The McGill Tribune Vol. 27 Issue 22

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Published by the Students' Society o f McGill University

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Volume 27 Issue 22 • March 4, 2008

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E le c tio n fe v e r ru n s h ig h a t c a n d id a t e d e b a t e s Campaigns spring into student eye Kate Spirgen Sustainability, student involvement and transparency were the main topics of discussion at the Students' Society executive debates last night in the Lev Bukhman room of Shatner.

The contest for the presidency aroused the most heated debate between candidates RJ Kelford, current Arts' Undergraduate Society president and Kay Turner, this year's SSMU VicePresident Internal.

Kelford started off by saying, "We need ac­ cept that SSMU is not okay,"elaborating on ways to make SSMU more relevant to students.

Turner also noted the need for change,

putting herself as the ideal candidate with the experience to make it happen.

Kelford called fora space audit in Shatner to better allocate the space, while Turner focussed on her knowledge of SSMU's inner workings.

"Leadership to me is not necessarily being at the front of the charge but being there to make sure the charge keeps moving," she said.

"SSMU needs to be doing a lot more for students in almost every facet of student life," Kelford said, demanding that the standards for student executives be raised in the same way he has done in AUS.

See OUT on page 3

P r in c ip a l f ie ld s c o n c e r n s Opinions voiced at Town Hall T homas Q

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McGill's second Town Hall of the semester brought together Principal Heather MunroeBlum and an audience of faculty, staff and stu­ dents in an open forum yesterday, covering a range of topics from individual problems to uni­ versity policies. Held over the lunch hour in the Shatner University Centre, the discussion set out to answer the question, "What makes a great uni­ versity? And how are we ‘doing?"The audience of roughly 50, listened for the full hour and a half, and the event marked the first time a Town Hall had been held in student space.

"We've had a terrific year in many respects, we have a mission that's the envy of many uni­ versities, we have a reputation and the quality of people in our community that is also the envy of people everywhere," Blum said, kicking off the event. "Wé are making good progress on a whole number offrants. We continue to operate in a world of two minority governments; one in Quebec, and one in Ottawa. We exist in a con­ stantly under-funded context."

Moderated by Deputy Provost Morton Mendelson, the forum was divided into a discus­ sion centred on the event question, followed by a question and answer period and a brief con­ versation concerning town halls in general.

First to the microphone was lab technician Slawomir Poplawski from the Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering. Poplawski claimed that McGill needed a "diamond in its

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crown"before it could consider itself a truly great university. This diamond— Poplawski stated— was a Nobel laureate from McGill.

"We are labeled as a research-oriented uni­ versity. To be considered great, we need at least one Nobel prize winner to shine from this insti­ tution," Poplawski said. "What is more important than bringing somebody in to win the prize, is the question of how we create an environment here at McGill, where a Nobel prize winner can arise."

Rudolph Marcus, 1992 Nobel laureate in chemistry, is the only living Nobel prize winner from McGill. Blum agreed with Poplawski, stat­ ing that she felt research areas where McGill had been strong, in the past may not have received the same federal research support in compari­ son to their competitors.

U3 Biology student Tyler Hunt diverted dis­ cussions to under-funded student athletics at McGill, as he recounted his thoughts on student engagement and funding for third-tier sports teams.

"To increase engagement in McGill, we need to increase funding for third-tier sports groups. Teams make people leaders, they make people creative, innovative,"Hunt said.

Blum acknowledged Hunt's opinion and segued into a discussion concerning financial al­ location and the under-funded nature of McGill's public existence.

See STUDENTS on page 5

Canadian fmerufttversitv Sport Sport mtefyfSversttaire canadien

Students' Society presidential candidates, SSMU Vice-President Internal Kay Turner and AUS President RJ. Kelford, discuss the relevance of student government on Tuesday night's debate as Leon Grek moderates.

2008 CIS INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP

redbîrd SPO R TS SH O P

THURSDAY-SATURDAY, MARCH 6-8

McGILL UNIVERSITY, MONTRÉAL, QC ITEM O F T H E W E E K :

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COVER PHOTO BY NIKI HYDE

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D a y o f A c t io n b r a v e s w e a t h e r in Q u e b e c C it y 1 , 2 0 0

students from across the province protest rising tuition T heo M eyer

Approximately 80 students from McGill University, Concor­ dia, Dawson College and Vanier College made the trip from Mon­ treal to Quebec City on Feb. 21 to take part in the province-wide Day of Action. The protest— a follow-up from November's action in Montreal— centred primarily around the re-freeze of tuition.

The march, organized by the [Association pour une solidatité syndicale étudiante, began at the Université Laval and stretched for seven kilometres through frigid weather to the provincial Parliament building. Protesting students then climbed over the metal barriers erected outside the building before attempting to flip them. Riot police were deployed from the building, but the protest did not escalate to violence.

Students'Society Vice-President External Max Silverman es­ timated the crowd of protesters to be 1,200 students at the be­ ginning of the march, which dwindled to around 800 by the end.

Of the 80 students on the SSMU buses, 50 to 60 were from McGill, a number that Silverman thought could have been larger.

"The proximity to exams... combined with the extreme cold weather deterred a lot of people from attending," he said, but noted that even larger numbers would not have been able to change the government's stance. "Even if there had been tens of thousands of people, I don't think one protest would have changed this government's opinion," he said.

Those who braved the weather, like Cameron McKeich, Uo arts and member-at-large of the SSMU External Affairs commit­ tee, did so for a variety of reasons.

"I participated in the Day of Action in Montreal in November," he said. "I'm an out-of-province student, but it's still important for me to be part of the movement to lower tuition."

Concordia fine arts student Bronwen Moen echoed senti­ ments similar to McKeich's.

"Probably the top priority [for me] is supporting a larger group, voicing ideas... supporting education despite your finan­ cial situation," she said.

The march to the Parliament building lasted about two and a half hours vvhich many found to be too long.

"I felt like more time could have been spent at government buildings during business hours,"Moen said.

Silverman agreed, stating that while the long march may have

made the protest more visible to Quebec City residents, "it might have been a better idea to keep it shorter and just downtown."

Though most of the chants during the march were con­ ducted solely in French, McKeich viewed the participation of An­ glophone students from McGill, Concordia and the Dawson and Vanier CEGEPs as important.

"A student movement in Quebec needs support of [the Eng­ lish-language] universities if it's going to have the ear of [Quebec Premier] Jean Charest,"said McKeich,"Our English-language signs were visible in the crowd, which is good.”

Though French messages dominated the protesters' signs,

others were written in German and Chinese. The slogans cham­ pioned a variety of causes, such as'Daycare for student parents,' 'Education is a right'and 1'education n'est pas de prix.'

Silverman cited the Day of Action as the start of a resur­ gence in the movement against raising tuition fees, with some groups at Université du Québec à Montréal and the Université de Montréal striking or considering striking.

For its part, SSMU is sending another bus of protest­ ers to Quebec City for a March 13 protest, when Quebec Fi­ nance Minister Monique Jerome-Forget will announce the provincial budget. ■

VINCCI TSUI

Students swarm the streets of Quebec City demanding a re-freeze on tuition and a voice at the table.

N E W S A N A L Y S IS

S tu d e n t a p a th y : w h o e v e n ca re s?

The role of the student body in campus politics V incci Tsui

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Although many participants of the last General Assembly placed blame on the Students' Society for low turnout, citing the timing of the GA and inadequate publicity, apathy amongst the student population may have played a more significant role in the GA's abysmal failure.

"There were simply not enough students who were interested enough to come to the event," said SSMU President Jake Itzkowitz. "This campus is not designed for student gov­ ernment; it's designed for students being students. Student governments will always be a secondary concern to academics."

Vice-President Clubs and Services Marcelle Kosman echoed the sentiment.

"Students are fairly occupied with their schoolwork; McGill does demand a lot of its studënts. It's hard enough to have an extracurricular life, let alone to have to actively fight for that life in addition to having it,"she said.

Deputy Provost Student Life and Learning Morton Mendelson suggested that student apathy may be due to the sheer size of the university.

"If an individual does not feel they're making an impact, it can lead to apathy,"he said."The large classes here, especially at the first-year level, can breed anonymity, which fosters a sense of apathy."

In addition to GAs, there has been low turnout to other student government-related events, such as the Principal's Town Hall and the Feb. 21 Day of Action in Quebec City.

According to Vice-President External Max Silverman, there is a historical aspect to student apathy at McGill.

"McGill is the Canadians of Quebec and is Quebec to the

Canadians; it has never been in a comfortable position," he said. "A lot of students who aren't from Quebec are at McGill, so they have the idea that they're just visiting and that it's not really their place to get involved. As McGill students we are Quebec students. We are paying tuition fees that this gov­ ernment is setting and we are going to a university that is funded by this government, so it's our responsibility to hold it accountable.”

Silverman added that apathy is not just a problem at Mc­ Gill, but is seen in institutions across the country, reflecting a period of stagnation in social movements.

• "The 90s were very much the decade in which challeng­ ing the status quo or challenging the government was very much not in fashion.That's starting to change now, but we've pretty much come out of a decade of total inactivity on the part of social movements,"he said."It's not just McGill students, and it's not just students. If you look at social movements as a whole, they were very, very small and very unpowerful for a decade. Now they're starting to grow, and the student move­ ment is a part of that."

Apathy at McGill is not only prevalent in student politics, but also in participation in extracurricular activities. Kosman estimates that only 25 per cent of the student population is involved in clubs and services. However, she added that SSMU does not have the funding available to accommodate campus-wide participation.

"There's no way SSMU could fund all of the clubs and services as much as they needed," Kosman said, adding that in the case of such high participation, clubs should charge membership fees to help alleviate their funding needs. Pres­

ently, only 16 per cent of SSMU fees go toward clubs and ser­ vices.

Itzkowitz said that tackling student apathy is an ongoing goal for SSMU. "I think every SSMU exec goes in trying to [target student apathy] and every year we get a little bit better. But every four years students completely turnover, so there's only so much progress you can make," he said. "I think another problem is the legitimacy of SSMU and how it's seen in students'eyes. If SSMU is seen as a legitimate institution that does good things, I think more people will be involved."

Mendelson said that while the administration has suc­ cessfully increased student participation in large classes through the introduction of clickers, it has less jurisdiction over student politics and clubs and services.

"SSMU is the organization meant to support student ac­ tivities; it's something they do quite well and they know stu­ dents better than the administration doesfhe said."SSMÜ has the infrastructure to support student activities and they have to figure out how to use the money wisely."

With the upcoming election season, Itzkowitz is surpris­ ingly unworried about the problem of student apathy. He said that with the online system, voter turnout in the past has been about 30 per cent, compared to the Canadian average of 10 to 15 per cent. Itzkowitz also hoped that the high num­ ber of candidates1will bring students to the polls.

“We have twenty candidates running for SSMU execu­ tive positions, which is twice the number that I've seen in the past," he said. "I hope that the candidates themselves will get their friends to come out and support them." ■

04.03.08 • The McGill Tribune • 3 CAM PUS

M c G ill r e le a s e s a n im a l u s a g e re p o rts Student organization left unsatisfied T rip Y a n g After several requests from Students for Transparency in Animal Research and Testing, McGill's Animal Resources Centre has released Animal Use Reports for 2003-2006.

START, dedicated to promoting public awareness and knowledge of animal issues, began requesting the reports in January of 2006.

"Our goal is to inform the public so that they can make up their own minds," said member Dave Howden, who stated that the group does not itself take an ethical stance on animal use.

START took particular issue with the increas­ ing number of primates used in experiments, which rose from 24 in 2003 to 919 in 2006,14 of which were studied at an invasiveness category of D, defined by the Canadian Council on Animal Care as "major surgical procedures conducted under general anesthesia, with subsequent recov­ ery; prolonged (several hours or more) periods of physical restraint..."

"The fact that nonhuman primates are used in Category D research belies McGill's claim that animals are cared for and receiving adequate treatment," he said. "McGill is not following CCAC policy."

Dr. Jim Gourdon, director of the Animal Re­ sources Centre, refuted START's accusation, citing the fact that the university requires all animal re­ search projects to be subject to evaluation from an ethics committee, peer review and consider­ ation of scientific merit before inception.

"Category D procedures mean that the ani­

mal is experiencing alleviated distress. It is put under anesthesia before any surgical procedure," he said. "In comparison to humans, any type of surgery would fall under Category D. McGill does not perform Category E procedures— pro­ cedures that involve inflicting severe pain, near, at, or above the pain threshold of unanaesthe­ tized, conscious animals. We are following CCAC policy."

Gourdon believes that START's use of sta­ tistics are misleading. Although 919 non-human primates were used in 2006, this was out of a total of 52,875 animals studied.

"Nonhuman primates account for a very small percentage of our overall animal subjects.

Only 30 nonhuman primates were studied in the laboratory. These were involved in experiments such as neuroscience brain studies. Also, the overall statistics do not take into account animals observed in field studies," he said.

START member Laura Jane also criticized the quality of information released.

"The public should be provided with de­ tailed, accessible information so that ethical is­ sues in animal studies can be debated more objectively," she said. "We still don't know what types of non-human primates are being studied.

We also don't know the specific kind of invasive­ ness the species endured,"she said.

However, certain research is confi­ dential and cannot be claimed unless it has been published and Gourdon stated that all requests for published reports have been met. ■

O u t w ith t h e o ld In with the new SSMU exec Continued from COVER

prioritized a progressive budget with fairness and accountability.

"We need to be able to factor in student experience, student happiness and how they perceive their government," Mistry said.

Both hopefuls agreed that Haven Books must stop losing funds "Haven is a hole. It frankly is and we need to deal with that now. It needs to be renamed— it needs to be owned by the students," Newhook said, emphasizing an aggressive stocking pol­ icy, while Mistry focussed on bringing money back to the students.

