tegan and sara delve into synth-pop Heist, u of G style

the
T h e Un ive r s i t y o f Gu e l ph ’ s I n d ep en d en t Stu d en t New sp ap er
170.7 ◆ t h ur s day, f e b r ua ry 2 8 th, 2 0 1 3 ◆ w w w.the onta rion.com
Tegan and Sara delve into synth-pop
Duo plays Peter Clark
Hall in support of new
album
seamlessly with new dance hits
like “Goodbye, Goodbye,” both
being performed with avidity
from the band. Tegan and Sara
fully engaged with the audiBen Derochie
ence, throwing various quirky
remarks throughout the concert.
Being one of their only sold out This was perhaps best exemplified
shows on their current tour, when they diverted from the set
Tegan and Sara played to a wel- for a full five-minute discussion
coming crowd at University of with the crowd regarding their
Guelph’s Peter Clark Hall on Feb. previous adventures in Guelph, in23. In support of their new album cluding attending an after-party
Heartthrob, Tegan and Sara de- in the city after they were invited
part from their established indie by “some dudes in skirts.” The
roots and embark into the do- audience was warmly receptive
main of synthesizers and drum throughout the evening, cultivatmachines analogous to the synth- ing in the performance of the new
pop era of the 1980s. The result single “Closer” as the entire crowd
is an adrenalized live show glit- promptly transformed the room
tered with vibrant scintillating into a dance floor.
LED lights and pulsing dance
Incorporating a full backing
rhythms, which was more than a band, Tegan and Sara played all
perfect excuse for all us students songs expertly with little or no disto let loose and have a bit of fun. sonance evident at all. The songs
While dedicating a large por- did not divert or elaborate from
tion of their repertoire to new their recorded counterparts, but
material, they included an this is not essentially required as
obliging allocation of previous these songs simply sound great
fan favourites allowing anyone being performed live. Perhaps
to satisfy their desire either to the most distinct moment of the
rock out or dance away. Clas- night came in the encore as they
sics like “Call It Off” were mixed jammed with a single acoustic
Ben Derochie
Tegan and Sara’s only Ontario tour stop was at a sold-out Peter Clark Hall on Feb. 23, where they
performed largely from their latest synth-pop album, Heartthrob.
guitar through multiple segments
of several songs all in the timespan
of a single song; a noteworthy and
unique addition. There were a couple of unashamed and inevitable
sales pitches thrown in for their
new album, but this could be tolerated as they were poking fun of
themselves for doing so.
If you’re seeking good modern
Canadian indie synth-pop, look no
further. These folks are fun.
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Opinion
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Community Listings
Classifieds
Updates on the UC
break-and-enter
Alicja Grzadkowska
On Jan. 27, a break-and-enter
took place in the University Centre, and several devices that may
have contained students’ personal information were stolen. On
Feb. 7, the University of Guelph’s
Chief Information Officer Rebecca
Graham informed students of the
break-in through a widely distributed email, which caused some
concern for recipients of the news.
Since the incident, the university administration has taken
several steps in ensuring that
students’ concerns are dealt with
accordingly. Another email from
Graham informed students that
the university would be providing
free credit monitoring for one
year to students affected by the
incident.
Lori Bona Hunt, of Communications and Public Affairs, says that
this is merely a precaution on the
part of the administration.
“There actually has not been any
evidence to date that any of the
information has been used for
fraudulent purposes. We’re just
...se e bre a k- i ns pag e 5
170.7 ◆ febr uary 28t h, 2013
news
3
Are campus washrooms accessible to all?
Global to Local:
Washroom Challenge
aims to reveal
accessibility concerns
Students, staff, and
faculty on international
and national news
Katie Shum
The month of March is upon us,
and luckily for those who have
long-forgotten New Year’s resolutions, this month can be the
beginning of a new challenge.
The Guelph Resource Center for Gender Empowerment
and Diversity (GRCGED) and
the Central Student Association (CSA) are collaborating on
a new project called the Gender Neutral and Accessible
Washroom (GNAW) Challenge.
The challenge is this: for the
duration of March, stay away
from using any washroom or
change room that is gendered
or inaccessible, on campus or
elsewhere.
This initiative is open to all
members of the University of
Guelph who wish to participate,
but organizers are particularly
keen on encouraging participants who “don’t find going to
gendered bathrooms a difficult/
unsafe experience” and those
“who don’t have to consider accessibility when planning to go
to the washroom,” as explained
on the event’s Facebook page.
Ultimately, the hope is that
through some personal experience, people will gain a glimpse
of what daily life may be like
for trans and gender-variant
people or people with physical accessibility needs.
To help participants stay true
to the challenge, all that officially register online (the link
can be found on the event’s
Facebook page and on the CSA
calendar of events on their
website) will also have an opportunity to sign up for an
additional information session.
For registrants, the additional
session is a chance to open the
dialogue concerning accessibility and gender neutrality, and
relate these issues to very real
scenarios for many students,
staff, faculty, and visitors on
campus.
To put this into perspective,
imagine that as a participant,
it is your first day of the GNAW
challenge. As you walk through
the UC, 30 minutes before your
next class, you bump into your
busy friend that you have not
seen since October. Your friend
then asks you to catch-up over
coffee and a snack, seeing as
you do not have class for a
while. However, after giving
an excited “Yes!” you suddenly realize that there is not
a gender neutral or accessible
washroom near your next classroom. Choices: do you forgo
this social activity, or engage
in this social activity at the risk
of not being able to concentrate
in an hour when you feel the
need to go to the washroom?
Or worse, do you leave class in
search of a gender neutral and
accessible washroom?
CSA Academic and University
Affairs Commissioner, Deaglan
McManus, one of the primary
collaborators of this initiative,
discussed the timing of the
Gender Neutral and Accessible Washroom Challenge.
“Everyone needs to use the
washroom, and everyone needs
to feel comfortable using the
“There is never
a wrong time
to bring these
issues to light.”
– Deaglan
McManus
washroom. There is never a
wrong time to bring these issues to light.”
Along with an open dialogue,
a very basic, one-page “Washroom Audit” will be handed out
to each participant, and the
workshops will include instructions on how to go about
auditing campus washrooms
and change rooms. Keeping in
mind that this challenge hopes
to address both gendered and
inaccessible facilities, the audit
ranges from designations (e.g.
male figure, female figure, male
and female figure, etc.), to
vanessa tignanelli
The Gender Neutral Bathroom Challenge hopes to show the difficulties
of bathroom use for trans and gender-variant individuals, and those
with accessibility needs.
simple questions about doors, information, when correctly
sinks, toilets, and other objects searched on the campus map,
to be found in both washrooms about the availability, location,
and change rooms.
and accessibility of washrooms
The inspiration for creat- in buildings across campus.
ing this major project came However, those listings may be
from student experiences that out of date or unreliable, exhave been reported at the Uni- plained McManus.
versity of Guelph. Currently,
For example, what is listed as
GRCGED is calling for student a “unisex stall on south end of
submissions of experiences [third] floor” on the webpage
with gendered and inaccessi- for the University Center fails
ble washrooms for their zine, to include mentioning that this
which will be available in facility is locked after 4:10 p.m.
March.
– and there are no other listings
Another major source of for a gender-neutral facility on
inspiration for the GNAW chal- other floors in the UC.
Despite this and many other
lenge came from a very similar
bathroom challenge that was accessibility issues on camorchestrated in Halifax, Nova pus, McManus acknowledged
Scotia in 2012. That challenge that there have been some
also focused on gender-neutral signs of momentum from the
bathrooms, however, organiz- University’s governing bodies.
ers there also spoke of lobbying However, the sense that progfor bathrooms that could be ress for change has been slow is
made accessible for people of suggested by the arrival of this
all different abilities and needs. new student initiative.
Guelph organizers hope that for
McManus imparted that the
people experiencing this chal- GNAW challenge is the first step
lenge, or for people keeping up to raising awareness on camwith other news about this ini- pus, and that the outcomes
tiative, those who are aware from the audits and support
will feel inspired to fight for from participants will help this
more gender neutral and ac- campaign to push changes for
cessible facilities.
more gender neutral and acCurrently, the University of cessible washroom and change
Guelph website provides some facilities on campus.
theontarion.com
Research on discriminatory Google
advertisements has recently come
out of Harvard where a professor has
discovered that the popular search
engine allegedly links names associated with black people with
ads related to criminality. In fact,
Latanya Sweeney found that these
adverts were 25 per cent more likely to appear alongside a search that
included a black name. Services
offering background checks for arrests and criminal records were two
types of ads cited as appearing during these searches. Caucasian names
brought up typical types of advertisements not related to criminality,
even though some of the Caucasian names used by Sweeney in her
research trial did have criminal records associated with them. In an
article in The Daily Mail, a Google
spokesperson responded that the
company was not to blame as, “It is
up to individual advertisers to decide which keywords they want to
choose to trigger their ads.”
The Ontarion: Have you heard about
this and does it interest you?
Sebastian Szilagyi, student: I haven’t
heard about it. I guess it does interest me in a sense. We’re moving
toward a much more equal world
so to have these sorts of discriminatory things popping up – it’s not
a good thing. So I think that it does
interest me because I’d like to see
those [things] not happening. You
know, granted, there will be people of many races who just aren’t
up to society’s level of standards,
but you’re going to find that in any
race – I’d read into it more.
The Ontarion: Do you have any experiences with similar ads that have
stereotyped or reflected your supposed interests in a particular way?
SS: Well, I’ve seen certain things like
that pop up, mostly on Facebook,
not necessarily Google. Based on
my likes, I’ve noticed certain things
kind of popping up on the side. I
don’t use them… At first, I was kind
of thrown off by them, like this is
stuff I’ve looked into or interested
in. [I was] scrolling through Facebook and there was like this Big
Lebowski advertisement on the side,
which sort of catches you off guard.
I’ve had some experiences based on
that, yeah.
Thanks to the participant for this
week’s interview. If you have
something to say about international or national news, and
would like to be contacted for future issues, or if you want to see a
particular news story covered here,
contact News Editor Alicja Grzadkowska at [email protected].
4 w w w.th e on ta r ion . c om
Gryphons meet a Dragon
U of G welcomes
Dragons’ Den
personality and
Wealthy Barber author
David Chilton
Al Ladha
On Feb. 12, David Chilton – author of the bestselling Wealthy
Barber books and a Dragon on
CBC’s hit show Dragons’ Den –
shared his recipes for success in
personal finance with a mixture
of humour and common sense
for a packed house at War Memorial Hall. Chilton donated
all funds generated from ticket
sales to the OVC Pet Trust Fund
in support of the Mona Campbell Centre for Animal Cancer.
Before I left my office to interview Chilton, I had a chance to
read a Maclean’s article about a
generation the magazine is dubbing “the new underclass.” It
delved into why many smart,
educated, ambitious young people “have no future.” I fielded
Chilton with some of the ideas.
“It’s a complicated subject
matter and traditionally I’ve
been optimistic of all generations having better lifestyles
than their parents,” said
Chilton. “I mean we are all
beneficiaries of the tremendous
innovation that takes place and
of all the accumulation of all the
things that have come before us,
but I will admit the job market
is very challenging.”
The entrepreneur says it’s
a matter of adapting to technological advances and other
progressions in our culture.
“We are automating and digitizing so many processes that
society on a whole may be winning – we may be net up – but
unfortunately there is a lot of
displacement and people who
don’t have the matching skills
are really struggling right now,”
said Chilton. “A lot of the types
of jobs people first entered into
– and not just the traditional factory, but also clerk jobs or lower
level jobs at all major institutions – are being automated or
have been replaced by foreign
workers in some cases and computers in others.”
Chilton is finding that many
intelligent 21 to 27-year-old
people who have a lot of potential to add to society are falling
between the cracks these days
and are unable to find a solid
footing. The economist notes
that some of these people are
turning towards entrepreneurship, but insists that’s not easy.
“As David Chilton I’ve been
an entrepreneur all my life,
and I love it, but I realize not
everyone is well suited to creating their own enterprise and
taking care of all the facets that
are necessary to run effectively.”
Chilton says he was lucky
enough to follow his passion
at a young age and fell in love
with the world of personal finance – and to wit, it’s served
him generously over the years.
That being said, Chilton maintains that we must be realistic
and that not everyone can follow their passion and turn it
into a great career.
“During the early stages of
your life you often times find
yourself doing some things
you’re not too keen on and
this generation – admittedly
up against legitimate problems
– is scuffling with that,” Chilton conceded. “They are really
struggling with the fact that
you’ve got to go in and do menial tasks on occasion or things
you don’t like doing. But that is
the nature of life unfortunately.”
“ Fol l ow i n g yo u r p a s s i o n
sounds great in theory and
looks great in books, but in the
real world it’s not always easy
to execute on, and again, if we
“During the
early stages of
your life you
often times find
yourself doing
some things
you’re not too
keen on and
this generation
– admittedly
up against
legitimate
problems – is
scuffling with
that.”
–David Chilton
push everyone towards entrepreneurship it may be good for
society in the big picture, longterm situation, but we’re going
to have a lot of people fail, and
that’s just the nature of startup enterprise.”
Chilton brought up personal debt levels, noting that they
news
Mike Rao
Dave Chilton, of The Wealthy Barber franchise and Dragons’ Den, visited the campus in support of the
Pet Trust Fund.
are very high and real, but also Although they both work in the
said he sees them much more same industry David runs into
in the U.S. – especially for stu- Kevin O’Leary less frequently.
dents that have gone to grad They have had some conflict on
school. He tends not to see air on The Lang and O’Leary
those levels in Canada as often, Exchange, but they get along
but didn’t underplay the prob- pretty well. Chilton says that
lem; according to Chilton, “a when they all see each other
degree or second degree doesn’t on set it’s a lot of fun, and as
guarantee you a high income job the new Dragon they have been
anymore and so it is difficult.” very warm, accepting and good
Chilton maintains hammering to him.
away at debt is always a good
Speaking about his spare time
financial move which reduces Chilton said he loves immersstress and frees up cash flow. ing himself in books related to
He says “we are looking at a world politics, economics and
different rate of return on the finance. He likes to play a fair
investment equation right now amount of golf but has not been
with post secondary education able to get on the green as much
and all of a sudden, for the first in the last three years because of
time in decades, we have a lot commitments to his new book,
of people saying, ‘I’m not sure The Wealthy Barber Returns. He
that was a wise move.’”
says he’s still very close with
As Chilton put it, it’s a more his kids and hangs around them
complex situation than it’s been
in the past and the return on investment isn’t guaranteed. He
feels education – especially with
the digital revolution – is going
to undergo dramatic changes in
the next 10 to 15 years.
