The Sheaf

Sports in brief: March 11, 2010

2010-03-11T00:00:15Z

Huskies achieve monopoly on Canada West basketball at conference championships

The Huskies men’s basketball team celebrated their first Canada West conference championship on March 7 in Vancouver after upsetting the Calgary Dinos and home favourite the UBC Thunderbirds. The men’s ballin’ squad will move onto the CIS Final 8 in Ottawa on March 12 to 15, while the No. 3 ranked women’s Huskies, who also clinched the Canada West conference, will advance to the CIS championships in Hamilton, Ont.

Riding the pole at Talk Show

(Left to right: Dillon Petrucha, Paul, Taylor Petrucha, Jason Hattie.) Talk Show hosts Jason Hattie and Paul (in spandex) model track and field apparrel in honour of Huskies pole vaulters Dillon and Taylor Petrucha’s guest appearance at Louis on March 8. Taylor Petrucha, recent gold medalist at the Canada West conference championship has shattered numerous pole vaulting records all season and is a solid hopeful to bring home gold at the CIS championships on March 10 to 13 in Windsor, Ont.

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photos: Richard Lam / Robby Davis

The house that Al Purdy built

2010-03-10T23:52:34Z

LAURIN LIU
The McGill Daily (McGill)

MONTREAL, Que. (CUP) – Jack Kerouac had his ’49 Hudson; Leonard Cohen had his tower of song; Al Purdy had his humble A-frame cabin in Ameliasburgh, Ont., on the edge of Roblin Lake.

The poet George Bowering writes that Prince Edward County, in which Ameliasburgh is situated, reminds him of “certain half-abandoned farm valleys of eastern British Columbia.” Purdy’s A-frame, Bowering adds, is composed of “lots of inexpert finishings made up for by the sense of talent and energy and honest usefulness.”

Its charm, apparently, was also appreciated by Bowering’s wife Jean Baird who described it over the phone as “a true cottage in the sense of old-time Canadian cottages, with the extra cups and saucers from your real house.” It was a project that entailed years of work and Purdy called it “the house that was never finished.”

Today, 10 years after his death, this spirit continues in a campaign to preserve a heritage site, one that many argue is an irreplaceable artifact of Canada’s literary and cultural past.

Directed by Baird and a number of other contemporary figures in Canadian literature, the program will foster new generations of poets through a writer-in-residence program, providing them with the same creative sanctuary that spurred Purdy’s leap into the Canadian literary canon almost five decades ago.

Some say that Al Purdy was an underdog, or that he was, at least, an ally of underdogs. Purdy was a vital voice from working class, anti-authoritarian and anti-establishment Canada.

Bowering writes, “While (Milton) Acorn has found the search for beauty consistent with the proletarian cause, Purdy has supplied the robust humour without which the prol (sic) would be unrecognized as the authentic Canadian item.”

Purdy’s friend, poet Dennis Lee, has been quoted as saying, “He broke with the old, colonial mode of poetry and recast our imagination, so that it seems perfectly rooted in the place we occupy. No one else in English-Canadian poetry had really done that.”

It is difficult to resist mythologizing him as the quintessential Canadian poet, as many literary critics have done. A self-taught erudite with negligible formal education, he was among the many men who rode the rails to Vancouver during the Great Depression. Purdy also served in the Royal Canadian Air Force, where he wrote his first collection of poems, The Enchanted Echo — work that he retrospectively labeled “crap.” His best work was yet to come.

What began as an empty plot that the Purdys bought for $800 in the late ’50s later became the place where Purdy’s creative work flourished. In the early years on the property, Purdy was impoverished, foraging through garbage dumps for food — he even admitted to eating roadkill.

However, in the years following the construction of the A-frame, Purdy came to see increasing literary and financial success. An archived photo of Purdy from the University of Saskatchewan library shows the writer doing yard work, wearing sunglasses and a plaid shirt rolled above his elbows — apparently, the same get-up in which he read his poems in front of university audiences.

While he was building the house by Roblin Lake, Purdy also immersed himself in Canadian history and began to research Owen Roblin, grandson of a United Empire Loyalist and founder of Roblin’s Mills in Ameliasburgh.

Purdy had deep roots in the loyalist bastions of Ontario: he himself was the descendant of loyalists and was born in Wooler, Ont., a settlement near Kingston that has, by now, nearly disappeared. Baird claims that Purdy’s work on the house and his inquiries into the community surrounding Roblin Lake changed him from a “failure of a man” into a prolific poet.

Beyond its importance as Purdy’s artistic retreat, the A-frame famously nourished rising talent in Canadian poetry, a role that Baird and her collaborators hope to re-ignite. Purdy was a notorious host to dozens of guests, including Canadian literary A-listers like Margaret Atwood, Earle Birney, Margaret Laurence and a then-unknown Michael Ondaatje.

Despite his open-armed hospitality, Purdy avoided coteries with other writers. Writing to his wife from Ameliasburgh on Milton Acorn, in a letter dated 1969, he writes, “Acorn is not like other acorns, he does not lie still on the forest floor and shut his big yap.

“(He) stalks thru the house reciting poems, all of which sound like the King James version…. I expect pity by return mail.”

Purdy could be a “grump,” said Baird, laughing. Despite this, he was indiscriminate with his houseguests, welcoming both renowned authors and virtual unknowns. On the Montreal poet Bryan McCarthy’s eight-day visit to the A-frame, Purdy wrote in 1966, “We spent two days consuming beer and the rest yak-yak, which consisted of 18–20 single-spaced pages of question and answer by the time he finished.”

After Purdy’s death in 2000, the house continued to be visited in what Baird called “the Canadian poetry pilgrimage.”

To maintain this emblem of Canadian poetic achievement, Baird and Howard White, Purdy’s publisher, have attempted to preserve the house by founding the Al Purdy A-frame Trust. Poets David Helwig, Steven Heighton, Karen Solie and Rob Budde have also designed the writer-in-residence program, in which chosen writers will receive a $2,500 monthly stipend to write while living in Purdy’s former abode.

The A-frame Trust is an attempt to raise money to buy the house, make renovations and establish funds for a writer’s endowment — a project that will cost $900,000 to carry through.

If this writer-in-residence project succeeds, it will be one of only a few similar projects that exist in Canada, alongside the Kogawa House and the Haig-Brown House in British Columbia and the Berton House in the Yukon.

Purdy continues to be a name that is oft repeated in discussions about Canadian literature — but his legacy, hopefully, will live on as a “small whisper” in the woods near Roblin Lake.

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image: CUP

Where have all the monocles gone?

2010-03-10T23:47:43Z

TOMAS BORSA
Opinions Writer

‘Twas but a fortnight yonder, and there I sat under the high stone arches of Thorvaldson, deep in ponderance over life’s great mysteries: “What,” thought I, “is our university lacking?”

It struck me like an iron bell clanging merrily above a spired tower. Cryptic legends and nostalgic traditions go hand in hand with the university experience. Greased poles and ham hocks aside, the present incarnation of the University of Saskatchewan has little to offer in this regard. Where have all the monocles gone? What ever happened to Latin, gargoyles and parchment?

Having been founded in 1907, The U of S is a surprisingly old institution, at least by Canadian standards. While a few of our campus’s buildings contain portions of limestone (the most noble of stones), it occurred to me that the Thorvaldson building is just about the pinnacle of our campus ostentation.

