The BrunswickanThe BrunswickanVolume 141 Issue 13 • Canada’s Oldest Official Student Publication • UNB Fredericton’s Student Paper • Nov. 28, 2007

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“It’s not uncommon to have mice anywhere”

A call to the Public Health Inspector earlier this month led to the discovery of several dead mice in McConnell Hall. Inspections occurred on November 6, 19, and 22, but it was only on the third inspection that the dining hall was found to be rodent-free and cleared by Public Health.

McConnell is UNB Fredericton’s largest dining hall, which serves the more than 500 students in the central residence cluster, as well as members of other residences, faculty, and staff.

Scott MacLean, Regional Director of the Health Protection Branch for the Department of Health, outlines the details of several of the reports. The following information is from the second inspection, which took place on November 19.

“It involved a complaint investiga-tion involving mice in the kitchen,” says MacLean. “The Inspector, during the course of his inspection, found a dead mouse on a glue board in the dry storage room, a dead mouse on a glue board in the grill area, and some mouse drop-pings on the floor in the same area.”

This was a follow-up to the initial complaint investigation which took place on November 6, where additional mice were found.

After the first investigation, Mc-Connell was flagged as ‘yellow’ on the

Department of Health’s online public rating system, which signifies that the food service establishment does not meet one or more health regulations. The establishment is given a deadline to meet the necessary criteria; this was November 22 for McConnell Hall.

“The 19th was a follow-up to the one on the 6th,” says MacLean. “Holes in areas noted on November 6 had not yet been plugged.” As well, he mentions that “there was an accumulation of grease in the area of the deep fryer and grill still not cleaned up.”

It was also noted that all food had been stored in sealed packaging, and as a result, was not contaminated by the mice.

The repairs were completed by the November 22 deadline, and pest control measures have been increased.

Martin Bayliss, General Manager of Sodexho at UNB, says due to the increasingly cold weather, mice are very common in buildings this time of year.

“Every fall there’s increased activ-ity,” says Bayliss. “It’s not uncommon to have mice anywhere. I’ve had them in my house on occasion. It’s a pretty normal thing in a large building. On campus, I know there’s been a lot of construction this summer that I think may have displaced some mice… When the weather becomes cold, it’s usually your peak time for any kind of pest activity.”

Bayliss says that when Sodexho did notice, the proper calls were made to the physical plant and pest control to take care of the situation. Holes were patched, and pest control began to enhance surveillance.

As well, Bayliss says that “when the Health Inspector came, we asked him to take more detail about what else can be done to facilitate eliminating the problem. You cannot put poisons out in a food facility. Years ago that was a normal practice, but it’s no longer ac-ceptable.”

After the third visitation, the Public Health Inspector recommended McCo-nnell to renew their license – essentially meaning their status went back to green on the Public Health website, and that inspections would return at a regular biannual schedule.

“The Health Inspector was more than satisfied with the work that was done to help prevent further infestation,” says Bayliss. “We’re in there every day, we double check every day. When we see an increase in activity, we check. We

check our product everyday. We check everything, every day. Bar none.”

Bayliss says that glue boards and mouse traps are set out all the time to assure those mice that do enter the building are caught.

James Brown, Executive Director of Residential Life, Campus, and Confer-ence Services, manages the contract UNB has with Sodexho. He, too, says that mice are a common problem in large buildings such as McConnell.

“I first heard of the idea of mice in any building, the first day I came here,” says Brown. “Every residence building has probably at least one mouse in it. What happens is it gets cold, and the mice try to find their way into the building. And they’re good at it... I also ran food

see Mice page 2

by Josh O’Kane

Bright lights, flashing neon signs, and a seemingly endless flow of money: No, this is not Las Vegas. These are some of the tools used that can addict a person to the thrill of gambling.

Recently, New Brunswick’s Graham government proposed a new gambling policy. Finance Minister Victor Bou-dreau announced they will cut the num-ber of video lottery terminals (VLTs) by 650, reducing them to 2,000 within the province, knowing the machines are addictive for some people. The report also said one casino will be built in the province by 2010.

