Impr int The university of Waterloo’s official student newspaper
Friday, November 23, 2007
vol 30, no 19
imprint . uwaterloo . ca
Women Warriors rock Ridgebacks
jenn serec
The UW women’s hockey team scoring against the University of Information Technology Ridgebacks on Sunday, November 19, 2007 at the CIF Arena. The Warriors led 2-0 after the first period, cruising to a 3-1 victory. An easy win in a season of modest standings.
Feds referendum on refugee support
Xpressly ours Travis Myers
Brandi Cowen
staff reporter
staff reporter
If you’ve recently set foot in the Student Life Centre you likely noticed construction on the west end of the building, where the old Feds office once stood alone. But the temporary gate and giant dumpster jutting out from the doors near Tim Hortons are just a prelude to the production of what Feds hopes will be a major improvement for student retail services on campus: Federation Xpress. Feds VP of administration and finance Del Pereira says the reasoning behind moving both Aussie’s from its basement hideaway by the Atrium, and Scoops from inside the east set of SLC doors, is quite simple: “Location. We’re in the business of serving students best.” See XPRESS, page 14
This winter, the Federation of Students will hold a referendum on the sponsorship of student refugees through the World University Service of Canada’s (WUSC) Student Refugee
Program. The referendum will ask UW students whether, for a cost of $1 to $2 per term, they would be willing to sponsor up to two student refugees at UW on an ongoing basis. Since 1978, the Student Refugee Program has allowed hundreds of young people living in refugee camps to resume their studies at Canadian
universities and colleges. Nationwide, over 50 post-secondary institutions participate in the program; every year, between 40 and 50 student refugees enter the country to study as permanent residents at one of these institutions.
is also a neurologist and a photographer — was visiting UW as part of the Hagey Lecture Series, which brings internationally distinguished scholars or creative people to the campus. Dr. Bondar delivered her lecture, “When we get to Mars, will our legs be flippers? What space medicine teaches Canadians about life on Earth,” on November 14 at the Humanities Theatre. The title of the lecture, she explained, comes from how astronauts
do not use their legs in space. When on a space walk the legs are usually fixed in place and the astronaut’s upper body seems to “move around like seaweed.” With this concept in mind she launched into her lecture, highlighting the different ways in which the body acts in microgravity, the importance of space medicine research, ethics and her hopes for the future of space travel.
See REFUGEE, page 3
Bondar speaks on space medicine Chantelle McGee staff reporter
jenn serec
Feds hopes student cravings will be met by the new store.
“There is something special in the northern air of Sault Ste Marie,” announced the VP academic provost, Dr. Amit Chakma, in his introduction of Dr. Roberta Bondar. He was speaking of Bondar’s hometown, an origin she shares with UW president David Johnston. Bondar, the astronaut — who
See BONDAR, page 11
STUDENT ADVOCACY FED GOV’T
POSTSECONDARY ISSUES ANDREW TELEGDI
Since 1993, your voice in Ottawa on Post-Secondary Issues.
HON. ANDREW TELEGDI P.C., M.P. andrew@kw.igs.net 519-746-1573 www.telegdi.org
YOUR VOICE IN OTTAWA!
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news@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
Refugee: Upcoming vote to decide progress of refugee program at UW
continued from cover
Each student refugee is sponsored by an on- campus WUSC group that raises the necessary funds to support the student for one year, negotiates the waiver of tuition and residence fees and collects donations of items that are essential to the student, both academically and in their day-to-day lives. The program is unique in Canada, as it is the only initiative that links resettlement with post-secondary education. UW’s participation in the Student Refugee Program is relatively new, dating back to 2005. In November of that year, the UW WUSC Local Committee was created to oversee the launch of the program on campus. Since then, UW has sponsored two student refugees through the program: Tariku Kebede and Samuel Banti, both from the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. Sponsoring a student refugee is a huge undertaking for those involved with the WUSC, as well as the broader university community. The UW WUSC Local Committee has raised funds and secured contributions totalling $131,650 in just two years. Donations come from all areas on campus and take many forms, as illustrated in the group’s fall newsletter.
For example, for the 2007/2008 academic year, Banti was the recipient of: a two-year tuition waiver from the Office of the President; $2000 from the Office of the Vice-President Academic; a waiver of fees for two-terms of accommodation at St. Paul’s United College; one year’s accommodation, a meal plan waiver and a monthly stipend from Conrad Grebel College, valued at $15,500; a tuition waiver for one term’s study at Renison College’s English Language Institute; a computer donated by Information Systems and Technology; a clothing voucher from Mennonite Thrift and Gift; and cash donations from the Faculty of Arts, the Rotary Club of Grand River - KW and various individual donors. As Daniel Richardsen, a board member for the UW WUSC Local Committee, notes: “Right now, there is not a fully structured system in place. The first student, Kedebe, was sponsored through various subsidies and in-kind contributions, while Banti was sponsored mainly through an initiative by Conrad Grebel College’s student contributions.” This winter’s referendum seeks to establish a consistent means of supporting student refugees at UW by ensuring long-term support for the program from undergraduate students. Conrad Grebel has already held
chen-chen
This winter’s referendum seeks to establish a consistent means of supporting student refugees at UW by ensuring long-term support for the program from undergraduate students. a referendum on the Student Refugee Program, in which students voted for a $10 fee per term that will be invested in the Student Refugee Program. This accounts for the large contribution the College has made to support Banti. In addition to standardizing the administration of the Student Refugee Program at UW, the referendum also aims to generate increased support for the program among students. As Richardsen notes, “We have the whole administration on board… But we really want students to be on board with it, too.” He pointed out that “36 other campuses already have a system in place; [the proposed system] will ensure continuity to the program if there is a structured multi-year commitment.” Under the proposed system for administering the Student Refugee Program at UW,
“Feds will collect the money, but it will be managed by a board of directors which will consist of a staff advisor, the Feds Clubs Director and three Local Committee members of WUSC,” Richardsen explains. “We really do need the student levy in place to make this a successful initiative,” added Lisa ter Woort, the staff advisor for the UW WUSC Local Committee. “UW prides itself on being an innovator and on the leading edge in many academic and student pursuits; this is no different. “This project is in line with UW’s Sixth Decade Development Plan, with its stated desire for the ‘internationalization’ of our campus. This not only means sending students overseas in co-ops, internships, etc. but also opening up the door to bring students from overseas in.” bcowen@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Shad Valley’s team on UW campus wins gold Taylor Schnaeringer imprint intern
University of Waterloo students are not the only ones being recognized for their talents and ideas involving science, engineering and entrepreneurship. The high school students who inhabited the UW campus this July were also recognized while participating in the Shad Valley program this summer. The Waterloo Shad team showed their creativity and practical thinking by taking home a gold medal for the NSERC Best Prototype Award. Each year, Shad Valley accepts approximately 625 senior high school students from all over Canada to participate in a one-month in-residence program. The students are sent all over Canada, somewhere between 50 to 60 students per campus. UW has been involved with Shad since 1983 and is currently one of Shad’s
longest running university programs, said Christy Niven, alumni co-ordinator, Shad International. Each student is expected to have an average of 90 per cent or higher, and be exceedingly strong in both science and math. Not only must the student be academically strong, that student must also be “well-rounded;” according to Barry Bisson, president of Shad Valley International, the students must demonstrate drive, initiative, creativity and an entrepreneurial flair. Each year, the campus decides on a theme that all teams follow; the theme of this year was “zero waste technology.” Each team had to develop an engineering prototype of their concept and establish a comprehensive business plan. Bisson adds that Shad has a “triple bottom-line” philosophy, which means that all prototypes should meet high standards of
economic viability, social responsibility and environmental sustainability. The Waterloo Shad students are split into various teams throughout campus to compete at the end of the 30-day term to determine which prototype moves on to nationals. Prototypes from each of the 12 campuses are then sent to nationals to compete. Business professionals judge the projects and business plans; two engineers and a chief scientist judged the prototypes category. The 33 students that participated in the UW Shad team took the gold medal for their prototype with their company, EnviroPackaging Technologies Ltd. The UW team introduced the Evoco System, which Niven described as a system that aims to reduce the conventional plastic produce bag usage in grocery stores across Canada. The Evoco Systems combines the use of reusable bags and electronic Evoco machines.
In using this system the customer can weigh and price their produce and get in and out of the store checkout quickly and efficiently. The judges had positive feedback for the UW team with comments including: “This is an innovative and practical idea that could be implemented” and “The prototype does convey the concept and there has been good thought on customer acceptance — virtual model tour is great!” Shad is proud to have UW participate in the learning experience; Bisson thinks that “UW is an ideal setting for the Shad Valley program. The university is a proverbial ‘cauldron of innovation’ and fostering innovation is the hallmark of Shad Valley’s mission.” With Shad celebrating its 27th anniversary this year, they look forward to continuing their relationship with UW in the future. tschnaeringer@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
News
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
Interfaith panel on environment lacks diversity Minimal representation on student panel prompts Great Hall audience participation Maggie Clark editor-in-chief
This year’s World Religions Conference, tackling the theme “How Religion Can Protect the Environment,� was prefaced by a student panel on Tuesday, November 20 in the Great Hall. The student event, hosted by One Waterloo and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Students’ Association, aimed to address the same question as the annual conference but suffered from a lack of diverse religious representation. Salsabeel Jadi of the Muslim Students Assocation, Tommy Blanchard of the Atheists, Agnostics, and FreeThinkers of Waterloo, and Omar Mohammad Farooq and Ayyaz Mahmood Khan of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Students Association spoke at length about their beliefs as they pertained to respecting the environment. Jadi, the first of the panelists to speak, argued that respecting the environment is intrinsic in the teaching of the Muslim prophet, Muhammad. “Muslims,� she said, “are told to treat animals, plants, and people equally.� She compared her own daily showering habits, using some 400 litres in a 20minute shower, to the 1.6 litres of water she said Muhammad used daily, and recommended moderation as a means of protecting the environment. Farooq went further, stating that according to the Qur’an, the environment affects humanity just as much morally and spiritually, as it does physically. He cited Chapter 30, Verse 41 of the Qur’an, “Corruption has spread on land and sea because of what people’s hands have wrought,� to argue that while Allah created the world, a lack of adherence to Muhammad’s teachings is responsible for global warming, forest fires in California, earthquakes in Pakistan, and similar natural disasters. Khan agreed, introducing the concept of a spiritual reward for the doing of good deeds. Using the parable of an old man planting a tree that wouldn’t bear fruit in his lifetime, Khan argued for the importance of working for the benefit of future generations. This argument resonated with Blanchard’s own, earlier comments about the need for those who do not believe in an afterlife to do what they can in this life to effect lasting change. “There is only this world,� said Blanchard. “So this is [our] only chance.� At the beginning of question period, Blanchard asked Khan if he had meant to alienate non-believers in correlating the doing of good works to salvation. “No, not at all,� said Khan. “A good deed is a good deed no matter who does it.�
Maggie Clark
Students discuss the role of faith in protecting the environment at a panel event hosted by One Waterloo and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Students’ Association. The panel was meant to complement the formal World Religions Conference on November 24. During question period, Syed Anwar, Public Relations Manager of the World Religions Conference, was also quick to highlight the sparse religious turn out. “In a university as great and diverse as Waterloo,� he said, “surely there are students who could speak to other religions. Where are the Sikhs, the Hindus? I challenge those in attendance today to come forward and speak for [those] beliefs.� Vice-President Internal Darcy Higgins, who introduced each of the four original speakers and moderated the discussion, stated that all the religious clubs on campus had been invited to speak at the 2 p.m. panel; only the four speakers in attendance, representing three organizations, responded to the invitation. However, Higgins likewise encouraged audience members to step forward and over the course of question period two students did. The conversation thus expanded to include the personal remarks of Rajiv Tanna, a Hindu; and
Joshua Stevenson, a Christian. The discussion also shifted to address more specific issues. In response to the question of how religious organizations could work with secular groups to further environmental change, Farooq mentioned Humanity First, a group he said the Ahmadiyya Muslim Students’ Association worked closely with during natural disasters. Imprint asked how each organization felt about the tension between working with other religious groups and pursuing an overarching goal of environmental stewardship. All panelists spoke to the need for unity, while Farooq in particular argued for an intrinsic nobility in all moral beliefs: “All codes of conduct are meant to civilise. And with that comes responsibility ‌ I believe everyone really has the same noble goals.â€? Shaun Harvey, one of the UW students in attendance, disagreed. Addressing the panel twice, he asked the representative what each of their
organizations was doing to further the technological reformation he feels is needed to protect against global warming. Khan’s response especially questioned the need for such a total reformation, arguing that if everything is given by Allah “we should not abandon it entirely.� Jadi reiterated a need for moderation and personal preventative measures instead of total reformation, while Farooq argued that we should always look forward to “whatever new and better technology [Allah] gives.� In his response to the panel’s feedback, Harvey challenged Farooq’s statement regarding a unity and nobility of human goals, arguing that greed dominated Western approaches to the environment. He went on to argue that Christianity in particular was responsible for the destruction of the environment, and restated his original question.
Higgins then guided panelists to provide concluding remarks. Khan came closest to addressing Harvey’s final comments, stating: “The blame lies in those who have forsaken those beautiful teachings.� Student Life coordinator Johnny Trinh later spoke about conviction, praising Tanna and Stevenson for rising to Anwar’s diversification challenge. On Saturday, November 24, representatives for eight different religious viewpoints are scheduled to speak on this year’s conference topic, “How Religion Can Protect the Environment.� At the close of the student panel Anwar repeated his original challenge: “While you [UW students] are doing something in computing and technology,� he said, “why not take the environment in your hands? Take that baton and come forward and start that conversation.� editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Congratulations to OSSTF’s newest members — support staff from the University of Ottawa. For more information contact Shirley Dufour at 1-800-267-7867. E-mail dufours@osstf.on.ca
Show the true diversity of UW — share your personal views on this year’s World Religions Conference topic, “How Religion Can Protect the Environment,� in one of two ways: 1) Log into Imprint Online at imprint. uwaterloo.ca and post your opinions in response to this article. 2) Write a Letter to the Editor, care of letters@imprint.uwaterloo.ca, by Tuesday, November 27. If enough people with a diverse assortment of views write in, Imprint can feature all the differing perspectives side-by-side in the final issue of Fall ’07.
News
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
Waterloo Conference on Social Entrepreneurship
Courtesy WCSE
*The inaugaral Waterloo Conference on Social Entrepreneurship was held on the weekend of November 16-18, 2007. Please visit Imprint Online for a prelude to the conference [November2, 2007].
Narmeen Lakhani news editor
Keynote Highlight: Student Feedback Paul Born “Get a little lost — welcome aboard.”
— Paul Born, Director Tamarack
The general consensus received from delegates at the gala on Saturday night of WCSE was that the event had been very interesting and helpful. Many were impressed by how well the conference had been put together in such a short time.
aren’t able to help themselves.” Tiffany Tolmie went on to say that the message she received from the events was about “measuring success” by more than just money. On a more international scale, Brazilian professor Nara Maria Muller
Q & A with WCSE Imprint interviews Suzanne Gardner, director of communications What would you say has been the big gest challenge in making this conference a success? Proving to all the skeptics out there that we were indeed going to pull this off from start to finish in about six weeks! It was the challenge of convincing people that “yes, we are going to pull this off ” and “yes, you should support us.” What has been the biggest reward?
As founder and director of Tamarack, Paul Born gave a speech on his journey as a social entrepreneur, though he never directly stated the right or wrong ways to become a community leader. Born described social entrepreneurship as the “passion to fix a problem,” where the important aspect is instituting change rather than making money. He made the audience reflect on “how an idea happens” and then on how to measure the outcome of those ideas to progress as an entrepreneur. He continued to describe his passion for his work through philosophies that he encountered throughout the process of becoming a social entrepreneur. He brought up a Buddhist philosophy, stimulating the idea that there is a journey from being who you are to what you could become. There are a “variety of lenses that people see the world through,” said Born. One of the driving forces behind Born’s work is his past. He and his family were refugees from Ukraine, having survived as a community in a war-stricken environment. “We depended on each other […] [I] never knew an unemployed person,” said Born. This sense of self-sustainability within a community pushed Born to enforce the idea of supporting less
fortunate members of a community through Tamarack — one of the aspects of the foundation being to help people achieve practical sustainability. Born stressed that many impoverished people in Canada do have jobs, so there are some other, equally fundamental needs that should also be addressed — aside, that is, from simply trying to employ the less fortunate. The phrase, “I can actually make a difference,” is important in the quest for social entrepreneurship, said Born. He has learned to “combine the lenses” of his life and create his own vision for eliminating poverty, a vision which he believes is very plausible in Canada. He expressed how, despite its appearance, Canada has enough poverty for change to start right at home. On a closing note, Born left some advice for the delegates present. He noted that even in his own successful organization it is important to keep learning and making changes in order to make progress. He gave three lessons: “Find good people, get lost often, [and] trust yourself and others to get where you need to go.” He ended the lecture with one final and impacting remark: “Get a little lost — welcome aboard.”
