January 4, 2012

VOLUME 21 ISSUE 14 JANUARY 4, 2012

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PHOTO BY CORY HOPE

TRU’s Independent Student Newspaper

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January 4, 2012

Feature Wikipedia increasingly used as a teaching tool in university classrooms

Online resource gives student writing larger readership Andrew Jeffrey

The Gateway (U of A) EDMONTON (CUP) — A handful of University of Alberta classes have introduced Wikipedia to their classrooms as a teaching resource this past semester, despite criticisms about the website’s credibility in educational institutions.

The initiative to integrate Wikipedia into classes began in the United States with the Wikimedia Foundation’s Wikipedia Education Program, but has expanded globally to include classes in Canada and India.

Professors use the website by replacing traditional writing or research assignments with students writing Wikipedia articles or improving pre-existing pages.

“In addition to getting all the benefits from a traditional research assignment, (students) are also learning new media literacy skills.

“They’re being exposed to a growing Wiki culture, and they’re being exposed to a very

real and very relevant social media phenomenon,” said Jonathan Obar, Wikipedia’s educations co-ordinator for Canada.

Obar is responsible for reaching out to Canadian universities and encouraging schools to use Wikipedia.

Originally the program’s goal was to improve the poor quality of many Wikipedia articles on social sciences.

Instead of hiring content experts to fix the problem, the idea of giving students the experience to rewrite them was implemented instead.

“The real goal is to promote Wikipedia as a tool for innovative e-pedagogy,” Obar said.

“That’s the main thrust of the initiative at this point. There are other goals that go along with that, like bridging divides between the university community and Wikipedia, and teaching students new media literacy skills.”

Paula Marentette is one U of A professor who uses Wikipedia for her classes.

The cognitive psychology professor listed her class on the program’s Canadian Education portal, but has no affiliation with the program.

Marentette, who had never used Wikipedia before the start of this term, sees the benefits in the program, but is measured with her praise.

“From my perspective, this will make [students’] writing more meaningful to them. In a discipline like psychology, students think of an essay as something they write for me, and really that’s very true,” Marentette said.

“Few other people —Paula Marentette will read that work they do in a typical class essay. Here, students were thrilled and scared to hear that other people will read this.

“Until it’s happened a few times and people get some expertise in it, I don’t know if we really know what its potential is,” Marentette added.

“I don’t really need another f laming hoop for students. If they’re not benefiting from it, then I don’t need to do it.”

Jennifer Branch-Mueller, a professor in the U of A’s teacher-librarianship by distance learning program, sees another possible benefit from students using Wikipedia.

“From my perspective, this will make [students’] writing more meaningful to them. ”

PHOTO BY SAM BROOKS/THE GATEWAY Besides presenting their writing to a broader audience, digital evidence of these contributions also prepares students for pursuing careers after graduation.

“Having something on Wikipedia, having an e-por tfolio, contributing to discussion and blogging, whatever it is, is good for a positive digital presence,” Branch-Mueller explained.

“We always talk about digital citizenship, and it’s really impor tant that students think about if their employers are going to Google you, what are they going to see about you online?”

The Wikimedia Foundation also sees this program as benef icial not just for students, as their contributions can help to infor m a global audience.

“There’s this student at Georgetown University that, in the f irst semester

of the public policy initiative about a year and a half ago, completely re-did an ar ticle about the democratic par ty in Egypt,” Obar said.

“While the ar ticle was being edited and after wards, a revolution happened in Egypt. So that student’s ar ticle, the ter m paper that he did for his class, has received more than 100,000 hits since the ar ticle was f inished.”

Results like this have swayed professors for merly skeptical of Wikipedia to see its use in the classroom.

Marentette says she’ll use Wikipedia again next ter m, but plans to evaluate it after ward to deter mine whether to continue with the initiative.

“I would not use this in ever y course I teach forever, but I think that there’s a place where this works,” Marentette said.

It doesn’t make sense to not do this Mike Davies Editor-in-Chief

Let’s be honest. Most of the time when you’re researching a topic online nowadays you scan its Wikipedia page first — if only to get your bearings on the subject.

You can’t use it as a cited source but it’s a handy place to get your head wrapped around a concept, figure out a place to focus on the topic and even find good links to reputable sources you can cite as research.

Wouldn’t it be nice for Wikipedia to develop into a reputable source itself ?

The idea of having post-secondary students update or produce Wikipedia pages as part of their curriculum leads down that path, I think.

Think about it.

The people who run Wikipedia simply don’t have time to scour their ever-growing database for falsities or inaccuracies contained in the massive amount of content on their servers.

If we begin to peer-review things that go up on those servers as part of our studies, we gradually make the source more reliable — and having more reliable sources is a benefit to everyone.

I believe the sharing of information is the most important way to develop as a species.

The formation and spread of the Internet has led to substantial gains in the education of humanity, as access to information is obviously at an all-time high.

But false information does not help anyone, and in fact hinders our growth as people.

I believe that cleaning up inaccurate information in a place so commonly used as Wikipedia can only be a benefit.

If it helps get students’ names out in the academic community (which with the continuation and integration of these programs Wikipedia could become a member of ), that makes it that much more important an endeavour.

Students could potentially have the opportunity to get their names out without having to go through all the rigmarole of getting a paper published.

If this becomes commonplace in academia, eventually Wikipedia might gain some respect as an academic source, and the ever-so-common first stop in your research will actually become useful as more than just a leaping-off point.

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January 4, 2012

THE

MEGA

www.theomega.ca

January 4, 2012

Volume 21, Issue 14

Published since November 27, 1991

editorialstaff EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Mike Davies

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Cory Hope

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Editorial

Welcome back, all!

A quick note on that subject: I sincerely hope you had a We happily encourage discuscheerful, relaxing break between semesters and that you are ready sion on the pieces we produce for to go for another round of as- you, either in email form or as signed readings, group projects, comments on our website.

We do, however, ask that you research papers and exams. add something I spent the intelligent to the break working conversation. on our website We are a post(theomega.ca), a secondary instibit on the physitution after all, cal layout as and if your prowell as getting fessor asked you our staff and for a response regular contribuon a reading in tors ready for class, “I didn’t this semester, so like it,” wouldn’t hopefully you be an acceptable will enjoy all our answer — you’d efforts over the be expected to coming months. add something to You can now the discussion. find Omega conEditor’s Note We expect the tent on the websame. site categorized Mike Davies I genuinely by section (news, Editor-in-Chief thank those of editorial, sports, etc.) and can check out full issues you who engage with us on this level and hope it continues into with only a couple of clicks.

