The
Silhouette McMASTER UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER
THURSDAY, JULY 4, 2013 VOL. 84 NO. 2
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TYLER WELCH ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR YOSEIF HADDAD SENIOR PHOTO EDTOR
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Mac coach abroad
Hamilton, home
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Bike lane petition PAGE 7
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News Editors Julia Redmond, Tyler Welch & Stephen Clare Contact news@thesil.ca
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Planting trees and plotting maps Students Jonathan Valencia and Jonathan Farrow are hard at work on summer environmental initiatives Jemma Wolfe Executive Editor In air quality and environmental impacts, Hamilton is paying for the steel companies that back in the day put our city on the map. The Keith neighbourhood, in particular, nestled beside industry and old steel mills, receives the brunt of pollution from the waterfront factories. Its air quality ratings are significantly poorer than the rest of the city, which made it a target for Randy Kay. Kay, of McMaster’s OPIRG, wanted to use the Hamilton’s Street Tree program to offer people trees and increase the air quality of pollution-stricken boroughs. The initiative has become the summer project of third-year kinesiology student Jonathan Valencia. Valencia, who is working for OPIRG through MacWorks, instantly fell in love with the task at hand. “On top of helping people out, I’m also helping the environment. That’s the rewarding part for me to the project,” he enthused. His job is to canvass the neighbourhood, asking residents if they would consider accepting a tree – free, and a species of their choice - from the city. “Of the trees [the City] has in stock, I found out what their maximum height is at maturity and their maximum width to give the residents a better idea of what tree would suit their property best,” explained Valencia. Trees go into the front yards only, and tree allowance per property is indexed to the size of one’s lot. But as simple as it sounds, it’s not always easy to convince Keith residents to welcome a tree onto their property. “Large trees in the area have caused problems,” Valencia ex-
plained. “The roots get into pipe lines, or if there’s a big storm, people are worried the trees will fall onto their house. That was a big challenge – that people have a negative perception of the big trees already in the area.” But not all the trees Valencia has to offer are large; in fact, most trees that residents end up picking max out at five metres when fully mature. Every tree, however small, makes a difference to air quality. And when houses “are less than 20 metres away from major industries,” as Valencia pointed out, and the mortality rate due to pollution is significantly higher than city averages, small differences matter. While reducing and cleaning the emissions from the industries themselves would be the ideal solution, Valencia laments how commerce can often get in the way of environmental responsibility. He wants to plant trees on industrial property, too, in the
News in brief
hopes of changing attitudes towards sustainability practices. “For the majority of the project everyone has been pretty positive about it. They like the idea.” Another likable environmental project is being worked on by fourth-year Arts & Science student Jonathan Farrow. Through grant money from Forward With Integrity and with USRA research money, Farrow has been able to dedicate his summer to helping with the creation of the online portion of LEARN-CC, the acronym for Local Education and Action Resources Network for Climate Change. As Farrow explained, “We’re creating an interactive map where people in the community can go on our website and upload pictures, descriptions of actions they’re taking to address climate change, as well as some local impacts of climate change they’ve noticed.” Community
members add entries along with a location marker – latitude/longitude, an address, their postal code, etc. – and it will show up on the map for public viewing. LEARN-CC is the brainchild of the City of Hamilton and Farrow’s supervisor Dr. Altaf Arain of the department of Geography and Earth Science, through the McMaster Centre for Climate Change. And Farrow, along with graduate student Jay Brodeur, has been programming the site, accessible at mapclimatechange. ca. His continuing task is to update the site for the rest of the summer; he’s so far been happily surprised by the submissions. “One of the really cool things about working with this project is that there’s a whole world out there that I didn’t know existed,” Farrow said. “For instance, did you know that the water treatment plant uses its gas to heat itself? It’s almost off the grid. There’s an eco house that’s totally off the grid… There’s all this stuff that I had no idea was happening – but it is.” Farrow hopes that his peers will be equally inspired by the actions posted on the map, as well motivated by the environmental impacts that they can see. “It’s a really good opportunity to bring this global issue to a more local scale, because a lot of people are intimidated by climate change because [people see it as] this ‘global catastrophe that’s going to ruin the world in 20 years but there’s nothing that I can do about it because I’m just one person living in Hamilton.’” But Farrow dismisses that perception as entirely untrue. “There are a lot of really concrete, small things that you can do, and I think it’s helpful to get ideas from other people,” he said.
by Jemma Wolfe Executive Editor & Anqi Shen Online Editor
MAPS saga continues in legal scandal
Out with Williams, in with Starbucks
New Dean of Students announced
After being fired as the executive director of MAPS in January, Sam Minniti is alleging that he’s the victim of wrongful dismissal. He’s suing MAPS, McMaster University and some of his former colleagues for more than $500,000 altogether in damages. Court documents state that Minniti is seeking the following from MAPS and McMaster University: $225,000 for wrongful dismissal and breach of contract/unpaid wages, $88,116.75 for unjust enrichment and $100,000 for mental distress and punitive damages. He’s also suing former MAPS president and former board members for $88,116.75 in unpaid wages and vacation pay. Although MAPS and McMaster University are independent organizations, Minniti has named both as corporate defendants.
