2010 local - The Ontarion

2010
www.theontarion.com
163.7
OCTOBER 28
NOVEMBER 3
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Catching on to
Foucault’s fever
International Open
Access Week calls
for the need to move
scholarly knowledge
from the hands of few
to the minds of many
Hayley Mullen
The Warped 45’s rocking a set at the Jimmy Jazz last Friday. They came back to town for a show of their
own after performing at Hillside
An inside look at an annual tradition
of decolonializing the mind
Guelph’s sixth annual
Anti-Colonial
Thanksgiving Dinner
examined the colonial
mentality behind a
holiday
KELSEY RIDEOUT
lthough it’s been a
couple of weeks since
the long weekend, I
recently had the chance to
delight in a second thanksgiving
dinner at an event that streams
away from typical turkey-eating
festivities and instead invites the
community to share in a potluck
of thanks, justice and solidarity
for indigenous sovereignty. Held
at the Guelph Youth Music
Centre on Friday Oct.25, the
sixth
annual
Anti-Colonial
Thanksgiving Dinner was marked
by a stunning smorgasbord made
possible through the hands and
hearts of those willing to take
the time to create meals meant to
A
be shared with others. Of course,
the appeal of the dinner goes far
beyond the food itself. The sense
of community at ACT enriched
the spirits of many and bred a
comfort strong enough to evoke
a rare honesty amongst a crowd
of strangers.
A series of discussions took
shape after everyone had
finished eating and assembled
into the auditorium to talk
about the deeper motivations
that had led them to gather.
The evening’s speakers consisted
of Dan from Tyendinaga
Mohawk Territory and three
women from Haudenosaunee
and Anishinaabeg nations. Dan
spoke about the threats to land
that the Mohawk have overcome
within the last several decades,
and the ongoing challenges
that continue today. Speaking
from his own experience, Dan
explained that the protection
of indigenous lands has only
been made possible by collective
action that demonstrates to the
public and policy makers alike
that “not another shovel should
be put in the ground.” Dan
urged listeners not to be fearful
of direct methods of advocacy, as
actions like boycotts and protests
still prove to be impactful.
The next speaker offered critical
perspectives that challenged the
constructs of the event and how
it was being carried out.
“I’m sorry, but I just have to
say it. The way this is set up is
very colonial with you sitting
over there and me over here. We
need to be in a circle,” said one
of three First Nations women
who spoke about many subjects,
primarily the complex process of
decolonization.
The audience fell silent. I sensed
a
disturbing, inconspicuous
truth being unleashed within
many people’s minds, including
my own. I realized that I had
forgotten to critically reflect
see “ACT DINNER,”
page 5
KELSEY RIDEOUT
University life tends to be
its own little world. We find
ourselves surrounded by a similar
demographic of students day
in and day out, leading many
to forget what life outside the
bubble of traditional academia
and theory-based discussions once
resembled. Recently, one particular
method meant to burst through
the confines of the scholarly circle
has been gaining attention across
academic communities worldwide.
International Open Access
Week, a campaign calling for the
“free, immediate, online access to
the results of scholarly research
and the right to use and re-use
those results as you need,” took
place from Oct. 18 to Oct. 24.
Faculty from the U of G joined
with the members of the Guelph
community in holding a panel
discussion contemplating the value
of open access to information.
One of the panelists, Mike Ridley,
Chief Information Officer and
Chief Librarian at the University
of Guelph explained why he
supports the movement towards
more accessible research findings.
“Currently there are barriers to
easy access,” said Ridley. “You have
to pay a subscription, be a member
of a university, know someone,
whatever. Let’s not create an info
divide of haves and have-nots.”
Ridley explained how the
present challenges in accessing
scholarly articles go against the
socially progressive tune that the
U of G has embraced.
“Information and an informed
community are the core ingredients
for innovation. And more than
ever we need new and better ideas.
That’s the heart of the University’s
Better Planet Project,” said Ridley.
Dr. Ajay Heble, professor in the
School of English and Theatre
Studies, also sat on the panel
and discussed how his work with
the Improvisation, Community
and Social Practice project has
encouraged the public to learn
alongside academics.
“Open access is central to
our philosophy…precisely to
democratize our research outputs
to make our work available broadly
and freely,” said Heble.
Heble is also the founder of the
renowned Guelph Jazz Festival,
the only jazz festival in North
America that has an international
conference integrated into its
regular programming. For three
days, individuals from a wide range
see “ACCESS,” page 6
Issues
3
8CRAIG
15ULTIMATE
FRISBEE
HORROR
16 MOVIES
TERMINAL
SURGERIES
CARDIFF
Index
5 Arts & Culture
7 Sports & Health
12 Life
15 Opinion
17 Editorial
18 Crossword
18 Comics
19 Classified
19 Community Listings
3
Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2010
.com
News
A new way of learning at the OVC
Understanding the
decision to end terminal
surgeries
ANDREA LAMARRE
ny pet owner will vouch
for the fact that a good
veterinarian is an invaluable
part of an animal’s life. From routine
vaccinations to nerve-wracking
surgeries, we depend upon the
skills of veterinarians to provide
care for our furry best friends. The
University of Guelph is home to
Ontario’s only Doctor of Veterinary
Medicine program and stands out
as a prestigious institute for the
instruction of those to whom we
entrust our beloved pets.
Recently, Guelph’s Ontario
Veterinary College (OVC) has made
headlines for what is widely perceived
to be one of its most important
curricular decisions in recent history:
the cessation of terminal surgeries.
Up until recently, animals that were
destined for euthanasia would be
anesthetized for surgeries performed
by students. The animals would then
be euthanized while they were still
anesthetized upon the completion
of surgery.
The end of terminal surgeries
will prohibit the practice of
performing surgeries on animals
that
are
euthanized
postoperation. Students who are not
directly involved with the OVC
might dismiss this decision as an
obvious move, or conversely, be
surprised that terminal surgeries
were occurring in the first place.
Within the OVC student body,
the reaction has been mixed, with
general support for the concept but
A
some hesitancy about whether the
new delivery will provide the same
learning outcomes.
To illuminate this decision, a few
things must be understood about the
university’s policies with regard to
the use of animals in teaching. The
teaching of veterinary medicine and
the ethical treatment of the animals
involved has come a long way from
its humble beginnings in 1862. Dr.
Peter Conlon, Associate Dean of
Students at the OVC provided a
historical perspective in this debate.
“Up until 20 years ago, students
would learn surgery on animals
which were anesthetized and then
awakened from anesthesia after the
surgery. This enabled students to
learn about recovery from anesthesia
and surgery,” said Conlon.
More recently, students have
learned surgical skills by first
practicing on inanimate models,
then performing terminal surgeries.
They also performed spays and
neuters on animals from shelters
which were then returned to the
shelters for adoption. In keeping
with society’s viewpoint on the usage
of animals in teaching, the college
recently decided to once again
make a change to the way surgery is
taught to students, and end terminal
surgeries. Any surgeries that would
have required euthanizing an
animal post-operation will now be
performed on cadavers.
Even before moving away from
terminal surgery, the OVC has
operated under an extremely strict
animal care policy.
“We’ve always been a university
that promotes animal welfare,” said
Conlon.
Students at the OVC share in
this commitment to care for animals
with the highest regard for their well
being.
“Veterinarians represent animal
welfare - we want what is best for
the animal, we want it healthy and
happy,” explained Kristin Butler, a
third year veterinary student.
Although the curriculum has been
revised to exclude terminal surgery,
students have had the option of
performing their surgery labs on
cadavers for many years. Butler
mentioned that performing surgeries
on animals that would subsequently
be euthanized was never a decision
students took lightly.
“That was always an extremely
hard thing for a lot of the vet
students - they would get attached
and often become very emotional,
even cry,” said Butler.
Despite student support for the
theory of moving away from live
animal surgeries, there is some
concern about the way this decision
has been covered in the media.
Butler explained that the
student body’s concern about the
implications of the decision on
their learning outcomes may have
been misunderstood. “That was
something that was really upsetting
for everyone at OVC, but especially
students, because we want to save
animals’ lives.”
Animal welfare and animal
rights can be a highly controversial
territory to tread. There is no getting
around the fact that there will always
be a trade off between the use of
animals in teaching and promoting
the welfare of the greatest number of
animals through the development of
veterinary skill.
“The argument one could make
is that the student learns a skill
or knowledge through the use of
animals in teaching that will benefit
thousands of other animals in
that veterinarian’s career,” affirmed
Conlon. “The question could quite
naturally be: could the skill be
learned in other ways?”
Over the past few years, animal
rights groups have been asking
the OVC that very question. The
scrutiny under which veterinary
medicine programs have been placed
was, in large part, a reason to make
the change. And while the decision
appears to have been made quickly,
Conlon pointed out that it has been
under discussion for quite awhile
and was not made thoughtlessly.
“I don’t want to equate the word
quickly with carelessly or without
due consideration or without
thinking about the consequences,”
said Conlon.
Still, some veterinary students
feel that they could have received
more warning about the change.
“It was really the lack of student
input that most people were upset
about,” said Butler.
One ongoing concern is that this
decision could adversely affect young
veterinarians’ ability to perform the
surgeries that will be demanded of
them in future practice. Conlon did
not downplay the seriousness of the
decision, but pointed to the OVC’s
continued commitment to reaching
learning objectives in any format.
“This was a decision that was
not taken lightly,” he said. “We’re
looking at the new way we’re doing
surgery as still ensuring our students
reach the learning objectives, but it’s
a different way than we have done in
the recent past.”
Canadians to become involved in
their communities and raise funds
to fight AIDS in Africa.
Erika Marteleira, a fourth year
Environmental Science student,
is a community mobilizer for the
Stephen Lewis Foundation. Her
goal is to focus on engaging people
to take initiatives and become
involved. She explained how the
‘Dare to Remember’ Campaign is
much more than a simple game.
“When you involve yourself
with something like the ‘Dare to
Remember’ Campaign, where you
dare yourself to do something, it
has a much more lasting impact and
really makes you reflect on what you
are doing and why, and why these
issues are important.”
Marteleira, who dared herself to
go local, expressed that by taking on
such initiatives “the community of
Guelph can strengthen itself while
also supporting communities halfway
around the world.” In her dare, she
is able to fundraise for Africa while
supporting local businesses, such
as going to the farmer’s market to
purchase locally grown produce.
The funding from the Stephen
Lewis
Foundation
allows
communities access to funding
that “gives the community the
capability to address the issues as
they need… whether addressing the
social, economical, cultural, political
problems of HIV and AIDS,” said
Marteleira. The funding given to a
variety of communities is crucial,
and enables bottom-up approaches
to address specific issues.
The ‘Dare to Remember’
Campaign, was held from Oct. 18
to 22 on the University of Guelph
campus. Several of Guelph’s students
and professors became involved
in raising awareness about HIV/
AIDS in Africa. Dr. Saba Safdar,
a psychology professor, was among
those involved. Safdar explained why
she was initially drawn to partake in
the campaign.
“It seemed that in teaching both
my cross-cultural psychology and
psychology of gender, which I talk
about AIDS and specifically AIDS
in Africa, it was a great opportunity
to take advantage of this and
participate in a dare.”
Safdar took an interesting
approach in her dare; instead of
acting in the dare alone she wanted
to involve the students in both of
her classes. Cross-dressing was the
dare that Safdar and her students
decided to pursue, which integrated
the exploration of course topics with
the goals of the ‘Dare to Remember’
Campaign.
When asked about the experience
of cross-dressing, Safdar explained
that she received a fair amount of
confused looks and attention.
“It was quite interesting dressing
as a man. I would be walking in the
hallway with a few double takes
from students and other professors,”
said Safdar. “The great aspect of the
day was talking about the notion
about what the Stephen Lewis
Foundation is doing and generally
how the situation is in Africa and
Sub-Saharan Africa for HIV/
AIDS and what we can do to raise
awareness.”
It’s not too late to challenge
yourself or someone else to a dare.
The ‘Dare to Remember’ Campaign
continues until December 1, which
is World AIDS Day.
Challenge yourself, like many
professors and students on campus,
to become involved in humanitarian
efforts in different creative ways.
Choose something you are passionate
about, and something that you feel
will make a difference – even if it
means having to courageously stand
out from the crowd.
Pam Duynstee
The OVC has made the decision to end the practice of
terminal surgeries.
I dare you to…
The ‘Dare to
Remember’ Campaign
challenges faculty
and students to put
themselves out there
and raise awareness for
HIV/AIDS
TAHLIA DYER
dare is a challenge. It is
something that the majority
of us have partaken in at
some point or another, perhaps in
the game called ‘truth or dare’ or
maybe in another form.
Who knew that a dare could turn
into a movement? This movement
began through a campaign set out
by the Stephen Lewis Foundation,
called ‘A Dare to Remember.’ This
foundation evolved from the need
for HIV and AIDS awareness
worldwide, and is meant to inspire
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5
Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2010
.com
News
Learning from a humble teacher
The Dalai Lama visits
Toronto and continues
to touch the minds and
hearts of many
an hour talking together in a small
group, Hood felt captivated by the
Dalai Lama’s genuine nature and
lightheartedness.
“I actually disagreed with him a
lot. He teased me. I was very struck
by his intelligence, his wisdom,
his compassion, but particularly
his spiritual power and sense of
strength,” said Hood.
The charismatic Dalai ‘Lama’,
or teacher, is believed by many
Buddhist followers to be the most
recent reincarnation of a lineage
of spiritual leaders who have been
assigned birth for the purpose of
enlightening others. Amongst
many western nations however,
he’s best known for his tireless
work in trying to free Tibet and
his compassionate teachings.
Hood recently saw the Dalai
Lama once again, when the spiritual
leader traveled to Etobicoke,
Toronto, to give teachings at the
Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre
on Sunday, Oct. 24.
Hood explained how the Dalai
Lama’s open mindedness towards
all faith backgrounds appeals to a
wide variety of people.
“He doesn’t proselytize,” said
Hood. “He doesn’t encourage
people to become Buddhists. In
fact he encourages most people to
return to their own spiritual roots
and to try and find their spiritual
fulfillment there.”
The Multi Faith Resource
Team, a group of leaders from an
assortment of faith backgrounds
that work to strengthen the spiritual
community at the university, also
shared their thoughts about the
Dalai Lama.
James VanderBerg, Campus
Minister from the Guelph Campus
Ministry explained how the Dalai
Lama’s teachings resonate with
the younger minds of the present
generation.
“I think we live in a culture of
displacement…where we aren’t
encouraged to explore our own
traditions and our own past, and
our own rootedness. The Dalai
Lama I think is appealing to a
generation of people who actually
want to feel a little bit of their own
rootedness,” said VanderBerg.
The Dalai Lama also manages
to reach those more prone
to individualism through his
accepting and soft nature.
“Someone like the Dalai Lama
has this persona where he’s not
trying to tell you what to do.
He has a very kind of way of
empowering people…I think that’s
why people find him like a gentle
teacher instead of an overpowering
one, and that’s important for a
generation that has a hard time
taking advice,” said Michelle Ball,
student Program Facilitator from
the Multi Faith Resource Team.
Margot Feyerer from the
Ecumenical Campus Ministry
explained how many people
relate to the Dalai Lama because
of his inclusion of social and
environmental justice as part of his
spiritual platform.
