THE Varsity
Vol. CXXXII, No. 2
University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880
T-shirts, travel mugs, and campus politics. There’s more to your frosh kit than meets the eye. see page 3
15 August, 2011
CONTENTS
Irish novelist Paul Murray talks literary homicide and hacking 300 pages off his novel Skippy Dies see page 9
Colleges and UTSU have to learn to play nice and work together. Here’s why.
Ever wondered about the evolution of those things we put on our feet? No, not socks. Try unlacing the shoe’s 10,000 year history.
Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto — Oh wait, you’re not a Mr.!
Toronto might be getting an NFL team. Varsity men’s football coach Greg Gary explains the impact on our very own Blues.
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Five colleges opt out of UTSU frosh kits Decision could aggravate relationship between union and colleges Sarah Taguiam Five colleges and faculties are purchasing their own frosh kits this year instead of ordering customary ones from UTSU. Caused by unresolved complaints, the move threatens to worsen the rift between the union and some colleges and faculties during the coming academic year. Non-UTSU kits will be distributed to 3,500 first-year students from Innis, St. Michael’s, Trinity and University colleges and the engineering faculty; while 4,000 students from Victoria and New college, the physical education and music faculties and UTM will receive the standard UTSU kits. Woodsworth, a large college that often has separate services, has made separate arrangements for its 800 frosh. Organized by Trinity orientation co-chair Sachin Kumar, the new kits cost $6.27 whereas UTSU ones cost $5.93. Both include a laundry bag, water bottle, travel mug and blue t-shirt, but while Kumar’s shirts sport the U of T trademark, UTSU’s logo is printed on theirs. Asked whether she knows what provoked the change, UTSU President Danielle Sandhu admitted she only has “some ideas. “We haven’t gotten a consistent answer [and] there is no issue that has been shared with us that would reflect why divisions wouldn’t purchase the kits.” Kumar insisted he and other orientation leaders have made their reasons clear in monthly meetings. One reason being cited is politically motivated material found in previous UTSU frosh kits. “Incoming students want to be proud of their school [and] happy that they’re here [but] the first thing they see [are] … posters bashing [U of T President] David Naylor. We just didn’t find that it was conducive to a university-type spirit,” explained Danni Chu, University College’s orientation co-chair. Other items that have reportedly elicited negative feedback from students were flyers promoting Israeli Apartheid Week. Chu also cited complaints from previous freshmen that the frosh kits did not promote a unified U of T spirit. “A lot of the stuff that was put in the UTSU kits … were UTSU things versus U of T things, which we also felt didn’t promote as much school spirit as it did UTSU’s spirit, and that’s not really what we wanted from frosh week,” said Chu. To display a sense of unity, Kumar
Bernarda Gospic/The Varsity
ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
It seems that information and experiences from the past are passed down to current leaders and [it] may be affecting some of the decisions. What happened in previous years shouldn’t affect what’s happening in the current year. Danielle Sandhu UTSU President
proposed getting new shirts with the U of T logo printed on them. “I thought it’ll be really cool if we can all throw on U of T shirts and have a massive parade but UTSU immediately shut the idea down,” he stated. But UTSU is alarmed that not all students will have access to relevant campus information. “Wearing a U of T shirt during frosh is not really that important because what’s more important is having access to the information,” said Sandhu, noting that only UTSU kits include a full list of campus clubs and organizations. “Unfortunately those who are not receiving our kits would have to go through different places and do lots of their own research to get involved,” she added. Kumar said that he did the best he can to gather the information of all the student groups. “I made a conscious effort to contact as many clubs that I know from the different colleges [and faculties].
Whether I have included every single club that exists, probably not realistically, but I offered it out there through as much media I can think of.” Sandhu thinks that the issue surrounding the kits might be influenced by the conflict between UTSU and some colleges in previous years. “It seems that information and experiences from the past are passed down to current leaders and [it] may be affecting some of the decisions. What happened in previous years shouldn’t affect what’s happening in the current year,” stressed Sandhu, who called for all student groups to work together. Kumar hopes that the situation will not aggravate the relationship between the union and the other colleges. “We have our issues with UTSU but this shouldn’t be a big deal and they should be able to respect that,” he said. “I did what I did for the students and at the end of the day I’m happy to wear my [U of T] shirt with 3,500 of them.” With files from Natalie Sequeira
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Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief editor@thevarsity.ca Tom Cardoso Design Editor Anamarija Korolj design@thevarsity.ca Photo Editor Bernarda Gospic photo@thevarsity.ca Online Editor Sam Bowman online@thevarsity.ca News Editor Dylan C. Robertson news@thevarsity.ca Comment Editor Alex Ross comment@thevarsity.ca Arts & Entertainment Editor Ariel Lewis arts@thevarsity.ca Features Editor Erene Stergiopoulos features@thevarsity.ca Science Editor Bianca Lemus Lavarreda science@thevarsity.ca Sports Editor Murad Hemmadi sports@thevarsity.ca Associate Design Editor Vacant Associate Photo Editor Vacant Associate Online Editor Patrick Love Associate News Editor Sarah Taguiam Associate Comment Editor Vacant Associate A&E Editors Brigit Katz Assunta Alegiani Associate Features Editor Vacant Associate Science Editor Vacant Associate Sports Editors Vacant Copy Editors Maayan Adar Betina Alonso Bethany Babinchak Paul Bucci Bernarda Gospic Murad Hemmadi Bianca Lemus Lavarreda Ariel Lewis Alex Ross
U of T Muslims observe Ramadan Fasting both challenging and liberating Dalana Parris VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR The ninth month of the Islamic calendar, Ramadan, is celebrated as a time for prayer, fasting, and reflection. Considered the most holy of months, Ramadan remembers the revealing of Muslim scriptures, the Qu’ran, to the Prophet Muhammad. The Islamic calendar is based on lunar cycles, and this year Ramadan coincides with the month of August. For 30 days from dawn until dusk, Muslims abstain from consuming all food and drink, committing to a test of spiritual discipline. Fasting represents a pledge of the body and soul to the purification and reverence of the mind. It enables reflection and religious devotion, but also community building and charitable service. Those who fast begin with a suhoor meal before sunrise and break their fast with an iftar dinner after sunset. Iftar is usually taken in a communal setting where those assembled break their fast together. As a period of self-examination and reflection, Ramadan enables Muslims to further open their eyes and hearts to the misfortune of others. Fasting encourages compassion and sympathy for those less fortunate, such as the victims of famine in East Africa and others who suffer around the world. Many participate in initiatives to help those in need. The Muslim Students’ Association (MSA)
is one of the oldest student groups in Canada, and one of the largest at U of T. Each campus has an MSA that aims to provide Muslim students with religious accommodation, halal dietary options and social support. They host and sponsors events and community outreach programs. Sarhan, spokesperson of UTM’s MSA, describes the organization as “a dynamic avenue to collaborate with other student clubs on shared academic, economic, political and moral goals.” This Ramadan, MSAs are hosting weekly iftar dinners in association with other student groups as fundraising opportunities. Aisha Raja, VP social advancement for St. George campus’ MSA describes iftar as “a good time to reunite with friends over Ramadan and especially great for international students on campus” who are looking to celebrate. Raja welcomes all students to attend, regardless of religious background, as the MSA “is a fun and inclusive organization.” MSAs co-ordinate events and volunteer initiatives throughout the year and welcome new volunteers. The St. George chapter was recognized by UTSU for successfully fundraising for an orphan sponsorship program. The group publishes The Muslim Voice magazine, while UTSC’s MSA publishes The Message newsletter. Every Friday each MSA hosts Jumu’aa prayers to which all are welcome. Each campus MSA also hosts frosh events for new students.
Designers Maayan Adar Yasi Eftekhari Mushfiq Ul Huq Jenny Kim Suzy Nevins
Contributors Shoaib Alli, Betina Alonso, Patrick Baud, Simon Bredin, Zakia Chowdhury, Nat Cooper, Tanya Debi, Sherine Ensan, Murad Hemmadi, Andrew Johnson, Demi Lee, Ariel Lewis, Laura Kathleen Maize, Heather Maughan, Dalana Parris, Anastassia Pogoutse, Regine Taduran, Sarah Taguiam, Jakob Tanner, Aldrin Taroy, Akihito Tse, Fiona Tran, David Woolley
Board of Directors Chief Executive Officer Paul Humphrey ceo@thevarsity.ca Chief Financial Officer cfo@thevarsity.ca Vacant Chief Operations Officer Matthew D. H. Gray coo@thevarsity.ca Editor-in-Chief editor@thevarsity.ca Tom Cardoso Board Members Lauren Ash (St. George) Jessica Denyer (St. George) Matthew D. H. Gray (St. George) Paul Humphrey (St. George) Ariel Lewis (Staff) Andrew Rusk (Staff) Erene Stergiopoulos (Masthead) Vacant (UTSC) Vacant (UTM) Vacant (ProFac) Vacant (ProFac) Vacant (ProFac) Business Manager Arlene Lu business@thevarsity.ca Advertising Executives Vacant ads@thevarsity.ca Ad Designer addesign@thevarsity.ca Vacant The Varsity is the University of Toronto's largest student newspaper, publishing since 1880. The Varsity has a circulation of 20,000, and is published by Varsity Publications, Inc. It is printed by Master Web Inc. on recycled newsprint stock. Content © 2011 by The Varsity. All rights reserved. Any editorial inquiries and/or letters should be directed to the sections associated with them; emails listed above. The Varsity reserves the right to edit all submissions. Inquiries regarding ad sales can be made to ads@thevarsity.ca ISSN: 0042-2789
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On August 7, U of T’s Blue Sky Solar Racing Team presented their sixth-generation solar racing car. The team is travelling to Australia in October to participate in the World Solar Challenge, tasked with building the world’s fastest and safest solar racing car. The car’s average speed is 80 km/h but can reach 140 km/h, which will help as they face over 20 countries on the 3000km race from Darwin to Adelaide.
