The Silhouette - February 9

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McMASTER UNIVERSITY'S STUDENT NEWSPAPER / THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

The Silhouette

YOUR VOICE ON CAMPUS

Est. 1930

VOLUME 82, NO. 21

Boris family donates $30 million Farzeen Foda

Senior News Editor

On Feb. 6, McMaster University welcomed a $30-million gift on behalf of the Marta and Owen Boris Foundation in support of stem cell research and better access to specialty health care.

Owen Boris was the founder of Mountain Cablevision, one of the few cable suppliers to the Hamilton Mountain area. With a firm belief in the betterment of the healthcare system, The Boris Family took it upon themselves to fuel some of

the change that could revolutionize healthcare in Hamilton, shedding new light on healthcare standards across Canada.

The potential of stem cell research, a burgeoning area of biological science, was of considerable interest to Boris, and upon discussions with McMaster University, was confident that an investment in McMaster’s reputable Stem Cell Research Institute could bring healthcare one step closer to the change in healthcare he envisioned. $24 million of the donation will go toward the establishment of

the Boris Family Centre in Human Stem Cell Therapies, in conjunction with McMaster’s Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute.

The new centre will strive to translate the breakthrough research of the Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute into improved patient outcomes for debilitating diseases such as “leukemia and Parkinson’s disease, to name but a few,” said Jackie Work, daughter of Owen and Marta Boris.

Work, along with her brother Les Boris, announced the gift to an awestruck assembly of prominent

members of the McMaster community.

The remaining six million dollars of the generous gift will support a “One Stop Shop specialty clinic,” to be located on the fourth floor of the McMaster University Medical Centre, comparable to the Mayo Clinic in the United States, noted Work.

The clinic “will bring together, in one place, a wide range of medical and healthcare professionals, reducing or eliminating wait times for specialty appointments and tests such as MRI’s and provide coordin-

ated and managed care for patients with complex medical issues,” she said.

Some of the funds will also support the establishment of two senior chairs. One in blood stem cells and the other in neural stem cells, as well as fellowships and technician positions.

Access to specialist attention is heavily hindered by long wait times, often prolonging life-saving treatment, an experience to which the Boris Family can certainly attest, • PLEASE SEE GIFT, A3

Post-Election

SIOBHAN STEWART WINS 2012 MSU PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Ready for leadership

TYLER HAYWARD / SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR

In a close final round, Siobhan Stewart won the 2012 MSU presidential election, beating David Campbell by 47 votes. Now, Stewart is taking steps to ensure her mandate is defined by the needs of the student body who put her in the driver’s seat.

FOR FULL COVERAGE, PLEASE SEE A4

3M Teaching Fellowship

McMaster professors nationally recognized

THIS WEEK IN...

ANDY ANDY CRITIQUES LANA DEL RAY’S DEBUT ALBUM ‘BORN TO DIE’

Award recipients stand out in candidate pool of 33,000 Dina Fanara

Assistant News Editor

Two of McMaster’s very own faculty members were named 3M National Teaching Fellows on Feb. 9, the highest honour in education at the university level in Canada.

Dr. Marshall Beier and Dr. Susan Vajoczki were named recipients of the honour, which is awarded to only ten professors each year.

Since 1986, 268 instructors have been chosen to receive this fellowship for their want to improve the quality of education for university students. Students and colleagues nominate potential candidates, with over 33,000 eligible candidates this year.

“In my mind this award is the penultimate accomplishment in university teaching and learning and recognition in teaching and learning in Canada…all of that work with students over the years. There was real value and recognition of that activity,” said Vajoczki.

“The most meaningful thing

I get out of my teaching is talking to students about things that work for them and talking to them a year or two after a course and they talk about how important something was,” she added.

Dr. Vajoczki was a faculty member of the department of Geology and Earth Science for over ten years at McMaster, and led several trips with upper year undergraduates to Costa Rica for a field course on river erosion several years ago.

She has also held the position of director of the Department of Experiential Education and is currently the director of the Centre for Leadership and Learning.

With a background in large class and inquiry teaching, Vajoczki found a way to solve the question ‘How do you do field work with 300 students?’ With her first year earth science students, Vajoczki incorporated a field trip for each student at some point in the first month of class, allowing all to have practical • PLEASE SEE WINNERS, A4

SEE D8

OPINIONS 21ST CENTURY LOVE IS BEING BOILED DOWN TO AN INSCRUTABLE SCIENCE SEE A7

SPORTS MCMASTER SIGNS FIVE-YEAR DEAL WITH NIKE AND SCORES JORDAN BRAND IN THE PROCESS SEE S3

The Sil

Ballot appeal not sought after result Brian Decker Executive Editor

The McMaster Students Union Elections Committee did not receive any formal complaints about the 2012 presidential election, according to Chief Returning Officer Steven Thompson.

“We make a technical complaint system available so anyone can say if they think there’s anything wrong with the system. We didn’t get any official complaints this year,” said Thompson.

Complaints, which can be lodged within 48 hours of the election results, can be sent to request a recount or dispute the election’s results.

The absence of complaints comes despite candidate Alex Ramirez’s claim that the vote was “manipulated,” and that it was “literally impossible” that he received only the 704 first-place votes he tallied. Ramirez posted the claim as a blog entry on his campaign website and Facebook page.

Ramirez finished fifth in the election and was eliminated in the first round of voting.

“Far too many things happened during the campaign to have only generated 704 first place votes, and to have come in dead last,” said Ramirez on his blog, proceeding to list a number of circumstances during the campaign period that he believed indicated more students sending their votes his way.

Aside from anecdotes and some figures – the 5,200 pamphlets his team circulated and the 2,700 web page visits to his site on the two voting days – Ramirez did not list any evidence to explain how the vote would have been manipulated.

The 2012 vote was run by the website SimplyVoting.com, which Thompson said has no access other than the accumulation and automatic calculation of votes.

A voting receipt that allows students to double check their ballot is also available on the site. Students can log in, check their ballot receipt and download a spreadsheet of the election results.

One possible source of contention over the vote’s result may have come from the timing of the vote’s switch to online-only. The system was changed from paper balloting to online on Jan. 20, one day after the all-candidates meeting and the announcement of the eligible candidates.

Additionally, Thompson said, candidates were notified of the possible switch to exclusively online voting at and prior to the all-candidates meeting, at which time the switch was contingent upon receiving permission from the Registrar’s office.

“It was unfortunate we had to do it sort of last-minute, but it was a choice between that and not going online when we had the ability to,” said Thompson This year’s MSU presidential election saw a 33.4 per cent voter turnout – the highest since 1998 – and an all-time gross record with a total of 6,703 student votes.

This is a paid advertisement by the MSU

the

PRESIDENT’S PAGE Katie Ferguson VP (Administration)

Duncan Thompson VP (Finance)

Matthew Dillon-Leitch President

Alicia Ali VP (Education)

everyone is encouraged to give blood but not everyone is eligible to donate the Msu supports canadian blood services, encouraging Health canada to re-evaluate a controversial policy put into place 27 years ago

alicia ali VP (Education) vped@msu.mcmaster.ca ext. 24017

In 2010, the MSU entered into a partnership with Canadian Blood Services (CBS) through the program Partners for Life. In our second year of partnership, there has been a dramatic increase in blood donations from McMaster University. Having blood drives on campus has increased awareness about the importance of donating blood. In 2011 alone, the McMaster community donated over 1000 units of blood at clinics held at our University. We have surpassed our goal two years in a row, which illustrates strong support for blood

donation amongst students, staff and faculty – however, not everyone is eligible to donate blood.

As an organization that prioritizes student centric issues, the MSU has a number of services and committees focused on educating and advocating on various social and educational issues, including blood donation. You may already be aware that there are medical and physiological restrictions in place on who can donate blood and when it can be donated. One of those restrictions has become quite controversial as of late, not just in Canada, but across the world in the United States, Australia and various countries within the European Union – men who have sex with men (MSM).

MSM is a classification of men who engage (or have engaged in the past) in sex with other men, specifically since 1977. Individuals who participate in this behaviour are considered by Health Canada to be at high risk for

HIV/AIDS, which can be transmitted through blood transfusions. The MSM blood donor controversy is a dispute over Health Canada’s policy in continuing to refuse blood from MSM donors.

This regulation was put in place

by Health Canada in 1985, but the advancement in science since that time has been vast. In 2011, Canadian Blood Services – the agency that administers blood drives on behalf of Health Canada - committed to evaluating the lifetime ban on MSM donations, explaining that the policy is no longer justified. CBS has signalled their commitment to ask Health Canada to change this policy. The agency has funded a $500,000 grant to research a new policy, which could mean changing the donor criteria to focus on specific high risk sexual activities, rather than a blanket ban.

There are many lobby groups both in Canada and abroad that advocate for

a change in policy, which would lift the lifetime blood ban on MSM donors.

The MSU is committed to advancing our educational initiatives through leadership from the Student Health Education Centre (SHEC) and the Queer Students Community Centre (QSCC). A considerable amount of research has been conducted on both the limitations and necessity of blood donation. Canadian Blood Services has indicated that a change in policy is required, and we support the reevaluation in an effort to further expand the qualified pool of blood donation candidates.

The reality is every minute of every day someone in Canada needs blood.

The McMaster community, through their generous donations have signalled their commitment to this cause, and the MSU will continue to offer education on the topic, while maintaining our strong partnership with Canadian Blood Services.

Msu partnersHip critical to increasing study space in tHode library

Matthew dillon-leitch President president@msu.mcmaster.ca ext. 23885

Last year when I ran for president, I focused a lot on the lack of study space at McMaster. Through the presidential election we were able to make this topic a priority for the MSU and the University. This year students have seen the results of this positive relationship through the renovations to Thode Library, and the decision to make the space 24/7 throughout exams. During the summer and first semester of this year, the bookshelves on the 2nd floor of Thode were moved and 400 additional seats were created for students. This area includes multiple power outlets and interchangeable seating that permits both group and individual studying.

This space is representative of the effect the MSU can have on campus. By drawing attention to and focusing on initiatives and issues that students can rally behind, we can work as a campus community to find solutions.

This achievement wouldn’t have been possible if not for the respectful relationship we have with the staff of our libraries. The relationship between the MSU and the Library is crucial, as it is with all University partners. University

Librarian Jeffrey Trzeciak explained that regarding the renovations to Thode Library, “The MSU, as the representative body of the students, is a critical partner for the Library. It is only through this partnership that the Library was able to secure the funding necessary to increase study space.”

Over the coming months further renovations will take place on the 6th floor of Mills Library, moving the book stacks to the 5th floor to create additional seating. I look forward to this space being provided to students and as we prepare for the exam period during the second semester, we will be working to provide additional support for students and opening up more space.

In my view, the MSU is here to state the priorities of students and subsequently work to achieve success in addressing those concerns. A student government offers opportunities and support to students in a variety of ways.

Offering services is one way the MSU creates a support network, advocacy work is another such support vehicle, although more difficult to see on a dayto-day basis. When I wasn’t involved in the MSU I often rolled my eyes when someone told me they would raise my concern to the University. Having held this job for nine months, I now realize the power we have here at McMaster.

I have learned that is important to not only ask students what they want to see, but to deliver on the promises you make. I hope that you have seen and experienced the MSU’s efforts this year

as we worked with campus partners to address the lack of adequate study space. I want to assure you however, that I am aware of the fact that this issue is still in need of further action.

The President’s Page is sponsored by the McMaster Students Union.

It is a space used to communicate with the student body about the projects, goals and agenda of the MSU Board of Directors.

www.msu.mcmaster.ca

We must constantly be looking for new ways to deal with the growing population of this campus and this most certainly will be a priority of the MSU for years to come.

THE SILHOUETTE • A3

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Gift supports research and healthcare “Today we see my parents’ dream come true” - Jackie Work, daughter of Owen Boris

C/O RON SCHEFFLER

Mick Bhatia, expressed his gratitude at the Feb.6 gift announcement event.

Marta and Owen Boris Foundation donated six million dollars to St. Joseph’s Hospital to “both of our parents had some vexing health fund addiction research in May 2011. Later issues and found themselves frustrated with that year, in December, they donated five milthe medical system,” said Work during her lion dollars in support of an advanced surgical robot. captivating speech.

She further explained, “that experience Upon outlining the challenges currently drove them, Dad in particular, to find a way facing access to healthcare, Work explained to implement a more efficient and faster way the motivation behind the gift, in line with her to manage patient care,” referring to Boris’ father’s vision. “It is our hope that this will become the new model and desire to effect change in standard for patient care, not healthcare. only in Hamilton but across On April 9, 2011, soon That experience the country,” said Work. after discussions were under Those in attendance at the way between Boris and the drove them, held in the Jan and Mien University, Owen Boris Dad in particular, event Heersink Reading Pavillion in passed away suddenly, leavto find a way to McMaster’s Health Sciences ing in his memory a philanthropic legacy that his family implement a more Library included other prominent philanthropists that have resolved to maintain in his efficient made their mark on McMaster honour. and faster way to University through their out The family impact of standing donations, such as inadequate healthcare does manage patient Senator David Braley, and not stop at Marta and Owen care.”

Michael G. DeGroote.

Boris. Their youngest son,

Braley, who donated $50 Peter, passed away at the age of 43 after years of battling an alcohol addic- million to McMaster’s medical school shared insightful words of a true businessman, extion.

Soon after the passing of their younger plaining that he does not simply donate, but brother and father, Jackie Work and Les Boris makes investments, a sentiment shared by the worked to continue the discussions around Boris Family as the decision to contribute to their father’s vision through the Marta and McMaster came as an acknowledgement of the immense potential resting within the UniOwen Boris Foundation.

Driven by the loss of their brother, the versity.

• CONT’D FROM A1

End the Ban Campaign

Members walk out following SRA vote

SILHOUETTE FILE PHOTO

Sam Colbert Managing Editor

After sending it to a committee for further review at a meeting almost a month prior, the Student Representative Assembly (SRA) ultimately decided on Feb. 5 that the McMaster Students Union (MSU) would not support the End the Ban campaign.

The campaign, which would be adopted from the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) and its partner groups, is pushing Canadian Blood Services (CBS) to lift its lifetime ban on blood donations from men who have had sex with other men since 1977.

“Everyone felt that there needed to be a change in policy, and they felt that this was an issue that needed to be dealt with,” said MSU president, Matthew Dillon-Leitch. “The reason why we voted against supporting this motion was that we felt there was a better way for us to do it.”

Following the vote, six members walked out of the meeting, disappointed that the Assembly did not choose support the cause.

“I was frustrated, and, to be honest, I was a bit ashamed of the MSU,” said Riaz Sayani-Mulji, who tabled the motion on Jan. 8 following a presentation with fellow SRA Health Sciences member Joshua Wiener.

CBS has a partnership with the students Union that allows the group to hold blood donation clinics on campus. Despite the cooperation, Sayani-Mulji stressed the growing base of support for End the Ban, which includes campus departments, politicians and national organizations.

“We’re not trying to demonize Canadian Blood Services,” he said. “That’s not what End the Ban does. It merely says that we have to be critical, and we have to be aware that there is a discriminatory practice in place that is not justified by science.”

Supporters of the campaign at McMaster have been circulating a petition in favour of its adoption, and received more than 1,000 signatures within one week.

The End the Ban campaign is run through a partnership between CFS, Canadian AIDS Society and Égale Canada, an LGBT human rights organization.

The three groups have been working together on the issue since 1998, and initiated the campaign in 2007 to further propel their initiatives.

Given the non-political mandate of the MSU’s Queer Students Community Centre (QSCC), as well as the cooperation between the Student Health Education Centre (SHEC) and CBS, some representatives were questioned how the campaign would be run.

Additionally, concerns were raised regarding the support of a campaign held on behalf of CFS, given that it is a rival lobbying group to the ones that represent the MSU. “We didn’t really feel comfortable going through a third-party lobbying organization,” said Dillon-Leitch.

He added, “Our own services and our own staff weren’t quite comfortable with the way things were worded in that campaign.

We felt that we could effectively get the message out that we wanted to get out there and be in control of that message.”

A4 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

MSU Presidentials 2012

TYLER HAYWARD / SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR

MSU president-elect Siobhan Stewart speaks up at the all-candidates debate on Jan. 24 at TwelvEighty.

“It’s going to be a good year” Kacper Niburski

Assistant News Editor

After a grueling two weeks of campaigning and a balloting period that had the makings of a political cliffhanger, Siobhan Stewart is nothing short of appreciative of all that has happened.

“It is a privilege. I feel honoured to be given the opportunity,” she said. Considering the close margin of the presidential elections results, in which 33.4 per cent of the MSU’s eligible voters casted a ballot, “privilege” may be an understatement.

Winning the MSU elections by no more than 47 votes ahead of the second-place David Campbell, the results were an embodiment of the year’s strong field of candidates. In fact, when campaigning had started two weeks prior to Stewart’s win, it felt as though the title could go to any one of the five candidates.

Stewart initially felt very much the same. Even on the night of the ballot count, she was unabatedly jittery while attempting to absorb herself in a game of Settlers of Catan.

“Usually I am focused and competitive but I wasn’t able to concentrate.” She added with a laugh that “I guess I had something going on.”

Then, the call came. In tears she answered the phone, assuming the worst. On the other line, however, was the current MSU President, Matthew Dillon-Leitch, congratulating her on a successful campaign.

At that point, Stewart was no longer crying from anxiety; she was crying from excitement.

“The first person I called was my mom. She woke up my dad.

They both were very proud. To be honest, though, I think I was crying more than she was,” she said.

After a night of endless phone calls and celebration, she awoke the next morning as the soon-to-be MSU President.

