Saturday night alright for fightin - Archived Student Publications from

Transcription

Focus:
NEW BEGINNINGS
Pages 5 - 17
Snowboard enthusiasts
hit the streets of Halifax
at Urban Butter
Showcase. Page 3.
Gifts, talents send
poor Zimbabwean
kids to school.
Page 6.
DJ Kid Koala filled
Marquee Club to
brim Saturday
night. Page 20.
ee
fr
Halifax commoner
published by the university of king’s college school of journalism
H
friday, January 18, 2008
Saturday night alright for fightin’
Mixed martial
arts fighting
grows in
popularity
“I would argue that standing a
fighter up for an eight-count round
after round is where the real damage
is going to occur.”
One of the big differences between the two sports, he believes, is
the submission techniques that play a
prominent role in mixed martial arts.
Fighters can “tap out” if they find
themselves in an inescapable pin or
about to lose consciousness.
“I’ve seen fights end without anyone being hurt in any way,” Covey
says. “Just make your opponent say
‘uncle’ and you win.”
By RICHARD NORMAN
Shayne Daley thuds head-first
into the mat in a brutal body slam.
The crowd cheers. Daley’s opponent,
Chris Currie, pumps his fist in the air
as the fight is stopped.
The crowd goes quiet; Daley isn’t
moving.
Doctors race into the cage. A spinal board is brought out and Daley is
wheeled away on a gurney.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” says the
MC, “we’re just going to take a fiveminute break for the next ambulance
to arrive.”
So it started at New Year’s Restitution, last Saturday’s mixed martial
arts fight at the Halifax Forum. The
controversial sport—a combination
of ruthless fighting styles—has been
staged half-a-dozen times in the nearly two years since it was sanctioned by
the Nova Scotia Boxing Authority.
The first event, Extreme Cage
Combat 1, in April 2006, drew a
rare sell-out crowd to the Forum
and inspired much hand-wringing
from editorialists and sports columnists who called mixed martial arts
“human cockfighting.”
Since then, as the sport’s popularity has grown, controversy in Nova
Scotia appears to have died down or
at least switched focus to unsanctioned fighting. Last month Corben
Matthew MacDonald, 24, of Dartmouth, was charged with 42 counts of
allegedly organizing street fights.
“. . . standing a fighter up
for an eight-count round
after round is where the
real damage is going to
occur.”
- Darren Covey
MARTIAL ARTS TRAINEE
Richard Norman
Vartan Pour Nick and Peter McGrath face off in one of the night’s early bouts.
Although some tried half-heartedly to connect MacDonald’s productions with the rise of mixed martial
arts, proponents of the sport were
quick to explain the differences.
“Mindless brawls” are very different than mixed martial sports, Peter
Martell, a mixed martial arts event
promoter, said in an interview with
The Daily News last month.
“Mixed martial arts is a legitimate
sport with highly trained athletes and
is highly regulated,” he said. Although
Daley’s injury last Saturday appeared
serious, proponents of the sport stress
it is generally safe and argue strongly
Page Editor/Layout: Denis Calnan
in its favour.
Darren Covey, a computer programmer by day who trains in two
mixed martial arts disciplines—Muay
Thai and Brazilian ju jitsu—at a Dartmouth gym, says people who believe
boxing is safer than mixed martial
arts are wrong.
Whether people agree with
Covey’s assessment or not, the sport
is growing in Nova Scotia.
“Within 18 months of the first
mixed martial arts event being legalized and with only a few resources,
the Nova Scotia scene has produced
a number of elite national level competitors,” says Jordan Breen, a Halifax
student and leading commentator
for Sherdog.com, the sport’s largest
online community.
“Things have come a tremendous
way in a short amount of time,”
Attendance at fights is impressive,
with Adam Richardson, a sports reporter for The Daily News, calculating
the average turnout at around 3,000
people—second only to Mooseheads
hockey games.
Although critics seem to have
please see FIGHT Page 2
page 2 news
the halifax commoner Friday, January 18, 2008
Fight
fight continued from page 1
given up on their crusade against
mixed martial arts in Nova Scotia—last Saturday’s event didn’t even
warrant a mention in The Chronicle
Herald, for example—others involved
in the martial arts scene are still
ambivalent about the sport’s rise.
Ross Burns was inside the cage
twice during last Saturday’s event at
the Forum—but as a capoeria performer not as a fighter. Capoeria, a
traditional Brazilian combination of
dance and martial arts, puts an emphasis on fluid feints over the physical grappling and guillotine chokes of
mixed martial arts, says Burns.
Restitution
promoter
Scott
MacLean invited members of Halifax’s Pernam Buldao Dance Studio
to demonstrate their sport at the beginning of the fight card and at the
intermission.
“I probably wouldn’t go as a spectator,” Burns says, “but I did see interesting things last Saturday. I can understand why people like it and how
the visceral aspect appeals to people.
“Still, we looked at the event as an
opportunity to get some exposure for
a different kind of martial arts—one
with less emphasis on violence.”
[email protected]
Richard Norman
About 3,000 people packed The Forum for New Year’s Restitution.
EDITORIAL
New beginnings
It’s January and the gym is packed
with fresh faces trying to burn off
that second-helping of grandma’s
stuffing and those extra few rum and
eggnogs.
For the most part, these are
fleeting resolutioners. They’ve invested in exercise until about February or March. Right about the time
Lululemon’s new VitaFish line – formulated to release omega-3 into the
skin – starts distracting the wannabe
exercise gurus.
But, despite the short-lived nature of their regimes, resolutioners
are trying to make 2008 better than
2007. And that’s more than we can say
about some other facets of life.
Maybe it’s time Halifax started
thinking about its own New Year’s
resolutions. If 2007 was the year Celine Dion refused to play here, 2008
should be the year Halifax resolves
to bring in more diverse, big-name
acts. Maybe even ones that reflect its
university-aged demographic, such as
Sufjan Stevens or Daft Punk.
Even Halifax Harbour could stand
to go on a diet – a sewage-free one. In
November 2007, the city began operating one of three sewage-treatment
plants, two years behind original
projections. Halifax Regional Municipality promised all three would
be running by this summer. Let’s stop
feeding the harbour pollution and get
these plans on track.
Last year, Halifax also saw a lot
of youth-related violence. In August
alone, three girls beat a senior with
metal table legs in the Commons
and a boy stabbed a security guard
at a dance. And while Mayor Peter
Kelly held round-table discussions
on violence throughout 2007, maybe
in 2008 the municipality can resolve
to actually do something. More
youth programs and free after-school
activities might be a start.
Halifax could look to Nova Scotia for inspiration. The province has
already set its own resolutions. By
April, people won’t be allowed to use
hand-held cell phones while driving.
And Premier Rodney MacDonald has
taken on his own personal resolution:
getting David Letterman to visit Nova
Scotia, one tempting fiddle solo at a
time.
In this week’s Commoner, we look
at “new beginnings” in a wider context: What do new beginnings mean
for immigrants to Halifax? Will the
bar scene have its own new beginning
after the near riot at The Dome on
Christmas Eve? What will the 2008
municipal election mean for Halifax’s
leadership?
Even I know my renewed interest
in the gym probably won’t last long.
So maybe we Haligonians can re-focus some of our energy away from
diet fads and temporary exercise
regimes to improving the city we live
- Sarah Towle
[email protected]
the halifax commoner Vol. 10 #6
The Halifax Commoner is published 10 times a year – five weeks in
October/November and five weeks in January/February.
It is written and edited by students at the Newspaper Workshop at
The School of Journalism, University of King’s College,
Halifax, N.S., B3H 2A1. Phone (902) 422-1271 (ext. 143) Fax (902)
423-3357.
We invite your feedback. Please drop us an e-mail at
[email protected]
Issue Editor Sarah towle
assignment editor erin fitzgerald
Photo Editors/STREETLEVEL
Allison macneil | Mairin Prentiss
Faculty advisors and instructors:
Dean Jobb Reporting/writing/editing
Kate Ross Production/Design
MichaEl Creagen Photos
H Printed by Acadie Presse, Caraquet, NB H
coming soon
the commoner online
blogs.ukings.ca/commoner
Page Editor/Layout: Denis Calnan
news page 3
NEWS
Extreme
winter riding
hits Halifax
By COLLEEN COSGROVE
A crowd of colourfully dressed
snowboard enthusiasts came to
Halifax’s Granville Street Saturday to
support the city’s first Urban Butter
Showcase.
The event transformed the street
into a haven for 80 Maritime snowboarders to show off their skills and
win prizes.
Construction of the snowy halfpipe and surrounding stage rivaled the
area’s tallest buildings and blocked the
street for three days prior to the event.
The showcase was the first
of its kind for Halifax and its
local snowboarding community.
“The name comes from the
urban location and to win this
event the riders have to be really smooth,” says Dwayne Schofield, the man behind the idea.
Previously a snowboarding coach
for Canada’s national development
team, Schofield left that gig to create
Urban Butter. He said he’s seen similar events and immediately thought it
was something Halifax should host.
Justin Smith, a commercial surfing gear representative in Nova Scotia for Dakine and Ripcurl, was part
of the behind-the-scenes team.
He said the event was a good way
to get the snowboarding community
out together throughout the year.
“We have premiere snowboarders coming out of this city … the
location could not be any sicker.”
Smith said the event was originally planned for Argyle Street, but organizers ended up choosing Granville
after a slew of permit issues arose.
The Urban Butter team judged
competitors on their cleanest two out
of three rides. Competitors were also
scored according to the level of difficulty of the jump. The top 20 moved
into the finals and followed the same
format.
Jason Cohanim of Halifax didn’t
advance to the finals, but was impressed with the amount of work
the Urban Butter team put into the
event.
“It’s pretty sick they can get all
of these skiers and snowboarders in
here to throw down,” said Cohanim.
ColLeen Cosgrove
Snowboarders showcased their soaring skills on Granville Street last Satuday.
“And they are throwing down … the
finals will be something to see.”
A few businesses on the street
took part in the event and were happy to see the large and enthusiastic
crowd. Sam’s Cappuccino expanded
to the street, selling barbecued
hotdogs and hamburgers.
Tony Faddoal helped barbecue
and said he was impressed with the
large half-pipe and the number of
snowboarders competing.
“I’ve only seen this on television
… What a generous man,” Faddoal
said of Schofield’s decision to allow
spectators to watch the event for
free.
Schofield and the Urban Butter
team ended up losing money on the
event. Hidden costs, extra snow and
non-paying spectators all added up.
Due to the mild weather, three
times the amount of snow originally
needed had to be hauled in from
Martock Ski Resort on Saturday
morning.
But Schofield said money wasn’t
the point.
He’s organizing another event for next month’s East
Coast Music Awards in Fredericton and plans to continue traveling
and hosting Urban Butter events.
“It wasn’t intentional (to lose
money), but it’s a learning thing,” said
Schofield. “Right now we’re just concentrating on making this event go
off without a hitch and getting people
excited about our next appearance.”
[email protected]
Oxycontin victims
looking for payback
By JAY HEISLER
More than 80 Nova Scotia residents have added their names to a
growing list of Canadians suing pharmaceutical giant Purdue Pharma for
allegedly failing to warn them about
the risks of addiction to the painkiller
Oxycontin.
Six Nova Scotians have signed
on to the class action suit within the
past month, bringing the total number of litigants being represented
by the Halifax law firm Wagner &
Associates to 170.
The lawsuit accuses Purdue of
misleading physicians about the drug
– used mainly to treat cancer patients
– by claiming it is less addictive than
other opiates if prescribed in low
doses, says the group’s lawyer, Ray
Wagner.
The steady rise in the number of
plaintiffs was expected, he added in
an interview, due to the damage the
drug has caused.
“Some people got into a very bad
situation after taking the drug for a
long time,” said Wagner. “People have
lost their jobs, their homes and their
families.”
Purdue, he pointed out, maintained the drug had a low risk of
addiction until May 2007, when the
company pled guilty to criminal
charges of misleading the public and
was forced to pay $634 million in Virginia. The company had sales of $4
billion in 2002.
“We can’t comment on any legal
matters,” said Randy Steffan, director of corporate affairs for Purdue
Pharma Canada, adding that “the
company will vigourously defend
itself against the claims.”
The lawsuit seeks general damages, special damages to cover medical costs and punitive damages, but
no dollar figure has been attached to
the claim.
The suit was launched last September and refiled last month to add
further accusations against Purdue.
Wagner & Associates has partnered
with two Ontario law firms, which
filed similar suits in that province last
summer, to pursue the revised claim.
