Imprint_2010-02-05_v32_i25

Impr int The university of Waterloo’s official student newspaper

Feds Elections

Our in-depth look at all of the candidates running for positions within Feds.

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Friday, February 5, 2010

Vol 32, No

25

imprint . uwaterloo . ca

Our financial future decided in less than 18 minutes

Earthquake exposé Finding the factors that caused so much death and destruction in Haiti.

SCIENCE32 Team of the month

The Warriors men’s hockey team is declared OUA’s Team of the Month after winning six of seven games in January.

SPORTS

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Inspire conference

Learn all about the successful WPIRG organized conference dealing with social justice.

ARTS

Paula Trelinska assistant news editor

T 35

What’s your motive

Andy Thibodeau delivers a dose of motivation to UW students at the SLC.

FEATURES 12 Couch activism

A UW student declares Facebook causes don’t effect any real change.

OPINION

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approved

he University of Waterloo Board of Governors met Tuesday, February 2 to, among other things, approve an increase in both residence and tuition fees for next year.

The first of the increases to be presented by the Vice President Administration and Finance Dennis Huber, was a 3.0 per cent increase in residence fees for the 2010/2011 year beginning this fall. Housing is a $30 million a year operation on campus, he said, and this increase is not dissimilar from last year. The annual increase at the university is specific for the cost profiles for that year, “a three per cent increase is also what was applied to last year’s fee, prior to that it was five per cent,” said Chris Read, the university Housing Officer. The increase was passed with little opposition, which means that next year, depending on where they’re living, students could be paying over $6,000 a term for housing.

The more contentious of the two increases, undergraduate tuition, will be implemented starting this May. “Some of the Ministry of Training, Colleges & Universities (MTCU) framework expires at the end of the academic year,” explained Huber. “We are recommending with continuing with the framework under the assumption that the government will do something similar.” Since the university has a significant number of undergraduate students who register in May for the spring term, fees need to be assessed. In the absence of a future framework the tuition increases will be identical to last year. With this framework, rate increases are compounded every year. However, the average annual rate cap is 5.0 per cent.

The rising tuition fees mean that current students will be paying 4.0 per cent more per term than they did this year while students newly admitted to regulated programs will be paying 4.5 per cent more. For newly admitted students in deregulated programs, the increase will be 8.0 per cent. International and graduate students will both face an increase of 3.0 per cent.

Though both Samuel Andrey and Allan Babor, undergraduate representatives on the Board of Governors, voiced their opposition to the proposal, it was still voted through with only four opposing and one abstention. In an effort to represent student interests to the board, Andrey read aloud an excerpt from a recent Maclean’s article entitled: “Where all

that Money is Going.” “Teaching has not just fallen down the priority list, it has been pushed there by conscious resource allocation decisions.

Less money is reaching the classroom,” he read. Though the article offered no proof to those sitting on the board, it was pointed out in reply that the University of Waterloo has one of the lowest central operating costs in Ontario and therefore more tuition fees go toward education rather than administration.

While this may be true, “choices are being made while undergraduates continue to be the only party that sacrifice annually. This year, student fees will account for over 50 per cent of the operating revenue for the first time,” Andrey said. For 2009/2010 tuition income will be an estimated $176,604,000, an increase of $6.5 million since the estimates were first made in fall 2009. This increase is a result of the university exceeding first year intake and enrolment projections by 3.5 per cent this year, resulting in the total number of undergraduates surpassing UW’s Sixth Decade Plan.

The university is accepting more and more students, and, according to Andrey, enrolment in undergraduate chemistry labs has increased by 60 per cent over the past 10 years. However, the non-salary component has dropped to zero. “Chemistry has struggled to achieve a minimum level of undergraduate equipment,” he argued. “Students genuinely understand the need to increase tuition, considering there are rising costs, however, they can’t understand when this translates to large investments into graduate studies and salary inflation, while undergraduate studies suffer.”

While most on the board voted for the increase in student fees, Allan Babor echoed Andrey’s sentiments against the proposed rate hike. “We need to support the basic fundamental needs of the students at Waterloo,” he said. There was also concern expressed over alumni contributions being affected by the undergraduate experience. “This concerns me, when I hear that the experience of undergraduates is not very good, and I heard even further that it goes down from Year 1 to Year 4,” explained Jud Whiteside, a Lieutenant Governor in council.

Andrey hoped the board would “find room in the 2010 budget for real investment in student success.” It is unsure whether tuition hikes will bring student success but, starting in May, every undergraduate student will be paying at minimum 3.0 per cent more tuition per term. ptrelinska@imprint.uwaterloo.ca graphic by sonia lee

News

in

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010 news@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Harmony with Haiti Adrienne Raw news editor

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rhesa chandra

“In Harmony with Haiti” featured talented UW students, including Foyo Juma (above) who performed her own original compositions.

n the aftermath of Haiti’s January 12, 7.0 magnitude earthquake, people around the world donated their time and money to relief efforts in a massive, international outpouring of support. On Saturday, January 30, a room full of UW students joined in the efforts at “In Harmony with Haiti,” a three-hour coffeehouse at Conrad Grebel.

The event raised over $4,000 for relief efforts and featured over a dozen speakers and performers, including representatives from the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and performing groups such as the Waterboys, the Unaccompanied Minors, and the Accabellas.

Musical performers shared their talents with the audience, while speakers shared their personal experiences in Haiti and talked about the future of relief projects in Haiti.

“When news of the quake started filtering in on Wednesday, the question in my mind was not ‘should we act,’ but ‘how do we respond,’” said Eric Kennedy, one of the event’s organizers. Within a few hours of hearing about the earthquake, Kennedy had already spoken with Ed Janzen, the Conrad Grebel chaplain, and spoken to Conrad Grebel students at their community supper about a possible response. “About 50 people immediately jumped on board, and our plans developed from there,” Kennedy said. “[The event] went from idea to reality remarkably quickly,” Kennedy said. He credited the diverse skills and resources of the organizational team, as well as the contributions of the community, for putting together a successful event in such a short period of time. Kennedy highlighted the contributions of fellow event organizers Jessica Ressor and Michelle Metzger for their role in co-ordinating and organizing the event. “They gave so much time and energy to planning the details of the event, and always kept the big picture and goals in mind,” he said.

Pulling together a successful event such as “In Harmony with Haiti” in such a short period of time required meetings over lunch, planning late at night, and the help of the whole community, Kennedy said. “Making [the event] a reality, though, really required the buy-in of the whole community — something we had every time we needed it, whether extra hands

alcina wong

to make decorations or all the performers who gave of their time and talents,” he said.

The event was a major community initiative.

Everything — from setup to advertising, to baking donated by students living in the Conrad Grebel apartments, to the performers themselves — was driven by the community.

“Everyone just stepped up in such an amazing way,” Kennedy said.

Proceeds from the event are going to the MCC’s relief efforts in Haiti, which include immediate relief, such as food and water and long term relief, such as rebuilding. “Our disaster response will be done in a way that gives dignity to the people of Haiti,” said Patty Ollies, an MCC representative that spoke at the event.

There are many ways that students can contribute to Haiti relief efforts. The government of Canada is matching all monetary donations made up to February 12. The MCC is looking for volunteers to pack relief kits that will be sent to Haiti. Kennedy also suggested students become informed of the challenges Haiti might face and learn how to “give in ways that make a difference.”

“I would have loved to be on the ground in Haiti to help with the immediate rescue effort, but I had to reach out in whatever way I could,” Kennedy said.

Though Kennedy is happy with the outpouring of support from the community, he said that “it really pains me that it took such an awful disaster for Haiti to hit our radar, when they’ve been suffering for so long.” Both Kennedy and MCC representatives at the event acknowledged that relief efforts in Haiti are a long term project and that support will be needed for years to come. “It’s important to realize just how long recovery from such a terrible disaster takes, and how long we’re going to have to stick with Haiti before there’s a meaningful, long term, and sustainable change,” Kennedy said.

Tragic disasters like the earthquake in Haiti bring out the giving soul in our community.

The “In Harmony with Haiti” event brought together the UW community in an incredibly successful and entertaining afternoon to support Haiti relief efforts. “More than anything else,” Kennedy said, “the message is that you really can make a difference.” araw@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

News

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

students displaced by fire sheltered in uw residence Andrew Dodds staff reporter

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ire gutted two townhomes near campus on Westcourt Place early last Friday, January 29.

It displaced a dozen people, including five UW students. Dousing the blaze was made more difficult due to temperatures of -15 degrees celsius.

This caused equipment trouble and the runoff of ice up to the perimeter. The fire’s cause is still under investigation. The Red Cross took care of many of the affected people, but an early wake up call to one of the Residence Life Co-ordinators by local emergency services saw the University of Waterloo take care of its own.

“The university will help students wherever, whenever is needed,” said Chris Read of UW Housing Services. Three students accepted the offer and wound up moving from the Grand River Transit bus, sent to protect the group from the elements, to a few still-open spaces within Village 1. Had the fire occurred during a full fall booking, the university would not have been able to accommodate the stranded students.

In addition to housing the students, Off-Campus Housing will also help them in the search for new living arrangements. This marks the third time this year that UW has assisted students in this respect, according to Read. A previous incident saw three students housed for five days after their house was deemed unsafe because of a lack of electricity.

All displaced students were put in touch with Counselling Services. The three friends have chosen to finish the term on a floor together at V1, as they begin to replace what was lost in the fire. adodds@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Michelle Sterba

Former University of Toronto student president runs for mayor

reporter

Guelph continues efforts in Haiti relief

In response to the disaster in Haiti on January 12, University of Guelph students have found many ways to participate in the relief effort. A vigil was held on January 22, and a benefit concert is planned for February 7. Proceeds from a charity pub night held on January 27 will be going to the Canadian Red Cross.

The university has also chosen to fund the organizations Doctors Without Borders and Me to We. Both organizations will be dedicated to providing immediate medical care and supplies to victims.

York student detained in Indonesia

Jessica Chandrashekar returned to Canada on January 30 after being detained by Indonesian authorities for more than 11 hours.

Chandrashekar was sent to Indonesia by the Canadian Humanitarian Appeal for the Relief of Tamils (Canadian HART) in order to get

“

Former student president and 31-year-old lawyer Rocco Achampong started his campaign for mayor of Toronto on February 1. Achampong’s decision to run dates back to 2005, a year that saw 80 homicides. He believes that politicians do not know how to speak the language of the youth involved in this violence. Achampong also plans to put a two-year freeze on transit fares along with expanding the subway.

SFUO president arrested for cursing

After a trespassing complaint on the afternoon of February 2, deregistered physics student Marc Kelly and SFUO President Seamus Wolfe were placed under arrest. Ottawa police attempted to remove Kelly from the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa’s (SFUO) Student Appeal Centre (SAC) after a trespassing complaint. Mireille Gervais, the SAC co-ordinator Kelly was meeting with, argued that the police were acting outside the regulations of the trespassing notice served to him, as the SAC is not university property. Shortly after the arrival of

Chandrashekar was sent to Indonesia by the Canadian Humanitarian Appeal for the Relief of Tamils (Canadian HART) in order to get an update on the situation of the asylum-seekers: 254 Sri Lankan refugees aboard a vessel which was intercepted

by Indonesian authorities en route to Australia.

an update on the situation of the asylum-seekers. Two hundred and fifty-four Sri Lankan refugees were aboard a vessel which was intercepted by Indonesian authorities en route to Australia. Despite poor conditions aboard the ship the asylum-seekers refuse to leave for fear that it will take too long to be relocated to Australia. Chandrashekar was detained and questioned when she approached the ship without permission. Currently, Australian authorities refuse to accept the refugees. Chandrashekar would like to work with the co-operation of the Canadian government, along with HART. Their main priority is making sure the refugees are not sent back to Sri Lanka.

the police, Wolfe came into the SAC to investigate. The police asked for a lease to determine whether the property was owned by the university or SFUO. When Wolfe left to get the lease, the police arrested Kelly. Upon Wolfe’s return, the police did not acknowledge him or the lease. In his agitation, Wolfe cursed and was arrested for “causing a disturbance by swearing.”

— With files from The Excalibur, The Fulcrum, and The Ontarion

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News

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

5

What is this election thing about, anyway?

An extremely terse description of Feds and the University of Waterloo Senate Michael L. Davenport editor-in-chief

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o looking at the campaign posters, the speeches at the forums, and (admittedly) the coverage in the newspapers, it’s possible that nobody has bothered to take a moment and explain what exactly Feds and Senate are.

They are both governance bodies on campus. That means that they’re in charge of boring things — that is, if you consider your degree requirements, the academic calendar, your bus pass, or businesses like the used bookstore to be boring things.

Feds and Senate are two distinct bodies. The former belongs entirely to the students, the latter is a part of the UW administration proper. Feds is split up into the “executive” (people who get paid to run the organization for a year) and “council” (student volunteers who act as your representatives to the executive.) So really, full time undergrads will be voting in three distinct elections.

Now, for an extremely terse description of the Feds council, the Feds executive, and UW Senate in terms of exciting things that they do.

Feds council

Council acts as a liason between the Feds executive and you, the students. Four

members of council will also form the Feds board of directors, who are empowered to censure or fire the executive, if necessary.

So essentially, it’s a check and balance.

Council is one of the bodies empowered to call referenda. The referendum held on Sound-FM was started by council.

Likewise, the referenda on the Health Services expansion and the student services complex were also called by council. The referendum to take the funding away from CKMS two years ago was also council.

That is one way that group has had a measurable impact on students.

Feds executive

The Federation of Students is a students union. One facet of that is they provide services and collectively bargain on our behalf.

Any large project undertaken by Feds is usually an initiative of one of the executive.

For instance, every undergrad student can ride the bus just by showing their WatCard. That was a deal arranged on behalf of students by Feds. The Tatham Centre was paid for in part by undergrad students via Feds. Some of the businesses in the SLC, like the used bookstore and Federation Xpress, are run by Feds. And though those big changes are usually years in coming, every one of them starts as the brainchild of somebody elected to the Feds executive.

UW Senate

Senate is the highest body at the university of Waterloo for all academic matters. Unlike Feds, the majority of Senate is populated by professors and university administrators. Undergrad students, however, have representatives that sit on Senate. One student from each faculty, plus the president of the Federation of Students.

This is the body that sets degree requirements. Did your program add another required course for graduation last year?

That was voted on at Senate. Is there a new program starting in the faculty of Environment? That’s all Senate.

Note that “academic matters” can influence other matters on campus. In the recent orientation week controversy, for example, Senate wasn’t voting on orientation week directly. Rather, they were voting on the start date of classes. But an earlier start date for lectures means less time for O-week. Exam relief and Saturday midterms are other issues recently discussed at Senate. And without strong student representation, we could have been left without exam relief, and with Saturday midterms.

So, boring as campus government may seem, it does have an impact on your life.

Please vote 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, February 9 to 10:00 p.m. Thursday, February 11 at vote.feds.ca.

VOTE

Feb. 9 – Feb 11 vote.feds.ca

SEE

Page 19 for comprehensive campaign coverage

Opinion

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010 opinion@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

IMPRINT The University of Waterloo’s official student newspaper

Babor, Goodhand, and Kaspar

Friday, February 5, 2010 Vol. 32, No. 25 Student Life Centre, Room 1116 University of Waterloo Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1 P: 519.888.4048 F: 519.884.7800 http://imprint.uwaterloo.ca

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Next staff meeting: Monday, February 8, 2010 12:30 p.m.

Next board of directors meeting: Friday, February 5, 2010 11:00 a.m.

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Intra-office romance controversy is overblown

here’s a strange twist known to everyone actually paying attention to the Feds elections this year: presidential candidate Allan Babor and VP Internal candidate Jenna Goodhand are dating.

Current and running for reelection Feds councilor Ian Kaspar has gone to multiple media forums, trying to nail Babor and Goodhand on their potential conflict of interest.

I’ve been around for a while now; I’ve seen a lot of intra-office romances before. In my experience, whether the situation fares well or poorly depends entirely on the individuals involved, and not their job titles. I’ll give you a couple of examples.

There was a time in recent memory where a member of the Feds Board of Directors was dating one of the executives. This is also a conflict of interest, since the board is empowered to keep the executive in check, and can actually fire the executive if necessary. But honestly, their relationship wasn’t a problem.

You couldn’t tell that they were dating at council meetings. You couldn’t tell that they were dating at conferences. The only time you could see the relationship is if you spent time with them outside the office. Their relationship was a sterling example of a professional relationship and personal relationship held in parallel, without any cross-talk at all.

I was an Imprint volunteer when the President of the Imprint Board of Directors dated a volunteer. It was okay whenever the relationship

was okay, but there were times when it was horrible. Times where the relationship was rocky, and he wasn’t coming into the office because she was there. Despite being less of a “conflict of interest” on paper, there were more problems in practice.

All this talk of Babor and Goodhand has gotten me thinking of what it means to be a professional. Being a professional isn’t about wearing suits, making a lot of money, or belonging to some trade organization. Being a professional is about getting the job done and doing what is productive regardless of your emotional insecurities. And that was the problem with the Imprint president and volunteer: not that they dated, not that things stopped going well, but that they ceased to be professional.

With respect to Babor and Goodhand, that is the question that must be asked: are they professionals? As far as their relationship goes, that’s the only question that matters.

Kaspar goes on and on about “conflicts of interest.” But the actual conflicts of interest can be avoided. My predecessor at Imprint lived with the volunteer co-ordinator, technically her employee. All of the actual supervisory duties were delegated to another staff member in the office. Instantly, the actual conflict is gone. The same can be done for Feds.

Romantic relationships are messy, literally and figuratively. It’s a fact of humanity that you can’t change who you love. This kind of

“

With respect to Babor and Goodhand, that is the question that must be asked: are they professionals?

That’s the only question that matters.

thing happens. During my very first week on campus, during Orientation Week in 2002, there was a marriage proposal. Though they were both leaders that year, the couple had met under the most forbidden of circumstances: he was a leader, and she was a frosh. My point is, despite university policies and conflicts of interest, this sort of thing will happen from time to time. (But it’s good to know that Ian Kaspar will never find himself in that position.

Implicit in his decrying of their relationship is he would never find himself in the same position, as he will never become involved with superiors or subordinates. Ever.

Good to know.)

My problem with Kaspar’s crusade is this: what would he prefer to happen instead? Would he have them hide their relationship? That’s a difficult constraint to place upon a pair, in addition to being dishonest.

No doubt they would just “come out” during their reign, in which case the voters were misled. Would he have one of them not run for office? That might be a fine solution for those who don’t want Babor or Goodhand to win anyway, but it

“

Editor-in-chief, Michael L. Davenport editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Advertising & Production Manager, Laurie Tigert-Dumas ads@imprint.uwaterloo.ca General Manager, Catherine Bolger cbolger@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Ad Assistant, Shirley Ma Sales Assisstant, Tony Tang Systems Admin., vacant Distribution, Sherif Soliman Distribution, Abdullah Asmat Volunteer co-ordinator, Angela Gaetano

editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

dodges the dilemma. What if the perfect president and perfect VPI were dating? Should one of them not run in that case? Every other solution I can fathom has downsides worse than merely having a couple in the Feds exececutive council.

I hope Kaspar doesn’t vote NDP. If he does, nobody tell him that Jack Layton and Olivia Chow are married!

Personally, I think Goodhand and Babor’s mistake was not running on the same ticket. Presumably, they want each other to win. If they’re high-fiving each other at the debates, they both want each to be elected.

But they allowed their personal life to affect a decision in their professional life because they were dating, they didn’t run as a ticket. It’s the allowing of cross-talk between the personal and professional lives that disservices students.

Relationships happen. Until we live in a some dystopian future where there’s no romance (1984, Anthem, take your pick), people with similar interests will end up in similar places, and this conflict of interest will arise. The only solution is for everyone — voters and competitors alike — to be professional.

Community Editorial RE: Anti-intellectual video shown in an institute of learning Sajjad Kamal mathematics

In response to an editorial published on January 22, 2010.

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s-Salaamu ‘Alaikum (Peace be upon you). We would like to thank you, first of all, for being fair in your comments and we hope that our response will be intellectually satisfying.

We realize that the title of the lecture that the publisher chose, “No brainer! Proofs of God for the Scientists” was misleading, because it was contrary to the approach of the speaker. We completely take responsibility for not realizing this earlier. The speaker never claimed to be a scientist and his main focus was to explain the purity of monotheism in Islam and compare it with other theological ideas in a simple and uncomplicated manner. We understand that it does not necessarily excuse the few errors he made in the speech, but we hope you were able to see the

big picture of the message he was trying to convey and not discard his entire speech because of that.

Nevertheless, we are not discouraged by showing the “anti-intellectual” video last week. It confirmed two things for us. First, that we can ascribe ourselves to the great species of humans who, despite all their efforts, continue to make mistakes and learn from them. The greater source of pleasure, however, was the fact that there are still people who value their intellect and refuse to blindly follow pre-cooked ideologies. The whole point of Islam Awareness Week was to achieve this. If you attended our workshops and other lectures this term you would have no doubt realized that Islam is a real balance of intellect and faith, neither of which overpowers the other.

God commands us to use our intellect throughout the Qur’an in endless locations. Below are just a few examples.

“Most surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the

alternation of the night and the day there are signs for men who understand. Those who remember Allah standing and sitting and lying on their sides and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth: Our Lord! Thou hast not created this in vain! Glory be to Thee; save us then from the punishment of the fire,” (Qur’an 3:191-2).

He reasons with humans saying, “Were they created by nothing, or did they create themselves?” (Qur’an 52:35).

Islam repeatedly challenged the very people who blindly followed their leaders and forefathers, and never thought for themselves. Kudos to those who think!

On the topic of the origins of the universe and the big bang theory, it is actually referred to in the Qur’an, that which can be translated as “Do not the disbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as a closed up mass) then we separated them? And we made

from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?” (Qur’an 21:30).

With regards to the theory of evolution in Islam, a simple paragraph in an article will definitely not do justice. But what can be said is this: it is certainly not as simplistic as the speaker made it sound, and the scholars of mainstream Sunni Islam do not reject the theory of evolution in its entirety. There are proper, academic sources from our scholars that tackle this issue extensively and it is beyond the scope of this editorial to go into details. Suffice to say that the theory of evolution isn’t a novel idea in Muslim communities, as some philosophers and scientists in Muslim lands in the medieval times (before the Ahmadiyya community existed) were the first to develop the modern ideas on the theory of evolution centuries before Charles Darwin and Alfred R Wallace.

Thank you for taking your time

Opinion

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

7

Community Editorial

Couch activism: A Facebook epidemic?

Starting a Facebook group will not solve the problem at hand

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e’ve all received the requests. Everything from “For Every 10 People Who Join I’ll Donate $1 to [Insert Popular Cause Here]” to “Students Against [Cause Linked To the Most Horrifying Photo You’ve Seen Recently].” It is not that I have an issue with people who are trying to spread awareness. In fact, I support spreading awareness. My issue is with people who join groups on Facebook and feel that they’ve genuinely made a difference, when really they haven’t.

If you were to look at their Facebook profile you’d see at least half a dozen of these so called “awareness” groups. At first, they appear involved and committed but then you realize something: they’re not actually involved. If they were active members of actual groups protesting against some cause, I would be impressed.

But it would be foolish to assume that these online crusaders ever carry their passionate outrage outside of social networking sites and loud drunken political discussions.

I won’t deny it; sometimes I’m intimidated. When my news feed shows friends that are joining causes, I suddenly become self conscious. Perhaps I, too, should be joining. Am I a bad person because I choose to ignore these requests?

Tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, and disease: we’ve got all our bases covered. But then I realize that joining one of these groups is just my guilt winning over the need to be honest.

There’s no side stepping the issue. I rarely feel passionate about a cause aside from child abuse, human trafficking, and religious persecution.

We could blame it on desensitization, my parents not being hippies and/or protestors, pure laziness, or jumping on the bandwagon and blaming global warming (I wouldn’t be the first). But I prefer to call it what it is: apathy and inconvenience.

I would love to be able to donate tons of money to a cause I genuinely care about or volunteer in a foreign country, but it’s not convenient for me. I like dropping spare change into donation boxes and buying poppies. I’ll even purchase a tulip or two. I like to get involved in things I care about. But when it becomes

inconvenient for me, I back out. I don’t think I’m the only one. That’s what this couch activism supports.

It supports a self centered society.

You can sit at your computer, munching on cereal and looking like you really care, but in actuality you will never pick up a sign, yell through a megaphone or even write an angry letter to the paper.

Rober t Oxton Bolton said “A belief is not merely an idea the mind possesses. It is an idea that possesses the mind.” If you genuinely care, go out and make a difference. Prove yourself. If you don’t, then stop pretending.

Nobody is fooled.

Big corporations are no different despite their genuine efforts to appear so. They try to use Facebook groups to get people involved.

You’ve got to give them credit for trying. They honestly think that they can spread awareness and gather volunteers and activists by reaching out via social networking sites.

Need an example? A Facebook group that opposed the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) was raised amidst the discussion of the

Letters RE: Eyes In Gaza Salah Shahin 2a systems design

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Robert Oxton Bolton said, “A belief is not merely an idea the mind possesses. It is an idea that possesses the mind.” If you genuinely care, go out and make a difference. Prove yourself.

If you don’t, then stop pretending.

Nobody is fooled.

fare being increased from $2.75 to $3.00. This group vowed to boycott riding any form of TTC on Friday November 13, 2009.

Approximately 7,140 people said that they would not ride the TTC according to the Facebook event.

However, despite a strong online presence, the TTC reported no noticeable difference in ridership despite massive amounts of media coverage leading up to the day. If they felt strongly enough to list themselves as attending, why did so few boycott? Because this strong online presence does not translate into a real world presence.

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Jessica Pellow 3b mathematics

Starting to feel a little indignant right about now? You wouldn’t be the only one and I can understand how you’re feeling. Some of you may be thinking, “Who are you to judge? You’re not involved either!”

You know what? That’s a fair comment. Don’t agree with me? Get outraged! Get angry! Write a letter to the paper! But please, don’t start a Facebook group and act as though that is anything close to really standing up and disagreeing.

See the difference?

Destination: Graduation Information and Lunch for

To the Editor, It’s a shame that a story of a coat check made the News Section, when a plea for the humane treatment of millions of innocent people is the last article before the Classifieds. Nonetheless thank you Adrian Safati for the excellent coverage. Thanks Imprint for helping the oppressed be heard.

Opinion Have something to say?

An issue you want the world to know about?

Send us a letter at letters@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Let your voice be heard.