Kevin Chambers, U5 electrical, computer and software engineering, Julia Webster, U3 cognitive science and history, Jose Diaz, U3 economics and Russian, and Bard Milech, U2 education, all campaigned on similar platforms for the position of VP Internal.

VP Clubs and Services, arguably the posi­ tion most directly involved with student life, saw Samantha Cook, U2 english literature and Johnson Fung, U1 molecular biology and phi­ losophy, fight for the title. Cook wants to make Shatner a "model of sustainability" and fight for student group autonomy. Fung, former VP communications of BASiC, wants to do an audit of space in Shatner as well as form a committee with members to each take control often to 15 clubs and report on their activities.

"I think each club should be able to sustain itself financially— at least more than they do now," he said, stating that SSMU should provide resources to make this happen.

Cook wants to make improvements to student space, making sure that there is "fair al­ location".

The position of University Affairs was ac­ claimed this year to Nadya Wilkinson, U3 eco­ nomics, German studies and international rela­ tions. ■

Devin Alfaro, U3 urban systems and soci­ ology, and Trevor Hanna, U3 physics, are vying for the position of VP External, both focussing mainly on issues of the tuition freeze and rep­ resentation, now that SSMU is completely in­ dependent of national and provincial lobby groups. Both stated that relationships with other schools will be key, and Alfaro maintained that no organization is a good fit for SSMU. "I hope to continue SSMU's independent and active course," he said. "It's our responsibil­ ity— we're on our own now. We need someone to reach out and build coalitions to push these issues forward."

Hanna emphasized his experience on FEUQ's executive and relationships with other institutions.

"It's a priority of mine to work with other schools, because how much can we accomplish on our own?" he asked. Hanna went on to focus on financial aid and student engagement.

"I think this year was the year to stop the tuition raises and unfortunately students didn't rise to the challenge," he said.

Alfaro made statements on mobilizing constituents as well as student involvement both on and off campus, citing his high visibil­ ity in the student community.

"I know this campus and I know the needs of McGill students," he said.

The two candidates for the position of VP Finance and Operations made Haven Books a priority during the debate. Rushil Mistry, Ui economics and finance, highlighted his high school experience as student body treasurer and president, while Peter Newhook, U3 fi­ nance and information systems, touted his background on Inter-Rez Council.

Mistry made commitments to bring stu­ dent input into his portfolio, while Newhook

CAM PUS

P a n e l b e tte rs W e s te rn tie s

M cG ill

Delegates seek to link China with Americas Au W ithers Initiating Mutual Understanding Student Exchange, a panel of 15 Chinese studentsm was on campus last Monday leading a discussion concerning Chinese-North American relations. The panel had previously toured nine prestigious American universities and wrapped up its visit at McGill, the tour's only Canadian stop.

IMUSE began as a collaborative effort between students at Harvard, Tsinghua, and Peking Universities.

Students recognized that they could promote a broad­ er global understanding of substantive issues through knowledge-sharing with youth on both sides of the Pa­ cific.

remarked.

The Students'Society, which co-sponsored the event, proposed an addition to the line-up of presentations: an informal discussion on "Environmental Activism in China" to complement the two formal discussions that are less constrained in their thematic focus.

As one of the two keynote addresses given during the tour's span at McGill, Professor William Summers of Yale University presented a talk on Monday regarding "Global Impact of Epidemic Disease: China and the World".

Summers focused on the interconnectedness of ecosystems, technology and governments to present a geopolitical picture of the treatment of epidemics.

Summers was quick to emphasize that “we can learn about societies through their responses to disease".

He linked this idea to the global SARS outbreak and China's practice of restricting information concerning do­ mestic outbreaks during this time as a negative reaction to quarantining the virus internationally.

"China's pension for secrecy was counter-productive," he remarked.

Summers emphasized the interconnected roles of citizens and professionals working to respond to epi­ demic outbreaks. "Public health is not a local problem," he noted.

He commented that the IMUSE conference was highly beneficial for building international ties between students in order to develop better responses to interna­ tional health issues of the future.

Li indicated that the tour had been very effective in stimulating positive communication. She expressed that the freedom for discussion was a good opportunity that not all students necessarily have access to. "Everyone [in North America] has such freedom of speech, we don't al­ ways have that in China,”she said. ■

The hand-selected Chinese delegates engaged in moderated discussions and forums, hoping to increase understanding of modern China, stimulating discussion with peers, professors and the public. The discussion module featured 21 topics centred around political, eco­ nomic and social issues that ranged from Taiwanese inde­ pendence to censorship to population control.

"The impact of these communications is going to be long-lasting" said Rachel Li, a delegate from Peking Uni­ versity. She indicated that North American and Chinese students had equal amounts to learn from engaging in discussion.

This two-day event at McGill featured a range of key­ note speakers, documentary movie screenings, forums and a photo display.

Yunfeng Zhang, U3 anthropology and co-organizer of IMUSE at McGill, cited the poor timing of the event for both sets of students as unfortunate.

"It was the only time [the tour] could come to Cana­ da" she said. Only eight of the fifteen delegates were able to attend and the flurry of post-reading week deadlines likely affected the low McGill turnout and student participa­ Emergency text-messaging alerts gain tion rate. popularity in Canadian universities Yet Zhang maintained the importance of the event, "It's See the story on-line at mcgilltribune.com very beneficial to students" she

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4 • News • 04.03.08

The McGill Tribune

CITY

J e w is h G e n e r a l's n e w re c ru it: R o b o tic s u r g e o n $4 -million tool improves patient care, decreases hospital stays C rystal C han After two weeks of work and 20 suc­ cessful surgeries, Quebec's first three-dimen­ sional viewing, surgical-assistance robot will be implemented throughout the Jewish General Hospital.

The robot, named DaVinci, was mostly in­ tended for use by gynaecological oncologists and urologists, but JGH hopes to begin robotassisted cardiac and general surgery within the month.Thus far, most of DaVinci's patients have received procedures for endometrial cancers or radical prostatectomies (prostrate removal without abdominal invasion).

Five of the seven surgeons currently cer­ tified to use the DaVinci are McGill University Health Centre surgeons. MUHC hospitals do not have a robotics program, but its surgeons had been performing robot-assisted prosta­ tectomies on MUHC patients for several years at Sacré-Coeur Hospital, which has owned a first-generation DaVinci robot for five years.

Like the JGH, the MUHC looks to expand the different types of surgeries the DaVinci can perform, especially cardiac and female pelvic surgeries.

"We're still in the process of securing the funding,” said Dr. Mostafa Elhilali, McGill faculty of medicine professor and chairman of surgery at Royal Victoria Hospital. "Once this happens the plans are to develop a future robotics pro­ gram at the MUHC." Thanks to philanthropists, the JGH was able to 'afford the newest DaVinci at the cost of $4million. MUHC patients can be served by hospi­ tals that can afford the DaVincibut outsourcing the use of the robots can be difficult.

"It is inconvenient for the surgeons to be travelling around the city and they have to fol­ low the patients as well. [Although] patiqnts are well served right now, if you want to develop new programs you need to have them handy," Elhilali said.

Patients who are unable to access surgical robotics may be missing out on advantages in­ cluding faster recovery periods and decreased hospitalization time.

"It basically allows us to do surgery on high-risk patients in a way that decreases dra­ matically their stay in hospital and very quickly allows them to go back to their normal lifestyle," said Dr. Walter Gotlieb, McGill associate profes­ sor and director of gynaecological oncology at JGH. "We've had many of those patients that would have normally stayed in the hospital for long periods of time with all of the risk factors that are related to it that are going home the same day or the next day after the surgery."

One of his patients, a 76-year old suffering from endometrial cancer, was able to go home the day after her major surgery, prepare dinner that same everting and ride 40 minutes on the Metro to attend a folk dance class the very next day.

John Stella, one of the JGH robot's first pa­ tients, was able to go home 48 hours after his cancerous prostate gland operation. The tradi­ tional procedure has a hospitalization period of 7-10 days.

The DaVinci was also able to remove his cancer at an early stage and was much less in­ vasive than traditional procedures. Instead of being cut.from the belly button to the pelvic bone, Stella suffered only six very small inci­ sions. The surgery created virtually no pain.

"At the beginning I was a bit worried about it," said Stella. "But I was very comfortable after speaking with the doctors.”

Stella stressed that DaVinci surgery was not seen as an edgy, experimental procedure at the hospital. "The JGH robotics team is a well-oiled machine, the support team is incredible. I am 100 per cent for robotic surgery," said Stella.

For surgeons, the major improvement over older systems is the new DaVinci's three-dimen­ sional rather than two-dimensional computerenhanced laparoscopy. The system is also high

definition and allows surgeons to work with three arms and in more positions than they could with their hands.

Elhilali believes MUHC's wait for their own robot is not detrimental to its patients, however.

“It's an improvement in certain types of surgery... so it is an advantage. But is it a huge advantage? I don't think so. In most cases pa­ tients that are being done without robots are equally well-served." ■

COURTESY OF JEWISH GENERAL HOSPITAL

Using the new DaVinci robot. Dr. Walter Gotlieb can now operate with three arms.

DEBATES-SPRING ELECTIONS

C o m e G R IL L t h e c a n d i d a t e s ! ! !

Come hear the candidates running for Undergraduate Senate and the referenda committees present their electoral platforms and discuss issues pertaining to YOU ! ! !

U ndergraduate senatorfall faculties) and Referenda C om m ittee D eb ates March 6th '2008 at 6pm Location: Shatner 302

Polling begins ONLINE on March 8 th at www.electionsmcgill.ca/vote

04.03.08 • News • 5

www.mcgilltribune.com

CAMPUS

C o n t e n d e r s v ie t o b e A U S b r a s s Candidates want to reach out to community V incciTsui While no major controversies arose during the Arts Undergraduate Society debates on Tuesday, where about 30 students gathered in the Arts Lounge to hear the can­ didates' platforms and voice their concerns for the upcom­ ing year, common threads in the candidates' platforms included increasing involvement at the student and de­ partmental level and expanding AUS's scope to reach out to the Montreal community at large.

Vice-President Academic incumbent Pat Boily said he decided to run again to finish his work on a survey with the administration on academic advising.

"By the end of the year, we will have these results and I want to be able to work with these results to actually bring about concrete change,"he said.

Boily's opponent, Claudette van Zyl, felt that the big­ gest issue with the portfolio was the lack of transparency, which made it difficult for her to research the position. Van Zyl added that although she did not have the same level of experience as Boily, she hoped to bring a different point of view to the position.

Four candidates are vying for the three positions of Arts Representative to the Students'Society. Although Se­ bastien Ronderos-Morgan and Sarah Woolf are running on a mutually-supported campaign, the two focussed on dif­ ferent parts of the platform. While Ronderos-Morgan con­ tinued to bring the conversation back to the topic of sus­ tainability, Woolf covered a wider range of topics related to student rights, including protecting the McGill name.

Stas Moroz emphasized his experience with inter­ residence council while Solika Ry highlighted the fact that she was a bilingual student from Montreal and had a vast network of connections.

The two VP Communications candidates, Michael Brulotte and Adil Katrak, ran very different campaigns.

Brulotte's campaign had a more serious tone, highlighting concrete plans which centred on improving communica­ tions through the present means available, while Katrak's approach was more humourous, donning a large, green hat and suggesting dance groups as an alternative form of publicity.

Current Arts Representative to SSMU Hanchu Chen presented a five-point platform, which included the "con­ troversial" initiative of holding AUS general assemblies. "[AUS GAs] can make the executive and elected of­

ficials far more accountable directly to the students.

Also, they can give us the direction in which we can take the AUS not just on a year-by-year basis, but on a long­ term basis," he said.

Chen's opponent, Byeong Chang, was much more laid back and stressed arts students as a priority.

VP Internal candidates Amara Possian and Logan Clark were very supportive of each other, agreeing on many issues such as dealing with conflicts within depart­ mental associations. Although both do not have experi­ ence in departmental associations, the candidates tried to set themselves apart by emphasizing their leadership experience in other fields: Possian is currently a first year representative to SSMU, while Clark has taken on lead­ ership roles in a variety of sports teams and was also a summer camp counsellor.

VP Events candidates Marisa Leon-Carlyle and Stanislaw Mis' debates duelled over the type additional events should be promoted to students. Mis said that AUS should bring in more guest speakers. On the other hand, Leon-Carlyle said that the decision should be left to students and will gather this information through public consultation.

The presidential candidates, Nicolas Wolf and Al­ exandre de Porras, closed off the evening's debates.

Both agreed that AUS should play a bigger role in the Montreal community.

"The goal of university shouldn't just be the better­ ment of students, but also the area around it,"Wolf said.

De Porras, who is Francophone, wanted to increase Francophone involvement on campus.

"We should not neglect French here," he said. "Many of my Francophone friends complain that McGill is a 'Little USA'in Montreal."

When asked what they would do for arts students and departmental associations, de Porras criticized the Po­ litical Science Students'Association, citing a recent meet­ ing where he and the executive discussed what he would do for the group.

"They asked, 'What will you do for us?' and I asked, 'What did you do for me?' he said. "I think [the executives of PSSA] just like to have fun and have [executive] titles between them." ■

The voting period for AUS is now open and closes on Mar. 7 a r 0vs.ssmu.mcgill.ca.

Faculty of Law

S tu d e n ts sp arse a t o p e n fo r u m H M B o p e n

to

s u g g e s tio n s

Continued from COVER "Many students feel that we need to give more to our sports groups, and I don't disagree... If we compare ourselves with our peer universities, we are short $ioo-million a year in revenue,"Blum said.

