January 29, 2009 A sugar treat for stupid babies since 1875 Vol. 138 Iss. 14

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

Opinions pp. 6 - 7

Letters to the Editor:Gaza, technological determinism, and more.

Mark Brister (left) and Mike Currie sat on the SAC’s ad hoc committee that obtained legal advice and evaluated evidence from Last Class Bash; the committee brought forth their resolution at an emergency SAC meeting on Sunday. The council voted unanimously in favour of a meeting with Larry Hebert; the other two resolutions to boycott Uncle Larry’s and bring Hebert to small claims court passed, contingent on the results of the meeting with Hebert.

The dispute between Uncle Larry’s (pictured above) and the Student’s Administrative Council continues; the SAC plans to bring Larry Hebert to small claims court and has issued a voluntary boycott of the establishment.

Jessica Emin

Showdown in SackvilleSAC votes at emergency meeting to boycott, take Uncle Larry’s to court if necessaryJustine GalbraithArgosy Staff

Jessica Emin

A disagreement between the SAC and Uncle Larry’s bar about payment for Last Class Bash seems likely to be settled in court.

!e dispute which arose over a revenue sharing agreement after the SAC’s Last Class Bash last semester, has resulted in an impasse between the SAC and Larry Hebert, owner of Uncle Larry’s.

!e SAC believes that Uncle Larry’s owes them $300. Hebert disagrees.

An ad hoc committee was formed at the January 21 SAC meeting to consult on the issue. !at committee was charged with gathering evidence, consulting someone with legal training, and evaluating options.

SAC President Mike Currie approached David Stewart, who has passed the bar. Stewart, acting independently of the university, explained to Currie the small claims court procedures that could be used to settle a procedure like this.

!e SAC held an emergency council meeting on Sunday to discuss the issue and come up with a three-part plan of action.

!e first resolution to meet with Hebert passed unanimously. !e second resolution, to call for a boycott

if necessary, passed fairly easily, said SAC VP External Mark Brister. But the third resolution, to go to court, only passed by one vote.

“!at’s why we felt we would only use these tools if absolutely necessary,” said Brister.

After their meeting with Hebert, which was mandated by that motion, Currie felt that “it was inevitable, that we had to go to court over this.”

Currie and Brister said that inconsistencies between Hebert’s claims and their own view of the events — including whether or not any revenue-sharing agreement existed in the first place — caused them to lose faith in their ability to come to a fair settlement.

“[Yantha and Michaelis] were asking me for money for this DJ,” said Hebert. He said that at the time he had responded with “let me look at the figures at the end of the night, and I’ll let you know.”

Brister also said that because Uncle Larry’s does not usually collect cover, he had expected a cut of the revenue resulting from the cover collected that evening as part of their agreement.

Hebert explained that he decided to charge cover on that night because a previous event, Keith’s Crew, was unsuccessful and he needed to recuperate that revenue; he never intended for that money to go to the

SAC.Complicating the matter further, all

agreements between the two parties were verbal, rather than written — a matter the SAC intends to address in all further dealing between themselves and outside organizations.

!e SAC, however, remains confident in their ability to win a court case and has served Hebert with papers. Hebert now has up to

one month to write a response letter before a court date is set.

According to Brister, there is only one way to avoid a court case at this point in time.

“If he chooses to come to us and give us back our $300 and the legal fees that we paid, we will drop the lawsuit,” said Brister.

However, Hebert insists that his story has not changed and is firm that

he does not owe the SAC any money.“What they’re saying is if I give

them $300, this is going to go away, but now it’s down to principle,” said Hebert. “!ere’ll be a counter claim against the SAC.”

!e SAC is also now calling for a voluntary boycott of Uncle Larry’s. Students, clubs and societies are encouraged to find alternative venues for their nights out.

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 • Sacha Van KatwykGeneral Assignment • Kelly O’Connor

Circulations Vivi Reich

Publication BoardFaculty • Dr. Michael Fox, Dr. Robert Lapp

The Argosy62A York Street, Sackville, NB

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2 JANUARY 29, 2009 THE ARGOSY • NEWS

Student politics, cookies and tangerines were served at the January 21 SAC meeting

Vivi Reich

Curiosity about the large four-story building going up on Main and Bridge Street is mounting. Some call it the tallest building in Sackville. Of course that’s not strictly true. Across the street, the United Church still stands tall. And across the street there is a building of comparable height.

Most people have realized that the top three stories will contain rentable apartments. But what will be at the bottom? Zoning laws say that a business must occupy the street level.

“!ere’s 3,600 square feet of rentable commercial space, but nothing’s been signed,” says landlord, John La"ord, “I would say in two months I will have an idea who. !ere’s been some significant interest.”

When asked for further clarification, La"ord remains tight-lipped. He and his brother, Joe La"ord, want to protect peoples’ inquiries and avoid a bidding war.

!e lot has been empty for quite some time. In 2006, there was a fire that burned the original structure to the ground. Its causes were presumed to be electrical, much like this year’s Bridge Street fire. But this one soon got out of control.

Some students still remember when the bottom floor held o#ces for Sackville Cab, Sounds Fantastic, and Pirate’s Cove – a fish and chips place. Before that, Dave’s Snack Shop occupied the space.

Although La"ord would like to keep things quiet for now, he is looking for a business that will be able to sustain itself and stay for a longer

Sackville grows up!e new, tall building at the corner of Bridge St. and Main St. will contain both living and business spaceHelena van TolArgosy Staff

period of time.!ere are twelve units in all, four on each

floor, the majority of which have been leased. !e apartments are targeted towards students just as they were in the previous building; however, La"ord doesn’t want to discriminate.

“When you build something you don’t say this is the group of people that are getting in there and that’s it. It’s geared towards a student as opposed to a senior, just because of the height of the building,” explained La"ord, “If there’s local people from town who want to have an

apartment, and they’re people who are willing to pay damage deposit, and they’re normal renters, then I would of course let them in there.”

!e thing about students, however, is that the apartments have to be ready for the start of the 2009 Fall term. But La"ord isn’t concerned about the building not being finished by the new academic year.

“Well that would be something I would deal with at that time,” says La"ord, “But you know, I built the building down there on time; so I’ll be on time.”

SAC seizes inactive club funds VP Finance and Operations Dan Wortman explained that when SAC clubs do not renew their constitutions for three years, the SAC seizes their assets and no longer considers them a club. Wortman then listed the clubs being removed from the list this year, including the Ba’hai club, the Skydiving club and the International Studies association. !e SAC received a total of

$178 from the bank accounts.

SAC Windfarm?Mark Brister, SAC VP External, detailed to council a meeting he had with Sackville councillor John Higham about an opportunity to invest in a wind farm.

Brister said that according to Higham, the revenue estimates for the project were well above profit threshold. Council then gave Brister permission to form an ad hoc committee to investigate the issue, with students at large being selected based on scholarship and experience.

Councillors apologize Due to forgetting to send out e-mails to constituents, four SAC councillors gave public apologies. In his apology, Ben Kropp said that it was imperative for councilors to send information to their constituents weekly, and that it was childish of the Argosy to print his name as being in trouble. Michael Cronin apologized, saying there was no excuse for not sending out e-mails. Doug MacLean outlined the basic plot to the Kevin Costner movie !e Postman, and then drew a parallel for why it was important for him to send out his SAC e-mails. Cejay Riley apologized and promised to do better in the future.

Councillor concerns and questions Erik Johnson asked why the school had sent an e-mail saying they could not keep up with the ice but still decided to keep the school open. VP Campus Life Pat Barry said that President Campbell made the decision that campus was safe, and that the e-mail was to warn people.

Rachael Betuik complained that the ventilation system in the athletic centre wasn’t working, making it very hot for employees.

Doug MacLean reported that he had received the complaint that it takes up to a month to be tested for STIs through health services. He also mentioned an email complaint that the Argosy was too expensive and that its fees should not be renewed. It was clarified that the Argosy’s fees are not up for referendum in the spring like other publications, but are voted on at the Argosy’s spring funders meeting; quorum is five non-Argosy sta".

Joni Fleck-Andrews told council that she is looking for feedback on the student art people would like to see in the student centre.

SAC President Mike Currie announced that the microwave has been set up in the new cafe.

Naomi Wheatley asked if someone can get money from the Project Rebuild fund for non-fire emergencies. Mike Currie responded that yes, the fund covers many things, including flooding and pipes breaking.

VP Campus Life ReportBarry reported that the recent pub bash brought in large numbers, and that turnout hasn’t slowed down. He also said that the 46 Bridge St. fundraiser has raised over $2,300.

Barry then answered questions from previous meetings. Getting rid of trays in meal hall has

resulted in cost savings, but people are also eating more. Future banquet times will be attempted to be scheduled to fit students’ classes. Salt and pepper shakers in meal hall are one time use, as permanent ones are often stolen.

Finally, meal hall refused to keep a list on hand for students that have forgotten their meal card, as such a list wouldn’t include students’ meal plans, and there wouldn’t be a way to verify identity. Barry also added that he will ask about increasing the amount of guest passes.

Exit signs in the students centre might be moved as they keep getting broken, low-flow shower heads may be soon installed in residence, and Jack Drover has said there are no room for punching bags, said Barry.

Councillors pan idea to move On-Campus councillor elections

SAC President Mike Currie asked for feedback on the idea of moving SAC on-campus councillor elections to the spring so that residence councillors would have a better idea of the issues, and the response was generally negative.

Objections included that second year students don’t necessarily know more about the issues, first year students wouldn’t get to vote for their reps, and situations frequently change over the summer causing fall elections. VP Academic Ryan Robski then said that it was important for councillors to know the di"erence between a department and a faculty if the council was going to run e#ciently. Jaime Cochrane and Ben Kropp both suggested that information sessions on the workings of the SAC and university would go a long way for new councillors.

The building has only gained more stories since last semester

3JANUARY 29, 2009 THE ARGOSY • NEWS

• 93 children aged nine and upwards were forced to be child soldiers by !omas Lubanga, former leader of Congolese militia the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC). Lubanga’s trial at the International Criminal Court began this week.

• 9.6 per cent is the projected shrinkage of the Icelandic economy this year. !e country’s coalition government has resigned, after tensions between members have increased with the collapse of their financial system in October.

• Over 100 civilians are feared to have died as the Sri Lankan army makes its final advance into the rebel Tamil Tigers’ last corner of territory

• 14 US states are to be exempted from the federal Clear Air Act, allowing them to set their own targets for reducing exhaust fume emissions. !is decision by President Obama reverses a national standard previously set by Bush.

• 16 Afghanis were killed in a US military attack. President Hamid Karzai has criticised the US for the deaths, the first since Obama has taken o#ce.

• 20,000 troops helped maintain security in Dehli during a parade celebrating India’s 60th Republic Day (January 26).

• An 11 year-old Mexican matador killed six bulls in a single fight, breaking the world record for his age.

• Over 400 children were killed in the recent Gaza conflict. New evidence is emerging of Israel’s use of white phosphorus shells, which can cause severe burns, quite possibly breaching the Geneva Convention.

• $120 000 000 000 USD in health care spending was announced by the Chinese government for over the next three years. Currently, an estimated half of health expenses in China are paid by individuals themselves.

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

• 40 died in a ferry accident in Vietnam on Sunday. !e search for survivors was postponed to allow for New Year’s celebrations.

• $7 000 000 000 CAD is set to be spent on infrastructure in the Conservatives’ stimulus package. $4 billion is to be put in a labour-intensive public infrastructure fund; $2-billion in a fund for repairs, maintenance and faster construction at colleges and universities; and 1 billion towards environmentally-friendly projects.

• 3 years of fighting for their homes has not spared hundreds of Cambodian slum dwellers from being evicted, their homes and possessions razed by bulldozers as property values rise. !e area, Dey Krahorm, was an artistic and cultural centre of the country.

• 26 o#cials, 36 companies were added to the EU sanctions list for Zimbabwe, raising the total of the blacklist to 203 individuals and 40 businesses unable to do business or travel in Europe.

After reading about the break-in at the Fine Arts department in last week’s issue of !e Argosy, Security & Safety Coordinator Paul Bragg realized he had made a mistake in his investigation. !e intruder had broken a door in the Hart Hall Photography department, but Bragg had gone to investigate the dark room in the Gairdner building.

Obviously, after looking at that door, he thought that a break-in was unlikely. In any case, a carpenter was called in to fix the latch, which wasn’t working properly.

Karen Stentaford, first-year photo professor and technician, had tried calling the number for campus security on Sunday morning to report the break-in. She was, however, redirected to the heating plant, where she left directions to her o#ce. Bragg never received those directions.

“No wonder Karen said she had left extensive directions because I would never have found that as being the dark room,” says Bragg after taking a look at the correct door. “[And] I do, believe it or not, know most rooms on campus.”

!e carpenter finally arrived around 3:00 pm and fixed the door in Hart Hall rather than the one at the Gairdner building. Frustrated with the lack of security response, Stentaford went home around 3:40 pm without having met with Bragg.

“We do not have any security o#cers on duty on Sunday afternoons. We have only one eight-hour shift per day,” explained Bragg, “It was only by chance that I happened to be in the o#ce one time that Karen called, although I did receive a call from our heating plant of a reported break-in. […] We do not have any on-call

Mix-ups and break-ins!efts may not warrant increase in security: MacCormackHelena van TolArgosy Staff

security, and if I hadn’t been available then there would not have been a security person to attend the scene.”

Stentaford is disappointed with the lack of follow-up, remarking that Security could have called back Monday to make sure everything was in order. Few students or sta" realize that security at Mount Allison is not a 24-hour service.

“I have 1.4 security o#cers which translates to a full time guy and someone who does two shifts a week, and we have a replacement,” explained Director of Security, Rob MacCormack, when asked about their budget.

Most of the budget for Security goes towards salary, with a little bit extra for uniforms and supplies. !ere is no designated Security vehicle.

“It’s Custodial vehicle by day and Security vehicle by night,” joked MacCormack.

MacCormack and Bragg estimate their budget to be approximately $83,000. When compared with Security at other small town universities, Mt. A is lagging behind.

“I think we do a terrific job with what we have,” argues Bragg, “Every department has room for improvement, but the bottom line is […] we don’t have any policy or guidelines or procedure for contacting or calling our persons.

“And it’s a hit or miss. If I’m there, great. If I happen to be in the area, wonderful. !ere have been times I’ve received calls when I’m in Moncton or I can’t respond. […] We have budget constraints like everybody else. It’s what security protection [has] been assessed will su#ce for the university”

MacCormack conceded that Acadia has a little more security than Mt. A, but further stated that we are not comparable to Dalhousie or St.

Mary’s as these are in a much larger city, Halifax.

“!ey’ve got a lot of di"erent problems than we do,” said MacCormack. “We’re in Sackville, the environment here is pretty tame and we get fairly good response from the RCMP most times.”

It’s true that Sackville and Mt. A aren’t hotbeds for real criminal activity. Typically, the break-ins and thefts that do occur are unprofessional, probably orchestrated by one or two minors looking for some quick cash.

Nevertheless, organized crime at Maritime universities is not unheard of. About eight years back, there was a group from Halifax that stole university projectors on a cyclical basis. Eventually they were caught at the Université de Moncton.

Avard-Dixon, Crabtree, and the Dunn building were hit over the Christmas holidays. !e Golden A Café also had a window smashed on the same day as the Hart Hall break-in. New security cameras installed in the Wallace McCain Student Centre should have picked up the incident. However, the one focusing on the smashed window was not operational.

Bragg estimates 20 reported thefts per year at Mt. A, while MacCormack estimates the number to be under 10. Joe MacDonald, Dean of Students at St. FX, however, estimates their average number of thefts per year to be closer to five. Acadia could not comment.

!ieves are usually looking for laptops and other electronic equipment. About a year ago, Centennial Hall was broken into, all the doors were smashed, and the thieves made o" with some laptops and stores of cash.

“I certainly don’t have an argument as far as theft goes to increase the

security that we have, because the amount of reported theft here is far less than what we spend,” says MacCormack, “To increase it, for that reason only, I don’t think is warranted.”

On top of that, the patrol o#cers aren’t the only part of Mount Allison security. Residences and buildings have their own security structure, which campus security is meant to complement. Also, Campus Police takes care of event security.

“Paul [Bragg] thinks that campus security is underfunded,” says Chief of Campus Police, Paul Rasbach, “Campus Police, we’re fine in our funding because we just charge by the hour. So if there’s an event, whoever is hosting the event just pays for us and we bill them.”

Conversely, there is no formal training for Campus Police; they are expected to just learn the ropes as they go. Rob MacCormack admits that this has been a problem.

“We are going to beef up our training,” he said. “We would like to have our campus police First-Aid-trained and know what they are able to do. !at’s probably a deficiency we’ve known from this year so we intend to solve that in the upcoming year.”

MacCormack would also like to like to increase the dependability of the phone number. Although the

security o#cers have first responder training, defibrillators, and oxygen, a call on Sunday afternoon is not going to get a speedy response.

“Our goal is just to be here when we’re required. We’re not going to be able to solve everything but we hope that everybody’s feeling safe because we’re around,” says MacCormack, “[We want] to be visible and make sure people know where to go when they need help.”

Stentaford remains convinced that there is a problem with Mt. A Security. Although nothing was stolen, the slow and misdirected response does not bode well.

Jessica Emin

Mount Allison2,250 students1 full-time o#cer1 part-time o#cer0 security vehicles$83,000 estimated budget

Acadia3,900 students14 full-time o#cers35 part-time o#cers3 security vehiclesBudget could not be disclosed

St. FX4,200 students11 full-time o#cers1 security vehicle$600,000 budget

Calling Campus Security

NATIONAL

REGINA (CUP) – First Nations University of Canada students are calling the unexplained Jan. 7 firing of their vice president of academics the last straw in the institution’s troubled administrative history.

“[VP Academic] Dr. Shauneen Pete’s firing is basically the last we can take,” said !omas Roussin, the FNU Students’ Association’s (FNSA) VP communications.

“It seems like we’re firing the most visible leader at our university. !e students feel alone now. We don’t know what to do; we lost our beacon of hope,” he said.

Roussin says Pete wrote her PhD – the only one held by FNU’s senior administration – in Aboriginal higher education policy, making her “the person to be at our university.”

No o#cial reason has been given

Enough is enough, say FNU studentsHigh-profile firing deals another blow to troubled First Nations UniversityTaylor BendigThe Carillon (University of Regina)

for Pete’s dismissal, and Roussin says he can’t speculate publicly on the issue. While FNU’s communications department did not reply to the Carillon’s interview requests, university sources have previously declined to discuss the firing, calling it a matter of privacy.

Pete herself, who has since stopped speaking to media, told CBC news on Jan. 9 that her dismissal was small surprise given the high degree of tension between her and the FNU administration during her 18-month tenure.

“I came in, I sat down. [FNU President Charles Pratt] said: ‘!is isn’t working. You are terminated without cause,’” she told CBC.

Pete’s firing is the latest in a long line of controversial departures by FNU sta" and faculty. According to information gathered by the University of Regina Women’s Studies Department, over a third of the school’s faculty, and roughly half

of the its support and administrative sta" – including one president, two vice-presidents, and two deans – have

resigned, retired, or been dismissed since 2005.

Sta#ng problems are not the

only di#culty the university has faced recently. On Dec. 1, 2008, the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) censured FNU because of its “ongoing failure to resolve the serious problems with the governance of the university,” according to a CAUT press release.

“In most cases, university and college administrations . . . look for ways to resolve problems before censure is imposed,” said CAUT Executive Director James Turk.

“Unfortunately, while the FNUniv administration and board were given every opportunity, they refused to show any serious willingness to address the concerns.”

!e censure – the first imposed since 1979, and one that CAUT had been considering since May 2008 – means that academic sta", especially CAUT’s over 60,000 members, will be asked not to accept jobs or speaking engagements at FNU, or to attend conferences that it hosts.

Thomas Roussin addresses the crowd at a Jan. 13 rally to protest FNU’s ongoing governance problems

Taylor Bendig/ the Carillon

EDMONTON (CUP) – Women looking for a new take on an old pain may be able to find relief at Edmonton’s Grant MacEwan College with help of the acupuncture program’s new research into pre-menstrual syndrome.

Gordon Grant, an acupuncture instructor at MacEwan and the project co-ordinator, believes this new study could be the answer to many women’s problems of extremely painful PMS, or dysmenorrhea.

Dysmenorrhea is classified by problems with menstruation that aren’t due to something else, but are so well defined as to require help from a doctor.

!e researchers are looking for

Acupuncture to treat PMSLaurie CallsenIntercamp (Grant MacEwan College)

participants between the ages of 18 and 40 with dysmenorrhea that has been occurring within the last year, and who have never received acupuncture before.

