The Silhouette Sept. 12

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McMASTER UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2013 VOL. 84 NO. 5

THE PRICE OF

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SCHOOL SPIRIT

E-learning and credit transfer now government priorities Anqi Shen Online Editor The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities is set to implement big changes to Ontario’s post-secondary education sector over the next six months.

MCTU minister Brad Duguid said he expects greater differentiation between institutions, more elearning opportunities and easier credit transfers.

Duguid met with student and faculty groups over the summer to discuss reforms proposed by the ministry. The ministry has now entered the decision-making stage.

“My sense is that there is recognition among all student groups and faculty groups that, if we just go on the way we are now, given the fiscal environment, it’s not sustainable,” Duguid said.

The province is expected to make announcements addressing three key issues in the next six months.

Online education The province has proposed an Ontario Online Initiative that would take a consortium or “centre of excellence” approach to providing more e-learning opportunities.

“I expect this fall we will be moving forward with a strategy that will help make Ontario a leader in this area,” Duguid said.

In February 2012, a leaked policy paper from the ministry, suggesting that students should be

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able to take three of five courses online, drew criticism from several student and faculty groups.

Groups responded by raising concerns over reduced quality of education through e-learning.

“It seems now that the government has backed away from a degree-granting institution.

Students pushed back on that very strongly,” said Alastair Woods, CFS-Ontario chairperson.

“Online education should only be pursued as a means to provide more access to distance education, not as a cost-saving measure,” said Rylan Kinnon, director of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Association. “We feel the government understands that and is making progress.”

Kinnon said OUSA has recommended extended hours for online student support and online credit transfers.

“Having credit transfer is a central aspect of it–students need to know that their [online] course will apply to their program in their home institution,” Kinnon said.

Differentiation Duguid said the province will continue to push for greater differentiation between Ontario’s colleges and universities “to stay competitive in the global economy.”

“We can no longer afford to have a system that is organically developing based on whatever preferences the institutions may have. We can’t have duplication in

“

“Online education should only be pursued as a means to provide more access to distance education, not as a costsaving measure.”

Rylan Kinnon, Director of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance

the system,” he said.

With greater differentiation, institutions are encouraged to grow preferentially in areas they already excel in, so that each institution can be assessed by specific performance indicators.

OCUFA, which represents 17,000 university faculty and librarians, released its response to the Ministry’s discussion guide, raising concerns over rhetoric and some proposed reforms.

“We don’t really know what ‘differentiation’ means,” said Kate Lawson, OCUFA president. “If it means students in any part of the province can access high quality aspects of education they want, we can support that. But we’re concerned that the government might look at it as a cost-saving mechanism.”

“From OCUFA’s point of view, universities in Ontario are underfunded and need reliable baseline funding,” Lawson said.

DIY DECORATING A CANADIAN WORLD

OCUFA has stated that it will not support using institutional performance against the goals outlined in the SMAs [strategic mandate agreements] to determine allocations of public funding.

“We believe such a system [imposes] a punitive hierarchy of “winners” and “losers,” OCUFA stated.

Credit transfer While Duguid did not confirm or deny that the consortium established between seven universities last year will be expanded, he said a more fluid system is one of his priorities.

“I see no reason why, in the coming years, courses can’t be fully transferable across Ontario institutions,” Duguid said.

Kinnon said OUSA supports the ministry’s push for more course-mapping (institutions trying to match each other’s popular courses) as well as putting standards in place for appeals, residence requirements, and minimum grade requirements.

OUSA has also cautioned that rural and northern institutions should have a breadth of offerings since distance is a greater factor for those students.

“Up until now the ministry and the sector have done a lot of good work on college-to-university credit transfer. Now we need to focus on university-to-university transfer,” Kinnon said. @anqi_shen

SCI-FI TITAN VISITS MAC

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STRONG SOCCER START

SOTA in the spotlight Julia Redmond Senior News Editor In the midst of a large research university, some disciplines may get lost in the shuffle. But this year is the time for Mac’s arts to be in the spotlight.

McMaster’s School of the Arts is launching a year-long festival designed to highlight the arts and their role in the university.

The Spotlight on the Arts festival will see eight months of events, including lectures, exhibitions, and theatre productions.

Virginia Aksan, former Acting Director of the School of the Arts and one of the main coordinators of the festival, sees it as an opportunity for the department to be more vocal on campus.

“My vision was to promote the [image] of School of the Arts —which surprisingly, very few people know about,” she said of the reasoning for the event.

School of the Arts was created in 2001 to amalgamate the departments of Art and Art History, Music, and Theatre and Film Studies, a move Aksan considers to be primarily economically driven. But she also believes they hold a further connection.

“They share a vision about human creativity that I think is so much part of downtown Hamilton now,” she explained.

And it’s this vision that she has seen flourish under the leadership of current university president Patrick Deane, whom she describes as a “huge fan of the arts.”

Aksan felt that the leadership of Peter George, president previous to Deane, left something to be desired when it came to arts education. Deane began his role as president in 2010.

“What Peter George did was to create a university that was internationally renowned in heart research or in health studies,” she said. “[But] the humanities… are the continuity of intellectual life of the human, and we kind of take it for granted. We’re in an age when we can’t have that happen anymore.” She added that she hopes to remind people “Mac does things besides what it’s renowned for.”

While the purpose of the Spotlight festival is chiefly to promote the work of School of the Arts, the project has been “building and growing from the original purpose to stimulate more arts based activity,” said Beth Marquis, another of the lead coordinators of the festival.

Marquis serves as a professor in the Arts and Science program, in School of the Arts, and works at the McMaster Institute for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching and Learning. She sees the festival as an opportunity to create more connections within the McMaster community, between disciplines and departments, especially considering the size of the university.

“It’s such a big and complex place,” she said of McMaster.

“Sometimes you miss a lot of great opportunities that are happening…I think it’s just the nature of a place like this.”

The festival, with its variety of events, will be organized into four different clusters: connect (September), activate (November), empower (January), and integrate (March). Through the different themes, Marquis hopes to encourage people to think about the role of art differently. “[We want people] not only to approach the arts as entertainment…but also [to understand] that the sense of social work while we’re being entertained.” @juliaeredmond

the S ’ T N E D I S E PR E G A P Welcome Back!

David Campbell President president@msu.mcmaster.ca

ext. 23885

On that note, there are a couple of events coming up soon in which you might be interested. The Terry Fox run is this Sunday, September 15th, beginning 11am at DBAC. That same evening is the first meeting of the year for the SRA, an elected group of your representatives which is open to attend. Keep an eye out for the MSU’s many other services, from TwelvEighty to Mac Farmstand, which will be starting off the year strong with lots of events and specials!

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Welcome back to campus, and welcome to the Prez Page! Each week in The Sil, this page will feature your MSU Board of Directors. We’ll use this space to talk about things we’re working on, hot topics on campus, upcoming events and more.

Be sure to check us out each week to keep up to date on what’s new in the MSU!

Don’t forget to check out the calendar at msumcmaster.ca for more info on these and other events, and follow us on Twitter @MSU_McMaster. That’s all from me for now. Have a great start to the semester, and see you next week!

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You’ve Paid Enough - Beware of Unfair Fees.

Spencer Graham VP Education vped@msu.mcmaster.ca ext. 24017

Welcome to September, that wonderful time of the year when undergrads resuscitate themselves from the inevitable ‘sticker shock’ of tuition. With tuition just shy of $6000 per year (on average), it’s worth taking a look at what your tuition dollars actually fund. Bluntly, your tuition pays for McMaster’s costs of providing your education. This means faculty, staff & TA salaries, classroom upkeep, and associated costs like supplies, materials and paper costs.

The Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities (MTCU) also helps to fund universities, and thus has strict guidelines that govern how universities administer fees to students. For example, tuition is capped at a max increase of 3% per year. Universities could choose to charge less than a 3% increase, but cannot charge more.

OK:

NOT OK:

Tuition and ancillary fees paid directly to the university Supplies, equipment and clothing retained by the student after course

Disposable supplies not retained by students after course

iClickers and reusable software

One-time use software used to evaluate students

Lab coats and goggles

Chemicals and lab equipment

Textbooks and courseware

Textbooks that require pages to be submitted for evalutation

Field trip fees covering travel and accommodations

Field trip fees that cover any learning costs

Another MTCU rule governs how costs are passed on to students within individual courses, as well as how supplementary fees are created. If students are levied extra mandatory course costs that should be covered by tuition, this is unfair – you’ve already paid for your education once. Tuition’s got you covered.

However, there are exemptions to the policy. The rules change when students are required to buy anything that is still directly useful after the course is done.

Some examples are lab coats, medical masks or paintbrushes. iClickers are also fine – though not all students will use them in subsequent courses, you can resell it. While textbooks are expensive, they’re also a legitimate exception (you keep them after the course finishes, you can sell them, and they’re not mandatory for completing the course – though highly encouraged).

But for every legitimate fee, there may be a hidden unfair fee. If you’re expected to pay for anything that involves you being tested or graded, (software or print materials), any disposable materials or items you can’t keep, any material you are required to remove and submit from a textbook/course pack, or for basic teaching costs, your course fee is likely unfair and a violation. Check out the list on the side for some more examples.

If you’re suspicious of a fee that you’re expected to pay, tell me! The MSU has established an anonymous course fee reporting portal on our website at msumcmaster.ca/StopTheFees, along with more information on fair and unfair student fees. If you report an unfair fee, please note that we will not collect any of your personal information. Subsequently, I will investigate the issue and speak with the instructor and University Administration in circumstances where there are violations of MTCU rules.

Let’s make sure that everyone is following the rules – it’s only fair to students.

Spencer Graham VP (Education)

David Campbell President

Anna D’Angela VP (Administration)

Jeff Doucet VP (Finance)

The President’s Page is sponsored by the McMaster Students Union. It is a space used to communicate with the student body about the projects, goals and agenda of the MSU Board of Directors.

www.msumcmaster.ca

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Editors Julia Redmond & Tyler Welch & Stephen Clare Email news@thesil.ca

@theSilhouette

Phone 905.525.9140 x27117

STUDENT INJURED IN HIT-AND-RUN see THESIL.CA

Fresh face for Campus Store Renovated store starts the year with a new name and familiar complaints Tyler Welch Assistant News Editor Titles Bookstore is no more and the Tank is closed. The new incarnation is called the Campus Store, and it is being billed as the “one-stop shop for everything McMaster.” The new store is simultaneously consolidating and expanding.

Renovations this summer allowed for the expansion of the Campus Store to include an attached textbook selling location.

In the process, The Tank was emptied and all course materials were moved to the main location.

While the changes are meant to improve both the variety in products and the efficiency of the operations, the new design is not without its drawbacks.

Students seeking textbooks must enter the store through a separate, tented entrance outside of Chester New Hall. Shoppers are not allowed to cross from the main store into the course materials store, but are permitted to go straight into the Campus Store after purchasing textbooks.

The lineup into the new textbook store has been long during the first week of classes, at times stretching from the tent outside of

CNH to the University Hall arch.

In past years, first year students bought their textbooks at Titles while course materials for upper courses were sold at The Tank.

Long lines are a mainstay for McMaster textbook seekers, but the new system creates a line that includes all students.

The Campus Store now has, more than Titles before it, increased its focus on McMaster-branded consumer goods and clothing.

Donna Shapiro, director of the Campus Store said, “I think that the name, the Campus Store, can now appeal to more potential customers than Titles could.”

Shapiro says that the university marketplace has changed a lot in the past few years. Because of the introduction of eBooks and increased competition in book sales, the Campus Store needed to alter its product offerings to meet the market demands of the McMaster community.

Less than six per cent of overall sales currently come from general books.

Clothes now occupy four separate sections of the store and will evidently be a sales focus for the store this year. The consolidated store offers an expanded

ELIZA POPE / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

The consolodation of course materials into one sales location has caused long line-ups. selection of McMaster clothing and other merchandise.

“More students are purchasing McMaster crested merchandise than in the past. The profile of McMaster as well as the Marauders’ ongoing success has created an increased demand for the products being offered,” explained Shapiro.

In addition to McMaster wear, the store has expanded and updated its electronics section.

While expansion was a major focus of the store’s renovation, the Campus Store now longer has a post office. The continuing decline of the use of “snail-mail’, along with the changes in the OSAP process meant that a full-service

postal operation became inefficient and obsolete.

Shapiro said that the post office lost money each year, citing an operation cost of over $90, 000 last year. @TylerWelch4

Solidarity event promotes non-violence Ana Qarri The Silhouette

Meghan Ross of the It’s Time campaign speaks at a workshop in Convocation Hall.

ELIZA POPE / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

In the wake of two recent cases of sexual assault near McMaster in August, students may not feel comfortable walking home at night. But with the help of community groups in Hamilton and at Mac, steps are being taken for that to change.

On Thursday, Sept. 12, SACHA (Sexual Assault Centre - Hamilton & Area) is holding its annual Take Back The Night Rally at City Hall.

Take Back the Night is a feminist initiative that allows women to reclaim their right to safety, and stand up to gender-based violence. Through the work of the Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres, TBTN became a recognized, annual nation-wide march in 1981.

Take Back the Night is one of the many efforts taken by feminist organizations in Hamilton to initiate discussion on rape culture and sexism on campus. In collaboration with the Human Rights and Equity Services, SACHA brought TBTN to McMaster on Sept. 11 to provide educational

opportunities for students.

The day included an information fair in the MUSC atrium where MSU services and clubs, such as SHEC, SWHAT, QSCC, FAM, Peer Support Line, and others, displayed the variety of resources and support they offer McMaster students.

The fair was followed by an “Interrupting Rape Culture” workshop, where guest speakers from SACHA’s “It’s Time” Campaign, Hollaback! Hamilton, and the White Ribbon Campaign shared their insights and experiences with gender-based assault in the community.

The workshop focused on acknowledging intersectionality when discussing the societal impacts of rape culture, strategies to safely handle street harassment, and the role of male allies in the movement.

With the two recent cases of sexual assault on Emerson St., discussions about gender-based violence become more relevant and significant to Mac students.

“Take Back the Night is something important to bring to our campus,” said Elise Milani, Chair of the Women & Trans* Centre Committee.

“It gets people talking about rape culture – something that would [otherwise] be ignored.”

Through initiatives like the development of the Women and

Trans* Centre and the “It’s Time to End Violence Against Women” Campaign, McMaster is showing its women-identified students that it is standing in solidarity with them in the fight against sexual assault on campus and in the community.

The university administration has joined in efforts against sexual assault as well. After the two incidents near Mac, the incidents were made public on the McMaster Daily News, deviating from

what had been done in the past.

Campus Security Services page now also includes resources for people who have been sexually assaulted on campus, as well as information on consent.

The Hamilton rally of Take Back the Night, run by SACHA, will take place at 6pm in front of City Hall on Sept. 12.

The rally is exclusive to female-identified people. Male allies can attend the solidarity event at MacNab St.

McMaster students rallied support in MUSC for the solidarity event.

ELIZA POPE / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

CANADIAN CAMPUS NEWS Tyler Welch Assistant News Editor

U of T earns top spot in Canadian QS rankings for the first time

Queen’s begins unique, shortned medical school program

UBC officials react to frosh week chant scandal

University of Windsor labour dispute heats up

University of Moncton professor faces claims of resume fraud

The University of Toronto ranks as the number one university in Canada in this year’s QS World University Rankings, marking the first time they have dethroned McGill since the rankings began in 2004.

Canada has five universities in the top 100 world rankings.

University of Toronto sits at number 17, McGill at 21, University of British Columbia at 49, Universite de Montreal at 92 and University of Alberta at 96.

This year, Queen’s University welcomes the first 10 students into its one-of-a-kind Accelerated Route to Medical School (QuARMS).

The program will enable students to obtain their medical doctorate only six years after graduating from high school--two years earlier than students who attended medical school via the traditional route. The 10 students were chosen from over 500 applicants based on service, academics, leadership and maturity.