An indigenous Ph.D. student that had been at McGill off-and-on since 1990 called for an increase in McGill aboriginal services stating that although services had improved since her arrival in 1990, it was not nearly enough.

Suggestions for research collaboration with China, McGill's sustainability policy, TA education and a department-specific problem were topics that were then subsequently raised. An architecture Ph.D. student, Mehran Gharaati fol­ lowed suit by expressing his displeasure with post-graduate funding in the School of Architecture.

Vice-President University Affairs Adrian Angus ended the question and an­ swer period by speaking out about reference letters and student-professor rela­ tions. Blum responded that this problem was the single item that prompted her to set up the Student Task Force.

When questioned about the quality of these events, Blum responded very positively.

“I always learn at these events, I always learn where we can be doing some­ thing proactively, or I hear about the areas where we are making progress and succeeding," Blum said. "And I just love meeting people that I don't normally get to meet.'B

L e a d e r s h ip T r a in in g

P rogram

L e a d e r s h ip S k i l l s D e v e lo p m e n t W o r k s h o p s If y o u ’re a stu de nt in v o lv e d in cam pus a c tiv itie s as an e xecu tive, o rg a n iz e r o r e v e n t p la n n e r, you q u a lify fo r the L e a d e rs h ip T ra inin g P ro g ra m ’s FREE Skills D e v e lo p m e n t W o rksh o p s.

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Don't miss the winter semester's 6 remaining workshops.

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The UK system includes lectures and small group tutorials (example 8 per class). We also offer a range of LLMprograms and PhD degrees, which can be taken by Distance Learning. All first year LLB students are guaranteed housing.

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Engineering Information &Technology Centre, 5 Gillson Street, room E2-350, 7:30pm.

Stanford Flemming Bldg, 10 King's College Road, room 1101, 7:30 pm.

Arts Building, 853 Sherbrooke Str. West, room W-215, 8pm.

Arts and Admin Bldg, Prince Philip Drive, room A 1043, 7:30pm.

Contact: Faculty of Law, University of Leicester, Call: Email: Visit:

University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH 011 44 116 252 5187 law@le.ac.uk Ref: Canada www.le.ac.uk/law/canada

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Sderot: Test case for the Two-State Solution

Institutionalizing differences in schools

A d a m B lander

K a t G ibson

ADAM.BLANDER@MAIL.MCGILL.CA

KAPPALETTA@HOTMAIL.COM s I walked through downtown Toronto this reading week, I noticed that the usual bouquet of hot dog vendors, body odour and urine was accompanied by yet another dis­ tinctive olfactory sensation. What was that sub­ tle stench, that barely-there hint of something unpleasant and unknown to Canada for de­ cades? It wasn't until I saw the Toronto Sun that it hit me— smells like... segregation. Of course, the dominant scent was merely over-simplifi­ cation, but segregation was a more subtle un­ dertone that somehow threatened to take over entirely.The culprit is theToronto School Board's approval of an Afrocentric school, a black-fo­ cussed learning environment that will empha­ size African history and culture.

The arguments for the school centre around the need to combat the almost over­ whelming dropout iate among black students in the Toronto area. Proponents of the school believe that these students are dropping out because school does not engage them, be­ cause they feel disconnected with their learn­ ing and are thus left behind. A school focussed exclusively on their needs should, they claim, foster the sense of belonging, community and culture that is so crucial for both academic and life success.

This is not a deliberately racist initiative.

The school's advocates are not consciously at­ tempting to segregate the students of African descent, but are instead suggesting a drastic solution to a situation of acute crisis. That being said, however, this ridiculously over-simpli­ fied suggestion ushers in far more problems than it fixes.

In the first place, it's absurd to suggest that children drop out of school because it isn't teaching them about their own history. The is­ sues that lead students to drop out are societal, and thus begin before they even reach kinder­ garten, much less high school. If their home environment does not value education and the children do not receive the support and encouragement they need, then they will be completely ill-equipped to survive in an educa­

A

tional system that places a major emphasis on homework and parental involvement.This truth has nothing whatsoever to do with skin colour.

The proposed Africentric School institu­ tionalizes a difference that our communities should instead be working to erode. It cements the black students' position as "other” by sug­ gesting that they are so different from the rest of the population that they need their own special schools to succeed. The public school curriculum certainly needs to become radically more inclusive, but all students should learn about black history and culture in an environ­ ment of shared history and appreciation of cultural difference.

But what about religious schools, or the Triangle school for gay and lesbian students?

Where Catholics learn about their faith, black students will learn about their history— but no one argues that the Catholic school system is morally akin to Apartheid. Well I went to Catho­ lic school for several years, but I loved the diver­ sity of my new public school upon leaving and remember, for example, how great it was to be invited to my first Seder.

Because children learn best through ex­ perience and exposure, any school with a cul­ turally diverse population has a head start in terms of fostering the acceptance that is so crucial to the health of our society. Make no mistake, it is our society that is unwell, not the black students. This proposal is a symptom of the problem rather than a solution to it. It re­ flects a society that looks for quick fixes rather than long-term solutions, that simply siphons off problematic groups rather than changing the shoddy foundations of the community it­ self. The money it will cost to get this school up and running should instead be poured into community development, parenting work­ shops and celebrations of cultural diversity.

We're standing at the top of the waterfall, trying to catch these kids before they fall over, rather than working upstream to stop them from even getting wet— and wasting time, money and re­ sources in doing so. ■

derot is a small town in Southern Israel, populated mostly by poor Jews. Because it is about one mile from Gaza, it is the prime target for Palestinian rocket fire. In 2005, I, along with a small contingent of students, toured the city which at the time had a popula­ tion of around 23,000. We visited various areas that were hit by qassam rockets, such as the/ yard outside a kindergarten, where a young child and adult were killed. The tour guide, a Sderot resident himself, mentioned that most of the city was pessimistic.about the disen­ gagement from Gaza, which would occur later in August. "But what about the two state solu­ tion and removing the settlements?" we asked.

"I have no great love towards the settlers," the guide responded, "but as long as they re­ main and Israel controls Gaza, the terrorists are kept under control and we feel a lot safer."

Almost three years and 4,000 rockets and mortar shells later, life in Sderot has become unbearable and the guides comments seem all the more valid. Last week, a student at Sderot's Sapir College, a father of four, died from chestwounds after a rocket launched from Gaza hit his car. Yet beyond the loss of lives, the situation of Sderot has become a microcosm of the po­ litical dynamics in Israel which has called into question the very concept of "land for peace."

In 2005, Ariel Sharon ended the occupa­ tion of Gaza by removing every last settler and any form of military presence there. As the logic went, ending the occupation would stop terrorism. Regrettably, the very opposite hap­ pened: Islamic Jihad and Hamas, no longer re­ strained by any Israeli presence on the ground, have intensified their rocket assaults. All those who advocated for the withdrawal from Gaza and for future concessions in the West Bank, became resoundingly silent.

Seen in this light, the rockets are not simply an attack on the residents of Sderot, but are a calculated assault on the two-state-solution, or any realistic prospect for Palestinian statehood.

It sends a powerful message to Israelis, the vast majority of whom understand the moral and

S

strategic imperative for ending Israeli presence ih Gaza and the West Bank, to reconsider their positions. After all, Sderot is not a settlement, nor is it on the "other side" of the Green Line.

In fact, Ari Shavit, a correspondent from the newspaper Haaretz, referred to it as "the litmus test that will teach us in real time what we can expect in the future when we withdraw com­ pletely." Consequently, why should any state that is responsible for the safety of its citizens make any further concessions? Even the edito­ rial board at Haaretz, which has been harshly critical of Israeli policies in the territories and for years has strongly advocated for the removal of settlements, now speaks of the possibility of a military ground operation in Gaza. "Respon­ sibility for the escalation lies entirely with the Palestinian side; in other words, the Hamas government," a recent editorial stated. "Israel has been restraining itselLto the.point where restraint can no longer be seen as strength."

Despite Sderot's plight, Israeli Prime Min­ ister Ehud Olmert has not wavered from his plans to withdraw from the Palestinian ter­ ritories in the West Bank. But if Sderot— or Ashkelon, a more populous northern city that has become the recent target of more sophis­ ticated, longer-ranging rockets— continues to be attacked and Israel's sovereignty continu­ ally violated, any prospect of two-state-sol ution will ultimately crumble. The brutal irony is that Palestinian terrorists, referred to by apolo­ gists as "freedom fighters," are in fact making this freedom all the more distant. Those who wish to some day see a viable Palestinian State alongside a secure Israel must stand in solidar­ ity with the residents of this daily-bombarded city, condemn the rocket attacks in the stron­ gest terms and recognize that they are the most significant obstacle to Palestinian inde­ pendence. ■

Adam Blander is the Israel Affairs Chairman for Hillel-McGill. Next week around campus, Hiliel will be hosting an awareness campaign entitled “My Heart iswith Sderot."

±40°

Patients are not bags of symptoms D a v id L evitz

DAVID.LEVITZ@MAILMCGILL.CA magine thé following scenario: you are at a health clinic. A friendly GP walks into the examining room, calls you by name and then asks you what you eat, how much you exercise, how you've been sleeping and if you are happy. Now imagine telling your doctor, "there's nothing wrong with me right now. I'd just like to chat with you about how we can keep it that way."

Why do these scenarios seem so unlikely? Except for emer­ gency cases, it seems only logical that a doctor would ask these questions when assessing a patient's health. As for the second scenario, I am sure we can all agree that we would rather avoid illness in the first place.

Unfortunately, Western biomedicine suffers from the same myopia that keeps us from developing and implementing al­ ternatives to fossil fuel; rather than avoiding crisis, we sft in wait until it blindsides us. Despite the fact that a preventive approach to health is cheaper, more effective and a lot more pleasant, doc­ tors still see patients as a bag of symptoms to be treated rather than as humans to be guided towards the happiest, healthiest life possible (and they don't even treat illness that well, either).

My roommate, whose father coincidentally happens to be the Quebec Minister of Health, represents an all too corhmon atti­ tude which lies at the root of the problem: "What do you want doctors to do," she asks, "tell people to eat right and exercise?

That's not their job!"

I believe it should be a part of their job, and many others

I

are coming to the same conclusion. Corporate insurance carriers with a preventive approach are cropping up. Even Mike Huckabee of all people says that the U.S. has to "change a system that happily pays $30,000 for a diabetic to have his foot amputated, but won't pay for the shoes that would save his foot."

But a preventive approach must start even earlier in the game. Take rising diabetes rates, for instance. Instead of a War on Drugs, we need a War on Fat, Sugar, Sloth and Stress. Socialis\ zed medicine is great, but if the government also subsidized and gave incentives for exercise and proper nutrition— and taught proper stress management— they could cut spending on medi­ cal interventions, or at least have clinics and hospitals that aren't filled past capacity. We all know that nutritious, inexpensive food is hard to find on the go and exercise can be inconvenient and expensive. But what if every city had a government-funded wellness centre with a healthy, affordable cafeteria, courses on proper living and free exercise and meditation classes?

To be fair, it's not just health care that needs reform. Our cul­ ture's very understanding of health needs an overhaul. Perfect evidence is the success of recent books on the ability of French women to stay thin while indulging in great, real food. I learned the secret myself during a brief stay in France when my French host-brother chewed me out for eating a walnut between meals: eating in France is a social ceremony to be performed à table, ac­ companied with wine and conversation and during sanctioned

hours.The difference has nothing to do with doctors.The French do not suffer many of the health problems common in North America simply because they take time to enjoy their food.

In the realm of mental health, Martin Seligman has present­ ed the novel approach of'Positive Psychology": turning some of psychology's attention away from pathologies in order to un­ derstand and foster— get this— happiness (of course, teaching people happiness is not as lucrative for drug companies). Along similar lines, a friend of mine aspires to start an NGO to promote positive body image among young girls in order to treat and prevent eating disorders. Instead of just drugging and headshrinking the girls, Maria wants to develop an approach com­ bining yoga and cognitive behaviour therapy to teach the girls self-awareness, "because CBTjust isn't holistic enough for young people." However, many professionals have trouble adopting a preventive approach, or moving past Cartesian duality for that matter. For example, Maria says the professor whose depres­ sion lab she works in would just laugh at her plans if she told them to him. . Unfortunately, this kind of dismissal is quite common.

The system is too wrapped up in the way things are and have been in the past to see past medicine and start thinking health.

If preventive medicine is to become a viable option, we must reassess the value of our health and demand that doctors do the same. ■

04.03.08 - The McGill Tribune • 7

T rtetjnk

E D IT O R IA L

We can handle the truth

www.mcgilltribune.com E ditor - in - C hief

Tiffany Choy editor@mcgilltribune.com M a naging E ditors

Elizabeth 'Dingleberry' Perle Kate Spirgen seniored@mcgilltribune.com P r od u ctio n M a n a g er

Andrew Dathan Frankel production@mcgilltribune.com N ew s E ditors

Thomas Quail Ken Sun VincciTsui news@mcgilltribune.com O pinion E ditor

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Meghna Marjadi Carolyn Yates features@mcgilltribune.com A rts & E n tertain m en t E ditors

Ezra Glinter John Semley

t's that time of year again. The faint scent of photocopied posters fills the air and campaign speeches echo through the classrooms. Promises for a better tomorrow are a staple in the platform repertoire, but after years of hearing the same tired pledges, one can't help but wonder if the candi­ dates are naively idealistic or simply lying.The same problems that plagued constituents last year con­ tinue to trouble us this year and while we under­ stand that hope should be kept alive, it's important to stay realistic. Anyone can spout rhetoric, but real solutions should make or break the candidacy.

