11 September 2013

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA STUDENTS’ NEWSPAPER

The alcohol issue page 10-17

n e ws

co m m e n t

e d i to r i a l

a rts & c u lt u r e

s p o rts

Peace of mind

Gambino's gall

Science blind

Remainders

Thrown to dogs

Human rights event Peace Days Sept. 15-21

page 4

Frosh headliner's lyrics controversial page 8

Specious reasoning, mistaken morality page 6

Exploring involuntary memory at the Plug In Gallery page 20

Vo l 1 0 0 · N o 5 · S e p t e m b e r 1 1 , 2 0 1 3 · w w w.t h e m a n i to b a n .co m

Bisons come up short against U of S Huskies page 23

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Index

VOL. 100 NO. 5 September 11, 2013

News

| pa g e s 3 – 5

3

Bill 18 divisive at legislature

4

Peace Days: a celebration for all

Arts & Culture Editorial

| pa g e 6

cover image

"I Need a Shot" by: Silvana Moran

Comment

| pgs 18–20

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Transformative theatre

19

Dear Jodie

19

B.A Johnson: CD review

20

What you should expect to learn from art school

| pa g e 8

Diversions

| pa g e 2 1

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U of M(isogyny)

Features

| pa g e s 1 0 – 1 7

11

Winnipeg brewing

14

Alcohol and your body

Sports

| pa g e s 2 2 – 2 4

23

Bison Banjo Bowl comeback

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Bison Briefs

Toban Talkback

Q:

Imreet Kaur

Janhvi Pandit

Bilal Kodvavi

Riley Gorman

“I think it's a great thing because it will keep people interested in the festival.”

“As a Childish Gambino fan I am really excited, but I think they could have sold more tickets if they had chosen a more popular artist.”

“I think it's great.”

“I think it was a good choice. I like him. He's a good artist.”

What do you think of UMSU’s choice of Childish Gambino as a headlining act for the Frosh Festival?

Quinn Richert, staff

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Senior News Editor: Quinn Richert News Editor: Katy Mackinnon Contact: news@themanitoban.com / 474.6770

News

G20 public engagement event at the U of M Students and professors discuss their trip to the G20 Youth Forum in St. Petersburg Quinn Richert, staff

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arlier this year, the University of Manitoba sent a delegation of students and faculty to the G20 Youth Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia. Last week, to coincide with the actual G20 summit, participants reported on their experiences at a public presentation on the Fort Garry campus.

The five U of M students selected for the trip—Melina Djulancic, Rebecca Kunzman, Christiane Fischer, Laura Poppel, and Matthew Stewart­—all took on different roles within the forum. Djulancic acted as the Canadian Head of State during the Youth Summit component of the forum, while Kunzman was Minister of Education. Stewart served as an observer; Poppel and Fischer made presentations.

Fischer also shared her presentation, entitled “Human rights and Shari’ah: two compatible concepts?” at Thursday’s public engagement event.

Five U of M faculty members— James Fergusson, political studies; Maureen Flaherty, Arthur V. Mauro centre for peace and justice; Witold Kinsner, electrical and computer engineering; Jacky Baltes, computer science; and Roberta Woodgate, nursing—joined the students on the trip to Russia, where they made presentations on their areas of research.

Several of those academics gave an overview of their presentations from the Youth Forum to the audience gathered in the U of M’s engineering building on Sept. 5.

Fergusson presented first on the problems of international military intervention and the doctrine of the responsibility to protect, specifically asking whether the current conflict in Syria warrants armed interference.

“In the case of Syria, of course we haven’t had that intervention, even though the use of chemical weapons

illustration by: bradly wohlgemuth

has been labelled a war crime [ . . . ] taking cues from the “team of teams” it does not seem to be sufficient for approach to spacecraft design. the responsibility to protect,” said “Leonardo da Vinci today could not Fergusson during his talk. build a spacecraft. But many da Vincis “Syria (and Libya) are clear exam- can do that, and have done it already. ples of why the responsibility to protect That is the excitement coming from is problematic [ . . . ] and needs to be this approach.” tightened if it is going to be a useful The public engagement event also legal doctrine,” he continued. included presentations from staff of the Witold Kinsner shared his insights U of M offices of international relations into “experiential learning through and student life, which were central in spacecraft design” as an educational organizing the trip for professors and model. students, respectively.

“The major message I would like to Cameron Zywina, international share is that this project also stimu- project officer at the office of internalates the need for people to collabo- tional relations, who travelled with the rate,” said Kinsner, explaining how delegation as an observer, reflected on educators in science and engineering lessons learned for selecting faculty to could enhance student learning by attend the G20 Youth Forum.

Discussing funding for the trip, Zywina explained that the office of international relations provided a subsidy for professors interested in travelling to St. Petersburg, who were then expected to pay the difference themselves.

According to Brendan Hughes, director of the student life office, funding for students was provided in a similar manner.

Each student provided $500, and his or her nominating faculty matched that number. The remaining $2,000 required per student was paid for by a student experience fund within student affairs.

Hughes also spoke to the Manitoban on the importance of having the students returning from St. Petersburg speak to their peers at the public engagement event.

“It was a mutual agreement. If students agreed to go and represent the university to the best of their abilities, we also wanted them to come back and present at an event [ . . . ] What bothers me is when only a handful of students have an opportunity, but then can’t share that opportunity with the rest of the student population.”

The G20 Youth Forum student participants, in addition to presenting last week, will be discussing their experiences again during World Opportunities Week in November.

The next G20 Youth Forum, which is a non-governmental organization not affiliated with the G20 meetings, will be held in Brisbane, Australia, which is also the meeting place for the 2014 G20 summit.

“Some of the values we’d like to consider more in the future include how faculty members are demonstrating that the U of M values diversity and responsibility to society,” Zywina said to the audience.

Zywina told the Manitoban that societal responsibility is part of the reason why it is so important for the U of M to participate in the G20 Youth Forum.

“I think it is important for professors and students to explore responses to global issues. We have a responsibility in this regard. It is expected that the With files from Fraser Nelund.

U of M will create and share knowledge for the betterment of people in Manitoba, Canada, and the world,” he said.

Bill 18 divisive at legislature Manitobans debate anti-bullying bill in public hearings Alycia Rodrigues, volunteer staff

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anitoba’s anti-bullying bill equal marriage (and calling it a should be known to create, a nega(Bill 18) has caused a debate “social experiment”), and opposing tive school environment for another within the province of Manitoba the inclusion of sexual orientation in person.” that is dividing, rather than unit- hate crime laws, have been opposed For some, the definition is too ing, citizens. Hearings discussing to this bill from the beginning,” said broad and has potential to be misthe bill began Tuesday, Sept. 3 at Allan. used. The concept of “feelings” was the Manitoba Legislative Building “Their opposition, and what an issue for David Dreidger, board and were slated to continue for 11 we’re hearing from their support- chairperson of Steinbach Christian days. Three-hundred and seventeen ers, is opposition to students being High School, because the defining individuals signed up to speak at the allowed to create support groups for line between bullying and hurt feelhearings. gay classmates.” ings can be blurred. Thus, a question St. Vital MLA Nancy Allan In Bill 18, also know as the Public of “who will be the one to decide?”

(NDP), told the Manitoban that the Schools Amendment Act, “bully- was raised. bill will be useful for schools, teach- ing” is defined as behaviour that: For concerned citizens like Lance ers, and students to prevent bully- “is intended to cause, or should be Warkentin, the definition is not broad ing and support those who are being known to cause fear, intimidation, enough and is not inclusive of all chilbullied. humiliation, distress or other forms dren. Warkentin remarked that the “Brian Pallister and the PC party, of harm to another person’s body, bill does not address the most comwho have a long history of oppos- feelings, self-esteem, reputation or mon cases of bullying. He asserted ing equality rights by voting against property; or is intended to create, or that individuals are often bullied

based on aspects of their physical appearance.

Citizen Jen Haslam said the definition is vague, and questioned the bill’s true intentions.

“The bill is supposed to cause unity, but has been creating the opposite effect – religious schools cannot support gay-straight alliance groups,” stated Haslam.

The bill stipulates, “A respect from human diversity policy must accommodate pupils who want to establish and lead activities and organizations that: [ . . . ] use the name ‘gay-straight alliance’ or any other name that is consistent with the promotion of a positive school environment that is inclusive and accepting of all pupils.”

A question that persistently arose

during the hearings was, “will legislation be effective at all?”

For some citizens, an overwhelming majority who cited extreme cases of bullying, the answer was “no.”

Manitoba resident Ken Haslam, for one, suggested asking questions that look to find the root cause of bullying, rather than intentions of labelling individuals. Haslam’s questions included, “what is the root of a bully?

Do we have the right to label someone as a bully? Why does someone bully another person?”

Solutions to address perceived problem areas of the bill included using the human rights code as a point of reference; guaranteeing equitable coverage for all students; and ensuring freedom of speech.

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News

VOL. 100 NO. 5 September 11, 2013

Peace Days: a celebration for all Local event promotes human rights and social activism Katy MacKinnon, staff

that we have a good world to live in range by age from free entry to $20. society [ . . . ] there are issues that are down the road,” she said.

Community members and local ongoing that we need to pay attenAn artist who is inspired by the organizations are encouraged to cre- tion to.” humanitarian work of others, Noble ate their own peace celebrations and The organizers of the event hope spoke of the incredible opportunity events. The Canadian Museum for that from participating, Winnipeggers artists have to send a message to their Human Rights, a sponsor for Peace will be able to increase their sensitivaudience.