“For me, spirituality is a starting
point, of all the ways that I
determine how to act in the world,”
said Feyerer. “The Dalai Lama is a
political leader for the Tibetans,
so he plays a political role, but
his political role arises out of his
spiritual understanding of who he
is in the universe.”
For many reasons, the Dalai
Lama’s teachings often strike
the most intimate, otherwise
unmelodious chords of one’s heart.
In a world ridden with serious
challenges that leave communities
and ecosystems aching with damage,
perhaps it’s the simple, wise words
of the Dalai Lama that encourages
so many people to find meaning in
the midst of such chaos.
“There is no need for temples, no
need for complicated philosophies.
My brain and my heart are
my temples; my philosophy is
kindness.”
listen.” Otherwise individuals
begin to take on issues within
indigenous
communities,
without adequate insights into
the reality of the problems.
This often proves to be more
damaging than helpful.
With notebook in hand and
recorder on lap, I couldn’t help
but feel culpable in trying to
gain tidbits of information so
that I could attempt to depict
the incredibly complex subject of
land rights and anti-colonialism
within the small parameters
of a newspaper. I decided then
to turn off my recorder, put
down my pen, and do what I
was encouraged to do. I simply
listened, not as a student, or as
an aspiring journalist, but as a
fellow human present in body,
mind and spirit.
For those interested in social
justice and indigenous studies,
perhaps before rallying for any
kind of political change on
behalf of any given ‘cause,’ it’s
important to do this same kind
of detoxifying exercise. Put
down your assumptions. Strip
away your colonial-infused
thought patterns with honesty.
Be willing to learn, be willing to
listen, and then you can become
transformed in way that will
inevitably lead to more effective
change.
Courtesy
The sixth annual Anti-Colonial Thanksgiving Dinner critically explored
the notion of ‘colonialism’ in the present day context.
“ACT DINNER,”
continued
about the term ‘colonialism,’
despite all my eagerness to
attend the anti-‘colonial’ dinner.
The women continued to explain
the disconnectedness between
many aspects of western culture
and
traditional
indigenous
knowledge.
The hierarchy between a
speaker and their audience.
Holding events that bring
native people to different venues
opposed to public forums
being held on their own lands.
The need to separate love and
spirituality from political action.
While some of these tendencies
may not necessarily be viewed as
bad, what matters is that they are
at odds with many indigenous
teachings and experiences, and
are found in a mentality that can
be traced back to the arrival of
the Europeans.
One of the speakers explained
how the colonial mentality is one
that is within all of us, and needs
to be consciously and diligently
evaluated in order to be broken
down. The best way to start may
very well be to “just stop, and
KELSEY RIDEOUT
ome people were born into
the religious traditions that
they’ve carried with them all
their lives. Others find themselves
searching for alternative spiritual
values as they grow apart from
what they were once taught. And
then there are those that are met
by a crisis and feel compelled to
explore their spirituality while they
strive towards healing.
Ken Hood, a familiar face at
the Bookshelf, one of Guelph’s
most
cherished
bookstores,
turned to Buddhism when he was
undergoing a difficult time in his
life. His journey started when
he was 18 and was experiencing
a loss of faith. After years of
reading books and practicing
Buddhism, he began teaching 20
years ago, and continues to lead
Buddhist meditation classes in the
community.
Influential in Hood’s spiritual
journey has been a modest leader
who may refer to himself as ‘just
a simple monk,’ but in spite of
his humility has managed to
attract worldwide popularity and
admiration.
Hood first met with the Dalai
Lama while visiting India ten
years ago. After spending nearly
S
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The Dalai Lama, a renowned spiritual leader, recently spoke to thousands of
individuals at a weekend of public discussions and teachings in Toronto.
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6
News
Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2010
163.7
Halloween: the great sartorial uninhibitor
Why dressing up on
October 31st brings
out the risqué and
downright ridiculous
RACHEL SCAPILLATI
A
re you someone who
spends the latter part of the
summer fantasizing about
the perfect Halloween costume?
Do you wonder what your friends’
faces will look like when they
see you prance in dressed as the
latest popular superhero or as a
sexy nurse? What about those
of you who elect to dress up as
something created entirely from
your imagination?
For those of you who answered
“yes”to the last part,you are not alone.
Missy Morrow, manager of Party
Corner Costumes in Guelph, sees
it all, from customers demanding
the traditional nurse uniform,
or variations of superheroes, to
specialty requests which range from
pirate wenches to giant bananas.
“We adore working with people
who want to be different and try a
new approach to a costume,” said
Morrow. “We enjoy what we call
here ‘big idea’ costumes. We had a
customer who wanted to be a pirate
wench for Halloween, but a pirate
wench meets Marie Antoinette. It
looked really good. It had the big
hoop underneath the skirt and it
was huge. It just looked great.”
Kerri Mercer, the seamstress for
Party Corner Costumes, notes a
move for female customers from
the popular risqué costumes to the
more inventive creations.
“We’re finding a lot of girls this
year don’t want the traditional
nurse costume and are looking for
something that is non-sexy. They
are looking for more of a specialty
costume,” Mercer said.
Jenna Lehman, a student of the
Bachelor of Arts History Program
at the University of Guelph, agrees
with Mercer’s school of thought.
“I will most likely be a zombie or
something dead with my friend who
is taking Prosthetics at Sheridan
College. She can do stage makeup
and it looks totally realistic,” said
Lehman. “I almost refuse to dress
slutty for Halloween. I think
the whole lingerie-as-a-costume
novelty is completely overplayed
and kind of desperate.”
From Morrow’s experience
managing a costume store, the
Megan Verhey
Halloween brings out the best and worst of attire from an allure
of disguise.
sexual appeal of dressing in more
revealing costumes plays a role in
their popularity.
“It’s definitely a time for some
people to express their sexuality,”
she said. “They
might not be
comfortable
doing this in
day-to-day life,
but Halloween is a time for them
to do this without being labeled
anything. I’ve seen girls walking
around on Halloween night in a
bra and panties, and calling that
a costume. They’re pretty much
wearing just lingerie.”
On the flip side, Morrow observes
men choosing costumes depicting
a favourite superhero, or selecting
“ACCESS,” continued
of backgrounds share in discussions that
Heble believes are enriched by the free
sharing of information amongst those
within and outside of the academic sphere.
“[The conference] is really the gem of the
festival according to many people, and part
of what makes it the gem of the festival
is precisely that it cuts across traditional
boundaries and institutions and the fact
that we’re reaching not only an academic
audience, but also the general public who
get really excited and animated by what
they hear during these talks,” said Heble.
Ridley emphasized that shifting towards
making all research free is possible, and
more than that, the move has begun to take
shape at the U of G.
“It’s already happening. The library is
helping with The Atrium - an open access
repository that anyone can use and deposit
material in. Faculty like Ajay Heble and
Bev Hale are leading the way with their
involvement. The School of Environmental
Sciences and OAC encourage its faculty
and graduate students to publish in open
access journals or deposit in open access
repositories,” said Ridley.
To the right:
The International Open Access
Week took place from Oct. 18 to
Oct. 24.
Megan Verhey
attire leaning on the comedic side.
“They’re all over the place, really,”
said Rebecca McDermid, a sales
representative of Party Corner
Costumes. “You will see a lot of guys
wanting funny costumes. Like a giant
banana or something over the top.”
When it comes to selecting a
costume for Lehman however, she
believes in an original approach.
“I do believe in a more creative
process for Halloween costumes, but
I know it’s also just the easier route
to use the traditional costumes,”
said Lehman. “I think if people put
some thought into costumes, you
can definitely tell. However, there’s
a point where people need to realize
that Halloween doesn’t really
matter. Personally, I wouldn’t spend
the month of October figuring out
what I want to be for Halloween.”
Whether you spend the entire
month figuring out a costume or
just a few days, it seems the lure
of Halloween and the disguises it
creates attract all.
“It’s a chance to step
outside
yourself
and
be
adventurous,”
Morrow
said.
Lehman agrees, stating, “I think the
lure also lies in the fact that people
like being who they’re not. In a
way it’s captivating for people, but
I think our generation has almost
ruined the idea of Halloween as a
fun night to ‘dress up’. It’s more of a
night to ‘undress.’”
Perhaps in formulating an opinion on this
issue, it is useful to contemplate about what
the word ‘accessibility’ really means to you.
Do you believe in the power of community
integration and collective learning? Then
maybe you’ll want to get vocal about
making information free for all. According
to Ridley, this quiet movement needs more
impassioned students to become involved
and join in a growing struggle to further
break apart the hierarchy of knowledge
holders.
“There is more to be done. The library’s
celebration of Open Access Week was
meant to raise awareness and encourage
action. This is a stealth revolution. Slowly
and almost beneath the radar it is changing
the way we publish and access information.
Prof by prof, grad student by grad student.
The tide has turned.”
.com
Arts & Culture
7
Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2010
Trudeau Stories comes to Guelph
JOSH DOYLE
F
or one night only the River
Run Center hosted a play
by Brooke Johnson called
Trudeau Stories. The play follows a
short friendship between Johnson
herself and the former Prime
Minister in Montreal. Trudeau
stories begins as an intimate
interaction between the viewer and
the one and only actor in the show,
Brooke Johnson, that comes in the
form of Johnson acting out her
younger self recounting a memory
as she reads to the audience from
a journal. The journal becomes a
time capsule through which we are
whisked back to 1985, a year after
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
had stepped out of office; the
same year he began his friendship
with Johnson. Johnson was at the
time a student at the National
Theater School in Montreal and
upon meeting the former PM is
intoxicated by his presence.
She begins with the assumption
that Trudeau wishes to begin a
romance with her; an assumption
shared by the audience. Shortly
after their meeting the young
Johnson puts an end to this
thought with a letter, marking
Trudeau’s reputation and status as
a former PM as the reason for her
not wanting a romance…his age
being left out as a factor.
It comes off as nearly
disappointing that the young
Brooke’s choice is to deny any
chance of a romantic relationship
– even with the age gap - but when
we consider critiquing the plotline
of the play we begin presumably to
critique Johnson’s life, and we must
then take a different approach.
Once this fact is established we
begin to see a story that is told
honestly and delicately. Johnson
highlights
many
enchanting
moments between herself and
what came to be a close friend.
Johnson’s acting is enjoyable,
though not impressive. While she
falls short of moving the viewer
with passion or commitment, she
handles all roles on stage with
a consistent flow, interchanging
between voices and mannerisms
in an entertaining way. It probably
isn’t her inability to enact passion
that becomes the problem; rather
the script barely calls for it. An
interest in what happens next with
Trudeau carries the action. The plot
itself is little more than vaguely
interesting and follows a relaxed
pattern of ups and downs. The
ups occur when Trudeau is very
much in her life as a close friend;
the downs mostly coming in the
realization that her friendship
with Trudeau has dwindled. His
eventual death successfully ends
their relationship, which had by
that point hardly existed.
In fact when the play ends it’s
hard to say what has ended, as very
little seems to have been achieved.
It becomes difficult to assume the
play would be worth watching had
it not been centered around a rare
personal encounter with a political
icon. The show hinges on the
power of this relationship, having
very little in the way of drama or
risk, or any reason at all to buy into
the characters. Instead it assumes
you’ll be interested enough to
hear a nice story about how two
people may have
started a love affair,
instead
became
close friends, and
then were friends
no longer. The good
thing is, it’s right on
most accounts.
Trudeau Stories is
a gentle ride through
an unknown part of
personal history, and
provides
valuable
insight to the life
of a controversial
man at the end of
his road. Where
it lacks in any real
event it gains with
its
pleasantness
as a story that
needed to be shared
nonetheless.
We
cannot leave without
thinking we’re glad
to have seen it, even
Courtesy
if only to know just
a bit more about Brooke Johnson performs a play about her
one of our most friendship with The Right Honourable Pierre
important leaders.
Trudeau at the River Run Center
No rest for the indie
Halifax band
Wintersleep hits up
Vinyl
TOM BEEDHAM
or five rockers from Halifax
that have the sentiment of
rest compounded right into
their name, the word “stop” doesn’t
seem to be regular vocabulary. This
past May, Wintersleep released
their fourth album and since then
they’ve become well acquainted
with asphalt, touring steadily and
rarely breaking for rest. They spent
June touring the States with Matt
Pond PA, leaving the rest of the
summer to play shows in Montreal,
Edmonton, St. Johns and Ottawa
with the likes of Weezer, Bad
Religion, City and Colour, Tegan
and Sara and Ra Ra Riot.
In September, the band
embarked on a European tour
that led almost immediately into
an American tour with The Hold
Steady, which they’re breaking
from right now only to tour Canada
with Montreal’s 2010 Polaris Prize
shortlisters The Besnard Lakes and
Regina’s Rah Rah.
The only break in their current
tour schedule is slotted from the
beginning of this December to
the end of January 2011. Given
the timing of the break, the only
impression Wintersleep’s fans are
left to entertain is that the band’s
name is a very literal meditation
to the packed venue’s unanimous
penchant for Wintersleep’s old
material, they also threw in an
incendiary rendition of the party
pump up-cum-trip jam “Danse
Macabre” before turning a riled
up crowd loose on the streets of
F
downtown Guelph.
Wintersleep will follow their
current marathon of touring in
February 2011, heading back over
the pond – this time for a tour of
the UK – and joining The Hold
Steady once more.
Thomas Beedham
on a snowy hibernation.
Last Thursday the Ontario leg
of the current Canadian tour hit
Vinyl in Guelph.
Although The Besnard Lakes
didn’t play the Guelph date, Rah
Rah opened to a crowd that filled
the club early on, priming the
audience for an hour and a half
long set of the spooky-foreboding
rock that Wintersleep does so
well.
Drawing exclusively from the
band’s two most recent albums,
Wintersleep served up a night
that sprinkled tracks from New
Inheritors into a set predominately
composed of numbers from their
2007 effort, Welcome to the Night
Sky. Throughout the set’s entirety,
the crowd rallied for Wintersleep
classic “Orca,” yelling the title adnauseam in the face of every lapse
of would-be silence between songs.
The persistence of that same chant
was the very force that ushered in
an encore performance that finally
quipped that hunger, though not
without a note from singer Paul
Murphy that revealed it wasn’t
necessarily something the band
had planned on.
“I guess we have to play that
song now,” said Murphy.
After some stage adjustments,the
band did just that, and with a nod
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8
Arts & Culture
Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2010
163.7
Devil’s night with Craig Cardiff
Singer/songwriter
Craig Cardiff holds a
show at the Dublin St.
Church October 30
JOSH DOYLE
peaking of musical talent,
singer/songwriter
Craig
Cardiff is coming to town
Oct. 30. The day before Halloween
he’ll be performing in the Dublin
St. Church, keeping in line with
his tendency towards playing
unconventional venues. It comes
as little surprise from the man
who, along with the usual array
of festivals, theatres and rock
clubs, has blessed the ears of fans
in prisons, student ghetto houses
and camps as well. It doesn’t seem
Cardiff is on a mission to break
any records or make a name for
himself as the guy that will play
anywhere; rather he wants to do
away with the notion that music
should be enjoyed in particular
places.
“The room is less important
than the people in it,” he claims,
expressing a creed that truly
comes alive at Cardiff ’s shows.
The standard paradigm of an artist
performing to an audience, playing
a few tunes and saying thanks
just doesn’t cut it for Cardiff.