Some promises are empty threats and others are simply buzz words strung together to sound like something intelligent and insightful. Every year we hear pledges to "increase transparency," what­ ever that means, and to put the "students back in student government." While we would all love to see the whole campus turn out for the next Gen­ eral Assembly, if for nothing else than to stop all the bitching about it, apathy toward student politics is not going to go away any time soon and pledg­ ing to make the general student body care is futile.

Increasing transparency is also a great idea, but in and of itself means nothing. Pledging undying loy­ alty to a constituency is easy, but showing us how you'll make it happen is where it gets interesting.

Concrete plans of action and implementation of these ideals may not sound as glamorous or inspir­

I

S po rts E ditors

sports@mcgilitribune.com P h o to E ditors

Niki Hyde Sara Yousefnejad photo@mcgilltribune.com C o p y E ditor

Crystal Chan

the Shatner building for long as the MoA with the university is ending soon and plans for the future should be brought to the forefront of the plat­ forms. Haven Books is also a key issue. Currently hemorrhaging more money than a hemopheliac, the store is completely under SSMU control and something could, and should, be done about it as soon as possible. SSMU is also currently without any national or provincial representation and while we have been playing nice with the other schools and their organizations, the issue is still one that should be addressed.

It's time to put an end to the tired rhetoric and the unrealistic expectations and focus on the things that can change. Every spring we hear that this will be the year Gert's actually makes money.

We all know it's a bottomless pit for funds and while some years are better than others, it has proven im­ possible to turn a profit from it, so there's no need to say you will. Just like referenda questions de­ manding that SSMU “not make decisions threaten­ ing the existence of clubs and services as a whole," campaigning on vague and broad issues will not solve the problems on campus. To really make a change candidates should know what they can do, know what they can change and focus on what re­ ally counts. Let's cut through the bullshit and hear some real solutions from our candidates this cam­ paign season. ■

BE THE TRIBUNE'S EDITOR

arts@mcgilltribune.com

Matt Chesser Aaron Sigal

ing, but they are what will actually make the differ­ ence in student life.

Library services and more academic advisors are always a priority during elections season, but after the votes are cast, it's hard to see any tan­ gible improvement. Granted the university makes it hard to change policy, but students know that and aren't asking for the impossible, just realistic solutions. If candidates really care about their con­ stituents they would do their homework. Every position has its portfolio of opportunity along with its limitations and promises of the impossible only show how little candidates know about their position and the inner workings of both SSMU and the university. Electing executives that don't know their portfolio can lead to more problems than solutions and unnecessary conflicts, rather than solving the plethora of issues already facing incoming politicos.

But don't lose hope just yet. There are some key issues that can be fixed and that's what stu­ dents need to hear about from this year's candi­ dates. The Shatner Ballroom, for example, has been out of commission the entire year. As the biggest space available for students to book for free, some serious thought should go into how to bring it up to fire code and get capacity back up, especially since student space has continued to be one of the hot topics of the. year. SSMU may not even have

J a m ie G o o d m a n

We are looking for an enthusiastic, dedicated person with leadership qualities to be next year's Editor-in-Chief.

If you would like to apply to be the Editor-in-Chief, please drop off a portfolio including a cover fetter detail­ ing your interest, a CV and three relevant writing samples at the SSMU Front Desk (Brown Building, Suite 1200Sto the attention of VP Clubs and Services Marcelle Kosman. Dead­ line to apply Is March 25 at 5:00 p.m. Late applications will not be accepted.

This position is open to all members of the Society, however preference wiii be given to candidates with Tri­ bune-related experience. If you have any questions about the application process or what the position entails, please contact editor@mcgi!!tribunexom.

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V O X POPULI

Femi Kassim

Reclaiming democracy promotion

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A n d r ew B urt e are talking about freedom in all of its manifestations: about personal freedom, about economic freedom and at last about freedom of self-expression.”

Are these A) the words of a US presidential hopeful, B) selections from George Clooney's Oscar speech or C) excerpts from a speech by Vladimir Putin's former chief of staff?

The answer is C. These words come from the unlikely mouth of Dmitri Medvedev, Putin's former chief of staff, handpicked successor and. the next likely president of Russia. Freedom, Medvedev continued in his speech in early February, is “the quintessence of human experience." Whether he was proclaiming his agenda to restore the civil lib­ erties that Putin has done so much to undermine, or outlining a new agenda for Russian foreign pol­ icy, both agendas seem more than unlikely given Medvedev's close ties to Putin and his authoritar­ ian cabal.

Medvedev's remarks highlight the especially paradoxical trend in the public face of freedom advocacy and democracy promotion, where soar­ ing rhetoric often comes from the mouths of those who have helped to undermine civil liberties and the rule of law. Though many leaders are guilty of similarly empty rhetoric, none have done more to strengthen cynicism about the role of democracy promotion in Western foreign policy than Presi­ dent Bush. In light of the fact that no smoking gun was ever found in Iraq, the Bush administration sought to justify the war in Iraq as a democracy­ building mission, damaging the image of democ­

W

racy promotion and its role in the international arena in two crucial ways.

First, the Bush administration has emphasized the relationship between democracy promotion and the war on terror, as if democracy were the panacea for the complex ills fueling extremism.

Such lines of argument are admittedly attractive, but they are mistaken. Take democracies like India or Britain, for example, both of which have had to confront domestic forms of extremism. It would, of course, be a mistake to insist that democracy cannot curtail the influences out of which extrem­ ism arises, but it is certainly not the quick-fix to ex­ tremism that the Bush Administration has argued, in Iraq or anywhere else.

Second, by associating democracy promo­ tion with the war in Iraq, the detention of pris­ oners at Guantanamo Bay and the extradition of prisoners to CIA black sites across the world, de­ mocracy promotion has become, to many, syn­ onymous with the violation of the civil liberties it is designed to protect. Perhaps even worse, the connection between democracy promotion and military intervention has inflamed suspicions that American democratization efforts are somehow self-serving.

Despite this damage, however, populations in most of the developing world are eager for demo­ cratic reform in their countries. According to an October 2007 Pew Global Attitudes Survey, majori­ ties in 15 of the 35 developing countries surveyed said they would choose a strong democracy over a thriving economy. In fact, majorities in every coun­

try surveyed supported the strengthening of dem­ ocratic principles, such as the right to an impartial judiciary, free and fair elections and an uncensored media in their countries. Even in the Middle East, where one might assume that the growing tide of anti-Americanism has lessened the appeal of de­ mocracy, solid majorities in almost every country said that democracy was not just for the West.

In light of the damage the Bush administra­ tion has done to the reputation of democracy promotion, the next administration will feel the urge to scale down democratization efforts. Yet democracy promotion is too important, to both the U.S. and to the world, to suffer from the Bush administration's shortcomings. There are a num­ ber of ways the next administration might repair the role of democracy promotion in U.S. foreign policy and in the international arena. A first step, however, would be to garner broad, international support for democracy promotion, removing the American stigma from democratization efforts and replacing it instead with the support of the international community.

As the debate on the role of democracy pro­ motion in U.S. foreign policy takes shape with the coming elections, let's not forget that overwhelm­ ing majorities in much of the developing world are eager for democratic change. And let's remind them that the U.S. and the Western world want them to achieve it. ■

Andrew Burt is a U3 linguistics and philosophy student and regular Tribunecontributor.

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

Editorials are decided upon and written by the editorial board. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the McGill Tribune, its editors or its staff. Please recycle this newspaper.

8 - The McGill Tribune • 04.03.08

Letters to the editor Tribune editorial misses the mark I am a strong opponent to the introduction of any "centered" type of school in Toronto or elsewhere, but not for the reasons mentioned by the editorial (19.02.08). I find it not proper and absolutely un-reflected to defend "Eurocentrism" just because it is part of a long tradition that has "already become the norm" and that "dominated the last several centuries of Canadian and North-American history". This is a very defeatist and weak argument, especially since this is the very problem that most of the opponents of Eurocentrism have with it. This is also the reason why it is being challenged in the academic world. The Canadian society and Canada today are different than the ones in the 18th or 19th century.Therefore, I see no reason why the historical norms ruling this country should be the old ones. I do not want to be put under the category of those who wish to introduce Sharia Laws or any particular faith based regulation in Canada, just because there are many followers of this faith in the country (I disagree with them too), Nevertheless, I believe that there should be room to accommodate the diversified society that Canada has become today, in its educational system, as well as in its historiography. Would a different "centrism" be able to achieve this? I doubt it.

However, I strongly believe that the monopoly (in terms of domination as well as setting norms) it enjoys should be challenged. Especially, the kids of this country should be able to get a history in their schools that reflects their multiple Canadian-ness. Let us not forget that Eurocentrism has long justified racism by underlining the "otherness"(when it was not the"savage-ness") of non-Europeans.These mechanisms of segregation should at least be filtered out, if we are to teach our children a differentiated history.

Up in arm s over the ad facing this page? Send all com plaints, insults and death threats to letters@ m cgilltribune.com

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M c G ill You are invited to join our “ M o v e m e n t an d M u s c l e A c t iv it y ”

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I

—FacilTesfaye j McGill history department Cry me a river Sorry, but the article ("Quoth the lease agreement, 19.02.08) was simply ap­ palling. Asa full-time McGill undergrad and a mother of a three-year-old child, I'm stunned at how insensitive and self-centred some students can be. The author seems really surprised babies cry; duh, has she never been in a house with a baby before? Surely we're all sometimes bothered by the noise our neighbours make.

But should anyone be making such a big deal of a crying baby next door, devot­ ing a whole article to it and presenting babies as some kind of a natural disaster?

Parenthood is already not quite welcome at McGill and articles such as this one will only reinforce negative stereotypes towards children and their parents. I also take issue with the language used in the column. "Whatever cursed beast this was, I would meet it-if only to look evil square in the eye." Yeah, the author is writ­ ing this about a newborn! I understand this is an attempt at humour, but one in a very bad taste. One just cannot say this kind of things about other people's chil­ dren, period. If I was the author's neighbour, the mother, I would take her to court.

I guess I was lucky— my neighbors were all nice people and never complained about the noise when my son was a baby and cried a lot.

— Natalia Kudryashova U3 political science

Or ju st sh o w up at Byron Tau's hom e address.

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The new m a t i n g r it u a ls C h e s s , h ip - h o p a n d t h e (r e )e d u c a t io n o f a g e n e r a t io n J o h n S emley Hip-hop has done wonders for nerd culture. Any­ thing from MF DOOM'S nim ble rhymes about comic books and Star Trek to the rise o f the "Sneakerhead" to spitfire rhymes about American foreign policy, hiphop and rap have proven that coolness can be calcu­ lated in proportion to how fast you can rhyme about it. The gam e o f chess proves no exception.

Chess has long been haunted by a spirit of soli­ tary bookishness, but its prominence in hip-hop cul­ ture has resulted in som ew hat of a comeback. Even though the geekiest rock geeks have addressed the gam e in one way or another (see "Chess Piece Face"

by They M ight Be Giants or"Chess"by Rivers Cuomo), the biggest strides at expanding the role of the gam e within the larger cultural matrix have been nhade by artists on the hip-hop scene. On "This Life Forever," Brooklyn-born rapper Jay-Z (Shawn Corey Carter),

using chess as a salient referent for both his adept capacity to rhyme and. for life more generally, spits: "Over my years I've seen Rooks get tooken by the Knight / Lose the Crown by tryin'to defend a Queen / Checkmate, in four moves the Bobby Fischer of rap."

And hailing from neighbouring Staten Island, hiphop tradem ark Wu-Tang Clan has figured chess heav­ ily into its philosophy and general aesthetic. Along w ith martial arts, organized crime and capitalism, chess forms part o f Wu-Tang's larger lyrical and philo­ sophical fabric. The group has used chess analogies to explain everything from w om en to self-defence.

GZA (Gary Grice) has expanded chess beyond adept rhyming couplets, realising the 2005 album Grand­ masters with Cypress Hill producer DJ Muggs. With track titles like “Queen's Gambit,""Advance Pawns'and "Smothered Mate," as well as references to opening strategy and algebraic gam e notation, Grandmasters marks the first ever chess-themed concept album.

Uniting disparate arts: Chess, like many elements of hi O ff th e boards: The H ip -H o p Chess Federation W hile GZA, as well as fellow Clan members RZA (Robert Diggs) and Masta Killa (Elgin Turner) are all avid chess players w ho have worked diligently to popularize the gam e with their music, they have also worked in recent years to establish more salient bonds betw een hip-hop and chess culture. Beyond their rhymes, they have aimed to strip chess of its seemingly irreparably nerdy connotations through their involvement with the Hip-Hop Chess Federa­ tion.

HHCF co-founder, author and hip-hop histo­ rian Adisa Banjoko (who often writes under a chessthem ed pseudonym as The Bishop o f Hip-Hop) feels that both chess and elements of hip-hop possess the capacity to prom ote unity, nonviolence and personal strategy to young people. "When you practice these arts, they define w ho you are," Banjoko says. "They bring you to the core of yourself. They strengthen you and they strengthen the people around you."

Like Jay-Z, GZA and other hip-hop artists who practice a passion for chess, Banjoko acquired a taste for the gam e at an early age. "My pops taught me chess probably w hen I was four or five," he says. "I was never terribly adept at it; I think even now I'm not that guy who's going to com e into Washington Square park and put the OGs to shame at the game."

But while some level of proficiency in the gam e is valued w ithin the hip-hop community, w hat em erg­ es as more im portant are lessons learned while play­ ing."! got the life skills from it," claims Banjoko. "I was able to translate w hat was happening on the board to w hat was happening in my life."