Rafaela é,
Discussing Rich Carlgaard,
a digital revolution writer for
Forbes who has predicted 50
per cent of post secondary education could be challenged
because of the Internet, Chilton said this model might not
be so healthy for the institutions
that are entrenched, but that it
could be healthier for society in
the long run.
In respect to Dragons’ Den,
Chilton says he and the other
Dragons get along well. He
bumps into Arleen Dickinson
every so often in Toronto, he
has a lot in common with Bruce
Croxon, and loves Jim Treliving’s company although he
lives in Dallas and travels a lot.
a lot.
Being a dog lover, Chilton says
he “can’t live without them.”
He has made deals with all three
pitches this year that involve
dogs, and as a result he has
been razzed by some of his fellow Dragons, mainly Dickinson.
In regards to this event, Chilton was happy to help out this
great cause and thought it was
nice to be invited, plus he loved
the venue. Given his fondness
for the University of Guelph and
its location just a short drive
from Kitchener, when the U of
G called him it was pretty easy
convincing him to speak. As
Chilton said, “I’m a pet guy so
from every perspective it was
ideal.” He did mention however
he has to learn to be a little more
discerning when it comes to pet
deals on Dragons’ Den.
news
170.7 ◆ febr uary 28t h, 2013
Guelph talks agricultural sustainability
Speakers and audience
discuss future of global
food supply
Andrew Donovan
On Feb. 25, the College of Management and Economics (CME),
along with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, invited
Dr. Rick Yada of the University of
Guelph to speak at a gathering held
at the Guelph Holiday Inn. The presentation was titled, “The Future
of Food: Advancing Health & Food
Safety.”
As our planet’s population is
projected to reach nine billion by
2050 and demand for agricultural produce is expected to rise by
60 per cent in that time, it is in
our present day, according to Dr.
Ben Derochie
Yada, that we must ask ourselves,
experts, and government how we The event opened up discussion on a variety of issues related to food security and the growing population.
plan on keeping up with such great
demand.
information about eating healthier garnered much success.
seems to be the case with converThe discussion’s moderator, As- and the industry is adapting. But
The conversation was diverse sations on food and sustainability,
sociate Dean of the CME at the U there’s a catch in these marketing and intriguing, and everything you end up leaving the discussion
of G, Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, began ploys, explained Yada.
from the venue to the dialogue was with more confusion and questhe very inclusive, audience-ori“There’s this idea that if you eat a exceptionally entertaining. But, as tions than you had coming into it.
ented discussion by asking Yada certain food, you will never get ill.”
what food safety means to him. Ya- Though those claims simply cannot
da’s answer dealt extensively with be foolproof and can be misleadthe idea of sustainability, not just ing, Yada did admit there is a great
in an international context but also benefit to this paradigm shift, perwithin the borders of Canada.
taining especially to healthcare.
“We now have a population that
is eating the ‘right’ foods as a form
of preventative healthcare, not curative healthcare.”
As with any discussion relating to the future of agricultural
production, the highly controversial topic of GMOs came up. Yada
approached the manner in a levelheaded and practical way.
His biggest complaint was how
GMOs are thrown into populations
with little inquiry into whether the
population wants it or how it will
affect the environment it’s in, and
that there is almost an absolute assumption by the creators of GMO
that their seeds are just “better”
and we ought to accept this claim
without question.
But Yada didn’t outright dismiss
the potential of GMOs.
“There is some benefit in being
able to grow foods in a different
“We live in a world of extremes. manner. It’s an option but not necOn one end, we have type-2 dia- essarily a solution.”
betes and obesity and the other we
The latter part of the conversahave starvation,” said Yada. “What tion addressed the ability of getting
we are striving for globally is qual- food to nations with poor means
of creating their own sustainable
ity, quantity and choice.”
As the conversation developed, agriculture. Campbell’s Canada
the ideas of education became a has tried canned food initiatives
major speaking point for the au- abroad, but as far as sustaining a
dience and the presenters. Yada program like that is concerned,
believes that we are in the midst of it was impractical as many loa paradigm shift, especially in the cals won’t take to a canned food
west, when it comes to food and approach.
Up until this point, many comfood marketing, and we are seeing
that the power of the consum- panies have had “a paternalistic
er is driving the evolution of the view of philanthropic aid,” which
products. We are saturated with according to Charlebois, hasn’t yet
“We now have
a population
that is eating
the ‘right’ foods
as a form of
preventative
healthcare,
not curative
healthcare.”
– Rick Yada
5
...bre a k- i ns c onti nu e d
being abundantly cautious,” said
Hunt.
The emails have also been sent out
to a large group of people for security measures since it was not evident
which students’ personal information were on the devices.
“In reality, far fewer people were
probably affected,” said Hunt.
The Jan. 27 break-in has been just
one in a series of thefts that have
taken place in the UC in recent
months. A hard drive was stolen
from The Ontarion’s office prior to
Winter Break, another break, enter,
and theft on the UC’s second floor
reported as having occurred between Feb. 10 and 11, and on Feb.
19, CFRU’s Station Manager Peter
Bradley informed volunteers and
employees that a computer from
the radio station was stolen on the
18th. Through email correspondence, Bradley told The Ontarion
that this was the first break-in at
CFRU “in several years.”
“It’s unfortunate, and it’s alarming that this sort of thing has been
happening all over campus,” added
Bradley. “We won’t allow this incident to dampen the atmosphere of
trust, goodwill, and creativity that
defines CFRU’s volunteer culture,
but we will be putting some new
security measures in place that will
help prevent this from happening
again.”
The slew of device thefts may
indicate that obtaining personal
information was not the intention
of the Jan. 27 break-in, but rather that electronics were the sought
after targets. However, the ongoing
police investigation will hope to find
the intention and perpetrator(s) of
the crime in the upcoming months.
“The university’s also been in
contact with the Information and
Privacy Commissioner of Ontario,”
added Hunt.
Now, several weeks after the incident, the university has turned its
attention to making students, staff,
and faculty aware of on-campus security and keeping their personal
electronics close. Because the UC
is a public building and it’s open for
long periods of time, Hunt says that
the discussion has focused not just
on security in the building, “but also
about reminding people to lock their
offices, lock up their equipment like
computers and things like that just
because frankly, it’s an easy target
[…] there is access to a significant
chunk of the building for the public.”
What Hunt calls “the educational
component” of the process is particularly important as people store
much of their information on desktops, rather than on hard drives,
and often leave personal devices
unattended.
“[We’re to] remind people to make
sure that their personal laptops or
computers or any other personal belongings are locked up and secure,”
said Hunt, “and not leaving information in places where it could be
easily retrieved.”
6 w w w.th e on ta r ion . c om
Food Not Bombs in the community
The Guelph chapter
proves that food is a
right, not a privilege
Kelsey Coughlin
Providing free, accessible, and
local food to the Guelph community is the goal of the Guelph
chapter of Food Not Bombs, a
loose-knit group of independent collectives serving free
vegan food to those who are
hungry, both on campus and
in the community.
The idea behind Food Not
Bombs is to raise awareness
about global issues, specifically the labelling of hunger as a
form of violence.
According to the group, the
Food Not Bombs ideology is
that government priorities are
skewed to allow hunger to persist in the midst of abundance.
Food Not Bombs is a global enterprise, which was founded in
1980 in Massachusetts by anti-nuclear activists. Since then,
there have been more than 400
chapters nationally representing the organization. While each
chapter is free to make its own
decisions about what issues
to endorse and fight against,
they also embrace a few basic
principles.
Many chapters of Food Not
Bombs are involved in community, anti-poverty, anti-war,
and pro-immigrant organizing, as well as other political
causes related to social justice.
“[We] make
and deliver all
vegan food
to people on
campus who
are looking for
a healthy meal,
but can not
afford it because
money is tight.”
– Maria Timpano
The Guelph chapter of the group
aims to educate students and
community members through
various themed events, classes,
and outreach programs.
Already the Guelph chapter
has held a number of events on
campus. These include a visit by
Keith McHenry, co-founder of
Food Not Bombs, a Bring Your
Own Bowl (BYOB) Soup Kitchen, and most recently, a free
vegan dinner at the Aboriginal
Resource Center.
University of Guelph student
Maria Timpano is a member of
the Guelph organization and explained that students “make and
deliver all vegan food to people
on campus who are looking for a
healthy meal, but can not afford
it because money is tight [with
the idea of] raising awareness of
global hunger issues.” Too many
University of Guelph students
face this reality, says the group,
and for some of them these opportunities are their only reason
for not going to bed hungry.
A large amount of the food
served by the group of students
is excess food from grocery
stores, restaurants, and bakeries that would otherwise go
straight to the garbage. They
aspire to reduce waste through
sharing both free food and information in protest of war,
poverty, hunger, and similar
global issues.
The Guelph group wants students to realize that in a world
of abundance, food is a right and
hunger should not be tolerated.
news
Nuclear Winter
The Guelph chapter of Food Not Bombs serves vegan food to the
community through a variety of events.
Students reminded to respect sexual health
Heart Your Parts event
held by the Wellness
Centre
Lindsay Pinter
On Feb. 26, University of Guelph’s
Wellness Centre, in association
with the Canadian Federation
for Sexual Heath, held an event
called, “Heart Your Parts” at Branion Plaza.
“Heart Your Parts is an event
which raises awareness [for] sexual health, and getting tested for
any sexually transmitted infections,” explained Wellness Centre
member Erin De Jong. “The objective of this presentation [was]
to put a positive, upbeat light on
sexual health.”
Jong also discussed the importance of the event, stating that
it draws attention to protecting
yourself from risks associated
with sexual behaviour.
“Being sexually active is a basic
human right; people just need to
be aware of the risks and how to
stay healthy and protected.”
The event provided information
on various health related issues
such as HPV and cervical cancer,
and featured free hot chocolate for
students stopping by. Members of
the Wellness Centre stood by to
answer any questions passers-by
may have had. There were many
pamphlets and resources available to students at this event as
well, including some dedicated
to the LGBTQ community. They
toted slogans such as “PAPs matter – no matter who you have sex
with,” and “Regular STI testing
and yearly physicals are essential in maintaining good health;
no matter whom you love.”
“This is to explain to people that
it doesn’t matter who you have
sex with – everyone needs to be
protected and visit their doctors
to get tested,” said another Wellness Centre member, Kimberly
Lyons.
PAP tests for females are another very important health
procedure, which many females
overlook. This is a medical test to
check for cervical cancer in females. If you are over the age of
21 or have had any sexual intercourse then you are eligible for a
PAP test.
Students with more questions on health-related issues,
including mental health and
sexual health can visit the Wellness Centre, which is located on
Natasha Reddy
The Wellness Centre set up a booth in Branion Plaza to educate students on sexual health.
the second floor of the J.T. Powell
building on campus. The centre
is a valuable resource available
to students that can provide
them with one-on-one support,
workshops, information kits and
various events, such as Heart Your
Parts.
All the members of the Wellness
Centre are trained to provide students with the best resources and
support available for their varying
questions and concerns, as well
as information on how to contact a healthcare professional. The
Wellness Center is always hosting
many health related events, and
students can visit the centre for
more information on upcoming
events hosted at the university.
The event made it clear that
students should stay positive and
smart about sexual health, heart
their parts, and get tested.
170.7 ◆ febr uary 28t h, 2013
news
How much do you know about the PPP?
Evaluating student
involvement and
awareness of review
process
Alicja Grzadkowska
The question of how students can have
an impact on changes happening in
the university has arisen yet again this
year. This time, the focus has turned
to the Program Prioritization Process
(PPP). The Central Student Association (CSA) claims that students are
not being provided with accessible information about the PPP Task Force’s
agenda, which is just one of the CSA’s
concerns about the process.
“A lot of the issues we have with
the PPP [are about] how fast it’s
moving, and how little communication happened with the CSA prior to
September,” said Deaglan McManus,
the Academic and University Affairs
Commissioner for the CSA. According to McManus, communication
with students has been scant, and
not completely transparent. An initial communication was sent out in the
first school week of September, which
may have been overlooked by students
busy settling back into university life.
“I don’t think it should [have been]
assumed that students would recognize that their programs might be at
risk or that their programs are being
evaluated in depth,” said McManus.
The PPP was started back in September, and will serve as an assessment
of academic and non-academic programs and services. The end goal is to
identify the university’s strengths, as
well as where it can cut back on costs
to narrow the gap between revenues
and expenses.
While the language of the information released about the PPP is
seemingly unthreatening, McManus
says that the process is reminiscent
of cuts that took place in 2009, which
marked the end of the Women’s Studies program.
“People didn’t realize towards the
end of the process that it was going to
happen,” explained McManus. And,
according to McManus, similar issues
have been present in the PPP’s work
so far. The looming deadline to submit
review forms, for one, is a concern.
Units and departments in the
University of Guelph are currently reviewing their services, and Maureen
Mancuso, Provost and VP Academic,
explains that each unit has been asked
to complete a Program Information
7
Request (PIR) form, due on March 1.
providing new insights and feedback.”
“For example, every major will have
Mancuso agrees that student para PIR form that is completed that pro- ticipation is important since they
vides information on the ten criterion, have “perspectives/information on
which the programs and services will their programs that would be useful.”
be assessed against,” Mancuso detailed Mancuso also explained that it is not
through email correspondence. The the Task Force’s responsibility to incriterion can be found on the PPP volve students, and that this job lies
website, and include the external with departments.
and internal demand for programs,
Students are however present on
and revenue and costs weight, among the Task Force. Noorain Shethwala and
other criteria.
Anne Laarman are the undergraduate
McManus believes that this process and graduate interns respectively, and
vanessa tignanelli
should involve students, as they are will aid with the review process. Mcthe primary participants in programs. Manus is uncertain of how they will be Noorain Shethwala is the
Right now, students are not able to get able to get involved and defend student undergraduate intern on the PPP
easily involved, as many units have not interests, though the titles of the two taskforce, which is one of the two
been asking students to participate students’ positions have been changed positions reserved for students.
in part because of the tight deadlines. from their original titles as “student
“We really appreciate those that have representatives.”
website by providing the PPP with
[been involving students],” said McM“How much freedom are they going feedback. Through the CSA website,
anus, “because at least it helps students to have in opposing any decisions that McManus has also included contact
understand what’s happening. The their supervisors make, given that their information for the authors of the PIR
process does not allow for involve- supervisors are also on the taskforce?” forms, and an email template for what
ment […] which is concerning when said McManus. “To our knowledge, students can send to the authors.
students are the majority.”
it hasn’t happened before that a stu“[We’re] informing students so
Bruno Mancini, the director of dent’s been paid [by someone other they’re not hit with it when the deCounselling Services and the Centre than students] to sit on a university cisions are made at the end of the
summer,” said McManus, adding,
for Students with Disabilities, is one committee.”
facilitator who has involved students in
With the deadline approaching “The communication might get betthe review process. According to Man- quickly, McManus says that members ter towards the end of the process,
cini, meetings he held with students of the CSA are working to improve but that’s when it’s going to hurt the
were “well-attended and helpful in the accessibility of information on the most.”
n e il t u rok
Natasha Reddy
Physicist Neil Turok received an
honorary doctorate from the
University of Guelph during the Feb.
