The Silhouette - January 9, 2014

FOOD TRENDS for the NEW YEAR

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The

Silhouette McMASTER UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014 VOL. 84 NO. 17

REVIEW COMMUNITY’S SEASON FIVE STARTS STRONG

Mac student murder investigation continues Fourth-year mechanical engineering student Tyler Johnson was shot dead on Saturday, Nov. 30 in a parking lot near Hess Village following an altercation. Police are still trying to track down suspects from restaurant surveillance footage.

Prof remembers slain Eng student Tyler Johnson Jemma Wolfe Executive Editor It’s been six weeks since 30-year-old McMaster student Tyler Johnson was shot and killed near Hess Village. And yet despite the elapsed time, the big questions of responsibility and motive remain largely unknown.

The fourth-year mechanical engineer’s bright future was stolen from him in the early hours of the morning on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2013. At approximately 3 a.m., Johnson was involved in an incident between two groups of men outside of Vida La Pita restaurant near the corner of King Street West and Caroline Street, one block east of Hamilton’s popular bar district, Hess Village.

Hamilton police sergeant Paul Hamilton said that the conflict occurring between the two groups “quickly escalated when one man produced a handgun and shot the victim.”

Johnson’s body was found in the nearby Tim Hortons parking lot and was pronounced dead at Hamilton General Hospital. Initially, emergency responders thought Johnson had been stabbed and began trying to treat him for stab wounds before realizing that he had been fatally shot in the chest.

One arrest was made in the weeks following Johnson’s death. Brandon Barreira, a 19-year-old Hamiltonian was arrested in Cambridge on Dec. 11 with a first-degree murder charge. He has since made brief procedural court appearances via video remand to set later appearance dates. His next appearance is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 9.

Police are still seeking several suspects and persons of interests following the release of surveillance videos

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IS STARBUCKS BAD NEWS FOR MCMASTER?

last month. The videos, taken from Tim Hortons and Vida La Pita surveillance footage and posted on the Hamilton Police YouTube channel, are an appeal to the public to identify six different men who were possibly involved in or were witness to Johnson’s shooting.

Despite posting the videos, police have yet to make any further arrests.

Anyone with further information is asked to contact the Hamilton homicide unit at 905-546-4123 or to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

Johnson was the second homicide in a two-month period for that particular parking lot on King Street West. On Sept.

15, 2013, David Pereira, 18, was stabbed

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“Tyler was committed to developing himself, bettering himself and bettering the world” Joel Hilchey, Sessional Instructor

to death at 2:30 a.m. Raleigh Stubbs, 49, was charged with his murder.

Since Johnson’s violent passing, accounts of his good nature and determination to become an engineer have been shared with the media. Sessional instructor Joel Hilchey taught Johnson last term in the fourth-year class Engineering & Social Responsibility. In a class where “the goal is to reinforce that being a good engineer involves being a good person as well,” Johnson seems to have embodied that manifesto.

“The week before he died, he talked to me after class [to] challenge one of his grades on an assignment,” Hilchey shared.

“The class in general did pretty poorly on the assignment although Tyler did very well. I was crowded with a group of people after class as I often am but … he

waited patiently and I looked at his paper and said, ‘you should go challenge this – I think it was graded too harshly’ and he said, ‘thanks a lot, I really appreciate it,’ and took off after that.”

Hilchey said that what struck him most about Johnson was that, “In a conversation about challenging a grade where lots of students are regularly hostile, he really wasn’t. He was nothing but respectful.”

A regular attendee of the class, Hilchey said that Johnson “did good work on his assignments and I can tell he was putting a lot of thought into them.”

Johnson had also recently been accepted to complete his masters at McMaster next fall.

One particular class assignment to create a TED talk sharing one’s wisdom with the world resulted in a video that Johnson posted on YouTube on Nov. 10.

Titled “Decisions we make and the impact they can have on society.” The video has been shared and discussed frequently since his death and has accumulated nearly 4000 views.

“It may be poetic, or maybe it’s just a coincidence that Tyler talked about the long term impact of our decisions,” Hilchey said, echoing the opinion of many viewers after watching three-and-ahalf minute piece.

“One of my educational goals is to help students think about more than just the strict ‘mathematical’ definition of engineering,” Hilchey continued. “I want people to be good people and from what I can tell, Tyler was committed to that.

He was committed to developing himself, bettering himself and bettering the world.”

Grief counseling continues to be offered to students at the Student Wellness Centre in McMaster University Student Centre room B101. Appointments can be made at the Centre or by calling 905-5259140 x27700. @jemma_wolfe

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Student files not secure Rachel Faber Assistant News Editor Internet risks pose a problem to many web users, but university students and faculty are particularly vulnerable, having essential academic files saved to their computers.

With numerous potential cyber threats out there, university students could be an at-risk group for nasty malware or viruses says University Technology Services.

A fairly recent concern is Cryptolocker, malicious software that can enter your computer and encrypt your important documents or pictures. The software will then make you pay to get your pictures and documents back.

“Once you pay, you set up all your colleagues as targets,” says Richard Godsmark of UTS. This could affect your contacts directly because Cryptolocker criminals assume they are easy targets.

The payment issue presents itself in two ways, either in a phishing email or an illegitimate website.

Godsmark suggests that if an email or a website looks suspicious, to use caution when giving out personal or credit card information.

Godsmark believes that even when an internet criminal is caught, like the recent arrest of a malware author in Russia, another is bound to emerge. “It will never be perfect, the bad guys will be able to convince you to install software if people are unaware,” said Godsmark.

Recently, Yahoo! in Europe experienced a waterhole attack where their ads were compromised and began installing malware into users computers.

“The vast majority of compromises will occur because of no anti-virus or firewall protection,” said Godsmark.

There are tools available to Internet criminals that allow them to hide viruses so your anti-virus will not be able to detect them. Viruses can disguise themselves as Adobe Reader or a Java Update very easily.

Anti-virus alone is not enough, it is important to also install a system firewall, run regular updates, and turn on web reputation.

Viruses are more common on Microsoft operating systems, because of their large market share.

However, with the increasing popularity of Apple and Android, new viruses are likely to ‘pop up’ on these operating systems, in Godsmarks opinion. “We shouldn’t work under the basis that there is something magical working for us.”

Godsmark believes that the most important thing is a general awareness about these problems.

There are a number of ways to recognize if a message is not safe, such as the presence of grammatical errors or abnormal logos.

With a combination of protection techniques and general awareness, viruses and malware can be prevented. @rachfaber

BURGER JUNKIES REJOICE AT PINKS PAGE B9

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MENS VBALL CONTINUES SPREE

A NEW F-WORD IN ENTERTAINMENT PAGE C4

the S ’ T N E D I S E PR E G PA Anna D’Angela VP Administration vpadmin@msu.mcmaster.ca

ext. 23250

The McMaster Students Union is Hiring!

Two years ago, I took a chance and applied for the role of Horizons Coordinator with the MSU. Though I had been actively involved with the conference for many years, I was nervous to apply. I didn’t know if I could handle everything that came with being a Part-Time Manager (PTM). Putting aside my fears and at the suggestion of one of my friends, I submitted an application. I interviewed for the job and eventually I got it. The excitement I felt that day when I had been selected has been matched only a few times in my life. I share that story with you as it is now my turn to offer this role - as well as many others within the MSU - to the students of McMaster University.

A Part-Time Manager is a full-time undergraduate student who works part-time for the MSU supervising one of our many student-run services.

From the Horizons Conference to the Student Walk Home Attendant Team (SWHAT) and everything in between, our student-run services cover a wide range of interests. If there is something you are passionate about, we probably have a service that has it as its focus. A complete list of our services and our available job opportunities can be found online. Visit www.msumcmaster.ca/jobs for more information.

For all full-time students enrolled in 18 units or more, PTM positions for 2014-2015 close on January 12 at 11:59PM. Visit www.msumcmaster.ca/jobs to apply!

These jobs will allow you to work in an area that you are passionate about, as well provide you with training opportunities that will help you grow both personally and professionally. A PTM will undergo numerous training modules that focus on a variety of very important skills and topics including budgeting, communications, human resources and volunteer management. These modules supplement the learning experienced on the job. For example, I learned about the principles of creating a budget, but it wasn’t until I was responsible for managing the service’s $30,000 budget, paying for all of the required amenities while balancing new challenges, that I truly understood the importance of a budget.

If you are looking for a job next year, look no further than your McMaster Students Union. On Sunday, January 12th at 11:59pm, the job postings for the 2014-2015 Part-Time Managers will close. Check out our Jobs Portal (www.msumcmsater.ca/jobs) to learn more about these awesome opportunities.

A PTM job is only applicable to full-time undergraduate students (enrolled in 18 or more units). However, if you are graduating this year, the MSU also has several one-year, full-time contract positions (May ‘14 through April ‘15) available for the next academic cycle. These jobs, known as Student Opportunity Positions (SOPs), also cover a wide variety of interests and organizational needs such as Silhouette Executive Editor, Union Market Manager, Communications Officer, CFMU Community Outreach Coordinator and Clubs Administrator, just to name a few. Beginning Monday, January 13th the MSU’s numerous SOP opportunities will come online. These roles are fantastic career starters, offering hands-on industry experience and continuous development opportunities, along with competitive salary and benefits. For more information on any of the Student Opportunity Positions, or any employment-related questions about the MSU, please do not hesitate to contact me!

Student Opportunity Positions (1-year full-time contracts) open January 13.

For opportunities at these services and more, visit www.msumcmaster.ca/jobs to apply!

Spencer Graham VP (Education)

David Campbell President

Anna D’Angela VP (Administration)

Jeff Doucet VP (Finance)

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.msumcmaster.ca

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theSil.ca

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Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

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Editors Tyler Welch, Rachel Faber & Tomi Milos Email news@thesil.ca

@theSilhouette

Phone 905.525.9140 x27117 MEETINGS: THURSDAYS @ 2:30 PM

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW SERIES WITH BILL NYE THESIL.CA BEGINS ON SUNDAY AT 6PM ON

McMaster courts future law students Tomi Milos Features Editor In previous years, most secondary school students looking to pursue careers in law would not even have McMaster on their shortlist of schools to apply to. Though well known for its strengths in legal philosophy, the Hamilton-based university famed for its scientific innovations did not stand out among a wealth of other options.

But acknowledging that no single approach guarantees admission to law school — especially during a time when competition to get in is particularly high —McMaster has entered into greener pastures with several changes that may beckon to prospective students.

As the Silhouette reported in Nov 2013, the university introduced a new program dubbed Justice, Political Philosophy, and Law (JPPL), which gained approval from the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities following several years of lobbying by members of the Department of Philosophy.

When asked about the effort that went into obtaining approval for the experimental program, Dr. Elisabeth Gedge said it was only natural. The Philosophy Department was already well established at the graduate and research level and there was a demand from the university to direct attention towards the needs of undergraduates.

Gedge has seen desire for spots in the program increase and she anticipates a growing interest.

The Chair of the Department of Philosophy said that the interdisciplinary nature of JPPL attracts open-minded, intelligent students

who like the flexibility the degree offers after graduation.

Dr. Stefan Sciaraffa believes the JPPL has a lot to offer, saying that the writing-intensive nature of the program provides students with valuable skills. “[The program is] a unique opportunity to hone a highly valuable skill that will serve him/ her well in any number of careers that require him/her to write legal briefs, memoranda, policy papers, and so on,” he said.

After seeing faculty succeed in bringing JPPL to life, the students enrolled in the program are now taking the lead in initiating further change with impressive results to show for it.

During the fall/winter term of 2013, Chris Leblanc, Louisa Matozzo, and Tiffany Leslie joined forces to create the McMaster Undergraduate Journal of Law and Politics (MUJLP). While undergraduate journals in other areas of study are not uncommon, MUJLP is the first undergraduate journal in Canada to focus on law and politics.

The trio was driven to found the journal in order to fill the void in the undergraduate journal landscape. They also want to give

students an outlet for scholarly expression that is not normally afforded to them.

Leslie said she and her peers were disappointed at the lack of excitement with which most university students greet academic tasks.

She hopes that the thrill of having original work published in a peer-reviewed journal will offer an example of the practicality of theoretical knowledge to the skeptics.

The third-year JPPL student also emphasized the collaborative nature of the project, noting that she, Matozzo, and Leblanc have added nine more members to their

ranks and that she would love to see the team expand further.

Leslie also noted that the number of the new hires speaks to the wide appeal of law and how it can be applied to any stream of learning.

