The Concordian Fall 2014 Issue 09

October 28, 2014.

Volume 32

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issue 9

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Independent student newspaper at Concordia University. Since 1983.

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theconcordian

News p.6

Canada strong

Graphic by Marie-Pier LaRose

In this issue

LIFE

p.8-9

MTL’s zombie apocalypse

ARTS

p.14

The best “bad” Halloween films

MUSIC

p.15

Gay Nineties get groovy

SPORTS

p.17

Road trip with the Stingers

We tell your stories. Follow us on Twitter: @TheConcordian

OPINIONS

p.19

Catholic media coverage crisis

theconcordian.com

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Tuesday, OcTOber 28, 2014

Write to the editor: news@theconcordian.com

CITY MILoS KovaCEvIC News editor

>> LAVAL

RECYCLING PLANT FIRE According to CTV News, there was a fire at a recycling plant in Laval at 1:30 a.m. on Monday Oct. 27.

The flames were difficult to control because there were no fire hydrants in the area, and firefighters were forced to bring water and foam to control them. The fire continued to burn throughout the day.

The plant had an estimated 3,000 non-functioning vehicles that had to be removed one by one to stop the fire from spreading. So far environmental officials on site conducting tests in a mobile lab have found the smoke is not a threat to the population.

>> PAS EN MON NOM A 17-year-old Montreal Muslim has started a social media campaign in an attempt to show his disavowal of the two attacks in Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu and Ottawa. CBC reports that Ali Chebli started “Pas En Mon Nom” (Not In My Name) as a response to the intolerance he has seen on the Internet toward Muslims and the connection people have been making from the attacks to Islam and ISIS. He wrote under the slogan: “I’m a Muslim and I’m against ISIS. My mission is to fight against hate speech and the actions of jihadists.” Since their debut last Wednesday, Chebli’s photo and message have been well received and other Muslims have begun posting similar pictures.

Campus // NEWS

GSA assembly derailed by disorder Concordia’s Graduate Student assosiation discussions sent off track Thursday MILoS KovaCEvIC News editor

Concordia’s Graduate Student Association, representing some 6,000 graduate students at the university, held a bizarrely disordered assembly on Thursday, Oct. 25, that saw calls of by-election recounts amid voting irregularities, while leaving planned votes on accreditation, pipelines, and austerity strikes untouched.

The session lasted three hours before quorum — defined as one per cent of the graduate population, or some 60 people, and the bare minimum for decisions to be taken — was lost, and saw little more than a lengthy call to order and no less than two attempts at a recount of a by-election for the positions of VP Mobilization and VP Academic Advocacy. These positions, created last year, sat empty during the winter semester when both candidates resigned after being found ineligible due to unsatisfactory academic standing. The elections saw raucous behaviour as voters hollered, beat tables with their palms, and were accused of intimidating and influencing voters.

The contention came to a head when the position of VP Mobilization saw the two closest candidates — Dina Alizadeh and interim VP Mobilization Trevor Smith — separated by a single vote. Smith and others requested a recount under secret ballot and stricter rules on leaving, as a good portion of the voting body had by then filtered out, irrespective of the other points on the agenda.

“Even before the results came in, they were already leaving,” said Smith of his later decision to contest the results.

His opponents, meanwhile, have countered by saying democracy was

served and quorum was maintained.

“It was clear to anybody watching that there were people in the crowd directing other people how to vote, and that’s part of the problem.

People are coming with the intention of voting for a specific person, and not necessarily to engage in a certain issue,” said unsuccessful candidate for VP External Jon Summers. Smith later added to the complaint by saying there had been voter intimidation by “authoritative figures.”

First-year English MA student and voter Colin Young agreed, and then some. “I did see several people pull down [other] people’s hands,” he said. “I saw that the people did not articulate, at least to my mind, even a comprehensive understanding of what the position entailed, and then were strongly endorsed by people whom I presumed, from the colour of their tags, were from their own department.”

“If certain members want to have a secret ballot so that they’re not being intimidated or harassed ... it shouldn’t have to boil down to a majority,” said Smith of the opening amendments that saw the election moved from last to first on the agenda, and an appeal to secret ballot showdown. “In terms of the procedure of the vote, the openair, show-of-hands [model] is one of the worst ways of doing this.”

Additionally, several candidates present had never before been seen by the executives, leading to potential doubt as to their qualifications.

“Within the GSA in general … people will run for elections and they’ll rely on the popularity vote, but when it boils down to their qualifications, their experiences, whether or not they’re passionate and devoted to doing a good job is another thing entirely. Executives who are voted in by their friends and their communities will not be qualified for the type

of work that they are doing. It’s really discouraging,” said Smith.

Numerous executives approached agreed the GSA’s other achilles heel was a lack of engagement with the student body. The group, they say, is seen as an organizer of parties and events rather than a not-for-profit serving the graduate community.

The GSA was previously placed under trusteeship for alleged breach of contract and voting irregularities.

Eventually, the third round of voting pushed through the motion for re-elections at a later date, leaving a crowd only big enough for the senators to be elected before quorum was lost and the rest of the agenda remained undiscussed. This included a vote on whether the GSA should become an accredited institution with greater freedom from the university, a vote on joining the anti-austerity strike set to occur on Oct. 31 in defiance of budget cuts, and discussions on the oil pipeline. Former GSA President Robert Sonin says elections have never had a problem with size, while regular meetings have sometimes languished.

Speaking afterwards, several individuals involved in the GSA spoke about their concerns and worries over the structural instability of the organization and its vulnerability to the politics of popularity and prestige of title, rather than ability and devo-

Graphic by Marie-Pier LaRose

Campus // NEWS

>>

BERGERON STEPS DOWN AS LEADER OF PROJECT MONTREAL

Richard Bergeron officially stepped down as leader of Project Montreal Monday, Oct. 27, leaving Luc Ferrandez to become the party’s interim leader. Bergeron’s decision comes as no real surprise to Montrealers as it’s been a year since he announced he would be exiting municipal politics. CTV News says the decision came after Bergeron’s third attempt to become Mayor of Montreal failed in the last elections, where he placed third behind Melanie Joly and current mayor Denis Coderre. Ferrandez is currently the mayor of the Plateau-Mont Royal borough.

tion.

When asked whether they could prevent people from leaving, the Chair declined, citing regulations.

“The reason for that is seats are always unfilled, so we need to have continuous elections,” said current Representative to the Board of Governors Firas Al-Hammud. “In some sense, a lot of people talk about a dichotomy, where there’s either some people trying to push issues and others that are just there to vote for their friends and perceive the association as a cultural club instead of a nonprofit organization.”

Though all agreed a change in bylaws was needed to limit the liabilities of the system, suggestions and examples were slow to come.

“The more participation the better, but I think everybody needs to pay more attention to procedure, bylaws, and everybody should be working more closely,” said Sonin.

The GSA has seen its ups and downs, the most recent cycle occurring with greater participation immediately during and following the 2012 student strikes and gradually waning to its present inertness.

Smith said the governing body would have emergency meetings to figure out a way of preserving decorum and improving the voting experience, which is slated for a repeat at a later date.

ASFA asks for per credit fee levy increase November by-elections to fill vP academic & Loyola, vP External positions MarILLa STEUTEr-MarTIN Production assistant

The Arts and Science Federation of Associations will be asking students to increase its per credit fee levy by 0.38 cents as of winter 2015.

At a special council meeting held Oct. 23, ASFA voted to put the question to a referendum during a by-election to be held Nov. 25-27.

This proposed increase was put for-

ward by ASFA’s Financial Committee in order to offset the increased expenditures of the federation on services and Member Association budgets.

ASFA represents almost 15,000 undergraduate students and currently receives a fee levy of $1.22 per credit. While it represents the most students of any other faculty association, with the Commerce and Administration Student Association coming closest at just over 7,000, it receives the smallest levy. CASA receives $2.35, the En-

gineering and Computer Science Association receives $2.00 and the Fine Arts Student Alliance, representing only 3,700 students, gets $1.35.

This year, ASFA has budgeted a deficit of $61,690—an increase from last fiscal year’s $57,977 deficit. The federation cites financial restructuring, increase of costs and additional services as the reason for the budget imbalance.

While ASFA is not in a position where it is unable to continue its operations, the federation’s bylaws

state that the year-end cash balance must be $150,000 or more.

The referendum question, approved by ASFA reads as follows: “Do you agree to increase ASFA’s per credit fee levy by $0.38 to a total of $1.60 per credit, effective starting in the winter 2015 semester (January 2015)?”

In addition to voting on the fee levy increase question, the byelection will also see the vacant positions of VP External and VP Academic & Loyola filled.

Tuesday, OcTOber 28, 2014

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Event // NEWS

NATION

Remembering Raoul Wallenberg Project aims to teach humanity rather than passivity in the face of atrocity MILoS KovaCEvIC News editor

C

oncordia will hold a special commemoration on Wednesday, Oct. 29 in memory of a Swedish diplomat whose intercession, at personal risk, saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from Nazi extermination. His willingness to remain in danger for the sake of others ultimately led to his disappearance after arrest by Soviet authorities sure of his complicity as a spy. For this he was eventually made Canada’s first honorary citizen in 1985.

The Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS) is organizing the event.

“I was impressed by MIGS’ hands-on approach consisting of advocacy, organizing conferences, and professional training,” said Daniel Haboucha, a research assistant for the organization who has been involved with the initiative for quite some time. With a background on international humanitarian and human rights law, he was interested in using Wallenberg as a tool for public awareness in the light of genocide prevention.

“I was very enthusiastic about the opportunity to work on the Raoul Wallenberg project and contribute to public education and

awareness around this important historical figure, making his legacy relevant to a contemporary audience,” he said, adding the project was started by former MIGS intern Isadora Hellegren through the Swedish Institute, the organization highlighting Swedish contributions abroad.

Haboucha calls MIGS a ‘hub for policy discussion about mass atrocity prevention’ and an emergent type of law, called the Responsibility to Protect, which twins the concepts of state sovereignty with the responsibility of protection against atrocities.

“Being based at Concordia’s History Department and operating out of Concordia for the past 28 years, we naturally appreciate the

university’s support for our work, which comes across in a variety of ways, from assisting with space and publicity to providing logistical and administrative support,” wrote Haboucha by email.

In its nearly three decades of existence, MIGS has grown into a regular partner with the United Nations, save when it works independently, in monitoring conflict zones around the world, particularly in monitoring domestic media in at-risk countries as an early warning bell against atrocities, serious human rights abuses, and genocide.

“With the number of living Holocaust survivors rapidly diminishing, it is important to keep alive the memory of what they ex-

perienced—both as a cautionary tale for humanity and, in the case of Raoul Wallenberg, an inspiring one as well—for future generations,” continued Haboucha.

The Raoul Wallenberg Legacy of Leadership Project will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 29, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. It will be held at Centre Mont-Royal,2200 Rue Mansfield, Montréal. In attendance will be Sweden’s ambassador to Canada, Per Sjögren, Cameron Hudson, Director of The Center for the Prevention of Genocide at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Irwin Cotler, Canadian Member of Parliament for Mont Royal, and Adama Dieng, UN SecretaryGeneral’s Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide.

orGanisers of the coMeMorative cereMony honourinG raoul WallenberG.

Students to vote on CSU fee levy increase, stance on austerity measures, and more

E

ight referendum questions were approved at the Concordia Student Union’s (CSU) Council meeting on Oct. 22.

Among them, the CSU is asking that their fee levy match the Canadian Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is about two per cent per year. The CSU had a deficit of about $135,000 as of Sept. 17, although, according to Benjamin Prunty, CSU president, the situation is currently changing and they now expect the deficit to be less than that.

“We think that indexing the CSU’s fee-levy to CPI is a good way to help curtail the yearly increase in costs that the CSU has,” Prunty said. “A large portion of these increases are the result of mandatory increases in pay for our staff.”

They also approved a ques-

Jian Ghomeshi, host and co-creator of Q on CBC, was fired Sunday after information about a sex scandal made waves across social media.

Ghomeshi said through a post on social media that the story had been months in the works, after Jesse Brown brought the information to the Toronto Star a few months ago. Ghomeshi is accused of nonconsensual violent behaviour during sexual intercourse with three different women in their early 20s, accusations he has called false on social media. He stated that although his sexual appetite for BDSM isn’t for everyone, he has always had consent during all acts of sex. He is calling this “attack” a smear campaign by his former ex-girlfriend, other women, and a freelance journalist. He is now suing the CBC for $50 million for “breach of confidence and bad faith,” according to the National Post.

BOURQUE SENTENCING TRIAL

CSU approves referendum questions

Sara BaroN-GoodMaN Life editor

>> CBCʼS JIAN GHOMESHI FIRED

>> JUSTIN

Campus // NEWS

NaTHaLIE LafLaMME Editor-in-chief

MILoS KovaCEvIC News editor

tion asking students to support the BDS movement, which calls to boycott divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law and Palestinian rights.

The question was originally brought forward in the form of a petition, but CSU councillor Rami Yahia chose to bring it to council instead for “democratic purposes”.

Yahia put emphasis on the fact that this is a human rights cause. “Students should support the BDS movement because it is an effective non-violent way of resisting the illegal occupation of Palestine as well as the blockade on Gaza,” Yahia said.

“It is an important topic for us to discuss, but it is also important that we do not let ourselves get swept away, and that as a student body we don’t forget about the work that extends beyond political discourse,” Prunty said.

Council also voted in favour of putting questions on the byelection ballot concerning taking a loan out from their Student Space, Accessible Education and

Legal Contingency (SSAELC) fund account, as well as increasing the International & Ethnic Associations Council’s (IEAC) fee levy.

Council approved the question concerning the CSU taking out a loan from the SSAELC to cover the Hive’s startup costs. “[These startup costs] that typically might be alleviated through taking out loans from a bank, but we have no need for that since we have accumulated large amounts of funds for improvements to student space,” Prunty said.

According to Prunty, the question at hand is not whether or not the Hive will receive funding— their fund allocation has already been approved. Rather, the referendum question poses whether students feel these funds should come from the CSU’s operating budget or from the SSAELC. Council also voted in favour of putting CONMUN’s fee levy application for an increase of seven cents per credit on the byelection ballot.

The policy committee stated that they had worked with CON-

MUN concerning their fee levy application, and that they felt that the issues they had with CONMUN’s constitution were appropriately dealt with. Terry Wilkins, VP Academic and Advocacy, said that they now approved of the application.

“We worked really hard and collaborated with the CSU Policy Committee and they were very helpful to help us create a better document,” Nathanaël Dagane, CONMUN president, said.

IEAC’s fee levy increase was also approved to be put on the ballot. IEAC “seeks to solidify relationships among ethnic student associations by promoting multiculturalism” according to their Facebook page. Students will vote on whether or not the IEAC fee levy will be increased by six cents per credit at by-elections.