One of the main objectives of this new policy is to bring the reality of addictive gambling to light by seeking “transformational change” on the gam-bling policy in this province. In fact, the New Brunswick Department of Health and Wellness shows that young people between the ages of 19-34 are at the highest risk of developing a gambling problem.

The Know the Score (KTS) program, developed by the Responsible Gambling Council, targets people within the high-risk age group and sensitizes them to the dangers gambling can bring.

“Our goal is not to preach; it is about awareness and educating the students about the risks of gambling and to help provide a reality check that students may have received about beating the odds or winning big,” explained Lisa Couperus, Manager of Special Projects and Pro-grams for the Responsible Gambling Council.

This program has been around since 2001 and has been touring universities and colleges around Canada and New York State, while it is currently in Mani-toba, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New York State. It was being piloted at two New Brunswick universities, UNBF and Mount Allison. The hope is that these pilot programs will go well so their presence can become regularized, while being a good resource for students, as Couperus explains.

“This is our first trip to present KTS in New Brunswick. The next step fol-lowing these programs is to conduct evaluations of the programs, getting students doing follow-up questions about what they thought of it and how much information has been retained,” she said. “Our hope is that this program goes well and hopefully expands to visit other universities in Atlantic Canada as well.”

Do you ‘Know the Score’?

by Lauren Kennedy

see Gambling page 4

Government leaves Student Union in the dark

The Post Secondary Education (PSE) Report, released in September, was a hot debate topic at last week’s UNB Student Union council meeting.

The meeting warmed up when the PSE Report discussion began. President of the Student’s Union, Brad Mullins, had presented the members with ques-tions to consider regarding the Report prior to the meeting.

These questions focused on the key problem areas of the Report, such as rising tuition rates, large student debt, credit transfers, student financial aid, and deferred maintenance.

Mullins expressed his concerns of the Report, saying the government needs to step up and start communicating their information to the public.

“There is a lack of knowledge of what’s going on from the government’s perspective,” said Mullins. “The gov-ernment is doing a really poor job of communicating what it’s doing in a lot of ways.”

Mullins is also worried that the financial aid recommendations will be

ignored, as there has been some talk of the Report’s dismissal.

The Graduate Student Association, sponsored by the Canadian Federation of Students, held a rally last Wednesday on the principles of dismissing the entire Report.

“Their position on the issue is the out-right elimination of the Report, which is not only impractical but ridiculous.” said Mullins. “The Premier has already stated they are not going to outright dismiss the Report, so the Association needs to realize that.”

The rally participants argued that

capping student loans is dangerous because the cap will still allow students to finish their education with anywhere from $20,000- $28,000 worth of debt. Although this number is high, currently students are graduating with anywhere from $32,000- $50,000 of debt, so at least it is working in cutting down on the outrageously high numbers and replacing them with grants, explained Mullins.

“That is still not a justification for not having a cap on loans and replacing it with grants,” said Mullins.

The main point of the rally was the

need for more needs-based grants. How-ever, at this stage, these are only recom-mendations and Mullins is concerned that they will not be implemented.

The rally also brought up the concern of turning UNBSJ into a polytechnic, an issue that has so far already been removed.

“They want to keep UNBSJ as well. That’s a good statement to make, but as far as I know, right now the polytechnic issue has pretty much been taken off the table, at least in terms of UNBSJ. I’m not sure what is happening in Monc-ton,” said Mullins.

The discussion in the works now is the role of the UNBSJ’s president and whether or not the post will be separated from UNBF’s administration.

According to Mullins, there is no confirmation that it is going to be a part of UNB.

“It makes little to no sense,” said Mul-lins, “UNB is New Brunswick’s national university and [the role change] will hurt UNB and the province.”

Others aren’t pleased with the re-port, either. John Wallace, a member of the university’s Board of Governors expressed his outrage in a document he produced shortly after the Report was released in September.

“The Commissioners’ Report is professionally inadequate, in that it entirely fails to provide any compelling, in-depth consideration, discussion, debate, or balanced analysis (including the appropriate references to supporting research data) of the critically important issues that are absolutely necessary in order for one to have a complete and adequate understand of this matter, including consequences,” said Wallace in the document.

