The McGill Tribune Vol. 26 Issue 10

2 0 0 YEARS IN THE M A K IN G , G IR O D E T GETS HIS O W N SHO W . SEE PAGE 16.

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Volum e 26 Issue 10 •N ovem b er 7,2006

M a r tle ts ru n a w a y w it h Q S S F c h a m p io n s h ip

McGill's Magalie Kolker drives by Laval defenders in Sunday night's game. She would later be one of four scorers in the decisive penalty shootout. See page 20 for more coverage.

C lu b s w a n t m o r e d e s p i t e S S M U 's d e e p e r p o c k e t s Application process poses challenges for cam pus groups Emily Barca and M att C ampbell After sending in their requests for fund­ ing and crossing their fingers, club executives received word late last month on the status of their subsidies from the Students'Society. After the dust settled, clubs had mixed feelings on the budgeting process. Some executives were extremely frustrated with dealing with SSMU and dissatisfied with their allocations, while oth­ ers thought the process was fairly smooth.

SSMU Vice-President Clubs and Services Floh Herra-Vega said that total club funding had increased this year.

"Last year we had $21,000 to spend on

clubs, this session we have closer to $45,000," she said.

Herra-Vega explained that the increase was because SSMU made club funding a priority.

"Costs were cut everywhere last year," she said. "This year we restored the amounts to lev­ els of previous years. A lot of the clubs that got funding this year didn't get funding last year.

Most who applied got funding."

Despite the increases in funding, of the 69 clubs who applied for subsidies, 16 were re­ jected.

Wendy Jepson, a member of the Chess Club, said she had mixed feelings about the $300 that her club received.

"We would have liked much more," she said. “If we were granted appropriate funding it would be going towards the big Canadian tour­ nament, which is being held in Ottawa this year.

We won the title last year so we have to go and defend it."

Jepson questioned how subsidies were distributed. She pointed out that the Choral So­ ciety had received $850.

"I wondered what we could have done to get that kind of money," she said. "I got the impression that [SSMU doesn't] give out that much. In fact, there was a document saying that the SSMU subsidy should not be the basis of your funding. But then they got the $850 and

Iwondered why they'd gotten that much."

However, Jepson's club is not alone. Ap­ proximately 83 per cent of the clubs that ap­ plied for funding received $500 or less.

Club funding decisions are made by the SSMU Finance Committee, which is made up of VP Finance and Operations Dave Sunstrum as well as Herra-Vega, three SSMU councilors and two students-at-large.

Herra-Vega explained that clubs were judged on both the basis of their audits and on how well they accounted for their spending.

"We need to know what clubs are spendSee CLUBS on page 7

Synchro Martlet Hockey M &W Volleyball Competition Sat. Nov. 11 vs. Sherbrooke Sat. N ov 11 - 3 ï30PM 6PM (W) & 8PM (M) vs.O ttawa McGill A T H L E T I C S

Sat. N ov. 11 - 2 :3 0 P M at McConnell Arena

Sun. Nov. 12 vs. UQTR 4PM (W) at McGill Sports Complex

at McGill Currie Memorial Pool www.athlctks.iDCgill.ca

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COVER PHOTO BY LUKAS BERGMARK

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cam pus

A lle g a t io n s fly a t F E U Q r e f e r e n d u m Undecided students not drawn to event V incci Tsui The first and only public debate on the upcoming referendum ques­ tion was held last Tuesday as part of the fall by-election debates hosted

by Elections McGill. Debate between First Year Commitee of Council can­ didates was followed by debate be­ tween the 'yes' and 'no' committees for the question which asks students whether the Students' Society should end its membership in la Fédération Étudiante Universitaire du Québec.

The debate between FEUQ VicePresident Federal and International AffairsTrevor Hanna representing the 'no'committee and SSMU VP External Max Silverman representing the 'yes' committee was heated and accusa­ tory from the start.

In his opening statement, Silverman described FEUQ as "a waste of time and energy for students" and a "backwards, antidemocratic, sell-out organization."

To counter, Hànna accused the yes committee of presenting "a dis­ torted version of FEUQ's history with a smear campaign of vague accusa­ tions of foul play that couldn't possi­ bly be proven.”

Hanna also took issue with the way in which the referendum ques­ tion was written, claiming that it is biased in order to provoke a yes re­ sponse.

Silverman admitted that there was bias in the question, but said, "if FEUQ had their own legs to stand on, they would be able to defend them­ selves even with the question as it stands."

The arguments between the. two committees did not present

d e b a te

much new information and were lit­ Barbara Dourley, Uo Manage­ thing I'd like to get involved with,"she tion, he was slightly unimpressed by ment and candidate for FYCC VP said. "It was really interesting to have the behaviour of some members of tered with backhanded insults from both sides.

Communications, felt that the de­ a FEUQ executive and McGill stu­ the yes committee.

"I thought it was really rude Hanna emphasized that FEUQ bates presented information that dent on one side and then a SSMU is the only student voice in the pro­ she already knew, but in a way that executive on the other. It certainly when people from the yes commit­ presented a different view than I've tee would laugh collectively when vincial government and highlighted brought a new perspective.

[Hanna] was speaking," he said, "and heard before." the gains that the group has made in "I felt that the [FYCC] debate was I would have liked Max Silverman to Halparin added that although the name of the student movement, very relaxed and then the referen­ such as the tuition freeze for Quebec dum debate was very exciting, very the debates helped him confirm his clear up some of the broad accusa­ students and winning the right for political and fun. It's definitely some­ position on the referendum ques­ tions." ■ international students to work offcampus.

Silverman claimed that FEUQ is ineffective in government lobbying and unconcerned with the interests of its members, citing the absence of an out-of-province and international tuition freeze, the Sept. 27 meeting between several FEUQ executives and others and FEUQ's "sellout" of students during the 2065 strike.

Almost all of the 25 students in attendance were either on a referen­ dum committee or campaigning for a position on FYCC, whose debates preceded that of the referendum question.

One of the few people attend­ ing who was not directly involved in the debate, Max Halparin, Ui Envi’ronment, said that he had planned to vote yes mainly because it is the position endorsed by SSMU. "Before I came I was going to vote yes without really thinking, but now it's gotten a lot more muddy," he said. "My only concern is whether we would be able to access the gov­ ernment and it seems like the no committee's answer is 'This is it, this is our only option for a lobby group,' and the yes committee is saying,'No, we can actually talk to them without one,' so that was my issue of discomGRAPHIC BY MATT CAMPBELL fort."

Everyone on campus seems to be going bananas over the FEUQ referendum. Mmmmmmm bananas.

INTERNATIONAL

M id t e r m e l e c t i o n s fa il t o e x c i t e s t u d e n t s Fewer registration drives on campus than for last presidential election Nora C oghlan South of the border, the United States is buzzing with excitement over midterm elec­ tions. Americans go to the polls today to vote on 33 Senate seats, 435 House of Representa­ tives seats, 36 races for governor, various local offices and state referenda.

With 2,254 American students, the election will impact a significant portion of the McGill community. However, there has been a notice­ able lack of interest on campus compared to the 2004 presidential elections.

"I wouldn't even know there was an up­ coming election if I didn't get ABC Plattsburg, from Vermont," said Canadian Dominique Hemens, U2 Science.

She compared this to 2004, when speakers before class, posters and general campus inter­ est urged American students to vote absentee.

For this election, the American Democrats of McGill helped students with absentee ballot request forms and also encouraged voting in several emails to their listserv. In the 2004 elec­ tion, however, both Republican and Democrat campus groups were active throughout the fall and a third organization called US Vote was also

History Professor Gil Troy said that a Demo­ involved. Richard Hoberman, head of American Democrats, estimated that while his group reg­ cratic victory in either chamber could serve as istered 400 to 500 students to vote for the 2004 a check on President Bush's exercise of power. elections, only 150 to 200 were registered for A majority .in either house would allow Demo. crats to assume more authority over congres­ this election.

Many of these disparities are due to the na­ sional investigations, the media and the legisla­ ture of the elections. Hoberman admitted that tive agenda.

Recent elections have demonstrated the there was much more interest in 2004 because value of individual votes. Troy, a specialist in the presidency was at stake.

"In 2004 Bush was involved, so it was a big- American presidential campaigning, said that ten years ago 96 ï a b e T m a n " L o w v o te r p a r t ic ip a t io n a l s o he would have akn noted that r e n d e r s e a c h v o t e m o r e v a l u a b l e . encouraged ab­ I n a n a g e o f l o w v o t e r t u r n o u t , v o t - sentee ' voting many American students register i n g g i v e s y o u a k i n d o f s u p e r p o w e r mainly as a civic However and request absen­ s t r e n g t h i f y o u m a k e t h e a r g u m e n t duty. tee ballots online t h a t y o u ' r e v o t i n g f o r t w o o r t h r e e recent elections have shown that or by calling their o t h e r A m e r ic a n s . tiny margins can county clerk.

— H is t o r y P r o f e s s o r G il T r o y mean victory, Polls and punespecially in con­ dits suggest that the Democratic Party is poised to seriously chal­ gressional and local elections. He pointed to the lenge Republican majorities in both chambers, 2000 Senate Race in Washington, where Sena­ especially in the House where just fifteen seats tor Maria Cantwell was elected by a margin of 2,229 votes. are needed to gain a majority.

"Low voter participation also renders each "The biggest thing at stake is control of the House," Hoberman said. "That's the most realistic vote more valuable,"Troy said. "In an age of low voter turnout, voting gives you a kind of super­ thing we can expect."

power strength if you make the argument that you're voting for two or three other Americans."

However, many students who voted in 2004 did not vote in this election. Many linked their decision to the presidential vote, which they felt was more of an obligation because of its national impact. Others felt that living abroad alienated them from the candidates and issues.

"Because I'm not home, I don't know much about the candidates. I can read an Internet blurb about someone, but that doesn't really tell you much about them," said American stu­ dent Kimberly Allen, U2 Science.

Local variations also guided decisions to vote. Senators and governors serve six year terms, which means that they are not up for election in many states this year. Where stu­ dents did vote absentee, it was often with the feeling that local races would be tight.

Ginny Hoban, U3 Management, said that while her home state of Virginia usually goes Republican in Presidential elections, Democrat­ ic presence in her district renders local results much less predictable.

"In the last election I didn't feel that my vote counted. But I'm from northern Virginia, a place where it definitely feels like my vote can count."»

07.11.06 • The McGill Tribune • 3

CAMPUS

CAMPUS

P L Q -M c G ill f o u n d e d New club bridges ideologies

C o u n c il a g r e e s o n

Nour Kteilly While some McGill students may have little interest in Canadian politics, a new club is trying to bridge the gap between students and the political pro­ cesses that affect them. After lying dor­ mant for several years, the Parti Libéral du Québec at McGill, the official arm of the PLQ on campus, held a meeting Oct. 30 to reenact their constitution and vote on their executive board.

The group currently has ap­ proximately 30 members.

One of three provincial parties represented in the Quebec National Assembly, the PLQ currently holds 76 seats in the Quebec govern­ ment, having secured 46 per cent of the popular vote in the last election. The party has traditionally been a strong supporter of federalism, the view that Quebec should remain a part of Canada.

The link between the Parti Libéral du Québec and the Liberal Party of Canada is sometimes a source of confusion. Al­ though both parties fall under the Liberal banner, they have not been affiliated with one another since 1964.

"The two groups are interrelated and both lie under the Liberal flag, but they have different agendas," PLQ-McGill VicePresident Events Lauren Chang Maclean said.

The club's executive was chosen by acclaimation. Simon Bessette, who also serves as President of Liberal McGill, was selected as the group's president.

Bessette believes the PLQ will help Quebec realize its potential as a province.

"The Parti Libéral du Québec is strongly committed to Quebec being a part of Canada, while at the same time, ensuring it is given the power it needs to fulfill its own potential as a province."

One interesting feature of PLQ is its diverse range of membership. Members

have varying political orientations at the Federal level and the club is not exclusive to students who traditionally consider themselves supporters of the Federal Lib­ eral party.

Noting the broad potential for the party and the absence of.a provincial party affiliated with the Conservative Party of Canada, PLQ McGill VP Policy and former president of Conservative McGill

Daniel King sees PLQ-McGill as a way for all to support Quebec federalism.

"The Parti Libéral du Québec is a good avenue for all supporters of Quebec Federalism, Liberal and Conservative, to back their views."

Bessette commented that his mem­ bership in both Liberal McGill and PLQ McGill reflects a shared set of overarching Liberal ideals.

"The Liberal Party of Canada and the PLQ share core Liberal values such as a dedication to social programs, [support for] the Kyoto Protocol and re-investment in healthcare and education,"he said. "Lib­ eralism is flexible in what it means to dif­ ferent people. It is primarily dedicated to pragmatism."

King emphasized the importance of getting students involved at an early age.

"The earlier you get involved, the more experience you gain, the more op­ portunities you have to network with other politically interested youth and the greater the possibility that youth play a major role in changing policy." ■

d iv is iv e b lo o d p o lic y Ban stays until MSM stance changes Kate Spirgen The Students' Society Council has recently taken a stance against Health Canada's blood dona­ tion policy, which prohibits the donation of blood by any man who has had sex with a man since 1977.

Because the policy is considered discriminatory toward certain members of the McGill community, on Thursday SSMU councillors voted 20 to 6 in favour of banning blood drives in the Shatner Building "until the end of the semester or until such time as Health Canada's blood screening procedures do not contra­ vene SSMU's constitution, particularly the preamble, whichever comes later."

A motion to was put forth by SSMU Vice-Presi­ dent Clubs and Services Floh Herra-Vega in order to stop the perceived discrimination against MSM do­ nors in accordance with the section of the constitu­ tion that states that all endeavours made by SSMU must be done "with full respect for human dignity and without discrimination on the basis of irrelevant personal characteristics." However, many councillors were wary of passing this motion because it would involve an interpretation of the constitution on an extremely controversial issue. "[Health Canada's policy] singles out a single group of people, not a practice. That's why this mo­ tion is constitutional," Herra-Vega said.

Debate on the issue became extremely heated.

SSMU VP Communications and Events Gill Prendergast called for councillors to focus on the legal as­ pects of the issue rather than personal or emotional responses.

"Because it's so contentious personally, morally, politically.. .all we can do is look at it legally and so I have to support this," she said during debate on the motion.

Some councillors were also uncomfortable vot­ ing on the motion because they felt that they were not given sufficient warning to consult their respec­ tive committeës.

"No one knew this is what we were voting on.

No one had been consulted," said Arts Representa­ tive Yahel Carmon. "We shouldn't be doing this to­ night."

After considerable debate, it was suggested that the motion be amended to ban blood drives

in Shatner for only one semester. Some councillors didn't see this as an effective solution and so it was amended to apply until Health Canada changes their policy on MSM donation.

"Will it be constitutional next semester? Most probably not," said Arts Representative Rachel Abs, explaining that Health Canada's policies were not likely to change soon.

There appeared to be a divide between coun­ cillors as to whether it is the responsibility of Council or of the Judicial Board to interpret the constitution.

"We can't say that we don't know what the con­ stitution is and do nothing," said Arts Councillor Kyle Bailey. "We have to make a decision and then it can be J-Boarded if need be."

Medicine Representative Donald Finegan brought up issues concerning the constant need in the medical field for blood, saying that Canadian so­ ciety needs blood drives like those held at McGill in order to save lives.

"We really need to be able to give patients blood and there's just no other suitable space to collect in," he said."If there was, we would move it. I would ask everyone to ask their constituents if they want to ban the donation of blood because that is essentially what we're doing."

Herra-Vega urged councillors to consider the ramifications of the motion to the students against whom these policies are discriminatory.

"We shouldn't think of this as a blood drive; we should think of it like we would any other thing," she said. "We can't treat this differently just because it's something that's crucial to life. I don't see how we can have blood drives and still respect ourselves as councillors."

Council also voted to form a subcommittee of the External Affairs Committee in order to create a dialogue between relevant interest groups and to lobby the federal government to "base [blood] screening on relevant practices and not irrelevant personal characteristics."

A committee will soon be formed consisting of VP External Max Silverman, any interested councillor and any interested members-at-large of SSMU. ■ A n y students interested in s ittin g on the n e w sub­ co m m itte e sho uld c o n ta c t M a x Silverman a t 39 8-6798

CITY

C e n tr a id e s e t s fu n d r a is in g b a r a t $ 5 0 -m illio n Charity group looks to McGill for help achieving goal o b je c t if conditions, fight against the exclusion of young people, immigrants, homeless and the elderly and support communities through volunteer Increasing their fundraising goal yet again, networks and partnerships.

Centraide of Greater Montreal has committed it­ Combined, the organizations help about self to collect $50.5-million in its annual citywide campaign. Having already collected over $33.5- half a million people in need and all the funds collected by Centraide are then distributed million, the group is well on its way to reaching back to the community. the goal with just two months left in the year.

"Centraide is the link between the donors Operating since 1974, Centraide, which is known outside- of Quebec as the United Way, and the agencies and this is what we here at Centraide do best," Munger said. has been supporting and collaborating with Centraide looks to McGill to raise funds as over 350 organizations in Montreal, Laval and well.

The McGill Centraide Committee works the South Shore.The group extends all the way every year with faculty and staff to contribute to to the American border in order to benefit the Centraide of Greater Montreal. The committee one quarter of the Greater Montreal population holds many fundraisers such as bake sales, conthat is living below the poverty line.

According to Annual Campaign Director , certs and events such as their upcoming Christ­ Martin Munger, Centraide thrives on commu­ mas gift wrapping and Trivia Night. The McGill nity support, which is where they get most of group has raised $130,542 so far, with most of the contributions coming from university em­ their funding.

"Although we have a dynamic campaign," ployee payroll deductions.

Their goal of $285,000 will hopefully be he said, "it's a big movement of generosity and met by the end of the year with the help of we cannot raise sso.s-million without the com­ McGill community support and the increasing munity."

Although 38 per cent of the funds for 2006- number of faculties involved in the campaign 2007 are aimed at family-and-youth-related this year.

Outgoing Co-Chair of McGill Centraide organizations, Centraide also focuses on sup­ Janet Arts assured the community that, "there porting organizations that help imprpve living is-100 per cent-transparency and all the money

Isis O rtiz

that you donate will serve the needs of a tar­ geted group."

Students have also proven valuable in fundraising efforts. Over $6,000 has been col­ lected this year through student activities.

"Since it is not as easy for a student to par­ ticipate in a payroll deduction," Arts said, "they have found creative ways to get involved doing their own fundraising and I marvel when they get involved. The McGill student Centraide group, although small, has a very dedicated team of students."

McGill Centraide President Sara Citron, U3 Political Science, emphasized the fact that small efforts can make a big difference.

"If you can do something so small that can change someone's life, then it's all special and worth it," she said.

Out of the four universities in Montreal, Mc­ Gill is only second in terms of dollar donations to the Centraide of Greater Montreal campaign after the University of Montreal.

There are 18 other Centraide organizations in Quebec as well as 124 chapters throughout Canada, all working to help local organiza­ tions in need. The citywide closing campaign is scheduled to finish December 15 in Redpath Hall, although fundraising will take place up until the end of the year. ■ ' 1 '

CAMPAGNE 2 0 0 6 -

5 0 5 0 0 OOQ $

KATE SPIRGEN If only Montreal weather took cues fropi the Centraide fundraising thermometer.

4 -N ew s -07.11.06

The McGill Tribune

CAMPUS

THE TRIBUNE WEB POLL Would McGill students suffer from a decrease in corporate funding?

Y es, but all corporate donations should be elim inated to protect academ ic freedom .

15%

F ig h t b a n d f o r m e d t o b o o s t s c h o o l s p ir it New group gets support from athletics Kate Spirgen

Poll is not scientifically accurate and represents only the opinions of those who voted, not the entire McGill community. Sample size: 53

Q

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: SHOULD SSMU COUNCIL HAVE BANNED BLOOD DRIVES FROM BEING HELD IN THE SHATNER BUILDING? V o t e o n lin e a t

www.mcgilltribune.com.

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Varsity sports games may start getting a little rowdier now that McGill students have formed a fight band. Consisting of 12 members pJaying various instruments, the band will begin playing at varsity basketball games and hopefully move on to hockey, volleyball and football in the future.

"We're hoping to play at all var­ sity games, enhance the atmosphere, get the crowd rowdy and turn the team on," said band member Nicole Taylor, Ui Music Education.

The band began practicing last Thursday night and plans to play their first basketball game in January, hoping to increase attendance at the games.

"Attendance has been really lack­ ing and students suffer from a lack of interest in varsity sports and I want to get people excited about it," said band organizerTed Smith, Ui English, who will also be serving as the colour

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A naked California man was recently arrested on suspicion of carry­ ing a concealed weapon. The man was masturbating in a park and when caught by the police, told them that he had a screwdriver hidden in his buttocks. "You don't get much more concealed than that," said Detective Cpi. Don Horgan. • We've all heard of special brownies, but special meat­ balls? A New York detective claimed that his wife had spiked his meatball dinner with pot after testing positive for marijuana in order to force him into early retirement. His wife eventually admitted to substituting the oregano she usually used for pot in hopes of forcing him off the squad.