The U.S. Food and Drug
Page Editor/Layout: Andrew Robinson
Jay Heisler
A class action lawsuit targets the makers of Oxycontin.
Administration approved Oxycontin
in 1995 and Health Canada gave its
approval the following year. It has
become a widely-used street drug,
known as “hillbilly heroin.”
In Cape Breton, which was severely shaken by a wave of Oxycontin
addiction, dispensing of the drug has
dropped dramatically. The Cape Breton Post reports that roughly seven
million milligrams were prescribed
in 2007, down from 14.8 million mg
in 2004.
Health Canada’s website notes
that previous painkillers contained
2.5 to 10 mg of the opiate oxycodone.
Oxycontin pills contain up to 80 mg
of oxycodone.
[email protected]
page 4 news
the halifax commoner Friday, january 18, 2008
Nova Scotia goes public for green ideas
Province aims for one of most sustainable environments by 2020
By Kate Churchill-Smith
In a bid to make Nova Scotia
one of the world’s cleanest environments, the provincial government has a valuable resource at
their fingertips: dozens of public
submissions.
“I think it will take a real diversity of opinion because that’s
the nature of this energy puzzle,”
says Matt Lumley, communications advisor with the Nova Scotia
Department of Energy.
Last Friday was the deadline for
written submissions the province
will use when renewing its energy
strategy and climate change action
plan. The strategy is intended to
help Nova Scotia become one of
the most sustainable environments
by 2020, as outlined in the Environmental Goals and Sustainable
Prosperity Act passed in the spring
of 2007.
“We’ve hit a real threshold
of awareness in the last year,” he
says. Whether it’s a combination
of strange weather, awareness of
the science, or Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth, many
events have conspired to bring the
environment into everyone’s radar,
Lumley said. “I think that makes
this process meaningful.”
The province received more
than 60 submissions from a variety of sources: energy companies,
environmental watchdogs and
engineers, to name a few.
All the submissions will be
read; however, the content, practicality and technical expertise
varies. “Some options are real, and
some aren’t actually that possible,”
Lumley said.
A new energy strategy will
mean different things for businesses, and many state their cases in the
submissions.
For example, the Seafood Producers Association of Nova Scotia
expressed concern over the province’s priorities; it’s worried gas and
oil royalties are going to overshadow protection of oceans and the
fisheries.
The Maritime Tidal Energy
Corporation encouraged targets
involving tidal power, and reports
that the province “has a tidal energy
resource second to none in North
America.”
Other submissions came from
individuals who suggested a variety
of modifications such as more bike
lanes, rail transportation and the
protection of agricultural land from
development.
The 2020 goal is challenging.
“Nova Scotia is in a difficult place
because we’re primarily coal-fired
electricity,” Lumley said, compared
to many other provinces that are
fortunate enough to have cleaner
energy sources such as hydro.
“A lot of this is about energy
security,” he said, and “we need to
have new green sources: wind, tidal,
solar and bio-mass.”
The Ecology Action Centre
contributed a lengthy and precise
submission, with specific targets. It
wants to see greenhouse gas emissions reduced in a way that elicits
public support and is fair to all income groups, said Brendan Haley,
energy co-ordinator at the centre.
“There’s a sense of urgency in
getting this out and moving towards action,” said Haley, who is
concerned that prolonged planning
will put off actual implementation.
“We’ve had numerous international, national and provincial
climate change targets that have
been promised and not been met,”
he said. That’s why the centre
emphasizes regulations in their
submission.
“We’ve had two decades of
voluntary targets and that doesn’t
work.”
In its submission, the centre
suggested taking a “small baby-step
towards putting a price on carbon.” It would like to see a $3 tax
per tonne like in Quebec. Though
Lumley said it requires a larger
tax of $20 to $50 a tonne to curb
carbon use, a small tax would still
have benefits and “could provide
immediate funding for sustainable
transportation,
and
energy
efficiency in our province.”
Quebec is the only province to
have a carbon tax, though British
Columbia is considering it.
The energy strategy and climate
change plan will incorporate the
submissions as well as information
gleaned from public workshops that
occurred in December. An internal
team will work on it for release this
spring.
“The pieces are all there,” said
Haley. “What is required is political
leadership to take us towards that
future.”
[email protected]
250
QUEBEC (89)
SASKATCHEWAN (71)
bRITISH COLUMBIA(66)
nova scotia (23)
new Brunswick (21)
manitoba (20)
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND (2)
50
YUKON (0.5)
100
NWT/ NUNAVUT (2)
150
Newfoundland /LABrador (10)
200
albERTA (233)
ontARIO (201)
Nova Scotia pledges to reduce greenhouse gases, but the rest of Canada has work to do, too.
0
Statistics from Environment Canada
* carbon dioxide emissions per 1,000 metric tonnes
Page Editor/Layout: sarah towle
the halifax commoner Friday, JANUARY 18, 2008
FOCUS: New Beginnings
The race is on...
Fougere aims for top job
By ANNEKE FOSTER
Halifax doesn’t need a new beginning, just a kick-start says city
councillor, Sheila Fougere.
It’s only been three months since
Fougere announced her candidacy for
mayor of Halifax in the 2008 election
and already, she’s tired of planning.
“We have gone through a period,
I’ll call it, ‘the planning period.’ We
have some fantastic plans and they
have all transpired in the last several
years. We have a cultural plan, we have
an immigration plan, we have community plans, we have an economic
strategy. Enough with the plans ... We
need to do something with the plans
we’ve already got.”
Not that she’s disillusioned. Fougere has spent the past 10 years as a
councillor representing District 14,
Connaught – Quinpool. And even
though a political career isn’t something she initially imagined for herself, she believes in heeding the call
to greater service.
“I never thought I’d be doing this
in a million years. It’s not something
I got into because I wanted to be in
politics … I decided that if you don’t
like the way things are you have to do
something about it. And I ran.” This time she’s running to promote
the plans she’s aided and developed
in council. A sensitive balance, she
says, between preserving the old and
embracing the new.
“We’re at the stage now where
things are starting to be a little worn
at the edges. We need a boost. We
need a lift to get to that next level.
This is a great place and it’s one of
these places that people don’t want it
to change but they want it to be better.
They want it to be a lot better and I
think it can be a lot better.”
“We’re surviving, not
thriving. The city needs
to grow up a bit. Keeping all the charm and
delight that it has and
all the good things that
it has but maturing and I
think, that’s what we’re
not seeing. The city’s
not maturing at the rate
that it can and should.”
-Sheila Fougere
city councillor
Fougere is the antithesis of the
typical politician. Perhaps due to
the diversity of her background as
a school planner, soccer coach and
two-time marathoner or more likely,
because she’s lived in Halifax for 50
Sheila Fougere, HRM councillor and candidate for mayor, is officially busy.
Page Editor/Layout: Matt Sheffield
years and understands the intricacies
of the municipality.
Fougere says the role of Halifax’s
mayor is often confused. People expect the mayor to single-handedly
effect great change, as Rudy Giuliani
did in New York City. Halifax’s government however, isn’t designed that
way.
“It is a system where the mayor’s
responsibility is to chair the meetings
and to be the collective spokesperson
for council. They’re one vote on council … The person at the top doesn’t
have the right of veto, they don’t have
the opportunity to tell everybody
else what to do, like they do in the
American system of government.”
Still, Fougere feels she knows how
to govern effectively within these
confines.
“The power that you have is the
influence that you have over people
and your ability to get people to work
together towards common vision.
And right now we don’t have that
kind of leadership. We don’t have a
team builder, a team player.”
Anneke Foster
page 5
In 2004, Fougere ran in the federal election against Alexa McDonough
and lost by 1,100 votes. Although
Fougere is proud of coming so close,
she’s thankful to have stayed in
municipal politics.
Fougere is interested in participatory government. Putting herself on
the same level as the residents, she
serves and actively looking for ways
to improve and sustain Halifax. She
emphasizes pragmatism and doesn’t
make promises.
Fougere is focused, however.
She’s invested herself in the initiatives she stands behind, proving her
consideration and realism.
“I never thought I’d be
doing this in a million
years.”
-Sheila Fougere
In many ways, Fougere is the
quintessential neighbour: a mother
who frequently walks to work, participates in committees and coalitions
and still points out her bike-cop husband, Joe Fougere, on the street and
says, “there goes my hubby.”
For Fougere, politics has never
been about “fame and fortune.” She
doesn’t showboat or show up for
events just to be noticed. She works
dutifully at the details, improving
infrastructure long-term and not just
temporary fixes, she says.
“We’re surviving, not thriving,”
says Fougere. “The city needs to grow
up a bit. Keeping all the charm and
delight that it has and all the good
things that it has but maturing and
I think, that’s what we’re not seeing.
The city’s not maturing at the rate
that it can and should.”
One of Fougere’s greatest passions, bikeways, has seen considerable
improvement under her leadership.
Instead of “just painting a bunch of
white lines on the street” Fougere has
studied bike policy and prides herself
on making important, albeit slightly
under-the-radar improvements that
will make development more sustainable. Bike infrastructure is now
on the map, and subsequently, now a
factor in city development.
“We want to improve, we want
people who immigrate here to stay
here, we want public art and a cultural life that’s not scraping every
time for a dollar. We want … our
downtown to be vibrant, get rid of
some of those ugly vacant lots that
are there, build beautiful buildings
on them. We want to have things going on all the time. We want the place
to be clean and safe and easy to get
around,” Fougere says.
“And, I think we can do that.
We’ve got the potential and I don’t
think it’s far away.”
[email protected]
page 6 New Beginnings
Student, 18, seeks
office as mayor
By ANNEKE FOSTER
He’s a first-year journalism student who lives in residence and now
he’s running for mayor of the Halifax
Regional Municipality.
Eighteen-year-old Chad Bowie
has officially announced his intention
to run in the 2008 election provided
his Cochran Bay room at the University of King’s College will count as
the official HRM address he needs to
become a candidate.
Bowie, originally from Antigonish, believes his inexperience, as well
as his permanent residence has become a barrier preventing him from
officially entering the race.
“I really don’t think my candidacy
– my potential candidacy – is being
taken serious enough by city hall.”
Still, he’s running with purpose,
even if it’s not the purpose most
voters would expect.
His bid for office is “more of an
example to show that youth can affect
the democratic process.” He’s frustrated by low voter turnout in youth.
“To me, that’s really a sin. It’s almost a
social experiment in a way. If a young
person runs, will they vote?”
While 30 per cent of Halifax’s
population is under 24, Bowie doesn’t
know if a record turnout in youth
voters would even benefit his
campaign.
“I’d like to see just if my candidacy
will influence the number of voters at
all and in what demographic.”
As for issues, Bowie has yet to put
together a campaign platform but his
main concerns are the environment
and keeping Halifax young.
“It really is a beautiful city but
there’s a lot of work that needs to be
done when it comes to preserving it
… We need something to offer young
people that will make them want to
stay in Halifax … there’s a lot that can
be done at the municipal level that
will encourage people to stay here.
We have a young city. Let’s keep it
that way.”
While Bowie doesn’t know what
these offerings could be, he does
suggest a developed waterfront, and
increased job opportunities would
help.
“There’s been a lot of talk on development on the waterfront and …
a development like this, which could
employ potentially hundreds and,
they’re going to be looking for young
people. They’re not going to hire
seniors to do these jobs.”
Bowie is expecting an answer
within the next week about whether
ANNEKE FOSTER
Bowie hopes to encourage youth vote in the 2008 election.
his address will be approved. And
though he’s optimistic, he remains
realistic about his goals.
“A victory for me wouldn’t necessarily be a win. A victory for me would
be if I can get the mainstream candidates to talk about my issues… that
would show that I made a difference.
Somehow, [I] influenced the race.”
Bowie’s political experience is
limited to interest, though he did
serve as a legislative page last fall. He’s
only been to one council meeting and
he doesn’t know what he’ll do about
school if he’s elected, but Bowie does
know one thing.
“I just want to shake things up.”
[email protected]
Ending poverty through education
By KATIE KIRKHAM
“I didn’t have any shoes, but my
dad could pay our school fees,” says
Shelly Muchayi, director of a Halifax
based organization called Runyararo
Zimbabwe Children Charity.
The main focus of the charity is to
educate. Many Zimbabwean families
cannot afford to send their children
to school because of the rising cost of
tuition fees and school supplies.
The money raised by the charity goes to disadvantaged children in
grades one to seven, to cover the cost
of basic education. This includes, tuition fees for one year, two textbooks
(math and English), and school
supplies. It costs $35 a year to
“Every day (songs) come
to my head. I don’t know
where they come from,
but they come.”