“We have editors who are in Chemistry, some who are in Economics, and others who are in Political Science. There is really a broad range of interest being shown from all faculties.”

Various university employees were called upon to help steer the students to a manageable first year at the helm of an ambitious endeavor, as Gedge put it.

Along with Dr. Gedge, people like Associate Dean of Humanities Dr. Anna Moro, Dr. Stefan Sciaraffa, Dr. Nancy Doubleday, and Rowena Muhic-Day of Humanities Career Services were instrumental in handling procedural matters so that the students could focus on plotting the journal’s future.

For students interested having their writing published in MUJLP, Leslie said that the editorial board is welcoming submissions to the email listed on their website ahead of a conference that will take place in midMarch. They aim to have several professors and keynote speakers engage with students in a sociable atmosphere.

Combined with the JPPL program, the new journal is another feature that may entice future law students to McMaster.

BEN BARRETT-FORREST / MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

MAPS and MSU at odds over summer fees Jemma Wolfe Executive Editor Despite last term’s vote by the SRA that MSU members will no longer be paying part-time fees during summer sessions, the McMaster Association of Part-time Students has plans to continue collecting these fees anyway. The two organizations are now at odds with each other in terms of what will happen with student fees come the summer 2014 term.

A December media release from MAPS opposed the MSU’s stance and outlined preliminary plans for a “summer advocacy program” based on survey results as a suitable way to spend summer student funds.

MAPS President Andrew Smith said the program “will be designed to identify aspects of the summer academic term that may be changed to improve the student experience of our members.” Smith suggested this will specifically entail comparing the summer session with the fall/winter term, course availability and comparisons to other universities.

Some aspects of the media

ELIZA POPE / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

release, however, don’t hold water under further scrutiny.

MAPS claimed, “Between the date of this agreement (1986) and last year, the MSU decided that their membership lasts for twelve months of the year (they decided this unilaterally). They say because of this, full-time students should not have to pay student fees if they take courses during the summer, and they want this change to happen for this May.” In actuality, the MSU clarified their 12-month membership by amending their bylaws at an SRA meeting in 1988. Interestingly, Kyle Johansen, MAPS Executive Director from July

to December 2013 was at that 1988 meeting as an SRA Social Sciences representative and spoke in favour of the amendment, suggesting that “full” be added regarding membership holders in order to be clearer.

Another claim that the University might not be able to “identify MSU versus MAPS students during summer session registration” was also refuted through recent conversations the Silhouette had with the Office of the Registrar.

Additionally, after reiterating that the original MSUMAPS agreement “states that the summer fees would be given

to MAPS, or if the student had been an MSU member in the previous September-April term, the student could direct the fees to the MSU” for reimbursement, the release goes on to say that in May 2014, “To temporarily deal with the MSU’s demands, at least for this year, MAPS would refund summer student fees to MSU members, upon request.

MAPS appears to simultaneously recognize that MSU members were always supposed to have been refunded summer fees and yet goes on to say that in future, reimbursement will be a temporary concession to deal with the Union’s demands.

Jeffrey Doucet, VP (Finance) of the MSU disagrees with MAPS’ ability to collect such fees. “Collecting the fee would be effectively ignoring the MSU’s governance mechanism,” he said. “It was the SRA that empowered MAPS to first collect the fee and now the SRA no longer views the fee as legitimate.”

It is unclear as to why, historically, MSU members have not sought – or, perhaps, known that they could seek – reimbursement

of summer session fees. “MAPS has no record of the MSU ever exercising that option,” Smith said.

At the time of the Sept. 29, 2013 meeting in which the SRA voted unanimously to break from the 1986 agreement, MSU President David was careful to point out that repeated attempts had been made for eight months to meet with MAPS and renegotiate the agreement.

“We’ve done everything we could to negotiate in good faith,” Campbell said. He described unilaterally breaking from the agreement as “our only option.”

Administration is unclear in terms of how the two organizations will resolve the conflict.

Associate VP (Students and Learning) Sean Van Koughnett said, “There is no specific process to determine the final outcome of this situation, but rather, the outcome will be determined over the next two months in large part through any further discussions between the two student organizations and based on the wishes of our students.” @jemma_wolfe

CANADIAN CAMPUS NEWS Allison Rush The Silhouette

UWaterloo expanding after BlackBerry deal

Controversial name change for Gaelic College

A dark time for schools in Newfoundland

King’s now independent of Catholic diocese

Potential strike at UNB may cause cancellations

The University of Waterloo has purchased five buildings and land previously owned by BlackBerry. Purchased for $41 million, the deal will close on Valentine’s Day, adding 300,000 square feet to uWaterloo’s campus, including more than 1,000 new parking spaces. BlackBerry will remain as a tenant in two of the buildings, allowing uWaterloo to fill the other three. UWaterloo President Feridun Hamdullahpur commented on the purchase, saying that “the University of Waterloo has set a course to become one of the world’s top innovation universities and we must ensure that we have the space to meet that challenge.”

At Cape Breton’s Gaelic College, a controversial name change has caused dispute among members of the College and community.

The addition of the word “royal” to its name, although a special designation from the Queen, is offensive to many Scottish Canadians whose relatives immigrated to Nova Scotia years ago. The change surfaces centuries-old wounds that resulted when the English attempted to eliminate Gaelic culture and language, and forced the Gaelic people of Scotland to leave their home in the Highlands following war with England in the 1700s.

All post-secondary institutions in Newfoundland, including Memorial University and the College of the North Atlantic, have shut down temporarily due to power outages in the province.

Thousands of Newfoundland residents are without power while the island continues its fifth day of rolling blackouts that are meant to conserve power and help crews work to bring back electricity.

Workers at the Holyrood plant are attempting to determine what caused the outages, but their efforts were complicated on Saturday when a fire started at a terminal station. At its peak, the outage left 190,000 customers without power.

King’s University College at Western University has made official their independence from the Catholic diocese and the bishop of London.

The school has led its own administrative functions since the 1970s, but incorporating the institution makes the separation binding on paper. The Vatican approved the move in 2012.

King’s will remain a Catholic university, with a strong connection to the Catholic Church.

King’s paid the diocese $4.1 million “reflecting the value of the diocese’s investment in 1954.”

The University of New Brunswick Student Union is advising students to hold off on tuition payments for the semester, because the professors at The University may go on strike.

With the potential for classes being cancelled, UNBSU President Ben Whitney says “I’d rather have my money in my bank account.”

Although the UNBSU executive is staying neutral in the clash, many hope for a deal that could prevent a strike and cancellation of classes.

With no clear answers from administration, the future is unknown for students.

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theSil.ca

DITORIAL

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Executive Editor Jemma Wolfe Email thesil@thesil.ca Phone 905.525.9140 x22052

to crazy cat ladies.

SUMMER FEES

MAPS still has work to do Jemma Wolfe Executive Editor Last year was a rough one for the McMaster Association of Part-time Students. After the financial mismanagement scandal in early 2013 which saw MAPS’ Executive Director Sam Minniti fired, MAPS had a lot of work to do to salvage their finances, the trust of their students and their image in general.

The new board has indeed done much since then to overhaul their policies and make their financial practices accountable and transparent. But based on recent developments within the organization, I think they have a long way yet to go.

In an effort to promote an appearance of renewed stability, they released a December media update in which they officially disagreed with the SRA’s September vote to strike down the 1986 agreement between MAPS and the MSU regarding summer student fees.

They also announced rough plans of a summer student advocacy program to legitimize the collection of fees.

But the survey, the plan and the way in which they refuted the MSU’s actions were full of holes.

They proposed ambiguous ideas in

their survey, like “using the information gathered and student preferences [to] design the perfect summer course format and advocate its use to the University.” As if a perfect course can be defined and further more, could be applied generally to every faculty and every course.

They waffled about the ability of the University to distinguish between MSU and MAPS members during summer session registration and called this uncertainty a “practical challenge” to fee changes. Yet a few phone calls confirmed that this information is, indeed, available.

They acknowledged that the original MSU-MAPS agreement always intended for MSU members to be reimbursed for summer fees, but then contradicted themselves by saying that to “temporarily deal with the MSU’s demands, at least for this year, MAPS would refund summer student fees to MSU members, upon request.”

It is an historic failure of the MSU that students were not consistently made aware that it was their right to get a refund on summer session MAPS fees.

But it is audacious of MAPS to suggest, even after the SRA pulled the plug on the agreement, that moving forwards

this ability would be a mere temporary concession.

Dean of Students Sean Van Koughnett has said that there is no specific procedure to follow to resolve this conflict; discussions need to happen between the two groups based on the wishes of students.

But when the SRA – a group of people elected by students to represent students – votes unanimously to terminate the agreement, I think the wishes of students are made very clear.

This is the student voice I trust, not the results of MAPS’ flawed survey with its leading context that they’re trumpeting as proof that full-time students want to pay redundant summer fees.

When a student pays a mandatory fee to a union or advocacy group, a bond of trust is formed. The student assumes, since they have little choice in the matter, that the money they are forced to pay will be used in their best interest, and that the organization now representing them will do so with integrity.

This is still not the case with the McMaster Association of Part-time Students. @jemma_wolfe

A look back

to #NASH76. to bringing your pet to work.

to the world juniors’ medal drought. to early flights. to ice.

to the “january first” kids.

to flooded basements.

to family treasures.

to leaving voicemails.

to the willy dog exodus.

to cellphones.

to the break.

to my haircut in grade seven.

to our list.

to jobhunting.

The Silhouette

McMaster University’s Student Newspaper

EDITORIAL BOARD Jemma Wolfe | Executive Editor thesil@thesil.ca Sam Godfrey | Managing Editor managing@thesil.ca Andrew Terefenko | Production Editor production@thesil.ca Anqi Shen | Online Editor news@thesil.ca Tyler Welch | News Editor news@thesil.ca Rachel Faber | Assistant News Editor news@thesil.ca Tomi Milos | Features Editor news@thesil.ca Kacper Niburski | Opinions Editor opinions@thesil.ca

Our top 10 headlines from the fall of 2013* *based on page views

1. The Gryphon experience Sept. 25.

2. Beloved Mac employee reflects on 37 years of service Nov. 21.

3. Police enforcing cycling infractions in McMaster area Oct. 28.

4. Campus store’s offensive costumes Oct. 25.

5. Upgrades to HSR service to go to referendum Nov. 28.

6. Campus internet restored after service outage Nov. 26.

7. Police seek help identifying suspects in shooting Dec. 12.

8. Five McMaster profs suspended for toxic behaviour Oct. 2.

9. Mac student injured in hit-and-run Sept. 11.

10. Suspect arrested in murder of Mac student Dec. 12.

Laura Sinclair | Sports Editor sports@thesil.ca Alexandra Reilly | Assistant Sports Editor sports@thesil.ca Amanda Watkins | LifeStyle Editor lifestyle@thesil.ca Miranda Babbitt | Assistant LifeStyle Editor lifestyle@thesil.ca Bahar Orang | ANDY Editor andy@thesil.ca Cooper Long | Assistant ANDY Editor andy@thesil.ca Yoseif Haddad | Photo Editor photo@thesil.ca Eliza Pope | Assistant Photo Editor photo@thesil.ca Ben Barrett-Forrest | Multimedia Editor photo@thesil.ca Karen Wang | Graphics Editor production@thesil.ca Colin Haskin | Video Editor photo@thesil.ca

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Letters to the Editor should be 100-300 words and be submitted via email by Tuesday at 12:00 p.m. to be included in that week’s publication.

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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 the University. 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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Staff Reporters Tobi Abdul Sarah O’Connor Ana Qarri Sophia Topper thesil@thesil.ca

Life Science co-op, ArtSci and music, coming in 2014 Tyler Welch Senior News Editor After a McMaster University Senate meeting on Jan. 8, Life Sciences and Arts & Science students will have more options to look forward to.

The Senate approved the establishment of an Honours Life Science Program Co-op and the creation of a Combined Honours Arts & Sciences and Music Program. In December, the plans were approved by the University Planning Committee, but ratified by the Senate Jan. 8.

Each of these programs will be included in the 2014-2015 Undergraduate Calendar.

In its report to the Senate, the Undergraduate Council said that Life Science Students are interested.

“Interest from Life Science students in a cooperative education option has been extremely high. Labour market research indicated that the life sciences sector continues to grow,” the report stated.

The Life Sciences Co-op Program will accept between 20 and 25 students in its first year, but expand to hold up to 35 students by 2016.