• A Newark, New Jersey street turned into a rodeo on Friday when a 600 pound bull got loose. Officers chased the animal for over ten hours until a cowboy from South Africa stepped in to corral the bull in a parking lot where it was tranquilized and then shipped to a local zoo. • Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging last Sunday after being found guilty of crimes against humanity. In response, the former Iraqi president shouted "Down with the invaders! God is great!.. .to hell with your articles and clauses..." Current PM Maliki declared that the sentencing was just and that Hussein was a criminal who deserved his punishment. • Mil­ lions of Europeans were left without power last Saturday when an overload in Germany's power network triggered an outage that spread to France, Italy and Spain. France was one of the worst affected, with 5 million los­ ing power mainly in the east of the country and in Paris. • Four urinals shaped like women's lips were sold on eBay last Friday after being removed from a public washroom in Vienna because of feminist groups that claimed the toilets were sexist and misogynist. They were sold to a toilet collector in New Jersey. • 300 letters addressed to God were found in the Atlan­ tic Ocean in a plastic bag. The-man who found them while fishing had originally decided to sell the letters on eBay, but reconsidered because it offended numerous churchgoers and is now planning to give them to cler­ gymen across the country. • Hot pants and miniskirts will soon be legal in South Korea. Police in the country are authorized to arrest or fine women for their fashion choices and are still known to cut the hair of men on the street whose locks are deemed too unruly. ■ — Sources: Yahoo! News, USA Today, N ew York D a ily News, CNN.com

were thejoke of the campus and after being outplayed by a gag band of en­ gineers called the Plumbers' Philhar­ monic Orchestra, they disbanded.

The band is hoping to dig up a fight song to play at games as well.

"There's supposedly a McGill fight song kicking around some­ where in the annals of the music department," Shockley said, “but we don't know where it is. We're thinking about possibly ripping off the Michi­ gan fight song."

The McGill Athletics Department has been extremely supportive of the new organization, providing them with various incentives.

"We get free admission to every varsity game, even the ones we don't play at, so in that way we're being treated like varsity players. We're also getting funding for uniforms, like polo shirts or something," Shockley said.

However, they do not know yet what their budget from McGill Athlet­ ics will be.

"We're definitely going to have to do fund raising,"Smith said. ■

CAMPUS

A s h r a y a I n itia tiv e h e lp s h o m e l e s s c h i l d r e n in I n d ia Campus club hosts fundraising dinner M arshneill A braham

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guard for the band. "There's more to school than just grades, clubbing and graduating," he said.

Co-organiser Michael Shockley, Ui Engineering, agreed.

"Canadian schools in general aren't interested in sports," he said, "and I want to change that. Sporting events are really boring, we're trying to make them more fun."

Although off to a modest start, the band is hoping to increase their ranks soon by advertising at the win­ ter activities night. They're aiming for about 20 members this year and then doubling in size over the next few years.

"A lot of people coming from high school really miss this sort of thing. We want to have a sort of ca­ sual music group that they can get in­ volved in," Shockley said, adding that the organization is open to everyone This is not the first fight band in the history of McGill. According to band organizer and low brass player Shockley, there was a McGill fight band in the 1960s. However, they

India is home to over 18 million street children .between the ages of five and fifteen, many of whom are exposed to near-death starvation and extreme neglect. The McGill chapter of the Ashraya Initiative for Children, which opened a home for street children in India two years ago, is hosting a benefit dinner on Nov. 13 to raise money to keep the home open.

"Encountering street children is not an everyday occurrence here in North America," said AIC member Samantha Kumar, U2 Chemistry. "But this is no reason to brush it aside. We should recognize the issue and work relentlessly to make a difference in whatever capacity we can."

The AIC has established an out­ reach program to assist children from the surrounding slums by sending them to school, offering tutoring ser­ vices, packing lunches and providing for their général daily needs. Nine

children are currently being raised by the organization.

According to Chapter Presi­ dent Lopamudra Das, who received a Forces AVENIR award for her work with the group, the money raised from this benefit will be put towards the daily maintenance of the home which is currently operating out of an apartment.

"We just found out that the landlord has forbidden the children to play outside due to noise com­ plaints from neighbors," Kumar said.

"This makes the construction of a new home all the more important.

It's up to us to raise enough money to make it happen."

The benefit dinner will offer a mix of Indian food, exposure to tra­ ditional music and most importantly, a platform to discuss the issue at hand.

"Raising awareness is always the first step,"said member Atra Ardekani, Ui Management. "People need to get rid of the mindset that we are defined

by national boundaries and think of this as a worldwide issue. This is not just India's concern."

"We focus on the individual with the goal of leaving a lasting impres­ sion on each of our nine children," Kumar said."You can rest assured that any contributions will not only have a significant impact, but a personal one on the lives of these children."

The AIC is in the midst of plan­ ning a poverty awareness event for January which will feature guest speakers and highlight poverty in the city of Montreal.

"This dinner is a taste of what's to come. We have a lot planned for next semester and always welcome new members," Das said. ■ The b e ne fit d in n e r w ill be he ld Nov. 13 a t Bread o f In d ia (St-Lau re n t a n d Rue Sherbrooke EJ. Tickets are $ 15 a n d can be pu rcha sed fro m Chapter President L o p a m und ra

Das.

C o n ta c t h e r via '

e m a il a t das.lopam udra@ gm ail.çom to purchase tickets.

The M cGill

* ? k lB U N E

ITWORKS! Call Paul at

R e m e m b e r, y o u r a d v e rtis in g ru n s fo r 7 d a ys in th e M c G ill T rib u n e a t a v e ry lo w ra te — b o o k y o u r sp a ce n o w The McGill Tribune is th e m ost w id e ly read stu d e n t paper

07.11.06 • News • 5

www.mcgilltribune.com

IMAGES

News Briefs SSMU Councillors must make the grade Last week Students' Society Council passed a motion requiring that all councilors be in satisfactory academic standing for the duration of their term in office.

"This is a bylaw pot to be applied but to be suggested," said SSMU Vice President University Affairs Finn Heather Upham. "It's a demonstration of our commitment to make sure that the students that engage themselves here aren't doing so to the risk of themselves and to encourage good time manage­ ment practices."

Currently, the constitution requires that councillors be in satisfactory standing to be eligible to stand for elections.

The new bylaw, proposed by Arts Senator Adrian Angus, will not have a formal mechanism for checking councilors transcripts with the Office of the Registrar, which defines satisfactory standing as a grade point average above a 2.0.

"There is no enforcement mechanism. Ijust felt that it was important [and] I had gone into the bylaws to see if it was there, and it wasn't," Angus said.

Upham agreed that the motion is more symbolic.

"At this point it's not so much about enforcement. If someone were to di­ vulge their status, it could be used against them, but we're not out to conduct witch-hunts," Upham said.

— Kayvon Afshari

Students' Society receives mise en demeure from former exec

LUKAS BERGMARK Engineering students built catapults last week as part of a pumpkin shooting competition. In order to win Montreal Canadiens tickets, each team shot pumpkins aimed at a target pad. Flying pumpkins were everywhere. It was awesome.

We're looking for Colum nists for our opinion section.

If you want to write a semi-weekly colum n, email a cover letter detailing your theme, a 550-650 word sample and ideas for six future pieces to Adam Smith at opinion@ m cgilltribune.com

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With students voting on the possibility of leaving la Fédération Étudiante Universitaire du Québec, concerns about the referendum question's fairness and the legitimacy of*the process remain. Former FEUQ Secretary General Eric van Eyken sent a mise en demeure, a legal cease and desist, to the SSMU execu­ tives, demanding that they appoint a Judicial Board and that they not hold the referendum until J-Board hears the case regarding the alleged biased wording of the question.

"At this point, essentially we haven't seen a fair question that is being asked on the ballot,"van Eyken said. “SSMU should have the case heard before [the voting period] so that the question can be changed and the debate can be meaningful."

The Nominating Committee has recently selected three more law stu­ dents to serve on the Judicial Board. With four sitting justices, the J-Board is one short of its usual five. Because the board cannot have an even number of justices making decisions, three will ultimately decide on the ruling this Thurs­ day.

SSMU President Aaron Donny-Clark felt that the mise en dem eure was not a cause for worry and that the society's policies not be altered as a result of it.

"The mise en dem eure basically told us firmly to do everything that we had planned to do anyway— to appoint a J-Board and get this whole process going," Donny-Clark said."It didn't mean anything to us since we did everything like we were going to anyway. We were planning on acting in full-accordance with our constitution ând bylaws."

SSMU VP External Max Silverman said that the mise en dem eure represent­ ed a stalling effort.

"It is just another attempt at stalling because FEUQ knows that politically they can't win on our campus since they've burnt their last bridge," Silverman said,"so they're hoping to keep our membership by any means necessary— be it legitimate or, in this case, illegitimate."

The legal letter, however, was sent from Van Eyken, not from the provincial lobby group itself.

Nonetheless, Silverman was skeptical of where the funding for the mise en dem eure came from, implying that it may be a concerted effort on the part ofVan Eyken and FEUQ. "I'd be curious where Eric van Eyken is getting the personal cash to hire a lawyer to send a mise en dem eure ."

Van Eyken said that the mise en dem eure was done on his own, indepen­ dent of FEUQ and was inexpensive.

"A mise en dem eure is not very expensive. I'm a law student so I'm able to work on these things.This is completely my own effort,"Van Eyken said, adding that, "I'm looking forward to Thursday when well likely see the case overSTUDENT WORKS PAINTING turned."

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The McGill Tribune

SPEAKERS ON CAMPUS

O s ie r le c t u r e d is c u s s e s s t a t e o f h e a lt h c a r e Recommends surveillance of physicians to ensure sound practices K en S un The medical profession needs to take steps to improve the public's access to good doctors. That was the, message from Sir Donald Irvin last week as he spoke to McGill's medical community at the 30th annual Osier Public Lecture.

A semi-retired but still active advisor for the promotion of patientcentered health care at numerous British medical schools, Irvin is also the former president of Britain's Gen­ eral Medical Council. In his speech, he focused on the public's role in ensur­ ing professionalism and good ethical conduct among doctors of Canada and Britain.

"I believe that everyone is en­ titled to a good doctor and that the profession is perfectly capable of mak­ ing this happen," Irvin said. "Assured patient-centred practice is the only sound ethical and practical ground on which the profession can stand in future and hold its head high."

Irvin also paid tribute to the fa­ mous Canadian physician Sir William Osier, an exemplary doctor who re­ mained at the bedsides of his patients to comfort them even when he knew they were beyond his help.

"He was a role model, a hero; the kind of doctor many of us would like to be,"Irvin said.

However,, not all physicians are as devoted as Osier. Irvin stated in his

LINDA BOURENANNI Irvin calls for better medical services in Britain and at home. lecture that approximately two per and colleagues. Patient views simply cent of British doctors have no com­ don't come into it," Irvin said.

Irvin went on to criticize the elit­ petence in healing their patients and no ability to relate to them. Such un­ ist nature of hospitals, saying that this qualified doctors, as well as negligent often contributes to malpractice.

"A hospital is sometimes in­ hospitals have caused turmoil in Brit­ ish health care. volved in a closed medical culture "It's assumed that once doctors and .can be highly protective and are fully trained, for the rest of their secretive, and intolerant of criticism," professional lives they're entitled to he said, referring to the Bristol medi­ exercise wide discretion on how they cal case where many children who will practice medicine, whatstandards underwent complex cardiac surgery they will find personally acceptable died due to the failures of their two and how they relate to their patients surgeons and the negligence of the

hospital.

To reduce the frequency of these types of cases, he suggested that constant assessment of physicians' skills be done and urged that there must be a 'revalidation' process to ensure that doctors without a perfect record should undergo rehabilitation to regain good standing in their pro­ fession. He also emphasized that a professional code clearly defining the standards to which doctors should adhere is necessary in order to main­ tain high standards in the field.

"Ultimately, the public will draw the boundary between good medi­ cal service and that which is not good enough," Irvin said. "The result of patient-centered professionalism will be a measure of trust and respect in wider society that the collective profession can only dream of today.

Such trustworthiness would be of immense strength to health care and treatment."

His speech received mixed re­

views among some of McGill's medi­ cal school students. ' "In theory it sounds great, I just don't really know practically how it would work because I'm not aware of the practical in any way," said Daniel Anzallag, a second year medical stu­ dent.

However, some students were inspired by Irvin's speech.

"I just started my clinical expo­ sure and it's very inspiring to hear this speech, so that you try to apply what you've heard, said Karen Wou, Medi­ cine 3. "It's hard to start practicing medicine without hearing what the standards are."

After the lecture, Sir Donald gave some advice for the next generation of doctors.

"Support these ideas [for patientcentered health care]. When Iget sick, it's how Iwant to be treated.Tell your­ self, if I'm going to be a doctor, I'm going to be that kind of doctor." ■

Student Services Leadership Training Interactive Workshop Series A re you a student in a position of leadership (executive or coordinator) with a M cG ill association, society, club or service?

Do you w an t som e tangible skills to help you In your day-today leadership roles? G uess w hat? You qualify for our F R E E Leadership Training interactive w orkshop series!

Fall semester workshops

The Department of Jewish Studies

Networking with Student Organizations and Bevond:

Tuesday, November 7, 5:30 - 7:30 PM This w orkshop will h ave you m aking connections and sharing resources for the m ost effective student organizations.

Organizations and Time Management:

B L A C K E R A N D G L A S R O T F A M IL IE S M E M O R IA L A W A R D F O R H O L O C A U S T R E S E A R C H

Thursday, November 16, 5:30 - 7:30 N ot enough tim e? Learn techniques from an experienced McGill alum ni, businessm an and law yer as applied in day-to-day life.

Event Planning and Promotion at McGill:

E

s t a b lis h e d in 2 0 0 0 b y M r. a n d M rs . J o s e f G la s r o t , s u r v iv o r s o f th e

H o lo c a u s t a n d r e s id e n t s o f M o n t r e a l. O p e n t o a n y s t u d e n t a t M c G i l l U n iv e r s it y , t h e a w a r d is p r e s e n t e d f o r e x c e ll e n c e in r e s e a r c h in H o lo c a u s t a n d r e la t e d s t u d ie s , a n d p a r t ic u la r ly o n th e h is t o r y o f th e g h e tto s o f W a r s a w a n d K o v n o [K a u n a s ], E s s a y s p r e p a r e d in a n y c o u r s e o r in d e p e n d e n t r e s e a r c h m a y b e c o n s id e r e d . T h e a w a r d is a d m in is t e r e d b y t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f J e w is h S t u d ie s in c o o p e r a t io n w it h th e J e w is h C o m m u n it y F o u n d a t io n . T h e a w a r d w i l l l i e p r e s e n t e d d u r in g th e C lo s in g E x e r c is e s o f t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f J e w is h S t u d ie s in J u n e , 2 0 0 7 .

T h e v a lu e o f th e B la c h e r a n d G la s r o t F a m ilie s M e m o r ia l A w a r d is $ 1 0 0 0 .

Thursday, November 23, 5:30 - 7:30 PM Learn the ins and outs of the wild world o f M cG ill even t planning.

Especially good for clubs or services holding fundraisers.

*winter semester workshops TBA * Note: A ttend 5 w orkshops during the 2 0 0 6 - 2 0 0 7 academ ic

y e a r and receive certification of com pletion.

Registration, in person, is on a first com e, first serve basis, beginning one w eek before the w orkshop date at the First-Year O ffice - S u ite 2 1 0 0 , Brown S tudent S ervices Building.

• T h e c o m p e t it io n is o p e n to u n d e r g r a d u a t e a n d g ra d u a te s t u d e n ts a t M c G ill U n iv e r s it y .

• S tu d e n ts m u s t s u b m it 2 t y p e d c o p ie s o f t h e ir e s s a y s t o g e t h e r w it h f u ll c o n t a c t in f o r m a t io n .

• E s s a y s c a n b e b a s e d o n p r im a r y ' o r s e c o n d a r y m a t e r ia ls a n d w o r k in a l l r e la t e d d is c ip lin e s w i l l b e c o n s id e r e d .

• E s s a y s u b m is s io n s m u s t r e a c h t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f J e w is h S t u d ie s O f f i c e , 3 4 3 8 M c T a v i s h S t r e e t , n o l a t e r t h a n A p r i l 1 3 ,

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C lu b s s c r a m b le t o fin is h

C A M PU S BUZZ W h a t is y o u r l e a s t f a v o u r i t e t h i n g a b o u t M c G i l l ?

a p p lic a tio n s o n tim e Training day useful but could be improved Continued from COVER ing money on. In submitting their worksheets they must explain the dif­ ference between their revenue and their budgets and they have to break down their budgets.”

She said there were many fac­ tors that the committee members considered when deciding on club subsidies.

"We don't fund free alcohol and mostly also free food," she said. "If an item is labelled 'miscellaneous' and it's not accounted for we won't fund it. We don't fund clubs that have a surplus. We don't fund donations directly. Also, if they're projecting to lose money we won't fund them."

Several clubs were dissatisfied with the reasons given for their lack of funding. Representatives from the Classical Music Club and Free the Chil­ dren said they were given no explana­ tion at all as to why their clubs did not receive money.

Xavier Aaronson of BRAZA, Mc­ Gill's Brazilian Association, said that he was told his club was given less than asked for because more clubs applied for subsidized SSMU funding this year.

BRAZA intends to launch an appeal after being granted only half of last year's subsidy.

Despite the criticisms, there were a number of clubs who were pleased with the process.

According to Conservative Mc­ Gill, who received the subsidy they requested, "the form submitted was easy to follow, so SSMU did handle the process well."

The political group was on par with its ideological rivals with $500 in funding. Liberal McGill received the same figure, while NDP McGill was al­ located $300.

Aquiyla Lawrence of the Black Students Network was also satisfied.

"It was pretty fair in terms of what they expect of you and what you ex­ pect of them,"she said.

Herra-Vega tried to make the process easier for clubs by holding a budgeting training session early in September.

"It was very helpful," said Laila Chalati of the Muslim Students Asso­ ciation. "Floh had a PowerPoint pre­ sentation. She had even sent out a pretend budget to us."

Flowever, the MSA encountered problems with filling out the applica­ tion.

"The budget form was long,''Cha­ lati said, "We're a club that does a lot, so figuring out how much we think would be a decent amount to spend was difficult.This is my first time doing it so I was constantly running back to people who had done it before me."

TV McGill's Kyle Howe is also new to the club's executive. Howe found that the application process was hampered by communication prob­ lems with SSMU. "I noticed'that we had to go find them at their offices to get answers," he said. "It would have been better if they had been a little bit more hands on."

Poor communication was also an issue for the McGill Ukrainian Stu­ dents' Association. Club president

Artem Luhovy was unimpressed with SSMU's last minute requests for more information.

"We had some expenses that were more than $500 and they.asked for clarification the day before they made their decision. We had Jess than 24 hours to make the clarification," he said.

For many clubs, the most con­ tentious issue was the lack of time they had to complete the application.

The budgets were due Sept. 20.

Jepson was frustrated by the early deadlines.

"There are so many things to worry about whèn schools starts. For example, moving in to a new apart­ ment, beginning classes and then all of a sudden you've got the bud­ get due," she said. "From SSMU's end they're doing a lot, it's just that the timing is horrible."

Because they were unable to finish their budget in time, the Chess Club was granted a two-day exten­ sion.

The McGill Ski Club, whose re­ quest for funding was rejected by the finance committee, also had com­ plaints about the process.

"They were very slow and it was difficult to get answers from,"the club said. "We have had difficulties with [SSMU] since the start of the new school year and expect them to con­ tinue.”

Despite the problems, Ukrai­ nian Students' Association President Luhovy said he was satisfied.

"All in all it was an acceptable bu­ reaucratic process.''*

SSMU CLUB SUBSIDIES DISTRIBUTION TOTAL BUDGET: $45,200 ARAB ISRAELI PEACE ALLIANCE $1,500 CHINESE STUDENTS ASSOCIATION $2 ,0 0 0

RED HERRING $1,500 SIMPLY SWEETLY $1,500 43 OTHER CLUBS (EACH RECEIVING LESS THAN $1,500) $18,700

"For one thing the conservative nature of the political science department. We have no social life in this school, way too much work. Political science makes it impossible to complete the readings!"

— Christine Bror U3 Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies "The impersonal element of it. Coming from Nottingham University and just moving here a couple of years ago, Ifeel like a nùmber here. I feel like my stu­ dent ID number.as opposed to an actual person. Whenever you have to deal with the bureaucratic elements, everyone seems to pass the buck and pass you on to somebody else."

— Dan Clegg, U3 English Cultural Studies "The basement classes because there is no light and it's very depressing."