Days, will be holding a lecture series ity to the importance of encouraging “There’s not very many instances titled Fragile Freedoms: the Global peace every day. Although Peace Days where human beings have a stage with Struggle for Human Rights, with the only lasts for a week, organizers are 50 to 100 to thousands of people stand- first sold-out lecture occurring on the hoping to hold activities throughout ing in front of you waiting to hear what 16th. the year in a fashion similar to the you say. It’s a very rare occurrence. As Judy Slivinski, volunteer member Winnipeg Folk Festival. a musician, you have these opportuni- of the organizing committee of Peace Noble spoke of the importance ties, so take them, and do good with Days, spoke proudly of community of making an effort to improve the photo by beibei lu them, because those are moments that organizations and service workers in lives of others, especially while in unday, Sept. 15 marks the beginThe first Peace Days celebration in you can change people’s lives and you Winnipeg who are already promot- university. ing social justice and non-violence in “As university students you are going ning of Peace Days, a weeklong 2010 took place on a single day – the can change the world.” celebration to inspire human rights Concert for Peace. This year is the first Some activities will be of a serious the city. into an education for your future, and “It needs to start in your own back- I think that it’s more important than engagement and social justice in in which the event is being expanded nature, such as the Policing for Peace Manitoba. Speaking events, film to take place for an entire week. talk by Constable Pat Chabidon of the yard,” she noted. “Sometimes that’s ever in our world today, that whatever screenings, and musical performances Sierra Noble, an acclaimed singer- Winnipeg Police Service. Chabidon really where it’s most needed.” we choose to do, whatever direction Slivinksi noted that many issues we go in life, that we keep the world as are scheduled throughout the week. songwriter hailing from Winnipeg, is will discuss the way in which the The event will culminate in the a featured artist at the concert, along police consider individuals’ rights and inequalities still exist in Winnipeg. a whole in mind with everything that Concert for Peace on Saturday, Sept. with Gentil Mis, Flo, Free Ride, and and freedoms while cultivating a safe She referred to the need to focus more we do, because with all of our gifts, we 21, to coincide with the International others. Noble has performed at numer- environment. The event is free and will on Aboriginal and First Nations have the opportunity to change the Day of Peace. ous Peace Day concerts. She expressed be held at the Millennium Library. populations, large numbers of immi- world. Or not. It’s a simple choice,” Other events take a celebratory grants in Canada requiring supports she said.

“Peace Days exists for all persons her strong connection to humanitarian who believe in the culture of peace issues to the Manitoban. tone, such as the Autumn Equinox and benefits, as well as inequalities Tickets for the Concert for Peace and compassion, and who reject “The common thread in everything Peace Meditation. This event will among women and children. stereotypes, discrimination, exclu- that I’ve always done is children [ . . . include music, singing, dancing, and “It pervades every social group; it are available on Ticketmaster. Call sion, prejudice or clichés,” states the ] children are the future and we need poetry and takes place at St. George’s pervades every cultural background, the Peace Days hotline at 204-396website. to make sure that the kids are okay so Anglican Church. Admission costs every socioeconomic group in our INFO(4636) for more information.

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Manitoba government to fund ELA Critical environmental research to continue Alycia Rodrigues, volunteer staff

of six months is necessary for the evident in ELA’s rich database of transition period to be completed. over four decades of uninterrupted Within this time a research program fresh water research. The ELA’s locawill be organized for 2014, fundrais- tion in the Canadian Shield’s kettle ing will occur, and scientists run- lakes region provides the setting for ning the facility will train the new its unique whole-ecosystem-based operators. approach to fresh water research.

“We are trying to learn as much Dr. Mike Paterson, a senior scias we can about how to run ELA; it entist with the ELA for over 21 years, is very complicated, and we have to now works for the IISD. He says he work with them over the six months is excited to be working with the to learn as much as we can,” stated organization and is happy the govPelletier. ernment is providing funding.

The program has experienced “I would like to express my thanks difficulty with acquiring funding to Premier Wynne and to Premier in the past. On May 17, 2012, the Selinger because they saved us,” Government of Canada announced stated Paterson. “They stepped up Photo by: Shahnoor Habib Munmun the cancellation of the research pro- to the plate and have given us the gram – a decision that deeply con- chance to survive.” he Experimental Lakes Area will have committed to ensuring a cerned many Canadians and resulted The ELA combines basic and (ELA), a fresh water research fluid transition between operators. in the formation of a movement to applied research to solve the environfacility located in northwestern Ontario has pledged to invest $2 mil- regain funding. mental issues most pressing to both Ontario, will stay open as a result lion annually into the ELA for the The organization Save the ELA the government and public. Lake of funding from the Manitoba gov- length of the agreement. Research has figured prominently throughout Winnipeg’s toxic algal blooms are a ernment. The International Institute will proceed through the end of the the last year’s worth of protests and prime example of a critical environfor Sustainable Development (IISD) 2013 field season. presentations, its chief aim being mental issue in Manitoba. will be operating the ELA, which Last week, Premier Greg Selinger to secure the fate of the ELA. Save Early this year, Lake Winnipeg was previously run by Fisheries and announced the six-year $6 million the ELA’s website outlines the was named the most threatened lake Oceans Canada. deal last week. The IISD will use importance of the ELA to Canada’s in the world for 2013 by the Global Fifty-eight lakes located near $900,000 of the funding specifically potable water reserves and offers Nature Fund. Lake Winnipeg’s algae Kenora comprise the ELA. The towards fresh water research and suggestions for how Canadians can woes are hardly new, despite receivlakes have been used for research technology upgrades. help the research continue. The site ing said international recognition. for over 40 years.

IISD public affairs manager states, “Canada needs the ELA, and In 1968 the ELA was created to An agreement has been signed Nona Pelletier discussed the com- Canadian policy makers will greatly address eutrophication, which occurs between the Government of Canada, plex nature of the transition process benefit from allowing research at the as a result of nutrient-loading and the Government of Ontario, and with the Manitoban.

ELA to continue.” may render water unfit for consumpthe IISD, in which all three parties Pelletier stated that a minimum The significance of the facility is tion. The eutrophication in some of

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Canada’s lakes was later found to be due to phosphorus run-off, creating the kinds of large toxic algal blooms present in Lake Winnipeg.

“The number one issue is to reduce input of phosphorus that promotes those algal blooms, but there is a lot more information about the specifics of why algal blooms occur at certain times [and] why certain species dominate [ . . . ] the reason to care about certain species is because some of them are toxic,” said Paterson.

Paterson is looking forward to working with community members, groups of farmers, and industries to come up with solutions that maximize the benefits of farming while reducing the impact it has on the environment. Paterson noted it will require scientists working in collaboration with policy makers, which he expects will be more effective than if either were working alone.

Paterson made it clear that societal questions about co-operation are just as important as the basic and applied research conducted at ELA. He referred to the many people at IISD who are involved in policymaking and economics.

“It all begins with the basic science, though; if you don’t get that right, all the policy stuff doesn’t matter,” said Paterson.

Senior News Editor: Quinn Richert News Editor: Katy Mackinnon Contact: news@themanitoban.com / 474.6770

N AT I O N A L NEWS BRIEFS

By Katy Mackinnon, staΩ

CFS no more? ore than 15 student associations from colleges and universities across Canada have created a petition to leave the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS). There are currently 83 members who are a part of the federation. Members of CFS wishing to leave are required to show a petition with signatures before holding a referendum.

The student associations involved in applications to host a referendum are attempting to increase their control over affairs on campus, as well as to explore alternatives to CFS that would allow students to have more power in making campus decisions.

A CFS spokesperson has stated that the federation does not currently have plans to carry out a counter campaign.

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University students chant in support of sexual assault Frosh Week celebrations at Saint Mary’s University (SMU) in Halifax

involved male and female students Final Afghanistan withchanting about underage, non-con- drawal plans complete sensual sex. Eighty student orientaNext month marks the beginning tion leaders participated in the chant, of the phased withdrawal of Canadian which occurred as part of a traditional military soldiers in Afghanistan. back-to-school festivity.

Their mission will terminate on Mar. In a video shared on Instagram, 13, 2014. On Sept. 4,Major-General students can be seen shouting, “SMU Dean Milner announced that plans boys we like them young / ‘Y’ is for for withdrawing the soldiers have your sister / ‘O’ is for oh so tight / ‘U’ been finalized. is for underage / ‘N’ is for no consent Canada has been diplomatically / ‘G’ is for grab that ass.” involved with Afghanistan since 1968, Nova Scotia Premier Darrell and first deployed troops in October Dexter expressed his disturbance 2002. Canadian forces concluded their with the students’ actions, and sug- combat role in Kandahar in 2011. gested that the students may not have Since 2010, the Canadian milithought about the consequences of tary’s mission focused on four main their words. categories: programming for children, Jared Perry, former president of increasing security in Afghanistan, SMU’s student association, partici- encouraging diplomacy, and providpated in the chant and has named it ing humanitarian assistance. the “biggest mistake” he has made The current number of troops during his career in university. He in Afghanistan sits just below 800, has stepped down from his posi- and will decrease to about 650 after tion. All participating students have the first phase of withdrawal in been mandated to take a sensitivity October. seminar.

News

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Science, ethics, and nutrition Aboriginal nutritional experiments prompt scientific soul-searching tom ingram, staff

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arlier this summer, it was revealed that researchers sponsored by the Canadian government had conducted wildly unethical nutritional experiments on malnourished Aboriginal children in residential schools. No consent was given by the children or their parents, who were not even aware of the experiments.

This was carried out throughout the 1940s, the same decade that saw the horrors of the Holocaust—including shockingly cruel experiments on concentration camp prisoners—and the establishment of the Nuremberg Code for experimentation on human subjects – which our governmentsponsored research violated flagrantly. In short, it was revealed that the difference between us and the Nazis is one of degree, not kind.

This revelation will hopefully challenge Canada’s official stance of smugness about social justice issues, but it should also be cause for introspection among the scientifically minded. In recent years, especially since the explosive popularity of atheistic science writers and cultural critics like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, “science” has been turned into an ideological buzzword, signifying the moral and intellectual superiority of Western secular civilizations.

By way of example, the linguist, psychologist, and cognitive scientist Steven Pinker recently published an article in the New Republic arguing that science has advanced to the point that it can now weigh in on questions of meaning and value which are traditionally reserved for the humanities. This, he argues, will lead to more clarity on moral issues and ultimately improve humanity’s lot.

The problem with this view is that the scientific mindset is basically dehumanizing. I used to work for a market research

company doing phone surveys, and one study where “make up plausible stories of the strange things I noticed was that and see if they stick” is a description not respondents often got upset when asked of academic misconduct, but of standard a question that did not apply to them, or operating procedure. It has grown popular assumed the existence of some distinction largely because of the use of evolution as that they did not recognize – this was par- an ideological rally point by people like ticularly noticeable with elderly respondents Dawkins and Harris. Evolutionary psycholwhen asked questions about streaming TV ogy is, of course, best known for its prolific and PVRs. production of justifications for sexism by These questions made it clear that the scientists who were no doubt impartially survey was not a personal conversation going where the facts led them. about them as people, but a set of canned Meanwhile Sam Harris has used the questions designed to reduce their complex supposed moral superiority of the secular personalities and habits to easily managed scientific West to argue in favour of racial numbers. It was at these points that they profiling of Muslims and torture of tercould most poignantly feel the effects of rorism suspects. Harris is not some fringe science, a lumbering machine that cares figure. He is a bestselling author and inexnothing for them except insofar as it can plicably respected popularizer of science. extract data from them.

