The McGill Tribune Vol. 25 Issue 20

PUBLI SHED

B Y T H E. S T U D E N T S ' S O C I E T Y

OF

MCGILL

V o l. 25 Issue 2 0 I Tuesday, February 7, 2 0 0 6

UNI VERSI TY

Art and empire on display Turnitin contract coming soon B ut so m e fo llo w in g

p ro fe s s o rs

o p t - o u t p o lic y

HEATHER H A Q LA W R EN CE

This R om anov coach, from the vast art collection of Russia's C atherine the G reat, is on display along w ith m ore than 2 0 0 o th er w orks at the M ontreal M useu m of Fine Arts. For a full review, see page 20.

McGill’s gold medal threat M o g u l s k i e r J e n n if e r H e i l a r m s h ig h a t T u r i n A D A M M YERS As an 18-year-old competing in her first Olympics in 2 0 0 2 , Canadian mogulist Jennifer Heil finished in fourth place, only 0.01 points out of the medals. Now Heil is 22, and expectations are a lot higher this tim e around.

As Heil gears up for the Turin Games, which start Friday, she knows that she represents one of Canada's best chances for a gold medal. With two first-place and six second-place finishes, she has dominated the moguls World Cup this past year, and is looking to keep up that m om entum when she competes on the Games' first day.

Heil's achievements this year come on the heels of a superlative 2 0 0 4 campaign, where she captured her first overall World Cup title. But despite all the accomplish­ ments, the second-year Business Managem ent student has found tim e to balance competing on the world mogul

G am es

circuit with her education. On Thursday, the Spruce Grove, Alta., native took tim e out of her training schedule in France to talk with the Tribune about her life as a student and a skier.

H o w are you still able to attend McGill w h ile your skiing schedule has you traveling and com peting all the tim e?

It is definitely difficult because not only am I compet­ ing from Decem ber to March, I also travel extensively in my offseason. This sum m er I was in Australia, Switzerland and Whistler B.C. M y sport is different, for example if I was a diver I could be more located in Montreal and could just go to the pool to train. So that adds an extra challenge.

But for me, it's really important to keep going to school

See HEIL, page 26

T h is

W e e k

in

A university policy to regulate the use of text-matching software such as Turnitin.com is set to be final­ ized within the coming weeks.

The policy, which was approved m ore than a year ago after some stu­ dents refused to submit coursework to the plagiarism-detection W eb site, is designed to quell concerns that the technology violates users' intellectual property rights.

Last year, McGill entered into negotiations to sign a registration agreem en t with Turnitin's parent com pany, iParadigms. However, Provost Anthony Masi reported to Senate on Wednesday that negotia­ tions with iParadigms and the final­ ization of the registration agreement have taken longer than anticipated.

"Discussions began in earnest only in Septem ber 2 0 0 5 , following discussions of the needs of the uni­ versity academ ic com m unity, the requirements imposed by the policy regarding the use of the text-match­ ing software, and the terms of the standard agreem ent proposed by iParadigms," said Masi.

Masi was responding to a ques­ tion about the policy raised by Students' Society Vice-President University Affairs M ax Reed. The negotiations with iParadigms, whije positive, have been complicated by the fact that, according to Masi, "[McGill's] requirements for user pri­ vacy exceed those of any other insti­ tution that is using Turnitin at this time."

However, when pressed on the

M c G ill A t h le t ic s

F it, Feb. 10 B asketball vs U Q AM (W ) 6 pm & (M ) 8 pm F it, Feb. 10 M artlet H ockey vs RPI 7:30pm Sun., Feb. 12 M artlet H ockey vs C arleton 1pm

McGill

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s till n o t

issue by Reed, Masi agreed that the university's policy on text-matching software is in full force retroactively to Jan. 1, 2 0 0 5 , and that professors should consider themselves bound by the rules stipulated in the policy.

This includes providing students who do not wish to submit their work to Turnitin.com alternative methods to prove the authenticity of their work.

In the past, even after the cre­ ation of McGill's policy on text-match­ ing software, several students have faced difficulties after refusing to sub­ mit their work to Turnitin.com.

Reed said that he brought the question to Senate in response to a student's concerns. Reed wouldn't reveal who had brought the com­ plaint or the course it was related to.

"I had heard complaints about the way that the opt-outs [for Turnitin] are listed on a course syl­ labus, and that some people in the university aren't following the policy," Reed said. "That was my motivation for asking the question."

As a result of Masi's answer, Associate Provost (Academ ic Programs and Services) Morton Mendelson said that he had drafted a notice to faculty deans asking them to clarify the policy to any professor thinking of using Turnitin.

"The important point about text­ matching software," said Mendelson, "is that it is only one aspect of a con­ certed effort at McGill by students, instructors and administrators, to pro­ m ote academic integrity here."

Reed said that he was following

See STILL, page 9

#

* *

Cover photo by VLADIMIR EREMIN

n e w s EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW - HAM ID ABDELJABER

W h e r e d o e s t h e M id d le E a s t g o f r o m h e r e ?

U N

r e p r e s e n ta tiv e

d is c u s s e s

G a z a

a n d

P a le s tin e tow ards reconciliation?

Well, I think that the "peace culture" is holding—which started with Sadat in 1973 after the war. Now there are two major ideologies that have collapsed and no longer are promi­ nent. The original Palestinian ideology that was based on the total liberation of historic Palestine is gone. And the Israeli ide­ ology of having one, single Israeli state on historic Palestine is gone. So the two clashing, maximalist ideologies that offer no room for the other, I think they have collapsed.

When Sharon ordered the settlements in Gaza to be dis­ m antled and to pack up and leave, that is a sign confirming that there is not going to be a single Jewish state from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River. And when Arafat signed the Oslo Accords and when he recognized the right of the Israelis to exist within secure and recognized boundaries and he came into negotiations with the Israelis, I think that that ideology of the total liberation of Palestine has ended.

H a m id A b d e lja b e r h a s w o rk e d w ith th e U n ite d N a tio n s in various capacities fo r th e p a s t 2 5 years. H e c a m e to M c G ill o n Tuesday to sp e a k a b o u t th e h is to ry o f th e U N 's ro le in th e A ra b Isra e li conflict, as w e ll as th e c u rre n t c o n tro ve rsy s u rro u n d in g th e e le ctio n o f H a m a s in Palestine. H e s a t d o w n w ith th e Tribune b e fo re his le c tu re to discuss th e issues in m o re depth.

W hat are your responsibilities at the UN? I have been working for the United Nations for the last 25 years. ... My last paid assignment was the spokesman for the UN in Iraq in 2 0 0 3 right after the war. Currently, I am the chief of the Arabic radio for the United Nations. W e disseminate information about the United Nations [and] its activities to the whole Arab region.

W ith regard to the recent Palestinian elections, w h at new realities does the UN have to face w ith regard to its relationship w ith th e Palestinian Authority and w ith Israel?

First is that there w ere free and fair elections. The UN w el­ com ed that and the Secretary-General com m ended President [M ahm oud] Abbas for holding such clean,.transparent, fair e le o tions. Yes, Hamas was elected, and it was by a popular vote, and that will create some new equations for the Middle East because the Israelis consider Hamas a terrorist organization, but the Palestinians don't share the same view. So I think that there are certain obligations that the new chapter of Hamas has, and there are some questions that Hamas needs to answer regarding the peace process, regarding the means of settlem ent and how they are going to approach the Middle East question.

Do you th ink th at th e new political situation th at Ham as faces w ill w o rk as a m oderating force upon the party?

Is it just exhaustion th at is causing this?

A bdeljaber left his post at U N headquarters in Baghdad, pictured here, only th ree hours before it was attacked. a whole game together and they will have to address these issues. W e have so many examples in modern history that show that when extremists enter the governm ent they m oder­ ate their views, including [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon himself, who was elected in February 2001 on a platform that he is coming to crush the intifada in 100 days. Four years later, he was withdrawing from Gaza and was characterized as a man of peace. ... These things happen and the same could happen to Hamas.

Now they are in charge, so I think that they have to have

9

Do you th ink th at the peace initiatives since the late seventies and up to the peace treaty in th e early nineties have built up m o m e n tu m th at m ay push th e Palestinians

No, not exhaustion. In fact, it's recognizing realities. The majority of the Palestinians have com e to the conviction that they cannot elim inate Israel from the face of the earth—espe­ cially am ong the Palestinians w ho lived under Israeli occupation since 1967, because they cam e to know Israel. And the same thing, the Israelis cam e to know the Palestinians. Back in 1971, [Prime Minister] Golda Meir said, "Where are the Palestinians?

There is no such thing as Palestinians." And now [former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak] Rabin in 1993, he stretched his hand to shake hands with Arafat, recognizing that there are Palestinian people.

That is the most important change of ideology in modern history—that the two sides who used to deny each other, now they are talking to each other. Yes, there a re so many con­ tentious issues that are not solved yet, but no one is talking about eliminating the other side from the face of the earth. ■ —C o m p ile d b y K ayvon A fs h a ri

M c G ill BRACE CENTRE FOR WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

Master of Science

o r a G ra d u a te C e rtific a te

\% a /

M c G ill S t u d e n t A c c o u n ts O f f ic e

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Integrated Water Resources Management

L a t e w ith y o u r W in t e r f e e p a y m e n t ?

In the event that you may not have arranged to pay your Winter term fees yet, we wish to remind you that the University discontinued the mailing of fee statements in October, with the introduction of e-billing.

Remember to check your McGill e-mail early in the month for the notice that your e-bill is ready to view. On Minerva, under the e-Billing and e-Payment Menu of the Student Accounts Menu, you will find your fee statement. Transactions occurring after the statement date can be viewed on the Account Summary by Term, and will only appear on the subsequent e-bill.

T o m o r r o w ’s s o l u t i o n s t o d a y !

S tu d y t h e b io -p h y s ic a l, le g a l, in s titu tio n a l a n d s o c io e c o n o m ic a s p e c t s o f w a te r u s e a n d

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Students who are in financial difficulty are encouraged to contact the Student Aid Office at 398-6013.

m a n a g e m e n t in a n i n t e g r a t e d c o n t e x t .

For information: Department of Bioresource Engineering McGill University, Macdonald Campus 21,111 Lakeshore Road Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada H9X3V9 514-398-7774 514-398-8387 (Fax) bioresource@mcgill.ca www.mcgilLca/agreng/programs/iwrm/

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the mcgill tribune |7.2.06|news 3

CAMPUS

SPEAKER

B ab y ta x b ack?

T h e m a n w h o f e lle d M a r tin

S S M U

J u s tic e

m a y

p ro p o s e

M ARGAUX CARSON Next month, students may vote on w h ether to reinstate the $3 Students' Society daycare fee that they voted to eliminate only last year.

The daycare currently has enough spots for 3 2 children aged 2 4 months to five years, a third of which are reserved for children of undergraduate students.

Students used to pay $ 1.50 per semester for the SSMU daycare, but last year the Quebec government gave approval for the daycare to be included in its $7-per-day subsidy program, and the fee was dropped over the protest of parents.

"We had a lot of trouble with [previous SSMU Vice-President Operations] Anthony di Carlo," said Alison Kranias, head of the daycare's Parents Committee. "He was unwill­ ing to m eet with the parents and would simply tell us not to worry [about the cuts], even though w e told him w e had reason to worry."

As a result of the funding cut, one of the five educators at the day­ care was let go, and the age of entry for the daycare was raised from 18 months to 2 4 months. Those who work at the daycare quickly realized that their governm ent-subsidized budget wasn't enough.

"Last year w e had to start fundraising [for supplies] in February," said Khanh Nguyen, a stu­ dent volunteer at the daycare. "The toys are run down and the books are ripped. Parents bring in books from hom e for the kids to share."

This is the second year that Nguyen, U3 Humanistic Studies, is volunteering at the daycare. Last year, in association with the McGill football team , he helped raise $ 8 0 0 for the daycare.

"It was a tremendous help for the kids," Nguyen said.

Under the government program, the SSMU daycare is heavily regulat­ ed, and the spaces available are

$ 3

fe e

PREVIEW

G o m e ry

based on space and perceived need.

D A N IE L A M IN The province allocates spots accord­ ing to the num ber of residents in a On Wednesday, Justice John given area. This causes a problem in Gomery released the second and downtown Montreal, where there are final part of his long-awaited report few people living in the area but on the sponsorship scandal, which many who want to use the service m any believe to have contributed to close to their place of employment. the Liberal Party's loss in the recent "The government believes the federal election. Tomorrow, McGill downtown area has too many spots students will have a chance to see available," said Eric van Eyken, SSMU Gom ery when he visits campus to vice-president operations and discuss "The Pros and Cons of finance.

Commissions of Inquiry."

This method of allocation makes G om ery—nam ed Canadian it difficult for SSMU to increase the "New sm aker of the Year by Tim e num ber of spaces available, even magazine in 2 0 0 5 - is the featured though there is a long waiting list for speaker for the James R. Mallory enrolment.

Lecture in Canadian Studies, an The proposed fee would be annual event sponsored by the used to lower the age of children McGill Institute for the Study of accepted into the program from 2 4 Canada. His recent fam e and the months to 18 months, as well as to findings of his inquiry into govern­ hire back an educator. Having the m ent misappropriations m ade him SSMU daycare accept children under an attractive choice to deliver this tw o years old is a particular concern year's speech. for Gwen Baddeley, a McGill under­ According to Professor Antonia graduate who currently uses the day­ Maioni, director of MISC, this will be care.

Gom ery's first public appearance "I'm expecting a second child, since he presented his report at a and I would like both of my children news conference on Wednesday. to be able to go to the same day­ Maioni said that it wasn't difficult to care," she said. "But that doesn't persuade Gom ery to speak at McGill seem feasible when m y second child after inviting him. won't be [accepted] until the age of "Justice Gom ery is a graduate of two."

McGill twice over and has been Having such a high age of entry, active in m any ways in the universi­ Baddeley noted, is also a concern for ty, including the Friends of the current students who are expecting Library," M aioni said. "We are children, making it difficult for them delighted that he chose to speak at to return to school.

McGill."

Both Kranias and Baddeley are Widely respected in legal circles satisfied with the care their children across Canada, Gom ery was chosen are receiving, but Kranias noted that to head the commission of inquiry the educators are under additional based on his distinguished legal stress since the change.

'The educators are still adjust­ ing," she said. "It was better before because there were five educators.

They had more tim e with the kids and were less stressed."

If approved, the question will appear on the spring ballot. ■

to

s p e a k

a t

M IS C

career, and has since becom e one of th e best-known personalities in Canadian politics.

Former prim e m inister Paul M artin initiated the G om ery Commission in 2 0 0 4 after revela­ tions that millions of dollars in tax­ payer m oney had been funnelled to advertising agencies with ties to the Q u ebec Liberal Party under the guise of a federal program aim ed at promoting national unity following the 1 99 5 referendum. The report includes 19 recom m endations for the new Conservative governm ent to put into place in the interest of pre­ venting future governm ent abuses.

The first part of Gom ery's inquiry, released in the fall, was pri­ marily a declaration assigning blame for the sponsorship scandal.

"This report looks m ore at gov­ ernm ent institutions," Gom ery said last week. "Our principal recom m en­ dations address the need for a rebal­ ancing of the respective roles of two of those institutions: Parliament and the executive arm of the govern­ ment."

N ew ly-m inted Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said he will take G om ery's recom m endations into consideration, but he intends to introduce his own Accountability Act instead of fully im plem enting Gomery's ideas.

O ne of the recommendations in the report is to reduce the prime minister's power to appoint staff to government departments.

"The Canadian prim e minister has a lot of power in the federal gov­ ernm ent," said History Professor Desm ond Morton, founder of MISC.

e v e n t

THUD *aS *"

FEWINGS.CA "I cannot easily imagine anyone sac­ rificing that power cheerfully, particu­ larly when it has newly arrived, but miracles som etim es happen."

Maioni said the findings of the report are important for Canadian politics.

'The report returns to the flags it raised in conjunction with the sponsorship scandal to offer some concrete recom m endations about how the business of government should be conducted," she said.

"Most importantly, I think, the report has a larger message, as it reminds of the fundam ental principles of the Canadian political process, namely ministerial accountability and parlia­ mentary oversight." ■ Justice G o m e ry w ill p re s e n t the Jam es R. M a llo ry Lecture to m o rro w a t 4 :3 0 p.m . in th e Faculty C lub b a ll­ ro o m , 3 4 5 0 ru e M cTavish. A reception w ill follow .

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newcom er to the McGill campus during lower beer prices and better customer service.

"Groups are buying the beer at a lower price, frosh week might be forgiven for thinking that beer runs the world. This year, it has so it's cheaper for them . They can either choose certainly generated its share of controversy. Over to make m ore profit and keep it at $ 2.50 per beer... or they could sell it for $ 1.50 and still the sum m er, the Students' Society dropped hom etow n heavyweight Molson in favour of make 5 0 cents profit per beer." smaller local brewers Boreale and McAuslan, and Q u an tity versus quality some faculty association executives are question­ While the com m on perception on campus is ing SSMU and its Vice-President Communications that students think less of the quality of Boreale and Events Roz Freeman over the decision to end the contract with the Society's longstanding beer compared to Molson products, reactions appears supplier, saying that it amounts to alienating a to be mixed.

"In terms of tangible benefits [for students], I longtime business partner. Freeman and others have to go into quality here for a bit. You've got a shoot back that the two newcomers offer much better product line," said Freeman. "You can have better prices and customer service, which works Apricot beer, Moosehead, Carlsberg, any of the St. to the advantage of students in the long run.

While most McGill students spent their sum­ Amroise's, and then you have all the Boreale mers away from Montréal and everything SSMU- options. Our product line is much larger now."

Dunn disagreed, saying he has heard nega­ related, Freeman was at work negotiating for a new beer contract in tim e for frosh. As part of the tive opinions about the Boreale products.

However he acknowledged that students are like­ process, she looked at numerous providers, ly going to drink whatever beer is provided for including Labatt and Sleeman, before settling on the current companies. Freeman and SSMU ulti­ them .

'The only thing people are concerned about mately opted for Boreale and McAuslan because, is the quality of the beer," said Dunn. "I know as Freeman told the T ribune in September, people disagree and say Molson "didn't offer us anything better 'T h e o n ly th in g p e o p le a re c o n c e rn e d it's a top quality beer, than they had in the a b o u t is th e q u a lity o f th e b e e r. I k n o w p e o ­ mainly people at SSMU, but I've never heard any­ past....and then wef had all these new p le d is a g re e a n d say it's a to p q u a lity b e e r, one else say that. People c o m p a n i e s . . . t h a t m a in ly p e o p le a t S S M U , b u t I'v e n e v e r h e a rd seem to be drinking it, but people are also complain­ were just grabbing a n y o n e else say th a t. " ing about it." for it."

—M ic h a e l D u n n Freem an said that she still believes S U S v ic e -p re s id e n t in te rn a l Planning fo r the future Despite the relative she m ade the right satisfaction with the cur­ call. rent situation expressed by most executives, there "I ran m y campaign [for VP C&E] based on not budging [from Molson], but after negotiating have been some concerns raised about what to do if the contracts with Boreale and McAuslan go with other ones and not being able to negotiate sour. with Molson because they w eren't at the table "Boreale and McAuslan are much smaller and opening myself up to other companies, I'm ecstatic about our decision," she said. "I think it's than Molson, and always will be," said Dunn, "and m y fear is that Boreale and McAuslan w on't be been very good for us." able to withstand a long term contract. We may have to go crawling back to Molson and Molson Faculties are in control As it stands now, all faculty association will not give us the same deal that they left us events, such as EUS Blues Pub or Science with because w e left them in the first place."

Mastorakos agreed that it may be difficult to Carnival, get their beer through an independent renew the relationship with Molson, and said that dépanneur that acts as an intermediary between campus groups and the brewery. Freeman attrib­ the EUS is planning to sign with Boreale again utes this to a legal restriction against selling beer when the contract expires at the end of this year.

"We're going to sign with Boreale again. We directly out of a brewery. Faculty associations are free to deal with the company representatives don't think that Molson is going to approach us independent of SSMU, and can place orders for again because w e left them."

Freeman agreed that negotiating another beer without it having to go through the Students' Society. If the faculties wish to obtain beer for cer­ contract with Molson would be troublesome, but expressed confidence that it would not be an tain events w here a liquor licence is needed, such as SnoAP or frosh, then they must purchase their issue in the coming years.

"I don't see w h y...w e would be forced to go beer through SSMU due to its ability to temporar­ back to Molson. This was a concern that was ily extend its liquor permits to Lower Field. brought up before, and [SSMU] felt that there was "When you're holding a big event like [frosh no concern that [Boreale] wouldn't be able to or Carnival] the city of Montréal won't allow you to have several alcohol permits, for example for accom m odate our needs. If w e ever did have to Science frosh or M anagem ent frosh," said Science go back to Molson, it would be problematic."

Dunn expressed concern that while this Undergraduate Society Vice-President Internal Michael Dunn. "SSMU always buys one large year's contract m ay have been negotiated with good intentions, it was a shortsighted move. alcohol permit that covers everyone, but since "I feel as though the contract was signed and they have the alcohol permit we have to buy alco­ hol through them . It's been done like this for as negotiated to make McGill great for one year, to long as I know ...and there's never been any m ake McGill beer and events great for one year, and it wasn't looking at the future." problem."

Freeman and all faculty representatives Faculties must also purchase beer through affirmed that, while next year's contract will be SSMU for events in the Shatner building. Minus negotiated by new executive councils, it is likely these circumstances, says Freeman, the faculties are free to do what they please. She claims that that McGill will remain with Boreale and McAuslan the contract is better for students because of for the near future. ■

Call 416-675-6622, ext. 3206 or email ted.gknn@humber.cajorfurther information.

Applyfor all Business Schoolprograms at the (KAS web site - www.ontariocolleges.ca

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S e a tin g is Lim ited! a

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now

HUMBER

The Business School www.business.humber.ca

National Defence

Défense nationale

Options make all the difference

Les options font toute la différence

N o m a tte r w h a t

P e u im p o rte

y o u r u n iv e rsity

la n a tu re d e

e d u c a t io n is ,

v o s é tu d e s

y o u c a n e n jo y

u n iv e r s it a ir e s ,

a c a r e e r w ith

v o u s pouvez

a d iffe re n c e

b é n é fic ie r d ’u n e

in th e C a n a d ia n

c a r r iè r e d iffé re n te

Fo rce s.

d a n s le s F o r c e s c a n a d ie n n e s .

• E n g in e e r s * P h y s io t h e r a p is t s

• In g é n ie u rs

• S o c ia l W o rk e rs

• P h y s io t h é r a p e u t e s

* P ilo ts

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s o c ia u x /

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t r a v a ille u s e s

* P h a r m a c is t s

s o c ia le s

• N a v a l O f f ic e r s

• P ilo te s • M é d e c in s

To le a rn m o re , c o n t a c t u s to d ay.

• In firm ie rs/ in firm iè re s • P h a r m a c ie n s / p h a r m a c ie n n e s • O f fic ie r s d e m a rin e P o u r o b te n ir d e p lu s a m p le s r e n s e ig n e m e n t s , v e u ille z c o m m u n iq u e r avec nous dès a u jo u r d ’h u i.

