The Sheaf 29/03/12 - Volume 103 Issue 29

March 29, 2012

volume 103 • issue 29• thesheaf.com

Sheaf the

The University of Saskatchewan student newspaper since 1912

Retention

University needs to address aboriginal students’ needs.

Page 3

Economy

Young workers still hurting postrecession.

Page 4

Hockey

Huskies men’s team falls short of national final.

Page 6

The Hunger Games phenomenon storms the multiplex.

Page 11

Journalism

Art

BFA shows appear weekly at the Snelgrove gallery.

Pages 8-9

Medicine college on thin ice

Film

Playboy has naked pictures, sure, but it’s also a great magazine.

Page 12

NHL team not as far-fetched as some think

A stumbling medical school struggles to satisfy regulators

Sheldon Kenny

Raisa Pezderic/Photo Editor

Last year, inspectors discovered 10 areas of weakness that the College of Medicine now must resolve to avoid probation.

DARYL HOFMANN Associate News Editor The College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan has been told to clamp down and rectify a handful of internal protocols or it will lose its status as an accredited medical school.

In a letter to Dean William Albritton, the Committee on the Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools and the American Liaison Committee on Medical Education wrote that a team of inspectors identified 10 weaknesses that would result in probation if not resolved in 10 to 15 months. The inspectors had been dispatched to the U of S three months earlier.

“There are areas of noncompliance that will, if not corrected promptly, seriously compromise the ability of the faculty to deliver a quality medical education program,” wrote the CACMS and the LCME, who work together to standardize and accredit medical schools throughout Canada and the United

States.

The areas of weakness include how teaching duties are assigned, how clinical rotations are monitored, the timeframe in which students receive grades and inadequate study space at the U of S College of Medicine campus in Regina.

The letter went on to say that the warning of probation would not be published and the college was not required to inform the student body. However, medical students and faculty were notified about the situation by email in July, said Albritton.

Brett Fairbairn, U of S provost and vice-president academic, released a statement “to clarify the college is fully accredited and will remain so.”

“Accreditation is an ongoing discussion between the college and the accrediting bodies, and the college remains accredited while it works on outstanding items. This is a usual process for medical colleges,” said Fairbairn’s March 22 release.

The 10 standards that need

work relate primarily to matters of academic administration and are not issues of health and safety, he said.

“While these are not trivial matters and in some cases a great deal of work will be required, the university is on track with its plan to ensure compliance, and will do whatever is necessary to ensure continuing full accreditation for the program,” Fairbairn wrote.

In December, the college submitted a plan of action to the accreditors that was accepted, and their team is expected back at the U of S in February 2013.

A failure to resolve the standards in question by next year would leave students unable to graduate and would cripple operations, said Albritton.

“We have to fix this,” he said.

“It will be a challenge to get it done that quickly because it requires a significant conversation within the college and a significant conversation with the university. But it’s important enough that I think it will be done.”

This is not the first time the college has been in hot water with accreditors. It was on put probation from 2002 to 2006.

An antiquated library, insufficient classrooms and a shortage of faculty members were the weaknesses cited a decade ago, said Albritton.

“Back in 2002, we were the first in a series of schools to be put on probation,” he said. “We worked through that, but accreditation has become very onerous.”

Albritton, who was born in rural Alabama, speaks casually with a distinct southern twang. Although he received a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Tennessee, he feels Canadian medical schools are burdened by being anchored to the United States.

Canada has 17 accredited medical schools, compared to more than 150 south of the border.

According to Albritton, that leaves Canada with little influence over the applied standards.

3

Medicine cont. on

Recently, rumour has been floating around that Saskatoon may be in the running for an NHL franchise. As exciting as that would be, there have been grumblings of disapproval from those who do not think it is feasible to bring the NHL to Saskatoon — but why not?

Canada is a hockey-starved nation. We have day-long programs set aside for the NHL trade deadline, the draft lottery and pretty much any event that is even remotely related to hockey.

Look at the Toronto Maple Leafs: They have sucked for as long as I can remember, yet they still sell out every night despite having the highest ticket and concession prices in the league. The fans still go crazy every time they step onto the ice (and chant for the imminent firing of at least one person on a weekly basis).

Canada’s economy is doing pretty well right now, at least compared to the United States. Saskatchewan is leading our country in almost all aspects of economic growth and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. If Saskatoon was ever in the running for a franchise, now is as good a time as ever.

For starters, look at the Credit Union Centre. It has a larger capacity than the MTS Centre in Winnipeg and, if needed, it can be expanded quite easily to fit even more seats. A little maintenance would need to be done, such as making the corporate boxes “more corporate,” but that is a pretty minor renovation in the grand scheme of things.

And think of all the money an NHL franchise would bring to the city. Other teams and their supporters would be in and out of Saskatoon all the time, staying in hotels, eating and shopping. Not only that, but the players that play here would probably buy houses and move their families here.

Then think of the money an NHL team would spend around the city on all sorts of things, mainly advertising. It would be millions of dollars each year pumped into our city. On top of this, there would be openings for more jobs at the Credit Union Center, and businesses would be drawn to Saskatoon because we have a major sports team they could sponsor and use to get their company’s name out to the masses.

Again, more jobs.

SK NHL

cont. on

13

2• News

thesheaf.com/news • the sheaf •March 29, 2012

University shortchanged in Sask budget

Editor-in-Chief: Ishmael N. Daro, editor@thesheaf. com Production Manager: Matthew Stefanson, layout@thesheaf. com Senior News Editor: Tannara Yelland, news@thesheaf. com Associate News Editor: Daryl Hofmann, news@thesheaf. com Photography Editor: Raisa Pezderic, photo@thesheaf. com

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With smaller than expected grant increase, service cuts possible TANNARA YELLAND Senior News Editor After receiving a smaller operating grant increase than it had asked for from the provincial government, the University of Saskatchewan is expecting a significant deficit for 2012-13.

“We were looking for 5.8 per cent and what we received was around two per cent,” said Richard Florizone, the university’s vice-president finance and resources.

Rob Norris, the provincial minister of advanced education, says the government actually provided a 5.4 per cent increase to the U of S. This is because in addition to the two per cent increase to the operating grant, the government has provided extra funding for a number of special projects, from the university’s renal transplant program to the Saskatchewan Advantage scholarships.

Despite the extra provincial funding for specific projects, Florizone estimates the university will face a $10- to $15-million deficit for the 2012-13 year.

University officials had been planning for a budget shortfall of $1.175 million, but with the news that the operating grant increase is just enough to cover inflation, that deficit will be much larger.

When asked if the deficit would mean cuts to services, Florizone could not provide a definitive answer.

“The discussions we’ve had at the senior level haven’t really ruled anything out at this point,” he said. “We’re very much in that idea-generation mode.”

The recently released Third Integrated Plan will provide some guidance for university officials, Florizone added. It lists several areas the university wants to focus on in an effort to increase its profile, from research to aboriginal engagement.

“We basically have an expression as a community of what we see as our priorities....

If people are wondering what our priorities are and where we’re

$15 M $15

$10 M $10 projected minimum deficit

$1.175 M $1.175 M

originally expected deficit

going to focus, it’s very much in that document.”

The Third Integrated Plan was created with input from members of the university community and is intended to provide a guideline for making the U of S a competitive scholarly presence in Canada. The priorities listed in the plan are unlikely to see funding cuts since they represent what the university community considers essential.

Florizone largely confirmed this by saying that as officials look over the budget they will consider not only how things “contribute to the budget, but how they can advance that strategic plan.”

Florizone cited rising salary costs and more need for building maintenance when asked why the university had sought such a large increase to its operating grant.

While salaries and benefits to staff take up around 70 per cent of the university’s operating budget, building maintenance costs have increased dramatically in recent years. This is due in large part to the fact that the university should be spending two to three times more on maintenance each year, a number Florizone says comes from comparing the university’s maintenance spending to that of private businesses.

Operating costs are usually separate from things like building construction and maintenance — called capital expenses — but the university moved some of its maintenance costs into its operating grant with the creation of the RenewUS program.