!e research will involve three groups of 20 women. One group will receive the proposed treatment, one group will be wait-listed, and the other group will be receiving the placebo treatment.

!e treatment will work with the body to balance it out, not to dominate it.

“!ere’s evidence that it works on the autonomic nervous system, it may work through neuropeptides, and also there’s morphine-type compounds called endorphins,” said Grant.

“It is shown clearly that acupuncture stimulates these as well. It works within the body’s own drug systems. It’s not just about mitigating the pain;

it’s about creating balance within the person weekly so the pain doesn’t come.”

!e treatment is also likely to treat other symptoms unrelated to PMS, such as sleeping and libido problems.

!e acupuncture needles are placed on five potent points of the body (hands, forearm, feet, legs and abdomen), casting a “big strong net over the problem.”

Women partaking in the study will come in for weekly treatments and answer questionnaires about their symptoms. !e treatment will continue for three months until the end of April.

!e study is the first of its kind, di"erent from other recent studies, because it will use a control group that believe they are receiving acupuncture, but are really just getting shallow pricks that don’t penetrate as deep as

real acupuncture. “People who have had a lot of

acupuncture might be able to tell the di"erence. !e reason we do a control like that is . . . to convince, through scientific method, the medical community that acupuncture is more than placebo,” said Grant.

A similar study was conducted in Germany, but without the control group. !e study proved that acupuncture was a cost-e"ective way to treat PMS.

!e study is also an opportunity for acupuncture students to get experience before graduation.

Amanda Roth, a third year acupuncture student, is happy to get a chance to break away from the textbooks and into real life.

“Books can give you a good foundation and a place to start, but I think hands-on [experience] is where

you learn the most, when you actually solidify all the information, and make it real. You’ve got to get out there and put your knowledge in your hands.”

Grant says the students will play an important part in all areas of the study, from greeting patients when they enter the clinic, to being acupuncturists themselves.

Roth hopes the study not only helps treat PMS, but spreads the word about acupuncture.

“I hope [the study] will give more awareness to the general population as to the di"erent problems or syndromes that acupuncture can treat. !ere is a larger variety than pain. !ere is a whole crew of acupuncturists and practitioners in Alberta who are very qualified and ready to help people and give them alternatives to our traditional western treatments,” said Roth.

HAMILTON (CUP) – When the going gets tough, the tough get learning. !at’s what some experts say is the reason for the increase in post-secondary applications this year.

!e number has not been higher since the double cohort in 2003, and the applicant increase percentage has doubled for winter college programs compared to last year’s growth.

!e number of applications for both colleges and universities has been growing every year. Compared to last year, Ontario colleges received 10 per cent more applications, while universities saw an increase of just over one per cent. With a closer look, these numbers grow even more.

“We believe that it’s a sign of the times in terms of the economic downturn,” said Sally Ritchie, Colleges

Post-secondary enrolment higher than everNathan SwyersThe Satellite (Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology)

Ontario’s senior communications. “We anticipate that more people will be taking advantage of the training and re-training provided by colleges.”

!e increase compared to last year in those not applying straight out of high school is nearly 12 per cent for Ontario colleges and almost 10 per cent for universities.

Ritchie says people look to higher education when facing a recession, and they might think upgrading with new skills is the best thing to do.

George Granger, executive director of Ontario Universities Application Council (OUAC), says this is a very good time to go back and get a better education.

“On one hand, you have the group in high school looking down the road, trying to prepare themselves for what lies ahead,” said Granger.

“!en you have this other group. Many find themselves within the certain reality based on the way the economy is today. !e jobs that were

there a year ago aren’t there now. !e prospects of mobility that might have been there a year ago aren’t there today.”

With the increase in applications comes an increase in competition, but Ritchie says College Ontario will work with the government to ensure the colleges can accommodate these students.

“We certainly want to welcome them with open arms,” said Ritchie. “But there’s a limit.”

More students in the classroom also means more classes, faculty, and potentially larger class sizes.

Deborah Calarco, associate registrar of admissions at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ont., says they are prepared for what lies ahead.

“Many of the schools plan additional sections just in case. With [the business program], we’ve used those sections,” she said.

Calarco says there won’t be any negative impact to the admissions cut-

o", despite the substantial increase in applicants. She says Mohawk’s applicant pool is currently 11.7 per cent higher than it was last year.

“!ere are places where we had demand, but we couldn’t take more. In nursing, there is always a high demand and we could not accept everyone,” said Calarco.

Sam Maga, president of the faculty union at Mohawk College, says he doesn’t see there being a teacher shortage, even if the increase in applicants does translate into higher enrolment come September.

“As far as being able to put those students in classrooms and have teachers there, that never seems to be a problem,” said Maga. “What category of teacher they will be in the classroom with is hard to say.”

With increases in enrolment, the college will have to hire more part-time faculty, he says.

“I would prefer that they hire full-time, obviously, to make sure that they

have good jobs. As opposed to being part-time, being paid about a third of everybody else that’s full-time, without getting benefits, without getting job security or any protection of their rights,” said Maga.

But he says that Mohawk is one of the best colleges when it comes to maintaining an acceptable full-time to non part-time ratio.

“When you look at some of the other colleges, there are twice as many non full-time as there are full-time,” said Maga.

“!e issue they have is funding. With the new economic challenge that we have in the country and in the world, that’s going to be a bigger problem in the future [than having more students]. If people are coming back to school or entering school due to population shifts, then the government has to respond, and they really haven’t.”

OPINIONS

February 2 (7 pm, Crabtree Auditorium): Film – Flow: For the Love of Water (2008) Presentation by Jason Blanch on the use and abuse of water in the developing world to follow.February 3 (7 pm, Crabtree Auditorium): Key-Note Speaker – Michael WaringWaring is a key supporter of PLAN Canada, sponsors six children, has funded two classrooms in Nepal, and has visited PLAN Canada projects in Niger and Mali in West Africa. He will be speaking about the need for helping children, but also drawing attention to some of the issues involved in such work. February 4 (7 pm, Crabtree Auditorium): Presentations - How You Can Get Involved A showcase of student and sta! involvement in international development projects, past and ongoing. For people interested in finding ways to get involved themselves, this is sure to be an informative and inspiring session.February 2-3 (Wallace McCain Student Centre) – International Development FairA mini International Development fair with tables and displays set up by student groups and community organizations. "e information at each table will highlight the aims of each group, the issues which are of concern to them, and the ways in which people can get involved. Feb.2 (1-5 pm) / Feb.3 (10 am-2 pm).

For more information about International Development Week, and what has been planned at Mount Allison, please contact Adam Christie at achristie@mta.ca” tel. 364-2116.

Jeanna Fletcher and Horace Karnes Jr.

"e article recently released in the Argosy, reporting on the events leading up to the Last Class Bash and the debacle involving the SAC vs. Uncle Larry’s, was anything but balanced, as it portrayed a biased and poor image of Uncle Larry’s. "e fact of the matter is, Uncle Larry’s regularly employs more than ten students like ourselves (bartenders, bouncers and DJs) and has hosted many fundraisers for Mount Allison committees, groups and the SAC in the past, including O!-Campus Orientation, Global Medical Brigades, Shinerama and UNICEF, and has never asked for a percentage of the take, the way many other bars would do in fundraisers for outside organizations. Concerning the cover charge tirade, which was completely blown out of proportion, Corey Yantha (SAC Entertainment) approached Larry Hebert, aka Uncle Larry, to host a Halifax DJ whom the SAC had reportedly already paid. At first Larry was hesitant as there was a scheduled Keith’s Crew for that night and Larry did not want to blend events. After Yantha made it clear to Larry, and to Larry’s witness, that the SAC had already paid for the DJ and that no extra cover was needed (since Keith’s Crew is $12.00 cover and Larry didn’t want to raise that to $17.00) he agreed to host the DJ because the SAC did not have a venue for the DJ, and the Tantramarsh Pub had no dance floor as of yet. It wasn’t until the night before the event that the SAC went into Uncle Larry’s and left a message with the witness for Larry, basically demanding an additional cover charge of $5 above the other cover. Larry didn’t arrive at the bar until 1:00 am that night, and realistically, he wasn’t going to call the SAC members to discuss the proposal at such a late time Ñ both of day and before the event. According to what he was told by Yantha, the SAC had already paid the DJ, which was confirmed by the witness of the oral agreement; thus any charge additional to the $12.00 Keith’s Crew cost would be redundant. "e sta! at Uncle Larry’s were under the impression

Cover charge chaosA response

that the SAC had told the DJ Uncle Larry’s would pay the DJ with cover charges, while the SAC told Larry that they already paid the DJ prior to the event being held. No members of the SAC showed up until 11:00 pm, when a SAC member approached an Uncle Larry’s sta! member to ask “Where’s the SAC table?” and was very surprised and confused to find that there was none. "e sta! of Uncle Larry’s was also wondering why the SAC would want to charge additional money from those attending the bar. When the DJ found out he wasn’t getting money from a cover charge he stopped playing and sat at the bar, leading to the loss of even more customers. Finally, at the SAC’s insistence, Uncle Larry’s began charging a $5 cover after the Keith’s Crew, but by 1:00 am they retracted it since it was turning away customers at the door. "e SAC sent out its weekly e-mail prior to this event, and an unknown source had provided false information telling students that there would be a $5 cover charge, without ever contacting an Uncle Larry’s employee. In the same e-mail it was indicated that the Pub was opening their dance floor for Last Class Bash after holding a SAC event at another venue. As a result of the advertised cover charge, the bar had a very slow night and this is why Larry said that he lost money, which can be validated by any other employee of the establishment.

As for Yantha’s quote stating that Hebert takes advantage of students, we’d like to add that Uncle Larry’s does not have cover charge regularly as some other places do, but it has fallen victim to a combination of libel and slander as of late, and it is time to clear the air. "is reflects poorly on the SAC leadership and its ability to organize events with local businesses. Yantha should have had a written agreement and a witness of his own to confirm his words as correct. Even Mike Currie, the SAC President, was quoted as saying see if it was a miscommunication. Well, there clearly was and it has gotten out of hand, gone too far, and now has cost one local business money and their reputation. Above all else, Uncle Larry’s was unfairly depicted as the ‘bad guy’ in "e Argosy.

losing weight and su!ering frightening breathless attacks.

She bore this bravely, determined to fight, trying to eat well and sometimes feeling some improvement -- but she must have felt this was illusory, for once she said to me: “I feel I’m getting better,” then, after a pause and a wry smile, “but of course I’m not.”

When she was soon returned to Sackville Hospital, I was told that it was as if she was breathing through a straw. Only the oxygen apparatus and a cocktail of medicines, steroids especially, kept her breathing.

Daily, when I visited both hospitals, I would see patients smoking outside. "is seemed ironic when one saw how much terrible su!ering that habit may have led to for other patients on the Sixth Floor. As Elin had done, knowingly, for 40 years: they were voluntarily inhaling the deadliest cancer killer, hoping to escape the worst consequences. (Elin would often cite cases of family members who smoked long and heavily, dying of some other cause . . . . I have heard this from other addicts).

I always feared the outcome and gave up trying to reason her out of it, but I could never have foreseen the su!ering that awaited her at the end. She was terrified of dying of su!ocation. Fear and panic attacks further impaired her breathing, although the e!ort to breathe was lessened by the constant flow of oxygen she received in hospital and, finally, from the VitalAire breathing apparatus installed for her last two weeks, spent at home.

Once at home, her spirits rose despite her growing need of aid, and we, my son and I, dared to hope she might enter the new year with us. She kept as active as she could, using a walker to join us for supper in the kitchen, enjoying the family atmosphere she loved. She would even talk of months ahead, of getting into the spring garden and of writing and teaching, if not in the classroom, resuming correspondence course work for Mount Allison.

But she became increasingly dependent on sleeping aids, including morphine, until a shocking and terrifying attack early in the morning of her last day at home.

She was panic-stricken, gasping for breath, shrieked in terror, her only clear words, “Help me!”

Her nurses did all they were permitted to do, restraining her flailing arms firmly but gently, frequently injecting morphine.

Nothing gave su#cient relief.Had she been a dog or a cat her pain

and misery would have been ended in minutes.

What we saw happening was inhumane: no “passing away peacefully” as so many obituaries claim. Eventually, after some four hours of intermittent torture, the nurses were permitted to administer an anesthetic after which she sank into a coma. She was then returned to Sackville Hospital where she died, without regaining consciousness -- if “peacefully,” it was a morphine peace, beyond conscious su!ering and even any apparent awareness of those watching and touching her by the bedside. She was, finally, allowed to breathe, faintly, without a mask, for her last few hours.

No “death with dignity,” no sign of responsive life, only fading away lawfully. . .

"ose who appose mercy killing, or support its prohibition, should have seen what my son and I, with her caring nurses, helplessly witnessed. Elin herself must have felt agonizingly conscious of dying before she was at last anesthetized.

Not only the righteous opponents of both mercy killing and euthanasia, but those who cling, as she did, to their deadly nicotine addiction should witness such an end. It might convince them, as no argument can, to stop the habit, without the aid of drugs or patches, for fear of such a death. It would, I believe, be deterrent enough for her. Statistically, lung cancer is the deadliest most certain killer, as the numbers in this province show.

I know addictions are hard to break; but it’s within the power of medicine to end needless su!ering, and that the law denied my wife, and even the most compassionate doctor obeys that law, though he may not respect it.

Why is it not a human right to choose our death when that is certain and the path to it unbearable, as it was for her?

In her last shaky note, given to my son because she could not speak, she wrote: “I want to sleep, be out of it.”She had to wait too long for that.Richard Dawkins has written, “When I am dying, I should like my life to be taken out under general anesthetic exactly as if it were a diseased appendix.”"is is what Elin wanted, but her last experience of life was of needless terror and anguish.Michael !orpe is Professor Emeritus of Literature at Mount Allison University in Sackville.

Michael Thorpe Previously printed in the Times and Transcript)

In mid-December my wife Elin died of lung cancer.

All who knew her were shocked and surprised. She had always seemed fit and active, a keen daily walker and cyclist. She was barely 58.

But she had smoked for 40 years, not heavily but steadily.

It was habitual: a cigarette with co!ee began her day, and kept her going at certain times later. She wasn’t a chain-smoker, averaging 10-15 per day at most. She was highly strung, had much illness and stress to contend with: smoking relaxed her.

Before she died, she had made a supreme e!ort and, remarkably, reduced her use to one, the breakfast cigarette with co!ee.

She had reduced, not fearing lung cancer, though she knew she ran the risk, but because for some weeks since early September she had struggled with a persistent racking cough, diagnosed as bronchitis, which her smoking aggravated. As it worsened, her cough impaired her breathing and kept her awake at night.

Nothing helped: she became fatigued and began to find walking and any strenuous exercise too much.

By mid-October she couldn’t walk far and avoided the slightest hill; at home she could hardly climb the stairs or take a shower; an X-ray revealed nothing remarkable. At the end of October, I took her to the Sackville Hospital, where she collapsed in the lobby. She was at once connected to a breathing apparatus and a further X-ray taken, which was unclear.

She wouldn’t breathe naturally for the mere six weeks left to her.

At "e Moncton Hospital a CAT scan revealed a tumour, a “mass” which already engulfed her right lung, a Stage 4 cancer. To operate was impossible and only palliative care remained.

While the medial sta! may have thought its progress would be rapid, they would not speculate how long she had to live: she needed room to hope.

Until her body adjusted to the battery of drugs she lost clarity for a few days, then became relatively comfortable, able to speak freely and sometimes hold quite lengthy conversations with visitors. While this helped her to be hopeful and positive, she remained confined to bed,

A needlessly terrible death and a bad law

On Monday, February 9, the Amherst/Sackville Chapter of PFLAG Canada will meet at the Sackville United Church Parlours, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m.

Our guest speaker for the evening will be Dr. Andrea Wall. Dr. Wall is a young medical doctor with a family practice in Sackville, and she will be joining us to speak from a personal perspective on the special medical concerns which could face those in the GLBT community.

If you require further information, please email sacknb-amns@pflagcanada.ca or phone Janet Hammock or Marilyn Lerch at 506-536-4245.

PFLAG: “A doctor’s view”

2009 International Development Week

Jessica Emin

Corrections for the January 22, 2009 paperEmma Hicklin was misquoted in the Opinions Section. She said: “I am not entirely sure it would be nice to know that they wouldn’t help students in a time of need”

6 JANUARY 29, 2009THE ARGOSY • OPINIONS

Become an Agent for Social Change

Post–Degree Bachelor of Social Work Application Deadline – January 31

For more information, please see www.stu.ca or contact admissions@stu.ca

· Understand the causes of societal problems· Help those in need · Address societal problems that create inequality and injustice

The fifteen-month post-degree Bachelor of Social Work at St. Thomas is the only English-language programme in New Brunswick. Limited-enrollment in the programmeensures a high-quality, student-faculty relationship. The programme is accredited by theCanadian Association of Social Work Education

Kyle Greenway

Describing Allisonians as apathetic seems unfair and inaccurate, right? After all, we probably have one of the highest number of charitable clubs and programs of any school in Canada, per capita. Not to mention the community’s response to the recent Bridge Street fire; amazing by any standard. And of course there are the school’s numerous “green” initiatives - though they may do somewhat misguided things like purchasing a couple thousand cheaply-made plastic mugs from China.

However, considering the extremely important crises that take place constantly around the world, and how our students (fail to) react to them, we are pitiful. "e recent Israeli slaughter of over 1,400 Palestinians (the majority being civilians and well over third children) in Gaza is a great, tragic example. "e only mentions of it in the past two editions of the Argosy from students were brief summaries that stopped just short of repeating the mainstream media line that the massacre was an Israeli version of that noble ‘war on terror’. "e only proper piece on the matter that showed any sort of the appropriate outrage was from community member and poet, Marilyn Lerch, who correctly described Israel’s actions as “unspeakable atrocities.”

"is suggests a question: if a small, non-corporate newspaper written mainly by students of a liberal, public University will not critically comment on the a!airs of the world, why won’t they?

Is it because the mainstream media does such a complete job of covering the events? Absolutely not, and to

!ank you Marilyn LerchMount Allison once had, and still deserves, the nickname Mount Apathy for a good reason

demonstrate, here are a few stories on this issue that are worth printing but were largely ignored:- Israel’s intentional murdering of over 50 civilians taking shelter in a UN school, then attempting (and failing) several di!erent cover-ups, including a falsified video.- Israel’s use of white phosphorus against civilians, which constitutes a war crime under the Geneva Convention.- "e banning of Arab parties from Israel’s so-called democracy.- "e fact that Hamas is one of only a handful of democratically elected parties in the Middle East, yet is still labeled a terrorist organization of militants by the West.- "e actions of a coalition of US Rabbis urging Israel to end its siege, and this being so ignored that they had to buy ad space in the New York Times just to publish it.- "e father of Obama’s chief of sta! Rohm Emanuel saying of his son “Obviously, he will influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn’t he? What is he, an Arab? He’s not going to clean the floors of the White House.”- Obama dodging all questions on Gaza, and then later mirroring ex-President Bush’s opinions on the issue.- "e US congress issuing countless statements of support for Israel, and the related story of the massively powerful Israeli lobby.- "e American arms shipments to Israel that took place even while the bombing was going on.- "e massive propaganda war waged by Israel via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.

- "e barring of as much information as possible from inside Gaza, and related, unbelievably ridiculous comments of the new media correspondent, Joe the Plumber, about how no reporting should be allowed during wars because it provokes outrage.And on, and on, and on.

Is it for lack of information available? Partly, but despite the best e!orts of some important players, there are news networks from all over the spectrum dedicated to ending injustice, such as the libertarian Antiwar.com or the leftist Znet.

Okay, is it then because of general disinterest? Bingo.

"e fact is, the Argosy and its content are not the responsibility of solely the Argosy sta! - they’re the responsibility of all of us, the students, first. When we lazily accept propaganda, when we allow our concern for the world to only manifest in activities that we can put on our resumes, or when we spend our free time narcissistically cruising Facebook, we are failing at that responsibility, leaving the slack to be picked up by people like Mariyln Lerch.

"at failure is the reason we may be labeled Mount Apathy, and rightly so. Despite all of our clubs and activities that serve to demonstrate our wonderful, benevolent motivations, we fail to speak out on massive issues of extreme importance and relevancy. We barely even speak to each other about it.

And so if my writing comes o! as critical and angry, forgive me for being glad that at least it isn’t apathetic. To again quote Marilyn Lerch, “"e least you and I can do is break the silence.”

Paying for five courses and only taking three; not really an option

Owen Roberts

Have you noticed that if you want to take three courses you still pay full tuition? "at means that you are receiving 60 per cent what you pay for. How and why is this even happening? If I want to take five courses for whatever reason why should I be penalized for it?