The University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business announced that it will no longer support frosh week activities of commerce students. This following the rapid spread of allegations that student leaders used inappropriate and non-consensual sex-related chants while representing the business school.

UBC said that it will be looking to work with the Commerce Undergraduate Society to put together a more appropriate orientation event for incoming business students in the future.

Approximately 300 members of CUPE Local 1393 walked off the job last weekend and began picketing Monday morning. The union represents a variety of the schools employees, including lab technicians, plumbers, designers and nurses.

Employees of an air conditioning company refused to cross the picket line after they were tasked with fixing a problem with the university’s cooling system.

Temperatures were high across campus, with students packed into lecture halls lacking adequate air conditioning

A professor claiming to have earned a PhD in ecology is in hot water after his apparent former school (University of Maine) confirmed that he in fact, holds only a masters degree in science education from the institution.

Online Walden University has announced that the professor did earn a PhD from Walden, but in education with a concentration in environmental teaching.

Louis LaPierre has been a professor at the University of Moncton for 30 years and has served as an environmental advisor to federal and provincial governments.

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FEATURE

A LOT TO LOSE

MACMarsh Project looks to bring green space and teaching and research opportunities to campus

By Stephen Clare, Features Editor

Undergraduate students Hillary MacDougall and Cameron McCann each spent part of their summers working on the project.

YOSEIF HADDAD / SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR

Lot M, the target of the MACMarsh initative, is a short trip from the main campus, west over Cootes Drive on Westway Road.

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For many McMaster students, the bridge spanning Cootes Drive is a road seldom travelled.

The far west side of campus is currently home to just the Campus Services Building, a few baseball diamonds, and several parking lots. But a group of McMaster professors plans to change that.

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oming from departments ranging from Environmental Science to English, they call their budding project the “MACMarsh.”

In 2009, the City of Hamilton tore up part of west campus’ Parking Lot M to install a Combined Sewage Overflow tank, and it has yet to be repaved. The MACMarsh group is encouraging the university to remove the asphalt that remains and let nature reclaim the barren ground. The parking-lotto-paradise transition would both increase the amount of campus green space and create a valuable teaching and research facility.

Lot M was first created in the early 1970s, when McMaster was facing an impending parking crisis. Projections at the time indicated that the number of motorists would increase dramatically.

Fortunately, Mac had purchased 160 acres of wetlands from the Royal Botanical Gardens in 1963, including the Coldspring Valley Nature Sanctuary. Anticipating a need for much more parking, McMaster cleared the Coldspring Area, rerouted a nearby creek, and built several new parking lots.

Yet the anticipated parking demand never materialized, and a 2011 study found that now just 2,803 of McMaster’s 3,963 parking spaces are needed, even at peak demand.

“Because of increases in bike use and people walking and public transit, there’s been a big decrease in the number of cars on campus,” said Mike Waddington, a professor in the School of Geography and Earth Sciences.

Waddington is the Associate Director of the McMaster Centre for Climate Change and one of the professors leading the development of MACMarsh.

“We view it as not so much replacing a parking lot as creating education and research opportunities, as well as being a prettier entrance to the university.”

A greener welcome to Mac is not just a tangential benefit of MACMarsh. It would also help to fulfill McMaster’s long-held goal of minimizing impact on Cootes Paradise, environmentally and

aesthetically.

This vision of MACMarsh as a peaceful, pretty place in addition to a research and teaching facility has attracted people from a wide range of faculties. Daniel Coleman, a professor of Canadian literature in the English department, says the project can be an asset to the Humanities as well.

One of his projects involves writing extensively about one small part of Cootes Paradise. “I wanted to see how much I could learn from one area,” he said. Coleman also believes that Humanities involvement can benefit the project.

“Human experience and human story and human emotional connection are, in my view, essential to any kind of ecological success… I think humanists have a lot to contribute to projects like this.”

Students, too, have a role to play in the project; in fact, Waddington says that MACMarsh is being developed primarily for them.

“Any time we can get students… out of the classroom, into the field, it’s a good thing. So I view this as student-driven,” he said. “Plus, reclamation research has become very important…

Canada is very resource driven. A lot of our students are getting jobs in resource management. So these students, fifteen, twenty years from now will be able to come back and see this facility which they’ve helped develop and see it as it restores back to a natural ecosystem.”

Already, several undergraduate students are involved: Hillary MacDougall, a fourth-year Geography and Earth Sciences student, spent part of her summer working at Lot M. “You learn about digging wells and stream monitoring, but when you’re actually doing it, it makes so much more sense…

I think [MACMarsh] would be a really good opportunity for students to take learning from the classroom and apply it to the outdoors and ‘real-life’ things,” she said.

Waddington added that these kinds of opportunities would extend beyond the Faculty of Science, and that as many as a dozen

courses that could make use of the facility have been identified.

At this point, MACMarsh is very much in its infancy, and on-site development is at least two or three years away. The project received a Forward With Integrity grant last May to fund the installation of wells and meters that measure aspects of the area such as water flow. Waddington is optimistic that the project will attract philanthropists in the future. He points to a similar venture undertaken by the University of Ohio that has proved very popular with donors. “[McMaster] would be the first [university] in Canada, and only second in the world, to have a research wetland on its campus,” he said when asked about the financial needs of the project.

As for the Marsh’s effects on its residential neighbours, that’s a facet of the project that has to be examined carefully.

“Before anything would begin it would be very important, obviously, to go through formal designs and discuss it with the public,” Waddington commented.

He further indicated, though, that he believes most people would rather live next to a naturalized wetland than a parking lot. “It would be interesting to track public perception throughout time,” he said.

McMaster was planning to repave the disturbed part of Lot M and reopen it for parking, but those involved with MACMarsh are optimistic that this intention will be reversed in light of their project. In a few years, current first year students might be enjoying their lunch beside a pristine, on-campus research marsh. As it develops, everyone will have a part to play: from Earth Scientists and English professors to students and community members. Coleman sees this interdisciplinary, intercommunity cooperation as a chance to learn and grow.

“It’s a “way of linking up, let’s say, ‘disparate’ forms of knowledge and saying ‘hey these are all part of our shared story about this place’.” @FeaturingSteve

More than 15 schools mobilize against CFS Jane Lytvynenko Ottawa Bureau Chief OTTAWA (CUP) – More than a dozen members of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) have begun a move to leave the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) according to a press release sent out Sept. 4. Of the 83 members across the country, 15 are rallying to hold a membership referendum said Ashleigh Ingle, one of the spokespeople for the movement.

“There are large groups of students that are very dissatisfied with the way the CFS runs,” said Ingle, who was on the executive for the University of Toronto’s Graduate Student Union last year. “After a long time of multiple student unions trying to make the same reforms over and over again and seeing no results, we aren’t seeing that as a productive way forward anymore.”

With 15 schools involved this marks the largest potential exodus from the organization since 2009, when 13 schools wanted to leave the CFS. This time members of student unions at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and Capilano University in B.C.; the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, York University and Laurentian University in Ontario and Dawson College in Quebec have confirmed they will apply to host a referendum.

Ingle said some schools are not going public with their campaigns yet.

“Not all of the people who are running petitions are in a stage where they want to be explicitly named especially because of the tendency for doing this kind of thing to attract a lot of attention of CFS campaigners,” she said.

According to Brent Farrington, the CFS spokesperson for internal affairs, while the federation is aware of the campaign, it does not have plans to launch any counter campaigns

To leave the CFS, members of that student union must collect a petition with signatures and present it to the CFS executive. Once the signatures are ratified, a date is set for the referendum to take place.

According to the CFS bylaws, which Farrington said could change every six months, the vote cannot be held during the regular electoral period and is a simple majority vote.

Ingle said leaving the CFS is not an easy process for its members.

“We are trying to follow the bylaws as strictly as we can so we can avoid as much legal hassle as possible,” she said. “That said, if it does require legal action at some point to get this to happen for our fellow members, we have the resources to follow that through.”

Currently several schools across the country are in lawsuits with the CFS. Ingle said that’s one of the reasons some members are reluctant to leave.

“We wanted to spread the word that it’s happening now because we want people to know that it’s possible and that if they wanted to try to do something like this on their campus now, they wouldn’t be alone,” she explained.

Farrington said CFS members “have the ability to collect petition on referenda on continued memberships.” He said members determine what the priorities of the federation are.

“As a membership-based organization, the federation is a network of the student associations,” said Farrington. “The loss of any members results in other association having not as strong of a voice. In terms of our day-to-day operations, we would be effected by there being a fracturing of the student movement in Canada.”

Ingle stressed that the CFS — primarily the staff and the national executive — is unreceptive to change.

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Executive Editor Jemma Wolfe Email thesil@thesil.ca Phone 905.525.9140 x22052

POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION

Frosh rape chant shameful on media, admin and students Jemma Wolfe Executive Editor By now, you’ve probably heard about the Saint Mary’s University and University of British Columbia frosh week rape chant debacle. And, if you’re a decent human being, you’re probably also appalled by it.

In short, frosh orientation leaders at the two universities (that is, the two universities it has surfaced at so far) have come under fire for a cheer that goes, “Y is for your sister, O is for oh-so-tight, U is for underage, N is for no consent, G is for grab that ass.” It’s inappropriate, inexcusable, and frankly, inhuman. But that we already know.

What has come under less fire is how the media, the universities, and the students involved have handled the whole situation. That’s where my beef is.

To start, this article is one of only a few newspaper pieces you’ll find that actually puts into print all the verses of the chant. Most condense it, and only include excerpts – strange to me, considering it’s a whopping 26 words long. They usually eliminate the “oh so tight” part, perhaps to avoid offending readers (and yet is that not the whole point - that this is really offensive?), which becomes convenient when they then water-down their adjectives to the stuff of mere “sexist chant” instead of acknowledging the vaginal violence that phrase indicates: rape.

Indeed, the National Post ran the shockingly forgiving headline “Saint Mary’s University student president apologizes for ‘sexist’ frosh chant that critics say ‘reinforces rape culture’.” So

we’re relying on critics to confirm that that disgusting string of words is, in fact, offensive? And what is with those scarequotes? Is the National Post so insecure in its values that it has to only tentatively identify that the chant ‘reinforces rape culture’? Grow up, NP, and tell it like it is.

The Globe and Mail, too, published, “Frosh video cheering on non-consensual sex is ‘sexist and offensive,’ Saint Mary’s University says.” Let me make something clear right now: sexism is stuff like believing women are worse drivers than men by the mere fact of their gender. Sexism is by no means harmless, but it’s not on the violent level of this rape promotion. This frosh chant goes way beyond sexism, and to reduce it to that is to belittle the severity of the situation.

Enough with the “non-consensual sex” language, too. Rape is rape. Let’s not dilute the violence of that word by smothering it with “non-consensual” euphemisms. Doing so decreases the urgent sense of violence and pain that the term “rape” appropriately connotes, and disrespects the countless victims of this horrible crime whose experiences are downgraded by such rhetoric.

Enough, too, with all this talk of sensitivity training. The people who chanted the rape cheer were fully aware that it was wildly inappropriate – it’s common sense. No amount of university-administered sensitivity training or bringing in bullying professionals (the actual response at SMU) will awaken them to something they already know, or solve the deep-seated indifferent misogyny that perpetuated the chant’s con-

tinuing presence at so many years’ frosh events.

What does need to happen is to hold students more accountable for their actions – upper-year coordinators and first years alike. It shouldn’t have taken days for the Saint Mary’s student’s union president – who led the cheer, among others – to step down. He should have been fired - immediately. The schools shouldn’t be promising to “investigate the incidents”; the frosh leaders involved should be suspended, and maybe even expelled.

Consequences need to apply to the youngest people involved, too. First year students are, on average, 18 years old. They are legal adults who can vote, can drive, and have achieved secondary school grades high enough for admission into a university-level institution. So I don’t care about group mentalities, or how impressionable these young adults are. They are autonomous, intelligent individuals who have no excuse for singing along, for not blowing the whistle sooner on this chant, and who then grow up to become frosh leaders who propagate this whole cycle.

I’ve never heard anything like that cheer at McMaster, and I hope I never will. But I won’t be surprised to hear about more students criticizing and publicizing similarly violent and vulgar experiences at other universities after this coast-to-coast reveal. But in a country where our media sugarcoats, our administration band-aids, and our students deny responsibility, will this ever really change?

Welcome to McMaster, class of 2017. Wow, that makes me feel old. Clip out, hang up, and be reminded that in times of stress, the end is nigh.

to the guy who said to me, “i had a feeling i’d get lucky,” and then exited the elevator. i have no idea what you were talking about, but it sounds positive. to forthcoming weddings and the ensuing wardrobe excitement. to more book launches. to booking flights. i’m ready to launch. to birthdays, and the people that make them special. to supercrawl. to ven-mach runs.

to those letters ending with “sincerely, jemma wolfe,” when i didn’t write them. to slick hands. to the feature that wasn’t. to one problem after another. to not being able to get enough of t-swift’s “22.” to euphemisms. to office chaos. to a medical-heavy week. to 5-spots.

to flowers.

to low triv scores. same old.

to redesign 2.1.

to being scooped.

to sticking to deadlines, mostly.

to u.m. running out of earl grey.

to sil swag, soon.

to deliberately difficult administration. i’m just tryin’ to do my job.

to finally booking a date and time. wish me luck.

The Silhouette

McMaster University’s Student Newspaper

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theSil.ca

Thursday, Sep 12, 2013

PINIONS

A7

Letter to myself

A10

Editor Sam Godfrey Email opinions@thesil.ca Phone 905.525.9140 x27117 A8

Cassandra Jeffery explores the world, right here in Canada

BEER AND FIGHTING, A9

Literally the worst Lindsay Stitt The Silhouette This summer, Webster’s dictionary added a new definition for the word “literally.” Now, in addition to being defined as “in a literal manner or sense,” literally is also “used to acknowledge that something is not literally true.”

No, that is not a typo. Literally is now formally defined as “not literally.” How is it possible for a word to be defined as “not itself ”?

That is the same as defining table as “not table” or jumping as “not jumping”. With this new definition, it is impossible for people to use this word without including an anecdote about which definition of the word is being used.

Now, in daily language, it is impossible to decipher between “literally” and “not literally.”

A new word must be used to describe the opposite of “figurative.” Words such as “actually” and “really” may be used in place of

“literally,” but how long until the definition of these words changes as well? Since the prolonged misuse of a “literally” has led to a new definition, what is there to stop this from happening again?

Each word that is created to express the opposite of “figuratively” will be used for exaggerative purposes until it potentially too loses its true meaning. As well, with this new definition, using “literally” has less emphasis when used to exaggerate. Saying “I could literally eat a cow” is not so impressive because it can be interpreted as “I could not literally eat a cow.” Before long, people may stop using “literally” altogether because it has lost all meaning.

If I jumped off the roof of a house, and lived to tell the tale, I would be unable to do so. When I would say “I literally jumped off the roof of a house,” it could be interpreted as “I not literally jumped off the roof of a house.”

And the English language does not provide me with an alternative way to express myself. Definitions are created to help people express themselves, but when a definition contradicts itself, it prevents people from relaying their thoughts. This contradictory definition traps people in a world where nearly every statement will be interpreted in a figurative sense.

As well, all the people who have been misusing “literally” for years are now told they are grammatically correct. What is the point in striving towards using words properly if misuses can become correct? How much integrity can the English language maintain if it is so easily influenced by how people misuse it?

Adding this new definition will confuse the masses, praise the grammatically incompetent and prevent clear communication. It is literally the worst decision Webster’s dictionary has ever made.

FEEDBACK

With changes like this, are we bastardizing language, or evolving it?

“Bastardizing it. People don’t know what it really means; using ‘literally’ instead of ‘personally’.”