The reason his name can be mentioned Science looks—must look—at large- without shame at any educated dinner table scale trends, not particular examples. To do in North America is that he knows racial this it must objectify and simplify. It looks profiling and torture are unpleasant and at things from the outside – the viewpoint says as much. But for him, they are inesof the anthropologist, not the tribesmen. It capably logical conclusions. This view of provides causes, not reasons. It is, as Pinker science once again justifies horrible things points out, a powerful tool that has allowed by making them seem, if not pleasant, at us to do good on an immense scale. The least necessary. eradication of smallpox, the moon landing, This brings us back to the discoveries and the Internet are all logical conclusions about Canada’s nutritional experiments. of the scientific mindset. But so are the These are a timely reminder of the dangers atom bomb, chemical warfare, and those of science. Science is a powerful tool, but Nazi doctors and their contemporaneous it cannot tell us what projects to work on.

Canadian counterparts.

This is where the humanities come in, and Science makes everything bigger, good contrary to Pinker, they are neither going or bad. It cannot form the basis of our away nor being subsumed by science. morality, and we should not try to make You cannot let your tools make your it. The attempts by Pinker and others to decisions for you and if you do, that is in create a humanities backed up by science itself a kind of decision. Whether we decide have already done plenty of harm by sneak- to eradicate polio or starve children, science ing all kinds of wackiness into nominally will serve our needs equally well, and we rational discourse. need some external way of deciding which Consider the popular acceptance of a to do. scientifically dubious version of evolutionary psychology. This is an entire area of

Comment Editor: Katerina Tefft Contact: comment@themanitoban.com / 474.6529

Comment

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Sprawl puts undue burden on police service

Curbing fringe development could alleviate police budget woes Steve Snyder

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ince a draft report from Texas- area can be serviced without addibased Matrix Consulting tional resources, why are we operGroup Ltd. recommending deep ating with the current amount of cuts to the Winnipeg Police Service resources? Does this mean that (WPS) came to light, the City of until Ridgewood South gets built Winnipeg and the WPS have been the WPS will be overstaffed in exchanging snide remarks regard- District 6? ing the efficacy of the WPS. After receiving that comment While I personally have not from Havixbeck, I decided to do seen the report, I have a drastic a search of the City of Winnipeg idea that would greatly reduce the City Clerk’s Decision Making number of staff required for the Information Systems for other WPS and help solve this “out of precinct plans and subdivision control” (according to Councillor applications. I did a search for all Russ Wyatt) budget: lessen the plans going back to 2007 that said number of police officers required that the development of this area by controlling sprawl. Reducing would necessitate an increase in the area officers have to service is police services. The results? Zero. the best way to decrease the need No new subdivision would require to hire more officers. any additional police resources. In The addition of major develop- that same time, according to the ments at the city’s fringes increase Winnipeg Police annual reports, the need for additional resources the number of sworn officers has (read: officers) to service those increased by 133. Is Councillor developments. Rural single-family Havixbeck telling me that all 133 dwellings and large commercial officers were placed in Precinct 1? developments are inefficient uses Also of note is that these numof land, and their development bers list sworn officers and do not forces City of Winnipeg officials to include civilian staff. increase the staffing complement.

Havixbeck’s statement shows I recently got in touch with our ignorance on the part of all memcouncil’s finance committee mem- bers of council. Do they actubers. When I communicated this ally believe that building on the problem to one City Councillor fringe of the city will not stretch Paula Havixbeck, she went on the the police services (and the city defensive, presumably because she budget in general) to the limits? is in one of the wards with the At what point will the city realmost sprawl. The following is the ize that the cost/benefit analyses unedited reply from Havixbeck being submitted to them by the stating suburban expansion is not developers are self-serving and the problem: that the cost side is much greater “The reason more officers are than the developers make out? hired is to serve the inner city While I respect Councillor and North End. The majority go Havixbeck, I disagree with her there, in fact, since I’ve been on assertion that fringe developments council, all new resources have do not cause increased burden on been directed there. There will not police services. The Ridgewood need to be any new fire or police South subdivision may not appear in the Ridgewood South area. In to necessitate an increase in staff, the planning department report but as the old saying goes, no indionline, it states existing services vidual raindrop ever considers itself are adequate.” responsible for the flood.

My question for her is if this

illustration by: caroline norman

U of M(isogyny) Childish Gambino’s hateful rhetoric has no place at Frosh Music Festival Jodie Layne, volunteer staff

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rosh Week and orientation no doubt that alcohol will play events are rites of passage at a huge role in this event and the campuses worldwide. The events parties that are central to frosh. can be a great way to meet new It nearly always does with young friends, see your campus, and be people: Stats Canada reported that reminded that you’re all accruing 47 per cent of men between the student debt together. Frosh events ages of 18-24 reported themselves can be positive bonding experi- as heavy drinkers in a 2008 surences that expand your horizons. vey, the highest rate amongst the It can help to turn some of those Canadian population. anonymous faces into people, and One can reasonably argue that realize that there’s others on cam- when students file into Frosh pus who we’re accountable to and Music Festival this year and hear Childish Gambino, many will be who share space with us.

When I heard Childish intoxicated while he raps, “Catch Gambino was booked to play my shit and be my condom/Ladies UMSU’s new Frosh Music Festival, holla, that’s a joke, y’all need to my stomach lurched. Not only is lighten up.” Now you have a crowd he one of the worst of the hip-hop of young people, many of whom performers perpetuating lyri- are probably drunk, listening to cal misogyny, he also wrote and lyrics that degrade women and starred in the “Bro Rape” YouTube then tell them to lighten up. As a sketch making light of male sexual woman who’s told to not take her assault, he constantly fetishizes own sexual harassment seriously Asian women, uses ableist slurs in by people doing the harassing, his music and stand-up comedy, and who is frequently harassed by and has gone on record saying we people who are intoxicated, I see need to laugh at rape. It’s a joke Jay Z’s 99 problems and raise him to him.

99 more with this scenario.

Frosh can be a great time or it These are only some of Childish can be a hot mess. Although the Gambino’s offensive, degrading, “Beer Olympics” will be played and objectifying lyrics; there are with non-alcoholic beer, there is a whole slew of additional prob-

lematic lyrics and further reasons he and his not-so-casual misogyny—and misogynist music of any genre—have no place at a frosh event. As stated above, frosh is a time to be amongst other students at the university and remind ourselves of their humanity. Stripping roughly half of that population of their agency and reducing them to sex objects sets a dangerous precedent.

A University of Kent study found “evidence that sexist jokes can lead to an increase in male self-reported rape proclivity and victim blame.” When the dominant group creates and establishes a social norm, people operate under that expectation. When you put someone on stage who raps, “E. E. cummin’ on her face, now that’s poetry in motion,” you’re objectifying about half of the audience and telling the other half that it’s cool.

It’s irresponsible and perpetuates rape culture on the campus.

Misogyny should have no place—on the stage and otherwise—at an event where students should be coming together and where impressionable new students are introduced to campus life.

Science & Technology Editor: Tom Ingram Contact: science@themanitoban.com / 474.6529

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Managing Editor: Fraser Nelund Contact: me@themanitoban.com / 474.6520

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Features

Lit up

Drinking and writing: some familiar names

Quinn richert, staff

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t may be impossible to positively establish a statistically significant link between drinking and producing great writing. However, a sizable enough sample of what many would consider the absolute pinnacle—the best of the best at the writing profession—have taken up compulsive drinking at one time or another, often at the same time as the pen, to warrant the question: Do drinking and creative writing truly complement each other?

Among the great names to have fallen into this category at one time or another (or, for a lifetime) is James Joyce. His Ulysses, which in some ways parallels Homer’s Odyssey, ranks number one on Modern Library’s board’s list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. He is also the only author with two novels ranking in the top 10 on that list, and three

titles in total making the cut (A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is number three, and Finnegans Wake is 77).

Stanton Peele, an author and psychologist specializing in addiction, remarks that while Joyce had a penchant for daily hard drinking, he was a functional alcoholic.

“Nobody really actually calls him an alcoholic because he was a compulsive worker,” Peele once said of Joyce.

According to Peele, despite his heavy and uncontrolled drinking, Joyce was known to wake up early and write for hours before turning fully to his nightly ritual of finishing a bottle of wine and just generally acting destructively.

It seems to be then, in the case of Joyce, that his brilliance as a writer had nothing to do with his drinking habit.

Rather, his genius was somehow able to shine through on the page in spite

of his problem.

Johnnie Walker with Perrier at midday, The example of Charles Bukowski, never less than half a bottle of red wine a lifelong alcoholic, stands in contrast at lunch, and a repeat of the whole proto Joyce, mainly because so much of his cedure at dinner. highly personal poetry takes alcohol, It looks like the jury will remain and the disease of uncontrolled alco- out on whether drinking can help one hol consumption, as a theme. Without master the craft of creative writing. My booze, Bukowski’s body of work is not best guess is that it varies sharply from the same. person to person. Some are so talented Journalist and essayist Christopher that they can work through the haze, Hitchens is fixed at a middle ground as Joyce must have some mornings. between the two. Hitchens acknowl- Some see inspiration in the amber, edged the potential for alcohol to stand like Bukowski. in the way of the writing process (as it My own recent experiments in writwould for all characters of even slightly ing and imbibing tell me that I cannot lesser grit than Joyce), but also saw it as operate on a schedule similar to any able to “help provide what the Greeks given above. I feel unable to access my called entheos, or the slight buzz of own vocabulary. I’m sloppy adn misinspiration when reading or writing.” spell. But then again, isn’t that the reaIn the spirit of full disclosure, how- son behind the old, clichéd, (probably ever, Hitchens was happy to give the misattributed) Hemingway phrase? details of his own daily drinking hab- Write drunk, edit sober. its in his must-read memoir Hitch-22:

Three reasons why we drink Focusing on the power of positive drinking Tom Ingram, staff

“I believe when used responsibly—or at least when used irresponsibly responsibly—alcohol can be a force for good”

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rinking is an ageold custom. Archaeologists have found evidence of fermented alcoholic beverages’ existence in China as early as 9,000 years ago.

Intoxicating liquor runs deep into the roots of human civilization, and it is now ubiquitous, especially in Canada. Many of our greatest thinkers have also been great winos, and it would not be unfair to say, to some extent, that booze is what brought us to where we are today.