-Shelly Muchayi
Director, Runyararo Zimbabwe
Children Charity
KATIE KIRKHAM
Shelly Muchayi sings to raise money for her organization.
educate one child.
Zimbabwe is a landlocked South
African country. President Robert
Mugabe has been in power since the
country achieved independence in
1980. Under Mugabe’s rule Zimbabwe has suffered political turmoil and
economic crisis.
Growing up in Harare, the capital,
Muchayi saw the desperation caused
Page Editor/Layout: allison Macneil
by poverty. She saw many families unable to afford basic necessities. These
memories are one of the reasons she
decided to create this charity.
Muchayi’s belief that education
can break the cycle of poverty, and
possibly lead to a more peaceful existence is the motivation behind the
charity, but it is her many talents
that has raised much needed money
to send the children to school. She
makes jewelery, composes and writes
music and is working on several
books.
She always carries a recorder with
her, so when a song comes to mind
she can record it.
“Every day (songs) come to my
head. I don’t know where they come
from, but they come.” So far, she has
released two CDs and one single.
Her single, “Mama Africa,” talks
about the conflicts that exist within
Africa. It urges Africans to love and
find a higher place where peace can
exist. Her first CD, Ishe Makatipa
Zimbabwe, was released in 2006. Her
second, Yahweh, was released in
2007.
Last year Muchayi was able to
send 20 Zimbabwean children to
school. This year the organization will send another 80. Ernest
Muchayi, her brother-in-law and the
assistant director of the charity, still
lives in Harare. He has been able to
meet some of the children who were
sponsored last year. The children
“get very excited,” when they find out
they will be able to go to school.
Shelly Muchayi sets up a table
every Saturday at the Farmers Market on Lower Water Street to sell her
jewelery, crocheted hats and CDs. All
proceeds go to the charity.
On Jan. 27 Muchayi will return to
Zimbabwe for five weeks. The main
focus of the trip is to see her mother
and other relatives she has not seen
in 15 years. She will also meet with
the headmasters of schools to donate
scholarships funds and spend some
time recording traditional African
music.
For more information on the Runyararo Zimbabwe Children Charity, you can go to their website at
www.runyararozimbabwecharity.org.
[email protected]
Zimbabwe at a glance
• Life expectancy - 39.5 years
• Population – 12,311,143
• People living with HIV/AIDs
1.8 million
• Independence - April 1980
• Unemployment rate 80 per cent
• Population below poverty
line - 68 per cent
SOURCE: CIA WORLD FACT BOOK
New Beginnings page 7
Learning Kitchen serves up a fresh start
By ERIN FITZGERALD
Two weeks ago there was nothing to wake up to. His days were
filled with hours in front of the television, anticipation creeping in only
when he would leave the house to
buy groceries.
Brian David Johnson has just
marked a year of sobriety, but the
challenge of getting back into the
job market was glaring.
“It was depressing, it was boring
and bad on my self esteem. I wasn’t
feeling good about myself,” the 52year-old says. It turned around when
his counsellor referred him to a Feed
Nova Scotia training program called
The Learning Kitchen.
The program was started in October 2005 and classes are open to
adults recommended through mental health centres, food banks and social services. Students attend classes
for 14 weeks at the Nova Scotia Hospital in Dartmouth to learn culinary
and life skills. Two weeks are spent
at a work placement, allowing students to gain work experience and
possibly a job following graduation.
There are only two other programs like it in Canada, one in
Vancouver and the other in
Toronto.
Thirty-two graduates have completed the program in Nova Scotia
since its inception and some are
working in kitchens in local hotels,
restaurants and retirement homes.
Students graduate with nationally recognized certification in food
handling, customer service, tourism
and first aid.
The program’s creator, Dianne
Swinemar, executive director of
Feed Nova Scotia, recently received
a call from a graduate who completed the first cycle of classes and is
now working.
“She called to say thanks and
to let us know that she didn’t need
to use the food bank anymore,”
she says. This is the goal of the
program.
However, success is relative depending on the individuals in each
class, Swinemar says.
“The group that graduated in
August is 100 per cent employed,
but some people are still working on
other things,” she says. “Success for
one of our graduates meant going
to a job interview. People are coming to this course with different and
varied barriers.”
Three women and four men, including Johnson, gather in a small
classroom on Monday morning in
the bowels of the hospital’s basement. Four wooden tables are set up
in a square topped with measuring
cups, spoons and a scale. The teacher, dressed in a chef ’s shirt and black
pants, is talking about converting a
soup recipe to a higher yield.
Chef Busch Dubay, the culinary
instructor, spends his mornings
teaching students about proper food
handling, sanitation techniques and
recipe conversions.
In February the class will start
practical training in the hospital’s
industrial-size kitchen to prepare
140 meals per day. These will be
distributed to a Dartmouth soup
kitchen and the remainder will be
delivered to patients on site.
Dubay sees the program as a
win-win situation. “We are giving
them some inspiration that what
they’re learning here is something
the industry is looking for,” he says.
“This is a viable venture to fill the
shortage we are having of cooks in
the workplace.”
Project manager Krista Christie
leads the life-skills portion of the
class in the afternoon. She teaches
lessons on stress management, self
esteem and resume writing. “These
soft skills are necessary in order
for students to maintain a job,” she
says.
Student Stan Martin, 46, is a
recovering addict. He was sober for
nine years until he began feeling
depressed and relapsed. Feb. 1 will
mark his third month of sobriety.
He was in rehabilitation when he
heard about the program.
“I want a job that will get me off
of disability,” he says. “All I used to
do was work and take my money
and spend it on drinking or drugs.
Social services is no way of living.
I am grateful it was there to help me,
but you can’t live on it.”
It is this cycle that Feed Nova
Scotia is trying to break through by
offering The Learning Kitchen.
erin fitzgerald
Chef Busch Dubay teaches students how to convert recipe measurements.
project manager. Each student is paid
a stipend of $150 a month to cover
transportation and childcare costs.
Swinemar created the program
“Social services is no way of living. I am grateful it
was there to help me, but you can’t live on it.”
- Stan Martin
Student
Each month more than 40,000
Nova Scotians rely on their local
food banks and shelters and 62 per
cent of food bank recipients are
individuals already living on income assistance, Feed Nova Scotia
estimates.
“As long as we are passing out
bags of groceries we’re just meeting
immediate need over and over again.
We are not changing the long-term
solutions” says Swinemar.
She is unsure of the exact cost of
each Learning Kitchen cycle, but estimates the program receives $300,000
in-kind donations from the Nova
Scotia Hospital, including classroom
and kitchen space. Proceeds also
come from the Department of Community Services in order to pay for the
curriculum, a chef instructor and a
with the realization that people want
to work, but can’t get into college
because they don’t have the skill level
or educational requirements.
“Graduates may or may not want
to work in the food services industry, but it is a routine and the life
skills component is a practical one,”
Swinemar says. “It’s really about
getting people to take the first step.”
Johnson is hoping his training
will allow him to find a job so he
can stop collecting Canada Pension
disability cheques.
“I am keeping a real open mind
and not limiting myself to anything,”
Johnson says. “I know I have time
on my side. “
[email protected]
Page Editor/Layout: katherine barton
Feed Nova Scotia Fast Facts
• Of those who used food banks in Nova Scotia in 2006, 62 per
cent received social assistance, 9.4 per cent represented the working
poor, 13.3 per cent received disability support.
• Children represent about 1/3 of those using food banks in
Nova Scotia.
• Feed Nova Scotia distributes food to a network of
approximately 150 member agencies province-wide.
• In 2006-07 Feed Nova Scotia distributed 2.2 million kilograms
of food to hungry people throughout Nova Scotia. The food was
valued at $16.6 million.
• A fleet of nine delivery vehicles traveled 341,864 kilometres in 2006-07, equivalent to driving around the earth more than
eight times.
Source: www.feednovascotia.ca
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Wednesdays at 5 p.m.
Tune in to 88.1 FM
Halifax’s long-term shelters give
women, children second chance
By Janet Shulist
Joanne Bernard reached a
turning point three years ago when a
domestic abuse victim and her three
young children sat in her office at
Alice Housing.
“I had a young mother with
three boys under the age of six, and
her three-year-old son was in her
arms,” she said. “She wasn’t paying
attention to him because she was
speaking to me, and he turned
around and slapped her across the
face and called her a fucking bitch.”
That incident was enough for
Bernard to develop a program
to help children cope with being
exposed to domestic abuse.
“That day I knew we had a duty
to do something for these women.”
Bernard is executive director
of Alice Housing, which has been
providing safe housing and support
for women and children leaving
domestic abuse for 25 years.
It offers second- and third-stage
housing—longer-term housing that
is generally provided after a six-week
to the point for some women that
it becomes lethal—there’s a high
risk for death,” Eeler says. “They
will come to the shelter when they
realize how serious it’s getting.”
Along with a place to stay,
Bryony House provides counselling
and in-house programs for women
and children and will also help
families find safe, affordable housing,
legal assistance and support.
Alice Housing is the only
second-stage housing facility in the
city. It’s also the only third-stage
housing facility in the country—a
program established in 2005.
The organization provides 19
units with affordable rent in five
anonymous locations within the
city.
Women can stay at second-stage
locations with their children for two
years and third-stage housing for up
to four.
Bernard says the women who
come to the facility are generally
high-risk, meaning they are at risk of
lethal abuse from their partner.
“That day I knew we had a duty to do something for
these children.”
- Joanne Bernard
Alice Housing executive director
stay at a shelter, Bernard says.
For many women and children
living with domestic violence,
shelters and transition houses
like Alice Housing provide a new
beginning.
Laurie Eeler is the executive
director at Bryony House, an
emergency shelter located in the
Halifax Regional Municipality that
has been around for 30 years. The
exact location of the shelter remains
anonymous, to help protect the
women and children staying there.
Bryony House has 24 beds—
along with six cribs—and allows
women and their children to stay
“Each unit is individually
alarmed,” she says. “Women are
given strict instructions when they
come to Alice Housing and they
must agree to not disclose where
they are living.”
Along with not disclosing their
address, the organization has a strict
policy that prohibits men from
being on its properties—a standard
for second-stage housing across
Canada, Bernard says.
She says the organization has
three third-stage housing units—
similar to traditional tenancies.
These units aren’t alarmed and
men are allowed on the properties.
“Most of these women have some family origin of
abuse and they grow up and they don’t know any
different.”
for up to six weeks and, in certain
instances, longer.
It is one of three emergency
shelters in the city.
Women arrive at the shelter to
escape violence—whether sexual,
physical or verbal—they experience
at home.
“A lot of times the violence gets
Workshops are optional for
women in third-stage housing, but
mandatory
for
second-stage
housing.
“When women come here, there
are two criteria that they must agree
to,” she says. “They must attend
counselling and must attend the
workshops.”
Joanne Bernard’s program at Alice Housing is unique in Canada.
There are two counselling
programs: one for women, and more
recently, one for children.
“Most of these women have
some family origin of abuse and they
grow up and they don’t know any
different,” she says. “One of the big
things with the children’s program is
stopping that cycle.”
As well, women are expected
to attend monthly workshops on
self-esteem, healthy parenting,
healthy cooking and women’s abuse
education.
“The counsellors and myself
are tremendous proponents of
education for women. Get yourself
educated, because it will help you in
Page Editor/Layout: Mark burgess
the long run.”
Eighty-three per cent of women
who leave the facility in their first
year will not go into an abusive
relationship, Bernard says.
“The national average is 69 per
cent,” she says.
Alice Housing fundraises 45 per
cent of its operating costs, which
were $380,000 last year. A portion
of their funding comes from the
government and organizations like
United Way, Bernard says.
Women who leave second-stage
housing have more self-confidence,
can make long-term plans and often
decide to go back to school, Bernard
says.
Janet Shulist
She points to her bookshelf,
where colourful greeting cards sit.
“I’ve got a whole shelf of cards
from women who have moved on.”
Alice Housing has helped more
than 700 women with secondstage housing since 1983 and many
women go on to have healthy
relationships and successful careers.
“I just talked to a woman in
Moncton who lived with us for a year
and a half, who’s off welfare and in
a healthy relationship,” Bernard says.
“I said, ‘Are things going well?’
and she said, ‘Yes, because if it wasn’t,
I would leave.’”
Bernard smiles.
[email protected]
Halifax’s nightlife changing
New Beginnings Page 9
By MEAGAN ROBERTSON
If you stroll through Pizza Corner
late on a Saturday night, you would
normally expect to see couples kissing,
students laughing and people ordering
food – but now you’ll see at least six
police officers as well.