Nevertheless, the provincial government did not see fit to increase the operating grant

projected maximum deficit Brianna Whitmore/Graphics Editor

for maintenance costs. Instead, Florizone says, the government has asked the university to fund $90 million of its capital expenses through debt.

Florizone says he understands the government’s desire not to spend beyond its means.

“I think the overall message is that government at the highest level is trying to deliver a balanced budget, and at the university community we understand that, because we do the same thing with our own finances. ” The university will hold a town hall meeting on its budget deficit Tuesday, April 3 at 10:30 a.m. in Convocation Hall.

News

March 29, 2012 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/news

•3

Fitting in and moving up Culture shock behind low aboriginal student retention rates

Raisa Pezderic/Photo Editor

ANNA-LILJA DAWSON In a province with the highest per capita aboriginal population in Canada, the University of Saskatchewan has startlingly low aboriginal retention rates.

Since 2007, aboriginal enrolment has been hovering around eight per cent of the total student population — provincially aboriginal people make up 16 per cent of the population.

Meanwhile, first- to second-year retention rates fluctuate between 55 and 65 per cent.

“Like most social phenomena, it is certainly not just one thing,” said Jared Brown, president of the Indigenous Students’ Council.

“There’s a multitude of correlation that occurs for something to happen and this is not an anomaly when you keep that in mind.”

The main factors in the low retention rates are moving into an alien environment, lack of community and understanding, and

Medicine

cont. from

1

And being anchored to America does not benefit students after graduation either.

He said in his 10 years as dean, there has not been a single medical student from the U of S that has left Canada for residency in the United States.

“Canada’s medical education is probably the best in the world, and yet we are tied to a U.S. standard. If we had our own

adapting to a new educational setting.

Education is perhaps the most important of these factors. The change in education from rural communities, particularly reserves, to urban centres can be drastic.

Provincial school systems, with their standardized curricula, are often more difficult and have higher performance expectations for students than schools on reserves.

“When you don’t have those educational standards established before you come here, it’s hard. It’s really hard,” said Brown.

However, “the further into a degree a student is able to progress, the less likely they are to not come back the following year,” said Alex Munoz, program manager for the Indigenous Peoples Program.

IPP, operating t hrough the Centre for Continuing and Distance Education, offers students and community members support to aid both aboriginal and non-aboriginal students with their education.

They run aboriginal awareness and language programs, among others.

The culture shock of moving from a rural community to the city and the complete change in lifestyle that accompanies it is often the first struggle that students of any background face.

“You have to establish an understanding of how you fit into this little new world… where [you] feel good in the community and even outside of the campus community,” said Brown.

In April, IPP will run two new programs — Aboriginal Awareness Education and First Nation and Indigenous Knowledge through Song — to help generate support and interest.

IPP also runs workshops on topics such as how to enroll at the U of S and where people can find affordable housing in order to help prospective students and give them support and mentorship.

Potential students “don’t have the

standards, we could be world leaders.”

Melissa Anderson, president of the Student Medical Society of Saskatchewan, said the college has been transparent and helpful with any concerns that students have had throughout the accreditation process.

“It was addressed right from the get-go, and we have been significantly involved with putting together the action plan,” Anderson said.

She said each month the dean hosts a lunch with students and updates them on any notable systemic changes.

Anderson said that throughout her time with the student society, she has had the chance to meet hundreds of medical students and professionals from across Canada.

She admits the U of S medical school is small, but said that has its advantages.

“Saskatchewan students are known for having really high clinical skills. We’re introduced to clinical situations a lot earlier than other schools are. So I think the quality of education has been really good,” she said.

proper guidance, they feel frustrated, there are a lot of emotions going on [and] people tend to give up a lot of the time,” said Munoz.

Support and a sense of community on campus are key factors in retaining students. The ISC’s Role Model program is an example of creating relationships and communication amongst students and mentors.

“When we start creating dialogue, people get comfortable,” said Brown.

The ISC is not the only place on campus that creates communities for students to be comfortable and

communicate on campus. They have combined efforts with the Aboriginal Student Centre, the Learning Communities and the Peer Assisted Learning program.

Aboriginal Achievement Week, which took place March 19-23, was about more than celebrating the excellence of students on campus; it also aimed to raise awareness and understanding of the aboriginal communities on campus.

4• News

thesheaf.com/news • the Sheaf • March 29, 2012

Post-recession, young job-seekers face ‘uphill battle’ Network, volunteer to start your career, say experts SARAH DESHAIES CUP Quebec Bureau Chief MONTREAL (CUP) — Future graduates are looking at a grim job market as young workers have been the worst affected by the recession, according to a recent study by TD Economics.

The 2008 recession hit young workers hard: workers under 25 held more than half of the 430,000 jobs that were lost over the recession, though they represent only one-sixth of the labour force.

Those between the ages of 20 and 24 have fared better than those in the 15 to 19 bracket, but job recovery is still dismal for all young workers though the recession has ended. And 175,000 young workers have left the labour market since the start of the recession — meaning they just stopped looking. Youth unemployment now stands at 14.5 per cent, double that of the general population.

This is a trend that accompanies economic slowdowns, said Francis Fong, economist and author of the study, pointing to similar situations in the ’80s and ’90s.

“Young people have always taken the brunt of these economic downturns,” explained Fong.

“The challenges that this generation faces are unique in that... not only are you facing competition from your own age cohort [and] people who lost their jobs during the recession... you’re facing competition from a lot of older workers who are now retired.”

Though Canada’s baby boom generation has just started to hit 65, many older workers are either returning from or delaying retirement to remain in the workforce. There has even been a surge in job creation for older workers, as 400,000 new jobs overall have been created for workers over 25 since the recession began.

Leanne Ashworth, co-ordinator of the Concordia Student Union Housing and Job Bank said many graduates return for help, desperately seeking work. “We ask them, ‘What do you want to do?’

And they’ll say, ‘Anything.’ ”

Young people looking for work are hit the hardest during economic downturns.

To Iris Unger, these dismal numbers also echo what she sees as executive director of Youth Employment Services, a career and business resource centre in Montreal.

“There’s a lot of young people out of work, and we’re seeing a lot more of them at the centre,” said Unger, who says pressure to find a job post-graduation from family and friends can take a mental toll on job seekers. “We’re seeing a big increase in young people getting stressed about the employment situation.”

Recently, the federal government slashed $6.5 million in funding for youth summer job programs, closing down job centres and moving many resources online.

Human Resources Minister Diane Finley’s office defended the decision, saying that young people

they surveyed said they were seeking out information online rather than at centres.

Unger criticized this justification, saying that the government should have also consulted resources like YES, and not just students. Hunting online for jobs is not a sure-fire way to get hired, she said.

And it will likely take a few more years before the labour market rebalances itself. Past studies have shown that it can take up to 10 years for young workers to regain their footing in the economy after a recession, according to Fong. And those who graduate in a recession stand to earn less income, a gap that only closes several years on.

Overall, “it’s not easy for young people to make it these days,” Fong conceded. So what does a young person with a newly-minted diploma do?

Having an online resume, like a LinkedIn account, is a good call, but don't job-hunt exclusively online. Instead of emailing out dozens of faceless CVs, make yourself known to potential employers by using “hidden connections” like networking, volunteering and internships.

“People need to be trying as many different things as possible and having face-to-face connections with employers instead of just firing things off on the Internet and never talking to someone,” Ashworth explained.

“The main way to get a job is through networking, which means getting out of the house,” Unger agreed.

One option is to offer to volunteer a few hours a week to get your foot in the door and gain experience, while supporting

Sarah Deshaies/CUP

yourself at another job.

Unger added that it’s also crucial to find a supportive network of family and friends so you don’t sink into a funk.

And if you don’t find your dream job straight out of school?

The report warns that not finding work after graduation “erodes a graduate’s skills and competitive edge,” and can lead to people taking “lesser” jobs, taking a hit to their income over the years.

Sometimes, it’s okay to settle for what you can get, according to Ashworth, but it's also important to keep your eye on the prize.

“Find a survival job, keep your spirits up and try to focus on the long-term search, as well,” said Ashworth. “Don’t feel like you’re stuck there forever, but get your needs met first.”

