The Concordian

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arts spoof

Le Patin Libre skates to alt-success P. 11

LOL wut? Check inside for newsprint condoms P. 13

Coverage P. 3-5 Comment P. 24, 26 Tuesday, March 29, 2011

life Con artists breaking hearts and wallets online P. 7

music The 10 must have albums to kickstart your collection P. 20

sports Girls step into the mix martial arts octagon P. 22

Disparaging posters slam Action candidates On the last day of campaigning critical posters appear, with no one aware of who’s behind them Evan LePage News editor The last day of CSU election campaigning turned out to be the dirtiest, as posters appeared overnight on Sunday which singled out certain Action slate members with defamatory comments.

What had been a largely calm election campaign turned sour yesterday after two disrespectful posters surfaced at a few locations on the downtown campus. The first, depicting Action candidates associated with the John Molson School of Business, including executive candidates Tanya Ng and Leslie Reifer, reads “Action Candidates stand by the corrupt Board of Governors,” and “Do you want to be represented by corporate whores?”

The second, depicting Action candidates who were involved in the Arts and Science Federation of Associations this year, including executive candidates Teresa Seminara and Natasha Launi, reads “This year’s ASFA was only about throwing parties,” and “It’s your money, do you want them to run the CSU like a fraternity?”

“This morning it was really a shock to all of us,” Seminara said yesterday. “I really didn’t think it was serious until I came to school and they were postered everywhere.”

Seminara also said that a few of the Action slate members were really demoralized upon finding out about the attacks ads, and as a result the

executive had to spend much of the morning on their last day of campaigning improving the morale of their candidates.

“We had to give a boost to our councillors because they were sad after what happened,” she said. “That took time away from our campaigning. Instead of going out and doing one-on-ones and visiting classrooms, we had to help our councillors to have faith in themselves and to have faith in the team again.”

In addition to the time spent motivating, Action president Khalil Haddad and Seminara spent much of the day with chief electoral officer Oliver Cohen, figuring out how to react to the posters.

“He did the best he could to help us out,” Seminara said of Cohen. “He went to go speak to the Dean of Students, filed a complaint there; he went to security and security went to go see him at his office.”

According to Seminara, security has launched an investigation into the manner, and tapes will likely be reviewed to see who posted the material on the boards.

“I really, really hope that we can get some answers as soon as possible,” she said. “Even if one student saw this, that’s one student who was misled and that’s unfair. Some people say it was up for just a few hours but it doesn’t matter.”

Until the footage is reviewed Seminara was not willing to say who she thought was behind the posters, though she did point out “we’re only two teams.”

While most of the posters were taken down early Monday morning by candidates from both slates, the news of their existence and photos spread quickly online where supporters from both sides argued and exchanged accusations over who was responsible. Some Action members and sup-

See “Security has laun...” on p.5 Volume 28 Issue 24

The independent option Jacqueline Di Bartolomeo Assistant news editor

Students heading to the polls this week will find the names of three independent candidates squeezed in among the 29 Your Concordia and Action candidates that will grace the ballot for Arts & Science council.

Alex Matak, Kelly Pennington and Justin Famili are running to represent the average student at Concordia, those not part of the political climate.

“There is the common sentiment that there is a distinct unit of political culture at Concordia [that is] sometimes out of touch with students,” political science major Famili said. He called his approach “responsive representation,” where “my primary goal is to represent students more effectively.” All three of these independents want to see more consultation with students, whether through general meetings or social media.

They are also all of the opinion that the affiliation that exists between executive and council isn’t necessarily a good thing. “I felt like the slate politics, especially with council, needs to be challenged,” Pennington said. “I think it’s really important to have people who don’t feel any ties and who will speak up no matter what and don’t have any consequences for what they’re saying [because] they’re not affiliated in any way.”

Famili agreed, stating “When you have political parties that encompass both the executive and the council, I feel like the council won’t be able to properly hold the executive accountable

See “Independent..” on p.3

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news 2

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Got a news tip? news@theconcordian.com

City in brief Jacques Gallant

Montreal soldier killed in Afghanistan Montreal native Cpl. Yannick Scherrer, 24, was killed in Afghanistan Sunday by an improvised explosive device. The explosion happened while he was on foot patrol at around noon local time near Nakhonay, southwest of Kandahar City.

Scherrer, a member of the 1st Battalion, Royal 22nd Regiment, was on his first tour of duty in Afghanistan.

Scherrer is the 155th member of the Canadian Forces to die serving in the Afghan mission since 2002, and the first Canadian death in the country since Dec. 18.

The greedy aunt A 19-year-old Montreal woman waiting in hospital for a heart transplant says she is worried she may not be able to afford her medication after her aunt allegedly stole money raised for her medical needs. The aunt, Cheryl Matheson, had set up the trust fund in 2009 and made a public plea to raise money to buy the medication, which her niece Jessica Bondar will need to take for the rest of her life. Matheson was arrested in Winnipeg last Wednesday on fraud charges, after allegedly withdrawing most of the trust fund’s $30,000. Matheson allegedly used the funds to redo her pool, purchase a new car, and buy horses.

Not your typical drive-thru A man was arrested Sunday after he deliberately rammed his car into the Niro Café on Pie IX Blvd. in the St. Michel district. One man was arguing with three others inside the café at about 5:15 a.m. when he threatened them with a knife before leaving and getting into his car. He then proceeded to drive it through the windows and right inside the café, according to police. The driver then fled, as did the three other men inside, but one was later arrested by police. There was one employee in the café at the time of the incident but that person was not injured. Police noted that the Niro Café is the site of previous drug raids.

SuStainability

Digging through trash, for the environment

R4 volunteers take on annual university-wide waste audit Evan LePage News editor

Last week, a group of students suited up and sorted through bags and bags of your garbage.

No, these volunteers were not trying to steal your identity, but were taking part in a university-wide waste audit organized by R4, a working group of sustainable Concordia.

“The things that give us an idea of what people are putting in the trash and maybe what some of our educational campaigns can focus on,” Faisal Shennib, environmental coordinator for Sustainable Concordia, said of the audit.

From Monday to Friday of last week, some of the University’s custodial workers collected bags from major buildings on both campuses, tagged them and delivered them to the compactor room in EV where the volunteers, adorned in lab coats, gloves, goggles and dust masks were eagerly waiting. The bags were then weighed, and their contents spread on a table for sorting.

“Basically what we were looking for is what in the garbage is actually garbage, what is recyclable, what is compostable and then subdivisions within all of those,” Shennib explained.

This year’s audit included the usual repeat offenders, essentially bags filled with water bottles and coffee cups (it was ‘roll-up’ month after all). Still, Shennib said he was disappointed with the amount of recyclables present in the garbage.

“Especially things like paper. It’s really weird seeing white sheets of paper, lined paper or newspapers in the garbage, but that seems to happen a lot,” he said.

Shennib also said he didn’t know whether it was laziness, poor placement of recycling bins or some other factor that led to the lack of recycling, but that the audits “always highlight the need to totally reassess the recycling system; I think it’s not good at all.”

The audits have been going on since 2005, and Shennib pointed to the placement of a massive composter at Loyola following a food waste audit as one example of their value.

This year’s audit indicated that the food waste problem still exists on campus, but this may soon change with the implementation of compost bins downtown according to Shennib. “We’ve already started to see some compost bins put up in the Hall building starting a few weeks ago,” he said, noting the custodial department’s initiative in placing these bins on both the first and seventh floors.

“And we’re probably going to be seeing more as we gauge how well they’re working.”

To address the coffee cup problem, he also pointed to a campaign

currently being worked on by business students as a course project, which would see reusable mugs provided on campus. Students who forgot or didn’t bring a mug would still be able to get coffee or tea in one, which they would then drop off for washing anywhere at the University.

As valuable as the audit is for environmental and sustainable efforts on campus, it’s also extremely valuable for the group of volunteers according to Shennib. “The idea is that you don’t need to anything about waste issue coming in to help with the waste audit,” he said. “It’s a really good learning experience because you basically get in there and get a crash course on what is recyclable and what is compostable.”

Shennib also said that the volunteers leave much more aware of the problem at hand.

“It kind of clicks with people that we really should be trying to make our society zero waste,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to have garbage.”

CampuS

Renovations ‘on schedule’: administration Hall set to receive new escalators; GM’s exterior to be replaced Jacques Gallant Assistant news editor Two major renovation projects at Concordia are on schedule, according to press releases issued in the past weeks by university administration.

The Hall building’s escalators, notorious for their unreliability, are to be replaced in phases, with the first escalator being installed between

the lobby and the mezzanine in late April. The size of the new escalator requires that it enter the building via a window. This work will occur over a weekend and some temporary disruptions on Bishop Street and De Maisonneuve Boulevard may be necessary.

“The replacement will be completed by the spring of 2013,” said university spokeswoman Chris Mota.

“Disruptions will be kept to a minimum during business hours. Noisy or disruptive work is done over weekends and outside business hours.”

Concordia plans to replace 17 of the 18 escalators in the Hall building, which opened in 1966. Funded by Quebec’s infrastructure program, this $12-million project will last two years

and will be completed in phases.

According to Mota, the modular escalator proposal submitted by Kone, a company that specializes in innovative and eco-efficient elevators and escalators, was especially chosen because of the less disruptive nature of the installation.

“The proposal reuses the existing metallic structure,” pointed out Mota.

“The technology is so new, even to those in the industry, that Kone is currently training employees to install, repair and maintain the innovative machinery. Concordia is expected to be Kone’s showcase project in Canada.”

Th project brought about the re-evaluation of all the pay phones in the building because the walls needed

to be refinished. Based on usage data provided by Bell Canada, it was decided to remove all the payphones except for those in the lobby.

Over at the GM building, demolition work continues to take place inside as workers prepare to install a new exterior shell to the structure.

Some occupants have been relocated as the construction progresses. “[The project] will increase the building’s energy efficiency, renew the infrastructure and improve the heating and cooling system,” said Mota.

Funded by the Ministry of Education’s Plan quinquennal d’investissements universitaires, the project is set to cost $14 million.

Catholics want a break too Devout catholic Sylvain Turcotte is asking the city to guarantee him his day of rest on Sunday. Turcotte, who works in the city’s building security department, defended his request by quoting the Ten Commandments, saying that Sunday is the day of the Lord. He also said he doesn’t understand why his Jewish friends are allowed to mark the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest. However, a spokesperson for Turcotte’s union said his request can’t be met because he doesn’t have enough seniority among union members. The spokesperson said that more senior members cannot be forced to work on Sundays to take Turcotte’s place.

Still, the blue-collar worker has remained adamant, and expressed an interest in taking his case to court.

The Hall building and GM building are both undergoing a substantial facelift. The escalator replacements will not be completed until 2013. Photos by Camille Nerant

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/theconcordian Continued from cover ...

Independent candidates question the effectiveness of slate politics which is their responsibility. I feel like that’s a big hindrance to effective student representation.”

With experience working in the 2010 PSSA elections under his belt, Famili is the only unaffiliated candidate who’s been involved in Concordia politics. However, the candidates are united in their reasons for delving into the political climate at Concordia.

“To me, the decision to run was based on a feeling like there wasn’t enough strong voices [on council],” Matak, a second-year geography

student, said. It was while working with TAPthirst, trying to understand the university’s contract with PepsiCo., that Matak became curious about what was happened behind the doors of the CSU. “I’ve come to realize what they are and the power that a union holds,” Pennington said of the CSU. “I think there’s such potential that’s being lost and I think it’s important to actually show that to people who were like myself: who just didn’t see past that.”

Pennington and Matak have

also banded together in their fight to be noticed amidst the scores of partisan posters and flyers. Their campaign is characterized more by low budget videos, posters put together with friends and other students, and somewhat reluctant classroom visits. “This isn’t something that I’m doing because I really want to be campaigning, it’s kind of the last thing I want to do,” Matak admitted. “In classroom visits [...] we haven’t really been telling anyone about what we’re about, we’ve just been urging people to vote.”

There is also one independent candidate for Board of Governors.

Patrick Magallanes could not be reached for comment by press time.

Magallanes is a political science major and was previously involved with Liberal Concordia as an executive and was on the board of directors for Sustainable Concordia, according to his biography on the Concordia Student Union Elections website. He also served as a member of ASFA’s judicial council.

media

Two CUTV screens vandalized Attack seen as part of a trend of media intimidation on campus Sarah Deshaies Editor-in-chief Two CUTV screens in the Hall building were damaged in the past week in an act of vandalism. Station manager Laura Kneale, said the damage occurred between March 17 and 22.

The station sees this as an attempt to harm the station, and another act of intimidation that she says the station has felt this year.

One screen in front of the People’s Potato on the seventh floor was damaged when a magnet was dragged across the front, damaging the quality of the image. CUTV staff tried to temporarily correct the problem by dragging another magnet across it. A second screen on the fourth floor had its coaxial wires “violently” ripped out.

Kneale said that each screen will cost $1,000 to replace. As of Monday night, she was not sure whether the costs would be covered by CUTV’s insurance.

Of CUTV’s six screens in Hall, three are now damaged. Photo by David Vilder “For the time being, we’re just trying to find some band-aid solutions that don’t cost anything, and eventually we’ll find something better,” in terms of distribution and better technology. She added later in an email that CUTV has “begun discussions in hopes of securing financing for a whole new system in the future.”

The small network of television screens does not have sound control, amplifying the damage. “Given how puny the network is already, it really was a cruel thing to do,” said Kneale.

“It was like kicking a really vulnerable person, like a kid or a grandmother.”

University spokesperson Chris Mota said she had not heard of the story, but later confirmed that action is being taken. “A report has been filed with security, and they’ll follow up depending on where the investigation leads them.” She could not add any more details about the investigations.

“Based on what they find, they decide on how to proceed,” she said.

Kneale said that few people had come to the station with suggestions as to who the perpetrators might be.

While said she did not have any ideas as to who might have committed the vandalism, she did suspect that

the event is part of a trend of media intimidation.

“It has to be linked in some way, not just because of the election period, but also given the hostility that was given against the Link, and a lot of the hostility that came up the [March council meeting],” said Kneale, referring to a small protest in front the Link newspaper’s office before the campaign period began and the recent abrupt close to a CSU council meeting.

“I’m not blaming anybody right now, but I feel like given all the different things that have happened both to us and other student media outlets, it just seems that there has to a link somewhere.”

As the other two student media on campus, the Concordian and CJLO radio station, have not seen anything similar to the protest or vandalism, Kneale suggested that it might be effort to create a “weird dichotomy” on campus.

CUTV and its supporters plan to hold a vigil today, March 29, at noon on the seventh floor in what they call an act of solidarity for campus journalism.

The act of vandalism brings the total number of damaged screens at the Hall building to three out of six screens. During routine asbestos maintenance before the fall semester began, university employees accidentally cut the wires for another screen.

media

Maclean’s magazine article guilty of positive stereotyping, panellists say Controversial article subject to calls for nationwide mobilization against the magazine Cynthia Dupuis Contributor A controversial Maclean’s article, about the importance of race when choosing a university, employed stereotypical descriptions of Asian students, according to panellists at the first two-day McGill Equity and the Media Conference on March 25 and 26.

“Too Asian,” the November 2010 article originally published in Maclean’s Magazine and later renamed “The Enrollment Controversy,” discusses the role of race in selecting a university, and the way it characterizes university campuses.

“While the authors constantly speak about the Asians as a group, they never actually articulate who is Asian and who is not,” said Edward Lee, PhD candidate of social work at McGill University.

According to those in attendance at the Saturday conference, the authors of the contentious article and their interviewees depict Asian students as “strivers, high achievers and single-minded in their approach to university” in contrast to white students who they say choose a university based on their social life.

“This is a form of positive stereotyping [...] and I think that this is an important thing to acknowledge,

but at the same time I would challenge us to look beyond the positive stereotyping of all Asians as ‘hard working, talented and ambitious,’” said Lee. Janet Lumb, artistic director of Festival Accès Asie, spoke for nationwide mobilization against the Maclean’s article. “Once we have 25 signatures we can take it to an MP, who then can bring it up into the House for the effort, a national effort, to take [away] Maclean’s annual funding of over one million dollars in Canada because of a number of different things that Maclean’s magazine has done, not only with regards to the ‘Too Asian?’ article,” she explained.

The Saturday conference, held at the Thompson House, was the initiative of Brendan Shanahan, a U3 honours history student at McGill, who wished to give university students and members of the Montreal

community an opportunity to present their own research about equity and the media. “We as undergrads do really good work, you hand it in to a professor and that’s the end of it. On top of that I think having a conference is a good chance to talk about pressing issues in our society today,” he said.

The two other panels included discussions about feminist, civil and LGBT rights and their representation in the media. The conference, which about 50 people attended, only presented the work of McGill University students, but Shanahan hopes to make it an annual interactive event between universities.

“We kept it strictly to the McGill community because we had no idea how many submissions we’d get, but I could certainly potentially see it as something that could be interactive between universities,” he said.

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Nation in brief

Jacqueline Di Bartolomeo

B.C. water bottle co. receives massive Japanese order

Iodine in Japanese water has led to a huge order being placed with a Canadian water bottle company. The Montreal Gazette reported a Japanese distributor contacted Burnaby, B.C.-based Polaris Water on Friday for a shipment for 2 million 1.5-litre water bottles, due to be delivered to the disaster-stricken country by the end of April. On Wednesday, the Tokyo government warned parents not to let infants consume the city’s tap water, which they said tested positive for radioactive iodine. By Friday, the city had revised the warning, saying iodine levels were not dangerously high.

The order has increased Polaris Water’s usual April output tenfold, upping its shipments to Japan from 15 shipping containers to 150, according to a company spokesperson. The company will also be donating two containers for every 100 they ship. The first shipment is set to arrive on April 4.

York T.A. apologizes for Facebook remarks

A teaching assistant at York University has apologized for negative comments she made about her students on Facebook. The Excalibur reported that sociology T.A. Bianca Baggiarini posted derogatory remarks about her tutorial students to her Facebook status on Feb. 22. At the time, department chair Nancy Mandell said she was disappointed about the situation.

Although a sociology professor who was present as Baggiarini apologized has told students not to worry about the T.A.’s grading or teaching abilities, some students have expressed nervousness about their final exams.

New Brunswick government ups tuition

A $200 tuition hike is on the books for New Brunswick universities, a move that has raised the ire of student unions and lobby groups across the province, according to the Canadian University Press. President of the New Brunswick Student Alliance Samuel Gregg-Wallace said the government’s decision to count parental contributions on provincial student loans wrongly makes the assumption that parents will contribute to tuition payment in the first place. The increase marks the end of a three-year freeze on tuition, and will be accompanied by a two per cent increase in funds directed towards the universities’ operating budgets. New Brunswick students pay the second-highest tuition fees in Canada.

Upcoming federal election hailed as “Twitter election”

The social media site is expected to play a major role in the upcoming Canadian elections, according to the Globe and Mail. Over 14,000 tweets had been sent by Sunday afternoon related to the Canadian election, up from 2,000 last weekend. Parties will use software to track the opinions of the 5 million Canadians that are on Twitter. Conservative MPs have been taking to Twitter all year, while Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is expected to blog regularly.

Both the Liberals and the NDP have also promised to make live town hall meetings available online. The results of the U.S. midterm elections suggest that social media is an accurate indicator of victory at the polls – in 74 per cent of House of Representative races (and 81 per cent of Senate races), how many fans a candidate had on Facebook predicted their win.

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theconcordian

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

World in brief Evan LePage

Mexican media agree on drug war reporting standard

Over 40 Mexican media groups have signed an agreement setting guidelines on how to cover the ongoing drug wars plagueing the nation, the BBC reported. The groups, which are comprised of over 700 individual media sources in both print and broadcast, signed the 10-point voluntary agreement in Mexico City last week. The guidelines stipulate that media outlets are not to glorify the cartels and the violence they commit regularly, or publish any propaganda from the traffickers. While the document represents a good chunk of the country’s popular media, a few notable newspapers like Reforma and La Jornada chose not to sign. At least 20 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 2006.

Profs shouldn’t search cellphones: union

Teachers in England shouldn’t be allowed to search students’ phones, according to the United Kingdom’s biggest teaching union. The nation’s new education bill included measures which would legally allow teachers to search students for phones and then look through the phones’ content in order to help teachers assert their authority and combat cyberbullying, but the NASUWT union called these plans reckless. The union’s general secretary Chris Keates said these new powers would only increase conflict between teachers and both parents and students, the BBC reported. These new measures, if passed, would likely be introduced next fall.

On March 26, thousands of NASUWT members also joined demonstrations against the education cuts planned

by England’s coalition government.

MySpace defriended by 10 million

According to new figures from Internet industry analyst comScore, MySpace lost a whopping 10 million users between January and February this winter. The painful blow comes one year after the social network, apparently in efforts to compete with Facebook, did a major relaunch and successfully attracted nearly 100 million unique users.

According to the Telegraph, MySpace lost $100 million in the first quarter of 2010, which may explain why owners News Corporation are reportedly trying to get rid of it. MySpace now has approximately 63 million users, only about, oh I don’t know, 440 million or so less than Facebook, which is twice as popular as porn. Hey Tom, maybe Mark will be your Facebook friend?

