……………………… 16 Editorial ……………… 18 Opinion ……………… 19 Classifieds …………… 21 Sports ………………… 22

75 University Ave. W Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5 519-884-0710 x3564 FEB. 6, 2013 Volume 53, Issue 21 Next issue: February, 13, 2013

Advertising All advertising inquiries should be directed to Angela Endicott at 519-884-0710 x3560 angela.taylor@wlusp.com In 2011 the Canadian Community Newspaper Association awarded The Cord second place in the campus community newspaper category.

CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2011

Vocal Cord

Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief. ............................. Justin Fauteux

jfauteux@thecord.ca

News Director.............................. Justin Smirlies

jsmirlies@thecord.ca Visual Director ....................... Wade Thompson wthompson@thecord.ca Campus News Editor............ Elizabeth DiCesare edicesare@thecord.ca Local and National Editor ....... Lindsay Purchase lpurchase@thecord.ca In Depth Editor. .............................................Vacant editor@thecord.ca Features Editor ........................ Colleen Connolly cconnolly@thecord.ca Life Editor..............................................Carly Basch cbasch@thecord.ca Arts Editor ...............................Cristina Almudevar calmudevar@thecord.ca Opinion Editor...................................Devon Butler dbutler@thecord.ca Sports Editor .................................Shelby Blackley sblackley@thecord.ca Graphics Editor ........................Stephanie Truong struong@thecord.ca Photography Manager .................Nick Lachance nlachance@thecord.ca Photography Manager ........................ Kate Turner kturner@thecord.ca Web Editor..................................................... Vacant editor@thecord.ca

Senior Staff Lead Reporter ............................... Katelyn Cullum Lead Reporter ..................................Marissa Evans Lead Reporter .................................... Alanna Fairey Lead Videographer ........................... Jeremy Enns Lead Photographer ................. Cristina Rucchetta Copy Editing Manager .....................Gillian Lopes

Contributors Laura Buck Kelly Burwash Mitchell Cheeseman Kylie Conner Robin Daprato Heather Davidson Ashley Denuzzo Spencer Dunn Ally Flack Avery Gales

Taylor Gayowsky Scott Glaysher Ryan Hueglin Latania Hyatt Brad Kleinstuber Cameron Noble Adele Palmquist Julia Pollock James Popkie Alex Reinhart

RYAN HUEGLIN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

WLUSU CGO Jon Pryce (L) and president-elect Annie Constantinescu (R) have some trouble getting the celebration underway after Constantinescu was announced as the winning presidential candidate.

Election night in quotes “Literally, ‘oh my god, oh my god.’ I fell completely back into my team, just sheer happiness.”

“I was so sure coming into this that I wouldn’t feel nervous but I still did.”

“I think the chapter in my Students’ Union life is closed.”

—Annie Constantinescu, WLUSU president-elect on her reaction to being named the election’s winner

—Jordan Epstein, WLUSU directorelect

—Chris Walker, runner-up in the WLUSU presidential election

presented by

How did the MyLearningSpace outage affect you?

“It didn’t really. I couldn’t get my notes, but that’s about it. I have nothing really online.”

–Brian Kwok third-year, psychology

Andrew Savory Janelle Scheifele Erin Sheehan Sherrie Steinberg Vanessa Tharen Eric Thompson Ali Urosevic Jody Waardenburg HG Watson

WLUSP administration President and Publisher.................................................. Emily Frost Executive Director ....................................................Bryn Ossington Advertising Manager .............................................. Angela Endicott Treasurer..................................................................... Tom Paddock Vice-Chair .........................................................................Jon Pryce Director...................................................................... Kayla Darrach Director.................................................... Joseph McNinch-Pazzano Corporate Secretary ...................................................... Allie Hincks Distribution Manager ............................................. Angela Endicott Web Manager .......................................................... Adam Lazzarato

“I just watched Netflix.”

–Shannon Stone second-year, communication studies

Colophon The Cord is the official student newspaper of the Wilfrid Laurier University community.

Started in 1926 as the College Cord, The Cord is an editorially independent newspaper published by Wilfrid Laurier University Student Publications, Waterloo, a corporation without share capital. WLUSP is governed by its board of directors.

Opinions expressed within The Cord are those of the author and do not necessarily refl ect those of the editorial board, The Cord, WLUSP, WLU or CanWeb Printing Inc. All content appearing in The Cord bears the copyright expressly of their creator(s) and may not be used without written consent.

The Cord is created using Macintosh computers running Mac OS X 10.5 using Adobe Creative Suite 4. Canon cameras are used for principal photography.

The Cord has been a proud member of the Ontario Press Council since 2006. Any unsatisfi ed complaints can be sent to the council at info@ ontpress.com.

“I had to directly e-mail my professors and ask them for my assignments so I could start on them.”

–Yuliya Chevrona third-year, political science

The Cord’s circulation for a normal Wednesday issue is 8,000 copies and enjoys a readership of over 10,000. Cord subscription rates are $20.00 per term for addresses within Canada.

The Cord has been a proud member of the Canadian University Press (CUP)since 2004.

Campus Plus is The Cord’s national advertising agency.

Preamble to The Cord constitution The Cord will keep faith with its readers by presenting news and expressions of opinions comprehensively, accurately and fairly. The Cord believes in a balanced and impartial presentation of all relevant facts in a news report, and of all substantial opinions in a matter of controversy.

The staff of The Cord shall uphold all commonly held ethical conventions of journalism. When an error of omission or of commission has occurred, that error shall be acknowledged promptly.

When statements are made that are critical of an individual, or an organization, we shall give those affected the opportunity to reply at the earliest time possible. Ethical journalism requires impartiality, and consequently conflicts of interest and the appearance of conflicts of interest will be avoided by all staff.

The only limits of any newspaper are those of the world around it, and so The Cord will attempt to cover its world with a special focus on Wilfrid Laurier University, and the community of KitchenerWaterloo, and with a special ear to the concerns of the students of Wilfrid Laurier University. Ultimately, The Cord will be bound by neither philosophy nor geography in its mandate.

The Cord has an obligation to foster freedom of the press and freedom of speech. This obligation is best fulfi lled when debate and dissent are encouraged, both in the internal workings of the paper, and through The Cord’s contact with the student body.

The Cord will always attempt to do what is right, with fear of neither repercussions, nor retaliation. The purpose of the student press is to act as an agent of social awareness, and so shall conduct the affairs of our newspaper.

Quote of the week: “I’m nice sometimes!”

–Campus News Editor Elizabeth DiCesare

“I was supposed to have a mid-term online but it got pushed back to next week and my next week’s pretty hectic already. So it’s just added stress.”

–Nicole Stante second-year, kinesiology

• 3

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013

NEWS

News Director Justin Smirlies jsmirlies@thecord.ca

MyLS troubles put students in limbo Desire2Learn’s and WLU’s MyLearningSpace experiences blackouts due to data migration of main servers KATELYN CULLUM LEAD REPORTER

MyLearningSpace (MyLS), the online learning system at Wilfrid Laurier University that houses the majority of the institution’s courses, lecture notes, assignment guidelines and assignment submission boxes experienced an immense system failure throughout this past week.

Crashes, slow load times and website time-outs plagued the system, resulting in many students reacting angrily on social media.

“The first thing that happened to us was that it was getting slow, and that’s when the whole thing started to unravel,” expressed Sandy Hughes, director: teaching support services.

On Jan. 29, the system began experiencing slowness and eventually reached system failure.

Virginia Jamieson, senior director

of corporate communications at Desire2Learn, the host server of MyLearningSpace, explained that the company is still doing diagnostics to find out what happened.

“We haven’t released to the public yet the actual details,” she said.

Laurier was not aware of the data migration Desire2Learn was completing last week, because the university did not anticipate the outage.

The school was not the only one affected by this failure; 25 per cent of Desire2Learn’s customers, including the University of Waterloo, were affected. Desire2Learn did keep customers up-to-date on the outage through their Twitter and Facebook accounts, and also released of a letter from their CEO. “All affected Desire2Learn sites are now fully functional. We understand your frustration and anger. We will do better,” Desire2Learn tweeted on Friday.

Students took to social network sites to express their anger, and sometimes amusement, with the continuous faulting system.

Monica Geary, a first-year student, expressed that the situation was extremely annoying and made students’ workload more stressful.

“Most professors use MyLS, it’s the only outlet for communication,” she said.

Geary has a class that requires a quiz to be completed every Sunday night, and she was not able to access the information and readings online until Friday. Unfortunately, her quiz was not pushed back.

Scott Ramsay, chair of the biology department, explained that he extended his deadlines for his classes.

“You can’t penalize the students for an external problem that’s happening with the service provider,” he said.

Ken Boyd, director: ITC solutions

at Laurier expressed that the school has a strong relationship with Desire2Learn.

“They are a very good partner of ours, but they are a young company, we are helping them as much as they are helping us,” he said.

“Once they start to make the change, they’re in it, until it finishes,” explained Boyd with regards to the data migration. “They can’t stop, they can’t back out because they have to preserve the quality of the information other student records could be at risk.”

However, Jamieson ensured The Cord that Desire2Learn had addressed the issues as quickly as possible.

“We can say that we have, through all of our resources, fixed the issue as quickly as possible, and by the end of the week, all the customers were back up and running. We want to make sure that when are able to

say that it is not going to happen again that we feel 100 per cent to back that up,” said Jamieson.

At the beginning of this week, MyLearningSpace was still experiencing slowness, which was attributed to a more specific issue with Laurier’s system.

“They had moved us to another server, I believe, and something wasn’t quite right with that one so they took us off of there,” Hughes discussed.

As of Tuesday morning, the Laurier campus was still experiencing technical issues, but that was not related to Desire2Learn.

“The problem was that our Internet pipe got completely saturated,” Boyd explained. “This problem was due to the Internet activity, which is through Orion [the internet provider]. We live in a connected world with partnerships with other firms. ”

Playing the waiting game on affordable housing ALANNA FAIREY LEAD REPORTER

In these trying times, there are a significant number of students and families in the Waterloo Region who are in need of financial assistance.

They are advised to seek local affordable housing, but unfortunately, it isn’t always as easy as it sounds.

Waterloo Region’s Affordable Housing Strategy (AHS) addresses the need for sustainable and affordable housing locally. The strategy involves housing providers that receive funding from the Region of Waterloo, including non-profits, coops and units that the Region owns and operates through Waterloo Region Housing.

If one is in need for an affordable housing unit, Deb Schilchter, the director of housing for the Region of Waterloo, explained that there is a process that must be followed, which involves submitting a form to the housing department.

“The application allows you to choose which housing sites you want and you are put on each of those site wait lists chronologically, by date of application, until a unit becomes vacant,” Schilchter explained.

“There are some basic eligibility criteria to meet and you can only apply for units that are appropriate for your household size.”

The waitlist fluctuates throughout the year, but it includes 3,000 households on average, a number that has been fairly steady over the past several years. To house people on the wait list, current tenants have to move out or turnover. However, this may cause many conflicts for those waitlisted.

“Right now, turnover is lower than previously, so that limits the number of vacant units for new tenants to move into,” Schilchter revealed.

“I’m trying to be patient, but it’s hard.”

—Richard O’Connor, K-W resident on the waitlist for Waterloo Region’s Affordable Housing Strategy

There is also a limited supply of affordable housing units to meet everyone’s needs, so households can wait for less than a year to sometimes more than six years. The waiting time will vary depending on how many site choices are made, the size of the household and other variables.”

Kitchener-Waterloo resident Richard O’Connor understands the frustrations of being waitlisted. After losing his job and being unable to pay his rent, O’Connor found himself applying for affordable housing. He’s currently waiting for a spot to open up.

“I’m trying to be patient, but it’s hard,” O’Connor explained.

“I want to get back on my two feet, but in order for me to do that, I need my own place.”

O’Connor is currently staying with a friend and searching for work to help pay rent. At this time, he isn’t sure if he will try finding a cheap apartment or just continue to wait.

“If I wait, I have to stay at my friend’s house and I don’t want to intrude on his home space,”

LATANIA HYATT CORD PHOTOGRAPHY

Affordable Housing Strategy in Waterloo Region has a waitlist of about of 3,000 people.

O’Conner explained.

“If I go apartment hunting, all I can really afford right now is probably a much too small of an apartment that probably won’t be in an area that I like. I think it’d be safest if I didn’t take my chances right now.”

Recently, Peter Braid, the MP for Kitchener-Waterloo, along with Kitchener Centre MPP John Milloy, announced the official opening of three new reasonably priced housing projects for low-income households.

“This is very much a partnership approach with various levels of government working to meet in

our community,” Braid shared. “We provide safe and affordable housing for vulnerable people in our community.”

Braid also addressed that there are affordable housing options for families, not just students.

“There are organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, a charitable organization that has a local chapter that helps to provide affordable housing for low-income families,” Braid said.

The current strategy plans to create at least 500 new units of affordable housing by the end of 2013.

By the end of December 2012,

476 units were created. There are two priorities for these new units: to have 40 per cent of them targeted to the lowest income households and to have 100 units of supportive housing.

“Despite the fact that we are a relatively prosperous community, there’s still an obvious need to provide affordable housing in our community,” Braid said.

“Providing a safe and affordable housing is a building block for a strong community and it helps to contribute to the economic and social well-being of the entire community.”

4 •

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, fEbruArY 6, 2013

Campus

Campus News Editor Elizabeth DiCesare edicesare@thecord.ca

The presidential candidates ranked in order of votes. graphic: Stephanie truong

First female president since 2009-10 term —cover

the open forums and debate.

Going forward after being elected, Constantinescu will focus on how to properly plan out the execution of her platform in a realistic manner, and figure out how next year will realistically play out.

She is also beginning to prepare for the hiring processes that will start in the upcoming weeks, and expressed her excitement towards beginning her position of president and CEO. “I think the first goals I want to really ensure is my presence on campus from this past week hasn’t really changed, so by going up to every single person that I’ve more or less met, and connected — and just thank them because it’s because of them that I am where I am,” she said.

Walker, who placed second, was obviously upset he didn’t win, but still showed respect towards Constantinescu.

“I thought I put forward a really

good platform that was pretty applicable, especially the experience that I have,” he said.

“But ultimately the students of Laurier decided to go in a different direction and that’s fine. I think Annie will do a great job and she certainly brings something different to the role.”

As for his campaign, Walker felt that he lacked proper outreach to students. At the end of the day, however, he recognized that it is evidently up to the students to vote for what they want.

“I really like my platform, but at the end of the day it’s up to the vote,” he said.

As for the upcoming year, he plans on continuing some of his involvement within WLUSU, but also wants to take a step back.

“I’ll still be in senate next year so I’ll still have an advocacy role, but at the same time I’ll be taking a step back from the Students’ Union because I think the chapter in my Students’ Union life is closed; the fact is that I’ll move in other ways,” Walker

concluded.

Saad, who came in fourth place, still maintained a positive attitude after the results were announced.

“I feel good,” he said. “I’m happy for Annie, it’s awesome.”

As for his campaign, he still felt that it was executed well, and that he and his team did everything within their power.

“At the beginning of this, I never expected to get this much attention for it, so I’m entirely happy with how it went, really happy,” he added As for the future, Saad will continue to be involved with the school in some capacity.

“I’m going to be here. I want to get involved in some way,” he said.

“I don’t know about the union, but involved in the school in some capacity.”

Okwubido declined to make any comment to The Cord after the results were announced; while Taborowski was at the Brantford campus to celebrate with her campaign team and was thus unavailable for comment.

top: Kate turner, MiDDlE: ryan hueglin, bottoM: nicK lachance

Chris Walker, Caleb Okwubido and Dani Saad after the results.

12 new directors elected justin smirlies NEWS DirECtor

ryan hueglin StAff photogrAphEr

Returning director Jordan Epstein celebrated his win with friends.

The 15 Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union board of directors were elected last night, with the three running for re-election all regaining their seat on the board. Out of the 18 that ran, Elias Eerikainen, Jujhar Singh and John Pehar were not elected.