Students will be able to enter the program after Level II Honours Life Sciences with a minimum cumulative average of 6.0. But because of the small size of the program, acceptance will be very competitive, and the average CA of admitted students will likely be much higher.

The co-op program will be a five-year program, including two eight-month work terms.

The new combined honours program will be jointly developed with the School of the Arts and the Faculty of Arts and Science.

Students will apply to combine during their first year, and must pass a music audition and complete Arts & Science I with at least a 6.0 cumulative average, including an average of at least 7.0 in Music 1CC3 and Music 1EO6. @TylerWelch4

McMaster to receive $2.2M Aurora Coltman Silhouette Intern McMaster will be receiving more than $2 million to expand learning services offered to students and to gain insight into educational needs based on recorded project outcomes.

The funding was provided by the Government of Ontario’s Productivity and Innovation Fund, a $45 million fund that will be supporting 120 different projects at various colleges and universities in Ontario.

PIF has three main goals: restructuring courses to utilize online and multimedia resources, helping colleges and universities focus on their individuality (for instance, certain academic programs) and inspiring cooperation between Ontario universities and colleges to provide opportunities to access services such as data storage, libraries and procurement.

Ted McMeekin, the MPP for Ancaster-Dundas-FlamboroughWestdale, told McMaster’s Daily News, “It is critical to keep our postsecondary learning environments current to student needs and economic demands.

These investments will put [McMaster] on sustainable financial footing while improving the learning experience for our students.”

McMaster University can now use the funds to make several major changes relating to those three goals.

McMaster will be using $1,170,000 for a Graduate

Professional Skills Portal. The portal will have a number of training modules for graduates from across Ontario, and that can later be used in an academic environment for online and inperson learning.

Another $500,000 will be applied to creating a new firstyear experience program. The program will be student-targeted and dedicated to providing services for students, including creating new foundational courses, redesigning older courses, and providing support for students.

The final $575,000 will be used to develop a common utility consumption database and benchmarking system among McMaster, Waterloo, Laurentian, Carleton, Ottawa, Windsor, Trent, Lakehead, Brock, Queen’s and Guelph. The database and benchmarking system will be used to record, and eventually reduce, student emission and consumption costs.

“Ontario’s universities are always striving to improve the student experience,” said Bonnie M. Patterson, President and CEO, Council of Ontario Universities.

“A highly educated workforce is key to Ontario’s economic recovery and international competitiveness.

The government’s investment in productivity and innovation will help universities deliver a worldclass education with even greater efficiency.”

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CHECK OUT WWW.MSUMcMASTER.CA/TWELVEIGHTY FOR MORE!

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CHEAPDRINKS, AMAZINGFOOD, PRICELESSMEMORIES.

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

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theSil.ca

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

PINIONS

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End of education?

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Editor Kacper Niburski Email opinions@thesil.ca Phone 905.525.9140 x27117

MEETINGS: TUESDAYS @ 1:30 PM

Health for all

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Why you should quit

ELIZA POPE / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Kacper Niburski Opinions Editor I was told that if you’re going to do something, you might as well do it right the first time. Otherwise you might find yourself wondering what the hell went wrong with your hands full, your shoelaces tied in knots, and your pants on the ground.

A year and a half ago, I was found myself in such a snafu.

Personal circumstances not withstanding, I was struggling with academics, my extracurriculars were demanding and thankless, and I was surviving on a diet of peanut butter sandwiches and coffee. I was miserable. I was depressed.

And worst of all, I didn’t admit any of these things.

At the time, I was limping along in the Silhouette as an opinions editor. Having previously

worked as a news editor the year prior, I felt I would have a good grounding. I wasn’t green anymore. I was experienced.

The year was going to be different. It had to be: it was my third year. By then, I was supposed to have figured out what I wanted to be, who I was, who I wanted to be and how I would get there. I was told that by then I would have a plan and I’d be happy in achieving it. My successes would be numerous. I’d be loved. I wouldn’t feel alone – there would be hundreds of people cheering me on, not exempting myself.

But as the year picked up, I had my doubts. I was alone, I failed, I had no plans beyond the next morning, and I wasn’t looking forward to even that. Every day, I felt as though I had been kicked in the gut before I got out of bed and every night I felt the

same.

There are hundreds of reasons for why this was the case, but none of them are important.

To some they may be ancient history lost in the bygone texts and appeals. All that matters is what I did, not what was happening to me, and I’m sorry to say I did very little if anything at all. I let myself get the better of me. For a while, my despondency defined me, and all – my family, my friends, my work, and my academics – suffered as a result.

After sloshing back and forth between ideas reserved for darker days, I wrote the longest sentence in the history of humankind. It consisted of only two words, but it took two weeks to compose. I had to bleed it out. It was: I quit.

For most of my life, I thought quitting was a sign of weakness.

In letting go, it was as though one

couldn’t handle all aspects of one’s life. Not only were they letting other people down, but they were letting themselves down most of all. No longer were they full individuals; they had excised a part of themselves and a part of who they could be. And in this butchered extraction, in selecting one part of themselves over the others, they poured their blood everywhere.

But this, I have since learned, is false. Eventually all people are worn down and fail. For some, it happens very early in life; for others, it happens when they’re old fogeys and their dentures find themselves on the floor and they try to pick it up and there goes their back and there goes their bowels and there they go, wobbling along with a squish squish to the bathroom.

To quit is not to admit that one is a failure but instead that

they have boundaries and they understand them. It is not a sign of weakness but of strength; it says, “I can’t do this now but maybe one day I can.” We won’t necessarily be stronger or smarter or faster when that day comes, but we’ll be us, a person who isn’t limitless but so fabulously limited instead. We won’t be a thin paper bag trying to collect all the groceries on one go. We’ll take multiple trips. We’ll plan accordingly.

And if nothing else, that will make us stronger, smarter, faster.

This is why after a year and a half, I’m back here writing once more as the opinions editor. I fought. I lost. And now I am ready to battle again with one word, then another, then one more. @kacpnibs

Misinterpreting the definitions

Statistial studies have inappropriately blurred the lines between forceful sex and rape Bianca Caramento

The Silhouette This article contains potential triggers for those who are sensitive to the discussion of rape.

Typically, people challenge the notion that some victims “deserve” their assault. No one deserves to be raped, regardless of the circumstances. This article, however, challenges the notion that some people “want” to be raped.

According to Joseph W. Critellia and Jenny M. Bivonaa’s

research, published in the The Journal of Sex Research, 31-57 per cent of women fantasize about being raped.

Let’s be clear. This fetish does not constitute a logical impossibility. Those who want to have sex in a manner that resembles forcible sex do not want to be raped; they simply want to have sex in a particular fashion. Seeing as how the act of sex would be consensual, it is not rape that they want; rather, it is a type of sex.

It is impossible to “want” to be raped. Wanting it implies con-

sent. Rape is non-consensual sex.

As such, it is impossible to “want” to be raped because consensual sex negates rape. In the same way that no one deserves rape, no one wants it either. For if they did, it would not be considered rape to begin with.

This distinction is rather important for a number of reasons.

If people speak lightly of rape or provide caveats for excuses, consequences follow. We must reinforce the notion that rape is never acceptable and there are no exceptions. It is more than trivial

semantics; it is a matter of social framing. If rape is always framed in a way that maintains its literal meaning, it will be clear that it is never acceptable and should never be used lightly. Used in the context of the aforementioned statistic, rape is framed as both permissible and enjoyable. It is neither. While forceful sex may be enjoyable for some, non-consensual sex is not.

By pointing out the difference, my goal is not to discredit the statistic. On the contrary, my goal is to reframe the narrative

Editoral Cartoon Come back every week for a new illustration with the gang: Clifford, Jane, Gus and others

that is used to depict this sexual preference, in a way that does not provide grounds for rape culture.

Up to 57 per cent of women may very well fantasize about having forceful sex. That does not mean they want to be raped. No one “wants” to be raped. Quite clearly, no one can.

theSil.ca

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

OPINIONS

Healthcare, not welfare?

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SILHOUETTE FILE PHOTO

Public healthcare has its troubles but those are blemishes compared private healthcare Sarah Yuan The Silhouette The topic of two-tier healthcare systems has been a frequent subject of discussion since Dr. Jacques Chaoulli’s win against the Attorney General of Quebec and the Attorney General of Canada. Though the arguments for the privatization of healthcare are sensible, there are many underlining factors that must also be considered. Canada has the second most expensive health system in the world in terms of GDP, but we don’t have the second-best health outcomes in the world. Our beyondexpensive system offers us just mediocre outcomes. It is true that our capabilities should be much higher but moving towards the establishment of a two-tier healthcare system is not the answer.

Contrary to belief, having more private funding will not improve the sustainability of our healthcare system. Countries in which private spending is high actually spend more in total on healthcare. The U.S., for example, spends more public dollars

per person than Canada does and yet 48 million Americans remain uninsured. It seems that Americans are not getting much more after paying all these extra expenses, but they do pay much higher prices for what we as Canadians take for granted.

On top of that, private clinics often “cherry-pick” the healthiest patients with minor or acute care needs (people who are the most profitable). More complicated and chronic patients are often denied services because they require more time and care, resulting in a decline of the clinic’s profit.

If Canadian physicians were permitted to give private care to patients, an equitable portion of people who make a reasonable living will be able to choose to spend a few hundred dollars to see a good physician or maybe even a couple thousand to have some cataract surgery done immediately. Sounds like a good plan, right?

Although a loan might be required for surgery, your medical expenses should be deductible from your taxes in April. This would satisfy almost everyone who is employed except

the millions of poor people, pensioners, immigrants, people with disabilities, and people with large families who don’t have sufficient resources to experience such luxury.

Moreover in countries that have two-tier systems, typically only the wealthiest can afford such service. In the U.K. for example, only 11.4 per cent of the population holds a subscription to private health insurance. In other words, a majority of Canadians would not actually benefit from being able to purchase private health insurance as they will either not qualify for it, or they won’t be able to afford the premiums.

Ultimately it’s no secret that there isn’t really an equality of access in the Canadian medical system, as those with better education and better connections can more effectively find a way to receiving prompt treatment.

A study that appeared in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that wealthier patients were 50 percent more likely to be taken on as new patients by doctors than welfare recipients.

It is worrisome to find a conspicuous bias against poor patients within our healthcare system. Not only do they have fewer resources than wealthier patients, but they also face many

more barriers to good health and are the ones who will benefit the most from the access to a physician.

Allowing the establishment of a two-tiered healthcare system is to allow the drawing of a thick and definitive border between the rich and the poor. Access to healthcare should be based on an individual’s need and not their ability to pay. If available resources are restricted we should revisit what is and is not essential.

Healthcare should never turn into a competition for those earning the greatest profit. Is this what you would want for the country we’ve all lived in and loved?

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

OPINIONS

FEEDBACK How do you become happy?

“Doing things that contribute to the happiness of those around you.”

Ramneet Mann, Life Sciences I

“Being in the newspaper.”

Ian Chisolm, Medical Radiation I

“Watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”

Bridget Steele, Arts and Science IV

“Hakuna Matata.”

Abraham Thomas, Religious Studies II

“Achieve to your degree of intellect, yet the more you know the less happy you seem to become.”

Jack Tidd, Social Sciences I

ELIZA POPE / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

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theSil.ca

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

OPINIONS

A9

Everything’s okay; I’m just not happy Despite the countless words of wisdom, happiness isn’t always a matter of choice

SILHOUETTE FILE PHOTO

Shamudi Gunasekera The Silhouette “It’s okay. Everything’s fine.”

Those words have come out of me more times than I can count. And more often than not, I was not fine. Behind the sentences of calm and reassurance was a desire that I didn’t want anyone to know how I felt. I had a million reasons. I didn’t want to ruin the mood. I didn’t want to be pitied. I didn’t want to draw any attention to myself.

Because no matter the reason, they’d tell me to move on and be happy.

Often it is said in gentler, more thoughtful ways. But the idea remains the same - if you want to be happy, then be happy.

Simple as that, right?

Wrong. Happiness isn’t a matter of choice.

Like the advice, I’ve heard these words echo around me one too many times. By saying that happiness is purely self-selected, it is as if people are suggesting that

one chooses to be sad as well.

Maybe all that some people need when they’re feeling down is to remind themselves that they don’t need to feel the way that they do. Maybe it works. And maybe some people are simply better at handling tricky situations than others.

But then there are others, myself included, for whom it is a struggle to feel happy.