Strong. Proud. Today's Canadian Forces.

Découvrez vos forces dans les Forces canadiennes.

* 1

1 800 856-8488 www.forces.gc.ca

C anada

5

TH E

S T U D E N T S ’ S O C IE T Y

The Students’ Society of McGill University

O F

M C G ILL

U N IV ER SIT Y A W A R D S O F

H a v e

D IST IN C T IO N

y o u

y o u r

le ft

m a r k ?

he Students Society o f McGill University invites applications fo r its Aw ards o f Distinction. Tw o (2) scholarships o f $ 2 ,0 0 0 fo r full-tim e undergraduate studies at M cGill will be awarded to students w ho show evidence o f outstanding leadership in th e M cGill com m unity through significant contributions to student activities coupled w ith excellent academic perform ance.

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To be eligible you must have been a full-tim e (m inim um o f 24 credits) undergraduate student at M cG ill University during the 2 0 0 5 -0 6 academic year. Scholarships will be paid upon presentation o f p roof o f full-tim e (m inim um o f 24 credits) undergraduate registration at M cG ill University during the 2 0 0 5 -0 6 academic year.

Please note th at the application requires an official transcipt to be sent directly to the Selection C o m m itte e to be received by the application deadline.

A pplications are available as o f n o w h ttp ://w w w .s s m u .c a .

Call for Applications

at th e

SSMU

F ro n t D esk o r online at

A PPLIC A TIO N

C O N TA C T: M a x R e e d ,V ic e -P r e s id e n t (U n iv e r s ity A ffa ir s )

D EA D LIN E:

F eb ru ary I 7 , 2 0 0 6

u a @ s s m u .m c g ill.c a , 3 9 8 - 6 7 9 7

This year, the SSMU will work hard to inform you of the latest developments in McGill’s undergraduate community. Expect a SSMU half-page every second week in the Tribune, on page 5.

SSMU Scholarships

Attention all! Le Frosh Documentary Screening Party

W a n t to e a rn $ 2 0 0 0 ? E very y e a r th e

ROZ FREEMAN, VP COM M UNICATIO NS & EVENTS

T h e e x p e r ie n c e o f a lifetim e is u p o n y o u .

S S M U g iv e s o u t 2 s c h o la r s h ip s v alu ed

R elive th e w ild est, m o s t m a g ica l m o m e n ts o f

a t $ 2 0 0 0 . A p p lica tio n s a re av ailab le

y o u r life at Le F ro sh d o c u m e n ta r y p re m ie re .

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D is c o v e r th e a n c ie n t d rin k in g c u s to m s still in p r a c tic e to d a y ; a d m ire th e s e n s u a l c o u rts h ip rituals o f d a n c e an d s in g a s o n g . You will m e e t

AARON DONNY-CLARK, VP C O M M U N ITY & GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

u a @ s s m u .m c g ill.c a .

Check out your emails for more details.

all th e d iffe re n t p e rs o n a litie s , b u t b e w a re , o n e o f th e m m igh t b e YO U . Le F ro sh d o c u m e n ta r y s c r e e n in g party. C h e a p d rin k s p e c ia ls - w e a r y o u r fro s h sh irt, g e t 1 f r e e s h o o te r !!

GERT’S, THIS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9th @ 8pm.

Gert’s Presents “Steven Crowder” the Montreal Comedy Tour S te v e n C ro w d e r’s b e e n p e rfo rm in g a t v a rio u s c o m e d y fe stiv a ls s in c e h e ’s b e e n old e n o u g h to g e t in th e d o o r. T ic k e ts a re o n ly 7 $ at th e d o o r !

Come join Steven at Gert’s this Friday (Feb 10th)at 9pm.

SSMU

B IL L B O A R D

the mcgill tribune |7.2.06 |news 7

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Stephen Harpef was sworn in yesterday as Canada's 22n d prime minister, tw o weeks after winning a minority governm ent over outgoaaà thr nattusiv Alib-'Uiib \ f t * ing-PM Paul Martin and the Liberal Party. Harper is poised to take the reins of Canada's second consec­ n:y » tr : utive minority government and will likely have to compromise on his m any election promises, including » a reduction of the GST, in order to make his parliament effective. • After the election loss, Martin announced his decision to step down as party head. The Liberals announced last w eek that form er Minister of Defence Bill Graham will replace Martin as interim Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons. • Fury in the Muslim world continued this w eekend over a series of editorial cartoons published first in Denm ark and later reprinted across Europe. The cartoons depict the prophet uy i*.* * ; M oham m ed in a num ber of situations, including one ' T tte i image in which a bom b is seen hidden inside his turban.

S lk i Mobs of protestors stormed Danish embassies in Syria, X tm ' W n 1 Lebanon and Indonesia, burning Denmark's flag and r* y T T f . setting fire to buildings. Depictions of the holy figure are forbidden under Islamic law. • A Redman in T i k i A id r , Motown? McGill graduate Jean-Philippe Darche, a lm Uatvne* long snapper for the National Football League's Seattle Seahawks, was the only Canadian player to i , com pete in Sunday's NFL Super Bowl. The Pittsburgh Steelers won the 4 0th annual NFL , , t . . championship contest, dubbed Super Bowl ,, , , XL. • Sources: The G lobe and Mail, CNN.com , Yahoo! News Ïâi5§8 ifKtt %IIS'? !IK Si

CAMPUS

.

LINDSAYMITCHELL

Participants in last year's event pose for a quick picture before breaking th eir 2 4-h o u r fast.

H u n g ry fo r ch an g e

N E W S BRIEFS Principal rakes in th e dough McGill Principal H eather Munroe-Blum m ade over $ 3 6 0 ,0 0 0 last year, the J o u rn a l de M o n tré a l has reported.

Her salary is almost 4 0 per cent m ore than that of her collègue at Université de M ontréal, fo rm er McGill provost Luc Vinet, who as rector oversees a university almost twice the size of McGill.

The journal also revealed that in addition to her annual salary, Munroe-Blum receives a num ber of benefits. The university will pay up to $ 4 8 ,0 0 0 for public relations events that the principal holds at her hom e, and it reim bursed her approximately $ 3 1 ,0 0 0 for house­ keeping and gardening costs. McGill also provides M unroe-Blum with a $ 1 6 ,0 0 0 car allowance, as well as $ 3 ,0 0 0 for a financial adviser.

Despite the generous com pen­ sation package, M unroe-B lum is only the fifth highest paid university head in Canada. According to the Canadian Association of University Teachers 2 0 0 5 Almanac, in 2 0 0 3 ,

the latest year for which figures are available, presidents at the University of Alberta, the University of British Columbia, the University of Toronto and University of Calgary were all paid m ore than McGill's principal.

In 2 0 0 3 , U of A President Roderick Fraser was paid $ 3 7 2 ,0 0 0 , and received $ 1 9 6 ,0 0 0 in taxable benefits for a total compensation of $ 5 6 8 ,0 0 0 . Former U of T president Robert Birgeneau, w ho has since becom e chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley, took hom e $ 4 2 7 ,0 0 0 . As chancellor at UC Berkeley, he will make U S $ 3 9 0 ,0 0 0 per year. The CAUT Almanac does not include M unroe-Blum 's enter­ tainm ent allowance as a taxable benefit.

The J o u rn a l d e M o n tré a l article asked w hether Munroe-Blum 's com ­ pensation was appropriate, given her com m ents about McGill's lack of funding from the province. ■

M c G ill investors m ake faux m il­ lions On Saturday, the McGill Investment Club hosted a trading simulation bringing universities from across Canada and th e United States to th e Shatner building, w here they fought to see w ho could end the day as the most successful traders-in-training.

About 5 0 0 students, divided into team s of four, participated in th e com petition, which was arranged to see which group of investors could generate the most revenue over a simulated period of one year. Each team began the sim­ ulation with $ 2 0 0 ,0 0 0 in fake m oney with which to purchase stocks. They then set up shop in the Shatner ballroom , which was equipped with video screens and nearly 3 0 com puter term inals streaming simulated financial data throughout the day.

"It is all about the experience," said Jacob Safarik, UO M anagem ent.

"[The simulation] was awesom e, and w e w ere doing well until w e got disqualified."

The first-place te am won $ 2 ,0 0 0 , with smaller prizes for run­ ners-up in both.team and individual categories. Nonetheless, even non­ winners said they benefited from the event.

"We don't get out of the school environment that often," said Anton Katipunan, a fourth-year Finance major from the Schulich School of Business at York University.

Students from US schools including Princeton, M IT and Michigan State University joined Canadian students from Université du Sherbrooke and Université du Québec à Montréal, amongst oth­ ers.

First place in the group catego­ ry w ent to a team from Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, which turned the initial $ 2 0 0 ,0 0 0 invest­ m ent into nearly $ 1.5-million. ■

—Ja m e s C o to w ie c

—S erg io R o ldan M e jia

E n g in e e r s

W

ith o u t

G E N E V IE V E JE N K IN S

B o rd e rs

h o s ts

fa m in e

Mitchell has also taken part in the summer-in-Africa program in the past. She said the program requires stu­ M em bers of Engineers W ithout Borders are going dents to return to McGill for at least one year in order to "give back to the engineering com m unity and to let w ithout food for 2 4 hours to raise funds for three stu­ dents going to Africa this sum m er to work on develop­ everybody else know what the program is all about."

Mitchell w ent to Ghana last sum m er and described m ent projects. The students—Debra Cohen, Ghislaine the experience as "incredible."

Johnson and Jacob Beaudry—will be travelling to Ghana "But of course," she said, "the big debate is what and Zambia.

EWB supporters are raising m oney individually to the impact of our placem ents is: They're s h o rt-te rm only four months—so I think the big difference is m ade donate to the group's fundraising efforts. Students are expected to raise at least $20 to participate in the day­ in the learning experience itself."

According to Mitchell, one of the most meaningful long fast and subsequent food-free party. While fasting m om ents of the sum m er program was teaching som e­ remains the focus of the day, the group will participate in activities ranging from the informative to the just-for- one how to use a computer.

"We're basically trying to reverse the culture of fun: panel discussions, scavenger races, skating, sled­ dependency," she said. 'The ding, im prov shows, African dance, debates, jam sessions, "E ven u n d e rs ta n d in g th a t th is p ro b le m is people you work with there . . . . .„ . ,. think you are the voice of reamovies, pinatas, gam es and c o m p le x is "" imHpUo ,rta n t, 3,. she yoga.

LOU, C 3said, a ,u . w e d o n“ t soni so1 they're very willing to lisRegardless of how m any h a v e th e a n sw er. W e a re n 't th e a n sw er, ten." events organizers pack into the P eo p le h a v e to th in k o u ts id e th e b o x ra th e r The future plans of EWB 2 4 hours, according to EWB th a n fo cus o n w h a t th e y th in k th e y kn o w ." Pr0* ram participantS are not necessarily determ ined by their President Lindsay Mitchell, the —L in d s ay M itc h e ll EWB experience, but their work most im portant thing about the day is the lesson to be learned P re sid e n t, E n g in e e rs W ith o u t B o rd ers in Africa nonetheless remains a crucial com p o n en t of their about the challenges to devel­ vision of themselves and the world. opm ent in Africa.

"The experience is definitely a part of m e, no m at­ "Even understanding that this problem is complex is important," she said. "We don't have the answer. We ter w hat I do from now on," Mitchell said. "It's m ade m e aren't the answer. People have to think outside the box question the role of developm ent in general."

M ore than that, though, EWB gives young engi­ rather than focus on what they think they know." neers and non-engineers a deeper understanding of Past EWB president and recent Engineering Master's graduate Christian Beaudrie said the 24-hour their potential for positive global change, even as North fast is im portant for giving students a forum in which to Americans who remain in the developed world to live and work. express their thoughts on international developm ent.

"One of the biggest lessons I learned is that you "A lot of times, w e have som ething to say, but peo­ don't necessarily have to go overseas to help," Mitchell ple don't w ant to listen," he said. "With our experience and motivation, now is the tim e to get the message out said. "So much that's done in North America really sets the standard for what happens there." so people can get an idea of w hat it's about.”

Both Cohen and Johnson are Engineering under­ Last year, Beaudrie said, the fast raised close to grads, but Beaudry hails from the Agricultural Science $ 2 ,0 0 0 , but the event managed to achieve m ore than program. About 15 students applied for the program, fundraising.

"Another great thing about the fam ine is that peo­ and these three were chosen based on a variety of cri­ ple w ho had worked in developm ent cam e together to teria that did not include their GPAs or any test scores.

Instead, they were selected based on their com m itm ent have discussions, to get people to stimulate thought and to the idea of developm ent. As in Beaudry's case, par­ to com e up with solutions," he said.

Mitchell argued that the function of the 24-hour ticipants need not be future engineers to participate. ■ fast is twofold.

The fa st takes p la c e fro m n o o n on S aturday u n til n o o n "We're using the fam ine as a tool to get people th e n e x t d a y in the c o m m o n ro o m in the b a s e m e n t o f together, but there is also a schedule of events planned To le a rn m o re , visit with an educational focus," she said. 'There are two M c C o n n e ll E n g in e e rin g . www.ewb.mcgill.ca/famineday. goals here: to hold a successful fundraiser and [to hold] an educational event."

________ _________________________;________________ ■ ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................_____________________________________________________a ...............

#

lr a r v c I x J l

SPRING ELECTIONS

1 5

m cg sl!

DO YO U W AN T TO G E T IN V O L V E D ? R E P R E S E N T Y O U R F E LL O W S T U D E N T S ?

Spring SSMU Elections are coming up and Elections McGill is looking for

NOMINATIONS The following positions are available: SSM U EX EC • President • VP Finance & O perations • VP U niversity Affairs • VP Com m unications & Even ts • VP Clubs & S e rv ice s • VP Com m unity & G overnm ent

OR YOU CAN ALSO RUN FOR: • Undergraduate Student Senator • Financial Ethics Research Com m issioner (FERC) • Representative to the CKUT Board of Directors__________________

WANT TO SEE THE SYSTEM CHANGED? Elections McGill will also be accepting referenda questions for the Spring Election period N o m in a tio n & S t u d e n t - In it ia t e d R e fe r e n d u m

K its c a n b e d o w n l o a d e d o n lin e a t

w w w . e l e c t i o n s m c g i l l . c a o r p ic k e d u p o u t s i d e t h e E le c t io n s M c G ill o f f i c e , r o o m 4 0 5 in t h e S h a t n e r b u i l d i n g , s t a r t i n g M o n d a y , F e b r u a r y 6 th N o m in a tio n R e fe re n d u m

K its

d u e :

Q u e s tio n s

W e d n e s d a y , M a r c h d u e :

F r id a y , F e b r u a r y

1 st a t N o o n

1 7 th a t N o o n

Questions? Elections McGill can be reached at contact@ electionsm cgill.ca o r 398-6474

the mcgill tribune | 7.2.06 | news

C A M P U S

9

R a d ica l g ro u p S e c o n d

S till ‘t u r n in g it in ’

C u m m in g d r a w s lin e in b lo o d

S S M U w o r k s t o i m p l e m e n t p o l ic y Continued from cover

B lo o d d riv e p r o t e s t o r s e x p o s e d iv isio n s w i t h i n M c G i l l ’s q u e e r c o m m u n i t y N IA L L M A C K A Y ROBERTS

donors.

"I actually support the exclusion criteria based on my personal inter­ In the wake of the blood drive pretation of HIV infection rates in cancellation on Jan. 25, long-stand­ the MSM population," he said. "A lot ing fault lines in McGill's queer com­ of people are in denial about things, munity and it's approach to politics making issues of things that should­ have been exposed, calling into n't be issues. In fact, the numbers question the past success and [of HIV infections] keep increasing future ability of Queer McGill to rep­ every year, and MSM make up the resent the campus population it vast proportion." serves.

Didyk argued his opinions on Héma-Québec shut down its last year's Queer McGill executive semi-annual blood collection two and said he and others felt pressure weeks ago after a group of protes­ to moderate their views. He sug­ tors loosely organized under the gested Queer McGill was alienating name Second Cumming, who were the McGill population by taking its demonstrating in the vicinity, were current political stance accused of encouraging and refusing to con­ students to lie about "I was very much targeted as the reason for the Second their sexual history in discordance [on last year's executive]. I don't feel that demn Cumming. Didyk chose order to donate blood.

Men who have had sex the Second Cumm ing are very informed and justified not to run for another executive position this with men (MSM) are in their outlandish mandates. These people are year after his previous excluded as blood misrepresenting a major group, and I'm really scared experiences with the donors because of their organization. perceived HIV risk, a pol­ that this is how people are going to perceive [the "I was very much icy many characterize as queer community]." targeted as the reason homophobic.

—Daryn Didyk for the discordance [on While Second Former Q ueer McGill secretary last year's executive]," Cumming, backed by the Didyk said. "I don't feel Students' Society, has that the Second since claimed HémaQuébec deliberately misinterpreted population it serves as constraints Cumming are very informed and the group's intentions in an effort to upon the organization's flexibility. justified in their outlandish man­ avoid addressing the MSM issue, Herra-Vega also refused to support dates. These people are misrepre­ the bitter controversy that has erupt­ any narrowing or radicalization of senting a major group, and I'm real­ ly scared that this is how people are ed on campus reveals the extent to Queer McGill's demands.

"Of course the queer commu­ going to perceive [the queer com­ which even those in the queer com­ munity remain divided on blood nity is not unified; we're coming munity]." exclusions, the risks of HIV, and the from all sorts of backgrounds, Real issues elsewhere best methods of approaching these including politics," she said. "I don't Didyk also accused Queer think Queer McGill pretends to rep­ problems.

Queer McGill, a SSMU-funded resent every queer voice on cam­ McGill of diverting attention from service, has decided as an organiza­ pus. We're just, trying our best to what he considers the real issues tion to publicly defend Second serve the queer community, and as facing gay men today, including con­ Cumming's motives, if not its much of the queer community as tinued crystal meth use and a recent means. Floh Herra-Vega, co-adminis­ we can. But again, we're not there to rise in HIV infection rates in the trator of Queer McGill, explained represent these people so much as younger gay population.

"They should be looking at why such a move as rooted in Queer to serve them."

While Queer McGill has are the rates of infection going up.

McGill's founding principles.

"It would have been hypocriti­ attempted to distance itself from We talk to our friends, and we see cal [for Queer McGill] to provide Second Cumming, one of its execu­ people aren't being careful," he said. services without a political wing, tives has already been identified as "I don't feel [Queer McGill] has con­ because there is something implicit­ a member of the protest group. sulted the queer students on cam­ ly political about being queer and Caitlin Hersey, Queer McGill's for­ pus, and... a lot of people withdraw providing services for queer people," mer first-year liaison, resigned from or don't want to be associated."

Queer McGill executives, how­ she said. "Queer McGill very, very her post shortly after the blood drive firmly believes that the policy of protest that she helped to publicize ever, deny such an accusation.

Herra-Vega pointed out that the on the group's listserv.

Héma-Québec is homophobic."

Herra-Vega, however, flatly group was currently working on con­ denies asking for Hersey's resigna­ ferences addressing the problems of Q ueer M cGill lacking?

However, the very appearance tion, saying participation in both racism and sexism in the queer of an alternative queer voice seems groups does not represent a conflict community, and she framed the to suggest that Queer McGill's serv­ of interest. Herra-Vega said the exec­ Héma-Québec MSM exclusion as a ices have failed to satisfy a certain utive has yet to hear from Hersey, perpetuation of homophobic stereo­ population on campus. After several who did not respond to requests for types contributing to self-destructive behaviours in the gay community. years of tabling outside the blood comment. "[The blood drive] is very drive and "working from within the immediate and very tangible right Support for H ém a-Q uébec system," as Herra-Vega described it, While some at McGill have now, but were dealing with a lot of certain students may simply have called for a more radical queer other issues," she said. "A lot of the given up on Queer McGill's tactics.

Craig Ross, Queer McGill's trans voice, others argue that the opposi­ problems in the queer community resource coordinator, argued as tion to the blood drive is wrong from are created from outside the queer much in a recent email to the orga­ the start. Daryn Didyk, who served community, and that's what's hap­ as secretary on last year's executive, pening with the blood drive... It's nization's executive.

"I don't think anyone would dis­ said he supported the logic behind really more controversial and agree with me that the emergence the current restriction on MSM nuanced." ■ of Second Cumming illustrates that we obviously don't represent the view of a number of queer students at McGill," wrote Ross. 'The fact that SSMU and Queer McGill have adopted a basically hands-off posi­ tion... is not in keeping with a group apparently committed to the princi­ ples of social justice. The fact of the matter is we have allowed our poli­ cy to be dictated by the very forces we purport to oppose."

Herra-Vega admitted that Second Cumming had "filled a niche" that Queer McGill had not, but she noted the diversity both of Queer McGill's goals and of the

up with the professor and chair of the department One of the central aims of the policy is to protect user privacy and the intellectual property rights of stu­ dents. Masi said the university has looked into innovative ways to address this issue, such as establish­ ing a proxy server on campus to manage communications between students and Turnitin.com.

"This means that users' privacy is completely respected," said Masi, "and that iParadigms never knows

the identity of the author of any work submitted."

Masi also said that this arrange­ ment would shield McGill users from entering into direct acceptance of any liability resulting from the misuse of copyrighted material.

Reed expressed strong support for such an arrangement.

"I hope that the policy is imple­ mented widely and correctly," he said. "SSMU worked hard to obtain it, and I hope that all professors respect it when they use text-matching soft­ ware." ■

If you've read this far into the paper, you must be interested.

Drop by the News meeting Wednesday at 6 p.m.

V » IV

Shatner Building, Room 110 news@mcgilltribune.com

M O R E ONLINE... *Kayvon Afshari's extended interview with U N representative Hamid Abdeljaber.

‘ Margaux Carson on internationally recognized designer Bruce Mau's campus appearance on Thursday.

www.mcgilltribune.com

T R A D IN G P L A C E S WITH P R IN C IP A L

H E A T H E R

M U N R O E -B L U M March 1st 2006

W H A T ? You could have the opportunity to trade p la ce s with Heather M unroe-Blum! The principal will sp en d an afternoon with you on cam p u s. Later in the sem ester, you will sh ad ow the principal and get to se e McGill behind the sc e n e s.

H O W ?

Fill out an ap p licatio n on our w e b site at h ttp ://ssm u .m cg ill.ca/so ar/ o r look for u s on cam p us

W H E N ? W ednesday, March 1st, 2006 Application deadline: Feb 10th IN F O ?

so ar@ ssm u .m cg ill.ca 514 398 3148 ,

W hip it

o p in io n

A n end to c ra p -c o v e re d

The helpless Romantic

K a r la : A n a r t le s s d a n c e w i t h t h e d e v il R IC H TS EN G

have a major problem with horror movies: despite having sat through a good number of them, I can rarely recall what they're about Either the date has come off brilliantly and we're passionately embracing and drinking deeply of each other, or I'm embarrassing the unlucky lass by laughing maniacally whenever some onscreen schlep "gets it." If we had been watch­ ing an actual snuff film, however, I doubt I'd be so vulgar.