“You know, I feel actually great right now. I was so sure coming into this that I wouldn’t feel nervous, but I still did,” explained Jordan Epstein, one of the three returning directors on the board.

When asked about the turnout, Epstein replied by saying, “It shows the people are really engaged and care about the process. The board looks great.”

Epstein also declared his interest in running for the chair of the board during his campaign. That decision will be made either later this week or early next.

Laura Basset, a student from the Brantford campus, won the lead for director-elects with the most votes.

Her fellow colleague from the Brantford campus, Courtney Yole, also got elected to the board — matching the same number of Brantford students on the board as last year.

“This is a really great step forward for the future of multi-campus governance. That was a really big part of my platform; I will get a stronger voice from Brantford to the board,” said Basset at the election night party in Brantford.

Kate Stevenson and Matt Casselman were the other two returning directors and both were ecstatic to have a place on the board for the second consecutive year.

“It’s so great, it was great election period, I’m just very excited for a second term on the board,” Stevenson shared.

While he didn’t make it to the board, first-year student Eerikainen, who was also acclaimed to the senate, said that he “doesn’t regret running.”

“I thought they were good [results], but not much to comment on,” he said, adding that he’s not completely sure if he’ll run again.

“I’ll be pretty busy but I’ll look at that time [if I’ll do it again] when it comes around,” Eerikainen added.

With so many new directors elected to the board, many of them will have to go through a learning curve to get up to speed with the processes, but most of them noted that they will use the remaining time left in the semester, along with the training sessions once they begin their term on May 1, to prepare.

“I’m going to be talking current directors and previous directors, like I did planning my platform, and just getting as informed as I can to make the training on me easier,” explained Colin Aitchison, one of the few firstyears who were elected.

“I am happy that I can give back to the community. As a first-year, there wasn’t much I could do,” he said.

John Drimmie, another directorelect, added, “Everything’s online, all the training materials so I’m going to refresh myself on that. And then once the meetings start [in May] I’ll get right into it.”

Board of directors: Laura Bassett, Kate Stevenson, Matt Casselman, Jordan Epstein, Brian Wilson, Matt McLean, Michael Kates, TJ Edmondson, Scott Fleming, Colin Aitchison, Courtney Yole, April Qu, Swan Yu, John Drimmie and Emily Ledwidge

All the proposed referendum questions were passed single Transferable Voting

Do you support that the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union adopts a preferential ballot system using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) voting system for the Annual General Meeting where

a multi-person position is being contested?

Passed with 79.06 per cent of the vote

Optional Instant Runoff Vote

Do you support that the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union adopts a preferential ballot system using the Optional Instant Runoff Vote (IRV) voting system for the Annual General Meeting, Special

General Meeting, or any other General Meeting where a single-winner position is being contested?

Passed with 73.28 per cent of the vote View all the results on thecord.ca

brandon Van Dam elected as SbESS president More on thecord.ca

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013

CAMPUS

• 5

Turnout just shy of 5,000 ELIZABETH DICESARE CAMPUS NEWS EDITOR

Out of the 16, 760 students that were eligible to vote in the Wilfrid Laurier Students’ Union elections this year, only 4, 994 votes were actually cast.

However, this is only 81 votes less than what last year’s election saw.

Business students cast the most votes this year with a total of 1, 579 votes; Arts students cast 1, 557 votes and science students only cast 1,053.

The Brantford campus cast a total of 678 votes.

This year, in order to get more student votes, the elections team went around the Concourse to actively engage with students and help them make informed votes.

“We took a more pro-active approach this year [and] talked to people,” said Jon Pryce, chair of the WLUSU board and chief governance officer. “We had iPads and went around and chatted with them [students], so I’m happy with that, and people were a bit more engaged in that sense.”

While Sean Madden, chief returning officer of the WLUSU elections, said that “hundreds and hundreds” of votes were obtained by engaging one-on-one with students, the goal of reaching 30 per cent of student votes was not reached.

“I hope for the best,” said Pryce.

“From what I’ve learned here, being part of the Students’ Union is you have to go to them; you have to go to the students and talk to them and build a relationship with them, and try to be pro-active.”

“Being passive and sitting there doesn’t really help, so being proactive is what sets you apart, and that’s something that I found really

valuable this year.” he continued.

Madden echoed many of Pryce’s sentiments, and also explained that in the end, having more informed votes is what really matters.

“I think the most important thing isn’t the number but rather that the voters were informed voters, and I think we did a pretty good job of covering every angle of the candidates. I’m pretty pleased,” he said.

Madden continued by explaining that there was more positive feedback from students in this year’s elections than in past years because of the ten-foot voting boxes in the Concourse being eliminated.

In past years, it was found that students felt intimidated by the voting space and were not utilizing it properly.

This year, however, by engaging with students on more of a one-onone level, more votes informed votes were cast, because they could ask questions and get answers during their voting process.

“We tired to push it as much as we could,” said Pryce. “Ultimately we want to make sure that people have an informed vote, and make sure that people take the time to think about stuff and they really see the person that they want [leading] them in the future; that’s what it’s all about.”

However, despite our low voter turnout, Pryce told The Cord that compared to other universities, the number of students voting in the Laurier WLUSU elections is high.

“Out [voter turn-out] is higher than most schools,” he concluded.

“Most schools don’t make it to 30 per cent, 29 per cent is impressive; it’s pretty high.”

STEPHANIE TRUONG GRAPHICS EDITOR

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6 •

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013

CAMPUS

Scholarships to be a month late ALLY FLACK STAFF WRITER

KATE TURNER PHOTOGRAPHY MANAGER

Constantinescu noticed that her social media profiles were hacked just before the campaign ended.

Hacked during campaign ELIZABETH DICESARE CAMPUS NEWS EDITOR

Last week during her campaign period presidential-elect Annie Constantinescu found that both her personal Facebook account and e-mail had been hacked.

While nothing had been done to compromise her campaign within the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union elections, a report was still filed with Special Constables since her personal privacy had been breached.

“At first I was very sad, I think I was just very disappointed that someone would have some sort of ulterior motifs to affect the integrity of the entire campaign,” said Constantinescu. “I’m not really much at liberty to say what the intentions of the person [were], if it was personal or election driven, but the fact that they have 100 per cent eliminated my ability to campaign online through my personal Facebook account.”

As soon as she noticed what had happened, Constantinescu went to see Adam Lawrence, the acting dean of students at Laurier, to ensure her personal safety was protected, and so her campaign could move forward.

“I was glad that Annie came,” Lawrence told The Cord. “We explained [to her] that we don’t investigate things, so we’re not an investigative tool, but what we were able to do was to gather information

from what Annie had, and really try to help her navigate the university community.”

Lawrence explained that he helped Constantinescu connect with the appropriate resources on campus that could help her investigate the situation, as well as make her feel comfortable moving forward until her social media outlets were regained.

After hearing about the hacking incident, the dean of students office contacted all the other presidential candidates to ensure that their campaigns weren’t being affected. His office is also waiting to hear from Special Constables when the investigation is finished, so they can take the appropriate actions if need be.

“We will be waiting to see what happens with the investigation, and we really want to be neutral so that if a student conduct issue does come forward, we want to make sure that we are neutral in dealing with that,” he said.

If a student is found to be at fault, Lawrence explained, “That student, or that group of students, would go through the judicial affairs process — our student code of conduct process — just the same as everyone else, and really there’s a wide variety of things that could happen, it’s really all hypothetical at this point.”

Sean Madden, chief returning officer for the WLUSU elections, had also been working with Constantinescu to ensure that her campaign was not affected.

“My biggest concern as CRO was making sure [that] she felt that her abilities as a candidate weren’t being compromised,” he said.

Madden also explained what would happen in the event that another campaign team or member is found to be responsible for hacking her social media feeds.

“If it turns out that another candidate or other team might have been responsible then of course we’ll do things from an enforcement perspective,” Madden explained.

“There’s always the possibility that it was someone who associated themselves with the campaign team, and thought in their own head that they were being a hero, but in most circumstances — [and] we’ve talked about this — it would probably be an immediate dismissal of the candidate.”

While the culprit has yet to be identified, Constantinescu still expressed disappointment at the idea of a Laurier student being responsible for compromising her accounts.

“It was a very disappointing thing and a very disheartening thing because I’ve always had such faith in the Laurier community, and it was very shocking,” she said.

Constantinescu, however, is eager to find out who is responsible for hacking into her accounts.

“I want to get to the bottom of this, [and] the election team wants to get to the bottom of this,” she concluded.

Last week, student awards sent out an e-mail to Wilfrid Laurier University scholarship applicants announcing that this years scholarships will be revealed in March rather than early February.

According to the registrar office, although students may not be pleased with this, it should not affect them in any negative ways, other than anticipation.

Compared to past years, this year, the student awards office is roughly one month behind.

The reason the scholarships are being awarded later is a result of the new system student awards has implemented.

This new system will work to better serve Laurier students who wish to apply for scholarships with a simpler system, which will be more beneficial to students in the future.

Ruth MacNneil, associate registrar: student awards, described the delay.

“We’re half in our old program and half in our new program, which has made things a bit more difficult to get done, but next year well be back on schedule,” she explained.

Rosemary Travers, a third-year student, explained how the system can be time consuming at first.

“It’s hard to know exactly what you’re eligible for and which ones you should apply to,” said Travers.

Now students complete two profiles. One being a general student specific profile, and the other faculty specific profile, which then pertains to the scholarships that the student awards office offers.

“Students will be able to be considered for more opportunities that are tailor made for them and what their interests are,” said MacNeil.

Because this is the first year this new program is being used, there is still some fine-tuning to be done, which is contributing to the delay.

When asked how this affects the students, MacNeil explained that

“Students will be able to be considered for more opportunities that are tailor made for them ... ”

—Ruth MacNeil, associate registrar: student awards

scholarships are not automatic and there is no guarantee that students will receive the ones they applied for.

Travers said she has applied for scholarships in the past and would be more inclined to apply with a simpler system in the future.

“If I were waiting to hear if I’d gotten a scholarship I’d be annoyed by the delay but if it’s because they’re making a new system, I get it. A simpler application system would definitely make students lives a lot easier,” Travers said.

In the past few years there have been an increasing amount of applications for scholarship awards received. MacNeil predicts that the received applications will increase again this year. This continuous increase in applicants means there is more competition.

Often, students think they’ve applied for it and they should get it, however they are in a pool of applicants with other individuals where the best applicant is chosen.

“I know the students are anxious to hear about he money and I recognize that,” said MacNeil. “The thing is that scholarships are not confirmed funding sources for students and I think that has to be understood. Scholarships are a benefit to them, but it is not an automatic award.”

WLUSP elects new administration ELIZABETH DICESARE CAMPUS NEWS EDITOR

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Wilfrid Laurier University Student Publications (WLUSP) had their Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Jan. 13, where next year’s president and board of directors were elected.

This year the two presidential candidates were Allison Leonard, manager of operations at WLUSP for the Brantford campus, and Autumn Smith, street team coordinator for Radio Laurier — with Leonard ultimately coming away with the win.

Luke Schulz and Tom Paddock were both acclaimed as directors for the board, which was approved after the votes were counted. The other candidates for board of directors were Shelby Blackley, Kate Turner and Frank Cirinna.

Jazz Clement was originally in the running for board of directors, but dropped out the same afternoon as the AGM. According to Leonard, this was an important moment for both herself and WLUSP as a whole, as she is the first president to come from the Brantford campus.

“I’m really happy. This is a huge step forward for Brantford, and not just Brantford, but for being part of a multi-campus organization,” said Leonard. “I think it will allow for a little more equality between campuses.”

This year was also the first time

that advanced polls were open on the Brantford campus for students to vote before theAGM took place on the Waterloo campus.

In the past, students at the Brantford campus had to take a bus to Waterloo in order to vote in the WLUSP elections.

“I was really happy to see how it [the general meeting] went,” said Leonard. “It was really fair [and] I was impressed to see the debate that happened and how much people were involved.”

While emphasizing how excited she was to bring her Brantford experience to the WLUSP office in Waterloo, Leonard stated in the question period that she would work towards ensuring both campuses see a positive experience next year and function properly.

“I think the one thing I take here is the fact that I have been involved with Waterloo as well, [and] I’ll be able to correctly address the volunteers and departments on both campuses,” she told The Cord. “I’m just really excited, this is great.”

Blackley also echoed Leonard’s sentiments, but with regards to her new position as a director.

“WLUSP has been something that’s been a part of my university career for the last two years, so to be able to actually be in a position where it’s going to affect the entire organization is a really big thing for me,” she said.

“I’m really excited.”

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013

CAMPUS

• 7

Campus adjusts to removal of the penny For Laurier, cash payments are now rounded either up and down, while debit and credit remain the same MARISSA EVANS

“I think it’ll be a little chaotic for a couple weeks until people get used to going through the cycle.”

LEAD REPORTER

It will now cost a nickel for thoughts in Canada as Monday marked the official withdrawal of the penny from circulation. Due to inflation the penny cost more to make, The Royal Canadian Mint will no longer be distributing it.

Changes took effect as of Monday on the Wilfrid Laurier University Waterloo campus, which reflect the guidelines set out by Revenue Canada.

Dan Dawson, assistant vice-president of student services, explained that the current main goal is to implement consistent practices across the university.

“The principle we’re trying to get across right now is to comply with the directive from Revenue Canada,” Dawson said.

“What the university is trying to do is offer as much customer service as they can to our campus customers without inconveniencing them.”

University-operated services, such as the Bookstore and Printing Services, will continue to accept pennies if customers have them.

The main challenge Dawson anticipates will be whether these services will have enough pennies to consistently give back to customers throughout the day.

Due to this uncertainty, they may opt to refrain from giving pennies back at all.

“In food services locations, at this point, we’re not going to be giving pennies back out because we know we’re going to run out really quickly,” Dawson continued.

In these instances, the rounding system will be implemented.

All other transactions — debit, credit and OneCard — will be processed as they normally would be.

— Dan Dawson, assistant vice-president: student services

NICK LACHANCE PHOTOGRAPHY MANAGER

On Monday, pennies were taken out of circulation, which now affects how students make payments.

To Dawson’s knowledge, the Bookstore and Printing Services are attempting to acquire software for their cash registers, which will round cash transactions appropriately. All other locations will rely on cashiers to round.

“The chart that has been provided is pretty simple,” he said. “It’s basic

math skills, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t be subject to error.”

As a result, Dawson doesn’t see the change having a huge impact on campus.

“I think it’ll be a little chaotic for a couple of weeks until people get used to going through the cycle,” he said. “By this time next year, nobody

will even remember what the issue was.”

Natalia Handziuk, a second-year student, commented that “a lot of other countries have already gotten rid of the penny” without issue.

Craig Harnock, a fourth-year student, noted, “As long as things get regulated with rounding [it should

be okay]. So no businesses take advantage of it and just round up.”

Canadians will be able to redeem their pennies indefinitely at their bank.

However, many charities are taking advantage of the penny’s abolition.

The Canadian Cancer Society ran a penny drive on Tuesday in the Concourse and invited students to drop off their pennies.

“Basically, we’re doing a penny drive so we can raise some more money for Relay for Life to go towards the Cancer Society,” explained Jocelyn Bovay, marketing and promotions co-chair for Laurier Relay for Life. “We also want to create awareness for our Relay for Life event that’s happening in March here at Laurier.”

As Dawson noted, the process of the penny slowly becoming obsolete and rounding strategies becoming predominant practice will involve errors on both the cashier and customer side.

“Exercise a little bit of patience,” he advised. “I think it’ll adapt fairly quickly.”

8 •

LocaL

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, fEbruArY 6, 2013 Local Editor Lindsay Purchase lpurchase@thecord.ca

Responsibility for pets a priority ashley denuzzo StAff WritEr

cristina rucchetta LEAD PhotogrAPhEr

People gathered at Kitchener City Hall on Feb. 4 at a vigil for murder victim Kelsey Louise Felker.

