Imprint The university of Waterloo’s official student newspaper
vol 29, no 22
Student vandalism reaps unexpected costs Page 6
V
Friday, January 12, 2007
for Valuable
imprint . uwaterloo . ca
U-Pass
New warrior, new philosophy for UW
Bus pass proposal goes to Feds council Page 5
Polar Jam survives noise complaints Sukhpreet Sangha staff reporter
patented option stands to be redesigned after seven consecutive losing seasons. “I’m bringing my own systems,” McPhee said. “No question. It’s a philosophical difference. I don’t want a tailback that plays quarterback, I want a quarterback that plays quarterback and can move the ball a little bit. We’ll run a little option, because teams have to prepare to play assignment football for that, but we’ll be heading toward a spread the field, CFL-type offence.”
Boasting a lineup featuring Thornley and Idle Sons, the second Annual Polar Jam Event will be hosted by the Federation of Students on Friday, January 26. Polar Jam is a live outdoor concert to be held outside of Federation Hall. It will run from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., followed by a 19+ after-party, which will take place inside Fed Hall. This year’s line-up of performers is headlined by Canadian rock band Thornley. Backed by Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger, Thornley is made up of lead singer Ian Thornley, guitarist Tavis Stanley, drummer Eric Paul, and Cale Gontier as bass player. Their debut album, Come Again, went gold in Canada and featured the Number 1 singles “So Far So Good” and “Come Again.” Thornley’s second album is due to come out around March 2007. Also playing is Burlington based rock band, Idle Sons, and Scarborough group, Brassmunk, who will add hip-hop to the concert’s mix. The Junction, Intransit, and Saigon Hookers close out the line-up. To provide relief from the cold, Fed Hall will also be open from 4 p.m. but will not be serving any alcohol until the after-party at 11 p.m. Food and drink will be the featured attractions indoors, as well as sponsor booths. Outdoors, as well as the concert, there will be various mini snow events and an onsite snowboard park for selected participants. Tickets are being sold for $10 in advance at the Feds office in the SLC and at the front desk in Village 1. They will also be available at the door for $15. People who buy their ticket before January 15 and fill out a ballot will be entered to win a Breakaway Tours trip for two to Panama City for Spring Break. Polar Jam 2007 passes will also be redeemable for 50 per cent off a lift ticket at Chicopee during the 2006/2007 season.
See FOOTBALL, page 25
See JAM, page 19
Courtesy UW Athletics
New UW football head coach, Dennis McPhee, spoke January 5 about shaping future successful Warriors. Shawn Bell sports editor
The next phase of Waterloo Warrior football is underway — and it will go under the name of coach Dennis McPhee. At a press conference on January 5, athletic director Judy McCrae introduced McPhee as the new head coach of the Warriors, who plans to return the Waterloo Warriors to the top of Canadian university football. McPhee is certainly qualified. He brings 10 years of coaching with the
CFL’s Hamilton Tigercats; the last two as the defensive front coach, and from 1994 to 2002 (including the Ticat’s Grey Cup victory in 1999) as a linebacker coach. McPhee also brings a wealth of CIF experience. He has coached at McMaster and Guelph, where he won a Yates Cup in 1992; he was also the head-coach architect of St. Francis Xavier’s drastic turnaround from 2002 to 2004, taking the Xmen from 27th in the country to 7th ranked nationally and the postseason in his first year at the helm.
“They’ve used words like wizard and miracle worker,” McPhee said, talking of the turnaround at St FX. “That didn’t happen. X had some great kids, but the bottom line is that losing can become a mindset, just like winning becomes a mindset. Sometimes a change is as good as a rest; I was a new face with a new philosophy and the kids bought into it. There we got it turned around, and the whole plan here is to do the same thing.” That turnaround begins with the offence, where Waterloo’s
N ews Engineers turn a shade of Friday, january 12, 2007
Imprint
news@imprint.uwaterloo.ca News Editor: Suzanne Gardner News Assistant: Narmeen Lakhani
purple for Frost Week
Dinh Nguyen staff reporter
Serbia
In fairy-tale land, after destroying two of the three little pigs’ houses, the big bad wolf fell into a chimney and landed in a giant pot, which lead him to a burning demise. In reality, however, the situation is completely reversed. Recently, a farmer’s home in Belgrade was brought to ashes in a fire caused by three little pigs. According to the Canadian Press, the pig trio, who broke out of their nearby den, walked into the farmer’s living room, knocked over a TV and set the house ablaze. The farmer and his family were not home and no one was injured. Clever as they may be in fiction, the three little pigs were not as smart in real life. All three pigs perished in the fire, ending another chapter of real life fairy tales. U.S.
Michael L. Davenport
Engineering Society “B” president Jennifer Carroll and her fellow engineers hosted the first annual Frost Week, a weeklong event that EngSoc hopes will help students be as excited for the winter term as they were in the fall term after Frosh Week. The purple-tinged exec kicked off the week with a public viewing of the engineering faculty mascot, The Tool. Other Frost Week events included Build Your Own Toboggan, Duct Tape Sculptures, Snowman/Snow Sculpture Building, and the Bigger, Better, Best competition.
AMSA explains “women only” event Suzanne Gardner news editor
Posters and banners all around campus advertised a presentation by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Students’ Association, titled “Dating vs. Islamic Marriage,” to be held from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 10 in the multipurpose room of the SLC, but a large portion of the student population could not attend. Every advertisement for the event included the phrase “women only,” and thus male students interested in learning how to “really understand the Islamic system of marriage,” as presenter Naheed Khokhar explained as the purpose of the presentation, were not given this opportunity. According to the policies and procedures of the Federation of Students, all Feds-recognized clubs must “abide by all Federation and University of Waterloo administrative policies and procedures” and “have all events and publications approved by the clubs director or vice-president internal.” A concern was that by excluding men from the presentation, the event was not complying with Policy 33 on ethical behaviour, which says that “the university has a responsibility to provide an environment free from harassment and discrimination.”
Event co-ordinator Hina Ahmed explained in an interview with Imprint prior to the event, why the presentation only allowed for women to be in attendance: “It’s basically just for the women […], who actually do have [an islamic] religious and cultural background, to feel comfortable in expressing whatever they believe and whatever questions they might have afterwards relating issues of dating and sexuality that might involve that and Islamic marriage.”
“It’s not to say that we don’t feel comfortable in the presence of men, but it’s just certain issues...” — Hina Ahmed, AMSA member She continued by emphasizing that “it’s not to say that we don’t feel comfortable in the presence of men, but it’s just certain issues that we’re not brought up in to feel comfortable talking to them about.”
Most artists paint private body parts using a paintbrush, but in the States, some people do just about the opposite: painting using their private parts instead of paintbrushes. A Richmond, Virginia high school teacher, also know as the “butt-printing artist” was recently fired after his work became widely circulated amongst students. Stephen Murmer, whose painting sells for as much as $900 on his website, was suspended in December after complaints were made about his uniquely created artworks. According to the Canadian Press, Murmer would cover his buttocks, anus and genitals in paint and smear or press them onto paper. During his suspension, the school board held an unanimous vote, which resulted in Murmer’s termination. On letting him go, spokeswomen for the board Debra Marlow reasoned that “students have a right to receive their education in an environment free from distractions and disruptions.” According to the school board, the decision to fire Murmer is following court rulings that hold that teachers are expected to lead by example and be role models. This is a fine example of why men shouldn’t think with their penises, or in Murmer’s case, his anus.
Ahmed explained that “if [the event] has a good turnout and a lot of guys are interested in this too, then we’re ready to have another one, another session that includes both guys and girls.” She continued to say that although she would have to first consult with her fellow group members in the logistics of organizing another event, that she “definitely, most certainly will.” She explained that she would like to look into whether there would be an interest in holding a presentation on the same topic with a co-ed audience, or if a different topic would be more interesting to the student population. Federation of Students’ clubs director Dave McDougall explained that when the idea for the presentation was proposed to him, he also initially had concerns regarding the event’s “inclusivity, but once the explanation came out it made perfect sense. And that’s when we asked, ‘Would you be willing to do another one?’” The presentation itself focused on how both dating and marriage work in Islamic society, informing women of all religions on how Muslim women can deal with the pressure to find a mate.
Snakes on a Plane has had more than its fair share of parodies devised and produced, such as Elephants on an Escalator, Hyenas on a People Mover and Man on a Bike. Not long ago, the fates decided to contribute their share to the pop culture phenomenon with: scorpion on a plane. Recently, on his way home from Costa Rica, a Toronto news reporter was stung by a scorpion… on a plane. According to CBC News, the scorpion is believed to have entered the man’s backpack during a camping trip. During the flight, it crawled out of his bag, climbed his leg and stung him. When the plane landed, the man was immediately treated by paramedics. According to animal control, the scorpion’s venom was not lethal. The man survived and the plane was stationed for a thorough search following landing. Naturally, airport officials shared Samuel L. Jackson’s sentiments in needing to ensure that they got all the motherfuckin’ scorpions off that motherfuckin’ plane.
sgardner@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
dnguyen@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Costa Rica
news
FRIDAY, january 12, 2007
Young environmentalists on the move UW student Jason Hammond runs for the position of male co-chair in the newly-founded Young Greens of Canada
courtesy young greens of canada
Rachel McNeil staff reporter
Though November’s municipal elections proved disappointing for Jason Hammond — who was vying for a spot on regional council — they haven’t eased the University of Waterloo student’s political eagerness, as he is now in the running for the Young Greens of Canada male co-chair position. A direct result of the Green Party of Canada’s resolution to develop a youth-friendly council during their Green Party of Can-
ada 2006 convention, the Young Greens of Canada (YGC) was formed almost three months ago and vowed automatically to write out a formal constitution and job descriptions as well as to hold an election. Recognizing society’s evergrowing environmental concerns, the Young Greens continually attempt to address the issues of clean water, excessive pollution and general over-consumption across the country. However, being a political party, the Young Greens realize that environmental problems are not the only ones they need to focus on: there’s the issue of mobilizing voters, too. This is because in recent years, the number of voters at the polls has decreased considerably, largely due to the fact that older voters are passing on while Canada’s younger adults refuse to step up to the ballot box. Hammond, who is also currently the president of the People’s Car Co-operative and certainly not a strong testament to the aforementioned trend, believes that the problem is best-described by a cyclical pattern. Youth don’t vote because they believe the political system works against them — yet this system
won’t be changed to benefit them if they can’t be bothered to vote. Thus, the Youth Greens was formed to better represent the political activists between the ages of 14 and 29 that do currently exist in Canada, as well as to encourage political awareness in other youths. In this sense, the advantage of the Green Party and, by association, the YGC is that, instead of subscribing to the traditional political spectrum of the past, these parties choose to critique the old ways of politicking. The green movement is just as much about innovative ways of thinking ecologically as politically and Hammond believes wholeheartedly that this is the best approach: “None of this left/right crap, let’s just get the job done!” He encourages students to get involved during their university years — even if politics aren’t their extracurricular of choice — simply because, “at a place like UW, there are so many opportunities to get involved.” Yet, while Hammond is most definitely involved in his surrounding community, he’ll have to successfully win a position on council before he can get set to work on his desired job as part of the Youth Greens. Currently, there are 28 candidates across-country applying for various
January 14 Taekwondo martial art demonstration: A high-action demonstration of Olympic-style taekwondo, presented by the UW Taekwondo Club. Interested students may also enrol for fall classes. From 1:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the PAC - red activity area.
January 14-18 Housing information sessions: “Where are you going to live?” presentations hosted by the Student Life Office offer various ideas and tips for those looking for housing next year. At 10:00 p.m. in various residences across campus. Visit http://studentlife.uwaterloo.ca/news for specific locations.
January 16 Smart Searching: An information session teaching effective search strategies when using TRELLIS, journal articles and the internet. From 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Flex Lab, 3rd floor, Dana Porter Library.
positions, including another UW student, Samuel Mosain-Dunn, who is running for the francophone communications position. Voting, which began Friday, December 22, 2006 and ends Friday, January 12, 2007, is exclusive to members-in-good-standing (members who have paid their bills) of the Green Party of Canada who are between the ages of 14 and 29.
[...] the Young Greens continually attempt to address the issues of clean water, excessive pollution and general overconsumption across the country. As well, the entire voting process is being held over the internet; from the campaigning process that occurred largely on Facebook, to the actual voting ballots, which can be accessed through the Youth
Greens website at www.generationgreen.ca. Hammond, though originally not a huge fan of Facebook itself, admits to finding the Youth Greens’ approach to campaigning highly impressive and feels that this youthful mentality will translate more easily to the council’s potential voters. In fact, despite the many obstacles that might face a recentlyestablished political party run by youth and focusing largely upon the environment, Hammond’s enthusiasm for the Youth Greens in general refuses to be curbed. When asked whether he believed the YGC could be in danger of being considered irrelevant compared to some of Canada’s more-prominent political parties, Hammond dispelled the possibility immediately. “I don’t think we could be considered irrelevant,” he said, “There are a lot of young people out there who are passionate about these issues.” And if Hammond himself can be seen as an example of this passion, the youth of the emerging green movement are undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with. To find out the results from the election, visit www.generationgreen.ca after January 12. ramcneil@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
8-Ball Pool Tuesdays: Eight weeks of play at Dooly’s for a chance to meet people and have some fun. From 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.. Register by January 22 in the Athletics Office at PAC 2039. Initial fee of $35.
January 1517, 2007
Blood donor clinic: An appointment schedule booklet is located at the Turnkey Desk in the SLC. Call 1-8882DONATE or visit http://bloodservices. ca for eligibility information. From 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the SLC multi-purpose room.
January 17 GLOW Wednesday night discussion group: GLOW’s weekly discussion groups provide an opportunity for individuals to discuss issues related to the queer community in a supportive and confidential environment. All queer-friendly individuals are welcome. From 7:15 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at HH 373/378.
January 18 RIM networking session: An opportunity to chat with RIM employees and spark interest in being hired for the May 2007 co-op term! From 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in TC 2218A and B.
news
FRIDAY, january 12, 2006
U-Pass debate resurfaces on campus Michael L. Davenport staff reporter
The current Federation of Students executives are now tackling one of the longest-standing issues on campus: the possibility of a mandatory, non-refundable bus pass. “In the election campaign last year, it was a huge election issue; a lot of the presidential candidates were asked repeatedly what their stance was on the universal bus pass,” Feds President Michelle Zakrison explained to Imprint. Zakrison herself promised to investigate the student interest in a non-refundable bus pass (otherwise known as the U-Pass) during her own Feds campaign. “Since the spring term I had a lot of students interested in the pass. Originally, I thought they weren’t so interested in it because ... there are 5,000 students living on campus. But as more e-mails poured in, we said, ‘You know what? Let’s investigate this further.’” Zakrison also cited a recent survey conducted by the UW Survey Research Centre. Out of 783 responses, 60 per cent of students either favour or strongly favour a flat-rate bus pass, while only 27 per cent are opposed or strongly opposed. This Sunday, January 14 Feds council will vote on a motion to bring the issue to referendum; the motion currently reads, “Do you support a non-refundable $41.67 per term fee to support the implementation of a universal bus pass system to be paid by all full-time undergraduate students at the University of Waterloo?” Assuming council approves the motion, a referendum during the next February’s Feds election seems likely. (Note that Feds cannot arbitrarily impose a bus pass fee on the student b o d y, t h e y can only bring
the issue to referendum. In order for the bus pass to be implemented it must receive a simple majority in a vote by the student body in that referendum.) It is precisely the non-refundable nature of the pass which draws controversy to the issue. Some students feel is it unfair to pay $40 a term for a service they are not likely to use. Alex Sloat, current president of University of Waterloo Conservatives wrote to Imprint, “I can’t support a mandatory bus pass, because forcing students to spend $80 a year on something completely unrelated to their schooling seems very wrong to me — do we really prefer that a student tight on cash spends $80 on a bus pass they won’t use as opposed to another textbook?” He added, “I have no trouble with the Feds using their bargaining power to get a better deal for students, I just dislike forcing students to spend tuition money on something that has nothing to do with their education.” Whenever the mandatory bus pass is debated, all parties usually voice their support for an opt-out bus pass. However, UW undergrads already have available an opt in bus pass (sold at the Feds office in the SLC), but at $148 for three months the deal isn’t much better than the rate offered to the general public, which is $57 per month ($171 for three months). The savings to students is $7.67 a month. The Turnkey Desk also sells strips of five bus tickets (good for a ride each) for $7.75 a strip, but as these are also available to the general public at several locations across the city; this too isn’t actually a special deal. Previous Feds’ presidents have tried negotiating a
sweeter deal for students but did not succeed. Grand River Transit’s director of transportation planning,
of Waterloo operates the transit service in Waterloo Region. Grand River Transit is an operating division of Waterloo Region ... it is a municipally owned and operated system.” Vincent added, “There isn’t a [municipal] transit system in North America which actually makes money on transit.” The investment in infrastr ucture and mandatory fee would carry with it service improvements. While the fine details have yet to be ironed out, both Vincent and Zakrison agreed that students could expect service improvements to routes 7, 8, 9, 13, and the iXpress, in the form of extended hours, more frequent busses, or route extensions. According to Vincent, “If this is something the students decide they want to have, we’d want to set up a working group with the students and flush out those details. ‘What are the students looking for? What can we provide?’” The U-Pass is far from a sure thing; the offer on the table could be rejected by students as easily as
it could be accepted. “If student councilors actually think that’s the best option for their students, then they can vote in favour of it. If they were not in favour and voted against it, it would be referred back to committee,” said Zakrison. Zakrison told Imprint that if the current offer is voted down by council or by the student body, she is determined to succeed where her predecessors have failed: negotiating an opt-out bus pass with GRT. “I think refundable would be very difficult, but I think it’s possible. And that would be setting a precedent for student unions in Canada who don’t want a non-refundable fee,” said Zakrison. Zakrison envisions the opt-out fee being $5 or $10 more expensive than a $40 mandatory fee, to cover the percentage of people likely to opt-out. She believes she can get GRT on board by guaranteeing them similar revenue to what the mandatory fee would generate; Feds would administer the refunds themselves and adsorb any potential losses. Zakrison continued, “I would imagine that if the council votes that they want the refundability, it would become an election issue, it would become highly publicized, and we would continue to consult with students and find out what, in fact, students want and if they want the refundable fee.” See LAURIER, page 7
Graham Vincent, explained to Imprint the necessity of the mandatory fee, as if the deal is to go forward, GRT would purchase eight new buses which cost $430,000 apiece. Vincent continued, “If we’re going to offer such a deeply discounted rate which works out to just over $10 a month [per student]; and we’re going to make that kind of investment in it, we need to have some sort of assurance that the revenue is going to be there.” While some may speculate that the non-refundable bus pass is a “cash grab” on the part of GRT, Vincent assured Imprint that was not the case. He pointed out that GRT is not a private, for-profit institution. He continued, “The Region
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STARTS FRIDAY, JANUARY 12
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Writing Award $1000.00 Grand Prize!
