the sheaf 29/11/12 - volume 104 issue 12

JENNA MANN

For the past 15 winters, the Visual Arts Student Union has given students a venue to sell their artwork.

Silence, an annual silent auction and art exhibit hosted by VASU and held in the Snelgrove gallery, allows students to keep between 50 and 75 per cent of the sales from their artwork depending on whether or not they also volunteer for the function. The remaining percentage goes to VASU.

“We made approximately $500 last year,” said Aralia Maxwell, one of the event’s organizers. ”VASU is a non-profit organization and all of our profits go back to the students in the form of the Friday figure drawing sessions and BFA scholarships, among other things.”

Wild boar ransack Saskatchewan’s rural prairie backcountry

Gordon Oakes-Red Bear student centre put out to tender

Former Huskies running back Ben Coakwell turns to bobsledding

Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Aaron Paul phenomenal in Smashed

Would the NDP’s anti-bullying strategy have made a difference?

NEWS 2 NEWS 4 SPORTS 7 CULTURE 12 OPINIONS 13

Sheaf.com

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29 November, 2012 | The University of Saskatchewan student newspaper since 1912

1,600 words a day for 30 daysCULTURE 11

Kinesiology student representative talks about spending summer in Libya

ANNA-LILJA DAWSONAssociate News Editor

Kinesiology student councillor Nour Abouhamra has seen a nation torn apart by injustice unite in hope for a better tomorrow. Now she’s brought her experiences back to the University of Saskatchewan to help support students dealing with similar issues.

Ever since she was three years old, Abouhamra’s family has visited their home country of Libya each summer. The only exception was 2011 when they thought a visit was too dangerous due to the spring revolution.

This past summer Abouhamra and her family returned to their country, now ravaged by the atrocities of a civil war.

“The first thing you see when you walk out of the airplane there are bullet holes in the glass of the airport,” Abouhamra said. “You could see houses that had tonnes of bullet holes and shelling, tanks just parked on the side of the road and trucks that have anti-aircraft guns mounted on the back.”

Aside from the obvious physical damage done to the Libyan capital, Tripoli, Abouhamra said there had been a visceral change since the revolution. There was a sense of freedom in the country that she had never felt before.

“Things are different, people are different. You feel more free like you can do whatever you want, say whatever you want.”

One of the biggest changes she

saw was that people were no longer living in fear.

With the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s dictatorship and later his death, Abouhamra said that Libyans were no longer afraid to say his name. Prior to the revolution, they would refer to him as “the Leader” and his son as “the Principal” because if the wrong people heard you say his name, your life could be at risk.

With the country experiencing new beginnings, Abouhamra believes that the people of Libya will no longer suffer from the extreme poverty that was created under Gaddafi. She said despite Libya’s vast oil reserves, Gaddafi’s greed for money and power created a country with devastating poverty.

“What Gaddafi did was he didn’t care about the people. Libya is a really rich country,” Abouhamra

said. “He took that money for himself. He didn’t give it to the people.”

The most remarkable thing that Abouhamra saw while she was in Tripoli was on the day of her arrival: There were people celebrating in the streets that each had one finger dyed blue.

It was July 7 and it was the first time in over 40 years that Libyans were allowed to vote.

She said that it was amazing seeing so many people taking pride in being allowed to cast a ballot compared with the people of Canada, who often take voting for granted.

“It was nice to see people going out and actually voting for once,” Abouhamra said. “Unless you are not given the chance to vote, I don’t think you understand how powerful it is.”

This new Libya that Abouhamra visited is becoming democratic. She said that the people now had futures that they could look forward to.

The Libyan people had changed, but it may not all have been for the better.

Civil war half a world away hits close to home

raisa pezderic/photo editor

Nour Abouhamra, who moved to Canada from Libya when she was three-years-old, represents the College of Kinesiology on students’ council. She returned to Libya this summer to the aftermath of the uprisings that blanketed the Arab world in 2011.

Civil warcontinued on ...>3

brianna whitmore

Silence! premieres collection of student art

Silence!continued on ...>12

A student browses the Snelgrove gallery prior to last year’s Silence exhibit.

| 29 November, 2012 | thesheaf.com | 2 NEWS

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Sheaf titled “Yann Martel talks adapting literature for the big screen” stated that “Yann Martel moved from Montreal to Saskatoon in 2004 to work at the University of Saskatchewan library as their writer-in-residence.” This is incorrect. He moved to Saskatoon in 2003 to work at the city’s public library as their writer-in-residence. He left to Montreal after one year but quickly moved back to Saskatoon in 2005 to work as the scholar-in-residence at the University of Saskatchewan. The Sheaf regrets the error.

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U of S researcher sounds warning bells over feral wild boar

DARYL HOFMANNSenior News Editor

They gang up and roam the rural countryside at night, digging up farmers’ fields and terrorizing livestock. They are so cleverly elusive that they’re rarely seen. They eat whatever is in their path.

They are feral wild boar and recently they have become a rowdy nuisance in the normally peaceful Saskatchewan backcountry.

Originally brought to the prairies by exotic food farmers, many of the tusked hogs escaped and are thriving in the wild despite the harsh winters. They have also been introduced to the region by ranch owners looking to turn a profit through the controversial practice known as canned hunts — where game is tracked down and shot within a fenced-in area.

“A lot of people in the province are now talking about feral wild boar,” said Ryan Brook, an assistant professor in the college of agriculture at the University of Saskatchewan. “I see this as a big issue for the province.”

Brook has been studying the impact of wild boar on agriculture and has been using wildlife cameras with motion sensors to monitor their movements and numbers around Saskatoon.

He is warning rural municipalities and the provincial government that the wild boar population has the potential to skyrocket.

Wild boar have virtually no natural predators in Saskatchewan and breed about two times a year with an average of four to six piglets per litter. They take cover in dense brush along rivers and streams and usually only come out after dark.

Over the last 30 years in the U.S., wild boar have spread from just Texas and California to nearly every state in the U.S. mainland. State governments are now scrambling to find ways to eradicate them.

And in Europe the problem is

even worse. “Last year in France they

killed one million wild boar,” Brook said. “If you’re walking in city parks in Germany you will see wild boar. It’s incredible.”

Further growth in the population of wild boar in Saskatchewan would — like most invasive species — severely damage the ecosystem and potentially cost the province millions to manage.

For instance, feral wild boar are riddled with diseases that can easily be transmitted to humans.

“Wild boar can be host to a whole long shopping list of disease and parasites, and those can jump to people and be especially risky to livestock operations,” Brook said.

Diseases carried by wild boar include — among other things — influenza and rabies. Two years ago, a massive outbreak of E. coli in spinach from California was linked back to wild boar.

In addition, the animals can do a devastating amount of crop damage to standing fields, like barley and wheat. They dig up stocks by the root, making off with whatever food they can scavenge and leaving fields flattened.

“One of the reasons why they are so successful and such a concern to Saskatchewan is they will eat absolutely anything,” Brook said.

In Saskatchewan, they have a big impact on nesting waterfowl, who lay their eggs close to the ground. But wild boar will eat anything from insects to rodents to acorns to bigger animals, like deer and young livestock.

“They will survive in virtually any habitat, from deserts to coastal areas to farmlands and into woodlands. And they disperse really well. They really have the potential to be a massive pest,” Brook said.

“I’m not entirely certain why the government is sitting on their hands, for the most part, and ignoring it.”

Currently the only program to combat wild boar in the province is administered through the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities. If a farmer or landowner is having trouble with the irksome critters, they can contact SARM, which has funds from the provincial government to discharge experienced groups of hunters to kill entire cells, or groups, of wild boar.

In two and a half years, about 700 wild boar have been taken out by the program, mostly through areas surrounding Moose Mountain in the southeast and Nipawin in the north of the province.

There have also been reports of them harassing cattle just outside Saskatoon near Pike Lake.

But since wild boar are generally nocturnal and dark in colour, the only time to hunt them effectively is when there is snow on the ground.

“We want to make sure people are aware of the potential seriousness,” SARM Executive Director Dale Harvey said.

“Down in the Southern States, it has passed the point where they can eliminate them. They can only try to control them. And it’s spreading across North America.”

In the U.S., hunters have used baited traps, shot automatic weapons from helicopters and even used military-grade night vision sniper rifles to try and eradicate wild boar. And although hundreds will be killed in a day, it doesn’t dent the overall population.

“All that does is reduce the population [in the short term]. Elimination is effectively impossible anywhere boar become established in the wild,” Brook said.

“It’s either take them all out or have a minimal impact.”

Brook believes Saskatchewan needs to take an aggressive multi-pronged attack to try and eradicate wild boar before they cost the province millions in disease control and crop damage.

He said the government needs to spend the money to implement a good monitoring program that could say exactly how many wild boar are in the province and where they are distributed.

“At the end of the day it’s really what kind of outcome the people of Saskatchewan and the government of Saskatchewan wants to see,” Brook said.

“Texas and Saskatchewan are the same size, and Texas has somewhere between two and three million wild boar right now. So certainly the potential for a very large number of boar is there.”

A wide open prairie for wild hogs

samantha braun/graphics editor

| thesheaf.com | 29 November, 2012 | 3NEWS

BILL WAISERSigning

Saskatchewan:A New History

and other titlesSaturday, December 1,

3:00 PM

THE ROSEBUD BURLESQUE CLUB

LaunchingThe Illustrated

Rosebud Cookbook: Now with Recipes!