— Louis Brun, U3 History and Political Science "The administration. The absolute incompetence of it to get anything done ever. They treat me as a number and the fucking bureaucratic bullshit that complicates things insanely and they don't do anything that caters to your needs as a student" — Anna Cedergren, U3,Political Science "I am royally pissed off about this smoking rule that is a total load of shit. I'm pissed off that I can't buy cigarettes on campus anymore. I think that is ludi­ crous. They had to close down a couple of stores because the only revenue they got was from cigarettes. No one is interested in other shit. I want to buy cigarettes and I'm pissed off that I can't smoke here anymore. I can blame the city all that I want, but it's easier to blame McGill."

— Elliot McTavish, U2 History and Classics "I play varsity basketball and I hate McGill because they're so cheap on athlet­ ics. They don't give athletics any money. I'm at least funded, but I know there are a bunch of other teams that aren't. I'm on one of the funded teams and we had to take a bus to Halifax last year and we were on the bus for 16 hours straight."

— Andrea Sergautis, U2 History and World Religions "My least favourite thing about McGill is definitely the people who frequent the Architecture café because they smell horrendously. They are pretentious, dreadlock-toting hippie bums."

— Franklin Hasselholff, U1 Arts — C om piled by Kayvon Afshari McGill Management Forum McGill Human Resources

9

v 1M c G i l l

Ü A S ? _

M c G ill

International Student Services

*»■

International E d u c a tio n ^

A w orld w id e ce leb ra tio n of the im p o rtan ce of in te rcu ltu ra l exchanges d u rin g w h ich the ISS h elp o rg an ize a variety of events.

M o n d a y 13 N o v e m b e r

Week

IN T E R N A T IO N A L G A L A Location: Shatncr B a llro o m Tim e: 6 .30 pm Price: $5 Tickets can be obtained! fromXSS T u e s d a y 14 N o v e m b e r

P R E S E N T A T IO N B Y A IE 8 E C M cG IL L Intern ation al e x p e rie n c e through globe! in tern sh ip s Location: Brow n B ld g , 5 0 0 1 Tinte: 1 2 -OOpm W e d n e s d a y 15 N o v e m b e r

M O V I E N I G H T - ‘C R A S H ’ Location: Cert’s Bar, Shatncr B ld g Tim e: 5 . 3 0 pm

NORTH AMERICAN BORN ASIANS $2,500

T h u r s d a y 16 N o v e m b e r

•W H A T IT T A K E S T O B E H U M A N * Talk by author Marilyn Bowering

Location: M c G ill Bookstore, 3 rd flo o r

Tim e: 3 .0 0 pm

IN T E R N A T IO N A L P O T L U C K D IN N E R Location: Cert’s Bar, Shatner B ld g Time: 6 .0 0 pm F rid a y 11 N o v e m b e r

‘IN IT IA T IV E S F O R

MUSLIM STUDENTS ASSOCIATION $7,000

A N IN C L U S IV E C A M PU S* Session for management staff of McGill University

Location: Leacock B u ild in g , Room 2 3 2 Time: 12 . 0 0 pm

DEBATING UNION $10,500

F urthe r in form ation on any of these events can be found on ou r website: w w w .m c q ili.c a / in t c rn a tio n a ls tu d c ^ n ts / c n ric h

O

p in io n

—

THE HELPLESS ROMANTIC

Open source, closed minds

SIMPLY SPOKEN

Canadian politics are boring M iriam M artz SIMPLYSPOKEN@HOTMAIL.COM had a conversation with an acquaintance (let's call him Dave) a few nights back. Since he's half-American, half-Canadian and a fourth-year honours political science student to boot, I thought he would certainly have something smart to say on the subject of Ca­ nadian politics.

Me: So, what would you write about if you had to write a column about politics in Canada today?

Dave: I dunno. Canada sucks.

Me: Canada sucks?

Dave: I don't want to be quoted as saying that Canada sucks. I don't like their politics.

Me: Why don't you like Canadian politics?

Dave: It just seems like the majority of the time they're not fighting over issues of impor­ tance. Also the politicians of this day and age, you don't feel like you can respect them. You look back to Trudeau, that guy had some balls.

Now compare him to Harper, who doesn't have any tact. Even Bush is more compassionate.

Me: So, any comments on current events?

Dave: If they involve Canada, no. It's all about the Middle East. That's the place to be if you want to be in the middle of current poli­ tics.

In fact, the Middle East has a way of tak­ ing over the Canadian news when there are no other stories of significance. Most of the national news these days has to do with the latest death count in Afghanistan, a new quote on the conflict from some politician or another and protests against the fighting in Afghani­ stan.

There is a never-ending political debate about whether Canada should have so many soldiers in Afghanistan, where in the country these soldiers should be placed and what they should be doing. Jack Layton and the New Democratic Party think that Canada should pull out any troops who are in danger, in the hopes of preventing future deaths. Prime Minister Ste­

phen Harper and the Conservative government, on the other hand, seem pretty set on keeping things the way they are. As for protesters, they don't like the fact that Canadians are dying in Kandahar, but they are divided on what to doabout it— besides protesting of course.

By now— if you're on top of things— you've probably noticed that I just went from talking about the Middle East to talking about Afghanistan. Afghanistan is not in the Middle East. It is, however, etched in the media's brains that the two are somehow a single news topic.

I believe that this etching took place sometime shortly after Sept. 11 2001, when US President George W. Bush declared war on terrorism.

To turn back to Dave's comments, I'm going to have to disagree with him. Given the fact that the media can't really tell the differ­ ence between Afghanistan and the Middle East, I think it's fair to say that Canada's soldiers in Afghanistan are just as much in the middle of current politics as are the people of the Middle East.

As for his view on how boring the issues in Canadian politics can be, however, I must agree. Does anyone really think that Soft­ wood Lumber IV is going to win any contests for hottest headline? Does this mean we can't respect Canadian politicians or that Canadian politicians are ball-less and tactless? I think the problem here is that Canada has an inferiority complex. I, for one, think that Stephen Harper deserves respect and so do current events in Canadian politics.

After a lot of thinking on the matter, I've decided to turn over a new (maple) leaf. I was so disturbed by Dave's lack of respect for Cana­ dian politics that in future columns I am going to stop making tasteless jokes about how silly Canadians are. From now on, my mission will be to un-emasculate Canadian politics so that honours poli sci students don't run around giv­ ing interviews like the one Dave gave me. ■

Richard Tseng RICHTSEN@GMAIL.COM E ssay writing season is upon us. Thank­

knowledge (and ignorance) of self-pro­ fully, W ikipedia has become a good claimed experts. The knowledge culled jumping-off point for ideas, useful triv­ from W ikipedia, many academics argue, may be good enough to win trivia contests, ia and summaries of the things you would need to spend hours wading through JSTOR but cannot be accepted as fact. to find out about. For science students, it Yet here is exactly where I think on­ also contains highly accurate and relatively line open-source encyclopedias are in direct explanations. Moreover, if something their element. While there is controversy is wrong, you can edit or correct it in a rela­ over whether or not people really thought tively painless fashion— if someone hasn't the world .was flat in the 1400s, most peo­ already done so. Professors who have ex­ ple today buy into that stereotype. Even perimented with putting inaccurate infor­ if somebody at McGill published a paper mation into W ikipedia articles— effectively proving that our ancestors knew they lived sabotaging them— have usually found on a globe, a time gap would occur before them fixed within a few hours at most. ' it became public knowledge. You can bet, It also served me well during exam though, that among the first to accept this season, when I decided I'd rather memorize would be the hundreds of thousands of in­ the overarching themes of my authors' life quiring minds who contribute to Wikipedia-, works rather than re-read the essays they thus if one were to research not the validity wrote in my course pack. As McGill exams of this fact— whether or not the" common­ often require furious name-dropping in ers who care" accept it— W ikipedia ought order to get marks, Ifound it a far more use­ to be a viable resource to conduct content ful study tool. analysis.

A recent study in the science journal Because it changes constantly de­ N ature even showed that W ikipedia was in pending on what amateur experts believe Encyclopedia Britannica's ballpark. B rita n n i­ and is ever-expanding in size, W ikipedia ca had an average of three errors per article contains a built-in temporal aspect absent while W ikipedia had four. in many publications which drop items However, don't expect to be taken se­ when they are deemed unmarketable or riously if you actually cite it. Academia still uninteresting to the masses. With W ikipe­ largely treats online open-source resources dia, the level of interest can be measured like W ikipedia with derision. Profs who have by how often articles are altered over time, contributed are often angry when their while the perceptions of those interested in pieces are shortened or simplified in both the topic can always be measured by how language and content. Because W ikipedia, the article is presented. As the site appeals like most encyclopedias, strives to be con­ to a growing demographic, there can be no cise and objective, academics argue that greater gauge of public knowledge than to it engenders a lack of individuality— the sample what it thinks is the most objective language used is itself fairly neutral and it version of an idea. discourages extended and well-developed W ikipedia is by no means the perfect argument on any issue. research tool. For one thing, it does not Moreover, commonly-held historical store past editions of an article beyond a inaccuracies turn up despite having been few years, but if researchers became willing debunked, yet historians who try to delete to work with, rather than against it, online the errors often find them back up again in open-source engines could become one a matter of minutes. Therefore, Wikipedia's of our most vital links to the techno-sawy verity exists only insofar as it reflects the consciousness. ■

WET PAINT

Pretty in pink D ominique Z ipper dominiquezipper@gmail.com he story goes that women pregnant with baby girls tend to break out, due to the increased estrogen in the body.

The old wives'tale explains it in terms of "passing your beauty down to your daughter." That's cute, but the "beautypassing"! have witnessed recently is anything but maternallyintentioned.

In grade one, my fellow pupils were unsure of my gen­ der since my mom harboured no illusions about keeping my hair long when I spent my days building tree forts and racing six-speeds with my brother. Nor did she see the need for girly dresses. As a result, matters escalated to a new degree when, unable to explain to the Austrian hairdresser that my name was Dominique—and not Dominik— my mother was forced to drag me home with a boy's haircut. However, I have since become quite "girly"and now the only response to "I was once a tomboy" is "Dorn... that's not funny.”

Inevitably, if you're the type to adhere to a clear identity, society will do its job of indoctrinating you witb-your identity's attendant values, e.g. a black lace bra is sexy, too much skin is slutty. The subject requires no mother-daughter dialogue, yet the amount of negative teaching that passes between the

T

Restylane-plumped lips of the average Westmount mother and her defiantly awkward daughter never ceases to amaze me. Working at an upscale clothing store, I grin and bear it with my fair share of the area's mothers, but while I'm able to erect a barrier to their caustic impatience, the self-esteem tor­ ture their daughters endure with every "Not with your thighs!" shouted at them is visibly perceptible.

My theory: good-looking woman marries ugly man for money and together they breed a less than good-looking daughter. Mother fears for Daughter's appearance (recently overheard: "I'm just so afraid my daughter w ill be ugly") be­ cause she herself has only ever been valued for her looks.

When Daughterfalls short of supermodel stature because of Daddy's bad genes, Mommy feels need to instruct Daughter on how to conceal her bad parts.

Insert me, standing between Mother and Daughter, the former asking me for my opinion on Daughter's protruding stomach, prodding me with "Doesn't it make her look fat? Tell her!" the latter looking as forlorn as the runt of the litter that was left at the pet store too long and outgrew its cage. Iwant to drag the poor 14-year old as far from the situation as pos­

sible, rather than sell her a $300 pair of jeans that, admittedly, don't look that good on her.

But the bigger question is, Why does it matter to these mothers? Why send your daughter to private.school, only to reduce herto an inadequate body by placing such importance on the physical? I see no beauty being passed down hère, and yes, I'm using "beauty" in the corny, figurative sense.

This example serves as a watered-down version (pun in­ tended) of the practice of gavage in Mauritania, where moth­ ers force-feed their daughters to the point of severe obesity, their skin often breaking under the pressure, all to help their daughters obtain a husband; Mauritanian men value flesh.

Big, small, green, purple— I don't really care. I do care— and wonder— how we are to start accepting ourselves for what we are, as per Dove's directions, if our own mothers can't even accept us? I want to hear nothing of the effect of the media, peer pressure, or misogyny if we are going to continue blindly lauding every mother for doing her important "job;" to me, these mothers have pink slip written all over them.

But I'm sorry, I forgot,"How else is she supposed to learn to dress?"*

07.11.06 • The McGill Tribune • 9

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n case anyone missed the hubbub and fanfare when it happened, last week Maclean's named McGill the top university in the country in its annual rankings. Rankings is big business, and M a ­ clean's has had so much success with theirs that'the Globe a n d M a il has also jumped into the game. This past week it released its annual University Report Card and outrageously, McGill was nowhere near the top spot. How could this be? Well, for starters, it's ranked by students and therefore subject to human error.

Could it be that the things that annoy us are actually the things that should place.McGill well ahead of the competition?

McGill students who filled out the Globe survey ig­ nored the obvious benefits to our massive class sizes. Sure, there may be 650 people in your Molecu­ lar Biology or Intro to Comparative Politics lecture and most of your other classes may have over 100 students, but that just means that you can get drunk in the back of class without getting into trouble.

How great is that?

There are lots of other benefits to large classes.

You can bring your dog, cat, or python— Snakes in a Lecture anyone?— use the comfy chairs in Leacock 132 to take a nice nap, have a chat with friends in the back of the cavernous Adams Auditorium, send dirty text messages to your significant other(s)... the pos­ sibilities are endless.

Those giant lectures also make it pretty difficult to get to know your professors. Most would mark McGill down for this. Wrong! It makes no sense to complain about it, because it's a fantastic opportuni­ ty. If your profs actually knew you, it would be much

harder to get excused for midterms or get exten­ sions on papers. Imagine trying to sell them a story about your grandmother's death or your week-long hospitalization for meningitis if they could actually recognize you roaming the halls of Leacock recover­ ing from your hangover.

McGill tends to get a lot of points in university rankings for the large research grants our profs re­ ceive. With profs doing so much research most of the grunt work of teaching— running tutorials and grading assignments— is left to our overworked TAs. Sometimes they have so much to do that they can't even mark assignments and they're usually willing to give you points in conferences for showing up and saying an ythin g, no matter how drunk, stupid or un­ informed those comments may be.

Let's not forget our lovely libraries either. For most of the semester they're not open very late, so you don't have to feel guilty about not being there.

Plus, you get to know the people at Tim Horton's re­ ally well during your late night study sessions. We may not have a lot of library space, but this makes it all too easy to eavesdrop on those first-year Man­ agement girls yakking away on their cell phones.

Who doesn't want to hear descriptions of drunken sexcapades while cramming frantically for that cal­ culus final?

Academics are only one feather in our cap.

McGillians should also rank Student Services highly because they really know how to take good care of us. It may take six weeks to get an appointment to see a doctor, but that just gives you more time to laugh at your friend with that really weird rash that

he can't stop scratching. The long wait to see some­ one in mental health services also means that you can watch your roommate's descent from almost normal to someone who is convinced aliens are out to steal that brilliant idea for his psych paper.

Speaking of counselling, should you ever need academic advising, you will have a nightmare track­ ing down an advisor. Again, this is a blessing in dis­ guise. Advisors usually have so much else on their plates that they don't have time to argue with you about your courses. Even better, sometimes they have no idea what's going on and you can talk them into letting you do whatever your little heart desires.

Skipped the first two months of lectures in an elec­ tive course? There's sure to be an advisor who will allow you to switch the grading to pass/fail.

Many of these points 'apply to most large schools and are not unique to McGill, but there are a few things that set us apart. Some people criticise us for a lack of school spirit, but they probably have no idea how difficult it is to get tickets to a sporting event at a school where people actually care. How annoyed would you be if that one time you finally decided to go see a Redmen football game, it was sold out?

A final factor to consider: McGill is in Montreal, a city well-known for its nightlife. Some think that vve get the shaft by starting earlier and ending later than our friends at other schools every single semester, but that simply means that we have more time to get drunk and party it up with our friends. And really, isn't that what university is all about? Remember that the next time you rank our school for the Globe. ■

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tudents work late. Last-minute assignments and midnight cram sessions have come to de­ fine the university student’s lifestyle. Similarly, our professors tend to share this 24-hour attitude, whether it be taking home that stack of papers waiting to be marked, answering frantic late-night emails from students or simply toiling away in their labs or offices long past official working hours. Sim­ ply put, academia is a 24-hour world.

McGill policy generally seems to acknowl­ edge this round:the-clock schedule. We may not have 24-hour libraries— for most of the school year, anyway— but there are designated late-night study spaces. All you need is one of those magical wire­ less identification cards and you should be able to unlock the door to wherever you need to go.

"Wherever you need" is the interesting part of this scenario. You might think you need access to a computer lab that has your professors' special­ ized software installed, but the McGill administra­ tion knows better. You only need to enter the same buildings your classes are held in this semester, the facility that includes the lone bathroom located somewhere on lower campus and the basement of Burnside. If there's anywhere else you'd like to

S

go, you had better plan at least a semester ahead.

Otherwise, the only place you'll have access to is Dawson Hall, where someone has the authority to help you— but only if she's not out for lunch.

Even if you have authorization, the only way to find out if you really do have nighttime access to a given building is to test your card in front of one of those ubiquitous grey boxes.

This is potentially the friskiest part of your evening, depending upon where you've stashed your card and just how dedicated you are to not removing it from your pocket. Just be sure it's in your back pocket before you start grinding against campus property, as McGill Security might misin­ terpret your actions. Once you finally manage to swing your card into range, the faceless grey gatewarden will reveal your fate: A green light and a merry tune means your assignments might actu­ ally get done tonight, while red is a polite sugges­ tion to fuck off.

Don't despair though; you might yet slink past the three-toned Cerberus of McGill. The least inventive option is to try to go around the locked door. Most buildings have more than one entrance and there's no reason a desperate student can't

give a heartfelt tug on each one. Unfortunately, the McGill security staff is quite skilled at locating and locking all the doors they can find.

The roundabout route is a bit more exciting.

You may not have access to the building you need, but you almost certainly can slip into several that you don't and once inside McGill's secure perime­ ter, it should be a simple matter of navigating from one building to another via the infamous subter­ ranean passageways.

Of course, that will only work if your destina­ tion is connected to the underground system, you know where your desired tunnel is and most im­ portantly, that those doors aren't also locked. Even if you only manage to get lost in the bowels of McGill, at least you'll be able to dazzle your friends with tales of spelunking.

If you're still not in, just wait outside long enough; someone who does have access will probably pass by eventually. If that person is kind enough to stop and open the door, then you're in luck. Now, all you need to do is bludgeon him with a textbook, grab his card and run inside. Don't worry, he won't be able to follow you; the door will be locked. ■

The McGill Tribune is an editorially autonomous newspaper published by the Students' Society of McGill University in collaboration with the Tribune Publication Society. Opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of the Students'Society or McGill University. Letters to the editor may be sent to letters@mcgilltribune.com and must include the contributor's name, program and year and contact information. Letters should be kept under 300 words and submitted only to the Tribune. Submissions judged by the Tribune Publication Society to be libellous, sexist, racist, homophobic or solely promotional in nature will not be published. The 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 opinions of the McGill Tribune, its editors or its staff. Please recycle this newspaper.

10 «The McGill Tribune • 07.11.06

L e tte r s t o t h e e d ito r The truth about Sesame Snaps

— Evan Singer

plaining how there will be a debate between both parties this evening ("Where the FEUQ did democracy go?”31.10.06). A bit late, perhaps?

After all the posters both sides put up, it seems neither put any effort into letting the student body know there would be a debate on the issue where we would get to hear the hard facts and make an informed choice.

What does it mean to be a citizen in a democracy when it comes to voting? When in liberal democratic societies began, not every­ one who was a "citizen" could vote. One prin­ ciple that would often determine whether you could vote was the ability to read.

The reason for this was simple: As a citizen, you had to be able to read newspapers and other literature to make an informed choice.

Only if you could make an informed choice were you able to exercise your right to vote in elections.

That being said, if students aren't able to be informed due to a failure to advertise public debates, they will get the facts from the spin doctors instead. Clearly they are clearly not going to be able to make an informed choice, yet they will still vote. ' Finally, does anyone know what hap­ pened with the 1995 Quebec referendum and the debacle that occured with it's question? It may have occured more than 10 years ago, but it's clearly still relevant today.

"Should SSMU remain a member of the FEUQ?"That is the only question that informed students should be answering yes or no to.

U2 Chem ical Engineering, Frostbite Manager, Sesame Snap Lover

— Kevin M arkI U2 Political Science

While I agree with most of Adam Smith's article on the merits of receiving actual candy on Halloween ("Mmm... Erasers are my favour­ ite treat!,"31.10.06) I was shocked and offended to see his very inaccurate bashing of Sesame Snaps. Sesame Snaps are not some "disgusting seaweed crackers," rather the best candy ever invented, ever. If he were to pick up a package of said candy, he would see three ingredients listed: Sesame seeds, sugar and glucose syrüp.

Is "glucose syrup" code for seaweed?