A $1 million area code

A New Jersey man is selling a phone number with Manhattan’s 212 area code on eBay for $1 million. Before you start ridiculing the seller, the man, known only as Carmen, is reportedly interested in using the funds to provide for his 98-year-old mother, who suffers from dementia. Despite being up on eBay for over a year, and receiving a highest bid of $500, the sale has only recently started getting attention. The 212 area code is normally reserved for businesses, according to the NY Daily News, which is why Carmen was surprised when he was granted the number 35 years ago. If anyone wants my 514 number for $1 million let me know, I’m more than willing to sell.

elections

Meet your BoG candidates

Only one has been to a meeting, but all four promise more transparency Jacques Gallant Assistant news editor

Concordia’s board of governors, the highest governing body at the university, went from being an obscure group of people to gaining major notoriety after it ousted president Judith Woodsworth in December and awarded her a $703,000 severance package. Since then, motion after motion has been passed by bodies such as the Senate and the CSU council calling on the 23 communityat-large members, primarily business leaders, to step down because they have overstayed their terms. Ultimately, students, staff, and faculty have demanded a more transparent board, but students’ BoG representatives, including CSU president Heather Lucas, have been denounced for their silence at BoG meetings.

The following four candidates are vying for two student seats on the BoG and recently sat down with the Concordian.

AJ West – Your Concordia Currently president of the Cinema Students’ Association, AJ West says he intends on tweeting BoG meetings in order to bring more transparency to the embattled body.

“I also promise to write monthly reports, even extensive reports, on what took place at the BoG,” says West. “I want students to know what’s up and to see that I’m working for their interests. I’d even bring a camera into the meetings if I could.”

Although he admits he has never attended a BoG meeting, West indicates he has been reading the minutes of past meetings. If elected as a student representative, West promises he will push for the 23 community-at-large members who

have overstayed their terms to step down.

“The CSU council passed motions for the members to step down, Concordia students at the SGM asked the members to step down, and while these motions were presented at BoG, I don’t think the message was properly conveyed by our current student representatives,” says West.

The cinema student describes his approach to politics as diplomatic, but firm. Despite the fact he proposed a motion in early September calling for the recall of FASA’s copresidents, West says he is not overly aggressive.

If elected to the BoG, West says he would push for the hiring contracts of senior administrators to be put online, as well as question the sometimes exorbitant salaries of university officials.

Amanda Akman - Action Despite the negative attention that the corporate leaders on the BoG have received throughout the year, JMSB marketing student Amanda Akman says students should not be making a link between ‘business’ and ‘evil’ when it comes to casting their vote.

“I think people should stop thinking that we’re all money makers, we’re students too and we all want the best for the student body,” she said, speaking hours after posters appeared on campus Monday labelling the JMSB candidates in the CSU elections as ‘corporate whores.’

In fact, Akman thinks her background as a JMSB student, coupled with her experience as VP external and VP executive with the marketing students’ association, would be very advantageous for a BoG student representative.

“A business student would be highly equipped to deal with members of the Board and people in that sort of environment because we interact with these people often, such as getting involved in case competitions,” she says.

She states that it is too early for her to decide if she is comfortable with the majority of the communityat-large members being business

leaders, preferring to wait until the findings of the external review committee on governance have been made public.

Describing herself as a very ‘frank’ and ‘transparent’ person, Akman says she would have no problem expressing students’ concerns at BoG and ultimately increasing the board’s transparency.

“If my title is student representative, that is what I’m there to do,” she emphasizes.

Laura Beach - Your Concordia Having gained notoriety this year for not only pushing to ban bottled water on campus, but also to eradicate the secrecy that surrounds corporate contracts at Concordia, Sustainable Concordia’s Laura Beach says her four years of student activism should be proof enough that she is the ideal candidate for the BoG. “I have watched a BoG meeting before and it is definitely an intimidating atmosphere, but I know I can do this without succumbing to intimidation,” says Beach. “I want to be able to act as a better student representative compared to those we had this year, who were silent at most meetings and didn’t properly represent students’ concerns.”

Beach explains that she would love to see a more diverse group of community-at-large members, and will urge for the 23 members who have overstayed their terms to step down.

“And once the board begins looking for new members, students should be consulted and shown the criteria of what it takes to be appointed a community-at-large member,” says Beach.

For Beach, being a strong representative on the BoG also means fostering stronger relationships with the faculty representatives on the Board. She also emphasizes the importance of monthly reports in keeping students up-to-date on the BoG’s activites.

“It’s in the job description and it’s the least you can do,” she says. “If you’re a BoG representative and you don’t report back on the activities at the BoG, that is the only mechanism

for students to see that you are doing your work.”

Hassan Abdullahi - Action Current CSU VP advocacy and Loyola Hassan Abdullahi says he was ready to leave student politics at the end of his term this year, but was encouraged by Action executive candidates to stick around for another year, this time as BoG representative.

“I am hoping that at BoG I can align the interests of the governors with those of the students,” he says.

But Abdullahi is quick to admit that this could prove difficult, pointing out that having business leaders as community-at-large members is a “double-edged sword.”

“These highly influential people also provide back to the university in terms of donations and sponsorship, but at the same time their interests are not really in the governance of the university, so I would try to take a reconciliatory approach to merge these two interests,” he says.

Abdullahi also feels that despite the motions passed by students calling on the 23 members to step down, the message remains unclear.

“There just seems to be a miscommunication,” he says, mentioning that although he protested with other students at a BoG meeting following Woodsworth’s resignation, he has never actually witnessed the governors in action.

He also promises that he can play the good diplomat on the BoG, despite yelling at students when they refused to leave the March 9 CSU council meeting, thereby preventing it from going into closed session.

“I did cross a line at that meeting, but I’m generally not someone who loses his temper,” he says. “I was just frustrated that we had stayed up hours to prepare and present issues that council wanted to hear, and unfortunately something very minor stopped us.”

On the topic of the frequent closed sessions at BoG meetings, Abdullahi says they should be the ‘exception’ and not the ‘norm,’ something he says he will make clear to the other governors.

elections

Petition against fine arts Action candidate Tomer Shavit picks up steam Petitioners say Shavit damaged faculty’s rep, he says he’s just outspoken Jacqueline Di Bartolomeo Assistant news editor Coming on the heels of allegations of negative campaigning behaviour on his part, a petition circulating in the fine arts department is calling for students to vote against Action candidate Tomer Shavit.

The petition, which started circulating Wednesday and has about 100 signatures, originated with theatre student and FASA councillor Michael Mercer.

“The petition circulating is to inform the fine arts student population of the less admirable things that Tomer Shavit has done to our

faculty’s reputation,” he said. “For example, the comments he left on the Link’s article regarding the CSU council trying to go into closed session on March 9. I find it very hypocritical that [Shavit] would vote to go into closed session to discuss Morgan [Pudwell]’s resignation, but later slanders her name, calling her ‘inept’ and ‘dormant’ with regard to her duties as co-chair of the Women’s Caucus. I feel he doesn’t represent the views of most fine arts students.”

Mercer also mentioned that Pudwell “did a lot for us in reforming FASA’s constitution this year” and said he hopes the petition will just help to better inform fine arts students before they head to polls this week. When contacted on Sunday, Mercer had not actually spoken to Shavit yet.

A computational arts major and candidate for Senate, Shavit was not sure the petition actually existed before being contacted. He said his tendency to be outspoken makes him an easy target for the petition.

“I feel like I’ve been targeted for pretty much voicing my opinion and standing up for what I think is right,” he said. “It was my opinion at the time that Morgan [Pudwell] did resign out of political reasons and because she wanted to re-run, so it was a political stunt. [...] In my opinion, the petition was sent out by her supporters.”

“Basically, I hope that fine arts students will have a more informed decision when they come to vote and that they choose the senate candidate that they feel will best represent them, “ Mercer said.

The petition is not the only negative attention Shavit has received during the campaign period; he was also singled out for his allegedly poor behaviour towards Your Concordia candidates.

Presidential candidate Lex Gill said that while most members of Action had been relatively equitable opponents, “I feel like there are a few candidates who have stood out as fairly inappropriate, have done things like following candidates on

Your Concordia around [...] harassing them in classroom speeches, using derogatory words around them or to describe them, and one of the most clear cases of that is Tomer Shavit who has been outright insulting, spread completely untrue rumours about myself and my teammates, and has generally disregarded rules about fair play.”

Gill also said she had spoken to the CSU’s chief electoral officer Oliver Cohen about Tomer’s behaviour.

“Oliver basically said that he spoke to Tomer at length about how his behaviour was inappropriate and he was instructed not to do it again.”

While Shavit confirmed he had spoken with Cohen, he said that “in the way that he talked to me about it, he didn’t believe the allegations.”

He also said that Cohen had only contacted him because it was his duty to do so as CEO, because Gill “was filing a lot.”

Cohen declined to comment about the issue before it is resolved.

With files from Jacques Gallant

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/theconcordian

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

5

Continued from cover ...

Security has launched an investigation to find out who’s behind the attack: Seminara porters were quick to imply on Facebook that Your Concordia may have been behind the posters, but the latter’s candidates were quick to state that this was definitely not the case.

“Your Concordia was absolutely not involved in any way whatsoever,” said presidential candidate Lex Gill, who added that she was offended at the accusations made by some of her opposition. “We did not create the posters, we did not print them, we did not put them up, we did not know they existed.”

Gill said when she found out about the posters yesterday morning she tried to phone Haddad and explain that her slate had nothing to do with them, though she said

he didn’t answer his phone. She also explained that her candidates were told to take down all of those posters, which she said represented “totally disgusting, unacceptable behaviour during an election or any time.”

In particular, Gill addressed the JMSB poster, saying she was extremely upset about the use of the term ‘corporate whores.’ “First of all that’s completely inappropriate and sexist language, and second of all this stuff is defamatory and libelous and should really be taken seriously,” she stated.

Fellow Your Concordia executive candidate Chad Walcott, a current member of ASFA’s executive, also

took offense to the posters which called out the association for being solely focused on partying this year.

“I thought they were disgusting to be completely honest,” he said.

“Yes ASFA had parties, but we’ve also done so much more. We had the academic series, we had Green Week, we organized a trip to New York [...] we had all kinds of things.

It’s a shame they’re really just focusing on the partying and saying that ASFA is just run as a frat.”

As a current ASFA executive member herself, Seminara also said the poster criticizing that organization really affected her as well.

“I’m the VP academic of ASFA and this year all I did was plan

academic events. For people that know me I’m not a party animal. [...] It saddened me because for me it was very much discrediting the hard work I put into ASFA the entire year,” she said, noting the successes of the academic series and prep test she organized for arts and science students.

As for who was behind the posters, Gill said she wouldn’t speculate but added that she was sure that none of their supporters or candidates did it because, “if anyone assumed that we did it, [the posters] make us look way worse than the people in those photos because it’s petty and it’s shameful and it’s malicious.” She also noted that some sort

of dirty campaigning has emerged on the last day during past CSU elections as an act of desperation, not of a team that feels they have a strong chance of winning, which she said Your Concordia does.

Despite the last minute drama, campaigning did continue on Monday, notably with Action holding a rally with almost all of its candidates that filled the mezzanine with a sea of blue.

“We started a positive campaign and we were going to end with a positive campaign,” Seminara said.

eleCtionS

No clear winner in presidential debates

Slates share many answers on the big issues Jacqueline Di Bartolomeo Assistant news editor Representatives from Your Concordia and Action squared off last week in two presidential debates, but neither slate emerged as a clear winner from the fray. The debates, held Wednesday and Friday in the Hall building on the downtown campus, were broadcast live by CUTV and CJLO, and moderated by the Link’s news editor Christopher Curtis.

On Wednesday, presidential candidates were joined by two members of their respective slates.

Your Concordia was represented by Lex Gill, VP external Chad Walcott and VP student life & sustainability Laura Glover, while team Action was fronted by Khalil Haddad, VP services & sustainability Rasim Hafiz and VP university affairs Teresa Seminara.

The Wednesday debate highlighted the major points on the slates’ respective platforms – both teams spoke about taking decisive action regarding tuition hikes, demanding accountability from the board of governors, and pointing out flaws in the current student centre contract.

The slates also expressed a commitment to working with their opponents in the likely event of a split council. “At the end of the day, [no matter who] wins we need to work together,” Haddad said. “If the council is split, at the end of the day we need to conciliate our views because we need to send a strong message, whether it’s tuition or whether it’s governance. I think we’re all on the same page.”

Gill agreed, “I actually don’t have anything to rebutt, that’s a great point.”

As the floor was opened to questions, certain candidates and current members of the student union took to the mic, prompting Curtis to suggest that they refrain from asking questions. When current VP external Adrien Severyns approached the mic, Curtis mentioned that “in the interest of full disclosure,” the VP had strong ties to Action. Stephen Brown, a current councillor and candidate

running with the Action slate, was in the audience and objected to that characterization, also saying that Curtis had ties to Your Concordia.

The dispute carried on after the debate ended, with Brown and Curtis squabbling as a small crowd grew around them.

The format of Friday’s debate was modified to allow longer speaking time for presidential candidates, who this time around spoke alone, before VP finance candidates were briefly given the floor. Gill highlighted her plan to focus more on advocacy within the student union, calling the $195,000 spent on orientation in September irresponsible.“To me this is an issue of clear priorities,” she said. “A student union is there to advocate for students, to fight against tuition fee hikes, to advocate for the academic rights, to protect student space, to do things that enable them to continue be a student and flourishing.”

Question period saw many current CSU politicians and candidates taking to the mic.

6

theconcordian

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 legal

Canada has abandoned Omar Khadr: lawyer Dennis Edney says gov’t lacks standing to represent its citizens Morgan Lowrie Copy editor In the years that Omar Khadr has spent in Guantanamo Bay, the Canadian government has not only failed to help - they have been complicit in his abuse, according to his lawyer Dennis Edney, who spoke at Université de Montréal last Thursday.

“How fragile are the laws and apparatuses we believe are there to protect us,” said Edney, who has been defending Omar Khadr for the past eight years.

He has argued that Toronto-born Khadr, who was 15 years old in 2002 when he was arrested after a firefight in Afghanistan which killed a US soldier, has been tortured, illegally detained, and has had his rights violated under the Geneva Convention and international laws protecting minors.

Edney remembers the first time he met his client, chained to the floor in a windowless cell, where

Dennis Edney held no punches, saying the federal government is complicit in his client’s abuse. Photo by Nav Pall Khadr was being kept under lights 24 hours a day to keep him from sleeping. He was 17 years old, and looked like “a sick bird,” Edney said.

Over the years, Edney reported the torture Khadr experienced, including being strung up in doorways,

having his head used as a mop for urine, threatened with rape, and forced to carry buckets up and down a long hall. It took Edney seven years to get Khadr a pair of protective eyeglasses, despite the fact that he was going blind.

In his attempts to defend Khadr,

Edney said he has been fought every step of the way by the Canadian government.

“They’ve appealed every decision, dragged me before the court time and time again, and they’ve lost,” Edney said, pointing out that he won almost every case in Cana-

dian and American courts. “Their strategy is to exhaust me and my co-counsel until we give up.”

In 2010, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the federal government had been complicit in the violation of Khadr’s rights.

“This is a government that won’t rethink its values even when rebuked by the Supreme Court,” Edney said. “That government lacks any standing to represent its citizens.”

He was left to face trial in Guantanamo Bay, “a kangaroo court,” as Edney called it. Knowing that his client would be sentenced to at least 40 years in prison, Edney convinced Khadr to plead guilty to murder and terrorism charges in exchange for an eight-year sentence which could be partially served in Canada.

“I had to persuade him,” Edney said. “He knew that as soon as he pleaded guilty, the Canadian people would say ‘See? We knew he was a terrorist all along.’”

Khadr is the youngest prisoner in Guantanamo Bay, as well as the only Western citizen not to be repatriated by his home nation.

Edney ended his speech by accusing the Canadian people of apathy, and of turning a blind eye to the fate of a fellow citizen.

“I’ve never seen anyone so abused, and so abandoned, by so many,” he said. “We should do better.”

eleCtionS

Ignatieff rallies supporters early in Montreal Liberal leader tears into Harper at campaign kickoff rally Morgan Lowrie Copy Editor LA TOHU in Montreal was founded for circus performers, and Sunday night, the all-black corridors and circular dome were lit with blood-red spotlights where 1200 people simultaneously pounded noisemakers and chair backs to electronic music in an almost-tribal rhythm.

They were calling for their leader, and he did not disappoint.

The build-up began when Papineau MP Justin Trudeau took the mic and began calling them one by one: the Liberal candidates for Quebec’s ridings. They ran down the steps to mad cheers and blasting music, smiling and waving -- dozens of them in all. Finally, Trudeau took the mic and announced to the crowd: “And now, the next Prime Minister of Canada...

Michael Ignatieff!” Down he came, accompanied by a bodyguard, roaring cheers and the sound of Celtic violin music. Ignatieff embraced Trudeau, took the mic and addressed in his supporters in the Liberal party’s Quebec campaign kickoff rally.

His message to Quebecers was clear. “Quebec has the power to change things,” he said, in a speech delivered mostly in French. “We acknowledge that most Quebecers see themselves as members of the Quebec nation first, and as Canadians second, and the Liberal Party was the first to recognize that.”

Ignatieff refrained from overt attacks on the leaders of the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois. He said he respected Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe, but made the argument that his party was the only team capable of winning the election. “I understand that for

Michael Ignatieff (left) sported bright pink among the sea of red at his campaign kickoff rally. Justin Trudeau took on the mc role on the night. Photos by writer many Quebecers who don’t share Stephen Harper’s priorities the Bloc might seem like a way to express their disagreement,” Ignatieff said. “This is not the time to send a message to Mr. Harper. It is the time to replace him.”

The Liberal leader held nothing back when it came to criticism of Harper, however. “This is the first prime minister who lost a seat on the security council; the prime minister with the worst deficit in Canadian history; the prime minister who tried to abolish the long-gun registry; the

first prime minister to attack women’s rights.” After each of these statements, the cry repeated by the crowd: “What shame!”

Ignatieff briefly mentioned education in his speech. He recounted a conversation with a high school student from Winnipeg who was worried about his future. “And I told that kid, ‘if you get the grades, you will get to go [to University]’” Ignatieff said. “We have to give that kid hope.”

Throughout the speech, Ignatieff did his best to rally his supporters to the

cause. “We have to reach out to our fellow citizens and say, ‘If you’ve had it up to here, come on board!’” he said to loud cheers.

At the end of his speech, Ignatieff hopped down from the stage with a flourish and began enthusiastically shaking hands with his fans. In the background the Celtic music ramped up again, and the dozens of candidates on stage clapped along to the beat like a middle-aged, well-dressed choir.

The crowd was mixed, divided

nearly equally between older supporters and a strong contingent of young people, who mostly crowded in front of the stage, many taking cellphone pictures and videos. After the rally, Trudeau spoke about the number of young people present. “In the past, you’d come to these events and see nothing but grey hair,” he said, smiling into the camera held by his video team of Concordia students. “They aren’t just the future of the party, they’re our present, too.”

life

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

7

Write to the editor: life@theconcordian.com online

Scammers target the lonely hearted Con artists use online dating sites to execute romance scams, a form of Internet fraud where victims are convinced to wire possible loveinterests money Joey Grihalva Contributor Concordia fine arts student Chuck Cameron* flips through a black leather album full of photographs mailed to the online dating company where he works. The photographs are profile shots of members who need help uploading them to a computer. Cameron stops on a Polaroid of a middle-aged man with a dragon shirt and a twisted moustache.

“That guy is awesome. Who sends a shot of the back of their shirt? It’s slightly illegal for me to show you these,” he says about the album. “But I love this thing!”

The unauthorized collection of photographs is a testament to how much Cameron enjoys his customer service job at a dating service website, whose fifth floor office on Montreal’s Main is furnished with sleek frosted glass windows, exposed brick and enough soft drinks to hydrate a small army.

When I visit on a Saturday evening Cameron is trying to convince the guy with the dragon shirt not to send $1,800 to a woman in Ghana. Cameron is certain the woman’s profile, which features seven studio quality shots of a striking short-haired 20-something blond, is fraudulent.

According to Cameron, Ghana is where most of the fraud on his employer’s site originates. He says the profile is used for the prototypical “romance scam,” a confidence trick in which the target is persuaded to send money for a visa, plane ticket and other such scripted stories.

“I tried to explain to the guy that I check for fake profiles all day. It’s my job. But he just didn’t want to listen. It’s sad because I’m sure in his city there’s half a dozen girls who might be into him, but he just wants this one girl.”

The scamming network The romance scam, a subset of the advance-fee fraud, was pioneered in Nigeria, Ghana’s neighbour in the Gulf of Guinea. The scam requires the investor to pay a fee up front, or in advance of receiving any proceeds. Also known as 419 crime, the number referring to its article in the Nigerian Criminal Code, advance-fee fraud has become a Nigerian national pastime.

It started in the 1970s when hundreds of letters were sent to small businesses in the United States and Europe. They claimed to be official figures in the Nigerian government asking for help with the disposal of new oil money.

By 2002, the U.S. Department of Justice had a court order to open every piece of mail from Nigeria passing through JFK airport in New York. Around 70 per cent of these letters contained scam offers. An explosion of Nigerian email scams flooded the Internet in the 2000s and other countries created similar scams causing many countries to create cyber crime units, but scammers adapted. Today they engage in check laundering, credit card fraud, identity theft, Moneygram interceptions and Western Union hijacking. Organized scam rings buy out entire Internet cafés. Some employ women and young men to fabricate online dating profiles and scour sites for potential targets.

Leonard Lawal reported for Fortune

Magazine in 2006 that teenagers in Lagos, Nigeria could make it big doing 10 hour days, seven days a week working scams in Internet cafés, earning the nickname “café boys.”

Lawal, a senior analyst for Advisory Services Africa Limited in the Gulf of Guinea tells me that since the Fortune Magazine article, things have changed. For one, the “café boys” are not around much anymore. And, despite increased awareness, hundreds of prosecutions and a reported $11 billion in recovered funds

by Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), 419 crime remains.

Customer service The majority of Cameron’s workday is spent fishing for bogus babes. Cracking down on scammers is his favourite part of the job but Cameron and his department are an exception in the business of online dating.

