169.12 ◆ thursday, november 22nd, 2012 ◆ www.theontarion.com

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16tI-cats in Guelph

Thousands attend santa claus paradeFamilies brightened up Guelph’s downtown core during the annual holiday parade

michael long

When Santa Claus came to Guelph on the afternoon of Nov. 18, stu-dents making their way through downtown might have been amazed to see so many families out and about – an unusual but welcome sight for those feeling cut off from the simple pleasures of home and family, especially dur-ing this busy season.

The annual Santa Claus parade, organized by the Downtown Guelph Business Association, the Guelph Chamber of Commerce, and the Ariss Lions Club, drew large crowds out in the unseason-ably warm weather to watch the many colourful troupes go by.

The parade’s short route began at the corner of London Road and Norfolk Street. The procession then made its way down Norfolk and Quebec Street, where it turned onto Wyndham Street, passing St. Georges Square, and ended up by the police station on Foun-tain Street . The event lasted about one hour.

All the staples of any good parade were present: colour-ful floats hitched to the backs of big rigs, marching bands, ele-mentary schools, sports teams, civic associations, police and fire

departments; each made their way through the city.

Some entries were particularly popular – the live camels, espe-cially. A rock band playing atop another float also garnered much applause.

As the Guelph Mercury reports, this year the parade was 10 floats shorter than last year.

“We wanted quality, not quan-tity this year,” said Sam Jewell, the event coordinator.

In the crowd, many parents were waiting for their son or daughter to pass by. Being in a

parade is something of a rite of passage for many children.

“Watching this parade makes me a bit sentimental. It reminds me of my time participating in pa-rades with my own family back in Acton,” said Joe Cortese, a fourth year student. “Those were the days.”

Parents and their children watched in anticipation from the curb. Speculation about looming Christmas presents was the hot topic, much to the amusement of some parents.

“I want a baby for Christmas!”

declared one particularly eager four-year old.

And, of course, the main attrac-tion was the man in the big red suit. Riding at the back of the closing float, Father Christmas was seen sitting behind an old wooden desk

– evidently taking a break from some adjustments to the naughty and nice list – handing out many generous ho-ho-ho’s to the crowd. Needless to say, some very excit-ed children were left in his wake.

Visit www.theontarion.com for a web-exclusive photo reel.

Downtown Guelph was decked out in Christmas spirit for the Santa Claus parade.vaneSSa tiGnanelli

Global to Local: U of G students and

staff on international and national news

News recently broke that Hostess Brand Inc. is going out of busi-ness after the company’s ability to make its products, which includes Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Wonder Bread and Nature’s Pride, was crippled by striking workers who couldn’t come to an agreement with the company, and it filed for bankruptcy. Striking workers were warned of this possibility, but the deadline for an agreement passed to no avail. 18,500 jobs across the United States may be lost as a result of this closing, though there have also been more mediation talks.

The Ontarion: Have you heard about this news story, and do you think that it’s important?Megan stewart, first year stu-dent: I didn’t. I think [this story] is relevant, but I probably don’t pay attention to the news as much as I should. You kind of get in the bubble of Guelph and you don’t re-ally check the news because you’re too busy with studying, but I def-initely think [that] it’s a relevant issue, especially if there’s massive job loss. The president just got re-elected, and they’re supposed to be promising more jobs.Jacqueline Morris, student: Yeah, I heard about the issue. I think it’s relevant just because of all the jobs that are being lost, and it’s a pretty big company that’s been around for a really long time, so it’s rel-evant that it’s disappearing now. The Ontarion: Is it important for you whether you can continue to buy these brands?Ms: I don’t know, I think it’s one of those things where when these things aren’t on the shelves, then people would start wondering, “Oh, where’s Wonder Bread?” Then, maybe, people would get interested, but right now in the preliminary stages, I don’t know if people would really [care]. Like, I didn’t know until you told me, and I haven’t heard about it from anybody else.The Ontarion: Do you think that this will personally affect you or Canadians?JM: It won’t affect me, I don’t even know anybody that works there, [and] I don’t eat Twinkies. I think it’d be weird not to see Wonder Bread for sure because you see it at every grocery store, it’d be different.

Thanks to the participants for this week’s interview. If you have an international news story that you want to see here, or if you want to be added to a mailing list of poten-tial interviewees, contact News Editor Alicja Grzadkowska at on-news@uoguelph.ca.

art and science combined in new exhibit See Cellscapes from Nov. 20 to Nov. 25

Jordan sloggett

Professor Jaideep Mathur and his team at the laboratory of plant development and interactions have developed an exhibit titled Cellscapes – where art meets science in a symphony of light, colour and form.

The exhibit invites the public to witness the inner workings of plant cells through beautiful images and time-lapse movies. They were also meant to cap-tivate the mind and fuel the imagination while educating about the world of the living cell.

Mathur’s lab in the depart-ment of Molecular and Cellular Biology works in three major areas of plant biology: cytoskel-eton and cell morphogenesis, plant interactions, and live cell visualization and organ-

elle dynamics, the latter being the focus of the exhibit.

Mathur explained the origin behind the Cellscapes exhibit.

“Over the last 25 years I’ve been giving out a lot of imag-es, mostly in situations where people wanted to use our illus-trations in books or on journal covers, and in the classroom.”

Mathur’s research is de-voted to linking the internal working of a plant cell to its exterior form and function. The researchers in his lab use state-of-the-art live imaging techniques to create the im-ages that will be on display in the exhibit.

“We are actually, if not the top, one of the top labs for live imaging of plants in the world,” said Dr. Mathur. “The idea was

to develop these images into an offshoot of the science aspect.”

“When you’re looking at something that most people in the world have no experience with, something a thousandths the size of a millimetre, the mind boggles. We get to a scale where a lot of people just can’t appreciate it – but that’s what the tax payer’s money is pay-ing for.”

Mathur has always believed the importance of being able to explain his research.

“My attitude has always been that if I cannot actually tell about my research to the public, and really educate them about what I’m doing, then it’s not really worth it.”

The fascinating and beauti-ful images in the exhibit were developed through a num-ber of different biotechnology techniques.

“What we’re doing is taking things from the cells of jelly fish, sea cucumbers, bacteria, human and mice, and then we’re putting all these things back into a plant – actually cre-ating a chimeric organism, that doesn’t exist in nature.”

The purpose of these tech-niques is to induce the plant cell to incorporate different co-lours into its tissues and cells.

“Other than chlorophyll and a few other pigments, your average plant cell isn’t very co-lourful. And now we can start seeing what is going on inside.”

There is plenty of information available for those interested in the science behind the exhibit.

“I’ve tried to create a situation where those who are interested in what they’re seeing will be able to understand what was done to create it.”

Many of the researchers (now turned into artists) who were involved in creating these im-ages, will be there to answer questions as well.

“Most of the life sciences are about figuring out how some-thing works, what life is about,” said Mathur.

“We can live without a mobile phone – many of us used to in fact, and we can live without a transistor, but if something goes wrong with a living cell – that’s a disaster. When we’re looking at the fundamentals that make up biology, that’s when it becomes exciting.”

For Mathur, a traditional art-ist himself as well as a scientist, plants are his life’s passion.

“Research can be an immense-ly satisfying experience. I have

never regretted a single day [that] I’ve spent doing this.”

“I am a dedicated plant biol-ogist because for me this is a very fascinating organism, and we’re sharing the world with them. Without plants, we and the entirety of the animal king-dom would not be here.”

There are plans in the works to make the artwork available for people to buy. “If anything

is sold we want this money to come back into research. This is a by-product of our research, so any money made from this should go right back into fund-ing more of it,” said Mathur.

“I am not interested in mak-ing a profit, I don’t think in terms of money much. We want people to be able to look at and appreciate something they see every day in a whole new way.”

Posters at the exhibit explained the inner workings of a cell alongside dynamic images.

katie kemP

“[Y]our average plant cell isn’t very

colourful. And now we can start seeing

what is going on inside.”

–Jaideep Mathur

news 3

On-site spectacle lab & Saturday hours

www.edinburghoptometry.ca

169.12 ◆ november 22nd, 2012

Keeping students in the knowThe Better Planet Project works to spread information about its initiatives

alicJa grzadkowska

If students were not previous-ly aware of the Better Planet Project (BPP), they were cer-tainly made better aware of it after three significant events that focused on the project and informing students, staff and faculty about its initiatives took place in the last week.

On Nov. 16, the Better Planet Student Council held an in-formal event in Branion Plaza where they welcomed students to discuss what they are doing to make the planet a better place, and shared information about the project.

“We had over 31 surveys that were filled out. We spoke to over 60 students that stopped and actually had engaged conversations with us,” said Jacqueline Watty, the devel-opment manager, CME and Vancouver region, for Alumni Affairs and Development.

Watty added that many stu-dents were unsure as to where the money for the university is coming from.

“[We’re] debunking the myth that tuition covers everything. It really only covers 20 to 25 per cent of what it costs to op-erate the university and then we have to fundraise to fill the gaps in government funding,” said Watty.

According to Watty, the event achieved its purpose.

“Branion Plaza was really successful, and everyone was really receptive. They key is that they’re asking questions and even if we don’t have an answer right there, we find out those answers and get back to [students].”

On Nov. 19, students Antho-ny Ngai, Ben Hayes, and Derek Alton discussed their per-sonal project, We Change the World and the Small Actions, Big Change Movement, at the Better Planet Speaker Series in the University Centre.

Finally, on Nov. 20, the BPP Student Council invited Alastair Summerlee and other senior administrative staff to speak at the BPP Conversation Café. Again, in an informal and re-laxed setting, students were encouraged to ask the presi-dent and the staff any questions about the project.

“We’re just trying to create awareness and tell people what [the project] is about, and how it directly impacts students, be-cause I think that’s one of the biggest questions,” said Watty.

During the discussion, Sum-merlee spoke about how the project has elevated the sta-tus of the university beyond its reputation as “Moo U” by raising awareness about the positive impacts of the univer-sity on health, community, food, and the environment, the focal points of the project.

“We’ve always done things that make this a better planet,”

said Summerlee, adding that the project has aimed to illustrate exactly what faculty, staff, and students do to a broader public.

Several controversial points were brought up during the event, such as the belief that the donors dictate what the uni-versity does with the money. Summerlee described instanc-es where the university did not want to be associated with a donor and refused their gift be-cause their ideas did not align with that of the university’s, like when Imperial Tobacco of-fered money to the U of G.

Watty also addressed a popu-lar misconception concerning the project before the café.

“There are policies in place and major legalities on who we can accept money from, and how we use that money…[Donors] are certainly involved with that money because they’re giving it to us, but we come to a general agreement and we have legal terms and conditions on to how we use that money.”

The senior administrators and Summerlee ended the conver-sation on a student-oriented noted by promoting student participation in the project.

The president encouraged stu-dents to contact him or talk to the student council to let them know about how they’re mak-ing this a better planet.

The Better Planet Student Council discussed the project wit students in Branion Plaza.

vaneSSa tiGnanelli“We’re just

trying to create awareness and

tell people what [the project] is

about.” – Jacqueline

Watty

www.theontarion.com news4

using up dirty moneyNew study answers the reason behind spending habits

olivia zollino

With the new $20 polymer bills recently coming into currency, it’s a good time to ask the ques-tion: spend, or save?Most likely, we would save. At least, that’s what Theo-dore Noseworthy, an associate professor in marketing at the University of Guelph, recently found.In a new study co-authored by Noseworthy, it was found that participants would be more willing to spend their money if the appearance of the bill was damaged or unclean. If the money was brand new and crisp, it would be saved.The idea behind this experi-ment was brought up initially by Noseworthy’s co-author Fab-rizio Di Muro of the University

of Winnipeg. The duo wanted to answer the reasoning behind people’s spending habits.

“In the end, money is just cur-rency,” Noseworthy said he thought initially. Yet, the pair’s findings prove that people do not just see money for its currency.In one of the experiments, par-ticipants were paid for what they believed was a study on choosing between healthy and junk food. When told that they could purchase items or keep the money given to them, those who partook in the investigation that were given newer currency were more likely to not spend. However, when given old bills, there was a significant increase in willingness to spend it.

“It says something about us psy-chologically,” said Noseworthy.

“Even my mother does this.” The study concluded that the value of money could be less important to consumers than the overall appearance of money.

While this will most likely not affect the economy, seeing as legal tender will always be needed, it calls into question social consumerism and superfi-ciality. It shows that people value appearance more than originally thought – even the appearance of money.

“We socially signal with our money,” said Noseworthy, adding, “We know this about credit cards. Money behaves just like any other consumer good behaves.” According to Noseworthy, “If we are looking to impress someone, we will be more likely to pull a crisp new bill out of our wallet.”At the end of the day, money is viewed not just as currency, but also as a product itself.Noseworthy’s study, “Money isn’t Everything but it Helps if it Doesn’t Look Used: How the Physical Appearance of Money Influences Spending,” can be found in the Journal of Con-sumer Research in 2013.

Having bills that are dirty might be encouraging people to spend their money.

SamantHa Dewaele

news 5169.12 ◆ november 22nd, 2012

exploring oVc’s historical pastExhibits at the library show off fascinating documents and artifacts

alicJa grzadkowska

Since June, the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) has been celebrating its 150th anniversary. The histo-ry of OVC began in 1862, when it was founded with the purpose of training people to care for the horses that helped keep the econ-omy moving in the colony of Upper Canada.

Many changes have taken place since, both in the city of Guelph and the college. With the open-ing of the state-of-the-art Animal Cancer Centre at the start of the school year, the OVC has shown its leadership role in veterinary health care.

On Nov. 3, the OVC anniversary finale took place in War Memorial Hall, but the celebration of OVC history is far from over.

The “OVC is 150! Untold Sto-ries from the Archives” exhibit in McLaughlin Library began on Nov. 8 and will be carried through until next year. The displays can be found

in the Library Academic Town Square, located on the first floor.

The recently formed exhibit committee was the primary force behind the organization of the OVC displays, which was one of the first attempts to organize an exhibit of this magnitude at the library. Me-lissa McAfee, the Special Collections librarian and an overseer of the exhibit, says that this was a new initiative for Archival and Special Collections.

“[This] was our first effort, and it was certainly done because of the 150th celebration, but also as a [new] initiative to promote the fabulous things we have in our col-lection,” said McAfee, noting the first Canadian edition of Winnie the Pooh, which has ties to an OVC alumni, early editions of works on animal husbandry, and an early printing of a Roman account on caring for animals, all which can be found in Archival Collections and the ongoing exhibit.