Wallace is not alone in his concerns about the Report. It is clear that many who are involved in the issue feel the Report does not provide any adequate solutions to the problems that they are being faced with.

Many members of the Student Union are anxiously waiting to see what recom-mendations come out of the Throne Speech this week. Things have been relatively calm this past month because the Union has been working, negotiat-ing, and discussing. According to Mul-lins, if their efforts have been completely ignored by the government, then they are back at square one and will be back out on the streets again.

“Our message is that in trying to get rid of the bad, don’t get rid of the good, too,” said Mullins.

by Naomi Osborne

The UNBSU met last Thursday to discuss the PSE report.Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

Jason Henry played at the Rock for Life charity concert for the Stephen Lewis Foundation on Nov 23 at the SUB

Rock for Life: A fisheye view

The second annual Rock for Life concert was held this past Friday in the SUB cafeteria. Seven great acts took to the stage to raise awareness for the Stephen Lewis Foundation, an organization that helps ease the pain of AIDS/HIV in Africa.

Jason Henry kicked off the night with an acoustic set, which included a mix of original tunes and covers. One of his covers was an acoustic rendition of ‘Golddigger’ by Kanye West. We played a gig earlier this year with him and both times he has put on a great performance.

Billy Fong was the second act of the night. Fong was backed by a complete band, including a mandolin player.

It’s too bad we don’t see more man-dolin players in bands. The instrument added a great sound to the band and really, who wouldn’t want to rock out to a mandolin?

This was the first time that I heard Billy Fong perform and I was quite pleased with their set. I didn’t really get the chance to meet with Fong or the rest of his band, since they were quite nonchalant backstage, differing from their upbeat performance.

David Woodside was the next act to take the stage. The Prince Edward Island native played a few songs off his latest album, ‘Amber City’. Armed with only a voice and an acoustic guitar, Woodside performed just as well as any band of the night.

The oddest, yet most crowd pleasing performance of the night, came from the Brian Koval Experience. Koval was a natural entertainer who delighted the crowd with his hilarious antics. He juggled, rode a unicycle, played guitar, sang, and did anything else that he could to keep the crowd entertained.

Part of the Koval show was a guitar duel between two awesome guitarists. One of the guitarists even played a Jim-my Page-style solo with a violin bow.

Koval entertained the performers backstage during his juggling warm-up, too, including juggling three apples while munching on one as he juggled.

Following the Koval performance, Koval, alongside fellow Harrison House

by Mitchell Bernard

Bruns writer – and rocker – Mitchell Bernard was there

see Rock page 12

News2 • November 28, 2007 • Issue 13

And a merry Kiddmas to you

Traditional Christmas songs describe blustery winter nights covering every-thing in snow, joyous carolers walking merrily through the cold, and happy couples snuggling in front of the fire-place. Campus, however, might not be getting the same picture of the Christ-mas season, that is until now.

Since the weather outside might not be what one would call a winter wonder-land and with worry and stress building over impending final exams, it’s difficult to think of anything but school work when entering this Christmas season. However, Joy Kidd’s charity event, Kiddmas, which takes place tonight, November 28, is hoped to change ev-erything and get everyone on campus in the Christmas mood.

Not quite sure what Kiddmas re-ally is?

“Kiddmas is a fundraiser for our charity, Habitat for Humanity,” says Joy Kidd House President, Laura Rodger. “Each residence has a tin where they can place their loose change to raise money. We’ve also encouraged every House to do things within their residences instead of relying on someone throwing in loose change.”

The amount each house raises deter-mines the order in which they get to place their ornaments on the tree. In addition, the House that raises the most earns the right to place the ‘K’, equiva-lent of the traditional star or angel, on top of the tree.

“First place gets to put the K on top of the tree. Second place gets silver balls, third place purple balls, and fourth silver beads,” explains Rodger.

The competition for first is going to be a tough one and, as Rodger explains, Kidd has its eye on the best prize.

“McLeod came in first last year. We’re hoping for stiff competition this year! We’re really hoping Joy Kidd will get

our K on the tree this year, but you never know.”