And so I feel we owe it to the corpses who helped found this university to recreate (or at least fabricate) the good old days of fountain pens and divinity classes. To avoid further confusion, yes, I am advocating for the creation of a monumental facade of pompous regalia and ceremonialism purely for the sake of novelty.

Yale, one of the Western world’s most beloved tabernacles of elitist eyebrow furrowing, was designed by James Gamble Rogers in the 19th century. Rogers wanted the campus to appear “distinguished” — old, in other words. But as buildings tend to be built with new materials, he had to devise alternate means of getting the desired look. So he did what any sensible person would: he splashed the buildings with acid and soot, broke windows, and left stones missing from the exterior, to give the illusion that Father Time had dished out a mighty ass-kicking to the weathered, sturdy structures of yesteryear.

To my knowledge, there are no secret societies on our campus (although maybe that’s the point). But with a dash of entrepreneurial spirit, this and more can be changed for the better. Like the grand halls of Yale once were, our own campus is in the midst of rapid expansion and development. Place Riel, student housing and virtually every horizontal surface at the university are undergoing massive facelifts.

Rather than dumping money into professional development or construction projects, imagine how our university’s image could be boosted by the simple addition of a few gothic doorway inscriptions, mahogany staircases or “misplaced” human skeletons (to be discovered in a hidden attic in approximately 30 years’ time).

Why is English the default language for signs like “Men’s Washroom,” “Authorized Persons Only” or “No Parking”? Latin is so much easier on the eyes. Why did pipes and exceptionally long, unkempt white beards ever fall out of favour with professors?

Similarly, who decided that the seal of our university would be a sheaf of wheat and a book? Why not a more mysterious and allegorical combination like an hourglass, an upturned raven and the number 44? There is no reason why 2010 can’t be a turning point in our university’s great history. After all, history is what you can get away with.

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Interview: Nardwuar the Human Serviette

2010-03-11T20:10:22Z

DORIAN GEIGER
Arts Writer

While attending a press conference during the Vancouver Olympics, I came face to face with likely the most iconic personality to bless the MuchMusic airwaves during the late ’90s — none other than Nardwuar the Human Serviette.

Once I locked eyes with Nardwuar, he handed me his camera and told me to chase after him and the speed skating team as they were being escorted by a handful of police. I then snapped a picture of him and speed skater Charles Hamelin for his blog.

Afterward I sat down with the outspoken Nardwuar to talk about a variety of things, all of them funny and weird.

The Sheaf: I remember watching you on MuchMusic back in the day. Do you still work for Much?
Nardwuar: I did freelance stuff for MuchMusic but they’re no longer interested in my freelance contributions.

Sheaf: Really? That’s too bad. How come?
Nardwuar: I think they said that they were reinventing themselves. I was just a freelancer, so I’d just mail stuff in and I didn’t really get a chance to meet anybody, but I did over the years meet people. I got a photo with George Stroumboulopoulos. He was very nice.

Sheaf: So what brings you to an Olympic speed skating press conference?
Nardwuar: I’ve been covering all the different events for the Olympics, so I thought if I’d have the opportunity to go to a press conference and speak to a team that won a gold medal and Charles (Hamelin), who won two gold medals, you might as well go for it. When’s that going to happen again?

Sheaf: You asked Hamelin about the Planet Smashers. It caught the entire press theatre off guard. Why ask a question about music at a sporting press conference?
Nardwuar: It’s a bit different. They’re French, and that’s why I tried to bring up French punk rock. (Hamelin) does listen to the band the Planet Smashers, which is amazing. It’s really cool for that band to get some props. He listens to a local (Quebec) ska band, so indirectly that local ska band helped him win a gold medal — who knows?

Sheaf: What gave you the crazy idea of breaking through the police escort formation to get a picture with the gold medalist Hamelin?
Nardwuar: I really appreciate the help you gave me to be able to run after him. That was incredible. I asked if I could get a photo with him and he said “sure” and then the (speed skating team) started walking away. Then I saw you and I thought “let’s run after them.”

Sheaf: You were able to meet Mr. Terminator himself – Arnold Schwarzenegger — at the International B.C. Media Centre. What was that like and what did you say to him?
Nardwuar: Arnold Schwarzenegger came here and I asked him about his Total Body Workout record, which is a vinyl record. I brought the vinyl record with me and stood at the mic and showed the record to him and asked him to comment on it and asked him how it influenced his decision making skills and that sort of stuff.

Sheaf: Schwarzenegger has his own musical LP from way back?
Nardwuar: The Total Body Workout! And it’s him talking over Journey songs. Like him going, “One, two, three. Okay. Lift your legs.”

Sheaf: Well, I think that about wraps this up. Thanks again for talking with the Sheaf.
Nardwuar: So you’re from the Sheath?

Sheaf: Not “the Sheath.” Not like a condom. Like a sheaf of wheat.
Nardwuar: I think I have actually sent some records of my band the Evaporators to the Sheaf. I have sent full reviews to you guys in years past. Like it’s been going for a while hasn’t it?

Sheaf: Yep, since 1912.
Nardwuar: Many years. Is the Sheaf in Saskatoon?

Sheaf: Yes.
Nardwuar: What’s interesting about that is that Amigos is there. And that’s my favourite club in the world! And I love it because more bands have been fucked, sucked and chucked at Amigos than any other club because they used to have a band room, right? So all the fans would move themselves right upstairs, so a lot of craziness went on at Amigos. They don’t have a band room anymore.

More bands have been fucked, sucked and chucked at Amigos than any other club.
-Nardwuar the Human Serviette

Sheaf: Okay. Amigos seems to humour you. Go on.
Nardwuar: I don’t think other bands understand it. Like, I saw an interview with some band — I forget who it was, some British band — and they described the low light of their career as playing at a Mexican restaurant in Saskatoon. Now I was thinking, “That’s fucking Amigos! How dare they diss that place!” Bands play there and get to have a free meal and get the band room. What a bunch of idiots. They might think that’s funny, but it isn’t! It’s the best place in the world. I love Amigos.

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photo: Dorian Geiger

University students rule the world

2010-03-10T23:36:54Z

DES FISHER
The Fulcrum (University of Ottawa)

OTTAWA (CUP) — It’s true: university students have all the power. Unfortunately, it also means we’re responsible for the world’s sorry state and its lousy prospects.

If you look at who has the wealth and the power, it’s university graduates. And it’s been that way for a while. You would think all these well-educated people could turn the world into a utopia, but a peaceful and prosperous world seems as distant a dream as the flying car.

Politicians are a predominantly learned lot. The ones who make it to the very top are especially likely to possess diplomas. Two of Canada’s major political parties are headed by PhDs, and the prime minister holds a master’s degree in economics. American President Barack Obama was a law professor at the University of Chicago. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown earned a PhD in history. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is a lawyer. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has a doctorate in quantum chemistry. Need I go on?

Those who advise these leaders, whether from the professional public service or the competitive private sector, are also mostly university-educated. With the incorporation of business and management training into university, even the corporate elite have framed pieces of paper in their offices.

It makes sense, really. Only the most knowledgeable should counsel our decision-makers and the easiest method of certifying knowledge is the university degree.

Then there are the other important institutions of our society. Schools are filled with university-trained teachers. The legal system is nearly all lawyers. The media is replete with journalism-degree holders. Engineers carry alumni cards, too. International institutions like the World Bank and the United Nations are staffed by economists, political scientists and countless other recipients of advanced degrees. Hospitals employ doctors and nurses and other health professionals who have attended medical schools at universities.