Yet there are those out there who spurn the bottle on ethical or healthrelated grounds, and believe we, as a society, should do the same. They are partly right. Alcohol abuse is a major

public each other. It allows people to open The mind-altering potential of alcohealth up in ways they otherwise would not. hol means that you can learn a great issue. Eight This makes it particularly important deal from it. per cent of as a crutch for the social developWe tend to go about our business all deaths and ment of shy, quiet people. each day with habitual and unnecesseven per cent Drinking is also an important rite sary tension in certain parts of the of hos pi- of passage. For many of us, that first body – for instance, the muscles tal stays in time (most likely underage) with a around the eyes. Because we feel it 2002 could bottle is a life-changing experience. more or less constantly, it comes to be attributed Alcohol marks you as an adult in a seem like an immutable feature of to alcohol, and powerful way, but it also trains you the world. When you perform exerconsumption in adult habits. You learn to discover cises that relax these muscles, the rates have been rising for and master your limits and hone your difference can be quite startling. some time. discipline and self-control. Those of In a similar way, by wildly throwGiven all this, why do we still us who are unable to let a drink sit on ing off your sensations, alcohol clarallow drinking at all? I’d like to out- the table for any length of time must ifies the boundary between these line a positive view of the reasons we learn to imbibe more slowly if we sensations and the world around you. drink, one that is hopefully more wish to function in adult company. It makes you less solipsistic and more sophisticated than “because I like This frantic sipping is a character attuned to the effects of the things it” and that can stand up against the flaw, whether the drink is rum or you put into your body. In this sense robust criticism of our modern-day Coke, but only a truly bad night of of asceticism, lifetime abstainers are prohibitionists. I believe that when drinking booze will break you of missing out. used responsibly—or at least when the habit.

I will grant that we should not used irresponsibly responsibly— Perhaps most importantly, alco- be blind to the dangers of alcohol, alcohol can be a force for good. hol is the only mind-altering recre- and the startling statistics probably Alcohol is, of course, in wide use ational drug that is both legal and in should affect policy and popular attias a social lubricant. It smoothes over wide use. It has long been associated tudes toward it. But the idea that minor differences between people with the activities of very intelli- we drink for no reason, or only for and knocks down small barriers to gent people, from Plato with his trivial, easily transcended reasons, social interaction. It fosters a sense symposia, to G. E. M. Anscombe, is simply misguided. Our culture is of geniality that allows people with who would only teach her advanced built on alcohol, and without it we nothing in common to bond with students over a good bottle of claret. would be infinitely poorer.

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Our Flatlander’s favourites Marc Lagace and Fraser Nelund, staff

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wo editors got a chance to check out the Flatlander’s Beer Festival.

By no means beer experts, they had a simple purpose: each picked a favourite beer from three categories: North American, Not North American, and Craziest.

Marc’s choices: North American: Rock Cut Baysville Lager Baysville, ON Another lager? Opened in 2010, Lake of Bays Brewing Company specializes in brewing small-batch craft beers. Their lager—available yearround—stood up to any other lager available in Manitoba. Rock Cut Baysville Lager is clean, refreshing, and available in 473-ml cans for $2.96 at the MLCC.

Not North American: Estrella Damm Barcelona, Spain Smooth, with a strong but not unpleasant aftertaste, this 4.6 per cent pale lager was self-described as perfect for the typical Canadian beer palate. I would agree, as I typically stick with lagers and found Estrella Damm delicious. It is available at MLCC locations in 500-ml cans for $2.69.

Craziest: Half Pints Brewing Cask Conditioned Chocolate Milk Stout Winnipeg, MB This quirky limited edition beer, brewed as a special batch specifically for the Flatlander����������������� ’���������������� s Festival, completely lived up to its fantastical name.

Combining the flavours and texture of chocolate milk and beer has the potential to be awful, but this dark stout turned out amazing. If it’s ever

mass-produced, buy it.

returning to my mouth as the sweetness sunk into my Fraser’s choices: tongue. By staying true to the raspberry while holding North American: hints of a dry Belgian brew Great Western Brewing in the aftertaste, this beer Original 16 Canadian Pale Ale overcame my expectations.

Saskatoon, SK $5.24 a bottle and worth a sip This beer provided the most bal- while summer lasts. anced experience. There was flavour aplenty and the brew was easy drinkCraziest: ing. The company has a moving genesis Rodenbach Vintage 2009 story: a big brewer was shutting down Roeselare, Belgium the brewery and 16 employees came This red sour ale is crazy together to buy it. For $11.55, drink like a fox. It won the World’s Canadian gold.

Best Vintage Dark Beer award at the 2012 World Beer Not North American: Awards. It tasted as though Castle Brewery Van Honsebrouck balsamic vinegar, sherry, and ale put aside their differences Bacchus Raspberry Beer West Flanders, Belgium and danced on my tongue.

Most fruit, vegetable, or berry- $17.34 for a 750-ml bottle and flavoured beers taste like cough syrup supplies are limited – contact to me. I was surprised to find my cup the MLCC for details.

Winnipeg brewing A beer-by-beer history Lukas Thiessen

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y footsteps in the arena of local beer lore are child-sized compared to those of Bill Wright and Dave Craig. Their recent book 300 Years of Beer: An Illustrated History of Brewing in Manitoba will take you down bubbly streams of excellence.

Their work succeeds Norm Gorman’s 1980s self-published effort A List of Manitoba Breweries and their Locations, and they will be succeeded later this year when the periodical Manitoba History publishes Graham Stinnett’s article “The Early History of Brewing in Winnipeg: From Hudson’s Bay to Patrick Shea, 16681902” (No. 73, Fall 2013).

Two yea rs ago Stinnett showed me his personal cache of flight glasses

from former local breweries. Bars year, Scotland’s Innis and Gunn’s farmery has a local sensibility that used to serve flights of beer—larger Original beer carried a tribute on seeks a wide audience. than shot glasses, smaller than pint the label to the Selkirk settlers who Barley Brothers, Winnipeg’s first glasses—for customers to savour a arrived here in 1812 (with a number craft-beer pub, opens in October, selection of a brewery’s offerings. of Gunns among them). Manitoba’s two months before Portage Avenue I had been collecting bottles and Father of Confederation may not BrewWorks and Kitchen. The beers cans of current local alcohol for a have looked favourably upon this cel- on offer at Barley Brothers will be few years, when I realized there ebration – Louis Riel was an ardent from North American breweries, was a vast wilderness of brewera- prohibitionist and worried about the and will bring dozens of new beers nia. My small collection from Half effects of alcohol on Metis commu- to the local market.

Pints, Fort Garry, the vanished D. D. nities. Winnipeg’s brewing history Standard Lager, first brewed Leobard winery, and the revamped includes the contribution of critical here by Drewry’s and later CarlingRigby Orchards now covers a much stances against alcohol consumption, O’Keefe, is now made by Molson wider area. I have a pitcher and mugs involving the sad tale of a winter Coors Brewing Company (the from Shea’s, numerous flight glasses drowning that led to the current world’s seventh largest brewery by from Pelissier’s, Frontier, Kiewel, legislation on the price of beer. volume). The beer is not brewed here, Drewry’s, Carling, O’Keefe, and Winnipeg now has two opera- but the Keystone Province is nearly Labatt, as well as t-shirts, coasters, tional breweries: Half Pints Brewing the exclusive market. W�������������� ith the possibottle openers, and a small variety of Company (the only local craft brew- bility of more breweries on their way other items. My prized possession is ery) and Fort Garry Brewing Co. Ltd. in Winnipeg, perhaps there will be a a wooden-handled barley scoop used (the province’s oldest microbrewery). change to the province’s top-selling at Kiewel Brewing Co. Ltd. in St. Half Pints prides itself on fierce beer: Bud Light. In an interesting Boniface (1925-1976). Two employees localism and quality over quantity, reciprocation, Budweiser’s famous of the antique store from which I while Fort Garry seeks growth and Clydesdales are from Winnipeg. purchased the scoop estimate it is a larger share of the market, and is And for courtroom drama, check from no later than the 1930s, when no longer Manitoba-owned (it was out the history of litigation in which the entire scoop would have been sold to British Columbia’s Russell the owners of Standard Lager have made of metal or plastic.

Brewing Co. in 2007). There is also faced off against Budweiser over The earliest permanent brew- Farmery Estate Brewery, Canada’s trademark infringement concernery in the area that would become first-ever estate brewery (all the ing their labels.

Manitoba opened in 1694 at York ingredients are grown on the estate Factory, and a permanent brewery – in this case the family farm near was first established in what would Neepawa), run by the brothers who develop into Winnipeg in 1869. Last own Luxalune on Osborne. The

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Managing Editor: Fraser Nelund Contact: me@themanitoban.com / 474.6520

Alcohol and your body

Overconsumption and its health risks Katy Mackinnon, staff

W “If you plan on getting some action after a night of heavy drinking, think again”

hether you enjoy a glass of by CAMH, is not over 10 drinks wine with dinner, you’re a Friday for women per week and not over 15 night kegger fan, or you’re abstinent drinks for men per week. This is furand happy, here’s the rundown on ther specified by day, with not over what liquor can do to your body. two drinks a day for women and not Let’s begin with a quick note on over three drinks a day for men. how alcohol moves through your body. Days without Alcohol’s first stops in the body (after alcohol should the mouth and throat, of course) are be included the stomach and intestines, where it is in the absorbed into the bloodstream. It then week. flows through the body, at which point In modthe liver begins to metabolize it. eration, alcohol The Centre for Addiction and may have benefiMental Health (CAMH) states: “it cial health effects. takes about one hour for the liver of a According to the CAMH, person weighing 70 kg (154 lbs.) to pro- “Moderate alcohol consumption [ . . . cess and eliminate eight to 10 grams ] appears to provide some protection of alcohol.” This translates to roughly for men and women over 45 years of two-thirds the amount of alcohol that age against diabetes and some forms exists in one drink. of heart disease.”

The Mayo Clinic suggests, “when A study conducted in Canada it comes to drinking alcohol, the key discovered that those who drink is doing so only in moderation.” But moderately “experienced 15 per what does moderation truly mean? cent less disability than the general Moderate drinking, as defined population.”

The paradox with alcohol use is levels that suppress the central nerthat when a greater amount of alco- vous system,” as stated by the Centers hol is consumed, the risk experienc- for Disease Control and Prevention. ing the detrimental effects of alcohol This may lead to loss of consciousness, increases. which in turn could result in vomiting, Immediate effects of intoxi- choking, and death. cation can include changes The long-term risks of alcohol in judgment and behav- consumption are also detrimental. iour, violence, and According to the National Institute unwelcome sexual on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, contact. With the more a person drinks, the more decreased that person carries a risk of developjudgment, ing certain cancers. risky sexual The National Cancer Institute has behaviours linked head and neck cancer, esophacould lead geal, liver, breast, and colorectal canto sexually cer to alcohol consumption. transmitIf you plan on getting some action ted infec- after a night of heavy drinking, think tions or again. Large amounts of alcohol unwanted consumption can lead to struggles pregnancies. in maintaining an erection for men, Extreme intoxication carries a as well as menstrual irregularities in risk of alcohol poisoning. Alcohol women. Is it worth it? You decide. poisoning is “a medical emergency that results from high blood alcohol

Honing their draft A tour of the Half Pints brewery quinn richert, staff

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photo by: bryce hoye

“The brewery reminded me of a laboratory”

ven in the gift shop, adjacent to widely-available domestic beers. the room where the action actu“[Manitoban] malt is used by the ally goes down, Winnipeg’s Half big Canadian mass brewers. We don’t Pints brewery has its own distinctive want to taste like the big Canadian smell. It is the first thing you notice mass-brewers,” Barry told me during when you walk into the inconspicu- my visit to their location. ous old building at 550 Roseberry.