There is so much to be loved about Sesame Snaps: the satisfying crack when you separate the practically glued-together pieces; the delicious crunch of biting into one; the burning sensation in your mouth from eating almost pure sugar; the picking sesame seeds out of your teeth for weeks to come. Hell, I'm doing all of those things right now!

For those of you who are normal enough to love the deliciousness of Sesame Snaps, you can get your fix at the EUS General Store on the ground floor of McConnell Engineering.

You should probably also buy some ice cream at Frostbite, the EUS's ice cream store. Sesame Snaps define the "delicious and far from nutri­ tious candy" that Smith advocates distributing on Halloween.

Mr. Smith, I'm putting you on notice.

Oh, and Inquiry in to the Nature a n d Causes o f the Wealth o f Nations sucked! [Ed. Note: Engineers don't know anything about economics.]

The FEUQ referendum

Et maintenant en Français

After the failure to properly advertise the GA, I now read an article at 9 p.m. Tuesday ex­

La campagne pour rester membre de la FEUQ, campagne dirigée par des salariés et

ex-salariés de la FEUQ comme Trevor Hanna et Eric van Eykgn, se permet de mentir sans gêne sur les "mérites" de la FEUQ. Si le gel des frais de scolarité est tant cher à la. FEUQ, comment expliquer que cette organisation ait appuyé un manifeste procla­ mant : "C'est pourquoi un esprit de lucidité et de responsabilité mènera à l'abandon du gel des droits de scolarité, une politique qui va à l'encontre du bon sens et de toutes les études menées sur la question." Oui, oui, la FEUQ a donné son appui au manifeste des prétendus "lucides," manifeste qui demande explicite­ ment la fin du gel. Faut-il noter que jamais la FEUQ n'a consulté ses associations membres sur la question?

Et le gel, existe-t-il vraiment? Demandez aux étudiants internationaux s'ils connaissent le gel. La FEUQ les a trahis, non seulement en ne faisant rien pour contrer les hausses de frais, mais aussi en donnant son accord par l'entremise du comité consultatif sur l'accessibilité financière aux études, comité qui a recommandé la hausse et où, pour être siégé en tant qu'étudiant, il faut être nominé par la FEUQ. Demandez aussi aux étudiants québécois.

Car la FEUQ, en restant immobile sur la ques­ tion des frais afférents, permet au gouverne­ ment d'augmenter les frais par la porte d'en arrière. Et le gel, n'y a-t-il que la FEUQ qui le défende? Au cours des 1 5 dernières années, la FEUQ a été forcée d'accepter le gel car d'autres regroupements, tantôt le Mouvement pour le Droit à l'Éducation, tantôt LASSÉ, la talonnait.

Qu'on se le tienne pour dit, le"gel"et la défense de l'éducation ne sont pas des gains de la FEUQ mais du mouvement étudiant démocratique.

— M arco Pennino U2 English Education

— Philippe M orin U3 In te rn a tio n a l Developm ent Studies

VOX POPULI

VOX POPULI

F or C h r is t's s a k e ...

A p e a c e fu l d e b a te ?

J an Hanna

M ira Etlin-Stein

JAN.HANNA@ M AIL.M CGILL.CA

just came home from watching Borat:Cultur-

I

Halloween can be good James Gotowiec says that it's an outdated tradition to dress up on Halloween ("Hallow­ een: spooks'delight or stupid nig ht?," 31.10.06), but has he ever walked down Rue Ste-Catherine?

I've seen people with a rainbow of dyed hair colours, people with so many piercings covering their faces they must avoid magnets at all costs, men dressed as women, 50-year-old women dressed in"schoolgirl"outfits with short plaid skirts, girls wearing revealing clothes, girls going to par­ ties with devil horns or bunny ears, men wear­ ing tuques and bizarre looking-hats indoors, fans wearing their favourite sports jersey, men growing beards to look like their idols in mov­ ies or bands and people wearing army clothes, studded jackets and bizarre markings of make­ up.

It's practically Halloween all the time.

Does it really matter if the rest of society de­ cides to join in the fun for one day of the year?

For some, Halloween is a time to put on a mask and pretend to be something they are not, but for others, Halloween is a time to let loose. One doesn't have to hide their true colours on Hal­ loween.

We need more people to express who they are and what they feel, not be repressed by the norms of society, and if Halloween is the only way some people can do it, then let us embrace it,not deem it a childish holiday with the focus of getting candy.

a l Learnings o f America for Make Benefit Glori­ ous Nation o f Kazakhstan and I did laugh at

times. But besides being obscene, vulgar and probably offensive to other people for various reasons, there was something in particular that upset me and got me thinking. (Possible spoiler alert for those who haven't seen it yet.)

In the scene where he goes into an American Pentecostal convention, he is pretending to be a repentant and fakes an acceptance of Jesus; he is clearly trying to mock and ridicule this group of Christians.

That reminded me of H arold an d Kumar Go to White Castle, where Harold and Kumar meet and stay at the house of a Christian "hick" and his wife. He is shown to be exceptionally disgusting and freaky and she is overly sexual and airheaded. Both are supposed to be"Christians"—members of the church choir and have large pictures of Jesus and Mary on the wall.

This got me thinking about other times I had seen Christians demeaned. Once I was walking around Videotron and came across a movie solely about mocking Jesus by very vulgar and derogatory means. A few years ago, the Sensation exhibit came to New York, which had, among other offensive works, a painting of the Virgin Mary with elephantfeces smeared on it. Last week on campus I picked up the Red Herring and found an article insult­ ing Christians and Christianity. Many times, I have seen people walking around wearing tshirts with a cross crossed out and "Bad Reli­ gion" written on top.

It really hurts me to see that there is an overwhelming negativity and scorn for Christ and Christianity. I write not in the defence of any church or any particular group of Chris­ tians, but because I feel that there is an injustice being done to a great man and his teachings. I understand that the history of Christianity has

its baggage and like every other group of peo­ ple we have our flaws, but Jesus Christ and his teachings do not deserve such reproach.

A man who compassionately accepted the most dejected of society and commanded that no one ought to judge another, who re­ ceived the sick, handicapped and contagious with love, who preached equality and justice for all and whose strongest commandment was for. us to love one another— putting all theological considerations about him aside— should surely be held in high regard, along with his teachings, by a society that so values equality and human rights.

I also ask you to remember that in the past 2000 years, countless Christians, living as he did and commanded, have very often led the way in doing good and making the world a better place. Nobel Peace Prize recipients Mother Teresa, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Archbishop Desmond Tutu come to mind.

Additionally, most homeless shelters and soup kitchens were first established and are often still run by Christians in the name of Christ. Christian organizations like World Vision are out in the most dangerous and crisis-ridden parts of the world providing aid indiscriminately to people of every faith and background.

Around the world, quietly and without attracting too much attention, millions of Christians go about each day trying to live like Christ and follow his teachings. So please, the next time you see Christ or Christianity being mocked and ridiculed, take the time to find out who Jesus really is and what he actually said and did and forgive us Christians, because we have not always reflected what he wanted us to be. ■ — Jan H anna is a second-year Dentistry student. Jesus is his homeboy.

MIRA.ETLIN-STEIN@ SYMPATICO.CA

s a member of Dr. Norman Cornett's religious studies class, The Lens of Humanity (RELG 3 4 5 ), I have been fortunate enough to par­ ticipate in many "Dialogic Sessions" over the course of this semester. Although all sessions have sparked debate, our current discussion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has already become significantly more heated than any other. Over the past few classes we have watched the documentary film Raised to be Heroes about Israeli soldiers and it is evident that the issues presented to us in this film have struck a deeply personal chord for many stu­ dents in our class, myself included.

As a pro-peace Jewish student, this class has given me an open forum in which to discuss my pro-Israel and yet anti-occupation views. However, on the whole, I find that most McGill students, even those who claim that they are pro-peace, really just want to point fingers at one group or the other. I do not think that it is hypocritical to love Israel with all your heart and believe passionately in its existence, yet be extremely critical of many of the Israeli gov­ ernment's decisions. In fact, during my two visits to Israel I have found the majority of Israelis and Pal­ estinians to be much more open to discussion and debate than many students here at McGill—both Jewish and Arab.

That is not surprising, since Israel is a demo­ cratic country with an independent and progres­ sive judiciary, one of which has upheld human rights for Arab-lsraelis and Palestinians. Yet here at McGill, we tend to reduce our views to simple arguments. This issue is far too complex for that; how can one be simply pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian when the situation is so multi-layered?

As a Jewish student, a problem that I have encountered while trying to discuss my views with pro-Palestinian McGill students is a tendency for them to personalize the actions of the Israeli gov­ ernment. Even though I openly admit that I am critical of the occupation, as well as many of the ac­ tions of this government, just because I am Jewish

A

they point at me, accusing me of personally com­ mitting atrocities against the Palestinian people.

(This has actually happened to me).

Jewish people have been persecuted for thou­ sands of years and thus many Jews have developed a deeply ingrained sense of fear. Whenever people assume something about me based on the fact that I am Jewish, I automatically become defensive and fearful. Part of the reason that Israel's existence is so important is because it is the only nation on the face of the earth where Jewish people are in the majority, where we don't have to feel isolated and where we k n o w the government will protect us from anti-Semitism.

I have seen the death camps in Poland and I know how uncomfortable the Jews of Europe felt before the Holocaust. The existence of the state of Israel makes me feel safer as a Canadian Jew, but when people tell me that because Iam Jewish Iam in a way responsible for what is happening to the Palestinians, Ifeel as if Iam being stereotyped and it is a slippery slope between stereotyping and antiSemitism.

It is accusations like these that cause many Jewish students to get their backs up and feel even more strongly for Israel, thus preventing them from speaking out about their critical views of the Israeli government. This is completely counter-produc­ tive.

Because of these accusations, attempts at discourse on this issue are often doomed from the start. They become aggressive, heated, accusatory and depressing. Students on both sides resort to baseless accusations or retreating to their predeter­ mined opinions.

Itruly believe that there will only ever be open dialogue between Jewish and Arab students on this issue when everybody puts less emphasis on who has done what to whom in the past and truly commits to looking to the future. ■ — M ira Etlin-Stein is a U3 Hum anistic Studies student. She's always up for a g o o d debate.

—

SILHOUETTE

C h e m is tr y

(c a r d ) d e a lin g McGill's Bridge Club is not just for little old ladies Rachel M elnik

p r o f e s s o r h a s a ll t h e r ig h t e le m e n t s Introducing Paul Wiseman

Q&A:

In; some ways, playing bridge is just like doing drugs. "The game is really addictive,"says ShazTashimi, U3 Electrical Engineering, and the club's Vice-President Communications. Although the classic card game is a popular staple in retirement communities, bridge is also gaining popularity amongst university students all over North America. That is why Tashimi and her bridge-loving colleagues started the McGill Bridge Club in 2005. "We wanted to meet other people who like the same game that we do,"she says.

Indeed, the game is more than likeable for these folks, who will often stay up until 2 a.m. playing to their hearts' content. Bridge can get so intense that stu­ dents often sacrifice prior commitments just to finish a round. Tashimi notes "Students in MIT and Harvard learn to play Bridge in university and skip class to do so. It isn't like that here at McGill yet, but it will be."

On the surface, the card game appears simple.

Tashimi explains that the game requires four people to establish two partnerships, sitting across from each other. Each player lays down a card following the suit that is led, highest card taking the "trick." When a particular player runs out of a suit, he or she has the option of playing a trump card (any card of a specific, predetermined suit) to win the round. The tricky part is this: prior to gameplay, all four players engage in an intricate round of bidding, wherein they will use a complex, methodic system of communication to de­ termine the trump suit. Instead of money, they bid in tricks. Hence, the more determined you are to select the trump suit, the more challenging the game will become for you.

If the game sounds complex, that's because it is.

Of course, that is what also makes it so appealing. Ac­ cording to Jamal Sheikh, M2 Computer Science and

H aydar M ahdi If the Bridge Club had a T-shirt slogan, what would it be?

"The Seven of Diamonds," also known as the "Beer Card." The deal with the "Beer Card" is that it is an international bridge Rule. Understanding the concept is rather elusive, but the Bridge play­ ers insist that they all "owe each other beers." Not too shabby.

Anyone who knows Professor Paul Wiseman, would agree that he is proba­ bly one of the best chemistry professors to have ever lectured on planet Earth.

Period. From moles to his way with the ladies, the chemist discusses his love for the periodic table. Want to know more?

Get on and add him to your Friends List.

Facebook

How is playing Bridge like having sex?

"This is the first time we've thought about that question," says Tashimi.

"It's a partner's game," pipes President Ray­ mond Fong, U3 Biomedical Science. "Although I think that Bridge is more social than sex. It re­ quires more cooperation."

Tell me about your childhood: I grew up in eastern Canada, Nova Scotia, in a small town called Sydney.

It was the steel-making centre of east­ ern Canada, although the industry has closed down.

What happens when you play Bridge drunk?

"That depends on how drunk you are," says Fong. Bridge is a game for classy drunks, accord­ ing to Park, who fantasizes about playing bridge "with a bottle of wine and some cheese.'Tashimi, however, insists that the game becomes less in­ tricate with the presence of alcohol: "The game becomes a lot less serious and more outrageous."

Did you always like chemistry when you were young? * No, no, I couldn't stand it in high school, mainly because of the teacher.

I had the same teacher for two years and the course just didn't appeal to me in high school. At that time, I much preferred physics and math. It was only when I went to university that I had a professor who taught the first-year chemistry course that changed my per­ spective on the subject.

VP Conventions, the game is known to be more "intel­ lectually stimulating"than poker, Bridge's cultish cardgame competitor. Yet unlike poker, there is "generally no gambling involved," says Tashimi.

Without gambling, is it still exciting to play cards?

Undeniably, the answer is yes. "It's just fun," insists Tara Park, U3 Biomedical Science, and the Club's "Mistress" of the Cards, who is attracted to bridge because of the skill and strategy involved in the game. "In terms of learning to play, it [bridge] is almost as hard as chess," says Sheikh.

Interested in becoming a Bridge player but have no experi­ ence? "We get together once or twice a week to play," reassures Tashimi. "The club teaches incom­ ing members the rules when they show up."

So if you're looking for a way to fight that gambling addiction, come to the Newman Centre on Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. Participate, and a stimulating experience is sure These little trolls know all about strategy and skill. to follow. ■

M onday

Tuesday

<

W ednesday

Did you always plan to teach?

Yeah, I think buried in there some­ where I always felt that I would enjoy teaching.

T h u rs d a y

6

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l

I hear you sometimes get emo­ tional during lectures, why?

It sort of hits me as I'm moving through the (course) material and re­ alise that I'm hitting the end; I get a lot back from the intro class, which I don't know if people quite realise. And at times I also start thinking about what my grandparents went through, my grandfather, obviously, never had a chance to go to university. So I'm stand­ ing there and I'm realising 'wow, I have the privilege of teaching here at McGill University."'Then, when I read the quote about (Richard) Feynman's view on teaching and the importance of actu­ ally being connected to the students, all of that sort of catches up with me. It's funny, each year I tell myself 'no wor­ ries, you'll just get through it,' and it just kind of hits me. But you definitely get a charge out of teaching the large intro class.

Here's a bit of an embarrassing question. A lot of the girls find you cute. How does that make you feel?

I think they are really seeing me from the back of Leacock, so they really don't get a clear picture. ■

S a tu rd a y

F riday

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The Enemy Within 7

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used to tell us stories when we were young about the hardships ancTFfow they improvised.

Who were your idols when you were growing up?

I wouldn’t exactly say idols, but within the family I had a great deal of respect for my grandparents because my grandfather was a coal miner in a company run town. They had a large family and were very poor, but education was basically preached as the only way out of the trap of that life­ style. It was kind of hammered home. My grandfather worked his entire life in the mine and died underground. My grandmother kept the family going so I have a tremendous Chemistry professor bonds with his students. amount of respect for her. She

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F EATU R ES '

By Terri A lderfer At some point in our diverse academie careers, we have all heard this riddle: The graduate with a science degree asks, "why does it work?" the graduate with an engineer­ ing degree asks,"how does it work?"the graduate with a management degree asks, "how much will it cost?" and the graduate with an arts degree asks, "do you want fries with that?" Although this joke may garner a chuckle out of the average arts student, it often worries and angers them as well. In the hierarchical division of undergraduate degrees, the Bachelor of Arts always seems to come in at the bottom rung, relegated to post­ graduate studies of the fry vat rather than the more admirable, intellectual pursuit of medical research ora Masters'degree in mechanical engineering.

A n A r t s d e g r e e is n Graduating with a BA will g Would you like fries with that?

The Faculty of Arts at McGill has over 6 ,0 0 0 students, making it easy to feel like an insignificant factory worker in a lecture of over 2 0 0 students— hacking out paper after paper, writing multiple choice test after multiple choice test, without any individual contribution to the wider academic community.To survive in the face of academic oppression, many arts students resort to all-nighters, attempting to cram every bit of knowledge humanly possible into their brains before a 9 a.m. exam, yet forgetting, all those specifics in a haze of cheap beer at Biftek by 9 p.m. that night. Not retaining the definition of a nation-state or forget­ ting the specifics of Laura Mulvey's critique of cinematic film can leave the arts student frustrated and contemplating the point of pursuing their degree at all. And forget about finding a job once you graduate.

While management students flock to the Bronfman building in the fall sporting their fancy suits to meet with impressive financial firms, arts students are left in the cold, wondering: why doesn't anybody want me? What employer is going to hire an arts grad who, at best, is one of thousands that knows a little bit of everything, but nothing about one thing in specific?

As it turns out, plenty of employers. True, there is a definite lack of obvious correspondence between most arts majors and specific job titles, but this does not negate the Bachelor of Arts as a botched invest­ ment in your future. Jennifer Floren, CEO of a college recruiting service called. Experience, explains that it is the generality of a BA degree that makes it so useful. "If you are concerned that your liberal arts education isn't going to train you for a specific career, you're missing the whole point,"she says. "The value is that it's preparing you for any career."Once you begin to think of the arts degree in terms acquiring broad, transfer­ able skills as opposed to specific techniques and knowledge, its merits become more apparent.

Oh, the choices Still, with thousands of students in the Faculty of Arts all crammed into 1 8 academic departments, many feel a bit overwhelmed by the vast size of the faculty and the plethora of choices available to them.

"I'm not sure where my university degree is going to get me,"says Mikelis Steprans, U3 Political Science and Canadian Studies. Although he is in his last year of the four-year BA program, Steprans admits that he is not headed in one clear direction once he graduates. "I don't have any plans as of now," he says.

Because the Arts degree is not a vocational one, its graduates must do more work to prepare for the job search, says Gregg Blachford, Director of the McGill Career and Placement Center. "If you're in engineer­ ing or management, you're being streamlined,"he says. For arts graduates, career paths are less obvious. "A lot of arts students are just not aware of the nature of work out there," Blachford adds. Papageorgiou agrees that graduating from arts can be confusing."Arts is more subjective,"she says, "there isn't someone telling you what to do, you have to make what you want out of it."

Sonia Kovacic, U3 International Management and Marketing, however, takes comfort in her choice to pursue a BCom as'opposed to a BA because she believes it will make her job search that much easier.

"That's why I'm here,"she says, referring to her stakeout in the Bronfman library.To ease the painful process of narrowing down an arts-related career path, CAPS has created online guides entitled "What can I do with my studies in...?" that provide suggestions of typical entry-level positions depending on your major, experience and interests.

Focus, focus, focus Dean of Arts Christopher Manfredi believes that the Bachelor of Arts is a valuable degree because it allows students depth in their discipline, breadth of education and "because of the skills it teaches you in critical thinking, analytical reasoning, ability to write and its broad exposure to questions of the human condition." For the university student, beginning adult life from the general perspective that an arts de­ gree provides choice and moving slowly toward a more specialized focus after graduation is much easier than beginning with something very specific (say, neurobiology) and trying to expand your focus later.

Most students begin their degrees at 17 or 1 8 and are likely to consider several different career interests before deciding on just one.The freedom to learn from several disciplines within the Faculty of Arts allows students to explore many academic paths to help them with this decision. Rania Papageorgiou, Uo BA &

NADINE LESSARD

H o n e y , I b le w

u p t h e fa c u lty !

Poli Sci majors usurp the campus, but w ho cares about politics, anyway Elizabeth Perle It seems that everyone is a Political Science major these days. Out of the 6 ,0 0 0 students in the Arts faculty at McGill, a whopping 1,3 0 0 are in the Political Science department - this is almost one out of every five students. Needless to say, it is the largest program in Arts and is widely recognized for its world-renowned faculty and diverse classes.

And this i? not a phenomenon exclusive to McGill: at present, political science is one of the most popular arts and science degrees across North America, sec­ ond only to Psychology.

For a student body known to be only mod­ erately politically active outside of the classroom (especially in comparison to our oh-so socially mo­ tivated neighbour, Concordia University), the fact that such a torrent of students are moving to equip themselves with politically-oriented degrees seems a bit puzzling. Are McGill Poli Sci majors really inter­ ested in politics, or are there other incentives for stu­ dents to choose this field over others?

