Ariel Norman CUSA VPI

Vol 41•Issue 30 • April 5 - May 30, 2012
Ariel Norman
CUSA VPI
cover by
Carol Kan
INSIDE: My Little Pony attracts new kind of viewer: the Brony p. 13 • ONLINE: Ravens drop the puck at Sens game see charlatan.ca
CUSA and the GSA are proud to announce improvements to the health and
dental plan again this year AT NO EXTRA COST to you!
Last year, we increased the dental maximum to $600.00 and added Optometrist exams.
Effective September 1, 2012 we have added:
• A vision care benefit of $150.00 every two years including eye exams.
This is a $100.00 increase which can be used toward your eye
examination or prescription lenses.
• Wisdom teeth coverage has been improved with its own maximum
benefit of $500.00 per lifetime. This means that dental coverage has
increased in some cases to $1,100.00 for 2012.
As always, CUSA and the GSA continue to provide you with:
• 80% on most prescription drugs to a maximum of $2000.00.
• 75% on most basic and preventative dental care to a maximum of $600.00.
• On Demand Travel Insurance*
Accidental Coverage:
• Physiotherapy (up to $1000.00)
• Chiropractic and Massage ($15.00 per treatment up to $300.00)
• Accidental Dental (up to $1000.00)
For more information on the 2011-2012 plan and the upcoming 2012-2013 plan
please contact the CUSA office or go to www.cusaonline.com/health_plan.html.
*Some conditions apply. Visit the CUSA office for full details.
ATTENTION: OPT OUT REFUND CHEQUES
MUST BE PICKED UP BY APRIL 30, 2012.
News
3
April 5 - May 30, 2012
News Editors: Jessica Chin and Jane Gerster• [email protected]
Carleton divided by divestment
A SAIA member partakes in a sit-in last spring, calling for the university to divest from certain companies. ||
by Oliver Sachgau
There are few issues in the Carleton community as contentious as
divestment.
After numerous protests led by
Students Against Israeli Apartheid
(SAIA), the issue has only increased
in prominence.
For over a year now, SAIA has
been arguing that Carleton’s pension
fund should not include holdings in
companies that are “complicit in the
Israeli occupation of the Palestinian
territories,” said SAIA member Dax
D’Orazio.
The group is supporting a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
(BDS) campaign, calling for Carleton to divest from companies such
as Motorola, Tesco Supermarkets,
and Northrop Grumman, an inter-
national weapons manufacturer.
The group also wants Carleton
to implement a “socially responsible
investment policy,” D’Orazio said.
“Right now, the pension fund
committee has only one primary
concern, and that is to maximize
profit,” he said. “A socially responsible investment policy would take
into consideration other factors, social, environmental, [and] human
rights.”
However, Carleton president
Roseann Runte said the changes
Carleton made to the investment
policy in 2010 actually do more than
the divestment SAIA is asking for.
Carleton created a binding responsible investment policy in the
fall of 2010, said Betsy Springer,
chair of the pension committee, via
email.
file
“A socially responsible investment policy says we are not going
to stand up tomorrow and sell all
of our things that might be having
anything to do with war or whatever, cigarettes or bad environment
things,” Runte said.
“What we will do is every time
we purchase new ones, we will only
purchase ones that we consider to be
green, that we consider to be peaceful and good.”
With this policy, the pension
fund committee is guided by certain
principles, “taking into account environmental, social and corporate
governance issues may better align
the portfolio with the interests of our
plan members,” Springer said.
Though the policy is a step in the
right direction, D’Orazio said it isn’t
what SAIA wants. It’s “reaction-
ary,” he said.
“We could say it is a very tepid
advancement, but as it stands it’s
basically toothless,” he said.
However, the issue of divestment, specifically as it pertains to the
university’s pension plan, is much
bigger than the recent discussions,
said Bill Lawson, an adjunct professor and representative of Carleton’s
pension fund committee.
“[It’s] a very broad issue. The
question is a matter of policy and
legal responsibility,” he said.
“This is not a simple, ‘Oh yes
don’t buy x, y, or z.’”
Since divestment is such a
complex issue, the best way to
understand it is to first understand
how the pension plan works, said
Ian Lee, a business professor at
Carleton.
The pension plan receives a
premium from every employee
at Carleton, according to Lee. An
additional premium for every employee is added by the employer,
which is, in this case, the university administration. The money
is given to investment managers
hired by the pension fund committee. Following recommendations
by the committee, they then invest
the money in the stock market,
Springer said.
The investment managers, who
are fiduciaries of the fund, have a
legal responsibility to invest wisely,
Lee said.
“The legal duty of care of fiduciaries is much higher than normal
people,” he said. “If you want
squander your own money, you’re
perfectly entitled to do so. Fiduciaries can’t do that.”
The changes to the pension plan
that SAIA is proposing might not
even be allowed by Ontario’s Pension Benefits Act, Lawson said,
because the act says risk must be
minimized and return must be
maximized when investing a pension plan.
But SAIA’s own research shows
the changes they want wouldn’t
impact the financial security of the
fund, D’Orazio said.
“We’ve actually shown that these
companies . . . have collectively lost
the pension fund money,” he said.
However, Springer said she believes the policy is a reflection of
Carleton’s investment practices.
“We are confident that Carleton’s policy reflects best practice in
[responsible investment],” she said.
If a divestment strategy like one
proposed by SAIA was put into
place at Carleton, the effect on the
community could be significant, according to Mira Sucharov, political
science professor at Carleton.
“It would create I think a more
polarized atmosphere, so it isn’t any
more a discussion about Israeli policies, but it’s a discussion about the
legitimacy of Israel itself,” she said.
After the Board of Governors
declined SAIA’s proposal, the issue
was no longer in discussion, Springer said.
“The university did not divest,
and there are no plans for the decision to be revisited,” she said.
However, Runte said the divestment issue could be a non-issue in
future years because of the way
the new policy works. Ultimately,
Runte said the university could
divest from the companies SAIA
would like them to, but it’s dependant on finances.
“If we don’t make money on
the committee and just sell things,
then we have failed in our duty to
[retirees],” she said. “I feel very comfortable that we did the right thing
. . . who knows, we might not even
have those companies anymore.
We won’t know until the end of the
year when [the pension committee]
makes their report.”
q
Problems continue for Baha’i educators in Iran
by Jakob Kuzyk
It’s 1998 in Iran, and a blow has
been dealt to the attempts of the
country’s largest religious minority to access education.
Followers of the Baha’i faith
have been virtually banned since
the Iranian revolution of 1979 from
attending post-secondary institutions.
They began what the New York
Times called a “stealth university”
in 1987 with nearly 1,000 students,
145 alumni, and a network of converted basement classrooms and
laboratories.
The network was dismantled
that September when Iranian security officials raided some 500
homes and several offices, arresting lecturers and confiscating
textbooks and laboratory equipment.
This blow was not the first, nor
would it be the last to the Baha’i
Institute for Higher Education
(BIHE). However, the institute
never entirely ceased their clandestine operations and that year, their
efforts would be rewarded with a
major international boost.
In 1998, Carleton became the
first post-secondary institution in
the world to recognize the BIHE
undergraduate degree.
By allowing students into its
master’s program, Carleton set off
a chain reaction that continued the
following year with admissions
granted by the University of Ottawa. Now, 65 post-secondary
graduate programs from around
the world have recognized and
admitted
BIHE
undergraduates, according to their website.
Carleton has accepted 36 BIHE
undergrads to date.
Blockley (centre-left) accepted the first BIHE students. ||
The issue of Baha’i education
returned to the Carleton community in recent months when the
university made a public statement
in January in support of Nooshin
Khadem, a Carleton graduate imprisoned in the country.
Arrested on May 22, 2011,
photo by
Danielle Stinson
Khadem appeared in court in September 2011.
Members of the Carleton community gathered again March
30 in a discussion and screening
of Education Under Fire, a documentary about the sustained and
current denial of education to
those of the Baha’i faith in Iran,
and the covert backdoor provided
by the BIHE.
A discussion moderated by
Sherri Yazdani, former co-ordinator of BIHE students in Canada,
and led by Roger Blockley, the
former dean of graduate studies and research, followed the
screening.
It was Blockley who pioneered
the pilot program that first accepted BIHE undergraduates to
Carleton. He praised the academic strength of the students that
came to him, describing them as
“really good.”
“They were probably the strongest cadre of international students
we had taken into the school in my
deanship,” he said.
For the rest of this story, visit
charlatan.ca
4
charlatan.ca/news
CU hosts powwow
SOS coming to CU
by Jakob Kuzyk
A performer during the annual aboriginal powwow. ||
by Lasia Kretzel
The rhythmic sounds of drums
and song filled the Ravens’ Nest
March 31 and April 1 as members
of Ottawa’s aboriginal community
gathered at Carleton for the 15th
annual Aboriginal Family Festival.
The two-day event honoured aboriginal youth and featured dance
demonstrations, a baby welcoming
ceremony, a “tiny tot” special, and
aboriginal arts and crafts.
Non-aboriginal attendees were
invited to join in inter-community
dances, learn the steps and experience the culture firsthand.
Irvin Hill, Carleton’s aboriginal
liaison officer, said the cultural festival is geared towards bridging
gaps between communities.
“It’s about bringing people who
haven’t seen this before, who really
don’t know anything about aboriginal culture or people,” Hill said. “It
brings things to the modern day. So
it’s bridging that gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal, and
from the past to the present as well.”
Ottawa Centre Liberal MPP Yasir Naqvi spoke highly of the event
in an address to the Ontario legislature.
“The festival is truly youth
focused and young people are encouraged to be involved not only in
the dancing and drumming but to be
involved and active in the aboriginal
culture and tradition,” he said.
A group of local aboriginal
organizations started the annual
event to find a way to honour and
pass on their cultural knowledge
to the youth of their communities.
The first powwow took place at the
Odawa Native Friendship Centre.
The festival eventually outgrew
the small gym and with the help
of Carleton’s Centre for Aboriginal
Culture and Education (CACE),
it moved to the Ravens’ Nest in
2010. Students, as well as community members, said they were very
pleased with the move.
Carleton graduate student
Naomi Recollet said she has been
dancing since she started walking.
photo by
Lasia Kretzel
She said these powwow events
help her feel at home, despite being
far away from her native Vancouver Island.
“Being away from home, [the
Aboriginal Family Festival] allows
me the chance to connect with other
First Nations people and share and
laugh like a real community would
do,” she said.
For the rest of this story, visit
charlatan.ca
Students Offering Support (SOS),
an organization that raises money
for developing nations by hosting
exam reviews in North American
universities, is looking to create a
chapter at Carleton.
By co-ordinating volunteerrun tutoring sessions across North
America, SOS raises money to
build sustainable education projects in impoverished nations.
The organization, founded in
2004 by then 19-year-old Greg
Overholt at Wildred Laurier University, now has chapters at 26
college and university campuses
across North America.
He’s now expanding to Carleton. The first step, Overholt said,
is finding the right student leaders.
“Knowing the culture, knowing
the community and the people at
Carleton University, I am confident
the right people exist,” he said.
David Williams, a past volunteer
who may be helping with the relaunch, said the concept of the SOS
is a novel one that Carleton students
should be proud to participate in.