FRIDAY, january 12, 2007
The consequences of senseless vandalism V for Vendetta-inspired crime causes severe damage to Central Services building — price to pay is heavy for UW
in need of funding will suffer the consequences. Vice-president administration and finance Dennis Huber also proThe Central Services building still vided his inference of the carries its faint V for budget allocation needed. Vendetta mark, the result He wrote: “The cost of of an act of vandalism committed some“Sometimes people think that repairs is typically funded from the operating budget time on November 5. they are doing a prank that is (which is primarily tuition On account of current and provincial grant revweather conditions the harmless but really this one enue). In some cases, the roof of the building will not undergo any of the ended up costing the university, expense may be covered by insurance after UW covers necessary permanent reand indirectly the students, the deductible.” pairs until the spring, The V for Vendetta act According to Rick $100,000,” of vandalism has left longZalagenas of UW Plant term consequences that all Operations, the crime UW students and faculty from last term is costing —Michelle Zakrison, Feds President have to pay for. the university at least “Sometimes people $100,000 in damage think that they are dorepair. ing a prank that is harmless, but How does a simple graffiti building. Zalagenas went on to explain really this one ended up costing design result in such a massive repair cost? The paint, an oil-based that only temporary repairs have the university, and indirectly the substance, completely destroyed been made to the roof. The holes students, $100,000,” explained Feds the plasticized rubber membrane have been patched up to protect the president Michelle Zakrison. As far as what is being done to of the roof of the building, re- electrical work, but further repairs quiring a complete replacement are impossible until the weather find the perpetrators, UW Police circumstances improve. Services has released that there is an of the roof. Where is the funding for all this “ongoing criminal investigation.” The bottom of the slanted roof Zakrison does not believe that was also damaged during the epi- repair work coming from? Zalagenas described the uses there will be a change in UW secusode. The consensus on the cause of the damage is that the perpetra- of the maintenance and repair rity measures due to this crime, but tors climbed up the roof to paint budget, including that the senseless “[the students’] actions are more and then slid down to the bottom, act of vandalism means that the consequential than they might have causing holes at the bottom through budget will have to be rearranged originally thought.” to account for the roof ’s repair. repeated pressure. nlakhani@imprint.uwaterloo.ca These holes created the pos- This also implies that other areas Narmeen Lakhani
assistant news editor Need new shoes? Textbooks? Would $1000 (1st), $500 (2nd) or $200 (3rd) cover your costs? If you are a 3rd or 4th year, full time student at UW, WLU, U of G, or UWO, you qualify for the Heidi Thiessen Memorial Award for Student Technical Writing. Past winners have come from engineering, math, science, and arts backgrounds.
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February 17, 2007
Award given: At our spring wine and cheese meeting
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sibility of external damage factors, such as water leakage into an electrical substation located directly beneath the roof of the
Of best laid plans — what happens when things go wrong
It figures. For the month of December, I complain that there is no snow. Then, when it snows this week, I grumble because I now need to sweep off the car if I drive somewhere. You just can’t win. I was sitting at my computer this week, looking out at the falling snow and hoping for some inspiration, when it occurred to me how quickly my best laid plans can often be led astray. At the beginning of the term (I know, it was only last week), I had solid plans to do a great many things. Then life caught up with me. Suddenly, it’s 11:30 on a Wednesday morning and my column still isn’t finished. Last week the excuse was that the university wasn’t even open most of the week. This week, I’ve got no such luck. When writers, like students, are under pressure for a deadline,
they suddenly find all sorts of other excuses to keep them from writing. Maybe it’s time to do some laundry, or perhaps do some reading for another class. Or today, when the snow is falling, it might be a good idea to shovel some snow. Whatever way that one’s time is killed, soon it’s time to turn my thoughts to actually writing. At which point the only chance I have left is divine inspiration, which is a fickle thing. I’ve dashed columns off in 20 minutes. I’ve laboured over others for hours. The result in each case is a 500-word column. Sometimes when things go wrong, good things happen. After all, UW was born when the Associated Faculties split from Waterloo College and took the president with them. Gerald Hagey simply wanted to add an engineering focus to Waterloo College, but in the end had to take his university elsewhere. Other times, when things go wrong, dreams die. How many different concepts were floated for Waterloo Town Square before work actually happened? Or for that matter, how many different types of clubs or restaurants have
we seen churn through University Plaza? When you’re doing schoolwork, especially research papers or group projects, plans are derailed all the time. Who hasn’t discovered that the critical source they need for a paper has been signed out by someone else? Or that a group member who promised the moon gave you nothing but blank space? Or had a roommate who insisted on going out because it was a night in need of celebration? At Imprint, we have the same thing happen quite a few times. Story pitches don’t make it past the editor. Or, once pitched, the sources dry up. Or worse still, the sources are willing to talk — but just not this week, because they’re students after all and this a busy week. Then some poor editor has to find a last minute replacement. We can always plan and be conscientious, but in the end sometimes the Fates still have the last laugh. In any event, it’s now 12:00 and my editor should be happy. Now what about that presentation for this afternoon? nmoogksoulis@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
news
FRIDAY, january 12, 2007
TechTown aids Waterloo employees Sukhpreet Sangha staff reporter
TechTown, the new community amenities complex located at 340 Hagey Boulevard in the UW Research and Technology Park, will open its first set of doors Friday, January 12. TechTown aims to offer support to employees of technology companies within the Research Park, as well as the faculty and staff of UW. TechTown will eventually serve as a community centre for the Research and Technology Park. To that end, it comes complete with a community meeting space, fitting up to 30 people, and a community events atrium, which has two storeys and is suitable for events of up to 400 people. TechTown’s mandate also includes improving the health and wellness of local employees. The Columbia Lake Health Club is the sole tenant to open Friday, with Kids and Company Child Care, a day care for employees’ children, set to open its doors the first week of February. The Educa-
tion Credit Union will open the third week of March, followed by TechTown Dentistry and Town Café rounding out TechTown’s initial five services. There are also plans for TechTown to house a wellness centre in the near future.
“TechTown is tremendous added value for existing and new tenants to the UW Research and Technology Park,” — Carol Stewart, Business development manager of the research park Columbia Lake Developments Inc.’s Toby Jenkins has said Columbia Lake Health Club will have “the most
advanced fitness technology.” The Health Club also offers aesthetic services and post workout massages. According to a TechTown press release, Jenkins is the mastermind behind the TechTown complex. Jenkins said, “Each component of the TechTown complex has been designed based on the needs that were identified by professionals living in Waterloo and working in the Research Park.” Business Development Manager of the Research Park, Carol Stewart, is quoted as estimating that these professionals number 6,000 in Phase 1 of the park. “TechTown is tremendous added value for existing and new tenants to the UW Research and Technology Park,” Stewart adds. “The employees working in the park will greatly benefit from having these services centralized in one convenient location.” More information on TechTown and its available services can be found at www.waterlootechtown.com. ssangha@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
The Columbia Lake Health Club at UW’s new TechTown, located in the UW Research and Technology Park, is just one of many services to be offered to employees of technology companies within the Research Park, and the faculty and staff of UW. In the coming months, TechTown will also include a child care centre, a bank, a dentist’s office and a café.
Photos courtesy UW Research and Technology Park
TechTown’s first opening, the Columbia Lake Health Club, will offer various fitness opportunities, including a large number of exercise machines, pictured above.
Laurier: A view from another university’s bus stop Continued from page 5
It is worth noting that some time ago, Wilfrid Laurier students were also negotiating a deal with GRT for their non-refundable bus pass. Now their program has been in place for two full years and is considered by many to be a success. Wilfrid Laurier University Student Union president Allan Cayenne weighed in: “The general student population enjoys the bus pass. Obviously students who own their own car aren’t as enthusiastic about the bus pass; however these students are definitely outnumbered by the students that enjoy the bus pass.” Added Vincent, “All of our discussions with Laurier have
been very positive. We worked very closely with them. We had the same sort of working group with the students where issues came up and we were able to address them. We went through the trial and they came back and asked us for a five year extension.” Feds council meetings are generally open to the public and the meeting this Sunday where the motion will be discussed is no exception. Students who are interested in observing or participating in the discussion would be wise to attend. The meeting will be held at 12:30 p.m. on January 14 in the multi-purpose room in the Student Life Centre. mdavenport@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
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Friday, january 12, 2007
opinion@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Opinion Editor: Anya Lomako Opinion Assistant: Brendan Pinto
Friday, January 12, 2007 — Vol. 29, No. 22
Eat lightnin’ and crap thunder
Student Life Centre, Room 1116 University of Waterloo Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1 P: 519.888.4048 F: 519.884.7800 imprint.uwaterloo.ca Editor-in-chief, Tim Alamenciak editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Advertising & Production Manager, Laurie Tigert-Dumas ads@imprint.uwaterloo.ca General Manager, Catherine Bolger cbolger@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Editorial Staff Assistant Editor, Margaret Clark Cover Editor, Dinh Nguyen Photo Editor, Michael L. Davenport Assistant Photo Editor, Valerie Broadbent Graphics Editor, Christine Ogley Assistant Graphics Editor, vacant Web Editor, vacant Assistant Web Editor, vacant Systems Administrator, vacant Sys. Admin. Assistant, Peter Gibbs Lead Proofreader, Emma Tarswell Proofreaders Adrienne Raw, Shivaun Hoad, Duncan Ramsay
Production Staff Mo Jangda, Kirill Levin, Cindy Ward, Phil Isard, Peter Trinh, Kinga Jakab, Linda Nguyen, Karina Graf, Steven R. McEvoy, Zach Arnold, Mansi Reddy, Stephen Eaton, Jacqueline McKoy, Darren Hutz, Leslie Havens
Winter is my last term at Imprint. As you can tell by all the advertisements for my job, we’re looking for a successor. It’s been a long run. I feel like Rocky Balboa fighting Apollo Creed. The last year and a bit has been rough. Last term, Imprint almost realized everything I’d ever hoped for it, but not quite. This term, with an experienced editorial board and a host of excellent floaters, we’ll come out on top. Hopefully it won’t take a mutual knock-out. January’s 8th general staff meeting saw a great shuffle in the ranks of Imprint. Lots of experienced editors swapped their posts to try their hands at something new. The ranks of the assistant editor positions have been filled by volunteers both new to Imprint and new to the role of editor. While past terms have seen a torrent of organizational and design change, this term will be relatively calm on that front. Instead the focus will lie on improving our content with new ideas and enhanced investigative reporting.
On January 18, 12 volunteers will brave the dangerous skies of Canada on a quest for knowledge. These volunteers are headed to the Canadian University Press National Conference, taking place in Vancouver, British Columbia. The conference features extensive workshops on every aspect of small newspaper operations. It is here that these 12 stewards of student newspapering at UW will grow to their full potential as student journalists. Throughout the conference, several members of the team will be keeping a blog at http://imprint.uwaterloo.ca/cup/. The blog will allow you to follow their progress as they attempt to learn as much as possible in four days. But do not think that the Imprint 12 are going on some fanciful adventure in the snowy mountains. No, my friends, they will be slogging through a sea of information to bring back the best tips the industry has to offer. Not only are they bringing it back for fellow Imprint volunteers to enjoy, but for the student body at large. Everyone will benefit from an increase in quality resulting from this training. But you can benefit directly by coming by the office and enjoying a series of workshops that will distill all the information gleaned from the conference.
Postscript
I would like to leave this term on a high note. I mean that literally, not like the overused cliché. Like Steven Tyler screaming “Dream on!” As this term rocks on, you — the reader — will see new things each week. And each week Imprint will be more deserving of a set of original Ronnie James Dio metal horns. I’m not going to start alluding vaguely to the features we’re planning on implementing, but I will say that it’s going to be interesting. Again, though, the lust for new features and bits in Imprint will be far overshadowed by our drive to continually improve on what we already have. Never have I seen a more passionate and committed volunteer staff. They are properly aligned — putting students first — and relentless in their creativity and skill. That being said, with such a skilled volunteer base, Imprint is ripe for new volunteers. We have a wealth of information to offer to any eager potential journalists. The hallway may seem daunting, but inside you’ll find a group of friendly students willing to share their knowledge. Always remember the wise words of Douglas Adams writing in Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency: “Let’s think the unthinkable, let’s do the undoable, let’s prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.” editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Graham Moogk-Soulis
Office Staff Distribution, Amy Pfaff Distribution, Andrea Meyers Board of Directors board@imprint.uwaterloo.ca President, Jeff Anstett president@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Vice-president, Adam Gardiner vp@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Treasurer, Jacqueline McKoy treasurer@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Secretary, Stephen Eaton secretary@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Staff liaison, Darren Hutz staff.liasion@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Imprint is the official student newspaper of the University of Waterloo. It is an editorially independent newspaper published by Imprint Publications, Waterloo, a corporation without share capital. Imprint is a member of the Ontario Community Newspaper Association (OCNA). Editorial submissions may be considered for publication in any edition of Imprint. Imprint may also reproduce the material commercially in any format or medium as part of the newspaper database, Web site or any other product derived from the newspaper. Those submitting editorial content, including articles, letters, photos and graphics, will grant Imprint first publication rights of their submitted material, and as such, agree not to submit the same work to any other publication or group until such time as the material has been distributed in an issue of Imprint, or Imprint declares their intent not to publish the material. The full text of this agreement is available upon request. Imprint does not guarantee to publish articles, photographs, letters or advertising. Material may not be published, at the discretion of Imprint, if that material is deemed to be libelous or in contravention with Imprint’s policies with reference to our code of ethics and journalistic standards. Imprint is published every Friday during fall and winter terms, and every second Friday during the spring term. Imprint reserves the right to screen, edit and refuse advertising. One copy per customer. Imprint ISSN 0706-7380. Imprint CDN Pub Mail Product Sales Agreement no. 40065122. Next board meeting: TBA
Dictator dead, Iraqis Saddam lucky
12/29/06. Baghdad, Iraq: The death of Saddam. A joyous event to be celebrated with an enthusiasm commensurate with the beloved holidays of Christmas, Easter and to a lesser extent, all non-Christian holidays. The video of his gruesome demise has been circulating the internet. A low-resolution camera phone captured the images for the world to see. They depict the final moments of the notorious dictator in the most theatrical way — though I maintain that the lighting director should have been fired for what can only be described as a hack job. Honestly people, if you are going to broadcast a video of an execution, malevolent bloodlust really doesn’t come through unless you have adequate lighting. Even the frightening chanting preceding the execution could have really benefitted from some Dolby surround sound. Revenge is a dish best served digitally re-mastered.
In a country torn apart by retaliatory killings, what better way is there to send the message that killing for revenge is not the answer than the mother of all reprisal killings? If you can think of a better way to curb the cycle of revenge without using more revenge, well then I’d sure as hell like to hear it. You see, this is how revenge works. One group has atrocities committed against them, so they get to do the same thing to the oppressing group. Then it’s done. No backsies, no do-overs, flush the improvised explosive device down the golden toilet. What needs to be understood is that this execution is bound to work for anyone who understands the intricacies of Middle Eastern politics. Much like virtually every science fiction movie ever produced, the Iraqi quagmire is an enormously powerful weapon with a single vital flaw that, in retrospect, should have been better protected. Like the Death Star’s exhaust port, the life of Saddam is that critical failing that has kept the Iraqi people from achieving peace all these years since the invasion. Now that Saddam has been executed, the Americans have finally saved the earth as I always knew it would be saved — by a symbolic execution. To all those who feel like this is just a case of victor’s justice and that an international tribunal should have been convened to try a deposed dictator for war crimes rather than a court born
out of a government installed by the country who led the invasion, you make me angrier than a poorly worded argument in a run on sentence. What are you like gay for tyranny or something? If you are of the opinion that his death is anything but a moral orgasm — a morgasm as I often call it — then you must not only hate freedom, but both work for, and are in a common-law relationship with Satan. There is no other stance to be taken on this matter. Saddam’s death marks a new era of peace for the Iraqi people. Its like my mother always used to say, “Nothing inspires pacification in a ruthless insurgency like the execution of a now powerless figurehead.” Alright I lied, she didn’t always used to say that, but you’d be surprised at how often she could work that phrase into a conversation. While there has been a significant outcry by the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the international community at Saddam’s execution as a perpetuation of a government with a history of violating human rights, they are the same organizations that voiced outrage over his human rights violations. So is killing wrong or isn’t it? Make up your mind, flip-floppers. I’m Brendan Pinto and I’m single (I have some great pick up lines, but I guess I just have problems with the execution), so tell your friends. bpinto@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
opinion
FRIDAY, january 12, 2007
Gossip: updates or attacks?
I listen to The Dean Blundell Show every morning on my way up to campus. Their often crude but witty banter keeps me awake on the bleary-eyed drive between Kitchener and Waterloo. Tuesday morning, however, they actually made me pause and think — despite the fact that they were discussing Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and their respective va-jay-jays. As most of you probably know, all three of the aforementioned starlets recently had their most private business literally splayed all over tabloids around the world. What started off as a raunchy diatribe about the need to wear underwear progressed into an interesting discussion about the “tabloid” and the gossip-obsessed culture in which we live. Why does anyone care that Lindsay “forgot” her panties? Or that Justin and Cameron broke up? Is it that their own lives are actually so boring that they need celebrity gossip to spice it up? I honestly can’t believe that people’s lives are that boring. I know mine isn’t, but that doesn’t mean I find celebrity gossip uninteresting — far from it, actually. I’m not an avid tabloid reader, but I still feel the compulsion to pick one up and flip through in the checkout line, occasionally buying one to read on the beach, in the bath, etc. Celebrity gossip is one of the lowest common denominators, but it’s still undeniably popular. According to www.stateofthenews.org, Star has an average weekly
circulation of about 1.3 million and People has one of almost 3.7 million. Staggering numbers to be sure — especially since these are just two in a long list of tabloids that grace grocery store aisles around the world. So where does this desire for supposedly inside information come from? Is it that we merely need to have print confirmation that celebrities are actually human, and not some perfect looking beings? While this may be an easy answer, I don’t think it’s really the reason.
Christine Ogley
Our thirst for veiled knowledge extends beyond the K-Feds and the TomKats out there. Gossip, secrets, intrigues and conspiracy theories run rampant, both in popular culture and our everyday lives. Take any tightly knit organization, extended group of friends or workplace, and you are guaranteed to find that there is some kind of semi-hidden drama that almost everybody knows about.
Gossip can be nasty, it can ruin lives, it can ruin friendships, yet we still do it. Why? Robert Paine, an anthropologist from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, describes gossip as “a component of social relations through gossip” comparing different societies in an article in Man. This indicates that gossip is not merely a product of the West, but instead a universal truth of human existence — and also not all bad. Knowledge lends itself to the idea of being an insider — be it in a social group or Hollywood. I think it’s this search for acceptance, a sense of belonging, that fosters the harmless gossip we hear on a day-to-day basis. This is by no means saying that there isn’t harmful gossip out there — there definitely is. Stories of others’ sexual deviances, embarrassing moments, romantic failures and the like can ruin reputations and are often more maliciously motivated than your typical so-and-so is dating so-and-so fodder. Gossip’s a tricky thing. On one side, it could be construed as a desire to keep up with the lives of those you care about, on another it can be seen as an attack. I don’t think all gossip is innately bad. I mean, asking about a mutual friend whom you haven’t seen in a month or so can hardly be seen as a bad thing, whereas spreading a rumour about someone you barely even know is. So the next time you start a sentence with “Guess what!” or “Did you know...” ask yourself, “What are my intentions?” Even if they are good, always remember: sometimes the best of intentions can breed the greatest discontent.
Want to address a large audience, get involved on campus, and practise your writing skills? Write a column for Imprint! To apply, send three samples of writing and a resume to editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca by Monday, January 15, 2007.
acsanady@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
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opinion
10
FRIDAY, january 12, 2007
Weak amendment to faulty UW policy
I think there is a problem with the University’s newly amended transcript policy. As reported in last week’s Imprint, co-op employers and students can respectively demand or expose marks as part of the co-op hiring process. The amendment adds an element of choice to the both parties; employers can choose not to view transcripts and students can choose to withhold them. This token amendment to bad policy, primarily passed to pacify objectors, does little to meet the controversy
at the original decision. It doesn’t change the fact that many students do not want to have their marks disclosed. To those people — and their reasons are their own — university just got more stressful. The bottom line is that marks simply do not reflect a person’s intelligence, and errors in this assumption will cause difficulty — for students and employers. For students the objection is easy. Marks do not tell the whole story. What if you had unexpected brain surgery or something crazy like that on reading week and had to finish the term? What if a close family member came close to death (close, but she’ll be okay). Your marks might take a pummeling, then the system would kick you while you were down when every potential co-op employer wants to see your marks.