Some sites encourage their members to report suspicious profiles, but most lack a customer service hotline and depend entirely on filtering software to weed out the phonies.

When Cameron stumbles upon a pattern of scamming he writes up a report for his boss, which gets passed along to the programmers who use it to develop their filtering software. The information does not get reported to an official agency. The only legal recourse for Chuck and his coworkers is to delete the profile. Even when they get a call from a customer who has sent $20,000 to a person they think is fake, a situation which occurs about once a month, they merely advise them not to send any more money and investigate the profile.

Every now and then Cameron hears about a legal case that is being put together on a scammer but this is difficult because no country treats attempted fraud as a prosecutable crime, it only counts when a financial loss has been incurred. There is no official central agency documenting 419 crime, but there is a

company in the Netherlands called Ultrascan Advanced Global Investigations. Their reputation is disputed on the Internet but Lawal assures me that their CEO Frank Engelsman is the authority on 419 crime.

In 2010, Ultrascan, a corporation that specializes in biometric identity management and high-accuracy fingerprint identification, released a statistics report that stated $9.3 billion was lost worldwide to 419 crime in 2009 alone. It also found that the rise of non-Latin script and characters on the web is making it easier for scammers to evade filtering software.

The report claims that in Canada scammers maintain a high level of professionalism, often owning money wiring agencies and using them as scamming hubs. Engelsman says that romance scams make up about 25 per cent of 419 crime worldwide, with an average loss of $5,000 per victim.

Scam-preventing measures In 1993 Barry Elliott, a member of the Ontario Provincial Police Anti-Rackets Branch, founded what would become the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. Originally created to address telemarketing fraud, the North Bay centre now has 11 full-time call takers who can handle up to 300 calls daily.

RCMP officer Kent Read is the head of statistics at the CAFC. His numbers indicate that the romance scam was the th most reported fraud in Canada last year with $6.2 million in losses, almost double the 2009 total. But the CAFC’s website does not include the romance scam on their “list of scams.” Read admits it is one of a few schemes that should be added.

Louis Robertson is another RCMP officer working at the CAFC. He says his unit has investigated mass marketing scam rings across Canada, working with six provincial partners. Their efforts focus on the organized crime rings behind the scams. Robertson has

also worked with Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization and assisted in international investigations based out of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Cameron has never heard of the CAFC. Rather, when he gets a call from a scam victim through work, he refers them to a website called Romancescams.org. Founded in 2005

by Barbara Sluppick of Branson, Mo., the site has 17,000 active members and 13 volunteer moderators. It offers support for victims and resources for scam prevention. The group does multiple poster campaigns each year, hands out free bumper stickers and speaks with anyone in the media that will listen.

Sluppick has even appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

On one day of the week, 5,000 profiles alone were created on the dating site Cameron works for. He says the website deletes 300 to 400 scammers a day and he catches about 30 to 40 of them.

Once a profile is deleted, the user has a week before they lose complete access to the website. During that period they can only see and communicate with other rejected profiles.

He often wonders what transpires between two romance scams that find each other on the Internet.

Cameron takes pride in his work and when he is on a call he listens intently. Cameron speaks with a slow, deliberate pace and his methodical approach to life is a perfect match for customer service. It also makes him a fitting soldier in the global war against fraud.

“I spend a lot of time online and I feel like at this job I’m leaving my mark on the Internet. And in a small way, I’m making it a better place for the lonely-hearted.” *By request, the name has been changed to protect the subject’s identity.

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theconcordian

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 sleep

The fine line between reality and dreams Discovering the realities behind narcolepsy Lindsay Sykes Production assistant

Shannon In the middle of the night Shannon Watson woke up to the feeling of someone lying on top of her.

She couldn’t breathe; somebody was smothering her. She struggled to move but she failed miserably, her paralyzed limbs stiff on the bed. She could feel the presence of something evil in the room, and it scared her so much that her heart raced rapidly in her chest. Something in the back of her mind told her she was asleep, but her eyes were wide open. Everything was so real, so vivid.

It was impossible that this was a dream.

After what felt like forever, the weight on her chest was finally lifted. The figure vanished, and Shannon could breathe and move again. As she gasped for air, attempting to get her heart rate back to a normal pace, she couldn’t help but feel tainted by what had just happened. Confused as to whether or not she had been dreaming, she felt compelled to look around her room to be sure she was alone. The bizarre thing is, at 22 years old she was more convinced of the possibility that there had actually been someone in the room because she felt more awake than she sometimes did during the day.

To most people, this is a frivolous event that can be chalked up to a really bad dream. In the past, people shared similar “dreams,” and called the phenomenon “old hag syndrome.” The name derived from the experience victims had when they would wake up paralyzed with the rest of their senses working, often feeling as though there was something evil on top of them or in the room causing the manifestations. The superstitious believed it was an old hag riding the chest of the victim, leading to the inability to breathe or move. However, since neither of these explanations are accurate, the question remains - if Shannon was not dreaming, what was going on?

In fact, Shannon was experiencing a hypnagogic hallucination and sleep paralysis as a result of narcolepsy, a rare sleep disorder.

Many people associate narcolepsy with being able to fall asleep anywhere at any time.

Contrary to popular belief, narcolepsy is not the humorous condition that we have seen in the movies. Narcolepsy is actually a quite complex, serious and sometimes dangerous condition that is accompanied by four possible symptoms, including extreme daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and hypnagogic phenomenon/ hallucinations. For narcoleptics, extreme daytime sleepiness has a vast negative effect on everyday life. However, cataplexy and hypnagogic hallucinations are the most severe symptoms, and are accompanied by the most fear.

Hypnagogic hallucinations are vivid dreams that project into the waking period. They can occur before you fall asleep, or after you wake up, and are more often than not nightmares or night terrors. During this time the body’s muscles are paralyzed, the heart rate severely increases and people usually feel as though they are falling and can hear voices or see images. Eighty per cent of narcoleptics experience this phenomenon and ordinarily find themselves having to check whether something truly happened or not. The clarity of such events can be extremely frightening and frustrating.

Cataplexy, which is experienced by 90 per cent of narcoleptics, is the paralysis of the muscles which happens when a person is completely awake. It is triggered by intense emotions such as laughter or anger and it leaves a person unable to move or speak, despite being completely conscious. The individual can be standing one minute and laying on the ground the next, unable to explain what is happening to them.

Shannon began suffering from hypna-

gogic hallucinations when she was 17 years old and living in the small town of North Bay, Ont. The reccurring symptoms left her feeling exhausted during the day. Her family doctor sent her to the closest neurologist two hours away in Huntsville, who determined that the “episodes” she spoke of were mild seizures caused by epilepsy.

She was put on medication, and although they did not make her feel any better, she continued to take the medication for five more years believing she was epileptic. What was she supposed to believe? After all, she did not know what narcolepsy was, and the neurologist she saw who specialized in strokes assured her of this diagnosis.

Over the years her excessive daytime sleepiness, the most common symptom which occurs in all narcoleptics, progressed. Life was becoming unmanageable and Shannon found it nearly impossible to stay awake while reading, a crucial aspect of her life as a criminology student at the University of Ottawa. At her daytime job she found herself fighting to stay awake, knowing that her eyes would begin to glaze over. Life became a daze, and staying awake was a battle she had to fight, and it often ended in defeat.

Finally, after an exceptionally bad hypnogagic hallucination one night, her mother, who had never truly accepted epilepsy as the answer to her daughter’s problems, convinced her to go to a sleep clinic. There she began her journey toward finally finding the answers to the questions she had asked for so long.

To undergo a sleep test, patients must be off their medication seven to 10 days prior to the examination. For the first test, the different sleep cycles experienced by the patient are recorded through a whole night lasting from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. The next step is a daytime sleep test from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. where the patient has a series of four 20-minute naps every two hours. If the patient enters rapid eye movement sleep twice, a diagnoses of narcolepsy is made.

It takes a normal person 60 to 90 minutes to enter the REM sleep cycle. A narcoleptic such as Shannon can fall into it within seconds or minutes. During this cycle, the body’s muscles are paralyzed and the mind is dreaming. A narcoleptic’s REM cycle is disturbed, and can occur randomly at any time.

People often mistake the REM stage as being a deep sleep because they believe that if a person is dreaming it means their quality of sleep must be good. This is actually a myth, as a high prevalence of dreams are what leaves a narcoleptic restless, to the point of severe exhaustion during the day. Even if they receive the recommended eight hours of sleep a night or more, when they are experiencing a “sleep attack” it feels as though they have not slept for 48 to 72 hours.

Why do these symptoms occur? According to Dr. Charles Samuels, medical director at the Centre For Sleep and Human Performance, narcolepsy is caused by a reduction in the neurotransmitter that controls people’s ability to stay awake.

Samuels, who is also a clinical assistant professor in the University of Calgary’s faculty of medicine, says this happens due to the lack of the neuropeptide orexin in a narcoleptic’s body.

Statistics currently state that one in 2000 North Americans are suffering from narcolepsy, but misdiagnoses of depression, mood dis-

orders, or epilepsy, that statistic could been even higher.

After learning of her new diagnosis and being put on two new medications in October 2010, Shannon felt frustrated that she had put up with the terrible side effects of her old medication.

After receiving little relief for nearly five years, she also resented all the embarrassment she had to go through, being misunderstood and considered weak or tired. All of this new information has been overwhelming to her, but she was also grateful to finally pinpoint what she is suffering from.

Life is still difficult, and she relies heavily on her medication to keep her awake during the day and keep her sleeping peacefully at night.

For Shannon it is difficult to find the energy to exercise. She also commonly turns off her alarms in her sleep and finds it grueling to get out of bed in the morning. “I don’t like sleeping because it sucks you in and you can’t get out,” she says.

Julie This past Valentine’s Day, Julie Flygare went over to her boyfriend’s house, excited to spend the evening together. She was feeling very smug about the scavenger hunt she had planned for him, so she began to laugh. She pulled from her pocket the first clue only to be shocked by the sudden freeze of her muscles. Her boyfriend Ben, familiar with her cataplexy, waited for it to pass.

Julie laughed as she tried to hand him the clue again, only to find herself paralyzed once more.

Ben took the clue and went off to find the next, as Julie stayed on the couch. He returned, and as she attempted to get up to follow him on his journey to the next clue, she collapsed once again.

Ben offered to wait until the cataplexy passed, but Julie urged him to continue. When he returned once more, the excitement got the best of her and her limbs lay limp and she was unable to speak. When it passed she began to cry from the discomfort, and even though she felt silly, she also cried for her inability to be there when her plan was executed.

Julie is a 27-year-old narcoleptic living in Washington, D.C. She began having symptoms of narcolepsy in 2007 while she was attending Boston College Law School. Her inability to stay focused in class and lack of motivation was beginning to shatter her dream of becoming a lawyer.

At the time she was an avid runner, but during her runs, she began getting unexplained buckling of the knees, which caused her to collapse countless times. Aggravated, she turned to the Internet for answers and stumbled across the term cataplexy. When she read that this was associated with narcolepsy, she realized this could be the cause of her intense fatigue. Julie saw her diagnosis of narcolepsy as a blessing and a curse. She finished law school but came to the realization that 80 hour workweeks were just not plausible with her condition. She also stopped running, fearful that she would collapse and hurt herself.

While giving up her dream job and running were difficult, Julie was able to find the good in narcolepsy when she got involved with the non-profit organization Wake Up Narcolepsy. She decided to train for the Boston Marathon in April 2010 for the organization to help raise money for a cure. She began a blog in the fall of 2009 called REM Runner, rediscovering her true passion for writing. There, she shared her experiences as a narcoleptic and a runner. She is in the process of writing a memoir about her sleep disorder, trying to use her own insight to erase the humour that is so often associated with narcolepsy. She said the response she got was overwhelming and she finally felt like others understood the powerful effect it was having on her life.

Julie says that prior to having narcolepsy she did not realize how much of a gift the body’s ability to walk and run is. She writes,“while running on the treadmill, I often watch my legs in the fulllength gym mirrors as they bend and straighten endlessly, pounding on rubber, going nowhere…

Before I had narcolepsy, I watched my legs and wondered whether they were chunky or normal, pale or tan, ugly or attractive. Now, I see them quite differently.”

Graphic by Katie Brioux

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/concordianlife

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

9

shopping

The seduction of online deals While it’s easy to get swept up in the savings, make sure to do the proper research before purchase

Quick tips Here are some tips on how to avoid being disappointed by online deals: 1. Don’t get seduced. Simpkins warns buyers not to get swept up in the deep discount. “People tend to see this large discount percentage and sometimes act without thinking the purchase through.”

Emily White Life editor A gourmet vegetarian cooking class followed by a five-course feast for only $27 but worth $55, or so the website claimed. My mother could not resist the 51 per cent savings advertised on the group coupon website, so she bought two of them, one for me and one for her. She claimed it would be “a bonding experience.”

The deal was offered on a now-defunct website which used to offer daily deals in the Montreal and Toronto areas before it merged with its parent company, Beyond the Rack.

It was just one of the dozens and dozens of group-buying websites that have popped up online in the last few years. Groupon and Living Social are among the most popular with over 60 million subscribers worldwide between the two of them.

The way Groupon works is that the site offers its members daily deals in their city.

A minimum number of packages must to be sold before midnight in order for the deal to be valid. Promoting what they call “collective buying power,” the site offers savings on everything from restaurants to spa packages.

LivingSocial works similarly, offering deals on vacations, adventures and activities. The only difference is that they do not have the same minimum buying requirements. Both offer additional savings if the deal is referred to a friend who then purchases it.

The concept has definitely caught on and together the companies boast savings of over $1 billion. While I have heard many good things from friends who have made use of the site, my own personal experience was not the best.

The voucher instructed the purchaser to call and make a reservation prior to the class, which my mother did. The theme was Indian cuisine and we arrived at 6:20 p.m. 10 minutes ahead of the schedule class time - to a room full of women and several other mother-daughter combos. The people we assumed to be other cooking-class participants sat on one side of the store sipping tea, while a cluster of women stood in the kitchen side of the store chatting. Twelve seats surrounded the kitchen’s large wooden counter though the area looked better suited for a group of 4.

Ingredients were stacked on the side, next to a

2. Do your research. “As would be the case with anything that you would buy, do your research,” emphasizes Simpkins. “Just because it is being offered through one of these coupon sites does not mean the product is going to be satisfactory to you.” This involves checking out both the site you are purchasing off of and the company offering the deal.

3. Follow up on the purchase. Lea Prevel Katsanis, the chair and associate professor of the marketing department at Concordia University, warns shoppers that most of the businesses who utilize these services are small.

Therefore, they might not be prepared to handle the numbers of people who sign up for their offers and might not have the capacity to handle all the requests for service that occur because of the deal. It can be helpful to call the location beforehand and find out when is the best time to redeem your purchase.

Graphic by Sean Kershaw

woman who I assumed to be the chef.

Finally at 6:45 p.m., we were invited into the kitchen to grab a seat. The chef singled me out and invited me to sit in the stool directly next to her, saying I looked like “trouble.” Uninterested in being her pet, I took the stool next to my mother. Then there was a scramble to find extra seats, because there were not enough. The class turned out to be more of a lecture than a cooking class.

The chef spoke about the energy of food, the importance of fresh produce and did the cooking while we listened. Not once in the entire class did a participant get to make any part of the meal. We received four, not five courses, all of which used the same curry paste.

While I felt a little misled by the description on the coupon, most people I know who have used these sites only have good things

to say. And while it is easy to question why a company would offer their products, meals or services for half off, John Molson School of Business senior marketing lecturer and academic director Harold J. Simpkins explains that for small companies who have a limited budget, group-buying sites are a really effective form of advertising. It also allows them to limit how many discounts are sold and under what conditions.

The sites are generally very specific with which companies and businesses they promote, says Simpkins, because bad experiences tend to circulate quickly and could easily ruin the site’s reputation. Even if the group-buying company has good intentions, it is still up to the buyer to make sure that what they are purchasing is exactly what they want, otherwise they may suffer from buyer’s remorse.

4. Make sure it is really a deal. It is a good idea to check out the website of the company offering the service as sometimes you actually get a better deal without going through LivingSocial or Groupon but by going directly to the company itself, writes Prevel Katsanis.

5. Read the fine print. It is important to read the specifications of the deal because many come with expiration dates and some might have specifications when it comes to redeeming the purchase. Be sure to check the language the course is offered in, whether there is a restriction to new customers only, if it is valid for eat-in and/or takeout, whether tax is included, what happens to unredeemed cash, if it can be combined with other offers, etc.

food

Chic meets cheesy in Little Burgundy Restaurant Jane does everything right with delicious appetizers, pizzas and cocktails Renée Morrison Staff writer Have you ever sat down at a classy restaurant with a craving for something big and greasy instead of a bird-sized entree? Well, the days of choosing between trendy ambience and tasty takeout food are over. Chic meets cheesy at Jane, a cozy new spot that serves gourmet comfort food and pizza that you wouldn’t believe could exist in such a stylish setting.

The atmosphere can be described as warm and minimalist. The menu, on the other hand, is anything but boring with dishes that change nightly and which appear on the back wall’s chalkboard. Italian meatballs (which can be had as appetizers or added to the pizzas) and pizzas that range from Greek souvlaki to bacon cheeseburger to Jewish smoked meat and

French chicken pot pie are just a few of the multicultural dishes that chef Ryan Dixon has brought together.

The appetizers are decent portions, so don’t be afraid to share. While the beets and goat cheese salad is good, it’s nothing out of the ordinary. But, the octopus salad is to die for – crispy, spicy and completely different from how the dish is usually prepared at other restaurants. The drinks are just as unique; their cucumber Bloody Caesar definitely has a kick (be wary of ordering it extra spicy) and the grape-cucumber martini is refreshing and not too sweet.

Generous doesn’t even begin to explain how large the pizzas are, so don’t order a full one to yourself unless you’re planning on rationing it off for a couple days.

I had the Bianca pizza, smothered with all of my favourite Italian exports: mozzarella di bufala, parmesan, pesto and truffle oil, all on a perfectly cooked crust.Then, just as I was thinking that the Bianca was Jane’s shining star, I saw the Schwart-za pizza arrive at the table next to mine. Covered in smoked meat and pickles, it begged me to return for it. It smelled so good, I know that I will.

While the food is not too cheap, almost everything can be shared between two if you

are on a budget. Also, the gourmet pizzas and intimate vibe are worth the splurge. If you are looking for a spot to catch up with an old friend or impress a first date, Jane is the perfect place. You know how it goes: “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore.”

Just be sure to reserve a table in advance – with only about 35 seats, intimate can sometimes turn into a crowded wait at the bar on weekends.

Photo by writer Appetizers: $10-18; Mains: $19-24 – tax included.

All major credit cards accepted.

Open for lunch Tuesday to Friday from 11:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.

Dinner served Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday from 5:30 p.m. until 11 p.m.

Friday and Saturday from 5:30 p.m. until midnight 1744 Notre-Dame St. W 514-759-6498

arts

Tuesday, March 29 , 2011

10

Write to the editor: arts@theconcordian.com

GraphiC novel

Loss and learning in a strange and distant world Von Allan’s latest graphic novel, Stargazer, exports earth’s life lessons Brennan Neill Managing editor

Loss is inevitable. In the case of Marni, the young girl at the centre of Von Allan’s second graphic novel, Stargazer, it comes much too soon. Not yet a teenager, Marni is confronted with the death of her grandmother. However, Allan’s graphic novel is not only about loss, it’s also about learning how to cope and overcome with time. But Marni doesn’t learn the life lesson while grieving at home; instead, Allan transports Marni, accompanied by two close friends, to another planet to work though the loss.

Stargazer begins with the funeral of Granny Hitchins, Marni’s grandmother and coconspirator in endless imaginary adventures of afternoons past. Sensing their daughter’s grief, Marni’s parents decide to pass on a small worn sculpture known as the Artifact which belonged to Granny Hitchins, so that Marni can hold onto a memento. The origins of the Artifact are not exactly clear, but it had become a key ingredient to the imaginary adventures shared between Marni and her grandmother.

Now in possession of the Artifact, Marni hosts a sleepover with her two best friends, Sophie and Elora. After the appropriate pizza binge ends, the girls head out to their tent in the backyard. Inside, they begin talking about mementoes and memories when suddenly a burst of light comes from the Artifact.

When the girls emerge from the tent they discover that they’re a long way away from Marni’s backyard. They’re now in a very dif-

ferent world and the Artifact has vanished.

Anyone familiar with Allan’s first graphic novel, The Road to God Knows…, will recognize that there are some striking similarities.

Marni is a young girl with a tomboy touch sorting out and coping with a serious emotional crisis, much like the teenage Marie from The Road who is struggling with her mother’s mental illness. However, this time around it seems that Marni’s youth may send her down a different path. Granny Hitchins was a major part of Marni’s life, so much so that it may be much harder to let go and learn to cope.

Allan decided to release Stargazer in two volumes so anyone searching for a wellrounded and complete storyline will be forced to wait until summer when the second half should be released. Needless to say, the first volume concludes with plenty of questions waiting to be resolved, including the role of the Artifact in transporting the girls to another world.

In terms of art, Allan has matured since his last outing, The Road. What made that particular graphic novel stand out was the fact that Allan had only begun drawing when he turned 25, just 10 years before the book was released.

Stargazer allows Allan to move away from the limits of reality that kept The Road rooted in rooms and street corners. Instead Allan can surround Marni and friends with a slightly familiar but entirely alien world. At times sparse, Allan’s martian world is the quintessential science fiction planet, including large headed extraterrestrials and robots.