“Ace your exam, provide
medication to a dying child, give
a third-world community clean
water, or help them to grow food
and become sustainable. It’s a winwin,” he said.
“Our generation is globally
aware, active, and are not waiting
for our degrees to begin effecting
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April 5 - May 30, 2012
change,” he said. “The growth
of the Carleton chapter has been
carefully planned and quietly
prepared. We will be ready next
September to burst onto the stage
and you will see that Carleton students are the best in the country.”
Laura Carlson, who wrote about
the beginnings of the SOS as news
editor at Wilfred Laurier’s student
newspaper, said the organization
definitely has a place at Carleton.
“From what I saw at Laurier,
I think it is a really good organization . . . and expanding to other
campuses is a really positive
thing,” she said.
What the chapter needs to get
established, she said, is active
leadership
and
academically
strong volunteers.
Now a master’s student and
teaching assistant at Carleton, Carlson said she sees the benefit the
organization could have to students.
“A lot of TAs are grad students
and have [outside of the class] commitments,” she said. “Having people
that can help [students] outside
designated class hours in different
and creative ways to help them prepare for exams is really important.”
Also important, Overholt said,
is the community the organization
creates on campus.
“SOS provides the campus a
rejuvenation in student leadership
and shows the impact students
can have. In one year, Carleton
SOS could easily raise $10,000 to
$15,000.”
business.humber.ca
For more coverage . . .
Giving voice
Christian Osier learns
about how technology can
help sustain aboriginal
languages.
CUSA council woes
Inayat Singh reports on
council’s difficulty in
scheduling meetings.
CU creates dummy
Elysha Haun reports on
Carleton’s new bicycle crash
test dummy.
Top 10 of 2011-2012
Missed the news? This year’s
top 10 headlines are available
online now.
charlatan.ca
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April 5 - May 30, 2012
charlatan.ca/news
5
TOP 10 CARLETON NEWSMAKERS OF 2011-2012
3
1. Ariel Norman (207 votes)
1
The CUSA vice-president (internal) made waves when citing
CUSA’s bylaws, she attempted to remove 16 people from council,
kicking off a legal battle that lasted almost five months and cost upwards of $200,000.
2. Roseann Runte (192 votes)
4
From her handling of on-campus sexual assaults and response
to calls for divestment, president Runte has faced intense scrutiny.
3. SAIA (170 votes)
Students Against Israeli Apartheid has been pushing all year for
the university to divest from organizations they say are complicit in
the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
2
4. Obed Okyere (163 votes)
The CUSA president sided with the plaintiffs and suspended
executive pay in an attempt to solve CUSA’s long-lasting legal battle.
5
5. Karim Khamisa (152 votes)
The CUSA vice-president (finance) was unable to pass the CUSA
budget for months due to the legal battle.
6
Justin Campbell
The CUSA computer science
councillor received 149 votes.
7
Michael De Luca
The CUSA councillor and
vice-president (finance)-elect received 144 votes.
8
Julie Lalonde
The co-founder of the Coalition
for a Sexual Assault Centre also received 144 votes.
9
Kaisha Thompson
The Rideau River Residence
Association (RRRA) president also
received 144 votes.
10
Sean Finn
The CUSA chief electoral officer received 135 votes.
National
Mint to halt
penny production
The Conservatives gave their two
cents on how the government’s finances
should be run as they officially scrapped
the penny with the release of their federal
budget March 29.
The government will stop production
of pennies effective September 2012.
Getting rid of the coin will save Canadians $11 million per year.
“Due to inflation, the penny’s purchasing power has eroded over the years,”
according to a pamphlet issued by the
federal government. “Some Canadians
consider the penny more of a nuisance
than a useful coin.”
While the Royal Canadian Mint will
no longer be making pennies, Canadians
can still use the coins “indefinitely,” according to the pamphlet.
Annual production of pennies had
already gone down about 60 per cent, according to statistics from the Mint.
“In removing its lowest denomination
coin, Canada will follow on the successful experiences of many other countries,
including Austria, Norway, Switzerland
and the United Kingdom,” the pamphlet
reads.
Penny eliminations in New Zealand
and Australia didn’t cause any sort of price inflation, according to the pamphlet.
— Cassie Aylward
6
April 5- May 30, 2012
National Editor: Cassie Aylward • [email protected]
Feds slash Katimavik funding
by Inayat Singh
Katimavik, a popular nationwide youth
volunteer program, will no longer receive
government funding after the Conservatives
announced a number of federal budget cuts
March 29.
The program, launched under the Liberal
government of Pierre Trudeau in 1977, sends
youth from across the country to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for placements
of up to six months. The participants, aged 17
to 21, work in communities away from their
homes, and alongside other volunteers picked
from different parts of the country.
Katimavik’s programming will end in
July, according to a message on its website.
“We hear different perspectives from
around the country,” said Miranda Day, a
Katimavik volunteer from Toronto currently working in Nova Scotia. “We get a better
understanding of the issues affecting the
country.”
The Department of Canadian Heritage
funds the program with $15 million a year.
The per person cost of the program is approximately $28,000, said James Maunder,
a spokesperson for Heritage Minister James
Moore.
“About [one-third] of youth who enroll in
the program ultimately drop out,” Maunder
said via email. “Ending the Katimavik program is a responsible decision that will save
taxpayers over $15 million per year while allowing the [government] to find new, more
Katimavik’s programming costs roughly $15 million a year. ||
efficient ways to give young people the opportunities they deserve.”
The Ottawa-based Otesha Project is one
of many NGOs that receive volunteers from
Katimavik. Shirley Manh, the organization’s
development director, said Katimavik means
a lot not only to the youth who participate in
the program, but also to the organizations
that benefit from it.
“The nation as whole should be supporting their youth,” Manh said. “I can’t say
enough about how these volunteers help not
only Otesha, but also other organizations
around the country.”
photo by
Lasia Kretzel
“We were really shocked and disappointed by the decision,” she added.
Manh said she’s hopeful Katimavik will
survive, maybe in some other form, after
the funding cut. She said it was important
to maintain the philosophy of the program.
For Day, a highlight of working with the program was to be able to be a part of the Katimavik
legacy. She said she heard from organizations
she was placed with about the work and impact
previous Katimavik volunteers had.
For the rest of this story visit
charlatan.ca
Protests, elections and riots! Oh my!
It was a eventful year across the country. Between protests, riots and elections, Canada was
an interesting place for students to be in 20112012. With the year coming to a close, Cassie
Aylward provides a run-down on the year’s
biggest national stories.
A year in headlines
Death of an icon
In October 2011, Ontarians went back
to the polls to elect a new provincial government. Leaders Tim Hudak (Progessive
Conservative), Dalton McGuinty (Liberal),
Andrea Horwath (NDP), and Mike Schreiner
(Green) all unveiled very different plans for
how they would save students some money,
but it was McGuinty’s plan to give each student a 30 per cent grant to help with tuition
that was voted in. McGuinty got his position
back, but lost his majority in October.
The voter turnout was the lowest the
province had ever seen, with only 48 per
cent of registered voters casting a ballot.
Harper’s majority
Canadians headed to the polls to vote
in the federal election May 2, 2011. With
just over 50 per cent of seats in the House
of Commons, Stephen Harper became the
prime minister of Canada for the third
straight election — except this time, Harper
got his long-wanted majority.
Not only did the Conservatives get their
majority, but the New Democratic Party
(NDP) won more than 100 seats in the
House, sending the once almighty Liberals
to only 34 seats.
The Bloc Quebecois descended to naught
with four seats.
The leaders of both the Liberals and the
Bloc, Michael Ignatieff and Gilles Duceppe,
lost their seats and stepped down as leaders
of their respective parties.
The historic election also saw a handful of
people under 25 years old elected within the
NDP and gave the Green Party its first seat
ever to Elizabeth May, the party’s leader who
was elected in her British Columbia riding.
The voter turnout, however, was underwhelming. Only 61 per cent of Canadians
went to the polls, and youth voter turnout
was only 59 per cent.
Back to the polls
no mention of cancelling the increase from
the government so far, the uneasiness in the
province could continue well into the summer and the 2012-2013 school year. Quebec
students are still paying the lowest fees in
the country.
‘Occupy’ kicks off
Tuition turmoil in QC
NDP leader and beloved politican Jack
Layton lost his long battle with prostate cancer August 22, 2011.
Layton had, only a few months before,
led his party to the biggest gains it had ever
seen, and had stepped down as leader of the
party only less than a month before.
Layton’s death was mourned on Parliament Hill, where Canadians brought cans
of Orange Crush, orange flowers and notes
echoing the words of hope Layton left in a
final letter to Canadians he had penned just
days before he died.
“Love is better than anger. Hope is better
than fear. Optimism is better than despair,”
Layton wrote. “So let us be loving, hopeful
and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.”
When Quebec’s provincial government
announced that the province’s students
would start to pay more in tuition fees, students weren’t taking it lying down.
In March 2011, the Quebec government
anounced students would have to pay $325
more each year for tuition until 2016. Province-wide protests began in September 2011,
and some of them turned ugly. On November
10, 2011, the City of Montreal saw four people
arrested and faced charges for assaulting
police officers and robberies. On McGill University’s campus, riot police were called. For
the following months, francophone schools
went on strike, and several more protests
turned ugly across the province.
With no end to the outrage in sight and
They call them the one per cent, and they
say they need to share.
In September 2011, protesters in New
York City began “Occupy Wall Street,” protesting the one per cent of people who hold
the majority of the world’s wealth.
The protests kicked off a worldwide
movement that lasted for several months.
Protesters in Ottawa began occupying Confederation Park Oct. 15, 2011.
Protests remained peaceful, but the occupiers got the boot Nov. 21. Eight people
were arrested early in the morning Nov. 23
after some protesters refused to comply with
the National Capital Commission’s eviction
notice.
q
April 5 - May 30, 2012
charlatan.ca/national
7
Boston U paper mocks sexual assault
by Sarah Brandon
Students at Boston University
are saying the university’s paper,
the Daily Free Press, took an April
Fool’s Day joke too far when they
parodied rape and sexual assault.
The newspaper publishes an
April Fools’ edition every year
— this year’s edition was themed
“The Disney Free Press.” One of the
main stories was called “BROken
egos: BU fraternity suspended for
assaulting female student.”
The story came after a string
of sexual assault allegations and
”
Not only is it bad PR for the [university],
it’s a slap in the face for everyone who’s
been victimized this year.
— Boston University student
hazing have taken place at Boston
University. Many students have
seen it as insensitive, condemning
the student paper for its actions.
“Considering the fact that BU’s
student body has endured scandal
after scandal after scandal, it was
in completely poor taste,” a BU
student told Jezebel. “Not only is
it bad PR for the [university], it’s a
slap in the face for everyone who’s
been victimized this year.”
Students have been engaged in
many activities condemning sex-
ual assault and rape as of late, such
as “Take Back the Night” to raise
awareness for victims. Michelle
Weiser, a student from BU, told
the Boston Phoenix that the Daily
Free Press article was “a huge step
backwards.”
The story, which attracted attention from various media and social
media outlets, features girls getting
roofied, raped and gangbanged.