Yet, why is it that only doctors (and, in Canada at least, engineers) have historically taken oaths to first do no harm? Shouldn’t that be the oath that all university students take upon admission? If we are to go on to such important positions, if we are to be the leaders of our society, we should all vow to do only good.

Some argue that the university has no business turning us into ethical, upstanding citizens. It is there merely to transfer knowledge and skills. Political and moral assertions or advocacy are beyond the scope of academia — they are extra-curricular.

What a narrow vision. I guess we have to leave the ethics training to our parents and peers, instead, or to society in general. Or maybe reality TV.

Yes, let’s gather up all the smartest people in the world inside a single institution and then gather up all the potentially smartest of the next generation in the same place, let them mingle and learn from each other, but not let them give or receive any instructions on morality or purpose. What a grand plan! Perhaps just by chance they will invent the fusion reactor instead of the nuclear bomb.

Of course, the odds are stacked against that. The end result is exactly as you’d expect. History repeats itself, and injustice and war continue to flourish.

Take the war in Iraq, for example. Not only were the United States best and brightest in George W. Bush’s cabinet advocating for it, but so were many politicians, journalists and even academics. This was something that a first-year philosophy student could see was plainly wrong. Hell, the invasion’s supporters had to come up with a whole new rationale for war to defend it: the Bush Doctrine.

Welcome to university: If you can’t find a theory to justify your actions, invent a new one.

Next, look at the wonderful financial innovations of the last decade. We should all give thanks to the math and statistics PhDs who invented derivatives so complex that ordinary economists and bankers couldn’t understand them or manage them, leading to the financial crisis and the recession. Without those geniuses, where would we be?

In other words, our world is the way it is — for better and for worse — because of the people who pass through the halls of ivory towers. Our successes come in large part thanks to them, but so do our failures. For how much brain power universities bring together, I’m surprised they haven’t figured out a way to hold their graduates to some moral standards. For how much suffering this oversight has caused, I’m surprised that the ivory isn’t stained with blood.

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photo: Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Dogs get downed at Rutherford Rink

2010-03-10T23:15:34Z

JORDAN HARTSHORN
Sports Writer

Rutherford Rink has nothing going for itself, especially following the men’s Huskies weekend semi-final trouncing.

The much-maligned rink on campus, with its fossil-like construct and generally seedy appearance, boasts more critics than it can seat spectators. Yet, for all the rust that randomly falls from the ceiling, or cries to have the 81-year-old facility replaced, it has always been a playoff dynamo: the Saskatchewan men’s hockey team had never lost in their previous 17 post-season series.

But this past weekend the Manitoba Bisons brought shame to the resident Huskies in the form of yet another premature playoffs departure.

Even though the Green and White opened the series with a 5-2 victory March 7, the Huskies dropped the next two games by scores of 4-2 and 5-1 at home to unexpectedly exit the playoffs before the Canada West final for the first time since 2001. Then, the Huskies lost on the road to the Bisons.

And despite the pesky and effective hockey played by the Bisons, there was a sense that the Huskies would revert to the typical, successful script.

In the opening five minutes of the second period of game three, with the score tied 1-1, Saskatchewan found themselves on a two-man advantage. The crowd was a buzzin’. Hell, I even took the time to scribble “momentum has shifted in favour of the home side” in my notebook.

A goal and the Bisons would have been buried.

But then the wheels fell off.

They failed to score on the power-play, only to see Manitoba’s Mike Hellyer and Blair MacAulay score goals roughly 40 seconds apart to make it 3-1 just moments after the penalties expired. MacAulay and Hellyer would add power play tallies before the period was out to effectively end discussion of a comeback.

The Bisons’ roster would strike fear in few. Goaltender Steve Christie, who stopped 69 shots in the Bisons’ two wins, never played major junior hockey, while the Huskies’ two main foils Hellyer and MacAulay had nondescript careers in the Western Hockey League.

By reputation alone the Huskies would topple the Bisons. But not only did the Bisons beat the Huskies in their own building, however, they beat them at their own game.

The grit and grind typically associated with “Huskies hockey” belonged to Manitoba. As they did all season long against the Huskies, the Bisons stifled the Saskatchewan’s offence, playing scrappier and with more intent on the defensive end. Saskatchewan had 11 opportunities on the power play, but had trouble generating many quality chances.

Even though the Huskies scored a whopping 29 more goals than Manitoba during the regular season, in the six games between the two teams, which they split three wins apiece, Saskatchewan only managed to score more than two goals in regulation on two occasions — both 4-1 wins. And with their offence stymied the Huskies were essentially listless.

There were bad breaks, sure. As reported by the StarPhoenix, Huskies forward Steven DaSilva had appeared to score late in the first period, but the referee waved it off. Later, an unofficial video replay revealed Christie reaching back to pull the puck out of the net.

In the end, however, the Bisons were the better team when it mattered. Sure, it wasn’t expected. This time of year is about tradition in the Canada West. Saskatchewan should be playing Alberta for the regional crown.

But come playoff time nothing is sacred, apparently not even the hollowed, but derelict home turf of Rutherford Rink.

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photo: Robby Davis

Mystic Java provides an alternative weekend option

2010-03-10T23:04:30Z

KEVIN MENZ
Arts Writer

Usually a university student’s Friday night plans do not consist of a coffee shop. However, Mystic Java’s Friday night acoustic shows seem to be changing that.

A couple of weeks ago, Talk Show host Jason Hattie played an acoustic set at the small coffee shop.

The environment was pleasant and unconventional, and the concert set-up didn’t completely take over the venue. Hattie had set up at the back of the shop, away from the front counter. This made it possible for those customers who just wanted to meet some friends for coffee to ignore Hattie and enjoy the intimate coffee shop conversations they are used to. It also allowed those who were there for the show to grab a table close to where Hattie was set-up.

Of the diverse crowd, which included his supporters, computer-nerds and the usual coffee shop customers, Hattie said, “You always get the support up front. The mid-venue guys who maybe don’t mind the music but are just there to crush (World of Warcraft’s) Azeroth are totally fine by me. I mean it takes a lot of dedication to ding 80. And the older folk in the back who are trying to ignore me are what they are. It makes for good cannon fodder.”

Nicole Warriner, an employee at Mystic Java, also likes the crowd that the acoustic shows bring in.

“We have acoustic shows every Friday night,” said Warriner. “What I like about it is the variety, the atmosphere and the customers it brings in.”

Being an acoustic show, it still allowed for intimate conversations. In fact, even at the tables right in front of Hattie, the acoustic setting made the perfect backdrop for conversation.

Of course, just the acoustic music on its own made for a great setting.

“It’s nice listening to some rad tunes over a cup of tea and a slice of apple pie,” said Mystic Java customer, Alex Bergerman. “I may consider going on a regular basis.”

“Sometimes coffee shops are just a nice change of pace from the bar scene. It’s just a nice little place to go and sing a few tunes — not much pressure and you can just relax and play what you want,” said Hattie.

Indeed, Mystic Java’s Friday night acoustic shows is a superb change from the typical bar nights; they are relaxing and they provide a good atmosphere for music and conversation. I will also, most definitely, consider going on a regular basis.

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Academy Awards post-mortem

2010-03-10T22:36:54Z

BLAIR WOYNARSKI
Arts Writer

Oscar night: a time when all the best and brightest of Hollywood look up at the stars and wish for the chance to get their hands on that precious statue.