In general, there are two types of movies.

Most are escapist—we don't line up to watch real footage of people being brutally killed and tor­ tured, as this happens so often on our mortal coil we'd rather not think about it for two precious hours. Conversely, marketing occasionally con­ vinces us that there are some films that m u st be seen so that we can learn from them. Karla, the flick released two weeks ago starring that 70s chick as Canada's most hated daughter, tries to pose as both. In reality, it is neither.

Even the ad people seem to be confused about where this movie is supposed to go. The first paragraph of the synopsis at karlathem ovie.net reads like the vaudeville act from hell. Come one, come all to see "Paul and Karla's psychological dance with death and depravity—faithfully recreated here!"

One wonders just where the faith is placed.

If it is in art, then the creators cannot expect the victims' families to be happy with an over-dram­ atized version of their daughters' deaths. Yet this doesn't appear to be director Joel Bender and producer Michael Sellers' motive, as they let the victims' lawyer preview Karla before'release to ensure it wouldn't offend. Conversely, if the point is to present the true story, then perhaps some actual contact with Homolka would have helped

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immensely, but no attempt was made.

Instead, it is apparent that the dollar gets respect above all else. Sellers admitted to doing the film after seeing M onster, a biopic about female serial killer Eileen Wuornos, and deciding he could achieve similar results with a lower budget. With nothing but sterile court transcripts and media leftovers for research, viewers can gaze into Prepon/Homolka's pale blue eyes and assure themselves that the abyss is too dark to reflect anything back. The film remains ambigu­ ous on almost everything, hiding behind its "just the facts, ma'am" routine so as to reach as wide an audience as possible.

In short, it tries to be so "real" that it cannot be entertaining or engaging, yet it is too con­ trived to shock. Ironically, this only serves to underscore the ire I feel for the film's very exis­ tence. Because if you're not saying anything new, any budget you get (even a meagre one) is a waste of money—clam up and stick to late-night A&E. Indeed, the movie I went to see is less like M onster than Frankenstein. We all know how hor­ rible the psychos can be, but stop and think how disturbing we are. What of the alleged Bernardo tape leaks? The vigilantes actively looking for Homolka's address? Or the sky-high sales figures of books that include correspondence with Karla herself, describing in detail the videos that nobody outside the courtroom was supposed to see?

Had Karla been done right, theatre screens could have struck audiences with something too real for comfort—an enraging, disturbing and frightening portrayal of human depravity. Instead, they will project an homage to the lowest com­ mon denominator. ■

B R A N D O N C H U D L E IG H

here are certain things that work in the suburbs that don't adapt to city living. Having a dog is one of them. It should be illegal to have a dog downtown, where apartments are the housing of choice. Think of it in terms of Montreal's rule about right turns on red lights: Cool in the boonies, not cool in the core.

City-dwellers who own mutts have always perplexed me. Though I have a longstanding aversion to dogs-they're too needy and the crotch fixation makes me uncomfortable-l think it is inappropriate to subject them to apart­ ment living. Dogs need space to run around and sniff each other; most ghetto abodes are the size of a shoebox.

Then there are those who think that they are doing the animal a serv­ ice: Hipster types who consider it a charitable act to pick up a pound puppy. Unfortunately, these people have ADD when it comes to their caus­ es. I can't help but assume that once the honeymoon is over, the dog will be forced to be piss on the balcony because its owner is too busy Facebooking to take it for a walk.

The social implications are equally disturbing: Because nobody downtown has backyards and most people who live downtown are inherently lazyafter all, they'd live farther out and pay less rent if they didn't mind all the effort—city dog owners contribute to rampant canine obesity. This is a mod­ ern burden that will no doubt take its toll on the healthcare system. Soon you're going to tell me that my. taxes will be put towards Fido's diabetes meds or Lassie's gastric bypass surgery.

On top of that, while I realize that

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shoes living in the ghetto means I have to put up with some auditory assault—I have, after all, come to terms with my neigh­ bours taste for round-the-clock Franz Ferdinand—I don't feel that I should be forced to accept the endless yapping of the pooch two buildings down.

Whereas Scottish rock is catchy, barking is one of the most irritating sounds known to man. It's not like consistent white noise that you can drown out or ignore: You're always anticipating the next yelp or bark as you're slowly driv­ en to insanity.

While I find dogs in my 'hood obtrusive, I could almost coexist with them if it weren't for one thing: shit.

With the unseasonably warm tempera­ tures that graced the city last week and the accompanying snow melt, I noticed an overwhelming abundance of poopcicles adorning the sidewalk. People do not pick up their dogs' excrement, and they need to start.

I'm not sure if this is a Montrealonly problem or if it occurs in the 'burbs as well. I feel like it's city specif­ ic, though, because suburbanites don't actually walk anywhere, thus providing no opportunity for dogs to dirty the streets. They also have big backyards that accommodate much anonymous dumping. Regardless of the reason, dog crap abounds, and it's a blight on our city.

The bottom line is that the down­ town doggies have got to go. Round 'em up and ship 'em off to an ice floe up north for all I care. "The land of for­ gotten dogs"—it could be a tourist attraction. Or better yet, don't get one in the first place. I'm tired of living in fear of having my shoes covered in shit. ■

Kleinium

T h e s t r a ig h t d o p e o n d o p in g a t t h e O l y m p i c s J O N A T H A N KLEIN

- y - h e Olympics are upon us once again, and I can't wait for I the grand displays of athletic skill and the rabid national I spirit that comes with them. I'm not quite as excited, how­ ever, for the inevitable news of a medal winner testing positive for a banned substance. Between Ben Johnson losing his 1988 100-metre title (much to the disappointment of my then four-year-old self) and snowboarder Ross Rebagliati's laterrescinded marijuana bust in Nagano, drug offences are all too common and sometimes just as famous as legitimate victories.

Last week, William Saletan reported on Slate.com that Italian Olympic authorities plan to not simply target "standard" performance enhancers like steroids and stimulants. They have threatened action against athletes using "altitude simula­ tion," a technique to train their bodies to deal with the thin air of high-altitude locations like Turin. McGill's own Dick Pound, head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, weighed in against the technology, saying "I'm not sure it's doping, but it certainly is tacky."

The science behind altitude simulation is based on the fact that atmospheric pressure is not uniform—it decreases as altitude increases. Elevated regions have thinner air, which con­ tains less oxygen, than those nearer to sea level. Human bod­ ies need the same amount of oxygen regardless of location, so

people in thin air environments naturally develop higher con­ centrations of (^-carrying red blood cells to meet their bodies' needs. Sea-level dwellers lack this adaptation and may be at a disadvantage when competing at a high-altitude site, like Denver, a concept repeated ad nauseum by NFL commenta­ tors whenever the Broncos play at home.

Many athletes prepare for elevated competition simply by training on higher ground. This is why the US Olympic Committee is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Other athletes, who may be unable to travel to thinner air, choose to bring the air to them. Sleeping in a tent or room with artificially thinned air causes the desired physiological response without the hassles of jet lag and airline employees.

Altitude simulation can level the playing field between athletes who live at higher altitudes and their lower-lying brethren. If the ultimate goal of anti-doping is to prevent indi­ vidual athletes from gaining advantages and to ensure that results are determined by competitors' skill, then it seems more reasonable to mandate these techniques, not ban them.

If simulating high-altitude effects allows a Dutch athlete to compete on par with one from the mountains of Norway, I am all for it. The method could also allow athletes from small countries, which don't have the resources needed to maintain

elaborate high-altitude training facilities, a fair chance to bring home medals for their countrymen.

The obvious counter argument is that this practice sets us down a slippery slope into doping oblivion, so I propose a sim­ ple metric to determine what is legal and not. Any activity which changes the external physical environment of the body to elicit a physiological response is in. This allows plain old exercise (causing stresses and fatigue to build strength) and treatments like altitude simulation, which changes the atmos­ phere around the athlete without directly affecting their interi­ or environment Conversely, substances which must be administered internally will be evaluated using current codes. Familiar cul­ prits like anabolic steroids, synthetic hormones and stimulants fall under this umbrella.

Ensuring clean competition is certainly a worthy goal and I applaud our man Richard and WADA for their work in this area. But when new technologies change athletes' training habits, they can't simply be banned outright in the name of doping control. We should instead carefully examine the new methods and determine the advantages and disadvantages they offer to the spirit of competition, and rule on them accord­ ingly. ■

the mcgill tribune j 7.2.06 | opinion | I

I M c G ill

EDITORIAL Normally, the editorial represents a consensus opinion reached by the Tribune's editorial board. However, when an issue is so divisive as to leave our ed board entirely unable to agree on a stance, we attempt to present both sides of the issue.

T r ib u n e Vol. 25, Issue 20.

Editor-in-Chief Liz Allemang editor@mcgilltribune.com Managing Editors Jennifer Jett Andrew Segal seniored@mcgilltribune.com News Editors Robert Church James Gotowiec Niall Mackay Roberts news@mcgilltribune.com Features Editors Genevieve Jenkins Cristina Markham features@mcgilltribune.com A&E Editors Ben Lemieux Melissa Price arts@mcgilltribune.com Sports Editors David Blye Adam Myers sports@mcgilltribune.com Photo Editors Lukas Bergmark Vladimir Eremin photo@mcgilltribune.com Copy Editor Traci Johnson copy@mcgilltribune.com Design Editors Matt Campbell Tiffany Choy Geneviève Friesen design@mcgilltribune.com Online Editor Marco Avolio online@mcgilltribune.com Advertising Manager Paul Slachta advmgr@ssmu.mcgill.ca Publisher Chad Ronalds

G e t t i n g o u r m o n e y ’s

H M B : put your m oney

w o r th fro m H M B

w h e r e y o u r m o u t h is

rom student groups to disgrun­ tled staff members, everyone loves to rag on Heather Munroe-Blum. But on the issue of her salaray, they should keep their gripes to themselves.

The latest entity to fire a missive at our embattled principal is Le Journal de M ontréal, which last week breathlessly reported that MunroeBlum had cost taxpayers $ 1.5-mil­ lion in salary and expenses since her term began in 2003. In addition to paying Munroe-Blum an annual salary of $362,500, McGill provides an annual car allowance and— among other benefits—reimburses her for housekeeping and gardening costs.

Amid all the chatter about soirées and chauffeurs, it's easy to forget that, whoops, this isn't even news—the broad terms of MunroeBlum's contract have always been public knowledge. A January 2003 Tribune article lists Munroe-Blum's annual salary as $350,000, with an additional $16,000 annual car allowance and $4,000 per month to cover the cost of hosting promotion­ al events at her Westmount home.

No one has "uncovered" anything here. The publicity has only drawn attention to the fact that principals are expensive.

Corporations compete for the most talented people, luring them away from the competition with expense accounts, stock options and other incentives. Likewise, universi­ ties compete for the top principals, chancellors and rectors—and McGill doesn't even come close to offering the best package. Munroe-Blum may rake in $362,500 a year, but the heads of four other Canadian universities—the University of

F

OFF T H E

Kayvon Afshari, Daniel Amin, Mohit Arora, Tessa Blanchfield, Leila Brillson, Margaux Carson, Brandon Chudleigh, Jamie Goodman, Kiyoko Gotanda, J.S. Hancox, Jonathan Klein, Heather Haq Lawrence, Meaghan Hoyle, Oliver Nguyen, Sergio Roldan Mejia, Branka Petrovic, Resham Popat, Dan Pujdak, Jessie Shapiro, Aaron Sigal, Rich Tseng, James Young, George Zaarour Tribune Offices Editorial. Shatner University Centre, Suite 110, 3480 McTavish, Montreal QC Tel: 514.398.6789 Fax. 514.398.1750 Advertising. Brown Student Building, Suite 1200, 3600 McTavish, Montreal QC H3A 1Y2 Tel. 514.398.6806 Fax. 514.398.7490

aybe it shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that Principal Heather MunroeBlum's annual salary, now well over $300,000, is the highest of any university head in the province.

After all, as the executive of a school- that repeatedly—to the University of Toronto's certain frus­ tration-claims to be the best in Canada, she certainly deserves more than minimum wage and a mid-level dental plan. Besides, if one of the principal's duties isattracting private dollars to a fund­ ing-starved system, what better way to coax the money from the future namesakes of our infrastruc­ ture than with wine and charm?

So maybe the gardener shouldn't be such a surprise, either.

After all, large houses on large estates require large expenditures for their upkeep. Those expansive lawns won't mow themselves, and Munroe-Blum can hardly be expected to take time away from her many meetings with students to do the work herself.

And maybe the driver should­ n't come as such as shock. Just imagine the indignity of private donors witnessing the principal carefully manoeuvring her own car into the red zone she recently commandeered as private parking by the doors to the James Administration building. One can almost hear the faint trickle of money returning to Ontario.

Of course, this is ludicrous. No one—least of all the chief executive of a publicly funded non-profit institution dedicated to education and research—needs the pomp and circumstance of a monarch to make her case for university fund­

M

BOARD

ing. (Indeed, a thorough command of French might actually be of more immediate use.)

More importantly, in over­ spending on charm offensives, the administration is whitewashing what should be a national scandal with the potential to attract addi­ tional donors: McGill has deferred millions in routine maintenance in order to continue serving the aca­ demic needs of its students and staff. Over the summer, the Board of Governors even advocated run­ ning an annual deficit until some­ day, by beneficence and good for­ tune, donations and government funding increase. These dire straits should be enough to ensure future donations from those with an inter­ est in keeping McGill viable. This budget crunch—and not the clean­ liness of the principal’s foyershould be the guiding concern of the administration.

On a larger scale, though, the issue is one of cost-effectiveness throughout the university. MunroeBlum endures an extraordinary amount of personal attention, but her benefits alone are hardly break­ ing the bank. The problem, one might say, is a culture of executive entitlement doing a disservice to the dedicated majority of adminis­ trative employees. To put it plainly, some upper administrators could probably work as well without the free Perrier the administration pro­ vides, and the five lonely auditors currently working at Internal Audit could probably use some help.

Principal Munroe-Blum, whose concern lies ultimately with the quality of education and research at this university, would surely agree. ■ ben lemieux

M u s lim s n e e d t o c h a n g e t h e i r a t t i t o o n

ONLINE AT WWW.MCGILLTRIBUNE.COM

Contributors

Alberta, the University of British Columbia, the University of Toronto and the University of Calgary—make more in salary and benefits. While Munroe-Blum receives reimburse­ ment for trampled flowerbeds.

University of Toronto president David Naylor is provided with an offi­ cial residence in a tony Toronto neighbourhood. ( U niversity o f Toronto M agazine describes it as having a "restrained grandeur.") If McGill wants the best in university management, it has to be willing to shell out for it.

Le Journal further questioned Munroe-Blum's expenditures in light of her constant references to McGill's chronic lack of funds—and it is difficult to imagine $30,000 in annual housekeeping and gardening bills. The tabloid overreached, how­ ever, in trying to make this connec­ tion. McGill's wish list could go on for pages: new faculty hires, library books, repairs for buildings in sham­ bles. And as Students' Society President Adam Conter rightly point­ ed out, Munroe-Blum's salary is less than 0.1 per cent of the $375-million by which Quebec universities are underfunded.

As the old saying goes, you have to spend money to make money. Munroe-Blum uses her home and travel account to woo potential donors-those are the peo­ ple who keep the university running despite a Quebec tuition rate that doesn't nearly account for the actual per-student cost—and promote McGill's image at home and abroad.

And the payoff has been significant: This year alone, Munroe-Blum has helped bring in more than $50-million in donations. That's more than worth a $ 1.5-million investment. ■

ack in September, Jyllands-Posten, a prominent Danish newspaper, printed a series of 12 cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed. Some of the images showlhe prophet, and the Islamic farth in gener­ al, in rather negative and stereotypical terms. These indude images of Mohammed wearing a bomb-shaped turban and a pearly-gate scenario in which Mohammed is turning away singed suidde bombers, exdaiming "Stop! Stop! We ran out of virgins!"

After having been reprinted in a few newspapers recently, they're now causing one hell of an uproar. And the Muslim worid has failed a big test Admittedly, some of the cartoons were in bad taste.

But Muslims had an opportunity, through their reaction, to show that they are not the violent; menadng intoler­ ant bunch that Westemers-often erroneously-assume they are. Did they shrug the cartoons off pladdly, taking one on the chin as, Lord knows, every other religion or nationality on the face of the Earth has? Did their spokespeople and prominent politidans respond peacefully but assertively, speaking out against the Danish newspaper for sponsoring a latent form of radsm in Europe?

Regrettably, they did not Instead, many followers of

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Islam elected to riot in Beirut this weekend, torching the Danish embassy building and wounding 28 people. The day before, unrest in Syria daimed the Danish and Norwegian embassies, almost spilling over to the French diplomatic mission before being repelled by water can­ nons.

In Europe, the backlash was just as fervent An aL Qaeda affiliate known as "The Glorious Brigades in Northern Europe" is currently drculating graphic online images depicting bombs exploding over the newspa­ per's head office and of blood flowing over the Danish national flag. 'The Mujahedeen have numerous targets in Denmark,” their Web site firmly states. 'Very soon you will regret this!'

In London, angry protestors—instead of writing let­ ters and petitions demanding the resignation of the edi­ tors at Jyllands-Posten—called for their beheading and threatened attacks comparable to the July 7 bombings.

Some demonstraters were holding signs of outrage that read, "Butcher those who mock Islam." Butcher? We are not cattle, and a narrow-minded bunch of Islamic funda­ mentalists is not the ultimate moral barometer on this Earth, thank you veiy much.

The tragedy and irony of the situation is that

Jyllands-Posten was totally unjustified in typifying Muslims

as violent brutish extremists—yet devotees of Islam around the world did everything in their power to prove the discriminatory cartoons right People will point out and rightfully so, that the past week's demonstrations have encapsulated the feelings of a mere fragment of Muslims and are not representa­ tive of the people as a whole. It still bothers me, howev­ er, that a young Muslim immigrant in Brussels can pub­ lish a poster depicting the Virgin Mary with naked breasts and be subsidized by the Ministry of Culture, not draw­ ing protest from a single Western embassy or bishop on the planet Yet everytime Salman Rushdie, Isioma Daniel or some other unsuspecting author takes a cheap (hell, even educated) swipe at Islam or Mohammed, all of sudden it's fotwa fucking fever. That the protests may be confined to a small, hard-line group is irrelevant This is the 21 st century. This shouldn't be happening at all.

These protestors need to leam to take a joke, or continue to behave as the oversized, schoolyard bullies they dearly are. Thatfs a no-brainer, rf you ask me. ■

The M cG ill Tribune is an editorially autonom ous new spaper published by the Students' Society of M cGill University, in collaboration with the Tribune Publication Society. Letters to the editor m ay be sent to letters@ m cgilltribune.com , and m ust include the contributor's nam e, program and year, and contact inform ation. Letters should be kept under 3 0 0 w ords and subm itted only to the Tribune. S u b m issio n s judged by the Tribune Publication Society to be libellous, sexist, racist, hom ophobic, or so lely prom otional in nature will not be published. Th e Tribune reserves the right to edit all contributions. Editorials are decided upon and written by the editorial board. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the o pinion s of the M cG ill Tribune, its editors or its staff. Please recycle this newspaper.

12 opinion | 7.2.06 | the mcgill tribune

L e t t e r s t o th e e d it o r M odel U N no joke

I was disappointed and disheartened after reading your article "'Model' students play UN dressup." (31.1.06).

Although there was in-depth coverage of HRH Badiya El Hassan's keynote address, discussion of the conference's content was entirely neglected save the concluding paragraph.

The McGill Model United Nations Assembly (McMUN) is meant to function as a stimulating environment for discussing and debating current world affairs in committee settings, with the ultimate goal of coming to plausible solutions to pressing global problems. To compare the experience to "play[ing] UN dressup" is inaccurate for it fails to grasp the purposes behind putting on such a model UN conference.

McMUN values professionalism above all else, both on the part of delegates and of staff. To present the conference as the article's author did offends not only the conference's organisers, but also the nearly 1,400 delegates and over 200 volunteer staffers who value the conference's objectives and who dedicated countless hours to ensuring its success.

Perhaps if the author had stayed past the opening cere­ monies, then the true meaning of McMUN would have been felt and conveyed.

Mike Torunian D eputy Undersecretary-General M cG ill M odel U nited Nations Assembly 2 0 0 6

Naysaying Nasser

Nasser Abukhdeir makes very good points when he says that criticizing Israel is not anti-Semitic ("It's anti-oppression, not anti-Semitism," 31.1.06). Israel's human rights record is checkered, and radical reformations are needed before all people who call the land their home can live in safety, both on the Israeli and Palestinian side. However, the problem is not that to criticize Israel is anti-Semitic. The point is that many organizations, Islamic and otherwise, use legitimate criticisms of Israel as a springboard to illegitimize the entire country's existence.

In extreme cases, most notably the Hamas Covenant,

O ff the board

A D A M MYERS

he Palestinian people still obviously have a lot to learn about democracy.

They should, of course, be commended for holding and participating in a democratic election on Jan. 25. However, their selection of the terrorist organization Hamas as the majority party in parliament supersedes any applause the people should receive.

Hamas is a radical group that refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist Its leaders have also chosen not to disarm the group's violent terrorist wing. As long as this is the case, demo­ cratic countries have no reason to negotiate with or help the Palestinian people in any capac­ ity.

Just when Fatah was beginning to make break­ throughs in peace negotiations with Israel, which would dra­ matically improve the life of Palestinians on all accounts, support for the party was aban­ doned. The Fatah government of Mahmoud Abbas, through pursuing a policy of disarma­ ment and negotiating for peace, achieved what no other Palestinian Authority was ever able to: getting back part of the land which had been occupied

by Israel since 1967. After such unimaginably great results, it

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these criticisms are used as "proof' of ridiculous worldwide Zionist and Jewish conspiracies, such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. By declaring, explicitly or implicitly, that Israel has no right to exist is to deny the Jewish people a fundamen­ tal human right of their own: the right to a homeland. This is where racism and anti-Semitism rears its ugly head. Mutual recognition of everyone as equally entitled to-a land that they at one time or another called their home is the only way that peace in the Middle East will ever be achieved.

Sol Klein UO Arts

M ore of the same

Nasser Abukhdeir states that "Palestinian human rights groups are overwhelmingly not motivated by racism against Jews." Perhaps. But in evaluating the empirical truth of that claim, we should look at what occurred at the lecture about anti-Semitism, which was the impetus for Abukhdeir's article.

During the presentation, several pro-Palestinian mem­ bers in the audience were publicly defending a poster which likened the Star of David to a swastika as well as a cartoon depicting Ariel Sharon as a baby-eating monster. Someone in the crowd even praised the cartoon as "beautiful."

Surety this goes beyond opposition to any particular pol­ icy of the State of Israel with regards to the Palestinians, but instead demonizes the very notion of a Jewish State. If Abukhdeir is truly sincere in his opposition to racism, then he should have condemned this barefaced bigotry, which is only discrediting the Palestinian cause.

