The McGill Tribune Vol. 29 Issue 3

FALL TV SHOW SHOWDOWN, SEE PAGES 13 & 14

sM CGlLL vvww. mcailltribune.com

Published by the Students' Society o f McGill University

Volume No. 29 Issue No. 3 • Tuesday September 15, 2009

Redmen pull off Friday night miracle at Molson Stadium

JOHN KELSEY

Redmen players storm the field as they celebrate their first victory in over two years. Contrary to what this photo may lead you to believe, there were 3,192 fans in attendance.

See full story on page 17.

McGill granted $103 million for renovations and infrastructure Funds part o f federal stimulus package TORI CRAWFORD News Editor

Principal Heather Munroe-Blum an­ nounced a $103 million injection of funding from the federal and provincial governments designed to finance M cGill’s backlog of de­ ferred maintenance projects yesterday.

The funds will finance a variety of main­ tenance and construction projects, including lab renovations, ventilation upgrades, plumb­ ing systems, and the purchase of new equip­ ment. Michelle Courchesne, the provincial

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education minister, and Senator David W. Angus joined Munroe-Blum in announcing the funding in a press conference at the Otto Maass Chemistry Building.

“We really feel confident and deeply en­ thusiastic about this,” said Munroe-Blum. “It is so warming to see that we are developing a coherent Canadian vision of the important role the provinces play with the federal govern­ ment in making investments that allow us to recruit and retain the very best students, pro­ fessors and researchers. This was one funda­ mental missing piece and we’re very excited about it.”

The new funds fall under the Knowledge Infrastructure Program, a federal initiative

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launched last March that forms a large part of the Canadian Economic Action Plan— Canada’s $ 12-billion stimulus package. The program provides $2 billion to post-secondary institutions for infrastructure enhancement projects identified by the schools themselves.

One o f the stipulations that comes with this investment is that the money must be spent within approximately one and a half years. With multiple uses for the funding around campus, Munroe-Blum is confident that McGill is prepared to start these projects as soon as possible.

“When the Knowledge Infrastructure Program was announced, we were ready,” said Munroe-Blum. “Quebec was ahead of

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other provinces in that all the universities had collaborated and conducted a survey about de­ ferred maintenance projects and infrastructure needs ... We’ve been doing everything we possibly could short of spending the money.” $27.6 million has been set aside to reno­ vate M cGill’s chemistry building, Otto Maass.

The money will be used to replace its roof, im­ prove the building’s ventilation, and upgrade the department’s laboratories. The money will only go towards infrastructure—not new sci­ entific technology.

“We’re going to make sure that there is quality air in this building and quality filtering o f chemicals,” said Bruce Lennox, the chair

See FOUR BUILDINGS on PAGE 3

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CAMPUS

McGill neuroscientist awarded prestigious international prize MARIE-JEANNE BERGER Contributor

B renda Milner, a p io n eer in the fie ld o f cognitive neuroscience, w as aw ard ed the prestigious B alzan P rize last w eek. The B a l­ zan P rize is aw arded to fo u r individuals o r o r­ ganizations p e r y ea r that have m ade outstand­ ing contributions to the field s o f humanities, science, culture, or humanitarianism. The Tribune’s M arie-Jean n e B erg er sat down with M ilner to reflect on h er illustrious 50 y ea r c a ­ reer.

Brenda Milner says that the key to suc­ cess for university students is “a well-stocked mind.” Having taken this advice to heart, Mil­ ner continues to learn every day, and her ongo­ ing research has recently been honoured with the Balzan Prize. The Italian prize amounts to slightly over one million dollars, and is given to four people each year in different academic fields. The award stipulates that half o f the money must go towards further research proj­ ects, while the rest belongs to Milner herself.

At 91 years old, Milner has been overwhelmed with attention, and must now begin planning how to spend her sizable grant.

The Balzan Prize marks just one of many awards that Milner has received throughout her career. She has been inducted into the American National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society o f London and Canada, and is a Companion of the Order o f Canada. She has received honourary degrees from 19 uni­ versities, as well as academic awards such as the Prix Wilder-Penfield (Prix du Québec) in 1993, and the Gairdner International Award in 2005.

After emigrating from England in 1944, Milner began her academic career in psy­ chology. She switched her focus to neurol­ ogy while studying the patients o f legend­ ary McGill neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield. A paper Penfield and Milner jointly published was read by William Scoville, a doctor who observed similar symptoms in a patient of his own. This led to Milner’s well-known re­ search with a patient named H.M., who, after having the medial temporal lobe on both sides

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McGill’s Brenda Milner has been the subject of a flurry of media attention since winning the Balzan Prize last week. o f his brain removed, could no longer create new memories. Nevertheless, all his previous memories remained intact. Remarkably, H.M. could still learn basic motor skills, which prompted Milner and colleagues to conduct experiments that defined the field of cognitive neuroscience.

Milner’s research addresses cognitive functions in human memory. This has led to work studying the lateralization of the brain and language, as well as studying Alzheimer’s disease and epilepsy. In the field of memory, she motivated a huge body of work by dis­ covering that humans have multiple memory systems. This research established a better un­ derstanding of the frontal lobe and defined the difference between episodic and procedural memories.

“She’s one o f the people who make me proud to be at McGill University,” said Dean o f Science Martin Grant.

Evidently, these sentiments are shared. A McGill researcher for over 50 years, Milner

is a well-loved faculty member. Her office is humble, and covered in stacks of paper. The chair that she sits on is old, wooden and aus­ tere—-she says that she likes a chair she can perch upon to do her work. A passionate love for her field and an insatiable curiosity is eas­ ily recognizable. She is a bonne vivante and is still a regular lecturer.

Milner graduated from Cambridge in 1939, and left England in 1944 during the Second World War. “I really enjoyed myself during the war, we never realized the severity of the situation even nearly when the bombs were dropping.”

When asked about how it was to be a woman in the field in the 50s, she responded: “I never saw any discrimination on the basis o f gender.”

As for advice for all o f us students, she suggests two things: “Don’t be afraid to change [programs], even if it means having to start all over again, if you find something that better suits you.” And, of course, “nothing is

better than a well-stocked mind.”

My eyes travel across the piles of paper crowding the tables and pushing against the walls of her office. Even from a scientist as accomplished as she is, there are some words of comfort: “Don’t think you’re going to get a discovery every week or every six months even. Work involves an enormous amount of intrinsically boring repetition.”

These few days packed with interviews will presumably be a short blip in Milner’s calendar, as she sets forth to plan her next re­ search project using the Balzan Prize money.

When I asked Milner what winning this par­ ticular prize has meant for her, she pauses.

“Well, for the past two years, I ’ve really been looking back a lo t... at the history of cognitive neuroscience running in parallel to my time here at McGill. But now, I ’m challenged to look ahead, which is quite a nice challenge to have at my age.”

NATIONAL

Research shows Montreal literacy rate below national average Saint John dead last SAMANTHA COOK Contributor

Fifty per cent of Montrealers do not have a level o f English prose literacy high enough to learn new job skills or function in a literary environment day-to-day, according to the Ca­ nadian Council on Learning.

The Quebec Centre for Learning believes that literacy is not likely to improve without drastic intervention from the federal and pro­ vincial governments to community organiza­ tions.

Statistics Canada defines prose literacy as “the knowledge and skills needed to under­ stand and use information from texts includ­ ing editorials, news stories, brochures and instruction manuals.” Montreal's 50 per cent literacy rate is down from the national average of 52 per cent.

While much o f this data has been avail­

able for years, its new presentation will hope­ fully be a tool for lobbying policy makers to make English literacy a higher priority across the country.

“We don’t anticipate that literacy levels or literacy rates in Canada are going to change for the next 15 to 20 years unless there are some interventions,” said Nadine Valk, senior research analyst at the CCL. Part o f the reason literacy rates are not projected to improve for close to two decades is due to the aging Canadian population that has never had or maintained high literacy skills. Valk also noted that literacy is some­ thing that people can lose over time.

“I can’t stress enough that ‘use it or lose it’ kind o f message,” said Valk. “It doesn’t matter if you read the cereal box every morn­ ing, especially if you engage your brain and keep that habit and keep that skill with you for the rest o f your life.”

Linda Shohet, executive director of the Centre for Literacy of Quebec, included age as a factor in terms o f literacy rates.

“The people with the weakest literacy are the oldest,” she said. “It’s not spread evenly across the population. If you look at the younger people in Quebec, you find ... people coming up into level three, which is considered to be the level needed for daily function.”

In the CCL’s data, literacy is ranked on a scale between one and five, in which a three is the level of literacy a person would need to graduate high school and comfortably learn new job skills. 48 per cent of Canadians have a score of two or lower. Saint John, New Brunswick has the lowest rate o f literacy in the country as 53 per cent of its adults come in at Level 2 or under. Toronto hits 50 per cent, tying with Montreal.

Shohet stressed that newer, more scien­ tific methods o f judging literacy levels give community organizations and policy makers a new way o f thinking about literacy. However, figuring out how to serve different groups is harder. Shohet sees increasing numbers o f im­ migrants seeking the services o f the Centre of Literacy and its francophone counterpart, Le

Centré de Documentation sur l’Education des Adultes et la Condition Féminine (CDÉACF), which focuses on French literacy in Quebec and across Canada.

“What we haven’t yet done is develop specific ways to diagnose or assess the cause o f the difficulty and then direct people to an appropriate program,” said Shohet.

While commonly cited factors like age, gender, immigration status, a lack of quality public education, learning or other disabili­ ties, and illness are often cited, history also plays a part in why Quebec has a particularly low level o f literacy.

“Any countries that have very strong Catholic authorities have very low levels of literacy. The Catholics never promoted lit­ eracy ... they always wanted the priests to be the intermediary. Protestant countries have very high levels o f literacy because they want people to make reasonable decisions about re­ ligion, presumably,” said Shohet.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009 • 3

Curiosity Delivers

CAMPUS

McGill student kicked off STM bus for speaking English Student group surprised by intolerance’ ‘

MOLLY GOMOLIN Contributor

Muhammad Ahmad Munir, a 32 year old McGill graduate student from Pakistan, was kicked off a city bus last week after a dispute with the driver over Munir’s inability to speak French.

Munir boarded the No. 66 bus at 6:45 a.m. on September 4. Realizing he had forgot­ ten his watch, he asked the bus driver for the time in English. The driver began speaking in French, and Munir responded that he did not speak French.

“She pointed to the clock and kept saying ‘Quebec, Quebec,”’ said Munir. After telling her twice that he did not understand French, she responded in English, saying: “I don’t speak English.”

When Munir objected to her response, the driver became angry and pressed an emer­ gency button that called the police. Shortly after, all passengers were ordered to evacuate the bus and wait outside as the police arrived and spoke to the driver.

The police, however, didn’t approach

Munir regarding the complaint. Munir and the other passengers waited by the side of the road for 20 minutes until the next bus came. But when the next bus arrived it let passengers off and then proceeded to drive away.

“We suspected that the driver had called the second driver [and told her] not to pick us up,” said Munir.

When asked to comment on the incident, Montreal Transport Association spokesperson Isabelle Tremblay said that she was unable to comment given that the case is currently under investigation.

Other than this incident, Munir has had no negative encounters with the French-speaking population since coming to Montreal a few months ago.

“I just took it as a personal behaviour [of this particular driver] and nothing more than that. I have found Quebecers to be very friend­ ly and helpful to me,” he said.

Given that Montreal’s multicultural and multilingual environment, Munir sees no rea­ son for any prejudice to exist. In fact, Munir chose to pursue his post-graduate studies at McGill particularly for the French aspect of Montreal. Although he was disturbed by this incident, it has not colored Munir’s feelings towards the city.

Julie Kouyoumdjian, an executive from the McGill International Student Network, was surprised that such an episode could have taken place in such a diverse city.

“As a group, we are quite shocked that something like this would take place in Mon­ treal. I don’t see how anyone could not be shocked by this,” she said. Kouyoumdjian also emphasized the importance of immersion

JULIA WEBSTER

Thirty two-year-old graduate student Muhammad Ahmad Munir was kicked off a bus like this one last week following a language dispute with a bus driver.

CAMPUS

Inaugural Safety Week to kick off September 21 Event will promote new automated alert system

Four buildings to be renovated Continued from COVER

JAMES GILMAN Managing Editor

Safety Week—a series o f events, dem­ onstrations and displays designed to educate students and staff about what safety services and procedures are available at M cG ill—will kick off on September 21.

The inaugural event, organized by Uni­ versity Safety, the subset of McGill University Services responsible for fostering “a safe and secure environment for all staff, students and guests,” will take place at Three Bares Park— directly in front o f the MacDonald-Harrington Engineering Building—until September 25.

In addition, Safety Week will also be used to raise awareness o f M cGill’s new automated notification service McGill Attention, and to encourage students to subscribe to it.

McGill Attention will be used to distrib­ ute alerts via text and voice messages to cell­ phones, as well as through email messages.

“We want to be in a position to inform people, if something is happening, right in the midst of an event or even after an event has occurred to let them know what steps we’re taking,” said Jim Nicell, associate vice-princi­ pal (university services).

According to Director of University Safety Louise Savard, the system has already been tested and used on a small scale, and will be tested on a wider scale in October.

“The system is being used currently to notify emergency responders,” she said. “So we know it works, and it works really well, and now we’re ready for the next step, which is to make sure we can send alerts to all of the McGill community.”

Students must register their phone num­ bers and opt-in online at Minerva if they want to receive alerts through the system, which uses MIR3 mass notification software.

Since students will be entrusting the uni­ versity with personal information, security

and integration for international students com­ ing to McGill.

“I think every student should try and im­ merse themselves in the Quebec culture. We, as international students, are not in our home country and thus should make an effort to be­ come part of the Montreal/Quebec commu­ nity,” she said.

JULIA WEBSTER

McGill has launched a campaign to encourage students to sign up for McGill Attention will be a priority, and the system will only be used in emergencies.

“We want to be very clear: this is about alerts, this is not about day-to-day types of communications,’’Nicell said. “And we cer­ tainly will not use the information they sup­ ply us for inappropriate purposes, we’re not in the business o f selling contact information to other people, this is highly secured informa­ tion in a secured system.”

