ContentsContentsSFUO in talks to build student centre on campus

Video Democracy

Welcome victory

Why move to France?

NewsNews

ArtsArts

SportsSports

FeatureFeature

p. 4p. 4

p. 10p. 10

p. 18p. 18

p. 14p. 14

Amanda Shendruk reports on the latest plans for fi nding more student space at the U of O. p. 4

Tuition fees continue to rise across the country. p. 6

Hisham Kelati explores the YouTube phenomenon. p. 10

The Constantines tell Peter Henderson to Flick Off. p. 11

Men’s hockey team earns their fi rst notch in the wins column. p. 18

The truth about energy drinks. p. 23

Rebecca Murray investigates French Immer-sion studies at the U of O. p. 14–15

Dear Di goes cyber, part 2. p. 26

Choosing roads that lead to change

Re: “Choosing the best road” (Editorial, Oct. 2) DUE TO A penchant for sensational journalism, the editorial in the Oct. 2 issue of the Fulcrum fell into a trap it laid for itself.

Th e editorial attempted to shed light on the current state of activism on our campus. But what is “activ-ism”? Activism is the participation in social change. One of the tools that activists have to increase media and societal awareness in an issue is public demonstrations. Other tools that ac-tivists are using in the student move-ment include face-to-face meetings with administrators and politicians, letters and faxes, petitions, gathering community and labour union sup-port, etc. In other words, those in the media would have to cover more than the demonstrations in order to discover all the means that student activists are using to achieve change.

While accepting that public dem-onstrations have been very eff ective on our campus, the author contends that the most eff ective road to change is “practiced behind closed doors”. Th e example used in the editorial to support their argument was how stu-dents were able to defeat the code of conduct.

As some of those student leaders whose “artful diplomacy also played a decisive role in bringing change”, let us be abundantly clear: had students not mobilized by the thousands in sign-

ing the petition and by the hundreds in a rally in the middle of exams, the fi nal handshake that killed the code could have never been shaken. Be-cause of this collective pressure, that fi nal handshake was shaken by thou-sands of students, not just one.

As we in the student movement engage in issues, such as reducing tu-ition fees, neither a simple handshake nor a single demonstration will win the day. However, when students act together using a diversity of tactics; we can, and will, achieve change.

As university students, our power rests with our ability to conduct re-search, come up with arguments, and lobby through our strength in num-bers. Th e Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) is proud that students on our campus are dedi-cated to actively pursuing change; we are proud that there is a student movement building in Ontario, and the SFUO wants students to know that we recognize ALL their eff orts, even if the Fulcrum does not.

It must be said that the SFUO wants to work with all students and media in order to bring positive and progressive social change.

We hope that you join the move-ment on Nov. 5.

SFUO Executive

Of equality and discrimination

Re: “In support of women’s rights” (Letters, Oct. 2)WHILE I DON’T necessarily agree

Advertising Department

Deidre Butters, Advertising Representative

phone: (613) 880-6494fax: (613) 562-5259

e-mail: ads@thefulcrum.ca

Check out our rate card online. Go to www.thefulcrum.ca and

follow the link for “Advertisers”.Multi-market advertisers:

Campus Plus: (800) 265-5372Campus Plus offers one-stop shop-ping for over 90 Canadian student

newspapers.

The Fulcrum is a proud member of Canadian University Press:www.cup.ca

Business Department

The Fulcrum, the University of Otta-wa’s independent English-language student newpaper, is published by the Fulcrum Publishing Society (FPS) Inc., a not-for-profi t corpora-tion whose members consist of all University of Ottawa students. The Board of Directors (BOD) of the FPS governs all administrative and busi-ness actions of the Fulcrum and consists of the following individuals: Ross Prusakowski (President), An-drea Khanjin (Vice-President), Tyler Meredith (Chair), Peter Raaymakers, Nick Taylor-Vaisey, Toby Climie, An-drew Wing, and Scott Bedard.

To contact the Fulcrum’s BOD, contact Ross Prusakowski at

(613) 562-5261.

with the decision to institute a women-only time, I can certainly understand it and it has nothing to do with sexual harassment (which I have never been witness to in either gym). One need only walk into one of the gyms on any given day to fi nd an understandable impetus behind the decision. Both gyms tend to be loaded with rather large males cycling to and from dif-ferent workout stations and I think it easy to see how females may choose not to enter this melee and stick to the treadmills and stair climbers.

It is less the decision itself than the manner in which such a decision was made that I feel should be addressed. Th is should have been brought to the attention of the student body with greater transparency and discussion and I commend Ben Myers on at least drawing attention to this fl awed pro-cess.

Th e university should not be gov-erned by interest groups which seek to exclude the majority of students from the decision-making process and discussion. Furthermore, I think that we do walk a fi ne line when al-lowing for equality which does not treat all people equally and defi n-ing the equality of people diff erently based upon cultural and religious-based values. As a society striving to embrace multiculturalism, creating such defi ned diff erences threatens the idea of an equal and stable multicul-tural society, particularly when the debate and decision-making process lacks inclusion and transparency. Th is concern is directed at the letter titled “In support of women’s rights” (Oct. 2), which identifi ed that the decision was made specifi cally to accommo-date Muslim women.

In this letter, the Women’s Stud-ies Students Association executive (WSSAE) writes “the purpose of women-only gym hours are NOT to discriminate against the men of the U of O community”. I think that the WSSAE is confusing the importance of intentions and consequences. Per-haps there is no intention to discrimi-nate, but inevitably the consequence is discrimination. I think it would be far more constructive to recognize

that this does inherently involve dis-crimination and thus is a measure that should only be undertaken with careful consideration of all arguments and potential consequences and in open discussion that includes all rel-evant parties.

Kelwryn OrdTh ird-year history and

political science student

A fi nal word on women-only gym hours

Re: “No penises allowed” (Editorial, Sept. 11)IT IS INTERESTING to see two pages of letters consistently being published this year in the Fulcrum, a good sign that student apathy towards issues has left for the time being. However, one thing that isn’t leaving should be, and that is the opportunity that women get with their segregated times at the gym and Montpetit Pool.

Men pay the same amount as wom-en do at this university, as was men-tioned in a past letter. Th e problem with this is that at no point in time on our transcripts were men told that they would be paying the same amount of money for fewer services. Th e student body can laugh it up and pretend that this boo-hoo attitude is undeserved, with a measly three hours a week being dedicated to the practice. Considering we spend near-ly 30 weeks with access to these facili-ties during the year, men are paying for 90 hours of service that they can’t even get.

Th ere are two arguments that have been brought forth in favour of this; one being that women should not have to feel appraised or sexualized in a context at the gym; and one of reli-gion. Th e problem with the primary argument is a large overstepping of assumed behaviours that is quite sex-ist in itself. Men, or rather the major-ity of men that I have gone to the gym with, or have met at the gym, or oth-erwise conversed with, are at the gym for the same reasons as women—to get in shape or to tone muscle. To act as if women are innocent in objectify-ing men at the gym, or to pretend that

men are the only creatures that are walking around, appraising specifi c targets, and being sexualized all the time is ridiculous. Th is facility is sup-posed to be one of equality, including the right of ALL students to have ac-cess to the services. To grant this issue is a slippery slope in and of itself—to what extent should we recognize that (insert group here) feels in some way persecuted by (insert group here). Whether or not you want to qualify your claims along the same lines, seg-regation is highly immoral, and seg-regation based on gender is a disgust-ing U of O practice—now offi cially endorsed.

Finally, to the point of religion. Religion is a highly personal issue, and with it comes value systems that are highly personal as a society, but not to the society at large. Should Muslim women on campus choose to follow their faith in the aspect of covering their hair and skin as much as possible in the presence of public eyes is their choice. Enforcing this choice at an institutional level is un-fair to those who would fall outside of a sub-cultural practice, men in this case. As an example, the LGBTQ society on campus has not visibly pursued their own rights to establish safe-zones and times which its mem-bers can only access facilities off ered to all, and if it was put to the student body as a whole, there would surely be outrage at the thought of segrega-tion based on orientation. Avoiding the argument of biological versus socially determined orientation, men should not be discriminated against for an aspect that we cannot change (without copious surgery) and should either be given a refund for the 90 hours we cannot enter the gym, or be given equal rights once again.

Justin SmithSecond-year criminal justice and

history student

Ed: In order to ensure a variety of is-sues can be examined in this space, discussion on the U of O’s women-on-ly gym hours will be truncated here. Th anks to all who wrote letters.

Got something to say?

Send your letters to editor@thefulcrum.ca

Letters deadline: Sunday, 1 p.m.Letters must be under 400 words unless

discussed with the editor-in-chief.

Drop off letters at 631 King Edward Ave. or e-mail

editor@thefulcrum.ca.

Letters must include your name, telephone number, year, and program of study. Pseud-onyms may be used after consultation with the editor-in-chief. We correct spelling and grammar to some extent. The Fulcrum will exercise discretion in printing letters that are

deemed racist, homophobic, or sexist.

We will not even consider hate literature or libel-lous material. The editor-in-chief reserves the

authority on everything printed herein.

Oct. 16–22, 2008Letters Frank Appleyard

Editor-in-Chiefeditor@thefulcrum.ca 2

LETTERSOct. 16, 2008 3

www.thefulcrum.ca pollHave you followed the federal election?

Yes

No

Moderately58%58%

13%13%

29%29%

This week’s question:

Did you vote in the federal election?

YesNo

Go to thefulcrum.ca to vote!

Dropping the Drop CFS blog

THERE ARE FEW things more off ensive than self-righteous indignation or blatant igno-rance. One of them is the combination of both. Of course, such outrageous off ences to both reason and morality should be challenged. We have a very striking example of this with the Drop CFS blog (dropcfs.blogspot.com) which has recently surfaced and I intend to refute the mendacity which permeates this rag.

To begin, I have no particular sympathies for the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS). It is made up of fallible mammals whose fron-tal cortexes are too small, whose adrenaline glands are too large, and whose excrements are invariably as foul smelling as anyone’s. Howev-er, I did have the opportunity to attend the Ac-tivist Assembly in Toronto (Sept. 26–28) and it would be blameworthy for me to continue to judge this issue solely on a theoretical ba-sis. I also attended the famous meeting during which the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa’s (SFUO) Board of Administration (BOA) passed the contested motion. Allow me therefore to share with you, dear reader and fel-low students, what I saw, what I felt, and what I

have come to learn. Earlier this summer, the BOA passed a

motion to allow a referendum regarding CFS membership. Th is motion made the SFUO a prospective member of the CFS. Th is is the issue that has been compared to the tactics employed by the University of Ottawa admin-istration. Th is comparison should strike the reader as not only a poorly constructed attack, but a rather poor showing of the understand-ing of those who wrote it. In as many words, this statement is far more revealing about those that draft ed it than the people that it attacks.

Th e motion in question does not bind the students to join the CFS. In fact, the only actual issue is the allowing of a referendum. Th e pro-spective membership is without charge. In fact, the members of the SFUO who attended the Activist Assembly did so without any cost. Th e bone of contention is the fact that the SFUO did not consult students. Now, this critique would be valid, if the frame of reference was just.

Visit thefulcrum.ca to read the rest of this letter.

Renaud-Philippe GarnerTh ird-year philosophy student

Im in ur website, Im in ur website, steelin’ ur newz.steelin’ ur newz.

www.thefulcrum.cawww.thefulcrum.ca

Yes

Moderately

No

by Kenny DoddFulcrum Staff

UNITED WAY–CENTRAIDE Ot-tawa’s campaign at the U of O is aim-ing to raise $450,000 for the local community this year, with the help of volunteers and donations on cam-pus.

“We are confi dent that we are go-ing to reach our goal again this year,” said Lyse Piché, the U of O’s em-ployee campaign coordinator, who is working closely with the United Way this year.

Dedicated to “increasing the or-ganized capacity of people to care for one another,” the United Way gives fi nancial support to organiza-tions such as Big Brothers/Big Sis-ters of Canada, the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, and a host of other national and local charities. It has been present at the U of O for several years in the form of the Workplace Employee Campaign, where employees of the university are encouraged to donate a specifi c amount of money from each pay pe-riod to the United Way.

However, the campaign is not limited to university employees. Stu-dents are also invited to get involved by donating to the United Way and participating in fundraising events on campus, the next being Bucket Day on Oct. 29. Volunteers will be stationed around campus asking for small donations for the U of O Stu-dent Aid Fund, a registered charity the United Way supports to help U of O students in times of critical fi -nancial need.

“We need volunteers, and last year we really had great participation both for the graduate and under-graduate student associations,” said Lyse. “[We] raised $2,745 in just a few hours.”

While the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa and the Graduate Students’ Association in-dicated they have not yet fi nalized what role they will take in this year’s campaign, Piché pointed to the talent show being held by Community Life Service on Nov. 19 as another excel-lent way for students to get involved.

This year’s United Way-Cen-traide Ottawa campaign on campus has, so far, raised approximately $43,000. The city-wide campaign ends Dec. 2.

For more information about the Unit-ed Way’s campaigns on campus, check out unitedway.uottawa.ca.

by Amanda ShendrukFulcrum Staff

AT THE OCT. 5 Student Federation of the Univer-sity of Ottawa’s (SFUO) Board of Administration (BOA) meeting, the ad hoc Committee on Student Space presented a report outlining preliminary proposals for the construction of an SFUO-owned student centre.

Th e extensive report outlines the history of fi nd-ing student space, problems with the current Uni-centre, possible solutions to these problems, the SFUO’s recommendations, and a tentative project timeline.

Th e report explained that the Jock Turcot Uni-versity Centre was originally slated to be a student centre. Before construction, however, the U of O administration disagreed with the idea of a student-run centre, took control of the project, and in 1974 the Unicentre opened its doors under the owner-ship of the university.

Th e report said the Unicentre is now “old, unat-tractive and dysfunctional”, with the probability of extensive and expensive upgrades in the future. As well as highlighting other pertinent issues, the re-port stated that the Unicentre does not off er suffi -cient room for campus clubs, student organizations, or the expansion of SFUO services.

SFUO President Dean Haldenby reaffi rmed these concerns.

“We have a very inadequate student centre,” he said. “One that doesn’t fi t the needs of students, or the associations around them.”

Th ree possible solutions were presented in the report: do nothing, take controlling ownership of the existing Unicentre, or construct a new student centre on the green space just east of the Unicentre. Th e report proposed the latter as the best option, stating that among other things, the new centre would “house all SFUO offi ces, services, businesses, including the Agora Bookstore … be an environ-mentally sustainable and attractive centre … [and] not have any ownership (other than the land) by the [U of O].”

As concrete plans for the building have not yet been put forward, the cost of the project is un-known; however, the report suggested the building could cost $15-$60 million. In order to fi nance the endeavor, the report recommends “that the SFUO Board of Administration hold a referendum on whether or not to create a new student centre fee to build a new student centre in its 2008–09 general elections.”

Th e SFUO is in preliminary talks with the U of O administration and Haldenby expects that negotia-tions will progress smoothly.

“Th e university seems to be quite open to a num-ber of diff erent possibilities,” he said.