It was the elem ent of pedagogy coupled with hearing repeated references to chess in rap music that stirred Banjoko to create the HHCF. "That was an idea I had in the late 80s and 90s, 'cos I heard all these references from before the W uTang— from EPMD, from Public Enemy, from Profes­ sor Griff, from Lauryn Hill," he explains. "All these dif­ ferent MCs referred to chess now and again and I could hear it, but it wasn't an overt thing. You had to be a real fan of the culture to hear these rhymes and to see the correlations... and I realized I really w anted to do something with this so I figured, let's just start a federation and do it. A few weeks later, we had our first event at a library in San Jose. A few months after th at w e did our second with [child chess prodigy and

04.03.08 • The McGill Tribune • 11

tiop culture, has often had its aesthetic merit neglected.

positional, like [Russian grandmaster Anatoly] Karpov," he explains. "This coach w ould ask me to think when I looked at a chess board about 'what would Karpov play here?'as opposed to 'w h a t would Josh play here?' and w hat happened was I lost my sense o f introspec­ tion. W ithout being in touch with my natural voice as ap artist, I was lost." Influenced by Daoist philosophy and martial arts— he has won tw o world tai chi chaun titles and currently practises, like Banjoko, Brazilian jiu jitsu— Waitzkin's involvement with the HHCF stems from a desire to facilitate a paradigm shift in how

Banjoko, however, states that the gritty, streetwise and often violent subject m atter o f rap poses no particular contradiction to the mission of the HHCF. "It is the masters o f violence w ho are the first to call for peace," he says. "The person w ho wants vio­

young people are educated.

"My major qualm in the education system in Amer­ ica, largely throughout the world, is that too many kids are boxed into cookie cutter moulds that they don't fit into naturally," Waitzkin says. "It's just based on the ex­ perience of the teacher or someone in the educational

lence is the untrained bully... when you understand w hat war costs, the sacrifice, you don't w ant war. No one w ho understands war wants it."

Certainly incongruity seems a non-issue for the Hip-Hop Chess Federation, which works to breakdow n stereotypes of the chess dw eeb and the crass, unin­

system... you're not going to have a crazy, hot-blooded type becom e one o f the top positional chess players in the world, just as you w ouldn't have someone who has a passion for rock and roll going to becom e a deep, classical musician if it wasn't w hat they w anted to do internally."

telligent rap star in one swift move. Given the current success of the Federation it seems as'if such changes in attitude towards both chess and rap are taking place, at least amongst the young people invited to HHCF tournaments to com pete for scholarships and attend lectures by some of the most respected artists of both the rap and chess games.

Transcending contradiction W hile it seems evident th a t the intentions of the likes of Adisa Banjoko and Josh Waitzkin ate noble,

"When RZA tells someone that chess is important," Banjoko says, "that's huge." W hether or not the chess com m unity will see a playable opening in Shaolin Style remains to be seen. ■

the ends of teaching non-violence through chess

seems at first inherently suspect. Rap music has, after all, frequently com e under fire for promoting street violence, misogyny and potty mouth. From N.W.A. to Eminem, rap has proven not just the favourite w h ip ­ ping boy of the right-wing religious rash, but a m edi­ um whose message often falls under serious scrutiny.

author] Josh Waitzkin, w ho had just written the book The Art of Learning and that's the official book of our organization.”

Life in black and w h ite On Oct. 13 o f last year, the HHCF hosted the First Annual Chess Kings Invitational in San Francisco.

W hile the main event was a tournam ent betw een hiphop heavies such as RZA, GZA, DJ Q -bert and Casual from the Hieroglyphics crew (RZA took top honours), the real gem in the Invitational's crown was a panel discussion which assembled top diplomats of the hiphop, chess and martial arts communities in the interest o f facilitating dialogue betw een these three ostensibly separate disciplines. The abstract bonds betw een dif­ fering spheres of experience is at the core o f Waitzkin's The Art of Learning and forms the centre of the former chess star's philosophy. Helping young people under­ stand their talents is a project im portant to Waitzkin, whose rollercoaster ride as an adolescent chess wizard was docum ented in the 1993 film Searching For Bobby

Fischer.

"At the core of my vision is the connection b e­ tw een disparate pursuits," says Waitzkin. "In my case it was chess and martiai arts. But basically, I'm interested in finding principles of learning and performance that cross boundaries. Having dialogues betw een Adisa and me and RZA and all these guys from chess, martial arts and music is a great way to inspire kids." Waitzkin was fortunate as his natural chess talents were discov­ ered at a young age by chess author Bruce Pandolfini, w ho found the six year old prodigy check-mating hus­ tlers in New York's W ashington Square Park. His prom­ ise was realized by his meteoric rise through the chess world, reaching International Master status by age 16.

"I love chess very deeply and it was a beautiful thing in my life" Waitzkin says. "From age six to 23 I dove into the chess world about as deep as I could do it."

But overly exacting instructors pushing him to play in a style not his own resulted in Waitzkin's disen­ chantm ent with the game.

"I had a coach w ho was urging me to play more

NIKI HYDE

Retired from chess, Josh Waitzkin is now more likely to face off in the martial arts ring or on the Go board.

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G r a d s c h o o l v s . G e t t in g a jo b School of hard knocks vs. the real kind of school Grad school

Getting a job

Cost: Grad school can cost a pretty penny— even in Canada. Top Masters programs in the U.S. can cost as much as $65,000 a year. Ph.D. programs are often completely funded, but compensation for me­ diocre jobs like Teaching Assistant or Research As­ sistant can be paltry. Be prepared to eat Ramen noodles for the next one to ten years.

Cost: A few-cents down at Kinkos to print your resume and a few hours/ weeks /m onths/ years of your time surfing job sites on the Internet Benefits: Entering the workforce is a matter of instant gratification. Just one, two or four weeks after your first day, you get some sort of salary— whether it's minimum wage or six figures.

Benefits: Another set of letters at the end of your title. Also, you can get ex­ tensive practical or theoretical grounding in a subject, as well as connections and contacts to help your career. Grad school can also mean higher salaries and better positions down the line.

Drawbacks: In an increasingly specialized world, where degrees and credentials are required for the best paid positions. Foregoing gradu­ ate school may mean that certain doors or careers paths will remain closed to those with a measly B.A..

Drawbacks: Graduate school means forgoing your current earnings potential for another few years. It also means heaps of books, early morning classes and shelling out more money.

Requirements: Depending on the job, of course, employers tend to like promptness, attention to detail and all those other fine stock skills that people list in their cover letters wantonly.

Requirements:The minimum entrance requirement for graduate school is usually a 3.0 GPA from an accredited university. However some schools have lower or higher requirements. Further, the vast majority of American grad school programs (and many Canadian ones) require a standardized test.

Sex appeal: Full employment is sexy. So is not getting evicted.

The Winner: Grad school Despite expenses and having to avoid questions about when you're actually going to get a real job, those letters after your name beat the hell out of affording your rent. ■

Sex appeal: No one likes a perpetual student. Graduate fast, move out of your crumby apartment and get a real job.

Typical attire: Grad school students are often pretentious, talking about Fou­ cault and Marx while sipping scotch— but unlike their compatriots in the real world, there is no dress code.

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Typical attire: Some sort of dress code is usually required— unless you manage to get yourself a position at Google, or one of those New Age software companies, or a law firm that has casual Fridays. Even McDonald's managers have to dress up.

—Compiled by Byron Tau.

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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 .

04.03.08 • The McGill Tribune • 13 HEALTH

P O D PEOPLE

M e n in g it is fo r a ll

H ip -h o p to p la y c h e s s to

Why you shouldn't live only on Easy Mac and vodka M

egan

S chieck

You have three exams and a paper due tomorrow. Your roommate has some kind of rash and a really bad headache. You have only two questions: what does he have and can I get out of midterms if I catch it? Well, don't get too close just yet. If your roommate has meningitis, you'll probably want to call an ambùlance instead of asking him to breathe on you.

University and college students are one of the highest risk groups for meningitis, second only to children under the age of three. This is mostly due to close living quarters, a lack of sleep and subsisting solely on Easy Mac and vodka.

Meningitis is a very serious brain disease that causes swelling of the me­ ninges, which is the membrane that covers the spinal cord and brain. Symp­ toms include fever, severe headache, neck pain or stiffness, sensitivity to light, irritability and lethargy. If the infection is caused by N. meningitidis, an irregular red or purple rash can be seen on the torso and lower legs.

Meningitis is the infection of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by any of several types of bacteria, viruses, fungi or other parasites. Viral meningitis— the most common type— rarely requires hospitalization. The patient is often advised to rest for a few days and will almost always make a full recovery.

Bacterial meningitis requires medical intervention and is generally much more serious. IV antibiotics are necessary and other treatment may be admin­ istered, depending on symptoms. Meningitis is diagnosed mainly via a lumbar puncture..Signs of inflammation and the cause of infection can be assessed from this test. Left untreated, bacterial meningitis can lead to brain damage, deafness, seizures, memory loss, vision loss and various other brain-related ef­ fects. Paralysis and limb loss are also possible. Five to ten per cent of patients will die.

Infections that lead to meningitis are most often spread by mouth, so sharing drinking glasses, food and towels are possible routes of infection. Bot­ tom line: don't share a beer with that sketchy guy (or girl) next to you at the bar.

Being sneezed on, laughed on, coughed on or talked at by an infected person is also a good way to get sick, so try to avoid these things. At the very least, use this as an excuse not to sit in the front row during lectures.

Vaccines are also a good measure of prevention against meningococcal disease, which is a type of meningitis caused by N. meningitidis, a bacterium found only in humans and responsible for the majority of meninigitis cases in young adults.

NeisVac-C, Menjugate and Meningitec vaccines protect against bacterial strain C. Menactra and Menomune vaccines protect against strains A, C, Y and W -135 (these are the four strains recognized by the World Health Organization as being responsible for epidemics).

Handwashing is also useful for preventing the spread of meningitis, not to mention a large number of other illnesses. ■

Statistics courtesy of the World Health Organization. For more information, visit meningitis.org or who.int.

W E 'R E L O O K IN G F O R F O O D F O R T H O U G H T C O L U M N I S T S F O R N E X T Y E A R . IN T E R E ST E D ?

W R ITE F E A T U R E S @ M C G IL L T R IB U N E .C O M FO R M O R E IN F O .

TVMcGill Presents: Fokus Film Festival Call for Submisssions!

The film festival is fast approaching, submit youi films and ■ H i them screened at Cinema du Parc's 250-seaf theater!

Visit www.tvmcgill.com/fokus to get all the info on categories and our submission ?orm.

Also check out TVMcGill's new content extravaganza with highlights from McGill's last hockey game and an interview with child prodigy Nikki Yanofsky!

There are some compelling connections between chess and hip-hop culture. Here are a few jams to rock while you're snagging rooks, advancing pawns and debating whether to decline the oft-tempting Queen's Gambit.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Da Mystery of Chessboxirï'—Wu-Tang Clan Unprotected Pieces— GZA and DJ Muggs Weak Spots— Wu-Tang Clan Runnin'— The Game Searching For Bobby Fischer— Dilated Peoples This Life Forever— Jay-Z

7.

Nakamura's Too Fast— Brad Bournival Bring'Em Out—-T.l.

9.

Advanced Pawns— GZA and DJ Muggs 10. Mind Sex— Dead Prez

8.

—Compiled byJohn Semley.

A rts & E ntertainment PERFO RM A N CE

J u g g lin g , ro p e s p in n in g a n d m e lo d r a m a Edgy Women festival tackles political circus and soap opera E lizabeth P erle It's everything you love about lesbian soap operas, the circus and good, old-fashioned "grrl" power: Montreal's Studio 303 is hosting its an­ nual Edgy Women festival this week, from March 3-16. In conjunction with International Women's Day, the everpopular Montreal-based festival will feature a diversity of perspectives and approaches to feminism and art, including two theatrical perfor­ mances— a play and a cabaret show by resident artists Lazio Pearlman and Dayna McLeod— and a series of en­ velope-pushing workshops for both established .and aspiring artists of all flavours.

This year is the festival's 15th anniversary and features a distinct theme to all of its events.

"The festival is queer this year.

We are not shy to say it. We have a bearded lady, trans artists, etc.," said Melissa Guay, the Communications and Production Coordinator for Stu­ dio 303. "But it's not a 'gay' show, it's more neo-feminist. It's all new works of avant garde... It's open to any pro­ fessional artists who work with move­ ment: dance, theatre, circus, perfor­ mance, visual arts performance."

One of the workshops will be hosted by the founder of the New York based company Circus Amok and bearded lady, Jennifer Miller. In the two-part event, participants will learn how to put together a political circus in six hours or less.

"We choose a theme every year, a social justice concern... One year we talked about immigration and the rise of socialist leadership in South America. The socialist leaders were represented by big cardboard puppets," Miller explained. "There's also clowning, experimentalist, avant garde moments, some character work and sometimes we throw a nar­ rative in."

Miller maintained that her work­ shops will have less to do with queer identity and community than the other events in the festival.

“I'm always who I am, there's some queerness in my self-presen­ tation," she admitted. "But, after [the participants] have tried out juggling, partner acrobatics, rope spinning, improvisation and dancing around... they are going to be thinking about •whatever they are thinking about, it might be queer and it might not.”

Though the festival has fea­ tured circus-themed events in pre­ vious years, both Guay and Miller stressed the unique nature of this year's workshop.

"My approach to...the circus that we do here is very gnarly, grimy and free," said Miller. "It's not high art; it's folk art. It's very different from a lot of the circus movements that are going on."

Hot Hot Gossip is one of the two theatrical productions at Edgy Women this year. Created by Mon­ treal-based video and performance artist Dayna McLeod, the play is a six part, live-theatre lesbian soap opera following the dysfunc­ tional lives of members of a queer female community.