“It’s hard to put the feeling into words. When I woke up, I just told

myself, ‘I’m going to be the MSU President.’ I guess if I had to sum it up, I’d say it was a feeling of appreciation that I’ve been given an opportunity unlike any other.”

As to why this “opportunity” was bestowed to her over the other four candidates, Stewart was hesitant to reply. “I am not sure why the students voted as they did.” Perhaps the win was due to a dedicated campaign team. Perhaps it was a result of extensive promotions. Whatever the reason, Stewart stressed, “I can only be humble.”

Plans to begin the initiatives outlined in her platform stretch far beyond the campaign trail. As Stewart transitions into her oneyear term as MSU President, which starts on May 1, she will be meeting with various members of the current administration.

“I want to do my best to keep the positivity by staying true to the MSU and all it stands to represent,” she said.

To do this, she plans to first implement the key sustainability promise of her campaign platform: green roofs. She has currently set up meetings with Kate Whalen, the Manager of Sustainability, to discuss the most successful plan of action.

“It’s no longer an idea,” Stewart stressed. “It’s now about how we act towards it.”

Yet Stewart hinted that her presidential initiatives will not be restricted to her own campaign points. Among the many other things, Stewart lauded Mukhtar Galan’s WiFi passion, David Campbell’s stress busters, Alex Ramirez’s expansion into the community and Chris Erl’s HSR-related mandate.

“The beauty of the election is I don’t know who voted for me, but I am interested as to why people voted for someone over someone else. As the MSU President, I need to look at every platform and try to incorporate the standout points to

Two Mac profs recieve prestigious 3M award • CONT’D FROM A1 When asked about her next steps, Vajoczki had some very exciting news to share.

In October of 2012, the Centre for Leadership and Learning will be hosting a conference at McMaster entitled, “International Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education,” for 500 delegates from around the world.

Beier, a professor of Political Science, said that “the most important thing for me is that students are encouraged to critically think about the material I teach.”

“I think it’s important that whether it’s a seminar, a lecture, or if it’s what’s going on in tutorials for a course that I teach, that it is always a safe space where we’re always expected to take responsibility for our perspectives . . . but it’s safe to take risks.”

Beier believes that “everyone needs to feel like they’re a part

of the equation,” and this can be achieved by “trying to bring undergraduate students more into the research that we do.”

When asked what influenced his teaching methods, Beier stated that, “the very best teachers I had were the ones that me feel like I was a part of the process . . . students aren’t just here to become repositories of the knowledge that we’re developing, but rather they have an important role to take . . . to the production of knowledge.”

Both recipients underlined their gratefulness to be a part of McMaster. Vajoczki said that, “we are so fortunate to be at McMaster when it comes to teaching and learning.”

Similarly, Beier said, “I’m very grateful to be in a place like McMaster and in a department like the Department of Political Science, where all of my colleagues really take teaching seriously.”

“Your research makes your teaching better.”

resonate with all students.”

“It takes a certain amount of bravery to put your name on the ballot,” she continued. “All of the candidates exemplified this, just in different ways. In the end, we all agreed we wanted to make the student experience better.”

She joked, “Why can’t there be five MSU presidents?”

Though this won’t be a reality, the MSU President must work extensively with three Vice Presidents. Unlike the President, whose mandate is somewhat open to interpretation, the Vice Presidents have three respective roles in finance, administration and education.

“I am looking for VP’s that are different than myself,” she said.

Comparing the MSU Board of Directors to a puzzle, Stewart stressed that the pieces must come together to form the picture. She is looking for people who see things, “in a unique perspective apart from my own, but when put together, they share the same vision.”

It is this vision, powered by the idea that there can be something for every student, despite the differences in opinions, despite the area of studies and despite the social scene, that makes Stewart excited. “It’s going to be a good year,” she said.

THE SILHOUETTE • A5

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2012

Seminar on Higher Education

Panel discusses broadening community engagement

YOUSIF HADDAD / THE SILHOUETTE

Seminar moderator Sue Baptiste addresses those present at the Feb. 6 session.

Vanaja Sivakumar The Silhouette

Many McMaster students can recall feelings of frustration with respect to the teaching practices common at the University, and consequently have ideas to improve the situation.

These pursuits, often hindered by a lack of communication, paved the way to the McMaster Seminar on Higher Education, featuring a series of discussions about the issues plaguing higher education.

The overall aim is to encourage dialogue and inspire critical thought in McMaster University and the Hamilton community. It emphasizes the importance of academics and society as a whole, and how both can learn from one another.

The seminar aims to appeal to a range of audiences, encouraging attendance and expression from students, the direct recipients of educational change.

The February session of the five-part speaker series, hosted by the Office of the President, proved to be both informative and insightful. This seminar invited the President’s Teaching & Learning Award winners: Dr. Ann Herring, Dr. Sheila Sammon, Dr. Patty Solomon and Dr. Jean Wilson.

Discussion topics were centered on the development of successful community-engaged learning programs and projects at McMaster University. The panelists shared their experience and expertise in conceptualizing, developing, and implementing community engaged projects within their own teaching strategies and the feedback they received from their students.

The seminar commenced with the moder-

ator, Sue Baptiste, professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science, prompting discussion among the panellists about their own teaching experiences. Baptiste began by asking panellists to share their opinions about the meaning of “community” and how it is linked to learning.

Dr. Herring shared her own experience as a professor of Anthropology, describing a project she assigned, which required her students to compile a book about Hamilton. She expressed that her students were happy to be engaged with the Hamilton community and not solely confined to the campus educational scene.

Other panelists answered the question by drawing on their personal experience such as Dr. Soloman, who shared his experience working with HIV patients and how learning from them, in terms of their social disabilities rather then the actual virology of the disease, was more beneficial to both the patient and the recipient learner.

Dr. Wilson, being a literary scholar, used her love of analyzing and discussing themes in famous novels as a venue for community engagement lessons which foster an ability to discover new, unique perspectives.

However, no matter what academic background each panelist came from, the overall theme of “learning from the environment around us” was prevalent.

Each panelist expressed the need to eschew the idea of “tokenism” as a way of connecting with the surrounding community.

The refined model of community engagement calls for “giving and receiving,” a form of knowledge that is the best form of community engagement.

World Congress

Mac Conference fosters networking which took place on Feb. 1 and Feb. 2 in CIBC Hall, was the “triple-bottom line”: people, planet and profit. The phrase was first One may have noticed the swarms of under- coined in 1994 by John Elkington, a British graduate students wandering around campus businessman and founder of a consulting firm in business attire last week, looking unchar- called SustainAbility. acteristically put together. The unusual dress The three pillars focus on achieving corwas probably attributed to the McMaster porate social responsibility, with a focus on World Congress. sustainable business practices.

The annual World Congress is “a learning In keeping with the theme, the conferevent,” explained Arush Goyal, a fourth-year ence welcomed 16 guest speakers, all indusCommerce student and one of two speaker re- try professionals and entrepreneurs. For excruitment directors for this year’s conference. ample, Dave Gardner, Honda Canada’s Vice Now in its 33rd year, the President of Sales and MarMcMaster World Congress keting, spoke on hybrid cars is, according to its website, and the growing role of clean It’s a great “one of the largest studentenergy. experience. We’ve “I think all of them have run events at McMaster” and “one of the longest runbuilt on skills like added something fantastic,” ning business conferences in Goyal said of the guest speakteamwork and net- ers. “They all give a different Canada.” working. You meet point of view.”

“It’s a misconception that it’s just a business event, but a lot of new people One aspect of the event that it’s not; it’s open to all stuoften goes unnoticed is the that can influene planning component, which dents from every faculty,” said Goyal. your career in the was led by two conference An estimated 250 to 275 co-chairs whose primary refuture.” students attended each sessponsibility was to oversee sion, for a total of over 4,000 the efforts of undergraduate delegates. Although open to all McMaster students from varying levels involved in the students, Goyal estimated that “close to 95 organizing efforts. The executive committee per cent” of the attendees were business stu- started planning this year’s event in March of dents. last year.

Why such a large majority of Commerce According to the committee, planning the kids? “They have an incentive,” said Goyal. World Congress is even more beneficial than “The first years [attend] because they get attending. “It’s a great experience … We’ve bonus marks, and second and third years as built on skills like teamwork and networking. well.”

You meet a lot of new people that can influ However, there’s more to it than that. ence your career in the future.”

“Once you attend the conference, you realize And it seems that all the hard work paid that you do learn a lot. As students get older, off. At the end of the day on the Thursday, they become more mature and they say that Goyal had nothing but good things to say. there actually is a benefit to going to this con- “In the last four or five months, we’ve ference.” committed a lot of time, a lot of effort,” he The theme of this year’s conference, said, “and it’s gone fantastically.”

Julia Redmond Silhouette Staff

A6 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

EDITORIAL

editor’s extension: 22052 letters: thesil@thesil.ca

From to the Editor:

MSU needs clearer definition The definition of the MSU is fractured.

If the SRA’s ‘End the Ban’ conflict has highlighted anything, it’s that there is a disagreement on what the Union’s purpose should be.

Proponents of supporting the campaign, which aims to remove the Canadian Blood Services ban on blood donations from men who have had sex with other men since 1977, want a proactive students union that uses the collective voice of students to advocate for big-picture causes.

Others, however, see a more localized mission statement for the union, and were wary of End the Ban’s association with the Canadian Federation of Students, an organization the MSU is not associated with.

The disagreement didn’t end well. Several members of the assembly walked out of last week’s meeting after the decision was made not to endorse the campaign. Both sides have their arguments, and neither is going to ease their stance any time soon.

But as concerning as this fiasco might be for students, it may have highlighted an even bigger problem for the organization in general: there is no coherent definition to say who’s right and who’s wrong.

With each MSU president, the organization’s priorities on advocacy or internal focus change. Some are highly motivated by the Union’s power to raise awareness for various social justice issues, while others take on a more administrative role.

That will likely never change, and nor should it – different leaders are given their mandates on different campaigns. But the MSU has reached a point where the disagreement on its purpose is creating real and harmful internal conflict.

In this respect, the Representative Assembly is split down the middle. Meetings have lasted for 15-plus hours without resolution, and stories of both personal and professional conflict are becoming commonplace.

There are arguments for both sides. But clearly, the current system – an ambiguous working model – is not functioning properly.

Perhaps an ideal scenario would see the following model take hold: activists take up a cause, rally support and seek change. Politicians respond, altering policy to reflect popular opinion.

The problem here at Mac is that our student politicians are also our student activists. They’re bringing highly political issues to student government meetings, sometimes with little to no outside consultation with the larger study body.

Whatever the new definition of the MSU is, it can’t be the one-year goal of an MSU president; that would not only lack student input, but might also prove to be very temporary.

A new MSU mission statement would need comprehensive ideas, offerings and feedback from students. It would need to somehow find an agreeable definition on what this organization does, not only for its members, but the causes and people it works with externally.

But whatever that mission statement is, it needs clearer definition. All we can tell about our current one is that it breeds conflict and inaction.

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Editorial Board Brian Decker Executive Editor Sam Colbert Managing Editor Jonathon Fairclough Production Editor Farzeen Foda Senior News Editor Kacper Niburski Assistant News Editor Dina Fanara Assistant News Editor Andrew Terefenko Opinions Editor Fraser Caldwell Sports Editor Brandon Meawasige Assistant Sports Editor Natalie Timperio Senior InsideOut Editor Cassandra Jeffery Assistant InsideOut Editor Sonya Khanna Business Editor Jemma Wolfe Senior andy Editor Myles Herod andy Entertainment Editor

• Brian Decker

Josh Parsons andy Music Editor

Letter to the Editor:

Tyler Hayward Senior Photo Editor

A message, loud and clear Last week, students of McMaster sent a clear message: there is no appetite on campus for radical, activist policy or action. Instead, students have demonstrated through their right to vote that they prefer a well thought out, well researched and moderate policy, advocated for in ways that will ensure improvements to student life.

Three instances occurred over the past week that cannot be ignored by the small group attempting to incite their version of what is right and spark a ‘revolution’. The first is the low turnout at the ‘Drop the Fees’ rally, where approximately fifty to sixty (out of an undergraduate population of 22,000) people attended. The second is the last place finish of the self-proclaimed ‘revolutionary’ candidate during the MSU Presidential Election.

Finally, the motion to support the CFS-led End the Ban Campaign over an in-house solution failed at the SRA level.

Without a doubt, this signals that the majority of McMaster students do not want their university and their students union involved in radical activism that results in bad press and delivers little for students. The students have shown their support for moderate, consensus-based change that has resulted in great improvements in student life.

It is time for the small group of those who seem completely oblivious to this fact to recognize what students want, instead of attempting to tell student what they want.

It is time for the divisiveness to end. The McMaster Students Union is a place where all students can come together, regardless of political leaning. In order for the MSU to bring into a true society all students, every view point must be discussed in order for the best possible solutions to be implemented for all students. It is time for various factions to stop attempting to sway this campus one way or another, and time for all student leaders of all ideologies to work together to best represent McMaster.

Joy Santiago Multimedia Editor

Silhouette Staff Bushra Habib, Christine Pugliese, Julia Redmond, Chanéle Jordan, Amanda Teseo, Katherine George, Aaren Fitzgerald, Ben Orr, Maggie Cogger-Orr, Ryan Mallough, Rob Hardy, Erin Chesney, Paul Fowler, Nolan Matthews, Jason Scherer, Jenna Shamoon, Sandro Giordano, Jeremy Voisin

• Joe Finkle

want to be the executive editor of the sil? now’s your chance. send us your resumé and cover letter -shoot ‘em over to thesil@thesil.ca by feb. 13 -especially you can catch misspelled words like ‘f’ Legal

Contact Us

The Silhouette welcomes letters to the editor in person at MUSC B110, or by email at thesil@thesil. ca. Please include name, address, and telephone number for verification only. We reserve the right to edit, condense, or reject letters and opinion articles. Opinions expressed in The Silhouette are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial board, the publishers, or university officials. The Silhouette is an editorially autonomous newspaper published by the McMaster Students Union. The Silhouette board of publications acts as an intermediary between the editorial board, the McMaster community, and the McMaster Students Union.

Grievances regarding The Silhouette may be forwarded in writing to: McMaster Students Union, McMaster University Student Centre, Room 201, L8S 4S4, Attn: The Silhouette Board of Publications.

The board will consider all submissions and make recommendations accordingly.

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News

10,000 circulation Published by the McMaster Students Union

to sex and the steel city. it’s comin’ up, and it’s gonna be sexy.

to sore losers.

to a little taste of parsons. to parsons’ little taste of meawasige. for details, please see d1. to harperbot’s sex-ware. to pool table altitude adjustments.

to hand-written newspapers. to concussions. that’s the shize, man. to all the salsa. to buying a leather spiked dog collar. to waiting 22 years to buy a leather spiked dog collar.

to rui: reporting under the influence.

Tuesdays at 12:30 p.m. business@thesil.ca

to wilbon, you sly fox.

to post-timbit feasting.

to 17 hess. you guys have a cool cat!

to coffee. i just don’t like you very much.

to steve nash. enjoy the legend in the flesh, folks.

to feeling like the return of the norovirus.

Wednesdays at 2:30 p.m. andy@thesil.ca

to snowmageddon taking the year off, apparently.

to depleted supplies of underwear and rations.

Fridays at 12:30 p.m. opinions@thesil.ca

to settlers of catan.

Business Sports

Thursdays at 2:30 p.m. sports@thesil.ca

InsideOut

Wednesdays at 3:30 p.m. insideout@thesil.ca

andy

Opinions

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to manipulation.

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E–Mail: thesil@thesil.ca Production Office (905) 525-9140, extension 27117 Advertising (905) 525-9140, extension 27557

to four badgers.

to dinnertime beverages. to the silhouette fantasy mock draft. it could happen to you!

to post-gino’s.

to oh, shoes. to sneak-up deer attacks. to rationalizing gino’s as a vegetable. to no evidence, brother.

THE SILHOUETTE • A7

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

OPINIONS

production office extension: 27117 opinions@thesil.ca

Arctic lake has cosmic stakes paperwork.

Not to undermine the already impressive implications An invasion is underway, potthat this research entails for us, entially endangering the livelibut there are cosmic merits to hood of millions upon billions of this discovery as well. The conEarthlings. Land is under siege ditions in the lake are nearly in the name of scientific adidentical to those of the lakes vancement, leaving its inhabiton Jupiter’s moon Europa. If we ants utterly defenseless against find microscopic or even macroa technology far beyond their scopic organisms that have surown. vived for millions of years in So why exactly are we now this ancient haven, equally sigthe alien invaders, treading upon nificant life forms could exist on ground millions of years reEuropa, giving humanity hope moved from outside contact? for adapting for the harsh con Those crazy Russians have ditions of theoretical off-world reached the surface of Lake settlements.

