Issue 12, Vol 141, The Brunswickan

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arts

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sports

opinions

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The Brunswickan

Volume 141 Issue 12 • Canada’s Oldest Official Student Publication • UNB Fredericton’s Student Paper • Nov. 21, 2007

Kings of the Hill

Rock for Life by Josh O’Kane

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

The UNB Varsity Reds edged the St. Thomas Tommies 3-2 in men`s hockey action on Friday night. Despite firing 45 shots at the STU goal, UNB had to hold on for a shootout before finally burying their cross-campus rivals. Denny Johnston and Kyle Bailey scored for the Reds, while Mike Ouzas turned aside 20 shots, as well as two shootout attempts, to preserve the victory. Justin DaCosta opened the shootout with a goal, before Brad Efthimiou scored the shootout winner for UNB. The Varsity Reds improved to 11-0-0 on the season. For more on the 151st edition of the Battle of the Hill, see Sports, Page 11.

Survivor spreads message of understanding by Brad Conley with files from Brian Munn

The only value in the mistake we have made is that we can learn from them, and avoid repeating them in the future. This was the message being shared by Elly Gotz, a Holocaust survivor who spoke last week at UNB. Mr. Gotz was the primary speaker at ‘Remembering Dachau to Defend Darfur’, a lecture hosted by the UNB chapter of Students Helping Others Understand Tolerance (SHOUT) and sponsored by the UNB Student Union. A retired businessman and electronics engineer, Gotz is a volunteer speaker and educator at the Holocaust Centre

in Toronto. After the war, he lived in Germany, Norway, Rhodesia, and South Africa before coming to Canada in 1964 with his wife of 50 years, Esme, and their three children. Gotz was born in 1928 and raised in Kovno, Lithuania where he was forced to live in the Kovno ghetto for much of the war. In 1943, he was transferred to the Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany, where he was a labourer until being liberated by American troops. While the subject matter was depressing, Gotz spoke at length about his childhood, experiences in the ghetto, and the subsequent skills he learned had helped him survive the Holocaust. Perhaps the most shocking aspect of his story was the conclusion. After the war, Gotz, who had been with his father in Dachau, was able to find his mother, who had survived another camp. It was rare enough that he survived; that his entire family had as well is unbelievable. Although Mr. Gotz spoke at length about his time in Dachau, and even

how his life had changed after the war, his purpose in coming to UNB was not simply to tell a story. Rather, he was in Fredericton to show those in attendance that we need to learn from our past mistakes, and that we are not even close to doing this yet. Gotz spoke of other genocides, such as the Armenian and Rwandan genocides, and acknowledged that genocide is happening right now in the eastern part of the Sudan, in the province of Darfur. Gotz told the large, attentive audience about the horrors of genocide, and that it is up to humanity to do something about it. Unfortunately, he added, not enough is currently being done to stop the genocide in Darfur. The United Nations has denied any attempt to put an end to it and there has not been enough international support to bring in troops to help stop the atrocities that are occurring. As part of the lecture, Bill Chernin, the Director of University Affairs for the Atlantic Jewish Council, made a

presentation on the situation in Sudan. He urged everyone in the audience to place a call to their MPs, saying that only when the people press the government, will the government respond. Kurt Goddard, the President of SHOUT UNB, was extremely pleased with the event and in particular, the turnout. “I think the event went very well. We were really impressed by the amount of students and people from the community that came out to hear Mr. Gotz speak. We estimate that there were close to 150 people present Wednesday evening,” said Goddard. While it was great that so many people attended, what was more important, commented Goddard, is that they were actually getting the right message. “Many people commented afterwards that they had not been aware of the extent of the crisis in the Darfur. Our hope now is that people take the suggestions from the lecture and begin to find ways to take action on the issue of genocide in Darfur.”

Two years ago, former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations, Stephen Lewis, came to speak at UNB. The presentation was so packed that then-freshman Brian Beaudette couldn’t get in, so he went online to find out what was so special about Stephen Lewis. After learning about the Stephen Lewis Foundation and its grassroots approach to easing the pain of HIV/ AIDS victims in Africa, he decided he truly wanted to assist in the cause. Having just started a band, he decided that the best way to spread the word and raise money for the Foundation would be with a concert – and last November, Rock for Life was born. “We decided to, in the next year, to put on a concert using our band and other bands around campus to try and raise money for the cause,” says Beaudette. This year, the concert is to become an annual event. On November 23, in the Student Union Building cafeteria, seven acts will take the stage to live to rock, and rock to live. The concert had over 600 people in attendance last year, and Beaudette says that this year could take that even further. “I think we can sell out,” says Beaudette. Last year, the event raised more than $3,000, with over $2,000 of that donated to the Stephen Lewis Foundation after costs. This year, says Beaudette, he’s hoping to raise over $5,000. “It’s been easier because it’s not the first year anymore. We know what we did last year and we know how to improve on it.” Former Student Union President Jessica Stutt was also involved in the founding and organization of Rock for Life last year, and is continuing to co-organize this year’s event. Beaudette says Stutt has seen a strong buzz about the event through the ticket vendors at The Paper Trail. “Even when they weren’t on sale, people were hounding them for tickets,” says Beaudette. “The SUB’s maximum capacity is 1,000 people. If we do sell out this year, that would be a good sign for next year. We’re thinking of bigger and better places all the time.” He says that the next step for growth would to be the Aitken Centre, as it would allow Rock for Life to be an event open to the public, as opposed to just UNB, STU, and NBCC students. Beaudette hopes that goal can be reached by next year, and if not, the year after. The Fredericton public isn’t the only