“When I think of 'soap opera,' I think of watching Luke and Laura with my grandma a million years ago. I think of Anne Heche as a twin set, I think of kidnapping, lion maul­ ing, head injuries, comas, amnesia, being possessed by the devil, big hair and big drama. Ultimately, I think of lots and lots of cheese," sa id McLeod.

"I'm hoping that [the] audience will get into this spirit of camp and the melodrama to appreciate the work as entertainment."

Hot Hot Gossip is McLeod's first fictional piece, and though it features lesbian themes, she stressed that it is accessible to audiences from differ­ ent communities— especially those

COURTESY NIKOLMIKUS

Women on the edge (left to right): Helena Marie Patte, Val Desjardins and Maire-Eve Bertrand hang tough. who have experienced passionate and dysfunctional relationships with members of either sex.

"I hesitate to say that it's inci­ dental that the characters are queer, because it's not incidental to the hu­ mour, but it is in the sense that 'this is a lesbian play about lesbian issues'.

It's not," McLeod insisted. "I've tried to write something that is fun, that is en­ tertaining, and as a queer, I've written it for my friends and my communi­ ty— not as an ad campaign for queer lifestyles. Please do not think that anything that happens in this work is

representative, or typical of lesbians, cause these grrls are crazy!"

McLeod describes the plot, which follows the dramatic relation­ ship of ex-girlfriends Sam and Mara, as being a combination of Passions and TheL Word.

"It's Passions without the witch­ es, warlocks, the supernatural or the orangutan, but with the girl-on-girl action that would never make it past the censors," she said. “Definitely L Word for the dating dramas and girl problems, but not for the Shane is the butchest girl in L.A."

A long-time fan of McLeod's work, Guay expressed her excitement at being able to provide the venue for her latest production.

"I don't think [a play like this] has ever been seen, and that's what I think Edgy Women is all about,"she said."It's very surprising, funny, groundbreak­ ing and brings you to places you never thought you would go."B

Edgy Women is happening from March 3-16 at Studio303 (372 Ste-Catherine W.). Go to www.studio303.ca for tickets and more info.

P O P R H E T O R IC

T h e w a r o n d r u g s ...R o llin g S t o n e s s t y le L aur a T in d a l he War on Drugs has received four more troops in re­ cent weeks,in the unlikely guise ofThe Rolling Stones.

At the premiere of Martin Scorsese's new Stones flick ShineA Light, heroin-haggard Keith Richards and Mick Jagger spoke of their concern over Amy Winehouse's substance abuse and warned young musicians to not use drugs.

Catching a whiff of their hypocrisy, they used ignorance to cover their trail: "When we were experimenting with drugs, little was known about the effects," Jagger said.

Do they think they're fooling anybody? How could you not catch on to the unhealthy and possibly deadly side effects of drugs while watching Brian Jones devolve into a drug-addicted waste-of-space? Did they think that his mouth bleeding while playing harmonica was just a sign of musical passion, or that Ronnie Wood's collapsing nose was a positive side effect of cocaine?

If anybody needs today's science and hindsight to tell them that heroin is harmful, maybe they should consider blaming the acid for those holes in their brain.The fact is, if the Rolling Stones— and every other musician who began resembling Ozzy Osbourne as they aged— knew what we

T

know today about the long-term effects of drugs, they would still take them. They would take them for the same reasons they took them back then and the same reasons people today (who are indoctrinated with anti-drug propa­ ganda starting in kindergarten) take them now: drugs are fun. And if you're a rock musician, they're a necessary part of the ensemble, nearly as important as Keith's headband or Mick's chicken strut.

Yet the drug-addicted musicians of today sure aren't as tough as they used to be. it seems like the second any­ body starts to feel mildly inclined towards anything, their publicist sends them off to rehab. Who hasn't been to rehab these days? Joaquin Phoenix explained this celebrity phenomena nicely: "Paragraph two, page 148 of the actors' manual reads, 'If you want to get nominated for an Oscar, go into rehab.'"

Definitely a change from Mick's early days, when he says "There were no rehab centres. Anyway, I did not know about them." Back then musicians followed a healthy regi­ men of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll, and to get treated for too much of any of those would have meant being scorned

by your peers. But if there had been spa-like rehabilitation clinics in the 70s, they would have put today's Betty Ford Clinics to shame. Today's addiction-battling babes include the likes of Kirsten Dunst and Eva Mendes, stars who seem like they would measure out just a little less cough syrup than it says on the box just to be safe. If the drug-fuelled rockstars of the 70s were to go to rehab with the domes­ ticated, publicity whores of today, it would be like putting Paris Hilton and Karla Homolka in the same prison cell.

The Rolling Stones should be proud of Amy Winehouse for acting like a true rockstar, flaunting her life of debauchery and petty crimes and defying the odds in any friendly death pool. Her and other old schoolers like Pete Doherty need to be commended for not hiding their true love of illegal substances and music. The Stones should take a lesson from them and not try to hide who they are— and what they snort. Just a couple years before this recent plea for youth not to do drugs because they're dan­ gerous, Keith decided to give up narcotics once and for all.

Not because they were unsafe though, but because they just aren't made as strong as they used to be. ■

04.03.08 • The McGill Tribune • 15 FILM

M o v ie s fo r p e o p le w h o lo v e m o v ie s Slackers make good in Michel Gondry's J o h n S emley There's a Sonic Youth lyric that goes:"We can't see clear, but what we see is alright/ We make up what we can't hear, and then we sing all night."Sac­ charine as such sentiments may be, they provide the basis for the resounding heart that thumps unmistakably throughout BeKind Rewind. Director Michel Gondry has proven himself comfortable exploring the curious character of humanity. But if his latest film seems worlds away from the quirky romantic entanglements of the Charlie Kaufmanscripted Eternal Sun­

shine of the Spotless Mind or regressive fantasies of The Sci­ enceofSleep, it is only because Be Kind Re­ wind contents itself

in an on-site trailer, protecting himself from the al­ legedly mind-controlling microwaves of the neigh­ bouring power plant by shielding his head with cookware, and Mike (Mos Def) jocks the register at the nearby Be Kind Rewind video store, which may or may not be the birthplace of jazz pianist Fats Waller and is owned by Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover), who may or may not be Mike's dad.

Following an unsuccessful attempt to sabo­ tage the power plant, Jerry is electrocuted and— why not?— magne­ tized, resulting in his accidently erasing the contents of all of the video store's tapes.

Unable to find new copies and desper­ ate to hold on to the store's few customers, Mike and Jerry set about remaking the movies themselves on an antique late. C0LLIDER.COM 8os camcorcjer. Their

with capturing real­ ity. Sure, it may be a She drives him crazy: Mike and Jerry in costume. ^ feat(jre Gtosf_ utopie, Câpra-esque busters, which clocks in at just over twenty minutes and at times schlocky approximation of reality, but and sees the two using fishing line and Christmas such is often the case with films designed to warm tinsel to simulate the special effects. ourjaded hearts.

Before long, the store is flooded with custom­ BeKind Rewind follows two Passaic, New Jer­ ers demanding Mike and Jerry remake movies by sey slackers working dead-end jobs in a dead-end request. Flere Gondry trots out his trademark visual town. Jerry (Jack Black) runs a scrap yard and lives

B e

K in d

R e w in d

to transform the charming tenements of Passaic flair, showing the two friends creatively reimagining everything from 2001 to DrivingMissDaisyand Rush into rows of apartments that mark the modern Hour 2 (seeing Jack Black and Mos Def wittingly day Pottersville.

It's this spirit of community, even in the face half-ass their way through Jackie Chan and Chris of such a cliché modern monster (sniggering city Tucker impressions is particularly amusing). Given planners wielding that the plot of Be Kind pens and condo ■ Rewind is thinner than development the budget of Jerry and contracts), which Mike's ultra lo-fi remakes, makes Be Kind it's the barrage of sight Rewind so damn gags and the level of amiable. As neigh­ comedic naturalism Def, bourhood folk chip Black and Glover bring in to help Jerry and to the film— there's no Mike make their Knocked Up-style pop movies and save culture riffing, or im­ the video store, plausibly witty repartee we get a sense of â la Juno, just people in­ the ability the cin­ terrupting, talking over FIRSTSHOWING.NET ema has to bring one another and gener­ More like gufbusters, what with the laughs. people together. ally relating in ways both And it's not only the DIY spirit of making the mov­ funny and believable— that propel this movie for­ ies you want to see, but the experience of sitting ward. That and its ample doses of feel-good 'tude. in a room, being moved to laughter or sadness or Mr. Fletcher's video store rents only VHS tapes whatever by a mere motion picture. If anything, (its slogan: "1 tape, 1 dollar, 1 day") and manages Gondry should be given some credit for finally cut­ to barely stay afloat by relying on dwindling no­ ting slackers some slack. ■ tions of community and customer loyalty which have been all but gobbled up by the predatory fie Kind Rewind isplaying at theAMC(2373Steprice-gouging o f brand name video rental fran­ Catherine W.). Check www.cinemamontreal.com chises. As a result, the store is threatened by city for showtimes. planners whose designs of gentrification threaten

BOOKS

M U S IC

O s ie r 's in t r ig u e s

S t r a ig h t o u tta W e lla n d

Deception dissected SUSHMITA SHIVKUMAR “Anyone interested in the his­ tory of science will constantly run up against questions of ethics," said Law­ rence Goldstone of his seventh novel, Anatomy of Deception. Set at the turn of the last century, the novel is rife with this ethical murkiness, dealing with autopsies, illegal back-alley abor­ tions, drug-addicted doctors, lies and, as the title suggests, deception.

Narrated by Dr. Ephraim Carroll, the story begins in the 'Deadhouse,' a. politically incorrect term for a morgue.

Dr. William Osier (of McGill renown) leads his four interns through autop­ sies on the four bodies that were dis­ creetly delivered that day. The fourth body, however,, a beautiful young woman, momentarily but visibly star­ tles one of Carroll's colleagues as well as Dr. Osier himself. The events of the next few days convince Carroll that he knows the identity of the mysteri­ ous woman who shocked Dr. Osier enough to not be able to conduct the autopsy. This discovery draws Carroll into an investigation that he may be unequipped to carry out, as he navi­ gates the foreign terrain of wealthy

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high society as well as the back alleys and shady bars where hé is equally out of place.

On its own, the story has all the ingredients of a juicy and scandalous mystery that you could take on holi­ day with you. However, the inclusion of non-fictional characters such as Sir William Osier, William Halsted (one of America's most famous surgeons), and Thomas Eakins (a controversial but famous painter), adds another level of complexity to the narrative. In our culture of overactive slander and libel litigation it is quite disturbing to read a story where these non-fictional char­ acters are the architects of the plot's primary ethical dilemmas.

"I found that Anatomy of Decep­ tion was actually more an extension of non-fiction than a departure," said Goldstone of his extrapolation of the thoughts and actions of some very fa­ mous men. "A narrative historian, after all, tries most of all to deliver a portrait of the period about which he or she is writing, a task also required for Anato­ my of Deception." By using biographies of these men Goldstone paints a con­ vincing picture of the period, address­ ing many of the controversial issues that accompanied scientific advances of the time. These include the power­ ful and heated debate over autopsies, as well as the unquestioning universal revulsion of abortion, an attitude that is challenging to empathize with as a ■contemporary reader.

Although Anatomy of Deception was an easy read, as a student of sci­ ence it challenged my preconceptions and disturbed enough of today's pre­ vailing ideas of freedom of choice by presenting an extremely contrasting point of view. Although this is a book that you could probably finish lying on the beach, the questions it raises will keep you thinking even after that tan has faded. ■

How Southern Ontario's Ceremonial Snips merged horns with hardcore punk R enée S u t t o n Soon to be celebrating their ten-year anniversary, Welland On­ tario's Ceremonial Snips continue to keep the punk scene alive. The group initially formed as a result of expanding double dates, meet­ ing each other through girlfriends and acquaintances.

"I was just friends with everyone," said trombonist Chris Accursi. "Then someone stole a trombone from their

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high school and so I learned to play."

After many years of practice, the band's career has really begun to take off. They have been interviewed on Quebec-based fan site Punk Me Up and have just released a video for their song "Gazebo of Love." Recently the Snips were also nominated for a Canadian Musician People's Choice Award, which they are ecstatic about.

"It took ten years to get where we're at. I guess now people see that we can play our instruments well,"said Accursi jokingly.

Check Your Audio, their new­ est full-length album, was released

in 2007 with the help of Julius "Juice" Butty of Alexisonfire. So far it has re­ ceived a lot of positive attention and has been credited with unearthing a new kind of “hardcore" sound. The combination of coarse, wailing gui­ tars and heavy tumbling drums gives them a punk sound reminiscent of NOFX and Propagandhi but they also have a metal edge. However, this multifaceted punk rock is combined with spontaneous, enthusiastic, but still occasionally dark-sounding trum­ pet and trombone. The horn section has a way of giving each song fulfill­ ing moments of build-up and brings the music full-circle. The Snips are proud of their more recent work, but also claim that their roots have never changed.

"Ultimately we have a punk rock heart," said Accursi. “We've always been doing the same kind of thing, but we've finally been able to explain it better, and translate that from our brains to our hands."

Despite the many reviews plac­ ing the Ceremonial Snips in the ska music category, the band is prone to disagree.

"Some people call us a ska band because that's what is assumed the moment they see a trumpet, but we really don't have that up-down beat in our songs"said Accursi.

When the Snips hit Montreal next week, they plan on wokring through most of Check YourAudio, but will also be introducing a few new songs. Hav­ ing dubbed Montreal "Party Central," the band promises that their show will more than reflect their love of the city. Still, they generally love to go all out at shows. . "It's obvious that we're having

the best time of our lives when we're playing live," said Accursi. "Our shows are always high-energy."