The MUSC location of Williams Fresh Cafe closed its doors for the final time last Friday, June 28. A modest sign outside the gates expressed apologies about the closure and went on to thank the McMaster community for their business over the past years. Long-circulating rumors about a campus location of Starbucks were confirmed through the Hospitality Services’ website’s announcement that Starbucks will be Williams’ replacement. Construction will begin shortly. Reactions to the announcement were mixed on Twitter, with some students lauding the arrival of the popular cafe and others criticizing McMaster’s support of the corporate conglomerate. The effect Starbucks will have on Tim Hortons and Union Market is certainly a topic of discussion.
Sean Van Koughnett will join McMaster as the University’s new Associate Vice-President, Students and Learning and Dean of Students on August 12, 2013. Van Koughnett is a Waterloo alumni and is currently serving as the director of their Student Success Office. With a background in student learning initiatives and registrar work, Van Koughnett is well prepared for the task at hand. “It is a privilege to have this opportunity to help shape and support our students’ development and success,” said Van Koughnett. “I aim to build on the strong foundation already in place and look forward to serving McMaster and our students, faculty and staff at such a pivotal and exciting time.” Van Koughnett takes the place of Phil Wood, longtime Dean of Students who is retiring this summer.
EDITORIAL
Executive Editor Jemma Wolfe Email thesil@thesil.ca Phone 905.525.9140 x22052
Thursday, July 4, 2013
The Silhouette
McMaster University’s Student Newspaper
Editorial Board Jemma Wolfe Executive Editor
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Making little things big priorities
Scott Hastie Managing Editor
to pride.
Andrew Terefenko Production Editor Anqi Shen Online Editor Julia Redmond Senior News Editor Tyler Welch Assistant News Editor Stephen Clare Features Editor Sam Godfrey Opinions Editor Laura Sinclair Senior Sports Editor Alexandra Reilly Assistant Sports Editor Amanda Watkins Senior InsideOut Editor Miranda Babbitt Assistant InsideOut Editor Bahar Orang Senior ANDY Editor Cooper Long Assistant ANDY Editor Yoseif Haddad Senior Photo Editor Liz Pope Assistant Photo Editor Ben Barrett-Forrest Multimedia Editor
to the royal baby countdown. Jemma Wolfe Executive Editor
to in-ground pools.
I’m used to hearing about natural disasters. Earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes. Of course, they have always occurred in other places. Somewhere tropical, along a coast, or over a fault line. I would shake my head sadly at the news broadcast, feel deeply for the suffering people, and thank my lucky stars that I live in Canada. And then, out of nowhere, Alberta. Their tremendous floods added weight to the conversations I was privileged enough to have over the days leading up to this issue. Conversations with people who care deeply about environmental conservation, accountability, sustainability and clean-air transportation. Their voices, heard throughout this issue, speak to the little things that make big differences. Differences I have often faced cynically. How does my small effort to switch off the lights not be rendered futile by the office highrise that leaves every single light on? So what if we plant trees to improve the air if the factories will keep pumping out more poison than we can keep up with? On a daily, individual basis, the bigger battles - against business practices, industry standards and global politics - cannot be won. And if those are the only pieces of the puzzle one focuses on, then disillusionment and infantilization are instant byproducts. But if we make room in our lives for the little things - the recycling and the composting and the biking instead of driving - and make room for them successfully, then inpiration, determination and a collective desire to start tackling the big things will follow. Yes We Cannon, the Street Tree program and LEARN-CC are just a few of the initiatives happening in Hamilton that are worth learning more about in this issue. Yes, they’re local, little things. And together, with other similar movements around the city, province and country, they’ll make a big impact.
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to u.m. for the coffee cards. to the highway 400 canada day fireworks. to reconciling. to free biscotti. to summer/winter/ westdalicious. kind of. to the couch, for the good times, and the bad. to scavenging during the large item disposal day. to sugar rushes. to dreams that almost bring you back to me. to sleeping in.
to the work still left to do. to pushy restaurateurs. to not-quite-finished in-ground pools. to heathrow airport. i still can’t let it go. to a shortage of cream earl grey. to sweatin’ to the contemporaries. to credit cards. to creditors. to back-ordered pots and pans. still. to late night mistakes. to the privatization of our secret beach. now what? to procrastination. four years here taught me nothing. to belly-buttons.
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Letters: 100 to 300 words Submit via email by 5:00 p.m. the Monday before publication.