Politics, Shmolitics Stephen Uchikita, a U2 Political Science major, argues that stu­ dents are drawn to the subject because it has the most direct effect on our daily lives as Canadians and International students. "[Political Science] is one of the more important aspects of our world at large," he insists. While the department may spark students' interests in its mere relevance - one can often apply the material taught in class by simply reading the newspaper and reflecting on its front-page content. The College Majors Handbook (published by JIST Works, Inc.) reports that most political science graduates with a bachelor's degree do not, in fact, end up in positions that relate to their field of study.

Richard Schultz, Chair of the Political -Science Department, is inclined to agree. "1 think that the number of students [that go on to politically related employment] are a minority. The majority of stu­ dents go on to other things, such as law school," he suggests, but maintains that the degree is still practical in preparing students for the job market. "Not to take away from any other Arts disciplines, but I think what you get in a political science degree is as good as you are going to get in terms of training."

07.11.06 • Student Living • 13

www.mcgilltribune.com

»

>t ' j u s t f o r a r t ' s s a k e ' you further than you think BSc relishes this half of her educational experience."! like the fact that arts offers a broad education, that's how you figure out what you want," she says.

The liberal arts approach is making a slow comeback in Canada after years of focus on technical skills, needed to support the once-burgeoning high-tech sector. As the technological boom has, begun to even out, the demand for employees with a broader mindset has resurfaced in the job market to manage the infrastructure and creative thinking behind modern innovation. In a January 2001 report, 30 top executives of major Canadian high-tech corporations released a joint statement citing a "strong need for those with a broader background who can work in tandem with technical specialists, helping create and manage a corpo­ rate environment."

The post-secondary education system in Canada is also shifting slightly to provide more liberal arts op­ portunities. McGill recently introduced the freshman Arts Legacy program, a year-long interdisciplinary ap­ proach that emphasizes rhetorical skills such as how to think critically and communicate effectively.

Taking the higher route Although many question their business savvy, BA graduates are actually highly employable in thecorporate world. "The CEOs of the world are mostly arts students,” says Blachford. "They find their feat in the industry that they work in and tend to get the promotions, tend to establish themselves more strongly because they are more broadly based." According to a recent statistical analysis conducted by Dr. Robert C. Allen of the University of British Columbia, 50 to 81 percent of arts graduates are employed in a professional or managerial capacity, which compared favourably with those in commerce, at 60 per cent. Manfredi believes this favour­ able statistic exists because "employers are looking for smart people who easily adapt to new situations." In fact, he suggests, "someone with an arts degree may be better at those things than someone with a more specialized degree."

Since so many arts students are unclear about what they want to do by the time their graduation im­ pends, many turn to graduate programs as an alternative to entering the workforce or because they feel they must specialize further in order to get a good job. Although Manfredi and Blachford contest that a Masters' degree is necessary to achieve one's career goals after the BA, neither denies that the Bachelor of Arts degree is a solid foundation to build upon should one choose to pursue higher education. Whereas most Bcom and Beng students go straight to work after graduation, a larger chunk of BA students, 40 percent, go on to higher education, says Blachford. Miriam Israel, who graduated from Concordia's Liberal Arts College in 2004 and is now in her first year Law at Université de Montreal, feels she has a notable advantage over her CEGEP graduate counterparts. "Since Law School is 100 per cent finals, Ithink that if I didn't have the studying training to do it, I wouldn't be able to handle it under the stress,"she says.

Down to an art The merits of the broad arts program are resonating now with other faculties that are now shifting to­ wards a multidisciplinary approach in their programs. "I think there is a recognition in the fact that we have created the Bachelor of Arts and Science degree, that people who are in science need exposure to arts and vice versa,"says Manfredi. For Papageorgiou, participation in the interdisciplinary degree has opened more doors. "I was pushed into science by my parents, but I enjoy arts more,"she says.

The Bachelor of Commerce degree, at McGill has also been recently restructured to require fewer core courses from Uo students, opening up the curriculum and encouraging students to take more electives and courses outside of management."! find arts more enriching [than management], you get something out of it," says Kovacic.

Getting something out of your four years as an undergrad is dependent on taking courses that you find interesting, whether in the Faculty of Arts or not. Exposure to diverse courses and disciplines gives the gradu­ ate with a BA the invaluable skill of adaptability. Dean Manfredi believes this is the-most underrated asset of a broadly structured arts education.

"It makes you a better citizen, I think it makes you a better human being and I think the most important thing is that it gives one a degree of adaptability, which in a rapidly changing world, is absolutely crucial."*

Po-law-tical Science Many students, however, argue that Political Science is not necessarily the most pragmatic or even potentially lucrative Arts major available.

“My parents actually wanted me to go into economics, which they claimed would bring bet­ ter employment opportunities," explains Simon Chemin, U2 Political Science. "And I do think that graduating with an economics degree is probably the best for getting immediate employment."

Why, then, does this department continue to be the most popular among students and re­ ceive more research grants than the entire Faculty of Arts as a whole? The answer most students will give is a loud, and resounding,"Law School."

■ “I'm interested in going to Law School and an advisor told me that Poli Sci is the best route," says Chemin. Fie articulates what seems to be a general feeling among department majors: that the influx in students is not a reflection of subject interest, but rather, is the result of a recent exter­ nal push from universities and media sources who have tagged it as the "pre-law" major.

Schultz, however, is not convinced that this commonly held view is entirely valid."I think Politi­ cal Science does help [Law school applicants]," he acknowledges. "But I'm not so sure it helps them in their applications! Most people do not look at those sort of things, they look at grades and they look at your, letters of reference. They do not look at what you take."

—

McGill's West Wing Though there has been no notable increase in stu­ dents entering Political-related employment upon grad­ uation, the number of undergrads opting to study in this field are certainly on the rise at universities across North America. The Bureau of Labor Statistics in the United States, for example, notes that overall employment of social scientists, not including economists, is expected to grow 10 per cent to 20 per cent through 2008.

The value of a general Arts education has certainly been a point stressed in high schools across the country in recent years.This fact, combined with a general interest in law and our current, politically charged continent, are but a few factors to explain the steady and widespread, popularity of the Political Science major among students, over, say, subjects such as Philosophy or English.

- According to some, however, this movement can also be explained by another force: the distinct rise in new television series' that glorify political and legal pro­ fessions.

Sheilah Man, director of education and professional development for the American Political Science Asso­ ciation says: "recent enrollments and degrees earned in political science are going up thanks to the [NBC drama] The West W ing and [ABC's hit legal program] The Practice before that."

Now that those shows have been cancelled and the era of Grey's Anatom y,Scrubs and House seems to have ushered itself in, perhaps other departments will see a sharp increase in enrollment, instead. Medical school, anyone? ■

A r ts s t u d e n t s th r o u g h th e e y e s o f a p asserb y Sweeping generalizations describe the style of McGill's m ost populous faculty C larice C onnors Welcome to the Arts building steps— haven of creative dress and drifting cigarette smoke. After the rush of students selling used books in Sep­ tember, these steps become infested with chatting, smoking, snacking and philosophizing Arts students. Why are they there? What are they doing? Why do they dress like that? These ques­ tions flow from the lips of passersby, who are clearly not in on the Arts life­ style and dress.

If one wants an indoor view of these students, one heads to the Arts lounge in the basement of Leacock.

The same students can be found snoozing on couches; sipping fair trade coffee, discussing videogames or reading a McGill literary publica­ tion. These students are not only iden­ tifiable by the locations they frequent; one can also spot this species of stu­ dent almost indefinitely by the way they dress.

Arts students are to eyes as velvet is to skin. Beside their good looks, Arts students dress in layers of creativity, vintage finds, bohemian prints, piercings and scarves. Non-arts students often assume every artsy kid owns at least one pair of ChuckTaylors; or perhaps only one, since most of the Chucks look like they've gone through a war. Guys as well as girls wear skinny jeans of various washes with authen­ tic-looking rips or patches. Brightly coloured tights often peek through cleverly positioned tears at the bum,

obvious

begging for a glance.

"Arsty" chicks can be spotted donning dresses frumpy suburbanites would have worn in the eighties and nineties, but these girls make it look hot with tights, a multitude of neck­ laces and chunky belts. Similarly, guys adorn themselves in vintage t-shirts and sweaters your granddad wore when you were a kid; hey, old timers are cool, too! Vests, bulky sweaters and well-worn t-shirts are shared by both genders. Oversized toques, poor-boy caps and conductor hats not only provide style, but warmth for the longhaired, cropped, faux-hawked or dread-locked student. Thick-rimmed glasses or big, bug-eyed sunglasses are the cherry on the sundae of artsystudent garb. Clearly, Montreal's vin­ tage shops and Urban Outfitter's alike must adore McGill students.

Other Arts styles include the emo, punkers, preppies and the decade lov­ ers.

Emo kids, for example, tend to dress in alternative styles— funky choppy hair Cuts, piercings, stripes, glasses and so on, making them easy to recognize around campus. The same goes for the rest pf the catego­ rized students. However, this is not to mimic those glorious days of spend­ ing time in high school cafeterias crawling with cliques. That was high school; it’s long gone (thank God).

The point is that students continue to dress according to their personality and express it through their clothing and accessories. The trendy kids who flock the Arts steps as we walk past just so happen to (mostly) be arts stu­ dents. Part of the fun of viewing these students'style is trying to classify them and figure them out. At McGill, this often means discerning which fashion statement corresponds with which faculty! ■

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U r b a n D i c t i o n a r y defines latest lingo for all of life's necessities Riva G old If you've ever felt out of touch with the most current and obscure slang, there's help for you yet. Trendy yet useful, U rbanD ictionary.com is anything but your O xford Pocket Com ­ p a nion. The Web site contains one of the hippest online dictionaries around, defining words and phrases

from "earjacking" (eavesdropping on a conversation you have no business hearing) to "Zymocenosilicaphobia" (the fear of an empty drinking cup).

So how does it work? Like Wiki­ pedia for the linguistically creative, Urban D ictio n a ry receives information from its users, keeping the site con­ stantly up-to-date. The slang bible also allows for multiple definitions,

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with varying degrees of accuracy, to be published. In fact, over a 1,000 new entries are added every day as defini­ tions are produced and edited collaboratively online.

It's fun to imagine that an intel­ lectually curious, 65-year-old grand­ mother invented this site in an at­ tempt to keep up with the next gen­ eration, but it wasn't. Urban D ictio n a ry

wasjounded in 2001 by Aaron Peckham, a man-we can only assumedying to know what the word "dawg" really means, just like the rest of us. A computer science student, Peckham launched the site to compare the slang used by university students in different parts of California.

Like in other standard dictionar­ ies, the definitions on this site are list­

F A L L E L E C T IO N S T IM E

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AN D YOU CO ULD WIN ONE OF TWO IPODS (All you h a ve to d o to qualify is VOTE!) FY C C & REFERENDUM QUESTION P o llin g

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ed in order of popularity. Visitors can give each definition a "thumbs-up" or "thumbs-down" ranking. This can be a useful hint when some words, such as "fronting" boast over a dozen con­ flicting meanings. Unlike high school, definition popularity usually corre­ lates to linguistic accuracy.

There are only three guidelines for writing definitions: write for a large audience, don't advertise your Web site and don't name your friends.

The last rule exists to prevent people from defining a "hanging wedgie" as "what we did to John last week."

Clearly, Urban D ic tio n a ry is not for Joé Simpleton. Some of the defini­ tions can get quite complex and tech­ nical in nature. For instance,"a big pile of ppo in a urinal" is defined as "usu­ ally means there's a pile of poo in a urinal."What exactly does the "usually" include here? Are there cases when the phrase can have other meanings?

The ambiguity can keep you puzzled for hours.

And U rbandictionary.com isn't just for slang, either. On the Web site, you can also find Internet jargon and pop culture references, from band­ width to Zeppelin lyrics. It even has a word of the day for slow learners and ghetto virgins alike.

The site has such a big cult fol­ lowing that a hardcover version was recently published, described as a "catalogue of pop culture." So if you want to fit in, it's time to frequent w w w .urba nd iction ary.com because it's pretty "wickass."*

"I like sex! Is nice!"!

www.electionsmcgill.ca/vote N o v e m b e r 3 rd - 8 th P O L L IN G

S T A T IO N S We like sex too.

N o v e m b e r 6 th - 8 th

That is why Features is looking for a recurring sex columnist.

If you are intrigued, please submit a 500 word sample piece and a short cover letter to features@mcgilltribune.com.

Polling Booths Lo cated At:

Leacock Lobby Nov. 6th-8th, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

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Questions?: contact@electionsmcgill.ca , y, V

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07.11.06 • The McGill Tribune • 15

POP CULTURE STUDENT SAVINGS

C om e on n ow , R e fu r n is h y o u r s e x life Step aside, Ikea, it's time to ch eck ou t the L i b e r a t o r !

J acqueline Rowniak So, apparently "regular" sex has become boring.

I don't mean regular in the "we've been together for two years and just don't shag on the kitchen floor any­ more" kind of way. No,- it would appear that sex in a bed, shower or even on a paper-laden desk is going out of fashion. Wanna stay trendy? Wedges, ramps and stages are all the rage these days.

Yes, we're talking furniture, baby, and as they say in the real estate industry, it's all about location, location, location. Popping up all over the Internet are sites offering new and improved gear for getting it on, promising everything from "the key to perfect rear-entry penetration" to "the cunnoisseur's serving spoon of choice."

While these seem like the kind of items right up a university student's alley, no pun intended, the prices may steer away even the most eager beaver (pun in­ tended). And so, to aid in the execution of your own "naughty nookie adventures" Features presents the do-it-yourself guide to sexing up your furniture.

Most of the Web sites we perused offer similar cushion-type devices, wedge-shaped pillows or rounded ones to spice up ybur sex life for a mere $150 or so. Don't be fooled people, these are pillows. To impro­ vise, bring the bed activities down to

the floor (throw a blanket down to avoid carpet burn or worse, splinters) and grab some couch cushions on the way. Start stacking and, just like in the game of jenga, pray it doesn't all come crashing down once you try to play with it. If the tower of love does tum­ ble, abandon the sex and make a fort. You cannot go wrong with a fort.

Liberator.com, the Web site that promises to in­ spire "adventure sex," has a "black label" section devot­ ed to providing slightly more sinful sexcapades. This mostly includes the same pillows and tushions, but in exciting leopard prints sprinkled with ankle, wrist and thigh cuffs. On a student budget, scarves work for the binding, as does duct tape for those who like a little pain with their pleasure. As for the patterns? Raid the back of your roommate or mom's closet for eightiesstyle animal prints she hasn't wore in years, and throw those around instead.

For those with a passion to match Sex a n d the City's Samantha, the swing set is the only way to go. As Samantha remarks, "How very Cirque de So/e/7!"While it may be difficult to stow away in the closet when the parents make a surprise visit, swing sex merits one of those badges they gave away in Girl Scouts (or at least should). For an in-house arrangement, affix a sturdy chandelier with a large bath towel, or take a trip down memory lane to the children's department of Canadian Tire for the plas­ tic version. Use your imagination! ■

le t's n o t f o r g e t h o w t o ' w h i p it' Top 8 greatest, m ost random lyrics of the 1980s Rachel M elnik Ahh, the eighties. Who doesn't miss the legwarmers, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Molly Ringwald's brilliant acting career? Eighties music, however, might not be quite as missed. Perhaps it's the tantalizing, thought-provoking lyrics of the Divinyls'"l touch myself," or the incredible musical creativity of Culture Clubs "Karma Chameleon," but something about eighties melodies makes them the, uh, most em­ barrassing to ever hit the airwaves. Here is a list of Features'favourite random eighties lyrics: •

8. "Down Under," Men at Work Buying bread from a,man in Brussels He was six foot four and full of muscles I said,"Do you speak-a my language?"

He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich I f yo u can 't speak the guy's tongue, then by a ll means, accept his offer o f a vegem ite san d­ wich. (Is th a t the staple cuisine in Brussels?)

7. "I'll Tumble For Ya,"Culture Club Uptown their sound Is like the native You send her Junction Function The boy with pop is slender

.

S o m e h o w ju n ctio n s a n d fun ctions relate to c a rb on ated beverages a n d slender boys?

FASHION PERSPECTIVE

S tu d e n t b u d g e t,

6. "Whip lt,"Devo When a problem comes along You must whip it Before the cream sits out too long You must whip it A nyone in the m o o d for som e w h ip p e d cream that's

s te lla r s t y le Top 7 stores for McGill Shopaholics JESSICA Shapiro The plunge into university re­ quires everyone to learn some very important life lessons: independence, hard work and responsibility, to name a few. A daunting new idea that many have also had to face is the concept of "saving". For those of you who find yourselves having difficulties comprehending this idea, you must relate to my devilish desire— shop­ ping. With Ste-Catherine Street only a breath away, it's no wonder some of us are sacrificing lunch and time in the library for a new shirt.

Hère is a list of seven stores that won't break the student budget for shopaholics everywhere: 1 ) Oh La La (3664 St-Laurent) This secret boutique, tucked away amongst the craziness of St-Laurent, is a poor student's haven. It carries shoes, jewelry and tons of cute/trendy clothes for unbelievably low prices.

2) Simons (977 Ste-Catherine) Although I have a pretty serious phobia of department stores, this is one shopping central I wouldn't hesitate to explore. Not all areas of Simons are "affordable"-depending on how long you're will­ ing to go without groceries, that is— but if you look hard enough, Iguarantee you will find some attractive looking pieces that will fit nicely within your budget.

3) Winners (1500 McGill College) Winners is a student classic. Even though it's not a "quick shopping" kind of place, putting in the time is always worth the find. If you have a few hours in between classes to go through racks upon racks of tshirts, pants and sweaters, you could be lucky enough

to run away with affordable attire that will make you smile.

been sittin g o u t fo r too long?

5. "Walk like an Egyptian," the Bangles And the bazaar man by the Nile He got the money on a bet For the crocodiles (Oh-Way-Oh) They snap their teeth on a cigarette Since w hen does anyone, crocodiles included, snap his

4) Transit (1247 Ste-Catherine W.) Some girls have a weakness for chocolate, while other girls go dreamy about Brad Pitt. Some hopeful souls, however, need shoes. An obsession for shoes, as a student, can unfortunately lead to disaster. Thank­ fully,Transit carries tons of very cute, very stylish shoes that cost just enough to avoid catastrophe, so foot­ wear cravers won't go nuts.

o r her teeth on a cigarette?

4. "Mony, Mony," Billy Idol cover of Tommy James &The Shondells.

Break'dis, shake'dis, Mony, Mony Shot gun, get it done, come on, honey ■Don't stop cookin', it feels so good, yeah Hey! Well don't stop now, hey, come on Mony, well come on Yes, honey, th a t sh o otin g a n d cooking feels soooo good.

5) Old Navy (Eaton Center, 705 Ste-Catherine W.) When I used to think about Old Navy, Ithought of a low-grade version of Gap. It is part of our responsibil­ ity as students to make sacrifices (of whatever kind), and so I coerced myself into shopping there. To my surprise, Old Navy carried a lot of really nice things, for rea­ sonable prices, and ever since I've been a loyal customer.

6) Urban Outfitters (1246 Ste-Catherine W.) Ok, so I included one store that isn't cheap... at all. But everything at Urban Outfitters is so nice! If you're feeling unusually prosperous one day, take a trip to the store all girls fall in love with and indulge.

We only live once.

7) American Apparel (3523 St. Laurent) This store is perfect for all your styling staples.

Plain t-shirts that fit like a glove, long tank and tube tops, along with any colour sweatpants you can imag­ ine— it's all at the modest American Apparel. You can­ not beat good quality for good prices. ■

3. "I want your sex," George Michael.

I swear I won't tease you Won't tell you no lies I don't need no bible Just look in my eyes I've waited so long baby George M ich a e l m a y ju s t be the first m a n ever to g e t som eone in to bed w ith o u t a bible. *

2. "Karla with a K,"the Hooters Old man river's on the rise Wash the circles from my eyes Hurricane is on its way You can call it karla Karla with a K As opposed to Carla w ith a C, because she is o n ly a tam e, little w h irlw ind .

1 . "88 Lines about 4 4 Women," the Nails Gloria, the last taboo Was shattered by her tongue one night Mimi brought the taboo back And held it up before the light Marilyn, who knew no shame, Was never ever satisfied Julie came and went so fast She didn't even say goodbye

I guess M arilyn a n d Julie d id n 't have the rig h t taboos.

A

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music

M c G ill g r a d m e l d s m u s i c a l w o r l d s Expatriate harmonica virtuoso player brings it back hom e

Ezra G linter ' Very few musicians claim the harmonica as their primary in­ strument and certainly, most that do have not studied jazz piano at the McGill Conservatory and the Rimon School of Jazz. But then again, Jason Rosenblatt is not your average musician.

Rosenblatt, a Montreal native now living in Philadelphia, started playing the harmonica at 1 5 , but it was not until after graduating from music school and getting involved in the Israeli jam-band scene that he realised the full potential of his instru­ ment.