The Halifax nightlife scene has
changed a fair bit since the days of carrying your beer down Spring Garden
Road, stealthily hidden under your
jacket.
Since 38 people were arrested
after the brawl that took place at
The Dome in the early morning
on Christmas Eve, more security
measures have been put into place.
The bar, agreed to new terms to ensure
its doors could open again. But in doing so, they may have opened doors to
its patron’s discomfort.
The terms of its re-opening were
set out in its order of reinstatement,
with some major adjustments. The
most notable were rises in drink prices
from one dollar to $2.50, more staff on
hand and only being allowed to fill up
to 80 per cent capacity. But the most
substantial change has been the 64
surveillance cameras that can be monitored by police.
According to Const. Jeff Carr,
heightened security measures are not a
new trend in downtown Halifax.
There have been four full-time
beat cops on foot since the fall of 2006
and two more were put in place in the
spring of 2007.
Halifax Regional Police have been
pushing for a minimum set drink price
throughout the province for some time
now, because security measures can
only go so far.
“Our intent (with the extra security) is that eventually the ‘drunkenness’
will decrease, but first will obviously
lead to more arrests,” says Carr.
Adrian Molder, a 22-year-old student at the University of King’s College, has been living in Halifax for
four years. He is also head of the Early
Modern Studies Department Society
and head of the grad committee. Yet
based on his comments, police might
feel that he’s the type of guy they’re
after.
“Coming to Halifax, you hear all
about how great the nightlife is and I
was not disappointed, “ says Molder.
“There are drink deals every night
of the week and it makes the trip
downtown worth it.”
“It’s definitely much more student-friendly, or was,” says Molder.
“And not just with bar deals but when
you go downtown it’s easy to find
others who want to have a good time.”
Molder spent six months studying
in Salamanca, Spain and found there
were some essential differences that
Canadian authorities would never approve of but that seemed to work well
in that environment.
“The drinks are even cheaper than
in Halifax, you can drink in the streets,
Meagan Robertson
The face of Halifax nightlife is changing after the bar brawl on Christmas Eve.
people are crazier when they go out and
you can stay out until 8 a.m. People are
drinking and partying and just having
a good time in general.”
Yet Molder only saw one minor
fight during his stay.
Mallory Waterson, a Vancouver local who visited Halifax for the first time
last year, couldn’t believe the amount
of students downtown.
“It’s a really almost tight-knit community,” says Waterson, “all the stu-
dents seem to know one another and
be in the same age group.”
“Not that many young people can
go out every night in Vancouver, it’s
not nearly as affordable.”
Molder feels that this clamping
down of security is ruining Halifax’s
welcoming vibe.
“At times when you go out here
in Halifax you feel like you’re being
corralled like you’re an animal when
you’re in line. Or, when you go through
Pizza Corner and there’s four cop cars,
you almost feel like a criminal just
being there.”
Carr gave no indication that
Halifax will follow Spain’s lead.
“Eventually we would hope that
people going downtown will adjust
their behavior,” says Carr. “Right now
all problems stem from their drunken
and disorderly conduct.”
Last Saturday night, after getting a
call about a bar fight outside Rain, four
police cars with sirens blaring and all
six beat cops were on the scene within
minutes.
“Coming to Halifax, you
hear all about how great
the nightlife is and I was
not disappointed.“
-Adrian Molder
Meagan Robertson
New surveillance cameras have been installed downtown to be monitored by police.
Page Editor/Layout: Katie kirkham
after that?”
Molder also addressed Carr’s idea
of imposing a standard minimum
throughout the province. He feels it’s
not a fair solution to the problem; it’s
too general.
“You just can’t really compare the
vibe at a bar like The Dome to the
vibe at a bar like the Split Crow,” says
Molder, “even if they both offer cheap
drinks. One promotes short skirts and
dirty dancing while the other promotes
conversation and singing along with a
live band.”
Despite the ban on dollar drinks
at The Dome, the country-wide website, ClubVibes.com, still boasts dollar
drinks two days a week, and The Palace
still offers them on Wednesdays and
Sundays.
[email protected]
Student
Between the surveillance cameras,
the beat cops on foot and the quick
reaction times, Halifax student Genny
Whelan says, “you really feel the Big
Brother effect.”
Whelan doesn’t have Facebook
because she feels that it invades one’s
privacy, so the thought of being
watched while dancing and socializing
bothers her.
“It’s kind of gross to me,” says
Whelan, “I don’t feel that on a night
out and off from school I should be
scrutinized – where are the limitations
Meagan Robertson
Cubans find new fidelity to Canada
Recent immigrants praise benefits of
Canadian jobs, healthcare, education By MATT SHEFFIELD
Ignacio Piedrahita, 21, wakes up
at 5 a.m. He catches the No. 20 bus
from Spryfield to downtown Halifax
and cleans floors and empties garbage cans in the Ralston Building
from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. He goes home, eats lunch and
returns to life as a janitor from 5
p.m. until 10 p.m. He takes the bus
home and goes to bed by midnight.
Then he wakes up and does it all over
again.
That’s the schedule of an immigrant trying to get ahead. But you
won’t catch Piedrahita complaining
about a 65-hour work week. Before
moving to Canada in 2006, he made
550 Cuban pesos per week (about
$20).
There’s a difference between
working in Cuba and working in
Canada, he says. “Here, you make
money; there, you don’t make
money.”
Piedrahita’s father came to
Halifax in 1992. He married a Dartmouth woman and later started
sending papers to the Canadian embassy in Havana in hopes of bringing
his son here. “My father was looking for something different because
he wanted a future,” Piedrahita says.
“There is no future in Cuba.”
Raul Rodriguez, 42, came to
Canada for similar reasons. “Me and
my wife felt we had no opportunities.
We didn’t like how things are done in
Cuba … political things.”
After eight years of regulations
and red tape, the Cuban government
finally granted Rodriguez and his
15-year-old son permission to emigrate last March. His wife and eightyear-old daughter were left behind,
awaiting their papers, for another 40
days.
“That was a stressful time,” Rodriguez says. “We didn’t know how
long it would take.”
Rodriguez started looking for
work, any work, immediately. “My
first job was cleaning in the night
at the Halifax Shopping Centre …
the night shift,” he laughs, “the hard
way.”
In August, the Metro Immigrant
Settlement Association (MISA)
helped Rodriguez land an interview
with a company in his field, information technology. He’s been working
for Borderless Communications Inc.
ever since developing a program to
manage safety data.
Piedrahita also had some help
upon arrival. “MISA supported me
in everything you know, any situation I have, they would help me.”
The association set him up with four
months of English classes at Queen
Elizabeth High School followed by a
six-month work program at Pier 21,
the historic gateway to Canada. The
program, called Welcome Home to
Canada, gives immigrants experience
in the culture of Canadian work.
“When you are working here,
it is different than other countries,
especially Cuba. There,” Piedrahita
says, “if you go to the hospital, you
won’t get good service unless you
bring a present for the doctor … this
is the government’s fault. There is no
incentive to work hard.”
In Cuban socialism, Piedrahita
says, “good ideas transfer into bad
ideas.”
“If some Canadians say they love
Cuba, why don’t they go live in Cuba?
They should go and start living there
for just one week. When they get
their first paycheque, they will say
‘this is a big mistake in my life.’”
“It’s an example of a different
system,” Rodriguez says. “But is it
(Cuban socialism) good? Surely,
not. People only like it because it’s
different. This political system sucks.
I don’t know enough bad words in
English, but some Spanish words
come to mind.”
The education system is one of
the reasons Rodriguez and his wife
wanted out. “They expect students
to behave in a certain political way,”
he says. “That’s the only one that is
accepted there. If not, you won’t get
into a good school.”
Raul Rodriguez found a job in his field, IT
“Many Cubans talk of going back
someday, but not me. I never want
to go back, even though my mom is
there. I know how that sounds, but I
“I’m supposed to call him ‘Fidel’ like he is some sort
of close friend. He’s no friend of mine.”
-Raul Rodriguez
Cuban immigrant
“People are not free. In their
minds, they are slaves,” Rodriguez
says.
While he doesn’t want his son to
be materialistic, “I do want him to
know the value of money … in Cuba
they expect you to work for free or
‘voluntarily’ and that’s completely
false.”
Nor does Rodriguez buy into
President Fidel Castro’s personality cult. “I’m supposed to call him
‘Fidel’ like he is some sort of close
friend. He’s no friend of mine,”
Rodriguez scoffs.
don’t want to go back ever.”
Piedrahita misses his mom and
his girlfriend, Yaneisy, too much to
stay here permanently. He also misses the openness of the Cuban people.
“We dance and drink, not drink like
here because nobody has money,
but we enjoy dancing and drinking.
For example, the pig on the wood
and you put the stereo on maximum
volume and nobody cares.”
But it’s clear that Canada is home
now.
Here, Piedrahita says, it’s much
easier to get ahead. “First thing in
Matt Sheffield
Canada, study English. After you
learn English, start working hard.
Then go to university. If you can’t go
to university, find a college and take
a course. After that, you start doing
want you want … easy … that will
take you a little bit of time and sacrifice. In Cuba, you stay in the same
hole for 20 to 30 years.”
Rodriguez’s plans for the future
are “nothing special,” he says. “Work,
make a living, have my family not
lack a decent life. Things I couldn’t
think of in Cuba.”
Piedrahita is patient and committed to his long-term plan: he’ll
marry Yaneisy in April; then, in
three years, her immigration papers should come through. They’ll
have kids, and he’ll get certified as a
physiotherapist assistant.
“My dreams can be fulfilled
someday,” he says.
But, for now, it’s back to the mop
and bucket.
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streetLevel
Suman Jha
Student
Hugh McKervill
Writer
Daniel Taylor
Marquee Staff
Molly Shepley
Student
Kathryn Corrigan
Tutor
Clinton: American politics are really
messy but she knows how to regulate
and keep things calm … but without
a huge revolution nothings going to
happen in America.
Obama: He’s not part of the old establishment, while Clinton is. It’d just
be more of the same. All the same
old connections, little circles within
circles. On the whole racial issue it
would promote a greater sense of
participation of minorities.
Clinton: Because then my sister’s
boyfriend’s dad will get a new job.
Obama: I think the United States is
kind of sick of Bush-Clinton, BushClinton. I think Obama presents a
new face.
Obama: Very affable, likeable fellow.
I think people can connect with him.
He does what he does so effortlessly.
Page Editor/Layout: Mairin Prentiss
Eye on Cuba
A look at today’s political landscape
Professor and author John Kirk teaches a course in Cuban history.
Matt Sheffield
John Kirk, a Dalhousie professor, has written a number of books
on Cuba and has been traveling there
since 1976. “There’s been a change in
the last 18 months,” Kirk says. “Fidel
Castro is sidelined from power since
he gave control to his brother in July
of 2006.”
“In cultural terms, in economic
terms, under Raúl Castro the Cuban
government is trying to make the
country less corrupt, more efficient
and to allow people to earn more
money and to have things to spend
money on. Raúl Castro has basically
laid down the line and said, ‘we’ve got
to change … the traditional, paternalistic form of government no longer
cuts it.’” The younger generation has already started to take power. When
the Castro era ends, Kirk says, “I
suspect there will be a convention to
choose a new leader.”
partly depends on politics in the
United States. “In the short term, the
U.S. election won’t change relations,”
Kirk says. Common sense has never
been a U.S. policy toward Cuba.”
“The only candidate that is vaguely encouraging is Obama who said he
thinks Americans should be allowed
to travel to Cuba.”
Fidel Castro once described tourism as “a pact with the devil,” but
the sector has become central to the
economy providing over 300,000 jobs
in a country of less than 12 million
people.
“Cuba is neither hell nor paradise,” Kirk says. “Leftists tend to glorify it and right-wing hardliners say
it’s a diabolical hole.”
“It’s a third world developing society, which has had to reinvent itself,”
Kirk says. “It has major problems, but
so do we.”
“Cuba is neither hell nor
paradise. Leftists tend
to glorify it and rightwing hardliners say it’s a
diabolical hole.”
-John Kirk
Cuba at a glance
Matt Sheffield
Ignacio Piedrahita dreams of raising a family in Canada.
Dalhousie professor
Kirk points to three main candidates: Carlos Lage, 56, the vice
president; Felipe Pérez Roque, 42, the
foreign minister; and Ricardo Alarcón, 70, the president of the National
Assembly.
The future in Cuba, however,
[email protected]
Date of Revolution:
January 1, 1959
Population: 12 million
Acting President: Raúl Castro
GDP per capita: $4,100
After the fall of the Soviet Union
people began to emmigrate from
Cuba in greater numbers.