150 attend local vigil —cover

her friends to disappear.

Kelley was also familiar with Tina Yule, a sex worker whose body was recovered in the Grand River in April 2008. Yule’s killer is still at large.

Michelle Fitzgerald, a friend of Felker’s and the organizer of Monday’s vigil, also remembers Yule.

“People were just like ‘poor Tina’ for a couple of days and then it was shrugged off and forgotten.” Fitzgerald organized the vigil to ensure people would not forget her friend.

Sex workers are amongst the most vulnerable members of the Kitchener-Waterloo community.

“All across Canada sex workers are murdered on a fairly regular basis,” said Sara Casselman, the public relations officer at the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region and a member of the Sex Workers Action Network, a group dedicated to supporting individuals in the sex trade.

“A vast majority of [sex workers] have experienced violence,” she continued. “Certain perpetrators know sex workers have very few avenues and they take advantage of that.”

In the Missing Woman Commission of Inquiry released last December, inquiry commissioner Wally Oppal was highly critical of a B.C. government that left sex trade workers vulnerable to attacks. The tragedy of B.C. – which Oppal called one of “epic proportions” – is one that is found across Canada.

In Waterloo, agencies like the Sexual Assault Support Centre are trying to ensure that sex workers have more avenues of redress. Waterloo Regional Police have set up an anonymous tip line for sex workers to report violence and the Support Centre also has a 24-hour crisis and support line.

The impending Supreme Court of Canada ruling of the decriminalization of prostitution may also make it safer for sex workers to report violence against them.

While Kelley is skeptical that decriminalization will help her personally, she believes its overall impact will be positive.

“It will be safer in general for all involved because girls won’t seem so unimportant about reporting bad johns,” she said.

For now, safety is something sex workers have to take care of themselves.

“We just need to keep an eye on each other and be more aware when somebody hasn’t been seen in a while,” Kelley added.

For the 150 people gathered in front of Kitchener City Hall Monday night, however, it doesn’t matter what Felker was doing. They came together to remember her positive spirit, and a woman who was taken much too soon. *Kelley declined to give us her last name.

If you have experienced violence or abuse, contact the Sexual Abuse Support Centre at 519.741.8633 or the Guardian line at 519 650 8558.

A “plague of cats” is upon the Kitchener-Waterloo area, says Holly Wiseman, and according to city officials and Kitchener-Waterloo Humane Society representatives, something needs to be done.

Wiseman, the education coordinator for the K-W Humane Society, will be part of a collaborative effort with city staff to initiate a set of new rules and regulations for pet-owners.

Referred to as a “responsible pet ownership strategy,” the proposal will be a mixture of city bylaws, new licensing and enforcement and education strategies.

“The Humane Society is there for a reason, said Wiseman. “We care about the welfare of the animals but we also want people to take responsibility themselves and have an understanding before they get a pet.”

Wiseman’s job at the Humane Society is to educate the community on the proper way to take care of animals and pets.

She explained that there is an overpopulation of cats in the K-W area and that each year around 4, 000 cats are left in the care of the Humane Society.

Statistically speaking, cats make up about two-thirds of the animals that are brought into the facility each year, an astounding 6, 000 animals in total.

“Basically, it is really important for people to become more responsible for their cats,” Wiseman said.

“We want to see increased adoption rates and decreased euthanasia rates.”

The motion to establish the new strategy was approved by Waterloo City Council on Jan. 28.

Potential outcomes of the strategy could include initiatives such as cat licensing, banning the sale of animals that are not neutered, breeder licensing and making spay and neutering services more accessible and affordable.

“That alone will help decrease

the number of cats that end up in shelters,” Wiseman added.

In terms of student pet-owners, it is strongly recommended that students research and become educated before formally adopting pets.

To the average university student, bringing an animal into a home may seem like a good idea at the time, but unless the owners are properly educated, this impromptu decision can have harmful results.

Rose Rositano, a third-year business student at Wilfrid Laurier University, feels as though many of her peers are unprepared for the amount of work a pet actually is.

“To me, it seems that the stereotype is that cats are independent and you don’t really have to take care of them as much,” she said.

“But when people say ‘Oh, it’s not as much work as a dog,’ it almost always is.”

“They underestimate how much work it is and therefore can’t handle it,” she continued.

Rositano currently lives in a student house with four other roommates; of those four, one has a parrot.

“I’ve come to realize that all animals are attention seekers,” she laughed. “It all depends on how much you take care of it.”

Wiseman asks students to be aware of their time commitment before adopting a pet.

For those who have a large workload or who have a part-time job, she recommends doing some research before investing in a fulltime animal. “[This way] you can ensure that you have the time to spend with them, that you can afford to take care of them, so that you can keep them and commit to them,” Wiseman said.

“So it doesn’t come to a time where you give up the pet and surrender it to a shelter.”

Although no time frame has been given, the responsible pet-owner strategy hopes to kick off as soon as possible to start implementing changes.

adele palmquist corD iNtErN

Neighbouring cities join mental health services katelyn cullum LEAD rEPortEr

The Mental Health services and associations that provide outreach and programs to community members in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge and Guelph have joined in order to better serve and aid the community.

The Waterloo Wellington Dufferin Branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association has been fused together from neighbouring partners, the Canadian Mental Health Association Grand River Branch and the Trellis Mental Health and Developmental Services.

“This is the bridging of a natural partnership that has been under way for a number of years,” said Don Ross, the executive director at the Canadian Mental Health

Association Grand River Branch.

The two organizations share similar philosophies and an overarching goal of raising awareness of mental health issues and ensuring that community members get the support they need.

“If we put the two of them together, there is a strong continuum of care for people to be able to get what they need,” expressed Helen Fishburn, the director of programs at Trellis Mental Health and Developmental Services.

The Canadian Mental Health Association offers a more preventive, promotional and supportive care to the community, whereas Trellis offers more of the treatment end of things, fosters specialized services, including medical care and nursing.

While the Grand River Branch

specializes in primarily adulthood care, Trellis serves from “cradle to grave,” including infants, children, youth, adults and seniors. Although the organizations serve a different audience, they both focus on the theme of mental health, which brings them together for a common purpose.

“We are looking at the goal of providing an integrated healthcare experience for people, and we can deliver more and effective service at the right time and in the right place for people,” Ross explained.

The two organizations already head a co-location in Orangeville.

While this location is much smaller than the one that will be located in Wellington and into Dufferin, the aim is to mirror the success of this institution, and similarly provide

service and awareness to the community.

“We will create a new mission statement, new strategic goals,” Fishburn expressed.

“If you look at them together, they are really quite similar, so it’s really about coming together and creating a new corporate entity for the new organization, but it will have a very similar mission and vision.”

Both organizations are public, and are funded by a number of different ministries.

While the Mental Health Association Grand River Branch has less government funding because of its primary focus on adulthood service, and the Trellis Mental Health and Developmental Services has funding from numerous ministries, the government will fund the new

association.

“We are not private, we are public,” Fishburn explained.

“We are basically going to be continuing along the same path that we are on with the services that we are delivering, but we have some common similarities,” Ross further explained.

The overarching aim of this association, that will be effective as of April 1, 2013, is to provide the community with a better, one-stop experience to ensure that they receive the right support and outreach services and programs available to them.

Both organizations advocate mental health awareness, are passionate about this integration and are confident that this association will benefit the community.

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013

LOCAL

• 9

The costs of commuting City of Kitchener takes on national Cut My Commute challenge ALANNA FAIREY LEAD REPORTER

The city of Kitchener is now taking part in a challenge put forth by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ (FCM), which is an initiative that hopes to cut down on the time of an individual’s commute time.

The movement, called Cut My Commute, advocates for a faster and foreseeable infrastructure program that runs across Canada as part of the infrastructure renewal. According to the FCM, the average commute in Canada’s largest cities takes 63 minutes. The cost of traffic gridlock to the economy is estimated at $10 billion a year and rising. In addition, 32 workdays a year is the number of working days a commuter spends commuting, often facing the worst commute times in the world.

Cut My Commute relates the number of hours that people are commuting to the productivity and the

dollar value that is lost from the economy in the time it takes to commute. For some who commute in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, this campaign will help to save time and money.

“In our community, commuting from within the city to our jobs and homes is obviously not as bad as it is in some communities like the metropolitan areas,” said Carl Zehr, the mayor of Kitchener. “However, it is very time consuming at points.”

Kitchener, which joined in the campaign last year, has been asking both commuters and non-commuters to join in this campaign and make communication with their MP, so that they will help to advocate for this transit issue prior to the budget process that is going on at the federal level.

According to the mayor, there is a need for Kitchener to have a better public transit system between the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Kitchener. Right now, Kitchener has GO service to the GTA s, however, there are a significant number of people

ALI UROSEVIC GRAPHICS ARTIST

Global problem, local action LAURA BUCK STAFF WRITER

Imagine that in the place of fear and secrecy regarding gender-based violence, people stood up all over the world and refused to accept the status quo of violence against women and girls.

The One Billion Rising campaign aims to do just that and bring an end to the suffering of women everywhere by raising an international awareness and voice to genderbased violence and rape culture. The global event has also gained traction in Kitchener-Waterloo, where the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region has picked up the cause.

Feb. 14 is the 15th Anniversary of V-Day, a movement that through public performances, education and networking, aspires to eradicate gender-targeted violence.

Sara Casselman, public relations and operations manager at the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region explained, “The idea is that we will be answering the call [to end violence] in terms of rising and dancing.”

Kitchener-Waterloo will be holding a flash-mob event, at noon on Feb. 15 outside of the Kitchener City Hall, to commemorate the occasion.

Casselman explained that the name “One Billion Rising” is derived from global statistics of violence against women and girls.

“One billion comes from the number of women who will be raped and beaten globally,” she said.

She added that statistically, one in every three women in the world will be victim to sexual violence in their lifetime. The campaign urges the women across the world to rise up and demand an end to genderbased violence.

Jay Harrison, who is currently completing a graduate degree in social work and is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University, has played an active role in advocating for increased awareness to sexual violence in post-secondary institutions.

Harrison explained that roughly one in four women in post-secondary institutions will experience some form of sexual violence, with most instances of abuse or sexual violence occurring by someone who is known to the victim.

who are commuting from the GTA into Kitchener, something which Zehr believes needs to be addressed by the campaign.

“The FCM has been working with the federal government,” Zehr shared.

“We anticipate that there will be something in this budget that will talk about infrastructure and transit renewal if not in 2013-2014, definitely in 2014-2015.”

Zehr emphasized that the reason why the budget renewal date is so important to keep in mind for individuals is because the current funding expires on Mar. 31, 2014.

By making a commitment to the cause now, the municipalities can begin planning for 2014 and the years ahead. If not committed now, there is the great possibility of the loss of the construction season in 2014.

In terms of the future of the campaign, Zehr hopes on behalf of the region that the funding for the transit plans are solidified and will be enforced for the long-term period.

“The important thing in terms of transit is that we have long-term, predictable and sustainable funding,” Zehr said.

“Municipalities plan ten years in advance, and this is a large project and you cannot decide to put it in one year. It has to be long term.”

“Violence is truly an issue that is impacting the lives of women we know.”

LIZZY COOK GRAPHIC ARTIST

—Sara Casselman, public relations and operations manager at the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region “We typically have this image of what constitutes sexual assault,” Harrison said.

“We picture a stranger at night, but what we actually know from research is that it’s most likely to be someone that is known. It usually takes place in a home. It’s not the dark alley sort of story.”

Harrison is part of a research group involving both the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier campuses which is exploring rates of gender violence amongst students.

“It’s called the CHANGE project. Essentially what we want to do is assess the nature of the problem on both campuses and then create some action to address it,” he explained.

“When we talk about gender violence, and when we talk about sexual violence, it always becomes so focused on the problem and we never start to identify some of the assets we have to address it.”

Casselman added that the campaign is an act to demonstrate the power of a group when they come together with a common goal.

“Violence is truly an issue that is impacting the lives of women that we know,” she said.

Harrison urged that one of the most important things to consider when tackling the issue of gendertargeted violence is the evaluation of our culture. “We need to look at elements of our culture and how they combine to contribute to the perpetuation of violence,” he maintained Information about the global ‘One Billion Rising’ campaign, who is involved and how to join, can be found at onebillionrising.org.

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10 •

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013

NATIONAL

National Editor Lindsay Purchase lpurchase@thecord.ca

Grads find jobs post-recession

Canada in brief Consumer debt at its highest

By the end of 2012, Canadian consumers saw their average debt load climb to its highest ever - $27,485.

Only British Columbia did not experience an increase from the previous year’s figures.

Installment load debt, debt on lines of credit and credit card debt were also higher than in previous years. Auto loans were also up by 8.93 per cent.

Installment loans had the highest delinquency rate at 1.18 per cent.

Federal court makes ruling on child-care issue

STEPHANIE TRUONG GRAPHICS EDITOR

LINDSAY PURCHASE LOCAL AND NATIONAL EDITOR

Contrary to the popular rhetoric that university graduates are emerging from their degrees with minimal job prospects and no means of paying down their debt, a survey released this past fall indicated that Ontario university graduates fared reasonably well in spite of the recession.

Titled Employment Outcomes of 2009 Graduates of Ontario University Undergraduate Programs, the report was put forth by the Council of Ontario Universities (COU).

The report showed data for 2009, with comparisons also available for several previous years of data. Although decreases were seen in all four categories – employment rates, Ontario youth employment rate, skill match and average annual salary – the changes were not significant in the latter two categories.

“It wasn’t a significant drop, but something that we have to pay attention to,” said Bonnie Patterson, the CEO and president of COU. “I’m very conscious of the fact that 2008 was the height of the recession and 2009 we were coming out of it, that we hadn’t started to see pick-up in GDP or other

indicators, more broadly speaking, in the economy. My sense is that we may well see the next survey suggest something more positive.”

Zach Dayler, the national director of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), added, “There’s no disputing the fact that there’s a narrative out there that young people aren’t doing well after they graduate, because the jobs aren’t there, and I don’t think that we can say that that’s wrong. I think what we’re curious about it maybe that the scale of what we thought this problem wasn’t as large as it actually is reported.”

Data in the skills match category showed that six months post-graduation, 51.4 per cent of Ontario university graduates were employed in areas they considered “closely” related to their university education according to 2009 statistics.

Patterson said that although comparative data is not available for five years after graduation, information from institutional alumni surveys indicates that the percentage of students working in fields not related to their degrees continues to lower.

“Once you get experience behind you and start moving into other opportunities, you obviously use that

experience and your educational background to a better advantage,” she said.

Dayler acknowledged that this might involve students using skills they’ve learned in university, not necessarily in fields that are directly related to their degree.

“There’s a value to going and pursuing a post-secondary education which is the critical thinking aspect … Being able to apply all the skills you learn to a wide variety of disciplines,” he considered.

However, while employment earnings may bode well for graduates, with the average annual salary at $42, 403 in 2009 for graduates six months out of their degrees, according to Dayler, this may not wholly reflect post-grad challenges.

“From the concern of students, it really comes down to what is the debt load and what’s that preventing them from doing? It’s positive that they’re working, we’re going to need to have more people working, but also … we need more educated people with less debt. We also need more employed people with less debt,” Dayler explained.

Patterson and Dayler also situated the survey within the context of a changing work force.

“It really comes down to what is the debt load and what’s that preventing them from doing?”

—Zach Dayler, national director of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) “There’s no question there’s a skills shortage that is emerging. As the job market restructures and we move more into a knowledge-based economy … we do see that professional and management occupations by far outweigh the growth in jobs over other types of jobs,” said Patterson.

“People are only going to be able to find hopefully more jobs as the baby boomers retire, but then the problem becomes we don’t necessarily have the work force to meet the demands of that retiring population,” added Dayler.

The federal court decision which came from Justice Leonard Mandamin, mandates that employers will have to accommodate reasonable child-care requests made by employers. This decision referred specifically to parents who have to adjust child-care schedules to irregular work shifts, but it is possible that the case could open up future discussions on the relationship between families and the workplace.