Another question will be included asking students to take an official stance against austerity measures.

The polling period for CSU byelections will be taking place on Nov. 25 to 27.

The sentencing trial of Justin Bourque began Monday morning in Moncton, New Brunswick.

Bourque pleaded guilty to three charges of first degree murder and two charges of attempted murder in August, after being arrested for a shooting that killed three RCMP officers and injured two more on June 4. The Crown is seeking three consecutive life sentences, totalling 75 years in prison with no chance of parole. Since a new sentencing law that was made by the federal government in 2011 states that a multiple killer can be sentenced for multiple life sentences, the possibility of a sentence greater than 25 years is a real possibility, reports the CBC.

>> OMAR KHADR

CAN SUE FEDS FOR CONSPIRING Omar Khadr has the right to sue the Canadian government for conspiracy with the United States government to torture and breach his rights, ruled Judge Richard Mosley in Toronto on Thursday, Oct. 23.

The former Guantanamo Bay prisoner can now add that to his current $20-million lawsuit that accuses Ottawa of complicity in cruel and inhuman treatment during his detention. He is claiming that he was tortured and that one instance of sleep deprivation came just before interrogation by Canadians. Global News reports three United States Supreme Court decisions have found procedures Khadr was subject to while in Guantanamo Bay illegal.

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Tuesday, OcTOber 28, 2014

Lecture // NEWS

WORLD MILoS KovaCEvIC News editor

>> POWDER SENT TO CANADIAN CONSULATE IN TURKEY

The consulate in Istanbul was shut down on Friday after receiving a package containing yellow powder.

Turkish officials and the health ministry testing the powder later found no presence of “bioterrorism” agents like anthrax, ricin, botulism, tularemia or plague bacteria, but have announced that more advanced tests are still being conducted. The CBC says staff members who were in contact with the powder were sent to hospital.

>> WOMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING ATTEMPTED RAPIST A woman has been sentenced to death in Iran for killing her attempted rapist. Reyhaneh Jabbari, 26, was hanged on Saturday despite an international campaign to have her released that began soon after her 2009 death sentence was pronounced. She was arrested in 2007 for the murder of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former employee of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence who she said tried to sexually abuse her, according to the Independent.

Glenn Greenwald at ConU Hundreds of students and community members attend CSU-hosted talk KEITH raCE Photo editor

C

anada was still mourning.

Only two days earlier Michael Zehaf-Bibeau shot Canadian reservist Cpl. Nathan Cirillo while he stood on honour guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Ottawa. Struck by grief, a dark nimbus enveloped Canadian skies.

The shock of that day hung over us, we were all symbolically targeted and could each empathize with the fallen soldier. But that was not the theme for Greenwald’s talk at Concordia on October 24. Possibly all too experienced with grieving nations, Greenwald came to Concordia with a narrative that countered the excess of pained panegyrics.

“Obviously the events of this week have been pretty tragic and horrible to watch. But at the same time they actually provide

what I could almost describe as the perfect framework for talking about the … way in which Western governments have been able to shape and manipulate their citizenries in the name of terrorism in order to dismantle the civil liberties and other legal protections that have long come to define how we think about ourselves in Western democracies,” Greenwald said as he began to address an auditorium humming with anticipation.

Hours before that first shot, the action that deluged our nation with outrage, Greenwald published a controversial article.

He offered a reminder to those confused why Canada would be targeted by an ideologue, by a “radicalized muslim.”

“Canada has spent the last 13 years proclaiming itself a nation at war. It actively participated in the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and was an enthusiastic partner in some of the most extremist War on Terror abuses perpetrated by the U.S. … Regardless of one’s views

on the justifiability of Canada’s lengthy military actions, it’s not the slightest bit surprising or difficult to understand why people who identify with those on the other end of Canadian bombs and bullets would decide to attack the military responsible for that violence,” Greenwald wrote.

But in Parliament, in newspapers and across live broadcasts the ISIS was on display.

It biased our thoughts and new tools to address the issue were propounded—increased surveillance and preventive detention are the anodyne prescribed by Justice Minister Peter MacKay and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Greenwald’s article hit a raw nerve. There was the expected twitter backlash and his inbox was filled with furious emails. It was no real surprise that Greenwald’s causal link between engaging in war and terrorist attacks was poorly received. Some critics called the move “too soon,” that it was inappropriate

>> SENEGAL EBOLA OUTBREAK ENDS

CTV has reported that the United Nations health agency announced the end of the Ebola outbreak in Senegal. Thus far, this is the only positive development in the spread of the deadly disease that has seen it kill thousands of people on the continent. The UN commended the country’s response, which involved closely tracking cases, a heightened testing of suspected cases, and a concerted public awareness campaign, as something to be emulated. While Senegal has escaped Ebola’s deadly grip, the disease continues to ravage neighbouring Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.

>> 11 WOUNDED OUTSIDE CAIRO UNIVERSITY

A bomb went off right outside Cairo University on Wednesday injuring 11, including six police officers.

The bomb went off at a local hot spot for protests, near the site of a similar but far less deadly bombing that took place in April and killed one police officer.

Al-Jazeera claims the explosion came after a clash between proIslamist student protesters and police earlier in the day.

Glenn GreenWald is a journalist and author Who spoke at concordia on oct. 24. PHOTO BY KEITH RACE.

to comment on the tragedy while it was still fresh in our psyche.

It was published the day of a shooting on parliament hill and though it wasn’t directly written about Wednesday’s events, the crux of the article may as well have been.

Canada had built a strong reputation as a participant in international diplomacy. We weren’t seen as an army of occupiers, we had a reputation as a friendly peacekeeping nation.

Many Canadians still see ourselves through these rose-tinted glasses, but our nation has changed whether we realize it or not, and Greenwald argues there can be no “too soon” when talking about the ways we exert our wealth and power around the world. A crisis is a pivotal point for any nation’s long-term direction. In the hours and days after a critical event, when an entire nation’s attention has been joined and focused, very important decisions are made.

Continued on P. 5

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

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Lecture // news

Greenwald warns of government privacy invasion Continued from P.4 Before Greenwald spoke in Auditorium H-110, I asked him about Prime Minister Harper’s address on Wednesday night where he called on Canada to “redouble our efforts and those of our national security agencies to take all necessary steps to identify and counter threats and keep Canada safe here at home,” and to “strengthen our resolve and redouble our efforts to work with our allies around the world and fight against the terrorist organizations who brutalize those in other countries with the hope of bringing their savagery to our shores.”

Greenwald told me that, “it’s what Western governments have been doing for the last 12 years, which is immediately seizing on all of the emotions generated by these kinds of attacks, the surge of anger and fear and patriotism in order to justify whole new powers for themselves, and it’s just a pattern that goes without end. Here we are, 13 years after the 9/11 attack where governments around the West have continuously increased their own powers. And every time there’s one of these attacks, no matter how limited they are—and these are extremely limited in nature, the two that took place here— they immediately seize on it to try and justify powers that they wanted previously and whole new ones that they wanted.”

Just as Greenwald described it, that week in Parliament Justice Minister MacKay brought up the government’s intent to table new legislation that would enable preventative detention, or as he put it “pre-emptive measures,” to stop would-be terrorists.

Preventative detention coun-

ters our entire judicial system.

The belief of innocence-untilproven-guilty will never apply in this new world envisioned by our government. As Greenwald put it, “vesting the power with the government to imprison people without charges, which is what preventative detention is. Or to imprison people based not on crimes they’ve actually committed but acts the government anticipates or predicts they might engage in in the future is a complete dismantling of the core precepts of Western justice that have existed since thirteenthcentury British subjects rebelled against the king and demanded the most basic protections of due process.”

Perhaps the most powerful moment of Greenwald’s speech came near its beginning. He spoke about the intense and detailed coverage of the two Canadian victims of last week.

How the media delved into their histories and ambitions. We listened to their grieving relatives and were allowed to emotionally connect to these two men.

Because of that, their loss affected us in a visceral way. But Greenwald made a bet with us.

Despite Canada’s involvement in multiple wars across seven predominantly muslim nations, Greenwald “bet [us] that almost nobody in the auditorium can know the name of a single one of any of those many thousands of women and children and innocent men that our own governments have killed.”

He went on to say how, “they’re simply rendered invisible. We don’t hear their names, we don’t know about the lives that have been extinguished, we don’t hear from their grieving relatives. So what this does, is this creates a very imbalanced

perception on the part of those of us who live in the countries where this kind of coverage takes place, which is that we are continuously the victims of violence that is horrific and that kills in-

“

founder with Greenwald of their new media platform, The Intercept— chronicled the killing in his book, Dirty Wars.

Daoud died in his home in the village of Khataba, Afghani-

It’s what Western governments have been doing for the last 12 years, which is immediately seizing on all of the emotions generated by these kinds of attacks, the surge of anger and fear and patriotism in order to justify whole new powers for themselves.

- Glenn Greenwald

nocent people. And we forget, by design, that we perpetuate a huge amount of that violence as well.”

Greenwald encouraged the audience to take a piece of that emotion tied to the recent acts of violence in Canada and extend it to those who are made invisible. Mohammed Daoud Sharabuddin was also shot and he also died. Jeremy Scahill —a co-

stan. His family had two dozen guests over to celebrate the naming of Daoud’s newborn son. It was a night raid that tragically mis-targeted a family of allies instead of Taliban insurgents. They weren’t shooting Daoud, they were shooting the enemy before they could shoot first. But it was Daoud, the police commander, who fell. Him and his fifteenyear-old son were shot by NATO

snipers as they exited their home.

The victims of that night totalled seven people, two of which were pregnant women. These people were allies. Daoud’s home was decorated with photos of him and american soldiers. He had gone through dozens of American training programs and was helping to combat the Taliban insurgency in the area. What happened after the soldiers discovered their night raid had unwittingly murdered their own allies is especially unsettling. On realizing the mistake they began to cut out their bullets from the women’s bodies in order to cover up their mistake. When the soldiers left, they took several of the still living guests with them for interrogation and held them for days. The story itself deserves much more detail than I can go into here; Daoud and his family members were subjected to inhuman terrors that night.

Without Scahill’s detailed reporting of the incident it’s likely that the government narrative, the cover up, would have never been exposed. No one except those villagers still alive in Kataba would have known the real war in Afghanistan.

This is now the war that is unfolding in Iraq. There is no mythic battle between good and evil. When we arm our young men and women, fly them across the ocean into the unknown and put them into impossible situations, we are setting them and ourselves up for tragedy, for terror. The last decade has been one war waged across interchangeable battle fields.

As Canada prepares to send approximately 600 Canadian Armed Forces personnel to Iraq, Greenwald offers only so much comfort in the face of an uncertain future.

Campus // NEWS

Philosopy students strike against univerity austerity Concerns over change in Concrodia’s education quality to lead to one-day boycott Gregory Todaro Copy editor

The Students of Philosophy Association (SoPhiA) will go on strike Oct. 31 to protest imposed budget cuts and austerity measures put in place this year by the provincial Liberal government.

The one-day protest is in response to the effects of the $15.7 million that will be cut from Concordia University as part of the $172-million cut across Quebec in higher education.

SoPhiA, the undergraduate philosophy organization in ASFA, voted on Oct. 24 to participate in the one-day strike

alongside other students across the province at the “Austerity: A Horror Story” protest taking place on Halloween.

As per the motion that passed, SoPhiA is requesting all philosophy classes on Oct. 31 be cancelled and resumed regularly after the day of the austerity protest. It was also resolved that “in voting in favour of the oneday strike, Philosophy Students support the Manifestation Contre l’Austerité, organized by the association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ),” read the motion.

A press release from the association stated that “As a result of these cuts, Concordia University will suffer 180 faculty and staff position losses; including custo-

dial, health services and sustainability positions.”

In reality, the 180 positions expected to be cut through the Voluntary Departure Program will not affect any faculty positions at Concordia and is aimed at administrative titles.

The student organization went on to express concern that T.A. positions in the philosophy department are in danger, and that “As a result of these cuts to our curriculum, evaluation methods and overall quality of education will suffer enormously.”

SoPhiA VP Academic Katie Nelson and VP Internal Michael Giesbrecht stated their concern for budget cuts in their department, saying: “a trend has been obvious over the past few years,

especially in terms of seminars and special topics.”

On the subject of new austerity cuts, Nelson and Giesbrecht fear that the philosophy department will face further, major cuts to their budget.

These claims have not been confirmed with the philosophy department.

The university could not be reached for comment before the time of publication. However, Concordia’s President Alan Shepard told the Concordian Oct. 10 that the university was doing everything possible to avoid cutting into the academic side of university operations.

“We’re doing our best to protect the academic mission, so the courses for students [and]

services,” he said. “It’s not realistic to say, ‘Oh it won’t have any impact,’ because you can’t take four per cent out of the operating budget away and have no impact.”

While the student strike will only last a day SoPhiA executives felt as though taking part is important for both their members and Quebec’s greater student population.

“A one-day strike is not only right for philosophy students, it’s the right move for all students,” they said.

The Concordia contingent of the “Austerity: a Horror Story” protest leaves from the Hall Building at 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 31.

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Nation // NEWS

Officer shot at National War Memorial Experts weigh in onthe impact and aftermath of Parliament Hill shooting Wednesday Oct. 22 Milos Kovacevic News editor

Separate attacks by two radicalized Canadian converts formed the scene last week that saw a pair of fatal attacks on two members of the Canadian Armed forces, one in a hit-and-run in SaintJean-Sur-Richelieu and another at the War Memorial in Ottawa and just steps from Parliament.

The first occurred on Tuesday morning in Saint-Jean-SurRichelieu, Que., when Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, 53, was wounded alongside another soldier after 25-year-old Martin Couture-Rouleau struck them with his car and sped away. Vincent later died of his injuries, while a police chase and shootout ended with similarly fatal results for Couture-Rouleau.

On Wednesday in Ottawa came a moment most surreal as a gunman barged through the halls of Parliament, exchanging fire with RCMP officers. The shooter, 32-year-old Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, had earlier killed Corporal Nathan Cirillo, 24, at the nearby National War Memorial. He too was killed in a barrage of gunfire.

The objectively minor death toll by the two attackers belied a subjective trauma and the breaking of new psychological ground. Up until then, Canadians could perceive themselves as inconspicuous players on the world stage and almost below the notice of counter attack. No nation’s capital—excepting the 2005 train bombings and the 2013 murder of soldier Lee Rigby, both in London—had ever been attacked before in such a way, and certainly not the nerve centre of a country. It was a completely unexpected and rude awakening for Canadians.

to Zehaf-Bibeau, had been under close surveillance for many months from authorities who knew of his deepening radicalization. His passport was seized when he attempted to fly to Iraq.

There was even a program of ultimately unsuccessful de-radicalization undertaken with Muslim community leaders who knew him. Officials said despite all the signs, no crime had been committed, and as such no steeper measures could have been taken.