Vostok, an underground reser This could very well voir similar to Lake Ontario in be our ticket off this planet, so size and layout, buried nearly there needs to be a greater call four kilometers under the surfor protection of this cornucoface of eastern Antarctica. As pia, so that we can fully draw the largest of 140 subterranean upon the information that it can bodies of water in the continent, provide us before it becomes it is hoped that we will stumble tainted with industrial drilling upon organisms much like those equipment and unsafe taint-prethat existed long before the ice vention procedures, which are age, eras before humans literalsure to come along with a mass ly paved their way across the mining effort. planet. Are these Terra natives

Currently there are no ready for our all-too unsavoury legitimate claims to the Antwelcome? arctican territories, only those As a culture of the human verbal agreements that several race, we have a tendency to The secrets that Lake Vostok holds can advance our understanding of the planet tremendously. countries have settled to separravage, pillage and drain the life ate their scientific efforts. out of any bastions of nature we come across. This is a given; from the rest of the planet as far back as the Paleogene period, The largely ignored Antarctic Treaty of 1961 states that how else are we to get the resources needed to build larger over 23 millions years ago. To put that into perspective, that is any area of Antarctic land should be used for peaceful purand more numerous supermalls with four Starbucks per floor? millions of years before the first human ancestors, hominids, poses only. That being said, the treaty also does not recogMy main concern at this point is not if this pristine submerged walked the Earth for the first time. nize, dispute or establish any territorial claims to the land, marine savannah will remain as such, as at this point it is only There is a good chance we may make tremendous strides giving any water-crazy country dibs on the resource should a question of when the first abuses will be cast. in discovering our roots as a species, and see first-hand the there suddenly be a need for it. The caveat being that there The water in the lake is purportedly twice as clean as kind of aquatic fauna that shared the water with our primate will be a need for it, as the human population expands and four-times distilled water. It won’t be long before wealthy, predecessors. unpolluted fresh water becomes a far scarcer resource. healthy hypochondriacs decide to taste such cleanliness, and We just won’t be able to resist the allure, unfortunately, of We are on the precipice of a time when major world that is the moment when the trend will grow. Fresh water is a resource unique to that part of the world. powers will make a move for the deep blue treasure trove, but quite likely the most precious resource on the planet, and Imagine how much bottled prehistoric water could be we have the chance now to preempt such a crisis and define what can be more desirable than the absolute freshness Lake sold for to people who have lived through E. Coli scares and legitimate laws that will protect Lake Vostok.

Vostok can offer? continue to live through common tap water paranoia. There is Being alien invaders may seem harmless for the sake of The desire for a greater understanding of the organisms an approximate 5,400 cubic kilometers of liquid gold in that science, but how many movies have aliens as understanding is understandable. After all, this lake may have been cut off lake, just waiting for entrepreneurial opportunists to begin the and compassionate researchers?

Andrew Terefenko Opinions Editor

JOY SANTIAGO / MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

LoveBites

Finding love in a laboratory Romance can be broken down into a few simple formulas Kacper Niburski

Assistant News Editor

This Valentine’s Day, save the chocolate, burn the roses and stop the cheesy love poems. Such sentimentalities won’t foster a loving relationship, because love is not some innate, abstract emotional response.

It’s just chemistry.

Before I explain further, let me dissuade any possible illusions. No, my heart wasn’t bitterly broken, nor am I of the opinion that Valentine’s Day should be changed into the more fitting holiday “Single Awareness Day,” or SAD for short. Rather, I am a chemist and as a result, I have an affinity, for attraction, contrary to what my ex-girlfriends may say.

Don’t let the glasses, calculator or insurmountable number of scientific formulas delude you. All of it, from the lab coat to the overbite, have made me understand that chemistry and love are the same thing, a constant in the equation of life some may say. There cannot be one without the other, no matter how hard one tries to split the two like atoms.

Sure, some will rebuke the idea that love is even remotely related to chemistry. They’ll question my conclusion. They’ll demonstrate passionate examples of unconditional emotion. They’ll even think it prepos-

terous that I reduce something as inexplicable as love as if it were some mathematical formula, something to be measured. In the end, they’ll feel that they are literally and figuratively being attacked right in the heart.

Bearing the criticism, I dare ask where would any of us be without chemistry. From unicellular organisms to bipedal mammals, humanity’s timeline bubbles with the cream of chemical reactions. Beginning with the Big Bang, Goldilock conditions unraveled the cosmos.

A once imperceptibly dense darkness becomes a sparse, chaotic universe. From there, energy shattered, quarks formed and all of a sudden, human beings bustled into existence after billions upon billions of years of evolution.

In a way, humanity’s existence is not one of choice; it is because we are all connected. Whether atomically, chemically or biologically, we are the stuff of the stars. Certainly this is why the most mystifying aspect of the world is not the atoms that compose its structure but the way the atoms are arranged. For from stardust to human flesh to all the other molecular arrangements feasible, we have become beautiful creations.

This is owed entirely to chemistry. Your life, dear reader, is no dif-

INSIDE HEAD TO HEAD Is there reason enough for us to start efforts to colonize the moon?

There may be more to the issue than just space rocks.

Page A8

Feedback Students chime in on the lunar residency issue. Is it within our grasp?

Page A9

• PLEASE SEE SCIENCE, A8

This Week in Opinions Neo-Romanticism

Folk Sore

Fun in the Sun

The entire process of love can be broken down into numbers and patterns. What is love when it amounts to chemical processes?

Canada’s lack of true folk heroes might be a detriment to the new generations of Canadians who only have celebs to look up to.

The new media outlet might be just what Canada needed to jazz up the political system that most find terribly stale.

Pg. A8

Pg. A10

Pg. A11

A8 • THE SILHOUETTE

SUMEET KHANNA

HEAD TO HEAD Is

ultra-sustainable as a population, resources will run out. Exploration is certainly our next evolutionary step.”

V: Of course, Sumeet would present the most captivating argument to open up his case. However it falls short on certain areas. Firstly, the resources that the Earth is truly in need of do not reside on the Moon. Resources like helium, which is used to cool down an MRI machine, are found in space but not in sediment.

Secondly, the Mars exploration missions are coming to a close: the ExoMars program, a joint effort between NASA and the European Space Agency, is near collapse due to the withdrawal of NASA’s support. Lastly, a mission to Mars from the Moon is not a logical step. Descending onto and coming from the Moon would be a poor use of fuel. Currently the world’s finances are not in a position to fund specific space exploration programs that will not conclusively provide us with the resources needed in the immediate future. The resources that the Earth needs are helium and other simple resources that can easily be found not too far into space.

The funding that would be pooled into this project will not be transparent, as are few things under NASA’s classified jurisdictions, and will not benefit us at this moment in time.

S: Well,Vio, the moon’s soil is actually rich in helium-3, highly sought on Earth for nuclear fusion. And the moon is vital for us to get to Mars, as many scientists see it as a fuelling station for spacecraft; it may also help to get some data on long-term human health on the Moon before we go to

colonizing the moon?

Mars. As for space agencies, I need only point you to Virgin Galactic and the now booming commercial space industry. But I want to extend the reach of this proposal now. I think there’s a case to be made for generally colonizing the Moon. Politicians and scientists alike have a moral imperative to prepare for end-of-Earth scenarios. Asteroids pass-us by all of the time. Earth is over-populating, and resources are dwindling. A lot of countries still have nuclear weapons.

Given these variables, a Moon colony would not only allow humankind to hedge against these risks, but would also be a natural step in the evolution of humankind. The preservation of our species, I would argue, is an ultimate good, and every measure possible needs to be taken to ensure our survival.

V: How did we end up in a position where we are conceptualizing ‘end-of-the-world’ scenarios? We ended up in this position on our own accord due to mass consumerism, tactless globalization, a

disre g a rd for living within our means and a disrespect of the planetary natural processes. For example, the citizens in the UK throw away around 30 per cent of their groceries due to excess consumerism. Clearly there is an issue with the way that people on Earth understand the resources we have and the amount of waste we produce. We use resources improperly. Until we understand how to conserve energy and resources, we should not be able to branch out and destroy more resourceful areas. That is why we have natural wild-

Science is for the romantics Love is a mere banana away stoichiometrically balance our relationships. Counting the moles on ferent. Consider that approximate- our body, we determine the weight ly x amount of years, y amount of of our heart, and let it beat until months and z amount of weeks ago equilibrium is reached. We search you were little more than a moth- for love, and love searches for us. ball of cells. In the human Big Kisses become our pipettes; laughs, Bang, or sex, as it is commonly our titrations. In the chemistry of known, sperm met ovum, ovum met love, we all try to win the Nobel sperm, and soon the iterative pro- Prize. cess of life began.

But while this Cells became may be true, what We search for tissue. Tissue took does it matter if love, and love shape.

Waterfall one can dissect the upon waterfall of world in front of searches for us. hormones swelled them? Attempting Kisses become our to break everything together. And what pipettes.” was once an amordown into a timeline phous blob of goo is irrelevant if one became something doesn’t live in the more than it’s indistinctness could present. The same could be said of ever mask: you. analyzing love as a science. Even if It is this science – the analysis one understands how it works, that and subsequent understanding of does not make them a lover. the complex processes that form So while both life and love neus – that explain why love is but cessarily needs chemistry, they are chemistry. Despite how we came one of the many ways to describe into being, we stand as a testament the world. Another way of describof what a few buckets of water can ing it would be to say: where would become. That is to say, we became any of us, the chemical cesspools a chemical equation that can that we are, be without love? Or breathe, play catch, eat, complain, perhaps a better question is, what fart around and most importantly, would chemistry be without love? love.

If you don’t have an answer, In the end, love is chemistry it’s okay. Potassium is all you need because we are. As walking-talking anyhow. It’s the stuff of love and chemical reactions, we attempt to more importantly, bananas.

• CONT’D FROM A7

there reason enough

to dedicate resources to

CO-PRESIDENT MCMASTER DEBATING SOCIETY

S: Think what you may of Newt Gingrich, but he sure knows how to be radical. ‘Let’s colonize the Moon!’ Okay. I want to first look at the practical benefits of a purely scientific colony.

If we place astronaut-scientists on the Moon, build them a base, and allow them to take observations and operate technology specifically made for the Moon, a host of scientific avenues open up in terms of space discovery. Many point to the ample source of materials available on the Moon that we can use for the construction or fueling of a spacecraft. A Lunar base could more easily launch rockets to Mars due to the Moon’s lower gravity. Sending a human to Mars has been an aspiration for quite some time now; if a Lunar landing marked human progress in the 20th century, a Mars landing could certainly mark it for the 21st century. There are other benefits to be had as well. We could use a Lunar base for an observatory; high frequency telescopes wouldn’t be hindered by diffraction due to Even if we magithe lack of a sizable atmoscally reverse our phere. The list goes on, but habits and become I’ll pass it over to Violetta.

DEBATE:

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

VIOLETTA NIKOLSKAYA CO-PRESIDENT MCMASTER DEBATING SOCIETY

life and rain forest sanctuaries; we are attempting to save what we have left. Furthermore, on a more economist stance, exporting materials to the Earth would be incredibly problematic due to the cost of transportation. Issues like solar wind, fuel and human resources will cause the price of these resources to increase drastically, some estimates say. Before we ask ourselves ‘where can we go for more resources?’, we must answer the question of ‘how can we survive on less?’

S: How can we survive on less? By learning, innovating, moving forward and not sticking ourselves on one planet.

Vio’s right to list off our global tendency to waste, but even if we magically reverse our habits and become ultra-sustainable as a population, resources will run out. Further, imagine what we could learn from living on the Moon; imagine what innovation, what energy-saving, what sustainable practices we would learn from this ad- We ended up in this venture? Space exploration is most certainly our next position on our own evolutionary next step. If Vio accord due to mass wants to save the environconsumerism, tactment, down the road, that may involve moving people less globalization, a and industry to space, disregard for living which is a reality we within our means have to accept. Finally, though, on a more and a disrespect of theoretical note, I the Earth.” think we have a moral imperative to spread the life and beauty of human civilization throughout the universe - a universe that we usually characterize as cold and barren and frightening. So let’s colonize the Moon, and let us prove to ourselves once again that we are capable of taking another giant leap for humankind.

V: Moral imperative? I could understand and engage with your arguments until this point. The human civilization has stripped the very foundation of anything it inhabits.

We would not be inhabiting or colonizing the Moon to do anything but, once again, strip it of all of its essential resources and minerals. How is that in any way beautiful or moral?

If we run out of resources, it will have been on our own accord and an issue that we must come to terms with and address. Furthermore, we must recycle our resources because we still have retained a large portion of our minerals.

Funding a project to gain resources that will inevitably only become accessible to the rich is a true form of supporting a dynasty. Funding a project with money that could be used to build infrastructure and environmentally sustainable projects is a true form of supporting a simplistic and problematic endeavour. How about we try to fix the problems we’ve started before we go on to create bigger problems we have no right to create in the first place?

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

?

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“As long as Newt Gingrich is the president of the Moon.”

Should we colonize the moon?

ALSO,

Compiled by Andrew Terefenko and Tyler Hayward

pitch your idea TO US.

Feedback

recent events, ongoing world prob-

THE SILHOUETTE • A9

-Oskar Niburski, Arts & Science II

“I think we can better use our resources to help people in Africa, for example.”

-Asad Memon, Social Science III

“I don’t see a good reason that we should pursue this plan.”

-Lochlin Campbell, Life Science I

“I feel that within the U.S., it should not be a priority. First we need to solve this planet’s problems.”

-Melody Devries, History I

A10 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

No old lore in Canada’s yore Andrew Terefenko Opinions Editor

O Canada, our home and native land. By thy sons command, I am expected to exhibit true patriot love, but who exactly are thy sons, Canada?

It has recently become clear that our nation has a distinct lack of well-known folk heroes. We have real people who have made great strides in freedom and have flipped off flippant reporters, but where are our heroes of fiction and lore?

I’m talking about an equivalent to the American immortals Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan and Al Gore, people who may or may not have existed but inform the very core of moral values that guide citizens’ everyday lives.

Maybe this is why the Canadian moral compass is so misguided. Our four modes of thought are comprised of kindness in the North, and apathy thrice everywhere else. Perhaps I am obsessing over what seems to be an incredibly minor lack in an otherwise peaceful and frigidly awesome country, but at heart I just really care about the children.

Children, who are going to grow up without Canadian folk icons to idolize as they make the early decisions that will distinguish the dainty from the dubious. Instead, they will look up to questionable characters such as the Insane Clown Posse or Jean Chrétien, and that can only lead to a life full of half-hearted patriotism and spirited “eh’s.”

Without these heroes, our neighbours to the south depict us as frightened primitives. Take for example the depiction of Canadians in the popular American sitcom How I Met Your Mother, in It is time for the rise of a new folk hero: Raul Funyon, the clutter-clearing gentle giant of the North. which a Canadian-born main character is afraid of the dark, guncrazy (which seems a bit ironic given American culture) and completely apathetic to human seeds and start spreading them across the country. When our kids ask, we can always regale them with the story of how it rained fruits across the country because little Jimmy didn’t emotion. Does this sound like anyone you know?

To the rest of the world, we are frostbitten nomads living igloo to igloo, enjoying brief wash his hands after using the bathroom. That’ll learn ‘em good. hours of summer every year. While that may ring true to the northern one per cent of our fair nation, it is a far cry from the majority of us, whose only experience with igloos began and ended in our childhood snowball wars.

Maybe we were too late to the oral culture party and people grew more skeptical of their elders’ tales by the time our country began to form, but it is a shame nonetheless. Why are there no tales of Mounties who single-handedly fought back the snow beast rebellion, thereby protecting us from an eternity of slavery to our frozen masters? Now our kids will grow up not knowing real, fictional fear.

It is time for us to create folk heroes for our successors. Go grab a pack of exotic fruit

SILHOUETTE FILE PHOTO

Tanning hazardously Victoria ban on tanning raises ire Victoria found it acceptable to be the nanny city.

The people of Victoria had mixed feelAccording to Mr. Groundhog, Ontario is ex- ings about the new ban. Despite the scary pected to have an early spring. We all know statistics, some feel that only the parents what that means – we are one season closer should have authority over what their chilto summer. For many, days of the summer dren can and cannot do. Others are tired are spent outdoors, swimming, camping of their tax dollars being spent on people or simply soaking in sun rays. The bonus dying of skin cancer because they lay themof sun tanning is attaining that infamous selves under tanning bed lights, and they summer glow that people spend money at want this ban to protect people who think tanning salons trying to maintain. they are immune from the horrifying hands It is common belief that a gorgeous of cancer. bronze skin tone makes you look slimmer When looking at the results of the and more attractive, but there are severe recent study, I see that Victoria’s law is not consequences. sufficient. Although I feel that our freedom When the sun isn’t out (much like in to do what we feel is right for ourselves is these lovely February vital, I also know that Meldays), is surrendering to anoma skin cancer is one of the fake tan craze worth the most common forms of Others are tired it? Most salon-goers are cancer for people between the aware that tanning booths ages of 15 and 29. Melanoma of their tax dolaffect their health and can lars being spent on can eventually develop to be potentially cause cancer, a terminal cancer. Another but they think that those people dying of skin common misconception is side effects only happen to cancer because they that the goggles that the other people. wears in the bed aclay themselves under tanner But shocking new tually protect their eyes. The tanning bed lights. radiation from the bed can studies have put the itwould-never-happen-toThe consequences still seep through the plastic me mindset to rest. One spectacles. This exposure is are horrifying.” study found that using a also very likely to grow into tanning bed while under a strand of ocular melanoma the age of 35 causes your chances of con- that targets the eyes and surrounding tistracting skin cancer to increase to 75 per sues. cent. The Canadian Cancer Society wants Knowing this, I genuinely hope that the Ontario government to take action and Ontario finds a way to shape it’s own verfollow in the footsteps of our neighbours to sion of the ban in a way that protects more the west, British Columbia. In January of people. last year, Victoria passed law that forbade The most important point is to be recitizens ages 18 and younger to use tan- sponsible for your own well being, no ning salon services. This was their attempt matter how badly you want that bronze to save some teens from cutting their lives glow. short. With all the known health risks re- The consequences are horrifying and garding radiation and tanning bed hazards, simply not worth it.

Nour Afara

Silhouette Staff

THE SILHOUETTE • A11

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Here comes the technicolor Sun Ryan Mallough Silhouette Staff

We feared it when we heard it was coming. It was like the water shaking in the glass as the T-Rex approaches in Jurassic Park. “Fox News North”. Hide your kids, hide your wife.