As a result, the Daily Free Press
issued an apology and the editorin-chief, Chelsea Diana, resigned
from her position, according to the
Boston Phoenix. q
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Researchers at the University of Calgary have developed
a way to detect early signs of
breast cancer months before the
formation of tumours, according to Postmedia.
The software that has been
developed uses mathematical
algorithms to show changes in
the patient’s breast tissue, according to the CBC.
In collaboration with the
Alberta Breast Cancer Screening Program, Raj Rangayyan,
Shantanu Banik and Leo Desautels developed the system
that “flags subtle signs of
breast cancer,” according to
the University of Calgary website.
By having a detection system
that will catch things earlier,
more women will be able to
survive the disease, Rangayyan
told the CBC.
“So if you could incorporate this method in the screening
program, it will facilitate the
detection of cancer at an earlier
stage,” he said.
The detection looks at
normal breast in which the ligaments, ducts, blood vessels, and
tissues all converge towards the
nipple.
But when cancer is forming,
some of these issues get pushed
off in other directions, causing
distortions, according to the
Vancouver Sun.
The distortions can be extremely difficult to see.
A study from Clinical
Radiology, a medical journal,
stated that this type of distortion accounts for 12 to 45 per
cent of overlooked breast cancer cases.
Rangayyan told the CBC
that while his research has been
“promising,” it may be a while
before doctors are able to use his
software on patients.
— Tatiana von Recklinghausen
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Perspectives
8
April 5 - May 30, 2012
Perspectives Editor: Hilary Roberts • [email protected]
Making friends along
the Onzole River
Commentary
by Gerrit De Vynck
The Onzole River winds through the
bright green jungle. At this time of year, it’s
fast and high. Cattle stare down from the
steep hills. Black and orange birds swoop
from tree to tree.
As our canoe passes by, children and
grandparents smile and wave from the
windows of wooden houses.
It’s February and we’re in Ecuador.
Our team includes students from Carleton,
Queen’s University, two high school
students and three leaders from Navigators,
the Christian fellowship organization
through which we’re all connected.
We’ve come to spend time along the
Onzole River in northern Ecuador. Our base
is Santo Domingo de Onzole, a village of
around 400. It has a school, a soccer field and
several churches.
We run children’s camps in three
communities up and down the river, playing
games and making crafts with kids who
never seem to get tired.
Last year, a team of students went down
to Santo Domingo to help build a community
centre. Today, the centre is home to computer
classes, a library and a women’s group.
Our team was part of a partnership
between a few dozen Canadians and some
of the people of Onzole. The relationship
began over a decade ago when some people
from Santo Domingo invited the Canadians
to help them develop their community.
Together, we have fought to get the
Ecuadorian government to fund the river’s
schools and health care. Teams have gone
down to train people how to make fine
furniture and use computers. These skills
have given the people of Onzole some
of what they need to help others in their
communities and bring hope into their lives.
There’s a reason the people of Onzole live in
such a remote place. They’re the descendants
of black slaves who escaped years ago from
plantations in nearby Colombia.
They went upriver to escape racism,
but they could never fully get away from
it. The Ecuadorian government has all but
ignored them. They only got electricity five
years ago. One nurse serves the entire river’s
health care needs.
Our team didn’t go to Onzole to “help” the
people there. A week-long trip can do little
to tackle the systemic and social problems
of racism, poverty, addiction and domestic
abuse that haunt these communities.
Instead, we went to make friends, share
our lives and learn from them.
For years, the people of Onzole have been
looked down upon and mistreated.
We hope that by visiting them, living
and eating with them and playing in the
mud with their kids, we can show them how
valuable they really are.
q
Commentary: Memories of a special young man
There’s something euphoric about
marching through a village leading a
train of beautiful children chanting obnoxiously.
This was my escape this past reading
week from books and classes. Often, when
people ask about my trip to Ecuador, I tend
to just say, “It was good,” or, “A nice getaway,” but truthfully, it’s what’s helping
me get through my program at Carleton.
As a student with some knowledge of
Spanish, I was able to lead my group of
my “turtles” (our group name and mascot)
through the camps we set up in different villages across the Onzole River. I remember
one of the villages called Sangudo. We were
about to run a camp with kids we didn’t
know, in a village we had never visited, in a
level of heat our bodies were definitely not
used to. I think I speak for many in our team
when I say I was quite nervous, but we were
ready.
After a quick lunch on what seemed like
the smallest chairs known to mankind, the
Residents of Santo Domingo de Onzole play on the village’s soccer field (left). A young camp participant
takes a break from playing sports (right). || photos by Marijke Large and Gerrit De Vynck
Santo Domingo de Onzole is located on the Onzole River in northern Ecuador, near Colombia.
children were split up and I was given my
group. We marched to the first activity. I immediately noticed one particular character
in my group. He was a young fellow who
had a very big influence on the group, which
didn’t make my job any easier.
We had a tough go that day. But slowly,
as I continued to try my best to react kindly
to his disruptive behaviour, he began to wait
for his turn to speak, treat others kindly, and
I saw something in this boy that made him
special.
At the end of the second day, our last in
Sangudo, as he was walking out of the door,
he paused and turned to me and gave me
a smile I’ll never forget and a quick but sincere hug. With his handpainted T-shirt and
craft in hand, he ran into the rain, pausing
to grab his toy boat, pulling it down the
little stream that flowed through the village. I thought to myself, this is a moment
worth storing away.
Today, as I wander the halls of Carleton, sometimes I like to just pause and go
back to that moment before continuing on
my way to my next class.
— Rebekah Dalm
The Mighty 93
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swindler
the
Vol 387•Issue 3.14 • April 5, 2012
the charlatan’s evil twin - since 1945
Charlatan editors to
settle feud in boxing ring
Web editor Chris Herhalt and editor-in-chief Farhan Devji will settle their bitter rivalry while vying for the ultimate prize: a unicorn. ||
By Jessica China
The Charlatan’s newsroom will be
transformed from a buzzing workplace to
a sweaty boxing ring April 30.
Charlatan editor-in-chief Farhan
Devji and web editor Christopher Herhalt will be sparring for glory ­— and the
Charlatan’s unofficial mascot — in the
Charlatan newsroom at the end of April.
The two originally called the fight after
a game of darts in the newsroom turned
sour. For the game, they had decided to
play until the first player reached an exact
score of 200.
Devji claimed while he had his back
turned, Herhalt cheated to win the game.
“There were sparks coming out of the
layout computers,” Devji said. “I had
my back turned, and as soon as I turned
around, there he was all smug. He had a
bull’s-eye for a winning shot.”
Herhalt said he threw the dart fair and
square, but Devji said he didn’t hear the
dart being thrown or hitting the board.
Herhalt said he decided to call the boxing match after Devji repeatedly called
him names.
“I said ‘I can’t take any more of this
pansy-ass shit. We’re going to fight and
I’m going to kick the shit out of you,’”
Herhalt said.
Both fourth-year journalism students
have strict training regimens planned for
the coming weeks.
Devji said for him, it’s all about hitting
the gym, and that’s how he plans to win.
“[Herhalt] is in terrible shape. Look at
photo by
Karol Karlsson
the guy. He’s eaten one too many bakesale cookies,” he said.
Herhalt dismissed Devji’s comments
about his size, and said he plans to win
with a better strategy.
“I grew up with a shank in my pocket,”
Herhalt said.
“You think I’m afraid of this skinny boy
from Nanaimo? Please — all I gotta do is
hit him in the dick,” he said.
The match will have three rounds lasting 20 minutes each, and the winner must
win two out of three rounds. The winner
will take home the Charlatan’s unofficial
mascot, a pink and purple stuffed unicorn
puppet.
The match will be aired on CJTV News
and will be posted on the Charlatan’s
YouTube channel.
tion
a
m
r
fo
all in ained in es
cont e four pagnd
thes mplete a
is co BS
utter
‘Draconian’
banned
By Draco Edict
Students have voted in favour of
banning the word “draconian” from
campus in this year’s Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA)
referendum.
“It’s a step in the right direction.
Dr**onian is a deplorable and despicable term that only serves to make
students feel persecuted in a space
meant for free speech and democracy,”
said CUSA councillor Athena Amenable, who asked for the word to be
censored in print.
The referendum question, which
asked undergraduate students if they
supported banning the word “that
serves to undermine the value of safe
student space and could be found offensive to those who have suffered unfair
punishment,” will be banned from all
written and verbal communication in
CUSA physical and online space.
Under the ban, anyone caught using
the word will lose access to his or her
U-Pass and will have his or her mouth
taped shut at all times on campus.
The ban will take effect on Sept. 31,
2012. A total of 73 votes were cast in
this referendum, more than double the
35 who voted in this year’s CUSA presidential race.
Of those 73 votes, 41 were in favour
of banning the word, 27 voted against
the ban, three ballots were spoiled and
two were rejected.
“I feel like this is a true victory for
democracy,” said CUSA councillor Len
Ient. “The students came out in force to
show their support of this worthy cause
and made their voices heard. I’m proud
to be a Carleton student today. This is a
human rights issue.”
Not all CUSA councillors were
pleased with the outcome of the vote.
Brutus O’Pressae voiced concerns over
the precedent that could be set by banning the word.
“This is all because of the hacks,”
O’Pressae said, refusing to comment on
allegations that he himself is also a hack.
Joe Average, a third-year unicorn
science student, said he was unaware of
the referendum and doesn’t care about
student politics.
“I didn’t receive a carrier pigeon
with the ballot engraved in gold, so I
didn’t know there was a referendum,”
Average said. “I mean, I’m so much
busier than everyone else. How can
I possibly have 30 seconds to vote? I
have more important things to do, like
tweeting about the uselessness of student unions.”
J2
the swindler life
April 5, 2012
Meet CU’s most eligible bachelor
Intrepid Swindler reporter Enaj Retsreg interviews Sean Finn, the man of the hour
Sean Finn is a babe. There’s just no
way around it. The Carleton student
shot to fame for his role in this year’s
Carleton University Students’
Association (CUSA) elections, but his real claim to
fame is his stare.
He stares at things.
It’s hot.
Finn gave us 30 seconds
of his time, which is great,
to tell us more about why
he’s such a babe.
Unfortunately, whether
or not he’s available is still
unknown.
(S): How many times have you been
slapped or had drinks thrown at
you because of your pick-up line?
several hours and then I train in class
in front of my teachers and I eat more
bacon.
(SF): One, two . . . I even got one on St.
Patty’s day, look at that, a whole pitcher
not even a drink, a whole pitcher. My
own beer!
(S): Do you put the toilet seat
down?
Swindler (S): What are your top
five tips for picking up the ladies?
(S): You have to answer the question.
Sean Finn (SF): Google it. One, two,
three, four, five. Some wicked websites
out there.
(SF): Definitely Tarzan. Stealing her
heart, of course.
(SF): Come to my pahh-ty.
(S): In that accent?
(SF): Exactly.
(SF): Silence.
(S): What training regimen do
you do use to keep in top bachelor
form?
(SF): Several eggs in the morning. Several bacon strips and bacon strips. Some
more bacon. After the bacon I eat some
more bacon and then I go to the gym for
(S): Boxers or briefs?