McAfee says that the process of putting together the display was extensive, and required staff members from many different de-partments in the library.

“There are so many people in the library that helped. It’s not just

about putting materials in a case. It’s about doing the research, it’s about finding the materials,” said McAfee.

With some help from the Cliff Barker Museum on campus, the members of the exhibit commit-tee utilized available resources from their archival collection to create a variety of historical displays that showcased archival pieces.

One of these displays is called, “A Day in the Life of a Student,” and aimed to focus on the student as-pect of university life in the 1800s and 1900s.

Michelle Goodridge, one of the many staff members from OVC and the library who helped put together the display, says that she found the process of assisting in the organiza-tion of the display interesting and informing, especially when look-ing at the student experience in the 1800s and 1900s.

“It was neat to see that noth-ing really has changed. The time had changed, but the experience hadn’t,” said Goodridge.

Through the exhibits, both the history of OVC and the archival col-lections are honoured.

“I think it’s important for peo-ple to know about the legacy of

OVC, that it is the longest contin-uously running veterinary school in North America [and] celebrate that achievement,” said McAfee.

“We have this asset in Special Collec-tions of rare books and manuscripts that are available to students on

this campus. This is another way that we can reach out [to students].”

McAfee says that the committee plans to have one or two exhibits a year in the future and collaborate with students to curate an exhibit as an educational experience.

an exhibit honouring OvC was also held in the macDonald Stewart art Centre.

COurteSy

www.theontarion.com news6

Giving students something more to think aboutEmotional and thought-provoking events take place during Peace Week

alicJa grzadkowska

The Multi-Faith Resource Team (MFRT) recently had their hands happily full with or-ganizing events for Genocide Awareness Month, Holocaust Education Week, and Diversi-ty Week, which all took place under the banner of Peace Week. Many other groups on campus also took part, in-cluding the Student Help and Advocacy Centre, the Guelph Resource Centre for Gender Empowerment and Diversity, Guelph Hillel and ECM-Cam-pus Ubuntu.

From Nov. 12 to Nov. 16, nu-merous events were held to celebrate the initiatives of the different awareness campaigns.

“We started off Peace Week right here, [at Raithby House], and we had a peace vigil,” said Marty Molengraaf, a member of MFRT and an organizer of many of the week’s events. “There were prayers from different tra-ditions…and prayers for peace.”

The vigil took place overnight, with students participating in the vigil until 9 a.m. the next morning.

An African drumming circle was another event held during the week, and drew attention to the connections between people.

“The teaching there was [that] the drum beat itself is some-thing that is similar to all of us [and] ties in with our heartbeat, and recognizes our connection to each other in terms of our humanity,” explained Molen-graaf. “We talked about Ubuntu in respects to that; our shared

sense of humanity, that we’re all connected together.”

With the help of the Central Students’ Association (CSA), Student Volunteer Connec-tions (SVC) and the World University Service of Canada (WUSC), MFRT held an event on campus that focused on Em-manuel Jal, a child soldier from the Sudan, and his story as a youth in war. Jal is a hip-hop artist who first became popular in 2006, and has since become

a humanitarian advocate. In 2008, he launched the organi-zation Gua Africa, and in 2010, began his most recent project, We Want Peace, which “cele-brates and supports, through music, the maintenance of world-wide peace.”

Holocaust Education Week also involved some on-cam-pus events. On Nov. 14, Guelph Hillel brought in Gershon Will-inger, a Holocaust survivor, to speak at Eccles Centre.

Likewise, on Nov. 13, the CSA Human Rights Office organized a talk with Darfur advocate, Glen Pearson as part of Geno-cide Awareness Month. Pearson, a Liberal MP for London North Centre, shared his experiences in Sudan during the talk.

According to Molengraaf, the purpose of the week was “to raise awareness in terms of peace and the celebration of peace stories, but also to help people recognize that war is not a way to create peace.”

Molengraaf also said that there was an emotional re-sponse to the week, as well as in general, great feedback from those who participated.

“People were deeply moved by each of the events, [like] Em-manual Jal. [As] someone who had experienced so much hor-rific violence in life, to be able to choose to do something dif-ferent rather than to enact that violence on others was really quite incredible.”

MFRT has already started looking at initiatives that ex-tend beyond Peace Week, and ways to sustain the message of the week throughout the year.

“We’re looking at trying to spread out peace initiatives throughout the whole year to try to keep the idea of peace as an option for people to work towards,” said Molengraaf.

Genocide awareness took place as part of Peace week, alongside Diversity week.

rev. wilfreDO Benitez fOr OranGe COunty fOr Darfur

Presenting, Do You Know Mr. Big?U of G students shed light on questionable undercover stings being used by the RCMP

andrew donovan

If a multi-million dollar se-cretive operation was being executed by the RCMP using taxpayers’ money, and was also violating human rights, would you like to know about it?

This question was posed to a small group in the MacKinnon building on Nov. 19 by some concerned fourth year sociology majors. Their goal was to shed light on this topic, and begin a debate on one of the best-kept secrets in Canada’s most highly recognized police service.

So what exactly is a Mr. Big sting?

“When police lack any physi-cal or forensic evidence against a suspect, a Mr. Big sting may be initiated. Undercover of-ficers spend months of time and millions of dollars posing

as a criminal organization run by Mr. Big, and convince the target to perform increasingly illegal activities for large sums of money in order to obtain a confession,” according to the brochure that the group handed out to attendees.

What little information is available to the public on this matter is quite shocking. The RCMP uses coercion to get their suspect, be they guilty or not, to admit a murder they’re alleged to have been involved in.

“Some of the controversial tactics used to gain a confession are psychological manipulation, relentless pressure and abusive language.”

The presenters made note of scenarios that the RCMP used whereby they’d stage killings and beatings of people who “got in their way.” The suspect, un-aware that this entire scenario was staged, would be genuinely terrified about the power that the people who he’s now in business with have.

According to the organizers, because of these staged events, coupled with the seemingly

endless pressure to admit a crime the “gang” suspects him or her of, the police are gener-ally able to elicit a confession of guilt from the suspect.

The website Victims of Jus-tice outlines eight cases, three of which have in depth detail, of wrongful convictions from a Mr. Big sting.

Despite the wrongful convic-tions, the RCMP still boasts a 95 per cent success rate, but even those numbers are met with debate.

After being assigned the topic of Mr. Big in one of their sociol-ogy classes, and learning about the secrecy of such operations, the four students decided, on their own accord, to bring some exposure to interested students on campus.

The attendees were shocked and rather upset that these operations are in existence in Canada, especially after find-ing out that they are illegal in the United States and the Unit-ed Kingdom.

One particular student in attendance summed up the que-ries quite succinctly.

“It’s not to say we should abandon undercover operations entirely, but there’s obviously unjust aspects that make this cross a fine line…there needs to be more debate on this topic.”

For now though, there are few journalists and even fewer politicians and members of the justice system that are willing to speak out publicly on the ac-tions of the RCMP.

Do You Know Mr. Big? hopes to shed light on immoral police service actions.

COurteSy

news 7169.12 ◆ november 22nd, 2012

newsology: Important news issues, move overBieber appears on cover of Maclean’s alongside his repetitive and boring story

alicJa grzadkowska

Interviews with celebrities often appear on the front pages of mag-azines like Glamour, GQ, and Vanity Fair. Rarely are they consid-ered news, unless the interviewee says something that’s considered ignorant or politically charged on record.

Take, for instance, when Justin Bieber commented on abortion in last year’s February issue of Rolling Stone, stating that he doesn’t believe in it, and that even in cases of rape,

“everything happens for a reason.” The commentary sparked some co-lourful responses from news sources and talk shows, most prominently, the women of The View, who said that his statements were insulting to victims or rape, and that he had little say on the issue since he would never have to give birth (which also applies to most Republican candi-dates who made any comments on rape, abortion or contraceptives in the last year).

Nonetheless, Bieber was given yet another chance to present his opin-ions and beliefs on topics that are seemingly important in the recent

issue of Maclean’s, where his pouty face appeared on the front page alongside the headline, “I want to be the next Michael Jackson; A can-did, surprising interview with the new king of pop.”

Pardon?Since when was anything that

Justin Bieber said surprising, or candid for that matter? Brian D. Johnson, the lucky reporter who

got to interview Bieber for the ar-ticle, even notes at the beginning of the piece that the superstar

“comes across as well-coached kid determined to ace an exam.” Per-haps the supposed candidness of Bieber’s comments comes from his poor articulation in his answers to questions, where he frequently adds,

“and stuff.”

Every point made in the article is a clichéd fact in the history of Bieber and his rise to fame, and tries to contribute to his heartthrob-gone-bad status, though owning a chrome car and getting pretend beat up by Michael Madsen in one music video hardly deserves that title.

There are, however, several sur-prising parts to the article, though not necessarily concerning what Bieber himself said. For one, John-son met Bieber’s grandparents standing outside his dressing room. They’ve been tagging along with the tour for a while, and have seen Bieber once, for breakfast. Their ex-cuse for being mistreated?

“[Justin] wants us with him.”Bieber also added that now, he

doesn’t get involved with “politics and abortion and stuff,” since he

“just gets in trouble talking about it.” That’s not a very Michael Jack-son type of attitude.

All in all, the article does what every piece of writing on Bieber has done in the past. He comes off as an arrogant, spoiled teen who cares about fame and his fans, and who has a heart-wrenching story that has been over-saturated in the media.

Moreover, Johnson’s inclusion of Bieber’s patient grandparents in the article, the writer’s some-what satirical use of well-placed

adjectives, and in general, the star’s uninteresting thoughts on a vari-ety of subjects seem to contrast the image of Bieber as portrayed by the front page and the apparent theme of the feature story in question.

Does society care that much about Bieber and his aspirations to show him on the cover of a news-focused magazine when there are arguably more important and

world-changing events taking place at the moment?

Bieber’s fame permits him to some luxuries, but let’s get seri-ous. Nothing he does, including his break-up with Selena Gomez, is newsworthy enough to grab the at-tention of anyone except obsessed naive teenagers who beliebe in his “revolutionary” image. Sorry, believe.

ontario students protest misogyny on campusAnti-sexist activism takes place at universities

roisin lyder

A wave of anti-sexist activism took place last week on several campuses in Ontario. On Nov. 13 at the University of Western On-tario in London, about 40 students protested the presence of Kitch-ener MP, Stephen Woodworth, for a talk sponsored by the pro-life group Western Lifeline.

Western Lifeline stated that Woodworth had been invited “to speak about his efforts in support of Motion 312 and other political activities concerning abortion in Canada.”

Motion 312 was a private mem-ber’s bill introduced in the federal legislature by Woodworth in March. It called for the conven-ing of a parliamentary committee to determine if the definition of

“human being” should be ex-tended to fetuses.

The bill was defeated 203-91 in the House and critics decried it as an attempt to reopen the abortion debate and to limit the rights of pregnant individuals. Woodworth

has also faced criticism for speak-ing on a panel where it was claimed that gay people are sick and can be “cured.”

Student protesters distributed pro-choice materials, drew pro-choice slogans in chalk outside the building, and used the opportun-ity to ask Woodworth a variety of questions about the ethics of his beliefs.

“Denying people access to safe and legal abortion endangers peo-ple’s lives, and results in forced motherhood or clandestine, un-safe abortion,” said protest organizer Rachelle Marek.

The controversy at Western came in the same week that inter-national outrage erupted over the death of a 31-year-old woman in Ireland who was denied a life sav-ing abortion in a country where abortion remains illegal.

On other campuses, students reacted to the announcement that Men’s Issues Awareness clubs would be organizing an Ontario speaking tour for the controver-sial men’s rights activist Warren Farrell. Farrell argues that men are systematically disadvantaged and discriminated against.

Activists at Guelph and Lon-don had planned to distribute

flyers countering some of Far-rell’s claims, including the idea that men and women perpetrate domestic violence equally, that women earn as much as men do, and that women addict men with their sexuality in an attempt to extort money. The tour was can-celled in both of these cities, however, with the Facebook event page citing “lack of interest.”

Farrell did however speak at the University of Toronto, where a “Rally Against Sexism” was orga-nized by Students Against Sexism.

More than 100 people attended. Organizer Peter Hogarth said that they called the rally because Men’s Issues Awareness clubs “use the language of equality and concern for the real problems of boys and men in order to advance a politics that blames women, and the vic-tories of the women’s movement, for those problems.”

Rally participant Alexandra Spalding said that she came to pro-test Farrell because he “dismisses women’s oppression, claims that rape statistics are exaggerated,

complains about boys being ‘feminized’ and calls date rape ‘ex-citing.’ These sentiments are not conducive to a safe environment for women on campus.”

At one point when activists at-tempted to block access to the event, the police were called and forcibly removed the demonstra-tors. Hogarth said that the next goal is to circulate a petition in order to revoke the status of Men’s Issues Awareness on the University of Toronto campus for promoting hate speech.

Students protested against men’s issues awareness clubs in recent weeks.

COurteSy

Justin Bieber poses on the cover of maclean’s magazine, and announces his dreams.

COurteSy maClean’S maGazine

www.theontarion.com news8

Get your geek onGenreCon brings celebration of fandom to town

elias tsafaridis

Over the weekend of Nov. 16-18, the Holiday Inn on Scottsdale Drive was both literally and figu-ratively crawling with fictitious characters that you wouldn’t traditionally see outside of a computer screen. From Halo’s Master Chief to Mass Effect to Dr. Who to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter to the cast of Japanese manga classic Sailor Moon, there were few people dressed in traditional non-fic-titious garb.

That weekend, Guelph was privileged to host GenreCon, a convention that brought togeth-er geek culture in its entirety. Geeks came from far and wide to converse, practice, and employ the culture they have come to live by together at a convention that celebrates what it means to be a geek. By stringing together multiple genres of video games, computer games, comic books, television shows and cult classic B-films, the convention featured

a multi-faceted assemblage of characters that came out of the woodwork to celebrate with their fellow geeks.

Over the course of three days, fans were able to meet and con-verse with not only each other, but actors, writers and directors from featured films and televi-sion series. Some of the honored guests include Nicholas Bren-don, better known to the patrons at the event as “Xander Harris” from the television cult favor-ite Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Brendon spoke about the role throughout seven years on the air as well as other efforts on the more contemporary fan favorite Criminal Minds. Other featured guests include Michael Biehn; to any geek, his better-known title of “Kyle Reese” is almost a household name.