Between his songs Cardiff has a
real habit of getting familiar with
everyone in the audience, asking
questions and telling stories as
though everyone were all their
for the same reason and wouldn’t
mind feeling like they’re part of
something.
“All of us as people, a class of
students, any bunch of strangers
in a room really, wants to become
a group,” said Cardiff. “It could
be some genetic nod to pack
mentality. I think that live intimate
shows are an extension of that. We
talking about the developments
in his life since his show at
Vinyl last spring. “I’ve started
producing other artist’s albums
with engineer Ben Leggett, and
I’m working on a book of lyrics/
tabs/poems/writings as well.
More importantly than all those
things, my daughter Rowan
started junior kindergarten, and
taking the bus by herself, and
somehow we acquired a strange
Chihuahua/ Pomeranian dog. I
remember parents talking about
time flying, and I understand it in
a different way now.”
S
“We all want
to sing along,
sometimes we just
need to be asked.”
Craig Cardiff
Courtesy
Craig Cardiff hosts a show at the Dublin St. Church
this Saturday, Oct. 30
all want to sing along, sometimes
we just need to be asked.”
Asking is something Cardiff has
no problem doing, and his shows
do usually wind up as large-scale
sing-alongs. Certainly his show in
Guelph last year ended this way.
Cardiff went so far as to invite
members of the audience to join
him on stage, drawing a scattered
crowd into one intimate space
as though he were about to tell
a story. While a lot has changed
for Cardiff since then, his love
of community inspired shows
remains intact.
“The albums floods & fires and
mothers & daughters are closer
to being done. We built a studio
at my home and have had other
musicians come in to work on
their projects,” Cardiff said,
Cardiff found time to sit down
with the Ontarion between
jellybean purchases with daughter
Rowan, showcasing the busy
lifestyle of a modern day singer,
songwriter and dad. With the
help of fellow artist Mike Evin
who’ll be opening for Cardiff as
he’s done so well so many times
before, Cardiff has somehow
managed to produce two new
records almost simultaneously,
adding to a collection of albums
that is edging towards 15. This
extensive catalogue will ensure
no shortage of material both old
and new at Cardiff ’s show this
weekend.
If the challenge is drawing
people to a show on a date that
will undoubtedly be celebrated in
town as Halloween, then Cardiff
is equal to it.
The idea of enjoying quality,
soulful music tends to be looked
on strangely for that night. More
popular is partying belligerently
and not sitting still for more
than a minute, let alone a couple
hours. Still anyone who’s a fan of
great music and can appreciate
the bold nature of the show’s
timing will be unlikely to turn the
opportunity down. Shows with
Cardiff are one of a kind and with
this unique location and occasion
factored into the equation there’s
no reason to believe Saturday Oct.
30 won’t be a memorable evening.
But to be sure those in the know
weren’t left in the dark, Cardiff
employed a familiar method of
grassroots promotion to spread the
awareness, relying heavily on word
of mouth. You may have seen the
cannon last week, appropriately
painted with “Craig Cardiff,
October 30,” or perhaps one of
the many obscure posters put up
throughout town. Cardiff has been
at this gig for years, preferring
unique and original means of
stirring consciousness of his shows
to large-scale advertisements,
and flyers distributed to your
classroom; tactics of the local
night club. Cardiff prefers people
to people interaction, allowing
his popularity to grow honestly
through those who actually enjoy
his music enough to tell their
friends.
“The thing about word of
mouth is that it’s true and comes
from a clear place. If I like an
artist enough to tell you, that’s
powerful. No amount of careful
web strategy or print and radio
advertising can match a group of
people who get behind a musician,
painter or political idea,” said
Cardiff.
Cardiff didn’t pay us to write
this. Much like he said about word
of mouth, we just think he’s good
enough to talk about. Chances are
you will too.
Visit www.sundaycinema.ca for more info on these Central Student Association events
noon
BRUCE
PENINSULA
9:00 pm
7:00 pm
9:00 pm show
8:00 pm show
nooner Fri Oct 29
sunday cinema Sun Oct 31
docurama Wed Nov 3
live music Fri Nov 5
live music Fri Nov 12
uc courtyard
war memorial hall
thornbrough 1307 | free
dublin street united church
dublin street united church
"$!%#
"#$( !
!"#&#$!!'
$*"#(%( !
#"%##)
$*"#("#$(%
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9
Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2010
.com
Arts & Culture
Local talent represents student lifestyle
Student and artist
Christopher Mazur
explores the power of
the net
OLIVER DZUBA
“T
he internet has been
everything,” explained
artist
Christopher
Mazur, reflecting on the profound
role of the web in his music career.
A third-year classics major at the
University of Guelph, the student/
musician has utilized the full
power of the internet to spread
his music to a variety of audiences,
and to make his name known in
the industry. Better known by
his surname, Mazur sat down for
an interview with The Ontarion
last week, providing a wealth of
different insights on the unique
path his music career has taken.
Only 20 years of age, this young
artist has accomplished much in his
relatively short career. Recording
out of his off-campus house, Mazur
adheres purely to the do-it-yourself
method, feeling it makes more
sense to “invest in your own studio,
because it’s like an investment
in yourself.” This work ethic is
the backbone of Mazur’s career,
allowing him to progress to the
familiarity he has today.
Seeking a connection with the
student body, Mazur’s lyrical content
generally consists of ideas that every
university student can relate to.
“[It] describes the student social
life, the night life of a university
student,” Mazur said of his selfdubbed “party music.” A mix of
similes and metaphors, Mazur’s witty
word play makes for memorable
songs that aim to stay clean; he
claims to jokingly asks himself every
time he cuts a track, “Would my
mother approve of this?”
The highest point in this self
made musician’s career has been
opening for Jamaican R&B
artist Sean Kingston when he
came to Guelph in August. This
achievement was the result of over
a year of self promotion, tirelessly
updating
Facebook
statuses,
uploading YouTube videos, and
tweeting to Twitter.
So what exactly did social
networking do for Mazur? It
opened endless possibilities that
would otherwise not have been
present. Making music industry
connections with producer J.Staffz,
a musical mastermind who has
produced songs for Tony Yayo,
was a result of Mazur’s persistent
presence on the internet.
“Having J.Staffz as a producer
has been the biggest help,”
Mazur stated, explaining that
this collaboration has opened
many doors within the industry.
Producing both EP’s “The PreDrink” and “The Big Promotion,”
J.Staffz discovering Mazur’s music
over the internet was, the young
artist believes, one of the best
things that could have happened.
“J. Staffz knew exactly what
sound I was looking for.”
More locally, Mitch Ross of the
promotion company LateNites also
found out about Mazur through
the internet. Feeling that Mazur’s
unique brand of rap was marketable
to the students at the university, Ross
took Mazur under his wing and
helped the young artist work on his
stage presence. This connection gave
Jeremy King
Christopher Mazur performs live in Guelph after making
a name for himself through the web
Mazur a plethora of opportunities
to perform live in Guelph and
throughout Southern Ontario.
The internet has been making
people famous for some time
now, many people having their 15
minutes of fame through YouTube
or novelty Twitter accounts. Using
the viral capabilities of YouTube and
the mass social appeal of Facebook,
Mazur has successfully started his
music career, selling himself to a
variety of people over the internet by
manipulating the power of the web.
then translate into an image,” said
Deumer.
Visually her work takes the form
of a variety of letter and symbol
based pictures, blown up and
painted black onto white backdrops
in varying arrangements. One
of her pieces even mirrors a Van
Gogh work featuring sunflowers,
Deumer’s version using the same
pattern but replacing those flowers
with the (f ) that would create a
flower on the computer program. If
you recognize what the symbol is,
the image stirs thought as to what
a picture means and how modern
language works.
Both artists taking part in this
weeks exhibit show a great focus
on creativity, finding unique ways
to put together an exhibit that is
innovative and thought provoking.
Deumer and Bokma both have
plans to continue in their artistic
endeavours once their university
careers conclude at Guelph, but
for now their exhibits are free, and
open for the enjoyment of all.
Language meets picture in Zavitz Hall
Two young artists share
the Zavitz gallery
JOSH DOYLE
As another week nears end, so
comes another exhibit in the Zavitz
gallery. This week the gallery will
see two young artists collaborating
in space, though not on works.
Neither of these artists expected to
share the space this week, but due
to the overwhelming number of
students applying for gallery time
they were asked to share, eventually
finding things could not have
worked out more perfectly.
“I am very happy with it. I
actually think I’m happier being
with someone else than on my
own. If [my work is] shown in
a gallery it’s never going to be
shown completely on its own,” said
Stephanie Deumer, an arts student
in her final year of study.
Her fellow artist Renee Bokma
discussed her work as a collection
that is intimately connected to her
artistic development. This being
her first show, she chose to display
pieces that compliment her life’s
journey.
“I thought it was appropriate that
I put forward some of the work I
feel started me out. I don’t know if
people will be instantly looking at it
and thinking about their journey, but
that’s what I’m thinking about,” she
said. Her work is difficult to fit into
any single category, but as Bokma
explains, if there were a theme for
Pam Duynstee
Stephanie Deumer and Renee Bokma make sense of language
and picture at Zavitz hall this week
her work it would coincide with the
title of their exhibit.
“When I was younger I really
liked to mimic what was in the
world and that still interests me.
Our show being called ‘Better
Than the Real Thing,’ it’s not that I
would be trying to make something
that’s better, but I really just started
mimicking what was in the world
around me,” said Bokma. She
confessed to bringing the title to
life as a result of a comment her
boyfriend, now husband made in
their younger days,referring jokingly
to her self-portrait as “better than
the real thing.” Surprisingly he’s
still alive today, and fully supportive
of Renee’s work.
Deumer has chosen a different
approach to the exhibit, working
with language and the idea of words
as signifiers that are in many ways
arbitrary. Deumer has made use
of pre-image MSN emoticon’s to
create works, representing both their
complete lack, and simultaneous
wealth of symbolic importance.
“What I find really interesting
with language is that you use a
certain number or a certain pattern
of English letters or symbols that
10
Arts & Culture
Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2010
163.7
What are you reading?
East of Eden,
John Steinbeck
ALICJA GRZADKOWSKA
W
henever I find myself in
need of something to
read, I always revert to the
classics, which is why East of Eden by
John Steinbeck appeared on my dual
purpose mini-fridge/ bedside table a
couple of weeks ago. Before opening
the book, I was weary of anything
written by Steinbeck; an unpleasant
experience with Grapes of Wrath in
my youth had scarred me and the
author has since remained off of my
reading list.
Luckily, a sudden fascination with
James Dean, lead actor in the movie
version of the novel, spurned me to
make an effort at reading East of Eden
and so far, I have remained unscathed.
Unlike Grapes of Wrath where the
characters are mostly from the same
family, and as a result very similar to
one another in personality and speech,
the figures in East of Eden cover a
wide range of personas. For example,
the plot revolves around a young man
named Adam Trask who moves to
California in the early 1900s after
marrying a psychopathic serial killer in
the form of a pretty teenage girl.
While Adam is quiet, reserved
and trusting, his wife Cathy is cold
and calculating. Her crimes include
murdering her own parents after
intentionally setting her house on
fire, manipulating a pimp with her
innocent, angelic looks for his money,
and shooting her husband after giving
birth to his sons.
The appeal of the novel lies in the
sharp contrast between this character
and the other, mostly courageous and
moral people. Even the setting of the
Salinas Valley in California is serene
and idealistic, which Cathy is definitely
not. I find myself reading the book just
so I can find out whose life she’ll ruin
next, considering her impressive streak
up till now.
Besides the evil character of Cathy,
Steinbeck still keeps some of his major
themes in East of Eden. The struggle
between good and evil, the differences
between the East and the West of
America, and the images he depicts of
family relationships are the prevalent
concepts in the novel.
I’ve especially enjoyed the book
because of the interactions between
the members of different families.
Although family-centered issues are
not of much interest to me typically a reason I didn’t enjoy his other novel
- the portraits of various domestic
lives Steinbeck creates are relatable
and surprisingly fascinating.
The Trask family for instance, has
the problem of jealousy. The father
favours one son over the other which
leads to the development of the two
sons in completely different directions.
Compared to Adam, Charles is mean,
envious and obsessed with making
his father love him, which results in
a brutal rivalry between he and his
brother.
With the Trask relationship and
other situations in East of Eden,
Steinbeck reveals the human psyche in
its rawest and most frightening form.
He explores both the ideas with which
society shapes us into who we are, and
that we’re simply born a certain way
regardless of our environment. In this
way, Steinbeck allows the reader to
decide for themselves which theory
is true, while he peels back the layers
of the romantic American Dream. I’m
glad to have found that I actually like
a book by Steinbeck, considering his
honourable reputation. I thank James
Dean for this.
Courtesy
It is with great regret that The Ontarion is announcing
the departure of one of our longtime members, the
wonderful Mr. Timothy McBride.
Timothy has been a great leader, mentor, and friend to
members of The Ontarion Board and Staff for the past 11
years. We thank him for his hard work and contributions,
which have created The Ontarion that we produce and
that our readers enjoy today.
We would like to further express our gratitude for the
personal support, appreciation, and opportunities for
personal and professional growth that he has provided
to many Board members. The members of The Ontarion
wish him fulfillment, joy and success in any future
endeavours that he shall pursue.
11
Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2010
.com
Arts & Culture
Local author offers advice to young writers
Recently Published
author Sarah Totton
talks about getting
published and writing
stories
JAMES NAPIER
N
ew writers hoping to one
day have work published
will be pleased to hear
that Guelph’s own Sarah Totton
is hosting a workshop offering
advice on short story publishing
and writing. Totton will be
covering both the artistic and
business dimensions of short
story writing and will address
such topics as choosing your
markets, formatting your story,
as well as practical advice on
how to differentiate between
legitimate, and scam short story
contests. Totton is not aiming for
a lecture style atmosphere, and
will be taking questions so that
she can cover whichever topics
are of interest to the participants.
The workshop is free and open to
all, and will be held at the Main
Branch of the Guelph Public
Library on Nov. 3 at seven p.m.
Sarah began writing seriously
at age twenty-four and has since
won the 2007 Commonwealth
Short
Story
Competition,
placed third in the Writers of
the Future Contest and has
also won a Black Quill Award.
However, her success did not
happen overnight. When asked
to describe her experience of first
getting published she summed it
up in one word: Long. This comes
as no surprise once you realize
Sarah spends her time collecting
rejection letters, racking up about
500 so far. But Sarah has never
let this affect her motivation.
“I never found rejection letters to
be de-motivating. When I started
submitting stories, I knew that
the odds of selling weren’t good,
so I was expecting to be rejected.
I think that people tend to get
discouraged by rejections when
they expect to get an acceptance,”
Totton said.
Sarah is a licensed veterinarian.
She received her doctorate in
epidemiology last year, and is
currently working on food safety
research as well as her PhD
thesis. Her limited time budget
is what first brought her to short
story fiction.
“The thing about short stories is
that they lend themselves well to
being worked on in short bursts. I
can almost always manage to find an
hour a day of spare time and I can
make a good bit of progress writing
and finishing short stories if I keep
to that schedule,” Totton said.
Her stories still require a large
amount of time before they’re
ready to be sent out. “The Man
with the Seahorse Head,” which
won the Commonwealth prize, is
only one and a half pages long but
still took a month to complete –
one week writing and three weeks
of revising.