Graduating Students Wednesday, February 10th, 11:30-12:20 Needles Hall 1116 or Tuesday, February 23rd, 11:30-12:20 Multi-Purpose Room, SLC This informative session will cover: The Intention to Graduate form Convocation details Ordering transcripts Services provided to new graduates How to stay connected to UW Register at:

www.studentlife.uwaterloo.ca

*Lunch will be provided with online registration

Life

8

Opinion

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

Community Editorials

Re: Eyes In Gaza

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Although the Gaza War saw the death of 500 to 700 militants... it also took a great toll on innocent human life.

were made. And when cries of foul sounded around the world and in Israel, where such things are openly voiced and reviewed, the suspects were investigated and the guilty punished even when the truth did not positively reflect on the country. What isolated events did occur, as uncovered in reports by the UN and others (the “non-partisan” UN that first claimed, to global outcry, that the Israeli Defense Force shelled a school, only to later dismiss the statement as a “clerical error”), are a bewildering far-cry from what Gilbert chooses to conjure up, reducing his claims to vulgar caricatures. On such matters where there is a need for balanced and honest journalistic inquiry there cannot be place for pure, unadulterated and unsubstantiated propaganda, be it courtesy of Gilbert, his minions, or others like him. As for Imprint, although a publication can hide behind its authors and its authors behind its sources, it does not absolve either from the duty to check facts, provide context, or at the very least bring light to dubious claims and harmful deceit. Else in the absence of these they become an arm and an accomplice in the spreading of misinformation.

I recognize that there is no sense in belabouring the point excessively because I can only hope that those seeking genuine insight into this particular (or any other) episode of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will see easily through the layers of prolific vilification and look elsewhere for information. At the same time, the peanut gallery that hangs on the doctor’s every sentence is not worth my or anyone else’s time or effort. In their collective mind the more outlandish the accusations against Israel are, the closer they must be to the truth, and the more fitting they are to boast to all those who care, and do not care, to listen. Such cowardly products of hate serve only to cheapen the real plight and predicament of the Palestinian people to exactly the level of discourse in which they are presented. If common sense alone is not reason enough to stop the lunacy and partake in civilized debate, then perhaps a real concern for the Palestinians should be.

Medium (Mississauga)

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To postulate that the ruling Hamas party, merely by accepting Israel’s right to exist, would bring to end the blockade and the Palestinian suffering would detract from his beautiful rethoric.

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TYPE SAFETY: –

E

ver starved for material to fill the vast columns of our distinguished student publication; last week’s Imprint published the journalistic and grammatical propaganda masterpiece that is “Eyes In Gaza.” This is an evidentially literal retelling of the colourfully libelous session on the 2008-2009 Gaza war presented by Doctor Mads Gilbert, a man who is not only an accomplished doctor, but now also a gifted storyteller and book writer. Masterfully, Mr. Safati’s Imprint article brings to life Gilbert’s account of the events, unstained by unnecessary and time-consuming fact-checking and beautifully embellished by exotic claims.

It is difficult to tell whether Adrian Safati’s article is a deliberate falsification of Gilbert’s talk, or, what is more likely, a potent combination of his style of “journalism” (I use the word loosely) and the doctor’s extreme punditry, for which he is widely recognized. Hiding behind Gilbert’s “accounts,” the article tells tales of a military “bombing all police stations to encourage chaos [and] civilian targets to produce maximum casualties,” “gunning down aid workers from aircraft,” and other colourful scenes

from Gilbert’s fruitful mind, each more grandiose than the other. Needless to say, no evidence or semblance thereof is offered or can be found even when one combs the most anti-Israeli reports of the events. Although it might upset some individuals, saying something alone does not make it true, no matter how many YouTube or Facebook pages it is posted to, or on how many campuses it is said.

In addition to plain old misinformation, Dr. Mads (or perhaps the author in an atypical display of free thought, although I suspect it is the former) chooses strategically not to encumber the reader with such minute details as the cause of the incursion. This is presumably because those would not further his mission. Indeed, to admit that civilian casualties are the result of Hamas militants hiding among the populus would create unnecessary complications in his motif. To accept that Israel allowed aid to come into the Gaza Strip daily would needlessly distract from the Israeli’s image as baby-eaters. To postulate that the ruling Hamas party, merely by accepting Israel’s right to exist, would bring to end the blockade and the Palestinian suffering would detract from his beautiful rhetoric. To mention that the incursion into Gaza followed and was meant to stop months of incessant shelling of Israeli towns from the Gaza Strip would redirect the blame to a place neither Gilbert nor the people who brought him here want to venture.

Although the Gaza war saw the death of 500 to 700 militants (Gilbert and Safati will note the notion of a range of accounts), it also took a great toll on innocent human life, the responsibility of the Hamas policy of terror and guerrilla warfare, but also of Israel’s strong response to Hamas’s continuing violence against its citizens and cities, where constant fear has disrupted normal life for months. Working under constraints of urban warfare with militants hiding in schools, mosques, and crowds, mistakes

ARTIST: ID

mathematics

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Vladimir Shulman

Opinion

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

9

Letters

My take on Daybreakers Ivan Lui 2b english

The last issue of Imprint had a Daybreakers review that I cannot see eye to eye with. Even though I do realize that all reviews are subjective and therefore purely based on the reviewer’s reaction to the movie, I cannot help but ensure that readers be made aware of how bad Daybreakers was.

Any normative manner in which I try to respond to this review will be just as dull as the movie. Rather, I will take quotes out from the review itself and simply make rebuttals to the quotes justifying why, in my opinion, Daybreakers was a horrible movie.

“Daybreakers is a horror-thriller that will blow your mind.”

I accept that the premise for the movie itself is quite original and imaginative. But to claim that Daybreakers is a horror-thriller is stretching it quite a tad; this statement will be defended below.

“Literally — everything explodes. From cars, to people, to scenery, everything blows up…”

As previously stated, the movie is a horror-thriller, it is supposed to scare the audience rather than entertain them with explosion scenes that litter the movie like beer bottles after a forgotten Friday night.

There are also a large number of fight scenes in this movie that contain guns and crossbows. Why are these elements here? I thought this was a horror movie, not an action movie.

“Audiences can expect the unexpected in this manic gorefest.”

Again, why is there so much gore in this supposed “horrorthriller” movie? Gore in horror movies is used as a device to signal the audience that there might be something haunting a certain location, or that there’s a body within a closet. Daybreaker’s use of gore was uncalled for and at all times laughable. I found the gore parts of this movie to be most comedic.

“The events that follow are unpredictable and sometimes too messy to be published, but it was in this respect that I was stuck on the edge of my seat for the entire 98 minutes of the film.”

Every event in this movie seems fairly predictable. Without giving any of the plot away, one can almost predict the result of certain actions that characters will take. I was, if nothing, sitting, falling asleep in my seat. I do, however, agree that the first time the “sub-siders” lashed out of the darkness gave me a jump, but this was not horror. This was just cheap gimmicks to get my ass off the seat for a second. Not impressed.

“The movie had two qualities that made it a fairly decent horror film: a good plotline, and supplementary yet explosive thrills, as well as excessive gore and mayhem.”

The movie actually also had two qualities that made it a total piece of unwatchable mess for me too: a bad plotline, and a lack of thrills.

While the premise for the plot

was original and drew me in before I went to the theatres, when I sat down to watch the movie, I found it to be slow and lacking. Needless dialogues would sometimes fill the scenes and better yet, sometimes these scenes would be dragged on with characters just staring each other down.

I almost fell asleep when they discovered the cure to vampirism.

There was nothing scary or thrilling about this movie.

“It could have been a simple open-and-shut action movie, but instead the Spiereg brothers blessed us with more plot-driven storyline.

The beginning of the movie introduces the problem quickly, presents the main characters with purposes, and enacts the supposedly simplest and most marketable solution.”

That does sound like an open and shut movie. As you’ve said it yourself, “introduces the problem quickly, presents the main characters with purposes, and enacts the supposedly simplest and most

marketable solution.”

“A brilliantly crafted film like Daybreakers is one that horror lovers will definitely enjoy. Daybreakers is definitely worth seeing if you’re into ruthless, violent vampires, an actual plot, and lots of gore.”

A horribly dragged-on film like Daybreakers should not be viewed by horror fans unless they wish to see a horrible horror movie. Daybreakers uses gore as an analogy to explain how we suck the earth’s blood away and how desperate people become, in order to produce a movie that I would watch if a particular Saturday night was moving slow for me.

I know Twilight has destroyed what I now laughably call vampire culture, but we can definitely do better than this. If I could assign Daybreakers to a category, it would belong more in the “action” category. As the original review said, “Literally — everything explodes.

From cars, to people, to scenery, everything blows up…”

Israel has unilaterally withdrawn from the Gaza Strip, leaving the Palestinians to govern and settle matters them by themselves. In June 2005, Hamas raided a border post of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), and took Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captive, who has been in their possession ever since.

In June 2007 Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, leaving the Palestinian Authority powerless and with no control there; only in the West Bank.

Since Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip the rocket launches have increased, targeting civilian population

in southern Israel, on a daily basis, like the town of Sderot, causing havoc, destruction, fear and death.

Hamas does not recognize Israel‘s right to exist and has put Israel’s destruction as one of their top goals.

Israel was trying to negotiate a ceasefire with them, but rockets kept being fired, whether because Hamas wasn’t controlling or restraining the militants around the Gaza Strip or because they didn’t actually want any peace, and encouraged the firing behind the scenes, as some of Hamms’ own militants fired some of these rockets.

After suffering rocket fire for over seven years, Israel could not sit still and let its citizens suffer any longer, it had to act and do something. So Israel started Operation Cast Lead.

It was a war zone, and in a war you always have casualties, they can’t be avoided 100 per cent. But Israel did everything in its power to avoid it. Israel had to respond, and deter terrorists from attacking Israel, thinking there wouldn’t be any consequences. Israel had to protect itself and its civilians.

Re: Eyes In Gaza Sefy Cnaany 2b computer science

Dear Editor, I have a comment about the “Eyes in Gaza: A Doctor Paints The Portrait of War Torn Palestine” article, posted in the Features section of the Imprint, page 12, on Friday, January 29, 2010.

The main reason I am writing this comment letter is because of the way the article is presented. It looks like it was meant to be a personal account with a personal perspective of what happened in the Gaza Strip during operation Cast Lead, as experienced

by Dr. Mads Gilbert. Now, I don’t have anything against Dr. Mads Gilbert personally or a against the freedom of speech, he is entitled to his opinion and can say whatever is on his mind. The article doesn’t make it clear enough that, it is Dr. Mads Gilbert’s personal perspective, and some of the things there can be interpreted as facts, which

they are not, or at least not accurate and not objective and presenting all sides of the story. I think it should state clearly at the beginning of the article that it’s a personal account and nothing in there should be taken for granted as is, in anything that has to do with full complete facts.

Although as an Israeli, I was offended by what he said, personally.

Palestinian terrorist organizations like Hamas, and the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, have been firing rockets upon southern Israel since 2001. Rockets like Hamas’ Qassam rockets.

Israel was trying to negotiate a peace treaty with the Palestinian Authority, which is the governing Palestinian body since the 1990’s, like the Oslo Accords in 1993, but they couldn’t come to a conclusion.

After negotiations failed Israel decided to take matters into its own hands, and in the summer of 2005,

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Features

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010 features@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Desserts on campus Divyesh Mistry reporter

C

ampus is not normally what one thinks about for food options. These options can be limited and somewhat repetitive.

Of course, that is mainly if you are looking for regular food which is limited to a few locations. Desserts, on the other hand, are in ready supply and can be found in almost every building on campus.

The variety on campus is a bit ridiculous, but then again, students aren’t always known for choosing the best foods to eat at certain times and sugary food can help get through the roughest of times (whether it be emotional issues or staying up in the middle of the night trying to study for that morning exam).

Then comes the choices. What kind of desserts do you actually want to eat? Are you going for something healthy and something that won’t make you cringe in the calorie count? It may seem that healthy dessert is an oxymoron, but that is exactly what fruit or fruit parfaits are! You can get fruit rather cheaply at Feds Xpress, which is sold for eighty cents and under. Most of the residences include fruit within their meal plans. Apples seem to be the most common fruit sold on campus; they’re easy to find, carry, and eat. An apple’s nutritional value is amazing: at 89 calories and 30 percent of the body’s daily vitamin B6 value, it actually honours the old time saying.

REV and V1, while farther to get to, both have cafeterias that pretty much sell every dessert under the sun, from cookies to cakes. If you’re feeling adventurous, I’d say try the exotic pink or blue coloured puddings from the cafeteria at St. Paul’s; it is pure sugar and always a delight. If you’re feeling a more normal experience, St.

Jerome’s packs a mean chocolate pudding for about two dollars and Conrad Grebel has many baked goods which are made right in their residence kitchens, many of which are around the price of a dollar.

Each of the faculties have their own coffee shop or some sort of food place. Most dessert type foods are found there. The environment coffee shop, in Environment 1, sells a variation of baked goods (muffins, cookies, or rice squares) for a dollar each. The math coffee and donut shop, in the math and computer building, offers a very large range of treats, including bulk candy at $2.25 a container. For a twist, applied health sciences doesn’t have a coffee shop, they have a candy store in BMH. The Engineering Coffee and Donut in CPH, the science one in B1, and arts Tuck Shop in AL are all variations on the above mentioned coffee shops.

But be warned, a cookie from any of these places, since they are provided by Food Services, is around 500 calories, a muffin around 330 calories. So unless you really need that sugar fix, be careful how many baked goods you eat from there.

There are vending machines all over campus if you’re just in the mood for candy, pricing around $1.70 a piece. Feds Xpress on Mondays, has an amazing deal on ice cream is $2.00 for a waffle cone. The waffle cone deal is only around 375 calories for two and a half scoops. If you’re going for even cheaper, Turnkey is open 24 hours and sells candy bars for $1.13. Or if you’re in a hurry to that late night class, you could always just go to one of the four Tim Hortons on campus. After all, while the baked goods in Tim Hortons may be junk food in nature, at 330 calories for a donut that you know sonia lee is sugar-filled.

Cashing in your Degree

Adopted to Adopting Paula Trelinska staff reporter

P

arents and children crowded into Arts Lecture Hall 116 on Saturday, January 30th, to listen to a seminar on international and transracial adoption.

Presented by the University of Waterloo’s own Robert and Sarah Ballard in conjunction with Carrie Kitze, “Adopted to Adopting: Reflections on International/Transracial Adoption and its Future” was a second annual presentation for those who have or are wishing to adopt children of a different race or culture.

Throughout the presentation the audience got to hear many sides on the issue of transracial adoption, including that of Ken Coates, the Dean of Arts, an adoptive parent himself. Beginning with Robert Ballard, parents and children got to hear what it was like to grow up as an adoptee from Vietnam.

Having been evacuated from Vietnam and later adopted by American parents, Ballard was assimilated into the American lifestyle, without any connection to his own culture.

He says that as an adopted child who looked nothing like his parents he faced the “narrative burden,” he always had to tell his story to anyone

who noticed that he looked different from his parents.

Sarah Ballard, the wife of Robert Ballard was not adopted herself but had siblings who were adopted.

Having been the first born of her parents, when her two older siblings were adopted it meant Ballard was “first but not the oldest.” Her siblings were the only two non-white children in town but there was never much talk that went on about them being adopted. They were just a part of the family, she said.

Carrie Kitze of EMK Press, has a different story. She did not grow up with adoption, but rather adopted her own children, Annette and Natalie, from China. She says her children do have some trouble sometimes. Her daughters’ “story is out there for people to see, and she has no control over that story.”

Even so, both daughters continue to do what they love and persevere through any prejudice they may encounter, she explained. “We chose to do this, they didn’t choose this,” she said. She tries to help her daughters connect with other Chinese adoptees throughout the United States to make sure they have some connection with each other and their culture.

The journey is not over for any of them. Kitze is still raising her

adopted daughters, while Robert and Sarah Ballard are adopting a child of their own to add to their family. After a long and complicated process they hope to travel to pick up Jayden Van Tri Ballard from Vietnam this April. They’re unsure of the problems he may face when brought back to Canada, such as whether he will feel alone or not, and whether he will be connected to his culture or not, but the two are determined to try and be as open as possible with him. Through regular trips to “heritage camp” and talking about his adopted status they will make things work as a family.

After the seminar a book launch was held for Pieces of Me: Who do I want to be?, a book written for adopted teenagers. It was published

by Carrie Kitze, edited by Robert Ballard and has contributions from over 60 other authors, including Sarah Ballard. There was a book signing as well as an opportunity to talk with both Robert and Sarah Ballard as well as Carrie Kitze. The book is to help adopted teenagers understand that they aren’t alone but, as Robert said, at the same “being adopted is just a part of who we are as adoptees.” ptrelinska@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Skills to get the money flowing Parth Khanna features assistant

I

t is a matter of only a few years until most of us set forth on our journey beyond the Ring Road and leave the UW cushion behind. Graduating in a post-recession world would definitely require shifting away from the conventional; financial planning and diligence will become as important as creativity and hard work to facilitate a healthy career growth. We can only hope that the overall group psychology in North America and around the globe soon shifts from being focused on scarcity to abundance once again.

But no matter how things unfold, all students must learn certain skills and habits such as money management, proportionate saving and developing an investment attitude that compliments their long term financial targets.

Although very passively, a central piece in the discussion of long term monetary success has already been mentioned, and that is planning. Having dealt with planning on an academic level from something as simple as keeping track of midterms and assignment due dates, we have developed an intuitive respect for it. After all, the goal of education also to also build character and not just GPA. Financial planning is not much different than temporal planning; hence, giving the time tested quote “time is money” another useful meaning. It would then be safe to conclude that maintaining

a simple financial statement which tracks income, expenditure, debts, and assets is an essential for success.

Just as a monthly plan dictates a daily agenda, short term financial goals must be stacked together to give long term financial goals shape.

After mastering the basic rules (monetary plan construction, assessment and regular reassessment), one must look at the all-stars of the game the CEO’s - to learn the advanced play. Even though some might downplay their flair by questioning their ethical stance on some matters, the fact remains that they have mastered the money talk. To us, it might come as a second language at best and jargon at worst, but to them it is nothing short of a native tongue.

It doesn’t take a curious mind then to wonder how they are able to strike that special note while we remain preoccupied rehearsing our “do-re-me-fa’s.”

Picking up the trail of cues that they leave in their interviews, autobiographies, and other best selling books, their success traits can be speculated and indeed, a common thread can be found on a fundamental level. For the Forbes and GQ subscribers and the ones already bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, producing such a list of winning attributes is a cakewalk. For all the rewarding decisions a successful CEO makes over his or her lifetime, the ones that are most easily quantified are the ones pertaining to their (wise) investments.

see ECONOMY, page 12

Features

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

11

How do we make learning more inclusive and participatory? eoldynski@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

features@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

empowering images of themselves.

“Another turning point was learning about residential schools,” Williams continued “The last one closed in almost the 1990s. When I was born, there were still residential schools in operation. It was totally mindblowing to me that an institution that committed cultural genocide could still exist.”

Williams explained that although Native literature has a vast array of fiction and nonfiction, she’s learned to be careful. “Some non-Native people write about Native issues,” said Williams, “These philosophers and anthropologists make money from the communities they write about, but they don’t belong to those communities; the money they make isn’t going into those

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communities. That’s a huge power dynamic.”

Anti-oppression training and inclusive activism workshops —such as those that were part of last weekend’s School of Public Interest on Creative Activism—are crucial for addressing issues of racism and discrimination.

Howevcer, individual workshops are not enough. Discussing and implementing consensus building processes and inclusive ways of learning must be an ongoing process. We don’t have to wait until we graduate to put these ideas into practice—we can challenge existing power dynamics every day both in our classrooms as well as in our communities.

I’ve found that in places of institutionalized learning, implementing participatory, non-hierarchical ways of learning is constantly an uphill battle.

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ics, particularly in classroom settings. While talking with Williams, I became curious about which great thinkers or people from her own life have informed her understanding of anti-oppression practices and inclusive activism.

Williams, who is Aboriginal, remembered the exact moment when she realized that she was affected by discrimination. It happened during a conversation she was having with Jean Becker, who was then the coordinator for Aboriginal Services in St. Paul’s College at the University of Waterloo.

Williams had gone to Becker to ask her questions about Aboriginal status in Canada. When they started talking about racism, Williams remembered saying to Becker, “I’ve seen racism and I’ve heard about it, but it doesn’t affect me.”

Williams remembered how, in the most gentle and loving way possible, Becker explained that “Just because somebody hasn’t called you a savage to your face, doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect you.” The way that Becker discussed Aboriginal issues made Williams feel that she was a part of something. This was a turning point in Williams’ life.

“I like learning from people,” Williams said “Sitting down with them and talking about issues they face that’s how I prefer to learn about these kind of issues.”

Williams continued, “People in Kitchener-Waterloo are amazing, and some of the people who I learned from were a contributing factor to learning about how racism works.”

Kim Anderson, a Cree/Metis writer and educator, is another person who has influenced how Williams thinks about racism.

Anderson’s book, “A Recognition of Being: Reconstructing Native Womanhood,” traces the construction of negative female stereotypes forced on native women during colonization. Throughout the book, Anderson explores the ways that native women reclaim positive and

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“Some people have never thought of privilege, of power, or what it means to be white. They’ve never encountered these ideas, so they do get defensive,” explained Williams “We’re not trying to make people defensive, we’re just trying to get people to criticize themselves, to constantly question and revisit ideas that come up.”

Williams continued, “There are always people in discussions who take up a lot of space, and they need to realize that they need to give up space to give others space.

It’s about presenting ideas, back and forth, deconstructing and constructing ideas. It’s also about trying to de-escalate. That’s part of creating a safe space − if you feel someone is going to attack you for saying something, you won’t say it.”

Putting these ideas into practice can be extremely difficult. Personally, since coming to university, I have become increasingly interested in learning how to break down perceived knowledge hierarchies, blur the line between “educator” and “learner,” and ensure that everyone has space to speak, particularly in the classroom.

When I talk about these ideas with people like Williams, and when I participate in training sessions such as the inclusive activism workshop, I find myself becoming more committed to implementing these ideas as an individual student. Unfortunately, I’ve found that in places of institutionalized learning, implementing participatory, non-hierarchical ways of learning is constantly an uphill battle.

My introduction to anti-oppression practices occured when I read “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” by Paulo Freire. More recently, I have been reading “Deschooling Society”

by Ivan Illich and “Education for Critical Consciousness” by Paulo Freire. The ideas expressed in these books have had a significant effect on the way that I perceive power dynam-

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ast weekend, I participated in the three-day long School of Public Interest on Creative Activism (inSPIre), which was organized by the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group (WPIRG).

The event included workshops on creative approaches to social justice activism, with topics ranging from documentary filmmaking to activist songwriting.

The first workshop I attended was on inclusive activism and focused on how to integrate anti-oppression practices into activist work.

The workshop was co-facilitated by Krysta Williams, co-president of WPIRG’s Board of Directors, and Randy Mclin, a WPIRG volunteer and UW student.

I was impressed with the way that both Williams and Mclin facilitated the discussion and managed the group’s power dynamics. At times, the discussion risked becoming very personal and more of a debate, particularly when issues such as privilege, class, race, and gender were being discussed. But I felt that Williams and Mclin mediated the discussion effectively and fairly.

Afterwards, I asked Williams if this had been a difficult thing to do.

Williams explained that this was not her first time facilitating an anti-oppression training. In fact, facilitation is a skill that she learned through WPIRG and being on the Board of Directors, which makes decisions based on consensus.

Williams explained that the role of consensus decision-making is to make sure that discussions don’t turn into a personal debate and that individual concerns become the group’s concerns. “It’s a more intense process which sometimes takes longer,” said Williams, “but at the end of the day, when the decision is made, everyone supports it.”

I asked Williams how she managed to mediate a discussion in which people become defensive, dominating, or aggressive.

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Features

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

Thibodeau motivates UW A talk by Andy Thibodeau

Andy Thibodeau interacts with a student from the audience (centre).

photos by steve cutler

Paula Trelinska staff reporter

D

ozens of students gathered in the Great Hall of the Student Life Centre (SLC) on Friday, January 29th, 2010 to hear Andy Thibodeau speak. Thibodeau, a graduate of the King’s College, University of Western Ontario, came to the University of Waterloo to inspire and motivate students to get involved in their school and to tell them how he got to where he is today.

A public speaker since 1992, he started his career doing speeches at the four feeder schools to his high school, telling children in elementary school what high school was really like. This was something he continued in university while branching out. His first motivational speech was in 1992, when a friend invited Thibodeau to help with a speech he had to give at a local

high school. After that speech, Thibodeau was recommended to other schools and by the third year of university he was able to go to school part time and work at running his motivational speaking business at the same time. Since that time his business has grown; Thibodeau has now spoken in all of Canadian provinces and 38 U.S. states, speaking to both high schools, as well as post secondary institutions.

In the Great Hall on Friday, Thibodeau aimed to inspire students at the University of Waterloo to get involved in their school and community. “If you want to know how to do well,” he told the audience, “go to a Grade 2 classroom.” There are many things, he says, which students must remember and keep from when they were in Grade 2 to continue being successful, the first of being, “Keep the kid that used to answer questions in class, don’t be intimidated, be excited. The smartest place to

be wrong is in class.” Answering questions will mean you interact more with the professor, get excited about class, and have higher participation, he claims. It’s an important part of success.

The second thing that students can learn from a Grade 2 classroom is to “keep the kid that loved to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help,” Thibodeau says. When he was in his first year of university, he explained he had a class with one of the hardest professors in the school. Not having done so well on his very first essay he went to ask the professor for help and the help the professor offered him ended up serving him throughout the rest of university.

Asking for help is never a bad thing, Thibodeau explained.The final thing that one can learn from a Grade 2 classroom is to “always keep the kid that volunteers.” Volunteering is what got Thibodeau excited about school, and he thinks it will work for other kids as well. “Kids

that do extra in university, they get extra in life,” he said. If it wasn’t for volunteering he would have never met his wife or started motivational speaking, he told the audience. Taking that one step to pick up an application for orientation leader made the difference in his life. It could make a difference in yours.

Though those are the three main things that Thibodeau wanted his audience to take away, he did have a few more pieces of advice before concluding. “When you volunteer, always impress and blow people away.” One of his favourite quotes is “Do more than you’re paid to do and the time will come you’ll be paid for everything you do.” It was this philosophy that changed his life and he hopes it will inspire others to change their lives as well. ptrenlinska@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Economy: The right attitude for recovery and growth continued from page 10

Photo Credit: Melanie Fordham

As some describe, a good investment involves using knowledge of the present to match against the vision of the future. The more accurate the investor is in assessing the realities

of today and predicting the realities of tomorrow, the higher the rate of return on that investment.

Risk is a factor inextricably tied with investment and its profitability.

All the recent genetic research now pointing to the existence of “risk

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genes” only further solidifies the statement that the adrenaline rush is not for everyone.

One distinct insight that arises pertains to the power and importance of knowledge in the journey to a plush career, a secure retirement and in leaving a well elevated platform for the generation to come. Thus, picking up a book on financial management every now and then, googling articles on our current economic trends, and

Teach English Abroad

Part of the profits from the commodity exports may be invested in the service sector, and inefficient or dysfunctional social programs should be terminated.

Lastly, all future UW grads must dance to the rhythm of a rapidly transforming economy if we are to give a memorable performance on the global stage. Being innovative by foreseeing societal needs and how to cost-effectively meet them, incorporating technology in proposing solutions to our current issues, and taking an extra mile during our next co-op job should be a standard for all students. After all, in today’s dynamic and reshuffling economic power play, it becomes more significant than ever for us to proactively participate in restoring our economic engine and to increase Canada’s winnings in a 21st century win-win free trade model. pkhanna@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

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As we recollect and reflect upon the lessons from the past decade, the memories from the decisive and historic moments still remain vivid.