What if you have to take whatever personal tragedy with you to Moose Jaw for some part-time factory work? Employers would definitely want to see the marks. Why wouldn’t they? If you can place a number on a person, they’re so much easier to judge. As if keeping the average required of a co-op student wasn’t stressful enough. Sure, there are many people who do very well in school, and deservedly so, but there are also people who simply lose at the game of school. And it is a game: an elaborate, important game, but a game nonetheless. Under such a policy, employers would not be receiving the most capable students for their purposes and contrarily, capable students wouldn’t find the work they want outside of school.
Some students who are proud of their marks show them anyway as they apply. These students would lose their edge of eager initiative if such a practice of admission was made standard. Previous job experience, interviews and references should be enough to assess the suitability of a candidate. It is a lose-lose-lose situation. The amendment itself does not change anything. If a student tries to hide their marks, they will be easily ruled out, so the amendment isn’t really an option. We need to seriously reconsider that policy. Also, the policy would mean unfair free access to co-op transcripts while the non-co-op students still have to part with the better part of $10 to access theirs. — Darren Hutz
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Next issue’s topic:
“How do you feel about the ‘women only’ rule, as recently used for the Dating vs. Islamic Marriage presentation? Was restricted male access to the event justified ? Imprint wants to know your stand on this issue. Submit an editorial of approximately 500 words to opinion@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
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Imprint
Friday, january 12, 2007
11
Neal Moogk-Soulis
crossword
What is your worst Freudian slip? By Dinh Nguyen
“I can’t even answer that.” Holly Acheson 1B science
“One time in Grade 12 I said orgasm instead of organism.” Emily Bingeman & Erin Mereu 4B therapeutic recreation
Across
1. Farmer’s long-term goal 5. Old chief magistrate of Venice 10. Roman poet 14. Batty or wacky (Spanish) 15. Positively charged electrode 16. Wait 17. Also Canada’s Minister of Justice 20. American text highlight 21. In the previous month (latin) 22. Short clergyman 23. Logarithmic sound unit 24. Christian trinity 27. Organic compound 29. Head of US cross-country tour 32. Throughout a period of time 33. Served with ice cream 36. Trigger for certain behaviour 38. Scientific method 41. Original Bond producer 42. Change colour 43. Brazil’s former capital 44. Unfasten 46. President’s assistant 50. Selecting an alternative 52. American Dental Association 55. Matchstick table game 56. Ladies undergarment 57. Recall old times 60. Slot machines (three words) 63. Inch by inch you get these 64. Access Hollywood co-anchor 65. Small ladies’ handbag 66. Golf warning 67. Spock Doc’s nickname 68. Added up numbers Down
1. Quebec point 2. Spoiled food
“I need a breast of fresh air.” Alexander Tan
1B accounting and financial management
“You look stressed, can I undress — I mean unstress you?”
Erin Noble & random guy she doesn’t know 4B kinesiology
“It’s a tit-bit nipply I breast be going.” Amy De La Franier & Ashley Dean 1B arts & business and 1B arts
“Instead of text message, I said sex message.” Miranda Fong & Nichole Narbonne 4B science
“Can I pay with my twat card?” Michelle Leroux & Ashley Baynton 4B health studies
“Instead of a compassionate ‘Aww... sleepy Suzy’ it came out ‘aww... Sleezy Suzy” Darryl Daly 2B biomedical science
January 5 Solutions
3. Old book made of folded pages 4. Man-made pond 5. Rumba or waltz 6. Long Day’s Journey into Night playwright 7. Gentiles 8. Toronto rock station 9. Bishop’s seat 10. Division signs 11. Musical whiz 12. Canada’s independent pharmacists. 13. Keyboard key 18. Arched bone 19. Baby’s first room 24. Bathroom finishing 25. Not ever 26. To make a mistake 28. Layperson 30. Bert’s companion 31. Gotten hitched
34. Ceiling with recessed panels 35. Move forward 37. Geographical region 38. Gerald Ford’s inadvertent legacy 39. A&W’s stock and trade 40. One Swiss mountain 41. Short brother 45. Risky venture 47. In its natural place 48. Authoritative declaration 49. Vomiting 51. Showing extreme anger 53. Control panel faces 54. SLC manager (ask a Turnkey) 57. Renovate 58. Beautiful garden 59. Beware the 15 of March! 60. Strong bug repellent 61. Lawrence Fishborne’s messiah 62. They’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse
Features Imprint
12
Friday, january 12, 2007
features@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Features Editor: Ellen Ewart Features Assistant: Christina Ironstone
Stem cell research
... is the work that we do
Editor’s note: The following piece is the first in a weekly series documenting the working lives of recent graduates of the University of Waterloo. The articles are a summary of interviews conducted for “The Work That We Do,” a collection of personal interviews to be released in the summer of 2007. Shawn Bell staff reporter
It is Friday afternoon and we are sitting at the Bomber. Liam Kelly, stem cell research assistant, is done for the week. Liam’s face is scruffy and he drinks his beer with steady hands; his coveted iron ring rests on his right pinky. He is 25, has a degree in environmental engineering and on this day has finished his week’s work — isolating highly purified stem cells in individual wells to make them grow into two cells, one of which will be harvested, shipped to Vancouver and injected into an irradiated mouse. “A stem cell will always make a copy of itself,” he says, “so if we had a well with a true stem cell, there will always be a stem cell at the end.” This is how the cell is tested. A mouse gets irradiate — “just like if you had leukemia,” Kelly explained. “It knocks out your blood system.” So the mouse becomes deficient in certain types of cells that only a true stem cell can grow. Nine weeks later they take blood samples to see what kind of cells come out. “If at the end the mouse lives,” said Kelly, “if it’s healthy and has all the cell types, we know that we injected a stem cell.” Human and mouse stem cells grow the same sets of cells. The research, funded through a large grant
from the Stem Cell Association of Canada, begins and ends in Vancouver, with Kelly’s lab in the Douglas Wright Engineering building at UW, handling the middle steps: taking a highly purified population of 600 cells and shipping back one of each pair of cells that has successfully divided. Fewer than 40 cells have survived at the end of the week, “but it only has to work once.” Once they know a true stem cell exists, they have series of snapshots that can be traced back in time to the original cell that holds all the secrets. “We look at the kinetics of that first cell,” Kelly said. “We look at shape, how fast it is moving and how fast it is dividing to try to map out which cells are stem cells. “These cells are alive,” he said. “They are smart, they move around, they look for other cells. I’ve seen it once, where there’s one cell in a well, with nothing else beside it; another cell comes along and just hangs out by the other cell. It found that cell and came over to it. Whatever chemical receptors are going on at that level, we can’t tell, but he definitely found where that cell was and came over to say hi.” Is this playing God? “I suppose you could see it that way,” said Kelly. “I can see some problems with it, and I think that’s why I don’t want a career it in. I see some conflicts; maybe we shouldn’t be doing this, maybe we shouldn’t try to cure blindness, maybe if someone can’t see, that’s the way
Shawn Bell
Liam Kelly explores cells under the microscope in Douglas Wright Engineering. it is supposed to be. But I’m not so sure I believe in God either. “I studied environmental engineering,” Kelly said. “That’s what it says on my piece of paper. Five years. At university, I learned how to learn. The skills I use, I’ve developed on the job, but they stem from my university knowledge. “This job was actually a co-op job in my last term,” Kelly said. “I had no idea where it would lead me, but it was definitely the most interesting co-op job I had. Now I’m doing the research
because it’s a stepping-stone for my future. I want to get into grad school to do photovoltaic research. Solar panels, basically, but I want to take a biological approach, modeling plants. So this is for me; I’m going to get published a few times, and I’ll have the lab experience. I’m very interested in stem-cell research, but at the same time, I see more important things down the road that I’d like to focus on.” sbell@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Cock is always hotter with a little heavy metal
ics
by
Ph
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outer labia pierced is similar to getting your ears pierced (except lower) and could be a “new” way for you to decorate and get to know your vagina. The clitoris itself can be pierced, but this is less common because a clitoris has to be fairly large and developed for it to be pierced. It’s much more popular and much less dangerous for the clitoral hood to be pierced. Even though it is largely responsible for the female orgasm, the little clitoris is often neglected during sex and sexual play; it hides, forgotten, under its hood, but a clitoral hood piercing can bring an end to this neglect, and can be intensely pleasurable for the wearer. The hood can be pierced either horizontally or vertically — vertical is most common — with a ring, a J-bar or a barbell; the inside ball of the barbell should be placed directly over the clitoris to create the extra stimulation it is famous for. It’s your choice whether you want to get a piercing or not, but if you decide that this is something you’d like to try, make sure you are aware of the risks, choose a reputable piercing place with experienced staff and take care of your piercing so it can heal properly and won’t catch on your clothing or tear your skin. Your genitals are sensitive and full of nerves; with every piercing through erectile tissue — like in a penis or clitoris — you run the risk of hitting these important nerves and damaging your sexual function permanently, but many people feel that it’s worth the risk. ph
Did the Prince Albert sound too tame for you? Well there are other piercings that involve your glans. Piercing the glans of the penis for the insertion of jewellery has been popular since antiquity; it’s even mentioned in the Kama Sutra (700 CE). The palang or ampallang passes horizontally through, or above, the urethra. Piercing the glans horizontally above the urethra was common practice for adults among many Polynesian tribes and was greatly prized by the wives of the men who had it done. As you may have guessed, this piercing is meant to provide extra pleasure for the male’s partner during sex, but it can be extremely pleasurable for the bearer as well. Still need to kick it up another notch? The apadravya piercing is also mentioned in the Kama Sutra and it is done vertically through the glans; it does not have to pass through the urethra, but it usually does. This is one of the most intense — read: painful — piercings that you can get, but the passage in the Kama Sutra claims that “true” sexual pleasure cannot be reached without it. It certainly should provide pleasure for a female partner during vaginal sex; many of the nerves in a vagina, like at the G-spot, are located at the top/roof and this piercing can provide a little extra stimulation to this area. Feeling left out because you don’t have a penis? No worries ladies, there are lots of things you can pierce too! Getting your inner and/or
Gr a
It’s practically a tradition for university students to celebrate their new-found independence by getting a tattoo or piercing, but instead of getting a boring old navel or ear piercing, you could consider doing something a little more exciting: piercing your naughty bits! Genital piercing is practised all over the world, and some forms have been around for centuries; some come from traditional tribal initiation rites in the days before metal needles, where sharp bamboo was used instead. Today you can safely get almost any type of genital piercing you might want, with reputable body piercers use sterile, super-sharp needles. The only caveat is that you might have to wait a few months before you can have sex again. But pish tosh, what’s a few months of waiting compared to years of pleasure and the looks on your friends’ and dates’ faces when you tell or show them your new piercing? Convinced? Now we just have to figure out which piercing is right for you. There are many of different kinds, especially if you happen to have a penis; some piercings are more painful, some heal faster and some are said to be more pleasurable for a partner. The “Prince Albert” is supposed to have gotten its name from Queen Victoria’s partner, who was rumoured to have had this piercing as part of a fashion trend of the
time. Allegedly, many aristocratic men in the 18th century were getting this piercing done so that they could hook their penis to one side, to prevent it from causing an unsightly bulge in their tight pants — which were also fashionable at the time. The Prince Albert piercing is done by making a hole and threading a ring or barbell through the urethra to the underside of the penis. A hole is made in the urethra from near the fraenulum, the small bridge of skin at the edge of the glans (the “head”). An open ring is passed through the “eye” of the urethra at the tip of the penis and comes out this hole. This piercing is supposed to provide greater stimulation for the person wearing it during sex, but you will have to deal with fluids dribbling out of the piercing while you urinate. If making a new exit for your urethra sounds a little too extreme for you, there’s always the frenulum piercing. This is another very popular male piercing. The frenulum is the small ridge of flesh joining the foreskin to the glans of the penis, often this ridge remains after circumcision. This is probably the safest and easiest genital piercing a man can get because it’s external and heals very quickly. A frenulum piercing is meant to be pleasurable for both the bearer and anyone he has sex with, or it can also be incorporated into chastity devices. If you are uncircumcised, you could get your foreskin pierced. This type of piercing is said to be at least as ancient as the tradition of circumcision; it is thought to have been common among the Ancient Greeks. Again, today this piercing is popular because it is supposed to enhance pleasure for both partners during sex.
ssparling@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
features
FRIDAY, january 12, 2007
Symposium confusion “Is it a coffee shop?” “No! It’s clearly a martini bar.” “But look at the full bar!” “Hmm, I would eat here.” As my party entered the Symposium on the corner of King and Erb we were astonished by what we saw. It is a strikingly urban café surrounded by the best of uptown Waterloo, which seemed more banal than the last time we visited. The waitress started the evening by asking us where we would like to sit. Having never been asked this at an establishment of this sort, we were a little bit confused. As it turned out, this was definitely not the most confused we would be all night. As we walked through the long corridor to the back of the dining room, we passed a doorway into what appeared to be a kitchen. Based on the look of the room as well as the size of the menus, we were beginning to suspect that the “coffee shop” that was recommended to us was not what we thought it would be. We passed cakes, pies, pastries, a massive wall of fruit, a fully stocked bar, an espresso bar and the waitress — she even stopped to talk to the bartender.
After discussing what the place was, we opened our menus to find that the highlight of the evening’s confusion would include figuring out what to eat. Symposium is the King Midas of KW dining. After all a restaurant that tries to do a touch of everything might as well be golden. They have a great selection of sandwiches, a variety of pasta dishes — which include the brilliant Carbonarra dish with an appropriate amount of meat seasoned to taste — as well as, in my opinion, the best all-day breakfast.
A restaurant that tries to do a touch of everything might as well be golden. In the spirit of consistency with the rest of the evening, I chose to have breakfast at 11:00 p.m. The night/day waffle is one of many made to order waffles you can choose. It is a waffle, which in this case was still warm, garnished with a few scoops of chocolate and vanilla ice cream and topped with sauces. There is also a great selections of beverages. I recommend the coffee-inspired tea drink that they are famous for. They mix their chai tea with the perfect amounts of chocolate and espresso. A delightful mystification of hot chocolate, coffee and tea takes place in your mind. It akes me wonder if perhaps
this symposium of flavours is where the place got its name? If your party is in the mood for something a bit stronger, I recommend the creamy, minty, frozen grasshopper. Stronger still? They shake a grand, and very dirty, gin martini. The confusion surrounding the food genre was not the only puzzle Symposium suffered from, however; when seated across from my friends, I was staring at their chins. Confused as I already was, I needed to get a taller chair. So my advice is to not be taken aback when the host asks you were you want to sit. Firmly look her in the eye and point to a table with four chairs or two couches. There are about 25 tables where the seats are so low that they are uncomfortable and are facing seats that are much higher than them. Also, the price of your meal will vary greatly with the number of drinks you order. For breakfast, you may have to remind the confused server that your meal comes with a free hot beverage. Twice they have forgotten to offer it to me but I can’t blame them, as they seemed run off their feet. I really am confused as to what more to say about Symposium. I don’t know if it is trying to be something that it’s not because I don’t think it has ever made a conclusive statement about what it’s. I raise three and a half beers to this one — whatever the heck it is. msokolyk@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Heading bravely into the real world Karen Nguyen reporter
The future is not entirely out of your control. You can influence it by being prepared. The following tips will help you prepare for convocation and fulltime employment after graduation.
First, ensure that you can graduate. Consult the undergraduate calendar, available online at www. ucalendar.uwaterloo.ca, or make an appointment with your program’s undergraduate advisor to ensure that you have all the courses required for your degree. You may think that your advisor is too busy to meet with you, but this is part of their job. In fact, most of them have scheduled hours during which students can visit. It’s better to take a little extra time to ensure that you can graduate rather than finish the term one course short of the requirements. Complete the necessary forms. In order to graduate, you need to complete an Intent to Graduate form available online at www.registrar.uwaterloo. ca/convocation/forms.html and submit it to the Registrar’s Office. If you’re completing required courses this term, the deadline to submit the form is March 1. Check your graduation date online. If you’re attending convocation, you can check the exact date of your convocation online at www.registrar.uwaterloo. ca/convocation/dates.html so that you can arrange your schedule well in advance.
Book an appointment for your grad photos. Graduation is a memorable event, so you can book an appointment with the school’s photographer to have your photos taken. In order to appear on your class composite, you need to have your photos taken by the end of January. Sign up online at www. waterloojostens.com by selecting the “Register for Sitting” link in the left menu or sign up in person by going to the studio located on the first floor of the SLC (across from CIBC). These are the most important things you should do before convocation. For a more comprehensive list, visit www.registrar.uwaterloo.ca/convocation/index.html, a website that the
Registrar’s Office has devoted to convocation issues. After graduation, you may be unemployed for months. The following tips may help you find employment. Peruse the standard online job databases. The following databases allow you to search for jobs by category, industry and location: www.workopolis.ca, www. jobbank.ca and www.monster.ca. One benefit is being able to submit your resume to the employer through email. This saves you time — and as we all know, time is money. However, one negative quality about these job databases is that some job descriptions are vague, usually because they are posted by employment agencies that handle the hiring for large companies. Contact information may be sparse, so you can’t learn more about a position that interests you. Check the newspaper. You’d be amazed, but the newspaper provides a fairly
good Peter trinh listing of employment opportunities. You can’t search through it the way you would be able to on an online database, but if you’re going to pick up the newspaper to do the crossword any way, why not take a look at the jobs? Search JobMine. You may not have been in co-op during your undergraduate years, but you’ll have access to JobMine, UW’s online job bank, upon graduation. You’ll need to register through the E-Community at alumni. uwaterloo.ca/alumni/ecomm/secure/ register.htm before being able to use JobMine (so that you’re recognized as alumni). On JobMine, you can search for jobs by level, discipline, location, job status and job type. These are a few ways that you can find employment after graduation. With a little patience, you’ll be able to say that the four years or five you spent completing your Peter trinh
13
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 13-month contract
Are you interested in pursuing a career in journalism? Imprint, the University of Waterloo’s CCNA award-winning student newspaper is looking for an editor-in-chief. The position demands a high level of journalism knowledge, basic knowledge of photography principles and excellent leadership skills. A post-secondary degree in journalism or a related field is ideal. Ability to work with and teach Adobe CS2, especially InDesign and Photoshop, and general administrative computer usage is essential. Familiarity with Pagemaker, QuarkXPress, Unix/Linux is a definite asset. Other qualifications include a willingness to work in a fast-paced environment with occasional unconventional hours. Please mail cover letter, resume, writing samples to: Imprint Publications, Waterloo Attn: Jeff Anstett University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue W. Student Life Centre, room 1116, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1 The deadline for applications is Wednesday, January 31, 2007.
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features
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FRIDAY, january 12, 2007
Fresh tomato soup fends off the cold Better than a can of Campbell’s, nothing is more rewarding than diving into a bowl of homemade soup. For the new year, I find that soup helps me cleanse and rejuvenate the body, something we could all use to restore some balance in the holiday aftermath. Try your hand at making this soup — and in only twenty minutes! Tomato soup will help offset all those holiday goodies and indulgences. It’s refreshing, nourishing and always great accompaniment to a grilled cheese sandwich. Tomatoes are a fruit and a vine native to South America. When European explorers discovered the tomato, they brought it up to Central America and Mexico where it was readily adapted into the culinary repertoire. Initially, when explorers returned home to Spain toting this succulent food, there was reluctance in accept-
ing it. As part of the nightshade family (whose members include the potato and eggplant) there was concern that the tomato was poisonous because at one point it was also believed that the potato was poisonous. When doubts were lifted, the fruit was adopted into the cuisine and has helped add a zesty flair to the dishes in Spain ever since. Meanwhile, in Canada and the United States, the tomato didn’t gain popularity until the 1900s when similar fears were alleviated. Within this fruit’s large variety, one of the most popular tomato types is the beefsteak, large with a vibrant red shade. Globe tomatoes is another popular choice, medium sized and juicy. Both are delicious, raw or cooked. There are also purple tomatoes. Their skin colour can range from a soft pink to a deep eggplant purple, as well as striped or bicoloured tomatoes; their flesh carries an orange hue with racecar-like stripes in a powdery red. Choose tomatoes that are firm (it should give slightly to palm pressure), heavy for their size, and well-shaped. They should be fragrant and richly coloured for their type. Store ripe tomatoes at
room temperature and use within a few days. Don’t put them in the refrigerator as the cold temperature causes the flesh to turn pulpy, as well as destroys the flavour. If you purchased an unripe tomato, you can speed up its ripening process by placing it in a pierced paper bag with an apple for a few days at room temperature. You’ll be happy to know that tomatoes are rich in vitamin C and contain a considerable amount of vitamins A and B, potassium, iron and phosphorus. Lycopene, a powerful antioxidant, is also present in tomatoes and is beneficial in preventing prostate cancer. Unlike other fruits, the greatest benefits are accrued through eating cooked tomatoes rather than raw. Did you know that a medium tomato can provide as much fibre as a slice of whole wheat bread? Just another great reason to stock up on these plump, succulent fruits. If you wish, you can also make this a chilled tomato soup. After the blending or processing, cover the chilled soup in the fridge for 24 hours. Serve the chilled soup topped with some sour cream.