20 convocation ceremony held in
War Memorial Hall. One of Turok’s
achievements has been establishing
the African Institute for Mathematical
Sciences in Cape Town. Since its
opening in 2003, 400 students from
a variety of African countries have
graduated and moved on to science
and technical-related careers.
Newsology: News coverage of the Oscars
Missing the point
MacFarlane, and reporters are clearly confused about which of the two
Alicja Grzadkowska
MacFarlane had more of. Headlines
included “Critics: Some of Seth MacOn the day after the Oscars, the news Farlane’s Oscar jokes ‘inappropriate,’
media had a lot to talk about, from ‘sexist’,” “Seth MacFarlane bombed
the typical best and worst dressed terribly hosting the 85th Academy
lists, where actresses (and sometimes Award,” and “Seth MacFarlane Best
actors) get punished or rewarded by When He Wasn’t Trying to be Funny.”
nobodies for their choice of insaneThe opening routine titled “We
ly expensive gowns, to the obvious Saw Your Boobs” was clearly one of
discussion on the night’s winners the skits that was perceived as inand losers.
appropriate, though the actresses
Nonetheless, with some media mentioned were apparently in on
casting this year’s awards as boring the song and dance number about
and forgettable, the focus turned to their on-screen chest reveals.
the successes and failures of host Seth
While the media generally agreed
that MacFarlane was the wrong
choice to host the Oscars, it is surprising that more reporters did not
comment on Michelle Obama’s presentation of the Best Picture Award,
who was evidently following in the
footsteps of Bill Clinton at the Golden Globes. The Washington Post’s
Jennifer Rubin delivered an honest
opinion on Obama’s presence at the
awards, stating that the First Lady’s
lack of comment on the military service personnel standing behind her,
and her short and vague statement
on the gay community were entitled
and odd points of discussion for the
White House representative.
More importantly, as Rubin points
out, why was Michelle Obama even
at the Oscars? Her persona has nothing to do with Hollywood, unless you
count appearing on Jimmy Kimmel
as celebrity-status worthy, and her
appearance only serves to corrupt
the idea of the president as the capable leader of the U.S. who is solely
focused on improving his country
rather than attending fluffy galas and
award shows.
The ongoing attempts of world
leaders to appear hip and “with
it” are also insulting to youth. It
seems that being a politician in the
21st century now necessitates the
development of a cool image that
appeals to young people, who apparently only pay attention to politics
if the leader of the country shakes
hands with Ben Affleck or fights
other politicians in a joke wrestling
match.
Instead of judging which celebrity got it “right” with their outfit
choices or whether MacFarlane was
a good choice for the hosting gig, the
news should have paid more attention to what Michelle Obama’s
presence means for youth and the
rest of the world’s understanding
of U.S. politics, and its increasingly
star-studded nature.
8 w w w.th e on ta r ion . c om
No rest for the writers
Workshops continue
annual tradition of
discussing compelling
topics
Alicja Grzadkowska
Creative minds got little rest during Reading Week as the third
annual Writers Workshops invited
the community, students, and U
of G faculty and staff to participate in a wide range of seminars
on everything from blog writing
and grammar, to publishing research and writing for an internet
audience.
The workshops took place all day
Feb. 21 and Feb. 22 in McLaughlin
Library, and were free this year,
which has been the goal of Jodie
Salter, the chief organizer behind
the event, since her take-over of
the event last year.
“That was something I fought
for,” said Salter, adding that the
resulting community outreach
from the workshops will hopefully help to bring people from on
and off campus into the library.
“I think it’s important for the
The digital communication
university and the library to make stream was particularly present
itself more accessible, but also to in the workshops, with attention
make itself accessible to faculty given to writing for the Internet
and staff who may only think of in multiple seminars, even ones
this building as a repository for that were not directly related to
databases that they access online.” the web. For example, Salter told
The change in admission pric- The Ontarion that writing for the
ing wasn’t the only development net came up in “Plain Language
from last year’s event. Elsevier, Writing Strategies” presented by
a publisher of science, technical, Kim Garwood and Andrea Karand health-related work, spon- pala as “accessibility to broader
sored the event, which according audiences” was discussed. Social
to Salter, allowed the workshops media use was also explored by
to have more promotion behind several workshops like “Managthem and be “a bit fancier.”
ing Your Reputation Using Social
Of course, the main focuses Media” led by Stuart Robertson
of the event were the seminars and “How to Please Both Peothemselves, which were orga- ple and Robots with Your Digital
nized in a way that let attendees Content” by Colleen Tully.
follow the same or different
Other presenters included
streams throughout the program Calantha Elsby, the local persona
schedule.
behind the food blog piecurious.
“I’ve tried to create streams, com, Nicholas Murphy, a U of G
so creative writing streams, grad student working towards
academic streams, digital his PhD who moonlights as an
communication streams, so award-winning filmmaker, and
hopefully if someone [was] in- creative writing pros like Sandra
terested in that, they [could] Sabatini and Kilby Smith-Mcfollow it through the two days,” Gregor, to name a few of the
said Salter.
many talented individuals who
news
took the time to lead dynamic
and absorbing seminars.
Whether digital content discussions will continue to be a
significant part of the workshops
depends on the attendees’ reception of the workshops, says
Salter.
“I’m curious to see how the
numbers are for those [workshops] in order to think of how
we’ll shape it for next year.”
Based on some of the feedback
from the event, a variety of the
seminars and streams were wellreceived, and people enjoyed the
low registration fee.
“I’m really focused on trying to
hone in on research skills and research writing skills, and it was
free,” said Telesphore Marie, a
first-year agriculture student,
on why he attended, adding, “I
think it’s a great thing to share
these ideas and this information
with people like myself.”
Kasia Zygmunt, a community
member, agreed, commenting on
the wide range of writing “tools
and different views” that were
made available through the event,
and the free entry, which was a
“huge contributor” to her presence at the workshops. Anjelica
Abarra, a second-year English
student used the workshops
“to gain more knowledge from
professionals.”
For Salter, the event was meant
to show the library off, and break
“unconscious barriers” between
the surrounding community and
the campus, as well as the barriers between the library and
people who regularly visit the
campus. Networking and promoting other writing programs
were also key parts of the event.
“We have Creative Writing at
Guelph here this year,” said
Salter, “[So we can] get the community educated on what’s being
offered,” adding that she sees the
workshops “as a space where you
start to create dialogue and networking on a multitude of levels.”
Salter’s vision for the future of
the workshops is clear.
“It would be great if it becomes
a network for different writers
to create community outside of
work place.”
170.7 ◆ febr uary 28t h, 2013
arts & Culture
Jill Barber shares the love at River Run
9
Canadian songstress
dazzles in special
Valentine’s Day
performance
(2002), Oh Heart (2004, which
earned Barber the Female Recording of the Year award at the 2005
Music Nova Scotia Awards), and
For All Time (2006), it was Barber’s
fearless transition into vocal jazz,
Julia Tignanelli
marked by the release of Chances
in 2008, that launched the artOn Feb. 14, pairs plucked by cupid’s ist’s career forward. After earning
arrow and unattached admirers of two Juno nominations for Chanlive music alike took in an appro- ces – including one for New Artist
priately love-struck performance of the Year – the reinvented Barby Canadian torch singer Jill Bar- ber charged forward; the release
ber at the River Run Centre. With of Mischievous Moon in 2011 sowarm stage presence, palpable lidified the singer’s utterly unique
charm, and a perfect combina- and now unmistakable vocal style.
The River Run performance was
tion of toe-tapping numbers and
breezy ballads, Barber encapsulat- in part a celebration of Barber’s
ed old school romance by inviting latest musical endeavour, Chanthe audience into a dreamy, jazz- sons – a collection of covers of
infused world.
classic French love songs. In the
Hailing from Port Credit, Ont., style of one of Barber’s noted inBarber has since been drawn to spirations, Parisian ballad singer
both coasts of Canada, living for Édith Piaf, these melodies of love
some time in Halifax, Nova Scotia and loss seemed a natural addiand eventually making the move tion to the starry-eyed performer’s
westward to call Vancouver home. musical repertoire.
Though this CBC darling has long
Barber was accompanied onbeen on the Canadian music scene, stage by a suave, multi-talented
beginning with folk-inspired al- ensemble of musicians – bandmates
bums like A Note to Follow So Les Cooper (guitar), Steve Zsirai
vanessa tignanelli
Jazz singer Jill Barber provided an intimate and entertaining Valentine’s Day concert, drawing heavily on
the influence of the love songs of Edith Piaf.
(bass), Adam Warner (drums, per- from Barber’s previous albums,
cussion), Robbie Grunwald (piano, including “Mischievous Moon,”
accordion), and modern-day Ren- “Chances,” “Never Quit Loving
aissance man Drew Jurecka, who You,” “Take It Off Your Mind,” an
contributed musical stylings on upbeat, a cappella arrangement of
violin, sax, mandolin, accordion, “A Wish Under My Pillow,” and the
and clarinet, as well as a memorable audience-requested “Starting to
whistle solo, which may have gar- Show,” which Barber appropriately
nered the most applause all evening. used to announce the news of her
Also scattered throughout the pregnancy. Tender moments like
performance were beloved tracks this one were not rare, and when
shared alongside witty anecdotes
from Barber and bandmates, the
show was consistently entertaining
and intimate. With the expert execution of a charming and heartfelt
performance, it’s safe to say that
Barber seduced even the most pessimistic of hearts.
for web-exclusive
photo
Reel
The ubiquitous appeal of ukuleles
Ukulele club facilitates
inclusive learning
to the ukulele, which seemed is said to originate from the
to fit seamlessly with the music band’s time at a recording stuplayed.
dio in which the band played it
Like Logue, most of the meet- while their manager took a cofMichael Bohdanowicz
ing’s participants considered fee break. Upon returning from
themselves to be beginners the break, the manager insistGaining an understanding of playing the ukulele. The host ed that this song be recorded.
how to play the ukulele seemed of the meeting, local musician It was, and “Iko Iko” became a
to be attainable through being Gayle Ackroyd, also shared this hit song.
present at a ukulele club’s meet- characteristic and is well-exFollowing a performance or
ing held at Long & McQuade’s perienced with playing guitars. two of “Iko Iko,” Ackroyd again
recently relocated Guelph locaUkuleles typically include four provided background information on Feb. 23.
cords, tuned to the G, C, E and A tion on the next song, “Cheer
The club held its first meeting musical notes. Ukuleles can be Up You’re Okay.” That song was
in January in response to calls divided by their size with sopra- written by Ackroyd following a
for the creation of such a club no, concert, tenor and baritone move to Guelph two years ago. A
by Kim Logue. Logue is currently ukuleles forming the smallest to lack of friends and family memthe store’s lessons coordinator largest sizes respectively.
bers in Guelph provided the
but advocated the creation of a
The first song the group played impetus for creating the song.
ukulele club prior to finding em- was “You Are My Sunshine.”
Additionally, two rail transployment with Long & McQuade. Without lyrics, the uplifting port-themed folk songs were
The room in which the meeting sense of the song was nonethe- played during this gatherwas held was awash with par- less conveyed. “Oh! Susanna,” ing, “Freight Train” and “I’ve
ticipants. The gathering had an written by Stephen Foster, was Been Working on the Railroad.”
informal and supportive tone to the second song the group ad- “Tennesse Waltz” provided the
it, as consensus was reached on dressed. Tablet sheets showing closing act. In keeping with the
what songs the club should play this song were presented to at- club’s inclusive nature, particand its participants shared in- tendees, though this medium of ipants were welcome to pursue
formation about ukuleles. With written music could present dif- solos and introduce new songs
great patience, the group often ficulties in showing the number during the gathering.
repeated songs so that partici- of beats.
Overall, ukuleles provided
pants could better understand
Ackroyd provided background a soothing touch to the songs
how to play them. This inclusive information on the next song played at the club’s gathering,
nature welcomed the presence of performed by the group, “Iko which will meet again on March
a cuatro, an instrument similar Iko” by the Dixie Cups. The song 23.
10 w w w.th e on ta r ion . c om
Heart of Cuba on stage
Ballet Creole performs
at River Run Centre
Colleen McDonell
Not all ballets are classical affairs,
with an audience hushed as dancers
in tights and leotards move delicately
to the sounds of a classical orchestra.
On Feb. 17 at the River Run Centre,
Guelph got a taste of a different type
of ballet – the kind that gets your
feet tapping, your hands clapping,
and even got The Ontarion’s reporter
and photographer up on stage. The
“Heart of Cuba” performed by the
Ballet Creole company brought a
taste of the island to a snowy Canadian winter as part of the Guelph
Mercury Family Series.
“I wanted to show the dancing of
Cuba on the main stage,” Patrick
Parson, founder of Ballet Creole, told
the audience.
“Ballet” is a particular type of dance
with origins in France’s courts dating
back to the 1500s and 1600s, while
“Creole” is a term that means “native
to the locality” and refers to people born and raised in the Caribbean,
but of mixed European and African
descent. The two terms that make
up the name of the company aptly
arts & Culture
described the River Run performance.
“I ventured to pioneer a company that would take people like me
– black dancers – on the main stage
doing our traditional dance and
modern and contemporary dance,”
said Parson in an interview. Starting
Ballet Creole in 1990, the founder decided to focus the company’s latest
subset on Cuba after returning from
the island to Toronto.
“I noticed that there are Cubans
here with the music, but not dance
itself as a whole production.”
In its second year of touring, the
ballet infused the auditorium with
the rhythms of Cuba through acrobatic dance and drumming. The
four-member band used various
drums to create different beats to acWendy Shepherd
company their chanting and singing.