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OPINIONS
Editor: Sam Godfrey Contact: opinions@thesil.ca
Thursday, July 4, 2013
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Hamilton, home? Julia Redmond Senior News Editor
A time for friends Sam Godfrey Opinions Editor Most of the memories I have of Gabriel involve, in some capacity, water. This is for two main reasons. One, because I live in a quite boring, rather small, very quiet city on Lake Huron, so the beach is any self-respecting young person’s main attraction. Two, because Gabriel loves water: the ocean, the lake, the pool, the rain and, of course, his fish tanks. The first time I met him was beside the pool both our families were members of, both of us waiting for our swimming lessons to start. Gabriel was one of the first strangers I ever initiated a conversation with, on account of my being unbearably shy for the first dozen or so years. We never exchanged names, even though we kept seeing each other all summer, just by chance at the pool. He would have remained anonymous had we not been members of the same church, both attending confirmation classes at the same time. For him, confirmation was something he did because it was the next natural step in practicing his faith and religion. For me, confirmation was something I did because it was the next natural step in avoiding a fight with my parents about faith and religion. On the day of our confirmation, I asked my mother permission to invite Gabriel (and Mary to avoid being teased about a boy) over sometime. For the next three years, Gabriel was my best friend, and I was his. We didn’t go to the same school, but from what I gathered from his stories and stories my friends told me about him, Gabriel was a popular guy. I wasn’t unpopular, at my school, but I certainly wasn’t accustomed to being friends with someone who
had so many people vying for his time. I was proud that he usually lent it to me. Whenever we hung out, whatever we were doing, it was always fun. Even if we were just helping each other with the other’s paper route, the conversation was always energetic, original and funny. We didn’t talk about serious things very often, in part because we were 14, and in part because I avoided broaching some subjects with Gabriel. He was a very active, very vocal member of the Catholic Church, bringing me along to his catechism classes for a few weeks. At these meetings, they would discuss all the things that I knew to never discuss with Gabriel – abortion, creationism, gay marriage, scripture – while I would smile politely and enjoy the provided snacks. When we both got jobs, we saw each other less and less. But we would always bring each other stories and souvenirs from any travels we took. By the time my prom rolled around, we weren’t hanging out too often, but he was still the first person I wanted to bring as my date. He charmed, as he was wont to, everyone I introduced him to at both the dance and after-party. Seeing as it was my first time drinking, he made sure I had neither too little nor too much, and taught me the rules of various drinking games. Prom jumpstarted our friendship back into its prime for that summer, but when I went to school we didn’t talk much. We see each other occasionally, when some mutual friends invite us to the same party. The last time I saw him, he was standing beside a pool; taller, thinner and only slightly less strange than when I saw him the first time. I must have had good taste in friends, even by grade eight,
because I still get along well with Gabriel when I do see him, but neither of us say “We never see each other anymore!” or “We should definitely hang out more soon.” There’s nothing tragic about drifting out of old friendships and into new ones. Gabriel was the perfect friend for me when he was my friend. He was someone that I initiated friendship with, for the first time by my own volition and control, and it was empowering. He was someone that people teased me about when they saw how well we meshed, and it was interesting to have my identity positively linked with another’s. He was someone that made me realize I could be more charismatic, and it was a confidence boost. He was someone that guided me into new experiences, not gently, but safely, and it was exciting. He was not someone with whom I shared major worldviews or had serious conversations, but it was fun. He was not someone who would budge when confronted about his opinions, but it was learning to pick my battles. That was what I did and didn’t need then. I’ve grown. As have Gabriel and I, from best friends to effortless acquaintances. Growth in relationships isn’t always about growing closer to someone. This is why I do not mourn for faded friendships. The person I was held them dear, and the person I am now holds memories and lessons. Baobab trees, my favourite trees, require frequent watering and nurturing while they are germinating. You can even keep them indoors during that stage, out of direct sunlight. Once their trunks start expanding though, they require a lot of space for their root system. But not much water.
Hamilton has edged out Halifax as the place I call home
I always wanted to go away for university. That’s not to say that my hometown of Halifax isn’t a great place--in fact, I’d say it’s one of the best places in the country to be a student. But despite the academic offerings of the five universities in the city, I set my sights further west and ended up at Mac. I had never really pictured myself here in particular, but it served its purpose of being somewhere else than the city I knew so well. Two years after deciding on Hamilton as a new place to live, I’m still pretty pleased with my choice. But with months spent without seeing the Atlantic Ocean, or my family home minutes away from it, I’m left with a bit of a conundrum. Where is home supposed to be, anyway? After one year in residence the answer was easy. Home was still out east, the place I expected to go on holidays, where I would naturally return for the summer months when my exams were finished and my nondescript room in Edwards Hall was all packed up. But moving into a house with three roommates caused my perception to shift a bit. Now I don’t just have a room that is mine—my attachment extends to a building, small though it may be. One with a kitchen, a backyard, even a sidewalk that needs to be shoveled in the winter months. I don’t need to go home at every possible break, or even at all for summer. And so I’ve started to refer to Hamilton as home (sometimes to the dismay of my parents, if I accidentally call it that in front of them). As odd as it may have felt to me at first, it has become the centre of my life. When I have to fill in my address, it’s Hamilton that wins. If I’m away and missing my own bed, it’s my twin bed in a tiny room near McMaster that I think of first. Perhaps it’s entirely natural at this point to move on from my old family home, part of a series of steps in the process of growing up. As the place I used to live instead becomes one I visit, I suppose I should feel more mature, or better suited to the experiences that I’ll face upon entering the so-called real world. So as much as I am confident in where I’ve come from, maybe it’s a good thing to have a new perspective on home. But I can’t seem to shake the feeling that if I were to wear ruby slippers and click my heels, I’m not sure where I would end up.
