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January 22, 2009 Dancing at right angles since 1875 Vol. 138 Iss. 13 Argosy The Independent Student Journal of Mount Allison University In Sackville, local businesses and students usually get along fairly well. However, SAC Entertainment and Uncle Larry’s are at odds after last semester’s Last Class Bash. e SAC wanted to bring DJ CAM, former Olympic DJ Champion, to Sackville but were initially unsure of a venue. Two weeks before Last Class Bash, Corey Yantha approached Larry Hebert, owner of Uncle Larry’s, on behalf of SAC Entertainment. At first, Hebert was resistant to the idea of hosting the event because it was the same night as Keith’s Crew, but they managed to strike a deal. However, Uncle Larry’s and SAC Entertainment can’t quite agree on what that deal was. e SAC believed that Hebert would repay them half of what was spent on DJ CAM. Volunteers from the SAC were to come at 11 pm to take a five dollar cover at the doors after Keith’s Crew, but Hebert had his own employees work the doors. When SAC entertainment planner Curtis Michaelis came the next day in order to collect on behalf of the SAC, Cover charge chaos SAC, Uncle Larry’s disagree on terms of payment for Last Class Bash Jessica Emin Helena van Tol Argosy Staff he was told that Uncle Larry’s lost too much money that night and Hebert refused to pay. “I figure I lost a couple thousand dollars that night […]. I can’t prove exactly how much money I lost but I’ve got a pretty good idea,” said Hebert. “is should have been the best night of the year, letting everybody in. Last class bash is the biggest party of all and I’ve had more people in here on a Friday night.” Hebert understood that SAC Entertainment was simply looking for a venue, and that he wouldn’t be required to pay any money as the DJ had already been hired for the night. Yantha and Michaelis disagree, explaining that they had agreed upon taking cover at the door in advance to help recover the cost of the DJ. A day or two before the event,Yantha left a message at the bar asking that Hebert call him back in order to make sure all the arrangements were in place. Hebert received the message and failed to return the call. As the DJ was setting up, an argument broke out about whether Hebert would allow them to charge cover after 11 pm. Finally, according to Yantha, they agreed that Hebert would pay half the DJ’s fee and if people left because of the cover, they would stop charging. “It’s just standard,” explained Yantha, “Any other club or bar anywhere, you’d be paying that regardless. It’s really strange how you don’t pay cover in Sackville. It’s pretty fortunate, but I mean it’s a special event.” Hebert believes that people didn’t come because of this five dollar cover charge. “I lost a lot of money that night and I feel that the SAC is responsible for it because of doing advertising that I never authorized,” he said. Still, Yantha said that the event actually brought in more people than Keith’s Crew. He estimated that only seventy people or so attended Keith’s Crew, while the dance floor was “packed” after eleven for DJ CAM. Also, Hebert feels he received negative advertisement in a mass email sent out by the SAC prior to the event. e Pub was advertised with drink specials, no cover charge, and the opening of the new dance floor, while underneath, it stated that there was a cover charge at Uncle Larry’s after Keith’s Crew was over. SAC President Mike Currie “highly, highly doubt[s] that [Larry] lost thousands of dollars” but speculated that the opening of the new Pub would draw some business away from Uncle Larry’s. “I can understand that there are a bit of contentious feelings now that there are two places near campus,” said Currie. “[but it’s] the students, I think, which have indicated their choice rather than the advertising.” Both the SAC and Uncle Larry’s are still bitter about the failed transaction, with allegations coming from both directions. “It was a scam they were trying to pull off. [But] it backfired in their face because I lost too much money that night to help recuperate them,” said Hebert. “ey just needed a place to play in. It was free.” And Yantha maintains that a definite verbal agreement was reached as the DJ was setting up. “[Hebert] takes advantage of students because he’s just all about making money,” asserted Yantha, “It’s very unfortunate that he’s not running a business like he could be in Sackville; […] that huge space could just be such a great opportunity for a successful club, you know.” e SAC has a history of making verbal agreements for these kinds of events, and have never had a problem before. “People in Sackville; they’re pretty respectable and we stay to our word,” said Currie. “And, unfortunately, we didn’t change that. We still did an oral contact so we don’t know what the official agreement [was]. But I think the SAC will be changing its policy in the future so that we have these agreements in writing so that confusion like this doesn’t happen.” Last week, Paul Rasbach, Board of Regents Representative, passed a motion at the SAC meeting which was approved unanimously. e motion stated that the SAC would attempt to recover the lost funds. ere has been some speculation about bringing this to a small claims court. Rasbach has been looking into the matter; and the SAC is considering legal action, although no concrete actions have been taken. “I think the best situation,” said Currie, “would be to have Larry, and a potential witness that he might have had, and us, sit down and talk […] about what actually happened, and see if it was a miscommunication, and come to an agreement that will work for both parties.” SAC Entertainment brought in DJ CAM for last semester’s Last Class Bash, held at Uncle Larry’s. The SAC and Uncle Larry’s are currently in a dispute over cover charges for the night. Features p. 9 e dark side of peacekeeping

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Page 1: Argosy January 22, 2009

January 22, 2009 Dancing at right angles since 1875 Vol. 138 Iss. 13

ArgosyThe

I n d e p e n d e n t S t u d e n t J o u r n a l o f M o u n t A l l i s o n U n i v e r s i t y

In Sackville, local businesses and students usually get along fairly well. However, SAC Entertainment and Uncle Larry’s are at odds after last semester’s Last Class Bash.

!e SAC wanted to bring DJ CAM, former Olympic DJ Champion, to Sackville but were initially unsure of a venue. Two weeks before Last Class Bash, Corey Yantha approached Larry Hebert, owner of Uncle Larry’s, on behalf of SAC Entertainment.

At first, Hebert was resistant to the idea of hosting the event because it was the same night as Keith’s Crew, but they managed to strike a deal.

However, Uncle Larry’s and SAC Entertainment can’t quite agree on what that deal was.

!e SAC believed that Hebert would repay them half of what was spent on DJ CAM. Volunteers from the SAC were to come at 11 pm to take a five dollar cover at the doors after Keith’s Crew, but Hebert had his own employees work the doors.

When SAC entertainment planner Curtis Michaelis came the next day in order to collect on behalf of the SAC,

Cover charge chaosSAC, Uncle Larry’s disagree on terms of payment for Last Class Bash

Jessica Emin

Helena van TolArgosy Staff

he was told that Uncle Larry’s lost too much money that night and Hebert refused to pay.

“I figure I lost a couple thousand dollars that night […]. I can’t prove exactly how much money I lost but I’ve got a pretty good idea,” said Hebert. “!is should have been the best night of the year, letting everybody in. Last class bash is the biggest party of all and I’ve had more people in here on a Friday night.”

Hebert understood that SAC Entertainment was simply looking for a venue, and that he wouldn’t be required to pay any money as the DJ had already been hired for the night.

Yantha and Michaelis disagree, explaining that they had agreed upon taking cover at the door in advance to help recover the cost of the DJ.

A day or two before the event,Yantha left a message at the bar asking that Hebert call him back in order to make sure all the arrangements were in place. Hebert received the message and failed to return the call.

As the DJ was setting up, an argument broke out about whether Hebert would allow them to charge cover after 11 pm. Finally, according to Yantha, they agreed that Hebert would pay half the DJ’s fee and if

people left because of the cover, they would stop charging.

“It’s just standard,” explained Yantha, “Any other club or bar anywhere, you’d be paying that regardless. It’s really strange how you don’t pay cover in Sackville. It’s pretty fortunate, but I mean it’s a special event.”

Hebert believes that people didn’t come because of this five dollar cover charge.

“I lost a lot of money that night and I feel that the SAC is responsible for it because of doing advertising that I never authorized,” he said.

Still, Yantha said that the event actually brought in more people than Keith’s Crew. He estimated that only seventy people or so attended Keith’s Crew, while the dance floor was “packed” after eleven for DJ CAM.

Also, Hebert feels he received negative advertisement in a mass email sent out by the SAC prior to the event. !e Pub was advertised with drink specials, no cover charge, and the opening of the new dance floor, while underneath, it stated that there was a cover charge at Uncle Larry’s after Keith’s Crew was over.

SAC President Mike Currie “highly, highly doubt[s] that [Larry]

lost thousands of dollars” but speculated that the opening of the new Pub would draw some business away from Uncle Larry’s.

“I can understand that there are a bit of contentious feelings now that there are two places near campus,” said Currie. “[but it’s] the students, I think, which have indicated their choice rather than the advertising.”

Both the SAC and Uncle Larry’s are still bitter about the failed transaction, with allegations coming from both directions.

“It was a scam they were trying to pull o". [But] it backfired in their face because I lost too much money that night to help recuperate them,” said Hebert. “!ey just needed a place to play in. It was free.”

And Yantha maintains that a definite verbal agreement was reached as the DJ was setting up.

“[Hebert] takes advantage of students because he’s just all about making money,” asserted Yantha, “It’s very unfortunate that he’s not running a business like he could be in Sackville; […] that huge space could just be such a great opportunity for a successful club, you know.”

!e SAC has a history of making verbal agreements for these kinds of

events, and have never had a problem before.

“People in Sackville; they’re pretty respectable and we stay to our word,” said Currie. “And, unfortunately, we didn’t change that. We still did an oral contact so we don’t know what the o#cial agreement [was]. But I think the SAC will be changing its policy in the future so that we have these agreements in writing so that confusion like this doesn’t happen.”

Last week, Paul Rasbach, Board of Regents Representative, passed a motion at the SAC meeting which was approved unanimously. !e motion stated that the SAC would attempt to recover the lost funds.

!ere has been some speculation about bringing this to a small claims court. Rasbach has been looking into the matter; and the SAC is considering legal action, although no concrete actions have been taken.

“I think the best situation,” said Currie, “would be to have Larry, and a potential witness that he might have had, and us, sit down and talk […] about what actually happened, and see if it was a miscommunication, and come to an agreement that will work for both parties.”

SAC Entertainment brought in DJ CAM for last semester’s Last Class Bash, held at Uncle Larry’s. The SAC and Uncle Larry’s are currently in a dispute over cover charges for the night.

Features p. 9

!e dark side of peacekeeping

Page 2: Argosy January 22, 2009

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PublisherArgosy Publications Inc.

Editors-in-Chief • Zoe Williams, Chris DurrantProduction Manager • Frances McGinnisManaging Editor • Louisa Strain

EditorialNews • Justine GalbraithFeatures • Darren MercerArts and Literature • Julie StephensonSports • Noah KowalskiScience and Technology • Stuart TownsendEntertainment • William Gregory Humour • Vivi Reich, Mark Comeau Submissions • Erin JemczykPhotography • Jessica Emin

ProductionCopy Editors • Juliet Manning, Sarah RobinsonGraphic Design • Vivi Reich

BusinessAdvertising • Joselyn MacLellan

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The Argosy62A York Street, Sackville, NB

E4L 1H3(506)364-2236

2 JANUARY 22, 2009 THE ARGOSY • NEWS

Members of Mount Allison’s External Relations department recently showed o" a menu of environmental options they will be presenting to potential donors, but some students and sta" were only hungry for one thing: energy-e#cient infrastructure.

!e afternoon meeting took place on January 15, and information was presented by Michael Cantwell, the External Relations department’s Executive Director of Campaign and University Advancement.

Cantwell outlined a new direction in the JUMP Campaign called “!e Greening of Mount Allison.” He presented seven broad, environmentally-themed options the donors could choose to fund.

Primarily catching the attention of five of the seven students in attendance was an option called the “General Fund for Action,” described as a fund used to purchase energy-e#cient equipment and subsidize infrastructure renovations.

One of the projects Cantwell mentioned as possibly being funded by donations was renovation for the fume hoods used in the university’s laboratories. Others, however, had bolder suggestions.

“It [could] be so much more ambitious, the university should be going after big bucks, to make a new residence, a sustainable residence, from top to bottom, and go after three or four million extra dollars to make that happen,” said Geography and Environmental Science professor Brad Walters.

Environmental, but not ambitious? Students question whether new JUMP Campaign priorities go far enough in the “greening” of Mount AChris DurrantArgosy Staff

Other priorities mentioned by students included investing in wind and geothermal energy, and finding ways to lessen the school’s dependence on oil. Student Owen Roberts was at the meeting, and made his position clear.

“Green infrastructure is, in my opinion, the first and foremost thing that we should be looking for from donors,” he said.

At times, the discussion centered around sta" and students trying to understand why the infrastructure proposal was so broad.

“If you start with something general enough, it gives you the tools to go knock on doors, and it gives you the opportunity that if you run into someone with great ideas and lots of wealth, to entertain those ideas” explained Cantwell, but some students were not convinced.

“I find it deeply concerning that Mt. A, ostensibly one of the greenest universities in Canada, consistently fails to set concrete environmental goals for its capital campaign,” said VP External Mark Brister. “Donors, who certainly know less about available environmental opportunities compared to some of the experts at Mt. A, cannot be given full discretion to shape future institutional environmental policy.”

Cantwell mentioned that it is the university that identifies projects that he then has a mandate to fundraise for.

“!ings like student residences heated by geo-thermal power; the university has yet to make those a priority. You want the university to make that part of its master plan. !en we would embrace it,” said Cantwell.

!e Board of Regents approved the facilities master plan, which guides the long-term investment in infrastructure for the university,

six years ago. Director of Facilities Management Rob MacCormack said that he didn’t know if it would be done di"erently today, in terms of the environmental considerations, and that new environmental priorities would come from the university’s environmental issues committee.

However, the dictates of the master plan doesn’t mean that Cantwell’s hands are tied on the proposals.

“[My] next major challenge in rewriting [the proposals] will be to write the infrastructure proposal in a way that addresses the students and sta" suggestions, while at the same time is still broad enough to attract donors,” said Cantwell. “!ere will be material to express the university’s desire to be an environmental champion.”

Other funding options presented at the meeting included the chance for donors to support academics in the areas of environmental science and environmental studies by donating endowments to fund post-doctoral fellowships, or to support sta" and student research. Another of the funding options was a General Fund for Awareness and Activism, something that elicited a di"erent response than Cantwell expected.

“I would venture to say […] there is a sense of activist fatigue happening in terms of environmental causes; I’m not sure if we were given a lot of extra money, what exactly we would do with it, [compared to] what we’re doing with it now,” said member of Eco-Action Natalie Gerum. “I think if students saw the university react through infrastructure, it would refresh the activism.”

Student politics, fruit, and cookies were served on Jan. 14

Academic Renewal Q&A

VP Academic and Research Stephen McClatchie visited the SAC to answer questions about the Academic Renewal Process. He is asking for written feedback and hopes for formal report from the SAC.

Currently, McClatchie is working on an academic plan to include priorities for the upcoming years. Certain recommendations are already being introduced, but larger changes will require a phase implementation.

McClatchie is pleased at the level of engagement thusfar, and said that faculty have been direct in indicating things they like and dislike.

Nathan Walker asked how new course credits would be transferrable. A first-year seminar shouldn’t be a problem, but one-credit courses might have to be taken in multiples of three.

Justin Oake asked about an extracurricular transcript, and SAC President Mike Currie said that he is working to introduce these next year.

A 50-per-cent decrease in the number of distribution requirements has been suggested.

Currie mentioned potential conflicts between evening classes and extracurriculars, but McClatchie replied that these will always be sections of multi-section courses.

Erik Johnson asked if consideration had been given to short-term overdrive into first-year courses. McClatchie responded that a predictive model is used to determine courses needed for incoming students. He urged students to register earlier so that sections can be added as needed.

McClatchie said that a certificate program could be defined as formal recognition of learning

received, and could also help non-traditional learners. Much still needs to be discussed, such as di"erences between these and minors.

When asked about continuity, McClatchie said that the chair of Academic A"airs will continue and that many members are reappointed, and suggested that students can brief their successors.

McClatchie indicated that he was planning a second discussion paper to cover important topics not covered by the working groups.

SAC response to Bridge St. Fire

!e University has met with landlord and tenants of 46 Bridge, said Mike Currie, and help finding housing was o"ered. Meals at Jennings have been o"ered for free for the next week.

!e Salvation Army has been receiving many donations, but Currie asked for people to call the SAC o#ce where they will keep track of what is being o"ered, and relay the information to the students.

!e students a"ected by the fire have been to counseling and have had their keys and student cards replaced.

Project Rebuild has been reactivated and monetary donations are being accepted; fundraising will also occur to help these students as well as prepare for future incidents.

Gillian Fraser suggested an insurance awareness campaign.

After hearing concerns, Paul Rasbach asked for tangible results from Project Rebuild and a review of how the money was used.

Anna MacKinnon asked if it is possible to have houses inspected before moving in, and VP External Mark Brister explained that Mayor Estabrooks hopes to bring back a housing inspection board.

Councillor Concerns

Nakita Knowles asked whether a listing of on-campus jobs could be made available.

Rachel Betuik asked whether salt could be put in the doorways of residences, and Erik Johnson added that there is salt available in residences, and that dons and custodial sta" have access.

Ben Kropp asked about green cleaning products, and Barry said that any houses without these are being switched over.

Doug MacLean complained that one of the front doors to the STUD sticks, and Barry said that the door is locked. Nathan Walker said there is an ill-placed exit sign on the second floor of the STUD near Student Life.

Paul Rasbach asked about Uncle Larry’s owing the SAC money for last class bash and made a motion to have the SAC take every action within reason to recover the funds.

VP Report

VP Academic Ryan Robski discussed the December Senate meeting. Mt. A will receive $2.8 Million from the provincial government for deferred maintenance projects. Academic Matters recommended calendar changes to Canadian Studies and Environmental Science, and approved a Joint Honours in Economics and Mathematics.

!e ad hoc committee on student evaluation of teaching has met to discuss the role of teaching evaluations, what forms should look like, participation, and paper vs. online formats, among other topics.

Academic A"airs has met twice in the New Year, and has drafted a Standardized Form for Student Concerns. !is will encompass academic, general and university concerns.

Page 3: Argosy January 22, 2009

3JANUARY 22, 2009 THE ARGOSY • NEWS

Plane Crashes in Hudson River, Manhattan

A US Airways plane crashed in the Hudson River in New York City after a flock of birds flew into the engines, causing them to fail after less than a minute in the air. !e pilot, Capt Chesley Sullenberger is being applauded as a hero after safely landing the plane on water and evacuating all 155 passengers, around half of whom su"ered very minor injuries. !e plane has been extracted from the river, almost completely intact and will form part of an investigation into the crash.

In the last 20 years, bird collisions have killed 219 people, and bird strikes cause $600 million worth of damage to aircraft in the US every year.

Hamas and Israeli Ceasefire in Gaza Strip

Israel was the first to declare the ceasefire, starting at 2 am Sunday morning, claiming its goals in Gaza had been accomplished. Certainly the Hamas military and government infrastructure has been seriously damaged by the three-week o"ensive. Hamas responded later in the day by also enstating a ceasefire. Both sides seem unwilling to budge on conditions for a permanent cessation

!is week in the worldA weekly miscellany compiled by Rebecca Dixon

of the attacks. Hamas is demanding the

withdrawal of all Israeli forces from within Gaza by next week and the opening of the border for deliveries of humanitarian aid. !ey also claim that their rocket capabilities remain strong. Israel, however, insists its soldiers will remain in Gaza for as long as they deem necessary.

As the peace holds, the full extent of damage is horrifyingly revealed, with tens of thousands people left homeless because of the bombardments, and even more lacking water, fuel and medical supplies. !e Arab League is set to propose a US$2 billion fund for reparations in Gaza.

Although the world’s hopes for peace are high, civilians on either side will be unsurprised if this fragile situation again dissolves into open conflict.

Zimbabwe Issues Z$100 Trillion Note

!e new bank note is worth only around US$30 as Zimbabwe’s lengthy bout of hyperinflation continues to drag the economy downwards. Last July the inflation was estimated to be about 231 000 000 per cent. !e introduction of the note, as well as several others in the trillion dollar range will not be of much help to

citizens because most goods are only available in American dollars.

!e BBC reports locals stating that prices can double overnight and that food and fuel are in short supply. Daily limits on cash withdrawals have been abandoned, but banks are finding they do not have enough cash to supply customers. !e rough shape of the economy compounded with the current political dispute and cholera epidemic is making daily life for Zimbabweans extremely complicated.

Sri Lankan Rebel Group Retreating from Government

!e Tamil Tigers, who have been

struggling for a separate homeland for 25 years, are being pushed back to their final strongholds by the Sri Lankan army. !ey have only 40 km of coastline left, though they have claimed successful attacks that have resulted in the death of 51 soldiers.

Government forces report contradictory facts, claiming their were only eight causalities on their side and 20 rebels killed. Independent media is not allowed into the area to verify either reports. At least 70 000 people have been killed throughout this lengthy conflict.

Increasing Tension on the Korean Peninsula

North Korea issued a statement warning South Korea of the potential of retaliation for Seoul’s confrontational policies. !is comes after South Korea strengthened its guard while a six-country deal to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear aspirations falters. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, elected last year, is determined to take a stronger stance against the nuclear aspirations of his northern neighbour.

In the week before Barak Obama’s inauguration as US President, this announcement indicates the di#cult US-Korean relations will continue to be an important issue for the presidency.

Sometime between 11:00 pm on Saturday and 8:00 am on Sunday last weekend, there was a break-in to one of the rooms at the Hart Hall Photography Department.

Karen Stentaford, first year photo professor and technician, called Campus Security after it was discovered that a locked door had been kicked in. !ere were four big boot marks and the door had been splintered.

“Oddly enough somebody had picked up all the fragments,” said Fine Arts Department Head !addeus Holownia. “So we found that very curious. A neat vandal!”

Stentaford called Security a couple

!eft and vandalism in the Fine Arts departmentHelena van TolArgosy Staff

of times before getting an answer. Security told Stentaford that a carpenter was on his way.

!e carpenter arrived around 3:00 pm. Karen waited for security until 3:40 pm, but they never showed.

!e scene was eventually investigated by Paul Bragg, Mount Allison Security & Safety coordinator.

“I think it may have been faulty hardware on the door,” said Bragg, “I did not find any sign of forced entry - no tool marks, wood splinters. [But] the door would not latch properly.”

In fact, nothing had been stolen and nothing - besides the door - had been vandalized.

!e room in question holds a large expensive Mac computer and colour printer. !e computer, however, was locked to a table with a security

cable.“Sometimes things happen

Saturday nights that aren’t that explainable,” laughed Stentaford.

Recently, there have been some thefts among students in the Gairdner. Holownia believes that the culprit had been discovered and apprehended by Judicial. Nevertheless, Holownia admits that the department has been lucky over the years.

“[One] time we had someone run through here with a fire extinguisher and sprayed it all over the place,” he recalled. “You know its one of those kinds of deals where someone is doing something crazy.”

Holownia also encourages students to keep their work in their lockers.

“Don’t leave stu" lying around. If you see people who obviously don’t belong here, call security.”

Jessica Emin

Change is in the air this week, but not too much of it – at least not if you are applying to work as a Resident Assistant. !ere has been much talk about alterations to the RA hiring process, but Gayle Churchill, Manager of Student A"airs, says nothing revolutionary is taking place.

“!ere is a little change to the residence life sta" position hiring process this year, as too much change too soon does little for anyone or anything,” she explained.

Requirements for application include first aid qualifications and availability for training in August. However, the GPA requirements have increased from the mandatory 1.7 to a 2.25 in the winter semester.

According to Churchill, students should be more concerned with their degrees. “I think we shouldn’t put students in a position where their academics are at risk. When you add an RA-ship, it’s quite a role.”

Also new this year are the mandatory information sessions.

“Last year, if you wanted to apply, the RAs and the Dons would say, ‘come and have a talk in the lounge’ about being an RA. It was very informal,” said one current RA.

!is year, three information sessions have been scheduled to provide as much opportunity for student attendance as possible. !e sessions are meant to “give general information regarding the residence life sta" positions to prospective applicants, in order for them to make informed decisions,” said Churchill.

Still, there has been some confusion surrounding another suggested

RA hiring changesZoe WilliamsArgosy Staff

change to the hiring process. When the changes were first announced, applicants were informed that they were required to provide the hiring committee with reference letters.

Harper RA Heidi Fraser said that “the changes [were] a bit stressful for applicants as it is hard to get references in that short period of time.”

However, the requirement has since been reduced to providing the names and numbers of referees. !e original rationale behind the required letters was to have the RA hiring process “mirror the whole process of applying to any job,” explained Churchill. However, “with the amount of paper we were looking at, we said we would go with numbers and names.”

First-year student Erin McSorley, who is applying for an RA position, is positive about the experience so far.

“!e application isn’t unreasonably long, and I feel like the questions are appropriate in order for the selection committee to get a feel for individual’s qualifications and aptitude.”

Fraser says she feels the old hiring process was fair, but “there could have been some type of event which evaluated us on our social skills and problems solving abilities in groups.” Nothing like this is included in the new hiring process.

Churchill, however, is positive about the new process; over 100 students have shown up for the information sessions.

McSorley found the session helpful, “especially due to the fact that RAs and Assistant Dons were present at the meeting to answer any questions that we had.”

“I am definitely still planning on applying. It reinforced my decision more than anything.”Last weekend, a locked door in the photography department was found kicked in; nothing was stolen.

Despite recent thefts in Gairdner, latest intruder takes nothing

Page 4: Argosy January 22, 2009

4 JANUARY 22, 2009 THE ARGOSY • NEWS

Saturday’s pancake breakfast, hosted by Mt. A’s Team Fox, raised $1600, far exceeding their expectations. Approximately 275 people turned out, and the group went through over 50 pounds of pancake mix and “more bananas than we ever want to think about again”, said member Cejay Riley. Team Fox is planning another pancake breakfast in the semester along with other fundraising events.

Team Fox is an organization dedicated to finding creative ways to fundraise in support of Parkinson’s research. !ey started out in 2006 as part of the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Cejay Riley

“!ere’s big plans for the commerce department,” said SAC VP Academic Ryan Robski. !e program is looking to hire a Dean-like position to head the Centre for Business Studies, and is also developing an introductory course potentially to be o"ered in the upcoming year.

Joyce Centre DirectorLast year, the commerce department received a $5 million donation from Tim Horton’s co-founder Ron Joyce to build the Centre for Business Studies.

VP Academic and Research Stephen McClatchie “knew at that time that it would need some kind of leadership,” which has led to the current development of the position of Joyce Centre Director.

!e position requires internal and external leadership, said McClatchie. !e director will be the head of the Centre for Business, and act as a dean, although commerce will continue to be the responsibility of the Dean of Social Sciences.

!e position will also increase the capacity of the department, as he or she will be responsible for teaching courses.

In addition to helping students academically, “the director will also have business networks [...] which will help the university remain [connected to the] business world,” said commerce student Mary James Fisher.

McClatchie explained that it’s “a bit of a di"erent kind of role” due to the strong external component, typical of business programs.

“It’s a necessity in a way that it may not be for another academic

Centre of Business Studies’ rapid expansionDepartment searches for a new director and designs a new course

Justine GalbraithArgosy Staff

department,” he explained.SAC Social Science Senator Gillian

Fraser agrees. “[!is position] will make

commerce at Mt. A more like business programs at other universities and will allow it to be taken seriously by other institutions and industry,” explained Fraser.

However, Fraser likes how integrated the program is with the rest of the university, and thinks this could add another degree of separation.

“I think it’s right for the program but maybe not for the university.”

Still, with all of the current focus on the department, SAC VP Academic Ryan Robski explained

that it is important to have someone to work closely with McClatchie and the deans.

!e hiring committee for the position includes McClatchie, Fisher, Dean of Social Sciences Rob-Summerby Murray, former Dean Berkeley Fleming, all tenured faculty members, librarian Ruthmary MacPherson, and alumnus Karl Larsen. !ey are looking to have someone named by late winter, and in place for the next academic year.

First year course!e commerce department is also

hoping to include an introductory course in the academic calendar for the upcoming year.

“!ere are, and there have been, within the university pressures to o"er more courses at the first year level, in part because the size of the first year class did grow over the last year,” said Berry. “I think as a department we should be doing our part to help accommodate that growth.”

Last year, a first year introduction to business course was deleted from the academic calendar. !e course had not been o"ered in over three years, and wasn’t doing much for for first year students, explained Berry.

!e SAC got a commitment from

the department and from Senate to develop a new first year course to replace that, said Robski, and currently, development of that course is almost complete.

“!ere’s [...] tentative department approval for the course,” said Berry. “Final approval will hopefully be obtained this month.”

!e course will be directed towards both commerce and non-commerce students, but Berry would prefer if it was not counted towards the commerce degree.

Fisher thinks it will be of benefit to new students to take a commerce course in their first year.

“Personally, in my first year at Mt. A I felt disadvantaged from other school’s commerce students in that I was not ‘technically’ a commerce student [until] second year,” explained Fisher. “A first year course will let them know what they are getting themselves into.”

!e course will be a ‘process’ course, as opposed to a ‘content’ course. !ere will be business related topics, said Berry, but they will be more cross-disciplinary in nature and are intended to help students develop abilities such as writing, presentations, and research.

“I think this course would be intended for first year commerce students and for first year arts students interested in doing a major or a minor potentially in commerce for the BA or BSc degree,” said Berry.

Currently, commerce students are required to take a number of first year courses in other disciplines, such as mathematics and economics, before they are able to take a commerce course.

“With certain disciplines you need an adequate level of base knowledge to be able to study the field e"ectively,” said Fraser.

Vivi ReichIn the upcoming year, the Commerce Department hopes to offer a first year course available to both commerce and non-commerce students

Page 5: Argosy January 22, 2009

NATIONAL

SASKATOON (CUP) – If it’s true that political movements start at the grassroots, then the seeds of change were planted this weekend in a classroom at the University of Saskatchewan.

For the organizers of an anti-tarsands conference in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Jan. 16-19, the hope is that now the ideas and protest tactics taught will take root in those who attend.

“So what were the advantages of that tactic?” asked Mike Hudema, tarsands co-ordinator and climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace Canada.

He is in the middle of teaching di"erent forms of soft blockades – a type of non-violent direct action commonly used to provide a human barricade to an entrance, a roadway, or any other protest site.

Participants use their bodies in various ways: first by holding hands, then linking arms, and eventually intertwining anything they can to join forces against a common enemy.

“Well, in a road situation, this would be best, because they couldn’t drive over you,” said one participant, sitting amongst a group on the ground, another person’s legs wrapped around her waist.

!e session is one of many happening throughout the weekend

Halt tarsands development in Saskatchewan: activists‘We don’t want this in our province,’ says anti-tar sands conference organizerWendy GillisCUP Central Bureau Chief

at a conference hosted by Greenpeace, Evergreen, !e Sierra Club of Canada, Council of Canadians, and the Rainforest Action Network.

!e weekend event explored themes of activism, but focused upon keeping the tarsands out of Saskatchewan – a looming possibility as the province reaps revenues from oil and gas resources and companies bid for the right to explore the oilsands in the North.

“!is is one of the largest industrial projects [that could come to Saskatchewan], so the e"ects are going to be just as severe,” said Hudema. “!e damages will be on a scale we haven’t seen before in Canada.”

Hudema, a native of Edmonton, Alberta, has already felt the e"ects of tarsands at a provincial level. Alberta produces 30 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas pollution – much of which comes from the province’s tarsands development, according to a December study published by Environmental Defence.

Additionally, members of the First Nations community of Fort Chipewyan, Atla., situated downstream from the tarsands, have reported elevated levels of rare cancer, says Eriel Deranger, a member of the Fort Chipewyan First Nation, who was in attendance at the conference. Adverse biological e"ects have also been found in fish in the Athabasca river, Eriel says.

Conference organizer Nicole Kenney says the idea grew out of a

trip several U of S students took to an anti-tarsands training camp in Alberta in the fall. !e result was a group of dedicated people who were concerned about Saskatchewan’s future, she says.

“!ey learned some of the environmental impacts of the tarsands [and the] many negative socio-economic e"ects,” she said. “We don’t want this in our province.”

!e goal of the conference is to equip people with the knowledge and

the skills to promote environmentally friendly alternatives to tarsands development, she says.

Although Saskatchewan is steadily moving in a similar direction as Alberta – largely due to a Conservative shift in government in the last provincial election – Kenney believes that if enough people’s voices join in the chorus against the tarsands, the government will listen.

“!is is about movement building to apply pressure on the government,”

she said.Members hosting the conference

will head west at the end of the month to hold a similar conference in Calgary. Deranger says the hope is that people in the “right wing city” will see the environmental issues a"ecting their province and start up an activist base, something she says is currently lacking.

Participants learn soft blockade tactics at an anti-tarsands conference held in Saskatoon

Robby Davis/ the Sheaf

WINNIPEG (CUP) – With the help of duct tape and some ingenuity, University of Winnipeg students used a homemade surveillance system to catch a campus security guard surfing pornographic websites on school computers.

!e story started after a routine check-up revealed porn sites in the Web history of a computer belonging to the U of W Physics Student Association, says member Josh Boulding.

“For six weeks we collected evidence,” he said.

!e intruder made no secret of his activity.

“Several times, the website was left on the screen,” Boulding said. “Once, a suspicious paper towel was found on

Students catch porn-watcher on tapePhysics students use video camera, Star Wars helmet to nab U of W security guardAndrew McMonagleThe Uniter (University of Winnipeg)

the floor.”Students denied accessing these

sites, which were visited after the school closed at night.

!e Association’s computer is not on the U of W’s network, and access to sites, including ones that contain porn, is not limited.

Seeking answers, students hid a video surveillance camera inside a Star Wars helmet in the Association’s room.

!e setup worked, and the camera revealed a security guard on the computer.

Once they got the image they needed, the students provided it to the department head, who took it to head of security David Mauro.

Mauro was tight-lipped about the situation, citing privacy legislation.

“I won’t confirm anything in relation to employees or contract employees,” he said. “It would be

irresponsible.”When asked what the procedure

would be in this scenario, Mauro spoke hypothetically.

“We would have to confirm it first. Depending on the specific situation, the contract employee may or may not be interviewed. We would contact the contractors . . . inform them and recommend the employee be re-deployed to another site.”

But, in an e-mail to the Association, Mauro wrote: “!e security guard you discovered using the computer in the lounge was removed from the University work site.”

“I sincerely regret that my department created an unprofessional and uncomfortable environment for you all,” he further wrote.

Mike Lang, president of the Association, says Mauro confirmed the employee would be moved.

Mauro wrote that the security

guard on tape was a contract worker at the university and not a U of W employee.

!e U of W contracts Garda Security. Spokespersons from Garda were unavailable for comment before press time.

Although the situation constitutes a breach in performance and is considered a maintenance issue, such maintenance issues arise for managers in every sphere, Mauro said in an interview.

!e police were not involved as the pornography was not illicit.