Oluwatumininu Adegoroye, Communications I

“Evolving. Language is natural, it’s alive. Using language morphs it to our needs, that’s what language is about.

Harrison Martin, Integrated Science III

“Bastardizing. People know language as it is, altering it in this way will only really cause confusion.”

Christina Stolte, English I ELIZA POPE / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR

Boundaries Sam Godfrey Opinions Editor

Though many who know me would be shocked to hear this, I must divulge that for the greater part of my life I was extremely shy. Most of my habits from these years have dissolved and disappeared, but there remain a few traces. For one, I loathe speaking to sales staff - I have saved many dollars walking out of stores in order to avoid this interaction.

For another, I find it difficult to confront others when I feel uncomfortable for unusual reasons.

This can range from things like sitting at a circular table, where I’d really rather your knee didn’t bump into mine under the table, that’s why I’m getting up for water so often, to things like my friends teasing me about my private life, especially the infamous “love life”, which I would really rather you never bring up. Ever.

Both of those things happen to many people on a daily basis, and objectively, there is nothing really wrong with either of them. The latter can be a way of expressing interest in someone’s life and well-being. The former is a popular eating arrangement.

That’s fine. That’s cool. This article isn’t about forbidding friendly chitchat or abolishing circular tables (check back next week).

I’m pretty good at dealing with this somewhat odd, little stuff in my life. I can keep my knees glued together at dinner parties even if it means sore thighs and shaky calves for a few hours the next day. That’s a problem I can solve.

What I can’t solve is that feeling of unease that sits in my stomach the second a friend’s mouth shapes any question or remark regarding my romantic involvements. But it doesn’t really seem fair to tell my friends not to talk to me about that part of my life. They like me (or so they say), and as a result care about how I’m doing. They don’t mean to pry, it’s

often just a topic of conversation.

I was lamenting this issue with a good friend of mine, beleaguered by a particularly uncomfortable comment made by someone close to me. As she is wont to do, my friend made an excellent point, illustrated by the following analogy: “Sam, some people are afraid of frogs. There is no reason for this, as many and most frogs are harmless, but if someone told you, “Yeah, no, please don’t tell me stories about the giant frogs at your cottage,” would you laugh at them or would you respect their wishes?”

Pretty obviously, I would do my best to respect their wishes.

I don’t want to make this hypothetical person uncomfortable by haunting them with amphibious imagery. Their request certainly isn’t hurting me, so it’s not really a question of fairness at all.

It’s a question of me respecting this person’s boundaries. Their boundaries aren’t stepping all over mine, so I am going to do my best to make sure I’m not stepping all over theirs.

That is totally reasonable and part of being a decent human being. Perhaps I was so used to being able to facilitate my own solutions that anything involving changing the actions of others, even in a totally harmless way, seemed unfair. But my boundaries, so long as they don’t harm others, are just as worth respecting as other people’s.

This seems pretty obvious now, but I guess even my hindsight needs glasses sometimes.

It doesn’t matter if you understand why someone is uncomfortable hearing about frogs, maybe they themselves don’t even understand why they are, it’s just important you understand that they are.

Don’t make fun of people’s froggy fears. We’ve all got some. @samwisegodfrey

Thursday, Sep 12, 2013

theSil.ca

Sam Godfrey Opinions Editor “I get that it’s important to teach rapists not to rape, I mean yeah, that’s great,” I overheard someone say the other day and thought to myself, okay, yes, good we’re all agreed, until they continued on to say, “but I just don’t get why we can’t also teach women how to not get raped. I mean, it’s not like they’re mutually exclusive.” At this point my jaw opened and my brain shut. I said nothing, but I should have. As I was relaying this to a friend later on, she offered the term “esprit d’escalier” to express what I was feeling. Which was the perfect term to describe it, though I am glad I did not literally experience this in a stairwell, lest I’d throw myself down them.

Let’s go chronologically, here.

First, we have the statement, “it’s important to teach rapists not to rape”. Right, yes I’m on board, obviously, with this sentiment.

I’m talking campaigns like Don’t Be That Guy and other, including non-gender specific, campaigns that make it clear that if you are having sex with someone without their freely given and enthusiastic consent, you are committing rape.

Yes means yes. Anything else means no.

Good, all right, that’s out of the way. Next, we had the question of “why we can’t also teach women how to not get raped.”

Well, what does that look like?

From what I’ve experienced, this teaching looks like being told to avoid certain streets at night, to be aware of what message my clothing is sending, to not drink

too much. All this despite the fact that about 80% of sexual assault happens in the survivor’s home, despite the fact that the most common outfit survivors report to have been wearing is jeans and a tee-shirt, despite the fact that more rapists have reported being under the influence of alcohol than survivors have.

What this teaching does is place the onus on potential victims, rather than potential perpetrators. This is why we still get people asking, “well what was she wearing?” and “was she drunk?” Pretty straightforward victim blaming. These kinds of widespread teachings just support harmful systems and thought processes, for those involved directly, and indirectly, in sexual assault. It can serve to reinforce feelings of guilt many survivors experience, and restrict them from accessing important resources and support.

So you see, Person I Overheard, there are a few more things to consider on this matter than whether or not these teachings are “mutually exclusive”. Which, I mean, is logistically fair enough.

We could also teach people how to build sandcastles at the same time as we hand out tiny bulldozers and point out flaws in sandcastle construction techniques.

Teaching people not to rape and supporting harmful ways of thinking about rape, though not impossible, is kind of like hosting your sandcastle-building seminar in the middle of the ocean.

This is what I should have said. @samwisegodfrey

OPINIONS

A8

Sexual Assault Voices of Edmonton created the Don’t Be That Guy campaign, placing responsibility on potential rapists, rather than potential victims. Similar campaigns have since been created by other sexual assault centres, municipalities and many independent creators.

theSil.ca

OPINIONS

Thursday, Sep 12, 2013

A9

EXPLORING HOME Cassandra Jeffery The Silhouette I’ve recently returned from a one year study abroad tour in Mannheim, Germany. Putting aside my overwhelming enthusiasm for copious amounts of cheap and delicious beer and basically everything Deutsch, I began my adventure with a desire to discover every possible nation surrounding Germany that my wallet and my schooling would allow. A memorable adventure is an understatement. My year abroad was filled with the diverse tastes, sights, and sounds of continental Europe and although there is nothing comparable to experiencing a country and her people authentically, returning to Canada has reminded me that we are incredibly lucky to call such a vast and diverse country home.

This past weekend I attended a Muay Thai competition. My personal opinion on fighting as a sport aside, what I did appreciate about the event is the fact that multiple cultural traditions were integrated under one roof.

Although I admit that I’ve never had the pleasure of experiencing an authentic Muay Thai match in Thailand, I was impressed with the way Thai ceremonies and traditions were upheld in honour

of the Muay art form. Appropriate Thai headdress was worn by each of the competitors and a ceremonial bow and offering took place before any of the fighting begun. It seemed as though there was a large amount of respect for the art of Muay Thai that went beyond simply imitating a fighting style.

Along side the traditional event, some of the club’s patrons created an authentic Jamaican dinner for those attending. The food was wonderful but more importantly the dinner helped to influence a particular atmosphere of bringing aspects of global culture right to the table. Bringing together two different national symbols such as traditional food and a form of martial arts is one of the reasons why I love being Canadian.

We have a plethora of opportunities to educate ourselves and discover the various cultural traditions of our fellow Canadians and this idea that we can incorporate traditions from opposite ends of the world in order to have a wonderful evening is a privilege that we may sometimes overlook. We literally have a global perspective at our fingertips in that we can experience cultural traditions from around the world without

having to leave the province. Of course, living here in Canada simply cannot compare to the level of cultural understanding you can gain from travelling around the world, but tapping into our resources as Canadians is a fantastic way to begin your education on a particular country or cultural group. Exposing yourself to a level of culture can be as easy as taking a stroll around the park or in my case, skeptically accepting an invitation to a Muay Thai competition. Such exposure will almost always work to your benefit in that you will have a little more understanding, curiosity, and perhaps interest than would have otherwise.

Perhaps you’ll never witness a Muay Thai event in Thailand and maybe you’ll never be granted with the opportunity of enjoying the culinary arts of Jamaica while sun bathing on Jamaica’s beautiful beaches, but as Canadians, we are privileged with getting just a little taste right in our own back yard.

So my question for you is, what are you waiting for? Get out and see what Canada has to offer. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll be able to get a better German beer here in Canada than you could get in good ole’ Deutschland. I doubt it, but just maybe.

Noodles: a university’s failure

Jacob Zrobin The Silhouette

Besides the obvious implications speaking to a person’s bank account, attending university and eating copious amounts of spaghetti have a lot in common.

Not unlike a long, chewy noodle, one will become sick of consuming the same rubbish for four years.

I was once enamoured by the idea of university. I imagined sweater-vested, glasses-wearing, sesquipedalian students who would be debating Kant and discussing Linus Pauling’s influence on the global arms race.

I figured we would be doing so beside picnic baskets filled with apple pies and macroeconomic textbooks on luscious fields, where a rainbow was probably hanging overhead to make things, you know, picturesque.

I want to begin by saying I have no qualms with those who lack spectacles in university. In fact, at least two of my friends do not wear glasses. Nevertheless, besides the seemingly absurd amount McMaster is willing to pay for its perpetually failing garden, there was very little of my constructed dream at university.

YOSEIF HADDAD / SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR

And I am slightly indignant of this fact.

When I first arrived in the hallowed halls of this enormous institution, I was given my tiny student ID and thrown into whitewashed lecture rooms with more students than the professor could shake an iClicker at.

Over the chitchat and muffled microphone of the professor, the read verbatim PowerPoint slides, I imagined tomorrow would be better - that the first day of university was just nervous, and as a result, got off on the wrong foot.

Unfortunately, as it goes with Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Toronto Maple Leafs’ chances of winning the Stanley Cup, my childhood fantasy would have to die. And with death, came disappointment, and with disappointment, poorly constructed syllogisms, incorrect Latin phrases and bitter Opinions pieces. Ad nausem.

There was first the monotony, which is I suppose is some masochistic right of passage into adulthood, of uninterested lecturers speaking to mostly empty lecture halls. We were not explorers in the academic pursuit; instead we only met

the requirements of our degree because we had little room to do otherwise. The love of reading was sapped from your already bruised, wizened soul, and you became accustomed to trying to do well only for the sake of finishing your degree.

But my entitled-self thought it would be different, here, where knowledge is set to flourish.

Rather, it was found more often than not that creativity would be punished, and that guidelines were meant to be followed. If you wanted challenging courses, your GPA would suffer, and so would your already dim post-university prospects of landing a career. You would forget everything after the exam, and only build on a small amount of greater knowledge.

You could not register in the courses you wanted, because of an outdated system and limited class sizes, if the course was even offered to begin with. You were restricted and it was unfair. So is life, and so is the freedom one gets while cooking spaghetti.

To drown such pestering problems, you likely drank. Wine with your noodles, you may be drunk right now. There is no denying its involvement in the university culture, of getting piss drunk and then allowing us to recuperate long enough to write that essay, whose mark seemed to have no real correlation on how long we worked on it, or study for that test, which was route memorization rather than testing

how to think, and then pee it all out in a long sigh of a cleansing.

This piece is not a complaint on student IDs, nor overcrowded lectures nor even the integration of alcoholism in university culture. It is definitely not supposed to be a submission of my own ineptitude, as salient as such a thing may be. Nor is this a lament on academic bureaucracy, out-of-date registrar systems, increased tuition, decreased library space, or even the exceptionally long wait facing every student right now, at this very instance, if they dare to buy a required textbook and the obvious truth that many will not even read those wonderful books after their purchase. This piece is not a laundry list of complaints formulated to outline failures but rather, as far as I can see it, an admission that the university has failed me and may be failing others.

Worst of all, once you finish your hard-earned, fridge-framed, beer-goggle degree, the hangover will hit you very hard. Like many graduates from this respected place, you will be respectfully jobless, unable to pay for the thousands of dollars you just spent on the degree whose sole intention was to prepare you for life, in someway, somehow.

Perhaps it is the job market’s fault. Perhaps it is that damned ambiguous economy. Perhaps it is because after four years the only meal you can cook is spaghetti.

Regardless, you will be left with a horrible aftertaste with basically as many options as

you had before university. This is not an opinion. This is a fact.

The unemployment for young Canadians is nearing fifteenpercent, double the national average. And those who do get jobs, nearly one third are working in careers that are not related to or do not require a degree. These young Canadians are coming away from university with the newest education, carrying the cumbersome debt attached to their papyrus, red-stamped degrees, and will likely work within a job that has no need for their aggrandized schooling.

Like a miner in a dark, dark hole, you will be forced to look for something still, holding on to your degree with boastful pride. You will tell yourself it was worth it, that everything you learned was somewhere in your head, bouncing around, and if you could just hold onto this noodle for a little bit longer, everything would be okay. And when you cannot find anything worthwhile, to satisfy your crippling entitlement and dreams, the greedy culprits will be ready, open arms, happy smiles, offering you prospects and further erudition, presenting you their Master’s program. This time in the name of adaptability. This time in the name of inspiring minds. This time in the name of twenty-four thousand dollars.

Where more time is drunk, more problems amass, and the culprits, frustratingly plowing away on their abhorrent gardening, tell you how intelligent you are becoming. Ad nausem.

theSil.ca

OPINIONS

Thursday, Sep 12, 2013

DEAR FIRST-YEAR ME,

Kacper Niburski The Silhouette Dear Kacper, I think I should start with a hello, though it may be wasted on you. Business, and the slack jaw rapidness of an auctioneer, is your mode of conversation, so I’ll instead hope that wherever you are, it’s sunny and you’re happy.

I can’t tell if you are, to be frank. I know that’s hard to believe me not knowing you or really me not knowing me, but you’re young, Kacper. You’re a freshman in university.

You see, I’m you but older though it’s very well possible my archaic lexicon gives that fact away. Words like archaic and lexicon are surefire indicators of how ancient you’ve become.

I’m sorry for becoming old, but there was nothing we could’ve done about it. Your knees crack when you bend and you feel tired even after you wake up and you drink coffee and you’ll figure out the rest as it goes on. Sometimes you won’t; I’m sorry for that too.

That’s why I am writing to you now, freshman Kacper, in order to help fill in the blanks that I, and you by extension, didn’t know way back when you began this whole damned thing. I want to ensure that in the future of this university odyssey that you are just now beginning, I won’t have to write an apology letter to the both of us.

I fear that this message won’t get to you in time, however. I’m afraid that when you receive it, you’ll be starting your fourth year at McMaster with a dirty mop of a haircut and a laziness that seems palpable; your parents will look at you as a they do to a trophy collecting dust, a forgotten memory of triumph reserved for better days; you’ll be a mess of yourself, of who you thought you should be, and who you never were – and the three categories will never be in agreement,

and you won’t either, and you’ll wonder if anything ever is, if it ever was.

And then you’ll look back to your freshman self, and you’ll see a boy who seemed steeped in sunlight, who thought that if he only tried in whatever he attempted, he would eventually have success, and that boy, with an indefatigable dream of becoming anything but that boy, would be smiling.

From there, you’ll try to rearrange the haze of memories that you somehow once lived, and there will be millions of them plastered on your ceilings, walls and picture frames. You’ll collect them all if only to see how they changed the way you shake your hand or the way you talk, and at that point, you’ll write a letter to that same boy in an attempt to ensure that his smile lasted.

And here is what you’ll get: Try in everything you do, Kacper.

It’s a simple truth and for that reason, you’ll forget it most of all during the complexity of university. But remember that you don’t want to wake up one day and wonder where the hell the time went and where did you go with it.

