The McGill Tribune Vol. 26 Issue 25

DIRECTING PROJECTS HIT C A M PU S THEATRE, PAGE 19

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The McGill

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r ib u n e

Published by the Students' Society of McGill University

Volume 26 Issue 25 •March 27,2007

www.mcgilltribune.com

Faculty and alumni protest arts space jumble Plan would see Moyse Hall used for lectures Sonya B ell In response to space shortage problems in the Arts building, the arts faculty will soon undergo a proposed space reallocation plan to revamp the building, relocate the French department and address the classroom short­ age. However, the future o f the Arts building is becoming Increasingly uncer­ tain as the end o f the school year nears.

When students return in the fall, they may very well find themselves shut out o f McGill's signature photogenic building. The proposed plan, however, has recently come under criticism from faculty members, alumni and current students.

"It's all very sad because it's creating tensions within the department, be­ tween the departments and it doesn't make the faculty look very good that it doesn't try to protect its heritage," said English professor Dorothy Bray.

The plan was set into motion by the Dean o f Arts Christopher Manfredi and will move the French department out o f its present location in Peterson Hall and into offices fashioned out o f the second and third-floor classrooms.

The classroom shortage will in turn be addressed by converting the Leacock computer labs into classrooms and changing Moyse Hall, a fully operational theatre, into a large lecture hall.

"The Department o f English Students Association has campaigned for the whole year against this proposal," said DESA VP Finance Mike Stewart. "We organized a massive letter-writing campaign and gave a stack o f more than 50 individual testimonials to the dean, to the associate dean, and to Arts Un­ dergraduate Society President RJ Kelford. We w ent to tow n halls to air our grievances, and we were told directly by the dean that there was no way to stop this plan. The AUS Executive is uninterested in our concerns. They feel that since only the English department is affected, it doesn't matter enough to fight. We strenuously disagree."

Associate Dean (academic administration and oversight) Mary Mackin-

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Can you fig u re o u t h o w to g e t all th es e p arts o f th e arts fa c u lty to fit to g e th e r again?

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R em e m b er, y o u r s olu tion has to be a c c e p ta b le to stu d en ts, th e English d e p a rtm e n t an d th e fa c u lty o f arts.

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See SHUFFLE on p age 6

Former PM makes surprise visit to McGill Paul Martin urges African nations to unite as one James G otowiec Former prime minister Paul Martin made an unannounced visit to the McGill campus last night for a wide-ranging discussion on the is­ sues facing the African continent with profes­ sor Norman Cornett's religion and the arts class.

Martin, w ho Cornett told the class needed "pre­ cious little introduction," was recently named co-chair o f a panel that w ill advise the African Development Bank group on its strategic vi­

sion.

"What I'm really here to do is to set out cer­ tain problems and then simply ask your advice," Martin told the assembled students and faculty in the Macdonald Harrington building. "I'd be very interested in your views, and I'd be very in­ terested in testing my views w ith you."

Cornett consistently manages to have high-profile political personalities speak to his students in class discussions. He said that he found that the world of politics is incredibly

Interconnected, and if one person has a good experience talking to a group, they will let oth­ ers know about it.

The discussion focused mainly on the need for African nations to participate in the market economy and come together under one union, with a market structure similar to that of the Eu­ ropean Common Market. Martin also touched frequently on the parallels between the issues facing Africa now and those facing Canada's ab­ original people.

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Cornett, acting as moderator, called on members of his class to ask questions using amusing "classroom nicknames" that often prompted Martin to ask, "Where do you get these names from?"

The former prime minister was repeatedly questioned on his belief that the market econ­ omy would solve many o f Africa's problems, and drew on a wide range of examples to sup-

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N A T IO N A L

Simon Fraser votes in plebiscite to leave CFS National student lobby group claims that process was 'illegitimate' . K a y v o n A fs har i While the Students'Society gears up for the required fall ref­ erendum on provincial representation, many on the other side of the continent at Simon Fraser University voted overwhelmingly in a non-binding referendum to disaffiliate from the Canadian Federation o f Students. Flowever, questions have arisen among CFS and CFS-British Columbia executives regarding the "non­ binding" nature, the procedure that was followed, as well as the question presented.

"I certainly know that a referendum, as defined by the by­ laws, did not take place, because there is a process for that to be initiated and that never happened," said CFS Treasurer David Flare. "There is nothing legitimate about what took place at SFU." According to the unofficial results posted on the Simon Fra­ ser Students' Society's Web site, 882 students voted in favour of disaffiliation while 251 opted against.

Sasha Fox, Simon Fraser Students'Society external relations officer, presented her argument for why the question posed was non-binding.

"If we were to have a binding referendum and it were to go through, we would have to leave CFS immediately whether or not it was legal,"she said."A non-binding referendum means that we can elect to forestall it for a few months."

Additionally, CFS-B.C. Chairperson Scott Payne felt that the results o f the non-binding referendum are not reflective o f the

sentiment on SFU's campus, which had resulted from an alleg­ edly unfair question.

“The polling that took place was based on a fundamentally flawed question that presented an unrealistic scenario and was designed to lead students in a particular direction," he said. "It presents a scenario whereby students are asked to make a choice

"I've been to a couple CFS conferences; they don't make an effective use of delegates'time," Fox said. "They've stalled any meaningful changes and most o f their lobbying is advertising and angry rhetoric. They recruit new schools and then block them from leaving; it's a mostly self-perpetuating organization."

She said that McGill's students and representatives should be cautious when dealing with their provincial CFS component, CFS-Quebec.

"My message would be to keep a very close eye on the provincial office and how it has func­ tioned in the past."

SSMU Vice-President External Max Silverman said that Fox's complaints regarding the BC com­ ponent are probably accurate but have no bearing on SSMU's experience with CFS and CFS-Q. He has not yet taken a position on whether to vote'yes'or’no'in the fall, arguing that more time is needed before reaching a sound con­ clusion.

"It certainly sounds like there are a lot o f problems with CFSBC, but I don't think it reflects all that much on CFS national and in particular, it has no bearing on CFS-Quebec," Silverman said.

"I've long maintained that CFS is not the solution to our provin­ cial lobbying but we still have to find out if this is a changeable organization. If I, see a marked improvement in [the May Annual General Meeting], then I'm sure that my opinion will change, but it's still way too early." ■

"The polling that took place was based on a fun­ damentally flawed question that presented an unrealistic scenario and was designed to lead students in a particular direction."

— CFS-B.C. Chairperson Scott Payne and o f course, they would like to see increased services. It makes it seem as though those ideas are mutually exclusive."

Payne's complaints regard the clause which asks students if they are in favour of taking their CFS membership fees and invest­ ing them into "improving student services such as departmental student unions, club infrastructure, online student services, af­ fordable student housing, staffing at satellite campuses, a publicly-accessible indexed archive of SFSS documents and lobbying the government for SFU student interests."

Fox, who headed the'yes'com m ittee in favour of disaffilia­ tion, elaborated on her complaints against CFS.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW — D A V ID SU ZUKI

Environmentalist insists on immediate action David Suzuki: Canadians are ready to pay the price for sustainability Environmental advocate and national tele­ vision icon David Suzuki came to Montreal last Thursday to address climate change issues. In be­ tween saving the world and educating the youth, Suzuki found a half hour to sit down with the Tri­ bune and discuss his ideas for Canadians' role in preserving the environment.

What value do Canadians place on the environment and how should Canadians address climate change?

My sense is that Canadians are very con­ cerned about global warming and they want something done. They want leadership on the part o f their politicians. They're really sick o f the rhetoric and posturing and they want some ac­ tion from government. I would be shocked if Canadians objected to rising prices o f gases or increased taxes on certain luxury items. I think they're ready to pay this price.

The people are concerned; global warm­ ing is very real. In the media, it seems that we've suddenly gone over a tipping point. If you read the Globe and Mail, all the columnists are no longer arguing about whether global warming

it only covers 10 per cent o f the cars; the most efficient and the most polluting. We should be putting a $10,000 fee on every SUV and take that and give it to the low-polluting cars.

It's an income-neutral program for the gov­

"I think that the SUV, socially, has almost become like having syphilis or something; you're embarrassed to have it" is happening; they're all arguing about what we have to do about it and it's very exciting.

The pressure is on the public. Let's get on with doing something.

Does the federal budget released last week reflect Canadian environmental goals?

No it doesn't.There were fee rebates for the gas guzzlers, which are a nice beginning, but

MARTIN CHAMBERLAND Suzuki says th e d e v e lo p e d w o rld m u s t ta k e th e first step to w a rd s em ission re d u c tio n .

ernment because they're not making money, but what you're doing is rewarding the people that are doing the right thing. In the budget itself, the com m itm ent to climate change was less than in the Liberal [government's] budget.

They had cancelled the Liberal programs and now they have cobbled them together to try to bring them back, but it's not enough.

You have always given the Kyoto Ac­ cord a lukewarm reception. Is Kyoto the right way to go? Are Kyoto Accord targets enough to control global warming?

All Kyoto did was set a framework to meet a certain target and it is a very modest target.

Even meeting Kyoto targets barely makes a dent in what we have to achieve, but it's re­ ally important because the whole idea was to have the industrialized countries that created the problems begin to lim it their emissions and bring them down and by 2012, the devel­ oping world would be brought into Kyoto. If Canada, one of the richest nations in the world, can’t, meet Kyoto targets, why should China or India give any considerations for meeting the targets?

We have done so little, so the target is going to be so much harder to reach now be­ cause emissions are always on the rise. We're not going to be able to make an absolute re­ duction to below 1990 levels. Scientists say that we've got to keep our emissions down enough to prevent temperatures by tw o degrees this century. If we can keep it below a tw o degree rise, maybe conditions won't go totally crazy. In order to meet those tw o degrees we have to re­ duce by 90 per cent in the next 10 years. We've got to start reducing immediately and I don't think the political courage is there to do that.

Do you think ethanol fuel is a viable alternative fuel source?

I don't think it's the way to go. Corn ought to be grown for food! I think it's a- stop-gap measure and we've got to find a way to grow grain for food and use the waste and ferment the waste and make ethanol from that. Farmers can harvest food, wind and ethanol from waste.

As a stop-gap measure, it is possible, but we've got to go to something new, non-polluting and non-detracting from food.

How can you convince companies to put aside their profit-seeking motives and reduce their emissions?

The economy has to consider the impact on the environment. Economics considers what we do to the air, water and soil as an'externality' and we have to internalize what we're doing to the environment.

I once talked to Toyota Canada, which has been a very progressive company. I asked them why they are bothering to sell SUVs, and they replied that SUVs are one o f their most profit­ able lines. What they tried to do is make sure every one of their cars in every category is the most efficient, but I think that's a bit o f a copout. I think there's simply no justification for driving an SUV anymore. It's interesting to see the social shifts in attitudes towards SUVs. At one time, we thought they were terrific; they were a status symbol. I think that the SUV, so­ cially, has almost become like having syphilis or something; you're embarrassed to have it.

With the knowledge you have of our future perils, how do you stay optimistic?

I don't stay optimistic or pessimistic; I just have hope. We're going down a very dangerous path and I believe we now have a very narrow window. This is the tim e to act and if we don't act in the next few years, we're toast. I'm at the end o f my life; I have more than I need o f ev­ erything. Whatever happens now is not going to affect me, but it's going to affect my grand­ children. I've got to do everything I can to make sure that my grandchildren don't say to me, "Grandpa, you could have done m ore."*

— Compiled by Ken Sun

27.03.07 • The McGill Tribune • 3

N A T IO N A L

BY TH E NUM BERS

Tories' unorthodox budget 'Aspires' to satisfy

The 2007 C onservative's federal b u d g e t in c lu d e d b illio n s o f d o lla rs in n e w s p e n d in g in ita tive s.

H ow m u c h w ill th is be c o s tin g th e g o v e rn m e n t?

$140-million Canadians and Social Programs

Silverman and CFS say federal plan falls short on post-secondary education A lli M a c Isaac Minister o f Finance Jim Flaherty presented the Con­ servative government's second budget last Monday to popular support and criticism from opposition parties.

Liberal finance critic John McCallum called it a "shot­ gun" budget.

"It's as if the finance minister shut his eyes, held a shotgun in the air, pulled the trigger and hoped that he hit as many targets as possible," McCallum said. Released last Monday by Minister o f Finance Jim Flaherty, McCal­ lum claimed that the budget had "something for every­ one."

Flowever, the Conservatives'massive spending strat­ egy, particularly in government programs, may be unsus­ tainable.

The budget plan showed program expenses rising from 12.8 per cent o f the gross domestic product in 2005 to 2006 to 13.2 per cent from 2008 to 2009, which may lead to overspending and "outpace the growth o f the economy," according to professor William Watson, chair of the economics department.

While some argue that increased spending stimulates economic growth, one section in the budget seemed to have fallen short. Post-secondary education only received an additional $8oo-million in funding, falling far short of expectations.

The Canadian Federation o f Students, McGill's pro­ spective federal lobby group, was not entirely pleased.

"Although we're pleased that the federal govern­ ment has recognized the need to restore some funding for public post-secondary education, overall funding will still be roughly $i-billion short o f 1992 levels,"said Amanda Aziz, CFS national chairperson.

She stressed the need for legislation on post-second-

ary education to ensure that money is spent wisely.

Students'Society Vice-President External Max Silverman held a more critical view, calling the budget "irresponsible"and "inadequate". Silverman attacked the grad­ uated spending post-secondary education program.

"The current proposed federal re-investment amounts to nothing for next year and ultimately build­ ing up to $8oo-million a year," he said. "So, the federal government's long-term reinvestment is one third o f the minimum, short-term demands o f every premier, united."

Contingent on the results o f yesterday's election, provincial tuition may also be affected.

"Under the proposed reinvestments, in five years, the federal government will be paying $20 o-mil|ion more per year to Quebec's universities,"Silverman said."The provin­ cial government will be paying $6o-million more per year and yet, students will be paying $28o-million more."

Watson suggested that the focus o f post-secondary education funding should not lie w ith the federal govern­ ment.

"Education is mainly a provincial responsibility," he said. "If provinces think education is a high priority, they'll presumably spend a good part o f the new money on it."

Watson suggested that education go back into the hands o f the people and emphasized the futility o f what he termed a "Me! Me! Me! budget."

“I'd prefer a situation in which Canadians decide for themselves how much education they needed and were provided with enough after-tax income and, if the capital markets are deemed deficient, publicly encouraged bor­ rowing opportunities to finance it largely on their own," he said.

As it stands, universities in Quebec receive the most funding and have the lowest tuition nation-wide. ■

$255-million Environment $400-million Entrepreneurial Advantage $315-million International Assistance $1.012-billion Investing in Health Care $5-million Post-secondary Education $2.066-billion Restoring Fiscal Balance; Equalization, Territorial Formula Financing, Infrastructure Support $300-million Science and Technology $440-million Tax Advantage Total: $4.933-billion — Source: Government o f Canada

CAMPUS

Herra-Vega challenges election legitimacy Chief Returning Officer's decisions to be scrutinized by Judicial Board K ate S pirgen

Itz k o w itz resorts to less d istin g u ish ed m easures to g e t w h a t he's had his eye o n since his first s tep o n cam pus.

Former candidate and current Students'Society Vice-Presi­ dent Clubs and Services Floh Herra-Vega is challenging the re­ sults o f one o f the closest presidential races in the history of the Students'Society on the grounds that elections regulations were not properly enforced.

In her case, Herra-Vega cited the fact that her posters were torn down, sometimes repeatedly, in various locations includ­ ing the Upper Residences, Solin Hall and the Burnside building and letters to the editor condemning Herra-Vega and support­ ing current president-elect Jake Itzkowitz were also published in the McGill Daily after the campaign period had finished: all vi­ olations o f the electoral bylaws. Her case argued that "the Chief Returning Officer failed to fulfil his duties w ith all due diligence" because these violations w ent unpunished. "[Elections McGill CRO Bryan Badali] said in Council that he didn't even read that day's Daily," Herra-Vega said. "That's pretty negligent.”

However, Elections McGill stated that they did not feel that the effects o f the missing posters were significant.

"Unfortunately, violations do go unnoticed as we're not omniscient," Badali said. "We would like to point out that no one seemed to feel it necessary to complain about this until after the outcome o f the election was announced.”

The results o f the Judicial Board will either declare Itzkowitz's presidency legitimate or call for a re-election in one o f tw o ways. Either a 48-hour voting period would be held w ithout campaigning, or a new vote w ith a shortened campaign and voting period w ould occur.

While Herra-Vega is optimistic that voters would turn out for a special election, Itzkowitz and Badali both cited voter fa­ tigue and apathy as concerns.

"Another election would be a mistake," Itzkowitz said.

"There's not enough tim e and no one is interested. I think most students see it as a close election and that speaks to the quality o f both candidates. The democratic process isn't one where you can challenge its legitimacy if your candidate doesn't win."

After the election results, Herra-Vega's initial reaction was to "accept the results and move on," but after receiving com­ ments and concerns from fellow campaigners, friends and even people she had never met, she decided to file a case with stu­ dent advocacy.

"I don't w ant SSMU to go into a year o f people being in­ credibly resentful and feeling like an election is illegitimate, particularly an election that was so polarized," she said. "I feel like either way, J-Board will give some legitimacy to the election and I feel that's really important. Either way, I think it's better for SSMU." However, Badali did not agree w ith Herra-Vega's view of the case's effects.

"Certainly it's damaging to the democratic process when a clearly democratic vote is contested on the basis o f disagree­ ment w ith a decision that Elections McGill had complete au­ thority to make," he said.

As current president-elect, Itzkowitz also cited concerns about the effects o f this case on the student body.

"Students already see us as a joke and the administration sees us as a joke. That's one o f my biggest concerns," he said.

"I've been so disappointed by the whole situation. A lot of my efficacy is already gone because o f this and because of the way this is making SSMU look."

Elections McGill originally decided to fine Itzkowitz $80 rather than to censure him, citing the severity o f a censure and a lack o f proof that Itzkowitz was responsible for the infractions.

According to Badali, "a censure is explicitly an accusation against the candidate, and we didn't feel that there was enough evidence to prove that Jake was behind the violations himself, even if they were done on his behalf."

Herra-Vega, however, claimed that nothing in the bylaws support Badali's definition o f a censure.