According to Savard, by the end o f frosh 2,500 people had registered for the service, and it’s likely more have signed up since.

According to Students’ Society President Ivan Neilson, the system is a step in the right direction for McGill.

“McGill has shown time and time again that they have problems with information dis­ semination, so I think that this is them trying to approach that proactively,” he said.

As for Safety Week, Savard, who came up with the idea o f holding the event, believes the event will help raise the visibility of Uni­ versity Safety.

“It’s to make sure everyone knows what services are available on the campus,” said

Savard. “We have all o f these great programs, and all of these great people working in de­ partments, and we only hear about security when something serious has [happened] on campus.”

The event will include fire extinguisher training sessions, demonstrations of M cG ill’s Hazmat (Hazardous Materials) Trailer, and presentations by Associate Director, Universi­ ty Safety (Security Services) Pierre Barbarie, and Director of McGill University’s Office for Science and Society Joe Schwarcz.

“The idea behind safety week is just to raise the flag, and say [that] safety is a huge priority for the University, we want you to be aware of the services that are available, the programs, and the standards that are out there to ensure that we have a proper working and learning environment,” said Nicell.

“I think it’s a good idea,” added Neilson.

“I certainly don’t think it’s just university pro­ paganda, I think they’re trying to get a lot of tangible things out o f it, and ultimately I don’t think it’s something students take seriously enough, so hopefully this will help enlighten some people.”

of the chemistry department. “None of the [KIP] money will go towards scientific instru­ ments.”

The Douglas Mental Health University Institute received $19.6 million for a new brain imaging centre. The integrated life sciences facilities, located in the McIntyre Medical Building, received $28.7 million to upgrade their facilities. And the Macdonald Engineering Building received $24.7 million for several renovation projects.

Vice-Principal (Research and Interna­ tional Relations) Denis Thérien explained that in addition to building improvements, these projects will hopefully have the additional ef­ fect of attracting top researchers and intellec­ tuals from around the world to McGill.

“Letting researchers know that we’ll invest $25 or 30 million in the building that they’d occupy, if they would decide to come here, is about the most powerful argument that we have in our pocket in order to convince them to take the job offer that we’re putting in front of them,” said Thérien.

The funding for the McGill projects will come from Industry Canada, a federal fund­ ing agency; the Quebec Ministry o f Economic Development, Innovation, and Exportation; and the Quebec Ministry o f Education, Lei­ sure, and Sport.

"The new infrastructure projects will contribute to the formation o f highly qualified personnel as well as to recruitment and reten­ tion o f the best researchers,” said Courchesne in a press release. “The government o f Quebec is proud to be an integral component in the re­ alization of these four projects.”

However, Thérien noted that there are still many more infrastructure projects that McGill hopes to complete in the future.

—A dditional reporting by Thom as Quail

4 • Tuesday, September 15, 2009

mcgilltribune.com

SCIENCE

International team discovers gene mechanism in Type 2 Diabetes Future o f Génome Québec uncertain IBRAHIM AZAR Contributor

An international group o f scientists from Canada, France, the U.K., and Denmark has discovered a new mechanism of a gene associ­ ated with Type 2 Diabetes. The team, which includes McGill geneticists Robert Sladek and Constantin Polychronakos, discovered a new mechanism by which a gene called Insu­ lin Receptor Substrate 1 f 1RS 1) affects Type 2 Diabetes. Unlike the other 18 genes associated with the disease, this is the first known gene that doesn’t influence insulin production but rather insulin response.

“The conventional wisdom was that [in­ sulin resistance] is environmental, for exam­ ple, over-nutrition, sedentary lifestyle ... and [insulin secretion deficiency] is genetic. Our findings show that this is not exactly true. Both genetics and environment are important,” said Polychronakos, whose work specializes in pe­

diatrics and human genetics.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is the most com­ mon form of diabetes, accounting for 90 per cent of the 246 million people suffering from diabetes.

Unlike Type 1 diabetes, which is an au­ toimmune disease, T2D is a metabolic disor­ der that can often be kept in check with diet, exercise and in more extreme cases by drugs and insulin injections. If left untreated, it can lead to complications including kidney failure, renal failure, blindness, and coronary artery disease.

The study was published in Nature G enet­ ics on September 6. Several thousand samples collected from French, Danish, and Finnish individuals were sent to the McGill Univer­ sity and Genome Quebec Innovation Center (MUGQIC) where a multi-stage genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed.

This new technique, which Sladek said has revolutionized the field, scans the genomes of thousands o f individuals and uses statistics to identify a characteristic gene.

Although obesity is known to cause insu­ lin resistance, the study found no relationship

between obesity and 1RS 1.

This study is not the first breakthrough in Type 2 Diabetes that Sladek and Polychro­ nakos have participated in. Two years ago, they spearheaded a study published in Nature that identified four new genes associated with T2D. That study went on to become the fifthmost cited paper o f 2007, according to ScienceW atch.com .

“Our paper on T2D reported the second GWAS study. The first one was on inflamma­ tory bowel disease. Within months, reports for dozens of other diseases were published." said Polychronakos.

But despite his high-profile success, Sladek is concerned that funding for Genome Quebec is in danger o f significantly shrinking.

Sladek’s past studies have required the pur­ chase of cutting-edge technology to conduct large-scale genotyping from the private com­ pany Illumina. Inc. These costs have been cov­ ered by Génome Québec and Genome Canada, as the result o f a prior expansion in federal funding for genomics studies. However, some of this funding was cut in last year’s federal budget.

The financial situation is disheartening for the project, with many qualified scientists leaving for institutions with better funding.

“If you look at the Nature G enetics paper, you will see that most o f these people have left the Centre, and for that matter, left Que­ bec,” said Sladek. “But hopefully, if the fund­ ing situation for genomics gets better, we can rebuild the group and get back on top o f the field again.”

While this new finding might be extreme­ ly important to the scientific community, “it has in itself no clinical implications” said Oiuf Pederson, chief physician at the Hagedom Re­ search Institute in Copenhagen, and a corre­ sponding author on the paper. Polychronakos concurs that “there will be no immediate ef­ fect on treatment.” Polychronakos, h’owever, remains optimistic about the future.

“Ultimately, the most promising use for this genetic information is to distinguish pa­ tients who all carry the same diagnostic label into genetic-profile categories that may re­ spond differently to different treatments or in­ dividualized medicine,” he said.

CAMPUS

Research shows long-term alcohol consumption linked to cancer 4 ,0 0 0 men participate in longitudinal study SARAH CRAMER Contributor

Drinkers may have yet another reason to drown their sorrows. A new epidemiological study by a team of Montreal researchers found a strong link between heavy alcohol consump­ tion and six different types o f cancer in men.

McGill researcher Andrea Benedetti along with Marie-Elise Parent of INRS-Institut Armand Frappier and Jack Siemiatycki of the University of Montreal discovered that people who drank frequently and over a long period o f time were most affected by the cancers.

Using data from the past 20 years that looked at about 4.000 men aged 35 to 70, they determined that the risk o f esophageal and liver cancer increased more than sevenfold due to high alcohol intake. Similarly, instances of colon, stomach, and prostate cancer rose about 80 per cent, and instances of lung cancer increased by nearly 60 per cent. These results were largely affected by beer intake. The re­ searchers found little association between can­ cer and the consumption o f spirits and wine.

Benedetti, the lead author of the study,, said that the lifestyle o f a drinker was also con­ sidered. She explained that increased alcohol consumption is more often associated with bad eating habits, education level, socio-economic status, and smoking.

“We have attempted to take these con­ founding factors into account and adjust what­ ever ways we could. It’s possible that there are some, like exercise, that we’re not catching.

But we think we did a pretty good job in con­ trolling the others,” she said.

According to Benedetti, because the data was collected from the same population in the same time period, it was easy to look at the ef­ fects o f alcohol in a controlled manner.

“With our study, we were able to com­ pare different cancer sites. We looked at 13 sites o f cancer, in the same population of men, whose alcohol consumption was measured in

the same way,” said co-author and supervisor Parent.

Another benefit o f this research was the scientists’ ability to look at alcohol consump­ tion over a lifespan.

“We are trying to represent the exposure over the lifetime, which is much more impor­

tant because cancer is most likely to occur due to factors that happened way back in the past, thirty to twenty years ago,” said Parent.

While this study focussed exclusively on men, women may also be affected by heavy alcohol consumption. Parent explained that during the time frame in which the data was

collected women were not drinking as much as men, nor were they working in what she calls “dirty jobs,” where issues of chemicals being the cause of cancer was irrelevant.

“The need has switched. Women are working and drinking more, which will make it possible for them to be studied. Now, there has been more research done on those factors, most commonly focussed on breast cancer.”

Past cancer research has shown a strong association between alcohol and different can-

“W e are trying to represent the exposure over a lifetime, which is more important because cancer is most likely to occur due to factors that happened way back in the past, thirty to twenty years ago,” -M a r ie -E lis e Parent

JOHN KELSEY

Researchers at McGill have found a link between heavy alcohol consumption and the develpment of certain types of cancer in men.

cer sites. Nevertheless, Parent doesn’t believe these results will result in precaution notices on cases o f beer, like those on cigarette packs or tanning beds.

“I don’t know if we want to say to people cut the booze completely, because we saw in the lower category o f drinkers that there was not that great of an effect,” he said. “There are also weaknesses in any study that make us think before we start putting labels on every­ thing.”

While Parent believes their current study revealed some important information, she as­ serts that more studies are needed to determine more specific details.

“I think it is worth conducting studies that are more focussed on those cancers but that also include a significant number and im­ proved methodology ... ,1 think we are repli­ cating what was done, but we are adding on by saying we actually see more than what others have found in the past.”

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Curiosit^^elivers

CITY

Integrated Network Clinics make their debut Province hopes to provide thousands with access JU L IE BEA U C H A M P Contributor

Provincial Health Minister Yves Bolduc has introduced another reform to Quebec’s primary care system in the form o f Integrat­ ed Network Clinics. Bolduc’s predecessor, Philippe Couillard, instituted Network Clinics four years ago. The most important difference between the Network Clinics and the new In­ tegrated Clinics is staffing.

“In addition to more doctors and nurses, we will have health professionals such as nu­ tritionists, psychologists and kinesiologists.

Doctors will be able to concentrate on their interventions,” said Monique Laganière, com­ munications advisor for the Montreal Health and Social Services Agency, commenting on the new clinics. “We will be able to moni­ tor vulnerable people and those with chronic diseases closely. Instead o f having the doctor doing the follow-up, it will now be provided by a team o f specialists.”

Under the new system, each doctor could increase their capacity from 1,500 to 2,000 patients by relying more heavily on support staff.

According to government estimates, each Integrated Network Clinic could serve as many as 30,000 patients, be operational seven

days a week, and accept walk-ins. The actual figures may be lower considering the previ­ ous Network Clinics were projected to serve 50,000 patients, but currently serve approxi­ mately 20,000 patients and are open five days a week.

“The whole process of the reform is working towards making sure people have access to frontline services as the first step in the door of the health care system,” said pro­ fessor Antonia Maioni, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. “In the U.S.,

“When you don’t have a doctor, your first instinct is to go to the emergency room.”

-M a r ie -P ie r Ménard we talk about a ‘medical home’ and the idea is that people should have a home, a homebase, a physician who takes care of their needs and who is connected with the kind of services that the person needs, so we have to get away from drop-in clinics and this way o f distribut­ ing health care. “ The government hopes to open 60 Inte­ grated Network Clinics over the next 10 years, which would provide about 1.8 million Mon­ trealers access to a family doctor.

The first clinic, which opened September 8, is located in the Verdun Hospital. It has be­ tween 10 and 15 doctors and 11 other health professionals. The Jewish General Hospital

will open its own clinic later this fall.

Laganière believes that these clinics will have a direct impact and cited examples in San Francisco and Barcelona, which experienced a 50 per cent decrease in visits to emergency rooms when they opened similar institutions.

“When you don’t have a doctor, your first instinct is to go to the emergency room,” said Marie-Pier Ménard, a recent McGill graduate with no personal physician who would gladly participate in one of these future clinics.

Maioni suggested that the main chal­ lenges this type of clinic faces are staffing and costs.

“It’s expensive to staff and keep these clinics going 24/7,” said Maioni. “Doctors are entrepreneurs. It has to be in their own inter­ est to do this and you’ve got to get health care professionals to work together, which is not as easy as it sounds.”

Ménard added that the government has to promote awareness of the existence o f such clinics and the services provided.

These new clinics, however, do not solve Quebec’s main problem: the shortage of doc­ tors. Maioni noted that Ontario has been much more aggressive in trying to increase its pool of family physicians.

The government believes the Integrated Network Clinics will have a positive effect and revitalize family medicine.

“These clinics will enhance even more the role o f the family doctor,” said Laganière.

N

ew s in

B r ie f

City calls for building inspections The City o f Montreal may take a more active role in confirming the safety of struc­ tures older than 25 years to which the public has access.

A press release issued on behalf of Mr. Gilles Robillard, deputy director for the In­ frastructure, Transport and Environment Ser­ vice, states that, “According to information revealed from the city’s inventory, five under­ ground structures corresponded to the criteria, including those along Square Victoria, Place Bonaventure, and the Sun Life Building.”

The properties in question are held by three owners and comprise approximately two per cent o f the underground network. The city has been encouraging the owners to verify the inspection for two years.

“The city will [write] a letter to the Place Bonaventure, Square Victoria, and the [Sun Life Building] ... with the Régie du batiment if it’s necessary,” said Philippe Sabourin, a media relations officer with the City of Mon­ treal in a telephone interview.

Sabourin assured Montrealers that for the moment there is no need to be concerned. “We know it’s not dangerous, there’s no security issue” said Sabourin. “But we need the owners o f those infrastructures to confirm it on paper at the city, so we need an engineer who will write down what we know already.”

—G reg O sadec

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on a first-come, first-served basis, in the First-Year Office.