Ten of Sarah’s short stories
were recently released to a host of
glowing reviews in a compilation
named Animythical Tales, which
includes all of her award winning
stories as well as those with
honorary mentions. These animal
themed stories resist being
classified under any conventional
genre but are consistently
described as having a unique
and challenging perspective on
the world. Each story has an
intelligent humour woven into it
and a surrealistic twist, which stays
with you long after you’ve put the
book down. Animythical Tales
will be featured Thursday, Oct. 28
with Sarah in the MacLaughlin
library at 4:30pm for the Campus
Author Recognition Program
Ceremony and can be purchased
Megan Verhey
An avid reader enjoys the pages of Sarah Totton’s short story collection.
She’ll be offering advice on publishing on Nov. 3
at Chapters, Barnes and Nobles,
Powell’s and The Bookshelf in
downtown Guelph.
Totton’s advice for the hard
process of getting work published
is to always be working on
something new. “If you’re working
on something else, your emotional
investment in the story you’ve
submitted will decline and you’ll
be less sensitive to a rejection,”
she said. This and much more will
be explored next Wednesday at
the Guelph Public Library.
of the music world in 2010 is vastly
different. The mainstream media
is rather accustomed to the more
violent tendencies of underground
music, largely thanks to Nirvana for
bridging the gap (see my note in the
intro). This mainstream adoption
is written all over OFF!, as before
releasing their debut they were
interviewed, featured, and boasted
by the likes of NBC, Spinner, and
pretty much every medium in
between.
While this sort of promotion
would have killed a band (or at
least their fans would have) in the
late 70s, when OFF! does it, it’s
nothing short of refreshing. To see
Carson Daly describe a hardcore
punk rock band as being “just
ridiculous,” and then host them
and 300 of their fans on his show
is something the world just hasn’t
seen yet, and until OFF!, we really
weren’t ready for it. Considering
they blast through an entire EP in
the time most charted bands finish
their opening song, they really are
setting an example. OFF! are doing
something drastically different
than anyone has done successfully
in decades, yet have the integrity to
do it devoid of influence from The
Warped Tour.
It’s understandable that OFF!
may not be accessible to everyone.
After all, only small portions of
people still listen to records, and
even fewer deem it worthwhile to
play an EP for only four minutes
of music. The band has three more
EPs due out by December, all of
which will be collected in a deluxe
box-set dubbed The First Four EPs
to be released on Nov. 23. Sure to
stay on my turntable for weeks at a
time, OFF! is my pick for best new
band of 2010.
Reviewer rating: 5/5
The jukebox
OFF! OFF!
PATRICK MCEACHNIE
or a band that admits to
not listening to new music,
it becomes very easy to
rot away in a bar playing dated
material that no one really cares
about anymore. Thankfully that’s
not what’s happened to the guys in
OFF! While I try my best to avoid
calling them a “supergroup,” the
four members have been playing
punk successfully longer than the
majority of us have been alive.
Thirty-four years ago Keith Morris
co-founded a band named Panic,
later to be changed to Black Flag.
Black Flag changed the nature of
punk rock and music as a whole
(attention Nirvana fans: pick up
“In My Head” by Black Flag), but
the Morris-fronted Black Flag
imploded soon after.
Now, thirty-four years later, we
have OFF!; a band who takes no
influence from punk rock post 1983,
in what could be considered a sort
of PSA to the current generation.
Call them delusional, call them over
the hill, hell, you might even call it
a comeback. The point is, the four
F
Courtesy
parts contributing to OFF! have
produced more influential records
than most record labels. Now that
I’ve got the “supergroup” notion
out of the way, I can talk about the
important part: the music.
OFF!’s first release, The 1st EP!
is available only on 7” vinyl, and
not unlike early Black Flag, Red
Kross, and Rocket From The Crypt
material, is jaw-droppingly efficient.
Playing four songs in less than
four minutes, the jarring nature of
these songs is relentless. While this
EP makes an amazing debut for
listeners familiar with the names
of their resume, it is definitely not
an introductory step to the genre
as a whole. Even though these
sounds were fodder for dropping
out of school and ammunition for
angry parents in 1979, the climate
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Y
spotlight:
local painters
Josh
Doyle
by
ou need not look far to
find great painters in
this town. You can find
their work in particular
nightclubs and cafés,
or at the homes of
committed
collectors
and impulsive buyers –if you
know any. They live from day to
day doing what they love, some
working tirelessly at perfecting
their craft. But as incredible as it
sounds to have one’s profession
coincide directly with what they
care about most, the life of an artist
is not luxurious. While painting
is one of the more accessible
forms of visual art, sales are often
infrequent. Especially for those
who paint as their primary source
of income, the profession provides
little stability for a craft that is
highly involved, and requires a
devotion of both time and self. Art
is seen as a luxury, and when the
economy goes belly-up they are
often the ones who feel it hardest.
This is why artists need constant
support, and not just financially.
They need people like you to take
an active interest in what they’re
doing. Even if you have no plans
to purchase art, simply going to
galleries and seeing what’s there is
a great way to support your local
artistic community in a helpful
and appreciated way. It’s not like
the forum isn’t there; Guelph is
full of great artists and galleries,
you just have to look. And even
that has been done for you, as we
shine the light on three of the
city’s impressive studios.
Gallery: Whitestone Gallery
Location: 80 Norfolk St
Online:www.whitestonegallery.
wordpress.com
Down on Norfolk Avenue,
just across from the Albion, is a
little place called the Whitestone
Gallery. The gallery is comprised
of art by 14 different artists, all of
whom help to fund and maintain
the gallery. Two of these members
are couple Michelle Leblanc and
Larry Lawrence. Though they live
and work together, having a studio
of their own at home, Lawrence
and Leblanc produce drastically
different works of art, which
speaks to the diversity you can
find throughout the Whitestone
gallery.
Leblanc’s work clearly falls
under the category of ‘abstract,’
the colours and lines of her work
blending together in ways that
often make no recognizable image.
Still her work is captivating and
eye catching, which gives it an
added allure because although you
may like it, you aren’t sure why.
“Totally abstract work is what I
do, but I also do semi-abstract that
are based on landscape, and I use
a lot of medium and a lot of really
bright colours,” said LeBlanc.
Many people find abstract
painting odd because they cannot
make sense of it, which often effects
their appreciation of the work. But
Leblanc seems to have a talent for
putting things together in a way
that you can appreciate without
understanding. Leblanc described
her work as a process that is rarely
ever completed in one sitting, and
finds herself revisiting the pieces
time after time before seeing a
result she is satisfied with.
“I like to go back to the canvas
before or after the paint dries,
and just scrub away areas to show
the colour beneath it, and to go
in with pencil and to go in with
charcoal and different tools just to
create more texture in the works,”
Leblanc said.
Although
LeBlanc
finds
passion in painting and has done
it since her teenage years, it is not
her primary source of income.
Her paintings sell frequently,
even being for promotion in the
Guelph Jazz Festival. But despite
her sales and publicity, the world
of professional painting is, for
many, to difficult a life to be solely
relied on.
“It’s really difficult for an artist
that’s developing or even a mid
career artist to really make a
living at it. It certainly doesn’t
pay the bills,” she said of her
work. Painting for Leblanc exists
as a passionate departure from
her working life, where she can
experiment creatively with colour
and maintain a long-standing
passion.
Her partner Lawrence shares
her passion, though not her style.
He tends to paint more natural
and recognizable imagery, adding
his own perspective to bring out
certain elements that make each
piece unique.
“I have a series of portraits of
cows, one from the barn down
at the University of Guelph. The
animals, sheep, cows, really seem
to take on a personality when
you paint them. Beyond that, the
general view of rural scenery is
lovely,” Lawrence said.
As a retired dentist, Lawrence
shares LeBlanc’s approach to
painting more for the enjoyment
of it than to make a living. In fact
Lawrence is happy enough to
cover the cost of his habit, noting
the price of canvases and materials
adds up very quickly for an artist.
Like any artist though, he is not
against selling his work, and he
has noticed a definite shift in the
amount of art that gets sold now
compared to a few years ago.
“I was selling more work in 2003
to 2006, because the economic
situation was such that people
were buying. But lately everyone
has been tightening their pocket
books, because its discretionary
spending as opposed to paying
for your light, heat, mortgage and
food. I certainly couldn’t live on
it. I’d certainly be a starving artist
if I wasn’t a retired dentist,” said
Lawrence.
But Lawrence indeed is a retired
dentist and so Lawrence and his
partner LeBlanc have the luxury of
painting for their own enjoyment.
This approach does have its
benefits, allowing both these artists
the space to be as creative as they
like without the strain of thinking
the art must eventually be sold. As
with any good artist it’s the desire
to create that motivates these two,
leading to such beautiful works as
they both create.
“If you speak to many artists,
they can’t resist painting, they
just love it. It’s really process not
product that drives them. It’s the
fun of picking up the paint, putting
it on the canvas and spreading it
around and watching the magic
happen,” said Lawrence.
The Whitestone Gallery is
where you can find these and
twelve other talented local artists
displaying their work. The gallery
holds a philosophy of seeking
members who hold diversity and
maturity, as well as an all around
commitment to the craft. Together
they laugh, cry, pay the rent and
make art, making the Whitestone
Gallery something of a one-stop
shop for a wide variety of artistic
expression. The casual atmosphere
is inviting and warm, and you can
be sure no one will try and pressure
you into a purchase.
“We’re not turning out cars
and we have to sell so many cars
in order to pay the overhead,
we just can’t help creating,” said
Lawrence.
Studio: Crimea Street Studio
Location: 100 Crimea St, B3
Online: www.carolynriddell.ca
There are those, of course, who
do paint full time; artists that
work day and night to create and
sell their work, paying the bills on
their passion. Carolyn Riddell is
one of these painters. Her studio
is on Crimea Street, an older and
somewhat industrial part of town
where Guelph looks very much like
it did twenty years ago. Riddell’s
studio is like a hidden gem in this
area, disguising itself amongst the
many office spaces in her building.
The difference between Riddell
and her neighbors is apparent
once you open the door.
“I’ve had studio’s where you had
to climb rickety old stairs, windows
would be broken and snow would
be coming in,” said Riddell of the
workspaces she’s had in the past.
Her new studio is a sanctuary in
comparison and Riddell fills it
with her wares. Her work takes
many different forms, which says
something about the nature of her
art and of artists today. Riddell’s
versatility and her ability to work
with a variety of materials have
helped make her art a success.
“I don’t pre-think what I want
to do. I work in many different
materials because I think each
material has a strength that is
unique to it. A watercolour, how
it resonates on white paper has
a different kind of energy than a
thick gooey oil mark on canvas,”
Riddell said, getting into some
of the hands on aspects of her
practice.
Riddell adopted a passion for
painting in her early days of
classroom art projects that has
carried her through her adult life.
“There were moments when I
was really little, and I had access
to crayons… I remember kneeling
down on the floor and making
marks, and thinking, ‘This is it,’”
Riddell said of her early infatuation.
When she came of age Riddell
found the support she needed
through a well-outfitted arts
program at Eastwood Collegiate
High School in Kitchener, ON.
“[I had] three really good
teachers. [They were] super
supportive, one of them entered
my work for a scholarship at the
AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario),
and I got it,” said Riddell. Through
the AGO she was exposed to a
surplus of artistic material and
instruction, having
multiple
teachers to look to.
School programs are an important
factor in whether an artist’s past
time will evolve into a career worthy
passion, and surely not everyone is
as lucky as Riddell was. Most high
schools suffer from lacking arts
programs, these areas often getting
less attention due to their appeal as
“luxury learning’s.” Riddell notices
the same attitude now towards the
purchasing of art, but she doesn’t
see economic downturn as having
to deplete art sales necessarily. Art
is in a lot of ways a luxury item,
but so are many other things that
have a less profound and enriching
effect upon our lives. Riddell hopes
that people will take notice of their
smaller but more frequent luxury
spending, choosing to cut back in
these areas while still springing for
those rare pieces of art that move
them.
“[Hopefully] rather than just
running out and buying things
they don’t need, they’ll think
about making a quality purchase,
like a piece of art,” said Riddell.
It’s an optimistic outlook to say
the least, but a little optimism is
a must if you want to survive as a
modern artist. Riddell admits that
sales are not what they were a few
years ago, which hurts all the more
an artist who relies on those sales
for income.
“It’s really hard. It hasn’t
stopped me [though]. I’ve had to
balance with teaching, and now a
framing business in order to keep
this space, which has taken me 20
years to find.”
It’s obvious upon entering
Riddell’s studio that art is, “what
she does.” Rent each month could
easily afford her another mortgage,
but this is all part of the cost of
doing business; if you want to be
taken seriously you have to take
yourself seriously. Riddell holds that
given the chance to take up another
profession, with better hours and
more money, she simply wouldn’t.
“Economics aside it’s the
best profession. I can’t think of
anything that gives out as much as
you put in, or gives more.”
Studio: Catch 23
Location: 23 Wyndham St. N
Online: www.catch-23.ca
Riddell is not alone in her use
of studio space not only to paint,
but also to build frames; an aspect
more intimately tied to the appeal
of a final product than some may
think. Catch 23 is another local
spot where both of these crafts are
worked on day in and day out. Ryan
Price is an artist and print maker,
which was what initially led him
to start his own custom framing
business. Price knows from his
own experience with selling and
displaying art the value that a piece
can gain through the introduction
of a well-suited frame.
“It does definitely make a
difference, I know for myself
selling prints it’s always been
noteworthy. It shows. It’s the same
as the way you dress. People who
are seeing you see this superficial
thing, and think you obviously
care about your work and they see
the care that goes into it,” Price
said, touching on the philosophy
behind his business. Price
consistently uses the best materials
available, incorporating unique
cuts and custom shaping to create
frames that truly compliment the
many diverse styles of art on the
market today. The main thing is to
“draw your eye to [the art] without
distracting,” said Price.
In the competitive marketplace
of gallery showings and displays
today, having the right frame
could be the difference between
selling and not selling your work.
But with the quality that goes into
frames they can become expensive
very quickly, making frames
something of a luxury for many
artists.
“It’s tough because artists
generally aren’t a group with a lot
of extra money,” said Price. As an
artist Price knows his customer
base well and knows the difficulty
in spending money on an already
tight budget. The catch is that in
today’s market place artists need
to use every opportunity available
to them to make their work more
attractive to the buyer.
“For me, thinking about my
art and thinking about my career,
I think it costs money to make
money. If you have a budget and
you have a show and you feel proud
enough about the work… You’re
selling a product, and people look
at the quality of the product, and
they see the frame as part of the
product,” said Price.
Sharing the space with Price
at Catch 23 is fellow artist Tina
Newlove, another painter who
makes her living with her creativity.
Similar to many of the successful
artists today Tina started painting
at a young age, studying art at
McMaster University before
moving to Guelph where she now
resides. Tina’s work takes on an
abstract figurative form, finding
unusual shapes that are often
inexplicable, while blending those
elements with recognizable figures.
She loves to draw inspiration from
day to day life, finding interest in
anything from what she sees while
walking the streets to the furniture
in a living room, professing that
she finds patterns everywhere that
help her draw ideas for works.
“I notice things like city grids,
or the patterns of street lights,
the stripes on the couch. Not that
that’s what I paint, but it ends
up sort of in the patterns of my
painting,” said Newlove.
Newlove also blends her visual
art with music, collaborating
with a group called Tribe of One.