"The blanket term 'censure' means that Elections McGill is sending out information about something that happened," she said. "It doesn't necessarily mean accusing a candidate o f something. It's just making people aware o f what's going on and that's all we asked fo r''»

4 «News •.27-.Q3:Q7r

News Briefs

D u de!

C a n y o u tu rn your n ew sp ap er d o w n ? I’ m t r y in g to s l e e p . ”

SUS bylaws to im prove transparency to students In the wake o f a Science Undergraduate Society frosh week that failed to turn a profit, SUS executives have put strict financial reporting rules into place to avoid any similar problems in the future.

Last year's science frosh was budgeted to make a profit of approximately $15,000 on revenues o f $56,000, but only $35,000 in fees and other income were eventually accounted for. This resulted in the event posting a $5,000 loss.

The new bylaw mandates that all SUS executives present a budget to the vice-president finance for approval and sets new rules for cash transactions and expenses for members o f event organizing committees. Event leaders will also be required to present detailed financial reports w ithin a month of the event's completion.

While the tim ing o f the passage o f the new bylaws seems to coincide w ith the revelation that the frosh week didn't make the money it should have, SUS President Lili Gao believes that this is not the case.

Gao said that VP Finance Belinda Kong wanted the amendments to be in­ corporated as the constitution, which would have required them to be passed by referendum. The executive later made the decision to enact the rules sim­ ply as a set o f bylaws.

"The tim ing looks suspicious because the original intention was a consti­ tutional amendment which would have had to be passed at General Council a specified number o f days before polling started," Gao said. "Two weeks be­ fore SUS elections just happened to be Students'Society campaigning, hence what looks like a contrived move on our part."

The bylaws also require the Science General Council to be informed of each event's financial performance— something that has not been done in the past. Gao hoped this would increase transparency at SUS. Despite the loss from frosh week, Gao said that SUS was still in a good financial position.

"The $5,000 loss has not affected SUS as a whole, because the executives have worked hard to minimize spending in their portfolios, but at the same tim e not compromising the quality o f our events," she said. Gao pointed to Academia Week, which came in almost $4,000 under-budget, as an activity that was both low cost and extremely successful.

Gao said that in the coming week the SUS executive would make all the financial documents concerning the frosh events available so that concerned students are able to see exactly where money was spent.

— James Gotowiec

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27.03.07 • News • 5

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@MAC

Elections are whack at Mac United continent Current execs serve to monitor election won't be stopped

volved, then yes, we should have a different elective body in charge o f our election," Bennett said, "but because it's hard enough to get people to participate in the positions Students on Macdonald campus hit the polls last Thursday and Friday to vote in an election marked by neu­ that we have, to then set up a separate governing body is trality disputes amongst co-returning officers and the ac­ just not feasible."

The lack o f a scheduled.debate has also led some to clamation of a majority of positions. Problems arose within criticize the process while pointing to student apathy as the Macdonald Campus Students'Society election process the cause. as the positions of chief and co-returning officers were "I think that we should have had [a debate]. It's the taken by current executives and planning troubles forced candidates' rights to have one," said presidential candidate students to vote w ithout an official debate between the Lise Cobitz, who is also the current VP external. “Unfortu­ candidates for the contested positions of president and nately, the people who were in charge vice-president finance. o f the elections weren't really a big According to the MCSS Constitu­ presence this year and they should tion, Senate and Board o f Governors have had it planned before. There's representative Hamilton Bennett was nothing that the candidates can do supposed to be the co-returning of­ because we can't really plan our own." ficer for this election, with VP Internal However, Bennett questioned Jake Drummond acting as the chief the effectiveness of a debate. returning officer. Both were forced to "In the past when we have held step down when their neutrality was debates or question-and-answer pe­ questioned. riods, w ell only have 10 or 15 people "I was the person who convinced show up," she said. "Most of those [presidential candidate Nick] Patocka people are already involved in one of to run,"Bennett said."I wanted to make the campaigns, so they're there more sure we had an election and that it to point out the strengths and weak­ wasn't an acclaimed position, so I was nesses o f people than legitimately no longer impartial." questioning the candidates and ac­ In their place, the council ap­ tively wanting to know who to vote pointed current President, Mariefor."

Anne Hardy and current VP Finance, U3 dietetics student Jonathan VINCCI TSUI Andrée-Michelle D'Aoust-Messier, to di Tomasso disagreed with this senti­ W h o w o u ld have th o u g h t th a t the tw o positions. Hardy has also been ment. acclaimed for the VP Business Opera­ d e m o crac y has flo u ris h e d o n Mac? "When you live on campus, you tions position for next year, but did not get the'idea that everyone knows absolutely everybody feel that she had a conflict o f interest. else," he said. "But a lot of people don't live on the campus; "All the candidates are great; I have no favourites.

I think everybody could do a good job," she said. "Since I they have no idea who any of these people are and they need to get some kind o f an idea of what's going on or know I will be working with any o f these people, I know I have no problem with it. It can't get personal, which is what their positions are. A debate would actually serve this purpose." what has happened right now with [Bennett]."

However, Di Tomasso said that he probably would Both Bennett and Hardy agreed that having an exter­ have not gone to the debate as he lives downtown. nal body like Elections McGill at Macdonald campus would Despite all of these problems, there has not been an be ideal, but cited an inhibitive lack o f student participa­ outcry from students, and the polling station remained tion. quiet over the tw o days o f polling. ■ "Ideally, if we had everyone on campus actively in-

V in c c i T sui

w h a t’s included: . new furniture . new appliances . full gym . luxury 4 £5 bedroom apts.

Faculty and students grill Martin on potential solutions C o n tin u e d fro m COVER port his argument. He consistently returned to the fact that if African countries aren't able to coordinate their positions on significant issues, they are never going to be able to compete in the world economy. But if the continent can manage to coordi­ nate its actors,"then nothing is going to stop it."

On the subject o f free trade, Mar­ tin said that Africa needed to solve its own internal ' b e f o r e problems before spending political energy on trying to change the trade poli­ cies of the western coun­ tries and the World Trade Organization.

"Do I think that what is happening with agriculture and the inability o f the Africans to export their agricultural products to Europe or the United States is wrong? Absolutely.

But I have to tell you, I thinkthat's sim­ ply looking for a scapegoat," he said.

“Africa was once self-sufficient when it came to agriculture and it isn't any­ more."

He pointed out that there were large areas of the continent that were unable to export to other parts of Af­ rica because there were no roads.

"What I would say to the Africans is before you starting whining about the fact that you can't get your stuff into France, how about getting it into Chad?"

Despite many o f his prescrip­ tions for action and policy ideas,

Martin recognized and encouraged those in the audience to remember that discussing the issues in an aca­ demic setting was easy.

"It's so easy, sitting in a class­ room, to basically say, 'This is what the Africans should do,' just as it is so easy, sitting in a classroom, to say 'This is what the Canadian govern­ ment should do.' Put yourself in the position o f a politician and you've got 14 conflicting forces and it's a very dif-

you starting whining about tne fact that you can't get your stuff in to France, how about getting it into Chad?"

— Paul Martin ferent thing."

Fraser Dickson, U1 history, found Martin to be an extremely impressive speaker.

"It's always an extraordinary privilege to be able to engage in dis­ cussion with a debater on the level of Paul Martin,"he said."We've had some pretty incredible and interesting peo­ ple in here, but I think everyone was a little shocked when he walked out."

Adrian Angus, incoming Stu­ dents' Society vice-president univer­ sity affairs and a member of Cornett's class, was enthusiastic about the chance to spend tw o hours in dia­ logue with Martin.

"I hope the university continues to provide these types o f opportuni­ ties for students," Angus said. ■

w h a t’s not included: • old mattress • finder’s fee • angry neighbours . cockroaches • sweaty landlord

515 ste. C a th e r in e st.w.

LUKAS BERGMARK

See, he re ally w as h ere. W e w o u ld n 't m a k e th a t sort o f th in g up.

6 • News • 27.03.07

Shuffle may affect historical value French department would be relocated from Peterson

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Continued from COVER non had been surprised by the amount o f criticism over these plans, but re­ mains optimistic that these plans will be accepted eventually.

"You can't make big changes w ithout people being worried," she said.

"There have been a lot o f opportunities for people to come and talk with us, and these have been very helpful for us." The English department, which will be shuffled around the Arts building, has no objections to sharing their area w ith the French department, but concerns have been raised about the status o f the historic integrity o f the building and potentially reduced student presence in the building.

"The real objection is to the rearrangement to the physical building.

People in architecture tell us you can probably identify the designers o f the classrooms by their rare architectural elements. Many great Canadian poets were students and professors in these very classrooms. There is intellectual history embodied in these spaces," English professor Brian Trehearne said.

Mackinnon did not share the concerns o f the English department.

"I think a lot o f people don't understand what is being posed here,"Mack­ innon said. "There will be substantial upgrades and the English department would actually benefit substantially from this."

Mackinnon predicts that by next year, only four members o f the English department have to move offices: three to the first floor o f the Arts build­ ing and one to 3425 Peel St., an arm o f the English department that focuses on research in literature. Though faculty o f the English department have ex­ pressed their willingness to move to rented office space located off-campus as a temporary measure to accommodate for the lack o f space, English pro­ fessor Robert Lecker feels that this is not an alternative.

"The amount o f money that would be spent on these renovations would far exceed rent."

Lecker feels that the experience o f these unique classrooms will not be replicated in the new classrooms in the Leacock building's computer labs.

"We're losing classrooms w ith natural light, high ceilings and natural ventilation, or that face the mountain on the north side. The students in turn are being transferred to [classrooms] less conducive to a positive teaching and learning environment, no natural light," Lecker said Mackinnon felt that many, o f the classrooms in question were poorly de­ signed and disliked by both students and faculty, such as classrooms where viewing screens and chalkboards were placed in such incovenient places that professors could not fully use both at the same time.

"I find it hard to think that it'll be so terrible to lose rooms that everbody hated anyways," she said. "Most people will find the new classrooms a lot more functional."

Alumni and present students are part o f the protest against the plan.

Flora Spiegel, a McGill alumnus residing in England, spoke out against the proposal.

"As a cultural historian, I know that historic rooms such as the Arts class­ rooms are a precious and non-renewable resource, particularly in North America," Spiegel said. "The proposed alterations will be difficult and expen­ sive to reverse and if the plan goes ahead the rooms are unlikely ever to be used for teaching again."

Jeff Roberts, another alumnus, expressed concern with the short-sight­ edness he sees in the plan. "Removing teachers and students from the Arts Building may address a temporary space expediency, but only at the cost of destroying a constituent source o f McGill's identity. It would be like chopping down the campus trees because the school is short o f firewood," Roberts said.

In spite o f these voices o f dissent, not much headway has been made on altering the course o f the proposed plan. Dean Manfredi has met w ith the department and answered some o f the letters, but so far has agreed to save only one o f the classrooms.

"My opinion is that this very clear opposition and argument from heri­ tage is not having a significant impact on the plan. We've mounted a coher­ ent argument but it is not being sufficiently heard,"Trehearne said.

Objections were also expressed toward converting Moyse Flail into a classroom.

"It's just not practical," Bray said. "A lot o f money was put into it to bring it up to standard and to preserve it. It's rented out so it generates income for its own upkeep."

According to Mackinnon, however, Moyse Hall wasn't going to be con­ verted into a classroom anytime soon.

"The current situation is that no classes are held in Moyse Hall," Mackin­ non said. "We haven't figured out any way to make this work. For the forseeable future, there won't be any classes [in Moyse Hall]."

Mackinnon left room for speculation on the future o f Moyse Hall, sug­ gesting that the faculty try holding a few lectures on a trial basis and 'see how things go'.

"Wouldn't it be nice to have a few lectures about the theatre i n ^ real theatre?"»

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Elections for next year's officers o f the Science Undergraduate Soci­ ety ended on Saturday with a series o f acclamations. Current SUS VicePresident Academic Spencer Ng was acclaimed to the position of president and Hussein Jaffer was acclaimed as VP internal.

Two of the three representatives to the Students' Society positions were also awarded uncontested, going to Neil Issar and Andrew Ling.

Two additional candidates, Jessica Boulanger and Jean-Francois Fournier-Heroux, were forced to withdraw from the race in its final week for fail­ ing to maintain-satisfactory academic standing. The new executive will be accepting applications for the third seat in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, most o f the con­ tested races were decisive. Nathaniel Winate won the VP academic port­ folio over Charles Walsh with nearly 70 per cent of the votes, while Ritu Modi claimed the VP communica­ tions seat with 65 per cent and Eva Kong won the VP finance race over Hayat Ahmed Hashim with nearly 60 per cent. Nahid Punjani defeated Nick Avdimiretz in a relatively closer race with 56 per cent o f the votes. Nikki Fischer won the Bachelor of Arts and Science Integrative Council VP aca­ demic race.

All referendum questions passed, except one to remove the SUS Com­ puter Taskforce as a committee of the society. Another question on the bal­ lot created special department the Science Computer Taskforce. Asked for comment, Chief Returning Officer Ryan Luther stated that the questions were purely organizational in nature and "will have no effect on the CTF or the SUS." Presumably the incoming executive will sort out the bureau­ cratic redundancy.

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Ng intends to address recent criticism o f the SUS during his presi­ dency. "One of the main things I want to work on is obviously transparency and accountability, due to the whole scandal this year,"Ng said in reference to the recent discovery that last year's science frosh, which was expected to bring in close to $ 15,000 of profit, ac­ tually lost over $5,000.

SUS has recently passed a series of bylaws requiring more detailed financial record keeping. The latest of these, a constitutional amend­ ment passed in this electoral polling, requires that "every SUS executive committee member present a finan­ cial report regarding his/her events to the General Council no later than one month after the even has taken place."

Although Ng will be keeping a watchful eye over SUS's internal af­ fairs, he wants to make its general dealings more approachable to the common student.

"This year, more than previous years, SUS has had more of a closed door policy," Ng said. "Next year we want to have doors wide open and invite the general public to come into our council meetings."

Kevin Dong shared Ng's desire for a more approachable executive.

"When I first came here, I had a lot of ideas; I wanted to talk with the exec," Dong said, "but they were intimidat­ ing. They're scary people. They're big."

Participation in SUS events has been in a lull this year and event coor­ dinators have had difficulty recruiting enough help. As Nick Avdimiretz put it, “students do need to start volun­ teering ... to staff SUS events."

Reaching out to the typical sci­ ence student might take a little more work than Ng expects, Dong ex­ plained.

"Spencer has a lot o f power, if I were in UO, I'd be scared o f him." ■

speed

A colossal squid, believed by scientists to be the largest speci­ men of its kind caught, may have to undergo a de-thawing surgery with the use of an industrial size microwave. The squid was caught in the Antarctic and was kept frozen by a New Zealand fisherman. Squid expert Steve O'Shea said the calamari rings made from it would be like tractor tires but would taste of am m onia.* A Palestinian woman was stopped at Gaza's border when EU officials noticed that she had three live crocodiles strapped to her stomach beneath her dress. The woman told border guards she intended to sell the crocodiles to a zoo in Gaza City. • Lap dancers at one of Britain's largest strip clubs must pay their own value added tax, Justice Mann decided in a High Court ruling that could affect dancers at other venues. He backed the chain's argument that the entertainment is provided on offer by the self-em­ ployed dancers, not by the club. • Two diaries written by Anna Nicole Smith have sold for a whopping $500,000 on to a Ger­ man man who plans to use them as the basis for a book. The 1992 and 1994 diaries were discovered a few years ago by a man cleaning out Smith's house in Los Angeles. • A police investigation was launched last week after schoolchildren found a fingertip at a bus stop. The fin­ gertip-less man had an accident tw o weeks ago while trying to clear a snowblower. He didn't bother to look for the finger, opting to just go to the hospital for treatment instead.

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The game of life

J. F. K o s t u c k JFKOSTUCK@GMAIL.COM

J esse C haser he McGill Alumni Association puts on a series o f informational semi­ nars called "Backpack to Briefcase," designed to help students make the transition to life in the "real world." Over the last tw o years, I have attended a few o f the seminars and have found them, for the most part, very helpful.

Two weeks ago, a friend o f mine— let's call her Susan— attended "Dressing for Success for Women," which was put on by fashion consultants at Holt Ren­ frew.

When I asked her how it went, she was very positive, feeling that it was use­ ful and informative but— as one would expect from Holt's— all o f the clothes were extremely expensive. But as she explained what had occurred in greater detail, I became increasingly appalled.

The "fashion consultants" told this room full o f twentysomething women h o w to hide "problem areas"and assured them that they had special garments to get rid of"imperfections."Needless to say, this sickened me.

I realize that whether I like it or not, this is how the real world works and I should not blame McGill for propagating this— after all, the series is about adapt­ ing to the"real world,"not my ideal world.

Nevertheless, I still felt sad. Susan, on the other hand, did not even see these"flawhiding"clothes as a problem. On the con­ trary, she thought they were great, which only served to further frustrate me.

After four years o f university (and I guess one too many sociology classes), I find it obvious that saying everyone's body is flawed is wrong; or that the aver­ age body, male or female, needs cover­

T

ith apartment-shopping season get­ ting into full swing, last week's cam­ pus publications were bursting with tips fo r’ the overwhelmed housing hunter.

What was lacking, however, were pointers for those at the other end o f the spectrum— folks leaving our fair city for greener pastures, pref­ erably w ithout the burden o f summer rent hanging over their heads. Subletting, lease transfers, finder's fees— if only there was a set o f rules detailing vendor etiquette when it came to student living. Is there any humanity left in the house hunt, or does one have to sell out in order to sell?

My current place o f residence has been the topic o f my column on several occasions.

From its overabundance of rowdy neighbors to its lack o f fire safety, I could always count on my apartment to provide me with literary in­ spiration. Due to a recent chain of events, my roommate and I have decided to part ways, she choosing the life o f solitude in a studio apartment, while I opted to move into a house full o f musicians. Hey, I still need content for next year's columns.

So, despite our newly discovered differ­ ences, Roommate and I banded together for one last time to straighten up our living quar­ ters and give our apartment the illusion of habitability to the unsuspecting masses. Per­ haps we should have contacted the previous tenants, from whom we acquired the abode and investigated to which satanic deity they had made a sacrifice in order to fool tw o rea­ sonably intelligent freshmen into signing the lease. Failing to do so, we resorted to using our creativity and resourcefulness to mask the eccentricities, shall we say, o f our short-lived home.