What has happened is past, and what remains is to see how Canada will respond. As befits this country, there has largely been an atmosphere of mourning without a descent into prejudiced revenge.

Canada’s military involvement—catalyst or not?

The two attacks throw a spotlight onto the uncomfortable fact that Canada has now bled on home soil for its long-time support of Western military action in the Muslim world. They highlight the reality with which extremists are bringing the fight from active battlefields and to their host countries. No longer are the big players the targets, but also their steadfast allies.

As journalist Glenn Greenwald recently wrote, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that, after 13 years of military participation he dubs ‘perpetual war,’ Canada finds itself a target. The undisputable point is that Canada’s involvement has seen tens of thousands of soldiers serve in war zones, and an equal effort on the part of the Canadian government as an aid and conduit to intelligence gathering and logistical support.

What is surprising is how Canada has managed to main-

tain a low-key profile in the public psyche, despite taking part in international military campaigns, serving as a top-notch intelligence conduit, and already promising a war response in Syria and Iraq but barely a few years extricated from Afghanistan.

The Way Forward Concordia professor Julian Schofield, an expert in policy in Southeast Asia, disagrees with the view that outside actions by the government brought the attacks to Canadian soil. Instead, he sees the situation as a deep sociological tension between landed Canadian society and those of its increasingly prevalent, uprooted immigrants.

“Young men especially behave in an aggressive gang-like fashion when they see they can’t assimilate into society,” said Schofield. “If he [Zehaf-Bibeau] did not seek the Islamic movement, I could see him attach on to maybe a political right movement, or an anarchist-type [to get a] sense of what was happening to him. He was somebody looking for an explanation for his life.

He was seeking solitude from his drug problem.”

Schofield considers a bringing together of cultures as a pragmatic, if painful, way to improvement.

“We’re going to have to accommodate these other values,” he said. “I think we have to be ready to change our laws with our identity over time. We certainly can’t stay the same...It’s the price we pay for being in a secular, highly socially-mobile non-classed society. We have a certain anomie, where people are not sure what the purpose of life is.”

If we are immune to actual war, how are we to dodge the insidious range of media propaganda that requires no fuel and can filter through border checks and national boundaries with impunity?

Both sentiments are somewhat bridged by Dr. Chedly Belkhodja of Concordia’s School of Community and Public affairs, a researcher specializing on immigrant policies and fundamentalism.

“You can say it’s because we live in very individualized worlds.

We see people more and more in a bubble. In a society you need to be able to talk, you need to be able to reach, to help, to smile, to look at a Muslim and not think he’s a threat. And that’s what I think we’re losing.”

“Responsibilities aren’t only on individuals. Extracting bad apples doesn’t make us safe.

Canada has a foreign policy that is unchanged, but Canada is participating in a war against the Islamic State, and Canada is at risk and is exposed. Maybe 10 years ago, that wasn’t the case ... [we weren’t] as present or as aggressive in our foreign policy.”

A Muslim response Ultimately an answer will have to come as much from traditional Canadians as newer ones. Overwhelmingly, the Muslim community’s reactions have tended towards solidarity with their fellow Canadians in condemnation of the attacks and condolences toward the families of the victims. Yet that doesn’t do away with the problems afflicting Muslim culture when it comes to self-critical introspection and an openness to change.

CSU Advocate and Muslim

Some Current Canadian military missions

Fervent or ill?

While both perpetrators are said to have converted to Islam, their personal circumstances bring into question the reasons behind their actions. The National Post portrayed Zehaf-Bibeau, a convert to Islam for the better part of a decade, as a crack addict who saw prison as a way of beating his habit. In 2011 documents showed he demanded money from a Vancouver McDonald’s before calmly awaiting to be apprehended by the police.

Later he was said to have wanted to travel and fight in Syria until his passport was taken away. Authorities only later admitted their error. On the other hand, RCMP officers have stated he’d made a video showing his ‘ideological motives’, according to Reuters.

Couture-Rouleau also planned on going abroad and, in contrast

convert Stephen Brown is not one to shy away from such questions, having perspective with them by virtue of the twin words he now straddles.

“The Muslim community, like it or not, is in the middle of this conflict. And they need to deal with it better than they are,” he said, criticizing the poor state of outreach between the two communities, the simultaneous ‘pandering’ by the government of such crises for votes and an increase to powers, and the cycle all players find themselves in.

“The first question everyone asks is, ‘why?’ When you ask Muslims, they say Islam is peaceful. Where are the Muslims denouncing it? When you say that Islam is peaceful, tell us something we don’t know. These old slogans ... are not addressing fears and concerns, and are not addressing the actual problem,” said Brown. “As a convert, I live my daily life as a Canadian. But, I have a good mentality of the average Muslim ​in Canada. It’s a unique understanding.”

Meanwhile in the same school, student and Officer Cadet Karl Antoine Usakowski walks the halls without his uniform, the result of a military decision to do away with visible military attire. Usakowski sees his fellow Canadians in much the same way, Muslim or not: as a privilege to be around, and a privilege to serve. Meanwhile, looks forward to the day when he can once again wear his second skin in public.

“As soon as we are allowed, we’ll be wearing our uniforms with pride and not walk in fear— anywhere. This is our home, this is our land, this is the land we promised to defend,” Usakowski said.

Operation Kobold Deployment to Kosovo, 5 CF members as mentors.

Operation Proteus Jerusalem.

Operation Jade Operation Hamlet

Participation in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti.

Middle East

Operation Crocodile UN led, 9 members, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Former mission Afghanistan

(Mission ended Spring 2014 - combat role ended in 2011) Maximum of 2,500 Canadian Forces at any one time, 40,000 rotating troops

Casualties: 162 (158 soldiers, one diplomat, one journalist and two civilian contractors)

TUESday, oCToBEr 28, 2014

life

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Write to the editor: life@theconcordian.com Campus // LIfE

Grey Nun ghosts and a murderer’s grave delving into Concordia campus’ dark and haunted history Sara BaroN-GoodMaN Life editor

The Grey Nunnery’s orphan ghosts

S

ince its foundation in 1737, the Grey Nuns building has been home to the Grey Nuns, women in difficulty, the poor and needy of Montreal, orphaned children, wounded soldiers, and now students.

It seems it may also be home to ghosts.

In 1918, the Grey Nunnery housed an orphanage on the top floor of the Left Wing, and sick and wounded soldiers on the lower levels, according to Newfoundland’s The Western Star. This was wartime, and the Grey Nuns played a crucial role in sheltering those who had nowhere else to go.

On the evening of Valentine’s Day, a fire broke out on the top floor of the building, enshrouding the orphanage in smoke and flames.

“The children, most of them infants, had been put to bed as usual at five o’clock. The first flames seemed to shoot up through the floor of the dormitory, near one of the windows. They caught the end of a curtain. In a few minutes smoke and stench of blistering paint were rolling through the two rooms,” an excerpt from

the Montreal Gazette from 1970 states.

“Thirty-eight, charred bodies were found by the firemen at 10:30 ... while firemen and soldiers were engaged in rescuing infants they were forced to leave many to die as the flames and smoke drove the rescuers from the building,” reported The Western Star on the morning of Feb. 15, 1918.

That number was later amended to 53 confirmed deaths, and it is still unknown how many other young children and babies were entirely cremated in the fire, their remains never having been found.

Donovan King, a Concordia alumnus and expert in haunted theatre who runs Montreal’s Ghost Tours, has some sordid details about the SGW campus’ allegedly haunted past.

“Back in the spring, I went to the residence and began asking students on the street about if anyone had heard any stories of hauntings,” he said. “One student who had been living in the residence said she had been having nightmares every night about dead children, she would hear trampling noises and have bad visions associated with this,” he said.

The student was unable to sleep—she tried everything from hot tea to sleeping pills, according to King. Only when she moved out of the residence did these nightmares and visions subside.

According to daycare workers at the Grey Nun’s residence that King interviewed as well, she is not the only one who felt the presence of the tragically departed orphans.

“Apparently two of the children in the daycare had made the same imaginary friend, who fit the description of an orphan,” King said. Both children in the daycare had individually described this “friend” as having a “tattered hat and ripped, charred clothes.”

The Murderer’s Cross

T

he Nunnery isn’t the only landmark on campus that has a gruesome past life.

I’m sure you’ve all seen the large wooden cross on the corner of Guy St. and RenéLevesque Blvd. According to the same article from the Montreal Gazette, it marks the spot where long ago a murderer was buried.

“In 1752 Jean Baptiste Goyer lived in a small house just on the north side of the street, where the gates of the Grey Nuns motherhouse are now,” said King. “He was an indolent and lazy farmer, and made little money.”

As the story goes, according to the Gazette, his neighbours, Jean Favre and his wife Mary-Anne Bastien, were very successful farmers, and quite wealthy.

One day Goyer told his neighbours that he was taking a trip to Quebec City, which was a very long trip at the time, explained King. While he was away, Favre and Bastien were brutally murdered, and their property looted.

“When Goyer returned a couple of weeks later, he expressed horror at the murders, he became obsessed with the

murder case, and began spending even more money at the tavern,” said King.

Because of this erratic behaviour, Goyer became the prime suspect and was arrested.

Back in that day they would torture people with the Spanish Boot, a method which involved nailing the accused’s legs to planks of wood, and asking them questions designed to make them confess. Goyer confessed under the pain that instead of going to Quebec City, he had snuck into the Favre home in the middle of the night, and stabbed Favre and his wife.

Goyer was executed by torture wheel on the Place du Marché.

“They would attach the guilty to a flat wheel, they would revolve the wheel slowly and the torturer would smash their limbs apart with a hammer between the gaps in the wheel,” said King.

Goyer was left there to die with his bones smashed and splintered and his face turned up to the sky.

A blood-red cross was erected on the spot as a warning to others not to commit such a heinous crime.

Over a century later, in the 1870s, the roads were widened, and the nuns discreetly moved the original cross, painted it a less striking colour, and surrounded it with religious paraphernalia and a garden.

“Today, because they moved the cross from its original place, Goyer’s body is probably somewhere under Réné Levesque Blvd.,” said Donovan.

The cautionary message that the cross warned was soon forgotten.

the Murderer’s cross at the corner of Guy st. and rene-levesQue blvd. Marks the spot Where a Murderer Was buried in 1752. photo by andrej ivanov.

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014

Montreal

The undead take over the city streets for the fourth annual march Michelle Gamage Production manager

I

don’t like zombies.

Sure, you say, who likes a cold, clammy creature who recently clawed its way out of its underground rotting place, hellbent on ripping you limb from limb, immune to your tortured screams, the need to consume brains hijacking all of its other bodily functions. It would be crazy to love a creature like that!

But the romance of relying on your own wits and ability to Macgyver a headcleaving weapon out of daily household items has swept across the world in a Hollywood-fuelled frenzy.

Wouldn’t it be awesome to have to physically fight to survive every day and learn what you are really made of?

But I know I wouldn’t survive the first week of the apocalypse.

It’s not that I lack basic survival training, or even wilderness survival abilities.

I’m sure I could hunt squirrels and learn to fish like the best of them.

What I know I wouldn’t survive would be seeing the world burn, and watching everyone I know and love be torn apart

or turned into undead monsters.

It was this morbid thought that had me on edge Saturday, Oct. 25, during the fourth annual Montreal Zombie Walk at Place Des Festivals.

It was overcast, the slate sky casting a gloomy light over the crowd packed in around me.

Ripped open wounds still dripping dark blood onto the cold cement, matted hair thick with graveyard rot, and dead eyes with red, white, and cloudy grey irises stared me down as I wove my way through the zombie hoard.

I had dressed as a survivor, a thick leather jacket protecting my arms and soft torso, and heavy motorcycle boots that allowed me to put boot to face if the crowds got too rambunctious. A medical mask covered my nose and mouth, hopefully protecting me if the undead virus went airborne.

Even with protective gear on, however, the crowds of around 10,000 pressing close, with rotting flesh falling off their faces and bloody vomit drooling out of the corners of their mouths, had my fightor-flight response on high.

I clambered to the top of a fire hydrant for a short reprieve from the pressing crowd and was rewarded with a dismal sight.

The entire city block was packed full of this writhing, lurching, twitching hoard with blood-curdling screams echoing off the towering buildings. The undead were

here at last, and I was making myself stand out by perching on my post.

I landed heavily back on the hard ground, and a few discoloured eyes drifted my way.

One stilted creature towered over me, a bleached deer skull wrapped around its waist and a hockey mask obstructing its entire face save two milky-white irises glaring out at me. I cowered on the ground as it leaned in so close that I could smell the sickly sweet fake blood on its exposed flesh.

The same sticky smell oozed from dark bloody puddles on the ground. A sickly mix of what appeared to be chocolate syrup and red food colouring was

Photo by Andrej Ivanov.

photo by Michelle Gamage.

Photo by Andrej Ivanov.

photo by Michelle Gamage.

smeared across my mask, reeking of sugary saliva.

Finally the end of the walk was nigh and the stormy clouds broke, sending a torrent of icy rain lashing down and scattering the undead.

The ordeal was complete, and the cool water felt like God’s grace after hours of bloody horror.

Rain washed away the makeup of the undead, and the alive and shivering Montrealers were slowly revealed.

The girl peeling strips of melting, soggy flesh off of her boyfriend’s face even took on a glow of innocence.

The city was clean again, and I had somehow survived the day’s apocalypse.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014

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zombie walk

Photo by Andrej Ivanov.

Photo by Michelle Gamage.

Photo by Andrej Ivanov.

Photo by Michelle Gamage.

photo by

Michelle Gamage.

Photo by Michelle Gamage.

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014

True stories // Life

It happened to a friend of a friend of mine Blaze the halls with sequins of glory: stories from a Grade 7 astronaut pimp I didn’t have a costume, but I refused to go to school without something amazing.

My mom was a singer in a band, and the band had just invested in this elaborate cabaret style

Mia Pearson Music editor

I

woke up for school on Halloween in Grade seven, and realized that

get-up. So my mom suggested I wear her full sequin suit—and I mean this was a fancy suit. It included the sequin silver pant-suit with flowing legs that flared at the bottom, the full (very

heavy) evening coat with penguin tails, and, of course, a full silver sequin top hat. So I spent the whole day at school, walking down the halls with about 2,000 silver sequins blinding my

classmates. The whole thing was twice my size as well, and I must have looked like a tiny pimp hustling about.

When people asked me what I was, I told them I was an astronaut.

Sacrifice a boot to the pumpkin patch gods and hail to the pumpkin king Michelle Gamage Production manager

H

alloween was never really about the costumes for me.

The costumes were a means to an end. What was really important was the pumpkin carving on the evening of Oct. 30.

The whole ordeal had a

ritualistic vibe to it, following the traditional steps to usher in the day of Hallows’ Eve. Amidst the decorations of kleenex ghosts, construction paper cats and the feltcoloured witches we would wash the pumpkins we had selected from the muddy fields ourselves.

