The Sheaf 10-06-2011 — Volume 103 Issue 9

volume 103 • issue 9 • thesheaf.com

Sheaf the

Scandal

Sask-raised PM John Diefenbaker’s illegitimate son?

Palestine Why the UN should grant statehood.

Page 5

Page 2

Safety

New awareness campaign targets drunk men.

Page 4

Football

Huskies back on track after taking down UBC

Pages 8 & 9

Theatre

Chekhov’s The Three Sisters opens Greystone season

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Fall TV

Two new comedies with female leads.

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The University of Saskatchewan student newspaper since 1912

U of S pushes forward $15 million student centre Decade-long plans for Gordon Oakes-Red Bear centre get green light DARYL HOFMANN Associate News Editor After a lengthy struggle to secure funding which lasted roughly a decade, the University of Saskatchewan officially announced it will be moving forward on the $15 million Gordon Oakes-Red Bear Student Centre.

“We expect construction to begin as early as 2012,” said U of S President Peter MacKinnon to a cheering crowd of more than 100 gathered in Upper Place Riel Oct. 4.

In an interview with the Sheaf last month, MacKinnon said the success of aboriginal students in postsecondary education and their access to it in Saskatchewan is fundamentally important to the province’s future.

“We’re committed to providing support and services to our growing population of aboriginal students at the U of S,” said MacKinnon. “We look forward to creating an even more welcoming environment for our entire student population, as our enrolment continues to grow.”

The abstract design of the building was done by Douglas Cardinal, the chief architect behind the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Que. and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. The planned centre will be between the Murray Library and the Arts building, a spot that has been central to several rallies organized by the Indigenous Student Council in recent years.

The family of the late Gordon Oakes at Place Riel to unveil the design of the new aboriginal students’ centre.

It will not only be a hub for aboriginal students, but also a vibrant inclusive gathering place for all U of S students and faculty to connect, share knowledge and learn from one another, said MacKinnon.

“This building is more than just brick and steel. It is a home away from home,” said Ryan Moccasin,

president of the Indigenous Student Council.

The centre will be named after the influential Gordon Oakes, who was born in 1932 in Cypress Hills, Sask., on what is now the Nekaneet First Nation, where he was chief.

Oakes was a spiritual leader within his community and across the

province during his life.

“Oakes died in February 2002 and arrangements to name the centre after Oakes began early in the project’s life,” said a university news release.

Members of the Oakes family were on hand for the announcement, and thanked President Mackinnon, the U of S and Saskatchewan advanced

Margie de Jager

education minister Rob Norris for their commitment to quality aboriginal education.

Currently, there are approximately 1,900 U of S students who identify themselves as aboriginal, or 9 per cent of the student population — more than any other university in Canada.

Veteran journalist Amira Hass shares truth about Palestinian conditions Israeli journalist condemns Israel’s occupation in speech at U of S TANNARA YELLAND Senior News Editor Just days after Mahmoud Abbas formally launched Palestine’s bid for UN-sanctioned statehood, Saskatoon residents had the opportunity to hear a speaker well-versed in the complexities of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Amira Hass is a journalist and an Israeli Jew whose mother and father were imprisoned in the BergenBelsen concentration camp during the Holocaust. Hass has lived in Palestine since 1993, first in Gaza and now, since 1997, in the West Bank. For 20 years, Hass has reported on the daily conditions of Palestinians in Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Hass

After thanking the organizations Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East and the Fellowship for Reconciliation and Peace, Hass apologized that she could not return the warm welcome with happier content in her speech.

“In the course of 20 years of reporting about the Israeli occupation,” Hass said, “I have become quite skeptical about the ability of fair reporting... to make a change.”

One of Hass’s main goals in her speech, upon which she touched frequently, was to answer the question: “How can you translate occupation to the occupier?”

According to Hass, the majority of Israelis see the occupation as something that pays rather than as something they must pay for. This view of the conflict, which stems from the many benefits Israelis receive from the occupation — Hass cited significantly more access to water and land as well as freedom

of movement and full citizenship — blinds many Israelis to the negative aspects of the occupation. Principal among these is its immoral nature, which the Israeli media, Hass says, help to obscure in their coverage. “ ‘Restriction of movement,’ ‘occupation,’ and so on: the meaning of these words is becoming diluted until it is invisible.”

Hass also said that when the Israeli military commits violence it is referred to as “activity” or “movement,” while any armed Palestinian is immediately classified a terrorist.

Later in the evening, Hass fielded a question about Israeli security, which is often given as one of the major reasons for the occupation.

The audience member mentioned suicide attacks on Israeli buses and militants shooting rockets into Israeli neighbourhoods. Hass’s response was unequivocal and scathing.

“Violence is the very essence of occupation,” she said. “In general, the more inequality is in a society, the more violent it is.”

Between the early 1970s and ’91, Hass said, the Israeli government allowed Palestinians a relatively large degree of freedom of movement.

Hass

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2• News

thesheaf.com/news • the sheaf •October 6, 2011

Chief, you sly dog!

Toronto man claims the former prime minister is his father DARYL HOFMANN Associate News Editor A Toronto man has been granted access to a trove of artifacts that once belonged to former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker in order to retrieve DNA and prove he is Diefenbaker’s illegitimate son.

The collection is housed at the Diefenbaker Centre Canada at the University of Saskatchewan, where Diefenbaker was laid to rest next to his wife in 1979.

The paternity claim comes from George Dryden, who, after finding out last year that his mother and father signed a false birth certificate when he was born, is convinced John Diefenbaker is his biological father.

Dryden told the Globe and Mail he believes the identity of his father was kept a secret “due to the social stigma

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and political sensitivities prevalent in Canadian society in 1968.”

He says his appearance and even his name, John George, match Diefenbaker’s. Also, at the time of his birth, his mother Mary Lou Dryden was a well-known Conservative socialite and close friend to Diefenbaker.

If the alleged affair did take place, Mary Lou Dryden would have been in her 30s, while Diefenbaker would have been in his 70s.

Dryden and his lawyer Stephen Edell sent their first of a series of letters to the executive director of the Diefenbaker Centre, Michael Atkinson, in late July.

“We’re under no legal obligation to assist Mr. Dryden, but we determined under the circumstances we would take a look at the holdings that we have and determine if any of it might contain traces of DNA,” said Atkinson when interviewed at the Diefenbaker Centre last week.

“I wrote to Mr. Dryden’s lawyer and indicated to him that in our judgement there was unlikely to be anything but negligible traces of DNA.” In a second, more heated letter written to Atkinson, Dryden and Edell urged the Diefenbaker Centre to reconsider, promising no legal action against the Diefenbaker estate, ensuring artifacts would not be damaged and calling on the university’s dedication to advancing knowledge and accurately reflecting history.

“DNA is microscopic. What your staff has determined may only be negligible DNA may, to a trained

DNA testing expert, actually be a treasure trove of DNA when scientifically retrieved by a specialist in the field,” the letter stated.

Atkinson insists at no time did he refuse access to Dryden.

“We clarified that is not that case, we are not refusing. In our judgement there is not much here but if they want to bring an expert, so long as that company is going to respect our preservation requirements, then that’s fine. That’s what we’re here for — preservation,” said Atkinson.

Atkinson said he is currently in correspondence with Easy DNA, a DNA testing company out of Ontario that Dryden used last year to prove Gordon Dryden was not his father.

He said he expects to “find a way to ensure they get to do whatever tests that they need to.”

“If it were to be shown that Mr. Dryden is the natural son of Mr. Diefenbaker, then that would require a little bit of rethinking about the Diefenbaker legacy and a certain amount of rethinking of all the presumptions and assumptions of John Diefenbaker,” said Atkinson.

However, Atkinson feels the chances of Dryden being the son of Diefenbaker are “remote,” and said although he is not a Diefenbaker scholar, he has never heard talk of him having a “roving eye” while in politics. He also mentioned this is not this first time someone has written him claiming to be a son of Diefenbaker’s.

As of now, the history books say Diefenbaker was happily married at the time of Dryden’s birth to his second wife, Olive, with no children.

Seriously, Mary Lou? This guy?

Now, there is a chance that could be rewritten.

“They are quite anxious to come,” said Atkinson, speaking about Easy DNA and noting that he sees no reason for Dryden to come unless it is just to look around.

He believes a hair brush, a clothes brush and some hats Diefenbaker

submitted

wore would be the most practical sources of DNA. “I’m 99.9 per cent certain I’m Diefenbaker’s son,” the 42-year-old would-be son told the Globe and Mail. “I just want to prove that so I can start living my life as John Diefenbaker II.”

SFU student shot to death Young health sciences student fatally shot in Surrey parkade

DAVID DYCK The Peak (Simon Fraser University) BURNABY, B.C. (CUP) — A 19-year-old Simon Fraser University student was shot and killed in the parkade at SFU Surrey in the early morning of Sept. 28. Police found the victim, Maple Batalia, shortly after 1 a.m., on the third floor of the parkade.

According to Don MacLachlan, head of SFU’s media relations team, Batalia was on her way home after a late-night study session with her friends. She lived only blocks away from Surrey Central, the main SkyTrain station in the area.

Batalia, who was in the second year of her health sciences degree at SFU with the intent to become a dermatologist, was also a model and actress. She had a small role as “Melissa” in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules.