Thursday, December 6,7:00 PMU

PCOMING

EVENTS �

©

sheaf run nov 29, 2012.indd 1 11/19/2012 1:27:08 PM


The sudden closure of the Emma Lake Kenderdine campus Nov. 15 was a shock to both the fine arts and biology departments and has left each scrambling to make curriculum changes.

Susan Shantz, art and art history department head, said that university administration did not give the department any notice the campus would be shut down until 2016.

“There’s always been a little bit of a sense of ‘we need to make things happen here to make things viable.’ That’s been an underlying issue,” Shantz said. “But I would not have thought that it would come to this. It’s the abruptness [of the closure] that has taken everybody aback.”

Founded in 1935 by the former head of the art department, Augustus Kenderdine, the Emma Lake Kenderdine campus — then the Murray Point Art School — would go on to become an integral part of the art department at the U of S.

The annual Emma Lake Artists’ workshop began in 1955 and was offered until 1995 when it took a 10-year hiatus before resuming in 2005 on a biannual schedule. The workshops were created to unite Saskatchewan artists and break the isolation that many artists felt throughout the province in the ‘50s. The workshops brought together the Regina Five — a group of abstract painters known for their 1961 National Gallery of Canada exhibit, “Five Painters from Regina.”

In recent years, the art department has brought guest lecturers to the Kenderdine Campus and has offered special interest art courses such as the Reanimating Textiles course and the Painting Icons and Thangkas course.

None of the courses offered at the Kenderdine campus were requirements for a fine arts degree but Shantz says they provided valuable skills for students who took them as electives.

“What we will miss there is the chance for a really great experiential learning opportunity,”

Shantz said, adding that the courses provided “a different way of having an intensive experience with an instructor and working on a project.”

The art programs at the U of S are not jeopardized by the closure of the Emma Lake facility, but historical sites like the Ernest Lindner Studio and the cabin that was built by Augustus Kenderdine, which are significant parts of the art department’s history, will not be used for at least the next three years.

“There is a kind of sense of local history there with the art and the artists because it is about a lot of the landscape painting and the work that was done in specific to that locale,” Shantz said.

Ernest Lindner, an Austrian man who immigrated to Saskatoon in 1926, built a summer home and studio on Fairy Island at Emma Lake. There he painted watercolour landscapes and became famous as a late modernist artist. His studio, now owned by the U of S, is a provincial heritage property.

During the 1960s and 70s, New York art critics and British artists

brought international attention to the remote location. Clement Greenberg, an influential art critic from New York, created a connection between western Canadian artists and the New York art scene after his visit to the campus in 1962.

Greg Fowler, acting vice-president of finance and resources at the U of S, said the university is currently in negotiations with the province to decide what will happen to the Ernest Lindner Studio, since the university’s land lease on Fairy Island expired May 31, 2010. A newly drawn provincial park now claims the island, despite the university still owning the studio.

The biology department is also feeling the effects of the closure.

The department of biology moved into the campus in 1965 and began offering courses in ecology, zoology, botany and limnology. Since then, a fieldwork course required for an honours degree has been offered solely at the Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus.

Head of the biology department Jack Gray said that the department

was not consulted by university administration about the closure and, like fine arts, was given no notice.

“There was no communication directly to me from the Provost’s office about this. I found out about it like everybody else did through the general announcement,” Gray said.

Gray said that the closure of the facility has left the biology department scrambling to find a replacement course for students planning to take the course in August 2013.

“We were told that they’re letting us know now so that we have enough time to plan, but that’s not enough time to plan,” Gray said. “Now we’re scrambling to even try to come up with ideas.”

According to Gray, it takes at least a year to properly change a program and that faculty, staff and students need to discuss the situation and create a contingency plan for the students planning to take the course in nine months.

“We’re going to take care of the students, they don’t have to worry about it,” Gray said. “The students

are going to be able to complete their honours program, it’s just a matter of how they’re going to be able to do that.”

Chair of the Biology Undergraduate Affairs Committee Tracy Marchant said that aside from reprogramming the course, faculty and staff need to become familiar with the new location of the campus for the safety of students.

“We have to understand its geography. We have to know that intimately because the last thing we can do is take students up into the boreal forest and lose them,” Marchant said. “We have 50-some years of experience with [the Kenderdine Campus]. We know it like the back of our hand.”

A new facility and infrastructure will also be needed for the future site of the fieldwork course. Marchant said that the biology department has not received any word from university administration that there will be financial aid given to restart the fieldwork course.

However, before university administration can provide funding or the support needed by the departments, Fowler said that they have to tell administration what it is they need.

“We have to hear from the departments what their needs are and then move on from there,” Fowler said.

A tight financial situation led the university to close the Emma Lake Kenderdine campus. The university is expected to save $500,000 over the three years of temporary closure.

Fowler said that the Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus requested an operating budget of $240,000 a year with an additional investment of three million dollars for repair and maintenance to maintain the facility for the next four years was not financially viable for the university at this time.

“What we needed to do was make this decision and work through the implications of it and then try and plan for the future to see if we can find something that is financially sustainable.”

Emma Lake closure continues to reverberate through fine arts and biology departments

u of s archives

u of s archivesjeff hudson

Clockwise, left to right: Hands-on learning during a limnology course offered in 2010; Artists painting in front of Emma Lake during the summer of 1961; Faculty and students gathered around the fireplace in the dining hall in 1964.

Abouhamra said that the new sense of freedom was strong in Tripoli, but it was not an absolute freedom. Even though the revolution was over, she was told not to go out late at night and to avoid certain areas.

The fighting had stopped, leaving weapons and soldiers in its wake.

“Now they have all these weapons and guns and people aren’t scared,” Abouhamra said. “They will go and get into a fight with someone and just kill them because they are so desensitized. They just don’t feel anything anymore.”

Once she returned to Saskatoon, Abouhamra felt the effects of the revolution. She was desensitized as well.

After spending hours every day of last year on the Internet searching for

the latest updates on the revolution, trying to contact family and friends in Libya and watching gruesome videos just in case someone she knew were in them. Everything that had to do with the revolution seemed normal to her.

Vicious attacks on civilians, brutal shootings and the shelling of homes and their occupants no longer shocked her like it first had.

“I’ve watched gruesome videos and it becomes normal. If I feel like this, what do Libyan people feel like?”

Abouhamra watched the revolution closely for its eight month duration in 2011 and followed the Libyan news even after a rebel group started working on a constitution for the democracy-bound country.

Keeping in contact with family

and friends quickly became a priority for the kinesiology student, who let her academics take a hit during that time.

“As a student here at the U of S, it was really hard to go to class every day and study for exams during the revolution because I have family there, I have friends there,” Abouhamra said. “To know that my friends and family might die any day, how can I focus on school and stuff when this is going on?”

She said that she has met many students at the U of S who have gone through situations similar to hers — students affected by the ongoing Syrian Revolution and the devastating earthquakes in Japan — and knows how it can affect a student’s life.

Building from her personal

experience, Abouhamra has offered to help students dealing with a personal crisis, like turmoil breaking out in their home country. She has also worked with the students’ union to set up roundtable discussions to raise awareness on campus of world events.

“I try to support them and tell them that if you need an extension on an assignment or something, don’t be afraid to go and talk to your professor because they understand,” Abouhamra said.

After a more stressful year than most, Abouhamra is currently completing her fourth year of a kinesiology degree.

Civil warcontinued on ...>3

4 NEWS | 29 November, 2012 | thesheaf.com |

FLOCK & GATHER CRAFT COLLECTIVE PRESENTSFLOCK & GATHER CRAFT COLLECTIVE PRESENTS

Winter Wonder

DECEMBER 7TH & 8THFriday 6PM -9 PM Saturday 10AM -5 PM

f lockandgather.blogspot.com

ST. JOSEPH’SPARISH HALL535 8TH ST. EAST (CORNER OF BROADWAY + 8TH)

Winter Wonders

HANDMADE MARKET

Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety

SaskatchewanMinimum Wage Increase

Effective December 1, 2012, Saskatchewan’s minimum wage will be $10.00 per hour. The minimum call-out pay will increase to $30.00.

For more information regarding the minimum wage or employment standards, please call 1-800-667-1783 or visit www.lrws.gov.sk.ca/employment-standards.

12-305-010 – Saskatchewan Minimum WageSaturday, November 24, December 1 & 8, 2012 – The Sheaf(2.4” x 4”)

Officers issued:

• 2 charges under the Trespass to Property Act• 1 have alcoholic beverages in a motor vehicle• 1 minor possession/consumption of alcohol• 1 disobey stop sign• 1 driving while suspended• 1 driver failure to have clear view to front and sides of vehicle

Other reports:

• Unknown person(s) damaged a fire extinguisher housing in Stadium Parkade.• Officers investigated a report of three females aggressively soliciting money for a charity, “Children’s Joy Foundation.” They were located and stated they were collecting money for an unregistered charity based in

Alberta. They were told they could not solicit money on campus without proper authority. Saskatoon Police were also contacted and attended.• Officers attended one medical call.• Officers investigated one motor vehicle accident.• As a result of officers investigating a suspicious vehicle, a male was charged with having a damaged windshield, having/keeping/consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle and possession of marijuana for the purposes of trafficking. He and a fellow passenger appeared in court Nov. 26.