Last semester, I learned that last year seven million dollars was loaned to students at Mount Allison alone. "at reveals the financial situation of many students here. "e financial ramifications of paying for five courses when you are only taking three are so great that, without a doubt, it actually forces people to take four, five, or six. Of course, if you really need to take fewer courses for whatever reasons, the option is there. One can take one or two courses and become a part-time student without a problem; but, when you become a part-time student you cannot get the same loans and often require a job. "at’s all well and good, but many people enjoy being full-time students with all the associated benefits and the active student lifestyle.

So, why not change this structure so that those who want to take three courses can pay for three and still be a full-time student? "e monetary argument is what the administration uses against changing it as they think it will lose money for the university. "is may be true, but the amount is not large and the fact is, they don’t really know how much money will be lost. "ey don’t know because the choices people make are unpredictable. However, we do know that the incentive is for people to take more courses then less, and in the end it may just mean

someone is here for five years instead of four. Regardless, I strongly feel that money should not be our primary factor in determining whether or not this policy changes. Here are three very important points as to why. First of all, in principle it is simply unjust, if we take three courses we are paying approximately $1300 for something we are not getting. Second, it should be our free choice as to how many courses we want to take and not determined by our financial predicament. "irdly, and I think most importantly, is if someone wants to engage in extra-curricular things that take up a lot of time such as sport teams, the SAC, or clubs and societies they should not be practically forced into juggling a heavy course load at the same time. In my opinion, these types of activities are equally important to cultivating who we will become and to contribute to Mt. A community and beyond.

If you think we should do something about this talk to your SAC representative. "e SAC debated the issue last year and came to the conclusion they support change in the way we are charged. "e students who brought this to the SAC formed a group called D.E.B.T. (students Demanding Equitable Billing of Tuition), of which I am a part of, and are actively attempting to change the current tuition structure. "e SAC and a few students are currently talking to the administration and there is a working group looking at the issue. So, look up the group on Facebook and join it, we will need your help. I believe when we have enough support from students we can change this policy!

Weekly Gra"ti

Split, Croatia, August 2007

Erin Jemczyk

Send your images of gra#ti to argosy@mta.ca. Include where and when you took the photo.

Jessica Emin

7JANUARY 29, 2009 THE ARGOSY • OPINIONS

Claudia Lazaro-Lopez“I do think they should, it just makes more sense because more students would be connected to those banks. Also, there is the fee that students have to pay unless they’re part of TD, which is unlikely.”

A call to actionRyan Lebans, Sue Humphrey & Keleigh Annau

"e House of Commons resumes this week after enjoying a hiatus of almost two months. "e reason for this unusually long respite from work for our elected representatives is by now a familiar story. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, certain of an impending confidence vote, asked the Governor General to put Parliament on hold in order to preserve the power of his government. "is strategy was unprecedented and controversial. "e reason for Mr. Harper’s desperation, however, was also unprecedented and controversial; Canada’s three progressive parties, outraged at the Prime Minister’s unrealistic view of the extent of the global economic downturn, formed a parliamentary alliance to oust the Harper government and replace it with a Liberal-NDP coalition. "e fate of the Prime Minister’s budget is still in doubt at this moment in time, but even if he does gain su#cient support to remain in power, the reality of a minority parliament means that the situation in Ottawa will remain unpredictable.

Over the course of our country’s history, hung parliaments have been seen as a temporary aberration between a return to majority rule. "e current political climate, however, suggests that they have become the norm.

Canada has outgrown the two-party system of old. "e rise of smaller parties

Mt. A’s Young Liberalsand the reality of the regional power of the Bloc Quebecois have made it increasingly di#cult for one party to control Parliament outright. If this is the case, we are truly wading into unfamiliar waters. Last month, the Prime Minister made the case that the formation of a coalition government was undemocratic; it was his party that controlled the most seats and the greatest percentage of the popular vote and as such, he had the legitimate right to govern. Of course, the very fact that a coalition government is possible contradicts the argument of the Prime Minister. When their forces are combined, parties other than his own command a majority of the House, both in terms of their percentage of the popular vote of the last election, as well as with respect to the number of seats they occupy in the House of Commons. How can a government which can securely control this kind of majority not be perfectly legitimate?

It must be said, however, that the formation of a government of this kind would be novel in the Canadian parliamentary experience - if a coalition government does come into power, it would represent a marked change in our democracy. Paradoxically, while our Parliamentary democracy has been undergoing tremendous and exciting changes, Canada’s youth has been becoming increasingly apathetic. However, trends show that our generation is one of the most concerned and active when it comes to issues regarding the environment or social justice - so why then, do we fail to show up at the

polls and vote? Why is it that when we are given an incredible opportunity to influence the direction that our government takes with respect to the issues that concern us most, we remain silent? Political participation is so much more than casting a ballot - it is about having your voice heard, making your views and concerns known, and about doing your part to influence the policy that will shape our country and its future. It’s about getting to know your country, your government, your constitution and your parliamentary democracy. "is is what we challenge you to do, and this is what the Young Liberals advocate and represent.

Mount Allison has had a long tradition as a university which attracts the best and the brightest of students from across the country and around the world - often, these students are known for their political activism, interest and positions. "e Mount Allison Young Liberal Association encourages you, no matter your year, discipline or major, to challenge yourself politically, to participate in policy-making, advocacy and change. If you are a student who identifies with the principles of the Liberal Party of Canada, or who wishes to know more about these principles, our country and our system of governance, we hope you will join us at our first o#cial meeting on Tuesday, February 3rd at 7:00 pm in the Student Centre Cafe. Come be a part of the change which is sweeping through our political system, and make your voice heard.

Brennan McConnell

Reading Chris Durrant’s recent article on technophobia in last week’s Argosy, I couldn’t help but feel that the issue of the individual’s relation to technological innovation had been haphazardly discussed to the detriment of the Argosy’s community. An issue of such centrality to contemporary lifestyle choices should not be left without a slightly broader perspective on the implications of technological change.

Durrant seems to recently have undergone a personal shift in relation to the constantly “developing” technological realm. "is transformation left him in such opposition to his previously-maintained technological skepticism that, by its end, he had been driven to a radically contrary notion of his relation to technological change (‘"is is the kind of attitude that means I will fail’). "rough my brief examination I hope to sway Durrant, along with some of his faithfully a!ected readers, back to a more nuanced understanding of technology - an understanding which neither views its constant evolution as being irrelevant nor leaves people thinking that technological development is inevitable, irreversible, and operating in a progressive and linear fashion.

Durrant’s argument focuses in on a recent event in order to ground his new resignation to faddy trends in technology. "is event was the arrest of an American journalist by Egyptian police. "e journalist managed to get a text-message out to his friends and

Technophobia: a responsefamily alerting them to his being arrested by the Egyptian police and subsequently managed to bail him out. Durrant’s extrapolation of a lesson from the American journalist seems a rather shallow argument for any given technology. Could we also presume from this reasoning that radio is “bad” because of the Taliban’s recent use of it to spread their fearful message in Afghanistan, or that movies are predestined to fascism and bigotry because of the immensely successful films Birth of a Nation and Triumph of the Will? Obviously, these are not adequate assessments of the technologies’ broader impacts. To adequately judge the utility of a given technology, the full spectrum of its demonstrated benefits and dangers must be assessed. Singular examples without broader contextual analysis cannot argue for or against the widespread societal adoption of any technology.

"e question that Durrant began with seems the most pertinent and also the one most frequently ignored in our reckless abandon to embrace all things technologically innovative: ‘How could being able to send one or two lines of text to some strangers ever be of any use?’ "e bigger question being posed here is “what is the utility of X new technology, and is it worth adopting?” "is is the million-dollar question (multi-trillion, actually) which we all need to be asking if we are to be sensible “consumers” - or more specifically, a sane and responsible citizenry.

"e question that I have just recommended may seem an odd one at this point in history. Collectively,

we sit at the apex of a little more than a hundred years of constant technological ‘progress’. "e radio, the automobile, refrigerators, dishwashers, televisions.... the list goes on and on - and it expands with every passing day. For over a hundred years now, citizens of many ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ nations have learned to compare and compete with one another with technological sophistication as the basis-point for measuring quality of living.

Now, to be sure, the television/computer makes being an Ottawa Senator’s fan a lot more convenient on the East Coast (and cheaper!), the radio makes driving to work and avoiding tra#c accidents a lot less di#cult, and the rapidly-expanding Internet is a force both socially and politically liberating (at least outside of Chinese government supervision...). "ese are indisputable truths, or are they?

Another way of understanding technology is that it is never simply a means of satiating pre-existing human ends. "e motivation to advance technology may stem from practical and pre-existing concerns; however, the reality is that once adopted, human beings and human societies are themselves necessarily adapted to the technology they believe that they wield. In e!ect, technology is both a means to an end, and an end-generating medium which through human interaction generates new human needs. Obviously, these are not new ideas; rather, they have been reiterated by many critical thinkers - ranging from Jean Jacques Rousseau through to Canada’s own Marshall McLuhan

- who have deconstructed the myth of the supposedly benevolent and innocuous thing we call “technology.”

Unfortunately, these critical perspectives have been silenced by the blaring ear-buds of the iPod, the pleasantly numbing sensations of the HD TV, and the inescapable convenience of cell phones, text messaging, and laptops. "e question of how these innovations have transformed us is nearly universally disregarded as being aligned with some kind of technological antiquarianism; in the words of the Borg (that magnificently underappreciated Star Trek metaphor for the steady economical and technological assimilation of humanity), “Resistance is Futile” - or at least that is what the legions of advertisers directed by Steve Jobs would whisper into our ears to promote the strikingly trendy i!ing.

Technological determinism, the notion that technological improvement is unavoidable and those who do not adopt will be left in the dust or somehow forcefully converted, is a neat little notion that few find convenient to argue with. Unfortunately, danger-signs that give the lie to the purported omni-benevolence of our techno-theism remain swept to the side in the photography of Edward Burtynsky and the Mercury-readings of fresh-water bodies studied by David Suzuki. If only the photographic questions Burtynsky poses were splayed across the pages of electronics magazines for a single week, citizens may stop to wonder where their old televisions, computers, cell phones, iPods, radios, or cars actually go when they are no longer useful.

Regrettably, we do not have cell phone trees, nor do we simply drive the spade into the earth to reveal the 2009 Ford Focus; these are not the things of compost or reusability either, their industrial waste is the necessary outcome of our overriding priorities of convenience and sensation - their slow deterioration mirrors that of the more dire degradation of our planetary ecosystems.

Nearing the end of Durrant’s article, he wrote, ‘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.’ I will not feign to find fault in the conclusion that ignorance of the ways that technology changes the world represents undue negligence. It is Durrant’s final conclusion that technology is ‘important, because whether or not you become interested, your competition probably already is,’ which I cannot help but decry. "e reality of technology’s extraordinarily complex relationship with contemporary society cannot be disregarded in favour of the simple view that you should adopt technological change for fear of being outcompeted in our all-important labour market. Technology ‘must’ be understood in all its complexity, and every new “innovation” must be measured with a view to its full cost and consequence prior to its complete adoption by consumer societies. In the final analysis, how often do you really find yourself sitting in the back of an Egyptian cop car?

Do you think the ATM in the Student Centre should be Royal Bank or Scotia Bank instead of TD Bank?Jessica Emin, Argosy Staff

Amy Bernard“It works out for me because I belong to TD, but I think, generally, it would benefit students if it was Scotia or Royal. TD is in Moncton and I work there so it works for me that way.”

Mark McCumber“It would make sense to me that it would be either of those banks instead, just because most students are from the Maritimes and I don’t know of anyone who uses TD bank.”

Jessica Emin

ENTERTAINMENT

Neil BonnerArgosy Staff

When Corey Isenor released his album Young Squire at George’s Roadhouse in November, the atmosphere was buzzing. !e Enfield, NS native already has one EP and dozens of live shows under his belt, and is a fixture of the Mount Allison community to boot. Demand for Young Squire was so high that it topped the CHMA charts for the week of November 25. !is made it all the more embarrassing that the Argosy didn’t run a story about the show. To correct this oversight, I met Corey at the Bridge St. Café to talk about the making of the record.

Corey’s first foray into recording came with his 2006 EP +Love+Art+Country+Music+. In terms of instrumentation, it was a stripped down a"air consisting of “simple guitar, harmonica, and a bit of bass”. Recorded with a family friend in a basement recording studio, the album was a new experience for Corey. “I just kinda wanted to put some songs down,” he remembers. “It was really comforting to be with somebody I knew. We just took it easy.” !e experience taught Corey the importance of “just knowing what you want it to sound like when you came into the recording studio”.

Just what Corey Isenor wanted on Young Squire came – quite appropriately – from moving into his home on Squire Street after a summer working in PEI. “I was really busy there so I couldn’t play a lot of music,”

Corey explains. “And so when I came back I had this flood of – I don’t know, not inspiration, necessarily – I wanted to play because I hadn’t done it in a while”. Lyrically, much about the album will be familiar to anyone who’s spent a couple of years in town. Even when they aren’t explicitly about Sackville, they’re imbued with the

close-knit friendships that come with student living. “A lot of [songs] are just about me relating to friends of mine... who are usually going through something in their lives. I like to write about these things and maybe o"er some comfort through the song.”

Corey keeps his friends close on Young Squire. His main collaborator,

Mark Geddes , recorded and mixed the album in addition to playing mandolin and banjo, before moving on to further education in Nova Scotia. “I played half the instruments and he played the rest,” recalls Corey. Luke Patterson stepped in to record drum tracks, and Rebecca MacKenzie played trombone. !e record also features an appearance from the Sackville Citizen’s Choir, a staple of his live shows. “I wrote [the song “Are You Ready?”] with the idea of having people singing behind it. We played the song for last year’s Stereophonic show, so I thought I’d ask all my friends and see if they want to sing along. !en we just came up with a clever little name”. For his live show, Corey is helped out by Patterson, bassist Matt Watson, and his brother, guitarist Carson Isenor. “[Carson] filled out a lot of the sound since Mark’s been away,” he recalls.

So what does Corey think of the record? It’s “more of a promotional kind of record, where I’m just trying to get my sound out there and maybe if it takes o" then it’ll allow me to record more in the future,” he told me. But it’s also a strikingly mature sophomore record that expands beyond the boundaries of its predecessor. !e production is one of the most surprising things about Young Squire, especially since I was told that “this isn’t a full production album”. Isenor, Geddes and co. negotiate the growing breadth of instrumentation like pros. Opening track “Go Tie Your Shoes” features insistent acoustic chords entwined with warm electric guitar strums and a light electronic drum

Synecdoche, New York (2008, USA, starring Philip Seymour Ho"man, Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton; Directed by Charlie Kaufman).

William Shakespeare’s famous quote, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players,” could not be truer than in Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York. !e film tells the story of Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Ho"man), a playwright whose bleak life and failing marriage leads him to conceive a play that epitomizes both art mimicking life and life mimicking art.

At first glance, Synecdoche, New York seems to be just another film about dysfunctional families, geared to those who enjoy deadpan humour and watching other people su"er. However, it is evident after the first few moments that this movie is far more than your

Betty LiangArgosy Correspondent

Mount Allison’s knight in waiting Corey Isenor chats about his album Young Squire

A trip into the fantastical reverie of beingSynecdoche, New York is a film worth a second viewing

track. !e autoharp-and-banjo shu#e of “In Your Arms Tonight” invites the listener to imagine Old Man Luedecke and Basia Bulat jamming in a room together. When the band moves into six-minute-plus territory the results are just as good. !e album’s best track is “Are You Ready?”, where the Citizen’s Choir adds a spectral hum that pushes the track into the stratosphere. Even the sequencing is a highlight: each song blends nicely into the next, culminating in the sparse “Burning in Your Hands”. Corey’s vocals sometimes falter in comparison to the rest of the song, but that’s a minor complaint at best. Each time I listened to Young Squire – and I listened many times – it was hard not to be impressed by his accomplishment.

As for future plans, Corey notes that he’s currently writing new material and he adds that “I’m hoping to play it for an audience”. As for recording, he says that he’ll likely wait a while to hit the studio again. “You have to have a good space of time where you’re not too busy,” he told me, “and [you] know what you want to do.” When he does, he intends to expand the production style of the songs. “It would be nice to have a producer who has a pretty good idea of what a record should sound like,” he says. Corey does o"er one hint about a possible sound for new songs: “I always find myself really easily writing songs on my ukulele, so I’m going to try and keep that going and write some songs for it, if I do record again.” For now, Young Squire is an excellent, enjoyable step in a promising career.

average comedy. Blurring the lines between what is real and what is merely imagined, Synecdoche, New York delves into the human psyche, hitting upon notions of identity and personal success.

Parallels between Ho"man’s Cotard and Death of a Salesman’s Willy Loman are quickly drawn through the film’s introductory scenes, letting the audience obtain a glimpse of what is to come from Cotard’s search for his idealized life.

Starting with an injury to Cotard’s head caused by a malfunctioning sink faucet, the film becomes stranger and stranger, leading him and the viewer through a world of perpetually burning houses and lost little girl’s magical diaries, giving the film a fairytale-like quality to Cotard’s attempts to put his life together. After receiving the MacArthur Foundation “Genius Award,” Cotard focuses not on living, but rather immerses himself in creating a play based upon everything that happens to him in everyday life.

Believing that this will somehow give him peace of mind, Cortard’s “true” and “fabricated” lives begin to merge. !e already dream-like world of Synecdoche, New York becomes even stranger as Contard’s life literally becomes a stage and a warehouse filled with actors hired to be people in Cotard’s life, including Cotard himself - the fantasy takes on a life of its own where identities are lost to others. Soon, everyone plays everyone else, but no one is “themselves.” !e film

continues in this fashion, causing more and more confusion as to what defines an individual’s identity.

!e film is fraught with symbolism and wordplay, Synecdoche, New York – the title in and of itself a play on words – and is a movie that requires more than a single viewing. And despite the humourous tone that shines through, nothing in this film is arbitrary.

However, what prevents Synecdoche, New York from becoming a favorite of mine is its drawn out fashion.

Arguably, this may be required to emphasize the passing of time which is vital to Cotard’s deteriorating pathos. Nonetheless, I found myself starting to lose interest at certain points of the film feeling as if certain scenes did not necessarily need to be as long as they were.

But ultimately, Synecdoche, New York is a beautiful tragicomedy that questions what it means to live, proving to be a film worth a second watch.

www.slashfilm.com

Jessica Emin

9JANUARY 29, 2009 THE ARGOSY • ENTERTAINMENT

While it may not be for everyone, this is in my very humble opinion my definition of a Must See.

What it all comes down to is whether or not you can admire a film for its gimmick. Clever and well-implemented or not, it’s still bound to drive some people crazy and others to dismiss it as pretentious, or maybe just an attempt at being pretentious that ends up looking silly.

I’m almost, only almost, embarrassed to reveal what a wild fan I am of this film. It has all the ingredients of a great work, yes - it’s well acted, well written, makes the most of its low budget, innovative as hell and directed in a admirable neo-noir style.

But why this one? Maybe it’s simply the very exact amount of ambiguity.

In the closing few minutes of the film, which also reveals the beginning of the main narrative, the audience is bombarded with so many revelations that it almost starts to sound like a Shyamalan movie. But, instead of a major plot twist just being thrown in

Dylan CunninghamArgosy Correspondent

there as a smug “gotcha!” that leaves the audience feeling snubbed, it opens question after question, creating countless ambiguities and borderline philosophical questions that are still discussed today by arts students (like me) with nothing better to do.

Anterograde amnesia may not sound like the most exciting thing to make a movie about. If anything, the constant state of forgetting all the significant events that have happened since a certain point in time sounds like the recipe for misery and no advancement of plot. While this may be true for actual su"erers, Memento refuses to have any of that. It`s not just the story of one man’s memory loss, but his memory loss as it relates to his investigation into his own wife`s murder. !at’s where things get interesting.

Everything about this film screams “cult hit,” and like any cult hit, however good it might be, there is always a reason for its limited appeal. In this case, it’s a gimmick. Yes, I said gimmick, not “refreshing narrative structure and pacing.” At the end of the day, it’s just a matter of taking what would otherwise be a relatively ordinary film and warping it around.

Of course, what elevates it from simple director indulgence is the seamless use of the jumbled narrative as a means of portraying main character Leonard’s struggle with his memory disorder, leaving the viewer sharing the same knowledge as the character. But I promised myself this would be a real review, not a fanboy tirade.