UTM raises money for Somali famine relief Canadian government matching donations until Sept. 16 Jakob Tanner VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR Drought-ridden Somalia was declared to be in a state of famine last month by the United Nations. In response, the Muslim Students’ Association at UTM has partnered with UTMSU to start a relief campaign, collecting money to help with starvation. The campaign runs from August 2 to 15. “At this moment the drought has affected all of East Africa, and the UN has just declared that five regions have been worse hit in Africa, Somalia being one of them,” said Saleha Faruque, UTMMSA community services director. “As many people know, this is the month of Ramadan, where Muslims will take one month out of the whole year to fast. Part of fasting is to try and feel and understand what those less fortunate feel today, which is not having enough food or water to drink, and that is exactly what is happening in East Africa. We thought this was the perfect opportunity to raise money for this tragic event.” The two groups are associated with the charity Islamic Relief. “The UTMSU came up with the idea,” said Faruque. “[They] decided to use the Islamic Relief charity simply because it takes the lowest admission costs.” Beyond collecting money at CCT Building and Davis Building, the groups have set up a donation box at a nearby mosque, where there will also be a charity dinner. “So whoever would want to donate could just go to the dinner, buy dinner, and your contribution would go to the East African relief fund,” said Faruque, adding that the group is planning a movie- or sports-related fundraising event for campus students. “We do have a few good ideas to help bring some money beyond just setting up in the south building and collecting donations.” “We don’t necessarily have a goal. We do believe it is the thought and effort that counts,” said Faruque. “We are mainly trying to raise awareness. Even if someone [could not afford the donation but still passed] it on to someone who could, that would be great.” “It’s important that we do whatever we can to help out with this cause,” said Ruba El-Kadri, event organizer and UTMSU VP equity. “It’s unfortunate and upsetting that the international community hasn’t taken a stronger stance on the issue. Millions of people could potentially die as a result of this drought, and yet this story rarely, if ever, makes the front page of the news.” Students who want to launch similar initiatives should contact campus or college unions and groups. The Canadian government is matching all donations made before September 16. St. George campus’ MSA is holding an iftar fundraiser for Somalia on August 26 at 7:30 p.m. at the MultiFaith Centre. Tickets are $15 for U of T Students and $25 for others.
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Internet Archive Canada branch cuts 75% of staff Robarts-based operation faces lack of funding, downsizes. Simon Bredin VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR The Canadian division of the Internet Archive is laying off up to 75 per cent of its staff this week. The group, run out of a small office on the seventh floor of Robarts Library, has uploaded nearly 350,000 texts to www.archive.org, one of the world’s largest digital archives. But since initial grant money to start the project in 2003 has been spent, and no new donors have been forthcoming, the project has been forced to downsize drastically. “We always knew that it was going to slow down at some point, because of the issues surrounding funding such a large scanning center,” said Jonathan Bengtson, director of library and archives for U of T. Since it started in 2004, the core funding for the project has been provided by the university. A partnership between the Internet Archive and Microsoft — for their Live Search Books service — later bolstered this with a grant. When that money ran out in 2008, the office was funded through a series of arrangements and grants with the Canadian Knowledge Research Network. Under these agreements, the university uploaded materials for open access, based on requests from partner organizations. The project broadened its scope, documenting specialized collections. However, widespread financial difficulties facing Canadian universities mean such funding may no longer be available. Those involved with the project are not optimistic funding will ever be restored to prior levels – currently around $100,000 per month, soon to be reduced to $30,000. Though the office had initially experimented with automated scanning robots, the machines were unable to adapt to the wide variety of manuscripts and books. In 2005,
the Internet Archive developed their own machines called Scribes, equipped with two high-resolution digital cameras poised above a v-shaped desk. These machines require human operators to turn the pages, meaning that they are more expensive to run than automated robots, but can handle fragile texts. An experienced operator can turn and scan two pages every six seconds, but layoffs mean the number of operators will drop from 27 down to 11. Output is expected to drop significantly, from current levels of around 1,500 books a month to 250. Gabe Juszel, the director of the Canadian office, said his staff “are from all walks of life: film makers, copy editors, artists, some folks pursuing their masters of library science degree.” Despite the occasionally monotonous work, Juszel says many of his staff have been working at the office for several years. He believes the high retention rate stems from the appeal of “walking into a top academic institution and making the world a better place, one page at a time.” Even after the downsizing, he adds, the Robarts location is “the only mass center in Canada — we are the biggest and the best.” Despite the looming cuts to staff, which will be officially processed on August 12, the Canadian office has performed admirably over the years. “Unlike our American counterparts in California, which very quickly downsized, ceased their mass digitization entirely, or transferred operations to Google Books [whose digitization effort has been since been stalled by legal troubles], our office has remained disproportionately large,” said Bengtson. The scanning centre at U of T has contributed some of the most widely downloaded texts to the online library, ranging from a tenth-century medieval manuscript to a 1766 edition of the first English dictionary.
News in Brief PhD student crowdsources Fishbook
U of T offers cheap plastic surgery
U of T team takes a flush at the loo
Ex-prof: “house negro” not a racist term
Devin Bloom never expected to be checking his Facebook feed while researching the fish species of Guyana’s Cuyuni River. However, Bloom, a full-time researcher and PhD candidate at UTSC, found social media to be his most valuable tool when it came to identifying the river’s 5,000 different fish species. The purpose of the survey, led by Dr. Brian Sidlauskas, assistant professor of fisheries at Oregon State University, was to inventory fish species for the Guyanese government. The team collected more samples than they had time to identify, and so Bloom consulted Facebook. His network of friends, many of whom hold PhDs in ichthyology, tagged the photos he uploaded, and in less than 24 hours, 90 percent of the fish were identified. Fish in the area are endangered by ecological degradation from gold mining operations, where increasing sedimentation and the release of elemental mercury is directly affecting food chains. In his results, Bloom says that the diversity and abundance were discouragingly low, which “isn’t good news for the region.”
Patients needing cosmetic procedures can get plastic surgery at a discounted rate through the Academic Training Program at U of T’s Division of Plastic Surgery. The division operates out of the 199 Avenue Road hospital, in the office of Dr. Tom Bell, an internationally recognized Canadian cosmetic surgeon. The program was founded in 1986 as an apprenticeship program for medical doctors in their final year of plastic surgery residency. The program’s mandate is “to provide training in plastic surgery, especially cosmetic surgery, and to provide affordable aesthetic surgery to the community.” It was modelled after a similar program at the University of Toronto’s School of Dentistry. Dr. Bell and his colleagues oversee ATP residents on a compulsory four-month rotation as a pre-requisite for their final exams at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, the governing body that issue surgical certificates. They also mentor senior fellows who want to extend their training beyond the requisite residency. Discounts of up to 70 per cent on the prices of procedures act as an incentive for patients to have plastic surgery done by apprentices.
Reinvent the Toilet Challenge, an international initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has universities worldwide looking to come up with sustainable sanitation solutions for developing countries across the globe. A U of T faculty has made the top eight. The challenge calls for designing an off-thegrid toilet that runs independently of public utilities such as electricity, sewage systems, and running water. The toilet must be selfcontained, with human waste going in and clean water coming out. A cost limit of five U.S. cents per user per day must be also met. The Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering at U of T was awarded over $400,000 as one of the eight schools chosen to participate in the initiative. Chemistry professor Yu-Ling Cheng, who will be leading the project, hopes to develop a prototype and conduct field tests in Bangladesh within the next year to ensure her team’s ideas are workable. Currently, there are 2.6 billion people globally who do not have access to affordable sanitation, resulting in the spread of water-borne diseases such as cholera and dysentery. —Sherine Ensan
Fired University of Ottawa professor Denis Rancourt is being sued for $1 million by a former colleague for “offensive, racist, and defamatory” statements on his blog, according to the Ottawa Citizen. Rancourt had described law professor Joanne St. Lewis’ relationship with university president Allan Rock as that of a “house negro.” St. Lewis, who is black, filed a statement of claim, saying the words implied she “acted in a servile manner toward Allan Rock (a white male) and the University of Ottawa,” that she “supports racism,” and “lacks integrity.” Rancourt told Carleton University student paper The Charlatan that the term’s meaning is “accepted by scholars and historians.” “I am not in any way attacking [St. Louis’] character. I’m making a statement about a specific report she wrote,” he said, alleging that the legal action is intended to punish, intimidate and silence him. Rancourt was fired from the university’s physics department in 2009 after a number of controversies. —Zakia Chowdhury
With files from UTSC communications and the Toronto Star —Akihito Tse
With files from The Globe and Mail —Regine Taduran
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The girls of gaming A female gamer reflects on the treatment of women who play videogames Betina Alonso VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
While doing research for this article, I find a picture of a girl, presumably a “gamer girl,” licking an XBox controller. The message seems to be, of course, that she loves playing videogames, and this is the manner in which she chooses to express her appreciation for her console. A statement of appreciation for an Xbox by a dude, by comparison, would be seen as highly banal, and, if accompanied by the gesture of sticking out his tongue onto greasy hard plastic, perceived as a bit ridiculous, not to mention unsanitary. Wikipedia has an article for “Girl Gamers,” and Urban Dictionary also contains a definition for the term — because “girl” and “gamer,” it seems, aren’t clear enough for those most resistant to grasping the notion of an individual of female persuasion shooting her way through enemy mercenaries in Mass Effect 2. It might be inexplicable to some, then, that in the Mass Effect series and most of BioWare’s games, the
player’s character can be either female or male. According to BioWare statistics, only about 20% of players choose a female version of Mass Effect’s protagonist Commander Shepard — most promotional material for the game features the standard male Shepard avatar. Nevertheless, if BioWare’s social network is any indication, there are plenty of women adventuring in the rich universes of BioWare’s absorbing RPGs and writing plenty of creepy fanfic about the romance options. Similar gender choices are available on Bethesda and Blizzard games. It is estimated 40% of gamers are women, and that number is increasing. Despite all the minor nuisances, being a female gamer is not an entirely frustrating experience. I have been able, thus far, to play my gender in most games I’ve tried. And, as most female gamers will tell you, playing a man isn’t always an issue. I don’t mind playing Mario. What is most frustrating about single-player remains, for a fair share of us, the pink-wrapped girlie games at GameStop, which allow you to do thoroughly exciting things like taking
care of a baby or folding the laundry. The damsel-in-distress narrative also remains fairly popular. But those options can be ignored. And of course, the charming Duke Nukem Forever, which, among many other things, features an alien that rapes women to death. Defence of the game’s sexism contains some powerful arguments, such as the apparent need of male gamers to be misogynistic. As most female gamers of the “girl gamer” variety who try to create a rather dull appeal based on having a hobby associated with males, however, I remain rather aware of the fascination my hobby attracts nevertheless. And that’s only in single-player. When playing online, it seems every identity that deviates from white, straight, and male is liable to be bullied, usually with the corresponding inflammatory slurs. Though some games, like a few Call of Duty titles, are set in World War II, it is safe to say that most players are not expecting that level of immersion into the mid20th century. In the case of female gamers, it is no different. Experiences of females
playing online are recounted in the blog Fat, Ugly or Slutty, in which female gamers narrate the numerous threats, insults, and obscene comments thrown at them in online gaming. The title is based on the three most common insults directed at the website’s creators, all of whom are women and gamers. Otherwise, females circulating through certain environments, especially the more testosterone-filled (for whatever reason) first-person shooters, should expect to be hit on fairly constantly. The perception seems to be that gamer women have nothing better to do than date everyone in their clan/guild/group, which helps explain the existence of titillating pictures involving scantily clad females mooching on hardware, and the general mystique surrounding “girl” gamers. Now, to be clear: it is rare for gamers to go through certain networks without being told to lick someone’s balls. It seems nevertheless that only those in positions of structural privilege can go through the experience without having their identities insulted be-
cause some teenage boy can’t stand to be killed. The attitudes toward these issues on gamer websites range from genuine sympathy and concern to cries telling women, as well as other minorities, to simply get over it. The conclusion that follows is that both gaming websites and multiplayer networks share the same audience. Though I wish to be known as a gamer first, and a female second, rather than a “girl gamer,” I can’t help but understand with the reasons many choose to create and participate in more friendly all-female realms. Some also choose to hide their own gender, something that is less straightforward on the Internet than it seems. Which is not so different from male-only environments in the physical world. Gaming is for many men a refuge, a virtual world in which they are able to act out and where their prejudices apparently are allowed to be aired. Considering their roots in very real oppression, nevertheless, that world evidently does not exist in a vacuum. And that’s why I can’t just get over it.