“We can think of social work while being an entrepreneur.”
— Arslan Khattana, delegate from University of Western Ontario
Delegates from the University of Guelph said that the events had given them a chance to make good contacts and thath “things had been running smoothly,” although they had not come with very high expectations. Some University of Western Ontario delegates came to WCSE to learn more about the process of entrepreneurship to help them start a student club for inventors. “We want to change the world in a great way,” described Nick Yang, when asked what his motives were for attending the conference. Another UWO delegate, Arslan Khattana, added that his experience at WCSE was a good source of motivation and that the conference addressed an important notion: “we can think of social work while being an entrepreneur.” He continued to say that the concepts presented were very practical and stemmed outside of what is usually covered in the everyday academic setting. Wilfrid Laurier delegates also added that the conference had exceeded their expectations, especially through how well it was organized. Michelle Attard stated that the speakers focused on the message of “getting out and helping people who
gained skills she hopes to apply at her university. She learned that “you have to be confident in your ideas and always be open to change.” For her, WCSE turned out to be better than she had expected, adding that it was a positive endeavor that taught people to “love what you do.” Three sisters, Amena, Zareen and Maria Ali, also described that they knew they wanted to attend the conference to gain advice on their goal to build a school in India for the blind and handicapped. They gave positive feedback, remarking that the workshops and panels gave them “hope and direction” for their project. It was good for them to learn that “people are doing amazing things,” which is an “encouraging” aspect of coming together in this kind of setting to share ideas. They also found the workshops very helpful, especially the ones on sponsorship and engineering that were very comprehensive for their beginner-level plans. The only aspect which they were dissatisfied with was the workshop on generating revenue, which they found to be too technical and theoretical for them. nlakhani@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Having delegates come up to us in person at the event and now via e-mail after the event telling us how much they learned and how much fun they had at this conference. Knowing that the conference has made an impact on so many people is truly the greatest reward. What would you go back and change during the course of the conference to make it better (if anything)? Well, if we had had a bit more time in organizing the event we could have made the weekend even better. Due to our time restraints, some speakers which we would have liked to have present were impossible to book on such short notice. This was the same problem with approaching some sponsors for funding as well What are future plans for this conference? Will it be an annual event and why? Building on the success of the inaugural event, the conference has served as a cornerstone for the foundation of the Waterloo Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, an organization whose mission is to foster social entrepreneurship activity both locally and around the world. The Centre is currently in the midst of planning an inaugural lecture series, mentorship program as well as a conference focused on graduate-level research in social entrepreneurial fields. More information will be offered in the coming months as these projects unfold.
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Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
Serving self-starters
TUESDAY November 27
New Venture Pathways to help entrepreneurs succeed with business skills development
Hosted by the Waterloo Space Society. Documentary features Dr. Robert Zubrin. Free refreshments.
Alicia Boers reporter
This September a group of UW students ushered in a new resource project, called New Venture Pathways (NVP). According to Dmitri Artamonov, operations/marketing manager, NVP is a personalized learning tool that allows students to educate themselves about entrepreneurship and develop business skills. NVP is a student-run group supported by the university. “This group is part of the umbrella group, Enabling Entrepreneurs, and the fellow group is the Entrepreneur Research Centre,” said Artamonov. The hope is that NVP in conjunction with these other groups, will result in a better outlet for students interested in entrepreneurship and business skills. According to Prof. Geoff Malleck, business mentor of the group, “there are key student groups on campus that are involved and who are encouraged to become involved including CUTC [Canadian Undergraduate Technology Conference], IMPACT, UWDECA [UW Distributive Education Clubs of America], AceWaterloo and the SBSA [Science and Business Student’s Association].” NVP is developing into yet another competitive advantage that UW has over other universities. Artamonov explained, “This program is helping students become productive members of the business community.” Artamonov adds that through this program students will leave university with real-world experience, not just a degree. Similarly, students have the opportunity to learn from successful business people and not just from lessons in the classroom. “The program produces students who are initiative[-taking] self-starters, highly sought after in the business world, both as entrepreneurs and employees,” said Artamonov. He added that UW students can gain these skills by using NVP’s services and become “an asset to their future employer or gain what it takes to become a success in starting their own business venture, become true leaders in business and entrepreneurship.” Students can get involved with the program by signing up on the project’s website. This program allows students to follow their own business pathways and business interests. After
signing up on the website, students take an online survey, which leads them to events that are suited to their interests and business needs. This program is very useful for students who wish to explore their business interests. It offers access to workshops and the Career Self-Discovery program, to which students may not otherwise have access. An important aspect of this program is that it is not just a networking group for students interested in entrepreneurship. There are programs, events, online courses and much more available to help students grow in their business skills. NVP is funded through a partnership with the Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology. It is also sponsored by important community partners like the John Dobson Foundation, the Borden Ladner Gervais law firm and Enterprise Co-op alumni. Artamonov encouraged students “to get involved with NVP,” stating that it would make the most of [their] university experience. “This program opens the doors to everything business-related and helps students gain the knowledge they will need as they venture out into the business world.” However, out of 52 students approached in the SLC and asked about New Venture Pathways, 50 had no idea what NVP was: only two had heard of the group. When provided with more details about NVP, three students said they would not be interested in the group, while seven students said they would be. Melony Gunness, a first-year legal studies student, said NVP sounds interesting but should “target towards senior students.” She added: “I’m not thinking about that; I’m just trying to make it through first year.” Second-year psychology student, Daneal Rambharose, said she would be interested in the group: “They need to promote it more. I haven’t heard anything about it, but it sounds like something students would be interested in.” New Venture Pathways is always looking for student volunteers to become a part of the group and planning initiatives. Interested students can inquire about the group by emailing NVP executive director Ivan Lukianchuk at leader@newventurepathways.org. Students can also visit the website — which will be new and improved come December — at www.newventurepathways.org
Showing of The Mars Underground documentary
4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. PHY 313
FRIDAY November 23
Fundraiser for Poverty Awareness in the Waterloo Region UW students will be staying outside overnight to raise awareness of homelessness. Funds raised from this event will be donated to the Lutherwood program, Families in Transition. 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. SLC Courtyard
Warrior Weekends: Battle of the Bands
Modelling the Mind: Unifying the New Brain Sciences Chris Eliasmith, Canada Research Chair in Theoretical Neuroscience, will be the speaker for the 24th annual Faculty of Arts Lecture. A reception will follow the lecture. 7:00 p.m. SCH, Festival Room
Wednesday November 28
Theatre Workshop Series
Some bands involved are The Lunateers, Pop Fisson, While U Wait and Ten Inches Undrugged.
Kitchener-Waterloo Little Theatre and the FASS Theatre Company host a free learning session on improvisation, featuring Bernie Roehl.
8:00 p.m. SLC, Great Hall
7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. MC 2017
SATURDAY November 24
World Religions Conference Topic of the conference is “How Religion Can Protect the Environment.” Conference will involve presentations from a cross-section of world faiths. For more information, visit www. worldreligionsconference.org. Admission is free. 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Humanities Theatre
Mysticism and Power: Retrieving Women’s Voices. Mary T. Malone, author, theologian and historian is the distinguished speaker for the Women’s Studies 30th anniversary. 7:00 p.m. Tatham Centre, Rm 2218
THURSDAY November 29
“Vive la France” concert Warrior Weekends: Movies Live Free or Die Hard and A Mighty Heart will be shown as a part of Warrior Weekends. Free with Watcard. 9:45 p.m. to 11:45 p.m. SLC, Great Hall
orchestra@uwaterloo, featuring students, staff, faculty and alumni will play music composed by UW’s Carol Ann Weaver, as well as Debussy, Franck and SaintSaens. Free tickets are available at the Humanities Theatre box office. 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Humanities Theatre
News
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
The spirit of Baha’i
UW at conference of communication Russel Cole reporter
jenn serec
A lecture entitled “The Human Spirit, Qualities and Attributes: A Baha’i Perspective” was presented by the Campus Association of Baha’i Studies on November 21 at the SLC.
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Recently, from November 15 to 18, students and staff within the department of speech ommunication attended the National Communication Association (NCA) conference in Chicago. NCA is currently in its 94th year and focuses on uniting academic individuals from across the world to share their research in order to facilitate positive change on a global scale. During the new-comers welcome at NCA, Michael Sproule, the current president of NCA, commented that the organization works to help “make better people and to make a better world.” The slogan for this year’s conference was “Communicating World Views: Faith-Intellect-Ethics” and had an attendance of roughly 6,000 people. This theme is directly linked to UW’s Sixth Decade Plan, which is officially titled, “Pursuing Global Excellence: Seizing Opportunities for Canada” and focuses on establishing the University of Waterloo’s presence on a global platform over the next ten years. While at the conference, every single area of academic study within the field of Speech Communication was accessible. There were roughly four scheduled blocks of sessions throughout the day starting from 8 a.m. and finish at 5 p.m. The panels were headed by professionals on specific topics, with sessions including [2007 conference] “Responses to Relational Transgression: Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Revenge,” as well as “Teaching Gender beyond “Gender and Communication.” The first session was a panel discussion of different aspects of transgression, focusing mainly on step-family relationships, friendships and long-term romantic relationships. Micaela Buchnea-Chew, a third year major in speech communication and NCA attendee commented: “Each paper discussed how reconciliation may be reached, whether forgiveness is conditional and finally, if a wrong can ever be forgotten. It was definitely an eye-opening seminar.” The later session was a round table discussion of professors and
high school teachers, all dedicated to teaching gender in their classes. They found slang phrases like “guys,” to refer to both genders, and “girl,” to talk to women, offensive, and wished to form ideas on how to communicate gender non-specificity in classrooms. May Li, a third year arts and business (co-op) student and NCA attendee, spoke to what she felt she learned: “The most poignant aspect of this seminar was the discussion about the lack of masculinity in gender classes. According to various teachers, gender classes have evolved into women’s studies due to the majority of arguments centered around feminine issues.” The other session titles found at NCA this year were: “Performing and disciplining gender in reality based television programs,” presented by Denver University and “The discursive construction of a news paper’s front page,” presented by California State University. Those who attended the conference from UW plan to create knowledge sharing sessions in the SLC and other areas of campus over the next few months in order to give to others what they were fortunate to experience. In order to become an attendee of the conference a membership is required, which costs $60. Once a member, you can register as an attendee, and this grants you full access to all the sessions. Many attendees and speakers at NCA are post undergraduate students as well as professors. For several years, undergraduate students have made up the bulk of UW representatives at NCA. The undergraduates have helped to develop and pass on knowledge to UW students who are interested in achieving outstanding success and further building upon the University of Waterloo’s global endeavours. In past years, students from UW have even presented at NCA. The next NCA conference will take place in San Diego, from November 21 to 24, 2008. The deadline to hand in papers to become a presenter at the next NCA conference is February 2008. For further information on submissions or existing journals and publications, visit the National Communication Associate website, www.natcom.org.
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Opinion
opinion@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
Time to speak for yourself Using Imprint to create a real forum for discourse While attending a student panel entitled “How Religion Can Protect the Environment,” held on November 20, 2007, I was reminded of a 2004 campaign forwarded by the then titled Campus Crusade for Christ. “Do You Agree With Byron?” was a grass-roots affair attempting to reach students with the story of an average student’s faith-based journey. From chalk drawings and Tshirt sales to a now-defunct website explaining Byron’s personal views, the initiative seemed to be soliciting awareness and conversion from a non-authoritative approach. Byron was ostensibly the “Everyman,” and the story of such an average Joe “finding Christ” was meant to legitimize similarly personal faith quests undergone by a number of university students. However, my greatest — and most painful — memory of that campaign will always be the culminating lecture. Envision, if you will, a student in the spotlight for the simplicity of his beliefs, then placed, as a speaker before an audience, in a position of authority.