There’s still much for readers to find out, like the Artifact’s true purpose or how Marni will finally deal with the loss of Granny Hitchins. But Stargazer shows that Allan is well on his way to fleshing out a science fiction-inspired life lesson from the vantage point of a girl that’s much too young to be learning them.

Stargazer is available at Astro Books, 1844 Ste.Catherine St.West.

Cinema politiCa

How the Cold War was almost reignited Filmmakers explore an incident that almost disturbed Czech Peace Valerie Cardinal Arts editor Back in 2007, the Bush administration was trying to install a anti-missile radar system at a military base in the Czech Republic. While this issue didn’t really register in North America, according to filmmaker Filip Remunda, it was a big deal in Europe.

“This issue provoked the largest social and political discussion in Czech Republic since the Soviet revolution,” he said. Many feared that installing an anti-missile system in the Czech Republic could be seen as an arms buildup instead of a defensive move, and would kickstart a new Cold War between Russia and the USA. Remunda is one of the directors of Czech Peace, which looks into the response of Czech citizens to America’s plans. The film is a followup to 2004’s Czech Dream, when Remunda and co-director Vít Klusák tricked the country into believing they were opening a new hypermarket.

Despite claiming not to be political filmmakers, Remunda and Klusák decided to make a documentary about the issue of military space as well as the rift caused by the potential radar.

Jan Neoral (third from the left) poses with citizens of Trakavec who are against the radar.

“In Czech Republic, it is a very sensitive topic,” explained Remunda. “[Historically Czech Republic] always used to be in between superpowers.” And since the radar was supposed to be on a former Soviet military base, “People started to somehow compare [it to] the Soviet occupation.”

The film focuses on Jan Neoral, the mayor of Trokavec, a small town near the military base.

He is one of the opponents, and the film shows him crusading to prevent the radar from happening. Czech Peace also follows the other side in the form of government spokesperson Tomas Klvana, who spends his time trying to explain the

radar to people who wish to hear nothing of it.

The tensions are evident in one of the first scenes of the film, when Czech poet Ivan Martin Jirous, who is pro-radar, verbally attacks protesters gathered in a public square. One of the protesters winds him up by claiming American soldiers got what they deserved in Vietnam, causing Jirous to angrily push and shove the man.

“That’s what we recognized during the film production,” said Remunda. “That actually for most of the sides it was difficult for them to come out with some rational explanations of their position.”

Of course, not everything the Bush administration told the Czech people was true; only after the Obama administration came to power was it discovered that plans for the radar were less solid than most people thought. “Obama’s administration uncovered that Bush’s administration [was] feeding Czech government and people with notserious information,” explained Remunda. “It is a question of huge money and lobbying and for us filmmakers or normal citizens, it is almost not possible to discover the real truth, we realized.”

However, Remunda and Klusák were surprised by how little Americans knew about the issue when Czech Peace premiered at Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival in 2010.

Meanwhile, the issue was much discussed in countries that disagreed with the radar, such as Russia. While filming for his new project, Remunda discovered that normal citizens knew about the case of the radar in detail. “In any Siberian small village people were informed,” shared Remunda.

The filmmaker is excited to see how Canadian audiences will react to the film, which is intended to be seen under a humorous light. “We meant the film as a comedy about very serious topics,” he explained. “I never try to be focused on some message and try to explain something, I’d rather do my films and the viewer can take the message from the many different situations.”

Czech Peace will play at Cinema Politica April 4 at 7 p.m. For more information, check out cinemapolitica.org

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/concordianarts

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

11

freestyle

Is modern skating too edgy for Quebec?

Le Patin Libre is forced to relocate to be appreciated Maria Demare Contributor When I first met Alexandre Hamel, the founder of the skating group Le Patin Libre, it was amidst the blare of electric guitar and heavy bass blasting in the crowded upstairs Montreal pub L’Escalier. I remember taking one look at him as he bobbed his head to the blaring live rock while pouring himself another pint of Quebec beer and wondering how the hell this guy could possibly be a figure skater.

“You know, I could really go for a smoke right now. Do you have any?” he asked me after a couple of pints, a grin playing at the edges of his boyish mouth.

Was he joking? Figure skaters don’t smoke.

Figure skaters don’t drink either. Yet here was Alex in a baggy t-shirt and faded army pants, lounging languidly in his chair and singing along to “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as if he’d been a Nirvana fan all his life. I was perplexed.

Where were his tight pants, his fitted buttondown shirt and flamboyant air of self-importance? I had fit male figure skaters into a box just as I had done their female counterparts, whom I presumed to all be ice princesses and painted ballerinas on skates.

I never expected that Alex would be normal.

I especially never anticipated that Alex could actually be, well, cool. I liked him instantly.

We moved outside onto the tiny corner balcony and I lit us both a smoke. “I really shouldn’t be smoking, but what the hell. You’ve got to live a little sometimes, you know?” he said casually in his heavy Quebecois accent. I laughed and agreed, asking how it was that a professional figure skater came to drink beer and smoke cigarettes.

“You know, that’s just it, right there - everything that’s wrong with the image of figure skaters in Canada. I bet you think I like Chopin and have a closet full of sequined jumpsuits too, don’t you?” Alex laughed and leaned back farther in his chair, exhaling another heavy drag. I shrugged my shoulders sheepishly, guilty as charged.

“Don’t worry, it’s not just you. It’s everyone.

It’s the skating world’s fault. They’ve created this image of what it means to be a figure skater… but hell, there are some of us who are just regular people, regular people with a passion for skating. I mean, between the countless hours of training on and off the ice, most of us have had to sacrifice leading normal lives to pursue our passion. It’s hard for those of us who didn’t grow up as spoiled ice princesses because we’re shoved into the same stereotypes that we’re trying to break. No sequins for me, thank you very much,” Alex pronounced, a tinge of bitterness lingering around the edges of his humour.

Breaking stereotypes is the reason why he started Le Patin Libre. “I’d been kicked out of so many skating clubs because I wanted to do things differently, to not have to fit into a role anymore or to be shoved into any more fitted spandex jumpsuits. I wanted to skate to punk rock and incorporate acrobatics into my routines. They hated it. Judges tore me apart and coaches told me I couldn’t do it. So I said screw it.”

Le Patin Libre is the first independent contemporary skating group to break free from the competitive arena. Since their creation in 2004 they’ve practiced “free skating,” seeking to break the norms of tradition by eliminating the boundaries and confinements of competition.

Each of its members has skated at the highest competitive levels. Alex himself skated on the Canadian National Team with Le Patin Libre co-founder Liam Dougherty.

They define their work not as a sport but as a distinct art form and means of creative expression. Their goal is to open the doors of figure skating to the public and to appeal to young people, not just 40-year-old women and girls under the age of 10.

I’d seen the troupe perform before meeting Alex. Within minutes of watching them, I knew what they were doing was a revolutionary breakthrough. They weren’t some bad Disney on Ice spinoff or flowery ice dance rendition.

They were Cirque du soleil on ice, a myriad of eclectic styles forged together in a show that can only be described as extreme, including pyrotechnics, aerial artists, dancing and acrobatics.

The current members of Le Patin Libre offers young skaters the chance to be part of their shows as well. Photo by Olivier Brajon Yet nothing felt contrived or overwrought and I didn’t feel like I was watching the same powdery routine over and over again as I so often do when watching traditional figure skating. The show told a story and it was believable, it was real. And the best part about watching them? No ruffles, no sequins, no spandex, no frills.

I reached over and topped off Alex’s beer. I could see the wheels cranking, the fire blazing in his lively boyish face.

“You know if there’s one thing that kills me, it’s that after all this time the skating princesses are still being powdered and pampered by Skate Canada while we’re still busting our asses, living just above the poverty line in crummy miceinfested flats so that we can afford to rent out ice time.” I suddenly wished I had something stronger to offer him than the stout Quebec draft I’d just topped off his glass with.

For all the innovation and ingenuity of Le Patin Libre, they’ve struggled to find success.

The major hurdle they continually face is the lack of financial support and sponsorship they’ve received in Canada.

While the members of Le Patin Libre have worked ceaselessly over the last seven years to get as much exposure as possible, with each minor success they achieve they’re forced to face about a dozen fresh obstacles, such as Skate Canada’s lack of support or promotion for non-traditional figure skating. The troupe’s biggest frustration has been the opposition they’ve faced time and time again from private figure skating clubs who manage and allot ice time and hourly fees.

“I was always angry that ice time paid by cities was managed like private skating schools by super-conservative skating moms.” Alex said that young skaters enjoy their performances, but because of this, private coaches view Le Patin Libre as “commercial competition.”

“I was never disappointed by the lack of help from Skate Canada,” said Alex about the association that promotes and sets standards for skating in Canada. “They support skating as an Olympic discipline. It’s legitimate they don’t encourage something that clearly defines itself not as a sport, but as an art. But traditional figure skating could still easily cohabitate with our contemporary style if private clubs didn’t continue to kick us out because we ruin their ambience.”

But where Canada has failed the troupe, France has reached out to embrace them. Last December, Le Patin Libre embarked on a preliminary tour of France, doing shows in Monéteau, Troyes, Lagny-sur-Marne, Roanne, and Marseille. The energy and enthusiasm of the crowds that met them blew Quebec audiences out of the water, not only meeting the needs of their humble budget but exceeding them and reigniting their spirits. In fact, their short tour was so successful that they’ll be returning to France again in May and again in September through January, kicking their tour off in the Bourgogne region where they’ve been booked for a plethora of shows and will be given free

access to greatly needed ice time. For years, the troupe has aimed to fulfil their homebound ambitions of success in their native Quebec, but the reality is slowly becoming undeniable: there is no future for the troupe at home and relocation is the only plausible solution.

Alex took a final drag of his cigarette and tossed it off the balcony, sucked back a heavy gulp of his beer and turned to look at me squarely, his bemused sideways grin lightening the weight of his expressed frustrations.

“Skating is not a sport because it is not objective. It’s not about a number scored, or points achieved. It’s about beauty. The attempt to calculate this beauty through a scoring system just underlines the lack of intellectual rigour of people who still try to see figure skating as a sport.” Alex explained that he was dissatisfied by the lack of sustainable options for profes-

sional skaters who do not want to compete.

“It’s like, hell, you wasted your life skating so now either go join Disney on Ice or become a skating coach and help someone else waste theirs. That’s not what skating is supposed to be about.”

I’d just met Alex, but I liked him and I appreciated the integrity and quality of what he and his troupe members were trying to produce. It was sad, thinking that Canada had abandoned such a talented group of artists and forced them to seek success on foreign soil.

“The tough realization is that the project is doomed in Quebec and thriving optimistically abroad. It’s sad, but that’s the way it is. We’ll wipe our feet and move forward until we succeed. As for Quebec, à la prochaine.”

Le Patin Libre will be performing on April 9 and 10 at Pete-Morin Rink in Lachine. For more information check out lepatinlibre.com

Le Patin Libre performances involve much less glitter and tight costumes than expected. Photo by Louis Weber-Houde

Alexandre Hamel is not your average sequin-covered figure skater. Photo by Olivier Brajon

12

theconcordian

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

visual arts

Fine arts students show the world what they can do Graduating photography students show off their work at the FOFA gallery Sofia Gay Copy editor Silver has been a ubiquitous colour in memorable art works of the past. From Andy Warhol’s helium-filled pillowcases, “Silver Clouds”, to Robert Mapplethorpe’s silver prints from the late ‘80s, the colour simultaneously conjures feelings of modernity and nostalgia for the viewer.

Such are the emotions the (SILVER) exhibition and catalogue, launching at the Faculty of Fine Arts gallery later this month, will evoke. Showcasing works by this year’s 34 graduating photography students, it is the bow that will tie up these artists’ last year in their program.

Graduating student Laurence Poirier said the theme for this exhibition links back to the artists’ beginnings. “Silver salt is used to produce film for photography and even if we are using digital photography, the idea of this silver is still there,” she explained. “We all started with analog photography in first year, with silver. And as we all go in different directions, we all started the same way.”

As FOFA gallery director jake moore explained, this exhibition has been a long time in the making and will serve as a landmark in their artistic progress.

“These efforts are intended for public engagement, so the year-end exhibitions of graduating students’ works are important conclusions to their program of study, as well as celebrations,” she said.

Claire Forsyths Intentional Communities Project explores queer and women-only communities.

What makes this year’s exhibition even more significant is the additional amalgamation of works from the students in the form of a catalogue.

“The publication is the result of a lot of hard work and fundraising by the students in the graduating classes,” said Claire Forsyth, a student whose work will be included.

“Each student has two pages in the publication which represent the work they’ve been producing over the last year.”

Moore supports the idea of having a catalogue, which she said was meant “to return the focus of the class to the production of the work as opposed to exhibition, and to further the usefulness of the year end publication event.”

“It is very valuable for artists to have

evidence of their practice in the form of catalogues and critical response,” she added.

Forsyth said that the strongest link between the 34 students is the fact that they are all in the same class. Beyond that, the presentations are diverse. “Everyone’s work comes from different backgrounds, so each of us is bringing something interesting and unique to the exhibition.”

The result is a vast range of styles and subject matters, representing the individual way each student takes to the craft.

“The images are from a broad spectrum of approaches, everything from classical black and white, to portraiture, to landscape, to conceptual works, to pure abstraction,” said moore. “The production of the students is as varied as they are themselves and this is one

of the real pleasures of the project.”

Among this variety are Poirier’s stills from a video she made, Réchauffement, in which she mimicked warm-up exercises done by actors before plays, and Forsyth’s “Intentional Communities Project,” a series of images that she says “document existing queer and women-only communities across North America with Google satellite maps.”

Students who happen to walk past the gallery will be sure to get an eyeful of the artists’ works. The exhibition was designed to be displayed on the York Corridor Vitrines by student Sean Yendrys with help from another student, Duc Tran.

“They are also responsible for the catalogue design,” stated moore. “This sort of combined effort and evidence of student’s practices is exactly what we wish to bring forward at the FOFA.” This is a goal that Forsyth echoes in her hopes of what exhibition-goers will take away from their visit.

“I hope that it sparks people’s interest in the work that is coming out of the photo department and the fine arts program in general,” she said. “I think there is a lot of good work coming out of this school and it is important to have events and projects like this to showcase that work, particularly from students who are nearing the end of their degree.”

In a true display of an end of year mindset, Forsyth’s sentiments toward the project mirror that of most who are wrapping up a degree.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the project completed and moving on to work on other things.”

The (SILVER) exhibition will take place at the FOFA Gallery from March 29 to 31.

The catalogue launch will be on the 29 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

visual arts

How to create your own art show Student artist takes you there step by step Aquil Virani Contributor The day had finally come. With the final touches in place and the paintings perfectly straight on the walls, my stomach filled with nervous excitement as I waited for the initial rush of guests. My exhibit, MINDFCUK, was opening as the McGill Fridge Door Gallery’s first-ever solo show and it wasn’t long before the room filled with familiar faces and intrigued onlookers. All of the work had been put in and it was now time to relax and enjoy. I felt like some kind of celebrity, being interviewed on camera about my own creations. It was my moment to share my art with the world.

When you’re creating your own show, you have to visualize it in your head. I pictured my friends entering the AUS Lounge with the intention of “only staying for a bit” before they were confronted with an art piece right when they walked in. I wanted them to engage with the work and, for those moments of awe and intrigue, to forget about their studying and stress. I wanted them to read artist statements so they didn’t feel lost in a crowd; I wanted for them to experience artwork the way it should be experienced.

Once you’ve established an ideal concept for your show, you need to put a coating of acrylic realism on your idea’s canvas. I chose a student lounge for my exhibit and, along with the Fridge Door team, we transformed the space into an art gallery ourselves.

Most of MINDFCUK’s promotional efforts were online or in person, without a huge marketing budget. You should, for sure, think ambitiously and put yourself out there, but understand that artists don’t have their first solo show opening at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts with the Prime Minister in attendance and six zeros

Virani’s work evoked visual trickery through the blending of faces. Photo by Elisa Penttilä beside the price of each piece. Yet those realities do not make your show any less special.

It’s absolutely crucial to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and give them a reason to come. MINDFCUK was a quick break from midterm stress where you could come say hi to your favourite local artist (that’s me), grab some brownies and maybe a glass of wine, and socialize in a beautiful art space.

Don’t hesitate to bring out the big guns when asking people to come. I did. “It would mean so much to me,” I told them. And when

they went out of their way to support me, it did.

The number-one most effective tool you can use in your success is your personal influence.

Inviting your friends personally is much more effective than blasting everyone with impersonal Facebook invites and hoping they show up. My messages simply acted as reminders to the oodles of people I had contacted personally. Make it genuine. Make it personal.

Remember that persistence pays off. Understand that everyone has their own life and their own commitments, and you need to create

enough value for them to come. Realize that you have to start from zero and steadily build up your art career and reputation, one brick at a time. And most of all, remember that you’re an artist, and that by taking the initiative to plan your own show and follow through with its execution, it is sure to be an accomplishment you will never forget.

For continued arts coverage see page 17

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

newsish

Journalism Students’ Association A Hoax Member association actually a front for Concordian operations

the JSA office, located in the CJ building at Loyola Campus. They would then run to the CC building and deposit it into the waiting hands of Brennan Neill, JSA member at-large/managing editor.

“I can’t deny that the JSA money really helped us out his year,” Neill said.

For their part, the Arts and Science Federation of Associations said they had no idea this was happening.

Kamila Hinkson VP finance/Sports editor The impending disappearance of the Journalism Students’ Association will hurt no one but the Concordian, says its current president.

Emily White has revealed that the JSA actually uses the money it receives in its budget to fund this very newspaper.

“Haven’t you noticed that everyone on the JSA also works for the Concordian? It only makes sense,” she said.

The money is used to pay the staff members a lofty salary, which is in contravention with its claim to be a non-profit organization.

But Jill Fowler, vice-president internal/production wizard, believes that it doesn’t matter.

“So what if we’re supposed to be non-profit?” she asked. “Finding a job in journalism is hard enough. This might be the only work these people ever get paid for. That, for me, is worth it.

We’re helping them out.”

The JSA will be no more after this year, after only one person stepped forward to run in this year’s election.

However, that person had no interest in continuing the transfer of money from the member association to the newspaper.

Her candidacy was quickly suppressed by members of the current JSA executive.

“

Finding a job in journalism is hard enough.

This might be the only work these people ever get paid for.

Jill fowler, vp internal/production manager

The JSA has been funneling money to the Concordian since the beginning of this year.

“Why would we let her run? It’s better we spend the money on producing quality journalism than wasting it on cheese parties and beera-thons,” White said. “That is what journalism students want, anyway – quality journalism to

read and emulate, and that is what the Concordian provides for them.”

The money transfer process was straightforward – White, Fowler or any of the other executives would take the money from the cash box in

Crafts

The JSA’s pending disappearance has next year’s masthead wondering what will happen to the cushy salaries their predecessors enjoyed.

Some members of next year’s editorial team are planning a protest outside the ASFA office to demand that they get the money the JSA would have received if they were to exist.

“I really liked getting paid,” said JSA beer drinker/chief copy editor Trevor Smith.

Don’t Toss The Paper, MacGyver This Shit Red Green had duct tape, students have the Concordian

up that flimsy wallet in your back pocket, grab a few pages of the Concordian, fold them up and slip them into the unused slots of your wallet.

Just make sure you leave a bill sticking out the top, because if you leave the newspaper sticking out you may find yourself in a weird predicament like...

Mazda Suzuki Special to the Comfort Section

4) The preacher-a-way We’re all for freedom of religious expression, but if you have a roommate or someone in your apartment who is rather preachy and won’t let you choose your God in peace, the Concordian has you covered. Most issues of the Concordian, for some unintentional (or intentional) reason or another, contain a penis. We can’t explain it, they just find their way in. So pick up an issue, highlight the little guy and leave it laying around in plain sight. Odds are they’ll think you’re beyond the point of being saved and stop trying.

In acknowledgment that many of you students likely pick up the paper simply for the sudoku before throwing it away, we’ve come up with a few home uses for the Concordian that anyone can take advantage of.

1) The tap funnel We’re all for the ban on bottled water or whatever but how can you drink from the tap when your sink is filled to the brim with dishes, specifically to the point where your bottle or Brita doesn’t even fit under it? The tap funnel is how. All you have to do is roll the newspaper into a tight hollow tube, preferably with the end matching the size of your faucet. Place one end over the faucet, and the other into your glass/ mug/Brita/mouth and turn on the tap. The water may come out black with ink, and while our ink wasn’t made from vegetables, we’re pretty sure you’ll live. Heck, now you’ll know the taste Volume 28 Issue 24

Saving the environment, one condom at a time. Photo by writer of print that editors experience when they fall asleep on their stack of flats.

2) The table mat We’re all for cleanliness, and this one is pretty self-explanatory. What poor university student is going to spend their hard earned dollars on table mats? It’s not only full of dribble,

but it’ll catch your dribble too.

3) The wallet stuffer We’re all for making money, but most of us don’t. As journalists we have even less time than the students who we assume attend classes, which is why we don’t have time to make real money with real jobs. In order to bulk

5) The journalist condom We’re all for safe sex, but latex can get annoying and if you don’t use magnums the brand itself can be a source of embarrassment. We suggest you pick the smallest section of the paper (Life), wrap it around your member and put a rubber band over top to secure it in place. If you’re really concerned about pregnancy, throw on Sports for that extra two pages of protection.

It also makes for quick and easy clean-up.

14

the Lynx

Tuesday, March 15, 2011 asfuCk

New Elections Film Festival Honours Creativity On YouTube

Message behind festival is vote, please. Pretty please?

Sally Sparrow Editor of mythical creatures

This year, elections season at Concordia welcomes a whole new stage in the voting process: the first annual Elections Film Festival. According to organizer Pepe Lepew, the film festival will put both Your Concordia and Action’s YouTube skills on display. “Promoting yourself is really important, and I think we should definitely honour that,” he said.