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A campus divided When the colleges and UTSU refuse to work together, everyone loses. It’s vaguely amusing to imagine a beige canvas bag as the source of political debate on campus. This year, five orientation groups — Innis, St. Mike’s, Trinity, University College and Engineering — have decided to distribute their own frosh kits, instead of purchasing or distributing the customary kits provided by the University of Toronto Students’ Union. In doing so, they’ve set off the latest in a series of debates that have engrossed U of T campus politicians and ideologues for years. This might all seem a bit strange to incoming first-year students: why would the colleges opt out of kits provided by UTSU? The answer is, of course, complicated. It’s hardly a new problem. Initiatives such as the Student Commons project or UTSU’s move to join the Canadian Federation of Students have previously polarized opinions
College councils do not exist to obviate UTSU, and UTSU does not exist in spite of these councils. Things need to be better this year.
on campus regarding the role of the union. Recent elections have seen slates organized around the question of UTSU’s priorities: should the union maintain its current political engagement and activist initiatives, or shift instead to a more internal approach, focusing almost exclusively on events and services? This question has led to a growing colleges-vs.-UTSU division on campus. Worse yet, over the last three years, each cycle of college councillors and UTSU executives has had to deal with the inherited resentments of their predecessors. This corroding relationship between college councils and UTSU has begun to manifest itself in several ways. A few years ago, the St. George Round Table was formed as an avenue for informal discussion and collaboration between college presidents, and its constitution
notably excluded UTSU, denying union executives speaking rights. Last year, the Trinity College Meeting — Trinity College’s student government — began publicly discussing the idea of “defederating” — in effect, seceding from UTSU. College orientation heads have pointed to promotional and activist material in UTSU’s kits as one of the main reasons for opting out and distributing their own. As a result, however, college-built kits actually cost 34 cents more per unit than their UTSU equivalent, an amount paid for with college levies. Though a seemingly inconsequential amount (in total, college kits will cost each of the five orientation groups $238 more on average than if they had gone with UTSU’s version) this sets an unacceptable precedent. Instead of negotiating and working with the central union, colleges would rather
turn their backs on UTSU and make their respective students pay the price. Students aren’t the only ones shortchanged, however. By failing to effectively negotiate a compromise with college orientation teams, UTSU risks losing relevance to its student body. Students don’t care where their frosh kits come from — they just care that they get them. College councils do not exist to obviate UTSU, and UTSU does not exist in spite of these councils. Things need to be better this year. A focus on cooperation and compromise, not vilification and neglect, is the solution; any alternative expedites the further fracturing of an already fragile student body. One can only hope that this frosh kit fracas proves to be the exception, and not indicative of another divisive, bitter year of U of T campus politics.
The Forever 27 Club Ignoring the media firestorm when a celebrity dies young Nat Cooper It’s no news that pop singer Amy Winehouse died on July 23rd. This was immediately met with a media-wide mourning, as well as her induction into the “Forever 27 Club.” Though you may have heard this information in recent weeks multiple times, here’s a rehash: the Forever 27 Club is a group of five other musicians who died at the age of 27: ex-Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones, who died in 1969, Jimi Hendrix, who died about a year later, Janis Joplin, two weeks later, Jim Morrison, in 1971, and its penultimate member, Kurt Cobain, who famously passed away in 1994. Of late, many people have written pieces condemning the media attention given to Winehouse’s death, especially in light of the predictability of it and the unintended attention it took from the tragedy in Norway. In my opinion, it is far too easy to simply criticize the reaction, both individual and media, to any celebrity’s death, than it is to try to understand why that reaction is occurring in the first place. Sure, the Forever 27 Club is an unnecessary, over-discussed dramatization of young death, perpetuated by the media for ratings; but isn’t there something to it? There have been many famous rock star deaths. Too many to count, given stereotypes of the rock star lifestyle that tend to lead to an early grave. But isn’t it slightly remarkable that these six musicians, who truly were icons, even Winehouse, all died at the same age of non-natural causes? Winehouse herself predicted that she would die at 27; that sort of eerie foreshadowing cannot be overlooked. There is something strange, even uncanny, in looking at the lives of these youths, not much older than us, who died too soon. Brian Jones was a founding member of the Rolling Stones. His contributions, including the innovative use of folk instruments, led to the changing of the band’s sound. He was also a fashion icon due to his rebellious style. He was found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool. Jimi Hendrix was widely believed to be the greatest electric guitarist in history. His influence on the rock genre is unmistakable. Hendrix was found dead in a London hotel, having
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asphyxiated on his own vomit. Janis Joplin was the queen of rock and roll. The power and vulnerability of Joplin’s voice bridged the gap between psychedelic rock and soul. She was found dead in her apartment of a heroin overdose. Jim Morrison, who was known to improvise poetry at concerts, was one of rock history’s pioneering singers. He died in Paris of a suspected heroin overdose, though controversy still surrounds his death due to the lack of autopsy. Kurt Cobain and his band, Nirvana, were the voice of Generation X in the 90s. Cobain often felt frustrated and misrepresented, and after a
failed suicide attempt, he succeeded in killing himself with a shotgun. As for Amy Winehouse, she made jazz and soul cool again, was the first British female to win five Grammys, and has had lasting influence on some of music’s leading females, such as Adele. Her cause of death has not been conclusively established, but it is suspected by her family to have been alcohol withdrawal. When we look at the deaths of these celebrities, these young people, we see in them problems of our own. Many of us want to craft ourselves in the images of celebrities and feel like we know them personally; perhaps this some-
how makes their problems our problems. And their deaths discomfort us so much because we see a bit of ourselves in them. It may seem farfetched, but if we see them as people just like us, it means our lives could have ended, just like theirs. Ignore the media storm of outrageous stories and insincere mourning. Ignore the many journalists who tell you that your feelings for someone you don’t even know personally are invalid. When someone you love, who has influenced you as person, dies, do what you need to do. Take some time and mourn, and don’t let anyone tell you it’s ridiculous.
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What to do about development? A critical analysis of how development aid has failed and what can be done
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In recent years, China has not only become the second-largest economy in the world, but has also begun to invest massively in the developing world — particularly Africa. Nearly overnight, China became a key player in the international development arena. However, its approach consists not of aid but direct investment. So far, its efforts have been hugely successful. Brazil and India are likely only ten to fifteen years behind China. If Canada (and indeed, the rest of the developed world) wants to continue to mat-
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practical developmental reasons why they should be enshrined in law and fervently protected. Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto argues in his book The Mystery of Capital that the reason capitalism does not produce the same results in the Third World as it does in the West is that most Third World nations lack real property rights laws. The solution then would be to deed the lands of shantytowns and tribal villages to the people that inhabit them, ensuring they have a stake in economic growth. Furthermore, in his book The Rational Optimist, science writer Matt Ridley explains that an open society is the best assurance of economic prosperity because ideas are allowed to freely compete, combine, and evolve. This has also been a strong critique of the potential for China’s economic supremacy in the world — because speech is so restricted, China has an economy based on imitation rather than innovation, which handicaps the potential for real development in the long term. If foreign aid is merely the cost Western citizens bear to feel good about themselves, then there is no reason to change our approach. However, if we actually desire to see real development in Africa then Canada will have to adopt a new approach to foreign aid. If we focus our efforts on one or two countries, ensure the aid is invested in infrastructure, and that rights are upheld, we can unleash the potential of an entire continent and pull hundreds of millions of people out of grinding poverty to create a brighter future for generations to come.