“!is isn’t a situation where the guy did something so disturbing that he can never be a security guard again,” Mauro said.

He also praised the Association’s investigative skills in his e-mail.

“Your investigative diligence was pretty creative and nothing short of amazing. In all my years in policing

and security, I have never seen such an e"ective, low cost solution to covert surveillance!” he wrote.

In an interview, Mauro acknowledged that there have been problems in the past with university security guards.

“We have, for any number of reasons, requested that guards be re-deployed,” Mauro said. “It’s not unusual.”

Mauro cited conduct, performance, and poor image as the main reasons for a guard to be re-deployed. Poor image refers mainly to the state of their uniform and hygiene.

“!e nature of the industry is that we’re always competing to recruit the best security guards we can,” said Mauro. “!at means letting some go to get better guards in.”

Mauro noted that the majority of guards on campus are excellent.

TORONTO (CUP) – !e undergraduate students’ union at Toronto’s York University has launched their “Don’t Pay a Cent” campaign urging students to not pay any of their tuition fees until classes o#cially resume.

York students have been out of class since contract faculty, teaching

York students withhold tuitionRochelle BrahamExcalibur (York University)

assistants, and sessional workers went on strike on Nov. 6.

!e York Federation of Students described this as a way for students to express their frustration about the strike.

!e YFS says this may even serve as a means of placing additional pressure on the university to end the strike.

YFS President Hamid Osman says he believes the “Don’t Pay a Cent” campaign will allow students to let their voices be heard so the strike will

end as soon as possible.“Students should put pressure on

the administration and CUPE 3903 and send an e-mail telling them their story, because it is the only way that they will understand what you, as a student, feel,” Osman said.

“!e administration and union need to understand students are su"ering, students are frustrated, and students want an immediate end to this strike.”

However, Robert Ti#n, York’s

vice-president students, says the YFS campaign won’t make a di"erence.

He says the university has postponed its payment deadlines in light of the strike and had taken these steps before the launch of the YFS campaign.

Ti#n says the second-term payment has been put on hold until the strike has been resolved and classes resume, at which time students will be expected to pay their fees and interest will be accrued on

outstanding accounts if full payment isn’t received by that deadline.

If students are having financial problems, Ti#n recommends they speak to York’s student financial services.

“!ey can visit student services not only to talk about deadlines for fee payments, but also to look to see if there is any way of providing some financial assistance,” Ti#n said.

Page 6: Argosy January 22, 2009

MUSIC ACADEMYADVANCED STUDIES IN MUSIC

Subscribe online!Visit our website for all information

regarding our programs for 2009.

Deadlines for registration:

February 13th, 2009 With scholarship application

April 3rd, 2009 Without scholarship application

3165, chemin du Parc, Orford (Québec) J1X 7A2, CANADAT 819 843-3981 | 1 800 567-6155 (Canada Toll free)F 819 843-7274 | [email protected]

www.arts-orford.orgS U M M E R

2009

FONDATION J. A. DE SÈVE

DO YOU HAVE AN OUTSTANDING PROFESSOR?Nominations Are Invited for Mount Allison’s Prestigious Teaching

Awards

The Herbert and Leota Tucker Teaching Award and the J.E.A Crake Teaching

Awards recognize outstanding teaching and educational leadership at Mount Allison

University. A brief description of each award and its criteria follows.

The Herbert and Leota Tucker Teaching Award

The Herbert and Leota Tucker Teaching Award is Mount Allison’s highest

recognition of teaching excellence. Annually, the Tucker recognizes one tenured or

tenure-track faculty member who has taught at Mount Allison for (5)

years and who has demonstrated outstanding teaching, educational leadership, and

teaching scholarship during that time. A professor may win the Tucker Award only

once.

The J.E.A. Crake Teaching Awards

The Crake Foundation offers up to three teaching awards each year, one in each of

the Faculties of Arts, Social Sciences, and Science. These awards are intended to

recognize and encourage teaching excellence and teaching scholarship at Mount

Allison University.

All teachers who are members of the relevant departments and programs and who have not are eligible for the Crake

Award for their Faculty.

A professor may be nominated for only one of these awards each year. However,

there is no limit to the number of times an individual may be nominated, and re-

nominations are welcome.

Before you nominate your professor:

Read the list of previous recipients, the complete criteria, and eligibility details at

http://www.mta.ca/pctc/.

Check to ensure that your professor is eligible, accepts your nomination, and is

willing to compile the nomination dossier.

Write a nomination letter explaining why she/he is worthy of an award. Remember to specify the name of the award for which you are making the nomination.

Address your nomination letter to Dr. Stephen McClatchie, Provost and Vice

President, Academic and Research.

ST. JOHN’S (CUP) – As tuition fees rise across the country, student debt continues to grow. But, Newfoundland and Labrador continues to pump out graduates with high debt levels despite having some of the lowest tuition in the country.

In 2006, the most recent data available, over half of Canadian post-secondary students graduated with some form of debt. !e average amount they owed at the end of a four-year bachelor’s program was $24,047, according to the Millennium Scholarship Foundation.

N.L. has gone against the national trend as student debt and the cost of tuition have decreased.

According to a report given to the provincial government by the N.L. branch of the Canadian Federation of Students, the province’s undergraduate debt has dropped from $30,000 to about $26,000 over the last 10 years.

Daniel Smith, N.L. chairperson for the CFS, says the falling debt is a result of government’s willingness to work with the student movement.

“Since we’ve had the freezes and tuition fee reductions and such, things have been coming down,” he said.

!e debt, however, is still higher than the national average.

When compared to other provinces that have similar up-front strategies, such as grants and low tuition, N.L. students come out deeper in the red than most.

Manitoba also has a tuition-fee freeze and reduction strategy, but students shell out $600 more than Memorial University of Newfoundland undergraduates for tuition.

According to a report on Manitoban student debt by the Millennium Foundation, graduates in 2006 came out of school owing $12,000-$14,000 less than N.L. students.

Smith places the blame on rural N.L. students having to move to bigger centres like St. John’s or Corner Brook for their education.

“Even though we have low tuition fees, we still have students who are high in need in the province,” said Smith.

“Anyone who’s coming from Twillingate, St. Anthony, any of

N.L. student debt prevails despite low tuitionCFS-NL casts critical eye on back-end funding strategiesIan MacDonaldThe Muse (Memorial University of Newfoundland)

these places, is taking on that extra cost to go to school. !ey don’t have the opportunity to live and study at home.”

He also says students from other provinces, attracted by the initial low cost of tuition, come to the province and plunge into debt due to living expenses.

A 2008 report released by the Educational Policy Institute says that the decreased debt has more to do with the type of backend or post-graduation reduction methods the CFS has been known to speak against.

!e publication says that by combining provincial and federal tax credits in Manitoba, undergraduates can wind up being paid $50 per year for their education.

Smith says this is only the case if things go perfectly for the student.

“I would find that a bit skeptical,” said Smith. “!e [Manitoba] student movement is a bit pissed o" with what their government has been doing; I would be shocked to find out if that was the case.”

He says the downfall of back-end programs is their inability to benefit all parties, leaving those who don’t meet their criteria to fall between the cracks.

Nova Scotia has also introduced back-end tax credits as a way of trying to help out students. Although tuition is much higher on average, Nova Scotia graduates are $3,000 better o" than those from Memorial University of Newfoundland, according to the Globe and Mail.

“Sure, it will help some people on the back end; it will help the people who make the most money on the back end, but it doesn’t proportionally impact everybody the same,” Smith said.

Whether or not back-end methods reduce the average amount undergrads have to pay back, Smith says the main problem is the inability of these policies to open doors for potential students.

He says by having higher initial fees, people with less cash have a harder time getting in to universities to begin with.

“Just picture yourself, 18 years old, just about to start university, and your mother or father looks at you and says: ‘Don’t worry about the cost of education. You’ll save it on the back-end,’” Smith said.

2006 average student debt as reported by the Millenium Scholarship Foundation:

British Columbia: $26,675Western Canada: $22,787Ontario: $22,589Quebec: $12,992Atlantic Canada: $29,747

6 JANUARY 22, 2009 THE ARGOSY • NEWS

Page 7: Argosy January 22, 2009

OPINIONS

Chris DurrantArgosy Staff

I’ve never successfully started a blog, my voice has never graced any podcast, and I’m convinced that the only advantage of the new online gadget Twitter is that it allows people to broadcast their inane Facebook status news to total strangers. And when I say convinced, I mean convinced. How could being able to send one or two lines of text to some strangers ever be of any use?

!is is the kind of attitude that means I will fail. Really, it’s a hard slog up from where I am now to get back to up-to-dateness, let alone to the desired cutting edge. Let’s diagnose where I’ve gone wrong.

My first mistake is that I still consider myself up-to-date. Maybe it’s a logical fallacy. I believe that because I am still more advanced at computers than my mother, I must be still very knowledgeable. Everyone else who knows more about me than computers isn’t up-to-date, instead they are “specialists” who know more than is really necessary. More likely though, I’m su"ering from a small bout of arrogance, but in either case, it breeds a dangerous complacency.

My second mistake is that I’ve let

Technophobia will get you nowheremyself become so out of date that it limits my ability to conceive of why new technologies might be useful. I’ve mocked Twitter’s 140-charters limit, because whenever I type, I use a computer. If I’d given in, and if, instead of wandering city streets looking for pay phones, I sucked it up and bought a cellphone, I’d be more familiar with something called text messaging. An American journalist in Egypt was able text his Twitter account the message “arrested” from a police car after photographing an anti-government protest. !e 70 or so people who watched his Twitter account were able to quickly begin the process of bailing him out. If I were arrested by the Egyptian government, I’d have to rely on being allowed my one phone call.

My third mistake is that I think ultimately some things involving technology and web 2.0 applications, such as the aforementioned Twitter, are ultimately fads, and as a result I don’t feel the need to learn how to use them. Now this skepticism may seem prudent on my part, in that I save time by not learning how to use fad applications and the like. But really, that only makes sense if you treat each new form of internet communication as its own entity. However, if you look at them as a whole, it’s a completely di"erent picture. Sure, I may waste a little of my time if one of the new online phenomena I investigate turns out to be a dud, but its not like I bought stock. At the same time however, other things for which I’ve built up a working knowledge may turn out to

be exceedingly useful. I’m sure there are plenty of people who wish they’d gotten in on the ground floor of that internet. !e point is that one failure is no reason to stop exploring.

Finally, I’ve payed six thousand dollars a year, for four years, to get the same skills as many people with whom I’ll soon be competing for jobs. On the internet there are free tutorials on how make your own website, use photo-editing software, and all the other new technoliteracies that might give me the

edge in the job market. Why I think that the education that cost money is worth my time, while the free one isn’t, I really don’t know.

I’ve made a lot of mistakes, and getting up to date will take a real conscious e"ort. I think it will be worth it though, because I don’t think there’s any virtue in not understanding how the world is changing, or being ignorant of the new skills that world demands. Whether we like it or not, technology always a"ects the way the

world works. Maybe you aren’t interested in

computers or in Web 2.0. I know I wasn’t. However you may be interested in making money, being able to help election campaigns, getting free publicity or being able to organize large groups of people from long distances. It’s important, because whether or not you become interested, your competition probably already is.

Erin Jemczyk

Do you think the university administration should be responsible for aiding o!-campus students who have been a!ected by the house fire?

Hannah MacDonald“Yes. I don’t feel as though they have any outright obligations but with such a small close-knit school I think it should come naturally.”

Tom Cushnie“Yes, they shouldn’t be directly responsible but provide what aid they can. So they could temporarily provide dorm rooms because they aren’t being used anyway.”

Matt Carroll“!e university should at least cover any academic materials lost, like textbooks. Also they could put on benefits but not directly pay themselves but take donations.”

Andy Taylor“I think they should definitely lend a helping hand to get as much support as they can o"er and give them monetary benefits.”

Emma Hicklin“I would like to say yes. I am not entirely sure it would be nice to know that they wouldn’t help students in a time of need.”

Ben Goldberg“No. I don’t think the university should be responsible but I think that’s what makes Mt. A Mt. A.”

By Jessica Emin, Argosy Staff

Jessica Emin

Page 8: Argosy January 22, 2009

8 JANUARY 22, 2009THE ARGOSY • OPINIONS

Marilyn Lerch

I’m a poet and once I wrote, “Gaza is the saddest place in the world.” !is was long before the recent unspeakable atrocities visited upon it by the nuclear state of Israel. Imagine a million or more people living in this narrow strip of land, caged in, unable to leave by sea, air, or land. And then imagine (because no reporters were allowed in by Israel) these million or more Palestinians being under continual attack day and night (for 21 days as I write) by weapons of mass destruction supplied mainly by the U.S.

Imagine white bundles accumulating, small white bundles holding infants and children. And imagine that this war is called a defensive action! A thousand men, women, and children have been killed and these REPORTED figures are surely low, while thirteen Israelis have died. !at ratio is acceptable to Israel, because clearly an Israeli life is worth more than that of any Palestinian who is called the same names Jews were called. Recently nine human rights groups inside Israeli have deplored the actions of their government, a minority voice but important to cite.

For 50 years, from the expulsion of 800,000 Palestinians from their homes and land in 1948 to this latest rain of death, always Israel has counted on it being seen as the rightful homeland of Holocaust survivors. A long time ago, for those who were not blind, that

Dear Studentsclaim to its existence, that excuse for every settlement built on land denied it by UN resolutions, that excuse for every humiliating checkpoint set up, that excuse for the wall built to divide Palestinian neighbour from neighbour, HAS BEEN USED UP.

Israel is the military arm of the United States in the Middle East, the Enforcer of US policy. And if I denounce it, I am no more anti-Semitic than I am anti-American when I denounce the US war for oil and occupation of Iraq.

Israel has been allowed to act with impunity for 60 years, not only by Western nations, but with the uneasy complicity of its neighboring Arab states who do not want their own masses to rise up against them.

For 60 years, the Palestinians have been denied a State. In Gaza, the very food eaten depends on the State of Israel “allowing” it in. On the West Bank, Jewish settlements exist with all the amenities of Western “civilization” along side the deplorable conditions of Palestinian towns. How could THIS NOT create suicide bombers and rocket launchers.

I dream sometimes of an International Brigade gathering peacefully, creating a human wall that says, “Never again,” to Israel and its protector, the United States, that calls for the establishment of a Palestinian State so long denied, and stays until that happens. !e least you and I can do is break the silence.

Michael Politano Bowles

I feel somewhat confused regarding the lack of salt on the paths on campus this past Monday. Confused is the best word I can come up with that expresses exactly what I felt without bringing into it just exactly how pissed o" I was, as I’m sure many other students and sta" were, sliding to class, in hopes that they may find the right slope to take them there. If Mount Allison really is the top undergraduate university in Canada then they should have at least provided ice skates at various checkpoints around campus for the students, sta", and visitors.

I am confused because I don’t get it. I mean, I got the email. But the email wasn’t holding my hand to class. It wasn’t scraping the ice before my feet. And it sure as hell wasn’t putting salt on the campus paths and sidewalks. I think facilities management does an excellent job in keeping things safe and clean for the students generally, so this is not an attack on them. It’s an attack on whatever authority, or o#ce, man or woman who did not get on the phone and make damned sure that the primary concern on Monday morning was safety. For a school who is often so concerned for the safety of the students, how did Monday get forgotten or overlooked? You in the head o#ces, you must have had a helicopter drop you o".

Maybe the price of salt has skyrocketed with the recession. Hey,

Salt this

tack on another couple hundred to my tuition, what’s the di"erence at this point? I’d rather be even poorer and safe than generally poor with a cracked vertebrae. Tuesday was better though. !ank you. I see salt on the

Corrections for the January 15, 2009 paperIsabel Gertler was not credited for the Sex Bomb photo on page 14.!e fitness column was incorrectly credited to Natalie Butler. Nicole Butler is the correct author.

Weekly Gra"tti

Rosie GriptonBerlin, Germany, 2008.

Send your images of gra#ti to [email protected]. Include where and when you took the photo.

ground; I am content, almost calm. Plus I brought my hockey helmet to school today just in case. I’d pay to see the Pres and the VPs wearing a hockey helmet on their way to the o#ce.

Erin JemczykHave you slipped on the ice recently?

Page 9: Argosy January 22, 2009
Page 10: Argosy January 22, 2009

January 22, 2009 Dancing at right angles since 1875 Vol. 138 Iss. 13

ArgosyThe

I n d e p e n d e n t S t u d e n t J o u r n a l o f M o u n t A l l i s o n U n i v e r s i t y

In Sackville, local businesses and students usually get along fairly well. However, SAC Entertainment and Uncle Larry’s are at odds after last semester’s Last Class Bash.

!e SAC wanted to bring DJ CAM, former Olympic DJ Champion, to Sackville but were initially unsure of a venue. Two weeks before Last Class Bash, Corey Yantha approached Larry Hebert, owner of Uncle Larry’s, on behalf of SAC Entertainment.

At first, Hebert was resistant to the idea of hosting the event because it was the same night as Keith’s Crew, but they managed to strike a deal.

However, Uncle Larry’s and SAC Entertainment can’t quite agree on what that deal was.

!e SAC believed that Hebert would repay them half of what was spent on DJ CAM. Volunteers from the SAC were to come at 11 pm to take a five dollar cover at the doors after Keith’s Crew, but Hebert had his own employees work the doors.

When SAC entertainment planner Curtis Michaelis came the next day in order to collect on behalf of the SAC,

Cover charge chaosSAC, Uncle Larry’s disagree on terms of payment for Last Class Bash

Jessica Emin

Helena van TolArgosy Staff

he was told that Uncle Larry’s lost too much money that night and Hebert refused to pay.

“I figure I lost a couple thousand dollars that night […]. I can’t prove exactly how much money I lost but I’ve got a pretty good idea,” said Hebert. “!is should have been the best night of the year, letting everybody in. Last class bash is the biggest party of all and I’ve had more people in here on a Friday night.”

Hebert understood that SAC Entertainment was simply looking for a venue, and that he wouldn’t be required to pay any money as the DJ had already been hired for the night.

Yantha and Michaelis disagree, explaining that they had agreed upon taking cover at the door in advance to help recover the cost of the DJ.

A day or two before the event,Yantha left a message at the bar asking that Hebert call him back in order to make sure all the arrangements were in place. Hebert received the message and failed to return the call.

As the DJ was setting up, an argument broke out about whether Hebert would allow them to charge cover after 11 pm. Finally, according to Yantha, they agreed that Hebert would pay half the DJ’s fee and if

people left because of the cover, they would stop charging.

“It’s just standard,” explained Yantha, “Any other club or bar anywhere, you’d be paying that regardless. It’s really strange how you don’t pay cover in Sackville. It’s pretty fortunate, but I mean it’s a special event.”

Hebert believes that people didn’t come because of this five dollar cover charge.

“I lost a lot of money that night and I feel that the SAC is responsible for it because of doing advertising that I never authorized,” he said.

Still, Yantha said that the event actually brought in more people than Keith’s Crew. He estimated that only seventy people or so attended Keith’s Crew, while the dance floor was “packed” after eleven for DJ CAM.

Also, Hebert feels he received negative advertisement in a mass email sent out by the SAC prior to the event. !e Pub was advertised with drink specials, no cover charge, and the opening of the new dance floor, while underneath, it stated that there was a cover charge at Uncle Larry’s after Keith’s Crew was over.

SAC President Mike Currie “highly, highly doubt[s] that [Larry]

lost thousands of dollars” but speculated that the opening of the new Pub would draw some business away from Uncle Larry’s.

“I can understand that there are a bit of contentious feelings now that there are two places near campus,” said Currie. “[but it’s] the students, I think, which have indicated their choice rather than the advertising.”

Both the SAC and Uncle Larry’s are still bitter about the failed transaction, with allegations coming from both directions.

“It was a scam they were trying to pull o". [But] it backfired in their face because I lost too much money that night to help recuperate them,” said Hebert. “!ey just needed a place to play in. It was free.”

And Yantha maintains that a definite verbal agreement was reached as the DJ was setting up.

“[Hebert] takes advantage of students because he’s just all about making money,” asserted Yantha, “It’s very unfortunate that he’s not running a business like he could be in Sackville; […] that huge space could just be such a great opportunity for a successful club, you know.”

!e SAC has a history of making verbal agreements for these kinds of

events, and have never had a problem before.

“People in Sackville; they’re pretty respectable and we stay to our word,” said Currie. “And, unfortunately, we didn’t change that. We still did an oral contact so we don’t know what the o#cial agreement [was]. But I think the SAC will be changing its policy in the future so that we have these agreements in writing so that confusion like this doesn’t happen.”

Last week, Paul Rasbach, Board of Regents Representative, passed a motion at the SAC meeting which was approved unanimously. !e motion stated that the SAC would attempt to recover the lost funds.

!ere has been some speculation about bringing this to a small claims court. Rasbach has been looking into the matter; and the SAC is considering legal action, although no concrete actions have been taken.

“I think the best situation,” said Currie, “would be to have Larry, and a potential witness that he might have had, and us, sit down and talk […] about what actually happened, and see if it was a miscommunication, and come to an agreement that will work for both parties.”

SAC Entertainment brought in DJ CAM for last semester’s Last Class Bash, held at Uncle Larry’s. The SAC and Uncle Larry’s are currently in a dispute over cover charges for the night.

Features p. 9

!e dark side of peacekeeping

Page 11: Argosy January 22, 2009

w w w . a r g o s y . c a

PublisherArgosy Publications Inc.

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The Argosy62A York Street, Sackville, NB

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2 JANUARY 22, 2009 THE ARGOSY • NEWS

Members of Mount Allison’s External Relations department recently showed o" a menu of environmental options they will be presenting to potential donors, but some students and sta" were only hungry for one thing: energy-e#cient infrastructure.

!e afternoon meeting took place on January 15, and information was presented by Michael Cantwell, the External Relations department’s Executive Director of Campaign and University Advancement.

Cantwell outlined a new direction in the JUMP Campaign called “!e Greening of Mount Allison.” He presented seven broad, environmentally-themed options the donors could choose to fund.

Primarily catching the attention of five of the seven students in attendance was an option called the “General Fund for Action,” described as a fund used to purchase energy-e#cient equipment and subsidize infrastructure renovations.

One of the projects Cantwell mentioned as possibly being funded by donations was renovation for the fume hoods used in the university’s laboratories. Others, however, had bolder suggestions.

“It [could] be so much more ambitious, the university should be going after big bucks, to make a new residence, a sustainable residence, from top to bottom, and go after three or four million extra dollars to make that happen,” said Geography and Environmental Science professor Brad Walters.

Environmental, but not ambitious? Students question whether new JUMP Campaign priorities go far enough in the “greening” of Mount AChris DurrantArgosy Staff

Other priorities mentioned by students included investing in wind and geothermal energy, and finding ways to lessen the school’s dependence on oil. Student Owen Roberts was at the meeting, and made his position clear.

“Green infrastructure is, in my opinion, the first and foremost thing that we should be looking for from donors,” he said.

At times, the discussion centered around sta" and students trying to understand why the infrastructure proposal was so broad.

“If you start with something general enough, it gives you the tools to go knock on doors, and it gives you the opportunity that if you run into someone with great ideas and lots of wealth, to entertain those ideas” explained Cantwell, but some students were not convinced.

“I find it deeply concerning that Mt. A, ostensibly one of the greenest universities in Canada, consistently fails to set concrete environmental goals for its capital campaign,” said VP External Mark Brister. “Donors, who certainly know less about available environmental opportunities compared to some of the experts at Mt. A, cannot be given full discretion to shape future institutional environmental policy.”

Cantwell mentioned that it is the university that identifies projects that he then has a mandate to fundraise for.

“!ings like student residences heated by geo-thermal power; the university has yet to make those a priority. You want the university to make that part of its master plan. !en we would embrace it,” said Cantwell.

!e Board of Regents approved the facilities master plan, which guides the long-term investment in infrastructure for the university,

six years ago. Director of Facilities Management Rob MacCormack said that he didn’t know if it would be done di"erently today, in terms of the environmental considerations, and that new environmental priorities would come from the university’s environmental issues committee.

However, the dictates of the master plan doesn’t mean that Cantwell’s hands are tied on the proposals.

“[My] next major challenge in rewriting [the proposals] will be to write the infrastructure proposal in a way that addresses the students and sta" suggestions, while at the same time is still broad enough to attract donors,” said Cantwell. “!ere will be material to express the university’s desire to be an environmental champion.”

Other funding options presented at the meeting included the chance for donors to support academics in the areas of environmental science and environmental studies by donating endowments to fund post-doctoral fellowships, or to support sta" and student research. Another of the funding options was a General Fund for Awareness and Activism, something that elicited a di"erent response than Cantwell expected.

“I would venture to say […] there is a sense of activist fatigue happening in terms of environmental causes; I’m not sure if we were given a lot of extra money, what exactly we would do with it, [compared to] what we’re doing with it now,” said member of Eco-Action Natalie Gerum. “I think if students saw the university react through infrastructure, it would refresh the activism.”

Student politics, fruit, and cookies were served on Jan. 14

Academic Renewal Q&A

VP Academic and Research Stephen McClatchie visited the SAC to answer questions about the Academic Renewal Process. He is asking for written feedback and hopes for formal report from the SAC.

Currently, McClatchie is working on an academic plan to include priorities for the upcoming years. Certain recommendations are already being introduced, but larger changes will require a phase implementation.

McClatchie is pleased at the level of engagement thusfar, and said that faculty have been direct in indicating things they like and dislike.

Nathan Walker asked how new course credits would be transferrable. A first-year seminar shouldn’t be a problem, but one-credit courses might have to be taken in multiples of three.

Justin Oake asked about an extracurricular transcript, and SAC President Mike Currie said that he is working to introduce these next year.

A 50-per-cent decrease in the number of distribution requirements has been suggested.

Currie mentioned potential conflicts between evening classes and extracurriculars, but McClatchie replied that these will always be sections of multi-section courses.

Erik Johnson asked if consideration had been given to short-term overdrive into first-year courses. McClatchie responded that a predictive model is used to determine courses needed for incoming students. He urged students to register earlier so that sections can be added as needed.

McClatchie said that a certificate program could be defined as formal recognition of learning

received, and could also help non-traditional learners. Much still needs to be discussed, such as di"erences between these and minors.

When asked about continuity, McClatchie said that the chair of Academic A"airs will continue and that many members are reappointed, and suggested that students can brief their successors.

McClatchie indicated that he was planning a second discussion paper to cover important topics not covered by the working groups.

SAC response to Bridge St. Fire

!e University has met with landlord and tenants of 46 Bridge, said Mike Currie, and help finding housing was o"ered. Meals at Jennings have been o"ered for free for the next week.

!e Salvation Army has been receiving many donations, but Currie asked for people to call the SAC o#ce where they will keep track of what is being o"ered, and relay the information to the students.

!e students a"ected by the fire have been to counseling and have had their keys and student cards replaced.

Project Rebuild has been reactivated and monetary donations are being accepted; fundraising will also occur to help these students as well as prepare for future incidents.

Gillian Fraser suggested an insurance awareness campaign.

After hearing concerns, Paul Rasbach asked for tangible results from Project Rebuild and a review of how the money was used.

Anna MacKinnon asked if it is possible to have houses inspected before moving in, and VP External Mark Brister explained that Mayor Estabrooks hopes to bring back a housing inspection board.

Councillor Concerns

Nakita Knowles asked whether a listing of on-campus jobs could be made available.

Rachel Betuik asked whether salt could be put in the doorways of residences, and Erik Johnson added that there is salt available in residences, and that dons and custodial sta" have access.

Ben Kropp asked about green cleaning products, and Barry said that any houses without these are being switched over.

Doug MacLean complained that one of the front doors to the STUD sticks, and Barry said that the door is locked. Nathan Walker said there is an ill-placed exit sign on the second floor of the STUD near Student Life.

Paul Rasbach asked about Uncle Larry’s owing the SAC money for last class bash and made a motion to have the SAC take every action within reason to recover the funds.

VP Report

VP Academic Ryan Robski discussed the December Senate meeting. Mt. A will receive $2.8 Million from the provincial government for deferred maintenance projects. Academic Matters recommended calendar changes to Canadian Studies and Environmental Science, and approved a Joint Honours in Economics and Mathematics.

!e ad hoc committee on student evaluation of teaching has met to discuss the role of teaching evaluations, what forms should look like, participation, and paper vs. online formats, among other topics.

Academic A"airs has met twice in the New Year, and has drafted a Standardized Form for Student Concerns. !is will encompass academic, general and university concerns.

Page 12: Argosy January 22, 2009

3JANUARY 22, 2009 THE ARGOSY • NEWS

Plane Crashes in Hudson River, Manhattan

A US Airways plane crashed in the Hudson River in New York City after a flock of birds flew into the engines, causing them to fail after less than a minute in the air. !e pilot, Capt Chesley Sullenberger is being applauded as a hero after safely landing the plane on water and evacuating all 155 passengers, around half of whom su"ered very minor injuries. !e plane has been extracted from the river, almost completely intact and will form part of an investigation into the crash.

In the last 20 years, bird collisions have killed 219 people, and bird strikes cause $600 million worth of damage to aircraft in the US every year.

Hamas and Israeli Ceasefire in Gaza Strip

Israel was the first to declare the ceasefire, starting at 2 am Sunday morning, claiming its goals in Gaza had been accomplished. Certainly the Hamas military and government infrastructure has been seriously damaged by the three-week o"ensive. Hamas responded later in the day by also enstating a ceasefire. Both sides seem unwilling to budge on conditions for a permanent cessation

!is week in the worldA weekly miscellany compiled by Rebecca Dixon

of the attacks. Hamas is demanding the

withdrawal of all Israeli forces from within Gaza by next week and the opening of the border for deliveries of humanitarian aid. !ey also claim that their rocket capabilities remain strong. Israel, however, insists its soldiers will remain in Gaza for as long as they deem necessary.

As the peace holds, the full extent of damage is horrifyingly revealed, with tens of thousands people left homeless because of the bombardments, and even more lacking water, fuel and medical supplies. !e Arab League is set to propose a US$2 billion fund for reparations in Gaza.

Although the world’s hopes for peace are high, civilians on either side will be unsurprised if this fragile situation again dissolves into open conflict.

Zimbabwe Issues Z$100 Trillion Note

!e new bank note is worth only around US$30 as Zimbabwe’s lengthy bout of hyperinflation continues to drag the economy downwards. Last July the inflation was estimated to be about 231 000 000 per cent. !e introduction of the note, as well as several others in the trillion dollar range will not be of much help to

citizens because most goods are only available in American dollars.

!e BBC reports locals stating that prices can double overnight and that food and fuel are in short supply. Daily limits on cash withdrawals have been abandoned, but banks are finding they do not have enough cash to supply customers. !e rough shape of the economy compounded with the current political dispute and cholera epidemic is making daily life for Zimbabweans extremely complicated.

Sri Lankan Rebel Group Retreating from Government

!e Tamil Tigers, who have been

struggling for a separate homeland for 25 years, are being pushed back to their final strongholds by the Sri Lankan army. !ey have only 40 km of coastline left, though they have claimed successful attacks that have resulted in the death of 51 soldiers.

Government forces report contradictory facts, claiming their were only eight causalities on their side and 20 rebels killed. Independent media is not allowed into the area to verify either reports. At least 70 000 people have been killed throughout this lengthy conflict.

Increasing Tension on the Korean Peninsula

North Korea issued a statement warning South Korea of the potential of retaliation for Seoul’s confrontational policies. !is comes after South Korea strengthened its guard while a six-country deal to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear aspirations falters. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, elected last year, is determined to take a stronger stance against the nuclear aspirations of his northern neighbour.

In the week before Barak Obama’s inauguration as US President, this announcement indicates the di#cult US-Korean relations will continue to be an important issue for the presidency.

Sometime between 11:00 pm on Saturday and 8:00 am on Sunday last weekend, there was a break-in to one of the rooms at the Hart Hall Photography Department.

Karen Stentaford, first year photo professor and technician, called Campus Security after it was discovered that a locked door had been kicked in. !ere were four big boot marks and the door had been splintered.

“Oddly enough somebody had picked up all the fragments,” said Fine Arts Department Head !addeus Holownia. “So we found that very curious. A neat vandal!”

Stentaford called Security a couple

!eft and vandalism in the Fine Arts departmentHelena van TolArgosy Staff

of times before getting an answer. Security told Stentaford that a carpenter was on his way.

!e carpenter arrived around 3:00 pm. Karen waited for security until 3:40 pm, but they never showed.

!e scene was eventually investigated by Paul Bragg, Mount Allison Security & Safety coordinator.

“I think it may have been faulty hardware on the door,” said Bragg, “I did not find any sign of forced entry - no tool marks, wood splinters. [But] the door would not latch properly.”

In fact, nothing had been stolen and nothing - besides the door - had been vandalized.

!e room in question holds a large expensive Mac computer and colour printer. !e computer, however, was locked to a table with a security

cable.“Sometimes things happen

Saturday nights that aren’t that explainable,” laughed Stentaford.

Recently, there have been some thefts among students in the Gairdner. Holownia believes that the culprit had been discovered and apprehended by Judicial. Nevertheless, Holownia admits that the department has been lucky over the years.

“[One] time we had someone run through here with a fire extinguisher and sprayed it all over the place,” he recalled. “You know its one of those kinds of deals where someone is doing something crazy.”

Holownia also encourages students to keep their work in their lockers.

“Don’t leave stu" lying around. If you see people who obviously don’t belong here, call security.”

Jessica Emin

Change is in the air this week, but not too much of it – at least not if you are applying to work as a Resident Assistant. !ere has been much talk about alterations to the RA hiring process, but Gayle Churchill, Manager of Student A"airs, says nothing revolutionary is taking place.

“!ere is a little change to the residence life sta" position hiring process this year, as too much change too soon does little for anyone or anything,” she explained.

Requirements for application include first aid qualifications and availability for training in August. However, the GPA requirements have increased from the mandatory 1.7 to a 2.25 in the winter semester.

According to Churchill, students should be more concerned with their degrees. “I think we shouldn’t put students in a position where their academics are at risk. When you add an RA-ship, it’s quite a role.”

Also new this year are the mandatory information sessions.

“Last year, if you wanted to apply, the RAs and the Dons would say, ‘come and have a talk in the lounge’ about being an RA. It was very informal,” said one current RA.

!is year, three information sessions have been scheduled to provide as much opportunity for student attendance as possible. !e sessions are meant to “give general information regarding the residence life sta" positions to prospective applicants, in order for them to make informed decisions,” said Churchill.

Still, there has been some confusion surrounding another suggested

RA hiring changesZoe WilliamsArgosy Staff

change to the hiring process. When the changes were first announced, applicants were informed that they were required to provide the hiring committee with reference letters.

Harper RA Heidi Fraser said that “the changes [were] a bit stressful for applicants as it is hard to get references in that short period of time.”