We feel the way that we do, when we feel it. And as one of my closest friends once said, “It is dif-

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ficult to be happy when plagued by things that bring you down. It is like trying to chase a butterfly with a stone tied to your feet.”

We shouldn’t force ourselves to feel something we don’t, no matter if it works for others. Trying to force yourself to be happy can make things worse. Don’t feel pressured to feel happy just because it seems like everyone else is.

On the other side, we shouldn’t also feel guilty for being sad when it seems like there is

absolutely no reason to be sad.

We need to take the time we need in order to feel better. We need to make peace with the fact that sometimes we feel happy and sometimes we just don’t.

Happiness isn’t a choice the same way anger, sorrow, and all other emotions aren’t choices. There is only one choice: to be ourselves through dealing with both happiness and sadness alike.

theSil.ca

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

OPINIONS

A10

“We inspire minds, not lives”

SILHOUETTE FILE PHOTO

Gregory Wygoni The Silhouette In a move that surprises no one, universities across the world have decided to expel their students and close entry to their undergraduate programs.

Despite complaints from the registrar of having to do more work, the change will take place immediately and inefficiently, just as university protocols should be done.

That means everyone is thrown out, including the proud mother on 143 Apple Street, whose son is on the Dean Honour’s List. Finally, the day of idiotic bumper stickers may be behind us.

This international rule,

dubbed as a saving grace by scholars and clown-college professors alike, stems from the inability for universities to properly prepare a generation.

“We admit,” said Dean of Imagine-U, “we have been charging exorbitant fees for something you could acquire at your local library. Hell, who even needs a library? There are hundreds of online courses for free right now. I am in a course about Cryptography at this very moment. It’s so much fun!”

Yet such fun is not universal.

Sobering critics have voiced concern that there will be no place for young adults to drink now, purchase prescription drugs, or sleep for many more hours then necessary. “If there is no

school, how will they skip class?

If there are no exams, how will their all-nighters and cramming be justified? Where will our sons and daughters have their one-night stands, and whose expensive student-house covered in cockroaches and happy mold will they be able to wash their own puke from? Not my house.

So I ask you ivory tower elitists, where?”

Other critics have screeched that this decision has come too late, and that too many twentysome-things-or-others are unemployed, lacking experience and living in their parents’ basements. They have been in a slump for far too long, and the new generation without a degree will have a great advantage

in terms of experience and knowledge, not to mention no financial burdens of the last 4-7 years, to their older counterparts.

To the growing vexation of the latter groups’ parents, deans around the world simultaneously shrugged, “What were we suppose to do? We inspire minds, not lives here.”

However, invectives abounded from many student unions in a near welcome-week like cheer. Such Neanderthalesque criticism, with its colourful grammar and entitled privilege, came in the midst of intense training for beer pong and ultimate Frisbee. “It is like-uhtotez in-uh-approp you knowww?

What is I to tell my rents now?

Da fu-” Without school, this studentrun newspaper becomes toilet paper, whereas with school, it becomes wrapping paper for your burritos and pitas. At the very least when there is undergraduate education, we go in the front and come out the end, going through the institution’s digestive system with all our hopes and dreams, nutrition, absorbed from us piece by piece, semester by semester, each exam taking our soul and short term memory, each class monstrously depriving us of a former drive to learn, and it all being finagled from us by tuition and beer. And at the end, this corporeal institution flushes us down as writhing stuff left to hit the fan, and we face the real world.

Without school, we are only shit.

Despite reassurances from Deans and poorly trained guidance councilors, many students are asking where can they now acquire a useless piece of paper that does not guarantee knowledge or experience. In fact, most students wonder what they will cheat on, where will they acquire grades to believe they are intelligent and worthwhile

and where can they ignorantly memorize facts.

To such points, the Dean of Imagine-U could only guess, “Grad school?”

A few undergraduate degrees are still available, engineering, medicine, medical engineering, and the hackeysack teams for all universities will still be allowed to compete in the Grand Kick this coming weekend.

In a last-minute attempt to appease the calumny, universities globally cited Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates as proof “you could do it all” without an undergraduate paper. “I mean look at those guys, and look at me,” said sententious professor of education, A. Kademic as he entered his beat-up Honda.

“They are all billionaires. We could all learn a lesson a thing or two from those guys…”

Coincidentally, zero per cent of all students now have debt.

“

“We have been charging exorbitant fees for something you could acquire at your local library”

A fruit p nch of coffee beans Having a Starbucks on campus is a grind to our developing individuality Kacper Niburski Opinions Editor Please don’t take this as an anti consumerist or capitalist diatribe.

It isn’t. It is a realization that in a global market, we have been bought, packaged and stored.

Like the coffee, the Starbucks on campus leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I get it, though. I really do. Starbucks won the MSU’s financial auction for the space previously occupied by Williams.

And I get it too that you like Starbucks and they’re just pandering to the student’s interest in promoting a supposedly high-quality brand.

But I ask if you’ve had Democracy coffee? Or what about

Johnny’s? Café Domestique? My Dog Joe? Radius? There are hundreds of options in Hamilton and instead here we have a company telling us that we need to buy buy buy what everyone else is drinking.

It’s like a cult – we’re brainwashed while sipping our caffeinated Kool-Aid. Maybe it’s the ebb of eventuality, though. We slurp our Venti Pumpkin Spice Latté drowning in cleverly crafted Taylor Swift-like pop-monstrosities with our soonto-be paperweight iPhones while warming ourselves in American Eagles shirts and Hollister pants.

This is the product of a global village – the sweet apex of human civilization where all can be equal

because we are all equally advertised to.

But it is less of a village and more of a besieged four-by-four prison cell. We cannot escape. We are constantly barraged by what to think and what to say. Even what to drink – coffee – becomes an elect choice of status, and in the scrum of day-to-day, when we are trying to carve out who we are and what that means to us, we are sold our individuality by becoming a commodity ourselves.

But I don’t want to believe this. I think we can do better. I think we can be bold, like a coffee is supposed to be.

As students, we’re meant to deconstruct rather than conform.

Challenging paradigms and forms

are the spirit of education. Questions need to be asked, instead of blindly accepting what is being shoved down our throats. If we do not inquire, we become fodder for any charlatan who comes along and tells us that this is the new way to think.

In our case, we have an institution telling us that they sold out to the highest bidder in order to make a buck or two, and that the human right indiscretions are secondary to capital, and you’re just a bunch of students four years in the making, an amorphous blob of people whose indistinctness is solidified by corporate moulds.

You are fungible. You are mutable. And you will change – look at these advertisements, look at

this brand, and look at the world passing you by bit by bit by bit as we try to fit your square peg of an existence into this round hole of a lifestyle choice.

Maybe that’s dramatic, and maybe by placing Starbucks into the campus, the higher-ups are just trying to normalize us to the undead-existence beyond these walls where we drink over-priced coffee at such highfalutin establishments.

But when we are all the same, when we are spoonfed our likes and dislikes, and when we have no choice in the matter, I’d rather let the beans roast and the coffee go cold. @kacpnibs

BEN BARRETT-FORREST / MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

S

theSil.ca

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

B1

PORTS Marauders win down south Editors Laura Sinclair & Alexandra Reilly

Email sports@thesil.ca

@silsports

Phone 905.525.9140 x27117

Women’s Basketball

B2

Men’s Basketball

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MEETINGS: THURSDAYS @ 12:30 PM

Laura Sinclair Sports Editor

YOSEIF HADDAD / PHOTO EDITOR

The Marauder men’s volleyball team is back in regular season this weekend after the winter break, which saw the team travel to Florida to compete in the Alden Cup Tournament.

The team came back from their trip victorious, winning the tournament. But this was not an easy task facing their first loss of the year, against their OUA rivals, the Waterloo Warriors.

“Our game is really intricate, our game is really timing-based, really rhythm-based and coming off a month of not competing, our rhythm and timing was poor at best,” said head coach Dave Preston.

The Marauders last match before the break was November 30 against the Guelph Gryphons, and their match against the Warriors was on Jan. 2.

Their long break from competitive play and action hindered their performance in the match, and the Warriors were the better team overall.

“Waterloo was just too good for us to be able to win that match,” said Preston.

After the loss, the Marauders did not waste any time hanging their heads.

Instead, they used the loss as motivation heading into their other two matches against the Montreal Carabins and Calgary Dinos, which saw them pull off two key wins to prevail in the tournament.

“One of the comments that I heard that probably sums it up best, is that our loss against Waterloo was really good for Waterloo, but it was great for McMaster. It kind of grounded us,

and made us respond accordingly,” said Preston.

What was key in the Marauders success in the tournament was their ability to learn and develop from their loss to the Warriors, and their ability to stay calm under pressure.

“We reacted, but we didn’t over-react. We didn’t panic, we kept our composure. So it worked out pretty well,” added Preston.

The Maroon and Grey managed to win both of their matches in the remainder of the tournament, with their best game coming against the Calgary Dinos, where they managed to win it in straight sets (25-18, 25-21, 26-24).

Before the game against the Dinos, the team was informed that they would need to win the match in three or four sets in order to win the tournament. If they happened to win in five sets, then they would lose, and Waterloo would win the tournament.

Despite the extreme pressure that the team was under, they still managed to dominate the match, as they began to play a similar style to how they played in the first half of the season.

“Our transition game, our passing and our serving was all back to and closer in range to what we like to hold it to. So we were pretty pleased after the fact not just with the result but with how we were playing,” said Preston.

Although the team was looking more and more like how they looked in the first half of the season, coach Preston thinks that it is not good enough.

“Where we were at in our first half isn’t going to be good enough in the second half. We’ve got to be better than how we were in the first half, and have to get

back to a standard of how we like to hold ourselves to,” said Preston.

The Marauders will attempt to get back to a standard of play that they will be satisfied with on Friday night against another OUA rival- the Western Mustangs.

In the last two showdowns between these two teams, both matches have been taken to five sets.

Coach Preston knows that the match against Western will be a battle from start to finish, but after the tournament in Florida, he believes that his team is more focused than ever, and will be ready for the fierce competition that the Mustangs bring.

“We’re at a better position now than we were a couple of days before Florida. We’re healthy, we’re motivated, we’re close to where we were before the break, but I think more than anything because of our motivation we’ll be better Friday than we are right now,” said Preston.

The match will take place at 8 p.m. in the Burridge Gym, and Coach Preston knows that his team will be prepared for it.

“We know our reality, Western is a great team and we’re going to have to play really well to take care of that match, but we’re ready to.” @Lsinkky

The best moments of 2013

C/O RICHARD ZAZULAK

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

theSil.ca

B2

SPORTS

Marauders continue to battle Scott Hastie The Silhouette While most McMaster students spent their winter breaks at home, the Marauder’s women’s basketball team took their talents out east for exhibition action.

Mac had the opportunity to square off against three out-of-conference teams: the University of Victoria, Saint Mary’s University and Acadia University.

All three teams have been among the top of the women’s hoops crop, appearing in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport top-ten rankings. UVic and Acadia were voted in last year and Saint Mary’s currently holds the No. 1 ranking.

The Maroon and Grey went 2-1 on the East Coast swing, with the loss coming to SMU. Being the first game action since the exam break, there is always the scare that a team could have some rust to knock off.

However, head coach Theresa Burns was impressed with how quickly her team got their legs under them.

“Somebody would miss a look or be a little late on a pass and then that was it. You didn’t see it again,” said Burns. “It was like ‘yup, got it, I know what I’m supposed to do.”

The highlight of the trip

would come in the second game, as Mac went toe-to-toe with the SMU Huskies, but ultimately fell 65-59.

McMaster was only down one point at half and later found themselves down two in the fourth quarter before the No. 1 team pulled away.

It was the best performance of the season for the team, and reaffirmed what the coaching staff has been telling the squad since the summer.

“We had attention to detail, and we were understanding their personnel and how we wanted to play each individual on [Saint Mary’s]. We also figured out that if we run our own stuff, we can be a handful for any other team,” Burns said.

The seasoned coach also pointed to the continued dominance of guard Danielle Boiago and centre Hailey Milligan.

The duo combines for an average of 36.2 points per game – the highest scoring pair in the OUA. What is particularly impressive about their offensive production is the efficiency. Boiago is shooting 46 per cent from the field after she shot 30 per cent as a rookie, and Milligan has bumped up her percentage from 48 per cent to 57 per cent – the top mark in the conference among players

YOSEIF HADDAD / SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR

with at least 40 attempted field goals.