U of O vp resources Victor Simon said he has discussed the construction of a student centre in general terms with Haldenby.

“As the details of this proposal are not yet known, it is premature for the university administration to comment in more specifi c terms, except to say that the Board of Governors’ fi nal decision will probably turn on the level of student support for this project,” he said in an e-mail.

“Given the shortage of communal student space on campus, we will certainly give our student unions’ proposal serious consideration and assis-tance in the planning process.”

Th e SFUO has also begun talks with architec-tural fi rms, and by Nov. 2 Haldenby will present the BOA with the best of three consultations. Th is

presentation will include preliminary design ideas and costs.

Th e role of the Graduate Students’ Associa-tion (GSAÉD) in the building of a new centre is unknown. Th e report plans to incorporate the GSAÉD, stating they will be included in talks re-garding a master plan and the building’s upper management; but what percentage of the build-ing they will control, if any, remains to be deter-mined.

Serge Dupuis, GSAÉD university aff airs commis-sioner, explained that the SFUO would be the main owner of any student centre, but that the GSAÉD is on board with the initiative.

“We certainly have an intention to be in that stu-dent centre—to insert our student services and to insert our offi ces,” he said.

Th e SFUO is not alone in their request for a stu-dent centre. Currently, the University of Saskatch-ewan Students’ Union (USSU) and the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) are in the pre-building stages of their own student centres, aft er both recently passing referendums for increased student fees.

“Currently, full time U of S students are paying $88 per year for infrastructure fees, however, next year this fee will be increased by [infl ation], plus ten dollars,” explained Shannon Dyck, vp student issues of the USSU.

Th e UTSU hopes to have their student centre completed by 2010, with students paying $28.50 annually for the fi rst 25 years of the building’s ex-istence.

If supported, Haldenby said the construction of a student centre would be the largest project under-taken by the SFUO, but one that he has been ready for since the beginning of his administration.

“During my election campaign I made it quite clear—it was my fi rst point—that I would work at building a new student centre for students, by stu-dents,” he said.

Oct. 16–22, 2008News Emma Godmere

News Editornews@thefulcrum.ca 4

Students seek new space

SFUO pursues plans for new building

photo by Martha Pearce

United Way campaign aims to raise $450,000

at the U of O

g

The SFUO is looking for more space for all students on the U of O campus.

NEWSOct. 16, 2008 5www.thefulcrum.ca

by Amanda ShendrukFulcrum Staff

“I FIND LOBLAWS pretty belittling,” explained Derek Reid.

A resident of Sandy Hill and found-ing member of the Sandy Hill People Food Co-op that is currently under construction, Reid talked corporate versus cooperative grocers with the Fulcrum on the steps of the co-op, at 317 Wilbrod St.

“I fi nd the vast selection [at Lo-blaws] is just multinational corpora-tions’ food products that are made who knows where and with what in-gredients,” he said. “[Th e co-op] is go-ing to be dealing with companies that have ethics in mind all the time.”

Reid is not a novice when it comes to organizing cooperatives. Across the street is the Sandy Hill Pet Food Co-op, of which Reid is also a found-ing member. Already four years old, it is a not-for-profi t cooperative that sells natural dog and cat food.

Like the pet food co-op, Reid’s new project will be not-for-profi t and will cater to the conscious consumer. Or-

ganic edibles, fair-trade products, and goods from local companies will fi ll the shelves.

“I think Sandy Hill, overall, is a pretty smart neighborhood. It has got all types and I think all types are into healthier ways of living and alterna-tive models of business,” Reid said.

Th e Sandy Hill People Food Co-op will be a worker, not a consumer, co-operative. As opposed to a consumer co-op, where customers purchase memberships that contribute to keep-ing prices low, the worker cooperative uses employee wages to keep prod-ucts aff ordable. Workers will also be owners and can contribute as much or as little time as they like. Instead of paying employees—the wages will be re-invested in the company—workers will be able to purchase products from the co-op at wholesale prices.

“It is membership-based, but on a worker level,” Reid explained.

Although he has several collabo-rators from community association Action Sandy Hill and the pet food co-op, Reid stressed the need for time investments from many people.

“It’s a nice environment,” he said. “Th ere’s no evil boss perching over you. Everybody is a boss. Everybody respects each other.”

As for the store’s direction, Reid said the initiative would start small. Th ey will off er mostly non-perishable

The Fulcrum is looking for students to join its board of directors. If you are looking for experience in business or not-for-profi t organizations, e-mail Ross Prusakowski,

the Fulcrum’s business manager.

business.manager@thefulcrum.ca

Food co-op to open in Sandy HillWilbrod location to

stock organic, fair-trade, and local products

products they know will sell well, with the possibility of introducing fresh produce and perhaps even baked goods depending on consumer de-mand. Reid explained that ultimately the community would dictate the fu-ture of the cooperative.

“We’re going to grow based on what people want,” he said. “As a coopera-tive it’s a democratic environment. I can sit here and tell you what I think, but in the end it’s going to be not my decision; it’s going to be out of my control as soon as we start having our

meetings.” “It’s a democratic environment so

direction is going to go the way the group wants it to go.”

Th e Sandy Hill People Food Co-op is expected to open its doors the week of Oct. 20.

The Sandy Hill People Food Co-op is located at 317 Wilbrod St.photo by Martha Pearce

by Laura ClementsonFulcrum Contributor

FAMED CANADIAN ENVIRONMEN-TALIST David Suzuki will be rolling into Ottawa Oct. 18 on the Flick Off Express in an eff ort to rally students in support of sustainability and environmental aware-ness.

Th e University of Ottawa is the fi nal destination of Suzuki’s Ontario-wide tour that is rallying to get young Canadians to fl ick off their lights and act on climate change. Th e Flick Off tour began at the University of Western Ontario on Oct. 15, making stops at York University on Oct. 16 and Queen’s University on Oct. 17, be-fore concluding the four-day journey in Ottawa on Oct. 18.

In an attempt to keep with his envi-ronmentally friendly message, Suzuki has shunned planes for the trip, instead opting to travel by train. Riding along on VIA Rail across the province are environmental experts from the David Suzuki Foundation, as well as Cana-dian bands The Constantines and Spiral Beach.

According to its website, the Flick Off

Express campaign “is urging individuals, corporations and politicians together to commit to a renewable energy plan that replaces our reliance on fossil fuels with clean green alternatives”.

Toronto-based broadcaster, author, and environmentalist Gill Deacon will host the rally in Ottawa at Confederation Park, which will feature live music and a speech from Suzuki and several other environ-mentalists.

“Th e idea is to give students at the uni-

versity campuses a voice and a forum to educate themselves about these issues,” Deacon said.

Deacon feels the Flick Off campaign is useful because there are tangible ways for students to make a diff erence.

“Th e great thing about Flick Off is that it is very solution-oriented. It’s about ‘here’s what you can do’,” she explained.

Deacon emphasized that students should be particularly concerned about the environment since Canadians are among the greatest consumers of energy per capita. She also explained that being environmentally friendly can be simple and can actually save money.

“Environmentalism in my book is all about saving money,” she said. “It’s so much cheaper to hang your laundry on a clothes-drying rack than it is for you to pay electricity to run a dryer. It’s cheaper to walk than it is to drive a car.”

Although she admits she realizes the importance of the economy, healthcare, and education, Deacon feels that the en-vironment is the most pressing issue cur-rently facing Canada.

“None of that exists if we can’t breathe the air [and] if we can’t drink the water,” she said.

On Oct. 18, Suzuki, Deacon, the Constan-tines, and others will rally at Confederation Park 2:30–4 p.m. For more information, visit fl ickoff .org.

Flick Off tour pulls into OttawaDavid Suzuki, Constantines

to promote sustainability and environmental awareness

illustration by Lihang Nong

U of O students head to the polls

OCT. 14 WAS voting day for the 40th Canadian general election.

Students on campus voted at a handful of local polling stations, including on-campus locations at L’Église Sacré-Coeur, Hyman Soloway residence, and the residence complex at 90 University.

As of mid-day, neither polling sta-tion had experienced problems with long lineups. However, an Elections Canada offi cial at Sacré-Coeur who did not wish to be identifi ed suggest-ed that some stations nearby had run out of ballots.

Most U of O students who emerged from the polls at Sacré-Coeur did not wish to be interviewed. Two students said they could not vote because they had arrived at the wrong polling sta-tion.

During the federal campaign, stu-dent lobby groups launched campaigns to discuss issues and party platforms, and get students out to the polls.

Th e Canadian Federation of Stu-dents (CFS) national offi ce launched voteeducation.ca, while the Cana-dian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) embedded an election centre in their website at casa.ca/index.php/election-centre.html.

Both student organizations also

released report cards that graded the federal parties on their commit-ments to post-secondary education issues and other issues pertaining to students.

“From what I’ve been hearing from our provincial representatives and our local representatives is there’s been quite a bit of enthusiasm about the fed-eral election,” said CFS National Chair-person Katherine Giroux-Bougard.

“I think we’ve accomplished the goal of raising the issues among our mem-bers, and educating our members.”

CASA national director Zach Churchill was also satisfi ed with his organization’s campaign.

“Our campaign was a very suc-

cessful one. We had over 10 million impressions on the Internet. Th at’s people who saw our advertisement at least, and hopefully clicked on our website or video,” said Churchill.

“Our members were very active,” he continued. “We had on-campus debates organized by every one of our members across the country, [and] we had local candidates talking about post-secondary issues in the ridings that we were targeting.”

Giroux-Bougard said she was dis-heartened that the Conservative Par-ty had declared some all-candidates’ meetings on campuses to be off -limits to their local MPs.

—Carl Meyer

Ottawatch

by Emma GodmereFulcrum Staff

STUDENTS ACROSS CANADA have expe-rienced a 3.6 per cent increase in tuition fees for the 2008–09 academic year compared to last year, according to a recent Statistics Canada report.

The document, released Oct. 9, indicated the rate was higher than the 2.8 per cent in-crease witnessed in 2007–08.

The report also cites that since the 1998–99 academic year—when students paid about $3,064 nationally—tuition fees have been on the rise at an average of 4.4 per cent, while inflation has only increased at an av-erage rate of 2.3 per cent over the same period. The cur-rent national aver-age sits at $4,724.

“As the economy continues to slow down, higher education and re-training will be critical to minimiz-ing the impact on low- and middle-income families,” said Canadian Federation of Stu-dents National Chairperson Katherine Gi-roux-Bougard in a press release. “Canada’s economic health depends on affordable post-secondary education.”

Ontario students, who pay some of the highest tuition fees in the country, saw an increase of 4.7 per cent from last year. Que-bec, Alberta, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island also witnessed tuition in-creases, while scholarly fees in the rest of the country remained about the same.

“It just proves that Ontario … is just head-

ed in the absolute wrong direction. We’re out of step with the rest of the provinces and the government is out of step with Canadi-ans on how accessible they want their post-secondary education,” said Student Federa-tion of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) VP University Affairs Seamus Wolfe.

Federico Carvajal, external commission-er for the Graduate Students’ Association (GSAÉD) and chair of the Canadian Fed-eration of Students (CFS) Ontario Graduate Caucus, expressed that graduate students have been hit hard by the latest increases in fees as well.

“Ontario pays the highest graduate tuition fees [in] Canada,” Carvajal said. “It’s becom-ing an issue of access for graduate students—with the increase of undergraduate tuition fees, people are graduating with larger and larger debts which means that they’re less likely to go on to graduate school, especially if they have to be burdened with the highest

tuition fees in the country.”

While the feder-al report stated that graduate students witnessed a small-er tuition increase over last year—3.3 per cent—grads continue to pay more in tuition

generally, as the national average for gradu-ate students currently sits at $5,777.

Wolfe mentioned that the latest tuition increases act as more motivation for stu-dents to get involved in the provincial day of action against tuition fees on Nov. 5, part of the CFS Drop Fees campaign in partner-ship with the SFUO, GSAÉD, the Carleton University Students’ Association, and the Carleton Graduate Students’ Association.

“[The increases] just give more impetus that … the student movement in Ontario [has to] stay strong because this is some-thing that if we don’t band together to fight, we’re going to … have an even more serious crisis on our hands,” Wolfe said.

NEWS Oct. 16, 20086 www.thefulcrum.ca

Ontario once again higher than national

average

illustration by Alex Martin

Tuition fees on the rise across the country

“Ontario … is just headed in the absolute wrong

direction.”Seamus Wolfe

SFUO vp university affairs

University of Ottawa

For more information: scsgrad@uOttawa.ca | Telephone: 613-562-5800 ext. 2444Please RSVP at www.socialsciences.uOttawa.ca/rsvp

Wednesday, October 29, 2008 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. University of Ottawa, Tabaret Hall, Room 112, 550 Cumberland Street

Graduate programs offered:

Graduate Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences

Open House

NEWSOct. 16, 2008 7www.thefulcrum.ca

UVic anti-abortion group calls for student funding

VICTORIA (CUP) – AN ANTI-ABORTION STUDENT club that was denied funding in a vote by student clubs has asked the University of Victo-ria Students’ Society (UVSS) to recon-sider the decision, claiming the club is in compliance with the Society’s pro-choice mandate. Th e UVSS policy since 1989 has been to support “freedom of choice in the matter of abortion”.

Monica Murphy, president of the pro-life Youth Protecting Youth (YPY), says her group has never tak-en an anti-choice stance, but that it does believe that choosing life is “the right choice”. Murphy explained that the YPY member that represented the club at Clubs Council, where club representatives vote on who gets funding, was unprepared to debate the club’s merits and erroneously said the YPY was anti-choice.

She asked the UVSS board to over-

turn the Clubs Council’s decision and grant YPY funding. Th e board voted 11-6 with one abstention to refer the question back to Clubs Council so that they can hear Murphy’s stance and decide if it breaks UVSS policy.

—Sam VanSchie, Th e Martlet

Th ree campuses to off er courses in Antarctica

EDMONTON (CUP) – IN FEBRU-ARY 2009, a new university pro-gram will bring participants to the far reaches of the globe for a unique two-week opportunity exploring the Earth’s southernmost continent.

Th is program allows students from the University of Ottawa, Uni-versity of Alberta, and the Univer-sity of Northern British Columbia to earn three credits exploring Antarc-tica. Each school is off ering diff erent courses for the voyage: U of O stu-dents will learn about glaciology, U of A students will take an earth and atmospheric sciences course, and UNBC students will have the oppor-tunity to learn about recreation and tourism. Students will learn through lectures and hands-on workshops re-lated to the course.

Th ere are 70 reserved spots for stu-dents at a price of $8,500 per student, plus airfare. At press time, there were still openings.

Th e organization planning the educational opportunity, Students on Ice, hopes to make the trip at least once every two years.

For more information, check out studentsonice.com.

—Jonathan Taves, Th e Gateway

Student group alleges discrimination at York

TORONTO (CUP) – YORK UNI-VERSITY PRESIDENT Mamdouh Shoukri has denied claims that Palestinian students were racially profiled and barred from an event where a prominent Israeli diplomat delivered a speech.