However, the requirement has since been reduced to providing the names and numbers of referees. !e original rationale behind the required letters was to have the RA hiring process “mirror the whole process of applying to any job,” explained Churchill. However, “with the amount of paper we were looking at, we said we would go with numbers and names.”

First-year student Erin McSorley, who is applying for an RA position, is positive about the experience so far.

“!e application isn’t unreasonably long, and I feel like the questions are appropriate in order for the selection committee to get a feel for individual’s qualifications and aptitude.”

Fraser says she feels the old hiring process was fair, but “there could have been some type of event which evaluated us on our social skills and problems solving abilities in groups.” Nothing like this is included in the new hiring process.

Churchill, however, is positive about the new process; over 100 students have shown up for the information sessions.

McSorley found the session helpful, “especially due to the fact that RAs and Assistant Dons were present at the meeting to answer any questions that we had.”

“I am definitely still planning on applying. It reinforced my decision more than anything.”Last weekend, a locked door in the photography department was found kicked in; nothing was stolen.

Despite recent thefts in Gairdner, latest intruder takes nothing

Page 13: Argosy January 22, 2009

4 JANUARY 22, 2009 THE ARGOSY • NEWS

Saturday’s pancake breakfast, hosted by Mt. A’s Team Fox, raised $1600, far exceeding their expectations. Approximately 275 people turned out, and the group went through over 50 pounds of pancake mix and “more bananas than we ever want to think about again”, said member Cejay Riley. Team Fox is planning another pancake breakfast in the semester along with other fundraising events.

Team Fox is an organization dedicated to finding creative ways to fundraise in support of Parkinson’s research. !ey started out in 2006 as part of the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Cejay Riley

“!ere’s big plans for the commerce department,” said SAC VP Academic Ryan Robski. !e program is looking to hire a Dean-like position to head the Centre for Business Studies, and is also developing an introductory course potentially to be o"ered in the upcoming year.

Joyce Centre DirectorLast year, the commerce department received a $5 million donation from Tim Horton’s co-founder Ron Joyce to build the Centre for Business Studies.

VP Academic and Research Stephen McClatchie “knew at that time that it would need some kind of leadership,” which has led to the current development of the position of Joyce Centre Director.

!e position requires internal and external leadership, said McClatchie. !e director will be the head of the Centre for Business, and act as a dean, although commerce will continue to be the responsibility of the Dean of Social Sciences.

!e position will also increase the capacity of the department, as he or she will be responsible for teaching courses.

In addition to helping students academically, “the director will also have business networks [...] which will help the university remain [connected to the] business world,” said commerce student Mary James Fisher.

McClatchie explained that it’s “a bit of a di"erent kind of role” due to the strong external component, typical of business programs.

“It’s a necessity in a way that it may not be for another academic

Centre of Business Studies’ rapid expansionDepartment searches for a new director and designs a new course

Justine GalbraithArgosy Staff

department,” he explained.SAC Social Science Senator Gillian

Fraser agrees. “[!is position] will make

commerce at Mt. A more like business programs at other universities and will allow it to be taken seriously by other institutions and industry,” explained Fraser.

However, Fraser likes how integrated the program is with the rest of the university, and thinks this could add another degree of separation.

“I think it’s right for the program but maybe not for the university.”

Still, with all of the current focus on the department, SAC VP Academic Ryan Robski explained

that it is important to have someone to work closely with McClatchie and the deans.

!e hiring committee for the position includes McClatchie, Fisher, Dean of Social Sciences Rob-Summerby Murray, former Dean Berkeley Fleming, all tenured faculty members, librarian Ruthmary MacPherson, and alumnus Karl Larsen. !ey are looking to have someone named by late winter, and in place for the next academic year.

First year course!e commerce department is also

hoping to include an introductory course in the academic calendar for the upcoming year.

“!ere are, and there have been, within the university pressures to o"er more courses at the first year level, in part because the size of the first year class did grow over the last year,” said Berry. “I think as a department we should be doing our part to help accommodate that growth.”

Last year, a first year introduction to business course was deleted from the academic calendar. !e course had not been o"ered in over three years, and wasn’t doing much for for first year students, explained Berry.

!e SAC got a commitment from

the department and from Senate to develop a new first year course to replace that, said Robski, and currently, development of that course is almost complete.

“!ere’s [...] tentative department approval for the course,” said Berry. “Final approval will hopefully be obtained this month.”

!e course will be directed towards both commerce and non-commerce students, but Berry would prefer if it was not counted towards the commerce degree.

Fisher thinks it will be of benefit to new students to take a commerce course in their first year.

“Personally, in my first year at Mt. A I felt disadvantaged from other school’s commerce students in that I was not ‘technically’ a commerce student [until] second year,” explained Fisher. “A first year course will let them know what they are getting themselves into.”

!e course will be a ‘process’ course, as opposed to a ‘content’ course. !ere will be business related topics, said Berry, but they will be more cross-disciplinary in nature and are intended to help students develop abilities such as writing, presentations, and research.

“I think this course would be intended for first year commerce students and for first year arts students interested in doing a major or a minor potentially in commerce for the BA or BSc degree,” said Berry.

Currently, commerce students are required to take a number of first year courses in other disciplines, such as mathematics and economics, before they are able to take a commerce course.

“With certain disciplines you need an adequate level of base knowledge to be able to study the field e"ectively,” said Fraser.

Vivi ReichIn the upcoming year, the Commerce Department hopes to offer a first year course available to both commerce and non-commerce students

Page 14: Argosy January 22, 2009

NATIONAL

SASKATOON (CUP) – If it’s true that political movements start at the grassroots, then the seeds of change were planted this weekend in a classroom at the University of Saskatchewan.

For the organizers of an anti-tarsands conference in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Jan. 16-19, the hope is that now the ideas and protest tactics taught will take root in those who attend.

“So what were the advantages of that tactic?” asked Mike Hudema, tarsands co-ordinator and climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace Canada.

He is in the middle of teaching di"erent forms of soft blockades – a type of non-violent direct action commonly used to provide a human barricade to an entrance, a roadway, or any other protest site.

Participants use their bodies in various ways: first by holding hands, then linking arms, and eventually intertwining anything they can to join forces against a common enemy.

“Well, in a road situation, this would be best, because they couldn’t drive over you,” said one participant, sitting amongst a group on the ground, another person’s legs wrapped around her waist.

!e session is one of many happening throughout the weekend

Halt tarsands development in Saskatchewan: activists‘We don’t want this in our province,’ says anti-tar sands conference organizerWendy GillisCUP Central Bureau Chief

at a conference hosted by Greenpeace, Evergreen, !e Sierra Club of Canada, Council of Canadians, and the Rainforest Action Network.

!e weekend event explored themes of activism, but focused upon keeping the tarsands out of Saskatchewan – a looming possibility as the province reaps revenues from oil and gas resources and companies bid for the right to explore the oilsands in the North.

“!is is one of the largest industrial projects [that could come to Saskatchewan], so the e"ects are going to be just as severe,” said Hudema. “!e damages will be on a scale we haven’t seen before in Canada.”

Hudema, a native of Edmonton, Alberta, has already felt the e"ects of tarsands at a provincial level. Alberta produces 30 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas pollution – much of which comes from the province’s tarsands development, according to a December study published by Environmental Defence.

Additionally, members of the First Nations community of Fort Chipewyan, Atla., situated downstream from the tarsands, have reported elevated levels of rare cancer, says Eriel Deranger, a member of the Fort Chipewyan First Nation, who was in attendance at the conference. Adverse biological e"ects have also been found in fish in the Athabasca river, Eriel says.

Conference organizer Nicole Kenney says the idea grew out of a

trip several U of S students took to an anti-tarsands training camp in Alberta in the fall. !e result was a group of dedicated people who were concerned about Saskatchewan’s future, she says.

“!ey learned some of the environmental impacts of the tarsands [and the] many negative socio-economic e"ects,” she said. “We don’t want this in our province.”

!e goal of the conference is to equip people with the knowledge and

the skills to promote environmentally friendly alternatives to tarsands development, she says.

Although Saskatchewan is steadily moving in a similar direction as Alberta – largely due to a Conservative shift in government in the last provincial election – Kenney believes that if enough people’s voices join in the chorus against the tarsands, the government will listen.

“!is is about movement building to apply pressure on the government,”

she said.Members hosting the conference

will head west at the end of the month to hold a similar conference in Calgary. Deranger says the hope is that people in the “right wing city” will see the environmental issues a"ecting their province and start up an activist base, something she says is currently lacking.

Participants learn soft blockade tactics at an anti-tarsands conference held in Saskatoon

Robby Davis/ the Sheaf

WINNIPEG (CUP) – With the help of duct tape and some ingenuity, University of Winnipeg students used a homemade surveillance system to catch a campus security guard surfing pornographic websites on school computers.

!e story started after a routine check-up revealed porn sites in the Web history of a computer belonging to the U of W Physics Student Association, says member Josh Boulding.

“For six weeks we collected evidence,” he said.

!e intruder made no secret of his activity.

“Several times, the website was left on the screen,” Boulding said. “Once, a suspicious paper towel was found on

Students catch porn-watcher on tapePhysics students use video camera, Star Wars helmet to nab U of W security guardAndrew McMonagleThe Uniter (University of Winnipeg)

the floor.”Students denied accessing these

sites, which were visited after the school closed at night.

!e Association’s computer is not on the U of W’s network, and access to sites, including ones that contain porn, is not limited.

Seeking answers, students hid a video surveillance camera inside a Star Wars helmet in the Association’s room.

!e setup worked, and the camera revealed a security guard on the computer.

Once they got the image they needed, the students provided it to the department head, who took it to head of security David Mauro.

Mauro was tight-lipped about the situation, citing privacy legislation.

“I won’t confirm anything in relation to employees or contract employees,” he said. “It would be

irresponsible.”When asked what the procedure

would be in this scenario, Mauro spoke hypothetically.

“We would have to confirm it first. Depending on the specific situation, the contract employee may or may not be interviewed. We would contact the contractors . . . inform them and recommend the employee be re-deployed to another site.”

But, in an e-mail to the Association, Mauro wrote: “!e security guard you discovered using the computer in the lounge was removed from the University work site.”

“I sincerely regret that my department created an unprofessional and uncomfortable environment for you all,” he further wrote.

Mike Lang, president of the Association, says Mauro confirmed the employee would be moved.

Mauro wrote that the security

guard on tape was a contract worker at the university and not a U of W employee.

!e U of W contracts Garda Security. Spokespersons from Garda were unavailable for comment before press time.

Although the situation constitutes a breach in performance and is considered a maintenance issue, such maintenance issues arise for managers in every sphere, Mauro said in an interview.

!e police were not involved as the pornography was not illicit.

“!is isn’t a situation where the guy did something so disturbing that he can never be a security guard again,” Mauro said.

He also praised the Association’s investigative skills in his e-mail.

“Your investigative diligence was pretty creative and nothing short of amazing. In all my years in policing

and security, I have never seen such an e"ective, low cost solution to covert surveillance!” he wrote.

In an interview, Mauro acknowledged that there have been problems in the past with university security guards.

“We have, for any number of reasons, requested that guards be re-deployed,” Mauro said. “It’s not unusual.”

Mauro cited conduct, performance, and poor image as the main reasons for a guard to be re-deployed. Poor image refers mainly to the state of their uniform and hygiene.

“!e nature of the industry is that we’re always competing to recruit the best security guards we can,” said Mauro. “!at means letting some go to get better guards in.”

Mauro noted that the majority of guards on campus are excellent.

TORONTO (CUP) – !e undergraduate students’ union at Toronto’s York University has launched their “Don’t Pay a Cent” campaign urging students to not pay any of their tuition fees until classes o#cially resume.

York students have been out of class since contract faculty, teaching

York students withhold tuitionRochelle BrahamExcalibur (York University)

assistants, and sessional workers went on strike on Nov. 6.

!e York Federation of Students described this as a way for students to express their frustration about the strike.

!e YFS says this may even serve as a means of placing additional pressure on the university to end the strike.

YFS President Hamid Osman says he believes the “Don’t Pay a Cent” campaign will allow students to let their voices be heard so the strike will

end as soon as possible.“Students should put pressure on

the administration and CUPE 3903 and send an e-mail telling them their story, because it is the only way that they will understand what you, as a student, feel,” Osman said.

“!e administration and union need to understand students are su"ering, students are frustrated, and students want an immediate end to this strike.”

However, Robert Ti#n, York’s

vice-president students, says the YFS campaign won’t make a di"erence.

He says the university has postponed its payment deadlines in light of the strike and had taken these steps before the launch of the YFS campaign.

Ti#n says the second-term payment has been put on hold until the strike has been resolved and classes resume, at which time students will be expected to pay their fees and interest will be accrued on

outstanding accounts if full payment isn’t received by that deadline.

If students are having financial problems, Ti#n recommends they speak to York’s student financial services.

“!ey can visit student services not only to talk about deadlines for fee payments, but also to look to see if there is any way of providing some financial assistance,” Ti#n said.

Page 15: Argosy January 22, 2009

MUSIC ACADEMYADVANCED STUDIES IN MUSIC

Subscribe online!Visit our website for all information

regarding our programs for 2009.

Deadlines for registration:

February 13th, 2009 With scholarship application

April 3rd, 2009 Without scholarship application

3165, chemin du Parc, Orford (Québec) J1X 7A2, CANADAT 819 843-3981 | 1 800 567-6155 (Canada Toll free)F 819 843-7274 | [email protected]

www.arts-orford.orgS U M M E R

2009

FONDATION J. A. DE SÈVE

DO YOU HAVE AN OUTSTANDING PROFESSOR?Nominations Are Invited for Mount Allison’s Prestigious Teaching

Awards

The Herbert and Leota Tucker Teaching Award and the J.E.A Crake Teaching

Awards recognize outstanding teaching and educational leadership at Mount Allison

University. A brief description of each award and its criteria follows.

The Herbert and Leota Tucker Teaching Award

The Herbert and Leota Tucker Teaching Award is Mount Allison’s highest

recognition of teaching excellence. Annually, the Tucker recognizes one tenured or

tenure-track faculty member who has taught at Mount Allison for (5)

years and who has demonstrated outstanding teaching, educational leadership, and

teaching scholarship during that time. A professor may win the Tucker Award only

once.

The J.E.A. Crake Teaching Awards

The Crake Foundation offers up to three teaching awards each year, one in each of

the Faculties of Arts, Social Sciences, and Science. These awards are intended to

recognize and encourage teaching excellence and teaching scholarship at Mount

Allison University.

All teachers who are members of the relevant departments and programs and who have not are eligible for the Crake

Award for their Faculty.

A professor may be nominated for only one of these awards each year. However,

there is no limit to the number of times an individual may be nominated, and re-

nominations are welcome.

Before you nominate your professor:

Read the list of previous recipients, the complete criteria, and eligibility details at

http://www.mta.ca/pctc/.

Check to ensure that your professor is eligible, accepts your nomination, and is

willing to compile the nomination dossier.

Write a nomination letter explaining why she/he is worthy of an award. Remember to specify the name of the award for which you are making the nomination.

Address your nomination letter to Dr. Stephen McClatchie, Provost and Vice

President, Academic and Research.

ST. JOHN’S (CUP) – As tuition fees rise across the country, student debt continues to grow. But, Newfoundland and Labrador continues to pump out graduates with high debt levels despite having some of the lowest tuition in the country.

In 2006, the most recent data available, over half of Canadian post-secondary students graduated with some form of debt. !e average amount they owed at the end of a four-year bachelor’s program was $24,047, according to the Millennium Scholarship Foundation.

N.L. has gone against the national trend as student debt and the cost of tuition have decreased.

According to a report given to the provincial government by the N.L. branch of the Canadian Federation of Students, the province’s undergraduate debt has dropped from $30,000 to about $26,000 over the last 10 years.

Daniel Smith, N.L. chairperson for the CFS, says the falling debt is a result of government’s willingness to work with the student movement.

“Since we’ve had the freezes and tuition fee reductions and such, things have been coming down,” he said.

!e debt, however, is still higher than the national average.

When compared to other provinces that have similar up-front strategies, such as grants and low tuition, N.L. students come out deeper in the red than most.

Manitoba also has a tuition-fee freeze and reduction strategy, but students shell out $600 more than Memorial University of Newfoundland undergraduates for tuition.

According to a report on Manitoban student debt by the Millennium Foundation, graduates in 2006 came out of school owing $12,000-$14,000 less than N.L. students.

Smith places the blame on rural N.L. students having to move to bigger centres like St. John’s or Corner Brook for their education.

“Even though we have low tuition fees, we still have students who are high in need in the province,” said Smith.

“Anyone who’s coming from Twillingate, St. Anthony, any of

N.L. student debt prevails despite low tuitionCFS-NL casts critical eye on back-end funding strategiesIan MacDonaldThe Muse (Memorial University of Newfoundland)

these places, is taking on that extra cost to go to school. !ey don’t have the opportunity to live and study at home.”

He also says students from other provinces, attracted by the initial low cost of tuition, come to the province and plunge into debt due to living expenses.

A 2008 report released by the Educational Policy Institute says that the decreased debt has more to do with the type of backend or post-graduation reduction methods the CFS has been known to speak against.

!e publication says that by combining provincial and federal tax credits in Manitoba, undergraduates can wind up being paid $50 per year for their education.

Smith says this is only the case if things go perfectly for the student.

“I would find that a bit skeptical,” said Smith. “!e [Manitoba] student movement is a bit pissed o" with what their government has been doing; I would be shocked to find out if that was the case.”

He says the downfall of back-end programs is their inability to benefit all parties, leaving those who don’t meet their criteria to fall between the cracks.

Nova Scotia has also introduced back-end tax credits as a way of trying to help out students. Although tuition is much higher on average, Nova Scotia graduates are $3,000 better o" than those from Memorial University of Newfoundland, according to the Globe and Mail.

“Sure, it will help some people on the back end; it will help the people who make the most money on the back end, but it doesn’t proportionally impact everybody the same,” Smith said.

Whether or not back-end methods reduce the average amount undergrads have to pay back, Smith says the main problem is the inability of these policies to open doors for potential students.

He says by having higher initial fees, people with less cash have a harder time getting in to universities to begin with.

“Just picture yourself, 18 years old, just about to start university, and your mother or father looks at you and says: ‘Don’t worry about the cost of education. You’ll save it on the back-end,’” Smith said.

2006 average student debt as reported by the Millenium Scholarship Foundation:

British Columbia: $26,675Western Canada: $22,787Ontario: $22,589Quebec: $12,992Atlantic Canada: $29,747

6 JANUARY 22, 2009 THE ARGOSY • NEWS

Page 16: Argosy January 22, 2009

OPINIONS

Chris DurrantArgosy Staff

I’ve never successfully started a blog, my voice has never graced any podcast, and I’m convinced that the only advantage of the new online gadget Twitter is that it allows people to broadcast their inane Facebook status news to total strangers. And when I say convinced, I mean convinced. How could being able to send one or two lines of text to some strangers ever be of any use?

!is is the kind of attitude that means I will fail. Really, it’s a hard slog up from where I am now to get back to up-to-dateness, let alone to the desired cutting edge. Let’s diagnose where I’ve gone wrong.

My first mistake is that I still consider myself up-to-date. Maybe it’s a logical fallacy. I believe that because I am still more advanced at computers than my mother, I must be still very knowledgeable. Everyone else who knows more about me than computers isn’t up-to-date, instead they are “specialists” who know more than is really necessary. More likely though, I’m su"ering from a small bout of arrogance, but in either case, it breeds a dangerous complacency.

My second mistake is that I’ve let

Technophobia will get you nowheremyself become so out of date that it limits my ability to conceive of why new technologies might be useful. I’ve mocked Twitter’s 140-charters limit, because whenever I type, I use a computer. If I’d given in, and if, instead of wandering city streets looking for pay phones, I sucked it up and bought a cellphone, I’d be more familiar with something called text messaging. An American journalist in Egypt was able text his Twitter account the message “arrested” from a police car after photographing an anti-government protest. !e 70 or so people who watched his Twitter account were able to quickly begin the process of bailing him out. If I were arrested by the Egyptian government, I’d have to rely on being allowed my one phone call.

My third mistake is that I think ultimately some things involving technology and web 2.0 applications, such as the aforementioned Twitter, are ultimately fads, and as a result I don’t feel the need to learn how to use them. Now this skepticism may seem prudent on my part, in that I save time by not learning how to use fad applications and the like. But really, that only makes sense if you treat each new form of internet communication as its own entity. However, if you look at them as a whole, it’s a completely di"erent picture. Sure, I may waste a little of my time if one of the new online phenomena I investigate turns out to be a dud, but its not like I bought stock. At the same time however, other things for which I’ve built up a working knowledge may turn out to

be exceedingly useful. I’m sure there are plenty of people who wish they’d gotten in on the ground floor of that internet. !e point is that one failure is no reason to stop exploring.

Finally, I’ve payed six thousand dollars a year, for four years, to get the same skills as many people with whom I’ll soon be competing for jobs. On the internet there are free tutorials on how make your own website, use photo-editing software, and all the other new technoliteracies that might give me the

edge in the job market. Why I think that the education that cost money is worth my time, while the free one isn’t, I really don’t know.

I’ve made a lot of mistakes, and getting up to date will take a real conscious e"ort. I think it will be worth it though, because I don’t think there’s any virtue in not understanding how the world is changing, or being ignorant of the new skills that world demands. Whether we like it or not, technology always a"ects the way the

world works. Maybe you aren’t interested in

computers or in Web 2.0. I know I wasn’t. However you may be interested in making money, being able to help election campaigns, getting free publicity or being able to organize large groups of people from long distances. It’s important, because whether or not you become interested, your competition probably already is.

Erin Jemczyk

Do you think the university administration should be responsible for aiding o!-campus students who have been a!ected by the house fire?

Hannah MacDonald“Yes. I don’t feel as though they have any outright obligations but with such a small close-knit school I think it should come naturally.”

Tom Cushnie“Yes, they shouldn’t be directly responsible but provide what aid they can. So they could temporarily provide dorm rooms because they aren’t being used anyway.”

Matt Carroll“!e university should at least cover any academic materials lost, like textbooks. Also they could put on benefits but not directly pay themselves but take donations.”

Andy Taylor“I think they should definitely lend a helping hand to get as much support as they can o"er and give them monetary benefits.”

Emma Hicklin“I would like to say yes. I am not entirely sure it would be nice to know that they wouldn’t help students in a time of need.”

Ben Goldberg“No. I don’t think the university should be responsible but I think that’s what makes Mt. A Mt. A.”

By Jessica Emin, Argosy Staff

Jessica Emin

Page 17: Argosy January 22, 2009

8 JANUARY 22, 2009THE ARGOSY • OPINIONS

Marilyn Lerch

I’m a poet and once I wrote, “Gaza is the saddest place in the world.” !is was long before the recent unspeakable atrocities visited upon it by the nuclear state of Israel. Imagine a million or more people living in this narrow strip of land, caged in, unable to leave by sea, air, or land. And then imagine (because no reporters were allowed in by Israel) these million or more Palestinians being under continual attack day and night (for 21 days as I write) by weapons of mass destruction supplied mainly by the U.S.

Imagine white bundles accumulating, small white bundles holding infants and children. And imagine that this war is called a defensive action! A thousand men, women, and children have been killed and these REPORTED figures are surely low, while thirteen Israelis have died. !at ratio is acceptable to Israel, because clearly an Israeli life is worth more than that of any Palestinian who is called the same names Jews were called. Recently nine human rights groups inside Israeli have deplored the actions of their government, a minority voice but important to cite.

For 50 years, from the expulsion of 800,000 Palestinians from their homes and land in 1948 to this latest rain of death, always Israel has counted on it being seen as the rightful homeland of Holocaust survivors. A long time ago, for those who were not blind, that

Dear Studentsclaim to its existence, that excuse for every settlement built on land denied it by UN resolutions, that excuse for every humiliating checkpoint set up, that excuse for the wall built to divide Palestinian neighbour from neighbour, HAS BEEN USED UP.

Israel is the military arm of the United States in the Middle East, the Enforcer of US policy. And if I denounce it, I am no more anti-Semitic than I am anti-American when I denounce the US war for oil and occupation of Iraq.

Israel has been allowed to act with impunity for 60 years, not only by Western nations, but with the uneasy complicity of its neighboring Arab states who do not want their own masses to rise up against them.

For 60 years, the Palestinians have been denied a State. In Gaza, the very food eaten depends on the State of Israel “allowing” it in. On the West Bank, Jewish settlements exist with all the amenities of Western “civilization” along side the deplorable conditions of Palestinian towns. How could THIS NOT create suicide bombers and rocket launchers.

I dream sometimes of an International Brigade gathering peacefully, creating a human wall that says, “Never again,” to Israel and its protector, the United States, that calls for the establishment of a Palestinian State so long denied, and stays until that happens. !e least you and I can do is break the silence.

Michael Politano Bowles

I feel somewhat confused regarding the lack of salt on the paths on campus this past Monday. Confused is the best word I can come up with that expresses exactly what I felt without bringing into it just exactly how pissed o" I was, as I’m sure many other students and sta" were, sliding to class, in hopes that they may find the right slope to take them there. If Mount Allison really is the top undergraduate university in Canada then they should have at least provided ice skates at various checkpoints around campus for the students, sta", and visitors.

I am confused because I don’t get it. I mean, I got the email. But the email wasn’t holding my hand to class. It wasn’t scraping the ice before my feet. And it sure as hell wasn’t putting salt on the campus paths and sidewalks. I think facilities management does an excellent job in keeping things safe and clean for the students generally, so this is not an attack on them. It’s an attack on whatever authority, or o#ce, man or woman who did not get on the phone and make damned sure that the primary concern on Monday morning was safety. For a school who is often so concerned for the safety of the students, how did Monday get forgotten or overlooked? You in the head o#ces, you must have had a helicopter drop you o".

Maybe the price of salt has skyrocketed with the recession. Hey,

Salt this

tack on another couple hundred to my tuition, what’s the di"erence at this point? I’d rather be even poorer and safe than generally poor with a cracked vertebrae. Tuesday was better though. !ank you. I see salt on the

Corrections for the January 15, 2009 paperIsabel Gertler was not credited for the Sex Bomb photo on page 14.!e fitness column was incorrectly credited to Natalie Butler. Nicole Butler is the correct author.

Weekly Gra"tti

Rosie GriptonBerlin, Germany, 2008.

Send your images of gra#ti to [email protected]. Include where and when you took the photo.

ground; I am content, almost calm. Plus I brought my hockey helmet to school today just in case. I’d pay to see the Pres and the VPs wearing a hockey helmet on their way to the o#ce.

Erin JemczykHave you slipped on the ice recently?

Page 18: Argosy January 22, 2009

FEATURES

Sasha Van Katwyk Argosy Staff

“Never, in the history of the United Nations, have there been such heavy demands set on the Peacekeeping Department,” said Alain Le Roy, head of the UN Peacekeeping Department (UNPKD), late last year.

“We need more troops and civilian workers, more resources,” Le Roy continued, “and there are louder calls from member-states for our involvement that go way beyond what these states have given us to work with.”

Indeed, while the world has certainly been engulfed in more conflict than we see today, never in history has there been such a demand for specific humanitarian bodies to help settle hostilities and rebuild relations.

“People are already talking about the UN expanding missions in nations that are still inflamed in war, and I’ve even seen documents on Iraq fall on my desk,” a BBC source within the UNPKD said.

Today there are 16 active peacekeeping operations over four continents designed to bring humanitarian aid, training, and relief to nations coming o! the cusp of conflict or, in some cases, have fallen back into war.

Since the founding of the United Nations, there have been 63 missions with varying results, some of which, like Rwanda or Somalia, have weighed heavily on UN’s reputation for achieving the goals its member-states set to achieve.

Despite criticisms, the UNPKD has continued to function in di"cult conditions and has gained credibility as a serious option for states requiring dire assistance and the installation of relative stability following conflict.

#is branch of the United Nations is undeniably valuable,

with their presence in areas often meaning humanitarian aid and daily life can recommence.

#ere are serious problems still facing the UNPKD, however, that that should draw hesitance to the over-reliance of this body.

Reports of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse by peacekeepers on the ground have been pouring in through news networks and NGOs, such as Save the Children, for over a decade now.

“It’s a serious blemish on the UN,” said Nick Birnback of the UNPKD operations o"ce in New York, “a lot is being done, a lot is underway. But the fact is more needs to be done.”

Jasmine Whitbread of Save the Children acknowledges the e!orts being made by the UN to crack down on the abuses, but says, “In most cases statements of principle and good intent have yet to be converted into really decisive and concerted international action.”

In fact, beyond the accusations of innocent civilian beatings, rapes, and prostitution through o!ering young girls jars of food for sex, there are greater attacks on the regional UNPKD o"ces of inaction when such reports are received.

A report done by the UN found that there are “endemic failures in the response to allegations of abuse when they have been o"cially reported.” And beyond o"cial reports, it’s well understood by those on the ground that only a small fraction of violations committed are reported.

“It’s not just the initial attack,” said Heather Kerr, also of Save the Children, “it’s the fear of reporting it, the fear of reprisals, the fear of stigma from being identified as someone who has been raped.”

#e UN Security Council, in their own examination of abuse claims, said, “We dishonour these brave men and women when we fail to prevent or punish those from within their ranks who victimize the very people peacekeepers

are meant to protect and serve.” While these accusations fall only

on a handful of the over 100,000 peacekeeping personnel, the continued heinous actions of those within a body meant protect, is something the United Nations has said it cannot tolerate to any degree.

To look deeper into what is actually occurring in these abuses brings to light another major challenge facing the UNPKD that isn’t as dramatic on nightly news, but is far more insidious within the ranks of peacekeeping personnel.

“#e stress put on a peacekeeper in these conditions is more than most active soldiers could ever handle,” said Canadian Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire, former head of the UN peacekeeping operation of Rwanda during the genocide in 1994.

“#e atrocities one must bear witness to,” Dallaire said in an interview with CBC, “and then to stand in the face of the men you know did it and beg for their cooperation so that you may fulfill a mission the outside doesn’t understand is enough to send any man to madness.”

#ere is no required psychological analysis or consultation o!ered to UN peacekeepers once in the field as the current mandate of the UNPKD stands. Furthermore, one of the most key demands made on peacekeepers is to walk the line between suppliers of aid to all sides and defending those who may be under attack by men you just fed the day before. Moreover, a peacekeeper must do so without the soldier’s luxury of shooting back unless under nearly impossible circumstances.

“Certainly there are some horrible acts committed by peacekeepers

A black stain on the blue beretsAllegations of sexual abuse and misconduct are signs of deeper issues facing UN peacekeepers

because of their own insubordination,” said Jean-Marie Guéhenno, former head of the UNPKD, “but when you look at the severity of post-traumatic stress (PTSD), coming out of combat soldiers, let alone out of peacekeepers being put under the same battle circumstances, but with tighter restriction on behaviour, some of their violent acts must be explained by extreme stress.”

Indeed, there are some reported acts by peacekeepers that are so heinous it goes beyond just despicable behaviour. #e stories of Belgian and Canadian peacekeepers beating Somali men to death, locking some up in shacks for days, and even one particularly gruesome occurrence of them roasting a boy alive over a fire, all go beyond maliciousness.

“Some of the events we hear about such as those in Somalia and Haiti [when a peacekeeper opened fire on a market] are without question the result of conflict-born madness,” says Stanley Krippner, a war trauma therapist. “#e level of desensitization the peacekeepers that see true human atrocity much go through goes way beyond our understanding of what war does to the mind…with little question, the e!ects on some of these men and women go beyond combat PTSD and are permanently debilitating.”

Ultimately, these abuses are rare and there are continued steps being taken by both the UN and watchdog groups such as Save the Children, but their occurrence at all is considered intolerable by all parties involved. We may have to accept to some degree that atrocious things will happen in the midst of chaos, but perhaps an element of the solution can be not only monitoring the actions of these peacekeepers, but their state of mind as well.

“If the UNPKD is going to be considered by member-states as the Secretariat’s solution so that they may wash their hands of the problem,” Department Head Le Roy said, “they must at least know what they’re getting into and the risks involved.”

Certainly there are some horrible acts committed by peacekeepers because of their own insubordination.- Jean-Marie Guéhenno,former head of the UNPKD

“”

We dishonour these brave men and women when we fail to prevent or punish those f rom within their ranks who victimize the very people peacekeepers are meant to protect and serve.- The UN Security Council, in their own examination of abuse claims

It’s the fear of reporting it, the fear of reprisals, the fear of stigma from being identif ied as someone who has been raped.- Heather Kerr, of Save the Children

“”

217Allegations of abuse of girls and

women by peacekeepers in eastern Congo, noted in a 2006 investigation

1Number of peacekeepers the report established proof against, out of 75

63 Number of Peacekeeping

Operations since 1948

54Estimated total cost of operations

from 1948 to June 2008, in billions

Playing with the

Numbers

Internet Photo

Page 19: Argosy January 22, 2009

10 THE ARGOSY • FEATURES JANUARY 22, 2009

Rev. John C. PerkinUniversity Chaplain

#e unfolding story of creation forms the basis of several weeks of reflection for me, both in the chapel and in print in this column.

In connection with growing environmental concerns, I have returned to the Genesis account of creation to contemplate the way in which our need for more environmental action and care is rooted in the spirituality of the Judeo-Christian tradition. In this second column of the new year, I turn to the second day of creation as told in the poetic theology of creation in Genesis chapter one:

“And God said, ‘Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.”

(Genesis 1: 6-8, NRSV)

#is is perhaps not the most dramatic of the days in this poetic account, but nonetheless a key image in the bringing together of an understanding of humanity and God in relation to the world as a created order. #is passage describes the creation, in the old King James Version language, of the “firmament,” the sky, the dome that sits over the world in the ancient cosmology. If the earth were like a plate, the sky would like a bowl turned over it, as the ancients conceptualized their cosmology.

#is second day of creation is of the sky, suggesting also atmosphere, air, the edges of the earthly sphere. #is piece of scripture suggests that God is present in the very climate of the world; Canadians should understand that – we should be among the most religious people on the face of the earth if we could share with the ancients the idea that God is present in the atmosphere, in the ever-changing weather patterns, given our focus on and interest in the weather.

#e climate that comes from the atmosphere is also part of the wonder of God’s creation, and as I indicated last week, it should cause us to stop and be amazed at the beauty and wonder of God’s presence in the world around us (although, I must note that a graduate of Mount Allison who reads #rough Stained Glass online emailed me last week to tell me she had to shovel 25 cm of God’s beauty and wonder o! her driveway before she could get to town).

#e focus of the second day of creation is the sky, the dome, the firmament which is carefully put in place. #e poem now suggests that in our spiritual understanding of the

world, and of life, we need to see that limits and boundaries have been established.