The fallout was inevitable: Members of the audience, responding more to the position he’d assumed, interrogated the campus “Everyman” on Biblical nuance he was by no means prepared to defend. The real problem lay in the very format of the presentation — the unmerited elevation of one average voice above the rest. Since we openly question traditional vestiges of authority, our generation is often regarded as one of constant cynicism and distrust. But another way of regarding this is one of great humility — after all, a society that doesn’t immediately trust official group statements must also embrace the possibility that any one person might have insights worth consideration. No more was this evident than at the student panel in the Great Hall this past Tuesday. The discussion on religion and the environment was meant to embody diverse viewpoints, but only three organizations were present: one secular and the other two representing Islam. When this lack of diversity was
challenged during question period, two students who just happened to be in hearing range stepped up to offer their own points of view, relating personal perspectives on religion and the environment from Hindu and Christian backgrounds respectively. Despite not having pre-written speeches or even the luxury of preparation, these two students often gave more precise and direct answers to the moderator and audience than their original panel colleagues. I’d even go so far as to say that this surety and clarity of response, in contrast to the often vague and static answers of the other panelists, had a lot to do with the speakers’ non-allegiance to specific organizations: they had only to represent themselves and their own interactions with faith, which allowed for more confident and precise response. And yet, even these student efforts at diversity were limited by place and time — namely, by who was in the Great Hall at the time when the call for alternative input was made. Similarly,
even if the Byron lecture had allowed other students a turn at the podium, to relate average conversion stories of their own, the event would have been limited by its own physical and temporal restraints. The advent of new media, however, allows for innovative approaches to the problem of promoting real diversity — and with it, real discourse. Imprint, being a journalistic organization, has an especially ingrained imperative to create or further a forum for discussion that all its readers can partake in. Here at Imprint, we’re still a month or so away from a new web redesign, but in the meantime we already have a fully functional (and only occasionally abused) comment system online. Moreover, writing a letter to the editor has always been a useful way for the general audience to weigh in — and a welcome addition to our print versions. So with these resources in mind I’d like to reissue the challenge made during this week’s underrepresented student panel:
Students of UW — a campus of immense intellectual diversity; a campus that surely has individuals with enough personal conviction to relate their individual perspectives to the student body at large — use us to be heard. Comment on the Imprint website, in response to our student panel article, and get the kind of conversation started that was sorely wanting on November 20. Then formalize your thoughts in a letter to the editor before Tuesday, November 27, and give us the means to print the breadth of religious opinion that should have been shared during this week’s student panel. At its core, Imprint is meant to be your voice. In the past, that’s meant speaking for you — a role our generation rightfully questions. But in the age of new media, with so many ways for the average student to interact with the news as it’s reported, maybe we can fulfill our mandate more accurately: by letting UW students, in all their diversity, finally speak for themselves. editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Gay athletes not quite so “gay” If you are a gay man or a sports fan (two, seemingly, unconnected worlds), you’ve already heard about the Jiri Tlusty nude photo scandal and the allegations of his homosexuality. If you haven’t, then here is the basic shakedown: a young Czech hockey player — a forward for the Toronto Maple Leafs to be precise — took a few snapshots of his, erm, “hockey stick,” that were recently leaked on the internet. The rumour? That these photos were sent over the internet to a man. Tlusty’s lawyer instantly sent out a cease-and-desist notice to all websites carrying the photo, forcing
them to take it down. After this, more photos of the young hockey star — apparently half-making out with another man — landed on the cover of the Toronto Sun, furthering suspicions about his sexual orientation. It’s quite the tale, and has done wonders for Canada’s burgeoning tabloid industry. A large part of the excitement associated with this story is that if he were forced by media attention to come out of the closet, he would be the first and only openly gay NHL hockey player. To be an athlete is to be at the height of masculinity and therefore, in the minds of the public, to be gay and an athlete would be almost a contradiction. The fascination with the mythos of the gay athlete comes from plain
old curiosity. Is he just like the other guys on the team? Is he daintier? Do his flailing wrists interfere with puck handling? These, sadly, are the questions everyone want answered. This past fall someone from my hometown high school’s rugby team added me out of nowhere on MSN Messenger. The rugby team and I were never on good terms, to say the least, but this guy actually wanted to talk, something serious. He thought he might be gay. Of course I immediately dismissed this as some sort of prank or asshole move. But the more I dwelled on it, the more plausible his story was; the more I talked to him, the more I actually believed him. He had
legitimate questions that anyone confused about their sexuality would have, and he didn’t know who else to talk to besides the shining gay beacon of rural Southwestern Ontario (that would be me). So what exactly made this guy different, then? He wasn’t exactly marching around in a popped-collar Lacoste shirt, sipping a pumpkin spice latte and bitching about the recent price hike for Belmonts. He is a rugby player, looks and dresses the part, talks like you would expect a typical jock to, and is pretty much the polar opposite of everything I was in high school. But, he’s confused about his sexuality. What is the mystique behind the gay athlete? Why is our culture so obsessed with discovering a gay in
the testosterone-driven world of male sports? The last closet, the world of professional sports, has had its share of homosexuals through the years, but only an extremely small few choose to come out before they retire. The rest, like Dave Kopay, Roy Simmons and Esera Tuaolo wait until they are enjoying their retirement from the sport to make any announcement regarding their sexuality. The more the rugby player and I talked, the more he figured things out over time, and the more I came to understand about the mythos of the gay athlete. See PUCKING, page 10
Opinion
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
agaetano@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Systems Admin. Dan Agar Distribution, Katherine Dunfield Distribution, Brian Peterson Intern, Sarah Hewey Intern, Taylor Schnaeringer Friday, November 23, 2007 Vol. 30, No. 19 Student Life Centre, Room 1116 University of Waterloo Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1 P: 519.888.4048 F: 519.884.7800 imprint.uwaterloo.ca Editor-in-chief, Maggie Clark editor@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Advertising & Production Manager, Laurie Tigert-Dumas ads@imprint.uwaterloo.ca General Manager, Catherine Bolger cbolger@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Ad Assistant, Tim Chin Sales Assisstant, Ismat Jahan Volunteer Coordinator, Angela Gaetano
Board of Directors board@imprint.uwaterloo.ca President, Adam Gardiner president@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Vice-president, Jacqueline McKoy vp@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Treasurer, Lu Jiang treasurer@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Secretary, Alaa Yassin secretary@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Staff liaison, Rob Blom liaison@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Editorial Staff Assistant Editor, Scott Houston Lead Proofreader, Mohammad Jangda Cover Editor, Guy Halpern News Editor, Narmeen Lakhani News Assistant, Chantelle McGee
Opinion Editor, Christine Ogley Opinion Assistant, Travis Myers Features Editor, Dinh Nguyen Features Assistant, Tina Ironstone Arts Editor, Emma Tarswell Arts Assistant, Ashley Csanady Science Editor, Adrienne Raw Science Assistant, Sherif Soliman Sports Editor, Dave Klaponski Sports Assistant, Yang Liu Photo Editor, Jenn Serec Photo Assistant, Michelle Nguyen Graphics Editor, Peter Trinh Graphics Assistant, Joyce Hsu Web Editor, Ryan Webb Web Assistant, Hoon Choi Systems Administrator, vacant Sys. Admin. Assistant, vacant Staff Proofreaders Matthew Wiebe, Rosalind Gunn Production Staff Alicia Boers, Michael L. Davenport, Mackenzie Common, Eric Gassner, Keegan Tremblay, Kaitlan Huckabone, Cait
Davidson, Tim Foster, William Chau, Tejas Koshy, Gaurow Shrestha, Monica Harvey, Duran King Imprint is the official student newspaper of the University of Waterloo. It is an editorially independent newspaper published by Imprint Publications, Waterloo, a corporation without share capital. Imprint is a member of the Ontario Community Newspaper Association (OCNA). Editorial submissions may be considered for publication in any edition of Imprint. Imprint may also reproduce the material commercially in any format or medium as part of the newspaper database, Web site or any other product derived from the newspaper. Those submitting editorial content, including articles, letters, photos and graphics, will grant Imprint first publication rights of their submitted material, and as such, agree not to submit the same work to any other publication or group until such time as the material has been distributed in an issue of Imprint, or Imprint declares their intent not to publish the material. The full text of this agreement is available upon request. Imprint does not guarantee to publish
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Opinion
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
How to be a “University Lush” I’ve learned a lot about drinking since I came to university. Oh sure, everyone drank in high school. In fact, high school students are probably the most desperate boozehounds of them all. From skimming off the tops of bottles in the family liquor cabinet to trying to follow a moonshine recipe they copied from Wikipedia (and hopefully not going blind), high school kids are pretty indiscriminate. But two months after graduation, these teenagers emerge as a whole new brand of party-hound: The University Lush, which any frosh worth his weight in tequila salt will try to become. University parties are different. Keggers, the Holy Grail of blowouts, become frequent. For a small amount of money, you too can drink watered down keg beer that is occasionally garnished with spit — or a roofie. Of course, all keggers must have the mandatory Red Plastic Party Cups, which always seem to appear whenever more than four college kids decide to get wasted. No one ever brings these cups; they just seem to randomly pop up along with mix CDs
of bad hip hop and a funny hat that everyone has to try on. Of course, if keggers aren’t your thing, you can always go to a “pub” and pretend that you’re not just there to get blitzed and shamelessly hit on other sweaty-faced patrons. In a pub, you can always claim that you’re there to eat some greasy, potato-based tavern food. Just know that you’re not fooling anyone. Now, if you’re not a party-goer and really did come to Waterloo to study, fear not. You can still have fun by yourself. As you crouch over your overpriced textbook in your dimly lit cramped room, why not make yourself a cocktail? One drink I suspect is popular in Waterloo is called the Study Buddy (ok, I just made it up, but it will be popular). This is a martini filled with cheap gin, Red Bull, No-Doz and garnished with a couple of Ritalin. Who needs olives when you want to study? Working hard and playing hard can happen at the same time if you’re creative. [Editor’s note: This is possibly lethal, do not make this at home.] Of course, there are some things that don’t change between high school and university. Certain people will show up to every party, regardless of the location. There will always be the girl that cries when she has anything alcoholic. Another regular character is the guy who thinks he can out-drink anyone (the one who always yells “Let’s get TANKED!”) and ends up doing something embarrassing
instead. As far as personal feelings go, you will always think that the person next to you is your best friend if only because they’re still in focus. I can remember telling someone that I had met that night that we were going to be friends forever. I never talked to them again. Another common phenomenon is that alcohol will always make you realize that anything outdoors is a possible toilet, especially in Canada where beer and camping go together better than church and guilt. As a young adult who drinks, you will understand the universal truth that if you say “I’m sooo drunk” now, you will have an excuse to do lame and embarrassing things later. Other common events at parties? Someone will always announce proudly that they puked. As far as fashion goes, there will always be a girl who is dressed like she’s going to prom not to a house party, and there will always be a girl in shapeless sweats who drinks more beer and Jack Daniels than the guys (and will loudly announce it). These are the constants in parties, the things that will never change. At the end of the day, everyone assumes that university kids are perpetually drunk. For all you know, I could have had a liquid lunch before I wrote this. So why disappoint? Drinks are on me. mcommon@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Ashley Csanady’s column will not be appearing in this week’s edition of Imprint; she is currently on a secret CIA mission. She will be back next week.
Pucking: gay athletics continued from page 8
He has so much more in common with sports guys than he will ever have in common with me. He isn’t the wolf in sheep’s clothing you would imagine. If anything, the place the gay athlete doesn’t fit is the gay club-land or Church & Wellesley.
The real answer to the mystery of the gay athlete lies very simply in the phrasing. The people we are obsessing to find are basically athletes who are gay. Until the revolution though, disable your Google Image search settings, and it’s spelled T-L-U-S-T-Y. tmyers@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
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Science
science@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
Mars, space medicine and flippers Dr. Roberta Bondar, astronaut and neurologist, spoke on space medicine and her experiences in space as part of the Hagey Lecture Series Continued from cover
She explained that we need to change the way we think about life; we cannot be discouraged by problems on the journey into space and decide not to go. She suggested that space travel has brought together an international community and that the moon is no longer just “the American sandbox.” An international community would be a place where a new set of ethics could be established because “when we move forward […] we change things forever.” Bondar added that she hopes we will be able to “refine” these changes in order to reduce the impact on our environment. Dr. Bondar discussed the early years of space travel and how the human body was prepared for space flight. The original seven astronauts from the U.S., who were test pilots, had to undergo rigorous tests to “see what the human body will stand.” On the Gemini and Apollo missions, the issues were how to contain the human body in order to handle vomiting, other bodily fluids and not wanting to eat. The Russians took another approach, said Bondar. They sent a dog into space to analyze how the body changed. She asked as an aside if the Americans had tried such an experiment, “Can you imagine who would be picketing the shuttle?” She also explained how the cosmonauts would have to parachute out of the shuttle before it landed. “I’m a pilot,” she said. “Why would I jump out of a perfectly good machine?” Such examples of the early days of space flight demonstrated the heavy toll that it had on the human body. Dr. Bondar went on to describe her one experience in space and discussed changes to the body when in space, referring to them as “Bird Leg, Puffy Face Syndrome” and “The Space Stupids.” The first condition is caused by the change in blood flow because gravity is not there to pull down the blood to the lower parts of the body; instead, the volume of blood shifts to the upper areas of the body. The latter occurs while the astronaut adjusts to being in a three-dimensional environment where the reference points are always changing and objects move at different velocities. She said if you drop your pen, you could spend 20 minutes looking for it. In response to this, it is important to “diminish complicated tasks within the first 24 to 48 hours,” in order to give the astronauts time to create new “mental maps” and “learn to flip things around in [their] head[s].” She explained the difficulties of such things as putting on contacts: “You can’t focus in thin air, I don’t care what you think about the Karate Kid.” The most detrimental effects of space travel are bone and muscle loss, Dr. Bondar explained. Muscle is important for bone stabilisation, and lack of contraction due to the microgravity environment means that the bone is not stimulated. She referred to bone as “living crystal” that can reshape in response to the stimulation they receive from the muscle.
Other factors that contribute to bone loss that she mentioned were dim lighting, hormonal changes and radiation — which affects the trabecular bone (the spongy tissue inside long bones). While in space, astronauts lose one to two per cent of their bone mass per day. She went on to explain the experimentation currently being done to combat bone loss using experimental models involving astronauts and animals. One experiment she described involves the suspension of the hind legs of rats to mimic low gravity. Scientists look at how the bone heals with the use of pharmaceuticals such as bisphosphonates. The human experiments include the use of what Dr. Bondar described as resembling “torture devices.” They are made to simulate conditions on Earth through resistance exercises for the lower body. She reminded the audience that only two out of every 24 hours in space is spent exercising — the rest of the time is spent in free fall. The results of these experiments could prevent an astronaut from fracturing her or his leg while getting out of a shuttle and onto Martian terrain. There is a risk of breaking bones on arrival at the red planet since one can expect to lose 60 per cent of bone mass on the trip out to Mars. Dr. Bondar tied space medicine together with ethics given that there is always a relationship between acquiring data and the management of risks. Ethics implies trust: can we trust that human beings are ready to go to space, she asked. Can we trust the anecdotal responses made by astronauts regarding their time in space and the research based on such responses? She also asked how much data is needed before we go into space. She likened the human body to that of the shuttles just as a shuttle is a test vehicle, humans are test subjects, and should be monitored as rigorously as test vehicles are monitored. For the future, Dr. Bondar would like to see an effort to return to the moon in order to explore it more thoroughly, saying that we have never really been there; we only saw a very small part of it. Ideally, a lunar station to complement the International Space Station could be built. So much time is spent in keeping the ISS in good repair, space medicine research is secondary but a lunar station could help to correct this. Such ventures, however, must always be tempered by safety. As Dr. Bondar showed images from Mars, she spoke about the total isolation such a trip can cause: “Returning [to Earth] may not be an option” because of the changes that occur to the human body and mind during the trip. Dr. Bondar’s concluding remark about space medicine was that it has provided us with the world we have now because we were smart enough to be able to get off the Earth in the first place. cmcgee@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
As Dr. Bondar showed images from Mars, she spoke about the total isolation such a trip can cause: “returning [to Earth] may not be an option” because of the changes that occur to the human body and mind during the trip.
michelle nguyen and joseph kim
Astronaut and neurologist Dr. Roberta Bondar spoke to an avid audience on space medicine and what it teaches about life on Earth as part of the Hagey Lecture Series.
The Science Podium Science is looking for two opposing articles of about 500 words on a science issue. The issue: the ethics of stem cell research on human embryos. If you’re interested in writing either in favour or opposed to this issue, please contact us: science@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
12
Science
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
Homeopathy has value Faisal Naqib staff reporter
Adrienne Raw science editor
Beware the giant bug
British scientists have discovered a bug that you definitely wouldn’t want to swat. The discovery, a fossilized claw from an ancient sea scorpion, is so large that the entire creature it belongs to would be the biggest insect on record, estimated to be at least eight feet long. The claw was unearthed from 390-million-year old rocks in Germany and suggests that insects of the past were much larger than previously thought. The fossil came from a species called jaekelopterus rhenaniae. It likely represents the extinct ancestors of today’s scorpions, and possibly all arachnids. The species was cannibalistic, which might explain its size. Other possible causes include high oxygen levels in the ancient atmosphere and evolution
in response to armour on the outer bodies of their prey. Potential new treatment for Parkinson’s
Scientists in the U.S. have developed an experimental form of gene therapy to treat Parkinson’s disease. Currently 12 patients have been treated with this experimental therapy, which uses a genetically modified virus to carry a human gene that calms nerve cells afflicted with Parkinson’s. Brain scans of patients treated with the therapy reveal significant improvements that were still present a year after treatment. Though the therapy is currently only experimental, researchers have high hopes that treatment could help many people affected by Parkinson’s.
suggests that long-necked plant-eaters didn’t always have their heads in the trees. The dinosaur, a relative of longneck plant-eater Diplodocus which paleontologists have named Nigersaurus, was 30 feet long and had a broad, square-edged muzzle with 500 to 600 teeth. The dinosaur used these teeth like scissors to shear off vegetation close to the ground. Based on skeletal evidence, scientists have determined that nigersaurus grazed at the ground level. This discovery has profound implications for behavioural patterns of diplodocus and other dinosaurs that scientists originally believed craned their necks up to trees for their meals. They now believe these dinosaurs may have been ground feeders as well.