M a c d o n a ld c am p u s students: send an email with your name, Student

ID, club, position, M cGill email and telephone number to leadership, tra in in g @ m cg ill.ca For m ore in fo , d r o p b y the F irs t-Y e a r O ffic e in the B ro w n B u ild in g , S uite 2 1 0 0 , o r c a ll 5 1 4 -3 9 8 -6 9 1 3

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6 • Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Fresh Hell â iM

Zoe Daniels

zdaniels@mcgiHtribune.com A V O TE AGAIN ST PO LITICS 1 hate politics. I hate the self-righteous­ ness, I hate the fundraising, and I hate the red white and blue cupcakes. I don’t advocate anarchy, and I appreciate democracy, as any red-blooded American should. However, I find napping more valuable than analyzing de­ mocracy’s finer points. I appreciate that there are people who want to make the world a bet­ ter place and think that the way to do that is through political careers, but they often seem to forget that they are just that: careers—made and broken by the unrealistic expectations of the largely uninformed public. The inherent and infuriating flaw of politics is that it’s prac­ ticed by people.

During the 2008 McCain-Obama presi­ dential campaign, I followed the election cov­ erage loosely. I undérstood that the race was tight and that people were pulling out all the stops to try to ensure victory for their candi­ date, but the speculation and debate over who would win seemed like a waste o f time to me (as fortune telling often does). Whoever won, won, and whoever lost, lost, and it would all happen again in four years. The only salient way my life had changed during the Bush ad­ ministration was that I saw a lot more of Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live. Although I was fully aware o f how important it was for Obama to win, I knew that my life would con­ tinue pretty much unaltered if he didn’t.

Paying attention to the campaign cov­ erage allowed me to remember something 1 first realized in high school: that political campaigns are an inane race whose outcome is mostly influenced by personality and sheer luck. This applies to all kinds o f politics. High school politics, national politics, and world politics are just different levels at which peo­ ple showcase their ambition, personality, and the supreme self-delusion that a single person can change the establishment.

Many politicians fight for initiatives that they think will make an undesirable situation better, but only if those solutions also make their situation better. We will never get decent food in the cafeteria, perfect health care, or

world peace as long as politicians have selfpreservation as an instinct—which is to say, as long as they’re human. That humanness allows them to connect with voters, but also makes them vulnerable to rumours, smear campaigns, and stupid decisions. Voters want to elect someone they like, but they don’t want their politicians to be people.

Voters, myself included, can forgive atrocities in times o f war. They can forgive spending mistakes and tax hikes. But when a mayor cheats on her spouse, voters label her unfit to govern. I ’ve watched enough episodes of The West Wing to know that human weak­ ness, be it bodily, mental, or emotional, elicits little sympathy from an unforgiving electorate.

Unfortunately, the scrutiny isn’t exclusively reserved for elected officials. Politicians’ fam­ ilies and friends must also always be models of public comportment, and when they’re not, they’re intensely judged by the media and the public. In the media, a pregnant teenager is not a person who doesn’t know where to buy Plan B —she’s an example o f her mother’s ineffec­ tive and absurd politics. The Palin kids don’t have political ambitions, but their imperfec­ tions were still spotlighted on the national stage.

Obama was recently talking to the Senate about his health care plan—a contentious issue between Democrats and Republicans. During the speech, Republican Congressman Joe Wil­ son yelled “You lie!” at the President. First: what a huge breach o f respect. Second: how reminiscent of a jo ck yelling at the nerd run­ ning for class president against his girlfriend Tina. O f course, Wilson issued an apology—as any diplomatic politician should—but the out­ burst highlights his humanity and therefore the absurdity of his being a politician. Although he’s ostensibly a very respectful, learned person, he can’t help but act like a jackassy teenager when someone else’s politics conflict with his best interests.

I ’m not saying a small group o f dedi­ cated people can’t change the world, or that we should all chuck it and go live on kib­ butzes. It’s just that the political system—and the circus surrounding it—is ridiculous. We expect our state leaders to fall above human but below God on a moral scale, so it’s no sur­ prise that they fail to meet our unrealistic ex­ pectations. If I'm going to watch someone be dragged down by a rumour about their sexual­ ity, I ’d rather it be on a W B network show— because thankfully Smallville doesn’t have the mistaken impression that rumours are relevant to real life.

IRCM A ffiliated to the Université de Montréal

GREEN WITH ANGER I really hate the contemporary “green” movement.

This might surprise you, because I ’m one o f those “lefty types” (as my program advisor in Canadian Studies recently labelled me). I believe in fighting against oppression and for social justice. And believe it or not. I’m also interested in saving the earth—since achiev­ ing social equity in a world where everyone is asthmatic, water is not drinkable, and diseases like cholera are rampant (one of the scarier predicted effects o f climate change) would be rather pointless.

In fact, at the age o f 14, it was environ­ mental activism that drew me into politics. But that was a different era of environmentalism.

“Liberal Canadian consensus” (which is what I call the kinds of opinions that make the edito­ rial pages of the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star and influence public policy) was that “cli­ mate change” was hippie science, propagated by potheads and radicals who didn’t under­ stand that the Earth naturally went through cycles o f increased global temperatures. Smog was viewed as an unfortunate consequence of progress and its negative effects were rarely discussed. Dumping Toronto’s garbage in a huge hole upstream from much of northern Ontario’s drinking water was the pragmatic thing to do. And hybrid cars were seen as un­ safe and untrustworthy.

It was a time when those of us who saw the writing on the wall fought for change. And we fought hard. We disrupted City Council meet­ ings and burned paper mâché globes outside climate conferences. We chased politicians, painted bike lanes on streets, and camped out in parking spots. We protested and we got ar­ rested. And often, we won.

But now things have changed. Everyone agrees climate change is a “clear and present danger.” Everyone agrees we’ve fucked up and that we need to change our behaviour as a society if we’re going to make it through the next century. For God’s sake, even Stephen Harper and George Bush agree that climate change is a problem.

Yet, never has so little been done—in the

mcgilltribune.com

social or policy realm—to change our disas­ trous course.

I know it’s counter-intuitive, but as en­ vironmental realities have become more ap­ parent, the solutions have become more use­ less. Buying a carbon credit for your flight only helps climate criminals (like the airline industry) make more money and have to an­ swer fewer questions. Abstaining from shorthaul flights is good, but it’s pointless if you drive alone to your destination instead. Using a canvas bag instead of plastic bag is nice, but completely useless so long as manufacturers are not held responsible for the waste they pro­ duce. In fact, I carried canvas bags and back­ packs to the grocery store for years, but now demand plastic bags and refuse to pay five cents for them. Private business profited for years from the cheap and destructive practice.

It should have to pay the additional cost or change their bag options at the check. But in­ stead the consumer—the victim—is expected to pay for the change.

This is all indicative o f the general trend of the current green wave: package and sell “green” as a fun D IY project in which, if we all do our part, everything will be fine. Never mind that industrial emissions make individu­ als’ waste look like no threat at all. Never mind that Ontario receives most of its energy from coal—the dirtiest mass-scale electric­ ity source in existence. And never mind that the auto, aviation, and energy industries—the worst three commercial industries contribut­ ing to smog and climate change—haven’t been forced to change their wasteful ways.

I recently spent some time in the U.S, where I had the pleasure of waiting 40 min­ utes for a city bus because there is almost no federal funding for public transit in that coun­ try, despite the fact that public transit remains the most effective government policy for cutting back on wasteful carbon emissions.

While waiting for the bus I sat staring at two billboards across from me. The first promoted the “Cash for Clunkers” program: the multi­ billion dollar federal program to allow people to trade in “bad” cars for cash to buy “good” cars (with little to no definition of what consti­ tutes a “good car,” but plenty o f windfall for the automobile industry). The second was an advertisement for the International Air Trans­ port Association that pledged “carbon neutral growth” by 2020, mostly through the purchase o f carbon credits.

The irony was overwhelming. As I stepped onto the beat-up, overpriced city bus, I had to laugh—otherwise I think I might have cried.

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009 • 7

Curiosity Delivers *5»

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PUBLISHER Chad Ronalds

---- -----------------E D I T O R I A L S -----------— How much more dangerous can an offender be?

In a country with a reputation for being too lenient on impaired drivers, the case of Roger Walsh is the latest damning example of the failings of Canada’s drunk driving laws. Last week Walsh became the first Canadian to receive a life sentence for drunk driving after he killed a woman in a wheelchair who was out walking her dog on her birthday. However, this incident was not Walsh's first impaired driving conviction: it was his 19th.

In October 2008, Walsh struck and killed Anee Khudaverdian, a polio survivor and mother, on a rural Quebec road. His blood alcohol level was double the legal limit, and he continued to drive for 10 kilo­ metres after his van hit Khudaverdian. When the case came to trial, Crown prosecutors decided to seek dangerous offender status for Walsh, a label traditionally assigned to serial rapists and psychopaths. In addition to his 18 prior charges for driving under the in­ fluence, Walsh had also collected 114 other criminal convictions, ranging from breaking and entering to assault.

Labelling him a dangerous offender would have meant that Walsh would be in jail for whatever length of time Corrections Canada deemed necessary. In addition, he would have been supervised by authorities for 10 years if he was ever released. Walsh’s case marked the third time in Canadian his­ tory that a dangerous offender label has been sought for a drunk driver. However. Quebec Court Judge Michel Mercier opted to take the same route as the judges in previous cases and rejected the Crown’s request. In his ruling, Mercier wrote that the dangerous offender provisions in the Criminal Code were too ambiguous to include impaired driving.

The life sentence Walsh received was a landmark decision in drunk driving cases in Canada, since he is the first to receive a prison term of this length. Walsh will serve seven years in jail before he is eligible for parole. However, the fact that this was Walsh’s 19th conviction demonstrates that there is something fundamentally wrong with the way the Canadian judicial system

treats drunk driving. Clearly Walsh’s previ­ ous sentences—the longest of which was 15 months—weren’t enough to deter him from his chronic habit. Walsh was a ticking time bomb, and it’s unfortunate that the Canadian legal system allowed him to remain on the road until he took someone’s life.

While the Tribune commends Judge Mercier for handing down the life sentence, we believe that this is a case where an im­ portant legal precedent should have been set. The life sentence does represent a de­ parture from Canada’s previous treatment of this type of offence. However, Mercier should have taken the conviction one step further and labelled Walsh a dangerous of­ fender. If Walsh, after over 130 previous convictions, isn’t considered a danger to so­ ciety for his violent and reckless tendencies and his demonstrated inability to show re­ morse or respond to legal punishment, then the legal system has failed Khudaverdian and any future victims. This is one case in which judicial activism would have been a good thing.

FLQ part of Quebec’s history, not its future In commemoration of the 250th an­ niversary of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham—in which British forces under General Wolfe captured Quebec—organiz­ ers read several hundred significant texts from Quebec’s history at a ceremony this past weekend. The event would barely have been newsworthy if the organizers had not included a terrorist manifesto in the read­ ings.

Written in 1970 by members of the Front de Libération du Québec, a radical terrorist group that advocated Quebec sepa­ ratism, the manifesto was first read on CBC Radio as a condition for the release of James Cross, the British trade commissioner kid­ napped by the FLQ. Supporters of the event have defended the FLQ manifesto as an important piece

of Quebec history, while detractors have claimed that reading the statement would be tantamount to endorsing the group’s vio­ lent actions—which included kidnapping and killing Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte.

The Tribune supports the organizers’ right to read the manifesto. Moreover, we think there is no better way to expose the ridiculous, savage, and racist nature of the Marxist FLQ manifesto than by listening to it read aloud. The manifesto’s accusations of election rigging, Quebec as a “slave so­ ciety,” and the idea of “ 100,000 revolution­ ary workers, armed and organized” should be viewed as laughable by any rational lis­ tener.

Though we support the right to read the manifesto, the Tribune doesn’t disagree with

Premier Jean Charest’s refusal to take part in the event, or the Quebec government’s deci­ sion to withhold a $20,000 provincial fund­ ing grant. The province has no obligation to fund such events, and Charest has the right to distance himself from a poorly organized, deliberately provocative event.

Like the rest of the documents read over the weekend, the FLQ manifesto is a part of Quebec’s history and should be re­ membered. It’s an important reminder that, aside from a small number of radical FLQ sympathizers, Quebecers have refused vio­ lence as a method for dealing with the prov­ ince’s charged language politics. Quebecers overwhelmingly rejected the FLQ ’s terror­ ist methods, and that—not the manifesto— should be celebrated.

CONTRIBUTORS Kathryn Amey, Ibrahim Azar, Ju lie Beauchamp, David Benson, M arie-Jeanne Berger, Charlotte Buchanan, Em m a Cabrera-Aragon, Samantha Cook, Sarah Cramer, Zoe Daniels, M olly Gom olin, Yale Hertzman, John Kelsey, Greg Osadec, M ax Silverman, Ruzbeh Tamjeedi. B ianca Van Bavel

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I used to love parties. The drinking. The sweating. The uninhibited embraces. But over the years, bit by bit, I ’ve enjoyed them less and less. And lately I ’ve simply stopped going to them almost altogether.

But why? What’s so bad about parties?

What’s not to like about cramming all of your friends into a Lower Plateau apartment and drinking the night away?

Before I explain, let's back up a few years.

For those of us who hit puberty at the turn of the century, university was synonymous with shots, sex, and pranks. Movies like Old S chool and R oad Trip glorified heavy drinking and party-animal characters (like the legendary Frank the Tank). If university were anything like those movies, then studying wouldn’t be nearly as important as the ability to handle a beer bong.

So college came, and at the beginning, I ’ll

admit, the parties were fun. Really fun. I met a ton of new people—all, might I add, equally fueled by beer, wine, and/or spirits. We drank heavily and laughed heartily.

But, as the adage goes, all good things must come to an end. And slowly, the parties became indistinguishable, blending together seamlessly.

A Facebook invitation would be sent out on Monday. The invitation had the party facts: the address, the time, and the theme. I ’d click ‘maybe attending,’ but I would always go. (What else would I be doing on a Friday night?)