The case came from a complaint filed by Ottawa resident Emily Johnstone, an employee of the Canada Border Services Agency. Johnstone and her husband worked rotating shifts at the agency, and asked to be switched to more stable shifts to accommodate her child-care needs.

In 2010, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal took up the complaint and ruled in Johnstone’s favour.

Smoking causes emergency plane landing

A family from Cape Breton was allegedly caught smoking on a Sunwing Airlines flight last week , an action which ultimately caused the plane to have to make an emergency landing. The plane was travelling from Halifax to the Dominican Republic and had to make an unexpected stop in Bermuda, costing the airline approximately $50, 000.

The three family members were charged with disobeying lawful commands and are now on their way home. Two were sentenced to a $500 fine or ten days in prison, while the other was allowed to go free.

On-Campus Student Employment & Volunteer Fair Wednesday, February 13, 2013 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. | Concourse, Waterloo Campus Stop by and meet with Laurier departmental reps to learn about on-campus employment and volunteer opportunities available this summer and throughout the 2013-2014 academic year!

Participating Departments include: Accessible Learning Centre | Athletics & Recreation | Career Centre | Faculty of Education LEAP | Food Services | Laurier Bookstore | Laurier International | Parking & Transportation Resources | The HUB/Printing and Distribution Services | Recruitment & Admissions Student Health & Development Centre | Student Leadership Centre | WLUSU Presented by: Career Development Centre | WLUSU | Human Resources WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY WATERLOO | Brantford | Kitchener | Toronto

• 11

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Canada gets a ‘B’ LINDSAY PURCHASE LOCAL AND NATIONAL EDITOR

ANDY WHITELY THE OMEGA

Lost info leads to anger SEAN BRADY THE OMEGA

KAMLOOPS (CUP)- Those affected by the student loan privacy breach announced on Jan. 11 are organizing and demanding government accountability.

“Student loan borrowers affected by the HRSDC privacy breach,” a Facebook group of 2, 459 borrowers (as of 12:27 a.m. PST on Jan. 31), has organized with more than 250 signing a letter released on Monday, Jan. 28.

The letter expresses concerns over Human Resources and Skills Development Canada’s (HRSDC) latest solution to the breach, an offer of a free fraud alert flag provided by credit bureau Equifax, something HRSDC said normally costs five dollars.

“What HRSDC purchased from Equifax was a unique solution that was designed specifically for this particular incident,” said Alyson Queen, HRSDC communications director. “It’s not the free service.

This is added for six years.”

On Jan. 23, two days before HRSDC began offering fraud alerts through Equifax, Canada’s other national credit bureau, TransUnion, began charging five dollars to enable fraud alerts. Both bureaus offer credit monitoring services starting at $14.95 per month.

“I can’t afford the $30 to $40 per month in fees for credit monitoring packages from both bureaus,” University of British Columbia graduate Nick Hall said. “Those affected should not be out of pocket for the way the government has mishandled their information.”

Amanda Thoy started the Facebook group on Jan. 12, hoping to provide a forum for those affected to voice concerns.

“We have now become more of an awareness group speaking out against HRSDC,” Thoy said, asserting the department’s dealings with the public had not been honest.

“Many Canadians are still not aware this breach has happened.”

Wende Donaldson, a 2001 graduate of ICT Kikkawa College in Toronto, paid the fraud alert fee to Equifax before HRSDC’s announcement. Now she’s attempting to be reimbursed. “It’s the principle,” she said. “Someone needs to be held accountable for this.”

Many borrowers are still awaiting promised correspondence from HRSDC containing information on credit protection services offered and further information about what to do next. When one Facebook group member asked the group if anyone had received a letter, not one of the 70 respondents had.

“The letters are going out for everyone for whom we have current

contact information,” Queen said.

“The department stopped sending letters for a short period of time, just so that any future letters that were being sent would have information on the credit protection.”

The department is missing current contact information for onethird of those affected, according to Queen. Meanwhile, the federal government is facing four class-action lawsuits. Bob Buckingham Law in St. John’s, N.L. is among the firms filing.

“The government has 30 days to file a defence to my action and we have 90 days to file the motion to certify,” Buckingham said.

On Nov. 5, 2012, an HRSDC employee discovered a hard drive containing the personal information of 583, 000 student loan borrowers was missing. The public was notified 67 days later.

“The information was compiled for the purposes of a customer satisfaction survey,” Queen said. “There are now going to be disciplinary measures in place if employees do not follow protocol.”

The hard drive is still deemed missing, but at this point Queen reaffirmed there’s no reason to believe any fraudulent activity has occurred.

HRSDC is asking students to contact them to learn if they’re affected or to arrange credit protection services.

What does it mean to live in a high quality country?

This is the question that drove the creation of an annual social report card put together by the Conference Board of Canada that compares 17 different countries, including Canada, on the basis of its social performance.

And while many Canadians may consider themselves as living in a high performing country, time and time again, Canada has ranked as a middle of the pack, ‘B’– level country – this year being no exception.

“Part of the reason why we started doing these reports a number of years ago was that we kept hearing, you know, Canada’s number one. It was on a very narrow, two or three indicators, or it was just comparing Canada to the United States,” explained Brenda Lafleur, the director of the Conference Board’s How Canada Performs project.

She continued, “But when you look at a broader range of indicators and a broader range of countries, which we do in this report, you see that Canada isn’t doing as well as it could be and as well as other countries are that we can learn from.”

The report evaluates countries based on three different categories, self-sufficiency, equity and social cohesion, which encompass 17 different indicators that countries are graded on to determine their overall average, a rank between ‘A’ and ‘D’.

Denmark topped the list, followed by the other Nordic countries, and in last place was the United States.

Canada fared particularly poorly in the areas of income and poverty, collecting a ‘D’ in working-age poverty, and a series of ‘C’s in child poverty, income inequality and gender income gap. These represented a “little bit of deterioration in poverty” from the previous decade,

“Canada isn’t doing as well as it could be and as well as other countries are.”

—Brenda Lafleur, project director of How Canada Performs something Lafleur described as “worrisome,” particularly noting that the under 18 population is not doing well. Canada also received ‘C’s in voter turnout and confidence in Parliament.

According to Lafleur, population engagement with government is closely linked to Canada’s poor performance in other areas.

“I think it’s all part and parcel of the same issue, that when you do have a large or a growing number of people that don’t feel that even if they work hard or that they participate that they’re being heard or that they are able to do something about it, you start to get a bit of social disengagement,” she explained. “The second that you start having that social disengagement, then the whole political system doesn’t work as well as it could.”

While the reports are aimed in part at gaining attention from decision-makers about social issues, Lafleur said that they are also intended to spark discussion. Although economic issues typically gain more traction, she believes that people are starting to take notice.

“You saw it last year with the Occupy Movement, you see it with Idle No More, you see that people are starting to put these social issues onto the front burner,” said Lafleur.

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12 •

Features Editor

•

Colleen Connolly

•

FEATU

cconnolly@thecord.ca

When forei

become

A month after Laurier International excha semesters abroad, Features Editor Colle solutions for the often overlooked but co On Dec. 22, Michael Koziura looked out at the familiar form of Toronto’s CN Tower from the window of his plane as it dove into landing.

There was a comfort at the sight of its spectacle, as there was in the casual greeting of a customs agent who welcomed him home with habitual Canadian regard at the gate.

Shortly after, on Jan. 3, Caitlin McNeil enjoyed a similar landing in the city of Detroit, gazing out at blankets of snow instead of the stretches of pavement, damp with cold rain, that was definitive of her previous location.

Koziura, a fourth-year business major, and McNeil, a third-year French major, had just returned from their fall semesters in France and were experiencing a stage of reverse culture shock known as the tourist high. Home to the most partner schools within one country, France is an ever popular exchange destination through Laurier International and attracted 24 out of the 59 students to go abroad this past semester.

Michelle Adams, Laurier International’s Student Abroad Advisor, identified four stages in total. The first is a state of fluctuating emotions, ranging from excitement to anxiety, which occurs during the student’s preparations for return. The second, tourist high, is often joyous and overwhelming as students come face to face with old friends and family eager to hear all about their adventure.

Shock then sets in after the freshness of return has worn off and loved ones step back into their normal routines while the person returning from abroad is left to do the same, except it is more like a giant leap with all that has happened since they last had a humdrum day at home.

“A lot of focus is on culture shock when they go away and they’re in a different country for their exchange, but actually most students feel it more when they return,” said Adams.

The stages of reverse culture shock are similar to those that occur upon settling in a new country, but the tourist high stage is far more extensive abroad since the student is constantly seeing new things, having new experiences and meeting new people in their country of choice.

Koziura and McNeil even further extended their tourist high while in France through visiting various countries around Europe on their weekends.

“That’s what exchange is all about; you’re not going there just to sit there and hangout in one country. Every Westerner, American or Canadian goes on an exchange in Europe to see Europe, and that’s what we did,” said Koziura.

From bull fights and riots in Spain to soccer matches and flooding in Italy, Koziura took in whatever these countries threw his way. But there was a lot to see and experience in Paris as well around the Institut Supérieur du Commerce where Koziura was studying.

“I would walk to school at 8:30 in the morning and there would be people in suits drinking wine,” said Koziura. “It’s so vested in their culture, it’s ridiculous.”

McNeil also noticed a similar pattern in her city of Tours where she attended Université François Rabelais.

“There were different mentalities about

drinking and how they eat their meals even,” she said.

When attending her weekly dinners at the residence of a local French family during her stay as a part of an integration program, McNeil noticed that having several courses was customary. There were appetizers to start, followed by a main course, a cheese dish and then, most importantly it seemed, desert.

And, of course, the wine flowed steadily. But she found that the French never drank to excess, even at the bars or the clubs where Koziura said that anyone could carry on a fully comprehendible conversation at even the latest hour.

McNeil also noted that the roots of stereotypes were clarified during her stay, not only in regards to France but to her own country as well.

“You’d walk down the street and pass like five people carrying baguettes under their arm. I even saw berets occasionally,” she said.

“Also, stereotypically Canadians tend to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ a lot. I actually found that to be true over there.”

In comparison to the sometimes exaggerated politeness of Canadians, both McNeil and Koziura found the French to be generally less considerate of their fellow person.

“It’s a much more individualistic culture,” said Koziura. “Everyone kind of has their head down and worries about themselves.” This, he further discovered, was reflected in the education system.

At both McNeil’s and Koziura’s universities it was expected that students be largely independent when it came to their education, to the extent where there wasn’t a strong sense of community or even accessibility for the most part.

However, this meant that their schedule was much less demanding and this made for a difficult adjustment upon returning to Laurier.

“It’s a lot more stressful being back home; it’s a lot more difficult and a lot more involved,” said Koziura.

But academic differences are only one of the many triggers that quicken the onset of shock as the most prominent stage of reverse culture shock. Largely, students feel disconnected from their environment since they have likely gone through changes on a personal level while many of the people and components of their home life have remained the same.

“I came back and I just slipped right back in, nothing had changed. It was the weirdest thing.

I had spent four months away, I was traveling and I went on my own and I came back and nothing had changed at all,” McNeil said.

To have been constantly weaving through different cultures and meeting different people with a seemingly endless supply of things to discover and learn about each one, then to come to what feels like an abrupt halt, is sure to throw a person off balance. Students consequently find themselves wanting to relive their experiences through an outlet of some sort and often the most useful is their words.

However, it can be hard for those listening to remain in attention when they are unable to relate.

“One of my really good friends went to Amsterdam and now we hang out all the time

URES

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013 • 13

ign

es familiar

ange students have returned from their fall een Connolly investigates the symptoms and ommon condition of reverse culture shock. here and we genuinely get worried about talking about Europe too much and talking about exchange too much,” Koziura shared. “People eventually get bored of us sitting there talking about our last four months but there was so much to it. So it definitely is hard to relate back here.”

Koziura is fortunate to have a friend at Laurier that is going through a similar experience having returned home from living in a similar country, but this is not the case with everyone.

In order to give returning students the opportunity to express some of what they are going through with others who are currently or have been in a similar situation, Laurier International put together a re-entry social last week that McNeil attended.

“It helped a lot because I knew that I wasn’t the only one feeling the kind of things that I felt.

A lot of other people experienced the fact that nothing had changed but they had, it was just kind of nice to talk about. It helped a lot, actually,” she said.

“We have a group of cultural ambassadors who also help to support the students,” said Adams. “They come to the re-entry social and they meet the students because they have all been in that situation before and they know what it’s like to go abroad and then come back to Laurier.

So they’re a big support structure for them.”

Adams recommended personally taking on the role of a cultural ambassador as she feels it is something that might help returning students cope with their reverse culture shock.

“Just coming in and providing advice and your expertise to other students who want to go can sometimes help them relive their experience and talk to students who are interested in what they have to say,” she said.

Also, Adams suggested that getting involved at Laurier is often a good method, whether that’s joining an Irish dance club after spending the semester in Limerick or joining a French club after living in France.

“At Laurier we’re so lucky because we have so many clubs here, there’s usually something you can join,” she said.

In regards to Irish dance, this might have been beneficial for Laurier graduate Alanna McConnville who studied at the University of Limerick in Ireland during the fall semester of 2011-12.

McConville grew particularly attached to both the country and its people during her stay, largely due to her established Irish heritage but also because of the culture prevalent there.

As a predominantly Catholic country, there is a large emphasis placed on community and family values. She found that this translated into university life as well, both on campus during the school week and on weekends when it was customary for students to return home and spend time with their loved ones.

This made for an unusual social scene as drinking would often take place throughout the week, but in regards to academics and campus life there were very few differences.

“As far as the student life goes, it was very much like Laurier … strong sense of community, strong sense of school spirit,” said McConville. “For the most part the workload itself was

the same. I found there were fewer assignments that weighed a lot more.”

These similarities made it slightly easier to manage her schooling upon return but she found it very difficult to make the transition as a whole.

“You’re trying to distance yourself from what you got attached to and what you loved so much,” she reflected, “and then you’re trying to reconnect with something that you’re not yet ready to reconnect with.”

Although there are many immediate feelings of loss that follow an exchange, what a student has gained while away will last them a life time.

For Koziura it was largely a new perspective in regards to his own country.

“I really respect the Canadian lifestyle now; your Monday morning is a lot easier after seeing what a lot of people in the world go through.

Our problems are so trivial compared to most.

You gain that, you gain respect for what we are and who we are,” he said.

After also experiencing a language barrier that had him wandering the dark streets of a Parisian suberb one night in search of some way home, Koziura also feels that he’s taken on a greater sense of confidence in Canada.

“I can walk up to anyone, any Canadian who speaks English, I can go up to them and start a conversation. Not that I wasn’t able to do that before but it’s a lot easier now.”

Although McConville spent her exchange in an English-speaking country, she still took a lot away from her interactions with the local residents with their biting humour and her fellow exchange students from their various backgrounds.

“You meet such a diversity of people and you take that with you. I notice I interact with people much differently, much more comfortably, much more confident,” she said. McNeil also feels that she has grown through her experience.

“I feel that I’m a little more independent now,” she said. “It was my first time really being completely on my own and I did a lot of my traveling on my own as well.”

Both Koziura and McNeil have been back on Canadian soil for over a month now and are working their way through the last stage of adjustment.

“I think I got used to it quicker when I was going there, where as I was fine right when I got back and it’s kind of gotten harder as I go on,” said McNeil. “I’m pretty good now though, just really busy a lot of the time. I’ve been adjusting pretty well, I think.”

“Just as you adjusted out there you’re going to adjust here,” said Koziura. “But you’re going to miss it.”

McConville can account for this as she continues to feel the effects of reverse culture shock even after so much time has passed. However, she ultimately believes that her gains outweigh her losses.

“When you leave it, all you have left is what you carried with you. Your memories and your moments … they’re ingrained into you forever.