The tree, located on the balcony in the courtyard of Joy Kidd House, will be decorated in a ceremony tonight involv-ing every House that raised money.

“Representatives from each House, the presidents and vice-presidents, and maybe some of the charity representa-tives will come over and put their orna-ments on the tree in order of how much money they raised,” details Rodger.

The lighting and decorating of the tree will not be Joy Kidd’s only way of raising money either. As no Christmas event is complete without a holiday party, following the ceremony is another event for campus to enjoy.

“The lighting of the tree will take place out front of the balcony at 8pm and it will be followed by our wet/dry ‘Winter White and Silver Night,’” says Rodger.

This year will mark Joy Kidd House’s second annual Kiddmas, and while the event is still new, it is hoping to raise money for a very honourable cause:

Habitat for Humanity. As Habitat for Humanity Canada’s

website describes, it is a “national, non-profit, faith-based organization working for a world where everyone has a safe and decent place to live.”

The mission of the charity is ulti-mately to acquire volunteers and com-munity partners to bring them to build affordable housing. The website cites homeownership as a way to facilitate breaking the cycle of poverty.

The newness of their event does not deter Joy Kidd from trying to raise as much as possible for Habitat for Humanity.

“Between residences and our wet/dry, we’re aiming for a couple thou-sand,” explains Rodger on how much the event hopes to raise.

Joy Kidd is trying to work hard to-wards making this an even better event in the future.

“This is only our second year hold-ing Kiddmas,” says Rodger. “We’re still trying to figure everything out, but we want it to continue.”

by Alison Clack

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

The Kiddmas Tree is placed on the front balcony of Joy W. Kidd House for all to see.

services at another university, York, and it was exactly the same thing. Probably every building in Fredericton has a mouse in it somewhere.”

Brown says that when last week’s letter to the editor in The Brunswickan detailing the situation was published, he checked meal counts for McConnell compared to other weeknights, as well as compared to DKT. Meal counts had actually gone up.

“I’ve asked Sodexho to carefully look at the counts from the time the article came out, and they’ve not been affected. They’ve been up, not down.”

He says that it does not take much for a mouse to enter a building, but that any noticed entrance points have been plugged.

“It takes a very small hole to let in a

McConnell stays yellow on Public Health website for two weeks

A screenshot of the Public Health website taken Wednesday, November 21. While every McDonald’s in New Brunswick was listed as green, McConnell hall - for two weeks - was listed as yellow, meaning that it did not comply with at least one public health regulation.

mouse,” he says. “We know that there were sweeps on doors that were pos-sible entrance points that have been replaced.

“I can’t address this as if it were ‘Oh my God, there’s a mouse in McCon-

nell, this has never happened before’. We have a regular pest control contract – the university does – that’s because

there are regularly small animals in our building. The way we deal with them are with small traps and glue boards, and they get stuck on them. And then they’re disposed of. It’s an absolutely ongoing process, just like every other institution on the planet. Treating this as if it is some kind of exceptional crisis is inaccurate.”

Had McConnell not met the require-ments from the Department of Health by the third inspection, however, its doors could have closed that night.

“Very possibly,” says MacLean of the situation. “If we went back and the violations had not been corrected, then there would have been serious consequences.”

McConnell Hall has been approved again by the Department of Health, and pest control is still monitoring for any further mice.

from Mice page 1

Internet

“TREATING THIS AS IF IT IS SOME KIND OF EXCEPTIONAL

CRISIS IS INACCURATE.” - JAMES BROWN

News Issue 13 • November 28, 2007 • 3

New Brunswick self-sufficiency: Hype or hope?

Old laws deny thousands citizenship

On November 23, Premier Shawn Graham finally released his plan on how New Brunswick will become self-suffi-cient by 2026. The 33-page document involves a series of proposed changes aimed at transforming the workforce, economy, and government. It is titled ‘Our Action Plan to be Self-Sufficient in New Brunswick’ and is described by the Graham government as “a comprehen-sive action plan on self-sufficiency which deals with transforming government, transforming relationships, transform-ing the workforce, and transforming the economy.”