Altogether, the dividends from our right choices and penalties from our collective misjudgements is what we carry with us moving forward.

Without a doubt, the meltdown of the financial sector was a stark reminder about the importance of sustained and responsible growth.

Policy makers must be held accountable to strike a balance in passing laws that are both corporate and blue-collar friendly. In addition, the federal government should be pressed to take measures to expand the private sector, nurture entrepreneurship and small businesses.

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Sports & Living

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010 sports@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

OUA team of the month

THIS WEEK IN SPORTS

Rocky choi

Women’s basketball triumphs over McMaster

See PAGE 14

Jon Grieman

Kurt Thorner (20), scored the second goal of the game and his eighth of the season. Thorner and his line have been instrumental in helping the Warriors win six of seven games in January to become the OUA team of the month. last place Badgers 4–0. The team dominated the play for much of the game, allowing Brock 0 0 0 0 net-minder Keaton Hartigan Waterloo 3 1 0 4 to pick up the shutout.

The Warriors took to the ice, determined to continue their winning Ryan Scott ways; they quickly took momentum staff reporter of the game. Just under three minutes into the game, winger Jarrett Schnurr he Warrior hockey team rebeat the Badgers goaltender to give mained in Waterloo this past the Warriors the early lead. The team weekend as they hosted the continued their assault as the scoring Brock Badgers, then traveled down the chances grew, and capitalized once road to Laurier to battle the Golden again as second-year winger Kurt Hawks. The team was looking to Thorner scored his seventh goal of extend their winning streak to climb the season on a beautiful deflection further up the OUA and CIS rankings at the side of the net. as the playoffs draw closer.

The Badgers looked out of In the first of the two weekend place and disorganized as the Wargames, the Warriors shutout the riors dominated the play, keeping Goals

1st

2nd 3rd

Ttl

T

the puck in the Badgers’ end for much of the first period. Only two minutes after the Thorner goal, veteran Mark Hartman followed it up with a nifty goal of his own by deking out the Badger goalie in close before throwing it upstairs on the backhand; this gave the Warriors a 3–0 cushion going into the dressing room. The team out-shot the visiting Badgers 12 to 6 and looked poised to add another victory to the win column.

As the second period got under way, the Badgers received a tripping penalty, putting the Warriors on the powerplay and giving the team another chance to build on their already large lead. The team did not disappoint their faithful fans at the CIF arena, as assistant captain Shane Hart scored his

Games of the week:

11th goal of the year. The powerplay goal appeared to be the nail in the coffin as the Warriors continued to control the game.

However, the second period proved to be a bigger test for Hartigan after the team ran into penalty trouble early, receiving four consecutive penalties in the second period, including a ten-minute misconduct by defenceman Steve Whitely as the period came to a close. Hartigan would not be beat though, and kept the Badgers scoreless entering the final period.

The third period proved to be no different than the first two, as the Warriors continued to control the game.

See WARRIORS, page 17

Brent Golem

Men’s volleyball takes on top team in OUA

See PAGE 16

brent golem

Women’s volleyball has lucky start to weekend

See PAGE 18

the best games in town

Friday, February 5 Women’s volleyball vs Brock at 6:00 p.m. on the War Court (PAC) Men’s hockey vs York at 7:30 p.m. at the Columbia Barn (CIF)

Saturday, February 6 Men’s volleyball vs York at 8:00 p.m. on the War Court (PAC) Men’s hockey vs Brock at 7:30 p.m. at the Columbia Barn (CIF)

Courtesy Tsar Kasim/Wikimedia commons

Jay-top takes on Burke’s blockbuster moves

See PAGE 18

14

Sports & Living

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

Questionable calls help push streak to five Randy Luciano reporter

C

oming off a pair of difficult one-goal losses two weeks ago at the hands of the Windsor Lancers and Western Mustangs, the Waterloo Warriors women’s hockey team (6-14-3) hit the road for two games this past weekend. Friday night, the women traveled to St. Catharines to take on the 9-12-3 Brock Badgers, and in a quick turnaround, visited the 13-73 Guelph Gryphons for a Saturday afternoon start. The Warriors hung tough in both games, but ultimately extended their season-long losing streak to eight games by losing 5–2 to Brock and 4–2 to Guelph.

In the first period on Friday night at the Seymour-Hannah Centre, both teams traded chances and put up double-digit shot totals.

Assistant captain Kelly MacLean opened the scoring early with her fourth goal of the season, and the teams headed to the dressing room tied 1–1. Midway through the second period, the Badgers went ahead with their second powerplay goal of the game, but Waterloo captain RandiLynn Wilson quickly answered to bring the Warriors even again with her seventh tally of the year. The Badgers would eventually regain the lead, and the Warriors entered the third period trailing 3–2.

The Warriors struggled to muster much offence in the third period, finishing with just two shots on goal.

Brock went ahead 4–2 on a goal midway through the period and put the game on ice with a late goal to round out the scoring. Brock doubled the Warriors in shots, with the final count being 32–16 in the Badgers’ favour. Waterloo goaltender Kahla Stern took the loss and fell to 5-8-2-1 on the season.

As has been the case for most of the season, Waterloo struggled

tionable Waterloo hooking penalty by rookie Sarah Wolfe, sending the teams to the third period tied 2–2.

Guelph controlled much of the third period against a tired-looking Warrior squad, and broke through with a goal at the 8:34 mark to go up 3–2 and an empty netter late in the game to seal the Warriors fate.

The Gryphons outshot the Warriors 44–22.

Waterloo goaltender Erica Bridgewater played admirably, thwarting several point-blank Guelph scoring chances, giving the Warriors a chance to win the game. She stopped 40 of 43 shots as her record dropped to 1-6-0 on the season.

As the losing continues, Kelly MacLean says it is important for the team to finish strong in these last two weekends.

“Our team has a ton of heart and character and we battle hard every game. It’s frustrating when we do all the little things right and the bounces still don’t go our way,” MacLean said. “We have girls on the team playing in their final games of their career, and after dedicating such a huge part of their lives to hockey over the past few years, I think it’s important for them to finish on a positive note.”

The Warriors have four games remaining this season, and will round out their road schedule with afternoon games on February 6 and 7 at York (15-7-0-1) and Toronto (12-9-1-1), respectively. The York Lions are currently on a five-game home winning streak and Waterloo will try to contain sniper Mandy Cole, who sits second in the OUA with 15 goals scored. The Toronto Varsity Blues are 2–2 in their past four games and have a difficult matchup Saturday versus the unbeaten Laurier Golden Hawks. The Warriors will be trying to duplicate their strong effort on January 5, when they beat the hosts Blues 2–1.

mightily on the penalty kill. Brock went 3-for-8 with the man advantage, something MacLean said the Warriors, who lead the OUA in penalty minutes, must improve on.

“One of the biggest challenges to our success is the lack of discipline we tend to show out on the ice.

We try to implement a physical aspect into our game plan; however, there is a fine line between playing physical and playing undisciplined,” MacLean told Imprint. “We need to play five-on-five hockey, because when we do we are fully capable of controlling the play and creating scoring chances in the offensive zone.”

On Saturday afternoon, the women took the short drive to the Gryphon Centre in Guelph to take on the Gryphons, a team that currently sits fourth in the OUA. The game did not start out well for the Warriors, as the Gryphons scored at the 1:24 mark of the opening frame to take the first lead of the game. Guelph controlled the play for much of the first period as the Warriors struggled to establish much of a forecheck.

A late powerplay energized the club, and at the 19:14 mark Waterloo tied the game as MacLean, a third-year economics student, took a pass from Wilson and skated around the net before roofing a wrist shot top corner past Guelph netminder Danielle Skoufranis to bring the Warriors even going into the intermission.

The second period was evenly matched, as both teams traded scoring opportunities. Wilson, a fourth-year Therapeutic Recreation student, scored her second goal of the weekend on a harmless looking wrist shot that managed to fool Skoufranis.

The Warriors looked to be in control before Guelph capitalized on a powerplay they got after a ques-

Men’s basketball drops another two points Michelle Duklas asst. sports & living

Waterloo (8-8)

O

n Saturday, the Warriors played host to the Marauders, who were coming off a three game winning streak. The Warriors were hoping to turn their luck around in this game, and snap their two game losing streak with a win.

The Warriors started off with the first basket of the game, and it looked like they might be able to pull off a win. Then, McMaster got an 11 point run, and they took off, never looking back. Unfortunately, this meant that the Warriors were down four points by the end of the first quarter, and it only got worse.

The Marauders got a nine point run at the beginning of the second quarter and by the end of the second, the Warriors were down 43-27. The third quarter was basically the nail in the coffin, with the Marauders outscoring the Warriors 27-12. The Warriors seemed to wake from their sleep in the final quarter, outscoring the Marauders 18-17, but it wasn’t enough to get them the win. The Marauders won by the huge margin of 87-57.

Shooting guard Cam McIntyre and guard Jesse Tipping provided the most offense for the Warriors with 13 and 12 points each.

3.1 8.1 14.0 72.2 80

60

37.3

Turnovers

2.9 7.6 17.1 36.8

75.2

0

20

40

60

80

majuratan sadagopan

Guard Tyrell Vernon of the McMaster Marauders played an outstanding game, and was a major factor in their win against Waterloo.

He gave his team an additional 27 points, basically ensuring a win.

The Warriors now have a three game losing streak, which they will be looking to destroy when they play their next two games against the number eight nationally ranked Lakehead Thunderwolves this weekend.

Lakehead, currently the top team in the western division, is a strong team which is known for their great starts and their ability to keep themselves ahead throughout the game. Their most notable games have been against Queen’s, York, and Laurentian, where they have come

Frustration is finally over for the women’s basketball team. They triumphed over McMaster on Saturday in what proved to be a tough game.

The game started off in McMaster’s favour, and by the end of the first quarter, the Warriors were down 16-4. But they didn’t give up. By the end of the second, the Warriors had inched their way to within seven points of catching up. This continued into the third quarter, and the women finished off McMaster by absolutely dominating the fourth quarter. The Warriors walked away with a 57-54 victory over the Marauders.

“I think we did a much better job of staying composed and not worrying about the scoreboard,” commented head coach Tyler Slipp. “In the previous few games we were playing hard and doing good things, but there was always a stretch of a few minutes where we would tighten up and go away from doing the things that had worked for us. We had some good discussions about it and I hope we turned a corner and learned the lesson a little bit.”

One of the superstars on the team, who has been playing fantastically in the past few games, is Reanne Holden. She contributed immensely to the team’s points, giving them an additional 18. She credits her recent success on the realization that this is her last season playing for varsity basketball, and that she wants to make the most of it and play her hardest.

“I’ve been trying to play with the mentality of playing each game like it’s my last and bringing that intensity to our team and our execution on the court, but also just having fun and enjoying every minute of it,” said Holden.

She also attributes some of the team’s success to the small group workouts that are held twice a week by assistant coach Courtney Gerwing.

“These workouts have really helped develop the individual, fundamental skill sets of the players on our team,” she noted.

Another notable player on the team who also contributed a great deal of points is veteran Stephanie Shea. She leads the team in points this season, and was able to add to her lead with an additional 13 points in the game on Saturday. She also leads the team in minutes this season.

Next, the Warrior women head to Thunder Bay where they will play Lakehead twice over a weekend.

Montreal meet was a “wake up call” for Warrior rookies

mduklas@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Steals

0

Warriors end losing streak with win against Marauders

mduklas@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Blocks

RPG 20

Michelle Duklas Asst. Sports & Living

from behind to win their games.

They not only have great depth, they also have star players: Andrew Hackner and Greg Carter. Hackner leads the OUA in three point shooting, so he is definitely someone the Warriors will have to try and shut down.

The Thunderwolves are really strong from behind the arc and rank third in the nation in three pointers made per game, averaging 9.6. Lakehead’s top point-getter Carter, who is also one of the top defenders in the OUA, has thus far accumulated 118 points. If the Warriors can contain both Hackner and Carter, they have a high chance of winning their games.

Home 6-2 Streak: Lost 1

PPG 40

Point guard Reanne Holden (#5) had 18 points against McMaster, in what her coach called the best game of her life.

Over the weekend, the Waterloo Track and Field team headed to Montreal for the largest indoor meet in Canada: the McGill Team Challenge.

There, the Warriors competed against 17 universities and 12 clubs for the chance to be number one in each event.

“It’s a team challenge with a lot of universities and is similar in format and competition to the OUA and CIS championships,” explained interim head coach Shane Ferth. “We have a very young team with a lot of rookies, so for many it was a wakeup call to see how competitive the other athletes can and will be.”

Overall, the Warriors reacted well. There were some strong performances by both the men and the women. Captain Nancy Spreitzer and Karen Belfall both recorded seasonal bests in the triple jump and long jump events, with Spreitzer jumping 10.54m to place tenth in the triple jump.

For the men, clearly the star of the meet was Jason Goetz. He jumped 14.70m in the triple jump to earn first place. Not only did he jump 0.82m farther than his closest competitor, he also beat the CI Standard by 0.30m.

“Last year I started taking training much more seriously by increasing the time I committed to the sport. This varsity season is following a successful outdoor season, where I won the Ontario Athletics Track and Field Championship with a jump of 15.20m, which ranked me third in Canada for triple jump in 2009,” Goetz told Imprint. “That season has given me the confidence that I’m capable of much more as long as I keep working hard at what I do.”

In the 1500m run, Jordan Andersen took almost five seconds off his time, finishing 22nd in a very competitive race with a time of 4:04.10. Daniel Mireault broke his personal bests in both his events: the 600m run and the 1000m run.

Luke Govia finished tenth in the 60m dash in the preliminaries, but unfortunately false started in the finals and was disqualified. He did, however, finish 13th in the 300m dash with a time of 36.13.

All the relay teams performed well, setting new standards for themselves and trying to get used to competing with each other. “Our relay teams are on the verge of huge breakthroughs. There were many mistakes in handoffs, but with extra practice on handoffs and a renewed confidence we are expecting a lot from the relays,” stated Ferth.

Next, the Warriors will head to York University for the weekend, where they will get their chance to compete in the same facility where the OUAs will be held.

Lakehead (12-4)

Away 2-7 Streak: Lost 3

Rocky Choi

Sports & Living

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

Men’s Basketball

Men’s Hockey

Men’s Volleyball

Women’s Volleyball West Division

West Division

West Division Team

GP

W

L

Lakehead

24

17

5

2

Western

24

18

6

0

15

Team

GP

W

L

PTS

Team

GP

W

L

PTS

Team

GP

W

L

PTS

36

Lakehead

16

12

4

24

McMaster

15

13

2

26

McMaster

16

14

2

28

36

Windsor

16

11

5

22

Western

15

13

2

26

Queen’s

15

11

4

22

Waterloo

16

12

4

24

Windsor

15

10

5

20

Western

16

12

4

24

Guelph

16

9

7

18

Guelph

16

11

5

22

Toronto

15

8

7

16

Waterloo

16

8

8

16

Brock

17

11

6

22

Laurier

15

6

9

12

Laurier

16

4

12

8

Windsor

16

1

15

2

OTL PTS

Waterloo

24

17

6

1

35

Laurier

24

15

7

2

32

Guelph

25

11

10

4

26

York

24

11

11

2

24

Windsor

24

9

11

4

22

Brock

25

9

15

1

19

UOIT

24

9

14

1

19

McMaster

14

10

6

20

Western

16

9

7

18

Waterloo

16

8

8

16

Brock

16

7

9

14

Laurier

16

7

9

14

Ryerson

16

4

12

8

Guelph

16

5

11

10

York

15

3

12

6

RMC

17

0

17

0

Jan. 30: McMaster 87 at Waterloo 57 Feb. 5: Lakehead vs Waterloo Feb. 6: Waterloo at Lakehead Feb. 10: Waterloo vs Windsor

Jan. 29: Brock 0 at Waterloo 4 Jan. 30: Laurier 3 vs Waterloo 4 Feb. 6: Waterloo vs Brock

Jan. 29: Laurier 2 at Waterloo 3 Jan. 30: McMaster 3 vs Waterloo 1 Feb. 7: Waterloo at Ottawa

Jan. 29: Laurier 1 vs Waterloo 3 Jan. 30: McMaster 3 vs Waterloo 1 Feb. 6: Waterloo vs York

Women’s Basketball

Women’s Hockey

Do you live, eat & drink sports?

West Division

Main Division Team

GP

W

L

OTL

PTS

Team

GP

W

L

PTS

Laurier

22

22

0

0

44

Windsor

17

16

1

32

Queen’s

23

16

5

2

34

York

23

15

7

1

31

Western

17

13

4

26

Guelph

24

13

8

3

29

McMaster

17

11

6

22

Toronto

23

12

9

2

26

Brock

17

10

7

20

Western

24

9

11

4

22

Lakehead

16

9

7

18

Brock

24

9

12

3

21

Windsor

23

10

13

0

20

Laurier

17

7

10

14

Waterloo

23

6

14

3

15

Waterloo

16

4

12

8

UOIT

23

4

15

4

12

Guelph

17

2

15

4

Jan. 29: Brock 5 vs Waterloo 2 Jan. 30: Guelph 4 vs Waterloo 2 Feb. 6: Waterloo at York Feb. 7: Waterloo at Toronto

We NEED you!

Write about or photograph your Warriors Come into the office or email us sports@imprint.uwaterloo.ca sports@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Jan. 30: McMaster 54 at Waterloo 57 Feb. 5: Waterloo vs Lakehead Feb. 6 : Waterloo at Lakehead Feb. 10 : Waterloo vs Windsor

athletes of the week

(M) Volleyball

presents...

Saturday, February 6, 2010

vs York Lions

THIS WEEK IN

8:00 pm, UW PAC Gym

ATHLETICS & RECREATION

REANNE HOLDEN Basketball 4th year, Chemistry Peterborough, ON

(M) Hockey Saturday, February 6, 2010

vs Brock Badgers KEATON HARTIGAN

7:30 pm, UW CIF Arena

Hockey

(M) Hockey

Friday, February 5, 2010

Friday, February 5, 2010

Friday, February 5, 2010

6:00 pm, UW PAC Gym

8:00 pm, UW PAC Gym

7:30 pm, UW CIF Arena

IMPRINT | Feb 5

vs Ryerson Rams vs York Lions

LI S T CA

RSGO. RIO

RSGO. RIO

(M) Volleyball

LI V EN E

Basketball

GOWAR

(W) Volleyball vs Brock Badgers

2nd year, Sociology Kitchener, ON

GOWAR

LI S T CA

LI V EN E

I AM A warrior

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

vs Windsor Lancers (W) 6:00 pm, (M) 8:00 pm UW PAC Gym

Registered trademarks of Boston Pizza Royalties Limited Partnership, used under license. © Boston Pizza International Inc. 2005

16

Sports & Living

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

Men’s volleyball has rollercoaster weekend Joel Smith staff reporter

Waterloo 3 vs. Laurier 1

T

he men’s volleyball team travelled down University Avenue to Laurier last Friday in a much anticipated Battle of Waterloo.

Both teams came into the game desperate for a win in order to keep their playoff hopes alive.

The Warriors were riding a two game winning streak and were attempting to get above the .500 mark for the first time since late November.

Meanwhile, Laurier was sitting at 6–8 and one position out of the playoffs.

On this night, however, the Warriors proved too much for the Golden Hawks as they took the match in four sets and swept the season series with their cross town rivals. Outstanding defence was the story of the match with the Warriors accumulating 26 digs and 8 blocks.

Waterloo came out strong in the first set as they took advantage of a tentative Laurier team to the tune of 25–18. Waterloo was sharp on offence as they sprayed the ball to all areas of the court and kept the Laurier defenders on their heels.

The second set saw the Hawks even the match up at one set apiece. The core players for the Hawks stepped their game up and the Waterloo team seemed to get complacent after winning the first match back in November by a score of 3–0. This drop in intensity opened the door for Laurier to take their first set off of the Warriors this season.

However, the Warriors regained their focus for the final two sets and closed out the pesky Hawks. The third set came down to the wire and the Warriors pulled out a 25–23 nail-biter which saw lots of back and forth action. After taking back the momentum, Waterloo didn’t look back and easily put the fourth set in the books 25–19.

Leading the Warriors on this night were James Evans with 15 kills and Tyler Vivian with 12 kills. A trio of Warriors had six digs including Vivian, setter Andrew Thorpe, and serving specialist Duncan Cairns. A total team effort pulled the Warriors to 8–7 on the season.

Waterloo 1 vs. McMaster 3 After disposing of the Laurier Golden Hawks last Friday, Waterloo travelled to McMaster the

next day to take on the number five team in the country and the OUA leader. Waterloo was looking to avenge a loss earlier this season to the Marauders, and the Warriors were playing the type of volleyball that could potentially pull off the upset.

The nationally ranked Marauders easily handled the Warriors, however, and put them away in four sets. This sent McMaster to 13–2 on the season and the Warriors dropped to 8–8.

Set number one was a battle for every point and the Warriors were clearly riding the momentum from the previous night. The set came down to the wire, with McMaster taking it 25–21.

After the disappointing opening set result, the Warriors went right back to work and continued to scrap away at their opponents. With the first set loss out of their minds, the Warriors manned up and took the second set 25–21 and evened the match at one set apiece.

Unfortunately for Waterloo, the buck stopped there as they dropped the next two sets and lost the match. The Marauders had too many weapons at their disposal and capitalized on a few Warrior mistakes. McMaster easily took the third set 25–17 and cruised from that point on, winning the fourth set 25–19.

Brent Golem

The Warriors built up a three game winning streak before losing to McMaster.

The Warriors killed themselves with 14 service errors and 20 errors on the attack.

James Evans had 17 kills and five digs while Andrew Thorpe had five aces and seven digs in addition to superb setting.

Federer dominates down under at australian open

jsmith@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Greatness Down Under Roger Federer cemented his place in history (as if he hadn’t already) with his 16th Grand Slam title, giving him two more than the legend who is Pete Sampras. For those out there who haven’t been keeping score, credit Federer with three of the last four majors. He’s playing the kind of tennis that his critics thought he was no longer capable of.

It seemed as though the field had caught up to Federer in 2008 when he captured only one major and looked decidedly human on the court. Losses at Wimbledon and the French Open to Rafael Nadal, followed by another grueling defeat to Nadal at the 2009 Australian Open had people ushering in the “Nadal era.”

There’s a reason that Federer is widely considered to be the greatest player of all time and he proved it once again last Sunday. Andy Murray rolled into the finals having dropped

only one set in the entire tournament and with the full support of the Australian crowds behind him. This was supposed to be Murray’s coming out party, breaking through with his first Grand Slam win. To do it against Federer would have solidified him as a top tier player.

Federer was reduced to tears a year earlier in the finals against Nadal. Many considered this to be a changing of the guard until Nadal ran into trouble with injuries and Federer regained his status as the number one player in the world.

Murray and Federer produced some epic points and high quality tennis but Federer was far and away the superior player. Murray tried to exploit the Federer backhand but couldn’t do it successfully often enough, while Federer always had an answer when Murray came to the net. If statement matches exist, this was one of them.

2010 is going to be an interesting year

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for the ATP. If this first major of the year showed us anything, it’s that there is currently depth on tour not seen since the mid 1990s. Del Potro, Cilic, Murray, Djokovic and Tsonga are all names you should know, and if you don’t by now, you will by the end of this year. All of these men are threats to win majors and with veterans like Federer, Nadal, and Roddick that are quarterfinal staples. It’s anyone’s guess who will take the next major.

The really impressive thing about Federer at the moment is that he’s winning against deep fields. The argument that went against him was that he didn’t have enough competition — which is true, to some extent.

When he was peaking, men’s tennis didn’t enjoy the quality players it does now. It didn’t have double digit players who could potentially take majors. It was Roger... and everyone else.

This could be an historic year for “the Fed,” even by his standards.

The calendar year grand slam has not been accomplished since Rod Laver in 1969 and it’s not crazy to think that this could be the year for Federer.

He won his first French Open last year and he’s always the favourite at Wimbledon. The Aussie Open is under his belt and that just leaves the US Open. It’ll take some magic to do it, but if there is one guy who can produce magic, it’s “the Fed.” First Down...

A hearty congratulations to Serena Williams for a big win at the Australian Open in both singles and doubles. She really needed this win after the ugly loss to Kim Clijsters at the US Open last year. Williams should also be congratulated for not freaking out on any line judges this time. Always a plus. Does anyone else think it looks like she is consistently on the line when she serves? Are the line judges too scared to call it now?

While it isn’t quite the same situation they would be in if they lost Peyton Manning, if the Colts are forced to play without All-Pro defensive end Dwight Freeney it’ll be a huge hit to their defense. It’ll also be a blow to everyone watching

the game who will be deprived of watching Freeney slither by offensive linemen with his patented spin-move.

One of the best stories at the moment is that of Clara Hughes being named the flag bearer for Canada at the Vancouver Olympics.

The 37-year-old is the only Canadian to win medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics and has been representing Canada at the Olympics since 1996. There were other choices for flag bearer that nobody would have questioned, but Hughes feels like the right choice. Not only is she one of our finest athletes but she is a humanitarian who genuinely cares about others, which is rare. These will be her last Olympics and it has been a treat to watch her compete.

Seventh Inning Stretch...

The Toronto Maple Leafs recently made a couple of trades that generated a bit of press north of the border. Leafs Nation has to be happy about these moves; they’ve got a solid goal-tender in Jean-Sebastien Giguere and an outstanding defenseman in Dion Phaneuf. One has to wonder if this is the right time to make these moves. Sure it “sends a message to the players and fans,” but what else does this accomplish? This won’t push the Leafs into a playoff spot nor is it a great bargain. It makes the team better, which is what matters, but they could have received much better compensation had they waited until the off-season to make the deals.

While we’re on the ice, where have all the big names in women’s curling gone? The Scotties Tournament of Hearts is underway and, apart from Jennifer Jones, there are very few recognizable names in the draw. It’s always good to have new faces on the ice but the organizers can’t be happy that there are so many unknowns. And why Sault Ste. Marie?

There has to be a better place in Ontario for the Canadian championships.

It has to be disheartening for the competitors at the Scotties knowing that they’re all essentially competing for second place. The real winner is Cheryl Bernard, who won the Trials and gets to represent Canada at

the Olympics. Obviously it is still an honour to win the Scotties but it has to feel like an empty win every four years when the players go home and watch the real winner compete in the Olympics. Ask yourself: does it make sense to have the Scotties in an Olympic year?

Overtime...

Apparently Tiger Woods and Roger Federer have been chatting.

Completely uninteresting in and of itself, but this doesn’t bode well for either sport. Each of them dominates their respective sport and trading secrets can only improve their abilities. This really doesn’t seem fair to anyone.

Kobe Bryant is now the LA Lakers’s all-time leading scorer and 14th all time in NBA history. Kobe scored 44 points on Monday against the Grizzlies and overtook Jerry West for the franchise record. Kobe Bryant is 31 years old. It’s shocking that he is already so far up the scoring ladder and he has himself a foursome of title rings to boot. We’re witnessing one of the greatest players of all time; this is obvious to anyone who watched him put up 81 points against the Toronto Raptors.