FEEDBACK
What does friendship mean to you?
Friendship means trust, loyalty and respect.
Rolling around with a room full of puppies.
Laura Leblanc, Med. Rad. II
Griffith Dias, Psych & Econ V
YOSEIF HADDAD SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR
Thursday, July 4, 2013
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When ‘practical’ doesn’t mean ‘employable’ Anqi Shen Online Editor
Battling the body blues SILHOUETTE FILE PHOTO
Erica Greaves Silhouette Intern When I was a little girl, I quit swimming because I didn’t feel comfortable in a bathing suit. When this happened I wasn’t even around puberty age I was around six years old. Later on when I was about ten years old, I joined gymnastics at the YWCA and, less than a year later, I quit because I felt that I was too fat to be able to do any of the moves, although in retrospect I was able to perform just as well as all the other girls in my gymnastics class. On both these occasions, I just told my mom I wasn’t interested in the sports anymore and that’s why I wanted to quit. Quite obviously a lie. These insecurities don’t suddenly show up once we hit out pre-teen years; they haunt us almost all of our lives. The moment a six year-old quits a sport because they think they’re too fat is the moment things need to change. Body policing, which includes things like fat shaming, is becoming more popular online. A hidden example of this is how we use “fat” as an insult. Who is to say “fat” is a bad thing, and who is to say “fat” is ugly? Other examples would be how a person is
often told they are too thin or too robust to participate in an activity, too robust to be a dancer, or too thin to compete in roller derby. It is statements like these that have young girls and boys quitting extracurricular activities because they fear they don’t look the part. The media opts to use very thin models in their advertising, and yet turns around and shames naturally slim girls to show that they support full-bodied women. Yet, shaming one side of a coin in order to praise the other does not work. Hate cannot be used to show acceptance. You end up damaging one group’s self-esteem while raising another’s, resulting in no more balance than there was before. I can’t think of another celebrity who is shamed more for her figure than Kirstie Alley. She’s been on yo-yo diets due to the way society has made her feel about her body. It is one thing to lose weight to better your health, but another to go on extreme diets because you don’t feel comfortable in your own skin. At the opposite side of things is Nicole Richie, who is looked down on for having a thin, slender figure. I find it ironic that the media pokes fun at Nicole Richie but uses models that look very much like her in their
magazines. With the media and body policing combined, we’re driven to compare ourselves to others. It would be nice if the media stopped fat shaming and body policing, but realistically that will be very difficult to make happen and it would take a long time. But what we can do is stop body policing and fat shaming in the community. More than anything, I think we have to practice what we preach: if we keep saying “everyone is beautiful” then we have to show it. Show it by using plus size models upwards of a size 16, making dance outfits for children in all sizes, putting a variety of models in our magazines. Because after all, our children will never believe that anyone can be beautiful if all we ever show them is one body type. So as long as you’re roughly human shaped, you don’t need to be so worried about the summer. From swim-suits to short-shorts to tank tops, you will look stunning in them all. No one has the right to tell you what body shape to strive for or how happy you should be with your current body; if a person is comfortable in their own skin, leave them be.
In September, my final year as an undergraduate student starts. For the first time in a while, I don’t have to worry about which courses I need to take. Having conquered SOLAR in June for the last time, I don’t envy those still trying to get into courses, much less those trying to figure out what their major will be. In today’s economy, it’s often easier to ask questions about which majors are ‘useful’ in terms of monetary investment—as opposed to why we really want to major in something, or anything, and why we came to university in the first place. Media outlets have been reporting for some time that students are shifting away from the liberal arts and toward more ‘practical’ fields of study. Lists of “Most practical majors” and “Highest paying jobs” have been springing up vigorously. They’re hard to turn away from, given the dismal job market millennials are facing. The Washington Post reported that 70 per cent more American college grads worked minimum wage jobs in 2012 compared to ten years before. The Globe and Mail published an online interactive “time machine” showing that Canadian university grads of 2010 have it worse in terms of income, housing prices, tuition, and student loans, than grads had it 30 years ago. After OUAC released confirmation statistics earlier this month, Maclean’s On Campus ran a short article on how students are opting for practical programs. (In Ontario, confirmed acceptances to university science programs are up 5.2 per cent from last year and down 1.6 per cent in the arts, although the fine and applied arts experienced an 8.7 per cent increase.)
But ‘practicality’ is too often being associated with ‘employability,’ though they don’t imply the same things. In the current job market, being able to apply skills you’ve learned doesn’t necessarily mean you will get a job. Students feel pressure to look employable on paper, and many struggle to gain experience that leads somewhere and pays a decent wage, too. How career development can be improved and whether students are fully prepared for the workplace are concerns that most programs are grappling with. There’s nothing about the humanities, sciences or social sciences that makes one more objectively valuable, or “practical,” than another. We should be speaking more directly to the economic reasons why universities and students are in a tough spot, instead of painting a bleak picture of academia being divided between ‘old-’ and ‘new-’ age programs. The reality is that post-secondary education as a system needs revamping. That being said, university is not for everyone. It’s not fair to keep telling high-schoolers that they will fit the mould if they just try. (Note: OUAC’s statistics show a steady increase in the confirmation of university acceptances, from 67,393 in 2004 to 91,378 this year.) As student debt soars and issues like underfunding continue to be hotly debated, public institutions should avoid overstating the monetary returns for an undergraduate degree, and students shouldn’t underestimate the cost (financial and social) of getting one. And if a student does choose one program over another, it should be because they are genuinely interested in going another route, not because they’ve been told not to take a risk on an ‘impractical’ field of study.