So far, out of the 1,000 people Lepew has invited to the Facebook event, 20 have confirmed their presence. “It’s exciting that so many people are supporting this initiative,” he said. “It really shows just how much the Concordia community is mobilizing for this event.” He explained that he’s also managed to attract students to the festival through handing out flyers on campus.

“I’ve had at least 30 people tell me they’ll show up,” he exclaimed. “And only 25 of them were candidates!”

Festival screenings will be held at the Hive during the Loyola Luncheon, in the hopes that unsuspecting students will be faced with news of the elections against their will, and may therefore be coerced into voting for someone, anyone. (Please?)

The centrepiece of the festival will be a surprise collaboration between the two slates as a desperate attempt to encourage the student population to actually vote. The video will combine all the best elements of current campaigns. “Think of Lady Gaga’s video for ‘Born This Way’ but with a rap interlude, lots of jumping and random clips of people shouting ‘VOTE!’ to keep viewers on their toes,” explained Lepew.

Lepew, a political science student and independent filmmaker, hopes to branch out to other universities next year, and that friendly artistic competition becomes a regular fixture of politics in the future. “My goal was to try to organize something similar for the federal election in May, but I couldn’t get the funding,” he

said. “I mean, what better way is there to actually get people to pay attention to politics? I’m dreaming of the day all elections will involve a karaoke contest and a contemporary dance festival.”

The festival will also present a special Silver Keyboard award to the candidate who managed to annoy the greatest percentage of their friends by relentlessly spamming their Facebook walls, groups and Twitter feeds with campaign messages. Categories for the films include best dumbed-down political explanations, best pop song reinterpretation, best rap and best jumping/dance. Winners in each category will win a big gold star, a pat on the head and the right to brag about their win to everyone on Twitter. The two opening films will be the aptly titled Your Concordia and Vote for ACTION, both of which are reviewed

below.

Your Concordia In Your Concordia’s latest campaign video, letters printed on pieces of paper travel around the Loyola and Downtown campuses, looking for a home. Meanwhile, we hear disembodied voices speaking over the trials and tribulations of letters such as “O” and “N,” who were without a doubt the breakout stars of this video. I know this video is going for inspiring, but the writing is cliché and I felt no commitment in the voice acting. Only a compelling performance by the letter “O” – who appears no less than three times in the video- can keep this from being a complete snoozefest. I think this film could benefit from some direction by Michael Bay.

Vote for ACTION I didn’t understand the plot of this video.

The film opens will all the executive candidates trading clearly-staged reasons why they’re awesome. Then it’s quick, seizureinducing flashes of people smiling, yelling at viewers to vote, ping-pong at the Concordia gym, students in camo and bright orange pants running and yelling, more smiling, head shaking, lots of blue, a puppy, and people singing like tone-deaf whistles, all over the beat of Duck Sauce’s hit song “Barbra Streisand.” By the end of it, I had a headache and a strange urge to watch Hello, Dolly! I feel like this video is trying way too hard to be conceptual. On the other hand, it does have good production values. Actually, this film could also use some more explosions - maybe Action should get Roland Emmerich to direct their next short.

beaver

Mel Gibson: Rehabilitated By A Beaver Other hasbeens looking for rodent movies Sarah “I’m a Lawyer” Hedges Editrix-in-chief After a very public implosion linked to drunked rages, wife beating and overall other craziness actor Mel Gibson’s reputation has been salvaged by... a beaver.

After favourable reviews of the screening of The Beaver at Texas hipster love-in/music/art/ comedy/whatever festival SXSW, his star is looking to rise, says notable film critic Cookie Johnson, an esteemed historian of famous persons’ burns and crashes. He’s seen the biggest fall the hardest, and has documented and watched it all from his couch in his mother’s basement.

In The Beaver, Gibson plays a man who is friends with a beaver. The film, directed by pal Jodie Foster, received good reviews from SXSW hipsters and aspiring film critics.

“I give it a shrug and half,” said Electra Carter, an avowed film lover. “I expected this is to be so bad, but it wasn’t. And I guess that’s redeeming, and refreshing.”

“I just really want to see a washed-up guy who made it in the ‘80s rise again,” said mulletwearer Georgie Giller. ‘If he can do it, so can I.” “I though this was supposed to be a porno,

so I’m disappointed,” said Austin town lecher, Harry Hugh Fields.

Johnson says that this movie might help Gibson put the pedal back to the medal vis-à-vis his career. “Mel has, in a sense, potentially resurrected something that everyone thought was quite dead.”

Gibson once had a successful acting career, forged by a string of hot action movies like Mad Max and Braveheart, and then with chick flick classics like What Women Want in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

But Golden Gibson soon turned sour. “Things were weird enough when he put out Passion of the Christ. That was a heavy, heavy movie, man.

Y’know, some people are just not ready for that level of Christianity,” said Johnson, referencing Gibson’s realistic retelling of the final days of Jesus, which was a big hit with church groups. It was controversial for depictions of the proclaimed messiah’s life.

Since then, the actor had left his longtime wife and mother of his seven children, and had taken up with Russian model Oksana Grigorieva.

Things spiralled out of control when the two engaged in a messy public custody battle, with recordings of Gibson’s vile spewings and mistreatment of his wife were revealed to the public.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the antisemitic rants.

Yeah, there were a bunch of those - all captured during a drunken rant when he was picked up the cops.

Gibson attempted a comeback with a cameo

in The Hangover 2, but that fell flat when he was uninvited.

“Yup, it was pretty bad,” said Johnson, reminiscing. “His stock went way down, but now I hear from my sources that he’s gotten a haircut, and he’s shopping around town for scripts.”

Gibson has since appeared on Oprah with a talking beaver hand puppet, a “key” redeeming point for bad celebrities, according to Johnson.

Time magazine has put him on the top of their watchlist of “Coming Back Up” celebs, just above

Britney Spears.

It’s rumoured that now, following Gibson’s sudden rehabilitation, that loser-of-the-moment Charlie Sheen, who will likely live on in notoriety for coining phrases and memes spawning the newfound obsession over ‘tiger blood’ and ‘winning warlocks,’ is currently shopping around for a film about a prairie dog, and disgraced golfer Tiger Woods is looking for a hamster who can carry his clubs.

Graphics by Evan LePage

15

the Lynx

Tuesday, March 15, 2011 baCon

adviCe

The Piggy’s Potato Dear

Tugger

How a Youtube sensation is causing major drama in the university’s vegan kitchen Emile Black Staff writer

In light of Epic Meal Time’s wild success, the People’s Potato is turning their vegan kitchen into a meat-friendly zone.

“The pressure was too much and we needed to meet the growing demand for bacon,” said Wilbur Gammon, a chef at the People’s Potato. “Before the videos came out, I had not eaten meat for 17 years and now it’s part of my daily diet.”

Switching over the kitchen was difficult, as serving meat goes against everything the soup kitchen has written in their constitution.

In order to both serve bacon and meet their mission statement criteria, which includes challenging corporate involvement in food production and distribution, the worker-run collective has decided to start breeding pigs in the university’s greenhouse.

“You might be thinking space is limited up there, and it is,” says Gammon. “But we are vying for a fee levy in this week’s elections in order to build 10 additional pens.”

Surprisingly, the Your Action slate, known bacon-lovers, have endorsed the fee levy.

They both said there is no way to justify the high fees in breeding pigs at school when much cheaper alternatives, like buying the cast-offs from the slaughterhouses, exist.

Gammon admits that it has been hard to get people on board to support the initiative

and says one of the biggest struggles is actually serving the bacon-eaters. Something that is hard because of the swarms of protesters that line up in front of the People’s Potato.

Earlier today, protesters were seen carrying signs that read “Bacon = murder!” and “Pigs are people too!” While the individuals picketing would not identify themselves, there has been speculation that they are affiliated with one of the CSU slates, though no one would say which and whether this rumour was true. Some even claim no protesters protested at all.

“I was at the People’s Potato for lunch yesterday and the only people there were eating,” said Anon Ymous. “At one point though someone did yell for more bacon, but that was it.”

Members of YouTube sensation Epic Meal

Time are proud of their show’s success and the influence it has had on their community. When asked about their most glorious moment they said, “Being on Jay Leno was awesome, but starting “protests” at Concordia is so much cooler.”

They would not speak to the speculation of a future episode being filmed at the People’s Potato but did say that if they were ever to film there, they would show the collective who the real “Sauce Boss” is.

While Gammon feels badly for the vegans who will now starve to death due to the changes within the kitchen, he feels worse for himself.

“Adding meat back into my diet has not been easy on my [hipster] reputation,” said Gammon “But, I have begun growing dreadlocks in hopes of maintaining my credibility.”

transport

Students Forced To Get Ready For Rush Hour Concordia student channels his inner Keanu Reeves in shuttle bus take-over

Yours truly, Thirsty and Unprotected

Sofia Gay Public transit editor Students were torn between horror and delight when their shuttle bus was hijacked by a fellow student in rush hour on Friday afternoon, arriving at their destination earlier than under regular service. The bus, which was scheduled to depart SGW campus at 2 p.m., was still idling beside the sidewalk at 3:30 p.m. when student Hulk Hagar decided he’d had enough.

Unnoticed by the shuttle bus driver, who was waiting for a friend at the end of the Tim Hortons lineup in the Hall building to bring him a coffee, Hagar (being twice as big as the slight physique of a normal, caffeine-crazed university student) managed to bend and break one of the poles from the middle of the bus. He then proceeded to approach the bus driver in a menacing rage, before pushing him off the vehicle and closing the doors in one swift motion. The baffled driver did not even have time to push himself off the ground before Hagar pounded on the accelerator, inciting both terrified screams and whoops of cheer from the passengers.

“It was about time one of us took charge,” said political science student Michael Mann, who was on board at the time. “We need to send a clear message to the administration about our frustrations with shuttle bus delays. I would fully

Dear Tugger, I have recently started dating the prettiest girl in my 201 class. We went on a few dates to the movies and ice skating. I think that we are getting pretty serious and she has even hinted at leaving her toothbrush at my house in case she decides to sleep over this week.

This all seems great and wonderful but I have a confession, I have never slept with a girl before. I think I know how to do “it” and have pretty much pieced it all together with the help of the Internet and a copy of Cosmo magazine I stole from my dentist’s waiting room.

So I come to you with a few questions about your personal preference. I have heard that the sex makes you really tired so I was thinking I should have a drink close by just in case I get tired or in case I start to lose “steam.”

My second question is about protection. I know that I have to use something but I am really embarrassed to ask the little old lady who works at the depanneur near my house for her advice.

Please help me before the big night comes and I am left looking like a fool.

endorse Hulk if he were to run for CSU council.”

Swerving down Maisonneuve at an incredible speed, pedestrians were left scrambling to jump out of the vehicle’s way as Hagar drove around other cars. A particularly stubborn young man, who refused to let the shuttle bus run over his Canada Goose hat, nearly met his death by the frenzied wheels under Hagar’s control.

“I, for one, cannot believe such violence could take place at our school,” said philosophy student Gary Ghanditt, who tried to calm Hagar down as he drove. “Why couldn’t we have

resolved things over a nice cup of kombucha?”

When Hagar finally reached his destination, knocking down a fence and stopping the bus in its tracks on the grounds in front of Loyola chapel, he made a run for it.

“I had a psych exam to get to,” he stated defensively. “And hell, we got there half an hour earlier.”

Concordia has not issued a statement yet, but it is rumoured that Hagar has been invited to act as an advisor at the next quality review for the shuttle bus service.

Dear Thirsty, Have no fear my friend, because I happen to have a few little known tricks up my pant leg that I use in just your scenario.

To answer your first question, yes, the sex makes you quite tired. In fact it is so exhausting that I have been known to fall asleep on some occasions. And to be honest if you are not properly hydrated with the right fluids thing can get a little “deflated” if you know what I mean. That is why I always keep a nice cold glass of whole milk next to my futon. You see, most people think Gatorade or something with electrolytes would be what you want, but they are wrong. The key is calcium. Calcium helps you build strong bones and what better to help you with a strong boner than a nice shot of milk every once in a while.

As for your protection question, Mazda Suzuki actually covered this in today’s issue of the Lynx. When you’re done reading this issue cover-to-cover, pull out the Life section and grab a rubber band. Voila! You have yourself a genuine sex-o-protector.

So there you have it. Milk, newspaper and a rubber band are all you need to fulfill your romantic evening aspirations. Good luck and get ready for the wildest three minutes of your life pal.

Sincerely, Tugger

the Lynx

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

the Lynx

16

Concordia’s weekly, independent student newspaper.

Tuesday, Mar. 29, 2010 Volume 26 Issue 17.

Sarah Deshaies Editrix-in-chief editor@theconcordian.com Brennan Neill Cat hearder managing@theconcordian.com Evan LePage Picasso junior news@theconcordian.com Jacques Gallant Jacqueline Di Bartelomeo Assistant news slaves Emily White Komfort kaiser life@theconcordian.com Savannah Sher Komfort assistant Valerie Cardinal Arts editor arts@theconcordian.com Katelyn Spidle Do do do dodo do music@theconcordian.com Kamila Hinkson Lingerer sports@theconcordian.com Chris Hanna Letters editor opinions@theconcordian.com Owen Nagels Assistant lush editor Christopher Kahn KAHHHHHHHN online@theconcordian.com Tiffany Blaise Faux-to editor photo@theconcordian.com Katie Brioux Doodles graphics@theconcordian.com Trevor Smith Illegal Alien copy@theconcordian.com Morgan Lowrie Sofia Gay Copy Minions Jill Fowler Production wizard production@theconcordian. com Jennifer Barkun Francois Descoteaux Lindsay Sykes Production bitches Board of Dictators Tobi Elliott Ben Ngai directors@theconcordian.com Editorial 7141 Sherbrooke St. W. CC.431 Montreal, QC H4B 1R6 514.848.2424 x7458 (Newsroom) 514.848.2424 x7499 (Editors) 514.848.2424 x7404 (Production) Francesco Sacco Business Manager business@theconcordian.com Marshall Johnston Advertising advertising@theconcordian. com Business and Advertising: 1455 de Maisonneuve W. H.733-4 Montreal, QC H3G 1M8 514.848.2424 x7420 (Office) 514.848.7427 (Fax) STAFF WRITERS AND CONTRIBUTORS: Hulk Hogan, Rip Van Winkle, Thats So Raven, The Situation, Dagny Anker, Shenanigans, Waldo, Daniel Rodrigues, Duran Duran, Matthew Maconahay, Bob Segar, Barbie and Ken, Pizza Pizzs, Moses, That chinese food place we order from, DAN, Extension 231, Jake Freekin Smith, Cookies, Jesus F’in C, Parole, Rebecca Black, Sean Kershaw, Pedobear, It’s tape, The list

bathrooms

Fringe Arts: Photo Essay Next time you are spending those exhausting few minutes in the stalls take a moment to look at the words of wisdom bestowed upon you from past students and (we can only hope) faculty.

These are the Shakespeares and Picassos of our time, and they choose not to limit themselves to the confines of scribing on paper. No, they etch their souls onto these bathroom canvases.

Write to the editor: arts@theconcordian.com spoiler alert

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

17

Who’s afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?

Jessica Wei would be if he wasnt so damn attractive Jessica Wei Staff writer Man. There’s something about werewolves, isn’t there? It’s basic human psychology to want what you can’t have, and there’s nothing more unattainable than paws, claws and fangs. At least, this is the reasoning that Catherine Hardwicke, director of the first Twilight movie, relies on with her latest, Red Riding Hood. And she’s not entirely wrong - especially when the object of affection is a tall, dark, brooding social outcast with badboy edge and knitted eyebrows. And let’s be honest, that’s always going to be the case in her movies. This week’s Spoiler Alert is on the magazine-glossy, dark and mysterious bastard child of the Brothers Grimm story we all know and love. I watched Red Riding Hood so I could save you hours of post-movie Hardwicke-esque sighing and sulking. You’re welcome.

The movie is crammed with beautiful people. And Gary Oldman. This is a perfect role for Amanda Seyfried, whose pairing of blonde hair and creepily-huge vacant doe eyes will never allow her to play anything but an innocent, slightly dimwitted tease. She’s not the femme fatale or the ass-kicking brainiac; at best, her characters will surprise us if they have a single good idea. As Valerie, a.k.a. Red Riding Hood, she’s a male’s plaything, torn between two brooding gentlemen and kicked around like a little puppy by the rest of the men in the town. Her primary love interest, Peter, played by Shiloh Fernandez, which I guess is Spanish for Robert Pattinson, is a mysterious woodcutter who lurks around the forest. Their love affair is interrupted when two things happen: Valerie is forced into engagement with Henry, some rich pushover in town, and her older sister is killed by a werewolf. Shit’s gettin’ real at this point. To deal with the werewolf, the town enlists the help of Gary Oldman, a totally deranged werewolf

hunter who reeks of child molestation charges and illicit drug-fueled paranoia.

No problem, right? If you have mice, you dial an exterminator. If you have a werewolf lurking around your ‘hood, you call in Gary Oldman. It would be as simple as that if everyone in this town wasn’t completely batshit nuts. Literally all they do is stagger around glaring at each other suspiciously, murder small bunnies and make up shit about werewolves.

“A werewolf always changes back into human state after they die.”

“If you’re bitten by a werewolf under a blood moon – but only under a blood moon – you become a werewolf.”

“The only way to kill a werewolf is by stabbing it in the heart with silver.”

Where do you even get this freakishly specific information? I didn’t know Google existed in the medieval times. And everyone is so fucking sad in this movie. Smiles and jokes are only doled out during drunken celebrations, like when the townspeople think they’ve killed the werewolf after hunting down what appears to be the only wolf in the entire forest.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter because the werewolf comes back and Gary Oldman starts his mad ranting again, telling all the townspeople to start suspecting each other and randomly shoving children into boiling cauldrons. Don’t worry, it’s all werewolfprevention.

Maybe I’ve been writing this column for too long so my standards are slowly diminishing. There’s a lot I could say to shit all over Red Riding Hood – the dialogue is flatter than Amanda Seyfriend’s chest, every character is one-dimensional, there’s really weak chemistry between the characters who are supposed to be in love, and on top of that, it’s pretty degrading to women. But this movie was never intended to be a cinematic triumph – it was supposed to be a mystery filled with beautiful people with open collars trudging around in snow.

The only thing you were ever supposed to do was sit there, watching these characters skulk around and keep wondering who the wolf is – and in that regard, it’s a success.

Plus, you pick up a few tips for avoiding werewolves along the way.

THX 1138 Daniel Spinali Staff writer When people think of George Lucas, they immediately think of the Star Wars franchise he created in the late ‘70s. What most people forget is that most directors do not start their careers off with a blockbuster. This was the case for Lucas and his first film, THX 1138.

THX 1138 is a factory worker in an underground city of the future. His job is highly dangerous: he spends his days assembling android police officers. The world in which he lives is governed by the mandatory intake of mind-altering drugs which turn the population into virtually mindless automatons.

THX’s roommate, LUH 3417, works in surveillance and voluntarily decides to stop taking her drugs after realizing what they are doing to the citizens. Since she is the one who prepares THX’s drugs, she does the same for him. With the drugs no longer controlling their thoughts, THX and LUH quickly fall in love and develop a sexual relationship.

The two are arrested for their crimes and

soon after, THX is convinced by another prisoner to find an exit from their underground lives.

THX 1138 was a commercial failure and it is easy to see why. This film is a borefest, but it should not be ignored. While the script could almost be considered pointless to the progression of the film, this movie is all about the visuals. THX 1138 was filmed in 1969, long before anything fancy came up in the world of visual effects, yet it still draws you in with the virtually blank canvas that is the underground city. Almost everything in their world is white and it truly helps the viewer understand the emptiness of their lives.

This film makes me wish that Lucasfilm never developed advanced CGI techniques.

Everything in this movie was really happening in front of the lens (except for a few scenes where Lucas decided to add some CGI. Avoid the 2004 director’s cut if possible) and it makes for a much better viewing experience than what most films offered in the last decade.

No matter how many things I did not like about this film, I strongly recommend it to anyone who has any interest at all in film history. It is always fun to see how a writer/director started, especially when their followup movies changed the world of cinema.

Directed by George Lucas, 1971 Starring Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence and Maggie McOmie

music

18

Write to the editor: music@theconcordian.com profile

Born Ruffians embark on first strictly Canadian tour before working on material for upcoming record

The now four-piece Toronto indie band promotes Plinky Plonk EP and confirms that a new album is in the way Katelyn Spidle Music editor

While around 2,000 bands just wrapped up a five-day stint in Austin, Texas for the South By Southwest festival, Toronto’s Born Ruffians were in B.C. to kick start their first Canada-only coastto-coast tour.

“It’s the kind of thing you wish you could do every year, but it didn’t really make sense for us to do it this year,” said bassist Mitch Derosier of the band’s decision to opt of of playing SXSW. Having played the last two years in a row, “It would just be like us spinning our wheels a little bit.”

Moving forward is certainly something the band is concerned with at the moment, and in fact have done much of in the past year. Having released their sophomore album, Say It, last June, the band is now touring the songs from their recent EP, Plinky Plonk, released this past October.

“It’s kind of an odds and ends collection of songs that we wanted people to hear and people to have access to,” said Derosier. The seven-track record is a combination of old and new material.