Clearly the band wants not only to do their album justice, but also places a lot of importance on putting on a very entertaining show.

"Our shows are more than an event, they're a whole produc­ tion," said Accursi. "We plan on rocking everyone's socks off at the Montreal show." ■

Ceremonial Snips take the stage at Katacombes (1222 St-Laurent) March 9 at 9:00 p.m with Hell YeahFuck Yeah.

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16 • Arts & E n tertainm ent • 04.03.08

Previews

ART

Theatre. Ireland's Own Carmel O'ReillyTonite! March 4-9 at 8:oo p.m.; Theatre Ste. Catherine (264 Ste-Catherine E.). Penned by Montreal playwright Colleen Cur­ ran, this musical comedy features Irish cabaret star Carmel O'Reilly whose marketably mythical version of Ireland is challenged by the contemporary'Celtic Tiger.'Call (514) 248-3939 for tickets and info.

Dance. Loops. March 5-9 at 8:00 p.m.; MAI (3680 Jeanne-Mance). Based on Mon­ treal's metro system, Loops explores urban space and its inhabitants. Created by choreographer Ismael Mouaraki and the Destins Croisés dance company, this work is part of the Montréal Arts Interculturels dance series. For tickets and more info call (514) 982-3386.

Film. International Festival of Films on Art. March 6-16. As incestuous as art about other art may seem, the best of this cinematic sub-genre can be found at the 26th annual FIFA, which takes place at eight different Montreal venues.

With almost 300 films from 30 countries covering everything from art brut to Glen Gould there's no better occasion to buff up your cinema snob credentials.

Visit www.artfifa.com for more info.

Music. The Nymphets/American Devices/The Electric Vomit. March 7 at 10:00 p.m.; Zoobizarre (6388 St-Hubert). Montreal's version of the late 70s punk ex­ plosion, The Electric Vomit remained obscure despite several 1979 studio re­ cordings which are now once again being made available by Garbage Bag Recordings. Local punk acts The Nymphets and American Devices celebrate the re-release with an Electric Vomit cover duel, featuring EV lead singer Rabid Roy Random. The Nymphets will also be celebrating their first vinyl release, FeelsLikeMotherfuckers. Tickets are $8 at the door.

M o v a b le fe a s t o n M ilto n The childlike whimsy of Katrien Janin H eather A nderson Just when the February blahs were getting you down, March ushers in a chance to feast your eyes and your tummy at an exhibit from Belgian-born artist Katrien Janin at Lola Rosa Café. Janin's illustrations, largely inspired by her recent immigration to Canada, evoke a childlike wonder that could even persuade a hardened Canadian to see the snowy streets with a fresh perspective.

Janin's Canadian début kicked off on Saturday, Feb. 23, with dinner and a show by local artists David Martel and Mike O'Brien. Although the night was a veritable feast of sights, sounds and food, Janin herself was tied up with visa formalities in England where she has been living for the last several years. Janin's absence however, inadver­ tently added to the mystical atmosphere of her work. Her pieces speak to the wondrous alienation that Janin has

Review Earth. The Bees Made Honey In the Lion's Skull. With their latest album, Olympia-based drone outfit Earth contin­ ues their move toward reconciling atmospheric doom metal with languid, Morricone-styled melodies. The band's sound is still steeped in plodding heavy metal and fuzzy guitars, but continuing with the country influ­ ences of 2005's Hex (Or Printing In the Infernal Method), it seems even more sun-drenched. Earth band leader Dylan Carlson's ambient guitar tones are underscored by Bill Frisell's octaveshifting jazz guitar. Frisell's playing provides a density to three of the record's seven tracks— "Omens and Portents I,'"'Engine of Ruin," and "Omens and Por­ tents II"— filling in the gaps left by Carlson's sleepy rhythms with heady, effects-heavy guitar noodling. Frisell's playing compliments the band's perfectly, resulting in an album that, however deliberately-paced, rarely sounds sparse.

Washed out in sepia with feedback squeals pulsing in and out as if with the tide, The Bees Made Honey sounds like a distant cousin of the Melvins-influenced doom metal of Earth's earlier output, but the change in direction is not altogether disagreeable. This album may be guilty of sounding a bit too much like mild post-rock in some places, but any lingering laments for Earth's heavier sound are quickly carried away by the unmistakable surge of all the forward­ marching melodies.

—JohnSemley

“ S m a ll B u s in e s s E n tr e p r e n e u r s h ip . . .

F o r g e t th e M B A ”

been experiencing since finding herself on new soil in a different culture and climate.

"I'm so amazed by this place. Canada seems to have different worlds in one world," she said, referring to the seasonal transformation of land and city scapes which provides substantial intrigue for her photographer's eye.

Space is a major emphasis in much of Janin's recent work. She uses photographs of expansive skies over which she superimposes her ink drawings. The image is then computer manipulated to her satisfaction. Pieces like "The Journey" and "Daynight" are part of a series that features massive skies from interplanetary perpectives. Whimsical scenes of child-like characters, isolated and exploratory, reflect the state in which Janin finds herself.

"It's like being dropped on another planet in a way. It couldn't be more different," Janin said of her experience.

"There's just so much space here! You can see the sky... stars in the sky."

Other works in Janin's exhibit evince the inspiration for the artist's childlike wonder. Whimsical forest creatures and dolls rest on opposite walls of the café, speaking to Janin's childhood influences. Four girls assert their person­ alities in portraits reminiscent of popular Dutch children's cartoons, Klein, Klein, Kleutertje and Jip and Janneke. Op­ posite them, Bernard and Squeak are one of-a-kind birds who ward off loneliness and big bad monsters.

"When you're little, you always want things to look out for you, to protect and watch over you," Janin offered as an explanation for her creatures. "I'prefer that people see and make their own story." ■

Janin's exhibit will run for the entire month of March at Lola Rosa's Café (545 Milton).

Fame, respect and vast fotunes can be yours, if you write for A&E* Meetings Mondays at 5:30 p.m. in Gert's.

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Janin's "The Journey" exhibits her sense of wonder.

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S po rts H O C K E Y — O U A E A S T F IN A L

R e d m e n r e d e m p t io n : M c G ill t a k e s O U A E a s t Red 'n' White return to Nationals after one-year hiatus to his impressive postseason showing, scoring the game­ winning shorthanded goal off a cross-ice Demers pass in the first period.

A aro n S igal

For a program that loves to tout its 125 year lineage and its vaunted place as the first organized hockey team in Patriotes get pummeled existence, the way last season ended was likely excruciat­ As usual, the title of "Quebec's best”again came down ing for McGill. Only one season removed from reaching its to a clash between perennial archrivals, McGill and Troisfirst CIS national championship tournament in team histo­ Rivières, the province's traditional powerhouses. The two ry, the Redmen unceremoniously bowed out of last year's sides, in typical even fashion, split the season series 2-2 with playoffs in stunning fashion to an underdog Toronto squad, UQTR besting the Redmen 1-0 in the final game of the year. juggling its usually rock solid goaltending in the process.

Always a heated affair, a tightly contested series was ex­ However, after much reflection on the inconsistent cam­ pected but the Red 'n' White were quick to strike, jumping paign, McGill has rebounded to the pinnacle of Quebec out to an unanticipated 4-0 lead on the Patriotes’ home ice university hockey. in game one.

Downing newcomers, Carleton, and ancient rivals, "In the last game of the season I thought we were God­ Queen's, in the lead up to the OUA East finals against their awful and we only lost 1-0 so I was looking forward to seeing bitter enemy, the fifth-seeded UQTR Patriotes, the Redmen how, if we played our best game, it would turn out and we emphatically swept their opponents from Trois-Rivieres 4-1 ended up taking a 4-0 lead in their barn," Raymond said."Our and 2-1 to capture their second conference championship power-play was very successful though and that was key— in the last three seasons. By winning the eastern crown, we scored three goals on the PP and one four-on-four."

McGill advances to the OUA Queen's Cup final against Already up 2-0 on the strength of two power-play Brock, a side that defeated the Redmen 3-2 earlier this year, goals from Doucet and Leclerc respectively, McGill scored and moves forward to the CIS national championship tour­ ADAM SCOTTI twice in an 8o-second span to put the game out of reach in nament in Moncton where they will be joined by Alberta, T h e R edm en c e le b ra te a fte r d e fe a tin g UQTR an d securing a b e rth a t the second period with Arsenault and winger Sam Bloom Saskatchewan, Brock, UNB or Saint Mary's and the host th e CIS N a tio n a l C h a m p io n s h ip to u rn a m e n t. notching the tallies. Although UQTR managed to sneak one Aigles Bleues. goal past Poitras, the decisive victory had Raymond prais­ in the playoffs and we just had good games against them before "We've played very well since the beginning of the ing his team's efforts, especially that of his dominating third line because they were giving everyone else a hard time. They just playoffs," Head Coach Martin Raymond said. "We seem to be in of Arsenault— the team's leading playoff scorer— Leclerc and tried to play very defensive against us and they even scored the control of the things that we want to do and our focus has been Churchill-Smith. first goat but we got the next one and then just kept going." very clear. But the guys know that [the CIS championship] is going With the match clearly out of reach with the score at 4-1, the Game one of the series, played in Napanee, Ontario, proved to be hard. We're just worried about showing up, doing what we Patriotes players resorted to chippy play and dirty hits in the final to be a repeat of McGill's regular season domination as the Red­ have to and looking up at the scoreboard at the end to see if we've minutes in an attempt to try and goad several Redmen into losing men, despite ceding the first strike, pounded the Golden Gaels 6-1 done well. You have to bear down and pay the price to finish on focus. Despite this continuing into the warm-up for game two, as to set the tone of the series. While the first period saw no scoring top just like all the other series."

UQTR frequently skated onto the McGill side of the ice and ver­ as both sides used the stanza to simply feel out the other's game bally sparred with Redmen players, the McGill coaches stressed to plan, the second frame started with a bang as Queen's Jonathon McGill crowns Queen's their team the need to maintain concentration and not allow their Lawrence slotted home the series' first marker only a minute After dispatching OUA hockey neophytes Carleton 5-1 and 5-3 in what proved, to be a first round mismatch, the Redmen into the period. Undeterred by the setback, McGill responded dangerous opponents to get back in the series and force a decid­ ing game in a hostile Colisée de Trois-Rivières. After weathering with a six-goal onslaught over the next period and a half, spear­ faced off against Queen's. The Golden Gaels had embarrassingly a desperate Patriotes barrage in the first half of the initial frame, headed by forward Chris Churchill-Smith who posted one goal fallen twice to McGill this season, 6-2 and 10-1, but also boasted Bloom sent the packed McConnell Arena into raptures as he slid and three helpers.

Also scoring for the Redmen were Mathieu a deep history against the Red 'n'White with the two teams hav­ home what proved to be the series clinching in the third period, Leclerc, Yan Turcotte, Guillaume Doucet, Guillaume Demers and ing squared off 156 previous times— a series the Redmen had led breaking a 1-1 deadlock.

104- 50-2. Despite their successes against the Golden Gaels, McGill Benoit Arsenault.

The victory clinched McGill's second conference title in three Returning to home ice for game two, McGill sought to build was careful entering the tilt with the wounds inflicted from a sec­ years and secured the team a spot at the CIS national champi­ on their performance and not allow Queen's a second wind. While ond round sweep at the hands of a similarly lower-ranked Toronto onship in Moncton from March 20-23, but the squad will first the forward units starred in game one's thrashing, goaltender squad still fresh from the year before. have to take on OUA West champions Brock in the Queen's Cup Mathieu Poitras, who lost his starting job in last season's playoffs, "We knew that Queen's would be tough defensively and they to determine the league winner and who will have a higher showed his top-flight abilities, backstopping the Redmen to a 23 relied on their goaltending," Raymond said. "We knew we had suc­ seeding at nationals. ■ save, 2-0 shutout victory to clinch the series. Arsenault also added cess against them this year but we thought they would be harder

T H IR D M A N IN

IO C s h o u ld n ' t s k ir t t h e is s u e M ne of the very few things I actually like about the Olym­ pic games is their commitment to gender equality.

Eschewing the common male-dominated athletic hi[ erarchy, almost every event in both the Summer and Winter | Games awards medals to both genders as equals. In a world | where female athletics are so often marginalized, it's refresh! ing to see macho-morons who ignore women's sports forced | to take notice of the remarkable skill displayed by so many (female athletes at the Olympics. I've always admired the In­ ternational Olympic Committee for their version of sport| ing egalitarianism, which is why their continued refusal to | include women's ski jumping in the 2010 Olympiad is all the | more puzzling.

If you haven't heard the recent uproar, here's the Cliff's Notes version: In 2006, the International Ski Federation apI proved women's ski jumping for international competition j by a vote of 114 to one and urged the IOC to do the same; ( however, the IOC said the sport did not meet their "rigid critei ria"and shot down a proposal to have it included at the 2010 ! games. Naturally, female ski jumpers were less than pleased I and have enlisted the help of many Canadian politicians to try ) to persuade the IOC to change its mind.

From my perspective the IOC's decision makes absolutely I no sense— their own charter obliges them "to encourage and [ support the promotion of women in sport at all levels and in I all structures with a view to implementing the principle of

O

equality of men and women". Adding women to the ski jum p­ ing discipline would require only minor rescheduling and no new construction costs, yet IOC officials seem to insist on upholding their mysterious technical criteria (that are some­ how dramatically different from the standards of the world's governing skiing organization).