Newlove actually shares the stage
with the band during performance,
all the while painting a work of art
as the band performs.
“I guess when I hear music I’m
also seeing it in a way of patterns,”
Newlove said.
Newlove
approaches
this
artistic contribution from a place
of passion, although she has been
considering new ways to use her
position to increase her artistic
presence. In light of the insurgence
of ‘living-room concerts’ that have
become popular in Guelph and
several other cities, Newlove has
played with the idea of using those
venues to promote and sell art,
placing her own paintings on the
walls throughout the home while
audience members enjoy the music.
A sort of guerilla-marketing ploy,
this is exactly the kind of tactic
artists today need in order to stand
out. As Newlove stated, selling art
today is very much about having
your work readily available, and
making yourself known.
“A lot of artists… don’t like to
market themselves, but you really
do have to take advantage of every
opportunity to let people know
who you are and what you do. It’s
getting your name out there and
showing your work as much as you
can,” Newlove said.
At the end of the day, Newlove
sees Guelph as a healthy place
for selling art. While she finds
more consistent work in the larger
metropolis of Toronto, Newlove
believes the artistic community
in Guelph is both present and
knowledgeable.
Carolyn Riddell shared the
feeling that our city is in good
artistic hands, rhyming off a list
of the artists locally that she finds
hold great ability.
“There are a lot of really fine
people making work here. The
city’s lucky,” Riddell said.
Certain local businesses take
advantage of the city’s artistic
presence, albeit some more than
others. Places like the Red Brick
Café do their part in supporting
artists, hosting different painters
and consistently finding new
work to display monthly. They’ve
recently held exhibits for both
Lawrence and Leblanc, and
Newlove too has had her work
shown in this culturally aware
collection point. A well-frequented
spot for locals in the know, music
club Manhattans has also been
known as an establishment
that favours local artwork to
the mainstream indulgences of
popular franchise. You may have
also seen advertisements for the
Guelph Jazz festival this year,
which proudly toted Michelle
Leblanc’s work ‘Night Jazz’ on its
posters.
“We all try and pull for each
other,” said Riddell of the artistic
community.Though there are many
artists working simultaneously
and beside one another to sell
their work in the city, the feeling
they’ve created is one more of
sharing than competing.
“There’s definitely a market
for different types of work and
because everybody is pretty unique
then I think there’s a market
for everybody,” said Michelle
Leblanc.
Other artists will agree that the
community is lively and committed.
If it weren’t then galleries like the
Whitestone would not be able
to stay afloat. But this and other
galleries are funded primarily
by the artists, and without the
interest of people throughout the
city they serve as little more than
storage space. Luckily that interest
is healthy, but it can always stand
to grow.
“Our artists need constant
support. If you have a Saturday
afternoon with nothing to do,
contact an artist, go to their studio.
They’re all working [constantly] to
try and make genuine work,” said
Riddell, advising the community
to take an active part in the artistic
production that goes on behind
the scenes in our own backyard.
Her message is not that we must
buy art, but that it’s enough to
merely show an interest.
It’s not necessary that on a
student budget or otherwise
you go out purchasing art like a
collector, spending hundred’s of
dollars before you can blink an eye.
It’s a matter of knowing what’s
out there, and taking advantage of
what truly is a talented community.
With the amount of artistic talent
at our school alone, this spotlight
could very well be on someone you
know one day.
Photo credits, clockwise from top:
Tina Newlove, Tina Newlove,
Larry Lawrence, Carolyn Riddell,
Larry Lawrence, Carolyn Riddell,
Michelle Leblanc, Larry Lawrence,
Carolyn Riddell.
Michelle Leblanc
14
Sports & Health
Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2010
163.7
Cool in the pool
Gryphon swimmers
start strong
DAN O’KEEFE
I
t may be early in the season,
but the swim team is already
making a splash. The team
has competed in multiple events
this season, and hosted the OUA
Invitational on Oct. 16, where
they owned the pool in more than
one way.
A common and inevitable
problem with varsity sports is the
loss of team members to graduation
and the swim team is no exception.
Three-year team captain, Scott Van
Doormaal, Jon Pilon, and Whitney
Lum were some of the graduates.
However this has not discouraged
the team.
Sporting a few changes, head
coach Don Burton called the
women’s group “a much more
competitive team.” The men will
certainly hold their own too, as
both the men and the women have
proven swimmers returning to
compete alongside some talented
rookies.
One such rookie is David
Nowicki. Nowicki is a nationallevel competitor with his sights set
high. He is looking to make the
podium in the CIS championships
later this year. Besides Nowicki,
there are many other rookies who
are already making an impact.
Rebecca Fyfe, Alisha Harricharan,
Nia Zakrzewski, Derek Quick,
and Graham Mitchell are just
some of the 14 rookies the team
features this season.
The Gryphons had an absolutely
phenomenal showing in both
individual and relay events when
they hosted the OUA Invitational.
On the individual side, Chantique
Payne took home two first place and
one second place finish, Matthew
Stephenson and Wil Wright
grabbed a first place and a second
place finish each, Troy Baxter and
Benjamin Roberts both found first
place finishes, and Rebecca Fyfe
captured a second place finish. In
the relay events, the Gryphons shone
in the medley, where they placed in
the top three eight times, six times
in first. The relay teams found the
podium an additional four times.
“[We are] superpumped for [their]
medley relays which
are especially strong
this year,” said
Gryphon swim team
member Chantique
Payne.
The medley relay events involve
four team members. One member
must swim backstroke, one
breaststroke, one butterfly, and
one freestyle. Chantique Payne
said the team is “Super-pumped
for [their] medley relays which
are especially strong this year.”
They also played a big role in
the Tri-Meet, featuring swimmers
from Guelph, Waterloo, and Brock
University, which the Gryphon
swimmers
“proudly
won.”
Benjamin Roberts attributes the
team’s triumphs to “group effort,”
and calls it “the result of hard
training and strong team morale.”
Unfazed by their initial success,
Megan Verhey
Rookie Gryphon swim team member, Rebecca Fyfe, warms up before
her 50 metre breaststroke race at the OUA Sprint Invitational.
the team has a number of longterm goals to which they remain
thoroughly devoted. The team
is aiming for top-three finishes
for the women and the men at
the OUA championships, and
hoping to send an all-time high
number of swimmers to the
CIS championships in February.
Guelph is currently the ninthranked swimming school in the
nation, and CIS qualifications
will certainly assist the team in
improving that rank.
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Hayley Mullen
First-year Gryphons mid-fielder, Spiros Maimonis tries to dribble around UOIT defenders in an 11-0 Guelph
win on Sunday Oct. 24.
15
Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2010
.com
Sports & Health
Women’s rugby has eyes set on CIS national title
Their quest begins this
weekend at Queen’s to
capture OUA
provincial title.
ANDREW DONOVAN
ew teams in any sport in
the OUA are consistently
dominating year in and
year out; but for every rule there
is an exception. Going into the
women’s rugby OUA semi-final
game against the McMaster
Marauders, our ladies have
been the epitome of dominance.
Surrendering only seven points
of the season the week prior to
Western and outscoring their
opponents by a total of 451
points in six games.
That thrashing of opponents
continued last Saturday Oct.
23 when McMaster travelled to
Guelph to face the Gryphons in
F
the semi-finals. The final score
was a convincing 39-0 route,
heading into the finals at Queen’s
University in Kingston, ON.
Head coach Colette McAuley
was impressed with the way the
Gryphons team played together
to earn this victory.
“During the season it was
more individual athletes shining
through but once we hit the
defensive pressure of McMaster
they played good rugby, good
supportive rugby,” said McAuley.
McAuley was very firm when
asked about what the team’s
expectation were going into
this season, “We want to win
nationals.”
Guelph has solidified a spot
in the CIS national tournament,
set to be played in Peterborough
starting Nov. 4, after they
advanced to the OUA finals
against Queen’s.
Although a national title is the
ultimate goal, there is a process in
getting there and that will begin
in Kingston this weekend.
“You can’t control what the
opponents do; all we can control
is how we attack from any kind
of pressure they give us,” said
McAuley about the way the team
is preparing for this week’s bout.
In order for Guelph to win
the OUA championship it’s
undoubtedly going to take a
total team effort again, but the
usual suspects are bound to have
outstanding games if Guelph is
to win.
After five regular season games,
Guelph had three players in the
top five in overall points. First
overall is Britt Benn, with 99
points, Jacey Murphy is in second
with 85 points and rounding out
the top five is Mirela Rahneva
with 40 points.
Guelph has won nine OUA
championships in the last 14
years including three in the
past four years and one national
championship in 1999. If
nothing but history supports
their bid this year, then the
women are going to walk away
with their fourth OUA title in
five years.
So how does a team so
incredibly talented and dominant
stay modest?
“Well we had a dominating
season last season and we
basically fell apart at nationals so
the girls know that and it’s in the
back of their minds because they
don’t want to do what they did
last year,” said McAuley.
Guelph lost to the University
of Lethbridge in the finals last
year and are going to be in tough
again this season if they wish
to capture the programs second
national title.
Proudly displayed on the front
page of the Lethbridge University
site is the women’s rugby team
holding up the banner for their
fifth consecutive Canada-West
conference title.
The Lethbridge Pronghorns
beat the Alberta Pandas to remain
atop the CIS standings and their
expectation is to see Guelph in
the final, and win.
However, if point differential is
an indicator as to who this year’s
champion will be unfortunately
for the Pronghorns, they only
accumulated a total differential
of 163.
Physically, on the field, it is
clear what Guelph has to do to
capture the CIS title.
“We have a pretty veteran
team,” said McAuley. “They’re
running the ball well and with
confidence.”
Student-run club shines
University of Guelph
Ultimate Frisbee
club earns medals at
Nationals
JUSTIN DUNK
ll any athlete ever asks for
is a chance. The chance to
compete in their chosen
sport at the highest-level possible.
The Ultimate Frisbee club here at
the U of G does compete - and
compete well they have! But the
club is just that, a club.
The Ultimate Frisbee club is
student-run and they work to try
and encourage membership at
the start of each school year.
A lot of people might hear
the word ‘club’ and think that all
clubs are created simply for fun
and enjoyment, which most clubs
tend to be about. The Ultimate
Frisbee club is interuniversity,
meaning the men’s and women’s
teams compete against different
universities across Canada. The
governing body of Ultimate
Frisbee in Canada, simply
named, Ultimate Canada, holds
two competitions in the fall. The
Canadian Eastern University
Ultimate
Championship,
which acts as pre-cursor to the
Canadian University Ultimate
Championship, which is the
national
Ultimate
Frisbee
championship tournament.
Women’s Ultimate Frisbee club
team captain, Jill Guerra, believes
the Ultimate Frisbee club is on
par with any other varsity or
non-varsity sport at Guelph.
“We have structured practices,
we have fitness, we have drills,
A
we scrimmage and it’s all about
getting to the level that we can
compete against other teams
at other universities that aren’t
necessarily club,” said Guerra.
“We need to get up to the same
level as [varsity teams].”
This ‘club’ is beating other varsity
university Frisbee programs across
the country. The Guelph Ultimate
men’s team recently won the
Canadian University Ultimate
Championship, while the women
took home a silver medal.
“The team that beat us in the
finals was the Ottawa Gee-Gees.
They have a coach. They have
more funding. Varsity doesn’t
necessarily mean they’re better,
it’s just whether or not your
university can afford to fund
you,” said Guerra. “Currently
our university can’t [afford to
fund our team], but we still, as
a student-run organization, can
compete and have shown in
nationals that we have the best
Ultimate [Frisbee] program in
all of Canada.”
This club competed against,
and beat, universities from across
the country and produced the
best-combined result, men and
women, in all of Canada.
The next step for the Ultimate
Frisbee club is to become a
recognized varsity sport by the
Guelph athletic department.
There are a few objects in the way
of the Ultimate Frisbee club’s
goal, and men’s team member
Andy Kubinec pointed out the
reasons why the OUA has yet to
sanction the sport.
“The University of Guelph
standards are such that the OUA
Rashaad Bhamjee
Members of the Ultimate Frisbee club at the University of Guelph, honing their skills during one of the
team’s practices.
has to recognize our competition.
[OUA] won’t recognize our
competitions that are hosted by
Ultimate Canada,” said Kubinec.
“The goal of Ultimate Canada
is to have the OUA recognize the
sport in the next five years,” said
Kubinec. “Some of the things
they have started with is phasing
out the ‘pick-ups’ and trying to
ensure that students that play
only have five years of eligibility.
Which conforms to the OUA
regulations right now.”
The Ultimate Frisbee club has
started to comply with the OUA
regulations in hopes of being a
sanctioned sport in the near future.
“By taking these steps to
increase the competition and make
it more legitimate, the OUA will
[start] the process of recognizing
Ultimate,” said Guerra.
One of the most interesting
or head scratching aspects of
the sport, depending on how
you look at Ultimate Frisbee, is
the fact that the players referee
themselves.
“Its unlike so many other
sports, we can play at such a
high level but be able to have
the integrity on the field to ref
ourselves,” said Guerra. “We ref
ourselves and you win by being
better at the sport, at this level
it’s about being a true athlete.”
The Ultimate Frisbee team
members take great pride in the
purity and respect of their sport.
“When you’re on the field you
are competing with the other
team, you see them as your
competitor, but then once the
game’s over, you shake hands
and you recognize them as
fellow athletes,” said Guerra. “I
think that’s what our team here
at Guelph personifies, we have
so much respect for each other
on our teams, we’re just one big
family and then we have respect,
mutual respect, with other teams
that we compete against.”
16
Sports & Health
Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2010
163.7
Gryphon men take home OUA bronze
Golf team has strong
showing at Angus Glen
ANDREW DONOVAN
he Gryphon’s golf team
travelled to Markham to
play on one of Canada’s
most prestigious golf courses,
Angus Glen. Angus Glen has
hosted to some of Canada’s most
prominent golf events, including
the 2001 BMO Canadian
Women’s Open, 2001 Telus Skins
game, 2002 Bell Canadian Open
and the 2007 Canadian Open.
But just as important to the
University of Guelph, it was host
to the 2010 OUA championships
where the Gryphons picked up a
bronze medal on the mens side
and an eighth place finish overall
for the women.
On a weekend that presented
the golfers with cold and windy
conditions and less than desirable
greens, the Gryphons stood up
to the challenge. Two players
performed
particularly
well:
first team OUA all-star, Eric
Pattenaude, (Sarnia, Ont.), who
finished with the team’s individual
best score, a two day total of 147
(75,72) in fifth place and Chris
Hemmerich (Kitchener, Ont.),
the OUA second team all-star,
finished with a total of 149 (75,74)
and placed ninth overall in the
individual standings.
T
Hemmerich, a freshman here
at the U of G, is a highly touted
star who had the opportunity to
play golf at some NCAA schools
but chose not to because, “There’s
no guarantee you get to play in the
USA [schools].”
This uncertainty landed the
Kitchener native at Guelph and
his first season as a Gryphon was
very successful.
“It was pretty cool,” said
Hemmerich. “But I didn’t really
know what it meant to win second
team all-star.”
Head coach, Connie Deckert
spoke highly of Chris’ play and
referred to his outstanding parsaving putt on the last hole as
a key moment in securing the
bronze medal.
“Chris Hemmerich made a 1012 footer on the last hole to save
par,” said Deckert.