INSIDEOUT
InsideOut Editors Amanda Watkins and Miranda Babbitt Contact insideout@thesil.ca
Thursday, July 4, 2013
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A petition for a bi-directional bike lane on Cannon has made Hamilton more aware of its need for active transportation infrastructure Amanda Watkins Senior InsideOut Editor Riding a bicycle in Hamilton is often a question of morality. You can choose to ride on the road where you may potentially be run over by a bus, or, you can choose to ride on the sidewalk where you may potentially run over a puppy. Do you risk your own safety, or sacrifice the joy of a small furry animal? “People want to do what’s right. They recognize that walking or biking is better for their health, better for the environment, but it’s not easy. And if it’s not safe, they aren’t going to do it,” explained Justin Jones, an organizer of Yes We Cannon. Yes We Cannon started up two months ago as a local grassroots organization petitioning for a two-way bike lane along Cannon Street, one of the most frequently used routes in the lower city. “There’s no bike lane, no route for people to safely ride their bikes on. It’s an area used by 50,000 people,” further added Jones, an avid cyclist. Cannon Street runs four lanes of one-way traffic from Queen Street North to Sherman North, where it then switches to two-way traffic up until Kenilworth North. The street currently caters solely to vehicular traffic, but with six elementary and secondary schools in the area, along with numerous businesses lining the road, it is still heavily used by pedestrians and cyclists. Acknowledging that a change needed to be made, in 2009 the city of Hamilton developed the
City Cycling Master Plan or “Shifting Gears” which attempts to improve cycling infrastructure and develop complete streets. Although the plan received unanimous support from city council, the bike lanes on Cannon have yet to be discussed. The cycling plan identifies Cannon as an area receiving a “road diet,” which refers to the addition of a single bicycle lane on the one-way side of the street, and a bike lane on each side of the street where traffic runs two-ways. “What we are asking for is a separated bi-directional bike lane - similar to the ones that run on King Street - where there is a contra-flow lane that is walled and protected. That’s what we want to see [across] Cannon,” explained Jones. To showcase their plans for sharing the road and its feasibility, Yes We Cannon has hosted two rides along Cannon: Bike to Work Day on May 27, and an Open Streets ride on June 23. “The ride was done during the morning rush and to absolutely nobody’s shock there was no gridlock,” adds Justin when discussing Bike to Work. With four lanes devoted to traffic, Cannon is in a prime position for bike lanes. According to traffic counts from late 2012, each lane averages about 2,500 vehicles per day. The lanes are carrying less than half of their capacity, encouraging drivers to speed, and making the area dangerous for its users. “It’s a freeway out there and it’s very intimidating to be there as a bike when you don’t have airbags
or seatbelts,” adds Justin. The petition currently has just over 1,600 supporters, and the organizers plan to go to city council with their proposition come September. So far the city has been supportive of the campaign and understands that the city needs more active transportation infrastructure, especially along its major roads. “We’re going in the right direction. We’re doing things to keep cyclists safe. But we still have a network that has some very significant gaps in it. If we really want to take our cycling infrastructure from good to great, we should be installing something to connect and close those gaps,” explained Jones. The ultimate plan for Yes We Cannon would be to have the bidirectional lanes up and running prior to the start of the Pan Am games in 2015. “We know there is going to be resurfacing going on around the Pan Am precinct in the lead up to the games... Why pay crews to come in and do resurfacing and
repainting twice? Why not do it once, do it right, leave the city with a legacy of active transportation that everyone can be proud of and can use decades after the Pan Am games have come and gone?” The reasons to add bike lanes to Cannon outweigh the reasons not to. “We aren’t talking about taking anything away from anyone, we’re talking about giving choice back to the community. Leaving a legacy we can all be proud of.” If you’re a cyclist, you know how frustrating it can be trying to ride along a major road, and how terrifying it can be weaving in and out of pedestrians and the aforementioned puppies on the sidewalk. If you would like to sign the petition in show of your support, you can visit Yes We Cannon’s website at www.yeswecannon.com. Sign it for yourself, sign it for your city, and sign it for the puppies.