Tiffany Li
Fresh tomato soup Ingredients: 3 medium tomatoes, peeled and quartered 1 1/2 cups water 1/2 cup chopped onion (1 medium sized) 1/2 cup chopped celery (1 stalk) 1/3 cup tomato paste (about 1/2 of a 6 oz can) 2 tbsp snipped fresh cilantro or basil 2 tsp instant chicken bouillon granules 1 tsp sugar A few dashes of hot pepper sauce (optional) More snipped fresh cilantro or basil (as a garnish)
tli@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Method: 1. If desired, seed the tomatoes. 2. In a large saucepan, combine tomatoes, water, onion, celery, tomato paste, 2 tbsp cilantro, bouillon granules, sugar, and hot pepper sauce. Bring to a boil; then reduce the heat. 3. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes or until the celery and onion are very tender. Remove from the heat and let cool for 10 minutes. 4. Place half of the tomato mixture in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Repeat with the remaining mixture. Return all of the soup to the saucepan and heat through. 5. Ladle soup into large bowls and garnish with the additional cilantro. Makes about 4 cups. Enjoy!
Against overspecializing
In my spare time, I study physics and calculus from second-hand textbooks. In and of itself, this shouldn’t come as a tremendous revelation — this is the University of Waterloo, after all; we’re renowned for our nerdiness. But what if I told you I was a political science student, and maybe even an English literature student too? Would you be likely to think, “Wow, that’s quite a jump?” If so, you’re not alone; in all my time at Waterloo (I’m in fourth year now) and even way back in high school, I’ve encountered overspecialization at its most negative and most dangerous. Whether it was high school students convincing themselves they didn’t need math because the arts were where their real interests lay, or university science
students lacking the ability to string two coherent sentences together for work reports, the trend is clear: a great many students avoid looking beyond their main field of study. I don’t mean to blame the students though; in large part, this push for overspecialization is institutional, supported by heavy course loads, an excess of information pertaining just to one’s major and above all, the need to produce employees who can fill necessary niches in the existing marketplace, as well as academics who can do the same in the world of theory and research. When there is only so much one can cover in three to five years of undergraduate education, it’s wholly understandable that a student’s focus would gradually narrow to a razorsharp point. One can also argue that without this intense concentration it would be impossible to expand the general body of knowledge since, except for the occasional paradigm shift, human advancements are currently made in small and localized steps. See BROADENING, page 15
FRIDAY, january 12, 2007
features
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Catholicism in Cuenca, a student’s perspective Before coming to Ecuador, one fact that had been impressed upon me was how strongly Catholic a country it was. In fact, 95 per cent of the population declares itself Catholic. Homosexuality has only been decriminalized in the last 10 years and birth control is still hard to find and often expensive. It was with this backdrop that my friend and I visited the most Catholic of Ecuadorian cities, Cuenca. It was the city’s annual holiday, which left us with the problem of finding a hostel with an empty room. Luckily, we had met a friendly German on the bus who had a friend with a hostel room. We took a cab to the hostel but were told there was no way they’d let us in. After some pleading that we couldn’t sleep on the street they let us in to sleep on the floor. We took the next day to find a real hostel and orient ourselves, and we visited the Cathedral of Cuenca. When constructed, there were plans for it to hold 10,000 people and be the biggest in South America. Halfway through, the architects concluded it would be unsafe to build any higher. Thus the cathedral remains oddly half finished. Walking through the huge, ornate doors I was struck by the sight of the front of the sanctuary. The light reflecting off it was so bright it seemed to be covered in gold. The parts of the cathedral they had built had been spared no expense. The sight of the sanctuary was so impressive that I was thrown into an intense religious
revelation. I saw God. Literally. Along one side of the cathedral was a shrine that included a statue of God, complete with Jesus sitting at his right hand. During my next night in Cuenca, I happened upon a completely different side of the city’s character. Walking down the street, I randomly ran into a rock concert taking place in a public square. Despite being so strongly Catholic, Cuenca is also the rock and roll capital of Ecuador. The band I saw combined intense heavy metal guitar with flute and saxophone accompaniment. It was kind of like seeing Iron Maiden perform with Jethro Tull. The mostly young crowd was dressed in typical punk clothing and moshed their hearts out at the front of the stage. Perhaps Cuenca’s strongly Catholic character has also produced an equally strong counter-culture. Leaving Cuenca, I felt as if I had experienced some of its Catholic character, but not overtly. The downtown, although historical, had obviously geared itself towards tourists, and many of them were there for the annual holiday. It’s often hard to understand a place after living there for four months, let alone visiting it for four days. Yet, I forgot that I still had to leave Cuenca on the bus. Long bus trips in Ecuador always have at least one movie showing, sometimes more. On one occasion I had been forced to watch Air Force One (good movie), followed by Air Force Two (I wanted to shoot myself), followed by an action movie starring Dolph Lundgren (even worse). On this bus, however, we were shown a movie whose sole purpose was to convince people of the evils of abortion. At the end, the movie presented a table comparing North American deaths in certain wars with the number of abortions performed since it was legalized. This was distorted by the fact that
Broadening: extra-curricular studies to create the widest knowledge base quality of my essays per se, but the benefit of holding a different perspective is still The problem is not so much specialization quite tangible. itself, but the failure to consider complicaLast term, for instance, while writing a tions that might — and do — arise from book review on a work entitled Justice and the being educated to this end. Politics of Difference, I found occasion to comTo become a specialist in any field is laudable, pare a quality of political theory — namely, and generally desirable, but the danger comes that the more thoroughly one understands the when being a specialist means being dismissive nature of social “difference,” the further one of other fields of study. is from finding real-world solutions for it — to Students at UW fall prey to this kind of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, a physthinking when budding scientists mock arts ics concept that likewise acknowledges that programs and the people in them as frivolous, the more precisely one factor, like momentum, ignorant, or just plain inferior, as well as is known, the less precisely a conjugate factor, when arts students dismiss computer science like position, can also be known. students as code monkeys who’ve had the Making this comparison gave me a capacity for creativity beaten out of them. much more grounded understanding of the What is gained by this sort of antagonism? strengths and weaknesses in the book I was Worse, what is lost? reading, which in turn Being a specialmade for a more comBeing a specialist should prehensive assessment ist shouldn’t mean fixating on a field of of the text. mean acting as a filter, inquiry to the excluThe same kinds of sion of all others; connections can be taking in the broadest if anything, being made between almost possible range of human any two subjects — a a specialist should mean acting as a filter, I intend to supknowledge and assessing claim taking in the broadest port in the weeks to possible range of hucome. all of it in relation to a man knowledge and I also intend to assessing all of it in specific topic of study. compare classical edrelation to a specific ucations with more topic of study. contemporary models The benefit of such an approach to and discuss how current real-world issues specialization should speak for itself: by demonstrate a need for thinking “outside acknowledging and considering radically dif- the box.” ferent perspectives — as are engendered by The way I see it, even if your course load radically different fields of study — students, doesn’t allow for many electives or extracuremployees, and academics alike can look at ricular studies, looking at your specialization problems in new ways, think up solutions from a new vantage point doesn’t have to take that would have otherwise never occurred to up much time. Hell, just by reading differthem, and generally draw useful and expansive ent sections in the newspaper, I’d say you’re conclusions about “the big picture.” already off to a good start. Certainly, studying physics and calculus in my spare time isn’t guaranteed to improve the mclark@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Continued from page 14
Matthew PIggot
Started in 1880, The Cathedral of Cuenca sits unfinished due to a miscalculation by the architects. Despite this error, it remains a beautiful work of faith. the two bigger wars were not fought in North America and that the United States only entered into the second world war halfway through. The movie also claimed that since legalization there had been 20 million abortions in North America, a number that I knew to be false (source: Freakonomics). Ironically, the abortion movie was followed by a bloody action flick starring Dolph Lundgren, which had someone
being shot every two seconds! In hindsight, I should have seen it coming. The bus line we travelled on was called Santa (Saint) and the front the bus had a big poster of Nuestra Dama de el Cisne (Our Lady of the Swan). Whatever feelings I had of having “missed” part of Cuenca were erased on the bus ride home. — Matthew Piggot
Arts Imprint
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Friday, january 12, 2007
arts@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Arts Editor: Ashley Csanady Arts Assistant: Andrew Abela
Artist lecture series questions artistic traditions Ashley Csanady arts editor
Trekking all the way to Cambridge may seem a little daunting, but a new series of lectures and performances by the UW Art Gallery might just be worth the trip. The gallery, now called RENDER, has collaborated with the UW School of Architecture to put on the Winter ’07 Performance and Lecture series, which will feature art from as far as London, England. All of the lecturers involved are currently working on projects for RENDER. The eight lectures began on January 10 and will run every Wednesday at 7 p.m., through March 14, with the exception of Valentine’s Day, in the lecture hall at the Cambridge campus. Admission is free for all of the lectures. The first lecture featured “Toronto based” artist Amos Latteir. Latteir, who studied at Brown University and participated in graduate studies at San Fransisco state, produces installations, Powerpoint presentations and audio works. His presentation focused on the idea of models. He presented an animated lecture that Andrew Hunter, curator for RENDER, described as “an art piece unto itself.” The second lecture will take place January 17, 2007 and will feature Héloïse Audy and Julie Faubert. Hailing from Montreal, the pair also have a show entitled The Hive Dress that will be showing at the UW Art Gallery from January 11 through February 24. Their project focuses on the body, memory and isolation. According to the UW Art Gallery website, “The Hive-Dress attempts to reclaim an invisible part in the ordeal of the seamstresses, the stream of thoughts and emotions that accom-
pany their daily work, the thought process which runs freely, while their bodies are restrained to repetitive routines.” For Hunter, the fourth lecture on January 31, featuring PROBOSCIS, is “a creative studio and think tank for culture,” hailing from London England. It’s been suggested that this might prove to be the most interesting of the lectures, but Hunter still adds that “they are all very much worth coming to.” According to Hunter, it’s “kind of a big deal to get them over here,” and they are “a very interesting group […] heavy emphasis to get people to understand the community that they live in.” “PROBOSCIS works across disciplines and practices, drawing upon a network of associate artists, writers, curators, critics, designers, technologists, filmmakers, scientists and theorists to develop new ways of exploring social, cultural and creative issues” said members Giles Lane and Alice Angus on the UW Art Gallery’s website. “Our research program (SoMa) also works in partnership with a network of arts, civil society, academic and business partners.” Hunter said the lecture series stemmed from “a desire to be doing a program that wasn’t in the gallery. “A departure from what the gallery has done in the past,” Hunter said the series will introduce a broader scope of “artist.” “Lots of people have a very narrow idea of what a gallery or artist is,” explained Hunter, and that this series “really is about launching a new program and identity for the gallery.” He said that people in any discipline could find interest in this series, saying, “artists don’t just make paintings or sculptures, [they
Courtesy Amos Latteir
One of artist Amos Latteir’s models from his lecture entitled MODELS at the UW Cambridge lecture hall, the first in a series of eight. are] engaged in a range of critical issues.” Some of the artists work with animation, focus on environmental issues and suburban sprawl, feature sociocultural commentary, or use computer presentations, so there is literally something for everybody. “In almost every case [the lectures are] not limited to traditional art issues,” said Hunter. Although distant, the Cambridge
January 12 Behind the Milk with DJ Charless — Starlight 10 p.m. — $3 at the door January 12 Cancer Bats, with guests — The Gig 8 p.m. — $11 in advance, $13 at the door January 13 DOLLARAMA — Starlight 8 p.m. — $5 at the door January 13 to 20 Curse of the Golden Flower — Original Princess 7 p.m. — $6 at the Turnkey desk January 14 to March 25 Aspects & Excess: Shary Boyle — Clay and Glass Gallery Shary Boyle talks at 1 p.m.
Imprint’s Music Mix Young MC “Bust a Move” Junior Boys “Double Shadow” Beck “Cellphone’s Dead” Metronomy, South Central remix “Trick or Treatz” The Shins “A Comet Appears”
campus is an ideal venue for the lectures since, as Hunter explained, “part of the goal is to start building stronger connections with different faculties on campus.” If it does seem too far, however, all participating artists will also be involved on the main campus at some point. Whether through class lectures or shows in the East Campus Hall Gallery or showcases their presence will be felt on the main
campus. Beyond that, Hunter said RENDER is working on projects with many different groups, faculties and clubs on campus, notably the UW DJ Club. For a complete list of the performance series lectures, or more information about any artists involved, visit www.artgallery.uwaterloo.ca/ lecture.html. acsanady@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
January 14 to March 25 Small artificial fields: Robert Youds — Clay and Glass Gallery $3 for Adults, $2 for Students and Seniors, Families $7 January 17 Héloïse Audy and Julie Faubert, The Hive Dress (La robe-ruche) — UW Cambridge lecture hall 7 p.m. — Free January 18 Robert Munsch — Centre in the Square 7 p.m. — $29 January 18 to February 24 Death to Everyone: Chris Down — UW Art Gallery Reception at 5 p.m. — Free January 20 Jen Militia C.D. release party — Starlight 9 p.m. — $10 in advance, all ages event
arts
FRIDAY, january 12, 2007
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Exploring the human reproductive system Local art show by UW student celebrates absurdity Hartman and Lawler (who will both be performing at the show) are respected local musicians renowned for their humorous and satirical lyrics, and this is no doubt a binding theme of the show. Apollo Ink co-founder Mike Neeb playfully describes the philosophy as “Andy Warhol after 9/11.” The Arts Snob sat down with Lawler to discuss what is shaping up to be an exciting evening of post-modernism, surrealism, and “gonorrhea-ism.”
The Night Watch Sergei Lukyanenko Andrew Bromfield (translator)
Their Kingdom Come: Inside The Secret World of Opus Dei Robert Hutchison
Anchor Canada
Thomas Dunne Books
I doubt I would have picked up The Night Watch if it weren’t for the author’s name and the word “international”; there was little else to distinguish the book from its neighbours on the shelf, and it had, admittedly, a really awful cover. But I was curious as to what a novel translated from a Slavic language would read like, which, if nothing else, earned it a three page read-through. I’m glad I was curious. The Night Watch is one of the most engaging and enjoyable books I’ve read in some time, and, in a genre where it’s depressingly easy to find formula writing refreshingly original. Lukyanenko’s book takes place in modern day Moscow, where the light and dark developed a truce long ago. The soldiers of these causes are known as Others, humans forced to choose sides by the power they possess or fade away altogether. The story itself is told by Anton, a young member of the night watch, one of two police forces created to watch each other, maintaining the balance between powers. It’s a concept that could easily fail in the hands of another writer, but Lukyanenko pulls it off with aplomb. In part, his success is carried by the moral debates he creates: examining the idea of black and white, pitting both against all the shades of grey and throwing into the mix all the selfishness, sacrifice, pain and other complications that come from being so very human. There’s a lot packed into these pages, and Lukyanenko never stops to explain his increasingly complex ideas or plots, but this is one of those rare cases where that works, and leaves you eager to work out the puzzles. The other half of Lukyanenko’s success comes from the fact that this is wonderfully strong and unusual writing. It’s hard to lay a finger on what exactly makes his prose so appealing, and whether this is a result of its translation from Russian, but this is one of the few books I’ve read that I would have finished happily even if the story were terrible. Lukyanenko’s Moscow is a grey, gritty place — the sort that you always think of as foggy, regardless of the weather — yet, nevertheless has a vibrancy and richness that add as much to the work as a second main character. Anton, the main character is a refreshingly mid-level and unimportant member of the watch. He’s not going to save the world, merely run interference for those who will — a perspective that lets him present a world-weary and humorous narration. The Night Watch is a wonderful, original take on a lot of older conventions, and is enjoyably thought-provoking as well. Go ahead and take a look yourself — just ignore the cover.
Seldom do I come across a book that turns me off so quickly and so completely as this book did. For a little over a year, I have been researching Opus Dei with the goal of doing my thesis on the organization. If even a tenth of what this book claims is true, then this group is the best in the world at keeping secrets, and the people I have known who are members are great deceivers — better than what the devil himself is given credit for being. The cover of the book claims: “A responsible piece of investigative reporting … packed with meticulous detail,” from Publishers Weekly. Yet I find none of that in this book in comparison with other books on the same subject. Both this author and Michael Walsh, in his book The Secret World of Opus Dei, claim to have access to secret documents that are not reproduced or evidenced other than in their claims. Hutchison claims that Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, was not really interested in the spiritual life of his followers. He states: “Escriva was interested in power. He was a schemer. God’s schemer. And he wanted to control higher education, and later government ministries.” This book makes such wide and varied accusations against Opus Dei that it is hard to believe the author has not been charged with libel and slander. Hutchison claims that Opus Dei has overturned governments, controlled the FBI and the CIA, bankrupted the Vatican so that Opus Dei could bail them out, and orchestrated assassination attempts including the one against Pope Paul VI. He even went so far as to claim that Opus Dei controls the majority of the clergy and laity in the Roman Curia, and that they even actively recruit in the Pentagon and other government organizations around the world to achieve the power and control they want. Hutchison even alludes to the fact that Pope John Paul II was really just a puppet for Opus Dei; he calls John Paul II Opus Dei’s Pope. How this book is published as non-fiction I will never know. Of the 30 odd books I have read, both for and against Opus Dei in the last year, this book is definitely the worst. If you want to read something unbiased and informative, I would start with John Allen Jr.’s book Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church. It is worth the read. But this book by Hutchison is trash and does not deserve your time, effort or hard-earned money.