Nearly a year ago, after a rather interest­ ing combination o f tequila shots and latex paint, we found our apartment exhibiting a colour scheme that had not been seen since the 2005 London revival o f the musical A

W

JESSE.CHASER@GMAIL.COM ing up and reshaping. Susan just thought that this made sense. "Only models have perfect bodies," she remarked, "so it's great that they give us something so we can at least try to compete."

What she didn't seem to get was that if-only models have perfect bod­ ies— which they acquire through freak­ ish genes, starvation diets, plastic surgery and airbrushing— and models are such a small proportion o f the population, then "average" people shouldn't be ashamed.

Models are the ones w ho should be viewed as "freaks" who need a little pad­ ding here or there to cover up those railthin thighs.

I left my coffee date realizing how extremely naïve I was. Not because I had thought the real world would be closer to my ideal world, but because I didn't realize how insulated my little corner o f the university is. Susan is in manage­ ment and apparently no one has taught her about social constructs and the way that consumerism forces us to think that we are imperfect so that we'll buy some­ thing else to help us attain "perfection", which is more than a little ironic, as she has a jo b next year with a marketing firm doing exactly that.

My sadness is not over the fact that the McGill Alumni Association is indirect­ ly propagating beauty myths and overt consumerism; it's that Susan didn't realize it. She thought that the presentation was very helpful, especially the part about which cut o f pants hides fat thighs.

When we live in society, we have to play the game— to a certain extent. I get that. My fear is that not everyone realizes that it's a game. ■

Hair.

quick trip to Home Depot solved that problem.

With the aid o f tinted light bulbs, our kitchen was now a warm, muted orange, instead of caution-tape yellow and my bedroom was a serene purple instead of an eye-crossing neon pink. Why were these lights, which seemed to the rooms, on at tw o in the afternoon as we performed guided tours o f the house?

Ambiance, o f course.

Shortly after the painting debacle, there was an interesting incident involving our kitchen appliances. Another tequila-fuelled event and a rigorous game of indoor badmin­ ton resulted in the loss of our stove's function­ ality. This normally wouldn't have been such a travesty— since both Roommate and I are culinary catastrophes waiting to happen— if it was not for the fact that we had been using the oven to dry our socks. Our dryer had kicked it a week earlier, after an episode in­ volving a box of Kraft Dinner and a misleading marketing campaign. Since then, it was only capable of achieving a certain temperature, just enough to get our clothes from soak­ ing to damp, but not nearly as close to "dry" as we were accustomed. Hiding these flaws was remarkably simple: we placed a covered pan inside the oven and turned the backlight on— interested parties couldn't inspect the unit for fear of ruining our delicate soufflés.

By placing a vibrating pager in the dryer, we kept onlookers at bay— you wouldn't want to interrupt our laundry in the middle o f a cycle, would you?

Perhaps the lowly state o f our apartment is no one's fault but our own, but at least part o f our bad decision-making process can be attributed to the inclusion o f tequila in our ev­ eryday activities.

That being said, charming 4 1/2 available May 1 , secure and quiet building, artistically painted, modern and functional appliances included. Priced to move. Complimentary shot of tequila with every guided tour. ■

darken

BT P H O N E H O M E

GA on my mind Byron T au BYRON.TAU@MAIL.MCGILL.CA

I 'm from

New England. In addition to being the land of clam chowder, anti-British revolutionary zeal, Red Sox-mania and dropping the letter"R"from various words, my beloved region is also known for its pioneering democratic spirit. The New England town-meeting-style assembly is one o f the closest approximations to direct democracy in all o f North America. In my town, it's generally a well-run, well-attended, constructive forum where citizens assemble to discuss and debate issues and proposals.

In this proper spirit and tradition, I am no enemy o f di­ rect democracy. In fact, I recognize that it offers one o f the best ways to feel empowered by the political process. I un­ derstand that it is a unique venue that allows for unprece­ dented discussion and debate. But here at McGill, the Gen­ eral Assembly process that we currently have is destructive, divisive and profoundly undemocratic. In recent years, the GA system has only w rought radicalization and divisions upon the student body— a process that has only accelerated with the institution o f GAs. My distrust o f the process goes back to my first year, when a GA was called to decide whether or not SSMU would be joining a Quebec-wide student strike. Despite an infamous photo that (repeatedly) graced the cover of the McGill Daily,

regular

depicting intrepid students thrusting their hands in the air to cast a vote for more accessible education and lower tuition, the GÀ itsçlf was a disaster.

Attendance at the GA exceeded capacity and many stu­ dents who came to participate were turned away at the door.

The scheduling of the assembly was such that moderate students who opposed the strike would have been forced to choose between attending classes and attending a vote on whether the student union would go on strike, thus poten­ tially missing more classes.

The result was a collection o f students already ideologi­ cally hell-bent on joining the student strike, not a representa­ tive sample o f the student body as a whole. Essentially, dis­ cussion was useless and hearts and minds were not going to change. The few political moderates who did show up and dared to suggest publicly that the decision o f the GA be put to a general student referendum were rudely shouted down.

In recent years, GAs have tackled a whole host of issues: decorporatization, the controversy over the blood drives and worker's solidarity, most o f which aren't even the direct pur­ view of the student union. There is nothing inherently wrong with these motions, nor the problems and grievances that they aim to address. However, these GAs have only exposed

the deep flaws in the entire process.

These problems are two-fold. First, the venue is quite lim­ ited. As the 2005 Strike GA demonstrated, the forum that we presently have cannot reasonably accommodate the num­ ber o f students who want to participate if the issue at hand is particularly divisive. Second, when the issue is divisive enough, the GA does not provide for adequate student rep­ resentation and the regularizing o f the assemblies has only intensified this problem. Quorum at regular GAs is only 100 students out o f a SSMU membership o f almost 20,000— or 0.5 per cent of the undergraduate student body. Such a tiny group should not be able to dictate policy.

The recent SSMU election seems to have repudiated much of the radicalism on campus. The new executive team should make GA reform a top priority in its upcoming term.

GAs should be preserved as a forum for open debate, but all GA decisions should be put to student plebiscite for ratifica­ tion and approval, with a reasonable turnout, say no less than 15 per cent o f the student body— the same as that required for SSMU elections. This is a compromise solution that would address the structural problems inherent in the forums, while preserving the GA as a model for direct democracy. Anything less would be undemocratic. ■

not

27.03.07 • The McGill Tribune • 9

TR TETINE

EDITO RIAL

Whither reasonable discourse?

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S a m a n th a C h a n g A n d re w Frankel Jessica S hapiro

ne of the founding principles of university life has always been the ability for students of all political stripes to engage and chal­ lenge one another. An equally important aspect of this is that the discourse be conducted in a respect­ ful and positive manner.

Unfortunately, the amount of juvenile, accu­ satory and simply ridiculous behaviour w ithin the Students'Society has raged out of control this year, reaching new lows in the most recent SSMU scan­ dal: the presidential election. The tabloid-esque conduct o f both sides has taken its toll on all par­ ticipants— each claiming to be the victim — who have reduced democratic debate and discussion to childish name-calling and ideological attacks.

While everyone was busy mobilizing against Héma-Québec, McGill's Board of Governors and la Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec, SSMU politics have become so self-involved that they seem to have forgotten that there is life beyond the McGill campus or even the walls of the Shatner building. Instead o f channelling that dedication in a proactive manner, too many have approached it with closed minds and a lack of respect.

Whether one points to campus-wide slander­ ous comments about SSMU executives, the blood donation debacle that should have been taken to the Judicial Board months ago or individual ideo­ logical attacks that serve to do nothing more than paint a broad sketch o f presidential candidates, the point is one and the same. Everyone needs to stop, take a look around and reassess the situation to fig­ ure out what is really important to students.

Both sides o f these political arguments, espe­ cially in the case o f the presidential election, claim that they have a monopoly on the definition of democracy. Each group asserts that it alone knows how a fair and righteous decision should be made, all the while failing to allow the democratic pro­ cess, and those placed in charge o f guarding it to do their jobs. While the blood drive issue and the presidential election have been taken to J-Board,the war o f words in the press and online continued and have served to do nothing more than raise the question: Are those involved concerned with de­ mocracy or winning?

The level of political debate, if it can even be called that, is being harmed by this kind o f imma­ ture hostility. Rather than discuss issues o f impor­ tance to the student body, campus politicos and their followers are getting hung up on personal be­ liefs, leaving voters with nothing more than a broad caricature o f the candidates and the issues.

Cries of homophobia from Floh Herra-Vega's

O

camp, questions o f democratic validity and com­ parisons o f Jake Itzkowitz to U.S. President George W. Bush are no way to contribute to a fair and accu­ rate discussion. Herra-Vega’s posters being defaced with comments like "dyke" and commentary by Itz­ kowitz to the press about his predecessor's merits are uncalled for and simply rude.

At this point, no matter what J-Board's deci­ sion, this election is doomed to be criticized as unfair. If it throws out Herra-Vega's case against the CRO, the murmurs of disapproval from Herra-Vega's supporters will continue. Should J-Board order a special election, as it did three years ago when Alam Alii got the CRO's decision to disqualify him overturned, a Herra-Vega win would likely face ac­ cusations o f illegitimacy as well. And even if Itzkow­ itz were to win such a special election, the stain of the first campaign would probably not disappear.

Rather than complaining about the injustice o f the election system, students should look for ways to improve it. Instead o f underhanded mud slinging, those contesting the wrongs o f the process should put their efforts into reforming the sys-

tern to ensure that this does not occur again. The time and energy put into personal attacks against both candidates would be better spent reforming the election bylaws. For instance, the law in ques­ tion, about defacing posters, is rather concerning.

Fining one candidate for the destruction of another candidate's posters is somewhat absurd as there is no way to tell who did the damage. Candidates could rip down their own posters in the interest of getting their opponent fined or censured and it is unclear whether fines are even a proper method of enforcement.

The system, as they say, is flawed. However, you can't always get your way and lashing out when the results aren't what you want will never be the answer. All o f this bickering could be put to rest with a little tolerance and understanding from each side. With that, there would be more time to focus on the really important things, like your edu­ cation. After all, that is what we're here for, right?

As educated people, we should strive to conduct ourselves in a manner that reflects our intellect, not our dark sides. I by

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Get your drunken ass out of the hall

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V la d im ir E rem in P u b l is h e r

C h ad R onalds C o n t r ib u t o r s

Sonya Bell, Jesse Chaser, Mallory Dash, Emily Gennis, Ezra Glinter, Conor Graham, Judah Issa, J.F. Kostuck, Liz McLaughlin, Alii Maclsaac, Kristin Maich, Joanna Reznick, Shea Sinnott, Byron Tau, Shiran Teitelbaum, Vmcci Tsui, Jeremy Young T r ib u n e O

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Editorial Shatner University Centre Suite no, 3480 McTavish Montreal, QC H3A1X9 T: 514398.6789 E: info@mcgilltribune.com

Advertising Brown Student Building Suite 1200,3600 McTavish Montreal, QC H3A1Y2 T: 5i 4.398.68o6 F: 514398.7490

ost high school students dream o f going to university and getting away from home, parents and curfews. Chief among these, they look forward to living in residence. But in my experience, it is vastly overrated. Nothing exempli­ fies the"rez experience" more than dum b first-years waking you up at 4 a.m. as they cackle in the hall­ way about how drunk they are. As a freshman who doesn't get drunk every weekend and puts quite a bit o f value on his GPA, I have found the behaviour of my peers repulsive. Incidentally, as I write this, one such girl that has clearly had one too many drinks is spinning around in circles w ith her friends no more than 20 feet away. Such is life in McGill's New Residence Hall.

Don't argue that "they just like to have fun!" and go on to call me the party spoiler, because all I want to know is why these frosh feel that they must get wasted every weekend? More importantly, why do they think that they can interrupt sleep pat­ terns to do it? If you want to get drunk, don't do it outside my door.

Call me crazy, but I don't enjoy stepping over limp bodies lying on the ground as I walk to my

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my

room. I'm not going to help you get up, regard­ less o f whether you are intoxicated, passed out or dead.

There is nothing wrong with getting drunk or having fun, but there has to be a time and a place for it. I have nothing against my peers who party through the weekend; the problem lies in their in­ ability to be responsible for their actions after they get hammered. It is frankly disappointing to see that, over the course of this year, most o f these firstyear students have hardly matured beyond their high school levels and think that they can yell, fight, scream, drink and smoke (tobacco or otherwise) wherever they choose and blatantly disregard the needs o f the normal people who enjoy tranquility and sleep.

Naturally, it would be near impossible to ex­ pect a hammered, vodka-puking frosh to act ra­ tionally and show some courtesy towards their floormates. That said, there is simply no excuse for deciding to get so drunk that people can't walk through the hall to their rooms because too many scantily clad bodies are littered across the hall. Frosh need to understand that the hallway is not a place

K en S u n

for getting totally hammered with your drinking buddies or spilling half your beer onto the carpets.

Please, take it elsewhere— like to Gert's or St. Laurent. When you do come home at 4 a.m., please do it to actually sleep because you're all partied out and not because you want to smoke some joints.

Freshmen students need to be taught how to drink, where to do it and how to show some cour­ tesy while doing so. Society has worked hard to teach people to not drive after drinking, but most frosh don't even know how to drink responsibly and still think that they can party like they did in high school w ithout a care in the world. It does not work that way. Freshmen students, believe it or not, are considered adults, and they need to learn to act accordingly or they will eventually end up being tried in court as one.

It all comes down to respecting your fel­ low human beings and it's something many frosh need to learn. Your parents might not be there to tell you what to do anymore, but that's just all the more reason for you to wise up, move on from the high school lifestyle and show some courtesy as an adult. ■

please

The M c G ill T rib u n e 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 u^nder 300 words and submitted only to the T rib u n e Submissions judged by the Tribune Publication Society to be libellous, sexist, racist, homophobic or solely promotional in nature will not be published. The T rib u n e 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 M c G ill Tribune, its editors or its staff. Please recycle this newspaper.

10 - The McGill Tribune • 27.03.07

Letters to the editor Rhetoric isn't all bad I had difficulty swallowing Elizabeth Perle's article "Environmental rhetoric: how much is too much?" (12 .03.07), which states that cur­ rent techniques o f global warming awareness are possibly more harmful than helpful, fails to cover some key aspects. In order to inform the public and create awareness among all social groups, non-scientific vocabulary and simpli­ fied data are a vital and justified method of information delivery. Also, I can't help but refer to the popular statement, "no publicity is bad publicity.'Thanks to Al Gore and recent sexedup messages about global warming, the pub­ lic is more aware o f the earth's environmen­ tal problems now than ever. Although these methods o f communication may not be 100 per cent accurate and may not offer solutions to the problem, they are creating awareness, which is the most important response.

Perle says that "climate change problems may not necessarily benefit from simplifying or essentially spoon-feeding this exception­ ally complex issue to the population," but why not? Evidence supporting this statement was unclear in the article. Furthermore, the author mentions developing countries, and how their choice is not so simple. What choice is Perle referring to? The choice o f decreasing green­ house gas emissions is not simple for anyone.

In fact, developing countries have less respon­ sibility and less pressure than rich countries when it comes to these restrictions.

Finally, is there really a better alternative?

It is clear that in order to communicate and get through to today's society it is necessary to alter one's approach and language. I applaud the effort that is being made in response to

global warming and I am finding it difficult to imagine a less-commercial campaign having as much of an impact.

—JaneMorrison U3 civil&environmentalengineering

There's a wide world o f sport out there As important as the NFL and NFHL might be to most Canadian and American sports fans at McGill, it was disappointing to find no mention at all o f the cricket World Cup in the Tribune.

Admittedly, the gentleman's game has almost no following in Canada, but consider­ ing the combined number of international students from such cricket-playing nations India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies, one m ight have expected at least minimal coverage of the ongoing clashes in the Caribbean. Canada also participated in the World Cup. Given, also, that tw o of history's greatest cricketing shocks happened within hours of each other only a few days back (I'm not tell­ ing you— find out and be shocked and awed yourself), this omission is rendered even more painful.

The soccer World Cup costs the world $4billion in lost productivity, $2-billion in Europe, while $io-billion is lost in India alone during each cricket World Cup. So many people can't be so crazy about a game for nothing.

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—LauraRobinson U2 physiology SOARPresident

—ManosijMajumdar Uochemicalengineering

We were kidding...

As the president o f the Student Organiza­

V O X POPULI .TSau.. s;'*

tion for Alumni Relations, I would like to take the opportunity to address your editorial "Trad­ ing places can be fun"(20.03.07). One o f SOAR's objectives is to enhance the student experi­ ence on campus. To help fulfill our mandate, an event called Trading Places was created.

It was not established for the entertain­ ment o f either party, but for a McGill student to gain insight into the range of responsibili­ ties and daily tasks that an accomplished Mc­ Gill administrator must deal with. We receive applications from many outstanding students; unfortunately we are only able to accommo­ date one per year. It is a unique opportunity for a student to participate in this program and provides a special opportunity to interact with valued leaders o f the McGill community.

Perhaps the advertising for this event could have been clearer in conveying the program's goals to the student community.

The program was initiated by students, for stu­ dents and the administration o f the University has been willing and interested in taking part in it.

That said, it does not beseech any mem­ ber o f the McGill community to jest at valu­ able opportunities graciously provided to the student body by the administration or any other parties affiliated with McGill. I hope I have been able to dispel any misconceptions about the origins and goals o f the Trading Places program.

Hollywood's influence

M o h a m m a d M iraly MOHAMMAD.MIRALY@MAIL.MCGILL.CA // i he opinion that art should cloaked in the garb of entertainment.