Hopefully this makes perusing the future.

It helps us get better as a media the Omega online easier. Your source, and allows you a venue feedback is welcome.

We’re also hiring another edi- to get your opinion out there as well. tor.

For now I’ll leave you to your Check the ad on page eight and get some writing samples and studies and again wish you a your resume in if you think you’d prosperous winter semester.

Study hard and learn a lot — like to be a part of the paper.

Even if you’re not interested in but remember to engage with a position with the paper, we en- those around you as well.

Find a club that shares your incourage student participation in the form of photography, article terests, volunteer to help out with ideas, editorials or even short a humanitarian fundraiser or just spend some time getting to know stories and poems.

We’re your TRU community your fellow students in a non-acnewspaper, so you as the commu- ademic setting.

University isn’t just about that nity get input about the content.

I remind you to check us out on piece of paper at the end — it’s Facebook and follow us on Twit- about the experience.

Have some fun and get inter (@TRU_Omega) for updates on what’s going on with the pa- volved, wherever your interests per, stories we’re working on for lie. upcoming editions or to complain editorofomega@gmail.com about what we’re doing wrong.

Dear Nickelback,

Playing scrabble against you I’ve been able to bottle it up until now. It’s been boiling in the back- would be a joy, but would lack ground, but I but a lid on it and let the mental stimulation of washing it be. But now — now you’ve done dishes.

But the thing that bothers me the it.

No, it’s not the US Thanksgiv- most is that you exist.

You are proof that marketing ing’s Day NFL debacle.

And it’s not really the Grey Cup is more powerful than culture or taste. performance.

You project an idea of masculinThe thing that put me over the edge and forced my hand in writ- ity that is not only unhealthy to the ing this is the fact you have — once individual, but also the society.

You’re creating an army of unagain — ended up (almost) at the thinking clones looktop of US record sales. ing at your lifestyle Of the top 10 albums and agreeing that last week in the US, sure, getting drunk off Canadians were one, cheap corporate beer two, three and six. The and watching guys others were Buble, fight on TV is probDrake and Bieber. ably what I want to Buble: great guy, sap achieve in my life. music, he’s a wash to You are run by marme. keting executives so Drake: don’t know morally bankrupt I bet him and that’s enough. tobacco lobbyists meet Bieber? Inauthentic up with them to hear bubble-gum crap, but Kergin’s Take tales of the darkside. at least we know it.

And that’s where my But you, mister “our anger lies. Not with the name is the grammatically incorrect way to give change man-children up on stage, reliving fantasies of junior high. to a customer,” I take issue with.

It’s the Nickelback that exists in It’s not just that I dislike the muthe boardroom, that are parasites sic.

The music is — almost literally to all those around them. What’s most painful about it is not just that illegal.

It’s so similar, the only reason they exist, corrupting the very idea it’s not plagiarizing is that you’re of culture to fit it in a wallet, is the fact that Nickelback is still apparnot willing to sue yourself.

It has all the sonic creativity of ently relevant, what, 10 years after their only real hit? a muffler.

Since then it’s been a constant But ok, so you don’t intend to revolutionize the way music is ctrl C, ctrl V on to album after alplayed. No one is comparing you bum.

So where does that leave us? I’m to, well, any worthwhile musician.

The lyrics I find more offensive. not sure about you, but I’m going to go listen to a three year-old bang They’re the WWE of poetry.

Half are sappiness repackaged on a pot.

Sure, it may not be produced to for testosterone based life forms.

The other half seem to be based on someone’s idea of sonic perfection, but at least its authentic. a half-dozen KISS songs.

Are you a TRU club that wants some ink?

We have a deal for you.

Contact us for details!

Know your community

Amy Berard

Omega Contributor Many students invest their time and money in post-secondar y education with the assumption that they will have a more comfor table future because of it.

It has become an expectation that young professionals with some type of cer tif ication from a university will receive a higher salar y and better benef its than those without.

The hourly wage you should be tr ying to beat upon convocation is $17.27.

This is considered the “living wage” for 2011 in Kamloops.

A “living wage” is the hourly rate that a household requires to meet its basic needs.

The typical household is comprised of two adults working full time at 35 hours per week

and two children ages four and seven.

The wage includes costs of essentials in its calculation like rent, transportation, and childcare, but it does not include debt repayment, home ownership, investments, or any extracurricular activities.

The living wage is enough to ensure that a Kamloops family does not suffer through extreme financial difficulties and meets a simple level of economic security.

The calculation is based off a template from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

All data used in the calculation is gathered from 2010.

The living wage was calculated last summer in Kamloops

by TRU economics student, Jeff Hicks, as part of his coop work term with United Way. He worked under the guidance of a Changing the Face of Pov-

erty subcommittee that included United Way as a non-profit member.

After his calculations, Hicks created a special topics course at TRU which allowed three more economics students to conduct follow-up research this past fall.

They were responsible for a literature review of international living-wage practices and implementing a labour market survey through the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce.

The next stage of the living wage initiative is to continue to raise awareness of the cost of living in Kamloops and gather more research.

Another TRU student will be hired by United Way to analyze the data from the labour market survey.

This information will help in educating local businesses on how they can support families.

Although the living wage cal-

culation is based on a young family, the research impacts TRU students.

Many of us will graduate with a large student debt and be thinking about starting a family within the next 10 years.

It is important to move people out of poverty and into an affordable and secure lifestyle that will strengthen our community.

The living wage calculation helps Kamloops begin to address the root causes of poverty in our community and build a network of support.

With TRU students participating in the research stages of initiatives such as these, we are directly impacting the futures of those in need.

Amy Berard is a TRU business student as well as the TRU campus liaison for United Way. To get connected with the community, email her at youth@ unitedwaytnc.ca

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January 4, 2012

News In case you missed it, Kergin’s got you covered: Things you probably didn’t see happening around you last month

Brendan Kergin

National

News Editor

Global *The US House of Representatives (Congress to friends) is looking at a bill that could change the landscape of the internet.

While it is still in debate, the Stop Online Piracy Act is a pretty potent piece of legislation, and its effects would be felt across the web. It will allow for greater protection of copyright material, putting the onus more on websites.

Fans of SOPA include content creators like the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) which is essentially Hollywood and pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer. As the bill could shutdown sites like Youtube, Flickr and Etsy, there’s a pretty strong opposition. There are over a dozen separate arguments against the bill and international flak about how the US is looking to unilaterally change the web.