Patrick Baud
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To claim that the decades’ worth of aid Africa has received from the West has achieved little would be an understatement. Africa still remains the poorest continent in the world with a virtually non-existent economy, corrupt and inefficient governments, brutal civil wars, and a population ravaged by diseases such as malaria and AIDS. It may be clichéd to say that “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” yet that is exactly what politicians, NGOs and Irish rock stars do when they tell us that only more aid can help Africa. But what if aid is not the solution? What if aid — or, at least, our management of it — is actually the problem? This is the claim of Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo in her book Dead Aid, in which she argues that the bankrolling of corrupt governments has led to the miserable state Africa is in. Moyo claims that the best way to get Africa out of poverty and towards economic development, to rival China and India, would be for the West to announce that within five years all aid would be completely cut off. This course of action, however, seems to be politically unfeasible. Instead, we in the West should look at ways to better spend our money to ensure we are actually helping the people of Africa. To do so, we should follow a few key guidelines when enacting aid programs. The first is specialization. Currently, Canada shells out five billion dollars in foreign aid. This amount seems substantial, but it becomes significantly less so when we realize that it is spread across many jurisdictions. Instead of giving small amounts of money to multiple countries, Canada should focus the entire sum on one or two. It would be hard to argue that five billion dollars would make little difference to, say, Gabon or Congo-Brazzaville. This would also raise accountability on both sides by making the system more transparent. Canadians could look to Gabon and clearly see how their aid money were being spent without having to factor in the actions of several foreign governments. The concept of partnership could be taken further by allowing the free flow of money and people between Canada and countries in Africa. Canadians could easily invest their money in businesses in Congo-Brazzaville without tariff restrictions, while Congolese students could attend Canadian universities and work in the Canadian economy as if they were native citizens; such a program was adopted in post-war Europe through the Marshall Plan. Southern Europeans worked for several months of the year in more developed European countries for competitive wages that were sent back to their home countries. From the received amount, workers’ families commanded significantly more purchasing power. The second practice the West should adopt is targeted investment in infrastructure. Moyo explains that this has been a driving force behind China’s rapid rise. Telecom, roads, rail, airports, sea ports, canals — these not only employ
the local population throughout their construction, but also create an environment within which private businesses can more easily compete and grow. Throughout the development process, however, the West must maintain a focus on rights, demanding freedom of speech, the press, movement, economic exchange and the right to own property. Ethical arguments for these rights aside, there are
am
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
An
David Woolley
ter in development, it is time that they get serious. This means making big changes to the status quo. Most aid programs are ineffective to the point of irrelevance. Not only do they fall short of their objectives, but they also lead to dependence, and according to their harshest critics, neocolonialism. Attempts to tie aid to development goals are universally branded as draconian. As a result, there is little change, and conditions in the developing world continue to worsen. By contrast, the Chinese approach generates significant economic growth and has nearly immediate, tangible impacts. However, far too much of the benefits are enjoyed by Chinese companies — state-sponsored or otherwise — and local business and political elites. It is time for a new approach to development that emphasizes true economic sustainability. This means that the benefits from development should
not only persist through time, but also help as much of the population as possible. Otherwise, development efforts do more to fatten offshore bank accounts than provide the basis for true prosperity. Moreover, it is crucial that the new approach to development emphasize experimentation. One way of building economic sustainability is using bottom-up approaches to development. Microfinance, which sees community banks make very small loans to individuals to help them start businesses, is the best known approach. Another approach might have a bank or other institution purchase something for a small business and receive in exchange a small stake in the businesses’ future earnings. Eventually, these efforts might culminate in the development of a more modern financial and legal system, which would better allow people to start and benefit from businesses. The key effect of these efforts is to take power from elites and distribute it to citizens. Another approach to economic sustainability is building appropriate infrastructure, which can be easily scaled up as the economy grows. Some of the required infrastructure should be traditional, particularly in the area of transportation, where roadbuilding, electrification, and laying rail may make the difference between nineteenth and twenty-first century for remote areas. However, some of the infrastructure could be more modern, such as improved telecommunications networks to allow entrepreneurs and their clients to communicate and interact more effectively. These infrastructural improvements should be carefully designed so that they can be mostly built and maintained by local firms. These goals of economic sustainability and the improvement of infrastructure are not new ones, but they remain priorities. The challenge is how to implement them. In order to develop better ways of reaching these goals, the new approach to development should consciously conduct experiments to improve the design and delivery of their programs. These efforts should aim to take after Esther Dufflot, an MIT economics professor whose rigorous experiments proved the power of incentives to convince parents to vaccinate their children. Her experimental approach could be applied to the gamut of development efforts, to identify which ones make effective use of incentives and which fall short. The ideal result of this new approach would be increased economic growth, obtained primarily by making it easier for local firms to get started and to do business. However, in several cases, it is likely that we would find that there is not enough money available to take advantage of expensive opportunities, such as in mining. In this case, it would be desirable for companies from the developed world to continue being involved, as Chinese firms have been in recent years. However, it is crucial that Canada update the laws governing foreign operations to ensure that the profits of Canadian companies do not come at the expense of human rights. While Canada will not be able to compete with China on the scope of its investments in the developing world, it surely can compete on their effectiveness. Indeed, Canada can and should come to lead the developed world in pioneering a new approach to development, which combines traditional approaches with newer ones and recognizes the importance of economic growth. Ideally, the result will be a safer, more stable world, and several new trading partners for Canadian firms and individuals.
arts@thevarsity.ca
VARSITY ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Monday, AUgust 15, 2011
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‘I likened it to a psychopath cutting up his family’
Bernarda Gospic/The Varsity
Novelist Paul Murray on the writing, and paring down, of Skippy Dies
Jade Colbert VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Early on in Paul Murray’s second novel there’s a scene that begs to be shot on film. Howard Fallon, a history teacher at Seabrook College for Boys, steps out of his classroom at the end of the school day, and from there the narration takes a panoramic sweep of the “rampaging maleness” Howard passes through on the way to the staffroom. At 660 pages, told from the view of at least 20 characters, and covering everything from string theory to girls to Ireland’s involvement in the First World War, the hallway scene could easily describe how Skippy Dies operates: it is expansive in length, perspective, and scope. But, says the author, when he first started writing it in 2002, he had envisioned it as a short story. Setting the novel at a fictional Dublin boys’ school allowed the novel to grow, says Murray. What resulted was a digressive, all-encompassing exploration of Ireland in the midst of its recent Celtic Tiger boom. The challenge for the author soon became figuring out what to cut. The Varsity: In the book a student is sexually abused, but it isn’t by the character we might think. I assume that was intentional? Why one character and not the other? Paul Murray: I think what the book is about is how people see the world in a very black and white way. Barthes writes about the my-
thologies that dominate the way we perceive the world that when one mythology is toppled, whatever it is that toppled it, it calcifies into a new mythology that will become just as rigid and exclusive and distorting as whatever went before. TV: How did the story come about? What was the germ? PM: The germ was … it was going to be a short story. TV: [laughs] And then it turned out to be 600-plus pages! PM: Yes, it’s crazy. I wrote the first chapter proper with Howard in the history class, and it was going to be this narrative between Howard and this kid. Howard thinks there’s something wrong with this kid and he has to find out what it is. I enjoyed writing the story so much that it just got longer and longer and longer, it was well over 1,000 pages at some point, but I really liked writing about the school. You could have as many characters and as many stories and as many angles on this crazy, shifting society as you wanted. And everybody, because they’re teenagers, goes about everything in this really extreme way. It was very liberating. For a long time I was hung up on the idea that I didn’t want to shorten it just for commercial reasons. I was very adamant that if it was 990 pages, and it was supposed to be 990 pages, I didn’t care if no one bought it; I just wanted it to be as long as it needed to be. Then over time, quite late on, I read it from start to finish, which I
hadn’t done before because I was just working on individual chapters. I cut about 250 pages out of it in the last six months or so. It was really difficult, but the realization that came to me was that it wasn’t working at 900 pages. It wasn’t a commercial question, it was just that the story was getting lost, and all the charming digressions were killing it. I mean, I really like Infinite Jest, but it’s not Infinite Jest. I didn’t think it was working as a superdigressive, hypertext type book. I didn’t want to do that. TV: So how did you then justify what you decided to keep? PM: I went through it and I likened it to being a psychopath cutting up his family. I had to cauterize something within myself, because I had spent so long. If you’re a novelist, then you’ve got this luxury that you can be precious, but at this stage it didn’t work. I thought the book didn’t work at all and it was going to be a disaster. So I went through it, all these chapters in this book that had taken seven years, saying, “What can I cut on this page? What could I possibly cut?” I cut, cut, cut, cut, cut. I cut more than a quarter of the book. By the end I thought everything in there was solid. Everything there needed to be there. It was the right decision. It was a learning process for me. Obviously you always learn, but what I learned from that is shorter is usually better. Even if you’re writing a really long book, you know yourself when something is not supposed to be there. You can always find excuses —
“well, this doesn’t really pertain to the plot, but there’s kind of this resonance with this character and this overarching metaphor about fire,” or something like that — but that’s bullshit. You hone your bullshit alarm. TV: Why do I need that metaphor in the first place? PM: Or how many instances of the metaphor do you require for it to work? You have to be careful. Writing is, books are, a battle. People have less and less time to read and it’s hard to get people to pick up a 660-page book. In some ways that’s a good thing, because authors are less able to indulge themselves. TV: One way you could have cut it down would have been to write from only two or three perspectives, but that would have been a very different book. There’s something like 20 points of view here. Why did you choose to write from so many different characters? PM: I wanted it to be about the school. It’s about the school more than anything else; these kids are all part of this bigger fabric. At the time I didn’t have any grand reasons for that. I was writing just the story, as we were saying, with Howard and Skippy and the classroom, Chapter 1. And then it ran from being a short story to being not a short story. Howard goes out into the corridor and it just expands and expands and expands.