With the easier part of their schedule – that being games against the weaker OUA East – in the rear view, Mac cannot afford to make any mistakes for the remainder of the regular season.

“The in-between stuff, the day-to-day, is all about sticking

to the process and not cutting corners. When you look at our league, the parity is just ridiculous. A 7-3 record, in most conferences, is good for first or second. For us, there is not going to be any ‘gimme games’, it will always be a battle,” said Burns on the upcoming months.

McMaster’s road to the play-

offs will run through three teams who are 9-1: Western, Windsor and Laurier. The Maroon and Grey will have their first look at Windsor on Jan. 11, as a part of Marauder weekend. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. @scott1hastie

Men’s basketball sits in the top 10 Scott Hastie The Silhouette After half a season of OUA basketball action, it is safe to say the McMaster men’s basketball team has been as advertised.

Currently sitting atop the OUA West with a 8-3 record and holding at No. 8 in the CIS topten rankings, the team has put themselves in a position to make the national tournament.

The most difficult opponents they will face are left in 2013 and Mac will look to continue this season’s earlier dominance of the OUA West, where they pummelled Guelph and Western by a combined 55 points.

The Marauders are not without criticism, though. They have hung with two of the best teams in the country – Ottawa and Carleton – but have also let weaker teams like Queen’s, Laurentian and York give them a test.

Free throw shooting has been downright abysmal so far, with Mac only hitting 63.2 per cent of their attempts.

The squad has also shown an inability to consistently defend top-tier players, with Phil Scrubb and Johnny Berhanemeskel going off for 44 and 38 points respectively, on back-to-back nights.

Granted, Scrubb’s shot making was bordering on “unguardable,” as he knocked down pull-up jump shot after pull-up jump shot from 15 feet.

But for Mac to succeed on a grander stage, they need to find ways to limit teams offensive weapons from having career nights.

Where McMaster has succeeded is overall defence, carrying over a trend from last year. Mac is allowing 72.1 points per game, good for seventh in the country among teams who have played at least nine games.

Keep in mind that three of their ten games have come against Carleton, Ottawa and Laurentian, who rank first, second and sixth respectively in CIS rankings for points scored per game.

The proverbial cherry on top is that Mac plays at one of the fastest paces in the CIS, averaging 68.4 field goal attempts a game.

Taking so many shots gives other teams more offensive possessions, but McMaster has been able to handle the extra defensive load.

On Jan. 11, the Marauders face the lone opponent who appears to be challenging them for the No. 1 spot in the OUA West: the Windsor Lancers.

After a injury-plagued run to the CIS Final 8 last year, the Lancers have failed to deliver in this season.

They sit at 6-4, with losses coming to Lakehead, Ottawa, Carleton and Ryerson.

Expectations were higher for Windsor this season, with a line-up chock full of upper-year players.

This will be Mac’s first attempt at the Lancers, who will bring their physical play and terrorizing defence to the Burridge Gym. Should McMaster hand Windsor a loss, it will quell any doubts still lingering about the legitimacy of this team. @scott1hastie

WINS

AT THE TOP

YOSEIF HADDAD / SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR

LOSSES

PTS SCORED

PTS ALLOWED

FIELD GOAL %

* 09-10 and 10-11 seasons were during a unified OUA league, as opposed to the current two-league system.

MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS CAN MAC HIT THESE NUMBERS?

22

86.4

91.6

88.4

19

18 63.1

82.9 73

72 16

61 49.2

48.7

44.4

42.9 5

2

1

0

2009-10 * CARLETON

2010-11 * CARLETON

2011-12 LAKEHEAD

2012-13 WINDSOR

theSil.ca

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

SPORTS

B3

Women’s football is back With the Marauder football season long concluded, it’s time for another set of players to step in

C/O KATIE PENNEY

Alexandra Reilly Assistant Sports Editor With frigid January temperatures moving in and Marauders football reaching it’s end back in November, powderpuff football is set to make it’s return for yet another season.

Having had major success in the past, powderpuff it is back once again with a Laurier tournament up for grabs, and a chance for McMaster players to compete against other women’s teams from other Ontario Universities.

Powderpuff football teams range from first-year to fifth-year players and all skill levels are welcomed.

It is a fantastic opportunity to meet new people and gain a better understanding of the game of football.

Fifth-year Marauders football player Mike Daly knows that powderpuff gives the women of McMaster a fun and active opportunity to build new relationships

with others and gain a great sense of what it means to be part of a team.

“I was contacted in first year by the powderpuff convener and I saw it as a great opportunity to meet new people and start a coaching career somewhere,” said Daly.

Despite the freezing temperatures during practices and tournaments Daly has continued to coach for five seasons and says it has been a highlight for him year after year.

“This will be my fifth year coaching it and it’s been fun every single year... cold but fun.”

“The most rewarding thing about being a coach is developing relationships with your players and seeing them develop. From first year when we had a tough time scoring a touchdown to fifth year when we barley lost. Every step was so much fun.”

Powderpuff football is a great opportunity for some of the women at McMaster to learn about the

game of football from some of our very own Marauder football players.

Starting from the basics, to creating complex plays, anyone interested in a team sport with a friendly competitive edge is encouraged to check out what powderpuff football has to offer.

With this winter promising to be an icy one, McMaster women’s football players and coaches are seen as some of the braver athletes within the student body, willingly stepping out for practices and games at Ron Joyce Stadium, all in the hopes of earning a place in the annual Laurier tournament set to take place in February.

Tournament dates and times are set to be released in the coming weeks. @Miss_AReilly

C/O TAYLOR DAVIS

theSil.ca

SPORTS

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

B4

Sports teams and Racism RECAP WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL OUA EAST

OUA WEST W | L | PTS

OTTAWA YORK TORONTO RYERSON QUEEN’S RMC NIPISSING

11 9 8 6 5 2 0

1 1 2 4 4 7 11

22 18 16 12 10 4 0

W | L | PTS 7 6 6 4 3 3 2

GUELPH MCMASTER WINDSOR BROCK WATERLOO LAKEHEAD WESTERN

4 5 4 7 7 7 8

14 12 12 8 6 6 4

C/O KEITH ALLISON / FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS

Kimberley Hartwig The Sheaf SASKATOON (CUP) — The debate surrounding potentially offensive sports team names and mascots has been raging for decades and has now taken hold in Saskatoon. One area high school, Bedford Road Collegiate Institute, is bearing the brunt of the criticism.

The school, whose team name is the Redmen and logo is a profile of a First Nations man, has come under fire.

Bedford Road graduate and current University of Saskatchewan student Erica Lee re-ignited a movement ­— which began in 1996 — to change the schools moniker and logo in 2011 when she made a Facebook page called “Bedford Road Redmen: It’s Time for a Change.”

Lee was inspired to fight for change after a teacher gave her an article about the implications behind First Nations mascots and logos.

“It’s something that I think a lot of people don’t realize, that they’re actively supporting racism,” she said. “I think that it’s just something we don’t talk about … we’re so used to things like that now so we don’t even question it.”

The Redmen aren’t the only remaining high school, collegiate or professional sports team to bear a questionable mascot or name.

A high school in California call themselves the Coachella Valley Arabs and there are well known professional teams such as the Washington Redskins in the National Football League and the Cleveland Indians in Major League Baseball.

In total there are nine high schools that use the name Redskins in Canada and the United States and many more who use names derived from aboriginal peoples.

However, many teams who were once portrayed by culturally loaded mascots have changed to something more benign.

A high school in Illinois changed their name from the Pekin Chinks to the Pekin Dragons in 1980 and up until 1972 Stanford University’s mascot was the Stanford Indian. The school changed their name to the Cardinals (the colour) and their mascot to a tree.

Stanford University Ombudsperson Lois Amsterdam stated in a petition to change the mascot that “Stanford’s continued use of the Indian symbol in the 19700s brings up to visibility a painful lack of sensitivity and awareness on the part of the University.”

Forty years later, many teams still use a similar name and logo or a variation on the theme.

In recent decades there has been a strong push to abolish harmful mascots, including an extensive policy to remove negative images established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Calls to change the name of the Bedford Collegiate Redmen have also been supported by various members of the University of Saskatchewan community, one of which is the Department of Educational Foundations in the College of Education.

In an email sent to CTV, department head Diane Miller wrote, “The idea that such logos and mascots are positive representations of Indigenous peoples is false. These images spring from centuries-old racist discourses …

The Department of Educational Foundations agrees that it is time to stop pretending that stereotyping is an honour. It is racism.”

No professional team has taken on a name or logo that uses racial stereotypes in name or imagery since 1963 but many pre-established images, such as the Cleveland Indians’ Chief Wahoo, continue to exist.

Chief Wahoo is becoming harder to spot on the Cleveland Indians’ uniforms.

A common defence of fans and owners of sports teams with racially charged images is that the mascot is meant to honour the people of its likeness or to reflect their proud history. This assumption continues to unravel as more and more individuals who are meant to be “honoured” refute this myth.

“I know that a lot of people will see Redman, Redskins, native logos as an honour, but the fact is that there are more and more native people that aren’t comfortable with this representation and it can lead easily to a lot of negative stereotypes and negative images of Native American people and First Nations people,” said Lee. It’s hard to imagine how this name can be taken as an honour when the Oxford Dictionary lists the term “Redman” as dated and offensive and is commonly seen as a racial slur. At one time, this name and others like it had less loaded meanings, but connotations have become more negative over time.

Despite being dropped from current use and Redmen being a pejorative term, many schools still feel it’s appropriate to bear on their jerseys and trophies.

These names were not adopted by schools many decades ago with the intent to offend, but the cultural stereotypes they espouse should be assessed from a modern standpoint.

“People get defensive because they think we’re calling them racist, but the point is that a lot of people [are] not looking at it and questioning it,” Lee said. “They’re not seeing it as a representation of people even though it’s the face of a Native American. They’ll just see it as a logo and not really as a person or as a symbol of anything.”

These names and mascots present a caricature of real, living people and cultures that are continually evolving, while the depictions rest in past stereotypes.

“One argument is that when people look at that logo, they don’t see people; they see a mascot when in reality it’s this weird sort of distorted reality of what First Nations culture is actually like,” Lee said.

Another argument against changing names and mascots is that it’s part of the team’s history and that the vast majority of fans aren’t bothered by these depictions. But more often than not, it’s people who have no cultural ties to the representations who claim they are harmless.

In the case of the Bedford Road Redmen, those who cling to the school’s proud tradition may be ignoring an entirely separate history.

“The weird part about this is that it’s a primarily white school board and Bedford Road school and teachers and students that [are] holding on to this logo and claiming it’s their tradition,” Lee said.

Other detractors say that the fight to change these names is just another in the battle for all-encompassing political correctness.

Lee sees doing away with the old as a way for First Nations people to reclaim their present and future identities.

“I think that it will show that First Nations people are reclaiming their right to represent themselves as they see fit,” she said.

As for whether or not the mascot and name at Bedford Road will eventually change, Lee is optimistic the school will adopt something that all students can be proud of.

“I think it’s coming,” she said.

“I think it’s inevitable”

MEN’S BASKETBALL OUA EAST

OUA WEST W | L | PTS

RYERSON CARLETON OTTAWA LAURENTIAN QUEEN’S YORK ALGOMA TORONTO

9 9 8 7 6 6 3 2

1 0 1 2 4 4 6 8

18 18 16 14 12 12 6 4

W | L | PTS MCMASTER WINDSOR LAURIER LAKEHEAD BROCK WESTERN GUELPH WATERLOO

7 6 5 3 2 2 2 1

3 4 5 7 8 8 8 9

14 12 10 6 4 4 4 2

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL OUA EAST

OUA WEST W | L | PTS

QUEEN’S OTTAWA CARLETON TORONTO RYERSON LAURENTIAN YORK ALGOMA

7 6 6 4 3 2 1 0

3 3 3 6 7 7 9 9

14 12 12 8 6 4 2 0

W | L | PTS WESTERN WINDSOR LAURIER MCMASTER BROCK LAKEHEAD GUELPH WATERLOO

9 9 9 7 6 4 3 2

1 1 1 3 4 6 7 8

18 18 18 14 12 8 6 4

L

theSil.ca

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

B6

Editors Amanda Watkins & Miranda Babbitt

IFESTYLE

Food Trends

B10

Email lifestyle@thesil.ca silhappens.tumblr.com

MEETINGS: TUESDAYS @ 12:30 PM

7 deadly sins of wheeling B8

Annicalxobia [ænəkəlʃowbijə]: The complete fear and avoidance of the creation and maintenance of a New Year’s resolution.