Scrawling outlines along the bumpy skin and sinking the knife into the pumpkin

for the first time, juice welling up like beads of blood.

Using big salad-serving spoons to scrape out the guts, squishing our fingers through the tangles of seeds and tendrils. The smell of fresh pumpkin filling our kitchen, while we stood on chairs to be tall enough to carve.

A face slowly taking shape, painstakingly carving expressions of delight,

of horror, of evil into the orange flesh.

Then rinsing the pumpkin once more before flouncing out to the back porch for some true Halloween magic.

Tealight candles gently placed in the gut of the pumpkin and being very careful not to burn ourselves with matches as we lit them.

And it was there, at the

exact same moment every year, that I would feel the buzz of delight, of excitement, of spooky magic.

Glowing Jack-o-Lanterns, fresh born beneath our fingers, gleaming out into the night.

Simultaneously warding off evil spirits and promising candy, the perfect smell of candles and pumpkin amongst damp leaves.

Halloween was here.

Close encounters: catching sight of the Boo Radley of the drive-in theatre Frédéric T. Muckle Arts editor

A

s a grown man, I love to be scared. There’s something about being helpless, afraid, and in danger that I weirdly enjoy. Without getting into the whole possible Freudian implications of this facet of my psyche, this actually started pretty early

when I was a child. One specific Halloween night spent in the long abandoned drive-in cinema close to a creepy forest.

Glass and bottles smashed by bored teenagers, construction materials from another era lying around, high grass possibly hiding wild animals; all in all, a safe playground for young children. The only trace of life was the distant

neighbour of this open-air theatre living in a mysterious small house. We had never seen this person, but a dim light always served as a reminder that someone was there, watching.

We were having fun, eating candies, making noise, simply being children until we saw “It”. A silhouette, wielding what appeared to us as a fork, slowly but steadily coming our way. A

moment passed. From our attempt to rationalize the situation, I remember only the heavy silence that filled the air. Then, “It” yelled at us.

No more rationalizing was needed. We ran Usain Boltstyle straight into the woods.

Thus followed an even scarier moment in which I realized that as a child, you’re pretty much vulnerable to anything.

Thinking about it now,

I realize “It” was probably the old man living next to the theatre tired of having youngsters playing in his extended backyard, but I will always keep in mind the real-life horror chase that my friends and I went through on this Halloween night. ‘Cause sometimes, a little fantasy is welcome to either embellish reality, or in this case, to make it a little more mysterious and scary.

A ritual skeleton sacrifice in the sleepy suburbs of Montreal Laura Marchand Opinions editor

M

y family has little things that we are proud of.

We make a great spinach dip, have an adorable dog, and are (mostly) calm, lawabiding citizens.

And for a while, we were extremely competitive about

Halloween. Or, rather -- Halloween decorating. By Oct. 2 every year, the house would be decked up for the spooky season. I’m not talking cobwebs and jack-o-lanterns, ladies and gentlemen: I’m talking fear, and the one year we took it too far.

We liked elaborate sets, and it started with a simple, plastic gardening table. Then came the tablecloth, ap-

propriately red. They were placed in the middle of our front-lawn, and then the skeleton came out -- and his head was promptly ripped off.

Our plan: create a ritual sacrifice in the middle of suburban Montreal. The skeleton, covered in (fake) blood, with its head ceremoniously floating in a bowl of (still fake) blood.

We surrounded him with tiki torches and hid a boombox in the bushes that played appropriately dramatic music, which of course would not be complete without the occasion scream. Our job happily done, my Dad took me trick-or-treating.

It wasn’t until later, when I returned with candy, victorious, that my tired mother explained the problem with

our stunt. Not a single child gathered the courage to walk to our door. In fact, the opposite happened: my mother, every so often, looked out our front window to see clusters of children crying and shivering in fear. She dutifully walked to the end of the driveway every time to give them their welldeserved candy, and promptly banned cult sacrifice from our house. Whoops.

Event // Life

Go green for Halloween at the Greenhouse Join the Concordia Greenhouse team with pumpkin carving and zombie-mandrakes Sara Baron-Goodman Life editor

T

he Concordia Greenhouse is planting some spooky seeds this week with a Jack-o-Lantern and Halloween decorations workshop tonight, and a zombie apocalypse party on All Hallows’ Eve. The best news is, both events are free.

The second installment of their biweekly “Art in the Atrium” workshops will take a festive air tonight from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Greenhouse Atrium.

This just might be the perfect opportunity to nudge you to get those last-minute Halloween decorations up, as the greenhouse opens its doors and invites all to bring pumpkins, apples, squash, or potatoes to carve into Jack-o-Lantern masterpieces.

If getting your hands all up in the guts of gourds isn’t your cup of tea, the Art in the Atrium team will have some classic Halloween decoration projects on tap too.

Then, on Halloween night, help fight off an infestation of mandrake-zombies that have sprouted up in the greenhouse’s soil.

Everyone knows the best way to tame a brain-eating zombie-mandrake is to

overwhelm them with music, snacks, and dancing. The zombie-themed Halloween rooftop garden party will take place from 7 to 10 p.m., and costumes are expected.

DJ Swirlz will secure the space with dark rock and electric swing sounds, along with live ukulele and banjo acts to quell those pesky zombies’ bloodthirst.

The party will be hosted on the rooftop garden of the greenhouse at 1455 de Maisonneuve W. Blvd.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014

Let’s talk about sex

Your anaconda don’t need none unless you got the right reason Michelle Gamage Production manager

A

lright, so this column has been reasonably rah rah to liberal libidos and getting your rocks off (or not, that’s cool too) in all the right ways.

But I think those guys, gals, and nonconformists who are enjoying their college experience while keeping their pants on deserve a little love too.

Here’s the thing. You don’t need to have sex in university.

Whatever your reasoning, be it religious, personal choice, or you just haven’t had the right person or opportunity come (pun) around yet: that is okay.

I’ve met far too many people so far at Concordia who did it American Pie style and threw their virginity out the window before graduating high school, or who got the dirty deed done and over with during Frosh week so they wouldn’t “stand out” as a virgin.

Two things need to be addressed here because apparently they are not clear enough.

One: getting your virginity “over and done with” is so, so not a thing.

Yes, girls’ hymens are usually broken during their first round of vaginal penetration, which leads to varying amounts of bleeding and has so been dubbed “popping the cherry.” But girls’ hymens can break (or their “cherries” can “pop”) long before sex actually happens. Dancing, gymnastics, using tampons, masturbation, horseback riding, or trauma to the vagina can pop cherries long before girls even consider penetrative sex.

If the hymen is not completely torn during the first round of intercouse (because the first time doesn’t usually last too long, amiright?), bleeding can happen more than once till the hymen is entirely torn.

But, besides popping the cherry, the first time is likely painful, weird, awkward, and weirdly painfully awkward.

And the second time. And the next time after that.

Sex is sweaty, incredibly intimate, and not at all like you see in porn. And if this is your (and maybe your partner’s) first time then you will likely bump heads, fall off the bed, queef loudly, or finish with

a lame, “did you cum?” And that’s not to mention potential vomiting depending on either partner’s level of intoxication.

(Booze won’t make it any easier, just as a heads up.)

Just because you have had sex once does not mean you are “in” (hah, more puns), or that you are good in bed, or even that you know what you are doing.

Can you say “bonjour” for me? Alright, do you officially speak French now?

Sex takes time to get a handle on, and often takes open communication and experimentation with a steady partner to even get “good” at. One dip in the pool means nothing, and virgins need to remember this when considering dropping their pants and stepping into the world of sexual activity.

Second: your sexual status is absolutely no one’s business but your own.

Seriously. Nothing is more personal, or intimate to YOU than who you choose to have stuck in you/to stick in to/any of the other endless variations of sex. If a friend or partner is pressuring you to do the deed, consider this.

If you were walking down the street and you came across a dirty needle, and that same person pressured you to stick it in your arm for shits and giggles, what would you do? Because that response is

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Sex // Life

the exact same one you should have if anyone pressures you to have sex. Your body is your own, and if you are not ready for the same potential exposure to STIs that the needle could carry (or pregnancy! It’s an immaculate conception needle, get over it) then you have the full right to say no.

Now let’s backtrack a bit. I’m not saying sex isn’t worth it. Sex is an amazing, fulfilling (pun), mind blowing, and healthy activity that everyone (if it’s their thing) should experience once in their lives. I’m also not saying that waiting for marriage or waiting for the elusive (and nonexistent) perfect moment to arrive is the way to go.

I’m just saying that getting your virginity “over with” is stupid, and there is nothing wrong with being a virgin.

This is your body, and your choice, always.

Also, the multiple-orgasm, finish-atthe-same-time, collapse-beautifully-ontothe-bedsheets sex is so, so far away that it’s basically in China. Sorrynotsorry, it’s just something you’ll have to work towards for a long time to reach (so many puns).

Remember to use condoms, as a bare minimum, every time. Babies and STIs are a very real and scary reality, kids.

Technology // Life

Took the words right out of my mouth Japanese-made SpeechJammer gun aims, points, and leaves people tongue-tied Christina Rowan Production assistant

I

magine that, while you were speaking, someone pointed a device in your direction that literally left you speechless. Apparently, such a contraption exists.

Back in 2012 two Japanese research scientists, Kazutaka Kurihara and Koji Tsukada, designed a gun-shaped device they call the SpeechJammer that can be used to disturb people’s speech, make them stutter or make them stop talking altogether.

By using a directional microphone, a directional speaker, and a distance sen-

sor, the SpeechJammer gun trips up its target by playing back their own voice to them at a slight delay of around 200 milliseconds. Putting together each of these pieces on top of a black acrylic case, with a trigger added below, allows the device to resemble a gun.

The science behind this device’s success is the use of artificial speech disturbance with Delayed Auditory Feedback (DAF).

As Kurihara and Tsukada write in their paper, aptly titled SpeechJammer: A System Utilizing Artificial Speech Disturbance with Delayed Auditory Feedback, “[w]e report a system that jams remote people’s speech using Delayed Auditory Feedback, a well-studied method involving the human auditory system. This effect can disturb people without any physical discomfort, and disappears immediately [when] the speaking stops. Furthermore, this effect does not involve anyone but the speaker.”

In essence, all it takes to

disrupt someone’s speech is relaying their own voice back to them at a slight delay.

Since our brain is used to processing only one speaker’s voice at a time, feeding a second voice — which is our own — at the same time confuses the brain, induces mental stress, and therefore leaves us tongue-tied and unable to speak properly.

“In our preliminary study, we dealt with ‘reading news aloud’ and ‘spontaneous monologue’ as the speech contexts,” write Kurihara and Tsukada. “From the results, we observed a tendency for speech jamming to occur more frequently in the ‘reading news aloud’ context than in the ‘spontaneous monologue’ context. Further, it is obvious that speech jamming never occurs when meaningless sound sequences such as ‘Ahhh’ are uttered over a long time period.”

DAF devices, it tu rns out, have been used for decades as a technique to aid people with stuttering issues, according to the researchers.

In a study conducted for the International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders back in 2003, nine stuttering individuals be-

tween the ages of 18 and 45 participated in a three-month investigation to test the effect of repeated exposure to DAF to improve their speech fluency.

At the end of the three-month period, the percentage of stuttered words during non-altered feedback, before and after repeated exposure to DAF, showed significantly less stuttering after the repeated exposure to DAF. Given these results, if both a nonstutterer and a stutterer were to be exposed to the SpeechJammer or any DAF device, the stutterer would actually be more likely to speak clearly than the nonstutterer.

Although the SpeechJammer gun is still a prototype, anyone can build their own version at home. For people willing to test it out themselves, a Speech Jammer app is available for iPhone and Androids to try and play around with.

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Tuesday, OcTOber 28, 2014

Write to the editor: arts@theconcordian.com Literature // arTS

Concordia alumna nominated for First Book Prize Caroline vu’s Palawan Story tells a story of memory, vietnamese culture and identity BELINda aNIdJar Contributor

C

oncordia alumna Caroline Vu weaves a tale of memory loss and childhood trauma in her debut novel, Palawan Story, which was shortlisted for the prestigious Concordia University First Book Prize last week.

The First Book Prize is part of a series of awards honouring English writing

by Quebec authors, and will be given at the 16th annual Quebec Writers Federation Awards Ceremony on Nov. 18. As the only university that offers BA and MA English-language creative writing programs in Quebec, Concordia University began sponsoring this award in 2011. Vu is shortlisted for the award along with Anna Leventhal for her collection of short stories, Sweet Affliction, and Sean Michaels for his novel, Us Conductors.

Stimulated by a desire to understand her mother’s experience with memory

loss, Vu began writing this novel 10 years ago to explore the boundaries of memory within the context of her Vietnamese heritage. What began as mere stream of consciousness progressed into a desire to publish a novel for the public eye.

“The main theme is memory problems and how trauma can influence what we remember and don’t remember,” said Vu. “It’s about how memory identifies our identity.”

Though Vu was pressured into pursuing a medical career, her childhood passion for writing gave her the discipline to dedicate the hours of 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. to writing her novel. During her medical career, Vu worked with geriatric patients experiencing memory loss, and her cultural background as well as her interaction with these individuals allowed her to offer an authentic portrayal of her protagonist.

Vu’s psychology education at Concordia provoked her fascination with the shortcomings of memory and the question of its reliability as a

source of information. Her novel’s title, Palawan Story, highlights the significance of storytelling as an integral element of identity construction.

For someone whose third language is English and who has never taken a writing course, Vu’s feat is an inspiration to aspiring writers with unique histories and diverse backgrounds in the Canadian multicultural landscape. Vu’s advice to writers?

“Don’t follow a formula. If you want to establish an authentic voice, your novel should come from the heart,” she said.

The novel tells the story of Kim, a young Vietnamese girl whose parents force her onto a boat headed towards Palawan along with other Vietnam War refugees. Mistaken for an orphan who shares her name, Kim is taken in by a family in America and must invent stories to recreate the identity they believe she possesses. Her inability to recall her past takes her on a journey of self-discovery as she returns to Palawan to work as a volun-

teer doctor. It is only by speaking to other refugees that Kim begins to piece together her past and strengthen her sense of identity. The opening chapter reminds the reader of the ambiguity surrounding the war’s beginnings and challenges the notion of establishing a concrete truth within a post-war context. A novel about trauma-induced memory loss, Palawan Story explores the challenges faced by people who escaped a war-torn Vietnam, were separated from their families and forced to rebuild their lives.

Vu has been published in the Medical Post, the Toronto Star, the Montreal Gazette, The Geneva Times and The Tico Times (Costa Rica). She is a member of the Quebec Writers Federation and her second novel, That Summer in Provincetown, has already been accepted for publication.

The winner of the Concordia University First Book Prize will be announced at the ceremony on Nov. 18.