Copy Central hikes fee Price jumps from 15 to 20 cents per copy DARYL HOFMANN Associate News Editor The 42 photocopiers on campus operated by the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union will see a price increase next year, from 15 cents to 20 cents per copy.

The increase comes after multiple years of decline in the use of the Copy Central copier service, said Reid Nystuen, USSU vice-president of operations and finance.

From 2008 to 2011, use of the photocopiers slid by more than 50 per cent, from more than 500,000 copies per year to less

than 250,000. About a decade ago, Nystuen said usage was as high as 1 million copies per year.

In the past three years, the cost to operate Copy Central has jumped from $10,000 to $40,000.

“The increase from 15 to 20 cents is happening on a trial basis, to be reviewed after three months,” Nystuen said.

The increase in price, which stemmed from a motion at last week’s University Students’ Council, is meant to curb Copy Central’s growing deficit.

However, if the increase results in even less use of the copiers, the change may be reversed at the end of the three-month period.

“Students are not using the photocopiers as much as they used to, and for me that’s understandable,” said Nystuen.

“Just based on the way academic materials are being distributed — you can get your PowerPoints online, you don’t need as much stuff from the reserve section with all those online sources.”

Copy Central’s photocopier machines can be used with coins or copy cards, which can be purchased from the Copy Central hub on the first floor of the Murray library. The increase is set for September.

The Sheaf celebrates its centennial next school year.

That’s 100 years of mistakes, regrets and the occasional bit of journalism. centennial.thesheaf.com

News

March 29, 2012 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/news

•5

Thomas Mulcair voted into NDP leadership Montreal MP takes 57 per cent of the final vote LEE RICHARDSON CUP Ontario Bureau Chief TORONTO (CUP) — After weeks of campaigning and four rounds of voting, party members elected Quebec party lieutenant Thomas Mulcair the new leader of the New Democratic Party and Official Opposition.

Mulcair received 57.22 per cent of the final ballot, with former NDP president Brian Topp coming in second with 42.78 per cent.

The winner emerged from an initial seven candidates that were cut down over the two day convention. Members of the party voted both on-site at the downtown Toronto convention and online across the country on March 23 and 24.

“The challenge that faces us is not a failure of ability or talent.

It’s a failure of leadership,” said Mulcair in his victory speech.

The crowd, which hit a peak of about 4,600 people Saturday, gave Mulcair a standing ovation and remained standing throughout his speech.

During his comments, the Montreal Member of Parliament highlighted a need for the public to be considered as much as part of the NDP’s central agenda as what goes on within Parliament.

“We will unite progressives, unite our country, and together we will work towards a more just and better world,” Mulcair promised the party faithful.

In a nod to the party’s younger supporters, the newly elected leader noted low voter turnout among youth.

"It's not that they don't care, it's that they don't trust that their vote

mattjiggins/Flickr

Only two Canadian prime ministers have had beards. Will this man become the third? will make a difference," he said.

The results of the vote came after a day of lengthy delays. Lines of NDP members at Toronto's Metro Convention Centre faced long waits before casting a vote, while the NDP’s specialized vote website suffered a slowdown because of an apparent high volume of traffic, as well as a reported cyber-attack.

Lines at the convention centre stood still for such long periods of time that people who succeeded in voting drew cheers from the waiting crowd.

Leadership candidates dropped

out after each of the three voting rounds, the first of which began Friday night. Current MPs Paul Dewar, Peggy Nash and Niki Ashton, and Nova Scotia candidate Martin Singh, had exited the leadership race by the end of the second round. After stepping down, Singh passed his support to Mulcair.

British Columbia MP Nathan Cullen was knocked out of the final ballot after coming in last in the third round of voting. He remained neutral after releasing his supporters.

It was during that third round that

technical problems escalated.

Stagnant lines developed in the convention hall as the lagging vote website slowed the process. People also had trouble voting online. An alleged attack on the voting website by an outside party was suggested to have been the cause of the delays.

The technical difficulties led to complaints over social media from those waiting to vote in-person and online. The NDP resorted to staggering voters casting a ballot in person and those voting online, to keep visitor traffic at a slower,

steadier rate. The fourth round of voting was also extended by an extra hour, in order to enable online voters to vote.

Ultimately, after the technological hiccups were sorted out, Mulcair was able to walk on stage and accept the NDP’s leadership, highlighting the shift of a party that grew out of the West but increasingly finds itself drawing support from Quebec voters. At 8:25 p.m., Mulcair tweeted simply, “Thank you. // Merci.”

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6• Sports

thesheaf.com/sports • the sheaf •March 29, 2012

Huskies win final round-robin game of University Cup

Saskatchewan falls short of CIS championship final KEVIN MENZ Sports Editor A 4-3 win over the McGill University Redmen wasn’t enough for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies at the CIS men’s hockey championship Saturday, March 24 in Fredericton, N.B. The Dogs, who had fallen 5-1 to the University of Moncton Blue Eagles in their first game of round-robin play on March 23, needed to down McGill by at least six goals to advance to the tournament final — the team with the highest goal difference moves on if all three squads emerge from the roundrobin with identical win-loss records.

“We needed to win. That was our first goal,” said the Huskies head coach Dave Adolph.

“If we went out there and said ‘We’ve got to score seven goals tonight,’ we’d pretty much unravel and get away from what gives us success,” added Saskatchewan captain Kyle Ross. “We just said go out and play our best game, do the little things that give us success and, who knows, we have had games where we’ve won by six.”

McGill, who had downed Moncton 6-3 in their round-robin match, was guaranteed a spot in the final if they beat Saskatchewan or lost by two goals or less.

Moncton needed the Huskies to win by three, four or five goals to beat out both McGill and the Huskies for a chance at hoisting the University Cup. Adolph said that his players were highly motivated to spoil McGill’s berth into the

Andrew Meades/The Brunswickan

The Huskies charge into the McGill zone. final, especially after Saskatchewan pulled ahead of the Redmen 4-3 late in the third period and it was obvious that the Huskies could not win by six goals.

“When we scored the go-ahead goal, our whole bench was giving me the nudge to pull our goalie to try and get McGill out of the tournament,” he said regarding the prospect of throwing an extra skater on the ice to help Saskatchewan separate the margin of victory.

“I was too chicken,” admitted Adolph.

The Huskies got on the board first against McGill after Kyle Bortis scored midway through the first period on a Saskatchewan powerplay.

Provost and Vice-President Academic Brett Fairbairn and Vice-President Finance and Resources Richard Florizone will hold a town hall to discuss the university’s financial position.

Join us at 11 am in Convocation Hall on Tuesday, April 3.

Everyone is encouraged to attend.

To watch the event live stream online, visit live.usask.ca

www.usask.ca

The Redmen answered right back only four minutes later, however, with an Evan Vossen goal.

The squads exchanged goals several times Andrew Meades/The Brunswickan throughout the game.

Huskies defenceman Garrett Thiessen and netminder Cody Smuk helped Ryan Holfeld get tangled with a McGill attacker. the Huskies pull ahead 2-1 early in the second period after burying a wrap-around past Redmen netminder Hubert Morin.

McGill’s Francis Verreault-Paul tied the game again 4:12 into the third period with a slapshot from the high slot while on a two-man advantage.

The Huskies responded two minutes later after Bortis beat a McGill defender on the outside and cut hard towards the Redmen net with the puck. Morin stopped the first shot from Bortis, but Derek Hulak was there to bang in the rebound and give Saskatchewan its third lead of the game.

The lead was shortlived, however, as 27 seconds later McGill answered back.

Saskatchewan was finally able to earn a lead they could hold after Ross, positioned at the top of the faceoff circle inside the Redmen zone, Andrew Meades/The Brunswickan received a pass from Chad Suer forces a Redmen player off the puck.