Two of which, “Plinky Plonky” and “Like When You,” were written for the Say It album, but ultimately didn’t make the cut. As well, a soloacoustic version of “Retard Canard II,” recorded by lead vocalist and guitarist Luke Lalonde, and

Born Ruffians now a four-piece, will be taking time after their current tour to work on a new record. Photo courtesy of Stage Fright Publicity remixed versions of “What To Say” and “NovaLeigh” appear on the EP. Finally, the track “First Date Kid” is a collaboration between Lalonde and David Monks of Tokyo Police Club.

“We did some shows with [Tokyo Police Club] in the States where we could actually play that song as an encore, which was really awesome,” said Derosier, enthusiastically adding that he wishes the band could do more collaborations with TPC in the future.

While the band had initially started out as a trio back in 2004, Born Ruffians are now officially a quartet after the addition of Andy Lloyd, former bassist of the 2008 Polaris Prize-winning group Caribou. “With [Lloyd] it was kind of something that was a long time coming,” Derosier revealed.

Although he did not contribute to Say It, Derosier assured that, having been playing live shows with Born Ruffians since 2009, Lloyd will be contributing to the writing and recording process for the next album.

The group has been spread out for the past few months - Lalonde having stayed in Australia after their last tour and Lloyd having moved to Montreal - but Derosier assures the band is currently working on some new material.

“Everything’s been done through email and demos that [Lalonde] has been coming up with for quite a while,” said Derosier. “So everything has just kind of been online-based. Our songs exist in the Internet. But hopefully when we all get together they’re going to come out sweet – super

sweet!”

After the cross-Canada tour, the band will be shacking up in an Ontario farmhouse in order to “stay there and hang out and just get into the mindset of writing songs and working together and not being distracted by other things,” Derosier explained.

While the new record is surely in its early stages, he hinted that, “We already have a song that has an animal name in the demo. I think that one has to make it on the record just for continuing that tradition of having animals plastered all over our records.”

Catch Born Ruffians when they play at La Sala Rossa on April 1.

in-depth

The Strokes take a step forward, but fans may look back on earlier days The Strokes - Angles (RCA/Rough Trade; 2011) Lea Choukroun Staff writer The Strokes are without a doubt the pioneers of what Rolling Stone magazine justly calls the “modern-garage era” - combining jumpy punk rhythms, pop melodies, pulsing lead guitars and that now-famous vocal overdrive.

Having previously released three very successful albums, The Strokes are surely part of the mainstream contemporary musical landscape.

This explains fans’ unrepressed excitement for the release of their fourth record, Angles.

It was revealed in interviews that the band had recorded the album under some awkward conditions. For one thing, Julian Casablancas recorded the vocals all the way in Los Angeles while the rest of the band recorded the instrumental parts in upstate New York. With such limited inter-band co-operation, it may seem unlikely that The Strokes would be capable of producing an album that is as awesome as their previous records were. But musically, Angles represents a step forward and out of the band’s comfort zone.

Overall, the album is musically complex and varied. The influence of a broader range of genres is seen in songs like “Two Kinds of Happiness”

and “Games.” With the help of synthesizers, they sound like ‘80s pop.

The band also makes good use of their traditional lead guitar effects. In songs like “Taken For A Fool,” the vocals are used as a tool to mark rhythm, as well as to create a jumpy and overall upbeat sound.

The record also features some slower songs such as “Call Me Back” and “Life Is Simple In The Moonlight.” With these tunes, melancholic melodies are set over fast-paced guitars and beats, thanks to Casablancas’ gravelly yet nonchalant vocals.

In terms of style and structure, the diversity among songs is most probably due to the fact that each band member contributed to the songwriting process. The Strokes have chosen to bring in electronic elements, giving the record a futuristic touch. But fans be warned: the band does move away from their characteristic sound, which may cause true fans to look back nostalgically on The Strokes’ early days.

Trial Track: “You’re So Right”

the verdict:

8.0/10

Write to the editor: music@theconcordian.com

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

19

mixtape

10 Albums to start an alternative rock collection Andrew Guilbert Staff writer

Cora Ballou Staff writer

Singled out British label Mercury Records, which is home to such prestigious artists as U2, Arcade Fire and Elton John, has announced that it will be opting to go all digital. Barring “exceptional circumstances,” the label will no longer be releasing singles on vinyl or CD, according to a report from the Press Association. Such exceptional circumstances would include charity releases and a minor contribution that it will be making for the internationally celebrated Record Store Day, taking place on April 16. The decision is not surprising, as physical sales now make up around one per cent of all singles sales, with just under 3,000 CD and vinyl purchases in the U.K. top 50 singles chart.

Hagar jumps off the deep end Former Van Halen vocalist Sammy Hagar recently admitted to some things that may make him, in his own words, “sound like a crazy person.”

Among said things? Being abducted by aliens.

In an interview with mtvhive.com, the 63-yearold rocker discussed his new book, Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock. During the interview, he reveals that a passage in which he recounts a dream involving contact with extraterrestrials in California is, according to him, based on reality. He said that the aliens “plugged” into him.

“It was a download situation... or, they uploaded something from my brain, like an experiment.”

If you’d like to read the rest of the interview, you can check it out at mtvhive.com.

Mental Manager Music Former Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed’s manager Tommy Sarig was arrested last week on suspicion of aggravated harassment.

The news comes just after New York police confirmed they had been looking into allegations that he had threatened a consultant. Sarig was detained after Adrian Smith, an employment consultant hired to find an assistant for Reed, filed an official complaint. Smith claims that Sarig threatened him when he tried to collect the $11,500 that he was owed. Reed’s manager could face up to a year in prison if he is found guilty.

What’s black and white and Radiohead all over?

To celebrate the physical release of their latest album, The King of Limbs, Radiohead will be giving away copies of their new newspaper for free all around the world. The paper now has its own dedicated website www.theuniversalsigh.com, where fans can find the distributor nearest to them. From the website: “Radiohead have produced a newspaper which will be given away, free, gratis, without cost to the consumer by accredited vendors from a multitude of locations WORLDWIDE! […] Our dedicated teams of newspaper delivery people will be handing out copies of THE UNIVERSAL SIGH to anyone who wants one, until we run out!” Montreal’s drop point will be outside the HMV store at Peel and Ste-Catherine Sts. The Canadian release date for The King of Limbs is March 29.

Jack Bauer’s kind of music “She Will Be Loved” hitmakers Maroon 5 recently put themselves to the test by writing a new song in 24 hours with some help from their fans.

The experiment, a Coca-Cola-funded music project titled ‘Inspired By You,’ promised that the “lyrics, riffs and rhythms for the new single will be inspired by you, the fan.” Secluding themselves away in a London studio, the band was given fans’ tweeted suggestions live via a giant virtual wall projected into the studio. The newly minted single will be available for free download from Coke’s website on April 1, with the soft drink giant pledging to make a donation to RAIN, a charity that supplies fresh water to Africans in need, after the first 100,000 downloads.

Now that we’ve listed the 10 albums to start an epic alternative rock collection, we present you with a mixtape composed of songs from these records. Side A features “The Basics” – tracks that best represent each album. Side B are the “Deep Cuts” – the underrated-but-no-less-deserving-of-your-attention songs. Listening to this mixtape will be an excellent way to get a taste of each album.

Check out the mixtape at www.theconcordian.com/ten-albums Side A: The Basics 1. “Heroin” – The Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground & Nico - 1967 2. “Suffragette City” – David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - 1972 3. “She’s Lost Control” – Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures - 1979 4. “London Calling” – The Clash – London Calling - 1979 5. “Bigmouth Strikes Again” – The Smiths – The Queen is Dead - 1986 6. “Personal Jesus” – Depeche Mode – Violator -1990 7. “There She Goes” – The La’s – The La’s - 1990 8. “Lithium” – Nirvana – Nevermind -1991 9. “Paranoid Android” – Radiohead – OK Computer - 1997 10. “Holland, 1945” – Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Aeroplane Over The Sea – 1998

Side B: Deep Cuts 1. “All Tomorrow’s Parties” – The Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground & Nico – 1967 2. “Ziggy Stardust” – David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars – 1972 3. “Interzone” – Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures – 1979 4. “Train in Vain (Stand By Me)” – The Clash - London Calling – 1979 5. “Cemetery Gates” – The Smiths – The Queen is Dead – 1986 6. “World In My Eyes” – Depeche Mode – Violator – 1990 7. “Liberty Ship” – The La’s – The La’s – 1990 8. “In Bloom” – Nirvana – Nevermind – 1991 9. “Electioneering” – Radiohead – OK Computer -1997 10. “King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1” – Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea 1998

theconcordian

20 feature

Starting your alternative rock collection Here are 10 essential albums that any aspiring music hoarder should own

2) David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars (RCA Records; 1972)

5) The Smiths - The Queen is Dead (Rough Trade; 1986)

8) Nirvana - Nevermind (DGC; 1991)

Along with Marc Bolan of T.Rex, this album would give birth to glam rock, influencing everybody from The New York Dolls to Kiss.

Setting the scene for what would become Brit-pop, The Smiths were the first to mix jangly guitar with melodramatic vocals.

Morrissey’s voice is also unmistakable with its operatic qualities. A classic album from a classic band.

No alternative rock collection could be complete without the album that not only put Seattle on the map, but also created the quintessential sound of the early ‘90s.

3) Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures (Factore; 1979)

6) Depeche Mode - Violator (Mute/Sire/Reprise; 1990)

9) Radiohead - OK Computer (Parlophone/Capitol; 1997)

Ushering in the post-punk era, the album is a perfect mixture of low-fi sensibilities and art-rock sophistication. Dark, brooding but undeniably catchy, the success of Unknown Pleasures would be responsible for the creation of New Order and the evolution of the stereotype of the sad, haunted artist.

With the plethora of synthesizer bands that existed between the mid ‘80s an early ‘90s, nobody did it better than Depeche Mode.

Even though this list could feature any one of the band’s dance-pop releases, Violator saw the group finally hit their stride with a subtle blend of pop and art-rock with hits like “Personal Jesus” and “Enjoy the Silence.”

Radiohead is one of those bands that is likely to be remembered decades after they’re gone, and OK Computer may become the band’s landmark album. Featuring a densely layered sound, this LP saw the return of subtlety in a scene that was over-saturated with heavy rock riffs.

1) The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico (Verve; 1967)

4) The Clash - London Calling (CBS Records/Epic Records; 1979)

7) The La’s - The La’s Go! (Discs; 1990)

There’s a myth claiming that everybody who bought this album started a band. A lo-fi art-rock masterpiece, it has influenced everyone from David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Sonic Youth, Pavement and R.E.M.

Punk rock would not be the same with this seminal album. Melodic but full of angry bite, London Calling is a great introduction to the more spirited facet of alternative rock.

Cora Ballou Staff writer

I realize that in creating this list I am asking, even begging, for an angry stream of emails telling me which albums I missed. So before you log into to your email, let me explain.

To begin, I realize that 10 albums is a ridiculously small number in which to give adequate representation to all alternative music. Secondly, personal preference can sometimes cloud one’s judgment. If it was truly up to me, I’m sure Motley Crüe’s Shout at the Devil would be somewhere on this list. But deep down, I know that even though I personally love Shout at the Devil, most people don’t.

What I’m trying to achieve is the beginnings of a well-rounded alternative rock collection. Key word: beginnings. From this list, I believe that it is possible to hone in on one’s musical tastes, as well as have a solid base to expand upon. So I decided that the only way to do this would be to start with some reasonable guidelines that would help me to decide. I asked myself: What kind of long-term impact did this album have? And also, what facet of alternative rock does this album cover?

Still, many of you will continue to disagree - and that’s fine. Music is truly about personal taste, and is determined by age, experience and emotional attachment. But for those looking to broaden their musical knowledge or – as is the point of this article – start a proper record collection, the following list will hopefully set you on the right track. So, take a deep breath everyone - let’s get to it.

The album that notoriously took over five years - as well as a string of producers - to make, this self-titled debut was one of the first albums to mark a return to ‘60s rock. Mixing mod with Brit-pop, The La’s is a pop rock masterpiece that has been credited by the likes of Oasis as being the starting point of the band’s career.

10) Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (Merge/Domino; 1998) Heralding the age of the lo-fi sound, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is equal parts punk and rock. With a fuzzy, layered, in-your-face appeal, this album is additionally surrounded with an aura of mystery stemming from the fact that following its release, singer/songwriter Jeff Mangum quickly disappeared from the public eye and has failed to come out with any new material since. A classic turn of the century album.

Check out this week’s Mixtape to hear tunes from these essential alternative rock albums: www.theconcordian.com/section/ music/

Write to the editor: music@theconcordian.com

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Quick Spins

Retro review

William Fitzsimmons - Gold in the Shadow (Mercer Street; 2011)

Generationals - Actor-caster (Park the van; 2011)

The dance worthy and fun-inspired tracks that filled Panic! at the Disco’s first album, A Fever You Just Can’t Sweat, can be heard again throughout their newest album, Vices & Virtues. With the departure of lead guitarist and chief songwriter Ryan Ross, many worried about how the band would continue. This album only solidifies that both guitarist and pianist Brendan Urie and drummer Spencer Smith have what it takes to keep up with their old sound.

“The Ballad Of Mona Lisa” starts the album off with the band’s dark and carnivalesque piano tinkling, then moves into a familiar groove - but with a twist.

“Always” is a pretty song, with its simple and melodic guitar riffs. Other tracks that bring forth something new and fresh are “Ready To Go (Get Me Out Of My Mind)” and “Sarah Smiles.”

William Fitzsimmons, though still relatively unknown, has gathered much buzz in the underground music circuits. Blending subtle electronic music with a folk-ey twist, this mental health therapist creates emotionally charged lullabies. Gold in the Shadow, his fifth album, is no different.

Featuring soft instrumentals and whispy female backing vocals (with help from up-and-coming folk singer Julia Stone), Fitzsimmons blends acoustic guitar with quiet synthesizer tones into a highly enjoyable folk record. Yet it is also clear that Fitzsimmons is simply reinventing the wheel. Not only is it obvious that he has borrowed heavily from Iron & Wine, but he also manages to pilfer from Elliott Smith and Sufjan Stevens in tracks like “Wounded Head” and “Tied To Me.” Yet it must be said that the limitations of quiet folk-rock do leave little room for innovation. Thus, even though Fitzsimmons clearly shows his influences, Gold in the Shadow remains a charming, easylistening record.

Generationals, a two-man indie duo consisting of Ted Joyner and Grant Widmer, prove that sometimes less is more with their second album, Actor-Caster. The simplicity of the album is what makes it special.

With their vintage feel, Generationals have created a balance between vocals and instrumentals that tie the 10 songs together seamlessly. From the beginning, tracks like “TenTwenty-Ten,” “Yours Forever” and “‘Tell Me Now,” give listeners an optimistic feeling. ActorCaster’s sunny vibe is reminiscent of spring and can be thought of as an instant pick-me-up. It’s jingly, catchy and delightful without going over the top. The album manages to borrow from several genres, including indie, soul and rock, and pull it together in an energetic 33 minutes.

If Actor-Caster indicates anything, it’s that Generationals are in bloom.

Trial Track: “Let’s Kill Tonight”

Trial Track: “Wounded Head”

Panic at the disco - vices & virtues (decaydance/Fueled By ramen; 2011)

7.3/10

-Roya Manuel-Nekouei

6.0/10

21

Trial track: “I Promise”

- Cora Ballou

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8.0/10

Fundraiser for Uganda

“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” With that powerful statement, jazz poet Gil Scott-Heron begins one of the best albums of his early period, if not of his career.

That the first track went on to spawn a phrase that has outshone its creator is testament to the power behind Scott-Heron’s lyrics. That same deep, reflexive capacity for wordsmithing, when combined with the musical talents of long-time collaborator Brian Jackson, makes for an album that speaks volumes both emotionally and lyrically. The junkie heartbreak of “Home Is Where the Hatred Is” is so bitingly raw you can hear the man falling apart, whereas the introspective, mellow optimism of “I Think I’ll Call It Morning” can pull you out of whatever funk may be ailing you. Musically, there are a few gems scattered throughout: the bass line to the Billie Holiday/Coltrane tribute “Lady Day and John Coltrane” is as engaging as anything coming out of the ‘70s funk landscape, and the melancholic piano/upright bass interplay on the title track is an emotional, accomplished exercise in minimalism.

Trial Track: “Home Is Where the Hatred Is”

- Kalina Laframboise

- Andrew Guilbert

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sports

22

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Write to the editor: sports@theconcordian.com

feature

Who says fighting is a man’s sport?

Martial arts gaining popularity among women Matthew Sousa Staff writer Since the early Roman times, when men would strap on their armour and prepare to battle each other in a coliseum filled with people, physical combat has been thought of as a man’s domain. Even in today’s supposedly enlightened society, a woman starting in any martial arts training program is often greeted with gender stereotyping and harassment from friends, family and co-workers.

This response is often based on misinformation and prejudicial myths.

However, it hasn’t stopped many women from taking up a hard workout using their fists and any other body part that can hit a punching bag. Mixed martial arts is a relatively new full contact combat style. Fighters can use different skills from other combat sports.

It’s a popular workout that entails strengthening the body and mind, and it’s catching the attention of females across the globe.

Even though women have not achieved the kind of success that male martial artists have, female fighter Jessica Branco sees a consistent growth in the sport’s popularity among women.

“I think girls will one day reach a point

Jessica Branco will make her MMA debut Sept. 2 in Montreal. Photos courtesy Robert Strukelj where we’ll be just as popular as male fighters in MMA. It’s different but can be just as entertaining. When girls fight, we get crazy,” she said.

One of the most challenging steps is always the first one. “It’s really intimidating when you arrive and want to sign up. Guys don’t take you seriously and I really wanted to make my place so I had to prove myself,” said Branco.

It won’t be long before Branco makes her presence felt, as she’s set to make her MMA debut at the Centre Pierre Charbonneau in Montreal on Sept. 2.

Beyond the benefits it confers in fitness, self-confidence, safety and increased agility, martial arts is also fun.

An all-around fighting trainer, who boasts more than 25 years of experience, Maximiliano Ferraiolo has appreciation for the skill and strategy behind martial arts and knows a strong work ethic is required to be successful. “I’ve trained a lot of women and I really respect those dedicated to training and fighting,” he said.

Weight loss often drives women into martial arts, but they get hooked on it for different reasons. Ferraiolo says it’s about health

and wellness for many women. “Recreational fighting is very popular amongst women.

They train hard and don’t have to worry about preparing for competitions. Many of the girls don’t want to get hit but rather come for a gruesome workout.”

Peter Quieti, an all-around fighter, says people are now open-minded about introducing females to the sport. “Martial arts itself became so popular and people don’t care if you’re a guy or girl, black or white. They’re opening the doors to everyone.”

According to Ferraiolo, more women are also growing a passion for watching MMA. “I find that [Georges St-Pierre, Canadian mixed martial artist helped grow this sport’s popularity and if you go to a bar to catch a UFC fight, there are more and more women who follow it.”

As a religious fan of MMA fighting, Jakub Kaliszczak is quick to notice that the number of women watching UFC is rapidly multiplying. “There are more women in bars coming to watch UFC events and I’m definitely not complaining, I think it’s great. You can see that women like to see men fight,” he said.

Kaliszczak referred to a comparison which hasn’t changed from centuries ago: “It’s like gladiators from the Roman times, where everyone would enjoy watching, including women.”

For a free martial arts session contact Maximiliano Ferraiolo at the Académie Sportive du Parc located at 7290 Hutchison by calling 514-670-9935 or logging onto www.parc. academie-sportive.com.

“I think girls will one day reach a point where we’ll be just as popular as male fighters in MMA. It’s different but can be just as entertaining. When girls fight, we get crazy,” Blando explained.

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/concordiansport

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

23

feature

Volleyball player Robert Earl is among many Ryerson student athletes who undergo rigorous off-season training programs. Photo by Steve Goetz/The Eyeopener

Training doesn’t stop when the season wraps up For student-athletes at Ryerson, workouts are a year-round gig Harlan Nemers The Eyeopener (Ryerson University) TORONTO (CUP) — Running from one side of the squash court to the other, Shannon Cosgrove chases a soccer ball as her teammates play keep-away. Gasping for breath, she strides forward with her left knee outstretched and manages to swiftly steal the ball from her teammate. “[Practicing in the squash courts] really teaches us how to defend and makes our touches better,” said Cosgrove, a first-year midfielder for the Ryerson Rams women’s soccer team.

“It works on out-thinking your defender.”

Cosgrove works on speed, passing and defending skills twice a week at the Recreation and Athletic Centre on campus. Soccer is just one of Ryerson’s many Canadian Interuniversity Sport teams that look to boost their strength and conditioning in the offseason.

In her next drill, Cosgrove has to dribble the ball around a cone as another teammate does the same on the opposite side. The goal is to try and fake out the cone, which represents an opposing player, with a powerful sidestep.

“Basically, what we’re doing is working a fundamental skill set […] in position-specific drills,” said Kevin Souter, assistant coach of the men’s soccer team, who is currently training with the women.

“The goal is to provide a strong foundation for the upcoming season.”

The players on the women’s soccer team

train anywhere between one to three hours a week.

“During the summer, [the] majority of them are playing with their own team like the Markham Soccer Club,” women’s soccer interim coach Ramin Mohammadi said. “If not, then we try to book a field and try to play against other clubs with players who are available.”

Those who are not playing for a club team schedule training sessions that focus more on agility, speed and strength, as well as body movements.

“It doesn’t really matter where they do it as long as they can compete come Aug. 15,” Mohammadi said. “They need to keep up with the fitness program if they want to stay in the program.”

Stephanie White, head coach of the school’s women’s hockey team, said proper offseason training is a vital component to a successful team.

“The offseason is the time for the biggest gains in your conditioning and overall fitness,” White said.

“During the season you don’t really have the opportunity [to train]. It’s really important that they keep the task at hand and it’s only going to improve their game throughout the season.”