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concordia aluMna caroline vu has released her debut novel PALAWAN STORY. photo provided by caroline vu.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

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Exhibit // arts

Experiencing and shaping art together New creative project showing how solo art can become collective Lydia Anderson Contributor

H

ave you ever felt like your understanding of art can sometimes be very different from other people’s?

When examining and interpreting a piece of art, our reception tends to be influenced by our past experiences, personal inclinations and preconceived notions.

Fernando Pessoa’s book, The Book of Disquiet, is a compilation of unfinished works put together after his death in 1935.

It is surrounded with a continuous discourse concerning how it should be compiled and arranged. The piece’s unfinished qualities leave an interpretive and creative door open.

PME-ART, along with the Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery, have decided to use this to their artistic advantage with their new performative rewriting exhibit, Adventures can be found anywhere, même dans la mélancholie.

To put it simply, the writers partnering with PME-ART are continuing the editing process. By rewording, cutting up, adding to, or shifting emotional connotations, these writers are adding pieces of themselves into Pessoa’s work. Gallery-goers are able to observe the process as it happens, interact with the writers and the text and observe the work that’s been produced thus far. Although acts of writing and reading are not

usually practices paired with performance, this exhibit facilitates audience interaction and observation of an activity that can be said to be practiced, to an extent, by everyone.

A work creates a subjective experience for its reader because of what each reader emphasizes or brings to it. This concept is taken further by the performers’ implementing pieces of their own identities and subjectivities into the text.

This project allows for a solitary activity to expand into a group experience. With no immediate, visual emphasis as Fernando Pessoa’s book was assembled posthumously from various unfinished works. Photo by Lydia Anderson. the focus of the exhibit, the richness lies in the concept behind this activity. Its simplicity with which the author could express him- the conversation and translating the text into is what speaks to the audience, provoking self. This fact, along with the unfinished na- our time and experiences. This activity prothought about how we experience works of ture of the compilation, allows the concept vokes thought about how we experience art of authorship to be played with and expan- in what we bring to it and also about the art all together.

According to Claudia Fancello, one of sion of the work to be creatively fruitful and potential of our art culture: how fading our the performers at this exhibit, the presenta- tantalizing. individualistic practices holds the possibility This performance looks at Pessoa’s work of richer experiences and results. tion gives a rich experience to her as well.

The silence of reading, the reading of pas- and sees something partly unfinished, but sages aloud, and the sound of writing are sees it as an asset with a potential to be The creative project is taking place at the all elements which make her feel like she’s celebrated. The goal is not so much to im- Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery until in conversation with her fellow performers, prove upon this work, but to perform it and Nov. 1. For more information on the Adthe page, and the text. As an author, Pessoa to perform the concept of reading as an act venture can be found anywhere, même wrote behind a multitude of heteronyms; of rewriting. It’s not to dishonour an art- dans la mélancholie project, visit ellengalmore than alibis, these were different voices ist’s piece, but to celebrate it by joining in lery.concordia.ca.

Cinema Politica // arts

Abortion at sea, the story of Women on Waves Vessel shares the tale of women’s rights activist Dr. Gomberts helping all around the world Johanna Pellus Staff writer

H

ow can the obvious become disputable? How can a basic human right for a Dutch woman become an assault course for thousands of other women around the world? Vessel tells such a story and the fight of Dr. Gomperts.

Diana Whitten’s documentary movie follows the trials and tribulations of Women on Waves, a Dutch organization led by Dr. Rebecca Gomperts. This organization takes advantage of international marine law to provide legal and safe abortions to women who live in countries where abortion is illegal.

Winner of the South by Southwest Film Festival’s Special Jury Recognition for Political Courage award for documentary, Whitten made a portrait from inside of the 15-year history of the organization. Using her own camera as well as footage filmed by previous aspiring documentarians who boarded Gomperts’ ship, Whitten succeeds at bringing us into the depths of the vessel. It also presents intelligibly to the audience Women on Web, the organization that was created to share informations about safe abortion around the world.

“If men could get pregnant, there wouldn’t be abortion laws,” said Gomperts to The Times last week. The doctor keeps promoting and developing the underground network of emboldened, informed activists, working at the radical cutting edge of global reproductive rights, who trust women to

handle abortion themselves. Polish activist Kinga Jelinska mentions at the end of the movie that Women on Waves has received an increasing number of inquiries from the United States in recent years.

Even if animated sequences with medical and statistical details provide valuable context, some detractors may find that the subject would need a more distanced approach. But if you want to change people’s minds, you need to bring them inside the

reality.

That is one goal of documentary cinema: to show a reality. Vessel does exactly that, even it it means not being objective. Vessel if the reality of activism, with its successes and defeats.

This documentary movie is a must-see for anyone interested in human rights or activism. It keeps reminding us how a right is never totally gained and must always be fought for to assure its preservation.

Vessel premieres in Quebec as part of Cinema Politica Concordia on Monday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m. in the Hall Building, 1455 de Maisonneuve W. Blvd. The movie is co-presented with Fédération du Québec pour le planning des naissances and the Concordia Centre for Gender Advocacy.

The director will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A. For more information about the screening, visit cinemapolitica. org.

Women on Waves travels the globe to offer the opportunity to women living in anti-abortion countries to make their own choice.

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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Movies // arts

Classic spooky flicks so bad they’re good Our favourite bad horror movies list to help you decide what to watch on Halloween

Blacula (1972) Leprechaun (1993)

Blacula (1972) From Kate Beckinsale in a tight black latex one-piece to team Edward, vampires have been used in countless pathetic movies as the cool-tempered, beautiful-looking tormented protagonist. Sadly, none of those films ever achieved the coolness of the true vampire master: Blacula himself! This character comes

Leprechaun (1993) Do not think of Lucky Charms’ lovely character; picture instead a 600-year-old creepy-looking, dark-humoured leprechaun. He still loves to play, sing and joke around like any other member of his mythical race, but he complements those charming characteristics with the bad habit of murdering and torturing people who stand between him and his precious gold.

A whole prolific series of films was produced based on this absurd character, and every single one of those movies could be listed here.

In the fourth, he goes to space; in the third, he goes gambling in Vegas; in the second, he goes looking for a bride; he even goes to the “hood” to chill with his “homies” in the two following movies of the series. For some reason, a reboot on the origins of the sadistic creature came out this summer. For the sake of this list, though, we’ll choose the original 1993 Leprechaun directed by Mark Jones that started it all. Seriously, it has a pogo-stabbing kill and a shallow shotgun-wielding Jennifer Aniston (badass Rachel?) as the main protagonist. What’s not to like?

Night of the Lepus (1972)

Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) Okay, I know, another “outer space” movie may make this list appear slightly repetitive.

Still, when dealing with silly monsters, overthe-top plots and creative slaughters, don’t you think it’s always better when it comes from another galaxy? It brings things to a whole other level in my opinion. This time, aliens taking the form of killer klowns (with a K) are coming to visit us and, unsurprisingly, kill us. The creators of this movie, the Chiodo brothers, succeeded in creating one hell of an absurdly disturbing movie. They gave a somewhat cheap film a twist that transforms the whole invading alien story into a wacky circus-themed killing extravaganza. Those comically creepy ex-

Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)

Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) Considered by some as the worst movie of all time, Plan 9 from Outer Space is the paramount example of the good-because-it-is-so-bad genre. This piece of cinematographic anthology is the product of Ed Wood, one of most significant B movie emissaries. His passion was only equalled by his fundamental lack of filmic talent. Still, his originality and an unshakable will to create films made possible the creation of this ultimate lemon among lemons, this gem of bad taste and awkwardness. The plot is basic enough: aliens coming to earth to stop us from making a weapon capable of destroying all that is good in this world. Their plan? The ninth one, consisting of waking up the dead. From there follows an intense and clumsy struggle between the medievally dressed aliens and the weirdly stiff humans, and also the undead, including a gargantuan brute, a skinny lookalike of Elvira, mistress of darkness, and what appears to be an homage to the renowned Bela Lugosi. Amateur special effects, an overall clunky cinematography and second-rate dialogue all mingle together to produce one hell of a bad movie. Plan 9 from Outer Space is the one movie you ought to suf-

Night of the Lepus (1972) In an unbalanced world, Mother Nature’s offspring has become out of control. Terrifying creatures roam the earth looking for prey to hunt and feed on. A small south western village has to confront these nightmarish monsters and fight for their survival. But how could they defeat those carnivorous, giant, killer… bunnies? It is hard not to both laugh at and be curious about Night of the Lepus’ premise.

God knows how many movies have used mutant animals as their scary monstrosities. Still, you’ve got to admit that rabbits are a refreshing variance on the genre. The movie has so much to give to the audience: meticulous (and ridiculous) close-ups of the evil rodents act as attempts to instill a suspenseful atmosphere; bunnies leaping on their powerless victims as spectacularly as the similar Monty Python monster; a policeman very seriously telling people that “there is a herd of killer rabbits heading [their] way”; a final showdown pitting the army and their almighty flamethrowers against the hungry, deadly cottontails. There’s something for everyone in William F. Claxton’s Night of the Lepus, especially for those furry critter lovers out there.

straight out of the film era known as blaxploitation, and is now considered a true cult figure. In his eponymous film, Blacula is an African prince transformed by Dracula into the funky blood-sucking persona we see on screen. Transported to America by an interracial gay couple of decorators (believe it or not, this was quite a rarity in movies in the ‘70s), the haunted prince looks for his longlost wife taken from him 200 years ago. In his desperate search, Blacula ends up drinking the blood of a panoply of singular characters, each more ridiculous than the last. This tragic vampire story may not be what you would expect from the contemporary sparkling, cheap equivalents, but that’s exactly why it’s worth your time. It’s silly, unconventional and weirdly enjoyable.

Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2009)

For me October is a month of vile creatures, fictional murderers and stories that make me double-check every single lock in my apartment. The past week has been a shameless marathon of the best blood-curdlers and funniest flops out there. Interestingly enough, I had the most fun with those B movies. The ones that are so bad, that they actually end up being pretty good. Here is a list of some of the worst horror movies to make you laugh on those upcoming spooky Halloween nights.

Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2009) Think The Birds, without talent, decent acting, budget and any kind of cinematographic value whatsoever. Actually, don’t think the The Birds, Hitchcock would probably turn in his grave. Just add the most sketchy CGI murderous birds ever seen on screen, and here is Birdemic: Shock and Terror for you. Here, the combination of poor quality and actual attempted seriousness on the part of the creators made one of the most well-known bad movies of the last few years. There’s even a sequel that was released in 2013! It is hard to actually successfully describe this movie. It is impossible to convey the actual Birdemic experience without showing the actual movie. Birds killing people is a wacky premise, but not unseen.

It is the way it is done: the worst possible way.

You know you need to watch this now right?

Believe me, you will never forget your first sight of Birdemic: Shock and Terror’s beautifully sickening murderous birds. It will haunt you, as any horror movie should. Even if its for the bad reasons.

traterrestrials use a variety of tools usual to the humble clownesque profession to kill, torment and scare the inhabitants of a small town.

Twisted balloons, puppets, a parade, colourful costumes and makeup: it’s all in there. Killer Klowns from Outer Space is the perfect movie to renew your childhood coulrophobia.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

Frédéric T. Muckle Arts editor

fer through, ‘cause when it’s that bad, it’s actually good.

music

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Write to the editor: music@theconcordian.com

Profile // MUSIC

The Gay Nineties party like it’s 1899

“

The band celebrates the 1890s, a decade touched by new art, literature, and optimism JESSICa roMEra Staff writer

B

etween the 7 a.m. wakeup calls and the 13-hour cross-country drives to reach their next show, The Gay Nineties try find time to read, unwind...and have some daytime Merlot.

Just last week, vocalist and guitarist, Parker Bossley, was in Toronto representing the Vancouver-based band at the CASBYs, an awards ceremony that showcases alternative and independent Canadian acts.

Though in Toronto, the other boys in the band, Malcolm Holt on drums, Bruce Ledingham on keys and Daniel Knowlton on bass and vocals, were on their way to their next show in Fredericton, N.B. “The thing about touring...is that it’s not that exciting,” said Bossley. “I’m kind of constantly on tour. Some might say that I’m just running away from my problems,” he joked.

Bossley, who also plays bass full time with CASBY-nominated group Mounties, worked for a long while as a session musician before forming this band.

“My real passion was always song-

the band’s upcoMinG ep, LIBERAL GUILT,

writing,” he said. “So I quit all my other bands, sold my bass guitar and equipment, and started a band.”

Calling up his longtime friends, Holt and Knowlton, and then later Ledingham, The Gay Nineties were born. They had previously released Coming Together, essentially an EP collection of four songs.

Not just a cheeky play on words, the Coming Together EP personified the group’s musical process and style.

“We knew the sound of that EP wouldn’t be our sound forever,” said Bossley. “That’s the sound of a band trying to find their sound.”

Since then, they’ve been on tour promoting their upcoming EP, Liberal Guilt.

Although officially slated to be released in late November, the album’s been on soft release at their shows, giving people a taste of their infectiously catchy and melodic breed of alternative rock. It’s at times psychedelically charged, with moments of glowing indie-pop, that’s garnered them comparisons to the likes of The Kooks and Arctic Monkeys.

“It’s absurd...but nice?” said Parker.

“We’ve found what our sound is going to be for the next few years.”

Comparisons aside, The Gay Nineties are immensely proud of Liberal Guilt.

I’m a critic. I criticize everthing I do, but I’m very proud of this.

We listen to it in the van, that’s a good sign. This is the most proud I’ve ever been.

- Parker Bossley

Bossley rarely forces his friends and family to listen to his music, but just couldn’t hold back with this one.

“I’m a critic. I criticize the things that I do, but I’m very proud of this,” he beamed, adding, “We listen to it in the van, that’s a good sign. This is the most proud I’ve ever been.”

Fans of The Beatles, The Gay Nineties admire the Liverpool lads’ simple style, both lyrically and instrumentally. “What

features their psychedelically charGed alternative rock.

I appreciate the most about The Beatles is that they’re challenging you, but your ear never notices,” said Bossley.

“I think art should change, if it’s real.

Everyone changes every single day and every single month.”

Their appreciation for all things Beatles doesn’t end there: on “Turn Me On,” off the upcoming EP, they lift directly the eternally lovely and whimsical lyrics: “Somebody’s knocking at the door/Somebody’s ringing the bell/ Do me a favour/ Open the door/And let ‘em in” from Paul McCartney’s 1976 hit “Let ‘Em In”.

Drawing inspiration once again from the past, the band’s name itself is a reference to the 1890s. The decade, which was at the center of what was known in parts of Europe as La Belle Epoque (The Beautiful Era), was characterized by an explosion of art, literature, and optimism.

“There were a lot of amazing and liberating things happening,” said Bossley.

