AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT
Daylight near for new Midnight Sun
Impr int ► page
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The university of Waterloo’s official student newspaper
Friday, July 27, 2007
vol 30, no 7
imprint . uwaterloo . ca
LIFE LESSONS ► page
4
michael l. davenport
Evolution in education
Kinga Jakab
staff reporter
Ed Jernigan is always one step ahead of you. I learned this by arriving early at Second Cup for our interview so I could secure his usual extra hot latté and get on his good side. To my disappointment, Jernigan was already seated and took the liberty of filling the travel mug himself. Lesson learned: one must research endlessly and execute flawlessly — and apparently arrive more than 15 minutes early — when up against someone as capable as Ed Jernigan. Professor of systems design engineering, Jernigan has distinguished the University of Waterloo once more by founding a new degree option, the Bachelor of Knowledge Integration (BKI), a unique program designed to incorporate all disciplines in a student’s academic study. The highly anticipated degree is set to commence in September 2008. By combining disciplines from each faculty, BKI is expected to attract the kinds of students that UW wants: “really bright, really well-rounded; the ones who are likely to be taking roles as leaders during their university years but also when they go on to wherever they go in life.” Jernigan might as well be describing himself. After achieving his first engineering degree
Doug Copping
Ed Jernigan founds new degree option.
at MIT, Jernigan secured a job at a biomedical engineering firm by day, while working as a live-in counsellor at a halfway house for troubled teenagers by night. Though a far cry from his chosen field, Jernigan assures he learned a lot about teenagers. “Whether they are troubled teens or they are exceptionally gifted teens, they’re still adolescents and there’s a lot of common behaviour issues no matter which end of the spectrum they’re at.” One such issue is responding to the pressures of selecting a career path after high school. Jernigan learned that there are a lot of teenagers coming out of high school that do not yet know what career path they want to choose and they should not have to make that decision until they are sure. Jernigan says some of the kids enrolled in his enrichment program, Waterloo Unlimited, feel the very same pressures despite their leadership abilities and qualities of education. “They were looking for a university experience that would allow them to continue to explore in both the humanities and the sciences. So that’s when we started thinking, ‘What would an unlimited undergraduate degree program look like?’ And we began talking about it just that way.” The curriculum for BKI ensures ample time for students to make this life decision based on where they find their passions lie during the first and second years of the BKI degree. The students will be required to enrol in three investigative science courses that display “not just textbook learning,” says Jernigan. Roughly two math courses, a probability course, a new language course, experimental design, a computer course, written and spoken English courses, a critical thinking course and more are required in the first two years of study. The first and second years are designed to provide a big picture of the academy and an introduction into the nature of scholarship, while the third and fourth years are reserved for more specialized opportunities.
Jernigan proudly describes the third year required “museum course,” during which the students travel to a museum-rich city to study museology and are then divided up into interdisciplinary teams to research and create an exhibit for the museum, gradually digitally compiling their information. The BKI program can be found in the Centre for Knowledge Integration, located in the faculty of Environmental Studies. It seems contradictory — a boundary-free program being tied to a Faculty — but Jernigan turns the tables and asks me, “What’s more interdisciplinary than the big environment that encompasses everything? “I actually toyed with the idea with [VicePresident Academia and Provost Amit Chakma] before we got too far along in developing such a program…he encouraged me to think about what the degree program might look like.” Jernigan has plenty of experience building enriching and exciting programs for students, with the success of both the Shad Valley program and Waterloo Unlimited; developing the BKI program was, he says, “a natural evolution.” Jernigan has been running the Shad Valley program at UW since 1984, and has been a systems design engineering professor since 1976. Each year he noticed “between 20 and 30 Shads in every systems design class.” In the fall of 2003, Jernigan noticed a list of Canadian Millennium scholarship recipients who are granted scholarships based on high school experience and could pick any university in the country. UW received 52 of these scholars. “I was on the chair of systems design and computing and it was natural for me to wonder how many of them ended up in systems. Systems is a very small department — it’s only about two per cent of the student body — so we’re very small compared to the whole university, and there are 52 Millennium scholars spread out at the university. See DEGREE, page 3
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Sports Former UW student Victor Ciesielski tees off at the Canadian Open. ► page
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Imprint, Friday, July 27, 2007
Degree: producing leaders of tomorrow through cross-disciplinary studies continued from cover
“So, two per cent of 52, we were thinking ‘we’ll be lucky if we get one,’ right? We got 12. Twelve of the 52 Millennium scholars were in systems. The next highest concentration in any department was five. Many had none.” Sixteen of 52 Millennium scholars at UW were Shads, Jernigan said. This track record gave Jernigan “a great opportunity to make sure that President Johnston and the Provost knew that Shad and systems were attracting Millennium scholars disproportionately — way beyond anything else. And of course, if you go bragging to your boss about how successful you are, you wind up being rewarded by being asked to do more. “So the Provost said ‘Ed, I’ve been wondering what to do with you. I knew you were coming to the end of your term as Chair [of systems design and computing]. Would you champion a new enrichment program for the university, broader than Shad, across the whole university?’ And he thought of something like that Harvard summer school or the Yale summer school or something like that. I looked at those and thought those looked okay, but we could do way better.” Waterloo Unlimited began to form into the success it is today by building on four cornerstones — ones, Jernigan says, “that make it distinctive from any other enrichment experience.” The program incorporates principles of intrinsic motivation, transdisciplinary study, activity in the community and self-enrichment as its fundamental requirements of each of its students. “We wanted to work with kids that were there not because they were trying to get an advanced placement credit or some other kind of acceleration of their academic program, so we run a program based on intrinsic motivation where the consequences of failure are just an opportunity to try again. If you have a supportive environment around you while you’re learning, enrichment comes out of that kind of setting. And there is really nothing that I am aware of that tries to do enrichment across the whole spectrum of academic interest in scholarship. And we think that that’s where really interesting things happen.” The curriculum developed each year for Unlimited focus on themes — one year it was water, another it was vision; “vision like sight, vision like your future, vision in the broadest sense possible,” Jernigan said. Jernigan shares a surprising story of a teacher at Bluevale Collegiate Institute phoning him one day after an encounter with an Unlimited student in the hallway. “I don’t know what you’ve done, Ed, but I had a kid in
Doug Copping
Ed Jernigan and Shad Valley students are shooting their own digital stereo photographs and making cardboard prototypes of mirror-based stereoscopes as part of a hands-on experience with low-tech stereoscopy. Stereoscopy is an important technology in the implementation of virtual reality, microsurgery and remote manipulation. the hallway come up to me, throw his arms around me and say ‘thank you for sending me to Unlimited. It changed my life.’” Jernigan deduces that the teen must have seen the skill sets that Unlimited provided him as a way to immediately impact the quality of his education at school — how to get more out of class, how to study, how to take charge of his education. Unlimited is strongly focused on integrating the students into the community and onto UW campus, introducing them to undergraduates that act as mentors. This model, Jernigan says, “worked with my goal to create a really remarkable enrichment program, and the university’s goals, which are to encourage these really exceptional students to come to Waterloo.” As with any good thing, Jernigan reveals that getting this broad, enriching education comes with a price. Not a very well subsidized price, at that. He expresses the need to make Unlimited viable on campus, but fears it may be seeing its last days soon. So, what then? “We thought maybe Unlimited should be tied to or part of a larger operation, which included an undergraduate degree program, which would come with funding from the province and tuition fees and all of that. Then we might be able to run an enrichment experience on the side of a regular department running a degree program. And that’s what
got us thinking about the knowledge integration program.” Initially headed in a liberal arts direction, Jernigan pulled back. “We wanted to give students this general breadth of opportunity so that everybody gets math, everybody gets science, everybody gets English, everybody gets philosophy, everybody gets systems computing, everybody gets skills and creative thinking and critical thinking and design and problem-solving.” He takes a moment to slow down. “I think it’s really important because I don’t want people to read ‘bachelor of arts and science’ and assume it’s like every bachelor of arts and science program. I want people to look and say ‘Hey! What’s that?’ Because the kid that says ‘Hey! What’s that?’ and gives me a minute to explain, that’s the kid I want. I want the kids who are a little more excited, not the kids that are looking for a place to park themselves for the next four years.” The knowledge integration program needed to be similar to the range and flexibility of a typical arts and science program but also be strongly supported by a backbone of UW’s expectations of scholarly excellence. Essentially, the developers and students alike would need to rethink what it means to do research and how to acquire knowledge across different disciplines?