Along with days filled with exciting question and answer sessions with various comic book and big screen heroes, geeks were able to perform what seemed to be, for them, the most recreationally stimulating and, as an observer, most fascinating part of the weekend: compar-ing notes.

Some of the colorful (again

both literally and figuratively) characters were the LARPers.

“LARP” or “Live Action Role Playing” comes from taking the characters one with plays on-line and bringing them to life.

“Underworld Larp” is an online action role-playing open world game such as the Elder Scrolls, Morrowind, Oblivion, and the 2011 critically acclaimed Skyrim; however, when the role-playing goes live, it becomes LARPing. Live Action Role Playing is an extraordinarily boundless expe-rience that takes years to create and hone a craft as the character you created online. Once every month for a full weekend, LARP-ers bring their character to life by assuming the role of the char-acter in a live action version of the world online. A deeply im-mersing experience with years of history and substance behind it, it was arguably the most enter-taining and enthralling exhibit at the convention this weekend.

GenreCon was indeed an effortful event that was put to-gether out of the hard work and passion of these geeks, but it most importantly brought peo-ple together out of mutual love shared through fandom.

Getting into the spirit of GenreCon, 13-year-old mark willey donned a full Predator costume as the ultimate expression of fandom.

anDrea COnnell

from a to ZavitzSetting up shop

nadine maher

Investing in original artwork is not something that may seem immediately feasible for most students, when even a small painting by their peers could be reasonably sold for hundreds of dollars. This is an issue that forc-es art-making and buying to be seen as an exclusive activity for only those that can afford it. But since the 1950s, the concept of small, affordable artworks has manifested in the practice of cre-ating “artist multiples,” which is exactly what was presented in Limited Unlimited in Zavitz Gal-lery during the week of Nov. 12.

The show, put on by the 16 stu-dents in Dave Dyment’s class on the subject of artist multiples, transformed the gallery into a temporary art boutique, com-plete with a striped storefront awning, cash register, and paper purchase bags printed with their logo. The store was open all week for the public to peruse, and the grand opening was held on the Monday evening, where over $600 was made.

The store showed a wide range of works, from Tyler Muzzin’s af-fordable $0.50 matchboxes (each box containing one match and a

set of instructions directing you to light the matchbox on fire) to Yusuf Rahamaty’s prized col-lection of “Please Do Not Touch” signs, each stolen from a differ-ent art gallery around the world, and each being offered for $100. (Incidentally, one sign mysteri-ously and inexplicably vanished at some point during the show...)

The collection of items for sale also included postcards, small sculptures, bookworks such as Zoe Cala’s End Note (beautiful hand-bound books displaying images of the pink striped ends of receipt rolls), whimsically hand-crafted items like Gra-ham Ragan’s Confession (small bottles containing a mixture of the entirety of Ragan’s cologne collection), and even charming gift ideas, such as Vikki Dziuma’s universal distinction, a prize rib-bon matching the “average colour of the universe” as deduced by NASA, which can be awarded to oneself or others, to distinguish an individual’s participation in existence.

Purchase was not required for every piece, as Brittany Hart-ley’s World Piece was obtainable through “fair trade.” To receive one of the small paper cubes, which were constructed from old atlas maps, one was required to give up an item that they felt

was a fair trade, and place it on the provided shelf. Throughout the opening night the cubes di-minished, but the piece gained interest based on the collection of items being left behind. Buyers traded pocket items like pens, an elastic, a green feather, a packet of gum, a bent Scotiabank card, a condom, an “I.O.U.” note, and then even began trading other

art pieces like Muzzin’s match-box and another one of the cubes itself.

The show was a tremendous-ly exciting divergence from the generally interesting but ul-timately predictable nature of routine Zavitz exhibitions. The dedication and creativity of those involved was apparent not only in their individual works but in the

presentation of the store itself. As every successful business

does nowadays, Limited Unlim-ited created a website for the exhibition that will remain ac-tive now that the show is over. The entire collection of artworks can be viewed, including those that may have sold out during the show, at www.limitedun-limited.ca.

Students set up a temporary art boutique in zavitz Gallery to sell affordable ‘artist multiples’ throughout the week of nov. 12.

naDine maHer

arts & cuLture 9169.12 ◆ november 22nd, 2012

Getting to know Janet MortonArtist’s exhibit closes as career-spanning book is launched

elias tsafaridis

It was both a melancholy and priv-ileged afternoon on Nov. 13 at the Macdonald Stewart Art Center because it marked two very special events. It was sad because it marked the end of Janet Morton’s The Ravelled Sleeve art exhibit that began on Sept. 29 and concluded earlier this week. However, the day was indeed privileged, because a lucky group of exhibit goers were met with the pleasure of having an in-per-son artist talk with Morton.

At 4 p.m. on Nov. 13, Morton was met by a densely crowded second floor MSAC lecture hall eager to explore the last 20 years of the artist’s career. The day was also met with a special oc-currence in that it was the launch of Morton’s book Entwine, which is a comprehensive publication of art-work that spans the last two decades of Morton’s career. Throughout the talk, Morton shared various situational anecdotes and often comical scenarios encountered while working on vari-ous pieces.

One particularly extensive and enthralling piece titled “Newsflash; Madame Defarge Eat Your Heart Out” consisted of a 23 by 9 foot

hand-knitted blanket comprised of three different Toronto city newspa-per headlines each day for a month. Almost on par with the absorbing no-tion of how it was conceived is where it was conceived. Throughout the month of April 1995, Morton was tenant to a storefront window on Queen Street

West in downtown Toronto, which was where the artist hand knit all 23 by 9 feet of wool mat the finished piece is comprised of. Morton laughed, re-calling the various reactions received from everyday passersby and remi-nisced over gifts people would bring

out of sheer confusion.Morton also spoke in depth about

the process of adding the newest member to the MSAC sculpture park. Before Flight was unveiled at the be-ginning of the exhibit on Sept. 29 as the 37th outdoor installation in the park and as Morton’s very first per-manently sited public sculpture. The behind-the-scenes look at the sculp-ture’s inception included a slideshow

of photos accompanied by facts about the construction of the piece.

Over the course of the hour, Mor-ton explored not only the stories that accompany the artwork, but also the stories the artwork aims to tell. Over the course of Morton’s career, the art-ist has engaged in the act of knitting as a vehicle to explore artistic expression. A quote taken from the introduction of Entwine states that Morton uses

knitting as a “metaphor to explore time and labour through performative art making” and “subverts stereotypi-cally domestic, private and feminist practices by working publicly and in a monumental scale.” Morton shares an artistic message over a career that spans 20 years and now, through the publication of Entwine, it can belong to all of those who have been and con-tinue to be inspired.

world-renowned local artist Janet morton’s wool-based exhibit at mSaC came to a close nov. 13, but the date also marked the launch of a career-spanning book.

vaneSSa tiGnanelli

The Dirty nil certainly isn’t cleanGuelph ups the ante for Dundas rock and rollers

shonda white

I’m certain that Dave Nardi, bassist of The Dirty Nil, ate his words after telling me that they’ve usually been unim-pressed by crowd sizes during the previous times they’ve played shows in the Guelph area.

By the time opening act Teen Violence hit the stage around 11:30 p.m. on Nov. 17, the Jimmy Jazz in downtown Guelph was packed. The four-piece band of guitarists, as well as support on drums and bass, had everyone dancing to their surf rock: antsy and gritty love ballads where films of girls in polka dotted bikinis on the beach meet the T-birds from Grease for lunch.

After a few minutes of con-fusion to switch up band gear and pump themselves up, The Dirty Nil took to the stage (well,

the floor in this case, as a 5’ by 2.5’ block hardly counts as a stage). Joining Nardi on bass was Kyle Fisher on drums and Luke Bentham on guitar and lead vocals. The Dundas band

describes their music as rock and roll, and it really is raw and dirty rock and roll at the core. The vocals are a mixture of heart-felt lines and warrior screams encased in Bentham’s unpolished guitar riffs. It all ac-companies the heavy bass and speedy, hard-hitting drum-ming. Although they did play a few tamer songs, it always seemed to end in wild antics anyway, such as Bentham run-ning into the sea of fans while playing a guitar solo. With the amount of energy that The Dirty Nil brings with them on and off the stage, it’s amazing that no one got hurt – specif-ically themselves.

With only two seven-inch records and not even a full-length album under their belt, it was great to see a near-full house of fans turn up for the event. If you missed the show, I think this impressive turn-out will have the three-piece band of rock and rollers com-ing back to Guelph more often in the near future.

while The Dirty nil had concerns about the turnout after disappointing audiences at previous Guelph shows, the city made up for it nov. 17 at Jimmy Jazz.

SHOnDa wHite

“With the amount of

energy that The Dirty Nil brings with

them on and off the stage, it’s amazing that

no one got hurt – specifically themselves.”

“Over the course of

Morton’s career, the artist has

engaged in the act of knitting as a vehicle to

explore artistic expression.

www.theontarion.com arts & cuLture10

a folk force to be reckoned with Tom Fun Orchestra and The Strumbellas strum up some fun

elias tsafaridis

On Nov. 14, what seemed to be an amiably filled eBar on a chilly Wednesday night couldn’t possi-bly have predicted the onslaught of festivity brought about by the Tom Fun Orchestra and the Strumbellas. It began as a quiet night, a low-key and complacent crowd convers-ing over drinks with fellow patrons, however when the last amplifier was blindly carried up a rather steep stair case and plugged in, the show was on.

The Strumbellas hit the stage around 10:50 p.m. and shook the relaxed crowd onto their feet. What began as a sparsely filled room turned quickly into a whirlwind of dance pits and cheers. Blasting through tracks mostly off of their most recent release, My Father and the Hunter the band welcomed sing-a-longs of “The Sher-iff,” “The Bird That Follows Me,” and

“Sailors Blues,” all the while engag-ing with the crowd’s receptivity. The

bug-eyed, red-faced and slightly in-toxicated lead vocalist Simon Ward’s banter with band mate and key-boardist David Ritter added a sense of humor to the band’s performance that provoked the crowd to join along.

“This was fun Guelph, we should do it again. Next week? Great. We’ll start a Guelph residency. Who doesn’t love getting drunk every Wednesday?” Ward slurred.

The band laughed between beers and songs and thanked London as they walked off stage. The Strumbel-las certainly warmed the crowd up with their fast-paced folk-heavy rock, however the crowd was greeted with a differently paced performance by the night’s headliners. Hailing all the way from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, all seven members of the Tom Fun Orchestra slowly and sleepish-ly sauntered and packed in on stage just before midnight and attacked the audience in the same fast-paced up-tempo folk jams the night had become accustomed too. With a mas-sively coordinated stage presence, the band danced along to their upbeat sanguine folk tunes and the crowd didn’t miss a beat. Coming off the

high from the Strumbellas, the crowd danced and sang along to “Throw Me to the Rats” and the highly regarded

“Watchmaker.”However, as the night went on, the

set slowed to a quieter, stripped down jam of “Boxcar Lullaby” off their latest effort Earthworm Heart. The dance party slowed to a sway, changing

the vibe to a collective mellowed-out atmosphere oscillating from the audience. The slow jam coupled with the rock vibe added a vast dynamic between the two acts’ performances that were well received and recipro-cated by the audience.

The Strumbellas and the Tom Fun Orchestra are both on tour through

southern Ontario in support of their respective new releases. The two bands left with many thanks and appreciation for the crowd and promises of return in the not-too-distant future. But if this fabled residency follows through, both acts are definitely worth the good time they bring.

album review: Luke Lalonde – Rhythymnals

A surprisingly poppy effort from Born Ruffians' gallant lead singer

robyn nicholson

Midland natives Born Ruffi-ans have long enjoyed success beyond their loyal Southern On-tario following, with influence stretching as far as the United Kingdom. Much of the originality attributed to the band's signature indie rock sound is thanks to lead singer Luke Lalonde. Lalonde’s warbly yet versatile vocal tone is fascinating, not to mention his range. While Born Ruffians have been actively touring and record-ing since 2004, recently Lalonde has been ever busy preparing a solo album. Rhythymnals is an ambitious debut, and not at all what most Ruffians fans might have been expecting.

The album starts strong with opener “Grand,” a pulsing elec-tronic ballad gently blended with more indie aspects like whistling and acoustic strumming. This earnestness akin to Lalonde's former work with the Ruffians doesn't last for long, however, as the album takes an unfortu-nate electro-pop turn. As the tracks continue, a serious lack of cohesiveness becomes pain-fully present as does an obvious

attempt to appeal to a more pop-friendly demographic.

This pop element is evident as early as the second track “Hate the Night,” where a vocal bridge section makes regrettable use of auto-tune, but at least the lyrical content and delivery still holds out. The lyrical content gives out by “Undone,” which comes off as more of a Backstreet Boys throw-back, with chorus lyrics like “I always said I'd be your boyfriend”

accompanied by campy reverb ef-fects. This trend continues with tracks “Shove Off” and “Red Wagon,” to the point where the cheap pop aspects become almost unlistenable. While this opinion may be biased by a familiarity with the brilliance of the Born Ruffians catalogue (to which this effort absolutely pales in compari-son), the sheer contrast between Lalonde's work with the band and this solo material is hard to ignore.

It's not all bad. The heartfelt “My Friend Archibald (R.I.P.)” is a refreshing break from the mindless pop through the mid-way point of the album, as is airy electro-acoustic “Inamo-rataos,” while the provocative Grizzly Bear-esque “Wave” pro-vides some desperately-needed sonic interest. The slowly march-ing acoustic closer “A Great Man” in some way helps to erase the ef-fects of synthesized drum loops and auto-tune, thankfully hear-kening back to the earnestness of the album's opener.

This was a disappointing debut to say the least. Luke Lalonde has the vocal ability to create something incredibly original, but perhaps personal musical tastes or song-writing, inde-pendent of the Ruffians, leaves something to be desired – un-less this was an overt attempt at a more mainstream audience, in which case the disappointment is all the more. Despite the overall let-down, the few good tracks mentioned are a hopeful glimpse into the potential for a truly great solo effort, and so the silver lin-ing the listener is left with is the possibility of a better sophomore album. The fact that Lalonde was able to craft even a few tracks lovely enough to make up for an overwhelmingly pop-digestible album is reassuring, and reason enough to want more.

COurteSy

The tom fun Orchestra headlined at the eBar on nov. 14, picking up where the upbeat Strumbellas left off before transitioning to a mellower vibe.