"I got frustrated just being able to play blues when other people were playing jazz and middle-eastern style music," he says. Fortunately, one of his teachers introduced him to the work

of Howard Levy and his musical life took a turn.

Levy, aside from being a founding member of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, is probably the best har­ monica player in the world.

"I bought some of his recordings,” says Rosenblatt, "and I started learning how to play chromatically on the diatonic har­ monica, which is a totally different way of playing...treating the instrument as a serious instrument capable of playing any single-line phrases I can play on the piano." . Upon his return to Canada, Rosenblatt pursued contact with Levy, receiving several private lessons during Levy's occasional trips to Montreal.

"I realised that through those one or two-hour lessons.with him I improved immensely," he says, "so I realized I have to go study with him for at least a month.”

In 2004,. Rosenblatt's wish came true when he received a Canada Council of the Arts Fellowship to go study with Levy in Evanston, Illinois. In the meantime, however, he had already taken the harmonica in all sorts of new directions.

Since 1 9 9 7 , Rosenblatt had been attending KlezKanada, a weeklong summer festival of Yiddish culture and the arts just north of Montreal, ft was there that he discovered Klezmer, which

made yet another serious impact on his musical style.

"The same way I go back and try to learn old blues numbers and old jazz numbers," he relates, "why couldn't I pick up some of the old Jewish music as well, learn the repertoire, learn the orna­ mentation, learn how to solo?"

"Through klezmer music," he continues, "my capabilities on the harmonica were broadened."

It was in 2002 at KlezKanada that Rosenblatt formed his cur­ rent band, Shtreiml, which plays a blend of klezmer, gypsy music and jazz. Besides Rosenblatt, Shtreiml features Rachel Lemish on Trombone, Thierry Arsenault on drums and Adam Stotland on bass.

Rosenblatt describes Shtreiml's style as fresh, yet traditional.

"The goal was to play klezmer music," he says, "not neces­ sarily to re-arrange it into some sort of jazz, à la John Zorn type of thing...Put making it current because it was being played bv younger people rather than by 6 o-or- 70-year-olds."

The group has already released three albums, the most re­ cent of which, Fenci's Blues, is in collaboration with Turkish Oud player Ismail Hakki Fencioglu. Fencioglu, who came to Canada in 2001, is described by Rosenblatt as "a total utter genius, but [someone who] has no idea how to promote himself or get peo­ ple to listen to him."

Fencioglu and Shtreiml first teamed up for the 2004 Mon­ treal Festival du Monde Arabe, and have been working together ever since, exploring the connections between Eastern European Jewish music and classical Turkish music. Rosenblatt sees their activity as part of a burgeoning Montreal world music scene.

"Something that Montreal has that is rare in other cities," he says, is that "it has people from different countries, Turkey, Ro­ mania, Bulgaria, who play their traditional music.. .a few master accordion players, a master pan-flute player, a Hungarian violin­ ist... real world music people who are experts in their particular musical fields."* S htreim l a n d Fencioglu w ill be p e rfo rm in g together on Nov. a t La Sala Rossa (4848 bout. St-Laurent).

ART

G ir o d e t's fir s t s o l o e x h ib it c o m e s t o M o n tr e a l Explores the persona I side of high art Kate Spirgen Greek gods, French emperors, beauty, death, love and despair are all on display at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in the work of Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson.

This retrospective is the first ever done on Girodet and the first exhibit to display his work in North America. It delves into the life and times of the French Neoclassical and Romantic artist.

The exhibit, Girodet, R o m an tic Rebel, explores the inner psyche and personality of the painter in a series of monumental paintings, portraits, landscapes and sketches that evokes a deep emotional response.

The exhibit, which generally moves in chronologi­ cal order, gives a comprehensive study on the develop­ ment of Girodet's style from Neoclassical to Romantic while providing interesting and relevant historical and personal information that offers extra insight into the pieces. Quotations from letters and reviews of the time allow a peek into the artist's thoughts and the world in which he created his masterpieces.

The historical and personal information is particu­ larly relevant, as Girodet was known for his explosive and eccentric personality and his letters allow him to speak through his writing as well as+iis visual creations.

The lighting of the exhibit creates an excellent en­ vironment in most cases, but causes serious glare on a few of the glossy oil paintings. The only other inter­ ruption to the atmosphere is the permeating sound of opera music coming from a somewhat grainy video on his colossal work, Revolt a t Cairo, which was too large to move to Montreal.

Although Revolt did not make it to this exhibit, Gi­ rodet's more famous works such as The Burial o fA ta la , Sleeping E ndym ion and Ossian Receiving the Ghosts o f the Fleroes of the French Revolution are displayed, along

with pertinent information about the artist's commis­ sions and the French art world at the time.

A good amount of time can be spent at the exhibit, as many of Girodet's works include a narrative and in­ volve a mystery and sensuality that draws the viewer in and connects one with the painting. The use of light to delineate well-formed and defined bodies is a trademark of his style and each figure seems to exude an ethéreal light. When coupled with his anatomical accuracy, this makes his work seem both extremely real and super­ natural at the same time. ■ The e xh ib it is on display fro m Oct. 12 to Jan. 27. A dm is­ sion is $7.50 fo r students a n d $ 15 for adults.

74

07.11.06 • The McGill Tribune • 17

FILM

B o r a t h its t h e b ig s c r e e n Fourth m ost famous Kazakh takes 15 opportunity offender" kind of way. For example, ham-handed Borat"accidentally" destroys $400 of Civil War-era Did you know that in Kazakhstan, Confederate antiques and though it marriages are arranged when a father may seem like wanton destruction of trades off his daughter for insecti­ property, let's face it, nobody should cide? Or that every year the Kazakhs really be making a living hocking celebrate "The Running of the Jew"?

Stonewall Jackson commemorative Well, if you feel slightly out of touch plates. with our backwater friends living on This is the sort of singular punk the dark side of the Iron Curtain, then ethos that Cohen seems to relish and you may benefit from seeing Borat: also what ultimately elevates Borat C ultural Learnings o f Am erica to Make from endearing foreign caricature to Benefit Glorious N a tion o f Kazakhstan. subversive, comic icon and shit dis­ In Borat, British comedian and turber of the highest order. Think of it provocateur Sacha Baron Cohen as Lenny Bruce with an eastern Euro­ brings Borat Sangdiyev, one of the his pean accent, or Tom Green fictionalized personas with a degree from Cam­ from TV's Da AU G Show, bridge. Cohen exposes the onto the big screen and deep-rooted prejudices we into the heart of Ameri­ may harbour beneath our cana. Part S pinal Tap, socially-imposed canopy part 'Guess Who's Com ing of "PC" and, like a wolf in a to D inne r and part Peter henhouse, attacks those Sellers in The Party, Borat who wear their bigotry on on the silver screen is their sleeves by, quite sim­ just as illicitly funny and ply, making them appear al­ offensive as he is on together idiotic. This is why television. Directed by Borat, for all the controversy Larry Charles (Masked he has stirred in the past a n d Anonym ous, HBO's "I like-a make a sex crime! Do you like make a sex crime?" and is bound to stir with Curb Your Enthusiasm ) in a classic mockumentary style, the teen, Borat blazes a Westward trail this film, is so important both to con­ film follows Borat, an eminently fa­ across the United States like an anti- temporary comedy and to the larger socio-cultural critique: because he is mous Kazakh television personality, as Semitic, chauvinistic, Uzbek-hating not laughing w ith the everyday rac­ he travels across the pond on a gov­ Lewis & Clark.

But make no mistake: Borat is not ists, sexists and xénophobes that jock ernment-subsidized mission to learn cultural lessons from the American just some light-hearted romp across the cash register at your local K-Mart people. These are lessons that will in­ the sensitive terrain of blind cultural or preach the scripture at your Baptist crease the already substantial glory of relativism and political correctness. church. He's laughing at them. ■ Catch Borat a t the P aram ount the­ Cohen's comedy is sharp, biting soci­ Kazakhstan. And it's probably a good thing too. After all, in Kazakhstan they ological satire that takes no prisoners atre. Visit www.cinemamontreal.com and not just in a Howard Stern "equal fo r showtimes. actu a lly keep the mentally challenged J ohn S emley

locked in cages!

Much like Borat's segments on Da A li G Show, the film is comprised of hilarious vignettes of the cultureshocked Kazakh interacting with the men, women and children that make up the good ol'U.S. of A. From a meet­ ing with a feminist association (where he asks if women's inferior brain size is a problem) to singing a bastardized version of "The Star Spangled Banner" at a Southern rodeo (in his preamble he expresses his support for the US "war of terror") to shamelessly co-opt­ ing urban black culture like a shel­ tered, upper-middle class suburban

?

MUSIC

S to m p in ' n e 'e r f e lt th is w a y Elliot Brood infuses country genre with class B en L emieux

ing atmospheres."

Elliott Brood's death-country albums (as they have been self-de­ scribed) manage to create not only a unique atmosphere for listeners, call­ ing to mind a tangible, delightfully aesthetic moment in time as well.The trio's debut EP, Tin Type, is mailed in a brown paper bag bearing.the band's crest and their epic full-length A m ­ bassador — which easily ranks among the best albums of ,2005— contains simulated copies of a one-way railway ticket and building plans belonging to Joseph A. Bower, the engineer who designed the Ambassador bridge (which connects Windsor, Ontario to Detroit, Michigan). As Sasso explains, this rather unusual amalgamation of fiction and historical fact is a way for the band to reach out to listening audiences, both at home and in the concert hall.

"You're playing to an audience that doesn't know you or has never seen you before," he elaborates. "You

try to convert them the best that you can: by doing what you do and draw­ ing them into your world."

Elliott Brood's world is one of nostalgia mixed with gritty, distorted guitars; Sasso and band mate Casey Laforet's vocals shift between gruff midnight howls and warmer, more velvety tones. At the core, however, this is stompin'music.

A distant, country-fied cousin of Bela Fleck's jazzy, be-bop soloing, Sasso's songwriting and playing is also a re-imagining of the banjo's potential as an instrument.

"People tend to play it so happy and upbeat, but Ifound I would never have actually mastered it the way most people play it," Sasso says. "So I decided to play it in a different style, to strum it and that lent it to being a sadder instrument. Playing guitar, the way I used to play it, you fill in every moment and every aspect, whereas the banjo just rings out and it lends itself to more space. That space allows you to create more atmo­ spheres, and it just causes you to think differently."

Rather fitting for a coun­ try band with its finger on a brand new groove. Think­ ing differently is what Elliott Brood does best. ■

In this day and age, the "country" moniker evokes a barrage of precon­ ceived notions and all the tangential imagery this entails. A rugged mys­ tique: torn jeans, cowboy hat, anvil­ sized belt buckles. A steady, Kentucky whiskey-lathered drawl; perhaps even the sterilized lamentations of Brad Paisley, or whoever else decided that enjoying Barbeque .sauce on their hamburgers was the only requisite necessary for becoming a country musician.

This is the predictable country music that Q92 radio— and other guileless servants of Satan— routinely and mercilessly subjects us to. This is the country music that Ontarian trio Elliott Brood handily and effortlessly distinguishes itself from.

"I think one of the misconcep­ tions that most people have is that it's all sad love songs about your car or your truck or your lady or your dog," explains singer/songwriter/banjoist Mark Sasso.

"I think a lot of people assume that country is just one th in g and that it doesn't have that great lyrical quality. And it does.

I mean, listen to Johnny Cash, or even Corb Lund.

He has great lyrical, con­ tent and the song itself is the most importantthing.

It's not a flashy, Nashville country. It's about créât- Elliot Brood proving country isn't synonymous with hick,

Previews

COMPILED BY CRYSTAL CHAN

gssf Music. Jurassic 5 , Nov. 11 at 8 p.m.; Spectrum (3 18 SteCatherine O.). Your favourite popular alternative and old school hip-hop group is in Montreal this Saturday night.

The ensemble, originally hailing from Los Angeles, is on ; !• their North-American tour following the release of their third album, Feedback, this summer. The album issued the single "Work it Out," which features rockman Dave Matthews. The band is known for shying away from mainstream gangsta rap styles and with their lat­ est and newest album, they even experiment with Latin and World music. "I refuse to bust gats and water down my raps,"explains Akil on Jurassic 5's new song "Where We At." You can expect pure, undiluted lyrics and music at this band's show.Tickets are $28.59. Call (514) 861-5851 for tickets and more informa­ tion.

Theatre. Fallen Angels, until Nov. 12 at 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 8:30 p.m. Saturday, 7 p.m. on Sunday and mati­ nees; Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts (5170 Côte SteCatherine). Noël Coward's Fallen Angels is a comedy high on style and flair - as light and bubbly as the alcoholic bever­ ages the characters on stage are downing by the bucket.

In a weekend of drunken ranting, two friends fret over the repercussions that the return of a former French lover, the same man for both of the Englishwomen, will have on their less-than extraordinary marriages. Antics ensue in the true Coward fashion. Under Diana Leblancz's direction, the role of Saunders, the prim and proper maid, especially shines. Call (514) 739-7944 for tickets and more information.

Film. C inem ania Film Festival, until Nov. 12; Imperial Cinema (1430 Bleury). This year's festival runs at Theatre Imperial and features 29 films from the best of this year's French cinema from around the globe. Don't worry if your mas­ tery of the French language is less than perfect, all films will be screened with English subtitles. Prolific guests at this year's festival include àctress Juliette Binoche and di­ rectors such as Claude Berri and Francis Girod. Be sure to try to catch the closing film, Claude Chabrol's psychological study of crime, L'Ivresse du Pouvoir (A Com edy o f Power), which will screen on Sunday at 8:30.

Visit w w w .d n e m a n ia film fe stiva l.co m for programming information.

THIS WEEK

T e le v is io n W it h o u t P it y

By Philippa Scrowcroft

w w w .l u c i d f o r g e .c o m C A N A D A ’S A R T S A N D E N T E R T A IN M E N T E Z IN E

MUSIC, ART, THEATRE, FILM , BOOKS E N T E R O U R M O N T H LY C O N T E ST

Smoke-free environment v

i t

a

Welcome to new and returning students!

S in ce 1 9 6 4

B reakfast a n d more

Hours:

Don't forget your hamburger * and breakfast cards. *Sept. toend of April

Monday- Friday 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Weekends -7:00 a.m. to4:00 p.m.

Holidays - 8:00 a.m. to3:00 p.m.

224, rue Milton, Montréal (QC) H2X1V6Tel: (514) 285-0011

E lliott Brood plays live a t Cafe Cam pus (57 Prince A rth u r E.) Friday, Nov. 70 a t 9 3 0 p.m.

Call (514 ) 8 4 4 -10 10 fo r m ore in fo rm a tio n .

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18 • Arts & Entertainment • 07.11.06

The McGill Tribune

FOOD

A v e s t a : A T u r k is h d e l i g h t Eastern eatery offers a perfect balance

TARGET DECONSTRUCTION

P a r is H i l t o n ,

Keren Tang It is hard to miss the two women in traditional clothing sitting by the window display, well situated among tradi­ tional tools, tossing, flapping and making gozleme bread. The salient display acts as an effective advertisement for the six-month-old restaurant Avesta, whose name is the title of a scripture-belonging to the ancient religion Zoroastrianism, which is older than the Bible and the Koran.

Surprisingly, Montreal has very few Turkish restaurants, despite its abundance of other varieties of Middle Eastern diners. More surprisingly, Avesta owner/chef Serif Metin learned his skills here in Canada rather than abroad.

Having never had the opportunity to enjoy a Turkish feast, Idid not know what to expect other than baklava. Luck­ ily, my roommate is well accustomed to such food, knew exactly what to order and noted that the'restaurant is in fact very authentic.

Faced with foreign food names that were impossible to pronounce, and finding few intelligible clues to their con­ tent, we selected four appetizers that were all part of the Mezze entrée. Pomegranate is in season and also very common in Turkish cooking, as it is seen in almost every single appetizer. The fried eggplant and pomegranate sauce, which was not as sweet as expected, looked like a bunch of mush but its rich flavour and texture came as a pleasant surprise to the tongue. My favourite sauce has a mysterious a mixture of nuts and pomegranate. Each nut's essence was readily felt despite the unobvious nature of the sauce. These appetizers were served with borek, a pastry filled with cheese and spin­ ach, as well as plain gozleme that was freshly made in front of our eyes.

Although the entrées in this section are all prepared ahead of time, the warm go­ zleme bread filled with beef and parsley in what is essen­ tially a meat pie (vegetarian gozleme is also available) was exactly what we want­ ed in a meal.

Our dinner continued with a stir-fry of chicken, which, albeit easily made in your own kitchen, was nonetheless delicious with its perfect saltiness and I rich seasoning. The night ! ended with traditional bak­ lava (familiar to those who frequent Marché Lobo and PA Supermarché) and Turk1,'' ' ish tea. The size of the des­ sert and tea made me feel ^ like a 12-year-old playing M “house" all over again. The. concept is clear: quality mat­ ters more than quantity. True, I was expecting something so decadently sweet that my teeth would rot, but I was content to find the perfect mixture of taste, texture and crunchiness in the bak­ lava. Finally, a Middle Eastern dessert that is neither too sweet nor too plain.

In fact, the dessert was indicative of the flavour balance of everything on the menu: NADINE LESSAB0 not too strong or too weak and lacking the You don't need to be rollin' in the dough to enjoy Avesta. heaviness I had anticipated.

This subdued locale emits an orange hue that is both homey and lively. The oriental tapestries hanging around the room in combination with the soothing yet energetic music in the background create an aura that was exactly what a Thursday night out means to me, relaxing yet unconstrained.

Reasonably priced— main entrées range in price from $10-20— the restaurant may include alcohol in the future to attract more patrons. For now, Metin is comfortable with the family-oriented atmosphere. He smiles proudly, pointing out that"people like this place because it's so different and fresh— the food, the culture." Adding another reason to order a meal at Avesta, Metin says, "There are not too many Turkish restaurants [in Montreal]." ■

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s e p a r a te ly

Tessa Blanchfield n a mere three minutes and 24 seconds, Paris Hilton manages • to sell herself in a whole new way. Her new music video, "Noth­ ing in this World," imitates a movie preview. It opens with the Motion Picture Association's official rating on a pink backdrop: Approved for All Audiences, Rated: PH (Paris Hilton). This fun but unoriginal twist on a music video serves a purpose other than novel entertainment. Selling the video as a movie replaces the One N ig h t in Paris stigma with something that is approved for a ll audiences. It is also another forum to perpetuate the Paris H ilton: living Barbie image. She is becoming more of a friendly but flaky girl next-door and less of a rich bitchy whore.

The opening shot, a toilet's-eye-view of a prepubescent boy getting a swirlie, sets the tone for the entire video. First of all, the bully who is holding the protagonist's head in the toilet is a hot, brown-haired jock. Leaning over him is a blond super-bitch, mut­ tering "Do it again!" in a deep voice. Behind the prom king and queen stands a large black football player. Apparently, that one black guy behind the cookie cutter Caucasian couple signaled that the producers had reached their minority quota. Only four other black actors are shot in scenes with scores of students. Are they filming this in the Midwest or did the directors specifically call for Aryan teens?

Not only is just about every extra in the film white, they are all brunette. Paris remains the only brightly shining blond in frame.

The actors in this video seem to represent a high school hierarchy of race and social status. At the bottom are the geeks, foreign stu­ dents and pimply girls. At the top are the well-toned athletes with cheerleaders hanging off their arms. Black students are allowed in the All-American jock category, but they will always take a side seat to Ken. They have to stand behind his girlfriend.

Of course, reigning over all these plebeians stands Paris Hil­ ton, beaming like the Egyptian sun god, Ra. And these people, her demographic, do stare wide-eyed and. vulnerable at her dia­ mond-studded glory. They worship her. And why shouldn't little girls emulate Paris Hilton? She's special; she's a burst of bright light in an otherwise blue-filtered world. She parades around the school campus, always in sight but never in reach, reminding you of the perverted standard of beauty paralyzing the collective con­ scious of Western culture. That is her job. That is what has made her famous and she does it well. This music video is just another opportunity to expose the celebrity to a new fan base. For those who are not worthy enough to pray at the House o f Paris: Social­ ite a n d Slut, "Nothing in This World" presents a more user-friendly heiress, Paris H ilton: Suburban Edition.

There are many other Paris Editions sprinkled throughout the clip. She dresses up like a naughty professor, she strips in front of a boy and she straddles a bench in front of rows of gold football helmets. She is wearing th ick diamond jewelry in most scenes, ac­ companied by baby-pink hot pants and zebra-print sequin heels.

This is Paris H ilton: Accessories included.