Last week, after much stalling, IOC President Jacques Rogge finally spoke out on the subject and proceeded to put his foot directly into his mouth. Rogge asserted that there are only 80 international female ski jumpers in the world whereas "in any other sport you are speaking about hundreds of thou­ sands, if nottens of millions of athletes."Come on Jacques, have you been sparking up with Ross Rebagliati during your time in Vancouver? No Olympic sport has hundreds of thousands of athletes competing at an international level. Sure some team sports, like hockey, may have thousands of elite competitors on the global stage but it's disingenuous to compare a solo sport that requires specialized facilities to a more accessible team sport. Deedee Corradini, president of Women's Ski Jumping USA, provided a more accurate comparison in her interview with the Canadian Press, where she pointed out that the 83 fe­ male ski jumpers that compete on the Continental Cup circuit is much larger than the number of female athletes compet­ ing in bobsledding (26), skeleton (39) and luge (45) which are all included at the Olympics. Rogge was being misleading by comparing the number of women at the world-class level of

att

C hesser

ski jumping to a wild guess of the number of recreational ath- | | letes competing in some of the globe's most popular sports.

Even if we grant that Rogge was trying to make a crude point about the lack of popularity of female ski jumping, aren't (p. the Olympics at least partly about recognizing obscure sports | | that no one would otherwise watch? How is women's ski B jumping any less of a "mainstream" sport than women's skel­ eton? Very few people would give a second thought to sports like skeleton and cross country skiing if it they weren't gussied . up by the patriotic propaganda that accompanies the Olym­ pic games— that's why amateur athletics and the IOC itself rely partly on government handouts. And any sporting event that accepts public funding should have to provide equal o p p o r -1 tunities, within reason, for both genders. Otherwise the sport is discriminating unfairly against women, as several Canadian ski jumpers asserted in a recent complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

In the face of logic, the IOC is undeterred, despite the fact they can't give a coherent reason for their stance. Maybe f | the male-dominated IOC is still wedded to the old, medically) unproven, notion that ski jumping can damage the uterus! and ovaries. Because if that were the case then surely the IOC j would have to step in to protect the helpless female athletes | who are utterly incapable of making a decision that weighs) the potential risk of a dangerous activity. It's not like there's j inherent danger in any other sports, right? ■

18 • Sports • 04.03.08

The McGill Tribune

IN D O O R SO C C ER

H O C K E Y — Q S S F F I N AL

In d o o r p u r s u it s QUSL creates new league A a ro n S igal While in past years, the Canadian university soccer season ended after the last whistle in the championship games, thereby relegating student-ath­ letes to miniscule indoor pitches suitable only for seven-on-seven exhibition scrimmages, Quebec, as of this off-season, has emerged from the wintry dark ages. Under the auspices of the Quebec University Soccer League, the same authority that governs the more conventional outdoor soccer division during each fall semester, and with collaboration from each of the participating pro­ grams in the province, a new indoor league has been created for the univer­ sity teams of La Belle Province. The league will award an official championship as well as, for the first time, feature traditional 11-aside play. Housed by four new facilities designed primarily for soccer, the league matches will be played across the province in Quebec City, Saint Eustache, Trois-Rivières and Sher­ brooke with every team qualifying for a three round playoff culminating in a QSSF-sanctioned final.

Previously, both McGill sides, as well as their Quebec counterparts, have participated in the seven-aside league during the colder months using it as more of a training opportunity rather than a competitive setting. The 11-on-n QSSF creation— the first full-side indoor league in North America— is intended, however, to provide both coaches and players with an arena to stay mentally and physically sharp in a game environment.

"After 10 years of playing seven-aside, this is the first time we are play­ ing with a full team,” Martlets Head Coach Marc Mounicot said. "When we play seven-on-seven we concentrate a lot on fast pace and development of skills but obviously when you play 11-aside, you tactically come back to the main concepts of the game. The problem is that it is then difficult to transfer the smaller stuff to the bigger field so this is a much better situation."

Facing only the Quebec squads against which they squared off during the outdoor season, as Carelton and Ottawa have not yet been included in this innovative indoor league, both McGill teams have gotten off to rocky starts in the winter campaign. While the Redmen have jumped out to a 2-3 record with only two games remaining, Mounicot's Martlets have posted a 2-3-1 standing as they enter the postseason, although the coach insists that the team is using the indoor league more as a vehicle for tactical and personnel experimentation for the true season rather than actually vying for the inaugural title.

"Last fall we basically competed with 12 players," Mounicot said. "We were not deep or experienced so it was always the same 12 players. Now I lost a few because they graduated or they went on exchange, so I'm down to six of those 12.1 have to give some playing time to those who didn't play in the fall. I'm using this league to assess them and they know I am watching. The way they play will determine if I ask them back to have a place on the team next year. Right now, I have no intention to win the indoor championship. The main powerhouse coaches, though, definitely play to win this but for us it is more experimental."

The sudden imposition of the new league does pose some serious prob­ lems, however, as it may wreak havoc with many team lineups. While the CIS never recognized the seven-aside league as an official university sport, the in­ door season's current manifestation as a full 11-aside league has brought with it CIS governance and, therefore, tight rules of eligibility. Participation in the indoor season will now affect a player's university eligiibility— for example, players who transfer to McGill during the winter semester and participate in any indoor soocer games sacrifice a full year of CIS eligibility. ■

M a rtle ts g e t s e c o n d c h a n c e McGill looks to avenge last year's final loss M

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For the McGill Martlets, the beginning is all too famil­ iar, but this year they hope the end will bring a better re­ sult. After storming through an undefeated regular season and the QSSF playoffs, with consecutive sweeps of Con­ cordia and Carleton, the Martlets find themselves seeded first overall at the CIS National Championship tournament for the second straight year. And just like last year, the Al­ berta Pandas— the team that defeated the Martlets 4-0 in the CIS final— are the number two seed.

The Pandas have won five of the last six national championships and were the only CIS team to defeat McGill this season.That single blemish on the Martlets'331-0 record against Canadian teams this year came at the Guelph Gryphons Invitational Tournament, where Alberta defeated McGill 2-1 in a shootout.

"Alberta's a very good team," said Smith. "I thought that we played really well against them earlier this year, but we just couldn't get the puck in the net. But, to be honest, we're not really focussing on Alberta. It's by no matter or means a two-team race at the tournament— every team is in the hunt and they're all good enough to win."

Martlets sweep Stingers In order to earn a spot at Nationals, the Martlets had to first face their cross-town rivals, the Concordia Stingers, in the QSSF semifinal. McGill outscored Concordia 41-3 in seven regular season meetings and the playoffs were no different for the hapless Stingers, who were swept in two straight games The first game, a 1-0 win for McGill, was much more lopsided than the score indicated. The Martlets outshot the Stingers 57-11 and would have run away with the game were it not for an incredible performance by Concordia goaltender Meggy Hatin-Leveillee. Team captain Shauna Denis was the only Martlet to find the back of the net in the match, notching the game winner halfway through the second frame.

The scoring problems didn't last long for the Martlets, however, as the second game of the series was an 8-1 rout.

Defencemen Lisa Zane and Cathy Chartrand and forward Vicki Wells each notched a pair of goals for McGill in the decisive victory.

"I thought we played with a lot of energy in both of our games against Concordia,"said Smith.ln the first game we outshot them badly but only got the one goal and in a way that was good because it kept us focussed. Then in the second game we started out real well and everything kept going in the net."

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Ravens get grounded The QSSF final saw McGill continue its run of domi­ nation against Quebec conference teams, whom they have not lost to since Feb. 10, 2007. The Martlets picked up a pair of victories over the Carleton Ravens, by scores of 3-0 and 7- 2, to advance to Nationals for the fifth consecutive season.

"We weren't as sharp as we should have been in the first game,"said Smith."It was one of the few times this sea­ son where we looked like we had got a little bit ahead of ourselves. But we had a talk in the room afterwards and we looked a lot better by the time the second game ended."

For McGill goaltender Charline Labonté, the shutout in game one was her second of the playoffs and 13th in 22 games against Quebec conference opponents this sea­ son.The Olympic gold medal winning goaltender made 15 saves and defenceman Catherine Ward scored the game winner early in the first period of the 3-0 victory.

In the second game, Martlets' rookie forward AnneSophie Bettez had two goals and an assist to power the Martlets to their third consecutive QSSF title. Bettez had, just days earlier, picked up the award for QSSF rookie of the year at a banquet during which fellow Martlets Vanes­ sa Davidson, Shauna Denis and Smith were also honoured as player of the year, student-athlete of the year and coach of the year, respectively.

Quest for first national championship • The Martlets begin play at the CIS nationals against the fifth-ranked Manitoba Bisons on Friday at 4 p.m. in Ot­ tawa. Depending on the outcome of that game, they will then play the fourth-ranked St. Francis Xavier X-Women on either Saturday or Sunday. The gold medal final is set for 7 p.m. on Monday and will be broadcast nationally on The Score Television Network. ■

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04.03.08 • Sports • 19

www.mcgilltribune.com O N DECK Women's Hockey— CIS Gold Medal Game: Teams TBA; Monday, 7 p.m. at Ottawa; The Score We don't want to jinx anything by prematurely assuming the Mart­ lets will be in the gold medal game, but that's not going to stop us from dreaming of a McGill-Alberta final and a chance for the ladies in Red 'n'White to avenge last year's disappointing silver medal finish. We've been telling you this all season long:This Martlets' team is truly something special, pos­ sibly the most dominant team to play for McGill in any sport, so take advan­ tage of this rare opportunity to see them in action at Nationals. You can catch the round robin portion of the tournament via streaming video on the Student Sports Network (httpS/ www.ssncanada.ca) while the final will be broadcast on The Score Televi­ sion Network.

NCAA Men's Basketball— (1) North Carolina Tar Heels at (5) Duke Blue Devils; Saturday, 9:00 p.m. at Cam­ eron Indoor Stadium; ESPN It's not Madness yet but with Duke and North Carolina, especially on the eve of the ACC conference tourna­ ment, there's always insanity. Having just reclaimed the top seed after Tenessee slipped up against Vanderbilt, the Tar Heels will be eager to show that they deserve the respect and the overall number-one ranking going into the NCAA tourney with a victory over intrastate enemy Duke.The Blue Devils knocked off UNC at Chapel Hill a few weeks ago in a fantastic game and since then, Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski has taken some veiled shots at Carolina's skipper Roy Williams and the latter's liberal use of the "injury excuse" this season. All the extracurricular jousting has only in­ tensified college basketball's premier rivalry so expect this one to be a gem as usual when these two clash on To­ bacco Road.

NHL— Pittsburgh Penguins at Wash­ ington Capitals; Sunday, 12:30 p.m. at the Verizon Centre; NBC For once the storyline in a Pens-Caps game is not Ovechkin vs. Crosby, rather it's the intriguing battle of the Russians atop the NHL scoring race: Malkin vs. Ovechkin. The first two se­ lections in the 2004 Entry Draft have been lighting the lamp all season long, and find themselves currently separated by two points in the race for the Art Ross Trophy. The subplots are intriguing as well: Cristobal Huet's new gig as the starting goaltender for Washington, the possibility that Marian Hossa and Sidney Crosby will return from injury to play for the Pen­ guins and Oilers's scapegoat Ty Con­ klin's improbable emergence in nets for Pittsburgh, NBA— San Antonio Spurs at Phoenix Suns; Sunday, 3:30 p.m. at America West Arena; ABC Canada’s favourite Sun (lame pun intended) takes on the defending champion Spurs, as Phoenix looks to turn around the losing streak they have been on since acquiring Shaquille O'Neal from Miami.The Shaq ex­ periment makes for fascinating televi­ sion, especially against San Antonio, since the Suns ostensibly traded for the Big Ari'stotle to give them some­ one to play against the Spurs' Tim Duncan. Plus you'll get to see Phoenix GM Steve Kerr and his giant cojones sitting courtside.

Sports Briefs Trepanier grabs bronze in Nordic ski Gabrielle Trepanier of the McGill Nordic ski team produced the club's top result in a Quebec Cup short distance freestyle race held ig St. Jerome, Que., Sunday.

Trepanier skied a very technical 7-5 km course, clocking in at 28 minutes, 30.5 seconds to finish 12th of 13 overall in the open women's category, a race that featured a free mass start. Her time ranked fifth in the senior category and third in the university division, her third bronze in that division this sea­ son. Alexia Pichard-Jolicoeur of the Nordique Mont-Ste-Anne club finished first overall in 22:30.9.

On the men's side, the top Redmen result was produced by Guillaume Girard, who placed 24th of 27 overall and 14th in the senior category. He completed the 10 km circuit of hills and turns in 34:36.0, almost nine min­ utes behind race leader Philippe Courchesne-Trudel of the Défi Promutuel club (25:45.8).

Martlet volleyballers grab honours McGill volleyball player Jennifer Thomson has earned CIS first-team All-Canadian honours for the second straight season and teammate Sarah Howell was named to the CIS All-Rookie team

Thomson, a power-hitter and three-time conference all-star, finished third among QSSF scoring leaders and 11th in the nation, with an average of 4.03 points per game. She was third among conference kill leaders (3.67) and fourth in digs (4.12).

Howell, a libero, ranked 10th among Quebec conference dig's-pergame leaders with an average of 2.89.

Not desired results for swim team The McGill swim team had a disappointing finish at the 2008 CIS cham­ pionships hosted by UBC as the Redmen placed 12th of 21 teams and the Martlets ended up 14th overall.

"All in all, it wasn't that bad considering our youth although we were a bit short of our objective (10th place),'' said McGill Head Coach Francois Laurin."We had a very young and inexperienced squad but still managed to set many personal bests. Also, all our relays swam their best times of the season. The potential is there and with a few strong recruits, I am already looking forward for next year."

Calgary (men) and UBC (women) captured their respective team titles.

Calgary ends UBC's ten-year win streak on men's side, while UBC extends their own streak to 11 straight women's titles.

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