Bryan wauGH

arts & cuLture 11169.12 ◆ november 22nd, 2012

Pop Machine: elmo puppeteer resignsSesame

Workshop, Kevin Clash call controversy distracting from programming’s educational focus

tom beedham

Pursuant to last week’s column that perhaps too boldly announced pup-peteer Kevin Clash has only been tickling Elmo and consenting adults, Pop Machine returns to examine the fallout of accuser 23-year-old Sheldon Stephens recanting his al-legation that Clash engaged in sexual activity with him when Stephens was just 16 years old and Clash was 45.

For Kevin Clash, a significant weight was lifted when accuser Sheldon Stephens recanted a pub-lic claim he issued alleging that Clash was involved in a sexual relationship with him when Stephens was just a teenager, and the two parties sub-sequently reached an agreement in an out-of-court settlement. Sesame

Workshop, Sesame Street’s parent organization, enjoyed the same relief. Clash had taken a leave of absence to defend himself amidst allegations, and could then return to his job.

The recanting was in line with a signed agreement between Clash and Stephens, stating, “Stephens agrees that immediately upon ex-ecution of this Agreement, his counsel, Andreozzi & Associates, P.C., shall release the [following] statement ... ‘He [Stephens] wants it to be known that his sexual rela-tionship with Mr. Clash was an adult consensual relationship.’”

On Nov. 19, TMZ broke that Ste-phens had met with lawyers in Los Angeles to tell them he was pres-sured into recanting his allegation, insisting that he was telling the truth when he made his original allegation.

Upon the initial agreement, Clash agreed to pay Stephens $125,000, but Stephens says he will forfeit that sum to restore his name.

In its original approach to the case, Andreozzi & Associates claimed to have incriminating emails between

Clash and his accuser in which Clash acknowledged the affair to have begun when Stephens was only 16. Sesame Workshop officials be-lieved those emails to be fraudulent, although upon an internal investi-gation they did discover exchange between the two and disciplined Clash for an inappropriate use of company email.

A new plaint seeking damages in excess of five million dollars for Cecil Singleton received on Nov. 20 alleges that Clash trolled gay tele-phone chat line rooms to meet and have sex with underage boys, in-cluding Singleton (now 24) when he was just 15.

Clash resigned from his post as Elmo’s puppeteer on programs like Sesame Street on Nov. 20 following the new allegation.

“Personal matters have diverted attention away from the important work Sesame Street is doing and I cannot allow it to go on any longer,” said Clash in a statement on Nov. 20. “I am deeply sorry to be leaving and am looking forward to resolving these personal matters privately.”

“None of us, especially Kevin, want anything to divert our at-tention from our focus on serving as a leading educational organiza-tion,” Sesame Workshop officials said in a statement similar to Clash’s.

“Unfortunately, the controversy sur-rounding Kevin’s personal life has become a distraction that none of

us want, and he has concluded that he can no longer be effective in his job and has resigned from Sesame Street.”

Questions concerning whether or not Clash was pressured to leave the organization have been unanswered thus far, but the non-profit seems plenty eager to push forward with its use of Elmo’s iconography.

On Nov. 20, Hasbro, the main toy licensee for Sesame Street products said it is “confident that Elmo will remain an integral part of Sesame Street.” This fall, the company’s Playskool brand released “Plays-kool Sesame Street LOL Elmo,” a revamped version of the popular

“Tickle Me Elmo,” with a suggested retail price of $40.

Following the recent explosion of controversy, Macy’s – the de-partment store that hosts a famed annual Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City – was approached by The Gothamist about Elmo’s presence at this year’s parade. Rep-resentative Orlando Veras told them that Elmo “will absolutely join us in the Parade...under an alternate puppeteer.”

On Sesame Street, Elmo will be puppeteered by understudies Clash trained and recommended to Sesa-me Workshop.

While all of this might seem un-necessary to the educational focus Sesame Workshop has so fervently championed in discussion of Clash’s

situation and it might seem like a wiser decision for the company to hold back on pushing Elmo’s pres-ence, it’s important to note Sesame Workshop’s status. As a non-profit organization, the company relies heavily on public funding to broad-cast its programming and foots production costs largely through licensing the use of its characters to companies like Hasbro, Fisher-Price, and the Milton Bradley Company, among several others.

At Sesame Workshop, Elmo is something of a mainstay, and with good reason: the New York Times reports that Jim Silver, editor-in-chief of Time to Play, a website that follows the toy-licensing business, estimated that Elmo-related prod-ucts account for 50 to 70 per cent of an annual $75 million in Sesa-me Street branded toys sales. The character’s success has been rec-ognized and incorporated into the programming to the point where Sesame Street traditionalists are known to react to the character’s screen time – which has caused the reduced roles of characters like Oscar the Grouch, Big Bird, The Count, Grover, and Cookie Mon-ster – by dubbing him the “Little Red Menace.”

While Sesame Workshop has called losing Clash a sad day for Sesame Street, losing Elmo would involve an entirely different breed of loss.

what the tech?Can you hear me now?

nick revington

The iPod and the wave of imitator mp3 players that followed revo-lutionized how we listen to music. Sure, the Walkman came first. (Note to any readers who have not taken ancient history courses: the Walk-man was a device the cavemen used to listen to something called “audio cassettes.”) But with the Walkman, and later portable CD players, the musical selection you could bring with you was limited. With the wonders of digital technology, it is now possible to have over a gajil-lion songs on a little device in your pocket.

But the evolution of portable music players is secondary to the topic of this article. It’s the drive for convenience that is important. In seeking convenience, those tiny earbuds have become the prime delivery tool between music play-er and ear.

Convenience is fine, but there’s just one problem. The tiny speak-ers are poor at blocking out ambient noise like traffic or your roommate singing in the shower or maybe even a really dry lecture. The common

response? Nudge up the volume. Earbuds, then, have a propensity to put a louder volume of sound even closer to your ear, as compared to conventional over-ear headphones. And, if it’s loud enough, this trans-lates to hearing damage.

Fun Fact #1: Ever leave a concert or a club and find your ears ring-ing? That’s hearing damage. Once that ringing stops, you will never hear that particular frequency again.

Fun Fact #2: Exercising can in-crease your risk of hearing damage

from earbuds because it draws blood away from the inner ear to the limbs.

Getting rid of that ambient noise is important, then, so you can enjoy your music at a lower volume with-out it being drowned out by passing cars as you wait at the bus stop. Or-dinary over-ear headphones will do this to some degree by physically blocking out ambient noise. That is known as passive noise cancel-lation. But active noise-cancelling headphones go one step further. In addition to providing that physical barrier, as the name suggests, they actively eliminate ambient noise from the perspective of the wearer.

This is accomplished by a process known as destructive interference. For any readers who have not taken courses in the physics of sound, sound is transmitted by waves of compressions and rarefactions. By creating opposing sound waves that match rarefactions with compres-sions and vice versa, the incoming ambient noise is cancelled out.

But while there’s less chance for hearing damage, you may find yourself a little out of tune with what’s going on around you (that’s kind of the point). And that can be dangerous too. I guess you just can’t win.

High volumes close to the ear can cause hearing damage, while noise-cancelling technologies can make it easy to be oblivious to surrounding dangers.

COurteSy

arts & cuLture 13169.12 ◆ november 22nd, 2012

if we were birds

Play exposes violence against women as a tool of warSchool of English and Theatre Studies stages If We Were Birds

Nick ReviNgtoN

If We Were Birds is not for the faint of heart. Winner of the 2011 Governor General’s Award for Drama, it refus-es to shy away from heavy topics. The play, which runs until Nov. 24 at the George Luscombe Theatre and is pre-sented by the School of English and Theatre Studies, exposes in graphic detail the horrors of rape.

Playwright Erin Shields expands a small passage from Ovid’s Meta-morphosis – the same epic that inspired Shakespeare’s bloody Titus

Andronicus – into a full-blown tragedy of its own. In traditional Greek style, If We Were Birds uses a chorus to aid in the telling of the story, but there’s a twist: this chorus of slave women represents five victims of sexual vio-lence from conflicts in Nanking, Berlin, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovena, and Rwanda, highlighting how war is disproportionately brutal towards women.

“I would say that given the stories of the slave women, it certainly makes the play relevant now, whereas I feel that if it was only the Greek tragedy stories, it would be a little bit harder to see how important these stories are to tell,” said actor Lily Davis. The play thus exposes a devastating reality of contemporary warfare.

“Just kind of speaking on a personal note, I wasn’t aware of all the horrific things that were going on, especially because a lot of these stories aren’t told in the press,” said Lisa Gachet, who plays Philomela, one of the principal characters. “Just having to go through and research it more, and as my char-acter experiences the whole thing from the beginning to the end, it was very emotional to me just as an actor to go through that as well.”

Philomela is raped by her broth-er-in-law and locked in a cabin in the woods. Her tongue is cut out to pre-vent her from recounting the story. She is thus transformed from an inno-cent princess to a victim of rape like the slave women who make up the chorus, said Thomas Jones, movement coach

and associate director.As the audience filled the theatre,

the actors were already on stage, perched on the minimalist set of metal pipes like birds. The actors captured the curious preening and head move-ments perfectly.

Besides the metal frames, there was an austere white tile floor, and all the actors wore white. There was, effec-tively, no backstage. The simple and revealing nature of the design choic-es served to accentuate the play’s message.

“[Director Ric Knowles] didn’t want to hide anything, and [Jones] made sure that we didn’t hide some of the aspects of the show, like drinking water to spit up later – you see it hap-pening and you don’t realize why it’s

happening until the show, and it really doesn’t change the effect of the show at all,” said Gachet.

“If we take away the hiding or the duping of the audience, it allows us to highlight why this is a play, instead of a novel or a short story,” Jones said.

The production is a fine example of how less is more. The stark lighting, set, and costumes served to accentuate the telling of the story. Instead of fixating on the fact that there was no backdrop and few props, the observer was in-stead allowed to concentrate on the content. The result is a dark and pow-erful exposing of rape as a tool of war.

Visit www.theontarion.com for a web-exclusive photo reel.

Photos by Vanessa Tignanelli

www.theontarion.com sports & HealtH16tigercats to call alumni stadium homeThe Hamilton Tigercats of the CFL have tentatively agreed to play next season’s home games in Guelph

chris müller

The morning of Nov. 20 witnessed an information leak out of Hamil-ton regarding the Tigercats’s plans for next season while their stadium is being renovated. That informa-tion – that Hamilton is intending to use Alumni Stadium as their home venue next season –prompted an im-promptu media event at the home of the Guelph Gryphon football team.

The deal is outlined in a “Memoran-dum of Understanding” between the Hamilton Tigercats of the Canadian Football League and the University of Guelph. Essentially, due to major re-construction at Ivor Wynne Stadium, the current home of the Tigercats, the team was left without a home field for next season.

Looks like the Tigercats got wind of the house the Gryphons built in Alumni Stadium. The newly renovat-ed facility, home of a video scoreboard and professional-grade playing sur-face, became an attractive option for the displaced Hamilton franchise.

“It’s going to be great to play out

here, it looks very nice,” said Mar-wan Hage, a defensive lineman for the Hamilton Tigercats. “I hope it brings a lot of good experience to the players here at Guelph.”

Hage explains that the Tigercats worked to ensure the location was as close as possible to Hamilton – en-suring the loyal fans that make up

“Tiger-Town” would still be able to enjoy their favourite team. Con-sideration was given to McMaster’s football stadium, but the logistics of installing additional seating and the necessary infrastructure of a profes-sional game deemed the Hamilton location unsuitable.

Making Guelph’s newly renovated facility suitable for the professional game (and the fan-fare that follows it) will include the temporary instal-lation of additional seating on the opposite side of the existing grand-stand, which could nearly double Alumni Stadium’s capacity. Consid-erations for the Tigercats’ corporate sponsors are also being considered, including the possibility of remov-able ads on the playing surface, a licensed beer-garden area, and addi-tional advertising space for television broadcasts. Concerns about the play-er’s locker rooms, weight facilities, and classroom areas are also being ad-dressed. Parking, crowd management, and security are issues the university is working to rectify.

It’s important to note that the CFL season runs throughout the OUA’s season, and the logistics of facilitat-ing both teams in the same venue could prove difficult. However, the Gryphons are focused on the unique experience of sharing a stadium with a professional team – an opportunity they will look to take full advantage of.

“A lot of us aspire to be in the CFL one day, so it’s a great opportunity to pick [the professionals’] brain, see how they work out, and things like that,” said Gryphon linebacker John

Rush. Rush didn’t express any con-cern on the logistics of the teams’ new arrangements at Alumni Stadium, but suggested that certain things could be done to make the situation a little more manageable, such as frontload-ing Hamilton’s schedule with home games before the OUA season starts (the CFL season starts on Canada Day).

“The exposure of the university and the facility certainly isn’t going to hurt us,” explained athletic director Tom Kendall. The university stands to ben-efit financially from this agreement, as

a contribution to Guelph’s “Building Potential” campaign is reportedly as-sociated with the agreement.

The university doesn’t feel this agreement will impede on any of the university’s athletics programs. The excitement of the agreement could be felt throughout the Gryphon football program and the athlet-ics department as a whole, and this unique opportunity is sure to ben-efit the school as a whole through nationally televised exposure to the stadium and campus.

Offensive lineman Peter Dyakowski (left) and teammate Marwan Hage stand at midfield in Alumni Stadium.

cHriS Müller

Figure skating team opens season with silverVeteran skaters lead the way as the Gryphons skated to a team silver at the Carleton Invitational

Jeff sehl

On Nov. 16 the Gryphons figure skating team travelled to Ottawa to participate in their first skat-ing competition of the season, the Carleton Invitational. Lead by a gold medal performance by second year Francis Adamo in the men’s free skate and silver medal performances by Amanda Sproule in the senior silver free skate, Sproule and Chelsea Mul-vale in the intermediate silver pairs event, and Christine Kuca-va and Maya Goldman in creative dance, the Gryphons remained in medal contention throughout the day. However, with one event remaining, the Gryphons found themselves in a tie for second with the Western Mustangs. In the final event, veteran team members Gabrielle Boulding and team co-captain Kaitlin Snell skated to a fifth place finish in the senior sim-ilar pairs event, one place better than the Mustangs pair, solidifying

the silver medal for the Gryphons by a single point.

According to team co-captain Bailey Beldham, added practice time may have been the difference between medalling and placing in the middle of the pack.

“We have added a few hours a week to our practice time com-pared to other seasons,” said Beldham. “We are very proud of the way the team has been

practicing. We have really come together as a team this year com-pared to past seasons.”