In Our Lady’s Hall, hormonal surges have made giants and midgets of the crowd. The tang of adolescence, impervious to deodorant or opened windows, hangs heavy, and the air tintinnabulates with bleeps, chimes and trebly shards of music as two hundred mobile phones, banned during the school day, are switched back on with the urgency of divers reconnecting to their oxygen supply. From her alcove a safe elevation above it, the plaster Madonna with the starred halo and the peaches-and-cream complexion pouts coquettishly at the rampaging maleness below. ‘Hey, Flubber!’ Dennis Hoey scampers across Howard’s path to waylay William ‘Flubber’ Cooke. ‘Hey, I just wanted to ask you a question?’ ‘What?’ Flubber immediately suspicious. ‘Uh, I was just wondering – are you a bummer tied to a tree?’ Brows creasing, Flubber fourteen stone and on his third trip through second year – turns this over.‘It’s not a trick or anything,’ promises Dennis. ‘I just wanted to know, if you’re a bummer tied to a tree.’ ‘No,’ Flubber resolves, at which Dennis takes flight, declaring exuberantly, ‘Bummer on the loose! Bummer on the loose!’ Flubber lets out a roar and prepares to give chase, then stops abruptly and ducks off in the other direction as the crowd parts and a tall, cadaverous figure comes striding through. I was really enjoying describing all these things. The conclusion they come to, that they’re part of this fabric, that’s what I wanted to write about. I didn’t want there to be a hero. I didn’t want there to be one person who’s privileged.
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VARSITY F
ANATOMY O Monday, AUgust 15, 2011
by Demi Lee
F
inding the perfect pair of shoes often means lengthy trips to the shoe store. Some people rely on their footwear to achieve a certain sartorial style, while others see it merely as a tool to protect their feet. But no matter how you look at it, the shoe has been around since 8,000 BCE. It’s not going anywhere. “I think that people might not realize that the shoe — which many of us consider to be just this humble thing that we slip our feet into in the morning, takes us to where we need to go and we kick off at the end of the day — that one single article of clothing can, in fact, tell us about the culture in which we live in profound ways,” reflects Elizabeth Semmelhack, curator at Toronto’s Bata Shoe Museum. Across history, certain parts of the shoe were merely modified as time progressed. In some cases, the shoe was completely redesigned as a whole. Changes to the shoe reflected the time’s cultural needs. “Most businessmen don’t wear stiletto heels. Why not?” illustrates Semmelhack. “You don’t wear mukluks at the beach. Why not? … There are so many different types of shoes that are appropriate for different moments, genders, and meaning. I think those meanings can be teased out of the artifacts.”
Sole
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Soles were relatively minimal when sandals were worn in antiquity. One of the first platform-like shoes with elevated soles was the Japanese geta that resembled the European patten, but did not require another shoe to be worn along with it. Pattens had elevated heels to protect the wearer from the ground, and were famous for being loud, thanks to their wooden and large construction. In fact, pattens were often forbidden in churches because of the level of noise they made. The 15th century ushered in the popularity of the chopine, a trend that originated in Venice quickly spread across Europe, becoming especially popular throughout Italy and Spain. It was much like the patten in terms of its elevated sole, but the differences lay in its height. At times measuring over thirty inches tall, the chopine, unlike the patten, did not posses a distinguishable heel but a single, reelingly high platform. It became a fashion statement and its wealthier wearers embellished it with precious stones and velvet. Unfortunately, the chopine introduced concerns over its wearers’ safety. Women had to be accompanied by servants to aid their walking. In fact, the shoe was eventually outlawed in Venice after several cases of miscarriages in pregnant women who had suffered chopine-related falls. Afterwards, the average height of the sole shrank, and the platform shoe was not nearly as popular — especially with the debut of its main competitor, the high-heeled shoe. It was only in the late 1900s that platform shoes — specifically platform high-heels — thrived once more.
Heel
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While the heel was certainly present in Renaissance shoes, it only started to develop its own character in Europe during the Elizabethan era. High heels and pumps were introduced, while Italian pantofles and Venetian heeled slippers replaced their non-heeled counterparts. Louis XIV in particular flaunted a significant heel in his footwear, most likely due to his lack of height. His heels were often red, which soon became a growing trend. In 17th century France, the heel became increasingly important when women wanted to differentiate their style of footwear from men’s. Women’s heels were much taller than men’s, and were often over six inches tall. However, following the French Revolution in 1792, heels became obsolete, as people opted to instead wear more practical, less cumbersome footwear.. It was not until the early 1900s that the heel gradually reappeared; by the 1930s, pumps were back. However, the beginning of the Second World War meant that much of the leather that was previously used for footwear was dedicated to war supplies. As a result, heels were often limited to one inch in height, and six choices in colour. As the war came to a close, the stiletto made its first appearance. It had height, and was thought to offer its female wearers some added sex appeal. Women who did not want the extra height but wanted something similar to the stiletto heel settled with the kitten heel — a shorter alternative. It was popularized by actress Audrey Hepburn in the 1950s, and appealed to younger women.
Toe
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In Antiquity, sandals were the primary form of footwear worn around the world. Dwellers of Ancient Egypt, Greece and the Roman Empire sported open-toe sandals. One famous feature of the sandal during the time was Ancient Egypt’s peaked toe. The front of the sandal was lengthened to form an upward peak. The right to wear peaked toe sandals was reserved for the Pharaohs. Centuries later, the start of the Renaissance period saw the rise of poulaines — which also sported long pointed toes. By the end of the 16th century, poulaines were replaced by shoes that were the exact opposite: the duck’s bill. What was once a long, pointed toe became a much squarer and wider one. Both men and women wore these shoes, though the men’s were more exaggerated than their female counterparts.
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FEATURES
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OF A SHOE features@thevarsity.ca
SHOE LEXICON Poulaine A shoe popular with both men and women in Europe in the 15th century, these somewhat farcical footcoverings were famous for their extremely long and pointed toes. They made walking around really fun!
Geta
The Perfect Shoe?
A clog and flip-flop hybrid from China, which is still worn as traditional footwear in China and Japan. It consists of a wooden platform with a cloth thong strap.
“There is no ‘shoe,’” Semmelhack explains. “It’s not as though there’s been a march towards some perfect thing to put on every person’s foot for every occasion, right? “The perfect form of footwear might be one thing in one situation. When you’re on the beach on vacation, a mukluk might not be the perfect choice — you might want a flip-flop. That would be the perfect shoe for that moment. So, I think that there is no evolution of the shoe. I think that there are myriad time periods, myriad cultures and myriad moments in history when different types of footwear have been innovative for very specific purposes, making them the perfect form of footwear for that moment. I think that the answer to that the perfect shoe is the one you want to be wearing at the moment.”
Chopine A women’s platform shoe that made waves in 15th to 17th century Venice. Popular with both courtesans and the nobility, the chopine reached dangerous heights — like, actually. People got hurt.
Patten The closest thing to clogs in the Middle Ages. This was the foremost footwear in Europe from medieval times to as late as the 19th century, and was typically made with a wooden sole.
3 1 MusHfiq Ul Huq/THe Varsity
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Monday, AUgust 15, 2011
VARSITY ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
arts@thevarsity.ca
Haute Culture General Idea comes to the AGO Jakob Tanner VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
After its worldwide premiere in Paris, Haute Culture: General Idea, comes to the AGO this summer, returning the works of Canadian art collaborators Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal, and AA Bronson to their hometown. From 1964 to 1994 these three artists made up the artistic collective General Idea. Haute Culture offers a dense, two-floor, over-three-hundred piece retrospective on the group’s 30-year career. Immense in scope, the show can be savoured over multiple visits, and with a diverse range of paintings, photographs, films, and installations, there is undoubtedly something for everyone’s taste. The work has some of the kitsch commonly found in contemporary art: faded photographs, funky drawings, a sense of nostalgia, and an overdose of humour. The top floors of the gallery are turned into a warehouse of parodies. In the piece “Nazi Milk,” a decade ahead of the “Got Milk?” ad, the collective writes the line “Wear a Moustache” in a clever juxtaposition of authoritarianism and the new emerging world of commercial dominance. General Idea’s work is referential, creating
amalgamations of other artists' ideas — flipping and transforming old meanings into new ones. Most pieces let concept take precedence over the work itself. Some of the group’s later creations take a personal twist, as two of the members were battling AIDS. Whole rooms are devoted to copious, all-consuming pills. In the less haunting sections, the exhibit is cluttered with allusions to Duchamp, Orwell, and the ever-growing consumer society of the sixties. The exhibit blends fiction and reality through different media. A glass case that in other exhibits might contain an artist’s diary or sketchbooks contains the dress of the group’s fictitious muse, Miss General Idea. Beside this a high-def television repeatedly plays the official Miss General Idea beauty pageant. On the floor below, furthering the fusion of fact and fiction, are “hieroglyphics” found on General Idea’s imaginary archaeological dig. General Idea once claimed, “We are famous glamorous artists.” They made this statement when they were living together in a ramshackled house on Gerrard Street, still unknown to the world. Though at times General Idea seems bland, they can be quite poignant, even inspirational; they make being an artist seem easy and, most of all, lots of fun.