I have nothing to do with poli- The film's continual critique of the U.S. I tics is itself a political attitude," government is a call to arms for demo­ argued George Orwell. Art, quite natu­ cratic citizenship, the cornerstone of rally, reflects life; life, at the same time, which is criticism of government. reacts to art. In this way, art has a re­ That freedom of criticism has, in sponsibility, for it holds considerable recent years, come under increasingly sway overour malleable minds. aggressive fire, most alarmingly by the is no art film. It is an un­ mass media, which should protect free­ abashed. action flick with noteworthy dom, not restrict it. There is a great and explosions. Its depth, therefore, is sur­ growing mass o f people that considers prising. Although the film panders to government criticism to be unpatriotic. action-seekers, it simultaneously pro­ Interestingly, it was the unquestion­ vides a scathing criticism of U.S. foreign ing nature of Wahlberg's character in and domestic policy in a manner so that made him easy to entrap: unapologetic that it reminds one of "They knew which buttons to press. I'm Noam Chomsky. At one point, a cor­ a patriot at heart.'This is the really lam­ rupt senator revels in the effectiveness entable part; Democracy is only sus­ o f the U.S. government's- propaganda tained by the critical voice of the peo­ machine (of which the media is the ple— criticism, not blind acceptance, is primary vehicle) and exclaims: "We live the citizen's patriotic duty. in a country where the Secretary of Albert Einstein once wrote that Defense can go on television and tell the main sources of information (press, the people that we are fighting a war radio, education) in a capitalist society that has everything to do with freedom are controlled by private capitalists and and nothing to do with oil and nobody "it is thus extremely difficult for the indi­ questions him!" vidual citizen to come to objective con­ What is perhaps most impressive clusions and to make intelligent use of about this film is that its political criti­ his political, rights.” Thus, the informa­ cism is not bogged down by clichéd tion needed to criticize intelligently is dialogue, tedious acting or a shaky obscured. plotline. In fact, the acting is quite Because of their ability to dissemi­ good, the characters are interesting, nate information widely, Hollywood the dialogue is not hackneyed or stale films are in the unique position to and the plot is engrossing (yet happily leave lasting and heavy impressions on punctuated by some very exciting ac­ society's social imaginary— the public tion scenes). Indeed, it is the film's so­ opinion, as influenced by media. Films, lidity in these respects that allows it to therefore, have an incalculable influ­ remain critical without falling into the ence on the social imaginary and are realm of paranoia. therefore not without meaning or ac­ Unlike too many action films, this countability. The films that are able to film is not a shabbily put together proj­ successfully marry entertainment with ect that aims only to get some excited meaning— like — demonstrate shouts and guffaws from its audience. both the power and responsibility of is not a light-hearted film. popular media. The extent of its ben­ There are few jokes and no sex scenes. efit, however, should always be up for This is its success: it is a serious venture debate. ■

go digital,"(20.03.07) quotes Ed Fludson as if he were giving Quebec Public Interest Research Group McGill's opinion on the Student Soci­ ety's online opt-out proposal. Having been contacted at home on Saturday evening, Ed was asked to comment on an issue of which he had virtually no prior knowledge. He made it clear that QPIRG, having only just won its fee referendum, had not had the opportunity to consider much of anything and certainly could not have come to an official position on any proposal.

Under such circumstances, construing Ed's careful "we don't oppose” as meaning "we support" was an unwarranted journalistic lib­ erty. QPIRG McGill is run by a student Board o f Directors that sets QPIRG's policies and maintains relations with our members, which include both undergraduate and graduate students. QPIRG McGill's constitution man­ dates us to have a transparent and accessible opt-out policy.The QPIRG Board will always re­ main committed to this mandate, as well as to informing students about the diversity o f our programs and our 20-year history o f support­ ing student initiatives.

At this point, QPIRG, as an independent organization, has still not been approached by eitherSSMU orthe McGill administration about an online option. Thus the Board has not met to discuss any issues pertaining to-opt-outs.

We feel it was inaccurate to have portrayed Ed's comments as if they represented an offical QPIRG McGill position statement.

—HollyNazar, onbehalfoftheQPIRG BoardofDirectors U3 internationaldevelopmentstudies QPIRGDirector

Not to be pedantic, b u t...

Ken Sun's article "Dodging student fees to

Do you w a n t to be a Tribune colum nist in 2007-08? Subm it your applications to th e Tribune office (Room 110 in th e Shatner building) w ith a cover letter includ­ ing a th e m e for your colum n, a sample colum n and ideas for six future columns.

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W hereas tuition and related fees have become a barrier for an accessible education; W hereas the governm ent refuses to take considerable actions to counter the situation; W hereas, in the past, a strike has been proved to be effective; That, we, as M cG ill students, striking on March 29th and showing our solidarity and support for an accessible education o f quality.

Campus C A M P U S CULTURE SILHO UETTE

Stop the Sexual Naïveté The Fridge Door Redlight magazine's war on prudes opens C o no r G raham

of sex and how it varies in culture and practice.

For people who just like to watch, the maga­ zine is no stranger to nudity. But don't worry— it's all tasteful.

"Each issue has a centrefold, but with no frontal nudity. Erotica isn't gynecology," Giovanna says.

The practice o f denying or w ithholding sex or pleasure can definitely heighten the eventual release. The Web site also has a section o f "eye candy" where you can ogle pictures ranging from centrefolds to studs and everything in between.

If you're interested in expanding your sexual boundaries— and let's face it, who isn't— you can check out Although there are no current plans to have the magazine in print, the layout o f the site is designed as if you were flipping through the pages. The new issue is due out on April 1 and contains articles about role-playing, women and masturbation, a history o f pornography and an interview with a manu­ facturer of handcrafted glass dildos. If you can't wait until then or just can't get enough the Web site also has a blog page where writers and editors post their thoughts on various issues as well as mini-articles separate from the actual magazine.

Do yourself a favour: log on and read some articles. Your partner will thank you later. ■

"Yay for fucking!"

Who can disagree with that? With all the tur­ moil going on around us, it's almost soothing to know that people still have their priorities straight (or bi-curious as the case may be). This statement comes from Nessie Giovanna, U3 east asian stud­ ies, one of the tw o co-founders of McGill's newest magazine. and only sex publication, The idea to start the magazine came during a Friday night when Giovanna saw a TV show about sex in Montreal and decided that there wasn't enough of an outlet for sexuality in such a sexual city. Judging by the tens of thousands of hits on the magazine's Web site, other people are inter­ ested in another outlet as well.

After a number o f false starts, was officially established in January o f this year. The magazine's editor-in-chief, Katie McCloskey, U2 English literature and world religions, admits her surprise that such a forum has never existed be­ fore at the university.

"You would think that at Mcgill—-in a city like Montreal— people would just ju m p at an oppor­ tunity to really bring forth the sexual reputation that Montreal has,"she says. . One of the principle ideas o f the magazine is th a t'it goes way beyond the condom.' asserts that most people _______ still have relatively sheltered views rrifgHlsmagazine.ilnml Sex o f sex and one o f their goals is to get people interested in other expressions of sexuality.

"Back when you had a group of friends and the first girl gave some guy head, you would have this emergency meeting where she would give every­ body the low-down,"Giovanna says.

The magazine exists as an attempt to open up the channels and get peo­ ple to talk more about sex and sexual practices.

Ip -m "We are furthering the discourse? o f anything that is relating to sexuality, . explains McCloskey.

Giovanna agrees. "You think that we each fall into our cliques o f sexu­ on Campus ... 18 ality, but when you open up and read about what everyone else is doing, you Size Matters ?.. 21 understand yourself better," she says.

Why Oheati ng Pays... 25 A big proviso in the magazine, however, is that it does not deal with Legal Advice.. 27 any o f the emotional issues surround­ ing sex.

“This is not about relationships, it starts and ends in the bedroom," Giovanna asserts. Many magazines deal w ith the extra-sexual issues, but McGill's first and only sex mag arouses the interest of Redlight focuses only on the age-old act many.

Redlight

www.redlighted.ca.

Redlight

Redlight,

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ACE McGill invites you to: Entrepreneur Networking Cocktail Free wine & cheese networking event Bronfman 6th floor, main lounge March, 28,6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

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J o a n n a R e z n ic k At a school whose fine arts program is, well, non-existent, it is good to know that there are places where creativity-starved stu­ dents can go to get their artistic fix.

Made up o f a handful o f ambitious art history students, The Art History Students As­ sociation organizes and runs a number of artrelated events for students who are either in the department or harbour a deep apprecia­ tion for the artistic form.

"AHSA does about three major events each term," explains Laura Tillery, vice-presi­ dent external o f the group. "The most popular are our gallery crawls."

Last Tuesday, the AHSA worked to trans­ form the arts lounge into a chic gallery space, packed with people drunk on, wine, cheese and artwork. It was the grand opening o f the Fridge Door Gallery; the first gallery to open at McGill dedicated exclusively to showcasing university-based artwork. Hung on the long, exposed brick wall o f the lounge were nu­ merous paintings, photographs and sketches

by McGill students and alumni. The AHSA distributed a detailed programme w ith a de­ scription of each artist's inspiration for his or her pieces, many of which were for sale.

"We had a huge number of submissions and had to make a number o f cuts,"says club member Fiona Wright, U2 art history. "Nar­ rowing down the pieces was really difficult.

But, we're all art history students, so we have a pretty good critical eye. I couldn't be ha pier about the way things turned out."

President of the AHSA, Molly Kurzius, U3 art his­ tory, explains that the gallery "is about bringing aware­ ness o f student art to McGill. But, it is also about art his­ tory students expe­ riencing what they will do as a future career."

Kurzius also suggests, though the gallery this year turned out "better than [they] could

h; have hoped for," that it would be ideal for them to have "a permanent space that will give students a chance to curate and put on their own shows."

The gallery opening was held in con­ junction w ith the launch of the art history journal CANVAS, which editor-in-chief Jen­ nifer Bartoli, U3 art history, started in 2005.

Bartoli explains that the funding for CANVAS comes from the AHSA, as did the funding for the Fridge Door Gallery.

Bartoli, whose work was showcased at the gallery, insists that "the gallery makes a statement about the need for more fine-artsoriented projects on campus." Indeed, McGill's lack o f a fine arts program has been criticized by many students who believe that artistic outlets on campus are crucial at a school that boasts such a large and well-funded under­ graduate arts program. Fortunately, accord­ ing to Wright, AUS is in the process o f setting up a new committee called the Undergradu­ ate Fine Arts Committee.

“They have quite a bit o f funding and part of it goes to new projects, so we'd like to submit to them to ask for more space," she admits.

"As art history students, we do have something different from other arts depart­ ments— we all share a love of art. This tran­ scends the classroom and brings students into the world of Montreal art,"Tillery says. ■

The exhibit will be featured in the Arts loungeuntilApril10.

GARRETT LANDOLT

The AUS lounge turned chic art gallery.

Friday

Thursday

Wednesday

Tuesday

Monday

The AHSA organizes first student gallery on campus

Sunday

Saturday

Oxfam Mcgill Presents: A night of entertainment featuring Montreal student bands!

The Underwater Fight Scene and The New Groove Orchestra Cafe Chaos (2031 St. Denis), Tickets $7 at the door March 28, Doors open at 9 p.m.

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Want to advertise in the Campus Calendar? For just a toonie you can advertise your event up to two weeks in advance.

Email calendar@mcgilltribune.com for more information, or drop by the Tribune office in Shatner 110.

S tudent L iving

X VS. Y

youratmosphere?

Who heats up

The two ultimate climage change experts compete

Thesetwomedia-adoredenvironmentalactivistswenthead-to-headat YouthActionMontreal's "LessTalk, MoreAction"conferenceonClimateChangelastThursday. Whomadethebettercase?

AL GORE

Background: Since the release o f his best-selling novel and hit film in 2006, former vice-president Al Gore has received extensive media at­ tention, some laudatory and some critical. Political observ­ ers accuse Gore o f having ulterior motives (presidential aspirations, perhaps?) and the scientific comm unity con­ tends that that both his book and film contain substantial factual errors. Controversy aside, this ardent environmen­ talist has indubitably raised public awareness about the “planetary emergency" (as he c Ils it) that is global warming.

venient Truth

D A V ID SUZUKI

SHEA SINNOTT

Background: Dr. David Suzuki is a world-renowned sci­ entist, environmental­ ist, and broadcaster.

Now a Companion of the Order o f Canada, Suzuki has written 43 books and is recog­ nized as a world leader in sustainable ecology.

Voted the "Greatest Liv­ ing Canadian" in 2004, it is no wonder that Suzuki serves as an in­ spiring role model for Canadian youth today.

An Incon­

Focus: Gore's speech centred itself primarily on facts, num­ bers and visual representations. Unfortunately, his slide show was not ex­ actly novel to those who had already seen which was likely a majority o f the audience. However, there were many new slides and Gore included some information relating directly to Canada.

Overall, the concept that Gore seemed to want the audience to absorb was that "Global warming is not a political issue, but a moral, ethical and spiritual responsibility."

AnInconvenient Truth,

Eloquence/Presence: He began his speech with irrelevant personal anecdotes and it took some tim e for him to finally discuss the issues at hand. When he finally got to the point of his presentation, however, there was a marked change in his character: He spoke with a passion and con­ viction that was inspiring to watch. One of his repeated catchphrases (de­ livered in his thick, southern drawl): "When you become the change you want to see, you will change the world."

Winner: David Suzuki Suzuki's energetic and enlightening speech beat out Gore's lengthy presentation.

However, it seems almost wrong to compare these tw o men, considering the lavish praise each imparted on the other: Suzuki noted the "explosive impact" o f Gore's film and Gore deemed Suzuki a "very special person." None­ theless, together these tw o keynote speakers did an amazing job o f conveying the funda­ mental message o f the conference: "It's time for less talk and more action. It's time for youth to come together and have our voices heard."

Focus: Suzuki focused on human history, progress and technol­ ogy. Specifically, he stressed the interconnectedness o f the environ­ ment and the dire "footprint” humans have left on the earth. Overall, Suzuki communicated what he believes is the major problem facing environmentalism today: the ever-increasing disparity between eco­ nomics and ecology, and the fact that governments have perpetually placed economic concerns above ecological issues.To solve this prob­ lem, he insists we m ust"put the'eco'back in economics."

Eloquence/Presence: His shaggy-bearded charisma set the stage for an exciting presentation. His 30 years o f teaching was clear from the start as his delivery had the look and feel o f a professor giving an, informal and engaging lecture to his students. Suzuki played off the imagination and emotional involvement o f his audience— using imagery and scientific rhetoric to convey his points. In particular, he attempted to portray global warming as more than simply a grave threat, but also as a great opportunity for change.

PERSPECTIVE

McGill-based Romance? Fuggetaboudit!

Becoming Miss Montreal and the "Paris of the North" S h ir a n T e it e l b a u m Call me a kvetch and an ingrate, but for most o f the school year, this iceberg o f an island is far from the ideal loca­ tion to nurture a flourishing romance. I mean, where else do florists warn their customers not to buy flowers during bliz­ zards? I'm talking about the fact that the flowers shrivel and die before the door behind them has even slammed shut.

Just like romance.

In this city, men and women alike turn down sex— sex!!— if it requires walking to a partner's nearby apartment during a moderate snowstorm. It's as if we.cannot even mus­ ter the energy to congregate, let alone work ourselves into a romantic froth. And when McGill couples finally do overcome their aversion to mounting wind-chill-factors, they are more likely to start their rendezvous with home-delivered Chinese than enjoy a dreamy dinner out on the town.

In my native California, we brave sticky Santa Anna winds that can rip the very hide o ff you. We must contend with earthquakes, brushfires and no end of mudslides, race riots, beach closures and mini-tsunamis. But stay home? Are you kidding?

I heard once that students ’at Mount Allison in New Brunswick, where I transferred out of after my freshman year, were more likely to eventually marry someone from their alma mater than graduates elsewhere in Canada. If true, I'd wager it's because there's little else to do in a one-snowplow town like Sackville than hunker down in the library, pack in more sack time or shack up. And maybe this creates an impene­

trable bond between Mount Allison couples that invariably leads to marriage. But in Montreal? Fuggetaboudit! There's so much to explore here— including a vast and pleasantly varied student body— that even in the best weather, romance often takes a back seat.

If you happen to be one o f the few in this city to find a suitable romantic sidekick and survive’hibernation w ithout killing each other, then you are both are probably noticing that winter is waning and that the sun has begun dress re­ hearsal for its heavily anticipated cameo. Though we are about to welcome spring, it's suddenly difficult to find time to plan for, or even envision, romantic escapades. The only steamy nights you can look forward to during exams involve coffee during late-night sessions at the library.

However, if you remain determined to invest the year with intimate memories— those formed outside the walls of your apartment— it's not too late. Yes, it's been too cold to skate at the Old Port. But why not try the Atrium's Le 1000 De La Gauchetière indoor skating rink instead? It's the warm­ est rink in Montreal and provides an atmosphere conducive to deep eye gazing— that is, if you can skate well enough to coordinate glances. Plan a trip to Shark's for cosmic bowling.

Love-struck couples can imbibe sangria while pitching gutter balls. Catch a flick at Cinema du Parc, where the movies are usually so good you'll be content to hold hands. And if you are truly love-sick, make a break for St. Denis'Juliette et Choco­ lat for a crepe, hot chocolate, fondue and an immediate re­ lease o f endorphins. Just don't forget to bring along the old digicam, so you can.assure yourself later on that your college years were as golden as you insist on remembering them. ■

EYTAN BENSOUSSAN

A dd h e a t to y o u r love life .T ry ska tin g a t th e w a rm e s t rin k in th e city: A trium 's Le 1 0 0 0 d e la G a u c h etière .

C A M P U S G U ID E

Mysterious

Sick of java? It's tim e to become a tea-convert

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Drink that exam stress away— no alcohol necessary Shea Sinnott

~Open nigl Confidents

There's nothing like curling up with a warm, soothing cup of tea. Yet as an occasional or avid tea-drinker, have you ever considered tea's history, ingredi­ ents, production and/or possible health benefits? The following is a concise— and nowhere near exhaustive— guide to help you become a tea connoisseur.

The word "tea" comes from the Chinese "tu"or "cha" and the brew is made from steeping the twigs, buds or leaves of the plant camillia sinensis. Although it is unknown where tea was first cultivated as a beverage, the tea bush itself originated in and around the Eastern Himalayas o f China and India. The first recorded account o f tea drinking was in China in the first millennium B.C. and thus the Chinese (along with many other Southeast Asian countries) are rec­ ognized for their ancient tea practices, ceremonies and the subsequent spread o f tea around the world.