It is a time when they can receive an education on what makes a film stand out, but fear that they may be blind-sided by some inglorious bastards who don’t really deserve it. A serious man knows that his chances may be up in the air, but he keeps his reserve and doesn’t catch himself in a hurt locker yearning for that little golden avatar of the Academy… District 9.

As everyone knows, The Hurt Locker claimed the stage at last Sunday’s Academy Awards, taking six awards, including best picture, best director and best original screenplay. I haven’t seen this movie, unfortunately. I wanted to, but I never got the chance.

In fact, I didn’t see many of the films nominated, which is both disappointing and embarrassing, being the cinephile that I attempt to be. So this year was a different experience, where I wasn’t so much bound by my personal feelings and just willing to watch the wheels turn.

Before the award show the Internet was, as it often is, abuzz. There were two distinct camps: pro-Avatar and anti-Avatar. This show was destined to be a showdown between James Cameron and his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow while audiences waited to see whether Avatar or The Hurt Locker would win the big prize. The pre-emptive rage about the possibility of Avatar winning was soon followed by rage that it didn’t win. Responding to that, a number of people are chiming in that neither film deserved to win. And so on.

So what do the Oscars mean? Every year, all they do is enrage people. Some say that the Academy is out of touch with cinema, some say it is flooded with arthouse sensibilities, and some say it doesn’t have enough arthouse sensibilities.

The fact is, the Academy is a 6,000 member body drawn from people all across the industry, each with their own personal views. They are then expected to shove those views aside and take an objective stance on the best achievement in film. By nature, this is an imperfect design.

Movie-watching is not an objective experience. One can make obvious objective claims like, “Meet the Spartans was inferior to The Godfather,” but when it comes down to details, it becomes much more difficult. There are many different levels on which one can enjoy a film, so when you must come up with one title that defines all that cinema is in a given year, you are bound to piss people off. Everyone comes to understand this. I remember in 2005 when Garden State was snubbed in every single category, I understood that the Oscars will never be a definitive gauge of the greatest films. They’re bound to make mistakes. They have to.

People still complain about Shakespeare in Love beating Saving Private Ryan and Forrest Gump beating The Shawshank Redemption. The Academy has made some mistakes, obviously, but it’s not their job to choose what films will be remembered in decades to come; they have to make a knee-jerk decision about what movie is important to movies right now. Maybe they’re right; maybe they’re wrong.

The Hurt Locker was probably the most typical “Oscar movie” this year. Even though I haven’t seen it, I know that it is a hard-hitting drama with politically relevant themes, unflinching in its content but delicate in its storytelling. I understand why it won.

Avatar is a different type of movie, though no one can decide what type it is. Revolutionary filmmaking or expensive eye-candy? The debate rages on. A win for the movie would have been a big move for the Academy, still reproachful of action-based genre films (Return of the King notwithstanding). It also would have provoked cries of the Academy selling out. The Hurt Locker was the safer choice. Was it better? Time will tell.

So why watch the Oscars? Essentially, to get pissed off. They will never stop doing things that make you angry, but it is not done out of spite or ignorance. It is done out of faith. There are a lot of good movies out there. A lot of great ones. But if only one movie gets chosen, it has to stand out for reasons beyond being good, and not everyone will agree on what those reasons are.

So the Academy has to have faith that the movies it picks have something that makes them stand out, if not for all time, then for right then. You can agree or disagree, but no matter how angry you get, you’re still watching.

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photo: Flickr

U of S students ready to brawl in MMA event

2010-03-10T22:30:41Z

MATTHEW SPENCER
Sports Writer

The fastest growing sport in the world, mixed martial arts, is coming to Saskatoon again when Alpha Fight XC is showcased at TCU Place on March 13.

MMA fever has now attracted two University of Saskatchewan students who will make the transition from the classroom to the ring.

Like its popular, much publicized cousin Ultimate Fighter Championship, underground MMA circuits have been gaining significant ground throughout Canada in recent years and Alpha Fight is no exception. The much anticipated evening of MMA fights will feature some of the best fighting talent the prairies have to offer.

The full contact mixed martial arts Alpha Fight, sanctioned by Saskatchewan’s Martial Arts Association, features a combination of fighting styles and divisions that include MMA, Jiu-Jitsu, kickboxing, wrestling, Muay Thai and boxing.

While the city is no stranger to mixed martial arts events, Alpha Fight XC looks to be one of the best organized events to hit Saskatoon.

Event co-ordinator Troy Scheer, owner of Scheer’s Martial Arts, a colossal 30,000 square-foot gym located off Boychuk Drive and Highway 16, has managed to keep his facility one of the city’s best kept secrets among Saskatoon’s fitness circles.

The secret may come out on March 13, with eight of the 12 fights showcasing fighters from Scheer’s. The Saskatchewan line-up includes first-year pharmacy student Derek Gatz and second-year kinesiology student Claire Roberts. The rest of the talent being showcased in Alpha Fight has been pulled in from across western Canada.

Roberts will be fighting three rounds against another Saskatoon fighter in a modified Muay Thai kickboxing match. Gatz, meanwhile, will show off his skills in one of nine UFC-style caged fights.

The only difference between MMA fights on TV and Alpha Fight is that as an amateur tournament, fights will only last two rounds, with each round consisting of five minutes. That is, of course, only if a fighter does not first submit or knock out their opponent.

Gatz, the student pharmacist, will be making his octagon debut and looks forward to switching from dispensing pills to dispensing physical pain. Gatz does not think his fight will go the distance but rather plans to win it “as fast as possible.”

Speed seems to be Gatz’s style and only two years ago, with no fighting background, he walked into Scheer’s and began training in kickboxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Roberts, on the other hand, has been at it for much longer. This will be her second career fight after three years, having started martial arts training at a young age in youth classes offered at Scheer’s.

As a shorter fighter, Roberts’ strategy is to keep her opponent at a distance.
“And I plan on keeping her busy so she doesn’t have a chance to take over the fight,” she said.

Tickets for Alpha Fight XC can be picked at a numer of locations including Scheer’s Martial Arts, O’Brian’s Sales and Leasing, Winston’s Pub and O’Shea’s Irish Pub.

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With files from Ishmael N. Daro.

Billy Bishop returns to Persephone Theatre after 30 years

2010-03-12T09:42:06Z

Zachary Gray (left) and Ryan Beil star in Billy Bishop Goes to War
GREG REESE
Arts Editor

Thirty years ago Billy Bishop Goes to War helped pull Persephone Theatre out of a tailspin of financial trouble. Now the legendary Canadian play is back — and it’s fresher than ever.

Ryan Beil, who portrays roughly 10 different characters including Billy Bishop himself, and Zachary Gray, musician and wingman, create a fast-paced atmosphere that propels this remarkably humorous story of blood lust, patriotism and the futility of the First World War.

The current production, which is dedicated to John Babcock —the last Canadian first world war veteran, who passed away on Feb. 18 of this year — comes across with energy and professionalism. At one point during the performance, a lamp was accidently dropped and, without missing a beat, Beil ad-libbed his way through it, picking up right where he left off. The audience resounded with applause, recognizing his skill and poise.

Transitions between scenes were seamless. And onstage set pieces took on creative functions, as the actors doubled as stagehands. The makeshift airplane at the end of the production alone is worth the price of admission.

The music was, well, largely anachronistic. However, that was sort of the idea. Director Sarah Rodgers, in her director’s message in the program, recalls her initial thoughts, saying, “How wonderful to bring forth the ‘next generation’ — a young, new sound to a beautiful show.”