Know that in the next four years, shit happens and loads of it will come flushing your way after those cherry-blossom twilight days you find yourself in end. But also know that this is not necessarily bad: terrible events will always occur, even after you’re gone. That’s not exactly comforting, but it’s enough. You are me, and I’m still here, and together we have always gotten through things no matter how bad they seemed at first. As you’ve been led to believe, and still believe to this day, there is sun even on the cloudy days. It’s just somewhere else.

When those cloud-drunk days dwindle down, and you’re feeling like an overflowing sewer gutter trying to drain away rain, get up. Shake the sleep from those legs. Act. Do. Feel. Wear socks.

Funny socks. Colourful socks.

Live, for Christ sake, and if you’re in those socks while the thirst of life is at your tongue, then you’re all the better for it.

Fall in love, Kacper. It is just

about the best thing you can be in, though it won’t always be successful at it. There will be times when you can’t imagine why you allowed yourself to be so exposed, so vulnerable. It’ll all seem so stupid, so forced, so unimaginably regrettable. But those moments will pass, and the relationship will pass with them, and you’ll find yourself still holding her hand after it all and look how soft it is and look how happy the two of you are.

There will be the best nights of your life you’ll never be able to remember and other times that you’ll remember too much that wish you could forget. Both of them will enrich you in different ways because both, on days when you’ve forgotten all about the trivial problems that swarmed you once daily, will one day be called “the days.”

Write about it all. No matter how small or big. Even if you’re exhausted. Especially if you are. Talk, talk, talk until your mouth dries or your hand cramps or until you’re satisfied that you’ve printed your uniqueness on the white pages in front of you. Because the future is made of the words you compose and the words you don’t and you have so much to say. In the end – our end, Kacper – you’ll be left behind with the sentences you use and others will be left with you in those same sentences, and that means something.

What it means you’ll only find out when you grow to be my age. Until then, Kacper, I hope the world for you, I hope that you want more than just a rocky globe, and I hope that we can laugh about it all, whatever it is, after the fact.

Until we meet, warm regards, Kacper

A10

Get Yr Walk On! AIDS Walk 2013 Hamilton

Sunday September 22, 2013 Gage Park in Hamilton

Registration Starts at 11:30am Walk Starts at 12:30pm

To REGISTER: AIDSNETWORK.ca LOOK FOR THE RED BALLOONS TO GET YR WALK ON!

JOIN THE 2013 Hamilton

WHEELCHAIR REL AY CHALLENGE September 28, 2013 Pier 4 Park Bay Street North and Guise Street West Hamilton, Ontario

www.hamiltonwrc.org

@TheAIDSNetwork

ARE YOU

A COMPULSIVE SPENDER?

HAMILTON & DISTRICT EXTEND-A-FAMILY VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES “SHARE A SPECIAL FRIENDSHIP!”

ARE YOU

PRESENTLY IN DEBT? B U D DY P RO G R A M

Debtors Anonymous is a 12-step group based on the principles of alcoholics anonymous We meet every Sunday At 5pm Unitarian Church 170 Dundurn St South

We have over one hundred children and teens with special needs waiting to spend time with a volunteer buddy. Matched buddies spend eight hours a month pursuing a hobby, playing sports, or enjoying other activities in the community.

Gain volunteer experience, have fun, and share a special friendship with a young person with special needs!

R E C R E AT I O N P RO G R A M We offer a minimum of six recreation events each month, providing respite and opportunities for fun and friendship in the community.

We bowl, play laser-tag, go rock-climbing, and challenge each other in all sorts of fun ways.

We have a great bunch of volunteers who assist at these events and are always happy to welcome more!

INTERESTED?

FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL 905-570-9174

V I S I T O U R W E B - S I T E , F I N D U S O N FAC E B O O K O R C O N TAC T U S ! w w w. e x t e n d a f a m i ly h a m i l t o n . s y n t h a s i t e . c o m 905.383.2885 e a f @ e xe c u l i n k . c o m ( B u dd y P ro g r a m ) e a f . c o n n e c t @ g m a i l . c o m ( R e c re a t i o n P ro g r a m )

Would you like to be featured in Community Connections?

Send your request to Leeann Corbeil, Director of Marketing and Community Relations. E: leeann@findlaylaw.ca

PH: 905.522.9799 ext. 248

Findlay Attorneys. 20 Hughson St. S., Suite 510, Hamilton, Ontario, L8N 2A1 Findlay Attorneys will determine which agency or group will be included based on a first come, first serve basis and at the discretion of Findlay Attorneys.

Findlay Attorneys cannot guarantee inclusion of any materials submitted and therefore accepts no responsibility for any ad or information exclusion. Materials should be submitted at least two weeks prior to date of publishing.

NOTSPEC.COM

BROKEN BADLY Ancaster man shatters ribs in tv-inspired personal meth lab explosion B3

THURSDAY

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

HAMILTON SPECULATOR THE

DOING “ THAT ” FOR LOVE SINCE 1934

LOCAL

Is “poor man’s Montréal” really a compliment? A3

WORLD

Project Run-away: the Snowden story A7

JUSTICE

The soul of small business

Exorcism: is the death penalty harsh enough? C2

Marauders fantasy football team triumphs Fictional athletes have national title in sights

[ADD PHOTO INTERNS NAME HERE , ED.], THE HAMILTON SPECULATOR

Catien, seen here shortly after making his sale, is optimistic about his professional future.

Student sells used textbook on Kijiji; adds “entrepeneur” to resume TIBERIUS SLICK Business Speculator

The university’s long-standing reputation for producing successful small-business owners was evident last Friday with the selling of an old textbook on the internet by a student.

Jeremy Catien, a second-year commerce major, using the popular goods and services classifieds website Kijiji.com, sold his 1B03 Business Environment & Organization textbook for just under the price at which he originally purchased the book.

“It’s unbelievable. The skills and knowledge that I’ve gained in this program have helped me turn my life around financially,” said Catien. “it isn’t just a textbook I sold. It’s a testament to my ability to do just about anything if I put my mind to it.”

Catien originally purchased the book for $83.95 before HST, and sold it to a desperate first-year sucker for $60 in cash and a half-depleted $5 Starbucks gift card to sweeten the pot.

“I think this will ripple through my career path, showing future employers that I can get the job done,” said Catien as he showed the Speculator his updated resume, which now includes “Self-motivated Entrepeneur” under work experience.

School spirit continues to haunt MUSC Phantom alumnus responsible for tenth consecutive year of campus unrest CLEOPATRA FAWKES Spooky Speculator

Just when the McMaster student body thought they could sleep easy at night, the infamous school spirit resurfaced for its yearly appearance during Welcome Week.

The spirit, first reportedly seen shortly after the Americas won the war on terror, was sighted by a third-year health sciences student in the atrium of MUSC.

WEATHER HIGH: ROOM TEMPERATURE LOW: 17° Nobody really knows for sure what room temperature is; the homeless for example.

BOX-TEPID, B3

“I wasn’t as afraid of the spirit in my first two years, I sort of got into the campus tradition of getting into the spirit and spreading the word. By this year, I’ve gotten real sick and tired of seeing it on campus. I’ve got shit to do and it doesn’t include indulging in transparent relics of the Animal House era,” said the student.

The phantom is expected to move on once the academic season is in full swing, but until then students wishing the avoid the school spirit should steer clear of large, impressionable congregations of enthusiastic frosh.

Losing My Shit

SPECU

The Hastings clan battles over the custody of Speculator reporter Shit Hastings.

See TRAUMA, C2

WHY SO SYRIA? A3

BARACK TO SCHOOL:

WE’RE UP ALL NIGHT TO GET

LEARNING TO LEAD D4

LUCKY, PUNK C4

ICEBERG LETTUCE SINKS

HETEROPHOBIA: WE GIVE IT TO

RELATIONSHIP G4

YOU STRAIGHT B1

DOING BLURRED LINES OF

C:\DOS-WORD H6

SWEET, SWEET COCAINE B3

Disclaimer: The Hamilton Speculator is a work of satire and fiction and should not under any circumstances be taken seriously. Unless you’re into that sort of thing. Then do what you want. I’m not your dad.

The manager of the Gaels’ fantasy football team, after losing the season opener to the fantasy Marauders.

CLAIRE JENNINGS Fit Speculator

After a season of figuratively and literally dropping the ball, the McMaster Marauders fantasy football team looks to sieze the national title after a strong season opener.

The Marauders, drafted by team captain and third-year engineering student Billy “The Real Deal” Matiano, routed the Queens Golden Gaels fantasy football team in their weekend game, the first in the season.

“Some of the other schools were on auto-draft so I managed to scoop up a good deal of Western players and the Queens defensive back Yann DikaBalotoken and receiver Doug Corby. It sure felt great beating them with their own players,” said Matiano.

Attendance at the game was a record high, with almost both managers watching the games in which their players hit the field.

Golden Gaels’ fantasy manager Jim Jenkins, on why he was unable to watch the games relavant to his football team, “Oh right, I forgot I was doing that,” said Jenkins.

The Marauders will go up against the Mustangs next week, a team composed mostly of actual McMaster Marauders, coming off of a year-long suspension for intentional game throwing.

FREE AGENTS - OUA Kyle Quinlan: Fantasy managers just can’t seem to forget about this popular pick of the 2012 season. Even though he isn’t going to be playing any actual OUA games, drafters have high hopes for the comeback king.

PER ISSUE: $1.11 INCL. HST, PST where applicable.

Must be paid in pennies.

L

theSil.ca

Thursday, Sep 12, 2013

IFESTYLE

B1

Editors Amanda Watkins & Miranda Babbitt

You’re Delirious

5

Email lifestyle@thesil.ca Phone 905.525.9140 x27117 Threadcount

Avoid landlord politics

Stylize your student house without getting fined... or kicked out Miranda Babbitt Assistant LifeStyle Editor The first step into a student home can lead to the onset of one of two decorating personas.

On the one hand, there is the student-turned-TLC decorator who hammers through a house making bold and trendy moves at every turn. They fear no glue gun or collection of nails because they have a team of construction work-

ers standing behind them and a nearly budget-less vision.

But then there is also the unintentionally minimalist decorator, who often uses excuses to mask their décor flaws. Growing up, when asked why their room was so messy, they would respond, “What, it’s easier to find things when they’re all lying in front of me.” The type of person who eats KD every meal of the day may opt for this choice. There

2

D.I.Y.

are a few half-hearted attempts to add some flare into the room, maybe a poster attached to the wall with quickly fading tape, or a coffee mug that they’ve convinced themselves is art.

But regardless of your decorating personality, the following list allows for style as intenselyTLC or as KD-minimalist as you please. @mirandababbitt

Scrapbook Silhouettes You can make any silhouette by whipping out a huge piece of paper (or smaller ones for that matter) and designing a cut-out of your choice.

Once you have your main cut-out, use a heavy weighted craft or scrapbooking paper (available at Michael’s, Curry’s, Wal-Mart, etc.) and cut organic shapes to fill your silhouette with various patterns. It doesn’t have to fit perfectly, because, hey, nature isn’t perfect either. Once you attach them to your wall- we recommend tape- you can Mod Podge (Michael’s, $8.95) over the silhouette to keep in place. You can also seal it to the wall that way, with multiple layers.

Faux Flowers

If you’re anything like me, having flowers in a room, even if it is going solo in your drinking glass, is an inevitable mood booster. But then as the flower wilts, my mood wilts. So I never want that to happen to you.

The solution? Faux flowers. Don’t call them fake. That makes it sound like cheating. Any local dollar store should have some fake, sorry, faux flowers, along with craft and art supply stores. For a fun feature, string them vertically across your wall. To maintain our KD simplicity, you can take some (spoiler alert) washi tape and tape the stem to the wall.

MEG FREEMAN/ C/O ELSIE MARLEY

Washi Wonders The greatest invention since light itself: washi tape. In all its colourful variations, this tape can literally light up a room with joy. How I have evaded the existence of this glorious tape is beyond me, but I am so in love with it. Generally cheap to purchase (search up “washi tape” on Etsy and be amazed) and it can act as the perfect frame to any picture you’ve been itching to show off. It’s especially cool when paired with thicker, more conventional frames because those photos start to really pop out (use stickers from Home Hardware or even Titles to do so).

Quirky Corkboards

Look to your oven. Now look back at me. Oh, you’re not in the kitchen?

Because what student wants to cook more than microwavable KD? Okay, agreed, but even the KD minimalist should take note of the simplest way to add an unexpected quirk to your room. Trivets, otherwise known as a surface to put your scalding hot pots and pans on after some *gasp* cooking, are essentially circular corkboards. Put to rest the conventional rectangular corkboards that have been up in your dorm or childhood bedroom since the beginning of time. It’s time to get funky with yo’ cork.

Check online at www.thesil.ca for links to detailed instruction on all of the DIY’s mentioned. And guess what else? We’re on tumblr! Visit us at www.silhappens.tumblr.com - p.s. we follow back.

theSil.ca

Thursday, Sep 12, 2013

LIFESTYLE

B2

Dalya Cohen

Arts & Science II

WHERE TO BUY Skirt - Brandy Melville Top - Urban Outfitters Flannel - Topshop Shoes - Thrifted FAVOURITE PLACES TO SHOP “I like random little boutiques from my hometown, Toronto. And Mendocino!”

STYLE ICON “I keep up to date on a lot of fashion blogs and get inspiration from Garance Dore.”

FAVOURITE SNACK FOOD “Probably Starbucks. But if you want real snacks, then definitely a fruit salad with cottage cheese.

I’m weird.”

YOUSIF HADDAD / SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR

Free

Weekly Shuttle Bus Starting Sept. 18th

Wednesdays 6:00pm | 6:30pm | 7:00pm Last pick-up from Fortinos at 8:00pm Pick-up From Mary Keyes Residence At The Cootes Dr. Entrance

Look for the Big Yellow School Bus

Thursday, Sep 12, 2013

theSil.ca

SEXandthe STEELCITY Amanda Watkins Senior LifeStyle Editor Being an available bachelor or bachelorette in university is a generally positive experience. You can mix and mingle whenever you want, friends set you up on charming blind dates, you don’t need to shave your legs very often, and you can save money by only investing in a single bed.

Single life is good. You feel like George Clooney and get to do whatever and whoever you want.

But mingling does have a drawback: a constant nagging cycle of dating.

Sure, dating does help you meet people. But, if it doesn’t lead to finding that “special someone,” it can drive you insane when you don’t know how to get out of an evening with that weird guy your sister’s boyfriend’s mom found for you at the YMCA. It’s great to keep your options open, but when you’re uninterested: how do you end a date without hurting someone’s feelings?

LIFESTYLE

B3

The Great Escape

Five ways to get out of a date - even after it’s already started.

1

Drop the “F-Bomb”

Nothing says you don’t want to date someone more than telling them how much you value them as a friend.

As you’re exchanging conversation, casually drop into the mix how happy you are to have them in your life. As a friend. As a platonic relationship.

No, not like Harry and Sally, or Ron and Hermione, but like Calvin and Hobbes, or Harold and Kumar.

2

Engage in a Menage-a-trois

Bring a friend to your date. Everyone feels uncomfortable and wants to leave when your gently eccentric roommate comes rolling in unannounced.

Suddenly, your cute dinner and a movie is a group hangout with an invited third wheel. Just roll with it. They’ll veer off eventually.

3

Pull the sick card

“Oh no, my allergies are acting up,” “I think I may have caught something from that boy hacking away at the back of my calculus class”. Pity and fear are public onsets of illness, and two traits never associated with dates (well, not conventionally). BUT NOTE: this plan may heavily backfire on you. Faking an illness can lead to a weeklong string of text messages asking how you’ve been. A string of text messages that you will eventually feel obligated to respond to.

4

Be popular and unavailable

Schedule everything on the busiest day of your week. As you walk into your date, explain how you can only stay for half an hour because you need to get back to work, or walk your dog (that is, if you have a job…or a dog…). An alternative, have a friend phone you thirty minutes in and explain

that you need to runaway to address a crisis.