Dinosaurs’ heads not in the trees
— with files from Examiner, BBC News and National Geographic
Fossil analysis of a 110-million-year old dinosaur found in the Sahara region
araw@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
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There are now five large-scale studies showing that homeopathy produces no statistically significant benefit when compared to a placebo. However, the November 17, 2007 issue of The Lancet suggests that homeopathy, if well regulated, may still be clinically useful. Modern medicine has many conditions for which no treatments exist, including several forms of back pain, stress at work, unexplainable fatigue and most common colds. Homeopathy also has some success stories: during a cholera epidemic in the 19th century, death rates at a hospital practising homeopathic treatments were three times lower than at a closely located traditional hospital. But before setting fire to your doctor’s office and infusing yourself with diluted wood bark, realize that the homeopathic hospital was not curing people from cholera. At that time, no one could treat cholera patients, but the traditional treatment of bloodletting was doing active harm to the sufferer. The benefit of the homeopathic treatment was that it was inert, while the traditional therapy was harmful. The philosophy of prescribing medications that are at least benign also comes with serious side effects. Counter-productive behaviour is an important outcome: people will ignore a healthy lifestyle believing that they are safe while prescribed a certain drug. An even more serious side effect is the break down in communication between doctor and patient. When health-care practitioners prescribe a medication while they have no evidence of its efficacy, they overstep their bounds. Keeping the patient in the dark about their treatment is patronizing and destructive to the doctor-patient relationship. This can cause the patient to feel mistrust toward their doctor and possibly ignore a future treatment that has proven effective in the past. However, homeopathic treatments remain popular with the public: a British study found that 14.5 per cent of the UK population trusts homeopathic practitioners, and the homeopathic drug market was found to be expanding. Critics of homeopathy believe that this support is generated from the public confusing homeopathy with herbal medicine, which may have scientific plausibility. Homeopathic treatments rely on medications that are extremely diluted prior to use, stemming from the belief that dilution of a substance increases its capability. This is hard to believe from a modern scientific standpoint. Another philosophy of homeopaths is to “treat like with like;” more formally, a homeopathic practitioner would treat an illness with a substance that causes similar symptoms in healthy individuals. Examples of this would be to treat insomnia with caffeine. Although it is easy to immediately laugh this off as crazy and say that the entire field of homeopathy is nothing more than a ridiculous set of conjectures, the thorough analyst will wait to see hard evidence. The real problem with homeopathy is its refusal to play by scientific rules. The field generally has very little scientific structure: the majority of publications in homeopathic-related journals are positive studies; proponents tend to ignore negative attacks and cherry-pick positive results; and critique is often completely avoided instead of prompting discussion. A major problem occurs in the way homeopathic practitioners deal with traditional medicine. Many patients
have been told by their homeopathic practitioners to resist traditional treatments and in some cases stop taking prescribed medications. There exist documented cases of homeopaths intervening in traditional treatments, causing permanent damage and even death to their patients. This has forced traditional medicine to apply pressure against the homeopathic institution. Journalists, doctors and scientists have publicly pointed out the lack of evidence for the effectiveness of homeopathy. Pressure grows stronger as homeopathic practitioners plan to have a conference in December of this year about how homeopathic treatments may help in the fight against AIDS. An undercover survey listed homeopathic-associated clinics and pharmacies that were willing to dispense medications protecting against diseases such as typhoid, dengue fever and yellow fever. The medications in question have not been tested for efficacy against these diseases. Health officials worry that a similar tactic will be taken with AIDS and advertising for untested cures will cause an increase in the total amount of HIV cases. The National Health Service, Britain’s main governmental health body, has responded to criticism of homeopathy by reducing the funding to several homeopathic hospitals. Officials at the NHS have remarked that they are required to make the best use of the public’s money by investing in clinically cost-effective care. The number of referrals to these institutions has also begun to drop. While it seems that homeopathy is alone in its battle for existence an unlikely ally has emerged: the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHPRA), a government body responsible for overseeing the standardization of medicines and medical products. The MHPRA has backed some homeopathic treatments, calling them acceptable for some conditions. While homeopathy may meet stiff criticism in the U.K. it is relatively accepted in India, where 10 per cent of the population depend on homeopathy as their sole form of medical treatment. India contains approximately 25 million homeopathic practitioners, the largest number in the world. Homeopathy is also the third-largest supported health infrastructure in the country. This leads to the interesting structure of India’s healthcare field, where there isn’t only traditional medicine battling homeopathic but seven different medical systems jockeying for position. Homeopathic treatments are endorsed by the fact that a trip to a homeopathic practitioner costs half as much as a consult with a traditional doctor. An official with the Indian government defends homeopathy by arguing that perhaps for crisis management the traditional medical system is superior but for common ailments the homeopathic option should be available. Perhaps the Indian philosophy of reserving the critical medical conditions to traditional medicine and more common-day problems to a variety of different treatment methods is a winwin solution. Traditional doctors will respond that knowingly prescribing placeboes is unethical and deteriorates the communication bond between doctors and their patients. It does not seem that the fight between medical systems will be won anytime soon, along with the ethical and scientific dimensions to the problem lay the economical. Unfortunately, many decisions affecting public healthcare may be swayed by who can make money from them. fnaqib@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Science
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
Gravitational mirages take centre stage Sherif Soliman assistant science editor
On Wednesday night, the UW physics and astronomy department hosted the last lecture of a series that discussed astrophysical topics such as black holes. The topics of this final lecture were gravitational mirages and dark matter. The lecture was presented by Professor Mike Hudson of UW’s physics and astronomy department, and lasted for the better part of an hour. Hudson began by explaining the concept of atmospheric mirages — these images we see on hot summer days when a layer of water appears on the road, and seems to reflect whatever is above it. He went on to explain that the reason behind the phenomenon is the increased temperature of the air which bends light rays reflecting off the bodies and appears inverted to the human eye. The concept of gravitational mirages, or gravitational lenses as they are more commonly known, was first proposed by Einstein’s theory of general relativity in 1916. The theory claimed that masses in space, such as those of the sun, galaxies or clusters of galaxies, cause bending in light rays coming from stars. This results in us observing them in positions that are slightly shifted or distorted from their true positions. Hudson goes on to explain how it was extremely difficult to accept such a hypothesis at the time, which meant that it was crucial that the theory be tested. The only way of testing the theory was measuring positions of stars behind the sun during the day and determining how far they shift, which is impossible since the sun’s light
masks the presence of the stars. It was not until an eclipse that occurred in 1919 that Einstein and Eddington, who was a British astronomer, succeeded in performing that test and proving the validity of the relativity theory and disproving the Newtonian theory that predicted a bending factor that was half the factor predicted by Einstein. Astronomer Fritz Zwicky, who elaborated on the potential benefits of gravitational lensing, again raised the theory in 1937. However, Zwicky was known for his eccentricity; he was quoted as saying that people were “spherical bastards, because they seem to be bastards whichever way I look at them,” explaining why he was not taken seriously at the time. Gravitational lensing held unlimited potential for astrophysicists because it allowed them to test and measure the amount of dark matter in space. To this day ,though, the concept of dark matter is still quite mystifying. According to initial beliefs, gases comprised 10 per cent of space, stars comprised one per cent and the rest was comprised of a mysterious matter of unknown and exotic particle organization. Physicists chose to it call dark matter because it did not shine in a way that we could not see it through telescopes, but did constitute mass matter. One might wonder why is it important for us to determine how much dark matter there is in space. The answer to that question is that the amount of mass in the universe could determine its fate: the more mass it contains, the sooner it will be more likely to collapse into itself. Therefore, gravitational lensing could be used — as can be deduced from its name — as a natural telescope,
Correction In the November 16 issue of Imprint, there were several errors in the article “Recreating the universe on Earth.” • • • •
The cost of the CERN laboratory was reported as $2.3 billion. It is actually 2.7 billion Swiss francs. John Ellis should have been referred to as Professor John Ellis. The Large Hadron Collider is 27km long, not 27km wide. The height of ine beam should have been reported as the height of one detector.
Imprint apologizes for the errors.
much more powerful than the best telescopes we have on earth. It could be used to detect areas where light bending could be seen and measured, which would indicate the presence of mass that causes such bending. These masses are most likely comprised of galaxies that hold dark matter in them, which act as lenses that distort light rays passing by them, leading to the magnified appearance of light rays that reflected off galaxies that would not have been seen otherwise. Unknown to most people, the University of Waterloo holds a pioneering position in gravitational lensing. Russell Smith, a former Research Fellow at UW, accidentally discovered the nearest known gravitational lens while researching bumpy star distributions. At 500 million light years away, the lens is considered significantly close, compared to other lenses that are between one and one-and-a-half million light years away. During the lecture, a question was raised concerning the ambiguity of dark matter in opposition to possible errors in the relativity theory. Hudson explained that due to the high speeds at which these galaxies travel, protons and electron separate and can be detected by X-ray telescopes. If the relativity theory was incorrect, then major mass areas would be detected by gases because dark matter would not exist. However, on observation, areas of mass were most observed at the centers of galaxy clusters, proving
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jenn serec
Professor Mike Hudson presents an X-ray telescope image of the “bullet” cluster, a gravitational lens used to exhibit the validity of the theory of relativity. the fact that dark matter existed in the middle of those clusters. Gravitational lensing led to some change in hypothesis of the composition of the universe as we now know that the universe is comprised of approximately two per cent stars, 16 per cent gases and 82 per cent of dark matter. As advanced and astronomical — no pun intended — as our discoveries in gravitational lensing-related matters are, there is still a lot that we
do not know. For example, we still do not know what dark matter actually consists of. Its nature and properties, as well as its distribution patterns are still unknown. The lecture was very well presented. Hudson was able to effectively explain complex topics such as astrophysics and relativity theory in ways that even firstyear students could understand. ssoliman@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Features
features@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
Gambling away... a lot more than money
Scott Houston assistant editor-in-chief
Imagine yourself, or a friend, is at the poker table for the fourth time this week. You just pushed in another $100 in cash; if you win the hand, you win this month’s rent. If you lose, not only do you not make rent, but you also blow your food budget as well. Sounds intense, doesn’t it? Almost exciting.; something made in the movies. However, there may be a more serious problem behind the seemingly innocent poker game. You, or your friend, might need help. Do you feel that smaller bets can’t give you that same feeling as before? Or that you feel the need to gamble all the time? You might be developing a gambling problem and you might not be alone. The rate of gambling is up from 1.4 per cent in 2001 to 5.5 per cent in 2005. There seems to be a problem with gambling in our age bracket, 18 to 24. Also, 6.9 per cent of young adults have some form of gambling problem, compared to the provincial average of 2.6 per cent. So the question is, what is problem gambling and how can you as a young adult avoid it? How can you tell if you are a problem gambler? Simple: if the gambling you do is excessive to the point of having a negative impact on your personal or professional life; if your gambling causes your marks to slip, if it hurts your financial
situation or if your hygiene suffers, chances are you have a serious problem and need help. There are other signs, too. For instance, if you are constantly thinking or talking about gambling, find it difficult to control your gambling, or even gambling when you can’t afford to are all among the signs of a problem gambler. Not sure if your friend is a problem gambler? You might be able to tell if their vacations are gambling-oriented — a trip to Vegas followed by a trip to Atlantic City might be a clue. They may be selling possessions to make money to gamble — “Selling your PS3 so you can get in on tonight’s $300 buy-in?” They brush off other responsibilities or ignore complaints from their other friends who say that they gamble too much. Ready to admit you have a problem? Well there are places that can help you can turn to. In Ontario, the Responsible Gambling Council (RGC) (the people responsible for the “noticed a buddy cutting classes to cut cards?” series of ads) is where you can turn to in Ontario. A good place to start is the RGC website, responsiblegambling. org. From there, you can learn more signs of problem gambling, find additional help and even take a test to see how you rank compared to the average gambler in Ontario. RGC runs another website you can take a look at: knowthescore.ca. This website offers links and contact information for resources and
treatment centres nationally and internationally . It even has a database of articles you can search for more information on problem gambling. They visit the UW campus twice a year and run contest based on website content. A resource closer to home is, of course, Counselling Services, located in Needles Hall. Counselling Services can help a variety of problems; they are there when you feel you can’t reach your goals, deal with your feelings and can help with educational and career decisions. If you feel you have a problem with gambling and want to talk one-on-one with someone, Counselling Services is there for you. I talked with Lorraine Nesbitt of Counselling Services regarding what she would do if someone came to her with a gambling problem. “I would choose a counsellor for them to speak with and they would help [the individual] set goals and help them meet them,” she said. This was for a moderate case. If the case were severe, Nesbitt said Counselling Services would “try to help them and refer them” to a more appropriate counselling service if need be. But gambling isn’t necessarily a bad thing — as long as you can control it, don’t see it as a source of income and always see it as a choice. Also, make sure to not use money that you would normally use for rent, tuition, food or any other crucial expense; use money that you have set aside for your entertainment budget. Set a limit and
stick to it. Never borrow money from friends to gamble. Also, what could be the most important tip: leave your debit and credit cards at home. I don’t think this can be stressed enough. Without access to your bank, you can set your limit and stick to it more successfully. Also keep in mind that you will lose more than you win, since casinos and lotteries are made to walk away with more money than you. Your lucky slot machine and your blackjack strategy, do not exist. It’s superstition and will make you lose more money. Would you play the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the lottery? Then why would you play your lucky numbers? They have the exact same chance of coming up. Superstition strikes again. These are among the common traps problem gamblers fall into. Other huge traps are trying to make money back after it’s been lost, or thinking you’re “due for a win”. These are probably the worst ways to lose money in a casino. Hopefully, you can gain enough insight from this to determine what might be a problem. Hanging out with your buddies on a Saturday night, having a coupla cold ones and playing some poker is fine, as long as you aren’t literally betting the house. So remember to make gambling your entertainment, not your source of income. Just because you won once doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll ever win again. shouston@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Suicide prevention— save a life, save a friend Cait Davidson staff reporter
Suicide. The definition may be sketchy, the methods may vary. It might be something you’ve never thought of, or something you’ve considered in great detail. It is nonetheless something that occurs every day — claiming about a million people annually, with men four times more likely victims than women. Women are more likely to make an attempt but men typically succeed more, with the rates increasing with age.
When someone we know takes his or her own life, we might find ourselves examining every moment we spent with them, wondering: is there something more I could have done? The answer to this question is completely ambiguous. Even if we had made that slight gesture, or said those few words we held back, would it have made a difference? It is a struggle not to dwell on these thoughs in the face of tragedy, and an uphill battle to fight through personal grief. Worse, we are bombarded with stats and figures — labels for those at
risk. In 2004, Statistics Canada noted that 480 people between the ages of 15 to 24 committed suicide. Over 3,500 people commit suicide in Canada annually. Thirteen per cent of all suicides in Canada are committed by people in our demographic. I still find myself asking questions I’ve been keeping to myself: Why? Is there a reason? Is there one particular need or want not being fulfilled that causes people to seek comfort in death? Maybe you’ve considered it yourself, remembering it now, as you read this. Was it a flippant consideration?