— Duncan Ramsay
— Steven R. McEvoy
My dear readers, it is not easy being in such high demand. Every morning I am rudely awakened by the postman, who coughs loudly as he Tell me, dear friend, what has inspired you to throw lugs another bundle of fan mail to my door. this event? Amongst all the love notes, invitations to Kyle Lawler: Do you think the mimes speak at highly prestigious, super-important who roamed the streets of Paris got credthink-tanks and grateful letters from the ibility through eating, let alone being able to Third World children I sponsor, there are, afford food? I think not! In the art world, undoubtedly, a countless number of requests it’s no pain, no gain. If you are having sex to attend various screenings, concerts, exhib- in a way which does not warrant some type its and plays. of risk for gonorrhea, you’re clearly not in it I am usually quite insistent on a mon- for the art. etary gift or at least some sort of material reward in return for Hmmm, indeed. my distinguished presCryptic, perhaps, but ence, but today I heard certainly an interesting I am usually quite from an old friend and concept. How could we decided to “do him a something like insistent on a monetary describe solid” (although he is this to make us sound still welcome to send a intellectual? Gonorgift or at least some monetary gift). rhoea-ism? Kyle Lawler, losort of material reward KL: The feeling cal libertine, veteran could be described in in return for my provocateur and sitar one of many words virtuoso, is a student at in –ism, but distinguished presence, ending the University of Waterthey have all been loo in the Independent but today I heard from an previously used to Studies program (an describe failed politiold friend and decided to cal movements. interdisciplinary plan that encourages creative individuals to explore “do him a solid” (although Isn’t that always such fascinating topics he is still welcome to send the unfortunate case, as “the potential of ah well. community gardens to a monetary gift). Speaking to Mike build neighbourhood Neeb, your inquisisolidarity.”) As one of tive columnist asked the three minds behind how Apollo Ink felt the Waterloo-based “Apollo Ink” collective, about the city of Kitchener’s recent move to Lawler has been working to forge a sense “de-artify” the space at 156 King by allowing of community in a city with impressive but commercial development. “By no means is scattered talent. this the last hurrah,” Neeb answered, “but it Working from Apollo Ink HQ at 156 King certainly is like dancing on thin ice and hoping St. (right beside UW’s own Artery Gallery), for the best.” the boy-wonder is currently collaborating with local musician Brad Hartman (aka MilkbagHow poetic! To be honest, these boys brother) to host “The Human Reproductive make me feel like Kerensky on the eve of System,” an event bringing together art and the February Revolution! music for the necessary public adoration Please, my dear readers, go to 156 King and adulation. on Friday, January 19 and dance on ice with Scheduled for Friday, January 19, the ex- these fine fellows. Doors are at 8 p.m., cost is hibit/concert looks to combine the work of $4 (with profits going to the Food Bank). local artists and musicians (such as resurrected Indulge in “The Human Reproductive Sysscene favourites Analog Wry, performing as tem,” and come out with a better understand“A Good Story”) in a celebration of the absur- ing of Lawler’s fantastic “Gonorrhoea-ism.” dity of everyday life. The show’s philosophy Godspeed to you! is reflected in the title, which, indeed, has no apparent significance. cmoffat@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
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“How to Make a Techno Record,” that was a lame attempt to grasp at what Strong Bad did aptly with “The System is Down” four years ago. It was 3:48 minutes of a fierce kind of unfunny — The kind that offends you just by the quality of the quips. I could see “Bust a Move” or “Billie Jean(Jesus Juice remix)” making their way into dance broadcasts as inoffensive CanCon for radio or local flavour for DJs, but seriously, you guys just took “Billie Jean” and cranked up the high-hat and made it longer. What kind of market could there possibly be for that kind of thing? Sound Bluntz can’t really blame the bling; considering they’ve probably not accumulated much of it.
Blame the Bling Sound Blutz EMI Canady
And bounce. And bend. And stretch. And flex. Don’t forget to breathe … and relaaaaax. That’s what I feel like doing when I listen to mundane Canadian mixmistresses Sound Bluntz. Remember all those crappy pop remixes that played as the soundtrack to exercise videos featuring trim women in neon pink spandex that daddy used to watch on weekends while mommy was at work seminars? These guys follow in that proud heritage, fattening the base and trying to resell the songs that defined our lives with their original release. Drawing you in at first with such hits as Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” Young MC’s “Bust a Move” and The Cars’ “Just What I Needed,” then disappointing you with generally mediocre dance tunes that even an electronic music fan would call “repetitive.” The kind of music you could so get your Tae Bo on to. These songs aren’t bad enough that you would object if it came on at a bar or house party, but I can’t imagine ever having actual desire to get the album; unless you’re high or a manager of Randy River or something. It also featured a horribly pretentious, joking how-to song called
— Darren Hutz
rhythmic vocals. In “Bitter Words,” the music becomes alternately rough and searing, then softer, melodic, almost despairing. The standout track on this album is definitely the title track, “Anything for the Devil.” About shallow, disposable celebrity culture rather than Satanism, this song features interesting female vocals and a dark, memorable guitar hook. Overall, it is a decent album, one fans of nu-metal will definitely appreciate. My only major complaint about this album is its brevity; clocking in at just under 20 minutes, Anything for the Devil only contains five songs. Amazon.com lists the price as $7.99. I personally wouldn’t pay that much for this album, but if you’re looking to beef up your MP3 collection I would recommend checking the band out. — Sasha Campbell
Anything for the Devil Rikets Universal
Anything for the Devil, the latest auditory assault by disenchanted metalheads Rikets, is a strong album with flavours of industrial, thrash and nu-metal. Even a touch of rap’s influence can be heard on certain tracks. The album begins with the rhythmic guitar of Provo and Crawfish on the first song, “Useless.” In case you were wondering, yes, all band members but two have pseudonyms. The next track, “Hollywood,” features a strong beat, thrashing guitars and lead singer Scott Rose’s powerful,
The Liberation Talib Kweli and Madlib rappcats.com
Though neither Brooklyn emcee Talib Kweli or West Coast underground producer Madlib have ever been known to stick to the script, they really dropped a bomb on hip hop heads by offering a free download of their aptly titled collaboration,The Liberation, for the first week of 2007. They decided to skip any album release drama, like the internet leaks that have plagued many of hip hop’s most anticipated albums, and
FRIDAY, january 12, 2007
offer their listeners legally free music, complete with some dope printable art inserts, with virtually no publicity to generate buzz. “If you build it,” said the ‘Libs, “they will come.” The truth is that this release of The Liberation rounds out as one of the few hip-hop albums dropped recently that would actually be worth buying. Though there are plans for a commercial release of the album later this year, likely to include new, unreleased songs from the duo, this nine track preview gives fans plenty of reassurance about what this exciting collaboration has to offer. One of the most evident features of this release is the incredible versatility that is often overlooked in both contributors. On “Engine Runnin’” Madlib provides another of his prototypical blunted soundscapes for Kweli and frequent Tribe Called Quest collaborator Consequence, who is just one of the album’s impressive guest spots. “Funny Money” recently enjoyed a good run when released to college radio south of the border, as Kweli sounds right at home over an effective horn and vocal sample selection by The Beat Konductor Madlib. This preview is far from flawless, as Kweli occasionally seems to stumble his way around Madlib’s impressive production. On “Over the Counter,” for instance, Kweli’s raps sound like the type that made longtime fans shy away from his most recent LP The Beautiful Struggle. Meanwhile, Madlib provides a club friendly track that would have made his fallen mentor J Dilla proud, as his influence is evident in the booming bass and snapping snare. After a series of disappointing fourth-quarter hiphop releases, The Liberation internet pre-release is a good indication that the duo will drop a great album to look forward to later this year. Though the album will no doubt be reshaped by feedback before its in-store release, the free download was a treat to hold fans over in a dry period. — Jordan Noakes
Serena Maneesh Serena Maneesh Playlouder Recordings
There are moments during the Norwegian septet’s self-titled debut where an awkward familiarity sets in, and you’re left wondering where you’ve heard these songs before. Perhaps the buzzing, suffocated riffs on “Simplicity” had briefly caught your ear as you passed by a record store playing it. Maybe the grisly white noise of “Her Name Is Suicide” reminded you of the hushed sounds of a solitary drive. It’s only when you put it together when you realize that the sources of familiarity have nothing to do with the outside world — this is music made in isolation for the isolated. This is shoegaze. It seems obvious later on but it’s still surprising, despite the band’s obvious cues to the genre and, most notably, to the original shoegazer himself, one Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine. This is because for every borrowed moment of unintelligible phraseology or equally distant melody, Serena Maneesh has the youthful zeal to add vigorous rhythms and oddly psychedelic meanderings to the chaos-pop formula. Their brave additions yet nearly librarian adherence to the reference material could scare the unknowing listener into thinking Serena Maneesh is the fantasy follow-up to My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless — an elusive potential not even Shields himself has ever realized. — Angelo Florendo
Come Celebrate With Us!
Retail Services is celebrating UW’s 50th Anniversary all throughout 2007 with monthly special offers and contests. Visit our website www.retailservices.uwaterl oo.ca/anniversary/ for more details.
Win a Special Edition iPod shuffle! One lucky winner will take home a special edition iPod shuffle each month from CampusTechshop. Enter online for your chance to win. www.campustechshop.uwaterloo.ca
Win a $50 Gift Card! The BookStore will be giving away a $50 Retail Services Gift Card each month in 2007. Enter online for your chance to win. www.bookstore.uwaterloo.ca
New item every month for $19.57 Get a fleece pullover and commemorative lapel pin for only $19.57. Your choice of three styles: 1/4 zipped pullover (shown), hoodie or v-neck sweater. www.uwshop.uwaterloo.ca
50th Anniversary Gift with Purchase The first 50 customers on the first Thursday of each month will receive a free surprise item with any purchase. Collect all 12!
Win a UW 50th Anniversary Chair! ArtWorx is giving away one limited edition folding chair each month of operation in 2007. Enter online for your chance to win.
www.techworx.uwaterloo.ca
www.artworx.uwaterloo.ca
www.retailservices.uwaterloo.ca/anniversary/
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arts
FRIDAY, january 12, 2007
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Have a hands-on Chagall experience
cindy ward
Stuffed toys provide one way for kids to interact with Chagall’s work. Cindy Ward reporter
A unique art exhibit, inspired by one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century, Russian-Jewish painter, Marc Chagall, makes a stop this winter in our very own community at the Waterloo Regional Children’s Museum (WRCM) in downtown Kitchener. This isn’t just any old, run of the mill, pooh-pooh art exhibit, either. Although designed with children in mind, this very serious endeavour was created in part by the Art Institute of Chicago in order to provide a truly unique, hands-on experience with which to engage visitors of all
ages in 14 interactive, multi-sensory components and activities that feature Chagall’s works. Raised in Vitebsk, Russia, Marc Chagall (1887-1985) consistently expressed his childlike and joyful spirit in all of his works, which communicate happiness and optimism through his use of bold colour combinations, vibrant images and popular themes. Having spent some years in Paris before and after the First World War, Chagall seemed to flow along the currents of the avantgarde with the likes of Fauvism, Cubism and Surrealism, however, his unique style never fit into any one category, and his composition and imagery set him apart from
other artists. With the sincerity of a child, he remained dedicated to his vision. It is for these very reasons that his art was originally chosen to create this unique, interactive show, Chagall for children. In researching this article, I have had the luxury of exploring this exhibit a few times already, and I can say that not only did my daughter of a year, and my friend’s daughter at the age of 12 both have a riot with the hands-on exhibits, I definitely enjoyed the creativity the most. I can honestly say it is absolutely the coolest art exhibit I have ever experienced, and every other previewing adult said the same thing. The 14 stations of Chagall’s works invite you to explore, touch, discover, listen, learn, look, wonder and feel the art as you experience the exhibit. For example, “The Poultry Yard” (1928) station provides all of the characters of the painting in 3-D puzzle pieces that the participant can mount on the background to create their own unique masterpiece. “The Green Violinist” (1923-24) station invites the individuals to take a snapshot of their own face and digitally paint it different colours and styles using a touch screen. David Marskell, executive director of the Waterloo Regional Children’s Museum, said he is very excited to launch Chagall for children in the RIM Gallery, the first of many traveling exhibits planned for the museum in the coming years. Since its opening in September of 2003, the collaborative force behind the not-for-profit WRCM has transformed the architecturally stunning and historic Goudies department store in downtown Kitchener into a sensation for the senses for children and adults alike. The museum contains five floors
of creation stations that embrace their theme of Art and Technology @ Play, covering many aspects of the modern world such as mechanics, computers, electricity, sound, friction and energy production/conservation. There is also an equally dominant focus on art and creativity through interactive media stations and frequent hands-on workshops by guest artists and Kitchener’s artist in residence. Marskell said he has a desire to see the WRCM connect with the community at all levels and is currently in discussions with the faculties of arts and engineering at the University of Waterloo regarding possible exhibits for 2008. Other faculties, such as environmental studies and science offer exciting opportunities as well. Besides favourable partnerships with the University, Marskell said the WRCM is going to have some very exciting announcements over the next 12 months. As far as Chagall for children is concerned, the WRCM is soon to announce an upcoming contest that will send winners to view original Chagall works. Details of the contest and destination will be revealed at that time. So, make sure to add the children’s museum to your list of very fun and important things to do before mid-terms, and don’t miss Chagall for children, lest you wither and die in obscurity. Chagall himself once said, “Art picks up where nature ends.” The WRCM is located at 10 King Street West in Kitchener and is open year-round. General admission is $7.00 (children under three are free). Chagall runs from January 13 to April 29. For more information please call the WRCM at 519-749-9387 or check the web at www.thechildrensmuseum.ca.
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Jam: frosty rock earlier now continued from cover
Last year’s Polar Jam was marred by complaints about noise and the unusual timing of the concert, which ran from 12:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. According to Erin O’Leary, Feds special events coordinator, last year’s concert timing was “a compromise with the city” to get a noise exemption bylaw. Since Polar Jam ‘06 was held in conjunction with Wilfrid Laurier University, it took place at University Stadium on Seagram Avenue. This year it is solely a UW venture with an on-campus location, allowing for better timing. However, tickets are available at Laurier and they might partner with UW again for future Polar Jams. The concert has also been shortened by three hours in response
to students’ complaints that it was too long last year. O’Leary says there will also be “more of a tight rein” on noise levels at the concert this year, in order to prevent noise complaints. Flyers will be circulated to the residents of neighbouring Old Post Road and Albert Street to notify them of the event and inform them of the proper protocol to file a noise complaint, if need be. A pre-sound check will take place on Thursday night as well, with bylaw officers posted in key areas to monitor noise levels, O’Leary notes. More information on Polar Jam ’07 can be found at www.polarjam. feds.ca. ssangha@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
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FRIDAY, january 12, 2007
Children of Men gets Mandatory viewing for all film-goers undeserved quiet birth
Courtesy Universal
Clive Owen and Julianne Moore give strong performances in a war-torn world without children. Children of Men Alfonso Cuarón Universal Pictures
Loosely based on the P.D. James novel of the same name, Children of Men is a dystopian thrill ride with a terrifying vision of the future brought to life by Alfonso Cuarón (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban). The film is set in 2027 after an 18-year period of worldwide infertility. Much of the world has been destroyed by nuclear and global catastrophes and, in the resulting chaos, Britain has become the only nation left on Earth. The country, on the verge of collapse, has become a totalitarian police state outlawing anyone but British citizens. All illegal immigrants and refugees (“fugees”) are placed in internment camps.
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- Mariah Carey
The plot centres around Theo Feron (Clive Owen), a former activist turned government bureaucrat. In the film’s opening, he is enjoying a coffee and taking in a news report on the death of the world’s youngest citizen, aged 18. Seconds after he leaves the coffee shop a bomb detonates and he is nearly incinerated. Shaken, Theo visits his friend Jasper (Michael Caine). Jasper grows cannabis, which is still illegal under state law, and lives in the British countryside with his invalid wife, of which scenes imply that she was tortured by the MI5. Upon his return to London, he is kidnapped by an underground group known as “The Fishes” who received the blame for the earlier bombing in the coffee shop. The leader of the group is Theo’s ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore) who asks Theo for transport papers in exchange for £5000. Eventually Theo agrees, although the papers are granted with the stipulation that he has to accompany the person. From this one event, Theo is thrust into a race against various factions to protect Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey), the first woman pregnant in 18 years, and ensure the future survival of the human race. Children of Men features Owen at his
very best, playing the type of character that he has developed through many of his last few films. Both immensely likeable and also fallible, he is the proverbial anti-hero whose motivation remains hidden to everyone but himself. Also notable are Caine as Jasper, and newcomer Ashitey as Kee. Both turn in excellent performances, the latter often without having to say a word. Moore’s role is decidedly understated as Julian, and does not showcase her ample talent fully. What is most striking about Children is the world that Cuarón has managed to create on film. The realism of the scenery, which often exposes much in the film, ensures that one leaves the theatre feeling uncomfortable at the possibility of his vision coming to life. The only downside to the film is an issue of marketing. With a very limited release, this movie will not get the credit or audience that it deserves. While it might be worth checking out if you are in the city seeing a movie anyway, unless you are a huge science fiction fan or like movies about the apocalypse, you may want to wait for this one to come out on DVD. Nevertheless, it is certainly a movie worth spending the money to go see. — Sean Kinsella
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me as 2001: Burgess’ and Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. This is the greatest piece of retribution to ever grace 149 pages and 136 minutes of film. A group of young synthetically stimulated sadist criminals, who are lead by the lovingly charming, sociopathic protagonist Alex, are Before I begin, I feel it necessary shown gallivanting throughout the to state, verbatim, my intention. night streets without any shred of The words that follow are about guilt or morallity running through my personal experiences with the their little heads (or gullivers in their well-known skilled chess player, his slang language ‘Nadsat’). The nightly majesty, Stanley Kubrick. It isn’t debauchery continues until their fun about his life, or any crap like that; is abruptly ended when one of them just what I’ve seen. Why? Because, is gifted the cruellest of all fates damn, I have liked what I’ve seen one can receive, without a second and I’m sure you’d like it too. thought by the authorities. Any naysayers can feel free to go Gory violent murder and rape and read another column, preferably aside, this film is beautiful for its within the confines of these pages suggestion that the criminally inbecause Imprint is cool. I know sane cannot be cured instantly in what you’re thinking, “Thanks for one fell swoop with biochemical the great advice, I’ll go do that!” wonders and psychological reproGood. gramming. Being deprogrammed Only the truly dedicated remain blindly with your eyes sternly pried now that the unworthy have taken open by metal wires, as surprising my far from subtle advice. Just like as it may seem, does not allow for evolution, I am forced to select for any moral improvement, learning, the most capable of individuals to or reinforcement. be posed the most thought provokI’ll admit this movie is not for ing of all questions: did we emerge those who have trouble watching randomly from a messy gene pool violence; particularly those afflicted or could we have received a help- by it personally. However, the novel, ing hand from a higher being to written by Anthony Burgess, is a become the powerful species we very similar and equally satisfying are today? alternative; although it may take you 2001: A Space Odyssey poses this longer than usual to get through, age-old, endlessly debatable ques- mostly due to Burgess’ gruesome tion by depicting a tale of space narrative — more than enough to exploration by a crew of six, only make the most twisted of criminals two of whom are drool. Just be sure to conscious (Dahave a copy of vid Bowman and Beethoven’s Ninth Fr a n k Po o l e ) These films [will] handy. and one is HAL Although, I 9000: a computer change the way you have to be real responsible for feel about every oth- with you, Kubrick the control and disappointed me a maintenance of er movie you have bit here. Instead of the spacecraft Disreading the origiseen, or will see covery. nal British version, The novel and Kubrick adapted screenplay are tied the U.S. version together so well due to the fact that into the screenplay. He claims that they were simultaneously created in the ending provided in the British a hotel room by Kubrick and the version seems unbelievable and falwell-informed science fiction author lacious and neglected to include it Arthur C. Clarke. Not only does this in his film. improve upon the accuracy of the In my opinion, the original cinematic adaptation but it allows a ending puts the whole novel into viewer to ameliorate their generally a different light and adds so much inevitable confusion after having seen to the story. It’s as unlikely as it is 2001: A Space Odyssey if they choose normal, but I’ll let you decide that to (as I elected to do). for yourself. Though, yet again, The pairing of the novel and film Kubrick managed to leave his audidoes more too; along with providing ence puzzled with another obscure a sort of literary consciousness to and arcane ending. the film’s narrative and plot, it also As a father cannot choose his adds a strong illustrative aspect to favourite child of two, I admire the novel. With indefinite visual and enjoy these two films equally. description, the novel allowed me These two films are not only my two to interpret the images as I wished, favourite Kubrick films, but they also strikingly similar to its allowance found quite a comfortable place in for the interpretation of the philo- my top X films (x being any positive sophical issues it raises. integer, often 5 or 10). Not only will The ending is ridiculously unpre- these films change the way you feel dictable and unimaginably perplexing about every other movie you have upon first viewing. Of course I won’t seen, or will see, they will also change reveal the ending to you, due to the your view of society and life. obligatory nature of the viewing Every single one of my remarkof this film, but I will say this: the ably intelligent, capable and dedicated ending is highly plausible for a chess readers should consider these two player. For what happens to a lowly films to be essential viewing; a priority pawn once it reaches the last square above all other mundane or previously on the board? considered important priorities. This leads us to our next topic aabela@imprint.uwaterloo.ca of discussion, equally admired by
S cience Black hole study fills dark gaps in theory Friday, january 12, 2007
Imprint
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science@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Science Editor: Rob Blom Science Assistant: Yolanie Hettiarachchi
Galaxy NGC-4472 provides the “missing link” theorized between stellar and massive black holes Adam Gardiner staff reporter
An international team of astronomers has discovered a black hole, estimated to be 10 times larger than our sun, in the distant galaxy NGC-4472. But the discovery is far from ordinary; on the contrary, it has the astronomical community talking about black holes in a way that could influence many of the theories previously only conceptualized. Until now, as team member Arunav Kundu pointed out to BBC News, astronomers have known about two types of black holes: the “stellar-sized” kind, which are formed by the implosion of a star, and the “super-massive” kind, which are created by the mass of stars found in the middle of galaxies. Says Kundu, “There [was] nothing in between.” But the newly discovered hole, which the team reported on in the January 3 edition of Nature, is the first of its kind to lie in between these two sizes, providing the “missing link” many astronomers theorized might exist between stellar and massive black holes. “This discovery could make a big difference on studying the evolution of stars,” said Kundu. Even more remarkable is the fact that the hole was found in a globular cluster, a seemingly unusual home for such a phenomenon. Globular clusters are groups of stars, numbering in the thousands, that have been compressed by gravity into a relatively small region of space at a galaxy’s centre. The only significant evidence to suggest black holes might exist in such areas was a 2002 study of the movements of cluster stars. Many astronomers however disagreed on how those observations could be interpreted. Even if a black hole did exist inside a cluster, many astronomers believed that it would either be ejected by the cluster’s unpredictable gravitational forces, or would pull other stars in to create a “super-massive” hole instead.