Incidents at the University of Saskatchewan involving Campus Safety from Nov. 19 - 25

Campus crime report

KENDRA SCHREINER

Construction firms have begun bidding on the Gordon Oakes-Red Bear Student Centre and crews are expected to arrive on campus and start work once the snow melts.

“We have already received more than one response and we continue to be optimistic that the current

design will be feasible within the budget we have allowed,” Ilene Busch-Vishniac, president of the University of Saskatchewan, said at the University Council meeting on Nov. 15.

The university will accept bids for the $15-million project until the end of December.

“The Gordon Oakes-Red Bear

centre is intended to enhance visibility of First Nations and Métis students on our campus, to promote greater cultural understanding throughout our community and to provide a focal point for all of our aboriginal initiatives.”

The student centre will be built between the Arts Tower and the Murray Library, where there are

currently about a dozen large elm trees.

In April, a petition was circulated to have the university rethink its decision to uproot the trees and have the centre built somewhere else on campus. Ultimately the location was not changed. Construction is expected to begin in the new year.

“In regards to breaking sod, obviously it will not be happening this calendar year. It will likely break in 2013, hopefully when everything starts to thaw,” U of S Students’ Union President Jared Brown said.

Brown, the first aboriginal student to serve as USSU president in the organization’s 105-year history, says the centre will help the university attract more students and help the university retain aboriginal students for three- and four-year programs.

In 2012, first- to second-year retention rates among aboriginal students at the U of S were only 58 per cent, compared to an average rate of 79 per cent nationwide.

“A centre like this is not going to fix all the problems but it’s definitely a step in the right direction,” Brown said of the low rate of aboriginal students who continue on at the university following their first year

of studies.“Hopefully this will help mitigate

that culture shock and at the same time build a community for those people who are having issues with the academic portion. [Hopefully] they can find that help there.”

The centre will also provide a place where students can hold cultural ceremonies, like sweats and smudging. Currently, the Aboriginal Students’ Centre, located across from the bookstore, does not have proper ventilation to accommodate the ceremonies.

“The ceremonies are for everybody. Anyone can participate. That’s the beauty of this centre: It’s not an aboriginal centre, it’s actually a student centre,” Brown said.

The building was designed by Douglas Cardinal, an architect known for designing the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Que., the First Nations University of Canada in Regina and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

“The university is setting a precedent for other universities by going forward and this is a major statement. Making that statement is not only good locally, but also nationally and globally for aboriginal and indigenous students, because it shows a commitment. The assumption is that more people will be coming here,” Brown said.

With files from Daryl Hofmann.

Bids roll in for aboriginal student centre

university of saskatchewan/flickr

After nearly two decades of talks of an aboriginal student centre on campus, the university now has plans to have shovels in the ground in 2013. At least one company has bid on the $15-million project, which was designed by famed architect Douglas Cardinal.


The Wireless Age will join Campus Dentist and La Bio Hair Boutique as the third tenant of the empty bay in Lower Place Riel that was formerly home to the Campus Cove games room.

The Wireless Age will provide Sasktel cell phone, television and Internet plans.

Campus Dentist specializes in providing dental services on university campuses across the country. The student unions of the University of Waterloo, McMaster University and the University of

Guelph have all welcomed Campus Dentist into their student centres.

Services that will be provided by Campus Dentist include checkups, teeth whitening, cleanings, fillings and wisdom tooth extraction.

La Bio Hair Boutique is a privately-owned hair salon.

The University of Saskatchewan

Students’ Union chose the three businesses based on a 2003 survey that asked students what services they desired most on campus.

The USSU decided that any medical services that wished to come onto campus would have to be part of the Health-Care Network so that students would be able to use

their student health plan.Any proposals from food vendors

were rejected because of the already high number of food services available in Lower Place Riel.

The businesses are expected to move in during December and open for business when school resumes in January 2013.

Cell phone shop joins dental clinic and hair salon in Lower Place

A centre like this is not going to fix all the problems but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

Jared BrownUSSU President

| thesheaf.com | 29 November, 2012 | 5SPORTS

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Dog Watch: Landon Squires

COLE GUENTERSports Editor

“Live and die by the throw.”That’s the motto fifth-year wrestler

Landon Squires uses when he is grappling for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies wrestling squad.

“When you throw somebody you are trying to pin them on their back, but if it’s not done right you can potentially fall onto your own back,” Squires explained. “When you go for the throw you can instantly win or lose the wrestling match.”

This all-out attitude has served Squires well in his wrestling career. He joined the wrestling team at Walter Murray Collegiate when he was only 14 years old. Three years on the high school team led to three consecutive city championships and two provincial championships for the Saskatoon-born Squires.

In 2008, Squires made the jump to the university level and has since dominated the 90-kilogram weight class. His resume is filled with non-conference tournament medals, including the bronze he won at the Huskie Open Nov. 24. These tournaments helped prepare him for conference and national finals each season. Squires has won back-to-back Canada West conference gold medals and claimed the silver medal at nationals twice.

Now in his last year of university eligibility, Squires says he will be working

harder than ever to get back to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport final to add a national gold medal to his trophy case.

“I’m looking forward to CIS this year and hoping I don’t have the curse of second place,” Squires joked. “I know I just have to keep calm and be mentally ready for the final when I get there.”

Squires cites the love of competition and intensity of the sport as his main reasons for taking up wrestling.

He hopes that these same attributes will help him in his future endeavours.

Squires will graduate at the end of this year with a BA in regional urban planning. He has already completed a cultural mapping plan for Saskatoon’s community services sector. The project plots important information for cultural sites in Saskatoon. He hopes his presentation of the plan will help leverage him into the industry.

“I like to take initiative and have the power and leeway in my work, so I see myself hopefully being a partner in a firm,” Squires said.

When he gets a break from wrestling and planning his future, Squires tries to avoid throwing people around and enjoys the intellectual challenge that board games offer.

“If there is a weekend where some of the team is free, the wrestlers will come over to my place and play Settlers of Catan,” Squires said.



The University of Saskatchewan Huskies wrestling squad picked up six medals at the annual Huskie Open Nov. 24. The Dogs hosted the tournament in the Education gym.

The team’s captains led the squad. Men’s captain Ryan Myrfield won the gold medal in the 72-kilogram weight division, crushing the competition. On the women’s side, captain Natasha Kramble also struck gold by winning the women’s 48-kilogram division.

“It was really nice to win, especially since this is our one home tournament of the year. My parents and my family could be there to support me and that really gave me some extra inspiration,” Kramble said.

As a fifth-year, Kramble says it felt good to be able to lead by example on the mat.

“You always want to come prepared to all the tournaments and to practice because the younger wrestlers look up to us and take cues from us on how to act and how to train,” Kramble said.

Third-year Huskies men’s wrestler Dylan Bray also had a good showing. He won his first two matches of the day and earned his way to the men’s 57-kilogram gold medal showdown, but was beaten by Alberta’s Dylan Williams and settled for silver.

Landon Squires (men’s 90-kilogram), Silke Svenkeson (women’s 51-kilogram) and Hannah Franson (women’s 55-kilogram) rounded out the Huskie medalists, each winning bronze in their respective weight divisions.

“It’s not exactly how I wanted it to turn out,” admitted Franson after the tournament. “But it’s the last tournament before Christmas and I will be watching video of my matches to fix the things I did wrong. That’s what these tournaments are for.”

The Alberta Golden Bears took both the men’s and women’s varsity team titles, racking up 63 team points for the men and 48 for the women. The Huskies finished second out of five squads in the team-points race for both genders.

Huskies wrestling squad nabs six medals at home


Ryan Myrfield body slams the competition at the Huskie Open.

| 29 November, 2012 | thesheaf.com | 6 SPORTS

Canada West StandingsMen’s Hockey

Men’s Volleyball

Women’s Volleyball Women’s HockeyW-L-OL13-3-011-3-08-4-28-5-17-7-06-6-2

4-12-01-11-2

W-L10-08-28-27-26-45-54-54-64-62-81-90-10

W-L9-19-18-28-26-36-45-54-62-71-91-90-10

W-L-OL11-2-110-4-09-5-07-4-36-6-25-6-34-6-44-7-3

1. Alberta2. Saskatchewan3. Manitoba4. UBC5. Calgary6. Regina7. Mount Royal8. Lethbridge

1. Alberta2. Brandon3. TWU4. Manitoba5. UBC6. Saskatchewan7. Winnipeg8. Mount Royal9. TRU10. Calgary11. Regina12. UBC Okanagan

1. TWU2. UBC3. Alberta4. Mount Royal 5. Manitoba6. UBC Okanagan7. Brandon8. Calgary9. Winnipeg10. Regina11. Saskatchewan12. TRU

1. Calgary2. Regina3. Alberta4. UBC5. Mount Royal6. Lethbridge7. Saskatchewan8. Manitoba

*Top six teams qualify for playoffs

*Top seven teams qualify for playoffs

*Top seven teams qualify for playoffs

*Top six teams qualify for playoffs

Prairie Division1. Calgary 2. Regina3. Alberta4. Lethbridge5. Saskatchewan6. Winnipeg7. Manitoba8. Brandon

Pacific Division 1. UFV2. Victoria3. TRU4. UBC5. UNBC6. UBC Okanagan7. Mount Royal8. TWU

Prairie Division1. Alberta 2. Manitoba3. Saskatchewan4. Winnipeg5. Lethbridge6. Calgary7. Brandon8. Regina

Pacific Division 1. UBC2. Victoria3. UFV4. UNBC5. TRU6. Mount Royal7. TWU8. UBC Okanagan

W-L8-07-14-44-43-53-52-60-8

8-06-25-35-33-53-52-61-7

W-L7-15-35-35-35-34-42-62-6

6-25-35-34-44-42-62-61-7

Women’s Basketball Men’s Basketball

*Top four teams in each division qualify for crossover playoffs

Upcoming Huskies gamesMen’s Hockey

Nov. 30 & Dec. 1 vs. Mount Royal Cougars @ 7 p.m.