C/O STEPHEN GARNER (FLICKR)

our bed without once considering the dental implications of never flossing.

The only way to get around this is to incorporate your resolution into a set of behaviors that become as habitual as crashing into your cozy bed. Flossing is inevitably easier to maintain, however, because this goal is in itself an action.

All of our wonderfully wholesome goals require that recipe of success. If you want to be a runner, start by scouring your schedule for consistent openings that you can dedicate to running.

Try on your sneakers, run around in circles in your bedroom, and see how those babies feel. If they’re killin’ ya, consider buying a new or used pair of shoes.

Already, running has required a substantial amount of effort in comparison to flossing, but no less possible in attaining! Besides, the more complicated a recipe, the yummier it can be (re: rainbow layer cake).

On another note, anyone attempting to overcome

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People who explicitly make resolutions are

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Percentage of people over fifty years old who achieve their resolutions

Percentage of resolutions about relationships

Most common resolutions of 2013

Percentage of people in their twenties who achieve their resolutions

Percentage of resolutions about money

Percentage of resolutions about self-improvement

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“If you choose a resolution that really means something to you, the most difficult part should be throwing it away.”

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annicalxobia must understand the imminent setbacks they’ll face on the way to achieving their goal. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and that rainbow layer cake wasn’t ready in an hour. There will be times you want to give up or maybe shed a single tear, but remember that you prepared for these setbacks. You knew they were coming and you prepared for them.

Make your goal visible on your bedroom walls or privately in a journal. Share it with your whole facebook feed or just your mom. Because if you chose a resolution that really means something to you, the most difficult part should be throwing it away.

Here’s to a 2014 where Mac students reach their New Year’s resolution.

ty Thir

Annicalxobia. Don’t let this word frighten you too much, but please know that at least one loved one leads a semi-crippled life due to the toxic/generally inconvenient infliction of this phobia. Hold the phone. Literally. I don’t want you calling your mom and confusing her with the vague concern you might be feeling right now.

If you happen to be keen on the Latin language (that makes one of us), anni means “new year” and calx means “goal.” Put it all together with a tail end of “obia”, and we have a whole new word for conceptualizing the fear people have over the creation and maintaining of New Year’s Resolutions.

Please note, you will not, probably ever, find this word in any dictionary.

Mostly this fear comes from mankind’s widespread inability to keep our resolutions for a month, let alone a year. In fact, according to the Toronto Star’s statistics on New Year’s Resolutions in 2013, 52 per cent of us forget about our vow to run 10 km every morning, or have eight servings of veggies a day or even snag a spot on Forbe’s Top 30 Under 30. A paltry 19 per cent of us succeed in keeping it for a whole year (standing ovation if you’re in this category).

But why can’t we keep these resolutions? To start, resolutions hold the promise of an entirely new “you.” You may imagine yourself having com-

pletely transformed your life for the better, all because you now stand on a foundation of a myriad of hugely ambitious goals.

Let’s say you really want to successfully whip up a multi-layered rainbow birthday cake for the fam, but you can’t simply paste a picture of that damn fine cake to the fridge and hope everything goes as smoothly as you imagined in your dream where you took on the culinary prowess of Julia Childs. No, no, no.

Underneath that picture, there’s a recipe.

And that’s what we need to remember when tackling any goal - there’s a series of steps that need to be followed, to achieve the simplest and loftiest of New Year’s Resolutions.

Let’s consider two resolutions. My resolution could be to start flossing every night, which is really made up of one step (1.

Floss), or to become a runner, which is made up of many, many steps (see what I did there?). Even with something as seemingly simple as flossing, the power of habit should never be underestimated.

After all, there’s a distinct set of habitual behaviors that we don’t even think about, including that thing we do after brushing our teeth that generally includes collapsing onto

fou r

Miranda Babbitt Assistant LifeStyle Editor

Percentage of resolutions about weight loss

LIFESTYLE

B7

Dear Christmas goodies, You are my only real love-hate relationship but... man, are you addictive Miranda Babbitt Assistant LifeStyle Editor The wait for you each year feels so much longer than 365 days.

It feels like a billion, drawn out, sugarless hours, as though I am perpetually stuck in the post-sugar-high rut. This is a condition characterized by alarmingly low levels of Christmas spirit, persistent drowsiness, and a general sense of whatever, man. Its onset is caused by the distinct and often ridiculously sudden disappearance of our favourite friends, our baked friends – our Christmas goodies.

Apparently you’re made of an addictive quality, and so if you’re not by our side, a fierce craving fills the void you have left in our hearts, or stomach. Sugar, they call it. You know, at one point in time, I thought I knew everything about you. Now I feel like I hardly know you at all. Are you angry because, what, we eat you? Look, friendships are about sacrifices.

Let’s not get into this again. I’m mad at you. You left us all over again. No tins of shortbread, no jars of rainbow-sprinkled brownies, and certainly no polka-dot plate adorned by a charming red velvet cake, dollops of white icing dipping up and down like the sea of joy it is.

You know how we like to pretend we’re disappointed to see you for the sake of our waistlines?

Yeah, that’s a big fat lie. Everyone likes to feed into the twisted, hilariously common misconception that their body is, among other

things, a temple so sacred that one cookie will lead to a devastating collapse, walls crashing down the flour-dusted kitchen tiles. When you come through our front door, often held in the hands of our grandma (not emasculating at all, I don’t know what you’re going on about), or after having magically appeared on our bedside table paired with a cup of tea, haven’t you noticed the way our eyes light up? That’s chemistry, my love.

And let me just say, come Christmas time, you’re a damn miracle. Honestly, your conception is divine nearly every time.

You are reborn each holiday. Man plus woman = human. But sugar, spice, plus everything nice = miracle. I know you’re not comfortable with the talk still. I’m just saying I, for one, do not disregard your divinity.

So, can you stay? Just a couple weeks more? I literally just stooped to the level of hailing you as divine. Buddy, I just likened you to a god. Fine, sugar-coating the problem won’t work? What about some brutal honesty, huh?

You’re severely emasculated when you’re carried to my front door in my grandma’s arms.

There. It had to be said.

Signed, Still want U back @mirandababbitt

MATT IS DIFFERENT. ARE YOU?

Matt Rendall, CEO Clearpath Robotics, MBET 2009

Are you the next Young Entrepreneur of the Year?

Matt, MBET ’09, has been named the Young Entrepreneur of the Year, 2013, by Ernst and Young. Matt has a Master’s in Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET), an experiential program that provides you with the knowledge-base, real world experience, and access to networks you will need to launch your business career in the start-up sector and beyond.

I’M INTERESTED IN THE MBET! SCAN THE QR CODE AND SIGN UP FOR OUR MAILING LIST TO LEARN MORE.

DISCOVER THE MBET TODAY: UWATERLOO.CA/ CONRAD

C004371

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

theSil.ca

SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF TECHNOLOGICAL WHEELING

SEXandthe STEELCITY Jason Woo The Silhouette

A new year, a new you, a whole new game online

1

7

Social Media Bomb

YouTube it up. Drake Hands.

Starbucks Drake Hands

This leads to the last cardinal sin of wheeling – don’t drop the social media bomb. Never assault your crush with a barrage of posts about your inside jokes and common interests. Desperation is never flattering.

6

B8

LIFESTYLE

Just no. You would think this is pretty straightforward, but judging from the truly cringe worthy original video and the gut-busting parodies that came after, I best leave this here.

Hashtags

Selfies

Whether you use it satirically or appropriately (read: inappropriately), a prospective mate will not appreciate #iloveyou # #legitcried #loveyousomuch #dreamcometrue #highlighofmyLIFE #cantthinkstraight #myboy/girlfriendsbetterthanyours #he/ shelovesme in succesion.

A selfie here and there to remind you and your crush how beautiful, adorable, and fun you are is harmless, but 10 snapchats of you with variations of the peace sign and duck face may not be conducive to your chopping.

2

Timing of Responses

5 Emoticons

Like hashtags, a barrage of emoticons will trample on the attraction a crush has towards you like a herd of overly aggressive smiley faces. It doesn’t really do anything for your message, and it just comes off as annoying

One of the trickiest things in the dating game is the art of timing your responses.

Everyone has his or her own rules on this, but just be sure that you don’t respond a day later. Also turn off ‘read’ receipts when possible.

You want it?

We can do it!

Check us out year round for: Colour copies Black & White copies Business cards Office supplies Large format printing Faxing Binding Laminating Cutting T-Shirt Transfers Advertising (Almanac, Wall Caldendar, Silhouette)

& more!

Underground Media + Design McMaster University MUSC Room B117 Student Centre Basement 905.525.9140 x27557

4

3 Facebook Proposal

In most cases, it is better to ask someone out in person than online. It certainly takes more guts and your crush will definitely appreciate it. It also just makes for a much cuter story down the road.

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

theSil.ca

B9

LIFESTYLE

Extreme weather fashion

Even when it was nearing -40 this week, these students still put their best style forward

Minja Trapara

Harleen Sidhu

1st-year Commerce

3rd-year Commerce

Marrwam El Sussein

4th-year Computer Engineering

RESTAURANT REVIEW

Pinks Burgers 1335 Main St W

RECOMMENDED ORDER: Single burger w/ bacon - $5 Side of fries- $2 $7

AMANDA WATKINS / SENIOR LIFESTYLE EDITOR

Amanda Watkins Senior LifeStyle Editor Where a “Cedar” once stood, Pinks Burgers has now occupied the clearing. The new fast food joint is the first of its kind and has brought students a new pit stop for quick and crowd-pleasing food.

Sandwiched between two of campus’ top 24-hour fast food fun zones (Subway and Taco Del Mar) Pinks is the new home of afternoon and evening made-to-order burger services.

They currently serve original hamburgers, double or single, with a variety of available toppings. In addition, they serve up gyros, fries, milkshakes, and a small selection of beer on tap.

With a simple menu yet something for everyone, Pinks is sure to be a hit among students.

Although the restaurant’s cringe-worthy name may be reminiscent of undercooked meat and various diseases and infections, when I first tried their burger, it was well cooked and really quite tasty. The patty was handcrafted

by their kitchen staff, who you can watch complete their culinary work in an open kitchen at the back of the store. Each customer has the option of choosing their toppings from an extensive list ranging from ketchup to grilled onions, and bacon or cheese for an added charge.

Their portions are generous, providing filling food for a reasonable price (single burger: $4).

The service was forgivably slow, as it is a new joint that probably isn’t used to swarms of malnourished students attacking them all

at once.

The burger was hearty and filling with both a quality patty and fresh bun. The accompanying fries ($2) were pretty standard, but they weren’t too greasy or salty- an affliction that other local burger joints have been hit with.

The cost of the two items was reasonable and comparable to their aforementioned neighbours.

The restaurant itself is extremely spacious and provides ample seating at both tables and a long bar-like counter.

The restaurant is open late on

both weekends and weeknights to accommodate night class and nightlife.

Overall, Pinks Burgers is more of a delight than their queasy name leads on. Their accessible location and tasty and reasonable menu are bound to entice customers and please the masses. @whatthekins

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

theSil.ca

LIFESTYLE

2014

RAMEN With “Pho” being the ruling noodle of 2013, it seems that foodies of the world are gradually moving across South-East Asia finding their new food favourites. Pushing the Korean classic aside, it’s predicted that ramen noodles, a Japanese dish consisting of thin white noodles accompanied by a clear meat or fish-based broth will be at the forefront of 2014 trends.

Check Out: Sushi Star (3.5 stars YELP) 127 King Street E

HOT BREWS If “late-night coffee runs” has more than one meaning to you, then you’ll be pleased to hear that tea is taking over as the hot beverage of choice in 2014. Specialty tea stores have been popping up in shopping malls and collaborating with restaurants for the last year, and the trend is here to stay.

Check Out: Ginger Peach or Lemongrass Rosehip @ Ceylon Tea Bush 218 Locke Street S

ICE CREAM While cupcakes, macaroons and donuts have all had their chance in the spotlight, the tried and true favourite is undergoing a palette makeover. Gourmet ice creams will be more commonplace, along with popup ice cream stores (à la Magnum in Toronto this summer) and decadent ice cream sandwiches.