It may turn into the biggest story you never pay attention to in 2012. *Well, you probably did hear some of this, but you may have mistaken Kim Jong-Il for Lil’ Kim. Tons of twitterers did (point of fact: Lil’ Kim is shorter by a couple of inches, unless you count the fact Kim Jong-Il is horizontal now).

North Korea wept, according to their PR machine and one of JongIl’s sons took over. Best guess is that he’s less crazy than his pops, but if you read the lists of crazy junk Kim Jong-Il did, that’s still not too comforting. *Democracy in the Middle East!

At least for some.

Egyptians were lining up for kilometres as part of their three stage election, which is wrapping up soon. Islamic-based parties are doing well, but there is a diverse field of political ideals being represented.

On the flip side to that, the Syrian government is regularly opening fire on protesters, while Yemen and Bahrain are looking at political riots on a fairly regular basis.

The Arab Spring, as it was dubbed almost a year ago, doesn’t seem to have faded after Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Protests also occurred in Moscow on a size not seen in Vladimir Putin’s rather dour reign. To add to that, some international pundits are looking at sub-Saharan dictatorships to see if the unrest is heading south.

*The controversial Long Gun Registry started by the Liberal government is almost gone.

Stephen Harper’s Tory majority is looking to scrap it soon, after the first two readings of the bill before their holiday break. Bill C-19 is still full of controversies though, from Conservative MP Jim Hillyer’s finger gun celebration in the House of Commons, to the ability for government documents to be scrapped without the normal process, to the fact that the police in many cities and the RCMP support the registry.

The government has pre-empted the abolishment of the registry with an ad campaign celebrating the fact. Fiscally responsible bragging? *The At Home program, funded by the federal government, is actually turning up some interesting, positive results.

The program has been running for a few years as a research project essentially. The program is helping the mentally ill by providing housing for them first instead of treating their substance abuse or mental illness temporarily and then releasing them. The program is actually turning decent results.

While the program sounds counter to the Harper government’s style, it may prove to be financially smart as well. The cost of dealing with some of the homeless can be quite high, with irregular issues and police incidents. How often do you seen the police having to deal with the homeless?

Providing a basic, safe home has not only positive results in the lives of those now housed, it’s also decreasing resource strain in other areas. *A new trend in post-secondary studies (that’s us) is starting to gain interest in smaller schools in Canada.

The idea is called a block plan.

The concept is to take a semester long course, and cram it into an intensive two or three-week long course, with nothing else. Instead of having four or five courses simultaneously with professors assigning papers all at the same time creating “crunches” the idea is to spread out the work while condensing the class time.

Both UNBC and Quest University are using it in B.C. Quest is actually entirely block plan, and students seem to enjoy it, saying it helps keep things in order and allows them to focus and put one

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class before another.

Some professors also prefer the block system, so it may be an idea to keep an eye on TRU programs.

Provincial *Prepare to pay more in tax on a series of things in the upcoming year.

Health premiums for families of two or more are going up.

And so are the ICBC insurance rates just after that.

And the gas tax is going up a cent a litre as well.

Oh, and hydro is up a little too.

While none of these are massive hikes, the term “nickel and diming you to death” comes to mind.

On the upside, the HST, which cost the average consumer slightly more than the PST, will be gone soon...ish, in 2013. *The best protected person in a liquor store may not be the cop, the gang member, or the clerk. It could easily be the liquor inspector.

The provincial government is looking to purchase some bulletresistant vests for their inspectors. These would protect them against most hand guns, which is nice. However the CBC was unable to find an incident reports of any inspectors being shot at or threatened.

Perhaps a better use for those vests would be for late-night convenience store clerks. *With Keystone taking all the oil pipeline controversy news coverage, it’s easy to forget there is another one crossing our province.

Plans have more or less been drawn up for Enbridge Northern Gateway project, and the process is now going to a series of hearings on safety and environmental impact.

The schedule looks to leak into 2013, so while Keystone will probably have a decision before then, many local eyes will be looking at a line from Kitimat to north of Edmonton.

As usual, the proponets of the project seem to be the oil industry, China, the federal government, those looking to bring jobs north and political supporters of large natural resource business opportunities.

Opponents include aboriginal groups, some communities living near the projected pipeline, environmentalists and groups protesting the oil sands in Alberta.

Classic.

Local *In hyper-local news, there has been some name changing at TRU. The School of Tourism has been changed to Faculty of Adventure, Culinary Arts and Tourism.

This has disappointed one Omega staffer who was hoping for the Faculty of Culinary Adventures and Artistic Tourism.

Also, in the School of Business and Economics there used to be a blandly named Department of Management. This has been split up into the dynamically named Department of Accounting and Finance, the exciting and explosive Department of Marketing, International Business and Entrepreneurship and the still rather bland Department of Management.

One Omega staff member’s suggestion of a Department of Absolutely Magnificent Names has again gone by the wayside. DAMN. *The heavily debated Ajax Mine has made it past one major logical hurdle. An economic study released recently says that the mine is economically viable.

Like any good business, that’s one important fact.

The mine discussion is still in its early stages though, and the mine still has many other issues it has to pass before being given the go ahead.

As it’s inside Kamloops city limits and not far from a couple of elementary schools, there is plenty of debate to be had, and over the next couple of months there will be opportunities to speak with environmental agencies from the provincial and federal governments. *Skaters and BMXers rejoice.

But first stick the landing.

A new indoor park has opened up in a warehouse on Dalhousie Dr. The park not only provides a space for winter riding, but also allows parents a place for kids to go and be safe.

While McArthur Island Park’s tournament capital skate park is most excellent, it’s an outdoors park, and inherently less safe.

However, while the owner is encouraging kids to get into skateboarding and similar activities, he’s also seeing 40-year-old men show up for a ride.

5

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January 4, 2012

Arts & Entertainment

Holiday Movie Showdown: New Year’s edition Cory Hope

Arts and Entertainment Editor New Year’s Eve is a time for making promises to yourself that you have no intentions of keeping.

Whether it be to quit smoking, get fit, write a novel, or kill fewer rabbits by means of accidental vehicular homicide, New Year’s Eve is the reset button for many people.

The promises one makes to one’s self on this night, with the knowledge in advance that these goals will, in all likelihood, go unfulfilled, make New Year’s Eve the perfect scapegoat for movies based on an apocalypse of one kind or another, so this week I have decided to submit myself to a few and compare them.