A dam Blander UO Arts

Lazarus points laser-sharp

Neil Lazarus wasn't talking about South Africa when he spoke last week, nor was he talking about the policies of the Israelis or Palestinians. Let me clear up the details of his talk.

Lazarus said that he does not believe that it is antiSemitic to criticize Israel. But he did play clips from Arabic tel­

T h e ir o n y o f fo r g e ttin g t h e p a s t makes no sense that the Palestinian people would not want to re-elect this govern­ ment.

I can understand the Palestinian people's discontent with Fatah. The Palestinian Liberation Organization has been corrupt and has provided limited help to its people, espe­ cially since Arafat took power in 1969. However, putting the onus on terrorists to fight your political battles for land and economic stability is equally counter-productive. The Pales­ tinian leadership made no progress towards retaining land until it was willing to denounce terrorism and recognize the right of Israel to exist, so return­ ing to radicalism will only set back the Palestinian cause.

Hamas and the people of Palestine must accept that Israel is not going anywhere. The peo­ ple of Israel want peace, and with their recent pullout from the Gaza strip and four West Bank settlements, they at least showed that they are willing to compromise. However, as long as Hamas is still performing acts of terror in Israel, life for Palestinians will not improve. It is not violence that drove Israel from their settlements, but the discussion and possibility of peace. A Palestinian state will

never be supported by Israel as long as a government organiza­ tion—or any organization for that matter—is supporting launching rockets and blowing up buses.

The US, EU and Israelis must take the necessary step of cutting off financial aid to Palestine, one that will show the world that terrorists—even democratically elected ones— will still be treated as terrorists.

The world does not support an agency that uses violence as its means to serve its political agenda. Unfortunately, it is the Palestinian people who will feel the wrath of this economic and political embargo. Hopefully, though, they will then be able to convince their government that their only hope to achieve a state is to disarm and recog­ nize Israel as a neighbour.

It is extremely promising that Palestinians are embracing democracy. However, they should have remembered the past when they voted at the end of January. The citizens of Palestine know the effects of having terrorists as their political leaders; they live those effects every day in a chaotic country. It seems as if they have forgotten who put them in the position in which they are so deeply entrenched in today. ■

evision which depicted Ariel Sharon together with a bunch of religious cronies who were planning to finance their take-over of the world by killing Muslim children and bottling their blood to sell to Jews like cola. Another image was a protestor's sign that equated Judaism with Nazism.

I'm sure that these are not the types of images that Abukhdeir and his friends are used to seeing at their "ethni­ cally diverse" and tolerance-minded gatherings for the rights of Palestinians. However, these are the disgusting images which millions of other pro-Palestinian (more accurately, antiIsrael) advocates cling to and subscribe to.

Lazarus was attempting to articulate the dangers of min­ gling such obviously demonizing ideas about Jews with criti­ cism of Israel. I would hope that Abukhdeir would agree that such tactics are clearly anti-Semitic and that denying their antiSemitic quality is a dangerous lie.

Furthermore, it is disturbing to me that someone who claims to value a diversity of opinions thinks that he doesn't even need to listen to what a lecturer says in order to know what that person is saying. Perhaps Abukhdeir could do with a little more of the open-mindedness that he claims to hold so dear.

Joshua Freeman U3 English Literature

Van Eyken: do not pass Go, do not collect $200

I was amazed to read that Eric van Eyken, SSMU VP finance and operations, "looked at the ballot and decided to spoil it" during the last election ("They talked the talk, but did they walk it?" 31.1.06). I wonder if van Eyken is aware that his candid revelation is actually a confession that he broke the Canada Elections Act. In fact, the section that prohibits the spoiling of ballots 167(2)(a) brings with it a $500 fine or three months in jail.

Phil Alm a Law III

See more and longer letters online at m cgilltribune.com

Correction

An article in last week's issue incorrectly referred to Her Royal Highness Princess Badiya of Jordan as Princess Hassan. The Tribune apologizes for the error.

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by j a m ie G o o d m a n

CHATTERBOX

cam pus

R e c e n t g ra d t u r n s

SILHOUETTE

M c G ill a d m i n is t r a t o r

A sh e s to ash es

N e w S e cre ta ry -G e n e ra l Jo h an n e

M c G ill m e d s t u d e n t s p r e a d s lu n g

P e l l e t i e r is “ g e n t l y f a c i l i t a t i n g b e h i n d

can cer aw aren ess on cam pus

th e sce n e s”

GENEVIEVE JENKINS

You see them huddled in cold, reeking clusters by doorways, their near-frozen fingers clutching the ends of smoldering cigarettes. You smell them when they sit near you in class, their clothes giving off that unforgiving odor; in clubs and bars you watch the casual flick of their cigarette ash and cringe, hop­ ing it doesn't land near you. Yes, these are smokers, and for those who don't smoke, the automatic revulsion to the stench of the tobacco-tainted is overwhelming. Perhaps it is for this reason that lung cancer has such a negative stigma attached to it—at least that's what second-year medical student, Parisa Momtaz, was trying to prove when she launched her lung cancer awareness campaign in November.

Her campaign was directed primarily at non-smokers, who are typically unaware that the incidence of lung cancer among non-smokers is actually increasing. One of the more high-profile proofs of this came when Dana Reeves, a non-smoker and the wife of the late Chris Reeves, was diagnosed with lung cancer. Currently, 10 to 15 per cent of all new lung cancer cases reported are people who never smoked, and that number is on the rise. Says Momtaz, "Lung cancer is now the leading cause of can­ cer death in women and men; it surpassed breast cancer in the eighties." Moreover, lung cancer isn't something you can easily get rid of—it's purportedly the cancer with one of the worst prognoses, and it's extremely aggressive.

The biggest problem with lung cancer, says Momtaz, is that it's typically detected too late. "It's first presented as a dry cough, but by that point, the mass has grown a certain size," she says. "The lungs are extremely vascular and have a huge lymphatic system, which means the cancer spreads very quick­ ly" Momtaz, who recently lost her own father to lung cancer, is bothered by the under-funding of can­ cer research. The 2005 budg­ et for the US Congressional Center for Disease Control, for example, allocated $204million for breast and cervical cancer research, $ 14.6-million for colon cancer research, and $ 14-million for prostate cancer research; there were zero dollars allo­ cated to lung cancer research.

Momtaz believes this is due to the idea that smokers know what's coming to them—as soon as they light that cigarette, they're essen­ tially signing their lives over.

But is that really fair? Momtaz thinks not. 'The stigma is that 'You smoked, so you Although it is true that smoking is still the leading cause of lung cancer, not all smokers develop lung cancer (in fact, only 10 to 15 per cent). Point being: When we discriminate against lung cancer victims, we are not only condemning them for their voluntary cigarette smoking, but also for their unfor­ tunate gene combination.

Momtaz warns that if students choose to be smokers, they are "kind of setting themselves up for the future." She stresses that people need to be aware of the risks earlier on. Of course, one of the most effective means of staving off lung cancer is to promote non-smoking, but Momtaz doesn't think that smoking should be banned. The biggest issue should be resolving the under-funding issues and ending the stigmatization of smokers. She says, "Nobody deserves it, even if they are smokers. You can't say, 'oh well, you smoked... this is what you get.'"

It is a problem that can only be confronted if people are willing to engage themselves in the process of ideological change that displaces the blame from the individual smoker to the cancer itself.

"As people who are involved in educational process," Momtaz says, "We need to be aware that there are certain forms of cancer that aren't getting the proper funding." ■

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It's n o t often so m e o n e attends a convocation they've h e lp e d plan. B u t that's exactly w h a t Johanne Pelletier—an A rt H isto ry a n d C om m u nica tio ns Studies M aste r's g ra d u a te w ho also h appens to b e M cG ill's S ecretary-G eneral—w ill b e d o in g this spring.

B o m in M ontreal, P elletier c o u ld n 't sta y fa r from h o m e fo r long. She finishe d h e r u nd ergra d ua te d eg re e a t M cG ill in 1 9 8 6 then h e a d e d to the U niversity o f Toronto a n d the O ntario Institute fo r Studies in Education fo r g ra d u a te studies. A fte r a suc­ cessful caree r in the p u b lic sector a n d as a p rivate consultant, P elletier re tu rn e d to M o n tre a l to a cce pt the p ositio n o f D irecto r a n d U niversity A rchivist fo r M cG ill's U niversity A rchives P rogram in 1997, b efore m o vin g back in to the classroom a n d g e ttin g the M aster's deg re e s h e 'll be o fficially receiving in June. P elletier too k o ve r as S ecretary-G eneral a t the b e g in n in g o f January; o n e m o n th in to the experience, she shares h e r tho ug hts a n d plans.

D id y o u h o p e to be S ecretary-G eneral? I doubt anyone is born with the goal of being a Secretary-General. It is the natural evolution of my career—leading more into the policy and governance work I had begun before I returned to McGill.

H o w d id y o u b e c o m e Secretary-G eneral? As University Archivist and Director of the Archives Program, I reported to the Secretary-General. In August [2005], I moved into the position of Associate Secretary-General and University Archivist pending the search for a new Secretary-General.

W ha t s o rt o f c o n ta c t d o y o u have w ith students? I interact with students on many com­ mittees, on the Senate and Board; there are students in this office as part of the work-study program. I also taught library science courses and take part in the CAPS mentoring program.

I am recently a student myself, in Art History and Communication Master's.

W ha t m a de you d e c id e to go back to school? Interest in new media theory and want­ ing to connect again to an academic discipline; the classroom is a different place than I had expected it to be—it was diverse in terms of age and background. The degree was a way of bringing together my background in history with the new emerging area of communication technology—my thesis deals with temporality and digital objects.

As a h ig h -u p m e m b e r o f M cG ill's bureaucracy, w h a t d o y o u th in k a b o u t th e c o m ­ p la in ts o fte n vo ice d a ga inst th e a d m in istra tio n ? The Task Force on Student Life is getting

feedback on these issues-including areas that would make student life less encumbered by bureacracy. Having been recently a student, I remember some things that seemed more com­ plex than they should be—and certainly there are areas that could be improved. I expect the Task Force will be looking closely that these issues and asking the critical question, "Is this stu­ dent-centered?"

As a re cen t g ra d u a te w h o w ill p a rtic ip a te in c o n vo ca tio n , w h a t are y o u r fe e lin g s a b o u t th e cerem ony? I now have an official role in the ceremony and as it happens this is a

degree I feel very proud of and very close to, so, yes, I actually look forward to convocation.

It's an important public event, an important part of the student experience and an important right of passage, for students, their families and the university.

W ha t m a d e y o u d ecide to re tu rn to M o ntre al? It was a good time for a job change and a city change. This is where I grew up and feel most at home now. The position I came for (Director of the Archives Program), was an exciting one because it was the first university archives program created in Canada.

A fte r lea ving M o n tre a l and re tu rn in g to th e city, w h a t is y o u r fa v o u rite th in g a b o u t it?

What I love about Montreal is the way it has remained a livable city, has the diversity of cul­ ture and language, but isn't anonymously large.

W h o m d o y o u a d m ire m ost? Answers to this kind of question change over time... now I would say my parents most... for their strength and intelligence. ■

H E N ...

—C om piled by Genevieve Jenkins

W H E R E ...

C O N T A C T ...

Darwin Days

Redpath M useum Club

Feb. 12-13, 4 -7 p.m.

Redpath M useum A ud itorium

3 9 8 -4 0 8 6 x 4 0 9 4

D ebate on H ém a-Q uébec's Policy

McGill D ebating U nion

Feb. 8, 5 :3 0 p.m.

Shatner, room 3 0 2

chairofex@ gm ail.com

Film, “ Boys o f Buchenw ald"

McGill Programs in W hole Person Care

Feb. 14, 7 p.m.

M oyse Hall

wpc.oncology@ m cgill.ca

International D evelo pm en t w eek: NGO fair, Maharaja b uffet

IDSSA

Feb. 10

NGO: Leacock hallway Buffet: tickets in Leacock lobby

3 9 8 -4 8 0 4

Advertise your event! For o nly a to o n ie you can get a listing in th e print and o nlin e editions o f th e Trib. D rop by th e SSMU O ffice (S hatner building, Suite 1 2 0 0 ) to pick up a form . D eadlines are Fridays at 3 :3 0 p.m . For m ore inform ation call 3 9 8 .6 7 8 9 or e-m ail calendar@ m cgilltribune.com

ALL PHOTOS BY VLADEMIR EREMIN

fe a tu r e s I t ’s a ll f u n a n d g a m e s ‘t i l y o u r u p t o y o u r e y e s in d e b t «

Hosting the Olympics can be more burden than blessing C R IS T IN A M A R K H A M

here are few honours that can be bestowed upon a city as prestigious as being made host to the Olympic Games. It's an opportunity for a city to boast its culture to the world and take advantage of the gleeful and spend-happy tourists who come pouring into town. Smaller, lesser-known cities especially use this chance to put themselves on the map, in the hopes of attracting tourism for years to come.

But do these benefits last beyond the duration of the Games? What happens after the stadiums empty, the podiums come down and the ski ramps are disassembled? The luge runs were spectacular during the few weeks of the Games, but what good are they now? While the Olympics can provide a little boom for a city, it is debatable whether hosting them is actually worth the accompanying bust

T

Montreal's Olympic upset

It's a common misconception that hosting the Olympics is a lucrative endeavour. In fact, the first city to profit from hosting since the 1930s was Lillehammer, Norway, which hosted in 1994. Montreal, unfortunately, was no exception to the rule.

When it was decided in 1970 that Montreal was to be the host of the 1976 Summer Olympics, the announcement was met with positivity and excitement. True, the honour of playing host had a $3 10-million price tag attached to it. This money, howev­ er, was seen as an investment in the city: Hotels, restaurants and businesses would surely benefit from the added tourism, and Montreal would get its 15 minutes of fame. The then-mayor of the city, Jean Drapeau, is remembered for his wonderfully mis­ informed line: 'The Olympics can no more have a debt than a man can have a baby."

The city met the undertaking with enthusiasm and energy, the first project being the Olympic Stadium. The Stade O lym pique —or "The Big O," as it’s known to Montreal residents and snickering adolescents alike—eventually became home to the Expos, but was originally built as the main location of the '76 games. The stadium's ambitious design included an Olympic-sized swimming pool and a retractable roof. The roof was to be controlled by a tower of close to 170 metres in height, half a metre taller than the Washington monument, making it the world's tallest inclined structure.

Construction did not start on the Stadium until 1973 and from the beginning, the Stadium was fraught with problems. It was not actually ready for opening day, as the con­ struction workers went on strike. Once construction was completed, the deteriortion continued with this notoriously problematic building.

To add insult to injury, the building that was literally falling apart had incurred a huge debt, causing the Stadium to take on another nickname—The Big Owe. The total cost of the stadi­ um, which came in at close to $3-billion, was only settled in 2006.

While the Olympic Stadium was arguably the biggest problem of the '76 games, it was by no means the only problem. The Olympic Torch-was doused out by a rainstorm.

Fortunately, a quick-think­ ing official relit it, with his cigarette lighter. This blas­ phemy was quickly undone, as the torch was extinguished again, and then re-lit with a flame from a "back-up torch."

Canada left the games with a paltry collection of medals—five silver and six bronze. It remains the only Summer Games in Olympic history where the host country did not win a single gold medal.

Though the Stadium was finally completed, and the enormous debt even­ tually paid off, the Montreal Olympics continue to be the most expensive Games in Olympic history.

M oney well wasted

Intended as a symbol of Olympic glory, the Big O now leaves us unfulfilled.

In order to be consid­ ered as a host city for the Olympics, a city must put in an official bid. If they are "short listed," the city is

given the opportunity to showcase itself in an elaborate attempt to seduce the IOC. Such a seduction can cost millions of dollars In 2001, Toronto spent an estimated $40-million in their bid for the 2008 Olympics—money that may have been well spent, were it nor for the racist remarks of then-Mayor Mel Lastman The outspoken Lastman, when asked about his trip to Mombasa, Kenya to support the Toronto bid, was quoted as saying, "What the hell do I want to go to a place like Mombasa? I'm sort of scared about going out there, but the wife is really nervous. I just see myself in a pot of boiling water with all these natives danc­ ing around me."

Lastman apologized profusely for the insensitive remarks but it is believed that-although Toronto's hold on the Olympics was tenuous at best-this one moment of brutishness cost the city whatever chance it had.

While some would argue that the prestige of hosting the Olympics is worth the astronomical expenses, groups such as the Bread Not Circuses Coalition and NoLondon2012 maintain that the money could be better spent. The BNCC argued vehe­ mently against Toronto's bid, asserting that the government was not being forthcoming about the actual cost of the bid. As the group's name suggests, their belief was that the millions of dol­ lars spent on a bid—not to mention the billions that would be spent if Toronto were actually chosen—should be used to create affordable housing as opposed to refurbishing the Rogers Centre (née SkyDome).

NoLondon2012 has similar arguments—the British govern­ ment has tnade several claims stating that the Olympics would be a positive experience for the capital. They claim that 3,000 new jobs would be created, that tourism in the city would be boosted both during and after the games, and that young peo­ ple would be encouraged to take part in sports. Each of these claims is met with disagreement from NL2012: They believe that since London is already a significant tourist city, the tiny surge of visitors will not create enough of a difference to justify the money spent on the games. They also argue that the business­ es that would most profit from hosting are those that are back­ ing the bid; advertising companies such as London First will stand to make a huge profit off the games.

M aking the same mistakes

Ignoring the past mistakes of other Canadian cities, it would appear that Vancouver is heading down the same path as Montreal. According to The Globe and Mail, the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee (VANOC) has asked for another $1 10million. VANOC vows that this will be the last request for public funds, but with the Games still four years away, taxpayers appear skeptical. Estimated costs are proving insufficient, as construction fees alone have reached ?585-million (the original budget allot­ ted $470-million).

Anti-Olympics activist, Dr. Christopher Shaw of the Vancouver General Hospital, is a member of No Olympics 2010.

The group's original goal was to stop Vancouver from winning the Olympic bid, but have since changed their role to that of watchdog.

"There has been total fiscal irresponsibility so far, at the expense of tax payers both in Vancouver and across the coun­ try," says Shaw. "Hosting this 17 day party is creating a loss of opportunity for the province-just like a parent who spends all their money on beer and partying, the money going towards the Olympics could be much better spent on health research, for example-imagine what could be done with wait times with all that money. Or we could put more money into starting a hydro­ gen industry-the list goes on.

Shaw asserts that there has been a lack of accountability Finally, there has been a lack of process and a lack of process and accountability. "No one outside of Vancouver got to vote on this issue, but it's affecting the whole province. I'm paying for this party, and my children will be, too."

N02010 is scrutinising every penny spent by VANOC and bringing what they feel is irresponsible spending to the public's attention. Shaw says that the group will continue to oppose the Olympics up until 2010.

The Olympics are indeed a great opportunity for a country to show itself off to the world, and maybe even help to instill a sense of national pride in the host country's people. But whether the costs of playing host—both social and financial—are worth the 15 minutes of fame is a subject still up for debate. ■

the mcgill tribune | 7.2.06 | features 15

M o n t r e a l’s h o s t in g s k ills a g a in p u t t o t h e t e s t M o v in g p a s t t h e d e b t an d lo o k in g f o r w a r d t o t h e s u m m e r G a y G a m e s GENEVIEVE JENK INS

When Montreal won the Olympic bid for the 1976 Games, then-mayor Jean Drapeau said it would be the first time a host city wouldn't go into 'debt for the preparation. Technically, Montreal made a profit from Games attendance, but building the necessary infrastructure came at a cost. Building the Olympic Village and Stadium went so far beyond Drapeau's original esti­ mates of a total investment of $ 120-million that a $2-billion tax on tobacco had to be imposed; even now, 17 cents of every pack of cigarettes is covering the 1976 Olympic expenditure. The final payments were made only this year. Thirty years later, we're seeing the repercussions of the city's participation—the decaying Olympic Stadium that looks like it's slowly sinking into the con­ crete hole of Olympic Park.

Montreal lost the Expos to Washington, D.C. in 2004, largely because they didn't have any­ where decent to play. The players begged for a new stadium and never got one—and Montreal simply couldn't keep up the cost of letting them play in the Olympic Stadium—but what's the point of having the Stadium at all if no one can use it? In the original plans, the Stadium was supposed to have a retractable roof; that never materialized, so the Olympics went on in an unfinished Stadium that cost $500 million to build. Because the tower was only about a quar­ ter of the height it was supposed to be, a retractable roof just wasn't possible. Finally, in 1988, the tower was completed and a roof of was added in an attempt to keep the place functional, an attempt that obviously failed when it was discovered that keeping the roofs Kevlar composi­ tion in decent condition would cost about $700,000 a year. Although the roof could open, it took a full 45 minutes for it to do so; it was kept closed until 1997 when it was finally removed alto­ gether. The retractable roof is only one example of the disastrous experience of dealing with thg Olympic construction once the Games were over.

It's hard to imagine who would have lost out if Drapeau's bid for the Olympics had failed.

Maybe hosting the Olympics helped propel Montreal into the global limelight for a while, but it really hasn't paid off—although Quebeckers have been paying it off—in the long run. Of course, 5 an old story that Montreal's Olympics were essentially a financial we've heard this all befj %in fact, that few Montrealers would look favourably on another disaster. So much of hometown Olympi er, there are some new Games planned for summej 20C Unbeknowr^to mai as Rendezvous-Montreal. It's an eight-day aihletiecomin Montreal jM jS a y Gam I double as a cultural event. Although.-#lé^52ciifferent petition for gays and lesbi, attraction, it is more likely Montrgafsiuré'as a gay-friendevents will serve as f short-ti profits this summer and in yearsioicome. Estimates i ly city that will garner significant rofits, well above the expected cost of $ 1C as high as $171 .H-miHiç ___ relies ga-thegay and lesbian population for six to ;e Montri hosting the GameSsjjj income, Rendezvous-Montreal has a strongrpadcgfto play to. Beyond 10 per cent of its tc ng the fall if finances don't workj^ut-aS 'pTanned-Quebec, Montreal that, smokers won't I are merely sponsors of the event, with specific caps on th e jrx o a tn b ü and federal goyern| tions. / ; to be making ,Olympic stndesTarWâTdln^ Games planning. By Overall; MoJ ring up the strengths of a liberal ancTgayTriéndly province, the city targeting an at from an event that costs no where near as~mDch-as the 19 j could be fna Olympic

O l y m p i c b id d in g : a c o m p e t it io n w o rth y o f th e G a m e s C i t i e s v ie f o r a p r i z e o f i n t e r n a t i o n a l p r e s t i g e a n d high p r i c e C R IS T IN A M A R K H A M

For anyone who has a deep passion for sports and poli­ tics, the bidding process to host the Olympic Games provides a unique type of entertainment and competition before any start gun sounds. Candidate cities undergo a series of exami­ nations by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which culminate in a final selection round of voting. Technically, the winning city should emerge as the best place to host the most prestigious sporting event in the world. In many of the nuanced technical and political considerations that go into the bidding, the selection process reflects the original rivalry and competition upon which the Olympic Games were built.