Women’s Hockey

• Nov. 30 & Dec. 1 at Mount Royal Cougars

Men’s Volleyball

Nov. 30 & Dec. 1 vs. Calgary Dinos @ 8 p.m.

Women’s Volleyball

Nov. 30 & Dec. 1 vs. Calgary Dinos @ 6:15 p.m.

Men’s Basketball

• Nov. 29 at Mount Royal Cougars• Dec. 1 at UNBC Timberwolves

Women’s Basketball

• Nov. 29 at Mount Royal Cougars• Dec. 1 at UNBC Timberwolves

- Home Game

ZOË BEDARD - The Varsity

A record crowd more than 37,000 strong saw the Laval Rouge et Or exact Vanier Cup revenge

over the McMaster Marauders Nov. 23 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

McMaster defeated Laval 41-38 in double overtime in last year’s

Vanier Cup.“I don’t think it’s a secret that

we’re two teams that don’t like one another,” Laval quarterback Tristan Grenon said. “It’s a good thing that we only meet once a year if we see each other in the Vanier Cup.”

Laval took control of this year’s game and simply outduelled the Marauders en route to a 37–14 victory.

Fans expecting an immediately entertaining and offence-powered rematch were forced to wait until the waning minutes of the first half. For the first time since Laval defeated the Saskatchewan Huskies in 2000, the first quarter of a Vanier Cup game ended scoreless.

With just over three minutes remaining in the first half Laval was up by 12 points. McMaster quarterback Kyle Quinlan strung together two quick scoring drives, ending the half with a 59-yard pass

to Dahlin Brooks to rip the lead from the Rouge et Or. At the half the Marauders were up 14-12.

Laval received the ball to start the third quarter and, following a fake punt on third down to keep the drive alive, moved inside the McMaster 20-yard line. Tailback Maxime Boutin punched the ball in from 11 yards out.

Boutin carried the ball 24 times for 258 yards to earn game MVP honours. He ran the ball over the goal line twice including once off an 84-yard run, the third-longest run from the line of scrimmage in Vanier Cup history.

McMaster, whose defence allowed an average of only 15 points-per-game during this year’s previous playoff games, was unable to hold Boutin. Furthermore, the Marauders’ offensive line were unable to protect Quinlan, who was sacked

seven times. Laval took control of the game

easily, rolling on offence and defensively not allowing McMaster to score a single point in the second half.

Grenon threw 11-for-25 and totalled 234 passing yards and one touchdown for Laval. Quinlan completed 25 of 40 pass attempts for 335 yards for two touchdowns, but was picked off twice.

“We were just ready. We’ve been ready for a year,” Laval offensive lineman Danny Groulx said after the win.

With Laval standing with the trophy in hand under the bright lights of the dome, there was no question who the best team in the country was this year. McMaster saw their 21-game win streak snapped while the Rouge et Or captured its record-setting seventh championship.

Laval hoists Vanier in rematch with Mac

sam brooks/canadian university press

Laval’s quarterback Tristan Grenon airs out a pass during the 48th Vanier Cup in Toronto Nov. 23.

Campus cheer team heads to nationalsCOLE GUENTERSports Editor

The University of Saskatchewan cheerleading team will test their stunts against the best in Canada Dec. 1. The squad is competing at the 2012 university national cheerleading competition at the Powerade Centre in Brampton, Ont.

The U of S cheer team has competed at the national tournament in each of the last four years and has placed third three consecutive times. Cheer captain Lindsay Berger has been with the team for the past five years and has seen the team grow, even in the wake of adversity.

“I believe the program has become stronger as a team over the years, especially after our split from Huskie Athletics,” Berger said.

Last year the U of S athletics department cut ties with the cheer team because cheerleading is not a varsity sport. The squad was told to stop choreographed cheering at Huskies home games and became a ratified club under the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union.

“We can’t rely on the name and the athletics department so we have more to prove now,” Berger said. “Even though we aren’t bearing the Huskie name we want to represent this university.”

The team will send 27 cheerleaders including four males, which puts the squad into the small co-ed division of the competition. The U of S club will compete against squads from the universities of Montreal, Carlton, Waterloo, McMaster and their interprovincial rival Regina.

The team has been training since the summer and practicing as much as four times a week since school started. As the competition gets closer, the practices become more intense in order to properly sync the choreographed cheer routine with the background music.

“We have been building up to this and preparing our athletes with specific skills over the past months, but we haven’t put it all together until just a month ago,” Berger said. “Now we have to perfect it.”

The team gym has been filling up with third-place trophies from the tournament for the past three

years, but the team hopes to end that streak this year and move up on the podium.

“The expectation for this competition is to hit a clean routine that we can be proud of. The best-case scenario would be to finish first, but if we put our best effort out on the floor, that’s all we can do,” Berger said.

At the tournament, each team will have two opportunities to display their routine. The judges will grade both performances and take the team’s highest score of the two attempts.

“The first time you get the shakes out and the second time you usually place better because you’ve had a chance to feel the floor and the see the crowd,” Berger said.

file photo: raisa pezderic/photo editor

The U of S cheer team hopes to impress the judges at nationals with moveslike this.

| thesheaf.com | 29 November, 2012 | 7SPORTS


Only a year after Huskies football sensation Ben Coakwell finished his last season with the club, he is finding international success in bobsledding. With only three months of bobsled training under his belt, the former running back is already competing for Team Canada on the world stage.

After leading the Huskies in both rushing and scoring during his final year of university sport eligibility, Coakwell attended a Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton blue chip camp in March, 2012. BCS selected a handful of high-calibre athletes with potential to make the national bobsleigh team to participate in the camp. After an impressive camp, Coakwell moved to Calgary in September to train full-time with Canada’s bobsleigh team.

“Everything happened so fast. I was a football player, and bobsledding kind of reached out to me after my football career was done,” Coakwell said. “Now I’m competing with Canada and it’s pretty exciting.”

Coakwell admitted that he didn’t even know that bobsledding was an option until CFL running back Jesse Lumsden retired from football and joined Canada’s bobsleigh team before the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

“The fact that Lumsden did it kind of paved the road for me to think it was an actual possibility,” said Coakwell, who is now living with Lumsden and learning about bobsledding from his former football hero.

Both Lumsden and Coakwell are pushers for Canada’s two- and four-man bobsled teams. In a four-man bobsled team there are three pushers and one driver. Lumsden pushes for Canada 1, Canada’s top ranked four-man team. Canada 1 driver, Lyndon Rush, is also a Huskie football alumnus and brother to current Huskies defensive end Ben Rush. Lyndon won the Olympic bronze medal in the four-man bobsled event in 2010. Meanwhile Coakwell, in his

first season with Team Canada, is a pusher and brakeman for Canada 2, the nation’s second ranked four-man team.

“There are three Canadian teams, and through testing you find out which team you will be on and where you fit,” Coakwell said. “As the brakeman for my sled, I have to be the fastest because I run the furthest before jumping in.”

Coakwell says a common misconception about bobsled pushers is that they lean to turn the sled around corners when they are going down the track. “When you are riding the track your goal is to be as low as you can be. You try to stay in the middle of the sled, lined up with the person in front of you for as long as possible.

“As the brakeman I have to memorize the track because I can’t see what I’m doing but I have to pull the brakes when the race is over,” Coakwell said.

Coakwell and the rest of BCS are currently competing in the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Cup, a circuit of bobsleigh and skeleton races at venues around the world.

The first race was in Lake Placid, N.Y. on Nov. 10. There Coakwell helped push Canada 2 to a 10th place finish in his first international race. The following weekend his squad bumped up to eighth place, and on Nov. 24 in Whistler, Coakwell won his first medal as a bobsledder. Along with the other three members of Canada 2, he claimed bronze on the same track used in the 2010 Olympics.

Coakwell said winning a medal this early on in his career makes him excited for what the future holds. “There are guys on the team that took seven or eight years to win their first World Cup medal. So I’m pretty lucky to be on this team.”

On Nov. 29 the team will pack up their sleds and head to Winterberg, Germany for a European swing of the World Cup. The results of this World Cup, and other international bobsled events, will be adjusting the world rankings that determine which countries will be represented at the

2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

Coakwell is excited about the prospect of representing his country at the 2014 Olympics and says that he might even continue with bobsledding after the Sochi Olympics.

“I’m young in the sport comparatively. Most athletes hit their peak around 28 in bobsleigh. I’m only 25 and I think it’s definitely a possibility for me to push through and train for the 2018 Olympics.”

For now Coakwell will focus

on continuing to improve his bobsleigh skills, one race at a time.