“The Gay Nineties is this fun way of sharing this feeling that we wanted to convey.”

The feeling in question is that of celebration and overall happiness which can be felt throughout Liberal Guilt, since the band writes songs so that “people can enjoy them.”

Two singles already out, including “Letterman,” with its accompanying music video that sees the band spoofing the classic late night talk show format, The Gay Nineties are already looking ahead.

“We’re about to go into full on writing mode. We want to follow this EP up pretty quickly with a full-length. We’ve pretty much got half of it written, ready to go,” said Bossley.

“We don’t really have time to waste, so we’ll be diving right into it,” he continued. “But we will definitely be sipping wine while we do it.”

The Gay Nineties had to cancel their Montreal date, but will be passing through Montreal in the near future.

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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Quick Spins

Top 5 // music

Top 5: Super Sweet Electric Guitars

A list of famous electric guitar and the legends who played them Paul Traunero Staff writer

Ben Howard - I Forget Where We Were (Island/Republic; 2014) British folk-rock prince, Ben Howard, has graced us with his presence once again in the form of his latest album, I Forget Where We Were. While his debut, the Mercury Prize-nominated Every Kingdom, showcased his distinctive vocals and an almost purely acoustic tracklist, his sophomore release sees a range in instrumentation: “End Of The Affair” is amped up and plugged in, with a buildup of emotion, percussion, and electric guitar. Howard has not lost his folk nature, though: “In Dreams” and “She Treats Me Well” follow the same soft, acoustic style found on his debut. But where Every Kingdom was evidently filled with more feel-good songs, IFWWW seems to come from a more introspective and emotional place, characterized by sombre tones and intense melodic interludes timed perfectly within many tracks. If it was not already obvious from his debut, then I Forget Where We Were will solidify Ben Howard as a singer/songwriter powerhouse.

5. Fender Telecaster, famously played by Jimmy Page As one of the most effective and revolutionary designs for electric guitars, the Fender Telecaster was the first commercial solid-body, singlecutaway electric guitar produced by Fender.

Page selected this model for the up-tempo hard rock solo in the final section of Led Zeppelin’s eight-minute monumental hit, “Stairway to Heaven,” from the band’s 1971 album, Led Zeppelin IV. The arrangement highlighted the cutting twang and warm bluesy tone of the Fender Telecaster which had previously made it a favourite amongst country musicians.

4. Gibson ES-355, famously played by B.B. King Hailed as the world’s first commercial thinline archtop semi-hollow electric guitar, the Gibson ES-355 provided the versatility of the solid body along with a warmer, mellow tone of an acoustic guitar.

King’s instrument of choice is a black Gibson ES-355, which he calls “Lucille.” The name acts as a reminder of a near-death experience

involving a fire at a club where King was performing, allegedly started due to two men quarreling over a woman named Lucille. An excellent solo featuring the warm tone of “Lucille” can be heard on the track “The Thrill Is Gone” from his 1969 album, Completely Well.

3. Gibson ES-175, famously played by Joe Pass The American virtuoso jazz guitarist has collaborated with almost every jazz musician in the business and almost always with his Gibson ES-175 in hand. Deemed as one of the most famous jazz guitars in history, the Gibson ES-175 is more accessible than the Gibson L-5, due to its all-laminate construction which reduced the overall cost and prevented unwanted feedback.

Pass was hailed as one of the greatest jazz guitarists of all time for his refined technique, sophisticated harmonic sensibility and purity of sound. A great example of Pass’ talent and the mellow sound of the Gibson ES-175 is showcased on his incredible 1973 album, Virtuoso.

Fender guitar for most of his career. One of the most copied guitar shapes, the Stratocaster is a hugely versatile model that has been used in genres ranging from country to heavy metal.

Hendrix’s Stratocaster was his particular favourite, which he lovingly dubbed “Black Beauty.” Its double-cutaway feature allowed Hendrix to access the upper frets and achieve higher notes than most guitars of its kind, as featured on the hit single “All Along The Watchtower” from his 1968 album, Electric Ladyland.

2. Fender Stratocaster, famously played by Jimi Hendrix Notorious for his outrageous techniques and burning his guitar on stage during his live sets, Hendrix used the Stratocaster model of

1. Gibson L-5, famously played by Wes Montgomery First produced in 1922, the Gibson L-5 model was considered the top rhythm guitar during the big band era. Easily identified by its f-holes (sound holes resembling the shape of a lowercase ‘f’) and hollow design, by the time Montgomery hit the scene in 1958, the Gibson L-5 had become an easily accessible standard.

A notable feature of Montgomery’s sound was that he played with his thumb rather than with a standard guitar pick. Feeling that the pick never produced the right sound, he used the fleshy part of the thumb to create the distinct sound featured on his standout 1960 album, The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery.

Joe Pass, Gibson ES-175

Jimi Hendrix, Fender Stratoscaster

Trial track: “End Of The Affair”

10/10

- Jessica Romera

B.B. King, Gibson ES-355

Top 10 // music

10 songs that make me want to vomit Evgenia Choros Contributor

Foxygen - ...And Star Power (Jagjaguwar Records; 2014) If you listen to Foxygen’s new double album ...And Star Power without any prior knowledge of the California-based band, you might call it “disjointed” and “chaotic,” and you know what? You would be absolutely right. Within that chaos, there seems to be little semblance of order. Although divided into four different sections, Sam France and Jonathan Rado’s follow-up to We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic (2013) is a 24-track meandering mess, less of an epic musical odyssey and more of a disorienting drift through incoherent and overindulgent lo-fi experimental rock. By the mid-point of the record, I felt hoodwinked by the easy-listening catchy sounds of the first single, “How Can You Really.” If I wanted to listen to chaotic lo-fi experimental rock done right, I’d listen to The Unicorns instead.

Trial Track: “How Can You Really”

3/10

- Ayan Chowdhury

It’s hard putting together a list of things that really annoy you—especially songs. So many come to mind that the competition is fierce.

You could spend hours writing lists for most genres.

On this list, I tried to gather songs from the mainstream scenes and genres in order to make it as fair as possible for everyone (and by all means feel free to disagree!)

10: Coldplay - “Clocks” The whole song is one progression that repeats itself forever and ever and ever and ever…everybody has heard it at least once, and that one time is much more than enough.

9: Nickelback - “Something In Your Mouth” Any song by Nickelback could be on this list, but this one wins the “worst song of the worst band” competition. Not only for the sexism apparent throughout, or for the evident fact that Nickelback cannot write good music, but for the lyric “you’re so much cooler when you never pull it out/‘cause you look so much cuter with something in your mouth.”

8: Avril Lavigne - “Girlfriend” I admit it. I was amongst the people that in their teens thought Avril was punk, because that’s how far my knowledge of punk rock

went. The first two albums were alright. Then this came out. Bleached-blonde Avril singing in pumps and tiny shorts about how she could be a better girlfriend by being “catty” and “original” with dancers in the back—just like a Britney Spears video clip. This song made me realize how the music industry will crush any traces of hope for something slightly different.

sex metaphors. Only Jagger has the right to talk about his moves.

5: Baauer - “Harlem Shake” Every time I hear the first few seconds of this song my blood rushes to my head because I expect someone to pop out and start that terrible dance. This song is three minutes and 17 seconds of a lion’s roar and the repetition of the words “el” and “con los terroristas.” How do you even make the connection?!

4: Carly Rae Jepsen - “Call Me Maybe” I’m not heartless; I believe in love at first sight with a stranger. BUT YOU DON’T JUST GO GIVE THE GUY YOUR NUMBER! How desperate are you? A little class won’t kill the romance.

3: Rihanna - “Man Down” …Because she thinks this is reggae. And it’s not. Not in any universe.

2: One Direction - “One Way Or Another (Teenage Kicks)” Illustration by Celeste Lee Every time I hear this song I wonder how Deb7: Justin Bieber - “Boyfriend” bie Harry let this happen to her music…

Bieber’s singing, overall, is not completely terrible, but this song just makes me want to say: 1: Nicki Minaj - “Anaconda” “Sorry, dude. Your attempt to copy Justin Tim- This song goes with the video-clip, because if berlake’s singing is failing on every level.” you didn’t catch all the metaphors, you can match them with soft-core porn. The lyrics, 6: Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera “Moves the annoying laughter, the way she rips off Like Jagger” “Baby Got Back”— so many things! And you Because it’s annoying… Because you don’t thought 50 Cent was being sexist with “Candy dare use a rock icon in a bad pop song about Shop.”

sports

Tuesday, OcTOber 28, 2014

Write to the editor: sports@theconcordian.com

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Sports in the News Women’s Hockey // SPorTS

On the road with the Stingers our reporter hops on the bus with the women’s hockey team to ottawa ELIaS LaradI Staff writer

I

t was 3 p.m on Friday, Oct. 25. The bags were packed, the bus was loaded and we were headed to face the GeeGees from the University of Ottawa. Last weekend I had the privilege to join the women’s hockey team on a road trip and got to experience what it was like to ride the bus with Concordia’s athletes.

They spent most of the trip talking, surfing the web with the bus’ built-in wifi and watching movies. After a 20-minute documentary on the Montreal Stars, a local women’s professional team, the team voted on the next movie. They chose to watch 13 Going on 30, an old chick flick starring Jennifer Garner.

By the end of the movie we had arrived in Ottawa, and then team was all business. The Stingers quickly got changed into their warm up clothes and dived into their routine, mostly standard warm up drills of running, jumping and stretching.

Following their standard on-ice warm up, last minute tape-jobs and pep talks, the Stingers were ready.

The first period got off to a great start for the Stingers as they pushed the pace of the game. With six minutes left in the period, the Stingers capitalized on a power play when Alyssa Sherrard tucked the puck past the Gee-Gees goalie to give the Stingers the 1-0 lead.

In the second period, after a bunch of penalties by both teams, neither team could take advantage of their power play opportunities. Solid goaltending on both ends of the ice kept the period scoreless until late in the second. Following a cross checking penalty against Ottawa, Concordia padded their lead. Stingers center Cassiel Lalonde-Lajeunesse took a great shot and gave Concordia the 2-0 lead.

The game plan for the third period was simple: preserve the lead. However, it didn’t start out that way. Within 18 seconds, Ottawa had cut Concordia’s lead to 2-1, thanks to a goal by Violaine Houle.

After that, the Stingers went back to attacking the Gee-Gees net looking for a third goal to regain their two-goal lead.

The Stingers got another power play advantage, but couldn’t beat Ottawa goalie Caitlin Fowler. She stood tall in net and stopped every shot she faced on the power play. The game went back and forth as both teams pushed hard to get goals on the board, but this match became the battle of the goaltenders.

Fast-forward to the end of the period with just two minutes left in the game.

Stingers player Marie-Joelle Allard got called for a questionable hit to the head.

Concordia’s captain Danielle Scarlett contested the call with the referee but the official did not change his mind.

Unfortunately, with just 23 seconds on the clock, the Gee-Gees finally capitalized on a power play. Ottawa forward CarolAnn Upshall fired a shot that went top-

shelf and into the back of the net, tying the game at 2-2.

As the game went into overtime, both teams were looking for that goal that would end the game. Both teams pushed hard and got plenty of shots on net. Near the end of the period Concordia seemed to dominate but, once again, couldn’t beat Fowler.

The game continued into a shootout with best-of-five shooters. No player on either team scored until the third round when Upshall scored again for the GeeGees. Sadly, that’s all it took. The shootout finished 1-0 for the Gee-Gees and the final score was 3-2 for Ottawa.

After the game assistant coach Mike Mcgrath was proud of his team for the great effort.

“We played great and we totally deserved better. It was a physical game and I still don’t understand that mystery call, but we kept strong and showed how strong we can be,” said Mcgrath.

Stingers goalie Katherine Purchase was happy with her performance, her first in a Stingers jersey.

“I played pretty good the first two periods and I feel I got cold in the third period. I was a little nervous but it was good to get some experience,” said Purchase.

Despite the loss, the trip back was a positive one. Waiting for us on the bus was some pasta with garlic bread. The mood was upbeat and relaxing. Food makes everything better, even a tough loss.

Illustration by Marie-Pier LaRose

TIM LaZIEr Sports editor

>> UNITING US ALL In the shadows of the madness that shook our country last week, it was clear that, in the thick of things, sports didn’t matter. After two separate incidents that led to the murders of two Canadian soldiers, how could silly little games possibly matter? And yet, in the midst of such tragedy, we were reminded why they do. It began when the Pittsburgh Penguins hosted the Philadelphia Flyers and before puck drop, they played the Canadian national anthem. Throughout the week, other organizations followed suit. It was such a simple gesture but it represented the unity of the sports community. Whether it’s our nation’s pastime or not, sports bring people together and, in this situation, allows us to heal together. On Saturday, before the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators and Canadiens home games, there was a joint video presentation and a harmonious singing of the national anthems; a heartwarming moment that brought fans of all allegiances together. Before the Ottawa game as people filed into the Canadian Tire Center, some Senators fans even made some homemade modifications to their jerseys. Multiple people had taped over the back of their jerseys and written “Cirillo” across them, honouring Corporal Nathan Cirillo who had been killed in Ottawa on Oct. 22.

>> BEST IN THE NFL? It seems the Denver Broncos can do no wrong lately. After breaking Brett Favre’s all-time touchdown record against the San Francisco 49ers in week seven, Peyton Manning led his team to a convincing win over the San Diego Chargers on Thursday, Oct. 23. Now the Broncos are 6-1 and have gotten through the hardest part of their schedule. They’ve won four straight and many wonder, with this momentum, if they can run the table for the rest of the season and go undefeated. Their last real test of the season will be on Sunday, Nov. 2, when the Broncos head to New England to play the Patriots. The Patriots are 6-2 and are the AFC’s second best team. Time will tell if the road to the AFC Championship game will head through Foxborough, or Denver. The defending Super Bowl champions, the Seattle Seahawks were primed for another run at the Lombardy trophy heading into this season. However, after losing two of their last three games, the Seahawks are on the outside looking in and will have to fight to even get into the playoffs, let alone be considered a favourite.

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Tuesday, OcTOber 28, 2014

Hockey // SPorTS

New direction for the Montreal Canadiens fan base Club 1909 is a campaign that aims to promote the Habs organization as a global entity

Comedic actor and local star Jay Baruchel is all over the place these days, particularly in situations that would normally warrant him a restraining order. Whether he’s staring at a fast-asleep Carey Price, or hiding in Max Pacioretty’s duffle bag, this behavior seems a little strange...but it is all part of the Montreal Canadiens’ re-branding campaign, Club 1909.

Officially launched on Oct.15, the promotion is a rewards program that fans can sign up for. It is the first attempt at creating an identity that extends far beyond the borders of Quebec, reaching out to Habs fans all over the world. The campaign is promoted through an online program which fans can join for free or, for those who wish to earn more benefits, can pay $29.99 for a premium membership.