One of the more compelling offseason stories in the MLB is the fact that Johnny Damon is still unsigned.

Juan Pierre was signed for $10 million (Juan Pierre!) in 2010 but Damon can’t find a team. Just one of many reasons why professional sports is a confusing business. Every team who needs a solid left fielder who can hit for average and power, take walks and has the ability to steal bases should be jumping at the chance to sign Damon. The only negative on his resume is he’s basically playing with a little league arm...

Shoutout of the week:

I feel obligated to mention Moneyball, by Michael Lewis, since it is such a great book. If you’re a sports fan I guarantee you’ll derive some pleasure out of it. Basically disregard anything you’ve read about Moneyball because 90 per cent of the people talking about it didn’t read it or didn’t get it.

Sports & Living

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

17

Warriors push streak to five as they climb the national standings

Rocky Choi

Assistant Captain Shane Hart (#22) was a terrific playmaker this past weekend with one goal and four assists through both games.

Goals

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Waterloo

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Continued from page 13

They showed why they are climbing the OUA standings and why the Badgers continue to fall deeper into the league’s basement. Frustration began to set in as the period neared the midway point, and the Badgers began their parade to the penalty box, allowing the Warriors to play conservative and keep the Hartigan shutout intact.

The team out-shot the Badgers 17–4 in the final period, rolling to their fourth consecutive victory by a 4–0 score. The team needed a strong performance as they prepared for a match-up with the Golden Hawks the following night and delivered it. As the team continues its push to the top, the regular season nears its climax.

The Warriors made the short journey down to the Waterloo Recreation Complex Saturday, January 30 to battle their rivals, the Laurier Golden Hawks, for the third and final time this regular season.

As usual, fans were treated to a spirited affair as the closely matched teams battled.

The first two periods were dominated by the Warriors on the scoring sheet, but the Golden Hawks continued to battle hard

throughout the game and brought the game within a goal in the third but got no closer as the Warriors won 4–3.

The game got underway as the arena buzzed with excitement and the Waterloo and Laurier fans welcomed their respective teams to the ice.

Both teams traded chances early, but the first opportunity of the game was awarded to the Golden Hawks as winger Kyle Pellerin headed to the penalty box.

Warrior net-minder Keaton Hartigan turned away the scoring chances and kept the game scoreless. However, just over eight minutes into the period, winger Kurt Thorner found himself all alone in front, thanks to a delicate chip off the wall by Aaron Lewicki. Thorner showed great patience with the puck, before sliding it under the Laurier goaltender, giving Thorner a goal for the second consecutive game, as the Warriors drew first blood.

The aggravated Golden Hawks then committed a costly penalty, setting up defenceman Kyle Sonnenburg’s third goal of the season, which gave the Warriors a 2–0 lead. The period ended with the Golden Hawks on the powerplay, but Hartigan once again shone and the Warriors headed to the dressing room with a two-goal lead.

After the first period, the game appeared to be headed in the right direction for the Warriors, but the Golden Hawks were not about to hand the Warriors the victory. The intensity picked up and both teams traded chances but the Golden Hawks struck less than two minutes into the period, cutting into the Warrior lead.

However, the Warriors came roaring back and captain Chris Ray netted his 17th goal of the year, while on the powerplay, moving Ray into the top 10 in CIS scoring.

Less than four minutes later, the Warriors added to their lead as Mark Hartman tipped in a shot from Steve Whitely giving the team a 4–1 lead. The Golden Hawks still battled and began to pressure Hartigan, as their scoring chances mounted and the team desperately

looked to get themselves back into the game.

The Golden Hawks did just that, as the Warriors ran into penalty trouble as the period wore on, and the team capitalized, scoring with less than five minutes remaining in the period on a point shot that Hartigan and the Warriors would have loved to have back.

The Warriors took a 4–2 lead going into the third, but the Golden Hawks made it clear that they would have to battle hard for one final period if they wished to win the game.

Thorner headed to the penalty box six minutes into the period, putting the Golden Hawks on the powerplay and giving them a chance to cut into the lead. They took advantage of the situation and came within one goal of tying the game on a bad angled shot that somehow snuck through Hartigan’s five-hole.

Midway through the period, the Warriors looked to have regained their two goal edge as Ray’s wrist shot from the slot appeared as though it went through the net. Besides the five Warriors with their arms in the air, nobody else on the ice noticed and no goal was awarded much to the displeasure of an irate head coach Brian Bourque.

With the Golden Hawks applying the pressure and taking control of the play, Hartigan had to be sharp. The Warrior net-minder was stellar and stole the show, turning away the growing scoring chances and giving the Warriors a crucial 4–3 victory, despite being badly out-shot in the period.

The victory marked a regular season sweep for the Warriors over the hometown rival from Laurier, with the Warriors winning all three games by one goal. The win also marked the fifth straight victory for the Warriors and moved the team within one point of the conference lead as well as two points within the OUA lead. The team also moved up to ninth in the CIS rankings, giving Warrior fans a reason to cheer as the team nears the OUA playoffs. scott@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Warrior hockey weekend preview:

#9 Waterloo

(11-11-2)

Home (9-2) Streak: Won 5

York (11-11-2)

Away (4-8) Streak: Lost 3

Ryan Scott staff reporter

C

IS ninth place Warriors will welcome the struggling York Lions to the CIF arena this upcoming Friday, February 5. The season series is split at 1–1, with the Warriors winning the most recent match-up (November 26) by a score of 6–4. The Lions won the first game 3–1.

However, as of late, the Lions have been struggling; they have lost four of their last five games, after winning their previous three in a row, moving the team into sixth in the Western Conference. One of the biggest problems for the Lions all season has been their lack of discipline. They are second in the OUA in penalty minutes, which has not helped their case. The Warriors rank amongst the middle of the league in powerplay per-

Brock (9-15-1)

Away (4-8) Streak: Lost 3

centage, but as of late have been on a tear and if the Lions run into trouble, the team will have no problems making them pay.

The team will then welcome back the Brock Badgers to the CIF arena on Saturday, February 6. The Warriors shutout the Badgers this past Friday by a score of 4–0 and will look to do the same to the downward spiraling team. The Badgers are not the same team as the one that handed the Warriors their first lost of the season and started with a four game winning steak. Instead, they have lost their past three games and have fallen to last place in the Western Conference, allowing 15 goals and scoring only once during this three game span. The Badgers will have to turn things around quick as the Warriors are on a roll, having won five straight games and moving within one point of the conference and two of the league lead.

The Warriors only have four games remaining on their schedule, three of which are at the CIF arena. Coupled with the Warrior faithful cheering loudly from the stands, taking the OUA season title and a number one seed into the playoffs is well within their grasp. The Warriors have received continued solid play from net-minder Keaton Hartigan, as well as their leadership core of Chris Ray, Shane Hart, and Steve Whitely. Scoring has come often for the team, with goals coming from all lines and in all situations. However, the team is as focused as ever to deliver an OUA Championship to its fans, if not more, and with the team moving into the ninth in the national ranks, teams around the country are taking notice that the 2009-2010 Warriors are rolling and determined. rscott@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Xiaobo Liu

18

Sports & Living

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

Warriors lucky in rivalry game versus Laurier Ron Kielstra reporter

I

t was a busy weekend in the OUA women’s volleyball west division, with each of the top five teams playing at least one game.

Despite coming into the weekend with an 11–3 record, the Warriors needed to rebound from a loss to Guelph with a strong weekend to avoid losing ground.

The Warriors started the weekend with a 3–2 win against Laurier, in a game that featured some uncharacteristically poor play on Waterloo’s part.

After dropping the first set, Waterloo took the next two sets to go up 2–1, but couldn’t close it out in the fourth set, losing 25–13. With two all-important points on the line, the Warriors rallied to take the fifth set in a convincing fashion, winning 15–4.

“We came out flat and struggled the entire match with inconsistent passing,” said head coach Gabriele Jobst. “We managed to take advantage of some key offensive opportunities and made some incredible defensive plays to keep us in the match. We didn’t let up and took the match.”

Kate Flannigan led her team in points, followed by Megan McKen-

zie. The two also had the most kills, 13 and 12 respectively. Flannigan also had 16 digs, the same as her teammate Katie Spack.

The win against Laurier, coupled with McMaster’s loss to Brock on Friday night, gave the Warriors a chance to climb back to a tie for first place, during a game in Hamilton on Saturday night. Having lost the first half of the season series, losing 3–1 on November 20, Waterloo needed to win if they were to have a realistic shot at first place.

The Warriors got off to a poor start for the second time in two days, losing the first set 25–18 against a strong McMaster team. With their backs to the wall, the team rallied to take the second set 28–26, and continued to battle into the third set, losing a nail-biter, 25–22.

“The first set was a bit of an eye-opener, but the middle two sets had both teams playing at an even keel,” said Jobst.

The third set loss seemed to deflate the Warriors as they quickly fell behind 9–0. Despite strong games from Megan McKenzie, Kate Flanagan, and Bojana Josipovic, each of whom had at least 10 kills, the Marauders took the fourth set easily,

winning 25–17. The Warriors were led on defence by Katie Spack, who had 20 digs. Bojana Jospipovic led the team in points, with 16. Laura Ledas had the best kill percentage on the Waterloo team.

With the loss, Waterloo dropped into a tie for second with the Western Mustangs, and sits only two points up from Guelph and Brock. Despite opening the season with six straight wins, the Warriors need to win two of their final three games to guarantee a playoff spot in the competitive OUA West. They’ll try to get back on track at home against Brock on Friday night before heading to Ottawa on Sunday.

The Brock Badgers are on a two game winning streak, having beaten both RMC and McMaster.

The player that the Warriors will have to be aware of is Erin Mercer.

She leads her team in kills, and is ranked 10th in OUA individual statistics.

Ottawa is also on a two game winning streak with wins over Laurier and RMC. Karina KruegerSchwanke is the star player on her team, but if she is having an off night the Warriors should have no problem beating Ottawa.

Don’t plan the parade — yet.

T

here really aren’t that many sports franchises out there where every season their fans sort of expect to be hit over the head with a shovel, right? I don’t know if you watch The Sopranos, but in season one, there is an episode where two thugs are contracted to kill Tony Soprano, who is not only the main character of the series, but also the Don of New Jersey. It doesn’t exactly take a rocket scientist to understand that rule number one when writing a TV series is that the main character never gets killed in season one—or else you quickly don’t have a show anymore. So it stands to reason that as soon as this plot line is revealed, you know these two guys are going to die. Sure enough, Tony takes care of them when they make their attempt, and then he goes after and kills the guys who contracted them.

But here’s the real question: when did the best analogy for being a Leafs’ fan become those two guys contracted to kill Tony Soprano?

Wasn’t it sort of inevitable that in the year when Brian Burke sent our first round pick (and next year’s) over to Boston in a controversial trade for Phil Kessel, the Leafs would be vying for worst in the league and, by extension, the first pick in the draft? And didn’t it seem a bit predictable that Phil Kessel wouldn’t exactly pump out a brilliant year? It seemed like a fitting way for this year to go when you consider that this is a franchise that hasn’t had a taste of the Stanley Cup Finals in 43 years. Or is that just me being cynical?

But one thing I do love about the current Leafs organization is Brian Burke. Say what you will about the Kessel trade, but one thing is certain: he knows exactly how to bring hope to a free-falling fan base (or at

jtoporowksi@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

least how to grab a huge headline).

The reason Leaf fans can feel a certain amount of comfort lies in Burke’s hands. He’s brash and defiant, prickly and blunt, but don’t you feel as though he has a master plan? Once again, he’s completed a blockbuster trade in a league in which the salary cap had apparently rendered such dealings impossible.

The pieces coming back, just like Kessel, have a lot of potential.

Since it’s easier to find good role-players than it is to find a superstar, a good rule in evaluating trades is to simply look at which team received the best player—usually that team comes out as the victor.

In the Phaneuf trade, the Leafs gave up a good portion of their goal-scoring in Niklas Hagman and Matt Stajan. Both are solid players, no doubt, but neither would be the top three forwards on a good team.

You’re not going to be winning a Stanley Cup with Stajan as your first-line center and Hagman isn’t going to go for 40. Ian White is of the same mould. He’s a good, steady defenseman, but certainly nothing to write home about. In other words, the Leafs gave up three good players (and Jamal Mayers), but in return, are receiving a young, super-talented defenseman in Dion Phaneuf.

There are no doubts that Phaneuf has been struggling this year, indicated not only by him being shipped out of Calgary, but his recent failure in not being selected for the Canadian Olympic team.

Maybe it’s because of his newfound celebrity—after all, he was the NHL 10 video game poster boy and is dating one of the sexiest girls on the planet (Elisha Cuthbert)—or maybe it’s because he’s beginning to believe his own hype. Either way, I highly

doubt his skills have disappeared.

He’s still an intimidating, big-hitting defenseman with a booming shot.

And let’s face it: some players just get bogged down in a certain franchise and need a venue change. Plus, in this trade the Leafs get Keith Aulie, a young 6 foot 6 defenseman who many think can develop into a very good player.

Then came the second of Burke’s trades, which, while not having the same long-term potential impact as the Phaneuf trade, is brilliant in a different sort of way. Not only were the Leafs able to get out from under Jason Blake’s horrible contract (which many NHL analysts thought would be impossible to move), Burke was able to get Stanley Cup-winning goalie, JeanSebastian Giguere back. Giguere will be reunited with his old goalie coach (the same one he had when he posted incredible numbers for Anaheim) and can be expected to be a solid bridge for the next year and a half while Jonas Gustavsson develops.

So going forward, I am impressed with Brian Burke. Yes, the Leafs are without a first-round pick for the next couple of years and yes, the Leafs are realistically several years away from competing consistently for a playoff spot, but didn’t this need to happen? At some point the Leafs needed to clean house and recharge, get young and build a solid base of players that could grow old together. Will it be ugly for a while?

Probably. But will this not give them a good chance at reaching out for a Stanley Cup years from now? Of course. As Harvey Dent said in the Dark Knight: “The night is always darkest before the dawn.”

But for the Leafs, the dawn is coming.

Brent Golem sports and living editor

Nine CIS teams remain undefeated More than halfway through the season for all CIS sports, there are still teams that are in complete control of their destiny. Nine teams still find themselves without a loss, heading into the final games of their season. All teams have pushed their winning streaks into the double digits, while a couple teams have even found themselves with at least a 20 game winning streak.

All of them are ranked within the top five of CIS’s polls.

Women’s volleyball and hockey are the streakiest sports, with two teams undefeated in each. Number one ranked UBC women’s volleyball team has a solid (15–0) record, while (16–0) Montreal has captured the number two ranking. In women’s basketball, number one ranked Simon Fraser University has ran off to a (13–0) record, which is being matched by number five ranked (13–0) Cape Breton University.

The most dominant team has been University of New Brunswick, who has utterly destroyed competition in the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) conference of CIS. They have the longest running streak at (21–0). Not far behind is the Laurier women’s hockey team who has an incredible streak at (20–0) and ranked number two in the country. They are only behind McGill’s number one ranked women’s hockey team who has six less wins at (14–0).

Another team that are undefeated with 14 wins is Laval’s number one ranked men’s volleyball team. The final undefeated team is St. Francis Xavier’s number three ranked men’s basketball team.

Positive drug test for two CIS football players The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) announced on February 2, 2010 that two CIS football players tested positive for using a prohibited substance.

The two athletes violated an anti-doping rule during in-competition doping control testing on September 26 and November 14, 2009. The athletes’ urine was tested and was found to contain cannabis, which is classified as “specified substances” on the Prohibited List by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

According to the CIS, an athlete facing a first violation involving a “specified substance” can seek a sanction reduction from two years of ineligibility down to the lowest possibility — a reprimand with no period of ineligibility — by satisfying a three-part test. This test includes establishing how the substance entered their body, proving that the substance was not intended to be performance-enhancing or mask a performance-enhancing substance, and they must provide corroborating evidence from a third party. The CCES analyzes the fault in each case to determine the ineligibility period.

The athletes who tested positive waived their right to a hearing and confirmed that they violated an anti-doping rule. Since it was the athletes first violation, they sought to have their sanction reduced. They then satisfied the three-part test and the CCES analyzed the fault in each situation. A sanction of reprimand and no period of ineligibility has been determined. The athletes were warned that a second violation could result in loss of eligibility of up to four years.

CCES policy on Public Disclosure of Anti-Doping Rules Violation states that, since the violations resulted in reprimand and not a period of ineligibility, the CCES is not able to disclose the athlete’s names.

Since its inception in 1990, 53 players have violated anti-doping rules. 51 of them were male, with only two females. Almost half of all the positive tests have been positive for steroids. Almost 80 per cent of the players (42 athletes) who have tested positive play football. The second most common cause of positive tests is marijuana with 12 violations, although soon to be 14.

Capital Hoops Classic attendance through the roof The fourth annual Capital Hoops Classic was held at Scotiabank in Kanata and had 8,074 people in attendance. The Classic, which pits the University of Ottawa Gee-gees versus the Carleton Ravens, showcases arguably the best collegiate rivalry in Canada. The Ravens swept the double-header, with their women winning 53–40. The men’s game was a very competitive match, pitting the number two ranked Ravens against the number five ranked Gee-gees.

The Ravens came out on top 74–66 in the well-attended affair.

Laurier goalie misses record by four seconds The Laurier Golden Hawks goaltender Liz Knox has been steadily creeping on the CIS’ single season and career record for shutouts during their 22 game winning streak. Knox and the Golden Hawks were leading 2–0 late in the third period against the Guelph Gryphons Sunday, when the Gryphons scored with only four seconds left in the game to snap the prospective shutout.

With one more shutout this season, Knox would break the records, currently being shared with McGill’s former goalie Charline Labonte.

CIS Athletes of the Week Female — Hockey player Breanne George, from the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, is the female athlete of the week. She tallied six goals and an assist to lead the number seven ranked Huskies to a weekend sweep over their provincial rivals Regina. She ranks second in the country for goals with 21, and third in points with 34 this season. She had a four goal night and added an assist in the Saturday night 6–1 blowout of Regina. She also scored two goals, including the game-tying goal, and added a shootout goal to help her Huskies come from behind to win in the shootout 4–3.

Male — Basketball player Showron Glover, also from the University of Saskatchewan, is an import student from Fresno, California. He averaged 34 points and had the first “triple-double” in team history as he lead the Huskies to a sweep during a doubleheader against Manitoba, winning 101–66 and 115–72. He ended the first game with 31 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists on Saturday night, and was just short of the “double-double” on Sunday when he has 37 points and nine rebounds. He leads the country in scoring with an average of 27.6 points per game.

— With files from OUA and CIS sports@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Feds Election Special

I

FEDS 2010

t’s not easy co-ordinating interviews and photo sessions to put together a special elections issue. Imprint is proud to present you, our readers and the undergraduate student population at the University of Waterloo that will vote in the upcoming election, our Feds election 2010 special issue. Though this special edition is not as comprehensive as we at Imprint might wish on account of our deadlines and a lack of response from busy candidates, we hope the diverse responses of our candidates will help guide your decision in the upcoming election.

This elections issue was made possible with the help of photographers Abisade Dare and Jon Grieman; reporters Avantika Mathur, Rachel Viscontas, and Roz Gunn; graphic artist Alcina Wong; and editors Adrienne Raw, Paula Trelinska, and Michael L. Davenport.

Thank you, intrepid volunteers, for making this special issue happen.

Of course, none of this could be possible without the candidates who put themselves before the student body as advocates for student issues. So thank you, candidates, for your work on our behalf. — Adrienne Raw News editor

Annual Feds Executive Debate and Forum

Monday, February 8th, 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

SLC Great Hall Polling Period

10:00 a.m. Tuesday, February 9 to 10:00 p.m. Thursday, February 11 All undergrad students, visit www.feds.ca to cast your ballot Results Announcement

Friday, February 12, noon SLC Multi-Purpose Room Feds Election Special: The Acclaimed

See the February 12, 2010 issue of Imprint for interviews with acclaimed executive, council, and senate candidates.

alcina wong

20

Feds Election Special

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

Nikki

Jenna

BEST

GOODHAND

Which one issue is the most pressing for Feds?

Which one issue is the most pressing for Feds?

Marc Rowley wrote a really good piece on how student government is only as strong as the students who support you and I just totally thought he hit the nail on the head. That [article] would basically outline the biggest problem for Feds: there isn’t enough support. And without the support, there’s no knowledge, no communication, no involvement.

I think it’s the lack of involvement from students, and the apathy towards the candidates and the election in general, and what’s Feds does. I think it’s a really big issue that only a small minority of students vote, that means a small minority of students are being represented. That means a majority of students aren’t being represented by Feds.

What can be done as VP Internal to resolve that issue to the satisfaction of students?

What can be done as VP Internal to resolve that issue to the satisfaction of students?

I would be facilitating the clubs and the services. I would like to move the societies back into the portfolio of VP Internal, because right now it’s in the president’s portfolio. The Council of Presidents has not been meeting regularly, and that’s the societies, and so you right now [Feds isn’t] reaching a large amount of students that are really involved.

As I stated, a minority of students vote or have interest in the Feds elections and their candidates. But a majority of students are involved in services, and clubs on campus. By mobilizing them to have a good interest in Feds and the elections and the candidates, I think it’ll spread across clubs as they work together to find ways Feds can enhance their experiences here.

I think [students can be mobilized] by showing them the direct connection between what it is they’re getting from Feds, enhancing their experience. I think a lot of clubs know about Feds but don’t actually know the services they provide, the support they provide, where the funding comes from, and the resources that they can have access to.

How will Feds be better a year from now, if you are elected?

Feds will be better because I have the experience in student government, in politics, and in clubs, and in leadership opportunities I’ve had here. And I’ve seen what the student body is capable of doing, and I’ve been able to bring that out in a lot of students. I feel that if I had the opportunity to [bring that] to the entire student body, that I could do that.

Why should I care who the Feds execs are at all?

The mission of the Federation of Students is to represent the students to the University of Waterloo. If you do not have students who you trust, or believe in, or are making the right decisions for you, that can can only fall on the students. Also, students need to know [they’re] paying $44,000 for each individual exec member. That’s your money going to waste if you don’t care.

Your platform says you will “ensure all services are meeting the needs of students through the results of the campus climate survey and diversity research and implementing action plans based on those results.” How will you ensure that this not only gets done but changes get implemented?

Currently Sarah Cook is already doing the Campus Climate Survey. So that’s already in the works.

I’m going to be continuing with it. [...] The climate survey is basically trying to find out what unmet needs are happening at university for the students. Whether or not the services are providing what they should be. That way we can see if we need to create another service, or if the service is even needed anymore. An example of that would be the co-op student services. That’s on the webpage and it’s in the policies. But if in actuality it does nothing, we should get rid of it completely.

Your platform stresses “increasing resources for clubs through offering more funding, and services through removing funding caps for reoccuring events.” Where will the money be coming from?

The money will be coming from the internal funding committee. Right now there are funding caps for recurring events. Sometimes the internal funding committee has a surplus of money at the end, and they don’t spend it all. I think if we have students that have a great event [idea] that would be really helpful to the student body of UW, we should be funding it rather than let that money sit there until another term comes along.

Your platform says, “Ensure that all volunteer and employment opportunities within FedS are fairly and properly advertised so they are filled in accordance with the bylaws, policies, and procedures to give students an opportunity to get involved in FedS.” Are they not properly advertised right now?

The best example I can give of this is a opening on the student services advisory committee.

Students came to me as the vice-president academic of the Arts Student Union [wanting information on the position.] We tried to contact Allan Babor, who is the contact for that position. And we hadn’t heard from him for a month. And after a month, our president sent another email saying, “Has the deadline passed? Can you send more information?” [Babor] said the position had been filled. Now a student was looking for information, and was directed to the person at the school’s student union who was dealing with it, and [the student] was completely ignored. That is not engaging, or welcoming, or being fair to a student who wants an opportunity at our school. [I would] make sure that when something is posted, that there’s a process that is followed.

How will Feds be better a year from now if you are elected?

I bring a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of fresh ideas and different ways of looking at things than past VP internals. I think they’ve done a really great job, but I think it’s been lacking a little bit of personal skills in terms of relating to students on a majority basis instead of those they work with in student government.

What I’ve noticed from looking at platforms from past VP Internals is that they had a lot of experience in student government. I think that’s really great, knowing the policies and procedures and whatnot, but you can’t represent someone unless you know them on a personal basis. When I work at the top, I’m representing them, not my own ideologies, or the people I’m working with in the government.

I’ve been meeting with clubs, and asking them what the clubs do, who they are personally, why they’re a Feds club, what Feds can do for them. The feedback I’ve gotten from them has been really great. Some have said they haven’t heard from a VP internal in six years.

Your platform says you will “create better awareness on what the Federation of Students can do for students.” How are you going to do this? How will you ensure student engagement?

I think it’s important because we control your experience at Waterloo. It’s a reflection of what we care about in your own self and your own government.

Your platform says you will “Provide opportunities for students to have their issues heard.” Again, how? What specific methods will you use to do this? How will you personally be getting feedback from the students?

I think some of the town hall forums have been some help in advertising what’s been happening, I think that’s a good start. So why don’t people just come in and ask questions openly?

So people who are afraid to ask questions can hear others asking, it can work well like that.

Some of the emails I’ve gotten to try and get feedback from students, the problem is a lot of time it’s tough. [We need to] find different ways like online forums that have ongoing feedback.

Using technology that students use for 12 hours a day anyway to allow time for feedback and sometimes providing incentives. Using the resources we have already in place to get students to express themselves.

You want to “Improve the accessibility and awareness of services.” How will you do this? Again, specifically, what will be done that isn’t already being done to improve the awareness students have?

The information is out there. You have to look for it. It’s not in your face. I can’t pinpoint what’s been done wrong, but I can pinpoint that it’s not working.

I haven’t even seen posters for the services we provide. I haven’t seen an email come into my inbox. Clubs day happens and the services are there, but even that, there’s no leadup to that. [...] I just think there’s a lack of creativity in how it’s presented.

V P I N

Feds Election Special

The media forum on January 29 brought together all executive, council, and senate candidates.

Above: Sudhershi Kularatnam, Reemah Khalid, and Brittany Boilard, candidates for the Faculty of Arts council position.

ARTS/ENV DEBATE

Left: Ian Charlesworth and Ian Kasper, candidates for the Faculty of Mathematics senate position.

21

MEDIA FORUM

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

The ARTS/ENV Debate on January 28 brought together the executive, arts senate, environment senate, and arts council candidates.

Bottom: Jesse van Ameron, Allan Babor, Bradley Moggach, and Matthew Colphon, candidates for the Feds executive president position.

Top left: Jenna Goodhand and Nikki Best, candidates for the Feds executive VP Internal position.

Top right: Matthew Waller and Sarah Cook, candidates for the Feds executive VP Administration and Finance positon.