The release follows the May 2007 final report of the province's Self-Sufficiency Task Force, a governmental organization created in early 2007 with the mandate of finding a way to end the province’s dependence on equal-ization payments from Ottawa. The report outlined 91 recommendations for change and improvements, 60 of which had a 12-month deadline. This wide-ranged list of recommendations included everything from a population boost to 850,000, increasing the work-force to 400,000, a province-wide pay increase of 20%, and the diversification of the economy.

The Task Force warned the Graham government that without a substantial increase in wages for the civil service, public-sector workers will be hired by the private sector. Also recommended was a 20 year strategic plan to sell more

energy to the American northeast, a modern daycare system, an increase of lumber cut on private land, and a review of the mandatory retirement age. The document also informed the govern-ment of an impending severe worker shortage.

The CBC reports that Friday's Action Plan, however, contains vague goals and few specifics as to how these recom-mendations will be met. The document offers no proposed legislation and makes no commitments. Instead, the pages contain language that suggests the gov-ernment will “investigate,” “explore,” and “undertake” ways to improve life in the province on various fronts.

"We have a focused, tangible plan to bring self-sufficiency to our province," Graham said. "We have looked at every facet of our province, from our economy and workforce to our relationships with all levels of government, business, labour, and the non-profit sector. We're outlining an action plan that all depart-ments must utilize as their template, but it's also a document that allows New Brunswickers to become engaged in the process.”

Graham's report also contains a num-ber of previously announced goals, such as raising education levels.

The government's target is to ensure that each and every child leaves the fifth grade having mastered the tools to learn – reading, writing, and numeracy, and that they graduate from high school having had the opportunity to discover their personal strengths and to find something they love doing. The prov-ince intends to create a post-secondary education system that is student-fo-cused, highly integrated, and capable of preparing students for the jobs of today and tomorrow.

The plan also states that New Bruns-wick should work to become an energy hub in the Maritimes, and as such, develop an energy cluster with the goal of entering the global sector. The prov-ince hopes to enhance competitiveness through productivity improvements and diversification.

Upon its release, leader of the opposi-tion Jeannot Volpé mocked the proposed plan, holding up his own version of the report with the words "self-sufficiency" and "hope" on the cover while the inside pages were blank.

"I'm waiting for the Premier to pro-vide the specifics," said Volpe. “Hope and wishful thinking… you can't put food on the table with it. You can't pay your power bill with it. So they do need something they can touch, that they can see: what's in there for myself? This is what New Brunswickers are looking for and they haven't seen it yet.”

Volpe said the people of New Bruns-wick want specific initiatives with timetables to measure the government's progress.

It is too early to determine the im-pact of this proposed shift toward self-sufficiency on current post-secondary students, mainly due to the lack of tangible measures. While the document states that its target is to keep graduates in the province, there is much work to be done to achieve this goal. The province of New Brunswick needs to market itself as a viable option for graduates entering the workforce. Measures need to be taken to make wages competitive to those of the rest of the country, and more importantly, the jobs themselves must be here. The coming weeks will truly determine the success of the province’s new initiative to become independent.

by Ed Bowes

Canadian citizenship is something most of us take for granted, but for Joe Tay-lor, the son of a Canadian veteran of World War II and his English bride, it is something of great value.

His family landed in Canada in 1946, at a time when the government promised citizenship to all war brides and their children. Months after their ar-rival, his parents’ marriage fell through. Jenny Taylor moved back to England with her son. Both made the journey on Canadian passports.

Taylor grew up thinking of himself as Canadian, until he started looking into the matter of his citizenship in 2002. Despite having a Canadian father, he learned that thanks to an arcane set of laws, he did not possess the citizenship he had been promised. Taylor is far from being alone; with the new border laws requiring a passport to enter the United States, many who considered themselves Canadians are just discovering that they do not possess this status.