Second, the Half Pints team is To say it must be yeast is getting made up of self-proclaimed hops close. Yeast with an almost subcon- fanatics. Several different types of scious hint of hops is even closer; hops are stored in the brewery freezer, yet the reactants somehow do not in both pellet and “whole hops” forms. at all smell, at least to my untrained To enhance bitterness and flavour, olfactory bulb, like the final isolated hops are added to the liquid porproduct: Winnipeg’s best line of craft tion of a malted barley-and-brewing beers. liquor mixture (the liquid portion The pleasant but unfamiliar aroma specifically is known as wort) at difis the first hint that the goings on ferent stages of a rolling boil. behind closed doors are an interesting Next, yeast is added to the mixmix of chemistry and art. ture (now in a fermenting vessel) along Half Pints, which originated in with oxygen. At this stage, hops may 2005 by Nicole Barry and brewmaster be again added to the soon-to-be beer, Dave Rudge, specializes in produc- this time in order to enhance aroma. ing beers for the connoisseur. Not a In contrast to the mass-market single product turned out tastes bor- beers, Half Pints libations are at most ing or derivative, and half (maybe lightly filtered – they simply allow the one-quarter) of the fun is researching soup to settle. your favourite brew. This is owing to Once the beer is carbonated in a couple factors. pressurized drums, it is ready to bottle.

First, the Half Pints brewers This process is completed with the aid are fond of purchasing (and experi- of a simple conveyor belt-like machine. menting with) varieties of barley The bottles are then stacked into boxes malts from around the world. Barry by hand. says that while local ingredients are During my tour, I was most struck important, most malts from the by how the brewery reminded me of Manitoba region are used in the a laboratory. There was an obvious

enthusiasm for experimentation.

For example, the company often puts out unique seasonal beers, such as their Demeter’s Harvest Wheat Wine (which has honey in it). And you won’t see many mass brewers forgoing the forcing of carbon dioxide through a batch of beer, opting instead to allow CO2 to build up naturally during the yeast fermentation process.

Nicole Barry sometimes travels to Kentucky looking for old bourbon barrels in which to age beer – their special Le Temps Noir Imperial Stout, for example, is aged in such a container for six months. And the barrels can be reused.

“When Dave and I started brewing we had sort of a DIY attitude about making beer. We just have a real focus on brewing what we like to drink,” Barry commented near the end of my visit.

Finally wrapping up on the production floor, I asked Barry what exactly it is that makes a beer a craft beer, and she offered a good answer. But the guys stacking beers into boxes by hand, and the racks of bourbon barrels, and the copper kettles, and the hops freezer, and the smell distracted me, and I forgot to write it down. I was satisfied and did not ask her to repeat herself.

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Managing Editor: Fraser Nelund Contact: me@themanitoban.com / 474.6520

Self-medication Co-occurring disorders: Social stigma doesn't help kara passey, staff

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wenty per cent of Canadians experience mental illness during their lifetime, and 20 per cent of those Canadians will at one time or another develop problematic selfmedication and substance abuse.

After 20 years of living with extreme nervous behavior and panic attacks, I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. My symptoms range in severity: from shakes, to stammers, to hyperventilation and difficulty breathing, depression,

chronic insomnia, and a strange I got into an argument with a to demanding improvements within bout of “stress-induced” cancer that friend not long ago because I was our mental health care system, the I had surgically removed. Over the broke and still chose to go to the public in general needs to be furlast five years I’ve tried different vendor and buy beer, even though ther educated on what mental illness medications—some prescribed, I was living off of ramen and Kraft actually is. If someone has a mental some not—and coping methods, Dinner. His sentiment was simple: illness as a result of post-traumatic and the overwhelming days have “If you’re so broke, why are you buy- stress, telling them to “cheer up,” become (relatively) fewer and fur- ing beer?” or recommending that they try a ther between.

This made me realize two things: new diet and exercise is probably While currently I feel more self- one was that I was becoming depen- not helpful. A mental illness can be aware than ever, when you live with dent on alcohol to lower my anxi- debilitating and affect more than a mental illness, you are constantly ety levels, and another was that I one aspect of your life; in addition in a state of recovery. couldn’t possibly explain the neces- to therapy and medication, recovsity to self-medicate to my currently ery can involve job, housing, and judgmental friend. The conversa- financial assistance, and family and tion didn’t end well; I probably said marital counselling. something along the lines of “Mind A common misconception is your own fucking business,” and my that addiction causes mental illness. friend smugly thought he had me While addiction and mental illness all figured out. are closely related—and addiction The stigma that people who live can definitely worsen symptoms of with a mental illness encounter is mental illness—it is more typically often worse than the illness itself. the case that addictions stem from Stigma can lead to self-harm and self-medicating mood, anxiety, and substance abuse as the mentally ill other personality disorders. If you person attempts to cope. Whether have both a mental illness and an it is around friends, at work, on addiction, that is called a co-occurtelevision, or even in the doctor’s ring disorder or dual diagnosis – the office, the attitudes and behaviours important thing to note is that these that people have toward those living are separate issues that often need with a mental illness can be enough separate, though complementary, to make someone hide their symp- treatment. toms and thus risk a worsening of According to the National their condition.

Alliance on Mental Illness, about 50 According to the Pan-Canadian per cent of people living with menOpinion Survey put forth by the tal illness are affected by substance Mood Disorders Society of abuse.

Canada in November 2011, there are signif icant gaps in the mental health care system.

Thirty-five per cent of those surveyed said they had waited 12 months for a diagnosis of their mental illness, 59 per cent of respondents reported that a lack of insurance kept them from receiving the health care they need (therapist, psychologist, medication, etc.), and 52 per cent reported t hat hospita l emergency rooms were unprepared for emergencies related to mental illness. With these types of barriers on your road to recovery—matched with the towering social stigma—it shouldn’t surprise us that some may want a drink along the way to smooth over the bumps.

In addition

The National Comorbidity Survey taken from 1990-92 found that “42.7 per cent of individuals with a 12-month addictive disorder had at least one 12-month mental disorder.”

The Epidemiologic Catchment Area Survey taken from 1980-84 found that individuals with schizophrenia were more than four times as likely to have a substance abuse disorder, and 61 per cent of individuals with bipolar disorder were more than five times as likely.

Unfortunately, integrated treatment for co-occurring disorders is not widely available for those who need it. Mental health professionals are often not prepared to treat both mental illness and addiction, and people living with mental illness often get denied necessary and sufficient treatment because they have trouble with sobriety.

In addition to integrated treatment, an understanding that people living with mental illness are individuals with their own specific experiences and needs is crucial.

There isn’t a single cause of mental illness or one way to cope, and generalizing treatment methods can be damaging.

If you are experiencing a mental health emergency, Winnipeg is now home to what is believed to be the first centre devoted to mental health crisis in Canada. The Crisis Response Centre is located at 817 Bannatyne Ave. and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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Spectacularly sober The straight edge lifestyle Katerina Tefft, staff

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’ll be 22 years old in November, and I don’t drink.

No, I’m not allergic, religious, a recovering alcoholic, or traumatized by some event from my childhood.

I’ve actually never had a drink in my life, or smoked a cigarette, or anything – and that’s because I’m straight edge. I claimed edge when I was 14 and to this day it’s still the best decision I’ve ever made. That girl in the photo? That’s me.

If you’ve heard of straight edge, it’s probably because you’re a fan of Minor Threat, AFI, Rise Against, or Bif Naked, or you’ve watched CM Punk on the WWE. Maybe you’ve also heard people say “straight edge” in reference to someone who simply doesn’t drink or rarely drinks – those people are mistaken.

The straight edge movement originated in 1981 with a 46-second song by legendary American hardcore band Minor Threat called “Straight Edge.” The lyrics—“I’m a person just like you/But I’ve got better things to do/Than sit around and fuck my head/Hang out with the living dead”—inspired a generation of misfit punk kids to reject the conformism and hedonism of drug culture, and create their own subculture based on self-control and conscientiousness. The X that became the symbol of straight edge originated from shows where underage kids had the back of their hands marked with an X so they wouldn’t be served alcohol.

The mid-80s youth crew era, influenced by bands like Gorilla Biscuits, Judge, and Bold, established the themes of community and social awareness within straight edge that would become the basis of the growing counterculture movement.

Veganism became an important theme within straight edge, thanks largely to notable youth crew band Youth of Today and their 1988 song “No More,” which brought vegetarianism to the hardcore scene and advocated a “more conscious, caring society.” In the 90s, straight edge bands like Earth Crisis, Morning Again, and Hamilton, Ontario’s Chokehold continued the trend of incorporating animal liberation and social justice issues into their music.

Today, the straight edge movement has grown into a worldwide phenomenon, uniting people from all walks of life who share one thing in common: a lifetime commitment to living drug-free.

There are a few persistent misconceptions about straight edge. Firstly, straight edge is not a gang, even though it’s classified as such by police in Utah and Nevada. It’s a lifestyle,

a subgenre of music, and a community, but definitely not a criminal organization. A handful of violent instances in those states involving straight edge individuals sparked a sensationalist and reactionary fallout that has given the peaceful majority of straight edge folks a bad name. Not all edge kids are hardcore tough guys either – the movement is diverse and includes people of all genders and backgrounds.

Secondly, straight edge does not inherently condemn pre-marital or “promiscuous” sex. This misconception, which unfortunately has caught on even among many straight edge people themselves, comes from a lyric from another Minor Threat song, “Out of Step”: “I don’t smoke/I don’t drink/I don’t fuck/At least I can fucking think.”

However, Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat has stated that this lyric has been misinterpreted, saying, “What I was clearly discussing was abusive, quest-oriented, manipulative sex [ . . . ] I saw, as a teenager, that people’s energies were so squarely caught up in getting laid that a lot of pain and hurt came out of it [ . . . ] I am pro-sex, I certainly have no problem with sex between people who want to have sex.” Straight edge, therefore, isn’t about sexual abstinence; it’s about safe, consensual sex, and working to end power imbalances and other abusive behaviour in sexual relationships.