22

Feds Election Special

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

A Decade of apathy Michael L. Davenport Imprint editor-in-chief

Every election, apathy is an issue. And every election, candidates make promises to reduce apathy, to engage students, to make Feds relevant.

Imprint took a look through its archives and pulled some quotes about student engagement. All of these statements were made on the campaign trail, and all of these quotes are from candidates who won. Why do so many of them feel familiar?

“ The biggest issue is probably the lack of excitement, engagement, and school spirit. I find people are so focused on academics; they’re here because they worked hard to get here.”

— Sarah Cook, VP Internal candidate 2009 “Strong governance is needed to make students feel they’re part of creating a community and culture. [...] Whether it’s PDEng or co-curricular learning, students need to feel they have more power, from the inside, to make an impact.”

— Allan Babor, presidential candidate 2009

“The biggest thing is having regular content. That’s what’s wrong with the Feds website now. The students who visited it today are seeing the same content as students who visit it last week[…] It’s just building a new mentality about the feds.ca website where we’re going to have new content for you, and you’re going to be excited about Feds”

— Kevin Royal, presidential candidate 2007 “Students don’t know a lot about Feds. Increasing advertising such as display boards in all faculties will let them know what Feds does.”

— Michelle Zakrison, presidential candidate 2006 “I will start a project that can really impact student life. Each society has a C&D in their faculty building or lounge and [they] need renovating. I will head up a joint initiative with other societies to start some project. [...] [like] build up [a] network that will help get cheaper food [and] renovate.”

— Sai Kit Lo, VP Internal candidate 2006

“Maclean’s magazine says year after year that we’re lacking in student life. ... We need to do a lot more for students and that’s something we know there’s a crying need for, something we can work on.”

— John Andersen, presidential candidate 2005 “I would like to see a more visibly diverse campus with more big profile events run by students.”

— Lawrence Lam VP Internal candidate 2005

“In five years I want to see more students involved in school. That’s one of the reasons I ran. Student apathy is getting worse and worse. It’s very apparent when you go to classes, people just didn’t care. They’re not listening to you, no one cares about the election.”

— Carman Lam, VPAF candidate 2005 “Too often are students unaware of the resources available to them. ... we have the most room for improvement in our online resources such as the Feds web sites. By improving the access to information, students can learn more and with less effort.”

— John Andersen, VP Internal candidate 2004 “A second issue [next to the double cohort] will be improving communication with students” “We need information sharing across campus.”

— John Fedy, VP Internal candidate 2003 “I guess my goal would be to create a more representitive, more accountable structure for the Federation of Students. [...] I want to engage more ‘at large’ students in the consultation process.”

— Ryan O’Conner, VP Education candidate 2002 “I don’t think [low voter turnout] necessarily means [Feds is] doing a bad job. I think that if students thought the Feds were doing a terrible job, they would start coming out in higher numbers to make sure they could vote for a candidate that would be more capable. [...] I think the low voter turnout would have more to do with the Feds not communicating fully with the students.”

— Mike Kerrigan, VP student issues 2002

“In the past a lot of people said the visibility of Feds is a big issue. They have tried things like putting up posters and having a monthly mailout or newsletter. The reason those things don’t work is that students don’t have any reason to want to read them. You have to increase the visibility and the presence by putting it where students are already interested.”

— Yaacov Iland, presidential candidate 2001

“Although only 10 per cent of students (1,229) voted in the last Feds election, it is hoped that a campus-wide e-vote will boost participation rates.”

— Imprint, January 12, 2001.

This is when the ballot went from paper ballots to online.

Feds Election Special

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

Matthew

Sarah

WALLER

COOK

23

Which one issue is the most pressing for Feds?

Which one issue is the most pressing for Feds?

Currently I think it’s the business and services split and the way students are subsidizing businesses. Right now, a percentage of student fees that should be allocated towards student services are being put towards some Feds businesses. Student money should not be subsidizing our businesses, as they should be self-supporting. The split hides a lot of the business’ losses.

I think, for the role of VP Admin and Finance, the most pressing issue is the divide between the businesses and services. Businesses are focused mostly on achieving business results — making sure they’re making money and things like that — and sometimes students get lost in the shuffle there, especially student groups.

What can be done as VP Administration and Finance to resolve that issue to the satisfaction of students?

It is important to work with the manager. A lot of work is based on student input, if students aren’t happy they won’t go to Bomber. It is important to relay that input to the manager and make sure the manager has what they need to input change. Bomber plays a big role in this. I would ensure that student feedback is relayed to our business managers and that the managers have what they need in order to implement the input they receive.

To get this input I would just talk to people. A lot of it just hasn’t been put in place or currently we are trying to put it in place.

How will Feds be better a year from now, if you are elected?

As VPAF, I’ll work on reducing the amount of money from student fees that is currently allocated towards Feds businesses instead of student services. We will hopefully be able to maximize our services from the UPass. Also, I would be pushing for Feds to collect the percentage of Tim Horton’s revenues that it is supposed to get.

Why should I care who the Feds execs are at all?

There are so many reasons. The president lobbies the university and governments, they involve students and increase the premise of Feds on campus. Feds execs overlook so many clubs, services and businesses on campus. Your money goes towards these. If you’re paying into something, you should definitely care about what you’re getting out of it.

In terms of the UPass, what exactly are you going to do to get more service for students while maintaining the price where it is? How are you going to do this?

I would ensure that the deal made by our current VPAF is secured and that we ultimately get what he negotiated. I would work collaboratively with him to get student input and to see where we can lobby the hardest to get increased service.

How are you going to stop Bomber from losing money?

What can be done as VP Administration and Finance to resolve that issue to the satisfaction of students?

In terms of getting student groups into the businesses, I talked a bit about increasing the Bomber/Federation Hall subsidies so that it covers the staffing and the venue fee for the space so that student groups can come in and use the space. Another thing is making sure that societies, clubs, and services all have discounts at Bomber and Fed Hall when they’re doing their events so that there’s a little bit of an incentive to have their food events.

How will Feds be better a year from now if you are elected?

I think my experience gives me a really unique perspective into how businesses should run and how our support staff should operate for student groups. I really hope that, if I’m elected, I could make some changes in direction for the staff and businesses in terms of getting student groups saying “Our first choice for an event is at Bomber or at Fed Hall” or “I feel comfortable as a queer student or a student from a minority group going to our businesses because I feel that they’re a comfortable place.”

One of your platform points is “Implement changes to the UPASS agreement after consultation with students, and ensure that GRT makes the changes students are requesting.” How will you consult students on this? What changes will likely need to be made and how are you going to make sure there is value added for students? Will students need to pay more?

We’ve been doing online surveys, but we’ve also been doing focus groups. Some things that I’ve noticed — and also gotten from feedback from students — is that certain bus routes are crowded to the point where the bus will stop taking passengers and students will get left at the side of the road if the bus is full, buses are late and, buses don’t show up or are crammed full so that it’s not a comfortable riding experience. I really hope to get that information so we can go to GRT and say ‘These specific routes are having problems. What can we do to fix it?’ Obviously there would a 100 per cent effort into not paying more because we are already paying for that service.

I would get input from the bar director, the manager of Bomber, and also our students to find ways to improve the situation. I would also focus on what is currently working well, and strengthen those areas.

One of your platform points is “Ensure UW follows the contract for Tim Horton’s space and pays Feds what is owed so we can reinvest the money into you.” If this contract already exists and is not being followed, what are you specifically going to change to make sure UW follows through with their agreements?

The Aussie’s space has been a point of contention for years. How will you ensure that the space gets used and that it gets used in a way that helps meet student demands? What will make your push for the appropriate use of space different than that of VPAFs in the past?

I’d definitely talk with our general manager, because she has a lot more of the context on these contracts. As well, we just hired a new executive researcher who is also a lawyer to get his opinion on what we can do about these contracts. Getting our accountants to look at these financial statements that they’re giving us in terms of what the revenue is for that Tim Horton’s, and trying to figure out what we’re actually owed, is important as well because I don’t know if anyone actually has an idea what they actually owe us.

In the past a few proposals have been brought forward to deal with this issue but they eventually died out because they weren’t ensuring the best use of space. Over the summer, the current VPAF and I came up with a proposal that focuses on more space for volunteers in the marketing and special events departments. In order to provide our students with services we really need to expand our service capacity physically. Looking at this proposal and getting everybody behind it, including our students, will be very central in my experience as VPAF.

One of your platform points is “Hire a Communications Co-ordinator to better facilitate the communication of what Feds is doing, and what you would like us to be doing.”

What exactly will this communications co-ordinator be doing? How will this be a benefit to the average students?

I think [the communications co-ordinator] would do a great job in facilitating that two-way communication with students, our executive, and our staff. I hope this role will (a) help students understand what we do and (b) give us an idea what’s going on with students, because we’re only as relevant as what students are telling us. If we’re not able to have a time-worthy platform to collect information from students, we’re not really a relevant entity.

V P A F

24

Feds Election Special

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

Feds Election Special

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

Allan

Matthew

Bradley

Jesse

BABOR

COLPHON

MOGGACH

van

Which one issue is the most pressing for Feds?

It’s long range planning, that’s why I made it a priority this past year. [...] To my understanding since the ’80s there hasn’t been the effort to put in the components of what a long range plan is. [...] Right now we’re still engaged in that process and began to move forward in the strategies. Students have all received opportunity to become part of that process.

What can be done as president to resolve that issue to the satisfaction of students?

I think that this is our first time doing [long range planning] so it’s going to be a big learning experience. At the same time, it’s learning about what other student unions have done, what has been successful there, tailoring it to make sure it works for students on our campus.

How will Feds be better a year from now if you are elected?

The first thing I think about is the team. When you say “feds” we’re talking about Student’s council, services, business, we’re talking about a really large entity. And my job as president is to provide the leadership and vision and support. And to represent student voices at all levels of Feds. I believe I’ve proven my leadership through a variety of initiatives from the Health Services expansion to long range planning.

I’ll provide the continuity and the consistency that Feds needs in the position of the leader. I will ensure that Feds becomes far more visible and that students feel far more connected to the organization. And in turn also, the relationships I’ve established and continue to establish with partners across the university and students will allow Feds to flourish in a way that students haven’t seen before.

Why should I care who the Feds exec are at all?

Ultimately, we are student’s voice. We make sure they’re represented at all levels of the community, that they have the services they need to have a seamless and wonderful experience during their undergraduate journey. We’re here to support them in every way that we can.

Your platform says you will “lobby the University for a more central location, increased financial contributions, and student focused consultation to further develop the student services complex.” How do you plan on getting more funding from the university if they’re already contributing more in the long run than students?

I presented to senate at the beginning of the month and explained to them the process we went through and what that meant for us. As a result, we’re pending from conversations with David [Johnston] and Feridun [Hamdullahpur] to determine if there are other opportunities that there have yet to be explored. [...] Specific to funding, I would suggest that there may be opportunities with alumni, or the office of development. Maybe there’s some form of matching program that can be investigated.

Your platform also says, “Increase personal financial support for extracurricular involvement.”

How are you going to do this? What does this even mean?

In my opinion, as a student, as a student leader, as someone who got involved, there were real financial challenges that impeded my decision between taking on a leadership position or finding a part time job. [...] I had in many cases a choice between finding a part time job or training on my varsity team. [...]

The specifics of what I hope to do is create more bursaries or scholarships that are targeted toward being involved at Waterloo in our campus and community.

A lot of people have come to the fora with an axe to grind based on dropped communication.

Is there any substance to the claims to that there has been poor communication? If so, what would you do as president to improve that in the future?

Being president, I think, there are a lot of expectations placed upon you. You are expected to oversee human resources within the Federation of Students. You are expected to be at the forefront of issues such the logo fiasco, or concerns and considerations in Northdale neighbourhood on top of your regular duties and committees. I sit on tens of committees and councils. I think that my job is always to do my best to meet the needs in every respect. And there have been a lot of successes this year. We have done our best to improve communication. Students have told me they feel far more connected or aware of Feds presence. There are a lot of things that at the same time don’t always get the attention they deserve. In particular, I promise to give more attention to the societies under my portfolio. As past president of the ASU I certainly understand their value and respect their autonomy. I’ve worked with individual societies but collectively I’ve not done the best job that I can in terms of bringing them all together. Unfortunately there are some things I need to improve upon.

25

AMERON

Which one issue is the most pressing for Feds?

Which one issue is the most pressing for Feds?

What is the most pressing issue for Feds?

Right now the most pressing one is going to be the student representation question. So I think that addressing governance within student representation, and afterwards worrying about student involvement would be the priority list.

An overarching issue is the fact that we need to address student needs and student interests, they need to know what Feds (Federation of Students) is doing and how they’re doing it. We need to ensure that they have their voice heard.

I suppose that it’s the perception of transparency. I think that a deeper sense of transparency is really what students want because there is such a huge learning curve to understanding any sort of government.

What can be done as president to resolve that issue to the satisfaction of students?

What can be done as president to resolve that issue to the satisfaction of students?

What can be done as president to resolve that issue to the satisfaction of the students?

By looking at how we view our governments and governance and representation models, and adjusting for things that are already in place. In something like engineering there’s already such a good structure in place. But, the best way to solve this, we just need to look at what we’ve already got in place. Where can we make it more effective? We need to define the roles of councillors, define the roles of board of directors and how they work relative to other structures that are in place.

We need to ensure that they have their voice on our sub committees. It can be done by reaching out to the different faculties, by taking the town halls out of the SLC (Student Life Centre)and bringing them to students.

The information that exists about the Feds entity needs to be presented in a way that is consumable by the average voter. So, having summaries of things like council minutes and having lay-student versions of bylaws so the average student can read and comprehend those sorts of documents and understand why they exist and what purpose they have.

How will Feds be better a year from now if you are elected?

A year from now I hope that everyone on campus will be more interested in what’s happening in Feds. I think that one of the big problems is that there’s not the huge interest level now. Passion is what we need and what I hope to create through any means necessary to really promote more interest in Feds.

How will Feds be better a year from now, if you are elected?

Feds will be better because I have been here for five academic terms straight. I am in tune with the student body and student interests. Some people criticize that, but I started in co-op so I’ve seen that aspect as well. We need a balance of focusing on the student body and what they need and also things like pdeng, watpd and the tuition increase. I’m not leaving and coming and going.

How will Feds be better a year from now if you were elected?

I’m not the messiah of student government...I’m modest enough to understand that it’s not like I can come in, be a dictator, and wipe out committees that I don’t agree with and fire people who I don’t think are doing their job. I see myself as someone who can effect change because I am an outsider — because I see the inefficiencies, I see the impracticalities and I see the ineffectiveness and I feel like I can cut some of that out.

Why should I care who the Feds exec are at all?

Why should I care who the Feds exec are at all?

Well, the most obvious reason is that you’re paying our salaries; you’re paying student fees of about $40. On the very basis of fiscal responsibilities you should care, but more theoretically, because the Feds does have a fair amount of influence on campus. Realistically, Feds represents students in all major issues. For example, Saturday midterms. That’s people who are involved with Feds. So you really need to value Feds because it does affect your life and the quality of your life here at UW.

You stated in the debate that you support new buildings on campus and more student space yet you want to preserve the green space remaining on south campus, how do you plan on meeting students needs for more space while keeping all the green space on south campus?

Keeping green space on campus doesn’t necessarily mean keeping green space within ring road.

The question is, which is the higher priority? One of the things that’s been outlined by the Board of Governors is that they’d like to see that all the undergraduate buildings remain within Ring Road.

We also need to be wise about what we’re building, as well that we don’t just build according to the the low and wide concept we’ve been using.

How do you plan on making sure there is a review of our security? If the review comes out that there needs to be change, how do you plan on implementing this?

To the first question, I think that’s just a matter of getting together with the different areas of administration. We should do little things like putting cameras in strategic places. I think the main thing for that is actually getting everyone to sit around a table and discuss this, or, to have one on one meetings. My expectation is that the review would come out saying that more security is needed on campus, it would probably outline some recommendations. While I can’t definitely say what exactly needs to get done, I think that waiting for recommendations to come out then proceeding logically from there is the best way to go about it.

Exactly what changes do you plan on implementing to the plan governing Northdale, how will this improve the students living conditions as well as the neighbourhood in general?

My opinion of the plan right now is that is seems somewhat vague and theoretical. One of the first things I’d want to do is actually change it and push it through, put more pressure on landlords to have more of a presence. On top of that, we need to see that building standards are actually adhered to, that we see more bylaw officers inspecting the buildings.

I would argue that the average student isn’t in touch with Feds, they don’t understand what they’re doing. It’s their money, their education and they really should care. They pay our salary, but more than that, students engage in clubs and services but they don’t realize it’s through Feds. No one is going to care about everything they do, but all students use at least one aspect.

How will you be getting a larger financial investment from the university when they were already planning on paying more than students in the long run? How will this building have more value for students than it did when it was first proposed?

We already pay for things such as counsellors, why are we also paying for the space to house them? The university already upkeeps most buildings on campus, they have a duty to look out for their students. We will clearly differentiate between what is student space and what are academic complements.

What exactly will this communications co-ordinator be doing that isn’t already done? How will any of this be different then the access students already have to Feds but don’t use?

Apart from the obvious aspect of maintaining Facebook and Twitter feeds there’s another side to what we do and that’s clubs, services and societies. We need to make sure the average student can know what is going on. We can’t expect students to read senate documents and the daily bulleting every day.

What do you plan on doing to make that there is an increase in interaction between you and students? As ASU president how did you make sure that interaction has existed in the past between you and students?

As ASU president I try to be in touch with my societies. I try to make it to their events. For instance, just recently I helped make a video to address the fact that speech communication needs a lounge. As many meetings as you have you can only communicate so much, but being face to face while they do their events says so much more.

I think you need to take it beyond the job. You should go to society meetings, you should talk to students. Instead of eating lunch in your office, eat lunch in the SLC, walk home a different way, take an hour of your time to talk to students. Really small things matter.

Why should I care who the Feds execs are at all?

Because [you] pay a huge wad of cash to them. I feel as though the reason why students don’t care is not the student’s fault, it’s the Feds’ fault. If Feds had done a better job throughout the years at presenting what exactly it does and, more importantly, what it could do...then I feel that students would know that they have more stake in it.

What would you do as Feds president to make Feds more relevant?

I feel like people try to entice students to be involved, they organize events with free pizza.

While I understand that this works to a degree, I feel like it is not a very good way to get them involved. To think that students at this university are apathetic is untrue, we have a lot of active students on campus but sometimes they act outside the umbrella of Feds. There needs to be a reason for that though, why wouldn’t they operate under the umbrella of Feds, we need to figure that out.

There needs to be more research into the student community and what is going on. There’s a lot where if students saw something they were passionate about and felt it would grow then they would attach themselves to it.

How do you plan on increasing student involvement in Feds projects?

There’s something to be learned from, all the societies. They have a very inclusive environment where they have a vague framework, an idea of what they want to be doing and they have a general principle for where they’re going as a club. What’s enticing about it is that you come in and put your own flare on it. That you can have the students go in and take the framework and attach themselves to it as they want to. There needs to be a way that students can feel like they can take what they want to do and attach it to the Feds framework.

What redundant activities in Feds should be eliminated?

I’m not looking for a mass overhaul. We have a lot of committees that overlap, the overlap of jursidication is fine, but what needs to happen is that those committees need to collaborate with each other and collaborate efforst so they are not doing double or trupli work. If they can streamline effort, they can streamline results. There’s a lot more power not in increasing effort but in increasing how that effort comes out in the end. Redundancy of effort isn’t good.

P R E S I D E N T

26

Feds Election Special

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

Which one academic issue do you think is most pressing for students and is most important for Senate to address? Why?

Our school faces a lot of pressing academic issues but I think the one I will go with is the faculty to student ratio. According to our own Performance Indicators Report for 2009, the University of Waterloo has the third highest faculty to student ratio in all of Canada with 27.1 to 1. This is five points above the Canadian average of 22:1 .

Iyinoluwa

ABOYEJI At Large

How will you make students care about what Senate does?

I have a simpler answer to that one: by telling them what it is doing. I mean this very literally.

Primarily because we have not been paying attention, all the Senate does right now is transfer resources from undergraduate students into other aspects of the university they feel are more important.

In these two weeks on the campaign trail, we have been speaking one on one with students and when we tell them, do you know David Johnston is collecting $900,000 dollars from you this year after you gave him a $500,000 mortgage at 3 per cent interest rate or do you know that our school will have a debt of 2.4 million dollars this year, their ears perk up. They want to know why that was done with their money.

Which one academic issue do you think is most pressing for students and is most important for Senate to address? Why?

Yousif

AL-KHDER At Large

In the short-term, I would definitely address PDEng to Senate, as PDEng affects an entire faculty of UW, the Faculty of Engineering, which is the second largest faculty by number of students, after Arts.

Why would I address that specific issue? Well, it affects many students in UW in a very undesirable way (according to many students) and is taking away from their co-op experience. I believe that student senators have to address this issue effectively and as soon as possible (just like they did for Orientation Week) because the decisions regarding it will just be pushed into the future in hopes that students will just give up.

However, in the long run, there are certainly very critical academic issues that need to be discussed and brought up to senate. One concern that I feel is important to students is the quality of English that professors and other teaching members (TAs, lab instructors,etc) possess.

How will you make students care about what Senate does?

As an at-large senator, I will be obligated to represent every student from every faculty. This makes this challenge six times as difficult as the challenge that faculty specific senators have to face. As mentioned in my platform on my Facebook group (Vote Yousif for Senate!), I plan on communicating with the different faculty societies on campus and possibly attending their meetings to inform them of what has been happening in senate in hopes that this will make them care.

Which one academic issue do you think is most pressing for students and is most important for Senate to address? Why?

Reemah

KHALID At Large

Having been an arts senator for the past year, the most pressing academic issue for students is improving the quality of our education. In the face of rising tuition costs, it is imperative that the quality of our education here at Waterloo set the standard for excellence around the nation.

Driven by the Six Decade Plan, Waterloo aims to increase international and graduate enrolment.

Similarly, in light of the economic downturn, Waterloo faced budgetary constraints. This included a hiring freeze and cutbacks where possible. For example, the issue that classes with fewer than 10 students would not count towards a professors teaching load poses a challenge to many programs. As well, with half of our undergraduate students in co-op, issues such as Professional Development Programs and the quality of co-op placements are on top of my mind.

How will you make students care about what Senate does?

As students we contribute significantly to UW’s operating budget but less than 15 per cent of senate members are students. My silver bullet to making students care about what Senate does is simple: communicate, commit, and connect with Waterloo students. Two years ago, all six faculty senate seats were acclaimed. Last year, five candidates filed to run for the arts senator seat in a by-election. With this surge in interest, and issues such as exam accommodations, and the Dubai campus coming to the table, many students have become aware and informed of the issues at hand. As Senator at Large I will commit to communicating to students what is happening at senate through accessible mediums.

S E N AT E

Feds Election Special

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

27

Which one academic issue do you think is most pressing for students and is most important for Senate to address? Why?

Ian

KASPAR Faculty of Mathematics

The most pressing academic issue for math students that Senate should be addressing is definitely ensuring quality in the co-op program. This issue has come to light recently in a proposal from Arnie Dyck (Associate Dean, Co-operative Education, Faculty of Math) in which it was proposed to force co-op students to remain in co-op past the third work term. With a team headed by Justin Williams, we were able to ensure this proposal never moved past it’s inital stages. But, I feel as though this indicates that co-op may be turning to measures that sacrifice quality and student freedom due to the current economic situation. I think it would be beneficial to undergo a review of the co-operative education system to see if the current model is truly benefiting students as much as it possibly can.

How will you make students care about what Senate does?

It is of utmost importance to solicit meaningful feedback from students on issues that require their input (such as the Dubai debate, Saturday midterms, substantial degree changes in the math faculty), and our students have consistently shown that they will loudly state their opinion when needed (Saturday midterms, exam relief accomodations, frosh week, etc.). I don’t think that it is necessarily “making students care about what Senate does,” but rather, ensuring students are aware of the issues in which their interests need to be directly represented. Aside from holding a regular town hall, I would provide opportunities for consultation on important issues via e-mail, in-person discussions, and online feedback in association with other student senators.

Which one academic issue do you think is most pressing for students and is most important for Senate to address? Why?

I think the most pressing issue for students is the lack of resources at the university for its current students. Compared to five years ago, the university had admitted 3977 more students (both undergraduate and graduate) in 2008. The resources that the university has are being stretched beyond its limit. How many people heard about the stuffing of three people to a room in REV in order to handle the increased amount of first year students? The main issue is that at this point in time, it appears the university does not have enough resources to handle the students it currently has. Until this has been rectified, we should not be admitting more students than we can handle.

Sarah

SUN Faculty of Mathematics

How will you make students care about what Senate does?

The problem with Senate is that students are unaware of exactly what it is, what they can do, and how it relates to their experience. The first thing I would do in Senate is make an effort to talk to students, in person and online. For instance, would the societies be interested in hosting a “Senate Open House” once a month – where student senators invite students to come and talk about issues?

In the past year, UW students have seen the strength and power of what social media sites like Facebook can do towards making their opinions count. Very few students here don’t have to use UW ACE, and everyone needs to use Quest at least once a term. Is there some way we can send Senate updates via ACE? It could be as simple as putting a link at the bottom of the page to the minutes of the previous Senate meeting.

Which one academic issue do you think is most pressing for students and is most important for Senate to address? Why?

Jennifer

QIAO

Class cancellations during special events. Many classes are cancelled each year during the March Break Open House. Personally, I think such an action is irresponsible for current students of the university. We pay $500 to $2000 per class per term and depend on our program and status (international or not). We did not pay for classes to be cancelled for others. In my opinion, in order to show the prospective students how university life truly is, classes should not be cancelled.

If one chooses to cancel his/her class, a make-up class should be given.

How will you make students care about what Senate does?

Most students do not care about the roles and responsibilities of a senator because they do not know what a senator is. Hence, I will first inform students what a senator is, and how Senate decisions affect the life of students. I believe once the students see the consequences, they will automatically start to care about senator’s roles and responsibilities.

Faculty of Mathematics

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28

Feds Election Special

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010 Which one academic issue do you think is most pressing for students and is most important for Senate to address? Why?

In my opinion, the most pressing academic issue before Senate is that of dates in the Fall academic term. We are in the unfortunate situation where there is simply not enough time between Labour Day and the start of the Winter Break to fit in all of the required hours of lectures and have time for exams without either shortening orientation Week, having lectures on certain weekends, or reducing the study break between the end of lectures and the start of exams. We ran into this problem last term, when the university was forced to hold lectures on a Saturday at the end of term. While most students (myself included) agree that orientation week should not be shortened to accommodate lectures, we must make sure that we have a solution which truly is the best possible. Senate should look into other possible solutions, such as starting orientation week before Labour Day.

Ian

CHARLESWORTH Faculty of Math

How will you make students care about what Senate does?

I believe that there are many students who would care about issues addressed by Senate, if they knew that these issues were being debated; that the problem is not necessarily one of apathy, but rather one of ignorance. I will attempt to raise awareness in the issues addressed by Senate, in addition to sending information through the usual media such as Facebook, mathNEWS, and Imprint, by setting up a table on the third floor of the MC in the days leading up to each Senate meeting and explaining the issues faced by Senate to anyone who walks by and is willing to listen.