Serious? Was it an attempt? Sui caedere: the act of taking one’s own life. Is there such a thing as a good reason for suicide? Self-sacrifice, depression, euthanasia, religious and culture reasons are sometimes listed. Over and over again, we have heard the pros and cons. Some of us have written these off as ridiculous, but those who believe in them, have their justifications behind their beliefs. In Canada, 480 in 2004 that died by their own hands, and these numbers are ever increasing. See SUICIDE, page 19
Features
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
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Mai pen Thai Comfort for the large in size
UW student shares her thoughts on experiences as a volunteer in Thailand Victoria Alleyne reporter
Everyone’s life goes through periods of insanity. On a particularly busy day, I find myself running back from a club meeting extremely late for a tutorial, while making frantic mental lists of the endless readings and assignments I was supposed to have completed that day. Before I knew what was happening, I had tripped over my own feet, sending books and papers flying from my hands and scattering across the pavement. “Shit!” I said to the world, bending over to gather them up. Suddenly, something made me pause. “Mai pen rai,” I said aloud with a typically cheerful Thai smile. At this point, my mind relaxed and a breeze passed through my body sweeping the worries away. I remember that it was only a few months ago when I discovered a concept that made me realize that sometimes we make things more difficult for ourselves than they have to be. It was only a few months ago that I visited… “Thailand?” said the Caucasian guy I met during a walking tour of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. “The first thing anyone thinks about when they hear the word ‘Thailand’ is the red light district and child prostitutes.” I wanted to slap him: it was the last thing I thought of. And my village, a nine-hour bus ride from Bangkok, seemed a world away from flashy signs advertising “massage parlours.” For me, the first things that come to mind are smiles, lots of food, bright red temples, ceaseless
hospitality — and did I mention lots of food? During my time outside of Canada, Nan, the province in Northern Thailand — a place full of misty hills and green rice fields — was my home. It was here that I spent eight months as a volunteer. I could go on forever about how people only sit on the floor, how everyone dips into communal dishes and eats with unwashed hands. I could go on about seeing farmers languidly tending their crops and monks in orange robes fill the days with intoxicating chants. What I really want to tell you about is one of the most important ways of thinking I’ve ever encountered. One thing most foreigners notice in Thailand, especially in the rural areas, is that life moves at a languid pace. Few people wear watches. It is not uncommon for people to show up — completely unapologetic — around five hours late. While everyone has their occasional worries about their crops or their children or their debts, most people appear entirely devoid of stress. How is it that an entire population can live such idyllic lives? The answer lies in a simple phrase: “Mai pen rai.” Mai pen rai (pronounced ‘my pen lie’) has no direct translation into English, but it can be used in the place of any of the following: “It’s okay;” “No problem;” “It doesn’t matter;” “No worries” or even “You’re welcome.” See MAI PEN RAI, page 20
Eating his words at Ennios restaurant review Have you ever been to a restaurant and had a bad experience and sworn you would never go back? That is what happened to me a while back, but little did I know it was a huge mistake. When Ennio’s Pasta opened its second location in town, on King Street North a few years back, I went with friends shortly after. Unfortunately, the meal was horrible and the service was worse. I swore I would never eat there again. Recently though, I have had to eat my words. You see, my wife really loves their food, so a few weeks ago we went for a nice romantic dinner. This time the food was amazing and the service was excellent. The atmosphere was warm and inviting. My wife had the cappeletti and I had
the pepper steak spicy, which is strips of peppered sirloin, portabello mushrooms and bell peppers in a spicy red wine reduction. We shared the pazzo bread as an appetizer, which is strips of dough fried and seasoned with garlic butter and parmesan served with a warm marinara. The bread just melts in your mouth. Since that dinner out, we have ordered take-out on a number of occasions and every time it has been stellar. Having eaten there and experienced the take-out several times in the last few weeks, this restaurant is moving to the top of my list of favourite restaurants in the region. If you are eating in-house, try to be seated in Blake’s section; his service is impeccable and his courtesy is flawless. Give Ennios a try and give your taste buds a treat. — Steven R. McEvoy
USE YOUR WATCARD at 160 University Ave., W., (at Phillip St.)WATERLOO 519-886-6490 www.bignight.ca
Shayna Sparling staff reporter
As a sex writer, I often receive questions from men who are worried about the size of their penises: How big is the average size and are they too small? (see Imprint online, Sept 29, 2006). But I am rarely asked about the converse — how big is the average vagina? How deep is it? Does it vary depending on height or race? One curious reader finally asked — though his main concern was his fear of injuring a partner by hitting her cervix during sex. Let’s start things off simply: the average vagina ranges from a depth of around 9 cm to 13 cm. Now, I know what you’re thinking, and yes, you’re right — since the average penis length is about 13.5cm, most men are going to have a big enough penis to vigorously massage every inch of the average vagina — hurray! Of course, vaginal depth (like penis length) does vary from person to person — but it doesn’t vary particularly by height or race (and for the record, neither do penises) — that would just be silly. Regardless of where you (or your partner) fall in the range of vaginal depths, once you start to get sexually excited, the walls of your
vagina will become more elastic. This is great because it means that you will be able to stretch to accommodate longer items comfortably — plus, since you’re aroused, you’ll be more lubricated which will also help with larger penetrations — so you don’t necessarily have to give up on having a good sex life with that guy on your floor who has the 10-inch member. Now, about this fear of hitting the cervix: contrary to what many people (including some hentai artists) think, the vagina doesn’t lead to the cervix. The vagina is a dead end. Normally, when a penis is fully inserted into a vagina, the tip doesn’t touch or rest against the cervix, it rests against a blank wall of tissue. This is because, even without penetration to stretch you out, the upper two-thirds of your vagina will lengthen as you become more aroused, and, to acommodate this lengthening of the vagina, the cervix and uterus are pushed upwards. So you can think of the cervix as being on the roof of the vagina — it’s up and out of the way of the penis/sex toy/tampon/cucumber. Accidental contact with the cervix does happen from time to time, especially when you (or your partner) aren’t aroused enough, or if the thrusting is too deep or at a funny angle. Some positions can make it more likely that your cervix will be smacked during sex, especially the “from behind positions” like doggy-style. If you’re worried, take the first few deep plunges in a new position slowly and adjust the angle of your back until it feels more comfortable. You may find that some positions only work for you when you’re very sexually excited, so make sure you’re ready before you get into them. ssparling@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
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Features
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
Picking and chopping your pork for the right occasion This dish is packed with flavour and nutrients. The meat is lean, low in sodium, and is a very good source of protein, selenium and vitamin B6. The black beans are an excellent source of dietary fibre and folate
I can’t help but giggle when I think of funny quotes from The Simpsons, especially the ones pertaining to food. Take for instance this exchange between Homer and Lisa: Homer: Are you saying you’re never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon? Lisa: No. Homer: Ham? Lisa: No. Homer: Pork Chops? Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal. Homer: Heh. Heh. Heh. Ooh yeah, right, Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal. Homer would be delighted to know that such creatures really exist: pigs, the ones with a curly tail, cotton candy skin and squeals for speech. The old saying, “everything but the pig’s squeal can be used” carries with it a great truth. For instance: glue can be made from their bones and their bristles can be used for brushes. Compared to its predecessors, today’s pork is also much leaner (about 1/3 fewer calories) and higher in protein content. Pork is organized into two main broad categories: cured and fresh, where bacon and ham fall into the former and the remaining pork products in the latter. My recipe calls for pork chops, which come from the loin of the pig.
This is where the majority of cuts come from. The shoulder area produces larger, more marbled and bonier cuts and the majority of them are used for roasts, as well as cooking in liquids for stocks or soups. At the opposite end of the pig we find the leg area, which offers only ham, but in different cuts ranging from boneless to centre cuts with the bone. The underbelly of the animal offers bacon and spareribs. While visiting the farmer’s market recently, I became aware of more ways to enjoy pork; they offered pigs’ tails, hocks and headcheese (from the pig’s head). Fresh pork is most plentiful between October and February, though
it is available year round. When you are buying pork, look for pale pink flesh with a small amount of marbling and white fat. If it is yellow in colour it has gone bad. Also, the darker the pink of the meat, the older the animal was at the time of slaughter, making it less tender than its lighter counterparts. Fresh pork should be used within six hours of purchase or stored in wax paper in the coldest part of the fridge (the back) for two days. If you want to keep it longer, wrap it in an airtight container and store in freezer for three to six months. tli@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Tiffany Li
Pork chops with black bean sauce (makes 4 servings) Ingredients
Directions
For the rub: 4 pork loin chops, cut 1 1/4 inch thick Salt and black pepper
Preheat your broiler. Trim fat from meat. Rub seasoning onto both sides of the chops. Place pork chops on a pan and broil 3 to 4 inches from the heat, 8 to 10 minutes per side. Set aside while you make the sauce: Add oil to sauté pan over medium high-heat. Add chopped beans and garlic. Cook for 10 seconds and add the remaining ingredients, cooking for about a minute, or until sauce thickens.
For the sauce: 1 tbsp canola oil 2 tbsp black beans, rinsed and chopped into big pieces 1 clove of garlic, minced 1/2 cup water and 1 tbsp cornstarch 2 tbsp oyster sauce 1/4 tsp salt and 1 tsp sugar 1/2 of a 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
Add sauce to meat and enjoy.
Features
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
Suicide: A thought all too familiar
Continued from page 16
At this age, we are making decisions that will likely affect the rest of our lives. Some will choose not to live out the rest of their lives. The saddest part of this realization is that we have barely lived a quarter of our expected life spans. There are 60 years of life left for most of us to live but some still choose to cut their lives short. Suicide is viewed in a variety of ways, by a variety of cultures. Escapism, depression, shame, stress, sorrow, a feeling of loss or purposelessness. What makes the person who chooses death any different from those who choose life while living in similar circumstances? In a world where life seems like a certainty, and safety surrounds us, I ask how quickly could we lose all of that? And yet, in one moment the world as we know it could be shaken and death could seem like the most peaceful way out. Suicide may not the cowards’ way out that many believe it to be — death is the great unknown, and it may in fact take courage of a kind to face the possibilty of Hell or oblivion. The “why” is something I cannot answer for everyone, but for myself, when I was contemplating suicide it was out of fear. Fear of the future and fear of my past. Fortunately, I was too much of a coward to take my own life. Today, I am incredibly
happy that I did not choose death over life. A year and a half later, I’m content with myself and approaching success. My ability to trust people has returned, with time and healing. If you’re having thoughts similar to mine, I ask you to listen to what I say now: hanging in there is not that poster of a stupid cat falling off a tree. Hanging in there is finding something every day that makes you smile. Whether it is something trivial or insignificant, remember it. Shit happens now, but things won’t be bad forever; while it may get worse before it gets better, finding your own balance can help carry you through it. The signs of someone contemplating suicide are the same signs of depression. If you notice these signs in someone close to you, or even someone you barely know, ask them if they’re interested in talking, or going out for a coffee. If it’s a friend, maybe you could mention counseling; see if they’re interested in talking to someone who knows more than you about suicide. The telling signs of suicide are when a person talks about it, if they have a plan or method, they’ve obviously been considering it for a while. In that instance, you would want to get help for your friend right away. Another sign is giving away prized possessions, jewelry or other items
that have sentimental or monetary worth, which can be considered making a will before they die. Making apologies and explanations, getting things “right” with others and radical personality changes, particularly in personal hygiene or attitude, can also be signs that a person is considering ending their life. Finding a suicide note draft is the most blatant way to realize a friend is considering suicide. At any point, if you believe a friend needs help right away, Counseling Services on campus can be reached through extension x32655 from any phone on campus. Another option is the youth crisis help line at: 1-800843-5200. “Evil prevails when good men do nothing.” I would never have made it through the last few years if I did not have a couple of amazing friends. If you believe that a friend is contemplating suicide, if they bring it up with you or they need help in some way, don’t wait to see if it’ll “blow over.” Most importantly, don’t laugh and turn them away: suicide is never a joke. The right thing is to get your friend the help they need, the second chance to live a full life. A true friend is the one who is willing to step up and do what is best, no matter the situation. cdavidson@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Burning of the brands community editorial Every day you see them. They walk around campus, sit in your classes, eat in your cafeterias. They are the people who pay $30 for a $10 Tshirt. You say to them that it is free advertising and they don’t have an answer. They are the ones who wear brand name clothing. Brands may seem to be a marketing phenomenon that sprang up in the last half century, but in fact branding has been around for a long time. I don’t mean the kind of branding that involves hot iron and seared flesh; I am talking about putting a symbol on something you made to claim it as your own. It’s not just the Nike checkmark or the AE bird; it is a tradition of quality that goes back to the beginning of civilization. The first forms of brands were more an attempt to regulate items being produced in a time before safety inspections and quality assurance. Some sort of symbol was mandatory for bread makers, gold and silversmiths. This was to make sure that tainted or impure products were not produced and sold for full value. Craftsmen, blacksmiths, potters and leatherworkers had brands that they added to their work, which they used as advertising. This was common in the medieval period, and some historians claim that
branding has been going on for 5,000 years; ever since Babylon. In those days, adding a brand to your work meant that you were proud of it, that it was worth claiming as your own. Some artists and craftsmen were held in such high esteem that they needed a way to claim their finished pieces. Signatures and symbols were put at the bottom of a painting or somewhere on the product. This is what would someday become our brand names and symbols. Some people view brands as gaudy shows of wealth or as status symbols. To own a Gucci purse is certainly an example of this. The purse could cost anything between $3,000 to $5,000, a cost disproportionate to the product you receive. Yet, Gucci is so well known that to own a purse, with its flashy double Gs, is an accomplishment and a blatant show of your wealth. In the past, a Stradivarius violin had the same amount of prestige. If you owned it, you were on the better side of the economic scale. However, there are other brands that we buy, not for their status but for the clothing that the symbol rests on. An Adidas shirt that has special material that keeps off sweat, for example. We might also buy one brand because we trust it, know it well or are loyal to it. Clothing manufacturers want you to
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come back because you were satisfied; you found what you truly needed. Brand names aren’t just free advertising for a company. They are the appreciation of the customer who is proud of the product they bought. It is a sign that you, as a consumer, trust one company above others to give you the style and comfort that you want. It is more than a status symbol or a sign of wealth; it is a sign of loyalty and trust. You wear an AE shirt, Nike shoes, and Roxy sweaters because you know those companies will give you what you want and need. So don’t look at people with disdain when they buy a T-shirt for $10 and a logo for $20. The company is proudly saying, “I trust my workmanship enough to sign my name” and the buyer is saying, “I know.” In this world where loyalty is disappearing everywhere and trust is dying, brands give us a chance to trust in something. We love what we buy, so we in turn show that we trust in our chosen company. It is a working relationship that will continue in our society for years to come. Not only because it makes money, but because it promotes the ideals that we all strive for: trust, honesty, quality, and most of all, loyalty. — Bethany Delleman
Correction In the November 16, 2007 article, “A bloody outrage,” all quotations connected to Tara Madigan of Health Canada were wrongly attributed; the real identity of the speaker Travis Myers spoke to remains unknown. Imprint apologies for the misattribution.
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Features
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
Mai pen rai: A stress-free philosophy Continued from page 17
It sounds overly simplistic — how can three tiny syllables account for so much of a people’s culture? A woman from Bangkok explained to me the two main reasons: “Thailand is historically a prosperous country. We know if something bad happens, something good is bound to happen at some point in the future. Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia […] Most of our surrounding countries have had numerous wars and conflicts. But our soil has always been fertile, and our past hardships have been few.” She went on to explain that mai pen rai is deeply connected to Buddhist ideology, as the religion was introduced to Thailand hundreds of years ago. Most Thais are Buddhist, a religion emphasizing that everything in life is impermanent; although many jointly practise the animism of their ancestors from long before Buddhism was known. Perhaps another reason Thais can be so relaxed is that nearly all young men traditionally go to temple for several months or years, and learn how to meditate and lead mindful lives. Today, schools often take both boys and girls for weeklong meditation retreats at temples. I went along to one and found myself fascinated by how lucid one’s mind and body can become from focusing on ... nothing. I mulled over “mai pen rai” during my life in Nan, pleasing Thai people as I worked it into every possible situation. They were delighted that the farlang (Thai word for “foreigner” and
courtesy Victoria Alleyne
Meditation is an major part of Thai culture. It is so important that children take part in it on a regular basis. Above are Thai students at a summer camp in Thailand, meditating before they get ready for a day of relaxing and playing in the forest. also, incidentally, “guava”) was trying to learn about their ways of life. I was torn: part of me recognized that simply letting bad situations go makes more sense — how can anyone benefit by obsessing over all of their problems? At the same time, the loud, outgoing
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Westerner in me still valued venting negative emotions every once in a while. Shouting matches can be calming. But after several months in Nan, surrounded by its people, I recognized that becoming upset about anything is something I would do less and less. I
felt troubled as I left Thailand, sensing that university in Canada would make me forget all that I had come to value so much. Several months later, my concern is much different. I now think of people all over the world who are living in a toxic haze, choking on their
own stress. My hope is that everyone gets a chance to experience life having internalized some Thai beliefs. In the meantime, I’ll be keeping my ears open as I make my way across campus. Maybe next time I hear those three little words, it will be from you.
W. Bush. But the makers of Dr. Phil wouldn’t be chasing that ol’ southern drawl demographic would they? Do all those:yeehaw, buy-me -a-truck, country-music-is-actuallymusic, Iraq-had-something-to-do with-9/11, denim-tuxedo-wearin’, shot-gun-ownin individuals” make up that large of a demographic? They wish. The phenomenon that named Dr. Phil the “second highest-rated daytime talk show in the [U.S.]” — according to his website — and has him appearing every evening on your Canadian television set, has something to do with the people in suits — namely, the upper-middle class. Consider Dr. Phil the rich man’s Jerry Springer Show. For instance, on the Dr. Phil show for the week of November 19, 2007, audiences will see: a wife dealing with her husband, “who, she just found out, is a sex addict and compulsive liar;” a vicious battle between a physically abusive daughter-in-law and an intrusive, victim-playing mother-in-law; and a “new debate over whether women should go mild or wild,” regarding dress. The difference between these episodes of Dr. Phil and the upcoming Jerry Springer Show — a show which claims to mend relationships with a Thanksgiving food-fight — is the obvious physical crudeness. The Springer audience will certainly observe a censored breast and an overweight fist-fight, whereas Dr.