For me, the decision to abstain from alcohol and other drugs was a no-brainer; they never appealed to me in the slightest. When I discovered straight edge as a teenager, it just clicked. Even though I didn’t know anybody else in Winnipeg who was straight edge, I felt a sense that I was a part of something bigger, that there was a whole community of people out there just like me, and I wasn’t alone. It sounds like a cliché, but when you’re a weird outsider kid bombarded constantly with the societal pressure to drink and party, that sense of belonging is a powerful thing.

I still feel like a weird outsider kid most of the time, but I’m so confident that this decision is the right one for me that nothing anybody says or does can faze me. People’s complete astonishment that I’ve never consumed alcohol just makes me laugh because to me it’s the most normal, mundane thing in the world – something I rarely even think about.

When people ask me, dead serious, “So what do you do for fun?” I just answer, “Probably a lot of the same things you do,” because that’s true.

The fact that a lot of people I meet

genuinely can’t imagine having a good time without being under the inf luence is pretty scary and says a lot about how ingrained drug consumption is in our culture.

While the basic principle of straight edge is living clean, the decision to claim edge can be made for a variety of reasons and have a variety of significances for different individuals. As I’ve grown, my own interpretation of what it means to be straight edge has also grown and evolved.

I no longer believe that simply being straight edge is enough; straight edge is simply not doing something, but it’s what you choose to actively do with your clear mind, healthy body, and all that time you’re not wasting getting wasted that really counts. My sobriety is not something that I view as an end unto itself, but as a means to achieving my fullest and most effective participation in activism and social change.

This isn’t a new idea: there is a long anarchist tradition of abstaining from alcohol and other drugs, from the Spanish CNT (National Confederation of Labour) at the turn of the 20th century to present-day autonomous Zapatista rebel villages in Mexico that have collectively implemented drug and alcohol bans. These movements have viewed alcohol as a destructive force within communities, and a tool for keeping the people pacified and incapacitated. There’s an Earth Crisis lyric that inspires me and that I always come back to: “There’s far too much to experience and accomplish to waste a precious second drunk or hazed/An effective revolutionary through the clarity of mind that

“A lifetime commitment to living drug-free” I’ve attained.”

Straight edge has shaped the person I am today. It’s made me more productive, focused, conscientious, and community-minded. It has led me to veganism, left politics, underground music, and one of my closest friends. It gave me positive role models who guided me through my delicate formative years. It taught me to actively resist and reject selfcenteredness and consumerism, and always be aware of the broader impact of my actions.

I’ve never felt that I’m missing out on anything. I have a life rich with love and personal development, and that’s all I need to be perfectly happy.

I have found friends—drinkers, drug users, edge kids, and teetotalers alike­­—who respect me for who I am, as I do them. If there were a time when I felt compelled to compromise my beliefs in order to fit in, those days are long past.­ I wouldn’t choose to live any other way.

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Arts & Culture Editor: Kara Passey Contact: arts@themanitoban.com / 474.6529

Arts & Culture

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Traditional functions redefined Dong-Kyoon Nam’s Vacant Circumstances: This and something else Michelle Saromo

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Fans, Dong-Kyoon Nam

visited Dong-Kyoon Nam at ture, finding satisfaction in the they would sound like an endlessly aceartinc., just days before the process of using space and creating ticking time bomb, or a sound akin opening reception of his first solo three-dimensional objects. What to a modern take of Edgar Allan exhibition. He was in the gallery by is interesting about his sculptures, Poe’s “The Bells.” himself, up on a ladder in the process however, is that they are not made All of the materials Nam has used of installing his exhibit. A newcomer from typical materials, wood or are household objects with fixed to the Winnipeg arts scene, Vacant metal. Instead, Nam prefers to use functions that we use daily, but he Circumstances: this and something else extension cords. has taken things apart, modified, and is his first opportunity to showcase There is a sculpture of two electric reconstructed them in an unconvenhis work in the city. fans that are facing each other and tional way. The forms he has created “Group showcase is much easier are wrapped in cords. He plans to evoke discomfort. Their traditional and much less responsibility because add more electrical cords at the bot- function has been redefined into we all share the responsibilities, tom of it, sprawled across the floor, something, well, undefinable, quesright? Each of us has our own dif- to mimic the movement of water. tionable. Are fans supposed to face ferent roles,” says Nam. “[In] a Another piece involves a ball of red each other that way? Why are those solo showcase [ . . . ] I have a lot of extension cords on the floor. The red standing lamplights upside down? freedom but at the same time, that cords were chosen to make the sculp- And what is in that red thing? freedom means you have a lot of ture look alarming. Nam still has to “We live [comfortably], almost responsibilities.” connect a foot pedal to it, to allow like everything is already available Although originally from South whatever is inside to make sounds. and built for us, everything already Korea, Nam received his art educa“Basically, when they push this defined for us. And we live with tion here in Canada. After obtaining pedal, they will realize that this is those kind of cultural objects or utila one-year diploma in film editing a very familiar sound. So gradually, itarian objects. But I like those kind in Montreal, he went on to earn his some [visitors] will probably figure of contrasts between comfortable life bachelor’s of fine arts in Windsor, it out.” and [experiencing discomfort].” and then to the University of It’s all very mysterious.

Nam says that these contrasts Victoria for his master’s. His work In another corner, there are rows found within objects can be seen has been included in group exhibits of light switches on the wall. There’s everywhere in life, much like the at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, a pillow on the floor. There’s a row of head or tail of a coin. the annual Fahrenheit Festival of lights all around the other side. It’s They’re familiar objects, just in Fire Sculpture in Windsor, and the not quite finished yet, but once it’s unfamiliar positions. They’re not Deluge Contemporary Art gallery done, there will be a metronome of dangerous at all. How you see them, in Victoria. Nam recently moved to approximately 220 wall clock back- Nam would say, is all about one’s Winnipeg and is teaching as a ses- ings all aligned on top of the light perceptual presence. sional instructor in the faculty of fine fixtures. Twenty of the backings Vacant Circumstances: this and arts at the University of Manitoba. were already installed at the time something else will be on display Although his interests began in of my visit – I could hear the loud at aceartinc. from Sept. 6 until filmmaking and photography, he tick-tocking. Once the full instal- Oct.18. Nam will be having an says he has “graduated” into sculp- lation is in place, I would imagine artist talk on Sept. 14 at 2 p.m.

Transformative theatre FemFest gears up for its 10th year of socially conscious and inclusive plays Joelle Kidd

participants in Canadian theatre. The and Dreaming in Autism, the story of The festival also offers workshops festival provides a place for local and a mother learning that her infant son and lectures from guest artist Djanet inexperienced artists to get their plays has the titular disorder. Flood Control, Sears. Sears is an accomplished playproduced, undergo mentorship and from Canadian writer Marilyn Anne wright, director, actor, and adjunct training opportunities, gather inspi- Campbell, tells the story of two sui- professor of drama at the University ration from prominent female theatre cidal characters who meet when they of Toronto. Sears will be giving a playartists, and attend workshops. are about to jump off the same bridge, writing master class, a lecture, and a This year’s FemFest includes sev- and together find what their lives are reading of her work throughout the eral fully produced plays, a collection missing. course of FemFest. There will also be of short pieces, workshops, readings, FemFest is also showing pomme workshop presentations of Giving Voice, and the “Bake-Off,” a competition in is french for apple, a tongue-in-cheek a theatre piece that will be developed which selected playwrights have eight comedy about being a woman. Written through forum sessions with youth, hours to write a script. The scripts will from a West Indian perspective, the exploring the issues of being a young be performed as staged readings, and title plays on the similarity between person in foster care. the audience will select one play to be the French word for apple and West FemFest also showcases other artisproduced for FemFest 2014.

Indian slang for female genitalia. tic disciplines in the festival’s “cabaret” One of the plays chosen for FemFest Another play, Sisters Inc., centres on nights, which include performances Elena Anciro and Grant Burr in Flood Control, photo by Janet Shum 2013 is Harold and Vivian Entertain a road trip taken by three female from musicians, visual artists, comeGuests, the winner of last year’s Bake- friends in their 60s – one Jewish, one dians, and even a contortionist. These ince 2003, the Winnipeg-based the- ing writers, directors, performers, and Off. The play follows a married couple Christian, one Muslim. Sisters Inc. is cabarets will open and close the festiatre company Sarasvàti Productions designers. This year’s fest runs from who “married purely for spite” as they written by Rita Shelton Deverell, who val, taking place on the first and last has been running an annual festival Sept.14-21 and is themed “Revelation try to entertain their newlywed neigh- is the former director of news and cur- night. showcasing female theatre artists. and Revolution.” bours. The comedy is written by Jessy rent affairs for the Aboriginal Peoples FemFest—which has grown from Sarasvàti Productions focuses on Ardern and will have three shows Television Network and co-founder FemFest runs from September 14-21 at a fledgling grassroots event into a “transformative theatre,” producing throughout the festival. of the Vision TV network. There will the Asper Centre for Theatre and Film weeklong festival—celebrates local, plays with socially conscious and incluOther plays in the festival include also be a reading of Perfect Love, a play (University of Winnipeg, 400 Colony national, and international talent, and sive themes. FemFest was created as The Aftermath, a one-woman show from in development that explores gender St). Ticket prices and schedule informaalso works to bring together women an opportunity to address and correct Toronto’s Back Row Theatre Collective roles by reversing those of male and tion can be found online at sarasvati.ca. who are both experienced and emerg- the disproportionate lack of female about how to survive the apocalypse, female actors.

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VOL. 100 NO. 5 September 11, 2013

How to compliment someone without being a creep jodie layne, volunteer staff

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s it just you or are there a lot of really good-looking people on campus this year?

People are sporting their summer tans and freckles, there are some new students catching your eye, and you just noticed how great your lab partner actually makes that shapeless white coat look. Yes, there are some attractive folks on campus and you want to get to know them – or maybe you just think they should know that they look nice!

Fact: Street harassment is a pretty shitty thing – a prevalent and shitty thing, at that.

What’s street harassment? It’s any unwanted attention in a public place.

So, don’t be that person. Learn how to give a compliment without being a creep – it’s actually pretty easy!

1) Consider the time and place.

If you were walking all alone or heading down the sidewalk or in an empty parkade, would you want a stranger to approach you and com-

ment on your body/looks? Probably not.

However nice it can be to receive a compliment, it’s really not a life or death situation and there are very few circumstances in which someone is holding a gun to your head until you give out a compliment.