5

Be honest

I know, it’s a cop-out suggestion, but sometimes (read: most of the time) escapism isn’t an acceptable or respectful tactic. Maybe they aren’t really your type or are a little more into Elton John than you’re comfortable with, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve your respect. The occasional shrug off is ok, but not everyone is dismissible.

Dating can be fun and beneficial when it comes to meeting new people and developing relationships, but every now and again, a break is needed. Try these strategies to weasel out of your next unwanted encounter, and if all else fails, simply just act like a crazy person. I guarantee, you will not be the one ending that date. @whatthekins

Dear Surprise Sunshine,

...

Miranda Babbitt Assistant LifeStyle Editor Oh, my mistake. You now go by the name, Sweaty Pits Sunshine, or Eternal Sauna Sunshine, or Stubbornly Sedentary Sunshine.

Regardless, I am speaking to the one and only sun way up in space hiding behind all those stars and other galactic obstacles. Trust me, the only thing keeping me from wringing your neck right now is a minor little gravity issue, and a pathological fear of being an astronaut.

Hence why I am writing you a letter. And I swear, if you “accidentally” burn this letter again with your “lack of hands” and your spontaneous, probably hormonal driven “solar flares”, we are just not on speaking terms.

So, let’s hash this out. What happened here? One day, I’m writing love letters to you every day, longing to see even just a peak of your glorious face, and the next I’m hiding from your unpredictability.

You need to make up your mind. When I wake up and check the weather, a range of ten degrees leaves me with a miserably low success rate in choosing which clothes to wear.

Pants left me feeling as though my legs were replaced with sausages and they were being squeezed into warm saran wrap, and even the lightest of scarves were reminiscent of a balaclava.

After the removal of the scarf

DON’T BE CROSS.

C/O CUPWIRE/ Crossword puzzles provided by BestCrosswords.com (http://www.bestcrosswords.com). Used with permission.

and the replacement of pants with shorts, I started questioning whether a balaclava-like accessory would prevail over the impending sweat stains that became entrenched in my backpack straps, and, well, my entire back itself.

How is one expected to navigate through this heat? Am I honestly expected to give in to the forbidden crop-top with low-rise shorts fad? Should I abandon my wardrobe entirely but for a Jesuslike set of robes? Should I start the first nudist club on McMaster campus? Should I stop suggesting ideas that will never (thank the lord) come into fruition?

Ultimately, sunshine ol’ pal, I want you to set a reminder to

send us back a little note in joyous spring time, where a sweater may accompany most outfits, even a breezy scarf, but at least the classrooms of crowded students will smell of simply hormonal BO rather than BO from the streets of hell.

The air is fresh, light, and walking outside won’t feel like I’m smashing into a steaming sumo wrestler. So the first time someone says, “Ugh, I need summer already,” you should send the type of note that sings to them, but this time, it will blast a stream of hot air right in their face and they

will shut it and sigh with great relief, “Phew! Almost wished it was summer in Hamilton again.”

That’s something we can work out together, right?

Across

Down

1- Fool 5- What’s left 9- Diminutive being of folklore 14- Suit to ___ 15- Switch ending 16- Causing goose bumps 17- Celestial body 18- Large village 19- Spoil 20- Short-tempered person 22Where junk may be held 24- Extraterrestrial 26- Yes, to Yves 27- Occur 30- Infinite time 35- Bottomless gulf 36- German Mister 37- Exultation 38- Craggy hill 39- Dancer Duncan 42- Nav. officer 43- Paradise lost 45- Sect 46- Fable 48- Resound 50- Emphasis 51- “… ___ the cows come home” 52- Mead subject 54- Taro 58- Relate 62- Moral precept of conduct 63- Object of devotion 65- ___-European 66- Peter of Herman’s Hermits 67- Songwriter Bacharach; 68Draft classification 69- Supermodel Cheryl 70- Cpls.’ superiors 71- Snack

Yours Truly, Melting Mo @mirandababbitt

1- Cummerbund 2- Sock ___ me!

3- Crux 4- Possibly 5- Keep possession of 6- Eat into 7- Plant 8- Heaps 9- Circuitous way 10- Eroding 11- “Tosca” tune 12- Circular band 13- Celebration 21- Varnish resin 23- It’s human 25- Teases 27- Misanthrope 28- Dwelling 29- Funeral fires 31- Horse’s gait 32- Actress Graff 33- Camp sights 34- Approvals 36- ___ monde 40- Climb 41- Role player 44- Naught 47- Speech 49- Sisters’ daughters 50- Separates metal from ore 53- Nautical direction 54- Fender bender 55- Yours, in Tours 56- Foot covering 57- Pen points 59- Part of A.D. 60- Mid-month times 61- Flood survivor 64- Made a hole

theSil.ca

Thursday, Sep 12, 2013

LIFESTYLE

B4

INSIDEOUT

Challenging life as we know it A look at Student Accessibility Services “Life as I know it” video campaign Amanda Watkins Senior LifeStyle Editor Life as we know it. It’s a term used to start up sic-fi novels, generalize an undefinable aspect of human society, and shrug off a topic we’d prefer not to discuss. Life as we know it. But aside from our own, whose lives do we really know?

Disability Awareness Coordinator, Cassie Liviero, hopes to use her upcoming campaign with Student Accessibilty Services to address this question. Inspired by the television documentary series, “Life Story Project,” the film campaign, entitled “Life as I know it,” is set around creating an open environment for discussion, and allowing participants to express their thoughts and beliefs in a safe and welcoming space.

“It’s a film and interview campaign. It involves students passing by on campus, sitting down for three to five minutes, and having genuine conversations on topics that affect us all.

It comes from personal experiences… and as the narrative unfolds we see questions to do with disability, accessibility and perception,” says Liviero, relating the concept back to the principles and topics that shape SAS. Some of the topics that will

be used as discussion points include inclusion, stereotyping, independence, values, recreation and leisure. In addition to these points, the notion of a “genuine conversation” is something that Liviero stresses during the interview. Unlike quick and easy conversations often said in passing, the campaign hopes to use this series of topics to engage participants and develop ideas full of depth and emotion.

“I found this type of approach has really become helpful, because it shows people that they can make a difference and they do count. And this project is not so much about making a difference, but we’re trying to show that everybody’s voice matters. And when you go this way, through experiences that everyone has had, they feel that their voice fits in,” says Liviero.

In addition to working at SAS, Liviero is a fourth-year Sociology student living with a disability. And when it comes to supporting a cause that has affected her personally, she is determined to ensure that a strong and reliable message is sent across campus, and students with disabilities are able to express their feelings accurately and appropriately.

“We want to have the people who are actually experiencing disability be in the driver’s seat.

Instead of having someone telling us how we feel, people can say, now I have learned what you feel as individuals instead of making assumptions,” she adds.

“Often times, we think that being in higher education, professors need to educate us, or parents, or someone higher than us, but really, we’re our own educators. Through this campaign, people with disabilities know themselves, and really just people in general. They know themselves more than they think they do.”

The film will involve active contributions from fellow students and on-campus partners. The video will be shot and edited by McMaster Multimedia students, and the hosts for each of the segments will be volunteers from CFMU. The video will be shot on Sept. 23, Oct. 3 and Oct. 10. A couch will be set up in the arts quad where students will be able to sit down and take part in discussions.

“I really feel that this event can also help anybody, not just people with disabilities. It helps anybody increase his or her awareness about themselves. And

if you start increasing awareness about yourself, you can have a greater impact on people working with you. If you know more about yourself, you can have more positive interactions with others,” says Liviero.

As Liviero and her team

work towards building the campaign, they hope to bring discussion about disability to the forefront of the McMaster community along with a true understanding of this life as we know it. @whatthekins

NEW ADDITIONS TO LIFESTYLE As some of you may have noticed, our section has a new identity. Here are a few new features you can look forward to this year:

LIFESTYLE IS ON TUMBLR! www.silhappens.tumblr.com NEW COLUMNS:

INSIDEOUT IO is a column devoted to reaching out to concerns within the McMaster community that relate directly back to personal issues. It will be in the form of an interview or a personal reflection and discussion.

TAKE A BITE. A look inside food services in and around campus. Focusing on the development and histories of restaurants in the Hamilton and McMaster communities.

RESTAURANT REVIEW Pretty straightforward. LifeStyle weighs in on their experiences at restaurants around Mac and Hamilton.

D.I.Y.

May include a craft, recipe or other “do it yourself ” idea that you can try at home. Always tried and tested by LS.

theSil.ca

Thursday, Sep 12, 2013

B5

LIFESTYLE

RESTAURANT REVIEW

Delirious Burger Company 1008 King Street West

AMANDA WATKINS / SENIOR LIFESTYLE EDITOR

Amanda Watkins Senior LifeStyle Editor When Hamilton’s favourite burrito supplier shut down, foodies and drunken students alike awaited the arrival of the restaurant that would fill its place and decide the fate of Westdale’s food facade forever. Delirious Burger Company opened its doors this past August at the corner of King Street West and Marion Avenue.

Walking along King, a colourful blackboard points custom-

ers towards the restaurant’s front entrance while the Delirious black and white vintage insignia sets the standard for the space’s sleek and modern design.

I awkwardly stumbled into the restaurant trying to make my judgmental presence as unknown as possible, and was pleasantly greeted by the equally awkward (but in a charming and friendly way) staff. I placed my order for a Classic Burger ($5.65) and an order of fries ($3.00). I was prepared to whip out my debit card

when I was greeted by a poster reading: “Cash Only”. You have been warned, make sure you visit CIBC prior to placing your order, otherwise you will need to leave and come back. Which is kind of weird.

After placing my order, I was impressed to see the chef grill and prepare my burger as I waited.

The interior of the restaurant consists of smooth grey countertops and brushed steel stools accompanied by scattered greeting cards from customers and friends

congratulating the owners. The store has the same sterile feel that many new restaurants have in their first months, but it is evident that it is growing to have a style and personality of its own.

The burger patty was well cooked and seasoned with an organic homemade feel, but the standard hamburger bun and toppings were relatively lackluster. Overall, the burger had good taste and consistency and was filling without being massive and overwhelming.

The fries, garnished with a heavier sea salt, were a little too heavy on the sea salt. But the generous portion and cute to-go packaging made up for my sudden rise in cholesterol.

As I sat outside the restaurant, I noticed the consistent flow of customers coming in and out of the store. Just two months in and it already seems to be a Westdale favourite. @whatthekins

TAKE A BITE.

Curry in a hurry

Inside the re-branding of McMaster’s favourite basement restaurant, “Taro” MUSC B118

Amanda Watkins Senior LifeStyle Editor One of the hardest parts about living away from home is making your own food. Time after time, no matter how hard you try to master your family recipes, it often feels like something’s missing. And no, don’t worry, I’m not going to say “love”.

Mohamud and Shemila “Sam” Thobani, who asked for their last names not to be used, the husband and wife duo behind Taro (formerly House of Games) have been cooking with passion since 2002. Almost 12 years ago, when the student centre first opened, McMaster’s local bubble tea and curry hotspot opened its doors to the student community.

And it’s the passion that they cook with that has kept them running strong for over a decade.

Up until the current school year, their student centre location in B118 was known as House of Games.

Recently, along with a new renovation, the restaurant has been re-named as Taro.

“Games is no longer our primary concept, we re-branded ourselves to focus on bubble tea, halal and vegetarian foods,” says Sam. “We chose Taro because it’s the number one selling bubble tea flavour across the world,” she adds.

In addition to offering the widely popular Taro flavour, the store continues to sell over 40 different bubble tea flavours that can be mixed and matched with tapioca or jelly. The restaurant is also well known for their flavourful and cost-efficient curries. With

halal, vegetarian and vegan options, there’s a curry and tea for all tastes.

“It’s the first place I tried a bubble tea. I tried the crab apple - I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners, it’s very sweet - but all of their smoothies are great,” explains first year student and new Taro fan Daven Bigelow.

Working as chefs since 1988, previously in other Hamilton and Toronto establishments, managing their own restaurant has truly been an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

“The fact that I have a passion for cooking, and everyone comes back for more, it’s very rewarding. It’s my dream come true,” Sam explains.

And their passion for cooking is not just evident through their flavours and amazing meals, but also through the kindness and

respect they treat customers with.

“We’re run through the MSU, so everything we do is about the students,” Sam says as she steps from behind the counter to assist a customer in choosing the best sauce accompaniment for their butter chicken.

Taro brings forth a warm and homey environment that many on-campus eateries lack. Their meals and drinks are reminiscent of home-cooked meals, and the effort they put into each of their dishes adds a unique and complete flavour. A passion for cooking may be their secret ingredient, but it’s the compassion they show for all of Mac’s students that keeps people coming back and wanting more. @whatthekins

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WE’RE NEW AGAIN WESTDALE, 991 KING STREET WEST

COME EXPLORE WHAT’S NEW IN STORE! EXTENDED HOURS Now open later for your convenience.

A LARGER FOOD SECTION More quick & easy mealtime solutions.

CANADA POST OFFICE A convenient full-service Canada Post Office for all your shipping needs.

PLUS, An endless selection of beauty in our gorgeous cosmetic section.

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991 King Street West 905-525-7772 Open 8am to 10pm, 7 Days a Week

NEW! at Westdale 0240-13 1046-GO-SIL-SEP12-4C.indd 1

ROP - RENO/OPEN

13-08-14 9:49 AM

SMcMaster raises ticket prices theSil.ca

Thursday, Sep 12, 2013

PORTS

B7

Editors Laura Sinclair & Alexandra Reilly

Email sports@thesil.ca

@silsports

Phone 905.525.9140 x27117

Circa 2002

B9

Women’s Soccer B11

Basketball and volleyball games will now cost students $5 Scott Hastie Managing Editor Those looking to catch a basketball or volleyball game in Burridge Gymnasium this year could be in for a shock as they try to walk through the doors.

For the past three years, McMaster students who wore maroon and presented their student card were given free admittance to basketball or volleyball games.

The no-cost event was part of the Athletics and Recreation department’s Colour Your Passion campaign.

But as the department puts down the crayons and launches The McMaster Way initiative, the free admittance is falling to the wayside and students will now be charged $5.00.

Parrish Offer, manager of Athletic and Recreation’s marketing, says that this much more than trying to bolster revenue figures.

“The thought process behind this is that we had devalued our tickets. For our students, the value of our tickets was zero and it didn’t feel like we were putting on a valuable show,” said Offer.

The athletic director, Jeff Giles, associate director, Mark Alfano, and Offer collectively made the decision over the summer.

The free admittance did not drastically impact attendance figures, as the three years saw virtually no increase, according to the athletic department.

But as tuition costs rise and

students are more reluctant to drop dollars, the $5.00 ticket has the potential to be the tipping point for someone who is undecided on whether to attend a game or not.

However, the head of marketing does not see it that way.

“There’s a perception out there that students are poor – that they don’t have money. I don’t think that’s necessarily true, I think they are on budgets and they will spend for good value,” said Offer.

The opportunity to free admittance has not completely disappeared, though.

The department launched the McMaster Marauders Mobile App towards the end of August, which rewards students for checking in places either on campus or the surrounding area.

Every check-in is worth one maroon point, and it takes ten maroon points to receive free entry to a basketball or volleyball game for free.

While the opportunity for free entry is a good alternative, the impact on attendance numbers will be an interesting story to follow.

The casual Marauder fan is getting the short end of the stick here, with the die-hard being rewarded for simply being a diehard.

The cost has the potential to chase away fans from the brand, but the department has addressed this by adding more vendor rewards in their app than just

Sports fans can expect to dig a little deeper into their wallets to see Mac athletes in action.

McMaster students pay $5 to watch the Marauders in action. What do other universities charge?

CARLETON

$7 U. OF ALBERTA

$7 LAVAL

$6 athletics.