According to RCMP Sgt. Peter Thiessen, who gave a statement later that day, officers found Batalia “suffering from what can only be described as significant and multiple gunshot wounds.”

Thiessen added that the officers did all they could to save the young woman’s life, but were unsuccessful.

She died later at the Royal Columbian Hospital.

Thiessen also confirmed that the victim was an active student at SFU. Her father, Harkirat Batalia, later confirmed her identity to the media.

MacLachlan said appropriate security measures were in place at the time of the shooting.

“There were two security people on duty, very close to where the shooting took place, and that’s normal even at that time of night... but no amount of security could anticipate or prevent what happened. If a guard had been on the parkade during the shooting, we would probably have had two victims,” he said.

MacLachlan added that there are security cameras in the parkade, and the footage would be reviewed.

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SFU students mourn the shooting death of Maple Batalia.

Colin Sharp/The Peak

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News

October 6, 2011 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/news

in brief

An artist’s depiction of the future Health Sciences E-Wing on the corner of College and Wiggins.

Health Sciences get $10 million

The Health Sciences project got a $10 million boost that will ensure its completion, courtesy of philanthropist couple Les and Irene Dubé.

The Dubés and University of Saskatchewan President Peter MacKinnon announced the donation Sept. 29.

“This donation to the University of Saskatchewan brings together our desires to share our wealth in both education and health,” said Les Dubé in a university news release.

“We are building one of the finest facilities in the country and lives will be changed in Saskatchewan and beyond because of the way future generations of health-care professionals will learn together within this facility. We hope that many others will be inspired to support this project.”

In return for their sizable donation, the couple will have their names attached to a new library and a massive 500-seat lecture theatre.

“Their generous support brings us one step closer to turning our Health Sciences vision into reality,” said Peter MacKinnon.

“We are very thankful for their lead partnership in building the future of health education, research and practice.”

Les and Irene Dubé, and their company Concorde Group, own a variety of businesses in

Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia. They have donated almost $20 million to various causes.

Their latest donation will help complete construction of a state-ofthe art research and teaching facility for all disciplines of the health sciences, including the colleges of dentistry, nursing and medicine. It is the largest capital project in the history of the university.

U of A full of cheaters Almost two in five instructors and one in four teaching assistants at the University of Alberta have ignored cases of students cheating.

The recently published results of the University of Alberta’s Academic Integrity Survey reveal that 39 per cent of instructors surveyed said they had let a case of cheating go unreported, as did 26 per cent of teaching assistants.

The survey, administered to U of A undergraduate and graduate students, teaching assistants, and instructors in October and November of 2010, also noted that 42 per cent of undergraduate students reported observing another student cheat at least once, while 38 percent of instructors described the effectiveness of the U of A’s academic disciplinary policy as “low” or “very low.”

In addition to more than 3,500 survey responses, feedback was also received through focus groups held

for students, TAs and instructors.

One consensus among instructors was feeling “unprepared and unsupported” in disciplining students.

The University of Saskatchewan does not have a comparable survey, but does keep statistics on academic misconduct. In 2008-09, the last year for which statistics are available, 57 cases were heard and 51 students found to be guilty of misconduct.

Although the U of S has since put in place “informal procedures” through which individual instructors can deal with cases of academic dishonesty, there are still dozens of cases each year, according to University Secretary Lea Pennock.

With files from Canadian University Press

Campus survey shows desire for more food choices

More than half of University of Saskatchewan students eat on campus at least “a few times a week,” shows a new survey by the U of S Oxfam campus club.

Less than a third of students feel that food on campus allows them to eat healthy. About 25 per cent responded that choices on campus allowed “very little” healthy eating or “not at all.” Close to 33 per cent did not respond positively or negatively.

CORRECTION: In the Sept. 29 issue of the Sheaf, the article “In his final year, Peter MacKinnon bids farewell to university he transformed” incorrectly paraphrased Bart Gazzola as saying the arts department has only had one show by a faculty member in 14 years. In fact, there has only been one faculty show (in which the arts department faculty show their works together). This misrepresented Gazzola’s remarks.

We regret the error.

Of the 113 students surveyed, 94 per cent want “more locally sourced food on campus.”

Some of the responses gathered called for a grocery store on campus, more healthy food options and more vegetarian food.

Supreme Court upholds safe injection site’s right to exist

Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party has been fighting to shut down Vancouver’s first safe injection site, Insite, for years. Last week its fight was dealt a terminal blow when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously in favour of keeping the operation open.

Vancouver has long been a pioneer in treating and assisting addicts, home to North America’s first clean needle exchange in 1989 and first supervised injection site in 2003. These are methods of drug treatment championed in various parts of Europe where they have proven to decrease the number of infectious diseases and drug overdoses.

Insite operates in Vancouver’s notorious Downtown Eastside. It is estimated the coastal city is home to about 12,000 injection drug users, with more than one third living in the Downtown Eastside.

supplied

Greens running full slate in provincial election

The Nov. 7 provincial election will mark the first time the Green Party of Saskatchewan fields candidates in all 58 electoral districts.

“We’ve finally done it. Twelve years after contesting our first provincial election, our party is finally on the ballot in every constituency in the province. This means we are no longer a fringe party in this province, and are ready to step up to the big leagues,” said party leader Victor Lau in announcing the full slate.

Lau was only recently selected as leader after previous leader Larissa Shasko resigned to support the NDP. He is a longtime union activist running in Regina Douglas Park, and won majority support at the leadership meeting held in Regina Sept. 25.

“For years our party struggled behind the Sask Party, the NDP and the Liberals for the attention of Saskatchewan voters. Now we have surpassed the Liberals in strength and are the number three party in Saskatchewan,” Lau said.

Of the Greens’ 58 candidates, 27 are women. That is closer to gender parity than both the Saskatchewan Party and the NDP.

4• News

thesheaf.com/news • the Sheaf • October 6, 2011

‘Don’t be that guy’

Hass

They reversed this policy in 1991, before the suicide attacks began.

The Palestinian Authority, established in 1994 as a result of the Oslo Accords, has technically been in control of Palestine since its inception. This has led, according to Hass, to many both in Israel and around the world believing that the Israeli occupation of Palestine ended in 1994.

“Often, I hear from Israelis and foreigners... about the re-occupation of the West Bank, or the re-invasion of Palestine, referring to the years of the Second Intifada, and the Israeli suppression of the Second Intifada” in September 2000, she said.

The idea that the West Bank was re-occupied at this time includes an implicit assumption that it had been liberated before then and that the Israeli Army had withdrawn.

“This is of course nonsense,” Hass said. “The Israeli Army never withdrew. It only re-deployed from certain cities and concentrated in military camps.”

Hass claimed that the people who seem most convinced of Palestine’s re-occupation are often “the most ardent supporters of the Oslo Accords.” To Hass, the two go hand in hand.

“The Palestinian Authority wasn’t a sovereign state. It wasn’t even meant to be under the Oslo Accords.”

The accords “gave way to a

New sexual assault awareness campaign targets young men ISHMAEL N. DARO Editor-in-Chief A new sexual assault prevention campaign is underway in Saskatoon, telling young men, “Don’t be that guy.”

Saskatoon is the fifth city in Canada to promote the campaign, which targets 19- to 25-year-old males with bathroom posters in bars around town. The main drive is to tell men “to not take advantage of women when they are intoxicated, and not to intoxicate women for the purposes of sex,” said Heather Pocock, assistant director of the Saskatoon Sexual Assault and Information Centre.

Don’t Be That Guy is a partnership between Pocock’s organization, the Saskatoon Police Service, the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority and Saskatoon Crime Stoppers.

Most campaigns like this are about telling women how to stay safe but neglect to properly educate men about their responsibilities. But “statistically, sexual assault is a male crime against females,” said Pocock.

The campaign does not seek to bash men, she said. Edmonton, another participating city, has seen positive results from the campaign.

"They've had a lot of really good feedback, some negative, but mostly good feedback,” Pocock said.

One poster shows a woman unconscious on a couch with a caption: “Just because she isn’t saying no doesn’t mean she’s saying yes.” Another, more blunt poster that was ultimately not approved, reads, “Just because she’s drunk, doesn’t mean she wants to f**k.”

The campaign is not just about sexual ethics, however. It is also about the law.

“The criminal code is quite clear that if a person is intoxicated, they are unable

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SFU Shooting cont. from

“Don’t Be That Guy” poster that was ultimately not approved. supplied

to consent to sexual activity,” said Carolyn Hlady, acting staff sergeant in the sex crimes unit of the Saskatoon Police Service.

Hlady was careful to mention that “two people can have too much to drink and still have consensual sex” but that consent still needs to be explicit and freely given.

“You talk to men and you ask them that question, ‘What did she do to consent?’ and they'll say ‘Nothing.’ And I'll say, ‘That's sexual assault.’ ” Hlady says societal biases tend to put the blame for such incidents on women for not fighting back or saying no, but “there's no

textbook way to respond" and it should be men’s responsibility as well to avoid sexual assault.

The posters are already in place in various bars around town and will soon be on campus as well, at Louis’ Pub. The campaign is being conducted by Captive Audience, which has a near monopoly on such advertising in Saskatoon, ensuring that drunk men everywhere are reminded of their responsibilities while standing at urinals.