To follow Coakwell’s journey to the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, like his athlete page at facebook.com/ben10speed.

Former Huskie training for Olympic push

After spending five years pushing around defences as a running back for the Huskies football club, Ben Coakwell is now pushing bobsleds for Canada’s national bobsleigh team.supplied

Sheaf.com

the

We like sports and we don’t care who knows. Write for the Sheaf if you think we blow.

ken childs

| 29 November, 2012 | thesheaf.com | 8 FEATURE

ALI SCHWABE — The Fulcrum (University of Ottawa)

OTTAWA (CUP) — You’re planning a spring break. You want to see a new country and have a few adventures, so you do a little research and stumble upon a voluntourism trip. Nine days in Costa Rica. It seems ideal. In the mornings you’ll volunteer at a school site, building a well and hanging out with local kids, and every afternoon you’ll go off on some cool activity: zip-lining on Wednesday, sampling local beer on Friday. What could be better? You get to experience a new culture, do a bunch of fun stuff with your friends, and as a bonus, give back and make your vacation meaningful — right? According to the experts, these short, supposedly helpful trips may be doing more harm than good.

Word on the streetVoluntourism simply means travel that includes some element of

volunteer work. In theory, it sounds awesome: you get to see a new place and enjoy yourself, plus you feel like you’re making the world a better place. In practice, though, experts like University of Ottawa political science professor Stephen Brown say there are too many grey areas for volunteering during vacation to be considered an unquestionably good thing.

“I’d say among the general population, voluntourism has a positive connotation in the sense that rather than just having fun, people are also making an effort to help others,” Brown said. “But among people who study the field or are experts in the area of international development, there’s a lot more skepticism. How much of an impact can you really have in working for one week or two?”

Alyson Rode is a fifth-year French as an additional language student at the U of O. In 2008 she took part in a voluntourism trip in which she spent a week in Costa Rica planting trees and bringing school supplies to students whose school had been destroyed in a storm.

Some companies have marketed the idea of doing good while on vacation to make a profit.

Hands Up Holidays advertises on their website

that, “The secret ingredient that makes our trips so special is the combination of a fantastic tailor-made luxury holiday with a ‘taste’ of volunteering or philanthropy.”

“I chose the trip for the experience of going to another country [and] seeing a climate and a style of living that was foreign to me,” she said.

“The volunteer aspect of the trip was an added bonus.”These holidays often include hotels, afternoon adventures and a tour

guide to walk you through the entire experience. Christian Euler, a fifth-year biotechnology student at the U of O, spent a summer in Ghana as part of Engineers Without Borders’ international development Junior Fellowship program, which includes a four month volunteer placement overseas. He thinks there is little benefit to voluntourism trips.

“EWB as a whole is sort of critical of people who go and stay in a hotel and build a bridge,” Euler said. “Our thing is that it’s much more complex than that, and you can’t learn all of the complexities if you don’t immerse yourself.”

Rode, on the other hand, felt that volunteering in Costa Rica enabled her to experience a fun vacation while learning and giving back.

“The trip brought to light what living conditions are like in developing countries,” she explained. “We were [also] able to partake in a lot of activities not related to volunteering. We went zip-lining, hiking, surfing, horseback riding, swimming, [and] partied in our hotels.”

Mireille Mather is the executive director of the Foundation for Sustainable Development, which works to reduce global poverty by providing grassroots community organizations — called community partners — with training and key resources, including Western volunteers, to address pressing socioeconomic issues.

Mather’s experience spans programs in 30 countries and in U.S. federal legislative advocacy, and she has worked as director of the Institute for OneWorld Health. She recognizes good intentions advocating voluntourism

programs, but doesn’t understand their benefit to

communities.“I personally have a

pretty negative perspective of voluntourism. I think that there’s

a lot of well meaning behind what’s considered voluntourism, where people

go and they want to experience the culture of another place where they’re not from and also to

gain a greater understanding of what issues face those areas,” she said. “But [their volunteering]

is in a way that doesn’t really help to resolve the issues. It’s more of a one-way interaction where they

may gain more knowledge on an issue, maybe there’s a donation involved to a local charity, which of course I’m

not minimizing, but it doesn’t do anything to address any of the root causes of the issues.“It may make the person feel good about themselves... but it

doesn’t make the community feel good about themselves because

Avoiding voluntourist trAps:


It may make the person feel good about themselves... but it doesn’t make the community feel good about themselves because they’re being objectified and only being seen as having problems.

Mireille MathersExecutive Director Foundation for Sustainable Development

| thesheaf.com | 29 November, 2012 | 9

Mixing tourism and volunteering not easy

they’re being objectified and only being seen as having problems.”Laura Sie is the community engagement coordinator at the U of O’s

Centre for Global and Community Engagement. She hesitates to label any of the international volunteering projects offered by the centre “voluntourism.”

“We’re kind of scared of that term actually, so we’ve tried to avoid picking projects that have a voluntourism feel,” she said.

Avoiding (volun)tourist trapsThere is a clear agreement among the experts on what differentiates

volunteer trips that benefit communities from voluntourism. The key? The project has to be desired and needed by the community, not imposed by the volunteers.

“We’ve selected projects that we understand to be community-driven projects where a need has been identified,” Sie said. Local communities have “requested this assistance.”

The communities involved are identifying what their needs are and beyond that intervention, someone in the community is helping,” added Stéphane Sophie Cardinal, director of the CGCE. “You can build a lot of things, but if nobody is maintaining them or nobody is trying to [maintain them]... the benefits will not continue.”

The Foundation for Sustainable Development also offers short-term projects only with community partners who decide what needs are to be addressed, and takes the idea of community-driven volunteering one step further. The community is more involved in these programs and have a say in deciding how participants are to contribute.

The CGCE and FSD focus on sustainability to ensure projects benefit communities long term.

“A really key factor for us is the social and cultural sustainability,” Mather said. “That’s ensuring there’s local participation in every step of the way in the project design and often the project implementation...so that an external person isn’t holding all that knowledge.”

show me the moneyCritics of overseas volunteering argue that sending more financial

donations would be of more value than buying plane tickets and booking hotel rooms. Professor Brown is one such critic.

“It’s relatively common for high schools to raise money to send students to the Dominican Republic to build a school,” he said. “This costs thousands of dollars, and high school students have no experience and no training in bricklaying, or carpentry, or masonry of any kind. If you take all that money and pay local Dominican carpenters, masons and bricklayers to do the work, not only will you be creating employment, but that money will go a lot further in actually building something, and something of sound quality.”

Euler, the former junior fellow with EWB argues that corruption and broken systems make it hard to ensure your money will be used in an impactful way, especially for skilled volunteers.

“I saw lots of corruption in the government office where I was working and, to be honest, I wouldn’t feel comfortable just sending a cheque for $6,500 — which is what my placement cost — to a government office,” he stated. “I don’t know how it would get used and I don’t know how effectively it would be used.”

Sie believes the connections formed by face-to-face interactions are worth more than sending a bigger cheque.

“I don’t know how to say it in a way that sounds big enough, but [the students] really saw the value in the personal connections and relationships that are formed,” she said. For example, “students had to fundraise the $12,000 required to construct a school in Nicaragua and the community appreciated being able to put a face to this nebulous entity that’s raised the money. Who knows what those connections can bring for both sides? It’s worth more than the $60,000 that would be sent over.”

Rode, the U of O student who took a voluntourist trip in 2008, believes one of the benefits of voluntourism is that participants are able to see where their contribution ends up.

“I got to see where the money actually went and, as an added bonus, I went on a trip to Costa Rica and experienced new things,” she said.

Mather notes the FSD appreciates donations and knows it’s the best way for certain individuals to make an impact, but she also points out that the educational element of overseas volunteering may make it worth the

investment.“A large part of our mission and why we have these programs is to

educate people about sustainable development: What is an appropriate and culturally sensitive way to contribute to global development?” she said. “We know that people are bringing these experiences back with them and are sharing their experiences with their family members and then using that knowledge either in their academic careers or in their professional careers. That really can start to change the way that people from the West view the communities we serve in developing countries, and we find that very valuable.

“For that $2,000, you’re getting a lifetime experience that hopefully will stay with you and that will impact the decisions that you make in the future.”

the perfect lengthSome companies offer voluntourism trips that last as few as four days

while some of the programs offered by the FSD and Engineers Without Borders can last a year and longer. How long does one need to stay in a community to make an experience worthwhile? The general consensus among experts is the longer the trip, the better.

“You can’t make a big difference in a few weeks,” said Cardinal, the director of the CGCE. “Try as much as possible to put conditions on the trip [like pre-departure training] that are the best for student, community and partner.”

“Certainly a few months would be a minimum,” professor Brown said of the trip length. “And if people really want to gain an understanding of the communities in which they’re living and working and understand social relations and political context, four to six months might be a minimum.”

Few experts believe one week is enough to make a meaningful impact. For this reason the U of O doesn’t include international opportunities as part of their alternative reading week activities. Instead, students can opt to take part in local volunteering.

“We’re one of the few universities that don’t offer reading week as an international experience,” Sie, the coordinator for the engagement centre, said. “Local opportunities [show] them how they can contribute to their own community, which is a part of lifelong social action.”

Mather and the FSD also looked at eliminating their short-term trips, which last at least nine to 10 days.