On the roster this holiday (if you want to call New Year’s a holiday instead of an excuse to imbibe, which is a more realistic description) are: The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Strange Days (1995), End of Days (1999) and 2012 (2009).

I know that 2012 isn’t technically a New Year’s movie, but as we’re headed into this dreaded year I thought I’d add it in there.

(As a side note, I came up with a theory that the Mayans actually didn’t bother hiring a new calendar person when the last one passed away, because they figured they had it covered for a while. Then, after the Mayans moved out of the temples and some became tour guides, they found it was to their financial benefit to simply let paranoid people continue to visit and study why it was that they stopped the calendars at that point.)

So let’s start with 2012.

This was the first movie I’ve ever watched on Blu-Ray, despite having had a Blu-Ray player for months now.

Because it has been my feeling that buying a high definition TV set, an HDMI cable and a Blu-Ray player actually makes movies look worse than they do on a regular DVD, I only ended up with the Blu-Ray player because it was on sale.

2012 probably wasn’t the right place to start with this format, as my brain cells began systematically shutting themselves down as soon as I pushed ‘Play’, probably in an effort to preserve themselves for something worth absorbing, like beer.

2012 was one of those movies that I knew had been all hype, with mil-

lions upon millions of dollars spent on special effects, production and advertising.

This usually doesn’t leave too much in the budget left over to hire people like screenwriters, and as a result the spectacle of visual effects goes on and on without ever taking a pause long enough to develop much in the way of plot.

Also falling by the wayside were the characters.

None of them were developed enough to care about in the slightest.

I had a greater emotional investment in whether or not I would get a late fine returning the movie than I had in the death of any of the characters, and the level of suspense was never elevated because the central characters were always gathered together.

You knew the plane was going to make it because John Cusack was on board.

What they should have done was incorporate other movies into 2012.

“2012: Snakes on the Plane” would have added to the tension.

With a running time of 156 minutes, there was plenty of time to add some character development or some plot.

I’m going to have to award 2012 a total of minus two points for wasting so much of my time without so much as making me laugh once along the way.

Next up on our list is going to be End of Days.

Watching an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie is a little bit like picking up at a bar: there’s a chance it might be fun, but odds are you’ll end up hating yourself the next day, and you’ll hesitate before telling your friends about it.

End of Days, much like 2012, should have been a good movie.

To quote the movie Taps, “it was the wrong execution of the right idea.”

A plot that the devil possesses a human who needs to mate with a beautiful young girl on the last hour of the millennium in order to take over the world?

The Catholic Church conspiring to kill her in order to prevent it? This should have been great.

While it was better than 2012, I’m not entirely convinced that this wasn’t simply a matter of the overall running time of the film.

James Cameron fails yet again, Schwarzenegger does what he does, Cusac et al are in need of some writers and a flick Cory remembers from when he was a kid turns out to be the winner of the New Year’s Holiday Showdown because of it.

It clocked in at a mere 121 minutes, thus wasting half an hour less of my time.

The only advantage to Arnie making films like this abysmal turd is that it keeps him out of politics and away from the nanny.

Total score: zero points. I would have rated it a minus one, but Robin Tunney was really cute in this flick.

While Arnie is known for making bad movies (by my own standards), James Cameron wrote Aliens. Yeah, that’s right. Aliens. And he wrote The Abyss.

And I’ll never forgive him for not stopping Avatar from being produced.

The whole thing should have been made into a 20-minute short showcasing what was possible with the technology they had developed, rather

than a three-hour rehashing of stories that amounted to nothing more than Dances With Ferngully.

Maybe he’s just been in a rut, but it would appear to be a long one.

Strange Days was the one movie I thought might actually be good out of the ones I rented for this review, which had me a little bit scared.

What would I do if I really like it?

Could it be that I’d sit down and watch Titanic?

I still haven’t seen Titanic, and after seeing Strange Days, I think I’m going to give up on having any expectations out of a James Cameron movie.

I will award this one a few points, however, for some good-looking girls and decent overall production values.

What do you think that’s worth?

Three? Four? I’m going to say three,

and not bother subtracting points from this one out of spite.

Avatar... really, Cameron? Really?

Last up on the list for my New Year’s Movie Showdown is The Poseidon Adventure.

A classic that was remade a few years ago, I remember watching this movie when I was about 10 years old, and I was excited about seeing it again.

I’ll have to tell you about it next year, though, because I fell asleep before the boat got flipped over, so my current review would sound like an ominous episode of The Love Boat.

I won’t bother scoring this one, but my ten-year-old self is telling you to check this one out.

Happy New Year.

Get tickled by Elmo: Documentary tells the story of how Kevin Clash got to Sesame Street and beyond Chris Hanna

The Concordian (Concordia) MONTREAL (CUP) — Kevin Clash had an enormous impact on your childhood.

The name doesn’t ring a bell?

He’s the man behind and under the scenes at Sesame Street and the puppeteer responsible for making Elmo one of the most beloved characters of all-time and the children’s show’s biggest star.

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey tells Clash’s story, from beyond-humble beginnings in Baltimore, Md., to being one of the most sought puppeteers in the world; from dreaming about being on Sesame Street, to running the show. Narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, the 80-minute documentary includes interviews with Clash’s parents, George and Gladys, Frank Oz, Cheryl Henson and Rosie O’Donnell, among others.

Clash is so humble; his shyness makes you wonder how someone like him can voice Elmo, a three-and-a-half-year-old furry red monster.

There isn’t a moment in the film that seems

lost. Every interview and archival video helps to tell his story. But to say that the documentary only tells Clash’s story would be inaccurate: it also tells Elmo’s, who wasn’t always as popular as he is today.

In the ’70s and early ’80s, before Clash had his hand in him, Elmo spoke like a caveman and the puppeteers and writers on Sesame Street dreaded coming up with storylines for him.

No one knew what to do with Elmo until 1985, when Clash gave the puppet the high-pitched falsetto and iconic laugh that made Tickle Me Elmo one of the most popular and best-selling toys in history.

In the doc, Rosie O’Donnell, who had Elmo on her talk show regularly, says she got a call from television mogul Aaron Spelling asking her if she could get him a Tickle Me Elmo doll.

In less than a decade, the red monster no one wanted turned into the Sesame Street character no one could get enough of.

Sesame Street producers wanted to get another puppeteer to meet the demand for Elmo appearances, but Clash refused.