But it was the team’s fascination with the theoretical significance and elusive nature of black holes that prompted them to extend their search to such an unlikely area. Stephen Zepf, one of the team’s members, explained why in an e-mail to Michigan State News: “Black holes tell us about how the universe evolved and how stars and galaxies were made ... [they] shed some light on some fascinating physics.” To find the hole, the team used the telescope on the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton satellite to search clusters for X-ray emissions, which are created when matter surrounding a black hole is drawn in by the hole’s intense gravitational pull. NASA’s Chandra Space Telescope confirmed the XMM-Newton’s findings: the X-rays coming from the cluster in galaxy NGC-4472 were so bright that they could only come from a steady source of matter, such as a star, being sucked into a black hole. Team member Thomas Maccarone thinks his team’s findings are the most conclusive to date. “All the other claims there has been quite a viable explanation for,” he told New Scientist in an interview. “I don’t think there is for this case.” The findings, at best, can be seen as a lucky break for the team. Although they found success in only the second cluster they looked at, they went on to study 6,000 more clusters without finding another black hole. The occurence of a “middle-weight” cluster, some feel, may be a rare thing. Other astronomers are staying true to the assertion that just because one cannot see an object doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Northwestern University astronomer Vicky Kalogera theorizes that every globular cluster may contain a black hole, but that it isn’t possible to see most of them because they aren’t close enough to the surrounding stars to create bright X-rays. “[Maccarone’s team] found one,” she explained to New Scientist, “in a galaxy that has lots of globular clusters — many more than our own galaxy.”
Angelo Florendo
The recently discovered black hole lies in a global cluster — the first of its kind. For now, the team will be kept busy analyzing and interpreting their findings. The exact size of the discovered black hole is still a mystery, as is the reason why it exists in the NGC-4472 cluster in such a seemingly stable fashion. Many hope that the team’s findings will provide insight on how galaxies are formed and what changes they undergo during their existence. One thing is for sure: the newly discovered black hole will be a focus of attention to astronomers for a long time to come, as it remains
to be seen whether or not the hole will follow astronomers’ predictions. “If a black hole is massive enough, there’s a good chance it can survive the pressures of living in a globular cluster ... we may be seeing how a black hole can grow considerably, become more entrenched in the cluster, and then grow some more,” commented Kundu in a news release. “That’s what is intriguing about this discovery.” agardiner@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Cave rocks shed new light on past Early signs of Alzheimer’s detectable David Judah staff reporter
Scientists have a few tricks when they want to look into the past. A common method is to make a core sample. A core sample is taken by driving a tube into layers of sediment, then pulling it up to see what secrets it can reveal. The principle behind it is that as the layers of the sediment formed they trapped little bits and pieces of the world around them. Then by counting backwards from the most recent layers to the oldest, like the rings of a tree, data about the world that formed them can be drawn out. For instance by looking at the pollen in layers of lake sediment, a profile of the surrounding environment can be made. Another method is to drill a hole into ice and sample gasses. This method has provided a record of the atmosphere’s composition in years past. The list of similar methods goes on, including the sampling of peat, rock and even garbage (a procedure primarily used by sociologists). However, paleoclimatologists at Oregon State University (OSU) have recently brought a new twist to this old method. The story starts some 70 years ago in the Oregon Caves National Monument where workers removed a stalagmite to widen a passage in the cave. The stalagmite then fell into the hands of researchers. A stalagmite is a cave formation that grows up from the cave floor. As mineral rich water drips down from the cave ceiling, calcium carbonate precipitates out leaving a spike of calcite called a stalactite growing down from the cave ceiling. Basically it is a rock icicle, a rockcicle if you will. As the water drips off the stalactite onto the cave floor it creates a second spike called a stalagmite.
Since the formation of stalactites and stalagmites is caused by the rain and melting snow on the surface, their rate of growth and composition is a reflection of the environment on a whole. This is what the OSU Paleoclimate Research Group was counting on when the sampled the stalagmite for isotope tests. The tests work by measuring two main isotopes. The first is uranium-238, which decays over time to thorium-230. By measuring the ratio of uranium-238 to thorium-230 the age of the various layers of stalagmite can be dated. This is then compared to the ratio of the isotopes of oxygen-18 to oxygen-16. The higher the ratio, the colder it was when the stalagmite was made. This data can then be correlated to determine what the weather was like in years past. “The oxygen is telling us about the air temperature when it rains. Most of the rain comes in the winter, so it gives you an average winter temperature.” said Alan Mix, a leader of the research group and isotope geochemist in an interview with The Oregonian. “The stalagmite is giving us a detailed climate record over a long time span,” reports Mix. “Understanding how the climate system has changed in the past will give us a better understanding of what to expect in the future as the impact of global warming becomes more pronounced,” said Peter Clark, another project leader. Currently, researchers have met resistance as new stalagmites are rare. Most are protected like the ones in the Oregon Caves National Monument. Regardless, the researchers have made plans to continue their study on a California stalagmite. djudah@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Basma Anabtawi staff reporter
Alzheimer’s is a disease that attacks the brain. It’s a severe form of dementia that causes dramatic symptoms and problems in a person’s life. Although there is no cure for Alzheimer’s, research has been expanding over the last two decades to try to find new treatments in order to improve the quality of life for Alzheimer’s patients. There are currently many types of drug and non-drug treatments which seem to help improve cognitive and behavioral symptoms experienced in Alzheimer’s patients. Alzheimer’s disease causes people to experience many difficulties in communication, thinking and reasoning as well as severe memory loss. The dementia tends to increase with time, causing immense complications in a person’s social, work and personal life. A new research has been focusing on observing abnormal brain-protein deposits associated with signs of memory loss and found in the cortical region. According to the New England Journal of Medicine a new, non-invasive brain scan could lead to early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease before the onset of most severe symptoms. Dr. Gray Small, the lead author of the study and a professor at the Semel Neuroscience and Human Behaviour Institute at UCLA, said that this new technique could have promising insights in detection and treatment of Alzheimer’s. The method relies on inserting radioactive chemical markers into the patients, which aid in brain imaging. The markers are spotted in order
to follow disease development and progression in the patients tested. Dr. Small is hopeful in this new technique due to its safety and 85 per cent accuracy in distinguishing between patients with Alzheimer’s, those at risk of acquiring it and finally those with normal memory functions. A total of 83 volunteers were used for testing with an age range of 49 to 84. The biggest obstacle in Alzheimer’s disease is that often, patient diagnosis does not occur until severe symptoms are experienced, which is a result of permanent brain damage. Therefore, this early imaging technique could help protect brain tissue before damage occurs and becomes irreversible while also giving the patients and their families time to prepare for future changes. The innovative method is currently waiting on scientific approval from the Federal Food and Drug Administration before formal clinical trials could begin and commercial use is permitted. Neurologists today are limited to elimination tools in order to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. Due to the very broad range of symptoms of Alzheimer’s, after most common brain diseases are eliminated, doctors then tend to run a number of memory tests in order to predict the correct prognosis. In reality, Alzheimer’s can only be diagnosed via surgical tissue testing or autopsy following death. This new non-surgical method of detection is a huge step forward towards understanding Alzheimer’s and could possibly become a routine brain scan for all those at risk of developing the mysterious disease. banabtawi@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
22
Science magazine’s top ten breakthroughs of 2006
science
Poincaré Conjecture proved Reclusive mathematician solves one Millennium problem, refuses Fields Medal was admirable, it was still only an outline and required the filling in of gaps. Their mentor, Harvard ProfesIn November 2002, Grigori Perelsor Shing-Tung Yau, originally man quietly posted the first in supported his protégés’ work but, a series of mathematical proofs speaking to the New York Times, on arXiv.org. The site, which is now denies speaking of gaps in used as an informal open forum Perelman’s proof. for testing proofs, was to be the These competitive exploits fuhome of Perelman’s greatest work, elled the kind of intense controversy which would solidify his position that Perelman had always sought to as a hero in his field — albeit a ignore, though his ire hasn’t been reluctant one. reserved for his detractors alone. The materials he released were Founded by Canadian mathematiearly drafts of his proposed solucian John Charles Fields, the Fields tion to the Poincaré Conjecture. As Medal is awarded to the best mathdescribed by the Clay Mathematics ematicians every four years — it is Institute, the conjecture can be illusconsidered to be the Nobel trated by wrapping an elastic Prize of math. In May band around a hollowed-out 2006 it was announced that apple. If the elastic band Perelman was selected as a were to shrink, it could recipient but had rejected continue to shrink down the honour; a first in the to a single point without award’s 80-year history. either snapping or leaving The isolated mathemathe surface of the apple. tician again declined to The same can’t be said if receive an award in August the elastic band were to be 2006, this time rejecting placed on a doughnut. the International Congress Objects like the holof Mathematicians. lowed apple are classified Perelman’s Poincaré as “simply connected” two Conjecture proof now dimensional objects, but sits atop the list of Science’s proving the same concept in breakthroughs of 2006 the third dimension proved and is rumoured to be to be incredibly difficult. under consideration to Still, mathematicians have receive the $1 million continued to stew over the courtesy Científicos prize awarded by the Clay conjecture — and failed Mathematics Institute for proofs only increased its A photo of Jules Henri Poincaré (April 29, solving one of the seven notoriety — to the point 1854 – July 17, 1912) “Millennium Problems.” where the problem is now These rumours have arisen settling down in his mother’s apartconsidered one of math’s greatest. Such problems relate to the field ment. He has remained unemployed despite the fact that Perelman has of topology, which is a mathemati- and effectively out of contact with continued to separate himself from cal extension of geometry that is his colleagues ever since, even as the the publicity that has followed his work and, in a final attempt to escape concerned with the study of shape. world now praises his work. Countless eyes have poured over self-promotion, has yet to formally More specifically, topology studies the properties of objects that don’t Perelman’s proof since its original publish the proof — a requirement change even when they are bent or posting and no significant flaws for the Millennium Prize. For now, the proof for one of have been discovered. Despite the stretched. The Poincaré Conjecture is rec- near unanimous acceptance of his math’s most scrutinized problems ognized as the first conjecture made work at this point, early detractors remains on the internet as just another unassuming post. Most expect in topology. A problem that has threatened the integrity of the proof boggled minds for over 100 years, and — to the displeasure of the the merit of his work to supercede the idea was first proposed by French hermitic Perelman — of the man the form in which it was written and assume that the sizable prize will mathematician Henri Poincaré and, who wrote it. In 2005, Chinese mathematicians eventually be awarded to Perelman. although many attempts have been presented throughout the years, it Xi-Ping Zhu and Huai-Dong Cao They also just as easily assume that published a so-called “complete” he will reject it. has remained unproven. proof of the Poincaré Conjecture, aflorendo@imprint.uwaterloo.ca stating that while Perelman’s work
Yolanie Hettiarachchi
Angelo Florendo
assistant science editor
staff reporter
1. Perelman and the Poincaré Conjecture Proof Russian mathematician Grigory Perelman has apparently solved the century-old math problem, the Poincaré Conjecture, posed by Frenchman Henri Poincaré. Dr. Perelman was to be presented with the prestigious Fields Medal in recognition of his achievement, but declined the award. 2. Neanderthal DNA and the search for human identity Scientists have extracted a chunk of DNA from the thigh bone of a 38,000 year-old Neanderthal man. Such an accomplishment could unveil physical features possessed by Neanderthals and whether the human gene pool is influenced by Neanderthals. 3. Melting ice sheets It has been observed, through the use of satellite data, that ice sheets are experiencing rapid melting, adding 20 billion tonnes of water to oceans each year. The findings are reported in the Journal of Glaciology. 4. Extraction of DNA from croc-like fossils Paleontologists have found fossils of animals with characteristics similar to those of crocodiles. Instead of limbs, the fossils seem to possess fins and appear to have inhabited shallow water. Details are published in the journal Nature. 5. Cloak of invisibility Researchers at Duke University have found that a cloak made of advanced ‘metamaterials’ is successful at concealing a small copper cylinder. The process involves deflecting microwaves around the cylinder and restoring the waves on the other side, mimicking empty space. 6. Lucentis The drug Lucentis (ranibizumab) has been shown to improve sight in people who possess a particular form of retina degeneration. Also used to treat wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), Lucentis has yet to be granted a European license, but is available in the U.S. 7. A new species A distinct species of butterfy has been observed through the mating of two other butterfly species. Heliconius cyndo and Heliconius melpomene were crossed and a unique species, Heliconius heurippa, was created. Such a phenomenon demonstrates that two animal species can evolve to form one. 8. Beyond the light barrier Biologists have obtained a more well-defined view of the detailed structures of cells and proteins. 9. New role for Leptin Leptin, the hormone that controls food intake and body weight, has been shown to boost memory, according to researchers at Dundee University. Long-term potentiation (LTP) is the process by which the hormone promotes the level of communication between brain cells. 10. New RNA molecules identified Scientists have found a new class of small RNA molecules that terminates gene expression, according to Science magazine, December 22, 2006.
FRIDAY, january 12, 2007
It wasn’t until Perelman’s first innocuous post that rumblings of a solid proof began to spread. Perelman originally began speaking of his work while touring U.S. universities in November 2002. Though the weight of his work was notable, his appearance alone was enough to illicit a response from the math community. Perelman is known as a secluded genius every bit as intelligent as he is mysterious. A native of St. Petersburg, he began teaching at various universities in the U.S. during the late ’80s but eventually joined the Stekov Math Institute in 1995. He unexpectedly left in November of last year,
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23 science Medical stories of 2006 that shocked, rocked and awed the world — Part I FRIDAY, january 12, 2007
Faisal Naqib staff reporter
The following are three medical stories that made headlines last year; from diabetes cured in mice in Massachusetts to the pathological dangers of trans fats. Look for the the remaining two articles that will be present in the January 19 issue of Imprint. Diabetes cured in mice
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers reported last year in a November issue of Science that they were able to regenerate the pancreas of an adult mammal. Declarations such as this are rare in previous literature. The scientists injected diabetic mice with cells obtained from the spleen. These cells migrated to the pancreas and invoked damaged pancreas cells to regenerate into
healthy tissue. The injected mice were cured of their diabetes; their pancreases became healthy, insulinproducing organs. This is a whole new type of therapy that has never been investigated before. Dr. Denise Faustman, the lead author of the article, is excited that they’ve found a way to regrow an adult organ, which in the past has been fruitless. It was seen that a subpopulation of the injected spleen cells aided the damaged pancreas cells into forming normal tissue. The healthy insulin-producing cells came from both the recipient’s own cells as well as the donated spleen cells. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved of testing the new therapy on humans, but the hospital scientists have yet to obtain the funds necessary for the research. The 40-person clinical trial is estimated to cost $10 million.
Clinical drug trial takes turn for the worse
The September 7, 2006 New England Journal of Medicine article reported on a British clinical drug trial that put six out of eight test subjects into massive organ failure (the other two patients were receiving a placebo). The drug being tested is called TGN1412, which is a monoclonal antibody, developed by a German company named TeGenero, which has declared bankruptcy. The drug was intended to treat leukemia and autoimmune disease such as arthritis. The effect of TGN1412 was observed in mice and nonhuman primates, where it was shown to be safe. But in March 2006, when the trial was conducted on humans, it caused a massive release of infection-fighting T cells that over-stimulated the immune system of the test subjects and resulted in widespread organ failure.
The outcome of this trial has moved pharmaceutical regulatory agencies (such as the Food and Drug Administration) to re-examine its policies on clinical drug trials and raised the questions: how translatable is drug activity in nonhuman animal models to humans, and how might a problem such as this be anticipated. The story on trans fats
Researchers at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina found evidence linking trans fats to major pathological conditions such as heart disease, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes. Trans fats are partially hydrogenated vegetable oils found in most fryers at fast-food chains as well as in many commercial cookies, pies, and crackers. They are popular because of their ability to be shelf-stable for long periods of time and their resistance to high degrees of heat.
The scientists’ conclusions found trans fats to be very destructive to human health. A nutritional epidemiologist states in an April 2006 New England Journal of Medicine article that trans fats could pose a larger public health problem than either food contamination or pesticides. Following these discoveries, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration enacted a new law requiring food labels to show trans fat contents. In September of last year, the city of New York went as far as to severely limit the use of trans fats in local restaurants. Biochemists are unable to determine exactly why the food ingredient is capable of causing such widespread havoc to the normal function of the human body. More detailed studies are currently underway to discover the method of disease formation. fnaqib@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
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Yolanie Hettiarachchi assistant science editor
Depression can be alleviated via dawn simulator
Scientists claim that a machine is highly effective in combatting seasonal affective disorder (SAD) by mimicking the atmosphere of dawn. The study, directed by Dr. Michael Terman, was comprised of 99 SAD-diagnosed patients who were each given one of five treatments — conventional light therapy after waking, two types of dawn simulation, and two types of negative ionization therapy. Results showed that 57 per cent of subjects improved in bright light therapy, 50 per cent improved in the dawn simulation group, and 48 per cent improved in the high air ionization group. According to Terman, dawn simulation and ionization are good alternatives to bright light therapy, as both are naturalistic and non-pharmaceutical environmental enhancements. The so-called “dawn simulator” promotes light levels as an individual sleeps, leading to an increase of the chemical serotonin — which contributes to a state of happiness.