Oh, I know. Gee, us university students have never heard of this

one before, and we certainly haven’t watched it repeatedly and don’t dub it our favourite movie ever even over old classics like !e Godfather. In my experience, the fan base for this wonderful little director’s experiment is about as devote as a major religion. Of course, this is the same ambitious director who went on to direct Batman Begins and !e Dark Knight. With those kinds of (future) credentials,

those of you who haven’t yet seen this one may be more inclined to have an open mind towards its unusual presentation. I wasn’t overly fond of !e Prestige, but aside from that, Christopher Nolan has to be one of the most consistent directors in the business today. (Starring Guy Pierce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano; Directed by Christopher Nolan. 2000.) Memento

Here’s a memento for youMind-bending thriller gimmicky, but still a definite must see

I will admit to being a trailer junkie (after all the first step is admitting you have a problem); whenever I see any ad for a movie, I will immediately try to find the trailer for it online. Often times, the teaser trailer is enough to make me want to run to the box o$ce right away and see the whole thing, the only problem is that the teaser trailer tends to come out a year (if not sooner) before the movie is even slated to release in theatres; which means that the studios will inevitably come out with yet another, more informative and longer, trailer which shows characters, adds lines from the movie, adds fight sequences or plot twists, and tries its absolute hardest to cram as much of the feature into the trailer.

!is is sometimes alright if the movie is three hours long and it’s impossible to fit all the twists and turns which make it interesting into that small clip. However, movies these days are rarely three hours long, and Hollywood screenwriters are just not coming up with enough twists in one movie to keep them out of the trailers. Now, you’re thinking to yourself “the companies that make these trailers do it for a living, they know how not to spoil a movie in five minutes, right?” – wrong and to prove my point I will recall some examples for you to reflect

on.Trailer spoiler one is Transformers.

!e original announcement trailer (first teaser) was all of one and a half minutes long. !ere was a clip of the launch of the Beagle 2 Mars rover and it’s landing, we see it take a few scans of the horizon before something terrible (has to be giant if it makes that much noise) hits the planet and attacks the rover, we see a shadow and a silhouette that looks a lot like a giant robot, and then the screen cuts to a picture of Earth and the word “Transformers” cuts across the screen and the date of release and then it’s done. Honestly, when I saw that, I turned to my dad in the theatre and said, “I want to see that.” !en the next

trailer came out. !ey called this one a teaser too (all five minutes of it) this trailer shows the main characters, how the Transformers come to Earth, what alerts us to their presence, how we try to stop them and a really big plot twist which doesn’t happen until far into the movie (and without the trailer we would have been totally surprised by it). !en another full length trailer came out, this one’s eight minutes long, and shows practically everything. Especially after having seen the movie, watching this trailer just makes me cringe at all the spoilers they put in it.

And trailer o"ender number two is Iron Man. Honestly, even the teaser trailers for this one didn’t keep the plot safe. From the first teaser we get

what Stark was like before he became the titular superhero, what made him make Iron Man, and what the robot looks like. !e first trailer has almost the entire opening sequence of the movie, then goes on to tell us the same things that the teaser did, on top of that it shows who the big bad guy is! I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this one (in the movie you don’t get to know who he is until there’s about a half hour left in the movie). But, the trailer for the DVD (this one makes my head hurt) is even more revealing. It lasts all of five minutes but still manages to show EVERYTHING: who the bad guy is, why he’s bad, how he tries to beat Stark, all the funny situations and witty remarks Stark makes throughout

the movie, his practice runs with the prototype, and I could continue but I’ll start ruining the movie (for those of you who haven’t even seen the trailer).

!ere are of course movies whose trailers show all the funny parts and after that you might as well not even watch the movie: Tropic !under and Mr. Woodcock both come to mind. !ere are also trailers which make the movie seem like it’s something it isn’t (i.e., an action movie when it’s really a drama; or a tense western when it’s really just kind of boring): Bangkok Dangerous (this one was bad for that – if I hadn’t seen the trailer I could have liked the movie), and Appaloosa.

Yet, the spoiling continues in 2009, with the upcoming Star Trek movie being the latest culprit. !e initial teaser, which shows a bunch of workers building the Enterprise, was more than enough for me. !en they came out with the eight minute long trailer which shows how they recruit Kirk and Spock, what they were like when they were kids and how they react to each other, who sleeps with who, and some more of the conflicts. Honestly, if they come out with another trailer before the movie comes out I will know everything there is to know about the movie in the trailers, they’ll have to play a di"erent one to surprise me at all (which is too bad because it looks good).

In my opinion, with trailers, as with reviews, less is more.

How much is too much?Some movie trailers can ruin a movie before you even see itAlexandra TherouxArgosy Correspondent

www.conodoguinet.com

www.scificool.com

10 JANUARY 29, 2009

In mid-November of 2008, Nickelback released their sixth album, Dark Horse, to rampant commercial success. !e album features hits (and future hits, no doubt) such as, “Gotta Be Somebody,” and “Something in Your Mouth.” !eir sound is comforting, and as usual, involves a sexual encounter of some sort. !e album has a mix of soft and hard rock, oscillating between squishy sentimentality that tugs at your heart strings, and making you scream profanity at the world and tell your exes where to go and how to get there. For die-hard Nickelback fans, the album will not disappoint, but only for die-hard fans.

And sadly for my reception of Dark Horse, I am not in their ranks.

!e songs are only about sex, partying and drinking, with a few songs about love. I would liken it to Kid Rock’s transformation with his hits “All Summer Long” and “Only God Knows Why.”

All the songs sound essentially the same and smack of complete conformity to the pop-rock status quo. It’s obvious that their songs are meant to appeal to teens who party constantly, for use as boring and generic background noise. Moreover, they’re content to recycle their old material, sounding like a bad Nickelback tribute or cover band in the process. “Something in Your Mouth” is

Nickelback’s Dark Horse

Jocelyn TurnerArgosy Correspondent

a dead ringer for “Animals” from their previous album All the Right Reasons, and “If Today was your Last Day” is extremely reminiscent of their top-40 hit “If Everyone Cared”. !ey’ve even sunk so low as to allow one of their music videos, “Gotta Be Somebody,” to use the same scenario and format of U2’s “Vertigo” video.

It seems that Canada’s best-selling rock band of all time is following a similar trajectory to Bon Jovi’s career – from decent rock to dazzling glam rock, and on to country. Nickelback have moved from an extremely tame metal sound (which was their best) to the glam rock which is an appeal to teens and young adults.

!eir songs now are so cheesy that it’s ridiculous; they’re almost not even worth downloading, let alone buying. I can see why the audience was throwing rocks and bottles at them during one of their concerts in Portugal (the video is online if anyone wants to view it, by the way).

To be honest, some of the songs, like “S.E.X.” and “Just to Get High” are actually nice to listen to and save Dark Horse from being a 100 per cent waste. !ey aren’t your usual lovey-dovey ballads, but they tell stories and make you want to sing along. As for the band and lyrics, I’ve lost all the respect I ever had for them. !ey have completely conformed, and on Dark Horse, Nickelback are simply dolling out bland glam rock.

!e Nuclear employ potent melodies and a driving rock beat to create a winning formula. !eir self-titled debut is a long time coming, as the Moncton-based punk band first formed in 2005. It has not garnered a wide release however, and this may have ceased production of a sophomore e"ort. From this, the Moncton punk band created my first impressions upon hearing said debut was curious intrigue (due to UFO abduction themes), accidental toe-tapping, and eventual pleasure in having a single room for dancing in.

However, palatable their sound may be, !e Nuclear’s style is quite honestly a hetero-homogenized batter of their influences as stated on their Myspace page. !e lyrics are their own, however, and they meekly criticize how we are a “sick, sick world/ full of sick, sick people,” and take a stab at shocking the listeners with the obscurity of “Abducted by a UFO Pt. 1.” Most enjoyable are the lyrics’ tenaciously upbeat rhythm & rhyme style with pleasant and carefully placed refrains. Each song is a creative mixture providing white (and flu"y)

Love and nuclear power

Judi KeefeArgosy Correspondent

noise allowing the music and lyrics to weld together a homogeneous mass of guitar solos and drum beats.

!e clear-cut consonants of Marco Rocca’s lyrics stand out as the diamond in the rough for this album because the cheerful, rich overtone of these lyrics put an outline of black ink around the vibrant colour creating the melody. Preaching familiar fodder about love/hate relationships, war, and money, the sermon of the album is elaborated and richly defined around modern issues facing the pop-punk generation. !ough it’s all been done and said before a million di"erent times – in a million di"erent ways – I found this style of presentation equally comforting, and refreshing in its conformity.

It is brilliant music by a skilled team of musicians, (Moncton’s Marco Rocca, Pak Twisted, Tommy Antle, and Derek Robichaud) though it is unfortunate that like the thousands of Picassos and Lichtensteins who were never showcased to the public, !e Nuclear may never find a place in the hearts of “pop-punk, punk rock, rock-folk, and rock-n-roll” fans of the post-modernist world. As a potential new energy source for music lovers everywhere, I give it 3 atoms out of 5.

!e stages have been struck. !e guitars have been tuned and tuned again. !e hangovers have been nursed. !e bracelets have been ripped from wrists and pressed into scrapbooks. Yes, a sixth Stereophonic has come and gone like a pheasant in the night. As you replay in your mind memories of drunken dance parties at George’s, the good people at CHMA 106.9 FM are using the funds raised to continue developing our beloved campus radio station. I had a chance to talk with station manager Pierre Malloy about the success of the fundraiser.

How much money was raised? “CHMA raised close to $12,000 in

ticket sales, beer sales and donations thanks to the generous support of our sponsors - CBC Radio 3, Picaroons Brewing Company, !e Tantramarsh Blues Society, and the SAC. !e bills are still coming in, but we expect that we’ve raised more money this year than ever before.”

How many people attended the shows?

“Attendance at all the shows was as good or better than in previous years. We had crowds of 100 or more for every show and more than 200 for the two shows at George’s Fabulous Roadhouse.”

Pheasant economyA look at Stereophonic by the numbers

Neil BonnerArgosy Staff

How many bracelets (full Stereophonic passes) were sold?

“We sold close to half of the 100

bracelet passes before the festival even started and by the end we had only a handful left, with close to 200 sold.”

The Stance (top) and Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees (botttom) were part of one of the most successful Stereophonic festivals ever.

Jessica Emin

Jessica Emin

FEATURES

Argosy Staff

“It is a truth universally acknowledged…”On January 28, 1813, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was first published, becoming her second published novel.

Originally titled First Impressions, the novel was written between 1796 and 1797, and was initially rejected in London in 1797 by a bookseller to whom Austen’s father had o!ered it for publication. "e bookseller, however, hadn’t even bothered to look at it.

Finally, after she was able to publish Sense and Sensibility in 1811, Austen became more confident and reworked the manuscript for First Impressions between 1811 and 1812, renaming it Pride and Prejudice. Austen most likely renamed the story because between 1811 and 1812, two other works had been published under the name of the original story.

Part romantic comedy and part exploration of the manners and social life in Georgian England, Austen created the well-known characters Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy without realizing just how much more popular this novel would be than all her others. "e novel portrays life in provincial England, and revolves around the general misunderstandings and bad first impressions between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.

Other novels by Austen include Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion.

Lord Nelson’s daughterBorn on January 29, 1801, Horatia Nelson (christened Horatia Nelson "ompson) was the illegitimate child of Lady Emma Hamilton and Lord Nelson.

Going with the cover story that Horatia was the daughter of Vice-Admiral Charles "ompson (and with his consent), Nelson and Emma acted as her “godparents” until the death of Emma’s husband, Sir William Hamilton, in 1803, and they adopted her as an orphan months later.

According to many sources, Nelson was completely enamoured with his little daughter, doting on her and Emma as often as he could whenever he was onshore; especially since the death of Emma’s husband, it was easier for them to be together. Nelson left to her £200 a year in his will and asked only that she take his surname as her own and discard her “surname” of "ompson.

Some time after his death at the Battle of Trafalgar, Horatia found out that Nelson was her biological father and agreed to take on his last name, but never fully excepted Emma as her actual mother (probably due to the fact that they spent ten months in a prison cell as a result of Emma’s financial di#culties after Nelson’s death). In spite of Nelson’s status as a national hero, his requests to the government to have Emma and Horatia taken care of were ignored.

After being released from the debtor’s prison, Emma ran to France to avoid more creditors, where she died on January 15, 1815. Horatia made funeral arrangements with the British Consul, and later returned to

England (disguised as a boy, due to the debt Emma had built up while in France), where she was met by one of Nelson’s brothers-in-law (Nelson’s sisters adored her as much as her father had).

In 1822, Horatia married Reverend Philip Ward. Several biographers of her life described it as being one of the better things that happened to her, along with their ten children.

Horatia was involved in several negotiations to buy Nelson’s uniform coat and waist jacket (although it was later bought by Prince Albert in 1845). However, the growing national interest in Nelson (the Nelson column was erected in 1845) brought her recompense for the national neglect after Nelson’s death.

Years later, she divided the money she had been given among her three sons in military service. Queen Victoria had also stepped in and had raised funds to give each Nelson-Ward daughter £100 as an annual pension.

Horatia died in 1881 at the age of 80.

Also this week in history:January 25, 41: Claudius becomes Roman Emperor.January 25, 1533: Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn.January 25, 1759: Birth of poet Robert Burns.January 25, 1918: "e Ukrainian people declare independence from Bolshevik Russia.January 25, 1949: "e first Emmy Awards at the Hollywood Athletic Club.January 26, 1788: "e British First Fleet sails into the future Sydney Harbour to establish Sydney, becoming the first permanent European settlement.January 26, 1958: Birth of Ellen DeGeneres.January 26, 1961: Birth of hockey star, Wayne Gretzky.January 26, 1965: Hindi becomes the o#cial language of India.January 26, 1988: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera opens on Broadway in New York for the first time.January 27, 1606: Trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators of the Gun Powder Plot.January 27, 1756: Birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.January 27, 1967: "e Doors release their first (self-titled) album.January 28, 1547: Death of Henry VIII.January 28, 1754: Horace Walpole coins the word serendipity.January 28, 1958: "e Lego Company patent their design for their Lego bricks.January 28, 1986: "e Challenger space shuttle breaks apart after lift-o! and kills all seven astronauts on board.January 29, 1845: Edgar Alan Poe’s “"e Raven” is published.January 29, 1860: Birth of Anton Chekhov.January 29, 1963: Death of Robert Frost.January 30, 1649: Charles I of England is beheaded.January 30, 1790: "e first boat used as a life boat is tested in England.January 30, 1847: Yerba Buena, California is renamed San Francisco.

A weekly compilation by Sarah RobinsonThis week in history

January 30, 1862: "e first American iron-clad warship is launched.January 30, 1889: "e Crown Prince (Archduke) Rudolf of Austria is found dead after apparently committing suicide with his mistress.January 30, 1948: Death of Mohandas Ghandi.January 30, 1969: "e Beatles’ last

Rev. John C. PerkinUniversity Chaplain

Like many others, I was transfixed by the proceedings of the inauguration of Barack Obama as 44th President of the United States last week.

In an interesting coincidence, in my class just that morning, I had shown a brief clip from the 1998 film, Deep Impact, in which the role of U.S. President was played by an African-American actor, Morgan Freeman. "e parallels between the film and the inauguration prompted some reflection on the way in which life sometimes imitates art.

"e course I was teaching on Tuesday was the Apocalyptic Consciousness, and we spent some time exploring the use of apocalyptic imagery in popular culture, particularly film. Films were assessed under various headings of apocalypse, including the traditional or biblical version, post-apocalyptic or dystopian worlds, and the threat of cataclysms of apocalyptic proportions from various sources, including humanly made disasters of viral outbreaks, environmental collapse, and nuclear warfare. We also looked at those films that contain the threat of “apocalypse” or extinction of life on earth from outside the earthly sphere, in the form of alien invasion or asteroid impact.

Deep Impact tells the story of the threat posed to planet earth by a huge asteroid. Plans are devised to save one million people in huge underground shelters, and to attempt to destroy the asteroid before its impact on earth.

In a sometimes hokey script filled with blatant symbolism designed to suggest hope and faith in humanity, the spaceship Messiah is dispatched to destroy the asteroid. In this film, as in many others in this genre, the threat of complete annihilation is apocalyptic in scope, and the hope of the earth lies in the sacrifice of heroes and the steady but firm hand of leadership.

Salvation is to be found in human ingenuity and human leadership, and the inevitable emergence of a saviour figure or figures. "e messianic role is adopted by the astronauts who must surrender their lives in a final act of heroism to save the world, flying the not very subtly named spaceship Messiah, and also by the President.

"roughout the last two decades of the 20th century, numbers of films with apocalyptic themes were produced, most of them holding out hope in the face of either threatened

destruction or in the aftermath of massive conflagration or cataclysm. One of the dominant motifs through such films was the emergence of the saviour figure, messianic in scope, who would lead by example, bind survivors into community, inspire hope, and o!er a sense of a new tomorrow.

Kevin Costner as the Mariner in Waterworld (1995) not only saves the remnant few from the hands of the evil Smokers, but delivers them to the promised land, Dryland. Mel Gibson, in the Mad Max trilogy, helps survivors of a post-nuclear world to discover hope in themselves and each other.

In Independence Day (1996), the threat of annihilation by aliens is thwarted by people banding together to fight back; as the movie tagline proclaimed, “Mankind’s best weapon is still its will to survive.”

"e President in this film, played by Bill Pullman, inspires by his speech: “Mankind. "at word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can’t be consumed by our petty di!erences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it’s fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom... Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution... but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: ‘We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight!’ We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive!”

And his words are matched by his example, as he steps into a fighter plane and leads the battle.

In Deep Impact, the power of the presidential speech comes after a piece of the asteroid has hit earth, causing massive tidal waves and untold damage to the coastal regions. President Tom Beck, played by Freeman, stands in front of a severely damaged Capitol Building, and speaks in words of hope, encouraging the massed crowds in the Mall to work together, to build again. "e speech is intended to inspire Americans to work together, to have hope, to build again.

Last week, when Barack Obama mounted the dais and gave his inaugural address, I was immediately drawn back to final scene of Deep Impact, which I had seen only a short while earlier. "e parallel of an Afro-American President was obvious, but it was not that one that caught my attention: it was the speech itself.

!rough stained glass"e inaugural address has already

been analyzed by most news agencies; CBC’s Rex Murphy and Michael Enright have both criticized its generic, predictable images and themes, and perhaps expected more from it. But I was fascinated more by the tones of inspiration: work together, have hope, build again (in economic terms).

It struck me that the speech was less about the platform, the opportunity to say something that would be remembered for its oratory, to embrace the historical moment, than it was an entering into the needs of the Americans gathered in the Mall or by television or through the internet. Obama spoke, almost in movie-speech terms, in ways designed to inspire good feelings, hopefulness, encouragement.

It was a speech that shifted the focus less to the words being spoken than to the feelings being inspired. And in this Obama seemed to live up to the messianic or saviour role that he has been thrust into in recent months. While the economic shifts of recent months are not, truly, apocalyptic in proportion, the impact is perceived in that way. And apocalypse is less about the events of the world than the perception of the events of the world.

"e fear of apocalypse is not about reality, in its history, than in the fears that are engendered through change and shift. In the changing economic times of the last several months, apocalyptic visions have loomed large in the public mind, and, as in the world of Hollywood film, the answer is found in looking to a messianic figure, a saviour, a deliverer who will inspire, lead, make changes, and o!er hope.

"e world of film has prepared the nation to long for and expect a hero, a saviour, a messiah. Such has become the expectation of Obama, and in his inaugural address he did not step away from this mantle of responsibility and leadership.

But this is not Hollywood. I only hope that his message to the millions listening about taking responsibility, about working together, about not losing hope, will not be lost. We are all in this together.

Springsteen sang in 1975, “You can waste your summer praying for a saviour to rise from these streets,” and he has now celebrated the inauguration by singing, “Come on up to the rising.”

Time will tell whether we have prayed in vain and invested our hopes in one who, by virtue of desire, has been turned into a saviour, or whether we can indeed all come out to the rising, of a new age.

public performance on the roof of Apple Records in London, which was later broken up by the police due to complaints about the “racket.”January 30, 1972: Irish Bloody Sunday; British paratroopers kill 14 civil rights marchers.January 31, 1606: Guy Fawkes is executed.

January 31, 1929: Leon Trotsky is exiled from the Soviet Union.January 31, 1930: 3M begins to market Scotch Tape.January 31, 1956: Death of A.A. Milne, author of the Winnie the Pooh stories.January 31, 1956: Birth of John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols.

13THE ARGOSY • FEATURESJANUARY 29, 2009

Emily Bird Argosy Correspondent

One of the most prominent di#culties in life is conquering one’s impatience. With every season, as soon as designers debut their lavish collections, one anticipates the current season being whisked away, allowing for the entrance of new collections of extravagance.