Despite the team’s solid perfor-mance in Ottawa, there is room for the team to polish their skills, ac-cording to Snell.

“We are really pleased with how we placed in Ottawa, but there is room for improvement,” said Snell.

“The points were very close between us and a few other schools, so we need to keep practicing well for the next competition.”

With a long layoff before their next competition which takes place on Jan. 24 and 25, the Gryphons will have plenty of time to improve their routines in an attempt to close the gap between themselves and the gold medal winning University of Toronto Varsity Blues squad who finished first by a 24-point margin.

“We would really like to place well in the next event,” said Snell.

“We are adding synchro’, bronze rhythm, and pairs fours which are all strong events for us and will def-initely add to our score.”

In the meantime, the team will continue their strenuous training regiment that includes 6 a.m. prac-tices five times a week as well as off-ice training as they continue to prepare for their next event hosted by McMaster in Ancaster.

GiAncArlO BASilOne

“we are very proud of the

way the team has been

practicing. We have really

come together as a team this

year.” – Bailey Beldham

sports & HealtH 17169.12 ◆ november 22nd, 2012

Figure skating team opens season with silver

Women’s hockey team win two at homeGryphons drub the Ryerson Rams, best the Varsity Blues

andrea connell

The Gryphons women’s hockey team bested the Toronto Varsity Blues 3-2 on Nov. 18 at Gryphon Centre moving up to a 9-3-2 reg-ular season record in the OUA. The Blues loss puts Toronto at 8-4-1.

The visitors opened the scoring halfway through the first period with a goal on Gryphons Brooke Siddall. The Blues Jacqueline Scheffel scored the power play goal assisted by Amanda Ricker and Callie Bazak.

The score stayed that way until 29 seconds into the second pe-riod when the Gryphons hit the ice flying. Forward Kaitlyn Mora fired a shot past the Blues goalie to tie the game. Centre Amanda Parkins, assisted by Jenna Lan-zarotta and Jessica Pinkerton, added another goal shortly after-ward moving past the Blues 2-1.

In the third, forward Tamara Bell scored on the Blues giving the Gryphons a two-goal cushion. Mora and Lanzarotta assisted on the play. Late in the third, Varsi-ty’s Bazak scored cutting the lead to just one goal. Gryphons hung on to take the win 3-2.

This was the second win at

home in a week. On Nov. 15 the Gryphons ran over the Ryerson Rams (2-10-0) at the Gryphon Centre, winning 6-1 in a game determined by power plays.

Guelph dominated through-out the first period, Pinkerton picked up the first goal, Lan-zarotta added two more, and all three were scored on power plays.

With less than four minutes left on the board, Janella Brodett put one in the net for the Rams.

In the second period Guelph’s Hillary Walsh scored her first goal of the year, and Parkins added a short-handed goal making it 5-1 for the home team.

The Rams saw no relief in the third, as Gryphon Kim Wong

scored 40 seconds in on a shot from the blue line – making it a fourth power play goal – and nailed the door shut with a 6-1 lead.

Guelph’s Michelle Sabourin took a two-minute penalty for boarding and Ryerson tried but failed to score on the power play opportunity. With three minutes left in the third, Wong took a shot on goal but Rams goaltender Bri-anna Tremblay had eyes on it all

the way and made the save. The win was Gryphon’s goalie

Katherine Brazda’s first start in net this season. Shots on goal were

28-18 for the Gryphons. Their next game is at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 21 at home against the Brock Badgers (1-11-1).

The Gryphon defense gets into position during their weekend action. The Gryphons have won three of their last four games.

AnDreA cOnnell

congratulations to Samantha Anderson, Jessica Jarrell, and courtney lacey for being selected as the

Ontarion’s Fan of the Game. enjoy the free tickets, and Go Gryphons!

tASHA FAlcOner

Fan oF tHe game

“The Rams saw no relief

in the third, as Gryphon Kim

Wong scored 40 seconds in on

a shot from the blue line.”

www.theontarion.com sports & HealtH18maxwell earns gryphons two winsLed by their rookie goaltender, the Gryphons improve to 9-4-1

chris müller

It was yet another successful weekend for the men’s hockey team, as their winning streak ex-tended to seven games.

Nov. 16 saw the Gryphons travel to Waterloo to take on the Warriors in an important OUA West division matchup. Waterloo jumped out to a 1-0 lead, but a late third period goal by Gryphon Michael Hasson tied the game and forced overtime.

The extra period would solve nothing.

J.T. MacDonald shot first for the Gryphons in the shootout. His goal found twine and following Wa-terloo’s failed attempts, the goal stood as the game-winner. Bran-don Maxwell’s 26 saves on the day helped to keep the Gryphons in it, his effort culminating in an excel-lent shootout performance against Waterloo.

There was little rest for Maxwell, as the Gryphons hosted the UOIT Ridgebacks on Nov. 17 as part of

“Hockey Day in Gryphonville.” The event brought together decades of Gryphon hockey alumni in two

exhibition games prior to the UOIT matchup. The Gryphons impressed the alumni, beating UOIT 3-1.

Maxwell’s 20 saves on the day highlighted yet another victory for the first year netminder from Guelph. Goals by Nicklas Huard, Jon-Thomas MacDonald, and Brett Appio secured the victory for the Gryphons.

Now sitting only one point behind the first-place Windsor Lancers (10-2), the Gryphons bat-tled tough opposition to keep pace as one of the top three teams in the OUA West. Windsor, Guelph, and Western are each enjoying a seven-game win streak atop the OUA West.

The Gryphons have only four games to play before the Christmas break. Nov. 22 will see the Gry-phons host the Western Mustangs in a battle for second place in the OUA West. A match with Laurier on Nov. 24 precedes an exciting two-game series with the Wind-sor Lancers on the last weekend of this half of the regular season on Nov. 30 to Dec. 1.

The Windsor series will showcase

some of the league’s top scoring and goaltending talent. Offen-sively, both Guelph and Windsor boast two of the top-twenty scor-ing threats in the OUA. Pair that with two top-five goaltenders

and the game should be full of plenty of fireworks for both sides. By series end, the forerunner for the OUA champion may emerge; here’s hoping it’s the team in the red and black.

Brett Appio (12) of the men’s hockey team works the puck between two UOit defenders on nov. 17. Guelph won the game, 3-1.

tASHA FAlcOner

OntAriOn ArcHiveS 1969.

gryphons in History sasha odesse

Published in The Ontarion on Jan. 23, 1969.

“Girls hockey is better than you think,” begins the article accom-panying this photo of the 1969 Gryphons hockey team.

That year the Gryphons lost only their first regular season game, finishing the rest of the season

undefeated and proving to be a potent rival for the reigning WIAU champions, the University of To-ronto Varsity Blues. Though the women had to change their skating style from “figure skating to long-stride skating,” the team’s biggest challenge was convincing fans that women’s hockey was worth watch-ing. As the author of this article, Rick Turnbull, admirably pointed

out, a number of players on the team had skills that left their counterparts, the male Gryphons, envious.

Hindsight really is a privileged view. I have a bone to pick with past Ontarion sports writers and even a few rare sports fans today. Let’s dump the pet names please –Gryphonettes, Lady Gryphs – and call these athletes what they are: Gryphons.

“The Windsor series will

showcase some of the league’s

top scoring and goaltending

talent.”

sports & HealtH 19169.12 ◆ november 22nd, 2012

Home sweet homeMen’s and women’s basketball teams both secure victories in their home openers

chris müller

On Nov. 17, Guelph’s two basket-ball teams played host to Queen’s squads at the W.F. Mitchell Center. It was the first home game of the season for both teams.

The women defeated the Gaels 71-62, improving their record to 2-1 on the season. Erica McFadden converted 5-of-9 of her three-point attempts en route to a game-leading 22 points on the day.

Rookie Katherine MacTavish took full advantage of her first regular season appearance in front of the home crowd, posting a stat line that earned her the honour of being named Gryphon athlete of the week by the athletic department. MacTa-vish posted 17 points, 13 rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Mac-Tavish’s well-rounded performance was supplemented by going 5-for-6 from the free-throw line.

Queen’s dictated the style of play well during the first half, entering halftime with a 32-28 lead. That would change quickly as Guelph’s

offensive potential came to fruition in the second half.

Posting 20 points in the third quarter, and an impressive 23 in the fourth, Guelph simply outmatched Queen’s offensive firepower – in-cluding an 11-point stretch of unanswered points.

Guelph emerged victorious fol-lowing their overwhelming second half, a motif they will look to du-plicate when they travel to Ottawa on Nov. 23.

In the men’s game, the Gryphons would take a much different road to victory.

Following an early 9-2 lead, Queen’s battled back to tie it up at 13 after the first quarter. Queen’s would develop a 20-15 lead, but the efforts of Michael Clark’s 4-5 run of three-pointers would give the Gryphons the lead going into half-time, 37-33.

Guelph established a 10-point lead early in the second half, and rarely let up. The Gryphons ended the scoring on the day ahead of Queen’s by 10 with a final score of 83-73. Daniel Thompson, Adam Kemp, and Charles Amponsah all had perfect days at the free-throw line, accounting for 12 Gryphon points.

Zachary Angus’ 21-point day was

good enough to lead the game in scoring, also tallying three steals on the night.

This positive start to both teams’ seasons suggests early improvement on the difficult 2011-2012 cam-paigns. The women finished with an overall record of 10-12, whereas the men finished 8-12.

The two nearly .500 seasons both resulted in playoff appearances for the Gryphons, but only the men’s team would advance beyond the first round. The early exits are sure to be motivating factors during this year’s campaign, but the pursuit of a winning season may hold more weight for the teams as they con-tinue into their 2012 schedules. The men haven’t had a winning season since 2007-2008, and the women are looking for their first since 2006-2007.

The men will join the women when both teams travel to Ottawa on Nov. 23 to take on the GeeGees, and Nov. 24 will witness both Gry-phon teams playing the Carleton Ravens as they seek to improve their records in their pursuit of the first winning season in several years.

a web-exclusive photo reel of the weekend’s action is available online at www.theontarion.com.

Gryphon guard Zachary Angus (5) drives towards the net in Guelph’s 83-73 win over Queen’s on nov. 17.

tASHA FAlcOner

to loaft and sleep-in or to push through it: Where’s the balance?

andrew donovan

With the fall and winter months come bare trees, the threat of snow blanketing the roads, and the inevitable exams. But with the changing of the seasons, comes the changing of health as well, and anyone that frequents a gym or plays on a sports team can at-test to this.

There are certain natures that comes with attending a public gym – the permanent ski boot smell, some guy’s head sweat on the bench, and the classic “who taught you that one, dude?” ex-ercises that can cause you more lightheadedness than that last set of squats you did.

But at this time of year gym-goers and varsity athletes alike contend with a new more preva-lent problem: sickness.

Yet another reason to wipe down the machines after using them, these next few months produce the most appetizing of sniffles and coughs during a time of year no one can afford for their body to let them down.

So, an age-old debate rife amongst university students, whom already find it a struggle to get out of bed when it’s twen-ty degrees, sunny and they’re as

healthy as can be, is, “do I exer-cise when I’m sick?”

Your snooze button tells you no, the empty bedside tissue box tells you no, but is that really your best option?

An article released by Medical News Today would say no, that simply isn’t the best option. But there are stipulations to that. Sur-prise, surprise.

The article says that when you’re feeling sick, your body is essentially telling you that it needs a break, or at least a slow-down from the regular strenuous activities you put it through at the gym or on the pavement.

The remedies for your typical cold and flu aren’t rocket science; water and sleep will do you well. But is this the right time to just call it quits on physical fitness altogether?

According to the article, cer-tainly not.

“You don’t necessarily need to be in bed all day, but you can’t expect to have the same level of energy as you would if you weren’t sick,” commented Dr. Keith Veselik of the Loyola Uni-versity Health System.

Veselik recommends that if you have a sickness above the neck

– for example, a runny nose or sore throat – you can push through the discomfort in a reasonable

manner. But he also notes that it would probably be wise to skip the zumba class or basketball game, and elect to be active on your own time in solitary.

Gryphons basketball veteran, Jasmine Douglas, judges her abil-ity to play and practice based on what she calls the “contagious factor.”

“Are you going to potentially get more people on your team sick by practicing? If so, it may be best for you to take the day off to

recoup,” said Douglas. “Personal-ly, I never get hit too badly with a cold (knock on wood), but I do get the beginnings of one. My usual remedy is drink as much orange juice as possible and then practice is always good to ‘sweat it out’.”

Douglas’ coach, Tom O’Brien, concurs with her on the matter.

“We have had players with strep throat, flu, and colds the last two years and I have kept them away from the team because of it being so contagious.”

There is never a concrete answer as to whether one should work out while sick because we all respond to sickness in our own fashion. But one thing is for certain: your snif-fles and sore throat aren’t excuses to make yourself bedridden with assortments of snacks and DVDs.

Nature is your remedy so when you’re sick, get outside, train at an appropriate level based on how you feel, and be conscious of the health of others. As Douglas said,

“sweat it out.”

GiAncArlO BASilOne

www.theontarion.com sports & HealtH20mo moustache, mo problemsHow your new moustache might be the breeding ground for bacteria

chris müller

A recent article published online by the CBC outlined a study conduct-ed in 1967 at the U.S. Army’s Fort Detrick in Maryland. The study, en-titled “Microbiological Laboratory Hazard of Bearded Men,” suggested that beards and other varieties of facial hair (read, moustache) may act as a sort of bacterial sponge.

Fort Detrick was a centre of mi-crobiological research during the period after the Second World War through to the conflict in Vietnam. Manuel Barbeito was a microbiolo-gist in the labs at Fort Detrick, and with the help of a few friends, an experiment was conducted on the capacity of facial hair to house in-fectious bacteria.

The results might surprise you.After two months of growing out

their beards, the laboratory staff sprayed the beards with a collec-tion of non-infectious bacteria. The bacterium was left to fester, and

after a shower the beards were reexamined for traces of bacteria. While a quick rinse got rid of some of the bacterial content, a signifi-cant amount remained.

Bacteria are all around us, so it comes as no surprise that it would be found in a beard. However, the environment created by the beard may be the biggest risk.

Take the location of a theoretical moustache. The moustache is locat-ed between the two areas of highest traffic for bacteria, the nose and mouth. The warm, moist air ex-pelled by either the nose or mouth can help create a breeding ground for unwanted bacteria. Proximity again contributes to the possible contraction of a bacterial infection originating in the confines of that miraculous beard.

Recognizing this concern, the study identified the most appropri-ate method to prevent contraction of a disease.