Our culture tends to react against limits and boundaries, as our consumption of fossil fuels and the earth’s resources seem to know no bounds. While it is good to reach beyond ourselves, to strive to be better, to try to be more than we thought we could be, it is also part of the creation story to realize that there are limits, ecologically and personally.

It is time in our world’s history for us to find the beauty and pleasures of living within nature’s limits, not only for the sake of enjoyment and meaning, not only as an expression of our faith, but for the sake of the fragile planet on which we live.

#is guardianship of planet Earth and its resources is also an expression of our faith. We must limit our consumption to a rate that does exceed nature’s ability to regenerate. We must participate in the cycles of nature, taking care that the things we take and the things we throw back into the earth are fully integrated into the cycle of life. Otherwise our boundary-crossings lead not only to the destruction of nature, but of our essential selves, our souls.

Not only does the atmosphere and the earth su!er from our abuse, our over-consumption, our failure to recognize the limits of the earth and the way we need to live within them – we all su!er, as creatures of the earth, because we are all bound by the cycles of growth and death, regeneration and renewal, of water drawn from the earth and coming back to us again as rain and snow.

Our plants absorb carbons from the atmosphere and purify the air as they grow, but only if we have enough plants to counter reasonable emissions of carbon into the air. Toxins in water supplies, holes in the ozone layer, illnesses and diseases and warming of the atmosphere are all signs that we have pushed beyond the boundaries of what the earth is capable of sustaining in its cycle of regenerating and renewing.

Our response, by living within the limits of creation, is a spiritual act. Faith should compel us not only to restrain our consumption, but to seek to redeem damage done.

Our beliefs have consequences for the way we live, for our lives and the life of our planet. It is time to stop and look up and around, and see that what we believe can be shaped by the world in which we live, the timeframe of our existence, and the hopes we want to extend to this world beyond ourselves.

Only if we learn to live within the very ends and limits of life and creation can we truly hope that others will enjoy a world without end, seen in beauty and wonder in the changing weather all around, through stained glass.

!rough stained glassArgosy Staff

I saw the King’s head go a-rolling byOn January 21, 1793, the National Convention had the King of France, Louis XVI, stripped of all his titles, and then led him to the guillotine.

A lot of people know the general story of Louis XVI and his famous queen, Marie Antoinette. Boy is made to marry girl, boy and girl can’t seem to produce an heir. Old king dies, boy and girl become King and Queen of France at a fairly young age, girl has way too much fun with the seemingly never-ending supply of money, and boy barely says anything to girl. Boy and girl finally create a family, country slowly turns on boy and girl, and boy and girl are in big trouble.

Or, people have at least watched Sofia Coppola’s version (however historically inaccurate it is) and saw all the pretty, lacy, fru-fru bits.

Long story short, by 1789, the French people were not at all happy with the monarchy. During the October Days march on Versailles, the National Guard and the women, who had marched there to demand bread for their families, demanded that the royal family and the National Assembly be moved to Paris.

About two years after being moved to the Tuileries Palace in the centre of Paris, the royal family attempted to flee the city; this was highly unsuccessful due to the fact that the family was a little tactless in hiding their identities.

On August 10, 1792, a mob, with support from the new Paris Commune, attacked the Tuileries Palace, going for blood this time. #e result: many dead guards, the royal family imprisoned in Temple fortress (under false pretenses that it was for their own safety), and basically the end of the monarchy’s absolute rule in France after the National Convention declared France a republic.

In December 1972, Louis XVI was brought before the Convention to hear the accusations held against him (of high treason and crimes against the state). On January 16, 1793, 310 deputies of the Convention voted to show some mercy for the king, however, the rest of the deputies (380) voted for immediate death penalty.

According to some accounts, as soon as Louis’s blood hit the ground, people rushed towards the sca!old and dipped their handkerchiefs in it.

Big Brother is watching AppleOn January 22, 1984, an Apple advertisement for their new Macintosh computers aired during Super Bowl XVIII.

Directed by Ridley Scott, the advert was an allusion to George Orwell’s famous dystopian novel, Nineteen-Eighty-Four. It showed an unnamed heroine, who looked oddly like an Olympic track and field star, running through a “futuristic,” bleak setting, followed by a group of riot police (supposedly the #ought Police). #is was cut in between shots of people (all looking very uniform, making it hard to tell males from females), marching in unison, while “Big Brother” talked in the background about the celebration of unified thoughts and conformity.

#e heroine runs towards the room in which many people are seated watching Big Brother on a large telescreen. Wielding a large hammer, the heroine throws the hammer at the screen just as Big Brother declares that, “We shall prevail!” In a pu! of smoke and sparks, the screen is destroyed and the people appear to be shocked out of a daze.

#e ad ends by promising that, “On January 24, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984, won’t be like 1984.”

#ought to be an IBM bashing ad, were IBM was represented by Big Brother, the actual idea behind the ad was to show the fight to gain control over computer technology, the underdog Apple versus the big guys at IBM. Apparently, Apple wanted the Mac computers to be a symbol of empowerment, fighting against conformity and to assert originality. Evidently, the idea of the iPod came much, much later.

Emperor Caligula assassinated, horse implicatedOn January 24, 41, the Roman Emperor Caligula was assassinated by some fairly disgruntled Praetorian Guards.

Born Gaius Julius Caesar, although known mostly by his nickname, Caligula (meaning “Little Boots,” referring, supposedly, to a pair of child-size military sandals that his father’s legionaries made for him), was known to be eccentric (putting it nicely), cruel, and extravagance.

His father, Germanicus, was the adopted son of the Emperor Tiberius, and his mother was Agrippina the Elder. Caligula and his five siblings traveled around Germania with their parents during their father’s military campaigns there; however, after the death of Germanicus in 19 CE, Agrippina and her children returned to Rome, where she and her two eldest sons died under mysterious circumstances.

In 31, Caligula withdrew to the island of Capri, where he remained until the death of Tiberius in 37, who o"cially adopted Caligula as his grandson, and making him the new Emperor of Rome.

According to some remaining sources, Caligula was a pretty decent ruler for the first two years of his reign. Unfortunately, after this, the sources tend to focus on the many scandals that surrounded the emperor, making him out to be an insane tyrant.

Many of the things Caligula was said to have done included killing for pleasure, spending way too much money, being a sexual maniac (some accounts condemn him for committing incest with his sisters, and delighting in the company of young boys). At one point, he attempted to make his horse, Incitatus, a consul and a priest.

Some of his actions as emperor were accounted as being hard on the Senate, the nobility, and the equestrian order. Because of this, several conspiracies were formed against Caligula, but they never seemed to work out, at least until some fed-up o"cers of the Praetorian Guard eventually managed to stab him à la the first Julius Caesar, according to the historian Suetonius.

A weekly compilation by Sarah RobinsonThis week in history

Also this week in history:January 19, 1809: Birth of writer Edgar Allan Poe.January 19, 1966: Indira Ghandi is elected as Prime Minister of India.January 19, 1969: Jan Palach dies after setting himself on fire to protest the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the USSR in 1968.January 19, 1977: #e first ever recorded snowfall in Miami, Florida, and the Bahamas.January 19, 2007: Death of #e Mamas and the Papas member Denney Doherty, better known to Canadian children of the 1990’s as the Harbour Master from CBC’s !eodore Tugboat.January 20, 1892: First game of basketball played at a YMCA in Massachusetts.January 20, 1961: JFK inaugurated as the youngest and first ever Roman Catholic President of the United States.January 20, 1986: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.January 21, 1189: Phillip II of France and Richard the Lionheart gather troops to begin the First Crusade.January 21, 1789: #e first American novel is printed in Boston.January 21, 1905: Birth of fashion designer Christian Dior.January 21, 1924: Death of Russian revolutionary, Vladimir Lenin.January 21, 2008: #e Eyak language from Alaska becomes extinct when its last native speaker, Marie Smith Jones, dies at the age of 90.January 22, 1788: Birth of Romantic poet Lord George Byron.January 22, 1901: Death of Queen Victoria; her son, Edward VII becomes king.January 22, 1905: Unarmed, peaceful demonstrators gunned down in St. Petersburg by the Imperial Guard begins the Russian revolution of 1905; later known as ‘Bloody Sunday.’January 22, 1946: Creation of the Central Intelligence Group, which later becomes the CIA.January 22, 2008: Death of Heath Ledger.January 23, 1533: Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, finds herself pregnant with who is later to become Elizabeth I.January 23, 1803: Death of Irish brewer Arthur Guinness.January 23, 1897: Elva Zona Heaster found dead in her home; necessitating the only murder trial in American history where the apparent testimony of a ghost helped to find the guilty party.January 23, 1989: Death of surrealist artist Salvador Dalí.January 24, 76 : Birth of the Roman Emperor Hadrian.January 24, 1862: Bucharest named the capital of Romania.January 24, 1907: Robert Baden-Powell founds the Boy Scouts.January 24, 1924: Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg) is renamed Leningrad in Russia.January 24, 1927: Alfred Hitchcock’s first movie is released.January 24, 1965: Death of Winston Churchill.January 24, 1984: As promised by Apple’s 1984 style advert, the first Mac computer goes on sale.

Page 20: Argosy January 22, 2009

11THE ARGOSY • FEATURESJANUARY 22, 2009

I f i t ex i s t s , you can f i nd po rn abou t i t

Vision in Blue

Editor’s disclaimer: This week’s column is kinda’ nasty and graphic. I ’m serious. Be warned.

I’m going to teach you all about Rule 34. For those who aren’t familiar with this, it essentially states that if something exists (furniture, dogs, Ziploc bags, etc), there will be porn made about it.

#is week’s sexbomb is going to cover some of the more interesting kinds of porn out there. If you don’t believe me that these things exist, you should be able to find it on the internet.

Dinosaur porn. Don’t laugh, dinosaurs exist, or at least they did, so yes, there is porn involving dinosaurs. #is can include people being fucked by, or fucking, various dinosaur species. #e videos involving Pterodactyls are particularly amusing: you get to watch it eating out some chick! Who wouldn’t want to see that? And by the way, that’s a rhetorical question.

Lego porn. Remember the puppet sex scene from Team America? Well, this is a similar kind of thing, but with Lego people, if they can be called people. Well, you know what I mean, those weird yellow block-shaped people, with painted-on faces and clothes, clip-on hair, and solid hand shapes. Anyway, it’s more of a stop-motion thing (and yes, there’s claymation porn, did you even have to ask?) and is usually made by people with way too much time on their hands.

Vegetable porn. You can guess where this one is going, right? #ere are a great number of veggies that are phallic shaped, the most popular ones being cucumbers, zucchini, and carrots. However, you can also cut holes in some vegetables (squash, tomatoes, melons) and use those as some kind of female orifice substitute. Just keep it organic.

Bacon porn. #is one did mystify me for a while, and it seems like there are two versions of this. In one, bacon is used as clothing (have you heard of the bacon bra?) and is eaten o! the person before sex as some kind of foreplay. #e second version is where people actually fuck the bacon. For those of you who enjoy bacon-wrapped meat, well, it’s not just steak that bacon can be wrapped around.

It’s seriously not kosher, though, not to mention unhygienic.

Anime porn! #ere’s a name for this one, but I can’t remember it, due to writing this at 3 am. (Ed. note: It’s called Hentai.) #ink of any sexual scenario involving anime characters drawn out in cartoon style either in print or on the screen. I was especially horrified by the octopus-like creatures, which would put a tentacle in each orifice. #is gives new meaning to the term aural sex.

Alien porn. All you foil hat nutbars must love this one. #ey usually involve various abduction scenarios, and then you’re probed by an alien, but not with a little implant injected behind your ear or in your neck or whatever, if you catch my drift.

Midget porn. Now, I’m sure there’s porn with only little people in it, because, you know, X-rated entertainment should be one of the first frontiers of inclusiveness, but in this case, I’m talking about porn between little people and, well, normal sized people. For example, I’m talking about a man under three feet having sex with a woman that’s just under six feet tall. Dream big, buddy! But seriously, that little guy can move, though it is a little weird. It’s sort of like watching a Mexican jumping bean trying to attack a tree.

Dead people porn. #is one is for necrophiliacs only. Essentially there’s a dead body, and someone has sex with it. Not only is it disrespectful to the dead, but seriously disturbing as well.

Stu!ed animal porn. Now this one is actually funny, but where stu!ed animals di!er from real animals is that they don’t have holes to stick it in, or reproductive equipment to service a female. #is leads to holes being cut in, or something hard being stuck into the teddy bear. Sometimes maybe the whole stu!ed bear is jammed up there, I actually don’t know, as I stopped watching this one on account of the fact that I couldn’t stop laughing.

#ere are many more examples of Rule 34 out there, some involving bobble-heads, others involving unicorns, and even Jell-O. But I’m going to stop before this list gets too lengthy.

If you are interested in other interesting types of porn, I invite you to do your own research, and if you come across anything interesting, please tell me about it. Send all emails to vision in blue c/o [email protected].

Emily Bird Argosy Correspondent

Everyone has dreamed of an addition that would accent their wardrobe as the cherry on top. It may be a figure-skimming floor length gown, an incredibly embellished Derby hat, or that fabulously gem encrusted clutch.

However, growing up we have come to realize that many wishes and fables are purely imagination. Yet, just how many people have noticed that haute couture can be valued at any price?

One who has long strived to own a particular staple item should be prepared to invest slightly more than usual of that hard-earned paycheck. Acknowledging that a piece from a designer collection is created with precision, care and quality, the investment is sure to well represent both the designer and the clientele; the item will endure much more time as well as wear.

However, when does one categorize the price of a designer’s collection as unreasonable? Is a brand item, such as a mega-check Burberry scarf, really worth $895? Did that value go into the fabric and making of such a piece? Many people have begun to question the logic behind the pricing of designer and haute couture collections as a reasonable wardrobe budget does not coincide with present designer prices.

Haute couture is french for “high sewing” and “high dressmaking.” #e term pertains to custom-fitted clothing; individual customer orders are fashionable recipes consisting of expensive high-quality fabrics, an attention to detail, and quite often, hand sewn appliques and

embellishments. #e result is a representation of both fashion houses and the fashion designers who create both custom-pieces, as well as trend-setting fashion collections.

#e e!ort it requires to create a single haute couture garment implies the care one must take when adorning oneself in the fashion project. Such a stylish treasure is usually only worn to exuberant social events where one is not required to be physically active, and the setting is indoors, away from the danger of dirt, grass, rain, and other wardrobe predators. At the premiere of Spiderman 2, Samantha Mumba radiated light in a nine million dollar diamond-encrusted dress.

Haute couture is not always worn by people, but it is also celebrated on display as a vision of fashion history as it appears at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Costume Institute Gala. One would find it quite shocking to see a diamond encrusted gown worn at the local grocery store.

Haute couture is viewed by some as a hobby of collection. Similar to any other collector’s item, such as stamps, haute couture pieces are purchased by a small group of socialites who all share a consistent passion.

Couture pieces are treasured as they are one of a kind; these works of art are as unique as are the hands and the minds that crafted them. Buyers receive a feeling of exclusivity and title of ‘trend setter,’ providing a thrill when sporting the fashionable investment.

Haute couture collections are not a composition of practicality yet, they allude to seasonal trends that transcend into ready-to-wear lines, as well as department stores. #e untrained eye is unable to perceive the unique di!erences between two similar pieces that di!erentiate in price by thousands.

Creating a unique look should be the goal of one’s individual style. It should not be one’s aim to imitate the ensembles of others. Be inspired by the style of others and of designers but do not assume that haute couture rises above ready-to-wear. #ey are hybrids of the same origin, the same mind and creator.

Fashion cannot be bought, it is a personal perspective as well as a collaboration of one’s personality and passion. #e important aspect of personal style is that one feel fabulous both inside and out, and no price tag can be placed on that achievement.

When will designer prices plateau?

Corey Isenor andJames GoddardArgosy Correspondents

Patterson’s Family Restaurant16 Mallard Dr.

Like the majority of restaurants in Sackville, Patterson’s specializes in standard diner food. It is part of the cluster of eateries just o! the highway, located next to Pizza Delight and just down the street from the Irving.

#e menu features a large selection of burgers, sandwiches, fish, and warm dinners (understood here as meat and vegetables). #e atmosphere is reminiscent of a cafeteria: sacrificing a bit of character for cleanliness and good lighting. #at said, Patterson’s is one of the top spots for a laid back breakfast, lunch, or dinner, especially on Sundays around 12 when the after-church crowd is out and about.

We arrived around 7:00 on Sunday evening, and since a storm was predicted, it made sense that we

were one of only two sets of guests eating in the entire restaurant and we were served, quickly. #e emptiness however, emboldened the sta! to vacuum, getting a head start on their closing chores, and filling the place with a mildly irritating white noise.

#e prompt service Sunday night is hardly attributable only to the slow business, on other occasions Corey and James have found the service at Patterson’s to be both courteous and quick.

For dinner, James ordered a the club wrap with soup (turkey rice on that day), and Corey decided to have the Bull’s Eye Burger with an iced tea.

#e burger was pretty good with its double patties, two kinds of cheese, bacon, and Bull’s Eye BBQ sauce. Also, the burgers were hand made, which added to the overall quality of the meal. With a hefty serving of home-cut fries and a tasty glass of iced tea, Corey’s meal came to a total of $12.86, a pretty reasonable price considering the size and quality of the meal.

James also found the servings to be

generous, enjoying his wrap bursting with lettuce, bacon, cheddar, tomato, and sliced chicken (it might have been turkey). His soup was filling and the perfect side for such a blustery day. His meal came to $10.16.

#ough the food at Patterson’s is tasty and filling, it is unexceptional. Corey argues that their milkshakes are better than Mel’s, but James isn’t so sure about that.

One thing that does distinguish Patterson’s is the atmosphere, o!ering a warm and pleasant if sterile, retreat from campus life, or break from the road for those just driving through. Patterson’s is an unthreatening and safe eating option.

Mel’s Tearoom is great, but isn’t exactly a family oriented eatery. #e Irving Big-Stop is more welcoming to that kind of crowd, but is too far away to be accessible for those living in Sackville without a car.

Patterson’s Family Restaurant is both well-situated and has that wholesome family restaurant vibe. For students in particular, it has the added benefit of being just far enough away that you might be able to enjoy a quiet meal without running into someone you know.

Overall, James and Corey find that Patterson’s is pretty good. #ey give it a one and half thumbs up. It won’t change your life, but it might just o!er the perfect change of pace.

Corey and James eat out

Internet Photo

Evan Rensch

Internet Photo

Page 21: Argosy January 22, 2009

12 THE ARGOSY • FEATURES JANUARY 22, 2009

Kelly O’ConnorArgosy Staff

HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis (TB), pneumonia, diarrhea: a hit list of some of the most serious public health challenges in the developing world today.

#e a!ects of these diseases on a nation’s economic capacity, political stability, and critical indicators which point to the general quality of life are well known, yet for some of society’s most vulnerable, how to tackle these problems remains a huge question mark.

#e World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners are drawing attention to the fact that these monumental challenges are often most dangerous for those who have yet to celebrate their fifth birthday. #rough its “Make Medicines Child Sized” campaign, the WHO aims to “raise awareness and accelerate action to address the need for improved availability and access to safe child-specific medicines for all children under 15.”

Launched on December 6, 2007, the campaign focuses on a range of medicines, ranging from antibiotics, asthma, and pain medication to TB. #e WHO is calling for more medications to be tailored to address the special health needs of children, as well as for increased research into neglected tropical diseases and combination pills for HIV, TB, and malaria that would make treatment easier for children to take.

Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the WHO, explains: “#e gap between the availability and the need for child-appropriate medicines touches wealthy as well as poor countries. As we strive for equitable access to scientific progress in health, children must be one of our top priorities.”

Coinciding with the start of the campaign, the WHO also released the first international List of Essential Medicines for Children. Despite cataloguing 206 medicines which are deemed safe for children and address priority concerns, Dr. Hans Hogerzeil, Director of Medicines Policy and Standards at WHO, admits there is much to be done.

“#ere are priority medicines that have not been adapted for children’s use or are not available when needed,” he says.

#e WHO, however, has already got a jump start on facilitating research by creating an internet portal to clinical trials carried out in children.

With about 10 million children dying each year before their fifth birthday, this research cannot come soon enough. #e five diseases listed at the beginning of this article alone count for over half of these deaths. Perhaps most concerning is the fact that about six million of these children could be alive today if they had been treated with available, e!ective, safe, and a!ordable medicines.

“#ese illnesses can be treated, but

many children don’t stand a chance because the medicines are either not appropriate for their age, don’t reach them, or are priced too high – up to three times the price of adult drugs,” said Dr. Howard Zucker, WHO Assistant Director-General.

#e barriers to treating these children stem not only from poor access but also from the physiological di!erences of children’s metabolisms which lead them to process medicines di!erently from adults. #us far, much research carried out on priority diseases have concentrated on adults, leaving a large knowledge gap in how the same medicines and doses may a!ect children.

Even in the developed world, over half of children are prescribed medicines not authorized for use in children, and at adult dosages. #e delivery system of these medicines

Quick Facts:• Pneumonia is the most common cause of death in children under

five years, taking the lives of more children than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined.

• According to 2006 data, the percentage of children under five years with suspected pneumonia who receive antibiotics is dismally low; in Haiti this proportion is only three per cent.

• In sub-Saharan Africa, only 40 per cent of children with suspected pneumonia are taken to an appropriate health provider.

• In 2006, 380 000 children died of largely preventable AIDS-related causes and only 15 per cent of children received antiretroviral therapy.

must also change in order to make them palatable for children. Toddlers, for example, often have trouble swallowing big tablets.

#e reduction of child mortality and the treatment of major diseases have already been declared global priorities under the Millennium Development Goals (specifically goals four and six, which aim to improve child health and combat HIV/AIDS respectively), yet UNICEF’s State of the World ’s Children report for 2009 points out that those born in the developing world are 14 times more likely to die during the first month of life compared to those born in the developed world.

By working with governments, the private sector, academics, and NGOs, such as Medicines Sans Frontières, UNICEF, and Save the Children, the WHO is aiming to improve these odds. Let’s hope they do.

WHO wants to Make Medicines Child Sized

Vivi ReichArgosy Staff

Baby boomers. Presumably most of our parents belong to this category and before we know it, we will be forced to figure out where they will live and who will take care of them. #is will be a problem for most parts of the world, but in Japan, the problem is severe.

Many countries have implemented looser immigration laws in order to fix the problems that the baby boomer generation will leave behind – very slow population growth and large numbers of jobs that will no longer be filled. In Japan, where feelings of animosity towards foreigners is not unusual, these problems will be harder to prevent and fix.

Japan’s population, according to the Economist, is set to shrink by a third in the next 50 years. #ere will be virtually no one left to care for baby boomers as time goes on.

Conservatives hope to keep women at home to have more children. Two-fifths of the world’s industrial robot population has its home in Japan, and could be a help to some, especially the elderly, but are obviously no real replacement for humans.

Conservatives in Japan are reluctant to expand immigration policies to make up for this baby boomer problem. Currently, only 1.7 per cent of the population are immigrants. #e proportion of immigrants in the past decade is well below other developed countries.

It is very di"cult to receive permanent residency in Japan – one must have lived in the country for 10 years and

demonstrated the best of behaviour. #e media and some politicians paint a negative image of foreigners in Japan, for example, attributing high crime rates to immigrants.

#e leading political party in Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is proposing that the number of foreigners rise by 10 million over the next 50 years, and wants the number of foreign students (currently there are 132,000) to rise to one million in that time span. #e Democratic Party of Japan, expresses worry about what impact immigration will have on Japanese workers and their pay.

Edward Hugh writes in his article on Seeking Alpha that increasing immigration and raising fertility rates is the key to fixing this problem. He believes a “change in the national mindset” is the best option, and goes on to say that the problem of a declining population is not considered important to the Japanese.

#e Japan Times cited the example that bathhouse owners in Japan have been complaining that foreigners visiting their enterprises are a disturbance, mentioning Russian sailors specifically. #e Japan Times also notes that some Koreans and Chinese in Japan are skilled at picking locks and pockets of citizens, but when the authorities try to fix this problem, the Koreans and Chinese claim they are being discriminated against as foreigners.

Only time will tell what the Japanese government will choose to do. #e problem is real, and a change must be made, but coming to a compromise that everyone can agree with is proving to be di"cult for this small island country.

Immigration to the land of the rising sun

New campaign calls to increase the availability and access to child-specific medications for major diseases

Cindy Crossman Registered Nurse / Educator

National Non Smoking week is January 18-24, 2009. Weedless Wednesday is on January 21 this year, and is the focal point of National Non-smoking Week.

On this day, public awareness is raised about the benefits of smoking cessation and promotes a one-day-at-a-time approach to quitting smoking. So, take this opportunity to seriously consider decreasing the amount you smoke or even quitting because it is never too late. If you do not smoke, keep it that way! Your life is worth more. (Canadian Council for Tobacco Control, 2002)

After smoking 15 or 20 years it may seem pointless to quit smoking, but in many cases the damage done by tobacco can be reversed. Within minutes of smoking that last cigarette, the body begins to repair itself.

Within 20 minutes, your blood pressure will drop to normal, body temperature increases to normal. By eight hours, carbon monoxide levels in the blood drop and oxygen levels increase to normal.

By 24 hours, chance of heart attack begins to decrease. By 48 hours, food begins to taste and smell better.

After a week, your body will be free of nicotine. After one month, your coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath will begin to decrease.

By 9 months, walking becomes easier and smoker’s cough will be fading away; the body’s overall energy will increase; circulation improves; no more cold hands and feet.

At one year, risk of heart disease is half that of a smoker. After five years, your risk of dying from lung cancer will have dropped by 50 per cent

After 15 years, your risk of coronary heart disease will fall to that of a person who has never smoked at all.

Here’s some additional information from the College Tobacco Prevention Resource website’s College Tobacco Facts Section:

(1) Many people start to smoke in college. Almost 40 per cent of college students either begin smoking (11 per cent) or become regular smokers (28 per cent) after starting college (Rigotti, 2000).

(2) Of the over 70 per cent of college students who have ever tried smoking (Rigotti, 2000, and CDC, 199&) 41.5 per cent continue on to become regular smokers (Everett, 1999).

Events on campus during National Non Smoking week are: Non Smoking Awareness Educational Display in Jennings on Friday January 23 from 12:00 am to 1:00 pm. #e members of the Health Matters Society will be on hand to help raise awareness by holding a “BUTT IT OUT” campaign.

#ese prevention initiatives have been coordinated by the Mount Allison Student Wellness Centre in collaboration with the Health Matters Society.

In addition, the Mt. A Nurse/Educator will be available in the Wellness Centre to provide pulse oximetre assessments and the student development counselors are available to discuss the psychology of quitting smoking with any student. Call 364-2163 for an appointment.

National Non-Smoking Week

AP photo by Matt DunhamHanne Bak Pedersen of UNICEF speaks at the launch of the “Make Medicines Child Size” campaign at the Great Ormond Street hospital in London on December 6, 2007.

Page 22: Argosy January 22, 2009

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Geek Chic of the Week

If you, or a Democrat you know, is in Kenya, the oPhone might just be the perfect gift. African carrier miPhone is selling this surprisingly full-featured phone for just $30, but don’t expect ‘the change we’ve been waiting for’. !is dual-band GSM (and FM radio!) handset comes in, er, “Black + Obama colour” and can hold 100 SMS messages, 300 contacts, and a whole lot of hope.

http://www.mi-fone.mobi/products.htm

January 22, 2008:the oPhone

http://www.mi-fone.mobi/products.htm

Susan RogersArgosy Correspondant

Mediscene A weekly leap to the frontiers of medicine

!is week, a baby girl was born. !is in itself is hardly breaking news, but there is something about this little girl that makes her birth remarkable. She is the first child born in the UK selected to be free of a mutated form of the BRCA1 gene, which would have put her at an 80 per cent lifetime risk of developing breast cancer, and a 50 per cent chance of ovarian cancer.

Dr. Paul Serhal, the fertility expert who treated the couple at the University College of London Hospital, said he and his team were “delighted” with the outcome. “!is little girl will not face the spectre of developing this genetic form of breast cancer or ovarian cancer in her adult life. !e parents will have been spared the risk of inflicting this disease on their daughter. !e lasting legacy is the eradication of the transmission of this form of cancer that has blighted these families for generations.”

Everyone has a version of the BRCA1 gene, and a properly functioning one can even help to prevent cancer before it starts; the problems stem from its malfunctioning form.

Mutated versions of the BRCA1 gene and a related form of the BRCA2 gene account for about 5 per cent of all breast cancer. Women who discover they have one of these two genes usually elect to have a double mastectomy to remove their breasts.

!e father of the girl had a strong record of breast cancer in his family: his grandmother, mother, sister and cousin have all been diagnosed with the disease in their twenties. If the couple had had a son, he could have continued the terrible trend by passing the defective BRCA1 gene onto his daughters.

!e process of selecting a BRCA1-free embryo starts with vitro fertilization (IVF). At about the three day mark, when embryos are at the eight cell stage of their development, a small sample is taken to be tested for the mutated BRCA1 gene in a process called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). !ose embryos found to be free of the defective gene are implanted.

PGD, first introduced as an experimental procedure in the 1990s, is already a well-established method for pre-selecting embryos that contain mutated genes which would guarantee the inheritance of diseases such as cystic fibrosis and Huntington’s. !is is the first time PGD has been used to actively select for a gene which simply raises the probability of developing a disease,

although doctors have been allowed to test for other so-called susceptibility genes since May 2006, subject to “case by case” approval by the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA). !ere is a chance that breast and ovarian cancer can be cured if they are caught early, and may be avoided altogether with the right environmental conditions.

!e potential uses for PGD continue to expand, however, as the UK’s HFEA has also given the green light for the method to be used to screen for an inherited form of bowel cancer called familial adenomatous polyposis and a very rare form of eye cancer known as retinoblastoma (babies selected to be free of these genes were born in the UK in the last two years.) Embryos may also be selected because they are a tissue match for a sick sibling.

In order to merit PGD testing for the BRCA1 gene, patients must have a very strong family history of cancer and carry the genetic abnormality. Professor Peter Braude, director of the Centre for PGD at Guy’s Hospital in London, explains: “!e decision as to whether PGD is appropriate for a couple will be made after a thorough discussion with knowledgeable genetic counsellors and clinical geneticists. It will not be suitable for everyone who has experience of breast cancer in their family, nor where the chances of the IVF needed for PGD has a low chance of succeeding.”

Dr. Lesley Walker, of Cancer Research UK, emphasizes this point: “!is is an exciting step forward in preventing this inherited form of breast cancer but very few people have su"ciently high risk genes to warrant this sort of intervention.”

!is form of genetic pre-selection has come under fire from certain critics who label the practise as “eugenics.” Josephine Quintavalle, director of the group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, argued that: “PGD is currently nothing more than a weapon of destruction, aimed at the ruthless elimination of any embryo which does not conform to eugenic concepts of perfection...we must not forget the embryos which were discarded because they did carry the gene…What next? It is going further along the line which ultimately ends in designer babies.”

Rachel Hurst, of Disability Awareness in Action, contended that: “If you say that it’s OK to say that you can eliminate embryos which would lead to disabled people, you’re saying that disabled people are not people. And you’re saying that their quality of life is not worth living, which is discriminatory and extremely prejudicial.”

Kelly O’ConnorArgosy Staff

While they may not yet help you leap tall buildings in a single bound, there is a certain reminiscence of superheroes in University of California Engineer Jacob Rosen’s latest project. Said project is a robotic exoskeleton, currently a pair of robotic arms attached to the wall of his lab, which would enable the wearer to lift heavy objects with relatively little e#ort.

Rosen’s focus, however, is on the application of the technology to help people who are recovering from strokes or have degenerative diseases. Rosen’s team is working on a technology that will use signals from the brain to control the robotic arms. !e technology uses electrodes on the skin to sense brain activity, meaning that the arms can be used without surgical implants. It takes advantage of the natural delay between the activation of muscles and the actual movement of muscles. During this delay, a computer algorithm will analyse the electromyography signals, and feed information about the arm’s position and velocity to a computer model. !e computer model predicts joint movement and sends the information to the exoskeleton, causing the exoskeleton to act with the operator’s arm.

So far, the team has demonstrated that this technology works for flexing and extending the elbow. Now they are

moving on to more complex joints in the arm, as well as working on a lower limb exoskeleton for a person’s legs.

Jacob Rosen isn’t the only one working on this concept; last year, a Japanese company called CYBERDYNE created an exoskeleton meant to augment the wearer’s own strength or do the work of missing and ailing limbs. Unlike the arms Rosen has attached to the walls of his lab, the Japanese company created an entire suit, which is more compact and sleek, and resembles, to great extent, a Star Wars Storm Trooper, though the helmet is missing from the ensemble.

Rosen’s arms, unlike some other exoskeletons, o#er 95 per cent of the range of movement of an ordinary human, plus extra strength, of course. Rosen hopes that with the technology he is developing, the arms will be useful for people su#ering from degenerative diseases, muscular dystrophy, and neuromuscular disabilities. Balance, coordination, movement, and speech may all be a#ected by diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, and the exoskeleton may help the wearer keep control of their muscles.

Some of the uses Rosen has in mind for his exoskeleton don’t even require electrodes and computer programs to function; in physical therapy for example, the exoskeleton could be programmed to help perform predetermined movements. For people recovering from a stroke, time in physiotherapy is often needed to

help recover from damage to the motor cortex of the brain. Often, however, their time in physiotherapy is limited by the availability of the physiotherapist, potentially slowing their recovery. With the exoskeleton, the amount of time spent with the physiotherapist could be reduced, and the recovery could be sped up by spending time working with the machine instead. Researchers say that virtual reality games could be used in conjunction with the exoskeleton to occupy the wearer both physically and intellectually while they recover from a stroke.

Unfortunately, victims of disease and stroke have a long time to wait before they can get their hands on these suits. Developing exoskeletons that respond to other joint movements need to be developed, as well as multipurpose exoskeletons that will equally help a person su#ering from elbow joint problems or from ankle or knee issues. !e exoskeletons currently consume a significant amount of energy, and most aren’t yet light weight or portable, though exoskeletons of this type are also under research. !e Japanese suit weighs 50 lbs, the battery lasts just five hours, and the suit stands only five feet tall.

So, while they may not be perfect yet, a new era of medical technology (and super people?) is well under way. And who knows, that leaping tall buildings thing might not be too far behind!

Exoskeletal arms and super suits How scientists are helping the disabled move again

Exoskeleton technology holds the promise of better physiotherapy, and of course, iron men.

Like playing God?