For 26 years (and counting), he has been the

sole voice and hand for Elmo in North America.

Frank Oz said his inspiration for Miss Piggy was to think of her as a truck driver who wanted to be a woman.

Clash thought Elmo should represent love.

People love Elmo because Elmo genuinely loves people.

When he was 10, Clash created his first puppet, a monkey named Mundy, by re-purposing one of his father’s favourite suits that he found in his parents’ closet.

From then on, he was hooked. He wished he could crawl through his family’s television set and onto Sesame Street and work with Jim Henson, his hero and inspiration.

He continued making puppets with the materials he could find and afford, but he realized that the eyes were never quite right, and the great furs, threads and fabrics were too expensive.

“With the Muppets,” he also realized, “you never saw the seams.”

Though his puppets weren’t perfect yet, Clash was getting work on a local children’s television program.

Suddenly, the people teasing him at school

about playing with dolls were silenced.

On a high school trip to New York City, he broke from his group to meet with Kermit Love, the man who built Big Bird and Mr. Snuffleupagus and would later introduce Clash to master puppeteer Jim Henson.

There, he learned that the secret to the Henson stitch was using fleece; the fabric is fantastic at hiding seams.

Being Elmo is a must-see, and not just for nostalgia’s sake: it is an inspiring look at a man who followed his dreams when naysayers mocked him.

It’s a feel-good, happy film that will have you smiling from beginning to end with just enough emotional punch to tug at your heartstrings.

Check your pulse if scenes of terminally ill children meeting Elmo don’t make your eyes water.

There is no doubt that Clash has come a long way from his Baltimore days financially, but there is also no doubt that Clash would be doing what he does even if he wasn’t getting paid.

In Being Elmo, he finally receives the credit he deserves.

7

The Omega · Volume 21, Issue 14

Life & Community Geocache is Back! And you don’t even have to leave campus!

Cory Hope

Arts and Entertainment Editor Geocaching is back, in a limited capacity. After a long hiatus the Omega Expeditionary Force is limbering up to try and get you outside to have a look around the Kamloops area.

This time it’s going to happen about once a month, and is slightly modified from traditional geocaching.

Rather than getting prizes out to the winner, there will simply be a prize of some sort waiting for you at the geocache if you happen to be the first one there.

If you feel like being a sport about it, you can replace it with something else, so that if someone else finds it, the game can continue.

This month’s cache can be found on campus, because this new version of geocach-

ing is in its beta-testing phase. I thought it was fitting to have the prize ref lect what I’m trying to do here, so for your efforts, if you’re the first one there, you will be the proud winner of a brand new, still-in-thepackaging, Betamax video tape.

You’re probably asking yourself what Betamax is, and I can’t say I blame you.

It was a video format developed by Sony in 1975, one year before JVC came up with VHS. Although generally regarded as being a better quality system than VHS, for various reasons Betamax fell out of favour with the consumer markets and eventually Sony discontinued producing Betamax completely in 2002.

So what good will a blank cassette do you in this life?

Well, it’s awesome, for one thing.

Simply by virtue of owning this and keeping it up on display, you gain three

points of awesome.

If you happen to find a Betamax player, you could record some of your favourite programs, and refuse to loan it to people claiming “I only have it on Betamax.”

That should be reason enough, so I’m not going to bother telling you any more about it.

Other than how to find the cache, of course.

There are two methods.

The first is the traditional “here are the co-ordinates, have a good time” method of finding it, and the second is my new version, the “download the treasure map” way.

Here’s the old way for you: 50¡ 40’ 16.05” N 120¡ 21’ 33.04” W. Boring, right?

Okay, now try this: http://bit.ly/vRVUtN Download the PDF from that link and print it out or put it on your phone, and enjoy.

Essays, term papers, and theses will be improved by experienced editors.

Ensure your work is free of spelling, grammar and punctuation errors.

Reasonable rates from professional editors.

Go to AccuEditor.com *Ask about our Student Discounts!

International Days

February 6–10, 2012 MC115597

Looking for Volunteers International Days 2012 requires the help of many enthusiastic volunteers doing a variety of jobs.

Some volunteer perks include:

• Meal vouchers • Volunteer T-shirt • Certificate of recognition • Hours can be applied towards the Global Competency credential

• Adds volunteer experience to your résumé • Helps create a globally-minded campus • Networking opportunities • Make new friends

Volunteer Orientation Sessions: Date

Time

Place

January 23

4:00–6:00pm

TRUSU Boardroom

January 25

3:00–5:00pm

OM 1761

January 31

3:00–5:00pm

TRUSU Boardroom

February 2

4:30–6:30pm

TRUSU Boardroom

To apply or for more information contact: Krista Bergmann, Events Coordinator 250.852.6449 or email: internationaldays@tru.ca

facebook.com/international.days.2012

www.tru.ca/internationaldays

www.theomega.ca

WANT BETTER GRADES?

I’m hoping to get a few caches done this year using only maps instead of coordinates, so let me know what you think of the idea by emailing me at cory.hope@ gmail.com Download the PDF from that link and print it out or put it on your phone, and enjoy.

I’m hoping to get a few caches done this year using only maps instead of co-ordinates.

Let me know what you think of the idea.

With a little luck, and enough people playing, maybe we’ll be able to get the geocache back as a regular feature in the Omega.

It’s the perfect excuse for me to get outside more often, like my new year’s resolution list says I’m supposed to do.

I’m going to go ahead and assume you wrote that one down, too.

Community Calendar Not too let us know much at: happening editorofomega@ gmail.com yet around campus.

But when It’s free there is, this advertising, is where and it’s you’ll find now in it. glorious If you have colour! an event you think students should want to attend— if only they knew about it—

8

January 4, 2012

Arts & Entertainment Found satire: Breaking Dawn has tenuous relationship with its own heteronormativity Jonathan Petrychyn The Carillion (U of R)

REGINA (CUP) — Twitter user @georgelazenby, who is almost certainly not the actor best known for playing James Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, but rather an anonymous Californian writing insane but often intelligent 140-character gems, tweeted this recently: “Found satire–n. 1: a thing made in earnest but which assumes the form its own parody would take.”

If he hadn’t appended a link to a PolitiChicks video to his tweet, you’d almost think he was talking about the Twilight saga.

The Twilight saga is an earnestly made, heteronormative coming-of-age tale of men as heroes and women as victims that takes itself so seriously that it ends up just becoming a parody of itself, a self-satirizing nightmare.