At first, the music seemed not very Caribbean dance company Ballet Creole brought the sights and sounds of Cuba to the River Run Centre
relatable to a majority of the audi- on Feb. 17 in a performance that included much audience interaction.
ence, especially those of the younger
generation. However, the dancers The founder made special mention shoulder-shaking, and skirt-flap- participation. Nearing the end, kids
in colourful costumes inspired the of his colleague Yuhala Garcia, a Cu- ping techniques brought vibrancy to and parents alike joined the performviewer to get lost in the movements ban-born performer, who was very the stage.
ers on stage, and through moves
and try to discover the story behind instrumental in the creation of the
“We try to show the heartfelt ex- inspired by Spanish flamenco and
the energetic dance.
choreography.
pressions of Cuban people,” said African dance, they were transport“I keep delving deeper into the
The four dancers moved through Parson. “We have Cuban dancers ed to the sunny island nation, if only
music and every year discover some- the aisles of the audience during the and musicians to keep the traditions for a moment.
thing new that allows me to refine second song, showing both the fluid- intact.”
or develop the choreography,” Par- ity and complexities of the dances up
Parson, on stage as part of the
for web-exclusive
photo Reel
son said in the production pamphlet. close and personal. Their hip-moving, band, greatly encouraged audience
From A to Zavitz
Juried Photo Show
explores environment
and material concerns
Kara Lee Blok
The First Annual Juried Photo Show,
which ran from Feb. 11 to 16 was presented by the University of Guelph’s
photography department and organized by MFA student Dustin Wilson.
Jurors Susan Dobson, Anna Cox and
Paul MacDonald selected works
of seven students, which focused
around the themes of environmental
portraiture and the material concerns
of photographic practice.
The environment in Susannah Van
Der Zaag’s mural allows the viewer a
curious glimpse into the artist’s family history. This image of the artist’s
brother sitting in a concrete structure,
once a bomb shelter and soon to be a
space station, explores the narrative
of a site and how it can shift over time.
Van Der Zaag’s family has maintained
ties to this underground structure for
two generations, throughout which
their use of the site has changed
from a space safe from the threats of
Cold War to one that is open to space
exploration.
Whitney Arnott and Laurel Barr
explore portraiture with similar
approaches, yet depict entirely opposite lifestyles. Arnott’s untitled
series focuses on the female student
demographic to which the artist
Nadine Maher
The First Annual Juried Photo Show in Zavitz Gallery the week of Feb. 16 featured seven students,
selected by jurors to capture the themes of environmental portraiture and material concerns.
belongs, presenting each subject in most viewers might see as simply an
a straightforward depiction of how age group.
The remaining four artists showed
they inhabit their personal space.
The resulting deadpan images re- work situated within the contempoveal the awkward nature of living in rary discourse of digital photography
a liminal zone throughout univer- that challenges what is defined as a
sity. Barr’s sensitive portraits allow photograph. In “Portraits of Sound,”
the mostly student viewership a new Ashley Freake confronts this question
perspective on the often-marginal- head-on by scanning an iPad’s moving
ized elderly. Barr hopes to provide visualization of sound, thus capturing
insight into the personalities of each an image of sound as opposed to light.
model, thus establishing them as an
Using a similar technique, Lisa
individual standing apart from what Muzzin created photographic images
through the process of scanning small
paintings of marks characteristic of
analog photography, such as the
light leaks and various chemical inconsistencies that can occur in film
processing. Her interest lies in exploring the transformation of these
indexical marks from photography to
painting and then back again, creating a hybrid image that simultaneously
signifies both painting and photography thus forcing the viewer to question
their own perceptual process.
Samuel de Lange’s “Simulacra/
Mise-en-Abyme” series similarly
instills a perceptual awareness in the
viewer. Presented on one side of the
diptych is a photograph of a slide of an
original copy of an original sculpture
significant in the canon of art history. On the other side there is a QR
code, which – through a smartphone
– allows access to the same opposing
image. This interactive component
brings the viewer to question their
relationship to the image and further emphasizes the existence of the
artwork as an index of an index of an
index.
Although a complete departure
from the photographic medium, Zoe
Downie-Ross’s video piece still speaks
in a photographic language. Using
slow camera movements to capture
overlooked ceilings in three dreamy
loops, Downie-Ross draws the beautiful out of the mundane and engages
the viewer to become aware of their
surroundings. Downie-Ross sets this
relentlessly looping environment in
contrast to the lulls in interpersonal
communication created and amplified by technology.
The show successfully presented photographs with a high level of
conceptual depth and visual appeal,
many of which challenged the viewer
to consider the location of the artwork and expand their notions of
what photography can encompass.
Next year’s shows will certainly be
a must-see.
170.7 ◆ febr uary 28t h, 2013
arts & Culture
Album Review: My Bloody Valentine – m b v
Shoegaze veterans
return after two
decades
Loveless was a commercial disappointment despite its unanimous
critical praise and undeniable influence on an entire generation of
alternative rock. While it allowed
Robyn Nicholson
the band to sign to a major label, the
pressure to live up to the sterling stanHow do you follow a landmark soph- dard set by Loveless meant the band
omore-album-turned-cult-classic
ultimately abandoned any hope of a
which defined a genre and essentially third effort by 1999.
a generation? If you're Irish alt-rockFast-forward to 2012: a reunion tour
ers My Bloody Valentine, you wait and thousands of wild rumours later,
twenty-odd years, speculate casually founding member Kevin Shields quiabout a possible release date, and sur- etly hinted in an interview with NME
prise the entire music community by that new material might be in the
dropping the new album – seemingly works, and set for release by the end
on a whim – one Saturday night, ef- of the year. Amid swirling speculation,
fectively propelling yourself back into m b v was dropped on Feb. 2, 2013 at
the limelight after years of obscurity. precisely 11:58 p.m., effectively crashMy Bloody Valentine's history is ing the band's website server within
something of an urban myth: after a mere moments of release.
whirlwind debut (1988's Isn't AnyConsidering all this history, this
thing), 1991's Loveless proceeded not generation's twenty-somethings are
only to immortalize the band in music as old as Loveless itself and may not
history through its groundbreaking entirely be subject to its influence.
innovations in guitar sounds and pro- This being said, any fans of early U2,
duction, but it also nearly bankrupted Radiohead and essentially the entire
their unsuspecting independent label. Brit-Pop movement have My Bloody
Like all future cult-classic albums, Valentine to thank for that trademark
vacuum-infused, swirling, distorted
guitar sound that has come to define
alternative and indie rock as a genre.
While m b v may not be much of a
departure from Loveless, it reasserts
My Bloody Valentines as dignified veterans of shoegaze, and yet it manages
to sound as fresh and new as Loveless
softly growls into the consciousness
with a pulsing base and subtle bending of pitch that you can feel in your
temples. Soft mesmerizing vocals
croon nearly indecipherable sweetnothings and provide an inviting and
mystifying lead into the rest of the
album.
Skip to track three, “Who Sees
You,” and the percussion gets picked
up more, skipping haphazardly with
shakers and highly controlled use
of snare, while guitars continue to
grind out that signature half-vacuum cleaner, half-jet engine sound,
while Shields and Bilinda Butcher's
combined vocal forces blend in and
out of focus.
“Is This and Yes” introduces a more
keyboard-synth driven sound which
courtesy
proves to be one of the more innodid all those years ago. The album is vative departures from My Bloody
almost gesturing to an entire era of Valentine's already well-establish
indie rock about where it came from, sonic signature, creating an efferand also proving once and for all that, vescent and sparkling dream-like
twenty years aside, My Bloody Valen- atmosphere for higher-pitched votine defined a genre once, and they cals, thoroughly processed as always.
can just as easily do it again.
The magic of m b v is its timelessAlbum opener “She Found Now” ness – it is the logical counterpart to
11
follow Loveless, even though it is
decades late. When you listen to the
two albums back to back, it's as if no
time has passed between them. My
Bloody Valentine has always managed to remain fresh and present and
yet simultaneously enigmatic and
inexplicable. They are a band who
managed to change the face of alternative rock in just three years and two
albums before slipping off the face of
the earth. For them to return after so
long and effortlessly reclaim their spot
atop the hierarchy of indie rock royalty is both astounding and refreshing.
While many of us may not have
been born early enough to take part
in the original nostalgia for early nineties shoegaze and the second wave
of British invasion, m b v allows us
the opportunity not only to become
aware of this landmark band and their
history, but also work backwards and
experience for the first time a signature sound which broke serious
ground and had a heavy hand in shaping what alternative rock has sounded
like for the last two decades – a monumental return for a monumental band.
What the Tech?
Art explained by
neuroscience?
Nick Revington
John Onians has a radical way of approaching art history. Onians, an art
historian and Professor Emeritus of
the School of World Art Studies at
the University of East Anglia in the
United Kingdom, presented a talk
Feb. 26 entitled Art and the Brain:
How Neuroscience Can Help the Art
Historian. Onians suggests that advances in neuroscience can go a long
way in explaining questions such as
what goes on in an artist’s mind, and
why art is a universal activity but is
“All of us in this room, basically all
practiced differently at different times
and places – questions typically the the things we’re good at, we’re good
domain of art historians.
at because we’ve done them many
Based on MRI scans of the brain, times before, and that lays down neuOnians maintains that when an artist ral networks which are private to us,
paints a portrait for example, they are personal to us, and there’s no shortnot drawing on what they see directly cutting that. That’s the only way you
to produce an image, but rather on learn a language, an instrument, or a
memories relating to previous experi- discipline,” said Onians.
ence drawing certain types of features
For example, Onians hypothesizes
(such as lips) or how to capture cer- that the incredibly realistic perspectain lighting.
tive of cave paintings in Chauvet,
The notion that artists draw on past France – some of the oldest known
experiences seems, in a way, blatantly paintings, at about 30,000 years old
obvious. But Onians’s “neuroarthis- – as compared to other cave paintings
tory” – the framing of this simple is a result of the inhabitants’ unique
notion in neuroscientific terms – ap- opportunity to observe animals often.
pears to hold a key to understanding Since the cave is situated near a natart in a new way.
ural stone bridge over a major river,
it was particularly well travelled by
migrating animals. Similarly, Michelangelo created what were by far
the most realistic sculptures of nude
form up to the 14th century through
intense studying and dissection of
human corpses.
But Onians also postulates that
this approach can explain why large
groups of artists produce similar
works in similar times. American artists such as Jasper Johns, Mark Rothko
and others created large paintings of
relatively monotonous colours during the 1950s, which Onians suggests
may be a result of the prevalence of
imagery and concern in the collective conscience over the relatively
monotonous and bare fields of the
dustbowl years of the Great Depression a few decades earlier. That these
paintings had such powerful appeal to
patrons of art, too, might be explained
in this way: neural pathways in both
the artists and viewers that developed
according to scenes common in that
era contributed to preferences for artwork with that familiar aesthetic. It’s
an approach art historians have never
taken before, Onians said.
While this way of understanding art
history may seem somewhat mechanistic, Onians was quick to emphasize
that it is anything but, as neural pathways are unique to individuals and
arranged among hundreds of billions
of neurons with hundreds of thousands of links between each of them.
Pop Machine: “Junk” won’t cut it
Video response
fails to balance
MacFarlane’s sexist
anthem “We Saw Your
Boobs”
Tom Beedham
Trigger warning: contains discussion
of images of sexual violence.
A face-palm prompting pop culture
moment as infamous as Seth MacFarlane’s Oscars song “We Saw Your Boobs”
is bound to spark parodies, and on Feb.
25, Kevin Gisi made that a reality with
“We Saw Your Junk.”
Beginning with a disclaimer reading, “To those who were offended by
Seth MacFarlane’s ‘We Saw Your Boobs’
What’s not overt to all that watched her phone were leaked to the Internet.
number at the Oscars I hope this helps!” MacFarlane’s number was that many
MacFarlane cemented the song
viewers are asked to expect that what’s of the moments referenced involved as one big slut shame by glorifying
to come will somehow balance MacFar- sexual violence, predation, and sex- actresses that have yet to bare their
lane’s male gaze championing anthem ploitation. As Katie McDonough breasts on screen by including a clip of
that listed onscreen appearances of sev- pointed out in an article for Salon, Jennifer Lawrence snapping her fingers
eral actresses’ exposed breasts to 40.3 the breasts viewers glimpse in The from the crowd after it’s noted that we
million viewers. The one thing Gisi’s Accused, Boys Don’t Cry, Mon- haven’t seen her naked bosoms onsong has going for it is that it goes after ster, Monster’s Ball are shown in a screen. Gisi actually participates in
a subject in a position of more privi- rape scene, a medical examination the same activity when he notes sevlege than that tackled by MacFarlane, following rape, a bathroom scene fol- eral movies Ron Jeremy’s penis was
but what’s ultimately put forth is more lowing a rape (in which the breasts are not shown in on-screen, then goes
of an apologist statement that is more bruised), and a sex scene in which the on to sing “But that doesn’t make up
of a trivialization of legitimate back- line between consent and resistance for the porn.”
lash MacFarlane received in the wake isn’t clear and the character can be
Critics of MacFarlane’s detractors
of hosting the Academy Awards.
read as an object of white male sexual have pointed to the fact that many of
Gisi’s song lists films in which actors’ exotification of the black female (re- the actresses featured in MacFarlane’s
naked penises are featured onscreen, spectively). MacFarlane also referenced performance were in on the so-called
but it ultimately fails to address the most the real life privacy violation of Scarlett “gag,” but that didn’t make it any less
offensive subtexts of “Boobs.”
Johansson, in which nude photos from sexist; all this signals is a Hollywood
widely insular to the systemic oppression of women.
To wit, satire, sarcasm, and grossout postmodern pastiche has been
MacFarlane’s comedic vehicle of
choice across all of the creations he’s
steered directly (Family Guy, The
Cleveland Show, etc.), and it’s possible to concede he was aiming to start
a discussion. But I’m not about to become a MacFarlane apologist. We’re
at an embarrassing stage in our pop
cultural history if we’re willing to accept misogynist, homophobic, racist,
and otherwise oppressive statements
or actions as “clever humour” when
the source material is simply receiving
an application of literal or metaphorical quotation marks. We need to stop
being a party to that.
arts & Culture
14 w w w.th e on ta r ion . c om
Videogame Review: Aliens: Colonial Marines
Just another bug hunt
Devon Harding
There is no film more influential to the videogame industry
than Alien. Halo takes its Sargent Johnston directly from
Aliens’s Sargent Apone. Metroid
borrows just about everything
else. Even Doom, the father of
first person shooters, was originally envisioned as an Aliens
game. That’s why everyone in
the gaming community seemed
so excited when Aliens: Colonial Marines was announced five
years ago. The title was stuck in
development hell and was delayed multiple times. Finally, it
arrived, and people were still excited. Gearbox, the developer,
had just released the excellent
Borderlands 2, and faith in the
company was strong. I personally had pre-ordered it online, and
was ready to start playing when
the news hit me. It had received
a two point five out of ten from a
reviewer at Destructoid. A three
out of ten from Eurogamer. This
is roughly comparable to getting
30 per cent on an exam: awful.