(SF): Depends on my mood in the
morning. Laughs. If I’m feeling happy
definitely the briefs. Laughs. If I’m lazy,
boxers.
(S): What is your ideal date?
(SF): Horseback. Long beach. White
sand. Candles. Moonlight. Wine.
(S): Best date in Ottawa?
(SF): Oooh, long walks along the canal.
(S): What are your thoughts on being CU’s most eligible bachelor?
(SF): Well, I mean I got here somehow
didn’t I?
Crisis
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call toll free, 24 hours a day.
WiTHin OTTAWA
613-722-6914
OUTsiDe OTTAWA
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www.crIsIslIne.ca
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Photo by Janet Maclellan | Photo retouching by Lorca Moore
(S): What’s your best pick-up line?
(S): Which of these three men’s
dating styles is most like yours? A)
Tarzan (kidnapping). B) Edward
Cullen (stalker). C) Rhett Butler
(vaguely abusive).
(SF): Hmm . . . Depends who I’m trying
to piss off. Get it? Laughs.
J3
the swindler
April 5, 2012
Pandemonium strikes!
Hacks launch
class in stonewalling
By Emperor Eastwood
Instead of a year-end concert, students in attendance at Pandamonium were shocked, just shocked, to see this lighting set-up. ||
by Talula Smyth
Pandamonium descended into pandemonium April 1 at the Ottawa Civic
Centre.
Students began rioting at Pandamonium, the year-end concert when they
realized they’d paid $20 to literally see
lights and a dead mouse instead of the
Juno-nominated Lights and Deadmau5.
The mix-up came after Carleton
University Students Association vicepresident (student life) Tai Keyes
accidentally paid someone to install
lights and fumigate the Ottawa Civic
Centre, leaving all the rodents dead on
stage.
“It was an honest mistake and could
happen to anyone,” Keyes said. “Why
would you spell your name like that?
It’s just dumb. I mean, who knows who
Lights and Deadmau5 are anyway?”
Nearly 1,000 fans of the Canadian
superstars who came out for the show
would beg to differ.
Jessica “Je55” Lexington, a first-year
architecture student said she’d been
waiting at the gates to catch a glimpse of
Deadmau5 since 5 a.m. the day before.
She built a to-scale replica of the DJ’s
mouse head for her final studio project.
She said his music was the only thing
that kept her going the long nights in
Building 22.
“[Deadmau5 is] one of the most recognizable Canadian musicians out there.
How could [Keyes] not tell something
was wrong. Is he blind?” Lexington said,
nearly breaking down into tears.
Keyes confirmed that he does have
20/20 vision.
When asked whether he was suspicious about the low cost of booking the
performers or that the booking was
photo by
Karol Karlsson
managed by Dan’s Fumigators, Keyes
simply replied he was too busy focusing
on keeping costs down.
As for the visible difference?
“I don’t know what kids are into these
days. I thought it was some sort of minimalist performance art group,” Keyes,
also sixth-year political science student,
said.
The student riots broke out shortly
after Keyes gave his opening speech welcoming the headliners to the cheering
crowd. There was a moment of silence
and then expletives, glow sticks and
beer cans were hurled at the stage.
“I thought it was some kind of April
Fool’s joke,” said Mary Vadd, a secondyear psychology student. “I guess the
real joke is our student government.”
No students were harmed in the riots
but one rodent was exterminated and
the lights were burnt out.
In another push to bring real-world
learning opportunities into the classroom, Carleton announced a new course
aimed at training future politicians on the
complex art of not talking to the media.
“We realized our current courses
weren’t preparing tomorrow’s politicians
and political staffers for today’s fastpaced, demanding media environment,”
explained Alexander Link, dean of the
Faculty of Public Affairs.
“We were training them on how to
effectively communicate and work with
the press,” Link said. “Who the fuck
does that anymore?”
The interdisciplinary course, a collaboration between Carleton’s Faculty
of Public Affairs (FPA), School of Public Policy & Administration (SPPA) and
School of Journalism (SJ), is open to
MA and PhD BPAPM students from CU,
ASAP BBQ WTF.
The course will focus on the theoretical aspects of the relationship between
politicians and journalists, including the
intertemporal relativity of deadlines, the
nuanced differences between shunning
and stonewalling, and the historical etymology of “No comment.”
In the winter term, students will learn
the finer aspects of bringing the fourth estate to its knees with lectures on deliberately
misleading the press, muzzling bureaucrats
and blackballing whistleblowers.
“One class we’re really excited for will
have a mock scrum, with the journalism
students begging the BPAPM students
for comment,” Link explained.
“For the BPAPM students, it will be
a chance to practice staying on message
and saying shit all in as many long words
as possible,” Link said. “It’s great for
their self-confidence.”
Professors Scott McNeil and Jennifer
Pagliaro, who will be teaching the course,
refused repeated requests for comment.
What are you doing this summer?
Why not start up, catch up or brush up at Carleton University?
This summer, pick up some extra credits to
get ahead, get caught up on missed courses,
or simply enjoy some intellectual stimulation.
Carleton University offers a great selection
of university courses within all faculties.
2012 Summer session dates are:
Early summer: May 7 – June 19
■ Late summer: July 3 – August 15
■ Full summer: May 7 – August 15
■
Spend your summer at Carleton University
Information on summer courses is now available
online at carleton.ca/summer. Registration
begins May 1 for degree students and
May 2 for non-degree students. If you have
any questions, please visit the Registrar’s Office
in 300 Tory Building or contact the Registrar’s
Office at 613-520-3500
Office of the Associate Vice-President
(Students and Enrolment)
carleton.ca/students
J4
the swindler sports
April 5, 2012
Treatment of Rodney an ‘outrage’
by Crosstina Fit
A recent fundraising initiative by Carleton’s department
of recreation and athletics is
drawing heavy criticism from
the university’s animal rights
group.
Members of Ravens for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals (RETA) are protesting
the department’s fundraiser
for high performance athletes.
Carleton’s
mascot,
Rodney the Raven, had been
in captivity since the Canadian
Interuniversity Sport men’s
basketball Final 8 in March.
He was released April 5.
“It’s an outrage,” said RETA
president Mark Rainbow.
“It doesn’t matter how much
money the High Flyers want
to raise, locking a raven in the
basement is unacceptable.”
The High Flyers, the
group of athletes on campus responsible for Rodney’s
kidnapping, released a video
March 23 showing the raven
in a basement, locked behind
a chain-link fence. He’s being
held captive to raise money for
the High Performance Athletes’
Fund, which provides financial
assistance to Carleton athletes
at the international level.
Since the CIS Final 8, Rodney had been locked behind a chain-link fence in a basement. || graphic by Lord Sauron
Not all athletes support the
High Flyers’ actions, either.
Elliot Thompson, a fifth-year
Ravens basketball player, said
Rodney was a major factor in
his team’s national championship win.
“To see him treated this way
is completely unacceptable,”
said Thompson. “I know they
released him [April 5], but to
see Rodney scared and alone
like that has shaken up not only
me, but the entire basketball
team.”
An undercover investigation
last week by the Charlatan’s
special assignment reporters
revealed the extent of Rodney’s
mistreatment. Posing as caretakers, two Charlatan reporters
went to the storage room in the
basement of the athletics building where Rodney was being
held.”
“He was shaking and cawing
weakly in a corner,” said investigative reporter Farhan Devji.
“His wings were clipped and it
was clear he hadn’t been fed in
a long time.”
Ben Jenning, the director
of athletics and recreation,
refused to comment on the
suggestions of animal abuse by
the High Flyers. The Charlatan
later learned that her silence
was due to a lawsuit that RETA
is launching against the university.
“We have decided to pursue legal action as a result of
the blatant mistreatment and
abuse of Rodney the Raven for
Carleton’s own financial gain,”
Rainbow said. “The university
must be held accountable for
its abhorrent and inhumane
actions against animals.”
Thompson said he and the
rest of the men’s basketball
team are supportive of the lawsuit.
“Carleton’s a great school
and we have a great athletics
department, but this is unacceptable,” he said. “I wouldn’t
be able to willingly accept
financial assistance from Carleton after knowing the measures
they took to raise this money.”
13575 Pathway Ad 4x6.5 2/3/12 3:30 PM Page 1
Coach heading to rehab
by Wright Err
Renowned CIS featherball coach Gordon Plebiscite
announced his addiction to
winning and intent to start
rehabilitation in a press conference on Monday.
At the conference, Plebiscite described how he can only
think about winning, no matter
the situation.
“Every second, every day, I
just want to find somebody, and
be better than them at something. I want to be the very best,
like no one ever was,” he said.
The announcement came
after Plebiscite's 13th win at the
CIS featherball championships,
where he lead the Correldyn
University Crows to a 127-0
victory against the University
of Flin-Flon Gummy Bears.
Plebiscite said that the national title had been irrelevant,
and that he had only cared
about winning the game.
“At that point, I needed it. I
didn't care if we got that trophy.
I only wanted to bask in the
glorious feeling that I got when
I looked at that scoreboard and
saw that we had utterly destroyed the competition.”
Plebiscite said that his addiction had started when he
was young, describing a game
of rock paper scissors he had
played with his brother at the
age of four.
“The first time [I won], I felt
like I was looking at creation
through the eyes of God. I could
see my purpose laid out in front of
me. I needed to humiliate everyone in any challenge,” he said.
Plebiscite went on to describe how he forced his brother
to play rock paper scissors with
him every day after that.
“I needed that feeling again,
no matter the cost. I would
wake him up at two in the morning and demand he play with
me until I felt that his self esteem had been reduced to a tiny
little brittle speck,” he said. “I
didn't know it then, but that
was the point when my addiction started to take control of
my life.”
After spending his high
school years playing every sport
possible, and joining every
varsity team in university, becoming a featherball coach was
a natural step for him, he said.
“I couldn't keep winning, not
with my age. I needed to start
getting people to do it for me. I
made myself a team. They would
serve as the instrument through
which I would crush anybody
that stood in my path,” he said.
As head coach of the Crows,
Plebiscite won every single
game, getting him 30 coach
of the year awards, as well as
garnering him the nickname
“Tenacious Gordon.”
“It's a really weak nickname,”
said Martin Salt, a fellow CIS
coach. “But we didn't want him
to get angry at us, so we kept it
at that.”
During the conference,
Plebiscite's wife Rita said that
his addiction had affected her
family life as well.
“He would play with the
kids, but he always had to build
a higher building-block tower,
just to show he could. It really
affected their self esteem.”
She added that she was
hopeful that Plebiscite was on
the right path to rehabilitation.
“I know in my heart that one
day, he might be alright with
tieing, or even losing,” she said.
After hearing the word “losing,” Plebiscite flew into a fit,
and challenged everybody in
the room to an impromptu
game of foosball.
Plebiscite said that he will
be staying at the Des Moins Rehabilitation Clinic (DORC).
“I hope that I can pull
through. In fact, I know it. I will
pull through better than anybody who's ever been to in rehab
before. I will beat them all.”
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Features
13
April 5 - May 30, 2012
Features Editor: Victoria Abraham • [email protected]
My little brony
Noah Lefevre explores the fascinating world of Bronies: men who are fans of My Little Pony
Bronies like TV show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic because of the cuteness of the characters.