Hasbara Fellowships, a student group that advocates Israel’s well-being, hosted an event that featured Israeli Consul-General Amir Gis-sin. His speech dealt with Israel’s at-tempt to re-brand itself in order to attract new investment and tourism to the country.

Members of Students against Is-raeli Apartheid (SAIA) alleged that they weren’t allowed into the event by organizers, York security, and Toronto police. They claimed they were barred due to racial profiling.

Aaron Rosenberg, co-president of Hasbara Fellowships, denied SAIA’s claims, saying that only members of his organization were ever invited to the event.

In a letter to Shoukri obtained by Excalibur, Nuri Jazairi, a York economics professor in the Faculty of Arts, called for an investigation into the racial-profiling allegations. Shoukri replied that Hasbara Fel-lowships had a right to book the

space for “an RSVP-only event”.—Scott McLean, Excalibur

McMaster study sparks rapid HPV test

HAMILTON (CUP) – MCMASTER UNIVERSITY IN Hamilton, Ont. has researched a faster way of testing women from developing countries for Human Papillomavirus (HPV).

Dr. John Sellors, a McMaster professor of family medicine, in conjunction with researchers from Beijing and London, has released fi ndings on a new rapid HPV test that will provide results in two hours and allow for patient testing and fol-low-ups to occur in the same clinic.

HPV is the most common sexu-ally transmitted viral infection in the world, oft en causing genital warts and putting women at high risk of developing cervical cancer. Th ere are 30 strains of HPV that are sexually transmitted, 13 of which are high-risk. Although up to 75 per cent of Canadians will contract the virus, 80 per cent of deaths from high-risk strains of the virus exist in develop-ing countries.

Th e new, inexpensive HPV test is a leap forward for medical treatment in developing countries, as women there must be treated for the disease fi rst to determine if they need a pel-vic exam. In Canada, this Pap test is performed as part of an annual physical.

—Lee Johnstone, Th e Silhouette

NewsNewsin briefin brief

image by UVic YPY

NEWS Oct. 16, 20088 www.thefulcrum.ca

U of O hosts international conference on former Czechoslovakia

by Maria HabanikovaFulcrum Staff

ON OCT. 9–10, an international con-ference entitled “Th e ‘Prague Spring’ and the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1968” was held in Tabaret Hall at the University of Ot-tawa. Th e conference, marking the 40th anniversary of the 1968 events, was hosted by U of O professor and Chair of Slovak History and Culture Mark Stolarik with the support of the Embassy of the Slovak Republic and the Embassy of the Czech Republic.

“Th ere are conferences going on all over the world this year, mark-ing the event, and mine was one of the most signifi cant because I asked myself, ‘how can mine be diff erent from all of the others?’,” said Stolarik. “I answered the question by saying I’m going to invite a scholar from every single Warsaw Pact country to present a paper based on their most recent archival research—in other words, what [we learned] when the archives opened up aft er communism fell in Eastern Europe.”

Nearly 150 guests attended the conference, including scholars and diplomats from Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, the United States, and Canada.

Diana Štrofová, state secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs of the Slovak Republic spoke at the open-ing of the international conference that marked the 40th anniversary of Prague Spring.

“Even aft er 40 years and even in Canada, [this event] still promotes interest and inspires [contemplation]

about whether Prague Spring could have changed the principles of social-ism,” she said.

Th e term Prague Spring refers to Alexander Dubček’s rise to power in Czechoslovakia in January 1968 and his six months of political liberaliza-tion while the country was under the domination of the Soviet Union. Štrofová explained that the August 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union and members of its Warsaw Pact allies to halt the liberal reforms came as a shock to citizens.

“[It was a] harsh awakening for the majority of [the Czechoslovakian] population, [and] opened [the] eyes of many causing the benevolent im-age of [the] Russian brother to be re-considered and questioned,” Štrofová said.

Th e fi rst day of panel discussions began with a paper presented by Jan Rychlík from Prague’s Charles Uni-versity, following a discussion lead by Michael Kraus from Vermont’s Mid-dlebury College in the U.S. Th e panel described the origins of the reforms in Czechoslovakia in 1968.

Rychlík cited the “asymmetry of Czechoslovak perceptions”, because for Czechs, the stimulating factor was a lack of freedom, while for Slovaks, it was general “[dissatisfaction] with the centralist regime in Prague”.

Kraus claimed there were more factors overlapping each other.

“[It was] the state of the economy and the decline of national income in [Czechoslovakia] as well as restive intelligentsia demanding freedom of expression,” he said.

“Intelligentsia [played] a crucial role [as it] denounced the regime and demanded changes in accordance with democratic propositions,” Kraus continued, before concluding that the “state of Czechoslovak relations [merely led to the] precipitation of the crisis [as a whole].”

Th eir discussion was followed by a debate between Slavomir Michalek

from the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, Slovakia and Stanislav J. Kirschbaum from Glendon College at York University in Toronto.

“1968 was history compressed in a matter of months—[without which] 1993 [when Czechoslovakia split] would not have happened,” said Kirschbaum.

Explaining the Czechoslovakian crisis in the context of Soviet geo-politics and presenting a paper from independent scholar Mikhail Lat-ysh from Moscow, Matthew Quimet from the U.S. Department of State

maintained that the nature of Prague Spring is one of the most ignored as-pects by scholars and that socialism was reformable at the time.

“Dubček could have succeeded but lost control of the process … Soviets [had to consider] their own national interest [when] Prague Spring was no longer an internal issue. [Th ey justi-fi ed] the right to invade Czechoslova-kia because they [were the ones who had] freed them from the German Nazis,” Quimet said.

Th is past February, Czech Re-public Prime Minister Miroslav To-

polanek stated in a speech given at the University of Ottawa that 1968 was one of the eight most signifi cant milestones in Czechoslovakian his-tory. Th e historic Cold War event had lasting eff ects on future Czech generations, a sentiment mirrored by Štrofová in her conference-opening address.

“Weapons were not powerful enough to silence the [next] genera-tions [who realized] the need for de-mocracy, freedom, and human rights protection,” she said.

—with fi les from Emma Godmere

Czech and Slovak experts weigh in on

historic events of 1968

The U of O hosted speakers from around the world for the Oct. 9–10 conference on 1968 Czechoslovakia.photo by Martha Pearce

by Toban DyckTh e Uniter

WINNIPEG (CUP) – IN A POLITICAL system where the majority dictates which parties are represented in Parliament, critics say a spec-trum of political views go unrepresented.

Canada’s current electoral system, called fi rst-past-the-post, dictates that the party that receives the most votes in any riding wins. Larry Gordon, executive director of Fair Vote Canada, says it’s not good enough.

“Th e NDP got a million more votes than the Bloc [Québecois], but the Bloc got twice as many seats [in the 2006 election],” said Gordon.

“Th e biggest fl aw of fi rst-past-the-post is that it rarely produces an outcome proportional to the vote,” said Chris-topher Leo, a politics professor at the Univer-sity of Winnipeg.

“In fi rst-past-the-post voting systems, the majority of ballots don’t elect anybody,” said Gordon. “First-past-the-post is not fi rmly an-chored in democratic principles.”

According to Gordon, proportional repre-sentation is a voting system that gives every vote equal consideration.

Parliament, under proportional representa-tion, would be a more accurate representation of every vote cast; if the Green Party receives 30 per cent of the popular vote nationwide, then the Green Party would represent that 30 per

cent in the House of Commons.A form of proportional representation is used

in over 80 countries, Gordon noted. However, how seats are divided depends on the country, and a Canadian method of assigning seats in Par-liament would need to be devised if the country were to adopt proportional representation.

While electoral reform is an important mat-ter for many, others hold tight to the current fi rst-past-the-post system.

“If it’s not broke, don’t fi x it,” said Marcelle Marion, Liberal candidate for Winnipeg North. “Changing the system to proportional repre-sentation is a little delusional.”

Marion argues that with proportional repre-sentation, the smaller par-ties would keep the larger parties from doing their jobs.

“Proportional represen-tation does not account for regional diversity,” added Marion.

Regional diversity, ar-gues Gordon, is tearing Canada apart. Not all Albertans are conserva-

tive and not all Ontarians are liberal, yet under fi rst-past-the-post, he says Canadians are led to believe they are.

According to Judy Wasylycia-Leis, NDP can-didate for Winnipeg North, her party has been actively engaged in trying to pass their own brand of proportional representation, but with-out success.

“Proportional representation would send a message to Canadians that your vote really does count,” said Wasylycia-Leis.

Ontario citizens were presented with the op-tion of switching to a mixed-member propor-tional electoral system in a referendum ques-tion in the 2007 provincial elections. However, 63.1 per cent voted against electoral reform.

NEWSOct. 16, 2008 9www.thefulcrum.ca

Every vote does not count, say critics

photo courtesy sxc.hu

“In fi rst-past-the-post voting systems, the majority of ballots

don’t elect anybody.”Larry Gordon

Executive Director,Fair Vote Canada

Experts, politicians divided over proportional

representation

Staff meetings.

We have them.

Thursdays at 1 p.m.

631 King Edward Ave.

The Fulcrum.

by Hisham KelatiFulcrum Staff

THE SOUTH PARK episode “Canada on Strike” put forward a controversial hypothesis: it’s im-possible to make money by getting famous on YouTube. South Park gets many things right, but this time creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are dead wrong.

Almost anybody can become an instant star thanks to Internet video-sharing websites. Th e biggest of these sites is YouTube. Exceptionally user-friendly, YouTube presents a simple inter-face that allows users to easily upload and track videos. Th e site’s simplicity has allowed it to be-come the most popular video-sharing website on the Internet with more than 20 million unique visitors each month, and that popularity has had a mutually reinforcing eff ect on its position at the head of the pack. Google, the Internet titan involved in online searches, mobile phones, and

soft ware products, bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock on Nov. 16, 2006, giving the site a solid backing of both fi nancial clout and on-line credibility.

Th ousands of videos are uploaded hourly onto YouTube. Some people upload videos as personal journals (a form of blogging), some upload videos because they think the Internet needs one more clip of a cute animal, and some upload with the hope of having their video seen by as many people as possible—they just want to be famous.

Th e fi rst step to becoming a YouTube star is creating your own personal channel, so that us-ers can watch all of your videos in one place. For those in search of a quick buck, there’s always corporate sponsorship. YouTube off ers a com-prehensive advertising partnership that splits money between the content producer (the indi-vidual user) and the website. Ads can be ban-ners, sidebars, or even embedded in the video itself, as small text boxes that open up other sites when clicked. Best of all, users get to keep the copyrights on their videos, so they can put them on as many sites as they like. Th is doesn’t exactly bring in record-contract money, but it’s the fi rst step to proving South Park wrong and making money with YouTube.

While this idea of using YouTube to become

rich seems absurd, it isn’t a bad plan. Th e con-ventional route to fame and fortune involves earning your stripes by playing low-level gigs—working your way through clubs, coff ee-houses, or local theatre productions. Th is takes time and eff ort that could be better put to use partying with the A-list celebs in Hollywood. So, rather than working their way up, people upload videos showing their talents. Th ey hope that if enough people see their videos, their performance will catch the eye of a talent agent. YouTube videos can be viewed by mil-lions, as in the case of Judson Laipply, whose video “Th e Evolution of Dance” has been seen by more than 100 million people from almost every country in the world. Th ere’s huge poten-tial for exposure with YouTube for anyone who wants to be the next big thing.

Two examples of people who have managed to turn a minimal amount of time and money into legitimate fame and fortune through You-Tube are lonelygirl15 and Bo Burnham. Lone-lygirl15 was a fi ctitious video-blog ostensibly about a lonely teenage girl who oft en hinted at darker, more complex storylines than the usu-ally mundane blogosphere produces. Th e popu-larity of lonelygirl15 allowed the actress, real name Jessica Lee Rose, to get a head-start on a television career with roles in shows such as

Greek and Sorority Forever. Similarly, Bo Burnham, an 18 year-old co-

median/musician whose hilarious songs about subjects like his penis and how his whole fam-ily suspects him of being homosexual have re-ceived over 10 million hits. Based on this suc-cess, he got invited to Montreal’s Just for Laughs Festival, which brought him to the attention of comedy producer Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and landed him a four-album deal with Comedy Central’s record label. Apatow has commissioned Burnham to write a script and music for a fi lm that’s sup-posed to be, according to Burnham, the “anti-High School Musical”. All that success comes from just a few funny videos.

Becoming rich and famous through YouTube isn’t easy, and there’s no set formula for success. Making and posting a video is a simple pro-cess, and if enough people see your video, your name is going to get thrown around. However, there are thousands of other people with simi-lar ideas, so if you have talent, skill, and more than a little luck, you’ve got a shot at hitting the big time. Many more fail than make it, but that doesn’t stop people from trying. South Park is wrong, but not totally—it’s hard to make money by getting famous on YouTube, but it’s not im-possible.

Oct. 16–22, 2008Arts & Culture Peter Henderson

Arts & Culture Editorarts@thefulcrum.ca 10

Internet stardom and the road to riches

YouTube: All the

world’s a stage

image by Amlake T-Digaf

ARTSOct. 16, 2008 11www.thefulcrum.ca

by Peter HendersonFulcrum Staff

CANADIAN BAND THE Constantines are com-ing to renewably energize Ottawa with the power of rock, and this time they’ve got a message.

Th e Constantines are touring as part of Flick Off , a provincial campaign sponsored by Much-Music, the Ontario government, Virgin mogul Richard Branson, and several others, that aims to galvanize regular citizens into action on climate change. Th e Flick Off tour is visiting four Ontario universities to raise awareness of sustainabil-ity and environmental issues, and includes guest speakers Jian Ghomeshi, Sarah Harmer, and, in Ottawa, David Suzuki. Music will be provided by Th e Constantines and Spiral Beach.

Th e Constantines were asked by their label, Arts & Craft s, if they wanted to be a part of the Flick Off campaign. Having recently switched to a biodiesel tour bus, the band felt it was time to be a part of a campaign for positive change on the enivornment. Th e group’s conversion to a green philosophy wasn’t an epiphany, says gui-tarist and vocalist Bryan Webb, it just grew over time.

“I think that for us it’s always been more of an individual thing,” he says. “I was kind of lucky. My father was a teacher who was very aware very early on of environmental causes, and he passed that on to me. He saw David Suzuki speak years

ago, and that changed his ideas about the envi-ronment. Also, I have a brother-in-law who’s a part of the alternative energy program at a col-lege in Kingston, so I’m still exposed to that.”

Th e changing of attitudes doesn’t come over-night, though.

“As a band, we’re just beginning to fi gure some of this stuff out,” says Webb. “It’s harder, especially for a young band who’s just starting to tour, to put biodiesel or something like that at the top of their priorities.”

Th e Constantines switched labels in 2007, moving from Seattle’s famous Sub Pop to Toron-to-based Arts & Craft s.

“I like the situation we’re in now,” explains Webb. “Th e label roster is smaller, and they’re close to us and where we practise.”

Webb also praises the band’s new label for their management.