The term ‘Lost Canadians’ falls under several categories. One includes children who were born in hospitals across the border before Canada’s public healthcare system came into existence. Censuses cite a number of 10,000 bor-der babies, which many believe to be a gross underestimate. Another group of

people affected are the war brides and their children, who were not granted citizenship certificates. Their numbers are estimated to be between 25,000 and 30,000. Still more Canadians’ citizen-ship has been lost due to illegitimate birth, whether it be their own or their ancestors’. The Citizenship Act passed in 1947 specified a number of provisions for loss of citizenship: “naturalization [of oneself or one’s parent] outside of Canada, marriage, lengthy absence from Canada [ten years for veterans’ wives and children, six for others], service in foreign military, [and] failure to apply for retention of citizenship or take up residence in Canada” by the age of 24. Many Canadians took one of these actions without knowledge of these stipulations until recently. Taylor, for no one, heard no mention of this new law in England. By the time he looked into the matter of his citizenship, his 24th birthday had long passed. Taylor’s case has been complicated by the fact that his father’s commander refused his parents permission to marry due to the upcoming D-Day strike, causing him to be “born out of wedlock,” even though his parents officially married four months after his birth, before they set foot in Canada.

Due to the efforts of Don Chapman, a Canadian-born man who lost his citizenship when his father became an American, a law was instated in 2005 that nullifies the denial of citizenship due to foreign naturalization of parents. Most of the other conditions of the 1947 Act, however, are still in effect.

The United Nations’ Refugee Agency has compared the plight of Lost Canadi-ans to that of the stateless in nations such as Vietnam and Zimbabwe. To date, 450 Lost Canadians have approached the Department of Citizenship and Immigration regarding their citizen-ship. Despite CBC’s studies showing the existence of 200,000 possible Lost Canadians, the Department refuses to acknowledge the existence of more.

Taylor appealed for citizenship at British Columbia’s Federal Court and won, but the Federal Court of Appeal overturned this decision on November 2. If he can find the funds, he plans to take his case to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The current Canadian Citizenship Act states that anyone who is born in Canada to Canadian residents or has one or more Canadian parents is a citizen. Under these conditions, many Lost Canadians should qualify. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms denies discrimination based on factors such as birth out of wedlock, yet our country’s courts will not recognize the predomi-nance of the Canadian Constitution over an arcane set of laws instated more than a half century ago. 2006 has seen the approval of a new citizenship act that has transferred the duty of citizenship from political to judicial hands. Yet Diane Findley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, says that “overhauling the [1947 Citizenship] Act is a major, major effort and quite frankly, it’s more than we could take on to help these people at this point in time.”

by Melanie Bell

Free rides, Giveaways and more

We all know that being a student is stressful. VP Student Services Keely Wallace is trying to ease that burden for students.

Some of the perks of Wallace’s posi-tion include giving away 65 computers, providing a free ride home for students, and offering free legal information.

At the beginning of the semester, the Student Union hosts the Great Computer Giveaway, where working alongside ITS and Financial Aid, the UNBSU gives refurbished and refor-matted computers to students.

“The library renovation was good for the program this year – we ended up with a lot of computers. Usually we don’t have many applicants, so anyone who applies definitely gets one. We do it again second semester; we start advertis-ing for in mid-January.”

As it gets colder and darker earlier, students looking for a free, but most importantly safe, ride home can turn to the Student Union’s SafeRide van. From Sunday to Thursday, between 6-11pm, students can get a lift anywhere within walking distance in the city. Pick ups are at Head Hall and the front of the Student Union Building, where there are white boards letting students know where the van is and when it will be back.

“It really comes down to safety. We don’t want students walking home alone after dark – we’re trying to look out for them and their well-being,” explains Wallace.

SafeRide will remain operational throughout the exam period and will start again next semester. Wallace is also looking to give the program a face-lift, including handing out suggestion and comment cards to riders in hopes of improving the service. “We’re work-ing for students, so I’m looking to get feedback from them. I think this way, we’ll be able to improve the service to fit students’ needs best.”

Also continuing next semester is the Student Legal Information Center (SLIC). Room 123 of the SUB is dedi-cated to offering legal information to students dealing with small claims mat-ters, landlord-tenant disputes, academic issues, and anything else pertaining to students.

Students can drop by to talk to a qualified law student or call the Student Union office to make an appointment. SLIC is open Monday to Friday, from 9:30am to 4:30pm.