You learn to feel less and less sad that it was over and more and more proud and happy and confident that you got to experience it.”

STEPHANIE TRUONG GRAPHICS EDITOR

14 •

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, fEbruArY 6, 2013

Life

Life Editor Carly basch cbasch@thecord.ca

mitchell cheeseman grAphiCS ArtiSt

‘from art to food’ kylie conner StAff WritEr

Weight loss eating spencer dunn StAff WritEr

Hold up, stop the presses everybody. It has come to my attention that there is a way to eat food to lose weight. Seriously?

I could have been eating this whole time to lose weight? If I had known that, I would have been mowing down faster than Honey Boo-Boo at the Mandarin. The only catch is that you have to eat certain kinds of food. Well I supposed that makes a little more sense.

This idea comes from a woman named Audrey Johns and although she wasn’t the first person to ever figure out this culinary cheat code, she was the one who put it into action. Her philosophy focuses on eating to power the activities you do in your day. On top of that, you can eat food that increases your metabolism, while still eating healthy and satisfying meals.

Healthy and satisfying? Count me in.

This week I tried to make a number of the meals presented on Johns’s website tonetiki.com. What was surprising was that many of the meals she suggested were things I had already been eating.

For example, Greek yogurt and granola with fresh fruit is one of the healthiest ways to start your day.

Blueberries and strawberries are packed with antioxidants that heal and power your body and bananas are high in potassium. Potassium can lessen hangovers and decrease growing pains.

Johns’s website emphasizes eating meals that are low in calories but fill you up. It also includes testimonials from people who have lost weight eating the recipes, and Johns includes many helpful links and cookbook suggestions that appeal to the lifestyle she outlines on her page. There’s also a helpful calorie counter and a list of objects every kitchen needs. It’s all there.

One of the best parts of the website for students is the section she

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includes on low-calorie cocktails.

Though most of my belly is not of the beer variety, this is a major concern for people trying to lose weight.

Alcohol can be packed with calories, especially if you mix or chase. Johns includes recipes for drinks that are hard on the liquor but easy on the waistline.

Now, don’t forget eating this food does not mean that you get to skip the gym. I am so good at finding excuses for myself not to go to the gym. It is my excuses that keep me from getting active, but don’t let food be yours. Eating a high protein, low-calorie avocado sandwich and then convincing yourself not to got to the gym because it was so healthy is counter productive.

We had an expression when I was growing up. After trying two “no thank you bites” of something, you were allowed to say “no thank you” to the food you were eating. So why not, try a “no thank you bite” of some new healthy recipes. You might just enjoy it.

It’s just before 10 a.m. on Friday morning and as I join the hustle and bustle of Uptown Waterloo, I gather my surroundings. People going to class, driving to work, catching the bus or going about their daily errands.

However newly established and nestled right in the middle of the action, Honey Bake Shop at 100 King St. south stands out with its multicoloured honeycomb banner and ellaborate cakes in the window, ready to be shown off.

As soon as I walk into this little bakery, the smell of freshly baked goods immediately fills up my nostrils.

While trying to put a face to the owner of the shop, a young woman walks out of the kitchen.

Darlene Khounphachangsi is a 25-year-old who has her roots in graphic design and cake decorating and decided to fuse the two together for her creative vision.

“From art to food there really isn’t a border,” Khounphachangsi explained. “Say I tasted Jill’s chocolate cake and then something beside me that someone is eating just wafted by and I was like ‘this tastes really good with that smell.’”

The menu at the Honey Bake Shop is still growing and changing and never stays quite the same for more than two weeks at a time.

When talking about how they choose what stays and what goes, Khounphachangsi mentioned that they take into account of what works

and what doesn’t as well as what the customers want.

“Maple bacon was kind of a onetime thing and then we got rid of it because we thought it was a little weird having meat with a cupcake,” she said. “But as soon as we stopped carrying it people were like ‘no, you need to get that back!’ and now it’s a staple on the menu.”

Khounphachangsi stated that the bakery’s most popular cupcakes are the maple bacon or red velvet varieties.

Honey Bake Shop doesn’t just offer cupcakes. Khounphachangsi and her tight-knit staff work together to bring customers a wide variety of other treats such as: loaves, lunch sandwiches, all natural ice cream, tea and coffee and decorative cakes.

Since the shop is still new there are plenty of Waterloo residents and students who are gradually stumbling upon it and it has to be the warm athmosphere and friendliness that has them coming back.

“We have a few customers who actually come here on a daily basis; religiously. They have their own spots and we try to make sure that those spots are free for them,” noted Khounphachangsi.

With Valentine’s Day around the corner Khounphachangsi plans to stock up on a variety of themed treats.

“For Valentine’s we are creating an assortment of Unique Valentine’s cupcakes,” she said. “From cute and sweet, to funny and anti-Valentine’s themed. We will be selling these goodies starting this coming weekend until Valentine’s weekend.”

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013

LIFE

• 15

Love, dating and 1990s television ERIN SHEEHAN CORD LIFE

RYAN HUEGLIN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

D.V.L.B. owners Katherine and Joel Gingrich fuse together the culture of espresso and whisky drinking

Talking drinks with D.V.L.B. CARLY BASCH LIFE EDITOR

Though a rarity to encounter, the city of Waterloo has become home to a mythical creature. Tucked away quietly on King Street, a jackalope can be seen outside a store that has recently come into the scene.

Like the mythical hybrid jackalope – which is part jack rabbit, part antelope, D.V.L.B. (Death Valley’s Little Brother), which opened early last year, has quietly been brewing up beverages for customers, specializing in espresso and singlemalt whisky.

It is a rarity for a coffee shop to take pride in specializing in not only their hot, caffeinated drinks but also their tap into the whisky-drinking culture.

Partners Katherine and Joel Gingrich decided to use both of their passions to fuse into one hybrid store. While gaining her experience at a cafe in Australia, Katherine devotes her passion towards espresso while Joel is the whisky expert of the shop.

“I did my training in Austrailia a few years ago at a cafe; it was a really busy environment. They are pretty hardcore, they don’t mess around. So, it’s primarily expressobased and attention to detail to coffee,” Katherine explained.

“My husband and partner, Joel,

is a Scotch enthusiast. And so we thought how could we put these two worlds together?” Hence the hybrid and culture of D.V.L.B..

Though it may seem odd to have a shop specializing in both coffee and whisky, the two go more hand in hand than most people think.

“As a business model, a lot of coffee shops will be open early in the morning and closed in the evening around six or seven because not too many people are going to want to get a coffee at nine at night because you don’t want to go to bed all hyped up on caffeine. So, it’s a good transition from the day to the night, from coffee to whiskey,” Joel noted, explaining that the act of sipping whisky is very much like having a cup of coffee: slow and meant to be enjoyed with good company.

“Single-malt whiskies aren’t really the type of drink that you shoot or throw back while watching a football game, it’s really a more reflective drink,” he added.

While most customers are comfortable with going up and ordering a cup of coffee, the act of choosing whisky can be more of a complicated process.

However, with the design of the whisky chart, picking out a drink becomes more of a fun experience than one of confusion.

“We walk people through it because it’s a really fun experience for

us. And we have a whisky chart that kind of plots out of what a whisky will fall in, whether it’s sweet or if it falls into the smoky area or the fruity,” said Katherine, explaining a detailed chart, marked with labels and a graph, revealing a creative graphic design that looks more like a fun puzzle than a complicated mapping process.

“It takes away that intimidation factor because of the quick information to make that decision, ‘Oh, I like this,’” Joel pointed out.

While not everyone has to go in to participate in the selection of whisky or even espresso, the independent shop businesses are one to note for the city of Waterloo and how it is starting to grow – especially those that take in the act of pursuing something specific.

“You see that a lot in New York and Toronto but you haven’t seen it really in Waterloo, so we kind of want to crank it up,” Joel remarked, saying that D.V.L.B. has participated in getting to know some of the other independent coffee owners in the city to create a special coffee community.

“It’s a major trend in the big cities. They call it a craft-type thing, there’s that whole micro, local way of doing business is very popular right now. Fortunately for us, it’s a trend we’re a part of.” Joel concluded.

What we see on TV can often reflect how we handle our own life problems and obstacles. As we get emotionally invested into the characters we adore and the ones they surround themselves with, it’s hard not to put yourself in their shoes and try to relate.

However, after watching the first season of Girls I began to question if my love life was that bad. Going through the catalogue of my past relationships in my head I came to the conclusion questioning why I have been Swifting - dating lots of people for short periods of time - for so long, I began to think that I should re-examine what I am doing.

I decided that I would look back on the biggest culprit of my perspectives of dating and love: 1990s popular culture.

Growing up in the ‘90s I was educated in the study of ‘girl power.’ Ally McBeal and the Spice Girls introduced me to the contradictory experience of being a young woman of this generation. You can be professional and smart, but you also have to look good to do it. Be independent, but also depend on men. This means that I was screwed from the start, or maybe I just read the manual wrong.

Watching Boy Meets World would make one believe that you met your soul mate in grade school. If not, as seen in Sabrina the Teenage Witch or Beverly Hills 90210, you would meet them in high school, or you are otherwise screwed or missed the deadline to find Mr. Right.

When that didn’t happen, Ally McBeal told me to keep going. Ally

showed me that I didn’t need a relationship; that all I needed was a slit skirt to be a strong woman.

In these pre-New Girl days, my clumsiness and weirdness, which was different from Ally’s, was not appreciated, so I closed myself off and focused on school. To this day I often prefer to dance on my own.

Like Kelly Taylor, I chose myself over the possibility of love, or anything like it.

However, it got to the point that when I did get into relationships I never got close because I never wanted to open up. I was so comfortable with being alone. Well that was until I realized that I was singing “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” too often.

Although I still love Ally McBeal, and will often reference the show, I have learned that I must open up.

Most importantly, I learned that, as Blossom showed me while dancing in a crop top, baggy pants and suspenders, confidence is key. Confidence that you are something and if you do open up and let someone in it doesn’t mean that they will run away like Rachel Green did.

So readers, since I have not found my ideal man yet, I am letting you into my world and sharing my experiences of being 21 years single.

As I started to date at around 15 years-old and it has now been half a decade of deer in the headlights flirting, awkward first dates, unrequited like, forbidden love, being groped in clubs and awful text decoding.

Moments that have made me the jaded, but also the hopeful romantic I am today. If Cory and Topanga can do it, maybe there’s hope for the rest of us, eventually.

STEPHANIE TRUONG GRAPHICS EDITOR

Beware of the messy roomates

This roommate treats their space as if they are permanent residents of the Toronto Zoo. Garbage, food, used tissues, you name it’s on the floor, being ignored while you listen to them ramble on about how messy the house is.

They’ll probably use phrases such as, “Yeah I have no idea whose plates those are, I did all of mine”.

This roommate’s whisper is usually louder than a foghorn. Their obnoxious laugh can be heard from any and all rooms no matter how quiet they swear they are trying to be.

Studying in a house where a human boom box resides can be a nightmare so I suggest if this really gets on your nerves parade around the house when you know they’ll be sleeping, banging on pots and pans and insist it’s your new midterm stress reliever technique.

Less dramatic solution: simply

The food snatcher

This roommate has a complete disregard for any and all food they find in the kitchen. All your favourite snacks slowly start to vanish and you realize there is a thief residing in your house.

If you don’t already label what’s yours, this can be a good way to keep a mild thief out of your favorite foods. However for serious food snatchers, the only way to avoid this problem is to catch them red-handed.

If you’re one of those people that doesn’t have the time to

sit around waiting for someone to steal your Oreos, a nice subtle comment such as “Wow, I swear someone’s been eating my food” can scare this bandit off.

If all else fails and you are about to go nuts, just think of this: Reading Week is coming up.

ar 7: ch 30 9t pm h

The slob

The human boom box

move your study space to the library or another quiet area, buy headphones or earplugs or confront this noisy roommate by telling them your doctor thinks you may be suffering permanent ear damage so it would be best for your health if they learned to shut up.

ne rla Fa ll ac ne n yM o nd O'D Sa m To

Who knew that living with you best friends could turn into such a nightmare? Signing the lease with your pals, you envision the next year of living in student paradise.

But living with roommates is different than having consistent sleepovers with your pals. True colours get revealed and things start to get messy, literally.

The following encounters are based off the little annoyances that plague my life with stress on a daily basis.

These types of roommates may not even know how truly annoying their bad habits are but we can all agree that we have encountered or currently live with one.

If you’re a neat freak, you need to either move out or take serious action to come to a solution. If you just don’t appreciate living in a dumpster try the ol’ switcheroo and give this messy roommate a taste of their own medicine.

Take all their used plates, garbage and whatever else they have laying all over the common areas and dump it in their room where it is out of site and out of mind to you.

If this approach is a little too dramatic, simply enforce a cleaning schedule where everyone pitches in to keep the house looking bearable.

C

STAFF WRITER

Sa tu rd ay ,M

VANESSA THAREN

To OME

by DY HaNIGH rg T W ra ITH ve

Living with your best friends seems like fun and games, until their true colours start to show

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16 •

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, fEbruArY 6, 2013

Arts Hardwell rocks at revolution Arts Editor Cristina Almudevar calmudevar@thecord.ca

anDRew savoRy StAff WritEr

2012 saw 25-year-old DJ Robbert “Hardwell” van de Corput rocket up the Top 100 DJ rankings. Released

by DJ Magazine, the annual top-100 rankings saw Hardwell rise from 24th in 2011 all the way to sixth by the end of 2012.

You would think that being amongst the same company as Armin Van Buuren, Tiesto, Avicii, David Guetta and Deadmau5 would satisfy this new household name, but after scheduling and beginning his “Revealed” Canadian Bus Tour, it’s evident that he’s not done making noise just yet.

Prior to their stop in Waterloo as part of the “Revealed” Canadian Bus Tour, Hardwell along with his two up and coming supporting acts, Dyro and Dannic, had performed at Stages Nightclub in Kingston.

Last Thursday Hardwell along with Dyro and Dannic performed at Revolution Night Club for their next stop and they didn’t disappoint.

Dannic was impressive as the opening act and surely will begin gathering attention as the year progresses, but it was apparent that the anticipation in the building had formed for none other than Hardwell who came on at midnight.

As soon as Dannic left the stage the entire club seemed to go pitch black and the crowd was silent as

Hardwell took his place in front of a jam-packed audience.

There were a million options for which song Hardwell could have used to open with for his two-hour performance, but he chose arguably his most popular song “Spaceman,” which fueled enthusiastic cheers from everyone who was in attendance.

The trademark melody of “Spaceman” that features a high to low transition of pitch was undeniable and immediately the energy of the room grew to a new level of excitement.

Over the next two hours Hardwell played some of his classics, gave early previews to some of his upcoming releases, while also mixing some mainstream pop songs with an electronic dance vibe to satisfy those who have tastes catered more towards popular music hits from the Top 40.

From someone who attended Veld Music Festival at Downsview Park last summer, where the likes of Avicii and Deadmau5 performed, I can safely say that Hardwell put on a show that surpassed everything that I’ve seen by featuring songs from every derivative of electronic music from house and mainstream pop all the way to trap.

Look for this Dutch DJ to ascend further up the ranks in 2013 as he aims his sights upon more worldwide success.

stephanie tRuong grAphiCS EDitor

‘I’m not a hipster!’

Robin DapRato StAff WritEr

Nuvo magazine recently printed an article shining light upon the roots of the fascinating contemporary subculture of hipsters.

“Hipster” was a term first coined by jazz musician and Bronx native Harry Gibson in the early 1940s.

Harry “The Hipster” Gibson made a name for himself for his eccentric antics on stage, as well as his deconstruction of racial barriers in the world of jazz music performing with the likes of Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and Coleman Hawkins.

Gibson was the world’s first labeled hipster because he was “hip to the jive.”

Recently, this notion of hipster has drastically evolved from a term exclusive to the world of jazz into a term that defines an individual’s cultural identity, sensibility and mentality.