How would one acquire such knowledge? “Well why don’t we have an unlimited undergraduate degree program? You know — the unlimited university. If you start thinking ‘unlimited’ you say, ‘well ok, let’s start from scratch.’” Jernigan quotes his wife, Kim, editor of The New Quarterly, based in St. Jerome’s. “If we were less concerned with jobs and more concerned with problems, that’s when we would get the kind of education we need.” He ticks off some of the basics. “Climate change, economic development, alternative energy, and so on. But these problems are not narrowly defined by a discipline — they transcend the disciplines — so we’re going to need people who are able to acquire and integrate knowledge across the disciplines but they’d also be able to form and work in interdisciplinary teams to find new solutions, and that’s what the skill set is that we’re going to build and develop in the new degree program. “Students will come out of the program with an incredible portfolio of ability. They’re going to be able to talk to the humanists and the scientists, communicate accessibly and be able to work. When they graduate they’ll be able to go wherever they want. Because if we don’t have people like that, we’ll be locked away in our pigeon-holes and can’t address the problems.”
Jernigan is reminded of his own experience as an engineer and a counsellor for troubled youth. “I’m not saying we don’t need specialists, we do need specialists. I did all of my degrees in electrical engineering, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do until well after my Master’s [degree]. I lived in a halfway house for troubled teens for over a year. I thought maybe I wanted to go into medicine or psychiatric social work, something like that.” After his Master’s, Jernigan gave himself some time to think; finally he decided he liked the idea of trying a career as a university professor. He returned to MIT for his PhD and found a teaching position at UW in 1976. Jernigan tells of a time when a first degree meant a much broader array of subjects — his own degree required that one in four classes be in humanities. In engineering at Waterloo, Jernigan asserts, it is less than one a term. The BKI program may be arriving in the nick of time. The University of Waterloo is bursting with scholars, new buildings are erected every minute in Technology Park, and students and the community are finally getting behind KW’s own indie-arts scene. When all of these elements finally work together, the force may very well be unstoppable. kjakab@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
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Imprint, Friday, July 27, 2007
Tatham gives up study rooms for new system Michael L. Davenport staff reporter
Michael L. Davenport
Feds address flock new students at Student Life 101 Members of the Feds Executive (from left to right) Del Pereira, Kevin Royal, Darcy Higgins and Jonah Levine speak to students during the interactive presentation, “Getting off on the right foot”At UW’s annual Student Life 101 seminar On Staurday July 21. The open-house event, designed for incoming first year students, included presentations from various groups and tours of both the campus and the residences.
Would you trade study space on campus for an improved co-op system? For Vice-President Internal Jonah Levine, this wasn’t a hypothetical question. Levine was approached by the university administration about the possibility of giving up 13 study rooms in the Tatham centre so that the space could be used in the development of a replacement for JobMine. After looking at usage statistics for the rooms, and consulting with Feds council and the Education Administration Committee, Levine agreed to conditionally giving up the rooms for three years. One of those conditions is that Feds will have right of first refusal to lease the rooms again after three years, so that they can be converted back into study space if the Feds so desires at that time. Another conditions is that the university will more widely advertise Feds $4.35 million contribution to the Tatham centre construction. A summary report released by the university in May of this year analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of UW’s co-op system. On the subject of JobMine, the report says, “... JobMine needs improvement in flexibility, user friendliness and availability (i.e., when the system is available), as well as in its ability to be reasonably upgraded and changed.” It continues, “The employer survey revealed that 14 per cent of employers who hire from other schools do so because although they know that suitable students exist at UW, they cannot find them.” The timing for the recommendation to upgrade JobMine couldn’t be better. PeopleSoft previously supplied UW with the framework on which JobMine was built. However, in January 2005 PeopleSoft was acquired by another company, called Oracle, and support for pieces of the software is being discontinued. The opinions of students or employers aside, JobMine would have to be replaced with a new system anyway. Ken McKay, Director of Special Projects at UW’s IST, described it
as “the stars lining up.” JobMine’s replacement will be developed completely in-house. Said McKay, “We rely on basic stack technology in terms of servers [...], but there’s no ‘black box’ piece in it like what was used [from PeopleSoft] in the current JobMine.” Nine co-op students have already been hired to start work on it in the fall, and the university is in the process of hiring five senior developers. McKay stated that the new system isn’t due online until sometime in 2009, but students will be able to get a taste of the new system as early as next Winter. All of this falls out of the development paradigm chosen for the new system. McKay’s team will be creating the new system using the “Agile” development method. This paradigm relies on close communication between each of the programmers, as well as communication between the programmers and the end users — in this case, students, employers and the university itself. As such, Agile is not well suited to large programming teams or programmers who are isolated from their target audience. However, it does work well with small teams getting constant feedback about their work and is suited to changing needs over the development time. “The idea is [that] we are going into a daily build cycle come the Winter term. We’ll have a portal on the web that anybody with a UW-Dir or employer account can go into and see what we’re doing. They’ll be able to test drive the current interface and give feedback.” McKay cited his decades of experience and said, while there wasn’t any “silver bullet” for software development, he is confident that Agile was the right fit for this project. Software designed using other methods can be obsolete before the software is even finished. McKay added, “We now recognize you can’t just build something and put it on the shelf and expect to keep using it, because the problem keeps changing.” See JOBMINE, page 5
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Imprint, Friday, July 27, 2007
Author of UW model study muses about results Adam McGuire editor-in-chief
UW student and professional model Jennifer McWhirter broke ground with her recent thesis study indicating models were at no more of a risk for eating disorders than their peers of the same age outside of the industry. Recently, McWhirter took time to sit down with Imprint to discuss her findings and the role UW’s applied health sciences faculty played in her study. Imprint: Where was the motivation for you to do this study? McWhirter: I think it mostly came from my experience in the industry and I wanted to find out what other models’ experiences were. A handful of models had died and shortly after that my study went out into the field and I started collecting data. At that point, I realized that it could be very useful. You found that models were at no more of a risk for eating disorders than other women of the same age. How do you explain your findings?
courtesy Jennifer McWhirter
UW student and model Jennifer McWhirter recently released a ground-breaking study on models and eating disorders.
JobMine: new system coming coninued from page 4
This is where the rooms in the Tatham centre come into the picture. They are to be used as offices and workspace for the neo-JobMine development team. McKay highlighted the importance of the strategic location. “We will have a demo room down in the basement of [the co-op building]. That’s the only place all three stakeholders converge. People can come in and talk with the developers, sit with the developers and give feedback. We will have a demo room manned by a co-op student and other people every day and there’ll be a sign saying, ‘please come on down and talk to us.’ That’s one of the main benefits of being in the building.� Interestingly enough, some of the work of the team will become “shared source.� McKay stated that he had no personal interest in maintaining
an open-source project himself, but if someone else wanted to take the shared source code and maintain their own open source project, they are free to do so. Not everything will be shared source — for example, the matching algorithm for pairing students to employers will remain internal to UW. But as McKay told Imprint, “We’re going to be figuring out stuff other people haven’t figured out.� Things such as the integration of work flow, e-mail and the collaboration system will be shared source. UW’s summary report stated, “Employers interviewed for this study made it clear that JobMine is seen as being a representative demonstration of UW’s capabilities.� McKay made it clear he intends to build a system that UW can be proud of.
