Volume 46
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Issue 3
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September 26, 2011
Curve Lake Pow WOW
Photos by Anthony P. Gulston
TCSA’s double standard on ads By Brett Throop By Anthony P. Gulston
Last Saturday’s Curve Lake Pow Wow celebrated the coming together of nations in a spirit of collaboration and recognition. The outpouring of culture amazed me and I was humbled to see all sorts of amazing drumming, singing, dancing, regalia, food, crafts, and even puppets. The view of the lake from Lance Woods Park was inspiring. Kids were fishing and adults were bartering, all to the sound of the beating drums. The Smoke Trail drummers were the host drum. They played all of the traditional Pow Wow tunes and would even come up with songs on the spot when the MC would say: “Throw out a song, play these dancers your best.” Many dignitaries were there to kick off the celebrations at Grand Entry, including Jeff Leal, our Liberal MPP. He was there long enough to shake hands and give a speech to the other dignitaries -- he is campaigning after all. The intertribal dances were an opportunity for everyone to get up and dance around the arbour, while the feather, grass, hoop and chicken dances were an opportunity to see the best of the best get out and dance in their regalia. The jingle dancers were a bit of a solemn occasion; people were encouraged to give the dancers some tobacco to put down as prayers for their loved ones. One of the vendor booths that I stopped by was Chad Solomon’s, where he had puppets he had created for his graphic novel characters Rabbit and Bear Paws. The series is set in 1750’s colonized North America and features the comical adventures of two brothers, Rabbit and Bear Paws. The graphic novel that caught my eye was one called
“Voyageurs.” It had everything I liked about Voyageur tales - flying canoes, trapping, and ghosts - except this Voyageur tale was actually funny. Another notable vendor was an older man selling his handmade knives and tomahawks. Sheaths were made out of beavertail leather with knives that doubled as spears if need be. Peterborough local and Trent student Matt Baril was there as well, selling “traditional and contemporary art in a variety of forms: beading, carving, sewing, woodwork, and many others,” as part of his up and coming business Dee-Deen’s Creations. Matt and his mentor, Susan King, are part of the Nogojiwanong (the place at the end of the rapids) Friendship Centre’s Youth Entrepreneurship Program. The program provides business planning, portfolio development, vending space, and a mentorship program for its participants. The Nogojiwanong Friendship Centre is on George Street and was at the Pow Wow distributing healthy living pamphlets and spreading the word about their many programs in the Peterborough area. Programs are targeted at people of all ages and are generally there to “enhance the quality of life for Aboriginal People(s) in the Peterborough County by supporting selfdetermined activities that will strengthen our community.” The Curve Lake Pow Wow was a positive experience for all those who were present for it. Even when you started to feel tired, the drums and the singing picked you right back up and gave you the energy to keep dancing. The delicious fry bread and corn soup also kept my spirits up! No matter who you are, a celebration is the best way to experience culture.
Corporate advertising is not welcome on campus, according to the Trent Central Student Association, unless it and not the administration is pocketing the profit. Despite upholding a resolution opposing the University leasing space to advertisers since 2000, the TCSA has been profiting from allowing companies to solicit in designated areas on Symons campus for almost as long. The resolution was passed in the same year that marketing firm Zoom Media bought rights to post advertisements in Trent washroom stalls, hallways and cafeterias. It opposes any contracts with Zoom Media and “any other similar corporate or leasing agreements on Trent University’s campuses.” But the resolution says nothing about the TCSA itself contracting advertisers to solicit in space it is granted control of by the University. The TCSA has been doing so “for about a decade,” Vice President Student Issues Brea Hutchinson informed Arthur. When advertisers approach students to sign up for credit cards, phone plans and other products and services outside Wenjack Hall or Biko Library (aka Bata) it’s the TCSA that reaps the profits. They also run “vendor day” every September on Bata podium or the Great Hall. The money is a major cash source for the organization. Hutchinson said that already so far this year they have secured about $25,000 in advertising contracts. That money goes toward student services through the TCSA’s general operating budget. “I don’t like corporations on campus,” Hutchinson said, “but having the vendor
space program lets us offer more services without hitting up students for more [money].” It is up to the TCSA executive board of directors yearly to decide which advertisers it will and won’t contract with. This year’s board has decided not to contract with corporations which support “Israeli Apartheid.” But Hutchinson wants to go further by crafting an advertising and corporate relations policy which sets out stricter guidelines about which companies should be allowed to advertise at Trent. “It’s something I will be doing. It’s something I can put my name to,” she said. It costs major corporate advertisers like Fido, Bell, and Bank of Montreal $150 a day to solicit in front of Bata and at two locations in Otonabee College. It costs the same for local businesses. Student groups can book the space for free. International student Jiyoung Park was outside Biko Library last Monday September 19 where Fido representatives were soliciting for most of the day. She suggested that having advertisers on campus might be helpful to other international students who arrive without a Canadian cell phone and who may not be easily able to get to Lansdowne Mall. “There’s so much of [advertising] everywhere that it doesn’t phase me that it’s here,” third year Nursing student Catherine Navarro said of Fido’s presence. “I don’t really care. I don’t pay attention,” another student, Chris Gray, said. “But it’s annoying [when people try to] suck more money out of you.” Note: Zoom Media pulled down its advertisements permanently in 2004 because of persistent vandalism by students.