Phil’s will avoid any such physical indecency. However, that doesn’t mean the underlying sensationalized subjects of each show are not suggestive enough to feed the insatiable appetite of the Springer audience. Because that is precisely what the professional appearance of Dr. Phil hides: a disturbing, Springercraving personality. The result is a pseudo-normal audience to meet this inarticulate psychology. In turn, John Doe of the upper-middle class can — and will — sit down in his fancy suit, watch an episode of Dr. Phil, feed this insatiable appetite and still manage to look classy — because frankly, Phil’s a doctor. The glaring problem is that this type of media now confronts the face of mainstream, day-time television watchers. While it may be far-fetched to say that this “Dark Side” is pulling in unsuspecting viewers, it is fair to say that Darth-Phil is dumbing us down. If Canada is a multi-cultural society that differs from the melting pot of the U.S. why are we watching this sensationalist bullshit? There is a tinge of excitement in discovering “whose kid it actually is’”— an attention grabber that both Jerry and Phil use — but do the right thing as educated students:resist the temptation and avoid Darth-Phil with the force of your remote control.
Introducing Dr. Phil, the modern Jerry Springer community editorial You know what’s wrong with Dr. Phil? He’s on Canadian television every weekday. Student-friendly rabbit ears pick up a mere three channels around here and this guy bombards one of them for an entire hour before dinner each day. Who is watching this show? Those interested in watching an inarticulate psychologist who prefers being referred to by his first name, watch Maury — or so you’d think. Unfortunately the truth is that they may be watching both Maury and Dr. Phil. Worse, there may be a new strain of viewers out there: the upper-middle class in hiding. It all starts with the name. Apparently nobody let Phil know that doctors go by their title and last name. Dr. Quinn, medicine woman, lived in the 1860s and still knew this. And yet there is a chance that Phil knows more about marketability than Michaela Quinn. By establishing himself as “Dr. Phil,” Phil McGraw has become a multifaceted marketing icon. Symbolically, the title “Dr.” demands respect and announces intellect. Contrastingly, the title “Phil” says, “Hey Amurica, I’m just like y’all.” These two elements fused together conjure the illusion of an educated hillbilly. That sounds familiar. Haven’t we recently observed a lengthy puppet show embodying a similar icon? Oh yes, the presidency of George
— Keegan Tremblay
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
Crossword Tim Foster
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You were wearing a pretty pink dress at SJU’s formal, but unlike the other times we were inebriated, you didn’t kiss me. You know where I am, come make it up to me. We met at Sciball, and we shared a scintillating conversation, despite the fact that you were
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5. Quantifies 6. Choose 7. Not yeses 8. Give confidence 9. Purse 10. Burn treatment plant 11. Make a portrait of 12. Calf meat 13. Painter Warhol 18. Desert mode of transport 22. Dash opposite 24. Saliva 26. Those now independent of 1 down 27. Water wheel compartment 28. Not lower 29. Boiled leaf drink 30. “____ there is nothing great but mind.” (2 wds) 31. Pipe seal (2 wds)
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32. Cozy home 33. Alliance members 37. Poetic, at all times 39. Fraud 40. Draft-dodgers 43. With bloodthirsty abandon 45. Atmospheric UV blocker 48. (sin) ÷ (tan) 49. Threw 50. Slanted font 53. Wows 54. Skeletal element 55. Positive 56. Hoof-on-pavement noise 57. Wile E. Coyote’s company of choice 59. Latin wine 60. Engrave 61. Actor Connery 64. Hurry
“Too lazy.”
Ajanthan Thirumur 3A biomedical science
“Well, I try to.”
Warren Dowhaniuk 2A arts & business
Nov. 16 solutions
Tim Foster
tfoster@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
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Distractions
What’s your excuse for not taking part in campus events and organizations?
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Missed Connections Monday night is my highlight, but INTST 101 isn’t near as interesting as you. Those tight grey pants and that “Dam” shirt really make me want to flirt! Let’s get together sometime. I hear you’re a machine if you know what I mean ;);) P.S.Yes, I’m fluent in German.
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Down 1. Scot, Eng, N. Ire, and Wha. 2. Mathematician Descartes 3. Puts together 4. Bathroom fixture
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Across 1. Spoiled child 5. Famous painting, ___ Lisa 9. Sesame seed and honey mix 14. Complete again 15. Epic by multiple authors 16. Foreign 17. Suggests 19. One without a permanent home 20. Units of magnetic flux density 21. Abruptly 23. Ostriches’ cousins 25. Steal 26. Explanation 33. Not sis 34. Star Wars Alderaan senator 35. Class of art 36. Former Italian currency 38. Mixes 41. French friends 42. Basic wicker element 44. London entertainment district 46. Industrious insect 47. Precisely defining 51. Startling interjection 52. Not a canter 53. Independent variable value 58.Villains 62. Subjunctive of will 63. Tungsten ore 65. Sign up 66. Arabic commander 67. Ancient Peruvian empire 68. Leaky 69. Follow cees 70. Founder of bacteriology
Sudoku
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completely intoxicated. I truly enjoyed your stories, and I’m sure you enjoyed my friend’s sandwich that you accidentally stole. Hope to see you at Sciball ’08. Monday, Wednesday and Friday (when you’re not skipping) we joke and mock people in PHYS 111. Ever since you walked into the room on the first day and sat next to me, I’ve known you were the one for me. All my “subtle hints” like making you CDs, studying together, walking home together, etc. were obviously too subtle. How’s this: I LOVE YOU. Be with me?
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“Because I’m already too busy planning them!”
“It’s just not the same since The Crew left!”
5A science & film
4A science and 4A environmental engineering
Andrew Falcao
“No time, too much school.” Michelle Shim 2A biomedical science
Niket Shah & Mihir Shah
“If I had more friends who were involved, I’d probably want to.” Melony Gunness 1A legal studies
Wednesday going into the PAC just after 3:30, I held the door for you. You said thank you, our eyes met, I thought you were cute but was too stupid or out of it or both to say anything back.You then went to the water fountain and I onwards to the squash courts. You: always walking out of Hagey Hall on Friday at 2 p.m. in your bright yellow sneakers. Me: always walking out at the same time wearing moon boots. Stop sometime and we can chat shoes. Missed a connection? Wanna break the ice? Email ghalpern@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
“Who da fuck told you wasn’t involved in campus organizations?!” Justin Williams
4A environment and resource studies
“Time, procrastination, socializing, lack of interest, too many assignments…” Jafrin Talukder & Annette Joseph 1A science & business and 2A science & business
Arts
arts@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
Jenn Serec
Thesen reading a bright spot on a rainy day Duncan Ramsay staff reporter
Those who were willing to brave the wind and rain this Wednesday were in for a rare pleasure, as Prof. Sharon Thesen flew in from UBC-Okanagan as the latest guest of the St. Jerome reading series. A respected poet and academic, Thesen is the author of eight books of poetry. Of these works, both A Pair of Scissors (2000) and The Good Bacteria (2006) were shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award for Literature. Thesen was also the recipient of the 2001 Pat Lowther award for the year’s best book of poetry by a Canadian woman. Thesen’s reading was a cheerful affair, despite rain problems for both audience and speaker. Beginning with a variety of short poems from various works, she continued with several series of linked poems. Her first poem, “Biography of a Woman,” was a sort of ode to every fairy tale princess that ever existed, mixed together and twisted into something recognizable, sympathetic and yet unfamiliar — the various elements slightly off-kilter. Thesen said that she always began each reading with that poem because of the energy it gave her, and it wasn’t hard to see why. Even as she began, Thesen reading was lively, brisk and entertaining even in the manner of her speaking. Over the course of the reading, it was interesting just to listen to Thesen’s rhythm of speech, and how meanings shifted depending on how she spoke. This was particularly distinct in her series “The Fire,” which she read at a much faster pace than I would originally have guessed, giving the poem greater immediacy and a sense of the whirlwind nature of events. Thesen also spoke on the nature of her poetry, and on the writing process. On the content
of her poems, she stated that her poems were always based on events and places in her life, and that she rarely did a great deal of research or note-taking. “I find that if I take too many notes, it gets in the way of my creativity,” she said, explaining that after a while she begins to take the notes too seriously, making it difficult to move away from them for the benefit of her poems. She went on to say that she is in no way methodical in her writing process — “When I feel like writing, it’s like being hungry.” Thesen explained that she usually does most of her writing around nightfall, saying that something about the change in energies invigorates her. The highlight of the reading came as Thesen’s academic and poetic interests combined in the form of one Francis Boldereff, an idiosyncratic woman from Illinois whose correspondence she viewed as one of the major influences on the poet Charles Olsen. Thesen described Boldereff as a passionate devotee of James Joyce and someone who really wasn’t all that concerned with Charles Olsen. The woman fascinated Thesen, and inspired her to write a series of poems centred around her funeral. The series itself was excellent — I particularly liked the way she captured the feeling of dissonance one gets when forced to return to something that had already reached its rightful conclusion. At the same time, Thesen’s anecdotes about Boldereff and the study of her correspondence gave a real life to the poem, as you could see Boldereff ’s eccentricities living among the words. In all, Thesen’s reading was a real pleasure to attend. That she travelled here from B.C., weather and all, only meant that we were all the luckier to have her. dramsay@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
A comic can be worth a thousand controversies
Unfortunately, webcomics aren’t always just fun and games. Like most worlds of mass media, there’s bound to be controversial content within some of the works that comicists will produce. While some of these topics can be unintentionally controversial, like generalizing a character’s religion in the wrong context by mistake, others are intentional and, for the most part, degrading. Of course, controversies can come in all shapes and sizes: ignorance, racism, sexism, hatred — the list goes on and on. While media is meant to provoke, such as the writings in Imprint, it shouldn’t mean to offend. Nevertheless, some of these actions, whether they were purposely enacted or not, have happened all over the world of webcomics. And oddly enough, the majority
of controversy I’ve seen in the webcomic world happens to come from videogamebased comics. Fred “Piro” Gallagher’s Megatokyo (www. megatokyo.com) is a popular webcomic for many reasons such as its content and its artwork, but it gained a lot more hype after the departure of former co-writer, Rodney “Largo” Caston. The split between the two creators caused a bit of an uproar in the webcomics community. As per usual in the world of the Internet, many readers decided to take sides: for Gallagher’s rightful ownership of comic property rights, or for Caston, in the belief that Caston was paid to hand over product rights to Gallagher. While it’s been said that there was a professional understanding between the two creators for the breakup, many readers and webcomicists felt otherwise. Scott Kurtz (www.pvponline.com) has likewise become notorious for his self-proclaimed “cavalier” attitude, and has caused some issues both within the webcomic world and from his own comics and podcasts. As a joke, he suggested negative statements about Gallagher’s comic during the Megatokyo creative split, claim-
ing he stole Caston’s rights. Some of the comments that developed created negative responses to Kurtz, including Dominic Nguyen’s response rant posted after Megatokyo comic page 661 (which Gallagher edited due to its negative vocabulary against Kurtz). Other examples of his quick-shot personality can be found in Podcast 23 of Blank Label Comics (www.blanklabelcomics. com). Penny Arcade (www.penny-arcade.com) has been known for some very troubling issues as well. Being a highly respected voice in the video game industry, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik are also known for their escapades, which usually go along the verge of being lawsuits. As a spoof of the PC game American McGee’s Alice, they wrote a one-panel comic of the kids’ licensed product Strawberry Shortcake in a very risqué design on April 2003. This led to a cease-and-desist letter from American Greetings, the owner of Strawberry Shortcake, stating that they would take legal action if they do not take down their comic posting. See HATE, page 23
Arts
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
Beowulf goes CGI
Frozen tundra, melting hearts
courtesy warner bros
Beowulf Robert Zemeckis Image Movers
When I saw the previews for Beowulf, I wasn’t really sure what it the plot was about or if I even wanted to see it, but from the very first scene I was blown away. The animation is astonishing and I was certain that it couldn’t all be computer animated. When I realized that it was, I was surprised and confused that they would try to make a cartoon look so realistic when they could have filmed live action. That was until the very first glimpse of Grendel, the monster terrorizing a small village that Beowulf must defeat. The creative detail of the monsters, dragons, and scenery is something that could only be created through an essentially limitless medium such as computer animation. Such a medium coupled with the inspired imagination of Beowulf’s creators, brings us into the captivating world of the epic poem, as well as a naked Angelina Jolie. The story of Beowulf is very old, with the first manuscript of the poem dating back to the year 1010. The story was rewritten for the big,
animated, screen by Neil Gaiman, known for his graphic novel, The Sandman, and Roger Avary, writer for the movies The Rules of Attraction and Silent Hill. The movie, Beowulf, is very dark and powerfully written, which enhances the underlying, timeless themes of greed, deception, hubris and redemption. The movie could also be considered an action movie, but in an old school way. Instead of flying a motorcycle into a helicopter, Beowulf must fly a dragon into a castle. The action sequences are thrilling and engaging as you realize that this historic hero is pretty hardcore. The film also has many talented actors who lent their voices and images to the movie ,including Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn, Brendan Gleeson and Angelina Jolie. The story, the action, the writing, the actors and the animation all come together to make an enjoyable movie experience that will draw you into the world of heroes and dragons while at the same time leaving you embarrassed that you were so moved by a cartoon. — Monica Harvey
courtesy paramount pictures
Into The Wild Sean Penn Paramount Vantage
This movie will make you cry. No matter how cold and heartless you think you are, when you sit yourself down in a theatre and witness firsthand this account of Chris McCandless’ amazing, lifechanging journey, you’re going to cry. McCandless’ journey begins when he graduates college and decides to reject the life that his family (played flawlessly by Academy Award winner Marcia Gay-Harden, Academy Award nominee William Hurt and indie princess Jena Malone) always expected him to live. He gives away almost all of his money, changes his name to Alexander Supertramp and sets out to see all the greatest parts of his country. Through his travels he makes connections and friendships with other “tramps” like himself. He also settles down for a period of time in a small South Dakota town and makes more lasting friendships there. These are the people who he stayed in contact with through letters, the people who hold the accounts of McABSTRACT_Vynil_imprint.qxd 9/27/06 Candless’ travels.
The protagonist eventually starts to tell people that his ultimate goal is to go to Alaska and live off the land for the summer in solitude, to get away from society altogether. He works odd jobs to realize this dream. In one of the movie’s saddest scenes we see McCandless saying goodbye to Mr. Franz, a friend he has made while camping out near the Salton Sea. McCandless has set out on the final leg of his journey, saved up enough money and accepted Mr. Franz’ request to drive him as far as he could towards his destination. It is in this moment we can see the effect McCandless has had on this simple old man’s life. Before McCandless gets out of the car Mr. Frank asks if he can adopt him, and make him the grandson he never had. McCandless sadly tells the old man that they would talk about it when he gets back from Alaska. That will be the first time you cry. You will cry a few more times before the movie ends. Aside from the maximum cry-ability of this film, you’ll also walk away feeling as though you’ve learned something. 6:16 PM
Page 1
— Travis Myers
Hate: webcomic competition Continued from page 22
In response, Holkins and Krahulik replaced the comic with another, depicting the American Greetings company secretary hanging a large portrait of Adolf Hitler in the main lobby behind her desk. Of course, there are also a load of exciting tales on their “war” against attorney and antigame-violence activist Jack Thompson, but those can easily be found if you look these folks up in Wikipedia or Google. One more scenario I want to discuss deals with a currently released side-comic from Dave Cheung, creator of Chugworth Academy (www. chugworth.com). Based on the promotion of the Ubisoft game Assassin’s Creed by producer Jade Raymond, it depicts her selling the game out to fans in a very. . . well, it’s kind of pornographic. Actually, it’s very pornographic. Being posted in the forums of Something Awful (www.somethingawful.com), it caught the eyes of the game developers, and they have recently attempted to sue Cheung. The world can be a harsh place. And in the base of webcomics, it unfortunately happens as well. Why this occurs in mostly the videogame comic genre, I can’t say for sure. Maybe it’s from the “sportsmanship” competitiveness within most of these comic writers, most of whom happen to be gamers.