I think, in my opinion, it’s because models are more naturally, genetically predisposed to being tall and thin, and that they don’t use any sort of extreme exercise or eating behaviours to attain a thin ideal. What role did the Applied Health Sciences faculty play? The department of health studies and gerontology has been very supportive of the study, specifically and especially, my thesis supervisor Dr. Kelly Anthony. I owe a lot to her because she let me do this project and I’m not sure that every undergrad student gets the opportunity to collect their
own data and come up with their own original research idea. So her kind of saying “Yeah let’s try this and see what happens� is really why it happened at all. So I’m grateful to her for that. What has been the reaction from both your university peers and your modelling peers? A lot of people outside of the modelling industry are surprised by the findings, and a lot of people inside the modelling industry are not surprised by the findings. But then again I’ll still come across someone in the industry who, even with my results, will say, “No, I think that’s wrong.� And maybe they’re right, but this is what my study shows for this sample. So there was surprise on the part of the people outside of the industry and not as much surprise on the part of the people inside the industry. Are the awareness campaigns regarding eating disorders helping discourage models from eating improperly? In my opinion, no. It could be, but I don’t think it is. Models from Canada kind of have a reputation for having healthy body images and drawing the line when it comes to what they’re willing to do to lose weight. Sometimes models from other countries, less developed, less fortunate countries than Canada are willing to do whatever it takes to lose the weight. If they’re asked to lose 10 pounds in a week, they’ll do it and they won’t ask any questions or say “How am I going to do that?� whereas models from Canada will say “No, no. I might be able do that in two months, but no way can I do it in a week.� So I don’t think the coverage or attention to the topic is lowering the rate. Hopefully it will help the industry to focus on the
well-being of models and if a girl does appear very thin or has become very thin very quickly, perhaps the people she’s working with could recommend some help for her rather than sending her home or cancelling the job on her. But I don’t think right now, it’s lowering the rate [of eating disorders,] unfortunately. Do you feel the results would have been different if this was conducted in another part of the world? Possibly. Of the sample of models in my study, around 60 per cent had international work experience. So in that sense, it increases the chances these results could be generalized to other places. But at the same time, the pressures in New York are lot different than the pressures in Toronto. In Toronto, agencies are looking for healthy but thin girls. In New York, sometimes they’re looking for very thin girls who some people might look at and say “They’re unhealthy.� They may be healthy but they may look what most people would say unhealthy. And it’s not just where models work but where they come from. The models that died of eating disorders, from what I understand, are all from South America, and so it could be a cultural thing. I know there’s a huge focus and emphasis on beauty in Brazil, for example. And around the same time those models died of eating disorders, a couple teachers died of eating disorders in Brazil. I don’t think it’s necessarily a model thing, I think it’s like women in general, maybe. Other models that come from Russia or less developed countries than Canada may face different pressures, like supporting family back home. They may be more willing to put their health at risk to get the money. editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
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Imprint, Friday, July 27, 2007
Letter TO THE EDITOR Present dental plan is preposterous
I recently decided to take advantage of my dental insurance and go get some cleaning done. I was shocked to discover that we were required to pay the bill up front and are only reimbursed by the insurance company in four to five business days. Considering the exorbitant amounts charged by dentists and the fact that students often do not have hundreds of dollars lying around, this is an outrage. I suspect that many students do not use their dental plan purely because they cannot afford to dish out the money up front. It doesn’t have to be this way. There are insurance policies that cover the payments up front if one goes to dentists within a certain dental network. However, the Feds and GSA opted for this current policy, and being in actuarial science, I can understand why. The cost to Feds/GSA of the current policy is lower than it would be under the proposed policy. Why? The insurance company worked in the expected number of students too poor to utilize the dental plan into their calculations. This resulted in a lower premium than if costs were covered up front. However, in trying to reduce the overall cost of the insurance, the Feds and GSA are, in effect, not providing insurance to the students who require it the most; the students who are the most financially constrained. This is preposterous. Feds and GSA should change this dental insurance policy to one that pays the cost of the covered dental procedures up front, even if that requires us all to pay a little bit more for our health insurance. I would further request these bodies not to get slowed down by bureaucracy on this issue. It is simple enough to understand how the present plan is ridiculous. We need them to change it as soon as possible. Syed Ali Hasan Fourth Year Actuarial Science
The sins of celebdom It must be tough being a celebrity. Every step has to carefully elude the lens of a paparazzi camera. Every word has to be screened internally before it’s spoken. Every $25-million-dollar summer home in the Hamptons has to be carefully maintained by a grounds crew that would make Yankee Stadium jealous. But there are plenty of positives to being a celebrity too, like the gobs of money, the legions of followers and the free — well, free everything. And in exchange, all they have to do is follow a normal, relatively humble existence. But I guess that’s just too much to ask. Exhibit A: Michael Vick. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback was recently indicted on charges alleging that he was the ringmaster of an illegal dog-fighting operation at his home in Virginia. Here’s a guy that’s on the cover of a video game and he can’t think of anything better to do with his time than train pit bulls to kill each other — and train a bunch of dumbass Virginians to wager huge coin on it. He should be caged up and beaten like the dogs he tosses into makeshift rings. But he’s a celebrity, so he’ll likely get a couple years probation and 150 hours of speech time to warn kids of the dangers of pit bulls and one-toothed gamblers from the hills of Virginia. Exhibit B: Lindsay Lohan. Lohan is like Madonna meets Debbie Does Dallas. I’m pretty sure I acquired a venereal disease just by typing her name. This past weekend, she once again fell victim to the trying life of a celebrity when she was arrested for driving impaired — not to mention the cocaine stuffed
in her pocket. Lohan will undoubtedly find her way to rehab — again — before asking the public for chance number 4,672 to forgive her flaws and go see her movies (and to forget about that baggie of blow in the glove compartment). But she’s a celebrity, so she’ll avoid the orange-jumpsuit, side-of-the-freeway garbage duty in favour of another stint of mansion-arrest with a side order of alcohol-monitoring ankle bracelet. I could go off on a rant that Vick and Lohan and all the other badass celebrities on the planet are simply stupid people. But the fact that we’re inundated with real-time updates of every step they take is nobody’s fault but your own. Don’t worry, it’s my fault too. It’s everyone’s. I thought about purveying the message that celebrities are role models, whether they like it or not. But then I got to thinking: why are they role models? It’s our own fault. All the major news websites have chucked their pages full of coverage on Beyoncé falling down a staircase because we want to see Beyoncé fall down a staircase. We could all spend our time more wisely by steering clear of the National Enquirer racks at the grocery store. But as long as the tabloid rags can make bucks and CNN leads off the hour with a feature on the day-to-day life of Britney Spears, celebrity lawbreakers will never be held accountable for their actions. I guess being a celebrity isn’t that bad after all. editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Lohan is like Madonna meets Debbie Does Dallas. I’m pretty sure I acquired a venereal disease just by typing her name.
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Imprint, Friday, July 27, 2007
Cribbage Cribbage is a unique card game that stands out from the crowd. There are many card games a lot like Euchre (tricks, bowers, trump or otherwise distinguished suit, etc.) There are many forms of Poker (Texas Hold-em, 5 card stud, etc). There are games which are more a test of reflexes using cards than card games themselves (speed, snap, spoons, etc.) There are games which are very simple, and mostly luck (Crazy 8’s, go fish, etc.) And there are games which are entirely random walks. (War.) Cribbage is nothing like any of these games. Despite this, it’s pretty simple to learn. This is one of the few games I know that works as well with three players as it does with two or four, yet plays differently at the same time. Most games I know are effectively the same with two, three or four players (poker) or effectively crippled at one of those numbers. (Three handed cribbage? WTF?) The scoring system appeals to my math side. A pair in cribbage is worth 2 points. Three of a kind? It’s worth 6 points. Because really, three of a kind is three different pairs. If you have 2♥, 2♣, and 2♠, three pairs can be made with them: 2♥ 2♣, 2♥ 2♠ and 2♣ 2♠. Likewise, four of a kind is worth 12 points. Don’t be intimidated by the fact that most people play cribbage with a cribbage board to keep track of points. We’re poor students; a pen and paper will do as well. First person to 121 points wins. It’s a game that can be played with anyone. I don’t think I’d like to explain to my Grandma that she owes me her two best cards because I’m the President and she’s the Asshole.
Games People Play For something to do over your summer holidays and to unwind after exams, we have suggested a few games you can try out. Get some friends together and get your game on!