It is obvious that the heiress is not selling herself as a musi­ cian. The Paris package comes complete with money, style, fame and sex appeal; vocal talent sold separately. She is a horrible per­ former who can barely lip-sync her own lyrics; even though the video does not focus on Paris'singing. Of the 204 seconds of film, she is only shown singing for a mere 62 seconds. That is less than one third of the video and most of the lyrics were "da-da." This was not a video highlighting Paris'musical talent, this was a video highlighting Paris: The Barbie, The Image, M y Worst N ightm are. ■

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MONDAY AT 5:30 P.M. IN GERT'S PUB

07.11.06 • Arts & Entertainm ent • 19

www.mcgilltribune.com

FILM

Y o u s a y B a b e l, I s a y b a b b le Inârritu depicts global miscommunication J ohn S emley

family's goats, accidentally shoots an American woman (Blanchett) travelling on a tour bus. From there, the narrative is instantaneously pro­ pelled and for the next 143 minutes alternately follows the exploits of the nanny who must smuggle the chil­ dren she is caring for into Mexico so that she does not miss her son's wed­ ding, the deaf Japanese girl whose father delivered the rifle to the isolat­ ed Moroccan community and the ef­ forts of the American husband (Pitt) to extricate his dying wife to a hos­ pital in Casablanca. All of the charac­ ters'efforts are inevitably hindered by the international politicization of the incident.

Though the plot may initially

Acclaimed director Alejandro Gonzales Inârritu (perhaps best known in the English-speaking com­ munity for 2 0 0 3 's 27 Grams) delivers what will likely stand as the best film of 2 0 0 6 with Babel. Spanning three continents and four languages, the biblically titled film is an epically composed and masterfully directed picture that deals, at its core, with miscommunication and misunder­ standing, while evoking Judeo-Christian mythos and the innate perplex­ ity of modernity.

Set against the backdrop of three distinct geographic locales— the secluded deserts of Morocco, the mëtropolitan cityscape of urban Japan and the carnivalesque rural landscape of Mex­ ico — Babel follows the stories of a pair of American tourists (Brad Pitt & Cate Blanchett), their migrant nanny (Adrianna Barraza), a family of Moroccan shepherds and a deaf-mute teenage Japanese volleyball star (Rinko Kikuchi). But fear not, though it may sound like some transcontinental version of Hollywood Squares, Inârritu and writer Guillermo Arriaga succeed in linking this cast of narratively disparate characters Migrant nanny (Adrianna Barraza) without resorting to Soderberghian sound convoluted, Inârritu arranges pedantry. the film using a kind of narrative moThe narrative unifier in Babel is bius strip, with the film ending (more a .270 gauge Winchester rifle. Serving or less) where it began, so that the as the story's sort-of MacGuffin, the four central plots can be easily fol­ rifle is the link that connects these lowed without being hampered by characters and provides the catalyst the restraint of a linear chronology. for Inarritu's thematic exploration of While organizing Babel in this fashion mistaken identity and missed chanc­ is not groundbreaking, Inârritu em­ es. ploys the technique of discontinuous The film begins with a young chronology not as mere auteured Moroccan boy who, after being given contrivance, but rather, as the best the aforementioned rifle in order to way to cogently connect the events prevent jackals from poaching his of the film. His ability to use this sto­

rytelling method effectively, coupled with his noted cinematic proficiency, earned Inârritu the award for best di­ rector at the 2 0 0 6 Cannes Film Fes­ tival.

Inarritu's adept direction is com­ plimented by composer Gustavo Santaolalla's (Brokeback Mountain, North Country) sweeping, minimalist score, which provides adroit musi­ cal accent to the deeply emotional, human drama of the film. The act­ ing is superb, with Pitt turning in a stalwart performance. It is Barraza, however, as the distraught, mysti­ fied and ardently affectionate Mexi­ can caregiver, who delivers the most poignant performance of the film (especially impressive considering she speaks Spanish half the time).

Thematically, Babel ex­ plores the contemporary complexity of communi­ cation. The film is rife with miscommunication be­ tween citizens and institu­ tions, husbands and wives, parents and children, much of which is exacerbated by linguistic barriers. Both the title and the events of the film draw heavily from the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel: a structure built to the heavens by a united hu­ manity, only to be destroyed by God, who halted the project by forcing each person involved to speak a dif­ ferent language. Much like the Baby­ lonians, who were dispersed across the planet and unable to understand each other, Inârritu's film explores the barriers, both congenital and self-im­ posed, that prevent geographically and socially divergent groups from relating on the level of their shared and existentially binding condi­ tions— the experiences of loss, love and emotional destitution. ■

Reviews

«*__

Jakalope— Born4 .Jakalope'snewestproductionisthe product of singer/songwriter Katie B and production editors Dave Oglivie and Paul Caviano. Born4 offers a novel but hardly enjoyable experience that differs lit­ tle in vocal variation from song to song. Although the alternative, modern rock, robotic album shows some potential in its background instrumentalism, it seems to manifest the festering angst of nothing more than a juvenile adult toying with metaphors to induce emotional hyperventilation.

The metaphoric comparisons for life, and self seem crude at best, reminiscent of a preaching misunderstood high school introvert. Granted, Jakalope's lyrics, on the whole, are more interesting than other repetitive pop music ditties and include injected streams of couplet rhymes that feel unique. However, they fall flat in evoking emotions often associated with other revolutionary female rock­ ers such as Pink, Evanesence or Bif Naked. Jakalope's latest is commendable for little else than its interesting cover and pamphlet art.

— Josh Touyz

The Tragically Hip— World

Container. As one of Canada's most venerated rock bands, playing for over 20 years, it is impressive that-The Tragically Hip's 1 1 th full-length studio album provides a fresh and developed outlook on their music. World Container is neither stagnant nor sedentary and exemplifies the V Jb rlc l C o n t a i n e r * evolutionary process for which the Hip are so famous.

The album offers a wide spectrum of different sounds, providing something for everyone while maintaining their high production standards, even delivering some meaty, staple rock songs. Carefully crafted tunes weave in and out of one another, progressing from the poppy hooks of "In View” to the Clash-like, frustrated punk of "The Kids Don't Get it” to the mournful ballad "Last Night I Dreamed You Didn't Love Me." The Hip provide a roller coaster ride of emotions and vibes, all the while remaining cohesive and entertaining. The lyrics on World Container are slightly more accessible than those of previous albums, lacking some of the mysterious abstractions and obscurity, although they still bear the marks of the band's masterful songwriting. This record offers redefinition and experimentation, which might be disappointing for fans of their old sounds, but overall, this effort is definitely hip and worth a listen.

Catch The Tragically Hip live at Metropolis (59 rue Ste-Catherine E.) on Thursday, Nov. 9 at 9 p.m. Call (514) 844-3500 for more information.

— Emily Dolmans

CKDT 9 O.Sfm Radio M cG ill A nnual General M eeting T u e s . N o v e m b e r 21, 2 0 0 6 C-1 0 pm § Thomson House 3650 McTavish

FILM

ALL MEMBERS OF (EOT ATTENDANCE IS MANDATOR? info: 5 14-1 4 8-104 1 or « t t . cedt. ca

A ll g r o w n 4 9 U p Seventh installment of movie-ography J ennifer Bartoli

"Givemethechilduntilheissevenand! willgiveyoutheman."

— Jesuitmaximthatinspired,49Up Take a dozen seven-year-olds in ask them about their dreams and hopes for the future and then return to follow their progress every seven years. This is the basic concept of Michael Apted's Up! film series. Ini­ tially conceived as a single film, Apted decided to take the project in a slight­ ly new direction, filming the children every seven years to chart their evo­ lution and steps into adulthood. In 4 9 Up, the seventh incarnation of the series, the participants are 49 years of age.

Ingrained in the project was the belief in the impact of Britain's noto­ riously rigid class structure, as well as the conviction that a child's birth po­ sitioning on the socio-economic scale determines what he or she will be­ come as an adult. The children were purposefully selected from the class extremities of British society, ranging from the private prep school atendees in London's wealthy Kensington neighborhood to public boarding school students.

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The documentary is fascinating in its ability to depict an individual's gradual evolution from ages seven, 14 , 21 and 2 8 , leading up to their current selves. The physical and psychologi­ cal transformations are striking, as the audience is presented with selected chunks of their lives, witnessing first­ hand the disappointments, surprises and shifts in their respective existenc­ es, A precursor of modern-day reality shows, although executed with far more depth and intelligence, the Up series is a true observational study of human life, unveiling, at times, the es­ sence of character development. Au­ diences are able to connect the hopes and aspirations of the seven-year-olds to the current status and beliefs of these now middle-aged individuals in an astonishingly empathetic fashion.

Based on informal interviews, Apted allows for a raw dialogue with his participants, elevating the film beyond a simple study of class struc­ ture in Britain. He gracefully allows the audience to feel a growing attach­ ment for these people, who they liter­ ally see grow up before their eyes.The movie makes a subtle statement on the nature of candidness and child—

seven-year-olds ready to discuss any­ thing and completely at ease with the camera and crew and then the partici­ pants grown up, some more reluctant to participate in this steady intrusion into their lives, reticent to divulge the details of their existence.

4 9 Up is very successful in provid­ ing its audience with earnest portraits of the participants' lives not solely as representatives of their respective class environments, but as individuals.

The constant flashbacks also depict the evolving relationships of the par­ ticipants with the director. At seven years of age, they are in many ways pa rented by the camera and the crew, but as the years pass, the disparity in age dissipates, providing a constantly morphing interaction between the in­ terviewer (Apted) and the interview­ ees. The movie is a beautiful witness to the different stages in one's life and the ways in which one's childhood can be deterministic of his future, but it also leaves room for as many twists and turns as there are days in a year, or seven. ■ See 4 9 Up at the newly re-opened Cinema du Parc. Check www.cinemad-

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SOCCER— MARTLETS 1, LAVAL 0 (4-1 ON PENALTIES)

B o o k t h e f lig h t t o V ic to r ia : M a r t le t s t a k e t it le McGill wins fourth straight Q uebec cham pionship in thrilling fashion A aro n S igal When all cylinders are firing, great teams bury opponents, but the hallmark of the supreme squad is the ability to snatch victories on those "off" days when nothing seems to fall into place.

In a game that saw the McGill Martlets struggle at times, the team proved their championship mettle with a tight 1-0 tri­ umph over the Laval Rouge et Or in the Quebec University Soc­ cer League championship game to claim the title. The two teams traded chances and suffered the standard ebbs and flows during regulation, two 15-minute overtime periods and finally a penalty kick shootout in which McGill's standout keeper Victoria Villalba stopped two of three Laval spot kicks. Meanwhile, her Martlet teammates converted on all four attempts, culminating with mid­ fielder Bonnie Walsh's perfectly slotted shot past the Rouge et Or netminder for the victory and the title.

"There was such pressure, obviously," Walsh said. "I've been practicing it all season, though, so I just tried to stay composed when I got up there and it paid off."

It was this composure, so key to nailing down Laval in penal­ ties that was lacking from the second ranked McGill side early on in the contest. Laval, ranked fifth in the nation, saw the run of play heavily in its favour in the first half as the Martlets were notice­ ably nervous, frequently committing egregious errors which fans do not typically see from the powerful side. The crisp crosses, pin­ point passing and slicing runs which are trademarks of this McGill squad, were nowhere to be found on the freezing, wet evening at Molson Stadium.

In addition to McGill's own problems, Laval came out with the passion distinctive of an underdog. Led by shifty striker Caroline Vaillancourt— a 21-goal scorer in regular-season play— the Rouge et Or pressured the usually solid Martlet backline into several giveaways, resulting in quality Laval opportunities which Villalba was able to steer aside. Despite being mostly dominated by the feisty opposition, the Martlets managed to create the best-scoring chance of the half when, in the 40th minute, Kathryn Acton's corner kick was powerfully headed by midfielder Catherine Scott only to be stymied by the crossbar. For the most part, however, the first half was a choppy, grinding affair contested between the 18-yard boxes,. much to the chagrin of the fans expecting a fast-paced, high-scoring match.

"We didn't play that first half"said Head Coach Marc Mounicot.

"The girls were nervous. The players didn't follow the game plan.

We played out of position, we didn't keep our style. It was a very bad effort and Iwas pretty upset. Itold them that if they continued like that in the second half, we would lose the game for sure."

Different team in second half Although the Martlets seemed to come out for the second stanza with more gusto and urgency in their actions, it was the Rouge et Or who claimed the first high-quality scoring chance of the half. In the 49th minute, Vaillancourt again pestered the McGill defence enough to win the ball. She sped by defenders and out­ manoeuvred a challenging Villalba at the edge of the 18-yard box,

feeding a low cross to a teammate, who was unable to cash in on the yawning McGill cage; instead, she flung the ball over the net, allowing the Martlets to escape unscathed.

Lucky to still be tied, the Red 'n'White began to assert their dominance as the second half progressed, displaying the condi­ tioning and raw skill that propelled them to the top of CIS wom­ en's soccer all season. In the 67th minute, midfielder Carolyne Pel­ letier unleashed a howitzer shot from the edge of the 18 which the Laval keeper barely managed to punch over the bar. This seemed to energize the Martlets further as attacking formations began to develop and sharp crosses saturated the Laval defensive zone, in­ cluding two passes to substitute Marie-Jasmine Parsi which she could not direct into the net.

"I thought we dominated them in the second half," said in­ jured captain Shari Fraser, taken off only 10 minutes into the game. "It was a totally dif­ ferent game from the first for us."

and touched the ball, but was unable to stop it.

"It was go big or go home for me,"Villalba said. "It was the best game of my career. It was a big game for me because I kind of saw it as a one-on-one match with Laval's goalie. She got picked over me for the first team all-stars so I wanted to show that it could've been me instead of her. So I had to perform well."

McGill has now captured four straight QUSL titles and eight in the last nine years under Coach Mounicot.The team will now head to Victoria to participate as the Quebec representative in the CIS National Championship from Nov. 9-12, where they will face the perennial women's soccer powerhouse, UBC, in their first game.

McGill has won the most CIS medals in women's soccer history, appearing in the tournament 16 times, but has yet to win a gold medal. ■

Martlets win despite "full moon" Heading into golden goal overtime with a 0-0 deadlock, the tension in Molson Stadium was palpable; however, an anony­ mous streaker, braving the intense chill, was happy to break the pressure and lighten the mood before the extra period began, as he launched himself onto the field, where he sprinted towards the end zone chased by McGill event security.

Unlike the naked entertainer, the Mart­ lets and their Laval counterparts had clearly begun to tire by the two overtime periods resulting in a slogging, "running-on-fumes'' style, Although McGill had the run of play, both squads feared the fatal mistake and the game devolved into the always deadly penatly shootout.

"We practice penalty kicks," Mounicot said. "We also had a chance to scout Laval because they won their last game in pen­ alties also. We knew that their first shooter would go to the right of the keeper and our keeper knew."

McGill shot first in the kicks as Cathe­ rine Scott blasted a shot in off the crossbar and the post. Laval, on the other hand, still couldr't solve McGill's player of the match as Vitialba make a glorious diving stop to stone the opposition and set the tone for the penalty kick match-up. While McGill con­ verted on all of their shots, including Walsh's game winning fourth, Laval could only beat the keeper once. The one goal managed to elude Villalba'as she guessed the correct way

LUKAS BERGMARK Martlets came close on numerous occassions in regulation and overtime.

THIRD MAN IN

T h e c u r se o f t h e a s s is ta n t A dam Smith any hockey fans have been puzzled by the Calgary Flames' slow start to the season. The Flames had the league's best defence last year and while they struggled mightily on offence— only three teams scored fewer goals all season— they seemed to have improved their scoring over the summer by adding forwards Alex Tanguay and Jeff Friesen.The stellar defence is essentially unchanged and Vezina-winning goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff remains between the pipes. So where is the prob­ lem?

Simple: it's behind the bench.The Flames'other major change this summertook place when HeadCoach/General Manager Darryl Sutter gave up the coaching duties, hand­ ing them over to his former assistant, Jim Playfair. While Playfair did a good job coaching the Flames'minor-league affiliate in Saint John a few years ago and was a capable as­ sistant to Sutter, this move never should have been made if the Flames hoped to build on last season.

In situations like this one, the blame traditionally rests at least partly with the players. But in this case, there are several reasons that it is fair to lay most of it with the coach.

For one, the Flames clearly are not prepared for games.

They have given up the first goal in nine meetings and

M

often find themselves trailing less than five minutes in, which is particularly painful for a hard-working team used to winning games with grit and defence rather then highend talent. Second, the Flames lack discipline— a costly habit for a team that possesses a bottom-five penalty kill.

Lastly, where is the Flames'determination? The will to win that saw them through so many tight contests in the '04 playoffs and throughout last season?

Playfair knows that the Flames "[lack the] urgency to compete and win battles." So why doesn't he do anything about it? He's an assistant, that's why.

History has shown us time and time again that when a head coach leaves and one of his assistants is promoted, it simply doesn't translate well. Even if the former coach doesn't stay with the organization as Sutter has, the assis­ tant— able though he may be— cannot be the head man for that team. It's unclear why this is; perhaps because the players can never quite picture him as the boss, or perhaps he is never fully comfortable assuming that mantle.

Whatever the reason for the assistant jinx, the fact remains, and there is plenty of evidence. The Detroit Red Wings were still a good regular-season team after Scotty Bowman left, but were a disaster in the playoffs under

Bowman's promoted sidekick, Dave Lewis. Meanwhile, the Colorado Avalanche's experiment with Tony Granato as Bob Hartley's replacement fared even worse.

The story is the same across the world of sports. Like Lewis's Red Wings, Mike Martz's St. Louis Rams were never the same after DickVermiel left. Former UCLA basketball coach Steve Lavin is an even stranger example. Joining the storied team as a graduate assistant, he simply climbed the ranks of the assistant coaching staff until being made the primary assistant.Then in 1996, when Head Coach Jim Harick was fired for recruiting violations, Lavin became coach by accident, leading the once-mighty program to flounder for almost a decade.

Many of these assistant coaches (and others who couldn't be mentioned here) were not complete disasters.

The desire to promote from within seems much more fre­ quent in successful teams looking for continuity and while most do achieve a modicum of success, that bare mini­ mum is not what fans are looking for. Those who cheer for a perennial playoff powerhouse, like the Red Wings were under Bowman, have come to expect more from their fran­ chises. It's time these teams start aiming for the stars and not just the quick fix from within. ■

07.11.06 • The McGill Tribune • 21

HOCKEY— REDMEN 6, QUEEN'S 3

SHOOTING OUT THE LIGHTS

R e d m e n s e n d Q u e e n 's p a c k in g McGill explodes for six goals against rival D a n M c Q uillan Big hits, bigger action and a win for the Redmen: what more could Martin Raymond's side want?

In front of a sold-out McConnell Arena crowd of 1,314 rowdy spectators on Saturday night, the Redmen cruised to a 6-3 victory over their arch-nemeses from Queen's. The rink rocked all night long in a fiery match up that lived up to its billing as one of the biggest rivalries in the country.

The Red 'n'White responded to the crowd's energy by flying out of the gates, out-shooting their opponents 17 to 11 and taking a two goal lead into the first intermission. McGill would push its lead to 3-0 in the second peribd before a whirlwind third which saw the two teams combine for six more goals. Balanced scoring was the name of the game for the Redmen with six different play­ ers netting goals.

Head Coach Martin Raymond was pleased with his team's performance Saturday night, especially in light of their less than stellar play the night before in a 1-1 tie with the Royal Military Col­ lege.

"It has been a battle for us to be ready for all games," Raymond said. "Tonight we were up for the game. Friday was not the same story."

Big guns step up for Redmen Marko Kovacevic opened the scoring 2:43 into the first frame when he roofed a cross-crease pass from Eric L'Italien over sprawled Queen's goaltender Ryan Gibb. Teddy Kyres, Chris Churchill-Smith, Mathieu Leclerc and Guillaume Demers rounded out the scoring for the Redmen.

Mathieu Poitras, meanwhile, turned aside 24 shots en route to his fifth win of the season. Poitras was not quite his dominating

self, yet still managed to make the key saves at crucial moments.

With the Redmen holding a 2-0 lead in the second period, Poitras stepped up with a few beautiful stops with McGill on a two-man disadvantage and stoned Golden Gaelsforward Brady Olson on a breakwayjust minutes later.

Wild night at McConnell Arena

A tta c k o f

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^

J t h e b lo g

A dam H eller hat is the difference between Damien Cox and Eric McErlain? Damien is a sports columnist for the Toronto Star while Eric writes for an online hockey blog, w w w .o ffw in g o p in io n .c o m . Other than that, the differ­ ences aren't so noticeable. Why? Because Eric has full press credentials to Washington Capital's games just like other journalists, thereby allowing him to experience the glory of early morning skates, sweaty press boxes and fighting ravenous hordes of reporters for a good post-game in­ terview. On any given day, Damien and Eric are doing the same thing, though for radically different sports media.The sports blog, in this case, has been elevated to the same level as major newspapers and television outlets.

The Washington Capitals should be commended for granting credentials to bloggers. Any publicity is good publicity, as the saying goes. While other leagues and even other media outlets look upon bloggers with scepticism and ill-will, they should take another look at the issue.