“The app has TwelvEighty, the Campus Store, the Phoenix, who are all on campus and you can get points. Then you can go off campus to places like the Snooty Fox and Pita Pit to earn rewards there,” said Offer.

Currently, football has a $5.00 cost for students and the fee has not deterred students from going to games.

The athletic department says it is optimistic that on-court success mixed with stronger brand affinity from students will bolster attendance figures in the coming years.

MEMORIAL U. OF NEWFOUNDLAND

$5 U. OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

$2 LAURIER

$2

Who charges nothing?

WINDSOR MOUNT ALLISON U. OF NEW BRUNSWICK U. OF OTTAWA WATERLOO U. OF SASKATCHEWAN

$0. ZIP. NADA.

@Scott1Hastie

Mac sits in unfamiliar territory The crowd’s lack of involvement wasn’t the only thing that proved to be against McMaster on Saturday afternoon.

An undefeated record was what Nick Shortill, Alan Dicks, Mike we saw this time last season so DiCroce and Marshall Ferguson to experience two brutal loses in all went down with injuries that a row is not something that any day.

Marauders fan will get used to.

The defense was hit the Especially not since the hardest as Shortill went down last couple of years have been with what appeared to be a knee the team’s best record in school injury and left the game. history.

The team was also lost Saturday proved to be pretty without some of their key starters close to rock bottom for the on Saturday: left tackle Matt team as they lost to their rivals, Sewell, defensive the Western back Joey Cupido Mustangs, with a and safety Mike score of 58-15.

Daly all did not “We “We are going to look dress in maroon definitely need to for the Western take things a little at some of our core more seriously,” mistakes and coach it game.

With a 1-2 said defensive regular season so star Aram Eisho up...” far, the remainder about the team’s Stefan Ptaszek, head coach of of the team’s efforts. the McMaster Football team season hangs in “This is my the balance. first time losing “We are two in a row and going to look at some of our core we definitely have a lot of work to mistakes and coach it up and do to get ready for next week,” he we have to find a way to put the added. pieces back together and get ready Ron Joyce Stadium was sold for York University,” head coach out for the game on Saturday and Stefan Ptaszek said. it was safe to say the Vanier Cup “We’ll do all of those things calibre squad stunned the 5,003 and try and get this back to 2-2 fans in attendance. and we’ll go from there,” Ptaszek This season is not going to be added. as easy as the last.

Up next are the low scoring Crowd support, which York Lions, but the ultimate test wavered through the afternoon’s will be when McMaster faces the defeat, was something the team currently 2-0 Guelph Gryphons noticed. on the road.

“We definitely need the The York game kicks off this crowd in it the whole way Saturday Sept. 14 at 1:00 p.m. and through,” Eisho said. will be broadcast on Hamilton’s “It’s never going to be easy Cable 14 and CHML 900 Live. but if we can just have them cheering us on while were having ups and downs it would really @Miss_AReilly help,” he added.

Alexandra Reilly Assistant Sports Editor

“

UP NEXT VS. YORK LIONS @ HOME SATURDAY, SEPT. 14, 1:00 P.M. VS. GUELPH GRYPHONS @GUELPH SATURDAY, SEPT. 21, 1:00 P.M.

The Marauders, with QB Marshall Ferguson, have started the season awkwardly but are not out for the count.

C/O RICHARD ZAZULAK

theSil.ca

Thursday, Sep 12, 2013

B8

SPORTS

RUGBY

Mac lets season opener slip Laura Sinclair Senior Sports Editor The Marauders men’s rugby team fell short this past weekend to the Guelph Gryphons with a score of 24-16 in wet and muddy conditions.

The Marauders led with a score of 10-5 before the break, but could not hold the lead as the Gryphons had the home crowd on their side and were desperate to make a comeback.

The Gryphons struck late in the game, and although the Marauders kept up with the Guelph squad, they could not overcome the deficit.

Although the Marauders lost the match, head coach Phil White was still happy with the perfor-

mance, and the improvement of the team especially from the defensive end.

“Our defensive performance wasn’t where we wanted it to be last year – both as individuals and collectively,” said White.

“We put a strong focus on defence at training camp this year. Although we dropped our first game to Guelph on Friday, we were pleased overall with the improvement in our defence.”

Veteran Marauder Andrew Ferguson was the leader of Mac’s offensive attack with 11 points, scoring three penalties and a convert.

Marauder flanker Ryan Natale added a try.

White is looking forward to the rest of the season with his

team that has an array of talent in all different areas.

“We have a strong mixture of established veterans, talented young players and a strong and hard-working coaching staff,” said White on his diverse team.

White believes that if his team continues to work hard, they will have a great season, and potentially win an OUA gold medal.

“It will not be easy but we are confident that we will prevail if we work to improve every practice and keep our eyes on the task ahead.”

The next task for the Marauders will come on Sunday, Sept. 15 where they will host the RMC Paladins.

PHOTO BY: JAY RAULINS

@Lsinkky

Young squad falls to Queen’s Alexandra Reilly Assistant Sports Editor A traditional powerhouse team in the OUA, McMaster women’s rugby suffered a disappointing loss against the Queen’s Gaels last Saturday in Kingston, Ont. McMaster lost a hard-fought battle on Saturday with the score 33-21.

Although the ladies did not make it home with a win, head coach Cam Mitchell was very pleased with the team’s performance against the CIS-ranked Gaels.

One of the team’s front runners, Emily Ricketts, commented on the team’s efforts.

“Playing against the CIS No. 4 ranked team for our first game was hard with a new mix of play-

ers but we put up a great fight,” said Ricketts.

“We are such a young team and we relied on a number of rookies to start this past week,” added Ricketts.

Some notable rookies to start last Saturday for the Maroon and Grey were Saffara Whitelely-Hoffelner and Colleen Irowa.

McMaster ultimately struggled to organize itself offensively.

Efforts from captain Cindy Nelles brought the team within seven points towards the end of the match, before the Gaels put forth one final push to seal the deal.

The Marauders recorded four tries in the game, which included their comeback attempt.

Nelles, Sarah Farquharson and Stephanie Black each scored a try in attempt to grab a win.

“

“Playing against the CIS No.4 ranked team was hard with a new mix of players.”

Emily Ricketts, McMaster women’s rugby center Black also had three successful convert kicks scoring a total of 11 points.

The women must now brush off the loss and look forward.

Their next contest is against the Trent Excalibur and will take place at McMaster field F this Sept. 15 at 12:00 p.m. @Miss_AReilly

PHOTO BY: JAY RAULINS

Are you interested in writing, sports, and other? Send an inquiry to sports@thesil.ca and we’ll do the rest.

S

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theSil.ca

SPORTS

Thursday, Sep 12, 2013

B9

Maroon and Grey of yesterday Scott Hastie Managing Editor Chris Black picked up his phone, paused, sighed, conceded and hung up. No one was available to co-ordinate the production of a lead-in segment from one tennis match to the other, and Black was the only one available to do it.

Normally, it would have been fine, but this was in the middle of an interview.

He wolfed down the rest of lunch, got rid of his garbage and proceeded to do his best impression of an Olympic race walker. Black barrelled through the freshly painted cement hallways of the Sportsnet offices before entering the newsroom and immediately taking control of the situation. The 31-year-old was in his element: directing human traffic, prepping on-air personalities and co-ordinating the technology buffs.

What seems like disaster was wrapped up and put on live television within 20 minutes.

Black remained calm and collected, showing off why he’s ascended to the rank of associate TV producer for one of the largest Canadian sports media after only eight years in the industry.

All of that began at McMaster University. Black started as an editor for the Silhouette and as a communications assistant for McMaster Athletics & Recreation during the rise of Marauder athletics. “[2003] was the difference year for Mac. They were never a small university but they were starting to get deals with the Nike and Under Armour’s of the world.

All the pieces were in place,” explained Black.

With the majority of the 1990’s yielding disappointing

results and a coaching carousel, McMaster sports needed a reboot.

In 1997, the school brought in Greg Marshall to lead the football program that had not seen an OUA playoff game in over 20 years. It was Marshall’s recruiting gift that would nab all-Canadian level talent for the Maroon and Grey, including Ben Chapdelaine, Kojo Aidoo, and CIS singleseason rushing leader Jesse Lumsden.

“Marshall, Chapdelaine, Kyle Pyears, Aidoo, Lumsden… those guys laid the foundation for what is happening now,” said Black.

And it was 2003, the rushing record-shattering year that Marauder athletics engrained themselves as a larger cog in student life. Black explained that then-Communications coordinator Robert Hilson realized that Lumsden was going to put on a show and Mac should make a pre-emptive strike to create an even bigger spectacle.

It was Lumsden’s year when Mac’s football team started to walk around with a “big swagger” as Black described. These guys were good, and they knew it.

While that squad didn’t win a Vanier Cup, they set a standard that has been surpassed by only the 2011 and 2012 squads.

Black aptly describes histime covering McMaster athletics as the “transition era.”

In recent years, the Marauders have captured multiple OUA championship banners, handfuls of CIS medals and dozens of topten CIS rankings.

This is the golden age of McMaster athletics, and although eight years removed, you can guarantee that Black still bleeds Maroon and Grey.

A Silhouette alumnus recalls the transition era of Marauder athletics

@scott1hastie

UP NEXT

S TA N D I N G S WOMEN’S SOCCER

MEN’S SOCCER

WOMEN’S SOCCER

OUA EAST

W | L | PTS

OUA EAST

W | L | PTS

CARELTON RYERSON LAURENTIAN TORONTO RMC QUEENS NIPISSING TRENT OTTAWA

3 2 2 1 1 1 1 0 0

OTTAWA QUEENS CARELTON LAURENTIAN TORONTO NIPISSING RYERSON TRENT RMC

3 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 0

OUA WEST

W | L | PTS

YORK LAURIER GUELPH MCMASTER WESTERN WINDSOR BROCK UOIT WATERLOO

0 0 1 1 1 1 3 4 0

4 2 2 2 2 1 0 0 0

10 7 7 4 3 3 3 0 0

0 0 1 1 1 1 2 3 4

12 8 7 7 7 5 2 1 0

OUA WEST GUELPH WESTERN LAURIER WINDSOR MCMASTER UOIT BROCK YORK WATERLOO

0 0 1 0 2 2 3 4 4

vs YORK vs WINDSOR

11 10 10 8 7 4 3 3 0

MEN’S SOCCER vs YORK vs WINDSOR

4 3 2 2 1 1 0 0 0

0 0 1 2 1 2 1 2 4

FOOTBALL

12 10 7 6 5 4 3 2 0

vs YORK at GUELPH

WESTERN QUEENS OTTAWA GUELPH WINDSOR MCMASTER YORK TORONTO WATERLOO LAURIER CARLETON

3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0

0 0 1 0 2 2 1 2 2 3 2

6 6 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 0 0

OUA GUELPH YORK QUEENS TRENT LAURIER TORONTO MCMASTER WATERLOO BROCK WESTERN

SEPT 15 | 12 PM

MEN’S RUGBY vs RMC

W | L | PTS

SEPT 14 | 1 PM SEPT 21 | 1 PM

WOMEN’S RUGBY

WOMEN’S RUGBY

OUA

SEPT 13 | 7:15 PM SEPT 18 | 7:15 PM

W | L | PTS

vs TRENT

FOOTBALL

SEPT 13 | 5 PM SEPT 15 | 1 PM

SEPT 15 | 2 PM

W | L | PTS 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0

5 5 5 4 1 0 0 0 0 0

MEN’ S LACROSSE at WESTERN

SEPT 13 | 7 PM

BASEBALL vs WATERLOO

SEPT 14 | 1 PM

For Ward 1 Budget

are enrolled in 18 units or more are automatically registered for our Health and Dental Plans, as these are included in your supplementary fees of your tuition. Are you covered under your parent's or spouse's plan? If so, you may opt-out of the Health and Dental plans.

Submissions Due Sept.

16th During Welcome Week, Brian McHattie, the Ward 1 Councillor, met with McMaster students in the MSU Boardroom to discuss the budgeting initiative and to encourage student submissions.

Councillor McHattie recognized that many students are not originally from Hamilton, and said that it was important for them to use their outside perspective to identify aspects and features of their hometowns that could improve Ward 1.

If you are covered by another health or dental plan, but you are not covered 100%, you may utilize your MSU Health and Dental plan coverage and combine it with your current plan. Look into your benefits and compare the two plans before you opt out, as the MSU plans may provide some coverage options that are not currently available to you.

Terry Fox Run Sunday, September 15th @ Noon With generous support from the McMaster and Hamilton community, the McMaster Students Union (MSU) raised over $8,000 for cancer research in 2012 via the annual Terry Fox Run. This year, the MSU goal is set at $10,000 in support of The Terry Fox Foundation. The Terry Fox Run will take place on Sunday, September 15th at 12pm.

The Terry Fox Foundation strives to raise cancer awareness and support cancer research to bring hope to those diagnosed with this terrible illness. Over the past **Please note that if you are a twenty-nine years, McMaster Graduate Student, a student at students have proudly The 20 students that attended Mohawk College who isn't supported the Terry Fox the meeting identified enrolled in the Bachelor of Foundation in this mission by numerous concerns Technology program, or a raising funds and participation surrounding pedestrian safety. part-time student, you are not in the annual Terry Fox Run. In particular, lighting and covered by the McMaster Each year, students, faculty, pedestrian signage were Students Union Health and staff and community members identified as two key areas of Dental plan.** walk or run a 5K or 10K course improvement. Students also around the McMaster mentioned concerns regarding The opt-out period runs from University campus and public transit, and the need for September 1 to September commemorate the heroic bus shelters and posted 30, there are no exceptions to efforts of Terry Fox. To date, schedules was also brought this deadline and we will not the MSU-led Terry Fox Run at forward. be taking requests.

McMaster University has raised over $469,000 to benefit Student Input Needed to Help cancer research City of Hamilton Budget Process This year the Terry Fox run will Ideas for improvements can be be held at the David Braley submitted online until Athletic Center (DBAC) on September 16th. At that time, Sunday, September 15th at a committee consisting of noon. Registration will open at Ward 1 residents will select September 14, 2013 from 11am. For more information on some of the most feasible 09:00AM until 05:00PM how to participate, please visit ideas, and an open voting msumcmaster.ca/terryfox.

MUSC 318 process will take place from October 1st to 21st. Past For more information, please This is a certified Red Cross improvements include contact: Emergency First Aid CPR/AED Kyle Diab sidewalk improvements, Course taught by experienced Terry Fox Run Coordinator pedestrian lighting, as well as members of the student additions to recreational terryfox@msu.mcmaster.ca volunteer Emergency First infrastructure in city parks.

905-525-09140 ext. 26575 Response Team (EFRT). This course provides simple First To learn more about the Aid and CPR techniques useful process, please visit in the home or workplace. www.ForWard1.ca.

CPR/AED Levels A, C, and HCP are available.

For more information, please Tuesday, September 17 contact: Click here for more informaJeff Doucet Attend a blood donor clinic tion about the Emergency Vice President (Finance) First Aid and CPR/AED Course on: Tuesday September 17, vpfinance@msu.mcmaster.ca 2013 905-525-9140 ext. 24109 Cost: $75.00 Time: 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM Date and Time: September 14 Location: McMaster University from 9 AM to 5 PM. Student Centre (MUSC), CIBC Location: MUSC (Student Hall, 3rd Floor Centre) Room 318

Emergency First Aid and CPR/AED Course (Level A, C, or HCP)

Blood Donor Clinic

MSU Health & Dental OPTOUT

All courses are approved by September 01, 2013 at 12:00AM until September the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB 30, 2013 at 11:59PM Undergraduate students who

The McMaster Students Union saves lives through the Partners for Life program with Canadian Blood Services. To ensure your donations count toward the MSU Partners for Life goal you must register as a member of your organization.

1. go to www.blood.ca/partnersforlife 2. click on "Join Partners for Life", than click on "Member" 3. click on "Sign me up to donate with my team!"