However, one can now look forward to the upcoming months and refrain from disregarding an entire wardrobe from previous seasons. "e frills, bows and ru$es that ruled the cool runways of fall and winter have been refined to take on the light warm breeze and sun rays of spring and summer months.

September debuted almost five months ago, as did feminine collections from designers such as Alberta Ferretti, Elie Saab and Alexander McQueen, all of whom embraced this spring’s exuberantly emphasized bohemian luxury.

So what is Bohemian luxury? How does one define it?

Well, as everyone’s style is a collage of individuality, one’s notion of bohemian luxury is just as unique. "is part-peasant-part-rock-chick vision of spring can be adapted with ease to one’s personal concept of style.

However, there are several key

elements to assembling spring 2009’s harmonious trends. When investing in new articles that are to be key pieces in your spring wardrobe, be open to embroidery, paisley prints, charm and coin belts and jewellery, tooled leather pieces, fringed boots, billowy peasant tops, smoky eye makeup and bed hair.

A particular theme that appeared throughout several fashion designers’ spring 2009 collections was the flapper. "ese dazzling creations evoked the sexy and feminine rather than the party-theme flapper. Browse through the array of 1920s-inspired dresses in the spring 2009 collections of Alberta Ferretti, Elie Saab and Alexander McQueen, all of whom embraced a vision of the adored flapper in characteristically distinctive fashions.

McQueen realized his ideas with structure and slinky body-clinging creations, accentuating the romantic feminine figure. Alberta Ferretti takes on the fringe by maintaining spring ideals and accentuating a feminine silhouette with movement. Fringe is a creative approach to adding movement to a piece, however, choose the delicate fabric wisely; look for a quality fabric that won’t clump.

"e sheer trend, which has come and gone in previous decades, has reappeared in numerous spring collections. Sheers evoke the delicacy of femininity, as well as a blissful

carefree season of sunshine and fresh spring blossoms.

"e uncontrolled free-flowing fabrics were displayed in layers of delicate draping seen in shirts, dresses and skirts. Elegance plays a key role in this year’s fashion trends and continues through the cool winter months into spring.

Do not feel overwhelmed by the assortment of spring accents and trends. Peruse through vintage fashion spreads, particularly from the 60s and 70s, and discover to just what extent this season has been inspired by history. A particular style is not to be overdone with an incredible amount of the same accent, such as an ensemble made up purely of fringes.

An outfit is complete when it is a well-balanced combination of personal taste, neutral bases, and several accents of the present season’s trends. Fashion and style are not intended to be scrutinized.

Embrace any style and take it down your own runway of pleasure and chic happiness. Connect with bits of this and that of which you are fond, without conforming to a style intended to please others.

Fashion is meant to be altered to assume individual taste and style. So embrace the upcoming fresh months and freely adorn both yourself and your wardrobe in spring of ‘09.

Looking out over the edge

Corey Isenor andJames GoddardArgosy Correspondents

Long a favoured hang-out for Mount Allison students, sta! and community members, the relaxed environment, large bay windows and dorm room poster decor of the Bridge Street Cafe have made it an institution.

"ey host a regular open mic night every "ursday and on any given evening during the semester you are likely to be surrounded by students at least pretending to work. "e cozy informal environment and the sale of Fair Trade co!ee are some of the most appealing parts of the Bridge Street Café.

Corey and James stopped by the Café for a quick lunch on Monday afternoon. "e service at Bridge Street can vary considerably, depending on who is working, how busy it is and

other less obvious factors. On this particular day, however, the service was quick and smiley. We had our food on our table within 10 minutes of ordering.

James ordered the wrap of the week and a double chai latté. Corey, not waking up in time to have breakfast before class, decided to order a falafel, the soup of the day (Boston clam chowder) and a hot apple cider.

"e wrap of the week, despite constantly changing, is one of the most consistently good food items o!ered at Bridge St. Often a little more risky than their standard menu items, it is always a surprise. Besides, if you don’t like it this week, it will be di!erent the next time. "is also goes for the soups, although they are often more reliable.

One other positive aspect to ordering a wrap of the week or soup of the day, is the a!ordability. Bridge Street Café is not exactly known for their low-cost menu options, especially

when accounting for food quality and portion size. Both Corey and James’ meals came to around $10.00.

"e soups and wraps are the exception to this being reasonably priced and tasty. "is also goes for the co!ee, which is fairly priced for the quality of the brew and the fact that it is Fair Trade.

Corey’s Boston clam chowder was very flavourful, as was the hot apple cider, a favourite of his. "e falafel however, was nothing special. "e tzatziki did, however, add some much needed flavour. James argued that the Bridge Street Café falafel ranks among the worst he has tasted.

As for James’ wrap and latte, the wrap was not as good as some of the past wraps of the week (notably the spicy peanut chicken wrap) yet was still relatively tasty, and probably pretty healthy, due to the addition of all the lentils. "e chai latté certainly hit the spot on such a cold day.

It should be noted that not all the menu items o!ered at Bridge Street are made fresh on the premises. "is is is not necessarily a drawback, although it is a little disappointing. If it seems a bit too labour intensive for a small café to serve, it probably came in a package. "is is something to consider when ordering food there.

Overall there is nothing about the food or the ambience of the Bridge Street Café that is particularly o!ensive. At the same time, it isn’t particularly wonderful. While it is a good place to get co!ee and a nice alternate study spot, it is an expensive lunch or dinner option. Corey and James give it 1 thumb up.

Corey and James eat out

Twiggy, one of the world’s first supermodels.

Jessica EminArgosy Staff

A homemade dressing makes for a light and flavorful salad.

Preparation time: 25 minutes Serves 4

Ingredients

For Dressing: -% cup of olive oil -3 tsp. of Worcestershire sauce -1 tbsp. of lemon juice -1 heaping tsp. of Dijon mustard -1 bulb of garlic sliced into small

pieces -2 rounded tbsp. of fresh, shredded

parmesan cheese -1 tbsp. of Hellmann’s mayonnaise -pinch of salt -pinch of pepper -a few capers (if available)

For Salad: -Croutons (homemade or store

bought) -1 large head of romaine lettuce

washed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces -6 slices of Bacon cooked, cooled and

ripped into small pieces -extra fresh shredded parmesan, to

taste

Take all of the dressing ingredients, put them into a blender, and puree until smooth.

If you do not have a blender, you may mix the dressing ingredients by hand, but, make sure to chop the solid ingredients (parmesan, garlic) before mixing.

Once the dressing is smooth, pour it over the romaine lettuce in a large mixing bowl, and toss. Add the bacon bits and croutons to the salad and toss again. Once the salad has been divided into individual portions it may be garnished with a slice of lemon and extra parmesan cheese.

Serve with pasta or try adding chicken or seafood to the salad to make it a meal.

Jessica Emin

Bridge Street Cafe Authentic Caesar Salad

Jessica Emin

Cooking with Jess

14 THE ARGOSY • FEATURES JANUARY 29, 2009

S e v e n y e a r s a t w a rOn the seventh anniversary of Canada’s deployment to Afghanistan, we examine what’s been accomplished, and what the future holds

Prelude to warOct. 10, 2001 - "e U.S. and

Britain launch the first round of air strikes on Kabul, focusing on Taliban and Osama Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda militants.

Oct. 17, 2001 - Canada supports the mission by sending three ships, the HMCS Charlottetown, the HMCS Iroquois, and the supply ship Preserver to join US and British forces.

Entering the frayJan. 25, 2002 - Canada reestablishes

diplomatic ties with Afghanistan for the first time in 23 years.

Feb. 2, 2002 - 140 soldiers, the first major wave of Canadian troops, arrive in Afghanistan.

April 18, 2002 - A nighttime American training session accidentally drops a bomb on Canadian forces, killing four and wounding eight more. "ese are Canada’s first casualties.

May 21, 2002 - Canada announces the withdrawal of its 750 soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan by August, though sea and special forces are to remain.

Increasing involvementFeb. 12, 2003 - Defence Minister

John McCallum announces Canada will send a contingent of more than 1,000 soldiers to join the international security force in Kabul as early as the summer.

July 17, 2003 - Canadian Brig.-Gen. Peter J. Devlin takes over command of the Kabul Multinational Brigade, composed of soldiers from 19 countries. A Canadian contingent, 1,800-strong, joins him, intended to maintain order in the Afghan capital.

Jan. 20, 2004 - Nearly 2,000 Canadian troops head to Afghanistan to replace the first wave of troops, who are at the end of a six-month tour.

Feb. 9, 2004 - Canadian Lt.-Gen. Rick Hillier takes command of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan for the next six months.

April 15, 2004 - Mission extended by PM Paul Martin until summer 2005.

Feb. 10, 2005 - A new six-month tour begins for 700 Canadian troops in Kabul.

May 17, 2005 - Canada commits to sending as many as 1,250 troops to Kandahar.

Moving to KandaharAug. 5, 2005 - Canadian troops

move to a new mission near Kandahar, where the situation is more dangerous.

Jan. 15, 2006 - A Canadian diplomat is killed and three Canadian soldiers are injured after a suicide bomber strikes a military convoy near Kandahar. "is is the first death of a Canadian diplomat abroad.

Feb. 24, 2006 - A battle group from Canada’s Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry takes over frontline duties in

Kandahar province. March 3, 2006 - Five Canadian

soldiers are injured by a suicide bomber near Kandahar.

Harper visits the troopsMarch 7, 2006 - Prime Minister

Stephen Harper rejects the idea of a debate on Canada’s presence in Afghanistan and says any attempt to pull them back would show a lack of support for our troops.

March 12, 2006 - Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrives in Afghanistan on an unannounced visit.

A wary publicApril 16, 2006 - "e Canadian

International Development Agency (CIDA) says it is suspending aid projects in Afghanistan as a result of increasing dangers.

May 1, 2006 - Nov. 1, 2006, Canada obtains command of one of the main military forces in the area, called Multi-National Brigade for Command South. During this time, Operation Medusa, a major o!ensive against insurgents in Kandahar province, takes place.

May 9, 2006 - Foreign A!airs Minister Peter MacKay pays a surprise visit to Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Recent polls had suggested support among the public dropped below 50 per cent.

Continued casualtiesMay 17, 2006 - Capt. Nichola

Goddard, age 26, becomes the first Canadian female soldier killed in active combat.

Sept. 4, 2006 - Two U.S. aircraft mistakenly fire on Canadian forces taking part in NATO’s massive anti-Taliban operation in southern Afghanistan, killing one soldier.

Oct. 1, 2006 - "e head of the International Red Cross praises Canada’s painstaking attention to the rules governing the taking of prisoners.

Oct. 03, 2006 - Two Canadians soldiers are killed and five others injured when providing security for a road construction project 20 kilometres west of Kandahar.

Nov. 9, 2006 - Canadians pinpoint Taliban militants’ position and call in a NATO air strike.

A controversial extensionJan. 22, 2008 - PM Stephen

Harper asks Former Liberal Deputy Prime Minister John Manley to lead a panel to study the questions and recommend a way forward.

January 7, 2009 - Most recent death of Trooper Brian Good from Ontario.

February 2009 - Proposed pull-out date of Canadian forces, subsequently extended.

A final exit?2011 - Latest proposed end-date

of the Canadian military mission in Afghanistan.

Playing with the

Numbers 31per cent of civilians in Kandahar

had met Canadian aid workers

37 number of nations contributing

the 31,000 troops in Afghanistan

A timeline of the conflict"e phrase “9/11” conjures in each of

us an instantaneous rush of memories and emotions, along with a certain residual sense of dread. "e terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York City shocked the world and set o! a series of events that continue to shape the current international scene, including the so-called ‘War on Terror’.

Canada has played a role in this war since its beginning through its presence in Afghanistan. In October 2001, a small naval force was sent to the Persian Gulf to support US and British troops. In February of the following year, Canadian forces from the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry were sent on a six-month stint to Kandahar in the rather idealistically-named “Operation Enduring Freedom,” joining other international forces against both the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

From the end of summer 2003 to December 2005, Canada’s military forces were mostly based in the Afghan capital of Kabul assisting in “rebuilding the democratic process.” National elections were held in 2005, seen at the time as a sign of great democratic progress. In a poll in 2007, 59 per cent of Afghans felt the Karzai government represented their interests, though the opinion has since turned against the government, due in part to perceived corruption and ine#cacy.

In 2006, NATO became responsible for all military operations in the southern provinces of the country, and 2,500 Canadian soldiers were deployed as part of this force. Kandahar soon became the main region for Canada’s military operations – and the deployment marked the beginning of the rising death toll.

Casualties and Kandahar In 2007, 60 per cent of citizens in Kandahar took at least a “somewhat positive” view of Canada’s role in Kandahar, with 48 per cent believing that Canada is doing a better job than other countries.

"is is high praise coming from a country that has the right to be suspicious of outside intervention since the Soviet invasion in 1979. However, what have the costs of this approval been for the Canadian forces?

Since the beginning of the mission, 106 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died, including one soldier already this year. Over half of the deaths have been caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs), small bombs that are easy to make and to plant. Less than a quarter of these causalities occurred before September 2006, indicating that being stationed in Kandahar is far more dangerous for

Canadian troops than being in other regions of the country.

Indeed, in recent years, security has become an increasing worry in the region.

Afghan National Army Sgt. Lahor Shah Watanwal says that several years ago, “out of every 100 persons, 95 per cent were secure.” "e sergeant, who

works with Canadian forces to clear highways of IEDs, now claims that the number of Taliban supporters has risen from 5 per cent to 20 per cent.

"e past year’s rising number of causalities could be the sign of deterioration in the relationship between international forces and local Afghans, say experts.

Kandahar Quick Facts • It is the second largest province, with a population of one million. • The main ethnicity is Pashtun. • A former stronghold of the Taliban and still inclined to insurgencies. • Kandahar city is strategically important for its airport. • There is economic potential for agriculture but the region requires proper irrigation. • This January, diplomat Ken Lewis entered the role of the highest Canadian civilian official in the region: the Representative of Canada in Kandahar (RoCK).

Kandahar is the province coloured green on this map, located in the south of Afghanistan.

picasaweb.google.comCanadian Leopard C2 tanks, and a Blackhawk helicopter, near the town of Bazaar-e-Panjwayi.

15THE ARGOSY • FEATURESJANUARY 29, 2009

S e v e n y e a r s a t w a rOn the seventh anniversary of Canada’s deployment to Afghanistan, we examine what’s been accomplished, and what the future holds

• When do we leave? 2011 – but we need the continued support of other international troops.

• He says: “Not only have we done our bit at that point, I think our goal has to be after six years to see the government of Afghanistan able to carry the lion’s share of responsibility for its own security.”

• Staying Involved? Conservatives would see very limited numbers of Canadian troops may remain to aid “in technical capacities.”

• Changing views? In 2006, on an unannounced visit to Afghanistan, Harper told the troops that they were key players in Canada’s international leadership, and had the government’s full commitment as long as he was Prime Minister.

• When do we leave? 2009 – beyond this date, the mission is not supported by the party.

• She says: “"e Afghan mission is not some political game, it is life and death”

• Staying Involved? "e Green Party would like to see the mission be under UN leadership rather than US.

• Changing views? May has been very vocal in denouncing the Prime Minister’s “incompetence, duplicity and disrespect for democratic government” when it comes to transparency in these issues.

• When do we leave? 2011 – even if President Obama asks us to stay.

• He says: “We’ve made a decade-long contribution and we think it’s time to come home.”

• Staying Involved? Liberals support Canada continuing to help on the diplomatic and humanitarian fronts.

• Changing views? Former Liberal leader Stephane Dion had argued in previous years in favour of withdrawing troops before 2009. He called the current mission “ill-conceived and misguided.”

• When do we leave? A safe immediate exit has been the party’s position since 2006.

• He says: “It’s the wrong mission for Canada...We should be withdrawing and trying to use our diplomatic abilities and influences to try to engineer a process of comprehensive peace in that whole region.”

• Staying Involved? "e NDP backs negotiation and increased UN-directed involvement after our troops come home.

• Changing views? Two years ago, Layton was criticised for suggesting dialogue with the Taliban, though this is consistent with his views on

Liberal Party Michael Ignatie"

Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper

New Democratic Party Jack Layton

Green Party Elizabeth May

18.1Canada’s expected total spending on

Afghanistan mission by 2011, in billions

107Canadian deaths in total

2accidental but fatal bombings by

US forces on Canadian troops

Nigel Clarke / sxc.hu

Exit Strategies

Canada’s Six Afghan Priorities • build the capacity of the Afghan National Army and Police, and support complementary efforts in the areas of justice and corrections in order to maintain a more secure environment; • provide jobs, education, and essential services, like water; • provide humanitarian assistance to people in need, including refugees; • enhance the management and security of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border; • build Afghan institutions that are central to our Kandahar priorities and support democratic processes such as elections, and• contribute to Afghan-led political reconciliation efforts aimed at weakening the insurgency and fostering a sustainable peace.

[from www.afghanistan.gc.ca]

What do Canadian’s Want? • 71 per cent of respondents believe Prime Minister Stephen Harper should say no if Obama requests an extension of the Canadian combat mission in Afghanistan. • 23 per cent said that Canada should extend the mission if Obama requests it, but only for an additional two years. • Six per cent said that Canada should say yes to a full-term, four-year extension.

from a CBC 2008 poll

Where now? In January of 2008, an independent panel report headed by Former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley recommended extension of the mission beyond 2009 on two conditions: that NATO and its allies bolster our troops with an additional 1,000 soldiers, and that forces in Kandahar receive an influx of helicopters and high-performance unmanned aerial vehicles for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance purposes.

afghanistan.gc.ca], elaborates greatly on these measures, as “reference points that help assess progress in specific priority areas.”

Canada is also adopting three ‘signature projects’. "ese are major development activities: rebuilding the Dahla Dam and its irrigation and canal system; building or repairing 50 schools; and trying to eradicate polio through vaccinations.

"ese projects seem to contrast with the controversial military involvement

Kandahar. Since then, the death count has spiked upwards, causing some to question the e!ectiveness of the entire mission in terms of the relative cost. "e area is one of the most challenging in the country; its poverty and unmonitored border with Pakistan make it a prime area for insurgents to conceal themselves while spreading fear and corruption. Many Canadians question how e!ective our presence there at the moment may be, when military force seems to only further provoke sporadic insurgent o!ensives.

While heads bash over the specifics, consensus seems closer on a few general issues. Most Canadians applaud the bravery and sacrifice of our military forces, each new loss greeted with mourning and outrage. Even among those who most strongly advocate leaving Afghanistan, and leaving it fast, there is acknowledgment of a continuing humanitarian role.

Whatever the arguments for or against Canada’s Afghan engagement, the Conservative government is holding firm to the military withdrawal date in 2011. Defense minister Peter MacKay told press last week: “We have to be practical and pragmatic and also respect our parliamentary decision.”

It appears that, regardless of potential please from the Obama administration, NATO or the UN, in two years, Canada will be out.

“An immediate military withdrawal from Afghanistan would cause more harm than good,” said the report, influencing Prime Minister Stephen Harper to o#cially prolong Canada’s military presence there until 2011.

In the meantime, the Canadian government has worked with the Afghan government to determine some key priorities and appropriate benchmarks. "e government’s Afghanistan website, “Canada’s Engagement in Afghanistan” [www.

our country has had so far. While development e!orts have been part of Canada’s mission in Afghanistan since the early years of our involvement, these have proved di#cult to measure and even more di#cult to sustainably institute.

"e Canadian government hopes that with clear targets selected in consultation with the local government, and specific criteria to measure the degree of success, the final impression left of the mission will be that of being able to successfully help move the country forward.

Why all the controversy here at home? Support for our presence in Afghanistan, though reasonably high after 9/11, has dwindled in subsequent years.

"ere have been several disturbing “firsts” for Canada: the first diplomat and the first active female soldier have both been killed abroad. While these are not any more tragic than each individual loss of life, they have been highly publicised and undoubtedly involve a certain shock factor.

"e clamor of criticism has increased since 2006 with Canada’s shift to

It has cost about $1.1 million for the first 12 months, to establish

a Tim Hortons location in Kandahar. Today, this location serves more than 1,000 cups

of coffee a day to more than 7,000 personnel from

Canada and other countries.

Co"ee in Kandahar?

Canadian Leopard C2 tanks, and a Blackhawk helicopter, near the town of Bazaar-e-Panjwayi. forces.gc.ca

By Rebecca Dixon

16 THE ARGOSY • FEATURES JANUARY 29, 2009

Sasha Van KatwykArgosy Staff

“Her soul cries out for justice” was all Pippa Moss needed to hear from a Kenyan mother whose child was struggling to overcome complications from HIV.