According to Taryn Nixon, director of the Museum of London Archaeology Service, the find may mean that St-Martin-in-the-Fields has been a sacred property for much longer than initially believed. Consequently, the region’s map may have to be redrawn as its current state may not be accurate. Genetically-engineered, a new army of Terminator mosquitos
After successfully genetically modifying crop plants, scientists have now decided to
Google assists in building telescope
angelo florendo
Roman London border now under scrutiny
The Roman London border may need to be redrawn due to the excavation of a Roman coffin. Roads dating back to the Roman influence of Europe were all that was thought to survive, but never sacred buildings. The limestone coffin, dating back to 410 C.E. was discovered in the midst of excavations at a London church. Part of a £36 million renovation at St-Martin-in-the-Fields Church, the excavations commenced January 2006. Contained inside the coffin was an acephalous human frame; it is hypothesized that workmen building a sewer during the Victorian period removed the head.
drink blood, successful execution of the project would involve making female mosquitoes immune to dengue. As with any project, there are obstacles: scientists must convince the inhabitants of the country they proposition that the population won’t be exposed to risks associated with the release of mutant bugs. It is anticipated that the fruits of this labour may be quite plentiful due to donations from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as the large strides taken by molecular biology. The experiments will take place in the next two years near mock homes that are to be built in Mexico. The habitats will contain basic items found in and around local homes. If proven to be successful, the project ultimately may eliminate malaria as well.
re-engineer mosquitoes in an attempt to eradicate the diseases carried by the insects. If and when enough mutants are produced, they will be released to mate with wild mosquitoes, producing offspring that will eventually outnumber those that carry disease. Insect expert Fred Gould is one of several scientists working on this project, primarily concerned with dengue fever. Chosen for its convenience — the virus is most prevalent among one mosquito species, the Aedes aegypti — dengue is found in tropical regions and has a fatal effect on people with aggravated flu symptoms. Since only females
After achieving its goal of providing the people with detailed online maps of the Earth, Moon and Mars, Google is now collaborating with scientists building the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) in an attempt to obtain digital footage of phenomena occurring in the skies. The process calls for a series of 15-second exposures that allow the $350 million telescope to examine the entire sky in three nights. With $25 million in private donations, a $12 million grant from the National Science Foundation, and $1 million from each of six universities, great emphasis is placed on the telescope being accessible to any individual and not solely to astronomers. It is debated whether or not Google’s motives for getting involved are based on profit gain, but the company says otherwise. It is anticipated that the 8.4 metre long LSST, stationed in Chile, will begin scanning the sky in 2013. yhettiarachchi@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
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HOUSING Help shape your student newspaper’s future. Imprint’s hiring committee is looking for 2 fee-paying UW students to help hire our next Editorin-Chief. If interested e-mail Jeff Anstett at president@imprint. uwaterloo.ca. SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR NEEDED If you have an advanced knowledge of linuxbased small office networks, this is a perfect position to get your start in. -Flexible hours -$11 per hour Email resume to editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Premium three-bedroom townhouse unit in a professionally managed student complex. Perfect for students, close to UW campus. Now renting September or May 2007. Call Perry now at 519-746-1411 for all the details and to set up a showing. Room for rent for a quiet individual in a detached home near both universities. Parking and all amenities. Please call 725-5348. Attention Cambridge School of Architecture students! Live conveniently and comfortably right across the street from school in this beautifully renovated apartment. 4, 8 and 12-month leases available with excellent signing bonuses and rental incentives! Call Perry at 519-746-1411 for more details. Only $369 - Five Bedroom House, must see, goes fast, excellent location, 147 B Weber Street North, Starting May 01/07, close to everything, very clean, free washer/dryer, gas heated, cheap utilities, two full bathrooms, two fridges, hardwood floors & ceramic tile throughout, large private yard and large deck, free parking for five cars, on bus route. $369 per room, per month. Call 741-7724. Only $369 - Five Bedroom House, must see, goes fast, excellent location, 121 B Noecker Street, Starting May 01/07, close to everything, very clean, free washer/dryer, gas heated, cheap utilities, two full bathrooms, two fridges, hardwood floors & ceramic tile throughout, large private yard and large deck, free parking for five cars, on bus route. $369 per room , per month. Call 741-7724. Only $399 - Four Bedroom Housing, 34 Bridgeport Road, East, Starting
May 01/07, excellent location, on bus route, close to everything, downtown at WLU near UW, new, immaculate, open concept kitchen, all appliances, dishwasher, dining room and living room open onto a private balcony, air conditioning, huge rooftop garden patio, complete laundry facilities, dryers free, free parking, gas heat, gas water heater, cheap utilities, on bus route, perfect for students, rents fast, a must see. Only $399 per room, per month. Call 741-7724. www.acdev.ca for more info and pictures.
HELP WANTED Weekend counsellors and relief staff to work in homes for individuals with developmental challenges. Minimum eight-month commitment. Paid positions. Send resume to Don Mader, K-W Habilitation Services, 108 Sydney Street, Kitchener, ON, N2G 3V2. Great job opportunity! Colonial Times requires an extroverted independant person seeking part time employment for one to two years plus. 20 hours per week, $10/hour. E-mail: brendan-sheehan@hotmail. com with resume. Summer of your life! Camp Wayne for girls – children’s sleep-away camp, Northeast Pennsylvania (6/168/12/07). If you love children and want a caring, fun environment we need Counselors and Program Directors for: tennis, swimming (W.S.I. preferred), golf, gymnastics, cheerleading, drama, high and low ropes, camping/nature, team sports, waterskiing, sailing, painting/drawing, ceramics, silkscreen, printmaking, batik, jewellery, calligraphy, photograhy, sculpture, guitar, aerobics, self-defense, video, piano. Other staff:
administrative, CDL driver (21+), nurses (RN’s and nursing students), bookkeeper, mothers’ helper. On campus interview February 7. Select the camp that selects the best staff! Call 1-215-944-3069 or apply on-line at www.campwaynegirls.com. Let’s make 2007 your best summer yet – Camp Wayne, northeast Pennsylvania, USA. Counselor-specialists all land/water sports inc. Tennis, golf, soccer. Outdoor adventure: camping, mountain biking, climbing/ropes, roller hockey, rocketry, arts and crafts. Water sports: water ski, wakeboard, sailing, canoe/kayaking.Theatre, radio, video, CDL drivers and more. RN’s for our health centre. Let’s get the ball rolling now! Online application www.campwayne.com or e-mail info@campwayne.com or 1-888-5492963, (516)883-3067. Extend-A-Family part-time positions – providing in-home and community support to individuals with developmental/physical challenges in a variety of programs. Providers will be reliable, energetic and committed. $10.40/hour to start. If interested, please contact Recruitment at 519-741-0190, ext 238 or via e-mail at dlobe@eafwr.on.ca. Website: www. eafwr.on.ca. Imprint requires a marketing sales assistant to aid the advertising/production manager in contacting clients, updating data bases and other office duties on a weekly basis. This position is open to full-time undergraduate University of Waterloo students who qualify for the workstudy program (OSAP recipients and registered in a minimum 60 per cent course load). If this position appeals to you, please e-mail resume to ads@ imprint.uwaterloo.ca or bring them to the Imprint office, SLC room 1116
FRIDAY, january 12, 2007
during office hours. Have the summer of your life at a prestigious coed sleep-away camp in the beautiful Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, two and a half hours from New York City. We’re seeking counselors who can teach any team and individual sports, tennis, gymnastis, horseback riding, mountain biking, theatre, tech theatre, circus, magic, arts and crafts, pioneering, climbing tower, water sports, music, dance or science. Kitchen and maintenance positions also available. Great salaries and perks. Plenty of free time. Internships available for many majors. Interviews on February 7, 2007. Apply online at www.islandlake.com. Call 1-800-869-6083 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. eastern time on week days. For more information: info@islandlake.com.
Imprint is hiring a volunteer co-ordinator for the winter term! Flexible hours, $11 per hour and a great resume builder. Must be eligible for OWSP. E-mail resume to editor@ imprint.uwaterloo.ca or drop in to SLC room 1116.
Campus Bulletin
CHURCH SERVICE St. Bede’s chapel at Renison College offers worship on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. or take a break mid-week with a brief silence followed by Celtic noon prayers on Wednesdays. Beginning Janaury 21 there will also be a 4 p.m. worship. For more info call 519-8844404, ext 28604 or mcolling@renison.uwaterloo.ca.
ANNOUNCEMENTS Bands wanted! The GO! Music Festival is currently accepting applications from bands to fill 35 showcase spots. The festival will be held across five licensed venues in Uptown Waterloo March 9 and 10. Submit applications to The Beat Goes On stores in Waterloo or Kitchener or visit the website: beatgoeson.com. Hey students! Tune in weekly to “Morning Drive” with DJ Cool at CKMS 100.3FM for important info on what is happening locally, on campus and in your area. Music, fun and more – morningdrive1@yahoo.ca. Exchange opportunities to RhoneAlpes, France and Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany for the 2007-2008 academic year – to undergraduates and graduates. For additional informatiton and application form/deadlines contact Maria Lango, IPO, Needles Hall, room 1043, ext 33999 or by email: mlango@uwaterloo.ca. Nominations are requested for the following undergraduate student seats on Senate: Faculty Seats: one student elected by/from the full-time or part-time undergraduate students in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, term from May 1, 2007 to April 30, 2009. One student elected by/from the full-time or part-time
undergraduate students in the Faculty of Arts, term from May 1, 2007 to April 30, 2008. One student elected by/from the full-time or part-time undergraduate students in the Faculty of Science, term from May 1, 2007 to April 30, 2008. One student elected by/from the full-time or parttime undergraduate students in the Faculty of Engineering, term from May 1, 2007 to April 30, 2009. One student elected by/from the full-time or part-time undergraduate students in the Faculty of Mathematics, term from May 1, 2007 to April 30, 2009. At-large Seat: one student elected by/from the full-time or part-time undergraduate students, term from May 1, 2007 to April 30, 2009. Nomination forms are available at: http://www.secretariat.uwaterloo. ca/elections/ballot.pdf. At least five nominators are required in each case. Completed nomination forms should be submitted to the Chief Returning Officer, Secretariat, NH 3060 no later than 3:30 p.m., Friday, January 19, 2007. Elections, if necessary, will coincide with the annual Federation of Students’ elections (February 13-15). Student senators completing their terms of office as of April 30, 2007 are: Claire Bazley (AHS), Adam Schubert (ENG), Eric Logan (MATH), Ciprian Mihalcea (at-large) - all are eligible for re-election. Refer to the secretariat’s website http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/ for information about Senate and its committees and councils.
FINANCIAL AID January 2007 We are located on the 2nd floor of Needles Hall and are open Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m to 4:30 p.m. Please arrive no later than 3:30 p.m. as there are several steps in processing your loan. OSAP deadlines: January 22 - final OSAP application deadline (with reduced funding) for fall/winter term. Deadline to submit signature pages and supporting documentation for fall/winter term, last day to submit http://safa.uwaterloo.ca/forms.html#osapforms. OSAP rollover form to add winter term. Scholarships/awards available for winter 2007 on-line at http://safa. uwaterloo.ca/
VOLUNTEER Distress Line volunteers wanted – Canadian Mental Health Association is seeking caring volunteers to provide supportive listening and crisis deescalation to callers living in Waterloo Region. Please call 519744-7645, ext 300. Volunteers needed – volunteer with a child at their school and help improve their self-esteem and confidence. One to three hours a week commitment. Call Canadian Mental Health at 519-744-7645, ext 229. The City of Waterloo have volunteer positions available (volunteer@city. waterloo.on.ca): “Lunchtime Receptionist” for a Waterloo Older Adult Centre, Wing 404. Call Wendy at 519-888-6488 for info. “Graphic Artist and a Recording Secretary” is needed by Waterloo’s Royal Medieval Faire board. Call 519-888-6488 for info. Volunteer Action Centre – connect-
ing talent and community – “Help young people make informed career decisions” For info/registration call Christine at 519-888-9944, ext 47 or www.bus-edpartnership.org. “Engage your youth leadership skills” – volunteer with St. John Ambulance. For info call Bob at 519-579-6285 or email bobj@kwsja.com. “Help prevent abuse” – Canadian Red Cross are looking for volunteers to train. Call 519-742-2785 or e-mail atie.ott@ redcross.ca. “Love seniors?” – A.R. Goudie Eventide Home is looking for male volunteers to help out in their Men at Work program. For info call Karen at 519-744-5182, ext 207 or e-mail kliphard@argoudieeventide. ca. “Lights, children, action” – K-W Children’s Drama Group is looking for volunteers with interest in theatrical arts who can provide administrative office assistance. For info call Leslie at 519-725-4969 or e-mail leslie_gail_hill@hotmail.com. “Want to volunteer” but don’t know how to get started, come to Conestoga Mall on Saturday, Janaury 27 from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. where you can talk to reps from the Volunteer Action Centre for more information. Call 519-742-8610 or check out the website at www.volunteerkw.ca. Volunteer Marketing Intern needed at RBC Dominion Securities Inc. starting in February, 10-15 hr/week. This internship will involve assisting an Investment Advisor with various marketing projects throughout the term in question. The intern will be required to pursue various tasks requiring strong communication, organizational and computer literacy skills. Qualified individuals are students with a strong initiative, direction and desire to succeed. Email cover letter and resume to jeff. gates@rbc.com, attention Jeff Gates.
UPCOMING Saturday, January 13, 2007 January is Alzheimer Awareness Month. Join in on the following open forums – “Managing Guilt in the Caregiver” from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in Waterloo ; Tues., Jan. 16 “Keeping Your Mind Sharp” from 7 to 9 p.m. in Cambridge ; Wed., Jan. 17 “Overview of Alzheimer’s Disease” from 2 to 4 p.m. in Kitchener. Call 519-7421422 for info/reservations. Sunday, January 14, 2007 UW Fine Arts ceramic students will be featured in an upcoming exhibition at the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery opening today at 2 p.m., titled “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”. For info: www.canadianclayandglass.ca. Saturday, January 20, 2007 RSCDS Kitchener-Waterloo Branch Annual Burns Supper – at the Woolwich Community Hall, St. Jacobs. For info/reservations call Edith at 519-893-1798 or e-mail BurnsSupper@rscds.kitchener.on.ca.
AWARDS Win up to $1,000 for your writing! Students in third/fourth years qualify for STC’s Heidi Thiessen Memorial Award for Student Technical Writing. Visit www.stc-soc.org/awards/student.php for details and an application.
Friday, january 12, 2007
sports@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Sports Editor: Shawn Bell Sports Assistant: Doug Copping
Sports Imprint
Football: Waterloo names new Warrior head coach Continued from cover
The Warriors dressing room at Columbia Ice Fields is the “Home of Warrior football:” a fitting venue for the beginning of McPhee football at Waterloo, and (let us hope) the turnaround of Warrior football. This dressing room has housed national champions; team photos and the names of the star Warriors from years past hang on the walls. “I’m very happy,” said Marshall Bingeman, the assistant coach who took over when Coach Triantifilou stepped down and who led the Warriors to a 3-3 record that narrowly missed the playoffs. “When the decision was made that Chris was going to step down, I had a very short list in my mind of people that I thought would make a great choice. Dennis McPhee was at the top of the list.” Bingeman was standing at the back with the reporters as Judy McCrae took the podium to formally introduce the new coach. “Sport has a great potential to be a real asset to a young person’s growth pattern,” McCrae said, “but it only has that potential if you have the right leadership. We don’t just hire coaches at the University of Waterloo. That would short-change our players and it short-changes the university. At this university we want coaches and we want leadership skills.” With that she introduced the new face of the Warriors, Dennis McPhee, who stood up at the podium to the applause of the crowd. “I’d like to acknowledge all of [Triantafilou’s] achievements over the years,” McPhee said. “He got this team to the Atlantic Bowl; I was there to watch him play the game that day at St. Mary’s University. I was very proud of him. I’d like to take this team as far as Chris took them and then farther. “I think, first, we’ve got to get that quarterback job firmed up,” McPhee said. “And then I think we’ve got to get another [quarterback].” The quarterback position is key. Evan Martin and Luke Balch, both products of the outstanding recruiting class of two years back, come into their second season in a battle for the top job. “Certainly we have a good crew here,” the coach said. “But we have got to get a better crew. If you want to be a good coach, you’ve got to get good players; if you want to be a great coach, you better get great players.” And the Waterloo facilities? “I’m very impressed with this dressing room,” McPhee
Mens hockey — 13 games undefeated and counting James Rowe staff reporter
Doug Copping
Evolution of leadership: new Warrior head coach Dennis McPhee, left, with past coaches Chris Triantafilou (middle) and Carl Totzke (right). said. “This is better than we had back home McPhee and his wife Joanne have three in Hamilton. I think the practice field is children. The two older boys, wearing every bit as good as anyone’s.” Warrior jerseys, sat behind their dad at the Notably absent from that answer was Uni- podium. versity Stadium, the “I am ver y exlovely purple and yellow cited about this,” football stadium with “If you want to be a good Joanne McPhee said the big Golden Hawk at afterwards, “because football coach, you’ve midfield that the WarI wanted [Dennis] riors use when Laurier to get out of the gotta get good players. is on the road. CFL and get back to “Not having our If you want to be a great the university level. own home stadium,” That’s what he loves said McPhee, when football coach, you better to do; he loves the prompted, “I look university athlete and get great players.” at it as a challenge; he loves to coach. The as a goal we’d like — Dennis McPhee,Warrior head coach CFL is about the busito achieve. The plan ness, the money; one here is to do well player can be here one enough to make them proud of us so that day and gone the next. Whereas, in university, they deem us worthy of our own place. It’s you can make a difference. a challenge; it’s not something insurmount“Dennis is good at that; he’s good at moable. I’m old enough, and I’ve learned enough tivating kids, and counselling them, not just to know that we’ll play you at your place, about football, but about life experiences. our place, or out in the alley. It doesn’t He’s been there, done that; they’ve probably matter: our kids will be ready to play. And never done anything he hasn’t done.” maybe someday, God-willing, we’ll have our sbell@imprint.uwaterloo.ca own place.” Doug Copping
Athlete Profile:
assistant sports editor
Christopher Best
Photos by Jim Hagan
25
GROWING UP — Football came naturally to me. I was always the big guy. My dad was a football player. I always knew I’d play in high school. The first time I played organized football was Grade 10. I grew up idolizing the Calgary Stampeeders, my hometown CFL team, as they were playing really well at that time. Before football I played a lot of hockey and rugby. In Grade 12, I was selected to play national football and around the same time had the option to play junior rugby for Team Canada. It was a tough choice. But it was time to focus on football.
image by doug copping
Chris Best, drafted by Saskatchewan Rough Riders while finishing a degree in mechanical engineering, has made a positive imprint as a Waterloo Warrior. He reflects on his experiences, connecting them to issues that affect us all.
COMMITMENT — To play at this level, you need to completely focus your physical and your mental energy. When on the field, you focus on the opponent and what needs to be done. You learn commitment. You learn to put in that extra effort in order to take the game to a higher level. One of my coaches in the States proved to us that no matter how exhausted you are, you can always give that little extra bit of effort. He put us through hell for us to realize that. It wasn’t fun at the time, but now I can apply that lesson to anything.