Check out: Rudy’s Paletas @ The Burnt Tongue 10 Cannon Street E

LOCAL EVERYTHING For the past few years, “local” has been a buzzword in restaurants, super markets and circles of young hipsters. But apparently, 2014 is the year for really implementing local diets and farm fresh cuisine.

Jump on the bandwagon by shopping at your local farmers’ market, or looking into farm to table box programs that deliver local food to your home.

Check out: Hamilton Farm Box deliveries from: Plan B Organic Farms www.planborganicfarms.ca

CAULIFLOWER 2013’s vegetable of the year is still trending, just not quite as much.

Mashed, grilled or baked into meat and wheat dishes, cauliflower will still be widely available on menus across town.

B10

Amanda Watkins LifeStyle Editor @whatthekins

COMFORT FOODS Expect to see more stylized grilled cheese sandwiches and haute hamburgers, as traditional comfort foods get a gourmet makeover. Old-time comfort foods are shacking up with modern ingredients like avocado, shrimp and candied bacon.

Check Out: Macaroni & Cheese ($13) @ Bread Bar (4.5 stars YELP) 258 Locke Street S Grilled Cheese from Heaven ($11) @ Bean Bar (4.5 stars YELP) 1012 King Street W

SOUR BREWS It may not sound appetizing - or even safe to drink - but “sour” beers are a growing trend and are predicted to be appearing in your local liquor stores. Like sourdough bread, sour beers get their name from a fermentation process that allows the active yeast to permeate the brew. Another strong flavour to look for in your hops: alcoholic ginger beer.

Check Out: Panil Barrique Sour ($14.70 for 750mL) Crabbies Alcoholic Ginger Beer ($3.65 for 330 mL)

UMAMI The newest of the five basic tastes, umami is predicted to be found in more diverse foods. The Japanese term translating to “pleasant savoury taste” is usually found in tomatoes, cabbage, shellfish and MSG salts. Look for it in salt blends, sauces and cooked into the growing and popular “umami burger”.

Check out: Umami Salt ($10) @ www.umami.com (LA-based franchise, Umami Burger)

GLUTEN-FREE Gluten is here to not stay. If you thought the celiac-friendly diet trend would have faded away with 2013, you were wrong. Menus and grocery stores will still be actively supplying gluten-free options during 2014.

DONUTS Donuts had their moment in the sun in 2013, but will be drifting into the shadows with 2014. Still available at your favourite bakeries and grocers, gourmet donuts will be ready for purchase throughout the year.

theSil.ca

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

ANDY E-mail: andy@thesil.ca

ndex

Senior Editor: Bahar Orang

Meeting Time: Tuesdays @ 5:30 p.m.

Assistant Editor: Cooper Long

Phone: (905)•525•9140 ext 27117

Contributors: Kacper Niburski, Michael Gallagher, Todd S. Galllows, Lene TrunjerPetersen

Cover: Bahar Orang

coming up in the hammer the casbah •jan 9 the quadrafonics •jan 11 friendlyness & the human rights •jan 14 dana swarbrick •jan 16 3rd Annual McMaster

Oxjam Fundraiser

homegrown hamilton •jan 10 •jan 11 •jan 14 •jan 16

art crawl drum circle teal booth dana swarbrick 3rd Annual McMaster Oxjam Fundraiser

mcmaster 1280 •jan 11 tokyo police club

hollerado aukland

art gallery of hamilton •until jan 12 the spectacle of play •until jan 12 alex colville •first wed. of every month - art @ lunch •third wed. of every month - tour & tea

hamilton artists inc.

•until feb 22 tour China • jan 30 FEAST: dinner & art

and don't forget art crawl on fri. jan.7!

C2

theSil.ca

ANDY

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

C3

EDITORIAL

constructing a new role for the university Cooper Long Assistant ANDY Editor You might not read this fact in any recruitment brochure, but the most distinctive feature of McMaster’s campus is presently a gaping hole in the ground.

This state of affairs will likely persist until September 2015, when construction on L.R. Wilson Hall is scheduled for completion.

Even though the new Humanities building is not yet standing, the emerging superstructure does stand for something. The site symbolizes the convergence of several different kinds of creativity. The engineers who designed the new building and the musicians who will someday perform in its 450-seat concert hall are bound together by their common creative spirit.

I started seeing the girders and concrete forms this way after reading Richard Florida’s The Rise of the Creative Class, Revisited (2012). According to the author, the titular class is a fundamental driver of economic growth and anyone who creates new ideas or engages in complex problem solving is already a member.

Florida also offers a compel-

ling vision of how universities fit into this creative economy.

Although he never specifically mentions Hamilton, Florida’s observation that many cities have transitioned from manufacturing to “meds and eds” sure sounds familiar. Yet Florida cautions that educational institutions should not be viewed as self-contained and inexhaustible economic engines. Universities don’t just “crank out research projects that can be spun off into companies.”

On the contrary, universities have the potential to play a much broader role in growing prosperous communities. By fostering technology, talent and tolerance, universities can contribute to “quality of place.” This encompasses all the characteristics that define a place and make it attractive, from architecture to art crawls.

In this way, Florida argues that universities and their surrounding communities are profoundly interdependent.

Universities bring together talented people who generate new ideas and knowledge. Vibrant communities, in turn, encourage these individuals to pursue their projects locally and attract still more creative types. Thus, the benefit that a university brings to

its community is less a straight line than a self-reinforcing circle.

From this perspective, helping to organize an artist’s talk for the Spotlight on the Arts festival, an activity that improves quality of place, is arguably as important to regional growth and vitality as programming the next Tinder.

Not all of Florida’s theories are so persuasive. He acknowledges that creating quality of place can sometimes resemble gentrification, but fails to elaborate. Furthermore, his concluding argument that all jobs can ultimately be made creative seems like tacked-on panacea for any accusations of elitism. I am also mystified by his guess that “if Bob Dylan were to come along today, his agent would probably send him to the weight room.”

Nevertheless, the model of the university as a “creative hub,” rather than just an assem-

bly line for patents and spin-off companies, remains powerful.

With this in mind, the Wilson Hall construction does not have to be an eyesore for the next year and a half. Rather, the site can be seen as a reminder that all students, regardless of their faculty, are connected by the camaraderie of their creativity and can contribute to a community as vibrant as

the brightly painted slats of the construction fence. @coop_long

the

big

tickle read anything good over the break?

ELIZA POPE / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Shahana H.

Philip M.

Jen L.

A Long Walk to Freedom

by Nelson Mandela

Mere Christianity

by C.S. Lewis

Looking for Alaska

by John Green

Tomi M. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

by Haruki Murakami

Harsimram J. Spotted At Mac

theSil.ca

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

ANDY

Bahar Orang ANDY Editor 2013 was the year that feminism became popular in popular culture. It was also the year that this popularity opened a forum for people to speak, but I was too afraid to.

Even now, it took me several days before I was comfortable with the first sentence of this article. It went a little like this in my head: Should feminism be in quotations, like “feminism”? Maybe that would make it clear that I’m referring to a more colloquial definition of feminism. But no, then it might seem like I’m belittling feminism/“feminism” or questioning its legitimacy or somehow implying that I’m not comfortable enough with the term to allow it full, unadulterated status in my sentence. And I am comfortable with the term.

Except, here I am, qualifying my statement and not for the purpose of clarity. Why do I feel this need to justify, to explain? Why such caution? Miley Cyrus, Beyoncé, Clare Danes, Selena Gomez, and Lorde all declared themselves feminists this past year. So why do I, someone who honestly identified as a feminist before 2013, feel such hesitation?

Maybe I should retrace my steps.

Miley Cyrus’s performance in August released a controversy that could not be stopped (sorry). I remember staying up late into the night reading about her show and feeling pulled in a million directions. People were calling her a slut, they were pleading for her parents to intervene, Kate Winslet was shielding her daughter’s eyes, one writer even insisted that she must be mentally unstable and declared that she probably has an eating disorder. Sinead O’Connor eventually threw in her own two cents. White feminists promptly came running to her rescue, angrily accusing people of merciless slut-shaming. At that point, I finally felt a sense of coherency. I could agree with that.

Miley should be able to do what she wants to (sorry again) with her body.

But upon re-watching the video, it began to feel sickeningly obvious that Miley was being exploited – by Robin Thicke, by the music industry, by a culture that commodifies young girls’ bodies while simultaneously nurturing a horny hatred for them.

Except, what if this half-naked wriggling onstage is what Miley really wants? Who’s to say that she’s been conditioned or fooled into wanting it? Am I allowed to reject, be-

little and patronize her desires by saying that she’s a simply of victim of a larger, brainwashing patriarchal structure? So which was it then? Was she empowered or exploited?

And what of her shameless, racist cultural appropriation? Her white privilege allowed her to casually put on black culture and profit it from it without suffering through and dealing with the oppression that black women must face on a regular basis. She clearly wanted to dispose of Hannah Montana and take on a more mature persona, and for some reason this required black back-up dancers and “home girls with the big butts.” Can I defend Miley from slutshaming while also condemning how she inevitably and selfishly treated black women and black culture as sexual objects? Not to mention that she recently called herself “the biggest feminist in the world,” because she encourages people to do “whatever they want.” As one writer put it, she’s a feminist for basically “YOLO.” Things were less blurry with “Blurred Lines”. No matter how Robin Thicke pleaded that the song was about his wife, his “good girl,” no one could persuade me from the position that the song is hugely problematic. “I know you want it” x 21 = serious victim blaming (i.e. he alludes, regardless of whether it’s intentional or not, to rape and then insists that she wants it). The parodies that followed were hilariously eloquent, but unfortunately the song played on, and in the summer it was more popular than Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky.” Nonetheless, there was considerable backlash and those that lashed were certainly feminists that I could agree with.

Things got complicated again with Rihanna’s “Pour it Up” in October. At first glance, the music video seems to be yet another example of commodification and hyper-sexualition of women’s bodies, and in particular black women’s bodies. But when I read more and thought more and watched it a few more times, some new narratives began to emerge. There were no males in this video; their “gaze” was absent.

The women didn’t appear to be dancing for any audience. So in this case, was Rihanna celebrating the strippers’ abilities as dancers, artists, and athletes? And at times, Rihanna even got to the pole – she aligned herself with those strippers. This to me seemed quite positive and empowering. But then – it came right back to the simple fact that this video, this song, this image – it was a com-

modity. It was a product. And thus, the objectification was inevitable. While there was no audience in the video, there was an audience watching from behind the screen. So what, then? Do I buy into Rihanna’s brand of feminism? Was it all or nothing? Was I allowed to feel so torn?

And with just a few days left in 2013, Beyoncé released a visual album she had somehow kept secret, and my twitter feed effectively lost its shit. The response, or the feminist response, led to my biggest conundrum of all. On the one hand, Beyoncé is fabulous. She sings about sex, claims ownership over her sexuality, flaunts it, celebrates it, and does not apologize for it. She challenges a culture that worships the physicality of White women. She sings passionately and movingly about our obsession with physical perfection. She even samples a TED talk from Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on why we should all be feminists.

She makes feminism accessible and offers a powerful idea to an audience that may not necessarily watch such talks or go to women’s studies classes or be regularly exposed to feminist discourses. Her feminism isn’t academic, it’s a down-to-earth kind of feminism that many people can relate to – that I can relate to. And her music, the story, and the visuals are gorgeous and refreshing and exciting in a world of relentlessly stale and uncreative pop music.

And yet.

While denouncing our society’s obsession with physical beauty, she, almost incessantly, displays her own beauty. Sure, she can’t help being beautiful but she can help the way that beauty is presented. So is she celebrating her beauty or is she contradicting her own lyrics? And what about when Jay-Z sings: “Catch a charge, I might, beat the box up like Mike” and “Baby know I don’t play…I’m Ike Turner…now eat the cake Anna Mae.” This is a reference to Ike Turner and Tina Turner’s abusive marriage, and the incident where he Ike forced Tina (a.k.a Anna Mae) to “eat cake” by smashing it in her face. How can I possibly excuse his glorification of an abusive relationship? Can I give ignore her husband, who’s singing beside her on her own album, in an attempt to defend her view of feminism?

I believe that I have been asking the wrong questions. And most of what I have read has been declaring the wrong things.

There are two conclusions I can come to:

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1. There are many different aspects, representations, and interpretations of feminism. It will differ based on ethnicity, sexual orientation, class, and a whole plethora of other experiences and identities.

2. So instead of rejecting or accepting or debating whether an artist is feminist, whether they should be allowed to call themselves a feminist, it may be more meaningful to instead look closely into what kind of feminism they represent.