This year marks the first time the women’s hockey team will take part in a serious summer training program, as they will officially take on Ontario University Athletics status for the upcoming season.

But unlike most offseason training programs that have athletes training between two to four times a week, White’s program will have her players practicing up to six times a week.

“You do fitness testing to see where they are at the end of the season. And then when they come back at the end of the season, that’s where you’re going to see the gains,”

she said.

“If there are no improvements, it could be conditions for the athlete not to make the team.”

While not as intense as White’s program, men’s volleyball head coach Mirek Porosa has a very structured program.

Starting in March, each player practices three times a week for an hour-and-a-half.

This time is spent focusing on upper body and lower core exercises, as well as endurance.

Porosa said 80 per cent of his team usually comes back in better shape than they were in the previous year.

“When they’re coming back they should jump higher like four or six inches and they should be faster and stronger,” said Porosa.

“They’re charging batteries for the next season. Some of them go to school [in the summer] so they have a smaller load for the next school year.”

While coaches like Porosa have their players abide by a very structured training program, the same can’t be said about their

eating habits – there isn’t a strict nutritional program for them to follow.

“They have basic information that they get during the season, which is based on some knowledge and common sense,” said Porosa.

“But it’s hard to monitor their eating habits during the off-season because they are in a different environment. They’re going back home and working and doing what other people do at this young age.”

Jenny Young, captain of the women’s hockey team, said that although there hasn’t been a set nutrition program, she has met with a nutritionist this year.

“We’ve had meetings with a nutritionist and she’s given us information based on what we weigh and how we should be eating,” she said. “I’m definitely going to try and eat well along with a solid weight routine.”

Cosgrove is also looking forward to the summer months of hard training.

“We have our priorities set and we just want to work hard to become champions next year.”

opinions Write to the editor: opinions@theconcordian.com

EDiToRiAL

Who brings the duck sauce to this election?

With similar platforms, the only difference between these teams is how they ran their campaigns Two weeks of campaigning have gone by, and we’ve watched YouTubes videos, had a few classroom lectures, read some flyers and watched a paltry dance-off between the two main slates. So, what have we learned from the people vying for the chance to control your money, plan your parties and represent your rights and interests?

Action and Your Concordia’s slates are eerily similar, suggesting either a close listening to students’ concerns or little innovation.

Their laundry list of ideas is a roundup of issues that Concordia students want to hear about: fighting tuition increases, banning bottled water, and of course, demanding more transparency when it comes to both university and union governance.

But if we go beyond the issues and look at the candidates and what brought them together as a slate, we can note some clear differences. With Action, there are remnants of the current CSU executive, 2010’s winning Fusion slate, with two current CSU VPs running for senate and the Board of Governors.

This is the same executive that came under fire on a regular basis this year for failing to act on the very issues both slates champion.

Aside from adopting a slightly different hue, Action is clearly by association a successor to the ‘ion’ dynasty - the Fusion and Vision slates, which first swept to power to oppose the long-ruling, CFS-backed Change dynasty in 2009. With little to differentiate themselves from the previous slates, and the snafu with the club endorsements, Action has paled in comparison to the Your Concordia slate with its vacuous videos and posters.

While Action appears lacking in a strong, guiding vision, Your Concordia has on its side an appearance of colourful, fresh energy and ideas. But is all this buzz merely the effort of a clever graphic designer and videographer?

For all the claims of bringing a fresh perspective to the seventh floor of the Hall

LETTERS

Re: CJLO fee levy I am writing to let students know about the benefits of CJLO and ask them to consider voting “yes” to support the station in this week’s elections. I have been the Station Manager at CJLO for the past two years and have been involved with the station since 2004. In that time I have seen a phenomenal period of growth and achievement. CJLO has gone from a small student club to a full-fledged not-forprofit media broadcaster that provides amazing, around-the-clock programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our accomplishments have been many, ranging from finally beginning to broadcast on 1690 AM in 2008 to winning Station of the Year at the 2010 CMJ College Radio Awards in New York City, a huge honour and nod from the radio and music industries. We were also recognized by the Huffington Post as one of the best non-commercial radio stations in North America.

Not only do students have an award-winning radio station on their campus, but a station that ensures that they have a voice at Concordia and around Montreal. CJLO prides itself in its alternative programming and our mandate to train and teach any Concordia student the many facets of broadcasting. We offer students the ability to gain experience, build portfolios and actually put their skills to use. We will teach students everything they need to know to become a well-rounded media professional. Most importantly, CJLO ensures a strong student voice on campus by telling students’ stories, playing the music that they love and sometimes can’t hear anywhere else, covering campus news online and on-air, and by offering advertising and promotion for student clubs and associations for free.

Independent alternative media is vital. Nowhere else will Concordia students find a radio station where they can hear indie-rock, metal, hip hop, sports talk and much more all in one day. Nowhere else will Concordia students find a radio station that truly cares about their stories and their interests.

CJLO wants to make sure that the station can be heard anywhere across the island, and that we will be able to continue to be this voice while ensuring sustainable, organic growth in the long-term. We are calling on student support to do this. I encourage you to get informed

by visiting our website (cjlo.com/feelevy).

Most importantly, go out and vote!

Katie Seline CJLO 1690AM Station Manager

Re: “Students shouldn’t be the only ones helping the needy” Alex Woznica’s opinion piece on the participation of students in “Five Days for the Homeless” managed to be both cynical and incoherent. The students who slept outside for five cold nights acted in solidarity with the homeless, not in pretence or poor taste. They also raised over $35,000 for what even Woznica grudgingly agrees is a very worthy cause.

While it is true that the government should do more to address homelessness and to support Dans la Rue, it is not the case that private citizens are therefore absolved from responsibility. Indeed, the actions of private citizens can draw attention to worthy causes and can spur the government to further action--ask Stephen Harper, who followed the “Five Days for the Homeless” team on Twitter.

I am proud of the students from my department who braved the cold and the rain in order to support this worthy cause. To my mind, they understand the role of the citizen very well.

Ariela Freedman Associate Professor and Principal Liberal Arts College, Concordia University I would like to respond to Alex Woznica’s statement “Improving the situation of the homeless is not the responsibility of private citizens, or even of groups such as Dans la Rue, but of the municipal, provincial, and federal governments.”

If you acknowledge that little has been done for homeless people then you are giving us one more reason to go on the streets and promote what is indeed a very good cause. Admittedly, a year ago, I had a similar reaction to the students sleeping on the streets, assuming they were “imitating” the homeless. This year I participated and raised a few hundred dollars together with individuals that didn’t feel that simply relying on the supposedly ‘almighty’ government is enough.

“

building, Your Concordia also has a team that has as much experience in power as Action: Lex Gill is well-known as a vocal opposition

Their laundry list of ideas is a roundup of issues that Concordia students want to hear about...

and fixture on the CSU council, and Morgan Pudwell is a former VP sustainability and promotions. Their candidates are almost, if not as active, as Action candidates.

But it’s important remember that Your Concordia is comprised of key organizers of

Fair enough, ‘real’ homeless people do not go home after a night out under the stars, many of them due to people that have a mind set as follows: “Improving the situation of the homeless is not the responsibility of private citizens, or even of groups such as Dans la Rue, but of the municipal, provincial, and federal governments.” Now, we have two options: one being to continue living in denial about our very own potential as citizens or raising $35,000 to help the very community in which we live.

Julia Milz, via theconcordian.com

Re: Banning bottled water In the upcoming election, you will be asked to vote on a referendum question asking for your support to eliminate the sale of bottled water on campus. Bottled water has repercussions on all levels of sustainability. Considering the environmental impact at Concordia alone, during 20082009 we threw away 2.1 million plastic water bottles, while only 10 per cent of these were recycled. This does not include the millions of litres of water and oil that are wasted in the production of bottled water.

However bottled water’s impact also affects social and economic sustainability. Choosing bottled water supports a system of privatization that places your right to safe drinking water into the hands of corporations. In the process, it allows for the degradation of water infrastructure that should be maintained at its highest quality.

Those who advocate for a “choice” are in fact eliminating their choice and their human right to free accessible water. What will voting yes to ban bottled water do for Concordia? It will force the administration to keep our water infrastructure to its highest quality. The water at Concordia is already clean and safe to drink, however a ban will ensure that any problems with water pressure are fixed.

Fountains will become accessible to those with mobility impairments and refill stations will be installed at various fountains. So far, more than 100 municipalities, universities, colleges and school boards have banned bottled water. This movement is not just a symbolic one – it is making a real difference in the fight against environmental injustice, cutting down on millions of bottles from going through their destructive life cycle.

So for these reasons and more we are asking

some of this year’s major protests against tuition increases, including the WHALE. But while the ideals are there, does Your Concordia have what it takes to, pardon the pun, put them into action?

While protests and more wintry-hot love-ins send a strong message, they unfortunately don’t always manage to persuade the sexagenarians that dominate the Board of Governors and the Quebec government to decide in the students’ favour, as we saw with the recent tuition increases in the provincial budget. Your Concordia needs to keep in mind the frustrating reality that the call for change happens as much indoors as it does out on the streets.

Action would no doubt do a fine job managing the CSU, their track record suggests it.

But will students be wary of them and opt for the fresher choice? Whichever slate Concordia students entrust the keys to the offices of H-711 to, either one will have a formidable challenge: dealing with an unwieldly Board in crisis, rising tuition costs, a university in disrepute, a student centre contract with no student centre, and a very jaded student body.

Let’s hope they’re up for the challenge.

you to VOTE YES to BAN BOTTLED WATER on March 29, 30 & 31. For more info: please visit: http://drinktap.ca.

Antonio Starnino Graphic Designer Concordia Student Union

Re: Slate endorsement On behalf of NDP Concordia, I am writing to express our extreme displeasure with ACTION’s conduct during this year’s Concordia Student Union election campaign. When the campaign began, ACTION put up a website which listed about 25 groups that they claimed had endorsed them, including NDP Concordia. The problem is that the list was completely fake and none of the named groups had agreed to support ACTION. When a member of NDP Concordia discovered this and posted a demand for an explanation on the wall of ACTION’s Facebook page, his post was deleted and he was blocked from accessing the page. Despite repeated requests, ACTION has refused to apologize or even retract their false claims. In an interview with the Link he claimed it was an accident and that the groups listed were the ones they expected to endorse them. However, there was no evidence at all that NDP Concordia would support them and indeed we have had no contact with anyone on the ACTION slate. Also, if this was an accident, why did ACTION try to cover it up rather than simply apologize?

We have an especially hard time believing it was an accident considering that slates have now made the same “mistake” three years in a row. It seems more likely that they did this because most students check the websites at the beginning of the campaign and are left with a false impression of a slate’s support, which lingers even after the fraud is exposed.

Concordia students should seriously question whether ACTION, a slate that is clearly dishonest and that has refused to take responsibility for their actions, should be trusted with our money or to represent us.

Natalie Bocking Chair NDP Concordia

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/concordianops

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

25

LETTERS

Re: CSU elections 2011 Action does not mean taking fancy mug shots of yourself at a protest that you didn’t even bother to join other Concordia students for.

Nor does action mean encouraging students to protest without explaining why or how.

Action is hard work. It requires hours of research, education, preparation and organization for it to be meaningful and effective.

Real action is demonstrated through the tactics with which Your Concordia has run their campaign. Their tactics speak to a change in the way the CSU runs, showing action in practice before elections have even taken place, by actively publicizing, listening and responding to students’ concerns.

Real action is illustrated by the solid group of Your Concordia executives: scanning hundreds of students’ comments, creating diverse videos that don’t rely on propaganda or clichés, but that focus on information, education, and critical thought and ideas.

Real action is exemplified by Irmak Bahar. She coordinated and presented the original petition for

Re: Support for Your Concordia and candidates Over the past two weeks of CSU campaigning, I’ve grown increasingly disgusted that a team that evidently prides themselves on their “actions” has been displaying a complete lack of respect towards Concordia students.

It has become clear to me that Action doesn’t care about student representation; they care only about winning. Beginning with poster night, they showed that they are unable to carry themselves with the sincerity and integrity that union representatives should possess. Arrogantly assuming endorsements from members of the Concordia community only further highlights their view that this is a popularity contest more than an election.

We don’t need a CSU that is content with throwing parties and staying out of the important issues. Looking at the Action slate through a critical lens, I can’t see them being anything more than that, regardless of what they say. We also definitely don’t need a CSU that is happy to be elected through shady campaigning rather than because students believe in them.

Not to mention the clear fact that Action is a reincarnation of Fusion (…and Vision) – and we all know what a great job they’ve done. They can distance themselves all they want, but anyone who has ever read a student paper can tell that they are exactly the current CSU. The Your Concordia slate has, on the other hand, demonstrated a true concern with what students think. They’ve spent their time during campaigns building actual relationships with students at this school, rather than just yelling to vote for them. I believe they will actually maintain this dialogue with students after being elected, and that they really will change the notoriously toxic nature of Concordia politics.

Re: Support for Action and candidates I fully endorse Natasha Launi and Team Action in the upcoming CSU elections. I’ve had the privilege to have known Nat since childhood. Throughout Nat’s involvement I’ve seen a tremendous growth in her personal development that has highly impacted and enhanced student life at Concordia.

The great thing about Nat is not only that she is a great and caring person but she is also the brains behind numerous events at our school. When I envision VP student life I cannot envision anyone else than Natasha Launi. Under her leadership and motivation, I am confident that next year’s CSU Orientation will unite the entire Concordia student body. Whether you are a first year student or a third year student, whether you are majoring in communications or mechanical engineering, whether you are shy or outgoing, Natasha Launi will make you feel invaluable and that Concordia is your second home. I endorse Natasha Launi as VP student life & Loyola because I believe in her and have seen the amazing work she has done over the years for Concordia.

Jonathan Cabot Throughout this year, the Latin American Student Organization of Concordia University has had the pleasure to work with some wonderful individuals on many different activities and events. These individuals have been part of the most active and giving associations of Concordia; such as ASFA, Hillel, CCSU, JMIBA and LSA, along with many others; and have demonstrated their commitment and dedication towards the improvement of stu-

the CSU Special General Meeting. She created the volunteer lists for WHALE. Rewind further and you’ll find out a few more secrets about Irmak: since last year she has been fighting for quality, accessible education and she has taken initiative that is more than admirable with no credit and sacrificing a heck of a lot of her personal life.

Real action is demonstrated by Laura Beach. It is hard to find someone more committed to transparency, accountability, and the proper representation of students on the Board of Governors. She has been volunteering with TAPthirst since 2007, campaigning for student inclusion in the decisionmaking processes around Concordia’s controversial exclusivity contract with Pepsi.

Real action is experienced by Eva-Loan Ponton-Pham, who has been involved in the struggle against tuition increase since her time in CEGEP. Real action means that for the first time in a decade, a CSU election doesn’t have to be a choice between unsure and uncertain, but a choice between a status quo that’s failed to address student interests, and a meaningful change with the demonstrated competence, creativity, and courage to

not only take - but inspire - action.

Real action is not for the money or fame: It is done without credit simply because it’s important, as Alex Matak and Kelly Pennington have shown for months now.

If you believe in action, do it the right way: Vote independent candidates Alex Matak and Kelly Pennington and Your Concordia Executive and candidates.

I take the protest outside the Link as a very clear hint at what we can expect next year if Action is elected. Their enemy is the informed student, and they demonstrated that by trying to silence the media, by keeping their Facebook page private and by keeping all their YouTube videos closed to comments. This total censorship makes it pretty plain that they don’t care to hear what students think.

I’m tired of student “politicians” walking around with a sense of entitlement. The CSU should not be elected based on who has louder friends or who makes the most empty promises and I really hope things change this time around.

That’s why I’m voting for Your Concordia.

ponentially more qualified for that than Action. If you don’t have time to do your research on the candidates, then just look at the fact that Action is giving out PENS instead of information.

Concordia politics have been a national joke for far too long and we finally have a strong, present, and overall awesome opposition to the status quo. Let’s all do something about that and give them the support they deserve.

Nadia Hausfather Elected Councillor, Graduate Students’ Association Free Education Montreal Can someone please explain to me what lollipops and pens have to do with running a student union? Really? Who is Action kidding?

I’ll be honest; I’m generally distrustful of anyone who wants anything to do with the CSU. But I at least appreciate it when a team makes an effort to act like they care about representation. I mean, at least try!

If I’m going to have to be harassed by any-

Andrew Choules-Nisbet History student

Can we just get Your Concordia in office, already?

Throughout the campaign period they have proven time and time again that they care what students want and have no interest in the kind of ego stroking legacy projects we’re sure to see if we allow Fusion - uh, I mean Action – to get elected.

I’ve actually seen a councillor for Action state on Facebook that they want to defend students rights, but only as long as it doesn’t jeopardize their job opportunities after graduation. What kind of union is that? The BoG is run by fat cats and if you don’t have the courage to take them on, get out of the race. Defending your students is not a conditional promise, it’s the main goal of your job. I can tell you one thing for sure, Lex Gill and her team at Your Concordia will side with students EVERY TIME. No one is happy with what the CSU did this year, and we just can’t allow them to get another set of yes-men in office. And that’s precisely what Action is. I don’t want just campaign promises, I want the experience and backbone to get it done, and looking at the records, Your Concordia is ex-

I have been watching the CSU campaign over the last two weeks and I can honestly say that I haven’t been this interested in school politics.

Both teams present compelling platforms. However as a person who is concerned about the environment, I am thoroughly impressed by Your Concordia and their VP external Chad Walcott.

He has been committed to the cause of eliminating plastic water bottles throughout the year.

As a Concordia student, I found myself somewhat lost when I first started here. This was only furthered by the ongoing and unnecessary political drama that seems to surround our system of student government. I found myself continuously asking the same question: how is it that a body with as much potential as the CSU has consistently failed to properly represent its students?

Watching Your Concordia campaign on ground of really trying to communicate with students has wowed me. With candidates like Lex Gill and Chad Walcott, both of whom are actively involved with campus life and improvement, any doubt one could have is rapidly lost.

What we want, what we need is a union that will deliver; we need a team like Your Concordia to show everyone how politics does not have to be the result of selfish people seeking office, but a tool by which to exercise our power as students.

Students of Concordia, make your voices heard!

Vote Your Concordia.

dent life and the merging and strengthening of student and club relationships.

We have crossed cultural boundaries and learned that working together, our events and our time here at Concordia can be used to make it as fun and as enriching as possible for students from any background and program. As a member of LASO, I would like to express my full support towards team Action, a combination of hard working students at our university who have demonstrated through their dedication, effort and involvement throughout the many years at this university their commitment to pushing the Concordia community to new heights. They are a team with abundant experience, motivation and dedication, all necessary qualities to lead our student union in the right direction. We would like to convey our gratitude and furthermore wish team Action a successful campaign and look forward to working with them next year.

was his dedication from the very start. He made sure that he had the best team possible by campaigning, recruiting and educating his friends and colleagues on how they could make a difference.

He translated this enthusiasm to me and got me on board. Another quality that is extremely important in a great leader is an intrinsic sense of responsibility. Khalil possesses this quality and therefore puts his passion, energy and effort into absolutely everything he does. He does not stop until he knows that we as a team are providing the best opportunities to the students we are representing.

Last but not least, Khalil is an excellent team leader because he takes everyone’s opinion to heart and works with us as opposed to above us. He is an inspiring team member, student and friend and I am confident that he will be an important asset as President of the Concordia Student Union along with Team Action!

Carlos Puerta President Latin American Student Organization

Stephanie Russo Concordia Psychology Student Association VP social

Melanie Thompson Fourth year communication studies

My experience as a member of the Concordia Undergraduate Psychology Association was amazing, fun and rewarding. This was made possible because of a great team dynamic and organization. I strongly believe that an enthusiastic leader is what makes the difference in order for a group to work well together, achieve goals and make a difference.

As President of CUPA, Khalil Haddad was our leader. He is one of the most organized, hardworking and dedicated people I have had the opportunity to work with. He was truly invested in every aspect of the association and made things run very smoothly. What impressed me the most

A few words about Leslie Reifer, colleague and friend. We have really appreciated having Leslie on board with our team at the John Molson International Business Association, during the past year. Leslie’s choice has led him to work in our association, on a particularly demanding task namely VP events/logistics.

During this last year he’s shown growing interest in logistics and event planning often reaching over our initial expectations. Finally, Leslie’s ease and enthusiasm at work really made the difference and helped him integrate within the team.

He’s proven to be fully responsible for his

one, at least try to make it pleasant the way Your Concordia has. If you’re going to interrupt me, at least give me something to think about. Does yelling out “HI, HELLO,VOTE FOR ACTION! HAVE A NICE DAY!” in a sing-song chorus on the Mezz actually work for anyone?! The times I’ve been approached, and actually had the chance to ask a question about issues, all Action people can tell me is, “go to our website.” Seriously?!

Let’s not forget their class speeches. This is a shout out to that blonde girl from Action who came into three of my classes to ramble on about parties. Thanks for that. I really appreciate it. Again, the other team at least had substance.

Though, why are either of them even allowed to interrupt classes?

I’m horrified that we attend a school where giving out branded pens and candy is considered a legitimate means to the presidency of the student union. I had no intention of voting before, but Action’s genius marketing strategies have pushed at least one student to vote against them.

Jessie Thavonekham

Patrick LePage From their most recent campaign video, you’d think the Action team was composed of a bunch of hard-core activists who have been fighting steadily against tuition increases. Appearances, however, can be deceiving.

I go to more protests than I can count, and am heavily involved in a number of struggles in Montreal, including the fight against tuition increases. I also helped out with the WHALE and work closely with most progressive groups on campus.