I ’d arrive at the party and make a beeline to the fridge. (Cold beer, if you ask me, is a critical element of an enjoyable evening.) The six pack never fit in the fridge. Thus extensive rearrangement of the host’s refrigerated condi­ ments would ensue.

While shuffling around the fridge’s con­ tents, someone would invariably strike up a conversation. “Oh my god, hiya, I haven’t seen you in ages, where have you been?” Typically, when I got up from rearranging, I ’d hug them awkwardly and force conversation. While speaking to them, I ’d neatly empty my beer.

And it would soon dawn on me: this was not fun. It was dull. I ’d fantasize about curl­ ing up in bed with the newest Joseph Boyden novel. I’d desperately want to leave. But in­

stead, to make the party bearable, I ’d drink to get drunk.

And slowly, as I became increasingly un­ inhibited, everyone, including myself, would start to seem a lot more interesting. I ’d start singing and dancing. “Hey Jude” simply felt good. And sometimes, when I was particularly far-gone, I ’d attempt a one-armed pushup— high comedy indeed. Clothing, too, soon be­ came optional.

The next day my friends would remind me about the outrageous stunts I ’d performed under the influence. My red-shocked cheeks and bleary eyes would show up in Facebook photos. It was humiliating.

So, however slowly, I learned that I was hardwired differently and, though I enjoyed parties, I simply couldn’t go. The embarrass­ ment was unbearable.

One thing’s for sure: I ’m not alone. So for those who relate—for those who find them­ selves bored, drunk, and in denial at parties—I have an idea, a solution of sorts.

Every Friday, at my apartment— 3561 Lom e—I ’ll throw a party. My apartment’s cozy and small. Those there will sip beer qui­ etly at a peaceful pace. We’ll listen to Chopin sonatas and luxuriate in beanbag chairs. If you don’t want to talk, you don’t have to. In fact, you can bring your homework if you like. So if you’re interested, click maybe attending.

8 • Tuessday, September 15, 2009

VAM PIRES SUCK In recent months, I ’ve found that almost every flip of a magazine page or flick of the TV remote brings me face-to-face with vam­ pires.

Vampire novels, TV shows, and movies are simply everywhere. H BO ’s True B lood'has managed to captivate an overwhelming num­ ber o f fans, while the Twilight movies have become so popular that the latest installment managed to bump the Harry Potter box office juggernaut to a later opening weekend. But this isn’t another column that simply acknowl­ edges our apparent obsession with vampires.

I ’m interested in why almost no one has both­ ered to question the underlying reason for our vampiric obsession. We don’t shut the fuck up about vampires, yet we rarely ask: why vam­ pires? Why now?

While I ’m not an expert on vampires, or a telepath that can delve into the minds o f the greater social psyche—unlike True B lood's protagonist Sukie Stackhouse—I can do my best to speculate.

Over 100 years ago, Irish author Bram Stoker used the vampire as the centre o f the most famous horror tales to date —D racu la— and catapulted the mysterious, blood-sucking creature into the forefront of the public imagi­ nation.

Though Dracula-like creatures had ex­ isted in literature and folklore long before his novel, Stoker was writing about the vampire at a particular historical moment. Sexually re­ pressed Victorian England was clashing with fin de siècle decadence, imperialism was at a high, and xenophobia was rampant. Dracula’s incessant desire to sink his teeth into his vic­ tims was a metaphor for the violent potential o f unbridled sexuality, while his isolated cas­ tle and aristocratic title, “count,” represented revulsion for outsiders and a stratified class

o b a m a ’s facebo o k fo lly

Last Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama gave a nationally broadcast speech to students that he prefaced with the warning: “Be careful what you post on Facebook.”

The content of the speech had been re­ leased by the White House the day before and had sparked outrage from conservative-leaning American parents. A few schools denied their students access to the midday speech, which was presented at a suburban high school in Arlington, Virginia. One member of a group o f protestors greeting Obama's motorcade car­ ried a sign that read: “Mr. President, stay away from our kids.”

All of this seems a little extreme. Current­ ly the graduation rate in the United States is 69.2 per cent, according to a “Diplomas Count

mcgilltribune.com

system. His victims — often young maidens — would become brazen sex fiends after being turned into vampires, while Dracula was fi­ nally killed only when Christian relics were used against him. ' Therefore, if one can reasonably interpret Stoker’s novel as a depiction o f the tensions between upholding tradition and embracing modernity at the end of an era, how can we read the symbolism of vampires in this seem­ ingly already-modem age?

If you look at the two latest vampire craz­ es, True B lo o d and Twilight, it seems that most of the negative imagery related to vampires— the whole gruesome, evil, and murderous thing—has disappeared, and has been replaced by depictions of immortals who glisten in the sun (as in Twilight), are the best sex you’ve ever had (as in True B lood ), and are way sexier than real people (um, as in both).

Both Twilight and True B lo o d seem to use vampires as a means of projecting some ideal—whether it’s Christian piety or carnal lust. While Twilight is a very thinly veiled ap­ peal for abstinence, True B lo o d is, conversely, a glorification of raw sexuality. When Sukie asks vampire Bill what drinking his blood will do to her, he responds, “you will live longer, and,” he pauses, “your libido will be more ac­ tive.”

Perhaps this indicates that, like Stoker at the end o f the 19 th century, we, at the beginning of the 21st, are again at a crossroads. Nearly half o f the United States threw their support behind a woman who thinks girls should give birth to the children o f rapists rather than have a choice, and the "liberal” state of California has gone backward in its views on gay mar­ riage. And, much like in Stoker’s time, popu­ lar trends are either telling us to unleash our inner freak, or using squeaky-clean pop stars like the Jonas Brothers to encourage us to keep it in our pants.

Perhaps 100 years from now, someone will be able to better analyze the historical forces behind this recent surge of vampires and dispose o f my liberal rhetoric. However, one thing is certain—vampires still serve to affirm that human beings have complicated instincts and are filled with moral ambiguity.

The world isn’t black or white. But perhaps it’s a little red.

2009” study released by Education Week and the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center in June. According to a September 8 article in the Globe and Mail, Education Sec­ retary Arne Duncan said that a quick solution for graduation rates is necessary, because of the impact today’s graduates will have on fu­ ture progress.

The goal o f Obama’s speech appeared to be getting students to welcome the school year in the right way—or at least with the healthy optimism that normally characterizes the school year until something is actually due— which is a fairly innocuous message. From a purely public relations perspective, taking the time out of a busy schedule to speak to the na­ tion’s children about safety and their futures is admirable. It has the potential to emphasize to students that skipping class might not be a good idea, and shows everyone else that all his talk about the importance o f education is meant whole-heartedly.

But while it is commendable that Obama gave an inspirational speech to students in a way that highlighted his own flaws and made him easier to identify with, one has to question the ability o f your average high school student to identify with a man who is arguably the most powerful human being in the world.

When it comes to the law, things tend to be black and white: guilty or innocent, pros­ ecution or defence, criminal or victim. But we all know that in reality some people are a little bit guilty, while others are guilty as hell.

Whether you believe Marc Emery is “a little bit guilty” or “guilty as hell” is as good a test of your socio-political views as anything.

Emery, popularly know by his self-coined moniker “the Prince o f Pot,” is set to plead guilty to drug trafficking charges next week in a Seattle courtroom. It’s expected that he will be sentenced to between five and 20 years in prison.

Canadian police and American law en­ forcement agents arrested Emery and two associates in August 2005, and charged them with distributing marijuana seeds to clients in the U.S. Emery was the primary target in the raid because of his decade-long campaign to end the criminal prohibition against cannabis in North America—a campaign which has included conducting several speaking tours, making three unsuccessful attempts at running for mayor o f Vancouver, founding the B.C. Marijuana Party, and publishing the bimonthly C annabis Culture magazine.

Canadian law enforcement agencies knew of Emery’s seed business but had not arrested him since 1998, when he was fined $2,000 for distributing seeds. Since then, Emery has, as a “marijuana seed vendor,” paid provincial and federal taxes totaling nearly $600,000. In fact, according to the Vancouver Sun, Health Cana­ da even recommended medical marijuana pa­ tients buy their seeds from Emery.

It seems then that Emery has been operat­ ing in a sort o f bizarre middle ground—tacitly accepted by the government as long as they

One also has to question the ability of your average high school student to pay atten­ tion to a speech at lunch on the first day of school, but that’s beside the point.

Yes, people are going to post dumb things on the Internet. It’s the Internet. That’s what it’s there for—that and pom. Telling someone that if they aren’t careful, they might not get a job in 10 years is about as tangible and effec­ tive as telling a heroin addict not to shoot up.

Rather than wasting his time telling an unin­ terested audience that they shouldn’t do what they will no doubt do anyway, Obama should be developing policy. His address to the joint session o f Congress on health care came less than 48 hours later, and one can’t help but think he had better things to do.

If Obama’s speech was an attempt to make a difference in the lives o f children accross America, and not just a public relations stunt, then he’s going about it the wrong way.

An inspirational speech? Please. What about a policy change that addresses the lagging educational standards in America and the 30.8 per cent of U.S. students that don’t graduate from high school? The solution should be just that: a solution. Not a nicety. And it certainly shouldn’t involve any mention o f Facebook.

don’t have to acknowledge it publicly.

Now I ’m not going to bother wasting much of your time with an argument about drug legalization. I believe marijuana should be legal, and I ’ve yet to hear an anti-marijuana argument that doesn’t rely on shoddy science, baseless speculation, or misguided morality. If alcohol and tobacco are legal, then logically marijuana should be as well.

Unfortunately, logic seems to be a dirty word for the Canadian government. Despite the fact that the B.C. Court o f Appeals has ruled that a one-month jail sentence and pro­ bation would be an acceptable sentence for selling marijuana seeds, the government has refused to prosecute Emery in Canada. Even though the majority of his business was con­ ducted in the Great White North, Emery will be sentenced to a minimum of five years in prison under U.S. law. In this case, as in so many others, this government has demon­ strated a reluctance to assert autonomy in its relationship with the U.S. We’ve all broken the law. We’re all a little bit guilty. We drink before we reach the legal age, we drive faster than the speed limit, and we illegally download music and movies on­ line. As a society we have decided that these things, despite being illegal, are generally acceptable, and so we don’t pursue criminal charges against the millions o f people who flout these laws. Marijuana usage falls into this frustratingly inconsistent category —in some respects it’s accepted by law enforce­ ment agencies, while in others it’s still viewed as an evil aspect of our society.

It’s time for the inconsistency to end.

Marc Emery matters because he’s being charged in a country with illogical and unfair drug laws for “crimes” he also committed in Canada. If we consider Emery a criminal, let’s charge him under Canadian law. If not, then let's stop kowtowing to the wishes of our mor­ ally bankrupt southern neighbour.

There’s no doubt Marc Emery is a little bit guilty—one of the many Canadians who occupy the grey area in our legal system. It’s just unfortunate that in this case, our govern­ ment has chosen to see things in black and white.

THE MCGILL TRIBUNE IS LOOKING LORAN ONLINE EDITOR INTERESTED? SEND A CV AND COVER LETTER TO EDITOR@MCGILLTRIBUNE. COM NOBODY CARES WHAT YOU THINK (UNLESS YOU’RE A TRIBUNE COLUMNIST.) SEND A SAMPLE COLUMN, FIVE COLUMN IDEAS, A N D A COVER LETTERTO OPlNION@ MCGILLTRIBUNE.COM.

C O R R E C T IO N

=

The article “Insite: V ancouver’s drug d ilem m a” (09.09.09) originally referred to Tony Clem ent as the cur­ rent fe d e r a l health minister, when in fa c t h e w as transfered out o f that posi* tion in late 2008. H e is now the Minis­ ter o f Industry.

Curiosity Delivers

St u d e n t Liv in g

Toon Çam u -------------

CAM PUS C A LEN D A R

ILovely lemon squares BRAHNA SIEGELBERG • • • • • • •

Picture this: you’ve just come home from a long day on campus, and all you crave is a spoonful of sugar to help the night of tedious and seemingly endless work ahead go down. You open your refrigerator and cut a perfect two-by-two inch slice of buttercrusted, lemon-oozing, sugar-dusted lemon square. The sensation is orgasmic, and you can only hope that you made enough to be able to never stop eating bite-sized slices of heaven.

And if you think that going to some café (or a chain like Second Cup) and buy­ ing a thick-crusted, overly tart pastry la­ beled as a lemon square will do it, then you are seriously mistaken. Try this recipe once, and I guarantee that you will find yourself at odd moments in the night furiously knead­ ing dough and zesting lemons (Note: Zest is the outermost rind of citrus fruits, and is val­ ued for its strong citrus flavour. Do not grate beyond the white part bellow the rind.). Or just make enough to last a while.

Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, mix flour, powdered sugar, and butter.

3. Knead the dough until it has achieved a crumbly yet well saturated consis­ tency.

4. Press the dough into the bottom o f the pan and bake for 20 minutes, or until it has a slight golden tint.

5. While you’re waiting for the dough to bake, begin grating lemons into a bowl until you have about 3 tbsp. of lemon rind.

6. Use those same lemons to then squeeze enough for about a 1/4 cup of lemon juice.

7. Whisk eggs, and add flour, sugar, and baking powder until the ingredients are well blended.

8. Pour on top of the crust, and place in the oven for 25 minutes, or until the filling is set.

9. Take out of the oven, and place in the refrigerator until cool.

10.

Pour powdered sugar on top, and cut into small squares before serving.

What you will need: • • • •

9 x 9 metal (or glass) pan Medium-sized mixing bowl Lemon zester or grater Juicer (though you can easily squeeze the lemons by hand)

Crust • 1/4 cup confectioner’s (powdered) sugar • 1/2 cup butter (or margarine) • 1 cup all-purpose flour (use whole­ wheat flour for a slightly healthier ver­ sion)

m ixin ' vixen

Filling 3 small (or 2 large) lemons 2 eggs 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/4 cup squeezed lemon juice 3 tbsp. grated lemon rind* 2 tbsp. flour

't

^

JL

Shop local and organic produce in the middle of campus.

n

/"'V Battle of the Bands Aug. 2 p.m. - 9 p.m.