Breaking Dawn Pt. 1 follows in its predecessors’ footsteps but goes further, having circled from being blissfully naive about its self-satirizing nature to becoming truly self-aware and actively engaging in self-satire.

Breaking Dawn becomes a film that actively plays to the expectations of both its fanbase and its haters. If the general mood of Twilight — in terms of its relationship to Bella and to its own style — was one of ignorance, then Breaking Dawn is about awareness.

Most critics have written off the film as just a simple boy-

meets-girl that reinforces the heteronormative establishment.

But there’s a telling moment early on in the film where, in a f lashback, Edward is shown killing a man in a theatre that’s showing Bride of Frankenstein.

All metaphors of Edward as monster and Bella as his monster bride aside, the meta-filmic representation of this film makes us only too aware of the very fact that we’re watching a movie, and that this movie, like Bride of Frankenstein, has its own cultural impact.

Breaking Dawn plays for camp.

The story is deadpan serious, and actually quite immersive.

The beginning was rather dry, but once the story dug into the moral, ethical, legal and spiritual dilemmas of Bella’s pregnancy, it became an immersive tale about the issues of unplanned pregnancy and abortion.

But, as Roger Ebert has noted, Breaking Dawn is also about the view that gay, lesbian and transgender couples, though they can maybe fall in love, can’t reproduce.

It’s heavy stuff for something that most critics have written off as pandering.

What makes this film a difficult film to comprehend is the fact that you don’t know how the hell Breaking Dawn managed to be self-aware enough to be pleasing for all the wrong reasons, but serious enough to be a satisfyingly immersive story.

It oscillates between a believable level of seriousness and a completely over-the-top, campy

sort of faux-seriousness so effectively that right up until the very last shot, you can’t help but wonder if the whole film was just one big joke.

The shots immediately preceding the final credits are completely deadpan serious — so serious, in fact, that when the camera slowly pans toward one of the Cullens, the mostly teenage audience began to snicker, and when the camera began to f loat over Bella’s closed eyes, whispers of “she’s going to open her eyes” permeated the theatre.

Cut to the completely garish red, black, and white credits with a upbeat pop number that runs counter to the seriousness we’ve just been exposed to for the last two hours, and everything you thought you knew about Twilight is thrown into disarray.

The end credits are remarkably similar to the credits of Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film A Clockwork Orange.

Kubrick’s garish credits were complete with Gene Kelly’s “Singing in the Rain” playing overtop, which acted as a scathing counterpoint to the violent and sexual imagery to which we were just exposed for the last two hours.

Breaking Dawn could be director Bill Condon’s A Clockwork Orange.

We were just subjected to the most horrifically grueling two hours in terms of both horrific content and sheer seriousness, and Condon, ever the genius, pushes us in a playful direction.

Breaking Dawn actually mess-

Jonathan Petrychyn thinks Breaking Dawn is an examination of the fact that we allow Breaking Dawn to exist and flourish in our society.

es with what we consider Twilight by buying into its themes and dominant images so heavily that it becomes self-satirizing.

I find it hard to believe that Condon, being openly gay himself, would uncritically buy into

the heteronormativity inherent in the Twilight saga, and so his final move of the film reveals the joke of it all: Breaking Dawn isn’t about Edward and Bella, but about the very culture that allows Edward and Bella to exist.

EDITOR WANTED For the Winter 2012 Semester Position Available: Roving Editor General Responsibilities: 1. Attend weekly staff meetings (Monday evening, usually about 1 hour) 2. Work with other staff members and volunteers to generate sufficient copy for each issue.

3. Edit/Proof submissions for style, merit, and factuality.

4. Work with the Photography and Graphics editors, if applicable, to ensure sufficient artwork is completed in a timely manner to accompany content.

5. Communicate with production staff and the editor-in-chief throughout the week about the progress of their section/assignments.

We are looking for: Highly motivated, creative and innovative individuals who are passionate about writing.

The position offers remunerations of: $75.00 per issue honouraria.

Mandatory Requirement: The chosen candidate must maintain student status at TRU, being enrolled in at least one course in good standing.

Interested parties may submit a resume, covering letter and 2-3 samples of previous work (or potential story ideas if no writing samples are available).

Submit applications to Mike Davies at editorofomega@gmail.com

9

The Omega · Volume 21, Issue 14

Life & Community Ontario teachers colleges to implement mandatory gender and sexuality education Katelyn Scorer Omega Contributor

The fight for equal treatment of gender diversity and sexual orientation has been an ongoing challenge in this country for quite some time.

With youth suicide continuing to make national headlines, immediate response from educational institutes will help ensure lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) youth are better protected.

It is with that goal in mind that the province of Ontario is setting a mandate for the future of educational professionals in the province.

Ontario teachers colleges have made a groundbreaking decision to include a mandatory focus on gender and sexuality for all institutes within the province, ensuring that future educational professionals understand and respect the diverse nature of the provinces’ students.

The new section is to be introduced in 2013 as a mandatory component for all individuals seeking graduation from teaching programs in Ontario.

In doing so, the future of teaching professionals in On-

tario is expected to experience an increased inf low of qualified and accepting individuals, sparking the necessary change to strengthen the fight towards equal treatment of diverse genders and sexual orientations.

Davina Hader, a well-known queer activist in Toronto, will spend next year creating the new component.

Though the training will directly focus on introducing teachers to the importance of gender and sexuality, Hader hopes it will eventually be introduced as a training workshop for everyone involved in

the Ontario school system including administrative staff and trustees.

As a response to the high demand of support required for these youth, Hader told Xtra.ca, “this is something that will go a

tiny and disapproval.

Catholic, Evangelical Christian, and Orthodox Jewish groups are arguing it inappropriate to force professors to teach topics which they do not condone.

According to Charles McVety, the president of the Canada Christian College in Toronto, quoted in the Ottawa Citizen, “...when you are forcing teachers...to teach things that are contrary to the values that they hold, to teach that there are six genders and that you are not attached to the gender of your anatomy – that may be an offence to many Ontarians.”

With the recent

—Davina Hader suicide of Jamie Hubley in Ottawa, however, the imWith recent religious groups portance of student protection demanding the removal of manda- against anti-gay bullying is at the tory Gay Straight Alliance clubs forefront of societal concern.

According to CrossCurrents, in a number of Ontario schools, it can only be expected that the de- out of the Centre for Addiction cision will be met with some scru- and Mental Health, studies indilong way to help our youth and effectively change the way the next generation looks at queer people.”