Depending on its brewing methods, tea contains various amounts of catechins, caffeine and theanine.The possible health benefits o f tea are both supported and disputed by numerous scientific studies; nonetheless, the ben­ eficial effects of tea have been recognized by many cultures for thousands of years. More specifically, caffeine is linked to a reduction in the likelihood of Parkinson's disease and supposedly strengthens short-term memory.Theanine reduces mental and physical stress and catechins are said to reduce the risk o f various forms o f cancer. Teas are distinguished by their different forms of processing— including oxidation (or fermentation), drying, and heating— and are classified based on their degree o f oxidation. According to this distinction, the four main types of tea are:

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Black tea: Leaves are allowed to completely oxidize. Black tea— or "Red tea"as the Chinese call it— is the most common tea in Southeast Asia.

"Orange Pekoe" refers to the grading system used to sort black teas.

White tea: Leaves undergo no oxidation and are sometimes protected from sunlight. White teas require careful processing and are thus pro­ duced in less quantity.Typically, they are more expensive.

Green tea: Leaves go through minimal heat-induced oxidation and are then left to dry. Depending on the region, oxidation is stimulated usually via cooking (as in China) or steaming (as in Japan). The health benefits of green tea are perhaps the most accepted as many studies conclude it helps with certain types o f cancer, cardiovascular disease and high choles­ terol.

Oolong tea: Leaves are semi-oxidized. Oolong tea is a traditional tea in China and means "black dragon" in Chinese.

On the other hand, the term "herbal tea" (sometimes called "tisane" or "herbal infusion") actually refers to infusions o f herbs or fruit, and despite com­ mon misconceptions, these teas contain little or no camillia sinensis. With exams and consequent stress (i.e. insomnia, stomachaches and headaches) fast approaching, tea is often an excellent way to calm nerves and facilitate sleep and digestion. That being said, some great herbal teas and their sup­ posed health benefits are:

•

Anise Tea: helps digestion and toothaches.

Chamomile Tea: is a sedative and should help you sleep.

Echinacea Tea: prevents or alleviates cold symptoms.

Ginseng Tea: is a stimulant, increases energy.. .also a supposed

•

aphrodisiac!

Mint Tea: is a powerful diuretic, also helps with digestion.

• •

Pour commander utiliser le bonde commande/To order use purchase order

After turning o ff your alarm or in between classes, having a cup o f tea is a great way to relax and serves as a healthier alternative to coffee. So, try a cup o f Stash Early Grey,Twinings Orange Pekoe, Tazo Calm, or Yogi Vanilla Hazelnut the next time you're feeling stressed, tired or just need a little boost! ■

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F EATURES T erri A

Sexual assault:. rhetoric and reality

lderfer

Starting next week, expect to see a torrent of teal ribbons around campus. Throughout April— National Sexual Assault Awareness Month— a number of local campaigns will be introduced dedicated to increasing public awareness about sexual violence in our so I ciety.

Despite this national effort to increase awareness, an ST;, overwhelming majority of instances of sexual assault remain unreported.

"If you talk about it for a long enough time,” says cultural studies professor Jasmine Rault, "you would never meet a woman who has not experienced sexual harassment or B ||f sexual violence." Yet, a number of miscon­ ceptions continue to perpetuate the oc­ currences of this crime and marginalize its survivors. In light of this month, examining the discourse o f sexual assault in our soci’ ety is a necessary step toward broadening our understanding of an issue that affects more people than we can possibly know.

The b lu e lig h ts a ro u n d c am p u s e xist as a safe ty m easure fo r s tu d e n ts w h o are cautio us a b o u t w a lk in g h o m e a lo n e a t n ig h t. H ow ever, h o w h e lp fu l a re th e y re ally — considering th a t th e m a jo rity o f sexual assault cases h a p p e n b e tw e e n tw o p e o p le w h o a lre a d y k n o w each other?

Accord ing to th e C ode...

Traditionally, the term "rape" has referred to forced vaginal pen etration by a male assailant. Today, most scholars and health pro­ fessionals view this term as outdated and narrow, because o f its restrictive gender implications. In fact, the term rape is no longer even found in Canadian law, but has been replaced by the term sexual assault. According to the Canadian Health Network, on the most fundamental level, sexual assault refers to "any form o f un­ wanted contact o f a sexual nature between individuals."

In a 2004 document on their Web site, the CHN asserts that contrary to popular opinion, "rapists or those who sexually assault adults are not all mentally ill or'sex-starved.'" Rather, they suggest that most sexual crimes are committed by people who have a "desire to feel power and control."

Rault agrees that sexual assault is more about power than pleasure.

"It's a question of power and abuse of power and who em­ bodies power," she says.

While there is some truth to the stereotype of sexual assault occurring in a dark alley by someone unknown to the victim, the majority o f cases are significantly closer to home. According to a 2003 Statistics Canada report, in cases reported to the police, 80 per cent of sexual assault survivors knew their abusers.

Despite the numbers, social work professor Julia Krane feels that the media continue to focus too much attention on the 20 per cent of cases involving a stranger.

"There is a rapist on the loose and we hear about it for days in the newspaper, but the woman who is sexually assaulted in the context o f dat­ ing or a marital relationship... those cases don't get the attention," she as­ serts.

Role reversal Statistically, most people who sexually assault others are male, while the ma­ jority of victims o f sexual assault— 86 per cent according to StatsCan— are women.

However, sexual violence, including rape, can victimize and be committed by both men and women and can occur in both heterosexual and same-sex relationships.

The American Academy o f Pediatrics estimates that male victims represent about five per cent o f reported sexual assaults. Marcelle Kosman, U2 English and political science and external coordinator at the Sexual Assault Centre of McGill's Students'Society, believes that because sexual violence is often seen as a "women's problem," male survivors face significant marginalization.

"People have trouble believing that a man can be sexually assaulted, and if he is, it's seen more as comedic rather than serious," she says.

Viewing women as perpetrators o f sexual assault is a pill that is hard for some to swallow; yet according to Kosman, it is a reality.

"The idea that you are safe with women ignores the fact that women can sexually assault," she says. "There are so many things that get tied into this concept of woman: victim, man: aggressor binary and it's problematic for so many reasons because it's not entirely the reality."

That victim/aggressor binary becomes even more problematic in same-sex relationships, where, according to the rates o f domestic violence are "roughly the same as domestic violence against heterosexual women."

Although women do comm it acts o f sexual violence, Rault believes that it is "dangerous to begin talking about violence by women against men because this can take the emphasis and attention away from what's clearly a much larger problem, which is violence against women."

aardvarc.org,

The blam e gam e Lists of dos and don'ts prove to be useful in many of life's fjd K y É ü a situations: do brush your teeth in the morning; don't walk in 'r -i * 3$ front o f a moving vehicle, for example. When it comes to sexual violence, however, dos and don'ts take on a more complicated ■ -b meaning.

Health Canada offers tips "to prevent an assault from occur­ ring or escalating," such as, "ensure someone knows where you are at all times,""never leave a drink unattended,""know your own limits" and "be assertive." While largely commonsensical, these dos and don'ts

É;

NADINE LESSARD serve to reinforce the myth that if someone merely restricts their behaviour, they will cease to be tar­ gets for sexual assault.

SACOMSS does not offer tips about how to avoid rape or assault, Kosman explains. "By provid ing someone with tips on how to prevent sexual assault, you're suggesting that if someone is sexu­ ally assaulted, they didn't follow that advice closely enough ... it continues to blame the person who has been sexually assaulted."

Realistically, if women were to attempt avoiding all situa­ tions where they could encounter sexual assault, it would become impossible to live a normal life. Because vie'* ~ tims most likely know their attacker, it does not mat­ ter that they avoid walking alone at night or cover themselves up when going out, if the real danger is waiting for them at home.

"I would have to say that I wholeheartedly support efforts to encourage women to act re­ sponsibly in the public domain," Krane says. "How­ ever, I do not believe that this awareness can thwart the sexualized violence that occurs." * If sexual assault is a crime like any other, why is the survivor often blamed for its occurrence? When a bank is robbed, no one asserts that the tellers "asked for it"by storing money behind the counter. Why should the victims of sexual assault be treated any differently?

L. ,m

27.03.07 • The McGill Tribune • 15 SACOMSS v o lu n te ers are busy p re p a rin g fo r Sexual Assault A w areness M o n th .

C hallenging societal perceptions and m isconceptions

Catch-22 There is a fine line that women are forced to walk between being cautious about their safety and viewing sexual assault as a non-issue. On the one hand, if a woman (or man) refuses to walk alone at night, he or she is often labeled as over-sensitive or paranoid. On the other hand, however, if someone invites an acquaintance into their home for a drink and that person is assaulted, they are used as an example o f'w h a t not to do"to avoid sexual assault.

"We live in a culture where women are operating within a catch -22 at all times," Rault says. “Larger educational initiatives need to be pursued so that more people recognize that refusing to walk home alone is not schizo-paranoia and also trusting some guy you just mét is not whorish naïveté."

Often, alcohol consumption or drug use serve as a form o f justification for the perpe­ tration o f sexual assault. According to a study o f sexual assaults among college students conducted by the American Medical Association, "73 per cent o f the assailants and 55 per cent o f the victims had used drugs, alcohol, or both immediately before the assault." How­ ever, under Canadian law, intoxication or believing consent has been given when it has not are not valid defences for sexual assault.-ln other words, no means no; drunk or sober.

It is clear that this simple slogan, "no means no," has failed to resonate with all demo­ graphics. o f society, however. According to H. Johnson's 1996 book, one in five post-secondary male students surveyed said that forced intercourse was alright "if he spends enough money on her,""if he is stoned or drunk"or"ifthey had been dating fora long time."

ViolenceAgainst WomeninCanada,

DangerousDomains:

"W e live in a culture w h ere w o m en are op eratin g w ith ­ in a catch-22 a t all times," Rault says. "Larger educa­ tio n al initiatives need to be pursued so th a t m ore p e o ­ ple recognize th a t refusing to w alk ho m e alone is not schizo-paranoia and also trusting som e guy you just m et is no t w horish naïveté."

The bigger picture Several socio-cultural factors contribute to the prevalence o f negative attitudes toward female bodies and sexual­ ity and thus serve to perpetuate sexual violence. Rault points to representations in the media o f masculinity | that rely heavily on violence and aggression.

"There are so many representations of heroic v, . men whose heroism is constituted according to their violence and their aggression ... it seems only logical that if masculinity continues to be so W ' closely conflated with violence, you are going to , --' have a continuation o f violence against women," she says.

Rault further insists that sexual assault can only be curtailed when there is an alteration to the societal struc­ ture.

"There needs to be a shift in emphasis from women who are doing the wrong things, to'men who really need to address their attitudes,"she says.

Recognizing that the vast number o f incidents o f sexual assault occur between tw o individuals who know one another, Rault asserts that this underlines the degree to which violence against women has become normalized in our society.

"Mundane violence against women has become so normalized that for the most part, people don't recognize it or don't feel it is something we need to address,"she says.

While there is still a long way to go in terms o f improving negative male attitudes toward respecting a woman's right to her own body and sexuality, there is a growing move­ ment of men working to end violence against women. The White Ribbon Campaign is the largest effort-in the world o f men working to en.d men's violence against women. Simon Cox, U3 economics and political science and vice-president communications o f White Rib­ bon McGill, agrees with Rault that negative images of women in music videos, advertise­ ments and on billboards contribute to the normalization of this abuse.

"It's not just rape or women being hit or physically abused, it's pervasive in society and you have to address everyone's attitudes toward women," he says. Cox adds that one of White Ribbon's goals is to "challenge society's acceptance of violence against women."

One of the reasons that the crime o f sexual assault is so difficult to rectify is the ex­ treme underreporting o f its occurrence. Acquaintance sexual assault is found to be one o f the most underreported crimes in Canada and according to the United Nations' 1993 Declaration on the Elimination o f Violence Against Women, less than 10 percent o f sexual assaults are reported to police.

Many factors contribute to underreporting, including embarrassment, fear o f further injury, fear of marginalization and fear o f court procedures that may scrutinize the victim's behaviour and history prior to the assault. This is why Kosman feels that there needs to be a movement away from placing the blame on the actions o f survivors and toward educating people on how not to sexually assault someone else.

"I think we need a re-education about what exactly sexual assault is and how you can stop yourself and your friends from perpetrating it," she says. "By blaming the victim, we relieve ourselves o f the burden to prevent the perpetrators from assaulting."

Despite awareness campaigns, reports of sexual assault crimes are certainly not de­ creasing on college campuses. While self-defense classes, precautionary advice and gen­ eral awareness are common methods used to "prevent" instances o f sexual assault, the root o f the problem lies w ithin discourse. Re-evaluating the way that we, as a university, com­ munity, city and country perceive the idea of the"victim,"the"perpetrator,"and the nature of the crime itself is the most important step toward curtailing sexual violence. ■

*eafu

Rewriting the language of suffering' McGill researchers tackle PostTraumatic Stress Disorder Rachel M

elnik

Last w eek, N e w York T im es M a g a z in e 's cover story fo llo w e d th e experience o f A m o rita Ran­ dall, a navy officer w h o recently re tu rn ed fro m Iraq. The piece, e n title d "The W om en's War," by Sara C orbett, describes Randall's experience: "B eginn ing in K uw ait; th ro u g h m uch o f her tim e in lraq...[R andall] s u ffe re d ] fro m p o s t-tra u m atic stress disorder, o r PTSD, a highly d e b ilita tin g co n d itio n b ro u g h t on by an a b n o rm a l a m o u n t o f stress." Randall's case o f PTSD was fu rth e r com ­ plicated by th e fa ct th a t she was re p e a te d ly sexually assaulted du rin g her m ilitary service.

Since th e onset o f th e wars in A fghanistan and Iraq, P ost-traum atic Stress D isorder has been o n e o f th e m ost w id e ly publicized psychological conditions in th e m ed ia. W h ile w ar veterans suf­ fe rin g fro m PTSD te n d to g e t th e m ost a tte n tio n , th e condition is m ore p re va len t am o n g those w h o have e xp erien ced child abuse, neglect, physical and sexual assault.

N o t all th ose w h o e xp erien ce tra u m a g e t PTSD. A ccording to counselling and psychology professor M a rtin D rap eau, o nly "a m in o rity o f p e o p le w h o w itness o r experience trau m a s d e ­ v elo p P TS D /'The statistic ranges fro m five to 4 5 per cent d e p e n d in g on th e intensity and d ura­ tio n o f th e e ve n t. C o m b at soldiers, fo r exam p le, have a o n e in fiv e like lih o o d o f d e ve lo p in g th e c o ndition.

Sexual assault, in particular, tends to yield h ig h e r p ro p o rtio n s o f PTSD cases. "For vio len t rape, 4 9 p e r cent are kn o w n to g e t P ost-traum atic Stress Disorder," says Dr. A llan Young, C hair o f McGill's School o f Social M ed icin e.

As sexual assault survivors still te n d to be o v e rw h e lm in g ly fe m ale , so do m ost PTSD suf­ ferers. "W om en are tw ice as likely to g e t PTSD," says Dr. A llan Young, C hair o f McGill's School o f Social M ed icin e. "Just to b e a w o m a n is to have a [h igh er] risk factor." W h ile w o m e n m ay b e a t a h ig h e r risk, D rap ea u asserts th a t th e diso rder "m ay te n d to be u n d er-d iag n o se d in m en .'T h is in­ volves a lo t o f factors, m an y o f w h ich are social. "If you ju s t look a t th e m ed ia , m en are p o rtrayed as having to be m o re resilient," D rap eau m aintains.

The sym ptom s o f PTSD are d evastatin g , regardless o f gender. PTSD sufferers lack control o ver th e sym ptom s th e y experience, w h ich includ e nightm ares, flashbacks, e m o tio n a l d e ta ch ­ m en t, feelings o f num bness, insom nia, loss o f a p p e tite , irrita b ility, h ypervigliance, m e m o ry loss, excessive s tartlin g response o r overall jum piness, difficu lty concentratin g and avoidance o f any­ th in g o r an yo n e th a t is psychologically associated w ith th e tra u m a (kn o w n as "triggers").

PTSD's e tio lo g y is also w h a t distinguishes it fro m o th e r m o o d disorders, even th o u g h "the list o f sym ptom s.-.overlaps alm o st e n tire ly w ith depression and general a n xie ty disorder,"Young inform s. Yet, a m a jo rity o f PTSD p atien ts are also diag nosed w ith a n o th e r psychiatric conditions such as depression, obsessiveness, general anxiety, phobias and substance abuse.

The co n d itio n is u n iq u e because it is o n e o f "th e very rare psychiatric disorders th a t incor­ porates into its structure th e idea o f victim s and perpetrators," Young claim s. "O ther psychiatric disorders d o n o t include in th e ir very structure an e tio lo g y or a definition."

T re a tm e n t fo r PTSD g e n erally involves a c o m b in a tio n o f g ro up th erapy, in d ivid u a l psycho­ th e ra p y and m ed ic atio n , in m o re e x tre m e cases. A n ti-d ep re ss a n t m edications, such as Effexor an d Z o lo ft, are co m m o n ly used to tre a t P ost-traum atic Stress Disorder, a lth o u g h D rap eau claim s th a t "m eds o fte n keep p e o p le fro m seeking p ro p e r th erap y. They should rarely be used alo n e as a fo rm o f trea tm e n t."

H ere at M cG ill, research has show n positive results w ith a n e w fo rm o f PTSD tre a tm e n t. Psy­ chology professor Karim N ad e r asserts th a t, u n fo rtu n ately , som e PTSD p atien ts are "insensitive to th e ra p e u tic trea tm e n t."T o h elp th ese patien ts, N a d e r cu rren tly investigates a dru g called pro­ pranolol, w hich is co m m o n ly prescribed as a tre a tm e n t fo r h e art disease. For PTSD sufferers, pro­ pranolol acts as a m eans o f m o llifyin g th e e m o tio n a l im p ac t o f a tra u m a tic m em o ry. N ader in­ sists th a t "PTSD patien ts have no control o v er th e im ages and m em o ries th a t are g o in g th ro u g h th e ir m inds,"— an issue th a t o fte n becom es so intense th a t it interferes th e ir norm al w ay o f life.

According to N ader, th e dru g does n o t erase a n e g ative m em o ry, b u t ra th e r ju s t loosens its e m o ­ tio n a l im p act. "W e w a n t to tu rn th e o v e rw h e lm in g m e m o ry in to a n o rm al bad m em ory," N ader m aintains. So far, th e first tria l o f th e study has b e en encou raging . N evertheless, N ad e r holds th a t pro p ran o lo l is n o t fo r e veryo n e, b u t only "for p e o p le w h o are n o t responsive to tra d itio n a l form s o f therapy."