Layout by Christine Ogley and Mohammad Jangda, Photos by Michael L. Davenport
— Michael L. Davenport
Boggle Boggle is a great family game — at least it is for my spelltacular family. Other games (I’m looking at you, Scrabble) suffer from a serious flaw: people take forever to finish their turn. This drives me, and to a greater extent, my mother, nuts. What fun is a game where you spend the majority of your time waiting for something to happen? Baseball players, don’t answer that. Maybe this is just because I’m a word nerd, but I find Boggle a heart-pumping game. First of all, you’re racing against everyone else to find as many words on the 4 x 4 grid as you can in the scant three minute span. (Hint: the “hourglass” timer that comes with the game is useless. Get yourself a nice, beeping, digital kitchen timer.) This part has absolutely no waiting, since you’re all working in parallel. But even after those three minutes, when everyone else is reading their list of words, you’re still on the edge of your seat. You only get points for a word if you were the sole person to find it. If you manged to find a goodie like “blonde” or “egress” in the entropic collection of letters, you’re gritting your teeth, waiting for your family and friends to finish reciting their lists and not utter your words. Those are worth three points each! Not only are you rewarded with the length of word, but your creativity and word power. Were you the only person to notice the vowel next to the seemingly useless “v” and “x” could be combined with them to spell “vex”? Congratulations, you get a point! I love playing this game with my family, because it reminds me of what I imagine mutual nuclear annihilation would be like. We all accumulate a massive list of words, and nobody gets many points. Except my mom — she owns us at Boggle. — Michael L. Davenport
Guitar Hero II
Posts
Fluxx
I don’t know about anyone else, but when I listen to rock music I always imagine that I’m the one playing lead, wailing on the guitar while my adoring fans praise my awesomeness. That’s partly why I love playing Guitar Hero II so much: I can make my rock star fantasies more real while not having to go through all the trouble of, you know, actually learning to play guitar. Guitar Hero II is a game where you use a guitar-shaped controller to play notes that scroll across the screen in time to the music. It’s available on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360. The songs are mostly great (except for a few heavy metal ones; I never was a huge Megadeth fan). Some of my favourites are Message in a Bottle by The Police, Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine, and Sweet Child o’ Mine by Guns N’ Roses. The songs on the game’s third instalment, scheduled for release this coming fall, will have more classic tunes like Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones and Sabotage by The Beastie Boys. Other than letting me pretend to be the female Slash and having kick-ass songs, Guitar Hero II is my favourite game (for the moment) because it improves your handeye coordination. Since I began playing a few months ago, I’ve gone from barely being able to get through a song on “Easy” to almost beating it on “Expert”. I heard a little tidbit about Guitar Hero II today that may be of interest to those of you already in possession of the game: if you tap orange, blue, orange, yellow, orange, blue, orange, yellow (O BOY O BOY) on the main menu, you will unlock the secret “Hyper mode” that causes the songs to play extra-fast.
Posts is the kind of card game that takes little skill and little time, so you can enjoy it in various states of mind. Combined with the fact that it can be played with any number of people, Whether you’re a stone-faced card shark or the kind of person who only busts out a deck after seven or eight visits from Captain Morgan, Posts will surely bring a tonne of fun. The game is relatively simple — each player antes a chip into the pot, and are dealt two cards, face-up. These are the player’s “posts.” Then, the player makes a wager based on his chances to receive a third card that lands between his posts. For instance, if a player is dealt a 2 and a King, his chances of getting a card between 2 and King are great; his wager should be high and he should win. If he does, he draws the amount of his wager from the “pot” to add to his winnings. However, if his card lands outside of his posts (like an Ace, in our previous example,) The player must deposit his wager into the pot. Here’s the twist: If a player “hits the post” — as he would if he drew a second King or 2 in the sample hand — he must fork over double his wager into the pot. You can play for a certain number of hands, a certain time, or until you’re all drunk and sleepy.
Feeling like a different kind of card game this week? Tired of the same old rank and suit deck of cards? Too poor to play magic? Then you should try Fluxx, the game with the ever-changing rules. The game starts out easily enough, You draw three cards from the communal deck of cards at the start of the game, then when your turn comes around you draw one card and play one card. There are 4 types of cards — goals, actions, new rules and keepers — that you can play. The object of the game is to comply with the current goal. Only one goal is allowed in play at one time, and whenever a new one is played, the old one is put in the discard pile. The goal is either keeper or hand oriented. For example, the goal “Rocket to the Moon” requires to have both the rocket and moon keepers in play on your side. Keepers are cards you keep in front of you; a few examples include milk, chocolate, cookies, brain, TV, war and peace. Actions are cards that you play and are immediately sent to the discard pile. To play them just do what they say. And new rule cards are what make the game fun. They affect how many cards you draw each turn and how many cards you can have in your hand or how many cards you can play. Fluxx is a game meant for two or more people. I would say the optimum number of players is four but it works well with any number of players.
— Veronique Lecat
— Adam McGuire
Tetris
— Scott Houston
We live in an age of Playstation 3s, Xbox 360s and a host of computer games that are becoming more and more indistinguishable form the real world. Like so many falling blocks, the pull of nostalgia draws you down into the atavistic pleasures of a simpler time. A time when video games were not made for how realistic they looked, but how addicted one could become to them. In some cases, the games shared no real world analogue. Tetris is the quintessential manifestation of this kind of game. Although my facebook has been inundated with a variety of new applications, the only one I actively searched for and added was the Bunchball games application. Like its Gameboy predecessor, the new facebook Tetris has of course been updated for the communication technology age. Now instead of trying to beat the steady increase of gravity, you are pitted against fellow facebookers in an epic battle for stacking efficiency glory. In my experience, the most addictive games are straightforward concepts that don’t just test mental dexterity, but also provide you with the opportunity to establish ability rooted more in pattern recognition. It’s that detached level of thought, where you aren’t consciously making decisions, but the movements of your hands seem somehow autonomous. It’s the kind of pattern recognition found in a number of places, from experienced doctors who can diagnose a biopsy in seconds, to accomplished musicians whose quickness of movement could not permit deliberation. They are all the skills that are casually referred to as becoming “second nature.” The practice one gains through hours of Tetris imparts a similar instinct. — Brendan Pinto
10
Features
Imprint, Friday, July 27, 2007
Unusual methods can be risky Don’t press your poor penis, it may void its warranty
Not too long ago I received a question from a reader about TMS. TMS stands for traumatic masturbatory syndrome — a condition that, at first glance, sounds kind of hilarious. The term was originally coined by Dr. Lawrence Shank, a researcher in the field of male sexual dysfunction who obviously didn’t find the condition funny at all. Dr. Shank suspected that male masturbation in the prone position, that is masturbating while laying on your front and pressing orrubbing your penis against the mattress or a pillow, could lead to anorgasmia (not being able to come) during penetrative sex and erectile dysfunction. Now, if you do masturbate in the prone position, you should probably think about stopping, or at least stop using this method exclusively. The main idea behind why this position might not be so good for you is that it puts too much pressure on the base of the penis; this could eventually damage the tissue and could result in having problems pitching a tent. The other main concern about masturbating in the prone position is that it stimulates the penis in a way that is “unnatural”, in that it is impossible to recreate it during penetrative sex. Even the tightest vagina (or ass) won’t be able to squeeze you
as tight or in quite the same way as your body weight against your mattress, floor, hand, etc. can (hence the anorgasmia during sex.) Some young men, after finding out about the potential dangers of this practice, do attempt to train themselves to stop using the prone position. Appparently, it can be difficult to orgasm using other methods after using this one for a long time. For some men, it’s the only way they’ve ever done it and they need to teach themselves how to masturbate in the conventional way (sitting up or laying on your back and using your fist to squeeze and pump up and down on your penis). If you find that this doesn’t work to make you cum, don’t switch back to your usual method — just give yourself some time. Some people who are used to masturbating in the prone position find that they need to abstain for a few days before they are able to orgasm from masturbating in the conventional way. It probably takes some will power, but for those who are really concerned about their sexual function, I’m sure they are able to manage. So, we have some clinical examples of TMS being studied in men, but what about in women? As I said above some men train themselves to masturbate in the “conventional” way to avoid or repair any damage, but what about their female counterparts — are they at risk? Is there even a conventional way for women to masturbate? You might think so, but there really doesn’t seem to be. We women can — and do — masturbate in the prone position too, and the sensation of rubbing your clit between your body weight and
your mattress, hand, teddy bear, etc. is definitely more pressure than can be recreated during penetrative sex — even with a reach-around. Seems to me that we might be at risk for TMS as well. However, clits do seem a lot smaller than a penis, which in my mind makes them seem a little more sturdy, so perhaps we aren’t really at risk for breaking our clits and not being able to get it erect (yes, it does get erect, it’s made of exactly the same stuff as a penis!). But still, does no one care about us getting TMS and not being able to orgasm when we have sex? Then again, since apparently only 30 per cent of women can or do orgasm during penetrative sex, maybe no one would notice if some fraction of the 70 per cent suffers from TMS. Besides, with all the various ways that women seem to be able to reach orgasm and the different types of experiences that we might classify as “orgasm,” maybe I’m worried over nothing. At any rate, other authors like Dr. Paul Joannides, author of The Guide to Getting it On, do suggest that it is perfectly reasonable that masturbating in the prone position won’t lead to TMS in every single man (or woman?) who does it. So, some could carry on with whatever they’re doing and never have any problems. However, in
my opinion, like I said with the kegle issue (see Imprint online June 16, 2006), why bother taking a risk when there are plenty of other fun ways to get off ? ssparling@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Zucch a good meal
Picky about colours? Well this squash comes in two lovely shades: choose from forest green or sunshine yellow. Zucchini, as it’s known in North America (and courgettes in Europe), is available year round, but is prolific between the spring and summer season. As healthy as they cylindrical beauties are — boasting only 29 calories in a steamed cup — offering a source of vitamin C (synthesizes collagen, an important structural component of blood vessels, tendons, ligaments and bones), folate (a water soluble Vitamin B which does many good deeds: producing and maintaining new cells, like DNA and RNA) and potassium (helps the kidney to function smoothly as well as plays a key role in cardiac, skeletal, and smooth muscle contraction.) However good for you they are, they do need some reinforcements in the area of taste.