The Red n’ Black Revue is marking it’s 60th year in February and making a return to the Playhouse. Jessica Stutt is returning to direct for her second year (after taking last year off to perform), and Jason Henry is joining after playing in it for a couple years.

“This is where Anne Murray was discovered, and we’re bringing it back to the Playhouse for the first time in years. We’re really excited,” exclaimed Wallace.

Coming in January, students can look for a new service from Wallace and the SU. She’ll be working with Counseling Services to start up the second chapter of Active Minds in Canada.

Active Minds is an organization that works to “develop and support student-run mental health awareness, education, and advocacy groups” on university campuses. The University of Windsor is

the only other Canadian university with a chapter, and Wallace hopes following in their footsteps will be beneficial to students.

Wallace says one of the goals of the program is to help give students the tools to lead normal lives. “I’m looking at holding events and hosting seminars. First, I need to figure what students need,” said Wallace.

The UNB chapter of Active Minds is planning for a January start date.

“I’m really looking to prevent the stigma surrounding mental health. I don’t think students should be ashamed to admit they went to see a counselor. I think that’s brave. It’s really important to dispel the myths.”

Wallace is really looking forward to what next semester is going to bring for the Student Union. “I’m really excited about what’s coming up. I hope students get involved. They can always drop by my office or send me an email at services@unb.ca. The more involved they get, the more they benefit from the Union.”

VP Student Services, Keely Wallace, who just finished up the Great Com-puter Giveaway, is working on programs for students for next semester

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

by Jennifer McKenzie

News4 • November 28, 2007 • Issue 13

Engineers Without Borders held their annual ‘Wine & Cheese’ event on November 21. The Alumni Memorial Lounge quickly grew crowded with at-tendees nibbling, sipping, and network-ing over the sound of cello music. Some browsed the items in the silent auction, organized by member Andi Emrich and placed bids on their favourite items donated by local artists. Items included wooden carvings, necklaces, and photo-graphs from travels overseas.

Others were there to listen to the keynote address by Gunaseelan Kulase-garam, the head of UNB’s International Development Department. The buoy-ant professor affectionately known as Guna has a track record with EWB on campus. He was there as a speaker at the chapter’s inaugural Wine & Cheese event in 2004, when a smaller number of people filled the space of the Alumni Memorial Lounge.

Guna addressed the audience directly when describing the value of Interna-tional Development Studies (IDS) as a field of study.

“There’s a huge gap between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots. 20% of the world’s population in the developed world has access to 80% of the world’s resources. The other 80% of the world has access to 20% of the world’s resources. Not only is it incom-prehensible, it is just not right.”

People in the majority world lack re-sources, opportunities, and fundamental human rights. The last three decades have seen unprecedented growth in the west. Politicians after World War II believed this development would have a trickle-down effect, creating wealth and a higher standard of living for the major-ity world. This has not yet occurred.

Progress, Guna says, “trickled, but suddenly dried up.”

This is not due to a lack of resources. Global food production is enough to sustain not only our current 6.7B people but an additional 2B, yet 856M people are starving. Global warming, the AIDS pandemic (affecting 1.1M people), and human trafficking (affecting at least 22M) have also become undeniably more severe.

“Not a single country can challenge these global issues.”

Citizens need to approach these problems from a broader perspective of poverty, which looks beyond ‘vita-

Wine, Cheese and Educationmin M’, money, to take in the lack of nourishment, shelter, safe drinking water, sanitation, education, and em-ployment. The equation must include human rights.

Self-interest is often accused, in many cases rightly, of preventing citizen ac-tion against world crises, yet Guna claims it is a human reality which can also increase positive action. “Commu-nity, regional, and national self-interest undermine cooperation. Why should we stop at the national level? Why not take it to the next level and have global self-interest?”

While people in the western world feel disconnected from issues that take place far from their own backyards, a long-term connection exists.

“It’s in your best self-interest that the 80% of the world that lies in developing countries do well because our futures depend on their survival,” says Guna.

With the increasing sophistication of technology allowing machines to replace much of human labour, and the peak in multinational ownership reducing labour even further, Guna predicts that “the workforce will be laid off one after the other. We will need Third World so-ciety to be affluent and work with us.”