“The project has to be very well planned out before they arrive in countries. That’s very important to us. We almost eliminated our short-term trips because at one point we felt that there wasn’t enough reciprocity out of it,” Mather said. “As soon as we were getting a lot more out of it than our partners, we had to take a step back and say, you know, let’s fix this problem. There was too much observation going on and not enough hands-on participation and contribution.

“Revising our strategy was ensuring that there’s extensive planning and preparation with students so that we can train them on our approach. They can hit the ground running.”

Who does it really benefit?If you’ve already booked and paid for a traditional voluntourism trip, is

it time to cancel and try to get some of your cash back? Not necessarily.“For those who engage in voluntourism, it would be really good if they

were aware that the main person that’s benefiting from it is them,” Brown said. “I’m not saying it’s not a reason to do it — if they really want to help, donating the money would do a lot more — but the experience could still be good for them. It could do something like increase awareness or even launch a career in international development. So it could be highly beneficial for the individual [even if it’s not so] for the host community.”

Cardinal also explained that the community recognizes that the volunteers are learning and that the centre encourages this form of engagement and commitment to action. “Going overseas might [mean you] also derive a better understanding of what is inequality, what is social injustice? It’s some of those elements they’ll experience when they’re out there, and they’re coming back with a better understanding.” Cardinal said.

“I’m not going tell people not to go and do these voluntourism things, because I realize there’s a lot of benefit in learning,” Euler, the former junior fellow, said. “Just make sure that you do learn something and you learn with an informed and critical opinion.”

Avoiding voluntourist trAps:

jenna mann/culture editor

If you take all that money and pay local Dominican carpenters, masons and bricklayers to do the work, not only will you be creating employment, but that money will go a lot further in actually building something, and something of sound quality.

Stephen BrownUniversity of Ottawa Professor of Political Science

| 29 November, 2012 | thesheaf.com | 10

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| thesheaf.com | 29 November, 2012 | 11CULTURE

Find this week’s recipe online @ the Shlog!blog.thesheaf.com

University actors battle with the bard. How’d they do? blog.thesheaf.com Yowza! A spicy

review is heating up over at thesheaf.com/culture

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS

NOM-NOMS!

I HENRY V

KATLYNN BALDERSTONE

Exams are the test of your knowledge and experience in a subject. They are a way to show that you can apply what you have learned to the outside world.

They are also a nightmare to the underprepared and stressed. With everything going on in the winter season, study habits can quickly spiral out of control.

To help prepare you for your upcoming final exams here’s a list of tips and tricks for studying and getting the most out of that hefty 30-40 per cent chunk of your grade.

1. Don’t leave reviewing until the last minute.

You may think that last-minute panic is the best way to get motivated, but it doesn’t serve you well in the long run. Working ahead of time to get notes copied and assignments completed — even small sections at a time — can help keep you relaxed when the crunch hits. Your future self will thank you!

2. Seriously, don’t leave it until the last minute.

This goes double if your final is a large-scale project, like a research paper or art presentation. What can go wrong, will. It’s easier to handle hiccups if things go wrong a week ahead of time as opposed to the morning of the due date. Save both you and your professor a headache and make sure your notes are all in place beforehand.

3. Find a method that works for you and stay with it.

Do you use flash cards? Read your study guide out loud? Copy down your notes from the beginning of the term? Make a rap or use mnemonic devices? Everyone learns in different ways, so it makes sense that they study in different ways as well. Chances are by now you have a good sense of how you take in information, so stick to what works best for you!

4. Use a timer for study sessions. It is easier to focus on goals if

you have clear deadlines for them. Break down your tasks into shifts

and take short breaks in between to refresh your mind. I like following 20 minutes of work with 10 minutes of rest, but if you’d rather do it in 45 minutes of work and 15 minute breaks, or any other combination, that’s fine. Find your ideal combination and use your breaks to take a quick walk, get a drink of water or check Facebook, but remember to get back to work.

5. Music soothes the savage student.

Having the right tunes (or whatever background noise you prefer) can help keep you awake, relaxed and focused. If you’ve got roommates or live with your parents, headphones can keep them from getting annoyed with you (and vice versa) or costing precious time as they storm your room to yell at you to turn things down.

6. But remember to soothe, not distract.

Make sure your playlist is filled with instrumental tracks, since vocals can distract you or find their way into your document if

you’re not careful. Likewise, on your break, go with the movie or TV episode you’ve already seen a thousand times instead of something new, so your attention won’t be as divided when you begin working again.

7. Pulling an all-nighter? Avoid caffeine and energy drinks.

Counter-intuitive, I know, but all that energy keeping you up through the night will come back to bite you the next day, which is not good if that’s the day of your exam. Instead, take quick 20-minute naps every few hours (or a longer rest in the afternoon), do some exercises to keep the blood flowing and drink plenty of water. If you have a small bladder, the water could even help with the exercise.

8. Avoid all-nighters. I know what I just said, but if

you can’t handle staying up late try going to bed at a reasonable time and wake up early instead. This has the added benefit of leaving you refreshed and ready for the day, and you can go over notes

while your coffee or tea brews.

9. Remember to rest. No matter how much you’ve

studied, if you go into the exam nervous and exhausted, chances are it will go poorly. Give yourself time to relax and process the information you’ve just crammed into your brain and you will be able to retain more and understand the material better. This isn’t an excuse for partying, though. Make sure your thoughts on Plato aren’t being replaced by thoughts of keg stands.

10. It’ll be okay. Exams are hard! No one would

deny that. But they’re only as scary as you let them be. If you keep calm, study and prepare to do your best, things will work out in your favor and you’ll get through with a passing grade. Once you’re done, feel free to celebrate. Reward yourself by buying some new clothes, or go out for dinner and a drink. After all, you deserve it.

Study tips to keep you sane this finals season

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KEVIN MENZEditor-in-Chief

NaNoWriMo got the best of Aren Bergstrom this year.

This was the fourth year the University of Saskatchewan graduate participated in National Novel Writing Month, an annual creative writing challenge. Every November, its participants attempt to write 50,000 words in 30 days.

Bergstrom, who is now studying television and film at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ont., said writing a novel on top of writing a screenplay for school was too much for him.

“I tapped out because I thought that my film school endeavours would suffer if I continued to work on NaNoWriMo,” he said. “I lacked the energy at the end of 12 hour school days to write 1,667 words on a children’s novel.”

Bergstrom’s project this year was “an all ages novel with fantasy elements, something in the vein of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline.”

He said he wasn’t happy with how the novel was progressing compared to his past two NaNoWriMo projects.

In his first year attempting NaNoWriMo, Bergstrom was floored by how difficult it was to write over 1,600 words a day.

“I was trying to write something very literary and the idea wasn’t that fleshed out. I got half the

novel done, but then I was running on fumes and it petered out incomplete,” he said. “I just wasn’t used to writing that many words in such a short period of time.”

The next year Bergstrom came prepared.

“The second year I had a much clearer idea of what I wanted to accomplish and I was writing genre fiction, so I finished the novel without much trouble. The same can be said for last year.”

He said that the more he

participates in NaNoWriMo, the more he realizes how important an outline is when writing a novel.

“My biggest advice to prospective NaNoWriMo writers would be to plan your novel and not be daunted by the word count. The words will come to you easier than you think they will if you really own your story and have fun with it.”

First-time NaNoWriMo participant Logan McCormick reiterated Bergstrom’s advice.

“I didn’t plan the arc of my story out before beginning so I’m constantly problem solving and steering myself away from dead ends. If I do it again next year I’d like to plot out a complete framework before I begin,” McCormick said.

His novel is about a 17-year-old whose alcoholic father turns out to be a werewolf.

“Truth be told the story is sort of a mess,” McCormick said. “I thought of the idea literally days

before starting and 37,000 words in I still don’t know how it’s going to end. That’s the fun part about writing at such a fast pace though. I’m discovering the story as I write it.”

McCormick’s friend Josh Robinson also tried out NaNoWriMo for the first time this year.

Robinson said that while he’s had trouble keeping up with the recommended word count — he’s written roughly 16,000 words — he still considers his project a success.

“I have had a lot of disparate ideas and this project is providing me with a template for future projects. It’s cool to put it all together,” he said.

While Robinson and McCormick said they would like to participate in NaNoWriMo again next year, they hesitate to commit simply because it is such a time-consuming and exhausting task.

Bergstrom, on the other hand, is already preparing for next November.

“I’ll try again next year. I think I’ll try every year so long as [NaNoWriMo] keeps going,” he said.

“I need to approach it from a more professional standpoint, working like I would if I were to write a screenplay, and just using the month as an incentive to write more than I typically would.”

NaNoWriMo exhausting for local writers


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| 29 November, 2012 | thesheaf.com | 12 CULTURE

MICHAEL MACLEOD

From Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf to the recently released Flight, alcoholism has been the subject of many movies. Smashed is a worthy addition to this list.

Smashed tells the story of Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) and Charlie Hannah (Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad), a hard-partying married couple whose relationship is tested when Kate, the main character, decides to give up alcohol.

Alcoholism runs in Kate’s family. Her now-estranged, poor alcoholic mother’s idea of grocery shopping was waiting for fast-food burgers to go on sale so that she could buy meals in bulk and freeze them for later.