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on weekends i wear vinyl.
all request alternative thursdays with dj obi
big al’s retro fridays
new rock alternative saturdays
ptrinh@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
no cover for the ladies
open thurs. - sat. 9pm - 2am 667 king street w kitchener 571-9032 open wed.-sat. 9pm-2am
667 king street w kitchener 571-9032
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Arts
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
IMPRINT’s Playlist
IMPRINT’s reading
The Gum Thief Douglas Coupland Random House Canada
When I first pulled out a copy of The Gum Thief, I didn’t realize it would take me two weeks to finish the book. Thinking about it now, perhaps my underestimation was due to the fact that it had been so long since I’d read a Douglas Coupland book, I’d forgot how painfully pretentious his prose can get. Right off the bat, the reader is presented with a contrived narrative structure — the story is told through letters exchanged between the book’s two heroes (proles slaving away at a Staples: a middle-aged aspiring writer who’s been on a downward spiral since his divorce a few years earlier and a 20-something Goth girl with a few extra pounds) and various supporting characters. As if that wasn’t hard enough to swallow, the two agree to keep their written exchanges secret and fake animosity in front of their co-workers. Do people write letters peppered with clever-sounding but completely unsubstantiated declarations like “the dead will always win over the living” and “[jet lag] is like MSG” to each other in real life? Do they drop a brand name or a pop culture reference every few sentences in their letters to establish their “post-modern, experimental” literary style? Good god, Douglas Coupland, you thieving bastard — you stole that from Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami! Brief moments of relief from the artificial structure and laggard pace of the main plot come in short excerpts of the aspiring writer’s novella, curiously titled Glove Pond, spliced between the letters. While the novella is amusing in itself,
the message Coupland intended to deliver through it is even more amusing, but unintentionally so. In Glove Pond, Steve, a penniless alcoholic, serves as a foil to Kyle Falconcrest, the story’s Howard Roark. Combine Coupland’s frequent gripes about how he is being persecuted with unfairly disparaging reviews by traditionalist zealots because of his experimental style, and it becomes impossible to not see this as Coupland’s rebuttal to his critics. What makes this unintentionally amusing is that while reading The Gum Thief, I couldn’t help feeling that Coupland sounds more like Steve, not Kyle, Coupland’s intended alter-ego. For example, the Goth girl is described as “Harajuku, death princess.” It made me wonder if Coupland decided to watch MuchMusic one day to find out what the kids are into, saw a Gwen Stefani music video, and came away convinced that this Harajuku thing is the hot shit right now — completely unaware of the fact that the Harajuku street fashion craze had pretty much died by the time Fruits, a photo essay of the Tokyo district’s fashionistas, was published worldwide in 2001, and Stefani was ridiculed for trying to sell a dead Japanese fad as this new cool thing. Perhaps what Coupland needs to do is write about things he actually knows. Take this for a starter: A closeted Vancouver writer (not Douglas Coupland) is taken hold of by an intense fear of being outed after his best friend and confidant (not Chuck Palahniuk) accidentally outs himself in an embarrassing episode (not involving Entertainment Weekly staff writer Karen Valby). The Vancouverite has nightmares about past one-nightstands, spilling to the Vancouver Sun the details of shame-filled sex he’s had with them in his multi-million dollar West Vancouver mansion. It is at this time that his hopes to have his best work (not Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture) adapted into a movie by a critically acclaimed director (not Sofia Coppola) evaporate — and along with them, his chance to join the rank of international literary superstars. As his interview with a gay-oriented magazine approaches, the writer (not Coupland) wonders whether he should just come out and get this thing over with. I would totally read that, and wouldn’t you too? — Hoon Choi
The Gen X Anniversary rental sale is Coming! Buy our 12-pack pre-paid rental card for only $33.00 (tax incl.) From Nov. 23rd to Dec 3rd.
Poison Kiss The Last Goodnight
Risk Paul Brandt
Alive 2007 Daft Punk
Virgin Records
Brand-T Records
Virgin Records
Do you wish that Sky, Lifehouse and Matchbox 20 would come back? Well the genie you must have used to make that wish come true was really lazy, because he mixed them all together plus a little Maroon Five to bring us The Last Goodnight. The Last Goodnight was originally called Renata and has been together since they were in high school. In 2004, A&R executive producer Jeff Blue, who has signed artist’s such as Linkin Park and Macy Gray, gave them a call and began writing and producing songs with the band. In 2006, the band was signed to Virgin Records and changed its name to The Last Goodnight. The result of two years’ of writing with Jeff Blue was Poison Kiss. The songs on this album are bubble gum pop, easy listening. While the tone and style of this album is similar to the music released under their old name, these new songs seem overproduced. The album is mostly filled with love songs with classic lines like , “You’re everything to me,” from their song “Good Love”. The five- member band plays guitar, piano, keyboard, synth, organ and rhodes but the music is mainly piano-driven, which actually gives it a more acoustic feel to the overly emotional lyrics and vocals. I am optimistic that The Last Goodnight will get back to their roots and start writing from their own souls, instead of from their record producer’s.
Paul Brandt, hailing from Calgary, Alberta, is a home grown hero. His voice and lyrics are very powerful and he isn’t afraid to speak and sing about what he really believes in. Some people may not understand why I love country, but Paul Brandt’s new album Risk is the exact reason why I love country music. This music moves me, making me stop and listen; it’s not just background music. It makes me really care and feel things I have never felt before. I love to sing along to music I can actually understand and relate to. Country makes me look to my future and ask not only “what am I going to do,” but also “who am I going to be?” And for some reason, Paul Brandt’s music and this album made me think deeper about who I really am going to be. The songs “Didn’t Even See the Dust,” “Learning How to Let Things Go” and especially “Risk,” spoke to me: “I’d rather burn with desire deep in my soul, love like a fire that’s out of control. And laugh and chance and fall and dance and kiss. “I’d rather live my whole life with a sense of abandon, squeeze every drop out no matter what happens. And not wonder what I missed. I’d rather risk” — Paul Brandt “Risk.” That’s it, no more holding back… just let it all out and make things happen!
Straight up, Daft Punk live are tighter than a circle that’s had its two sides callously compressed by a ThighMaster. Over the last fifteen years, the French duo consisting of Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter has done more for electronic music and French House than any other artist to date in both record sales and critical acclaim. A decade after the release of Alive 1997, Daft Punk has recorded their second live album, similarly entitled Alive 2007. The recording process for Alive 2007 is an avatar showcasing the use of Ableton Live software while using Moog synthesizers that allowed the duo to mix, shuffle, trigger loops, filter, distort samples, EQ in and out, transpose or destroy and deconstruct synth lines during the performance. As for the recording itself, the concert was recorded at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, commonly known as Bercy in Paris. The most illuminating track on Alive 2007 is “Aerodynamic Beats /Forget About the World,” which combines the synth-heavy, vocally compressed Discovery track “One More Time,” with a reworked “Aerodynamic” that emulates an operatic-dance song that cascades into a haze of synthpop. While Daft Punk opted out of releasing an Alive 2007 music DVD, they have ultimately made the right decision since it’s regrettably impossible to imitate the experience of a live Daft Punk performance on a TV screen.
— Monica Harvey
— Alicia Boers
— Hunter Colosimo
“Comic and moving and completely unique.” - Reel.com “Daring and delicate” - L.A. Times
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL
RYAN GOSLING
“Kink has never felt so sweet and decent.”
- Detroit News
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1-800-779-1779 / 416-924-3240 www.oxfordseminars.com
Sports
sports@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
Warriors beat up on Guelph again Ryan Rusnak reporter
Jenn Serec
Newfoundland native, Dave Philpott, battles a Gryphon player in the offensive zone. Warriors won the game 5-3.
Only eight days after the two teams met in Guelph, the Warriors and the Gryphons faced off again Friday, November 16 at the CIF arena in Waterloo. Forward Shane Hart opened the scoring just six minutes into the game on a power play. David Philpott and Mark Hartman assisted on the goal. Both teams threw a lot of pucks at the net in the first period but both goalies were sharp. Guelph goalie Andrew Arklie made 17 saves, while the Warriors’ goalie made 12 saves in the opening 20 minutes of play. The Warriors continued their strong play in the second. Cory Fraser extended the Warriors’ lead to two at the midway point of the second period. Warriors’ fifth-year forward from Kitchener, Kevin Hurley, potted his fourth goal of the season with 3:14 remaining in the second period to give the Warriors a comfortable three goal lead heading into the second intermission. Bernier had a strong second period, stopping all 11 shots he faced. To get back into the game, Guelph knew they would have to score early in the third to give them any hope of a comeback, and that’s exactly what they did. Gryphons forward Barret Brook got his team on the board just six minutes into the third period. Joel Olszowka restored the Warriors’ three goal lead just 24 seconds after Guelph scored, with the assists going to Sean Moir and Mark hartman. See HOCKEY, page 26
Women’s volleyball still on top after first loss Yang Liu assistant sports editor
The Warriors took their sparkling 7-0 record into another weekend set against interdivisional opponents Windsor and Western. With the Laurier Golden Hawks sitting only one game behind the Warriors in the OUA West division., the women’s volleyball team couldn’t afford to take it easy, even against the winless Windsor Lancers. In their previous meeting on October 26, the Warriors won decisively over Windsor three sets to one. This time, heading out on the road to Windsor, the Warriors were looking for a repeat of the previous result to extend their unbeaten streak to eight games. The game started off on a strong note for the women’s team as they dominated the Lancers in the first set, winning easily 25-9. The second set was also a walk for the Warriors as they cruised to a 25-17 victory. The tide turned against the Warriors in the third set as Windsor fought back and stole it with a close 28-26 score. The Lancers didn’t let up the pressure in the fourth set, as once again the game went into extra points, but the Warrior women dug their heels in and squeaked out a 28-26 win to claim the match 3-1. Bojana Josipovic lead the Warriors with 20 points including 14 kills, five service aces and six digs. Brianna Binder of the Windsor Lancers was the star of the game with 20 points, 16 kills and 17 digs. The following day held a trip to Western, whom the Warriors beat three sets to two back in October. The Mustangs played a tough game against the Warriors last match and would prove to be a difficult opponent again. The Mustangs capitalized on the Warriors’ mistakes in the first set on the way to a 25-13 romp. Waterloo recovered in the second set and were able to force Western into committing more errors, as the Warriors took the set 25-15. nikoo Shahabi
See VOLLEYBALL, page 26
Warriors practise hard on Tuesday, November 20 after a close, four-set loss to Western on Sunday night.
26
Sports
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
Men’s basketball team off to a brutal start Warriors drop 2 in capital, 0-4 start Brody Hohman reporter
The Warriors dropped to 0-4 on the young OUA season this past weekend, losing games on the road to Carleton and Ottawa. On Friday, November 16 Waterloo fell to the five-time national champion Carleton Ravens 77-53 ,while on Saturday night the Ottawa Gee-Gees exacted revenge on the Warriors, who defeated Ottawa 9991 in overtime in the preseason. T he War riors offence has dropped off from the preseason and where the losses were being attributed to defence in the preseason, they can now be contributed to both defence and offence. The Warriors averaged 73.8 points per game in ten preseason games, while in the first four regular season games they are averaging 63.5 points per contest. The Warriors are a jump shooting team and what often helps them put up big numbers often works against them. In the first four games of the season the Warriors shot 35 per cent from the field, including 30 per cent from the three point range. Friday night, Waterloo shot 29
per cent compared to Carleton’s 46 per cent and after Carleton got off to a 21-9 first quarter lead they never looked back. The Ravens were led by Stuart Turnbull’s 22 point effort while Jordan Hannah paced the Warriors with 14 points on 5 for 11 shooting, 3 for 5 from deep. Matt Hayes was also 5 for 11 for 10 points and 8 rebounds. Ottawa also jumped out to an early lead on Saturday night leading 25-7 after the first quarter and held on for a 71-58 win. Neither team shot the ball very well, with Waterloo shooting 37 per cent and Ottawa shooting 41 per cent. Sean Peter led the game in scoring for Ottawa with 26 points while Dave Burnett and Ben Frisby scored 13 and 12 points respectively for the Warriors. Part of the drop off into the regular season can be attributed to the fact that the Warriors have faced some very stiff competition. The combined record of the four teams they have faced is 14-2 and includes three undefeated teams: Ottawa Carleton, and Toronto. Carleton is currently ranked number one in the country, Toronto is eighth, while Ottawa will likely see
Emily Yau
Warriors need to get back to the drawing board after four tough losses to start the season. time in the top ten at some point this year. The schedule gets lighter this weekend when the Warriors host their first home game Friday night
against the RMC Paladins who are also 0-4 on the season. Saturday night the Queens Golden Gaels come to town. sporting a 2-2 record. The Warriors will still have to
Hockey: Men’s hockey team keep pace in division Continued from page 25
Despite allowing two more goals in the third the Warriors would hang on to the 5-3 victory. With the win the Warriors improve their record to 8-4, putting them in third place, in the tough far west division. When asked about their record, Warriors forward Doug Spooner said, “Well, we love the wins, and hate the losses. The OUA season is a short one at 28 games, so a loss always hurts; however, we knew with the increasing parity in the OUA, and the quality of teams in our division, it was going to be a year when every game was a battle. So the focus for us hasn’t really been on the record so much as getting better everygame so when playoffs roll around we are ready.” When asked about the identity of this year’s hockey team, Spooner said:
“This team has taken on a similar identity to Warrior teams of the last few years. Words like ‘hard working,’ ‘gritty’ and ‘passionate’ have always been [staples]. With recruiting in the last few years the word ‘skilled’ has been added to the mix, so we have become, I feel, much more exciting to watch on a game-to-game basis.” This year the Warriors team has proven that it can compete with anyone, and could be poised for a long playoff run. “[It’s about] depth,” said Schooner. “We are one of the few teams that rolls four lines night in and night out. We also have three power play lines. Our D-core is also really deep, as we have seven guys who can play every night. Other strengths of ours include goaltending, our special teams and our fans. We have had great home crowds this year, who have been supportive and very tough on the opposition. It adds
Volleyball: now at 8-1 Continued from page 25
Jenn Serec
Warriors celebrate a goal in the 5-3 victory over Guelph. an extra element of having to come and play at the CIF.” This upcoming week will be a busy one for the Warriors. They head out on the road to play York on Thursday, November 22, then are back home on Friday, November
23 to play the struggling Ridgebacks from UOIT, who will be looking for their second win of the season. The Warriors will need to utilize their depth if they are going to win both games this week. Friday’s game against the Ridge-
The third set swung back and forth between the two teams, but Western prevailed in the end 25-22. With their perfect record in danger of being spoiled, the Warriors fought throughout the fourth set but fell short in the end 2522. Western prevailed in the match three sets to one, and snapped the Warriors undefeated streak at eight games. Despite the loss, the Warriors record stand at 8-1, which is still good for first in the west division and first overall in the OUA. The next week will be the Warriors last two games of the season before the winter break hiatus. It will also be their toughest test to-date as they face off against east division leading Toronto and 5-2 York. yliu@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
WARRIOR
Presents
07 THIS WEEK IN 08 ATHLETICS
improve their shooting percentages and play well defensively but they are due for a breakout. Both games will start at 8:00 pm at the PAC.
HOCKEY
gowarriorsgo.ca gowarriorsgo.ca
November 23
vs UOIT Ridgebacks 7:30 PM, CIF Arena
gowarriorsgo.ca Registered trademarks of Boston Pizza Royalties Limited Partnership, used under license. © Boston Pizza International Inc. 2005
Athletes of the Week
IMPRINT | NOVEMBER 23
Rahim Karmali - Badminton
Gillian Maxwell - Basketball
Rahim, a 1st year Economics student from Brossard, Quebec led the Warriors to an OUA Silver medal this past weekend at the OUA Championships at Ryerson. A past national team player in his junior days, he stepped his game up and drew from that experience to win all of his matches this weekend. He defeated Toronto's number 1 doubles pair alongside Charles Pyne, and then finished off Toronto in the semi-finals in the last match of the day beating their number 2 mixed pair with Dorothy Lui. Against Western, he beat their first doubles pairing with a new partner, Andrew Tai-Pow, and playing incredibly to beat their number 2 mixed pairing, a team that he lost to in the regular season, with Amanda Carruthers.