Write for Sci/Tech

Page 23: Argosy January 22, 2009

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Page 24: Argosy January 22, 2009

January 22, 2009 Dancing at right angles since 1875 Vol. 138 Iss. 13

ArgosyThe

I n d e p e n d e n t S t u d e n t J o u r n a l o f M o u n t A l l i s o n U n i v e r s i t y

In Sackville, local businesses and students usually get along fairly well. However, SAC Entertainment and Uncle Larry’s are at odds after last semester’s Last Class Bash.

!e SAC wanted to bring DJ CAM, former Olympic DJ Champion, to Sackville but were initially unsure of a venue. Two weeks before Last Class Bash, Corey Yantha approached Larry Hebert, owner of Uncle Larry’s, on behalf of SAC Entertainment.

At first, Hebert was resistant to the idea of hosting the event because it was the same night as Keith’s Crew, but they managed to strike a deal.

However, Uncle Larry’s and SAC Entertainment can’t quite agree on what that deal was.

!e SAC believed that Hebert would repay them half of what was spent on DJ CAM. Volunteers from the SAC were to come at 11 pm to take a five dollar cover at the doors after Keith’s Crew, but Hebert had his own employees work the doors.

When SAC entertainment planner Curtis Michaelis came the next day in order to collect on behalf of the SAC,

Cover charge chaosSAC, Uncle Larry’s disagree on terms of payment for Last Class Bash

Jessica Emin

Helena van TolArgosy Staff

he was told that Uncle Larry’s lost too much money that night and Hebert refused to pay.

“I figure I lost a couple thousand dollars that night […]. I can’t prove exactly how much money I lost but I’ve got a pretty good idea,” said Hebert. “!is should have been the best night of the year, letting everybody in. Last class bash is the biggest party of all and I’ve had more people in here on a Friday night.”

Hebert understood that SAC Entertainment was simply looking for a venue, and that he wouldn’t be required to pay any money as the DJ had already been hired for the night.

Yantha and Michaelis disagree, explaining that they had agreed upon taking cover at the door in advance to help recover the cost of the DJ.

A day or two before the event,Yantha left a message at the bar asking that Hebert call him back in order to make sure all the arrangements were in place. Hebert received the message and failed to return the call.

As the DJ was setting up, an argument broke out about whether Hebert would allow them to charge cover after 11 pm. Finally, according to Yantha, they agreed that Hebert would pay half the DJ’s fee and if

people left because of the cover, they would stop charging.

“It’s just standard,” explained Yantha, “Any other club or bar anywhere, you’d be paying that regardless. It’s really strange how you don’t pay cover in Sackville. It’s pretty fortunate, but I mean it’s a special event.”

Hebert believes that people didn’t come because of this five dollar cover charge.

“I lost a lot of money that night and I feel that the SAC is responsible for it because of doing advertising that I never authorized,” he said.

Still, Yantha said that the event actually brought in more people than Keith’s Crew. He estimated that only seventy people or so attended Keith’s Crew, while the dance floor was “packed” after eleven for DJ CAM.

Also, Hebert feels he received negative advertisement in a mass email sent out by the SAC prior to the event. !e Pub was advertised with drink specials, no cover charge, and the opening of the new dance floor, while underneath, it stated that there was a cover charge at Uncle Larry’s after Keith’s Crew was over.

SAC President Mike Currie “highly, highly doubt[s] that [Larry]

lost thousands of dollars” but speculated that the opening of the new Pub would draw some business away from Uncle Larry’s.

“I can understand that there are a bit of contentious feelings now that there are two places near campus,” said Currie. “[but it’s] the students, I think, which have indicated their choice rather than the advertising.”

Both the SAC and Uncle Larry’s are still bitter about the failed transaction, with allegations coming from both directions.

“It was a scam they were trying to pull o". [But] it backfired in their face because I lost too much money that night to help recuperate them,” said Hebert. “!ey just needed a place to play in. It was free.”

And Yantha maintains that a definite verbal agreement was reached as the DJ was setting up.

“[Hebert] takes advantage of students because he’s just all about making money,” asserted Yantha, “It’s very unfortunate that he’s not running a business like he could be in Sackville; […] that huge space could just be such a great opportunity for a successful club, you know.”

!e SAC has a history of making verbal agreements for these kinds of

events, and have never had a problem before.

“People in Sackville; they’re pretty respectable and we stay to our word,” said Currie. “And, unfortunately, we didn’t change that. We still did an oral contact so we don’t know what the o#cial agreement [was]. But I think the SAC will be changing its policy in the future so that we have these agreements in writing so that confusion like this doesn’t happen.”

Last week, Paul Rasbach, Board of Regents Representative, passed a motion at the SAC meeting which was approved unanimously. !e motion stated that the SAC would attempt to recover the lost funds.

!ere has been some speculation about bringing this to a small claims court. Rasbach has been looking into the matter; and the SAC is considering legal action, although no concrete actions have been taken.

“I think the best situation,” said Currie, “would be to have Larry, and a potential witness that he might have had, and us, sit down and talk […] about what actually happened, and see if it was a miscommunication, and come to an agreement that will work for both parties.”

SAC Entertainment brought in DJ CAM for last semester’s Last Class Bash, held at Uncle Larry’s. The SAC and Uncle Larry’s are currently in a dispute over cover charges for the night.

Features p. 9

!e dark side of peacekeeping

Page 25: Argosy January 22, 2009

w w w . a r g o s y . c a

PublisherArgosy Publications Inc.

Editors-in-Chief • Zoe Williams, Chris DurrantProduction Manager • Frances McGinnisManaging Editor • Louisa Strain

EditorialNews • Justine GalbraithFeatures • Darren MercerArts and Literature • Julie StephensonSports • Noah KowalskiScience and Technology • Stuart TownsendEntertainment • William Gregory Humour • Vivi Reich, Mark Comeau Submissions • Erin JemczykPhotography • Jessica Emin

ProductionCopy Editors • Juliet Manning, Sarah RobinsonGraphic Design • Vivi Reich

BusinessAdvertising • Joselyn MacLellan

Argosy.caIT Manager • Stuart Townsend

WritersEntertainment • Neil BonnerNews • Helena van TolArts • Julie CruikshankFeatures • Sasha Van KatwykGeneral Assignment • Kelly O’Connor

Circulations Vivi Reich

Publication BoardFaculty • Dr. Michael Fox, Dr. Robert Lapp

The Argosy62A York Street, Sackville, NB

E4L 1H3(506)364-2236

2 JANUARY 22, 2009 THE ARGOSY • NEWS

Members of Mount Allison’s External Relations department recently showed o" a menu of environmental options they will be presenting to potential donors, but some students and sta" were only hungry for one thing: energy-e#cient infrastructure.

!e afternoon meeting took place on January 15, and information was presented by Michael Cantwell, the External Relations department’s Executive Director of Campaign and University Advancement.

Cantwell outlined a new direction in the JUMP Campaign called “!e Greening of Mount Allison.” He presented seven broad, environmentally-themed options the donors could choose to fund.

Primarily catching the attention of five of the seven students in attendance was an option called the “General Fund for Action,” described as a fund used to purchase energy-e#cient equipment and subsidize infrastructure renovations.

One of the projects Cantwell mentioned as possibly being funded by donations was renovation for the fume hoods used in the university’s laboratories. Others, however, had bolder suggestions.

“It [could] be so much more ambitious, the university should be going after big bucks, to make a new residence, a sustainable residence, from top to bottom, and go after three or four million extra dollars to make that happen,” said Geography and Environmental Science professor Brad Walters.

Environmental, but not ambitious? Students question whether new JUMP Campaign priorites go far enough in the “greening” of Mount AChris DurrantArgosy Staff

Other priorities mentioned by students included investing in wind and geothermal energy, and finding ways to lessen the school’s dependence on oil. Student Owen Roberts was at the meeting, and made his position clear.

“Green infrastructure is, in my opinion, the first and foremost thing that we should be looking for from donors,” he said.

At times, the discussion centered around sta" and students trying to understand why the infrastructure proposal was so broad.

“If you start with something general enough, it gives you the tools to go knock on doors, and it gives you the opportunity that if you run into someone with great ideas and lots of wealth, to entertain those ideas” explained Cantwell, but some students were not convinced.

“I find it deeply concerning that Mt. A, ostensibly one of the greenest universities in Canada, consistently fails to set concrete environmental goals for its capital campaign,” said VP External Mark Brister. “Donors, who certainly know less about available environmental opportunities compared to some of the experts at Mt. A, cannot be given full discretion to shape future institutional environmental policy.”

Cantwell mentioned that it is the university that identifies projects that he then has a mandate to fundraise for.

“!ings like student residences heated by geo-thermal power; the university has yet to make those a priority. You want the university to make that part of its master plan. !en we would embrace it,” said Cantwell.

!e Board of Regents approved the facilities master plan, which guides the long-term investment in infrastructure for the university,

six years ago. Director of Facilities Management Rob MacCormack said that he didn’t know if it would be done di"erently today, in terms of the environmental considerations, and that new environmental priorities would come from the university’s environmental issues committee.

However, the dictates of the master plan doesn’t mean that Cantwell’s hands are tied on the proposals.

“[My] next major challenge in rewriting [the proposals] will be to write the infrastructure proposal in a way that addresses the students and sta" suggestions, while at the same time is still broad enough to attract donors,” said Cantwell. “!ere will be material to express the university’s desire to be an environmental champion.”

Other funding options presented at the meeting included the chance for donors to support academics in the areas of environmental science and environmental studies by donating endowments to fund post-doctoral fellowships, or to support sta" and student research. Another of the funding options was a General Fund for Awareness and Activism, something that elicited a di"erent response than Cantwell expected.

“I would venture to say […] there is a sense of activist fatigue happening in terms of environmental causes; I’m not sure if we were given a lot of extra money, what exactly we would do with it, [compared to] what we’re doing with it now,” said member of Eco-Action Natalie Gerum. “I think if students saw the university react through infrastructure, it would refresh the activism.”

Student politics, fruit, and cookies were served on Jan. 14

Academic Renewal Q&A

VP Academic and Research Stephen McClatchie visited the SAC to answer questions about the Academic Renewal Process. He is asking for written feedback and hopes for formal report from the SAC.

Currently, McClatchie is working on an academic plan to include priorities for the upcoming years. Certain recommendations are already being introduced, but larger changes will require a phase implementation.

McClatchie is pleased at the level of engagement thusfar, and said that faculty have been direct in indicating things they like and dislike.

Nathan Walker asked how new course credits would be transferrable. A first-year seminar shouldn’t be a problem, but one-credit courses might have to be taken in multiples of three.

Justin Oake asked about an extracurricular transcript, and SAC President Mike Currie said that he is working to introduce these next year.

A 50-per-cent decrease in the number of distribution requirements has been suggested.

Currie mentioned potential conflicts between evening classes and extracurriculars, but McClatchie replied that these will always be sections of multi-section courses.

Erik Johnson asked if consideration had been given to short-term overdrive into first-year courses. McClatchie responded that a predictive model is used to determine courses needed for incoming students. He urged students to register earlier so that sections can be added as needed.

McClatchie said that a certificate program could be defined as formal recognition of learning

received, and could also help non-traditional learners. Much still needs to be discussed, such as di"erences between these and minors.

When asked about continuity, McClatchie said that the chair of Academic A"airs will continue and that many members are reappointed, and suggested that students can brief their successors.

McClatchie indicated that he was planning a second discussion paper to cover important topics not covered by the working groups.

SAC response to Bridge St. Fire

!e University has met with landlord and tenants of 46 Bridge, said Mike Currie, and help finding housing was o"ered. Meals at Jennings have been o"ered for free for the next week.

!e Salvation Army has been receiving many donations, but Currie asked for people to call the SAC o#ce where they will keep track of what is being o"ered, and relay the information to the students.

!e students a"ected by the fire have been to counseling and have had their keys and student cards replaced.

Project Rebuild has been reactivated and monetary donations are being accepted; fundraising will also occur to help these students as well as prepare for future incidents.

Gillian Fraser suggested an insurance awareness campaign.

After hearing concerns, Paul Rasbach asked for tangible results from Project Rebuild and a review of how the money was used.

Anna MacKinnon asked if it is possible to have houses inspected before moving in, and VP External Mark Brister explained that Mayor Estabrooks hopes to bring back a housing inspection board.

Councillor Concerns

Nakita Knowles asked whether a listing of on-campus jobs could be made available.

Rachel Betuik asked whether salt could be put in the doorways of residences, and Erik Johnson added that there is salt available in residences, and that dons and custodial sta" have access.

Ben Kropp asked about green cleaning products, and Barry said that any houses without these are being switched over.

Doug MacLean complained that one of the front doors to the STUD sticks, and Barry said that the door is locked. Nathan Walker said there is an ill-placed exit sign on the second floor of the STUD near Student Life.

Paul Rasbach asked about Uncle Larry’s owing the SAC money for last class bash and made a motion to have the SAC take every action within reason to recover the funds.

VP Report

VP Academic Ryan Robski discussed the December Senate meeting. Mt. A will receive $2.8 Million from the provincial government for deferred maintenance projects. Academic Matters recommended calendar changes to Canadian Studies and Environmental Science, and approved a Joint Honours in Economics and Mathematics.

!e ad hoc committee on student evaluation of teaching has met to discuss the role of teaching evaluations, what forms should look like, participation, and paper vs. online formats, among other topics.

Academic A"airs has met twice in the New Year, and has drafted a Standardized Form for Student Concerns. !is will encompass academic, general and university concerns.

Page 26: Argosy January 22, 2009

3JANUARY 22, 2009 THE ARGOSY • NEWS

Plane Crashes in Hudson River, Manhattan

A US Airways plane crashed in the Hudson River in New York City after a flock of birds flew into the engines, causing them to fail after less than a minute in the air. !e pilot, Capt Chesley Sullenberger is being applauded as a hero after safely landing the plane on water and evacuating all 155 passengers, around half of whom su"ered very minor injuries. !e plane has been extracted from the river, almost completely intact and will form part of an investigation into the crash.

In the last 20 years, bird collisions have killed 219 people, and bird strikes cause $600 million worth of damage to aircraft in the US every year.

Hamas and Israeli Ceasefire in Gaza Strip

Israel was the first to declare the ceasefire, starting at 2 am Sunday morning, claiming its goals in Gaza had been accomplished. Certainly the Hamas military and government infrastructure has been seriously damaged by the three-week o"ensive. Hamas responded later in the day by also enstating a ceasefire. Both sides seem unwilling to budge on conditions for a permanent cessation

!is week in the worldA weekly miscellany compiled by Rebecca Dixon

of the attacks. Hamas is demanding the

withdrawal of all Israeli forces from within Gaza by next week and the opening of the border for deliveries of humanitarian aid. !ey also claim that their rocket capabilities remain strong. Israel, however, insists its soldiers will remain in Gaza for as long as they deem necessary.

As the peace holds, the full extent of damage is horrifyingly revealed, with tens of thousands people left homeless because of the bombardments, and even more lacking water, fuel and medical supplies. !e Arab League is set to propose a US$2 billion fund for reparations in Gaza.

Although the world’s hopes for peace are high, civilians on either side will be unsurprised if this fragile situation again dissolves into open conflict.

Zimbabwe Issues Z$100 Trillion Note

!e new bank note is worth only around US$30 as Zimbabwe’s lengthy bout of hyperinflation continues to drag the economy downwards. Last July the inflation was estimated to be about 231 000 000 per cent. !e introduction of the note, as well as several others in the trillion dollar range will not be of much help to

citizens because most goods are only available in American dollars.

!e BBC reports locals stating that prices can double overnight and that food and fuel are in short supply. Daily limits on cash withdrawals have been abandoned, but banks are finding they do not have enough cash to supply customers. !e rough shape of the economy compounded with the current political dispute and cholera epidemic is making daily life for Zimbabweans extremely complicated.

Sri Lankan Rebel Group Retreating from Government

!e Tamil Tigers, who have been

struggling for a separate homeland for 25 years, are being pushed back to their final strongholds by the Sri Lankan army. !ey have only 40 km of coastline left, though they have claimed successful attacks that have resulted in the death of 51 soldiers.

Government forces report contradictory facts, claiming their were only eight causalities on their side and 20 rebels killed. Independent media is not allowed into the area to verify either reports. At least 70 000 people have been killed throughout this lengthy conflict.

Increasing Tension on the Korean Peninsula

North Korea issued a statement warning South Korea of the potential of retaliation for Seoul’s confrontational policies. !is comes after South Korea strengthened its guard while a six-country deal to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear aspirations falters. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, elected last year, is determined to take a stronger stance against the nuclear aspirations of his northern neighbour.

In the week before Barak Obama’s inauguration as US President, this announcement indicates the di#cult US-Korean relations will continue to be an important issue for the presidency.

Sometime between 11:00 pm on Saturday and 8:00 am on Sunday last weekend, there was a break-in to one of the rooms at the Hart Hall Photography Department.

Karen Stentaford, first year photo professor and technician, called Campus Security after it was discovered that a locked door had been kicked in. !ere were four big boot marks and the door had been splintered.

“Oddly enough somebody had picked up all the fragments,” said Fine Arts Department Head !addeus Holownia. “So we found that very curious. A neat vandal!”

Stentaford called Security a couple

!eft and vandalism in the Fine Arts departmentHelena van TolArgosy Staff

of times before getting an answer. Security told Stentaford that a carpenter was on his way.

!e carpenter arrived around 3:00 pm. Karen waited for security until 3:40 pm, but they never showed.

!e scene was eventually investigated by Paul Bragg, Mount Allison Security & Safety coordinator.

“I think it may have been faulty hardware on the door,” said Bragg, “I did not find any sign of forced entry - no tool marks, wood splinters. [But] the door would not latch properly.”

In fact, nothing had been stolen and nothing - besides the door - had been vandalized.

!e room in question holds a large expensive Mac computer and colour printer. !e computer, however, was locked to a table with a security

cable.“Sometimes things happen

Saturday nights that aren’t that explainable,” laughed Stentaford.

Recently, there have been some thefts among students in the Gairdner. Holownia believes that the culprit had been discovered and apprehended by Judicial. Nevertheless, Holownia admits that the department has been lucky over the years.

“[One] time we had someone run through here with a fire extinguisher and sprayed it all over the place,” he recalled. “You know its one of those kinds of deals where someone is doing something crazy.”

Holownia also encourages students to keep their work in their lockers.

“Don’t leave stu" lying around. If you see people who obviously don’t belong here, call security.”

Jessica Emin

Change is in the air this week, but not too much of it – at least not if you are applying to work as a Resident Assistant. !ere has been much talk about alterations to the RA hiring process, but Gayle Churchill, Manager of Student A"airs, says nothing revolutionary is taking place.

“!ere is a little change to the residence life sta" position hiring process this year, as too much change too soon does little for anyone or anything,” she explained.

Requirements for application include first aid qualifications and availability for training in August. However, the GPA requirements have increased from the mandatory 1.7 to a 2.25 in the winter semester.

According to Churchill, students should be more concerned with their degrees. “I think we shouldn’t put students in a position where their academics are at risk. When you add an RA-ship, it’s quite a role.”

Also new this year are the mandatory information sessions.

“Last year, if you wanted to apply, the RAs and the Dons would say, ‘come and have a talk in the lounge’ about being an RA. It was very informal,” said one current RA.

!is year, three information sessions have been scheduled to provide as much opportunity for student attendance as possible. !e sessions are meant to “give general information regarding the residence life sta" positions to prospective applicants, in order for them to make informed decisions,” said Churchill.

Still, there has been some confusion surrounding another suggested

RA hiring changesZoe WilliamsArgosy Staff

change to the hiring process. When the changes were first announced, applicants were informed that they were required to provide the hiring committee with reference letters.

Harper RA Heidi Fraser said that “the changes [were] a bit stressful for applicants as it is hard to get references in that short period of time.”

However, the requirement has since been reduced to providing the names and numbers of referees. !e original rationale behind the required letters was to have the RA hiring process “mirror the whole process of applying to any job,” explained Churchill. However, “with the amount of paper we were looking at, we said we would go with numbers and names.”

First-year student Erin McSorley, who is applying for an RA position, is positive about the experience so far.

“!e application isn’t unreasonably long, and I feel like the questions are appropriate in order for the selection committee to get a feel for individual’s qualifications and aptitude.”

Fraser says she feels the old hiring process was fair, but “there could have been some type of event which evaluated us on our social skills and problems solving abilities in groups.” Nothing like this is included in the new hiring process.

Churchill, however, is positive about the new process; over 100 students have shown up for the information sessions.

McSorley found the session helpful, “especially due to the fact that RAs and Assistant Dons were present at the meeting to answer any questions that we had.”

“I am definitely still planning on applying. It reinforced my decision more than anything.”Last weekend, a locked door in the photography department was found kicked in; nothing was stolen.

Despite recent thefts in Gairdner, latest intruder takes nothing

Page 27: Argosy January 22, 2009

4 JANUARY 22, 2009 THE ARGOSY • NEWS

Saturday’s pancake breakfast, hosted by Mt. A’s Team Fox, raised $1600, far exceeding their expectations. Approximately 275 people turned out, and the group went through over 50 pounds of pancake mix and “more bananas than we ever want to think about again”, said member Cejay Riley. Team Fox is planning another pancake breakfast in the semester along with other fundraising events.

Team Fox is an organization dedicated to finding creative ways to fundraise in support of Parkinson’s research. !ey started out in 2006 as part of the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Cejay Riley

“!ere’s big plans for the commerce department,” said SAC VP Academic Ryan Robski. !e program is looking to hire a Dean-like position to head the Centre for Business Studies, and is also developing an introductory course potentially to be o"ered in the upcoming year.

Joyce Centre DirectorLast year, the commerce department received a $5 million donation from Tim Horton’s co-founder Ron Joyce to build the Centre for Business Studies.

VP Academic and Research Stephen McClatchie “knew at that time that it would need some kind of leadership,” which has led to the current development of the position of Joyce Centre Director.

!e position requires internal and external leadership, said McClatchie. !e director will be the head of the Centre for Business, and act as a dean, although commerce will continue to be the responsibility of the Dean of Social Sciences.

!e position will also increase the capacity of the department, as he or she will be responsible for teaching courses.

In addition to helping students academically, “the director will also have business networks [...] which will help the university remain [connected to the] business world,” said commerce student Mary James Fisher.

McClatchie explained that it’s “a bit of a di"erent kind of role” due to the strong external component, typical of business programs.

“It’s a necessity in a way that it may not be for another academic

Centre of Business Studies’ rapid expansionDepartment searches for a new director and designs a new course

Justine GalbraithArgosy Staff

department,” he explained.SAC Social Science Senator Gillian

Fraser agrees. “[!is position] will make

commerce at Mt. A more like business programs at other universities and will allow it to be taken seriously by other institutions and industry,” explained Fraser.

However, Fraser likes how integrated the program is with the rest of the university, and thinks this could add another degree of separation.

“I think it’s right for the program but maybe not for the university.”

Still, with all of the current focus on the department, SAC VP Academic Ryan Robski explained

that it is important to have someone to work closely with McClatchie and the deans.

!e hiring committee for the position includes McClatchie, Fisher, Dean of Social Sciences Rob-Summerby Murray, former Dean Berkeley Fleming, all tenured faculty members, librarian Ruthmary MacPherson, and alumnus Karl Larsen. !ey are looking to have someone named by late winter, and in place for the next academic year.

First year course!e commerce department is also

hoping to include an introductory course in the academic calendar for the upcoming year.

“!ere are, and there have been, within the university pressures to o"er more courses at the first year level, in part because the size of the first year class did grow over the last year,” said Berry. “I think as a department we should be doing our part to help accommodate that growth.”

Last year, a first year introduction to business course was deleted from the academic calendar. !e course had not been o"ered in over three years, and wasn’t doing much for for first year students, explained Berry.

!e SAC got a commitment from

the department and from Senate to develop a new first year course to replace that, said Robski, and currently, development of that course is almost complete.

“!ere’s [...] tentative department approval for the course,” said Berry. “Final approval will hopefully be obtained this month.”

!e course will be directed towards both commerce and non-commerce students, but Berry would prefer if it was not counted towards the commerce degree.

Fisher thinks it will be of benefit to new students to take a commerce course in their first year.

“Personally, in my first year at Mt. A I felt disadvantaged from other school’s commerce students in that I was not ‘technically’ a commerce student [until] second year,” explained Fisher. “A first year course will let them know what they are getting themselves into.”

!e course will be a ‘process’ course, as opposed to a ‘content’ course. !ere will be business related topics, said Berry, but they will be more cross-disciplinary in nature and are intended to help students develop abilities such as writing, presentations, and research.

“I think this course would be intended for first year commerce students and for first year arts students interested in doing a major or a minor potentially in commerce for the BA or BSc degree,” said Berry.

Currently, commerce students are required to take a number of first year courses in other disciplines, such as mathematics and economics, before they are able to take a commerce course.

“With certain disciplines you need an adequate level of base knowledge to be able to study the field e"ectively,” said Fraser.

Vivi ReichIn the upcoming year, the Commerce Department hopes to offer a first year course available to both commerce and non-commerce students

Page 28: Argosy January 22, 2009

NATIONAL

SASKATOON (CUP) – If it’s true that political movements start at the grassroots, then the seeds of change were planted this weekend in a classroom at the University of Saskatchewan.

For the organizers of an anti-tarsands conference in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Jan. 16-19, the hope is that now the ideas and protest tactics taught will take root in those who attend.

“So what were the advantages of that tactic?” asked Mike Hudema, tarsands co-ordinator and climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace Canada.

He is in the middle of teaching di"erent forms of soft blockades – a type of non-violent direct action commonly used to provide a human barricade to an entrance, a roadway, or any other protest site.

Participants use their bodies in various ways: first by holding hands, then linking arms, and eventually intertwining anything they can to join forces against a common enemy.

“Well, in a road situation, this would be best, because they couldn’t drive over you,” said one participant, sitting amongst a group on the ground, another person’s legs wrapped around her waist.

!e session is one of many happening throughout the weekend

Halt tarsands development in Saskatchewan: activists‘We don’t want this in our province,’ says anti-tar sands conference organizerWendy GillisCUP Central Bureau Chief

at a conference hosted by Greenpeace, Evergreen, !e Sierra Club of Canada, Council of Canadians, and the Rainforest Action Network.

!e weekend event explored themes of activism, but focused upon keeping the tarsands out of Saskatchewan – a looming possibility as the province reaps revenues from oil and gas resources and companies bid for the right to explore the oilsands in the North.

“!is is one of the largest industrial projects [that could come to Saskatchewan], so the e"ects are going to be just as severe,” said Hudema. “!e damages will be on a scale we haven’t seen before in Canada.”

Hudema, a native of Edmonton, Alberta, has already felt the e"ects of tarsands at a provincial level. Alberta produces 30 per cent of Canada’s greenhouse gas pollution – much of which comes from the province’s tarsands development, according to a December study published by Environmental Defence.

Additionally, members of the First Nations community of Fort Chipewyan, Atla., situated downstream from the tarsands, have reported elevated levels of rare cancer, says Eriel Deranger, a member of the Fort Chipewyan First Nation, who was in attendance at the conference. Adverse biological e"ects have also been found in fish in the Athabasca river, Eriel says.

Conference organizer Nicole Kenney says the idea grew out of a

trip several U of S students took to an anti-tarsands training camp in Alberta in the fall. !e result was a group of dedicated people who were concerned about Saskatchewan’s future, she says.

“!ey learned some of the environmental impacts of the tarsands [and the] many negative socio-economic e"ects,” she said. “We don’t want this in our province.”

!e goal of the conference is to equip people with the knowledge and

the skills to promote environmentally friendly alternatives to tarsands development, she says.

Although Saskatchewan is steadily moving in a similar direction as Alberta – largely due to a Conservative shift in government in the last provincial election – Kenney believes that if enough people’s voices join in the chorus against the tarsands, the government will listen.

“!is is about movement building to apply pressure on the government,”

she said.Members hosting the conference

will head west at the end of the month to hold a similar conference in Calgary. Deranger says the hope is that people in the “right wing city” will see the environmental issues a"ecting their province and start up an activist base, something she says is currently lacking.

Participants learn soft blockade tactics at an anti-tarsands conference held in Saskatoon

Robby Davis/ the Sheaf

WINNIPEG (CUP) – With the help of duct tape and some ingenuity, University of Winnipeg students used a homemade surveillance system to catch a campus security guard surfing pornographic websites on school computers.

!e story started after a routine check-up revealed porn sites in the Web history of a computer belonging to the U of W Physics Student Association, says member Josh Boulding.

“For six weeks we collected evidence,” he said.

!e intruder made no secret of his activity.

“Several times, the website was left on the screen,” Boulding said. “Once, a suspicious paper towel was found on

Students catch porn-watcher on tapePhysics students use video camera, Star Wars helmet to nab U of W security guardAndrew McMonagleThe Uniter (University of Winnipeg)

the floor.”Students denied accessing these

sites, which were visited after the school closed at night.

!e Association’s computer is not on the U of W’s network, and access to sites, including ones that contain porn, is not limited.

Seeking answers, students hid a video surveillance camera inside a Star Wars helmet in the Association’s room.

!e setup worked, and the camera revealed a security guard on the computer.

Once they got the image they needed, the students provided it to the department head, who took it to head of security David Mauro.

Mauro was tight-lipped about the situation, citing privacy legislation.

“I won’t confirm anything in relation to employees or contract employees,” he said. “It would be

irresponsible.”When asked what the procedure

would be in this scenario, Mauro spoke hypothetically.

“We would have to confirm it first. Depending on the specific situation, the contract employee may or may not be interviewed. We would contact the contractors . . . inform them and recommend the employee be re-deployed to another site.”

But, in an e-mail to the Association, Mauro wrote: “!e security guard you discovered using the computer in the lounge was removed from the University work site.”

“I sincerely regret that my department created an unprofessional and uncomfortable environment for you all,” he further wrote.

Mike Lang, president of the Association, says Mauro confirmed the employee would be moved.

Mauro wrote that the security

guard on tape was a contract worker at the university and not a U of W employee.

!e U of W contracts Garda Security. Spokespersons from Garda were unavailable for comment before press time.

Although the situation constitutes a breach in performance and is considered a maintenance issue, such maintenance issues arise for managers in every sphere, Mauro said in an interview.

!e police were not involved as the pornography was not illicit.

“!is isn’t a situation where the guy did something so disturbing that he can never be a security guard again,” Mauro said.

He also praised the Association’s investigative skills in his e-mail.

“Your investigative diligence was pretty creative and nothing short of amazing. In all my years in policing

and security, I have never seen such an e"ective, low cost solution to covert surveillance!” he wrote.

In an interview, Mauro acknowledged that there have been problems in the past with university security guards.

“We have, for any number of reasons, requested that guards be re-deployed,” Mauro said. “It’s not unusual.”

Mauro cited conduct, performance, and poor image as the main reasons for a guard to be re-deployed. Poor image refers mainly to the state of their uniform and hygiene.

“!e nature of the industry is that we’re always competing to recruit the best security guards we can,” said Mauro. “!at means letting some go to get better guards in.”

Mauro noted that the majority of guards on campus are excellent.

TORONTO (CUP) – !e undergraduate students’ union at Toronto’s York University has launched their “Don’t Pay a Cent” campaign urging students to not pay any of their tuition fees until classes o#cially resume.

York students have been out of class since contract faculty, teaching

York students withhold tuitionRochelle BrahamExcalibur (York University)

assistants, and sessional workers went on strike on Nov. 6.

!e York Federation of Students described this as a way for students to express their frustration about the strike.

!e YFS says this may even serve as a means of placing additional pressure on the university to end the strike.

YFS President Hamid Osman says he believes the “Don’t Pay a Cent” campaign will allow students to let their voices be heard so the strike will

end as soon as possible.“Students should put pressure on

the administration and CUPE 3903 and send an e-mail telling them their story, because it is the only way that they will understand what you, as a student, feel,” Osman said.

“!e administration and union need to understand students are su"ering, students are frustrated, and students want an immediate end to this strike.”

However, Robert Ti#n, York’s

vice-president students, says the YFS campaign won’t make a di"erence.

He says the university has postponed its payment deadlines in light of the strike and had taken these steps before the launch of the YFS campaign.

Ti#n says the second-term payment has been put on hold until the strike has been resolved and classes resume, at which time students will be expected to pay their fees and interest will be accrued on

outstanding accounts if full payment isn’t received by that deadline.

If students are having financial problems, Ti#n recommends they speak to York’s student financial services.

“!ey can visit student services not only to talk about deadlines for fee payments, but also to look to see if there is any way of providing some financial assistance,” Ti#n said.

Page 29: Argosy January 22, 2009

MUSIC ACADEMYADVANCED STUDIES IN MUSIC

Subscribe online!Visit our website for all information

regarding our programs for 2009.

Deadlines for registration:

February 13th, 2009 With scholarship application

April 3rd, 2009 Without scholarship application

3165, chemin du Parc, Orford (Québec) J1X 7A2, CANADAT 819 843-3981 | 1 800 567-6155 (Canada Toll free)F 819 843-7274 | [email protected]

www.arts-orford.orgS U M M E R

2009

FONDATION J. A. DE SÈVE

DO YOU HAVE AN OUTSTANDING PROFESSOR?Nominations Are Invited for Mount Allison’s Prestigious Teaching

Awards

The Herbert and Leota Tucker Teaching Award and the J.E.A Crake Teaching

Awards recognize outstanding teaching and educational leadership at Mount Allison

University. A brief description of each award and its criteria follows.

The Herbert and Leota Tucker Teaching Award

The Herbert and Leota Tucker Teaching Award is Mount Allison’s highest

recognition of teaching excellence. Annually, the Tucker recognizes one tenured or

tenure-track faculty member who has taught at Mount Allison for (5)

years and who has demonstrated outstanding teaching, educational leadership, and

teaching scholarship during that time. A professor may win the Tucker Award only

once.

The J.E.A. Crake Teaching Awards

The Crake Foundation offers up to three teaching awards each year, one in each of

the Faculties of Arts, Social Sciences, and Science. These awards are intended to

recognize and encourage teaching excellence and teaching scholarship at Mount

Allison University.

All teachers who are members of the relevant departments and programs and who have not are eligible for the Crake

Award for their Faculty.

A professor may be nominated for only one of these awards each year. However,

there is no limit to the number of times an individual may be nominated, and re-

nominations are welcome.

Before you nominate your professor:

Read the list of previous recipients, the complete criteria, and eligibility details at

http://www.mta.ca/pctc/.

Check to ensure that your professor is eligible, accepts your nomination, and is

willing to compile the nomination dossier.

Write a nomination letter explaining why she/he is worthy of an award. Remember to specify the name of the award for which you are making the nomination.

Address your nomination letter to Dr. Stephen McClatchie, Provost and Vice

President, Academic and Research.

ST. JOHN’S (CUP) – As tuition fees rise across the country, student debt continues to grow. But, Newfoundland and Labrador continues to pump out graduates with high debt levels despite having some of the lowest tuition in the country.