“Sub Pop was pretty hands-off when it came to management … but Arts & Craft s is really hands-on and does a lot for us,” he says.

Th e Constantines have played at countless college and university campuses across the na-tion over the past nine years, but Webb sees the Flick Off campaign as something diff erent.

“We’ve had brutal experiences playing event weeks,” he says. “Sometimes, people aren’t in-terested. Th ey’re not there for us—we’re just some rock band. Th is one’s completely diff er-ent from all of those. We’re just a small part of what’s happening. [Flick Off ] is based around policy change and the environment, we’re just the entertainment.”

Th e Constantines will play at a rally at Confed-eration Park on Oct. 18 from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit fl ickoff .org.

The Constantines join drive for action on

climate change

Canadian rock goes green

photo by Dustin Rabin

A playlist for your broken heart

ARTS Oct. 16, 200812 www.thefulcrum.ca

by Jaclyn LytleFulcrum Staff

IT ALWAYS STARTS out well. Th ings are new, exciting, passionate. You feel as though you could just spend hours together, adoring every look, every motion, every word. But alas, time goes on, and nothing lasts forever. When it comes time to part ways, music is the universal way to cope. Th e Fulcrum has compiled the top fi ve tracks to nurse your wounded heart while you make your way through the emotional stages at the end of a good thing.

“Jolene” – Th e White Stripes

Most sincere apologies to Dolly Parton, but the Stripes beat her out on this one. Th is cover was released as a B-side by the two-person garage-rock band in 2000. Th is clear, simple take on the country classic has a fuzzed-up tone that’s just a bit more raw than anything Parton served up in her heyday. Th e ballad deals with the pain and anger of watching your darling fall for someone else: “Jolene, I’m begging of you please don’t take my man.” “Jolene” lets you wallow in self-depre-cation and feelings of inadequacy.

“Everybody Hurts” – R.E.M.

Th is sorrowful tune was released in 1992 on the band’s eighth album, Automatic for the People. Th is is an ideal track for when you reach that point post-break-up when the sight of your ex’s toothbrush is enough to get you blubbering. When the waterworks are going, this song is a good reminder that it’s okay: “Sometimes ev-erything is wrong / but everybody hurts some-times.”

“Hurt” – Johnny Cash

Th is Nine Inch Nails cover was released on Johnny Cash’s 2002 album America IV: Th e Man Comes Around. Th ere is a mournful quality to Cash’s version that speaks to a broken heart: “I hurt myself today to see if I still feel / I focus on the pain, the only thing that’s real.” Th is track is a deep expression of loss and sadness, and Cash’s sombre voice matches the solemn, grim lyrics perfectly.

“One More Night” – Stars

Stars presents an interesting take on the break-up song with this track from 2004’s Set Yourself on Fire. “One More Night” is about spending one last night in bed with the one that crushed your heart—an idea we’ve all toyed with. Th is song has real merit for the bluntness of the lyrics: “When she’s breaking his heart / she still fucks like a tease.” Th e song doesn’t dance around its subject, and it takes an occasion oft en riddled with guilt and turns it into poetry.

“Go Your Own Way” – Fleetwood Mac

“Go Your Own Way” was a big hit from Fleet-wod Mac’s 1977 record Rumours. It belongs last in this list because it perfectly suits the fi -nal stage in a break-up: moving on. Th is song is for that point when you’re ready to get over everything and move on. Just like Stevie Nicks sings: “Open up / everything’s waiting for you / you can go your own way”. “Go Your Own Way” is the perfect track for when you’re sick of feeling down and you’re looking for some-thing to pick you up and get you out into the world again.

The top fi ve break-up songs

If you’re reading this, you have the attention to detail we need in our proofreaders.

Come to 631 King Edward on Tuesday evenings to keep

the Fulcrum error-free.

by Peter HendersonFulcrum Staff

WINNIPEG-BASED HARDCORE rockers Comeback Kid visit Ottawa on Oct. 17, and it’s just one more stop on the road for one of Canada’s busi-est bands. Comeback Kid is almost al-ways touring, having visited countries in Eastern Europe, East Asia, and South America. Andrew Neufeld, the lead singer and sometime guitarist for the band, believes that spending a lot of time touring is part of his band’s formula for success.

“We started touring just because we love touring,” Neufeld says. “It’s almost a necessity—this is a full-time thing for us, and we’ve got to stay busy.”

Comeback Kid is touring in sup-port of their new DVD, Th rough the Noise. Th e DVD features a recorded concert from Leipzig, Germany, as well as a documentary on the band’s history. It also comes with a CD of the

Leipzig concert. Neufeld said the idea started as a small tour diary and blos-somed into a much bigger project.

“We had a big tour last Novem-ber in Europe, and Jeremy [Hiebert], our guitar player, was like ‘Maybe we should bring a friend along to shoot a DVD’,” says Neufeld. “We ended up bringing a friend to Europe with us, just to shoot whatever was going on with the tour. Th en it turned into something where we wanted to talk about the beginning of the band and the member changes and stuff , so we just compiled all this footage we had from the past seven years.”

Comeback Kid is supported on their Th rough the Noise Tour by Bane, Misery Signals, Outbreak, Shai Hulud, and Grave Maker.

“It just kind of got thrown togeth-er,” Neufeld states. “You ask people, and you’re not sure if they can do it, and then there’s other bands along in the mix. All the bands [on this tour] are bands we’ve always wanted to tour with or we’ve toured with before and we know people in. It really works out well.”

As for the future of Comeback Kid, Neufeld knows that another album

is defi nitely on the horizon, but right now they’re completely focused on touring.

“For a while, Comeback Kid’s just been doin’ it and doin’ it and doin’ it. Put out a record, tour, tour, tour. Two years later, put another record out—same cycle,” he says. “We just don’t want to feel any kind of pressure to get a record out, because we want the next one to feel right.”

Comeback Kid’s last album, Broad-casting…, took their melodic-punk hardcore sound in a darker, more complex direction, and Neufeld be-lieves that their next album will con-tinue down that road.

“Writing [Broadcasting…], record-ing it, and listening back to it, I think I’ve learned some stuff about how to phrase things,” he claims. “I think with every record you learn things from the last one, things that you did that you want to change, or want to do a little diff erent later on aft er you’ve listened to it. I could very well see it being … a little more thrashy.”

Comeback Kid plays an all-ages show at Babylon on Oct. 17. Tickets are $18 in advance. Doors open at 4 p.m.

Heroes of hardcoreComeback Kid

hits Ottawa

photo by Cindy Frey

ARTSOct. 16, 2008 13www.thefulcrum.ca

by Nigel SmithFulcrum Staff

“FUCK RECYCLING!” BLURTS out a tightly wound young Conservative with borderline orgasmic glee late in the ribald comedy Con-servatives in Love. Th at this line is met with laughs, not gasps, from the audience speaks to the light, sly touch of the proceedings.

Having premiered at the Toronto Fringe Festival, where it was met with unanimous critical praise, Conservatives in Love has now landed in the political vortex of our country—smack dab in the middle of an election. Th e timing couldn’t be better, and local theatre troupe Leave the Pants at Home Equity Co-op are banking on it.

Th e co-op is made up of actors Margo Mac-Donald, Geoff McBride, Kate Smith, Ian Tra-vis, and director Patrick Gauthier. Th is is their fi rst production, but everyone involved has extensive theatre experience.

“We all got called by [Gauthier],” says Smith. “We’d all worked with him in the past in some capacity. We didn’t have to audition—it was just a group of professional actors working to-gether, so he knew what we were capable of.”

Detailing the many plot lines in Conser-vatives in Love seems unnecessary, given the anything-goes farcical nature of the piece. Th e story revolves around a group of young Conservatives—and one radical socialist—falling in and out of love over the course of one night. If the idea of watching a bunch of uppity right-wing folks declaring their love for one another sounds tedious and predict-able, think again.

Smith thinks that some people will be turned off by the title, but believes the play has non-partisan appeal .

“It’s light. It’s a comedy with a political bent,” she says. “It’s great because you don’t really have to be plugged-in to the political scene to understand it. You get it, even if you

just see the front page of the paper when you walk by the box. It’s not overly complicated.”

Th e characters in the play are all stereo-types, many of whom you wouldn’t necessar-ily deem a Conservative at fi rst glance. Th ere are some young offi ce bimbos reminiscent of Th e Hills; a young bisexual man who cheats on his long-term, overly fl amboyant boyfriend; an ignorant, promiscuous, and married busi-ness tycoon; and a sexually repressed but very horny Conservative spokesperson. Th ey all gather at a Young Conservatives meeting at an art gallery in downtown Toronto. Conserva-tives gathering at an art gallery is ironic, and that’s just one of the ways in which the play challenges convention. Sexual shenanigans run rampant throughout the 75-minute show, with hysterical results.

Smith admires writer David Carley’s script, and believes that the comedy will appeal to everyone.

“A lot of it is very overt, because it’s farci-cal—you know, it’s slapstick, it’s silly, people are running in and out of doors,” she says. “But a lot of the jokes are very subtle. It’s just a very funny script.”

Th e cast of this fi rst production by the Leave the Pants at Home troupe is uniformly engag-ing and quirky. Being an ensemble piece, with each actor playing two characters or more, no one truly stands above the pack—each per-former is equally impressive. Although they fi t into stereotypes, each character is sharply drawn through witty, incisive writing and the talent of the performers.

Carley is not out to lambast the Conser-vative Party, but rather to have fun with the preconceptions that are associated with its members. Th ough there are plenty of digs at Conservative values and hypocrisies, Carley doesn’t let the other national political parties get off easily, slipping in jabs where appropri-ate. All in good taste, the farce is more focused on the characters’ sex lives than their political affi liations.

Smith thinks the play is an equal-opportu-nity farce.

“It’s non-partisan—we mock everyone,” Smith says. “We mock the Liberals, we mock the Conservatives, it’s quite equally done. We mock the Canadian political system as a whole.

Conservatives in Love serves up some

political comedy

When you’re truly mocking someone, you’re teasing gently enough that people aren’t being off ended—they’re laughing at themselves.”

Near the end it seems almost as if the Con-servative rally at which everyone converges was an aft erthought, but Carley brings the piece full circle in a speech concerning the economic as-

pect of art delivered by a Conservative spokes-person. It’s a subversive moment, encapsulating the aim of the piece: a comedy that will make you think while you laugh yourself silly.

Conservatives in Love runs at the Arts Court Li-brary until Oct. 18. Tickets are $12 for students.

Exploring the Conservative side of sexphoto courtesy Leave the Pants at Home Equity Co-op

by Rebecca MurrayFulcrum Contributor

WHILE SOME UNIVERSITIES boast beautiful campuses, a high ranking in university reviews, or Nobel-prize winning alumni, the University of Ottawa proudly promotes its bilingual nature. Th e university has been equally French and Eng-lish since its beginnings in 1848, and is the only offi cially bilingual university in Canada. Th e U of O is also unique in Canada for its French immer-sion studies. Introduced in 2006, the program has grown to include over 750 students, eager to learn both of Canada’s offi cial languages.

While French immersion has only been available since 2006, the idea of French immersion had long been discussed.

Marc Gobeil, the U of O’s director of French immersion studies, explains the program’s gen-esis.

“For the longest time, the university did have a second-language requirement for a person to graduate. Th ey had to pass a certain level of lan-guage knowledge, in French or English, in order to graduate,” he said. “In the mid-1980s, some language professors started tinkering with a model of immersion courses to help students in their other language.”

However, it wasn’t until 2000 that a French im-mersion program was considered an important

addition to U of O academics. While ideas had been discussed, there had never been a real eff ort to put together a clear structure for a French im-mersion program.

“Courses had been off ered here and there over the years, but there was never any real eff ort to promote them,” said Gobeil. “It wasn’t until the new millennium that Graham Fraser, the current Canadian commissioner of offi cial languages, [pushed] for the university to do more [in terms of language learning].”

In 2004, the U of O put together a proposal to create an immersion-studies option, which was approved in 2005. In September 2006, the U of O welcomed its fi rst group of immersion students.

In order to be accepted into French immersion studies, students must take two competency tests. One test focuses on the reading and oral comprehension components while the other test gauges writing and speaking abilities. Th ese tests provide information to the U of O’s Offi cial Lan-guages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI) testing staff , who then determine which grammar, writ-ing, or oral comprehension classes the student should register in. Th ese courses are exclusively for students taking French immersion studies.

Students must complete a total of 36 credits in French, as well as pass FLS 3500—a standardized language evaluation—in order to complete the French immersion studies. Once they have met

all the requirements, graduating students receive a note on their diploma stating they completed French immersion.

What is unique about French immersion stud-ies is that students attend regular French courses along with a language professor who meets with them aft erwards for a review session. As language professors also attend the lectures, they are able to provide consistent help concerning the con-tent. Th ese 30-minute sessions are mandatory and occur aft er every lecture, ultimately counting as a full course (three credits). French immersion students, therefore, receive three credits for the French course as well as three credits for the half-hour review classes.

Hélène Knoerr, an associate professor at the OLBI, explained that there are two levels of the French as a second language review classes which are chosen by the students according to their profi ciency in French.

“[Th e second-year courses] focus on receptive skills [like] listening and reading. Th e emphasis is on helping students understand lectures and required readings,” she said. “[Th e third-year courses] are harder and focus on productive skills [like] speaking and writing. Th e emphasis is on helping students make oral presentations and write assignments in French.”

Immersion students are not limited to only those courses that have accompanying review sessions. Students who feel comfortable with their language skills can choose to take any French courses available at the university. Th ey

remain French immersion students but have to make up the credits by attending regular courses instead of the 30-minute review sessions.

Th ere are two safety nets for immersion stu-dents—one academic, one social. Th e academic safety net consists of the opportunity to be grad-ed qualitatively. In their fi rst two years of im-mersion studies, students are able to select up to eight courses in which they will receive a qualita-tive grade: S for Satisfactory (a pass), or NS, for Non-Satisfactory, (a fail). Aft er a student has had eight courses graded qualitatively, the remainder of their courses are graded quantitatively, resem-bling regular courses.

Qualitative grades are one of the factors that oft en help students fi nalize the decision to reg-ister for French immersion. Daniel DeLenardo, a French mentor at the Immersion Mentoring Centre, believes this is a great way to encourage students to enroll.

“[A student] takes a business course and they work really hard but it’s a challenge and they can’t bump their grade up from the 60 they’re at be-cause of the language barrier,” he said. “Th ey take the pass or fail [course] and they can still pursue their studies in French but they no longer have to worry about grades.”

Th e Immersion Mentoring Centre off ers both social and academic help to those in French im-mersion. DeLenardo explained the centre’s pur-

ParFrench immersion studthe University of Otta

FEATURE Oct. 16, 200814 www.thefulcrum.ca

photo courtesy Club d’Immersion

photo by Marc Gobeil

The program’s short historyThe procedure

Safety nets included

pose.“Our main objective is to be a resource for stu-

dents. Our function is to sit down with French immersion students and go over course selection with them and plan a personalized path across their four years at the university,” he said. “[We talk] about which courses to take in French, and which courses will help their development of their language. We explain to them the specifi c requirements of the program as well as the re-strictions. We also off er workshops in time-man-agement, note-taking, [and] oral presentations in their second language.”