“This is something that will go a long way to help our youth and effectively change the way the next generation looks at queer people. ”

cate that approximately 32 per cent of youth who identify under the LGBT umbrella have either attempted or considered suicide, not as a result of their sexuality, but as a result of the difficulties involved with living in a generally heterosexual society.

According to Statistics Canada, between the years of 2007 and 2008, hate crimes involving sexual orientation and gender doubled.

The responsibility to protect students falls on three key players: parents, society, and teachers.

By ensuring future teachers are well-educated on the different needs of students, educational institutes can begin to better support the LGBT demographic, challenging the woes of discrimination and persevering in the face of hatred.

The decision to include mandatory learning on gender diversity and sexuality is a significant step in the direction of equal treatment and opportunity for all of our country’s youth.

As future leaders of our nation, such a decision will ensure students learn the importance of respect at an early age, enabling them to prosper in environments built around support and acceptance.

Lack of report cards won’t hinder graduating students in B.C. Teachers on ‘controlled strike’ required to provide marks for students applying to post-secondary institutions, scholarships Arshy Mann

CUP Western Bureau Chief VANCOUVER (CUP) — Teachers in British Columbia may not be writing report cards this year, but graduating students should have no problem getting their grades to universities and colleges.

As part of an ongoing “controlled strike,” the B.C. Teachers Federation (BCTF) has, among other things, not been writing and distributing report cards to students.

However, teachers will still be reporting the grades of graduating students to administration.

“There are three specific circumstances in which marks — and it’s marks, not report cards — must be provided, and that’s for applications for scholarship, for graduation and for applications for post-secondary institutions,” said Deborah Stewart,

media liaison for the B.C. Public for the BCTF. Hansman stressed that during School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA), which represents this job action, teachers have school districts and the provin- continued all of their classroom cial government in labour nego- duties and have only ceased administrative duties, such as attiations with teachers.

According to Stewart, if a stu- tending staff meetings, doing paperwork and dent or parent running fundrequests marks are still raisers. for one of these “Teachers “ Te a c h e r s three reasons, doing are still teachthen the teach- teaching...[and] ing.

They’re er must provide them to school all the things they nor- still marking, assessing [and] administration, who will mally do with students doing all the things they then forward normally do it along to the in their classrooms. ” with students Ministry of Ed

—Glen Hansman in their classucation. rooms,” said “In terms of the grade 12 stuff, it will be the Hansman.

“In fact, we probably have administrator who will be facilitating getting that into the hands more time to do those things of students for university pur- with kids in classrooms because poses, but we will be definitely we’re not doing a lot of the adsupplying the marks,” said Glen ministrative tasks that have inHansman, second vice president creased over the past decade.”

The BCTF has also told all teachers to continue communicating with parents about students’ progress through a variety of means, such as telephone calls, emails and meetings.

Post-secondary institutions also appear to not be worried that the job action will affect admissions for prospective students.

“We have mechanisms to get students [their] grades other than the report cards. Students can self-report their grades to us and then we verify what they self-report to us against official data that comes from the ministry in May,” said Andrew Arida, associate director of Enrolment Services at UBC. He said that this is the university’s “standard operating procedure” and doesn’t anticipate any problems this year.

According to Patty Pitts, manager of media relations at the University of Victoria, the uni-

versity has a similar self-reporting system as UBC and won’t be affected by the lack of report cards.

In 2005, a similar labour dispute between the BCTF and the provincial government escalated to a full strike, but the issue was resolved before marks had to be reported.

Hansman stated that despite what he characterized as a “frustrating” bargaining process, the BCTF isn’t expecting a similar escalation in action this year.

Arida said that it was too early to speculate about how universities would respond if a similar escalation were to occur, but said that in that case, admissions wouldn’t be the biggest worry.

“Frankly, I would be more concerned with students having to do first year university classes when they haven’t properly done the classes that may be prerequisites,” he said.

10

January 4, 2012

7 9

crossword

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“Case Study”

MYLES MELLOR AND SALLY YORK

sudokueasy

Coffee Break

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last week’s answers easy

hard

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1. Anita Baker, for one 5. Dandruff 10. Latte locale 14. High-five, e.g.

15. Hollywood agent “Swifty” 16. City on the Yamuna River 17. CASE 20. Punishes legally 21. Sneak 22. Microwave, e.g.

23. Tree adornment 26. Lookout point 28. “Welcome” site 29. Q-Tip 33. Retro car 36. Decorous 38. Clod chopper 39. CASE 42. U.N. workers’ grp.

43. Merlin, e.g.

44. Actor Wesley 45. Call to attention 47. Atlanta-based station 48. Scale notes 49. Good-for-nothing 52. Kind of battery 56. Catalog 59. Knotting technique 61. CASE 64. Nanking nanny 65. Woven fabric

66. Canal of song 67. British Conservative 68. Garden tool 69. Bluster Down 1. Indian state 2. Andean animal 3. Accounts 4. The Mikado, e.g.

5. Pivot 6. Art able to 7. Action film staple 8. Backstabber 9. Most musty 10. Intrigues 11. Long, long time 12. At liberty 13. Benjamin Disraeli, e.g.

18. Moves screen text 19. ___ simple 24. Pier 1 merchandise 25. Bust maker 27. Recurrent 30. Congressional enforcer 31. Bang-up 32. Panhandles 33. Radar image 34. Congers 35. Freudian topics 37. Cartilage disks 40. City near Sparks

41. Ailment 46. Grin modifier 50. Encouraging word 51. “South Pacific” hero 53. Mrs. Bush 54. At full speed 55. Found a new tenant for 56. Doctor’s abbreviation 57. Clash of heavyweights 58. Antares, for one 60. Assert 62. Affirmative action 63. Archaeological site

last week’s answers A G H A

M E A L

B A W L

O G E E

I N D I G N A N T

P I N G S

A C A R I

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T Y O A T H E L O B A B O N I N T D O P A L E D O N A G E P E D T U P S

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XKCD.com, creative commons

Notice anything wrong with the Omega? Bring it to our attention and win a prize. We may have done it on purpose just to keep you on your toes...or you might just be helping us get better. Either way...you win!

11

The Omega · Volume 21, Issue 14

Sports

Men’s basketball team starts second-half charge to post-season

Thanks to some young upstarts, the ‘Pack have a chance at the playoffs Nathan Crosby Sports Editor

Eight games into the year the Wolf Pack men are a .500 basketball team at 4-4.