Fans can earn points for virtually anything. Whether it’s by simply watching a game on television, or following the team on various social media outlets, an accumulation of points can give fans rewards that are not usually sold to the public. Rewards include game-used pucks, jerseys and even the chance to watch a game from the Owner’s Suite.

For an organization with such rich tradition and history, owner Geoff Molson is not afraid of breaking boundaries and pushing the organization into unchartered territories. Molson hired creative director Justin Kingsley, a Concordia journalism graduate from 1996, to promote the campaign’s main goal: including fans from all over the world, by creating a united, interconnected community that identifies with the Montreal Canadiens.

Kingsley has worked as an advertising executive for Montreal UFC icon George St-Pierre, Adidas and the Olympics.

“We realized if Man U could do it, why couldn’t the Montreal Canadiens?” said Kingsley, in a recent interview with the Montreal Gazette. “We are hockey’s team so we’re going for it.”

The Montreal Canadiens are attempting to become the first hockey team to reach worldwide recognition, similar to

hockey, is an expensive sport to play … so that particular barrier is not insurmountable.”

Moreover, it is important to note that hockey has grown in popularity in markets that, over a decade ago, wouldn’t have invested in hockey. Concordia alumnus and senior manager for Customs Logistics at Avon Canada Stan Czebruk points out that the game is stronger than ever, from a business standpoint.

“The fact that hockey is not played around the world will change. There are some leagues developing in Australia and South Africa. Just as soccer has gained recognition here in North America, hockey will grow more on a global scale,” said Czerbruk.

Thus, it seems like the Montreal Cana-

diens have the perfect recipe for success in international waters: a winning legacy and strategic marketing techniques, such as social media to engage fans worldwide.

“There is a particularly strong emotional dimension to a sports fan … There is no better way to tap into the emotions of millions of fans as individuals than via social media,” said Barbieri.

Uniting fans across seas through social media will bring the club to a level that will set them apart from their NHL rivals, and closer to the likes of teams like the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, and Manchester United. With a glorious past and a promising future, Habs fans all over the world will now be able to live all the highs and lows with their beloved team.

Illustration by Marie-Pier LaRose

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SafIa aHMad Contributor

that of famous soccer club Manchester United. However, this ambitious initiative poses some concern. Hockey is a sport that is mainly played in North America and Europe, whereas soccer is a relatively inexpensive sport that is played all over the world.

Will the nature of the sport pose any difficulty for its establishment in different markets? Concordia marketing Professor Bryan Barbieri doesn’t think so.

“It is not only soccer clubs that have built strong global brands,” said Barbieri.

“The New York Yankees and the Dallas Cowboys also are successful in that regard. Each is an iconic brand in its own sport and each is now ranked in the top five of the world’s Most Valuable Brands … by Forbes magazine. Football, like

Tuesday, OcTOber 28, 2014

opinions

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Write to the editor: opinions@theconcordian.com Editorial // oPINIoNS

Please help us to help you, CSU a little transparency from the student union would go a long way This semester, reporting on the Concordia Student Union (CSU) has been a little tricky for us here at The Concordian.

Firstly, we haven’t been getting the CSU’s emails. Last year, we received notices a few days before a regular or special council meeting would take place.

This year, The Concordian received a total of one email regarding a special council meeting back in July. Since then, nothing.

Now, there can be a variety of reasons why we have not been getting notifications, and it might be a simple oversight.

If anything, not getting these emails has made us, as journalists, work a little harder, as we have to actively seek out information.

Our jobs are further complicated when the actual times and places of meetings cannot seem to be found anywhere on the CSU’s social media. Not only does this make it hard for us to report on what goes on, but it makes it impossible for students who wish to attend to do so. After all, council meetings are open to the public.

And it’s not like the CSU hasn’t been active on social media; they post lots of things on their Facebook page concerning upcoming events, but not a word about meetings.

The CSU has also neglected to post any

documents to their website so far this year.

In the past, the union would post meeting minutes about a month after fact since minutes would be approved at the following council meeting. While the website is reportedly under construction, and has been for some time, there is no information listed about when the site will be updated or how documents can be accessed in the meantime.

The CSU has also not posted any minutes since 2012. Especially this year, when the CSU is running a large deficit and asking students for a fee levy increase, the union should be more focused on transparency.

While these problems pose massive inconveniences to anyone looking to learn

about the activities of the CSU, the solutions are relatively simple. Information about meetings should be posted clearly and in advance on social media, via the pre-existing email list and on a backup website. The CSU represents thousands of undergraduate students, posting updates and documents on a backup site or WordPress is not beyond the stretch of the imagination.

At the end of the day, average Concordia students don’t attend regularly scheduled or special CSU council meetings. But student media do, and we relate the pertinent information to our audience as a service, for free. If the CSU has nothing to hide, then there’s no excuse not to help us to keep the student body informed.

religion // oPINIoNS

Coverage of the Church needs divine intervention Latest synod proves the need for better understanding roBIN STaNford Staff writer

T

he media deals with religious issues with the grace of a bull in a china shop.

It is no surprise that last week’s reporting of the meeting of the Catholic synod was dealt with the same tact. Although actual events do not reflect the “Victory for Pope Francis on gay issues” reported on BBC News, for a specific group of Catholics, the results were no less important.

Although not the homosexual revolution, the event did open the doors of the Vatican to the public who was able to see the inner working of the Church.

The Catholic synod, which closed on Oct. 19, focused on the family, divorce, contraception, and homosexual persons.

A synod, according to Dr. Paul Allen, associate professor with Concordia’s Department of Theological Studies, is a meeting among bishops to decide how to apply Catholic doctrine or teachings.

“People see church teachings as overly dogmatic, bizarre, strict, abhorrent, beautiful, wonderful, inspiring work, and combinations thereof,” Allen said. A meeting of this type is a chance to clarify what these are, and how they should be applied in the concrete reality faced by Catholics in the areas these

bishops are from.

Far from being a universal decree, the document produced at the close of the synod would stand as an agreement for how this group of clergy would deal with specific situations in the churches under their jurisdiction.

At the outset of this synod, the main focus was thought to be whether or not Catholics who were civilly divorced and remarried should be allowed to participate in communion (the ceremony of taking bread and wine).

The issue is created, according to Allen, by the fact that it is very difficult to get an annulment, or church divorce.

Due to the bureaucratic elements in ob-

taining such status, there exists a wide variance across geographical regions regarding how long an annulment may take to get, if it is allowed at all.

Although the initial focus of the meeting was on the divorced, it shifted towards homosexuality around its midway point. The disagreement between bishops surrounded the “reduction of the individual to one sexual trait” according to Allen.

Non-western bishops viewed such wording as fixating needlessly on sex to the detriment of other, more important Church concerns, such as alleviating poverty, doing charity work, and generally building up the Church.

Illustration by Maris-Pier LaRose

Although the final document was not approved, it is not clear if it was a result of the homosexual issue. “Unlike with Democrats and Republicans these individuals talk to each other all the time,” Allen said. The vote of each bishop may reflect individual cultural as well as ideological differences.

The importance of the final vote, among Catholics, is questionable. Allen advises that individual priests may not be denying communion to these individuals. This varies from one community to another.

Individual practitioners of the Catholic Church may also diverge with the Church’s position. Gabrielle Bouchard, Peer Support and Trans Advocacy Coordinator with Centre for Gender Advocacy, knows of this personally.

“My parents are both devout Catholics and although my mother is a believer, she disagrees with the Church on the rejection and sinfulness [of being LGBT],” said Bouchard.

Even if the document had passed, those who have left the Church would probably have no had reason to return.

Unlike what has been portrayed in the media, the synod was not concerning the ‘welcoming’ of homosexuals into the church.

Instead of focusing on what it did not accomplish, a spotlight should be placed on the fact that it attempted to be an opportunity for animated, honest, and transparent dialogue.

Allen summarized the entire Synod as following this momentum: “[Pope] Francis’s strategy is to have an open conversation and I think many Catholics appreciate [it].”

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Tuesday, october 28, 2014

Column // opinions

World View: A Churchillian solution, a calling to arms Ottawa shooter wasn’t a terrorist: he was a troubled man

Mattha Busby Staff writer

B

laming a foreign enemy for your own shortcomings has been a popular policy for governments since the dawn of organized gov-

ernance.

Stephen Harper’s repetitious employment of the term ‘terrorist’ is to dissociate Michael Zehaf-Bibeau from the mainstream of non-radicalized, non-politically deviant young Canadians.

It’s far easier to cast someone as an outsider than address the cause of such deviance.

The term itself, terrorist, has undergone some sort of semantic evolution since

9/11. The practical definition has become so broadly ambiguous that it is often misapplied, willfully or otherwise, by governments, civilians and combatants alike.

If terrorism is defined as “the unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims,” then surely America’s drone wars would satisfy this definition.

The perpetrator in the Ottawa shootings was a crazed, troubled man who, so far, has only been proven to have had spurious links with terrorist organizations and cells.

Canada, along with many other countries including the U.S. and the U.K., must invest more money in treating the mentally ill and limiting the availability of firearms.

But most importantly, the West must create inclusive societies where migrant workers and their descendants do not feel excluded from an increasingly xenophobic, Islamophobic mainstream.

In his speech on Thursday, Harper re-

minded his compatriots that “Canada is not immune to the types of terrorist attacks that we have seen around the world”.

A rather overdue realization for a Prime Minister of a country who, as the headline of a Glenn Greenwald article this week told us, has been at war for thirteen years—yet was shocked when one of its soldiers was attacked.

Bandwagoning onto U.S.-led ‘anti-terror’ crusades throughout the Middle East will inevitably provoke an eventual response.

Attacks such as these, he remarked, are attacks upon “our country, our society, our values … as a free and democratic people who embrace human dignity for all.”

Whilst no one will argue that the Islamic State does not employ savage methods as they spread terror, dehumanizing your enemy gets you nowhere.

“Fight against the terrorist organizations who seek to brutalize those in other countries, with the hope of bringing their savagery to our shores,” implored Harper.

“They will have no safe haven,” he told us.

By implicitly juxtaposing the dual notions of the savagery of terrorist organizations and the presumed civility of the people of these shores, he simply dichotomizes, alienates and offers nothing.

Harper, the man who eloquently concluded his speech by remarking that “today has been without question, a difficult day,” has no new ideas.

His only solution to the attacks in Quebec and Ottawa this week is to bandwagon with the U.S. into a new war of neocolonial implication as Bush’s War on Terror undergoes a renaissance.

This is not a solution, but a call to arms. If Western governments continue to use the tragic passing of men like Corporal Cirillo or Fusilier Drummer Rigby as the rationale for an escalation of the ‘war on terror,’ simply because their murderer may have muttered, or indeed screamed “Allah Akbar,” then it is a war they will never win. It will only serve to perpetuate itself.

Nation // opinions

Where did my Canada go? A year of tragedy...

Three senseless attacks have left us saddened, but strong Laura Marchand Opinions editor

I

t has been an unimaginably difficult week for Canadians from coast-tocoast. We have always thought of ourselves as a peaceful country: one where gun violence is rare, and terrorism rarer still.

Our politicians walked to work. You could walk into the heart of the country’s government on your daily route. Last week, we lived in a Canada where Parliament’s flag didn’t fly at half-mast.

And then, it was gone. And I didn’t know where my Canada went.

In June, we lost three RCMP officers to a man with a gun in Moncton, N.B. He injured two others, and after a long and gruelling 28-hour manhunt where the country held its breath, he was apprehended in a resident’s backyard. It was not only a horrible tragedy, but it was also Moncton’s first homicide in four years.

Then, last week, we hear of a driver running down two soldiers in St-Jean-surRichelieu. We all hoped it wasn’t deliberate, even as one of the soldiers succumbed to his injuries. Patrice Vincent, the 53-year-old Warrant Officer who was killed, liked making cabinets. He was close to retiring.

And finally, the penultimate tragedy: a gunman killed an unarmed soldier who was guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

That gunman then entered Parliament, lodging bullets in the walls and doors of our highest institution.

Our government officials stacked chairs against doors and grabbed flagpoles as weapons to defend themselves. One parliamentary guard was shot in the foot trying to push the man’s gun down.

One of these events would have been shocking – but all three, in one year? Worse, in six months?

It is not an easy time for our country. In fact, it is a very emotional time – but that does not mean we should allow ourselves to be ruled by that emotion. The moment that hate and fear cloud our judgement, we as a country have failed.

The Friday after the attack on Parliament Hill, a mosque leader in Cold Lake, Alta arrived to find his mosque vandalized.

The words “Canada” and “Go Home” were

scrawled on the walls in red spray paint. This sort of blind hate – because it is definitely hate, and most definitely blind – is not Canadian. This was proven by the dozens of volunteers who showed up that very same day to scrub those words off the mosque, and placed words of welcome, such as “Love your neighbour” and “You are home.”

We must not hate fellow Canadians for what they believe. We must resist the urge to name the perpetrators and spread their images on social media, giving them the infamy they clearly desired. It would be unfair

to elevate our Sergeant-at-Arms – who took a life – to hero status, when he is struggling under the weight of his deed. And it would be horribly, horribly irresponsible to give the government a carte blanche in terms of legislation and debate, simply because we want a quick solution to a complex problem.

What we can do – and should do – is mourn. Mourn for our fallen soldiers and the mentally ill who took their lives.

But don’t mourn for Canada. She might be gone for now – but with luck, she is not forgotten.

Parliament stands above the Ottawa River in winter. On OCt. 22, a gunman entered Parliament and began shooting. Photo from Vince Alongi on Flickr.

Tuesday, october 28, 2014

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Art // opinions

Stickin’ it to this ‘cheeky’ sculpture In the case of contemporary art, we should pull the plug Jocelyn Beaudet Online editor

I love art. In fact, I believe that most people can come to appreciate art to some extent.

From music, plays, movies and paintings, art is a part of our lives that all of us can relate to. Art is beautiful, art is expressive and—most importantly—art is provoking.

So when I say that Paul McCarthy’s giant inflatable butt plug is an affront to artistic integrity, keep those previous sentences into consideration and you’ll realize that I’m not just being surly.

Propping up a giant inflatable sex toy in the middle of Paris isn’t beautiful, it isn’t relatable, and it’s less provoking than watching reruns of Friends in slow motion. It’s tragically bland, carries no message and putting sexy things on display has been done a lot more gracefully in the past anyway. Quite simply put, it isn’t art, and it shouldn’t even be categorized as anything other than flushing down a load of money. It’s a tired fart joke, a farce that you might get a laugh from if you’re a teenager, or if you’ve never seen a butt plug before.