It all started for Dr. Moss years before the young girl’s birth, when she began to sponsor a Kenyan man named William Gatuse after she brought home her first pay cheque as a teenager. Pippa and William kept in only minor contact — as much as could be expected of a Canadian sponsor and a Kenyan sponsoree — until the day she received a call from him saying that his wife, Damaris, was having a baby and that if it was a girl, they were to name her after their Canadian devotee.

Indeed Damaris bore a girl to be called Pippa, but she was also born with the HIV virus. For her first few years, young Pippa struggled relentlessly to stave o! HIV’s grip, but she was dramatically weakened; smaller for her age, easily prone to infections and disease, and fighting

a battle few expected her to win.“It opened my eyes to the problem

facing thousands of AIDS orphans in Kenya,” Dr. Moss said in a speech held at Mount Allison last semester, “I wanted to get more involved than just being that woman that sent them money.”

At age three, Pippa’s condition worsened when the virus converted to AIDS. Her mother and father gave constant care to their weakening child. A depiction of the AIDS tragedy reverberating through Kenya and the rest of Africa, William told his long-time friend what his wife had said one evening: “her soul cries out for justice.”

“I knew I needed to do more,” Dr. Moss said, “and that was the beginning of ‘Pippa’s Place.’”

Dr Moss began making several visits to Kenya and putting on ad hoc fundraisers in Canada in continued alliance with the local Scotiabank sta! in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia. After a long and arduous process, Pippa Moss was able to raise the money and support, not only to supply the treatment necessary for young Pippa but also to begin building a fully integrated school for AIDS orphans

Hope for Pippa

in and around Nakuru, Kenya. Partnering with the Fundy Peace

Foundation, a New Brunswick-based NGO, Dr. Moss was able to gain the support, funds, and advisory information to initiate the project. Today it has burgeoned into an established regional organization, fueled almost entirely by the continued e!orts of Pippa Moss, her friends and family, and the Gatuse family.

“Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world,” Dr. Moss said to Mt. A students, “indeed it is the only thing that ever has.”

"e property itself is still a work in progress. Today, Pippa Moss is still conjuring what support and money she can to initiate another phase of the process that will cost $25,000. Already half-way there, she consistently has in mind the driving reminder of the spunky young girl that inspired her.

Now young Pippa is six years-old, attending school and, while still struggling with her disease, is a continued inspiration and reminder to those around her of what a small group of committed people can accomplish.

How one Nova Scotian woman changed the life of a young Kenyan girl, born with AIDS

drmoss.caSix year-old Pippa Gatuse attends school despite her illness.

Come Hitherand Write Features

Katelyn Viner

The t r oub l e w i t h s e l f e s t eem

Katherine GottliThe Brock Press (Brook University)

ST. CATHARINES (CUP) – Facebook tells me I’m fat almost everyday. Or at least that is how it makes me feel.

Call it lack of self-confidence or a distorted body image, but being constantly bombarded with advertising for Oprah’s miracle achai diet or ways to cut down the flab on my mid-section, I can’t help but feel like there is something I need to improve, and as a result, I spend time scrutinizing myself in the mirror.

According to the Wardenburg Health Centre at the University of Colorado, women overestimate the size of their hips by 16 per cent and their waists by 25 per cent. But, the same women can correctly estimate the width of a box.

However, women are not the only ones who struggle with the way they look and how society tells them to look. "e same study from the Wardenburg Health Centre discovered that one out of four men is on a diet at any given time; for women, it is only one in three.

Most people, both men and women, have things about themselves they would change if they had the chance, and Kim Gammage from the Department of Physical Education and Kinesiology at Brock University, says it relates to a society’s given gender ideals, and how many of us strive to achieve them.

“"ere are a couple of major di!erences between men and women. First, the ideal is di!erent. For women it is thin, toned, not too muscular, and young. For men, the ideal is muscular, with a V-shaped torso, broad shoulders, narrow waist,” she said. “Women tend to be more concerned with the lower body – hips, thighs, buttocks – while men tend to be more concerned with the upper body – chest, arms, back.”

“"e other major di!erence is the direction of dissatisfaction – women pretty consistently want to be thinner than they are and often will overestimate their body size, while men are more equally divided between wanting to be thinner and wanting to be bigger, more muscular,” Gammage added.

“Because of these di!erences, women are more likely to use diet – dietary restraint, eating disorders – to achieve the ideal. Men are more likely to use exercise. "ey are also more likely to use steroids and supplements. However, there is some shifting going on in what is ideal; it is becoming more muscular, slightly, for women.”

Women, as it seems, are fuelling the $40-billion diet industry, which includes diet food, drugs, and programs. I too have been guilty of this, trying fad diets in place of eating healthier and exercising more. For many students juggling work, education, and a social life it is just easier to pop a fat burner after lunch rather than going to the gym.

"e results are certainly faster than working out three times a week, but I quickly understood the damage I was doing to my body.

Gammage whole-heartedly agrees.

“From a body image perspective, any extreme dieting can be dangerous, “ she said. “From a physical perspective, they don’t give the body all the nutrients it needs. From a more psychological perspective, it can lead to feelings of deprivation, which can lead to binging. Also, if people attempt to diet to lose weight and fail, it can lead to poor body image, depression, anxiety, etcetera.”

So why do we continue to purchase the latest diet aid or starve ourselves for months before a bikini-clad reading week? We all know how we should be living a healthy lifestyle, but how many of us actually do?

For Gammage, it is not about education, but rather our own behaviours.

“I think in most health matters, education is not the problem. You would be hard-pressed to find people who didn’t know they should exercise, not smoke, eat low fat, etcetera, and yet they still do not follow through with health behaviours,” she said. “Most studies that try to increase health behaviours through providing knowledge or education do not usually result in any change in the behaviours. What is more important are people’s attitudes about behaviours. Are they motivated? Is it too hard or unpleasant? Are they embarrassed? Or the attitudes of significant others, such as family and friends.”

Brian Roy, also from the Department of Physical Education and Kinesiology at Brock, believes our school system is implicated in creating the diet craze.

“I feel that not enough attention is paid to health in both primary and secondary school. Much more time is spent on math, history, and English, as compared to the single largest expense of the provincial government; health. If people were better educated in the area of health, perhaps the costs of health care would be reduced,” he said. “Curriculums should include more emphasis on health and healthy living, and should be taught by educators with a strong foundation in health education.”

In regards to body image, there is little that can be said to change the way one feels about themselves. We will all continue to strive for the ideal, and potentially damage our bodies in the process.

But, in regards to health, there are small things that we can all do to improve on a basic and relatively easy level, says Roy.

“"ings such as sleep, diet, and physical activity are all very important in contributing to health,” said Roy. “Time management is a key skill that is necessary to facilitate health and allows for adequate amounts of sleep.”

“As for diet, healthy eating is not easy, as cooking skills and costs associated with healthier food can be challenging. Furthermore, sometimes individuals feel that cooking healthy food takes too much time. In some cases, cooking healthily can take some added time, but there are many healthy meals that are very easy to cook. "ere are many cook books available that describe very healthy, yet very easy to prepare meals.”

Next time when you log on to Facebook and Kim Kardashian is staring you in the face promoting the latest celebrity diet, try to not to reach for the measuring tape.

Understanding men and women’s body image issues

Dario Ayala/the Brock Press

SACStudent Administrative Council

A perspective inside the SAC

Vice President of External Affairs

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

Pat Barry Mount Allison SACVP Campus Life

The main purpose of the Vice President Campus Life position is that of advocacy for students. This position represents students in the non-academic areas of residence life, athletics, food services, security, health and the extra-curricular activities of the Students Administrative Council. In dealing with Residence Life I help to support each residence in all of their activities, as well as address any concerns that residence students may

have regarding people, the building or events. When addressing Food services it is my job to bring up the concerns, comments and questions of students directly to ARAMARK and the Administration. Dealing with Security and Health on campus allows me to address the current issues facing students and work toward a safer and healthier campus. My role in Athletics is to provide support on the varsity, club and intramural levels. I act

as a liaison to address the concerns of anyone involved in athletics at the university. Finally, in dealing with the Extra-curricular activities of the SAC I am involved in everything from charitable events, like Trick-or-Eat, to concerts and award shows, like the Ascars as well as overseeing the Student Activities Office. This position also requires that I chair multiple committees. These committees include the Campus Life committee, Ascars committee, Athletic

Vice President of Campus LifeAffairs, Gil Latter Memorial Award Task Force, and Golden A Award Task Force. As a VP I am also required to sit as a student representative on University committees such as, the Board of Regents Student Life committee, Residence Council, Security Issues committee, Food committee, Social council and Allisonian of the Month. If you have any questions regarding this position please feel free to contact me at saccampuslife@mta.ca.

Mark Brister Mount Allison SAC VP External

The Vice-President External deals loosely with matters that go beyond the university itself. He or she is responsible for sitting on various town committees such as the housing committee, Renaissance Sackville, and ad hoc environmental committees, and keeping a working relationship with the Mayor and appropriate town councilors. This relationship is crucial to

maintenance, particularly in a small community such as Sackville, where town and gown relations can be easily strained (for example, with the Matt Mays concert in September). The VP External also typically sits on the board of the co-op, and he or she will typically keep abreast of town issues more generally as they relate to student concerns. In addition to representing student interests on a local level and

serving more generally as a liaison between the town and the SAC, the VP External undertakes provincial-level lobbying through the New Brunswick Student Alliance. For example, the Day of Action protest and a number of meetings with provincial representatives were organized through the NBSA. Other more spontaneous political events shape the purview of the VP External. During the federal election

this year, the elections party at the pub, our first on campus polling station, proof of residency slips, and a voting information campaign was organized through SAC External Affairs. This is a project driven, malleable portfolio that requires knowledge of political affairs and a strong sense of student advocacy. Any further questions can be directed to Mark Brister at mcbrstr@mta.ca

SAC EntertainmentTHURSDAY:

Snowboard/Sledding Competition!SHOWS YOUR STUFF AT THE SWAN POND HILL!

Reggae Music @ the Café! WARM YOURSELF ON WINTER RHYTHMS!

SATURDAY:

9 PMJustin Rutledge with Pat Lepoidevin and Field Museum @ George’s Roadhouse

Calendar

FRIDAY:

Winter Carnival at The Pub (Snowball Formal)!

“Winter Carnival Friday Night Dance Party at the

PUB, with drink specials provided in appreciation for the SAC’s sponsorship of Pub Events.”

ARTS & LITERATURE

Struts Gallery has always been known for its visiting artist program, which brings practicing artists from outside of Sackville into town to create and interact with the community. Faucet Media Arts Centre, the new-media centre that operates within Struts, also o!ers a visiting artist program; Ease On Down the Road is a residency program designed to allow artists with little to no experience working in media arts to learn how to use digital and audio video technologies, and also create work within the space.

"e current Ease On Down the Road resident is artist Jamie Ashforth, who will be joined by Bronwen Moen on Saturday, January 31. Ashforth is no stranger to Sackville, having started her BFA here in 2002. After two years she took some time o!, finishing her degree and graduating from Concordia in 2008. She and Moen have never made work together, but they have collaborated on ideas and critiqued each other’s work in the past. Although Ashforth isn’t certain at this point whether they will create work together as part of their residency, they will both be learning new skills in digital media.

Ashforth’s work is based largely in printmaking. She works in monoprint and stone lithography, and also makes assemblages with found objects. Her work, she says, is very concept-based, and she tends to do what the piece needs.

Although printmaking and sculpture are her main areas of focus, she also has a strong reliance on drawing, and will incorporate painting or whatever else she feels is vital to the piece. Prior to her residency, audio recording was Ashforth’s only foray into the world of digital art. Since arriving at Struts on January 15, she has already begun learning to use Photoshop on the centre’s iMac, and has taken a series of digital photographs that she hopes to splice together into an animation using FinalCut Pro.

"e photographs are of Ashforth wearing a moose hat – as she explains, when she and her mother were on a road trip several years ago, they nearly hit a moose. Ever since then, her mother has been sending her humorous moose paraphernalia. Hence the hat. "e concept of the animation, for Ashforth, is that it is proof that her mother loves her. She is very interested in the moving image and sound recording – particularly how the sounds in nature and the world can mimic or mirror the sounds of the body. "e body is a strong conceptual theme in Ashforth’s work, as she explains. For her, how the body interacts with objects and the environment is a fundamental part of how identity is defined. “Where we create a relational space, that ends up defining who we are.”

"ere is also a strong performative aspect in her work – the interaction between the body and the paper when she makes a print is just another of the interactions that help to define identity. “We’re always re-creating ourselves,”

Moose paraphernalia and independenceStruts visiting artist Jamie AshforthJulie CruikshankArgosy Staff

says Ashforth. Her practice explores the idea that we gain a sense of who we are through our relationships with people, places, and things; she sees identity as a process.

As Ashforth explains, she never really expected to be an artist in residence at Faucet, but is impressed with the accessibility of the residency. She is returning to Sackville as an artist, as opposed to a student, which for her

carries a strong sense of independence. Although she has not yet been greatly involved in the Mt. A community, she says that she hopes to be more present on campus in the coming weeks, and also hopes to host an artist’s talk this Friday to converse with students about what it means to be a practicing artist after graduation; there are always a lot of questions among undergrads in art, and it can be helpful to talk to someone

who has been there. As she explains, conversation is her favourite part of being an artist, and she welcomes anyone who wants to head down to Struts for a chat about art and gain some common ground. It is clear that for Ashforth, her residency is about the process – making art and conversing with people, and experiencing and interacting with the space she’s in.

Artist Jamie Ashforth studied at Mount Allison before finishing her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Concordia.

Amisdt chaste kisses and energetic dance numbersGarnet and Gold’s production of Fame met with mixed reviews

Joe (Niall Nemecek) and Carmen (Anita Ayling) embrace onstage.

The chorus for Fame consisted of elementary, secondary, and university students.

If you have five minutes....

...stop by the Owens Art Gallery Since the Owens is the oldest university art gallery in Canada, it boasts

phenomenal archives accessible to students.

From curator Gemey Kelly to intern Kerri George, everyone working at the gallery is completely awesome in their own way.

If you have more than fifteen minutes, attend the Sweetest Little "ing fundraiser on February 14th!

Julie Cruikshank

Jessica Emin

Jessica Emin

Jessica Emin

19JANUARY 29, 2009 THE ARGOSY • ARTS & LITERATURE

Landscapes and lightsFourth-year Sara Williamson’s exhibiton “!is Present Piece of the Landscape” opens at START

Vivi Reich Vivi Reich

Art for a cause!e second annual WUSC art auction brings in bids and raises funds

On Friday January 23, student art lined four walls in the START gallery. Beginning at 7 pm, one wall would close every 15 minutes.

WUSC members circulated to help remove art from walls and encourage bidders.

Food was donated by WUSC members and volunteers.

Pictured in the centre photo are Olivia Charters and Gill Graham, the co-presidents of WUSC.

Jessica Emin

Jessica Emin

Jessica Emin Jessica Emin

Jessica Emin

20 JANUARY 29, 2009THE ARGOSY • ARTS & LITERATURE

While the o#cial year of Sackville as a Canadian Cultural Capital is over, a legacy has been left in the community. “"ere’s big things and big visions in Sackville. It’s an impressive place” said Sackville Cultural Capital Project Coordinator, Warren Maddox, during a conversation reflecting on the past year. Sitting down with Maddox at Bridge Street Café, a cultural hub of sorts in Sackville, we began a conversation that covered the events themselves, naysayers, paper work and Ottawa.

Looking back over the year, Maddox said “...90 per cent of what was originally outlined in 2006 was delivered.” Since each municipality has to apply for the grants a few years in advance, Maddox admitted that not everything originally planned was available two years later. However, the committee worked to supplement the unavailable events with “some other very, very worthy projects.”

"e last event to take place was moved due to weather and time concerns. "e Arts Hall of Fame is set to launch in the spring of this year, once the usual Sackville weather has tempered. Maddox explained that the Hall of Fame will be di!erent from what people might assume. “…What’s most commonly thought of is when

they do a sports wall of fame where it’s inside. What we’re looking at is doing it outside in a public space.” While the Hall of Fame will be the last o#cial event, it more than likely will not mean the end of Sackville’s large scale cultural endeavours.

“"e program itself was set up to allow a lot of community involvement, said Maddox, “What we did was something I’ve always believed in, in terms of not-profit funding…which is to provide [the community] with some core backup…to say ‘we’ve got your back, if you want to try something that’s a little bigger than what you would normally tackle…that is a little more out there than what you would normally tackle’.”

When speaking of endeavours he’d like to see continue, Maddox reflected with enthusiasm about Sappyfest, the annual music festival held in Sackville

during the summer. “…In about three years they’re going to be able to make it, so that marketing, and the word of mouth and the spin, all start feeding o! each other.” Maddox commented that the festival has some great infrastructure going for it and is gaining a wider audience base for local artists that extends far beyond Sackville.

“What really blew me away about Paul and John, and all the gang,” said Maddox, “…[was] 40 or 50 kilometres up the road, you have this monster event with…"e Eagles... and Sappyfest still managed to do something that no one else has ever been able to do, which is fill the town, and bring people in and there was money falling into economic development and there was great audience participation. It was just a fantastic time.”

Maddox mentioned that the influence of the funding on other areas in Sackville such as Tantramar Heritage and the Campbell Carriage Fund will had an e!ect for years to come. “Generations looking back and being able to see how incredibly

relevant Sackville was,” Maddox described the historical aspect of the celebrations just as passionately as he did the musical. “"ere are…legacies we hope will carry on.”

As with any government funded a!air, there are always guidelines to follow and people to please. “It wasn’t just [here is] a bunch of money ‘Wahoo, let’s go!’” said Maddox, “"ere were mandates to fulfil, to develop audiences, to try and show some growth in the tourism sector, to try to show economic development”. "e Cultural Capital committee worked with local groups and business owners to ensure an enjoyable experience for all involved.

After hesitating to ensure the delicacy of his answer, Maddox explained that there will always be those people who object. “Were there complaints?…Yeah, there was some complaints about some of the stu! we did. It was coming from people that, I think, even on their best day don’t like any kind of change what so ever. …Again it really comes back to the people that got it, got it and benefited from it,” said Maddox. He disdainfully commented that “We [would] get someone who comes in and goes ‘this is just really screwing up my tra#c flow’, well, you know, gee…my heart…it bleeds, go away.” It is obvious Maddox has dealt with his fair share of naysayers. Fortunately, the committee kept their goal in focus.

“I used to say to Janet Crawford on a regular basis when we were sitting down trying to develop a music program…and figure out who was going to do what, and how we were going to get this person, and could we get this person…‘we’re going to be damned if we do and damned if we don’t, so we might as well do something.’ So, that was a lot of the attitude, you know, let’s just make it happen.” Maddox also admitted that the committee was grateful for what whatever constructive criticism or advice they received.

One thing about which Maddox was quote vocal and visibly thankful for was the support the committee received. He named the town of Sackville and Mount Allison as supporters that “stepped up to the

After the paper work is done Talking about Sackville as a Cultural Capital with Warren MaddoxJulie StephensonArgosy Staff

...we’re going to be damned if we do and damned if we don’t, so we might as well do something...

“”

plate” continuously. Because the program was largely community based, Maddox identifies groups and individuals from Sackville and the surrounding areas as integral to the process.

“It was, ‘what can we do, how can we get involved?’ and it really wasn’t always ‘what can we do, how much money can I have.’” Said Maddox, though he admits with a smile it was not necessarily in that order. “In a lot of cases it was really a sincere ‘how can

I get involved, what can we do, this is great, I want to become part of this’ and it was great, it was wonderful.”

As any artist who has interacted with the government might attest, government funding comes with a series of requirements. "e Cultural Capital program is no di!erent. “I wish we could have done more, but there was a limit to what we could do and part of that limit was how that original proposal was developed and us having to maintain it and adhere to what Ottawa expected us to do. We weren’t masters of it by any stretch of the imagination,” said Maddox.

“["e process has] got to be tempered a bit, because dealing with Ottawa is…breathtaking!” exclaimed Maddox, “In complexity, in depth, in micro-managing budgets…it’s phenomenal.” It was evident in Maddox’s demeanour that he is, even now, still in disbelief over the amount of e!ort is needed specifically in dealing with the administrative side of the event. “…Since November 46 hours a week [for me] and 26 hours a week for Mary [Longpre] has been just interacting with Ottawa.” Maddox said that the contribution from Ottawa, which will total somewhere around $450,000 plus, has generated almost 200 pages of report material.

“It really is a double edged sword…but go into it with your eyes open. "ey ain’t giving you the money…you’ve got to work to get the money out of them…you go out and talk to

any artist, in and around the area, and …ask what is it like to deal with the Canada Council [for the Arts]…it is a hell of an onerous proposition.” Maddox maintains that any artist looking for funding from Canadian Heritage is going to be spending approximately 15 per cent of their time creating reports. “And that ain’t creative writing,” He says.