“You wouldn't want this to happen to your mother or your daughter, so think twice about your attitudes,” said Pocock.

“What’s really awful is the number of students who were here” at the time, he said.

One of those people was SFU alumnus Kyle Sakai, who was with friends at the time, and left the campus approximately 10 minutes after the shooting occurred.

He told The Peak that emergency vehicles were already on site and there was a crowd of people around the victim, but he was not aware that there was a person lying there. After speaking with police, he and his friends were allowed to leave.

“This is the first time in my six years of being at the Surrey campus... that such an incident has happened in the parking lot, and I’m often on campus until late,” he said.

Sakai agreed with MacLachlan’s assessment that added security

new form of occupation: they gave to the Palestinian Authority the responsibility for the well-being of the state without the authority to ensure that well-being. They turned the Palestinian Authority into a subcontractor.”

Hass explained that the Palestinian Authority has no control over utilities such as water and cannot authorize the refurbishing of infrastructure or new construction. That must all go through the Israeli government.

She classifies actions like this as violence of a non-physical kind, constantly being perpetrated by the Israeli government. She explained that this kind of action is insidious because it deprives the occupied people and benefits the occupiers.

Israelis enjoy more water and land precisely because Palestinians have less, and Israelis are unlikely to demand a cessation of the conflict because of such benefits.

After decades of conflict and occupation, an entire generation of Palestinians has grown up with no idea that some Israelis are sympathetic to their cause, Hass says.

“Many young Palestinians only know Israelis as [illegal settlers in Palestine] and soldiers. They do not have the compassion of the older generation.”

This is why it is imperative to show Israelis the dangers of occupation as soon as possible.

“The sooner this happens, the more room there will be for Israel in [a peaceful] Middle East. But already I fear this moment has passed.” wouldn’t help.

“SFU Surrey does not need to concern itself with more security, and it is indeed safe still,” he added. “This incident has not changed my views of safety here.”

Police are still investigating the incident and an arrest warrant was issued for Batalia’s ex-boyfriend Gurjinder Dhaliwal in relation to an assault a week prior to her death. He turned himself in to police shortly after learning of the warrant but at press time, no murder charges had yet been laid in the case.

“We are working on the premise that it was quite likely a targeted attack, but we don’t know that,” Sgt. Theissen said in a press conference on Sept. 29. He added that there were approximately 50 officers working around the clock on the case. He did say that RCMP has no suspicions about Batalia’s own past.

“This was a decent young lady,” stated Theissen.

JOIN THE RCMP

CAREER PRESENTATION October 25 at 6 PM SIAST, Kelsey Campus, Idylwyld and 33rd Street, Main Building Saskatoon, SK

DEVENEZ MEMBRE DE LA GRC PRÉSENTATION SUR LES CARRIÈRES 25 octobre à 18 h SIAST, campus Kelsey, Immeuble principal, Idylwyld et rue 33 Saskatoon (SK) Attendance at a career presentation is now the mandatory first step in the application process. / Assister à une séance d’information sur les carrières est maintenant la première étape obligatoire du processus de recrutement.

1-877-RCMP-GRC (1-877-726-7472)

Opinions •5

October 6, 2011 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/opinions

Palestine deserves full recognition at the UN United Nations statehood bid will help peace process TOMAS BORSA Daily life in the West Bank is, to put it in horrifically understated terms, a bit glum.

Unemployment in the Gaza Strip hovers around 45 per cent, and the average annual income in the occupied territories is less than 10 per cent of that of the average Israeli. On either side of the border, daily life is marked by prejudice and fear of the other, both a result of and catalyst for the roughly 9,000 Palestinian and 1,600 Israeli fatalities in the last 25 years alone.

All this despite 18 years of bilateral negotiations.

Unlike bullets and stones, patience and optimism in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are not unlimited. As such, it is not surprising that several weeks ago, the Palestinian Authority decided to try a different route to peace, and entered a bid for full UN membership. If successful, it would mark the first official recognition of Palestine as a state, and hold deep symbolic significance.

Now that Palestine’s membership application has been lodged, the waiting game begins. It took the Council just three days to make South Sudan the UN’s 193rd member, while it took five years to recognize Jordan. It is anybody’s guess how long deliberations might drag on this time.

Eight of the Security Council’s 15 members have stated a willingness to back the Palestinian bid. In order for the bid to be successful, nine are required.

C’mon United Nations. You can’t spare one seat for Palestine?

However, even if nine votes could be clenched, the United States has vehemently affirmed that it will use its veto power to block the bid, as it wants the recognition of the Palestinian state to come through direct diplomacy and deliberation with Israel.

Negotiations broke down last year after Palestinian politicians walked out in protest of an Israeli decision to resume construction in West Bank settlements; fair play, I suppose – after all, it’s a bit hard to settle a land claim dispute over the racket and debris kicked up by bulldozers and jackhammers.

Ehud Olmert, then Prime Minister of Israel, proposed a comprehensive and surprisingly concessive peace deal in 2008 (including dividing Jerusalem in half, and

establishing Palestine as the official homeland of Palestinian Arabs just as Israel became the recognized homeland of Jews). Though the deal was never formally rejected by the Palestinian Authority, today it has been all but forgotten.

Like any conflict, the only avenue to peace and conciliation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is indeed a negotiated peace deal. But far from derailing that process, recognition of Palestine as a state would help to buttress the legitimacy of further negotiations in the eyes of not only the Palestinian people, but the rest of the Arab world.

Conversely, a failure to admit Palestine would raise serious questions about the impartiality of the UN. This is hardly

Nick Corble/Flickr

the behaviour one would expect from an organization whose stated aims are the advancement of international economic development, social progress, human rights and lasting world peace.

Without a recognized homeland of their own, any populace will find it remarkably hard to influence the flow of politics or have their voices and pleas heard on the international stage — as many older Jews who longed for a homeland long argued.

It is often said that in the international system, the strong do as they wish and the weak do as they must. And for the time being at least, here is another painful reminder of that reality.

Fight the powers that be!

Where is the Canadian revolution?

MICHAEL CUTHBERTSON Opinions Editor Revolution is upon us, brothers and sisters!

Across the globe, hordes of young people are taking to streets, crying for revolution, heckling riot police, smashing a window or two.

To some spectators, these demonstrators are reckless anarchists. But the millions of people who joined revolutions this year aren’t “rioting for the sake of rioting.” That’s more of a drunken hockey fan thing.

This year’s Arab Spring, a wave of civilian uprisings in the Middle East, has brought real revolution to countries like Tunisia and Egypt. Tyrants were overthrown and — surprise, surprise — it wasn’t achieved through electoral means. Instead, the Arab Spring proves what historians have long known: revolutions start in a furious mob — not a voting booth.

Of course, it’s easier to condone rioting in the Middle East, where electoral systems are usually a sham. But even democratic elections can be a joke. Rigged ridings, voter apathy and broken promises all serve to make our democracy as impotent as the old white men we vote for.

It’s this failure of democracy that led well-educated Britons to riot in London this summer. Last year, some 52,000 students marched into London protesting tuition hikes.

After a year of inaction by the government, angry students had nowhere to turn but the streets. Sadly, the riots did not grant students their tuition cuts; they were only given beatings and arrests. But history tells us that aggressive policing will not silence revolution.

In the 1960s, peaceful protests of the Vietnam War were commonplace on American campuses. In 1968, hundreds of

Columbia University students barricaded themselves in a campus hall, protesting their school’s ties to the Vietnam War effort. At the time, Columbia was secretly working with IDA: a weapons research think-tank for the Defense Department. During the nonviolent protest, police broke into the hall, sprayed it with tear gas and proceeded to beat hundreds of students. Two years later, four students were shot during another war protest at Kent State University by members of the National Guard.

But the growing police brutality only fuelled America’s anti-war movement.

When the war finally ended in 1975, so did the protests. Modern-day England could learn much from this cautionary tale. Unless England addresses the protesters’ demands, like lowering tuition and fighting inequality, violence may escalate — much as it did in the sixties.

Even though it’s a scary time to be in London, I can’t help but envy them. Their protestors are rowdy, but at least they stand up to their government. Canadians claim to be big idealists but we act like the biggest pushovers on earth.

Our tuition fees suck. Our Conservative government sucks. And clearly elections won’t solve this. As Jacob Serebrin of Maclean’s points out, our government’s “policy is shaped by the desire to remain in power.” He adds that only parties who have no hopes of being elected, like the Greens, can stand for some ideology. What’s more ridiculous, the Conservatives hold a “majority” government, but only 24 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot for them last election.

Elections fail to reflect what most Canadians want from a government. Unless you’re a fascist: If you think our leaders should do little more than build prisons and

State violence will not silence revolutions.

spy on our Internet habits, then relax. For the rest of Canada, it’s time we get off our Chesterfields and hit the streets.

In 2003, over 150,000 Canadians participated in protests against the Iraq War. At the time, Conservative party leader Stephen Harper and future prime minister Paul Martin were gung-ho to kill those rotten Iraqis. The decision to eventually can the mission was certainly influenced by anti-war demonstrations. Old folks in parliament may be going deaf, but it’s hard to miss the sound of 150,000 screaming Canadians. Protests like this must continue if we hope to enact any change in the halls of power.