Bortis and one-timed the puck past a frozen Morin We’re going to look for some heavier with just over five minutes to play. players in a couple of positions — both on Morin stopped 26 of the 30 shots he faced defence and forward — but our goaltending is in the loss while Saskatchewan netminder strong and I think that we have lots of depth,” Ryan Holfeld turned away 40 of McGill’s 43 he said, adding that the team’s main focus shots. next year will be to win the Canada West “Right now it’s a little bittersweet but I final before getting too anxious about the think looking back I’ll be happy with the fact University Cup. that I got the game winner in my last game in “More than anything else, our first plan is... a Huskie jersey,” said Ross, who completed to win Canada West again. We don’t want to his five years of CIS eligibility this season. go in as a bridesmaid into something we are “I’m just really proud of all the guys in hosting.” the dressing room and to be a part of this group,” he added. There are “a lot of good feelings but, at the same time, to be so close McGill defeated the University of Western [to playing in the national championship is] Ontario Mustangs 4-3 in the tournament final tough to swallow.” to capture its first-ever University Cup. Adolph said that the Huskies, who host the 2013 and 2014 University Cups, will not have to make too many changes to their squad next year.

Sports

March 29, 2012 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/sports

Miyazaki aims for Team Canada spot

•7

Basketball superstar turns attention to gridiron COLE GUENTER Katie Miyazaki is trading in her basketball jersey for a set of shoulder pads and a football.

The Huskies’ basketball MVP and reigning Canada West defensive player of the year completed her fifth and final season of Canadian Interuniversity Sport eligibility on March 19 but is not letting that stop her from fulfilling her love of sport.

Miyazaki has decided to try out for Canada’s national women’s tackle football team, which will compete at the 2013 world championship Aug. 2-10 in St. John’s, N.B. “Football is a sport that anyone of any size can play,” said Miyazaki, “and it is a nice transition out of basketball. This is a special opportunity because I never thought I would be trying out for Team Canada for football. That was never in my mind, but it is cool to see the sport grow and gain interest.”

She is anything but new to the sport and first started playing in high school at Hugh Boyd Secondary School in Richmond, B.C. In 2011, during Miyazaki’s first season on the Huskies basketball team, she was introduced to the Saskatoon Valkyries, the city’s first women’s tackle football team. It

was the team’s inaugural season in the Western Women’s Canadian Football League.

Miyazaki helped lead the Valkyries to the league championship and was a vital part in the squad’s undefeated regular season and undefeated playoffs.

Fast-forward a year and Miyazaki is getting excited for another season of football and for a chance to represent Canada on the international stage.

The tryout process is a long one that starts on April 29 when Miyazaki, along with several of her Saskatoon teammates, will try out for Team Saskatchewan.

That provincial team will then travel to Montreal in August where individual players will compete for a spot on the national team.

2013 will mark the second Women’s World Football Championship. The first was in Stockholm, Sweden in 2010.

Canada finished second behind the U.S.A. Miyazaki doesn’t think she will ever train for football as hard as she did for basketball, but says she enjoys the strategy of the gridiron sport.

“I think football is a more coached sport, and it’s very technical. Small mistakes in football have a bigger impact because the play lasts only six or

file photo Raisa Pezderic/Photo Editor

Katie Miyazaki (far left) and the Saskatoon Valkyries in action last season against Winnipeg. seven seconds and you have to be sharp for each play,” she said. “In football you have a job and you have to do it. Football is really cool in that way because every point is a team point.”

Football has also provided Miyazaki with the opportunity to coach elementary students about

the fundamentals of the sport.

She volunteers at the Saskatoon SportsFest, an event that takes place at various times throughout the year and educates youth on a number of sports.

“I love sports. They are a big part of my life. If I could end up coaching a sport it would be a sweet

deal for me,” said the 23-yearold Miyazaki, who has one year remaining in a Masters of Public Health. “I have fun with the kids and enjoy introducing to them to the games that are out there and available for them to play.”

General Academic Assembly (GAA)

The president’s state of the university address President Peter MacKinnon, chair of the GAA, invites you to attend the annual meeting of the GAA, where he will give his final report as president on the state of the university. This event is open to all faculty, staff and students.

Monday, April 9 at noon Convocation Hall Members of the GAA include the president as chair, members of faculty, elected students, deans, directors, vice-presidents, the university secretary and the registrar.

usask.ca/university_secretary/gaa

A rts 8•

thesheaf.com/arts • the Sheaf • March 29, 2012

Get thee to the Snelgrove!

by LAURA ALFORD

I

t’s one of the best times of the year for campus art lovers. Every Monday through March and April the Snelgrove Gallery unveils a new mix of graduating BFA shows.

In the spirit of connections — intentional or unexpected — the Sheaf sat down with seven of the graduating artists. They talked about each other’s work, their Yasuo Itoh

An overview of many of the graduating BFA Shows

own and what it’s like to put together your first show.

It’s a Matryoshka doll of an experience: individual pieces within individual shows within the series as a whole.

The exhibits so far have explored cultural memory, self-portraiture, the play between fantasy and reality, and formal experimentation.

Feb. 27 — March 2

[kituna]: Bond, Tie Aminah Jomha

Catastrophic Uncertainty

T

ogether, Yasuo Itoh and Aminah Jomha had me thinking about cultural memory, identity and place. While Itoh developed a motif, kituna, in the tie of a kimono or as a bridge across the river, Jomha showed a mixed media series based on photographs of Lebanon.

Moraya Coleman

Raisa Pezderic/Photo Editor

Brianna Whitmore’s art captures everyday moments through oil on board.

You Mean This Isn’t Neverland?

Emma Anderson

Brianna Whitmore

You, Me, This & That

Dylan Phuong

Intimate Truths and Elaborate Fictions

“B

Clare Bamford

Here and Yet to Come

Y

March 19 - 23

March 5 - 9

ou Mean This Isn’t Neverland? was a show in two parts: silkscreen mythical archetypes on one wall, and across the room, photographs where Coleman cast herself as characters out of fantasy, fairy tales and her favourite fictions like Harry Potter and Ender’s Game.

In dramatic costume and with a wistful expression in her eye, Coleman’s presence in the photographs clashed with the mundane environment of a backyard or food court. I think I’d rather live in Coleman’s world.

Dylan Phuong showed Intimate Truths and Elaborate Fictions.

The printmaker’s process became a metaphor for how a person builds up a sense of self. Photographs, physically deconstructed into a series of hanging glass plates, reversed the process.

These three shows focused on the self-portrait. Though the image captures the self in a single moment, these series were often steeped in nostalgia, nods to childhood or a sense of anxiety about the future. Sounds like fitting art to cap off the end of a degree.

Candice Grosenick

Flow Channel

ecause really, what separates breakfast from lunch? Is it the orange juice?”

Emma Anderson’s Flow Channel concentrates on in-between spaces. Drawings, a video projection, a paper installation and improvised musical performances are connected by what she describes as “an immersive focused state.”

The video projection is a highlight. It came out of a surprise encounter with two dancers practicing the Argentine tango. Anderson filmed them, then separated their bodies to make the two animations project on opposite walls.

The separation is never quite complete — at any given moment one figure moves into the other’s silhouette.

“It’s how I see relationships ideally,” she explained, “We’re constantly influencing or being influenced by other people. There’s always this dynamic element.”

Ruse

Is it an intentional pun that Anderson flows into Brianna Whitmore’s show as the subject of one of her prints?

Me, You, This & That pays attention to the small moments in life. Whitmore’s paintings and prints are based on photographs. Her subjects are anecdotal and quiet as well as intricate and careful.

Five oil paintings ground the show. “Painting is the medium I still felt I was learning the most from,” she explained.

Her figures become integrated with their physical environment. It is not necessarily a smooth amorphous blend. The effect can be a bit jagged. In “Hand Washing”, the eye works to follow the lines of the fingers through floralprinted fabric. In another painting, the contents of a fridge cut through the body of a woman who has opened its door.

“My instructor had a genuine interest in individual students.”

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Tell your professors what you think.

Your feedback helps improve teaching and lets professors know what they’re doing well. Watch your inbox for your SEEQ invitation and your chance to win 1 of 25 campus gift cards worth $60.

For more information on Student Evaluation of Educational Quality (SEEQ), visit www.usask.ca/seeq.

www.usask.ca/seeq

Arts

March 29, 2012 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/arts Josh Forrest

Progress Works Alana Moore

Disintegration Maia Stark

Split

J

osh Forrest takes full advantage of the freedom to define the gallery space. Progress Works will feature class work, extended media projects and personal hobbies.