Freshly Pressed Hooded Fang — Tosta Mista
Pictured Above: Nazi Milk by General Idea
Cool Beans! with Ariel Lewis
With the increasing prices of movie tickets comes the increasing need for
Hooded Fang keep in light-hearted spirits with their sophomore album Tosta Mista; the album is named after a sandwich after all. The challenge for Hooded Fang is stepping away from their established “indiepop darlings” identity. The light orchestration, dramatic vocal baritones and sugary, rapturous pop vibes which veiled the first LP’s melancholy themes are gone. Tosta Mista takes on a rough-edged attitude and ascends into scrappier, naturally-blemished rhythms and melodies. The second track, “Clap,” exemplifies Hooded Fang’s movement from cutesy-pop onto a surf/garage-rock style that sounds straight off an old 8-track. Tosta Mista’s
other stand-out tracks “Jubb” and “Vacationation” bounce with booty-shaking lo-fi riffs and heavy, sun-drenched reverb. Staying true to the record’s tropical flavour, the title-track evokes beach mongers, greasy hair, girls wearing high-waist shorts, shoreline parties and warm waves. A nd in the slow-dance track “Den of Love,” lead vocalist Daniel Lee sings in his rosy, lovestruck glasses; the pangs of his love recall a mix between Danny Zuko from Grease and Elvis in Blue Hawaii. Tosta Mista runs twenty-two minutes and seems more like a teaser, but this just sets fans up for something greater in the future. —Aldrin Taroy
movie critics. email the Varsity. The pigment Emerald Green, also known as Paris Green, offered hue to Van Gogh’s selfportrait, foliage to Monet’s gardens, and a host of god-awful health problems for Impressionist painters alike. Laced with arsenic, the poisonous fumes omitted by this paint wreak havoc on the nervous system and are suspect for causing Monet’s blindness as well as Cézanne’s diabetes. A favourite of Impressionist painters, Paris Green was also used to kill rats in Parisian sewers.
Write for Arts! arts@thevarsity.ca
arts@thevarsity.ca
VARSITY ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Monday, AUgust 15, 2011
13
The King has hit the streets The Varsity sits down with Peter Jarvis to discuss Silver Elvis, busking in Toronto, and dancing the robot. Ariel Lewis ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
It’s hard to think of a time when there was no Silver Elvis outside the Eaton Centre. Yet it wasn’t until 1999 that Peter Jarvis decided to chalk on the silver make-up, sport a silver suit and dance the Robot to the King’s music. A professional mask maker, character artist, dancer, DJ and mime, Peter Jarvis has had a long run in the performing arts. He has showcased his other characters (such as Charlie Chaplin, Fred Astaire, and a cube) across Toronto, and has taken his Silver Elvis statue act across the world. Sporting a superman shirt, silver pants, and a ball cap with "Silver Elvis" embroidered across the top, Jarvis sits down with the Varsity to talk a bit about the man underneath the silver paint. TV: How did you get started in the performing arts? PJ: When I was 11 years old, I experienced Soul Train, which was being piped in on cable. There were these great lock dancers that would do the robot; it was a guy and a girl that would only have 30 seconds here and 40 seconds there, but I would drink it in. I was so fascinated that somebody could move that way. I was on a three-and-a-half-hour drive from Grimsby to Huntsville. I was really bored in the back, so I was looking at myself in the mirror and I was moving my head. Because of the mirror I had to move my head precisely so that I could see myself — it forced my head to be very accurate. Then all of a sudden my head moved into this robot tick and I went “Oh my God I got it, I think I got my head to do the robot” … by the end of the three and a half hour drive, from the waist up I could do the robot on every limb. In grade 8 we had a dance contest, and I won the dance contest 'cause I did the robot down the Soul Train line-up. I ended up winning dance contests every time I went, because of the robot …. I ended up winning the Canadian Freestyle Disco Dance Championships in 1978. I’d been in over 60 dance competitions, I competed in the Dance Fever competitions with Deney Terrio — that would be comparable to So You Think You Can Dance, that’s how high that show was in its standard — and it was the show to watch. So that’s how I got going with it; I was winning these dance contests. I had VIP [status at] every dance club from Toronto to St. Catharines. I was also DJing at the time, and I was a freestyle Hot Dog skier. So I was dancing on skis, I was dancing in clubs, I was spinning records, I had a nightlife for sure. Then I started doing store windows. I was taking marketing [courses] at Brock University … During the day when I didn’t have school I would go and do mannequin work in fashion windows. A fashion coordinator saw me and said, “you’re really good, would you like to be in a fashion show?” and I said “like what, as a model?” “No, just what you do, with your dancing talents.” I said, “I do theatre at Brock University, I could get the costumes,” so I did just that, and I did Fred Astaire, Charlie Chaplin, Elvis. I would do five characters in each show; they built their whole fashion show around my characters. It was a theatrical fashion show that served me for 13 years with well-paying gigs. My characters evolved out of fashion shows. By the end of the 13 years I had a repertoire of 50 different characters I could do. I have the three-legged man, the nerd, a cube. When I graduated I was doing the robot for Bob Schneider. He had a children’s album called Bob Schneider and the Rain-
bow Kids, and he had a song called “Computer Man.” He had seen my robot dance, and asked me if I could be the computer man for their live stage shows … I was doing that at Wonderland, and a TV company saw us. They wanted us to do a video kids show because at the time there was only MTV available — that was [back in] 1985 …. After that I moved on to Sesame Street as a writer and a mime. Then I moved onto Goosebumps, where I played the Mummy, and I did a movie for Cirque Du Soleil that was directed by Norman Jewison. Then I just kind of got tired of working in television and film, because it was kind of like working in a vacuum. I found a lot of my best work wound up on the editing floor. Losing that control was always frustrating; I was never really satisfied with what I saw, because it wasn’t what I envisioned … I ended up going on the street because that was the only venue I hadn’t done in the city. I designed my Silver Elvis specifically for the street. I’ve been directed by Toronto audience … Everyone gives me advice [for Silver Elvis] on the street, from the homeless right up to artistic directors coming out of CBC. TV: How does the fourth wall work in a street act like this? PJ: There’s no fourth wall. That’s the thing about street performing — there is no fourth wall. The music kind of creates that fourth wall because you think you might disturb what’s going on there, but no — I’ll look at somebody, reach and take their hand; I’ll come off the podium and do a photo. I’m always breaking that fourth wall of the music, if you will. Then I’ll recreate it with the music to come back into the statue again, to create something that’s going to come to life again. See, humans are fascinated with death and birth, and a statue, when it’s still, is like death because it’s not breathing, it’s not alive, it’s not real. But then when it comes to life and it shows, they’re almost witnessing, if you will, a birth, because energy has come into it. It can freak out people to the point where there is suspension of disbelief, and that’s what my job is: to make that but then break it, and how they respond, that’s the real show. TV: Have you ever come across another Silver Elvis? PJ: I have heard of others. Apparently in Vegas, or New Orleans… but that would make them Silver Elvis impersonators [laughs]. But when people ask me, “Are you an Elvis impersonator?” I say “No. I’m an Elvis simulator.” I’m a simulation of the inspiration. You know the Elvis clock [with the legs that] go side to side when it ticks, or the Elvis telephone that shakes its hips when it rings? I’m sort of that ultimate Elvis kitsch toy that doesn’t quite look like Elvis, but we buy it anyway. Because I’m doing the physicality of Elvis, and doing the icon move-
COURTESY OF PETER JARVIS, photo by alex maxim
ment, they’re inspired by all the images and memorabilia of Elvis, and that’s what my act is: the celebration of the memorabilia of Elvis, not necessarily of Elvis. The celebration of Elvis happens by the viewer. Check out the full interview with Peter Jarvis online at thevarsity.ca
The $10 Restaurateur with Laura Kathleen Maize Patty King, 187 Baldwin St.
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here are lots of good options for cheap food in Kensington market, but before you settle for a grilled cheese sandwich or a big burrito, head down to Baldwin Street and pop into Patty King. These aren’t your defrosted corner-store beef patties — they’re real Caribbean treats and the numerous options will blow you away. There are lots of fresh breads and cakes that you won’t find at the grocery store, and just like with most Island cuisine, the prices are economical to say the least. The true magic, however, lies in the shop’s namesake, their delicious patties. My personal favourite is the goat patty, a meat that used to make me wince until I put my squeamishness aside and
actually tried it. Running you about $1.50, this patty is the ultimate in flavour; the goat combined with the warm flaky pastry has a smoky taste that you won’t soon forget. Doubles are another delicacy: two fried cornmeal pastries with curried chickpeas and potatoes inside, almost like a sandwich — a couple of these will still keep you under our spending limit. I won’t say that patties and doubles necessarily constitute a full meal (unless you get several, which I highly recommend), but if you’re eating on the go or want a big snack, then patties and doubles will stay warm while you run for the streetcar, bike to campus, or wander the market’s eclectic streets.
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Monday, AUgust 15, 2011
arts’ arts
VARSITY ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Poetry by Craigslist founded by Mitchell Gauvin Free couch on Queen and Carlaw, couch and love seat free to fab home. Green fabric with faded stains, bit worn but still lots of life and very comfy.
What Are We Looking At? by Peter Hart
A Carcass Repeats by Peter Hart A stone road paints itself, becoming loose like dirt on the laughing horizon.
arts@thevarsity.ca
Video cameras flee from writers, telling them to get a voice beyond pack-rat urine-stained slums, the giant lurking beneath the lake of newspapers, and bloodsucking moons. My head a shattered mirror, can’t pick up its pieces, watching premonitory films, so many of its vines gone astray.
— Even those with moderate incomes can escape the rat race years early if they put their minds to it. Location: now online live Date: Up To You Time: Up To You Spend one hour of your valuable time and learn how you too can escape the rat race. Just Email Me. Let me know when you want to do this shit and someone soon very soon will meet with you here now online. If you want to escape the rate-race just listen to people like me who have already done it. Until then, take happy good care.
Money draining like a melting river, entangled brushes, inactive televisions, fling shards to swamps.