Listening to the more modern-sounding songs was a lot like getting into cold water: uncomfortable at first but, after a while, you don’t want to get out. Plus, the harmonies between Beil and Gray were golden. (Gray plays in the Vancouver indie band, The Zolas.)

Above the multitude of accomplishments of Billy Bishop is the balance it strikes between respectful patriotism and criticism of war. A song near the end of the play, called “The Empire Soiree,” speaks to the seeming inevitability and futility of war while remaining wholly entertaining.

Billy Bishop Goes to War plays at the Frank and Ellen Remai Arts Centre nightly at 8 p.m. until March 17.
Sundays at 2 p.m. Seats range from $22 to $35.

The Germans are never demonized in the play (though Bishop kills his fair share of enemy soldiers, even learning to enjoy the kills). Watching two German soldiers free fall to their deaths, Bishop is able to see through his temporary blood lust.

The play manages to maintain the ubiquitous “support our troops” mentality while damning the powers that be. In other words, this play is both important and timely. It gives an insiders’ look into one of the bloodiest wars in history, it entertains and it questions the immoral rationale of empire.

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Nothing wrong with assisted suicide

2010-03-10T21:03:13Z

TOMAS BORSA
Opinions Writer

There are a million and one reasons why we might decide to quit before God fires us: on the principle of self-awareness, to prove a point, to end our suffering. It is this final motive that tends to evoke the most compassion.

Or at least, it should. Despite the wishes of many rational individuals suffering from chronic, insufferable psychological or physical pain, the right to decide the time and circumstances of one’s own death — the right to die — remains illegal in most countries.

For those whose suffering is so extensive that they lack the physical capacity to end their own lives, assisted suicide or euthanasia are the only ways out.

Now is a good time to distinguish between euthanasia and assisted suicide. The former involves someone other than the victim — i.e. a consenting parent, doctor or spouse — ending a life in a painless manner.

Predictably, the sticking point in the argument in support of euthanasia is that “someone other than the victim” is ultimately pulling the strings (the case of Robert Latimer, for example, demonstrated just how blurry the line between “compassion” and “riddance” can become in the eyes of the public). Thus, in most jurisdictions, euthanasia is treated as a compassionate route of exit only when the recipient has four legs and a tail.

Assisted suicide, on the other hand, involves nothing more than providing the means to an end. Whether it is prescribing a lethal dosage of medication or allowing a loved one to press their own terminal red button, assisted suicide is legal only in Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands.

An assisted suicide could, for example, take the following form: a 55 year-old woman living with narcolepsy, multiple sclerosis and severe memory loss has constant, debilitating pain and monthly prescription costs of $4,600 (only half of which is covered by Medicare). As a result of her constant pain and overall poor quality of life, she has communicated the wish to die with dignity, on her own terms. She has the full support of her husband.

Under the Criminal Code of Canada, her husband could face a maximum sentence of 14 years for being accomplice to a loving and rationally-reached personal choice. By the way, that is a real example.

The issue of assisted suicide was flung into the laps of Canadians in 1992 when Sue Rodriguez, a victim of Lou Gehrig’s disease, tried to persuade Parliament to change the laws that criminalized it. In a video recorded message, she asked legislators:

“If I cannot give consent to my own death, whose body is this? Who owns my life?”

If life is having the freedom to joyfully pursue one’s passions, then Sue Rodriguez lost her life long before her eventual (assisted) death in 1994.

Personally, I feel the debate over the right to die marks the apex of the grand debate over bodily autonomy that everyone, at some point or another, will have experienced in their life. As infants, many young girls have their ears pierced in the name of aesthetics and cultural norms.

Meanwhile, in the next room over, many young boys are having a bit of this and a bit of that snipped away in the name of religious tradition. Years later, those same boys and girls will be told that they should think twice about getting their next piercing, are not allowed to get a tattoo, are not allowed to dye their hair green, and are not allowed to eat this, drink that or wear those.

In all of these rather innocent examples, the judgment of a guardian supersedes the wishes of the child (unless we assume that many infants are in fact masochists).

But at some point — the age of adulthood — bodily autonomy has to be returned to the owner. It has never been all right to take a person’s life, so how is it all right to force a person to live against their will?

These are two sides to the same battered coin. How can “society,” a collection of predominantly personally unaffected, able-bodied people, decide that a person’s right to self-determination is only allowable up to the point when it is really, truly needed, when it becomes an issue of self-termination?

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photo: Justina Kochansky / Flickr

Jill Gallays ends CIS career on golden note

2010-03-10T20:52:57Z

KAROL KUDYBA
Sports Writer

Five wrestlers and four medals — that’s how you own a podium. Just ask Jill Gallays and the Huskies wrestling crew who recently put the competition in a chokehold at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport wrestling championships.

The Huskies captured two gold, a silver and a bronze at the national level CIS finale in Calgary over March 5 and 6.

This marks the end of the season for the wrasslin’ Huskies, in a year that saw the men’s and women’s teams finish fourth and sixth in the CIS respectively. Canada West championship two weekends ago that only saw five Huskies advance, the Green and White bounced back in a big way during the CIS championships.

The only woman to advance to the CIS championship was captain Jill Gallays. Gallays advanced to the CIS championships easily after she dominated conference championships and convincingly pinned all four of her opponents.

In the final wrestling competition of her impeccable university career, Gallays prevailed for one last time, achieving golden status for the Dogs yet again — and it came after beating Western Ontario’s Brianne Berry in the final. Gallays was in top form when it counted, winning both of her opening round matches on the first day.

Competing in the 55-kilogram weight class, Gallays has wrestled and beaten opponents all over the world, and demonstrated once more why she is an Olympic hopeful.

“Olympics is my No. 1 goal. Hopefully I get there, 2012 in London,” the ambitious Gallays told the StarPhoenix following her CIS gold medal.

Though the CIS season has drawn to a close, Gallays will now focus on the swiftly approaching women’s World Cup in China, a test that will truly determine if she is of Olympic calibre.

“I’m going to the World Cup in a few weeks in China, so that is kind of the first step to getting to the Olympics.”

Daniel Olver, wrestling in the 76-kilogram weight class, was the other gold medalist for the Huskies. The victory also marked Olver’s fourth straight title.

Landon Squires (90-kilogram) won the silver and heavyweight Tim Kent won the Huskies lone bronze. Kent and fellow Huskies wrestler Beth Thompson also won student-athlete awards for their involvement in the wrestling community.

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Ivan Tam

Fred Penner still believes in music

2010-03-10T20:37:46Z

RORY MACLEAN
Arts Editor

Audiences have grown up over the years. But for iconic Canadian children’s entertainer Fred Penner, the people remain the same.

“The vernacular changes a lot along the way,” he said. “The words you use to express something have changed, but that’s only minimal and surface. The elements of a person have never changed. The need that we have to communicate, the need that we have to relate to each other is fundamental.”

Penner will be playing Louis’ Pub March 12, as part of a national tour.

Penner knows that people come to reconnect with a figure from their childhood and now that they’ve grown up a bit he has a little more opportunity to explain himself.

“It’s a bit of nostalgia in a way, but at the same time it’s a bit of the philosophy.”

If you start getting heavy with the kids you can come off as a bit of a talking head,” he said. “College-age fans typically come motivated by curiosity, however, so there’s room for more of a dialogue.

For Penner, music is an extremely powerful force.

“I believe in the power of music to affect humanity, I don’t think there’s any question about that…. Art gives us an understanding about ourselves, about how we perceive things”.