Hipsterdom has experienced such popular acknowledgement that everyone and their grandma can point out a stereotypical hipster.

Ironically it seems the only people this labeling is taboo for is the

hipsters themselves. This leads us to unwritten hipster rule number one: no hipster refers to oneself as a hipster.

I hate to be the one to say it, but the clichés are almost always true.

So if you are currently sitting in your local coffee shop with your 13-inch Macbook Pro, listening to the likes of Daniel Johnston and The Smiths, reading the recent album review on Pitchfork in your horn-rimmed glasses — you are a hipster.

This summer, I worked next to a quintessentially hipster coffee shop where I experienced firsthand the eccentricities of hipsters.

What I quickly began to realize was that the most binding force to this culture was music. I learnt through frequent visits to this coffee shop that unless I was willing to get in a heated debate or be preached at — I should leave discussions of music at the door.

For me, the rationale for my music taste is quite simple: if I think the music is good I will like it whether it’s popular or not.

However, this mentality is scorned among most hipsters. This brings us to hipster rule number

two: when it comes to music, the more obscure the better.

Listening to popular music of the last ten years is a definite hipster faux pas. It is important to listen to new music in which the YouTube play count has not surpassed 250,000.

For hipsters, it is shameful to admit that they once liked Mumford and Sons whose play-count has greatly exceeded such a quota.

They’re frequently quoted saying “I liked them before they were popular,” and “they’ve become way too commercial.”

Hipsters pride themselves on their musical proclivity so it is important that they are ahead of the trends. So as the media is giving recent recognition to bands such as Japandroids and The Lumineers: hipsters were over them two years ago.

Hipsters have moved onto the latest under-the-radar bands such as Jagwar Ma, Parquet Courts and Youth Lagoon. With YouTube play counts far below 250000, they can be left assured that these bands are still clear from every hipster’s nightmare — cross-cultural popularity.

storytelling & gaming cameRon noble StAff WritEr

Grammy RapUp scott glaysheR CorD ArtS

Rap music and the Grammys have always been an unusual mix.

The arguable and opinionated nature of rap makes it hard to distinguish the quality from the crap.

The music academy that ultimately decides who wins the awards, most likely don’t have their “ears to the streets” when it comes to top-tier hip-hop.

This year’s nominees for rap music are actually pretty … exciting.

Best Rap Performance, will come down to either Watch the Throne’s iconic “N****s in Paris” and G.O.O.D. Music’s summer smash hit, “Mercy.”

My hip-hop expertise leads me to believe that Jay-Z and Kanye will bring it home because you have undoubtedly screamed “that s**t cray!” this past year.

In the category for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, “Cherry Wine” by Nas featuring the late Amy Winehouse is a strong contender. Winehouse’s voice gives a great backdrop for Nasir’s lyrical excellence.

Best Rap Song (more focused on the production and song writing) will once again come down to

“N****s in Paris” and “Mercy”. My educated guess is that “Mercy” will take this one simply because of the elaborate sampling and synthesizing that makes the song so sonically awesome.

It’s time for the real debate. This year’s nominees for Best Rap Album are as competitive as they are unrealistic. There are six nominees (Drake, Take Care; Lupe Fiasco, Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, Pt 1; The Roots, Undun; Nas, Life is Good; Rick Ross. God Forgives, I Don’t; 2 Chainz, Based on a T.R.U. Story) but only two have a legitimate chance. Toronto’s own Drake is nominated for his late 2011 release, Take Care. His only real competition is hip-hop veteran, Nas, with his summer record, Life Is Good.

Technically speaking, Drake had the better album as a whole but I think the judges will give it to Nas because he’s been a pioneer for hip-hop and has yet to acquire a Grammy.

Don’t take my word for it. The 55th Annual Grammy Awards will be held Sunday, Feb. 10 and we’ll see how good my hip-hop predictions really are.

Check out The RapUp on Thursday from 7-9 p.m. on radiolaurier.com.

Game developers control a delicate balance between how much agency they allow their users and attempting to pose an intriguing story.

Linearity is something that has been toyed with in the video game industry, especially in the last couple of years.

The Walking Dead, a video game adaptation of the graphic novel franchise, created by adventurefocused developers Telltale Games, was the winner of numerous awards in 2012, including several game of the year accolades from USA Today, Wire, Complex and so on.

What is so intriguing about Telltale’s Walking Dead is the illusion of choice. Broken down into five episodes, various options have to be made along the way, and none of them are easy.

Choices include rationing out minimal food to the other survivors, deciding who the main character Lee (who you play as) should side with and various options on how to react.

While the gameplay is merely functional, Telltale delivers such a devastating story because there is proper character development and their formula in allowing tonal agency makes the player believe they are affecting the overall plot, when really the player has little impact on the narrative.

An arguably less successful

waDe thompson viSuAl DirECtor

example of storytelling is the popular franchise Mass Effect. While they present an in-depth universe with plenty of choice, character development and beautifully told narratives, the overall plot simply could not account for every single choice that each player could make.

There are just too many iterations for the developers, BioWare, to consider.

Many consider their wrapping up of the overarching plot to be a disappointment because they had to

funnel these iterations into one singular plot. The onslaught of downloadable content after the release of the original game also didn’t help the reaction of dedicated fans.

One final example in interesting storytelling is the game Heavy Rain.

In it, players dive deep into a multilayered murder mystery.

However, what makes Heavy Rain special is also the agency the developers allow the user: With a thought-provoking control scheme, exploring and doing mundane activities, such as brushing your teeth, become mini-games themselves.

Using this example, the user would have to hold one of the buttons and shake left and right for the proper brushing motions. Each of these seemingly mundane actions affects the outcome in interesting ways.

What’s more, the game doesn’t harshly punish your “failures”; instead it moves on at a speed that can be overwhelming sometimes, especially for newcomers.

It is important to explore the various methods of storytelling in video games because they allow users to partake in the active progression of the story, and many developers are exploring interesting ways in how to tell decent narratives.

There are plenty of linear and derivative videogames still, but the more experimental trailblazers will be remembered rather than the perfect and yet mind numbing shooter.

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, fEbruArY 6, 2013

Arts

• 17

Uss: ‘A giant campfire after-party’

avery gales StAff photogrAphEr

cristina almudevar ArtS EDitor

Blue-tinted lights illuminated the recent album cover art for Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker’s—better known as USS—latest EP USS Approved as eager audience members waited for the Friday Feb. 1 concert to begin.

Consisting of friends Jason “Human Kebab” Parsons and Ashley Buchholz, USS humbly describes their sound as “campfire after-party.” Parsons controls the turntables and occasionally sings while Buchholz is the lead vocalist, guitar and erhu player.

“Erhu is a Chinese violin. I was in London, England visiting my sister.

I saw two old Chinese gentleman playing erhus,” said Buchholz in explanation of the confusing instrument. “When I got home, I tried to

find lessons, erhu lessons. I had to go to the Pacific Mall. So I wound up taking erhu lessons with Asian senior women on Tuesdays at 10 am.”

Playing at the Turret, USS brought the university down — concert-goers were rocking out so hard that the floor was shaking.

The band played a balanced mix from their two EPs (Welding the C:/ and the recently released USS Approves) and one full-length album (Questamation).

USS played to their audience, favouring songs that were better known, such as “Laces Out,” “2 15/16” and their 2008 hit “Hollow Point Sniper Hyperbole.”

USS did not just stick to their own material, occasionally sampling dubstep giant Skrillex to create a mini-Skrillex dance party. They also heavily interacted with the crowd, telling amusing anecdotes and

giving the microphone to the occasional audience member.

They also did not stick to the conventional method of playing their respective instruments. Parsons used the legs of the microphone stand to scratch his turntable while Buchholz strummed his guitar with a 12-inch 45 rpm vinyl record.

Despite the intense energy of their actual performance, the encore only managed to top their incredibly high liveliness. Playing audience favourites such as “Hakuna Matata” from The Lion King and “Wonderwall” by Oasis, the show took on the tone of a giant, drunk communal karaoke bar.

As their final act, the entire band took to crowd surfing. Buchholz ran off stage for a few moments and returned with a life-sized cutout of Bob Marley. Riding the Bob Marley cutout like a surfboard, the band all

took turns throwing themselves into the hands of the audience.

Much like the name itself, USS is one of a kind.

The story behind their unique moniker varies upon which band member you were to ask.

Buchholz’s explanation sounded like a short story: “I was hanging a picture in my bathroom and I slipped and hit my head … I came up with a script for a movie where all the dogs in Toronto ran away and swam across the channel and took over Toronto island. They created a dog kingdom.”

After minor protestation and laughter from Parsons, Buchholz continued, “At the same time, I was working at a factory and I was very dissatisfied with the state of my life.

I decided to write a script for a movie about myself that would come out in five years. Actually the script that

I wrote is the life that we’re living right now. The name of the movie was Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker.”

While Parsons agreed that it was one of the best ways he’s heard [Buchholz] tell it, Parsons explained that “Ubiquitous is everywhere, synergy is togetherness, and seeker, well we all know what that means.”

Halfway through the interview, USS turned the tables and began interviewing me about my future aspirations. After responding that I’d like to be a journalist and not living on the streets of Toronto, Buchholz responded with thoughtful advice for everyone.

“I was crying my eyes out at the kitchen table saying ‘I just wanna be a musician!’ and she goes ‘Dude.

You are a musican. Change your language, you wanna be an incomegenerating musician.’”

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10 WAYS TO LAUNCH YOUR CAREER FIND YOUR NICHE WITH A POSTGRAD IN BUSINESS

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18 •

Editorial

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013 Opinion Editor Devon Butler dbutler@thecord.ca

Rest in peace, penny On Monday Feb. 4 2013, Canada lost one of its most underappreciated pieces of currency—the penny.

Since its creation in 1858, the penny has served a multitude of purposes.

It has brought order to the monetary system and ensured exact change, but beyond its intended purposes the penny has brought hope to millions of cynical people.

It was the assistance from the penny that allowed Danny Zuko to win the road race in Grease. If you saw a penny face up, all day long you’d have good luck.

It gave us hope that our days could turn around, that a force beyond our comprehension had the ability to bring us happiness.

It allowed us to put faith in the universe; for even the busiest person upon seeing a shiny penny on the sidewalk couldn’t resist picking it up in anticipation of what its luck could bring.

The penny brought the notion of wishing into a reality. No longer did we have to wish on a star, millions of light years away, but we could hold a penny in our hands as we fantasized about what we wanted most.

By releasing a penny into a well or fountain, we could release with it, all our pessimistic tendencies.

Though nearly six billion pennies are still in circulation, its days are numbered. In an estimated three to four years the penny will be extinct, forcing us to round up or down, losing valuable cents.

Our wallets may be lightened but our hearts will be heavy. So we say goodbye to someone we often neglected by leaving in our pockets, under couch cushions and mindlessly discarding, assuming it would always be there to take or leave in a jar by a cash register.

The penny may no longer physically be in our hands, but its legacy will live on through our debit and credit cards and online banking systems, reuniting us with uneven numbers once again.

Owning a pet is a serious responsibility Almost everyone would love to have a furry friend excitedly greeting them at home after a stressful day.

Numerous scientific studies have argued in favour of the benefits of owning a dog, or other pets, in helping improve both your physical and mental health.

Unfortunately for us, most animals are incapable of caring for themselves, making pet ownership much less glamourous than we tend to think.

Many students, consumed with the stress of school, work and their uncertain future miss the comfort from their family pets and seek to replace this void by purchasing one for themselves.

While this is certainly well-intentioned, many students fail to realize the demanding responsibility that comes with owning a pet.

In addition to paying rent, tuition, textbooks and food, you now have to financially support another life.

Paying for pet food, shots and accessories may be stressful enough, but unexpected vet bills can pose a serious problem to many financially-strained students.

Beyond the economic burden owning a pet can create, many students, between their stressful academic, social and work situations, rarely have the time it takes to physically care for an animal.

Dogs require daily walking, playing and human contact whereas cats need to be cleaned and fed. It is simply unfair to keep a pet cooped up in a small apartment until you make time for it.

Let’s also keep in mind that you and your furry friend aren’t the only ones you need to be thinking of. For many of us, a simple task like doing the dishes can create significant tensions between roommates.

How can you expect to take care of an animal who cannot sit dirty in a sink for over a week?

Of course, there are a few students who are able to care for a pet properly. But most just don’t have the time, money or maturity.

So while we’d all appreciate the unconditional love from a dog or a cat, unless you have the stable resources to take care of it, perhaps you should consider starting with a goldfish.

—The Cord Editorial Board

These unsigned editorials are based off informal discussions and then agreed upon by the majority of The Cord’s editorial board, including the Editor-in-Chief and Opinion Editor. The arguments made may reference any facts that have been made available through interviews, documents or other sources. The views presented do not necessarily reflect those of The Cord’s volunteers, staff or WLUSP. The Cord is published by Wilfrid Laurier University Student Publications.

Contact Emily Frost, WLUSP President and Publisher 75 University Ave.W, Waterloo ON N2L 3C5

wAdE thompsoN viSUAL DiREcTOR

Teenage pop stars are not experts on relationships ALANNA FAIREY

No one should turn to these teen sensations as love advisors.

LEAD REPORTER

By the time this article even gets published, I know most of you will have listened to Justin Bieber’s break-up ballad “Nothing Like Us” dozens of times.

Maybe you will even declare that you understand the heartbreak Bieber is going through with his now ex-girlfriend, Selena Gomez.

However, just because Bieber is shamelessly airing his dirty laundry, that does not mean he is an expert about relationships and how to deal with a break-up.

In his latest tell-all tune Bieber croons, “Tell me: was it worth it? We were so perfect/Baby I just want you to see,” hinting that the blame for the break-up rests solely on Gomez’s shoulders.

That right there, is an example of teenage angst at its finest.

At 19, Bieber is still just a horny, over-emotional teenager who probably doesn’t yet realize that love and lust are two separate entities.

Of course when he breaks up with his girlfriend, he’s going to find some way to put all of the blame on her instead of sharing it.

With Gomez reportedly being his first serious relationship, I would not credit this as enough experience for him to claim that he had seen the wide range of “love” and all of its capacities.

Due to the way he’s dealing with the break-up, I would think he’s hoping to sell out on his recent heartbreak.

How long until Gomez creatively follows in her ex-boyfriend’s footsteps to share her side of the story?

Bieber and Gomez are not the only jilted Hollywood couples that fall into the category of “teen idols to never take dating advice from”. In fact, they are just the beginning.

We all sat around wondering just how long it would take before country superstar Taylor Swift would break-up with One Direction heartthrob, Harry Styles.

In true T-Swift style, that romance was swiftly thrown out the window; and after Swift’s tweet claiming that she is “back in the studio,” it won’t be long until we hear exactly how the romance quickly fizzled between the two.

If Swift falls into the rut she has before with previous albums, there is a very good chance she will end up writing an angry song about how her and Styles

will “never, ever get back together.”

First off, why trust someone who cannot be single for more than a month?

Secondly, all of Swift’s songs talk about how her ex-boyfriends, including Joe Jonas and Jake Gyllenhaal, wronged her in some petty and overdramatic manner.

This could be a stretch, but does she not think that maybe it’s her whose looking for trouble? And why would sweet, innocent Taylor Swift want trouble when it walks in?

Because she is still young and is still intrigued by the thought of having a bumpy ride with boys until she is ready to find “The One.” Fine, maybe Bieber and Swift are relatable to young adults because they are enduring the same kinds of issues like heartbreak and discovering what you want in terms of a relationship, but no one should turn to these teen sensations as love advisors.

If you want advice on how to make a relationship last in the long run, ask someone who has enough experience to explain how to make it work.

Maybe ask someone that you actually know.

These popular songs by teen sensations may be catchy and often talk about love, but it’s not like you’re going to be able to call them up one-on-one to talk about the next step you want to take in your relationship. There is a reason why we have best friends for that.