The crazy conservatives were coming.

While a successful letter campaign to the CRTC ensured that the network would not be recognized as a category one and made mandatory on the airwaves like other news stations are, on April 18, 2011 a bikini-clad Krista Erickson welcomed Canada to the Sun News Network.

The network has stumbled out of the gate. With Krista Erickson’s mal-informed tongue-lashing of interpretive dancer Margie Gillis, hosting a fake citizenship reaffirmation ceremony, and accusing the CBC of using public funding to secure pornography, Sun News has made almost as much news almost as it has reported. While full of conservative rhetoric, Sun News has so far failed to capture an audience like their American compatriots Fox News. But it can, and while those on the left may fear it, it may actually be one of the best things that can happen.

Many people, especially those outside the United States or north of the Mason-Dixon Line, like to scoff at the Fox News Network’s brand of “infotainment” and relish in polls that demonstrate Fox News viewers are among the least informed persons in the country when it comes to news and current events. But what is often missed by the upturned and often snobbish liberal viewpoint is the very real and very

influential presence and contribution that Fox provides to America’s political dialogue. The Tea Party is the beacon of this contribution.

While at its heart it is a grassroots enterprise made up of people simply fed up with their government, the Tea Party would have remained just another fringe movement were it not for Fox News, who became the Party’s early champion, covering the Party’s growth from its small beginnings in February 2009, to today where the Tea Party has its own recognized candidates within the Republican Party, its own caucus, and forms its own response to the State of the Union address.

It is highly unlikely that any of this would have been possible were it not for the platform that the Fox News Network provided the movement, particularly by providing daily air time to Glenn Beck.

Beck, who has since left Fox, was the poster boy for leftist exasperation, Jon Stewart’s cannon fodder and what liberals point to as everything that is wrong with conservative America. He was one of the brashest and most brazen of Tea Party supporters, and it is hard to deny that much of what he said was hyper-charged rhetoric, frequently full of falsehoods, and at times bordered on insanity; however, Beck breathed fire into the movement and helped to organize the Tea Party (something the left-wing Occupy movement is sorely lacking) and solidify their national status.

The movement is not only here to stay, but it is getting stronger.

The Tea Party currently has 62 members of the House of Representatives and 4 senators making up its caucus, and has

a very realistic chance of splitting the Republican Party in two. The highly conservative anti-spend, anti-government involvement Tea Party on one side, and a more moderate-conservative new Republican Party on the other; the Tea Party has the potential to achieve what dozens of other political movements have failed to do in America’s almost 250 year history: break up the two party system. Fox’s role is undeniable.

While the opinions propagated by Fox News may make leftists cringe, it is important to remember that they also represent the sentiments of roughly half of the population of the most powerful nation in the world. Those are opinions that, however unseemly to some, must be heard and considered.

After all, the mob is fully entitled to participate in democracy.

Our Conservative government likes to say that Canada is becoming a more conservative place, that Conservative values are Canadian values. The last four elections tell us that they are not wrong – the Conservatives captured 40 per cent of the popular vote en route to their majority government, a number that has increased in every election since Stephen Harper became party leader.

If conservative supporters want a network that puts a conservative slant on stories, then let them have it. We should all, left or right, embrace Sun News and the dialogue it can create, if for no other reason than that it will fuel the dormant leftist passion that has been lacking in recent years.

If Sun News can get its act together, the conversations and debates will benefit and our political society will be better for it.

SILHOUETTE FILE PHOTO

If Sun plays its cards right, it may become a suitable parody of Fox, which could be just the thing this country needs to knock its two-party system on its side.

The Personal Injury Lawyers

Relations at large This time of year is a chance to examine what love means in 2012 Rob Hardy

Silhouette Staff

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TRUTH • JUSTICE • SAFETY

With Valentine’s Day approaching next week, the annual discussions about love and romance have begun to permeate our daily news. Add social media, and we have more platforms from which to examine, and be bombarded by, the topic-du-jour.

Though some may lament that they are single and look at things from a narrow point of view, the actual vantage point should come from a much broader perspective: that is, how we really relate to ourselves, each other and the world at large.

Every romantic meeting ultimately begins the same way all meetings do, and that is from body language, simple exchanges and other small cues that reflect our pasts, and our biological and psychological natures.

That being said, human beings, more savvy than we used to be, are able to pick up on an incredible amount of information as they size people up for the first time.

Whether we are aware of it or not, our intelligence on this level has increased greatly.

Still, though, there is a certain apprehensiveness that has crept up in our North American culture that has made connecting with people much more guarded than it used to be. I used to think this could not be the case, as most of us have four or five hundred Facebook friends. But after some more obser-

www.FindlayLaw.ca

vation, I believe we have actually lost that connectivity. This translates to not only an obstacle to enduring romantic attachment, but to communion with our fellow humans, which ultimately is how friendship should develop.

A superficial attitude toward relationships is found in the Sex and the City sect, where the female characters emulate the former masculine ideal of searching for prospective partners only on a value-added basis, without much desire to wade through the drama that is required of relationships (and that ultimately makes them most interesting). The proliferation of Louis Vuitton bags and cellphones clutched in wellmanicured hands today suggest that the show did more than just influence fashion; it contributed to a no-strings attached view on not only relationships but contact with humans on all levels.

Scoping out Kijiji a few months back, I found that this disconnectedness extends not only to online dating but to simple exchanges related to buy and sellI found it difficult to connect with people who themselves had posted some items for sale, and it reminded me quite a bit of the back-andforth messaging that is more characteristic of something like Plentyoffish.com. This made confirmed for me that even though we do have more ways to connect with each other, our ability to actually do so and follow through has suffered a decline.

Gone are the days when saying hello as you pass someone on the street is considered friendly. We are as wary as we are kind. We should remember, though, that life was never meant to be easy.

As we approach Valentine’s, making a habit to avoid convenience simply for its own sake may make us more open to more fulfilling relationships in our life, and possibly reduce that dreaded tension we instinctively feel simply by being on an elevator with a stranger.

Happy Valena deep disconnect. tine’s Day. JOY SANTIAGO / MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

Love comes in many forms but lately has

A12 • THE SILHOUETTE

SpeculatoR The Hamilton

Thursday, February 9, 2012

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

WEATHER High:

Ratio of poopmongers to turdburglars in frequent night terrors.

Low:

Hope for a better tomorrow.

Eyeballing attractive wild fowl since 1968

F

Valentine’s Day done by hand as well Oskar Olsen

Speculator who did not want any part of this

To all those celebrating Valentines Day, If you’re cuddling with a significant other, or are forced into a tradition of left-hand shame, you probably know that Valentine’s Day is a holiday of mixed emotions. For those fortunate enough to be in a relationship, the day brings about a mixture of anxiety and joy. Gifts will be passed. Laughs will be shared. And maybe, love will bloom.

On the other hand, the otherwise partnerless see the day as nothing more than a legitimatization of their insignificance. They scoff at couples passing by. They tell themselves they are too good for marriage. They sleep in their mother’s basement watching The Notebook, and hoping that they’ll find someone. Anyone.

Here at the Speculator, we can relate more so to the bachelor lifestyle. As journalists, we revel exclusively in our single prowess. Perhaps this is partly due to an impending alcoholism coupled with a masochistic penchant to take on more work than we can handle. Regardless, after years of experiences of broken relationships, shouldering an utterly thankless job, and writing our lives away for people who don’t care, we know what is required to make the most of one’s Valentine’s Day. This applies for singles and couples alike. If you’re in a relationship, consider the following tips as the vanguard that’ll get you through the worst of times. If you’re single, consider the tips as your gateway into a #winning Charlie Sheen sexual ecstasy. And don’t worry. If you get laid after reading this, we won’t take all the credit. The rufie had some part in it. As did the tiger blood. Just consider the following words a safeguard if the rufie and blood fail: If you forgot to buy a gift for your significant other, don’t worry. Just give them this. It’s practically poetry.

If you decide to go with a chocolate heart, cliché as that is, realize that you will be the reason for a lifetime of diabetes.

Roses are always a safe bet. Be sure to cut the rose though. You don’t want to make the mistake of a forgetting to remove the thorns. Things could get messy.

I have never seen so much blood in my life. I am sorry, Janine.

For those who say they can’t define love, just watch four hours of midget-grandma-bestiality porn and you’ll be convinced otherwise.

To the ladies, be sure to wear your good underwear on V-Day, because you never know.

To the men, be sure to wear your good underwear as well.

But not on your head. No matter how many times you say it, you are not Spiderman.

If you have a midterm on Valentine’s Day, it’s all right.

You didn’t have plans anyways.

Also, writing “Be Mine” to your professor is a bad idea.

They’ll write, “Nice try. Be Mine-us.”

Want to impress your girlfriend on V-Day? Write them an article about love in the University newspaper.

I have no girlfriend.

Ladies, my number is 905432-9678.

I am not desperate.

Seriously, though. Call me.

“Candy grams?”

Take twenty.

“Cinnamon hearts?” Take none. No one likes those spawns of Satan.

Cupid’s very existence is The hand is an important tool to enjoy Valentine’s Day alone. quite stupid. In any other Universe, a mythical creature in no time. that pranced around in diapers so gaily and that shot Eventually, when the blackened daze that was arrows so haphazardly would be fired. three months fades, the bitter taste of sweat and disgust Be careful of cheesy love poems, especially if your begins to swell in your mouth, and various regions of Valentine is lactose intolerant. your body flare up from unidentified crusts – pizza or Twilight is in. There’s no other way to put it. As otherwise – you’ll realize that you made a mistake. long as your significant other doesn’t call you his Somewhere along the line, you changed. Or maybe, “ghoul-friend,” the relationship should be fine. they just got to know you. The real you.

When boys say, “Would you be my Valentine?” they That’s how love works. That’s how relationships actually mean, “Wood you be my Valentine?” which, work, too. You love. You regret. You love again. And according to the bro-est bros I know, roughly translates then, it’s too late. into, “My Wood, Valentine.”

Don’t worry, though. Just pinch the rest of this paper Heartbreaks happen. When they do, don’t cry. Tears into a joint. won’t help. Instead, party hard.

Follow any one of these steps, and your Valentine’s After months of partying, you’ll start to feel empty. Day is sure to be a raving success. I know mine will be.

It’s okay. Just party some more. In fact, if you didn’t I’ll be alone, playing video games and eating a copious give this paper to your significant other as outlined in amount of Cheetos. The way I see it, my thighs need tip #1, know that this page can be fashioned into a joint some good, sweet loving.

SPECULATOR FILE PHOTO

“Did you hear?

The tabloids are all ablaze about the

presidential penthouse.”

Disclaimer: Stories printed in The Hamilton Speculator are fact. Any resemblance to persons real or dead is likely intentional and done out of spite. Opinions expressed are those of The Speculator and if you disagree with them you are wrong. And stupid. Possibly ugly as well.

S1 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

The Silhouette

SPORTS

The Marauder women’s volleyball squad extends its winning streak to seven games as they head into a tough final week of OUA competition. See S3.

YOUR SOURCE FOR MCMASTER MARAUDERS SCORES, STORIES, UPDATES AND ANALYSIS

MEN’S BASKETBALL

FRASER CALDWELL / SPORTS EDITOR

MCMASTER IS LIKE MIKE

Mac handles Western to continue their winning ways in the OUA. See S2.

PHOTO C/O RICHARD ZAZULAK

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

JOY SANTIAGO / MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

The Marauders pummel Ryerson and look toward the playoffs. See S2.

FRASER CALDWELL / SPORTS EDITOR

McMaster announces a five-year exclusivity deal with Nike that will see Marauder basketball players sport the iconic Jordan brand as of the 2012-13 season. Details on S3.

S2 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Men’s Basketball

Men’s Volleyball

The Presutti of happiness Rookie guard Adam Presutti shining for Mac

Mantha finds health, form in home win

Brandon Meawasige

Fraser Caldwell Sports Editor

Assistant Sports Editor

At first glance, McMaster rookie Adam Presutti, who stands 6’2” and weights 175 lbs, is not the most physically imposing point guard in the OUA and he is certainly not the most experienced.

That being said, the Marauders are in the middle of a five-game win streak, with Presutti’s own success right at the heart of it.

The first-year business student is averaging 16.8 points per game over McMaster’s mini streak and has taken over as the straw that stirs McMaster’s offensive drink.

“It’s something in him. We have told him from the beginning of the season that he can play like this and the biggest difference now is that people are seeing his ability to score,” says head coach Amos Connolly of Presutti “He has been very consistent of late, and that is not typical of a kid in February of his first year. He is starting to realize what the openings are. I think he is realizing that we are fine if he shoots the ball and his teammates are okay with that,” says Connolly.

Even in light the praise he has received for his great play, as a young player it is important that Presutti maintains his confidence while continuing to learn this season, something his coaches are keeping a close eye on.

“Adam is a first-year and the difficulty with first years is having them string games together without thinking it’s luck. It takes them a little while to understand that they can play like that and it is not luck. It is about what your mentality is going into the game and you have to be consistent,” something Connolly, a former McMaster basketball player, knows a thing or two about.

These concerns do not find their way in one ear and out the other either; Presutti deserves credit for his attitude towards his rookie season. His coaching staff has referred to him as a great student and it is easy to see why.

“It’s easy when your coach believes in you,” says Presutti. “Every step of the way I am going to make mistakes, they are going to continuously help me through it. I learned that early when I messed up against Windsor but as the season progresses and I just keep learning and people keep giving me instructions, the pressure slowly gets relieved.”

Entering the final weekend of their conference schedule with very little left on the line, the Marauders are focused solely on maintaining their high level of play as the postseason looms.

Following a dominant Feb. 3 demolition of the Ryerson Rams at the Burridge Gym, the Maroon and Grey have cemented the second spot in the OUA standings and with it, a leading place in the conference quarterfinals.

For a team ranked ninth in the nation, it would be quite natural to ease into the playoffs. In fact, the division leading and CIS no.

5 Western Mustangs did just that in their last weekend of the campaign.

The Mustangs were roundly beaten by a more motivated Queen’s Gaels team in Kingston, putting something of a damper on their march to the postseason.

The Marauders have no intention of allowing a similar letup when they close out the season on the road on Feb. 11 and 12.

Outside hitter Jori Mantha reiterated his team’s desire to keep the pedal to the proverbial metal, indicating that the Marauders are motivated in their continued work by the prospect of returning to the OUA Final Four.

“I think our eyes are really set on the Final Four and getting to that OUA Championship,” said the sophomore hitter. “It’s about making sure that we’re taking the right steps toward maintaining our progress in training.

It’s about making sure that we have the fundamentals like blocking and passing down.

“We want to make sure that we’re on a steady track to be ready for the tough teams that we know we’ll be playing ahead. You don’t want to be surprised when you go into a tough game and find something completely different from what you were doing before.”

Mantha himself appears to be hitting stride at the best possible time, as he enjoyed his most impressive performance of the camIn his first season, Presutti has established himself as key to future success. paign in his team’s straight set beating of the Though he is confident both on and off and improving my game has been big.”

Rams. the court, Presutti emphasizes the importance Speaking strictly about basketball, Presut- The hitter agrees that the Friday night of his teammates and staying grounded. ti has now proven himself worthy of the hype showing was his finest, and argues that the “For me it is a mindset. You need to stay he had entering the season as a highly touted cause can be found in his improved health. humble and learn at every opportunity you get. Continuing to learn from the older guys • PLEASE SEE POINT GUARD, S6 • PLEASE SEE MARAUDERS, S7 PHOTOS C/O RICHARD ZAZULAK

THE SILHOUETTE • S3

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Women’s Volleyball

Nike Contract

signs Toronto trip brings stiff test Mac landmark Brock. “It’s a very fragile thing when you talk about that rhythm. In the fifth set – banking on some knowledge that Brock wouldn’t tinker with their order – I went back to where we had that rhythm and it was very evident.

“That combined with a few other factors and made the girls feel more comfortable.”

Beyond their tactical approach however, Marauder setter Amanda Weldon believes that the team’s experience and success is breeding a sense of strength and perseverance that serves them well in drawn-out matches.

“I definitely think it’s a matter of mental strength,” said Weldon of McMaster’s recent successes in five-set matches. “We’re getting a lot stronger in those fifth sets. There are great teams across the OUA but sometimes it takes learning how to win to finally do it.

“I think at the beginning of the season we had a great team with great potential and good players, but now we’ve learned how to play together and win those close matches.”

Integral to that teamwork is on-court communication, and Louks argues that his players were communicating particularly well over the course of the Friday night victory.

“There was really good dialogue at the timeouts,” said Louks. “They were very focused, with a really good exchange of information.”

For her part, Weldon believes that her squad has reached a level of understanding that often renders outward communication unnecessary.

“Sometimes things don’t even need to be said,” the Marauders’ third-year setter argued. “It’s an invisible string between us – you can feel when it’s there and when it’s not.”

Weldon is a central part of that understanding as the creative heart of the Maroon and Grey. While her role predominately calls upon her to fashion chances for others, the Amanda Weldon has been playing with an attacking flair in recent matches. setter offered proof of her own offensive Fraser Caldwell shifted his team’s approach and believes that prowess in the Feb. 3 victory against the Sports Editor he inadvertently knocked his players out of Badgers. sync.

Weldon notched six kills at the visitors’ Tinkering with a team’s tactics is the contin- When the Marauders dropped the fourth expense, and added four aces to tally a total ual responsibility of a coach. But in the wake and faced a decisive fifth set, the coach of 10 points in the Friday night victory. On of his squad’s seventh consecutive win, Ma- pressed the reset button and his players re- the topic of her attacking approach, the setter rauder coach Tim Louks believes that he sponded, cruising past the Badgers by a indicated that posing an offensive threat is a nearly coached his team out of a victory. nine-point margin. constant goal of hers.