Music begins with our bodies, said Penner.

“The fundamental beginning of it is the pulse of your heartbeat. The spectrum of sound begins to make patterns for you. You start hearing this cacophony of sound as music starts to take shape. It has an ability to make you feel a certain way. These patterns connect with us.

“As you can tell, I’m passionate about the whole thing. I understand how it works and I understand how I fit into the system. That’s part of my perspective on life and the whole ball of wax here.”

Penner said audiences can expect an assortment of classics as well as new material in his upcoming shows. He wrote a new song for campus crowds called “Face to Face,” but he says he won’t forget about the hits.

“The cat will come back,” he said. Fans of his song “Sandwiches” won’t be disappointed either.

Now that he is no longer on television, Penner says much of his younger audience doesn’t actually know who he is. They come because their parents, who grew up with him in the ’80s, bring them.

This provides him with an opportunity to develop new relationships, he said.

Occasionally grown up fans will share childhood memories with him.

“The interesting thing is when you watch something that you enjoy, you tend to emulate it. I got an email this morning from a young woman, she was in the UBC audience, she remembered building, like, a log, and when she watched Fred Penner’s Place, she would crawl through this log like I did.”

He seems flattered by all the positive feedback he has received, including daily letters and emails, not to mention becoming a member of the Order of Canada in 1991, but he says you never get used to it.

“It’s quite overwhelming and you can’t really anticipate it when you start a performing career. You start your journey as best you can and if it falls into place, then good on you.”

In recent years, Penner has experienced a resurgence in his popularity as fans of his CBC TV show, which ran from 1985 to 1997, have grown up and are now having kids of their own.

“At this point the foundation of my career is pretty solid. I’ve covered all corners of North America. So now it’s playing the different elements.”

Five years ago when he and a Toronto-based team began pitching new shows to different networks around North America, he said there was not much interest. But now Penner said there is “potential of doing a new TV series.”

The lack of live people in children’s programming is a concern to him.

“There are few human beings anymore. Everything is animated,” he said. Penner says he brings a depth that few other programs today can match.

“There’s a personal level that I think my stuff has. It’s interactive, sharing a thought. It prods at emotion along the way.”

Whether he’s on the road or in the TV studio in the future, Penner is assured that it’s worth it.

“I’ve never had a gig that I didn’t want to do,” he said. “What’s the phrase? ‘If you find a job you love you’ll never work a day in your life.’ I understand the value of it and I’m in it for life.”

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Anthem hysteria

2010-03-10T20:31:37Z

ISHMAEL N. DARO
Opinions Writer

On March 3, the Conservative government presented its new agenda in a Speech from the Throne. Although it was mostly about the gloomy economy, there was also this nugget: “Our Government will also ask Parliament to examine the original gender-neutral English wording of the national anthem.”

In less than 20 words, the government invited criticism from across the country. Numerous editorials were written about the stupidity of wanting to change O Canada and how this was political correctness run amok. People wrote in to newspapers, phoned radio shows and joined Facebook groups to protest the potential change to the anthem and, before long, the government caved to the pressure.

The offending line, of course, is “True patriot love in all thy sons command.” But the suggested change would have been a small one. After all, it was to examine the “original” gender-neutral language, not to concoct a new anthem entirely.

When Stanley Weir wrote his patriotic poem in 1908, it started as such: “O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love thou dost in us command.” Over the last hundred years, however, there have been numerous tweaks to the language, leaving us with “sons” and a rather awkward reference to God (but that’s another hornets’ nest altogether).

Changing four words would not have resulted in some anarcho-feminist manifesto. It simply would have expanded the true patriot love Canadians feel for their country from “sons” to everyone. Indeed, it would have been a restoration of the anthem to some extent.

What is even more surprising than the violent reaction the proposal was met with is that many people seemingly don’t know the words to the current O Canada. In numerous online discussions, people talked about “in all our sons command,” which does not appear in the anthem. The Province newspaper in British Columbia even wrote an editorial suggesting a change from “sons” to “hearts” in order to sing “True patriot love in all our hearts command,” making one wonder if the national anthem is sung differently in B.C.

There are some good reasons for keeping the anthem as it stands. After all, national symbols lose their meaning when changed too often. Most people don’t sing O Canada with the intention of excluding women anyway, interpreting it as a universal call to patriotism.

But regardless of how people interpret O Canada, the anthem still needs an update. People rarely employ the word mankind anymore, choosing instead to refer to humanity or humankind. Using sons to refer to the entire country is just as outdated a notion, especially given that women form a majority of the Canadian population.

National symbols are not set in stone. In fact, the current version of O Canada has only been Canada’s official national anthem since 1980 when it replaced God Save the Queen as the national anthem — certainly a change for the better.

Canadians often pride themselves in being able to examine the country critically, something lorded over those stubborn Americans to the south. But the most dangerous part about the backlash to the proposed changes has been a similar unwillingness to even discuss the role of the national anthem and what it means to citizens, particularly because the changes would have reflected the supposed Canadian value of inclusiveness. That the debate soon veered into hysteria does not bode well for future discussions about national identity.

One momentous change in Canada’s history occurred 45 years ago with the adoption of the red and white maple leaf as the Canadian flag. After considering hundreds of other designs, Parliament approved the wonderful flag flown proudly across the country today. At the official ceremony, Senator Maurice Bourget welcomed the flag as “the symbol of the nation’s unity, for it, beyond any doubt, represents all the citizens of Canada without distinction of race, language, belief or opinion.”

Those same principles of inclusion and unity ought to guide any discussion about the national anthem as well. A rational dialogue about national symbols shows off the best principles of Canadian society; blind adherence to tradition does not.

For another perspective, please read: “Changing O Canada is futile”

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photo: Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Changing O Canada is futile

2010-03-10T20:26:00Z

HOLLY CULP
Opinions Editor

According to Senator Nancy Ruth, the federal government’s choice to abandon possible changes to the national anthem is “another example, for me, of hatred against women.”

I’m going to respectfully disagree.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say yes, I am a feminist (gasp). Or at least I think I am. Does my not caring about the words to O Canada mean that I am not a feminist? I don’t feel wronged or excluded by the wording of the song and I appreciate political correctness and think it is important. Yet, I cannot bring myself to understand why the government felt the need to review the lyrics of O Canada.

Does my not caring about the words to O Canada mean that I am not a feminist?

For me it is mostly about timing.

For those of you who are of the belief that “there is no good time” to bring something like this up, you’re mistaken. Any time would have been better than immediately after the 2010 Olympics.

You’re going to propose changes to the national anthem less than a week after we host the Olympic Games? Are you fucking serious? Hosting the Games became the most patriotic moment Canada has seen in a long, long time; so much so that we were compared to Nazi Germany in 1936 by an American columnist. Yes, really.

Is it any wonder that Canadians everywhere were up in arms about the proposed change? We were all still winding down from the dizzying dream of drunken patriotism when they hit us with that doozy of a suggestion.

Although I don’t believe the backlash to the proposal to change the lyrics from “In all thy sons command” to something more gender inclusive is indicative of Canadians having a deeply rooted hatred for women, the reaction did seem a little strong.

A week ago I would have thought that the words “In all thy sons command” had always been there. Not so. They changed the lyrics from “Thou dost in us command” in 1980.

1980? That seems so… recent. When I learned of this I instantly became suspicious. The truth is, the version we have now is nothing like the original version.