So is it really that bad? Or is it
a case of five years of absurdly
high expectations that no game
could live up to?
The first thing you’ll notice is that the presentation is
downright sexy. The menus perfectly suggest the aesthetic of the
original film, with the music following suit. It looks and sounds
consistently like an official Alien
sequel, the only good idea that is
consistently pulled off without
failure.
You begin playing by trying out
your movie-accurate pulse rifle
and the terrifying motion tracker
in levels that are lifted straight
from the film. Soon, after slinking through the USCMC Suloco’s
halls, you find a marine stuck in
an alien “cocoon.” While cutting
him down, a titular xenomorph
slinks from the walls, and you
freak out. It’s effective, it works,
mainly because you are alone and
you have no idea where an alien
may come from. During the following game of cat and mouse
between me and that single alien,
the game felt right. And then the
game goes careening downhill.
Creatures pop from the walls
and run at you with open arms,
you cease to be alone, and can let
your allies blast away with infincourtesy sega
ite ammo. The game becomes a
shoot-em-up where you will tear The single-player campaign of Aliens: Colonial Marines leaves much to be desired, especially for fans of
through thousands of enemies the film, but the multiplayer mode is a great success.
without any tension. It is still fun,
when it works, but it betrays the tasks you with escaping a ruth- character deaths and nuclear controlled here by people, playfeeling of the source material.
less (and apparently bulletproof) blasts. To add insult to injury, ers who are smart, resourceful,
Beyond the fundamental prob- creature. After a mix of slinking when characters ask about these and who have a sense of selflem of making an action game through the shadows and sprint- discrepancies, others respond by preservation. A great moment
with horror moments instead of ing from certain death, you get claiming “that’s another story.” occurred as I was playing as an
the reverse, the game has many your gear and fight back with the
Despite all this, the multiplay- alien: marines were gathered in
ideas that are brilliant, but are power loader from the climax of er mode is awesome. Developed a room restocking on ammo, and
pulled off with too much haste Aliens. It would be incredibly by a different studio than the three aliens had joined me on
and not enough thought. If you cathartic, if operating the load- single player mode, this mode top of the structure. The marines
shoot an alien close up, its acidic er required more than button would make the whole game ran out, and we jumped on them,
blood can splash on your protect- mashing. Reaching to the film, worth it, if the price were re- shocking one to throw a grenade
ive gear rendering it useless. A the game includes some great duced. As a marine, you are at his ally as we attacked them.
great idea, but that shock is ren- lines and references, a guilty tasked with escaping infested That’s what the core of this
dered moot when you can strap pleasure among them being the territory, carrying out a last game should have been: stealthy,
on six helmets left lying around quit prompt asking “Game over stand until help arrives, or other smart aliens vs. overpowered,
whatever derelict research man?” but then turns around and tasks highly reminiscent of the underprepared marines, joining
station you are currently exter- outright ignores at least three films. Whereas the campaign the film in its Vietnam allegory.
minating. At one point, the game major plot points of Aliens and just has creatures spring at you Instead, the campaign might be
strips you of your weaponry and its sequel. This includes ignoring in the open, xenomorphs are better compared to Rambo.
Film Review: A Good Day to Die Hard
Quality action makes
up for lack of character
development
Kevin Ricci
To call A Good Day to Die Hard
a good action movie is a comment that would likely fit within
the views of the general public.
However, to say the latest Bruce
Willis action film is a good Die
Hard feature would certainly be
an overstatement. With a runtime of 97 minutes, A Good Day
to Die Hard is the shortest film
in the franchise by around 25
minutes. As a result, viewers get
a frenetically paced slam-bang
action picture that pulls a lot of
punches, but leaves its brain at
the door.
The movie begins with the
hero John McClane working as
a police officer in New York City.
When he receives information
that his estranged son is being
held under arrest in Russia, he
flies out there to help him out.
Upon his arrival, a bombing occurs at the courthouse where
John’s son Jack is being held.
The bombing allows for Jack’s
escape and from there begins a
15-minute car chase where the
bad guys are chasing Jack and
John is following in tow to save
his son. Father and son unite,
and put behind all of their clichéd issues in order to save the
day.
The Die Hard films tend to
have fairly basic plot lines; the
fifth installment adds nothing
new in this department. However, the Die Hard franchise also
has well developed villains, a
polished script and superb direction, which sets them on a very
high pedestal in the action genre.
These characteristics, sad to say,
are what this latest entry lacks.
The greatest guess for this film’s
courtesy
issues would have to be the running time; adding an extra half
hour could have meant more
clarity, character development,
better editing, and an intelligent
screenplay. Additionally, it appears that the characterization
of John McClane was forgotten
not only in this installment, but
the franchise’s fourth film Live
Free or Die Hard as well. The
wise cracking, vulgar, nicotineaddicted alcoholic of the original
trilogy has been replaced by the
same Bruce Willis one would find
in any of his other films.
All complaints aside, A Good
Day to Die Hard is a good time.
Following a similarly structured approach as recent action
features like Taken and The
Expendables, the “shoot now,
shoot later” attitude works in
this instance. The quantity of
totaled vehicles and pounds of
broken glass surely outweigh the
number of words found in the
screenplay. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, as the film does
exhibit some impressive action
scenes. In fact, if director John
Moore did not go for the Bourneesque approach of quick cuts and
a shaky camera for every scene
of action, it would be plausible
for the newest Die Hard to boast
some classic action sequences for
decades to come. The car chase
is certainly one of the best in
recent memory, and the shootouts, even if implausible for Die
Hard standards, will definitely keep viewers on the edge of
their seats.
A Good Day to Die Hard would
be an easier film to recommend if
it did not have “Die Hard” in the
title. The plot structure, main
character, script, and direction are not at the quality level
of a Die Hard movie. However A Good Day to Die Hard is
a better-than-average action
feature and that is why it gets a
recommendation. It’s not recommended for all audiences, but
for those that are fans of Bruce
Willis, popcorn flicks, and fast
paced action, will certainly have
a satisfying time at the movies.
Rating: 3 / 5
1 70.7 ◆ febr uary 28t h, 2013
sports & Health
Windsor too much for Gryphons
15
Playoff run cut short
in 2-0 Lancer series
sweep of the Gryphons
Game one of the series took place
in Windsor on Feb. 21, where a disciplined Lancer team scored twice on
the powerplay and allowed only one
goal on 30 shots. Scoring was finished
Chris Müller
by midway through the second, and
neither team would alter the 2-1 final
The men’s hockey team’s season has score by the end of regulation.
come to an abrupt end following a 1-0
Game two returned the series to
loss to the Windsor Lancers on Feb. 23. Guelph on Feb. 23, where the GryThe loss comes after an impressive and phons looked to equalize the series at
hard-fought series between Guelph one game apiece.
and Laurier in the quarterfinal series.
The Gryphons came out firing on
Guelph got off to a rough start in all cylinders, outshooting the Lancthe 2013 playoffs at home, dropping ers 16-9 in the first period. The tables
the first game of the Laurier series in turned in the second period, as the
overtime in a 4-3 loss. Guelph was Lancers returned the favour by outable to change their fortunes quickly shooting the Gryphons 15-6. At 16:01
though, posting a 3-2 victory in the of the second period, Windsor netted a
Feb. 16 matchup in Laurier. The win powerplay goal on Gryphon goaltender
forced a series-decided game three, Andrew Loverock, who had an otherand the teams entered a final overtime wise phenomenal night, stopping 30
period tied at 2-2. Gryphon forward of 31 shots. The goal would prove too
Justin Gvora was the hero in front of much for the Gryphons to overcome,
the hometown crowd, as he netted the as Windsor goaltender Parker Van Busgame winner 5:50 into overtime. An- kirk posted a shutout when his team
drew Bathgate and Matt Lyall chipped needed it the most, stopping all 30 of
Guelph’s shots.
in with assists on the goal.
The loss was the last game for GryThe OUA West semifinal series with
Windsor would prove to be a drasti- phon Ed Gale, the graduating captain
of the Guelph squad.
cally different affair.
tasha falconer
Matt Lyall (8) of the Gryphons moves the puck into the offensive zone during the Gryphon’s playoff run.
It simply wasn’t meant to be for
the Gryphons offense this postseason, as they struggled to match the
strong defensive performance by Loverock. In five games, Loverock posted
a 2.06 goals against average and a .921
save percentage. In those same five
games Guelph only mustered 10 offensive goals as they struggled to find
the rhythm that made the Gryphons
a potent offensive attack during the
regular season.
The Gryphon season concludes as
one of the best in the last six years. The
team’s 17-9-2 record in the regular
season was the highest win total for
the Gryphons in the last six seasons,
and with young offensive firepower
waiting in the wings for next season,
the Gryphons have only scraped the
surface of their potential.
Gryphons fall to Gaels in OUA Semifinal
After defeating UOIT in
the first round, Guelph
ousted by Queen’s
Chris Müller
You couldn’t script a better beginning to the playoffs than what the
Gryphons experienced on Feb. 13
when they hosted the UOIT Ridgebacks at the Gryphon Centre.
Jessica Pinkerton gave Guelph
the lead at 5:26 into the first period and the Gryphons never looked
back. Amanda Parkins netted one
in the second, and Averi Nooren and
Kaitlyn Mora each scored in the third malicious kneeing penalty was comperiod. Goaltender Stephanie Neh- mitted by Victoria MacKenzie of the
ring made 13 saves for the shutout.
Ridgebacks. The hit led to Leigh ShilThe Gryphons travelled to Oshawa ton of the Gryphons leaving with a
on Feb. 15 for the second and final knee injury shortly after. MacKenzie
game of the series.
was given a five-minute major penAfter going up 1-0 on the Gry- alty and a game misconduct for her
phons, the ridgebacks capitalized on role in the incident.
a powerplay opportunity, as Jaclyn
Guelph’s Kaitlyn Mora notched
Gibson fired a shot past Nehring at the game-tying goal at 1:47 in the
17:29 in the first period to give UOIT third period, forcing overtime.
an early 2-0 lead.
One overtime period wasn’t
Amanda Parkins was determined enough, and in the second overtime
to change the course of the game, period Pinkerton netted the gameand netted an early goal just 3:27 winner with assists awarded to
into the second period. Momen- Amanda Parkins and Christine Grant.
tum shifted late in the second when a The win advanced the Gryphons into
the OUA Semifinal.
Without the assistance of Leigh
Shilton, the Gryphons hosted the
first game of the semifinal series
against Queen’s on Feb. 20, a team
that finished just two points behind
the Gryphons in regular season play.
Queen’s jumped out to an early
2-0 lead which Guelph would even
up with just over six minutes remaining in the third period. The
Gaels scored with six minutes and
three minutes remaining in the contest to capture the first game of the
playoff series.
The series travelled to Kingston
on Feb. 22, and Queen’s took full
advantage of the home ice advantage. Queen’s outshot the Gryphons
20-5 in the first period and the Gryphons escaped down only a goal at
the period’s end. The second period
witnessed Christine Grant corral a
rebound, tying the game at one
apiece.
An early third period goal by the
Gaels put Guelph in the difficult position of trying to keep their season
alive. A late powerplay goal by the
Gaels put the game out of reach for
the Gryphons, and the final score
was 3-1. The Gryphons were outshot
by the Gaels 39-22 in the final game
of their incredible season.
16 w w w.t h e on ta r ion . c om
Tough finish for Gryphon basketball
Gryphons struggled
to find rhythm in final
weeks of season
Chris Müller
Both the men’s and women’s seasons have come to an end for the
Gryphon basketball program, as
the women were ousted in their
first-round playoff game and the
men dropped a heartbreaker that
prevented them from getting into
the playoffs.
The women’s team beat Waterloo 71-55 in the final game of the
regular season on Feb. 16, and was
then given an early exit from the
playoffs on Feb. 20 at the hands
of McMaster. Only dressing 11,
and missing the talents of Kayla
Goodhoofd and Alyssa Shortt, the
Gryphons struggled to find any offensive rhythm, eventually losing
81-51.
It was the last game as a Gryphon for Jasmine Douglas, who
played well, posting nine points
and nine rebounds in her final
game in the red, black, and yellow. It was also the last game for
head coach Tom O’Brien, who announced his retirement after three
years at the helm of the Guelph
program. O’Brien concludes his
career after a 26-29 record in his
time at Guelph, choosing to leave
the coaching post after 44 years of
coaching experience.
The team was led offensively by
Kayla Goodhoofd’s average of 13
points per game throughout the
season, and Douglas’ 174 rebounds
in the regular season landed her
fourth in the OUA in that statistical category.
The men’s side dropped an incredibly close, down-to-the-wire
game with Waterloo in their final
game of the year on Feb. 16. After
four quarters of back and forth
basketball, with multiple lead
changes in the closing minutes,
Guelph failed to convert on a basket in the last 15 seconds, handing
the last open playoff spot to Waterloo. Guelph finished the year
with a 5-16 record. Veterans Zach
Angus and Dan McCarthy led the
team in scoring throughout the
season, both averaging just over
13 points in each contest. Adam
Kemp led the defensive unit with
90 rebounds over the course of the
season.
The men will search for their first
winning season since 2007-08 as
they prepare for next year, while
the women will have to wait and
see who will coach them as they
look for their first winning season
since 2006-07.
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photo
Reel
sports & Health
Wrestling
takes
fourth
Three gold-medal
performances highlight
Gryphon success
Chris Müller
Ben Derochie
Daniel McCarthy (4) works past a Waterloo defender on Feb. 16 at
the W.F. Mitchell Athletic Centre. The Gryphons lost 63-62 in their
final game of the season.
Gryphons golden at OUA Chamionships
Both men and women
captured overall gold
Chris Müller
For the first time since the 1998-99
season, the familiar navy and blue of
the Windsor Lancers was not to be
found atop the men’s track and field
championship podium. Rather, the
red, black, and yellow of the Gryphons stood tallest amongst the OUA.
Led by Gryphon athlete of the
week Anthony Romaniw, the Gryphons jumped out to an early overall
lead and never let up, beating Windsor by an impressive 57 points in the
provincial championships. Romaniw
captured four medals on the day, including the three gold medal finishes
in the 600 and 1000-metre races, and
anchored the 4 x 800 metre relay
team. Romaniw added a silver in the
4 x 400 metre. Tim Hendry took gold
in the shot put while breaking his own
meet record, and grabbed silver in the
weight throw event. Yves Sikubwabo
earned silver in the 1000 and 1500metre events, and also pitched in to
capture gold in the 4 x 800.