In order to pursue a particular match- “It felt like a dance class that was danc- “Tim always tells me to be a threat and up in the fourth set of McMaster’s Feb. 3 ing in one style to the wrong kind of music,” contest against the Brock Badgers, Louks said Louks of his squad’s fourth set against • PLEASE SEE SQUAD, S8 FRASER CALDWELL / SPORTS EDITOR

apparel deal Fraser Caldwell Sports Editor

Marauder teams will be sporting the swoosh for the next five years, after McMaster’s Department of Athletics and Recreation announced a long-term exclusivity deal with the world’s largest sports apparel manufacturer on Feb. 6.

The agreement represents the first such commitment for Nike in Canada, although such exclusive apparel deals are common currency in the NCAA – where schools are often identified by the brand their athletes wear.

Under the terms of the deal, McMaster’s football, basketball, soccer, cross-country and track teams will sport Nike apparel, and the number of participating squads is subject to change in future years.

Perhaps most notably, the Marauder basketball teams will wear Jordan brand gear next year, and the merchandise from Nike’s flagship specialty offshoot – inspired by the legendary Michael Jordan – will be available for purchase on campus.

Access to the Jordan brand puts McMaster in elite sporting company, as only five schools in North America sport the iconic merchandise.

Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but it is widely believed that the agreement represents the most lucrative apparel contract signed by a CIS school.

McMaster’s Director of Athletics and Recreation Jeff Giles explains that negotiations between the University and its new partner began after the release of a request for proposal by McMaster in September.

According to Giles, several companies were impressed with the vision for the future presented by the university, and the Nike proposal that was eventually accepted was only one of a number of such offers.

“We told everyone that we weren’t looking for a typical, cookie-cutter deal,” said Giles. “We wanted a partner that was prepared to work with us through our brand and theirs to promote this university and the things that we do here. Part of that pitch was the way in which – for lack of a better word – we’re • PLEASE SEE NIKE, S5

THE SILHOUETTE • S4

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Cheerleading

Co-ed move pays dividends

PHOTO C/O ALEXANDER CLANCY

The Marauder cheerleading squad took to Disney World for the UCA World College Championships in January. ranks. The move to a co-ed team from the Marauders traditional all-girl competitive make-up also placed them in a smaller field.

McMaster’s cheerleading squad changed its “Truthfully, I don’t think we were all that composition this season and has seen imme- surprised to win,” said Smith of the Decemdiate returns on that decision. ber event. “We don’t usually compete in the On Dec. 3, the Maroon and Grey rep- small co-ed division because we’re usually resentatives topped the University Small an all-girl team. The last time we were co-ed Co-Ed division of the National and Open was three years ago, but this time around we Championships, surpassing the other four decided to take a few guys along as well. members of the field.

“We’ve always been a very strong team Team member Janelle Smith believes – even when we were an all-girl team – and that her team was confident of their chanc- the boys only made us stronger. We underes at the event, as they are perennial pow- stand that there’s a good level of competition erhouses within the nation’s cheerleading but we’re confident and we’ve got an incredFraser Caldwell Sports Editor

ible coach.”

Smith explains that the transition to a co-ed team allowed the Marauder cheerleaders more flexibility in their selection of routine pieces, an advantage the team used to full effect in competition.

“It matters most in terms of stunts, particularly the number that we’re allowed to have,” said the fourth-year senior. “We’re able to have more if boys are able to be under a stunt by themselves. The same goes for pyramids. We’re able to do more and vary our stunts more.”

In the wake of their national success, the Maroon and Grey received a unique

opportunity: the chance to take part in the Universal Cheerleading Association’s World College Cheerleading Championships in Orlando, FL. The Jan. 15 event saw McMaster’s delegation compete against representatives from Asia and the United States.

“There were teams from Puerto Rico, China and a few US teams,” said Smith of the field in Orlando. “UCA was in their first year of running the World division, so it was quite a bit smaller but still a fantastic competition, and they put it on well.”

Not only was the competition located in Orlando, it was actually staged at Disney World, allowing the team a vacation of sorts alongside the event itself. The trip represented an unusually exotic move for a Marauder squad that typically stays closer to home due to funding challenges.

“It was a great experience being at Disney World,” said Smith of the Florida competition. “It came to us very last minute but our coach was thankfully able to pull some strings. When we got the opportunity, we jumped at it.

“We usually travel to two US competitions in the second semester. Usually they’re fairly close in places like Pittsburgh or New York. A few years ago the team went to Myrtle Beach, but getting the opportunity to go to Disney World was pretty intense. A lot depends on what we can afford.”

Beyond their competitive schedule, the Marauder cheerleaders take an active role in charity work with the help of the Mac Athletes Care organization.

Smith indicates that such activities are a conscious part of the team’s effort to diversify their operations.

“We have one member in particular – Lauren Hurst – who is part of the Mac Athletes Care program, and she’s sort of our liaison between the team and the charities.

Each week she posts and tries to get the team involved.

“We always want to present the image of a well-rounded team that is interested in the wider Hamilton community.”

The Marauders will continue to demonstrate that balanced approach as they compete at the Cheer Evolution Nationals in Kingston and the Kicks Championship in Montreal while maintaining extra-curricular charity events.

THE SILHOUETTE • S5

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Nike Contract

Nike deal is Canada’s first • CONT’D FROM S3

trying to reinvent the role of athletics and recreation at the university level.

“Nike and their Canadian distributor T. Litzen could see that we had some ideas and were going to do some amazing things in the next few years. We got some very encouraging bids for our package.

“And at the end of the day, Nike won because they said that they would work with us in terms of branding up here. It was a vote of confidence from Nike and T. Litzen in everything we’re doing here.”

The resulting deal is one that resembles in many ways the exclusivity agreements common to Division I programs in the United States’ NCAA. For his part however, Giles draws the comparison between this most recent deal and those he negotiated in his previous capacity as the President of the CFL for seven years.

“Everyone looks at apparel as a cost, but nobody looks at it as a licensing opportunity,” said the Athletic Director. “Fans want to buy a licensed product – they want to buy wear the athletes are wearing. We did the same thing in the CFL. “We consolidated everything – first with Starter, then Adidas, and then Reebok. We grew it to the point where licensing in the CFL is now worth $10 million per year – from almost nothing.

“I came into McMaster and said that we should be able to do the same thing here. We should be able to take all of this apparel and everything we do to outfit our teams and create a licensing opportunity. That’s what the Maroon Shop is all about.”

Whatever comparison one wants to draw, there is no doubting the importance of the deal, and Giles believes that his department’s agreement with Nike has opened eyes across the North American collegiate landscape.

“I think we’ve created some waves,” conceded Giles. “I can imagine there are some big-time American schools that want to know why they aren’t Jordan schools. I can’t answer that question and I didn’t want to cause problems down there, but maybe we have.”

While the agreement presents McMaster with a definite financial boon, the Athletic Director stressed that the purpose of the school’s move to exclusivity was not profit,

FRASER CALDWELL / SPORTS EDITOR

The Maroon Shop’s current Nike supply will be augmented in the new school year with Jordan brand merchandise. but rather the expansion of the athletic department’s efforts.

“It’s not about the money,” said Giles of the deal. “It’s about giving our students the best possible experience while they’re here, to provide the programs and services they need to have a tremendous experience. Doing that costs money. This deal works to help us expand those programs and services.

“Many of the athletic departments across Ontario are conducting sport reviews and taking a look to see what they need to

cut while they feel tremendous financial pressures. We’re taking a different approach and asking how we can expand our services and do more for our students and staff. This just allows us to do that.”

For teams looking to attract new athletes, the allure of top-tier apparel could be a dealmaker.

However, Giles was quick to voice his hope that merchandise alone would not motivate potential Marauders to relocate to the Hamilton campus.

“It can’t hurt,” said the athletic director of the deal’s impact on recruiting. “All that I can judge by is the excitement of our two basketball teams – how excited our players are and tell me that our recruits are.

“I hope it helps, but I also hope that kids aren’t coming here because they get to wear a Jordan basketball uniform.

“If that’s the icing on the cake, then great. We’re looking for dedicated student athletes and if this means that those athletes choose McMaster, then so be it.”

S6 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Women’s Basketball

Men’s Basketball

Mac women look for strong finish Point guard, With three games left, winning season remains possible Maggie Cogger-Orr Silhouette Staff

ers shooting 54.5 per cent from three-point range, would lead to McMaster pulling away over the course of the quarter, with leads of as much as 21 points.

McMaster had a well-balanced offensive showing on the day as Chiarot had 22 points, Milligan had a huge double-double with 18 points and 16 rebounds, and Liz Burns chipped in with 17 points of her own.

For her efforts, Burns would grab Player of the Game honours for Mac. The victory puts McMaster back over .500 with a record of 10-9, leading into the final stretch of the regular season with three games remaining. The first of those three sees them take on the Guelph Gryphons at the Mitchell Athletic Centre on Feb. 11, a team who they held off to beat 66-63 a few

weeks ago.

When asked what they needed to do heading into the last few weeks of their season, Burns indicated that her team would look to build on the strengths shown in their home victory.

“We have to keep rolling with this momentum, keep on playing to our strengths: fast breaks, getting the ball to our posts,” said Burns. “Today was a great game, our perimeter game was really strong, we had so many players putting up points for us it was definitely a big team win.”

The ten days will be make or break for the Marauders as they look finish their season off on a winning note heading into the post season. The finish off their season with a home game against Laurier on Feb. 18.

In a rivalry that will get any McMaster student’s blood boiling, the Western Mustangs rolled into town Wednesday night, up against a Marauder team coming off two frustrating losses.

Fortunately for those fans, the Marauders were able to take out some of that frustration on the Mustangs and rolled to a 77-63 win Wednesday night at the Burridge Gym. McMaster looked eager to get back to their winning ways, coming out with an 11-3 lead early. Western would battle back though to bring the Maroon and Grey’s lead to three, before Hailey Milligan hit a buzzer beater to make in 19-14 McMaster at the end of the first quarter.

McMaster’s strength would lie in their ability to move the ball around the perimeter, but they at times struggled to rebound offensively under the basket. Western would capitalize on these defensive rebounds and quickly move the ball down court and drive to the basket. These quick transitions seemed to overwhelm the Marauders and saw the Mustangs take the lead 23-21.

It was then that Taylor Chiarot would take matters into her own hands, hitting four consecutive shots (a three, two field goals and a foul shot) for 8 points to swing Marauders back into the lead 29-23.

The second quarter would see both teams struggle with fouls, as offensive calls stalled the Marauders’ momentum, and Western would reach the team limit of five fouls with several minutes remaining in the half. Both teams shot an impressive 85.7 per cent from the free throw line, and McMaster would head into the change room up 37-33.

The second half would open with open with some good ball movement by McMaster and see them extend their lead to ten points with five minutes left in the third quarter. The teams would trade field goals back and forth, but Western could not close the gap and Mac would finish the fourth up by 11.

The Marauders would be too much for the Mustangs to handle in the fourth, as the ladies in purple looked tired and could not keep up. This, along with the Maraud- Guard Liz Burns earned player of the game honors in a win over Western.

PHOTO C/O RICHARD ZAZULAK

team ending season with a bang • CONT’D FROM S2 recruit.

“Technically, he is very fundamentally sound on offense; he has a good handle, he can pass, plays with his head up, hit the pull up, hit the three and attack to the rim,” said Connolly of his young point guard’s strengths.

“For a point guard to have that skill set with both hands is not common.”

After their most recent game, a 77-63 home court victory over Western on Feb. 8, Presutti demonstrated his awareness of the road ahead.

“From an offensive standpoint I’m streaky but there are times when I control the game. From a defensive standpoint I am very inconsistent, I need to get stronger which is the main goal for the summer and I need to get smarter,” he says of himself.

With McMaster sitting solidly in fourth place, with a record of 14-5, the road does not get any easier for Presutti as he will soon be leading his team into the OUA playoffs.

When asked if the freshman could handle all of the pressure, Connolly responded with an evaluation of his breakout candidate for conference rookie of the year.

“He has poise and he is a competitor with a natural competitive streak. Sometimes he doesn’t step back and realize that even though he is young he can take over the game,” said Connolly.

“I wouldn’t call him over confident and he is not sheepish. Adam is a complex guy that has a chance to do some good things.

“I have no question that he can lead this team in the future.”

While Presutti represents a bright future for the program, the task at hand remains finishing the season strong and competing in the playoffs.

The Marauders will have a chance to move one step forward as they travel to Guelph for a weekend game against the Guelph Gryphons.

The last time these two teams played Presutti scored a career-high 29 points en route to a 82-74 Mac win.

THE SILHOUETTE • S7

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Men’s Volleyball

Marauders look to stay sharp

FRASER CALDWELL / SPORTS EDITOR

With their playoff destiny already decided, McMaster will try to maintain their level of play through their final two conference matches this coming weekend.

• CONT’D FROM S2 “Yeah, I think it was my best,” said Mantha of his effort in the win.

“Over the course of the season I’ve had some issues with my knees, and over the past few weeks I’ve been getting a lot of physio and making sure my body is healthy. And I think that really showed in that game.”

Most impressive of all was Mantha serve – a notoriously nasty spinning weapon that is deadly when accurate.

Throughout the season the dangerous set piece has fluctuated in effectiveness, but Mantha controlled it to perfection against the Rams.

The result was a total of four aces for the Marauder outside and an untold number of badly shaped rallies on the part of the reeling

Ryerson players.

Mantha believes that his heightened success from the service line similarly stems from his health, allowing him to go for broke with confidence.

“The serve has its moments where I won’t have a sense of what I want to do with it or be able to jump at the height that I want to because of my knees,” said the sophomore Marauder.

“But a lot of the success now comes because my body feels good and I’m able to really attack it as hard as I can and put the other team in a tough spot.”

McMaster’s dominating win on Feb. 3 was undoubtedly a touch sweeter than usual, as it allowed the Marauders a measure of revenge for Ryerson’s upset of the Maroon and Grey in November.

However, Mantha argues that the Marauders must bring a similar seriousness to every match, regardless of the competition or their conference performance.

“I try to treat every time as just another game,” said the outside hitter. “When it comes down to it, we’re always going to give it our all and show every team respect by playing to our fullest and not let down anyone else on our team.

“Just because we’re playing a team that might not be doing the greatest in the league, it doesn’t mean that we don’t have to go out and perform in every game. Every game is a statement.”

Looking to carry their winning form into the playoffs, Mantha believes that the Marauders must moderate their collective mentality.

“It’s very important to stay intense and keep up your mindset,” said the sophomore.

“If you fall off the bandwagon, you can lose a point and it becomes a slide. In terms of keeping our mindset in the right place, we want to keep a steady attitude and not get too jacked up.

“Every point has something happen to make people go nuts. Someone else might have passed a bad ball, and it’s always interesting to see people’s reactions to plays.

It’s something that we have to keep under control.”

The Marauders will look to continue that collective balancing act this coming weekend, as they travel to Toronto to take on the Varsity Blues and York Lions in their final conference matches on Feb. 11 and 12 respectively.

S8 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Women’s Volleyball

Squad looks to stay in stride

FRASER CALDWELL / SPORTS EDITOR

Lauren Mastroluisi (6) and Shannon McRobert (8) will look to close out their conference schedule in style this coming weekend against Toronto and York. to be more selective but I don’t want her to play the game below the height of the net. I play tall,” said Weldon. “I’m not the tallest want her to play above the net as often as she girl in the OUA, but it’s about learning how can, and that involves activating her as an to play tall. When I play like that, it’s when I attacker. carry the most confidence, and when I can be “The moment she takes over a game a threat it makes the blockers stall. it gets a little hairy. But you can’t take the “You saw all of those kills Kailee Stock athlete out of the girl. That’s a mistake. If a had [against Brock]. She was just ripping it.” coach starts to shape a kid and turn them into Louks agrees that Weldon must play ag- an automaton, you lose that passion. It’s a gressively to be effective, and argues that to bit of a gamble but I believe that that’s what coach her otherwise would be to waste his sport is about.” setter’s talent and diminish her potential.

Weldon will look to pose that same of “It’s a requirement to be aggressive,” fensive threat as her team travels to Toronto said the Marauder bench boss. “I’d like her to wrap up its conference season against the • CONT’D FROM S3

Varsity Blues and the York Lions on Feb. 11 and 12 respectively.

The campaign-ending matches represent a stiff final test for the playoff-bound Marauders, as they come against a Toronto side currently tied with McMaster for fourth in the OUA and a York team that leads the conference and only dropped out of the national rankings this weekend.

Louks and his setter agree that the tough finale to the conference schedule is a blessing in disguise for the Marauders, serving to condition them well for the postseason.

“These are the kind of matches you have to play in weekly,” said the Marauder coach.

“How can you not be better because of it, win or loss? I don’t think we can lose in this scenario. We can lose the match in Toronto and be better come playoff time because we’ve been to their building and know what they will try to do.

“Those are the games you want to compete in,” added Weldon. “You don’t want to walk into a gym and trample a team three sets in a row. The reason you play this sport is to compete.

“So I think that playing Toronto and York to close it out is the best thing that could have happened to us leading into the playoffs.”

THE SILHOUETTE • C1

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

INSIDEOUT

production office extension: 27117 insideout@thesil.ca

The scoop on sexual harassment Natalie Timperio

Senior InsideOut Editor

There’s a fine line between what constitutes friendly behaviour and sexual harassment. Innuendos may often be taken for commonplace among the student body, whether in workplaces, classrooms or other social settings.