Which one academic issue do you think is most pressing for students and is most important for Senate to address? Why?

I think an issue that is pressing for students right now is whether or not students are getting what they are paying for at Waterloo. A raise in tuition fees was just approved and a lot of students are asking where that extra money is going. While most students may not see the direct impacts of that extra money (inflation, etc) it still needs to be addressed. When students talk about how they don’t have enough space for student services, studying, or writing midterms and are being charged more and more each year, someone has to acknowledge their concerns and act on them.

This is one of the issues I think Senate should address.

Stephen

How will you make students care about what Senate does?

KRYSAK Faculty of Environment

My plan to connect students to Senate and create an interest in its operations is to ensure that every student has the opportunity to be informed. Some preliminary ideas of how this can be accomplished include using social media and blogging technologies to disseminate information released by Senate and coming out of the Senate meetings. I’ve also discussed the idea of joint town hall meetings with other senate candidates as a way of bringing the students voice to Senate through us, the representatives. Through these town halls we will be able to gain a better sense of what students want out of Senate and also inform them of our actions for them.

ACCLAIMED Senate Faculty of Arts • Arjun Dhingra • Luke Burke

Faculty of Environment • Adwitya Das Gupta • Joshua Jodoin

Students’ Council Faculty of Engineering • Jordan Lui • Praveen Arichandran • Trevor Jenkins

Faculty of Environment • Jon Goetz

Feds executive VP Education •

Nicholas Soave

Optometry • Steven Hoang

St. Jerome’s • Scott McKee

Feds Election Special

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

29

Which one issue is the most pressing for Feds? Why?

This sounds oh so basic, but if you look around, more and more students are being accepted into this school. It’s great to see, but the matter at hand is that as the student population continues to grow, campus space remains constant. As can be seen in the university’s long term plans, the expansion of the student population was planned, but nowhere did we see the expansion of the campus in proportion to the student growth. There are many buildings being erected on campus, which is also great to see, but when plans are made for more students, there should be plans made to accommodate these students. It is up to us, the students, to tell the school what we think and what we want, so that we are provided with, not “just enough,” but plenty of space to study, hang out, work out, and any other thing a student does on campus.

Diana

HANNA Faculty of Arts

How will Feds be better a year from now if you are elected?

As of now, there are many uninformed students on campus; there always will be. But, if reelected, I, along with the other councillors and faculty societies, will ensure that people not only talk about the important issues at hand (on and off campus); but motivate them to act. As councillors, we are the representatives of our faculties and the school, and we must take into consideration everyone’s opinion, and not just our own. An informed student can make an informed decison; spreading the word is the first step. Motivating the students to go out and visit the website, maybe think of adjustments to the ideas being proposed, and telling the school what they think. Not only will this make the executive’s job much easier, but it will make the students happy as well.

Which one issue is the most pressing for Feds? Why?

Meena

BRAR Faculty of Arts

One issue that is most pressing for Feds is class sizes. I feel that class sizes, especially for students in the arts faculty, are very large, and something needs to be done about this. It is hard being in a class of over 200 students and even in a class as big as 600 students. We need a better prof to student ratio to ensure that students get that one on one time with their profs.

How will Feds be better a year from now if you are elected?

I believe that Feds will be better a year from now if I am elected as Arts Councillor because Feds will be more transparent to the arts students. Arts students will know what Feds is, what events are being planned, as well as the different issues that Feds is targeting. Arts students aren’t taken as seriously sometimes, and as a faculty we need to be a bit more united.

Which one issue is the most pressing for Feds? Why?

Reemah

KHALID Faculty of Arts

Having been involved closely with the Federation of Student on many levels, as an Arts Councillor, as a Federation Orientation Committee Member, and as part of the Education Advisory Committee there is a critical issue which stands out to me about Feds. In order to be a viable, relevant, and successful Feds needs to construct a long term vision for the organization.

Being an inherently changing organization, it is all too easy for direction of Feds to be dispersed in a variety of ways. Although we have fresh ideas coming into the organization, we are often left to deal with systemic problems such as the Bomber deficit. It is hard to believe that Bomber today is losing money, and is projected to continue doing so in the following year.

Rather than continuing along this path, it is imperative for Feds to critically evaluate its strengths, weakness, threats, and opportunities. In doing so, all aspects of the organization will be accounted for, ranging from clubs, services, business, and educational issues, and much more.

How will Feds be better a year from now if you are elected?

Over the past year I have been involved with FedS in various capacities. This includes being an Arts Councillor, an OUSA Delegate, a member on the Referendum Appeals Committee and the Education Advisory Committee. In each of these capacities I have worked with student leaders on our campus, as well as across Ontario to make decisions in the best interests of students.

For example, as part of the Education Advisory Committee we handled issues revolving around JobMine, CECS, and Co-operative education.

Which one issue is the most pressing for Feds? Why?

Without a doubt, this is certainly the impending contract renegotiation for the Universal Bus Pass with GRT. Service quality around the university has been sub-par, and students have noticed.

If re-elected, I would push to ensure Feds has quantifiable data on GRT service (including student feedback) to bolster our negotiating with GRT to ensure a better contract for students going forward.

How will Feds be better a year from now if you are elected?

Ian

KASPAR Faculty of Math

My track record has shown that I am willing to step forward and lead initiatives in my role as a student Councillor: I led significant changes to the Ombudsperson to mandate her to provide proactive legal education to students. I was part of a team that shut down a proposal to force co-op students to remain in co-op past the third work term, and I have sat on numerous committees of Feds, shaping our policy and operations. If I am re-elected, I plan on keeping our new executives accountable to their campaigns, focusing on further improving Feds services, increasing the output of information to the math faculty through regular town halls and negotiating a better contract for the UPass.

COUNCIL

30

Feds Election Special

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

Which one issue is the most pressing for Feds? Why?

The largest issue facing Feds in my mind is its relevance to the student body. I’ve heard several comments from students that the Federation is out of touch with students, and as someone heavily involved in math’s affairs, I cannot disagree with these statements. Students want to see Feds as a body that represents students to the administration, not the other way around, and from where I sit, Feds is not doing that.

Joseph

COLLINS

How will Feds be better a year from now if you are elected?

If I am elected, math students will have a better understanding in a year’s time what the Federation of Students is about and what they do for the student body. They will understand that students have a voice within the organization and within the school, as well as understand how they can get the most out of the fee they pay to Feds every term.

Faculty of Math

Which one issue is the most pressing for Feds? Why?

I believe that more than anything Feds lacks awareness. If you ask most people what they think of Feds, they won’t have an opinion because they have never been educated about what Feds does for them, and what Feds can do for them. When it comes down to issues, our students care. Our students care about orientation week, our logo, and our school. Such issues only arise when there are town halls and other opportunities to voice their opinions. If our students knew what Feds did and what they can do for them, I believe our Feds would get a lot more accomplished in an academic year.

How will Feds be better a year from now if you are elected?

Prashant “Kumar”

PATEL Faculty of Math

If elected, I can promise two things by the end of next year. Feds, for one, can expect more of an opinion from math students on issues. I will also work to get first years more informed about Feds.

It’s a given: most math students really don’t voice their opinions with Feds. I will make it a mandate of mine to not only find out what math students think about issues, but also bring forward these opinions of the faculty to council. From holding town halls, to seeking opinion during MathSoc council meetings, to just canvassing in the MC, I will find out what math students want, what they care about, and make sure their voices are heard.

First years learn as much as they can about their school during their first year. If they are aware of how Feds can benefit them from the beginning, we can then expect them to bring issues up as required to the Federation. This will allow Feds to start addressing more concerns that first years have. As these students study during their upper years, they will be more active and engaged with the school and know who to voice their opinion to.

Unavailable for Interviews Unfortunately, Imprint received no responses from other candidates running for council and Senate positions.

Students’ Council Faculty of Arts

• Brittany Boilard • Justin Noble • Sudhershi Kularatnam Faculty of Math

• Piraveena Tharmalingam

Senate Faculty of Arts

• Arjun Dhingra • Luke Burke Faculty of Environment

• Adwitya Das Gupta • Joshua Jodoin As we at Imprint operate under strict deadlines, we strongly encourage you to find out more about these candidates on your own before casting your votes.

Campus Bulletin

Exchanges for undergraduates and graduates – 2010/11 academic years: MICEFA, Paris, France, IPO application deadline: March 17, 2010.

For more info and application forms please contact Maria Lango, International Programs, Waterloo International, Needles Hall 1101, room 1113, ext 33999 or by email: mlango@uwaterloo.ca.

Waterloo Wolf Pack – Waterloo boys under 13A rep soccer team will be conducting bottle drives/pickups to raise funds for registration and tournament fees. To donate call 519-578-9394 or 519-746-4568 or nevrdy@sympatico. ca or hadley7073@hotmail.com.

Story writers wanted for free paranormal magazine. Short stories, articles accepted. Free for free exposure. Submit your scariest stories true or fictional. Distributed locally to ghost tours and online. www.kwparamag.com.

Appointed the Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics, Professor Ian Goulden commencing July 1, 2010. Professor Goulden will succeed Tom Coleman, who completes his term on June 30, 2010.

ONGOING MONDAYS Gambling can ruin your life. Gamblers Anonymous, 7 p.m. at St Marks, 825 King Street, W, basement.

VOLUNTEERING Volunteers needed for UpTown Waterloo Ice Dogs Festival on Saturday, February 20 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. A fun day with an after party. Contact Sheila McConnell at smcconne@ uwaterloo.ca or 519-888-4567, ext 33203 or DC 3113.

Shadow needed to be paired with international students for spring and fall 2010. Show them around, help them resolve cultural shock and

Classified 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.

Imprint has a work study position available – Systems Administrator – up to 15 hours/week at $11/hour.

Candidates will have Webmail server administration experience, be familiar with medium scale Linux network administration, SAMBA file management, Windows XP workstations, LDAP authentication and Apache admin. Duties include maintaining and strengthening our office’s network

system. Applicants must be full-time students and eligible for OSAP. Please send resume to editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca.

SERVICES Does your thesis or major paper need a fresh pair of eyes to catch English spelling and grammar errors? Thesis English editing. Five business day turnaround. Neal Moogk-Soulis, ncmoogks@uwaterloo.ca.

Textbooks bought and sold, new and used, online buybacks. Buy, sell, rent at cheapbooks.com 260-399-6111 ; espanol 212-380-1763 ; urdu/hindi/punjabi 713-429-4981. See site for other support lines.

STUDENT AWARD & FINANCIAL AID For all in-person inquiries, including OSAP funding pickup, your SIN card and government issued, valid photo ID are required. BYID card can now be accepted as photo ID. OSAP and out of province funding can now be claimed in the Student Awards & Financial Aid Office.

February 18 – OSAP application deadline (full funding) for winter and spring term.

February 26 – deadline for OSAP reviews (appeals) for winter only and fall and winter terms. Last day to submit full-time bursary/award application for winter only term.

Visit safa.uwaterloo.ca for a full listing of scholarships and awards.

UW RECREATION COMMITTEE UW Recreation Committee events are open to all employees of the University of Waterloo. Register by emailing UWRC@uwaterloo.ca.

Would you like to assist with the planning of UWRC events for 2010??

Email UWRC@admmail.uwaterloo. ca with your interest.

Exchange Board – looking to rent, buy or sell? UWRC.uwaterloo.ca/exchange_board. More info email Margaret at mulbrick@uwaterloo.ca.

Lots of discounts available for UW employees – CN Tower, Ontario place, Empire Theatre, Galaxy Theatre, Kitchener Auditorium, Princess Cinema, VIA rail and more ... email Shirley at schatten@uwaterloo.ca.

UPCOMING EVENTS: Sunday, February 7, 2101 Kitchener Rangers vs Saginaw Spirit

at the Kitchenr Aud in Kitchener from 2 to 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010 5F’s to Heart Healthy Eating – FLEX Lab, LIB 329 from 12 to 1 p.m.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010 “Taking Revenue Canada Out of Your Will” lunch and learn with Henry Zech, Investors Group, TC 2218A from 12 to 1 p.m.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010 UWRC Book Club meets – “A Mercy” by Toni Morrison, LIB 407 from 12 to 1 p.m.

Monday, February 22, 2010 Free talk: Healthy Sight for a Lifetime – presented by UW School of Optometry at Waterloo Public Library.

Saturday, February 27, 2010 XIIR – Xtreme International Ice Racing at the Kitchener Auditorium, Kitchener at 7:30 p.m.

CAREER SERVICES WORKSHOPS Tuesday, February 9, 2010 Successful Negotiating Job Offers—3:30 to 4:30 p.m., TC1208.

Understanding the Multiple-Mini Interview—5:30 to 6:30 p.m., TC1208.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010 Thinking about Pharmacy?—5:30 to 6:30 p.m., TC1208.

Thursday, February 11, 2010 Career Interest Assessment (Strong Interest Inventory)—2:30 to 4:00 p.m., TC1112.

Monday, February 22, 2010 Understanding the Multiple-Mini Interview—6:00 to 7:00 p.m., TC1208.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 Business Etiquette and Professionalism—3:30 to 4:30 p.m., TC1208.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 Exploring Your Personality Type (Part I)—2:30 to 4:00 p.m., TC1112.

Multiple-Mini interview Practice Session—4:30 to 7:00 p.m., TC1214.

Thursday, February 25, 2010 Success on the Job—3:30 to 5:00 p.m., TC1208.

Saturday, February 27, 2010 Medical School Interviews (Standard Interviews)—12:30 to 3:00 p.m., TC2218.

IMPRINT

ANNOUNCEMENTS

make their stay in Waterloo more enjoyable. Make great friends and learn things from another country. Visit www.iso.uwaterloo.ca.

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.

City of Waterloo has volunteer opportunities. For info call 519-8886478 or www.waterloo.ca/volunteer.

The Distress Centre needs volunteers to provide confidential, supportive listening on our crisis and distress lines. Complete training provided. Call 519-744-7645, ext 300.

Volunteer Action Centre, 519-7428610 / volunteer@volunteerkw.ca, for all your volunteering needs!

Deliver or befriend through Community Support Connections. Deliver meals, drive seniors to appointments or visit one for a few hours each week. Contact Kate Lavender at 519-772-8787 or katel@communitysupportconnections.org.

Hey Hot Stuff! Volunteering at Imprint is fun, easy, helps you meet people and boosts resumes and grad school applications. All welcome, regardless of experience. volunteer@ imprint.uwaterloo.ca.

Volunteers needed – The English Tutor program is in constant need of volunters to tutor international students. Volunteering is an essential part of student life at UW. Apply online at www.iso.uwaterloo.ca.

Speak Croatian or Polish? Volunteer visitor required for a woman with Alzheimer’s disease. Two hours per week. Training/support provided by Alzheimer Society. Jill jmercier@alzheimerkw.com. Resume builder.

Volunteer required to rebuild website for Kitchener International Children’s Games Chapter. Call 519-886-6918 and leave message or respond to icgkitchener@hotmail.com.

The University of Waterloo’s official student newspaper

Friday, February 5, 2010 Nominations are being accepted for Distinguished Teacher Award at UW – deadline February 5. Please visit the blog on the Centre for Teaching Excellence’s web site for guidance on how to write an effective nomination letter. http://cte-blog.uwaterloo. ca/?p=9. For more info call Verna at ext 33857 or http://cte.uwaterloo.ca.

Rotunda Gallery presents “Light Drawings” by Katrina Jennifer Bedford, opening 5 to 8 p.m. For info call 519-741-3400, ext 3381.

Saturday, February 6, 2010 Women’s Municipal Campaign School, Waterloo Region for women interested in running for office or working on municipal campaigns from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Kitchener City Hall, Council Chambers, 200 King Street, W., Kitchener. For info/registration www.learnhowtorun.com.

MATES presents the Chili Dog Run around Ring Road. Beat winter blues with a run, chili, t-shirts and guest speaker! Contact Johan ext 84830 for more info. Flyers posted at Turnkey Desk, SLC. KW Waterloo Society of Artists Annual Juried Exhibition from February 6 to 14 at Homer Watson House & Gallery. For info call 519-748-4377, ext 233.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 Countdown Possum Productions presents new original play 2-1, “Charlie Then and Now,” to February 13 at KW Little Theatre, 9 Princess Street, Waterloo. Info/tickets 519-747-9029 or frankrejeanne@rogers.com.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010 Donate and play for Haiti Earthquake Relief in the Great Hall, Student Life Centre from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. After 4 p.m. Tetris and Dr. Mario tournaments with prizes to be won!

Friday, February 12, 2010 Nominations are being accepted for Amit and Meena Chakma Award for Exceptional Teaching by a Student at UW – deadline February 12. Please visit the blog on the Centre for Teaching Excellence’s web site for guidance on how to write an effective nomination letter. http://cte-blog.uwaterloo.ca/?p=9.

For more info call Verna at ext 33857 or http://cte.uwaterloo.ca.

Saturday, February 13, 2010 Kitcener City Hall, Rotunda presents Culture Camp, that invites participants from the community to come share their ideas about our region. For more info contact Ingrid at 519-741-3400, ext 3383.

Monday, February 15, 2010 Make the most of Family Day! The City of Waerloo has activities available all day to help you celebrate your family. For all pool and skate arena times and events info visit www.waterloo.ca or 519-8861177.

Saturday, February 20, 2010 UpTown Waterloo Ice Dogs Festival from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Waterloo Public Square, UpTown Waterloo. For more info 519-885-1921.

Sunday, February 21, 2010 Contemporary Canadian Large-format Photography – a lecture by Stefan Rose, at Kitchener City Hall, Conestoga Room, ground floor at 2 p.m. For more info grandconversations@live.ca.

Monday, March 1, 2010 Need help with your tax return? K-W Access-Ability is hosting free income tax clinics for persons with low incomes beginning March 1 on Monday and Tuesday evenings at 105 University Ave., E., Suite 2, Waterloo. To book an appointment 519-885-6640 Monday or Wednesday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

VOLUNTEER AT

UPCOMING

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010 ads@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

NEED A PART-TIME JOB? The following positions are available at

IMPRINT The University of Waterloo’s official student newspaper

Systems Administrator

Up to 15 hours/week at $11/hour. Candidates will have Webmail server administration experience, be familiar with medium scale Linux network administration, SAMBA file management, Windows XP workstations, LDAP authentication and Apache admin. Duties include maintaining and strengthening our office’s network system. Applicants must be full-time students and eligible for OSAP. Please send resume to editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca.

Science & Technology

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010 science@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

The mechanics

of disaster Nicholas Randall reporter

J

ust about everyone has heard that Haiti was struck by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake at 4:53 p.m. on Tuesday, January 12. Since then, there have been donation drives, collections, and requests for aid. Media coverage has focused primarily on the plight of the Haitian populace as well as the socio-political aspects of the country. The results are well covered, but there has been relatively little focus on the earthquake itself. Knowing the geosciences behind the quake is essential to predict earthquakes in the future, and prevent this disaster from repeating itself.

The key to predicting where earthquakes will occur and how frequently is understanding the relationships between the Earth’s tectonic plates (giant jigsaw pieces of rock floating on the Earth’s molten core). These plates almost never stay still, moving at rates below one cm per year. Where the plates interact is known as a fault line, which is where earthquakes originate. In the case of Haiti, the earthquake was generated by a 1.7 meter slip in the fault line, which occurred 13 km below the surface, and 15 km south-west of Port-au-Prince. The fault line itself is visible on Google Earth and is clearly marked by a distinct ridge travelling

through the ocean and across the island of Hispaniola. The earthquake occurred on the Enriquillio-Plantain Garden Fault System, which is a part of the Gonave Microplate, a tiny tectonic plate wedged between the much larger Caribbean and North American plates.

Due to the number of fault lines in this area, the island of Hispaniola suffers from earthquakes quite frequently. This has been the third time Port-au-Prince has been struck by a major earthquake in the past three centuries, with the first being in 1751 and the second in 1770. After the 1751 quake, the population of Port-au-Prince lived in tents from November 2 to December 8.

The damage caused by an earthquake is dependent on two factors: the earthquake itself and the resistance of the area it hits.

Haiti presented very little resistance against the quake and suffered as a result. An example of a quake encountering high resistance would be the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The magnitude of the quake was 7.8. The death toll was less than 3,000.

The reason for the devastation caused by this quake can be found by looking at the population density, the topography, and the structural integrity of the area. The population of Haiti in 2009 was an estimated 13,014,018.

For reference, Ontario had an estimated population of 9,035,536 at that time. The popula-

tion density was 12.09 people per square km, whereas Haiti’s density was 325.6 people per square km. That’s approximately 27 times as many people living in the same amount of space. In the capital, the population is even more cramped, with 28,353 people per square km. For reference, Toronto has a population density of 3,972 people per square km. The timing of the earthquake also contributed to the loss of life. At 4:53 p.m. in Haiti, children were still in school and adults were still at work, placing almost everyone indoors at the time of the quake.

The local landscape also contributed to the damage that the earthquake dealt. The soil in Haiti is very loose due to a lack of trees and other plants. The soil, if not locked in by roots, will shift freely, intensifying the effects of the quake. The lack of stabilizing vegetation also allows for landslides and liquefaction, causing large chunks of land to slip into the sea. These combined factors add to the damage caused by the original quake, amplifying its effects.

While damage to buildings in earthquakes is expected, the devastation that Haiti experienced is not the norm for a magnitude 7.0 quake. The damage was much more devastating due to the poor construction of buildings.

Much of the Caribbean has no building codes and Haiti is no exception. Many of the buildings and supports were made poorly, quickly

Majuratan Sadagopah

reducing the buildings to rubble.

Earthquakes aren’t the only disaster Haiti has to deal with on a regular basis. Haiti is also in the middle of a major hurricane route, which generates landslides and heavy flooding, further pummeling the country.

According to UW Prof. Steve G. Evans, who gave a lecture on January 28, the primary issues that need to be addressed in order for Haiti’s situation to improve are deforestation, economic development, and the issues of governance. Deforestation loosens the soil, amplifying the effects of earthquakes as well as creating landslide and flooding hazards, which is further enhanced by hurricanes.

The economy needs to be further developed, and proper procedures need to be followed in emergencies to reduce the loss of life and to improve disaster resistance. The government needs to enforce regulations such as building codes more strictly to avoid shoddy construction.

A shining light in this darkness, however, is survivors’ spirit of the people who have endured the hardships of the land .

The Haiti earthquake currently rates as the seventh most deadly earthquake in known history with a known death toll of over 175,000.

—With files from Professor Steve G. Evans

Science & Technology

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

33

A step towards a more sustainable campus Rick Ray reporter

S

ustainable development is an overused term, but it is an underdeveloped concept. Theoretically, the concept of development that is not harmful or causing degradation to the planet is possible. However, the implementation of such principles faces many obstacles, such as political and economic concerns. One group at the University of Waterloo has taken a small step towards overcoming such obstacles by creating a forum for engineering students to learn about the issues that challenge the concept of sustainable development. The Sustainable Technology Education Project (STEP) is a group of students who actively seek community endorsement for sustainable development in all forms of technology.

STEP is a subgroup of the larger University of Waterloo Sustainability Project (UWSP), which acts as a network of various environmental initiatives across campus. STEP’s goal is to educate students and members of the community about the creation and design behind sustainable development technologies by using demonstrations and events to promote their cause.

Events are organized with the singular purpose of awareness, so that students can better understand the importance of sustainability at all levels of technological development. STEP’s unique projects are designed to demonstrate the practicalities of such technologies.

The projects help facilitate discussion in the community about the need for environment empowering technologies.

STEP was formed in 2002 by Jeff Deloyde, an environmental engineering student who had recently completed a

co-op work term at Arise Technologies.

Through fundraisers and community events, the start-up club raised over $40,000 contributed by 22 sponsors in the Kitchener-Waterloo business community. The money was used to fund STEP’s first engineering project, the design and configuration of the solar array on top of Fed Hall. The Fed Hall solar photovoltaic (PV) array was the first student designed array in Canada.

The array consists of 36 55-watt panels purchased from Arise Technologies and generates a total power of 1.95 kW. At the time of design, it was assumed that the array could generate enough electricity to power two-thirds of an energy-efficient home. The panels are able to produce up to 1400 kWh a year, which is equivalent to the energy consumption of two people.

The project is ongoing. STEP now seeks to design a power monitoring system for the PV array. The monitoring system will be designed to display, on an LED sign, the power and cumulative energy being generated by the array. One proposed idea is that the sign could display how much money is being saved by using the PV array.

The key reason for the creation of the LED sign is to educate the public on the effectiveness of the solar array in harnessing solar energy from the sun.

The information will be displayed alongside weather data gathered from the University of Waterloo weather station, and will display how factors such as temperature, diffuse (solar) radiation, and sunlight affects the performance of the solar array on a day-to-day basis.

Similar to the Fed Hall project, STEP also plans to design a PV array on top of the administration offices at the student residence Village 1, to preheat water for use in the cafeteria

courtesy STEP

and showers. The project was initially masterminded by the university itself, but due to impracticalities of time and expenses required, the project was discarded. STEP, however, took the initiative to take up the solar thermal project, so the 15 Solcan panels purchased for the project were donated to the club.

The project is now in full swing, with regular consultation from faculty and graduate students. James Moore, an alumnus from the university, serves as a correspondant for the project, assisting the STEP engineering team with design concepts for the configuration of the array. Also, in conjunction with the solar thermal demonstration in Village 1, STEP is designing a solar cooker which converts light from the sun to heat that can be used to cook food. STEP’s goal for the solar cooker project is to use it for public events in the summer.

The current innovators of the project have had relevant experience with solar power. Last year, the University of Waterloo competed in the solar decathlon competition sponsored by the

US Department of Energy, which was held in Washington. Select members of STEP were among those who worked on the creation of the North House, an advanced solar-powered home. The house was developed with the mission of creating a marketable solar-powered home that could handle an active energy demand. The University of Waterloo was among 20 university teams that competed in 10 different areas such as marketability, communications, and general architecture, which were aimed to measure the overall quality and performance of the house. Waterloo’s house design placed fourth in the competition, marking an extremely successful project. Even though the competition ended, designers of the North House will continue to conduct tests on the prototype house. The current goal for the project is to release a solar house to the Canadian market by implementing new research and technologies.

Another project undertaken by STEP is the human powered bicycle generator, which was created as a dem-

onstration to show how electricity can be produced from a simple mechanical device. A prototype electricity generator created by STEP can power most AC devices, and has been used to charge cell phones, laptops, and iPods. Currently, the output of the bicycle generator is regulated by a sine-wave inverter and powers simple devices. The prototype is considered successful, but STEP aims to continue the project by designing more bikes that can be connected simultaneously to generate power for a single outlet. The current goal, according to one of STEP’s project leaders, Hussein El-Kotob, is to create more of these bicycles so that one day they can help power an outdoor concert.

STEP’s commitment to sustainable technologies has been significant, and is one of the reasons why the club has produced successful projects over the years. Although the challenge of building sustainable technologies for commercial use is a difficult one, it seems to be a challenge that STEP is capable of overcoming.