The Waterloo Warriors mens hockey team continued where they left off in OUA regular season play when the Christmas break started a month ago, sweeping a pair of games from the Western Mustangs on the weekend. On Friday, January 5 the Warriors hosted the Mustangs at the Columbia Ice Field Arena in front of one of the larger home crowds of the season. After giving up an early goal to Western’s Kevin Richardson, the Warriors responded by putting three goals past Mustangs goaltender Brad Topping. The three marksmen for Waterloo were Shane Hart, David Edgeworth and Bryan Fitzgerald, giving the Warriors a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes. The Mustangs would pull to within striking distance in the second period, on a power play goal by Sal Peralta that cut the UW lead to 3-2 heading into the third. The Mustangs continued to throw everything they had at Warriors goalie Curtis Darling, outshooting Waterloo 18-6 in the final period and 44-21 in the game. The barrage of shots paid off for Western when Sean Courtney tied the game with just over nine minutes remaining. After losing their lead the Warriors responded strongly. Hart scored his second goal of the game to put the Warriors ahead for good with just 5:29 remaining. Ryan MacGregor would put the finishing touches on the victory with a power play goal in the last minute, securing the 5-3 win. The star of the game for Waterloo was undoubtedly their all-star goalie Darling, who stopped 41 shots in the win. Offensively, Edgeworth added two assists to go along with his goal and the team’s leading scorer, David Philpott, also had two assists. The following night the two teams met again, this time at the John Labatt Centre in London. After a scoreless opening period, the Mustangs once again got on the scoreboard first when Ryan Hare struck on a power play. See WARRIORS, page 27
EXPERIENCE — The atmosphere of the Warriors facilities is impressive. Painted on the wall are the names of the all time record holders, and the phrase “Tough enough to wear black.” The dressing room has a sense of history, of what the program has accomplished. Personally, being the first Warrior to win the JP Metras Trophy [for outstanding Linesman] was an incredible honour. I didn’t think I’d win it because political factors were against me. That year, we had an okay season and didn’t make the playoffs. It was a pleasant surprise. I was astounded. Blown away. COMMUNITY — Athletics is difficult and requires a lot of effort to do it right. You play the game. You critique game film. You work out. You learn good time management. For example, I take my harder classes during the off-season so that I can focus on school at that time. When I think I reach my personal limits, I keep going because I don’t want to ever let me teammates down. In any situation you’ve got to be there for them. And you know they will be there for you. You play for your brothers. You play for the man beside you. You’ve been through a lot with these boys. This is the kind of community you want to be connected with. dcopping@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
sports
26
Warriors cruise in weekend sweep He closed out the first half with five points, three of which came on a buzzer beating threeThe Warriors opened pointer to give the War2007 with a pair of riors a 37-36 halftime convincing wins over lead. the visiting Lakehead Three-point shooting Thunderwolves. is what kept the Wolves Januar y 5 UW in the first half as they downed the Wolves were 7 for 10 from long 81-67 on the heels of range. But in the second some excellent shoothalf they were just one ing, and followed suit for 10 and as they cooled the next night with an off Waterloo heated up, 82-59 victory. shooting 58 per cent from The wins bring the behind the arc. Warriors league record UW went on to to 5-5 for the year and trounce the home team gives them sole posin the second half 45-23 session of fourth in en route to their fifth win the OUA West for the Simona Cherler in conference play. moment. Right behind Davis, The offence was Michael Davis’ shooting had the Thunderwolves spinMatt Kieswetter drained clicking over the en- ning on their heads in two straight UW victories. 18 including four threetire weekend, erupting on Friday for UW’s highest point and the bad. “The best part of the balls. Dave Burnett had 12 points, total of the young OUA season game,” he said, “is when they caught six assists and Olivier Quesnel had before topping that total by one up in the second half and got it to 12 points and six rebounds, while 57-54. We regrouped, executed well Ben Frisby played his usual gritty point on Saturday. Friday night saw UW improve on and managed to gap them again. The game grabbing nine boards, a block worst part of the game is that we had and two steals. their season field goal percentage of an opportunity to bury them early in Waterloo not only scored well 39.5 per cent, shooting 46.4 per cent. Matt Kieswetter and Dan White the second half but didn’t. That’s a but continued to rebound well as a were deadly from outside, combin- lack of experience, a lack of focus team. They currently have six playing to go 7 for 12 from the land and some bad decisions. However, we ers over 3.5 per game. They were can learn from that, get the experi- also below their average of points of plenty. Lakehead made a small push in the ence to do key things at key times in allowed per game, which now sits at 66.1, second in the division behind second half but the Warriors created the game.” It seemed the Warriors took their only Guelph’s 64.3. easy baskets down the stretch and ran coach’s words for truth. On Saturday The Lakehead Thunderwolves away with the contest. Matt Kieswetter led the scoring for the Warriors shot 45.6 per cent from may be in last place in the OUA Waterloo with 21 points to go along the field compared to Lakehead’s 37.5 at 0-10 but the dominating fashwith five assists. Michael Davis had a per cent, and though the Warriors ion in which the Warriors played 15 point, seven rebound showing and went into the second half leading is a good confidence builder as only by one, in the first 12 minutes of they hit the road for a tough trip Dan White added 14, hitting four of the second half they dominated the against Windsor and Guelph. his five three-point attempts. Windsor is currently 7-2 and first Warren Thomas had an impres- Wolves and cruised to victory. Michael Davis had a huge game in the OUA West while Guelph is tied sive game for the Thunderwolves with hitting 19 points on 8 of 12 shoot- for second with Brock at 5-4. Waterloo 29 points and 11 rebounds. After the first game, Coach ing, adding four rebounds and visits Windsor on Wednesday at 8 p.m. and Guelph Saturday at 3 p.m. Kieswetter expressed both the good three steals.
FRIDAY, january 12, 2007
Trent-UW Ringette fifth in tournament
Brody Hohman reporter
Evan Sharp reporter
The Trent-Waterloo (T-W) ringette team competed January 6, 7 and 8 in the National University Challenge Cup hosted by Carleton University in Ottawa. Ringette, a winter sport played on ice with the speed and style of lacrosse, has a loyal following amongst the more than 20,000 Canadians who play each winter. The tournament, being held in Ontario for the first time this year, was attended by eight teams: University of Calgary, University of Alberta, University of Ottawa, Brock University, Carleton University, Laurentian University, University of Manitoba, and of course Trent-UW. The tournament was stretched over four days with each team playing two games a day. The T-W team got off to a rough start and the first day was a tragedy with two losses to Laurentian and Alberta respectively. The second day fared better with a morning victory over Brock that included an epic comeback from 5-1 in the first half to win 8-6. As expected, however, the outcome against Calgary was a solid defeat. University of Calgary, possessing three former Team Canada players, were the favourites
Mirek Sharp
entering the tournament. The third day brought more disappointment as the T-W team lost to University of Manitoba in a game that would have put them into the semi-final. The Manitoba game was only decided in the final three minutes when Manitoba scored twice in succession to clinch the win. The day was not a total loss however as T-W bounced back to pummel Carleton which put them in a tie for fifth at the end of round-robin play. As a result, the team played a grudge match against Laurentian for fifth place the following morning. They won this game with gusto despite four team members being out due to injuries, leaving only two on the bench. Considering that the team had never played together prior to the tournament and that three members had never played ringette before the first game, the Trent-Waterloo team was more than impressed by both their new standing as the fifth best university ringette team in Canada and by their exceptional teamwork that developed in just seven games. Meanwhile, plans are already in the works for the Trent-Waterloo team to attend Hamilton ringette’s invitational tournament in April.
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sports
FRIDAY, january 12, 2007
Warriors: sweep home and home with Western
27
Warriors win battle of Waterloo Win gives Waterloo (7-5) 14 points, tied with Western for fifth in west Adnan Khan reporter
Simona Cherler
David Edgeworth (13) and Matt Sitko (15) clear the rebound after one of Darling’s 41 saves on the first night at CIF. Continued from page 25
The Warriors were once again quick to answer. Before the period was out, Philpott and Doug Spooner had buried power play goals of their own to give the Warriors a one goal lead after two periods of play. Picking up an assist on Spooner’s goal was forward Matt Levicki, who made his return to the team and to UW at the start of this term. His return adds firepower to an already well-balanced, deep lineup. For the second night in a row Darling was very strong in the Waterloo net and was able to hold off the Mustangs in the third period. Also for the second night in a row, the win was sealed by MacGregor in the final minute, this time with an empty net goal to give the Warriors a 3-1 win.
James Rowe staff reporter
Women’s volleyball This past weekend the Warriors competed in the National Invitational Tournament in Toronto against York University as well as U of Toronto, Winnipeg and Montreal. Waterloo struggled, taking only one set in losing all four matches. Getting back into OUA regular season action, the War-
Darling stopped 36 shots to help extend the Warriors’ unbeaten streak in OUA games to 13. This weekend the Warriors travel to Thunder Bay for two games with the Lakehead Thunderwolves. Lakehead trails UW by six points in the Far West division standings, with ten games remaining in the season. The two game set will be crucial in deciding who wins the division title and earns the first round playoff bye that accompanies it. Both games can be seen live on a video webcast at http://events.newcast.com/events/LHU. The Warriors next home action is not until Saturday, January 20, when they host the Windsor Lancers at the CIF Arena. jrowe@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
riors travel to Kingston this weekend to play RMC and Queen’s on January 12 and 13. Queen’s and RMC are currently last and next to last respectively in the OUA East standings. UW currently sits in third place in the OUA West with a 6-5 record. Waterloo’s next home game is against the Ryerson Rams on Saturday, January 20, at 7:00 p.m. in the PAC. jrowe@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Presents
THIS WEEK IN ATHLETICS
Heading into the January 6 game against local rival Laurier, Waterloo was nothing short of outstanding. Riding a four game winning streak, the Warriors were playing solid, confident basketball. Waterloo proved Saturday night that their hunger to win is stronger now than ever. Coach Mano Watsa has kept his players focused and determined, and this mindset allowed them to pound Wilfrid Laurier 71-56. Although shooting still remains a concern for the Warriors, their team defence more than made up for it. “We had our ups and downs but I felt that we played pretty well tonight. We talked more and we were really able to step up on defence when we needed to,� said second year forward Erin Button. It doesn’t seem to matter how poor a shooting night Waterloo has — they make sure their opponents put less points on the board. They communicate on defence. Few shots are left uncontested and opposing teams have to work hard to get their points. Domination inside was a key theme in the game against Laurier. Gillian Maxwell was a beast, grabbing a whopping 19 rebounds; no Golden Hawk could keep her off the boards. Her intensity is contagious. When Maxwell, the captain, is out there putting everything she has into the game, everyone else follows. “We played very aggressive, with a lot of heart. Everyone wanted it real bad,� said Maxwell. At the end of the first three quarters the score was 48-44 for Waterloo. Both teams looked evenly matched and it looked as if it was going to be a dog-fight to the finish. However, Waterloo showed at the beginning of the fourth quarter that they are bullies in the OUA. The defence tightened up, the game speed increased, and the Golden Hawks could not keep up. Laurier looked flat-out tired in the fourth quarter. Their transition defence was weak to say the least and Waterloo capitalized. Baskets were easy to come by and Waterloo’s strong defence created offence. The Warriors outscored Laurier 23-12 in the fourth quarter. Although guard Kate Poulin had a
Simona Cherler
Erin Button holds on despite vain efforts of Golden Hawks. bad night only shooting 20 per cent from the field, others on the team picked up the slack. Kim Lee had her usual impressive night, dropping 18 points, while Erin Button had a standout game, tallying 12 points and six rebounds. The recent success of the women’s basketball team is no fluke. You will be hard pressed to find a group that works as hard as these girls. While many of us were putting on that holiday weight over the break, these girls were practicing hard. On December
30, the girls returned to Waterloo for training camp with former men’s basketball coach Don McCrae, where seven practices were held over a span of four days. On top of this you can often find these girls staying hours after practice to perfect their technique. These ladies not only represent what basketball is all about, they represent what sport is all about — dedication and hard work. With the next two games on the road at Windsor and Guelph, Waterloo looks to increase their winning streak.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 13 - SUNDAY, JANUARY 14 UW Figure Skating Invitational - CIF Arena SUNDAY, JANUARY 14 at 7:30 p.m. Women’s Hockey vs York - CIF Arena WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17 Basketball vs Western - Women at 6 p.m. ; Men at 8 p.m. ATHLETES OF THE WEEK MICHAEL DAVIS, BASKETBALL: A fifth year Geography student from Brampton, Ontario, led the Warriors to two victories this past weekend against the Lakehead Thunderwolves. On Friday night, Michael had 15 points and 7 rebounds and was the defenisve catalyst in a 81-67 win. On Saturday, Michael shot 8-12 from the field scoring 19 points in a 82-59 victory. He also shut down the top Lakehead player in both games on the defensive side of the ball.
IMPRINT | TEMPLATE
GILLIAN MAXWELL, BASKETBALL: A fourth year Social Development student from Kitchener, Ontario, led the Warriors to a 71-56 win over cross town rival Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks to improve their record 7-4 on the season. Gillian scored 14 points and added 19 rebounds in the win. Gillian now leads the OUA in total rebounds (102) and is third in the CIS in rbs/games at 11.33.
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sports
FRIDAY, january 12, 2007
Chill out this winter Campus rec, buffet style
courtesy Tim Scherk
With the Chill program, inner city at-risk youth learn more than just how to ride. Doug Copping assistant sports editor
Chill is a nonprofit learn-to-snowboard program for inner-city youth at risk, equipping participants with everything needed to learn to ride: lift tickets, instruction, transportation and equipment. The idea of the organization is simple. Kids are attracted to snowboarding because it is fun, but learning the sport takes dedication and lots of hard work. This concept teaches important life lessons — courage, dedication and integrity — applicable to all aspects of the inner city struggle. Chill exists to create opportunities for outdoor engagement to those who would otherwise not be able to experience the sport of snowboarding. The program focuses on providing a positive outlet for youth living in group homes and foster care; those from the juvenile justice system; youth struggling with drugs, violence, excessive anger or depression. Many of the kids have never left their neighbourhoods; most have never seen the mountains. The Toronto program’s venue for learning, Snow Valley in Barrie, Ontario, is up and running for 2007. For most participants this will be their first ski resort experience. Four different groups of kids come on the same night each week, for six weeks of programming — Tuesday through Friday nights. Chill Toronto begins January 30, and concludes on Friday, March 9. The program is only as strong as those who help support it. If you have lots of energy and a positive attitude, Chill could benefit from your involvement as a mentor, teacher or chaperone.
Brody Hohman reporter
Well it’s a great week in sports. Your Toronto Raptors are in first and the Eagles are in the second round. Go Eagles! NBA Michael Redd is out for up to 6 weeks making Charlie Bell suddenly very useful. If you can scoop him up, do it ASAP. - Mikki Moore? 14.3/8.7 as a starter the last 3 games. With Krstic done for the year he’s stepping up, but can it last? If you’re desperate for C help Mikki’s your man, for now at least. - Tony Allen is at 21/5/4 over his last 3 and playing well with Paul Pierce out. Pierce will be back in late January so Allen should dip a little then, but he’s a nice player.
Volunteers are asked to choose the day of the week that works best for them and come out on that day, at least three times throughout the sixweek program. “Life is really hard,” reflects Karen from Vancouver, one of last year’s participants. “But Chill has given me something to do that is fun and makes me feel really good about myself.” Through positive adult role models who treat the kids with respect and encouragement, snowboarding is used as a vehicle, helping kids accomplish goals previously thought out of reach. Some funding and most equipment are from the program’s founder, Burton Snowboards. Various corporate sponsors and foundations donate. The program is also a favourite charity for many professional snowboarders. Chill has had such a profound and immediate impact that it has expanded to include additional cities every year, bringing the outdoor educational experiences to as many youth-at-risk as possible. This winter marks the 12th season, and the program is expected to serve over 2300 kids in 14 different cities across North America — from Vancouver to Toronto, Boston to Salt Lake City. For youth facing ills of the inner city, the challenge of sport is a venue for building character. Stephania, who was a member of Chill Toronto in 2006, insists, “This Chill program is the best thing that ever happened to me. It has made me more confident and helped me to be a better person, in the sense that I can do anything I can put my mind to.” For furter details and contact information, explore www.chill.org dcopping@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
-Matt Carroll is averaging 20 ppg and over 30 minutes per game over his last 3. If you need a temporary guard consider him until Brevin Knight returns. - If guys are still sleeping on Randy Foye in your league, take advantage. - Juwan Howard is hot with Yao out until late February NHL - Mikael Tellqvist is doing well in Phoenix and is now 6-3-2/2.64/.909 on the year. Cujo is still in the mix but Telly is hot so stash him if you need G help. - If anyone in your league (like mine) dropped Wade Redden pick him up and laugh at them, he’s got 5 points and is +3 in his last 3. - Jarret Stoll has 19 points in his last 17, if available…well you know.
Ellen EwArt
Raveet Jacob demonstrates belly dancing steps while students follow along. Ellen Ewart staff reporter
We all know the Physical Activities Complex hosts programs apart from varsity. But few have ventured into its studios to explore the potential of the wellness programs. This is exactly what the Try It session, organized by the department of athletics and recreational services, is designed for: getting to know the classes beyond their short descriptive blurbs on the website and meeting the instructors on a personal level. This is especially true for classes that may be unfamiliar to some students, such as belly dancing. Raveet Jacob, an instructor at a belly dancing studio downtown, is taking on the position for the first time at UW. The crowd, though seemingly shy and reluctant, can’t hide their excitement about this class. “Do you know what class is being held here next?” I ask a few girls who are standing around. “It’s belly dancing, we think, we hope.” Jacob begins by explaining what belly dancing is. “Belly dancing, first of all, is a Middle Eastern art form; it’s a performance art, but it’s also a wonderful anaerobic activity. There’s a lot of muscle isolation and inner core strength building.” The appeal here, apart from the flirtatiousness of the dance, is its openness to all sorts of body types. “Having a six-pack is not one of those things that belly dancers have,” Jacob notes. “Any shape and size is completely fine — actually, we welcome more full-figured women in this dance.” Certainly, we are not all gym-going, nutrition bar-eating, get-the-required-amount-of-sleep students, and this class understands the stresses of academic life. Belly dancing, as Jacob explains, is “a great stress reliever, but it’s also very good for personal expression once you learn the steps.” This acceptance is not unique to belly dancing. Any of the other dance classes are open to beginners. Though my uncoordinated steps did appear out of place in my mind, no one pointed or laughed and we stumbled through the combinations with good humour. The main focus here is “stress relief,” as instructor Kristin Valles points out. “It’s a chance to express yourself through movement rather than fitness. It’s more focused on performance and learning how to use your body and move your body.” She stresses the value of the social aspect of dance classes, and the selfexpression that comes from learning. And then there is yoga. Despite its recent explosion of popularity in recent years, the instructor for relaxation yoga, felt it necessary to begin by defining the practice. She drew her class in close to her and explained the main focus of mind-body connection. “Student life is generally one of the ‘mind.’ The downside of this can be that students begin to live in the mind and disassociate from the body. Students are also frequently stressed and competitive, and yoga encourages them to focus inward, as opposed to comparing themselves to the bodies and abilities of their fellow yoga students, so it can sometimes seem antithetical to the culture they are immersed in daily.” Though the goals
of her classes depend entirely on what aims and outcomes the students would like to accomplish, she notes an overall objective: “to bring the body into balance.” She says, “I’d say my classes are for fitness, fun and relaxation.” This is true not only within each class but also in the array of choices for yoga classes, ranging from relaxation to power yoga. To learn more about each class, visit www. campusrec.uwaterloo.ca. The grand finale of the evening came in the form of a vibrant new instructor, Keriece Harris, who was excited about sharing her style of dance, labeled “Creative Jamaican Folk.” It was clear that her major focus was enjoyment and pleasure. “Just feeling connected to the rhythm and releasing a lot of tension that comes in with the daily tasks. Binding your soul to a whole new experience and your body. I think even though I’m doing it all for the fun of it and just pushing and showing another side of our Jamaican culture, it is a very physically challenging class.” The entire class, staying an extra 15 minutes to complete an eight-combination routine, felt the high energy of the dance. “These dances were performed by actual slaves and this is a form of dance they used to rise themselves against the struggles they were having,” said Harris. She described the dance as full of energy with a natural, earthy quality. Technique is less important in this style as the dance “is just like move and feel.” Annette Bryndza, the conditioning and special interest co-ordinator for the department of athletics and recreational services, was also impressed by Harris’ demo class. She is excited about other new classes this term: the revival of “Flare” dancing and “Yoga for Athletes.” The addition of these classes reflects a growing demand that keeps the co-ordinators busy. Bryndza acknowledges the issues that arise from drawing a market from students only. “The demand is there, for sure, but sometimes what happens is if we offer several classes then we end up with only two people in each class and we do have to have the numbers to cover our costs. Unfortunately, sometimes when we offer too many courses things are cancelled because of that. So it’s a fine line.” By the time you are reading this you’ve likely missed the “deadline” for registration. Fear not. That deadline is set in order for the conveners to schedule classes, drop any lacking in interest and add more classes if popularity is great. As long as the class is not at capacity, you may register at any time. These classes are not just about learning something new and having fun in a safe environment. The morning after these four 20-minute intro sessions, my thighs were very sore! “I highly encourage students to continue doing the activities they’re doing outside of their studies,” Jacob urges, “because it’s so important to balance the academic stresses with something that’s good for your body and just gets your mind off everything else.” eewart@imprint.uwaterloo.ca