The film introduces Kate at the height of her addiction, very drunk and very happy, partying with Charlie. The opening scenes, which follow the couple as they drink heavily at bars before proceeding to bike home, are filmed beautifully in a surreal fashion, hinting at the escapism that alcohol provides for the pair.

The negative effects of this behaviour become noticeable, however, as Kate’s alcoholism begins to impinge on her life. Kate is incapable of facing daily life sober, drinking a hip flask of

whiskey stashed in her car on the way to work teaching first grade at a local elementary school. Her heavy drinking leads to her wetting the bed (not for the first time, according to Charlie) and smoking crack with a homeless person.

Kate pukes on the floor in front of her students, who assume she is pregnant. She does nothing to dissuade them. This leads to Kate’s decision to stop drinking and a humorous yet melancholy subplot with the school’s principal (Megan

Mullally, Will and Grace). The principal is sympathetic to Kate, living vicariously through Kate’s fake pregnancy as Kate decides how to handle the situation.

Kate’s decision to get sober is handled differently than other movies of this type. While AA helps her abstain from alcohol, it does not fix the problems that led to her alcoholism. Positive aspects of her life begin to suffer through the journey.

The film glimpses at Kate’s past

through throwaway comments and sometimes drunken rants. Her troubled past and home life helps keep Kate sympathetic throughout the film.

Smashed spends little time dissecting Kate’s battle with sobriety, focusing more on hazy memories than her current struggle. Her dependence is stated, yet she breezes through a year of sobriety with only one notable instance of lapse. Kate’s relationships with her heavy

drinking friends and husband change incrementally as the runtime nears its end. This part of the movie feels rushed, but it is still effective and allows the film to cram in as much of Kate’s personal development as possible.

One striking thing about Smashed is how plausible it feels. Even minor characters have clear motivations and don’t act like cardboard stand-ins.

The story is not forced and every character’s arc follows what one would expect to happen in real life. Although the movie does not have any resounding resolution, the ending seems right for Smashed. The ending does not cement Kate’s character too much; the film focuses on a short period in her life and acknowledges that she has many years left to develop.

The acting is great across the board and Winstead’s performance in the film is the best of her career.

The relatively unknown director James Ponsoldt knows when to tighten the camera’s focus and when to step back. Most of Ponsoldt’s takes are long, shot in fluid motion and highlight the solid performances of the cast. The film’s pacing is brisk and the run-time flies by.

Smashed is a solid character piece with bits of humour, whimsy and solid performances.

Smashed is playing at the Roxy until Dec. 5.

Smashed takes a cold sober look at alcoholism

29 30 1

2 3 4 5

Upcoming Events

for the week of November 29 - Deccember 5

Thursday Friday Saturday

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday

How the Chief Stole Christmas at Sask Native Theatre CompanyMeaghan Smith at the BassmentA Little Christmas Spirit at the Barn PlayhouseBlessthefall at Louis’The Gaff, Vinyl Ritchie and Charlie Hustle at StaqattoLauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk at Lydia’s

Saskatoon Songwriter Fest at the Bassment 9 p.m.Little Miss Higgins at the Broadway Theatre 8 p.m.Jeff Stuart and the Hearts at VangelisWil with Ryan McMahon at Lydia’s

Tommy Banks and PJ Perry at the Bassment 9 p.m.Bill Bourne at the Broadway Theatre

Tonight it’s Poetry at Lydia’s 8 p.m.

Astronautalis with Jel at AmigosMetal Monday at Lydia’s

Corb Lund at the Odeon 8 p.m.Stuart McLean’s Vinyl Cafe at TCU Place 7 p.m.Open Stage at Lydia’s

How the Victorians Invented Christmas at the Marr Residence 7:30 p.m.Mother Mother at the OdeonOpen Stage at the Fez’

supplied

Drunk and happy, the Hannahs enjoy the afternoon.

With the help of Samantha Braun, Jordan Bulgis, Katlynn Balderstone, Stacie Huculak, Tyson Atkings and Kate Blackport, Maxwell has been organizing this year’s event since September.

“Silence is on the back of VASU’s mind for most of the year,” Maxwell said. “Last year was quite successful! Everyone in attendance had [a] blast and this year will be even better.”

The artwork for sale will include paintings, drawings, photos, prints and sculptures “of all shapes and sizes” from approximately 30 artists. VASU only asks that the submissions come from union members. Each artist can submit up to 10 pieces and the exhibit is diverse in content.

“There is no theme at Silence. That’s the beauty of Silence. It

gives student artists a chance to showcase their work to the community without having to put on an entire show themselves,” Maxwell said.

Although the focus of the show will be shared fairly equally among the artists, there are a few returning pieces that Maxwell is excited about.

“One gentleman submits a Lego sculpture every year and donates all of the profits back to VASU. At the moment we just have a duffle bag of Lego, but sometime in the next week or so, the artist will transform it into an amazing artwork!”

In addition to the Lego sculpture, VASU’s organizers have put together a Bob Ross — best known as the host of the TV show, The Joy of Painting — photo booth.

“We spent part of this past

weekend painting a magical Bob Ross inspired mountain landscape on to three doors. The photo booth will also feature some Bob Ross cardboard masks,” Maxwell said.

VASU will be serving snacks and drinks, including cheap beer and wine, for exhibit goers while DJ Weatherboy will be spinning music for the evening’s entertainment.

“There will be free homemade appetizers and desserts as well as a keg from Paddock Wood and an assortment of fine wines,” Maxwell said. “Also, local businesses have been very kind and donated many door prizes for exhibit-goers to win.”

Silence opens Dec. 3 and concludes with a reception on Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. kate blackport

Students bid on their favourite paintings at last year’s Silence auction.

Silence!continued from1

TRAVIS HOMENUK

If you’re a real human being, with human emotions, thoughts and feelings, you’ve probably either been the perpetrator of bullying, the victim of bullying or both.

Last week the federal NDP’s proposal to study and craft a national anti-bullying strategy was struck down in the Commons despite full Liberal support. It had only a mild peppering of Conservative supporters.

New Democrat Member of Parliament Dany Morin describes this result as a “missed opportunity to take a leadership role in the fight against bullying,” and I agree with him for the most part.

If a national policy against bullying was implemented it would demonstrate that as Canadians, we do not approve of — and will not stand for — bullying. This would be a good thing. It might mean that funding would be allocated to schools and other such institutions to hire individuals for the purposes of bullying prevention — “prevention” being the key word.

Teachers at all levels are overloaded and underpaid, and expecting them to deal with all the bullying in schools is unrealistic and unfair to everyone involved. Bullying rarely happens under the gaze of an authority figure. It happens at recess, after school or online.

Like the Conservative government, educational institutions for the most part focus on punishment rather than prevention. Suspensions and detentions don’t change the fundamental behaviours of an individual. Punishing the bully won’t actually help the victim either. There are deeply rooted issues when bullying takes place that cannot be superficially solved.

Perhaps with federal funding, institutions of all kinds would be able to move beyond simplistic “zero tolerance” policies to truly effective bullying prevention.

But would a federal policy truly make a difference? Would we see results in small-town Saskatchewan?

Who knows what the federal policy would actually entail.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a national stand against bullying — and I’m a provincial and federal NDP voter to boot. However, I find myself asking, “Where does bullying start?”

As far as I’m concerned bullying starts at home, and could be solved and prevented at home. In its most fundamental form, it’s an issue between parents and children.

If parents bully their children, what do you think will happen? It’s a vicious cycle.

If parents don’t educate their children about bullying and consequences that stem from it, again, what do you think will happen? Ignorance can be dangerous.

Federal intervention and policy-making will do very little for children who cry themselves to sleep night after night, or adults who find themselves marginalized for being or doing something outside the norm.

Yes, a national bullying policy or strategy would look great on paper and reflect well in the media, but would it stop bullying?

We’d have to be seriously naïve to think so.

That bullying will end because of a national stand against it is something I want to believe, but I’m too pragmatic to fall for such malarkey.

While bullying is, I’m sure, primarily an issue in elementary and high school scenarios, it doesn’t simply disappear once graduation hits in grade 12. Bullies can attack anyone, anywhere, at any time.

Indeed, if you’ve bullied someone before, chances are you’ll do it again; if you’ve been the victim of bullying before, the hell that you went through is sure to re-occur.

I can’t help but think about the recent Amanda Todd case and I’d argue that the push for a national anti-bullying strategy has stemmed from this high-profile tragedy. Why is it that a tragedy must take place before anyone takes action?

The sad truth is that bullying has always existed; it’s only gotten more

pervasive with the invention of the Internet. Now we can bully in person, via text or online. If you want to make someone feel bad about him or herself, there is a plethora of ways to do so.

Again, implementing a national anti-bullying strategy is nice in theory, but continuing to study bullying in all its forms won’t save the lives of children and teens like Amanda Todd in the interim.

In case I’ve been unclear, let me reiterate: as Canadians, we should take a national stand against bullying. But perpetuating an idealistic “zero tolerance policy” simply isn’t enough.

There’s a lot more work to be done. Bullying needs to be an issue that gains the attention of municipalities, provincial governments and — most importantly — parents.

I’m sure the federal government will eventually pass a policy on anti-bullying but, in the meantime, who’s going to help those who are victimized by bullies in online or real life situations?

We are the answer. If you have the drive to make someone feel bad about him or herself through manipulation, physical or emotional abuse, or blackmail, ask yourself, “Why?”