Last week, hundreds of people met on the Hill to protest TransCanada’s XL pipeline.

A pipeline that uses the earth’s dirtiest fuel — oil from the Alberta tar sands. Before the protest, Harper reassured us he’s “confident

supplied

it will be built.” And now that 117 less confident protesters have been arrested, Harper can sleep soundly. This is Harper’s Canada: say something radical; you get arrested.

Malcolm X was right in saying that bad people “are the ones who seem to have all the power and be in these positions to block things that you and I need.” Today’s world is run by dirty rulers. As such, we need to fight dirty. Violence isn’t always the answer. But I, like Malcolm X, “don’t even call it violence when it’s self-defense. I call it intelligent.”

Concerned Canadians have a lot to protest about our political masters. We must protest their attacks on our privacy, our environment, our peace and our freedom. Remember, the government doesn’t have your back.

Unless they have your back against a wall — arresting you freethinking motherfuckers.

6• Opinions

thesheaf.com/opinions • the Sheaf • October 6, 2011

More action needed on Somalia famine The slow-motion disaster in the Horn of Africa was avoidable and man-made COLLEEN GEORGE We have all seen the images of starving children: their sunken eyes, swollen bellies and bony limbs. But do we feel a connection to them? Do we see them as our neighbours, as our family, as fellow humans? Or can we justify our separation, even though we live in a society that is inextricably linked to the rest of the world?

Starvation is the result of a severe or total lack of nutrients needed to sustain life. It’s easy for us to imagine the preliminary symptoms of weakness, irritability and fatigue. But what happens when that hunger is not remedied by food for days, weeks or even longer? Complete starvation in adults leads to death within eight to twelve weeks.

The process is painful as organs begin to shrink, cramping and severe muscle pain ensues, fluid retention and a drop in protein content causes the body to bloat, infections arise because of the loss of immune system response, hallucinations and convulsions become rampant and heart rhythm becomes erratic.

Can you imagine?

This summer, much of eastern Africa’s food production was destroyed by drought. This has caused a skyrocketing in food prices and the proliferation of famine. The results have been exceptionally devastating in Somalia, where the combination of the unforgiving drought, debilitating war, years of political chaos and restrictions on emergency aid have resulted in a food crisis for over four million Somalis.

The political environment in Somalia is violent, merciless and volatile. For 20 years, Somalia has

limped along without an effective central government and has been widely accepted as the epitome of a failed state. In 2006, al-Shabab, one of Africa’s most formidable militant Islamist groups, took over much of southern Somalia.

“

The routes to refugee camps in Kenya, Ethiopia and Mogadishu are now being referred to as ‘roads of death.’

Extremist al-Shabab supporters have been blamed for restricting the delivery of emergency food, water and medical supplies by aid organizations to famine victims.

However, the African Union peacekeeping force overtook alShabab in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, in August, giving the central government authority of the nation’s capital. Although the transitional government is weak and al-Shabab remain in control of significant swaths of south and central Somalia, the central government says they are committed to helping famine victims.

However, now the situation has escalated into the world’s worst food crisis. The routes to refugee camps in Kenya, Ethiopia and Mogadishu are now being referred to as “roads of death” because of the emaciated bodies of those who have starved to death that lie along the roadsides as the Somalis

Is the world ready to watch 750,000 Somalis starve to death?

seek safety and food. Most of them are children.

To add to the crisis, the United Nations announced in August that a cholera epidemic is sweeping across the country.

As the rains begin this fall, disease will germinate and spread long before any food can be produced. Cholera is one worry; malaria, typhoid and measles are a short list of some of the other diseases that will prey upon the malnourished and immune-suppressed populations.

Last week, international aid agencies warned that the famine in Somalia is at a turning point as the environmental and health conditions decline. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to die in the coming months.

Many NGOs who have worked in Somalia for decades say that although they are accustomed to the daily struggle that most Somalis face, they have never before faced such acute suffering with so many lives at stake. Is the world ready to watch 750,000 Somalis starve to death?

Canadians have donated, but

not much. The international response to the famine falls drastically short of what is needed to cope with the crisis.

Southern Somalia was hit by famine in the early 1990s, but at this time the world was more willing to give. Then there was the Rwandan Genocide in 1994, and then the civil war in south Sudan and the insurgence of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda. Are people tired on donating to Africa?

The current food crisis has been criticized as being avoidable and man-made. The situation had been predicted months before the famine began. The international community sat on its hands instead of investing money and support in famine prevention.

Now the problem has grown.

Other countries have to take responsibility for their roles, both for the historical context that has led to the political situation that plagues Somalia and for the role that the international community, specifically the northern hemisphere, has played in climate change.

United Nations/Flickr

Finally, media coverage of the famine has been sporadic.

Whereas the coverage of the devastation of the nuclear disaster in Japan was frontpage news, the 12 million Africans who are currently suffering from a food crisis seem to take a backburner to the fact that watermelon helmets are not allowed at Empire Field in Vancouver.

What can you do? Well, in the short-term, donations are now being accepted at many international aid organizations, including the World Food Program and Oxfam.

We must also let our federal government know that, although we appreciate the donations already made to famine relief, we need to do more.

Write to your Member of Parliament. We have to acknowledge our connection to global injustices, such as this one, and critically discuss these issues with our friends, family and political representatives to make others aware of what is going on.

Got a question for our Opinions Editor?

Come in and see Mike during his office hours.

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Sports •7

October 6, 2011 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/sports

Hudon scores two as Huskies upset Pandas

1. Calgary x 2. Saskatchewan 3. UBC 4. Manitoba 5. Regina 6. Alberta

Women’s soccer splits wins against Alberta

Huskies men winless on the weekend

Andrew Hood of the Alberta Golden Bears could not be stopped as the Huskies’ winless streak continued Oct. 1 and 2 in Edmonton.

The Dogs faced the Bears twice

FOOTBALL Standings

KEVIN MENZ Sports Editor

The Huskies women’s soccer team handed the Alberta Pandas only their second loss of the season Oct. 2 with a 3-2 win at Foote Field in Edmonton.

Elizabeth Hudon opened the scoring early by beating Pandas keeper Kelti Biggs from inside the box in the game’s second minute.

Her goal was answered quickly

by Alberta striker Heather Lund, however, as Lund buried a low shot past Huskies keeper Marissa Wilford in the seventh minute.

It would be Alberta’s only major success in the half.

Hudon scored her second of the game in the 14th minute and assisted a Lindsay Manz goal in the 24th minute to give Saskatchewan a 3-1 lead going into the break.

Hudon’s three points in the game put her at 8 points on the season and into a tie for first amongst all Canada West players.

The Pandas increased the pressure in the second half as they outshot the Huskies 11-4. They were unable, however, to score the two goals needed to tie the game up at 3.

Amanda Black’s goal in the 75th minute would be their second and final goal of the game.

The Huskies’ win, which moves them to 4-3-1 on the season, came after they lost 3-0 to Alberta the previous day.

In that game, the Pandas scored three goals within the opening 35 minutes to secure the win.

The Pandas now sit second in the Canada West with a 6-2 record. The Huskies are in sixth place.

Canada West Standings 5-0 3-2 3-2 2-3 2-3 0-5

x - clinched playoff spot

League Leaders Rushing 1. Adrian Charles - REG 2. Steven Lumbala - CGY 3. Ben Coakwell - SASK

GP 5 5 3

Att. 115 75 34

Passing 1. Billy Greene - UBC 2. K. Williams - MAN 3. Eric Dzwilewski - CGY

GP 5 5 5

Com-Att-Int 112-178-1 83-147-6 77-128-3

Receiving 1. Jordan Grieve - UBC 2. Chris Dobko - CGY 3. Jared Janotta - REG

GP 5 5 5

Rec. 29 32 23

Yards 689 616 259

Long 33 45 52

TD 2 6 3

Yards 1555 1196 1031

Long 72 90 61

Yards 559 389 340

Long 72 40 69

TD 4 6 3

TD 12 6 10

Scoring (TDs) 1. Steven Lumbala - CGY Chris Dobko - CGY 3. O. Sonuga - AB

GP 5 5 5

TD 6 6 5

Rush 6 0 5

Pass 0 6 0

Tackles 1. J. Hetherington - AB 2. T. Michalchuk - SASK 3. Sam Hurl - CGY

GP 5 5 5

Solo 38 28 22

Ast. 16 15 19

Total 46.0 35.5 31.5

Sacks 1. Serge Kaminsky - UBC 2. Duncan Morris - AB Linden Gaydosh - CGY

GP 5 5 5

Solo 5 4 4

Ast. 0 0 0

Total 5.0 4.0 4.0

Interceptions

GP 5 4 4

No. 3 2 2

Yards 39 0 0

1. Michael Lau - CGY 2. Mitch Friesen - SASK

Brent Krawchuk - AB

Long 33 0 0

Pts. 36 36 30

Yards 30 44 28 TD 0 0 0

MEN’S HOCKEY Standings 1. Manitoba 2. Saskatchewan* 3. Alberta 4. Regina 5. UBC 6. Lethbridge* 7. Calgary

*The Saskatchewan at Lethbridge game on Oct. 1 — each team’s second of the season — was stopped after the second period due to ice resurfacing problems. It will be rescheduled at a later date.