A hearty scrubbing of soap and warm water significantly reduc-es the amount of bacteria in those areas, and naturally occurring bac-teria that manifest in the beard environment are generally not of concern to the general public.

However, exposure to migrat-ing bacteria can occur in the lab or anywhere else on campus, so extra attention ought to be paid

to these (often) temporary facial companions.

For most, just keeping it clean should be enough. If the moustache

and beard are kept clean thanks to regular bathing habits, you too can enjoy a bacteria-free, magnificent, and lustrous facial hair experience.

GiAncArlO BASilOne

second thoughts on sugarWhy you should reconsider your morning “pick-me-up”

sina woerthle

Once in a while, sugar feels good. Maybe more than once in a while – in fact, sugar always feels good. At least to our brain, to which sugar consumption triggers the release of “feel good” neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and serotonin. Not only does the perceived sugar high make the morning feel a lot peachier (maybe caused by a pla-cebo effect to some extent), but there is in actuality some chemi-cal proof that this is indeed true. Before pouring that large glass of orange juice in the morning, or perhaps that Grande-extra-hot-skim-milk-caramel-macchiato-with-whipped-cream, here are some things to consider.

Your brain loves sugar. It needs sugar. The brain is fuelled by car-bohydrates- glucose mainly – and this source of energy allows for important bodily processes to occur. Without an adequate in-take of sugar, our bodies would be working in a less than optimal form. That does not mean, how-ever, that any type of sugar will do. For example, an apple and apple juice contain very different forms of sugar and will fuel the body in very different ways. It’s

been made clear numerous times by health magazines that the most natural state of a food is always a better alternative than the pro-cessed or liquid form – oftentimes because the processed version of the item will contain hidden added sodium, sugars, among other not-so-healthy additives.

While sugar is essential to a well-functioning body, there is a limit. Many people think that a big glass of orange juice will help kick start the day – after all, it contains plenty of vitamin C, has a refresh-ing taste, and not to mention a bit of sugar is sure to get the morning going. Oftentimes, we drink more orange juice when we feel a cold coming on – the vitamin C is sure to give our immune system the extra boost it needs.

Interestingly enough however, recent studies have found that an excess intake of sugar can actual-ly decrease the functioning of the immune system. Orange juice is ac-tually loaded with sugar; add that to a bowl of honey-nut cheerios and a granola bar on the go, and you’re bound for a serious sugar-overload. The glycemic index of certain foods is alarmingly high, and the majority of times, fruit juices fall into this category. This index is measured as to how quickly the sugars in the blood raise after consumption of a particular food.

Studies conducted at the Univer-sity of Alberta found that high blood

glucose levels caused a short-lived suppression of the attacking mode in the immune system, which was thereafter followed by homoeo-stasis returning at a much slower than optimal rate. While the short-term state of this condition may not immediately cause reduced immu-nity, it must also be stated that with a constant excess intake of sugar (often linked to foods high on the glycemic index scale), the risk for obesity increases greatly. The in-crease in fat tissue production in the body, which leads to obesity, can alter the body’s natural hor-mone levels.

“Excess fat also leaves the body in a constant state of chronic in-flammation. The body’s white blood cell and general immune cell count is altered more by fat tissue,” explained Sarah Atwi, M.Sc. can-didate at the University of Guelph.

“In relation to sugar-loaded drinks, there have been numerous observa-tional studies concluding that there is a strong relation between these drinks and a rise in obesity. So what we can draw from this, is that high sugar intake indirectly results in the immune system degradation by promoting the rise in adipose tissue production and obesity.”

Obesity is often correlated to other health issues, including one which is now considered involv-ing immune-system abnormalities, according to a study conducted at Stanford University, as well as at

the University of Toronto. The early stages of Type 2 diabetes result in the blood sugars constantly fluc-tuating as the body struggles to maintain control. The strong spikes in blood sugar will cause insulin to react, which is followed by too much sugar being taken from the blood, and therefore dropping you below the ideal normal blood sugar point. The body fights to bring the levels back to the original state, and as the sleepiness increases and the concentration levels decrease, sugar as an instant “pick me up” is often the first choice, but also the worst: this simply fuels the body to continue its vicious cycle.

The interesting concept behind this new study is that those diag-nosed with Type 2 diabetes seem to have immune systems which have turned on them – the antibodies in the blood were against some of the patient’s own proteins. This further supports that unhealthy choices, such as sugar laden foods, will eventually catch up to us – our immune system will let down it’s guard, and confuse the original duties.

What is the best way to avoid the inconsistency of your blood sugar levels, or at least control this cycle? Moderation is key. The truth about blood sugar is that everything can be kept within healthy rang-es as long as conscious decisions are made and excessive amounts of simple sugars are avoided. The

same rule applies in terms of living a healthy lifestyle and reducing the risk of obesity, as well as obesity-related illnesses. Like fruit juices, whole fruit contains sugars. How-ever, instead of strong variations in blood sugar levels, the carbo-hydrates in the apple are more complex, meaning the body will process them at a slower rate than simple carbohydrates. This allows for steady fuelling, which in turn reduces post-sugar consumption crashes and sleepiness. This also brings about healthier choices, which therefore reduce the risk of unmindful eating and obesity. A fair trade off, raw forms of fruits and vegetables also contain more vitamins, minerals and fibres than the liquid form. If choosing fruit juices out of convenience, look for ones that are 100 per cent pure fruit

– avoid the label “made from con-centrate” and steer clear of added sugars and preservatives.

As for morning coffees and juices, trying to make health con-scious choices will have your body thanking you later on. Instead of that Grande-extra-hot-skim-milk-caramel-macchiato-with-whipped-cream, why not try a simple caffeinated tea sweetened with stevia or honey – this will still give you that morning boost, without the excessive amounts of sugar, not to mention leaving your wallet feeling a little more satis-fied as well.

liFe 21169.12 ◆ november 22nd, 2012

living apart from your heartStudents’ perspectives on long-distance relationships

colleen mcdonell

Your buddies may tell you to run, while your girlfriends tell you how romantic it is. Living apart from your significant other can be a new and challenging adventure.

As you strive to manage your commitments and are seeking to find your path in life, you may need to travel. Studying or working abroad may form new relationships, or put a distance to existing ones.

Nikki Prince, a fourth-year biological science student, has been in a long-distance rela-tionship for almost three and a half years. Prince met her partner on a trip to England when they were introduced by mutual friends. Their re-lationship grew afterwards as they communicated over Face-book and Skype, and he came to visit Canada months later.

“It’s so good when I’m with him that it’s worth being away from him,” said Prince. “I couldn’t imagine having that and being so happy with someone else, that I’m willing to spend that time apart, just to have that two weeks every six months with him.” The couple finds that it isn’t too expensive to keep in touch over-seas. There are apps you can use on your phone and free online services. The five-hour time dif-ference also has had little impact on her end – her partner some-times has to wait up late for her to come home from work, but they have a general schedule laid out. Prince stresses the im-portance of the couple talking everyday.

“It’s very easy in a long-dis-tance relationship to not feel connected. If you don’t make that time for [your part-ner] everyday, it’s very easy to feel like they’re not there.” However, there can be a down-side to constant communication. If you’ve had a bad day and are in the physical presence of your partner, there are things you can do besides talking, such as mak-ing dinner or watching a movie.

“But when you have a Skype relationship, you have to talk everyday – you can’t sit in si-lence and stare at each other.” Through regular communication, however, Prince noted that she has learned to share her feelings with her partner in a productive way that has strengthened the couple’s emotional connection.

“Sometimes I feel like I have a stronger connection with

him than people who aren’t in long-distance relationships, be-cause it’s easy when you’re not on Skype and with someone to jump on to physical attraction.” Prince points out that it’s not all rainbows and butterflies. Visit-ing her boyfriend in England can be bittersweet. On one hand you are happy to see the other per-son, but on the other, you know there will come a time when you need to depart from each other.

Many lovers do not survive the stretching distance; it can be hard to relate to each other while you are leading separate lives.

“I was in Guelph working, and my partner was at camp, doing camp things, which I didn’t re-ally understand,” said Marissa Cressatti, on her past relation-ship. “He was always too busy to talk, so it’s hard because you don’t really understand where they are coming from.”

Additionally, there is al-ways the fear of infidelity.

“You actually can’t have a long-distance relationship without trust,” said Prince.

“It’s impossible; it would be a series of fights everyday.” Sometimes a couple may just not be compatible with what the distance entails.

“What it essentially comes down to, is there has to be an under-standing between two people, and that has to be there from the beginning that this is not going to be easy,” said Saud Hasan, fourth-year psychology stu-dent. “I feel that certain factors are present no matter what [in a long-distance relationship]. The

difference is that some people have the tools, or are equipped personality-wise or otherwise, to deal with those problems that come. I don’t think that any one particular couple will not have those problems.” In the end, the relationship depends on the efforts and

expectations of both partners. Some long-distance connections will stand the tests of time and separation. Prince has a saying

– which she admits is cheesy – but reminds her of why her relationship is worth the fight.

“It’s better to be together apart, than not be together at all.”

SAMAntHA DewAele

This Week in History

mcmurty announces curb on police after uproar in House about wiretapLong before News of the World was shut down due to a wiretap scandal that implicated thousands of peo-ple, Attorney-General Roy McMurty announced changes to Ontario legis-lature concerning the power of police to tap lawyer-client conversations. The changes were a result of a recent murder trial that had involved the po-lice tapping phone communications between the two parties. McMurty decided that these types of conver-sations should only be wiretapped in “extremely rare circumstances.” When John MacBeth, the soliticor-general, told the House that a wiretap had occurred, some back and forth took place. The Liberals “demanded to see the authorization” that allowed for this tap, to which MacBeth re-plied that it would be illegal for him to publish it, to which the Liberals “cried [that] he would not.” It was a dramatic day in Ottawa.(The Globe and Mail – Nov. 19, 1976)

allies open trial of 20 top germans For Crimes of WarAn interesting event in the discus-sion on the development of historical public memory about the Holocaust, the Nuremberg trials began on this day on Germany. The country was not portrayed well in the article, to say the least, with the first paragraph of the report condemning the nation “that raised [the war criminals] to power and glorified in theirmight.” Similarly, the article does not depict the Nazis in the best light, describing Hermann Goering as “the pompous…exhibitionist, shorn of his medals and glitter as well as his excess poundage, at last in full pos-session of the unchallenged status as No. 1 Nazi that was publicly be-queathed to him so long ago by his now vanquished Fuehrer.” (The New York Times – Nov. 20, 1945)

Kennedy is killed by sniper as he rides in car in DallasIn a tumultuous presidency in-volving (supposed) sex scandals, cover-ups, and the Cuban missile crisis, JFK was shot down as he and his wife rode through the streets of Dallas. As America grieved, Lee Har-vey Oswald was arrested and also fatally shot by Jack Ruby, an upset citizen, a few days after. Though nu-merous accounts have been written of the fateful day and the Kennedy presidency, Stephen King’s recent novel 11 / 22 / 63 narrates an inter-esting fictionalized perspective on the assassination and the possibility of stopping it, which appropriately leaves the legend of Kennedy and his death in the world of fiction. (The New York Times – Nov. 22, 1963 )

Compiled by Alicja GrzadkowskaA dedicated Mo Sista, wendy Shepherd (/wendellshep) dons homemade moustaches,

posing for pictures that are requested by donators of her Movember page.

vAneSSA tiGnAnelli

moustaCHe oF tHe WeeK

www.theontarion.com liFe22The truth is out thereMaintaining a strong online presence is important for landing a job

wayne Greenway

This morning, Martin, a third year chemistry student, had his worst day in months. His call with a labo-ratory manager in Calgary left him feeling an odd mixture of embar-rassment and gratefulness.

Up until now, Martin was feeling unusually proud of himself. This year, his summer job search was not last minute. He decided to steer the process in the direction he wanted it to go, instead of feeling like the pro-cess was steering him. He met with a career development professional to map out a possible career path for when he has completed his studies.

This summer, he wanted to explore the path to become a labo-ratory manager. He had excellent marks in his lab work. He loved the precision and detail of this work. At the same time, he also enjoyed socializing with and leading other people. He was known for play-ing on several intramural sports. For the past two summers, he re-ally enjoyed managing the summer staff at a resort near his home in the Muskokas,.

His only knowledge of laboratory work is from school and from his experience of going for a blood test. He wants more information on what day-to-day work is like and the dif-ferent types of laboratory work that he could pursue. He also hopes he will find out about a summer job before it is posted.

Overall, his preparation has paid off. He targeted Calgary and Edmon-ton because of the general demand for employees in the province and to work away from home for the summer.

He has already conducted two in-person informational interviews with lab professionals in Guelph because he wanted to meet some-one, in person, before interviewing people over the telephone. Those interviews proved to be very helpful. The questions in his next informa-tional interviews will have far more depth based upon this newfound information.

His strategy was effective. He cre-ated a brief introductory email giving his pitch and asking for 10 minutes of the person’s time to help him learn more about their work. He researched their business to pre-pare a set of strong questions. He did the phone follow–up a couple of days after the email. To his sur-prise, they both said they would be happy to meet with him. One of the lab analysts gave him a tour of the lab and spent about an hour with him explaining why he loved his job. More importantly, they gave him

several more contacts that he could contact within their field. One of the interviewees mentioned that she went to school with someone who is managing a lab in Calgary. Mar-tin graciously accepted the offer to send an electronic introduction to her contact in Calgary.

Martin used the information to improve his list of questions for the telephone interviews. He then revised his resume ready to send should a job opportunity be iden-tified. He modified his resume to show his accomplishments that he had achieved each summer and to include his lab experience from school. He took the unique approach of asking his lab demonstrator for a three-line comment on his strengths, based upon the critical skills that he had learned were needed from the informational interviews. This was tastefully added to his resume.

He sent off six emails in Alberta. When he followed up, three of these contacts said they did not have time to talk with him and referred him to their human resources department. He decided to leave this until later, as the career mentor had advised him to not talk to human resource departments until he was ready to apply for a position. Two people said their time was very limited but they agreed to talk with him – if it was brief. One of the contacts said that she could answer his questions right away. From these interviews, he gained several more names to contact and one lead on a position that was likely to come up in May in another lab.

He then sent off his request to the person who had responded to

the electronic introduction. When he spoke with her on the telephone today, the interview seemed to go very well. She asked him to send an application to their human re-sources department after a position for a summer job became posted on their website in a few weeks. What she said next shocked Martin. She paused and said “I was actually quite hesitant to speak with you, but since I had the electronic introduction I felt a little obligated.” When Martin asked if there was something in his email that had triggered this reaction, she paused again and then she said,

“I Googled your name after receiving your email, and it made me wonder if it would be worth my time.”