Deckert, being very modest, said
while Hemmerich’s clutch parsaving putt on the 18th was “a visible
shot”, a lot has to be said about the
shots that didn’t get noticed.
“Lots of tremendous shots
were made,” said Deckert. “The
gold[medal winning team] was
591 shots and we were 598 so
that’s roughly 600 shots and one
percent of the total equals six
shots...we were seven shots off,”
said Deckert.
This really puts the tournament,
and the game of golf, into
perspective for just how big an
accomplishment this was for the
Gryphons this year.
Even
with
Pattenaude’s
round of 72 on the final day and
Hemmerich’s two-round total of
149, overall, there were still unsung
heroes on the team like Nick
Powell, who is a highly talented
player who never got recognized
with an official OUA award.
Deckert
attributes
his
underrepresentation
to
the
changes in OUA awards.
The league used to take into
consideration all tournaments
when calculating all-star points
and the points would double
for the final tournament; if this
system was still in place, Powell
would have been a second team
all-star. In the unofficial awards,
using the old points system,
Powell was awarded with OUA
second team honours at the
unofficial awards ceremony on
the night after the tournament.
With six rookies on the team this
year and a third place overall finish,
it would appear that the Guelph
golf team is well on their way to
becoming a consistent, dominant
force in OUA competition and
coach Deckert and the rest of the
golfers are extremely excited for
the progression that is taking them
into next season.
Gryphon Athletics
Third-year Gryphon golf team member Nicholas Powell warms up
before the OUA championships at Angus Glen.
Throwing it down with Dunk: Sudden death knockout round
I
t is playoff time for many
Gryphon varsity teams who have
fought and battled through the
rigors of their OUA regular season to
secure a spot in the postseason. This
is the time of year where emotions
run high and the only stakes are do
JUSTIN DUNK
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or die. Do and your team moves on
to the next playoff round, die and
your team will be sent home to clean
out their lockers.
Quick Reads
Soccer
The men’s soccer team snatched
a playoff spot that seemed out of
reach with an impressive 2-2 draw
against the OUA - leading York
Lions on Saturday Oct. 23, then
with an 11 goal beat down of the
UOIT Ridgebacks on Sunday
Oct. 24.
Football
The Gryphons limp into the
OUA playoffs after a 54-11 blowout
by Ottawa in the nation’s capital.
The team must put that loss out of
sight and mind in order to focus
on a Laurier team that they played
to a 2-2 draw in the second half of
their regular season matchup, after
a 34-0 first half explosion by the
Golden Hawks.
The Gryphons were without
starting quarterback Chris Rossetti
in the regular season game between
these teams, which could be an
advantage for Guelph. But the
Gryphons must come out with
some energy - the team has looked
lethargic and dazed in the first half
of most games this season.
Men’s Rugby
Clinched a playoff spot by
defeating the University of Toronto,
24-10, this past Saturday, Oct.
23. The Gryphons will travel to
Kingston to take on the Queen’s
Gaels in the OUA quarterfinal
this Saturday Oct. 30 can the men
avenge their 28 - nothing regular
season loss to the Gaels?
Guelph needs to get on the
scoreboard early to give the team
some confidence and show that
they can hang with the Gaels.
Field Hockey
Our dominant Gryphon women
travel to York for the OUA
championships this weekend.
Suffice to say the women will not
be satisfied with anything less then
OUA gold.
The OUA gold medal game will
surely come down to the Gryphons
and U of T Varsity Blues, in what
has become a bitter rivalry. Guelph
has one win and one loss against
the Blues in the regular season,
with both games nip and tuck the
whole way.
With an OUA gold medal on the
line the intensity will only increase,
but the women must play strong
defensively to capture the OUA
field hockey title.
Cross Country
With a strong regular season
behind them the Gryphon cross
country team’s full attention is on
the OUA championships being
held this weekend in Guelph.
A new course was put in at the
Arboretum, where the men’s and
women’s OUA championship
races will be held, which should
give the Gryphons an advantage,
having run and practiced on this
course many times.
Rowing
The OUA rowing championships
also take place this weekend in St.
Catherines. The Gryphon men
will be led by Mark Henry (light
weight singles) and Adam Rabalski
(singles), who will be looking for
podium finishes in their respective
classes.
The Gryphon women will be led
by Kertih Gordon in lightweight
singles and Tani Weber and Erin
Stephenson in lightweight doubles,
who are striving for podium
finishes.
Playoff time is when heroes
shine and cement their Gryphon
legacy. Which Guelph athletes will
provide us with moments never to
be forgotten?
17
Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2010
.com
Sports & Health
Men’s lacrosse leave regular season undefeated
Gryphons clinch
home field throughout
playoffs
SARAH DUNSTAN
T
hose who braved the
torrential downpour on
Saturday Oct. 23 to trek
up to Varsity Field witnessed a
fine display of dedication, skill and
lacrosse in a 9-7 win for the men’s
lacrosse team. The defeat of the
Western Mustangs marked the
Gryphons’tenth straight victory this
season, leaving the team undefeated
as they head into the playoffs.
The Gryphons appeared to
conquer the first period, marked
by an early goal scored by Sean
Thomson, assisted by Braden
Gallant. But a multitude of penalties
later, the Mustangs took control of
the game, tying the second quarter
4-4, and beginning the third with
a 7-4 lead. The situation appeared
dismal, but the boys managed to
regroup and save the game. The
Gryphons pulled together during
the latter part of the third quarter
and the entire fourth, hammering
in enough shots at the opposing
net to take the game. Andrew
Stoner, who scored during the first
quarter, effortlessly weaved through
Western’s defense to score Guelph’s
ninth and final goal of the game.
“We’ve got a talented team both
offensively and defensively,” said
head coach, Sam Kosakowski.
“Our boys play well on both sides
of the ball.”
With nine new players,
this year’s roster consists of
Canadian
lacrosse’s
finest
players from Guelph’s 2008
national championship win,
players that have competed for
Junior A, Junior B, and Senior
A championships, and even a
few from the National Lacrosse
League. Throughout the lacrosse
program’s 25 years at Guelph, the
Gryphons have become known
far and wide for their excellence case in point: the team has missed
competing in the finals only
four times in the past 20 years.
Though the Gryphons’ playoff
run ended in the quarterfinals
last year, the team appears to have
found a healthy balance between
cautiousness and confidence
heading into playoff time.
“We were up by six [goals] and
ended up losing by two [goals]
last year,” said Kosakowski. “The
playoffs are a new season. It’s all
about staying focused, taking one
game at a time.”
The Gryphons may have won
all their games during the regular
season, but not without a few close
calls, along with the challenges of
prominent stick control penalties.
“We’ve got to focus on [the other
team] and our own strengths and
weaknesses,” said Kosakowski.
“It’s the nature of sport; you’ve
got to practice and focus, or else
situations spiral out of control way
too quickly.”
The men will lock horns with
the McMaster Marauders on
the afternoon of Halloween
in a quarterfinal matchup. The
Gryphons will be looking for some
revenge, McMaster ended Guelph’s
season one year ago by defeating
the Gryphons 10-8, a loss that the
men surely have not forgotten. The
Marauders, to whom they nearly
succumbed twice this past season,
no doubt pose a viable threat to the
Gryphons. The Marauders played
the Gryphons the toughest of
Rashaad Bhamjee
Gryphons midfielder Russell Poulton looks for an open teammate.
any team this season and the men
will be looking to knock out their
biggest rival in the first round. But
Kosakowski maintains faith in his
men, and their commitment to and
passion for lacrosse.
“We’re not going [into the finals]
tempting fate,” said Kosakowski.
“We’re just going to go out and play
the game we know how to play.”
Living the pure life: Making the Switch: Part III
LEIGH MCSWAN
s the final chapter of
Making the Switch
role’s around, I decided
I would incorporate something
synonymous with university
students and food. In the past,
most students were living off
of Kraft Dinner and hot dogs;
now we’re starting to see an
increasing trend in fast food
consumption. What gives?!
At least Kraft Dinner and hot
dogs are cheap, so the logic is
there, but fast food can be quite
expensive, and doesn’t sustain
you for very long.
Well, let’s look at this from
your perspective as the student:
you are crunched for time,
cooking Kraft Dinner does take
a whopping 10 minutes, standing
in line and ordering probably
takes 3-5. In addition to the time
saving, the real reason could be
the bombarding advertisements
placed around campus.
Ads are a main reason for high
consumerism. Even indirect
ads, such as your classmates
carrying a can of pop is a form of
advertising and is very effective.
We, as humans are generally
taught by observation- monkey
see, monkey do. Monkey see pop,
Skip this
Replace with this
Wendy’s Large Fries
(540k cal, 25g fat, 6g fibre)
Baked Potato chives & broccoli
(290k cal, 0.5g fat, 8g fibre, 5g sugar)
McDonald’s Strawberry Milkshake- Booster Juice Pomegranate Passion
SMALL
(375 kcal, 2.5g fat, 7g fibre, 74g sugar)
(540k cal, 13g fat, 0g fibre 76g sugar)
A
Dairy Queen’s Oreo, Brownie Yogen Fruz low-fat Chocolate Yogurt
Earthquake
(110k cal, 2.5g fat, 0g fibre, 20g sugar)
(880k cal, 32g fat, 3g fibre, 99g sugar)
Chicken Fried Rice and 3 Chicken Chicken Pad Thai
(430k cal, 8g fat, 3g fibre, 20g sugar)
Balls
(1215 kcal, 45g fat, 12g fibre, 23g
sugar)
Marianne Pointner
Guelph students making the decision to eat fast food at Subway, in the
University Centre.
monkey crave pop. This is what
drives high sales and allows for
more and more companies to be
placed in very small demographics
- especially campuses.
But fear not. There is a lot you
can do to avoid compromising
your health and being a subject
of consumerism. If ordering
take-out is something which has
become unavoidable, you can
still make the best of it (though
I still strongly promote a healthy
lifestyle being one where you are
preparing your own meals), and
there are healthier options- if
you know how to find them.
I
hope
the
following
information is an eye-opening
experience for everyone reading!
Most people underestimate the
number of calories they consume,
and overestimate the amount
they burn off. In the ‘Skip This’
McDonald’s Fish Fillet Combo
(980 kcal, 37g fat, 6g fibre, 60g sugar)
Sushi made with brown rice
(228k cal, 2g fat, 8g fibre, 14g sugar)
Pizza Pizza’s Meat Supreme
(280k cal, 13g fat, 1g fibre, 2g sugar)
Pizza Pizza’s Pesto Amore
(200 kcal, 7g fat, 2g fibre, 1g sugar)
Starbuck’s Caramel Macchiato
(240kcal’s, 7g fat, 0g fibre, 31g sugar)
Starbuck’s Tazo Green Tea
(0 kcals, 0g fat, 0g fibre 0g sugar)
Subway Meatball Sub
(580 k cal, 23g fat, 9g fibre, 16g sugar)
Subway Veggie Sub
(230 kcal, 2.5g fat, 5g fibre, 5g sugar)
U Needa Pita’s Chicken Caesar
(410k cal, 10g fat, 2g fibre)
U Needa Pita’s Grilled Chicken Pita
(310k cal, 4g fat, 4g fibre)
*Nutritional information is an approximate value, values may change store
to store, this is strictly a guideline.
section of this article, you may be
shocked to discover that some of
these items exceed your caloric
needs for the day. The ‘Replace
with This’ section is a handy
guideline to help you make
healthier decisions if ordering
take-out is unavoidable.
18
Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2010
Life
163.7
I really want to get into… horror movies
JOHNNIE ALWARD
s a fervent, fevered fan of
the macabre, I’ve had a lot
of people ask me just what
the heck it is that I see in horror
movies. In short? It’s everything.
Fear is our oldest and most
primal emotion. It’s the damp,
worm-ridden underside of the
human condition that motivates
every single action we take. Don’t
believe me? Let me put things into
perspective.
We try our best to eat healthy
because we’re afraid of getting
cancer.We brush our teeth and comb
our hair in the morning because
we’re petrified of the world around
us recoiling in disgust. If you’re a
student reading this, chances are
you’re enrolled in school because
you’re afraid of spending the rest of
your life flipping burgers. If you’re
a professor, you’re probably here so
you can afford to buy said burgers
for your family. You’re afraid of
what would happen if you couldn’t.
We’re also afraid of silly things.
Spiders. Clowns. That ever-present,
omniscient boogeyman.Things that
are wholly subjective. Inexplicable.
A
Regardless of your particular
poison, though, one thing is certain
- fear is universal. That’s why when
a horror movie is good - when it
really manages to worm its way
under your skin – it’s more powerful
and potent than a hundred weepy
dramas or romantic comedies. It’s
filmmaking at its purest.
Of course, Hollywood’s actions
would lead you to believe otherwise.
In the past decade, we’ve been
drowning in a riptide of cinematic
vomit – a dizzying daisy chain of
remakes, rip-offs, prequels and
sequels.
But you don’t care about those.
You want to get into some real
horror flicks, right? I sure hope so,
‘cause some of the bad boys I’m
about to list are not for the faint of
heart.
Rule #1: Stay Away From
Hollywood
When remakes are produced
with care and talent, we get David
Cronenberg’s The Fly or John
Carpenter’s The Thing. Most of the
time, though, you get Prom Night
or Black Christmas or Sorority Row.
Are there any fans of the original
Black Christmas that were frothing
at the mouth for a remake? Didn’t
think so. Don’t insult your target
audience by crapping on their
favourites.
Rule #2: Look Overseas
And I’m not just talking about
Japan. Most of my favourite horror
flicks from the past few years
have been exports. Sometimes it’s
exciting to see different perspectives
of well-worn tropes. The Swedes
breathed new life into an (un)dead
genre with Let the Right One In and
France produced one of the most
harrowing, white-knuckled movie
experiences I’ve EVER had with
2007’s Inside. It’ll make your jaw
drop.
Rule #3: Dig Up The Past
I recently compiled a list of my
twenty-five favourite horror flicks
in honour of Halloween and posted
it online for my friends. Twenty of
them were made before 1990. Don’t
be afraid to stray from the “New
Releases” wall - sometimes there’s
nothing fresher than a classic cut.
Courtesy
And now, here are five lesserknown horror flicks you need to
see before dying:
5) Videodrome (1983)
4) The Wicker Man (1973)
3) Suspiria (1977)
2) Eyes Without a Face (1960)
1) Night of the Hunter (1955)
Happy Halloween!
Foodstuffs makes a big batch of tomato sauce
NICOLE ELSASSER
never used to like tomato
sauce. When I was younger my
pre-mealtime excitement was
always crushed upon hearing the
words, “We’re having spaghetti!”
But as an adult who buys her own
groceries and makes her own food,
I have learned a valuable lesson:
not all tomato sauce is created
equal. Nor are the tomato saucebased dishes for that matter. The
tomato sauce of my childhood
came from a jar; probably Ragu.
Maybe some meat was added but
maybe not. And then the sauce was
poured over spaghetti, the most
I
uninspired noodle in my opinion.
And then, to top all that boring off,
the dish is finished with the pregrated Parmesan cheese that comes
in the plastic shaker. But imagine
if instead of that, the tomato
sauce was totally homemade and
poured over equally homemade
and delicious meatballs and
finished with some freshly grated
Pecorino-Romano cheese. And
instead of lame-o dried spaghetti,
you had a fresh loaf of crusty bread
to drag through the sauce and all
of that was tied together with the
glass of red wine, Chianti probably,
that you are drinking with it. Not
boring at all.