ESPN, for instance, has issued a decree stating that members of its staff shall not use information from "un­ derground" media— read: blogs— especially deadspin.com .

Deadspin, the younger sibling of the notorious pop-culture blog gawker.com , has become a sports-culture phenom­ enon in and of itself. Every day, dozens of posts covering a wide range of sports topics are tossed up on the site, but that is not why it is one of the most popular sports blogs on the Internet.

Rather, it's Deadspin's ability to seize upon the culture and entertainment aspects of sports. Somehow, it seems more human than the dry and predictable coverage in newspapers and on television. There are no screaming heads arguing over minute issues that no one really cares about. There are no attempts to gloss over issues, such as race or sexuality, because they are too "hot". But most importantly, no one is safe. There are no owners to please and no need to use kid gloves on athletes so that they will grant interviews in the future. Quite simply, there are no barriers.

The preponderance of sports blogs, despite their massive and diverse subject matter, can clearly be divided into blogs about"sports"and blogs about "teams." Deadspin is about sports, while for example, cov­ ers the Detroit Pistons.Team blogs, as is the case with O ffW ing O pinion, are increasingly able, or at least are trying, to gain access in the same way as traditional reporters. Major League Baseball doesn't offer press passes to bloggers and as far as I could tell through the magic of Google, they are not being readily supplied by other leagues either. How­ ever, it is clear that a trend is emerging where bloggers are petitioning for access through the same channels as tradi­ tional media.

While blogs have spread rapidly and are continuously growing in popularity, it is not necessarily a good thing that some bloggers are accepting press passes to cover their teams. Blogs offer a refreshing view of sports that is not manipulated by the gravity of mass media. Deadspin, for instance, just wouldn't work if they were sitting up in the press box covering games. Its power lies in the fact that it is critical and detached from the corrupting force of beat journalism. People read it because they are looking for something beyond simple facts, strategy and "expert" analysis.

In general, wouldn't it be better if the press covered the games from the stands, away from all the hoopla, loyal­ ties and the general circus unfolding in the dressing room?

Why bother when the teams themselves now have report­ ers that give out the raw information and have websites that put up injury reports and breaking news. It seems repetitive to have every reporter fighting for the same sto­ ries, yet being unable to put forth anything juicy because they will never be allowed in the dressing room again.

Blogs, it seems, have changed the nature of the play­ ing field. Traditional media still breaks most of the stories, gives most of the strategic analysis and provides a bulk of the inside gossip. Butblogs, in a word, are deeper.They sig­ nal the rise of sports-culture, similar to pop-culture as it is seen in People magazine and Us Weekly. The opportunity for more access is always appreciated, but bloggers might be advised not to abandon what makes them tick: analysis from the outside. ■

W

Between the boards, the Redmen took it to their rivals from;: Kingston. But the action didn't stop there. Midway through the third, Kovacevic banged away at a loose puck on the doorstep which touched off a few tussles on the ice. This seemed to inspire several fans to emulate their heroes as a couple of scuffles broke out in the stands. However, McGill security was able to get a han-l die on the situation before the police arrived and sent the Queen's, section back to their bus, while the Redmen fans bid them farewell with some of the not-so-friendly cheers they had been shouting all game.

As things got a bit testy, a penalty parade resulted. McGill took the special teams race in a landslide, scoring three power-play goals and one shorthanded goal. Most teams in the CIS seem to be struggling to adjust to the post clutch-and-grab era.

"Unfortunately, with the new rules, it's very difficult to keep a five-on-five game,"Raymond said."lt just bounces around between power play and penalty kill. Last night we weren't great but today we came out ahead on special teams and we won."

That was clearly demonstrated by the game-winner coming early in the third with the Redmen on the power-play. Forward Lucas Madill deflected a David Urquhart point shot past Gibb to put the Redmen up 4 -1 . It ended up being the decisive strike de­ spite five other goals following it.

The Redmen travel to York and Guelph next weekend before returning home to face Wilfred Laurier and Brock in two weeks.»

need4sheed.c0m ,

CLARICE CONNORS After getting the puck deep on the PP, the Redmen get into position for a scoring chance against Queen's.

22 • Sports • 07.11.06

The McGill Tribune

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW— DON MEEHAN

PROFILE— REDMEN HOCKEY— MARKO KOVACEVIC

L o o k in g fo r

A r m e d w ith a s tic k a n d t h e

r e p r e s e n ta tio n ? r ig h t a t t it u d e Serbian just happy to play the gam e he loves

When people think of a sports power agent, they probably think of the Tom Cruise character Jerry Maguire, or if they're actual sports fans, maybe Drew Rosenhaus or Michael Barnett. One more name you can add to that list is Don Meehan. The McGill alumnus and former Redmen wide receiver is now the NHL's foremost super­ agent, representing stars like Scott Niedermayer, José Theodore and Jarome Iginla. Meehan was back in Montreal recently and made time to reflect with the Tribune on his time at McGill and the life of the student athlete.

Obviously you're now a sports agent Mr. Meehan, but some of our readers might not be aware that you're a former member of the McGill Redmen Football Team. What position did you play and for how many years did you appear on the team?

I played wide receiver in 19 7 4 and 19 7 5 , which was my last year of law school. I played for Coach Charlie Baillie and we had a great passing attack that year. That's why I'm so glad to see Matt Connell, Greg Hetherington and all these guys do so well through the air this year.

How did you manage to balance the challenges of ob­ taining a Law degree from McGill with the demands of play­ ing varsity football?

Well, I didn't start playing football until Iwas in my third year of law school. Ithink the toughest year for me in the Faculty of Law was back in year one. By the time Ijoined the football team, I was doing pretty well in school and I had my confidence up. It was tough, but I really enjoyed my time as a member of the McGill Redmen and it created some great memories.

Are there any memories in particular that stand out for you?

Mainly the people that I met and the friends that I made re­ ally stand out in .my memory. I had the opportunity to meet some wonderful people that I've been able to keep in touch with over the years. I loved the competition, being a wide receiver and I loved the fact that I played on a team with such a great passing game.

— C om piled by M a tt Chesser

M ike Vallo When asking Serbian-born forward Marko Kovacevic about his life, one might expect to hear abut the harshness of growing up in a war-torn country. That's not how the Belgrade native Kovacevic reflects on his upbringing.

"I'm not going to say that when I grew up, I didn't have any­ thing or that I didn't have enough to eat," Kovacevic said. "There were wars and you look at life differently, but overall, I have only positive things from my childhood and I wouldn't be here if I didn't get a good hockey education in Serbia."

What Kovacevic has taken from his youth is a positive at­ titude and a set of skills that have been a boon to the McGill hockey program. The only international player in the Redmen lineup scored eight goals and added three assists for a total of 11 points last year in his rookie season. Kovacevic scored his first goal of the new season and was named the Molson Cup first star in Saturday night's 6-3 win over Queen's. However, his pres­ ence is apparent even on nights when his name doesn't make the score sheet.

"Marko is a big player at 6'4"and over 200 pounds,"Redmen Head Coach Martin Raymond said. "He's got a big shot and is smart with the puck. He's an offensive guy who plays the point on power plays but can also play physically and be responsible on defence."

From hockey outpost to hockey hotbed Kovacevic was introduced to hockey by his father, a sports fanatic. As a kid, he dabbled in handball, volleyball, soccer and tennis but hockey was the sport that he fell in love with.

Although Serbia is not known for its hockey tal­ ent pool, Marko got a good introduction to the sport in his homeland.

"In Serbia, we're big on soccer, so hockey is not one of our priorities," Kovacevic said. "We have about five teams that aren't good quality and the organization and equipment are not so

good but it comes down to whether it is fun to play, and it was just as fun at home as it is here."

Kovacevic got his big break when a teammate's father introduced him to Saint Andrew's College, a private school in Aurora, Ont. At St. Andrew's, he caught the eye of some McGill alumni who brought Raymond in to see him, culminating in his arrival at McGill. Now in his second year at McGill, Kovacevic be­ lieves the team is poised to do big things.

"Our goal is to be champions of Canada," Kovacevic said.

"We work on every game like it's a playoff game to try to reach that goal. It's going to be tough, teams are getting better and now everyone knows we're a good team and are coming after us but I think we are up to it."

The consumate team player Kovacevic, who at age 1 5 became the youngest player ever to appear at the World Hockey Championship, will play a big part in his team's quest for glory this season. He believes the best thing he can do is play a team game and not set personal goals.

"I've never set a goal to score 20 goals, or have however many assists,” said Kovacevic. "I just try to play hard every game and focus on how I can contribute to the team. Ijust try to be positive on the bench, work hard and if Ifeel good after every game, that is a successful season for me no matter how many goals or points I have."

As important as it is for Kovacevic to help his team win, he is just grateful for the chance to be at McGill playing the game he loves.

"I think I can appreciate this more than the people from Canada," Kovacevic said. "I'm not say­ ing they are ungrateful, but I come from a place where you can barely have two sticks a season and now I can break two sticks at practice. Every­ day I think how the hell did I get here? It's one of the greatest universities in Canada and in the world and to play at this high a level is amazing.

It's been a great experience." ■

RUGBY— REDMEN 16, CONCORDIA 12

A ll h a il t h e Q u e b e c r u g b y k i n g s Last year's finals loss avenged with last minute dramatics A dam Smith

said after the game.

Redmen overcome adversity The Redmen had something to prove going into the The Redmen got off to a quick start after the stop­ Quebec rugby championship. After losing last year's final page, with scrum half Chris Horwood putting up another to Concordia and suffering the team's only defeat in the penalty goal to place McGill up 9-6. The Stingers came regular season to the Stingers, McGill knew it was playing right back, but were unable to convert three successive a strong Concordia side that wanted nothing more than to embarrass McGill on home field. The stage was set for penalties.

Penalties were a problem for the Redmen all after­ a battle. noon— committing twice as many as their opponents— On Sunday, fans got just that.

The Redmen won the Quebec conference title in and it nearly cost them the game, despite Concordia's kick­ thrilling fashion on Sunday, beating Concordia 16-12 on a ing difficulties. With a little over 10 minutes left, the Red­ men took a penalty within easy kicking distance and the late score, avenging their defeat in last year's final.

Stingers tied it up. Concordia then took the lead for the first With both teams recording their lone loss against the other, the final looked to be a fairly evemmatch-up. The time from another penalty less than five minutes later and game certainly started out that way, with both teams bat­ the game looked to be slipping away from the Redmen.

The Stingers kept the Red 'n' White pinned in their tling hard but neither able to get the upper hand.

"We knew it would be tightly contested," said Head own half until the dying minutes of the game. McGill finally broke out with a long run down the sideline by de Graff. He Coach Sean McCaffrey.

He was proven right as it took almost 20 minutes for was taken down illegally within .15 yards of the end zone the first points of the game to be scored. After a solid de­ by a Stingers player and McGill was able to bust in for the fensive stand, McGill broke down the field but had trouble try after the subsequent penalty. After Horwood made the kick to put McGill up by four, the Redmen only needed to breaking the Stingers' last line of defence. Captain Matt de hang on for the last few minutes and keep Concordia out Graff settled for a drop goal instead. of the end zone.

This started a back and forth sequence with each The Stingers tried valiantly, but McGill held fast team taking its turn marching the ball down the field but unable to drive it into the end zone.The teams traded pen­ through over five minutes of injury time to capture their alty goals for the remainder of the half, leaving the score second championship in three years. tied 6-6 at the break. The play had been fairly even, with a McGill already gunning for next year slight edge to McGill thanks partly to their ability to steal Coach McCaffrey was pleased that McGill had ac­ many of Concordia's lineouts.

But it wasn't all good news for the Redmen. Just be­ complished what they set out to at the beginning of the season and said the team was already looking forward to fore the final whistle of the half blew, de Graff dislocated defending their title next season. his shoulder and looked to be out of action.

"We're a pretty successful program. This is always the Thankfully for McGill, he made it back out for the sec­ STEVENAHERN goal from day one," he said. "We'll be back next year. We ond half.

The Redmen won all the little battles at key moments in the match. ___ 'Thgre was no way I was going to.come put," de Graff <start practice in January."*

07.11.06 -Sports -2 3

www.mcgilltribune.com

Sports Briefs

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COMPILED BY CHARLIE BlORE AND AARON SlGAL

McGill pasted by Laval on gridiron

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ON DECK Martlet Ice Hockey— Ottawa Gee-Gees at McGill Martlets; Saturday, 2 :3 0 p.m., McConnell Arena The Martlets are atop the division at 5-0 and well on their way to their goal of a national championship. The Gee-Gees, mean­ while, are hot on their heels in second place at 3-2. But McGill is 1 1 coming off a pair of big wins in the past few weeks, defeating the Montreal Axion of the NWHL and following that up with 5-0 drubbing of Ottawa this past Saturday.

Martlet Volleyball— Sherbrooke Vert et Or at McGill Martlets; Saturday, 6 p.m., Currie Gymnasium || The Martlets are right in the thick of things at 2-3 but are in danger of falling out of that spot if they don't register a W on Saturday. The Vert et Of,for their part, are in second place at 33. With just one game separating second from fourth, it's clear that plenty is at stake in this affair. Stick around for the men who take the court right after the women at 8 p.m.

NHL Hockey— Montreal Canadiens at Toronto Maple Leafs; Saturday, 7 :3 0 p.m.. Air Canada Centre, CBC Here we go again. The NHL season is only a month old and f this is already the third time these rivals have met. The first two meetings were absolute barn burners. Both games went to a I shootout, with each team taking one, despite play being domi­ nated by the Leafs. This one doesn't promise to be any different with both sides playing well of late.

Premiership Soccer— Liverpool Reds at Arsenal Gunners; Sunday, 1 1 a m , Emirates Stadium, Fox Sports Canada I I A couple of English powerhouses renew acquaintances in Lon I f don. Arsenal is currently in fifth place while the Reds are eighth.

Nonetheless, expect a spirited affair with plenty of the world's I I top players taking the pitch when these two meet. It's not like * there's nothing to play for: with only the top four teams in England earning a spot in the Champions League, every point , count is crucial to these two giants.

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NFL Football— Chicago Bears at New York Giants; Sunday, p.m., Giants Stadium, NBC j; There aren't any other watchable games this weekend— with V the exception of San Diego at Cincinnati if you can get it— so I f jump on this one.The two biggest favourites to come out of I the NFC face off in what could be a conference championship preview. The Bears are coming off their first loss of the season § against Miami while the Giants escaped a close call with Hous* ton. This will be a yardstick game for both squads so expect a I f hard fought battle.

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BO X SCORE Saturday, Nov. 3 ,2 0 0 6 McGill Redmen 6 vs: Queen's 3 McConnell Arena SCORING SUMMARY FIRST PERIOD: 1. McGill - Marko Kovacevic (E. L'Italien, S. Bloom) - 2:43 (PP) 2. McGill - Teddy Kyres (L.S. Allaire, B. Arseneault) -17:30 SECOND PERIOD: 3. McGill - Mathieu Leclerc (T. Kyres, V. Lambert) -16:06 (PP) THIRD PERIOD: 4. McGill - Lucas Madill (D. Urquhart, S. Pearce) - 321 (PP) 5. Queen's - Brad Walford (C. McCullough, P. Doyle) - 7:31 (PP) 6 . McGill - Chris Churchill-Smith (S. Bloom, E. Stilling) - 9:22 7. Queen's - Oatty Doyle (B. Olsen, K. Cassidy) -12:14 (PP) 8 . Queen's - Brian Moore (C. McCullough, S. Colizza) -1302 9. Queen's - Guillaume Demers (C. Churchill-Smith) -19:38 (SH/EN) GOALTENDERS: McGill: _ Mathieu Poitras (W, 3 GA, 24 saves, 60:00) Queen's: Ryan Gibb (L, 5GA, 38 saves, 59:00) .

Empy-net (1GA, 1:00) SHOTS BY PERIOD TEAM McGill Queen's

1 2 3 Total 171513-45 11 6 1 0 - 2 7

ATTENDANCE: 1,314

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BO X SCORE

Friday, Nov. 3,2006 McGill Redmen 0 vs. Laval Rouge et Or 1 University of Laval Scoring Summary FIRST HALF: None SECOND HALF: None OVERTIME: i. Laval - Falardeau - 1 1 3 :0 0 YELLOW CARDS: None RED CARDS: None ATTENDANCE: 5 0

Molson Cup Three stars: 1. Marko Kovacevic, McGill 2. Teddy Ktres, McGill 3. Steven Pearce, McGill

The Redmen took it on the nose Saturday afternoon from number two Laval in football action. McGill was shel­ lacked 52-0 by the Rouge et Or in the Quebec university football semi-final before 10,722 fans at PEPS Stadium in Quebec City.

Quarterback Benoit Groulx completed 19 of 26 pass at­ tempts for 285 yards, three touchdowns and two picks to lead the Laval offence. The Redmen, meanwhile, were held to just 213 yards and were never engaged in the game, trail­ ing 10-0 after the first quarter and 27-0 at the half.

It was the first-ever shutout in the 19 meetings between these two teams and the worst loss for the Redmen since their playoff defeat in 2000 when the Ottawa Gee-Gees whipped them 50-3.

McGill didn't help its own cause either, committing six turnovers and amassing 115 yards in penalties. Matt Connell managed to put up some good numbers but failed to put any points on the board, finishing the day 30 of 42 for 282 yards and one interception.

Laval will host the Quebec conference championship against the sixth-ranked Concordia Stingers next Saturday, with the winners to be awarded the Dunsmore Cup. *

Martlets get over hump against Laval The Martlet volleyball team notched its first-ever win at Laval and only its second regular-season victory of the year this Friday against the perennial powerhouse.

Jennifer Thomson and Valérie Savard led a spirited McGill squad to a stunning 3-2 upset over the sixth ranked Rouge et Or. The win didn't come easily though, lasting over two hours with set scores of 26-24,25-19,18-25,12-25 and 15-7.

The win pushed McGill's record to 2-3 and right back into the thick of the playoff hunt.

The Martlets will now begin a tough schedule, playing three matches in as many days next weekend, taking on Montreal on Friday and coming home to face Sherbrooke and UQTR on Saturday and Sunday.

Three all-stars on Martlets rugby team The Quebec women's rugby all-star team was an­ nounced with three Martlets making the cut. Winger Laura Belvedere, number eight Ashley Rycroft and lock Kath­ ryn Butler were the McGill honourees. This marks the third time Belvedere has been selected to the squad after finish­ ing fourth in the CIS scoring race with 50 points (10 tries) in eight regular season games. Forwards Rycroft and Butler, meanwhile, weren't recognized for their scoring prowess but rather for théir outstanding play in setting up scores and working in the Martlet scrum.

McGill cross-country standout recognized McGill cross-country runner Lauren Whyte took home this week's Quebec University female athlete of the week award for the period ending Oct. 29. That week, Whyte fin­ ished first out of 37 runners at the Quebec cross-country championships to win the women's individual title and earn conference MVP honours.

Running in treacherous conditions, Whyte completed the hilly, five-kilometre course in 22 minutes, 51 seconds; 16 seconds ahead of her closest competitor. That paved the way for the Martlets to capture the conference champion­ ship for the 19th straight year.

[S A C K O F TH E W EEK This Week's Winner: Thoroughbred Horses.

Ok, ok. I know what you're saying."What the hell could this j If guy possibly have against horses?”Well I'll tell you.They get way | [! too much attention!

This weekend we got to renew acquaintances with our I old friends Giacomo, Bernardini and some other horse whose » name only a lonely sports nut would recognize. The occasion 1) was the Breeders Cup, an event that means exactly nothing to I I anyone who doesn't own a thoroughbred or spend too much | I of their time at the track.

Nonetheless, every spring, sports fans are treated to the | ! j inevitable song and dance about some horse owned by some I 5 dude and how either the horse, the dude or both have an. | ! amazing story to tell the world.

The problem is no one gives a crap. They trot out these supposedly amazing stories because frankly, what else is there to say about a horse that can respond to being continuously whipped slightly better than other horses.

I get why horse racing was once a big deal. Think about 1 j it: back in the horse and buggy days, this was the equivalent j j of Formula One auto racing. I'm sure that everyone from The j j Duke of Essex to the local shoe cobbler clamoured for news of ; the race and wondered what their lives would be like if their , I horse could run that fast. The problem is no one rolls around in I buggies anymore and thus we'don't care how fast your horse j I can run. .I

D o e s Q u e e n 's really fu ck sh e e p ?

Find out!

W rite for sp orts.

Email us at sports@ m c g illtrib u n e.co m Editor's note: The Tribune w ill n o t a c tu a lly ask y o u to verify the beastiality o f Queen's University.

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T h is is th e o n ly c a m p u s -w id e y e a r b o o k ...

T a k e th e g o o d tim e s a lo n g *

Don't miss ou t on your chance to be part o f th e McGill history books, w hile studying at th e best University in Canada in o n e o f th e m ost beautiful cities in th e greatest country in th e world. $42.00 plus tax gets you a Yearbook $25.00 plus tax gets you a Photo $67.00 plus taxes gets you Immortality

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