Th e safety net for the social side of Immersion studies is the Club d’Immersion de l’Université de Ottawa (CIUO). Th e CIUO is open to all stu-dents, regardless of whether or not they are en-rolled in French immersion. Th e club organizes outings and events that include multi-day trips to Montreal and Quebec City to movie nights and theatre trips to Gatineau. All events promote both the French language and French and Outa-ouais culture. Th e club also off ers the opportunity to meet fellow students in immersion studies.

CIUO President Kate Stokes believes that the club off ers more than just support for students enroled in French immersion.

“Our club’s members range from those who have no background in French but want to start learning, to those whose fi rst language is French and who want to encourage the practice and use of their language and simply enjoy meeting and socializing with new people,” she said. “Ultimate-

ly, we’re here for anyone and everyone who wants to take French outside of the classroom and use it in their everyday lives—we’re here to facilitate and support that.”

Th e U of O is continuously moving forward in immersion studies but like any new program, there are bumps in the road to overcome. One of the problems that the program has encountered is the unique requirements of the language pro-fessors. While the professors are trained in lan-guage teaching, they may not be familiar with the structure of French immersion studies. In partic-ular, attending a course taught by another profes-sor may be challenging to some professors.

Gobeil believes the bumps are natural for such a new program.

“It’s only a three-year [old] program, so there is still a lot of building and tweaking going on,” he said. “Th e challenge is that we have to depend a lot on part-time professors. Language teachers teach language, grammar, and verbs, [and] we are getting them to function with what another professor is doing in a specifi c discipline.”

Another diffi culty with immersion studies is the strict requirements students must follow in order to get the French designation on their diploma. Some programs, such as engineering, have minimal fl exibility in allowing students to take electives outside their discipline. Th is re-stricts the students in programs with little course

choice from participating in French immersion.“I don’t think that people who are entering

French immersion quite understand the pro-gram requirements,” Gobeil said. “In nursing, for example, it’s practically impossible to get that immersion designation [due to rigid course re-quirements in their program]. What we are hop-ing to do this year is change those requirements so that students have a bit more fl exibility in the courses that can be recognized as French immer-sion.”

Th e key element in the immersion program is the bilingual environment that the Ottawa-Hull re-gion and the U of O off er. For students like Julian Gill-Peterson, a third-year history student from Vancouver, Ottawa is an immersion paradise.

“Th e bilingual atmosphere of U of O and Ot-tawa in general really appealed to me,” he said. “I decided that I might like to try the French im-mersion program out, because the idea of taking my courses in French seemed like the ultimate test of my bilingual capabilities.”

At many other universities studying French is a classroom aff air, whereas at the U of O there are multiple opportunities on both sides of the Ottawa River to speak or learn French. Taking a French tour of Parliament, taking in a French fl ick at the Bytowne, or reading La Rotonde (the U of O’s French-language newspaper) are just a few ways to use French around town.

“Th e CIUO works hard on promoting itself to all students interested in speaking and practising French in social and cultural situations,” Stokes said. Knoerr believes Ottawa is a great place to study French immersion, in and out of the classroom.

“It allows them to meet francophone students and to bridge the cultural gap,” she said. “In ad-dition, [it gives] immersion students various opportunities to use their second language and experience the culture in authentic, real-life situ-ations.”

“Th is program is benefi cial to students,” said Knoerr. “It gives them the confi dence to take courses in their second language because they are getting support with the language in addition to taking the subject-matter course. It is a won-derful asset to be profi cient in Canada’s offi cial languages.”

Th e bilingual environment of both the city and the university has helped over 750 students fully immerse themselves in French language and cul-ture.

“Th e U of O French immersion program is unique and the only one that can be called im-mersion [in Canada],” said Gobeil. “Th e program is on the fast track to [make] immersion [avail-able to] any student who wants it.”

Visit immersion.uottawa.ca for more information about French immersion studies.

rlez-vous français?dies at

awa

FEATUREOct. 16, 2008 15www.thefulcrum.ca

Bumps in the road

Ottawa’s bilingual environment A program fulfi lled

QuarantineRocknRolla

Rosemary’s Baby

FA-

images courtesy Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros, Screen Gems

ARTS Oct. 16, 200816 www.thefulcrum.ca

THE FUNCTION OF the documentary ap-proach to a horror fi lm is to emphasize reality and audience alienation in a situation that is extraordinary or supernatural. Th e two most notable hand-held movies, Cloverfi eld and Th e Blair Witch Project, both used this stylistic constraint to incredible eff ect. In both fi lms, the plot and visu-als come together to create real mystery and a disturbing atmo-sphere, which could not have been accomplished through traditional fi lmmaking tech-niques.

In Quarantine, a remake by director John Dowdle of the 2007 Spanish horror fi lm REC, none of the above applies. Th is can be attributed to the fi lm dealing with the dullest and most asi-nine movie monster ever created—the zombie. With this fi lm, the hand-held approach is used as a crutch. Th ere’s no horror here, just a series

of startling moments followed by lame gore ef-fects. It requires no skill or imagination on the part of the fi lmmakers. Th e camera technique doesn’t add any realism or excitement, mainly

due to the ultra-boring menace and the fact that all the attacks are visually identical to other modern zombie fi lms.

Th ere’s a mild twist on the zombie story at the end, and had Quarantine dealt more with this plot device, maybe the fi lm would have actually been scary and interesting. If, for whatev-

er reason, you’re determined to see this fi lm, you’ll get what you pay for—there are loads of screaming and jump scares. For everyone else, just type “REC - Final Scene” into YouTube and watch the fi rst result. Th at small clip of the original fi lm is more enjoyable than this boring piece of shit.

—Danyal Khoral

GUY RITCHIE IS in need of a comeback. It’s been eight years since his last hit, Snatch, and during that time he’s released movies that failed to please either critics or audiences, including the mega-bomb Swept Away. Th ankfully, Rockn-Rolla should put him right back on top. It’s pret-ty damn close to the brilliant gem that is 1998’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Ritchie’s fi rst and best fi lm to date. In RocknRolla, which Ritchie wrote and directed, he goes back to what he does best: gritty English angry gangster mafi a mayhem.

Th e labyrinthine plot of RocknRolla centres on a land deal that a crazed Russian billionaire is trying to set up in London. Th ings get com-plicated when old-school mobster Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson), a petty thief named One-Two (Gerard Butler), and an accountant named Stella (Th andie Newton) get involved. Th e movie has an excellent ensemble cast, but Butler’s perfor-mance as the leading man is the standout. He’s fantastic playing a hard-edged thief and hired

goon, with his real acting chops and impeccable comic timing emerging during signature Ritchie comedic bits.

Like all classic Ritchie fi lms, RocknRolla’s plot is near-incoherent. Although scenes are beauti-fully shot and executed with perfect timing, the subplots are copious and heavily interwoven with layer upon layer of hidden subtexts and dialogue. Importantly, even when the scenes are meant to be dark and ominous, there’s a bit of dry humour that can’t stop you from smiling, even as a man gets beaten with a golf club. Of course, because it’s a Ritchie fi lm, it’s got ample amounts of blood, sweat, and the sounds of fi st on face.

RocknRolla is set up as the fi rst in a possible trilogy, continuing with whatever characters are left at the end of each fi lm. If Ritchie keeps the next two fi lms up to this high calibre, he might be able to make up for the travesty that was 2005’s Revolver. It’s good to see him on the path to redemption.

—Hisham Kelati

ROSEMARY’S BABY HAS Mia Far-row portraying Rosemary Woodhouse, one of the most paranoid and alienated women in the history of cinema. Rose-mary is the pregnant and good-hearted wife of Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavetes). She gets entangled in what she believes to be a sinister and diaboli-cal plot to destroy the world. In a scene that’s ambiguously portrayed as either a feverish nightmare or a real-life satanic ritual, she is raped by Satan. Rosemary begins to be-lieve that the baby she’s carrying is the Antichrist, yet no one around her seems to want to help or even care.

Much of the fi lm’s intensity is derived from director Roman Polanski’s dark and

brooding visual style: the claustrophobia of Rosemary’s apartment, the looming building in which it is situated, and the ee-rie decor fi ll each frame with dread, grief,

and apprehension. As Rosemary is increasingly isolated from the outside world and everyone she reaches out to spurns her, tension builds and the audience wonders just what lengths she will go to in order to destroy her child, and whether or not she is of sound mind. Th e 1968 fi lm sets the mood for intense

fright—a perfect lead-up to Halloween.—David Davidson

Rosemary’s Baby plays at the ByTowne Cinema Oct. 20 at 9:05 p.m and Oct. 21 at 4 p.m. Tickets are $9, $6 for members.

Film reviews

Independent Corner

There’s no horror here, but just a series of startling moments

followed by lame gore effects.

The 1968 fi lm sets the mood for intense fright—a perfect lead-

up to Halloween.

Good Good Bad Bad Film Film

TIME IS PRECIOUS at university. Studying, working, socializing—it seems like there aren’t enough hours in a day to keep up with everything you should do and everything you want. Unfor-tunately, while we’re stressing about school, vital artistic pursuits can fall by the wayside.

Th e simple truth is that we need art to survive in our modern, fast-paced world. Art can be a catalyst for emotional development and release, which anyone who’s ever cried during a movie can attest. Students are oft en busy, running from place to place and drowning in a sea of assign-ments. Art can help you part that vast sea, wheth-er it’s through reading, music, movies, or theatre. As American painter Robert Motherwell once said, “Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it.”

Art and artistic expression are hugely impor-tant to humans on a biological level. Our brain is divided into two hemispheres, a left and right

brain, that each have their own functions and specializations. Although the diff erence is oft en exaggerated, the fact remains that our left brain is analytical and logical, while our right brain is intuitive and creative. Neglecting either side for long periods can lead to problems with memory and comprehension. Although the process is reversible, if you don’t use it, you lose it. Albert Einstein said that “imagination is more impor-tant than knowledge”, and yet school seems to be based on the very opposite assumption. We need art as a counterbalance for our sometimes over-whelming amount of schoolwork.

Art has been proven to have a benefi cial eff ect on the human psyche. In young children, expo-sure to new and diff erent types of art has been shown to increase memory, the ability to learn, and attention span, and decrease negative and anti-social behaviours. Th is eff ect isn’t limited to children, either. Th ere are many prison programs for creating art in both Canada and the United States, and their eff ectiveness in dampening vio-lent outbursts by prisoners in the program has been proved in several studies. You may not be a child or a convict, but it’s safe to say that art will have a positive eff ect on you, too.

Reading for pleasure is oft en the fi rst thing that goes out the window once the university crunch hits. Reading the right book or magazine can provide just the antidote for the heavy read-ing required in some courses. For magazines, try Th e New Yorker for intelligent and funny political and current events coverage, or Rolling Stone for a dose of pop culture. In books, Nick Hornby’s

High Fidelity is a must-read, and Great Expecta-tions is a classic that hasn’t aged a day. Both of these books are entertaining, and also explore deeper ideas of love and loss; they’re an example of how reading is great for emotional release. No matter how you’re feeling, someone else who’s a better writer than you has already felt it.

One of the easiest ways to express yourself ar-tistically is by playing music. Th e benefi ts of play-ing a musical instrument cannot be overstated. Numerous studies have confi rmed that playing music increases memory, alertness, and reduces stress. Personally, this is my preferred avenue of stress relief. Jamming out a tasty lick aft er a hard day’s work at the offi ce or the library is the per-fect release, and nothing beats the blues like a crunchy Hendrix groove. Guitar is by far the easi-est instrument to pick up—$200 and a few hours of practice are all you need to be playing along to Oasis’s “Wonderwall”.

Movies are a staple of university life, and they can be a great venue for artistic expression and enjoyment. Forget making your own fi lms, as that’s far too complicated a task. Instead, try to watch fi lms that are artistic or explore funda-mental human truths and emotions, as opposed to the usual Hollywood dreck. Unlike something big, dumb, and loud like Transformers, a more cerebral fi lm like Annie Hall can actually aid in your emotional development. Films by direc-tors like Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, or even Spike Lee are both entertaining and intelligent. Th ey explore issues of emotion. race, and identity in ways comparable to literary giants. Trust me

when I say you’ll learn more about yourself by watching Raging Bull or Do the Right Th ing than you ever would with Iron Man.

Art of any kind is important for humans, and it’s doubly important for busy students. You al-ways have time for the right song, book, or mov-ie, and I promise they can change your life. Hell, if the studies of children are any indication, art can even make you a better student.

arts@thefulcrum.ca613-562-5931

You’ll never eat brunch in this town again

Student survival gear: coffee, Facebook, art

Peter HendersonArts & Culture Editor

ARTSOct. 16, 2008 17www.thefulcrum.ca

Oct. 16–22, 2008Sports David McClelland

Sports Editorsports@thefulcrum.ca 18

by David McClellandFulcrum Staff

SECOND-YEAR GOALTENDER RI-LEY Whitlock weathered a midgame storm for the University of Ottawa men’s hockey team, keeping the Gee-Gees in the game and allowing them to emerge as victors over the McGill Redmen at the Sports Complex on Oct. 11. Th e 4-3 win was Ottawa’s fi rst of the season, aft er the team lost their opening two games.

“Getting that fi rst [win] out of the way is great for us and great for [our] confi dence, so now we’re going to be rolling,” said Gees centre Dan McDonald, who scored twice in the game.

Th e Gee-Gees were in trouble out of the gate. McGill centre Sam Bloom opened the scoring less than 90 sec-onds into the game when he fi red a shot home in a well-executed two-on-one. Ottawa was able to tie it up 11 minutes later on the power play when left -winger Yanick Charron connected on a cross-ice pass from McDonald, slipping the puck into the side of the net. Th en, with just two minutes left in the period, McDonald corralled a rebound in front of the McGill net and knocked it through rookie netminder Hubert Morins’ fi ve-hole to give the Gee-Gees the lead.

In the second period, a listless Ot-tawa squad left Whitlock to stand on his head to protect their lead. While he eventually let a goal squeak through at the end of the period to make it 2-2, Whitlock managed to

stop 12 other Redmen shots through-out the period.

“You just have to continue to stay in the groove, and make sure that you can freeze everything to slow down the play a little bit,” said Whit-lock aft er the game. “Personally, you just have to continue to play hard and work hard in those situations, battle to see the puck, and just do the best you can.”

Th e third period was a topsy-turvy aff air. Th e Gees outshot the Redmen 17-8, but McGill defender Marc-André Dorion broke the tie to put McGill up 3-2 with less than six min-utes remaining in the game. Just over

a minute later, with Ottawa on the pow-er play, McDonald evened the score by fl icking a wrist shot over the shoulder of McGill netminder Danny Mireault, who replaced Morin at the beginning of the second period. Left -winger Ryne Gove notched the

game-winning goal for the Gee-Gees when he grabbed a huge rebound off a shot by Charron and easily depos-ited it into the net with just under three minutes left in the game.