N ader's study, if successful, w ill h e lp a w id e range o f p eo p le. Traum as such as violence, n a tu ­ ral disasters, accidents and illness affect th o se o f e very culture, class, race and religion . "PTSD has becom e a g lo b a l lan g u ag e o f suffering," Young says. For this reason, g o o d tre a tm e n ts and resources are a b so lu tely essential. ■

A rts & E ntertainment THEATRE

FA SH IO N

More than Adequate

Couture for a cause

Drama student launches new musical P(h)assion 2007 struts back once again already on its way to Toronto Ezra G unter The golden age of Broadway may have ended

40 years ago, but that doesn't mean there hasn't been quality musical theatre created since. Nor has it been restricted to the redoubtable musical legacy o f Rodgers and Hammerstein. Everyone from The Who to Eric Idle has taken a stab at the genre, to both critical and commercial success.

Inspired by the former's and the latter's as well as vyorks such as the acclaimed satire fourth-year McGill drama student Evan Malach is releasing his own musical theatre creation, Selling itself as a"Rip Roaring Rock Opera," the production is set to be performed March 30 and 31 at Players'Theatre, before being staged at the Toronto Fringe Festival in July.

In addition to writing both the book and score o f Malach directs and stars in the production as well. His character, Donny, is a somewhat deluded musician who believes that he is about to break into the big time. Donny's hopes and expectations are tested, however, when, on his way to Los Angeles he is forced to make an unex­ pected overnight stop in the Mojave Desert ghost tow n o f Adequacy. As its name implies, Adequacy carries more than geographic significance.

"Adequacy is the concept o f a state that you're in," Malach explains. "Once you're there you can't re­ ally get out of there unless you go through a series o f steps and revelations. You have to learn things to try to get out of that place."

Spamalot, Urinetown,

Tommy

InAdequacy.

InAdequacy,

In A d e q u a c y —

J essica S h a p ir o

Despite the sombre setting and serious the­ matic concerns, Malach doesn't shy away from comedy, as evidenced by his extensive use of puns. In addition to the titular example, characters include Fallacy O'Neill, a freelance journalist/secret agent played by Katie Snetsinger and Hugh Bris, a hubristic "circum-surgeon” played by Adam Jesin, frontman o f Montreal band Moksa and old high school improv teammate of Malach.

With an eclectic musical score that ranges from rock to traditional show tunes, Malach also isn't afraid to poke fun at the conventions o f his chosen genre.

"The music and the story are inspired by those rock operas and comedies that are just ridiculous spoofs o f musicals," he says.

Despite his irreverent attitude, Malach's pas­ sion for musical theatre is apparent. Though is his first musical-theatrical creation, his involvement as an actor goes back to childhood and he recently played Mr. Mushnik in the Arts Un­ dergraduate Theatre Society production o f

In a city as trendy and fashion savvy as Montreal, it is not surprising that clothes are used to promote serious world issues, like HIV/AIDS. For one night this March, Mc­ Gill models will strut down the aisle at Time Supper Club (977 St-Jacques) in order to raise money towards the fight against AIDS. Student volunteers will be adorned with ob­ noxious clothing and celebrity-like attitudes, putting on a show that is rumoured to be the best one yet.

The McGill AIDS Benefit Show, Phassion, is on its 15th year in Montreal. The event has raised a startling $150,000 for various AIDS foundations, while also bringing together the McGill comm unity to increase its aware­ ness o f AIDS. Management students will get the opportunity to practice business skills while organizing this huge event, which consistently attracts audiences as large as 800 strong.

All proceeds will go to the MAC AIDS "I think there's something very unique and in­ Fund, which will in turn use the money to teresting about musical theatre,” says Malach. "The support men, women and children around random outbreaks o f song— that doesn't happen the world affected by HIV/AIDS. This is the in real life but for some reason you can get away tenth year in a row that Phassion has donat­ w ith it onstage and people will still respect it and ed its proceeds to the charity fund. believe it. It's so far removed from real life yet able This year, students from McGill's man­ to capture so much about real life too." agement faculty have decided to cut down It sounds pretty adequate. ■ on the number o f student models in order to create a more intimate show.

"You will be able to get to know the models on the runway, so it will be a lot bet­ ter than last year," said Elena Klepikova Ui management, one of the show's organizers.

Klepikova, who used to model for the charity show, says of her experience, "I really liked working with all the people who put this production together and it's for a really good cause, so I decided to actually be a part of the committee this year".

Out of 150 students that tried out to be McGill's Next Top Model, only 20 lucky con­ tenders made the cut. True to the show's name, Star Struck, the theme o f this year's performance will be celebrity glam. Numer­ COURTESY EVAN MALACH ous scenes will be choreographed consist­

Adequacy

ShopofHorrors.

In

Little

ing o f trips to the shopping mall, time in the gym, mar­ tini lounging and a red car­ pet unveiling. Other events planned for the audience include a pre-show dinner, a live band that will play during intermission and a much anticipated after-party.

"This show is about knowing that you're hot.There will be paparazzi, and an elevated stage, so you can feel like a real celebrity!" said Klepikova while coaching her fellow models.

The show features local Montreal de­ signers such as Aqualara, Valerie Dumaine, Blush Lingerie and Mackage. Three McGill student designers, Tanya Taylor, Stephanie Brunelle and Claudia Gerarduzzi, will also get to contribute to the show's fashion parade with their own personal touches.

"There will be a lot o f high-fashion stuff because it is a celebrity theme.," Klepikova said. "There will also be a bathing suit scene with really beautiful, glamorous one-piece bathing suits that are very classy and inter­ esting as well."

Anna Skigin, co-director o f Phassion 2007, has been involved with the show for tw o years. “We've grown from last year and o f course we hope the show will get better and better every year," she says.

"Obviously we feel amazing about giv­ ing back to the comm unity and we really enjoy the MAC AIDS Fund," Skigin comment­ ed. "The organization is so approachable.

People remember and know MAC from com­ mercials and magazines. People have heard about the charity before we started talking about it and that is so important for us. They know where their money is going."

This Friday the Phassion Benefit Show will be in full swing at Time Supper Club. Un­ like last year's show, the models will walk to live DJ spins and the stage will be above floor level to create a more serious fashion show appeal. ■

Theshowwilltakeplace March3 0 .Tickets are$20 ($25 at thedoor, $ 7 0 forathree-course dinner). After-partytickets$10 at thedoor.

a rip ro a rin g rock o p e ra fo r th e m o d e rn age.

POP RHETORIC

Are you smarter than the other people watching?

Ben Lemieux

n March 1, Fox viewers were engulfed in the universe of Contestants ap­ pear alongside a squad of 11-year-old helpers to answer 10 questions and a bonus question on such subjects as firstgrade animal science or fourth grade-geography, working their way towards a million dollars. Should the contestants fail to answer a question or give up midway through the game, they must profess their shame by looking at the camera and adm itting,'I am not smarter than a fifth grader."

Never mind the fact that a million dollar payoff for an­ swering fifth-grade questions makes about as much sense as Tommy Lee going back to college, it's a disappointment that every second show on television these days seems to revolve around making the participants look stupid, uncultured and even mentally unstable ( , anyone?). Let us not for­ get that game shows are the earliest form of reality televi­ sion. Contestants appear on the show with hopes o f winning stunning prizes, audiences are introduced to them, invited to follow along in their journey to fortune and glory and all the sluggin'-it-out this entails. But not since the days of the and other admittedly funny yet odious programs from Chuck Barris have game shows been centred on the system­ atic berating o f contestants.

And all moral overtones set aside, it's entirely pathetic

O

AreYouSmarterThanaFifthGrader?

Wifeswap

Show

Gong

that programming is being written to the lowest common de­ nominator. Granted, it's always gratifying for viewers to have an occasional edge on contestants, to proudly throw Cheetos at the television set and holler, "Who was Spiro Agnew. I'll take vice-presidential foibles for $800 please, Alex." That's part of the fun. But given that, doesn't it seem implicitly insulting to the viewer that a fifth-grade-level game show has to be tailormade for the average American (both onscreen and off) to feel right at home? Have shows like or, heaven for­ bid, simply become too clever or challenging to host on Thursday night prime time?

Or how about this season's smash hit, In this cutthroat contest o f knowledge and wits, contestants haye to open/knock out of the game 26 briefcases with fixed dollar amounts in them in an attem pt to discern how much money is in a briefcase they have pre-selected for themselves.

Periodically, 'The Banker" offers them shitloads o f money.

THAT'S THE WHOLE FUCKING SHOW! Open briefcases, then decide if you want $50,000 or if you like opening briefcases enough to stay on my television for another half-hour.

O f course none o f this would be a problem if regular, quality programming weren't also being taken o ff the air in favour o f shows pulled from the bottom o f the barrel. Audi­ ences foam at the mouth about — a show so

WhoWants tobeaMillionaire?

Jeopardy

Deal orNoDeal?

Grey'sAnatomy

absolutely convinced o f its own cleverness and profundity that it ends up being little more than trite and meaningless.

Yet, 60 arguably the most intelligent and poignant program to grace the airwaves all year, has been pulled from the Monday lineup— due to, surprise, low ratings— making room for a show that's basically except with Irish kids who seem about as tough asTim Allen and narrated by this dude who looks like a giant fucking rat.

In the end, as much as one can complain about televi­ sion programming becoming progressively more mindnumbing and outright insulting to viewers, or about how quality shows like 6 0 or get canned because the 6.4 million viewers who feel like exercising their capacity for abstract thought are not justification enough for spending $2 .5-million on one episode, the bottom line is that the idiot box is winning the battle. is one o f the most booming shows in recent memory, despite the fact that it's, quite frankly, utterly moronic and averaged 26.6 million viewers, making it the most suc­ cessful TV debut in nearly a decade. It's no wonder television networks feel as if they have carte blanche to berate or deni­ grate their public. We're playing their game. And guess what: we're losing. ■

Studio ontheSunsetStrip, TheSopranos

Studio

Grader?

TheBlackDonnellys;

Rome

Grey'sAnatomy AreYouSmarterThanaFifth

27.03.07 • The McGill Tribune • 17

Previews

FILM

What's in a Namesake?

Penn leaves the comedy of White Castle behind to explore American assimilation Liz M c L a u g h l in Though it is billed as a coming-of-age story o f one young man, the real magic o f lies in its ex­ ploration o f the life o f one family. Directed by Mira Nair the film's graceful crafting makes the story o f one family's transition from Calcutta to New York City resonate beyond the particular circumstances it depicts. It is truly spellbinding w ithout being sentimental or inauthentic; watching the film feels like peering into the real dissection o f someone else's family.

The film is a story o f tw o worlds, New York City and Calcutta. It follows the Gangulis from an arranged mar­ riage in Calcutta to the births o f their children in New York City and the family's life as first-generation im m i­ grants in the 1980s and 1990s.

Gogol (Kal Penn), the first-born child, moves be­ tween his traditional Indian family and his active lifestyle as an American. Central to the story is the character's tor­ ment over his Russian name, which comes from the name o f his father's favorite author, Nikolai Gogol. Feeling that the obscure and unwieldy name is a burden, he takes the name Nikolai (shortened, in true American style, to Nick) before leaving for college at Yale. His new name seems to change his position in the w orld— for example, suddenly, he finds himself dating a WASP-y American girl and work­ ing in an architecture firm. However, he continually finds that he cannot escape his Bengali background.

Much has been made o f Kal Penn's transition from teen comedies, such as and (he played Van's overeager and undersexed assistant), to a serious dramatic role in this film. In this movie, his acting is superb and he invests the nec­ essary emotional work; however, he is a little less than believable, not because he is accustomed to comedic roles but because there is an incomplete identification w ith his character's position. It's really Gogol's mother Ashima (played by Indian actress Tabu), w ho motivates the plotline. Her transition from a shy newlywed to a

W

C rysta l C h a n

Art. Environment: Approaches for Tomorrow, until June 10 ; Canadian Centre for Architecture (1920 Baile). French horticultural engineer and landscape architect Gilles Clément and Swiss architect Philippe Rahm will present an exhibit o f their work at the CCA this spring. The showcase marks their North American debut. Their concept o f art and design tackles the ever important modern conflict between humans and the environ­ ment and the possibility o f introducing a symbiotic relationship between the tw o in the architectural sphere. The museum is at the Guy-Concordia metro stop. Visit for more information.

IlCaimano,

(.SalaamBombay, Monsoon Wedding),

Van Wilder

by

ww.cca.qc.ca/programs

TheNamesake

Harold&KumarGotoWhiteCastle

C o m p il e d

Film. opens March 23. Nanni Moretti's 2006 film is finally being released in Montreal, made relevant again with IL C A IM A N O former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi recent depar­ IN:liMOf *ON*l MOWrn ture from office as well as his wife's public detailing o f his marital failings headlining national newspapers. Originally released in Italy immediately prior to the Spring elections that saw him out o f office, the film is a film-within-a-film _____ ________ story about a B-movie producer peddling a controversial HH t i a m i M H IPl script by a young screenwriter about the political personal­ ity. The political drama is fused with personal comedy. The release o f the movie also coincides with a retrospective of Moretti's works at Cinémathèque Québécoise.

REDIFF.COM

From B engali to NYC —

Nam esake

exp lo re s id e n tity .

m other holding the whole family together is a pleasure to watch.

Director Mira Nair should be applauded for her nuanced use o f colour, light, darkness and rich scenery, which add to the emotional nature of the film. The imag­ ery in the film is beautiful and the scene at the Taj Mahal is particularly startling. The film is based on the Jhumpa Lahiri novel that shares its name. The inherent difficulty o f basing a film on a novel is apparent in the transitions, some o f which are too quick. For example, we see noth­ ing o f Gogol's tim e at Yale - he goes immediately from being a surly teenager to a seemingly adjusted tw enty­ something. Certainly, this detracts from the film, but not in a significant way. The movie, well-directed and em o­ tionally suggestive, is w orthw hile and memorable. ■ The Namesake

erineW.).

plays at AMCForum(2313 Ste-Cath-

Music. Hootenanny Revue, March 29 at 8 p.m.; Main Hall (5390 St-Laurent). The eclectic show­ stopping variety show featuring some o f Canada's top performers is in tow n this Thursday night.

Musical acts from founder Carolyn Mark as well as Jenny Whiteley, LW, Hank & Lily, Jim Bryson, Dan Whitely and Joey Wright will be featured on top o f mass ensemble pieces. The result is a rollicking old fashioned-style musical variety show. Tickets are $15 . Call (514) 524-9225 for tickets or more information.

Reviews All OfASudden IMiss Everyone/ TemporaryResidence. With three solid, inseparable albums under its belt, the Texan quartet Explosions In The Sky isn't just some post-rock band with influences; they are a major source o f influence withinthe genre. All ofaSuddenIM iss Everyone is a perfect third full-length, because EITS has Explosions In The Sky—

been playing together long enough to know how to make every second count. At times, however, this highly calculated ebb and flow m ight also be this album's downfall as it looses spontaneity in the process. was released on tw o discs, the second disc however, is an entire set o f remixes and reinterpretations by six different artists, such as Four Tet and tour partners The Paper Chase and Eluvium. Echoing braided guitars and thundering drums are replaced on the remix album by looped phrases and electronic filters. This is a prime example o f how open-ended EITS's emo­ tive soundscapes can be.

AllofaSudden

-— JeremyYoung

I L L

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH CREATIVE WRITING PRIZES AND AWARDS The M O N A A D IL M A N PRIZE IN POETRY worth $700—or $350 for two students, is open to undergraduate or graduate students registered in the Faculty of Arts for the best poem or group of poems relating to ecological or environmental concerns.

The CLARK LEWIS MEMORIAL PRIZE worth $450, is open to major o r honours students in the Department of English.

The prize is awarded annually or from time to time for original plays staged in the course of the academic year.

The CHESTER M A C N A G H TEN PRIZES IN CREATIVE W R IT IN G (two prizes, one of $700 and another of $400) are open to undergraduate students of the University for the best piece of creative writing in English, i.e. a story, a play, a poem, an essay, etc. Printed compositions are ineligible if they have been published before April 13,2007.

The PETERSON MEMORIAL PRIZE worth $2,000, is open to undergraduate or graduate students registered in a degree program in the Department of English with distinction in English Literature (CGPA 3.30 o r above) who has also shown creative literary ability.

The LIONEL SHAPIRO AWARDS FOR CREATIVE W R IT IN G three prizes of $ 1,500 each, to be distributed if possible among the genres of poetry, fiction, screen writing and playwriting. Each prize to be awarded on the recommenda­ tion of the Department of English to students in the final year of the B.A. course who have demonstrated outstanding talent. (A note from your academic adviser veri­ fying you will have completed your program requirements and the minimum credits required by the Faculty of Arts (by April 2007) MUST accompany your submission.)

SUBJECT TO CLASSIFICATION

These competitions are restricted to students who have not previously won the First Prize.

The forms to be completed for the creative writing prizes and awards submissions are available in the Department of English General Office, Arts 15S. Submissions must be IN TRIPLICATE

Deadline: Friday, A pril 13 ,2 0 0 7

The McGill Tribune

18 • Arts & Entertainment • 27.03.07

THEATRE

LITERATURE

Talking teddy bears take stage

What a vegan Ironman

Improv Summit showcases witty, fast-paced hilarity Liz M c Laughlin

The Thrive Diet strives to be good for you V incciT sui While many athletes like to supplem ent their diets w ith w hey protein powders or raw eggs, Ironman tri­ athlon athlete Brendan Brazier is a bit o f an anomaly in his field, as he is a vegan. Now, he wants to teach others how to follow in his footsteps w ith his new book, (Penguin, 2007).

In addition to being good for personal health, Bra­ zier believes that the Thrive Diet is also one o f the best diets for the environment. The author was in Montreal last Thursday to speak at the Youth Summit on Climate Change.

"I think diets that focus on ju st plants are the most valuable for the environment,"said Brazier. "There's some different research; some suggest that local is more im­ portant and others suggest that organic is more im por­ tant. If you pick one or the other, then it's a step in the right direction."