Adam Pachulski, a second-year aerospace engineering student, is a Brony. || photos by Carol Kan
questria is a world full of
E
colourful images, ponies
and unicorns — a world full of
ly community that drew Chris
Boyd, a 23-year-old Brony from
Ottawa, to the show.
Boyd says he admires the way
the community is bringing people
together, and how so many people
around the world can come
together simply to share their
love of My Little Pony.
Adam Pachulski, also 23, is another Ottawa-based Brony. Like
so many others, the second-year
Carleton aerospace engineering
student has become a passionate
fan of the show.
“It’s the closest and most
open community I’ve seen online,” he says.
True to the show’s values
of spreading friendship, love,
and happiness, Pachulski says
becoming a Brony has “made
[him] a happier person.”
While the show’s messages
aren’t uncommon, it’s the way
in which they’re delivered that
has created such a following
from the Brony community.
Many first-time viewers of the
show are often swept away by
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the cuteness of the characters,
plot lines and the art style. This
was the case for Boyd.
The show also allows people
to “get in touch with their feminine side,” Boyd says, which
is something he thinks more
people should do.
On top of the cuteness, there’s
also an atmosphere around it
that Pachulski likened to Looney
Tunes. It has the same kind of
magic that makes it appealing to
adults and kids alike, he says.
Within the Brony community,
culture and fan art thrives. Both
Pachulski and Boyd have used
My Little Pony as a tool of expression through music and art,
and this is common within the
community.
Fan-made ponies, stories,
drawings and music can easily be
found anywhere on the Internet.
Unlike other collectors,
thousands of Bronies are
coming together around one
common passion and creating
a subculture that truly is one of
a kind.
q
I
I
friendship, love and tolerance.
This is the land of My Little
Pony: Friendship is Magic —
a world that seems perfectly
tailored to the dreams of young
girls.
Yet, this magical realm of
ponies has also attracted a different kind of viewer: the Brony.
“Brony” is a term used to
describe a man, usually in his
mid-teens to 30s, who is a fan
of My Little Pony. Bronies, who
are becoming one of the Internet’s biggest subcultures, are
much more common than some
might think.
My Little Pony: Friendship is
Magic is a cartoon series that
first aired in October 2010.
It’s based off the original My
Little Pony series of dolls and
shows created in the 1980s.
Like most children’s shows, it
teaches lessons about the value
of friendship and caring for one
another.
These lessons, along with
the various characters, have attracted an audience the show’s
creators never intended. The
size of the Brony community is
overwhelming.
Some of the biggest communities on the Internet, including
4chan and Reddit, are home to
large Brony communities.
For example, on Reddit and
4chan, the Brony communities
grew so big that both of those
websites had to create new
sub-boards just for the Bronies
because they were overwhelming other boards. They’ve even
created their own social networks such as Brony Square
and the Rainbowdash Network.
While many online fanbases
can be hostile and exclusive,
the Brony community seems to
embrace the values taught by
the show.
Simply signing up for Brony
Square will get you a handful of
friend requests and warm welcome messages.
It was this welcoming, friend-
14
charlatan.ca/oped
The Education of Charlie Banks
For more
Fred
Durst
coverage . . .
Opinions
Trayvon Martin: Racism lives
Efua Bamfo discusses the Trayvon Martin
case and what the Florida teen’s death says
about the presence of institutional racism
in today’s society.
No sense in the CFS
Chris Thompson disputes last week’s
letter by Ruty Skvirsky, which stuck up
for the Canadian Federation of Students.
The library’s dangerous side
Abraham Lau says that there’s a
psychological downside to keeping
MacOdrum Library open 24 hours a day
— even during the exam period.
Blog Posts
Sex & the Single Student:
Sharing our fantasies
L.S. Davis explores the idea of a sexual
fantasy, even asking some friends to take
part in the conversation.
Baha’i faith: Search for truth
Donald Lucas explains how studying
Baha’i writings helped him on his quest
for knowledge, allowing him to develop
his idea of truth as something that’s both
relative and absolute.
Islam: Jealousy vs. envy
Is jealousy always a bad thing?
What’s the difference between envy and
jealousy? Religion blogger Muhammad
Mohamed answers those questions and
more from a Muslim perspective.
Judaism: Path to freedom
The evening of April 6 marks the
beginning of Passover, a Jewish holiday
commemorating the biblical exodus from
Egypt. But Sammy Hudes wonders if
modern day Jews are truly free.
Street style on campus
Fashion bloggers Katarina Protsack and
Devon Cavanaugh spotted some stylish
looks on Carleton’s campus.
Fashion: Spring looks
Laura Kell put together three looks that’ll
have you dressing in style this spring.
Check out her blog to see some of the
hottest trends this season.
charlatan.ca
In defence of
United Way
Get loud about construction
On behalf of United Way Ottawa, I want
to address some irresponsible reporting by
Maghen Quadrini in your March 22 edition
of the Charlatan and to correct a series of inaccuracies that, left unchallenged, could be
extremely damaging to United Way and the
many agencies, programs and people it supports.
As a journalist with 36 years’ experience,
I know the importance of getting the facts
straight. As a volunteer in this community,
I am also keenly aware of the damage that
can result from false accusations and ill-informed opinion.
In that vein, let me address some of the
misinformation Ms. Quadrini provides as
evidence of her conclusion that United Way
is “scamming people out of their dollars
and cents.” Yes, a United Way of America
president was convicted of embezzling funds
from United Way of America 20 years ago.
This makes United Way a victim, not the
perpetrator, of wrongdoing. Ms. Quadrini
also cites a New York Times story concerning “double-counting” donations, a practice
that has never existed in Canadian United
Ways, which all adhere to Canada Revenue
Agency-approved accounting procedures.
Ms. Quadrini also raises a case in Toronto
where a United Way Canada volunteer
faced sanctions related to a dispute between
the Institute of Chartered Accountants and
an accounting firm. She neglects to report
that the person was acquitted of any wrongdoing or that the allegations against him had
absolutely nothing to do with United Way.
The one local situation mentioned relates
to some of those who attended our most
recent annual meeting. They represented
agencies that had seen their funding reduced or eliminated; understandably, they
were upset. Ms. Quadrini does not mention
that these funds were reallocated to different
agencies following a public and competitive
call for applications that followed a 10-year
long, volunteer-led process of renewing
funding priorities to better reflect needs and
demographics in our changing city.
With no evidence, Ms. Quadrini states
that we give “very little back to the people
who need it.” In fact, 85 per cent of every
dollar raised goes to program spending, representing one of the lowest fundraising and
administration costs of the major charities, a
fact easily obtainable through published and
independently audited financial statements
or through Canada Revenue Agency filings.
I would offer Ms. Quadrini an introductory
lesson in communications — words matter.
When applied recklessly they can have devastating consequences. I invite the Charlatan’s
readers to find out more about United Way
and to consider becoming part of the effort
that helps thousands in our community.
— Rick Gibbons
Publisher and CEO, Ottawa Sun
and 24 Hours Ottawa
Chair, United Way Ottawa board
There was an article in the Charlatan that
highlighted low voter turnout and apathy towards decisions involving the student body.
I’d make the argument that it starts with
our union and extends downwards — but not
downwards into the basement of our school’s
library. We’re not allowed in there anymore.
The university approves contracts for
projects involving housing and the buildings here on campus. Much of this comes
about due to communication between university administration and the maintenance
division of the university. Where is the student voice in these proceedings?
We’re in the middle of final exams and
students are packed into the library. With the
increase in admission numbers that occurred
this year, it’s been fairly difficult to find space
to get work done (more so than in years past).
Something worse happened though: the
university went ahead and approved renovations to the library to occur during exams.
They have made it more difficult to access
a great place to study. Even worse, the con-
Tunnel Access - 1st Floor Technology and Training Centre
struction is restricting the space available.
And nobody’s getting mad about this!
We haven’t heard anyone say anything
about it. Students haven’t protested against it,
and neither has our student union. For all the
great work the Carleton University Students’
Association does fundraising for charities,
ultimately they haven’t gone beyond quietly
lobbying in closed-door meetings for this
issue. This is the job they signed up to do,
and they just haven’t done it.
I guess ultimately I’m frustrated because
nobody else is. I’m writing this in between
studying on the third floor. I’m going to be
honest and say I wanted to end this piece with
something witty, and I thought I had something, but I seriously lost it when I heard the
construction crew outside the third floor windows hammering into the side of the building.
It’s going to be an especially long and loud
exam season this spring. Enjoy it, Carleton.
— Matt Corluka
fourth-year international business
GSA vote to divest was unfair
Less than 300 out of 3,000 graduate students
at Carleton voted and passed a plebiscite March
21 and 22 calling on the university to adopt a
“socially responsible” investment policy.
While Israel wasn’t explicitly mentioned,
it was launched by Students Against Israeli
Apartheid, a movement that runs a boycott,
divestment, and sanctions campaign against
the democratic state of Israel, often comparing it to previous efforts against South African
apartheid.
Motorola, one of the companies targeted,
has run programs to help at-risk teenagers
in Israel, provided classes for deaf children,
scholarships to students, and employment opportunities for handicapped people, according
to Motorola Israel’s 2007 social responsibility
report. Their crime? They supply communication technology to the Israeli military. Tesco is
a British grocery chain. Their crime? They sell
vegetables in disputed territories.
Not convinced? Perhaps you’re uncomfortable with any company operating in Israel.
As destructive a point of view as that may be,
you’re entitled to it. The point of democracy is
that we can have disagreements and resolve
them by majority vote with fairness, impartiality, and genuine discussion. Unfortunately, the
Graduate Students’ Association (GSA)’s largely unnoticed “vote” two weeks ago not only
suffered from severe democratic deficit, but
made a mockery of the very idea of democracy.
Part of having a GSA is giving students the
right to choose. Students can choose to boycott
Israel while ignoring mass murder in Syria,
the execution of gays in Iran, or the plight of
aboriginals in Canada. They can choose to engage in honest criticism of the government of
Israel or to vilify their peers and delegitimize
the very idea of a Jewish state. At the very
least, they should be able to choose.
Students can’t make meaningful choices
when the question is posed as “Do you support
Carleton University adopting a binding social-
Your Drug Information Centre
613-526-3666
April 5 - May 30, 2012
ly responsible investment policy that would
require it to divest from companies complicit
in illegal military occupations and other violations of international law, including but not
limited to: BAE Systems, Motorola, NorthropGrumman, and Tesco Supermarkets?” This
biased formulation of the issue is sort of like
asking someone whether they support child
pornography. Vic Toews, anyone?
Of course, you can’t blame them — there
was seemingly no opposition. This is probably
because the email “informing” graduate students that a plebiscite vote was coming led to
a page that posed the question with the same
opaque wording.
In reality, a movement was forming to oppose this message, which was not offered space
on the GSA website or given a reasonable opportunity to campaign on campus. Practically
no graduate students were aware of the vote
until a week before, when SAIA began their
aggressive campaign. Even so, it only took opposing students a few days to mobilize. When
they got to the GSA’s office the week of the
vote, the “deadline” (previously unmentioned
by the GSA) had passed and the opposition
had been effectively excluded.