“We talked before the game about having a complete game,” said Gee-Gees head coach Dave Léger follow-ing the match. “We challenged the guys to have some foresight now. Th ese are games that will have a huge impact in March, when it’s playoff time, so it was a huge two points that we got from [McGill] and huge that we didn’t give up any points.”

With the win, the Gee-Gees improve to 1-2-0 and sit fourth in the Ontario University Athletics Far East division. Th ey play next on Oct. 17, when they host the Concordia Stingers at 7 p.m. at the Sports Complex arena. Tickets are $4 for students.

“These are games that will have a huge impact in

March, when it’s playoff time.”

Dave LégerGee-Gees head coach

Defender Mathieu Desjardins fi ghts to hold on to the puck against McGill on Oct. 11.photos by Elizabeth Chiang

A welcome victoryMen’s hockey team

earns fi rst win

SPORTSOct. 16, 2008 19www.thefulcrum.ca

by David McClellandFulcrum Staff

IT’S BEEN A long hard fall for the Gee-Gees.

When they began their season in September, expectations were high. Th e team was loaded with talent, and they were a favourite to compete for the Vanier Cup, especially considering last season’s 8-0 regular season record. But aft er their Oct. 11 38-16 loss to the undefeated Queen’s Golden Gaels, the Gee-Gees have lost three in a row and have skidded to a 3-4 record, now fac-ing a must-win game against the To-ronto Varsity Blues on Oct. 18 to make the playoff s.

Th e Gee-Gees have been plagued by injuries this season, which is un-doubtedly a large part of the reason for their slide. Th e team’s receiving corps has been especially hard hit, with the team having gone through a franchise-record 15 receivers even before the game against Queen’s. Th e situation is so desperate that backup quarterback Brad Sinopoli suited up as a receiver for the game, despite not having run any of Ottawa’s pass pat-terns until the week before. Never-theless, he managed to haul in three catches for 30 yards.

“Our receiving corps is a veteran corps. You cannot replace experience at this level, and most of our guys were third-, fourth-, and fi ft h-years.

And now we’re playing with guys who have weeks in the CIS as a resumé,” said head coach Denis Piché with a rueful laugh.

“For the most part, the young guys have played very well and we’re still putting money in the bank with them—we’ll see what happens,” he continued. “But one thing that is for sure is that right now, today, we have no one left from our starting seven re-ceivers at the beginning of the year.”

Th e Gee-Gees got off to an unchar-acteristically slow start in Kingston. Quarterback Josh Sacobie went 4-14

in passing attempts for 48 yards and no touchdowns. Ottawa’s defence had diffi culty stopping Queen’s, who rolled over Ottawa to score 31 points in the opening half.

“We’re all constantly observing each other to see how good Queen’s is and how good Ottawa is, and I think some of our younger guys and even our older guys get caught in that,” said

Sacobie. “We forgot about ourselves for a second and started focusing on how good [Queen’s is], so [we] lost our minds a bit there.”

Th e Gee-Gees were able to play a signifi cantly better second half, with running back Felix Desjardins-Potvin rushing for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Th e Ottawa defence was able to force Queen’s to concede a safety in the third quarter, and held the Gaels to a single scor-ing play, a 52-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter.

“We came out in the second half, and we played like ourselves,” said Sacobie. “Our defence slowed down their off ence, our fi eld position was a lot better and our off ence started gen-erating some good drives.”

While the Gee-Gees next game is a likely win against the 2-5 Toronto Varsity Blues, Piché is taking nothing for granted. Th e Gee-Gees must win the game to make the playoff s.

“We’re going to be fi ghting for our lives this week, and that’s okay, we can handle it,” said Piché. “Toronto is not the Toronto we used to play, they’re no longer the little brother everyone beats up on … If we lose we’re done, and a win gives us one more week to bring back some of our starters.”

Th e Gee-Gees now have a 3-4 record, putting them in a three-way tie for fi ft h place in the Ontario University Athlet-ics conference. Th ey will play their fi -nal 2008 regular season game on Oct. 18, when they host the Toronto Varsity Blues at Frank Clair Stadium. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. Tickets are $6 for students.

Gee-Gees mired in injuries

An injured player on the fi eld has been an all-too-common sight for the 2008 Gee-Gees football team.photo by Alex Smyth

Men’s football falls to Queen’s in third

straight loss

Ravens to restore rivalry?

THE CARLETON RAVENS may be fi elding a varsity football team again as early as 2010, according to an ar-ticle published in the Ottawa Citizen on Oct. 11. Th e previous Ravens foot-ball program was cancelled in 1999, as Carleton administrators did not want to continue paying $250,000 to $300,000 annually to fund a team that typically returned poor results on the fi eld.

Th e Ravens, who fi rst competed in the 1945 Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union season, played their fi nal game to date on Oct. 31, 1998. However, Carleton University athletic director Jennifer Brenning says that the school is currently looking into the feasibility of reviving the program, with an announcement expected the weekend of the Vanier Cup in Hamil-ton, which occurs on Nov. 24.

Th e Gee-Gees had an extensive ri-valry with the Ravens football team, playing for a bronze Panda trophy every year from 1955 to 1997 in the annual Panda Bowl. Th e event was one of the biggest sporting events of the year in Ottawa, with attendance reaching upwards of 20,000. Th e Gee-Gees had a 31-13 record in the event.

—David McClelland

180 goalless minutes for women’s soccer team

THE UNIVERSITY OF Ottawa’s women’s soccer team played two complete games without seeing a sin-gle goal scored during a road trip to Toronto. Th e Gee-Gees tied both the Ryerson Rams and the Toronto Var-sity Blues 0-0 on Oct. 10 and Oct. 11, respectively.

Th e game against Ryerson was a mid-fi eld battle, and led to very few shots on net. Th e Gee-Gees were able to get off fi ve shots on target, while the Rams tested Ottawa goalkeeper Jess Charron just once throughout the game.

Playing against Toronto, the Gee-Gees were faced with a similar game, though Charron was tested more of-ten, stopping nine shots throughout the match. Ottawa was also unable to beat Toronto goalkeeper Mary Anne Barnes.

Th e Gee-Gees now hold an 8-2-3 record, and with a lock on second place in the OUA East, just one point behind the Blues. Th e Gee-Gees played their fi nal game of the regular season on Oct. 15 against the Carle-ton Ravens. Th e result was unavail-able at press time.

—David McClelland

Undefeated final weekend for women’s fastball

THE WOMEN’S FASTBALL team had a perfect 4-0 weekend as they finished their regular season with a pair of doubleheaders against the York Lions on Oct. 10 and the Queen’s Golden Gaels on Oct. 11.

Against the Lions, the Gee-Gees’ first victory can be credited to dom-inant pitching, as starter Jillian Tay-lor pitched a one-hit, seven-inning shutout to lead Ottawa to a 2-0 vic-tory. The second game of the day featured more hitting, and the Gees slugged their way to a 9-2 win.

The Gees had little difficulty coming up with a 6-2 victory in the first game against Queen’s. Ottawa stumbled slightly in the second, as the Gaels jumped to an early 3-0 lead that looked like it might have been enough to secure a win, but the Gees scored three runs in the seventh to force extra innings. After matching each other in the eighth and ninth innings, Ottawa scored a pair of runs in the top of the 10th to win the game.

The Gee-Gees end their season with a 17-5 record, good for third place in Ontario. They next see action in the Ontario Intercolle-giate Women’s Fastball Association Championships Oct. 17–19 in Wa-terloo.

—David McClelland

Women’s rugby secure playoff berth for 17th straight year

THE WOMEN’S RUGBY team was in Quebec on Oct. 13, where they beat the Sherbrooke Vert et Or 18-5. The Vert et Or came out strong, scoring a quick try in the game’s first two minutes, but were able to prove themselves to be the stronger team and triumphed in the end. Third-year hooker Tegan Bradshaw scored two penalty goals and a convert while first-year fullback Janine Mc-Kay and first-year backrow Philippa Ogbemudia scored a try apiece.

With the win, the Gees secured a playoff berth in the six-team Quebec Student Sport Federation conference. The Ottawa squad has made the playoffs every year since 1991.

The Gees finished their regular season with a record of 2-4. They are in action on Oct. 18 when they will meet the undefeated Laval Rouge et Or for a one-game conference semi-final in Quebec City.

—Sarah Leavitt

Around the horn

“You cannot replace

experience at this level.”

Denis PichéGee-Gees head coach

I want you. I want you so bad. volunteer@thefulcrum.ca

If you’re reading this, you have the attention to detail we need in our proofreaders.

Come to 631 King Edward Ave. on Tuesday evenings to keep

the Fulcrum error-free.

SPORTS Oct. 16, 200820

Team Record Standing Last game Next game

Football 3-4 5th in OUA (tie)

38-16 loss vs. Queen’s

Oct. 18 vs. To-ronto. 1 p.m. at Frank Clair

Stadium.

Men’s hockey 1-2-0 4th in OUA Far East

4-3 win vs. McGill

Oct. 17 vs. Concordia.

7 p.m. at the Sports

Complex.

Women’s hockey

1-0-0 1st in QSSF (two teams not

yet ranked)

3-1 win vs. Carleton

Oct. 18 vs. Concordia.

2 p.m. at the Sports

Complex.

Women’s rugby

2-4-0 4th in QSSF 18-5 win at Sherbrooke

Oct. 19 at Laval. QSSF semi-fi nal.

Women’s soccer

8-2-3 2nd in OUA East

0-0 tie vs. Toronto

TBA. OUA quarter-fi nal on Oct. 25.

Scoreboard

SUBJECT TO CLASSIFICATION

SPORTSOct. 16, 2008 21www.thefulcrum.ca

DEAR MEN’S FOOTBALL team,

First of all, I just want to say that you guys have the potential to be great. I know the last few weeks haven’t been the best for you, hav-ing lost three games in a row for the first time in three years, but it actually isn’t the end of the world. You play the Toronto Varsity Blues next weekend, a team you should be able to demolish handily (they are, after all, basically the same team that set a Canadian Interuni-versity Sport record with a 49-game losing streak), and that should be enough to help you squeak into the playoffs.

The moment you clinch a playoff spot marks the point at which you have to stop, clear your minds, and start playing football again. Okay, it’s true that you’ve been cursed with a string of injuries this year—I know it’s bad when you have to play your backup quarterback as a re-ceiver. But football is a funny sport. Anything can happen, and any team can gel in time to make an impact. Put the losses behind you, but don’t forget about them—use them as inspiration instead.

No one likes to lose, but at the same time, remember that everyone makes mistakes. The important thing is to discern why you lost, isolate which mistakes were critical, and work on not repeating them. While I admit that magically healing all of your receivers would help, you also need to work with the players you have available. As the saying goes, it’s a poor work-man that blames his tools, so take whomever you have and mould them into winners.

I know that it’s not as simple as sitting down and deciding that you’re going to win a game, but confidence is key in the playoffs.

Trust in each other to do your jobs, and don’t get trapped into over-thinking things. It’s more important to focus on getting your next first down rather than worrying about who you might have to play in your next game. It’s important to get into a playoff mentality: you

can’t afford to lose anymore, so extend that to every facet of your game. Don’t just be satisfied with holding your opponents to a field goal, but strive to make them give up the ball on every single pos-session.

Many sportswriters would take this time to list what you’re doing wrong, and tell you how they think you

should fix it. I won’t be so arrogant as to pre-tend I know more about football than you do, and anyway, it’s important for you to work out what’s wrong on your own, because I’m certainly not going to be whipping up more columns for you to read during halftime.

I guess what I’m trying to get across to you here is that it’s not too late to turn this around. Your quarterback, Josh Sacobie, along with a number of other players, is in his last year of

eligibility, and he deserves a chance to go out on top. Even if the situation seems hopeless, as it must have over the past few weeks, don’t give up. Keep fighting, because if you do you just might be able to turn your luck around. You never know, you might be able to find that winning squad waiting in the wings just in time to make a difference in the playoffs.

sports@thefulcrum.ca613-562-5931

Lighting the lamp

An open letter to the Gee-Gees football team

David McClellandSports Editor

While I admit that magically healing all of your receivers would help, you also need to

work with who you have available.

www.thefulcrum.ca

SPORTS Oct. 16, 200822 www.thefulcrum.ca

Where self-starters start.The Dalhousie Corporate Residency MBA gets you what you want, faster. Our unique model is a practical, relevant and hands-on learning experience designed for the real world right now. It integrates classroom learning with an eight-month paid corporate residency with one of North America’s leading employers. So you’re earning your MBA while you’re earning your place in thecorporate world. No wait ing. As the only Corporate Residency MBA in Canada, we worked with more than 30 top employers to design the program. You’ll get what you want because you’ll have what employers want.

dalmba.caCorporate Residency

by Megan O’MearaFulcrum Staff

YOU CAN FIND them at Gee-Gees home games: dozens of students wearing the home side’s colours and chanting loudly to help the Garnet and Grey fi nd victory. No, you haven’t entered some strange alternate uni-verse, you’ve just encountered the Jockey Club.

Although it was only resur-rected a year ago, aft er the original club dissolved in the early 2000s, the present Jockey Club is growing fast. Th e group of sports enthusiasts was created by a few students, including Rob King, Amy Roberts, and Kathleen Reeves, who were disappointed with the turnout at Gee-Gees home games and wanted to fi nd a way to encourage others to come out and watch. Th ey began hav-ing parties before the games started, hoping that this would encourage others to join in and support the Gee-Gees.

“Initially it was basically just come to the football game Saturday, come to our house a couple hours before-hand and we’ll get a keg and we’ll get a 60 and go from there,” said King. Club members would paint each other’s faces and wear garnet and grey

while sporting the Gee-Gees logo. Th ey have T-shirts made each year that bear the club’s slogan: “Hung like a Gee-Gee.”

However, as time passed, the club became about more than just pre-drinking and face-painting. Th e club hosted a pancake breakfast and re-cently held a hot dog-eating contest where they gave out Ottawa Senators tickets before the Gee-Gees football and men’s hockey games on Oct. 4. Since the club has begun hosting more diverse events, the leaders have started looking into getting club sta-tus with the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO).

“As of now, we aren’t connected with the university,” said King. “We didn’t do it initially so that we would

… [have] a little more freedom to do what we want.”

Now, the club is looking to expand and be taken more seriously. Th ey hope that funding from the SFUO will help them to put on more events and create more of

an atmosphere at the games. “We’re just looking to go out and get

a little more support and make it fun to do at the same time,” King explained. “Th e men’s hockey team, the football team, the Sports Services promotions offi ce—they all support us.”

For those interested in joining the club, check out their Facebook page, which is simply titled “GeeGees Jockey Club”. Club members try to at-tend as many Gee-Gees home games as possible, especially involving the football team, men’s hockey team, and men’s basketball team, and are always looking for more people to help them fi ll the stands.

photo by Erica Erwin

Gee-Gees support-ers vying for club

status

“The men’s hockey team, the football team, the Sports Services pro-motions offi ce—they all

support us.”Rob King

Jockey Club member

Jockeying for position

SPORTSOct. 16, 2008 23www.thefulcrum.ca

by Hannah LarkingTh e Lance

WINDSOR (CUP) – THE BUZZ OVER energy drinks is understand-able.