2-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-2-0

League Leaders

Elizabeth Hudon leads the Canada West with 8 points.

this past weekend, losing 2-1 in the first game and tying the second game 1-1. Hood, a midfielder who was switched to striker for the weekend in order to spark Alberta’s offence, scored all three goals for the Bears.

In both games, Alberta got off to quick starts as Hood scored all his goals within the first half. In the first game, he buried one past Saskatchewan keeper Mark Diakiw in the 10th minute and potted another in the 30th minute after taking a through ball from Cameron Schmidt and dribbling past Diakiw. In the second game, he scored in the 14th minute after tapping in a shot that had bounced off the cross bar.

Rookies Bobbi Nicholat and Brett

file photo Raisa Pezderic

Levis were the only ones to score for the Huskies. Nicholat scored in the 90th minute of the first game while Levis scored in the 68th of the second game.

The win moved Alberta one point ahead of the Huskies to sit fifth in the Canada West conference while the tie marked the fifth winless game in a row for Saskatchewan. They have not won since Sept. 17.

Huskies all-star striker Jerson Barandica-Hamilton, who started the season off strong, has not scored in the Dogs’ last three games. Josh Northey, the Canada West player of the year last year, has not scored since Saskatchewan’s league opener on Sept. 10.

The Huskies are off for Thanksgiving weekend but will return to action in Lethbridge on Oct. 15.

Points 1. Brennan Bosch - SASK Derek Hulak - SASK Kyle Bortis - SASK

GP 2 2 2

Goals 3 2 0

Goals 1. Brennan Bosch - SASK 2. Derek Hulak - SASK Jared Walker - MAN

GP 2 2 2

No. 3 2 2

Ast. 1 2 4

Totals 4 4 4

P/G 2.0 2.0 2.0

Men’s Soccer Standings

GP 2 2 2

Plus/Minus 1. Kyle Bortis - SASK M. Delahey - SASK Derek Hulak - SASK

GP 2 2 2

Total +3 +3 +3

Penalty Minutes 1. Zak Stebner - SASK 2. Brenden Dowd - SASK Mark Hall - LETH

GP 1 2 2

Total 15 12 12

No. 4 3 2

WOMen’s Soccer Standings

1. UBC 2. TWU 3. Victoria 4. Calgary 5. Alberta 6. Saskatchewan 7. UFV 8. Lethbridge

4-0-3 4-1-2 4-2-2 4-3-1 3-2-3 3-3-2 1-6-1 1-7

1. TWU 2. Alberta 3. UBC 4. Calgary 5. Victoria 6. Saskatchewan 7. UFV 8. Manitoba 9. Lethbridge 10. Regina

League Leaders Points 1. J. B-Hamilton - SASK 2. Navid Mashinchi - UBC Craig Gorman - UVIC

Assists 1. Kyle Bortis - SASK 2. Andrew Bailey - SASK T3. Derek Hulak - SASK

GP 8 7 8

Goals 6 2 4

Ast. 4 4 2

GP 8 2. Andrew Ravenhill - UVIC 6 S. Schmidt - TWU 7

No. 6 4 4

Avg. 0.75 0.67 0.57

Assists 1. Navid Mashinchi - UBC Cameron Schmidt - AB J. B-Hamilton - SASK

GP 7 8 8

No. 4 4 4

Avg. 0.57 0.50 0.50

Saves 1. Colin Pattison - LETH 2. Mark Diakiw - SASK 3. Elliot Mitrou - UVIC

GP 8 8 6

No. 52 45 35

Avg. 6.50 5.62 5.83

Goals

1. J. B-Hamilton - SASK

Total 10 6 6

6-1 6-2 5-1-1 4-2-2 4-2-2 4-3-1 3-3-2 2-6 0-7-1 0-7-1

League Leaders Points 1. Janine Frazao - UBC Elizabeth Hudon - SASK Heather Lund - AB

GP 7 8 8

Goals 7 5 7

Goals

T3. E. Hudon - SASK

GP 7 8 8

No. 7 7 5

Avg. 1.00 0.88 0.62

Assists 1. Kayla Michaels - AB 2. Jenna Di Nunzio - TWU D. Fuenzalida - SASK

GP 8 7 8

No. 5 4 4

Avg. 0.62 0.57 0.50

Saves

GP 7 8 7

No. 51 49 44

Avg. 7.29 6.12 6.29

1. Janine Frazao - UBC

Heather Lund - AB

1. T. Willoughby - LETH 2. M. Wilford - SASK 3. Chloe Werle - MAN

Ast. 1 3 1

Total 8 8 8

8• Sports

thesheaf.com/sports • the Sheaf • October 6, 2011

Coakwell’s return stops Coach Brian Towriss sets new record with win over UBC in Homecoming game COLE GUENTER Ben Coakwell’s presence was exactly what the University of Saskatchewan Huskies offence needed to get out of their slump.

The running back rushed for over 200 yards and had two touchdowns in the Huskies’ 36-33 win over the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds at Griffiths Stadium Sept. 30. It was only his second game of the season as he was sidelined early in the year with a shoulder injury.

“Injuries can get you down, but there’s nothing better [than] being back and getting to run out of the tunnel again” said Coakwell.

The win, which moved the Huskies to 3-2 on the year, not only stopped a two-game losing skid, but also launched head coach Brian Towriss into the CIS record books for the most all-time wins. He surpassed coaching legend Larry Haylor, whom he was tied with coming into the game at 169 wins each, and now stands alone with an impressive 170-95-1 record in his 28 seasons as head coach.

Coincidentally, it was also in a game against the Thunderbirds back in 1984 that Towriss got his very first win.

“I don’t worry about breaking the record. I knew that was going to happen at some point,” said Towriss after the game. “What we were worried about was getting to 3-2.”

The two-points were very important for the Huskies as they are now back on track to fight for a home playoff game.

“It was one of those games where everything was working for us,” said Coakwell. “It’s definitely a positive that we want to keep up.”

“It’s a lot happier dressing room going in 3-2 than it is going in 2-3,” added Towriss.

Quarterback Jahlani GilbertKnorren played more comfortably than he had in the last few games.

He showed off his ability to run by putting up two rushing touchdowns and he tallied 187 passing yards on 24 attempts. All this despite having to watch from the sidelines as Trent Peterson started the game.

“I realized the last two games

away from home I wasn’t seeing things, so I think it was good that I got a chance to sit outside the box and watch,” said Gilbert-Knorren about not getting to start for the first time this season. “It motivated me to work harder.”

He was put into the game early in the second quarter after Saskatchewan’s offence got off to a slow start with Peterson throwing two interceptions.

Their only points in the entire first half came off single-pointers from two missed field goals by kicker Cole Samson.

The Thunderbirds made a 14-yard field goal and added a single point on a punt in the first quarter. UBC quarterback Billy Greene pushed into the end zone on a one-yard quarterback sneak four minutes into the second quarter. It was a play set up by Thunderbirds defensive back San Carino’s interception off one of Peterson’s 12 passing attempts.

The Huskies were down 11-2 going into the second half, but it was a different football team that came out of the locker room.

On their first drive of the third quarter, Coakwell broke free for a huge 30-yard run to get the ball to the UBC 25-yard line. Three plays later a fake field goal attempt was successful in getting the first down.

The Huskies then moved the ball to the three-yard line where Coakwell scored one of his two touchdowns, capping a nine-play, 65-yard drive.

The Dogs took the lead by one point after a fumble recovery by Huskies safety Bryce McCall allowed Samson to complete a 22yard field goal.

UBC answered back with a long 25-yard passing touchdown but

Brian Towriss after setting a new CIS record with his 170th win as head coach.

Ben Coakwell gets back on his feet with B-boy style.

The running of the togas is an annual tradition for fans.

Pete Yee

Trent Peterson makes use of his blocks to scramble through UBC’s defensive line.

•9

Sports

October 6, 2011 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/sports

s Huskies’ losing skid then gave up another field goal and touchdown in the third to make it 22-18 for the U of S. Both teams’ quarterbacks took over in the last 15 minutes, dazzling the crowd of 6,461 with their combination of big yard passing plays and ability to flee from pocket pressure.

Gilbert-Knorren started with a four-yard touchdown run, set in place by a 20-yard gallop from Coakwell. Greene marched the Thunderbirds offence right back with a huge 48-yard catch-andrun play to get the ball down to the Huskies’ 22-yard line. He then finished the drive when he pulled

the ball down and ran it in for the score himself.

A successful two-point conversion attempt put the Thunderbirds within three points of the Dogs with less than three minutes to play.

Thanks to a 52-yard sprint from Coakwell, however, the Huskies were able to move the ball down field in a hurry, setting up another Gilbert-Knorren scramble off a broken play.

The quarterback turned what looked like would be a sack into a touchdown, jogging into the end zone from 15 yards out.

Saskatchewan was up 10 points

with just over a minute left on the clock.

Greene managed to run in another touchdown but with only four seconds left on the clock, it wasn’t enough to scare the Huskies away from celebrating the win with Towriss.

Photos by Raisa Pezderic The Dogs, along with the rest of the league, get a bye this week. They return to action on Oct. 14 to face the Calgary Dinos for their last home game of the regular season.

Quarterback Jahlani Gilbert-Knorren spotting an open receiver.

The Dogs pile up on top of an unlucky UBC player.