Flowers, yellow red blue, their entrails pouring gleefully onto the equallymundane pavement, spring from their pots, taunting and pointing their finger at silent weeds and loose stumps that flow mechanically by. The fragrant climax of their slavish bellows, a spring storm halts, then they’re gone, idle fire trucks by a chainsaw’s roar. With dried phlegm on their eyes, cattle continue grazing in the blue hissing fields, dreaming away the flies and cockroaches that cling to their flesh and burn lustfully static.
photo by Simon Frank
science@thevarsity.ca
VARSITY SCIENCE
Monday, AUgust 15, 2011
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I Robot, you scared
Fiona Tran takes us on a tour through the uncanny valley of robot creepiness
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MIKE BADOUR/The Varsity
celebrity staring at you with a frozen expression can be somewhat titillating — until you realize she is actually just a wax model. While her physical resemblance to a living human is an impressive work of art, it may be slightly creepy to some. This uncomfortable perception of ‘creepiness’ is marked by a phenomenon called the “uncanny valley” effect. The term stems from the idea that an agent’s likeability increases with the prominence of humanoid characteristics, but suddenly drops when the similarity becomes too extreme and disconcerting. It’s not that the concept of a mechanical agent must inherently irk us or that every agent with an artificial smile is guaranteed to induce chills. Rather, it’s simply that the agent appears human without actually being human. The “uncanny valley” effect may be symptomatic of the brain generating a prediction error as it tries to match incoming humanoid features against a database of unique human characteristics. The effect, originally based on anecdotal evidence and then later investigated in the fields of robotics and computer graphics, is an increasingly important topic in neuroscientific research. Findings from a study published in this past April issue of Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience suggest the discomfort is due to an intuitive disconnect between the perceived agent’s physical appearance and bodily motion. The group of researchers conducted a functional MRI study on participants’ neural responses to video clips of agents performing common actions like waving, nodding, and picking up a piece of paper off a tabletop. The agents were divided into three conditions: android, human, and robot. The android, named Repliee Q2, was modeled after the actual human featured in the human video clip. As for the robot, its features were highlighted by stripping it down to its metal innards, such that it looked unmistakably inanimate. Upon viewing the video clips, participants were immediately told which videos featured either a robot or human and were then put through the fMRI scanner. Once inside the scanner, participants were shown dozens of two-second videos of the agents spread 500ms apart. The most significant change in brain response occurred when subjects were shown the android, specifically in the regions of the parietal and frontal cortex. Repetition suppression was strongest in these regions under the android condition because the processing of the android stimulus caused neural conflicts as the brain tried to match android features with human ones. In other words, the brain tended to freak out when it saw the android because it was trying to figure out what it meant. In contrast, fMRI results showed that participants had no trouble processing the correspondence between human appearance and human movement or robotic appearance and robotic movement. Ayse Pinar Saygin, the corresponding author of the study, explains this smooth association as the brain “... looking for its expectations to be met — for appearance and motion to be congruent.” This need for congruency, exhibited by the “uncanny valley” effect, extends to the likeability of anthropomorphic robots, as well as characters in video games and animated movies. Characters that share low to moderate human characteristics like dolls, cartoon animals, and R2D2 often elicit more positive responses compared to the animated characters in the film The Polar Express or more modern androids like Repliee Q2. Perhaps one day we will become more accustomed to humanoid agents as they increase in ubiquity. Do the robot.
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VARSITY SCIENCE
Monday, AUgust 15, 2011
science@thevarsity.ca
Lab grown meat: Fact or fiction? Acknowledging the environmental significance of cultured meat VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Suppose eating meat didn’t have to involve livestock. Some folks would be concerned, while others may dwell on its possible taste and texture. As it so happens, since the early 1950’s, scientists have been trying to figure out how to grow animal muscle tissue in vitro. The idea is to produce cultured meat that offers the same, if not better, benefits of conventionally produced meat. Why would anyone want to eat muscle tissue grown in a petri dish rather than on good old animal bone? Isn’t this unnatural? Although cultured meat may not invoke the same primal pleasure as its animal-derived counterpart, it is nevertheless an important component of environmental sustainability. A report by Hanna Tuomisto and Joost Teixeira de Mattos that appeared in this past June issue of Environmental Science & Technology concluded that cultured meat has a substantially lower environmental impact than conventionally produced meat. Their report compared the two kinds of meat based on the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions, energy, water, and land used for the production of 1000 kg of meat. Producing cultured meat required less energy than producing beef, sheep, salmon, and pork — but not poultry. Cultured meat emitted the lowest greenhouses gas and used both less water and land per kg compared to production of natural meats. Overall, the differences weren’t small: in most cases over 90% less energy was used in the production of cultured meat. In addition to these environmental benefits, there are also health issues to consider. Proponents of cultured meat claim that fat content would be more controllable and thus would enable healthier meat-eating. The dis-
sociation between meat and animal would also mean fewer opportunities for the bacterial contamination of meat, thus reducing the spread of food-borne illnesses. Humans are not the only animals that stand to benefit from large-scale production of cultured meat. Large feedlots are notorious for their mistreatment of animals and have prompted a small yet influential proportion of the population to shun meat-eating altogether. Availability of cultured meat may alleviate the ethical dilemmas associated with the treatment of animals in such places — treatment commonly referred to as animal cruelty. Perhaps one of the trickiest aspects of large-scale cultured meat production would be its public acceptance. It seems clear that many people would feel uncomfortable eating something “unnatural.” Scientists are busy tweaking meat culture methods to improve taste and texture, but some consumers may still be unable to cope. Alternatively, it is possible that a large number of people may not even notice the difference. It seems unlikely that the people constituting one of the largest market for meat — the fast food industry — investigate the origins of their food. But if it is easy to turn a blind eye to the meat industry in an attempt to avoid an ethical dilemma, perhaps with time the birthplace of a juicy cultured burger will also be overlooked. Yet, despite obvious environmental benefits, cultured meat will not be on the menu anytime soon. Methods of production are still being worked out for processed meats like ground beef and sausage, and more difficult on-bone meats are even further away. For now, proud carnivores can rest assured their steak comes straight from the cow.
MIKE BADOUR/The Varsity
Heather Maughan
The nightmare of RBD Andrew Johnson investigates U of T’s latest sleep disorder study
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atching a good night’s sleep can make you feel like a million bucks. But for some of us, the quality of sleep we manage to get is always compromised by a sleep disorder. A recent study by U of T researchers has discovered a link between human REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) and neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s. Those who suffer from RBD experience a loss of muscle powerlessness, and inevitably begin to act out their dreams. In an interview with The Varsity, Dr. John Peever, lead author of the study, explained how dream enactment caused by RBD can be dangerous for both the dreamer and their bed partner. “In the middle of the night, the person will throw themselves through their closet door or break their wife’s neck. It often results in the wife tying her husband to their bed in order to protect herself,” Peever explains. The cause of RBD is unknown; evidence shows the disorder may be due to reduced brain inhibition of particular neurotransmitters. The main goal of the current study was to see whether mice with deficient glycine and GABA transmissions exhibited REM motor behaviours. Glycine and GABA transmissions act as inhibitory neurotransmitters during REM sleep, helping to keep muscle atonia, which is the loss of muscle strength. When asked about brain inhibition works in mice, Peever replied that “we know symptoms, we know what happens, but we don’t know what part of the brain has gone wrong. We need to look to see if the inhibitor part of the brain is
BERNARDA GOSPIC/The Varsity
degenerating.” In order to study brain inhibition in mice, the mice were genetically altered so that they exhibited 70 per cent glycine reduction and 91 per cent reduction in GABA receptor inhibition. This combination mirrors the mutation
common to human receptors in RBD patients. The mice were also given melatonin and clonazepam, drugs commonly used to treat human RBD. When the mice consumed the drugs, researchers found that brain inhibition was strengthened
for the duration of the drug intake. However, once treatment was terminated, RBD symptoms came back. Peever explains that “it’s like when you’re on Advil for a headache. The Advil helps relieve the pain but has not helped to cure it. The symptoms can keep coming back.” These findings leave the door open to finding a cure for RBD and making advancements in drug treatments. Advancement in RBD treatment is an important goal because, as revealed by the study, 60 to 80 per cent of RBD patients also suffer from Parkinson’s disease. When asked about the significance of RBD treatments, Peever replied, “If we treat RBD we could have direct implications for the discovery of the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.” Finding underlying triggers for RBD could help save lives and prevent further advancement of diseases. Although Parkinson’s is just one disorder linked to RBD, the sleep disorder is associated with stroke and brain lesions. The current study provides evidence that impaired inhibitory transmission triggers are a potential mechanism for RBD. Peever noted that “there could be many causes and triggers for RBD. ...[I] t is important to understand that RBD may not cause Parkinson’s, but provides us with a link. Both disorders could be caused by the same thing which is why they are associated together. “The bottom line is we need to develop a drug that will cure these diseases instead of just helping the symptoms. If we can discover more links then we will begin to understand more about both disorders,” says Peever.
science@thevarsity.ca
VARSITY SCIENCE
Monday, AUgust 15, 2011
So… where’s this event taking me? Mental time travel aided by context
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Anastassia Pogoutse VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR Recalling an event can transport you into the past, bringing to mind the context of former similar events. For example, it’s easier to remember Jim’s great party this year if you can remember the horrible nosedive it took last year. Evidence of a neural basis for episodic memory — memory for the recall of events like Jim’s party — was found in a recent study by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University. During the recall of retrieval cues, they found a neural signature (a pattern of brain electrical signals) of the temporal context in which the cues were encoded. In other words, when the brain formed a memory for an item, it did so by encoding it within a time interval that is later reinstated during recollection — thereby allowing for “mental time-travel.” Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study recruited epilepsy patients who were part of a separate study so that researchers could use their already implanted electrodes to directly monitor brain activity. Components of neural activity shown to play a role in memory creation and retrieval were measured. While brain activity was recorded, the participants took part in a free recall memory experiment. They
first studied a list of common nouns, completed a brief distraction task, and were then asked to recall the words in no particular order. Upon recall, researchers found brain activity showed higher neural similarity in words that were positioned closer together in the studied list (hence, “temporal” context reinstatement). In recalling words, participants were also recalling the “contextual state” associated with the word. The authors of the study suggest that, “by showing that a component of the neural activity retrieved during memory search shows graded similarity to the brain states observed during the study of neighboring stimuli, we provide neural evidence for temporal context reinstatement in humans.” This experiment provides the first neurobiological evidence of a phenomenon described by the temporal context model of episodic memory. The model, developed by Marc W. Howard and Michael J. Kahana in 2002, posits that when people recall an event, they also recall the context in which the event took place. This allows a memory to become episodic: linked to the time at which it occurred. The theory also suggests that recollection of the temporal context triggers recall of subsequent events — explaining why participants in the study tended to recall list items in succession.