"You can eliminate a whole series of cities on the techni­ cal factors alone," notes Dick Pound, one of Canada's most distinguished members of the IOC and former McGill Chancellor. Few cities, for example, possess the public trans­ port systems, hotel capacity, broadcast infrastructure and sporting facilities to manage such a monumental event. The Olympics, however, are much more than just a technical bid.

Despite debates about the financial debacles resulting from past Games, the prestige of being the star on the inter­ national stage makes the Olympics an attractive prize for any host country and causes fierce competition among countries.

The prize is npt simply a chance for a country to show off.

Recent Olympic Games, such as those held in Barcelona, have had a great impact on stimulating city and national economies, even if others (Greece, most recently) have not benefited financially.

And fierce competition isn't always sportsmanlike: The competition for hosting the last Olympics revealed a nastier

side of the Games. The scandal surrounding the selection for the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City signaled a need to change the process of selection. Evidence of bribery and corruption resulted in the resignation of 10 IOC officials.

Since the scandal, the- IOC has changed the way it; picks the host venue. The final selec­ tion process today is done over # j one day with one-hour présentations by the candidate cities.

Aside from cutting down corruption, the new selection _I S _ _P _c _ _ _ _ process is a simpler and more I jÈ**-» time-efficient method. "The only real change is that they r*T don't go and visit the potential fS - ” ' -jg jg cities," says Pound. Without visiting the cities, IOC delegates are too out-of-range to bribe easily. Detractors claim * J M the new selection process makes it more difficult to ? judge a city's capability of' VSHgSgr serving as host for the Games. '• Pound dismisses this argument, / pointing out that when delegates visit cities before the Games, all they ' ^ _ see are computer-generated models of' * what the cities would look like in eight years, y The same models can just as easily be shown as a presentation in Switzerland.

Perhaps the most important consideration of

the selection committee is spreading the Olympic movement, which places priori­ ty on first-time host countries in an attempt to bring the games to counk . tries that haven't hosted it before k and bring the com___, petitive «and c o -o p e ra tive

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this idealism that ' can likely overcome the corruption and the less admirable «effects of national rivalry. ■

s tu d e n t liv in g 30-SECOND PRE-V-DAY

FRENCH

LESSON

PLANNING U se fu l

G e t t in g r e a d y f o r l o v e . . .

*

I t's a w eek until th e day m o st o f us m o ck as a H allm ark holiday... a day th a t nonetheless deserves som e planning if you've got som e on e to impress.

W hat to cook/bake/eat: W hether you're cooking fo r a loved one or taking him ' o u t to din n er on Valentine's Day, you should p u t som e consideration into th e concoction you'll be consum ing.

Stay away fro m som e o f th e obvious taste and after-effect turn-offs like garlic, beans, onions and cabbage. If you're looking fo r a breath freshener, eat m ore g ree n s-ch lo ro phyll can hglp get rid o f bad breath, and parsley is one o f the best greens fo r th e purpose. Alcohol is know n to w orsen you r breath, so m ake sure both o f you are drink­ ing or neither is. (Since you've got a w ho le w ee k to pre­ pare you r m o uth, consider th e advice o f som e h om e ­ opaths: Eating six to seven ripe bananas at breakfast every day fo r a w ee k can freshen breath.)

So h o w a bo ut a real meal? D ine w ith th e all-tim egreat o f rom antic history—Casanova—and serve oysters.

These are healthy, potentially delicious (it all depends on h o w you cook th e m ) and historically proven to heighten y o u r libido.

This one is obvious b u t should absolutely n ot be ignored: anything chocolate. Dr. Andrea Salonia, an Italian doctor w h o conducted a 2 0 0 4 study on the potential links betw een chocolate and sex, says, "W om en w ho have a daily intake o f chocolate show ed higher levels o f desire than w o m e n w h o d id n o t have this habit.

A lthough these potions have as m any detractors as they do supporters, Valentine's Day gives you a (so rt o f) valid excuse fo r buying into the hype. Basically, p herom ones w ork to lure m em bers o f th e opposite sex to you and to p ro m p t a reproductive behavioural response. You can buy scented pherom ones, b ut the y function equally w ell (m aybe better, depen din g on w hich scent you choose) if you can't sm ell th e m —they're n o t detectable to the hum a n sense o f sm ell. Keep in m ind th a t you 're already excreting these exciting chem ical substances, so d o n ’t overdo it on th e bottled stuff. You can fin d pherom ones o nlin e or at pharm acies (also at select sex stores).

c la s s

W hat to wear: If it's clothing w e're talking about, fo r goodness' sake, forgo th e tackiness o f wearing red and pink on Valentine's Day—d o n 't you th in k it's a little overdone at this point?

W e've seen enough hearts and bow s in store w indow s fo r th e last fe w weeks, so keep th e m o ff o f you r T-shirts.

Actually, th e m ore interesting part o f the Valentine's attire is w h a t you've g ot on underneath. It's a rom antic night th a t provides th e chance to don n ew lingerie w ith o u t fee l­ ing to o lam e—hearts and bow s belong som ew here, right?

You can fin d all sorts o f lacy, racy and a lm ost-innocent lin­ gerie in every store right now, and you still have tim e to buy fro m online vendors, w h o often sell at a discount.

Lingerie n o t really your style? C onsider Brazilian waxes fo r som e sexy style sans costum e.

The m en can dress them selves up dow n there, as w e ll... consider flavoured and coloured con do m s fo r a change o f pace.

Self-satisfaction stockpile:

W hen y o u 're getting close (o r h o p ing to ) on Valentine's Day, you w a n t to sm ell a little b etter than usual, especially if you're o nly ju s t m oving in on th a t spe­ cial som eone. Rather than sticking to the usual perfum es, colognes and deodorants, try b o ttle d p he ro m on es.

in

"No, thank you, I'm not interested."

"Dégage, trou d'cul!"

Uriiwriaiiism is one of die oldest modem religions; an uncommon denomination. tf you are open-minded, believe that "truth” is ever-evolving and not found tot a rigid doctrine or dogma, the Unitarian congregation could well he the place for you.Please join m any Sunday morning at 10:30 for one hour It could change your whole attitude towards “religion.”

Need som ething a little m o re exciting than a sm attering o f paper hearts and butterflies to get yourself going? If you're spending th e night in, rent som e not-so-chick-flick love movies.

You m ig ht w an t to avoid straight-out porno; no need to create feelings o f inadequacy or jeal­ ousy on a night w ith great potential. Check o ut any o f th e follow ing: Showgirls, Basic Instinct, O riginal Sin, Blow Up, Some Like It Hot, The Postman Always Rings Twice o r Last Tango in Paris. O f course there are countless o th er cine­ m atic w orks o f sexual genius, b u t this list should get you through m ost o f th e day.

How to smell:

le a r n

p r o b a b ly

"My boyfriend is out of town."

"Mon chum est sorti de la ville."

W hat to watch:

C hocolate can have a positive physiological im p act on a w o m a n 's sexuality." Boys, if you're giving any o th er gifts, d o n 't forget th e chocolate.

Even if your cooking and baking skills aren't w ha t you 'd like th e m to be fo r th e big date, there's a lo t to be said fo r th e style in w hich you serve and display th e d in­ ner. Try a non-traditional dining location: eating on a clean flo o r (hard to fin d in a student apartm ent, b u t you can always use a tablecloth to create th e illusion o f cleanli­ ness), fo r exam ple, w ith som e candlelight and m usic both o f you enjoy. Even if your fo o d com es o u t o f th e oven looking horrendous, you can d im th e lights a little m ore and hope it tastes better than it looks...

w o n ’t

y o u

"I can't find my pants!"

"Je ne peux pas trouver mes pantalons!"

P lan n in g f o r t h e d a t e y o u h o p e t o g e t G ENEVIEVE JENKINS

p h ra se s

If you're going to be alone fo r Valentine's Day, there's no reason you s h o u ld n 't be sexu­ ally satisfied. Instead o f sitting in the dark, star­ ing at th e ceiling and w on de rin g w ha t th e hell is w ro ng w ith you, stockpile som e self-satisfac­ tio n aides like lube and a vibrator. Chocolate, after all, can only get you so far.

A few suggestions for where to go on your pre- and post-Valentine's Day weekends: Salon de LAmour et Seduction 2006 W here: O lym pic Stadium W hen: Feb 10-12 W hat/W hy: "W onderful place to find inform ation, enter­ tainm ent, g ift ideas and novelties to arouse you r senses and to celebrate love in all o f its pleasures."

W ho: "Passionate lovers, couples looking fo r n ew sensa­ tions, singles looking fo r a soul-mate."

M ore info: http://www.amouretseduction.com

Bad Boy Club Montreal, Red Party W here: Part 1 : C lub Parking; Part 2 : Circus After-Hours W hen: Saturday, Feb. 18 W hat/W hy: a 12-hour party W ho: Gay m en M ore info: http://w w w .bbcm .org/red2006/EN jiom e.htm l ■

F o r m o re in fo rm a tio n : w w w .u c r r t t l.c a o r p h o n e 4 8 3 - 9 9 3 3 .

T h e U nitarian Church 5 0 3 5 d e M a is o n n e u v e W , (V e n d ô m e M e tr o ) Special programs

9

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Graduate Programs in BIOTECHNOLOGY

Innovative m ultidisciplinary non-thesis programs offered by the Faculty o f Graduate Studies focussing on the biom edical, phannaceutical, agri-food sectors and other biotechnology fields. A short Certificate program is offered as w ell as a Master o f Science (A pplied).

M ore detailed inform ation available on web site.

R equirem ents Bachelor degree in biological sciences or a related field, including university level courses in biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology.

R egistration deadlines Fall semester: A p ril 1, 2006 for domestic applicants February 15, 2006 for international applicants

Information Biotechnology Graduate Programs M acdonald Campus - M c G ill U niversity 21,111 Lakeshore Road, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Q C , H 9 X 3 V 9 E m ail: program .biotech@ m cgill.ca W eb: www.m cgill.ca/biotechgradprog Tel.: (5 1 4 ) 398-7725 Fax: (5 1 4 ) 398-7857

the mcgill tribune j 7.2.06 | features 17

ON-CAMPUS

iPOD

M e t a - M u s ic : 10 s o n g s t h a t a r e a b o u t s o n g s a n d /o r r e fe r t o t h e ir o w n so n g -n e ss A p la y list b y P r o f e s s o r D e r e k N y s t r o m "Formed a Band," Art Brut: As ordinary language philosopher J.L. Austin might observe, the chorus ("Formed a band/ We formed a band/ Look at us!/ We formed a band!") is both constative (describing a state of affairs) and performative (enacting the state of affairs being described).

Which I'm sure is what they were thinking about.

"Cut Your Hair," Pavement: An indie rock language poem: the lyrics are phrases we associate with music, but the resulting song is not actually a b o u t music.

'This is Just a Modern Rock Song," Belle and Sebastian: Self-explanatory.

"History Lesson, Part II," The Minutem en: A sweetly

un-punk-rock song about how "punk rock changed our lives." Also an argument for the inclusion of punk into the genealogy of rock history ("Mr. Narrator! This is Bob Dylan to me!").

"Paid in Full (Seven Minutes of Madness—The Coldcut Remix)," Eric B. and Rakim: Many rap lyrics refer

to the process of their creation, but the great thing about the remix of this song is that the sam ples also comment on themselves—and each other.

"Superstar," Sonic Youth: A haunting cover of a Carpenters song that ends up being about Karen Carpenter herself. The musical counterpart to the equally heartbreak­

ing Todd Haynes film (of the same name).

"Levi Stubbs' Tears," Billy Bragg: On personal misery, and music's power to mitigate it—how a song can, as Nick Hornby once put it, "find the part of you that hurts and rub up against it."

"Les and Ray," Le Tigre: On personal misery, and music's power to overcome it. When Kathleen Hanna pas­ sionately sings of the titular duo "You were my oxygen/ The thing that made me think I could escape," the song becomes the listener's oxygen.

"Clark Co. Record Fair," Saint Etienne: Record shop­ ping as both metaphor for and facilitator of romantic rela­ tionships.

"Paint a Vulgar Picture," The Smiths: This brilliant song has it all: a critique of the culture industry, a decon­ struction of celebrity, but also (and most importantly) a trib­ ute to the transvaluative power of fan devotion. See also their "Rubber Ring," which advises "Don't forget the songs that made you cry/ And the songs that saved your life/ Yes, you're older now, and you're a clever swine/ But they were the only ones who ever stood by you."

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C l u b s , c lu b s a n d m o r e c lu b s T h e b e s t o f M o n t r e a l f o r all y o u r n o c t u r n a l v i c e s RESHAM P O P A T

Best Hip-Hop

For all of you hip-hop lovers, this city offers a wealth of options. Almost every dub Everyone speaks of Montreal as being the great party city of the North, yet so many plays a variety of urban music, and our pick is young, party-hungry students arrive at McGill the superbly popular Jet Nightclub (1003 Steand spend all too many evenings at Biftek Catherine E.). Boasting a huge dance floor and and Juice .for lack of better places to go—or bars around the perimeter of the club, Jet is the lack of knowledge of such venues. We at the place to be when seeking to groove to those Tribune take your clubbing to heart, and have urban beats. Bringing in DJs like Quest, prepared a collection of club reviews and Mahesh and Goldenchild, to name a few, there interviews with active members of the is never a dull moment at this hot spot, and the Montreal community for your reading pleas­ dance floor is always packed. Check out Jet and drop it like it's hot. ure. And the Tribbie goes to...

Best Eighties Club

For all of those who loved The Wedding Singer, this is the place for you. At Electric Avenue (1469 Crescent), the music is old-school killer and the club has a warm, friendly ambiance. While you may believe that it caters to an older crowd, it actually attracts a vast array of people, the common thread between whom is a love oLeighties. music. A lot of students frequent this establishment, as it makes for a great night out with a group of friends. For an equally enjoyable evening tour of the seventies, check out Electric Avenue's counterpart, Funkytown (1454 Peel).

Ritziest Bar

This would be the complete opposite of Peel Pub. If you need a place to take someone important, The W (901 Square Victoria) is ou choice for swankiest bar. Tucked away in the hotel itself, the W resto-bar is classy, impressive, and very highly priced. There are five different restaurants/bars and the décor for each one looks like it came from the pages of a magazine.

With dim fluorescent lighting and mellow music, this place is just plain sexy. Make sure you bring a lot of cash, though. The only thing you can get for 87 cents is kicked out.

Best Salsa

This place has been around for ages and still holds the title of best salsa club. Salsathèque (1220 Peel) has an amazing vibe, if you want to groove to Latin beats and pull out the flashy dance moves. The dancers here are uninhibitedly involved in their moves, and the floor is packed with lively, sexy salsa devotees. On some nights the club even offers salsa, merengue or bachata classes. Ay m am il

Cheapest Bar

Now, who has not heard of Peel Pub (1107 Stq-Catherine 0.)? If you raised your hand, you must live under a rock, because this infamous bar is a second home to scores of McGiliians. It is the place to be if you want to drink, drink, drink some more and hardly spend any money doing so. With an insanely loud atmosphere and ludicrously cheap shots, Peel Pub is the "it" spot for everyone who ever wished they lived in a frat house.

Peel Pub has a different theme every night, including Monday "Staff Nites," Wednesday "Karaoke Nites," Thursday "Shooter Nites" and Sunday "Beat the Clock." Peel Pub is always a good time, and where else can you get an 87-cent shooter?

Best 5 à 7 A fancy way of saying "happy hour," 5 à 7's are increasingly popular across Montreal, usually catering to an older crowd, but fun for students as well. When the objective is to drink as much as humanly possible inside a two-hour window, anybody can have a good time. Among many other bars on Crescent Street, Thursdays (1449 Crescent) has particularly enticing drink specials, and people don't typically leave just because happy hour ends. Obviously, Thursday is the best night to head to this downtown staple, though other nights of the week remain nearly as bustling. The music is good and the party lasts all evening—but ladies, watch out for those older men. They know what they're doing.

Best Rock Club

Spread out over three large levels, Les Foufounes Electriques (87 great place to listen to your favourite rock music and drink cheap beer. everywhere and the bar showcases local talent on some nights. During rock out on the terrasse and enjoy cheap cocktails. This is an energetic, oughly enjoyable hangout spot.

Ste-Catherine E.) is a There are pool tables the summer, you can inexpensive and thor­

F in e d u b b i n ’ l o d g i n ’ T h e u ltim a te best and w o r s t o f M o n tre a l

Best Variety

Just a short walk from New Rez, Rouge (7 Prince Arthur O.) is the most eclectic club in the city. It caters to a diverse clientele, and while some of its efforts to further diversify have fallen flat, Rouge still manages to bring in an amazing crowd week after week. The first floor features a lounge atmosphere in which patrons can chill out to rock music, while on the second floor the club is pumping, driving with a mix of hip-hop, house, and both old-school and commercial pop. This nightclub is always packed, has an amazing staff and the drinks are reasonably priced.

ALL PHOTOS BYLUKAS BERGMARK

In a city as flurried as Montreal, sometimes all that one needs is to gather up some friends and head down to the warm and relaxed Lodge Taverne (3612 StLaurent). Located among the city's finest, the Lodge is not far from home on St-Laurent and Prince Arthur-a hop, skip and jump from late-night poutines and twodollar chow mein. Although the exterior may seem a bit modest for your fancy outfits, dare to take a step inside to find a strikingly different interior. With walls lined in white branches and bar stools decked out in soft fur, it feels like a winter cabin for royalty.

Max, the ever-so-loyal bouncer, credits Lodge's dis­ tinction to the carefree environment the bar encour­ ages, and proudly claims, "A lot of McGill students love coming here because it's a friendlier place than other bars."

However, the real treasure that sets the Lodge apart from its contenders is its music. You may go in ' expecting Sean Paul's latest, but rest assured, you will leave humming the remixed version of "I Will Survive."

The music is contagious to the point of giggles and, as one dancer said, "We were at the Lodge for three hours and didn't sit down once." This bar, with its comfortable atmosphere and nostalgic tunes, is a true diamond in the rough—a place with which you may become forev­ er enamoured.

There are a lot of great places to go on a Thursday night in Montreal. Tokyo (3709 St-Laurent) is not one of them. Although the club looks like it's the most happen­ ing place on the face of the earth, do not be deceivedmost of the people standing in line, showing off the club's popularity, will be lucky if they never set foot upstairs.

Tokyo is about the size of a large bedroom and has only enough windows for a couple of people to desper­ ately gaze out of. You may enjoy close-up dancing with all your best friends; however, at Tokyo you run a seri­ ous risk of developing claustrophobia. There is less than enough room to get your jiggy on and not enough light to see where you are going-a recipe for disaster.

Once you escape from the deadly lines in and out­ side of the club, and after you dodge the four burning cigarettes precariously close to entering your eye, you may think you're in the dear-but where is the bar?

Don’t even bother trying. It's too small, too busy and too full of people trying to get drunk so they don’t have to hate themselves for choosing to spend their night at Tokyo.

No matter what the flyers say, Tokyo is nothing more than a small classroom in Leacock without the lights. ■ —Jessie Shapiro

the mcgill tribune | 7.2.06 j a&e 19

Best House/Electronic While Central Station (4432 St-Laurent) also has a blazin'

hip-hop room, its house floor is what draws people in droves.

The main dance floor caters to the "European-house-hopper" type; the music guaranteed to keep your feet moving all night.

The club has a tropical feeling and huge bay windows that give it an open, spacious atmosphere. It is well air conditioned, so even if you're dancing a mile a minute on a jam-packed dance floor, you feel refreshed all night.

Best After-Hours

If you hate going home at 3 a.m. when the club closes, then you must be familiar with the many different after-hours clubs in the city. From Aria to Circus, these club soirées don't end until the next afternoon. They are all a good time, but the prize goes to Red Light (1755 Lierre) in Laval. True, it's quite a trek, but well worth it. With a hip-hop room and huge house floor, this club has people on their feet until the wee hours of the morning. The music is consistently stellar, and the club hosts many international DJs on a regular basis. Make sure you drink a lot of Red Bull and watch out when you leave: By the time you step out of Red Light, you're going to need some sunglasses. ■

N IG H T L IF E

T h e in s a n d o u t s o f M o n t r e a l c lu b b in g D J C a r s o n sp ills t h e b e a n s o n t h e lo c a l s c e n e BEN LE M IEU X

Now 36, Kit Carson has been on the Montreal DJ scene and travelling around the world with his spins for the past 15 years. He started off locally, playing the Just for Laughs festival for three years straight, then travelling to Bali, Indonesia doing gigs for surfing companies, as well as to Morocco, St. Martin and Mexico.

As someone who's been active in the Montreal club scene for as long as you have, if you had to pick five words to describe today's scene, w hat would they be?

Two of the words would be "desolation boulevard."

I think there's been a trend in the last 10 years in club­ bing. Originally, clubbing was designed to celebrate. A way to find girls. A way to enjoy your time and feel free and happy. But now you cut to the future, and what it is now is a way of hiding sadness. It's people who don't want to confront the night. They go to the clubs to find out who they are. They have secret handshakes, say, "Oh yeah, bro, you're my friend, you're my this-and-that," but in truth it's all transient. There's nothing there.

Do you think this trend applies to Montreal specifically, or has that been your impression of most club scenes you've experienced?

You know what, it's like the first people who tried surfing. What did they believe? They believed they were water. The first surfers, the Hawaiians, they didn't give a fuck about the board. The board was a way for them to get in contact with water. It was a pure, pure intent.

Same thing with clubbing. The first pure intent was cele­ bration. That's what I saw when I first started clubbing.

But we bring our world into the clubbing, and our world is not a safe place right now. Hence, there is this feeling of trepidation and nervousness which permeates all club experience because it's a reflection of what we feel about the world as well.

What kind of ideologies and mentalities do you feel now dominate the scene? When you look out onto an audience, w hat do you see?

1 see a lot of dark eyes—soulless people who don't even know how to react honestly to sound. Sound is our relationship to the unspoken lands of the spirit world. If people don't know how to react to the beat, who the hell are they?

They could just be white guys. They do w hat they can but it isn't pretty.

Whether it's pretty or not, it's the feeling of enjoying your body being moved by a force. Music links us to a higher power. It's a divine nature. There's something in music that speaks to us about something greater than

just living on the planet from the day we're born until the day we die.

And that's not the impression you get from listen­ ers today?

Nowadays, what's happening is that girls go to clubs to show off how sexy they are. They're giving guys blowjobs in clubs because ifs easier to give a guy a blowjob than to kiss them. Everyone is forgetting the essentials of who they are. They're going to parties and they're getting more and more lost. Ifs not bringing peo­ ple back. And the music should bring you back to who you are. It should remind you that you make a difference, that your soul has integrity.

Do you then feel that an individual's soul and musical integrity are parallel? Do you feel that a decline in the quality of intentions in the music indus­ try is related to the decline of the club scene?