The 12 -week meal plan is based mostly on recipes developed by Brazier himself. He suggests eating three meals and three snacks a day, as well as making sure to include a smoothie, a large green salad and a hom e­ made energy bar daily.This could be appealing to busy students because the recipes take very little tim e and skill to prepare; on the flip side, after 12 weeks, this could become monotonous.

At times, the book reads like a long advertise­ ment; paragraphs begin discussing the causes o f com ­ mon health problems only to end by declaring that the Thrive Diet has the ability to fix them . The recipes also call for hard-to-find ingredients like hemp, agave nectar, and dulse (a red seaweed), which can also be hard on students'wallets.

Brazier, however, believes that ingredient accessi­ bility should not be a major problem.

"A lot o f those foods are becoming really accessible right now because o f the health departments in cer­

The

ThriveDiet

The great thing about the McGill Improv Summit, held Saturday afternoon and evening in the Shatner building, is that it embraced irreverence. Budding comedians from Quebec and Ontario walked the line between good humour and outright disrespect, a refreshing experience for PC-gorged audiences, showing a keen understanding o f the subtleties o f joking w ithout being of­ fensive.

Often, the improv troupes seemed to cleverly poke fun at offensive hu­ mour. For example, during a match between UQÀM and the University o f Sher­ brooke, when the assigned scene was a debate between tw o people vying for a spot as head scout, one of the actors played an applicant who was gay. The punch line of the joke was the o f joke that would employ homosexuality in this way, not homosexuality itself. After the scene, the moderator jokingly announced that the actor who had played the gay scout leader would be re­ quired to perform a straight stereotype as a penalty. Good-naturedly, the actor exaggeratedly portrayed an enraged volleyball player with a sock in his crotch.

The moral was not that it's okay to laugh at anyone else's sexual orientation, but that in improv, the best thing to do is be flexible.

In its fifth year, the ImprovSummit is a tournament between improv groups from Ontario and Quebec.This year's Summit attracted teams from University of Toronto, Carleton, University of Ottawa, Sherbrooke, UQÀM, University of Montreal and McGill. McGill Improv president Adrienne Grafton explained that the event has varied in size over the years; at one point, tw o teams competed, while this year seven troupes attended. The round-robin tournament provided a chance for all participants to show off their skills to an appreciative audience comprised o f members of other troupes and a few outsiders as well.

In the evening, after the initial rounds, the Ontario-Quebec All-Star Game highlighted the distinct performance styles of the tw o provinces. As Carleton troupe members Laura Thornton and Claire Siddiscombe explained, the Que­ bec style is characterized by more stress on the scene as a whole. Groups who have honed their styles in Quebec tend to emphasize creating a complete story w ithin the allotted time frame, whereas, as the actors described, in On­ tario performers are accustomed to fast-paced games such as"Freeze,''in which tw o actors start a scene and are intermittently replaced by actors from the sidelines. Judge Anders Yates, a member of the Montreal improv group Un­ called For, noted that the Québécois style o f comedy is much more joke-based and the scenes tend to be over-the-top. Fie contrasted this with the Albertan style, in which actors start seriously and build a non-humorous plotline for a short while before giving in to jokes and ridiculousness.

Of course, some might question the validity o f emphasizing the differ­ ences between Ontario and Quebec. Isn't it harmful to fuel animosity between the tw o provinces? However, if you asked any of the actors ip this competition, most would explain that sometimes laughing about something like QuebecOntario relations is the best thing to do. ■

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tain supermarkets. I found that it's actually quite easy to buy those foods now; much more so than just a few years ago," he said.

"Cost-wise, they're so nutri­ ent-dense, you don't need to eat as much, so it's actu­ ally on par w ith a standard, healthy diet."

Although the cover o f the book bills the diet as one that promotes w eight loss, Brazier actually devel­ oped the diet to enhance his athletic performance.

“With a lot o f typical vegan diets there are lots o f substitutes for meat, like there are tofu hamburgers, hot dogs, soy ice cream and soy milk," Brazier said. "The Thrive Diet doesn't do that. It just uses w hole plantbased sources, and it doesn't try to mimic a standard American diet, whereas a lot o f vegetarian or vegan diets I find do."

Aside from being vegan, the Thrive Diet is also free o f com m on allergens like corn, wheat (gluten), soy and peanuts. Brazier says that this is to make the diet acces­ sible to a w ider audience.

"I think when people don't have a sensitivity to any one o f those allergens, then they're okay to eat them," he said. "But I think a lot o f people are in the situation where they just don't know and they'll have headaches, bloating, mild flu-like symptoms and they can't pin it down; quite often it can be attributed to a sensitivity."

Parts o f the Thrive Diet sound like good ideas to adopt and some o f Brazier's research and anecdotes sound very convincing. However, it w ould probably be very difficult for a student to follow through on the en­ tire 12 -week plan; after all, we're not all Ironmen. ■

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BENLEMIEUX Im p ro v — th e p e rfe c t occasion fo r b re a k in g o u t th e o ld suspenders.

LAST chance to see your b y lin e in A&E and to be generally awesome. Email arts@mcgilltribune.com for a story assignment or to p itc h your own ideas for next Tuesday's issue.

www.mcgilltribune.com

27.03.07 • Arts & Entertainment • 19

THEATRE

Almost curtains for directing projects Last chance for mid-day theatre at Morrice Hall McGill students have one last week to cram some culture in between courses at a Directing Project matinée. All that is required is an adventurous spirit, a quick glance at the online schedule and $5 in your pocket. Evening performances are also available but popular, so be forewarned: last week, people were turned away from the door of the small Morrice Hall theatre. Su­ pervising professor Myrna Wyatt Selkirk was "very pleased with the audience turnout and response for the Directing Projects last week."lf Wyatt Selkirk's observations are any indication of what is to come, this week's viewers can expect''presentational”flare and spontaneous "interaction with the audience." The sophisticated line-up features six works by Canadian and British playwrights, crafted and brought to stage by upper year drama students. Here are the goods on the final stages o f McGill's biggest little drama festival: The Lover. "Is your lover coming today?" Surely, things in the conjugal bed are grim when these are your husband's parting words in the morning. But after 10 years of marriage, Sarah fears that her lover may be the very glue o f her marriage to Richard.

Pinter's kinky couple, played by Robert Lamont and Dasha Ko­ zlova, heat up the stage under the colourful direction of Erin B. King in this modern classic about the struggle for sexual power within marriage. After playing a house-bound wife herself in last King was drawn to Sarah's week's production of attempts to "harness her identity through sexuality." Comedic antics distract somewhat from the disturbing subtleties o f the plot until the telling final pose, but a brief appearance by David Mitchell raises a chuckle and the question of whether Sarah is w ithout agency after all.

A Num ber. In this sci-fi staging, tw o clones and their proto­ type confront their biological father after 35 years. Murteza Khan plays dear old dad with a cool intensity that underscores Eric Rumis's frenetic bewilderment as son number one. In a challen­ ging performance, Rumi also plays the son's tw o clones. The­ re's so much happening in this play that minimalism is a must.

Audiences will fare best if they just let its many themes wash over them and analyze it later: the soundtrack, electronica artist Brian Tra n sea u's "This binary universe,"will help. Directing one of Caryl Churchill's newest plays, James Pohotsky takes a script that he

MenHaveHeads,

says "reads like an e.e. cummings poem" and fashions a psychic wom b where the audience can explore the 30 per cent genetic similarity you have with a head of lettuce and the one per cent difference between you and another person.

Collateral D am age. This play explores the complexity of human relationships. A young Canadian couple, one Anglo­ phone, one Francophone, find themselves imprisoned in a Cen­ tral American jail for reasons unbeknownst to them. When joined by a third prisoner, they try to uncover who is imprisoning them and for what purpose.

Featuring Loretta. Loretta is a w idow who finds herself out o f money and apparently w ithout options for her future. She is stranded in Los Angeles and caught between tw o suitors: a nerdy salesman boyfriend who needs to keep her around (for example, so that his boss will give him a promotion) and a porn king who wants to hire her as a star. The play is light and full o f jokes, de­ spite being in touch w ith social issues as well: a dark, dramatic comedy that combines the KGB, pregnant wannabe porn stars, fatal bear-related mishaps and a host o f other bizarre circum­ stances and characters, while commenting on issues including abortion, oppression o f women and the meaning o f family and success in modem times.

Listening. Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Albee's weaves together the strangely intertwined lives o f a man, a woman and a girl. The play unfolds in spellbinding soliloquies and disjointed dialogues, leaving the audience to slowly piece together the connection between the characters, their past and their present. The play deals with many themes, including men­ tal illness and the disconnect that occurs between people when they hear w ithout truly listening to each other. "It makes people think about language and communication," says director Anna Trowbridge.

The Zoo Story. It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon and a businessman is sitting on a bench reading. One minute all is well with the world and the next, his life is irreversibly altered.

"The play is about a man who's had his American Dream shat­ tered,” reveals director Nat Stigler, U3 arts. "It deals with our ability to know ourselves and .how it affects our connection to others."

The play is typical Albee, with layers upon layers o f disconcerting

drama mixed with an underlying thread o f dark humor. Set in the

195.0s, the story absorbs some of the existential philosophy o f the time with its bleak outlook and the intensely focused set-up. The entire play revolves around Peter, a respectable fortysomething man and Jerry, a young, aggressive homeless man. Peter Hibbs and Bradley Morin star as the unlikely bench mates who embark on this tragic journey of self-discovery. ■

—CompiledbyHeatherAnderson, JudahIssaandLizMcLaughlin Ch'eckwww.mcg iIItri bu ne.com forshowtimes.

Listening

LUKAS BERGMARK

C lo n e s .J n

A N u m b e r.

W M cG ill The Department of Jewish Studies BLACH ERAND GLASROT FAMILIES

MEMORIAL AWARD FOR HOLOCAUST RESEARCH stablished in 2000 by Mr. and Mrs. Josef Glasrot, survivors of the Holocaust and residents of Montreal. Open to any student at McGill University, the award is presented for excellence in research in Holocaust and related studies, and particularly on the history of the ghettos of Warsaw and Kovno [Kaunas!. Essays prepared in any course or independent research may be considered. The award is administered by the Department of Jewish Studies in cooperation with the Jewish Community Foundation. The award will be presented during the Closing Exercises of the Department of Jewish Studies in June, 2007.

The value of the Blacher and Glasrot Families Memorial Award is $1000.

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• The com petition is open to undergraduate and graduate students at McGill University.

• Students must submit 2 typed copies o f their essays together with full contact inform ation.

• Essays can be based on primary or secondary materials and work in all related disciplines w ill be considered.

• Essay subm issions must reach the Department o f Jewish Studies Office, 3438 McTavish Street, no later than April 13, 2007.

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VENUS PHOTO

Wine & Cheese April 4 ^ Wednesday 3581 University St. Come visit the display in Redpath March 2 4 - April 6

Read the online edition at www.mcgilltribune.com

S ports PROFILE— B A D M IN T O N

McGill's top athlete languishes in obscurity Star grabs double-gold at Canada Winter Games and QSSF finals A a r o n S igal

McGill Athletics, like most other university sports programs, is a hierarchical system based purely, and arguably unfairly, on popularity and not production. McGill's highest funded varsity squads are the football team— which hasn't won a champion­ ship since 1987— and the Redmen and Martlet hockey clubs, who have combined to win an astounding total o f zero national titles. While these top drawers struggle to live up to expectations and investments, the true producers for McGill Athletics languish in second-class programs.

Look no further than Mathieu Laforest o f the Redmen bad­ minton team.

In the last month, Laforest— perhaps the most dominant athlete at McGill in his or her own discipline— accumulated an impressive array o f first-place finishes as he captured double­ golds in singles and doubles at both the Canada Winter Games in the Yukon as a member of Team Quebec and the QSSF Cham­ pionship hosted by UQAM. "There's pretty much no competition for him now in singles especially," said head coach Henry Shih. "He's really the best sin­ gles badminton player in the entire province as we saw at the QSSF championships. He pretty much won the singles tourna­ ment hands down; we knew he was going to take it." it is this identification of Laforest as a premier athlete in Que­ bec that led to his being selected as the fleur-de-lys flag bearer in the opening ceremonies of the Canada Winter Games.

"It was definitely a rush of adrenaline," Laforest said. "It was something I really appreciated. I had never done it before and discussing it w ith the people who chose me about why they select­ ed me was a very grati­ fying experience."

The badminton star rode that wave of emotion to a dominat­ ing singles gold medal and a doubles cham­ pionship in which he paired w ith his young­ er brother Francis— in both events, the fierce­ ly competitive Laforest did not drop a single set. Although the Que­ bec badminton team COURTESY MCGILL ATHLETICS fell to B.C. in the team Laforest lu n g es his w a y to th e to p . competition after a cru­ cial doubles loss from

the Laforests, Mathieu reinforced his position at the top of Cana­ da's small badminton comm unity and had fond memories o f his chance to play alongside his brother.

"We did really well in the individual section of the tourna­ ment," Laforest said. "But it was winning the gold medal in dou­ bles with my brother that was the most special for me.”

Fantastic ju n io r career The third-year mechanical engineering major experienced an upbringing similar to most young Canadian boys—-on the ice.

Ftowever, when Laforest turned eight, his father, himself a star in the not-so-mainstream sport cycling, turned his son on to bad­ minton.

"My father, who was a top cyclist and a major provincial bad­ minton player, introduced me to the sport when I was eight and playing hockey,” Laforest said."l really liked it and I really liked that it was an individual sport. I'm a perfectionist and I was having a hard time dealing with the team."

Laforest, however, had no difficulty in dealing with badmin­ ton. Living in Laval, the young prodigy reaped the benefits of liv­ ing in the same city as the National Badminton Training Centre.

From there, he embarked on a stellar junior career. In addition to attending CEGEP Montmorency, the badminton star excelled in his field, accumulating trophies and records at a staggering pace.

Currently, Laforest holds the most national titles o f any junior to date, winning his last three consecutive national junior champi­ onships. He also represented Canada in the World Junior Cham­ pionship in South Africa.

Unfortunately, too young for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Laforest is stuck in Olympic purgatory as he will be slightly too late for 2008 Bejing badminton qualifiers after he graduates from McGill.

"But he's got such charisma o ff the court and he's an extremely good student. I think the players on the team really look up to him as a role model. You would think a person with his kind of credentials would be stand-offish but he's very approachable and a very likable person."

Although still a force in the sport, Laforest seems resigned that badminton both at McGill and in his own life will be a back­ ground story. Yet, as with all domineering athletes, no matter how secondary badminton becomes, the fire o f competing will always burn for Laforest. ■

FACT BOX OTHER CAREER HIGHLIGHTS OUTSIDE McGILL;

j «2007 Canada Winter Games silver medalist in mixed j doubles j «2006 Canadian senior championships silver in doubles 5«2006 Canadian Under 23 national singles champion 1*2003 Canadian junior national singles champion •2003 Canada Winter Games gold medalist in doubles •2003 Canada Winter Games gold medalist in team event •2002 Canadian junior national singles champion •2001 Canadian junior national singles champion

McGILL ATHLETICS HIGHLIGHTS IN 2005-06:

] «QSSF conference all-star for third straight year i «was injured and finished second in QSSF singles chamI pionship

McGILL ATHLETICS HIGHLIGHTS IN 2004-05:

Bye bye b ird ie Laforest realized, however, the limits of badminton and turned his attention to academics and his non-sporting future.

Badminton, in a position it knows too well in North America, would have to take a back seat.

"McGill was completely academically chosen because of the reputation of the name and my desire to improve in Eng­ lish," Laforest said. "There was no consideration of badminton.

When I came to university, I ended my junior career and badmin­ ton switched to priority number-two. Although it's still part of my daily routine, I didn't come here to continue my career. I will never compromise my marks for badminton" It seems as though Laforest, in his drive to become a man­ agement consultant, has found a happy and extremely success­ ful balance between athletics and academics which many stu­ dent-athletes often struggle to discover.

"He's obviously a great player on the court,"said coach Shih.

j« w o n Uldis Auders Trophy as McGill's top sophomore I student-athlete | «QSSF conference all-star for second straight year i «w on QSSF singles championship j «ranked 2 nd in singles on the provincial elite circuit «finished SECOND at QSSF University Cup 1 competition j hosted by McGill (Oct. 10, 2004) l «received an athletic excellence award from the Quebec j Foundation for University Athletics I «team captain and fundraising executive in 2004-05

J

McGILL ATHLETICS HIGHLIGHTS IN 2003-04:

•QSSF conference all-star •w o n QSSF singles championship

T H IR D M A N IN

Easy as one, two, three here have been a few surprises in this NHL season— who knew that the Flyers would be bad or that Roberto Luongo would turn the Vancouver Canucks into instant powerhouses? But one thing that has shocked no one is that the playoff races are so tig h t even this late in the season. With less than tw o weeks to go, only tw o teams in the East have clinched playoff spots, while only three in the West are into the post-season. In the East, only five points separate the sixth seed from the 11th slot. While this is due in large part to the parity o f the new NHL, there is another important factor that can't be ignored: the "loser point."

A few years ago, the NHL decided that too many of its games were ending in unpopular ties and revamped its overtime format. Since the 1999-00 season, when games have ended in a tie after regulation, teams have played four-on-four in OT, with the loser awarded a single point.

The proportion of tie games dropped immediately and dramatically, just as the NHL wanted.

Although I support the idea of giving the loser a point to encourage teams to go for it in the extra frame, the sys­

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tem has gone awry. The problem today is that too many games— over 23 per cent— are going to OT. This means that there are three points up for grabs in nearly a quarter of the NHL's games.

Now that most teams in the league are competitive, every point matters more than ever.This encourages teams to play for the tie in regulation to guarantee themselves from a game, then try for the extra point in OT. The shootout also makes it possible for a team to win a lot o f close hockey games just by focusing on one small aspect o f their game. This year, the Minnesota Wild have been masters of this tactic, going .17-7 in OT, including 10-6 in shootouts. Last year, the Dallas Stars were 15-6 in over­ time, thanks largely to Jussi Jokinen's shootout brilliance.

This definitely has an impact on the standings. In 200506, the Edmonton Oilers'13 OT/shootout losses were crucial in allowing them to snatch the last playoff spot from the Canucks— who had five fewer— in the dying days of the season. Loser points could again play a role in determining who does and doesn't make it to the post-season this year, with the Calgary Flames and Colorado Avalanche battling

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for eighth in the West, and Calgary possessing three more extra time losses.