McCarthy’s anal stimulating balloon, he says, was meant as “abstract” and “a joke”, or so he told CBC. When I read comments like this in regards to a project of this magnitude, I’m outraged. While hundreds of artists toil away at making a living day-by-

day, working minimum-wage jobs to sur- dom,” when in reality, that ‘sculpture’ was from the annals of some artistic philosophy vive while working undyingly hard on often an attack on the principles of artistic integ- textbook. It’s a giant load of cash thrown in beautiful projects, Paris decides to throw rity. You don’t feel the need to deface proper the direction of a big artist who simply didn’t dosh in the direction of this abomination. art, because it reaches out to you. There’s know what to do this time around. Paul McThe livelihoods of artists who are genuinely no outrage, no cry for justice for McCarthy’s Carthy’s a phenomenal artist—look up his trying goes by completely ignored, while project, because unlike real art, it didn’t sculptures like Boxhead—they’re incredible what we get on display is this travesty—this mean anything. It wouldn’t mean anything and well-designed, unlike this monstrosity. so-called “joke”—put forth by someone who if they propped up a giant black dildo, an inRight now, though, I grieve for the loss of obviously had no idea what to do when they flatable fleshlight, or a pair of silicon breasts. this green travesty. Not because McCarthy’s were asked to undertake this project. I’ll say The butt-plug isn’t some deep metaphor for work was defaced and scrapped, but beit again, this butt-plug isn’t art and neither is accepting the diversity of sexual pleasure, cause the work of thousands of other artists shitting in a bucket and calling it “abstract.” or whatever sort of garbage you can dig up was ignored in its stead.

I understand what avant-garde is, don’t get me wrong, but attempts like these skirt on the borders of pretentious. It doesn’t generate anything, culturally, it doesn’t provoke thought, hell it’s not even the least bit edgy. It’s just dumb.

Unsurprisingly, this tall, green asstoy was defaced roughly a week ago.

It was folded up, and taken away rather quickly, much to the grumbling of those who invested in this catastrophe.

Fleur Pellerin, the delightful culture minister, called this “a serious attack on the prin- McCarthy’s large art installation, named “Tree”, caused a controversy in Paris and around the world for its tongueciple of artistic free- in-cheek obscenity. Photo from @_youhadonejob on Twitter

Marketing // opinions

Cheap shots over cheap tickets at Guzzo Cinema The company’s hockey widow ad is much ado about nothing Antoni Nerestant Contributor

G

uzzo Cinemas’ “hockey widow” ad campaign has caused a stir lately, with many calling it sexist. At the heart of the accusation is the claim that the photo ad—which promotes a movie discount for women on evenings that the Montreal Canadiens play—implies that women do not watch hockey.

But really, it doesn’t at all.

The backlash for Guzzo Cinemas is a classic case of reading too much into what is actually a pretty straightforward message.

“Are you a hockey widow?” reads the photo ad. “You know... Left alone to regret wasted evenings while he watches the game?”

In fairness, for the ad’s detractors, the interpretation of the ad’s message was likely impacted by its visuals.

The picture accompanying the ad features a man glued to his TV during a hockey game. Next to him, his neglected girlfriend looks very much like she is being held hostage from puck drop until the final buzzer. The bottom of the ad shows the same woman, happily eating popcorn

at a Guzzo movie theatre with her girlfriends.

Nevertheless, it strikes me as odd that an ad filled with clear, probing questions would be interpreted as a definitive statement on gender roles.

Merely asking those questions suggests an openness to the idea that there are indeed women who do love hockey, yet Guzzo Cinemas was accused of narrow-mindedness.

Imagine that this wording was used, for example: “Are you a woman? Left alone to regret wasted evenings while he watches the game?”

Not only is this fictional ad too broad to truly resonate with a prospective customer, it implies that no woman watches hockey and is certainly deserving of the backlash that the “hockey widows” campaign has received.

Clearly, the target market for Guzzo Cinemas’ promotion is much narrower than just women—it is women who do not love hockey and have significant others who do. I strongly doubt that anyone can deny the existence of such a group.

Sensitivity towards the portrayal of women in media is not only understandable, it is needed. But how can such a blatant misunderstanding arise? How can an advertising campaign so specific be seen as a sexist generalization of women?

It is likely that the fiery and uncompromising response of Vincenzo Guzzo— the company’s executive vice-president— didn’t help matters.

But mainly, this kind of rush to judg-

ment is due to the importance we tend to give to the images and messages shown on media platforms. It is the fear of the media’s power to influence others and legitimize certain norms, beliefs and values. It is the fear that if a message or image is in a movie, commercial or television show, some will conclude that not only must it be true, it must be the only truth.

Members of groups that have historically been stereotyped can be weary of

how they are portrayed regardless of how harmless the portrayal is. Add the reality of the social responsibility of businesses and, in this case, Guzzo Cinemas’ margin of error was ever so small.

“Are you a hockey widow?”

It is a question that gives options to women in the audience. It does not pigeonhole them into a certain identity. We are all entitled to our opinions. However, I question the act of reading into something that simply isn’t there.

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Tuesday, OcTOber 28, 2014

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Letter to the editor // oPINIoNS To Council members, Conservative Concordia is one of the 80 recognized clubs under the Concordia Student Union. Our mission is to be home for conservative students from Canada and abroad to discuss current affairs and promote a balance between fiscal accountability, progressive social policy and individual rights and responsibilities.

We became aware of two referendum questions that will be discussed at the Oct. 22 Council meeting on Oct. 19 that will directly affect Conservative Concordia. The first one is concerning budget cuts and the second one is concerning the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

Firstly, the proposed referendum question concerning budget cuts goes as following: “Do you want the CSU to take the following position: That the CSU officially oppose the budget cuts to the education sector specifically, and the public sector in general, in favor of working with other organizations with comparable positions in order to seek alternate sources of public revenues as facilitated through the provincial, and/or federal government”. The portion “seek alternate sources of public revenues” means one thing only: increasing taxes of Canadians.

This would undermine the standard of living of Canadians and prevent many companies from investing in Canada, which means less employment opportunities after we graduate.

Also, the question suggests that the federal government made cuts to the education sector, which could not be further from the truth.

The Conservative government has invested $12 million in aboriginal business studies, $40 million for internships in high-demand fields, $123 million to modernize the Canada

Student Loan program, $800 million to the Canada Social Transfer for post-secondary education, $1.8 billion to support research in Canadian universities and introduced the Canada Student Loan forgiveness program for medical and nursing graduates who practice in rural and underserved communities, among others.

Secondly, in terms of the BDS referendum question, we denounce that the petitioners did not provide the full story, once again. We wonder why they always forget to mention that the greatest enemy of the Palestinian people is armed groups such as Hamas, who use funding from international aid to attack innocent Israeli civilians, including children.

We strongly believe in the right of the State of Israel to exist and defend itself from these terrorist organizations, and find it shameful that the petitioners refuse to acknowledge that international humanitarian aid (our tax dollars) is going towards building terror tunnels and rockets instead of feeding the general population. We stand behind our Leader and Prime Minister who said in the Knesset that denying the right of Israel to exist is the new form of anti-Semitism. We denounce the fact that this type of rhetoric is still tolerated at Concordia University, in 2014, in our modern multicultural environment. We also do not understand why the CSU feels the need to interject in international matters they have no influence over, as well as how this resolution will contribute to the betterment of the Concordia student body.

Finally, we would like to say that the current executive does not speak in our name and we denounce their partisan attitude to govern only for those who elected them.

Michael Eugenio President of Conservative Concordia

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One man’s mission to conquer Concordia’s finest porcelain throne

Nathalie Laflamme Editor-in-Chief editor@theconcordian.com

The Queen of England has been on currency for years, but she’s the face of something else now: Twitter! The Queen sent out her first tweet at the opening ceremony of a tech exhibit at the London Science Museum. Hashtag it up as you bow down, because now... #TheQueenTweets.

@jfdulac “God fave the Queen. #TheQueenTweets” @paulcoxon “I love how she even matched her outfit to the colour of the Twitter logo. Such style and class. #TheQueenTweets” @domknight “Elizabeth II may only just gave begun tweeting, but she’s been on Facecoin for ages. #TheQueenTweets” @jasonmillsitv “it’s the difficult second tweet that’s going to be most challenging #thequeentweets” @NandosUK “Hey Your Majesty, follow back? #TheQueenTweets” @YasminEvans “#TheQueenTweets ...Welcome to the dark side Lizzie. Next step, Instragram” @MikeyHamilton “Her Royal Majesty is on Twitter? Pfffft.

Whatever. Twitter just jumped the shark.” #HipsterTweets #TheQueenTweets @chiefbrody1984 “I hope the Queen isn’t on her phone all the way through her Christmas speech this year. #TheQueenTweets” @PokerDemmyGod “Whats the Emoji for a wax seal? :) #thequeentweets” @johnoesol “Does the Queen use the “royal we” when she tweets? #TheQueenTweets” @FRANK_G_ZIT “...the word Follower has now become very subjective... #TheQueenTweets” @PhilipS_82 “The Queen revived a long forgotten tradition of monarchs sending messages via birds. #TheQueenTweets” @ErikSteigen “Queen Elizabeth II, born in 1926, sends her first tweet today. It is hard to fathom the changes she’s seen in her lifetime. #TheQueenTweets” @KelleynKbhm85 “#TheQueenTweets Yay! Keep calm and keep tweeting, Queen Elizabeth!

Welcome to Twitter!” @Brian__Richard “@BritishMonarchy What’s done can’t be undone. (W.S) #TheQueenTweets” @laaleen “I was following this twitter account long before the Queen tweeted for the first time. #TheQueenTweets”

Tuesday, October 28, 2014 Vol. 32 Issue 9

Michelle Gamage Production manager production@theconcordian.com

Birds of a Feather Stephen ho Contributor

My fourth adventure finds me on the ground floor of the Hall building, in that bathroom tucked away in the corner— you know the one. A fairly popular washroom by any standard, this is one of those bathrooms that just smells like it’s been through a lot. Obviously we all have better things to worry about than bathroom PTSD, but let’s for a moment just imagine all the crap this bathroom goes through. Pun somewhat intended. Every breath you take in there comprises the air that’s come out of, say, seven different arse holes. You’re never closer to a stranger than when you’re in a bathroom together. Quite beautiful actually. But bathroom philosophy aside, this washroom is quite well maintained.

It has an average of about four of the six stalls usable, and not in some state of unflushed or overflowing, urine-soaked mess. Quite an accomplishment really, considering the traffic. Oh, on my last trip there I was in the handicapped stall

(don’t judge, I like my space) but, joke’s on me I suppose, since the door doesn’t lock and I didn’t realize until someone walked in on me. The toilet works and all but I wouldn’t recommend that stall if you’re pee shy.

One of the best parts of this washroom, in my opinion, and what makes it worthy of review is its host of bathroom commentary/art, with gems such as: “Sadness is a part of happiness.” Clearly a porcelain philosopher in training.

Perhaps the “thinking man” was actually sitting on a toilet. Another great one was written in the faintest pencil: “I think I just gave birth.” But the greatest by far were reviews already scrawled on the stall walls, hence the title of this piece.

They range from “4/10 someone left a huge shit-mountain in the toilet,” all the way to a generous “8/10 good location and had reading material during whole dump.” I would personally go with an intermediate between the two, a solid six. For probably one of the most used washrooms on campus, it’s not too bad.

Fairly clean toilets, enough toilet paper and best of all, those high powered hand dryers I love so much.

How to overdose on pumpkin: Festive seasonal recipe for your perfect Halloween Sara Baron-Goodman Life editor

Pumpkin Old Fashioned You’ll need some liquid courage to help you deal with all the ghosts, ghouls, zombies, and witches roaming the streets this weekend. The recipe below are for one serving, but can easily be multiplied if you’re not about the drinking alone lifestyle. Original recipe from Boston bar Finch inside The Boxer hotel. I have amended it slightly based on what’s in my pantry at any given moment.

1 1/2 ounces bourbon whiskey 1/2 ounce Grand Marnier (optional — if you don’t use Grand Marnier, just add some more bourbon, or Triple Sec works Photo by Sara Baron-Goodman nicely too) 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree (the fancy people at The Boxer bar make their own, which you can easily do if you have a freshly carved pumpkin on hand. I, however, have opted for the canned variety) 1 ounce maple syrup orange peel twist, fresh rosemary sprig, or lemon wedge for garnish First, combine pumpkin puree, bourbon, syrup, and Grand Marnier in a shaker filled with ice. Shake well. Strain cocktail through a fine mesh strainer to get rid of the residual pumpkin pulp. Pour into a glass filled with ice, and garnish. (original recipe at cocktails.about.com)

Milos Kovacevic News editor news@theconcordian.com Jess Kenwood Assistant news editor Sara Baron-Goodman Life editor life@theconcordian.com Frederic T. Muckle Arts editor arts@theconcordian.com Mia Pearson Music editor music@theconcordian.com Tim Lazier Sports editor sports@theconcordian.com Laura Marchand Opinions editor opinions@theconcordian.com Keith Race Photo editor photo@theconcordian.com Andrej Ivanov Assistant photo editor Jocelyn Beaudet Online editor online@theconcordian.com Marie-Pier LaRose Graphics editor graphics@theconcordian.com Gregory Todaro Emily Gaudet Marilla Steuter-Martin Copy editors copy@theconcordian.com Christina Rowan Natasha Taggart Marilla Steuter-Martin Production assistants Editorial office 7141 Sherbrooke St. Building CC-Rm 431 Montreal, QC H4B 1R6 514-848-2424 ext. 7499 (Editor-in-Chief) Marc-Antoine Cardin Business manager business@theconcordian.com William Atsaidis Advertising manager advertising@theconcordian.com Tyson Lowrie Jacob Serebin Ruben Bastien Board of directors directors@theconcordian.com

Contributors Mim Kempson, Lydia Anderson, Johanna Pellus, Belinda Anijidar, Safia Ahmad, Mattha Busby, Antoni Nerestant, Robin Stanford, Stephen Ho, Evgenia Choros, Elias Laradii, Paul Traunero

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EVENTS

Have a good week !

Film Cinema Politica : Vessel, Concordia University - Nov. 3

Theather Belles Soeurs : The Musical, Segal Centre - Until Nov. 26

Other Rocky Horror Picture Show, Imperial Cinéma - Oct. 30 to Nov. 1 The 22nd annual Concordia University

Community Lecture Series on HIV/AIDS, Concordia H-110 - Oct. 30

Music

The Barr Brothers, Metropolis - Nov. 6 The Bug, Cabaret Underworld - Nov. 5 The Elwins w/ Royal Canoe, La Sala Rossa - Oct. 30 Check Yo Ponytail tour w/ Chela, Club Tulipe - Oct. 30 The Juan MacLean (DJ), Bar Le Ritz w/ Nancy Whang (DJ) - Nov. 1

Exhibition

Adventures can be found anywhere, même dans la mélancolie, Leonard and Bina Ellen art gallery - Until Nov. 1 Beyond the Frame, VAV gallery - Until Nov. 7

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