To add insult to injury, advertisements for
the “yes” campaign were prominently featured
on every voting table on campus. You know,
just like in federal elections where there are
Conservative placards decorating the voting
booths — yet another campaigning advantage
the opposition wasn’t aware of until too late.
This partiality against Israel and disrespect
for democratic values was so impressive that
Iran’s state propaganda machine, Press TV,
picked up the story, nostalgically thinking back
to their own election debacle in 2009. Graduate students deserve better than this. The GSA
owes us all an apology and a new vote.
— Jonathan Pinkus
first-year NPSIA graduate student
On-Campus Full Service Pharmacy
- Student Drug Plan On-Line
- Private Consultation Area
- Travel Clinic Services
- Vitamins and Herbal Products
- Non-Prescription Medications
www.prescriptionshop.ca
Opinions/Editorial
15
April 5 - May 30, 2012
Op/Ed Editor: Ilana Belfer • [email protected]
A call to keep Katimavik
Katimavik is a federally-funded program with a mandate
to “engage youth in volunteer service and foster sustainable
communities through challenging national youth learning
programs,” according to their website. Or, rather, it used to
be a federally-funded program.
The Canadian government unveiled its budget for the
new fiscal year March 29. Among several major cuts, the
Conservatives scrapped all funding for Katimavik.
Looks like there will be fewer young adults working with
the elderly, improving impoverished areas, and helping disabled people — just a few examples of Katimavik initiatives.
Scrapping Katimavik is taking away years of invaluable
volunteer experience from thousands of at-risk youth across
the country. Not to mention, the program only costs the
government $15 million annually, according to the treasury
board — just a small slice of their budget. So what’s the
government’s reason for cutting the program’s funding?
In the week leading up to the budget’s release, Liberal
MP Justin Trudeau asked Heritage Minister James Moore
that very question in the House of Commons. Moore deflected the question with a comment on Trudeau’s boxing
match, which was coming up that weekend, against Conservative senator Patrick Brazeau. No answer was given.
It appears the Conservatives have no leg to stand on, and
it seems like this is pure politics since it’s not the first time a
Conservative government has scrapped the program, which
was introduced in the ‘80s under a Liberal government.
The decision to end Katimavik funding isn’t doing anything to help youth. Well, aside from helping them veer off
the path to becoming contributing members of society. Instead, it’s potentially steering them straight to Prime Minister
Stephen Harper’s brand-new multi-million dollar prisons.q
Add genres to Juno spotlight
It’s no secret that in most people’s minds, the Junos don’t
stack up to their American counterpart: the Grammys. This
speaks to how Canadian music in general is perceived compared to American music. However, the Junos have the
potential to help Canada’s music scene flourish.
This year, the Junos added a new category for hard/metal
album of the year. This category not only recognizes existing
Canadian talent in this area, but also allows it to develop.
While Winnipeg’s KEN Mode took home the first ever
hard/metal album of the year award, they’re far from the
first Canadian heavy metal band. Fellow nominee Anvil has
been on the scene since the ‘70s — and there were countless
others before them. Up until this point, the Junos have just
been ignoring metal, hardcore, heavy rock, death metal and
all their sub-genres.
The addition of new categories paves the way for artists
in these genres. A case in point is the electronic album of the
year category, which was added to last year’s Juno Awards.
With a burgeoning Canadian electronic scene, the Junos
couldn’t shelve the artists into different categories anymore.
This year, electronic music was front and centre with Deadmau5 performing a heavily electronic set at the awards show.
The Junos should work hard to not only introduce these
categories, but to also actively promote them. Both categories
were relegated to the non-televised awards gala in their inaugural years. Instead, they should be a main focus of the awards
show to demonstrate the growth and emergence of Canadian
music scenes. If the Junos don’t show them, people will continue to ask where Canada’s developing music scenes are. q
charlatan poll
the
Do you agree with the decision to scrap the penny?
Vote online at www.charlatan.ca
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charlatan
Yes: 80 per cent
April 5 - May 30, 2012
Volume 41, Issue 30
Room 531 Unicentre
1125 Colonel By Drive
Carleton University
Ottawa, ON — K1S 5B6
General: 613-520-6680
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www.charlatan.ca
[email protected]
Circulation: 8,500
No: 20 per cent
Editor-in-Chief
Farhan Devji
[email protected]
Production Assistant
Andrew Nguyen
News Editors
Jessica Chin and Jane
Gerster
National Editor
Cassie Aylward
Features Editor
Victoria Abraham
As the budget revealed, Katimavik isn’t a top priority for the Tories — p. 6
Disqualify stigma against mental illness
mates that one in five people will suffer from mental illness at
some point in their life — that’s 20 per cent of the population.
Yet society still looks at people who suffer from mental health
issues like invisible lepers. It’s to the point where, according to
the CMHA’s website, only about 20 per cent of youth afflicted
By now, most of you have probably heard about the with mental illness in the first place will actually get treatment.
shenanigans surrounding the Rideau River Residence As- We are treating mental illness like it’s some dirty little secret that
no one’s allowed to talk about without getting shunned.
sociation (RRRA) elections.
And it’s sad that it has to happen here in Ottawa, too,
After multiple recounts, the Home Team and Keep RRRA
Working slates ended up in a dead tie. Normally, this would because I really thought we were starting to get our act toresult in a run-off election between the two slates. However, gether on mental health.
It was less than four years ago that the Royal Ottawa Menit’s looking like that’s not going to happen because the Home
Team has been disqualified, according to a press release tal Health Centre teamed up with the greatest hockey player
in the history of ever, Daniel Alfredsson, for the “You Know
from the chief electoral officer (CEO).
Shanee Bailey, the Home Team’s presidential candidate, Who I Am” campaign. In a press conference, Alfredsson
discussed his family’s struggles
explained her side of the
story in a heartfelt letter to
There is a larger issue at hand than the to help his sister, who had suffered from depression.
supporters on Facebook.
results of a student election, though.
Less than two years ago, DaBailey, who works as a Res
I’m talking about the stigma people
ron Richardson, daughter of Luke
Commons desk employee,
Richardson, the Ottawa Senators’
admitted to suffering from
project towards mental illness.
assistant coach, committed suidepression for a large part
cide at the age of 14. Rather than
of her life.
wallowing in their grief, the RichIn the letter, Bailey describes the series of events like this: One day, before RRRA ardsons teamed up with the Royal Ottawa and went public
nominations started, a combination of personal issues and with the “Do It for Daron” (D.I.F.D.) campaign, which aims to
the stresses of work and school caused her to suffer a major establish dialogue between parents and youth about mental
emotional breakdown. In desperation, she took the res bind- health. The campaign still enjoys massive support to this day.
In fact, RRRA’s election results were announced March 28,
er (which contains the contact information of all students in
residence) home with her to contact a friend for support. In the day before Carleton’s Power to the Purple Day — a D.I.F.D.
her depressed state, she completely forgot about the binder initiative where students wear purple (Daron’s favourite colour) to raise awareness and promote discourse about mental
until she was asked to return it.
I haven’t heard of any students who complained about be- health issues. I guess not everyone got the memo.
I have every ounce of respect in the world for Bailey. Whething called or emailed by the Home Team slate, and I’ve seen no
evidence to suggest they used the res binder in their campaign er or not she was actually blackmailed is almost irrelevant. She
at all. Yet RRRA CEO Fadi El Masry still saw it fit to disqualify still had the courage to stand up and not only say that she made
the Home Team and declare Keep RRRA Working the winners. a mistake, but be honest with us as to why she made it.
As for the alleged “blackmail” incident, I can’t say whethThe worst part is that Bailey claims El Masry attempted
to, in her words, “blackmail” her into quietly dropping out er or not it actually happened, but a missing res desk binder
of the race before the recount by threatening to make infor- isn’t the only thing we should be investigating.
For her slate to be disqualified when no one has presented
mation about her depression public. Blackmailed with her
a shred of concrete evidence that they actually cheated is
own mental health. Welcome to politics, folks.
There is a larger issue at hand than the results of a student atrocious, and it only furthers the idea that mental illness is
election, though. I’m talking about the stigma that people something that has to be hidden from the world. I wish we
had a few more Baileys in the world — people who aren’t
project towards mental illness. It’s appalling, really.
The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) esti- afraid to put a spotlight on the darker parts of their lives. q
Op/Ed Editor
Ilana Belfer
Perspectives Editor
Hilary Roberts
Arts Editor
Juanita Bawagan
Sports Editor
Erika Stark
Photo Editor
Carol Kan
Graphics Editor
Don Dimanlig
Riley Evans is a first-year journalism
student who says we should be raising
awareness about mental health, rather than
shunning it from our campus amd beyond.
Web Editor
Chris Herhalt
Copy Editor
Candice So
Staff Photographer
Pedro Vasconcellos
Social Media
Coordinator
Shamit Tushakiran
Web Guru
Tyler Pearce
Contributors:
Erika Allen, Efua Bamfo, Matt Blenkarn, Sarah Brandon, Devon Cavanagh, Matt Corluka, Harrison Cowman, Rebekah Dalm, L.S. Davis, Gerrit De Vynck, Riley Evans, Cam Garbutt, Nikki Gladstone, Elysha Haun,
Sammy Hudes, Jenn Jeffreys, Laura Kell, Adella Khan, Lasia Kretzel, Jackob Kuzyk, Abraham Lau, Matt Lee,
Noah Lefevre, Arik Ligeti, Callum Micucci, Muhammed Mohamed, Gianluca Nesci, Lewis Novack, Christian Osier,
Jonathan Pinkus, Grace Protopapas, Katarina Protsack, Oliver Sachgau, Jamie Shinkewski, Inayat Singh,
Jasleen Singh, Justin So, Christian Thompson, Fraser Tripp, Tatiana von Recklinghausen
The Charlatan’s photos are produced exclusively by the photo editor, the photo assistant and volunteer members, unless otherwise noted as a provided photograph. The Charlatan is Carleton University’s independent student newspaper. It is an editorially and financially autonomous journal published weekly during the fall and winter semesters, and monthly
during the summer. Charlatan Publications Incorporated, Ottawa, Ontario, is a non-profit corporation registered under the Canada Corporations Act and is the publisher of the Charlatan. Editorial content is the sole responsibility of editorial staff members, but may not reflect the beliefs of all members. The Charlatan reserves the right to edit letters for
length and grammar. The Charlatan’s official tributes are Jessica Chin, Adella Khan, Inayat Singh, Marina von Stackelberg, Oliver Sachgau, Tom Ruta, Kristen Cochrane, Callum Micucci, Pedro Vasconcellos, Marcus Poon, Gerrit De Vynck. May the odds be ever in your favour. Contents are copyright 2012. No article or photograph or
other content may be duplicated or reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of the editor-in-chief. All rights reserved. ISSN 0315-1859. National advertising for the Charlatan is handled through the Campus Network, 145 Berkeley Street, Suite 500, Toronto, Ontario, M5A 2X1: (416) 922-9392.
Arts
16
April 5 - May 30, 2012
Arts Editor: Juanita Bawagan• [email protected]
Junos draw in fresh blood
Fraser Tripp covered the new and familiar faces that came out for Juno week
Feist won artist of the year. She racked
her Juno count up to 11 this year.