I don’t think anyone should get a “free pass” – especially not Beyoncé or Miley Cyrus. But I think I can accept and celebrate all their brands of feminism while also examining, unpacking and discussing those versions. They’re probably all right and wrong at the same time. But perhaps those are not helpful distinctions to make. They haven’t been helpful to me at least.

They’ve made me afraid of being the “wrong” kind of feminist.

So let’s keep talking and questioning as we move forwards in 2014. Maybe feminism has simply become profitable which is why so many celebrities are now embracing or at least exploring those perspectives. While this may seem cynical, I still believe that it’s making space for conversation. And I don’t want to silence myself anymore from fear of doing or saying the wrong thing. I’m sure I have and will make unfair assumptions, ignore important topics, and forget to check my privilege. I am a feminist, but I am also human. I am willing and happy and wanting to engage in conversations that will help me question the culture that’s around me, while also questioning myself. And in those conversations, I hope I can both listen and speak. @baharoh

theSil.ca Thaddeus Awotunde The Silhouette The Wolf of Wall Street Director: Martin Scorsese As directors age, the venom, panache and originality that fuels their work often begins to dwindle.

With The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese shows that at 71, he’s not going down without a fight. It’s a film that takes a spectacular look at the culture of American excess.

It’s his best black comedy since After Hours.

Based on the memoir of former stockbroker Jordan Belfort, the film chronicles his exploits in a world rife with fraud, swindling, money laundering, sex, drugs, sex, alcohol, sex, drugs, sex, a bit of violence, some more drugs and some more sex. The film had cut some

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Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014 portions just to skirt an NC-17 rating, if that gives you any idea.

Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) starts off as a young, smart and ambitious stockbroker in the late 1980s whose mentor Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey) quickly alters his priorities. In short, “Greed is good. Whether the client makes money doesn’t matter.

It just matters that we do.” Also, lots of drugs get you through the day.

Belfort takes this to heart, and over time starts his own firm, gets filthy rich, employs trustworthy and equally hungry friends such as Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill) and trades in his old wife for a newer, hotter model (Margot Robbie).

Their time off work – and often during work – is spent tossing dwarves onto dartboards, having wild parties, $26,000 dinners – literally throwing money in the

garbage while dodging federal investigators.

Clocking in at nearly three hours, the film maintains a kinetic energy. Scorsese borrows from his old bag of tricks using narrative and editing elements which harken back to Goodfellas, yet keeps it fresh. The biggest strength of this film is its sense of humour. From nearly beginning to end, it crackles with razor-sharp dialogue, insane banter and many darkly comic situational jokes.

The tone does take a sturdy shift towards the end, and a particular joke involving Quaaludes goes on far too long, but other than that, every moment is captivating.

I laughed more than I have at any film in a long time.

Viewed through the wrong lens, this could be seen as vapid.

However, it’s a thoughtful examina-

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tion of a culture of vapid individuals.

A decade and a half ago, Leonardo was reportedly considered for the part of Patrick Bateman in the film adaptation of American Psycho. The Wolf of Wall Street is certainly reminiscent of American Psycho. Like a Bret Easton Ellis novel, and really, any unapologetic black comedy, the goal is to submerge the viewer in the depraved culture, rather than didactically tell us what’s wrong about it. The satire comes from the absurdity, the sense of injustice the viewer may feel by the end, while also making them take a look at their own lives. How many viewers would not mind having a piece of the pie, which would inevitably plunge them into the same bubble of excess and moral turpitude?

theSil.ca

some things andy saw this break (and liked) andy reviews:

12 years a slave frozen the wolf of wall street

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Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014 Sarah O’Conner Staff Reporter Frozen Director: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee Like many of Disney’s fairy-tale adaptations, Frozen is far from being an accurate retelling of one of Hans Christian Anderson’s most well known fairytales, The Snow Queen. Even the two main characters from the original story, Gerda and Kai, are reduced to servants in the film who add nothing to the story (I didn’t even know they existed until I read the credits).

But it’s pointless to mourn the original fairytale when watching the Disney version, instead accept it for what it is: something almost entirely new with faint inspirations from a traditional tale.

The film opens when protagonists princesses Anna (Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel) are children. They wake up one summer night with the desire to build a snowman. While this may seem a strange and impossible request, it is soon revealed that Anna’s older sister Elsa was born with the powers to create snow and ice.

As the sisters play in the snow, things get out of hand when Elsa accidently hits Anna in the head with ice.

Lene Trimjer-Peterson The Silhouette 12 Years a Slave Driector: Steve McQueen On March 2, the annual Academy Awards will bring the stars together to celebrate yet another ‘bestof-the-best’ film-year for 2013.

The prestigious Best Picture Oscar nominations will be announced on January 16 and so far, the film 12 Years a Slave is predicted to be a guaranteed nominee, if not winner. The film has already won People’s Choice Award at the Tiff and is one of the best films I’ve seen in a long time.

12 Years a Slave is based on the autobiography written by Solomon Northup in 1853. Northup was a free African-American New Yorker, who in 1841 was kidnapped and sold as a slave in New Orleans. At that time, kidnapping of African people was common-

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Afraid for her sister’s life, Elsa wakes up her parents and the royal family goes into the forest to find a group of trolls who can heal Anna’s head. But a side effect of the trolls’ remedies is that Anna no longer remembers Elsa’s power to create snow and ice. The elder troll warns the family that Elsa’s power will only grow stronger. In an attempt to keep the younger sisters safe, they decide to lock the castle gates and keep Elsa away from Anna.

Years pass and the sister’s relationship becomes strained, with Elsa trying to hide her growing powers and Anna persistently trying to reconnect with her sister.

After the sudden death of their parents, Elsa becomes Queen and Anna hopes to rekindle her bond with her sister, though the sisters still don’t see eye to eye.

Elsa’s snow powers are accidently revealed when she creates a blizzard that freezes the kingdom.

Elsa runs away to the mountains to keep the kingdom safe from her powers (unaware of the blizzard to come) and Anna goes searching for her. Anna leaves her fiancé Prince Hans (Santino Fontana) in charge and seeks help from Kristoff (Jonathon Groff) and his reindeer pal Sven. Anna sets off to find her sister and end the winter

she has accidentally created.

The singing was fantastic and Idina Menzel gave a chilling performance of Elsa’s “villain” song “Let It Go.” The animation was phenomenal; one of the best moments of the film was watching Elsa build her ice castle, a truly beautiful scene, which makes the audience feel as if they are actually inside the expanding structure But Frozen isn’t without its faults. Though little, the flaws do make the story less convincing.

For example, Anna somehow knows Kristoff ’s name without ever being introduced. And while the story does explain that Elsa was born with her powers, there are no reasons given for these abilities. Why was Elsa born with the snow powers while no one else in her family has any powers at all?

Nonetheless, Frozen is one of Disney’s best animated films. The focus on familial love as opposed to romantic love is certainly a refreshing theme and I hope they continue to explore new ideas instead of the “true love’s kiss” motif. We’ve certainly had enough of that. Frozen suggests that at least in this respect, Disney is no longer frozen in time.

place, and Northup was one of the few people who were freed. The film tells the unsettling story of Northup’s 12 years, where he was a slave at several different plantations while somehow maintaining hope of seeing his family again.

The British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor portrays Northup with an intensity that makes 12 Years a Slave both authentic and moving. Northup is the kind of man who will not give in to despair and give up on his old life. He has a certain dignity about him that even the plantation owners cannot see past, which eventually becomes his greatest weakness.

Northup receives a violin from his first plantation owner, which becomes a symbol for his struggle to maintain his identity. But when Northup is forced to whip the slave-girl Eliza, portrayed by Adepero Oduye, the fragile self-image cracks – and so does the violin.

Michael Fassbender’s portrayal of

the drunken slave-owner Edwin Epps is both powerful and disturbing.

Just as the acting is remarkable, the cinematography is breathtaking. The beautiful scenes of nature starkly contrast the brutality of slavery, the loss of human rights and the struggle to maintain your identity in the face of violent injustice. It is the pure genius of British director Steve McQueen to address the conflict through the visual elements. This film isn’t meant to coddle you.

Its brutality even made me cry (which rarely happens). The film is a historical drama that forces the audience to reflect upon not only a man’s struggle for freedom and a sense of self, but on the consequences racism and the complexity of friendship.

theSil.ca

COMMUNITY ACES FIRST TEST

Kacper Niburski Opinions Editor I’ve never been one for zombie series but when I heard that Community was coming back for a fifth season, I prepared a rise-ofthe-undead-kit.

On paper, the show should have wilted into television death ages ago. Season three saw the loss of Dan Harmon and a series of public catfights between Chevy Chase (Pierce on the show) and the director, Harmon. The fourth season was born from this tumult. In the chaos and unrest, the show soon devolved into a slaughterhouse of comedy: each episode was caught on an automatic conveyor belt that was hurtling towards a blunt, gear-squealing meat-grinder. No matter the screams and furious backtracking, the cash cow of a series was a bloody mess.

Though the characters were still the same and though Greendale was still Greendale with its cartoon-like reality and improbable plots, the fourth season’s episodes could never mesh. Any movement seemed like a botched homage to the show’s past; any attempt at a hijinks felt rushed and premature. Everything was

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Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014

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Michael Gallagher The Silhouette Because the Internet Artist: Childish Gambino

steeped in the show’s darkest timeline, including Community itself. Something always appeared to be amiss, despite the efforts of everyone on the cast, the talent behind the scenes, and the recycling of previous plot devices.

So as I sat down on Jan. 2 for the episodes, I prepared for the worst: my zombie-kit was beside me. In it, I had ready-made popcorn, a battalion of tissues, and a little bit of alcohol just in case I needed help getting through the horror show.

And yet there were laughs instead of grumbles, smiles instead of tears. The impossible had happened. Community was back, and this time it really, really was.

Under the aegis of Harmon’s renewed creativity, the two episodes scaled back to their origins. “Repilot” and “An Introduction to Teaching” flashed a brilliance that gave the show its name in the first place. In fact, “Repilot” kicks off the dirt of season four by mirroring the first pilot episode ever aired – the crestfallen Jeff Winger (played Joel McHale) gets help by an old acquaintance, unassumingly brings together a beloved but fickle study group, tears them apart through wild lies, and then by

The “actor-writer-rapper” gig was cool until all of Donald Glover’s talents got muddled into one very confusing concept album. Paired with a stream of social media confessions, a short film and eventually a 75-page four-act screenplay, Because the Internet is a classic example of too much style and not enough substance. While art across multiple mediums can sometimes make an idea more coherent or more moving, in the case of Gambino’s most recent album, the extra baggage only highlights the record’s inability to stand alone from the rest of his material, and leaves the listener with a confusing 57-minutes.

Gambino has talent. His first effort Culdesac, was a transparent and deeply personal record. It showcased his darker emotions and contextualized his diverse artistic environments. His follow-up Camp represented an improvement in all aspects of his craft, with smarter lyrics, better flow, and more interesting production.

Unfortunately, Because the Internet seems to have halted Glover’s stressprogression, replacing it with occasionally stale production, and a flow that ing favours speed over content. little, Too often Internet’s songs abandon conventional verse-chorus strucworn ture, and instead ramble between a strange fusion of trap production, and domestic dizzying stops and starts. Songs like “3005” show that the album could truths, have been great – classic Gambino – but instead, these songs are folhelps lowed by “Flying with the Navigator” which forces the listener to sift himself and through the strange, spoken-word style of a distorted Gambino, and the group slow arpeggios of a guitar. All of it feels pretentious and unnecesreassemble sary. their shambled Thankfully, “Sweatpants,” “Crawl,” and “3005” are among together lives. some of the tracks that help stabilize the album, and give It is almost like fans what they wanted. While it may not be perfect, a dream. In season five, fans of Childish Gambino should still give Because we are caught in a beginthe Internet a try, if only to hear those tracks. ning of a beginning, an end of an end. And unlike season four, it is not a nightmare. The repetition is purposeful. The blemishes of season four are adroitly dealt with. It is a fiveseason cycle. We are spun backwards and forwards and backwards again.

There is no telling when we’ll have to wake up from this dream and when the show will soil this newly found honeymoon period. Who knows – maybe in the next few episodes the luster of the old will fail, they’ll Britta the whole thing, and all the hype around the fifth season will be

blamed on a gas spill.

Or maybe none of that’ll happen and the truncated fifth season will keep the “pop, pop” until there are six seasons and a movie. @kacpnibs