JL T he National, 1220 Catherine E. 't

Farm er’s Market Sept. 15 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Three Bares Park

St.

Watch an epic battle of the bands this Saturday afternoon. Tickets $10.

'l he Path to Immortality Sept. 7:30 p.m.

Shatner 433A

Arie Abravanel, astrologer and longtime student o f the teachings o f the Ascended Masters, will be giving a lecture on the revolution in higher con­ sciousness. He will be presenting new spiritual techniques and other practical steps for accelerating on the spiritual path.

A Volunteer Fair / ^ ^ S e p t . 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

I Shatner Ballroom Learn about volunteer opportuni­ ties with over 60 not-for-profit organi­ zations.

Studying Abroad in Winter 2010?

Be P rep ared ! A tten d a University-W ide P re -D e p a rtu re O rientation Session

------

Bavarian Brews CAROLYN GREGOIRE As we all learned from B eerfest, the Germans know their beer. They also know delicious ways to get creative with it, such as using it as the main ingredient in sum­ mery mixed drinks. The Radier—German for “bicyclist” —is a mix of equal parts Sprite and beer which originated in Bavaria and remains a popular summer drink across Germany and Austria. Bicyclists in the Alps turn to Radiers to quench their thirst and enjoy a pleasant buzz without the risk of careening drunkenly down the mountain­ side afterwards.

The Krefelder is a variation which substitutes Coke or Pepsi for Sprite. The Radier and the Krefelder are variants of the “shandy” —a mixed drink consisting of beer and a carbonated beverage such as ginger ale, cola, or lemon-lime soda. They are traditionally made using medium to dark brews, but lighter beers also work well for both drinks. Though canned and bottled pre-mixed Radiers are made by over 300

German breweries and are readily available in European markets and liquor stores, you probably won’t have any luck finding one at your comer dep. Fortunately, they couldn’t be easier to make. I find Pilsner best com­ plements the Sprite, and darker brews are preferable for the Krefelder. To experience your Radier as closely as possible to its full Bavarian glory, sip from a beer stein on the terrace after a rousing bike ride up Mount Royal.

Radier Ingredients • 1 12-oz Sprite or 7-Up • 1 12-oz beer (preferably Pilsner) Krefelder Ingredients • 1 12-oz Coke or Pepsi • 1 12-oz medium to dark beer Directions Fill glass halfway with sprite (or coke) and the rest of the way with beer. Before your first sip, lift the glass and say “Prost!” (the Bavarian “cheers!”).

• Learn about the new Travel Guidelines and Travel Registry

• Hear from McGill and Canadian government officials about consular services, regional safety, health, travel tips and much more

• Participate in regional break-out sessions where you'll meet country specialists and students from those regions

• Meet and mingle with other students who are going to study abroad

M o n d a y , O c t o b e r 5, 2009 5:00 pm - Plenary Session 6:00 pm - Reception 6:30 pm - Regional Break-out Sessions Pollack Hall, Strathcona Music Building 555 Sherbrooke Street West For more information and to RSVP, visit www.mcgill.ca/students/international H o ste d by the Office o f In te rn a tio n a l Ed u ca tio n O ffice o f the D e p u ty P ro v o st IS tu d e n t L ife a n d L e a r n in g l J a m e s A d m in istra tio n B u ild in g , R o o m 6 2 1 Tel: 5 1 6 -3 9 8 -3 1 0 9 , E m a il: p re d e p a rtu re @ m cg ill.ca

M cG ill

10 « Tuesday, September 15, 2 0 0 9

mcgilltnbunexom

PUBLIC HEALTH FOR THE SELECT FEW McGill students have the luxury of living inside a rich health ser­ vices bubble. They have access to a drop-in clinic specifically for students, mental health services, and referralstospecialists through McGill Student Health Services.

In the age of H1N1, however, stu­ dents may need to expand their awareness of health services op­ tions. Should, and can, students look elsewhere for primary care?

A typical ill-feeling student enters the drop-in clinic and can expect to be treated in a timely fashion. Unlike some developed countries, coverage is rarely an issue: Cana­ dian residents are automatically covered by provincial healthcare plans, and internation­ al students opt for a McGill Blue Cross plan, which reimburses their expenses. Hypotheti­ cally, students can see and pay for doctors or clinical care.

A typical sick young adult outside of McGill feels ill, but will probably not con­ sult a doctor. Why? Because he or she does not have a family doctor who will see them within a reasonable time-frame and line ups at drop-in clinics are not worth the wait for the sniffles and a fever. Hopefully the symp­ toms will pass, but in the age of H1N1, which has reportedly killed over 3,000 people worldwide, no symptoms should be taken lightly. Although McGill students are often shielded from it by Student Health Ser­ vices, there is a crisis in primary healthcare in Quebec.

In response to this crisis, last week Pro­ vincial Health Minister Yves Bolduc institut­ ed Quebec’s first Integrated Network Clinic, a move intended to expand primary care fa­ cilities in Quebec. Integrated Network Clin­

ics will employ more general practitioners to provide primary care, and the provincial government hopes to establish 60 Integrated Network Clinics over the next 10 years.

For an immediate consultation, students must arrive at the clinic before 9 a.m., pick a number, fill out paperwork, wait for an ap­ pointment, and possibly get seen by a doctor, but most likely a nurse. The process is te­ dious, particularly when a patient has the flu and has just trekked up a hill in the middle of the winter.

But it works. Students can drop in as long as they follow a list of guidelines—be­ fore a certain time, with certain symptoms— and they will be seen by a nurse or doctor that day. For less urgent needs, appointments can be relatively easy to get, but there’s a learn­ ing curve involved: monthly appointments open up on the 15th of the prior month, and slots fill quickly.

McGill students have the benefit o f hav­ ing access to a clinic that continually accepts new patients. “It’s a clinic, one o f the rare ones that continue to take on new patients,” says Tania Jenkins, a graduate student in so­ ciology, “and they’re able to do that because students graduate on a regular basis, so their clientele turns over.” The McGill Student

Health website also lists a number o f alter­ nate clinics in the event that drop-in appoint­ ments at McGill are filled.

Stefan Perrier, a former floor fellow, has looked after many students with vary­ ing healthcare needs, and feels that Student Health and Montreal hospitals usually make appropriate arrangements for students, both with urgent and non-urgent needs.

“From what I ’ve seen, especially peo­ ple o f college age, when emergencies hap­ pen, they usually get transferred right to the hospital,” he said. “There was a student who had to have his appendix out last year, and he was taken right from emergency to the hospital and he was great afterwards. I had a Student on my floor who had mono. She was seen and tested immediately. It goes by fast.”

Perrier personally experienced the pri­ oritization of university-aged students last year when he had a concussion in a hockey game. “I didn't even have to wait in [the emergency room]—I was taken right through because I was so out o f it,” he said.

“I know that as far as going to CLSCs for winter illnesses and the flu, people wait for hours but actually get seen and go to a pharmacy and get medication. I see that fairly regularly,” says Perrier. Many CLSCs

accept patients based on where they live in Montreal or their insurance, so appointments can be hit-or-miss.

In addition to general health services, McGill provides psychological support, ranging from counseling to mental health and the Sexual Assault Centre Helpline.

However, the mental health profession, both at McGill and in Montreal, is understaffed, particularly for a university setting.

With an online staff listing o f 14 clinical professionals for over 30,000 students, it’s no surprise that scheduling difficulties exist at McGill Mental Health Services. Students are often advised to go first to general coun­ selling, which has more staff members, first and Mental Health second. “McGill Mental Health in general doesn’t have enough peo­ ple, as they’re always booked and waiting for cancellations,” says Perrier. “I usually have good things to say about counseling.

You can usually go to them first and then be referred to Mental Health, so there’s a good progression through various tiers.”

For students like Arielle Frank, a third year management student, the round-about process of getting help caused problems.

When her mother was diagnosed with can­ cer, counselling services told her that there wasn’t much that could be done. When she

Students want to be seen at McGill Health Services. While wait-times at McGill can be long, wait-times elsewhere are even longer.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009 » 11

Curiosity Delivers

began to experience problems with a violent ex-boyfriend, she was not able to get an ap­ pointment at Mental Health, and was told that her problem was not serious enough.

“The real problem is that counselling and Mental Health don’t communicate with each other,” says Frank. For students like Frank, seeing a mental health specialist off campus is not a better option.

If McGill students are not satisfied with Mental Health Services, their chances o f seeing a psychologist or psychiatrist are slim. “I know that the [Montreal General Hospital] and [Douglas Hospital] both have good programs,” says Perrier, “but you re­ ally have to work at it to get seen."

While the healthcare process at McGill may seem convoluted, impersonal, and stressful, the situation does not get much better off campus. Finding a family doc­ tor—someone who provides care in the

access to really basic healthcare services. If we take the general demographics of peo­ ple, say, ages 18 to 30... and we take away the access to the McGill clinic, they would be highly unlikely to have access to a family doctor.”

This lack of family doctors has created a backlogging in secondary and emergency practices. Some people are even resorting to seeing a specialist for primary care.

“In Quebec, if you are sick and you need to see a doctor you will see one,” says Jenkins. “The trouble is that there are more and more Quebeckers that are turning to secondary forms of care, so going to an emergency room for something that isn’t really an emergency, or sometimes women going to a gynecologist for a checkup and ultimately getting primary care from a sec­ ondary practitioner.”

Melanie Myrand, a McGill nursing

seen. An alternative form of care, Rockland, MD, a privatized clinic that does not receive provincial or government funding, will ac­ cept new patients for one-hour consultations for $180. Rockland M D ’s website is open to new patients, saying that they “will take you as soon as possible.”

H1N1: E M E R G E N C Y O R NOT? If you are sick at McGill or in Mon­ treal, you will get seen. The more pertinent issue is how to prevent sickness and dis­ ease, especially in a condensed campus like M cGill, where viruses can spread easily.

Every syllabus now contains the disclaimer, “in the event of circumstances beyond the instructor’s control, the evaluation scheme as set out in this handout might require change.” While such a vague statement im­ plies a catastrophic event, the primary care

W H Y G ET A FAM ILY D O C TO R ?

Family doctors can take into account the whole picture o f an individual patient and his or her relatives. They can provide: • Regular check-ups.

• Referrals to specialists.

• A first step towards mental health refer­ rals and treatment.

• Care for chronic diseases such as dia­ betes or asthma.

• Because they may treat an entire fam­ ily, they are likely to understand a fam­ ily’s morals and beliefs, and provide medical advice accordingly.

• Most importantly, family doctors cre­ ate relationships with their patients such that patients can be expected to be seen as needed.

S C O R IN G A N A P P O IN T M E N T McGill Student Health provides a neat bub­ ble for McGill students. Take advantage of it before you're out in the real world, where waiting times are measured in months.

presence or absence o f disease—is becom­ ing more and more difficult in the Montreal area, particularly for younger people of lower income.

Family doctors can assess multiple con­ ditions, from the psychological to the purely physical, and can then provide referrals to specialists. Jenkins, who conducted research on the difficulties of finding a family doctor in the Montreal area, says that the tong-term commitment of family doctors is unique and important. “You want to have one physician who is aware of the whole picture, who can delegate tasks to other physicians, but that’s what we’re really lacking in the province,” she says.

Physicians, particularly family doctors, are widely available in rural Quebec. In Montreal, however, it can be very difficult to receive primary care. Jenkins estimates that 800,000 Quebeckers are currently look­ ing for a family doctor and cannot find one.

“You have a lot of people in both Montreal and Quebec in general who are not getting

student with an RN, thinks that the short­ age of family doctors may have to do with provincial regulations. “If you want to work in family medicine you have to do a rota­ tion up north. You get paid apparently three times more and you go for three months and get a one month break.”

Such a shortage can cause problems for people with chronic diseases. “A lot [of diabetics] get infections because they have so much sugar in their blood and then it be­ comes a big deal. If they had a family doctor they could have seen beforehand, maybe it could have been prevented,” says Myrand.

Quebec health isn’t all bad, however.

Myrand says that the provincial government instituted CLSCs to accommodate patients with chronic diseases.

Even so, Myrand says that the emer­ gency rooms are packed. “Just for simple things, colds and things like that, things they could have gone to their family doc­ tors for.” The new CLSCs may help clear the emergency rooms, but it has yet to be

situation in Quebec may not put students at immediate risk. However, prevention is cru­ cial, so should students be trying to find a family doctor? The circumstances of Que­ bec healthcare laws would indicate no.

According to the Special Medical Ac­ tivities o f Quebec, in case of extreme cir­ cumstances, family doctors will be called upon to provide emergency services, such as working in vaccination or treatment clin­ ics in the event o f a pandemic. Provided that a pandemic or other event caused enough people to become sick, the Quebec govern­ ment already has emergency options for providing basic care. While having a family doctor is a good tool in the long run, it may not be necessary immediately.

“One of the ways people go about get­ ting doctors is through knowing someone, and a referral can be really helpful,” says Jenkins, “If that clinic were not there, I think that a lot o f McGill students would be fac­ ing a real crisis when it comes to primary healthcare.”

• For urgent needs, go to Student Health early in the morning, before 8:30 a.m.

You have to take a number to just schedule an appointment with a doctor or nurse, and slots fill quickly, espe­ cially during the flu season.

• If you are too ill to arrive early, ask a friend to take a number for you. With the line ups, it may buy you an hour.

• For less urgent needs, appointment slots open on the 15th of every month.

Call that day.

• If you want to see a specialist, or have seen one and want a second opinion, ask for a referral from a physician at Student Health. Their connections will save you time.

12 • Tuesday, September 15, 2009

St u d e n t Liv in g

XVS.Y

mcgilltribune.com

YOURSPACE

Haven Books vs. McGill Classified Ads Haven Books

McGill Classified Ads Hours and location

Hours and location

Open 24 hours from home, so long as you have an Internet connection. Where you meet to trade cash and books depends on buyer and seller.

Open Tuesday through Saturday, and conveniently close to the downtown campus at Aylmer and University.