Receiver Garrett Burgess makes the grab.

Jahlani Gilbert-Knorren runs it into the endzone.

Trent Peterson hands the ball off to Ben Coakwell.

UBC’s quarterback Billy Greene sneaks into the endzone.

Pete Yee

10•Arts

thesheaf.com/arts • the sheaf • October 6, 2011

Hoarders take over Saskatoon galleries And why it’s a good thing for local art lovers LAURA ALFORD Saskatoon art lovers have plenty to see in two new exhibitions that opened this past week.

Wing Yee Tong’s show Homework is showing at the Snelgrove, and Vancouver-based artist Jayce Salloum’s history of the present is at the Mendel.

Obvious headlines aside, both exhibitions present the artist as archivist, collector and hoarder of the objects, images, conversations and even recipes that are the material residue of lived experience. In both exhibits, the gallery space and the artist’s treatment transform our relationship to these objects.

Homework Wing Yee Tong continues the MFA thesis series with a show that is Wing Yee Tong’s Homework exhibit at the Snelgrove Art Gallery in the Murray Building. intimate, playful and clever.

The works are unnamed and there York City and Beirut storefronts; exasperated: “Will people ever stop artist’s own creation. They sparkle in is no artist statement. Tong was coy video from the Okanagan, Paris, shopping?” their symmetry. when asked what her show is about.

The five-part video installation In another corner, a 3D pipecleaner Lebanon and the former Yugoslavia; “Doilies,” she responded. altered images from a book of Third untitled is another highlight that takes Doily: a mass-produced paper craft doily creates a 2D reflection on the Reich propaganda; film stock, an hours to experience in its entirety. ceiling thanks to a mustard-yellow sold by hundreds at the dollar store.

Arabic Bible, postcards and fortune Personal narratives overlay political And doilies, those delicate homecrafts lamp also found at the Village Green. contexts in the Okanagan Valley, Tong uses second-hand, low-value, cookies. from a previous generation. These The piece that drew the most Lebanon, Palestine and the former even discarded items and makes them days, the latter find their way to flea attention at the opening reception Yugoslavia. beautiful in unexpected ways. Take markets and thrift stores along with was “map of the world,” an elaborate Particularly striking is the the glass towers formed of perfume other objects of low commercial collage of security envelopes, bottle interview with Soha Bechara, a bottles, for example, or the plastic value. caps, photographs, twigs and an Lebanese National Resistance fighter bottle forest at one end of the gallery.

Scattered through Homework are old muffin wrapper. The artist has who was detained for 10 years in a There are inferences to be made several handmade doilies purchased literally drawn connections between tiny cell. In the gallery, a single chair about capitalism, consumption and in Saskatoon. Tong recalls buying the objects with a ballpoint pen. faces a flat screen monitor that shows disposal, value and gendered labour. two doilies from the Village Green “map of the world” is aesthetically Salloum’s interview with Bechara. for $8. One had taken eight hours and On these matters, the doilies speak appealing in that the colours are His close framing of Bechara for themselves. the other two days to make. “I felt harmonious. It is also surprising: who combines with the narrowness of like I was committing robbery,” she Jayce Salloum: history of knew security envelopes came in the dark gallery walls to produce an said. the present [selected works such a variety of designs and shades intense and intimate effect.

In a gallery setting, these doilies 1985-2009] of blue? And bottle caps of all shapes Friday night’s opening included a become found objects that show the and colours! tour with the artist and curator. investment of time and care in craft.

This exhibition is a mid-career An elderly woman beside me Curator Jen Budney concluded Variations in colour, design and retrospective of Jayce Salloum’s compared it to her recycling bin and her remarks with what was possibly material are evidence of creativity work, curated by Jen Budney. noted that everything on the collage the most stable summary one could within accepted boundaries.

The scope is wide. There are had been produced in the last 30 arrive at. She said that Salloum’s On the floor of the gallery are two photographs from Vancouver, New years.

After a few minutes she was work is not so much political as it is impressive astroturf versions of the Sheaf Ad1 Facts 2011:The Sheaf 8/30/11 1:41 PM Page 1

Raisa Pezderic

epistemological.

“It’s about how we know what we know,” she said.

Given that the exhibit just opened last Friday, a review this early feels somewhat premature. It’s the kind of exhibit that will evolve over time and with repeated visits. Depending on where you stand, content and connections seem to change. Each set of headphones is attached to a different perspective.

The viewer’s shadow cast on a video projection or their reflection in the glass covering a photograph — usually these are distractions. Here, they appear to be reminders of the space intentionally left for the viewer within each work they encounter. history of the present is on display until January 8. Homework is on display until October 7.

Facts ◆

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Shanna (Shan) Larsen was only 24 when she lost her life to breast cancer teamshan.ca facebook.com/team.shan.ca

Arts

October 6, 2011 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/arts

•11

Love, longing and desire with The Three Sisters Chekhov’s classic comedy opens Greystone Theatre season BLAIR WOYNARSKI Russia comes to Saskatoon as the dedicated drama students at Greystone Theatre prepare to kick off the season with Anton Chekhov’s classic play The Three Sisters.

The play, written in 1900, centres on the Prozorov family, landed gentry living in rural Russia. The titular sisters are the motherly spinster Olga, the unhappily married Masha and the young and idealistic Irina, who live alongside their brother Andrei and his fiancée Natasha.

At the beginning of the play, they long to return to their childhood home of Moscow and lament their uninspired existence out in the country. What follows is a tangled web of secrecy and torrid sexual affairs, where each character seeks out happiness in a somewhat unhealthy way and the sisters find themselves pushed aside as Natasha gradually takes control of the household.

The Three Sisters is a “fabulous classic play,” said professor Pamela Haig Bartley, who came off sabbatical to discover that this show had been selected for her to start the Greystone season with. It posed a unique challenge for her, because she already had experience acting the play and now had to take the director’s helm. Luckily, she brings special insight to the production after having spent time in New York studying the play under someone she calls “a mad Russian.”

“Chekhov is often misunderstood,” said Haig Bartley.

“People think he’s tragic and dreary.”

One of the goals for this

Tusenbach (Grahame Kent) and Irina (Jacqueline Block).

Raisa Pezderic

production was to bring out the comedy, which Chekhov always insisted his plays were, despite what contemporary performances of them suggested. It was fun for the actors to seek out the humour in “idiosyncratic behaviour and human foibles.”

Haig Bartley sums up the play’s humour as similar to “Curb Your Enthusiasm, but kinder, gentler and subtler.” Much of the action involves characters who are in love and end up committing faux pas for that reason.

The character humour, however, revolves around some dark subject matter. The slow deterioration of the Prozorov family comments on the downfall of the Russian privileged class and anticipates the revolution that would grip the country a few years after the play was penned. But far from being dated, the story has found new resonances today. Just as the characters are staring down the barrel of imminent change, people today are faced with a new

revolution.

“It’s happening all over the world,” said Haig Bartley. “The upper class doesn’t understand they need to change.”

The Prosorovs’ stagnation on their country estate and constant yearning to return to Moscow may have different significance to everyone seeing the play, but much of the theme revolves around “thwarted desire.” Viewers may recognise themselves in characters who “long for something but are afraid to get it.”

The Three Sisters has a cast of 19 that has been rehearsing daily since classes began. While a few personalities dominate the action, the play requires many characters to come and go. Haig Bartley and the cast are playing with stage conventions, simply having characters fade into the background rather than march on and off the stage. It is an exercise in ensemble casting, where each actor must learn to give and take focus.

Any students who are doing

Andrei (Donovan Scheirer) and Natasha (Danielle Roy).

Raisa Pezderic

some soul-searching or looking toward the future (which should, theoretically, be all of us) should be sure to stop by The Three Sisters.

It’s funnier than one might expect.

The Three Sisters runs at the Greystone Theatre Oct. 6-15, Monday through Saturday.

Tickets cost $20, $16 for seniors and $14 for students.

Editor’s Pick of the Week Drive Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Score by Cliff Martinez

The soundtrack to the ultra-cool action flick Drive, scored by Cliff Martinez, is a perfect throwback to synth-heavy Euro-pop scores by bands like Tangerine Dream and Vangelis that abounded in the 1980s. While Martinez’s score is heavy on atmosphere and makes for stylish background music, the real highlights are the five songs featured in the film. “Oh My Love”

by Riz Ortolani featuring Katyna Ranieri and “Tick of the Clock” by the Chromatics are moody, cool works that were crafted explicitly for the film. However, you wouldn’t think that “Nightcall” by Kavinsky & Lovefoxxx and “A Real Hero” by College featuring Electric Youth weren’t also made specifically for the film since their lyrics and themes seem to be directly addressing its subject matter. However, their film context aside,

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“Nightcall” and “A Real Hero” are some of the coolest songs you will hear all year.

There’s nothing ironic about them being the perfect tunes to drive to while you’re out in your car. Even if you’re driving a crapper, the Drive soundtrack is guaranteed to make your ride happen in style.

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12• Arts

thesheaf.com/arts • the Sheaf • October 6, 2011

Born to grow and grown to die Discovering Townes Van Zandt: folk music legend MICHAEL CUTHBERTSON Opinions Editor Townes Van Zandt is the epitome of a cult musician. He spent most his life playing at dive bars and his record sales were dismal throughout his career. Yet the fans he does have — like the exalted Bob Dylan — are obsessed with his music. When a tiny ad was taken out in Rolling Stone for “The Official Townes Van Zandt Fan Club,” hundreds of people wrote back, quoting his songs, saying the music changed their lives and gave them hope.