Caff eine-laden energy drinks help students stay up late when they need to cram, and aid concentration dur-ing the morning-aft er class. But what might appear to be a gift from God in midterm season may turn out to be a serious health problem waiting to happen.

Energy drinks have risen in pop-ularity faster than they make your heart beat, but a medical conference in Prince Edward Island held in Sep-tember has cited a cause for concern in the midnight miracle. While their stimulating eff ects may seem neces-sary in the moment, health repercus-sions have one doctor from the con-ference referring to energy drinks today as the cigarettes of 30 years ago.

Th e high amounts of caff eine in energy drinks claim to increase per-formance level, concentration, and metabolism, but research shows those same ingredients could also help you develop a cardiac arrhythmia—a po-tentially fatal heartbeat irregularity.

According to a 2008 article released by the Pennsylvania Medical Society, other harmful side eff ects include hy-pertension, anxiety, headaches, and interrupted sleep patterns.

Additionally, the study says energy drinks should be avoided by individ-uals younger than 18; those who are pregnant or nursing; or those with a

family history of heart disease, high blood pressure, depression, or glau-coma.

However, not all brands bear these warnings.

Th e same article stated that some energy drinks contain up to two or three times as much caff eine as a cup of brewed coff ee—which ranges from 80 to 135 mg—plus an additional equivalent of fi ve teaspoons of sugar.

“Energy drinks contribute to sleep disturbances, obesity, tooth decay, and dehydration,” said Dr. Suzan Steele, chair of the Philadelphia Assembly, PA Academy of Family Physicians.

“We’re looking at a generation that will have serious problems with osteo-porosis based on a lack of calcium in-take and obesity from too much sugar. Brittle bones and too much weight just spells trouble,” she added.

Meanwhile, new concoctions be-ing popularized in bars across the na-tion combining alcohol with energy drinks are hazardous, Steele says. Th e high caff eine levels found in energy drinks plus alcohol can send mixed messages to the nervous system and cause heart rhythm irregularities, and the dehydrating eff ect of alcohol combined with caff eine’s diuretic ef-fect can also be dangerous.

Dr. Anthony Kovatch, a pediatri-cian from Pittsburgh, emphasizes that athletes are no exception to the rule.

“In the humid heat of summer … if you drink this stuff because you’re hot, you’re defeating the purpose. Not only does caff eine raise your heart rate, it’s a diuretic,” said Kovatch.

“You’re likely to go to the bathroom more oft en, which is a problem in the middle of any sporting event. You may think you are getting hydrated, but instead, you’re getting dehydrat-ed. And that can be dangerous.”

One 250 ml can of Red Bull con-tains 80 mg of caff eine, a chemical known for its ability to interfere with or block adenosine—the nucleotide responsible for the feeling of fatigue. But that’s not the only active ingredi-ent in energy drinks; there are many other chemicals involved such as tau-rine, the health eff ects of which have not yet been properly studied.

Most energy drinks are much higher in caff eine than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lim-it, according to an article published in the Boston Globe. Th e FDA has a limit of 65 mg of caff eine per 12 oz. in sodas, but does not regulate caf-feine levels in energy drinks—some of which contain over four times the recommended level.

Students looking for alternative and natural pick-me-ups can try low-fat milk, unfl avoured water, di-luted fruit juice, vegetable juice, pea-nut butter, bananas, eggs, yogurt, and many vegetables.

Other ways to boost your energy are through herbs and vitamins such as ginger, licorice root, ginseng, green tea, and B-50 vitamin formula.

Exercise is also always benefi -cial—particularly methods of yoga and tai chi, both of which are geared towards relieving stress, improving energy levels, and increasing con-centration.

photo illustration by Matt Johnny

The jolt in energy drinks could shock you

The Fulcrum staff meetings:

Thursdays at 1 p.m.

631 King Edward Ave.

New volunteers always welcome.

sudo

ku a

nswe

rs fr

om p.

26

Im in ur website, Im in ur website, steelin’ ur newz.steelin’ ur newz.

www.thefulcrum.cawww.thefulcrum.ca

Oct. 16–22, 2008Opinion Michael Olender

Executive Editorexecutive@thefulcrum.ca 24

THE TERM “JUMPING the shark” pin-points the moment when the good goes bad. It originated from the TV show

Happy Days, when the Fonz put on a pair of wa-ter skis and literally jumped over a shark. It was a watershed moment for the popular show—a sign that it had peaked and was on the decline. Th e term has since burrowed its way into everyday vocabulary and is used to announce when some-one or something has lost it. Th e Fulcrum spots the fi n around the world.

In the 1990s, the Liberal Party of Canada was riding high. It managed to split its opposi-tion, and had won two consecutive majority

governments. Th en they jumped the shark: then-prime minister Jean Chrétien called an election in 2000 for no real reason. He was only three years into his fi ve-year term, and called the election primarily to catch the newly formed Canadian Alliance Party off guard while it was young and disorganized. While Canadians granted the Lib-erals another majority government, things only went downhill from there. Th e party was plagued by scandals (most notably the sponsorship scan-dal), and when Chrétien retired in 2003, he left a power vacuum which was weakly fi lled by Paul Martin. Aft er Martin failed to win another ma-jority government in the 2004 election and then handed Canada’s top job to Stephen Harper in the 2006 election, the Liberals were divided over who to elect as leader. Stéphane Dion was eventu-ally chosen as a compromise between competing camps, and has proven ineff ective ever since. It’s been a long, painful slide for the Liberal Party, one from which it has yet to truly recover.

—David McClelland

Lost lost its marbles when it decided in season four that the bug-eyed villain Ben would twist some sort of steering wheel, causing

the island to disappear and emerge somewhere else. Okay, we already know this is a “special” is-land, one that has wielded stylish black smoke that either bloodies people up or sucks them into the ground. And I suppose it’s not that much of a stretch to go from killer smoke to teleporting islands, but the series jumped the shark at that precise moment. Being the hugely successful show that it is, some good may have come from that mo-ronic moment: a world record was broken for the number of eyes rolling at the same time.

—Mark Naser

When Soulja Boy’s hit single “Crank Th at (Soulja Boy)” became the num-ber one song on the Billboard Hot

100 in the U.S., hip-hop and rap music jumped the shark. An entire country danced and sang at the top of their lungs, about doing, amongst oth-er things, the “Superman”. For those of you that don’t know what that is, it’s the act of ejaculating on your girl’s back and placing a bed sheet on it,

so that when she wakes up, the sheet will be stuck on her like a cape. For genres that had originated as a way for young blacks to voice their concern about black culture, racism, and oppression, the decline was hinted at when they began celebrat-ing grills, rims, and Cristal. A number one song about “supermanning hoes” just confi rmed it.

—Hisham Kelati

I remember when I was really young—around nine or ten—when all the information I had learned about sex was acquired through in-

nocent hearsay from my classmates. I didn’t quite understand what was going on, but I suspected it had something to do with love and aff ection, given that mommies and daddies everywhere did it. Age 11: I fi nally discovered Bleu Nuit. Prior to this, my only sexual images came from dogs doing it on the street and my own imagination. Watching late night soft -core fi lms, I had ques-tions like: Why does her head need to be so close to his crotch and what exactly does she get out of it? Th is doesn’t happen in nature. A dog has never gone down on another dog. With this, I realized sex is dirty, useless, and emotionally vacuous as it’s strictly a way to satiate one’s primal desire. Time usually spent thinking about and partici-pating in sexual activity should instead be used for more productive purposes like the explora-tion of black holes, time travel, and the coloni-zation of Earth’s oceans. Sex jumped the shark when I realized what it was.

—Danyal Khoral

I will honestly admit that I oft en need a grande, non-fat, no-whip, white chocolate mocha to start my day on the right, caff eine-powered

foot, but it’s sheer overkill when I can pick one up about four or fi ve times on my way to campus. Starbucks—which apparently is now desperately closing stores in some areas—jumped the shark as soon as they started opening up locations across the street from one another. At fi rst, it seemed innovative and edgy. Th en Second Cup started upping its competition (there really can’t be any diff erence between a caramel macchiato and a caramel coretto) and Bridgehead brought its game with fair-trade practices. Soon enough, Starbucks was lamely recycling some of their drinks and unnecessarily killing off others (that honey latte was glorious, you idiots). We’ll still go aft er that infamous white paper cup, but never with the same snooty prestige again.

—Emma Godmere

Remember when communism was all the rage? Neither do I. However, during the 1960s, communism was actually

quite popular among Western youth. So-viet support for anti-colonial liberation movements and the legendary stories of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara inspired

Jumping the shark

The Liberal Party of Canada

Lost

Hip hop and rap music

Communism

Starbucks

Sex

d i s a f f e c t e d youth. Commu-nism jumped the shark as a popular ideology on Aug. 20, 1968 with the Soviet-led invasion to halt political liberalization in Czechoslo-vakia. Th e display of military force to subjugate the freedom of an independent state demonstrated the hypocrisy and injustice inherent in Soviet policy and ruined much of the credibility of communism. With the invasion, the Soviet Union destroyed the expression of the very fundamental freedoms that allowed young people in the West to challenge societal norms and government policy. Young people within the Western world increasingly recognized the communist model for what it was: a static, self-interest based system run by a succession of ge-riatrics.

—Kelwryn Ord

The belief that race is the defi ning char-acteristic of intelligence and potential offi cially jumped the shark when Barack

Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination. While racism isn’t necessarily over and the thought that we live in a post-race so-ciety is ludicrous, the fact that a black man is less than a month away from possibly being the president of the United States has put a sizeable dent in racism.

—Hisham Kelati

Nicolas Cage, an actor now oft en ridi-culed for his grimace-inducing over-acting and bad haircuts, was once an

actor of repute. When he fi rst came onto the scene, Cage was a fearless actor who worked with avant-garde directors. He could have been the gruff er twin to Johnny Depp. Unfortunately, he met a mogul by the name of Michael Bay, auteur of such fi lms as Pearl Harbor and Con Air. Cage jumped the shark with their fi rst project together, Th e Rock, and never looked back. Gone were the edgier works that tested his acting chops, as he morphed into the “go-to man” for fl ashing that cocky grin and fl exing his hairy biceps. He still gets work, and fi lms like National Treasure gross millions, but it’s all a such shame—he could have been one of the greats.

—Nigel Smith

CERN jumped the shark when the world didn’t end.

CERN is the

Conseil Eu-ropéen pour la

Recherche Nu-cléaire, or in English,

the European Council for Nuclear Research. It’s basi-

cally the most badass research institute on Earth for studying how

atoms and subatomic particles—the build-ing blocks of the universe—work. On Sept. 10 this year, CERN fi rst tested its Large Hadron Collider, a 27 km circular particle-accelerator on the border between France and Switzerland, used to study how protons interact when they collide. I won’t pretend to understand how it works (something about magnets). Anyway, when these protons collide there’s a chance they could create miniature black holes. In laymen’s terms, France has a fucking doomsday device—it could end everything. One wrong calculation and the earth disappears in a fl ash. Well, not a fl ash, more like a blank. In the lead-up to this experiment, CERN pushed Paris Hilton off the front pages of newspapers around the world because of its capability to bring accidental and instant Armageddon. So, in September they launched their fi rst protons through this thing… and nothing happened. No black holes. Not even a grey hole that could suck up Switzerland. Af-ter you threaten to end the universe, it’s a tough climb back to credibility.

—Ben Myers

The SFUO jumped the shark during the last Ontario provincial election when it blatant-ly told students to vote for the mixed-mem-

ber proportional (MMP) system of representation. At that moment, the SFUO went from attempting to represent all students’ interests to actively repre-senting the interests of a few. All of this could have been avoided if the SFUO had simply encouraged students to vote in the MMP referendum. Instead, a politicized SFUO was born.

—Toby Climie

Forget about jumping the shark on a pair of water skis, capitalism jumped the shark by jet-pack. Stocks are dropping, insurance

companies are folding, hedge funds are shrink-ing, banks are being nationalized, and slowly but surely capitalism is starting to crumble. Mean-while, Fidel Castro is enjoying a fi ne cigar and a hearty laugh.

—Hisham Kelati

CERN

Racism

Nicolas Cage

Capitalism

The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa

illustration by Alex Martin

friends4friends.ca

GOT A FRIEND SPENDING

ALL OF HER TIME

STUDYINGSTUDYING POKER?POKER?

Not being able to stop playing is a sign

of a gambling problem. Learn more online.

OPINIONOct. 16, 2008 25www.thefulcrum.ca

by Ted HortonFulcrum Contributor

IT’S 2 P.M. on a Monday aft ernoon, and I’m fl at on my back. It’s not a hangover, nor is it a metaphor for be-ing knocked over by high tuition fees. I’ve got a needle in my arm, a text by Jean-Jacques Rousseau on my lap, and I’m in the fi rst-fl oor lounge of the 90U residence. I’m giving blood.

It takes 56 days to regenerate your donated blood, so every two months or so, when Cana-dian Blood Services (CBS) calls to let me know I’m eligible again, I ask for the soonest donor clinic and I make sure to attend. Typically I give on campus, at the 90U residence. I make an appoint-ment by calling CBS, which guaran-tees the nurses will have time for me (they do take walk-ins too). Even if it were farther—at the CBS’s permanent clinic at 1575 Carling Ave.—I’d gladly pay the bus fare for the opportunity to give.

Why give blood? Th e people. Everyone at the clinic

is there for the same purpose, and can only move through the process as fast as the nurses allow. It’s relaxing, both in terms of the ambience and know-ing that you can’t rush—only read, wait, and give.

For bragging rights. I won’t deny that giving blood just makes me feel good about myself both intrinsically and when others talk about how they “just haven’t gotten around to it”. It’s satisfying to know I’ve improved someone’s health.

Because it is the right thing to do. I enjoy friendly people (always a plus) and being able to share in the com-munity (a very positive one)—but the driving force is very simple. In truth, the positive eff ects of giving bring me back. To spend a minimal amount of time relaxing and reading, and being

able to contribute on a dispropor-tionately large scale to the health and well-being of someone else—that is the value. It is the right thing to do.

Oh, and the snacks. Aft er donating, there is a pick of cookies, fruit bars, juice, and coff ee—a free snack for a hungry student. I can fi t a blood do-nation, some rest, and snack time (all while doing readings) into a 90-min-ute between-class break.

How? Giving blood is simple. You call CBS (1-888-2-DONATE)

and ask to set up an appointment at the next clinic near you. On the day, make sure to have eaten well (don’t skip meals), to have consumed liquids (plenty of water helps the process), and to ar-

rive on time. Th ere is a questionnaire gauging your risk (travel to Africa, blood transfusions in the U.K., and unfortunately having had sex with a member of the same sex make you ineligible to give). Your iron level is taken (a pinprick), blood pressure read (a pump), and about half a litre of blood is taken. Th e needle for the donation is small and painless, and I usually leave feeling better physi-cally than I did going in. If you’re interested for donating again, you can sign up at the desk for the next clinic in the area (clinics are timed to coincide with when you can donate again) and you will receive a phone call to remind you when the date draws near.