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“We still have a network that has some very significant gaps in it. If we really want to take our cycling infrastructure from good to great, we should be installing something to connect and close those gaps.” Justin Jones Yes We Cannon
S 8 INSIDEOUT
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Gender linked to memory recall New study by Mac researchers shows women better at remembering faces than men Humna Amjad The Meducator Within the realm of scientific research dealing with recognition memory there are many questions about why some individuals can remember faces better than others. Recent research conducted at McMaster University proposes that women are able to remember faces better than men. The study suggests that upon visual stimuli women will study facial features for a longer time than men, allowing them to retain more information regarding faces. This study was conducted at Mac by Jennifer Heisz, an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology, David Shore, a psychology professor and Molly Pottruff, a psychology graduate student. The study involved 40 male and 40 female participants, 20 of which participated in a four-day
experiment, and the remaining in a one-day experiment. Visual stimuli included 120 black and white pictures of faces, all of which were equally split male and female Caucasian faces with neutral expressions. These pictures were randomly selected and were assigned names. In the 4-day experiment, 10 new faces were introduced by name and on each subsequent day, all faces from before were presented in random order and participants were asked to name each face. The number of correctly named faces was recorded. Eye-tracking technology was used to achieve a detailed analysis of the participants’ visual process – this essentially tracked the movement of the participants’ eyes when looking at different faces. “The way we move our eyes across a new face affects our ability to recognize that person later,” explained Heisz. “Our findings provide new insight
into the potential mechanisms of memory and differences between the sexes.” The study observed that females, when shown a face for the first time, made greater fixations on different characteristics of the face, suggesting that females gathered more visual information in order to build a stronger memory. It was noted, however, that when the same faces were repeatedly shown, gender differences were minimized as there were more opportunities for visual processing and building memory for both genders. Although there is still much to explore, the study suggests that the strategy of increased scanning and fixation on initial viewing may prove to be an effective way to enhance memory performance in those with difficulties in recognition-memory.
Delicious discounts on Westdale dining FROM COVER Tyler Welch Assistant News Editor Seventeen restaurants in Westdale Village will be participating in Westdalicious and they have all agreed to offer their respective bargains from July 1 until August 31, inclusive. Those who combine a sweet tooth with a reliance on coffee will certainly gravitate toward The Second Cup, where they will be able to walk away with a medium coffee and any slice of cake for five dollars. For a light lunch, a hungry pair of students can stroll down to Pita Pit, share the cost of $20, and enjoy two 6-inch petitas, two smoothies and a choice of chips or cookies. McMaster student Ryan Beshara likes the idea of Westdalicious and is glad that The Bean Bar - his favourite Westdale restaurant - is participating. Beshara appreciates the opportunity to take a friend and enjoy their delicious cake for a fraction of the regular price (two slices of cake for $15 during the promotion). “It’s a smart way of exposing the different restaurants of Westdale” he said. “It gives us a taste of the types of food that are in our area.” Beshara said he will probably try out Walker’s Chocolates ($10 box of mint meltaways) or Dragon Court (2.5
pounds of lobster for $25) this summer, to take advantage of the specials they are promoting. The whole concept - the brainchild of the Westdale Village business association - takes inspiration from a similar idea in Toronto. Since 2003, Toronto has held two food festivals - Summerlicious and Winterlicious - in an effort to encourage dining out at expensive restaurants that are usually beyond the scope of many people’s budgets. Westdalicious is certainly a smaller undertaking - Toronto’s current Summerlicious includes 196 restaurants in its 2013 promotion. However, Westdale’s runs longer. Where West Hamilton locals will be treated to savoury deals and sugary bargains for two months, the Toronto-licious promotions only last for two weeks each. Toronto’s festivals have come to include the city’s high-end dining options and have provided a genuine incentive for local restaurant spending during historically lower periods. Toronto has seen a growth in popularity during the each festival’s decade-long lifetimes. While the true economic impact of Westdalicious remains to be seen, students will surely be figuring out how dining in Westdale Village can now fit into their budget.
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“Although both men and women look at the same features: the eyes, nose, and mouth; women make more eye movements to those features than men. This heightened scanning creates to higher fidelity representation of the face in mind and ultimately leads to better memory when the face is later encountered.” Jennifer Heisz Asst. Professor, Department of Kinesiology Female Scanning Patterns
Male Scanning Patterns
C/O JENNIFER HEISZ, DAVID SHORE, MOLLY POTTRUFF
for a memorable vacation Wait until the night before you leave Search frantically for a
suitable bag
Empty bag of clothes left from last use Place in the middle
of your room
Pack arbitrarily
chosen amount of shirts (assorted) Pack a pair of pants and a pair of shorts
(protip: pack capris instead to save space)
(If you didn’t catch that, also pack an English – French Dictionary)
Sam Godfrey Opinions Editor
Pack a few handfuls of
underwear/socks Add some more underwear/socks
Add maybe one more pair of underwear/
socks
Empty
underwear/sock drawer into bag Garnish with toothbrush, tube of toothpaste, and stick of deodorant
SPORTS
Editors: Laura Sinclair & Alexandra Reilly Contact: sports@thesil.ca
Thursday, July 4, 2013
9 S
VOLLEYBALL
Mac’s Preston to coach Canadian Junior Nationals Laura Sinclair Senior Sports Editor Coach Dave Preston is a very busy man these days. After a very successful season with Marauders Men’s Volleyball that saw the team end the season as No. 1 in the OUA and No. 2 in the entire country, he is still very much occupied with volleyball - and not just at the collegiate level. After just being honoured with the title of CIS Coach of the Year for his impressive accomplishment in coaching and guiding the Marauders to a CIS silver medal, he will now be taking his talents to the international level as Head Coach of the Canadian Junior National Team. Preston will not be the only Marauder to board the plane to the Junior Volleyball World Championships in Turkey this August. He will also be accompanied by Marauders Assistant Coach Nathan Janzen and three top players from the team: Danny Demanyenko, Stephen Maar, and Jayson McCarthy. For Coach Preston, he believes this will be an amazing journey and accomplishment for the Marauders that are along for the ride. “It gives our guys a very good experience to draw from so that when they are playing for a national championship, they [have] felt the pressures of a world championship,” said Preston, who believes that the guys could use the world championship tournament as a major qualification for their future endeavours. “Even if you never use it on your resume, you’re going to use it at some point in your professional career, whether that’s as an athlete, or a doctor, or whatever it is you choose to be.” Preston, who is not only the Marauders head coach but also a devoted family man, made sure that the training camp for the team would be taking place at McMaster University so he could
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Head Coach Preston (right) and Assistant Coach Janzen (left) will be taking flight with three of our OUA Champions to lead the Canadian Junior National Team to the same golden standard that the Marauders had this past season.