4. fill out the secure form and click "Submit" Your Partner ID is: MCMA011297 For more information, please contact Katie Ferguson at katie.ferguson@blood.ca

MacFarmstand: Weekly Market September 18, 2013 from 11:30AM until 04:30PM Nina de Villiers Memorial Garden or Inside the Student Centre Come by and see the different Fruits, Vegetables, Breads and Honeys we have to offer.

Also announcing (insert fanfare), we'll be providing prepared foods for you, and students will now have access to borrow all the books in our library - cookbooks, ideological shifts and more!

Hope to see you soon, our CSRs will love to help you pick the fresh produce that's right for you!

Career Fair September 19, 2013 from 10:00PM until 03:00PM DBAC Connect with employers from a variety of employment sectors at Career Fair!

Be there. Bring your resume.

Dress for Success!

To book your life saving appointment go on-line to https://donatenow.blood.ca or call 1-888-2-DONATE. Walk-ins are welcome.

WELCOME BACK!!

SPORTS

Thursday, Sep 12, 2013

theSil.ca

B11

Fresh start for women’s team Despite losing some veteran players, head coach Brett Mosen is excited for the future The Marauders have come out of the gate strong, with a tie against Laurier - a perennial championship contender.

HEAD COACH BRETT MOSEN C/O FRASER CALDWELL

Scott Hastie Managing Editor As the McMaster women’s soccer season kicks off, it’s much more than a new campaign – it’s a changing of the guard.

2012 ended with an appearance in the OUA Final Four, with the team dropping the bronze medal game to the CIS finalist Queen’s Gaels. The future was bright as the team exceeded expectations and could expect to return all but two players – both who were graduating.

Except, that continuity never materialized.

“At the end of the season, I asked all the players who was coming back. I wanted everyone at camp, but the reply I got from some players was that they weren’t coming back,” said head coach Brett Mosen.

The coach added that there were players who changed their tune through the summer, but the team had already finished recruiting.

And now, the team stands with 16 players in their first year of eligibility. Compare this with only 11 players with at least a year

of OUA competition under their belt, and it looks like a brand new program. The overhauled roster, with an average age of 19, could suffer through significant growing pains as players learn to balance school, athletics and social life, but the team refuses to alter expectations.

“We’ve recruited well and we have players who are capable of stepping up to take us where we want to go,” said Mosen. “The reality of it is, you’re always going to lose players. Let’s lose them quickly and build for where we want to get to. Obviously, where we want to get to is a national championship.”

The greatest concern for Mosen and his coaching staff is the learning curve for young OUA athletes because of the difference between university athletics and their youth clubs. OUA competition involves a larger age range than youth soccer, with the OUA ranging from age 17 to 23 and youth soccer sticking to one birth year. Older players have the upper hand, as they have been able to train at university facilities, have access to strength and conditioning programs, while

“

“I’m excited about the season, as are the other coaches. These are a group of players we put together, now what can they do at the next level?”

Brett Mosen, head coach of McMaster’s women’s soccer team

also playing at the higher level for a longer period of time.

“Right now, the rookies think that what they’ve come away from is how it is, and it’s not. But that’s where coaching comes into it.

We’ve got to be patient if we want to get them to another level,” said Mosen.

The women’s squad will not waver from its playing style (which Mosen describes simply as an “attacking style”) and expects its young players to catch up fast.

Mosen admires the senior players for the job they have done

to help and advise the rookies with everything involved in their first year of donning the Maroon and Grey.

Taking on such a young group is not an easy task, especially not for a man who is also busy coaching KitchenerWaterloo United of the Premier Development League, but Mosen is clearly looking forward to the challenge.

“I’m excited about the season, as are the other coaches. These are a group of players we put together, now what can they do at the next level? It is a great team to work with – they aren’t lazy, they work hard and they want to learn.

It’s a coach’s dream, really,” said Mosen.

With the majority of the season ahead and a young and eager roster, the bold expectations of a CIS championship could soon be a reality. @Scott1Hastie

Players to watch 2 Emma Mangialardi - LW

The fourth-year winger could be the team’s leading scorer when the season is said and done. Mangialardi is quick and willing to battle with defenders for contested balls.

14 Taylor Davis - LB

The left-winger turned left back provides veteran stability to the back line. Once she returns from injury, the defensive line will receive a major boost.

1 Brittany Duffey - GK

Hailing from Markham, Ont., Duffey is Mac’s saving grace. The fourth year keeper can preserve narrow leads and gives the Marauders a reliable option in the back.

13 Allessia Marzilli - MF

The rookie has already made in presence felt on the field, establishing herself as the team’s police officer. Although she earned two yellows against Brock, her energy is a welcome sight.

Mac kicks into gear with two wins Laura Sinclair Senior Sports Editor After a successful season last year, winning the OUA Championships, the Marauders men’s soccer team is back and hungry for another victorious season.

But the team does not just have its sight on victory within the OUA. They are striving to win a medal at CIS Championships this year, especially after facing some bad luck in the opening round of the national championships last season.

“I think we were a bit unlucky with our draw last year having to meet up with Laval for the opening game on their home field” said head coach, Dino Perri.

The Marauders team fought hard in the second half against the Laval Rouge et Or, but the last stint of effort was too little, too late.

“It took us a while to get going in that game and after going down 1-0 in the first half, we could not find the equalizer in the second half, despite out playing Laval,” said Perri.

Now, the team finds itself in a position where they are missing four of their strongest players from last season. Mark Reilly, Garrett McConville, Andrew Pastoric and Rob Schlosser have all graduated, which means that the team will have big shoes to fill for this year.

“Although we have the talent to fill in the gaps left behind, their leadership and experience will be sorely missed. Time will tell if it will be replaced,” said Perri.

The secondary talent last season had a chance to prove

themselves this past weekend in Waterloo and St. Catharines, where they rose to the occasion against the Waterloo Warriors and Brock Badgers.

In Waterloo, the Marauders could not find an opportunity to get the ball at the back of the net in the first half, which ended in a 0-0 draw.

In the second half, midfielder Christian Truyen finally got a breakaway and scored twice in a row to put the Marauders up 2-0.

In the 70th minute of the game, Gersi Xhuti extended the lead to 3-0 over the Warriors from the penalty spot.

The Marauders held on for the 3-1 victory in the match.

In the game against the Brock Badgers, the Marauders grabbed the lead in the second minute of play, with Gersi Xhuti scoring his second goal of the season.

The Badgers looked to make a comeback shortly after, as Van Wissen added a scoring touch to make the game a 1-1 tie.

In the second half, time was on the Marauders side. Midfielder Nick Morris scored two goals, in the span of two minutes, 10 minutes into the half.

The two wins over the weekend have solidified the Marauders into the upper tier of OUA West.

After two great victories, it’s safe to say that the gaps of last years experienced veterans will not take long to be filled.

Next up, the Marauders will be hosting the York University Lions at the Ron Joyce Stadium on Friday, Sept. 13. Kick-off will be at 7:15 p.m. @Lsinkky

C/O FRASER CALDWELL

Thursday, Sep 12, 2013

theSil.ca

SPORTS

B12

Doing the best you can for your athletes How athletic therapy can help out in more ways than one

PHOTO BY RYAN HUEGLIN/THE CORD

Shelby Blackley National Sports Editor

WATERLOO (CUP) — Ja-

mie Carlson has seen athletes come back from some remarkable injuries. “You hate to sell the human spirit short,” he said.

Carlson started at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont. as a certified athletic therapist nearly twenty years ago.

Throughout his tenure, he has seen university athletes at the amateur level, the professional level and the international level get hurt with acute and chronic injuries.

And it always comes down to helping the athletes reach their full potential without succumbing to injury.

“It’s doing the best you can for your athletes,” Carlson said.

“It’s a fine line between doing what’s best for them and kind of still allowing them to compete.

My philosophy’s always been kind of if someone gets hurt, can I fix them by the time they have to play again? Or can we get them to play again?”

Athletic therapy focuses on the prevention and immediate care of injuries. Contrary to physiotherapy, athletic therapy centres primarily on the athlete and emergency care at the time of the injury.

According to Teresa Hussey, another certified athletic therapist at WLU and Sideline Therapy Clinic in Waterloo, there are two aspects to athletic therapy.

“There’s the clinical side,

and then there’s the field side,” Hussey explained. “The clinical side would be very typical to your physiotherapy clinics. We do assessment, rehab, taking care of injuries, all of those types of things in a general clinical setting.

“The other side is the field side. So that’s all the on-field emergences, we do all the first aid, all the pre-game taping, postgame whatever needs to be done, but you’re there mainly for all of the emerg[ency] stuff.”

Athlete therapy is, mainly, total athlete care. The therapist can take care of anything from a minor ankle sprain during a soccer game to a major hip injury in a football game.

The therapist must be ready to handle the injury on the field immediately.

“We’re a mish-mash of a trainer, ambulance attendant, physiologist, nutritionist; we’re all kind of packaged up into one ball,” Carlson said.

Because of the various natures of athletic injuries, protocol can change from case to case, depending on whether the injury is acute or chronic.

However, there is a main process every athletic therapist follows when they are called onto the field, court or ice.

“It’s like anything. It’s a stepwise approach,” Carlson said.

“You need to figure out exactly what you’re dealing with and figure out what the cause of the problem was.”

“When you’re treating someone on the field, [you are] kind of taking a quick history,

doing a quick observation [and] special testing. That’s kind of what we consider our ‘quickie on field’ assessment,” Hussey continued.

After finishing the quick assessment, the therapist must decide whether the athlete can be taken off the field, and if so, how quickly and how safely.

As part of protocol, according to Carlson, the first 72 hours is inflammation control of the injury. Afterwards, the therapist progressively moves through tissue regeneration and reconditioning, then the question of returning to sport.

The difference in the process comes when dealing with acute or chronic injuries.

Acute injuries are one-time injuries, and chronic injuries are persisting for a long time or constantly recurring.

Both Hussey and Carlson stressed that while acute injuries follow a very basic rehabilitation depending on the nature of the injury, chronic injuries can be a lot more difficult to deal with.

“These cases, they’re a lot more complicated from the clinical side,” Hussey said. “You have to look at a lot more things from the whole body. So that’s when you start looking at what’s going on in the hips, is there a problem in the back or a problem in the knees or something that’s contributing to why they keep doing it.

Which is sometimes easier said than done.”

To add to the factors, injuries can vary depending on the sport, and even the position. Hussey, who deals only with football, can

see a variety of injuries during a game depending on which player gets hurt in which position.

“If you have soccer, generally soccer people all [have] the same structure,” she said. “But if you have an o-line, then you have a receiver or a quarterback, we’re talking two completely different things. So you can break it down, to each individual position almost has things that they are more likely to have happen to them. And that would be how you break it down because it’s such a different sport.”

The position, or sport, can evidently affect the return-to-play decision as well.

“When they’re coming back from injury, you need to know [everything],” Hussey said. “My o-line man doesn’t need to sprint more than five yards. So his perimeter for going back is going to be way different than a receiver who has to be able to spring 40 yards down the field.”

“You have to root around until you find out what all of the causes are,” Carlson said.

During their tenures as athletic therapists, Carlson and Hussey, alongside Jen Childs, who is also a certified athletic therapist for WLU, have experienced very rare and traumatic injuries, including dislocated hips, serious concussions and possible spinal injuries.

But despite the severity of the crazy occurrences in their jobs, both Carlson and Hussey dedicate themselves to maximizing the athlete’s performance without burden from an injury.

“At that time it doesn’t matter whose team is whose, we’ve got a kid that you don’t know if he’s going to walk or what’s going to happen,” Hussey said. “It’s a very rewarding job.

“

“My philosophy’s always been kind of if someone gets hurt, can I fix them by the time they have to play again? Or can we get them to play again?”

Jamie Carlson, athletic therapist Wilfrid Laurier University.

Mens lacrosse trumps Blues

Marauders baseball falls short to Gaels

Laura Sinclair Senior Sports Editor

John Bauer The Silhouette

The Marauders lacrosse team won with a score of 8-5 over the Toronto Varsity Blues this past weekend at Varsity Centre in Toronto.

The maroon and grey got to a lead early in the first quarter, with three goals within the first ten minutes of play.

Carter Williams scored on a drive, and Kyle Lindsay and Mark Phillips got two other snipes to make the score 3-0.

McMaster had a one-man advantage and took the opportunity to score a goal. They extended the lead up to 4-1 after the first quarter.

The Marauders kept the lead for the remainder of the game,

with scores of 6-3 before at halftime and 7-3 at the end of the 3rd quarter.

The maroon and grey managed to extend their lead into the 4th quarter, finishing off the Varsity Blues with a final goal making it 8-5.

The leading scorers for Mac were Williams, who scored three goals and one assist, and Phillips who had three goals.

Lindsay and Adams each had one goal, and Mitch Iszkula had two assists.

Mac goalie Max Yavitt also played exceptionally well, with 18 stops.

Next on schedule for the Marauders is a road trip to London, where they will take on the Western Mustangs. @Lsinkky

As the days get shorter and calender turns to the -bers, most folks begin to accept that summer is at its end.

To a select few however, shorter days mean Tuesday nights under the lights at Bernie Arbour stadium, the smells of freshly cut grass, rosin, and pine tar, and more frequent trips to the corner store for sunflower seeds.

Yes, to McMaster’s boys of summer, summer has just begun.

Coming off a fairly disappointing season last year, McMaster’s baseball team enters the season with key returnees Jake Chiaravalle and Travis Flint in the outfield and Brandon DaSilva and Travis Gibson in the infield.

Gone are OUA All-Star Paul Saville and workhorse pitchers Tomas Rincon and Carlos Cabrero. With overwhelming turnover on the mound, the Marauders will look to newcomers like outfielder Mike Campagnolo to hit the ground running offensively while the bullpen works out early season kinks.

Unfortunately, both the offense and defense were lacking Wednesday in Kingston, Ont. as the Marauders opened their season against the Queen’s Gaels.

Starting pitcher Kyle Angelow was done in by five errors leading to two unearned runs in a 6-0 loss.

First baseman Rob Birtles put in an impressive effort on both sides of the ball, going 2-4 with a double, a stolen base, and seven put outs.

Campagnolo was the best of the rest, also going 2-4 and recording four put outs.

While the Gaels were limited to only one extra base hit, they worked their way around the bases due to Maroon errors and timely singles.

Pitcher Jeremy McDonald kept Mac batters guessing all day, recording six strikeouts over seven innings, sharing the shutout with Tyler Whealy.

Mac baseball fans can get their fix at Bernie Arbour Stadium until mid-October, with doubleheaders most Saturdays and Sundays and the odd weekday game thrown in.

Their next home game is scheduled for Sept. 14 at 1:00 p.m. sharp, when they play a two game set against Waterloo Warriors.

andex

c2 • the silhouette’s art & culture magazine

thursday, september 12, 2013

Senior Editor: Bahar Orang

Assistant Editor:Cooper Long

Contributors: Kacper Niburski, Tomi Milos

Design: Karen Wang Cover: Bahar Orang

stage FRI 6:45exclaim! p.m. sensei 10:55 p.m.

wintersleep

dr. disc stage 7:20 p.m.

8:20 p.m.

city and the sea the danks

stage SAT 2:05 p.m. airport ps i love you 5:50 p.m.

8:50 p.m.

10:45 p.m.

said the whale yo la tengo passion pit

exclaim! stage 5:50 p.m.

10:20 p.m.

metz f*cked up

dr. disc stage 11:00 p.m.

the dirty nil

waterfront stage 1:00 p.m.