Who would you like to see as the next president of the U.S.?
Bill Wood
Writer
Timothy Blackwood
Model
Ron Paul: Because he believes in
freedom!
Obama: I think he’s pretty solid and
genuine. He put the united back in
the United States of America.
Kathleen Sinclair
Sunday Shopper
Obama: Because he matches up with
more of my beliefs.
Page Editor/Layout: MAirin Prentiss
Neil Patterson
Research Assistant
Obama: Because of his foreign policy
David Bannerman
Teacher at NSCC
Obama: Because the U.S. needs
to change direction and boy, he’s
probably going to take it in a whole
new direction.
Everything you wanted
to know about bar policy
(but were too drunk to ask)
By MARK BURGESS
If you used the gentlemen’s room
in an Alberta bar last summer, you
probably saw a mock fight poster
featuring a champion’s belt that read,
“Ultimate Bar Fighting Stupidity.” If
you’re between the ages of 18 and 24,
it was meant to change your ways.
The posters were part of a
$630,000 campaign, sponsored
by the Alberta Liquor and Gaming Commission, to discourage
violent behaviour among young men
drinking alcohol.
It’s the kind of marketing strategy
that Halifax men could find staring
back at them from above urinals,
after a Christmas Eve melee at The
Dome saw 38 people arrested.
Nova Scotia’s chief public health
officer, Dr. Robert Strang, is leading
a committee drawn from five government departments to examine
the public safety issues that alcohol
creates. The first meeting was held
Wednesday.
Cage Your Rage, the name of
Alberta’s campaign, resulted from
two provincial round tables on alcohol-related violence, which brought
government, police, counsellors, researchers and bar owners together to
share ideas.
“We wanted to educate the public
as patrons,” said Marilyn CarlyleHelms, communications director
for the Alberta commission. “We
wanted to let them know that what
may seem like a nothing experience
at a bar can escalate into something
very serious.”
A survey of the targeted age
group showed many said it made
them think twice about violent behaviour at bars and reconsider how
they would respond in situations
similar to those depicted in the ads.
“So I think it showed great intent
for behaviour change, which for us
was the key,” Carlyle-Helms said.
The next step is to complete a
province-wide training program for
bouncers that will teach methods on
“how to de-escalate bar violence.”
The Alberta commission will also
be exploring some of the 48 other
proposals born from the roundtable,
including banishing glass ware,
staggering closing hours, changing
the designs of bars and imposing a
minimum drink price.
“There’s a lot of concern around
happy hour and cheap drinks. We’ll
be looking to see if minimum drink
prices worked in other jurisdictions.”
As will Nova Scotia. Right now
only three provinces – Newfoundland, Manitoba and Saskatchewan
– set minimum prices for liquor.
Newfoundland’s policy was the result of the industry policing itself as
much as any top-down strategy.
“There was so much competition
between bars,” said Lloyd Penny, vice
president of corporate services at
the Newfoundland Labrador Liquor
Corporation.
“Ninety-nine cent drinks, $20
value all-you-can-drink. It got to the
point that some licensees were down
to zero cost.”
While the liquor board had discussed the problem, Penny says the
impetus for change came from owners who realized they couldn’t survive
with unbridled competition.
Brett Loney, spokesman for the
Nova Scotia Health Promotion and
Protection Department, said drink
prices were one of the five priorities
to be reviewed by Dr. Strang’s committee. The others are advertising
discounted drinks, hours of operation, and training bar and security
staff.
Loney said the committee will be
gathering information on these issues
from various community members.
The Nova Scotia Alcohol Strategy, a report released last fall, recommended the committee’s creation.
The report said that alcohol abuse
costs Nova Scotians $97.3 million
in direct heath-care costs and $78.1
million in law enforcement each
year.
Loney said the committee’s work
will only be the beginning of the
greater alcohol strategy.
“This is the kind of ‘issue-dujour’ now, but obviously there will be
other issues as well that we’ll have to
deal with on the alcohol front.”
The provincial strategy, entitled
Changing the Culture of Alcohol
Use in Nova Scotia, also had five key
areas: community partnership in
solving problems, marketing like Alberta’s, stronger prevention and early
intervention, policy that includes the
interests of health workers, police,
and businesses, and better research
and evaluation.
But for now, the battles are being
picked in terms of urgency.
“The issues that arose from (the
brawl) kind of jumped to the front of
the queue,” Loney said.
And that, of course, is
unacceptable bar etiquette.
[email protected]
Meagan Robertson
Drinking policies from coast to coast
NEWFOUNDLAND
Legal drinking age: 19
Percentage Current Drinkers (2004):
73.9
Controls: Minimum pricing established in 2001 of $1.65 per standard
serving for all beers, wines, spirits,
and refreshment beverages.
NLLC retail employees are taught
through Working SMAART (Strategies for Managing Age and Alcohol
Related Troubles, originally developed by the Liquor Control Board
of Ontario) to identify and deal with
underage customers, second-party
purchasers.
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
70.2
Controls: No minimum price
Mandatory training for licensees and
employees under the It’s Our Business program within 30 days of the
date of employment.
ONTARIO
78.7
Controls: No minimum price
All LCBO retail employees take the
SMAART training program, and
staff at licensed premises take Smart
Serve for responsible serving.
Page Editor/Layout: Jay HEisler
Stating the obvious
Link found
between
alcohol,
violence
The International Center
for Alcohol Policies, a Washington,
DC-based
thinktank, suggests that alcohol
causes violence because of its
“p s y c h o p h a r m a c o l o g i c a l
effects.”
This means that alcohol
affects the cognitive processes
that determine one’s awareness of consequences, judgment, communication, and
evaluation of facilitation and
inhibitory cues.
If a bar “provides an environment that promotes public
disorder, the more alcohol
one consumes in that venue,
the more effective will be the
cues promoting disorderly
behaviour.”
The think-tank suggests
simple changes to a bar’s layout can make a tremendous
difference. Changing music
and lighting to encourage conversation removes the central
focus away from drinking.
Creating partitions, rearranging seating to avoid crowding and maintaining proper
restrooms can all assist in
defusing violent behaviour.
Source: Alcohol Policy Network
MANITOBA
76.5
Controls: Minimum price of $2.25 per
ounce of spirits, 12 ounces of beer/cider/cooler, five ounces of table wine, or
two ounces of fortified wine.
No mandatory training.
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Percentage Current Drinkers
(2004): 79.3
Controls: No minimum price.
The responsible server training
program, Serving It Right, is
mandatory for all staff involved in
alcohol sales.
SASKATCHEWAN
78.2
Controls: Minimum price $2.25 per
ounce of spirits and the same amount
for bottled or canned beer (assuming
12 ounces per container). The minimum price for draught beer is $0.16
per ounce, and for wine the minimum
price is $0.35 per ounce.
NOVA SCOTIA
(2004): 76.0
ALBERTA
79.5
Alberta Server Intervention Program
introduced in 2004 as a mandatory,
province-wide certification program
for liquor industry staff who sell or
serve alcohol in liquor stores, bars or
restaurants.
QUEBEC
(2004): 82.3
Promotions such as “2 for 1” offers,
cocktail hours and happy hours
are tolerated, but all advertising for
these events is prohibited.
NEW BRUNSWICK
(2004): 73.8
Early education coming to N.S.
Cut-off age moving up for students entering Primary
By COLLEEN COSGROVE
In September Nova Scotia’s elementary schools will open their
doors to a potential 2,100 new
faces ready to start Primary.
The change comes after years
of the Nova Scotia School Board
fielding phone calls from parents
urging the provincial government
to push back the cut-off date from
Oct. 31 to Dec. 31.
Nova Scotia is the eighth province to bump the cut-off date,
leaving behind P.E.I., Quebec and
the Northwest Territories. However, the decision to send children to school potentially three
months earlier still lies with the
parents.
“Changing the date
goes with the ebb and
flow of the province. If
a family is moving here
from Ontario, and all of
the sudden their child
can’t attend school, it’s
difficult.”
-Peter McLaughlin
Dept. of Education spokesman
The change is important for
Nova Scotia’s education system
and a good stride towards a national standard, says Department
of Education spokesman Peter
McLaughlin.
“We have such a mobile work
force and a high concentration
of military families who are constantly moving,” he says. “Changing the date goes with the ebb and
flow of the province. If a family
is moving here from Ontario, and
all of the sudden their child can’t
attend school, it’s difficult.”
The assistant director of
Happy Tots Preschool in Halifax,
Anna-Marie Young, works with
children aged three to five.
She doesn’t support the change
and urges parents to sit down and
consider the decision before sending their four-year-olds to school
with kids up to 16 months older.
“Children aren’t emotionally
developed at four,” Young says.
“They don’t know how to socialize properly, and at four they’re
still working out how to solve
conflicts. She says the formal
school setting would be too much
for kids even though seven other
provinces have the same cutoff
date.
A 2005 Statistics Canada
study shows that girls and boys
differ in their readiness to learn
as they enter school at the age of
five. It shows girls outperforming boys in several areas, such as
communication, as early as age
three.
“Nobody knows their child as
much as the parents,” Young says.
“They have to be able to evaluate their child and picture them
interacting with other children in
that formal setting.”
McLaughlin says the decision
is an important one for parents,
especially when considering
milestones for their child later on
in life, such as applying for university.
Amber Cheverie, who also
works at Happy Tots Preschool,
says many children aren’t ready to
enter the formal education system
at four. She hopes children will
be tested before enrolment.
But McLaughlin says testing is
not necessary.
“We have trained professionals dealing with children with
different learning abilities every
day,” McLaughlin says. “There is
the potential for a wider range of
learning capabilities, but the class
sizes are capped at 25. Students
will get the same attention.”
Space, staffing and the availability of facilities is a potential
issue for schools, but before
changes are made the department
must wait until enrolment is complete at the end of February.
A large concentration of students in one area isn’t expected,
but McLaughlin says about 150
new teachers and support staff
will be hired in September.
Brian MacInnis, principal of
Inglis Elementary School, says
his school is prepared to receive
more Primary students in the fall
and welcomes the change.
He’s confident Nova Scotia’s
school boards will provide the appropriate tools if there is an influx
of young students.
“It’s more of a philosophical change. In any given year we
could have more students than
the last … we’ll just have to wait
and see what enrolment brings.”
[email protected]
COLLEEN COSGROVE
Sophia Andriopolous, six, enrolled at Ecole LeMarchant St. Thomas School this year.
Her birthday is Oct. 30 and her father says if the new cut-off date was in place last year,
Sophia would have started primary then.
Page Editor/Layout: RICHARD Norman
Video gamers get a Wii bit active
Dance Dance Revolution,
Wii Sports games give
players virtual exercise
By KATHERINE BARTON
Richard Eisner takes a few
steps towards the screen, just as
he would approach the lane at the
bowling alley.
He bends down and swings the
controller and his Mii – the bald,
glasses-wearing character he created
for himself – sends the ball down the
lane. He gets seven strikes in a row.
The cartoon crowd cheers. By the end
of the third string, his breathing is
getting heavier.
“What made this game fascinating was that it got me up out of my
seat and allowed me to do some
exercise. That’s one of the main reasons for having it,” says Eisner, a biologist and avid video gamer, about
Wii Sports.
It’s not your average video game.
Using a wireless controller, players
have to actually swing the bat in baseball and throw the punch in boxing.
Nor is Eisner the average player – he’s
59 years old.
Video games such as Wii Sports
and Dance Dance Revolution are getting players off the couch and onto
their feet.
“I think that you can internalize
very easily that you’re there. You can
relate to it, you get really excited …
you’re reinforced, like in baseball, it
tells you how fast your ball is going,
you get constant reinforcement of the
motions,” Eisner says.
He feels like he’s getting a workout when he plays. “Your heart rate
goes up, you definitely are engaged,
your muscles are sore. And it’s not
just your thumbs – you’re throwing,
wanted it.
“Mainly I bought it to have something to make me a little more active
… it makes being active fun,” she says
as she jumps to the next step.
She uses Dance Dance Revolution
to work out. “If I play for half an hour,
or 40 minutes, I definitely feel it the
next day.”
The game has a workout mode
that calculates the calories burned
after each song, so MacKinnon can
track the progress she is making.
She has the Wii as well, which
costs $270. She bought Wii Sports,
which retails for about $20, but
not for fitness. It still gets her
going though.
“I liked that (Wii Sports) wasn’t a
game where you’re just sitting there,
pressing buttons … you constantly
have to be moving, no matter what
game you’re playing.”
Stephen Hodder, 29, agrees. The
mill labourer also has both Dance
Dance Revolution and Wii Sports.