In 2006, the most recent data available, over half of Canadian post-secondary students graduated with some form of debt. !e average amount they owed at the end of a four-year bachelor’s program was $24,047, according to the Millennium Scholarship Foundation.

N.L. has gone against the national trend as student debt and the cost of tuition have decreased.

According to a report given to the provincial government by the N.L. branch of the Canadian Federation of Students, the province’s undergraduate debt has dropped from $30,000 to about $26,000 over the last 10 years.

Daniel Smith, N.L. chairperson for the CFS, says the falling debt is a result of government’s willingness to work with the student movement.

“Since we’ve had the freezes and tuition fee reductions and such, things have been coming down,” he said.

!e debt, however, is still higher than the national average.

When compared to other provinces that have similar up-front strategies, such as grants and low tuition, N.L. students come out deeper in the red than most.

Manitoba also has a tuition-fee freeze and reduction strategy, but students shell out $600 more than Memorial University of Newfoundland undergraduates for tuition.

According to a report on Manitoban student debt by the Millennium Foundation, graduates in 2006 came out of school owing $12,000-$14,000 less than N.L. students.

Smith places the blame on rural N.L. students having to move to bigger centres like St. John’s or Corner Brook for their education.

“Even though we have low tuition fees, we still have students who are high in need in the province,” said Smith.

“Anyone who’s coming from Twillingate, St. Anthony, any of

N.L. student debt prevails despite low tuitionCFS-NL casts critical eye on back-end funding strategiesIan MacDonaldThe Muse (Memorial University of Newfoundland)

these places, is taking on that extra cost to go to school. !ey don’t have the opportunity to live and study at home.”

He also says students from other provinces, attracted by the initial low cost of tuition, come to the province and plunge into debt due to living expenses.

A 2008 report released by the Educational Policy Institute says that the decreased debt has more to do with the type of backend or post-graduation reduction methods the CFS has been known to speak against.

!e publication says that by combining provincial and federal tax credits in Manitoba, undergraduates can wind up being paid $50 per year for their education.

Smith says this is only the case if things go perfectly for the student.

“I would find that a bit skeptical,” said Smith. “!e [Manitoba] student movement is a bit pissed o" with what their government has been doing; I would be shocked to find out if that was the case.”

He says the downfall of back-end programs is their inability to benefit all parties, leaving those who don’t meet their criteria to fall between the cracks.

Nova Scotia has also introduced back-end tax credits as a way of trying to help out students. Although tuition is much higher on average, Nova Scotia graduates are $3,000 better o" than those from Memorial University of Newfoundland, according to the Globe and Mail.

“Sure, it will help some people on the back end; it will help the people who make the most money on the back end, but it doesn’t proportionally impact everybody the same,” Smith said.

Whether or not back-end methods reduce the average amount undergrads have to pay back, Smith says the main problem is the inability of these policies to open doors for potential students.

He says by having higher initial fees, people with less cash have a harder time getting in to universities to begin with.

“Just picture yourself, 18 years old, just about to start university, and your mother or father looks at you and says: ‘Don’t worry about the cost of education. You’ll save it on the back-end,’” Smith said.

2006 average student debt as reported by the Millenium Scholarship Foundation:

British Columbia: $26,675Western Canada: $22,787Ontario: $22,589Quebec: $12,992Atlantic Canada: $29,747

6 JANUARY 22, 2009 THE ARGOSY • NEWS

Page 30: Argosy January 22, 2009

FEATURES

Sasha Van Katwyk Argosy Staff

“Never, in the history of the United Nations, have there been such heavy demands set on the Peacekeeping Department,” said Alain Le Roy, head of the UN Peacekeeping Department (UNPKD), late last year.

“We need more troops and civilian workers, more resources,” Le Roy continued, “and there are louder calls from member-states for our involvement that go way beyond what these states have given us to work with.”

Indeed, while the world has certainly been engulfed in more conflict than we see today, never in history has there been such a demand for specific humanitarian bodies to help settle hostilities and rebuild relations.

“People are already talking about the UN expanding missions in nations that are still inflamed in war, and I’ve even seen documents on Iraq fall on my desk,” a BBC source within the UNPKD said.

Today there are 16 active peacekeeping operations over four continents designed to bring humanitarian aid, training, and relief to nations coming o! the cusp of conflict or, in some cases, have fallen back into war.

Since the founding of the United Nations, there have been 63 missions with varying results, some of which, like Rwanda or Somalia, have weighed heavily on UN’s reputation for achieving the goals its member-states set to achieve.

Despite criticisms, the UNPKD has continued to function in di"cult conditions and has gained credibility as a serious option for states requiring dire assistance and the installation of relative stability following conflict.

#is branch of the United Nations is undeniably valuable,

with their presence in areas often meaning humanitarian aid and daily life can recommence.

#ere are serious problems still facing the UNPKD, however, that that should draw hesitance to the over-reliance of this body.

Reports of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse by peacekeepers on the ground have been pouring in through news networks and NGOs, such as Save the Children, for over a decade now.

“It’s a serious blemish on the UN,” said Nick Birnback of the UNPKD operations o"ce in New York, “a lot is being done, a lot is underway. But the fact is more needs to be done.”

Jasmine Whitbread of Save the Children acknowledges the e!orts being made by the UN to crack down on the abuses, but says, “In most cases statements of principle and good intent have yet to be converted into really decisive and concerted international action.”

In fact, beyond the accusations of innocent civilian beatings, rapes, and prostitution through o!ering young girls jars of food for sex, there are greater attacks on the regional UNPKD o"ces of inaction when such reports are received.

A report done by the UN found that there are “endemic failures in the response to allegations of abuse when they have been o"cially reported.” And beyond o"cial reports, it’s well understood by those on the ground that only a small fraction of violations committed are reported.

“It’s not just the initial attack,” said Heather Kerr, also of Save the Children, “it’s the fear of reporting it, the fear of reprisals, the fear of stigma from being identified as someone who has been raped.”

#e UN Security Council, in their own examination of abuse claims, said, “We dishonour these brave men and women when we fail to prevent or punish those from within their ranks who victimize the very people peacekeepers

are meant to protect and serve.” While these accusations fall only

on a handful of the over 100,000 peacekeeping personnel, the continued heinous actions of those within a body meant protect, is something the United Nations has said it cannot tolerate to any degree.

To look deeper into what is actually occurring in these abuses brings to light another major challenge facing the UNPKD that isn’t as dramatic on nightly news, but is far more insidious within the ranks of peacekeeping personnel.

“#e stress put on a peacekeeper in these conditions is more than most active soldiers could ever handle,” said Canadian Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire, former head of the UN peacekeeping operation of Rwanda during the genocide in 1994.

“#e atrocities one must bear witness to,” Dallaire said in an interview with CBC, “and then to stand in the face of the men you know did it and beg for their cooperation so that you may fulfill a mission the outside doesn’t understand is enough to send any man to madness.”

#ere is no required psychological analysis or consultation o!ered to UN peacekeepers once in the field as the current mandate of the UNPKD stands. Furthermore, one of the most key demands made on peacekeepers is to walk the line between suppliers of aid to all sides and defending those who may be under attack by men you just fed the day before. Moreover, a peacekeeper must do so without the soldier’s luxury of shooting back unless under nearly impossible circumstances.

“Certainly there are some horrible acts committed by peacekeepers

A black stain on the blue beretsAllegations of sexual abuse and misconduct are signs of deeper issues facing UN peacekeepers

because of their own insubordination,” said Jean-Marie Guéhenno, former head of the UNPKD, “but when you look at the severity of post-traumatic stress (PTSD), coming out of combat soldiers, let alone out of peacekeepers being put under the same battle circumstances, but with tighter restriction on behaviour, some of their violent acts must be explained by extreme stress.”

Indeed, there are some reported acts by peacekeepers that are so heinous it goes beyond just despicable behaviour. #e stories of Belgian and Canadian peacekeepers beating Somali men to death, locking some up in shacks for days, and even one particularly gruesome occurrence of them roasting a boy alive over a fire, all go beyond maliciousness.

“Some of the events we hear about such as those in Somalia and Haiti [when a peacekeeper opened fire on a market] are without question the result of conflict-born madness,” says Stanley Krippner, a war trauma therapist. “#e level of desensitization the peacekeepers that see true human atrocity much go through goes way beyond our understanding of what war does to the mind…with little question, the e!ects on some of these men and women go beyond combat PTSD and are permanently debilitating.”

Ultimately, these abuses are rare and there are continued steps being taken by both the UN and watchdog groups such as Save the Children, but their occurrence at all is considered intolerable by all parties involved. We may have to accept to some degree that atrocious things will happen in the midst of chaos, but perhaps an element of the solution can be not only monitoring the actions of these peacekeepers, but their state of mind as well.

“If the UNPKD is going to be considered by member-states as the Secretariat’s solution so that they may wash their hands of the problem,” Department Head Le Roy said, “they must at least know what they’re getting into and the risks involved.”

Certainly there are some horrible acts committed by peacekeepers because of their own insubordination.- Jean-Marie Guéhenno,former head of the UNPKD

“”

We dishonour these brave men and women when we fail to prevent or punish those f rom within their ranks who victimize the very people peacekeepers are meant to protect and serve.- The UN Security Council, in their own examination of abuse claims

It’s the fear of reporting it, the fear of reprisals, the fear of stigma from being identif ied as someone who has been raped.- Heather Kerr, of Save the Children

“”

217Allegations of abuse of girls and

women by peacekeepers in eastern Congo, noted in a 2006 investigation

1Number of peacekeepers the report established proof against, out of 75

63 Number of Peacekeeping

Operations since 1948

54Estimated total cost of operations

from 1948 to June 2008, in billions

Playing with the

Numbers

Internet Photo

Page 31: Argosy January 22, 2009

10 THE ARGOSY • FEATURES JANUARY 22, 2009

Rev. John C. PerkinUniversity Chaplain

#e unfolding story of creation forms the basis of several weeks of reflection for me, both in the chapel and in print in this column.

In connection with growing environmental concerns, I have returned to the Genesis account of creation to contemplate the way in which our need for more environmental action and care is rooted in the spirituality of the Judeo-Christian tradition. In this second column of the new year, I turn to the second day of creation as told in the poetic theology of creation in Genesis chapter one:

“And God said, ‘Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.”

(Genesis 1: 6-8, NRSV)

#is is perhaps not the most dramatic of the days in this poetic account, but nonetheless a key image in the bringing together of an understanding of humanity and God in relation to the world as a created order. #is passage describes the creation, in the old King James Version language, of the “firmament,” the sky, the dome that sits over the world in the ancient cosmology. If the earth were like a plate, the sky would like a bowl turned over it, as the ancients conceptualized their cosmology.

#is second day of creation is of the sky, suggesting also atmosphere, air, the edges of the earthly sphere. #is piece of scripture suggests that God is present in the very climate of the world; Canadians should understand that – we should be among the most religious people on the face of the earth if we could share with the ancients the idea that God is present in the atmosphere, in the ever-changing weather patterns, given our focus on and interest in the weather.

#e climate that comes from the atmosphere is also part of the wonder of God’s creation, and as I indicated last week, it should cause us to stop and be amazed at the beauty and wonder of God’s presence in the world around us (although, I must note that a graduate of Mount Allison who reads #rough Stained Glass online emailed me last week to tell me she had to shovel 25 cm of God’s beauty and wonder o! her driveway before she could get to town).

#e focus of the second day of creation is the sky, the dome, the firmament which is carefully put in place. #e poem now suggests that in our spiritual understanding of the

world, and of life, we need to see that limits and boundaries have been established.

Our culture tends to react against limits and boundaries, as our consumption of fossil fuels and the earth’s resources seem to know no bounds. While it is good to reach beyond ourselves, to strive to be better, to try to be more than we thought we could be, it is also part of the creation story to realize that there are limits, ecologically and personally.

It is time in our world’s history for us to find the beauty and pleasures of living within nature’s limits, not only for the sake of enjoyment and meaning, not only as an expression of our faith, but for the sake of the fragile planet on which we live.

#is guardianship of planet Earth and its resources is also an expression of our faith. We must limit our consumption to a rate that does exceed nature’s ability to regenerate. We must participate in the cycles of nature, taking care that the things we take and the things we throw back into the earth are fully integrated into the cycle of life. Otherwise our boundary-crossings lead not only to the destruction of nature, but of our essential selves, our souls.

Not only does the atmosphere and the earth su!er from our abuse, our over-consumption, our failure to recognize the limits of the earth and the way we need to live within them – we all su!er, as creatures of the earth, because we are all bound by the cycles of growth and death, regeneration and renewal, of water drawn from the earth and coming back to us again as rain and snow.

Our plants absorb carbons from the atmosphere and purify the air as they grow, but only if we have enough plants to counter reasonable emissions of carbon into the air. Toxins in water supplies, holes in the ozone layer, illnesses and diseases and warming of the atmosphere are all signs that we have pushed beyond the boundaries of what the earth is capable of sustaining in its cycle of regenerating and renewing.

Our response, by living within the limits of creation, is a spiritual act. Faith should compel us not only to restrain our consumption, but to seek to redeem damage done.

Our beliefs have consequences for the way we live, for our lives and the life of our planet. It is time to stop and look up and around, and see that what we believe can be shaped by the world in which we live, the timeframe of our existence, and the hopes we want to extend to this world beyond ourselves.

Only if we learn to live within the very ends and limits of life and creation can we truly hope that others will enjoy a world without end, seen in beauty and wonder in the changing weather all around, through stained glass.

!rough stained glassArgosy Staff

I saw the King’s head go a-rolling byOn January 21, 1793, the National Convention had the King of France, Louis XVI, stripped of all his titles, and then led him to the guillotine.

A lot of people know the general story of Louis XVI and his famous queen, Marie Antoinette. Boy is made to marry girl, boy and girl can’t seem to produce an heir. Old king dies, boy and girl become King and Queen of France at a fairly young age, girl has way too much fun with the seemingly never-ending supply of money, and boy barely says anything to girl. Boy and girl finally create a family, country slowly turns on boy and girl, and boy and girl are in big trouble.

Or, people have at least watched Sofia Coppola’s version (however historically inaccurate it is) and saw all the pretty, lacy, fru-fru bits.

Long story short, by 1789, the French people were not at all happy with the monarchy. During the October Days march on Versailles, the National Guard and the women, who had marched there to demand bread for their families, demanded that the royal family and the National Assembly be moved to Paris.

About two years after being moved to the Tuileries Palace in the centre of Paris, the royal family attempted to flee the city; this was highly unsuccessful due to the fact that the family was a little tactless in hiding their identities.

On August 10, 1792, a mob, with support from the new Paris Commune, attacked the Tuileries Palace, going for blood this time. #e result: many dead guards, the royal family imprisoned in Temple fortress (under false pretenses that it was for their own safety), and basically the end of the monarchy’s absolute rule in France after the National Convention declared France a republic.

In December 1972, Louis XVI was brought before the Convention to hear the accusations held against him (of high treason and crimes against the state). On January 16, 1793, 310 deputies of the Convention voted to show some mercy for the king, however, the rest of the deputies (380) voted for immediate death penalty.

According to some accounts, as soon as Louis’s blood hit the ground, people rushed towards the sca!old and dipped their handkerchiefs in it.

Big Brother is watching AppleOn January 22, 1984, an Apple advertisement for their new Macintosh computers aired during Super Bowl XVIII.

Directed by Ridley Scott, the advert was an allusion to George Orwell’s famous dystopian novel, Nineteen-Eighty-Four. It showed an unnamed heroine, who looked oddly like an Olympic track and field star, running through a “futuristic,” bleak setting, followed by a group of riot police (supposedly the #ought Police). #is was cut in between shots of people (all looking very uniform, making it hard to tell males from females), marching in unison, while “Big Brother” talked in the background about the celebration of unified thoughts and conformity.

#e heroine runs towards the room in which many people are seated watching Big Brother on a large telescreen. Wielding a large hammer, the heroine throws the hammer at the screen just as Big Brother declares that, “We shall prevail!” In a pu! of smoke and sparks, the screen is destroyed and the people appear to be shocked out of a daze.

#e ad ends by promising that, “On January 24, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984, won’t be like 1984.”

#ought to be an IBM bashing ad, were IBM was represented by Big Brother, the actual idea behind the ad was to show the fight to gain control over computer technology, the underdog Apple versus the big guys at IBM. Apparently, Apple wanted the Mac computers to be a symbol of empowerment, fighting against conformity and to assert originality. Evidently, the idea of the iPod came much, much later.

Emperor Caligula assassinated, horse implicatedOn January 24, 41, the Roman Emperor Caligula was assassinated by some fairly disgruntled Praetorian Guards.

Born Gaius Julius Caesar, although known mostly by his nickname, Caligula (meaning “Little Boots,” referring, supposedly, to a pair of child-size military sandals that his father’s legionaries made for him), was known to be eccentric (putting it nicely), cruel, and extravagance.

His father, Germanicus, was the adopted son of the Emperor Tiberius, and his mother was Agrippina the Elder. Caligula and his five siblings traveled around Germania with their parents during their father’s military campaigns there; however, after the death of Germanicus in 19 CE, Agrippina and her children returned to Rome, where she and her two eldest sons died under mysterious circumstances.

In 31, Caligula withdrew to the island of Capri, where he remained until the death of Tiberius in 37, who o"cially adopted Caligula as his grandson, and making him the new Emperor of Rome.

According to some remaining sources, Caligula was a pretty decent ruler for the first two years of his reign. Unfortunately, after this, the sources tend to focus on the many scandals that surrounded the emperor, making him out to be an insane tyrant.

Many of the things Caligula was said to have done included killing for pleasure, spending way too much money, being a sexual maniac (some accounts condemn him for committing incest with his sisters, and delighting in the company of young boys). At one point, he attempted to make his horse, Incitatus, a consul and a priest.

Some of his actions as emperor were accounted as being hard on the Senate, the nobility, and the equestrian order. Because of this, several conspiracies were formed against Caligula, but they never seemed to work out, at least until some fed-up o"cers of the Praetorian Guard eventually managed to stab him à la the first Julius Caesar, according to the historian Suetonius.

A weekly compilation by Sarah RobinsonThis week in history

Also this week in history:January 19, 1809: Birth of writer Edgar Allan Poe.January 19, 1966: Indira Ghandi is elected as Prime Minister of India.January 19, 1969: Jan Palach dies after setting himself on fire to protest the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the USSR in 1968.January 19, 1977: #e first ever recorded snowfall in Miami, Florida, and the Bahamas.January 19, 2007: Death of #e Mamas and the Papas member Denney Doherty, better known to Canadian children of the 1990’s as the Harbour Master from CBC’s !eodore Tugboat.January 20, 1892: First game of basketball played at a YMCA in Massachusetts.January 20, 1961: JFK inaugurated as the youngest and first ever Roman Catholic President of the United States.January 20, 1986: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.January 21, 1189: Phillip II of France and Richard the Lionheart gather troops to begin the First Crusade.January 21, 1789: #e first American novel is printed in Boston.January 21, 1905: Birth of fashion designer Christian Dior.January 21, 1924: Death of Russian revolutionary, Vladimir Lenin.January 21, 2008: #e Eyak language from Alaska becomes extinct when its last native speaker, Marie Smith Jones, dies at the age of 90.January 22, 1788: Birth of Romantic poet Lord George Byron.January 22, 1901: Death of Queen Victoria; her son, Edward VII becomes king.January 22, 1905: Unarmed, peaceful demonstrators gunned down in St. Petersburg by the Imperial Guard begins the Russian revolution of 1905; later known as ‘Bloody Sunday.’January 22, 1946: Creation of the Central Intelligence Group, which later becomes the CIA.January 22, 2008: Death of Heath Ledger.January 23, 1533: Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, finds herself pregnant with who is later to become Elizabeth I.January 23, 1803: Death of Irish brewer Arthur Guinness.January 23, 1897: Elva Zona Heaster found dead in her home; necessitating the only murder trial in American history where the apparent testimony of a ghost helped to find the guilty party.January 23, 1989: Death of surrealist artist Salvador Dalí.January 24, 76 : Birth of the Roman Emperor Hadrian.January 24, 1862: Bucharest named the capital of Romania.January 24, 1907: Robert Baden-Powell founds the Boy Scouts.January 24, 1924: Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg) is renamed Leningrad in Russia.January 24, 1927: Alfred Hitchcock’s first movie is released.January 24, 1965: Death of Winston Churchill.January 24, 1984: As promised by Apple’s 1984 style advert, the first Mac computer goes on sale.

Page 32: Argosy January 22, 2009

11THE ARGOSY • FEATURESJANUARY 22, 2009

I f i t ex i s t s , you can f i nd po rn abou t i t

Vision in Blue

Editor’s disclaimer: This week’s column is kinda’ nasty and graphic. I ’m serious. Be warned.

I’m going to teach you all about Rule 34. For those who aren’t familiar with this, it essentially states that if something exists (furniture, dogs, Ziploc bags, etc), there will be porn made about it.

#is week’s sexbomb is going to cover some of the more interesting kinds of porn out there. If you don’t believe me that these things exist, you should be able to find it on the internet.

Dinosaur porn. Don’t laugh, dinosaurs exist, or at least they did, so yes, there is porn involving dinosaurs. #is can include people being fucked by, or fucking, various dinosaur species. #e videos involving Pterodactyls are particularly amusing: you get to watch it eating out some chick! Who wouldn’t want to see that? And by the way, that’s a rhetorical question.

Lego porn. Remember the puppet sex scene from Team America? Well, this is a similar kind of thing, but with Lego people, if they can be called people. Well, you know what I mean, those weird yellow block-shaped people, with painted-on faces and clothes, clip-on hair, and solid hand shapes. Anyway, it’s more of a stop-motion thing (and yes, there’s claymation porn, did you even have to ask?) and is usually made by people with way too much time on their hands.

Vegetable porn. You can guess where this one is going, right? #ere are a great number of veggies that are phallic shaped, the most popular ones being cucumbers, zucchini, and carrots. However, you can also cut holes in some vegetables (squash, tomatoes, melons) and use those as some kind of female orifice substitute. Just keep it organic.

Bacon porn. #is one did mystify me for a while, and it seems like there are two versions of this. In one, bacon is used as clothing (have you heard of the bacon bra?) and is eaten o! the person before sex as some kind of foreplay. #e second version is where people actually fuck the bacon. For those of you who enjoy bacon-wrapped meat, well, it’s not just steak that bacon can be wrapped around.

It’s seriously not kosher, though, not to mention unhygienic.

Anime porn! #ere’s a name for this one, but I can’t remember it, due to writing this at 3 am. (Ed. note: It’s called Hentai.) #ink of any sexual scenario involving anime characters drawn out in cartoon style either in print or on the screen. I was especially horrified by the octopus-like creatures, which would put a tentacle in each orifice. #is gives new meaning to the term aural sex.

Alien porn. All you foil hat nutbars must love this one. #ey usually involve various abduction scenarios, and then you’re probed by an alien, but not with a little implant injected behind your ear or in your neck or whatever, if you catch my drift.

Midget porn. Now, I’m sure there’s porn with only little people in it, because, you know, X-rated entertainment should be one of the first frontiers of inclusiveness, but in this case, I’m talking about porn between little people and, well, normal sized people. For example, I’m talking about a man under three feet having sex with a woman that’s just under six feet tall. Dream big, buddy! But seriously, that little guy can move, though it is a little weird. It’s sort of like watching a Mexican jumping bean trying to attack a tree.

Dead people porn. #is one is for necrophiliacs only. Essentially there’s a dead body, and someone has sex with it. Not only is it disrespectful to the dead, but seriously disturbing as well.

Stu!ed animal porn. Now this one is actually funny, but where stu!ed animals di!er from real animals is that they don’t have holes to stick it in, or reproductive equipment to service a female. #is leads to holes being cut in, or something hard being stuck into the teddy bear. Sometimes maybe the whole stu!ed bear is jammed up there, I actually don’t know, as I stopped watching this one on account of the fact that I couldn’t stop laughing.

#ere are many more examples of Rule 34 out there, some involving bobble-heads, others involving unicorns, and even Jell-O. But I’m going to stop before this list gets too lengthy.

If you are interested in other interesting types of porn, I invite you to do your own research, and if you come across anything interesting, please tell me about it. Send all emails to vision in blue c/o [email protected].

Emily Bird Argosy Correspondent

Everyone has dreamed of an addition that would accent their wardrobe as the cherry on top. It may be a figure-skimming floor length gown, an incredibly embellished Derby hat, or that fabulously gem encrusted clutch.

However, growing up we have come to realize that many wishes and fables are purely imagination. Yet, just how many people have noticed that haute couture can be valued at any price?

One who has long strived to own a particular staple item should be prepared to invest slightly more than usual of that hard-earned paycheck. Acknowledging that a piece from a designer collection is created with precision, care and quality, the investment is sure to well represent both the designer and the clientele; the item will endure much more time as well as wear.

However, when does one categorize the price of a designer’s collection as unreasonable? Is a brand item, such as a mega-check Burberry scarf, really worth $895? Did that value go into the fabric and making of such a piece? Many people have begun to question the logic behind the pricing of designer and haute couture collections as a reasonable wardrobe budget does not coincide with present designer prices.

Haute couture is french for “high sewing” and “high dressmaking.” #e term pertains to custom-fitted clothing; individual customer orders are fashionable recipes consisting of expensive high-quality fabrics, an attention to detail, and quite often, hand sewn appliques and

embellishments. #e result is a representation of both fashion houses and the fashion designers who create both custom-pieces, as well as trend-setting fashion collections.

#e e!ort it requires to create a single haute couture garment implies the care one must take when adorning oneself in the fashion project. Such a stylish treasure is usually only worn to exuberant social events where one is not required to be physically active, and the setting is indoors, away from the danger of dirt, grass, rain, and other wardrobe predators. At the premiere of Spiderman 2, Samantha Mumba radiated light in a nine million dollar diamond-encrusted dress.

Haute couture is not always worn by people, but it is also celebrated on display as a vision of fashion history as it appears at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Costume Institute Gala. One would find it quite shocking to see a diamond encrusted gown worn at the local grocery store.

Haute couture is viewed by some as a hobby of collection. Similar to any other collector’s item, such as stamps, haute couture pieces are purchased by a small group of socialites who all share a consistent passion.

Couture pieces are treasured as they are one of a kind; these works of art are as unique as are the hands and the minds that crafted them. Buyers receive a feeling of exclusivity and title of ‘trend setter,’ providing a thrill when sporting the fashionable investment.

Haute couture collections are not a composition of practicality yet, they allude to seasonal trends that transcend into ready-to-wear lines, as well as department stores. #e untrained eye is unable to perceive the unique di!erences between two similar pieces that di!erentiate in price by thousands.

Creating a unique look should be the goal of one’s individual style. It should not be one’s aim to imitate the ensembles of others. Be inspired by the style of others and of designers but do not assume that haute couture rises above ready-to-wear. #ey are hybrids of the same origin, the same mind and creator.

Fashion cannot be bought, it is a personal perspective as well as a collaboration of one’s personality and passion. #e important aspect of personal style is that one feel fabulous both inside and out, and no price tag can be placed on that achievement.

When will designer prices plateau?

Corey Isenor andJames GoddardArgosy Correspondents

Patterson’s Family Restaurant16 Mallard Dr.

Like the majority of restaurants in Sackville, Patterson’s specializes in standard diner food. It is part of the cluster of eateries just o! the highway, located next to Pizza Delight and just down the street from the Irving.

#e menu features a large selection of burgers, sandwiches, fish, and warm dinners (understood here as meat and vegetables). #e atmosphere is reminiscent of a cafeteria: sacrificing a bit of character for cleanliness and good lighting. #at said, Patterson’s is one of the top spots for a laid back breakfast, lunch, or dinner, especially on Sundays around 12 when the after-church crowd is out and about.

We arrived around 7:00 on Sunday evening, and since a storm was predicted, it made sense that we

were one of only two sets of guests eating in the entire restaurant and we were served, quickly. #e emptiness however, emboldened the sta! to vacuum, getting a head start on their closing chores, and filling the place with a mildly irritating white noise.

#e prompt service Sunday night is hardly attributable only to the slow business, on other occasions Corey and James have found the service at Patterson’s to be both courteous and quick.

For dinner, James ordered a the club wrap with soup (turkey rice on that day), and Corey decided to have the Bull’s Eye Burger with an iced tea.

#e burger was pretty good with its double patties, two kinds of cheese, bacon, and Bull’s Eye BBQ sauce. Also, the burgers were hand made, which added to the overall quality of the meal. With a hefty serving of home-cut fries and a tasty glass of iced tea, Corey’s meal came to a total of $12.86, a pretty reasonable price considering the size and quality of the meal.

James also found the servings to be

generous, enjoying his wrap bursting with lettuce, bacon, cheddar, tomato, and sliced chicken (it might have been turkey). His soup was filling and the perfect side for such a blustery day. His meal came to $10.16.

#ough the food at Patterson’s is tasty and filling, it is unexceptional. Corey argues that their milkshakes are better than Mel’s, but James isn’t so sure about that.

One thing that does distinguish Patterson’s is the atmosphere, o!ering a warm and pleasant if sterile, retreat from campus life, or break from the road for those just driving through. Patterson’s is an unthreatening and safe eating option.

Mel’s Tearoom is great, but isn’t exactly a family oriented eatery. #e Irving Big-Stop is more welcoming to that kind of crowd, but is too far away to be accessible for those living in Sackville without a car.

Patterson’s Family Restaurant is both well-situated and has that wholesome family restaurant vibe. For students in particular, it has the added benefit of being just far enough away that you might be able to enjoy a quiet meal without running into someone you know.

Overall, James and Corey find that Patterson’s is pretty good. #ey give it a one and half thumbs up. It won’t change your life, but it might just o!er the perfect change of pace.

Corey and James eat out

Internet Photo

Evan Rensch

Internet Photo

Page 33: Argosy January 22, 2009

12 THE ARGOSY • FEATURES JANUARY 22, 2009

Kelly O’ConnorArgosy Staff

HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis (TB), pneumonia, diarrhea: a hit list of some of the most serious public health challenges in the developing world today.

#e a!ects of these diseases on a nation’s economic capacity, political stability, and critical indicators which point to the general quality of life are well known, yet for some of society’s most vulnerable, how to tackle these problems remains a huge question mark.

#e World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners are drawing attention to the fact that these monumental challenges are often most dangerous for those who have yet to celebrate their fifth birthday. #rough its “Make Medicines Child Sized” campaign, the WHO aims to “raise awareness and accelerate action to address the need for improved availability and access to safe child-specific medicines for all children under 15.”

Launched on December 6, 2007, the campaign focuses on a range of medicines, ranging from antibiotics, asthma, and pain medication to TB. #e WHO is calling for more medications to be tailored to address the special health needs of children, as well as for increased research into neglected tropical diseases and combination pills for HIV, TB, and malaria that would make treatment easier for children to take.

Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the WHO, explains: “#e gap between the availability and the need for child-appropriate medicines touches wealthy as well as poor countries. As we strive for equitable access to scientific progress in health, children must be one of our top priorities.”

Coinciding with the start of the campaign, the WHO also released the first international List of Essential Medicines for Children. Despite cataloguing 206 medicines which are deemed safe for children and address priority concerns, Dr. Hans Hogerzeil, Director of Medicines Policy and Standards at WHO, admits there is much to be done.

“#ere are priority medicines that have not been adapted for children’s use or are not available when needed,” he says.

#e WHO, however, has already got a jump start on facilitating research by creating an internet portal to clinical trials carried out in children.

With about 10 million children dying each year before their fifth birthday, this research cannot come soon enough. #e five diseases listed at the beginning of this article alone count for over half of these deaths. Perhaps most concerning is the fact that about six million of these children could be alive today if they had been treated with available, e!ective, safe, and a!ordable medicines.

“#ese illnesses can be treated, but

many children don’t stand a chance because the medicines are either not appropriate for their age, don’t reach them, or are priced too high – up to three times the price of adult drugs,” said Dr. Howard Zucker, WHO Assistant Director-General.

#e barriers to treating these children stem not only from poor access but also from the physiological di!erences of children’s metabolisms which lead them to process medicines di!erently from adults. #us far, much research carried out on priority diseases have concentrated on adults, leaving a large knowledge gap in how the same medicines and doses may a!ect children.

Even in the developed world, over half of children are prescribed medicines not authorized for use in children, and at adult dosages. #e delivery system of these medicines

Quick Facts:• Pneumonia is the most common cause of death in children under

five years, taking the lives of more children than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined.

• According to 2006 data, the percentage of children under five years with suspected pneumonia who receive antibiotics is dismally low; in Haiti this proportion is only three per cent.

• In sub-Saharan Africa, only 40 per cent of children with suspected pneumonia are taken to an appropriate health provider.

• In 2006, 380 000 children died of largely preventable AIDS-related causes and only 15 per cent of children received antiretroviral therapy.

must also change in order to make them palatable for children. Toddlers, for example, often have trouble swallowing big tablets.

#e reduction of child mortality and the treatment of major diseases have already been declared global priorities under the Millennium Development Goals (specifically goals four and six, which aim to improve child health and combat HIV/AIDS respectively), yet UNICEF’s <i>State of the World Children</i> report for 2009 points out that those born in the developing world are 14 times more likely to die during the first month of life compared to those born in the developed world.

By working with governments, the private sector, academics, and NGOs, such as Medicines Sans Frontières, UNICEF, and Save the Children, the WHO is aiming to improve these odds. Let’s hope they do.

WHO wants to Make Medicines Child Sized

Vivi ReichArgosy Staff

Baby boomers. Presumably most of our parents belong to this category and before we know it, we will be forced to figure out where they will live and who will take care of them. #is will be a problem for most parts of the world, but in Japan, the problem is severe.

Many countries have implemented looser immigration laws in order to fix the problems that the baby boomer generation will leave behind – very slow population growth and large numbers of jobs that will no longer be filled. In Japan, where feelings of animosity towards foreigners is not unusual, these problems will be harder to prevent and fix.

Japan’s population, according to the Economist, is set to shrink by a third in the next 50 years. #ere will be virtually no one left to care for baby boomers as time goes on.

Conservatives hope to keep women at home to have more children. Two-fifths of the world’s industrial robot population has its home in Japan, and could be a help to some, especially the elderly, but are obviously no real replacement for humans.

Conservatives in Japan are reluctant to expand immigration policies to make up for this baby boomer problem. Currently, only 1.7 per cent of the population are immigrants. #e proportion of immigrants in the past decade is well below other developed countries.

It is very di"cult to receive permanent residency in Japan – one must have lived in the country for 10 years and

demonstrated the best of behaviour. #e media and some politicians paint a negative image of foreigners in Japan, for example, attributing high crime rates to immigrants.