Recipe for tomato sauce
Inspired by Frankies Spuntino
Makes 3 quarts of tomato
sauce
1 cup of olive oil
13 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
and gently crushed with the
side of a knife
4 28oz cans of San Marzano
tomatoes
1 large pinch of red pepper
flakes
2 tsp of fine sea salt
Get a large saucepan and pour
the olive oil into it. Place it over the
element on medium heat and add
the garlic gloves. Cook the gloves
gently until they are nicely browned
and fragrant. If they start to burn
Courtesy
or smell sour pull the pan off the
heat for a while. While the garlic
is browning, pour the cans into a
bowl and squeeze them with your
hands, pulling any hard stems out
of the mixture. This is messy work
so wear either something you don’t
mind getting dirty or an apron while
you squeeze. Continue doing this
until the tomato mixture is relatively
smooth, without any solid tomatoes
floating around. About one minute
before the garlic is sufficiently
browned, add the red pepper flakes
and let them sit in the hot oil for
one minute to infuse some heat into
the sauce. Add the tomatoes and the
salt and stir well. Bring the sauce to
a gentle simmer; turn it down if the
simmer is too aggressive. Allow it to
simmer for about four hours, stirring
every so often. After four hours,
taste the sauce for salt and add more
if needed. At this point you can
either eat right away, store in the
fridge for up to four days or in the
freezer for about a month. The best
thing to do at this stage is to simmer
meatballs in the sauce to really finish
it and enhance the flavour. If you’re a
vegetarian, it is fine to skip this step
but if meatballs in sauce sounds good
to you, check back in next week for
the steps to making great meatballs.
19
Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2010
.com
Life
TV is for lovers: The best of The Simpsons Halloween specials
DUNCAN DAYMYRON
ur lifetimes are full of
different
Halloween
traditions. As children,
there was trick-or-treating, candy
and ghost stories. As young adults
we all take part in the drunken
carnival that every bar in the
country turns into on the night. In
a few years, we’ll undoubtedly start
getting hangovers and just end
up giving out candy to children
and being in bed at a decent hour.
Throughout all of that, though, one
tradition remains. The Simpsons
Treehouse of Horror. While it
(and everything else about The
Simpsons) has been up or down
for the past few years, so much
of it still stands the test of time.
Instead of taking the opportunity
to air the new Treehouse of Horror
on Halloween, Fox is waiting until
the following Sunday, Nov. 7th,
to air it. But every Fox affiliate
and most Canadian stations will
undoubtedly be reairing any and
every previous Halloween episode
this weekend. So let’s take a trip
down memory lane, and remember
some of its highlights. I give you my
O
5 favourite moments on Simpsons
Treehouse of Horror history.
5. Homer3
It hasn’t aged as well comedically
as a lot of other Simpsons episodes
from that time, but Homer3 was
such a radical moment for so
many viewers at the time. After
falling through a tear in the third
dimension Homer ends up a
3D modelled character walking
down the a filmed street alongside
regular humans who look over
their shoulder at him. Later on in
the series, in another Halloween
episode at that, Bart and Lisa end
up on the set of Regis and Kathie
Lee. But seeing Homer among real
people-- squat, disproportionate
and grotesque-- was more
unsettling than almost every other
Halloween moment.
4. Send in the Clones
The most recent of top five, the
segment plays out like an episode
of the Twilight Zone without
(unlike Homer3) actually being
a retelling of an episode of the
Twilight Zone. Atypical of most
Halloween episodes, it skirts a
lot of the scare jokes and typical
Halloween trappings to consider
the philosophical problems of
cloning. It also has a moderately
unsettling ending, with the only
Homer surviving being one of
the clones. The inclusion of Peter
Griffin from Family Guy as one of
the clones-of-the-clones was the
cherry on top.
3. The Devil and Homer
Simpson
Homer picking at his own head
after the devil has turned it into
a doughnut is one of the single
finest jokes in the show’s history.
No words are needed. Everything
you need to know is contained in
that single image. This segment
deserves recognition for that alone.
Ned Flanders as the devil, Homer
enjoying his doughnut-filled
punishments in Hell, and the rolecall of the Devil’s jurors (including
Lizzie Borden, Richard Nixon and
the 1976 Philadelphia Flyers) are
just gravy.
2. Time and Punishment
Neither Ray Bradbury nor
Ashton Kutcher could explain
the hazards of time travel better
than the writers of the Simpsons.
If you go back in time and kill
an insect, fascism wins. Bradbury
stopped there. If you kill a fish
(and you wish you wish you hadn’t
killed that fish) then people will be
giants. Or it rains doughnuts. The
segment was just a set up for the
series of alternate futures Homer
ends up in but this was when the
Simpsons was in its prime and in
Opinion
every world he ends up in is a little
funnier than the one before. This
Treehouse of Horrors is without
question the funniest the show
produced. But that’s also in part of
one of the other stories, which is
of course...
1. The Shinning
There is no question that this
segment should top this list or
any other similar list. Looking
back, it’s hard to accept that The
Shinning was but one of three
vignettes in an episode. Even
with its approximately 7-minute
run time, it ranks alongside most
of the full length episodes of the
time. The Halloween stories are so
frequently spoofs of other famous
horror stories, but none are as spot
on as this retelling of the Shining.
Every important moment from the
film is replicated and Homer’s ‘no
TV and no beer make Homer go
crazy’ has penetrated our culture
at least as much as ‘all work and
no play makes Jack a dull boy’ has
done. In the same vain as Homer3,
Homer’s transformation is very
much the Simpsons holding a
mirror to its audience. It is all about
television and his attachment to it,
which we observe through our own
television. The Simpsons was at its
finest when it used its characters
exaggerated flaws to go beyond
Courtesy
just the jokes, while still staying
funny. It’s got to be funny. And this
segment was.
The Simpsons has lost a lot of
viewers (at least in my circle of
friends) over the past few seasons.
I’ll watch the newest Halloween
episode, I always do even when I
don’t watch the rest of the season,
but I’m going to be looking forward
to the marathons of the classics far
more this coming weekend.
The opinions expressed herein do not
refelect the opinions of The Ontarion
Between the Sheets: Focus on chlamydia!
SONJA SWANSON
S
o we won’t be writing about
an STI every week, but this
time I’ve chosen to do a
very important one, especially for
the Guelph campus: chlamydia.
Now those of you who read the
introduction article last week may
recall that we said that we wouldn’t
bog you down with stats and facts
and generally try to scare you. This
is still true! And chlamydia is a huge
issue on campus which I feel that
this issue come first.
Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted
infection (STI) that is caused by
bacteria, specifically Chlamydia
trachomatis. This particular strain is
exclusive to humans, but different
strains can affect other mammals,
including hamsters and pigs. The
bacteria can be passed via oral,
vaginal, and anal sexual activities and
can infect both men and women. It
can also be passed from mother to
child during childbirth.
The symptoms of chlamydia are
often not present in those with
infections. Up to 50 per cent of
infected men and 70 per cent of
women are asymptomatic. This
increases the risks associated with
unprotected sex since a person
may not realized they are infected.
Those who do show symptoms
may experience pain in the lower
abdomen and genital or anal region,
a burning sensation during urination,
pain during intercourse, and an
unusual discharge. These symptoms
are common between both sexes.
Long-term
consequences
arise when the infection goes
unnoticed and untreated. Pelvic
Inflammatory Disease (PID) can be
one consequence in women as well
as inflammation of the urethra or
epididymis in men, both of which
can lead to sterility. And even though
most of us probably aren’t thinking
about having kids soon, many would
want to be able to sometime in the
future.
Our age group, 18-25 year olds,
make up the vast majority of new
cases of all STIs even with all the
information out there about safe
sex and how to protect yourself. The
easiest and best way to prevent the
spread of STIs, including chlamydia,
is knowledge. Know your history,
your partner’s sexual history and get
tested regularly. The Public Health
Unit of Guelph recommends getting
tested every six months, especially if
you have had multiple partners.
Unfortunately, there is still a
stigma attached with getting tested
but this is the only way to know for
sure if you have an STI. To get an
STI test, you can visit your family
doctor, Student Health Services (x
52131), or Guelph Public Health
(519-846-2715) where all testing
services will be confidential. Be sure
to ask which STIs are being tested
for since not all of them are included
in every screening. Chlamydia is
a reportable disease. This means
that if you do test positive, your
former partners must be notified so
they can get tested and potentially
receive treatment. The clinic can
notify the partners on your behalf
and you can remain anonymous if
you choose.
Luckily, this story has a happy
ending: chlamydia is treatable!
A round of antibiotics will take
care of most infections and if
discovered early, should have no
lasting damage. There are a few
approved treatment options, none
lasting more than two weeks.
So don’t let the fear of chlamydia
or other STIs keep you from doing
something that you enjoy, you just
have to be safe when it comes to sex.
Even if you’ve been tested, wearing
a condom is important! Making
sure that both partners are protected
allows you to spend more time on
what makes sex exciting! So have fun
and be safe!
Sonja Swanson is a first year
Masters student in Biomedical
Science and a member of NAKED,
a group in The Wellness Centre,
which helps promote the awareness
of sexual health on campus.
20
Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2010
Opinion
Loose Cannon: Hunger is a many-headed beast
GREG BENETEAU
T
hanksgiving,
as
its
namesake suggests, is a
holiday that encourages
us to thank the people around us,
and appreciate how much we’ve
been given.
For some families, this may
mean dropping off a donation
of non-perishable goods at a
local food bank. The period
immediately after the autumn
leaves have turned – that is, when
heating bills start taking a hefty
bite out of working families’ pay
checks – is a time of particular
need for many food banks.
Yet hunger is a significant
problem that strikes people in
Canada and Guelph year-round.
In many cases, it also impacts the
most vulnerable people in our
society.
The Canada Food Banks
estimates that 37.2 per cent of
clients who relied on food banks
last year were under the age of
18. Strikingly, people with jobs
constituted the second largest
group of food bank clients, at 13.6
per cent – shattering the perception
that food bank clients are people
who can’t (or won’t) work.
Seniors, Aboriginal people,
single-parent families and people
living on social assistance are also
over-represented at our countries’
food banks.
Even in a relatively affluent
community such as Guelph, there
are people. The Guelph Food
Bank, operated by the charitable
Spirit Wind Christian Centre,
estimated that it served more
than 15,000 clients from Guelph
and surrounding regions last year,
handing out a dizzying 960,000
pounds of food last year.
Accepting that hunger is
a problem is the first step to
solving it. Unfortunately, hunger
is a beast with many heads,
representing larger problems
social inequality, lack of affordable
housing, unemployment, and
even the skyrocketing cost
of post-secondary education.
Dealing with only one of these
problem will not slay the beast,
so to speak.
The City of Guelph has taken
the lead on some povertyrelated issues. Is has developed
an affordable housing strategy
to ensure that the growing
city continues to provide
accommodations for people in
different income brackets. Last
year, it jointly launched the
Guelph and Wellington Task
Force for Poverty Elimination,
which aims to identify shortfalls
in city services.
Now that a mayor and council
have been elected to serve out
the next four years, it’s important
that poverty issues continue to be
given the attention they deserve
by our municipal officials.
There remains much work to be
done at the provincial and federal
levels. Since last year, anti-poverty
163.7
activists have been pressuring
the McGuinty government to
create a $100-per-month food
supplement for people on Ontario
Works and Ontario Disability
Support Program to help those
living with disabilities afford
healthy food.
As many anti-poverty advocates
will quickly point out, Canada
is the only G-8 country without
a national housing strategy – a
failure of successive federal Liberal
and Conservative governments to
even begin to acknowledge that a
problem exists.
At town hall meetings and at
the a ballot box, students should
press their elected officials on
providing sustainable solutions
to eliminate hunger in Canada.
At a local level, students can pitch
in to support on-campus groups
dedicated to combatting hunger.
The CSA Food Bank located
in the Federal Annex Building is
on such organization available to
help. The volunteer-run program,
which runs on a relatively
shoestring budget, offers meal
plans for people with allergies,
religious dietary restrictions or
who are vegetarian or vegan.
With Thanksgiving all but
here and Christmas on the way,
demand at food banks is on the
rise and so is the need for public
assistance. Local food banks
would benefit from items such
as dry pasta, rice, canned foods
(specifically fish, meat, fruit
and vegetables), baby supplies,
hygiene products, foods that are
low in sugar and salt and nutfree snacks.
If money is tight, volunteering
is another great way to give back.
Meal Exchange, the student-run
organization that asks for your
Meal Plan money periodically
during the semester, will be
hosting its annual Halloween
Trick-or-Eat fundraising drive,
collection thousands of pounds
of food in a single evening.
Hunger is everyone’s problem
- and everyone can be part of the
solution.
$3000 of undergraduate student money spent on an AGM
DEMETRIA JACKSON
very year your Central
Student
Association
holds an Annual General
Meeting in an effort to be
transparent and accountable
to
the
membership—the
undergraduate students at the
University of Guelph. Every
year, there is a great deal of time,
effort, and student money that
goes into planning for an AGM.
Ideally, I would like to say that
this time, effort, and student
money is spent in anticipation for
E
the large turnout we will see, but
lying is something I would rather
not do. This year, accommodating
a large turnout was not the main
focus when organizing this
event; getting students interested
enough to attend was.
According to CSA (and
therefore your) bylaws, we must
obtain quorum in order to
conduct business at the Annual
General Meeting. In case you
are not familiar with the lingo,
quorum is the minimum amount
of voting members you need in
the room in order to conduct
business; to conduct business,
means to officially vote on things.
This year quorum falls just short
of 200 members. The CSA is
asking that at least 225 members
show up so that the meeting does
not have to stop when five people
take a bathroom break.
In an effort to gain some
interest in attending, what is
labeled a traditionally boring
meeting, the CSA has purchased a
brand new iPod Touch as a grand
prize for anyone who attends the
meeting. Other prizes include gift
cards and certificates, University
of Guelph merchandise, and
more.
Additionally,
there
will be free food, but it will
not be served until the first
intermission of the meeting to
avoid people from walking in,
taking food, and leaving. Also,
the CSA is providing students
with the ability to RSVP to the
meeting. Students who RSVP
will be entered into all raffles
three times (twice for filling out
and submitting an RSVP form,
and once when they show up at
meeting); they will also be able
to choose the type of food they
would like, and have it reserved
for them in a special VIP line up.
Why you should show up?
This is the one time of year all
of your student representatives
will be in one room at the same
time soliciting your opinion on
what direction the organization
should take next.
Last year, we did not meet
quorum at the Annual General
Meeting, which means that the
CSA has been operating on
bylaw changes made at the Board
of Directors level without official
approval by the undergraduate
students. This is a huge deal
because at this year’s AGM, the
membership will need to either
vote in favour, or vote against
two years worth of bylaw changes
(instead of just one).
Being part of the CSA
Executive, I have quickly come
to realize that you cannot please
everyone but what you can do is
take criticism well and apply it
as best you can. I mention this
because I know that there are
some undergraduate students
who are either in a love, love/hate,
or just plain hate relationship
with the CSA. If you love your
student union, you need to
be at this AGM to voice your
opinion on how amazing you
think the union is. If you’re in a
love/hate relationship with the
CSA, you also need to be at the
AGM to critique and give your
representatives feedback on how
you would like to see your student
union improve. Finally, if you
detest the CSA, it is important
that you come out to the AGM
to voice your displeasure,
criticize your representatives, and
hold them accountable to their
actions. Without you, and your
opinions, the CSA will remain
the same. If you don’t think the
CSA represents you and your
needs this is the time and place
to address your concerns with the
people who you have elected to
represent you.