What better way to inject some rocket powered flavour than with good ol’ cheese and an aromatic herb blend in the following delicious recipe I offer, which can be served as a side to a entrée, as an appetizer or a quick snack. But first things first, before putting on your apron, give zucchini a good scrubbing under cold running water, cut off the stems and you are ready to cook. Don’t think about removing the skin, as with potatoes, it is where most of the nutrients reside. Also as a word of warning, when you are cooking zucchini be careful not to overcook it. Two to four minutes is optimal, allowing the squash to retain its firmness and flavour. Any longer and it could transform into an unappealing soggy, limp mass due to its high water content) Other ways to enjoy zucchini include basting 1/2 inch thick strips with olive oil and grilling them. The result is a lovely caramelization on the surface, great for presentation when serving. Raw zucchini gives salads a colour boost as well as adds a layer of crunchy texture. Raw zucchini strips never fail when they sit in a veggie platter medley and dunked in your favourite salad dressing. tli@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Ingredients: 2 large eggs 1 tbsp each chopped fresh chives, mint and basil Pinch freshly ground black pepper 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced (optional) 3 cups grated zucchini 1 cup grated old cheddar cheese 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 cup olive oil
Method: In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, chives, mint, basil, ground pepper and jalapeño. Add zucchini and cheese and combine well. Add flour mixture and combine well. Heat a large frying pan to medium-high and add 2 tbsp of oil. As the oil heats, add the salt to the zucchini batter. Drop four 1/4 cup portions of zucchini batter into the pan (or two 1/4 cup portions if you want less multitasking), reduce the heat to medium and cook the pancakes for three minutes per side. Makes 8 pancakes. Serve with sour cream if desired.
Distractions
Imprint, Friday, July 27, 2007
Crossword
1
2
3
4
12
Tim Foster
22
29
23
24
25
43
49
38
35
39
54
52
55 58
67
65 69 72
3. Rummy variant 4. Chicken of the sea 5. Not aunts 6. Say it to drugs 7. Neither his nor hers 8. Ratty clothing 9. Small and delicate 10. Make a cartoon 11. Just a ____ 14. Wayne’s favourite animals 16. Distinctive sequence of notes 18. Snare 22. Shows enging revs 24. In a group of more than two 25. Blockhead 26. Small sewing bag 27. From the perfect amount of sun 28. Old age 30. Close 35. Frozen clouds
38. Disney’s Atlantis character, Thatch 39. Fresh 40. Fumble 41. Article from Shakespeare play 42. The person addressed 43. All property and liabilities 46. Call off 47. Shaped for a mortise 48. Justify the means 50. White herons 52. In the way indicated 55. Aft, on land 56. Scandinavian winter transport 60. Trees rarely seen in this country 62. Alberta Motor Association 63. A small drink 64. Euro precursor 66. Compete for the prize 68. Indefinite article before a vowel
6 1 4 6 9 8 7 3 8
5 2 1 6 7
2 1 3 6
Why not... mark your calendar? Sep 29, 2007
“Shopping spree.”
“Sleep with the professor.”
Laura Chelaru
Lauren Horst
2B math and business
2B business and environmental studies
“D.U.I., therefore getting hospitalized and avoiding the exam.”
“Get connected. Wink, wink.”
July 13 Solutions
1 3
5 7
61 66
71
Difficulty: hard
4
60
68
70
48
57
59 64
46
53 56
63
47
Lindsay Lohan’s back in the news, what do you think she’d do to prepare for finals?
36
45 51
62
28
40
44 50
27 32
34
42
Campus Question
11
By Angela Gaetano
26
31
33 37
10
20
30
Tim Foster
7
9
17
Sudoku 5
8
19
21
Down 1. Cutters of designs into materials 2. Picky
7
14
16
18
41
6
13
15
Across 1. Genuine 5. Basis quantity 9. French, not 12. Subjective of thee 13. N.B. in full (2 wds) 15. Grape brandy of western France 17. Carpet electricity 18. Though in poetic form 19. Be unwell 20. Clue butler, Curry 21. Respite 23. House and land property (2 wds) 29. 2-D volumes 31. Erotica, to a prude 32. Latin, “and the rest” (2 wds) 33. Sci. of the mind 34. Responsibility 36. Finish 37. Took a giant leap in 1969, but politically correct 41. Archaic affirmative 44. Bullet ricochet noise 45. Talk profoundly 49. Portion of medicine 51. For fear that 53. Intertwined 54. Projection from living thing 57. Small lake 58. 100 square metres 59. Ukulele for short 61. (sin) ÷ (cos) 62. Relax, in the military 65. Pertaining to woods 67. In iambic pentameter, for example 69. Tiny arachnids 70. Donkey 71. Pathetically small 72. Plant embryo
5
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9 7
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tfoster@imprint.uwaterloo.ca M A A M
A L S O
R O W S
C L U B
L I N E
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B A L E
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6 7 9 5 2 1 8 4 3
C O C O H A I F T L S I T L A C M O R A C R R O N O O U T L O G B U K E A L S L E C W H K E I S
8 2 1 4 6 3 5 9 7
3 6 5 1 4 9 7 8 2
O A L O N C E U Y T I L T X A R W A V E S A L E O S E S U N C E A S T C R E C R A S H U S P A A T U R E H I M N O R E D Y
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O B E Y
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2 5 7 9 1 4 3 6 8
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Ngai Chow
Emma Rossi Aislinn Patterson
2B health studies
future UW students
“Being in rehab should give her some time to focus on studying.”
“Get arrested, creating a media frenzy so no on remembers the exam at all.”
Véronique Lecat
2B arts and business
Jen Kozak
post graduate studies
As the successor to 50 years of campus journalism, Imprint is hosting a keynote speaker, followed by dinner to pay tribute to the many successes and contributions that student journalism has made to the University of Waterloo. For details, contact anniversary@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Science
science@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Imprint, Friday, July 27, 2007
Unveiling the next generation
images courtesy of Midnight Sun Racing team
Brendan Pinto science editor
With eight months spent on aerodynamic design, the shape is one of the most important features of the car. Using software developed by one of their main sponsors, the Midnight Sun 9 team developed a numerical model of the car and tested each design, modifying it several times, until the desired shape is developed.