Dendrophobics beware of freak trees Ivan Lui staff reporter

Damming Brazil

With a newly granted environmental license, Brazil has allowed for a hydro-electrical dam to be built in the Amazon Rainforest. Environmental groups say that the dam, which is being constructed at Belo Monte, will threaten the rainforest in the nearby area as well as indigenous groups. In reaction to these claims, the government of Brazil has stated that the company taking up this project must pay $800 million in advance before the project starts.

Since planning began, the building of the dam along the Xingu River has remained a controversy. Abandoned first during the 1990s with widespread protest from around the world, the government has now modified the schemes in consideration of people living around the area. The $800 million fee is one of these modifications. Builders must meet another 40 conditions.

Critics and environmentalists have stated that building this dam will cause a change in the flow of the Xingu River, resulting in damage to fisheries and forestry in the area. Up to 500 square km of the land would be affected due to this flooding, along with the 40,000 individuals who live in the area.

The government of Brazil hopes that building hydro-electric dams to power homes will help the country secure its place in a growing global

economy. The government has said that the dam will provide power to up to 23 million Brazilian homes. Critics have argued, however, that the plant will not be as efficient as expected and will generate even less power during the low-water season.

Those who work within the government are also torn by these arguments.

Some officials have resigned from the government’s environment agency.

Rapidly Aging Forests

A new study in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found that trees growing in the eastern United States are growing faster in comparison to 225 years ago. Forest Ecologist George Parker has tracked the growth of 55 different strands of forest plots in Maryland for more than 20 years.

Studies from Parker show that trees in modern times are now taking on more growth and weight at a much faster speed than expected. The forest grows at a rate of two tons per acre annually, which is nearly the equivalent to a two foot tree sprouting up over a year.

With most of the earth’s carbon stock in our soils, the changing growth rates of trees might affect the soil and thus our climate, weather patterns, nutrient cycles, climate change, and biodiversity.

How these systems are to be affected is to be studied further. The main culprit behind this incident, however, seems to be the rising levels of carbon in our atmosphere.

To study a changing forest completely is impossible to any scientist as forests easily outlive the individual studying them. In order to combat this, scientists create a “chronosequence,” which is a series of forest plots of the same type that are at different developmental stages. According to these recorded chronosequences, more than 90 per cent of the trees grew two or four times faster than predicted.

Researchers also discovered that this phenomenon is quite recent.

With the growing rates documented, the researchers worked to find out what caused this rapid growth. “We made a list of reasons these forests could be growing faster and then ruled half of them out,” said Parker. The reasons that were not ruled out consisted of increasing temperature, a longer growing season, and increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The combination of higher carbon dioxide levels and higher global temperatures means that growing seasons are now lengthened by 7.8 days. Since the trees have more carbon dioxide, they will have more time to put on weight.

A barrier in stem cell research

Stem cell researchers say that a group of scientists may be blocking valuable information from being published in scientific journals. Some researchers claim that this move may

come from the motivation to forward research which may be in competition with stem cell research. Fourteen leading stem cell researchers have written open letters to journal editors asking them to not censor or ignore items from the stem cell research community.

These open letters claim that “papers that are scientifically flawed or comprise only modest technical increments often attract undue profile. At the same time, publication of truly original findings may be delayed or rejected.”

Robin Lovell-Badge, who is speaks in a personal capacity and Austin Smith, from the University of Cambridge, has spoken to BBC about their concerns.

Prof. Lovell-Badge said, “[Stem cell research]’s turning things into a clique where only papers that satisfy this select group of a few reviewers who think of themselves as very important people in the field are published.”

If the journals are publishing the wrong material in order to ensure that the public will not become attracted towards stem cell research, then funding for such research may be cut. Since billions of dollars are being poured into stem cell research, the scientific community must publish reports of research in order to show the public that progress is being made. When editors read these reports and find them interesting, a request to examine these reports are made to other scientists.

Prof. Smith claims that these attacks and poor reviews may be due to journalistic competition. Editors rely

on writers of stem cell papers who also review other scientific research. If editors do not comply with the interests of these writers, they may lose future papers to rival journals.

—With files from BBC and Science Daily ilui@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

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Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

A nuclear world cometh thelferty@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

I

n the deep forests of Africa, scientists gather to draw up plans for a new uranium mine. In the United States, Obama is finally garnering some support from Republicans and moderate Democrats as he pushes harder for nuclear energy. Canada is also pushing for more nuclear energy. Nuclear is becoming the energy of the future. In the race for the cheapest “clean” energy source that corporations can keep a firm grasp on, sources such as wind, solar, and ocean currents are losing to the ever-growing presence of nuclear energy. Despite major advances from governments in wind and solar energy production, these are slowly being forgotten as countries such as Niger and Kazakhstan join Australia and Canada as large exporters of uranium.

Due to demand from upcoming nuclear power plants, uranium mining is experiencing a boom. Currently there is a land-grab going on worldwide for uranium mines namely in developing countries such as Niger, Namibia, and Malawi. Due to the lax regulations and low wages in these countries, it is easy to set up a mine.

The recent flood of initiatives towards nuclear power has left environmentalists feeling bitter and betrayed. But should they feel this way? If done right, nuclear power may be a step forward. Currently it is on its way to leaving us in a similar situation to what we are in with fossil fuels.

We are outsourcing to countries with little to no environmental or safety regulations. We do not have an economically feasible method to reuse radioactive waste, and research is still being done on bacteria that degrade radioactive materials to a natural state.

While these problems could be solved in the future, we are rushing towards a nuclear world with the hope that we can fix all its problems later.

With that said, nuclear energy is in many ways better than fossil fuels. It is clean, powerful, and possible, albeit not yet very cheap, to reuse the waste for more energy. The only concern lies in creating sound regulations to protect both the environment and workers (especially those in Third World countries). Nuclear has another looming danger that is not yet on many people’s radars: it is on its way to being the largest producer of energy. Like with Big Oil, if nuclear continues on its road of dominating energy production, we will have another instance of being dependent on massive corporations who have lobbyists in governments.

If anything should go wrong, it will be hard to get them out. Although many people say nuclear is a good alternative while other renewable resources catch up in terms of energy production and economic feasibility, if they do catch up, Big Nuclear won’t want to move to make way for them.

While nuclear is gaining ground in the energy world, it isn’t enough to sit there waving signs and protesting that it’s not right.

Too often I see activists from all over raiding public forums or standing on governments’ doorsteps yelling that nuclear is bad and renewable energy is good. This may be true, but they won’t listen if we keep giving them alternatives that don’t produce large, stable amounts of electricity for cheap. If renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power truly are better, it is not enough to tell them: we need to show them.

The world is going nuclear, and if we want to limit its grasp on the world’s energy and solve its problems, we need to come up with the proper solutions.

In today’s society it is not enough to wave signs saying how something is bad, you need to show them what’s better. Better regulations, better technology, better implementation. If nuclear is truly the solution while other sources become more efficient and affordable, then we better catch up fast, because waving a sign won’t produce much energy.

Jordan Campbell

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Arts & Entertainment

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010 arts@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Erin Oldynski staff reporter

Julie Bélanger reporter

D

escribed as a “weekend of out-of-the-box social justice and environmental activism,” the School of Public Interest on Creative Activism (inSPIre), organized by the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group (WPIRG), was an all-out success. The weekend conference took place from January 29-31 on the University of Waterloo campus, and was attended by many students and community members.

One of the goals of the inSPIre conference, as expressed by Krysta Williams, co-president of WPIRG’s board of directors, is to make education more accessible. As Williams stated, “Experts have a place in some areas, but not in all areas. Some people make the choice to go to college, but this is a privilege. The idea of life-long learning is something that should be accessible to everyone.”

Williams explained that although she believes that education should be free, she doesn’t believe it will happen in her lifetime. “I don’t think I’ll ever see free education in Canada,” she said, “but community groups and non-governmental organizations [such as WPIRG] can offer alternative education that breaks down some of these barriers.”

See CREATIVE, page 36

Erin Oldynski

36

Arts & Entertainment

Continued from page 35

OPENING NIGHT

The conference began with a traditional opening ceremony performed by Aboriginal community members, which included a welcome song and a healing song. This was intended to acknowledge the persisting issue of Six Nations land reclamation efforts.

The Yes Men

Andy Bichlbaum, of the activist group “The Yes Men,” then took the stage and discussed the group’s infamous hoaxes, which have earned them accolades from activists worldwide. The Yes Men are acclaimed for “impersonating big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them.” Most recently, the Yes Men spoofed Canada’s performance at the climate negotiations in Copenhagen. To date, their most famous hijack has been the publication of a bogus New York Times which headlined that the Occupation of Iraq was over. WPIRG invited Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men because his approach to activism embodies the conference’s theme of creative activism. (see page 37 for full coverage)

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

of race, class, gender, and privilege and were encouraged to critically reflect on how these issues affect them. As part of the workshop, sociologist Michael Kimmel’s video was shown in which “invisible” identities were discussed. In the video, Kimmel recalls a conversation in which a white woman said to a black woman, “All women have the same experiences as women. We have an intuitive solidarity with women.” To which the black woman responded, “That’s the problem. To me, race is visible, to you it’s invisible.” Kimmel concluded, “That’s how privilege works. Privilege is invisible to those who have it.”

Speaking about people who hold less privilege in society, Mclin said, “You don’t have the luxury to not think about these things because the world is making you think about them.” Participants discussed the idea that middle class white men have no race, class, or gender and that they are seen as objective due to their invisible privilege.

To illustrate the idea of invisible privilege, participants constructed individual identity maps in which they mapped out the characteristics that make them who they are. After sharing and discussing their identity maps, participants were then asked to consider what on their maps, such as race, class, and gender, was invisible.

WORKSHOPS

Activist Theatre

The following days of the conference were filled with workshops pertaining to creative activism. Between the informative workshops, participants were well fed with delicious vegan cooking prepared by the Food Action Collective (FAC) and by local caterer Veronica Garduno.

FAC is a student run group which is involved in many local initiatives to address food sustainability issues. They seek to “build community through food” and ultimately provide the University of Waterloo with more sustainable and healthy food options.

Andy Houston, faculty member of UW’s Department of Drama and Digital Arts, led the workshop on activist theatre. Workshop participants were split into groups and asked to explore the terrain of the Student Life Centre (SLC) as though they were experiencing it for the first time. Once each group had mapped out their own unique course, participants were led on a series of tours to explore the newly discovered ways of experiencing the SLC. One group led participants through a series of basement hallways, which led to the inside of the SLC’s shipment dock. Another group led participants on a route which explored the tensions around public space, including a locked prayer room and a study room with signs that read “No sleeping. It’s unsafe.”

Inclusive Activism The workshop on inclusive activism was co-facilitated by Williams and Randy Mclin, a WPIRG volunteer and UW student. Participants discussed issues

Song Writing with Faith Nolan

Faith Nolan, a songwriter and activist whose music address a range of issues, including Afro Canadian history, native history, feminism, workers issues, and queer issues, led a workshop on activist songwriting. Participants worked together to write a song about rising tuition costs, which they performed later that night at the inSPIRe concert at the Huether.

Documentary Making

The documentary making workshop was led by Alexandra Anderson, associate professor in the Faculty of Communication & Design at Ryerson University, and by Ben Lenzer, a student in the Documentary Media graduate program at Ryerson University.

Anderson and Lenzer raised many interesting points about the process of making documentary films and of being a photographer. Anderson often emphasized the human element of making documentary films, by explaining, “If you’re going to be involved in documentary making, you’re going to be involved with people. These people exist beyond the project, beyond the frame that exists. You’re building relationships and building projects with them in mind.”

Anderson also explained, “When you go in with a camera, you are not invisible.

How you behave is key to the impact you have and key to what you are producing.

You have to engage with the fact that you are working with real people.” Anderson shared that, from her own experience as a documentary filmmaker, she realized that people can stay with you for years after you’ve finish a film.

Lenzer outlined the basic materials that any filmmaker needs, which include: a digital video camera, tripod, microphones, and accessories such as a Secure Digital (SD) card, cables, and lights.

Workshop participants were left with practical and important advice. “Always ask yourself: what is this documentary film really about? What is the subtext?”

Anderson also pointed out that documentary filmmakers should, “Film the key details, imagery is important but

ultimately it is the story that fuels the documentary.”

Both Anderson and Lenzer agreed that starting a documentary is as easy as crossing the street. It’s finishing the documentary which is the difficult part.

Huether Live Performances

Saturday night featured a series of live performances at the Huether in uptown Waterloo. Williams and Christine Lefebvre opened for Faith Nolan, by singing a song in Mohawk and a few songs in English. One particularly inspiring song was about reclaiming power: When I was younger / They told me / I was wrong to be strong / But now I’m older / And I tell them / I’ve been giving away my power far too long / Now I’m taking it back / I’m taking it back / Because it’s mine Participants of the workshop on song writing also performed on stage as a group.

Their song focused on the rising costs of education, thinking critically about university relations with business, and reclaiming power as students.

CLOSING REMARKS

The conference ended on a hopeful note, that participants will take what they have learned and apply these new skills and knowledge to their everyday lives. As stated

by Rachel Small, a member of the WPIRG board of directors, another goal of the inSPIre Conference is to “expand everyone’s notion of who can be an activist and what activism is.” WPIRG is a shining example of creative activism, seeing as the group is composed of a diversity of members who do not conform to the stereotypical view of what it means to be an activist.

Inclusive activism and peer learning were key themes throughout the conference. As Williams expressed, “Conferences like inSPIre give you the opportunity to learn skills that you’re not going to learn in the classroom or in research papers, but which are still valuable.” She also emphasized that, “It’s important to talk with your peers about issues you feel passionate about — you can learn something from your peers — you can learn skills from someone who isn’t getting paid $150,000 a year.”

arts@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

Julie Bélanger reporter

T

he University of Waterloo welcomed Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men as the keynote speaker for the inSPIre Conference on creative activism on Friday, January 29. The Yes Men are a pair of notorious social and environmental activists who expose the world’s biggest corporate criminals by posing as members of the business elite. During their fleeting moments of exposure, the Yes Men denounce the reprehensible behaviour of corporations who “put profits ahead of everything else” through slapstick humour.

Recently, the Yes Men posed as ExxonMobil and National Petroleum Council representatives at the GO-EXPO, Canada’s largest oil conference. Bichlbaum clandestinely delivered a keynote speech which criticized American and Canadian energy policy. This was not well received by the conference attendees who were mostly executives in the petroleum industry.

He advocated the development of renewable sources of energy, and unveiled a new bogus oil product called Vivoleum, which was allegedly made from human flesh. This outrageous prank, like many others, garnered significant media attention.

Their approach to activism has been praised by many activists worldwide for bringing media attention to important issues. They are also acclaimed for publicly humiliating the heads of corporations, whose criminal neglect is responsible for such catastrophes, such as the Bhopal disaster, which was also the focus of a Yes Men hoax. However, as stated by Bichlbaum, the goal of Yes Men stunts are “not to affect the target, but the public.” Their stunts also serve as a “manifesto” for what corporations should do and raise the question of why they don’t. Their hijinks present a glimpse into a reality in which corporations are socially and environmentally responsible, and thus motivate the public to take action.

Currently, the Yes Men are working on the development of Yes Labs, which are workshops that teach participants how to infiltrate the corporate world to promote social and environmental messages. The Yes Labs are also intended to facilitate brainstorming.

During his presentation, Bichlbaum showed clips of their most famous stunts discussed the prank planning process, and answered many questions with regards to funding and legal issues. He provided many helpful hints and tricks for activists seeking to pose as business professionals to gain momentary exposure.

How to be a Yes Man: • Dress the part • Have a strong alias • Be well groomed • Arrive in style • Have a great story • Be confident • Be prepared • Show no mercy •Never give in The WPRIG’s inSPIre Conference provided valuable insight into the value of different forms of activism. Bichlbaum believes a “sustained effort of civil disobedience” is the most effective form of activism to promote positive change. Given the severity of the social and environmental issues addressed by the Yes Men, it is evident that unconventional measures must be taken to confront corporate titans. As stated by Bichlbaum we must think big and cause creative tension to make “good news for a change.” To learn more about the Yes Men, please visit their website www. theyesmen.org.

inSPire keynote speaker, Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men speaking about effective activism types. photo by Erin Oldynski

Arts & Entertainment

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Arts & Entertainment

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

WF OF FINAL FASSITY FINAL FASSITY A META-META POST-MODERN REVIEW

Photos by Michael Chung

Photos: Above, from top to bottom, cast members Eryka Puzio, Brian Gashgarian, Anna Kreider, and Michael Chan, portray their respective roles in Final Fassity.

Photos: On the right, from top to bottom, cast members Eryka Puzio, Henry Truong, Joel Nielsen, Michael Elg, Mitchell Watt, Wes Campaigne, Lindsay Grisebach, and Jennefer Barua portray their respective roles in Final Fassity.

Arts & Entertainment

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

39

Correction In the January 29 issue of Imprint, Marc Cameron’s name was incorrectly spelled. We apologize for the inconvenience.

UPCOMING SHOWS

Jacob McLellan

ACE KINKAID AND 10 PICK A PIPER

staff reporter

feb

F

inal FASSity MMX, directed by Amos Boratto, is the wet dream of every gamer and still a fun, entertaining show for anyone with limited knowledge of games. Despite being a play, it uses audience involvement and text-directions let the audience direct the show as if it was a game.

Story and background (8.5/10): Final FASSity, chiefly written by Anna Kreider, succeeds due to the careful thought that was put into the jokes. There is a great balance between jokes that the average person would get, such as Mario doing a lot of mushrooms, and jokes that only the geekiest gamer would understand, such as the inclusion of the Konami Code.

The play’s plot does run a tad long with its extended cutscenes, a few of which could have been excluded as there were many parts that didn’t advance the plot.

Sometimes, in the creation stages, you have to kill your babies. Maybe the scene is hilarious and maybe it’s your favourite, but a director and writer has to realize that if you’re struggling to fit your game within a three hour time-frame, something is wrong.

Length aside, Final FASSity’s story was engaging and entertaining. The characters were true to their original counterparts and their roles fit in great. For a game with such an immense number of characters, the writers did a spectacular job of keeping the characters’ personalities original and captivating.

The only bothersome characters were Link and Zelda. Link should not have talked. Not to say that Alexander Huynh acted poorly or that his part wasn’t funny, but his role would have been just as great if he only used an expressive “hyahhhh” when something happened to him. Zelda was great in her role, but seeing how Sheik fit into the mould of hero or princess would have been interesting. **Spoiler Alert** The story is expansive, following multiple characters and plot lines that all converge near the end, but it is by no means complex. The main story is about game continues being gone and the heroes becoming secluded wimps who fear death at every turn.

Graphics (9/10): The costume designs were spot on, making most characters instantly recognizable. The astute watcher and gamer would have a hay-day naming the horde of heroes and villains that came from different games, consoles, and decades. It was like Kingdom Hearts on crack - with all the imported characters, but luckily you don’t have to sit for a hundred millennia before seeing so much as a Sebastian the Crab (to paraphrase MC Chris, comedian gamer).

The costumes appeared to eat up the bulk of FASS’s budget since the environment designs were rather ineffectual. For the most part, the environment was there but it wasn’t interacted with and it was usually fairly hard to discern what one particular eight-bit piece of cardboard was from another. However, this game’s focus was the characters,the music, and the dialogue, not the set design; It never stifled a guffaw or hindered a snigger.

Voice Acting (8/10): The characters’ actions were highly animated, the singers were spectacular, and the staging was exemplary.

Ansem from Kingdom Hearts, played by Brian Gashgarian, had the most animated facial expressions. Just watching his eyes made me double up as he looked upon his underlings with maniacal smirks and vexed frowns.

All of the singers were on key, but Ian Thompson’s rendition of “I Feel Evil” was exceptionally wonderful.

His loud, low, and arrogant voice carried throughout the room. It was a laugh hearing such an obviously arrogant character singing that belittling tune.

Managing to give so many characters time on screen is a huge feat. Director Amos Boratto did a admirable job staging the characters. He was obviously very anal about keeping characters from blocking each other.

Sound (8/10): The nostalgic sounds from Mario, Mortal Kombat, and various other popular games were, for the most part, properly timed. They added an element of comical hilarity to complement the game’s pre-established nature. The play included multiple musical numbers that were adapted from popular pieces such as “Those Canaan Days” (“Those Evil Days”) from Joseph’s Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, the Pinky and the Brain Theme song (“Headcrab and Dr. Sid”), and I Feel Pretty (“I Feel Evil”).

The songs were a lot of fun and always added to the game’s exuberance. The musical numbers were played by the live band flawlessly to the point that they seemed pre-recorded until a flute played an unfortunate off-note during a solo in I Feel Evil. Although, at times it was hard to hear the singers, the fact that it was a closed beta (dress rehearsal), showed me that these levelling issues should be worked out by the release date.

Controls(6/10): The controls (that is, the audience interaction) were gimmicky and fickle and can be best compared to the Wiimote. Although it’s fun to flail about screaming and pretending you’re in control of the characters, the decisions, and the overall outcome of the play, the controls aren’t precise. It’s like playing Fable: sure you can choose between raiding a farm and defending a farm, but the overall plot structure remains the same.

Coding (8.5/10): Final FASSity’s coding (techies) deserves its own section because of what it accomplished and how cleanly it accomplished it. The game was three hours long, complete with an immense number of actors had around 25 scenes and at least one hundred audio and lighting cues. To load the scenes smoothly, execute the audio and lighting effects, and prompt the miscellaneous commands as seamlessly as Final FASSity’s coding did is absolutely amazing.

Re-playability (6/10): With three hours of cut-scenes and a broken pause button that paused and resumed at will (after the first act for 15 minutes), this particular game needs to be shelved for a while before playing it again unless you enjoy fifteen hours of farming straight on World of Warcraft. But, when you put that disc in again there are many easter eggs, side quests, and hidden references that can keep you entertained for hours.

The Verdict (8/10): Moday’s closed-beta release ended with dwarfed but enthusiastic applause from the five audience members, but from opening night to closing, this game will get the applause it deserves from a room full of gamers.

Final FASSity MMX is still playing at the Humanities Theatre Friday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m., 10 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 6at 8 p.m. jmclellan@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

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Arts & Entertainment

40

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

Book Review

Architectural

Iorich Steven Brust TOR

V

lad Taltos is a human living in a world of Dragaerans.

The Dragaerans are a group ruled by houses (clans). There are 17 houses and each take a turn ruling the empire. The amount of power that a house holds depends on where the house is in the cycle.

I first read Steven Brust 20 years ago while I was in high school, and until this day, I still activly pursue his writing. Iorich is Brust’s 12th book of his Vlad Taltos adventure series.

Iorich goes more into the dynamics of Dragaeran house position than some of the other books. Each house has a dominant characteristic and a predominant occupation. The order of the cycle is: Phoenix, Dragon, Lyorn, Tiassa, Hawk, Dzur, Issola, Tsalmoth, Vallista, Jhreg, Iorich, Chreotha, Yendi, Orca, Teckla, Jhegaala, and finally Athyra. Most people are born into a house and are given the house title. A few will sell their titles, and sometimes a title can be earned. Vlad first bought a title in the Jhereg and moved up. The Jhereg are a mixed clan and are known to be the criminal element in the world. It is in the Jhereg clan that he gets himself into trouble, leading to a multi-year run from the clan.

Once I picked this book up I could not put it down. I believe this story can stand on its own from the rest of the series. Though I recommend starting at the beginning, you can either read the books chronologically or in order of publication. I have gone back and reread them both ways and prefer the order they in which were published. Brust is truly a wordsmith: I find it a delight to read his prose.

He approaches each book in a unique way; yet, remains loyal to what has happened before. The writing is a pleasure to read, the story flows, and even though Vlad has all the faults one could expect from a human being, I could not help but to find myself cheering for him and racing to find out how he would unravel his problems.

Of all the books in the series, interestingly, all except one are named after the Dragaeran Houses; Taltos which originally had a working title of Easterner is named after our hero.

Brust is planning on writing one book named after each of the remaining houses in the cycle. The other books set in this world are: The Phoenix Guard, 500 Years After and The Viscount of Adrilankha told in three parts as The Oaths of the Dead, The Lord of Castle Black and Sethra Lavode.

— Steven R. McEvoy

Kong’s urban slums. These slums have been built on the roofs of existing high rise apartment complexes by rural Chinese migrating into Hong Kong. The stunning black and white photography depicts the gritty living conditions of the migrant families shown in a focus sharper than most care to see. Contrast is a major theme; such as the ingenuity and persistence of mankind, and primal shelters that result from it. The piece shows contrast between Hong Kong’s modern, prosperous image, and the absolute poverty of the work force which supports it.

Ted Fleming staff reporter

T

he University of Waterloo School of Architecture moved to a new location of downtown Cambridge, in 2004. Unfortunately, this has caused interaction between the architecture and main campus students to be very limited. The distance between the two campuses has created an environment where many students become too downright lazy to be informed of events and opportunities presented on this campus. This includes opportunities such as experiencing one of only two publicly funded galleries in the country devoted to architecture and design — opportunities like the Design at Riverside Art Gallery.

Design at Riverside, operated by the City of Cambridge occupies about 1,000 square feet in a retrofitted silk mill, shared with the School of Architecture, and a small European style café. The gallery features rotating exhibits from prominent international architects and artists.

These exhibits are expressed primarily in photographs, but also include drawings, models, and videos.

Currently there are two traveling exhibits on display at Design at Riverside: Portraits from Above, and Snow Rain Light Wind: Weathering Architecture. This is the first Canadian stop for Portraits from Above, a collection of photography, drawings and written testaments from five of Hong

Snow Rain Light Wind: Weathering Architecture demonstrates how new materials are being used to deal with climate change and the harsh elements as a result of it. Design at Riverside is showing video clips, photographs, and prototype textiles. Across the street in Queen’s Square is a, “multi-layered 10’ x 20’ light reflective ‘skin’.

Oftentimes the connection between UW and Design at Riverside is often misunderstood. The UW School of Architecture does not run the gallery, but both organizations share space in the retrofitted silk mill.

An independent curator selects the exhibits to be displayed, although UW professor make recommendations for content. The gallery focuses on professional work, so few if any student designs are featured. However, the students use the exhibits for inspiration in their own projects. It would seem to be a logical pairing; today’s students learning from the best of yesterday’s architectural work, so that they can design better buildings tomorrow.

Being one of only two publically funded architecture galleries in Canada is quite significant. The gallery is under pressure to justify its funding.

High traffic and interest from the public will signal that they value this type of gallery. It will be seen as approval for more like minded projects. However, the opposite is true as well: poor attendance could mean the public wants to see their money spent elsewhere.

One benefit of the limited number of public Canadian architecture galleries is that students get the chance to see very prominent traveling exhibits.

Design at Riverside organized 41° to 66°: Architecture in Canada — Region, Culture, Tectonics, which was Canada’s submission to the 2008 Venice Biennale in Architecture; one of the most prestigious collections of fine art festivals in the world. The exhibition showed how architecture is used to address the varying, “cultural identity, landscape, climate and sustainability” found in Canada.