Thanks to this competition, the NHL is getting more of exactly what it didn't want: boring hockey games. Thank­ fully, there is a solution at hand. Just as an incentive was created for teams to play for the win instead o f the tie in OT, it is possible to induce teams to try to win games in regula­ tion by awarding three points for a regulation win, tw o for an OT/shootout win and one for an OT/shootout loss. This system is already being used effectively elsewhere, for in­ stance at this year's World Junior Hockey Championship.

Some purists may think that this is a terrible idea but since the NHL is unlikely to get rid o f shootouts or the loser point any time soon, something has to be done. Making a regulation win worth three points would encourage teams to play a more offensive game in pursuit o f that extra point and hopefully reduce the number of games going to overtime, in addition to producing more exciting hockey games, making every gagie worth three points should cut down on the number o f shootouts that those purists hate so yery much. Everybody wins. ■

27.03.07 -The McGill T rib u n e *^

REPORT C A R D — MARTLETS HOCKEY

Falling short of perfection

S H O O T IN G O U T TH E LIGHTS

Fighting j against the

Final game sours strong regular season C harlie Blore In time, the 2006-07 edition o f the McGill Martlets may be looked back upon as one o f the most dominant teams in any sport in school history and an important stepping stone on the path to a first CIS national champi­ onship for the program.

But today, the girls in red and white probably aren't ready to look at it like that— being just one week removed from having to settle for silver against Alberta in the na­ tional title game. What was accomplished by this group in getting to that game, though, must not be overshadowed by the vexatious turn their season took in its finale. The Martlets spent the entire season ranked as the numberone team in the country, posting an eye-popping 28-1-1 record against CIS opponents in the regular and pre-sea­ son. McGill would go on to sweep both their QSSF playoff series— outscoring Concordia and Ottawa by a combined margin o f 18-2 in the four games— to claim their second consecutive conference title.

The Martlets were led this season on offence by sophomore forward Vanessa Davidson who claimed the Quebec conference scoring title and set school records for goals, assists and points by posting totals o f 15-16-31 in just 17 games.

On defence, the team received a pleasant surprise as rookie defenceman Catherine Ward burst onto the scene to set a new conference record for points by a blue liner with 22 in 16 games (5-17-22). In the process, Ward also set school marks for goals, assists and points by a rearguard, was named CIS rookie o f the year and had a new scholar­ ship at her CEGEP alma-mater, Dawson College, named in her honour.

Then there was the stellar play o f rookie goaltender and former gold-medalist with the Canadian Olympic team, Charline Labonté. Labonté led the CIS with a 17-1-0 record, a goals against average o f 0 .82, a save percentage o f .958 and 10 shutouts. She was also named Montreal's female amateur athlete o f the year by the local sports talk

radio station,Team 990.

It was also a banner year for head coach Peter Smith, not only because he has now guided the Martlets to seven CIS national tournaments in his eight years at the helm o f the program, but also because of the Si-million donation the team received from alumni David and Sh­ eryl Kerr. According to Athletic Director Derek Drummond, the Montreal natives'generous donation will go towards ensuring coach Smith is employed, like his football and men's hockey counterparts, full-time.

With a young core of tremendously talented athletes returning next year and a full-time head coach o f Smith's calibre, look for the Martlets to bring home a CIS title sooner rather than later.

C 2 j "TSN effect" A dam H eller

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LUKAS BERGMARK The Martlets did everything but win nationals.

REPORT C A R D — R ED M EN HOCKEY

Expectations prove too much Red and white unable to repeat in OUA C harlie Blore Frustration was the name o f the game in the 200607 season of Redmen hockey. After being knocked out of last year's CIS national championship, McGill came into this campaign w ith one goal in mind: a return to the big dance.

Somewhere along the way, though, things just start­ ed to go sideways. Two-time Ontario University Athletics MVP, goaltender Mathieu Poitras, w ent from unbeatable to just plain beatable on many nights and the big red scoring machine in front o f him couldn't get all cylinders firing in even-strength situations. It all led to a season o f inconsis­ tency and frustration that culminated in their ouster from the OUA playoffs in a two-game sweep at the hands of the underdog Toronto Varsity Blues— a team the Redmen had beat 3-0 and 11-1 during the regular season.

In hindsight, there's no doubt that the losses o f veter­ an playmakers Doug Orr and Pierre-Antoine Paquet hurt, but that should be no excuse. Fourth year forward Shawn Shewchuk was the team's leading scorer and he finished a paltry 38th in the CIS scoring race (9-23-32 in 25 games). There were some bright spots on offence, how­ ever, with the emergence o f junior Eric L'Italien (12 -16-28) and sopho­ more Sam Bloom (12-13-25).

David Urquhart, meanwhile, continued to be a force to be reck­ oned with on the blue line, racking up tw o goals and 25 assists for 27 points in 28 games while quarterbacking McGill's power-play. Urquhart also earned All-Canadian and OUA all-star team honours in addi­ tion to being named McGill's nomi­ nee for the CIS Randy Greg Trophy, which recognizes the player who best combines hockey with aca­ demic excellence and community service.

Between the pipes, Poitras posted respectable numbers with a

■ he 'TSN effect," similar to the "CNN effect," occurs when I a clip or image is played over and over throughout the news cycle for weeks on end. And it is becoming a nuisance. Ask most Americans about hockey and the first images that come to mind for them are Todd Bertuzzi cold cocking Steve Moore, Marty McSorely swatting Donald Brashear in the head or, more recently, Chris Simon trying to decapitate Ryan Hollweg. The trouble is that the American voice matters and the NHL is susceptible to making snap judgements— sort of like a school principal banning recess when one kid gets hurt during a snowball fight.

The"TSN effect"is not limited to hockey but some recent examples, such as the Simon incident, clearly show that 10 seconds of an 82 game season can be as explosive as a match in a dynamite shack. If there is one crash during a 400-kilometre bike race, the crash is often given more time on televi­ sion than the finish. People start asking questions about why it happened and the other 99 per cent o f the race is forgotten.

In hockey, if a player gets knocked out during a fight— something that has been part of hockey for a century— suddenly the league must act.

Television is an image medium, which means seeing Simon lose his sanity about 100 times during in the immediate aftermath of the incident and then maybe 90 times the next day and so on. Television loves these random acts of violence because they are entertaining and extreme.

It's no wonder ESPN, after failing to renew its contract with the NHL after the lockout, only pipes barbaric and isolated images of hockey players attacking one another across the United States instead o f highlight reel goals or saves.

The effect is that viewers, especially those who do not watch a lot of the sport in question, get a false impression of what it's all about. These also happen to be the swing audi­ ence that, if attracted to the sport, can give ratings a powerful boost. It would be too easy to just say who cares or to brush off their concerns as ignorant. This would belie the power of the "TSN effect."

The overall effect is that incidents are allowed to snow­ ball out of control and become major issues. The most recent victims have been headshots, a popular target for reform, and fighting in hockey, long a pet project of some members of the media. In order to solve the problem, casual fans are ap­ peased at the expense of the real fans that watch the full 60 minute game and knew ofTodd Bertuzzi before his mug was splashed across every newspaper on the continent. It is true that this NHL season has seen its fair share o f guys being cart­ ed off after taking one on the chin. The proportion of these injuries to the overall number of fights, however, is miniscule and according to a recent poll, the players themselves want it to remain in the game. Viewers are also on side. I challenge you to name an arena where fans sit on their hands during a fight. It simply doesn't exist— a fact Don Cherry has been harping on for years.

This past week was a study in the "TSN effect" and how real fans get the short end o f the stick. The media loves to show and talk about fighting but it suddenly becomes a moral issue when one guy gets hurt. Toronto's WadeJBelak squared off against Cam Janssen of the New Jersey Devils in a great fight that was meant to send a message after Janssen's illegal and dirty hit on Leafs star defenceman Tomas Kaberle.

The fight was the highlight of the game and its photo, not any of the goals, graced most major papers. Later in the week, Todd Fedoruk was knocked unconscious in a fight— an unfor­ tunate event that was played about twice as much as the en­ tertaining Belak tussle. Suddenly, moralists get involved, the media throws up its arms (the same media that loves showing said fights) and pugilism in hockey becomes a major issue.

If the "TSN effect" has one advantage it is highlighting certain major issues, but it should remain at that.The number o f times a clip is shown on television should not be indicative o f the importance o f an issue, a trap that the NHL seems to be falling into. Instead of talking about one kid throwing an ice ball during recess, let's talk about all the other kids playing by the rules. ■

2.41 goals against average and a .903 save percentage to go with his 9-6-3 record that included three shutoutsjBut those were well o ff his production from last year when he posted a sparkling 1.40 GAA, .942 save percentage and a 14-1-2 record with seven shutouts. His struggles came to a head in the first round o f the OUA playoffs when head coach Martin Raymond elected to start backup Jean-Michel Filiatrault in game three o f the series after a couple of shaky performances from Poitras in the first tw o games.

Filiatrault would not relinquish the net after the switch, delivering solid performances in each of the team's final three games.

As much as goaltending was an issue, a lack o f scor­ ing is what ultimately kept this team from travelling to Moncton— in their final series w ith Toronto, the Redmen failed to score a single goal. The team will miss departing captain Benoit Martin and energy-forward Teddy Kyres, but if Poitras bounces back and if the offence finds its sec­ ond gear, this is a group that could make another run at the nationals.

TheHockeyNews

Grade: B+

LUKASBERGMARK McGill failed to put away far too many of their chances this season.

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The McGill Tribune

22 • Sports • 27.03.07

N C A A PREVIEW — FINA L FO UR

SACK OF TH E WEEK

Old guard and new school clash UCLA Bruins vs. Florida Gators The Florida Gators and UCLA Bruins lock horns for the second year in a row in March Madness, albeit this time w ith a trip to the title game on the line rather than the national championship. In last season's finale, the Goliath­ like Bruins, a legendary college program and winners o f 11 NCAA champion­ ships— seven consecutively— faced their David in a minnow Gators program that had never won an NCAA tournament and were a three-seed to UCLA's two. In shocking fashion, Florida, on the strength o f their superstar forward Joakim Noah's 16 points, completely dismantled UCLA 73-57 to claim the title.

The Pac-io regular season champs have been pining for this rematch, especially when they saw the Gators on their side of the bracket and will un­ doubtedly look to avenge last year's embarrassing loss in the final. The Bru­ ins have shown throughout the tournament that they have the athleticism to play any type of basketball— be it the slugging, half-court style o f a bigger Pittsburgh squad or the run-and-gun style employed by top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks in the regional finals. Led by guard Arron Affalo, who seems to have stepped it up a notch with a monstrous second-half against Kansas and stand­ out sophomore point guard Darren Collison, UCLA has proven that they are still a major force to be reckoned with. Motivated-by revenge, the Bruins will seek to use their superior athleticism to out-work and wear down the bigger Gators.

Florida, meanwhile, has simply looked unstoppable. Littered with a wealth of stars and a host of returnees from last year's championship squad, the Gators clearly have the necessary experience and have thrived on the low-post plays' to Noah or centre Al Horford. Shooters Lee Humphrey and Taurean Green are on fire right now as Humphrey drained seven treys and Green added 21 points from the field in their 85-77 win over Oregon in the mid-west regional final.

While not as athletic, the Gators'guards can still manage to keep up with the Bruins and the difference will be found in Florida's ability to exploit their mas­ sive size and skill advantage in the paint on both ends o f the floor.

—AaronSigal

G e o rg eto w n Hoyas vs. O h io S tate Buckeyes Georgetown didn't take the easy road to the Final Four but has made it to Atlanta all the same.The Hoyas whipped lowly Belmont by 25 and followed that up with a decent win against Boston College before getting into all kinds o f trouble in the next tw o rounds. First, they needed a circus last second bucket from guard Jeff Green to get by a feisty Vanderbilt squad in the Sweet Sixteen.

Then in the Elite Eight, North Carolina appeared to have the game salted away when they went up by nine with six minutes to play, only to see.Georgetown m ount a miraculous comeback to force overtime and eventually run away with the win, 96-84.

If nothing else, though, the hard fought wins highlighted what this group brings to the table: depth and production at every position, stifling defence, big-time competitors and excellent coaching from John Thompson III. As long as they bring all those elements with them to Atlanta, they have a very good shot at bringing some hardware back to D.C. Ohio State won't make it easy for them, though. The Buckeyes have looked solid throughout, scoring wins over Central Connecticut State, Xavier and Memphis. They did struggle mightily against Tennessee and needed a huge block from centre Greg Oden to lock down a birth into the Elite Eight.

But Tennessee had more scrap than their five seed may have indicated and the relatively easy win over Memphis was particularly telling. This is a team that has three monsters in Oden and guards Ron Lewis and Mike Conley Jr., a good coach inThad Matta and a serviceable supporting cast.

That may have been enough to roll up the Big Ten and get them this far in the tournament but look for the Hoyas to bite the wings o ff these bugs.

This week's w in n er— Vincent Kennedy M cM ahon Some m ight argue that professional wrestling has no right to take up any ink on the sports page. Others m ight say that the Chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment could logically grace this box every week. How: ever, recent actions both on and o ff the air have justified the inclusion o f this glorified circus promoter.

With WWE pay-per-view buyrates down, and no Hulk Hogan or Stone Cold Steve Austin in sight to save the : promotion, Vince has decided that Wrestlemania— the supposed crown jewel on the pro wrestling calendar— ■ needed something more to attract viewers. What WWE fans will receive is the billionaire hair challenge. Recruiting Donald Trump— who might be the a bigger self promoter than Vince— this Sunday's Wrestlemania 23 will include ) a match between behemoths Bobby Lashley and Umaga. Lashley will represent Trump while Umaga is fighting 1 for McMahon.The loser's billionaire gets his head shaved.

If this were not enough, last week, numerous WWE "superstars" were implicated in the same drug ring that included last week's winner, Evander Holyfield. After the death of Eddie Guerrero, the WWE implemented a "zero i tolerance" policy to combat drugs. Even though the men in question supposedly received their "prescriptions" I before Guerrero's passing, the fact that this is in the news shouldn't surprise anyone.

In a business that strives for legitimacy, McMahon continues to show why he'll always be the poor man's I Don King.

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27.03.07 • Sports • 23

L ast C a l l

Sports Briefs co m p iled by C harlie B lore

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A a ro n S igal David Urquhart given All-Canadian honours

FITNESS TIP The bench press is designed for those w ho want to increase their upper body strength and mass as the mus­ cles targeted include the pectorals, the deltoids and the triceps.

This exercise can be performed w ith a barbell or with dumbbells. In order to perform an appropriate bench press, start by lying down on your back. Place your hands on the bar slightly wider than shoulder w idth apart and bring it down to your chest level, making a 90 degree angle with your elbows. Push the bar towards the ceiling and make sure to exhale when you push and inhale when you bring it back down. Do not touch your chest with the bar and make sure that your feet are flat on the floor. If you are shorter,

place your feet on the bench or put something under your feet to increase the floor height.

By modifying your grip on the bar or the angle o f your bench you target different muscle fibers. Always start this exercise w ith warming up your muscles by performing 15-20 repetitions w ith a light weight. For better results, complete four sets o f six to eight repetitions w ith heavier weights.

Remember to pace yourself and listen to your body; load progressively and for increased safety, perform this exercise w ith assistance— a "spotter."

—Magda Goncalves Baptista is apersonal trainer with McGillAthletics

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David Urquhart has become the third defenceman in McGill history to earn All-Canadian status.

The six-foot, 195-pound blue-liner, named to the CIS sec­ ond-team all-stars, led all OUA rearguards in assists and finished second in points with tw o goals and 25 assists for a total o f 27 in 28 regular season games. It was the eighthbest single-season offensive output everfrom a McGill de­ fenceman. It also marks the 13th tim e in school history that the Redmen hockey team have had an All-Canadian.

Super-rookie Christian Vining named QSSF ski all-star

The QSSF ski all-stars and major award winners were announced tw o weekends ago as the Quebec university alpine ski circuit wrapped up the 2007 campaign at Mont Garceau. McGill freshman Christian Vining earned first team all-conference recognition and rookie of the year honours.

On the women's side, McGill's Marie-Claude Deschambault made the first team while three other Martlets— Megan Kidston, Marie-Christelle Laplante and- Kaylyn Morton— were picked to the second team.

O N DECK NCAA Basketball— National Cham­ pionship Game; Monday, 8 p.m., CBS

Who's going to cut down the nets? Florida, UCLA, Ohio State and Georgetown have all punched their tickets to Atlanta. The Gators have the edge in talent and experience on all these teams and are the obvi­ ous favourites to take the tourney.

Look out for UCLA and Georgetown though as they play strong, funda­ mental basketball. Ohio State is start­ ing to look like they may have been overrated and would be a surprise to make the final.

NHL Hockey— Carolina Hurricanes at Toronto Maple Leafs; Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., Air Canada Centre, TSN

With both teams battling for a playoff spot, this should be a good one. The Leafs choked hard on a 4-1 third period lead against the Sabres to fall 5-4 in Buffalo on Friday, but bounced back 24 hours later at home to those same Sabres with a 4-1 win.

The Hurricanes, meanwhile, have won four o f their last five games but are 1-2 this season against Toronto.

NHL Hockey— New York Rangers at Montreal Canadiens; Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., Bell Centre, RDS

Two more teams fighting for their playoff lives in the Eastern Con­ ference square o ff right here in Mon­ treal. The Habs seem to finally have recovered from an abysmal Janu­ ary and February, having won six of their last seven games. They will be in tough against a Rangers side that is currently riding a five game w in­ ning streak and have won both o f the teams' previous meetings this season.

UEFA Champions League— Bayern Munich at AC Milan; Tuesday, 2:45 p.m., Stadio Giuseppe Meazza,TSN

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The biggest clubs from Italy and Germany lock horns in'the first leg of this Champions League quarter-final draw. Bayern played well in the last round to get past Real Madrid. They are led by German nationals Lukas Podolski, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Oliver Kahn as well as Canadian Owen Hargreaves. Milan, meanwhile, holds the top spot in the Serie A and is always dangerous, powered by Bra­ zilians Dida, Cafu, Kakâ and Ronaldo.

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