The men’s 1500-metre witnessed
the Gryphon 2-3-4-5 finish of Sikubwabo, Steve Holmes, Ross Proudfoot,
and Andrew Nixon. All four Gryphons
Andrea Connell
Members of Guelph’s track and field team pose for the camera after another successful OUA Track and
Field Championship.
finished within two and a half seconds since 2008-09. Fellow Gryphon of the
of each other.
week Andrea Seccafien earned gold in
The men scored points in every the 3000-metre, 4 x 800-metre, and
event they competed in, and of the 1500-metre races, effectively spear28 male competitors sent to repre- heading the women’s team to a close
sent the Gryphons, all finished in the victory over the rest of the field.
top eight of at least one event in the
The women’s team was 12 points off
championship. It was truly a full-team the lead entering the final three events.
performance by the men’s side, only to A 1-2 finish in the 1500-metre by Secbe rivaled by the efforts of the women. cafien and Carise Thompson helped
The women’s side also performed secure victory. However, efforts by
exquisitely, grabbing the title from the Julia Wallace (3 medals), Rachel Aubry
defending Lancers for the first time (2 medals), Erika Fiedler (1 medal)
and Karry-Ann Cornwall (1 medal)
contributed to a team effort by the
Gryphons that earned points in 16 of
17 events.
In the last ten years of both men
and women’s competitions, the OUA
champion has won the overall CIS
Championship 40 per cent of the time.
The team is making all the lastminute preparations for what should
be a very exciting CIS Championship
at the University of Calgary on Mar.
7-9.
The Gryphons travelled to St. Catherines to partake in the 2012-13 OUA
Championships at Brock University
on Feb. 16.
The men finished fourth in a tightly
contested day, ending with 59 points.
Western earned 73, McMaster 67, and
the host Brock notched 63 to round
out the top three. Western’s victory
gives them the title of back-to-back
champions, winning last year’s
championship as well. The imposing
John Fitzgerald earned gold for Guelph
in the 130-kilogram category, effectively defending the event he won at
last year’s OUA Championship. Mathieu Deschatelets also took gold for
his efforts in the 82-kilogram weight
class, and Navrit Wirach earned silver
in the 57-kilogram event. Deschatelets was named the male athlete of
the week by the athletic department.
The women’s side witnessed
Brock win the championship at
home with 69 points, while Western (59) and Lakehead (49) rounded
out the top three. Guelph’s 39 points
were enough to earn fourth in the
competition.
Kelsey Gsell earned gold in the
82-kilogram weight class, improving on the form that earned her silver
in last year’s competition. Gsell’s efforts allowed her to share the athlete
of the week spotlight with teammate
Deschatelets, both were named OUA
all stars. Jade Papke earned silver in
the 52-kilogram category, totaling
the gryphon medal accruement at five.
Head coach Doug Cox was pleased
with the young team’s performance
in an excerpt from the gryphons.ca
report.
“We took a very young men’s and
women’s team with half of our team
made up of first year wrestlers,” said
Cox. “I’m very excited about our future with the work ethic of our rookie
athletes and the great group of returning athletes coming back next
year.”
Guelph’s wrestlers will travel to
London, Ont. for the CIS Championships where the hosting Western
Mustangs will look to keep the momentum gained from their first and
second place finishes in the provincial finals.
Concordia University will look
to make it three national championships in a row on the men’s side,
while Brock enters the women’s final
looking to duplicate the success they
had last year en route to a national
championship. The championship
will occur on March 1 and 2.
1 70.7 ◆ febr uary 28t h, 2013
sports & Health
Provincial and national success in the pool
The Gryphon swim
team posted
impressive results over
the reading week
Chris Müller
Led by the efforts of potential Olympian Alisha Harricharan and rookie
Evan Van Moerkerke, the Gryphons
have dazzled in the pool on the provincial and national levels.
Dating back to the OUA Championships from Feb. 7-9 in Toronto,
the Gryphons have combined to
tally 17 total medals at the provincial and national level. In the last
few weeks, Guelph has proven that
they can hang with the traditional
swimming contenders like Western,
Toronto, and McMaster.
Guelph finished fourth overall in
both the men’s and women’s divisions at the OUA finals. Gold medals
from the OUA rookie of the year Van
Moerkerke in the 100-metre and 50metre freestyle events as well as a
silver in the 100-metre backstroke
encapsulated an impressive performance by the young standout. A gold
in the 200-metre and silver in the
100-metre were won by Matthew
Stephenson, and Derek Quick earned
a bronze in the 1500-metre freestyle.
Harricharan earned gold in the
50, 100, and 200-metre butterfly
events, setting an OUA record in
the 100-metre. With the assistance
of Tess Wey, Sasha Boulton, and
Erica Pate, Harricharan also earned
bronze in the 400-metre freestyle
17
relay. For her efforts, Harricharan and 46.65 in the 100-metre.
No Gryphons were selected for
was named the OUA female swimThe strong performances by these individual awards, and both swimmer of the year.
two led to a 14th-place finish on mers of the year came from the
Harricharan and Van Moerkerke both the men’s and women’s side Thunderbirds. The sprinter’s cup,
led their respective squads into the of the competition.
awarded to the athlete that wins
CIS Championships held in Calgary
The men’s side was won by the both the 50 and 100-metre freefrom Feb. 21-23. Both would earn University of Toronto for the first style events, was only awarded on
two medals over the course of the time in 18 years, ending a frustrating the women’s side, going to Caroline
championship.
national drought for the perennial Lapierre-Lemire of the Université
Harricharan earned gold in the contender. The University of Brit- du Québec à Trois-Rivières.
100-metre with a time of 59.72, ish Columbia and the University of
With both Harricharan and Van
shaving nearly half a second off Calgary rounded out the top three. Moerkerke returning next year,
the OUA record-breaking time. A A mere 25 points separated Toronto there remains an excellent opportubronze in the 50-metre butterfly from Calgary in the final standings. nity for both the men and women of
rounded out her performance on
The women’s side was dominated the Gryphon swim team to maintain
the national stage.
by the University of British Colum- and improve their standing within
Evan Van Moerkerke concluded bia, as the Thunderbirds scorched the university swimming landscape,
an impressive few weeks by cap- the competition to win with 150 an excitement that is sure to be exturing bronze in both the 50 and points more than second-place fin- perienced as the team continues the
100-metre freestyle events. His ishing Calgary. The Toronto women year-round process of training for
times were 22.99 in the 50-metre, finished third in the championship. next season.
From the Bleachers
The power of sport
Chris Müller
It’s been a weird couple of weeks in
the world of sports. Oscar Pistorius,
the double leg amputee sprinter, was
accused of murdering his girlfriend
Reena Steenkamp. Rebecca Marino’s
bout with depression caused her to
leave professional tennis; Ronda Rousey defeated Liz Carmouche in the main
event of UFC 157; spring training has
fans of baseball restless with anticipation; and the NHL is keeping the
masses entertained (as it should). In
the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment
of the month, the Raptors are coming
dangerously close to being relevant
in the NBA.
There’s a lot to get caught up on, and
that list is only scratching the surface
of major sports media’s coverage of
the last few weeks. But the best story
to emerge from this wonderful month
of February centers on a 101-year-old
man from India.
Fauja Singh’s career as a marathon
runner ended on Feb. 24, when he
completed the 10-kilometre marathon in a time of 1:32.28. However,
it’s the story of how he got his start in
marathon running that’s much more
interesting.
Singh’s wife and son passed away
in quick succession in 1994. To make
matters worse, Singh witnessed the
death of his son as a stray piece of corrugated metal flew through the air and
decapitated him. With all of Singh’s
other children emigrated, the then
83-year-old Singh battled with depression and moved to London to live
with his youngest son.
In London, Singh gained an interest
in athletic events put on by the Sikh
community. Singh even competed in
sprints. Singh soon connected with a
group of marathon runners that encouraged him to run as a way to clear
his mind and work through the horrors of his past. In 2000, Singh ran the
London marathon. The great-grandfather has been running ever since,
appearing in Toronto events on several occasions.
Singh soon gained international recognition, and the former farmer was
soon staying at expensive hotels and
appearing at functions with dignitaries.
The illiterate Singh spoke through
his Punjabi-English coach and translator, Harmander Singh, after the
10-kilometre run on Feb. 24.
“From a tragedy has come a lot of
success and happiness,” explained
Singh. Singh’s optimism shone
through as he described what the
feeling would be when he watched
marathons in the future.
“There will be times in the future
where I will be thinking, ‘Well, I used
to do that.’” Singh expressed a hope
that his efforts would be remembered,
even if the Guinness World Records
won’t recognize his status as the oldest
man to ever run a marathon. The issue
lies in Guinness not receiving a birth
certificate to confirm his age. India did
not issue birth certificates in 1911, and
a British passport confirming Singh’s
date of birth on Apr. 9, 1911 is still insufficient to establish his authentic age
without any doubt.
Singh accomplished the feat by running a full marathon in Toronto in 2011,
effectively cementing him as the oldest
man to run a marathon, record books
be damned.
It’s not Singh’s times that matter, or
that his name might never be written
down in the record books that makes
this particular news item noteworthy.
Rather, it’s the passion he felt for running, and the demons it allowed him
to work through that will write the
TYRONE SIU
Find out why Fauja Singh (centre
of photo) is the most fascinating
sports story of the past few weeks.
story of Singh’s life. This was a wonderful accomplishment by someone
that has lived through an experience
few could ever fathom, and despite
legitimate government-issued identification papers, his record may never
be set in official text.
Here’s to Fauja Singh — here’s to
the power of sport.
Ken Dryden talks concussions
Former NHLer leads
discussion on head
trauma in sport
Laura Castellani
It is a debilitating head injury whose
effects extend well beyond the world
of sport. The complexity of a concussion is undeniable and has left
sport communities grappling to find
the best approach to cope with this
widespread yet often misclassified
and ill-understood injury. On Feb. 19,
the University of Guelph and Guelph
sport communities offered the Guelph
Concussion Panel to facilitate a community-wide discussion based on the
experiences of a series of panellists, led
by former NHLer and politician Ken
Dryden.
The evening featured three panels
composed of concussed youth athletes,
medical professionals and members
of elite and recreational athletic programs who shared their experiences.
In response to the increasing prevalence of concussions and the many
approaches to reconcile player safety
with competitive sport, the answer
came in the simple thought of appreciating the injury for what it is. Often,
advice and assessment are catered to
the elements of play beyond the athlete. Young, recreational players may
be more readily recommended to rest
while professional and elite athletes
will have advice confounded with their
obligation to perform.
“We must remember to treat the
patient not the player. It is too easy
to place distinctions on an individual,
when we should be seeing a patient as
a patient,” urged Dryden.
Unlike many other sports injuries,
concussions are unique for their somewhat subjective air. While recovery
from most injuries can be assessed
and monitored based on the progression of physical changes and the
advice of sport scientists, the assessment of concussions is not so clear. A
single succinct and step-wise recovery pathway is less likely due in large
to the reliance on intuition and the
qualitative (not quantitative) nature
of diagnoses.
In this way, as highlighted in the
youth panel, concussion management
is much more susceptible to influence
by pressure and stigma from the community. Unlike other sports injuries,
there are no physical signs to prevent
the athlete from returning to play. A
cast does not need to be removed nor
are you clutching crutches that indicate that return to play is not an option.
While these traditional signs of
injury remain discrete, medical professionals advocate instead
for the reliance on the familiarizing
themselves with their patient. It is a
warranted approach given that all six
athletes of the youth panel discussed
an intangible woe and feeling “like
they were just not themselves.” Many
discussed feelings of depression, feeling isolated from the sport they had
been so immersed in, as well as the
difficulties they faced in school and
work environments. As the treating
trainer, physician or physiotherapist,
the ability to recognize these differences provides the ability to detect
the lingering effects of a concussion
that preliminary routine tests may not
capture.
Of course, while identifying strategies to treat and minimize the impact
of a concussion, prevention at the level
of the playing field could alleviate the
complications of concussions and
the strain they place upon the athletic community.
The consensus was clear that education is key. Teaching players the
fundamental skills to maintain a competitive edge without compromising
safety is essential as is community
awareness and the ability of involved
individuals to recognize the signs of a
concussion.
Amidst the confusion and concern
shown towards the issue of concussions,
the symposium captured the spirit of
sport in its ability to draw individuals
together to achieve a common goal.
Dryden was optimistic for the future
and believes the work on concussion
awareness, treatment and prevention
is only beginning to take shape.
“The game is always changing. What
we’re seeing is only the end of the
beginning.”
18 w w w.t h e on ta r ion . c om
Is sitting the new smoking?
Are you sitting idly as
your health passes you
by?
Andrea Connell
It’s time to join the 15 per cent.
A 2011 Statistics Canada report
found that is the percentage
of adults who are getting the
150 minutes of weekly exercise
needed to maintain health. Two
years later that number hasn’t
improved.
Even though it’s a few months
late I have resolved to get those
minutes of weekly aerobic activity recommended by the
Canadian Society for Exercise
Physiology (CSEP). The CSEP
recommends that adults between the ages of 18 – 64 aim for
two and a half hours of moderate to vigorous exercise weekly.
Sounds completely reasonable,
doesn’t it? There are 168 hours
in a week after all and this will
only use two and a half of them.
It is actually 16 minutes less
time than I spent watching Peter
Jackson’s recently released epic
The Hobbit.
Maybe you are wondering why
you should care. You are young
and healthy after all. Consider
this: an Oct. 2012 article by public health reporter Andre Picard
in The Globe and Mail states
that “Sitting is the new smoking.” Picard’s article entitled,
“Why the Sedentary Life is Killing Us” presented some pretty
startling statistics. Those who
are inactive face a 147 per cent
increased risk of heart attack or
stroke, a 112 per cent increase in
the risk of developing diabetes,
and a 90 per cent greater risk of
dying from cardiac arrest. The
article continues on with the
stats that the average Canadian
adult spends 50 to 70 per cent
of their daily lives sitting. Ouch.
Get moving people.
Why is it so hard to get exercise? Perhaps our lifestyles aren’t
helping. Many people commute
long distances to work, students
spend a lot of time sitting in
classes and in front of the computer, and part-time jobs and
other commitments fill up a day.
However, there is good news.
Physical activity does not have
to be a complicated regime of
racing to the gym, sprinting to
spin-class and then pedaling so
hard you are sweating from places you didn’t even know existed
and your face turns red as a beetroot. CSEP says that undertaking
exercise in sessions of 10 minutes
or more at a time is just as effective as an hour all at once, as
long as it is moderate to vigorous
movement and gets your heart
rate up. Yes, doing that counts.
The long walk across campus to
your class at MAC and then back
to the UC counts. A walk to the
mall, through the Arboretum,
or around the block with your
roommate’s dog – it all counts.