#e leading political party in Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is proposing that the number of foreigners rise by 10 million over the next 50 years, and wants the number of foreign students (currently there are 132,000) to rise to one million in that time span. #e Democratic Party of Japan, expresses worry about what impact immigration will have on Japanese workers and their pay.

Edward Hugh writes in his article on Seeking Alpha that increasing immigration and raising fertility rates is the key to fixing this problem. He believes a “change in the national mindset” is the best option, and goes on to say that the problem of a declining population is not considered important to the Japanese.

#e Japan Times cited the example that bathhouse owners in Japan have been complaining that foreigners visiting their enterprises are a disturbance, mentioning Russian sailors specifically. #e Japan Times also notes that some Koreans and Chinese in Japan are skilled at picking locks and pockets of citizens, but when the authorities try to fix this problem, the Koreans and Chinese claim they are being discriminated against as foreigners.

Only time will tell what the Japanese government will choose to do. #e problem is real, and a change must be made, but coming to a compromise that everyone can agree with is proving to be di"cult for this small island country.

Immigration to the land of the rising sun

New campaign calls to increase the availability and access to child-specific medications for major diseases

Cindy Crossman Registered Nurse / Educator

National Non Smoking week is January 18-24, 2009. Weedless Wednesday is on January 21 this year, and is the focal point of National Non-smoking Week.

On this day, public awareness is raised about the benefits of smoking cessation and promotes a one-day-at-a-time approach to quitting smoking. So, take this opportunity to seriously consider decreasing the amount you smoke or even quitting because it is never too late. If you do not smoke, keep it that way! Your life is worth more. (Canadian Council for Tobacco Control, 2002)

After smoking 15 or 20 years it may seem pointless to quit smoking, but in many cases the damage done by tobacco can be reversed. Within minutes of smoking that last cigarette, the body begins to repair itself.

Within 20 minutes, your blood pressure will drop to normal, body temperature increases to normal. By eight hours, carbon monoxide levels in the blood drop and oxygen levels increase to normal.

By 24 hours, chance of heart attack begins to decrease. By 48 hours, food begins to taste and smell better.

After a week, your body will be free of nicotine. After one month, your coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath will begin to decrease.

By 9 months, walking becomes easier and smoker’s cough will be fading away; the body’s overall energy will increase; circulation improves; no more cold hands and feet.

At one year, risk of heart disease is half that of a smoker. After five years, your risk of dying from lung cancer will have dropped by 50 per cent

After 15 years, your risk of coronary heart disease will fall to that of a person who has never smoked at all.

Here’s some additional information from the College Tobacco Prevention Resource website’s College Tobacco Facts Section:

(1) Many people start to smoke in college. Almost 40 per cent of college students either begin smoking (11 per cent) or become regular smokers (28 per cent) after starting college (Rigotti, 2000).

(2) Of the over 70 per cent of college students who have ever tried smoking (Rigotti, 2000, and CDC, 199&) 41.5 per cent continue on to become regular smokers (Everett, 1999).

Events on campus during National Non Smoking week are: Non Smoking Awareness Educational Display in Jennings on Friday January 23 from 12:00 am to 1:00 pm. #e members of the Health Matters Society will be on hand to help raise awareness by holding a “BUTT IT OUT” campaign.

#ese prevention initiatives have been coordinated by the Mount Allison Student Wellness Centre in collaboration with the Health Matters Society.

In addition, the Mt. A Nurse/Educator will be available in the Wellness Centre to provide pulse oximetre assessments and the student development counselors are available to discuss the psychology of quitting smoking with any student. Call 364-2163 for an appointment.

National Non-Smoking Week

AP photo by Matt DunhamHanne Bak Pedersen of UNICEF speaks at the launch of the “Make Medicines Child Size” campaign at the Great Ormond Street hospital in London on December 6, 2007.

Page 34: Argosy January 22, 2009

ENTERTAINMENT

Vicky Christina Barcelona (Starring Scarlet Johanson, Rebecca Hall, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz; Directed by Woody Allen, 2008)

!e release of a new Woody Allen film is always an event of great curiosity. Because his enigmatic persona is always present in his films, critics and audiences are often just as fascinated with the man as with his work. At the best of times his personal neuroses lend a charming energy to his films; but they can also lapse into narcissistic explorations of his own psyche. At age 71, Allen has perhaps realized that he is a little bit too old for that kind of thing. Vicky Christina Barcelona is the 39th film written and directed by Woody Allen and it is as mature a piece of work as it is refreshing.

Set in Barcelona, the film traces the summer of two American tourists with entirely di"erent approaches to life and love. Vicky (Rebecca Hall) believes in structure and commitment while Christina (Scarlet Johanson) is flighty and romantic. Both girls fall for the same painter, Juan Antonio,( Javier Bardem) and soon find themselves in a complicated love rectangle with Juan Antonio’s ex-wife Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz). Cruz does a great job giving this woman, who is as

devastating as she is beautiful, a real human quality.

!ere is no judgment passed on the characters or the way they live their lives.

Christina’s romanticism and Vicky’s realism are not pitted up against each other so much as they are compared. !e characters are intelligent, funny and a little bit high-strung, which is common in Woody Allen films. But there is something di"erent going on here. Apparently, during the shooting, Allen did not talk to the actors except to give them stage directions, and they come across as their own people, not as Allen’s puppets.

Another fun fact: Barcelona o"ered to pick up the tab of production costs if the film was shot in the city, and Allen clearly took full advantage of that. By the end of the movie, even in the middle of a cold Sackville winter you feel as if you have spent the past hour and a half under the hot Spanish sun surrounded by the city’s beautiful architecture.

!e story is narrated, which gives the film a fable-like quality. In a way it’s like a modern fairy tale, except there is no ‘happily ever after.’ !e characters end the same way as they started, unchanged by the magic of their summer in Barcelona.

!ough the film is quite lighthearted and entertaining there is a sadness about it - it is full of unfulfilled possibilities.

Becky MartinArgosy Contributor

Jocelyn TurnerArgosy Correspondent

So you wanna be a big rock star?Rap mega-star Lil Wayne to record rock album

After conquering the rap world, Lil Wayne is setting his sights on rock music; the rapper intends to record a rock album.

His appeal and output are massive, selling 6 million units over his 13 year career with his most recent album, !a Carter III, moving 2.5 million copies alone. He’s worked with Fat Joe and has recorded approximately 1,000 songs. According to his o#cial site, he has released more music in the last two years than the legendary Tupac Shakur.

However, his foray into the rock genre is bold new territory for the prolific and successful rapper. !e theory behind this new project? He’s gotten a taste for the genre of music and he lives and breathes the life of a rock star, so why not record an album to match this lifestyle?

Although a release date for the album has not yet been set, the album is to include a performance from Canada’s own Aubrey Graham, who most would recognize as Jimmy from Degrassi: !e

Allen strikesFilmmaker less neurotic, more mature

Next Generation, performing under the stage name Drake.

!ose who watch his music videos know, Lil Wayne is noted for wearing a guitar, but not for playing it. He’s not the first to do this; many Red Hot Chili Pepper fans have been entertained by the band’s lead singer, Anthony Kiedis, pretending to jam with a broken guitar. However, Lil Wayne’s use of a guitar as a prop appears to be completely for show, although the recording process will reveal his guitar chops.

It seems unlikely that Lil Wayne will be able to win over rock fans or his sizable fanbase from his rapping career. Something tells me that it will be impossible for Lil Wayne to morph his sound into decent rock album. I’ve listened to some of his work and I find that he doesn’t have much of a singing voice. Rock doesn’t necessarily have much to do with vocal ability, but I can see this failing.

I must confess that I don’t actually like rap and I am very skeptical about the potential for Lil Wayne to make a successful transition between the two genres. Either way, it will make for an intriguing product.

www.spin.com

!e Savages (Starring Laura Linney and Phillip Seymour Ho"man; Directed by Tamara Jenkins, 2007.)

!e holidays are a fine time for dramedy. All that family, all the good food and general cheer, has a way of making you stack up all that’s good and bad in your life in pursuit of some sort of conclusion - good or bad. Or maybe that’s just me.

!e Savages, in any case, follows that same line of thinking. !e lives of the two main characters, played by Laura Linney and Phillip Seymour Ho"man, are presented at their most unflattering and unromantic to begin with, and this is just the foundation upon which the saddening events that follow are built. Sad, yes, as watching the mental and physical decline of a family member should be, but not without its own light touches. !is is really what makes the film more than just a forceful tug at the heartstrings – through all the sheer guilt and melancholy the characters experience, they’re able to have a laugh or two at the absurdity of it all and the audience is invited to join them. It calls to mind such overused phrases as ‘bittersweet’ or ‘optimistic but realistic,’ which fit here as well as anywhere else.

What makes the film so e"ective is its balance. Never too much, and only rarely too little, both in plot and characterization. Ho"man is always

Dylan CunninghamArgosy Correspondent

reliable as someone who’s enjoyable to watch regardless of what he’s doing, but special recognition goes out to Linney for her uncompromising portrayal of an imperfect woman. I’ll embarrassedly admit here in print that I have the tendency to be horribly sexist when it comes to appreciating female acting, remembering the male roles line for line while forgetting which women even appeared. Of course, I could probably just as easily blame Hollywood for this, and its habit of regulating all women to the background as support or conflict when it’s needed, while the men take centre stage. Either way, the in-depth analysis of a damaged female psyche given here is a rare flower in the infinite murk of the Hollywood swamp, if you don’t mind a cheesy metaphor.

Additional credit goes to Philip Bosco in the role of a sick old man who can barely think or function anymore. It wasn’t until roughly now, as I type this, that I realized what an e"ective portrayal it was. Simply put, it felt natural. !ere’s no glimmer of hope or remnant of youthful days left in the old man - he is simply old and dying. It’s a painful sight, this coming

from someone who has never directly dealt with that sort of loss. Unsettling and uncomfortable, the kind of thing that occasionally makes you want to just turn and look away. While the audience can look away, the characters can’t, and that aforementioned light touch of humour throughout is their only refuge as they tend to the needs of a man they’ll both miss and be glad to be rid of, thanks to the implied abusive tendencies he had when younger.

All in all, !e Savages treads close to allowing the sad to overtake the pleasant, and to some it may seem simply too grim to enjoy, especially if they might be facing recent or forthcoming loss for themselves. What it really comes down to is how you prefer your hope served. If you look for the clichéd rainbow after the storm, this may be your style, but if you like it trumpeted from the rooftops that all is well and always will be, you may want to look elsewhere. Or, just to continue the cynicism, if you prefer to dwell on all the dark things in life at all times, brooding in a musty basement and feeding upon rats, it also may be best to keep clear. And brush your teeth.

Worth seeing.

!e savage truthDespite depressing content, !e Savages is worth seeing

Lil Wayne has conquered the rap world with Tha Carter album trilogy and now is taking on the rock genre.

movieweb.com

Internet photo

Page 35: Argosy January 22, 2009

14 JANUARY 22, 2009 THE ARGOSY • ENTERTAINMENT

Stereophonic

January 18 @ CHMA O#ces – Ruby Jean & the !oughtful Bees, WoodhandsI ended up near the back of the room for Ruby Jean’s set, so I was only able to catch glimpses of Rebekah Higgs’ dancing and guitarist Jason Vautour’s gold lamé suit and awe-inspiring facial hair. But it’s the sound that matters most, and the Bees didn’t disappoint. Higgs’ voice loses nothing in translation from her solo work to Ruby Jean’s synth-heavy dance punk, a nimble, alternate universe cross between Death from Above 1979 and Portishead. In tandem with partners-in-electro Woodhands, Ruby Jean coaxed the crowd out of their winter wear and made them sweat in defiant retaliation against the bitter cold. But

January 17 @ Sackville United Church – John Wayne Cover Band, Gianna Lauren, Corey Isenor & !e Sackville Citizen’s Choir, Share. For rock shows, as with real estate, it’s all about location. It was my first time at the Sackville United Church, and while it was still expansive enough to house an imposing pipe organ, it retained the coziness of a well-worn living room. While all the acts flourished in this environment, our own Corey Isenor made the biggest impression. His songs have an immediate and unfussy lyricism, with a knack for arrangements that nurture these qualities instead of overpowering them. !is easily carries over into the live setting, but I think Corey’s biggest strength is his ability to make you feel like a part of the show, even if you’re not a member of the ever-growing Sackville Citizen’s Choir. !e between-song banter was actually quite hilarious, the high point being an impromptu jam as guitarist and sibling Carson Isenor went to find a chair (which ended up being about as small as his ukelele). !e evening’s high point came at the end of the set, when Corey and

January 19 @ Vogue Cinema – Steve Fifield, Pat LePoidevin, Al Tuck, Julie Doiron, Old Man LuedeckeOne of life’s great pleasures is the sound of a well-played banjo. As the instrumental base of a song, it has a simplicity, clarity and seemingly e"ortless beauty, compounded by its deep roots in folk music. It’s the perfect compliment to Old Man Luedecke’s songs, direct and unpretentious celebrations of the important things in life: love,

!ursday

Friday

All articles unless otherwise stated by Neil Bonner

All photos by Jessica Emin unless otherwise credited

!e little festival that could

a small band performed a Shotgun and Jaybird classic backed by a small army of Sackville citizens. Overall the show was a great example of tight songwriting with an inviting, easygoing-but-not-sloppy presentation.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the true stars of the show – the children. For once the term “indie kid” could be used literally - during Woodhands’ set, two of Sackville’s littlest music fans made their way to the front of the crowd. Apprehensive at first, they were soon lifted above the crowd by Higgs and were jamming in the front row, giving the thumbs-up to everyone in the vicinity. Dan Werb of Woodhands said it best: “Electro is for the children…they’re the future of electro!”

nature, destiny and of course, bacon. Everything about this show clicked. If you believe in measuring shows by the crowd participation, consider that even during the quietest songs, there was an ever-present tapping of feet coming from the crowd. !e Old Man took requests from the crowd and stayed on as long as he could before the theater had to be cleared for the midnight movie. When I turned around at the end of the show to see a Vogue-sized lake of people stomping, clapping and singing along to “Proof of Love”, it dawned on me that this is one of the best shows I’ve ever seen here.As an aside – Pat LePoidevin’s opening set was the biggest surprise of the festival. He uses loop pedals, tin whistle and acoustic guitar to create a sound that draws from Scottish folk music while pushing past it’s boundaries. His CD release show at George’s on March 13 is not to be missed.

“Again with feeling” by William Gregory

Wednesday

Page 36: Argosy January 22, 2009

15JANUARY 22, 2009 THE ARGOSY • ENTERTAINMENT

Stereophonic

January 20 @ George’s – PheasantCougarBear, !e Stance, !e Stolen Minks, Shotgun Jimmie, !e Maynards, Tom Fun OrchestraIf you’re going to end a music festival (for a couple of days, anyway) do it on a high note. Accordingly, Stereophonic organizers hosted a grand total of six bands at George’s, so it was hard to pick a favorite. Along with the mighty Tom Fun Orchestra and the Stance, no band kept the energy level high like Halifax’s the Stolen Minks. !eir spiky garage punk, laced with vocals that

January 20 @ Struts – West Ave., !e Superfantastics, Calm Down It’s Monday, El Ron Maltan and the DiceSeparately, they are Matthew MacDonald and Stephanie d’Entremont. Together, they are the Superfantastics. !is Haligonian pop duo has mastered tight, melodic pop music that, for lack of a better term, is just plain adorable. It’s an aesthetic that carries over to their records: last year’s Choose Your Destination EP features artwork featuring the band flying through space, viewable through a complimentary set of old-school 3D glasses, and the liner notes from the band’s debut LP Pop Up Book unfold to reveal a candy-colored pop-up pastoral. But their live performance proves that there’s a lot of muscle behind the bright colors. Transferring some of the embellishments from the recording studio to their drums and guitar live setup demonstrates the band’s commitment to pure songcraft. MacDonald’s crunchy electric guitar carries all the hooks from the Superfantastics’ catalogue; even “!e Only One I C++ is U++” – a spry, piano-led ode to computer programmer love

With all due respect to the rest of the shows, the Saturday night concert for Stereophonic is usually the best. It is the grand finale of a frantic festival that puts on about 30 bands in an extended weekend. Not surprisingly, concert goers are drained physically and financially after the hectic

On Saturday

!e little festival that could

– sounds completely natural live. I was convinced of their skills when I played their EP at home the next day, and was convinced that I’d heard “Turn on Me” somewhere before. It felt like it had been lodged in my brain for months due to listening to it non-stop, putting it on mixtapes, etc. Turns out, I had just heard it the previous night. At the risk of sounding like a hacky music critic desperately reaching for a closing bon mot, that’s what I call superfantastic.

balance pep rally chants and punk sneer, are what you’d get if NYC blog favorites Vivian Girls dropped their self-consciously noisy production and started having more fun. With two of the three members decked out in kitten t-shirts, the Minks blasted through a rapidfire setlist of songs that want to make you move. Truth be told, I couldn’t remember a single song after the fact, but that’s not the point: the Minks came to rock, and rock they did. It was a fun-packed show that meshed nicely with George’s homey roadhouse charm and copious draft beer, and I have to award extra points to a band that dares tackle a subject which is too often overlooked in pop music – sex with Batman.

weekend. Instead of trying to encapsulate the entire Stereophonic experience, I am focusing on the Saturday night extravaganza that didn’t disappoint.Hands down the highlight of the night was Sackville’s own Shotgun Jimmie. He performed new material that had a hard rocking edge, but closed with some favorites from !e Onlys “Onomatopoeia” and “Bedhead”. Sackville songstress Julie Doiron, former member of Shotgun and Jaybird with Shotgun Jimmie, made a guest appearance for “Bedhead”. All the songs were good, and capitalizing on his Sackville familiarity, coaxed most of the audience to sing along making for a fun set.Sydney Cape Breton’s !e Tom Fun Orchestra has undergone a bit of a makeover over the past year. For those who have seen the sprawling vagabonds on stage before, they could delight in playing “guess the newbies” while listening to familiar tunes. Despite reported upheaval in the band, the songs and the performance where not far from the band’s performance at last year’s Stereophonic finale.

Later that night...

Again with feeling

Vanessa Blackier

Page 37: Argosy January 22, 2009

Michael CurrieMount Allison SAC President

So you’re thinking about running for SAC President? Awesome!! It is a great position if you are looking to have some direct involvement with all the portfolios of the SAC, including but not limited to, the VP Academic’s, VP External’s, VP Finance’s, VP Communication’s and also working closely with Joy and Jessie, our lovely SAC

Office team! You will also be expected to work closely with most other SAC elected and appointed positions, to ensure everyone is well informed and things are running smoothly.

If elected, you would be expected to stay in Sackville for the summer, to start familiarizing yourself with more of the “behind-the-scenes” stuff of the SAC and also to start making contacts with people throughout the university. This is a perfect time to do it, since you are not burdened with schoolwork; you can easily set up appointments and meet with people in a relaxed atmosphere, since professors and administrators are not as burdened by teaching and meetings either.

The SAC President position also comes with a number of expected commitments, which include: chairing the weekly SAC Executive

meetings, attending the weekly SAC Council meetings, sitting on Senate and the Board of Regents (for more info on the Board of Regents, read Paul Rasbach’s informative article from last week!), meeting bi-weekly with the VP Student Affairs, sending out weekly emails to students and also responding to students’ concerns and questions in a timely fashion. Furthermore, many hiring committees and working groups are established during the year, where you will be asked to be a member, since you will likely have the most frequent contact with many students and also be one of the most knowledgeable students on how the institution runs.

This is also one of the best positions for oppurtunities to make change. You are constantly meeting with the people who can make direct changes, so if you feel passionately about a particular issue and the

majority of the student body supports you or you know it is in the best interest of the student body, your voice will be heard better. Similarly, many people critique and have opinions about the SAC, and this position allows you to come up with ideas on how to change the processes and procedures of the SAC and see these changes into fruition during your term. All of these are important and formal parts of the job. They are fantastic ways of obtaining more institutional knowledge and conversing with many administrators and faculty you might not otherwise meet, so this in itself is fun, exciting and challenging. Yet, there are some “less formal” parts of the job, which are awesome too. For example, the entire SAC Executive gets to be apart of Orientation week, so you can live vicariously through the frosh for a week, by attending all the activities and having a blast.

Furthermore, you will likely be invited to most of the residence house parties and activities on campus, which is another great way of meeting countless people you might otherwise not meet.

Overall, the position of president is exciting and challenging. If you are interested in being heavily involved with the inner-workings of Mount Allison, while working on being able to balance opposing student views, while remaining as unbiased as possible, and also having a totally different year at Mount A (most SAC presidents take a reduced course-load), this is the position for you. Feel free to email me at anytime at [email protected] if you have any questions whatsoever. Nominations open Monday, January 26, so start thinking about it and stop by the SAC office for more information.

SACStudent Administrative Council

Ryan RobskiMount Allison SACVP Academic

Prospective candidates,the position of Vice-President Academic Affairs is one which required a great deal of time, devotion, institutional knowledge, and leadership. Many of the challenges that my

predecessors and I have faced are issues which do not appear in the job description, or may fall under the very broad “be responsible for the activities of the Union and the S.A.C. as they relate to academic matters.”A few of the perhaps unique situations I’ve found myself addressing since my duties began partway through the fall term were the

Academic Renewal process and Student Evaluation of Teaching. Currently we’re making great headway with both of these issues! The leadership roles factor into the position in many ways. The most apparent is in acting as the leader of the six senators who have the power to make significant changes to the function of the university in an academic

sense, for example, changes to programs, courses, and the calendar.As stated, this job is a HUGE time commitment and is not something to be taken lightly. If any of you should readers be seriously considering this position, please take the time to stop by the office and we’ll have a chat.

A perspective inside the SAC

Vice President of Academic Affairs

President

12 York ST 536-0401Pridham’s Studio is the official photographers for the class of 2009. Call now for your appointment which will ensure your photo is included in the Yearbook and the department Composites.

Pridham’s StudioThe NEW Students’ Administrative Council Elections

(for the positions of President, VP Campus Life, VP External, VP Academic, and Board

of Regents Representative)

Nominations are open:Monday, January 26, 2009

All Candidates Meeting:Monday, February 2, 2009

Nominations Close: Monday, February 9, 2009

Campaigning Stops:Monday, February 16, 2009

For candidates putting their name in after the all-candidates meeting, we will be com-piling a list of rules and regulations and require each canididate to read it and sign it to indicate their knowledge of the procedures. A copy will be maintained at the

Page 38: Argosy January 22, 2009

ARTS & LITERATURE

Fine Arts student Sara Williamson gives four reasons as to why attending a student art show may just do a person some good.

First thing’s first

Support your local student gallery and artist-run centre! 7 Lorne is a major hub of activity in the Sackville arts scene. You live in a culturally vibrant little town; show some support, and take advantage of it!

!e second time’s the charm

What exactly goes on in Mt. A’s fine arts department? What comes out of it? So many students seem to graduate without once setting foot in the fine arts building. !ese exhibits are a chance for us to showcase a sampling of the enormous amount of creative activity that takes place in the mysterious space behind those walls.

!ree is better than two

!at being said, student art exhibitions are a big deal for student artists. !is is my first show, I’m a little nervous, and I would love to see your smiling faces there.

Last, but not least

Opening receptions are exciting events; they’re a wonderful chance to look at art while eating, drinking, and socializing with the local artistic community. Don’t tell me there’s nothing to do in Sackville on a Saturday night.

!e “!is Present Piece of the Landscape” opens Saturday, January 24, with an opening reception and continues until Friday, January 30, at the START gallery on Lorne Street.

Exactly why you shouldn’t miss her upcoming show at START

At a mention of Robbie Burns, the reaction might not be immediate. But for a small group of Sackville denizens, the name can spark excitement and dreams of good scotch, good music, and good things to come. !is Saturday night at Live Bait !eatre, that small group of citizens, to whom Robbie Burns was more than just the author of “Auld Lang Syne,” will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the poet’s birth with song, drink, food, and friends.

For those who have not had the pleasure of a run in with Scotland’s beloved poet, Burns was regarded a member and trailblazer of the Romantic movement in poetry. He is well known for his work with folk

songs and focus on the socialism. Burns has been honoured by appearing on stamps, inspiring musical tributes, and more obviously the Burns suppers.

Traditionally celebrated by those of Scottish descent, the event has become something of national event with guidelines and a specific order of events. Live Bait intends to honour

I’ll have a drink with RobbieLive Bait celebrates poet Robert Burns’s 250th birthdayJulie StephensonArgosy Staff

the tradition with a scotch tasting, bag pipes, poetry, toasts, Highland Dancers, songs in honour of Burns, and traditional Scottish fare. Described as a night that will “knock your Argyll knee-socks o",” it promises to be a raucous and endearing time.

When talking to Meredith Fisher,

there are more “culture vultures” per capita in Sackville than anywhere else I know ” “

!ursday Painters GroupJanuary 22

1:30 - 4:00 pmTantramar Veterans Memorial Civic Centre

$10 per individual sessionFor more information contact Margaret Myles at

(506)667-8790, or Laurell Hamilton at (902)251-2619.

“Fame” - !e MusicalPresented by Garnet and Gold

January 22-24 8:00 pm

Convocation Hall$12 tickets, $10 students/seniors

Tickets can be purchased at Rags of Time Books, Tidewater Books, Mount Allison SAC o#ce. For more information visit http://www.mta.

ca/fame.

Mt. A Faculty RecitalWesley Ferreira on clarinet and Stephen Runge on piano.

January 248:00 pm

Brunton AuditoriumFor more information contact (506)364-2374 or [email protected].

Mt. A Collegium MusicumPublic lecture by Dr. Robert Campbell entitled “Do You Like Rock Music?: !e Enduring Attractions, Complexities, and

Frustrations, of Contemporary Popular Music.”January 284:00 pm

For more information contact (506)364-2374 or [email protected].

!e last time you sat with your family and read a book was probably also the last time when your age was expressed as a singular digit. In a growing society where kids are more likely to read instructions on video game screens than in the physical pages of books, it seems like a good idea to celebrate Family Literacy Day. !is upcoming Saturday, the Tantramar Family Resource Centre (TFRC) will be holding an event at the Sackville United Church to help promote families engaging in early literacy.

While National Family Literacy Day is an initiative created by ABC Canada, the TFRC celebrates the idea with three separate events in Sackville, Port Elgin, and Dorchester. Each event is geared towards the general public but the main group that shows up is usually families with young children. In an interview with Sheelagh Callaghan, the organizer of the event and Director of Literacy at the TFRC, Callaghan said that “the event is set up as a drop-in, you can come and go as you like.”

Each year has a theme, such as last year’s “Reading Camp-Out” and this year’s “Bring Books to Life.” !e theme usually comes to life within the event’s activities. Previous years have included story-telling around a faux campfire and locating and drawing favourite places to read on a map of Sackville. Callaghan explained that this year’s theme aims at encouraging reading in many di"erent forms such as new media.

“We’re launching a new project alongside the day’s events that helps to convey the theme of this year’s Family Literacy Day,” Callaghan’s explains. “It’s a national project called

Scottish poet Robert Burns.

the event’s primary organizer, it became clear the night was more about love for Burns than anything else. “[I] can’t say there is really one reason that Robbie Burns is particularly important to Sackville,” explains Fisher. “He has certainly been a major player on the world cultural stage, sort of like Mozart and Picasso and certainly there are more “culture vultures” per capita in Sackville than anywhere else I know.”

Fisher suggests that the “amazing number of people with Scottish roots” in and around Sackville may be part of the reason as to why the Robbie Burns Night continues as a tradition in Sackville. “It gives us the opportunity to gather to celebrate our pride in that tartan blood which flows in our veins,” remarks Fisher. When asked what the event was about, Fisher commented that it was about poetry and paying

Sackville Happenings

Storysacks, that we hope will pick up momentum here in Sackville.”

!e campaign focuses on handmade sacks that are given to children to help encourage reading and interacting with family members.“Each sack has a fiction book, props that relate to telling the story, a non-fiction book that deals with an aspect of the fiction book, and instructions,” says Callaghan.

!e TFRC held a workshop last October in which they had creators of storysacks come and teach the group how to construct them and work with them. “Eventually we’d like to have storysacks available for families to check out of the library and bring home,” explains Callaghan.

!e objective of each sack is to have children reading and acting out the story with their families. It is supposed to promote family interaction while “encouraging numeracy and literacy activity.” Callaghan explained that Saturday’s events would partly be about teaching children and families to construct and use the storysacks.

Families will also be able to participate in other activities such as forming letters out of bannock to bake or decorating fabric squares to form a large collective quilt, and each child will go home with a book. “Many di"erent groups in Sackville have donated books, such as Mount Allison, Monaris, and several local businesses,” states Callaghan. Emile Gautreau, an Aboriginal story-teller, will be telling a fairly long oral story around 11:00 am in which children can get involved.

!e TFRC held the event in Dorchester last week, which attracted a small but interested turnout of three families. “For a small community, that’s not bad,” said Callaghan. !e event in Dorchester was a positive preview of events to come at both the Sackville and Port Elgin Family Literacy Day festivities, although Callaghan projects

a bit of a larger turnout from Sackville, based upon the response to other events held by the TFRC.

Mt. A students have been particularly helpful as volunteers for the event in the past. Callaghan explains that most Mt. A volunteers often “sit and read books with kids.” However, Callaghan also wanted to make clear that the event itself is open to everyone in the community. !at means Mt. A students could come and participate in the activities if they wished to.

A surprising fact about the TFRC is that the group has no physical base in Sackville. !e centre is run completely by volunteers. !e TFRC does its best to run monthly programs that promote family and literacy. !is year’s literacy festivities are helped along by a grant from the town. !ere is a literacy committee dealing with four factors: healthy living, youth, literacy, and early learning. !e resource centre tries to bring all areas of Sackville and the surrounding areas together. !e TRFC also runs programs such as the ‘Dump and Donate,’ an initiative for in campus residences. Recently, United Way gave the TFRC a grant to hire a program director for ten months.

“We try to partner with other groups in town,” says Callaghan, “we send out invitations to the community. We don’t always get a huge response.”

!e town library has responded by trying to achieve a world record attempt. Robert Munch, a supporter of World Literacy Day, has organized a cross-Canada attempt to have a record number of people reading his books at one time. !e event in Sackville will take place at 1:00 pm in the public library.

Sackville. Festivities begin at 10:00 am and go until 12:00 pm on Saturday, January 24, at the Sackville United Church. All are welcome.

A family a!air!e Tantramar Family Resource Centre presents Family Literacy Day

Julie StephensonArgosy Staff

tribute to “a young man from common roots who prolifically wrote poetry,” despite maybe not being too nice of a man and “raising a few dollars for Sackville’s own Live Bait !eatre too.”

!e event is run and orchestrated by volunteers from both the town and university community. Volunteers help to organize and participate in the event. Notable volunteers include Virgil Hammock, Robert Lapp, and Pat LePoidevin. Sandy Burnett will act as master of ceremonies for the night. Live Bait and its volunteers are aiming to make the 250th birthday of Scotland’s beloved poet a party that remains as unforgettable as the poet himself.

Fisher made a valid point as she stated that “January in New Brunswick is one cold, long, dark month when everyone needs to have their spirits lifted with a good party…or two.”

Doors at Live Bait open at 7:00 pm, with the Scotch Tasting beginning at 7:15 pm ($10 for sample tastings of four single malts). !e full program begins at 8:00 pm. Tickets are $25 and are available at Live Bait !eatre.

Jessica Emin

britannica.com

Page 39: Argosy January 22, 2009

19JANUARY 22, 2008 THE ARGOSY • ARTS & LITERATURE

More than just fifteen minutes of FameA preview of Garnet and Gold’s latest productionJennifer MusgraveArgosy Correspondent

Neither Mount Allison nor Sackville can be described without mentioning the emerging and solidly situated creative talent that lies within both communities. !e Mt. A chapter of the World University Service of Canada (WUSC) has tapped into that outlet with their Altruistic Art Auction. !e student-run group spends part of each year to raising funds for the Student Refugee Program (SRP), one of WUSC’s main initiatives. According to the organization, the SPR makes it possible for refugee students to “settle in Canada and pursue their post-secondary education at Canadian universities and colleges.”

A year ago, on a suggestion by one of their members, the group decided to hold a 50/50 art auction to raise funds to bring a refugee student to Mt. A. After a successful outcome of approximately $500, WUSC has decided to try and make the event annual with a second auction. !e

auction brings in Mt. A students, sta", and community members alike. While the majority of the art that is donated comes from Fine Arts students, some art has been contributed from professors and other artists.

“It is a creative way to get more people involved,” says WUSC co-president Olivia Charters, “especially those that normally wouldn’t be involved.” Charters also mentioned that the Mt. A WUSC chapter was not the first to use art as a medium of communication between the struggles of student refugees and the need for education. “Other WUSC committees have approached the idea in a similar way as we have. It is a great way to make use of a creative resource we have access to through our Fine Arts department and community.”

While the group is not overly expectant in terms of its fundraising goal, it would seem that this year’s art auction is set to out-do last year’s. Four commissioned pieces originally set to be auctioned o" at the ATLIS conference this weekend have been added to WUSC’s collection. While

the full amount of each piece’s sale will go to ATLIS, Charters says that the inclusion of the pieces within WUSC’s auction will bring in a larger number of guests.

“Over 80 people have confirmed attendance on the auction’s Facebook group,” says Charters. Combined with the estimated similar number being brought by ATLIS, the student group is a little apprehensive about the size of the event. Charters acknowledges that it is important to get recognition as a campus group, and it is a positive thing to have so much attention. She only worries that the space may not be able to fit all the interested people.

!e auction will be held at the START gallery – a part of Struts – as it was last year. “!ey’ve been really supportive,” says Charters of the gallery’s work with the group. For allowing the auction to be held within the space, part of the proceeds of the auction go the gallery. !e compromise that seems to work for both parties as Charters admits that having the auction o" campus seems to allow it to have a certain atmosphere that may not have been possible if it were held within the university. “We originally thought of the Pub, but it has turned out to be easier and more accessible when held at START.”

!e work that is auctioned o" comes mainly from donations by students. Charters explains that while the artists have the option of taking the full fifty percent of the proceeds they are o"ered from the sale of their art, there are quite a few that prefer to just donate their art. “When they donate, we seem to get better art. In the end it brings in better profits for the cause,” says Charters.

Two Mt. A students who have committed to donating art to this year’s auction are Isabel Gertler and Jon Cleveland. Gertler says that donating

is an easy way for her to contribute to WUSC while acknowledging the opportunities she has by being born a Canadian and having “access to a school like Mount Allison.” Cleveland sees it as a winning solution to all parties as “its for a great cause...the artist gets a portion [and] so does the organization”. Both artists are extremely positive about the whole experience.