I think that decline is a normal thing. A flower is exciting when it grows to maturity, [but then] the petals begin to fall off and it dies. Are we looking at natural cycles arrogantly or with vanity, thinking it shouldn't be like that? Don't forget that this is the first time that a music is held for two generations. Hip-hop has held for two decades in the clubs. We have not found a new sound to go crazy about. People aren't hanging onto the next song, they can predict the beat. Ifs not an emotion­ al thing; ifs a mental thing now.

And how do you feel this is affecting the scene?

I think people have to start questioning how they are being represented by music. Do you really want to be a slut? Do you really want to be a guy who fucks a lot of girls? Or do you want to be true to yourself and true to the people you care about? The music may be crunch, it may be saying, "I want to see your pussy wet," but do you really feel comfortable with that? People have to take responsibility for their own reflection, and music is part of that reflection.

Do you think the iPod culture makes everyone feel as if they can be a DJ?

I think there's nothing wrong with that. I think every­ body is a DJ. You have to remember how DJ-ing started.

People are interested in opposites. The all-star football player would be interested in the loser kid with the big Coke-bottle glasses and snot running down his nose.

When party time came, they always invited Joe Football to the party, and he said, "Let me bring my friend." And they said, "Your fucking friend Stanley is an idiot." To which he replied, "Yeah, but let him play the music."

Everyone loves music, everyone has the right to play music. We should all start sharing rather than be jealous of one another. ■

P R E V I E W S

compiled by Melissa Price

Film. Curious George—opens Feb. 10 If you are laughing at me right now, you have no soul.

Ifs impossible not to love the incorrigible little monkey who encouraged so many children to let their inquisitive natures lead them into potentially dangerous situations. The movie is bound to be chock-full of the same sort of adorably irritating scenarios, prov­ ing that curiosity may kill the cat but it can't touch the primate. Luckily, the unceasingly patient Man in the Yellow Hat is voiced by Will Ferrell, and the film also features the likes of Eugene Levy and Drew Barrymore, so it won't all be grating monkey antics. Plus, George and friends are animated in good old retro 2-D, confirming that computers aren't ready to take over the world just yet.

Music. Supergrass—Cabaret La Tulipe—4530 Papineau— Feb. 7 Supergrass is another one of those successful British bands that North America just won't love. They got some MTV play way back in 1995 with their single "Caught by the Fuzz," about a buddy of theirs being nabbed with a baggie of coke. Five albums later, their music has evolved from punkish indie-rock to a more sweeping, orchestral sound, but their name is still generally greeted with blank stares. They have a small but solid fan base this side of the pond, but it still seems like the poor guys need a hug. Doors open at 9 p.m. Call 529-5000 for more information.

Literature. Lust fo r Life: Tales o f Sex a n d Love Launch—Le Sergent Recruteur—4801 St-Laurent—Feb. 13—7:30 p.m.

Valentine's Day is looming over us again. If you want to get in the mood with your significant other, or if you're single, masochistic and feel like tortur­ ing yourself, Véhiculé Press presents the perfect evening of romantic tales to suit your needs. Lust for Life is a new anthology featuring more than 20 writ­ ers waxing poetic on first crushes, raunchy sex, true love and the myriad con­ fusing situations in between. The launch, featuring the authors reading their own works, promises to be an emotional look into the human heart. Call 2871412 or 277-9084 for more details.

Theatre. H ellfire Pass—Centaur Theatre—453 St-FrançoisXavier—through Feb. 26 The plot details of Hellfire Pass are elusive and cloaked in mystery, which seems to indicate a hell of a good play. Written

by Montreal-based playwright Vittorio Rossi, Hellfire is actually the first chapter of a trilogy that happens to be based on true events. Set in late 1956, the narrative follows Silvio, an Italian veteran of the Second World War, as he leaves Italy and journeys to Montreal and Chicago. His quest? To find his family, whom he has never before met, and ask them to grant him a single request—which, of course, turns out to be nowhere close to simple. The synopsis describes the ensuing quagmire as "one family's journey through a hell of their own making." Shows at 8 p.m.

Tuesday to Saturday, as well as selected matinees. Call 288-3161 for more information.

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20 a&e | 7.2.06 | the mcgill tribune

FILM ART

W o o d y re tu rn ?

W i t h M a tc h P o in t, A llen c e r ta in ly d o e s J.S. H A N C O X

VLADIMIR EREMIN Art for Empire: A closer look at an empress' aesthetic treasures.

T h ro n e -w o rth y R u ssian E m p r e s s C a t h e r i n e th e G r e a t ex h ib its h e r rich e s B R A N K A P E TR O V IC

A red carpet ascends the stairs of the entrance hall leading to the Romanov coronation coach, which— garnished in a gold frame and draped with a velvety red interiorstands prominently and rather royally in the centre. This is the sight with which you are presented as you enter the Hornstein Pavilion of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1380 Sherbrooke O.). It is surely fit for a queen.

The MMFA is presenting an exhibit entitled "Catherine the Great: Art for Empire-Masterpieces from the State Flermitage Museum, SaintPetersburg." The exhibit features more than 200 works of art collected

by Empress Catherine II (17291796), more commonly known as Catherine the Great.

An impressive art collector, Catherine II ascribed to art an impor­ tant political, as well as cultural, value. Today, she is regarded as the founder of the Hermitage Museum in Saint-Petersburg. She loved col­ lecting art and expressed a great sense of humour in her role as an art patron. She was once quoted as say­ ing: "It's not for the love of art, it's greed. I'm not a connoisseur, I'm a glutton."

One thing is certain: Be it glut­ tony or aestheticism that propelled Catherine II, she was a firm believer in the power of art and its influence over her empire.

Born in Stettin, Germany, Catherine II came to Saint-Petersburg at the age of 14 to marry Grand Duke Peter, later Peter III of Russia.

The marriage failed, as she wrote in her memoir: "I would have loved my new husband only if he had wanted or been able to be lovable."

Her intelligence, power and pas­ sion were soon to show themselves.

Catherine II overthrew her husband in 1762 and acceded to the throne.

She read widely, and corresponded with fellow Enlightenment figures such as French writer Voltaire and philosopher Denis Diderot.

The wealth of the Russian empire under Catherine II is embod­

ied in the gold artifacts inundating the museum. From the Romanov coach—once the empress' ceremoni­ al ride-to the portraits, vases, chal­ ices and snuff boxes, gold, we can safely say, was her favourite metal.

Also on display is the green uniform dress Catherine II wore in 1763, made of silk and metal thread. One can also roam through her jewelry collection and find a piece called "Watch with Chatelaine" made of gold, silk and diamonds. Famed Russian porcelains, along with an equestrian statue of Peter the Great, erected in 1764, overflow in one of the rooms. Another accommodates a cylindrical desk decked in gold—what else—and designed by famed cabi­ netmaker David Roentgen. In addi­ tion, the exhibit features paintings by French artists Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin and Jean-Baptiste Greuze, and German artist Anton Raphael Mengs, among many others.

Certainly, Catherine II had nothing to hide and everything to show.

In fact, word has it she was quite a character. In her time, Catherine II staged private receptions—from whence the word "hermitage" origi­ nates—in her Winter Palace (now part of the State Hermitage Museum) for which she fashioned a special code of behaviour. The list of orders, dis­ tributed to guests as they arrived, was direct and quite severe. For example, Rule No. 6 on the list reads: "Argue without anger or passion." If guests disobeyed the rules, they were either fined or excluded.

"Catherine the Great: Art for Empire" is an exhibit not to be missed. Look at it this way: It's histo­ ry a five-minute walk away. And remember Rule No. 7 on Cathy's list: "Do not sigh or yawn, neither bore nor fatigue others." With such a col­ lection, you are sure not to. ■

Just when you think they're washed up, through, busy reliving the glory days of their youth, old people surprise you.

Or at least Woody Allen does with M atch Point. After a string of mediocre movies ( Sm all Time Crooks, anyone?), Allen has finally crafted an excellent film. It's Crime a n d Punishm ent for the modern age. M atch Point is about luck, love, class, sex and, more importantly, you wouldn't even know it was a Woody Allen movie until you saw his name in the credits. There's no manic MONTREALMI RROR.COM humour and no Allen alter-ego embedded in the script.

Sexing it up like only Johansson can.

As Chris (played by fine leading man tonic love. A healthy bit of lust is key. And whom we lust Jonathan Rhys-Myers) believes, and as Allen makes clear, the importance of luck is often overlooked. after is not settled by kind words and solemn promises.

The plot of the movie is set in motion by coincidence— The loss of lust can put a terrible strain on a relation­ a love of opera shared by Chris and Tom Hewett ship—as can misdirected desire.

But M atch Point is about more than sex, class and (Matthew Goode), the scion of a wealthy family. (It's a love Allen apparently shares, as the soundtrack is entire­ luck. It's driven, like all good stories, by people, their ly operatic.) Even when the plot is in motion, it is relationships and what they desire. And what Chris chance that drives it. However, don't take this as a hint desires, as Julia Roberts puts it at the end of Pretty that the movie is choppy or unconnected. It merely Woman, is the fairy tale. Opulence is addictive and he wants it all. Allen explores just what that can mean, with highlights the role that chance plays in all our lives.

The influence of class, too, is evident. It is blatant in consequences interesting, entertaining and grim.

M atch Point is the movie to put Allen back on the every frame that Chris and the Hewetts come from dif­ ferent worlds. Chris, poor as anyone, insists on paying map. The plot is engrossing and well-paced, there's a his own way at every expensive outing, whereas the final twist to make M. Night Shyamalan green, the act­ family is completely cavalier in matters regarding ing is superb, the cinematography gorgeous and the finances. At one point Chloe (Tom's sister, played by themes thoroughly thought-provoking. The actors prac­ Emily Mortimer) asks Chris, "Do you need money?' He tically glow, but there's more at work than good looks: responds immediately "God no!" At the same time, They all take their characters seriously. It's not Scarlett however, the Hewetts are blind to class differences. This Johansson on the screen, it's Nola Rice. There are no reviewer nearly fell out of his chair when Chloe—who clichés, melodramatic dialogue or pat endings. Contrary hasn't worked a day in her life-calls another character to the crux of its narrative, the making of M atch Point was not undertaken to make money, but to make art "spoiled and temperamental."

And, of course, the film deals with sex and sexual­ Highly recommended. ■ ity. As every college student knows (or ought to know Match Point is n o w p laying a t the AM C Forum. by now), there's more to any relationship than just pla­

Backpack » B r i e f c a s e th e

“L if e A f t e r M c G i l l ” s e r ie s

March 1-31,2006 Throughout the month of March, the McGill Alumni Association will be presenting workshops and seminars free of charge (unless otherwise indicated) to provide you with practical life skills that you won’t learn in the classroom. Don’t miss the keynote speaker, filmmaker Jake Eberts, BEng’62, at the Faculty Club on March 14!

Seminar topics, many of which will be presented by McGill alumni, include:

Dining Etiquette (*) Staying Healthy Networking Techniques Managing Personal Finances

• Entrepreneurship • How to Start Your Job Search • Negotiating for Success • Interviewing Skills

f ) A small admission fee will apply For more information and to register:

"C atherine the C réât: A rt for Empire. Masterpieces from the State H erm itage Museum, Saint-Petersburg" runs through M ay 7 a t the MMFA. Admission is $7.50 for students and S i5 for adults. For m ore inform ation, visit www.mmfa.qc.ca.

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the mcgill tribune | 7.2.06 [ a&e 2 1

M U S I C

D N A : It r o c k s y o u r b o d y V inyl s h o p h a s m o r e g r o o v e s t h a n a h e lix LEILA BRILLSO N

Nestled within Moog Audio (the store with the giant sign on boulevard St-Laurent) is one of Montreal's most notable record stores. Popular among DJs and those who frequent the Main, DNA (3828 St-Laurent) is known for its knowledgeable staff and eclectic patrons.

Stocking a strong selection of house, electro, drum and bass, hip-hop, breaks, old school hip-hop and practically anything with a beat, DNA is a staple for any aspiring or professional DJ in Montreal.

In fact, when I entered the store to conduct my interview, internationally renowned DJ Tommie Sunshine was sifting through a stack of records, assisted by man­ ager Corey K. Despite his heavy affiliation with VICE mag­ azine and his consistent flow of free music, Tommie admitted that DNA is one of the only stores in the world where he purchases his vinyl.

Tommie is not the only major-league DJ to frequent the store—DNA Records was founded by Montreal elec­ tro legend Tiga in 1994 as a place to buy electronic music locally. Several years later, as Tiga's popularity rose to the international level, businessman and house DJ Jacob Asher and Corey K bought the store from him.

Soon, Jacob became the sole owner and Corey began to manage and buy the records. The store moved with Moog Audio onto St-Laurent and expanded its selection.

Because of its famous founding and thorough selection, the store draws an assortment of patrons, ranging from distinguished DJ to kids wanting to start a club night to ' beginners trying to start a collection. DNA is always filled with people—some browsing new tunes on the mini­ turntables, others chatting with the staff behind the counter, all of whom are accomplished DJs themselves.

Manager and drum and bass DJ Corey K has watched the nightlife in Montreal grow, dissolve and con­ tinue to evolve. Corey witnesses the trends first hand— almost anyone who is interested in playing dance music makes some sort of appearance in DNA eventually.

Corey explained that the difference between DNA and a "record store" is that DNA is geared toward DJs, sells vinyl and features singles as opposed to full albums. The entire music industry has suffered since the advent of the easily accessible MP3, but the classic and consistent nature of vinyl keeps customers returning.

"It's an expensive hobby," Corey explains. "If you take it seriously, it can be really rewarding. You can't go into DJ-ing expecting to drop a few dollars and have some fun with it. But the rewards are awesome— because music you can have forever. Especially vinyl, it will last a really long time."

R E V I E W S Some Girls. Heaven's Pregnant Teens. I expect more from ex-members of Give Up the Ghost (or American Nightmare, whatever you want to call them) and The Locust. Or maybe not, considering what "tough music" and "hardcore" is about nowadays (misogyny, eyeliner, the Warped Tour...).

Regardless of how you feel about hardcore or grindcore, it's tough to make anything of the latest Some Girls album because it's nothing that hasn't been heard before. Read some of the lyrics. Songs consist of pretentious pseudo­ poetry, redundant guitar riffs, redundant drum lines, etc. Every song on the CD sounds suspiciously like a Converge song gone terribly wrong. Fo'r the rècord.

Anal Cunt has released better records than this. While I'm at it, I'd also like to stress to every aspiring tough-guy-musician in the world that grind core is a joke and to quit before even starting to write such shit. I expect any fan of Give Up the Ghost to sincerely despise Heaven's Pregnant Teens. On a lighter note, "Hot Piss" and 'You'll Be Happier With Lower Standards" are okay songs. Still, they aren't good enough—or long enough—to save this abomination.

—Dan Pujdak

Corey K: Lean, mean drum & bass machine.

Corey also articulated his disdain for MP3-Js, indi­ viduals who think iPod DJ-ing is a form of entertainment.

Record buying and DJ-ing is not only about the music itself, Corey asserted, but about digging for and selecting records.

"I know drum and bass backwards and forwards," Corey says. "You've gotta know music to work at a store like this."

Corey has been working at DNA Records for five years and buying drum and bass there for almost 10. He has witnessed trends, people, events and musical styles pass through the store.

'You don't need to know music to visit," he says.

"Sometimes I get totally unknowledgeable people with the best attitude, and that makes this job worth it." So what does he think about current Montreal nightlife and the people who run it?

"More than ever, people come into the store and hear a good tune playing on the sound system and be like, 'What's that? I gotta have it,"' Corey says. "That's happening more and more, and that's probably the best and most recent trend I've noticed—people not afraid to blend music. And that's awesome." ■

Television. Flight 93. This year will see three feature films released telling various stories about September 11, and you can almost hear the Hollywood executives asking their pals on the golf course: Too soon? Slightly pre-empt­ ing the 'day the world changed' feature films is the made for TV movie Flight 93, airing occasionally on A&E and available on DVD from the network's Web site. Unfortunately for those Hollywood execs, you come away from watching the two-hour broadcast thinking only one thing: too soon.

Flight 9 3 chronicles the events of the morning of September 11th, 2001, focusing specifically on San Francisco bound United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania after the passengers tried to retake their plane from hijackers.

The movie begins at Newark Airport in New Jersey. Director Peter Markle's camera takes us to the departure lounge, where we get our first intro­ duction to the characters, and you can't help but think "every one of these people will soon be dead." Screenwriter Nevin Schreiner picks up on this, and with a heavy hand chooses to amp up the feeling. One woman calls home to California to leave a message for her sleeping husband, telling him that she managed to get on an earlier flight. A man runs towards the gate as the atten­ dant issues a final boarding call, and pants, "Am I too Iate7' "No sir," the atten­ dant warmly tells him, "you're just in time.”

Markle effectively captures the chaos of the day. The film takes us through the FAA's Boston control centre, the White House military bunker, and United Airlines' Crisis Control Centre, and you quickly get the sense that no one knows what to do.

Many of the characters contact family members on the ground, and give heartfelt goodbyes as the families encourage them to take back the airplane.

Eventually they try to do just that, and everyone knows the rest.

The last 10 minutes of the film have no dialogue, only a soft soundtrack.

It ends with a time lapse of the crash site through the seasons. We see that eventually nature heals itself, and you have to wonder if the filmmakers are trying to say that eventually things in America will get back to the way they were. Regardless, this movie was a couple years ahead of its time, and watch­ ing it only serves to remind you of a day that you won't soon forget.

—James Cotowiec

^

MUSIC

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A small, yet clearly dedicated group of Better Than Ezra fans trick­ led into the spacious Metropolis (59 Ste-Catherine E.) on Friday to watch the New Orleans-based band take the stage. It has been years since BTE made their way into the Great White North, and something tells me it will be another several years before they return.

Throughout their eight-album discography BTE continually experi­ ments with new sounds, having dab­ bled in jazz, pop and even industrial metal (to be taken with a grain of salt). Over the years, BTE has sus­ tained a rigorous touring schedule that has earned them a pack of diverse and extremely loyal fans known as*Ezralites. Friday's concert was attended by a pair of fans who had followed the band all the way from Alabama.

Unfortunately, other Ezralites

failed to join them. Seventy-five peo­ ple, at most, attended the show.

However, every person in that inti­ mate little group at the foot of the stage was a re al fan. Sticking to their routine, lead singer Kevin Griffin made some lame, offhand jokes and played a fair amount of old material.

All was going smoothly until the show abruptly ended and the stage was immediately stripped of equip­ ment.

The set barely lasted an hour, and even after five minutes of audi­ ence chanting, the band failed to perform an encore. This is quite uncharacteristic of a group whose livelihood depends on the dedica­ tion of its fans. BTE is known for incorporating the audience into the show, asking guitar-playing fans to join them on stage to play and per­ forming extended encores. On Friday, BTE failed to even deliver a complete performance. However, as Rollnc. Manager Paul Renaud

explained, "The set had accidentally been scheduled to be stripped by 11:30 p.m., leaving the band no choice but to cut the performance short."

As the trio ran off the stage and the lights started to flicker on, we looked at each other in confusion and all thought the same thing: 'This sucks!" I had a good time seeing an old favourite, but it might have been a goodbye for me. ■

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2 2 a&e | 7.2.06 | the mcgill tribune

MUSIC

C a r r y i n g t h e M c G ill m u s ic t o r c h T h r o w b a c k d iscu sse s th e ch a n g e s and clim e s BEN LEMIEUX Since their early days as an acoustic threepiece, Throwback has been a fan favourite of the McGill community. Formed in 2002, the group has since added two new members and moved from coffeehouse gigs to touring the US and packing Club Soda shows back home. Tirelessly employing the "do it yourself" approach, the members of Throwback recorded their own album, booked their own tour dates and han­ dled all the PR without label support. Their pop­ ularity and mass local acclaim rests not in the grip of a commercial corporate push, but entire­ ly in their deft musical hands and a groovy blend of pop, roots-rock and singer/songwriter mys­ tique.

Singer/guitarist Erik Lind and percussionist Micah Shapiro spoke with the Tribune in light of their upcoming concert at La Nationale—the newly established re-format of the recently closed Cabaret Music Hall.

McGill Tribune: You've come quite a long way in the past few years. Is this rapid transition from coffeehouse regulars to US touring and mainstream Montreal popularity what you had envisioned when you started the group?

Erik Lind: When we started out we all said, "This is fun, we're getting people out to our shows." I don't think you sit back and figure out the master plan at that point. It's been a gradual progression.

Micah Shapiro: As you said, we started out as a coffeehouse band, and that gave us a chance to hone in on certain skills that we later developed with our full instrumentation. With

the stripped-down set-up, a big part of our sound was three-part vocal harmonies. When I switched to a drum kit, we got a keyboard and bass and [Mike Libis] went to electric guitar, we had that vocal foundation.

EL: Every new step would have been impossible without the previous ones.

Tribune: You must have gone through quite a change every time you added a new member. On top of the fact that it changes the foundation of your sound, you also have anoth­ er creative driving force among you.

MS: We're a democracy. It's cool that we have so many inputs [in the band]; everyone is giving their creative advice. You've got to be able to channel that and bring it in a positive creative direction.

EL: Existing material gets re-worked and freshened up a little bit. It gives us a reason to go back and revisit some stuff that may have become a bit static. It brings rejuvenation in a couple different ways.

MS: I can tell you, when we started, Erik and I were playing with this guy Justin Pope, and he left McGill. I was in an o cappella group with [lead guitarist] Mike Libis and we were playing a show in Toronto. We were jamming back at someone's house afterwards, and I saw him strumming his guitar without a pick; he was going nuts. Soon enough, you know, his fingers are bleeding, there was blood all over the guitar and he didn't even notice. I think about a week later I brought him to Erik.

Tribune: There are a lot of active, aspiring bands in Montreal right now, sadly not all suc­ cessful. What do you think distinguishes you in the eyes of your audience?

EL: It seems to be a fun show. We have a

T H R O W BA C K O N LIN E.C O M

Throwback—they know how to work a room, hall or club of any size.

lot of fun on stage and I think that carries over.

People are not coming to dwell in their sorrows; it's a chance for people to let loose and it's a pretty high-energy show.

MS: I think our stage show displays a cer­ tain edge, but also has a certain innocence-to it.

Even when things might not be at their most innocent point in our band, there's something about when you get on stage, there's a good vibe in that audience and you're playing well.

We all take on that little child persona.

EL: We're pretty reliant, and thankfully so, on a strong McGill fan base. We all went to school here. It's almost likè watching your first­ born child. You'd be proud to watch them grow and develop and explore different areas. ■ Watch Throwback's latest developments live a t La N ationale M usic Hall, 1220 Ste-Catherine E, Feb. W a t 9 p.m. Tickets are S i 0 in advance, $ 12 a t the door. Contact info@throwbackonline.com for m ore information.

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71

s p o rts H O C K E Y — REDMEN

3, T O R O N T O

2 (OT)

R e d m e n r u le t h e c o n f e r e n c e M c G ill le a v e s U o f T sin g in g t h e V a r s i t y B lu e s A A R O N SIGAL The sign of a championship team is the killer instinct it dis­ plays in the face of adversity, especially when playing a desper­ ate team in the thick of a playoff battle. On Saturday night at McConnell Arena, the Redmen—needing only two points to secure a conference regular season championship and firstround playoff bye—demonstrated that ability.