They have already matched last year’s win total.

With the first half of the season coming to a close, optimism has filled the atmosphere at the Tournament Capital Centre that just maybe, the ‘Pack are going to surprise a few in the Canada West this year by making the playoffs.

“When I looked at our schedule, I thought, if we could be 4-4, 5-3, it would be great,” Wolf Pack head coach Scott Clark said.

“Championships aren’t won in the first half of the year, but they can be lost, and we put ourselves in a position where that isn’t the case.”

Maybe it’s because fans hardly got to see the ‘Pack that it’s hard to figure out a team that had only two home weekends of play; but if TRU is going to get to the playoffs, their road play needs to step up.

WolfPack point guard Kevin Pribilsky (Photo courtesy of TRU Athletics)

They currently have a 1-3 record away from the confines of the Tournament Capital Centre.

This team can score and that will be the single most important factor for their success when they face high-scoring teams like UBC and Alberta.

TRU is second in Canada West in scoring offence, averaging 87.6 points a game.

The Wolf Pack are the only team to have scored more than 700 points in eight games.

The team is first in free throw percentage with .816 per cent and fifth in field goal shooting at .464 per cent. Guard Kevin Pribilsky is 11th in three-point shooting percentage and first in court time in the Canada West.

Even with the deadly attack of Justin King, Chas Kok and Pribilsky, TRU’s glaring problem in the first half was defence.

“We got a lot to work on defensively; we gave up 100 points to Regina. We need to get our bodies rested up and work on our defensive issues,” forward Kok said.

TRU ranks near the bottom in scoring defence, allowing 86.2 points a game. They gave up 100 points to Regina and 102 points to Lethbridge; both of those teams rank in the bottom six for scoring offence.

The high-powered offence of UBC will be in town mid-January and the Wolf Pack’s defence cannot afford to rely on their scoring capabilities to match the Thunderbirds.

There’s still a long way to go, 12 games, with five at home, but TRU holds the wildcard spot in the Canada West if the playoffs were to start today.

The real test has yet to come; three CIS top-ranked teams will tip off with the ‘Pack this winter semester, including UBC at the TCC, followed by two gruelling weekends in Saskatchewan and

Alberta to take on the Huskies and Golden Bears, respectively.

TRU got their season underway on Nov. 4, splitting a weekend series with UFV. A surprise win the next weekend over the Dinos in Calgary put the ‘Pack at 2-1, until a three-game slide in mid-November cooled things down; which included a loss to Lethbridge that TRU would like back.

Then followed two loses (one right at the buzzer) to the top ranked Victoria Vikes.

WolfPack forward Justin King (Photo courtesy of TRU Athletics)

On the last weekend before semester break the offence exploded against Brandon and Regina to combine for 214 points in two games and the ‘Pack were able to head into the semester break on a high note with four wins.

“In order to do any damage, which is the goal, you have to play good ball in January and February and that’s what we are looking to do.

“We have a lot of things to tighten up,” coach Clark said.

Forward King is off to what could be the finest year any TRU

player has had in the CIS and he has played his way into Canada West MVP discussions.

It won’t be easy for King in the tough and unpredictable Canada West.

Ryan MacKinnon of Victoria, Nathan Yu of UBC and Jordan Baker of Alberta all could be named first-half MVPs. King has shown brilliance when playing at the TCC and now leads the Canada West in scoring, averaging 26.9 baskets a game.

Baker is the second-closest averaging five points fewer.

King earned Canada West player of the week nods, the first time since 2009 for any ‘Pack player.

He combined for 71 points the same week against Brandon and Regina while playing injured.

“Justin is an unbelievable player, I’m so excited to have him on my team and he gives us such a boost,” Chas Kok said.

King is getting help and that has made a difference.

Kok is f ifth in scoring with 20.5 a game and Kevin Pribilsky is 15 with 14.6.

King is second in rebounding, averaging 10.6 a game and is third in percentage from the free throw line.

Another noticeable par t of the f irst half was Kok’s leadership, which this young team has embraced.

Rookie Zach Usher wood and Akeem Pier re add to the threepronged attack of Kok, King and Pribilsky.

Pier re impressed coach Clark and the crowd on Nov. 25 against Brandon with 15 points and 14 rebounds, including a clutch bounce pass inside the key to a fast moving Kok who made the play of the f irst half with a slam dunk that moved the foundation of the TCC upon impact.

Usher wood, along with rook-

WolfPack Point guard Chas Kok (Photo courtesy of TRU Athletics)

ies Will Ondrik, Mike Zayas and Derek Wolf will get a lot of oppor tunity for cour t time with the long schedule facing the ‘Pack.

The two Bretts, Brett Rouault and Brett Parker, will look to build on their slow star ts to the season as well after having strong weekends against Brandon and Regina.

The team will star t the new year with two winnable games against the 4- 4 Manitoba Bisons and the 2-6 Winnpeg Wesmen at the TCC on Jan. 6 and 7.

Their 3-1 home record could only improve if fans star t to come in bigger numbers.

Attendance at the TCC is among the lowest in the league, averaging 362 fans a game.

Only Trinity Wester n, Manitoba, Brandon and UFV are lower.

Those who do show up have seen a young team that is growing, and an interesting semester awaits that can only get more exciting with the King leading the way.

WolfPack Prowl Basketball

Volleyball

Women’s

Women’s

Friday Jan. 6 6 p.m. @ TCC vs Winnipeg

Friday Jan. 20 6 p.m. @ TCC vs Brandon

Men’s

Men’s

Friday Jan. 6 8 p.m. @ TCC vs Winnipeg

Friday Jan. 20 7:45 p.m. @ TCC vs Brandon

Hockey Friday, Jan. 6 6:30 p.m.

Interior Savings Centre vs Portage College (ACAC) * Exhibition Chas Kok with the dunk of the season...so far.

PHOTO BY CORY HOPE

12

January 4, 2012

M E M B E R S H I P A D V I S O RY Annual General Meeting 12:00 PM January 25, 2012 TRUSU Boardroom Agenda 1.0)

Call to Order

1.1)

Approval of the Agenda

1.2)

Presentation of the Annual Report

1.3)

Special Resolutions*

1.4)

Presentation of the 2011-2012 Budget

1.5)

Presentation of the 2010-2011 Audited Financial Statements

1.6)

Appointment of the Auditor

1.7)

Adjournment

*Full details available online at trusu.ca

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