Martin’s heart had sunk. He was almost speechless. Then, he replied honestly, “I guess it could give the

wrong impression. I have had the best time of my life in university but it was never at the cost of my aca-demic work.” The lab manager said, with a laugh, “You might want to correct that impression before you make any further calls, but I would like you to compete for this job. You have shown a lot of initiative in making this kind of research before embarking on a career.”

Martin loved Facebook, but he had never thought of it as a job search tool for employers. All he could do was think of the lab manager see-ing his numerous party pictures. No harm was done. He was grateful that he had time to make some changes before he talked to more people and before he went for a job interview.

Recent surveys confirm the im-portance of having a strong on-line

presence. In its 2012 Social Re-cruiting Survey, Jobvite, a leading recruitment platform for the social web, found that 92 per cent of U.S. companies were using social net-works and media to find talent and nearly half (48.6 per cent) of recruit-ers and hiring managers search for candidates’ social profiles.

Martin is now spending his time cleaning up his social networking sites and creating a professional LinkedIn profile to highlight his past management experience, as well as the academic and industrious sides of his life. He is turning the social networking sites into a tool that will support him in his job search. His privacy settings will be in place, so that what he shows the world is pro-fessional and his keg party bashes will be for his close friends only.

ABHiSHek MOHAn

liFe 23169.12 ◆ november 22nd, 2012

Warm from head to toeOnesies are the new Snuggies

colleen mcdonell

It’s a cold winter night, the kind that keeps you from doing any-thing but curling up and watching TV. Enter a student house on such a night, and instead of bar-clad you may see a series of long-sleeve, full-length pajamas from head to toe.

Giant babies? No, these are your fellow adults, sporting what is generally referred to as one-sies. This one-piece ensemble is becoming increasingly popular for adults to purchase and wear around the home.

Because onesie is technically a brand name for infant-wear, it is believed that this style of adult pa-jamas originated from baby outfits. However, they are very similar to the long johns your grandpa wore while ice fishing. In the last couple years, they have generat-ed more interest with celebrities such as Ryan Gosling sporting his on the Ellen Degeneres Show. While last November you may have been gearing up for the cold

weather by purchasing a brand new Snuggie (the blanket with sleeves!), this year, it appears onesies are trending across the nation. Either way, shoppers ap-pear to be prioritizing warmth.

But why are onesies so popular? Can’t we all just buy more sweat suits or blankets to wrap around us? You could hypothesize that stu-dents all regress during exam time. But the attraction to onesies has a lot to do with perceived comfort.

“I wasn’t aware that they were

particularly in style,” said Jenna Watson, fourth-year psychology student. “I thought it was a sweat-er actually, and then I picked it up and realized it was a onesie, and I thought it looked super cozy.” Currently, you can purchase a men’s or women’s onesie at many stores such as Walmart, Boat-house, Urban Planet, Sears, or online. Ranging anywhere from $18–60+, they are comparable to the price of a set of pajamas. One fun feature that is emerg-ing is the great variety of colours, patterns, and styles – you can have attached slippers or hoods if you wish. You can even opt for those questionable butt-flaps.

“Mine had moustaches on it, and I thought because it’s Movember that it was pretty fitting,” said Watson. “I thought it looked re-ally cozy and comfy, and good for wintertime and for exam season.” Watson says her purchase has in-spired her roommates to purchase their own because of how com-fortable it looks for relaxing in. As this fashion statement spreads, expect to see a lot of onesies un-derneath the Christmas tree.

Afterall, onesies are the new Snuggies. Feeling chilly? Onesies are a cozy path to instant warmth.

cOUrteSy

supreme Court HiV ruling promotes responsibilityshamu mosoyni

This article is in response to Laura Chown’s article, “Supreme Court HIV ruling promotes stigma.”

The Supreme Court ruled the following in R. v. Mabior: that an individual would not have to disclose HIV status, provided the following two conditions are met: (1) a low viral load of HIV, and (2) use of a condom.

Chown argues that the Supreme Court was wrong in applying the two-part test. For her, if either one of the two parts of the test are met, there should be no requirement for disclosure. Consistent with the views of the HIV/AIDS Legal Network, she states that the ruling promotes “stig-ma” and places an extra burden on those living with HIV.

The topic of consent is strongly promoted on campus. To be able to enter a contractual decision with another person, one needs to have all the facts to make a rational de-cision weighing costs and benefits. Chown further states that, “Con-dom use, regardless of viral load, is close to 100 per cent effective in preventing the transmission of HIV when used properly.” This is incorrect. The number is closer to 80 per cent.Quoting the judgment:[98] It is undisputed that HIV does not pass through good quality male or female latex condoms. Howev-er, condom use is not fail-safe, due to the possibility of condom fail-ure and human error. Dr. Smith testified that consistent condom protection reduces the risk of

HIV transmission by 80 per cent, relying on the widely accepted Co-chrane review: S. C. Weller and K. Davis-Beaty, “Condom effective-ness in reducing heterosexual HIV transmission” (2002), 1 Cochrane Database Sys. Rev. CD003255.

Chown is correct in identifying that both a low viral load and con-dom use significantly reduce rates of transmission. However, satisfy-ing only one of the conditions means that a risk still exists. And for this reason, disclosure must still be re-quired. Antiretroviral treatment reduces the chance of transmis-sion immensely, by about 89 to 96 per cent (para. 101), but it is still not fail-safe.

The Supreme Court did not pull this decision out of thin air, but considered expert testimony on

this delicate issue. The importance of consent is hammered home for students day in and day out. The recent ruling has many implica-tions for it, and the Supreme Court ruled correctly. For consent to truly occur, if a risk exists, however small, a person must know what he/she is getting into. The ruling protects so-ciety by requiring disclosure when risk exists; when a risk does not exist, disclosure is not required. It is a fair ruling.

The statement by the HIV/AIDS Legal Network, which Chown draws her evidence from, is entitled, “UN-JUST SUPREME COURT RULING ON CRIMINALIZATION OF HIV MAJOR STEP BACKWARDS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS.” It argues that “people not living with HIV need to be empowered to accept

responsibility for their own health, and not proceed under a false sense of security that the criminal law will protect them from infection.” Chown likewise states that, “a legal obligation to disclose irrelevant in-formation has instead promoted a false sense of security among HIV-negative individuals.”

This sort of outlook is very dan-gerous. HIV status is certainly not irrelevant. If someone does not know that his/her partner has HIV because of a lack of disclosure, and he/she is at risk of contracting it, that is what creates a false sense of security. Blaming victims who cannot make an informed decision is not the right way of addressing this issue. The Su-preme Court made the responsible decision, and those who believe in informed consent must agree.

one person’s trash is another’s treasureHow to make a positive use of your old, unwanted items

Kiera vandeborne

Think before you toss your trash: is this something that could still be of use? Instead of having an old chair sitting in a landfill, doesn’t it make much more sense for it to sit

in someone’s living room? Stuff swaps are a great way to

exchange items you no longer have use for with something you may be in need of. On campus, Guelph Students for Environmen-tal Change manage the stuff swap located in the basement of the Food Bank. The basement holds lots of donated clothes, books, shoes, jewelry and miscellaneous items – free for all! It doesn’t get

much better than that. Another great way to put old

items to use is freecycle.com. A website that functions basically as a large online community stuff swap. Groups are formed by loca-tion and are open for all to add or take offerings of used items. This site is a great place to find all sorts of goodies from bedroom furniture to craft supplies. And did I men-tion it’s free?

If you’re not interested in trad-ing goods, donating to secondhand stores or charities is always a nice option. You can’t help but feel good knowing your well-loved sweaters are going to someone in need. If your well-loved sweaters are too worn to be reused, think if they can serve another purpose.

Upcycling is great for those who are creative and like to work with their hands. Maybe the fabric from

the sweaters could be used to make a new blanket, or reusable bag. Just because something serves an original purpose, it doesn’t mean it is limited to that one function. Swapping old items, donating, and upcycling are easy ways to reduce waste and save money. It’s easy to focus solely on recycling (which don’t get me wrong, is great), but it is important to remember the other two ‘R’s: reduce and reuse!

“Giant babies? No,

these are your fellow adults, sporting what

is generally referred to as

onesies.”

www.theontarion.com opinion24Canada must be condemned for its support of israelPeter miller

War today brings more deaths to civil-ians than to soldiers. Populations are bombed with the buzzing of drones overhead.

Palestinians in Gaza are facing air strikes and strikes from military ships off the coast as this article is being written.

There have been 80 deaths in the most recent offensive from Israel called Operation Pillar of Defense. 77 Palestinians and three Israeli civilians have died. Over 600 Palestinians have been wounded, including children.

On Nov. 5, a 20-year-old man, Ahmad al-Nabaheen was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers when he wandered close to the Israeli–Pales-tine border. Then again, on Nov. 8, a 13-year-old boy playing football in front of his house was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. The wounding of four Israeli soldiers at the border on Nov. 10 came after these triggering events.

On Nov. 14, two days after Palestin-ian factions in Gaza called for a truce, Israel assassinated the leader of the Hamas’s Military wing, Ahmed Jabari.

Israel has called up 75,000 army reserves in order to build up along the southern border of the Gaza strip. There is growing worry that Israel will go on a ground invasion into Gaza. This offensive from Israel comes close to election time, when the ultra-right wing Israeli Government wants to use war for political gain and to push Is-raeli citizens to the right. It also comes with the growing threat of war be-tween the West and Iran.

Since June 2007, Gaza’s popula-tion of over 1.5 million has been under siege and isolated from the outside world. Vital resources like building

supplies, medical supplies, mechani-cal parts, fuel, and clothing have been prohibited from entering Gaza. Food has even been restricted to the point where Gaza civilians are given bare-ly enough to live. According to a UN report in 2009, 75 per cent of Ga-za’s population is food insecure. The blockade is a form of apartheid and collective punishment being forced upon the Palestinian population by Israel.

According to OXFAM, hospitals ex-perience power cuts lasting for eight to 12 hours a day, 25 to 30 per cent of Gaza’s households do not receive run-ning water, 80 per cent of the water in Gaza falls below World Health Or-ganization standards, and 95 per cent of industrial operations in Gaza have stopped because of the lack of elec-tricity, production materials, and an ability to export goods. According to the Red Cross, 30 per cent of the Ar-able land in Gaza lies within a buffer zone beside the Israeli made apartheid wall. The Red Cross also reports that Palestinians who attempt to farm this land are often shot at.

Canadian relations with Isra-el must be condemned. Canada is a strong ally of Israel and supports the blockade on Gaza, as well as Israel’s apartheid regime. Israel’s actions fall under apartheid. The United Nations’ Convention Against Apartheid de-fines apartheid as, “Acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one ra-cial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and system-atically oppressing them.”

One characteristic of apartheid is the denial of the “right to life and lib-erty of person” for a group of people. An attack against this right is hap-pening on a huge scale right now for

Palestinians in the Gaza strip, and it happened again on a huge scale during Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s offensive on Gaza in 2009 that saw an estimated 1400 civilians killed.

Palestinians also live under a different set of laws than Israelis. Under Israeli law, Palestinians can be detained indefinitely without trial, something that is not the case for Is-raeli citizens.

And of course, it is important not to forget the illegal Israeli settlements in Gaza and the West bank resulting in thousands of Palestinian homes being demolished, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians being left homeless. The UN calls for the set-tlements in the occupied territories to be dismantled and given back to Palestinian refugees.

Canadians need to voice outrage at the Canadian government for its com-pliance with Israel. Stephen Harper has stated that he respects Israel’s

“right to defend itself” when Israel is not acting in defense, but on the of-fensive and killing innocent civilians.

There have been protests across Canada and across the world calling for Israel to stop its system of apart-heid and stop the offensive on Gaza. We must call on the Canadian Gov-ernment to follow the majority of countries at the UN that call for Israeli apartheid to end. It is outrageous that Canada trades with Israel, and that Canadian corporations profit from apartheid. This must end.

Boycott, Divestment and Sanc-tions (BDS) is a campaign that calls for an end to relations with Israel for

as long as it is committing such sys-temic violence.

Universities in Canada should take part in BDS. Students Against Israeli Apartheid targets Hewlett Packard among other companies in their di-vestment campaigns at the University of Toronto and York University. HP provides Israel with IT infrastructure including Biometric Identification Systems that are used at checkpoints in the occupied territory. The Univer-sity of Guelph received $6.2 million from HP for the science complex, and our university accepted a grant to use HP tablet PCs in first-year CIS semi-nars in 2007. There have been other deals with HP over the years as well, and it is unacceptable that our uni-versity works with a company that profits from apartheid.

The nomenclature of israel’s “Operation Pillar of Defense” is being called into question as the country has consistently increased its domination of Palestinian territory since 1946.

cOUrteSy

inordinate ordnanceGetting a BA in BS

chris carr

I came to university for the ideas, not the grades. There is something wrong with this institution, born of indus-try and not innovation. We celebrate a stretch of rhetoric, the bell-curve and pandering here; this is the rela-tionship between teacher and student.

I’m for free education. However, I’m against the declaration of four-years-spent. That’s what a degree is, a declaration to your aunts and un-cles that you completed something. You crawled through those boring economics classes, accounting tests. You’ve read Heidegger and Chaucer and you know how string theory works, kind of.

There is a problem with this. The problem is not that my liberal sense of education has its own benefits – which is true – the problem stems from the system of imposed substance

much of education has become. The problem is what has evolved from the great idea of common education into an expected relationship between student and teacher.

It’s important for your profs to like you. If they do, they can write you letters of recommendation, help you get into post-grad programs and of course, I’m sure it helps when it comes to marking the ill-construct-ed essay you wrote the night before. This is pandering, and it is inescap-able. The truth is, we are people and relationships shape who we are. We all are part of a human-run system of education.

However, the way in which we in-teract (teacher and student) needs an overhaul. Cramming for exams and ad hoc essay writing should not be what our education hinges on. I’ve had many profs who understand the problems of the standard exam structure. This accounts for the rise of take-home exams and critical

summaries in classes. What is the problem here?

This system of education does not lend itself to learning, it lends itself to back slapping and pandering. We, the students are at fault for this, as a lot of us do not want to learn, we just want to be told we are right. We aim at reinforcing our own ignorant ideals, even if that stifles, new, creative ideas and thoughts. How many times have you shoe-horned your own personal beliefs into an essay, even though it did not merit it?