McGill delivered the final strike to UQTR's first-place hopes in the form of a Benoit Martin overtime winner, which vaulted the Redmen to a 3-2 comeback victory over the University of Toronto Varsity Blues.

With 2:21 left in the extra frame, Martin broke into the zone, driving to the net and burying the winner off a sensational crosscrease kick-pass from a falling Teddy Kyres. The goal sent the home crowd, and the McGill bench, into frenzy.

"I was just trying to get to the net and as I was falling; I tried to get a stick on the pass. Sure enough, I did," said a jubilant Martin. "Kyres always plays tough; he made a fantastic play."

Head Coach Martin Raymond felt vindicated by the victory, which means the Redmen can view their remaining three games as nothing more than post-season tune-ups.

'The boys showed a lot of character tonight," Raymond said.

"It was like a playoff game out on the ice, which will really help us train for the postseason. We deserved to clinch and the backto-back championships [McGill took the league title last year as well] show that we are the real deal."

Early jitters tough to overcome

McGill opened the game in sluggish fashion against a sup­ posedly inferior Toronto squad. Crisp tape-to-tape passes and team speed—Redmen trademarks—were nowhere to be found.

However, even with its struggles, McGill carried the play, only to be constantly turned away by Blues' goalie Ryan Grinnell's quick glove hand. To make matters worse, the Redmen learned that they had a second opponent on the ice Saturday night: the ref­ eree. A constant parade of McGill players was sent to the sin bin, shattering any potential for Redmen momentum.

'The feeling on the bench and in the [dressing] room was one of frustration," said captain Pierre-Antoine Paquet, while venting his frustration over the refereeing. "We felt that we could dominate 5-on-5, but we were always short handed."

As the Redmen continued to labour, they were further deflated when a Toronto wrist shot found the top corner making it 1-0 early in the second period. Scared by the prospect of an

THE

upset, the Redmen finally regained some composure with 8:51 left in the second. Forward Sam Bloom stripped a Blues defenceman and found linemate Marko Kovacevic, who unleashed a low howitzer for the equalizer.

Just when it seemed like McGill was finally ready to domi­ nate the Blues, the refs again intervened, giving U of T two 5-on3 man advantages in the final six minutes of the second frame.

However, McGill goaltender Mathieu Poitras, with the help of a dominant penalty killing unit, showed his pedigree as the top goalie in the CIS. With a stacked-pad save, Toronto's power play was kept at bay and the 1-1 tie was maintained.

"Our PK and Poitras kept us in the game in the second," Raymond said. "With a ref like that, without a penalty kill, we could've let the game slip away."

Poor officiating can't stop the Red n' White

"The puck came off the boards to me and I just tossed it at the net," the unlikely scorer chuckled. "It evened up the bounces, I guess."

As the game ventured into the extra frame, McGill’s superi­ ority shone through. The Redmen dominated the overtime peri­ od before finally lowering the boom with Martin's goal, wrapping up the league title in the process and ensuring McGill won't fall from its perch as the top-ranked team in the country.

After another undefeated weekend—the Redmen won 7-0 against Ryerson on Friday night—McGill will close out the regular season schedule with three games this week. The final home affair will be Sunday night against powerhouse UQTR. With the two squads likely to meet in the OUA East final, it will be impor­ tant for the Redmen to again display that killer instinct and get the mental edge with a win. ■

Although emerging unscathed from the second, McGill was victimized in the first minute of the third period by a horrible bounce. A routine Toronto dump-in ricocheted awkwardly off the boards' right to a Blues forward who simply slid the puck into the net vacat­ ed by Poitras, who had come out to play the puck. It appeared that a third opponent, fate, was against the Redmen on the ice as well.

"It seemed like we were playing against the world," Martin said. "We had a really bad bounce and the ref was calling nothing penalties all game. I thought 'What do we have to do?'"

The Red 'n' White caught a break of their own later in the period, though. Defenceman Ken Morin, who had only one goal on the season, picked up a LUKAS BERGMARK loose puck and fired a shot that caromed in off a Toronto skate Shawn Shewchuk and Benoit M artin hit the corner in Saturday night's win over U of T. to tie the game at two.

RED Z O N E

Green is the new blue in Toronto magine working for a company where the quality of your work is irrelevant. It doesn't matter if you fail miserably or find immense success; there are no repercussions or ben­ efits either way. In such a scenario, there's no incentive for action.

Welcome to the world of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. The city of Toronto is so obsessed with their Maple Leafs that the team is guaranteed to make substan­ tial profits each year. And the business is no longer con­ cerned with accomplishment in sports to the point that there is an outrageous lack of accountability within the organization.

Let's start with the coach. The Leafs are unlucky enough to have Pat Quinn at the helm. Quinn did a good job in 1998-99 turning the franchise around, but let's not confuse him with a good coach. The same problem has plagued the Leafs throughout his tenure—the team ducks and covers whenever the word "defence" is mentioned.

Quinn's teams have always been defensively challenged, and after eight years, it's clear the problem is with the sys­ tem and not the players. So during the Leafs' recent eight-

I

game losing streak, I crossed my fingers and hoped Quinn would be handed his pink slip.

The Leafs, of course, decided to stick with Quinn, because it would not make sense to pay two coaches' salaries at once when the building is going to sell out.regardless of the team's record. Quinn's team is obviously not responding to him, and the Leafs continue losing games, yet no one takes the fall. Any other NHL team would have turfed its coach during such a streak of futility.

Indeed, the last time the Leafs' lost eight in a row was in 1996, when they immediately parted ways with Head Coach Pat Burns. But that was a different Leafs era, back when the team actually took action. Today, the organization just sits back and does nothing.

Another major problem with this franchise lies with the general manager. John Ferguson Jr. has done an awful job in his short stint with the team. For starters, this off-season he elected to spend a million dollars on Tie Domi rather than signing Anson Carter, a Toronto native who was beg­ ging to come home. Carter has 20 goals playing for Vancouver.

ADAM MYERS

Ferguson further did not realize that having a 40-yearold boozehound goaltender would not work and decided to keep Ed Belfour, declining skills and all. In light of this sea­ son's dreadful showing on the ice, the general manager has not taken the fall. Although former Raptors' GM Rob Babcock did some boneheaded things, he was hardly worse than Ferguson. The difference is that the Raptors have been playing in an empty Air Canada Centre, and feel the pres­ sure to make a chance to sell tickets. The Leafs don't, so the team stagnates.

The Maple Leafs are in a very unique situation. No other team could consistently record profits and sell out its arena in spite of dreadful showings. In fact, the fans' love for the Blue and White is precisely the reason that Toronto has gone 40 years without a Stanley Cup. The sad part is MLSE will continue to make tons of money, and this scary trend * may well continue for another 40 years.

If people are allowed to fail at their jobs without being held responsible for their actions, the product will never suc­ ceed. As a Leafs fan, I can only beg you, MLSE—please start holding people responsible for their actions. ■

24

sports | 7.2.06 | the mcgill tribune

OLYMPIC

PREVIEW

It’s c a lle d T u r i n , d a m m it ! ith the Winter games just around the corner, editors David Blye, Adam Myers and Andrew Segal check in with thoughts on the games. We answer those time tested questions of who to watch, what to watch and when to watch it. Come on, we all know that you're going to skip those classes anyway. We're just giving you another excuse.

W

Will Canada's "Own the Podium 2010" program be any help in these games?

Adam: It certainly will be. Canada is sending an extremely strong team to the Olympics, and the money invested in this pro­ gram will provide immediate as well as long term dividends. The program is designed to help Canada become the number one nation in terms of medals won at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler. This time around, look for Canada to be third or fourth in total medals, which would be a huge achievement for our country. Canadians have a strong over­ all group, with talent in several different areas of competition.

Canada's success rate will be improved through increased prepa­ ration, technology, research and development of athletes. The momentum gained in Turin will be a perfect transition to 2010.

David: I couldn't agree with you more. It seems like for the first time in this country's athletic history, the government is mak­ ing a real effort to be competitive, and rightfully so. After finishing fourth in Salt Lake City with 17 medals, Canada still seems to be almost there. Another games should be enough to put this team into the top three and competing with the big boys. As long as we keep investing in these athletes and give them a target of dominating in Vancouver, they should be fine. After all, they've been training and preparing for this moment for the past three years. This program is a wonderful idea and we should not dis­ appoint.

What should w e expect from the men's hockey tournament?

Adam: The men's hockey team is going to struggle at these Olympics, probably settling bronze. The players selected to the team include all the usual suspects, however, not everyone is playing great hockey right now. Guys like Eric Staal and Jason Spezza, who have been tearing it up, were left off the main squad while a guy like Rick Nash has been injured the majority of the year. Also, Team Canada better hope no more of its defencemen get injured because Brian McCabe is not going to cut it. Sure he has a great shot, but the guy really is a defensive liability. Look for Sweden to win the gold—they should have in 2002—as they will be stabilized by solid goal­ tending. Henrik Lundqvist has been having an incredible season for the New York Rangérs and will look to con­ tinue that strong play in Turin. Expect Mats Sundin to break out of his recent funk, he always plays well in interna­ tional competitions. The Czech Republic team will be strong also, with the tandem of Dominik Hasek and Thomas Vokoun backstopping them.

Jaromir Jagr seems to be back to his old self this year and should absolute­ ly dominate the tournament.

McGILL Jennifer Heil:

Which Canadian athlete has the best chance to win gold?

Adam: There are a few people to watch for this time around.

Gone will be Olympic mainstay Caterina Le May Doan but her other speed skaters will pick up the slack. Look for Clara Hughes to take home a medal in 5000m long track speed skating. She won bronze at Salt Lake City, but has since quit cycling^-where she had previously won Olympic bronze. She has been compet­ ing hard all year, and has a real shot at a medal. She will also be competing in the 3000m and the 2400m team pursuit.

Jeremy Wotherspon is also looking for gold in short track speed skating. He is the all-time leader in career world cup victo­ ries and has previously won silver at the Olympics. He will race in both the 500m and 1000m races, with his best shot coming in the 1000.

David: A few others to look for are alpine skiers Thomas Grandi and Geneviève Simard. Grandi has been Canada's best male skier for the past two years, with a fifth place overall finish in last season's giant slalom World Cup, a season that included a set of back-to-back victories. More recently, Grandi has podiumed twice this year, once in slalom and another in GS. Finally, Grandi could hope to have some sort of home advantage. While he now calls Canmore, Alberta, home Grandi was born in Bolzano, Italy.

Here's hoping the locals cheer him on too. Simard has been dynamite in Italy over the past two seasons, winning the 2004 Super-G at Cortina d'Amprezzo. More recently, she has put up an impressive run of form, finishing second and fourth in the past two giant-slalom events, with the silver medal finish also coming at Cortina d'Amprezzo. Overall, she was fifth in last year's GS World Cup and seems to be hitting her stride and just the right moment.

M E N ’ S HOCKEY SCHEDULE Even though this is the info you really want, we’ll still be kind of hurt if you skip over the whole page and just read this part. In any case, here is the hockey schedule for the Canadian men's team, as well as any potential playoff games. (All times EST, all games on CBC.)

David: While I'm not as pes­ simistic as you Adam, I also am not too convinced with this Canadian team. The biggest problem I have is the decision to once again put Pat Quinn in charge of this squad. Quinn, who has never guided a team to a Stanley Cup, seems intent on keeping Staal, Spezza and defensive stud Dion Phaneuf off his squad for more "expe­ rienced" read: older players. This stub­ bornness is quite unfortunate because as you said, there are many members of the team that are not playing up to par and have only made the squad based on name. The notion of previ­ ous international playing has to thrown out the window. This team needs the best. The Swedes will be tough, but even with the team they possess, I feel that without Markus Naslund—and possibly Peter Forseberg—they will struggle in the later phases and may have to settle for bronze. Canada should make the gold medal match, but shades of Nagano will be their undoing. Facing a red hot Czech squad that includes the aforementioned Hasek and Jagr, as well as stalwarts such as Vaclav Prospal and Martin Straka, we could see ourselves a repeat of 1998 with the Dominator earning another W over Canada.

OLYMPIANS

Though a lot has already been written about her in this issue, let us stress that she is not only a solid contender for the podium, she's almost a lock. After finishing just 0.001 points from bronze in Salt Lake City, Heil is^ now considered a favourite for the gold. She is the reigning two-time World Cup champion in moguls and has dominated the field this year as well. So far this year, she has two wins and six second-place finishes. Essentially, Heil is right now the best in the world at what she

does and should be able to give this school another gold medalist.

Kim St.-Pierre:

The former Martlets' backstop is making her return to the Olympic games, hoping to repeat on her success of 2002. A masterful performance in Salt Lake City helped Canada achieve its first goal medal in women's hock­ ey, and its first double gold. This time around, things might be a little tougher for the reigning gold medalists, with concerns being raised about the age of the players included on the roster. However, what isn't in dispute is StPierre's ability as a goaltender and talent in

Wednesday, Feb. 15, 7:05 a.m.-Preliminary RoundCanada vs. Italy Thursday, Feb. 16, 2:05 p.m —Preliminary RoundCanada vs. Germany Saturday, Feb. 18, 9:35 a.m.-Preliminary Round—Canada vs. Switzerland Sunday, Feb. 19, 3:05 p.m —Preliminary Round—Canada vs. Finland Tuesday, Feb. 21, 10:35 a.m.-Preliminary RoundCanada vs. Czech Republic Wednesday, Feb 22, 10:35 a.m.-3:35 p.m —Playoffs Quarterfinals Friday, Feb. 24, 10:35 a.m. and 3:05 p.m —PlayoffsSemi-finals Saturday, Feb. 25, 2:35 p.m.-Playoffs-Bronze medal game Sunday, Feb. 26, 10:05 a.m.-Playoffs-Gold medal game —compiled by Andrew Segal ALL PHOTOS COURTESY CBC.CA

keeping Canada afloat even in tight situations.

Peter Smith:

Like St.-Pierre, Smith is making his sec­ ond trip to the Olympics, once again serving as the assistant coach on the women's hock­ ey team. While the Martlets could always use their coach's services—especially after losing to Concordia last night—to be called to the nation team is a special honour and must be treated as such. Smith has worked hard this year, having split time with both the Martlets and team Canada and will hopefully be rewarded for his efforts with another gold medal.

m

Dick Pound:

Finally, how could we talk about the Olympics without mentioning our beloved chancellor? Pound, the head of the World Anti Doping Agency and Canada's representative on the International Olympic Committee, has had quite the year. He publicly stated that a third of all NHLers are on performance enhancing drugs, although only one, Bryan Berard, was actually caught. This, as well as constant allegations thrown towards interna­ tional cycling is all in a da/s work for our res­ ident drug sniffer.

—com piled by David Blye

fcrv

OLYMPIC

ON

the mcgill tribune | 7.2.06 | sports 2 5

DECK

A n e v e n t (o r seven) a day k e e p s th e b o re d o m

Gimme some Mo

a t bay

O h snap!

A N D R E W SEGAL Say goodbye to cheesy soaps and monotonous talk shows—for the next two weeks, bland daytime television will be revitalized by the Olympics.

Turin is six hours ahead of Montreal, so the events will take place in the morning and early afternoon, and CBC and TSN will have most of it live. But when you're filling that many hours of programming, there undoubtedly ends up being a lot of crap.

With such a glut of stuff on the airwaves, the Trib is here to put everything worth watching in a neat little pack­ age. That means not a single mention of all the "combination" sports that never should have been invented in the first place—events like biathlon (since when is it a good idea to carry a gun while skiing?), nordic combined (are ski jump­ ing and cross-country skiing even vaguely related?), and two-man luge (don't even get us started on what's wrong with this one). That means no figure skating in any form. It does mean that we've compiled the marquee events and point­ ed out Canadian medal hopefuls, with a healthy dose of irreverence thrown in.

And yes, I know, some of this stuff starts at 4 a.m. If you balk at getting up that early or just have to go to class, you will be able to catch repeats in prime time—but that's not very hardcore, now is it?

Finally, midday TV guys can watch without wanting to gouge out their eyes—and give themselves just one more reason to put off studying for that midterm.

Saturday, Feb. 11

1 p.m. on CBC—Women's moguls final—McGill's very own Jennifer Heil has a shot at Canada's first medal on the Games' first day.

Sunday, Feb. 12

6 a.m. on CBC—Men's downhill final—American Bode Miller hopes to hit the top of the podium before hit­ ting the bottom of the bottle. But compatriot Daron Rahlves will give him a battle, with Canadian Erik Guay, a dark horse medal hope.

Noon on CBC—Women's speed skating 3000m final—Cindy Klassen turned down carrying the Canadian flag because the 3000m, her marquee event, was just two days later. Watch to see if the decision paid off.

Monday, Feb. 13

8 a.m. on TSN—Women's curling prelims Canada vs.

Sweden—Sweden is a gold-medal contender, so this first match will be an early test for inexperienced Canadian skip Shannon Kleibrink. Yes, I just analyzed a curling matchup.

Noon on CBC—Men's speed skating 500m final— Canadian Jeremy Wotherspoon, who was a medal threat before he fell in this event in 2002, has a chance to make amends.

Tuesday, Feb. 14

5:20 a.m. on CBC—Women's cross-country skiing team sprint final—Canadians Beckie Scott and Sarah Renner can give the Norwegians a run for the gold. Also, since cross-country appears to be the Winter Games sport with the most doping, watch out for any mysteriously large women.

9:30 a.m. on CBC—Women's hockey prelims, Canada vs. Sweden—The toughest game of the initial round for the highly favoured Canucks, who feature McGill grad Kim St-Pierre in net and Martlets' Head Coach Peter Smith behind the bench.

Other than that, this is a pretty light day, so you'll actually be able to spend some time with the girlfriend.

Isn't it great how life works out?

Wednesday, Feb. 15

11:30 a.m. on CBC—Men's moguls final—US freestylist Jeremy Bloom, who will head to the NFL scouting combine after the Games, is a favourite for gold. Just hope he doesn't blow out his knee.

Thursday, Feb. 16

8 a.m. on CBC—Men's snowboard cross semi-finals and final—Oh, those wacky snowboarders: This new Olympic sport is a race down the hill while dealing with a combination of turns, jumps and moguls. Canadian JaseyJay Anderson has a chance to medal.

12:30 p.m. on CBC—Women's and men's speed skating team pursuit final—No, I don't know exactly how this new event works, or why it somehow merited inclu­ sion in the games. Still, both the Canadian men and women are expected to medal, so it's not all bad.

12:30 p.m. on CBC—Women's skeleton final—Back in the day, we called this tobogganing. Apparently, now it's an Olympic sport. Who knew? In any case, two Canadians have a shot at being the fastest one to ride a sled down a hill, so look for the Corp. to do a lot of switching between this and speed skating.

Friday, Feb. 17

11:05 a.m. and 3:05 p.m. on CBC—Women's hock­ ey semi-finals—The Canadians will be in one of these

games, the Americans the other. Look for them to meet in the final on Feb. 20.

Saturday, Feb. 18

3:55 p.m. on CBC—Men's short track 1000m final— Canadian Eric Bedard, who took bronze in 2002, has a chance at reaching the podium. But he'll be in tough against US star Apolo Anton Ohno, who apparently sur­ vived to return to the games after being buried under an avalanche of NBC hype in 2002.

Sunday, Feb. 19

11 a.m. and 3:00 p.m —Men's hockey prelims, USA vs. Sweden—It's hockey Day in Turin, as we get a look at two of the other gold medal contenders before watching the Canadians.

1:30 p.m. on CBC—Men's two-man bobsled finalPierre Lueders of Edmonton is going for his second Olympic gold, and should be set now that brakeman Lascelles Brown is finally a Canadian citizen. Isn't it great when sports trump government bureaucracy?

Monday, Feb. 20

6 a.m. on CBC—Men's giant slalom final—Miller goes for another medal, while Canadian Thomas Grandi tries to make his mark.

Tuesday, Feb. 21

1 p.m. on CBC—Women's two-man bobsled final—If you can tear yourself away from the hockey game, Canadian driver Helen Upperton has emerged as a medal threat.

Wednesday, Feb. 22

1 p.m. on CBC—Women's speed skating 1500m final—Klassen goes for another medal; it will be shown on tape delay because of hockey semi-finals.

Thursday, Feb. 23

11:30 a.m. on CBC—Women's curling final—This could be the start of a big day for Canada if Kleibrink can win this match.

12:30 p.m. on TSN—Men's aerials skiing final—A Canadian podium sweep is a possibility here, with Kyle Nissen and Jeff Bean ranked 1-2 in the World Cup stand­ ings, while Steve Omischl isn't far behind.

Friday, Feb. 24

11:30 a.m. on CBC—Men's curling final—Canadian Pseudo-skip Brad Gushue (Russ Howard really calls the shots) is hoping to end up here despite Olympic inexpe­ rience.

Saturday, Feb. 25

10:30 a.m. on CBC—Women's speed skating 5000m final—Another Canadian sweep could be in the cards.

Clara Hughes is the favourite, while Cindy Klassen and Kristina Groves also have medal hopes.

6 p.m. on CBC—Men's 500m and 5000m, women's 1000m short track speed skating finals—Some of the Games' most exciting events will be shown on tape delay because of the hockey bronze medal game. Here's hop­ ing Canada's not in it and CBC cuts away.

Sunday, Feb. 26

The games come to and end with just two events on tap, and I, for one, couldn't be more excited about one of them. No, not that silly gold medal hockey game—the men's 50km cross-country skiing finals. Now that's enter­ tainment! ■

M O H IT AR O R A harged with the task of jotting down some thoughts and opin­ ions on Sunday's Super Bowl XL between the Seattle Seahawks and the Pittsburgh Steelers, I quickly realized every columnist's worst fear: I had no thoughts and no opinions on the game. Of course, if you had paid any attention to the two weeks of hype leading up to the big game, you would have noticed that most every columnist had realized their worst fear.

Still, I think my particular brand of indifference was unique, because it was an indifference to all the indifference out there. Every sportswriter alive complained about how unsexy a Seattle-Pittsburgh match-up was and wrote 4,000 words telling you why they didn't care about it With no credible storyline to spin, the "Jerome Bettis is from Detroit" angle was born, which then gave birth to the "I'm sick of hearing how Jerome Bettis is from Detroit, and here's 4,000 words why!" movement.

So I could either adjust my sardonic setting to full blast and write an "I don't care about how you don't care about how Jerome Bettis is from Detroit" rant, or I could just try to find a new perspective on the entire matter. So I bent over and looked at the world upside down and through my legs, just like Jean-Philippe Darche.

Darche, though, has a perfectly valid reason for observing things from this particular vantage point, since he is the long snapper for the Seahawks. The McGill graduate and former Redmen standout at linebacker is arguably the best in the world at a skill few people would ever think of honing—tossing a fast, tight spiral through his legs to a waiting teammate as far as 15 yards away, then withstanding the opposing rushers' attempts to stuff his head down his pants on their way to blocking the kick. Naturally, his mastery of this peculiar act goes largely unnoticed by the masses.