The proposed change of the anthem seems like an empty, meaningless gesture toward the inclusion of women. Women have come a long way and there’s still a lot of work to do, but somehow I don’t feel that changing the words to a song is going to help us accomplish that. It is tokenism at its finest and if the government really wanted to help in the advancement of women, they would come up with some more creative and practical ideas than some minor change to a great song.

While I think that it would be interesting to discuss changing the anthem and that dismissing it so soon was a little extreme, I hope that the government had plans beyond as to how they hope to help women achieve full equality.

For another perspective, please read: Anthem hysteria
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photo: Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Sex trade show at TCU Place

2010-03-11T20:37:13Z

RORY MACLEAN
News Editor

Sex was in the air last weekend as young and old donned their flirtiest duds and got all oiled up for Saskatoon’s first naughty trade show at TCU Place.

Billed as an upscale consumer tradeshow, the Taboo Naughty but Nice show also aimed to create a bit of a party.

“It is what people make of it,” said Kevin Collins, spokesperson for Canwest Trade Shows, which sponsored the event.

“ ‘Dynamic’ is probably the best way to describe it. A lot of people come out of their shell, do things they wouldn’t normally do. Some people just come down to have a look; a few giggles.”

Other people, including couples, use the event as an educational experience, he said.

The event featured a series of workshops over the day, including ones on oral sex and the female orgasm. These demonstrations were lead by vendors, so they would usually begin as educational and then quickly veer into a pitch for whatever they were peddling.

And now that you know where the G-spot is, let me show you how to stimulate it with one of our fine glass dildos.

The gawk factor was enough to keep TCU busy Friday and Saturday night, with about 5,000 visiting over the course of the weekend. Shirtless men and women in ill-fitting corsets or bras and panties were plentiful both nights, possibly lured by the $6 drinks as they wandered the aisles among rows of dildos, vibrators, oils, whips and paddles.

“Saturday got really, really busy. For a while it was shoulder to shoulder,” said Collins.

Canwest flooded the city with promotional tickets, otherwise $15 at the door, to ensure the event was busy. This plan provided plenty of exposure, but Collins says they have not yet determined if sales over the weekend were enough to bring the show back to the city.

“I don’t know if we’re going to be coming back or not. It’s not really my decision,” he said.

Canwest has to first hear from all their vendors and make sure they sold enough in Saskatoon. The overall impression from them is positive, though.

There are nine or 10 exhibitors who have booths at every Taboo show, the only event of its kind in western Canada, while others only appear at certain locations.

“I go across Canada with them,” said Viktoria Kalatera, who runs a glass toy booth. “On average, we could be selling up to 500 pieces over a weekend.”

At no less than $50 per toy, this makes the $1,200 booth well worth it. But since Saskatoon was new territory, they were uncertain if sales would be good.

“This is the first time Saskatoon has actually held a sex show, so we weren’t sure what it was going to be like or how it was going to be received.”

On Friday night, business was slow but Kalatera was encouraged that people were curious and asking a lot of questions.

As onlookers walked by, she would thrust a glass dildo — which had been heated with warm water — into their hands to show off one of the selling points of glass toys. They can also be cooled down before use, she said.

“I always tell people to pick them up, play with them in their hands,” she said. “I own five of them at home — that’s me.”

Taboo also provided an opportunity for local group Saskatoon Saskatchewan King Association to educate people on BDSM, which signifies bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism.

BDSM can encompass any range of activities but for newly engaged demonstrators Rob Thomas and Allison Carpenter, it focuses on the idea of giving and receiving pain.

“She is submissive to me and I am a dominant, more on a top level, which is described as the idea of bringing physical pain to someone,” said Thomas. “Bottom is the idea of accepting pain but it doesn’t necessarily mean submission. It could just be for sensation.”

Someone who likes to try both top and bottom roles is referred to as a switch. Vanilla is a term for those outside of the BDSM culture.

Carpenter is a bottom, which means she likes Thomas to inflict (controlled) pain on her. Sometimes it is done sexually, as foreplay, though sometimes it is an end in and of itself.

Carpenter said Thomas will sometimes stick 30 to 40 syringes through her skin. For her, it’s an interesting feeling, but not a feeling of pleasure. Sometimes the two will play with a knife, where Thomas will scrape her back with a large blade.

“It’s all about having trust in him not to hurt me and he’s aware of how far is too far,” she said.

For some people this is something they would only do with their partner, but for others it is an experience external to their romantic relationships.

Thomas and Carpenter only like to play with each other, though they used to have an open relationship.

“We had an open relationship for quite a while, but it gets too complicated,” she said. “I like the idea, but when you take everybody’s emotions into play — I mean, it’s hard enough with just two people.”

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photo: Robby Davis / Raisa Pezderic

USSU election season almost here

2010-03-10T07:54:56Z

TANNARA YELLAND
Associate News Editor

Students will soon be asked to devote some time to electing a new executive for the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union.

Election season began on March 8 with a preliminary meeting for candidates, who watched a presentation explaining the purpose of the USSU and the details of each position.

There are five positions open to students: president, vice-president external affairs, vice-president operations and finance, vice-president student affairs and vice-president academic affairs.

Last year’s election was a mere formality with only one person running for each position, all being acclaimed. However, there were at least eight candidates present at the initial meeting this year and by the time candidates are finalized on March 15 there could be more — or fewer, if some of the potential candidates fail to show that they are in good standing with their colleges. The fact that there will likely be more than one candidate for some positions promises to make debates and voting more interesting for everyone involved.

The 2009 election was criticized both because only one candidate ran for each position and because no women were in the running. However, at least one of the potential candidates for this year’s election is a woman.

Campaigning begins at 12:01 a.m. on March 17, giving candidates one week to get their faces, names and messages to students before voting begins on March 24.

Look for signs advertising candidates’ debates in the coming weeks.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/theresasthompson/ / CC BY 2.0

Heavy media usage linked to depression

2010-03-11T20:24:22Z

KRISTY RYDZ
The Uniter (University of Winnipeg)

WINNIPEG (CUP) — Sarah-Kate Salmon readily admits she spends a large part of her day attached to her cellphone — yet she’s terrified of talking on it.

“I’m texting from 8 a.m. until 12 a.m.,” the Grade 12 student from Winnipeg said. “I could text someone, ‘I’m madly in love with you,’ but I can’t talk on the phone. It’s awkward.”

While Salmon likes to tune into her favourite TV shows and uses Facebook to procrastinate from homework, not all of her media exposure has been positive.

On her 15th birthday, Salmon was the victim of a physical attack by a group of teens — one girl and three boys — that put her in the hospital with a concussion.

“She kind of just kicked my head until I bled out my ear,” Salmon recalled.

After a friend told her a video of the attack had been posted on YouTube, she was forced to deal with the horror again.

“I thought, ‘What if this gets around?’ Then it just struck up the fear of it happening again. The situation just kept replaying in my head,” Salmon said.

It’s this complicated relationship between teenagers and the media that is the focus of a new study from Washington, D.C.’s Kaiser Family Foundation called “Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8–18 Year Olds.”

Reporting increased levels of entertainment media usage, with an average of over seven hours daily, the study has found a correlation between low levels of personal contentment and heavy users of media. Of the respondents, 21 per cent were identified as heavy users, meaning they consume upwards of 16 hours of media per day.

Taking into account variables such as age, race, parent education and single- versus two-parent households, contentment is measured by how the participant responds to questions like whether they often feel sad, get into trouble, are bored, get good grades and if they have a lot of friends.