Gillian, a 5th year Human Resources student from Kitchener, Ontario led the Warriors to two impressive road wins over Carleton and Ottawa this past weekend. On Friday in a 2OT 58-57 win at Carleton, Gillian scored 12 points and added 14 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks in 43 minutes of play. On Saturday, she continued her impressive play with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocked shots. The 5th year captain is currently ranked #1 in the OUA in blocked shots and 6th in the OUA in rebounds. With her 25 rebounds on the weekend, Gillian now sits 2nd all-time in the OUA in rebounds (767). Gillian was named OUA Athlete of the Week
[M N v 7:
Sports
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
27
Three life values inspired by competitive sports Community Editorial Why play sports? What is to be gained from participating in competitive sports? How can life be improved by competing in athletics? These are all good questions for anyone deciding to take part in any sport, and perhaps I can provide some insight. I have played sports my entire life — from team sports such as basketball and hockey to individual sports like badminton and tennis. Sports are a big part of my life and a big part of what defines me as a person. The health benefits from staying active are obvious, but I would like to talk about the advantages of playing sports beyond the simple health benefits. In particular, I believe one develops certain life lessons when playing competitive sports, which are extremely helpful in life beyond the world of athletics. There are many things to gain from playing competitive sports but I would like to focus on just three: trust, communication and perseverance. Trust is something that you need in order to survive both in life and in sport. In sport, beyond just trusting in your own skills, you need to be able to trust in your teammates. In soccer, which I have played for 18 years, you need to be able to believe that your teammate will make the play so that you can prepare to support them for the next move. It is the same in the real world. Without trust
in others, you are just another individual out there — isolated. Evidently, you also need to know who you can trust and who you cannot. Sometimes your teammate will make a bad decision and you have to react to the play that they failed to make. Also in life, if you put your trust in the wrong people, you will get hurt. If you are strong enough, you may be able to keep your head above water and move on, but you become a little warier of who you can trust and who you cannot. Communication goes right along with trust. It is hard to trust someone if they do not honestly tell you what they are thinking. This is explicitly displayed through sports played in pairs. I remember playing badminton when I was younger with my partner Alex Workman. We both had issues with each other. Something about me didn’t click with him, and vice versa. Maybe it was because we were both big competitors with big egos. We placed a large emphasis on communication and made sure each of us knew what the other guy was doing and spoke up if we had a problem with it. We ended up winning our division — not just because we were good, but because we communicated what was going on in each other’s heads. This was a great lesson for me as a kid, and I believe that a lack of communication is one of the main problems in any relationship, business or personal. Without proper communication, you cannot learn from the
Classifieds HELP WANTED
Weekend counsellors and relief staff to work in homes for individuals with developmental challenges. Minimum eight-month commitment. Paid positions. Send resume to Don Mader, K-W Habilitation Services, 108 Sydney Street, Kitchener, ON, N2G 3V2. Waterloo Inn and Conference Centre now hiring! Our Catering Department is looking for hardworking banquet servers willing to work evenings and weekends on a part-time basis. Day shifts also available. Must be 18 years of age to serve alcohol. Please contact: The Waterloo Inn and Conference Centre, 475 King Street., N., Waterloo, ON, N2J 2Z5. Fax 519-884-0321 ; phone: 519-884-0221, ext 518 or e-mail ddoogan@waterlooinn.com. Excellent student work opportunity! The Survey Research Centre (SRC) here at UW is currently seeking part-time door-to-door interviewers for the Winter term 2008. Interviewers are responsible for conducting quality-oriented interviews. Must have a clear, strong speaking voice and excellent communication skills. Experience in research or customer service is helpful but not required. 1220 hours per week, evenings and weekends. Starting wage is $11.50 an hour. To apply or for more info, please contact Scott Mullenix, sgmullenix@math.uwaterloo.ca. We’ve got what you’re looking for – let’s make 2008 your best summer yet – Camp Wayne, northeast Pennsylvania, USA. Counselor-specialists for all Land and Water Sports Inc. Tennis, golf, basketball, baseball, football, martial arts, soccer, outdoor adventure, camping, mountain biking, climbing/ropes, roller hockey, archery, rocketry, water-ski, wakeboard, sailing, canoe/kayaking, fine artstheatre, ceramics, woodworking, drawing, painting, CDL drivers. RN’s for our Health Centre. Let’s get the ball rolling now! Online application www.campwayne.com ; info@ campwayne.com ; 1-888-549-2963. Excellent student work! Flexible daytime hours, Monday to Friday - 8 to 20 hours. Specialty maintenance service requires person to contact local businesses for appointments. Scripts and calling lists provided. Clear, strong speaking voice and excellent communication skills required. $10/hour plus commission. Send resume to Anne at apelgrims@ creativeconcreteflooring.com or call 519-8414540 for more information. Distribution positions are available beginning winter term, January 4, 2008. Friday morning hours ; $10-$12 per hour. Please email ads@imprintluwaterloo.ca or drop in
to the Imprint office, Student Life Centre, room 1116 between 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday to Friday.
HOUSING Attention Cambridge School of Architecture students! Live conveniently and comfortably right across the street from school in this beautifully renovated apartment. 4, 8 and 12-month leases available with excellent signing bonuses and rental incentives! Call Jelena at 519-746-1411 for more details. Only $399 – four bedroom housing, 34 Bridgeport Road, East, starting May 01/08. Excellent location, on bus route, close to everything, downtown at WLU, near UW, new, immaculate, open concept kitchen, all appliances, dishwasher, dining room and living room open onto a private balcony, central air conditioning, huge rooftop garden patio, complete laundry facilities, free dryers, free parking, gas heat, gas water heater, cheap utilities. Perfect for students - a must see - rents fast. Only $399 per room, per month. Call 519-741-7724 or www.acdev.ca for more info and pictures.
SERVICES Contrast Photography offers affordble, creative photography services for weddings, modeling, events, advertising and editorial assignments. Please contact: Simona Cherler at 519-722-9206 or browse www.contrastphotography.net. Hello Kitty Christmas gifts sounds right for your special someone? Visit the store that oozes uber cuteness! http://stores.ebay.com/Hello-KittyFanaticism?refid=store. Contact xanael@hotmail.com for more info.
DEADLINE IS MONDAY AT 5 P.M. FOR CLASSIFIEDS AND CAMPUS BULLETIN, SLC, ROOM 1116 or ads@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
CHURCH SERVICE St. Bede’s chapel at Renison College offers worship on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. or take a break mid-week with a brief silence followed by Celtic noon prayers on Wednesdays. Come and walk the labyrinth the second Thursday of each month, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more info contact Megan at 519-884-4404, ext 28604 or www.renison.uwaterloo.ca/ministry-centre.
conflicts that naturally arise from putting two individuals together. Finally, perseverance is one lesson that everyone should learn, though most people do not. If you have perseverance and integrity, then many things are possible in life. In the last few minutes of a hockey game or in the final quarter of a football game down by 14 points, without perserverance you will fail. Losing the season but then training hard to come back and win the next year is perseverance. When things have you down in life — whether you hit rock bottom or
when fear knocks at the door, if you have perseverance, then you will be able to push through and succeed. Whether it is in your career, with your own issues or even with your intimate partners, playing competitive sports can be a great help in making good decisions in your life. Though there is no substitute for real-world experience, sports can provide a microcosmic learning environment to gain knowledge of these key life lessons. — David Klaponski dklapons@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
The “Fixing Sports” feature will return for its final iteration in next week’s Imprint
Campus Bulletin ANNOUNCEMENTS
“Morning Drive Radio Show” – 6:30 to 9 a.m., www.ckmsfm.ca >at the top webcast, for the latest news, traffic, school closures, interviews and a great mix of music! To get your important events on the air, e-mail morningdrivel@ yahoo.ca. If you have an interesting person that CKMS should interview call 519-884-2567 between 6:30 to 9 a.m....qualify for a prize!
VOLUNTEER City of Waterloo, 519-888-6488 or volunteer@ city.waterloo.on.ca has the following volunteer opportunities: “Tree of Angels helpers” – needed at Conestoga Mall for two days per week/3 hour shifts from November 30 to December 21. “Bertie’s Place” needs a volunteer assistant Thursday mornings, AMCC, from 9 to 11 a.m., now to April. Volunteer Action Centre, 519-742-8610 or www.volunteerkw.ca, has the following volunteer opportunities available: “HopeSpring Cancer Support Centre” is looking for peer support volunteers to share info and resources. For info call 519-742-4673 or www. hopespring.ca. “Give the gift of friendship” at Big Brothers, Big Sisters of K-W and area by being a mentor. Call 519-579-5150 or alainah@bbbskw.org. “Do you enjoy developing websites” – The Canadian Testicular Cancer Association is looking for you. Call 519-3422562 or email kerrys@tctca.org. “Hospice of Waterloo Region” – needs volunteers for a variety of opportunities including drivers. Call Colleen at 519-894-8350 or email colleen@ hospicewaterloo.ca. “Join our bingo team” – Epilepsy Waterloo Wellington is seeking young energetic people to help run bi-monthly bingo events at the K-W Gaming Centre. Call 519-745-2112 or email epilww@sentex. net. “Share in the ‘spirit of giving’” and support Volunteer Action Centre with fundraising Christmas poinsettia sales. Call 519-742-8610 or www.volunteerkw.ca for more info. The Kitchener Youth Action Council is currently seeking volunteers aged 14-24 who are concerned about issues facing youth and young adults across Kitchener. For more info e-mail youth@kitchener.ca. Distress Line Volenteers Wanted - Canadian Mental Health Association is seeking caring volunteers to provide supportive listening and crisis deescalation to callers living in Waterloo Region. Please call 519-744-7645, ext 300.
STUDENT AWARDS FINANCIAL AID
2nd floor, Needles Hall, ext 33583.
December 13: recommended last day to pick up loans for this term. Recommended last submission date for Continuation of Interest Free Status Forms for this term. Please check our website, safa.uwaterloo.ca for a full listing of scholarships and awards.
CAREER SERVICES Wednesday, November 28, 2007 “Exploring Your Personality Type, Part II” – this is a two-sesion workshop. 2:30 to 4 p.m. in TC1112.
UPCOMING
Saturday, November 24, 2007 Barber Gallery is pleased to host Yuletide “La Convivencia” seasonal exhibition that includes 40 artists from November 24 to January 2, 2008. Free opening reception from 2 to 4 p.m. on November 24. For info call 519-824-0821. Tuesday, November 27, 2007 So you think you know sex? Come out for the launch of SMF 365’s History of Sexuality website at St. Jerome’s Atrium from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday, November 29, 2007 WWLHIN Board Meeting – (Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network) – from 7 to 9 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, 161 Norfolk Street, Guelph. For info call 519-822-6208, ext 212 or Kate.Borthwick@lhins.on.ca. UW Fine Arts Film Society presents Singapore cinema: award-winning Singapore shorts will be followed by a discussion with Professor Jan Uhde at Fine Arts, East Campus Hall, room 1220 at 7 p.m. Friday, November 30, 2007 Nota Bene Period Orchestra presents “Handel with Care” featuring harpsichordist Cynthia Hiebert and messzo Jennifer Enns-Modolo at 8 p.m., Parkminister United Church, 275 Erb Street, E., Waterloo. www.nbpo.net. Tuesday, December 4, 2007 Rotunda Gallery presents “Simplicity in Nature Mary Wong.” Artist’s reception December 11 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Rotunda Gallery, 200 King Street, W., Kitchener. For info 519-741-3400, ext. 3381. Thursday, December 6, 2007 25th Anniversary for ILCWR (Independent Living Centre of Waterloo Region) – in celebration join in on The Gala dinner and and dance at the Holiday Inn, Kitchener from 5:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. For info/tickets call Kristen at 519-571-6788. Saturday, January 26, 2008 1st Annual French Formal – dinner, dancing, music, prizes! Delta Hotel Kitchener. For info/tickets contact Tyla at tylawilson@hotmail.com or Brianne at briannephair@hotmail.com.
28
Sports
Imprint, Friday, November 23, 2007
Warrior Wrap-up
Men’s Hockey OUA
Women’s Hockey OUA
Far East Division UQTR Concordia McGill Ottawa Carleton
GP 12 12 11 13 12
W 8 8 7 7 5
L 3 4 3 6 6
T OTL PTS 1 0 17 0 0 16 1 0 15 0 0 14 1 0 11
Far West Division GP Western 13 Lakehead 12 Waterloo 12 Laurier 12 Windsor 12
W 9 10 8 7 1
L 2 2 4 4 7
T OTL PTS 2 0 20 0 0 20 0 0 16 1 0 10 0 0 0
Mid East Division Queen’s RMC Toronto Ryerson
GP 13 13 12 10
W 6 6 4 2
L 5 5 7 5
T OTL PTS 2 0 14 2 0 14 1 0 9 3 0 7
Mid West Division Brock Guelph York UOIT
GP 14 14 11 10
W 9 6 5 1
L 3 7 3 7
T OTL PTS 2 0 20 1 0 13 3 0 13 2 0 4
GP 14 Laurier Guelph 12 11 Toronto 14 York Western 14 Windsor 12 Queen’s 12 Waterloo 13 14 Brock UOIT 13
W 11 10 9 5 6 6 4 4 4 1
L 3 1 1 6 7 6 6 7 9 11
T OTL PTS 0 0 22 1 0 21 0 1 19 3 0 13 0 1 13 0 0 12 3 11 0 2 0 10 9 1 0 0 3 1
Men’s Volleyball OUA GP McMaster 9 Guelph 9 Western 8 Queen’s 9 Waterloo 10 York 8 Windsor 9 Laurier 9 Ryerson 10 Toronto 8 RMC 8
W 9 8 6 6 6 4 3 3 2 1 0
L GF GA 0 27 4 1 25 10 2 22 13 3 21 13 4 23 17 4 16 15 5 13 15 6 10 20 8 11 24 7 7 21 8 1 24
PTS 18 16 12 12 12 8 6 6 4 2 0
Women’s Basketball OUA
Women’s Volleyball OUA
East Division
West Division GP Waterloo 9 Laurier 9 Western 10 Brock 8 McMaster 10 Guelph 8 Windsor 10
W L 8 1 7 2 6 4 5 3 5 5 3 5 0 10
GF 25 22 22 17 18 15 5
GA 12 10 15 11 21 16 30
PTS 16 14 12 10 10 6 0
Men’s Basketball OUA West Division Guelph Windsor Brock Western Lakehead McMaster Laurier Waterloo
GP 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
W 4 4 3 2 1 1 0 0
L 0 0 1 2 3 3 4 4
PF 325 360 371 356 257 259 263 254
PA PTS 254 8 212 8 287 6 299 4 285 2 314 2 311 0 304 0
PF 444 334 333 329 247 301 254 273
PA PTS 364 10 285 10 293 6 309 4 308 2 455 0 332 0 450 0
West Division GP W L PF McMaster 6 6 0 414 Laurier 6 5 1 411 Lakehead 6 4 2 372 Waterloo 6 4 2 423 Western 6 4 2 393 Brock 6 2 4 409 Guelph 6 2 4 327 Windsor 6 2 4 415
PA PTS 266 12 357 10 355 8 389 8 346 8 435 4 373 4 362 4
GP York 5 Toronto 6 Laurentian 5 Queen’s 5 Carleton 5 Ottawa 5 RMC 5 Ryerson 6
W 5 5 3 2 1 0 0 0
L 0 1 2 3 4 5 5 6
Men’s Hockey CIF Arena Waterloo vs. UOIT, 7:30 p.m. Friday, November 23
Badminton The Warriors finish with the silver medal after beating Toronto 7-6 in the semi-finals and losing 8-5 to UWO in the OUA Championship.
Campus graphic courtesy of Linda Lin
Women’s Basketball PAC Main Gym Waterloo vs. RMC, 6:00 p.m. Friday, November 23 Waterloo vs. Queen’s, 6:00 p.m. Saturday, November 24
Men’s Basketball PAC Main Gym
[M N
Waterloo vs. RMC, 8:00 p.m. Friday, November 23 Waterloo vs. Queen’s, 8:00 p.m. Saturday, November 24
Presents
07 THIS WEEK IN 08 ATHLETICS gowarriorsgo.ca Registered trademarks of Boston Pizza Royalties Limited Partnership, used under license. © Boston Pizza International Inc. 2005
University of Waterloo Campus
WARRIOR BASKETBALL THIS WEEKEND TONIGHT
November 23
SATURDAY November 24
vs
vs
[W] 6:00 PM [M] 8:00 PM UW PAC Gym
Free admission for Waterloo students with a valid WATCARD. IMPRINT | NOVEMBER 23 BACK COVER
v 7:
[W] 6:00 PM [M] 8:00 PM UW PAC Gym
gowarriorsgo.ca