The University of Waterloo is an international leader in a number of fields, but nowhere is this distinction more visible than with the engineering department’s flagship, the Midnight Sun (MS). Work on the ninth incarnation of this famous car started after the American Solar challenge of 2005 where its predecessor, MS 8 placed fifth. The team is set to unveil their newest creation on the 12th of August in X lot outside the optometry building. They will actually be running the car, for the first time it will be open it to the public with a celebratory barbecue. Amid the chaos of their office, if you look close enough, you can find a number of awards won by previous cars. They enjoy numerous accolades, the most impressive of these being their world record. If you look in the “epic journey” section of the Guinness Book of World Records, you’ll find the MS firmly holding the title of longest
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journey held by a solar powered vehicle. This honour was won during their North American tour that took the MS 7 over 15,000 km in 41 days. Built for competition in the American Solar Challenge and the World Solar Challenge, the car is also featured in a number of non-racing events. It can often be seen touring the country, on display throughout North America. It has even been featured on display at the Toronto Auto Show a number of times. The production of each car goes through a two-year cycle. For the first eight months, the aerodynamics is designed using software from one of their sponsors. The design can go through eight or nine iterations before the desired body shape is found. Construction of the car takes a particular level of expertise. When I entered the “garage” (properly called a design lab in the engineering building) I offered my assistance to help sand down the shell. There isn’t much time left before the unveiling, and there is still much work to do. I was aware that talking to organizers about the car would invariably take valuable time away from the lengthy fabrication process, but I was sadly denied. With six to eight months of planning and calculation, even something that seems simple like sanding requires time, effort and a strict attention to detail for it to be done properly. The shell they were carefully tuning with coarse grained sandpaper is composed of a Kevlar Nomex composite. Most people will recognize Kevlar as the same material that is used in bulletproof vests, however, the MS 9 wears only two layers as opposed to the many more found in vest armor, so you won’t see mobsters driving around in solar cars just yet. Of course the most important part of a solar car is the solar panels. The efficiency of those used by MS 9 hovers above 20 per cent The array used will put out less power that the preceding model, but coupled with other modifications to the design, it will remain a competitive entry. As with all
models, almost every element of the car is being designed by students from a variety of programs in the engineering faculty. Since all these systems have to work together, there is a great deal of communication between the different groups within the team. The parts come together to form a vehicle with an estimated top speed of at least 120km/h. In part of Australia there are no speed limits, so this will certainly be tested. In the North American Races, entrants have to abide by the speed limits, as they are racing on regular roads. When traveling at these speeds, safety is an important issue. There has only been one death in the history of solar car racing, but as business manager Jessica Whitney put it, one is too many. Rounding off the sturdy aluminum frame is a roll bar, and the cockpit is equipped with a five-point safety harness to keep the driver safely strapped in. For the 20th anniversary of the World Solar Challenge, a new class of vehicles has been introduced. Dubbed the “challenge class,” they take the traditionally uncomfortable solar car and add practical features (not cup holders, but things like a steering wheel, parking break, headlights and the ability to enter the car unassisted.) Due to the new required features of the challenge class, they admit they are slightly behind schedule. However, they really want to try to compete in this challenge class, and have been working long days — even nights — to complete the project on time. MS has traditionally competed in the adventure class, but this group of volunteers is ready for a new test. The MS team has enjoyed their fair share of success in the past and they appear to have no intention of slowing down now. With the 20th anniversary World Solar Challenge slated for October of this year, the UW community will look for Midnight Sun 9 to be at (or at least near) the front of the pack. bpinto@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Sports
sports@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Imprint, Friday, July 27, 2007
Paopao honoured by B.C. Lions Adam McGuire editor-in-chief
UW football assistant coach Joe Paopao may be busily preparing for Warriors training camp, but the former Canadian Football League quarterback took time out to be honoured by his former team earlier this month. Paopao, a CFL standout with the B.C. Lions in the ’80s, was inducted into the team’s Wall of Fame in a halftime ceremony during a July 19 game versus the Hamilton TigerCats at B.C. Place in Vancouver. Paopao, a member of the Lions for parts of seven seasons, made his way to the CFL in 1978 out of a free agent camp held in California. At the Time, it was Paopao’s final real chance to make a pro roster.
His impact was nearly immediate as he claimed the starting job the next year, earning the nickname “The Throwin’ Samoan” amongst the Lions’ faithful. Paopao has also had a decorated coaching career. He spent time with the Lions behind the bench as an assistant before moving on to a head coaching stint in Ottawa. He was an assistant in Hamilton last year with new Warriors bench boss Dennis McPhee before coming on as an offensive consultant for the 2007 season. The Warriors were 3-5 last year under interim head coach Marshall Bingeman last year. with files from bclions.com — editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Former Warrior Ciesielski gains entry to Open Adam McGuire editor-in-chief
Michael l. davenport
Warriors assistant coach Joe Paopao, seen here during the Warriors’ summer high school football camp, was recently enshrined in the B.C. Lions’ Wall of Fame earlier this month in Vancouver.
Campus Bulletin
Classifieds
VOLUNTEER
UPCOMING
HELP WANTED
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. Volunteer Services — City of Waterloo — 519-888-6488 or 519-888-0409 or volunteer@city.waterloo.on.ca — volunteers required for weekly escorted shopping for grocery needs one day/week. Call Angie or Bianca at 519-579-6930. Volunteer opportunities, please visit Volunteer Action Centre at http:// www.volunteerkw.ca. or 519-7428610 – “HopeSpring Cancer” Support Centre is looking for peer support volunteers to share info and resources. Please call 519-742-4673 or www.hopespring.ca. “Volunteer at KidSpark” - a free family festival scheduled at Victoria Park on August 18 and 19, rain or shine. Call 519743-0271, ext 275 or www.kidspark.ca. “KidsLINK Preschool Pals” provide support to a young child in a licensed child care setting. Call Selena at 519741-1122 or skoprnicky@ndsa.on.ca. “Nutrition for Learning” is seeking community members August 18 and 19 at KidSpark fundraiser. Call 519579-5745 or volunteermanager@ on.aibn.com. “Food Bank of Waterloo Region” needs drivers to help pick up food donations during the fall food drive and organizing/liaison between workplaces, schools and places of worship. Must have a clean driving record. Call Rose at 519-743-5576, ext 226 or roset@thefoodbank.ca.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007 Volunteer/Internship Fair – come out and meet reps from a variety of local agencies to find out about volunteering opportunities of all kinds. Student Life Centre, Great Hall from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 19, 2007 UW On-Campus part-time Job Fair – will be taking place for fall and winter hiring. Students have the opportunity to speak with representatives from on-campus departments regarding part-time employment. Student Life Centre, Great Hall from 11 a.. to 2 p.m.
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, KW Habilitation Services, 108 Sydney Street, Kitchener, ON, N2G 3V2. Two distribution workers are needed for distributing Imprint Publications for the Fall term that begins August 31 and continues until November 30. $60/week/person. Please contact Laurie at 519-888-4048 or ads@imprint. uwaterloo.ca for more information.
FINANCIAL AID
Premium three-bedroom townhouse unit in a professionally managed student complex. Perfect for students, close to UW campus. Now renting May or September 2007. Call Perry now at 519-746-1411 for all the details and to set up a showing. 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. Five bedroom house available September 1. Walking distance to both universities. Free parking, laundry, central heating, air conditioning, newly renovated, hardwood floors. A must see – call 519-575-1973. A perfect four bedroom apartment to live in comfortably within a short
August 2007 August 8 – recommended last submission date for Continuation of Interest Free Status Forms for this term. Start applying for Fall 2007 now on the OSAP website.Check out our web site for a full listing of all our scholarships and bursaries. http:// safa.uwaterloo.ca.
Reigning UW men’s rookie of the year Victor Ciesieleski could have had a very difficult day on Monday, July 23. But, thanks to his magical performance at his first PGA tour event, he was able to breathe easy. Ciesielski, a stand out on the Warriors golf team last year, was given an exemption to compete at the PGA tour’s Bell Canadian Open this year, avoiding a stressful Monday qualify-
HOUSING
walking distance to both campuses. Enjoy the convenience of living in a great location close to many shopping amenities and the life of Uptown Waterloo. Call Perry now at 519-7461411 to set up a viewing today. Three bedroom apartment Hazel Street $400 includes utilities and parking. Also two bedroom apartment $900 and five bedroom $350. Also eight rooms at 120 Columbia $400 plus. Call 519-746-6327 or 519501-1486. Only one bedroom left – fall 2007 – very clean house located on Quite Street, 15 minute walk or two minute car ride to UW. Newly renovated, free parking and laundry, 12 month lease. E-mail tollgate295@hotmail.com or call 416-266-3351.
FOR SALE MAC G4 533/128/L2/40G/NVID for sale. Six years old. For more info or to see it, come to Imprint, SLC room 1116 between 8:30 a.m to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday. Selling by auction with a reserve bid.
ing tournament in the process. Ciesielski rode the wave of popularity from his headline-making story at last year’s open to a spot in the 2007 edition, which began yesterday at Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham. Ciesielski, a native of Cambridge, made a hole-in-one during the second round of the 2006 open en route to making the cut as an amateur in his first ever pro event. editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
SPRING/SUMMER TERM IS OVER! YAHOOOOO! Please have all classified/campus bulletin submissions in by Monday, August 27 to SLC1116 or ads@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
GOOD LUCK ON EXAMS....HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!