“The other systems claim to have
good graphics and stuff, but the Wii
kind of has the market cornered on
interactivity and that’s something
I really wanted to try,” he said. “Fitness didn’t have much to do with it
… as far as workout and fitness are
concerned, Dance Dance Revolution
covers that.”
All that could change with the
Wii Fit. The new game features an
array of activities, such as aerobics,
yoga and games like hula hoop.
A Japanese financial newspaper,
Nikkei, reported that Nintendo sold
more than one million units of the
“I think that you can internalize very easily that
you’re there. You can relate to it, you get really
excited ... you’re reinforced, like in baseball, it
tells you how fast your ball is going, you get
constant reinforcement of the motions.”
-Richard Eisner Melissa MacKinnon burns calories playing Dance Dance Revolution.
Katherine Barton
Gamer
you’re tossing, you’re jumping.”
Dance Dance Revolution demands even more from its players.
They have to move their feet on a
dance pad to a set pattern, follow
the dancer on the screen and keep
the beat.
“Where exercise gets fun!” reads
the slogan for the game, which costs
about $50 and can be bought for
various gaming consoles. That is
exactly why Melissa MacKinnon, a
24-year-old accounts payable clerk,
Wii Fit in Japan only a month after
its Dec. 1 release. The game will be
available in North America in the first
half of 2008, a Nintendo press release
says.
Game bikes, such as the Cateye
Interactive Game Bike for the PlayStation 2, are also gaining popularity. The player uses the pedals and
handlebars to control racing games.
The faster you pedal, the faster your
virtual vehicle goes. The bike costs
about $400.
Interactive games could reduce
Canada’s obesity rate, especially in
children. In the past 25 years the
obesity rate for 12- to 17-year-olds
tripled, from three per cent to nine
per cent, Statistics Canada reports.
Eisner thinks interactive games
are great for his age. The games
not only exercise his body, but his
mind too.
More than anything though, “it’s
entertainment,” he laughs. “It’s better
than TV.”
[email protected]
Page Editor/Layout: JEFF LAWTON
Gamers feel the burn - Study
Researchers at Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom studied 11 teenagers while they played a sedentary video game and
Wii Sports bowling, tennis and boxing. The children burned about 60
calories more per hour playing the Wii Sports games.
The study concluded that interactive video games significantly increase
players’ energy use compared with sedentary games, but not to the same
extent as the actual sport. However, the exercise is only about 25 per cent
less than the energy that would be used playing the sport.
Source: British Medical Journal, December 2007.
new beginnings page 15
Gaming ‘the carrot’ to lure kids to gym
Bull Dog Fitness turns childhood obesity problem into a solution
By KATE CHURCHILL-SMITH
“Work, play, it’s all the same,”
is etched on the walls in bold black
capitals, and at this gym for children
it might just be true.
Television screens with webcams, a custom-designed climbing wall and colourful floor pads
for dancing are all just part of the
work-out at Bull Dog Interactive Fitness.
“The gym opened on the premise
of interactive fitness, where (kids)
would play video games while they
were exercising,” said Chris Tremblay, Bull Dog’s director of programming and training.
Bull Dog is a gym designed specifically for children aged three to
teens, and could be part of the solution to curbing childhood obesity,
he said. Other gyms tailored to children are often gymnastic-oriented,
and most adult gyms, like Nubody’s,
have a cut-off age of 15.
“Obesity is absolutely a very primary concern for our population,
both for children and adults,” said
Natasha Warren, physical activity
co-ordinator at Health Promotion. A
recent study published by four local
universities found that children were
spending an average of 4.79 hours a
day playing video games, surfing the
Internet, or watching television, she
said.
The gym has incorporated one
aspect of the problem behind childhood obesity – playing video games
– and made it part of its solution.
“It’s kind of tragic at this point
that you have to make kids play video games to be active, but you have
to do what it takes,” Tremblay said.
After all, 26 per cent of Canadians aged two to 17 were overweight
or obese in 2004, Statistics Canada
reports.
The interactive gaming demonstrates the need to be innovative in
order to compete with the lure of
sedentary activities like television
and video games. “That’s the carrot
Bull Dog Fitness offers interactive ways for kids to get up off the couch and exercise.
“That’s what drew him in,” said
Paula Hewey, about her 11-year-old
son. “I can’t wait to try it on parent
day.”
Jamie Ferguson, CEO of Sport
Nova Scotia, knows his provincewide athletic programs need to
be creative to attract kids. They
“It’s kind of tragic at this point that you have to
make kids play video games to be active, but you
have to do what it takes.”
Chris Tremblay
Director of Training and Programming, Bull Dog Fitness
to get them in,” Tremblay said.
The gym uses video game bikes
where “the pedals are your gas” as
well as the popular Dance Dance
Revolution (“that you’ve probably
seen in arcades”). There is also a
climbing wall that acts like a treadmill, moving downwards as children
climb up.
have 160,000 members, plus more
unregistered members Ferguson
said. “You need to make sure you
have something that is adaptable,
something that’s fun and engaging.”
By looking at the data on obesity, Type 2 diabetes and blood pressure among the young, the need for
a specially designed gym is there,
Tremblay said. “The world is changing and we’ve kind of filled the niche
of accommodating that change.”
The Dartmouth location has
about 100 members. It has been
open for three years, and the idea
seems to be catching on. With a Calgary location opening this month,
it will have nine franchises across
Canada.
Circuit training and personal
trainers are also part of the package
Bull Dog offers. The new models
also include a gymnasium space,
where a variety of classes like yoga
and pilates take place, as well as traditional sports like basketball. While
interactive gaming is fun, “they always go back to the old-fashioned
play,” Tremblay said of the kids.
The facilities act like a regular
gym, encouraging visitors to purchase memberships. Three months
costs $115, which entitles members
to an hour and a half every day of
Page Editor/Layout: Erin fitzgerald
the week. Dalhousie University’s
gym has a student membership fee
of $145 for three months.
Nova Scotia’s childhood obesity
rate is higher than the national average reported by the Kidsport Nova
Scotia website, which states thousands of young Nova Scotians can’t
afford athletic programs. So while
Bull Dog may work for some, the
costs may be prohibitive for others.
Sport Nova Scotia could be a
Kate Churchill-Smith
potential source for children seeking
fun and healthy exercise but whose
families might not be able to afford
Bull Dog membership fees.
“There are all sorts of programs,
at the recreational level, that are
very affordable or free,” said Ferguson. “We try to make sure that our
programs are broad enough, and
come in all sorts of shapes and sizes
so there’s something for everyone.”
[email protected]
How much are you willing to lose?
New marketing campaign aims to convince problem gamblers to seek help
ANDREW ROBINSON
Government maintains that gambling problems are not a thing of the past.
By Andrew Robinson
Problem gamblers in Nova Scotia
continue to lose money to video lottery terminals, but a new marketing
campaign launched by the government
will encourage them to seek help.
The $425,000 campaign will
feature advertisements telling the
stories of how gambling has affected
the lives of Nova Scotians. They will
also provide the phone number for the
province’s Problem Gambling Help
Line, which is staffed by trained clinicians who can offer counselling and
provide referrals to staff at Addictions
Services.
The help line received fewer calls
in 2007 than in any of the last three
years. “The fact that there are fewer
people making phone calls to our
helpline is exactly the reason why we’ve
made the investment in this program,”
said Barry Barnet, minister of Health
Promotion and Protection.
The campaign will aim to keep
problem gamblers from feeling isolated because of their addiction, Barnet told reporters at the campaign’s
launch Tuesday at the Maritime
Museum of the Atlantic.
“We heard directly from problem
gamblers that gambling leads to feelings of shame, embarrassment, hopelessness, and feelings of being alone.
We want them to know they are not
alone and there is help out there for
them.”
In 2005 the province launched a
gaming strategy which drew attention
to the issue of problem gambling, said
Robert Graham. But the manager for
Problem Gambling Services saw a significant drop in calls to the Problem
Gambling Help Line, with 2,800 calls
received in 2007 compared to 5,500 in
2005.
He called 2005 a “banner year
for discussion around gambling. We
had advertisements out, the gaming
strategy was released, and it received
an enormous amount of media attention ... I think all those elements
coming together made people much
more comfortable in reaching out and
gathering information.”
The gaming strategy from
2005 included removing 800 of the
3,900 VLTs in Nova Scotia. The
government will be able to learn what
impact these measures had when the
data from a new gambling prevalence
study is analyzed, said Graham. He
said field work on the study has been
completed, with data analysis now
taking place.
A 2003 study found that 86 per
cent of respondents with personal
connections to someone with a gambling problem cited VLTs as the cause.
When some VLTs were removed in
2005, the provincial government said
it expected to lose $19 million in
revenue.
Barnet said the government will
examine the results of the new study
before deciding on any further reduction in the number of VLTs. He was
adamant that an all-out ban on VLTs
would be counterproductive.
“If we moved in the direction
where VLTs would be banned in
the province, I don’t think we would
provide the kind of protection that’s
necessary for Nova Scotians. That void
would be picked-up in an unregulated
environment. And I think that would
be a mistake,” said Barnet.
Graham said that the budget for
Problem Gambling Services is about
$4.3 million. That figure accounts for
two per cent of the $160 million in
estimated revenue received by government from the Nova Scotia Gaming
Corporation in 2007.
[email protected]
Suck it up and wait
Head of taxi committee warns deregulation
may lead to safety issues on the road
By JAY HEISLER
Cab drivers and politicians are
speaking out against city hall’s free
market deregulation of Halifax’s taxi
industry.
Many people have found themselves shivering by the side of the
road in downtown Halifax, waiting
for a taxi on a busy night. Mayor Peter
Kelly says that more taxis need to be
on the road and that deregulating the
taxi industry in Halifax is the answer,
but deregulation has received a chilly
reception from many taxi drivers.
“They hate it,” says Deputy Mayor
Steve Adams, chair of the Halifax Taxi
and Limousine Advisory Committee,
who says that taxi drivers see deregulation as unnecessary and a threat to
their wages. Adams strongly opposed
the staff report recommending deregulation that gained city council’s
approval in principle on Jan. 8. The
report recommended that the city
remove restrictions on the number
of people who could become licensed
taxi drivers and the zones in which
they could operate.
In a Jan. 14 press release, Daryl
Downey, president of the Halifax
Taxi Drivers Association, described
deregulation as “disruptive and
impractical.”
“Many people’s lives will be adversely affected if there is a flood of
new taxis on the road,” Downey said,
“and for the life of me I can’t see how
deregulation will improve the quality of driver or vehicle or how it will
decrease waiting times overall.”
Local businesses in the hotel and
restaurant industry will see Kelly’s
support of a free market solution to a
perceived taxi shortage as good news.
A letter to council from the Downtown Halifax Business Commission
expressed frustration that “countless
times, customers have complained to
us that they cannot get a taxi on busy
nights or even days when the weather
is inclement.”
Under the current regulation, the
number of taxi drivers is restricted,
and drivers are assigned to certain
zones in which to work. There are
610 taxis operating in Halifax. After
deregulation, that number would rise
with no limit.
JAY HEISLER
One taxi driver scoffs at complaints about wait times for taxis, but not for drinks.
Adams disagrees with deregulation as a solution. He says that the
public may be less safe if taxi drivers,
earning less from unrestrained competition, must “choose between putting food on their tables or replacing
their wheel.” He explains that the deregulation of zoning means that those
who need cabs in Sackville, Cole Harbour, and other remote areas will be
stranded when downtown is busy and
Page Editor/Layout: MEAGAN ROBERTSON
local drivers head where there is more
work. Adams, who has been chair of
the committee since 1991, says that
regulation encourages “stability” and
that he has been criticized for trying
to protect drivers.
“I don’t know what personal benefit people think I’m getting from
this,” Adams says. He claims that if
the city cared about getting people out
of downtown at night, Metro Transit
buses would run until 3 a.m.
Brian Allen, a driver for Casino
Taxi, is also opposed to deregulation.
“We’re just the scapegoats,” says
Allen, who has been driving taxis for
ten years. “It’s the same in any city.
You have to wait for everything these
days. The same people who wait half
an hour for a drink then walk outside
and expect a taxi right away.”
[email protected]
What and “Y”
Questioning the expectations for our generation
Viewpoint
Jeff Lawton
University students, and young
people in general, are constantly
preached the same advice, generation after generation: this is the time
to start thinking about our future
and our “new beginnings.”