I feel the same way.

To fill you in, Van Zandt is a pretty

DOUGLAS GIBSON

UPCOMING EVENTS

Saskatoon Launch Stories About Storytellers Thursday, October 13, 7:30 PM

TREENA WYNES

Reading & Signing Eating Ourselves Crazy Saturday, October 15, 1:00 PM

run October 6, 11.indd 1

traditional folk singer-songwriter.

His lyrics are pure poetry, which leads him to a “sing-talking” style.

His voice isn’t for everyone but his songwriting is peerless. On acoustic, he does everything from classical finger-picking to speedy folk strumming. In the words of famed songwriter Steve Earle, “Townes is the best songwriter in the whole world and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.”

So why haven’t more people heard of Townes Van Zandt? For starters, his music is too heavy for some.

You can’t really play it at a party.

I wouldn’t even sit with a couple friends and drink beers to it. It’s lonely person’s music. It’s the kind of thing you could play at 3 a.m. while passing out alone in bed.

A reporter once asked Van Zandt, “Why are most of your songs sad?”

The singer replied, “I have a few that aren’t sad — they’re like hopeless, totally hopeless situations. And the rest aren’t sad, they’re just the way it goes kinda.”

Indeed, songs like “Nothin,” “Marie” and “Lungs,” while hauntingly beautiful, are pretty hopeless. But it’s no wonder the music is full of sorrow. The man’s life was pretty heavy.

At 20, he was given insulin shock therapy to “treat” his bipolar disorder. As a result, the man lost all of his childhood memories. After

09/25/11 3:11:55 PM

STUDENT SPECIAL

the surgery, Townes spent most of his adult days getting loaded and occasionally shooting heroin.

In a way, Van Zandt was the essence of a “self-destructive” personality. His biography A Deeper Blue reveals this all too well. When an ex-girlfriend asks why he left her, he says, “Because I was falling in love with you.” He even sabotaged his musical career by playing drunk, gambling away money on tour and shunning the media.

But really Van Zandt’s selfdestruction was more an act of asceticism. He needed to be broke, lonely and miserable to write his “sad and hopeless” tunes. If he had a fatal flaw, it was this blind devotion to his music. Van Zandt once said his decision to pursue music meant “blowing everything off — family, money, security, happiness, freedoms, blow it off.”

A steep price, yes, but hearing his music, I wager Van Zandt made a good decision by dropping out of the world.

In a weird way, I regard Van Zandt as a messiah. I quote his little proverbs on a daily basis. When he sings, I can’t help but feel a holiness to his words. With other musicians, even really talented ones, I often wonder, “Do they really feel that way?” But I never doubt Van Zandt is speaking from the heart.

But the purity of his music was often meddled with by music producers. Most members of the Van Zandt cult agree his studio albums are wildly overproduced. When he wrote songs, he clearly intended them

to highlight his sleepy voice and his acoustic — nothing more. But most of his recordings feature bombastic instrumentation.

Van Zandt was made for live performance. Live at the Old Quarter is Van Zandt most in his element.

The album features the singer playing live to a dusty bar in Houston. It’s a scene most befitting the hard-drinking outlaw.

Van Zandt died before he saw

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most of the praise he now regularly receives. He died of cardiac arrhythmia on New Year’s Day, 1997 at the age of 52.

While the death was “natural,” Van Zandt predicted he wouldn’t outlive his career, explaining, “I’ve designed it that way.”

Hysterical a partial return to form Clap Your Hands Say Yeah release new album after four-year silence

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Brianna Whitmore

CHANTAL STEHWIEN

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah ask a lot of their listeners. If the band wants the sort of reaction their name demands, the onus is on them to give the audience a reason to break out and shout. And of their past two releases, only one has yielded such a result.

After a four-year hiatus, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah have returned with a third release, Hysterical. They can be forgiven for needing a bit of a break, as theirs was a rapid rise to notoriety. In the early 2000s, CYHSY epitomized the DIY ethos. The Brooklyn-based band was label-less, their first discs were home-pressed and, with high-speed word of mouth, they found success through the Internet. The invitingly named group popped up on iPods everywhere in 2005 with the release of their self-titled debut, pushing many of today’s hipsters through puberty. Coercing many of these kids away from their Top 40 tastes was the band’s album: 38 minutes of hand-clapping, yeah-saying, lyrically obtuse tunes.

And it wasn’t just teens in tight

jeans digging the music; Bowie, Byrne and even an ex-Beatle could be counted among the fans.

CYHSY had asked for applause but received an onslaught of superlative descriptors. As online caches prove, critics and bloggers were competing for the highest syllable count.

Such accolades only compounded pressure on the band for a similarly successful followup album.

But, meteorologically speaking, high pressure systems usually just create supplied a bit of haze.

2007’s Some Loud Thunder did just that. It was a clear case of sophomore syndrome — not altogether terrible, but switching between bland and irritating. Professional and amateur writers alike slammed the album with the same gusto they had previously used to praise CYHSY. Fans questioned whether the band would survive having notoriously circumlocutory hipster insults hurled at them.

They did.

Four years later, the Clap are back and as infectious as ever. Hysterical starts out promisingly. “Same Mistake,” the optimistic and aptly titled first track, proves the quintet can still produce a solid pop tune. The

familiar sound of synthesizers takes a secondary role, however, drowned out by a heavy string section. It swells with a triumphalism that would force a conceding smirk from even the most cynical critic (or critical cynic).

The stand-out single, “Maniac,” is a frenetic track that manages to recreate the classic CYHSY sound.

In contrast, Hysterical’s midpoint is markedly melodramatic. The drastic down-tempo turn verges on orchestral overkill. One could be forgiven for thinking it is Brandon Flowers hammily lamenting on “In A Motel Room.” Yet the lyrics are, as usual, only semi-discernable, assuring listeners that it is in fact Alex Ounsworth behind the microphone.

The lead singer has not lost his whiny vocal charm, although he does come across as more mature and somewhat suave.

The last of the 12 tracks again captures their earlier energy, but with a twist. “Adam’s Plane” is a perfect summation of the band’s musical journey. It builds with an uppity beat and ends on a calm, even wistful note. Hysterical has a developed sound, which, given that even the guitar dissonance has a strong element of control, borders on overconsidered. Ultimately, the album is more tuxedo than T-shirt. It did not leave me in hysterics — in either the Victorian or contemporary sense — but is nevertheless a solid release.

As for a rating, I would give it seven hand claps out of ten.

Followed, as requested, by a resounding “Yeah!”

•13

Arts

October 6, 2011 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/arts

Girls are all over your fall TV schedule Checking out the two hottest new comedies: New Girl and 2 Broke Girls JENNA MANN

2 Broke Girls

New Girl

Like New Girl, 2 Broke Girls begins with a break-up and new roommates. But Max (Kat Dennings) doesn’t handle her crisis by crying on the couch. With a mix of sardonic wit, attitude and pointed social commentary, she makes the audience laugh and sympathize with her.

The story takes place in a diner in a rough area of town where Max is responsible for training Caroline as the diner’s new waitress. Dennings is a natural in this role, and Beth Behrs manages to play Caroline as more than just a newly-broke, blonde heiress. We learn right away how Caroline’s trained intelligence contrasts with Max’s street smarts and the rapport between these two women is smart and sharp. Best of all, while watching the chemistry between the cast you can tell that they are having fun filming this series.

2 Broke Girls does a good job of introducing the minor characters without overwhelming the audience with too much information. The dynamic within the restaurant is gold. Earl, Bryce and Oleg, three other employees at the diner, aren’t over-emphasized but are a realistic depiction of the personalities one gets used to working with in the food industry.

2 Broke Girls realizes the potential of its leads and the supporting cast supplements the humour while providing ample room for Max and Caroline’s comedic banter. 2 Broke Girls is enjoyable and, unlike many of the other shows starting up this fall, bypasses the initial awkwardness of a new cast and takes off running.

This season’s fall comedy line-up is heavy on female talent.

For fans of (500) Days of Summer, like myself, Zooey Deschanel’s character Jess in New Girl isn’t unlike every other character she has ever played. Beyond how unquestionably adorable Deschanel is, there isn’t much substance to her acting. Deschanel is just so gosh darn cute it almost makes up for how cluelessly naive Jess seems to be — naive enough to move into an apartment with three guys she has never met?

New Girl says yes.

Jess’s desperation to move on after a traumatic breakup with her last roommate is understandable but the concept isn’t exactly realistic. Much like Friends, New Girl relies heavily on the central characters living in close proximity to each other and dealing with colliding personalities. Being unable to escape your roommate’s quirky attributes is a formula that has the potential for hilarity. New Girl starts out strong but expects too much of its characters, overdeveloping their personalities too soon in the program instead of letting them grow at a casual pace.

It’s not that the show isn’t funny — it’s just that the humour isn’t coming naturally yet. Jess’s personality comes across as artificial and forced. She enjoys Lord of the Rings, singing and looping Dirty Dancing on the living room television.