Then again, even if someone does in fact feel sexually harassed, speaking out about it can be quite difficult at times; no one wants to look a fool making a fuss over a petty sexual joke.

And this is where the problem largely lies. As members of a progressive society and, moreover, a university campus, sexual harassment seems more of an issue reserved for other groups of people. A ‘joke’ is nothing to get worked up about; we’re liberal, like-minded individuals, so no harm is meant when someone’s ‘just kidding.’ But this is a common misconception. Though we’ve progressive, sexual harassment is still a very real issue.

“Many of our students wear double hats; they’re here as students, and as a student they’re entitled to service in the form of education that is free of discrimination and free of harassment,” says Vilma Rossi, Program Coordinator for Human Rights and Equity Services (HRES) at McMaster.

While most people have a general sense of what sexual harassment is, being able to break it down can be helpful, Rossi explains. McMaster University’s Sexual Harassment Policy defines sexual harassment as a comment or conduct directed at an individual or group by someone of the same or opposite sex where it is known or ought to be known that such attention is unwanted.

“It’s not only the words that are being said but also the tone and the body language that goes along with using the phrase or the term or the word. If someone touches you, grabs you, strokes your hair, leans over you all the time, is invading your personal space,” this would constitute harassment, says Rossi.

Accounting for context is very important.

If there are instances in which a comment or touch is welcome by the party in question, then this is something that would not constitute sexual harassment. Though, drawing the line between what is innocent flirting and what is a sexualized environment is some• PLEASE SEE SPEAK, C5

Live to dream

No hayday on V-day

Get the most out of your sleep and learn how to control your dreams.

Original dating tips and tricks to make your hunny swoon this Valentine’s.

Pg. C3

Pg. C5

C2 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Thread Count Tomo Stojic Fourth Year History

Sweater: Zara $50 Boots: Gift

Favourite quote: “It’s not enough that I succeed, others must fail.”

What do you look for in a signficant other?

A will to power.

Photos by Jonathon Fairclough

Word of the Week Valentides Day Definition

February 15, or the Ides of February. It’s best to not celebrate Valentine’s Day on the Ides of February, lest restaurants try to gouge you with exorbitant prices, or forks.

Used in a sentence

Person A: “Beware Valentides Day.” Person B: “Says who?”

Person A: “A cupid bids you beware Valentides Day.” Person B: “Damn.”

THE SILHOUETTE • C3

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Catch some zzz’s and dream big Learn how to control your thoughts before falling asleep Amanda Watkins The Silhouette

Dreams are spontaneous actions of the brain that pull from different memories, thoughts and ideas that are left meandering through our minds as we fall asleep. Knowing that our minds are working even when we are not consciously in control has made dreaming a fascinating and curious topic.

I remember being in elementary school, when my friends and I would purchase every teenybopper magazine that had information about dreams and dream analysis.

Following our curiosity, we read our magazines, signed out books from the library, consulted the archives of the Internet, and often found very little information of substantial use. But we continued to look into the intriguing process of dreaming because it seemed to say so much about ourselves.

From my extensive childhood research, along with theories I’ve looked into today, I have realized that the symbolism of dreams, objects in our dreams and people in our dreams, has little to do with the folklore presented in literature aimed at children aged 14 and under, and more to do with what we are feeling at that particular moment. Many symbols have been decoded to have particular meanings – i.e., dreaming of water means a desire for enrichment in one’s life.

Usually, though, these symbols are completely subjective, depending on the person and their history.

For instance, I will often have dreams that involve birds. Consulting Dr. Google, birds are symbolic of “spiritual freedom and psychological liberation.” This could possibly be the reason for my featherfilled dreams, or it might just have to do with my irrational fear of pigeons.

If you ever have a dream that you are interested in analyzing, it does help to consult an outside source to bring some insight into the topic (and for that, try dreammoods.com – they literally have every topic covered from “Abandonment” to “Zoomorphism”). But before that, try thinking about what these symbols mean in your own

stream your mind through a series of memories and artefacts relating to that specific idea on your mind.

Although our dreams are expressions of our subconscious wants, needs, histories and goals, there are ways of influencing your dreams.

If you really got a kick out of the movie Inception (And let’s be honest, who didn’t?), you’ll have heard tips that have been effectively used to help control dreams and If you’re aiming to their content.

If you’re aiming to solve a solve a problem problem through a dream, the first through a dream, step is to think about the problem before you go to sleep and make the first step is sure it’s the last think on your mind to think about before you doze off. Try keeping something on your bedside table the problem that reminds you of the problem, before you go like a photograph.

Or, try something more symbolto sleep.” ic, like a notepad if you’re a writer suffering from writer’s block.

Along with this, the trick is to relife and to you personally. Consider member your dream after it’s hapfactors that may be influencing you pened. When you wake up, don’t throughout the day. Negative fac- just jump right out of bed; stay in tors like stress, a heavy workload place for a while and try thinking or health concerns, along with posi- about what you were dreaming of. tive factors like a happy relation- Another way to control your dreams ship, success at school or the end of is through lucid dreaming, or being a busy work week, will affect your aware of your dream as you’re in it. dreams and your thoughts when Much like the concept proposed in your mind is both consciously and Inception, lucid dreaming allows unconsciously working. Even going the dreamer to control what hapto sleep thinking about one specific pens next, because they remain person or place will influence your conscious of the fact that they are thoughts towards them and will dreaming.

To try this, before going to sleep, tell yourself that you are going to know that you are dreaming when you are dreaming. This rare technique takes great levels of control and requires the person to remember they are dreaming throughout.

To ensure that you know what is real and what isn’t, find something in your dreams that is different from the real world. For instance, many people say that reading text in a dream is near impossible because it usually is fuzzy, makes no sense or is unstable and constantly changing.

In your dreams, try finding something to read and see what it looks like. Lucid dreaming takes a lot of practice, but once mastered, you would essentially be able to make yourself dream of whatever you like.

Whether you’re dreaming of birds, Leonardo DiCaprio or a dream within another dream, try to think of the details and how they relate to your life. Dreams can provide insight into your deepest thoughts and desires, and while they are going on, they may help solve problems and overcome life’s hurdles. And, if you are interested in incepting your own mind with thoughts, always make sure you have a clear distinction between reality and your dreams.

Because dreams feel real while we’re in them – it’s only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.

TYLER HAYWARD and JOY SANTIAGO / SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR and MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

Before going to bed, make sure to focus your thoughts. You’ll have better dreams because of it.

C4 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

LGBTQ Activism & Resistance Feb. 9 @ 7 p.m.

Council Chambers

Think Write Speak Poetry Reading Feb. 13 @ 8 p.m.

Bridges Cafe

Climate Change - To Act or Not to Act? F**k Love Let’s Bingo Feb. 10 @ 8 a.m.

Feb. 14 @ 8 p.m.

MUSC 230 TwelvEighty

How-to-do-it

Cock blocking

JOY SANTIAGO / MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

Don’t let Claude the Cock block your, well ... you know what.

Brandon Meawasige Assistant Sports Editor

Although the term “cock block” typically denotes some sort of hindrance on the activity of male genitals, the crime with which it is actually associated equally affects both genders.

So ladies and gentleman, you are omitting truth if you say that you have never been affected in some way by the cock block.

Whether you have found yourself saying “she totally would have been DTF, bro, if that person hadn’t…” or you’ve had to listen to your buddy explain the chemistry between him and his would-be conquest to the tune of, “man, she was feeling it, why’d you have to cock block me like that?” somehow, the practice has found its way into your life.

Unfortunately, in some cases, you too will be blamed for cock blocking.

That being said, there is a very fine line between being at fault and not having had anything to do with the failure, rejection or what ever it may be.

So what constitutes a cock block?

And what doesn’t?

Let’s start with what doesn’t.

First of all, if you set a goal to go home with someone from the bar and you don’t do it, there is probably no one to blame but yourself.

Sure, she may have walked away after one drink, but that isn’t

because the bartender made a bad vodka and diet coke.

Chances are, it was something you said.

If her friends beckon for her and she walks away, you did not get cock blocked; she had a choice to stay and probably would have if she wanted to.

In order for one to truly be cock blocked, one must first have some chance at success before their ef-

Whatever it may be, to be cock blocked is to be the victim of a crime against humanity. But at the end of the day, you can still find comfort in the fact that it wasn’t your fault.” forts are circumvented.

We’re talking about the type of interaction with a girl that could only be broken by some sort of cosmic accident and should in no way resemble a shot in the dark at the bartender.

With the above considered, you have a right to be upset if a legitimate chance at achieving your goal is in some way ruined by a third party.

This can third party can come in numerous forms.

There is the traditional third

wheel, which is the person that, for whatever reason, simply doesn’t understand when there is work being done.

Though the intentions behind that may not always be bad, the outcome usually is.

Exes can also be an extremely effective method of avoiding success.

The conversation between you and your new friend, in most cases, will probably end once you answer the question, “Who was that?” Enough said.

Greater than all cock blocks, though, is the mother hen.

She the one who takes it upon herself to look out for her friends just a little too much – the kind that, in search of greater good, makes an attempt to impose good decision making on all.

Where is any of the fun in that?

Not everything has to be blamed on another person when it comes to the failure, either.

Sometimes circumstance can be the biggest cock block.

There are far too many to list.

Anything can happen at any time.

Parents can call, roommates can require assistance after breaking up with their boyfriends, and sometimes the Blue Line cab needs to pull over to expel the numerous tequila shots enjoyed in Hess Village.

Whatever it may be, to be cock blocked is to be the victim of a crime against humanity. But at the end of the day, you can still find comfort in the fact that it wasn’t your fault.

THE SILHOUETTE • C5

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

SEXandthe STEELCITY

A date to remember Speak

out: it’s your right

Chantal Cino The Silhouette

In case you haven’t heard, Valentine’s Day is around the corner. For those single, I know what you’re thinking; I wasn’t with anyone last year so I didn’t have to plan anything except the snacks I was going to eat while I stayed home and wallowed.

If you’re in a new relationship, however, Valentine’s Day can seem frightening. Don’t worry, though.

Here are some simple ways to make you appear as the thoughtful individual you’re probably pretending to be. Now, there are two crucial elements that you need to keep in mind when planning any Valentine’s related activities.

Number one: the ‘cute factor’. I don’t care if last year you acted like all the mushy things around you were utterly ridiculous. This year, you need to embrace the mush as if it is adorable. (Even if you think it’s still ridiculous, you’re going to have to pretend to like it.)

Number two: the ‘sentimental factor’. Making connections between your plans and other special times you’ve spent with your partner will make their heart explode.

(Caution: Excessive hugging may ensue.)

Now that the ground rules are set, you need to apply the Valentine’s Day formula: Date + Present = Feelings of Love. Simple enough?

Let’s consider the first variable: The Date.

Step 1: The restaurant. Yes, it’s a cliché, but going out for dinner will immediately establish a romantic mood. But remember the rules: make it cute and sentimental. You’ve probably gone to dinner together before, so going to the restaurant where you had your first dinner date will bring back all of those lovely feelings. One tip, though: you may think that putting out extra money for a fancy restaurant will make for a better date, but it’s always best to go with a place that actually serves good food because, you know, you’re going to be eating it.

Step 2: Ice cream. What? Ice cream? In the winter? That’s absurd!

Exactly; that’s why you should do

• CONT’D FROM C1

TYLER HAYWARD / SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR

Sweep your partner off their feet this Valentine’s with originality and personality. it. You’ll seem creative, as it’s unexpected and plus, your partner probably hasn’t gone for ice cream since the summer. As a bonus, when the two of you get cold you get to snuggle real close to each other (i.e. be cute).

Step 3: Movie night. No, not at the theatres. All intimacy will disappear when you’re squished between a bickering married couple and a sobbing divorcee, and it’s difficult to personalize. So what to do instead? Have a movie night at home, and go all out. You make sure you have all of your loved one’s favourite movies, including those Disney ones that they loved watching as a kid/every other weekend to this day. You buy all of the treats you can think of, again being mindful of their favourites to increase the happy feelings.

Finally, don’t settle for the couch. Revert back to being a seven

year old and lay a ton of blankets and pillows on the floor, making a bed/hideout of fabric and hearts and smiles and rainbows for the two of you to cuddle in. Now, the second variable: The teddy bear.

Simple and adorable. It doesn’t matter how many teddy bears someone has received, it’s a classic, smile-inducing gift. However, you don’t get to be lazy. You’re going to drag yourself over to Build-A-Bear Workshop and majorly embarrass yourself by waiting in line with the small, annoying children, and kissing the heart they put inside that thing. Bonus points if you make a birth certificate for it and name it after your partner’s childhood dog.

Get crafty. Play to your strengths on this one. If you’re artsy, make them an awesome picture for their room. If you’re bookish, pick a book you love and write them little notes inside it that pertain to both

you two as well as what’s happening in the story on that page.

If you’re nerdy, make them a whole bunch of little Valentine’s cards, like the ones you were forced to give to the kids you didn’t like in elementary school, with little Valentine’s messages that are math, science, literature or pop culture related. These will make them laugh and swoon all at once.

Finally, love letter. Let’s get real, they’re timeless. You don’t even have to be a skilled writer. Putting down exactly how you feel in a letter that your loved one can look at whenever they’re missing you is simultaneously cute, sentimental, and downright awesome.

Use these suggestions for yourself or come up with your own. In the end, all that matters is that you make an effort to make your partner feel loved. The rest will fall into place.

thing to be wary of.

Nonetheless, Rossi noted that any discomfort someone may feel as a result of sexualized comment or conduct is not something to be taken lightly. But speaking out about sexual harassment can be difficult. “In my experience, sexual harassment is quite often treated as a joke by the people who are engaging in the behaviour.

People who are targeted by the behaviour will develop all kinds of strategies to try to cope with their discomfort,” says Rossi.

Often, people will attempt to ignore harassment by laughing, for example. Indeed, while acknowledging sexual harassment is difficult, asserting oneself can prove all the more arduous.

“It’s really an interesting dynamic that gets created where you actually have certain rights, but you can’t assert these rights because you’re going to be targeted even though you should be protected from being targeted,” Rossi explains.

In fact, escalated sexual harassment can ensue if one chooses to speak out about it. In this case it can become even more difficult to deal with; someone who finds themselves in this situation may experience anxiety, become easily distracted and, in more severe cases of harassment, experience health problems.

There are informal and formal avenues of action if you are experiencing sexual harassment. Rossi recommends documenting the date of the occurrence, as well as what happened and who saw or heard it happen.

And, depending on your level of confidence, you can also directly or indirectly confront the perpetrator(s) of the harassment.

In a workplace, you can inform your supervisor of the misconduct.

The HRES office, located on the second floor of the student centre (MUSC 212), can provide additional assistance, whether individual or group counsel, or helping to facilitate an appropriate resolution to stop the sexual harassment.

When informal resolution does not work, you may choose to file a formal complaint, either with McMaster’s internal human rights tribunal or the Ontario human rights tribunal. Depending on the context and severity of the situation, either course of action is appropriate when dealing with a case of sexual harassment, whether within McMaster University or without.

Rossi explained that sexual harassment is about “putting you in your place, putting you down, sending a strong message that you’re ‘less than’.”What’s important, then, Rossi stressed, is creating a environment of zero tolerance for disrespect: “You’re [at McMaster] to get an education, get a good job and gain experience—you are not here to expend a whole bunch of energy about how to handle [sexual harassment].”

Brush up on your love letter skills.

Write for InsideOut. Email insideout@ thesil.ca.

C6 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Surviving V-day as a singleton You don’t have to be in a relationship to have fun on Valentine’s Day Randal De Souza SHEC Media

“It’s the most beautiful time of the year.” Oh, wait, that’s just a besotted Bieber singing about Christmas.

For some out there, Valentine’s Day evokes the same special sentiments. Others might consider it a Hallmark campaign gone awry with overpriced, unscented roses shipped in from halfway across the world and tons of sickeningly sweet chocolate.

Valentine’s Day is what you make of it – fantastic, awkward, boring, exhilarating.

While one may typically see it as a day to be enjoyed with a significant other, it’s best not to limit yourself to this option. So make the most of being single. Why should the coupled up ones have all the fun? These ideas might help you celebrate a romantically saturated day in another fashion 1. Go out to dinner with friends. Restaurants may intimidate you on your own if they’re filled with couples canoodling over spaghetti. Be loud, laugh long and make the most of the evening. Being single means a fantastic night without obligatory dinner plans, so enjoy.

2. Hit up a club. Clubs may have Valentine’s Day specials (i.e. no cover for women) or anti-Valentine’s day affiliations (singles only). Go mix and mingle and dance the night away with friends, whether you care for specials or not.

3. Watch a movie. When was the last time you gave yourself a break from all that hard work? That’s right – take a night off, and go watch a movie with friends. If you’re feeling courageous, ask your crush (if you have one) to accompany you. This is definitely a break that we all can appreciate.

4. Throw an anti-Valentine’s Day party.

You’re not the only single one around, so make the most of it. Plan it for just a few

SILHOUETTE FILE PHOTO

Cupid should be the least of your concerns on this Feb 14. Get out there and enjoy being single. friends, or lots of them. Show those without a significant other that they can have as good, if not a significantly better a time.

5. Get organized. Strange, right? But perhaps an evening devoted to cleaning up your act instead of moping about being single might be just what you need. Tidy your room, do your laundry, plan ahead for papers,

Longboarding at Mac Ben Verkerk The Silhouette

As Canadians, a mild winter comes as a bittersweet circumstance for most. On one side, the roads are safe, accidents are down and CAA members can rest easy knowing their 100km of free towing is still available to them. On the flip side, sledding on cafeteria trays at faculty hollow, skating on Cootes, and making snowmen are at a low. Even the traditional phallic sculpture outside JHE has been cut short.