There are many resources
available to help inspire you
with ideas of how to fit more activity into your daily life. The
Public Health Agency of Canada, who founded CSEP’s study
of Canadians exercise habits,
has posted physical activity tip
sheets on their website at www.
publichealth.gc.ca. For adults,
these include: getting 2.5 hours
of weekly exercise (there’s that
number again), finding an activity you enjoy, limiting TV time,
and joining a team for support.
sports & Health
Nicola Villa
Is the sedentary life killing us? Andrea Connell investigates the issue
in this week’s issue of the Ontarion.
As for me, I’ve never been
part of a sports team and I
won’t be giving up watching
Girls or Arrow anytime soon.
I enjoy cycling and hiking but
participate in those activities
mostly in the summer. So in the
meantime walking is the easiest thing for me to do. I think I
will take the dog for a 20-minute walk. Only 130 left to do
this week.
“You can’t do anything with a BA.”
Underestimating BA
Students
Danielle Subject
Philosophy, History, English,
Drama, Music, Fine Arts; these
are just some of the many programs of study that a Bachelor
of Arts Degree offers. Unfortunately, BA students seem to fall
victim to many misconceptions
and assumptions that are projected
towards them by those who believe studying arts is no more than
a waste of time.
Being an English major myself,
I have been on the receiving end
of ignorant comments from those
who believe that taking English in
University is a waste of an education, a waste of a degree, and a
waste of time. Personally, I am a
strong believer that as long as you
are studying what you love, time
is not wasted.
I decided to approach this problem by interviewing a few English
professors, as well as students
from other BA programs, to gather
their views on this issue.
“Over the years,” commented
Dr. Melissa Walker, a professor for
the School of English and Theatre
Studies (SETS) at the University of
Guelph, “I have indeed encountered various ignorant comments
pertaining to the perceived simplicity and futility of obtaining an
English studies education.”
One comment that she remembers to this day was, “It’s just
English, right? Everyone knows
English.”
“I know people have that assumption,” stated Dr. Marianne
Micros, an English Professor for
SETS at the U of G, “‘There’s
nothing you can do with an English degree,’ when in fact there are
many places (businesses, stores,
etc.) that want someone who has
learned to think, read, and write
well. We have graduates go on into
law, business, etc., and not just
teaching.” When asked for his opinion on
this issue, Nick Hegedus, a Philosophy major at the University of
Guelph, said, “The most common have been approached by friends
response I get when I tell people who are part of the science and
my program is the assumption that math realm of university life with
I have no plan when it comes to a hopes that I can look over and edit
career, while in reality I’ve had a their papers before they are subplan since I first applied.”
mitted to professors,” explained
The truth is, there are many Lindsey Legge, a History major at
career paths out there for those the University of Guelph.
with Bachelor of Arts Degrees in
“I think that the development of
anything from English to Phi- skills such as writing and analylosophy to History. These career sis of texts are the most valuable
opportunities include marketing, element of my studies”, added
journalism, teaching, law, human Hegedus.
resources, speech-language paThere you have it Guelph.
thology, travel and tourism, and Whether you are studying the
communications. These are just functions of the human body,
some of the options that are out solving a math equation, or
there for those who were educated writing a critical essay, each
to think objectively and analytical- program of study requires hard
ly, as well as develop the required work and dedication. Furtherskills to produce well-written more, graduating with a BA
is not useless nor a waste of
essays.
These skills are difficult to ac- money. The bottom line: study
quire. Those who tell me my what you love, and respect other
program is a joke are the same peoples’ education and career
people who ask me to edit their choices. Ignorance helps no
papers, or ask for advice on how to one, and only places a dividing
get through an extensive reading line between students, preventin a short amount of time.
ing us from learning from one
“On more than one occasion I another.
The Brew Review
Weisse, Weisse, baby
Chris Müller
Beer is as much about the experience one encounters when
drinking it as the taste of the brew
itself. My first Hacker-Pschorr
Weisse Bier came out of a ceramic draught tower that sat atop the
bar at a local Bavarian restaurant
back home. For this reason I might
be inclined to associate the beer
with a good bratwurst or schnitzel, but I will attempt to retain
some sense of objectivity.
Weisse, or wheat beers used
to be all the rage in America a
century ago, as wheat became
an abundant agricultural product, with some brews requiring
three parts wheat to one part traditional brewing malt. Wheat was
cheap, and produced a beer that
was similar in style to the weisse
beers produced in Berlin at the
time. The style was refreshing and
sweet, and an excellent cure for
the hard labours of agriculture.
In effect, the American brewers
implemented brewing techniques
mastered by the German brewers at the time, a product of mass
immigration into a booming agricultural sector in developing
America. To connect with that
tradition, it’s best to choose
Hacker-Pschorr as an example
of a traditional Bavarian weisse.
The brewery has been in the business since 1417, after all.
From the tap, a cloudy amber-coloured beer pours into a
19
This Week
in History
1 70.7 ◆ febr uary 28t h, 2013
life
traditional glass stein revealing a
white, thick head. It’s an excellent introduction to the weisse
due to its 60 /40 wheat to barley
malt content, and the results are
nothing short of sublime.
A mild bitterness is masked by
an aroma of lemon, banana, and
a slight orange character, masked
“Weisse, or
wheat beers
used to be
all the rage
in America a
century ago, as
wheat became
an abundant
agricultural
product...”
for subtlety by the wheat content of the beer. The cloudiness
of the beer is caused by wheat
proteins and the strand of yeast
that is used in the brewing process. While other brews strive
for clarity, the cloudiness is very
much part of the experience of
this beer, imparting a mildly
dry mouth-feel. The beer boasts
Mike Warner
Find out what’s nice about the Hacker-Pschorr Weisse as The Brew
Review tackles this Bavarian delight.
magnificent texture and variety
that is hard to experience in a bottled serving, as is the case with
most beers (including next week’s
Brew Review). So dig into your
schnitzel, eat your vegetables, and
drink your weisse. It’s not a brew
to be missed.
Birmingham Six on verge of freedom
Seventeen years after being charged for
an IRA attack on two pubs in Birmingham, the six men known collectively
as the Birmingham Six were released
from prison after years of maintaining
their innocence. A few weeks before
their release, the Director of Public
Prosecution stated that the charges against the Six were “no longer
considered safe and satisfactory,” according to the article appearing below
the headline. The case was considered
a “national disgrace,” and several of
the individuals later became alcoholics
and/or divorcees as their private lives
were impacted by the many unnecessary years they spent in jail. According
to The BBC, the real bombers have not
been prosecuted to this day. (The BBC
– Feb. 25, 1991)
The Kaiser’s New Yacht is Successfully
Launched
While Kate Middleton and Harry are
often the centre of attention as royal
media darlings, North Americans were
no less excited about the monarchy of
any European country 111 years ago.
On the German Prince Harry’s third
day visiting America, his new schooner yacht, the Meteor, was launched in
New York to the thrill of a large crowd,
which included the Roosevelts. The reporter wrote that the yacht entered the
water “gracefully” with the American
flag “breaking out at the taffrail,” the
railing around the stern of the ship. The
statement painted a pleasant picture
of the friendly international relations
between the two nations, which only
lasted for a few more years before the
outbreak of WWI. Even Miss Roosevelt’s outfit was not left out from the
description of the day’s celebrations,
with the article stating that she wore
“a dress of sapphire blue velvet, a large
black hat, trimmed with ostrich feathers, and a fur muff.” (The Globe – Feb.
26, 1902)
Lindbergh Baby Kidnapped From
Home of Parents
On this day, celebrity pilot Charles A.
Lindbergh and his aviatress wife Anne
Morrow experienced a shocking crime
that involved the kidnapping, and later
murder, of their infant son, Charles,
who was snatched from his crib while
the couple was out to dinner. The intruder came in through the nursery
window and left an obvious trail of
muddy footprints that led the police
to the edge of the forest by the Lindberghs’ home, though little came out
of the discovery. The baby’s body was
discovered more than a year later six
miles from the house. The event was
called the crime of the century, and
has inspired cultural adaptations in
films and T.V. shows like American
Horror Story. (The New York Times
– March 1, 1932)
Compiled by Alicja Grzadkowska
20 w w w.th e on ta r ion . c om
In defence of OPIRG
Greg Shupak
I teach Media Studies at the University of Guelph and I have
worked with the Ontario Public
Interest Research Group (OPIRG)
on several projects so I would like
to speak to some of the arguments
being put forth by the campaign to
de-fund OPIRG.
The de-funders resent the idea
that their money goes to an organization that supports initiatives
with which the de-funders do
not agree. In a way, I understand
this sentiment in that I object to
many things the Canadian government does with public money
such as spending millions of dollars to fight legal battles against
Aboriginal land claims so that the
government and corporations
can continue to take indigenous
peoples’ lands. (At least a person
who dislikes OPIRG can opt-out of
funding it; one cannot opt-out of,
say, that portion of tax dollars that
underwrite Canadian mining companies linked to violent repression
in Latin America, a practice which
has been chronicled by Professor
Todd Gordon.) However, those
who want to de-fund OPIRG have a
very skewed sense of priorities. In
the Jan. 24 issue of The Ontarion,
they complain that OPIRG participates in opposition to the Keystone
opinion
XL pipeline without even saying to an opinion piece in the National cite on Facebook to justify this as- of IAW by pointing to an opinion
why OPIRG is wrong to do this, Post that in no way proves that the sertion notes that a University of piece by a person who wanted to
as if doing so is inherently objec- campaign has been discredited. It’s Guelph review “found no evidence de-fund OPIRG at the University
tionable – no further rationale is unsurprising that the de-funders of financial mismanagement at of Toronto, which contains no eviprovided in the “facts” section of provide no evidence for this claim OPIRG.” The de-funders argue that dence or arguments for why IAW is
their Facebook page or in the Jan. since none exists.
there is “No public disclosure of “hateful” and to an article which
18 article in the Guelph Mercury
The anti-OPIRG Facebook page how student money is spent” and explains that the Ontario legislaon the de-fund campaign.
says that, “After a democratic elec- support that by linking to the same ture condemned IAW in a vote in
There is something woefully tion, the OPIRG executive changed article, which says nothing either which only 30 of 107 MPPs parmisguided about springing to ac- the election rules during the elec- way on the question of public dis- ticipated. The legislators provided
tion because a portion of the $6.31 tion to re-elect themselves. No closure. However, I have been in no facts or sustained arguments to
one contributes to OPIRG each se- political dissent is tolerated.” The the OPIRG office and can attest that justify their position, only rhetormester (if they choose not to get article cited in support of this says binders disclosing all spending are ic, so the vote means little unless
it back) is being used to oppose no such thing. It quotes a disgrun- available to anyone who wishes to one believes that Ontario MPPs are
a pipeline, which has been flag- tled OPIRG employee in the last look at them.
irreproachable moral authorities.
ged as a serious ecological threat month of their contract as claimThe de-funders point out that an Far more meaningful is that Israeli
by mainstream environmental or- ing that “one board member was OPIRG staffer pled guilty to char- policy has been described as a form
ganizations like the Sierra Club and elected after filing nominations ges related to the 2010 Toronto G20. of apartheid by Nobel Laureates
the World Wildlife Fund, instead paperwork for the process beyond The charges do not pertain to the Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu,
of fighting to stop the University the deadline,” but it also quotes actions the person did while acting by United Nations representative
of Guelph’s plan to raise tuition Brenda Whiteside, associate vice- on behalf of OPIRG. People with John Dugard, by the editor of the
fees by hundreds of dollars in April. president of student affairs at the a criminal record have a right to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, and by
The absence of substantiated University of Guelph, as saying that earn a living. And it’s worth re- Israeli establishment figures like
claims on the Keystone XL pro- a university review of the employ- membering that the list of brave, Shulamit Aloni and Michael Bentests is part of a larger pattern ee’s accusations found no evidence principled people who have broken Yair. IAW 2013 will be coming to
in which the de-funders either of “board impropriety.” Nothing the law in the context of political this campus in March and anyone
refer to insufficient proof to jus- in the article even comes close to activities and eventually been re- who’s interested should attend
tify the arguments they make, proving that “no political dissent is spected for doing so is a long one.
the relevant events, learn about
misrepresent the material they tolerated” and I have found OPIRG
When the de-funders com- the issues involved, and make up
cite, or simply make claims that to be a space for vigorous debate plain about OPIRG’s involvement their own mind as opposed to acthey seem to think are self-evi- wherein people frequently offer in the “hateful anti-Israel week” cepting the view of Ontario MPPs
dent without offering any evidence dissenting views on a huge range I assume they are referring to Is- and OPIRG de-funders.
In short, it is clear that the camwhat-so-ever. They assert that the of topics and doing so is not only raeli Apartheid Week (IAW), a
worldwide,
non-violent
moveIdle No More movement has been “tolerated,” but encouraged.
paign to discredit OPIRG is one
“largely discredited” and on their
The de-funders say that OPIRG ment to compel Israel to follow of distortions, fabrications, and
Facebook page they support this has “a history of financial mis- international law. They attempt wrong-headed analysis, and ought
argument solely by providing a link management” and the article they to prove the “hateful” character to be dismissed as such.
Inordinate Ordnance
What makes horses so
special?
Chris Carr
Horse, cow, donkey, marmot,
seagull, Chihuahua – what’s the
difference? It all tastes the same,
slathered in Sweet Baby Rays, between two buns, stuffed into the
maw of your ravenous face hole.
Recently, some of the meat
coming out of the UK has been
found to have traces of horse meat,
causing would-be carnivores to
stand up in disgust. Even more
recently, traces of horse meat
have been found in IKEA’s famous Swedish meatballs. They’ve
since been pulled from their restaurants, but marzipan princess
cakes are still available – thank
god for small miracles.
But, really, why are people
upset about this? How is eating
a horse any different than eating
a cow or a pig? Personally, I’ve
always felt that horses are the dbags of the animal kingdom – with
their muscles and air of entitlement. If animals had credit cards,
horses would shop at Hollister. If
any animal deserves to have a bite
taken out of it, it’s a horse.
Anyway, the shocking thing
is that everyone is disgusted obviously not intelligence, or I’d
because of the animal they’ve be having a cheese and Kardashian
mistakenly ingested. Give us not sandwich for lunch. Is it beauty?
the pretty animals, feed us the “Horses and beautiful creatures,
dull, dopey cow, they say, spit- they are majestic, strong, they
ting flecks of buffalo wing at their should not be eaten.” Bull. I’ve
TVs. Although cows can recog- seen some cows that are downnize over 100 different companion right stupid-cute and who among
cows and develop long-lasting us hasn’t cooed at the adorability
relationships with humans and of Babe and his hilarious advencows alike. What about pigs? It’s tures? Certainly, that’ll do.