In the 90s, Generation X took an
unusual stance on such planning. In
his 1993 novel, Trainspotting, Irvine
Welsh sarcastically told people to
“Choose life. Choose a job. Choose
a career. Choose a family. Choose
a fucking big television, choose
washing machines, cars, compact
disc players and electrical tin
openers,” and the list goes on.
Kevin Smith’s 1994 film, Clerks,
demonstrated that you can work at a
convenience store well after university, with your annoying friends, and
still be fulfilled.
Our preceding generation was
that of the slacker; an anti-establishment group of late teens and twentysomethings who admired a heroin
addict like Kurt Cobain more than
the usual astronauts and doctors.
Their mentality could be described as disguised laziness, but
there was also an undeniable, admirable ideology behind the cigarettes, flannel shirts and unwashed
hair. They were denouncing the
myth of a successful, mainstream,
North American life by refusing to
conform to the established guidelines.
Their biggest flaw was that
they became too lazy and amoral.
Doing nothing was indeed
disrupting societys norms, but it was
also doing nothing.
It’s easy to form opinions on a
generation in hindsight, but what
about doing so while the wheels are
still in motion? Young people under
26 are loosely labeled generation Y.
This could mean either that we are
second-string X-ers, or that we are
simply a product of the time that
included Y2K.
Regardless, we are being put
through the meat grinder, being
tugged and strained into different
directions of career and family, with
a desperate, nagging, and underlying
feeling of “what the hell am I going
to do?”
The burning question is, in comparison with our preceding generation, how do we approach the new
opportunities and expectations
before us?
It is, unquestionably, a new
day and age with an overwhelming
technological influence and
increased global awareness. However, the hangover of the 90s is also
ever-present in our minds, maybe
because of older brothers and sisters,
or because of the decade’s influence
on today’s popular culture.
We’ve become a melting pot of
style and attitude, mixing hip-hop
with hippie, punks and activists.
Amorality is present in the gangbeating you see on one side of the
street, while social awareness is
present at the war protest on the
other.
Consumerism is running rampant as young people everywhere
(now put your iPhone down before
you read this) are buying way too
conflicting qualities that define our
generation can also guide us at this
point in our lives. It’s obviously true
that you can go through life working
at a fast-food joint and still be happy, but a 50-year career, a wife and
kids, a big house, car, cats and dogs,
televisions and the like, is OK too.
Planning your whole future right
now is fine if that is what you want,
but we should take a lesson from the
90s and realize that it is not the be-all
and end-all. Laziness and indifference are unacceptable human traits,
but indecision isn’t.
So, when you’re sitting in your
macroeconomics class wondering
where your life is going, consider
The burning question is, in comparison with our
preceding generation, how do we approach the new
opportunities and expectations before us?
much stuff. At the same time, the
practice of recycling and re-using is
also gaining prevalence.
It is too difficult to determine
any kind of concrete, singular
characteristic of our generation,
other than contradiction.
Maybe such varying and
that you might be happier with your
bartending job, regardless if that’s the
“normal” thing to do.
The future is yours to define, and
new beginnings are found in all sorts
of places.
[email protected]
The case for space
Redefining Dartmouth’s Main Street
“For every action there is an equal
and opposite government program.”
- Bob Wells, Editor, Windows and Net
magazine
Wander on past the downtown,
dodge a couple of lakes, go up and
down a few hills, go on past Highway 111 and voila, you’ve arrived on
Main Street, Dartmouth, home of the
big box store, strip malls and adult
entertainment.
Cars rush between the parking lots
creating an intimidating environment
for any pedestrian or cyclist who dares
venture here. It’s a place where if you
want to go to a store a short walk away,
you’ll probably hop in your car and
drive. Councillor Andrew Younger
and residents of the area are hoping to
soon change that.
Despite the stormy weather, the
Stevens Road United Baptist Church
was packed on Monday night as
residents gathered to see how their
neighbourhood could become a
community.
Remaking Halifax is on many
minds lately with projects such as
Vision HRM and HRM by Design. For
the most part everyone agrees on what
they want Halifax to look and feel like.
We want a liveable city, a city with more
trees, less concrete, sidewalks that are
busy and roadways that are calm. Now
the challenge is to make that change.
To get to the meeting Monday
night I took my primary mode of
Common spaces
denis calnan
transportation, my bike. Pulling up to
the church at Tacoma Drive and Main
Street during the snowstorm I quickly
spotted a place to park. That wasn’t the
case for most who came to the meeting. The parking lot was filled and
cars were spilling out onto the street. I
locked my bike to a signpost right beside the church.
Monday night’s meeting was surprisingly packed with residents from
the area interested in seeing their
community become more than just a
series of strip malls lining the streets.
They came to see the 30-year plan
championed by Younger and Rob LeBlanc, of Ekistics Planning and Design.
Everyone’s interested in making this
community a “village centre.”
The plans are progressive and follow the Jane Jacobs mantra. “The Main
Street area,” reads the report, will be a
“dense, mixed use village core with
great pedestrian spaces, goods and services, and facilities that invite residents
to walk or bicycle to obtain daily needs
and in so doing informally interact
with their neighbours.”
The summary of the report suggests that the first nine years be spent
Designer Rob LeBlanc explains his thirty-year plan to transform Main Street
improving pedestrian infrastructure
and greening the streets. The following 21 years is when the major renovations of the commercial centres would
happen and bike lanes would be
installed.
LeBlanc, who has been working on
this proposal for just over two years,
explained that the rationale behind the
timeline is budgetary restrictions. He
said that planning staff can budget for
roughly $300,000 every year over the
next 30 years to meet the roughly $8 to
$9 million the city will have to invest.
That it will take nine years to
make the community walkable and
30 years to make it bikeable seems
like a long time to me. Citizens in
other cities have taken infrastructure
Page Editor/Layout: Anneke Foster
into their own hands, painting their
own bike lanes and laying sod on the
road.
One resident raised the point that
most of the audience members, who
were of an elderly persuasion, may not
be around in 30 years to see their new
community. Another asked about what
happens if Younger is not around to
ensure this plan gets carried through.
Younger argued that the timeline is
realistic.
One issue raised repeatedly at the
meeting was the concern about the
adult entertainment establishments.
Contrary to the majority of opinions voiced, one elderly couple, who
raised their children in the area, said
establishments such as Ralph’s Place
Denis calnan
and Excitement Video never bothered
them.
“A lot of these people who are
complaining here,” the gentleman said
to me after the meeting, “maybe they
should go to Excitement Video and
spice their life up a little bit.”
Once the meeting was over I
ventured back out into the stormy
weather and unlocked my bike as others scrapped their windshields clear of
frozen rain.
If the city government is serious about implementing this plan
along with the other visions, we need
to get serious about change now.
Each week Denis will explore public
space issues in the city.
[email protected]
page 18
Opinion
Political affairs: When a network falls in love
Obama and objectivity
VIEWPOINT
ANNEKE FOSTER
On Jan. 7, Lee Cowan should have
been out of a job.
After 20 years as a broadcast journalist he admitted, on national television, that it is difficult for him to remain objective when covering Barack
Obama’s campaign for the Democratic
presidential nomination.
Not because of the Senator’s policies, ideas or even, historic run, but
rather, because of big crowds, bright
lights and high energy.
The remark was brazen, not
apologetic or even private. In fact,
the admission was in an on-camera
interview with NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams. Even Williams
was unfazed, moving on to suggest
that newspapers are now reporting
that we are “seeing something special”
with this campaign.
Seeing something? Like what? A
blatant disregard for journalistic integrity or professionalism? A reporter
who has sacrificed the objectivity of
his reporting?
Bias exists. It is no longer an argument. Every major American network has, at one time or another, been
criticized for purposeful leaning. It’s
human nature. And while humanism
and personal inflections can often
create some of the most worthwhile
journalism, these elements should
never be confused or replaced with a
lack of objectivity.
There is a place for emotion, but
emotion coupled with infatuation is a
lethal combination. The existence of
bias in no way justifies its disregard
– or worse, as Cowan demonstrated,
its acceptance.
Cowan (and by extension, Williams) committed several fundamental errors, any of which, should have
prompted NBC to excuse Cowan
from covering Obama’s campaign.
Combined, they should have ended
his journalism career.
First, Cowan admitted he’s been
swayed by the hype of the events and
the emotion of the crowds where parents are “hoisting their children on
their shoulders.” In turn, Williams
praises Cowan’s statement as
“courageous.”
When did admitting to being a
poor and ineffective journalist
become admirable?
Every major American
network has, at one
time or another, been
criticized for purposeful
leaning.
To make matters worse, the excuse was just as bad as the admission.
Cowan could have redeemed himself
had he offered the statement as an
invitation to scrutinize and hold his
reporting (and NBC) responsible for
promoting good journalism. That
would have been courageous – admitting error and then inviting critique.
Instead, he suggests the Obama
campaign is some sort of authenticating experience, something people
show up for without knowing why
except because they know something
is “happening” and, well, they should
be a part of it.
Obama’s message then becomes
superfluous. What matters is the electricity and that people believe they are
witnessing “something.” It ceases even
to matter what that “something” is,
provided it feels good. The words become meaningless, the connectedness
is greater than the reality, and worst of
all, the reporter himself is now incapable of distinguishing the real from
the sensational. Thereby making his
role purposeless and deceptive.
Objectivity isn’t a maybe thing.
Journalism is either objective or it
isn’t. Something can’t be true and untrue simultaneously. Herein lies the
primary reason Cowan should have
been, in the very least, embarrassed.
What does objectivity mean and
what exactly makes it so difficult to
stick to? If Obama is so charismatic
and so untouchable, then covering
and reporting the facts, however
good, is still objective. Saying it will
be difficult to remain objective is essentially suggesting that because of
this charisma, it will be difficult to report truthfully on political blunders,
questionable actions or other errors.
What Cowan is actually saying
is that he’ll have difficulty telling the
truth.
The truth is, NBC has fallen in
love. Love can cloud clear vision
and love often clouds sound journalism. In place of reporting the truth,
they’ve applauded sensationalism
and inadequate coverage. Moreover,
they’ve done the Obama campaign a
disservice by focusing on the attention and not the content and worse,
diminishing his followers’ commitment to Cowan’s interpretation. NBC
has allowed its reporter’s infatuation
with a candidate to supersede his
responsibilities as a journalist.
Even though neither NBC nor
Cowan invited critique, viewers
should not merely accept the news
they watch but put it to the test.
As faltering journalists and charismatic politicians of the past can probably attest, the love affair is exactly
that; a trespass on truth and unlikely
to stand the test of time.
To see the exchange between Cowan
and Williams:
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=26294
[email protected]
Tidal power: A double-edged sword?
IT’S NOT EASY BEING
GREEN ...
windmills; tidal currents rotate the
turbine’s blades and generate electricity. The devices will connect to a
power grid and generate one to two
megawatts of power each, enough to
power between 200 and 400 Nova
Scotian homes.
But how eco-friendly
are these turbines?
SARAH TOWLE
Tides in the Bay of Fundy are
some of the highest in the world,
rising at a rate of six to eight feet an
hour. And now they might be the
greenest, too.
Last week the Nova Scotia government announced it would bolt
three in-stream tidal turbines to the
bay’s seabed at a cost of about $8
million.
The turbines work like underwater
Government officials and the media
are touting tidal power as a clean,
renewable resource.
“The more we move away from
coal-based electricity, the more we
protect our environment,” Premier
Rodney MacDonald said last week at
the press conference announcing the
project.
But how environmentally friendly
are these turbines?
In a March 2007 interview with
The Globe and Mail, Chris Garrett,
a professor of physics and earth and
ocean sciences at the University of
Victoria, said tidal generators can
prevent the passage of large ships and
fish and can even kill marine
mammals.
These are big concerns for the
Bay of Fundy – home to the North
Atlantic right whale, shipping ports
and passenger ferries to New
Brunswick.
Tidal generators also change the
way sediment forms on the ocean
floor, according to a report from
the U.K. Parliament. But – as far as I
can tell – researchers haven’t tackled
what this means for crustaceans such
as lobsters who live in the murky
Page Editor/Layout: Kate churchill-smith
bottoms of the Bay of Fundy.
And while tidal generators do
not burn greenhouse gases, researchers often coat the devices with
“anti-fouling agents,” chemicals that
prevent the growth of barnacles, algae
Tidal power may leave
a smaller ecological
footprint than coal,
oil or even hydrobased power. But let’s
keep in mind that it’s
a new technology.
and other marine life and keep the
turbines running efficiently. A 2002
B.C. Hydro report states the coatings are “extremely toxic” and have
to be “carefully selected with the
implications of their use fully
considered.”