Although this year, the group is concerned about the number of people donating as the auction is closer to the Sweetest Little !ing event held by the Owens Art Gallery. Charters explains their line of reasoning, “It’s an auction as well, so people may save their work. !e WUSC auction is a great medium for people to buy art, it makes it really accessible. So, we hope people will donate and bid on art.”

!e Mt. A chapter of WUSC also has another reason for promoting their fundraisers as it’s possible the group may go to a referendum within the Students’ Administrative Council this year. “It’s not set in stone, but it could happen,” says Charters. “We hope it does. WUSC has been supporting the SPR on campus for almost 15

years, and it has been about that long since we’ve been up for referendum.” Essentially, the referendum will ask whether the student body would like to keep supporting WUSC on campus and if it is time to raise the student levy. “Most students don’t know that four dollars out of their SAC fees goes to support us,” reveals Charters, “we want to spread the word about the issue and get students involved.”

WUSC has a refugee student coming to Mt. A next year and they are continuing to raise money for that student and the others they will try to bring to campus. “WUSC tries to bring a student every other year and tried to support them with financial needs other than just education,” says Charters. !e group also works for many other causes such as raising funds for AIDS research and help.

!e second annual WUSC Altruistic Art Auction is happening on Friday, January 23, in the START Gallery at 7 Lorne Street. Viewing of the art works begins at 7:00 pm, while the silent auction begins at 7:30 pm and ends at 9:00 pm. All are welcome and encouraged to come.

Artfully making a di!erenceWUSC forms a tradition with their art auction to support the Student Refugee ProgramJulie StephensonArgosy Staff

Students admire the donated artwork at last year’s silent auction.

Gloria Carnevale

WUSC co-president, Olivia Charters, promoting the auction.

Jessica Emin

Every year Garnet and Gold brings a musical to life on the stage for all Mount Allison and the community to enjoy. Past productions have had great success, such as last year’s Cinderella and the previous year’s Wizard of Oz. !is year, Garnet’s choice will be none other than Fame – !e Musical.

Jennie Wood, one of the lead directors of Fame, commented

“Ultimately, what I’ve wanted is for this to be very real.”

A group of great instructors are helping to bring the show together. Jamie Mark, a former Professor of Music, is helping to direct the show, and one of Mt. A’s top choreographers, Brian Hawkes, keeps the actors together with the flow and rhythm of the steps and music. !ey, along with numerous other helpers, both from Mt. A and the surrounding community, create a “fantastic crew.” Wood comments that “the cast is incredibly talented.”

Fame is a story about the issues facing artists, though many people could probably identify with them, whether they consider themselves artists or not.

!e play is sure to be a great source of inspiration, not just for the audience but for the actors as well. “It works well for university and high school students because the characters are at an age that they can identify with,” said Wood. Certainly members of Garnet and Gold can take from this story some of the lessons in perseverance and strength that it teaches. As Wood puts it, “It’s nice to do a show about nurturing artistic talent, while doing so in the process.”

!is year the cast will be drawn from the surrounding community schools and from Mt. A students of all disciplines. !e large diversity of the cast is especially suitable given the nineteen di"erent leads in the musical. Having this many leads creates “a lot of scope to cover,” said Wood. “It’s also a challenge because I don’t have a lot of experience with theatrical directing.” Overall though, Wood seemed very pleased with how things were coming together.

Even in rehearsals, the entire crew is greatly enthusiastic, making them

truly inspiring to watch. !e directors are also very focussed, and know just the right advice to give to their young actors. !e show is filled with dazzling choreography and a combination of music and dancing that you just can’t help but fall in love with. !e music itself is catchy, accented by the talent and charisma of Garnet and Gold’s singers, and will leave you singing the songs weeks later. If you’re looking to be exhilarated, thrilled and

overwhelmed with razzle-dazzle, Fame is the show to see.

!is sure-to-be-spectacular performance will be taking place January 22-24, beginning at 8:00 pm in Convocation Hall. Tickets will be sold at the SAC o#ce, Tidewater Books, and Rags of Time, at $10 for students/seniors and $12 for adults. Tickets can also be reserved online at http://www.mta.ca/fame as well.

The stage of Convocation Hall has been transformed into a myriad of locations including classrooms, dance studios, and practice rooms.

Garnet and Gold

The large cast of Fame includes Mt.A students from several faculties.

Garnet and Gold

Page 40: Argosy January 22, 2009

HUMOURDas Wagenphone ist ein Nuisancephone!

By Madame Starbeam

The Have-You-Ever Edition!

ARIES: (March 21-April 20) · Have you ever been walking down the street and looked down because your shoe was untied and found five bucks? And then you looked around to see if anyone is near you but you were all alone so you picked it up and put it in your pocket? And then later on that day, your best friend tells you that they lost five bucks but you donÊt say anything cause you already bought a milkshake with it? No? Just me?

TAURUS: (April 21-May 21) · Have you ever gone on a tri p with your family, and realized you forgot to pack your iPod/a book? So then you tell the person driving that you forgot something back home and they donÊt care because youÊre already half way to your destination? So then youÊre stuck talking about mort-gages and the price of oil for the next four hours? No? Just me?

GEMINI: (May 22-June 21) · Have you ever wondered why mortgages has a ÂtÊ in it? No? Just me?

CANCER: (June 22-July 22) · Have you ever sat in class fantasizing about what your prof would look like naked, and then you realize that youÊve been staring at them with this fuzzy look on your face for the last 45 minutes? Then after class they pull you aside and tell you that if you donÊt start paying more attention in class that theyÊre going to have to give you a zero for partici pation? But then you accidentally say something about partici pating with them in bed and then you blush and run out of the room? No? Me neither. Definitely didnÊt happen last Monday.

LEO: (July 23-August 23) · Have you ever gone swimming and remembered that you were supposed to pick someone up about an hour ago? Then you run out of the pool and book it over to where the person was supposed to be but they arenÊÊÊÊt there? Then you realize that itÊs tomorrow that youÊre supposed to pick

Concept and words: Vivi Reich

CNN thinks everything is

a terrorist attack...

Here at the Argosy, we just

take things too literally...

CNN recently reported an “arctic air

invasion” in the

northern US...

Trivia CANDIAN STYLE! 1. What did Canada do for the United States in Teheran, Iran in 1979? 2. What famous inventor owned homes in Baddeck, Nova Scotia, and Brantford, Ontario?3. How many representatives does the Queen have in Canada?4. Foster Hewitt was famous for coining which familiar sports phrase?

Email your response to [email protected] and get your name in the paper as a true Canadian!

the person up but now youÊre all wet, and so is the car and you feel like a tool? Yeah, sucks huh?

VIRGO: (August 24-September 22) · Have you ever made your own hummus? Can you give me the reci pe?

LIBRA: (September 23-October 23) · Have you ever had a crush on someone and then found out that they actually like your best friend? And your best friend drunkenly makes out with them and doesnÊt tell you about it and you find out from the Pub website? Sucker. SCORPIO: (October 24-November 22) · Have you ever made sweet love to a lady wearing pearls? Do you want to?

SAGGIE: (November 23- December 21) · Have you ever had your ear pierced, and it got infected? Then it kind of ballooned up and oozed this weird greenish pus and smelled a bit like feet? And when you went to the doctor, she told you sheÊs never seen anything like it and said that you were a bit of a freak? No?

CAPPIE: (December 22- January 20)· Have you ever bought five boxes of cereal only to find a huge severed finger in one box, putting you off cereal for life? You could sue, you know.

AQUARIUS: (January 21- February 18) · Have you ever been to Cuba? ItÊs re-ally rather nice this time of year. Much nicer than the bullshit that passes as an acceptable non-snow day here on Campus - fuckers wonÊt be happy until theyÊÊÊ get sued.

PISCES: (February 19-March 20) · Have you ever found yourself singing Britney Spears at an insane volume outside the pub at around midnight? No, wait, that was me on Friday night. Whoops.

Page 41: Argosy January 22, 2009

21THE ARGOSY• HUMOURJANUARY 22, 2009

Boring SAC Election Campaign is Boring...

No wonder no one voted in the last one...

Q&A With Noah and StuartDISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in the advice col-

umn are not the opinions of the Humour Editors, the Edi-

tors-In-Chief, or Argosy Publications, and are hopefully

not the opinions of Stuart or Noah.

Dear Noah and Stuart - it’s been really cold lately. What is

the best way to keep warm?

Noah, Sports Editor: It has been a little cold

out recently, hasn’t it? I have one friend that

is convinced the only way to stay warm is

to do tequila shots. Something about how

it warms you from the inside out, gives you

a rosy glow, and also, helps you make great decisions.

However, any survival expert will tell you, the only way

to get truly warm is to snuggle up close to someone and

share body heat with them. Unless that person puts their

cold feet on you in order to warm themselves up. That’s

just selfish. And rude. For those of us who do not have

a snuggle buddy, what do I recommend? Crying usually

works. I find that my tears often warm up my numb face

after being outside in the cold. God, I’m so lonely...

Stuart, Sci/Tech Editor: Beyond the obvious,

déclassé concept of simply wearing some

insulating material to conserve your own body

heat, there are many interesting alternative

solutions to this problem. Several friends of

mine (well, strictly speaking, they’re fellow re-

searchers) [actually, the “friends” he refers to

are prominent scientific figures whom he bothers to such

an extent that a few are taking legal action against him

-editor] have looked into this extensively, and have come

up with such ideas as weaving organically-conductive

materials into clothing and heating them up, or seeding

anaerobic bacteria into a person’s skin. That said, I still

hold that detonating nuclear devices above the polar ice

caps is the most effective way to raise global tempera-

ture. As they say, “light a man a fire and he’s warm for

a day; light him on fire and he’s warm for the rest of his

life.”

Page 42: Argosy January 22, 2009

22 THE ARGOSY• HUMOUR JANUARY 22, 2009

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Inconsistent Biomix

By Jared Gowen

1. This is a big one.2. Its long, hard and pumps like crazy.3. HARD SUCTION!4. Firefighters are always in heat.5. Your hosebed or mine?6. Shes hot tonight, boys!7. Being first-in isnt necessarily a good thing.8. Taking your girl for a ride in the pumper.9. Dressing from head to toe in rubber.10. Wanna slide down my pole?11. Firefighters have the longest hoses.12. A quickie is anything under two hours.13. We need to hit it with a large, heavy stream.14. She was exposed to a nasty backdraft.15. Rescuing helpless pussies from trees.16. Three words- Front Mount Pump.17. WATCH OUT! SHES GONNA BLOW!18. Forcing your way into a hot entrance.19. Firefighters hump hose all day long.20. guys...were gonna a little more head pressure!

NOTE:One of the Argosy Editors is a member of the

can be said.

Page 43: Argosy January 22, 2009

SPORTS & FITNESS

!e men’s and women’s basketball Mounties took to their home court on Sunday and treated the home crowd to two very di"erent games.

!e women opened up the doubleheader with a blowout 82-40 victory over the University of New Brunswick Saint John Seawolves. !ey wasted no time getting started, building a quick double-digit lead thanks to some strong defensive rebounding and nice passing down low.

Although Kristen Atkins got into foul trouble early, the tall junior was an early di"erence-maker in the game for Mt. A, causing turnovers in the defensive end leading to baskets at the other end for the home team.

Another di"erence-maker for the Mounties was rookie guard Laura Chapman, who was probably the best

player on the court in the first half, forcing turnovers with her strong defensive play and driving to the hoop multiple times, drawing fouls or resulting in points.

Shannon Parlee led the Mounties with a game-high 15 points, and added seven rebounds. Chapman scored 13 points, and had two assists and two rebounds, while Atkins chipped in with ten points and four rebounds for the Mounties. Sarah Trott led the Seawolves’ attack with 12 points and 11 rebounds, while rookie Sarah Sullivan added five points for the visitors.

!e Men’s game was very di"erent, with the Mounties scraping out a narrow 74-69 game that was back and forth all the way, culminating in an exciting fourth quarter.

At the conclusion of the first half, Mountie forward Kent Matheson nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to put the Mounties ahead 29-28 at

halftime. UNBSJ started the third quarter quickly, going up by three, but Matt Sarty got the Mounties going with a basket as he was fouled, and then sank the free throw to complete the three-point play. !e Seawolves pulled ahead again though, up by as much as eight in the quarter, and Sarty narrowly missed another buzzer beater at the end of the third quarter that saw the teams almost double their scores.

Going into the fourth down 58-50, the Mounties took it upon themselves to come back. With the score 65-56 for UNBSJ, the Mounties started an unprecedented run.

Consecutive uncontested layups by Sarty and Graham, and then hard work resulting in two points for Dennis Hopper pulled the Mounties to within one. Graham then sank a three-pointer with the Seawolves’ defender right in his face to put the Mounties ahead, and they never looked back. Graham

made another tough layup to cap o" the 13-0 run for the Mounties.

With 45 seconds left, UNBSJ’s Scott Hachey, who played all 40 minutes in the game, missed a pair of foul shots that would have tied the game. !e play went down to the other end, where Matheson was fouled and made both of his foul shots, pushing the lead to four.

With time ticking down, Sackville native Stephen Bohan made a huge defensive rebound to seal the win for the Mounties with five seconds left.

Graham and Sarty were the di"erence for the Mounties, with Graham playing nearly 30 minutes and scoring 29 points, also hauling in ten rebounds. Sarty went seven-for-nine from the free throw line on his way to 14 points, while Matheson added 13 points in the victory. Bohan had a team-high eight rebounds.

Hachey was the Seawolves’ top scorer

with 22 points, while Jordan McGill scored 20. Al Rivers-Bowerman pulled in a game-high 13 rebounds.

On Saturday, the Mounties traveled to Holland College. !e women’s Mounties won by a score of 64-45 while the men lost 81-72. Matheson scored 16 points for the Mounties, while Sarty and Je" Sadler each had 11 in the loss. Scorers were not available for the women’s game.

!e women’s Mounties remain comfortably in third place with a four-game lead on Holland College, and two games behind second-place Saint !omas. !e men are clinging to third-place, but only one game behind second-place Holland College, and one game up on Atlantic Baptist University and Saint !omas. !e men also boast the second best o"ense in the ACAA, as well as the third-best defense.

Basketball Mounties defeat UNBSJ

Wray PerkinArgosy Staff

Far Left: High flying Josh Graham soars towards the basket against a UNBSJ defender.

Left: Mounties Laura Chapman from Moncton, drives by the Seawolves’ Sophia Stackhouse .

!e Mount Allison women’s Volleyball Mounties cruised to a victory this weekend against the NSAC Rams in ACAA women’s volleyball league play.

!e Mounties swept the Rams 3-0 with set scores of 25-11, 25-13, and 25-17. Mounties center Sarah MacDonald led the Mounties with a 66.7 per cent spike e#ciency rating, gathering nine kills, three serves aces, and one dig.

With their latest win, the Mounties are sitting atop the ACAA in first place with a 7-3 record after going 2-1 in their last three matches.

!is weekend, they travel to NSAC on Saturday for a rematch against the Rams (4-6), and continue on to Halifax for a match against the Blue Devils of King’s College, who currently have a record of 2-7. With files from Sue Seaborn

Volleyball Mounties win at homeNoah KowalskiArgosy Staff

Far Left: Sarah McQuaid goes for the kill against the NSAC Rams.

Left: Laurie Marchbank sets the ball with team-mates Sarah MacDonald, Vanessa Gray, and Laurel Carlton looking on.

Below: Calia Henderson and Sarah McQuaid block a Rams spike.

Sue SeabornSue Seaborn

Sue SeabornSue Seaborn

Sue Seaborn

A tale of two games

Crush visiting Rams 3-0

Page 44: Argosy January 22, 2009

25THE ARGOSY • SPORTS & FITNESSJANUARY 22, 2009

!e Mount Allison women’s hockey team played a pair of home games this past weekend, and although strong first periods had them in the game both times, it was the second periods that led to both losses.

Saturday against the Dalhousie Tigers, the Mounties got some great goaltending from rookie Meghan Corley-Byrne, who stopped the first 24 shots she faced, including a point-blank save on Margot Doucet, who was left all alone in front. However, in that span the Mounties only managed three shots on goal, their best chance coming halfway through the first when Lauren Lighthall rang a shot from the point o" the post.

It was nearly eight minutes into the second, that the Jocelyn Leblanc show began. With the Mounties’ Kate Ehrhardt in the box, Leblanc walked out in front and wired a hard wrist shot through a crowd and past a screened Corley-Byrne to put the Tigers ahead.

!e Mounties’ fourth line generated a couple of good chances on the Tigers, with Sara Reid misfiring on a wide open net, sending a shot high and wide.

Less than two and a half minutes after that, Leblanc jammed another goal in, and then got the hat-trick three minutes after that on a partial breakaway to put the Tigers up 3-0. But Leblanc wasn’t done there; with just under four minutes left another wrist shot gave Leblanc her fourth goal of the game, and with time winding down in the second, Leblanc fed a pass to Kim Carcary who fired a shot stick-side to send the Tigers into the intermission with a five-goal lead.

!e third period was the Mounties’ best of the game, outshooting Dalhousie 14-10. Meghan Davies fired four shots on net on a single powerplay for the Mounties, including a thundering slapshot o" the post. !e first line of Lisa Riley, Jenna Briggs, and Katelyn Morton also created some chances down low for the home squad.

“!eir (Dal’s) readiness for this game was a big factor in the game,” said Mounties coach and athletic director, Jack Drover. “I think we were fortunate to come out of the first 0-0, the third period was our best of the game. As we got back into it I think we got better.”

Although allowing five goals, Corley-Byrne was sharp in net, making

38 saves in the loss. Emilie Ederfors stopped all 21 shots for the win in net for the Tigers. !e loss evened Corley-Byrne’s record at 3-3 on the season, while Ederfors improved to 5-3.

24 hours later, the Mounties were at it again, this time against the 6th-ranked St. FX X-Women, with the same kind of result on the scoreboard at game’s end.

Once again, the Mounties got great goaltending, this time from sophomore Alison Heard, who faced a season-high 53 shots, but it would all go to waste.

“We played almost a perfect

period in the first,” Drover said. “Our goaltending played well again, but they managed to wear us down by the third.”

In that almost perfect first period, the Mounties were outshot 12-2, although did manage a couple of quality chances.

Again, however, a second-period meltdown put the Mounties behind. !e X-Women scored early in the

period, and then again late to go up by two following a period that saw a little of everything.

A scrum around Heard led to a point shot finding its way into the net 31 seconds in, putting the X-Women in the lead. Soon after, the Mounties got a scare when Alison Greene was upended and fell awkwardly to the ice, and then went straight to the bench favouring her leg. She would return, however, to put a team-high three shots on goal.

!e second period also saw a bit of choppiness, exemplified by Morton flattening St FX’s Catie Gavin along the boards. !e Mounties’ forward line of captain Heather Morgan centering rookies Lauren Oickle and Jenica Bastarache created multiple chances around the St. FX net, and Heard made a nice stop on a 3-on-1 rush.

!e X-Women fired 23 shots at Heard in the period, the last one of which somehow squeaked past the Mountie netminder and into the net for the two-goal lead at the intermission.

!e third was much of the same, as St FX scored four times, including twice in a 31-second span. Christina Davis had a hat-trick for the visitors.

!e Mounties went 0-4 with no

Hockey Mounties lose pairWray PerkinArgosy Staff

Our goaltending played well again, but they managed to wear us down by the third.“

shots on the powerplay, and only mustered nine shots total, compared to 53 shots by the X-Women. !e loss leaves Heard still without a win in goal for the Mounties in seven games this season. Mt. A is now also enduring a shutout streak of 130:58, which is a season-high they will try and break on Friday in Antigonish.

In the two games this weekend, the Mounties were outshot by a total of 96-30, something they will have to fix by this coming weekend. Friday night they finish the home-and-home with the X-Women, and then Saturday afternoon play host to the last-place UPEI Panthers.

!e Mounties have one of the youngest teams in the AUS, with 15 players in either their freshman or sophomore season, and have the fewest senior year players in the conference, with their only senior being captain Heather Morgan.

Mt. A has also been outscored 27-5 in second periods up to this point in the season, and is the most penalized team in the AUS. With the playo"s not too far away, and the Mounties battling for a playo" spot, these are things their young players will have to remedy in order to advance their season into March.

Far left: Defender Andrea Switalski moves the puck against two St. FX skaters in Sunday’s loss.

Left: First year Jessica Tays races past a St. FX defender.

!is coming weekend, Montreal’s Bell Centre will host the 57th o#cial NHL All-Star Game. Featuring the most talented players in the league from the Eastern and Western conferences, the All-Star Game is a highly anticipated event.

Montreal Canadiens fans especially have a lot to look forward to. For the Habs, who have played host to the event eleven times since its inception in the 1947-48 season, the weekend’s festivities will be yet another way of celebrating the franchise’s 100th season. Most fans will have to make do with watching the event on television, as tickets were nearly impossible to purchase and rather pricey.

Fan voting determined the starting

lineup for the game, and the rest of the rosters were chosen by the NHL, with input from the teams’ GMs. !e excitement surrounding the All-Star Game lead Habs fans to vote four Montreal Canadiens into the Eastern Conference starting lineup. !ere was in fact some controversy surrounding the zealousness of the Montreal fans. Indeed, only two forwards received more votes than Habs starting forward Alex Kovalev. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, both of the Pittsburgh Penguins, will be his linesmates.

Both starting defensemen, Andrei Markov and Mike Komisarek, as well as starting goaltender Carey Price, play for Montreal. While the head coach of the Eastern Conference team is ex-Habs coach Claude Julien, current head coach, Guy Carbonneau, will be behind the bench with him. Julien’s team, the Boston Bruins, led the

Eastern conference in point percentage at the time of the decision.

!e Western Conference starting forwards are Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks, along with Ryan Getzlaf of the Anaheim Ducks. Brian Campbell of the Blackhawks and Scott Niedermayer will start on the defence. Jean-Sébastien Giguère, also of the Ducks, will begin in the net. !e San Jose Sharks’ rookie coach, Todd McLellan, will be behind the Western Conference bench.

As well as the All-Star Game itself, the weekend includes the NHL All-Star Skills Competition, which will give the players a chance to showcase their talents before the big game. !e Breakaway Challenge, inaugurated last year, is bound to be popular, as fans are once again invited to participate actively by casting their vote to determine

which of the five participants will be crowned champion. !e competition will end with an elimination shootout, involving all the players and the six goalkeepers.

Also noteworthy is the NHL

NHL All-Star weekend previewAnastasia LlewellynArgosy Correspondent

Young Stars Game, solely featuring rookies such as Nicklas Backstrom of the Washington Capitals and Patrik Berglund of the St. Louis Blues.CBC television will be covering the All-Star Weekend in English.

Sue Seaborn Sue Seaborn

Source: www.ticketmaster.com

Second period meltdowns lead to losses

Montreal players lead the Eastern squad

Page 45: Argosy January 22, 2009

26 THE ARGOSY • SPORTS & FITNESS JANUARY 22, 2009

Fielding teams in each category of play, the Mount Allison Badminton Mounties powered to a first place finish at the ACAA tournament at University of King’s College this past weekend with 101 points.

!e Mountie’s dominated the men’s side with Brent Barkhouse and rookie Callan Field snatching first place in two separate divisions. Karsten Hempel also notched a first place finish in Division I

In men’s doubles, the Barkhouse brothers, Justin and Brent, turned in a strong performance, defeating all of their opponents, while the duo

of !ales Medeiros-Yokoyama and Callan Field came in second place with only one defeat.

In mixed doubles, the team of Justin Barkhouse and Carrie Murray took first place in Division I, while rookie Heather Murray teamed up with Karsten Hempel to snag victory in Division II. In Division III action, Lori McKnight and Mederios-Yokoyama placed second, finishing o" the Mounties play with 27 out of a total 30 points.

On the women’s side, first year players Alexina LePage and McKnight, along with senior member Sally Ng, all took third place in their respective divisions of women’s singles. Women’s doubles saw the rookie tandem of

Badminton Mounties triumphMurray and LePage take the top spot in Division II, while Carrie Murray and Ng placed third in Division III, giving the Mounties five out of a possible ten points.

Université Sainte Anne was a close second at the tournament with a final point tally of 96. Holland College finished in third with 60 points, while King’s finished fourth with 40 points.

!e Mounties fly into Holland College on February 1, and then host their home tournament on Saturday, February 7. As well, Mt. A will be the venue for the ACAA championships in late February.

With files from Sue Seaborn

!is past holiday season, the hockey world was struck with tragedy as 21 year old Don Sanderson of the Whitby Dunlops passed away on January 2, three weeks after hitting his head on the ice during a fight. Sanderson had been fighting with Corey Fulton, a forward from the Brantford Blast of the Ontario Hockey Association’s Senior AAA hockey league, on December 12, 2008.

Sanderson’s death reignited the oldest argument in hockey, what, if any, purpose does fighting serve in the game today? !ose who are in favour of fighting in hockey will point to the respect level that it creates on the ice. !ey note that in the last 15 years, the steps taken by the NHL to reduce the amount of fighting in hockey has seen an increase in avoidable injuries to players, especially to star players. !ey say fighting serves as a way of players policing themselves, because going after another team’s top player might mean having to answer to that team’s enforcer.

!ose who wish to see fighting removed from hockey all together would say that the idea of respect should come from the players

themselves, not from the fighting. !ey point to European and international hockey, where fighting is not part of the game, where injuries to top players are no more common than they are in the North American game.

Personally, I believe that fighting can have a spot in the game because it is clear that it can be a deterrent against cheap shots. However, much of the fighting that occurs in today’s game seems rather unnecessary, such as a team’s two enforcers lining up across from each other at a faceo" and then pummeling each other as soon as the puck hits the ice. I also don’t think players should have to defend themselves in a fight if what they did was clean. For example, if a player with his head down gets flattened, it was his own fault. !e player who hit him was just doing what he is supposed to do and did it cleanly.

!e death of Don Sanderson has brought the question of fighting back to the forefront of hockey talk, but it does seem unlikely that it will be the beginning of the end of fighting in hockey. If serious discussions into the banning of fighting are under taken it will likely not be until an NHL player has died in a fight, quite possibly in a situation very similar to that of Sanderson’s.

NHL CommentaryRyan EschArgosy Correspondent

Noah KowalskiArgosy Staff

I thought there were a few truths in life, solid facts that you could depend on. !e sky will always be blue, the Yukon will always be cold, and the Arizona Cardinals will never make it to the Super Bowl. Simple things that helped me, as a sports fan, live my life.

All of those truths are out the window now that the timeless wonder of Kurt Warner and the Cards have managed to somehow get into the Super Bowl.

!is year has seen weirder things, from the Atlanta Falcons and Miami Dolphins actually making the playo"s to the 11-5 Patriots NOT making the playo"s. For some reason, the teams

that were dependably good over the past few seasons decided to stop trying and the teams that were dependably bad decided to start. However, there is always an exception to crazy seasons and luckily for NFL fans around the league, the Detroit Lions were, as we all thought, bad.

!is week also saw the opening round of the Australian Open. A friend remarked to me the other day that she cannot accept Rafael Nadal as the number one seed in tennis, and I have to agree. After having four plus years of Federer on the top spot, having a new face attached to that number one is confusing. I guess if there is anything to be learned from this week, it’s that nothing can be taken for granted anymore.

From the Sports desk...Noah KowalskiArgosy Staff

Alright, so I had a LOT of things I wanted to talk about this week. I politely explained to my editors that they shouldn’t bother with the rest of the Sports section- I’ve got it on lockdown. !ey didn’t go for it, and who su"ers as a result? You, the reader. On that note, I just wanted to clarify to the readers out there that I have o#cially left my post at !e Marathon, a popular Toronto sports rag, to write full-time here at !e Argosy. !e reason? I needed the money. Also, I want to trot out a Bill Simmons-esque mailbag sometime soon, so send any comments, questions or fan mail or hate mail to [email protected]. So without further ado.

Dunk ContestIt’s o#cial, the contestants are: Dwight Howard (I still can’t believe he got robbed by the judges on that sticker dunk two years ago), Rudy Gay (I still can’t believe that his team traded Kevin Love, removing all possibilities of “Gay-Love backdoor cut”-related jokes), Nate Robinson, and Rudy Fernandez…. I’ve been more excited for a dunk contest, I won’t lie. Can’t we just have a one-on-one tournament (I’ll take D-Wade, plus the points)? Or how about a glorified pick-up game? Oh wait, they hold that on Sunday and call it the “All-Star game.”

My Team on the Rise:First o", I should explain that I have a Miami Heat baseball cap, and I want to justify wearing it, so I am now going to proceed to talk myself into the Heat being a legit team. But here’s the thing…. !ey are. At this rate, the Heat are a couple of wins away from the 4th seed and home court advantage in the playo"s. !e reason is simple: !e Heat have Dwayne Wade, and he is better at basketball than you. !ey’ve also done it without a Centre (sorry,

Jamal Magloire, you no longer count as a basketball player) and without Michael Beasley hitting his stride. But I’m calling it now: !e Heat are better than you think.

Did you know?In honour of Lebron James’ recent “signing” with the Cleveland Browns (turns out it’s just a commercial for State Farm Insurance), here’s a little two-sport history of one of my favourite players:

Allen Iverson was voted All-State in high school as a football player. He played Running Back, a little Quarterback, and Safety. And he was GOOD. It shouldn’t come as a surprise – the guy is a superior athlete and tough as nails. Check out his football highlights on youtube.

Raptors WatchOkay, when I talked about it last week, I’ll admit that I was mostly joking about the much-needed fighting renaissance in the NBA. However, after watching the Raptors play the Pacers this weekend, the joke is over. Someone on this Raptors team needs to start a fight. A blatant clothesline, Roko Ukic putting opposing point guards in a Sharpshooter, a little “Reggie Evans on Chris Kaman”(okay, even I have my boundaries), Bargnani with his signature Italian eye-poke. SOMETHING! It doesn’t matter how, or what, the point is

someone on this team needs to show that they give a shit. Simple as that.

In the aforementioned Pacers/Raptors tilt, there was a moment where Chris Bosh and Danny Granger (who was drafted right after Joey Graham…. Don’t you think Granger would solve all the Raptors problems? But I digress.) got mixed up underthe basket, and Granger, taking o"ense, shoved Bosh.

Well, if this were a proper basketball team, NOBODY would be touching, let alone shoving Bosh without some serious repercussions. !is is where the Raptors really miss Charles Oakley. Oak would have had Grangers balls in a vice, like Nicky Santoro in Casino. But now, in 2009, what happened? Nothing. Not a thing. Joey Graham – the obvious choice for Enforcer – was standing right there, and watched the whole thing go down, but all he did was slowly walk over, and share some words with Granger beforethe referees broke it up. Joey Graham is literally the strongest man in the

NBA, and probably the most gifted, physically. I mean, he is just a beast, but his mentality belies his physicality. By all accounts, Joey’s the nicest guyaround and that is a problem. !ere are far too many nice guys on this team.

In the pre-season, Jermaine O’Neal made a comment along the lines of “we’re not going to be a team that helps opponents up o" of the floor.” I remember thinking, “finally!” Finally some edge to a Raptors team that has been way too soft for way too long. But it was all for naught, as J’O got injured, and that edge was sidelined.

Again, there is no way that anyone shoves Bosh on the court without experiencing some serious repercussions. Yet that is exactly what happened. And without that passion, the Raps will continue to be what they are: a bunch of jump shooters, afraid of any kind of physical contact whatsoever. Sad, really.

NBA RoundupDavid Charles ZarumArgosy Contributor

Larry Fitzgerald and the Arizona Cardinals rolled over the Eagles and continued their baffling run to the Super Bowl.

Source: www.nfl.com

www.soundo!column.com

WWW.ARGOSY.CAREAD THE ARGOSY IN CLASSYOUR PROF WILL NEVER KNOW

Source: www.macinsiders.com

Commentary on the past week in the league

Capture first place at King’s tournament !oughts on fighting

Reflections on the past week in sports

Page 46: Argosy January 22, 2009

27THE ARGOSY • SPORTS & FITNESSJANUARY 22, 2009

Athletes of the Week

A pair of badminton brothers have been honoured this time as Mount Allison’s Athletes of the Week for their play during weekend games at the Atlantic Colleges Athletic Association (ACAA) tournament at King’s College.

Both Brent and Justin Barkhouse went undefeated over the weekend, and led their team to a 101-96 finish in the ACAA tournament, beating out second-place Université Sainte Anne. Brent dominated the men’s singles category with three straight wins over ACAAopponents, then paired up with brother Justin, to win all of the men’s doubles games. Justin also joined forces with teammate Carrie Murray to take six straight mixed doubles wins. Residents of Hantsport, NS, both athletes are former standouts with Horton High and North East Kings Badminton Club, where they previously won numerous provincial singles championships under the tutelage of coaches Gary McDougall and John Vanderweit.

Brent was Nova Scotia’s (NSSAF) 2004-05 singles winner and Canada Games player;

the Badminton Mounties’ Rookie of the Year in 2005-06; the Mount Allison’s team MVP in 2006-07; and represented the conference twice as a national qualifier in2006-08.

Justin joined Mount Allison this past September and is a former three-timeprovincial singles champion in the high school conference. Head coach JanetRobinson enthuses that Justin is a great addition to the team and has thepotential to qualify for national championships just as his brother has thepast two seasons.

Senior brother Brent is enrolled in fourth-year psychology, while Justin hasentered into Mount Allison’s biology program.Other nominees for Mount Allison’s Athlete of the Week were: Je" Sadler(basketball), Laura Chapman (basketball), Sarah MacDonald (volleyball), andLisa Riley (hockey).

Mountie Sports !is Week

Brent and Justin Barkhouse

The Ultimate Frisbee players hit the gym Monday night for some late-night Ultimate action. Join them Friday morning at 6:30 am.

Members of the Mount Allison women’s varsity soccer team went to Amherst this weekend to bag groceries at Sobey’s.

Friday, 23 JanuaryHockey @ St. FX; 7:00 PM

Saturday, 24 JanuaryVolleyball @ NSAC; 1:00 PM

Hockey vs. UPEI; 2:35 PM

Women’s Basketball @ NSAC; 6:00 PMMen’s Basketball @ NSAC; 6:00 PM

Swimming @ UNB Double Dual Meet; All Day

Sunday, 25 JanuaryVolleyball @ King’s; 2:30 PM

Women’s Basketball vs. STU; 2:00 PMMen’s Basketball vs. STU; 4:00 PM

Wednesday, 28 JanuaryWomen’s Basketball vs. ABU; 6:00 PMMen’s Basketball vs. ABU; 8:00 PM

Sue Seaborn Sue Seaborn

Elissa McCarron

Ben Butler

Ben Butler

Did you know?!e world record for distance run in 24-hours on a treadmill is held by Arulanantham Suresh Joachim of Mississauga, Ontario who ran 257.88 kilometres on 28-29 November 2004.