Respect people’s sense of safety and don’t approach them if you have any doubts about them perceiving your presence as non-threatening.

person has control over and does not relate to their bodily contours. Some people use the “mom test”; if they would feel uncomfortable having their mom hear the compliment, it is probably not a compliment you should give a stranger.

Complimenting someone’s reading choice, outfit, tattoo, or hairstyle are all great examples of non-creepy compliments. “You look nice today,” is a classic. And none of that backhanded, psychologically manipulative compliment stuff that pickup artists advocate for like, “You’d be so pretty if you lost a few pounds.”

Just, no.

2) Ask first.

Consent isn’t just for the bedroom, folks. Asking, “Is it okay if I give you a compliment?” is a good way to let someone back out of an interaction with you if they’re in a 4) It’s not about you, hurry, feeling threatened, or not it’s about them. into it. It puts them in control and A compliment shouldn’t be delivno one is going to be mad that you ered with expectations or used as a asked. Also, if harassment can be stealthy way to force someone into a understood as unwanted attention, conversation. Get their permission, asking for permission prevents you give the compliment with a smile, from haplessly supplying just that and go about your day. kind of attention.

You can confidentially sub3) Don’t be gross about it. mit a question or topic Compliment something that the to jodie.m.w.layne@gmail.com.

Drunken uncle singing Album review: Mission Accomplished by B.A. Johnson Jenna Diubaldo

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.A. Johnston returns with yet another album to add to his evergrowing banquetsized merch table.

True to form, this album sounds like a recording of your drunken uncle singing during thanksgiving dinner. Backed by a department store keyboard and a beat-up acoustic guitar, Johnston’s f a me d br a nd of Canad iana talk-singing has developed a cult following across the country.

His newest album, Mission Accomplished, is sure to provide a solid dose of humour with songs touching on topics such as eating doughnuts from Tim Hortons and wishing it were a Krispy Kreme instead, drinking a certified cold Coors Light beer while playing video games, and Luke Skywalker

pop culture, all of that becomes irrelevant when one experiences his live show.

Sing ing f rom atop a vending machine, taking the whole show out into the alley behind the venue, and commanding sing-alongs galore, Johnston is as outrageous as he is hilarious, and his antics will have you converted to a B.A.liever in no time.

Venture down to the Windsor feeling embarrassed about think- Hotel on Friday, Sept. 20 to ing Princess Leia is hot after look- catch a set by B.A. Johnston, ing her up on ancestry.com.

Smoki Tyger, and local rockaW h i le t r ut h f u l ly B. A . billy legends, the Farrell Bros.

Johnston isn’t the best singer you’ll ever hear, and most of the www.bajohnston.ca time his songs seem to be nothing more than the ranting of a bored, middle-aged man with a love for

Arts & Culture

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The Psychics david skene, volunteer staff

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ey Winnipeg, you want to know a secret? Don’t tell anybody, but I’ve got a new favorite band – the Psychics are wacky, weird, and they’ve got the kind of chops that don’t come around everyday. I haven’t been this musically smitten since I first stumbled upon the Blisters’ Myspace page and heard a 17-year-old Daniel Monkman paying tribute to the Brian Jonestown Massacre in a Selkirk basement.

As you can probably tell from my reference to that ghost town of a social network, that was a very long time ago. In spite of growing up and becoming jaded, these crazy kids—with their jazz-infused rock and mythos of other worldly hijinx—have gotten me as excited as a teenager when the new t-shirts arrive at Hot Topic.

Hailing from the outer reaches of the cosmos, the Psychics are made up of Cody Rey Valentonis, Paige Drobot, and Kerrigan Salnikowski.

Each of these space brats attack their instruments with the kind of experimental vigour most bands are too afraid to ever exhibit in public. They

carve out big slabs of sonic meat, never shying away from intricate phrasings and bizarre time signatures. The goal of the Psychics is to bring you on a musical adventure that may be strange and frightening – but well worth your time if you give it a chance.

Even with a rhythm section that always keeps you on your toes and a guitarist on their way to becoming Winnipeg’s next great guitar goddess, the fun does not stop at the way they sound. The Psychics have a live show that fully embraces the extraterrestrial – something that is very near and dear to my heart. Elaborate costumes and robotic special guests make the audiovisual experience of the Psychics jam feel like Frank Zappa directed by Ed Wood.

The Psychics play their next show on Saturday, Oct. 12 at the Garrick Hotel for the 2013 Zombie Walk after-party. Until then, I highly recommend visiting their Facebook page to check out all their live footage: www.facebook.com/wearethepsychics

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Arts & Culture

Arts & Culture Editor: Kara Passey Contact: arts@themanitoban.com / 474.6529

Souvenir involontaire Mélanie Rocan’s new exhibit installed at the Plug In ICA Michelle Saromo

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Photo by: beibei lu

What you should expect to learn from art school From a graduate to a newcomer Joshua Roach

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he importance of having a professional experience while learning the critical and technical skills at university cannot be understated.

During my seven years at the University at Manitoba I took part in three art exhibitions, and all three of these were very important for my progression as an artist.

Having a show while in a safe environment like a university provided me with an excellent opportunity for substantial growth. I was able to get feedback from my professors while installing, reflect on what skills my education has given me, and then use this reflection to focus on some of the areas I felt I needed to grow in.

Curating a show was a very valuable experience for me to have as a young artist. Having an exhibition where I was the primary person responsible for everything was intense and rewarding. Technical skills such as lighting, spacing, installing, hanging, and writing both artist statements and piece statements all got built up during this process. Even things I might not have considered before, like advertising, were important skills to hone for later in my career. I was also provided the opportunity to see how my works interact and engage with one another. I witnessed how pieces work beside each other and how much space they need.

It is an extremely satisfying feeling to give pieces of artwork that I’ve been working on for many months a way to breathe in a white and spacious environment.

My studio space is coloured chaos, and it’s hard to look critically at my work when it is surrounded by the tools and materials used to create

it. There can be so much baggage in the work I create sometimes that being surrounded by the artifacts of creation can be overwhelming.

Giving work the space it craves has always provided me the chance to reflect on its significance and a sense of finality. Art exhibitions have acted as precipes in my career, and a new body of work always commences afterwards.

Coming out of art school and starting an art career can be an intimidating endeavour. The deadlines and peer/professor critique university provides suddenly disappear. While this freedom can be liberating, after a little while a sense of craving for structure can build. This is one of the reasons having an art show is so important.

It not only provides a goal to work towards, but builds the desire to continue working towards future exhibitions.

Confidence is the most important thing each exhibition has given me. With every show, a part of myself becomes justified in the work I’ve created and the ideas I’ve had. Confidence is a very important attribute for every artist and this is especially magnified when you’re just starting your journey into the art world. When you start out, you’re not sure of what to expect.

When artists create we give a part of ourselves to the world to look upon. It can be frightening and it can be a difficult feeling to get past – but with every exhibition and with every opportunity to get our work out there, this feeling lessens. Step by step we gain the confidence to continue producing and challenging ourselves a little more. The biggest step is the one that starts it all.

he concept of “memory” teeters between the concrete realities of our external world and the abstractions of our internal selves: “Did that really happen, or did I just make that up?”

There are some moments we remember that can’t be put into plain language. The memories we form in our minds have the ability to play with our senses and create emotional connections with our environment, sending us into wordless waves of nostalgia.

Mélanie Rocan’s new exhibit, Souvenir involontaire, captures this idea. The title is based on Marcel Proust’s concept of involuntary memory, referring to the idea that fleeting moments have the ability to evoke memories effortlessly.

In her paintings, Rocan uses bits and pieces of elements from her past to create a narrative of her experiences. The presence of expansive skies, fields, railroad tracks, and telephone poles tell of her early life in the rural prairies. Balloons and ferris wheels are included to call to mind a time of mirth and innocence. She also conveys some of the more difficult memories in her works, through her use of muted colours in the backdrop.

Rocan admits that “there’s a lot going on” within her paintings.

“Certain images, they just always seem to come up [ . . . ] I guess I kind of use certain images again and then they trigger more images, almost like orchestrating a kind of painting where you start with something and it leads you to the next. Almost like making a poem, too; it’s almost like an image association.”

Rocan completed her MFA at Concordia University in Montreal.

Her works have been included in other exhibitions in Montreal; Toronto; Glasgow, Scotland; Saskatoon; as well as in other galleries around Winnipeg.

Taking her influences from the movements of surrealism, expressionism, and romanticism, there’s

Hold On I, Melanie Rocan, 2012

an ethereal quality to the way accomplishes this using lush pops Rocan paints. of colour from her palette and add“I always try to do the paintings ing them in like “bubbles or little kind of floating, you know, linger- objects.” ing kind of in between a darkness “Tiny [details] in this large paintand playfulness,” she says. ing [ . . . ] pull the viewer in to pay Her works blur the lines between attention to those little moments dark and light—of the individual and those little memories.” and their environment—trying to Rocan acknowledges the presresolve these dichotomies. ence of both the positives and negaOften, Rocan includes female tives of life experiences, and tries figures in her paintings, which to represent them both within her serve as an autobiographical por- paintings. traiture, allowing the narrative to “Even when you listen to the be experienced by a representative news there’s always like bad, bad figure. They are meant to express things happening, but through her struggles and portray some of the bad things there’s also good [ the things that she herself has gone . . . ] You can go through difficult through. moments that could be very bad, “Some of [them] are kind of but there’s also such a positive side invaded by all these debris. I just too. It’s like that dichotomy where want to show a figure that’s still it’s lingering between both.” kind of almost debilitated by these overcoming marks or objects,” she Souvenir involontaire will says, referring to her own battles be exhibited at the Plug In with anxiety.

Institute of Contemporary Art Regardless, her paintings evoke from Sept. 28 to Nov. 10. a sense of hopefulness. Rocan

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Graphics Editor: Bradly Wohlgemuth Contact: graphics@themanitoban.com / 474.6775

Diversions

dany reede

Sports Editor: Marc Lagace Contact: sports@themanitoban.com / 474.6529

Sports

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Whatever it takes Australian Football League Essendon Bombers involved in PED scandal Adam Peleshaty

Anti-Doping Agency has AOD-9604 under its S0 category, prohibiting it for any use on humans.