Clean Current, a company installing one of the turbines in the
bay, wouldn’t discuss what coatings
it uses because of possible competitors stealing the formula. “We’re not
telling you,” said Glen Darou, president of Clean Current. He did mention the coatings are silicone-based,
so critters slide off when they try to
attach to the turbines. A 2007 article
in the Marine Pollution Bulletin says
silicone from anti-fouling agents can
remain un-dissolved in the water and
suffocate marine organisms.
Nova Scotia is heeding these
warnings. The government is only
installing three turbines so far and
isn’t ready to move to a commercial
scale yet.
“That’s exactly why we’re doing
this test site,” says Matt Lumley of the
Nova Scotia Department of Energy.
“We’re going to put some of the devices in and monitor the effect of the
devices on the environment.”
Tidal power may leave a smaller
ecological footprint than coal, oil or
even hydro-based power. But let’s
keep in mind that it’s a new technology; we need to know all of its potential drawbacks before we start marketing
it as a miracle green solution.
[email protected]
the halifax commoner Friday, JanUARY 18, 2008
page 19
REVIEW
Keeping it reel
Book review
Joplin revisited
Alice Echols, Scars of Sweet Paradise: The Life
and Times of Janis Joplin
JANET SHULIST
Canadian documentary breaks the ice
Believe it or not, the Canadian
North was the backdrop for the first
successful documentary. Honest.
Robert J. Flaherty made Nanook
of the North in 1922 in the snowy
flatlands of Inukjuak, near Hudson’s
Bay in Quebec. Flaherty follows Nanook and his family as they live and
navigate in the harsh arctic
conditions.
Flaherty’s first film became
known as an example of ethnographic
documentary—an educational exploration of another culture, his specifically about the Inuit (referred to then
as Eskimo), but he received a lot of
criticism about the un-reality of the
scenes.
Nanook—whose real-life name
was Allakariallak—was encouraged
to use a harpoon to kill a walrus, even
though he normally went hunting
with a rifle.
In another scene in an igloo, Flaherty couldn’t get the equipment to fit
inside, so he constructed a three-sided
igloo to make room for his camera.
Regardless of his take on reality,
the film is interesting, and from a
technological perspective, Flaherty
did a lot despite the klunky and
awkward equipment.
It’s a silent film—but I promise
you won’t even notice. Besides, the
interactions between Nanook and his
family speak volumes. That’s right, I
went there.
So don your fur trapper hat and
embrace the North and Canada’s role
in documentary history.
Other favourites from the Canadian
North:
- Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner
- Between Two Worlds
- Qallunaat
Each week, Janet Shulist, a film
studies grad, explores a classic film
from the past that you need to see.
And don’t worry—she makes sure
they are available somewhere in
Halifax.
[email protected]
DISC REVIEWS
Spin me right round
RADIOHEAD: IN RAINBOWS
NEIL YOUNG:
CHROME DREAMS II
By JEFF LAWTON
Most critically lauded bands will
eventually have some sort of misstep
if not in a poor album, then at least
in a few mediocre songs. Radiohead,
on the other hand, is one of those rare
exceptions that’s never expected to
make a false move.
Such praise attests to the greatness of the band, but it also slightly
hinders the impact of an album like In
Rainbows. If this was another band,
or if this was Radiohead’s first album,
Rainbows would be considered one of
the most astounding pieces of art this
decade.
Because of the expectations for
the band, though, the listening experience lacks the newness or the
surprise it could have otherwise had.
Still, taken on its own, Rainbows is
more than impressive.
The group’s experimental side is
toned way down here and replaced
by meticulously structured pop-rock
songs. On tracks like “Bodysnatchers” and “Jigsaw Falling Into Place,”
the group takes the rock genre where
Coldplay only dreams it could,
adding complicated crescendos and
ethereal backgrounds.
“House of Cards” and “Videotape” are able to pull off some of the
most beautiful melodies you’ll ever
hear, without falling into sweeping
over-dramatics.
Putting out an album this good
at this point in a career may actually
be dangerous for the music industry.
Other bands may break up after hearing it, knowing that they’ll never be
this great.
The only problem for Radiohead
though, is that this is predictable
greatness.
By MAIRIN PRENTISS
This is the sequel to an album
that never came to be. In 1977,
Neil Young tossed Chrome Dreams
aside just prior to its intended release. That album fell victim to his
ever-evolving musical style.
With Chrome Dreams II, Young
revives his classic folk rock sound of
Harvest and After the Gold Rush.
Yet the charmingly messy, drowsy
songs fall flat lacking that extra jolt
that from the good old days.
[email protected]
Page Editor/Layout: COLLEEN COSGROVE
By ALLISON MACNEIL
It’s hard to imagine the queen
of rock ’n’ roll pleading with a music critic to agree that her singing
was improving and that she was,
in fact, a good singer. But few
looked beyond the tough veneer
of the intoxicating woman onstage to the tortured girl shooting
up backstage to numb the pain
of a harsh review – an act that
resulted in her untimely death in
1970 at the age of 27.
Through hundreds of interviews with those closest to Janis
Joplin, Echols illustrates the tenuous balance between her public
persona as the loud, ballsy hippie
chick who didn’t give a shit and
the fragile, vulnerable girl whose
ultimate desire was simply to feel
validated, both as a singer and as
a lover.
Echols does more than write
about Joplin’s involvement in
the sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll
atmosphere which inevitably surrounds any mention of the sixties.
The singer is more of a case study
in the author’s examination of the
The first three tracks were
dredged up from Young’s cutting
room floor. “Beautiful Bluebird”
and “Boxcar” are a promising open
to the album and go straight to the
heart of any Young fan. But, that’s
followed by the audacious single,
an 18-minute long yarn, “Ordinary People,” Young’s salute to the
work-a-day fellow.
The extended song has worked
before. Crosby Stills and Nash (preYoung days) recorded “Suite: Judy
Blue Eyes.” The fact that the song is
seven minutes long weighs small on
the scale because its pacing, rhythm
and vocals change throughout, resulting in separate pieces that could
stand alone.
“Ordinary People” is more repetitive than a Daft Punk song but
with none of the fun. If you’re still
listening past the halfway point,
then I will humbly admit that Young
knows more about the ordinary
people than I do.
The rest of the album consists
of new songs. “The Believer,” an
upbeat tune with call-and-response
beatnik and hippie counterculture pervading the United States
at this time.
Echols attempts to move beyond the limiting yet dominating perceptions of peace and free
love to underlying problems such
as racial tension and the rampant
drug use that inspired yet ruined
many talented musicians.
She also writes of the rise
of rock in the predominate folk
music scene of the sixties and Janis’ strenuous struggle to join the
all-boys rock ‘n’ roll club.
[email protected]
GOOGLE IMAGES.COM
backing vocals, and “Dirty Old
Man,” a throw back to his grunge
days, pop out from the wreckage of
the gloomy, earthy spiritual songs.
The album sounds like indulgence in unfinished business, as if
he just wants to move product. Unlike his other triumphs, it’s not the
kind of record you can throw on
and have it knock your socks off every time. My socks, dear Mr. Young,
remain in place.
[email protected]
page 20
Lifestyle
Another live venue closes doors
By Andrew Robinson
There will be one more “last call”
hollered by the bartender on Saturday night at The Attic. One last
chord strummed on a guitar. One
last mass-exodus of show-goers onto
Grafton Street.
The Attic is closing for good, and
musicians are wondering what this
means for Halifax’s music scene.
The loss of the venue, which was to
celebrate its 10th anniversary this fall,
leaves Halifax with one less club where
bands can perform. The club was not
generating enough business, says Gary
Muise. The Vice President of Operations for Grafton Connor Group
says the company plans to reuse the
property for “a new concept” it is still
working on.
In a year that has witnessed the
closure of other live music venues, like
Stage 9 and One World Café, musicians
are becoming increasingly concerned
about finding places to book shows.
Josh Kogon is a member of
VKNGS, and Jon McKiel’s backingband. Kogon found The Attic to be
a fun place to perform, and was always impressed with its professional
sound system. He says that the venue’s
closure will limit the number of places
where independent groups can get
gigs. Kogon enjoys playing shows at
Gus’ Pub and churches, but he laments
the fact that you have to find your
own sound gear to play. He says the
Seahorse Tavern tends to only host a
specific mix of local bands.
“Unless we get an opening slot for
a touring band at The Marquee, we’ll
be stuck at Gus’,” says Kogon.
Touring bands will also have a
harder time booking shows in the city,
says Kogon.
“The Attic was a great place for a
touring band to get on a decent bill,
if they were a group that a few people
had heard of but didn’t have a huge
following. That was where promoters
would first direct them,” he says.
Kogon has witnessed the closure
of venues happening across the country. Cities where he has performed
in the past are now becoming harder
to play in because the clubs he was
familiar with have been shutdown.
Loukas Crowther has performed
at The Attic both with his band Easy
Tiger and as a DJ. He found the club
served as the perfect middle ground
between smaller venues like Gus’ Pub
and larger ones such as The Marquee.
The Attic can hold up to 400 people.
Crowther says that where most venues
either limit themselves to hosting bigger acts or bands that appeal to a bar’s
regular clientele, The Attic went for a
broader appeal.
“Lloyd Smith, The Attic’s entertainment director, is good at booking
slightly less mainstream acts and taking the risk, while The Marquee goes
for less risk-free ventures,” he says.
In
a
posting
on
the
halifaxlocals.com messageboard,
Smith said that The Attic played host
to more than 700 artists.
As one of those artists being involved in the Halifax music scene, Josh
Kogon says he finds it disheartening
everytime he hears that a good venue
is closing.
“When you’re involved in the
music scene you only really see other
people who love it. So when a place
closes, everybody is like ‘what?’
It catches you off-guard, but it’s
very real.”
[email protected]
Kid Koala spins his way into Halifax’s hearts with sold-out show
By Meagan Robertson
Kid Koala, whose real name is
Eric San, is known around the world
for his incredible turntable and DJ
skills. He was born in Vancouver and
is based in Montreal. He has been
touring worldwide for the past year,
and has a distinct style.
He performed at The Marquee
Club on Saturday night, where he
also played two years ago, but to a
much smaller crowd.
His popularity has drastically increased, considering this year it was
a hassle to try and get tickets in time.
All the advance tickets were sold out
by Saturday morning, and the lineup for door tickets was around the
block by the time doors opened just
after 10 p.m.
“The place was only half full back
then,” says Ian McIlwain, a university
student who attended the first show,
“and now look at it.”
Despite the cold, McIlwain was in
line at 9 p.m. and there were already
about six people ahead of him. Tickets at the door were sold out within
a half-hour, bringing the total to 800
sold tickets.
Kid Koala works with three turntables, and combines elements of
his favorites movies and news items
into his work. He has recorded with
artists such as the Gorillaz, Deltron
3030, Coldcut and Bullfrog, as well
as shared acts with Radiohead and
Björk. Before any song he mixes, he
tells the crowd who the original song
is by, thus giving credit where it’s due
before warping a classic into a whole
new creation.
He has been known to incorporate samples of music from Charlie
Brown television specials, old comedy sketch routines and even people
sneezing. He is also an illustrator and
designs his own album covers.
“You just can’t even try and
compare him to other DJs,” says McIlwain. “He has a really unique style.”
Kid Koala had the crowd on their
feet and moving the entire show,
and there was no pushing your way
to the front. Though he played a lot
of his own stuff, the majority of the
night was spent mixing with good
dance music.
Mark Jackson is a Saint Mary’s
student from Calgary and he has been
Page Editor/Layout: janet shulist
a fan of Kid Koala for three years.
He didn’t stop dancing during the
performance, and shared his knowledge with all those around him who
would listen.
“There are three reasons why I
love Kid Koala,” says Jackson, “creativity, originality, and performance.”
“He puts on a stellar performance,
it’s off the hook. He manages to incorporate the music that he enjoys
with his own stuff and just look at the
reaction from the crowd!”
Kid Koala has been on the road
throughout the past year promoting
his latest album, Your Mom’s Favorite
DJ. He has done concerts throughout North America, Europe and Russia and plans for the release of his
new album, Mosquito Book, in the
near future.
Kristen Welsh is a Halifax resident who saw Kid Koala for the first
time when he last played in the city,
and she was excited to go again.
“It’s awesome to have the chance
to see him in Halifax,” says Welsh,
“he’s pretty popular all around the
world so people should take the opportunity to go and check it out.”
“I feel like it represents a
shift in the music scene here
in
Halifax,”
says
McIlwain.
“It used to only be indie acts
that would pack The Marquee
like that, but now people seem
to be finding electronic music.”
[email protected]

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