C/O RICK ZAZULAK
be close to his immediate family. “We’re training out of here so I get to be a dad and a coach, so I’d say it’s the best of both worlds.” The team will be coming in to train on July 4, before leaving for Costa Rica for the July 12-20 PAN AM Cup. Afterwards, the team will be heading back home to McMaster where they will train until August 15 and then head to Turkey for the Junior Volleyball World Championships from August 22 to Sept. 1. Preston, an experienced
Stephen Maar POS
WGT HGT
OH 213 6 8
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Maar, an Aurora, ON native is moving on from Humanites I and has a full Marauders career ahead of him after the Nationals are wrapped up.
coach at both the national and international level, could not be more excited to have the perfect balance of coaching the highest level of volleyball, and still having the privilege of also being a great dad to his kids. “It’s really exciting for me to get back into the fold of coaching internationally again, but at the same token, my priority is still my family, so the junior opportunity for me is the best of both worlds. I get to still stay at Mac with my immediate family
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and with my McMaster family, but during the summer I still get a little bit of a dose of that international flavour, which is every coaches dream.” The idea of working with the best players in the country, and playing at the highest level of competition in the world is also exciting for Preston as a coach of an elite Canadian team. “When you’re working with the crème de le crème, and playing at the top levels that you could possibly play at, that’s where coaching is,
Dany Demyanenko
POS
WGT HGT
M
216 6 5
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Demyanenko, another Marauder fresh off his first year will be leaving his hometown of Toronto for the nationals. Upon completiion, he will return to his Kinesiology degree.
in my opinion, the most rewarding,” he explained. The Canadian Junior National Team will officially start practicing out of the Burridge Gym in Ivor Wynne on July 4, and will continue to practice until they leave for Turkey on August 15. While in Turkey, Coach Preston hopes to win a Junior World Championship before he sets his eyes on winning a National Championship with the 2013-14 McMaster Marauders.
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Jayson McCarthy POS
WGT HGT
OH 215 6’9” McCarthy, the third and final freshman Marauder to round out the trio will have a Technology degree to finish when he is done with the PAN AM Cup and Junior World Championships.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
10 S
FOOTBALL
Mac hosts TiCat training grounds Marauder recruits Daly and Medeiros look towards the Grey Cup this fall
Alexandra Reilly Assistant Sports Editor June 2, 2013 marked the start of the Hamilton Tiger Cats training camp, which took place at McMaster’s own Ron Joyce Stadium. The team took over Les Prince residence on the McMaster campus during the entire two week long training camp session. With rookie camp starting a few days earlier on May 29, Ron Joyce was buzzing with excitement for the start of the TiCats 2013 season. Not only does McMaster University have a Vanier Cup win and two consecutive Yates Cups under their belt, they can add that two of their best football elites signed with the TiCats this year. Mike Daly and Jay Medeiros are both donning the black and yellow this season, being the first CFL season for Daly and the second for Medeiros. After being completely tabletopped last season, the TiCats used training camp as a way to prepare
the team for a fresh start and a positive look at what is to come for the CFL team. Led by new head coach and Vice President of Football operations Kent Austin, the hopes of at the very least reaching the playoffs this season will be a tough battle for the new coach. With a noticeably young defensive bunch last season and an inconsistent offense, it’s going to take a well-oiled machine to grasp a playoff spot this season. A rising issue with the disappearance of the TiCats star forward Chris Williams takes the heat off of defensive play for now. The absence of Williams at camp this season was very noticeable with rumors swirling about possible explanations regarding his leave from the team and a break from camp this year. The TiCats, however, are not letting the potential loss of Williams affect their mindset and the goal of a grey cup win this season. With a trio of solid Canadian receivers including Andy Fantuz,
Dave Stala and the much talked about play of Sam Giguere, the team seems to be focusing on the outcome that camp will have on their upcoming season. Quarterback Henry Burris shook off the mistakes of last season. He said, “[People] don’t even remember last season,” and emphasized the importance of looking forward to the future. He added, “Last year doesn’t matter anymore. It’s all about the bounce back.” That’s exactly what the Cats hope to achieve for this season. McMaster University not only had the honor of hosting training camp for the Tiger Cats this season but will also have the prized duty of playing host to all team practices for the Cats this season. All practices are open to the public and will take place at Ron Joyce Stadium. With training camp under their belt, it’s left up to struggle and strategy for the brood of CFL C/O RICK ZAZULAK stars if they hope for a shot at the Grey Cup this season. This is the first CFL season for former Marauder Mike Daly.