This isn’t learning; it’s reinforcing non-progress. I am a philosophy major, and truth be told, I took it to learn how to argue against religion, because at my core, I think religion is stupid. How-ever, in more travels in the philosophic arts, I’ve learned that maybe I’m just an asshole. Maybe my ideas aren’t very good. Maybe I’m just full of hot air, ig-norant and insensitive to the thoughts and values of others.

I’ve learned all this from my time

at school. But that came from a string of bad marks and failed assignments. Sure, I’m learning that I didn’t give my profs what they wanted. I’m learning how to conform. I’m learning how to write a pro-feminist paper because my prof is sensitive to this struggle. I’m learning to go to office hours, to put a face to the name so the next time it comes up on an exam, it’s not just a name, it’s a person’s future. I’ve learned to be out-spoken in class so the teacher knows who I am. I’ve learned not to have too radical of ideals, be-cause its not in the freakin’ syllabus. I’ve learned to massage this education system, to make it work for me, with-out actually doing much work at all.

I’m getting a BA in BS.I control this – I have no delusions

about that. I just think that maybe there is a better way. An education system that caters to forward-think-ing and radical new ideas. How about we learn what is important to us? Not that which is deemed important by a

single person (i.e. the aforementioned syllabus). I say, make education free, but take away the superfluous titles and diplomas that come with it.

Spend four years learning about Socrates, the economy, art history and at the end, what do you get? You get to be an intelligent person. You get to be better. You get to feel like your grey matter isn’t being wasted. You get to understand. You get an appreciation for the machine we live in. You get no debt. You get it.

I’d rather education represented time given, rather than time spent grueling over asinine grading schemes.

Chris Carr is Editor-in-Chief of The Cannon. “Inordinate Ordnance” pub-lishes every Thursday in The Cannon and in The Ontarion. The opinions posted on thecannon.ca reflect those of their author and do not necessar-ily reflect the opinions of the Central Student Association and the Guelph Campus Co-op, or The Ontarion.

The Ontarion is a non-profit organization governed by a Board of Directors. Since the Ontarion undertakes the publishing of student work, the opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Ontarion Board of Directors. The Ontarion reserves the right to edit or refuse all material deemed sexist, racist, homophobic, or otherwise unfit for publication as determined by the Editor-in-Chief. Material of any form appearing in this newspaper is copyrighted 2011 and cannot be reprinted without the approval of the Editor-in-Chief. The Ontarion retains the right of first publication on all material. In the event that an advertiser is not satisfied with an advertisement in the newspaper, they must notify the Ontarion within four working days of publication. The Ontarion will not be held responsible for advertising mistakes beyond the cost of advertisement. The Ontarion is printed by the Guelph Mercury.

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contributorsGiancarlo BasiloneChris CarrAndrea ConnellSamantha DewaeleAndrew DonovanTasha FalconerWayne GreenwayKatie KempMichael LongRoisin LyderNadine MaherPeter Miller

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25eDitorial

letters

169.12 ◆ november 22nd, 2012

on the conviction of gabriel nadeau-DuboisA statement from the Guelph Student Mobilization Committee

Peter miller

On Nov. 1, Quebec student ac-tivist Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois was convicted of contempt of court for publicly criticizing an injunction issued against strik-ing students during this year’s student strike. Nadeau-Dubois faces up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $50,000. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Over 3000

students in Quebec were arrest-ed over the course of the strike and many face serious charges. These students are being punished for taking action to protect their rights and interests, and espe-cially for succeeding.

Nadeau-Dubois, who was a spokesperson for the student association CLASSE during the strike, has been convicted for speaking out against a court in-junction issued in May, which forbid students from enforcing the decision to strike, a decision which had been made demo-cratically by a general assembly of students. Nadeau-Dubois

simply defended the legitimacy of the students’ decision and the action they were taking to en-force it, all of which was within the recognized rights of student unions in Quebec. The judgment against Nadeau-Dubois accuses him of “undermining the rule of law” and promoting “chaos” and

“tyranny,” when he actually was defending democracy.

Nadeau-Dubois’s trial is just one small part of the ongoing attempt by the authorities in Quebec to punish students for successfully resisting the attempt to increase the cost of education and for standing up against the

broader agenda of austerity. The criminalization of dissent in Que-bec parallels the efforts by those in power all over the world to sup-press the increasing numbers of people who are resisting attacks on their standard of living and their rights.

The Guelph Student Mobiliza-tion Committee condemns the conviction of Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois and the criminalization of democratic student action in Quebec.

There is more information about the Guelph Student Mobilization Committee on our website: http://guelphstudents.org/

Black Friday: no purchase necessaryAmerican Thanksgiving is here, and in its wake, Black Friday and its ex-tended weekend-long excuse for further exploitation of a general culture of consumerism will follow.

As the first day after the last major USA holiday preceding winter hol-idays, many large-scale retailers mark this date on their calendars as the “official” start of the holi-day shopping season. To celebrate (read: take advantage of) the oc-casion, retailers will launch broad advertising campaigns promising

cheap commodities in order to usher consumers into their fluorescent-glowing aisles of knickknacks and thingies to pile sale items into gap-ing shopping carts that conveniently hold lots of doodads.

In response to Black Friday and the related orgy of consumerism that follows, Vancouver artist Ted Dave founded Buy Nothing Day – a day held annually on the same day as Black Friday. The day asks consum-ers to halt yielding to a consumerist tradition and consider the issue of over-consumption by resisting

commercial attempts to persuade consumers into purchasing specific items marked at lower prices.

Many argue with the logic of Buy Nothing Day, considering Black Friday to offer more affordable shopping at a time that demands spending, but they’re missing the point.

While it’s hard to measure exact-ly how effective Buy Nothing Day really is, there’s something praise-worthy in its objective. While many criticize the movement, claiming that many participants will simply take to the malls and big box stores

the next day (and those detractors might be accurate in some cases), it is notable that the movement does something positive in striving to re-mind consumers to be conscious of the very culture supported by par-ticipating Black Friday stores: by branding the day as an opportunity for affordable holiday gift shopping, stores participating in Black Friday door crashers demand a specific cul-ture of gift giving that necessitates purchase.

The Ontarion won’t ask you to adhere to the writs of Buy Noth-ing Day; rather consider that there

are other options out there if you’re short on cash and you want to give the people around you something special this holiday season. Take a look around the house and see if there’s something lying around that someone you know might benefit from more than you do, and explore your talents to see if there’s some-thing personal you can create, or a good deed you could do for the spe-cial someones in your life.

Black Friday might be a good time of the year to anticipate the holidays; just remember that there’s no pur-chase necessary.

Barbara kruger reinvents French philosopher rené Descartes’ famous quote “cogito ergo sum” (“i think, therefore i am”). She critiques our materialistic society as being defined not by what we think, but what we own.

BArBArA krUGer

“stores participating

in Black Friday door crashers

demand a specific

culture of gift giving that

necessitates purchase.”

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4 8 6 9 1 7 2 3 5

5 3 9 2 8 4 1 6 7

2 9 8 7 4 6 3 5 1

6 5 3 1 9 2 4 7 8

7 1 4 3 5 8 9 2 6

across1- October birthstones6- Skater Lipinski10- Eight furlongs14- Free-for-all15- Be that ___ may... (2)16- Smell or fragrance 17- In spite of20- Daughter of Cadmus21- Paris divider22- Protection23- Counterfeiter catcher

24- Show stoppers?25- Probability32- ___ boom33- On the briny34- Thrice, in prescriptions35- Take ___ view of (2)36- Spanish river38- “It’s ___ real”39- Alias40- Japanese wrestling41- Injures42- Halt in the growth of small

organisms46- Roadhouse47- Harbor48- Do-over button51- New Zealand native53- Baa maid?56- Like afterschool activities59- Blunted blade60- Wing-like parts61- Green-lights62- Adoring63- Dampens64- High-strung Down1- Prefix with present2- Unskilled laborer3- Choir member4- Actor Ayres5- Caused by an earthquake6- Falafel sauce7- Org.8- Religious practice9- ___ glance (2)10- Free from ostentation11- Gotcha (2)12- Actress Anderson13- Energy units18- Afternoon affairs19- Gymnast Comaneci23- Barbershop request24- Some are pale25- Russian liquor26- Early computer27- Myopic Mr.28- International skating org.29- Wombs30- Considers

31- Sea birds32- Swedish auto36- Rotate37- Parisian pal38- Strong woody fiber40- Actress Berger41- Kidney bean43- Set in layers44- Future ferns45- Singer Amos48- Ridge of rock49- Public exhibition50- Type of gun51- Sterile hybrid52- I smell ___! (2)53- Enthusiastic vigor and liveliness54- Methods55- Gaelic language of Ireland or Scotland57- Cornfield cry58- Luau instrument

SUBMit your completed crossword by no later than Monday,

November 26th at 4pm for a chance to win

twO Free BOB’S DOG’S!

Congratulations to this week's crossword

winner: Brittany Richardson & Jessica Nguyen. Stop by the

Ontarion office to pick up your prize!

www.theontarion.com CrossWorD26

suDoKu ComiC

last Week's solution

BeStcrOSSwOrDS.cOM

“Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens” - Jimi Hendrix

27Community listingsThursday november 22UofG Police will be selling and placing STOP tags on equipment as part of their STOP program that combats theft of electronic equip-ment. 11am-2pm in Creelman cafeteria lobby. www.uoguelph.ca/police/stop-theft

Get Swabbed! is recruiting poten-tial stem cell donors for the One Match Stem Cell and Marrow Reg-istry. 10:30 am - 6:30pm at the Athletics Centre and UC Court-yard. www.blood.ca

“Let’s Talk Mental Health” Panel will take place 5:30 pm in room 200 of Alexander Hall. University of Guelph students who have faced mental health challenges will share their personal stories. A discussion will follow where all attendees can participate. www.facebook.com/WellnessUofG

Middle East Scholars Society pres-ents Omar Alghabra “Prospects for Syria”. 5:30pm in MacKin-non room 313, U of G. Everyone Welcome.

Friday november 23Flu Vaccine Clinic - Student Health Services is offering a free walk-in flu clinic 9am-4pm in the J.T. Powell Building, Room 20. For information about other public flu clinics, call the Public Health Branch flu hotline at 519-846-2715 or 1-800-265-7293, Ext. 4624.

saturday november 24 Macdonald Stewart Art Centre Beyond the Frame Art Auction. A Collection of 45 Stunning Works by Canadian Artists. Tickets $70. Auction party 5:30pm, live auc-tion 7:30pm. Exibition preview until Nov 24th. 358 Gordon St. For information contact: aware@msac.ca or visit www.msac.ca/.

sunday november 25 The University of Guelph Chamber Music Ensemble Fall Recital. 3pm in MacKinnon room 107, U of G. With Conductor Henry Janzen. Free con-cert, everyone welcome. For more information visit http://www.uoguelph.ca/sofam/events

monday november 26Career Aviators Business Career Club: Students and profes-sionals welcome. Mondays 7pm-9pm , Innovation Guelph (111

Farquhar Street). Strategic advice and support; guest presenta-tions; motivation to stay on track; worldwide Information exchange. PWYC. Info:1 866 873 7633 www.careeraviators.com

The Bookshelf & Cafe Philosophique present Director of Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics Neil Turok. “The Universe Within: From Quantum to Cosmos” with host Donald Bruce, Dean, College of Arts, U of G. 7pm at Lakeside Hope House, 75 Norfolk St. Tick-ets: $8/general, $6/students. www.uoguelph.ca/arts/cafe

tuesday november 27Healthy Holidays Seminar 7-8pm at the Health and Performance Centre. Learn strategies to insure healthy eating and exercise as part of your regular holiday routine and ideas for healthy recipes. $10 plus optional donation for the food bank. To reg-ister call: 519-824-4120 ext. 53460 before Fri, Nov 23rd.

ALERT Training led by Bruno Man-cini, Director of Counselling and Disability Services 4:30 pm in UC 335. Learn information and tools to identify and assist someone who may be facing a mental health chal-lenge or crisis. www.facebook.com/WellnessUofG

Thursday november 29The University of Guelph Jazz Ensemble Fall Recital with Con-ductor Ted Warren. 8pm at Manhattans Pizza Bistro and Jazz Club, 951 Gordon St. $2 cover charge at the door For more information visit http://www.uoguelph.ca/sofam/events

Friday november 30 19th annual Winter Lights & Music celebration. Enjoy Christmas music and dancing in St George’s Square.

Light the wonky tree then follow stilt-walkers to Market Square for the lighting of City Hall and the first skate of the season. 6-6:45 pm.

saturday December 1Guelph Youth Singers presents Winter Song at Harcourt Memorial United Church at 7pm 1. For tick-ets, phone River Run Centre box office at 519-763-3000. Adults $25 / Students & Seniors $19/eyeGO.org. www.guelphyouthsingers.com

The Symphonic and Women’s Choir present “The Mystery of Beth-lehem” with Conductors Marta McCarthy and Lanny Fleming.8pm at Church of Our Lady, 28 Norfolk St. For tickets call 519-824-4120 x52991 or email visotamm@uoguelph.ca. $15/General, $10/Students/Seniors. www.uoguelph.ca/sofam/events

sunday December 9The Contemporary Music Ensem-ble Fall Recital with Conductor Joe Sorbara. 1:30pm at Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, 358 Gordon St. $5 at the door. www.uoguelph.ca/sofam/events

ongoing:International Human Rights Day is December 10th! Help sup-port human rights in Canada and around the world by taking part in Amnesty International’s Write for Rights Campaign! Visit www.writeathon.ca for more information and to register your participation.

The Guelph Family Health Team (FHT) offers FREE walking group at the YMCA-YWCA. Tues-day/ Thursday evenings 6-8pm. Participants receive a free pedom-eter the first time they attend and weekly handouts with recipes, health tips and exercises. Indoor shoes only please. Information: 519-837-0099.

Trillium Gift of Life Network (TGLN) is encouraging all Ontar-ians to register their consent to become organ and tissue donors. By registering as a donor, you could one day save up to eight lives and enhance as many as 75 more. Online donor registration is now available at BeADonor.ca. It’s easy and it only takes 3 minutes to reg-ister. www.beadonor.ca

ClassiFieDsserViCes

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Under University student plan, co-payment has been waived.

Dentistry Asleep.FREE CUSTOM TEETH WHITENING!

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169.12 ◆ november 22nd, 2012