Resurrection College HOUSING Single rooms available for Fall and Winter or Fall and Spring terms in Resurrection College residence. Five minute walk to Student Life Centre. Quiet co-ed residence, meal plan, large common areas, high speed wireless internet, local phone service, parking included.
ptusch@resurrectioncollege.ca or visit: www.resurrectioncollege.ca
E-mail:
Arts
arts@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Imprint, Friday, July 27, 2007
Politics play in a parking lot Sukhpreet Sangha staff reporter
UW drama professor Andrew Houston’s production of Paved Over Paradise is not your run-of-the-mill piece of theatre. As seven actors rehearsed in an empty downtown Kitchener parking lot late Monday evening, two young women walking by stopped, succumbed to their curiosity, and asked “What the hell are you doing?” Houston paused and replied, “It’s theatre…yeah, theatre.” The hesitation occured because Paved Over Paradise — to be performed in the parking lot of the Karma Gallery — is not what you would typically consider theatre. It is an exploration through environmental theatre of what Houston calls “non-places.” That is, places that are “the ultimate manifestation of a world increasingly concerned about commensurate, unproblematic exchange of money, of commodities, of information and of people.” Houston selected nine of his drama students to join him as actors on the project. Instead of simply acting, though, the group is concerned with being conscious of the political layers of their work and how it will exist with different levels in the world, something which Houston believes theatre has trouble with. As he puts it, “People just like to ask ‘Well, is it entertaining?’” This project endeavours to make theatre an intelligent, thought-provoking practice as well as a form of entertainment. Fortunately, it seems as if they have accomplished both without sacrificing either. Paved Over Paradise falls under the umbrella of York theatre professor and dramaturg Judith Rudakoff ’s global Common Plants: Cross-Pol-
Michael L. Davenport
Theatrical piece Paved Over Paradise is featured on August 5 at 11 a.m. at the Karma Gallery. linations in Hybrid Reality project. Common Plants is about creating theatre which explores the themes of identity and home by using specific dramaturgical processes created by Rudakoff. One of these processes is creating a cycle of Ashley plays, which is precisely what Houston and his students have done. Each student creates their own Ashley — a character of any gender or ethnicity they choose — who they use to examine their own ideas of identity and home which they subsequently put into performance form. Education is a mandate of the Common Plants project, especially as it receives funding from the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and to this end, according to Houston’s students, it has been a successful endeavour. All of the actors echoed performer Ciarán Myers’s statement, “I learned a lot about myself, but I’m worried that it might not come across.” This worry is understandable and is intrinsic to most avant-garde art, perhaps especially theatre. When interviewed, the artists had only just begun to take their Ashley characters and place them in the Karma Gallery parking lot to explore their next and third theme of non-places, so their view of what the final performance will look like is far from fully formed.
What is definite is that the performance will take place on Sunday August 5 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Karma Gallery, located at 6 Madison Avenue, Kitchener, as part of the Gallery’s Art with Heart celebrations. During these six hours, the nine performers will all remain in their Ashley character with each one coming into particular focus for approximately 12 minutes every two hours. Houston describes it as “each performer doing their own three act play, going into relief between acts. Think of it as something emerging and going back.” ssangha@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Each student creates their own Ashley — a character of any gender or ethnicity they choose — who they use to examine their own ideas of identity and home, which they subsequently put into performance form.
CD Reviews Ill Scarlett All Day With It
Ill Scarlett’s second release All Day With It is a clear maturing for the band, as would be expected after a jump to a major label, but they’ve managed to keep that innocent charm that made their last offering so appealing. “Who’s Got It” opens the record with an out of place, yet forgivable flamenco guitar lick that jumps into a rather unneeded rap-metal style turntable lead; however, after a rocky takeoff, the track picks up with some bouncy rhythm-based rock much akin to material from their first release. The record’s first single “Nothing Special” works for radio, but is actually one of the weaker tracks on the record as it lacks the kicked-back groove that ultimately makes this band such a treat. “Life of a Soldier” is a strong example of how frontman Alex Norman uses his lyrics and vocals to truly elevate the universal appeal of the record with such great timing and pop-sensible phrasing. The lingering Sublime influence stays throughout, but that’s okay, because Ill Scarlett takes familiar ideas and meshes them together to create a fairly fresh and fun musical experience that doesn’t take too much effort to enjoy. Don’t write this record off just because these boys are the new Punch Much ‘it’ thing. All Day With It proves they have both the style and substance to stick around once the next trend comes through. — Andrew King
Circa Survive On Letting Go
On Letting Go has new Equal Vision stronghold Circa Survive revisiting the aural arena of their debut Juturna, offering the same delayed off-time guitar leads within unconventional and atmospheric composition to accompany the soaring voice of frontman Anthony Green. This record’s similarity to their last puts them in a rather vulnerable position to be criticized for a lack of diversity or risk-taking; however, what Circa Survive have done here may not be so much of a progression from their past material as much as a filtered refinement. “The Difference Between Medicine and Poison is in the Dose” is another example of the band taking a skeletal song structure akin to any from their debut, and creating a far more refined and more focused structure atop its basic frame. “Kicking Your Crosses Down” is likely the band’s biggest departure from convention, and it works well because of it. The track is certainly fresh, but also lucid enough to let work within the album. The opener “Living Together” is likely the album’s highlight, and could be one of the best songs of 2007. This disc eclipses Juturna, and only serves to reassure listeners that Circa Survive deserve the hype they’ve garnered as new poster boys for ambient post-rock. The band may not be ready for mainstream rock radio, but they are ready to completely captivate the attention of anyone willing to stray away from it. — Andrew King
Arts
Imprint, Friday, July 27, 2007
Bright colours and wooden balls
rounded musicianship that would finally allow the group to properly deliver their sound to its full potential in a live setting. Aside from the upcoming show being pimped, “Mike Bond is absent. He’s buying more corn,” declares outspoken Bocce frontman Tony Sal- the band’s material thus far is worthy of your atamone after the band has “officially introduced” tention in itself. Tracks like “Again Again Again themselves for my tape recorder. And so began my Again” offer spacey synth pop that progressively interview for an Imprint profile on local live dance enthralls the listener, while “Disco Juan” is a frenact Bocce, now comprised of Salamone, synth zied dance fest. It’s completed with “Revenge of player Ben Ong, organist Nik Must, and drummer the Nerds” with screaming and gang vocals usually Bond, who are gearing up for a performance at reserved for the new crop of punk bands. Ong explains, “I think one thing we have in the UW’s Grad House tonight. After initially meeting these guys on Ethel’s common with punk is high energy fast tempos” patio and ordering some drinks, I could tell to which Salamone adds “I’m kind of excited right away the next hour or so would be an to play to a more punk crowd,” referring to the insightful discussion of music as refreshing band’s upcoming appearance at the Rock the Mill festival in Cambridge. as the chilled bottle of Steam Bocce is currently writing Whistle (hopefully) making its ...anybody material for their forthcoming way to our table. Salamone con— the band’s first as tinues, “Mike’s out of food, so wanting to hear full-length a foursome. According to Salhe couldn’t go to Ethel’s.” amone, it’s their most cohesive Bocce began as a duo with some over the yet, even though Hi Birdbear is Bond as the main creative force, still deservedly garnering more doing programming and play- top dance music and more local attention. ing drums, and Ong handling is more than As far as Friday’s gig at synth duties. The pair released the Grad House, anybody a six-song EP before they were welcome. wanting to hear some over joined by Must and Salamone. the top dance music is more “I think it started about two years ago,” begins Ong. “Mike was writing some than welcome. As Salamone explains, “it’s like songs, and I wasn’t doing very much, and we a night out at the club, but just adding that live decided to start practicing together. One thing element, like, anything live just makes it that led to another, and Bocce happened.” It would much better.” So anybody willing to have a drink with the seem more humble roots were never known. The duo recorded the Muscle Memory EP band voted by Echo readers as “The best band during the summer of 2005 with Salamone to get drunk to,” should throw their inhibitions joining the fold shortly thereafter to round to the wind and just have a good time. Trust out the line-up that would write and record me, you don’t want to give these guys a reason the sophomoric Hi Birdbear/Can’t Reason Do to pollute your toothpaste. It? in Winter 2006. Must was added to the line-up after its release, bringing with him a aking@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Andrew King staff reporter
courtesy of Bocce
Local techno/crunk/ghettotech band Bocce are playing at the Grad House Friday July 27. They are currently working on their upcoming full-length album.