“It’s less an overriding theme and just a bunch of pieces that I’m passionate about.”

Forrest looks like Michael Douglas.

Look for a short film in which he plays a young variant of Gordon Gekko from Wall Street. There will be a wood/metal ladder sculpture, a seven-foot collage and spoken word poetry.

“My overriding theme is how beauty can inevitably decay,” he explained.

“You can expect it, but you can also accelerate its destruction or decay. So the result is choices, in all areas of life — personal, political, environmental.”

In Dis-Integration, Alana Moore is interested in the ways that people can connect in a fast-paced, plugged-in world.

“I kept going to the Farmer’s Market every week and wishing it was my entire life,” she said.

March 26 - 30

Moore does large-scale oil paintings.

Her figures dominate the space as they interact with different devices. In one, a woman is on her iPhone: “She’s kind of consumed by this thing that she’s plugged in to.”

Using cubist techniques, and inspired by phenomenology, Moore is interested in how experience is literally fragmented. These influences come out in the way she paints the body.

There is a constant tension between fragmentation and representation.

Maia Stark’s Split is about the body too. It’s a show full of doubles.

Stark remembered putting up a painting last year of herself and her identical twin. “People were asking, ‘Why are you duplicating yourself?

What’s that about?’ It sparked this series of work about the duplication of bodies.”

Split includes painted self-portraits and watercolours. The first set of paintings is more mysterious and removed. In watercolour, bodies become tumorous, billowing out and falling apart, as pretty colours combat the deformity of the shapes.

“There’s this tension between line and wash, pretty and ugly. The watercolours are more about how people feel about their own bodies a lot of the time.”

•9

April 2 - 6 Rodney Muzyka

Defining Lines Pamela Ollenberger

Visual Rhetoric

R

odney Muzyka does mark making on paper, expressing his ideas most comfortably in the range from black to white.

“I like to use paper as a medium and as a tool. The paper shows through — it creates positive and negative space.”

“What I like about Rodney’s work,” said Anderson, “is that he takes these really complex things — like a trunk of a tree that’s so textured — and specifically chooses lines to define that object, that tree, that space, that place.”

Raisa Pezderic/Photo Editor

Dylan Phuong’s self portrait on acrylic sheets.

Raisa Pezderic/Photo Editor

Both Alana Moore (left) and Maia Stark explore ideas of the body through oil and watercolour.

T

Raisa Pezderic/Photo Editor

Candice Grosenick’s theatrical acrylic self-portrait.

he B.F.A. shows continue through April. They present an opportunity to see the work of young artists still developing their style.

“Your show seems like a very personal thing, then it becomes something that other people can relate to,” said Whitmore, “I think that’s a really good way of going about it. ‘What do I know? What am I exploring by myself, and how can that relate to other people?’ ” “We’re new at all of this,” said Moore, “There’s anxiety, excitement. We’re searching, exploring, experimenting. And you’re sort of trying to develop who you are through the same process. Your BFA. becomes a little bit of who you are as a person as well as what you define as your artwork.”

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10• arts

thesheaf.com/arts • the Sheaf • March 29, 2012

Australia’s The Cat Empire invades Louis’ DJ Jumps discusses the process behind latest album Cinema NATAHNA BARGEN It was morning and I sat by the phone waiting for a call from one of the members of The Cat Empire.

I was excited, even though most of my friends hadn’t heard of them or their music.

The band, a cult phenomenon that sells out shows in their native Australia and in Europe, have struggled to break into the North American market. Prior to this interview I didn’t know much about The Cat Empire either. I didn’t know they were a jazz-infused rock band from Australia with heavy Latin roots formed in 1999. I didn’t know that they had hit No. 1 on the Australian music charts for their sophomore album Two Shoes and won an Australian Recording Industry Association award in 2006.

I also didn’t know how much I would grow to like them.

After immersing myself in their music and spending late nights watching and reading interviews chronicling the success that they have found in their years as a band, I was hooked.

The Cat Empire is on a North American tour and will stop by Saskatoon in early April.

The call was from Jumps, their DJ extraordinaire, taking the time to chat with me from the road while touring in New York.

The Sheaf: At what point did you realize that you were going to be successful as a musician?

Jumps: When people just started coming to the shows consistently a while ago in Melbourne. We started out playing in a bunch of small places and little pubs, and this and that. We would play the same places and the same shows, but there would be more people every time. We didn’t really think about it or talk about it at the time, but we did realize that there was something going on that people were liking about us and so we just kept going.

Sheaf: Did you ever have any second thoughts about perhaps finding a more dependable career?

Jumps: No, definitely not. I worked in the supermarket, packing the shelves, so being in the band is a much better option.

Sheaf: What are you doing when you’re not doing anything musical?

Jumps: I’m a DJ and a record collector, so I’ve always done something related to music with the band or just by myself. I like watching movies and reading, although that sounds boring.

Sheaf: Your newest album is Cinema. What were your intentions going into the studio for this album? Did this album exceed your expectations?

Jumps: I guess a big thing for the Cinema record was to do something

a little different and let out a bit of steam. A lot of us had been wanting to do certain things within the band that we sort of hadn’t really been able to do. I think it was just a great outlet for all of us. I think the sound of it and the songs turned out really good. I don’t know if it exceeded expectations, but we’ve just been really happy with how it turned out.

Sheaf: You’ve said in other interviews that you enjoy a lot of improvisation in your live shows.

Is there a lot of improvisation in the studio as well, or is that a more structured atmosphere?

Jumps: It’s a little bit of both, it’s definitely more structured in the studio — you know what I mean.

I think that’s something we can work on, but the live show is a live show, and an album is an album.

We feel that they’re totally separate things and translating what we do live [onto] an album is just really hard. There’s definitely room for improvisation in the studio, but we find that it’s something that happens more on a live stage for us.

Sheaf: Do you prefer the collaboration process of recording an album to the touring, or vice versa?

Jumps: I probably prefer performing on stage.

Sheaf: All of you seem to have worked on a lot in side projects, what keeps you coming back

together to The Cat Empire?

Jumps: All of us have our own side projects. I just released a DJ compilation back home. A lot of people feel that it’s something that’s making individuals drift away from the band, but it’s just a different outlet. It lets people do whatever they want to do and still be able to be in the band.

The band is a certain thing, but we each are many different things.

If we only did stuff in the band then we might get really frustrated because people want to do other things, write different songs and play different music to what The Cat Empire plays. Being able to do that actually keeps us going because a different outlet gives us that confidence that our lives aren’t sort of being led by The Cat Empire, but we’re still totally committed to the band. It really helps the band, it’s been over 10 years, and we love being in the band and playing together, but we want to be able to do other stuff as well.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity

The Cat Empire plays Louis’ on April 5.

•11 Smoke clears for Mad Men’s season premiere arts

There’s something to The Hunger Games Adaptation of young-adult phenomenon is solid dystopian adventure

Supplied

Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Gale (Liam Hemsworth) rendezvous in the woods of District 12.

AREN BERGSTROM Arts Editor

It’s not everyday that a pop-culture phenomenon occurs, but in the past decade we’ve witnessed three of them.

First came Harry Potter, largely lauded as reigniting the children’s fiction industry and becoming the biggest pop-culture sensation since Star Wars appeared on the big screen in 1977. Next came Twilight, the definitive romance of this generation that demonstrated the slavish devotion and monetary power of the fangirl. And now we have Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, which has recently reached Twilight and Harry Potter levels of fandom.

The first novel was published in 2008 and spawned two sequels. It was not immediately recognized as the next Harry Potter, but as more people read the book and Hollywood studio Lionsgate bought the film rights, the wheels of the hype machine got turning and now there are more than 30 million copies of the book in print. Add the revenue from those 30 million copies to the $152 million its film adaptation made opening weekend, and you’ll see that we have a genuine phenomenon on our hands.

The curious thing about this phenomenon is that it involves children killing children on television in a dystopian future America.

In the vaguely post-apocalyptic world of The Hunger Games, North America is now the nation of Panem, split into 12 districts controlled by the tyrannical Capitol. After a revolt from the districts was crushed by the Capitol, the rulers created a yearly competition where each district offers up one boy and one girl as tributes to fight to death in a televised competition known as the Hunger Games. This is The Most Dangerous Game meets reality TV, which isn’t a

new idea, but is a compelling subject for a young-adult series.