Deadmau5 performed at the Junos. He
lost in his three nominated categories.
William Shatner and company opened up the Juno Awards
broadcast April 1 with a rendition
of Trooper’s “Raise a Little Hell.”
And he wasn’t the only one raising
a little hell at Scotiabank Place for
the 41st Canadian music awards.
The night was filled with surprises — for those who won and
those who didn’t.
With the majority of the awards
handed out the previous evening
at the Juno gala, the actual broadcast recognized the more popular
awards, including new artist and
album of the year.
In keeping with the hellish
theme, Nickelback opened the
show with what the 81-year-old
Shatner described as weak pyrotechnics.
“If the drummer survives,
what’s the point?” he asked.
The pyrotechnics weren’t the
only thing about Nickelback that
seemed to be lackluster. The Canadian musical heavyweights lost to
younger and newer Canadian talent in all four categories they were
nominated for.
The rest of the show seemed to
be a nod to the fresh faces on the
Canadian music scene.
CU prof wins Juno
It was an evening of firsts at the
Ottawa Convention Centre for the
Juno Awards gala March 31.
The event recognized 34 awards
that aren’t a part of the televised Juno
broadcast, which aired April 1.
The 99 first-time nominees are
an indication of “Canadian music’s
growth,” said Melanie Berry, CEO
of the Canadian Academy of
Recording Arts and Science, as she
opened the evening.
Carleton music professor Jesse
Stewart, a first-time nominee,
also became a first-time Juno
award winner. Stewart, along
with his bandmates from Stretch
Orchestra, took home the Juno for
instrumental album of the year for
their self-titled EP.
“We were quite shocked to have
actually won,” Stewart said.
He said the win meant a lot
to him on a personal level. His
bandmates have been nominated
and won Junos for their work.
He said he was proud to have
had a hand in a lot of the less
“glamorous” aspects of the award,
like writing the grant application
that financed the award-winning
album or applying to the Junos.
Stewart said he was honoured
to have been in the company of
fellow nominees who he’s seen as
his mentors.
Above all, Stewart said he
became even more aware of the
“depth and breadth” of talent in
Canada.
“I was really impressed with
the calibre of musicians that are
performing in this country,” he
said.
Another first of the evening was
the Juno for hard/metal album of
the year. Winnipeg metal-heads
KEN Mode took home the award,
which was added this year.
Other awards handed out
include album of the year for
classical, pop and world music.
Kiran Ahluwalia, recipient
of the world music album of the
year, provided an interesting
anecdote involving other cultures’
tea, which she said tasted like pee.
While travelling, Ahluwali said
she experienced many elements
of culture shock, like the taste
of the tea, but it was “a good
omen” because there are always
difficulties when working with
diverse groups.
The night wasn’t a first for
everyone. For the fifth time,
folk singer David Francey was
nominated for folk and traditional
album of the year by a solo artist.
Even though Francey didn’t win
the award, losing out to Bruce
Cockburn, he said he was honoured
to be nominated again.
For the rest of this story, visit
charlatan.ca
New group of the year nominees Hey Rosetta! provided a bit
of contrast to Nickelback’s fiery
performance with a more laid
back one. Alyssa Reid, JRDN, Mia
Martina, Anjulie, and Dragonette
also brought a “mixtape” of radio
singles to life on stage.
While the concept was interesting, allowing a larger number of
performers to be showcased, the
medley felt disjointed and rushed
at times.
It may have been because
Dragonette frontwoman Martina
Sorbara said she had downed 14
Red Bulls earlier.
Sorbara won dance recording of
the year for Dragonette and Martin
Solveig’s collaboration, “Hello.”
She described the feeling of winning as “buzzy,” although that
might still have been the Red Bulls
talking.
Both Solveig and Dragonette
said they didn’t expect to win
against Deadmau5’s infectious
electronic hook on “Aural Psynapse.”
For those surprised, Shatner offered his version of the selection
process for award winners — a
game of pin-the-tail on the award
Dragonette won dance recording of the year for “Hello.” || photos by Carol Kan
winner played by Rita MacNeil
drunk on Jäger bombs.
While this isn’t the actual selection process, a number of the
winners were shocked to discover
they had beaten out some of the
more mainstream artists. In a few
cases, Shatner’s version of the selection process might have proved
true to some dissenters.
Deadmau5 didn’t seem too
bothered by his loss to Dragonette.
However, he seemed to be blown
away that Michael Bublé’s Christmas took home album of the year.
He even asked if he was being
strung along when asked to comment on it.
While the spotlight seemed to
be on the upsets, veteran musicians
know it’s not unusual for their career to take unexpected turns.
Jim Cuddy, frontman of
Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees Blue Rodeo, said the band
started out playing venues like Ottawa’s Rainbow Bistro years ago.
Since then, he said “[Blue
Rodeo’s] career became one surprise after another.”
q
A Fucked Up JunoFest
Fucked Up was nominated for alternative album of the year but lost to Dan Mangan.
People aren’t always fighting
to touch a screaming, half-naked,
overweight man’s belly but when
they do, it might be because they’re
at a Fucked Up concert.
After a bit of a late start, Fucked
Up began and the ground shook
March 30 at Babylon Nightclub.
A mosh pit formed and bodies
crashed against each other as
Fucked Up frontman Damian
Abraham got up close and personal
with the crowd. Hands reached
out for the opportunity to touch
Abraham as he got face-to-face
with those in the front.
For nearly an entire song,
Abraham was out in the crowd,
the microphone cord being guided
by fans. Shirtless and pantless, the
lead singer made his rounds as
he screamed into the microphone
before returning to the stage with
the cord wrapped around his face.
The scene seemed like a fitting
end to the night of streamers,
blackouts and local bands with
names like Pregnancy Scares and
Party Knives.
The band rocked one of many
venues across Ottawa for JunoFest,
which featured Juno-nominated
groups. Fucked Up was nominated
for alternative album of the year,
but lost to the much softer cooing
of Dan Mangan.
Hollerado rounded out the
local acts. The indie rockers
may be Ottawa natives, but
they’ve climbed their way up as
international artists and picked up
Juno nominations along the way.
They were up for video of the year
at the ceremony, but got beat out
by the Sadies.
Before breaking into their set,
they warned they have a tradition
of playing some of their worst
shows during the Juno Awards.
“We’re going to try and butcher
some new songs and some old
ones,” said frontman Menno
Versteeg.
The show hit a small snag
quickly after the first song when
they cut out during their first
attempt at “Juliette.”
“And the tradition continues,”
Versteeg said. “This is avant-garde
‘Juliette.’”
The band recovered and
launched into “Way Down Low.”
Streamers were let loose as
the band began “Got to Lose.”
Versteeg had the audience singing
along: “You’ve got to lose love if
you want to find love.”
The crowd really came to life,
however, as the first chords of
“Juliette” broke out. A mosh pit
quickly formed in front of the stage
and pretty much everyone was
moving to the music in one way or
another.
“It’s looking cool to be [in
Ottawa],” Versteeg said.
q
April 5 - May 30, 2012
charlatan.ca/arts
17
Creating poetry to get through a bad day
by Adella Khan
Shane Koyczan’s poem, “6:59 AM,” is
the closest he said he’ll ever get to writing
something as beautiful as Leonard Cohen’s
work.
But Koyczan is already writing, speaking,
and singing words as sexy, politically
charged, and beautiful as his idol.
Koyczan, 35, has been opening the doors
to slam poetry and his popularity since his
performance of “We Are More,” a homage
to Canada, during the opening ceremonies
of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
With two years of experience under
his belt since that breakout, Koyczan and
the Short Story Long have begun an 18date national tour of their new album,
Remembrance Year, which includes a stop at
the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield April 9.
A combination of older pieces and
unheard work, Remembrance Year flows
smoothly from folk melodies to rockabilly
bass — all to the strength of Koyczan’s
strong voice and stark wit.
The album will be followed by a new
collection of poetry, Our Deathbeds Will Be
Thirsty, which will be released April 18.
Koyczan’s ability to capture the
experiences others let pass or the memories
people sometimes let fade all stems from his
undergrad, he said. Koyzcan took up poetry
for the first time while studying at Okanagan
University College in Penticton, B.C. After
having some difficulties in high school, he
said it started getting easier to express his
thoughts and emotions through poetry.
Poems turned to spoken word, spoken
word turned to music, and books to albums.
“The transition was pretty natural,”
Koyczan said. “When I write, I often have
classical music playing in the background
. . . music gave me the tools I needed to
emotionally connect.”
Still, the honesty and emotion are themes
reflected throughout his repertoire.
Koyczan said he pulled inspiration
from his own childhood experiences with
bullying in Stickboy, a novel-length narrative
told through poetry. The novel tells the story
of a boy who becomes a bully after years of
enduring the hardship himself.
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This theme is echoed in his latest poem,
“Instructions for a Bad Day.” Koyczan
wrote the poem after students at G.P.
Vanier Secondary School in Courtenay, B.C.
contacted him for an anti-bullying video.
“If you think for one second/ No one has
felt what you’ve been going through/ Be
accepting of the fact that you are wrong/ That
the long drawn heavy breaths of despair/
Have at times been felt by everyone/ That
pain is part of the human condition/ And
that alone makes you a legion,” Koyczan
recites above a choral bed.
The accompanying student-made video
shows one student going through his day
with an ever-growing backpack. Eventually,
he’s able to let go, leave the burden and help
another student leave hers behind as well.
The video was released in conjunction
with Pink Shirt Day, which takes place
across Canada April 11.
The anti-bullying campaign started up
after a male student in Nova Scotia was
bullied for wearing a pink shirt. Students
wore pink shirts the next day to show
support and derail the bullies.
“Everything that has been created was
done for love. . . just to keep people here
with us just a little bit longer because we
know there are those dark days,” Koyczan
said in a video post about the collaboration.
“It was done with the hope that love
would reach those who need it the most.”
q
6:59 am
“I’ve been told
that people in the army
do more by 7:00 am
then I do in an entire day
but if I wake at 6:59 am
and turn to you
to trace the outline of your lips
with mine
I will have done enough
and killed no one
in the process.”
— Shane Koyczan
The Education of Charlie Banks
ForDurst
more
Fred
Juno coverage . . .
Judge an album by its cover
Erika Allen, matt blenkarn
and Jasleen Singh take audiences
through a Juno art exhibition with
its curator in a video.
The sound of a Juno victory
Carleton music
professor Jesse Stewart
drummed up a Juno
win. Check out
Juanita Bawagan and
Harrison Lowman ‘s
video for his reaction.
A nostalgic trip
Jenn Jeffreys reviews Swollen
Members’ JunoFest performance.
The Juno photo album
Go online to see Carol Kan’s photo
gallery of everything from the Juno
Cup, JunoFest and the Juno Awards.
He shoots, he sings
Fraser tripp covered Juno nominees’
match against former NHLers at the
Juno Cup at Nepean Sportsplex.
charlatan.ca
18
charlatan.ca/arts
April 5 - May 30, 2012
A year in review of arts at Carleton
Elysha Haun and Juanita Bawagan looked at the highlights and challenges in the arts community
THEATRE
Despite “cartoonishly” bad luck, including a flood that wiped out most of
Sock ‘n’ Buskin’s stock, the theatre company had a successful season, said artistic
director Michelle Blanchard in an email.