The religious comic phenomenon Faith themed comics
I just so happen to be a religious studies major at this university. Now, as a Roman Catholic, it catches the ears of my friends when they discover that the main focus of my studies is in world religions. Does this contradict me being a Catholic, choosing not to learn solely from my own faith? Simply put, no. It’s important to keep an open mind because it’s the ultimate test to find your place in the world. For example, Prof. David Seljak at St. Jerome’s has taught me of an important scholar of our time: a Vietnamese Buddhist activist and monk named Thich Nhat Hanh. One lesson I remember given by Nhat on Engaged Buddhism, a Jewish student told him afterwards how the lecture made him want to become a better Jew. After the student said this, Nhat Hanh said that was exactly what he wanted to hear. My faith makes me want to become a better person, respectful to everyone in the world and their fundamentals, whether they are Sunni Muslims, Orthodox Jews, Buddhists, or even atheists. In that same light, my studies make me want to become a stronger Catholic — a man meant to follow the ways of morals (i.e. the Ten Commandments) and to respect others for who they are (i.e. Jesus’ Commandments), a goal that is shared among almost every religion. What follows is a good list of webcomics that run off the theme of religion. Believe it or not, these comics are both an entertaining and enlightening way to expand your knowledge. It never hurts to question the world, and if you have a form of faith, these comics may help strengthen it. After all, how can one learn without questions? ptrinh@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Rice Boy by Evan Dahm This is a brilliant and somewhat fantastical view of religious politics. It’s a sci-fi comic that begins with two prophets in search of a chosen being, failing to find him or her for thousands of years and accidentally starting another religion all together. Also, these are some of the best character designs I’ve seen for a webcomic so far. The One Electric (T.O.E.) is one of these characters; a mysterious robot prophet with a monitor for a head, he begins to doubt his mission but later picks himself up to try again. Sinfest by Tatsuya Ishida Sinfest is a comic with very liberal views of religion. This satirical piece holds almost nothing back. With a varied cast of characters — including a sex-driven man with a familiar look, a self-confident girl in a tank-top and avatars of different deities and figures — it’s funny yet surprisingly analytical. It’s important not to take this comic too seriously though, so as a disclaimer, I’d only recommend this comic to the most open-minded of students and citizens. Perry Bible Fellowship (PBF) by Nicholas Gurewitch This is a quirky three-to-four-panel comic series that’s published in many newspapers and magazines all over the world. PBF is commentary and dark humour, exploring themes of irony, religion, science and pop culture. As for the dark humour, it puts its themes in a bizarre light, prompting the readers to question our life’s actions to better understand them.
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Arts
Imprint, Friday, July 27, 2007
Nature, pigeons and degradation
photos by Andrew Abela
Clockwise from left is part of Annie Dunning’s Air Time, Andrew Wright’s Metre and Lauren Hall’s How we all could enjoy a tale of curious exploration. Ashley Csanady staff reporter
Walking into the KW Art Gallery’s latest show “Woodlot” is like entering into a twisted reality where trees only exist as a fragment of memory in abstract representation of their former glory. Small, geometric hills and a silver river reminiscent of Candyland with large trees around the room form the basis of a forest composed of image and sculpture alike. Guest curator Sally McKay chose from over 80 artists and narrowed it down to 14. Her selections, and particularly her arrangement, make the exhibit a unit as opposed to a melee of artists fighting for dominance. Featuring artists who, in the least, have lived and worked in the region, the focus of the show is on the collision of nature and human expansion that is Southern Ontario. Each wall, every corner holds something
interesting. A divider wall, for instance, features a minimalist piece by local artist Andrew Wright. The statement “the length of the path traveled by light in a vacuum in a time interval of 1/299 798 452 of a second” repeated and wrapped around the wall only makes sense once you glance to the title, Metre. Niall Donaghy’s large circular Spirographinspired pieces are transfixing. They dominate one wall, with the various “trees” in front, and supplement the forest-like atmosphere. Behind the warped and twisted forest, they look like an abstract homage to innumerable stumps left behind by deforestation. The aforementioned Candyland-inspired mountain range, How we all could enjoy a tale of curious exploration by Lauren Hall, seems childlike and innocent at first. The bubblegum-pink and blue mountain ranges, the shiny river and clouds suspended from the wall seem whimsical
Book Reviews
but then its Disney-like sterility becomes eerie, forcing you to contemplate a world with only fiberglass trees along Lollipop Way. Carrier pigeons may seem a part of the ancient past, but Annie Dunning’s Air Time uses them to produce some fascinating art. She takes a small camera and attaches it to the pigeon, literally taking photos from a bird’s eye view. The warped suburban sprawl of houses, cars and cement seems tainted next to the majestically skewed shots of the Grand River. The carrier pigeons, remnants from a not-so-distant past juxtaposed against the digital camera mimics the discord of the photographs. The presence of nature is undeniably strong in the show, but Andrika Dubeckj’s marvellous embroidered photographs and Ruth Abernethy’s gender-bending tools bring something a little more human to the mix. Dubeckj’s photographs are entrancing. Shiny
threads are so tightly wound against the photo that it becomes indistinguishable where the photo lets off and the thread begins. A delicate, creamy white lace hangs off the wall forming a hammer in Abernethy’s Nuptial’s #1. Like almost everything these days, Woodlot has an eco-friendly agenda. This time, however, it’s served up subtly and poignantly, without Leo, Cameron and the man who should have been president. The show is running at the KW Art Gallery, located in the Centre in the Square, until September 9, 2007. For hours, or to view an online version if the catalogue if you can’t make it to the show in person, visit www.kwag. on.ca. Try and see it in person though, because winding through McKay’s twisted suburban forest is sublime. acsanady@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows J.K. Rowling Raincoast Books
The Santa Mysteries S. William Shaw
The Santa Mysteries is a fun, humourous, fast-paced book that will draw you in and keep you racing for the end, only to leave you wanting more. The story focuses around the adventures of three youngsters; our man with a plan is Bennett Short, and his two sidekicks are Darcy Decker and the Pickle — aka Stanley Valentine. Bennett is a big fan of the Man in Red, and not the one with the horns and pitchfork. Santa is his hero and he has a plan to sneak aboard Santa’s sleigh. He wants to get to the North Pole and find out all the Santa mysteries then write a tell-all book and make a gazillion dollars. But as most of us know, things do not always go according to plan. Bennett and his friends do get to the North Pole and they get to hang out with Santa. However, Darcy’s curiosity leads to devastating results. In this awesome little book you will find Al Gore as a robot created by Santa, and see Santa abducted by aliens who hate Christmas. You will watch Darcy go from being arrogant and expecting Pickles to mess things up, to realizing that he does so again and again. Yet with all of that, Darcy never gives up and keeps striving to correct his mistakes and make up for the damage he has done. This is in part a coming-of-age story, an adventure and a whole lot of fun. We watch Darcy grow and mature, and we in turn can learn from him and face the struggles and difficulties in our lives anew. The greatest power of the story is that it’s a myth, but not a myth as in something that is not real. Instead, it is a myth in terms of the underlying reality of existence. This is a book that was so fun to read that I have already started it a second time, this time reading it more slowly to savor the story rather than racing through. This would be a great endof-term summer read and now the author is offering the e-book versions of this and another of his books Sherman Oak and the Magic Potato free on his website swilliamshaw.com. So stop by and drop him an email and you can get two great books to read for free, or if you prefer, you can order them through Amazon and get hard copies to support his writing of more adventures for you and me to enjoy.
Most 17-year-olds don’t view the possibility of an early death as being, well, possible. But then again, most 17 year-olds haven’t come face-to-face with death almost half-a-dozen times before their first kiss either. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final installment of the ridiculously popular Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling brilliantly ties up every loose end that she has planted over the last ten years since the very first outing of the series was published in 1997. Truly, Rowling has learned exactly what her fans want and subsequently delivers a book that answers every Potterhead’s questions — and then some. Not only does Deathly Hallows revisit key places and characters from all of the previous six books, but Rowling even manages to make clever references to previous bits of dialogue from her earlier books. The prophecy in the fifth book revealed that “neither shall live while the other survives,” and therefore, by the end of book seven either Harry or Voldemort had to die. Rowling cleverly fills her last installment with so many twists, turns and complications, however, that it becomes practically impossible to determine which way this book is going to end. More than any of the other Potter books, Deathly Hallows is a true quest narrative, with the trio spending the majority of the story hunting for horcruxes and hallows whilst evading capture by Voldemort’s Death Eaters. The multiple close-calls that all three main characters find themselves in throughout the book add to the tension that continues to build until the predictably bloody battle at the end of the tale. The book does, after all, chronicle a brutal war, so be prepared for a lot of killing and, consequently, a lot of tears. This is not to say that Deathly Hallows doesn’t offer up a great deal of laughs as well. The hilarious twins Fred and George Weasley make several appearances to ensure that the book isn’t all doom and gloom. By far, the funniest part of the story is the secret radio show Potterwatch, anonymously hosted by former Hogwarts Quidditch commentator Lee Jordan with special appearances from Fred, George, and ex-Defence Against the Dark Arts professor Remus Lupin. Rowling perfectly mixes this blend of humour, tragedy and adventure so that her epic-length novel never lags or drags. To write a 607-page book that millions of die-hard fans around the world are able to devour in less than 24 hours is no mean feat, but Rowling’s farewell to Harry Potter’s magical world is an incredibly gripping page-turner that will leave all readers immensely satisfied.
— Steven R. McEvoy
— Suzanne Gardner
Lulu Press