The hero of the series is Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old girl who is wicked with a bow and arrow.

When her little sister Prim is chosen as the tribute for District 12, Katniss volunteers to fight in her place.

Jennifer Lawrence, the young actress who was nominated for Best Actress in 2010 for Winter’s Bone, plays Katniss, and she really owns the material. Picking such a talented lead was one of the many correct choices the producers of The Hunger Games made. Unlike Twilight, one would be hard-pressed to nitpick the lead’s acting in this film.

The film as a whole is a solid, if a slightly underdeveloped and conventional, dystopian adventure.

Director Gary Ross and fellow screenwriter Billy Ray did a good job of translating the world of Suzanne Collins’ (who also helped write the script) trilogy to the big screen. No familiarity with the source material is needed to understand the world of Panem. For a film that could have been bogged down in world building, the exposition is handled deftly.

This deliberate build-up to the games does a good job of establishing the characters, the world, its political dynamics and, most importantly, the stakes at hand for the contestants.

Unfortunately it also causes the film to clock in at an unjustifiable 142 minutes.

The Hunger Games never tries to hide the fact that the central conflict revolves around children killing each other and it rightly understands that the sight of a teenage boy cutting down a preteen girl is shocking, even if rendered through the slightly censored lens of shaky-cam filmmaking. Still, one of the film’s biggest faults is that it doesn’t make more of the violence.

It is understandable that the filmmakers wanted to keep a PG13 rating since the novel is aimed at young-adults and it would be

ludicrous if the intended demographic was unable to see the film, but the shaky-cam filmmaking sanitizes some of the violence. A stable camera set-up would have been preferable, allowing the barbarity of the images happening on screen to speak for themselves. The sight of children killing each other shouldn’t have been made more palatable for audiences. It diminishes one of the film’s messages and is indicative of another problem with the film.

People who have read the novel tell me that one of its main techniques is to indict the reader alongside the corrupt citizens of the Capitol.

Since the novel criticizes Panem for thriving off the Hunger Games and the civilians for revelling in the sight of children killing each other, Collins is morally implicating the reader for being thrilled by the scenes of violence. This would have translated especially well to film where viewers are viscerally thrilled by the sight of violence, but the filmmakers do nothing to explore this implication.

Perhaps they didn’t want to implicate their audience along with the film’s villains in an effort to assure as broad an appeal as possible, but surely this caused the loss of some of the novel’s intentions.

Still, The Hunger Games is a thrilling movie. It’s well-acted, competently made and takes place in a fascinating world. While an occasional viewer might be disgusted by the idea of children fighting to the death, the overwhelming success of the novel and the film prove that this must not be a problem for most people.

The Hunger Games is currently playing at Galaxy Cinemas.

BLAIR WOYNARSKI It was Sunday night. As 7 p.m. approached, I began to notice the faintest hint of Lucky Strikes and whiskey in the air. This meant only one thing: Mad Men was returning. I was about to embark on the two-hour Season Five premiere, long-awaited throughout the show’s 17-month hiatus.

When we left off, it was 1965.

Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Pryce was verging on bankruptcy after losing their biggest client, Lucky Strike, and Don flouted all attempts by the audience to sympathize with him when he proposed to his secretary, Megan, and told everyone else before his girlfriend.

Matthew Weiner and the folks at AMC have a tremendous talent for presenting us with scenarios reprehensible to our modern sensibilities but still making them oddly seductive. Don Draper is not a good man, but we’re stuck with him, and we’re OK with that. The show is still aware of its audience and careful not to veer too far off-course: overt racism is kept at a minimum, and despite the “man’s world” setting, it has produced one of the best female protagonists in TV history, Peggy Olson. Moreover, with the ’60s being such a formative decade, we have seen broad cultural changes reflected in our characters, and it will only escalate from here on.

It is June 1966; we begin with a scene of Civil Rights protesters marching down Madison Avenue while some cackling young ad execs drop water bombs on them. From there we transition into a weirdly blissful domestic scene with Don, his kids and the new Mrs. Draper.

It is a startling juxtaposition with last season’s depressing bachelor pad and the sterile home life with Betty that preceded it. However, we get a rush of nostalgia when Megan decides to throw a surprise party for her husband and his sour reaction disrupts the sense of comfort in the Draper residence.

Meanwhile, new tensions arise at the office, as Pete tries to supplant Roger as the firm’s recognized breadwinner, while Roger does his best to keep him down. These office antics showcase some of the best of Mad Men charm and humour between Roger’s dry, egocentric wit

and Pete’s Machiavellian folksiness.

The relationship stays true to the evolution of the characters, with Roger growing insecure about his importance at the firm and Pete always insecure about his partners’ appreciation for his work.

I can’t say the episode dazzled me, but it certainly delivered on every level. The set oozed atmosphere, oscillating between the swanky mid’60s Draper apartment and the urban chic sterility of the SCDP agency.

Cinematography is still top-notch, exploring lingering close-ups that teeter on the brink of revealing all the emotion bubbling underneath but still holds something back. The trademark character nuances are brought back in full force, from Don’s stride to Roger’s smirk to Peggy’s sigh. And the dialogue is still witty and biting without losing its edge of realism and human fragility.

But I’m starting to gush. The episode had a few rougher points.

When last we saw Bert Cooper, he was packing up his things and leaving the firm, but now he is back with no explanation. Ice queen Betty Francis is notably absent; although this is done for practical reasons (January Jones was still pregnant during filming) it still leaves an unmistakable hole somewhere in the action. And Pete Campbell’s subplot about his growing disconnect from his domestic life did not quite get the attention it needed among everything else going on, and may have been better left for a different episode.

Now that we are into the second half of the infamous decade, change is inevitable. SCDP is going to become a bit more diverse now that they have inadvertently attracted a host of black job applicants. Civil Rights will certainly become more central this season, and Don will see himself involved whether he wants to be or not.

So what is going to happen over the next 11 weeks? Right now, it is too early to call whether we should expect to retread old territory (Don Draper affair No. 8, for instance) or whether Season Five will head off into totally new realms.

Mad Men plays on AMC on Sunday nights.

FLOCK & GATHER CRAFT COLLECTIVE PRESENTS

Deny social binaries!

Embrace the black hole!

March 29, 2012 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com/arts

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12•Opinions

thesheaf.com/opinions • the sheaf •March 29, 2012

Confessions of a Playboy subscriber

letters

I read it for the articles — no, seriously!

Blair Woynarski A little over a year ago, I got into my head a very strange idea. I decided to buy an issue of Playboy.

The precise reason for this decision is a little fuzzy, but I believe it had something to do with viewing it as a rite of passage. At 21 years old I had never flipped through a Playboy in my life, and it seemed that I was missing out on a big aspect of popular culture.

The weeks spent waiting for it to arrive in the mail were characterized by strange emotion. I went out to check the mailbox every day — not because I was dying with anticipation, but rather because I didn’t want my roommate to bring it in first. I felt like I was carrying around a weird dark secret, or that I had crossed some sort of unforgivable divide into a world of perversion. But then one day it arrived, and it is hard to say what my reaction was. It wasn’t excitement, nor was it disappointment; it was a neutral, calculating sense of “So this is Playboy. Huh.” I can distinctly remember one of my first thoughts was, “Wow, this really is just like a normal magazine.” It had advertisements, advice columns, whatever. But as I looked a bit more closely, I discovered something much more shocking. I discovered that it had more literary merit than most of what I could find on the magazine racks.

Don’t believe me? That’s fine. But let me ask you this: who was the most talked-about woman in Playboy last year? While you might not have a specific answer, chances are you are forming a vague mental impression. I can guarantee you are not thinking of the 89-yearold former dean of the White House Press Corps Helen Thomas, who was the subject of a Playboy interview last April and ignited spectacular controversy with her anti-Zionist comments. But that, in fact, is the correct answer.

The time-honoured Playboy interview has, over the years, dealt with many notable figures, including Bill Cosby, Robert De Niro, Barbra Streisand, George Carlin, Anne Rice, John Lennon, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Betty Friedan, Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking and Fidel Castro (twice). Even vitriolic conservatives Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh have deigned to be interviewed.