When talking about whether the recent arts cuts from Ottawa have a!ected Sackville’s year as a Cultural Capital, Maddox replied, “On a personal level, it pissed me o! to no end, but on a professional level here, it had no impact.” Maddox commented on the recent interview by Heritage Minister James Moore on the CBC’s Q cultural a!airs radio show. “"ey’re saying ‘we’ve increased the money to Canadian Heritage’, yeah, you have, but you dumped it into the Olympics.”

Maddox admits to supporting sports and does not deny that a more structured promotional model from Ottawa would be great. However, he is adamant that sports and arts and culture are two very di!erent areas of concern. “…you can’t lump the two together and say ‘there we go, we’ve just increased the budget.’ Well, no you didn’t. You cut a bunch of programs that people were using.” Maddox said his own personal issue was the capacity and sustainability grants that were cut from Canadian Heritage.

“"ose were specifically designed for arts organizations, to help develop strategies, models, [and] governance models, to make them more sustainable. To cut that funding is just ludicrous. "at should be increased. So, yeah, I am really sceptical of some of the spin that comes out of all of it.”

Ultimately it is no secret that Maddox and many others in the community and on the planning committee are extremely pleased with the outcome of Sackville as a Cultural Capital. Although at present there are no concrete plans to re-apply, Maddox admits it is a highly tempting idea. “I don’t know…these are quite an ambitious lot of people down here. I don’t know …say they do it again…I hope they give me a call.”

Sappyfest is a music festival with some “fresh, new Canadian talent.”

An internatonal event with lasting effects, Scultpture Sackville.

[!e process has] got to be tempered a bit, because dealing with Ottawa is…breathtaking!

“”

Little corner of poetryFamiliar Stories

Family-are stories."ey make me dissent,create social confusion,trick me twainand press me between ancient mammoths:State and Blood.

Behind me standsInfluenced DNA;In my face screamsa false duty to pride.And in this choiceless chaosI forget there is more—this is not Me.

To Catch A Wandering "ought

pigeonssubtly cooand dumbly forageto and fro.Iabsently stare,and know nothow to do.Moving,captive intentto know closely, sends them flying.

Penned by scribbles

Jessica Emin

struts.ca

HUMOURNot I, the man who drafted the Paris Peace Accord.

MTA Fire Safety Takes a Turn For the Worst!

Beatles Themed!By Madame Starbeam

ARIES (March 21-April 20) · Often, I find myself in times of trouble Aries. I often wonder when the broken hearted people living in the world will agree. You know there is still a chance that they will see. I guess weÊll just have to let it be.TAURUS (April 21-May 21) · PENNY LANE IS IN MY EARS AND IN MY EYES. I love that song. So much fun to scream in the streets.GEMINI (May 22-June 21) · ItÊs been a hard days night (as a hooker) cause IÊve been working like a dog (I have kinky customers). You know I work all day (investment bankers on their lunch breaks) to get you money to buy you things (like cocaine). DonÊt do drugs kids.CANCER (June 22-July 22) · IÊll tell you something, that I think youÊll understand. I wanna hold your hand. Please say to me, youÊll let me be your (wo)man. When I touch you(r naughty area) I feel happy inside. ItÊs a such a feeling that my love, I canÊt hide. Wink wink.LEO (July 23-August 23) · Ahh look at all the lonely people. ThereÊs Elenor Rigby. Someone tell her rice is on sale at the Save Easy.VIRGO (August 24-September 22) · You say you want a revolution, well. No dice.LIBRA (September 23-October 23) · Words are f lowing out like endless rain into a paper cup. Certainly not endless coffee. Man I need some coffee right now.SCORPIO (October 24-November 22) · Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away. Now it seems I have the clap. Yesterday came suddenly.SAGITTARIUS (November 23-December 21) · CanÊt buy me love. Wait, yes you can. My love is cheap.CAPRICORN (December 22-January 20) · I need somebody, not just anybody. So not you. BURN!AQUARIUS (January 21-February 18) · Have you guys seen Desmond? I thought he was in the market place but I canÊt seem to find him. I bet heÊs fooling aroundwith the whore Molly, the singer in the band. Bitch.PISCES (February 19-March 20) · Here comes the sun darlinÊ. Hang in there.

Well it seems that only 2 people in this University are truely Canadian

and they are...

Keith WalshTim Lang

22 THE ARGOSY• HUMOUR JANUARY 29, 2009

$$$ How to Spot a Commerce Student $$$Text/concept by the humour editors Graphics by Vivi Reich

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Always runs around looking

pretentious in a suit Acts like the CEO of the household

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Inherits 5 million dollars to

build a crappy lounge

Never seen without his/her Blackberry

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in the advice column are not the opinions of the Humour Editors, the Editors-In-Chief, or Argosy Publications, and are hopefully not the opinions of Stuart or Noah.

Dear Noah and Stuart, Help! I’m dating a commerce student! What should I do?

Noah, Sports Editor: Hmm, you’re dating a Commerce student? Wow, so tell me, do you enjoy those Sunday lunches at the country club? How about those vacations at the lake house? I had a friend who dated a commerce student once. She got dumped because she wasn’t interested in tennis or polo. The best thing to do when you are out with your Commerce lover, make sure that you remember your fancy clothes. I like to suit up when I’m trying to woo a Commerce lady. I also abandon

my usual plaid shirt and trucker hat and throw on my sexin’ suit and power shirt. That’s how I roll…the old money way.

Stuart, Sci/Tech Editor: Hmm. Interesting “problem.” I’ll be hon-est - for someone in my position, “dating” isn’t a problem to be weaseled out of. I can, I suppose, give you some advice on getting out of a relationship. Someone in my position definitely has that pinned down. Might I recommend show-ing him/her your voluminous collection of anime (if you don’t have one, feel free to borrow mine)? I also recommend making lots of demeaning puns at their expense (“Did those clothes Lacoste a lot? So you wanna hang out at ten-ish?”). If that doesn’t work, go work for an NGO. Vi

vi R

eich

Q&A with Noah and Stuart

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Geek Chic of the Week

At the risk of sounding too jingoistic, who doesn’t need a bulletproof insert for a backpack? Kids, that’s who. Also on the website - bulletproof du!e bags, a bulletproof cushion, and a bulletproof three-ring folio. As the product page says, “"at’s protection up to and including 44 Magnum!”

http://www.mychildspack.com/1417.html

January 29, 2009:Threat Level IIIa Backpack Panel

htttp://www.mychildspack.com

Mediscene A weekly leap to the frontiers of medicine

Researchers at Cedars Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles, California have discovered a potential new way to overturn a death sentence. By stimulating the immune system of rats, these scientists were able to coax their white cells to devour deadly brain tumours, some completely, with few negative side e#ects. "ey hope that the same can be done in humans.

Most people with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common and deadly form of brain cancer, do not live to see to see the first anniversary of their diagnosis; only one in twenty make it to the five year mark. "e cancer is so aggressive that current treatments are fairly powerless to stop its spread.

GBM possesses a few distinctive traits which make it extremely di$cult to treat: its tumours grow so rapidly they are often fairly advanced by the time a diagnosis is made, and a#ected, cancerous cells are highly mobile and often migrate through neighbouring tissue to establish themselves in other areas, making it a challenging task to remove them all through surgery alone. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy have thus far proven ine#ectual in removing these residual cells, which usually develop a resistance to these treatments. "e blood-brain barrier presents a physical barrier to chemotherapy treatments which cannot reach the tumour in any meaningful concentrations.

Not even evolution is on our side; in an adaptation meant to protect the brain from damaging immune responses, dendritic cells, which normally kick-start immune responses by alerting other immune cells to the presence of foreign bodies (or antigens), are naturally absent in the brain. As the tumour grows, it can even develop ways to outmanoeuvre the immune system; one such way is by reducing the production of proteins the immune system recognizes as foreign. Once it gets big enough, the tumour can a#ect memory, concentration, and balance

and causes headaches, seizures, and changes in mood.

By using gene therapy, researchers were able to overcome all of these barriers. Two proteins were inserted into a virus stripped of its disease-causing genes and injected into the tumour. One protein, called FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (Flt3L), attracts dendritic cells into the brain. "e second protein, herpes simplex virus type 1 thimidine kinase (HSV1-TK) was combined with antiviral gancyclovir (GCV) to kill the tumour cells. "e dendritic cells drawn into the brain by Flt3L detect the proteins released by the dying tumour cells. "e activated dendrites then alert other immune cells to the presence of a foreign body in the area, which swarm and destroy the tumour.

"e treatment not only shrank the tumours, increased survivorship to 70 per cent, and conferred long-term immunity to the rats tested in the lab, but also produced no significant negative side e#ects and helped to recover normal brain function and behavioural skills. "e technique proved e#ective in the treatment of other brain tumours as well.

Dr. Maria Castro, co-director of the Board of Governors Gene "erapeutic Research Institute and principal investigator of the study, called the findings “a significant milestone” in the treatment of GBMs. “"is therapy significantly improved survival rate, induced long-lasting systemic anti-tumor immunity, and resolved the neuropathological abnormalities caused by the tumors, which has been a stumbling block to many promising treatments.”

Dr. Castro was also hopeful for the potential ramifications of the treatment: “In the fairly near future, this combined gene therapy may work synergistically with current therapies, including chemotherapy and radiation therapy, allowing doctors to reduce dosages and avoid side e#ects. But with the safety, e#ectiveness and curative potential seen in these studies, we are hopeful that gene therapy for GBM could become the new standard of care.”

Kelly O’ConnorArgosy Staff

A brain scan reveals a glioblastoma multiforme tumour in the left hemisphere.

www.wnyneuro-oncology.org

Chicago going green?Jennifer MusgraveArgosy Correspondant

We’ve all seen how cities across North America have worked to change the fossil fuel dependent society we’ve become, in order to combat the nasty e#ects of global warming. Many have started their own initiatives due to the gross inaction of national governments to implement a proper plan.

However, one city in particular has decided to undertake a complete overhaul of its greenhouse gas producing system. "at’s right, the city with the nation’s worst air in terms of chemicals and toxins, Chicago, is going to go green.

In September, the Chicago government revealed its plan to reduce CO2 emissions to 25 per cent below 1990 levels by the year 2020. Now, that may seem a bit of jump for Chicago, but Mayor Richard Daley, one of the instigators of this plan, feels confident and has stated that they will reach their goal and continue to have reductions through to 2050, with a total emission reduction of 80 per cent.

Chicago is a good example of the typical U.S city – aging infrastructure, hulking factories, old power grids, and filled with citizens who have formed a strong addiction to fossil fuels. If this city is able to pull together and cut out its emissions, this would would set a great example for cities worldwide. Basically, if they can do it, anyone can.

"e men in charge of making the “Chicago Action Plan” a reality are Sadhu Johnson and Daley. Daley originally hired Johnson from the Cleveland Green Building Coalition five years ago, and together they decided to turn the image of Chicago around with the implementation of a green economy. In doing so, they hope to be able to attract alternative energy manufacturers and create thousands of new jobs in the process.

Basically, their plan to reduce Chicago’s annual emissions by 15

million metric tons is broken into thirds of five million each. One third of the reduction will come from renovating buildings to be more energy e$cient. Another third will be from upgrading pollution prevention technology in existing power plants, and making 25 per cent of their electricity output renewable. "e final third is broken up into a 20 per cent reduction, which will be made from creating better public and commercial transportation. "e rest will be from reducing industrial pollution and recycling old refrigerators and air conditioners that leak out hydro-fluorocarbons.

It’s a daunting task to say the least, but under these two, Chicago has made some green strides. Already they have extended Chicago’s bike lanes by 120 miles, encouraged 400 building owners to plant vegetation, and developed a waste-to-profit network by which the leftover plastics and chemicals of one company is turned into useful raw materials for another.

However, these actions are only a drop in the bucket, as Chicago emits about 37 million metric tons of greenhouse gases annually. Having 6000 roofs with vegetation on top only cuts down about 170,000 metric tons, while 500 miles of bike trails only takes out 10,000. All this only brings the total a reduction of a half a per cent. Despite this, the plan is still a step in the right direction for Chicago’s future.

Daley and Johnson have done their homework about which areas to tackle for green house gas emissions. "rough satellite images, they found that the hottest spots in Chicago for emissions were areas with poorly insulated houses and an absence of greenery. Buildings are accountable for about 70 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, while 21 per cent are from cars and trucks. With this information in mind, they were able to make a plan that would have the greatest impact on emissions.

Chicago’s action plan also contains

steps for home owners to take in reducing their emissions: replacing their light bulbs with incandescent ones (which saves $108 annually); unplugging the TV, rather than leaving it on standby (saves $23); turning down the thermostat three degrees in the winter; keeping car tires properly inflated; and driving 10 miles fewer each week. If even half of Chicago followed this plan, 800,000 metric tons in emissions would be saved yearly.

Despite the hope that comes from this plan, there are still some flaws and skepticism as to whether or not Daley will be able to follow through with his word.

Many environmentalists are disappointed with Daley for not addressing the big polluters in the city, like the Crawford and Fish coal plants. "ese industries are emitting about 4.8 million tons of CO2 a year, which would take care of one third of the reductions if it were eliminated.

"e mayor could theoretically shut them down if they were to create a mandate that they must install costly scrubbers for nitrogen and sulphur oxide emissions, e#ectively putting them out of business with the cost. However, in reality, the plan can only suggest they install the scrubbers.

Another industry that is also being ignored is the Midway airport, however, this has become a common trend in most cities due to the fact that the airlines are an important source of wealth for the city. "is creates another issue for fulfilling Chicago’s green plan as extending bus and train routes requires state and federal funds which aren’t likely to happen. Another issue, and perhaps the greatest is that in order for Chicago to meet its 2020 targets 40 per cent of the residential and commercial building owners have to participate in the plan. However, it’s too soon to be dismissing Chicago’s plan just yet, or the resolve of Daley. "e man is determined, but only time will tell whether all this is just hot air or a real promise for the future.

Mayor Daley to turn Chicago green by the year 2020

SPORTS & FITNESS

!e Mount Allison basketball teams each played a pair of games this past weekend in ACAA action, and both teams moved up in the standings, with the women splitting their games, and the men winning both.

Saturday, the Mounties played in Truro against the Nova Scotia Agricultural College Rams. !e women’s game saw the Mounties come away with an easy 74-45 win, with Kristen Atkins’ 14 points leading the way. Marlon Smith had nine points, and Shannon Parlee, Catherine Cox, and Jenna Tracey each had eight.

!e men’s game was a little closer, but the Mounties still managed a comfortable 68-50 victory. Josh Graham led the way for the Mounties with a game-high 15 points, while Je" Sadler had 13, and Dennis Hopper 12.

Sunday afternoon the Mounties played host to the Saint !omas Tommies. !e women’s Tommies sat in second place coming into the game, one game ahead of the Mounties. !e Tommies would expand their lead, winning 63-53 in front of an enthusiastic Mt. A crowd.

!e Mounties got out to a quick 12-2 lead, which was quickly relinquished. Before the end of the first quarter,

Marlon Smith sank a three-pointer, and Allie Mayberry a long two-pointer to put the Mounties ahead 19-16 after one quarter.

Another Smith three-pointer in the second put the Mounties up by eight, but again STU came back, and a buzzer beater cut the lead to 37-35 at halftime.

!e Tommies gained the lead halfway through the third quarter, and did not give it up, leading the rest of the way.

A scary incident in the fourth quarter had Mountie fans worried. Rookie and Sackville native Jenny Robinson took a charge in the defensive zone, and hit her head on the floor. She seemed to recover, following the play down into the other end. As the teams were setting up for an inbound play, she

suddenly collapsed to the floor. She remained on the court for several

minutes, being attended to by Mountie therapist Al MacFarlane, who called in paramedics within moments of Robinson’s fall. She was taken away on a stretcher to the hospital in Moncton. She has since returned home, and is

expected to make a full recovery.Smith led the Mounties with 11

points, while Parlee scored ten. Rebecca Himmelman and Sarah Sutherland chipped in with eight.

In the men’s game that followed, the Mounties had a bit of an easier go, emerging victorious 82-70. Although falling behind early on, the Mounties got back into it with a Kent Matheson three-pointer. Stephen Bohan put the Mounties in the lead, and Josh Graham extended the lead with a couple of floaters in close. Another three by Kylan Estabrooks put the Mounties ahead 23-14 after the first.

!e Mounties wasted no time in the second quarter, with Dennis Hopper forcing a steal and going end-to-end for an easy layup, and then fighting hard down low for another layup to put the lead at 11. STU would make a trio of three-pointers in a row to cut into the lead, but Matheson and Graham answered with threes of their own. Je" Sadler made a pair of free throws with 0.7 seconds left in the half to make the score 48-33 at the break.

!e third quarter saw much of the same from both teams, with the Mounties building up big leads only to see the Tommies drain three-pointers to keep themselves in the game. Matheson made another three to extend the lead, and a great pass from Sadler to Graham led to another Graham layup. Kevin Monaghan also

Basketball Mounties near perfect on weekendFrightening incident scares Lady Mounties Saturday’s Scores

Women

7445

Men

6850

Sunday’s ScoresWomen

6353

Men

8270

[Robinson] was taken away on a stretcher to the hospital in Moncton. She has since returned home, and is expected to make a full recovery.

“”

made a nice-looking reverse layup to extend the lead to 17 at the end of three quarters.

!e fourth saw that lead cut swiftly down to six points, and the Mounties were unable to score until four minutes had passed in the quarter. !e Mounties got going again when Matheson had a huge block on defence, leading to his layup at the other end, and they never looked back.

Graham led the Mounties with 16 points, and also had five rebounds, while Matheson continued his steady play with 15 points, ten rebounds, and three assists. Bohan had 11 points and eight rebounds, Sadler scored ten points, and the always reliable Hopper chipped in with eight.

!e women’s Mounties sit in third place, with a five-game lead over fourth-place King’s College. !ey also sit two games behind the Tommies, who have played one more game than Mt. A, who probably has the easier schedule of the two.

!e men moved into second place on the weekend, passing Holland College. !e Mounties have played two more games than the latter, but all of the Mounties’ remaining games except two are against teams with a record below .500.

!is Saturday the Mounties will play host to the UNBSJ Seawolves. !e women’s tip-o" is at 2:00 pm, and the men will follow at 4:00 pm.

Wray PerkinArgosy Staff

!e women’s hockey Mounties lost a pair of games over the weekend, knocking them out of a playo" spot for the time being.

Friday night at St. FX, the Mounties were outshot 57-9 by the number two team in the AUS en route to a 6-0 loss, and their third shutout loss in a row.

Sophomore goaltender Alison Heard stopped 51 of 57 shots in the loss, dropping her record to 0-8 on the season. Katie Harvieux stopped all nine shots she faced in net for St. FX.

!e X-Women got a pair of goals from Erin Brophy, and five other skaters had multiple points in the win.

Less than 24 hours later, the Mounties faced o" at home against the UPEI Panthers, and although playing

better than the three previous games, the Mounties still found themselves on the low end of the scoreboard in a 3-1 game.

!e Mounties came out firing, with two good chances in the first 90 seconds, including a breakaway opportunity by Jenna Briggs.

Halfway through the period, the Mounties found the scoreboard on the powerplay when Alison Greene banged home a centering pass from her sister Jillian Greene. UPEI would answer less than two minutes later, however, tying things up at one.

!e Mounties got some outstanding goaltending from Meghan Corley-Byrne, who stopped 29 of 32 shots, including multiple diving saves and point-blank stops on players left alone in front.

UPEI took the lead early in the second, 14 seconds into a two-man

advantage. Mount Allison would spend nearly five of the first seven minutes of the period on the penalty kill.

Mt. A got its own two-man advantage later in the period, but got no shots on goal even though creating a couple of good chances.

At the tail end of the third period, UPEI sealed the deal with another powerplay goal with 71 seconds remaining in regulation.

“As the game went along, we got more intensity,” said Mounties’ coach Jack Drover. “We were making some things happen. Meghan played an excellent game in net, the first period

in particular.”!e Panthers outshot the

As the game went along, we got more intensity. We were making some things happen.“

”

Mounties 32-23, and went 2-for-7 on the powerplay, while the Mounties mustered only six shots on eight powerplay opportunities, including Greene’s goal.

!e Mounties are now in the home stretch with nine games remaining in the regular season. Currently, they sit in seventh place, one point behind the Panthers and the Huskies. All three teams are battling for the final two playo" spots, and have all played 15 games. Since the Panthers are playing host to the AUS championships, they are automatically entered into the tournament, leaving the Mounties and Huskies battling for the final playo" spot.

!e Mounties have two upcoming road games, Saturday afternoon against the number one team in the AUS, the U de M Aigles Bleus, and Sunday afternoon at Saint !omas.