Her character doesn’t feel like a grown-up with realistic expectations of the world — which is part of her charm — and it might become hard to watch after a few more episodes.

While the original cast has strong chemistry with Deschanel, this balance is thrown off when a new character, Winston, joins the cast in the second episode and replaces one of the original three roommates, Coach. This happens without a proper explanation as to where Coach lives now and why the roommates advertised on Craigslist when they knew Winston would be moving back to the city.

I didn’t really have any strong desire to see another depiction of a heartbroken girl sitting on the couch post-

Zooey Deschanel and her non-adorable co-stars.

supplied

breakup, watching cheesy romances, crying and feeling sorry for herself, but I can’t deny having genuinely enjoyed New Girl. After the first two episodes I’m already rooting for Nick and Jess to wind up together and hoping Winston and the third roommate, Schmidt, find their footing. I will more than likely be tuning for at least the next few weeks.

2 Broke Girls plays at 8:30 p.m. Mondays on CBS and New Girl plays at 9:00 p.m.

Tuesdays on Fox.

Kevin Smith goes to a dark place about the classics?

Maestro Sawa has the cure!

NICOLE BARRINGTON

Red State, Kevin Smith’s first venture into the horror genre, is not your standard jump-inducing scary film. The 88-minute long endeavour follows a religious group, the Five Points Church, who are explicitly compared in the movie to the Westboro Baptist Church.

Like the real-life fundamentalist church, the Five Points Church protests public events such as the funerals of homosexuals with offensive signs and are all related by “blood and marriage.”

The beginning of the movie portrays three male friends who wish to “get up to the devil’s business” and seek out a woman on an online dating site to satisfy their needs. When they arrive at their destination, a trailer a few miles out of town, they are surprised to find a middle-aged woman in a sweat suit knocking back bottles of beer.

Once the boys have been seduced into the trailer by the supposed temptress, they are given drugged beers. It is then revealed that the boys have fallen into a cleverly devised trap of the Five Points Church. One of the boys is kept in a cage and the other two in a dungeon under a church. At this point, it’s pretty clear where this movie is going: into a nightmare that seems horrifyingly believable.

Abin Cooper (Michael Parks) is the bat-shit-crazy leader of the fictional church. The family — including daughters, sons, spouses and grandchildren — sit in a room of pews while listening to the Fred Phelps-esque drawling about “the Philistines and sodomites” and “knowledge of the scripture.” Some of these family members, notably the older ones, are maniacally happy listening to a sermon about how homosexuals have brought “rabid fornication, adultery, abortion and flagrant sexuality into every corner of the media.” The acting seems overzealous at

Feeling

Masters Series

Horror film Red State is a dark tale of religious fundamentalism

Michael Parks as pastor Abin Cooper.

supplied

times but it does a good job of illustrating the reality of how brainwashing fuels extremism.

Bridal Edition Not only does the movie touch on the threat of religious extremists, but also on the issue of gun control laws. Ever-present throughout the movie, Kevin Smith exposes the destruction that guns cause when combined with religious fundamentalism.

Slogans such as “deny religion, deny morality” and “the Internet is the devil’s playground” that Abin Cooper and his fictional cult have memorized are not a far cry from the reality that is Westboro and other fundamentalist groups.

The end of the movie is absolutely fantastic. Its resolution may seem like a bit of a stretch but it’s really a witty, symbolic move on Smith’s part. Its only drawback is how unrealistic it is, as the climactic situation hardly seems like something that could happen in the good ol’ U. S. of A. Nonetheless, this is a great movie, particularly for those who enjoy Inglourious Basterds or even Scarface. It follows in the same vein as these, as it explores those dark crevices of the human mind — those places we all possess and can get lured into without the presence of both critical thinking and openmindedness.

A quote from the last monologue of the movie summarizes the whole message of the movie: “People do the strangest things when they believe they’re entitled, but even stranger things when they just believe.”

Classics for Skeptics Short, smash, hits from the Masters

Rossini Debussy Bizet Sibelius Smetana Pachelbel Mendelssohn Tchaikovsky

LOW STUDENT TICKET PRICES! Maestro Victor Sawa

Presented by

conductor

Want to learn more about the music?

Attend the free pre-concert talk, TCU Place, Green Room, 6:55 pm.

Saturday, October 15

TCU Place, Sid Buckwold Theatre, 7:30 pm

Get info & buy tickets online @

SaskatoonSymphony.org or at TCU Place Box Office, call 975-7799

14•

thesheaf.com • the Sheaf • October 6, 2011

Across

1- Effluent system 6- Boyfriend 10- “Believe” singer 14- Singer Lopez 15- Tombstone lawman 16- Composer Schifrin 17- Naive 20- Fuzzy buzzer 21- Florence’s _ Vecchio 22- Neighborhoods 23- Garden pest 24- Hail, to Caesar 25- Extremely tender 32- Fleet 33- Distribute cards 34- Singer Shannon 35- Type of gun 36- Inexpensive 38- Atlantic mackerel 39- Convert into leather 40- Oz creator 41- Somewhat 42- Comprehensible

46- Obtain, slangily 47- Adjutant 48- Sound of a bagpipe 51- Located 53- Singer Torme 56- Think about 59- Greek temple 60- Pulitzer winner James 61- Paris end 62- Epic narrative poem 63- Roseanne, once 64- Fool

Down

1- Stump 2- Fish-eating eagle 3- Learned 4- Brian of Roxy Music 5- Made little waves 6- Entities 7- 3:00 8- Commedia dell’

9- News letters 10- Dry red table wine 11- Detest 12- Zeno’s home 13- Fishing gear 18- It may be happy 19- Trivial objection 23- Whirl 24- Quickly, quickly 25- Old Nick 26- Flip over 27- Accumulation of fluids 28- PBS benefactor 29- Model 30- Piece of poetry 31- “The Time Machine” race 32- Queue after Q 36- Dramatic troupe 37- Humble dwelling 38- Raise to third power 40- Edible European flatfish

41- Libyan chief of state since 1969 43- Exit 44- Jaw 45- Mon !

48- Cosecant’s reciprocal 49- Sack starter 50- Langston Hughes poem 51- Nintendo rival 52- Bakery worker 53- Prefix for small 54- Pinza of “South Pacific” 55- For fear that 57- Test area 58- Cover

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Misc

October 6, 2011 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/opinions

CAMPUS CHAT

“Mascots.”

Margie de Jager

Do you have any irrational fears?

“Small rodents. Like ferrets and rats.”

Taylor Fayant

“Heights.”

Jeremy Lian

Fake News of the Week Serial arsonist lights up “Some poeple work with oils,

some with marble. I create art out of gasoline and inspiration.”

Of course, Gelman’s art is not In what art critics are calling without controversy, as people a wonderfully subversive new complain about the loss of older movement, Max Gelman, a works and severe burns. convicted arsonist has set fire “I’d really like to help people to dozens of masterpieces at the with my art, that’s why I’m Louvre. holding a burn-what-you-bring Originally convicted for setting festival in the fall. I don’t give fire to his ex-wife’s car, Gelman a fuck. Books, records, pets, began taking his work more seriously after accidentally lighting whatever shit you can grab.”

All of the proceeds from the a Mona Lisa beach towel ablaze. event will go towards the victims “What Gelman does is quite of the event. beautiful,” said famed art critic Buster T. Dicksmooth. “After all, Canada enters age of destruction is a form of creation, PDA Prohibition equal to anything Picasso ever made.”

Bill C-31, known as the “No Gelman explained his process Necking Act of 2011” is now shortly before breaking into the Tate Modern museum in London: being enforced nationwide. The

the art world

•15

landmark law makes criminal “all public displays of affection: including macking, groping, heavy petting and that really weird thing where couples put their hands in each others back pockets.”

The lobby group “People Really Upset by Dirty Exchanges” was instrumental in getting the bill passed.

“We were sick of it. Seeing two people so in love with each other, finding such joy in another human being — it’s enough to make you puke,” Gary Fargus, leader of PRUDE told reporters after the passage of the bill.

Violators of PDA laws will receive 500-kilometre restraining orders from their significant others, lasting a minimum of

two years. The restraining orders “allow no form of long-distance communication between the convicted lovers.”

Civil rights groups have objected to these measures as cruel and unusual. But a recent Statistics Canada poll found 60 per cent of Canadians agree with statement: “PDAs are yucky and serve as a hurtful reminder of my own loneliness.”

Dog no longer “Man’s best friend” After years of being inseparable, local man Dan Thorton decided to pull the plug on his friendship with his dog Sir Barkley Ruffsalot VI. The breakup was made official when the two removed their halves of a BFF locket they promised to wear “for all eternity.”

“A Muslim in the White House.”

20 per cent of America

For years, the two were typical best friends.

“We had some good times,” recalled Thornton. “We got drunk together. He was a good wingman at the clubs. We even liked the same football team.”

But the relationship was strained by the dog’s inability to do basic things like speak English or hold a steady job.

“A best friend should do more than sniff your crotch and drink your toilet water. He should offer sound relationship advice. He should take the keys when you’re too drunk to drive. He should like your posts on Facebook. Barkley wasn’t very good at any of that stuff.”

Thorton says he is looking for a new best friend, preferably one from his own species.

16•

thesheaf.com • the Sheaf • October 6, 2011