Show us the money Buyer: No room to negotiate price, but

Show us the money Buyer: There is room to haggle with

a wide range o f prices can usually be found right on one shelf.

Seller: Set your own price, recommend­ ed by the Haven Books website at between 25 and 75 per cent o f the original sale. From the re-sale of the book you get an 80 per cent com­ mission. Books can remain on the shelf for up to one year.

sellers who really want to get rid of their text­ books. Browse through the ads to find the best deals.

Seller: Prices are as you dictate, but knocking 10 bucks or so off to make the sale is a common occurrence when dealing directly with the customer.

THE WINNER: Haven Books It’s just that easy?

It’s just that easy?

There is minimal legwork necessary for both the buyer and the seller. One-stop shopping/selling at Haven Books is easy, though not all students are familiar with the store, wich lowers their sales.

Classified Ads are a great way to sell your textbooks, but the ease o f consigning texts to Haven Books for students with busy schedules makes it the winner in this contest.

Posting and searching ads on McGill Classified Ads is simple. Coordination be­ tween buyer and seller requires more effort, so to cut out some running around, buy and sell textbooks in ‘packages,’ e.g. “First-Year Biochemistry Package.”

—Emm a C abrera-A ragon

(Food C jim u------------------------Crispy tofu curry cubes for all YALE HERTZMAN

Too often tofu is left sitting like a wall­ flower in the world of student cuisine. It’s cheap, nutritious, filling, and by tossing in some spices and throwing it in the oven, it can even be delicious. These bite-sized cubes are simple and easy to make. They taste great plopped on top of a salad or thrown in a stirfry. You may even find yourself eating them all on their own. Keep them in the oven for longer to make them extra-crispy, and don’t forget to be generous with the chili peppers!

• — — — —

— — — — — — n

Directions

Ingredients • 1 block of tofu (I recommend Liberty or President’s Choice) • 1 tsp. mild curry powder 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil Red pepper flakes, salt, pepper to taste

Kitchen Checklist • Large bowl • Cookie sheet • Aluminum foil/parchment paper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cut tofu into bite-sized cubes.

3. In a large bowl combine tofu, olive oil, spices and toss well.

4. Spread cubes on cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil or parchment paper.

5. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven, toss and return to oven for 15 minutes or until crispy.

6. Allow to cool.

7. Refrigerate leftovers in an air-tight con­ tainer.

YALE HERTZMAN

What’s over-excited, lost-looking, for­ eign, and very likely to be spotted at odd times in the library? The exchange student. It’s a rare breed of the international student—one which I am proud to belong to. I am keen to do anything, always lost, and very likely to be spotted in the early morning.

I know there are lots o f us at McGill who come from all over the world and it’s great to be able to mix so easily with such a diverse group o f cultures. It’s especially great being an exchange student when it comes to making the type of trivial observations that native Ca­ nadians and forth-year students have forgot­ ten, overlooked, or never even considered.

Such as the fact that, strikingly, McGill students work. Yes we are here to learn, but school only just started and already there are reading groups, fiery discussions on WebCT, and all the books missing from the library. Part of me is very impressed and wants to follow suit. But my lazy side is very worried about how long I can remain enthusiastic about the seemingly endless amounts of reading, espe­ cially when other elements of the Canadian experience might beckon.

Two crucial geographical points were also missing from my impressions o f Mon­ treal prior to arrival. The weather frequently came up during conversations in my prepa­ rations to leave Britain, the normal exclama­ tions being, “You’ll freeze!” or, “I hope you like snow!” So imagine my surprise when I got off the plane in my coat, boots, and suit­ case of winter clothes to meet temperatures of 26 degrees Celsius!

The other is that there is actually a ‘Mont’ in Montreal. The ever-looming presence and my unexpected recent hike to the summit in flip-flops for a barbeque have ensured me of the fact that Montreal is most definitely not flat (despite the very misleading contour lines on the map I viewed before I came).

I must also take this opportunity to apolo­ gize to everyone who has been behind me in the queues in shops as I have seen the price of something, carefully counted out my money (mistaking dimes for nickels on several occa­ sions) only to discover at the till that tax was not included in this price.

Also, upon discovering that I live in the “McGill Ghetto,” I was pretty surprised. It looks nothing like I imagined; it does how­ ever, make for interesting conversation with friends back home.

Despite my expectations and stereotypes being, for the most part, overturned, I am truly enjoying the McGill/Montreal/Canadian ex­ perience, and hope that I have enlightened (and perhaps made you more sympathetic to) the woes and observations o f an exchange stu­ dent!

—C harlotte Buchannan

J

L

C A L L F O R C O N T R IB U T O R S O ne

Multiple

Are you an international student?

This is a W e b site designed with your needs in mind!

Study in M ontréal :-) The portal for international students

w w w .s tu d y in m o n tre a l.in fo

Living Studying W orking Participating Travelling Bulletin board

An initiative of: Conférence régionale des élus de Montréal Carried out by: Board o f Trade of Metropolitan Montreal Principal financial partner: Forum jeunesse de Hie de Montréal

Want to write for the Tribune?

Email info @ mcgilltribune.com

A&E

Curiosity Delivers

Tuesday, September 15, 2009 • 13

TELEVISION

Fall TV Showcase: big names, big buzz, and big letdowns With the start of cool nights and increasing schoolwork comes the start of a new batch of fall TV shows to help you fail midterms.

Here’s a guide to help you discover which shows you should download, and which would be better off off-air.

Glee Trying to be: An edgier High S chool M usical.

A rag-tag team o f high school losers (and one football star) try to put together a glee club whose song and dance routine will bring pride to their school.

Jane Lynch (R ole M odels, B est in Show) may be the best part o f the show, playing the evil, dryly hilarious cheer coach who is not impressed with wholesome Spanish teacher Will Schuester’s attempts to make glee clubs cool again. Occasionally straying towards sap­ piness, G lee is best when dark and edgy, such as humourous jabs at cripples and Schuester’s emotional affair with another teacher. The dance numbers are fun and numerous, and the characters are unique and satirical—such as W ill’s whiny, needy wife. The show’s going to have to be careful to stay away from the sap, but if it manages to keep its balls it could be this year’s best new series.

Going to be: Cancelled, probably. Fox doesn’t like keeping shows with good writing on the air.

Airs Wednesdays, starting Sept. 9. Fox. - Laura Tindal

G lee : Their spirit fingers need some work but at least they’ve got a sense of humour.

The oddball yet all-star cast looks like an ex­ haustive decision—and a well-balanced one.

Swartzman’s charming vulnerability offset by Galifinakis’s boorishness and Danson’s wellseasoned comedy experience can’t help but work well together.

The story centres on Jonathan Ames (named after the show’s creator; the story is semi-autobiographical), a struggling author who, after being dumped by his girlfriend, stumbles into moonlighting as an unlicensed private investigator (on Craigslist) after ac­ cidentally rediscovering his love o f mystery novels. Galifinakis plays his cartoonist best friend, while Danson plays his youth-yearning editor. It seems to follow a similar path as one of HBO’s latest hits, Hung, where a struggling high school basketball coach turns to prostitu­ tion, forcing him to lead a double life.

One term that keeps being thrown around by the show’s creators and actors is film noir.

While the show may be shot with a dark, omi­ nous tone to it, the comedy is very light and innocent—and definitely still funny.

Going to be: Awesome. It’s Jason Swartzman.

Airs Sundays, starting Sept. 20. HBO. - K yle C arpenter

FlashForward

Bored To Death Trying to be: Hung.

This should b e the pick of the litter. B ored To D eath is H BO ’s newest comedy, starring Jason Swartzman (The D arjeeling Lim ited, Rushmore), Zack Galifinakis (The H angover), and Ted Danson (Curb Your Enthusiasm).

Trying to be: Lost.

What if everybody in the world blacked out for two minutes and 17 seconds at the exact same time? There’s more; what if in that time you saw a vivid vision o f what your life would be like in the future? This is the premise of A B C ’s much-hyped new drama, F la s h F o r­

ï ï p p p r t i

ipp^r* m w .é m n .

SCIFINOW.COM

FlashForward: A worse blackout than you had last weekend.

ward. While loosely based on the science fic­ tion novel F lash F orw ard by Canadian author Robert J. Sawyer, little else has been revealed in the short teasers that have aired so far. You can bet that little will be actually revealed in the show right away either. However, we do know that in their future visions one character sees herself getting an ultrasound when she “doesn’t even have a boyfriend,” while an­ other sees herself with a man that is not her husband. If nothing else, the future sounds scandalous.

The first thing I thought when I heard about F lash F orw ard is whether or not it’s going to be human enough to draw a non-sci­ ence fiction fanbase. With everybody—char­ acters and viewers —scrambling for answers each week, are we going to be spoon-fed serv­ ing after serving o f supernatural explanations?

Or are we going to see an original story unfold that keeps us coming back? I hope for the lat­ ter, but I fear the worst.

Going to be: That frustrating season of L ost where everybody’s involuntarily time­ travelling.

Airs Thursdays, starting Sept. 24. ABC. - K yle C arpenter

Community Trying to be: The B reakfast Club, all grown up.

“Community College: the loser college for remedial teens, old people, twenty-some­ thing drop-outs and middle aged divorcees.”

Though not exactly your typical labels found in Hughes’ B reakfast Club, Community clev­ erly presents its own eccentric oddballs and misfits in a mocking manner when dealing with life’s problems. The story may not be much, but the names behind the scenes make this worth checking out. The show stars Joel McHale ( The Soup), Chevy Chase, and Ken Jeong (The H angover), and is directed by Emmy Award-winners Joe and Anthony Russo (A rrested D evelopm ent).

In the world o f Greendale Community College, ex-lawyer Je ff Winger (McHale) finds himself in no-man’s land after having his license suspended due to an illegitimately claimed university degree (from Colombia ... the country). He decides to tutor a makebelieve Spanish study group in order to get a date with the attractive Britta (Gillian Jacobs).

As his disbarment hangs in the air and Je ff is put to the test on a subject he knows nothing

The Vampire Diaries: Today’s vamps swap blood-sucking with brooding. about, will his habit o f dishonesty finally come back to bite him?

Going to be: Surprisingly good.

Airs Thursdays, starting Sept. 17. NBC. - B ian ca Van B avel

Cougar Town Trying to be: Weeds, but with more dat­ ing and less drugs.

Courtney Cox plays Jules, a forty-some­ thing divorcee trying to prove she can be a successful businesswoman and mother while picking up hot young men in the suburbs.

Another show that tries to make suburban life look fun and witty, this may be what hap­ pened to Monica after she and Chandler leave the city and he runs off with another woman.

Lots of arm-flab jokes (she’s a real person!) and dating awkwardness produced by Jules’ self-consciousness and inexperience on the dating scene.

Produced by Bill Lawrence—he created C lone High and Scrubs, so this must have witty humour to spare—there’s potential for this to be a funny mix o f D esperate H ouse­ wives and Friends all grown up. But there’s also easy potential for too much “I ’m 4 0 !” hu­ mour and not enough Sex and the Suburbs.

Going to be: Hopefully not Jo ey .

Airs Wednesdays, starting Sept. 23. ABC. - Laura Tindal

The Vampire Diaries Trying to be: Twilight TV. Adding to the bloody feeding frenzy that is vampire pop culture is this “new” idea for a show: high school-aged girl (Elena) falls in love with a handsome, mysterious new stu­ dent (Stefan), who happens to be a vampire.

O f course he’s renounced evil blood-drinking ways (don’t they all?), and smouldering lovestares ensue. Sound familiar?

The one sign of redemption in this teenfriendly series is Lost's Ian Somerhalder play­ ing Stefan’s evil blood-sucking brother who also wants the girl. Maybe this show will be ballsy enough to have a real, bad boy vampire (a la Spike) as a love interest?

Going to be: A runaway success. Sexy but neutered boys with fangs get all the girls these days.

Airs Thursdays, starting Sept. 10. CW. - L au ra Tindal

14 •Tuesday, September 15, 2009

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Fall TV Showcase continued Modem Family Trying to be: A rrested D evelopm ent.

Modern Family is a mockumentary about the intertwining lives of three couples within an extended family. However, it looks like a mockumentary in a loose sense of the term: closer to the American version of The Office than to Spinal Tap. The plot follows newly­ wed couple Jay and Gloria—an older man and his much younger Columbian knockout wife—Jay ’s daughter Claire, and her husband Phil—one trying to be the cool one, the other blunt and uptight—and Jay ’s son Mitchell and his boyfriend Cameron; a gay couple who just adopted a son.

The fundamental problem with this show is that there is not one original charac­ ter. There’s the older, clueless man and feisty, foreign wife, the wannabe cool dad and stuckup mom, the overzealous gay man and his sarcastic counterpart—these characters have been done over and over again. The appeal of M odern Fam ily is that it has the appearance of edginess—for primetime, that is. Neverthe­ less, any fans of A rrested D evelopm ent who are hoping that the numerous comparisons be­ tween the two shows hold true are going to be disappointed, because there was nothing in the trailer that was half as clever as AD. Instead, it looks like we’ve been handed another prime­ time comedy—success or flop, it won’t mat­ ter—that anyone who resents watered-down edginess and values original writing won’t be watching either way.

Going to be: To borrow a phrase from Ricky Gervais (a man who knows how to write a mockumentary): “A comedy for peo­ ple without a sense o f humour.”

Airs Wednesdays, starting Sept. 23. ABC. - Kyle C arpenter

Melrose Place Trying to be: The original M elrose P la c e, for the new 90210 scene.

Based on the same premise as the 1992 original, Melrose Place focusses on the lives o f seven 20-somethings living in a West Hol­ lywood apartment complex. Though in the 90s the 90210 spin-off proved a seven-season smash-hit chock full of sex, drugs and rock-nroll, this year’s remake has officially been de­ clared a flop. The CW premiere placed last in network ratings despite mega-marketing and Ashlee Simpson-Wentz’s stellar acting skills leading the pack o f relatively unknown series regulars.