According to Michael Zwaagstra, a high school teacher and research associate at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, the study’s findings prove what he has seen for years.

“Time spent playing video games isn’t time spent socializing,” he said. “When you ask students, ‘How do you feel after you’ve spent all night playing games?’ The universal response is, ‘I feel terrible. I feel like I’ve accomplished nothing.’ ”

Zwaagstra advocates for more time spent on the fundamental skills of reading and writing in the earlier years in place of technologically-focused classrooms.

“We seem to be jumping (to) the latest gadgets instead of focusing on the basics,” he says. “If you have someone that already struggles with making friends, it makes it that much easier to avoid social interaction.”

Brad Stelmach, a guidance counsellor and psychology teacher in Winnipeg, sees the impact of social media in his office daily.

“Kids will come in to be counselled and (will) be crying, in distress. But their cellphone will buzz and they’ll answer it right away,” he said.

After helping students deal with the effects that Facebook statuses and text messages have on friendships, romantic relationships and bullying, Stelmach acknowledges that each individual has different predispositions and thresholds for media addiction.

“Technology is a great thing when it’s used in the appropriate way,” he said. “Sure there’s going to be a correlation (between heavy media use and discontentment), but is it going to impact everyone the same? No.”

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photo: Jill Brown

Five Days for the Homeless

2010-03-10T07:23:07Z

RORY MACLEAN
News Editor

Five days for the homeless, where five students from the Edwards School of Business spend five days living outside to raise funds to help homeless people, begins next week, running from March 14 to 19.

“The main focus of the event is to increase awareness of youth at risk and of youth homelessness,” said Reem Matlak, local event organizer.

Five days for the homeless started in Alberta in 2005 and has been held in Saskatoon every year since 2008. The Saskatoon group is trying to raise $12,000 to donate to the Saskatoon downtown youth centre, EGADZ.

“They will be sleeping outside throughout the week,” said Matlak. “They have to attend all their classes, they don’t have access to showers on campus and they cannot have any flow of income.”

This year’s participants — John Irwin, Lisa Book, Gaelen Andrews, Megan Orr and Arianna Berthold — cannot pay for meals with their own income. All their food must be donated during the fundraiser.

“They’re given a sleeping bag and pillow. They use that throughout the week,” she said. Technology, including cell phones and laptops, is not permitted.

The five Edwards students must also wear the same clothes over the course of the challenge. They are allowed to trade in their sleeping bags and pillows for an emergency meal, if things should get tough.

Matlak says the point of the fundraiser is not to make these students suffer, but to use visible homelessness as a marketing gimmick to shine the spotlight on EGADZ and its programs.

“Instead of just having a poster on the wall saying these people are at risk, (you’re) going to see these people outside,” she said.

If weather dips below -15 C, participants will be allowed to stay inside.

Those interested in donating can do it online at fivedays.ca, or look for the group in the Arts Tunnel.

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file photo: Michelle Berg

Arlene Dickinson of Dragons’ Den visits

2010-03-10T07:19:07Z

ASHLEIGH MATTERN
Editor-in-Chief

“Don’t get caught up in being a woman in business, get caught up in being in business,” said Arlene Dickinson, owner of Venture Communications and best known for her role on CBC’s Dragons’ Den.

“Thirty or 40 years ago, women fought hard for a right to sit at a business table. Now we should be fighting hard to be competent at the business table, and no longer characterize ourselves as women at the table but as business people at the table.”

Dickinson was at the University of Saskatchewan on March 4 to speak to 21 student entrepreneurs — all of them women. She had a lot of advice for business people in general, but much of the conversation was geared towards women entrepreneurs specifically.

Gabrielle Scrimshaw, a fourth-year Edwards School of Business student, asked what advice Dickinson would give her 20-year-old self. The question elicited a long pause from Dickinson.

“It probably would have been to eat less when I was pregnant,” she responded, which elicted a laugh from the mostly 20-somethings at the lunch.

“I am not kidding. You pay later on for what you did to your body,” she added with a laugh. “That’s a very girl thing to say but it’s very true.”

She went on to say that she would also tell herself not to take everything so seriously.

“I thought that every decision was monumental and if I made a mistake then that would be a mistake forever. And what I’ve learned is that the mistakes are actually learning experiences.”

It was the first piece of advice of many to come during the hour-long lunch meeting.

Dickinson is the only woman on the panel of successful business people on the Dragons’ Den panel. Other panelists include Jim Treliving, owner of Boston Pizza, and U of S graduate W. Brett Wilson, owner of Prairie Merchant and founder of the W. Brett Wilson Centre on campus, which provided the opportunity for the lunch with Dickinson.

Now in its fifth season, the format of Dragons’ Den is similar to the American Idol format, but instead of getting up in front of judges and singing, the contestants get up in front of prospective investors and pitch their businesses.

The business people on the panel seem heartless at times, and many of the contestants walk away rejected, but Dickinson says sometimes that’s what it takes.

“You can be aggressive without being bitchy; you can be strong without feeling like you don’t have a right to be.”

Despite her assertion that women should think of themselves as business people first, she admitted there are differences between women and men. For example, Dickinson pointed out that more women start businesses than men, but more men stay in business and go big with that business.

“We’re the people that when the parents get sick we quit our careers. When we have children, we quit our careers. When our husband needs to go to school, we quit our careers. And that’s unfortunately the genetics that you’ve all been born with, and it’s not a bad thing; there’s a lot to be said for moms who stay at home and raise the next generation. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be business people too.”

In 1988, Dickinson started as at Venture Communications, and by 1998, she was the owner. The Dragons’ Den intro says she has made “tens of millions of dollars” but it isn’t all about successes.

Carlene Deutscher, Wilson Centre marketing coordinator, asked what Dickinson has learned from her failures.

“Divorce has taught me a lot. That’s a big failure; I consider that a failure. Not being successful in marriage has taught me a lot about myself as a person…. My biggest failure in business was taking too long to figure out that as an entrepreneur I couldn’t do it myself.”

After living in Austrailia, Scrimshaw was inspired to start her own business, importing clothing from Australian designers for her proposed store Indulge, which she hopes to open this summer after graduating.

Scrimshaw said she could relate to Dickinson.

“She wasn’t intimidating or rude or checked her Blackberry every two minutes. She came around and she shook all of our hands,” said Scrimshaw. “Those are the sort of relationship management things that people who are really successful, they get it. She was human. For everything else, she cut the BS and she got right to it.”

As for the female-tailored advice, Scrimshaw said it was nice to hear a successful woman talk about her experiences.

“We can’t say that (men and women are) equal because we’re not, we’re different. We have to acknowledge those differences and work with them…. Women have strengths that men don’t have.”

Words of wisdom from Arlene Dickinson

“We (employers) check Facebook to find out what’s going on with the people we hire…. You each have a brand and you each have an obligation to manage your brand and no one else will do it for you. If you don’t manage a brand, it will manage you.”

“Nothing beats face to face communication.”

“You need to find where your strengths are and then shine. Don’t be afraid of what you know, but don’t let your insecurities personally drive your business behaviour either.”

“The passion I have for my children, which is unconditional love, is the same passion I have for my business. Nobody was going to take me off that path. If you just have a job or you create a business because you feel like you should, you won’t succeed.”

“My mentor is the person sitting right next to me…. Never be afraid to ask the person sitting right next to you about themselves. You’ll be amazed at what you learn.”

“You will never be strong mentally if you’re not strong physically. The best stress relief I have happens to be running. I weight-train and I run.”