Why else should student care about Design at Riverside? As Danish architect, and, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts professor, Steen Rasmussen explains in his book (Experiencing Architecture) architecture is often classified as a fine art along with painting, sculpting, theatre, and music. The feature that separates it from the others is utility. Architecture solves people’s practical problems by providing shelter and usable space. It gives us places to work and places to learn — architecture provides us with complex buildings that gears to most of our needs. At its most basic level, architecture is judged on its level of functionality. One major deciding factor for choosing a residence is single or double occupancy. RCH 101 is great for giving a lecture to 250 students, but it would a disaster to hold a networking session there. A basic understanding of architecture is relevant to everyone because of the impact buildings have on how we interact with the world around us, and each other.

— tfleming@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

Arts & Entertainment

Enlightenment:

41

Only an iXpress Away

From bottom left to bottom right photos: photographs of a slum building exterior and interior in Hong Kong.

Sketches display the interior and exterior plans of photographed buildings on display.

Rocky Choi

Inside Design at Riverside, drawings, writings and photographs like the ones below contrasting different living conditions and architecture in contemporary Hong Kong hung on display as part of the Portraits from Above, and Snow Rain Light Wind: Weathering Architecture.

Unless specified, photos and sketches are courtesy of Jennifer Bedford, Design at Riverside

42

Arts & Entertainment

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

The sandcastle fish dyoon@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

S

o here’s the thing, I’m always looking for new and inventive methods to prepare food, and sometimes I come across some strange ones. From the infamous dishwasher salmon (actually really good), rice cooker bread (tends to burn), all the way to coffee maker poached chicken (I don’t really even want to try it; you’re supposed to put the chicken in the coffee pot and let hot water drip on it).

My favourite, as of late, is the salt crusted snapper. This calls for a lot of salt mounded around a fish in a manner similar to being buried in the sand by your cousins when you were a kid. The salt crust becomes rock hard. This creates an oven within your oven, with the

fish sealed within the crust so that it steams the fish. This also makes it nearly impossible to overcook. If you aren’t big on eating fish, I’ve also heard of this being done with roasts of beef and whole hens.

I’ve seen this technique done on Iron Chef before. I recently read about it in a food blog, I became quite intrigued. I picked up a whole red snapper (cleaned and scaled) and went to work. The result was the most tender but well cooked fish I had ever tried and surprisingly, was not very salty at all. So tender, in fact, that it was difficult to move to a plate. The best part, though, is breaking the salt crust because how often do you get to smash your food with a hammer really?

The recipe here is super simple.

You can add herbs and lemon slices as stuffing for added flavour. A whole red snapper will serve two (depending on the size) and runs about $10 at your local supermarket.

Also, I’d strongly advise doing this on aluminum foil or risk having to soak your pan in water for at least three days before the salt begins to dissolve. This is also a great recipe for entertaining as it looks cool coming out of the oven and it is next to impossible to screw up.

Pair this fish with a crisp, citrusy white wine such as sauvignon blanc or pinot gris. I’m a huge fan of Gabbiano Pinot Grigio, which runs for about $13 at the LCBO.

Red Snapper in a Salt Crust Ingredients • 1 whole red snapper, cleaned • 2 egg whites • 2lbs salt, preferably coarse sea salt

Directions

1

2 3 4 5 6

Preheat oven to 400⁰ F. In a bowl, combine egg white and salt. Add some dried herbs if you like.

In a baking dish lined with aluminum foil, make a bed with the salt mixture.

Place the fish on top of the salt bed. Cover with the remaining salt mixture.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven. Let cool for five minutes before breaking the crust. Serve as is, or drizzle extra virgin olive oil on the fish before eating.

Photos by Dani Yoon

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Arts & Entertainment

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

43

Attention to detail, massively effective tkoshy@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Grade The Good • • • • •

A

Great characters Dynamic weapons Realistic voice acting Good combat sequences Easy Interface help with loot

The Bad • • •

Vague class description Annoying bugs Mandatory mining

O

ver the past few days, it has become increasingly difficult to ignore Mass Effect 2’s marketing campaign. Bioware has insisted on bashing into everyone’s skulls the news of their sequel. Having made the utmost effort to avoid the marketing, I was relieved to finally play the game. story

Bioware paints a picture of the future, which borrows a lot from science fiction lexicon and yet manages to create few original ideas. The depth of the story is staggering and deep.

This is a both a plus and minus. Fans or those familiar with the series will enjoy the depth; newcomers will be overwhelmed and confused. If you’re a newcomer, please do yourself a favour and play Mass Effect (or just read the Wikipedia entry). It’ll clear everything up and make the game less confusing.

The story of Mass Effect 2, for some odd reason, manages to engender a more personal connection, at least for me. This might be the only game where I actually gave a crap about other characters. And you’ll need to. Pay no heed to your allies, and everything will go tits up when the shit hits the fan. Mollycoddle everyone and you’ll kicking ass at the aforementioned shit-meets-fan moment.

Mass Effect 2 storyline is a checklist: • Assemble your team, • Upgrades your ships and weapons • Upgrade your team, • Travel the galaxy, meet interesting species and then kill them.

• Oh… and save humanity gameplay

This is Bioware game: expect attention to detail and a lot of talking.

No seriously, a lot of talking. If you want to beat the game, you’ll have to become very chatty. Talk to your allies enough, and you’ll get a “loyalty” mission from them. Accomplish the loyalty mission and voila: one upgraded, badass, loyal squad member.

Concerning the main missions, they are, for the most part, extremely simple. Fight your way from point A to point B (sometimes you might get a point C). This is both a blessing and a curse. There are a few missions, which do not follow the formula, leaving players confused.

In order to improve the character and make it possible to survive the final encounter, you’re gonna have to scavenge a lot. Half the time I was scanning around looking to see

if there was some sucker’s corpse to loot, some safe to crack or some datapad to hack. The rewards for these are decent and almost required in order to beat the game. Thankfully, the interface makes it easy to ascertain whether there be loot.

Combat sequences are interesting, to say the least. Squad AI is intelligent. You definitely don’t feel as if you’re carrying the entire team; they’ll certainly pull their weight.

When combined with the Force, umm, Biotic powers, fight sequences become a little bit more manageable.

The enemies are simply content to hold their positions and rain hell on you. Its not that they’re stupid, but they’re not the smartest bunch ever.

Right at the beginning of the game, you have to choose your class.

The description is a bit too vague for my liking. Honestly, a few key words would have been much better than an entire paragraph spouting vague nonsense.

Ah yes, the task of pimping out the SR2 Normandy. For some obscure reason Bioware insists that, you have to mine planets for materials in order upgrade the ship and weapons. No, you cannot buy these materials on the market, nor buy the upgrades directly.

The mining process can best described as stumbling around in the dark, desperately searching for the keys to your door. It’s annoying, monotonous and its required. It’s like James Bond having to actually go out and sew together his suits or prepare his own damn martini.

There is the matter of bugs.

During the review on a few occasion several bugs popped up. They included missing character models for the cutscenes. One particularly annoying bug was the save function.

On several occasions, upon my character’s death the game would restart several missions back. It’s like battling your way through the fire of Hades only to be shoved back to listening to your dithering boss.

Courtesy Bioware

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presentation

If you ever needed a reason to buy a HDTV, this might be the game to force your hand. The graphics are gorgeous, especially concerning facial animation.

Little details are sprinkled throughout the game that makes it more lifelike.

From the way your character turns their head to regard people to the way the rain falls off your armour, Bioware have truly improved the graphics. I was pulled into what seemed to be a space opera (minus idiotic lightsaber swinging farmboys).

The voice acting is top notch. You have legends such as Martin Sheen, Keith David, and Tricia Helfer (for science fiction fans). All of the voice actors played their parts well and the animations for their characters matches their voices. Giant badasses (Golly I love that word) sound suitably intimidating, trusty allies sound suitably trusty, and so on. Through the combination of voice acting and animation, it’s easy to find characters that you can relate to and even give a crap about.

Now for the sex scenes (Judge not, lest ye be judged) All I will say is that they have been toned down considerably (or that in the future everyone will be into dry sex).

In the end, Mass Effect 2 will fans an orgasm or leave a newcomer impressed.

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Arts & Entertainment

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

R

Courtesy of madinalake.com

Madina Lake Attics To Eden Roadrunner Records

anked 153rd on the Billboard 200 chart for 2009, Madina Lake has proven that they are not new to the alternative rock scene. Although Attics to Eden is their second album to rank on the charts, they a still have a long way to go.

Their previous album, From Them, Through Us, To You ranked 154. Aside from the chart rankings, the album showcases a-bitmore-than-average talent. Neither vocal nor instrumentals were outstanding on their own. It is the combination of lead vocalist Nathan Leone, drummer Dan Torelli, and guitarist Mateo Camargo, on top of the chemistry of the band that produced a good, full-sounding rock album worth listening to. The underlying theme of the album is about politics, media culture, and more specifically about fame and fortune. Despite the fact that these themes have been done over and over, the opinions and perspectives of the lyrics are arguably new. Attics to Eden has a good balance between high tempo, energetic tracks, and mellow, simple, lyric centered tracks making the album easier to listen to. Overall, the sound comes across as a mix between The All American Rejects and Billy Talent (my apologies to the avid fans of either band). If you’re looking for an alternative rock band that does not have hype followed by disappointment, give Madina Lake a listen. If you do decide to listen, give it more than just a once through.

— Jae Cha

— Nathan Snelgrove

dmittedly, when I picked up a copy of Dommin’s latest album, my instincts told me I was not going to like it. My instinct was correct. I do not think Dommin’s Love is Gone deserves neither attention nor praise. I believe that if this band is given some attention, their “dark romance” tendencies may turn into just “romance” tendencies, which I would very much appreciate.

Dommin falls under the category of “dark romance,” all their songs are (as we modern day kids call it) “emo” and fall under the category of “trying too hard to stir up your emotions.” It would be quite unfair to say that the members of Dommin does not stir up any emotions within me; of course they do, just that it’s anger, and not sadness.

Some of the lyrics are pretty sad.

Their first song, “My Heart, Your Hand,” “I can feel the knife carving your love in my heart/You promised you wouldn’t harm a hair on this fragile body, no that’s not fair/But how can I trust you?”

A prime example of their excellent lyrical performance would be “Love is Gone,” with phrases such as “I feel nothin’, no I don’t feel nothin’, no I don’t feel nothin’ at all/I feel nothin’, no I don’t feel nothin’, now I know what’s going on.” The use of repetition sure does hammer in the message they wish to get across because I certainly feel “nothin’” good about this album at all.

To a serious listener of this genre, however, I do heartily recommend this album. Dommin’s soft supple approaches to some of these songs, then hammering down some of the harsher lyrics, does its job quite nicely. The singer’s voice is fitting for the job and if you can really get into this type of music, the vocalist does bring out the held back tears some of you might have.

Listeners who have included this kind of music in their life will definitely enjoy listening to Dommin. The band can certainly entertain those who sit in dark places while reciting poetry, playing Dommin gently in the background.

Light a few candles and grab that pen and paper folks, because Dommin will either get your blood pumping, or your tears running.

eleased in 2008, Los Campesinos! debut album, Hold On Now, Youngster.... was laden with bright, poppy tunes and lyrics about mixtapes and Livejournal.

Two years later, we see their third full-length release, Romance Is Boring. This album shed all notions of tween pop that their earlier recordings established. Their cheery releases may have been the appetizer, but Romance Is Boring feels like what the band has always strived to be. Proclaimed to be an album “about the death and decay of the human body, sex, lost love, mental breakdown, [and] football,” it is the work of a band with purpose and direction, which they deliver.

The album starts out with the ambitious “In Medias Res.” It is the band’s first foray into brass, fitting flawlessly amongst the guitars and violin. “There Are Listed Buildings,” the first single, retains the musical light-heartedness of their earlier material, but frontman Gareth Campesinos! has upped his lyrical prowess. Similarly, “Straight In At 101” is a testament to the band’s ability to craft both memorable lyrics and standout riffs. The song itself sounds like a big pop hit, and the lyrics, very much about sex, are cheeky yet clever.

The first half of the album already is very strong, but the second half one-ups it. “A Heat Rash In The Shape Of The Show Me State; or, Letters From Me To Charlotte” might make for a wordy title, but the song makes up for it. Detailing a story of unreciprocated love, it also features another instance of brass. They pull it off so well I have begun to wonder if the seven-piece band should enlist even more members to the roster just for a brass section. The high point of the album, however, is in “The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future.” Previously released as a free track in September, it is everything the band has worked to achieve: pensive instrumentation, near flawless lyrics, and a package that, despite being fairly depressing, could very well be their magnum opus.

As a whole, the album is the band’s most cohesive and solid work yet. Romance Is Boring might not take off as quickly as their previous work, but being a grower makes it no worse. The youthful energy of their tween pop days isn’t there anymore, but a “darker” album isn’t bad by any means. In fact, this is their best work to date. Romance Is Boring is definitely worth a listen and more than just once.

A

Courtesy of Roadrunnerrecords.com

Dommin Love is Gone Roadrunner Records

I

n the past, Alesana has been a mediocre at best screamo band, maybe because they sounded exactly like their peers. With The Emptiness, they attempt something inventive, crafting an original story to create a concept album about a sketch artist and his murdered girlfriend. They have sharpened their song-writing as well. The choruses are bigger and the midsections of their songs are now lush and colourful, with more accomplished melodies than the band previously attempted. The production reflects this growth; it sounds dynamic and rich when compared to their previous efforts. However, all this can’t save Alesana from the fact that there are a lot of other bands better at this style of music than they are. The lyrics are cliché, despite the story’s attempt at originality, and the band still descends into standard breakdown tripe when they run out of other, more interesting riffs and ideas.

The Emptiness is a large improvement over their past records certainly their best and most enjoyable work yet but it is still barely better than mediocre. At best, The Emptiness is a step in the right direction. With time and maturity, Alesana could put out a fantastic record in the future.

— Ivan Lui

Courtesy of fearlessrecords.com

Alesana The Emptiness Fearless Records

R

— Ronald Chui

Courtesy of AlBUmoftheyear.com

Los Camesinos!

Romance Is Boring Arts and Crafts

Arts & Entertainment

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

Unveiling A Comedy

Alcina Wong staff reporter

A

s wholly unexpected as wearing many masks in a play was, “Mask on Meds” was not to disappoint. Featuring plenty of memorable characters and smiles for all, the play was inspired by the Commedia Dell’Arte tradition. This tradition is Italian in origin; it often involves comedy, different character archetypes, improvisation, and masks.

The play was heavily laden with humour despite the traditional and rural setting. Popular culture jokes draw the audience further into their world.

The exaggerated expressions and movement fit in with the style of the play, and the characters were funny.

The performance was divided into two plays. The first was Rolfe’s “The Dumb Wife,” and the other, Moliere’s

“The Flying Doctor.” Both contained a doctor out to cure an ailment.

“The Dumb Wife” is the tale of a husband, a wife, and a doctor. The husband longs to hear sweet endearments rolling off the tongue of his silent wife, and calls upon a doctor to cure her. With a little medicine and magic, the wife gains the ability to speak. The play escalates into chaos as the wife turns out to be extremely bitter over the things she had been reticent about over the years.

The husband realizes that his wife’s words are not to his liking. What goes around comes around as the husband’s hearing is taken by the doctor. The couple realize how much they love one another, and that hearing and speaking has nothing to do with their happiness.

“The Flying Doctor” is the story of a man who wishes to marry a woman, but is unable to because she is already betrothed to another man. The daughter

feigns sickness to delay the wedding while her lover makes plans for their elopement. The lover enlists the help of his bumbling valet and hatches a plan to convince the father to move his lover to the house in the garden to improve her health. Things get crazy as the valet tries to come off as intelligent while getting himself tangled in his own lies. In a spectacular fight with his brother, the valet tries to keep the pieces of the plan from falling through.

Everything turned out for the better in the end, with the lovers escaping into the mountains. Whether the “doctor” was caught by other enraged characters was left up to the audience. All in all, it was a happy version of Romeo and Juliet.

Since most of the main parts are played by actors and actresses in masks, a lot of the facial expressions of the characters are lost, but this is not a negative thing. The expressiveness of

the actors’ eyes, the exaggerated movements, and the character sthat the masks endow upon the wearer are more than enough to make up for it.

Put on by the UW Drama Department and directed by Gabrielle Houle, the UW Drama show is located in the smaller theatre of HH. The enclosed space enabled the intimacy to envelope the crowd, and the interaction with the audience was not obscured by a large stage. The acting done by each character was excellent, as they matched their mask to a tee. The happy stories were a breath of fresh air as they were tailored to the audience enough so as not to alienate them, but engage them in the play.

“Mask on Meds” is playing Friday, Feb. 5 and Saturday, Feb 6 at the Humanities Theatre at 8:00 p.m. awong@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

Photos Courtesy of University of Waterloo Drama and communication department

Photos: From top left to bottom, Mask on Meds cast members Emma Dines, Chai Lavie, and Shawn DeSouza-Coelho portray their respective roles in The Flying Doctor.

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46

Arts & Entertainment

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

Arts Editorial

Twee As Frick Andrew Kai-Yin Mackenzie guest columnist

S

tanley Kubrick would have been surprised; the 2000s haven’t yet been sleek, soulless, and modern, but instead creepily cute. Consider that the decade’s biggest song, “Hey Ya!” was an uncharacteristically happy effort from the typically melancholic Andre 3000. Consider that indie, a genre eschewing the badassness of rock-and-roll for thoughtfulness and tolerance, became the decade’s dominant sound. For a decade where 9/11 supposedly set the tone “this shit just got real,” we’ve dealt in an awful lot of cute escapism.

Cute, by the way, might not be the perfect word to use here. There are bands like the Moldy Peaches who try hard to be cute and selfreferentially embrace it. “We sure are cute for two ugly people,” they sing. But the Moldy Peaches, like their more popular contemporaries Belle and Sebastian, belong to a very specific genre of twee pop. Twee pop, which germinated in the late ‘70s, took the do it yourself aesthetic of punk rock and removed the spikes and mohawks. Yet, it maintained attitude; there was always a certain “we’re cute, fuck you” mentality to the movement – or, as the popular slogan goes, they’re “Twee as Fuck.”

Twee certainly shaped the mainstream indie (a phrase that sadly isn’t an oxymoron) scene of the 2000s. But twee in and of itself disappeared from the mainstream near the start of the decades, as mainstay twee label K Records faded from relevance. Twee has gone the way of zines, riot grrrls, and other products of the ‘90s underground scene. But its legacy is very much with us today.

Pitchfork’s Nitsuh Abede argues that “today’s indie world is remarkably professional, and … today’s indie audience has managed to embrace plenty of [twee]-styled bands without ever think-

ing of them in these terms.” He’s on point. Plenty of popular bands have twee hearts, including (shameless plug) this week’s Imprint reviewed Los Campesinos! But while Los Campesinos! are an extreme example of a twee-influenced band – they actually shout out K Records and other twee influences with 2007 single “The International Tweexcore Underground” – pretty much all indie bands right now have roots in twee.

The Arcade Fire is a great example of an ubermainstream indie band, relatively far removed from twee, which uses — or at least started out with — a lot of cute elements. “The girl plays the violin? They recorded their debut EP in a barn? That’s so precious!” Their progression is an appropriate microcosm for twee’s evolution.

As they’ve become more mainstream, their sound has become bigger, bombastic-er, and, well, kind of stadium rock. (They actually just licensed “Wake Up” to the Super Bowl.) Indie has become more than just independent; it’s a genre of its own, and is now so prevalent that it’s pretty much mainstream.

There’s no way we can call it twee anymore.

Twee emerged when it wasn’t cool to be cute.

“You don’t like us being cute? Well, we’re going to be cute even harder, right in your face.” Or, in other words, “twee as fuck.” Now, twee has essentially mellowed out. As it’s morphed into what we now know as indie, it’s become less “we’re cute, fuck you” and more “I guess we’re kind of cute… maybe?”

Bands have become less cute and more complacent. Broken Social Scene and the majority of its offshoot arts and crafts label: acts like Feist, Stars, and the Most Serene Republic – are great examples of music that’s pleasant, kind of cute, but mostly unaware. A recent Arts and Crafts signing pretty much sums up the Canadian post-twee indie movement with their name: it’s comprised mainly of city kids who would like nothing better than to hang out in the forest

courtesy SXC

and surround themselves with beauty and love.

The band? Forest City Lovers. The name’s almost satirical.

In 2005, Nitsuh Abede predicted a schism in the indie world in the vein of twee’s split from punk, where the music scene would tire of the “professional” mainstream of acts like Arcade Fire and Feist: “It’s about time the rock kids got their forward-looking tear-it-up moment: the indie world of the past decade has been far too content to strum its way comfortably along, going nowhere.” It’s 2010, and that split hasn’t happened yet. But it’s on the way. Bubbling in the musical underground is a trend toward dissonance, noise, and evil. This new experimental scene represents a departure from twee towards edgier pastures.

One trailblazing act in this movement, YACHT, is actually the project of K Records veteran Jona Bechtolt. It’s subversive stuff; in style, it should be a cute overload – their 2007 LP is called I Believe in You. Your Magic is Real. Off

that album, “I Believe In You” asks the listener a series of questions. “Your magic’s real, so why aren’t you using it?” Magic, to Bechtolt can be beautiful: “When was the last time you touched a leaf?” creepy: “When was the last time that you told a lie?” and just plain bizarre: “Why is there a picture of a penis on the fridge door?

It makes me feel awkward.” But it’s definitely occult; “The Afterlife,” off YACHT’s 2009 LP Seek Mystery Lights, is pretty much a funky occult jam: “Hail to thee! We know how to make life go on.” Spooky!

YACHT is the tip of the iceberg for the new experimental-occult scene. There are plenty of other bands that are much more obviously evil about it. Some of them, like HEALTH and SALEM, are down with Caps Lock, too. But that’s a topic for another time – specifically, next week. This was Part 1 of a two-part column; part two, in next week’s issue, will explore this new evil scene, and attempt to figure out where music is going after Arts and Crafts. Stay tuned.

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Comics & Distractions

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

crossword Across

1. Pirate nemesis 6. Sierra and Terrain, e.g.

10. Sith nemesis 14. Finishes a lawn 15. Model/singer Dizon 16. Ally to 10-across 17. Dons 18. “Gilligan’s ____�

19. Samoan monetary unit 20. Dancers’ favorite sport 23. Predecessor to TLS 24. Sticks around 27. Energy storage molecule (abbr.)

30. Has lots ____ (owes) 34. “____ Got You�

36. Flung 39. Dancers’ favorite candy 41. Notre Dame Fighting ____ 42. U.S. skin organization 43. Mom’s sisters 44. Dancers’ favourite fruit 46. Elderly wise people 47. You may have grabbed Imprint here 48. Rowers 50. Jerome and Jacobs, e.g.

51. Bounds’ partner 53. Original PokÊmaster 56. Dancers’ favorite music 63. Deliberately discourteous 66. The capitol is Des Moines 67. Marry

DANCING 68. Largest continent 69. Common organic chemical 70. Let 71. Act 72. Broadway hit musical 73. Wailing laments for the dead Down

By Mike Koivusalo

1. Inexperienced

(slang) 2. Thought

3. U.S. natural gas

company 4. Many drivers 5. Jack and Jenny 6. Showing lack of preparation

7. Evil corporation Black ____

8. Blondie’s “____

Me�

9. Spent 10. Kids 11. Sheep 12. Mafia boss 13. Kyle’s little brother 21. Technical Liason Officer 22. “____ pie�

25. Revealing undies 26. Group of 7 27. ____ best 28. Slaves 29. He was a symbol briefly 31. Jennifer Anderson

sudoku

Dear Missed Connections,

I read the paper yesterday, and you simply weren’t there. Even though I’ve never told you this before, you are the highlight of my week. You always had a way of entertaining me with lines of anonymous romance that sudoku and comics never can. We had a beautiful thing going on, you and me... so if you’re willing to try again, I’ll be reading the paper next week as well.

Ardently, – Your secretly admiring reader

needed 20 pieces 32. Keaton or Lane 33. Type of wear 35. What a snake says 37. Earth System Grid 38. Famous Goldberg 40. Player (abbr.)

45. Rougher 49. ___ Paulo 52. Winning 54. Vampire killer

P.S. Tell the blond girl who likes to sit in the back row that she is absolutely lovely.

Dear girl who was wearing a really nice gray knit sweater,

55. Famous Berry 57. Perfect 58. Beru’s husband 59. Type of participle 60. Insider 61. Fairy tale starting word 62. Mends 63. It provides heat (abbr.)

64. Exploit for selfish reasons 65. End

Solution:

On Friday’s Chem 120 lecture, I saw you sitting in the front of the class. I love your sense of fashion, I love your sweater, and I really like you. – Your Sincere Secret Admirer Dear C, I’m sorry I hit you in the face. Meet me at Porcellino.

I promise to take you to the Eiffel Tower of Waterloo. – ND

January 29, 2010

Solution

6 3

3 9 1 4 6 1 2 8 5 2 6 9 4 1 7 4 4 7 3 1 8 6 7

To the vice president of Imprint, 1

2

3

L O F

11

E E R

4

5

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6

D E

15

18

M A N B E A R P S

22

T W O 26

29

30

R A N C

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39 43

20

I S A N D

32

33

S Y S

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45

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62

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A A A T A S

50

I D E

53

56

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46

C

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54

C H O C O L A T E L E O

40

Now I’m not exactly sure that your position is vice president but I do know that in September you worked at the futon shop. When I bought the futon I told you that if I broke it I would blame it on sex and that if my warranty was refused I would write to Imprint and say the futon shop was against sex. Anyway just letting you know that the bed is indeed sex suitable and I would invite you to try it out for yourself. – Anon

E E Y O R E

48

L A M E N

59

36

A S P F R E E

44

52

I

N A N D O

A W E S O M O

51

L

28

A S S E S O F F

38

I P

N A G G E R S

31

T S N

55

E M S

24 27

I D

10

13

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T R E

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C A R E F U L

34 37

L

B A S H

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7

12

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17 21

R U D E

57

58

T Y B A L 61

L S

A R G U E

64

P A S S

Missed any connections lately?

Got any ideas, gripes, or randomly entertaining thoughts?

Send them (with utmost affection) to

distractions@imprint.uwaterloo.ca

How do you plan on paying for the tuition hike?

By Rachel Viscontas and Xiaobo Liu

“Work the corner.�

“Beg my parents.�

Alyssa Vanderlaan

Yateh Larchie

3B Science

3B Sociology

“This is my last term so I don’t care.�

“Rob a bank.�

Abdullah Asmat

Neethan Pushpalingam Masters Accounting

47

“What the hell?!?!�

Kirollos Gurguis 3A Electrical Engineering

4A Science

48

Comics & Distractions

Imprint, Friday, February 5, 2010

(postscript@imprint.uwaterloo.ca)

JORDAN CAMPBELL (faculties@imprint.uwaterloo.ca)

MICHAEL TO (irresponsiblyoptomistic@imprint.uwaterloo.ca)

“J.T.” (geese@imprint.uwaterloo.ca)