group to which he wants to open the event. “I hope we’ll be able to sell out and move to a bigger venue, and open it up to the province and hopefully eventually Canada, worldwide. That’s the goal.” Various other parties have gone into helping the event and the cause this year. Aitken House, where Beaudette is President, recently held a wet/dry event at the Social Club, with all proceeds going to the Stephen Lewis Foundation. There has been some support from around the province as well – one person from NBCC Miramichi is helping to support the cause from her end. “One of the professors from NBCC heard about it from one of the people that I know up there. She loved the idea, and what they’re doing is a coffee house to help fundraise for Rock for Life, and the money will go to the Stephen Lewis Foundation… they’re actually sending out busses for people from their school to come out and see Rock for Life.”

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

Brian Beaudette is co-organizer of Rock for Life, and is one third of the band Darwin. The success of the concert last year has led several acts to approach Beaudette about being on the bill, which he says is great. He will be playing the show himself, as part of the act Darwin, alongside Cory Vatcher and Tyler McDonnell. Beaudette says that the Rock for Life concert has the potential to grow and mean something to a much greater audience. “We have things like Live 8 and Live Aid that happen once to raise awareness, then people forgot about them. I want to do something that can remind people every single year to work towards a cause. This is really wide-open charity event, I tried to open it up to off campus, to as many Houses as I can, and get everybody involved, instead of just being one House.” “I don’t see how you could go wrong for a great cause. You can really, really make a difference in the world for this.”

Doctor’s life reflects NB’s tumultuous healthcare history by Ashley Bursey

“When is the government gonna stop building liquor stores and give the doctors of this province the chance to save a few fuckin’ lives?” That, in a nutshell, sums up the tumultuous history of medical practice in New Brunswick – and the turbulent life of the Fredericton hospital’s namesake doctor, Dr. Everett Chalmers. Chalmers’ life was brought to the stage last week with Theatre UNB’s production of ‘DOC’, an autobiographical play by the doc’s daughter,

Sharon Pollock, arguably hailed as one of the greatest female playwrights in the country. It’s the story of Ev, a workaholic doctor pushing to create an essential ‘onestop-shop’ medical centre (the modern hospital – with labs, x-ray centers, and clinics in the same building) in Fredericton, instead of “sending samples by bus to Saint John.” Despite Ev’s admirable ambition to help his fellow New Brunswickers, it begins to be quite obvious that his home life is suffering: his wife is an alcoholic (giving his ‘liquor store anger’ even more potency) and potentially adulterous, his daughter and son “wouldn’t eat if it wasn’t for the maid” and grow up learning to hate their mother, and Ev alienates his friends and family. The play itself it a difficult one, mixing past and present in a series of flashback-esque moments that see the

young daughter, Katie, and her grownup self, Catherine, lose themselves in memory. This wasn’t entirely evident at first, although perhaps that was a conscious decision of the director; it took time for the ‘aha!’ light bulb to go off for some audience members. We were to ultimately learn this was the story of Katie’s troubled infancy, with her mother taking the lead role of antagonist. The piece got off to a slow start. Rather lengthy – it ran almost two and a half hours – the first 30 minutes were lagging. The script was stilted and the actors seemed cold at first, taking time to get into the groove of their parts and really blossom onstage. The writing was rather dry and contrived, but picked up speed with the first flashback to Ev’s life as a young doctor. But Ev, played wonderfully by Aidan Dewhirst, was entrancing. His storytelling abilities and knack at switching

between the old, jaded man and the young, eager doctor helped drive the plot, enrapturing the audience with his deft monologue delivery. His chemistry with Eloise, nicknamed Bob (Kathleen Heaney) really kick started the emotional expression of the play: the young romantic lovers, the troubled middleage couple, and the bitter cynics at the end of the play (props to one of the best onstage kisses I’ve seen in a university production!) The director’s choice to keep most of the characters onstage during the entire piece – a risky decision – was bold, but it worked well. In fact, some of the best directorial decisions came towards the middle and end of the play. While the opening few scenes were almost artificial, the dynamic between characters became

see Doc page 7

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

The cast of DOC, directed by Michelle Dunster, during an earlier practice


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