The disappearance of snow at McMaster has also seen the dissolution of the Ski and Snowboard Club, leaving an unmet demand by thrill-seekers. Fortunately, some ragtag skate punks have come together to form a club in an up-and-coming adrenalin junky pass-time.

Longboarders have been sweeping through campus for several years now, getting in trouble from security, weaving around light posts, and getting to class considerably quicker than everyone else.

Longboarding, which is an obvious derivation from skateboarding, is a faster, smoother and altogether bigger set-up. The boards aren’t meant to kick-flip; rather, they’re for carving, cruising, sliding and primarily racing down hills.

All these areas have their own following but downhill is by and away the most exciting. An inch of wood, four hunks of poly-

urethane (the wheels) and some metal trucks (like the axle on a Red Flyer Wagon) are all that’s keeping a racer from barrelling into a curb, light post or worse when travelling at speeds of up to and beyond 100km/h.

Needless to say, McMaster’s campus isn’t quite outfitted for these sorts of speeds, so the freestyle divisions, carving cruising and sliding, are more prevalent. The technicalities I won’t get into, but words like “dancing,” “shuvit” and “standee” are a bit more conducive to the Westdale/McMaster environment.

So what’s the deal? Why do people get into this sport? It seems most people start out wanting to commute – to get to class from the far end of Emerson faster than the busses can do it, without having to worry about a bike to lock up. Sure, biking is a bit quicker, and you get to sit down while doing it. But by the time cyclists have locked up their bike, thrown a plastic bag over their seat in case of rain, and marched from the seemingly randomly placed campus bike racks, I’m already in class schmoozing with a cute girl about the dangerous lifestyle I lead as a longboarding racer.

To say the longboarding club will be revolutionizing how students get to class is a bit of an exaggeration, but it is prepared to offer lessons on skating, techniques and even on board maintenance. They all seem to have a collection of boards in a variety of styles, and no one hesitates to lend a board to a new rider.

SILHOUETTE FILE PHOTO

The McMaster longboarding club has just opened their doors.

midterms and assignments and tackle those things you’ve been avoiding. It might seem redundant, but you’ll feel on top of the world after, and that’s what truly matters.

6. Volunteer. Maybe this isn’t the first idea that came to mind for a single Valentine’s Day. You’ll help out your community and feel fantastic afterwards, not to mention all the

heartwarming smiles and thanks you receive in return. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.

7. Set up an online dating profile. So perhaps you’ve made your peace with singledom, but are curious about changing that status.

Spend some time setting up an online dating profile, or two, or three. Give it a chance – can you truly say what will happen?

THE SILHOUETTE • C7

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

You might be an alcoholic if...

Partying is a part of the student lifestyle, but it can also be dangerous Katherine George Silhouette Staff

The transition from living at home with parental supervision to the freedom of a university lifestyle can be drastic. University is an environment that provides numerous opportunities to party. Sometimes, university years can foster excessive drinking habits.

Realistically, drinking in a social atmosphere is nothing out of the ordinary, especially for young adults. It is when the harmless pastime of drinking becomes a dependency on alcohol, eventually leading to addiction.

In 2005, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) created a “Canadian Campus Survey” in order to better understand the social and environmental determinants of hazardous drinking habits. The survey involved 6,282 full-time students from 40 different universities across Canada. It showed that 31.6 per cent of undergraduates “reported at least one indicator of dependent drinking such as being unable to stop, failing to perform normal everyday activities or needing a drink first thing in the morning.”

Evidently, these are the most severe cases of alcoholism. However, it is undeniable that the statistics of alcoholism among university students is alarmingly high. Third-year McMaster Commerce student Alyssa Citrigno comments on the situation: “I think a lot of students drink excessive amounts of alcohol, but don’t realize the detrimental effects of it because it is so common among all university students.

In reality, it isn’t normal to be drinking four nights out of the week.” Not all students who drink have these severe cases of alcoholism, but many are dangerously close.

In order to recognize if your harmless party habits are becoming a destructive activity, the following are some helpful tips.

Firstly, analyze your drinking habits in comparison with others, such as friends, family or colleagues. This is the most informative and obvious way to recognize whether your personal drinking habits are above that of an average person.

Drinking throughout the day or on numerous days of the week is a definite contribution to alcoholism. In addition, keep track of the amount of money you spend on alcohol.

TYLER HAYWARD / SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR

If yesterday’s bottles are the only indication of what happened last night, then you might have a problem.

This technique is effective because it gives Consider whether drinking has evolved that there is a problem. Talking with friends the alcohol abuser a visual realization of how from a social activity to a personal necessity. and family to address the issue is a productive their drinking habits are affecting their finan- If you find yourself drinking alone, it may be start, but if the problem has become an addiccial situation. a sign that you are drinking to soothe an addi- tion, it may require more intense treatment.

Drinking is an expensive hobby for a stu- tion rather than for social reasons.

To find more information about alcoholism dent, especially when considering the amount The cure to alcoholism is different for and local treatment centers visit the Alcoholof money spent per each drinking occasion. every person. Often it begins with recognizing ics Anonymous Hamilton website.

Eye Oh Tidbits Love birds

When a male penguin falls in love with a female penguin, he searches the entire beach for the perfect pebble to present to her. When he finally finds the right pebble, he waddles over and places it at her feet - kind of like a proposal.

The historic truth

Helen Keller wasn’t born blind and deaf.

When she was 19 months old, she was struck with a very serious fever causing her to become blind and deaf.

Diva dudes

The rock band Van Halen has it stated in their contract that a bowl of M&M’s must be back stage at all times. If that isn’t demanding enough, they require all of the brown M&M’s to be picked out.

Disney almost goes risque

Back to the Future was almost a Disney film.

However, due to the “inappropriate” scene with Marty and his mom kissing in the car, they thought it was “too extreme” so they wouldn’t take it.

C8 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2011

THE SILHOUETTE • C9

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

BUSINESS

production office extension: 27117 business@thesil.ca

Twitter cramps your tweet style Social media site imposes country-specific censorship on tweets

TYLER HAYWARD / SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR

Twitter has appealed to a mass demographic, partly through providing users with freedom of speech through tweets.

Sonya Khanna Business Editor

Social networking has provided individuals with an unprecedented wave of opportunities, allowing users to bask in the joys of freedom of speech.

Microblogging sites such as Twitter are used in many varieties as both an outlet for the coordination of ideas and current events, as well as an avenue for individuals to band together in the quest to uncover current trends and share common interests.

Individuals from all walks of life have dabbled in the twitter revolution, but the announcement

by Twitter to allow country-specific censorship of tweets has abruptly stagnated the notion of freedom of expression, drifting society back seemingly to previous methods.

This comes as an unexpected

twist in the plot by the tech site, notorious for its widespread pro-freedom of speech attitude, a key outlet in the co-ordination of protests in Egypt last year during the regime change.

Thailand has already jumped aboard, backing Twitter on its censorship guidelines.

“Although this impacts certain countries more than others, I think this is a sad step backwards for Twitter,” said fourth-year McMaster University student, Alyssa Rai. “Everyone is entitled to expressing their feelings and opinions.

Now individuals are being so closely monitored, that’s just not fair. If Twitter censors its tweets we lose that freedom of expression.”

The company has implemented this system with primarily countryspecific intentions, that is, targeting censorship of tweets solely along defined geographical regions. The

proposed transparency of the tech firm’s censorship plans will clearly mark to users when the content has been withheld.

In an effort to broaden the transparency of the site, Twitter’s partnership with the collaborative archiving website Chilling Effects has allowed for the expansion of a new page enabling users to easily locate notices relating to Twitter.

The initial reaction sent users in a state of frenzy, with many threatening to boycott the microblogging site based on the implied notion of diminished freedom of expression.

“I had contemplated abandoning the site altogether,” said recent McMaster graduate, Deanna Pan. The microblogging firm insists that this granular method of content censorship will help broaden transparency and accountability, 140 characters at a time.

Tweets will not be filtered before appearing on the site, rather, the company plans to act reactively in response to what is believed to be a valid request.

This system will allow for tweets to continue to flow “freely” to users globally, with the exception of those countries in which the censorship applies. There is already a ban on Twitter in China.

“As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression.

Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not e able to exist there.

“Others are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content,” said the company. The company claims that the only way to take account of the limitations observed in various countries was to remove content globally.

According to Twitter’s blog, the company said that they give themselves the “ability to reactively withhold content from the users in a specific country – while keeping it available in the rest of the world,” in an effort to communicate transparently to users when content is withheld, and why.

The new censorship laws depict the desire for the company to expand its network and implement sustainable, long run profit maximizing strategies.

Complying with censorship laws can be deemed as a compromise, essential to ensuring successful business operations without the threat of facing sanctions.

But no matter which way you slice it, censorship is censorship and streams of information are being monitored, with bubbles carefully filtering out what we say, one tweet at a time.

Is the West the way of the future?

The latest census depicts a wave of change for the Canadian economy 1981 to 1986 period, at 5.7 per cent, due in part to stagnant migratory patterns in the past five years.

Results of the 2011 census depict The temptation of the booming a change in the landscape of the oil, gas and other resource indusCanadian economy, tries is luring both with the greatest Canadians and imgrowth shown in migrants out West, the Prairies and with the population British Columbia. share of Canada’s The apparent Western provinces swap of economic now exceeding that strength and popuof the Eastern provlation is paving inces. way for the rise of In 2011, the Western Canada, population share with growth in the of the Prairie provWest attributed to inces and British an increased influx Columbia combined of immigrants bereached 30.7 per tween 2006 and cent; this figure sur2011. passes that of the Atlantic provinces While the West showed signs and Quebec combined, at 30.6 per of prosperity, Ontario showed the cent. lowest population growth since the Despite the growth of the WestSonya Khanna Business Editor

The apparent swap of economic strength and population is paving way for the rise of Western Canada.”

ern provinces previously being attributed primarily to growth in British Columbia, the increased share of the Western provinces since 2006 is based predominantly on the growth of the Prairie provinces - particularly that of Alberta.

Attributable to the slight growth in the fertility rate as well as to an increase in the number of immigrants, the population growth rate of Canada increased faster that of any other member of the Group of 8 industrialized nations between 2006 and 2011.

Despite these promising figures, the 2011 census conveyed a harsh reality, indicating that the rapid growth rate is somewhat of a temporary phenomenon; without a sustained level of immigration or a surge in fertility, population growth in Canada will come to a halt, at nearly zero per cent.

• PLEASE SEE TWITTER, C11 Western Canada is a thriving economic force.

SILHOUETTE FILE PHOTO

C10 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, FRBRUARY 9, 2012

Facebook finally goes public

The IPO filing of Facebook has opened the company up to vast possibilities Rachael Ramos The Silhouette

Since the release of Facebook everyone was wondering when it would go public. Well, eight years later, it’s finally happening.

Late in January, Facebook announced its initial public offering through which anyone will be able to buy shares of the social network company on an open stock exchange.

According to popular tech blog Wired.com, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg seeks to raise $5 billion in initial funding.

This is in line with some of the largest IPOs in technological history, unsurprising considering the size of Facebook and its increasing popularity.

“According to the company’s IPO filing, in 2011, it recorded revenue of $3.7 billion, operating income of $1.75 billion, and net

income of $1 billion,” said Wired. com writers Tim Carmody and Mike Isaac. “While the company’s S-1 filing does not list how much shares will cost upon the date of the IPO, Facebook’s most recent estimate as of December 31 puts the per share price at $29.73.”

Now, the question is, what does this IPO mean for Zuckerberg, the longevity of Facebook, its users and the greater economy?

Without a doubt Facebook has helped define social networking, created new marketing techniques and challenged Google. As a publicly traded company, Facebook could face more pressure than ever to turn an increasingly bigger profit quarter upon quarter.

The more money a company takes in, the more obligated it becomes to function in accordance with the properties and rules of money. According to CNN, since becoming public, Google has had

JOY SANTIAGO / MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

Facebook is valued at between $75- and $100 million.

Did you know?

American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first class.

The world’s oldest continuously incorporated company is Canada’s Hudson’s Bay Company, which was founded in 1670. The company also became the largest corporate landowner with holdings that at one time included about one third of present-day Canada.

Now you know.

to prove its devotion to its shareholders’ interests by cutting pet programs, showing earnings’ growth, and demonstrating focus over big dreams.

No more touting that employees get 20 per cent of their work hours to do whatever they want.

The money raised through IPO will empower Facebook to gear into a more serious challenge to Google by looking to improve their search function. It’s a real corporation now, and it has to behave like one.

For users this transition from bring a private sector to becoming public means perhaps getting a share in the company’s wealth, since it is the users who helped Facebook become so popular. The site has now more than 845 million daily active users.

As previously mentioned, Facebook has earned an estimated $3.7 billion in revenue. This had McMaster Facebook user Philip Pambrun thinking that maybe Facebook should spread the wealth and encourage users to take their case to Zuckerberg himself.

“Facebook is about to file for an initial public offering in a moment.

Am I the only person that thinks every Facebook member should receive at least 1 share at initial post?” wrote Pambrun. “If it wasn’t for all of you loyal and faithful Facebookers, this would never have gotten this far. So, everyone, message the high “Z” for your minimum 1 share.”

Simply becoming a multi-billion-dollar company changes the essence of its goals, activities and purpose.

“There is a huge need and a huge opportunity to get everyone in the world connected, to give everyone a voice and to help transform society for the future,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, in a letter that accompanied the filing.

It seems Zuckerberg wants the world to share in his fortune and

help further the Facebook industry, but is this the real reason?

Zuckerberg reportedly decided to go public once it became clear that the company had become too big to keep its finances private.

By going public, Facebook loses some of its mystery and cool, having to declare profits and losses

and answer to shareholders every quarter. By going public, Zuckerberg will need to provide the same kind of transparency with its customers and now the same with his public investors. It could be even more troublesome for the company fundamentally built on the premise of sharing.

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C11 • THE SILHOUETTE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Your Money

Weighing in on student banking Choosing the appropriate banking institution can help you save a pretty penny Bank

Monthly Fees

Number of Transactions Per Month

BMO

Shama Kassam

Extras

The Silhouette

30

One free INTERAC email money transfer per month

Unlimited

Has associated credit card for students

25

Has associated credit card for students

$1.25

Unlimited

Free use of Scotiabank’s ATM network

None

25

None

None CIBC

None Royal Bank of Canada

None Scotiabank

TD Bank

The five national banks that Canadians have to choose from all have their own pros and cons.

As students our financial situation has changed drastically from the good ol’ days of living at home with your family, and with these changes comes large responsibility.

Which bank to choose to most accurately suit your needs is a complex decision that can even help you save money each month.

Banks often target students in order to gain new clientele and establish brand loyalty from an early age.

That said, it is expected that each of these five main banks have accounts tailored specifically to the needs of students.

Of the aforementioned five banks, it seems at the outset that CIBC has the most cost-effective student bank account for the average user.

With no minimum monthly fee, you are not paying anything additional to service this account and since there are no charges for usage you don’t have to worry about keeping track of how many included transactions you have left.

That said, bank accounts are very important to select based on your own needs and usage patterns. For example, if you find that you don’t make many purchases from your debit card in a given month, you may prefer to be with Royal Bank or TD Canada Trust. A lot of students also consider deciding on a bank based on their parents.

If their parents have been successful with one bank for years they may choose to stick with that bank as they may be eligible for added perks, and often parents open accounts for their children at a young age so it is easier just to stick with it.

Also, students may prefer to be with a specific bank because their parents are with the same bank and it is easy to transfer funds.

Certain banks offer plans with fixed monthly rates to relieve the stress associated with pesky withdrawal fees; however, if you find yourself often in need of cash on campus then CIBC might be a better choice for you because there is an ATM machine located conveniently on campus beside TwelvEighty.

This would save you withdrawal fees on a regular basis. Also if you are interested in a credit card that you want to be able to pay off online, it may be worthwhile to look into CIBC and Royal Bank so that you can create an online bank account and organize your accounts from there.

This comparison is just a brief starting point as there are many different things to consider when looking into a bank account. Just like writing a paper, the most important thing to do is to do solid research.

Understand what the bank is willing to do for you and what the bank is unable to do so you can make the best possible decision with your hard earned money.

Twitter censorship stirs fury with users • CONT’D FROM C9 Although the fastest growth rate among provinces was in Alberta, the highest growth rate nation-wide was observed in Yukon, with a population increase of 11.7 per cent, between 2006 and 2011.

An influx of non-permanent residents, lower outmigration and a small fraction of immigrants accounted for changes in the demographic orientation of Yukon.

Further indication that the future of Canada lies in the West was denoted by the higher than national average of all census metropolitan areas located in Western Canada, between 2006 and 2011, with the exception of Winnipeg and Victoria.

Among other CMAs with substantial growth exceeding the national average two Atlantic cities, Moncton and St. John’s, showed population increases. Population growth in Central Ontario was less than optimal, with sluggish growth patterns depicted in all CMAs in Ontario, with the exception of Toronto, Ottawa Gatineau, Kingston

and Brantford.

The manufacturing sector in Ontario took a hard hit due to structural changes in the Canadian economy as well as the global recession of 2008; the manufacturing sector in Ontario has lost more than 300,000 jobs over the past decade.

The auto industry is further evidence of the devastating impacts of the global recession. Over the past five years, Ontario has welcomed nearly 100,000 fewer immigrants than it did in the first half of the decade. However, despite slow growth in Ontario, Milton was among four municipalities in a CMA with a population growth surpassing 50 per cent.