Finally, there are some key
issues that took place last year
that affect where your student
dollars have been put towards
or reallocated to. If you would
like an update on our current
situation with the Canadian
Federation of Students, and/
or an update on the Student
Help and Advocacy Centre
(SHAC)—the new service that
combined the Legal Resource
Room,
Financial
Resource
Room, and the Human Rights
Office—you need to be at the
Annual General Meeting.
If you want more information
about your student union, and
the agenda for the AGM, check
the CSA website (csaonline.ca)
on Friday. The Annual General
Meeting will take place Nov. 3,
2010 at 5:30pm in Peter Clark
Hall. RSVP forms will be on the
website on Friday.
The CSA spent $3000 on this
meeting. That’s approximately
$0.15 per undergraduate student.
Do the financially responsible
thing and attend your Annual
General Meeting.
Demetria Jackson
CSA Communications &
Corporate Affairs Commissioner
21
Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2010
.com
Opinion
An opinion poem: University bureaucracy at its best, or, course selection
SAMANTHA SMITHMOSKAL
Five years I have attended
This institute of learning
And at least twice a year
My stomach is set turning
It’s not the midterms or the tests
That keep me awake, and lend no rest
But, the act of picking out
My next semester’s courses
It seems so simple,
How could it be hard?
But trust WebAdvisor to screw it up
Can’t I just use my fourth-year express card?
I pick the classes I must take
And click Select
And then I wait…
I know what’s coming
But still I hope
It will all go through...maybe?
But, nope.
It’s the same story once again
Course is full, restricted, closed
Or better yet, prerequisites are not met.
Well, of course they’re not!
You wouldn’t let me take the class!
We’ve been through this before
I swear, I know enough
This class will be interesting
And not too tough
So get a form signed
The computer suggests oh, so helpfully
I sigh, and try again
Without the offending course selected,
Maybe I can at least sign up for the rest?
But no, I waited to long
And am informed that my session has expired
It’s seven AM and I’m just so tired
Why can’t course selection
Open at midnight
Classifieds
EMPLOYMENT
OPPORTUNITIES
Community Listings
SERVICES
Friday October 29
Wednesday November 3
HEADACHES? A 4-session
program to decrease tension
and migraine headaches begins
November 9 at 7:30 pm. Brochures
at UC Information Desk or visit
www.uoguelph.ca/~ksomers.
Friends of the Guelph Public
Library 4th Giant Book Sale, to take
place in former FastForms building,
corner of Massey & Imperial Rds N.
Guelph. Sale times: Oct 29, 6-9pm;
Oct 30, 10am-4pm; Oct 31, 124pm. www.friendsguelphlibrary.ca
“You and Your Computer - a
Healthy Relationship?” 7-8pm,
Room 441 University Centre.
Presented by the Stress Management
Clinic, this free presentation marks
International Stress Awareness
Day. For more information visit
www.uoguelph.ca/~ksomers or call
ext. 52662.
Student of Colour Support
Groups (and Students from
Different Cultural Backgrounds).
Mondays: One on One support
10am-2pm, Discussion 3-5pm.
Tuesdays: One on One support
10am-2pm. Discussion group
2-3pm. Wed: One on one
support 10am-2pm. Discussion
group 5-7pm. Confidentiality
ensured. Munford Centre, Rm
54. Contact: rmcleod@uoguleph.
ca or x53244.
Wanted: Family Assistant.
Location: Within walking distance
of the university. Responsibilities:
Assist working family with after
school coordination; evening meal
prep, laundry, driving for afterschool activities (car provided).
Mon-Thurs ~3:30 – 6:30 (some
flexibility). Email resume to
[email protected]. Evening
519-836-2884.
Saturday October 30
Guelph Hiking Trail Club Hike:
G
ARKELL SIDE TRAIL +
STARKEY HILL. 8 km. Meet
1pm at the Gordon Street parking
lot beside Guelph’s covered bridge.
1:15p.m. start. All welcome. Info:
519-836-6570 or 519-856-1012
Level 2. Speed Moderate.
Thursday November 4
Booonanza “KHNG Halloween
Party!!!” Games, crafts, face
painting, costume contest, pumpkin
carving, haunted house, pizza and
more. Kortright Hills P.S. Gym 3-6
pm. For more information contact
[email protected]
Monday November 1
Recruit Guelph: Your online job
database exclusively for Guelph
students & alumni. Whether you’re
looking for a part-time, summer or
full-time job, recruitguelph.ca is
for you!
PERSONALS
Tuesday November 2
Editing Specialists! Research
and Editing Experts at Your
Service. All levels, all subjects.
Post-graduates in most fields
available to help you get the job
done right! 1-888-345-8295 www.
cusomessay.com
“Relax!” 8:15 – 9:15 pm, Room
441 University Centre. Presented by
the Stress Management Clinic, this
free workshop marks International
Stress Awareness Day. For more
information visit www.uoguelph.
ca/~ksomers or call ext. 52662.
Sunday October 31
Canadian
Blood
Services
OneMatch Stem Cell and
Marrow Network presents: GET
SWABBED! Register to be a
potential donor of bone marrow
or stem cells. 9-6pm in UC
Courtyard.
UNEXPECTED
PREGNANCY?
Considering
ADOPTION? Can we talk? I am a
professional artist/instructor/author.
I have an adoption practitioner,
home study, PRIDE training, ready
& certified. [email protected]
for my profile.
When I’m still WIRED
I log in for what must be the thousandth time
If it doesn’t work this time,
I’ll lose my mind.
My computer crashes,
I go back to bed
Why does course selection cause such a terrible pain in my head?
I’ve given up for now
Though I’m not even in one course
I’ll just get signed in later
For better or for worse
I’ll have fewer options then anyway
Which might make it easier to choose
The electives I get, as I have two yet to use
And, if not, who really cares?
What’s that old saying?
Why do today what you can put off ‘til tomorrow?
Especially when it has to do
With course selection grief and sorrow.
Killing the Canada Health Act:
Marie-Claude Premont PhD.
Assoc. Dean, McGill University,
Faculty of Law, speaks on Politics,
Medicare & the Law. Chaoulli vs.
Quebec. 7pm at War Memorial Hall.
Sponsored by Guelph Wellington
Health Coalition.
Guelph-Wellington Women in
Crisis Workshop Series ‘I’m Taking
it Back – Because it’s Mine’. This
week: ‘Boundaries and Power’.
38 Elizabeth St. 1-3pm. Contact:
519-823-5806 x233 or x300.
Preregistration is required.
Ongoing:
As part of the Guelph Studio Tour
25th Anniversary celebrations, you’re
invited to view the Past Members
Show at the Barber Gallery, 167
Suffolk St. W. (ground floor gallery).
October 2-31. Gallery hours: MonFri.: 9-5:30pm, Sat: 9-5pm.
Macdonald Stewart Art Centre
Exhibit: ‘House Beautiful’ an
exploration of contemporary
society and its decadences. Exhibit
runs until October 31. 358
Gordon Street at College Ave.
519.837.0010
[email protected] |
www.msac.ca
22
Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2010
Crossword
1
2
3
4
5
6
12
13
16
17
19
20
24
29
41
26
32
39
28
34
35
40
44
48
53
64
70
59
65
55
61
67
68
72
74
77
46
56
60
66
71
45
49
54
58
63
23
43
52
62
15
27
33
38
57
11
22
42
51
10
18
47
50
9
21
31
37
8
14
25
30
36
7
69
73
75
76
78
79
By Krystian Imgrund
Last Weekʼs Solution
T
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Across
Important time, for 3 down
5. Religious path
8. Mormon state
12. Nautical direction
13. Airport acronym
14. Goes it alone
16. Use an awl
17. Horrifying villain
19. Sows
21. Clown’s ammo
22. Lethargic
24. Actor Noah
26. Blue
28. Star Trek shape-shifter
29. Long, long ____
31. Thanksgiving treat
33. Scorning speeches
36. Popular video game
38. Republican’s colour
40. Finish a roof
41. Horrifying director
47. Aura
48. Homer’s phrase
49. Urban problem
50. Like the green-eyed
monster
54. Green or white
56. Recede
57. Food scrap
163.7
58. Pop’s business partner
60. Tow
62. Croc kin
65. London timepiece
67. Land parcel
70. Horrifying novel
73. Actor Epps
74. Duck down
75. Eggs
76. Female equine
77. Beatty and Flanders
78. Capture
79. Chip in chips
Down
1. Pats
2. Burn lotion
3. Horrifying creature
4. Dependent
5. Pin number
6. Overhead
7. Gallagher band
8. Exploit
9. Punishable deed
10. J’ai ____
11. Dragster
15. Elvis’ fabric
18. Daring deed
20. Cunning
23. Early IBM software
25. Hearing necessity
27. Abandoned (sl.)
29. Eureka!
30. Buffalo ____
32. Apathetic utterance
34. Stadium cheer
35. Rainbows
37. Dentist word
39. Performed
42. A____U
43. Wee one
44. Horrifying film (with ‘The’)
45. Corn unit
46. Soviet agent: (abbr.)
50. Refresh the memory
51. Turn a pencil around
52. Get
53. Weeps
55. Skill
59. Brunch serving
61. Fragrance
63. ____ English
64. Marsh feature
66. Super ____
68. Buggy’s partner
69. Ancestry guide
71. Fem. Title
72. Bill
Comics
Toothpaste for Dinner
Submit your completed crosswords by
Monday Oct 25th at 4 p.m.
for a chance to win!
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The Ontarion Inc.
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Curtis Van Laecke
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Joanna Sulzycki
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The Ontarion is a non-profit organization governed by
a Board of Directors. Since the Ontarion undertakes the
publishing of student work, the opinions expressed in this
publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Ontarion
Board of Directors. The Ontarion reserves the right to edit
or refuse all material deemed sexist, racist, homophobic, or
otherwise unfit for publication as determined by the Editorin-Chief. Material of any form appearing in this newspaper
is copyrighted 2010 and cannot be reprinted without the
approval of the Editor-in-Chief. The Ontarion retains the
right of first publication on all material. In the event that
an advertiser is not satisfied with an advertisement in the
newspaper, they must notify the Ontarion within four working
days of publication. The Ontarion will not be held responsible
for advertising mistakes beyond the cost of advertisement.
The Ontarion is printed by the Guelph Mercury.
Editorial
23
Oct. 28 - Nov. 3, 2010
Taking a break from patting ourselves on the back
I
n the recent annual university
report card review by the
Globe and Mail, the University
of Guelph received it’s usual
high ranking. What else is new?
Although, what is this ranking
based upon? And exactly how
many students and members of the
campus community were polled in
coming up with the results?
The Globe and Mail rankings
come out each year and every year
they make nearly all universities
feel good about themselves one
way or another. It gives each
individual school, for example the
University of Guelph, a chance
to boast about the high marks
attributed to their institution; the
annual pat on the back.
These report cards, flattering
as they may be, go down a little
like candy. It’s nice and all but the
feeling of pride they generate is
fleeting and shallow. This feeling
begs a question. Where can
potential students go to find an
honest depiction of our university?
One that reflects the immense
amount of good about our school
but also the areas in which we can
improve, of which there are many.
Of course there are many things
to be proud of if you have chosen
to attend this great university;
a great sense of community and
high academic standards just
to name a few. While we at the
Ontarion criticize the importance
that the U of G seems to place on
validation from reports like that
of the Globe and Mail, we want
to clarify that we are proud to be a
part of this university community.
But rather than receiving a
glowing review every year and
patting ourselves on the back
without really knowing where
these results are coming from,
we simply suggest that as an
entire university we should reflect
internally and recognize our
triumphs and our shortcomings
in-house. Only then can we
clearly see how we measure up
against the stiff competition other
Canadian universities pose.
Alas, there continues to be no
effective recourse for students
who are critical of the school.
Despite being tuition-payers
at this school, there are some
students on campus that are
apathetic and simply attend class,
not concerning themselves with
the business of school politics.
Although, there are students who
take a considerable interest in
the experience that the U of G
provides them. Despite this fact,
it is still a rare occasion when
university power-players openly
give credence to the critical views
of students.
The Ontarion would like to see,
instead of the university valuing the
results of a newspaper report card,
for them to conduct a thorough
evaluation of campus community
member satisfaction and then
provide results that accurately
reflect where the university stands;
the good and the bad.
Because current and prospective
students alike deserve an honest
report about the university they
attend or are planning to attend.
Despite the fact that some results
may be unflattering, most of
them will be remarkably so; but
this time they’ll actually mean
something.
Letters to the Editor
Football and breasts
I was very pleased to have the
OUA, the NFL and the Gryphon’s
football team’s current breast
cancer efforts brought to my
attention in an article in the Oct.
21 issue, but sadly, this pleasant
initiative was eclipsed in my mind
by the somewhat disturbing title
of the article. I take issue with
the choice of words (Football
and breasts; somehow they go
together) because it implies that
women and football don’t mix…
well that is unless a bunch of male
NFL players decide that they do,
albeit for a good cause.
The title offended me for the
simple reason that football and
breasts, mine specifically, have
always gone together marvellously.
I have been playing competitive
football for over 10 years now.
First, on my flag-football high
school team, then on my CEGEP
team and in summer leagues, and
finally my most recent experience
was being part of one of the two
Montreal teams, “Les Rebelles
de Montréal,” that represented
Canada in the 2009 Kelly McGillis
Classic, an annual international
semi-tackle football tournament
held in Florida (we placed fourth
in the world, incidentally). I have
also been invited multiple times
to tryout for the Montreal Blitz,
the current North American
Champions as well as being the
only Canadian full tackle women’s
football team. Finally, I’m an avid
spectator, as I happen to be a fan
of the Montreal Alouettes. For me,
there is no better feeling than the
rush I get from colliding with other
female players on the field, digging
my cleats into the earth before the
football is snapped or the moment
my fingers touch pigskin leather
and I know there’s no chance I
could ever let go. Football and
breasts??? YES PLEASE!
Arielle Duhaime-Ross
To learn more about women’s
football, please visit these
websites:
tIndependent Women’s Football
league, http://www.iwflsports.
com/
tInternational Women’s Flag
Football Association, http://
www.iwffa.com
Dear Mr. Summerlee,
This will be my first letter
to U of G as an alum, sparked by
the announcement that U of G
receives top ratings in a Globe and
Mail report card. Congratulations,
you have my attention.
I am utterly depressed that
any educational institution must
trumpet the opinion of the Globe
and Mail as a hallmark of their
ability. Up until this announcement
I considered my degree important,
relevant and something which
I was proud to have earned.
Education is not something to be
sold, nor validated by a newspaper.
You owe your faculty and alumni a
better standard.
Gerald Vanderwoude ‘89
Letters to the
Editor
Deadline for letters:
Mondays @ 2PM
The Ontarion reserves the
right to edit or refuse all letters
deemed sexist, racist, homophobic,
able-ist, advertorial, libelous or
otherwise oppressive or unfit for
publication as determined by the
Editor in Chief. Letters must be
kept to a maximum of 300 words.
We will edit longer letters at our
discretion.
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are intended to remain anonymous.
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