While Bieber and Swift’s teenage dreams will come and go in the form of chart-topping songs, I suggest that you take these songs as mere entertainment, not a manual for how you should approach your next relationship. letters@thecord.ca

• 19

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013

OPINION

Opinion Editor Devon Butler dbutler@thecord.ca

Height discrimination an ignored issue

While discrimination of gender or race is prevalant, shortness is a valid problem effecting the workplace

JAMES POPKIE OPINION COLUMNIST

Many different types of discrimination are given extensive coverage in our educational system and in the media. However, one incredibly common type of discrimination is often ignored: discrimination against short people.

It is ignored to the point where many people are not even aware it exists, and can’t even fathom shortness being a potential serious detriment to one’s success.

In economist and sociologist Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, he talks extensively about the psychological bias that exists against short people, primarily in the business world, which can extend to how we judge others in social situations.

Shortness is seen, often at a subconscious level, as synonymous with weakness and a lack of confidence and power. In Gladwell’s polling of around half Fortune’s 500 CEOs, a mere ten were 5’6 or less; and while only 14.5 per cent of all American men are six foot or taller, among the 500 CEO’s that number was 58 per cent.

Researchers he cited have found out that a person who is 6”0 will

make, on average, over $5500 more per year than someone who is 5”5.

While discrimination against short people may not be one of the more overtly harmful forms of discrimination, the lack of attention paid to it makes it one of the most insidiously and subtly harmful.

Many people discriminate against short people without even realizing it: subconsciously thinking of them as a lesser human being because they are less in stature. Shortness can be related subconsciously to a lack of power, and thus our minds can be attuned to automatically judge short people as weaker without even realizing it.

The inverse of this is the concept of the “Napoleon Complex”, which basically implies that if a short person acts assertively or overconfidently, it must be attributed to overcompensation for their shortness.

The most egregious thing the “Napoleon Complex” theory implies is that if a tall person acts in such a cocky manner, it would just be seen as normal behaviour, but if a short person does, it’s automatically an act of overcompensation.

This creates a horrendous double standard in which certain types of behavior are only deemed appropriate if certain people embody them and not others. And in this case, height is the determining factor. At the very least, our society is well aware of discrimination of race,sexual preference and gender.

Thus, people will often stop and ask

themselves if they are acting prejudiced in any way. With discrimination against short people, such mental self-monitoring may not even come into play, given how this particular type of discrimination is often subconscious rather than overtly malicious in nature.

The lack of self-awareness resultant from the subconscious nature of this discrimination is also compounded by the lack of societal attention that is paid towards it. If you’re a short person being discriminated against, it is hard to make your case, because many people don’t even accept that this type of discrimination even exists.

There are no advocacy organizations and no affirmative action policies to help you out — and while I’m opposed to affirmative action as a general concept, the statistics on average income of short versus tall people shows that they perhaps deserve it as much as any of the groups who currently receive it do.

While I don’t want affirmative action for short people, or any kind of “short power” movement that is spiteful toward taller people, I do think this is a type of discrimination that society ignores far too much.

Short people need not adopt a defeatist sense of victimhood, and those among us who are short shouldn’t rush to blame all problems or slights on shortness. But society has a long way to go in even recognizing the existence of this problem, let alone solving it.

Gun control needed

TAyLOR gAyOwSKy GRAPHICS ARTIST

Talking Mental Health: Next steps

Months after Sandy Hook, why are we still letting the NRA spew their idiocy?

Never think you have to figure things out all on your own.

SHERRIE STEINbERg COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTOR FLIKR COMMONS MADISON GUY

ALEX REINHART OPINION COLUMNIST

I would never go so far as to suggest that anti-gun control advocates are the dumbest people in the world, however, they definitely rank in the top five.

While the devastating Sandy Hook massacre occurred over a month ago, the debate on gun control is still making front-page news.

This argument has led to outrageous remarks by anti-gun control advocates. Not only do these people choose to ignore facts, but they have put forth some of the most ludicrous suggestions I’ve ever heard.

My suggestion for gun control is simple: revise the Constitution and remove the second amendment; the right to bear arms. Undoubtedly, this recommendation is extreme, but necessary.

Nations like England and Wales have effectively banned handguns and automatic weapons, making the countries incredibly safe.

Even when compensated for population difference, the number of firearms related homicides is about two per cent of their American counterparts.

Personally, I fail to see how typically rational people become complete lunatics over something like

gun control.

While many view it as a totalitarian act, it’s simply libertarianism taken to an extreme perspective.

Yes, banning all handguns and assault weapons would indeed be a limitation of freedom, however, this is no more a limitation than a speed limit or a criminal code.

The libertarian band-wagoning that has surrounded the gun control issue has had an insurmountable cost, and thousands have had their lives taken in the libertarian pursuit of “freedom.”

While banning the sale of handguns and assault weapons may do relatively little, restricting the availability of ammunition would provide an effective means of severely limiting the use of firearms.

The overall value of gun legislation is one matter; but there is also an important discussion surrounding the stupidity of pro-gun advocates.

It seems that even the suggestion that Barack Obama may institute stricter gun control measure has brought some crazy people out of the woodwork, with even more ridiculous proposals.

Two examples stick out in particular: the suggestion by the National Rifle Association (NRA) to arm teachers and the ‘Sandy Hook Truthers.’

Now, I do not feel much need to address the NRA as an organization.

They are an outrageous group and,

according to some, the blood of the Sandy Hook massacre is, in part, on their hands.

While the organization is horrible to begin with, equally disgusting was the suggestion put forth

by Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre, who proposed that teachers be armed.

Perhaps I am being too logical, but I see no reason why teachers should walk around a kindergarten classroom with a handgun on their hip. Guns in schools will simply result in further casualties.

This is true with police officers, but even more extreme in the case of teachers, who lack the training of police officers and who are inexperienced around weapons.

It’s hard to top the NRA in terms of crazy, however, the ‘Sandy Hook Truthers’ have managed it. This group suggests that the massacre was simply a ploy by Obama to institute gun control. This claim insults the 27 victims of the massacre and the movement is a complete pinnacle of insensitivity.

The debate over gun control is one that should not be taken seriously.

Obama should impose an outright ban on handguns and assault rifles, and severely restrict access to ammunition.

Simply put, the dissenters in this debate are the craziest of citizens; so crazy that we should feel free to disregard their opinions completely. letters@thecord.ca

It’s often relatively easy to start working on a goal. The most difficult part however is sticking with it when things get tough.

How can we maintain our focus and motivation, and keep from feeling too overwhelmed?

One way is to focus on one thing at a time. Undertaking too many goals or changes can overtax your ability to manage. Try one change towards your goal.

Once that is well underway you can consider the next step. You should also consider potential obstacles and plan for them.

Think about what works best for you and base your plan on that knowledge. Another idea is to commit to a change for an entire month and then reassess.

This amount of time will give you valuable information that you can use to help you move forward.

If things are working well, keep moving ahead; if not, you may need to refine your goal or the steps you are taking to reach it. Sharing your goal with others also helps to keep you accountable.

Change is hard and part of that is the fear of failure. In order to face those fears, it’s important to think about what you’re afraid of and assess how realistic those fears are.

Ask friends, family or someone you respect for advice.

Never think you have to figure things out all on your own.

Sometimes things don’t go according to plan and you end up

feeling like you failed. Remember that there is a lot to be learned from failure.

It hones your focus and helps you prioritize aspects of your life; you get a clear sense what needs your attention and what is most important to you.

Failure also reminds us that roadblocks are normal and every time you overcome them successfully, you learn valuable lessons.

Many successful people credit their perseverance in the face of failure for their future success.

So how do you keep moving forward when you just want to give up?

Try to remember that working toward a goal is just as important as the goal itself.

Setbacks and missteps are a normal part of the process, and you can’t give up.

You just need to figure out what went wrong, revise your plan and start again.

Don’t beat yourself up, stand strong and forgive yourself. We all make mistakes and we all fail.

When you learn something that helps you move ahead, it isn’t really a failure at all. letters@thecord.ca

20 •

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013

OPINION

Letters to the Editor Re: “Stop ideological bullying on campus”

FLICKR COMMONS

The War on Terror can’t be won Attempts to stamp out terrorism with military might do more harm than good

BRAD KLEINSTUBER OPINION COLUMNIST

With the French intervening in Mali, it’s an odd coincidence that the infamous ‘surrender monkeys’ putting boots on the ground to fight violent Islamist groups. This kind of intervention is a typical part of the international War on Terror.

Radical Islamist groups have seized much of Mali’s north in an explicit attempt to implement Sharia Law, and the French armed forces are attempting to stabilize the region. Even quelling the rebellion would be a pretty optimistic goal for the French.

In all likelihood, they’ll achieve some token victory, further break down governmental authority, encourage the spread of radical groups in Africa and ultimately force the problem underground to emerge stronger later.

The War on Terror is almost the worst type of conflict for first-world militaries to participate in.

Military doctrine had focused for years on the threat of other major nations and fairly conventional warfare and the asymmetrical nature of fighting insurgents is anathema to what the military now expects to do.

Most armed forces are focused on overwhelming force that is delivered

through aircraft, drones and other long-range weapons.

Military strategy has focused on advancing technologies, integrating military branches and increasing battlefield control and coordination.

The first world has been gearing up to fight another world war since the last one ended. An AC-130U gunship costs $190 million per unit, leaving alone the immense cost of ammunition and fuel.

Numbers from the Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments 2011 reports indicate that an American soldier sent to Afghanistan costs about $1.1 million, and one to Iraq approximately one million.

For a soldier going to Afghanistan, this is actually a decrease. In 2007, one soldier going to Afghanistan cost about $1.6 million. By contrast, how much can a single insurgent cost? Reliable numbers are obviously hard to come by, but common sense should tell us enough.

Much of the cost of an American soldier comes from fuel and transportation. This is irrelevant in most cases for an insurgency, as fighters are usually from the area or nearby countries.

Advanced communications and control equipment drives the cost of one soldier way up, and though it certainly lowers their operational effectiveness, insurgents spend little on this.

Aside from moral and humanitarian concerns, and the economic, political and international effects, the War on Terror is simply an

unwinnable war. A military solution is not the way for the west to confront international terrorism. Indeed, it was a military solution that started the conflict.

Osama bin Laden’s words have been twisted and misrepresented to provide political points for several years now, but his original grievances were not about America’s immorality or the need for its total destruction.

His most concrete and consistent demands have always concerned the American occupation of Saudi Arabia and support of Israel.

It’s true that meeting these demands would probably not stop the most radical of the Islamic terror movement. But these concrete violations have always been the most successful recruiting tool of terrorist organizations.

Raving about the immorality of America might convince a few to go to war, but for most insurgents, the driving force behind their violence has been poverty and the obvious actions of the west.

Several studies of captured terrorists have borne this out—most are radicalized by pictures of degraded Muslims in Guantanamo Bay and occupation forces in Saudi Arabia than anger about America’s societal corruption.

The very way the west has been fighting the War on Terror has made the problem infinitely worse.

Bombed-out villages and murdered civilians are not just tragic and unnecessary, they are creating the enemy whom they are trying to destroy.

The best thing the west can do is live up to the ideals they are trying to promote abroad.

The best thing the west can do is live up to the ideals they are trying to promote abroad. Respect for human rights, individual liberty and responsible government have made more friends than occupations and bombs ever have and ever will.

The Arab Spring disproved the old notion that non-Europeans were simply incapable of achieving democracy on their own.

Thousands of people demonstrated against corrupt governments, most of them supported tacitly or openly by the west, and brought them down. It’s clear that we don’t need to introduce democracy around the world from the barrel of a gun, instead we need to set a responsible example.

The French in Mali might win in a shallow sense, but the intervention of a justly despised former colonial power is not going to make the west look charitable or benevolent. Ultimately, warfare seems to do more harm than good—who would have figured that? letters@thecord.ca

Dear Editor, The esteemed columnist’s analogy between being called stupid and Smith’s “criminal” act falls hopelessly short. A more fitting comparison can be found in a standard Laurier stall, where one makes a comment and another responds with ‘IDIOT!’ right below.

The columnist complains that “if you’re a university student with a non-left wing view and aren’t afraid to express this openly, you will be criticized”.

Yes, if you make your political or ideological beliefs public, then said public beliefs are subject to criticism.

Indeed, public beliefs ought to be scrutinized if we value objective reasoning as much as we should. I understand that being called dumb can be hurtful, but that doesn’t make it undemocratic.

If someone feigns expertise on a public issue and says something that is factually or conceptually bogus then it seems permissible to bring him down to earth.

Granted, the emotional baggage can make conversations heat up, even to the point of screaming, but if someone is a self-proclaimed knowledgeable citizen then they ought to accept the onus for effectively communicating their ideas.

Occasionally, expressing one’s beliefs may elicit a threatening response, but if such responses are the ‘norm’ then, usually, it’s not the whole left-wing world that is to blame.

Further, I find the esteemed columnist’s apparent lack of empathy for verbal abuse on both sides of the political spectrum troubling; it’s finger-pointing for the sake of a fight.

Let me make clear that I believe bullying to be a serious issue—but it’s one among many, and as long as the esteemed columnist promulgates passive acceptance that “some people just disagree”, the longer these issues will linger.

The article comes across as a plea for unchecked ideological preaching, when what is needed is a plea for persuasive thought that challenges those ideologies.

–Dyami Hayes

• 21

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Classifieds DearLIFE Dear Life is your opportunity to write a letter to your life, allowing you to vent your anger with life’s little frustrations in a completely public forum.

All submissions to Dear Life are anonymous, should be no longer than 100 words and must be addressed to your life.

Submissions can be sent to dearlife@ thecord.ca no later than Monday at noon each week.

Advertising Manager Angela Endicott angela.endicott@wlusp.com

Dear Life, I am astounded today with the number of people who don’t have any manners. It seems as if every generation is slowly losing respect for one another. When I say “hi” to someone and we make eye contact, and they don’t say anything and simply walk away, I think to myself “Their parents must have raised them better than this.” You don’t have to like me, I don’t care if you do or not, but at least act like a civil human being.

It makes you look bad, not me.

Sincerely, I hate being a part of this generation

WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY

Dear Life, I love Laurier. From the people who make me feel better in Health and Counseling Services, the students who serve me delicious food at Wilf’s, to the ladies who work at the Science Building Tim Horton’s who never cease to brighten my day.

I love all of you. You make Laurier a truly awesome place to go to school.

Sincerely, Lots of Love

rent from ANY other company.

Sincerely, Thanks for making this year a living hell

Dear Life, DO NOT rent from WOCH. They are negligent and disgusting. For the sake of your own health and safety,

Dear Life, I accidentally described myself to my new roommates as an easy going person. I must now suffer the consequences of being flashed by their genitals.

Sincerely, Can’t hold up a conversation with you’re washing dishes

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Dear Life, Accidentally picked up a copy of community Cord and panicked when I couldnt find my favourite section.

Sincerely, Yay regular Cord!

Dear Life, I sometimes sit in my bedroom with all the lights off so my room mates think I’m not home.

Sincerely, Trying to get some peace and quiet Dear Life, I understand that elections are important and our school is a ”democracy” (*cough*, *cough* definitely a popularity contest) but besides that the election booths in the concourse are taking up room for more bake sales and you know sometimes a girl just needs options when it comes to $1.00 brownies! LET’S TAKE BACK THE CONCOURSE! WHO NEEDS ELECTIONS WHEN WE CAN SUPPORT CAUSES BY BUYING SWEETS AND GETTING FAT! Sincerely, Leader of this revolution Dear life, If MyLearningSpace is down 95 per cent of the time, why the fuck do we still use it?!

Sincerely,

sick of this fucking bullshit Dear Life, James Popkie made a really bad first impression on me with Rape Prevention Needed. His article last week was 99 per cent less stupid, so props for that. I’d be an activist if the world of activism wasn’t so full of people like Smith, and I certainly can relate to Popkie’s experiences. What I’d like to know, though, is where can I find this wonderful, beautiful place where women have enough power that they have the option of exploiting it?