In my experience, and that of other activists I know, the members of Action like to talk a lot about their willingness to fight tuition increases but when students actually attempt to mobilize, they do everything in their power to frustrate their ability to actually take action. A good example of that is the WHALE, the largest student event at Concordia in 10 years.

The CSU refused to properly fund it, refused to help organize it and attacked their former VP, Morgan Pudwell, for working to closely with “activists” to organize it.

These candidates are the most anti-activist people I know, and it infuriates me that they would lie to students about their track record in a cheap grab for votes.

A vote for Action is a vote for the same ineffective, obstructionist CSU we’ve had for two years. The same one that kicked over 70 students out of a public council meeting and refused to call on external members of the Board to resign, even after students mandated them to do so at a general meeting.

Sorry Action, we aren’t as stupid as you think we are. I’m not falling for your misrepresentations and I doubt anyone else will either.

Bader Takriti Economics work, and I’m quite sure he’ll fit into bigger challenges. It is with great pleasure that I fully support Leslie as next year’s VP clubs and promotion for the Concordia Student Union.

Daniel Noeltner VP finance - John Molson International Business Association Student elections at Concordia: all the big shot politicians running around doing speeches on how they are going to be the next prime minister of Canada…my favourite time of the year! I’m not writing to persuade you to paint your face blue and run around with Action posters to your body.

My letter of support is simply to express my appreciation and support for a long-time friend and role model. I support Ariel Daborah for JMSB councillor!

Ariel has one specific trait which I truly admire: it is his drive and determination, that willingness to help others and make an impact on his environment. He is a leader who makes you proud knowing that he represents you to his maximum potential. Ariel is capable of bringing so much to Concordia and JMSB. He believes in the school and student body!

On March 29, 30 and 31, take action: Vote Ariel Daborah for JMSB councillor and vote Action!

Rick Fenster Due to space limitations, not all letters received were printed in this week’s issue. You can read all of them at our website, theconcordian.com. Editor’s note: Letters were chosen based on relevance and priority was given to letters that endorsed slates in general, and executive candidates. Each slate received the same word count.

Sarah Deshaies Editor-in-chief editor@theconcordian.com Brennan Neill Managing editor managing@theconcordian.com Evan LePage News editor news@theconcordian.com Jacques Gallant Jacqueline Di Bartolomeo Assistant news editors Emily White Life editor life@theconcordian.com Savannah Sher Assistant life editor Valerie Cardinal Arts editor arts@theconcordian.com Katelyn Spidle Music editor music@theconcordian.com Kamila Hinkson Sports editor sports@theconcordian.com Chris Hanna Opinions editor opinions@theconcordian.com Owen Nagels Assistant opinions editor Christopher Kahn Online editor online@theconcordian.com Tiffany Blaise Photo editor photo@theconcordian.com Katie Brioux Graphics editor graphics@theconcordian.com Trevor Smith Chief copy editor copy@theconcordian.com Morgan Lowrie Sofia Gay Copy editors Jill Fowler Production manager production@theconcordian. com Jennifer Barkun Francois Descoteaux Lindsay Sykes Production assistants Board of Directors Tobi Elliott Ben Ngai directors@theconcordian.com Editorial 7141 Sherbrooke St. W. CC.431 Montreal, QC H4B 1R6 514.848.2424 x7458 (Newsroom) 514.848.2424 x7499 (Editors) 514.848.2424 x7404 (Production) Francesco Sacco Business Manager business@theconcordian.com Marshall Johnston Advertising advertising@theconcordian. com Business and Advertising: 1455 de Maisonneuve W. H.733-4 Montreal, QC H3G 1M8 514.848.2424 x7420 (Office) 514.848.7427 (Fax) STAFF WRITERS AND CONTRIBUTORS: Cynthia Dupuis, Joseph Grihalva, Renée Morrisson, Maria Demare, Aquil Verani, Jessica Wei, Daniel Spinali, Andrew Gilbert, Cora Ballou, Lea Choukroun, Roya Manuel-Nekouei, Kim McPherson, Kalina Laframboise, Matthew Sousa, Eva Kratochvil, Alex Woznica, David Vilder, Nav Pall, Almudena Romero, Camille Nerant, Nazli Bozuglu, Sean Kershaw, Phil Waheed

cSu

CSU slates are not so different

Action and Your Concordia promise to fight for or against most of the same things Alex Woznica Staff writer

This week will see students at Concordia, or at least a very small percentage of them, vote in the CSU elections. You most likely knew that already, either because you have been informed about them by a bunch of capewearing people with a sign they made using 53 glitter-glue sticks, or by the seemingly endless glossy posters that will soon be filling Montreal’s landfills.

This year’s CSU elections are dominated by the hokey-sounding Your Concordia and Action slates. Both slates present themselves as having unique and transformative visions of Concordia’s future. Unfortunately, given that most of their promises are the same, neither is in any way unique, and given that the bulk of their promises do not seem very realistic, it is hard to see how either would be in any way transformative.

The main problem with this CSU election is the lack of choice. Both of the slates that have dominated the seemingly boundless and distracting campaigning process promise roughly the same things: to fight tuition increases, to extend shuttle bus service in some way, to work towards a bottled water free campus, to take back “student space,” and to be more financially transparent. In that these are the core promises of both groups, it is hard to understand why one would bother voting for one rather than the other, or why they are even running against each other.

While the similarity of the two slates’ promises certainly removes any option of choice for voters in the CSU election, the promises themselves are problematic as well.

The main problem with both slates’ vows is the claim that they will somehow be able to fight tuition increase while at the same time argue for the provision of more and more costly services, like extended shuttle bus service. Any first-year student at JMSB will tell you that if you’re going to be spending more money, you need more money, not less money. As well, the idea of fighting tuition increases seems even more ridiculous when one considers the fact that in order to maintain the high level of education at Concordia in a time of rising inflation, more money is required.

Not to mention, the provincially-mandated tuition increases will still leave Quebec students paying some 30 per cent less than students in

the rest of Canada.

Along with their ridiculous ideas regarding fighting tuition increases, it is absurd that they promise to fight for a bottled water free campus at a university that just signed a multi-year contract with a multinational corporation that sells bottled water on campus.

Along with that absurdity, it is hard to understand how they will reclaim “student space,” presumably from commercial interests that are present on campus as a result of legallybinding contracts.

Faced with an election in which the two dominant slates offer no choice to voters, and in which their core promises are both ridiculous and irresponsible, what is the average Concordia student to do? You could not vote, as most students usually do, but that’s not very effective.

If students at Concordia truly want to protest the lack of both choice and responsible candidates in the CSU election, they should spoil their votes. Spoiling your vote means writing something other than the name of a candidate on the ballot. You can write your own name, write your grandma’s name, or your cat’s name, but just don’t write in the name of one of the official candidates. In doing so, you can protest the lack of choice or responsible candidates in the CSU election while still participating in the electoral process.

ELEcTionS

And they’re off!

Federal election slated for May 2 is sure to be a waste of time and money Alex Woznica Staff writer

Only a trouncing at the polls would convince the federal opposition parties to think twice before bringing down a federal government.

On Friday, Canada’s 40th Parliament was dissolved as a result of a vote of non-confidence.

The election, which will take place on May 2, will be the fourth in seven years, and will surely cost many millions of dollars and be a general waste of time. What is worse is that according to recent polls, Canadians do not want an election at this point in time. Canadians would be wise in demonstrating their distaste regarding the upcoming election by voting against those responsible for bringing them about; the New Democrat, Bloc Québécois and Liberal parties.

A recent Ipsos poll revealed that 50 per cent of Canadians wanted the opposition parties to

pass the proposed budget, and thus avoid a federal election. It seems as if going against what was apparently the stated desire of half of the country’s population would have been a bad idea for a group of parties attempting to eventually get elected. While it would make a little more sense if the opposition parties were doing especially well in the polls, the fact is that they are not.

Recent polls have the Conservatives near the percentage that may be necessary to achieve a majority: 43 per cent. In contrast, the Liberals are almost 20 percentage points behind at 24 per cent, while the New Democrats and the Bloc Québécois enjoy the support of 16 and 10 per cent of Canadians respectively. One wonders what particular electoral strategy is behind the three opposition parties dragging the country into an election at a time when they are all significantly disadvantaged in terms of voter support.

The opposition parties’ stated reasons for bringing about this election are problematic as well. Their apparent loss of confidence in the government stemmed from the government being found in contempt of parliament as a result of their lack of disclosure regarding certain expenditures. While it is clear that the Harper government should have fully disclosed all financial details involved in the projects in question, such a mistake seems to hardly warrant plunging the nation into the uncertainty and near halting of

governance that characterizes the federal election process.

Clearly, the decision by the oppositiondominated committee that found the government in contempt of Parliament, as well as the vote of non-confidence that followed it, were motivated far more by political motives than by legitimate concerns over Conservative governance.

The question then arises, how should Canadians respond to the main opposition parties bringing about an election which they did not want for seemingly trivial reasons. Instead of simply not voting, as over 40 per cent of Canadians chose to do in the last election, they should vote against the three opposition parties responsible for the upcoming election, which basically means voting for the Conservative party. This should not be a problem for supporters of the New Democrats, Liberals or even of the Bloc Québécois, as aside from minor variations, all the main federal parties have essentially the same vision for Canada’s future and support the interests of the same individuals, institutions and corporations.

Only a tremendous trouncing at the polls seems likely to convince the New Democrats, the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois that federal elections should occur far less frequently than they have in the past seven years, and more importantly, for the right reasons.

cSu

Four ways to fix the CSU

Some suggestions to better the next CSU Chris Hanna Opinions editor

1. Make poster night a little more civil and fair Since each of the candidates for the council, senate and board of governors get a $50 budget for their campaigns, it seems unfair for one candidate’s posters to be featured on the school’s billboards because they got to it first on poster night, or because they got their friends to run on every floor of the Hall building before the other guys’. Or for them to have more posters up because they got a better deal with the printers.

Poster night craziness just seems unnecessary because there are easier and fairer ways for posters to be put up. There should be either limits of the number of posters put up per candidate, or delineate spaces for each slate and independent candidate to poster. It officially starts the campaigning period, but candidates should all start at a level playing field.

2. Let students vote for individual execs Students should not have to vote for an entire slate of CSU executives. We are able to vote for

individual councillors who are supposed to keep checks and balances on the executives. It makes sense to have top honchos be from different slates so the tab-keeping is done right at the top, not just through the councillors. It would also make the executives work harder at convincing their fellow executives to go along with a project.

It would be like working with the enemy, but compromising and listening and respecting the other side, just like a minority government would “work” in parliament. There would be more focus on what works best for the most amount of students.

3. Students should think of the execs like employees The CSU president and VPs do get paid, and since you all pay fees to the CSU, you, students, are directly paying them. Seriously. So, in a sense, they are your employees. They all boast about being accountable and working for and on behalf of the students, so it is imperative that the student body keep the union accountable throughout its term, by asking questions, going to council meetings and calling their bluffs on transparency and accountability.

4. Campaigning on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube

The candidates love to change their profile pictures to their poster during the campaign period, and that’s fine. They are easy to spot and in terms of recognition, they definitely work.

But if candidates want to use their Facebook accounts to campaign, voters should do what everyone does and use their hours on Facebook to “Facestalk” the candidates. As per point 3, they are your potential employees. Potential employers check people’s social media profiles in order to suss out solid candidates. You can do the same!

The CSU had a budget of $2 million in 2010-2011, would you hire a party animal to take care of your finances?

Graphic by Phil Waheed

theconcordian

Concordia’s weekly, independent student newspaper.

Tuesday, Mar. 29, 2011, Volume 28 Issue 26.

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/concordianops

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

27

The Etcetera Page

If you missed the CSU presidential debates last week, entering #csu2011 into Twitter’s search option was just as good as being there. So those of you who missed out should rewatch CUTV’s feed or search #csu2011 on Twitter. Here are some of @TheConcordian’s tweets from that debate:

Q: Which fee levies will you be voting for or against in the upcoming CSU elections, and why?

Lucas Vannelli - first year philosophy

“Moving into period where no sitting politicos or journalists can ask queries.

Meaning the other people. If they’re here.”

“I see the idea of having water fountains as better in the long run so I would vote to eliminate bottled water. I wouldn’t vote for the fee levy increase for The Void because we already have so much campus media and to me they are much better than The Void.”

“[Student question]: I pay a lot for school, & don’t want to skip class to protest.

How do we lower tuition without me skipping class?”

Graphic by Katie Brioux

“[Student question]: My campus is decorated by a ‘veneer’ of your posters and faces.

Ppl don’t care. Do u think ur campaigning has worked?”

Alexandre Piral - second year political science “I will definitely be voting for the CJLO fee increase because I think it’s a pretty good radio station, it covers a lot of good events and it might be one of the few entities at Concordia that I would like to see more of. I know that they are really underfunded.”

Rosario Gallardo - first year film production

Compiled by Eva Kratochvil

(On the proposed bottled water ban) “It is a really good initiative but I feel like it’s a bit naïve. I personally don’t mind carrying a tin or a jar for my water, but let’s be realistic here.

Sometimes people have forgotten theirs at home and they really want water.”

Photo by Navnett Pall

Graphic by Phil Waheed

Aries - March 21 to April 20 Let others take the lead this week.

You’ve got your own things to do and you don’t need the extra clutter in your schedule. The week will get better by Thursday.

Taurus - April 21 to May 21 Start planning a trip. School is almost done and it’s time to blow off a little steam and unwind from the stress. Just hang in there for two more weeks.

Gemini - May 22 to June 21 Have dinner with a good friend this week. It’s nice to unwind with someone you can just be yourself with. Don’t overdo it on the wine though.

Cancer - June 22 to July 23 You tend to be a bit dominating. Keep in mind that you try to control everything, it’s frustrating for everyone around you.

There is no “I” in team.

Leo - July 24 to August 23 Do something that is going to keep you chilled out this week. You don’t want to get your blood pressure up too much, so just keep it easy.

Virgo - August 24 to September 23 Let go of your adult self and tap into your inner child. Your youthfulness will be a welcome change from the mood you were in last week.

Libra - September 24 to October 23 A close friend or loved one might be confusing you these days. Don’t read too much into their signals, whatever this thing is, it will pass.

Scorpio - October 24 to November 23 You’ve been busy these past few weeks.

Call up some friends and catch up. Let

them know you’re still alive and well, they’ll be glad to hear it.

Sagittarius - November 24 to December 21 Don’t take some comments to seriously.

It’s a waste of time, and the person that said it may not be worth the trouble.

Just let it go.

Capricorn - December 22 to January 20 You’re cool and you know it. But keep in mind that no one likes a show off.

What you think is humour may be perceived as arrogance.

Aquarius - January 21 to February 19 You have lots of great ideas and your sense of wonder is fascinating lately. Let your inspiration take you through the next few weeks and you’ll do great.

Pisces - February 20 to March 20 You’re always in a better mood when

you’re around friends and family. Stay close to home this week and hang out.

Get reacquainted with your old friend Mr. Television.

You share a birthday with...

March 29: Elle MacPherson, Lucy Lawless March 30: Eric Clapton, Tracy Chapman, Celine Dion March 31: Gordie Howe, Christopher Walken, Ewan McGregor April 1: Method Man, Debbie Reynolds, Sam Huntington April 2: Alec Guinness, Marvin Gaye, Emmylou Harris April 3: Amanda Bynes, Alec Baldwin, Eddie Murphy April 4: Maya Angelou, Robert Downey Jr., Heath Ledger

*

EVENTS AT A GLANCE HELP PROMOTE CONCORDIA EVENTS! ALL EVENT LISTINGS ARE ADVERTISED FOR FREE SEND YOUR IDEAS TO EVENTS@THECONCORDIAN.COM PLEASE LIST NAME OF EVENT, LOCATION, AND TIME +MUSIC +MUSIC +CONCORDIA +TALK +MUSIC +FUNDRAISER +VISUAL ART +VISUAL ART +THEATRE

22h00 La Sala Rossa The Blue Seeds Casa Del Popolo 22h00 The Sunnies H, MB, CJ, SP, Vanier Library, etc 8h00 GET OUT AND VOTE IN THE CSU ELECTION!!

17h00 McKibbins Toxic Environment: Do genomes hold environmental solutions?

Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art Vox Sambou 18h00 19h00 Burritoville The Splash Project Open Mic Night ongoing until March 31 FOFA Gallery (Silver) Photography BFA graduates exhibit ongoing until April 16 Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery My Treaty is with the Crown: Kent Monkman Centaur Theatre 20h00 Instructions to Any Future Socialist Government Willing to Abolish Christmas ongoing until April 3

WED 30

+MUSIC + MUSIC +CONCORDIA +TALK + FESTIVAL +PARTY! +THEATRE

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears + The Goods Pascal Girard and Joe Ollmann book tour GET OUT AND VOTE IN THE CSU ELECTION!!

Cafe Scientifique Edgy women festival presents MainLine x2 (ongoing until April 2) Edgy Women Festival presents Edgy Boum closing party La Sagouine (ongoing until April 10)

THURS 31

+MUSIC +CONCORDIA +SOCIAL +VISUAL ART +LAUNCH PARTY! +DANCE +POETRY +PARTY!

John Max, a Portrait GET OUT AND VOTE IN THE CSU ELECTION!!

Ukrainian Students' Union wine & cheese (Silver) Catalogue Launch RAEV.ca website launch Open rehearsal of JE Argo open mic: Back with a Vendetta with Josip Novakovich Throw Poetry Collective

FRI 01

TUES 29

La Sala Rossa Drawn & Quarterly, 211 Bernard W. H, MB, CJ, SP, Vanier Library, etc Café ThEATre 1832, Sainte-Catherine MainLine theatre MainLine Theatre Segal Centre

22h00 19h00 8h00 19h00 20h00 21h00 20h00

Cinéma Parallèle H, MB, CJ, SP, Vanier Library, etc AD building FOFA Gallery Eastern Bloc, 7240 Clark Segal Centre Studio Argo Book Shop, 1915 Saint-Catherine Le Divan Orange

20h00 8h00 14h00 18h00 18h00 20h00 20h00 22h00

+MUSIC +MUSIC +MUSIC +FILM +FUNDRAISER +FILM +DANCE +PARTY! +PARTY!

La Sala Rossa Born Ruffians + First Rate People Cabaret Mile End Destroyer + The War On Drugs + Venuse Le Belmont, 4483 blvd Saint-Laurent Mowgli + Night Trackin' DJs Cinéma du Parc LE FESTIVAL DU CINÉMA LATINO-AMÉRICAIN DE MONTRÉAL presents Todos Tus Muertos Articule Soup and Sex! Premiere of Le Colis, BumRush, Winter in Wartime Studio 7 Concordia University Dance Dept, 1450 blvd de Maisonneuve, 7th floor Cinema Politica 7th anniversary party & website launch Ctrllab, 3634 blvd Saint-Laurent Concordia Galapagos Project party and fundraiser Factory, 3435 blvd Saint-Laurent

22h00 22h00 22h00 21h15 19h00 20h00 20h00 22h00

SAT 02

+MUSIC +MUSIC +FILM +FILM +FILM +FILM +CRAFT FAIR

White Lung + Teenager + Dead Wife + Porn Persons Casa Del Popolo Il Motore Cults + Magic Kids + Superhumanoids Cinéma du Parc LE FESTIVAL DU CINÉMA LATINO-AMÉRICAIN DE MONTRÉAL presents The Holy Mountain LE FESTIVAL DU CINÉMA LATINO-AMÉRICAIN DE MONTRÉAL presents Santa Sangre Cinéma du Parc Cinéma du Parc LE FESTIVAL DU CINÉMA LATINO-AMÉRICAIN DE MONTRÉAL presents Just Like Me LE FESTIVAL DU CINÉMA LATINO-AMÉRICAIN DE MONTRÉAL presents The Cinema Hold Up Cinéma du Parc Vintage POP (ongoing until April 9) Off InterArts, 5143 blvd Saint-Laurent

22h00 22h00 15h00 17h00 19h30 21h30 12h00

SUN 03

+MUSIC +MUSIC

22h00 15h00

+FILM +FILM +FILM +FILM +FILM

La Sala Rossa RUCKUS FO’TET + Gozadera Salsa Eglise Saint Joseph, 10050 blvd Gouin Est Malasartes Jewish Jazz Series Presents NoZen LE FESTIVAL DU CINÉMA LATINO-AMÉRICAIN DE MONTRÉAL presents Nostalgia for the Night Cinéma du Parc Cinéma du Parc LE FESTIVAL DU CINÉMA LATINO-AMÉRICAIN DE MONTRÉAL presents Cold Water of the Sea LE FESTIVAL DU CINÉMA LATINO-AMÉRICAIN DE MONTRÉAL presents Los Invisibles Part I: Seaworld Cinéma du Parc Cinéma du Parc LE FESTIVAL DU CINÉMA LATINO-AMÉRICAIN DE MONTRÉAL presents Within a Stone's Throw Cinéma du Parc LE FESTIVAL DU CINÉMA LATINO-AMÉRICAIN DE MONTRÉAL presents The Bad Intentions

MON 04

+LITERATURE +CINEMA POLITICA +PHOTOGRAPHY +FILM +FILM

Swinging on a Star: Growing up in Montreal's east end Czech Peace Came Like Water, Like Wind I Go: Aydin Matlabi LE FESTIVAL DU CINÉMA LATINO-AMÉRICAIN DE MONTRÉAL presents The Two Escobars LE FESTIVAL DU CINÉMA LATINO-AMÉRICAIN DE MONTRÉAL presents It's Your Fault

LB-559-6 H-110 FOFA Gallery Cinéma du Parc Cinéma du Parc

15h00 17h00 17h00 19h00 21h00 17h00 19h00 ongoing until April 29 19h00 21h00