Anyone can improve the welfare of those around them with little eff ort. Particularly around holiday weekends there is an increased demand for blood, but the need remains high year-round. A small act with large benefi ts gets lost in the thoughts of how we could nap between class or grab a coff ee or go on Facebook. But instead, we could read, relax, give, and help to save a life.

Save a life between classes

I can fi t in a blood do-nation, some rest, and snack time (all while doing readings) into a 90-minute between-

class break.

by Ben MyersFulcrum Staff

FELLOW CYCLISTS, WE can get away with a lot. We can bob our way through traffic with relative impunity. We can jump between sidewalks and roadways depending on the traffic and our moods. We can even get away with not having provincially mandated safety equip-ment like helmets (mandatory for cyclists under 18), bells, and lights—most of the time. Although we can get away with all of this, there is one fundamental rule that we must fol-low while dodging traffic without a helmet: we have to stop at stop signs and red lights.

Th ere I was, biking along Laurier Avenue, following most of the road rules, when a red light reared its ugly head. So I stopped. Some cars made their way through the intersection and then the street became bare. A car beside me patiently waited for the red to turn to green. Meanwhile, one of my fellow bikers blew past me, dis-regarding the red light, myself, the car beside me, and the possibility that he could be hit by a car and die trying to shave fi ve seconds off his travel time.

It’s just not worth it.Bikers, when we’re on the roads,

we’re very vulnerable. As anyone who has tried to bike along Rideau Street knows, many bus drivers and motorists are angry, hurried people.

Many of them don’t know how to drive alongside a cyclist. If they lose their concentration for a split sec-ond, it could mean the untimely end of a biker. Th ey fudge the rules, as do we, but the fundamentals must

be observed. Red lights, stop signs, walk signals.

For a cyclist, a bicycle hitting a pe-destrian could be just as bad as a bi-cycle hitting a car. At any intersection in Ottawa, it may seem like no one is around, but a pedestrian could sud-denly leap across the crosswalk and send a cyclist fl ying. And while some-one in a car is relatively protected, a pedestrian isn’t so lucky.

At the centre of this issue is the re-spect that cyclists should be showing everyone. Motorists need to know that we will act and react in predictable ways. Blowing through a stop sign on a whim makes motorists, pedestrians, and fellow cyclists alike uneasy.

Do we want to be taken seriously

or not? Signs lining the roads read “Share

the road”. Do we want to share, or do we want to be renegades who cause confusion and frustration?

If cyclists want to be respected, we have to follow the basic rules of the road. When stop signs go un-heeded, rebel cyclists are saying that they’re above the law. We already get away with a lot—don’t bet your life that you won’t get caught by some motorist who also thinks that he or she is above or outside the law. Renegades give cyclists a bad name, and are putting themselves at un-necessary risk. Red means stop, no matter how you’re getting home from work.

HECKLES I saw the sign, you didn’t open up your eyes, I saw the sign

Oct. 16–22, 2008Distractions Sarah Leavitt

Features Editorfeatures@thefulcrum.ca 26

Dear Di,Last week I wrote in about avoid-

ing package pics in online dating and I’m kind of surprised that you say the problem is me. I promise you, Di, my profi le is tame, I’m clear about what I want (love, not kink), and at the fi rst sign of one-handed typing I cut the conversa-tion off . What I really need to know is how to avoid the real pervos—the ones who act like gentlemen long enough to have you let your guard down, then take genuine conversa-tions about openness and vulner-ability in relationships, and use them as opportunities to send junk mail!

—Don’t Blame the Pic-tim

Dear DBTP,Okay, so your profi le says you’re

a vanilla boy looking for love and you’re not speaking to people you meet online about bogeying the sec-ond hole. Looks like I’ve got to make my case for the widespread horni-ness of the online community. Lis-ten DBTP, there are caring men out there online, but they’re few and far between. I just think that although there is a big pool of fi sh available to you in one place, most of them are cock-hungry piranhas. Th ey’re on-line because it’s easiest to meet people on the Internet; there is no prejudice concerning appearance and there are no drinks involved, and you can cut to the chase or make your escape at your own pace and discretion. Ba-sically, there’s less shame online. I could advise you to spend your pre-cious time getting to know gentle-men, but you’ve seen it yourself. According to your last letter, you’ve gotten unwanted cock shots more than a few times. You were talking about openness and vulnerability, likely laying your emotions out there on the table. Instead of emotional reciprocity, these people sent you pictures of their cocks. And this wasn’t just a case or two; you said it happened six times. I could make the argument for changing dating sites, but I believe that the only way to cir-cumvent the real perverts posing as gentlemen is to skip online dating sites altogether. You might say “been there, done that”, but what happened to singles nights? What happened to going dancing? What happened to just cruising? Ottawa is a city with a

substantial gay population with hun-dreds of gay men looking for love. I think you should consider online dating as “been there, done that”, and get back out there face-to-face for some candid, authentic contact. Good luck!

Love,Di

Dear Di,I read your column last week

and really enjoyed your take on the porn found online these days. I’m a feminist and a masturba-tion-enthusiast who just wants to find porn free of women be-ing degraded. I am sick of seeing bleached-out blondes getting cov-ered in cumshots, being gagged, or getting slapped around while men drool over their performance. I’ve pretty much given up on free porn online. I have tried going to adult video stores but was simply hand-ed girl-on-girl films. I would love to find some feminist-friendly, chauvinist-free porn. Any sugges-tions?

—Desperately Seeking Real Sex

Dear DSRS,Lucky for you (and all the other

women desperate for fem-friendly porn), the feminist-porn and alterna-tive-porn movement has really blown up over the past decade. It isn’t as hard as it used to be to track down porn that depicts women of all races, shapes, and sizes, enjoying sex that does not eroti-cize violence or rape. My favourite site for fem-friendly porn DVDs has to be goodforher.com. Th e name says it all. Th e website off ers both erotic and educational fi lms. Th e administra-tors of the site even started their own Feminist Porn Awards in 2006 and sell the winning fi lms on the website. Al-though lesbian-oriented, fatalemedia.com sells videos covering a wide range of fetishes as well as how-to videos on topics such as female ejaculation. If you’re looking for a local sex shop, visit Venus Envy at 320 Lisgar St. and check out their wide selection of toys, vibra-tors, literature, and even erotic com-ics and zines. Venus Envy also carries fi lms online at venusenvy.ca, where you can read customer reviews and ratings of movies and some of their products. Happy playing!

Love,Di

Dear Di

If you have a question for Di, e-mail deardi@thefulcrum.ca.

Hearsay

Itch

by Jordan Moffatt

by Daniel Kaell

Th ursday, Oct. 16Media Democracy Day lectures. 7 p.m.

Fauteux Hall. Room 359. Free.

Latin American cinema: La primera carga al machete. 7 p.m. Arts Hall. Room 257. Free.

Friday, Oct. 17University of Ottawa Day. No classes!

Men’s hockey: Ottawa vs. Concordia. 7 p.m. Sports Complex. $4 for students.

Saturday, Oct. 18Men’s football: Ottawa vs. Toronto. 1 p.m.

Frank Clair Stadium. $6 for students.

Fabric fl ea market. 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Glebe Community Centre. 175 Th ird Ave.

$2 voluntary contribution.

Sunday, Oct. 19Making Necrophilia. 8 p.m.

Arts Court Th eatre. 2 Daly Ave. $30.

Monday, Oct. 20Master’s recital: John Kadz on the cello. 11:30 a.m.

Perez Hall. Freiman Auditorium. Free.

Tuesday, Oct. 21German cinema: Justiz. 7 p.m.

Marion Auditorium. Free.

Perfect Wedding. 8 p.m. Ottawa Little Th eatre. 400 King Edward Ave. $10 for students.

Wednesday, Oct. 22Women’s basketball: Ottawa vs. McGill (exhibition).

6 p.m. Montpetit Gym. Free.

Thryllabus

sudoku answers on p. 23

The Thryllabus needs lots of events to remain so thrilling.

E-mail features@thefulcrum.ca with suggestions.

Frank ‘Minister of Spatula’ AppleyardEditor-in-Chief

editor@thefulcrum.ca

Ben ‘Minister of Funk’ MyersProduction Manager

production@thefulcrum.ca

Michael ‘Minister of Bed Head’ OlenderExecutive Editor

executive@thefulcrum.ca

Martha ‘Minister of Gum’ PearceArt Director

design@thefulcrum.ca

Emma ‘Minister of Bunnies’ GodmereNews Editor

news@thefulcrum.ca

Peter ‘Minister of Big TVs’ HendersonArts & Culture Editor

arts@thefulcrum.ca

David ‘Minister of Sillywogs’ McClellandSports Editor

sports@thefulcrum.ca

Sarah ‘Minister of Habs’ LeavittFeatures Editor

features@thefulcrum.ca

Danielle ‘Minister of Blab’ BlabLaurel ‘Minister of Shoes’ Hogan

Copy Editors

Amanda ‘Minister of Trees’ ShendrukAssociate News Editor

associatenews@thefulcrum.ca

James ‘Minister of Love’ EdwardsWebmaster

webmaster@thefulcrum.ca

Jessica ‘Minister of Red’ Sukstorf Volunteer & Visibility

Coordinatorvolunteer@thefulcrum.ca

Megan ‘Minister of Yogurt’ O’MearaStaff Writer

Alex ‘Minister of Brainwaves’ MartinStaff Illustrator

Inari ‘Minister of Beers’ Vaissi NagyJiselle ‘Minister of OPIRG’ Bakker

Ombudsgirlsombudsgirl@thefulcrum.ca

Travis ‘Minister of Hair’ BoisvenueOmbudsboy

ombudsboy@thefulcrum.ca

Nicole ‘Minister of Fingers’ GallStaff Proofreader

Robert ‘Minister of Cartoons’ OlenderOn-campus Distributor

Deidre ‘Minister of Bling-Bling’ ButtersAdvertising Representative

ads@thefulcrum.ca

Ross ‘Minister of Pumpkin’ PrusakowskiBusiness Manager

business.manager@thefulcrum.ca

Volume 69 - Issue 9Oct. 16–22, 2008

phone: (613) 562-5261fax: (613) 562-5259

631 King Edward Ave., Ottawa, ON K1N6N5editor@thefulcrum.ca www.thefulcrum.ca

Recycle this paper or you’ll be removed from cabinet.

Staff

Elizabeth ‘Minister of Oils’ ChiangDevin A. ‘Minister of Pie’ BeauregardLaura ‘Minister of Ska’ Clemetenson

Tobey ‘Minister of Pink’ ClimieDavid ‘Minister of Candy’ DavidsonKatie ‘Minister of Kickass’ DeClerq

Kenny ‘Minister of Space’ DoddErica ‘Minister of Batman’ Erwin

Cindy ‘Minister of Spicy’ FreyMarc ‘Minister of OSAP’ Gobeil

Maria ‘Minister of Blog’ HabanikovaTed ‘Minister of Opinions’ Horton

Stephanie ‘Minister of DDR’ IrelandMatt ‘Minister of Speed’ Johnny

Hisham ‘Minister of Google’ KelatiDanyal ‘Minister of iPods’ KhoralDaniel ‘Minister of Sexy’ KraellJaclyn ‘Minister of Punk’ Lytle

Carl ‘Minister of Awesome’ MeyerJordan ‘Minister of Candy’ Moffatt

Rebecca ‘Minister of Words’ MurrayMark ‘Minister of Blanks’ NaserLihang ‘Minister of Rock’ Nong

Kelwryn ‘Minister of Volleyball’ OrdDustin ‘Minister of Pencils’ Rabin

Nigel ‘Minister of Time’ SmithAlex ‘Minister of Votes’ Smyth

Amlake ‘Minister of Nice’ T-DigafNick ‘Minister of Bus’ Taylor-VaiseyJessica ‘Minister of Tired’ Walsh

Contributors

cover photo

by Dustin Rabin

fParty whip since 1942.

And the winner is…

TRYING TO COVER major events like the fed-eral election as a weekly newspaper is incredibly tricky. Th is year, our deadline passed before the actual results were released, so we were forced to fi nd alternate methods of eff ectively informing readers. While this issue hits stands long aft er the results have been released, we trust that discern-ing readers will not see any noticeable decline in our hard-hitting, informative coverage.

Th e media’s need to engage ordinary people has led them to turn to both user-generated and interactive content as accompaniments to more traditional journalism. Th e former features citi-zen reports fi lmed with cameras no more tech-nologically advanced than a stapler, and the lat-ter permits readers to capably and responsibly assist in the creation and editing of content (see: the prevalence of blogs and Wikipedia’s online domination). With such trends altering the me-dia landscape, the Fulcrum would be remiss to pass up this opportunity.

Accordingly, the Fulcrum is pleased to provide its own in-depth, user-generated, interactive cov-erage of the 2008 federal election.

Aft er the month-long grind of the election campaign, one person has clambered atop the Ca-nadian political heap. Th is leader has been given

a mandate by the Canadian people to govern this country to the best of his or her ability. Th at per-son is (fi rst name) (last name) .

With the election of (last name) and the (political party) on Oct. 14, vot-ers across Canada are wondering exactly what shape this new government will take. Will a (party name) government be able to deliver on the litany of promis-es made during the campaign? Will this (minority/majority) government be more ef-fective than the “dysfunctional” Parliament that Stephen Harper dissolved? And most importantly, how will the prime minister’s (choose one: poor English, robotic appearance, moustache, green ideals) ultimately be parodied by Th is Hour Has 22 Minutes?

However, there are far more important ques-tions being asked by Canadian students. And be-ing a student newspaper, the Fulcrum is commit-ted to ensuring U of O students have access to the most up-to-date, accurate analysis of the election from a student perspective, as measured by the number of times the word “post-secondary” ap-pears in print. In this vein, the Fulcrum has pro-vided the answer to U of O students’ most pressing question: what does the election of the (party name) party and their (adjective) leader

mean for us? Th e answer is: (not much/everything) . Th e election-winning (party name) platform

contained (several/few) references to plans to (adverb) alter post-secondary education in Canada. In a (refreshing/saddening) move, (last name) promised to institute its (adjective) plan to (insert relevant post-secondary promise) upon election.

Given the results of this elec-tion, the Fulcrum is convinced that this (party name) government will ultimately be a (massive/slight) (improvement/regression) for Canadian students. Th e post-secondary edu-cation plan put forward by the incoming (party name) government during the campaign off ers (little/much) hope for improvements in not only tuition fees, but also in the quality of educa-tion being distilled in Canadian universities. In electing the (party name) party, Canadians have (missed out on/seized) an opportu-nity to dramatically improve the condition of this country’s colleges and universities.

U of O students should be (elated/dismayed) at the prospects presented by this new govern-ment. Th e Fulcrum certainly is.

editor@thefulcrum.ca

illustration by Devin A. Beauregard

Oct. 16–22, 2008Editorial Frank Appleyard

Editor-in-Chiefeditor@thefulcrum.ca 27