Consequently, when we try to retrieve information about something that happened in the past we end up retrieving unrequested details about the experience as well. When Jim recalls his recent party, he may not only remember the sword swallowers but also that he was highly intoxicated. The authors believe this notion is in line with Tulving’s claim that episodic memory retrieval is like mental time travel. Kahana, a researcher in the study, describes temporal context reinstatement more intuitively: “When I remember my grandmother, for example, I pull back all sorts of associations of a different time and place in my life; I’m also remembering living in Detroit and her Hungarian cooking. It’s like mental time travel. I jump back in time to the past, but I’m still grounded in the present.” Although this memory study doesn’t provide a complete description of how episodic memory works, it does mark an important step in understanding what happens in the brain during event recollection. More research has yet to be done; the authors suggest an important future goal would be to pinpoint the areas of the brain involved in the process of context reinstatement. In the meantime, others will discuss how these exciting new findings sprout changes in the study of episodic memory.
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SCIENCE IN BRIEF U of T discovers link between ‘gaydar,’ fertility, and ovulation A new study composed of three experiments by the University of Toronto and Tufts University shows that male sexual orientation can be accurately identified by heterosexual women close to the peak of ovulation. Results from the first experiment showed that women closer to the peak of ovulation were more accurate in judging male sexual orientation based on grey-scale photos of gay and straight men. In the second experiment, the women tended to identify photo targets of straight and lesbian women mostly as straight, suggesting that fertility during ovulation is only useful when determining male sexual orientation. The photos used in these two experiments were controlled for emotional expression and attractiveness. The third experiment went further by manipulating the reproductive relevance of the male subjects. Women induced to have romantic or mating-related thoughts were drastically more precise in judging male sexual orientation than women who were not. —Tanya Debi Source: Science Daily
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Monday, AUgust 15, 2011
VARSITY SPORTS
sports@thevarsity.ca
Varsity Blues men’s football head coach Greg Gary considers what an NFL team would mean for Toronto.
Bernarda Gospic/The Varsity
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VARSITY SPORTS
sports@thevarsity.ca
Monday, AUgust 15, 2011
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What if: the NFL in Toronto? Shoaib Alli VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Toronto may finally score its own team in the National Football League, if the longstanding rumours of the NFL’s plans for Canadian expansion are to be believed. “[Players] will always aspire to play in the NFL, because that’s the top league, the best of the best, where everyone wants to make a name for themselves,” says Varsity Blues men’s football head coach Greg Gary. Gary’s no stranger to pro football: he’s played in both the NFL, with the Los Angeles Rams, and the CFL, with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Gary believes that a NFL team in the city would create opportunities for student athletes both on and off the field. “Maybe they’d be able to get a job as a ball boy or something similar on their way to the pros, if that’s a path they choose to take.” As far as on-field opportunities go, “there is a huge difference between the people who are physically capable of playing in the two leagues. While I think there are always going to be guys who can make the transition from college ball here in Canada to
the pros, the CFL and NFL are just different when it comes to style of play,” said Gary. Hugo Lopez is a prime example to of the idea that the playing opportunities for student athletes would not necessarily change with an NFL team in the city. Lopez played for the Varsity Blues, and yet while the Argos showed interest in him at the combine hosted at Varsity Stadium, he went to the Edmonton Eskimos. There is no guarantee that U of T student athletes would get to play for their hometown team, or even play at all, in the NFL. “[There is a difference] in preparation at the college level or even before that,” says Gary. “The guys in the NFL are trained to go after one position specifically, and do it well; here in the CFL, guys have to be capable of playing different spots.” For example, “a linesman here in the CFL wouldn’t be able to play linesman exclusively in the NFL, he’d have to play outside linebacker or defensive end, thanks to the size and weight of the guys over in the States.” U of T’s football program plays football CFL style: three downs, larger fields, larger footballs and unlimited
motion before the snap. However, it is unlikely that the presence of an NFL team in the city would change the way football operates at the university. The Varsity Blues are a part of the OUA , and if they were to change the way they played football, they would likely be declared ineligible to play competitively against other universities in Ontario. As a city with avid fans of nearly every sport, Toronto simply makes sense as a home for an NFL team. Would it draw fans from, say, the Toronto Argonauts? “There are always fans of both leagues, of course,” says Gary. “At the same time, you’re still going to have people who watch just the CFL and people who watch just the NFL. Even if an NFL team came to Toronto, Argos fans are still going to be Argos fans; Ti-Cats fans are still going to be Ti-Cats fans.” As for commercial operations and reputation, Toronto’s existing professional major league teams are an indicator of the potential in the city. The Toronto Maple Leafs, for example, are an Original Six team, and the Toronto Raptors have one of the largest fanbases in all of North America. Even the Blue Jays — Toronto’s rep
in the MLB — are fairly well known, having won the World Series twice in the early 1990s. “An NFL franchise is a huge deal,” says Gary, “and it brings with it a lot of new jobs especially for people working in the stadium itself.” There are roadblocks to a possible Toronto team, of course. For all the revenue they generate, NFL franchises are valued at almost $1 billion each. The culture of American football isn’t nearly as established up in Canada as it is in the United States. Another major problem is that Buffalo — just 45 minutes away from Toronto — already has a football team, the Buffalo Bills. “The Bills are pretty well entrenched in Toronto,” Gary noted, “Yes, they’re not very good right now, but that is [Buffalo’s] team, you know.” Perhaps acknowledging this fanbase, the late Ted Rogers, founder of media giant Rogers Inc., had already arranged for the Bills to play the Miami Dolphins in Toronto this December. The possible success of Rogers’ push for a team could be gauged by the number of tickets sold for the upcoming Redskins–Bills game. There is also no shortage of people
in high places who would like to see an NFL team in the city. Councillor Doug Ford, brother of mayor Rob Ford, recently told thescore.com, “[The NFL] have to take care of the problem in Los Angeles first. Two teams are kind of in play here: Jacksonville’s number one; New Orleans is the other. So there’s two teams. Once they take care of Los Angeles, we’re going to fly over to New York, set up a meeting with [NFL commissioner Roger] Goodell and give him our pitch.” Ford also noted, “they can’t keep ignoring a market this size.” While the NFL is popular in Canada, the CFL has a core audience of fans. The two leagues already have broadcasting schedules worked out, with CFL games being aired on Thursdays, Fridays and occasionally Saturdays, and the NFL airing on Sundays and Monday nights. “Even in America, where I’m from,” Gary says, “the CFL now has one game a week broadcast to the general public. They’re two different games, of course, but people in the States are getting a better view of what we do up here north of the border.” With files from theScore.com
Murad Hemmadi SPORTS EDITOR
U of T is set to gain a valuable athletic and student asset in the form of the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport, announced last month with work scheduled to begin in the spring of 2012. The Goldring Centre will be located alongside Varsity Stadium at Bloor and Devonshire. The $58 million Centre will be funded in part by a $22.5 million investment by the Ontario Government, alongside private donations including the $11 million donated by the Goldring family. The centre will “open up additional sports science research space for graduate students and undergraduates in the Faculty of Physical Education and Health,” according to Anita Comella, Assistant Dean, Co-Curricular Physical Activity and Sport. Comella notes that “kinesiology and health education students will benefit from the opportunity to conduct research in labs [that the new Centre will contain].” Facilities will “not [be] allocated only to high performance athletes,” explains Comella, and the “only space that University of Toronto students will not be able to access will be the research labs, unless they are conducting research in them.” Any benefits of increased research will not be restricted to high performance athletes alone. Comella explains that there will be a high degree of “knowledge translation across a wide spectrum of programs, impacting varsity athletes, whether Varsity Blues or our Olympic athletes, [as well as] coaches and students.” A theoretical example of such knowledge translation cited by Comella would be the application of “hydration research to the way we run Camp UofT,” suggesting that the products of theoretical work will extend beyond athletic competitors to general health and fitness.
The Pan-Am Games Athletics Centre currently being built on the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus will include the Canadian Sports Institute Ontario (CSIO) Project, which will serve as a national high performance centre after the Games are completed. However, Comella says there will be “no duplication,” despite the similarities between the two projects coming up on the two University of Toronto campuses. According to Comella, moving to UTSC will “provide CSIO with an institute space.” She further explains the Faculty of Physical Education and Health is “in partnership with CSIO,” and that this is likely to lead to a “regional centre at the Goldring Centre” to complement the central administrative and institutional space being built at UTSC. Apart from the research facilities, the Goldring Centre will feature a strength and conditioning centre and spaces for a number of sporting and health activities. Other facilities at the Goldring Centre will include a 2,000-seat field house that can be used for basketball and volleyball. The field house will be an additional venue alongside the basketball courts at the existing University of Toronto Athletics Centre. The Goldring Centre is also expected to accommodate expanded facilities for sports medicine. Andrea Prieur, Head Therapist at the David L. Macintosh Sports Medicine Clinic at the University of Toronto, notes however that space allotments for the design for the Centre haven’t yet been completely confirmed. According to Prieur, the sports medicine facilities at the Goldring Centre will be “brand new, [with] nothing to compare it to for what we have at the moment.” Current construction forecasts set the completion date for the Goldring Centre sometime during the summer of 2014.
Patkau Architects
New sports complex to be built at Varsity Stadium
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