On top of that, I’ve read articles on the Arab Spring, asteroid mining, shark attacks, the making of Scarface, and the meth empire created by actor Tom Arnold’s sister. Their journalists not only produce great content, but they also track down intriguing stories that are not picked up anywhere else. So the question is: why does it still come delivered in a blacked-out plastic bag?

Matthew Stefanson/Production Manager

Playboy: stimulating readers for decades. Intellectually stimulating, that is.

Criticism seems to come from two sources.

One is an old, conservative generation who feel the need to stamp out boobs wherever they arise, but who are still content to let the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition fly off newsstands across the continent. The other criticism is from a younger generation that finds buying Playboy to be the most ridiculous thing in the world when it’s so easy to find pictures of naked women online. And this group elucidates my point perfectly: Playboy lost its “dirty pictures” niche a long time ago, and it keeps going simply because of its strength as a publication.

I am not defending Playboy against any and all criticism. There is plenty you could write about “bunny culture” and its effect on women (though I do not feel competent to weigh in here). I am concerned primarily with the magazine, and the magazine is certainly no more damaging to women than the plethora of publications specifically directed at them.

I find myself staring at a Cosmopolitan cover every time I get my haircut, and frankly, it embarrasses me. They all run together

in my memory, but I can recall tags like, “10 Things Guys Crave in Bed,” “9 Times You Won’t Burn in Hell for Being Bitchy,” “‘My Gyno Talked to my Vagina’ and Other Doc Shockers,” countless hard-hitting “Sex Surveys,” and of course none sticks more prominently in my memory than “The Butt Facial.” Any woman could read that in public without attracting a sideways glance, yet I would be a pervert for reading an interview with Jon Hamm, just because of a partially obscured title printed across the top of the cover.

None of this will change, obviously. I will still furtively ferry my magazine back to my apartment when no one else is around, and I will still peruse deep and thought-provoking articles about solar energy or North Korea while kitschy nude cartoons smile from the opposite page.

I make the following confession: I read Playboy for the articles. Judge me as you will.

Dear Sheaf, World TB day — March 24, 2012 — was a great day to be Canadian. Our nation is a world leader on funding innovative programs and diagnostic tools that give “teeth” to the global fight against tuberculosis. Canada is a leading funder of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. Furthermore, Canada has given over one-third of the funding ever provided to the Global Stop TB Partnership, and has helped found and support the preeminent Global TB Drug Facility and innovative TB-REACH initiative. I am proud that my government is showing the world how to curb needless death from TB — 1.4 million people a year globally — through its championing of cost-effective, innovative and strategic solutions.

Yet, despite Canada’s great effort, the fight against TB is far from over.

It is well known that the World Health Organization’s figure on TB incidence includes cases (about 40 per cent) that are considered “missing.” Missing because they have not been identified — a tragic reality as many people will die without ever knowing they have TB. Needless death due to TB is heartbreaking but it is not impossible to intervene and prevent such loss.

Treatable with as little as $20, TB is primarily a disease of poverty, one that preys on the most vulnerable people in society.

Canada can continue to be a beacon of light in the fight against TB. It can show leadership to the world by advancing its remaining two payments to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. The fund provides over 70 per cent of all international funding for global TB control. This finding is crucial and urgent, since the fund is facing a shortage of $2 billion and is unable to fund any new lifesaving programs. Furthermore, Canada can use its position as a global leader on battling TB to call on other donor governments to invest in TB detection and control through mechanisms like the Global Fund and TB-REACH. It is in this spirit of pride and belief in our nation’s generosity that I ask our government to build on past efforts.

By advancing committed funds to the Global Fund and encouraging other governments to do the same, Canada will continue to be a leader in the global fight against TB. - Sadia Jama

956-7777 FOR RESERVATIONS

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Opinions

March 29, 2012• the sheaf • thesheaf.com/opinions

•13

Is digital technology making art better or worse?

Computers help us create art, maybe a little too much Michael Cuthbertson

SK NHL

cont. from

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Then there are those who complain that they “already have a favourite team!” I just have to laugh at that. Do you think that when the Jets came back to Winnipeg this year the fans complained because their favourite team was Montreal?

No, and they were probably looking for any excuse not to cheer for the Habs anyway.

Or let’s say your favorite team is the Leafs, as horrible as that may seem. Wouldn’t you love to have a mere 10-minute drive to see

Brianna Whitmore/Graphics Editor

at a live concert. And while digital technology allows everyone to “see” the Mona Lisa (perhaps on Google Images or in a history textbook), few would doubt that seeing it in person would be more emotionally stirring.

Many artists believe digital technology has made their art better, viewing it as just another tool of the trade. In a Curiosity.com debate titled “How is Technology Changing Art,” freelance journalist Lu Fong argues digital tools help expand an artist’s colour palette.

Centuries ago most painters couldn’t paint with blue pigments since they could only be extracted from expensive lapis lazuli stones.

Thus, when artificial pigments were developed painters suddenly had a new colour to use. Fong says digital technology similarly gives an artist “more tools, more options, and in some cases, whole new ways of stimulating people’s senses.”

Undeniably, digital tools have ushered in new creative possibilities.

Movie editing software allows for snazzier editing. Sound editing software can salvage crappy performances (by synchronizing them play live? And what NHL fan wouldn’t go just to see Sidney Crosby or Steven Stamkos when they come to town?

But above all, can you imagine the excitement it would generate?

Just like Winnipeg, the city would be in a frenzy if we got a franchise.

And if the team is good and mades the playoffs or contends for a Stanley Cup, the whole city would go bananas. It would be a phenomenal atmosphere to be around, and any real hockey fans would be lying if they said they wouldn’t enjoy it.

instruments so they’re perfectly in time and pitch-correcting voices).

And many photographers applaud digital cameras for enabling users to take endless pictures without ever developing film.

With all these technologies, there is the potential to advance creativity, but also to make artists appear more accomplished at their craft than they truly are. In the case of something like Auto-Tune, the computer basically does the artist’s job for them.

Then there are cases where digital innovation was responsible for creating entirely new art forms, the most obvious example being digital music.

Perhaps the boldest example of digitally-dependant art is CGI. Like so much dazzling digital artwork though, CGI can place boundaries on an artist’s creative vision. Surely there are elements of a painting or drawing that can not be replicated on a computer. Looking at something like the Simpsons I can’t help but feel the hand-drawn animation of the early seasons looks so much more alive.

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It seems strange that artists, who are so often inspired by the past, have embraced digital technology so much today. The digital revolution happened almost instantly in art, and now almost every piece of art we encounter was brought to us using some digital technology.

A common defence of this revolution is that digital technology enables everyone to create and market their artwork on the cheap. In 1991, director Francis Ford Coppola remarked that thanks to camcorders, “One day some little fat girl in Ohio is going to be the new Mozart.”

In a sense Coppola was right. I can definitely picture a YouTube viral video called “fat girl from Ohio is the new Mozart” — though I doubt it would be an example of fine art. More likely it would show someone getting badly injured, remixed with Auto-Tune.

There’s no doubt digital technology, and the Internet especially, makes it easier to produce art cheaply. The catch is that digital technology benefits really awful artists as much as, or possibly more than, talented ones.

I’m thankful that digital technology makes home recording studios and micro-budget filmmaking possible. But alas, it also makes countless people like Soulja Boy and Rebecca Black globally famous.

Two catastrophic changes have recently upset the art world. First, non-digital art like print media is crashing and burning. Second, digital art forms like viral videos have become hugely popular.

Obviously, digital technology has deeply altered the role art can play today.

But some art experts dismiss the influence of digital mediums.

On Curiosity.com, John Maeda — president of the Rhode Island School of Design — argues that art is always about “How can I, the art piece, change your relationship not to me but to something else or to the world?” And according to Maeda, “That question has nothing to do with technology.”

In reality, technology not only determines where we consume art, but how deeply art is able to affect us. Music, for example, hits us very differently if we hear it on YouTube through shitty speakers instead of

run March 22, 12.indd 1

Arguably, people like me who reject some art simply because it’s digital have no logical reason to do so. Many proponents of analog and non-digital art may be guilty of committing the “naturalistic fallacy” — that is, the mistaken belief that the more “natural” something is, the better.