2:20 p.m.

burlington slam hamilton city roller girls

SUPERCRAWL THE COVER STORY I curiously came across a student reading a bright red medical book outside HSL. Upon closer inspection, I realized he was actually reading Kurt Vonnegut. Back to school indeed.

editorial

thursday, september 12, 2013

the silhouette’s art & culture magazine • c3

where my concrete desert blooms This past summer, I had the opportunity to teach an English class for foreign exchange students from China. I wondered how, in the short time we had together, I could offer them a glimpse of this city that they might find inspiring in some small way. I’ve spent a lot of time the past few years thinking about place – what makes places meaningful? What makes them worth caring for? What draws us to a place? What drives us away? They’re questions that I took for granted before I moved to Hamilton, before I traveled to Europe, before I dated someone outside my cultural background, and before I met my Chinese students. But, a sense of place, a sense of home – it is inextricably tied to our identities, it sparks and resolves conflict, and it is literally the foundation upon which we construct our entire lives and histories.

And so I wondered, what can I say, what can I express about Hamilton as little more than an admiring Torontonion?

What sideline stories could I share with individuals who had

never even been to Canada?

Could it be meaningful? Could it be authentic? Could I ever truly claim any part of this city for myself?

And so I turned to Tings Chak, who came to Canada as a little girl, and then later moved to Hamilton from Thornhill for McMaster. Her graphic novella, where the concrete desert blooms, is about this journey across cities and continents. Everyday in summer class we read aloud from her book, and learned about her story and the stories of the other people she met.

She speaks about art, activism, and the physical and cultural landscape that is Hamilton.

After reading about her conversations with Brian Prince, we visited Brian Prince Bookseller’s and spent some time as a class marveling at the pretty books.

She writes about her first hike through Cootes, and we promptly followed suit on one particularly green and sunny day.

And the little drawing of herself floating on her back in the tiny pool of Chedoke Falls inspired my own effort to find those falls.

I eventually discovered them after two failed attempts and several hours of walking off the trail over giant rocks and near frightening cliffs.

Her work opened hours of discussion and sometimes debate in the classroom. I listened as they spoke about cultural workers in China, and we talked about issues of censorship. We asked questions about loneliness and homelessness and wondered what the cure might be. We acknowledged the story’s accessibility and thought about why we sometimes make it so difficult to understand and relate to simple, human ideas. We thought about the arts and the kind of storytelling it offers and the communities it can build – within whole cities and inside tiny classrooms.

I hope that, in the coming year, ANDY can ask some of those same questions and tell some of those stories, and that it too can have a place in Hamilton’s strange and lovely narrative.

• Bahar Orang @baharoh

the big tickle

a motiva tional s - mackay peaker russell

iend my new frssner me - connor

C/O TINGS CHAK

who or what is ANDY?

compiled by bahar, cooper, and yoseif

the kid from toy story - gajan pathnanathan

an average joe - shirley deng

roy) unlike le g t o n ( t s den a gho - meme

c4 & c5 • the silhouette’s art & culture magazine

ANDY speaks to acclaimed SF author Robert J. Sawyer about his archival donation to McMaster and the star-studded conference in his honour

thursday, september 12, 2013 In the galaxy of science fiction writers, Robert J. Sawyer is a particularly shining star. Author of 23 novels, Sawyer has received all three of the most prestigious awards for best science fiction novel of the year: the Hugo, the Nebula, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. The Mississauga-based writer is one of only eight people in history to accomplish this feat, and the only Canadian.

Soon, the documents that gave rise to this body of work will reside at McMaster. In November 2011, it was announced that McMaster would be the official repository of Sawyer’s archives. In honour of the donation, this weekend (September 13-15) McMaster will host a conference entitled “Science Fiction: The Interdisciplinary Genre.” In addition to Sawyer, the guest list includes several other heavyweights of Canadian science fiction, such as authors Julie E. Czerneda, Élizabeth Vonarburg, and Robert Charles Wilson, as well as editors John Robert Colombo and David Hartwell.

The Robert J. Sawyer Archives at McMaster will include manuscripts, correspondence, working papers, journals, and other materials. Yet, this massive transfer of documents began with just a single email. In March 2008, Carl Spadoni, former Director of The William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections at McMaster, contacted Sawyer in conjunction with former University Librarian Jeffrey Trzeciak. “I was delighted to get this letter,” said Sawyer, “[Spadoni] went on to explain why he wanted the archives and he wanted them as part of McMaster’s very extensive holdings in Canadian literature.”

Other institutions, including the University of California, Riverside, the University of South Florida, and the Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy, had previously sought Sawyer’s papers. Yet, McMaster’s pitch was unique. “When I started thinking about what I wanted my legacy to be and how I wanted to be remembered, I decided I wanted to be remembered for my contributions as a Canadian writer. That McMaster came to me recognizing that I was, in their estimation, an important part of the Canadian literary landscape, swung the balance,” said Sawyer.

Even before various groups began seeking Sawyer’s archives, however, the author was already preparing for such a donation. In fact, this was one of the first lessons he learned when he joined the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1983. “Frederik Pohl, the great science fiction writer, had written an article in the handbook that said, save your papers, someday they’ll be worth something. You can donate them for a tax break to some institution. At

that point, at age 23, I still had a lot of the stuff that I had written as a teenager,” said Sawyer.

He heeded this advice, even though few of his colleagues were so diligent.

“So many science fiction writers that I’ve spoken to have said, wow you kept that stuff? And I said yeah, didn’t you read the handbook when you joined the organization?” said the decorated writer.

Five years have passed since McMaster first approached Sawyer. In the interim, however, he claims to have entered a transitional phase that makes his donation particularly timely. “I’m writing my 23rd novel right now,” he explained. “I don’t have any contracts to write any subsequent novels. Not because I can’t get them, but because I haven’t sought them. Right now, I’m vigorously pursuing more film and television An enormous amount of work. I’m at a point where I may or may effort goes into creating not continue writing lots and lots of novels.”

Although he was quick to add that he was an ambitious work of sci- not announcing his retirement, the author ence fiction. felt that it was “a good emotional time and career milestone time to box up, and get out of the house all the things related to that phase.”

McMaster is still completing the archival work necessary to make these boxes available to library users. Nevertheless, Sawyer already has certain aspirations for how the contents will be used. “One of the things I want is for scholars to be able to trace the development of an idea,” he said, “and see how, through successive drafts, I’ve honed in on what the work was supposed to say thematically and philosophically, and got it to a degree of clarity that might not have been apparent in the initial drafts.” In this way, Sawyer hopes to demonstrate that, “fundamentally, science fiction is hard work. An enormous amount of effort goes into creating an ambitious work of science fiction.”

Dispelling the myth that science fiction is lightweight or hastily written literature is similarly a goal of this weekend’s conference. According to Sawyer, “When a big university like McMaster says we’re going to do a big, splashy conference about Canadian science fiction, or about science fiction, that sends a signal that its more than just something to be ghettoized.”

Likewise, Sawyer hopes that the conference will demonstrate the considerable breadth of Canada science fiction literature. “I want to remind everybody who studies Canadian literature, and everybody who teaches Canadian

“

literature, that that field includes science fiction by Canadian authors,” he said, “and hopefully remind them to include it in their course syllabi, or in their research papers if they are students.”

Sawyer cites the interdisciplinary nature of science fiction as another important takeaway for conference attendees. “There is no other field of writing that draws on so many disparate areas,” he said. “I was thrilled by the breadth of academic areas from which we had paper submissions. We have philosophers, theologians, game theorists, astronomers, computer scientists, geneticists; the variety of kinds of people who put in paper proposals was absolutely what we were looking to highlight.”

Among the scheduled presenters is Sawyer himself. In addition to delivering an inaugural address on Friday evening, Sawyer will also be speaking on Matian geology and paleontology in his most recent novel, Red Planet Blues.

This weekend, these insights into science fiction will be available to all comers. Registration for the conference is free and open to the general public, which pleases Sawyer. “McMaster really came to the table and said, let’s make it free,” he added. “I’m absolutely thrilled that McMaster recognized the value of having this be open to the public, and particularly to students.”

For many McMaster students, daily life at the university may seem humdrum, and far removed from the fantastic visions of science fiction. Yet, with its accessibility, diverse paper presentations, and engaging guest of honour, this weekend’s conference promises to be on-campus experience that is out of this world.

• Cooper Long @coop_long

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NASA AND SFWRITER.COM

c6 • the silhouette’s art & culture magazine

I don’t consider myself well read by any means. When I look into a library, I am embarrassed by the fact that even if I were to spend the rest of my life drowning in the sea of books, I wouldn’t even make it out of the kiddie pool before my hair grayed and my arms sagged and I breathed my last weak, little breath over a page of Tolstoy or Chemometrics for Pattern Recognition. I would die without making a dent in the avalanche of books.

But despite the overwhelming inability to observe all that has been written, I try to read daily. I stretch my fingers, dog-ear my pages, and I sit with invisible authors prodding me to smile when they did and be sad when they were.

Sometimes, I find rubbish among the words, though I can hardly be such a judge having glossed over so little in my lifetime.

Other times I stumble upon a great book that will make you close your eyes and imagine that you were having breakfast with the author of the piece and they just told you a funny joke and oh how you both shared in the laughter. In these books and in the little time that I spend drawn into the microcosm of their work, I am often convinced the two of us are long lost pals, and the words are just deeply personal letters jumbled and scrambled.

One such author who I feel such an unspoken camaraderie with is Kurt Vonnegut. Unlike any other novelist before, I feel as though he writes to me personally. His verbal freshness hurtles through the worst of humanity’s troubles and contextualizes my own problems with a dose of hilarity.

With each sentence, he scolds his readers yet praises them, entertains yet moralizes them, and most of all, makes them laugh above all else.

Vonnegut is great because he writes not as a man who wishes to be remembered but as a man who wishes to remember man. And like humankind who is a cluster of paradoxes, hypocrisies, and illogical policies, Vonnegut writes with a curious blend of wisdom and bitterness, wit and resignation, and an

thursday, september 12, 2013

endless nose thumbing at the Universe. All in all, Vonnegut is a funny man who blurs the subtlety of sadness and happiness in life because as he said in A Man Without a Country, “Life is no way to treat an animal.”

Below is a Kurt Vonnegut bookbag of sorts because if you read nothing else or if you decide that the flurry of books is too daunting, then Kurt Vonnegut is a good place to start and end your literary escapade.

It’s enough, but just barely and so it goes, Vonnegut would tell you.

Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death Arguably Vonnegut’s most recognized and quoted book, Slaughterhouse Five is not so much an antiwar book (there’s better luck in “writing an anti-glacier book”) as it is a discussion of the inevitability of hardship, dying, and those brief illusions of a controlled, stable reality. Employing the harrowing yet uplifting phrase that appears detached from the prose it self – so it goes – the narrative suggests an acquiescence to a life, and ultimately death, that we can barely call our own due to circumstances that we are as much in control of as a bird in a birdcage. The story ends that way too – birds chirp and chirp and chirp again.

Favourite Quote: “Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment.

There is no why.”

The Sirens of Titan As Vonnegut’s second foray into fiction, the 1959 tale follows Malachi Constant as he travels from Earth to Mars to Mercury to Titan and then back to Earth again. Like Slaughterhouse, Sirens of Titan mirrors Vonnegut’s principle of resignation to fate and the realization that all things, us included, are a series of accident no more permanent than a whoopee cushion in a rock concert.

Everything is predicted in the first chapter: Malachi Constant’s father racks up a fortune by sheer luck and a handy Bible, Martians invade Earth and are massacred senselessly, and Tralfamadorian’s – an alien species that

know all truth in the Universe – sift through space and time with ease of a light switch. It’s funny. It’s sad. It’s Vonnegut becoming Vonnegut for the first time in his fiction and staying that way throughout all his other novels.

Favourite Quote: “If there are such things as angels, I hope they are organized along the lines of the Mafia.”

Kurt Vonnegut: Letters Kurt’s letters capture the dark, wry humour that he shared with his friends and seeped into his writing. The laughter bled into the pages is cold and hard and sometimes it feels like a cough, but you see bits and pieces of the Kurt with each word. As his life flashes by in sentences, you want to tell him that everything will be all right in time; all he has to do is keep writing, just keep writing, and luckily for us, he does. Here are some snippets.

In a class assignment: “Do not bubble. Do not spin your wheels. Use words I know.”

To the editors of The New York Times: “Dear Editors: It may gives us some comfort in these worrisome times to know that in all of history only one country has actually been crazy enough to detonate atomic weapons in midst of civilian populations, turning unarmed men, women and children into radioactive soot and bonemeal. And that was a long, long time ago now.”

To Norman Mailer: “I am cuter than you are.”

Mother Night This book is about a fairy godmother. It isn’t exactly fairytale – it deals with Herman Campbell, a fictitious Nazi propagandist. He is awaiting trial for his war crimes perpetuated during World War Two. Eventually he, like all of us, dies, and like Kurt Vonnegut reminds us: “When you’re dead, you’re dead.”

Poof. Gone. Kaput. Show’s over, folks.

Favourite Quote: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”

•

Kacper Niburski

KACPER AND KURT: A BOOKBAG

thursday, september 12, 2013

the silhouette’s art & culture magazine • c7

GRAPHICS / KAREN WANG & BAHAR ORANG

c8 • the silhouette’s art & culture magazine

TIFF Report

thursday, september 12, 2013

SILHOUETTE STOCK PHOTO

From Harry to Howl: A new showcase for Daniel Radcliffe Kill Your Darlings

Director: John Krokidas One would think that having three browsers open the minute that TIFF tickets went on sale would have secured me a better spot for the national premiere of John Krokidas’ highly anticipated directorial debut, Kill Your Darlings. Alas, I had no such luck. After waiting by my Macbook for an hour and a half and entertaining doubts, I couldn’t believe it when I was finally able to purchase my ticket.

After the hardships I had endured, I was ready to take the TIFF organizers to the guillotine. Luckily for them, my anger dissipated when I arrived in Toronto late that steamy Tuesday night, but early enough to catch the all-star cast of Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan, Michael C. Hall, Ben Foster, and Jack Huston walk the red carpet. To my great bereavement, Elizabeth Olsen was

absent from the proceedings.

As someone who’s had a Google Alert set up for this film since 2011, I was thrilled to finally take it in. The plot revolves around the troubling 1944 murder of David Kammerer at the hands of Lucien Carr, which set some of the most polarizing writers of the 20th century - like Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, and Jack Kerouac - together on the path to literary success as the Beat Generation.

Looking to further distance himself from being typecast as Harry Potter, Radcliffe showcases his delightful acting chops in the lead role of eccentric poet Allen Ginsberg. We follow him to Columbia University where he is promptly entranced

by Lucien Carr’s egotistical rants about a new form of expression that he dubs the “new vision”, subtly playing on a Yeats’ work. Dane DeHaan contributes a stunning portrayal of Carr, aided by his uncanny

resemblance to the man in his youth.

Although he’s a brilliant intellectual, we quickly find that Carr has a vice he cannot shake in the form of David Kammerer (played by a grim Michael C. Hall) — a predatory older man who is infatuated with “Lou” to the degree that would now be considered stalking. Krokidas adroitly grapples with the tension that arises when a stranger threatens to undermine the work that the young writers are putting in to hone their craft. In some cases, “work” can mean taking any number of drugs, of which William Burroughs remains the connoisseur. Ben Foster is riveting in his appearance as the Naked Lunch author, nailing the lazy drawl of the St. Louis-born novelist, while Huston is relatively one-dimensional as Kerouac, failing to show the tenderhearted side of the On The Road author.

My one gripe about the film is how it skirts around Kammerer’s obsessive rela-

tionship with Carr, at times to glamourize the length that the Beats went to for kicks.

While scenes where Ginsberg & Co. replace Beowulf in the Columbia library with restricted books depicting erotic acts are entertaining, one wishes that Krokidas would have delved further into the darkness of the crime, similar to Bennett Miller’s work with Capote, rather than sensationalizing the Beats’ antics. That said, the film will be well worth the price of admission once it enjoys a wider release.

•

Tomi Milos