Within the first 10 minutes of the pre­ miere a dead body is found in the pool belong­ ing to Laura Leighton, who played Sydney Andrews in the original. 11 years ago—in the first installment’s finale—Andrews faked her own death, but now is back in town as the complex cougar. She finds her first victim in David Breck (newcomer Shaun Sipos) before being found belly up. And Ashlee SimpsonWentz? She plays naïve new girl Violet Fos­ ter and does nothing worth mentioning in this episode. There are also various subplots star­ ring bisexual publicists (like the surprisingly entertaining Katie Cassidy), boring elemen­ tary school teachers, med students, recovering alcoholic chefs, and geeky filmmakers. Artsy Jonah Miller, played by the ever-adorable, super-charming Michael Rady will be the sole reason I may ever decide to watch the show.

Going to be: Cancelled (hopefully).

Airs Tuesdays, starting Sept. 8. CW. - Kathryn Amey

The Beautiful Life Trying to be: America's Next Top M odel: The S oap O pera.

If we didn’t get enough of Mischa Bar­ ton’s oh-so-impressive acting range on The O.C., we now have the pleasure of seeing her and her ever-monotonous, blank stare traipse around New York City. Created by Ashton Kutcher, TBL will also star High S ch ool Mu­ sical's Corbin Bleu and Sara Paxton of the truly under-appreciated cult-favourite Sum-

m erland.

Following a group o f models living to­ gether in an NYC co-ed residence, the series opens backstage at a Zac Posen show (the designer does not even appear in the episode) and we are quickly introduced to new model on the block Raina (Paxton) and prescription pill-hoarding veteran Sonja (Barton). Sonja has been MIA for six months—could she have been admitted to a psych ward like her real life counterpart Barton?—and returns a horrifying

P o p R h e t o r ic PENIS ENVY Guy is a loser. Guy has a big penis.

Guy becomes a male prostitute. Such is the winning formula of H BO ’s hit series Hung, a celebration of the glories of being wellendowed. The handsome Thomas Jane stars as Ray Drecker, former high school all-star baseball player who now mourns the loss of his glory days. He works as an apathetic middle-aged basketball coach whose wife has left him for a wealthy dermatologist and whose kids are forced out of his home after a fire. After a motivational talk at which Drecker is told to use his best “tool” as his selling-point, he takes up a gig as a parttime gigolo and slowly attempts to put the pieces of his broken life back together.

Following in similar form, H ard Tim es—no, not Dickens’s canonical novel chronicling the mores of the working class

in 19th century Britain—is a Hung for the MTV set. Starring F am e's Paul Iacono as R J Berger, a nerdy but well-endowed loner with dreams o f grandeur (a.k.a. popularity and a hot girlfriend). When Berger acci­ dently exposes himself on his high school’s basketball court, his wildest dreams seem to have come true. He’s suddenly the big man—or big member, you could say—on campus, and, to his utter delight, finds him­ self an object o f female attention for the first time in his life.

Between Hung and the upcoming Hard Times, it seems that penis shows—TV series chronicling the adventures and misadven­ tures of guys with big dicks—are suddenly all the rage. Drecker and Berger are two guys who, to borrow M T V ’s clever title, have fallen on hard times and are using their best assets to get their lives back on track.

With over 2.8 million viewers, Hung's premiere this past June was H BO ’s most-

watched in over two years, comparable to the 1998 HBO premiere of Sex an d the City.

So what is it that accounts for the stellar rat­ ings o f Hung and the projected success of H ard Times? Why are we so fascinated with a show that, when it comes down to it, is based on a penis?

Rather than spewing some Freud­ ian psychoanalysist lecture on penis envy, I would instead theorize that these shows use big dicks as a launching point to catch the attention o f an unshockable, seen-itall audience. But the refreshing thing is that neither show needs or relies on sex to keep our attention. The titles of both series bluntly refer to male genitalia, yet in the actual shows sex plays second fiddle to the more pressing problems of adolescence and middle age. Admittedly, these venerations o f manhood invite a degenerating form of humour that rivals potty jokes in sophisti­ cation (haha, boner!), but all the same, sex

two pounds heavier. O f course she can obvi­ ously no longer wear the centerpiece o f the line! Raina walks in her place and becomes the new it-girl. Drama and tensions ensue.

The clothes will be fierce, the storylines trite and the acting sub-par. G ossip G irl 2.0, here we come.

Going to be: As (un)successful and memorable as M TV ’s 8th & Ocean.

Airs Wednesdays, starting Sept. 16. CW. - Kathryn Amey

CAROLYN GREGOIRE isn't the driving force it was in Sex and the City. Penis jokes aside, I applaud these shows for putting it all out there—and then changing the subject.

Those tuning into Hung in hopes of a male SATC will be disappointed at the show’s lack o f sexual content. Similarly, H ard Times isn’t merely the latest incarna­ tion of M T V ’s now-defunct racy late night hit Undressed. Sex is out there and acknowl­ edged—in the form of an awe-inspiringly huge dick—but not obsessed over.

After a wildly successful first season, Hung came to its conclusion Sunday night.

The success can only mean good things for M T V ’s upcoming fall lineup. As Iacono re­ cently commented in an interview, though his character has a massive penis, “the show’s main organ is its heart.” A well­ sized and sensitive male protagonist? Move over, Chris Noth—there’s a new Mr. Big in town.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009 * 15

Curiosity Delivers

MUSIC

The Paint Movement prepares for Pop Montreal Just d on t call them jazz KYLE CARPENTER Arts & Entertainment Editor

The Paint Movement isn’t a jazz band— seriously, they’re not. But the band knows it’s easy to make that mistake. I ’m standing on the street corner outside of Bar St. Laurent with singer/guitarist Kevin Kralik, bass player Jason Haberman, saxophone and keys player Jay Loftman, and guest singer Dee Planche.

“A lot of people when they hear us always throw that jazzy reference in there. When we play it’s hard to say we play jazz,” says Hab­ erman. “People hear sax and think ‘Oh, jazz band,” adds Kralik.

The band was gearing up before their first-ever show in Montreal—a practice run for their upcoming stint at Pop Montreal on Octo­ ber 1. They’re currently touring in support of their debut album, Our Eurythmy, which was released April 14 on Nevado Records and is also available on iTunes.

After meeting in high school in Missasauga, Ontario—not originally as friends, but as people who knew that they all played an instrument—they eventually got together to form a band, though the current line-up didn’t solidify until two years ago.

Missisauga is not known for its indie music scene. “You can play one or two ven­ ues, but you’ll just become the house band there if you keep playing them. So you have to branch out and search elsewhere,” says Loft­ man. After exhausting Missisauga’s venues, the band recorded their debut and began tour­ ing the West Coast before lining up gigs like NXNE in Toronto, Pop Montreal, and Halifax Pop Explosion.

So what do The Paint Movement sound like? “I try to practice this one: ‘Progressive rock indie jazz,’ sort o f in that order of impor­ tance. We all have our own backgrounds that

we bring to it, so whatever influences shine through on that particular song is what you define that song as,” says Loftman.

There are certainly all four sounds on the album, with tracks like “Faults” and “Knock Knock” accounting for the indie and rock side o f the album, while songs such as “Groovy Bones” and “I ’ve Got the Ghost” accounting for the jazzier, progressive side. With that in mind, the album seems to be structured in a specific way: hooky, indie rock songs, slightly offset from the jazzy tracks, which come later on. According to Haberman, they wanted to make sure that “Cat’s Meow” was the opening track. The rest o f the order was decided with the help o f Noah Mintz, who mastered the album, and clearly knew what he was doing.

Our Eurythmy is heavily instrumental, and sounds like a careful arrangement of lay­ ers. My concern was whether or not the band would able to recreate this complexity live.

The short answer: they don’t want to. “It’s dif­ ferent because when we get in the studio we’re working together to create something com­ pletely different from our live show. We’re trying to make a song that’s going to sound good [as] a finished product,” says Kralik.

“When we play live we try to make it different each time.”

However, sometimes it’s not easy to make the switch from the studio to the stage.

“There were a couple songs on the album that were pretty hard to come back to,” says Hab­ erman, “‘Groovy Bones’ being one where we just had so much fun in the studio adding lay­ ers and stuff like that, so when we came back to it [live], it just wasn’t the same.” Whether you’d call it stripped-down, or just plain dif­ ferent, The Paint Movement live is by no means dwarfed by their work in the studio— and you can find out for yourself when they come back in October.

The Paint M ovement is playing P op M on­ treal on O ctober 1.

JOHN KELSEY

Top (from left to right): Kevin Kralik, Dee Planche, Jay Loftman, and Jason Haberman paint the town red.

FILM

Acker creates a post-apocalyptic puppet show Burlap sack puppets meet heavy metal RUZBEH TAMJEEDI Contributor

As the insultingly bland bulk of sum­ mer films dwindle, Hollywood is sticking to their sure fire money-making machine: ani­ mated films. Avoiding the common reliance of animated films on the same tired storylines, Shane Acker’s new film 9 takes audiences to a place they may not be willing to go.

Written by Pamela Pettier, whose previ­ ous animated work includes The C orpse B ride and M onster House, the story revolves around a tiny sack puppet (he’s not exactly sure who, what, or where he actually is) named 9. Voiced

by Elijah Wood, 9 awakens at the beginning of the film to find himself in possession o f a mys­ terious-looking talisman in a post-apocalyptic world that has been taken over by overzealous machines. 9 quickly becomes apprehensive of his surroundings and scouts out another being just like himself named 2. Voiced by Martin Landau, 2 introduces 9 to a world o f similar

puppets that is commanded by a brooding 1, voiced by Christopher Plummer (Up, Syriana). But 2 is quickly taken away by a ma­ chine and the story takes flight.

Along the way 9 makes some new friends including a quick-footed ninja voiced by Jen­ nifer Connelly, two spastically energized sack puppets, an unbalanced, prophetically artistic puppet, and even a hedonistic, machete wield­ ing goon that has enough Tim Burton flare to discredit Acker’s originality.

Perhaps the most poignant scene in the film is during the third act. Just as the allconsuming machine is thought to have been destroyed, a tranquil sense of relief and joy consume the characters while the voice of Judy Garland singing “Over the Rainbow” mutes all the remaining noise. As the charac­ ters relish in their victory, the still functioning machine approaches rapidly behind the dust.

Given the brisk running time o f 79 min­ utes, the film does manage to pack in a lot of action. The shots are well-choreographed and often enjoyable, incorporating a heavy dose of fire and metal that light up the otherwise bland visuals. The scenes seamlessly change from

darkness to light, symbolically contrasting the dusky dangers o f technological obsession.

But the fact that film itself is predicated upon

the most expensive and technical filmmaking technologies makes me wonder whether the joke is actually on us.

MATTFIND.COM

“Don’t worry, big zippers are still in fashion.”

16 • Tuesday, September 15, 2009

mcgilltribune.com

C D REVIEW S Ja y -Z : T h e B lu ep rin t 3 The retired-but-not-really hip-hop veteran Jay-Z released his eleventh studio album (not including collaborations) and third installment o f the “Blueprint” series last Tuesday, entitled The Blueprint 3. Every album Jay-Z has made since he “retired” after producing The B lack Album in 2003 has been held against a golden standard: The B la ck Album itself.

As a result, The Blueprint 3 is a mixed bag. While there are several highlights, such as “Run This Town” (feat. Rihanna and Kanye West), “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune),” “Venus vs. Mars,” and “Reminder,” they are

often overshadowed by the mediocre, 6/10 songs that make up the majority of the 16-song album. The fact is that even the good songs aren’t as strong as you would expect—most would never make it as singles (save “Run This Town”).

The trouble with Jay-Z is that he has such an acclaimed body of work behind him that his new material cannot be expected to hold a candle to his early albums. As a result, what may have been a decent album from anyone else is a disappointing one from Jay-Z.

Two Hours Traffic: Territory Two Hours Traffic have grown up on their second album, Territory—or at least they’re trying to. It’s to be expected, since the PEI-ers were only 19 when they recorded their Polar­ is-nominated debut, Little Ja g s. Bursting onto the scene (with a helpful push from Canadian indie rock king Joel Plaskett), their upbeat East Coast pop rock got Canadians dancing.

Their newest album takes that sound and adds a bit more meat to it—with mixed results.

Early tracks on the album, such as “Ter­ ritory” and “Noisemaker” still retain the sum­ mer-brushed, hopeful happiness of the quar­ tet’s original sound, while later tracks become more serious in tone and subject matter, such as the sad-drunk feel of “Drop Alcohol.” Not as enjoyable, the lyrics on these songs touch on darker themes but never get deep themselves.

Despite the new space it explores, Terri-

tory still maintains upbeat, hook-heavy tunes and great pop rock riffs. “The Lost Boys” is a good example of where the whole album could have gone: peppy guitar, repetitive catchy cho­ rus, but with a more grown-up sound. Final track “Sing a Little Hymn” is completely unexpected—a touching, stripped down piano piece, grappling with reconciling religion and scientific thought. Surprisingly catchy, you want to sing along but it’s such a powerful little song you don’t want to take away from Cocoran’s melodic voice.

Throughout the album there’s a recur­ ring motif of being the nice guy who saves the damsel, but doesn’t live happily ever after.

Maybe in a sea of rock ‘n ’ roll assholes, these self-proclaimed nerds are getting sick of nice guys finishing last.

September 15-21 Wednesday: Music. Kings of Leon.

In 2003, three brothers and a cousin from Nashville wrote a Southern rock album called Youth and Young M anhood. A short six years and three albums later and they have become one o f the biggest bands in the world. Tomorrow they bring their too-popular-to-be-called-indie rock I to Montreal. @ The Bell Centre.

- K yle C arpenter

Friday: Film. T he In form an t. Matt Damon has already played a secret agent; he’s now playing somebody who only likes to think of himself as a secret agent. Steven Soderbergh’s (director of O ceans 11, 12, and 13) The Informant tells the story o f an executive who hamhandedly exposes his own company’s misdoings to the FBI. Did I mention it’s a comedy?

Thursday: Music. The Fast R o­ mantics. Having played with Stone Temple Pilots and The Flaming Lips, Calgary’s The Fast Romantics have a impressive resume for a new band. @ L’Absynthe.