ANDY
Editors: Bahar Orang & Cooper Long Contact: andy@thesil.ca
Thursday, July 4, 2013 FILM REVIEW
11 S ALBUM REVIEW
BEFORE MIDNIGHT (2013)
Before they leave us yet again
Cooper Long Assistant Andy Editor
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Their words are intelligent, but accessible. Their love story is romantic, but their relationship is relatable. The characters are beautiful and talented, but their longings are universal.
Bahar Orang Senior Andy Editor I remember watching Before Sunrise for the first time when I was eleven years old. I went to the public library with my parents and picked up the DVD from the film section and watched it that same evening. I think my fundamental faith in true love may have originated from that experience. The film is about Jesse, a romantic American boy who meets Celine, a fiery French girl during a train ride to Vienna. Jesse invites her to wander the streets of Vienna with him until he catches his plane back home the next morning. The film is little more than a twelve-hour long conversation between them. They talk about love, sex, feminism, family, their hopes, their dreams,
and their fears. They resolve themselves to the fact that they will never see one another again, but when they part ways in the morning, they ultimately decide to meet again. They say that in six months they will both return to that exact train station, in that exact spot. They pull apart from a passionate, despaired embrace, as Celine steps on her train and the film ends. In the second installment, Before Sunset, we learn that Jesse and Celine could never reconnect. Jesse returns to their meeting spot six months later as planned, but Celine is unable to because of her grandmother’s death. Nine years have passed and Jesse has written a very successful novel, largely inspired by his encounter with Celine. He has a book reading in Paris, in Shakespeare & Co., and Celine attends. Again, they only have a few hours before Jesse’s flight home, at sunset. We learn that
Jesse is married and has a son and Celine is also in a committed relationship. Their conversations continue, and the film ends with a contemplative Jesse in Celine’s apartment, twirling his wedding ring. Another nine years have passed; they’ve married, and have two twin girls. They are on a family vacation in Greece, and again the film is mostly their spirited, animated, but now nostalgic and sometimes regretful conversations. I feel certain that I will be able to understand these characters in new and wonderful ways when I turn forty, and I sincerely look forward to that moment. But for now, I can still find their dialogue refreshing, stimulating, sometimes poetic, and often hilarious. Their relationship is not as rosy as I had wished, but it continues to be charming and honest. And the film’s scenery has me lusting after the banks of the Greek islands. Celine, though
Pythons by Surfer Blood
more resentful and with a latent rage towards her husband, is as clever and graceful as ever. And Jesse, though more infuriating and confusing, is still the same bright-eyed romantic. In a cinematic realm where 3D films, special effects, dramatic storylines and gimmicky ideas are the norm, Before Midnight is a difficult endeavor. The story of Celine and Jesse is more or less a six-hour long unbroken take of an ordinary conversation between two ordinary people. Their words are intelligent, but accessible. Their love story is romantic, but their relationship is relatable. The characters are beautiful and talented, but their longings are universal. I have been invested in Celine and Jesse for ten years, and the first two films were so flawless that I wasn’t sure if they should even be touched by a third film. But I can only hope that in nine years there will be another.
Midway through Pythons’ leadoff track, “Demon Dance,” singer John Paul Pitts launches into a ferocious Black Francis-like shriek, presumably honed while Surfer Blood was supporting The Pixies’ 2011 US tour. It’s a jolting moment, given the Florida band’s previous penchant for laidback power-pop. Pitt’s newfound howl loses some of its venom, however, when it reappears two tracks later on the chorus of “Weird Shapes,” and then again on “I Was Wrong.” Such repetition bedevils the entire record. The Pixies comparisons are unavoidable, especially considering that producer Gil Norton also manned the mixing boards for Doolittle. Yet, while that album has become an indie-rock urtext, the end result here is track after track of bland, similar sounding guitars and unmemorable melodies. Certainly, nothing on Pythons is as instantly catchy as “Miranda,” a highlight from 2011’s Tarot Classics EP. In places, that EP added lushness with strings and synths, but such flourishes have mostly slithered away on Pythons. These faults aside, much of the discussion surrounding Pythons has not been related to its sonic qualities at all. Early last year, Pitts was arrested for domestic battery and that crime casts a long shadow over Pythons. Indeed, listening occasionally induces the same sense of moral squishiness as watching a Roman Polanski film. Fair or not, Pythons reaffirms how difficult it is to completely separate our knowledge of an artist’s biography from our enjoyment of his or her craft. The cover of Surfer Blood’s far-superior debut LP, Astrocoast, showed a shark lunging from the waves. Pythons, in contrast, sounds like the work of a group that suddenly finds itself dead in the water.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
12 S
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and more!