Again, what makes horse meat
been shown that they have the
same developmental intelligence any worse than regular meat that
as three-year-old humans. If in- human beings eat on a catastrophtelligence is a factor in what meat ic scale? Is it health? It can’t be
we eat, then serve up Honey Boo because red meat is one of the
Boo. Pigs could teach her entire leading factors causing heart
family a thing or two.
disease. The amount of steroids
What is the statute of limita- pumped into chickens to fatten
tions on the devour-ability of them up affects our own intake
certain animals? Cows, pigs and of antibiotics and medicines. This
chickens add nothing besides sus- is somehow a healthier option?
tenance to society, where a horse
What’s our best option here?
is a working animal, maybe. Then Well, stop it. Just knock it off.
serve up a nice sloth steak. They Don’t eat animals and you won’t
literally do nothing. How about have to convince yourself of these
your cat? When’s the last time arbitrary distinctions. What’s
he earned a solid wage? Seagulls, okay to eat and what’s not okay
all they do is defecate; I’m sure to eat is a very simple distinction:
they’d be great with a nice can- don’t eat anything that would sufdied orange sauce and side of fer so you can get fatter. If I stuck
hamster-poppers.
you with a fork, you’d tell me to
If it’s not usefulness that keeps stop it wouldn’t you? So why do
certain animals from keeping we do it three times a day to those
my mashed potatoes company, who can’t tell us they’d prefer we
then what is the stipulation? It’s had a salad instead. The sickening
courtesy
People complaining about horse meat should recognize their
hypocrisy and stop eating meat all together, Chris Carr opines.
part about this scandal is not that Chris Carr is Editor-in-Chief of
it’s horse meat mistakenly being The Cannon. “Inordinate Ordeaten, it’s that the human species nance” publishes every Thursday
still eats meat at all. How many in The Cannon and in The Ontarion.
times do we have to go through E. The opinions posted on thecancoli threats and salmonella out- non.ca reflect those of their author
breaks before everyone realizes and do not necessarily reflect the
this system of eating animals is a opinions of the Central Student
flawed one? Stop eating animals, Association and the Guelph Camit’s very simple.
pus Co-op, or The Ontarion.
editorial
1 70.7 ◆ febr uary 28t h, 2013
Denim deities draw copyright controversy
Recently, an Italian denim company has caused somewhat of
a stir in the realm of copyright
law. The company is called Jesus
Jeans, and holds a trademark on
the name Jesus for use on apparel
in the United States and European
Union. To defend its brand, as any
sensible business would do, it has
taken legal action against a number
of American clothing companies
attempting to sell clothing under
that name (Sweet Jesus, Jesus First,
“Simply
because
something
offends does not
mean anyone
should be
prohibited from
saying it.”
and Jesus Couture among them).
And of course, under copyright
law, it has every right to do so.
What it comes down to is the question of whether or not companies
should be allowed to copyright
names from religious sources at all
in the first place.
While Britain turned down an
application to copyright Jesus
Jeans in that country in 2003, calling it “morally offensive to the
public,” it’s not clear that this in
itself is a good reason to deny the
application.
Western society, since the
Enlightenment, has carried a
strong tradition of free speech.
Under this principle, simply
because something offends does
not mean anyone should be prohibited from saying it. In Canada,
of course, the exception to this rule
is when someone’s right to free
speech is encroaching on someone else’s rights – say, to choose
a pertinent example – the right
to freedom of religious assembly.
But that’s not even what’s happening here. That someone sells
jeans under the brand name Jesus
Jeans in no way prevents anyone
from pursuing their faith, as the
copyright extends only to clothing products. Additionally, Jesus
Jeans has said it will permit church
groups to use His name on t-shirts
and the like, as long as they are for
non-commercial uses.
Besides, we’ve also seemed to
raise little objection to the use of
other deities as brand names. As
an attorney for Jesus Jeans’ parent
company, BasicNet, pointed out to
the Wall Street Journal, sportswear
giant Nike gets its name from the
Greek goddess of victory. Venus is
the brand name of a popular razor
courtesy
and the Roman goddess of love.
The list goes on. The problem While some might consider the use of religious figures in brand
with exempting religious imag- names offensive, exempting them from copyright protection is even
ery and names from copyright is more problematic.
that there is no definitive basis on
which to determine what is “too be exempt? The legal ambigu- the brand is likely to be unsuccessreligious” to use as a copyright. For ity over what qualifies as religious ful anyway, when it fails to connect
example, if Jesus is exempt, should makes it simply impractical to with consumers. Should the brand
turn out successful, it just goes to
the apostles be, too? How do we uphold such a limit on copyrights.
If we, as a society, are truly show that maybe we don’t take
compare religious figures across
different faiths in a multicultural opposed to the notion of using as much offense to the idea as we
society to determine what should religious figures as brand names, thought.
opinion
Canadian government’s lesson in hypocrisy
Karalena McLean
Many people remember the international outcry that followed
the introduction of Uganda’s
“kill the gays bill.” The proposed
bill would make the crime of homosexuality punishable by life
imprisonment, or in some cases,
death. The controversial bill also
included Holocaust-like specifications, which stated that a
person could be imprisoned for
three years if they did not report
someone they know to be LGBT
within 24 hours of the bill passing.
The bill received much international attention with some
countries threatening to stop the
flow of aid to Uganda should the
bill be implemented. The pressure
from the international community
ended up stalling the bill in parliament and it was never passed.
However, in 2012, the bill was in- information that the Government that the Government of Canatroduced again with members of of Canada is funding an anti-gay da, who took the time to criticize
the Ugandan parliament claiming religious group from Ontario to Uganda for trying to pass exthat it would be passed quickly as work in Africa. The organization, tremely homophobic legislation,
a “Christmas gift” to the nation. Crossroads Christian Commu- is now funding an anti-gay ChrisAlthough the bill has still yet to nications is receiving more than tian group to go into Uganda for
pass, the battle is far from over. In $500,000 for humanitarian work “humanitarian” purposes. What
reaction to the bill, the Canadian in Uganda. According to the sort of message does this send
Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Winnipeg Press, “Until Tuesday, to the members of Ugandan parBaird said, “We will speak out on the organization’s website car- liament about the seriousness of
the issues that matter to Canadi- ried a list of ‘sexual sins’ deemed Canada when it comes to ecoans — whether it is the role and to be ‘perversion.’” It described nomic sanction? It shows the
treatment of women around the these acts as “Turning from the ever-prevalent Western issue of
world, or the persecution of gays.” true and/or proper purpose of saying one thing and doing anArguably, Canada was one of the sexual intercourse; misusing or other when it comes to our own
most vocal countries in its oppo- abusing it, such as in pedophilia, affairs. The government funded
sition to the bill, even going so far homosexuality and lesbianism, propagation of hate is disparagas to threaten economic sanction sadism, masochism, transves- ing and must be stopped as it only
tism, and bestiality.” Oddly provides empirical evidence of
if Uganda passed the bill.
The symbolic nature of Can- enough, listing homosexuality arguments that we in the West
ada’s hardline stance was and lesbianism were listed as two are a bunch of hypocrites who
well-received; however, these different things, but that’s a dis- try to force our values and beliefs
decisions seem largely hyp- cussion for another time!
on other nations without really
ocritical in the wake of new
It seems wildly inappropriate enforcing them at home.
21
The Ontarion Inc.
University Centre
Room 264
University of Guelph
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Phone:
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Editorial Staff:
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Arts & Culture Editor
Nicholas Revington
Sports & Health Editor
Christopher Müller
News Editor
Alicja Grzadkowska
Associate Editor
Colleen McDonell
Copy Editor
Stacey Aspinall
Production Staff:
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Vanessa Tignanelli
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Sarah Kavanagh
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Jessica Avolio
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Jordan Sloggett
Office Staff:
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Al Ladha
Board of Directors
President
Bronek Szulc
Treasurer
Lisa Kellenberger
Chairperson
Curtis Van Laecke
Secretary
Alex Lefebvre
Directors
Aaron Francis
Heather Luz
Lisa McLean
Marshal McLernon
Michael Bohdanowicz
Shwetha Chandrashekhar
Contributors
Kara Lee Blok
Michael
Bohdanowicz
Chris Carr
Laura Castellani
Kelsey Coughlin
Andrea Connell
Ben Derochie
Andrew Donovan
Laura Douglas
Tasha Falconer
Devon Harding
Nadine Maher
Karalena McLean
Bernadette Ng
Robyn Nicholson
Lindsay Pinter
Natasha Reddy
Kevin Ricci
Wendy Shepherd
Katie Shum
Greg Shupak
Danielle Subject
Julia Tignanelli
The Ontarion is a non-profit organization governed by
a Board of Directors. Since the Ontarion undertakes the
publishing of student work, the opinions expressed
in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of
the Ontarion Board of Directors. The Ontarion reserves
the right to edit or refuse all material deemed sexist,
racist, homophobic, or otherwise unfit for publication as
determined by the Editor-in-Chief. Material of any form
appearing in this newspaper is copyrighted 2011 and
cannot be reprinted without the approval of the Editorin-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.
22 w w w.th e on ta r ion . c om
crossword
43- Blind, in Volapük
44- Christmas season
45- YMCA day camp, ___ Yapi
46- Assistant Community Manager, for short
48- Bread unit
50 Beer barrel
51- Possesses
53- Gratis
55- The Song of the South
61- Moses’ brother
62- Exchange rate
63- Sarcastic response (2)
65- Emerald City paintings? (2)
66- Safety org.
67- Applaud
68- Breathing organs
69- Commotions
70- Tattle
crossword by kate and sean
Across
1- Screws up
5- In addition
9- Works, as a field
14- Highlander
15 -Tirade
16- Kidney-related
17- Global Awareness Society
International
18- Prefix with -syncratic
19- Noblemen
20- Pinocchio’s conscience (2)
23- Decent, in modern slang
24- “___ rang?”
25- Sault ___ Marie
27- Bambi’s species
30- The Little Mermaid antagonist
35- McKellen and Fleming
37- LOL alternative
39- Trig functions
40- Spears’ and Gosling’s career
beginning (3)
Down
1- Bird-to-be
2- 2011 Telugu film
3- South and Mills eg.
4- Snail trail
5- Like Eric or Charming
6- The Tramp’s mate
7- French car manufacturer
8- Tale
9- Precede
10- Tap trouble
11- Honour (Ita.)
12- Mr. Disney
13- Mercedes model, ___ AMG
21- Roadside bomb, for short
22- Promise to pay
25- Mufasa’s son
26- Sonic’s sidekick
28- TV’s Oscar equivalent
29- Cars 2 racer
31- Under the weather
32- Repulsive
33- Daughter of Oceanus
34- ___ as, similar in size (2)
36- Comedy sketch
38- City in Guinea
41- Casts a spell
42- Shrimp and calamari
47- Angry
49- To and ___
52- Mother of the ocean? (2)
54- Proclamation
55- The Lion King bird
56- Iraq’s neighbour
57- Star Wars bounty hunter
58- “Heavens to Betsy!”
59- “Thank You” and “White Flag”
singer
60- Get better
61- “You’ve got mail” co.
64- Thromboplastin, for short
Last Week's Solution
Congratulations to
this week's crossword
winner: Vimanda Chow.
Stop by the Ontarion
office to pick up your
prize!
SUBMIT your completed crossword
by no later than Monday, March 4th
at 4pm for a chance to win
TWO FREE BOB’S DOG’S!
1 70.7 ◆ febr uary 28t h, 2013
community listings
Thursday February 28
Thursday At Noon Concert Series. Concerts start at
12:00p.m. Thursdays in Mackinnon room 107 (Goldschmidt
room). Admission free – donations gratefully appreciated.
Everyone welcome!
Announcing a New Artistic
Partnership between MSAC and
SOFAM: The inaugural Boarding House Gallery exhibition
‘1’ marks the opening of a new
public art gallery located at the
Boarding House for the Arts at 6
Dublin St. South. Opening Reception 7pm. Exhibit runs until
March 24.
Saturday March 2
The University of Guelph is
hosting Relay for Life in support of the Canadian Cancer
Society, March 2-3. Register
online, purchase a luminary or pledge a participant at
universityofguelph.ca/universityofguelph. Information:
email [email protected] or
like our page on Facebook: University of Guelph Relay for Life.
The Guelph NDP will host a
Noodle Supper, a fundraising dinner geared towards
supporters, families and
community members. 4pm
at Dublin St. United Church
(68 Suffolk St W). Wheelchair
accessible. Dietary options
available. For ticket information: www.guelphndp.ca/
noodles, email [email protected], or call 519-341-3641.
Sunday March 3
Guelph Hiking Trail Club: Hike
Kolapore Uplands Ski Trails.
5 hrs. Level 3. Challenging,
semi-wilderness trails on the
Escarpment, 90 minutes north
of Guelph. For adventuresome
and reasonably fit skiers. XC
ski only. Meet at 8am. Leader:
Call Bill Mungall at 836-5567
for transportation info.
Monday March 4
STOP WORRYING workshop,
7:00 - 9:00 pm. by the Stress
Management Clinic. Identify the pitfalls that perpetuate
worrying, and stratgies to address them. Student fee $5.
Details at www.uoguelph.
ca/~ksomers.
Career Aviators Business Career
Club: Students and professionals welcome. Mondays 7pm
-9pm, Innovation Guelph
classifieds
COMMUNITY EVENTS
THE GUELPH RECORD and CD
SHOW - Sunday, March 10th.
10:30am - 4pm at the Royal
Canadian Legion. 57 Watson
Prkwy S. 25000+ Records. Over
30 vendors. Admission $4. For
further information contact:
289-689-2734.
SERVICES
NEED ESSAY HELP! All subjects,
research, writing and editing
specialists, toll free 1 888 345 8295
[email protected].
Join
our advertising team and make
great commissions by placing
posters around campus. Details:
416-280-6113.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Recruiting student volunteers for
the Student Support Network your confidential drop-in centre
on campus.
Applications due March 1st, 2013.
They can be picked up in Raithby
House or found online.
(111 Farquhar Street). Strategic advice and support; guest
presentations; motivation to
stay on track; worldwide Information exchange. PWYC.
Info:1 866 873 7633 www.careeraviators.com
Thursday March 7
Stratford Shakespeare Lecture Series @ Your Guelph
23
Public Library. The GPL and the
Stratford Shakespeare Festival
present four thought-provoking lectures based on this
season’s plays. Each evening
lecture features local Shakespearean experts. 7pm, Main
Library (100 Norfolk St.).
March 7, 14, 21and 28. Admission free. www.library.guelph.
on.ca
Liaison Officers