In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to think of a more thankless job in sports than the long snapper. Sparring partners and rodeo clowns have rather unpleasant jobs, but I'm sure someone slaps them on the back and says "Nice work" from time to time. But a long snap­ per only gets noticed if he screws up. If you don't believe me, ask Trey Junkin.

Junkin was the NFL journeyman signed by the New York Giants to snap the ball deep for their playoff game with the San Francisco 49ers in January 2003. With the Niners up 39-38, the Giants lined up to kick a game-winning field goal on the game's final play. Junkin botched the snap, and the Giants' season was over.

That was the first I'd ever heard of Trey Junkin, and probably the first time Trey Junkin's neighbour had heard of Trey Junkin. If his snap had been on target and the kick made, the Giants would have won and we would have never heard of him. Instead, he became mem­ ber of the Scott Norwood goat club.

Part of the problem is that the success of a long snapper isn't even his own, but that of his kicker or punter. Adam Vinatieiri is a liv­ ing legend in New England because of his penchant for game-win­ ning kicks, and punters are routinely praised for angling kicks and pin­ ning the opposing team deep in their end. On Sunday, Seattle kick­ er Josh Brown missed two field goals that could have changed the complexion of the game, and punter Tom Rouen had four touchbacks, failing to stick the Steelers with bad field position. On those potentially pivotal plays, Darche fired a strike with each snap, but his success was negated.

Even when the NFL does try to recognize the best in long snap­ ping, though, it doesn't seem to know how to get it right. Though Darche snapped the ball on the last 174 of Seattle's NFL-record streak of 353 consecutive extra points made, he has never been named to the Pro Bowl, which has a roster spot specifically for his position. I'm no expert on long snapping or anything, but how do they pick the best one if not for objective measures like, I don't know, having never botched a snap in your life?

The best part is that I'm not even exaggerating. In a September conversation with The Gazette, Darche said "I've never really had a bad snap," and an exhaustive (and exhausting) study of the play-byplay log of every attempted punt, field goal and extra point this sea­ son showed that he was once again perfect in 2005-06. If nothing else, Darche is a reminder that the McGill Redmen football program produces more than just amateur proctologists.

And though he won't be spending this week in Honolulu at the Pro Bowl, Darche did get his moment in the sun earlier this season.

In a wild 37-31 win in St Louis, the Rams fumbled a late punt return.

The man whose hands first touched the ball on the play had the ball in his hands at the end of it, as Darche's fumble recovery sealed the win for Seattle. That victory was the first of the Seahawks' 11 straight, a streak that helped propel them into the Super Bowl.

But you'll never hear anyone say that, of course. Long snappers only get noticed when they screw up. ■

C

26

sports j 7.2.06 | the mcgill tribune

H e il flie s t h r o u g h t h e c o m p e t it io n Continued from cover to school and maintain some balance in my life that way. After the Olympics in 2002 I took a full year off from competition just to go to school.

Since 2002 I have been going to summer school.

The last year has been really intense with me with training for the upcoming Olympics.

Pretty much all of my energy has been put toward training. I have a special group in Montreal, some of the best people at what they do in terms of strength and conditioning and sports psychology, who have agreed to work with me. That is where my biggest focus has been in this last year.

After Turin I am looking to take some time off and take a little bit of a step back from my sport so I can get back into school [on more of a full-time basis].

How long have you been in Europe train­ ing and competing for the Olympics?

I was in Europe for two competitions before Christmas. Then I was in Europe for almost a month just before that in late October training.

Now, I will be here almost a month by the time I enter the Olympics. All of January I competed in North America. Right now, I have been here almost two weeks: First I had a race in Northeastern Italy and now I am in France at a training camp before heading to Turin.

While you are away competing, how do you keep in touch with your friends from McGill?

It's funny, because with the internet it's pret­ ty easy to stay connected these days. I have Skype on my computer, which is basically free telephone.

It was a lot harder when I first started travel­ ing internationally. I was about 16 when I made

my performance in that moment during the Olympic Games. That means skiing at my full capacity of speed, executing my tricks without mistake and basically raising the bar. That's what gets me really excited and that is what I am look­ ing to do in Torino; to focus on my performance and to bring it out in that moment.

couple times with the McGill ski team. I really didn't do much training. I really versed myself in the student life, met a lot of great people, went out and did the first year thing with a lot of par­ tying and having fun. That's fully what I needed, just to take a step back from sport.

When I came back I didn't really know where I stood against the competition. My expec­ tations were a little bit lower than they had been in the past and that actually really served me well. The balance of meeting students and meet­ ing other people at McGill who had really big goals for themselves, as well—but not necessari­ ly sport-oriented—it really opened my eyes and made me realize the opportunity I had on World Cup and how special it was.

the national development team. I basically would go away and not have very much contact and be totally out of touch. Now, as soon as we get to a new location, if we don't have wireless in the hotel somebody drives the car and the other per­ son opens the computer and searches for a wire­ less network until we can get on. There is basi­ cally no week that I am not connected to the internet unless I choose not to be. My lifestyle, with all my friends, this is the way it's been for a long time. In a lot of my relationships everyone keeps in touch and it works very well.

Why did you choose to come to McGill in the first place? After all, it’s pretty far from your hometown of Spruce Grove, Alberta, and it's not an ideal place to train.

Basically, when I'm in Montreal, I am not ski­ ing. I am doing my dry land training and sports psychology. That definitely made it an option to move to Montreal. I had some chronic injuries, some shin splints and lower back pain. I was introduced to somebody in Montreal who thought he could help me, an osteopath. I start­ ed working with him and he started to make a big difference. Before that I had seen a lot of spe­ cialists but nothing was really working. He was the first person who could really help me fix the problem.

So when I decided to take the year off from competition to strengthen my body and go to school, I had fallen in love with the city of Montreal, it's such a dynamic place. I actually wanted the experience of going to university at McGill; I had heard so many great things about the university. It made sense for me to be here and to work with those people to help strength­ en my body for competition.

After your year off you really came back and dominated the World Cup competition.

How were you able to stay at the top during your extended break from skiing?

When I take a year off, I really step back from my sport.

I ski right now five days a week. When I was going to McGill I skied over Christmas with my family and I skied a

We are sending our strongest team yet for the Winter Games. There have been so many medals this winter: alpine, short track, luge, bob­ sled. It is really exciting to be able to read about the other athletes and their success. I think it real­ ly creates a positive energy when you see other people excelling. You help push one another. I think we are going to have an extremely strong showing at these Olympics.

What are you looking to get out of this Olympic experience compared to your experi­ ence in Salt Lake City?

What is the one experience that you want to take away from these Games?

I am in an extremely different position than I was in 2 0 0 2 .1was just 18, it was only my sec­ ond year of international competition and I basi­ cally didn't have a lot of time to prepare myself for the Olympics, it just happened so quickly.

This year I am bringing in a lot more experi­ ence. I have formed a group in Montreal, I have been extremely fortunate to work with them as an amateur athlete, to have these resources. A group of people in Edmonton and Montreal, just private individuals, have given me some money to support this program. I am working with Scott Livingston, the Montreal Canadiens strength and conditioning coach, Dave Campbell the osteopath, Wayne Haliwell a sport psychologist who has also worked with the Canadiens and other athletes.

I have had these resources and they have transformed me over the last four years from someone who had a lot of injuries but was a good skier, to someone who is a real athlete.

Every time I leave Montreal to go to a ski camp or a competition, I really feel the difference in my strength and my speed and how high I am able to jump. It's generally exciting for me to be able to work with this group and to bring a complete package to Torino.

My plan after I am done [my event] is to completely soak up the Olympics and make sure I really enjoy the spirit while watching the other athletes. You get so focused in your event some­ times you forget to look outside of your sport and your own goals. Enjoying the Olympic move­ ment is definitely something I want to do. ■

After finishing fourth at the last Games, what are your medal goals for these Olympics?

- I never approach a competition saying I am going to win. I approach a competition in that I want to ski faster and jump higher. I want to bring

L A S IK M D Starting at

What are your thoughts on Canada's Olympic chances?

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-the mcgill tribune ] 7.2.06 | sports 27 compiled by D AVID BLYE and ADAM MYERS

A R O U N D THE HORN Gagné hits 1,000 as Martlets see off Bishop's

S T A N DI N G S HOCKEY (M )

I W

McGILL*(F-East)

18

1

: RMC*(M-East)

7

! UQTR (FE)

OT

PTS

HOCKEY (W)

2

0

38

McGILL

11

5

15

5

2

0 0

32

OTTAWA (FE)

13

6

2

1

28

CONCDIA (FE)

6

9

3

3

18

TORONTO (ME)

6

13 2

1

15

TORONTO (ME)

6

15

1

0

14

RYERSON (ME)

1

19

1

1

4

ON

L

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19

W

L

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PTS

9

2

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1OTTAWA 6 |.........................

CONCORDIA 6

4

1

13

4

1

13

V-BALL (W)

W

LAVAL McGILL

BOX

Martlets Volleyball—Montréal @ McGill; Wednesday, 7 p.m at Love Competition Hall

The Martlets begin the post-season on Wednesday night when they host the Université de Montréal Carabins. McGill has been slipping as of late, losing three of its last four matches. However, McGill has already defeated U de M twice at home this season and should be able to do it again.

Redmen Hockey—McGill @ Concordia; Wednesday, 8 p.m. at Ed Meagher Arena

GF

GA

21

63

3

I 16

51

23

52

20

8

48

31

13

29

50

JCARLETON 0 MONTREAL 0 0 1 ” *Represents division leaders OUA hockey ranks the two division leaders SHERBR'K first and second, and then ranks the remaining six team according to total UQTR points. Six teams make the playoffs.

DECK

L

SCORE Sat. Feb. 4, 2005 McGill 3 v. University of Toronto 2 McConnell Arena

SCORING SUMMARY FIRST PERIOD: (no scoring) SECOND PERIOD: Toronto - Simon Barg 15 (À Pallotta) - 4:49 McGill - M. Kovacevic 7 (K. Davis) - 11:09

First, the obvious truth: McGill doesn't need to win this game. The Redmen's victories last weekend over the two Toronto schools guaranteed them first place in the OUA East Conference.

However, with the playoffs on the horizon, the boys in Red and White have to stay sharp and on their game. Besides, who does­ n't like beating Concordia?

THIRD PERIOD: Toronto - Mark Heatley 3 (A. Pallotta, A. Smale) - 0:12 (PP) McGill - Ken Morin 2 (G. Demers, E. L'Italien) - 8:05

Martlets Basketball—UQÀM @ McGill; Friday, 6 p.m. at Love Competition Hall

OVERTIME: McGill - Benoit Martin 8 (T. Kyres, S. Shewchuk) - 02:39

After last Friday's win over Bishop's, the Martlets have a chance to make some serious noise in the final stages of the QUBL sea­ son. On Friday, they host 5-5 UQÀM, who just two weeks ago stole a 51-50 win over McGill. The Martlets now have the chance to return the favour on home court and can inch themselves one step closer to passing the Citadins for third in the division.

GOALTENDERS: Toronto: Ryan Grinnell (L, 0-6-1; 62:39, 3GA, 32 saves) McGill: Mathieu Poitras (W, 12-1-2; 62:39, 2GA, 24 saves)

Redmen Basketball—UQÀM @ McGill; Friday, 8 p.m. at Love Competition Hall

POWERPLAYS (goals/chances): Toronto: 1/9 McGill: 0 /6

While the 2-9 Redmen are not having their greatest season, they proved this weekend that they still had some life when they upset Bishop's. On Friday, they get to show if that game was just the spark they need to get the wheels moving again. UQÀM is just 28 and a McGill win puts it right back in the playoff hunt.

Winter Olympics—Opening Ceremonies; Friday 1 p.m. on CBC

While we shouldn't advocate skipping class, this event does come around only once every four years. For those of who will be feel­ ing truant on Friday, look forward to six hours of live coverage from Turin, Italy, with Brian Williams and Peter Mansbridge. For the rest of us, at least take a minute to watch Team Canada, led by flag-bearer Danielle Goyette, enter the stadium.

SHOTS BY PERIOD: Toronto: 7 1 1 7 1 (26) McGill: 8 8 15 4 (35) MOLSON CUP 3 GAME STARS: 1. Benoit Martin, McGill 2. Ken Davis, McGill 3. Ryan Grinnell, Toronto ATTENDANCE: 742

T H I S W E E K IN M c G I L L S P O R T S H I S T O R Y

Friday, Feb. 7, 2003

The Martlets basketball team earned a big victory over city rivals Concordia this weekend, seeing off the Stingers 63-46.

The win improved the dismal Martlets to 1-11 on the season.

Forward Maude Vallieres led the Martlets with a game-high 19 points. McGill was on its game all night, leading 35-22 at the break and never looking back in the second half. Unfortunately, the win was not enough to bring the Martlets out of the base­ ment, ending their playoff hopes.

Friday, Feb. 11, 2000

The Redmen hockey team suffered shocking 9-6 loss at the hands of Concordia. The Red 'n' White managed to hold their own during the first two periods, only trailing the Stingers 5-4 after 40 minutes. But the wheels came off during the third, as they surrendered another four goals to the Stingers. The loss was especially tough as the Redmen also lost star centre Dave Gourde in the second stanza. Gourde suffered a broken leg mid­ way through the frame and missed the rest of the season.

Friday, Feb. 15, 1998

The Redmen b-ballers solidly defeated Queen's 73-61.

McGill came on strong in the first half, taking a 41-28 lead into the break and had the game locked up from there on. Forward Andrew Bier led the charge for the men in Red and White, scor­ ing a game-high 15 points and grabbing seven rebounds. This performance was downright fantastic as Bier was making his first appearance since suffering a major injury.

WHAT'S YOUR

BEEF?

You need to feel for a guy like Antonio Davis. After demanding a trade out of Toronto three seasons ago for absurd reasons like the Canadian edu­ cation system, he again finds himself a member of the Raptors. It turns out his children are going to have to learn the metric system after all... Why was Tom Brady involved in the Super Bowl coin toss? With the weak way he flipped that coin, a better choice would have been Phil Luckett. Plus, he already has a relationship with Jerome Bettis... Ben Roethlisberger may be a Super Bowl champion, but he sure didn't play like one with a 22.2 quarterback rating. On the other hand, Antwaan Randle El had a perfect rating of 158.3. All the teams looking for QB's should consider him—he sure looks a lot better than guys like Gus Frerotte or Chad Pennington... There was an article on tsn.ca this Monday morning about how the ice maker in Turin is refusing to put a lucky loonie at centre ice for this year's games. WHY IS THIS NEWS? WHY SHOULD ANYONE CARE ABOUT THIS?... The Super Bowl commercials were pathetic this year. There were only a handful of good ones. Perennial ad producers like Coke and Miller didn't even show up. And we thought Josh Brown had a bad day.

Forward Catherine Parent dropped in 17 points and guard Sarah Gagné scored nine to give her 1,002 for her career as McGill upset first-place Bishop's 70-62 Friday evening in Quebec women's basketball.

The win snapped the Martlets four-game losing streak and pulled McGill to within two points of UQÀM for thirdplace in the Quebec conference standings with two games remaining.

McGill, which led 37-30 at halftime, shot 21-for-54 from the field (38.9 per cent), including 8-for-18 from three-point range. The Martlets also went 20-for-26 from the free-throw line (76.9 per cent).

Parent, who shot 7-for-8 from the floor, also added six rebounds, one assist and a steal as the Martlets improved to 4-7. Gagné also led the team in rebounds with seven and had three steals.

Isabelle Provencher made good work of just 15 min| utes of playing time. The efficient forward produced 12 points and four rebounds.

Anouk Boulanger netted 15 points in a losing cause for Bishop's, while teammate Laura Pitfield added 14.

Also scoring for the Martlets was Marie7Eve BeaulieuDemers (10), Vanessa Danisi (6), Rikki Bowles (5), Julianne Noseworthy (4), Nathifa Weekes (4) and Christine Kennedy I (3).

The Martlets now have a week off to prepare to host | UQÀM next Friday evening at 6 p.m. with playoff implica­ tions on the line. With a little help, the Martlets could close the season third in the QUBL. Redmen revenge rout on the road

Not to be outdone by their female counterparts, the Redmen also managed to walk into Lennoxville on Friday and earn a major upset, sneaking by Bishop's 62-61. The win, McGill's first on the road this season, gave the Redmen some revenge, as their last visit to Lennoxville resulted in an embarrassing 78-28 defeat, McGill's worst loss in over 40 years.

Centre Olivier Lamoureux led the way for the Red 'n' White with 14 points. Lamoureux, who is recovering from a badly fractured left hand that he suffered in November, also contributed four rebounds, three assists, two steals and a two blocks. The 6'9" super frosh shot 6-16 from the field and went 2-4 from the charity stripe.

For Bishop's, Ricardo Telamon had a team-high 14 points while Jeff Szita had 12.

The win improved McGill to 2-9 and moved the Redmen into to just a half game out of fourth and the final playoff spot McGill nearly blew a commanding 37-22 halftime lead and was outscored 39-25 in the second frame, but man­ aged to hang on when it mattered.

One of the leading factors in McGill's win was its shoot­ ing. The Redmen shot an impressive 52.4 per cent from the field (22-for-42) and 77.8 per cent from the foul line (14for-18). The Gaiters could only connect on a paltry 33.3 per J cent from the floor (21-for-63) and 78.9 from the free throw line ( 15-for-19). They also sunk only four of 27 threepointers, while the Redmen were 4-7 from beyond the arc.

Louis-Philippe Lagredelle knocked in 11 points for the Red 'n' White, draining three of five shots from long dis­ tance. The rookie also had four steals and two rebounds on the evening.

Rounding out the scoring for the Redmen were Yannick Chouinard (8), Chris Horwood (7), Philippe Letourneau (7), J.P. Begly (6), Elliot Siemiatycki (3), Nickolas Pronovost (3) and Sean Anthony (3). Anthony and Chouinard also grabbed four rebounds to share the game high with Lamoureux.

McGill has five games remaining, including a crucial home-and-home series against UQÀM, the team currently sitting in fourth place. Those games will be contested on Feb. 10 at the Currie Gym and Feb. 24 at UQÀM. Martlets suffer shocking loss to Stingers

Concordia Captain Jodi Gosse scored an unassisted goal at 12:03 of the second period to give the Concordia Stingers a 2-1 victory over the McGill Martlets before a crowd of 250 at the Ed Meagher Arena on Sunday.

McGill, which went into this game ranked fifth in the country, had already wrapped up the Quebec conference and the Stingers were able to capitalize on the Red 'n' White's lack of desire.

Concordia's Devon Rich opened the scoring at 12:58 of the first period. Gosse gave Concordia a 2-0 lead.

Forward Christine Hartnoll scored the lone McGill goal at 4:53 of the third period but it would not be enough.

The Martlets, who were without Head Coach Peter Smith—who is with the Canadian women's Olympic team in Turin as an assistant coach—were also outshot 31-26 by the Stingers.

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McGill's one-day, campus-wide University Orientation day needs you!

Get involved & represent your faculty as one of our volunteers and make a difference by creating a great McGill experience for our new stu­ dents, right from the start. Your day will be fun & action packed. It will consist of campus tours, scavenger hunts, interactive student Q&A ses­ sions, and basically, making new friends and helping new students feel welcom e at McGill. A Group Leader guides a student group through campus and is in charge of initiating activities throughout the day; Logistical Staff work behind the scenes, helping with various tasks, for instance staffing information kiosks, handing out the pizza, e tc Discover McGill will take place on Wednesday, August 30, 2006. Volunteers will also need to be available on Tuesday August 29 for training and coor­

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International Student Buddy Program, administered by our International Student Services, assists new international students with their initial adjustment to McGill and Montreal. "Buddy" duties are flexible depend­ ing on the needs of the incoming students.

F ir s t-Y e a r B u d d y P r o g r a m

Perhaps you would like to act as a mentor, friend, trouble-shooter or just be a "buddy" to first-year students in general? First-Year Buddies will be connected with first-year students throughout the sum m er and are encouraged to com m unicate with one or two first-year stu­ dents by e-mail, to address their concerns or to alleviate anxieties, A "Starters Kit" is m ade available to all First-Year Buddies to assist with answering questions and providing accurate referrals.

dination meetings.

M c G ill S u m m e r S e n d - O f f

The McGill Sum m er Send-Off is a social event for new students com ­ Participate in this great program! You love people and you want to help your peers find the job of their dreams. In return, you will be trained to facilitate informal group workshops on effective work search strategies, correct your peers CV!s and write articles for our newsletter. Think of the possibilities.

O r ie n ta tio n C e n tr e & F ir s t-Y e a r R e s o u r c e R o o m

Another great opportunity to have fun, meet people and help out is through the Orientation Centre & Resource Room. Student volunteers greet new students, provide information on McGill and Montreal, help with registration on MINERVA and generally dispense wisdom and com­ fort to new and returning students. The Centre & Resource Room will be open weekdays from Monday, August 28 - Friday, September 22, 2006.

In te r n a tio n a l B u d d y P ro g ra m

If you are a returning international student (or even if you're not), this is also a great way to help ease the transition for new students. The

ing to McGill, hosted by the McGill Alumni Association. The knowl­ edge and experience of McGill students is invaluable to incoming students since you know the challenges, surprises and fun stuff going on at McGill and in Montreal. They are held all over the world — there is probably one in your hom etown! Most send-offs take place between the last two w eeks of July and first two w eeks of August, so if you like parties, like meeting new students and answ er­ ing their questions, then let us know you'd like to be involved.

H e a lt h P r o m o t i o n T e a m

Help promote health at McGill! The Health Promotion Team coordi­ nates events on cam pus to encourage students to take better care of their health and well being. You will help plan and run activities that tackle important issues such as sexual health, drug and alcohol abuse, smoking, stress, nutrition, and much more. Take this opportu­ nity to learn a lot, meet new people, and gain experience in the m ed­ ical field!

GET INVOLVED - THE REWARDS ARE MANY! STUDENT SERVICES - PROMOTING STUDENT SUCCESS!

PLEASE PRINT AND RETURN THIS FORM OR COMPLETE OUR ONUNE FORM AT h ttp ://w w w .m cg ill.ca /firstyea r/volu nte er

I am interested in participating in the following volunteer program(s): (Check as many as you wantf)

NAME: (First Name)

(Ms./Mr.)

FACULTY:

(Last Name)

ID #:

First-Year Buddy Program [ ] International Buddy Program [ ]

McGILL E-MAIL:.

Career Peer Educator Program [ ] McGill Sum m er Send-Off f J H om e T o w n ______________ Prov./State Health Promotion Team [ ]

OTHER E-MAIL:

PHONE NO(S). (1 ) (

Discover McGill Group Leader [ ] a n d /o r Logistical Staff [ ] Orientation Centre & Resource Room [ ]

)

(2) ( (Montreal Home Phone)

PLEASE RETURN OR MAIL TO'

).

(Cell Phone Number)

First-Year Office Brown Student Services Building, Suite 2100 3600 McTavish Street Montreal, Quebec H3A IY2