The Bombers asked the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) to investigate the matter, but an independent report commissioned by the team revealed the presence of a “pharmacologically experimental environment never adequately controlled or challenged or documented,” as well as “failures in structure and accountability” and “sidelining of the medical staff.” illustration by: s. arden hill While team CEO Ian Robson and president David Evans both resigned he Essendon Football Club the AFL, as head coach in 2010. in May and July, respectively, Hird (the Bombers) of the Australian Last February, in a report by and team doctor Bruce Reid both Football League (AFL) is one of the the Australian Crime Commission maintained their innocence. most successful clubs in Australia. (ACC) named “Organised Crime On June 24, Essendon captain and Since 1871, the team has won 16 pre- and Drugs in Sport,” Essendon was 2012 Brownlow Medal winner Jobe mierships (see: championships); they accused to have given supplements Watson revealed on national television are tied with Carlton for the most to players containing a drug named that he believes he was given AODall-time. However, the team had not AOD-9604. The drug, which contains 9604 and also signed a consent form won a premiership since 2000. In an human growth hormone (HGH), was thinking it was legal. “My undereffort to end the drought, the team originally designed as an anti-obesity standing after it being given through hired James Hird, a former Essendon drug but was found to be ineffective [club doctor] Bruce Reid and the club captain and 1996 Brownlow Medal co- in trials. While the ACC originally is that I was receiving AOD, yes [ . . . winner for “best and fairest” player in stated it was not banned, the World ] The experience of having that many

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injections was not something I had for one year, Corcoran four months, experienced in AFL football before,” and Thompson was fined $30,000. he stated.

Reid, however, has stated that he was On July 31, Essendon’s former high “marginalized” and has taken his case performance director Dean Robinson to the Victoria Supreme Court. claimed in a televised interview Many Essendon supporters did not that Hird oversaw the supplements like the ban, claiming that due process program, but the team dismissed by the league was denied – especially the allegations as revenge from an when the ASADA’s investigation is ex-employee. Three days later, the ongoing and that players, cleared of ASADA released an interim report any wrongdoing, were penalized for on the team. the team’s mistakes. Others, including Last month, the AFL charged rival teams, have said that the penalHird, Reid, assistant coach Mark ties do not go far enough as a doping Thompson, and sports administra- deterrent. Hird later admitted that he tor Danny Corcoran with “bringing “should have done more” and the AFL the game of football into disrepute.” admitted that prior intervention could The league talked to the four parties have ended Essendon’s program. to negotiate a settlement after Hird While the investigation has been stated his intention to take the league mostly resolved, the damage has to court. On Aug. 27, days before the been done. The reputation of what final match of the season, the harshest was once a storied club has now been penalties in AFL history were handed tarnished. A blow has been delivered, out. not only to the most popular league Essendon was disqualified from in Australia, but also to the country’s the 2013 AFL Finals (playoffs), fined sports-centric culture. The Bombers’ $2 million, and stripped of draft picks team song is titled “See The Bombers in both the 2013 and 2014 player drafts. Fly Up” – hopefully there will be no Hird was suspended from the AFL more turbulence.

VOL. 100 NO. 5 September 11, 2013

Sports

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Bison Let’s get critical briefs Marc Lagace, staff

photo by: beibei lu

Bison Banjo Bowl comeback comes up short Huskies overcome late surge, defeat Bisons Marc Lagace, staff

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t was bound to be a great matchup, but few could have predicted the wild finish that occurred when the Bisons hosted the Saskatchewan Huskies at Investors Group Field as a part of Banjo Bowl weekend.

Neck and neck in the CIS top 10 rankings, the two teams entered the game coming off big wins in week one. In his post-game comments, Bison head coach Brian Dobie described the event as “a classic Saskatchewan-Manitoba game.”

Both teams struggled through the first quarter, as the punters battled for field position. Midway through the first quarter, Huskies kicker Denton Kolodzinski nailed a punt that pinned the Bisons back on their four-yard line.

Manitoba responded on the ensuing drive, moving the ball 104 yards down the field. Quarterback Jordan Yantz capped the drive with a two-yard pass to offensive lineman Matt Hallock, lined up as an eligible receiver.

The Bisons’ front-seven pressured Huskies QB Drew Burko early and often, sacking him twice in the first quarter. The first quarter ended with the Bisons leading 7-0. Early in the second quarter, Saskatchewan running back Shane Buchanan found a hole in the Bison defence and ran 46 yards untouched into the end zone.

After the Bisons went twoand-out on their next drive, the Huskies took the lead with a Kolodzinski field goal. On the next Saskatchewan drive, Burko extended the Huskies’ lead to 17-7, hitting Garrett Burgess for a 24-yard passing touchdown.

The Bisons took over possession at their six-yard line with four minutes remaining in the half. Anthony Coombs had mostly been held in check by the Huskies defence, until he broke off a 54-yard sprint down the sideline for a touchdown that made the score 17-14.

Getting the ball back with 1:49 remaining in the half, the Bisons failed to capitalize after tricking the Huskies’ special teams with an onside-kick gadget play on a punting down. Manitoba converted the onside kick, but failed to convert their field goal attempt before half,

settling for the rouge and heading into halftime trailing Saskatchewan 17-15.

Saskatchewan struck first in the second half with a 44-yard field goal. After another stalled Bison drive, the Huskies struck fast and burnt the Bison secondary with a 68-yard passing play. Slotback Mitch Stevens got behind safety Tyler Fong and hauled in Burko’s perfect pass. With the score now 27-15, the Bison offence needed to get back on track.

Despite a quiet first half, Nic Demski had two huge catches on the ensuing drive, setting up Anthony Coombs’ second touchdown of the night. Yantz handed Coombs the ball at the 16-yard line, and the third-year tailback made a cut, broke free of a would-be tackler, and sprinted in for a touchdown that cut the Huskies lead to five.

Burko and the Huskies offence continued to pick on the Bison secondary. Stevens beat safety Mitchell Harrison, catching a 49-yard pass that set up Kolodzinski’s third field goal of the night from 37 yards out.

Once again, the Bisons needed a response if they were to keep pace with the Huskies as the third quarter came to a close.

The reply came in the form of a 35-yard Nick Boyd field goal, which once again cut Saskatchewan’s lead to less than a touchdown. The teams exchanged punts until the Bison defence pinned the Huskies deep enough to force a safety, which cut Saskatchewan’s lead to 30-27.

After the Bisons failed to capitalize on offence, Kolodzinski converted his fourth field goal, making it 33-27.

Down by six with five minutes remaining, the Bisons’ offensive stars stepped up to the challenge.

Coombs, lined up at receiver, sprinted down the sideline and caught a 65-yard pass from Yantz that set the Bisons up in the red zone for the first time in the fourth.

Yantz finished the drive with a two-yard touchdown pass to Nic Demski. The Bisons pulled ahead, 34-33 with 4:07 remaining.

The Huskies offence renewed their assault on the Bison secondary. After a blocking below the

waist penalty forced a long second down, Burko completed another deep pass to Mitch Stevens, setting them up at the Bison 10-yard line.

The Bisons held strong and stuffed Burko on a third-down gamble from one yard out.

Holding onto a one-point lead, Yantz and the Bison offence failed to move the ball. The Huskies forced Boyd to punt out of the Bison end zone.

The game ultimately came down to the sure-foot of Kolodzinski, who completed his perfect game by booting a game-winning 40-yarder through the uprights. The Bisons scrimmaged from their 35-yard line with just 18 seconds remaining, but an offside penalty proved all too costly. Time ran out on the Bisons’ comeback attempt.

Final score: 36-34 Huskies.

Yantz finished the game having completed 25 of 41 passes for 374 yards and two touchdowns.

Coombs—named the Canada West player of the week for his performance in the home opener against Alberta—was a dominating force, compiling 202 all-purpose yards and two rushing touchdowns.

Andrew Smith also had a productive night, hauling in seven catches for 132 yards.

Dobie commented on the critical two-and-out in the final minute of the game that had set up Kolodzinski’s heroic finish.

“We all did what we had to do – we stopped them on the one,” said Dobie. “But we knew that time was an issue at that point, and I made a mistake.”

“We ran a quarterback wedge right off the hop, and the clock wasn’t the issue then, the clock was our enemy. We should have thrown twice out of the end zone and tried to get a first down,” Dobie added.

“I feel sorry for everybody else who has to play us next,” said Yantz, commenting on the heartbreaking nature of the loss.

“This team is going to be that much more hungry. As much as this upsets all of us, we can only grow from this and get better.”

The Bisons (1-1) will travel to Vancouver to play their next game against the UBC Thunderbirds (1-1) on Sept. 14.

Soccer efender Sarah Haiko and goaltender Chloe Werle, both fourth-year athletes with the Bisons, were named as team captains for the 2013 season.

The Bisons opened their season at home, hosting the Saskatchewan Huskies Sept. 6 and the Regina Cougars Sept. 7.

Saskatchewan outshot Manitoba 20-4, but the Bisons struck first; Daniella Scerbo served up a cross to Gillian Sidon, who put it past the Huskies goalie in the fifth minute.

From there it was all Saskatchewan.

Erica Parenteau tied it up for the Huskies in the 43rd minute, and the Huskies took the lead early in the second half as Ali Goodman set up striker Jenelle Zapski. Goodman would later score, making the final 3-1 in Saskatchewan’s favour.

On Saturday, the Bisons dropped their second game of the season against the Cougars 1-0. The lone, unassisted goal came in the 89th minute from Jayde McFee. The Bisons (0-2-0) travel west this upcoming weekend to play Calgary (1-0-1) on Sept. 14 and Lethbridge (0-2-0) on Sept. 15.

D

Scott, who will also skate for the ECHL affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers. Blair Macaulay finished his four-year CIS career with 118 points (56 goals and 62 assists) in 112 regular season conference games.

Meanwhile, former Bison goaltender Jesse Deckert, who spent last season in the ECHL playing for the Florida Everblades, recently signed a two-way AHL contract with the Charlotte Checkers. Deckert went 9-1-1 with 2.40 GAA in the 2012-13 season.

Synchronized Skating Tryouts Ice Intrepid, the U of M’s synchronized skating team, will be holding open tryouts at Max Bell Arena on Sept. 16, 18, and 20 at 6:30 a.m.

Tryouts are open to all genders. The team requires prospective skaters to have completed the Junior Silver skating test or have equivalent synchronized skating experience. Ice Intrepid trains out of the Max Bell Arena with on-ice practices scheduled at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesdays, Fridays, and alternating Mondays. Off-ice training is on alternating Sunday evenings.

Men’s Hockey The team intends to qualify for A pair of Bison hockey alumni nationals, which are being held in recently signed professional Burnaby, B.C. in February. contracts.

Last season, Ice Intrepid Forward Blair Macaulay agreed qualified for the 2013 Skate to terms with the Bakersfield Canada Synchronized Skating Condors of the ECHL. The two- Championships in Calgary, where time Canada West men’s hockey they finished ninth in a field of 12 MVP will have an opportunity to teams. play alongside his younger brother

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Sports

VOL. 100 NO. 5 September 11, 2013