Sincerely, Missing out on something awesome Dear Life, Ever get that feeling where you wish you could go back in time and just change the past. I wish I had just said “hello.” One word is all it takes.

Sincerely, Out of my system Dear Life, How does a candidate with a 30 word platform, identical for two completely different positions, win election to both?!? Glad I’m graduating – good luck with your Board next year Laurier.

Sincerely, It’s a platform, not a tweet Dear Life, I did not realize that student elections had been degraded to a popularity contest, with candidates that couldn’t be bothered to submit a platform or submit one with real content. For the record, transparency is not an innovative idea. Also, I wonder how some of the election posters were approved despite their vulgarity.

Sincerely, Cannot believe you will be in charge of spending our money

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22 •

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013

SPORTS Lagonia returns overseas Sports Editor Shelby Blackley sblackley@thecord.ca

Former Laurier soccer star to play professionally in Italy’s Serie A JUSTIN FAUTEUX EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

When she was growing up in Kitchener, Alyssa Lagonia didn’t know it was even possible that the sport she loves could be her full-time job.

But that’s exactly what the former Laurier soccer star finds herself doing now. In late January, Lagonia joined the second professional team of her young career, earning a spot with ASD CF Bardolino Verona of Italy’s Serie A, the nation’s highest level of professional soccer.

“I never really thought this far ahead,” said Lagonia over Skype from her new home in Verona. “I always had my heart set on going to university and playing in university and that was where it started to become a real dream of mine.

Throughout university I found that that’s what I really wanted to do.”

Lagonia — who has had multiple stints with Canada’s national team — saw her professional career begin just a few months after her time at Laurier ended. After her Golden Hawks were eliminated from the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) final in November of 2011, Lagonia finished up the fall term at Laurier and by March of 2012, she had signed a contract with the Doncaster Rovers Belles LFC of England’s FA Women’s Super League.

While Lagonia said she certainly enjoyed playing in Doncaster, the league was only semi-professional.

This meant the players were only on the field two days a week, and most of them had to take on a second job.

Lagonia paid the bills by working in a local bar.

So after the English season ended in October and Lagonia spent a few months at home in Kitchener, she couldn’t resist when Bardolino offered a tryout in early January. A tryout that would eventually earn the 23-year-old her first full professional contract.

“We’re strictly here to play, which is amazing,” said Lagonia.

“We train a lot more often, we only have two days off a week, wheras in England we had five or four days off a week,” she added with a laugh.

However, the heavier training schedule isn’t the only adjustment Lagonia’s had to make in Italy.

“I have an Italian background, but I don’t know the language unfortunately,” she said, adding that she’s going to school to learn Italian. “I’ve already picked up quite a few things from the first few weeks being here, but it’s little steps. Very little steps.”

While Italy’s professional women’s league is certainly more established than England’s Super League — which has only existed for two years — Lagonia said she was surprised by the lack of support for women’s soccer in her new home.

“They’re pretty far behind, not when it comes to the level of play, but when it comes to respect,” she

“We’re strictly here to play, which is amazing.”

—Alyssa Lagonia, women’s soccer alumna said. “It’s not really considered something that women even do, playing football.”

Lagonia said that last year was the first time Italy recognized a female player of the year and hopes that the game continues to grow.

“It’s a slow process,” she said. “It’s definitely not something that’s going to happen over night. It’s going to take some time.”

Lagonia hasn’t been able to suit up for Bardolino — who is currently in fourth in Serie A — as she waits for her transfer from Doncaster to be finalized. However, it’s given her time to take stock of how lucky she is to be getting paid to play soccer.

“I’m doing the thing I absolutely love more than anything in the world,” she said. “As long as I’m healthy, I don’t see why I’d be stopping any time soon.”

ROSALIE EID FILE PHOTO

WLU coaches launch new team MacLean, Budalic to run K-W United FC SHELBY BLACKLEY SPORTS EDITOR

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thecord.ca

This week, the Kitchener-Waterloo region will welcome an entirely new level of soccer.

Head coach Barry MacLean and assistant coach Niki Budalic of Wilfrid Laurier’s women’s soccer team will be introducing a new Professional Development League (PDL) and W-League franchise in the area this upcoming season.

The W-League is the top level of professional women’s soccer in Canada.

The United Soccer League (USL) is composed of teams from across Canada and the United States and the PDL and W-League fall under its umbrella. According to MacLean, it is the longest standing professional soccer league in North America.

“The group that I’m working with had a team in Hamilton and we moved it as a Kitchener-Waterloo franchise,” said MacLean, president of the franchise in K-W. “We thought this was a better community that it would be more supportive, had a better soccer infrastructure and probably better corporate support. Just the demographics of the area were better.”

The PDL will have players that are playing in national competition for under-23, under-20 and under-17 teams from various academies and institutions.

MacLean mentioned that players have come up with some of the Major Soccer League (MLS) academies as well as the NCAA. “It serves as a developmental ground for all of the players,” said Budalic, who will act as the manager of operations. “If you look at the most recent MLS SuperDraft where

they’re drafting players into the top division here in North American, six players with PDL experience went in the top ten, 27 former PDL or Super-20 alumni were selected overall out of 38 spots.”

According to MacLean, the support around K-W has been overwhelming. The Kitchener Soccer Club has also joined the Kitchener franchise as a formal alliance.

“It’s kind of taken a life of its own and right now it’s got a real buzz,” he said.

A formal announcement will be made Wednesday afternoon to introduce the new franchise, which will be known as the K-W United FC. The league will hold open tryouts from April 19 to April 21, with their kick-off dinner being hosted on May 9.

K-W’s women’s team will start their season May 22 at home against London Gryphons, while the men’s team will start May 23 in Kentucky against the River City Rovers.

Although both MacLean and Budalic will be taking on roles with the franchise, they both say it will not intrude on their time with the Laurier soccer program.

Budalic also acts as an assistant coach to Mario Halapir, head coach of Laurier’s men’s soccer team.

“This is more of a complement to what we’re doing right now,” MacLean said.

“We’re hoping from a recruiting standpoint, this is an enhancement to the Laurier programs. From a fan base, [we are] hoping to create a better fan base with a couple alliances with youth clubs.

“Some of the players we have now [at Laurier], maybe this is a platform to help them go on to bigger things.”

• 23

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Brooker hits 50 goals SHELBY BLACKLEY SPORTS EDITOR

NICK LACHANCE PHOTOGRAPHY MANAGER

‘Purple looks good on me’ SHELBY BLACKLEY SPORTS EDITOR

When she was just a young girl playing at recess, Doreen Bonsu never would have thought basketball would be such a big part of her life.

Fast-forward to today and now she can’t believe she only has a few years left.

“I think about it … man, it’s going by fast,” said the third-year forward with a laugh.

Bonsu got hooked on the game merely because an ad for a rep team caught her eye.

“One of my good friends, Lauren Morris … I saw her picture and I said ‘oh, I should probably try out,’” Bonsu said.

Since then, it’s been hard to keep her off the court.

Through high school, Bonsu

played competitively in her hometown of Oakville, Ont. She helped out a friend in a scrimmage tournament at McMaster University, just playing as an extra player.

“We had a game against Laurier and [head coach Paul Falco] found me impressive,” Bonsu said.

“I never saw university basketball in my future,” she added. “I didn’t think I was good enough. So the fact that he had interest in me motivated me to work in my grade 12 year to improve myself for the university basketball experience.”

Laurier was the first school that recruited Bonsu, but it wasn’t her first academic choice. Brock University had caught her interest, as she wanted to go into teaching. Brock’s comprehensive concurrent education program was perfect for Bonsu. “[But] when I came on my visit to

Laurier, it was… I know everyone says it, the homey feeling because it’s cliché, but it’s true,” she said.

“And purple looks good on me.”

In 2010, Bonsu joined the women’s basketball squad.

Since then, motivation, determination and confidence have been the central aspects of Bonsu’s playing career, and evidently her life.

“I’ve definitely seen a lot of growth in myself and also in my game and also as a woman, a female athlete. A lot of confidence,” she said. “You improve your skills as a person, your traits, learn to work with different people, it’s an amazing overall experience.”

Bonsu also credited her first-year teammate and now Laurier assistant coach Renata Adamczyk for being a big part of her development.

“She was anything and everything

you could ask for in a role model,” said Bonsu. “She had great grades, she was an amazing basketball player, she’s definitely going to be a future hall of famer, and just having her as a role model, it just made the job easier.

“You have someone to back you up.”

Playing basketball during university has become a life changing experience for Bonsu, one of which has made her more confident with everything in her life.

She mentioned that life skills, leadership, self-esteem and teamwork all come from playing on the court.

“From basketball, there are so many avenues. It’s not just basketball. It stems out and helps you with so many other things and aspects of life.”

After a short drought, third-year forward Laura Brooker scored the 50th goal of her Golden Hawk career last Saturday against the Brock Badgers.

The women’s hockey team defeated the Badgers 8-0, allowing merely 18 shots against second-year goaltender Erika Thunder.

Brooker scored 5:48 into the second period to put the Hawks ahead of the Badgers 4-0.

“It feels great,” Brooker said. “I guess in a way, another milestone is over but I’m going to continue to play hard and just keep doing what I’m doing.”

The 50th tally makes Brooker the fourth player in Laurier women’s hockey history to hit the milestone, joining former Hawks Lisa Backman, Amy Turek and Andrea Ironside.

“They all brought so much to the team and put so much effort into it and I just want to put out the same effort and the same character they did as well,” Brooker said.

Brooker’s milestone goal was her 14th of the season, good enough to lead the Hawks in goal scoring and sit two points behind Brittany Crago with 23 overall points.

Laurier’s record is now 20-2-3 after a last-minute 3-2 loss to the Guelph Gryphons on Sunday.

Currently the Hawks sit first in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) standings, three points up on the Queen’s Gaels, who they will play in their regular season finale this Saturday in Kingston.

24 •

THE CORD • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013

sports

Men’s basketball ends losing streak Laurier wins battle of Waterloo, moves into fifth-place tie with Guelph Gryphons ERIC THOMPSON STAFF WRITER

CRISTINA RUCCHETTA LEAD PHOTOGRAPHER

Jamar Forde goes up for a shot during saturday’s 84-75 win over the Waterloo Warriors.

The Laurier men’s basketball team helped their playoff chase on Saturday, defeating the Waterloo Warriors 84-75.

The win gave them a four-point lead over Waterloo for the final playoff spot in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) West division.

“We came out with a lot of energy,” said second-year point guard Will Coulthard following the game.

“We knew we were better than these guys, we just had to show it from the start, push the tempo and get easy baskets and that’s how we like to play.”

Like it has been all season, Laurier’s offence was led by Coulthard and Max Allin.

Coulthard tied a school record for three-pointers in a game, with eight, and finished the game with 34 points.

“I felt good, I hit a few and then they kept coming from there,” said Coulthard.

“Once they start falling its easy after that.”

Allin added 23 points, going fivefor-six from beyond the arc. He also led the team with eight rebounds and nine assists.

Allin’s afternoon was highlighted by a miraculous shot at the end of the first quarter. Allin heaved it up from over 60 feet away to beat the buzzer and banked it in to give Laurier a 23-11 lead.

“I saw there [were] two seconds left when I got the ball,” Allin said.

“I was practicing earlier on in the day and I finally hit one, and it gave

Hawks fight for playoff position

Auction raises $5,500

Women’s basketball tied for third in OUA ASHLEY DENUZZO STAFF WRITER

Just inches from clinching a playoff berth, the Laurier Golden Hawks women’s basketball team is powering forward and hoping to earn a solid spot for the post-season.

And Saturday’s match against cross-town rivals, the Waterloo Warriors, was another step towards attaining that goal.

The 83-49 blowout bumped the team into third place in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) West division, holding the spot by virtue of tiebreakers over the Western Mustangs.

The 34-point differential also marked the largest margin of victory for the Hawks this season.

“We knew we had to get our game back after Wednesday’s performance,” said Laurier head coach Paul Falco.

“Our goal was to play a lot better defence.”

The Hawks took to the Warriors early in the first quarter with a 12-point lead.

The Warriors — who have yet to win a game this season — kept with the purple and gold late in the second quarter, but could not muster much offence.

Due to a number of injuries and illnesses, the Warriors only dressed nine players on Saturday, but their fatigue didn’t show until the fourth quarter, when the Hawks outscored them 24-9.

“They always battle tough,” said Laurier guard, Laura Doyle. “We had to come out strong and keep it

going.”

The Hawks forced 12 turnovers throughout the game, which led to 32 of their 83 points.

“We were just trying to deny the pass and try and get in the lanes,” Doyle explained.

“When they try and push it inside they’re effective so we just tried to put pressure on them.”

Doyle put up 12 points, good enough to tie her for the team-high with teammate Doreen Bonsu. Bonsu also led the squad with the most rebounds of the game with nine.

Following wins from Laurier and Western on Saturday, the Hawks and Mustangs sit with identical records at 9-8. McMaster sits two points behind after a loss to Western Saturday afternoon.

The Hawks have four games left in the regular season, and could still potentially miss the playoffs.

“Our goal is to try and peak in February,” Falco said, who noted the tight race in the standings.

“We have to really only take one game at a time.”

Next up, the Hawks take on the No. 7 Brock Badgers, who are resting comfortably in second in the West behind the Windsor Lancers.

Brock’s only loss came against the Marauders in a “[A win] is a chance for us to stay ahead,” Falco said.

Laurier faces Brock Wednesday night at 6 p.m. at the Athletic Complex and will be on the road this weekend travelling to Western.

Laurier’s final home game will be also against Western on Feb. 16 at 1 p.m.

us a nice boost.”

Despite Laurier’s strong start, Waterloo would battle back and keep the game interesting.

However, the Hawks put the game out of reach after starting the final quarter with an 18-2 run.

Garrison Thomas was the only other Laurier player to reach double digits, finishing with 11 points.

“We’ve been in a slump lately and we needed to get a win,” said Allin.

“They beat us last time and we came out today with a lot of energy and getting a lot of shots.”

The win ended the team’s threegame losing streak — dropping a pair of games last weekend to Lakehead and another to McMaster on Wednesday — and put them in a prime position for the final stretch.

With four games remaining, the Hawks can control their playoff fate.

Currently in sixth place, with games against Brock, Guelph and two against the bottom dwellers, the Western Mustangs, winning out could launch the team all the way to fourth in the OUA West.

“We know we can beat the teams we’re playing against,” Coulthard said.

“We’ve already beat a couple so if we play hard and play with energy we’ll be okay.”

The Hawks look like they will be without third-year and former OUA West rookie of the year Patrick Donnelly for the remainder of the season, as Donnelly reportedly quit the team earlier in the week.

Laurier will be back in action Wednesday night when they host the Brock Badgers. The game tips off at 8 p.m.

SHELBY BLACKLEY SPORTS EDITOR

ADAM gAgNON LAURIER ATHLETIcS

Laura Doyle attempts a layout during saturday’s game against UW.

Wilfrid Laurier’s men’s basketball team gave their star player a little bit more support Saturday, hosting a silent auction in support of the ALS Society of Canada on Saturday.

The fundraiser was held in honour of third-year guard Max Allin’s father, who passed away from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) last month.

The team’s manager Meagan Davis coordinated the event, saying that she found overwhelming support from the community, players and the Allin family.

“A few of the guys and I were talking about just supporting Max and his family and it kind of hit me,” said Davis. “It was on the way back from one of our games and we all turned to each other and were like ‘we should do a fundraiser.’”

Starting at 1 p.m., the fundraiser took place during the Golden Hawks’ basketball games Saturday afternoon.

The event raised approximately $5,500. Items included tickets for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors and Kitchener Rangers, autographed memorabilia, gym memberships, food packages, appliances and much more.

“I started getting the donations last Wednesday and they haven’t stopped coming in,” Davis said. “I went around to local businesses and then the support from the community has just been incredible.

“The community has come together and it really is an overwhelming feeling.”