Stop bullying when you see it and encourage others to do the same.

| thesheaf.com | 29 November, 2012 | 13OPINIONS

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Learning your ABC’s: Addressing Bullying in Canada

for the week of November 29 - Deccember 5

Letter to the Editor:A few nights ago I was at the

Murray Library working on a group project until 11:30 p.m. The library had not yet closed and as we parted ways I planned to walk through the tunnels to my vehicle, which was parked in Y lot — the parking lot beside the Engineering and Veterinary Medicine buildings. To my shock and dismay, the tunnel from Arts onward was locked. I was then forced to walk outside, in dim light in between buildings in low-traffic areas, rather than in the warmth and safety of well-lit corridors with cameras. This is a problem to me, especially since there are no longer

emergency phones around campus. I understand that there is the

option of Safewalk, and I guess next time I will have to call them. Even if you take the issue of safety off the table, though, this is an absolutely ridiculous thing to do. I pay a lot to park in Y lot. I also pay for U-Pass even though I pay for parking (if you pay for parking I don’t think you should have to pay for the bus, but that’s another issue).

What if it had been blizzarding out? In that case, if I choose to stay at the library and do well academically, I am also choosing to risk frostbite as it takes upwards

of 15 minutes to wander around between buildings outside to get to Y lot. The only reason I see for parking in Y lot is that Engineering is right across the street and you have the option of using tunnels in the winter to get there. At least I thought it was, but apparently not.

The tunnels should remain open at least as long as the library. If we are able to be on campus working, we should be able to get to our cars in warmth and safety. I am very disappointed and hope that this will change.

Alana Rabby


| 29 November, 2012 | thesheaf.com | 14 OPINIONS

TANNARA YELLANDOpinions Editor

On Nov. 23, hundreds of Walmart workers in 46 U.S. states walked off the job. Protesters joined the employees and supported their demands for living wages, an end to on-the-job sexual harassment and safe working conditions, among other things.

The “Black Friday” protests

are so named because Nov. 23 is the infamous post-American-Thanksgiving shopping day often hailed as the biggest day of the year for retailers.

The protests are the latest and most prominent in an ongoing series of strikes against the big-box retailer that began about five months ago when guest workers at a Walmart subcontractor went on strike because they said they were

working “up to 24 consecutive hours, were paid less than 60 per cent of minimum wage and lived in vermin-infested trailers on company property,” according to a salon.com piece by Josh Eidelson.

Walmart has refused responsibility for its subcontractors and warehouse employees, despite its ownership of the warehouse buildings those employees work at.

Walmart, the 16th-largest corporation in the world and the world’s largest private employer, is notorious for its union-busting tactics. This is the first time retail employees have gone on strike in the company’s 50-year history, which in and of itself makes the movement notable.

In a sign of how powerful Walmart considers the movement, the company went to the National Labour Relations Board in an effort to have the protests pre-emptively banned.

It is important to follow these protests whether we live in America or in Canada, where Walmart workers are treated significantly better. (I can attest to that on an anecdotal level, since I worked for one briefly in high school; fluorescent lighting and angry bargain-hunters aside, there was no horrific treatment to speak of.)

The reason Canadians should follow these protests, beyond the fact that they are important news, is that they highlight what a dramatic difference a high union presence makes in a country. A country with a significant union presence will

have a more employee-friendly work culture than one with a smaller union presence. This works to the benefit of workers both represented by unions and not.

If the United Food and Commercial Workers union has successfully lobbied for its workers to be allowed bandages should they injure themselves, to use an example from a Walmart warehouse employee, it’s unlikely nearby employers will be able to get away with refusing that basic necessity. But in places where unionization is low (and especially in companies with no union presence), that kind of behaviour can continue unchallenged. Any worker who causes a fuss can be terminated and replaced.

In Canada, 16 per cent of private-sector employees are unionized (compared to 71 per cent in the public sector), and while that number is low, only seven per cent of private-sector American employees are union members.

The effects of this disparity

can be seen in everything from Canadian Walmart workers seeming much happier with their employer to the vast difference in minimum wages. Canadian minimum wages range between $9.50 and $11.00 per hour while American minimum wages vary from $5.15 in Wyoming to $9.04 in Washington. The highest minimum wage in the entire United States is lower than the lowest minimum wage in Canada, which is set to go up on Dec. 1 to $10.

If the Walmart workers’ protests are successful — in allowing employees to unionize, if they wish, or in forcing their bosses to the table to discuss fairer treatment for their employees — it will be a dramatic departure from the past 50 years in which Walmart has been able to dictate terms to its employees, who have had to silently agree at the risk of termination.

Walmart is right to be scared, and the whole world should be watching.

‘Black Friday’ protests signify potential sea change for Walmart, labour

Store Hours: Mon to Wed 10-6, Thurs 10-9, Fri & Sat 10-6, Sun 12-5Store Hours Mon to Wed 10-6, Thurs 10-9, Fri & Sat 10-6, Sun 12-5

ALEX FERWERDA

Environmental advocates need to find people who are aware of the world’s growing environmental issues but have not yet taken action. We need to convince them to do something. This will not be achieved by browbeating or berating them, but by offering positive reinforcement to work toward a solution.

The University of Saskatchewan administration and the U of S Students’ Union have the same definition of sustainability: “Sustainability is the stewardship of the natural environment in a socially and economically responsible manner that meets the needs of both present and future generations.”

This definition is empowering as it doesn’t preach or condescend, and it gets right to the point.

The fight against ignorance will not be won if framed in combative terms. If we are going to get people on side we should empower them and avoid squabbling about who rode their bike more or whose low-flush toilet saves the most water.

We’ve all contributed to the environmental mess and it’s difficult to find the right way to get

across the urgency of the issues. But in encouraging others to live more sustainable lifestyles, we have to be careful not to divide people who might otherwise work together.

It can be satisfying to win arguments about the environment but doing so won’t save the planet. Figuring out the right way to convince others to live more sustainably will. I strongly believe getting more people involved will also encourage politicians to put sustainability on their agendas.

Politicians get paid to pay attention to what the public wants and we shouldn’t let condescension limit the movement. Environmentalism should be about working with everyone, not just the people who are already involved. My bet is that once this succeeds politicians will stop covering their collective ears. The first step, though, will have to be bringing more citizens into the

fold.Sustainability deals with deep-

rooted habits, such as what we choose to eat, buy and do with our time. Not surprisingly, it is often a touchy subject.

With that in mind, it seems quite obvious that shaming anyone into reducing, recycling and reusing will never work.

All this does is create a divide among people trying their best to achieve environmental goals or are thinking about joining the movement. Self-righteous claims about who saved more energy or water can really turn people off.

Sustainability can and should be convenient: all-in-one blue-bin recycling has already been implemented at the university, and will go into effect across Saskatoon soon. More measures like this, that make sustainable living practical and easy, should be put into place in Saskatoon and beyond. I hope that with enough

people taking part, sustainable living can become even more convenient than it already is.

I believe contemporary environmentalism is at a crossroads. There must be tangible, non-shameful solutions offered. This is why a practical and positive approach to sustainability is necessary.

If you are a cyclist, you’re much more likely to succeed in encouraging others to start biking if you talk about how fun it is or how easy it is to bike around town (even in winter!) rather than how

car drivers are killing the planet. I understand that I’m not saying anything most people don’t already know, but I think it needs to be put into practice a little more often.

We can either decide to incorporate as many people as possible in a friendly way and create a sustainable culture of positivity, or we can continue to preach to our own while shaming others with how awful we are all being, which allows others to easily revert to their old habits.

Sustainability shaming doesn’t work: being unkind won’t help change people’s minds

marcus gratsch/flickr

Occupy Wall Street showed solidarity with striking Walmart workers on Black Friday.

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| thesheaf.com | 29 November, 2012 | 15HUMOUR

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What is your self-help strategy during finals?

Take bubble baths, bake cookies and listen to Jack Johnson. Tessa Laird

Every once in a while, a nice glass of wine.

Amanda Sampson

Neglect.

Jay Bauer

I have a good cry.

Carolyn Murray

CINCINNATI (AP) — In a scene straight out of Kafka, two unhappy people are to remain alive after their murder-suicide pact was foiled by their own disagreement.

Lana Jeffries and Dylan Masterson, both 32, had agreed to engage in a murder-suicide pact if President Barack Obama was re-elected. When they met on Nov. 7 to decide on the details, though, neither would agree to be the victim.

Masterson said he has always been fond of the idea of dying by murder-suicide, but “I never thought I’d be the first to go. Seems like the chick’s job, don’t it?”

For her part, Jeffries insisted she was ready to follow through

on her pledge but that she did not want Masterson to “chicken out.”

“We work together, right, and he’s always seemed a little skittish,” she said quietly. “I just don’t think I trust him to do us both in.”

The pair met several times in November and could not reach an agreement. Neighbours alerted the authorities when they heard repeated arguments about who would “shoot the damn gun first” and saw Jeffries leave Masterson’s apartment in furious tears several times.

Attending officer Joseph Craig said he was already aware of the duo’s situation and has hesitated to arrest them because “it may be murder, but if they’re both askin’ for it, who am I to say?”

Murder-suicide pact stalled over ‘who gets to do the murder part’

dan smolinski

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| 29 November, 2012 | thesheaf.com | 16

the sheaf 29/11/12 - volume 104 issue 12

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