Saturday’s Score

06

Sunday’s Score

13

Hockey Mounties drop to 7thStill fighting for playo" spotWray PerkinArgosy Staff

Far Left: Josh Graham looks for an open teammate in Sunday’s action against STU.

Left: Natalie Owens tries to shake a STU defender in Sunday’s loss over the visiting Tommies.

Callan Field Callan Field

25THE ARGOSY • SPORTS & FITNESSJANUARY 29, 2009

Montreal is a city known for its love of hockey. And, boy was that love alive last weekend. Montreal played host to the 2009 NHL All-Star Weekend. After two days of celebrations, the big events everyone had been waiting for finally began on Saturday with the Honda NHL SuperSkills Competition.

!e evening at the Bell Centre began with a mini-concert, but it only really started when the players were announced and skated out onto the ice. !e Western Conference skaters were introduced first with the cheers from the crowd growing loud for Montrealer Jean-Sébastien Guigère, goalie for Anaheim, and Sheldon Souray, formerly of the Montreal Canadiens, currently with the Edmonton Oilers. !e crowd erupted into a frenzy when the Easter Conference team was announced. First onto the ice was Mark Streit, who has good memories of playing for Montreal. Vincent Lecavalier, the Quebec-born star of the Tampa Bay Lightning, received a standing ovation from the crowd. Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals and Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins, as well as Montreal-born Tampa Bay forward Martin St. Louis, were cheered for loudly on arrival. Tomas Kaberle of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Zdeno Chara, captain of the Boston Bruins, were booed slightly, however the overall reception was positive. Last to be announced were the four All-Stars from the Montreal Canadiens. !e crowd stood as Mike Komisarek, Andrei Markov, Alexei Kovalev, and Carey Price emerged from the dressing rooms. !e atmosphere was electric, both in the stands and on ice. NHL Fastest Skater

!e first event to take place was NHL Fastest Skater, where Zach Parise (New Jersey Devils), Je" Carter (Philadelphia Flyers), Brian Campbell (Chicago Blackhawks), Jay Bouwmeester (Florida Panthers), Mason Raymond (Vancouver Canucks), and Andrew Cogliano (Edmonton Oilers) competed for bragging rights as the fastest skater in the NHL. !e surprise winner was 21-year-old Cogliano who completed his lap in 14.31 seconds. !e next fastest skater was Je" Carter, whose time was 14.43 seconds.NHL Breakaway Challenge

Next came NHL Fan Fav Breakaway

Challenge, where each participant had one minute to make as many attempts as possible at scoring. !e main goal was to impress the audience with great moves, as fans were responsible for voting via text message. Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks) went first, attempting but failing to score with the wrong end of his hockey stick. He scored one goal right before his time ran out. Martin St. Louis was up next. He tried out some fancy twirls, but failed to defeat the goalie. Ryan Getzlaf (Anaheim Ducks) scored twice, in one case skating around the net before shooting the puck in the top. !en came Alex Kovalev of the Montreal Canadiens, who tried to score twice by bouncing the puck between his hockey stick and his shoulder. Finally, he got the puck in on his third try, by twirling around with what can only be described as Russian grace, earning great cheers from the crowd. He scored again with a move obviously inspired by soccer, a sport he quite enjoys. Steven Stamkos (Tampa Bay Lightning) made several attempts at scoring, but ultimately failed, despite impressing the crowd with some sleek moves. Last, but not least, was last year’s Breakaway Challenge winner, Alexander Ovechkin (Washington Capitals), who started by rolling on the ground, then zigzagging. After his third unsuccessful try, Ovechkin skated over to the bench, where Evgeni Malkin, with whom is rumoured to have a bitter rivalry, handed him a Tilley hat adorned with the Canadian flag, along with white-rimmed sunglasses. He then grabbed a second hockey stick and proceeded to score.

Ovechkin’s stunt let the audience see the entertainer behind the athlete. He later said he decided to embellish his act with props, because he didn’t feel he really had the skills for such a competition. When the result was announced 40 minutes later, it came as no surprise that the young Russian had one the event for a second time. He received 42.8 per cent of the fan votes, more than twice as many as runner up Alex Kovalev, who got on 19.7 per cent of votes. Kovalev held no grudge, but did comment that he “didn’t come here to win a fashion show.”Youngstars Game

!e third SuperSkills event was the Youngstars Game, a Sophomore vs. Rookie Challenge, in which first- and second-year players played three-on-three hockey for three six-minute periods. !e rookies opened the scoring, with Patrik Berglund defeating Carey Price. David Bolland soon evened the

score by getting the puck past Pekka Rinne. By the end of the first period, the score was 3-1 for the rookies. !e second period began with another goal against Price, followed by two goals scored by the sophomore team. !e rookies then went on to make two more goals, bringing the score to 6-3. With just over four seconds left in the second period, Marc Staal scored the sophomores’ fourth goal. While there seemed to be only enough time for a face-o", Steven Stamkos sent the puck past a surprised Price, bringing the period to an end with the score 7-4 in favour of the rookies. !e third period saw a similar trend, with the rookie team scoring twice more, and the sophomores only scoring once. !e final score was 9-5 for the rookies. Boston Bruins rookie Blake Wheeler took home the MVP trophy for the game, for his three goals and one assist.Accuracy Shooting

!e fourth event was the Accuracy Shooting, in which eight players had a limited time to shoot up eight pucks in an attempt to touch four targets, placed on the extremities of a net. Evgeni Malkin and Dany Heatley both hit all four targets in that many tries, so they proceeded to a tie-breaker. Malkin went first and hit three targets in four attempts. Heatley only hit two targets, thus making Malkin the winner. !e young Russian player looked genuinely happy, and somewhat surprised, to win. Despite his broken English, he was able to communicate his joy to reporters.NHL Hardest Shot

!e second-to-last event was the NHL Hardest Shot, which saw six players take two shots on goal from 30 feet away. Mark Streit started out with a 98.3 mph shot, but was soon beaten by Shea Weber, who clocked 103.4 mph, setting quite a high standard. Mike Komisarek’s score was respectable, as was Vincent Lecavalier’s, but neither produced anything amazing. Sheldon Souray came close with 102.3 mph, but it seemed Weber would be taking home the trophy. !at is, until Zdeno Chara took his second shot—he hit the puck at 105.4 mph, defeating the previous record set in 1993.NHL Elimination Shootout

!e evening ended with the NHL Elimination Shootout, where each player took a shot at alternating goalies. !e twelve players who survived the first round continued until there were only three left: Shane Doan, Marc Savard and Milan Heijduk. None of the scored the first two times around,

then Doan and Savard both scored. Doan beat Jean-Sébastien Giguère in the tie-breaker, but Savard was robbed of a goal by Henrik Lundqvist. Doan appeared radiant as he accepted the award.NHL All-Star Game

Finally, on Sunday, came the 57th NHL All-Star Game. It began with an impressive display by Cirque Éloize, complete with a violin-playing trapeze artist. Don Cherry himself declared Montreal puts on the best hockey show. !en, the Western Conference coaches and players were introduced to thunderous applause. !e noise level peaked, however, when the Eastern Conference team was presented. Often, the applause began before the player’s name had fully been pronounced. !e starters for both conferences were saved for last. First to be introduced for the Eastern conference was Sidney Crosby, who was unable to play due to injury. Once everyone was on the ice, kids in matching uniforms joined each player for the singing of the Canadian and American National Anthems.

!e game began at a fast pace, which grew as it went along. Due to the nature of the game, players took extra care to avoid possible injury—thus, there was no checking, limiting the chances of penalties being called. Indeed, there was no animosity among the players, who all seemed to be there to have a good time. Keith Tkachuk scored the first goal for the Western Conference, defeating Carey Price at 1:16 in the first period. Many great saves were made by Price and Western Conference starting goalie Jean-Sébastien Giguère, before Ovechkin evened the score. Eric Staal scored the Eastern Conference’s second goal, assisted by Malkin and Kovalev. !roughout the game, great Canadiens players, such as Serge Savard and Yvan Cournoyer, were welcomed to the Bell Centre during breaks. Kovalev brought the score to 3-1 unassisted on a breakaway. With 36.8 seconds left in the first period, defenseman Andrei Markov made it 4-1 for the Eastern Conference team. Before the period ended, however, Patrick Marleau retaliated, bringing the score to 4-2. Carey Price redeemed himself by only letting in two goals, as opposed to the nine he conceded during the Youngstars game the previous evening.!e second period net minders were Henrik Lundqvist (Eastern Conference) and Niklas Backstrom (Western Conference). Goals just seemed to keep happening, first with the Eastern Conference scoring twice,

then being matched by their opponents, to bring the score to 6-4. Malkin then scored the Eastern Conference’s seventh goal, but the other team quickly rallied a tie. Kovalev retook the lead with another breakaway goal, but Jarome Iginla evened the score before the end of the period.!e final period of the game saw Roberto Luongo in the net opposite Tim !omas. Less than a minute in, !omas let the puck in, giving the Western Conference the lead. Dany Heatley turned it back into a tie-game, but not for long. Jonathan Toews scored the Western Conference’s tenth goal. St. Louis eventually got one past Luongo, but a Kane breakaway once again gave the West the lead. With a few minutes of play left, Bouwmeester tied the game with a pass from Ovechkin.With the score even, the game went into four-on-four overtime, during which both goalies made some very impressive saves. !e only penalty of the game (and indeed the first in many years) was called during overtime, against Mike Komisarek of the Eastern Conference team. He laughed sheepishly as he entered the box, but seemed perfectly happy. !e next two minutes of four-on-three were tense, but !omas and his team succeeded in fending o" their opponents. !e crowd gave the players a standing ovation as the overtime ended.!e first player to take a shot in the shootout was favourite Lecavalier, whose attempt was easily blocked by Luongo. !omas then made the save on Shane Doan. Kovalev beat Luongo, earning himself a hat trick. Rick Nash’s try was thwarted by !omas. Ovechkin then proceeded to score the winning goal for the Eastern Conference. Both teams were smiling as the crowd rose to their feet.NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and the president of Honda Canada joined the players on the ice to hand over the award for MVP as well as the keys to a Honda SUV. Unsurprisingly, the award went to Alex Kovalev, who had made no secret of the fact that he wanted to win it. Kovy had two goals, one assist and seven shots on goal during the game. In an interview with the press, Kovalev said, “Being named for the All-Star Game, then the starting lineup, then the Captain, then this. I’m not going to forget it.” He added that he plans to sell the vehicle and give the money to his charity.

All in all, everyone, players and fans alike, left the celebration happy.

NHL All-Star WeekendEastern Conference wins 12-11 in shootout

Anastasia LlewellynArgosy Correspondent

Far Left: Martin St. Louis scoots the puck past Roberto Luongo.

Middle: Evgeni Malkin gives his countrymate Alex Ovechkin a squirt of Gatorade before his breakaway challenge

Right: Alex Ovechkin scores the winning goal in the shootout for the East against Luongo.www.si.com www.si.com www.si.com

26 THE ARGOSY • SPORTS & FITNESS JANUARY 29, 2009

!e DeEvolution of Kevin GarnettWith the Celtics assaulting

opponents as of late, I can’t help but think about how Kevin Garnett’s perception has changed so dramatically. In the past, Garnett was always a player with the skills and desire to succeed, but his Minnesota teams always lacked a killer instinct. Crunch time would come and Garnett would almost always defer to his teammates. !ere’s nothing wrong with that when Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are on the floor with you, but when your team’s next best options are Latre...Tangent!

As I was typing the previous sentence, I had an eye on the Raptors/Kings game when, toward the end of the 3rd quarter, Sacramento’s Francisco Garcia shoved Andrea Bargnani from behind under the basket. As I’ve talked about before, in a perfect world, when a reserve player from a shitty team pushes one of the marquee players from another, in the words of the blowhard Aspen ski-instructor in South Park, “You’re gonna have a bad time.”

However, as we’ve seen with recent Raps games, this team has no intentions to defend themselves. No, the Raptors have proven that, when given the choice, they will always opt to get in the proverbial fetal position

and play dead… Until now. Perhaps fueled by the teams ten plus point lead at the time or their recent impressive win over the equally unimpressive Bulls, Bargnani stood up to Garcia and did the whole Rocky/Drago stare-down-in-the-middle-of-the-ring thing. It was cool. Joey Graham even came over as hired muscle, and Bargnani proceeded to talk trash to Garcia in Italian while shooting his free throws (Garcia was assessed a technical for his move). !e Raptors have been a lot more physical in the past couple of games, and that most definitely has something to do with the return of the confrontational (ask the fan on the court from the Malace at the Palace) Jermaine O’Neal. If (when) the Raps deal O’Neal, it will likely be for the better, considering the emergence of Bargnani, but the team will definitely have to address losing the toughest player on a team bereft of toughness. Back to the point:

Gone are the days where we consider Garnett “soft” down the stretch. Now he’s in a role where he can be a significant contributor in crunch time without needing to shoot the ball- which is just how he likes it- and he’s the emotional leader of maybe the best team in the NBA. Soft? Definitely not. But Garnett has known that for years, as displayed in this 2002 interview with ESPN’s Chris Palmer.

“Q: Word on the street is that you’re soft in the fourth quarter. KG: F— you talkin’ about? !at’s not what I hear. Q: What do you hear? KG: !at KG is the mother—ing shit. N—-s know .”Other highlights of the interview included:“Q: Are you and Wally (Szczerbiak) better than Kobe and Shaq?KG: [Long pause] No … it hurts me to say it but we’re not. I just … [sigh] … we just aren’t.”And, “Moments later, KG was in his Ferrari Spyder heading home to shower and change.”You’ve gotta love the NBA.

Send your questions, comments, or gushing fan mail to dczarum@mta.ca

DCZ for threeComments on the past week in the NBADavid Charles ZarumArgosy Correspondent

You’ve been running the treadmill like mad and peddling those bikes like crazy, but you still have “the bulge.” Sorry, but there’s only one way to lose it and that is through “abdominal workouts.” In this article, you’ll learn a 15 minute workout for the abs that will, if done regularly, tone and strengthen the abdominal area.

Everybody knows how to do sit-ups, but, although helpful, sit-ups alone won’t tone the entire abdominal area. Crunches are also a great exercise and easier than sit-ups. To do crunches, you must be in the sit-up position on the floor and begin the motion, except stop halfway through. A crunch is a half sit-up that should be done slowly and with control. Try side crunches, where you have your hands behind your head and bring your left elbow towards your right knee and vice versa. You should start o" with at least 10-20 crunches per rep and work your way up to 40.

Next, bring your knees up over your stomach while lying on your back. Don’t bring them down to your stomach, but keep them comfortably above. Now straighten one leg slowly while keeping it at the same height as the other leg, and then bring it back. Repeat with the other leg. While this seems easy, and resembles the motion of biking, remember not to move your legs in a circular pattern, but keep them constantly at the same height. Start by doing 20, and work your way up to 40 or more, and do several reps. You may not feel anything at first, but eventually you will feel the burn.

Another, more di#cult ab exercise requires you to lay flat on your back on the ground with your legs stretched out. Now, keeping your legs together, lift them until they are straight in the air and bring them back down. While doing this keep your back pressed against the floor to prevent hurting the lower back. Repeat this motion again. If it is too di#cult, alternate doing a couple with other ab exercises. Another version of this is to start the same and bring your legs o" the ground and to stop and hold when they are about a foot o" the ground. A more di#cult way to do this exercise would be to move the top of your body up and down with your arms extended straight out, while doing the same with your legs.

My final exercise is the plank. !is is the best all-around core exercise and if you only have time for one, then this is it. !e plank is when you prop yourself up o" the ground by your forearms and feet, while facing downwards. You have to clench your ab and butt muscles to keep yourself perfectly straight, like a plank, and to prevent your butt from sticking up. You should try to hold this for at least 20 seconds and work your way up to longer times.!ese are only a few exercises that you can do to build your abs while not leaving your room. You can do these after a gym workout or in the morning before class. !e gym also has a couple of machines for abdominal workouts and there’s always working with the exercise balls as well (i.e. crunches on them). If you use these exercises and push yourself to work harder each time, then you’ll quickly be on your way to losing flab and gaining some abs.

Lose the flab, gain some absNicole ButlerArgosy Contributor

Victory without honourA high school basketball coach in Texas was fired this past week for refusing to apologize for his team’s 100-0 thumping of an opposing team. !e coach, Micah Grimes, defended the victory and in a statement to the Dallas Morning News said that “my girls played with honor and integrity.” !e team they defeated, the Dallas Academy has not won a game in five years and is in fact, a small private school for students with learning disabilities. Once the news of the victory became public, the winning team, the Covenant School, issued an apology and asked the league to forfeit the victory because “victory without honour is a great loss.”Where should teams draw the line in games? After the Rose Bowl this year and USC’s thumping of Penn State, my best friend commented that he wishes that Peter Carroll, the USC

coach would allow his team to run up the score more often. Should a clearly superior team be conscious of their opponents feelings or should they play hard, despite the score? In my brief career as a high school athlete, I know that I would have been more hurt if a player had “played down” to my ability in order to make me feel like the match was more competitive. !e girls from the Dallas Academy felt the same way, with players saying that they were playing for more than the win. Dallas Academy player Lauren Click put it best when she said “Sports are basically about learning leadership, learning how to deal with other people. It’s not just about winning.”Australian Open Update

Is anyone else really excited for the Andy Roddick - Roger Federer match-up that is coming up? A-Rod managed to knock o" Novak Djokovic, the defending champ and the player who I was predicting to win the tournament. Federer, after being pushed to five rounds by Tomas Berdych, is looking like the Roger of Old. I hate Roger

Federer with a passion. His stupid hair, stupid humbleness, everything about that man, I despise. I can admit that I have a definite tennis crush on Rafael Nadal. After seeing him up close two years ago in Montreal, how could I not? Federer always acts so cool with his amazing shots just coming naturally and shrugging them o" like they are no big deal. With Nadal, you can see the passion and the intensity and honestly, tennis needs more of that.Steroids

I’m tired of having to hear about Roger Clemens and the whole “Did he lie under oath to a grand jury?” Major league sports have come a long way in cleaning up their steroids practices, thanks in part to the Mitchell Report conducted by Senator Mitchell for Major League Baseball. Interestingly, Senator Mitchell is currently serving as President Barack Obama’s envoy to the Middle East, traveling around the region in hopes of calming the tensions there.

From the Sports desk...Reflections on the past week in sportsNoah KowalskiArgosy Staff

ARGOSY MEETINGSTHURSDAY 5:30 PM3RD FLOOR WALLY-MAC NOW WITH FREE WI-FI!

www.pe.com

www.deathrattlesports.com www.egspots.chSenator Mitchell now heads from the baseball diamond to a much scarier playing field: the Middle East

How long will Roger Federer’s resurgence last?

27THE ARGOSY • SPORTS & FITNESSJANUARY 29, 2009

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Contact us if you would like to meet one of our staff on your campus.

Athlete of the Week

Mitchell PetersSix-foot-two Mitchell Peters of the Swimming Mounties has been honoured as MountAllison’s Athlete of the Week for his performance in the UNB pool against fourother AUS teams.

In the AUS pre-championship meet, Peters swam for two silvers and a bronze inthe 200 Free, the 400 Free, and the 50 Fly respectively. To date, Peters isonly one of two male swimmers in New Brunswick who have already turned in a qualifying time for the 2009 Canada Games.

A resident of Sackville, NB, Peters is a former student at Tantramar RegionalHigh School and a past eight-time

MVP with the Sackville Swim Club, coached by his father, and current Mounties’ coach, John Peters. Peters is also a memberof Mount Allison’s championship men’s Atlantic Colleges Athletic Association’s (ACAA) cross-country team, and a former eight-time provincial all-star swimmer for New Brunswick.

Along with Olympic aspirations, Peters is currently enrolled in first-yearArts and majors in archaeology at Mount Allison.

Other nominees were: Caila Henderson (volleyball), Kristen Atkins (basketball), Josh Graham (basketball), and Andrea Switalski (hockey).

Mountie Sports WeekSaturday, January 31st

Women’s Basketball vs. UNBSJ; 2:00 PMMen’s Basketball vs. UNBSJ; 4:00 PM

Hockey @ UdeM; 3:00 PM

VS

@

Sunday, February 1stBadminton @ Holland College; 10:00 AM

Volleyball @ MSVU; 2:00 PM

@Hockey @ STU; 2:00 PM

@Wednesday, February 4th

Volleyball vs. STU; 7:00 PM

VS

By the numbers...3,000!e number of cows it takes to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year’s supply of balls£4.5mTransfer fee AC Milan is willing to pay to keep David Beckham, who is currently on loan from the L.A. Galaxy.

Sue Seaborn

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