The fourth-year journalism student
said the Carleton community took on the
challenge presented by each of this season’s plays and were “loving” it the whole
way through.
The season debuted with Macbeth. The
play featured some physically demanding
swordfights, but Blanchard said it was the
eerie witches who stole the show. Another
one of the season’s major highlights was
This Is Our Youth, which boasted an “outstanding” all-student cast, she said.
LITERATURE
Carleton’s lit community made its
voice heard and its presence known this
year, defying the stereotype of quiet, isolated writers.
The Moose and Pussy started off by
taking sex lit to the web to reach a wider
readership, said founding editor Jeff
Blackman. The blog was updated periodically with steamy poetry complete with
audio clips to create a fully oral experience. They took it one step further by
releasing a sensual mixtape of poems for
people to listen along to. The title: Codename ORAL.
In/Words magazine wasn’t quite as
racy but it definitely put out.
Incoming editor and third-year English student Jenna Jarvis wrote a sonnet
to celebrate the 11th anniversary of In/
Words. In her poem she gave a nod to this
year’s literary highlights with verses like
“writing circles, writing workshops in the
winter/with Capital Slam poet Brandon
Wint/and George Johnston Prize winner
Bardia Sinaee.”
Given the organizational problems that
constantly plague In/Words, Sinaee said
he’s glad the magazine is still thriving.
Jarvis’ sonnet seems to signal hopefulness
for next year with her closing line, “We
are the youngest we have ever been.”
VISUAL ARTS
Walking into the the Carleton University Art Gallery this year, visitors could
always find something different, said education and outreach co-ordinator Fiona
Wright in an email.
From contemporary Inuit paintings to
multimedia art that changes in the light,
Wright said the gallery has seen it all this
year.
An exhibition on the late Colin Campbell, who photographed himself in drag,
was one of the highlights out of this year’s
11 exhibitions, she said. The gallery hosted a discussion on the gender-bending
video artist in partnership with the GLBTQ centre, architecture and art history
students.
DANCE
In 2008, the Carleton University Dance
Association (CUDA) disbanded. This
year, the team of reunited underdogs
took second place at Ontario Universities
Competition for HipHop (O.U.C.H.), said
choreographer Edmund Gyamfi.
There was a lot of turmoil within
CUDA, but this year marked the end of a
long journey of rebuilding, the third-year
film student said.
The dance team’s thematic performance
at the O.U.C.H in November was the year’s
highlight, Gyamfi said.
“We took risks,” he said. “We were
very new but we proved you don’t need an
army of people.”
The seven-person dance team grew to
eight and Gyamfi said doors just continued
to open.
The team performed for former Governor General Michaëlle Jean at a black history
month ceremony and were invited back by
Jean to kick off youth week on April 2.
The team’s already looking at their next
project — a video that tells the story of
women who have survived abusive relationships.
These stories have been condensed.
For the full stories, visit
charlatan.ca
Sports
19
April 5 - May 30, 2012
Sports Editor: Erika Stark • [email protected]
The Charlatan sports top 10
Last week, we gave you numbers 10-6 on our list of Carleton’s top 10 varsity athletes of the year. Here are our picks for the top five. Gianluca Nesci reports.
5. Alyson Bush (Basketball)
4. Brandon MacLean (Hockey)
3. Tyson Hinz (Basketball)
2. Tamber Tisdale (Hockey)
1. Philip Scrubb (Basketball)
Carleton’s female athlete of the
year kicks off the second half of our
list.
One of the most explosive offensive players in the country, Bush
has an incredible ability to break
down the defence on the dribble,
causing havoc for opponents all
season long.
Once she beats her defender,
she can finish the play at the rim
herself, or dish off to a teammate
for an open look. Both of those
skills were on display throughout
the season. Despite being the focal
point for opposing defences, she
led the Ravens in points (13.7 per
game) and assists (3.0 per game).
When last season’s captain Brad
Good graduated from the program
and turned his attention to the professional ranks, there were some
big skates to fill for the men’s hockey team.
Before this season started,
MacLean was given the extra responsibility of filling those skates
and taking over the captaincy.
Head coach Marty Johnston and
his staff couldn’t have made a better
selection.
The 6’0” forward – playing in his
fifth and final year with the team
– capped off an impressive collegiate career this season, leading the
Ravens in every offensive category.
Skilled big men are the most
sought-after commodities in basketball. In Hinz, coach Dave Smart has
arguably the best one in the country.
Hinz was the focal point of the
Ravens’ offence once again, despite
seeing his numbers drop slightly
from last season, when he was
named CIS player of the year.
The Ravens were praised all
season long for their incredible
three-point shooting, but that success starts inside the paint, with
the 6’6” forward. His ability to
command attention under the basket and draw help from a second
defender opens up room for the
Ravens’ shooters beyond the arc.
Coming into training camp, Tisdale was expected to be part of a trio
of netminders who would share the
load in goal for head coach Shelley
Coolidge. Instead, she took the job
and ran with it.
The highlight of her season came
in late January, when Tisdale led
the Ravens to a historic 4-3 shootout
victory over the powerhouse from
McGill. That marked the first ever
win for Carleton in 65 meetings
with the Martlets, who came into
the game having won 116 of their
past 117 regular season contests.
Tisdale outdueled her counterpart Charline Labonte, a two-time
Olympic gold-medal winner.
Was there ever really any doubt
about this one?
What more can be said about the
best collegiate basketball player in
the country?
The list of accolades in only his
second season as a Raven is remarkable.
Scrubb was named the CIS
men’s basketball player of the year,
took home MVP honours from the
national championship tournament
in Halifax, and was a first-team allstar at that tournament as well.
These stories have been condensed.
For the full versions, visit
charlatan.ca
Ravens goalies talk superstition, mental strength
by Cam Garbutt
Inside the Ice House, amidst the
sounds of tape-to-tape passes and
fans cheering, Ravens goaltender
Ryan Dube finds himself singing
songs in his head.
“It’s always different songs,” he
said.
It’s a bit of Jedi mind tricks that
keep up his focus and his glove hand
quick, Dube said.
Unlike a player, a goaltender’s
mistake is put up on the scoreboard,
so they take strides to mentally block
out the prospect of failure. Fellow
Ravens goaltender Matt Dopud said
he doesn’t like to think too much
during a game because that’s when
mistakes happen.
Dube agreed. Any negative
thought could jeopardize a goaltender’s performance, he said.
“Whenever you start thinking
negative, things start going wrong,”
he said. “You misplay a puck once
or twice, you just start getting bad
thoughts in your mind and it just
kind of snowballs.”
Ravens head coach Marty Johnston said he understands that
goaltenders are a different breed.
The amount of pressure Dube and
Dopud have to deal with comes
with the job, he said.
“They have to deal with failure a
Matt Dopud said he tries to stay positive when he lets a goal in.
lot more critically than the rest of the
players,” he said.
For this reason, Johnston said
he will often use a time-out during
a game to help improve his goalies’
state of mind. Pulling the goalie he
said, although sometimes necessary,
is a tactic he seldom had to use over
the last two years.
Goals go in — that’s the way it
goes. That’s why Dopud said he
chooses to stay positive.
“What’s done is done,” he said of
the goals he allows.
“Every goalie is going to let in the
crappy goals every once in a while.
[You just have to] understand it’s
just a hockey game and stop the next
one,” he added.
However, not all goalies are as
mentally tough. Dopud said he remembers a goalie he used to play
with and after letting in a bad goal,
his shoulders would drop and body
language would reveal that his
confidence had been shot. Dopud ac-
Ryan Dube said he sings songs in his head while playing. || file photos
knowledged that moments do come
when goalies feel like they can’t stop
a beach ball. Often what will bring
him out of a funk and psych him up
is a big save — a “huge adrenaline
rush,” he said.
“Mentally, you get real strong,”
he said.
For these two goalies, the amount
of shots they face is what helps them
perform better, “100 per cent of the
time,” according to Dube. When
facing little action, “you get cold
and you’re not as into the flow of
things,” he said.
Just like many other athletes,
goaltenders are superstitious. Goalies have been well documented as
being among the quirkiest individuals to play the sport. After all,
it takes a special person to stand in
front of a frozen hockey puck travelling at 90 miles an hour.
For the rest of this story, visit
charlatan.ca
20
charlatan.ca/sports
April 5 - May 30, 2012
Canada edges Team USA in world championship tune-up
women’s hockey and has had great
events here like the world juniors,”
Church said. “I thought the crowd
was great [March 31].”
“For sure, it’s exciting for us to
come back on our home soil and
come back from Vancouver and
it’s going to be good motivation
for us,” Poulin said.
Canada won the first eight
women’s world championships
from 1990-2004, but has only won
one of the past five.
The other four times, they lost
to Team USA. Every final of the
tournament has featured those two
countries.
q
by Jamie Shinkewski
The Canadian national women’s
hockey team defeated Team USA
in an exhibition game at the Ottawa
Civic Centre March 31 to wrap up
their 2012 selection camp.
The camp took place March
26-April 1 in Ottawa, with the
women skating at the Ottawa Civic
Centre and Carleton’s Ice House.
Canada defeated the USA 1-0
thanks to Laura Fortino’s first career international goal at the end of
the second period.
Olympic gold-medallist Shannon Szabados recorded a 24-save
shutout for Canada and stopped
American forward Amanda Kessel
­— Toronto Maple Leafs player Phil
Kessel’s sister — on a shorthanded
breakaway partway through the
second period.
The game got physical in the
third period as Canada took three
body-checking penalties, but Canada was perfect on the penalty kill.
“Our [penalty kill was] unbelievable,” Fortino said. “It’s
always important when you play
the U.S. and we’re going to carry
this momentum into the world
championship.”
Canada played the exhibition
game without six of the veteran
players who won gold at the 2010
For more coverage . . .
Ravens honoured
Team Canada beat Team USA 1-0 March 31 at the Ottawa Civic Centre. || photo by Carol Kan
Olympics in Vancouver, giving
some of the younger players a
chance to show the coaching staff
what they’re capable of.
“Everybody stepped up their
game,” said head coach Dan
Church. “They have made our decision very tough in determining
our roster.”
Canada’s roster was trimmed
down to 23 players April 1. These
players will represent Canada at
the 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey World
Women’s Championship in Burlington, Vt., starting April 7, as well
as the 2013 IIHF World Women’s
Championship in Ottawa.
The roster features 11 members
of the 2010 Olympic team, including
the face of women’s hockey Hayley
Wickenheiser and gold medal game
hero Marie-Philip Poulin.
Canada will look to win a gold
medal at the world championship
for the first time since 2007 — the
last time the tournament was held
in Canada.
Next year, the tournament returns to the nation’s capital for
the first time since the inaugural
tournament was held at the Civic
Centre in 1990.
“Ottawa is a great host to
Callum Micucci covered an
Ottawa Senators pre-game
ceremony honouring the men’s
basketball team.
Ringette team looking
to move up
Grace Protopapas spoke to
Carleton’s ringette team about
their goals for the future.
charlatan.ca
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