But humans are from nature and computers are not, and that seems like a legitimate reason to advocate for “naturalistic art.” Even science demonstrates that computergenerated art is “too sharp” for human senses.

Listening to analog recordings, people often note how the music sounds warmer than digital music. This happens because analog machines “compress”

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high frequencies and “boost” bass frequencies, which is more natural to human ears. Humans perceive high pitches as louder than they really are, and while analog machines compensate for this, digital ones do not. Like many digital creations, it’s as if the computers producing them had in mind an audience of computers, not people.

In the end, the debate over digital art is mostly a matter of personal taste. But artists usually say they make art to tell their own stories.

And, in my not so humble opinion, the more these stories come out of computers, the less they will be able to say about the artists themselves.

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14• Opinions

thesheaf.com/opinions • the Sheaf • March 29, 2012

Should Iceland adopt the Loonie? Don’t call me a bitch, cunt!

Adopting the Loonie may threaten Iceland’s independence

Some profanity is worth reconsidering TANNARA YELLAND Senior News Editor

Alexandra Anderson About an hour out of Reykjavik, a person can stand between two continents. The place is called Þingvellir. Icelanders proudly tell visitors it was the site of the world’s first Parliament, established more than one thousand years ago.

True to that parliamentary tradition, Iceland has been deliberating about possible solutions for its economic crisis for a while now.

Iceland is a fairly unique country.

It straddles two continents, Europe and North America. It is the smallest country with an independent currency. It has volcanoes that can wreak havoc on international flight patterns. And it has proven amazingly resilient in the face of a credit crunch that devastated its economy.

The economic crisis hit Iceland particularly hard in 2008. Its currency, the krona, lost a lot of value. Its major banks collapsed. While Iceland is making a better recovery than Greece, the krona is still unstable.

Iceland’s parliament, the Althing, is talking about entering the EU and changing to the Euro but many Icelanders disagree. They want to pay attention to the North American side of Þingvellir. They want to adopt another currency other than the Euro:

We Want

the Loonie.

Adopting another country’s currency is nothing new: Ecuador and Panama adopted the U.S. dollar, and Kosovo adopted the Euro. It usually happens when a country struggles with a large deficit, weak banks, high interest and foreign exchange rates.

It’s a big deal. It’s a desperate move.

But no country has ever been interested in tying themselves to our humble dollar before.

On the surface it looks like a fabulous deal for Iceland. Canada’s Loonie is strong and safe. Adopting another currency could lower inflation and interest rates, and create a more stable environment for the financial sector. Iceland would benefit from investments.

It also looks like a fabulous deal for Canada. The Bank of Canada would benefit from the extra money in circulation. Our trade with Iceland will certainly increase.

We’d probably visit our Northern neighbours more often. We’d feel good about helping another Northern country, especially one so similar.

Like us, Iceland also has lots of natural resources and an Arctic about to be opened. They have Bjork; we have Justin Bieber. They have Sigur Rós; we have Arcade Fire.

So it seems natural for us to help

Iceland. But even if Canada has good intentions, it may not be beneficial to Iceland to adopt the Loonie.

Iceland is fiercely independent. In adopting the Loonie, they would be losing control over their monetary policy.

The krona’s independence was a major factor in the country’s recovery from its financial collapse. If Iceland tied its fortunes to the Loonie, it wouldn’t have the flexibility that it exercised for itself in the past. An independent, floating currency gives some protection against shocks.

Canada wouldn’t alter interest rates or change any financial policy for Iceland’s benefit. Iceland would have no control. At least in the EU, Iceland would have a small voice.

There may not even been a need for Iceland to adopt another currency.

It is recovering admirably from its collapse, and it is opening up to investors slowly. As it gets more investment, it could do even better.

It’s too soon to kill the krona.

Finally, Iceland would lose control over the look and feel of their money.

Right now, their bills feature famous Icelandic historical figures. Their coins have engravings of fish.

Interestingly, loons eat fish.

YOU To Participate In The Sheaf

Annual General Meeting

4:30 pm Monday, April 2, 2012 Room 108 Arts 1) Call to Order 2) Call for Quorum

A G E N D A

3) Approval of Agenda 4) Approval of Minutes - April 4, 2011 5) Society Report 6) Financial Report -Auditor’s Report - Reappointment of Auditor 7) Proposed Bylaw Amendments 8) Election of Directors 9) Other Business 10) Questions and Comments 11) Adjournment

You can say “bitch” on TV. This is not especially problematic for most people. But this, more than anything, is the problem. While most people will agree that the word “cunt” packs a wallop, both emotionally and linguistically, the same people often will not say the same things about “bitch.”

I hear people say “bitch” with astounding frequency. From casual conversation to music to prime-time network TV, one of the last bastions of censorship, it is entirely acceptable to call someone a bitch. But this word that people throw around with abandon promotes many of the same images of women and femininity as its more aggressive counterpart, and our inability to process exactly what we think when we hear “bitch” is dangerous.

In a recent office conversation, a friend noted that “bitch” brings to her mind an angry but powerless woman.

She is frustrated and probably complaining, but can she do anything about her situation? No. Meanwhile, that same friend and I agreed that “cunt” calls up an image of a woman who knows what she wants and is going to get it done.

It might cause a bit of collateral damage, but this woman is OK with that. This is not a characteristic that would be particularly damaging when applied to a man, but when aimed at a woman it becomes one of the ugliest things you can call her.

But the fact that these words bring unflattering images of women to mind is not the problem I’m interested in right now. In an ideal world there would be cusses of equal value that apply to men, but even within our imperfect world the over-use of “bitch” is a troubling phenomenon.

When a word like “bitch” is used so frequently that people forget its original meaning and fail to register the ideas behind it when they use or hear it, those ideas do not recede into meaninglessness. If you call something “gay” when you mean “stupid,” you are enforcing the idea that being gay, the state of gay-ness, is wrong. It doesn’t matter if anyone in earshot reflects on it consciously or not; everyone who heard you has

digested that idea.

Similarly, the casual use of “bitch” reinforces an image of women that is demeaning and wrong. And because the word is used so frequently, people no longer stop to think about what it means.

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In an ideal world there would be cusses of equal value to apply to men.

Of course, “cunt” also propagates unflattering ideas about women. It makes an insult of female power and turns women’s genitalia into arguably the most powerful swear word in the English language. It is, by any measure, a terrible word.

But when you hear it, you know those things. You think about what “cunt” means.

It may be the hard consonants or the force with which many people say it since they rarely say it without wanting to be heard loud and clear, but that small word cuts through conversations like a knife. Whatever “cunt” makes you think of, you are sure to actually reflect on it if you hear the word.

This is not a plea for people to replace “bitch” with “cunt” in their everyday speech, since that would just reverse the problem. This is a plea for people to think about what “bitch” means to them, and to make an effort to not let that word slip by unnoticed from day to day.

THE SHEAF

Any proposed motions, changes to this agenda, or amendments to the Society Bylaws must be submitted to the Chair of the Board of Directors, in writing, by 3:30 p.m. Friday, March 30th to: The Sheaf Publishing Society Inc. Room 108 MUB 93 Campus Drive Saskatoon SK, S7N 5B2

Membership with Impact

The Sheaf is seeking candidates with established business, ethical and leadership expertise to join its Board of Directors. Potential candidates must be University of Saskatchewan students. They should be aware that Board of Director meetings are regularly scheduled once a month from September - April.

Additional meetings are scheduled as required. Directors will be elected at the AGM. All are welcome to attend!

Misc

March 29, 2012 • the sheaf • thesheaf.com

CAMPUS CHAT

“Went to Dwyer’s philosophy class.”

Blair Woynarski

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What’s the hardest thing you’ve had to do while hungover?

“Teach dance class.”

Heather Currie

“Go for breakfast with my grandmother.”

Grace Schenher

xkcd.org

“Get up and shovel the snow.”

Emily Kohlert

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thesheaf.com/advertise • the Sheaf • March 29, 2012