Newfoundland and Labrador exhibited upward demographic trends, with lower outmigration patterns.

Until recently, Central Canada was seen as an economic powerhouse.

It is uncertain whether Western Canada will serve to sustain the Canadian economy, with its plentiful resources and employment prospects; however, changes in population trends shed light on the changing landscape of Canada.

If you’re interested in writing for the Sil business section, come out to our weekly Wednesday meetings at 1:30 in MUSC B110 For more information, email us at business@thesil.ca

1:3 Canadian women and 1:6 Canadian men will experience sexual assault in their lifetime.

45% percent of female college and university students say they’ve been sexually assaulted since leaving high school.

The victim and the accused are known to each other in 82% of cases – as friends, acquaintances or family

But… I am not alone!

SACHA (Sexual Assault Centre, Hamilton& Area) is there with 24-hour confidential support, information or accompaniment @

905-525-4162

www.sacha.ca

lana del rey • mac dance club the history of emo • music for getting it on

andex

thursday, february 9, 2012

Senior Editor: Jemma Wolfe Entertainment Editor: Myles Herod Music Editor: Josh Parsons

Contributors: Marco Filice, Paul Fowler, Nolan Matthews

Cover: Jonathon Fairclough

coming up

in the hammer

feb.13

Deep Purple Hamilton Place 9:00 p.m.

The Balconies The Casbah 8:00 p.m.

feb. 10-25

feb.11

Young Rival The Casbah 9:00 p.m.

feb. 8-25

feb .10

Redanda Carl Homegrown Hamilton 9:00 p.m.

theatre The Memory of Water Player’s Guild of Hamilton 8:00 p.m. 80 Queen St S. Hamilton, ON. (905) 529-0284 The Pitmen Painters Theatre Aquarius 8:00 p.m. 190 King William St. Hamilton, ON. (905) 522-7529

film opening

feb. 9 feb. 10

Peter Elkas This Ain’t Hollywood 9:00 p.m.

feb.24

Aunt Beazy This Ain’t Hollywood 9:00 p.m.

feb.21

music

Run With Kittens This Ain’t Hollywood 9:00 p.m.

Safe House

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

The Woman in Black

this week in music history...

1991: C & C Music Factory start a twoweek run at No.1 on the U.S. singles chart with ‘Gonna Make You Sweat‘.

“ If it wasn’t for pick-

pockets I’d have no sex life at all.”

• Rodney Dangerfield

now

andy’s ticks the letter, tick-tock, 70s time, sorry about the ads, umbrellas, terefenko’s expertise, meta-ticks, keep the ticks coming, ticks about ticks, simon if you’re reading, by-laws, sam col, 96 tears, school work, where’s my stapler?, i think you stole my stapler, brian breaking chairs, complicated tables, meeting after meeting after meeting, the man machine, making bracelets, big star, the rbg, the shakeweight, dirty cheese (natalie), anal bleaching, sexism, wyld stallionz, no holds barred, rumorz, dreamz, pizza

editorial

thursday, february 9, 2012 and you stood at your doo r with your hands on my wai st and you kissed me like you meant it. and I knew that you meant it, that you meant it dashboard confessional

is obvious and you, now I could make th l in one breath you could deny me al off your shoulders you could shrug me taking back

the silhouette’s art & culture magazine • D3

you are the smell before rain, you are the blood in my veins brand new

hello, my old heart, it’s been so long since I’ve given you away, and every day I add another stone to the walls I built around you to keep you safe the oh hello’s

sunday

she’s got you high and you don’t even know yet

those two are in love, you can tell by how the light hits them from above robyn dell’unto

daughter

mumm-ra

the big tickle

and if you’re in love, then you are the lucky one, ‘cause most of us are bitter over someone setting fire to our insides for fun, to distract our hearts from ever missing them but I’m forever missing him

can guys and girls be friends without any sexual tension?

compiled by jemma wolfe & jonathon fairclough

“absolutely not!” sarah reid

“it depends.”

“yes.” katie grant

“if the guy is gay.” mel napeloni

alicia chhin

“i don’t think so.” james baldwin

the silhouette’s art & culture magazine • D4

music

thursday, february 9, 2012

nothing feels good in the spirt of valentine’s day, andy remembers the interesting and awful histories of “emo” For those of us who could care less about Valentine’s Day, enduring the mindless repetition of this annual Hallmark holiday can be a bit of a drag. Many of us just can’t stand it, whether it’s because of our bitter angst, distaste for a tradition stained by excessive consumption or simply those with a hate for anything thoroughly cheesy.

And then there is the horde of lonely hearts, forced to witness a parade of peers who are drunk on love. Each year, while many of us are busily buying too much chocolate and forgetting to make reservations, these lonely hearts retire to their homes and write about their sadness.

Popular music has an intimate relationship with these folks, as loneliness has often provided the muse needed for a chart-topping hit. Think Elvis’ timeless “Only the Lonely” or the Beatles’ heartbreaking portrait of an empty life in “Eleanor Rigby.” Over the years, artists have found countless artful ways to cope with misery.

But this loneliness can also become extremely annoying, especially when entire genres are dedicated to exploring it blossom.

I’m thinking here of a particular style of music that infected North American just under a decade ago, a childish genre that has come to be know as “emo.”

For the sake of Valentine’s Day, and because this edition has a vague Valentine’s theme, I’ve decided to try to redeem the roots of this term and make a strong distinction between what emo once meant and what it seems to connote nowadays.

Emo has its roots in the late ‘80s, as a word to describe a new wave of hardcore punk, a short for the equally ridiculous name, “emotional hardcore.” The fact that this distinction had to be made tells you something about the limiting nature of hardcore.

The title “emotional hardcore” was used to describe a scene of bands who broke the rules of hardcore by choosing to write about introspective themes and confronting emotions directly in song. Hardcore was, in its inception, a reactionary genre of music, and songs gravitated towards revolutionary themes and an antistate attitude.

Bands like Rites of Spring and Embrace started the scene out of the remnants of the infamous Washington, D.C. hardcore scene.

These bands were the primary influence in an experimental wave of bands who explored and reshaped the genre throughout the ‘90s, such as Fugazi and Sunny Day Real Estate.

While I’ll admit that I’m not the biggest fan of some of the bands often labelled ‘90s emo, I can appreciate them for their artistic integrity. On the other hand, I cannot forgive the industry for the way it marketed emo throughout the 2000s.

An entire generation of angst-ridden preteens had their suburban wallets tapped and bought in to one of the most repulsively superficial and fashionably backward subcultures ever conceived.

•

Josh Parsons, Music Editor

some emo band

sunny day real estate, reformed 2009

thursday, february 9, 2012

dance

the silhouette’s art & culture magazine • D5

don’t upset the rhythm

TYLER HAYWARD / SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR

“To me, being onstage is stressful but exhilarating, a huge rush that makes you feel like you’re in a totally different place for a few minutes,” said Emma Mauti, President of the McMaster Dance Club.

Mauti, who’s been dancing since the age of five, led 270 members of the club in last weekend’s showcase Don’t Upset the Rhythm. The performances, which took place over the weekend of Feb. 4 and Feb. 5 at Sir John A. MacDonald High School in downtown Hamilton, were an opportunity to see McMaster students – many of whom had never performed publicly before – feel that exhilaration for the first time.

Despite an ambitious program of 42 dances that spanned over two hours, the rapid changes between numbers and the variety of styles on stage maintained an energetic and entertaining atmosphere. The styles of dance performed by the Dance Club were – and get ready for a mouthful – hip hop, lyrical, Bollywood, modern, salsa, jazz, Irish, tap,

musical theatre, pointe, acro, ballet, bachata, step dance and Highland.

On this impressive variety, Mauti commented, “The diversity of dance styles is one of my favourite parts of dance club.

We want to give everybody a chance to showcase what they love to do – it makes the show that much more exciting!” With 15 different styles performed, there certainly was something for everyone.

One thing that sets the Dance Club apart is peer choreography. All of the dances are arranged by fellow McMaster students and Dance Club members, who often also perform in the dances they have choreographed. “The bond between the choreographer and the dancers is a lot stronger in our club than it would be if our choreographers were professionals,” Mauti said. “We’re all coming from a similar place, and I feel like it encourages a really open and friendly environment. We even cheer each other on from backstage. I think this allows our dancers to

enjoy themselves, and that’s what makes the show enjoyable for audiences.”

Of all the dances performed, a few numbers were particularly striking. “The Dog Days Are Over,” an acro dance choreographed by Brianna Schneider, was an exciting fusion of gymnastic prowess with dance, and featured attention-grabbing flips and stunts. “Free,” choreographed by Jane Chen, was an energetic hip hop number that stood out for its unique use of glow sticks – in the midst of the dance, the house lights were suddenly dropped, and the dancers on stage, wielding previously concealed glow sticks, performed a mesmerizing routine of blurring colours to the sound of heavy hip hop.

The “McMaster Step Dance” number was also notable. Choreographed by Divyanshi Jalan and Nikisha Reid, this dance was an a cappella call-and-response of clapping, stomping and shouting that utilized the body in very unique ways.

Proceeds from the three shows will

be donated to Wesley Urban Ministries, a local charity that runs emergency intervention services and long-term planning initiatives to alleviate the burden of poverty that plagues disadvantaged people in downtown Hamilton. Mauti elaborated, “We picked Wesley this year because we admire their commitment to addressing the unique needs of marginalized people in the community through programs designed help them live to their full potential.” An impressive $3000 from ticket sales will be heading their way soon.

It was evident how much dedication and rehearsal went into putting on Don’t Upset the Rhythm, and Mauti admitted, “Putting on this show certainly involves a commitment of time and energy, but it’s worth it to be a part of something so many people can enjoy, and whose proceeds can support a good cause.”

• Jemma Wolfe, Senior ANDY Editor

D6 • the silhouette’s art & culture magazine

film

thursday, february 9, 2012

found footage ‘super heroes’ Chronicle Directed by: Josh Trank Starring: Michael B. Jordon

HHH Chronicle made me love the found footage genre a lot more.

Using the superhero mythos as its setting, the subjectivity of the hand held camera adds an intriguing feature to moviegoers looking for fantastical escape.

Many scenes offer such experiences, the notable one being three teenagers flying through the clouds. It all seems like an intense lucid dream, one that we’d never want to wake from because of the erotic pleasure of possessing indescribable power.

One might say that redundant clichés are in the mix. The story revolves around Andrew, an introverted and troubled teenager with a troubled home life, as he

lives in fear of his abusive father. The worries don’t stop there: at high school he is bullied and eats lunch by himself on the bleachers.

What little connection he has with humanity is with his dying mother, who Andrew cherishes, his cousin Matt, popular and willing to pull Andrew out of his shell, and Steve, the student council candidate who takes a sympathetic liking to him.

Surprisingly, these reused elements make for a refreshing concept. The plot kicks off with Andrew deciding to document his life through video. He doesn’t explain why, but it seems to come from an inner need to communicate.

In today’s age of information, the lens and screen are the most popular means to record and review our lives. But where the average Tweeter or YouTube uploader does it for networking, Andrew is attempting to fulfill suppressed needs. As the film plays out, the audience sees, through the camera lens, the potential horror of such angst.

Andrew, Matt and Steve discover an unknown relic underground. It disorients them. The story cuts to a different time, and there is mystery to the events in between.

The next part of the film sees these newborn prodigies flexing their psychokinetic muscles and features them pulling particularly amusing antics in a toy store.

Things start getting complicated, however, after an accident hurts someone.

They put their powers in perspective and come up with rules, a philosophical necessity for beings aware of personal power.

From here, the film transitions from comic entertainment to an ethical thought experiment. Matt and Steve give Andrew the opportunity to make friends, only to do wrong by him. His fears torment him again, and he starts to justify abusing his powers with Darwin’s “apex predator.”

The term claims the strongest species in an ecosystem will, by natural right, dominate its environment. As tragedy un-

folds, Chronicle is a prime example of misconstrued theories gone awry.

My favourite thing about this film is the use of cameras, and what it means for an event to be a “chronicle” today. Throughout the film, Andrew changes the genre by levitating his own camera to record himself in action. The subjective recorder becomes one and the same as the objective observer, and makes for a really uniquely engaging experience.

The final act of the movie is dark, and shows Andrew out in public with his rage. His fascination to document himself is extrapolated into the camera phones of witnessing bystanders: he pulls in as many different perspectives as he can get to watch him at his monstrous peak.

By becoming the god of his own chronicle, Andrew only proves that clinging to the past will only return to stab you in the back.

• Marco Filice

music

thursday, february 9, 2012

the silhouette’s art & culture magazine • D7

BEST CD for getting it on

WORST CD for getting it on

Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin Jane Birkin et Serge Gainsbourg

Big Black Songs About Fucking

This album is the sound of sex, and I mean that literally.

The first track, “Je T’Aime...Moi Non Plus” is rumoured to have been recorded while Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin made love. Even if that’s not true, it sure sounds like it. “Je T’Aime” climaxes with the sounds of Birkin in a climax of her own, and when the song was released in 1969, it was banned in Sweden, Spain, Brazil and Britain, naturally making it a massive hit.

The rest of this album was recorded at the beginning of a 13-year romantic affair between Birkin and Gainsbourg. Their romance blossomed in a passionate, drunken blur of smoky French bars, nightclubs and hotel rooms, a world this album would be the perfect soundtrack to.

Gainsbourg, one of France’s most beloved songwriters, was irreverent, playful and romantic, and it’s hard not to feel the same while listening to this album. Gainsbourg’s music captures the giddy excitement of a new love with effortless pop songs and a mischievous smile.

Despite its inviting name, Big Black’s Songs About Fucking is an awful album to boogie to. The brainchild of the creepy Steve Albini, SAF takes us deep into the psyche of a man possessed by perverted sexual fantasies. As plain as the title puts it, each song at least implicitly refers to some form of sex through the twisted lens of Albini’s infamously provocative personality. Sex is referenced in songs dealing with voyeurism and rape, building a narrative as disturbing as the one in A Serbian Film.

All this goes without mentioning how the sound of the music is actually presented. A blunt album cover gives no hint as to the brash, heavily distorted guitar, backed by a pummeling drum machine, aptly named Roland. Sex to this album would inspire the feeling of banging an electrically reanimated corpse. If you’re looking to get in on the festivities this Valentine’s Day, start by gauging your music selection against this album.

• Nolan Matthews

• Josh Parsons, Music Editor

First Prize:

$50 gift certificate to Titles!

Second Prize:

y’s n d n a oke r b rt hea icks p

1. “Someone Like You” Adele 2. “Seventy Times Seven” Brand New 3. “Not Over You Yet” Kevin Devine 4. “Deeper than Inside” Rites of Spring 5. “The Model” Big Black 6. “Raisans” Dinosaur Jr. 7. “Valentine’s Day” Bruce Springsteen 8. “Missing You” John Waite 9. “Exit Music for a Film” Radiohead

$25 gift certificate to Titles!

Short story contest 2000 words maximum on the theme of greed Submissions due March 5, 2012

andy@thesil.ca

D8 • the silhouette’s art & culture magazine

music

laughable

lana

thursday, february 9, 2012

Six months ago, a relatively unknown singer-songwriter working under the grandiose moniker Lana Del Rey posted the song “Video Games” on YouTube. The song set the Internet ablaze, and, in a matter of weeks, Del Rey signed a major record contract and promised her rapidly expanding fan base an album. As songs from the record slowly trickled onto YouTube, Del Rey’s runaway hype machine collided with a wall of fiery hatred, igniting the age-old debate of authenticity in music. After months of squabbling, Born to Die is finally here.

The album opens on a surprisingly pleasant note with its title track, “Born to Die.” Like most of the record, the opener weaves Lana’s seductive croon into a dense web of pop production that is particularly heavy on strings.

Unfortunately, after “Born to Die,” it’s almost all downhill.

The worst aspect of Born to Die is without a doubt its atrocious lyricism.

Each song is a catalog of uninspired clichés: “I will love you till the end of time,” “love hurts,” “you’re no good for me,” “money is the reason we exist, kiss, kiss.”

The sappy, superfluous strings, which slowly leach the life out of the album, feel like an attempt to cover up the lack of depth in Del Rey’s songwriting.

At its best, Born to Die is catchy yet completely forgettable pop, and at its worst, it’s absolutely unlistenable.

Ultimately, Born to Die feels like a desperate grasp for mainstream attention. Despite describing

herself as a “gangster Nancy Sinatra,” there is nothing daring, racy or exciting about Del Rey. Her mixture of generic music and sterile lyrics is not only safe for the pop world, it fits in perfectly beside Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and the other dregs of mainstream female pop.

I suppose Lana Del Rey does give profit-addicted record executives a chance to rejoice. They’ve managed to pluck yet another blossoming Internet sensation and transform it into bland and uninspiring mainstream pop while somehow managing to keep the hype machine churning.

However, despite all the hatred, there is one gem on Born to Die. “Video Games,” the song that launched Del Rey into the mainstream, is an undeniably gorgeous piece, driven by a graceful melody steeped in longing and sadness. Instead of detracting from the work, the beautifully swelling strings make lovesick lines like “heaven is a place on Earth with you” seem shockingly poignant.

Given “Video Games,” it’s not surprising that Lana Del Rey was originally seen as the antithesis of trashy radio pop. Listening to the song gives a hint at what could have been had Del Rey stuck to the style that briefly captured the attention of both the mainstream and independent musical spheres. Unfortunately, the evil lure of the major record labels won her over. Now, she’s just another run-of-the-mill, generic pop star.

• Paul Fowler