- Laura Tindal

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17 » Tuesday, September 15, 2009

mcgilltribune.com

REDMEN FOOTBALL - M CGILL 29, SHERBROOKE 11

Redmen smash Sherbrooke to grab first win in two years At long last, McGill celebrates a football win SAM KATZMAN & WALKER KITCHENS Contributors

The streak is finally over. With an inspired team effort and a rowdy crowd of 3,192 behind them, the Redmen football team snapped their two-year, 17-game losing streak with a -29-11 victory over the Sherbrooke Vert et Or at Molson Stadium on Friday night. Running back Andrew Hamilton and rookie quarterback Jonathan Collin led the McGill offence to 17 unanswered points and the first win in Head Coach Sonny Wolfe’s tenure.

“Its been a long time. It’s a terrific day,” said an elated Wolfe after the game. “There have been some guys who have been here for two years that haven’t won a game, and de­ spite that, every winter they’ve been working their tails off, [and] they continue to believe in themselves and what we’re trying to do.

It’s just so gratifying for the guys who give so much of themselves to get a little bit of a return on the great investment that they’ve made.”

Leading the way for the Redmen was Hamilton, a Concordia transfer who spent time on the Montreal Alouettes practice squad.

His trademark speed was on full display, as he rushed for 177 yards on 20 carries. Hamilton, who was cleared to play only 52 minutes be­ fore kickoff, made his McGill debut in style, consistently hitting the holes opened up by an inspired offensive line.

“This is the best offensive line I’ve ever played behind,” said Hamilton. “They told me they’d work hard for me. and they did.”

The offensive line did more than just open up holes for Hamilton: they also kept the Sherbrooke pass rush at bay. Collin was rarely under pressure and had plenty of time to find his open receivers. The first true freshman quarterback to start at McGill since 1998, Col­ lin ran for two touchdowns and threw for one more. He showed no signs of inexperience on Friday night, making smart decisions through­

JOHN KELSEY

McGill running back Taylor Kuprowski looks for a hole in the Redmen’s 29-11 victory over the Sherbrooke Vert et Or. out the course of the game and finishing with 21 completions on 34 attempts, and 177 yards passing.

With McGill’s offence clicking, the Red­ men defence stepped up its game, coming up with big stops throughout the contest. Pascal Fils, Sherbrooke’s star running back, rushed for 191 yards but was kept out of the end zone.

In a dominating second half performance, the Redmen defence shut out the Vert et Or of­ fence, with Sherbrooke’s only points coming on a third quarter safety.

Led by defensive captain Anthony Lukca (six tackles) and rush end Courtney Bishop (6.5 tackles and a forced fumble), the Red­ men defence held Sherbrooke quarterback J.P. Shoiry to a meagre 45 per cent completion rate. In addition, the McGill back line forced five Sherbrooke turnovers on failed third down

T

h ird

conversion attempts.

Playing at home for the first time this sea­ son, the Redmen drew significant support from the home crowd. Wolfe was quick to acknowl­ edge the support of the fans, and made it clear that the crowd impacted the collective psyche of his team.

“The fans truly made a difference,” said Wolfe. “[I] could tell by the players’ reactions that [the crowd support] was huge for them.”

McGill’s victory was a prototypical team effort, as Wolfe received important contribu­ tions from a wide range of players. Secondyear kicker Austin Anderson turned in a strong performance for the Redmen as well, accounting for two field goals and a total of nine points. Rookie receiver Thomas Fortin caught McGill’s only receiving touchdown on a quick slant from Collin, and sophomore

M

an

I

n=

running back Taylor Kuprowski rushed for a career high 70 yards on 12 carries.

While the Redmen are deservedly pleased with Friday night’s win, they cannot afford to be overly satisfied. McGill will play host to the Bishop’s Gaiters on Friday, September 18 in the second annual “Fill the Stadium” game.

Pre-game festivities will be held at Forbes Field beginning two hours before kickoff, and halftime entertainment at the event will in­ clude special performances by seven all-star cheerleading squads from across Montreal.

With the win over Sherbrooke, McGill closed the door on an agonizing era for Red­ men football. Free from pressure and no lon­ ger at the bottom of the conference standings, McGill can finally get back on track, and get back to winning.

— —

— = JON RUBENSTEIN

TIM E TO B E UN LIKE M IKE On Friday night, the greatest player to ever grace the hardwood was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Michael Jordan’s accolades speak for themselves—five MVPs, six NBA cham­ pionships, and 10 scoring titles. He singlehandedly popularized basketball around the world in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. If it wasn't for Air Jordan, the NBA wouldn’t be where it is today.

After Jordan temporarily retired from basketball for 18 months in 1993, the media began an obsessive campaign to find the next MJ. Seemingly every rising star with impressive athleticism who stood close to Jordan’s height was being lauded as his suc­ cessor.

Grant Hill, Vince Carter, Kobe Bry­ ant, and, most recently, LeBron James have all been recipients of the loaded title at one

time or another. No other professional sport is as focussed on comparing past with pres­ ent as basketball is—and this needs to stop.

It’s time we get rid of the phrase: “the next Michael Jordan.”

First of all, people need to accept that there will never be another Michael Jordan.

He was truly one-of-a-kind. No athlete will ever replicate Jordan’s uncanny scoring ability, tenacious defence, and sheer desire to win at all costs. Jordan gave every ounce of strength he had on every possession, and would never be caught coasting, even when the outcome of the game was already deter­ mined.

Secondly, the media places far too much pressure on every budding superstar they choose to compare to Jordan. Fulfill­ ing all of the expectations that go along with the label of “Air Apparent” is an impossible task. We’re not helping today’s young ath­ letes when we place them in the shadow of basketball’s greatest player.

Most importantly, we have to let players create their own legacies. Certainly, Kobe and LeBron resemble MJ in their dominance of the modem game. But they are different players who should be allowed to carve out their own paths to greatness. We remem­ ber the athletes who blaze their own trails and give us something that sets them apart from everyone else. With LeBron. it’s his jaw-dropping physical presence and ability to play all five positions on the court. With Kobe, it’s his knack for overcoming adver­ sity and finding a way to win—both on and off the hardwood.

Many fans believe that Bryant has come the closest to replicating MJ as a player. Yes, Kobe’s got the rings, the scoring titles, and the killer instinct. But no matter what Bryant does, he’ll never define basketball the way Jordan did.

MJ was the first global pitchman. The Jordan Brand “Jumpman” logo is one of the most recognizable in sports. His Air Jordan

sneaker line sparked basketball’s shoe craze.

He even teamed up with Looney Tunes char­ acters in the feature film Space Jam. Jordan was the definition of cool.

By constantly making MJ comparisons, we fail to appreciate what today’s players are doing for the game of basketball. We are fortunate enough to live in an era that showcases some of the greatest athletes of all time, and we are doing ourselves a dis­ service by not letting go of the past.

In an emotional, nationally televised speech at his induction on Friday night, Jor­ dan lent his own perspective on the subject to the millions of fans watching. “Don’t be too in a rush to find the next Michael Jor­ dan,” said His Aimess. “There’s not going to be another one.”

18 • Tuesday, September 15, 2009

mcgilltribune.com

REDMEN SOCCER - MONTREAL 2, M CGILL 1

Mental lapse dooms Redmen as Montreal wins in extra time Inexperience shows as McGill gives away victory KAILAN LEUNG Sports Editor

For the first 60 minutes of Thursday night’s season-opener against the third-ranked Montreal Carabins, the McGill men’s soccer team looked skilled, inspired, and confident.

Thirty minutes and two lucky bounces later, the Redmen looked inexperienced, frustrated, and exhausted.

Montreal striker Julien Cohen-Arazi scored off of a rebound in the final minute of extra time to snap a 1-1 tie and silence the partisan crowd of 403 at Molson Stadium. The goal put an exclamation mark on a Montreal comeback that left the Redmen feeling sick as they walked off the pitch. Redmen Head Coach David Simon could only shake his head at the unexpected turn of events, knowing his team should have come away with at least a draw.

“We played a team with a lot of experi­ ence and they put a lot of pressure on us,” said Simon. “I think they had a bit of a lucky break on their first goal, which was a deflection. I don’t think anything went wrong in particular, but in crunch time, you could see the differ­ ence between a championship team ... and simple contenders.”

Montreal looked to be in control early on in the match, testing Redmen keeper Jean-Lou Gosselin with a shot on their first possession.

Gosselin came up with an array of breathtak­

ing stops in the first twenty minutes alone, punching and pouncing on balls in an effort to stymie the Carabins’ attack. The first year UQAM transfer finished with nine saves.

While McGill had trouble finding for­ wards on the wings, the squad found great success in counterattacking up the middle of the pitch. Redmen midfielder Sami Obaid con­ nected with a streaking Yohann Capolungo for a beautiful diving header in the 22nd min­ ute of play that sent shockwaves through the Carabins. Nevertheless, Montreal scored off a

deflection in the 61st minute to even the count at one apiece, and the visitors only seemed to grow stronger as McGill’s mental focus wa­ vered late in the match.

“We have to work on our mental [prepa­ ration],” said Capolungo. “We had [passed] the most difficult [test] in the game, taking the lead at 1-0, and we were set up and playing well, but after halftime we were not mentally prepared to fight.”

The final statistics left no doubt as to who the aggressor was in the game. Montreal fired

ADAM SCOTTI

Redmen forward Eugene Graske winds up for a strike against Montreal.

21 shots on goal, while McGill was limited to just eight. The Carabins almost doubled the Redmen in comer-kicks won, securing 11 to McGill’s six. The most painful aspect of the defeat was the inability of the Redmen to maintain their focus and drive for a full 90 minutes, giving away a game that could have easily become one of the season’s signature wins. Capolungo, for one, knows that the Red­ men are capable of playing with the best.

“We have the team to beat [Montreal],” he said. “But if you look at the game [statis­ tics], [it’s clear] that if we don’t fight, if we’re not mentally prepared to beat [them] to every ball, we’re not going to win.”

For Simon, the knowledge that his youth­ ful team can only continue to mature may be the silver lining to Thursday’s heartbreaking loss. The Redmen showed flashes of brilliance as well as inconsistency throughout the pre­ season, and will undoubtedly continue with that trend early on in the regular season. “[The team] will have to grow,” said Simon. “To get scored on in the last 30 sec­ onds shows a lack of experience. We need to work on everything, there’s no such thing as working on one aspect of the game. As much as we work on technical skills, if the mental part doesn’t follow, we might do well but we will never do very well.”

The Redmen have little time to hang their heads, though, as they play their next two games away from home. The Redmen will face cross-town rival Concordia on September 18, before taking on UQAM two days later.

MARTLET SOCCER - MONTREAL 2, M CGILL 1

Veteran Carabins too strong for young Martlet squad Late surge not enough to make up for poor first half STEVEN HOFFER News Editor

After wrapping up preseason play at the Old Four Tournament in Toronto and a short exhibition trip south of the border, the 10thranked Martlets opened up their regular sea­ son with a 2-1 loss to local rivals University of Montreal.

The second-ranked Carabins took full ad­ vantage of the young, lackadaisical Martlets from the get-go, drawing first blood in the 11th minute off a short lob shot from striker Eva Thouvenot-Hébert. While McGill’s defence protected the net for the remainder of the first half, the Martlets struggled to gain momentum and repeatedly failed to move the ball effec­ tively through the midfield. “[Montreal] is almost unbeatable when they score the first goal,” said McGill Head Coach Marc Mounicot, now in his 12th season with the team. “For the past two years, as soon as they score a goal, you cannot come back, and I told my girls that during the week. If you give them a goal it will be extremely difficult to fight back.”

The Martlets are a noticeably youthful squad with only one fourth-year player in the lineup, defender Elizabeth Williams. McGill’s inexperience and the Carabins’s veteran lineup made for a frustrating first half.

“I was expecting the girls not to be so ner­ vous today,” said Mounicot, who noticed some season-opening jitters in his team as early as warmups. “A lot of them are young and they

don’t yet realize what kind of game we need, what kind of intensity we need, and how to fol­ low the game plan.”

“It took us too long to get started and it was too little too late,” added Williams, who played a key role in anchoring a defence that was continually challenged by McGill’s own ineffective midfield and the absence of key striker Cristina Di Caprio.

The second half offered more scoring op­ portunities for the Martlets, as they appeared to settle down and hold their own in a backand-forth midfield battle.

“I think we improved in the second half,” said Williams. “We didn’t give them any space to turn on us, and with the exception of the one goal [they scored in the second half], they didn’t really have any chances.”

That one exception came in the 55th min­ ute from a controversial foul called against McGill’s midfielder Alexandra Armstrong, after a challenge on Montreal’s Véronique Maranda for the ball. The two players got tangled up, with Maranda falling to the ground and a foul being issued against Armstrong. Mouni­ cot was skeptical about the call.

“The referee made a big mistake on the second goal,” said Mounicot. “There was no foul at all, we won the ball, but then they scored on a beautiful free kick.”

Maranda was able to send the free kick around the Martlet wall and into the right side of the net.

“They have a strong national training player [in Maranda] and she can take a free kick if you give it to her anywhere in the [at­ tacking] third,” said Martlets’ defender Kath­ erine Green. “She saw that comer and just

ADAM SCOTTI (LE FT ) AND DAVID BENSON (RIGHT)

The Martlets are off until September 18, when they take on archrival Concordia. nailed it.”

Green was the at the centre of McGill’s short-lived comeback attempt, heading in a textbook goal off a corner kick from Maggie Keating in the 76th minute. Green pointed out that at 5-foot-ll, she is the tallest player on the squad and must continue to win balls in the air.

“I felt like we were very hesitant at first,” said Green. “We are a young team so we didn’t really know what to expect, but I thought in the second half we learned to push [the tempo] and were able to get the one goal and also push

to get close for a second one.”

Despite being frustrated with his squad directly after the loss, Mounicot was able to draw some positives from the defeat and is al­ ready looking ahead to the next match.

“We kept fighting, we were active, and we scored a goal ... [But] I will say that it is not good enough. The performance was very average. We need to play much better and we can play much better.”

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