Currently, the Third World is far from affluent. Sweatshop workers in El Salvador are being paid as low as $.18 every hour. They receive no healthcare coverage and no consideration of worker rights. To compete economically, their employers decrease their wages and stop paying workers’ benefits.

“When poor countries face challenges, they immediatly set them back,” said Guna. “A lot of times, governments mismanage,” says Guna. “And we are all to blame. We are all consumers.”

Guna advocates that people working in international development ask local stakeholders when determining how issues should be managed.

It is important to “get away from the mentality that they have the prob-lems and we have the solutions,” says Guna. “They have the needs, we have the means. They know what they want. They just need some help.”

Guna gives some advice towards how to help such situations.

“Be sensitive to the needs of others. Listen. Be supportive.”

Looking out into the audience, Guna smiles.

“Do not feel like you can’t do much. Individually, yes, you can make a dif-ference.”

Following Guna’s presentation, Owen Scott and Emily Brown shared the history of Engineers Without Borders.

The organization was founded seven years ago by two engineering students

at Waterloo. It has since expanded to include 27 campus chapters and seven professional chapters across Canada, becoming the country’s fastest-growing international development organization since its inception.

UNB’s chapter was founded in 2004 by Mike Gallant and Jennifer Dysart. It aims to create awareness around international development programs and outreach to encourage change. Its activities include ‘Bridging the Gap’ at the Fredericton Farmers’ Market, imple-menting a battery recycling program on campus, and holding more politically involved events such as October’s ‘Stand Up and Speak Out’ for poverty.

‘Public School Outreach’ presenta-tions provide interactive education on food and water issues to students from elementary school to university, and even some professional audiences. Teachers appreciate the presentations be-cause they are an easy way to incorporate global issues into the curriculum.

What about the professionals? “We’re challenging them,” Brown

smiles. Last year, the UNB chapter reached

more students through this program than any other chapter in Canada, a total of 2,500. EWB meetings also include workshops for the purpose of educating members and making them think.

“One of the things EWB tries to do nationally and locally is learn,” says Brown.

EWB has started working with local organizations and reduced their focus from 17 countries to four.

The first ‘Junior Fellowship’ program, labeled Operation 21 (to refer to the 21 chapters of EWB in its initial year of 2003), aimed to send one member from every chapter to work on a development project so that each chapter would be in touch with issues overseas.

Currently, two forms of overseas placements are available through EWB. Long-term placements last a minimum of one year. Both founders of EWB-UNB have taken part in long term place-ments. Mike Gallant worked in Mali, while Jennifer Dysart is in her third year in Zambia. Junior Fellowships are provided to send two or three members of each chapter overseas for four months every summer.

Placements are available in Zambia, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Malawi. Bri-an Magee and Ryan Brideau have been chosen as this year’s Junior Fellows.

The announcement of a new event marked the end of the evening’s presen-tations. The chapter has been working hard for a year now to begin the Light Bulb Lecture Series, which will take place in March. The first speaker will be former Prime Minister Paul Martin.

The Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC) has sponsored this particular pi-lot program for the trip to New Bruns-wick, but while they have sponsored them to come to the province, they did not create the program, as Couperus explained.

“ALC is pleased to pilot Know the Score,” said Kim Wilson, Manager of Social Responsibility & Responsible Gambling with the ALC in a press release. “Know the Score will enable ALC to further expand its ‘Responsible Gambling’ youth strategy through

Statistics show that students are at a high risk of gambling addiction

5th annual CIBC Business Plan Competition

The Know the Score booth was set up here at UNBF from November 19-22, promoting student awareness of the risks that are involved in gambling. Next, they are headed to Mount Allison to promote the program.

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

education and awareness at the post-secondary level.”

Statistics demonstrate that students are at a higher risk of developing an addiction, as studies have shown online gambling at poker sites has gone up. At-tention has even been raised with the Ce-lebrity Poker tours that are broadcast on television. The KTS program offers early awareness signs to recognize problem gambling, such as lying about gambling, borrowing money or selling personal items to gamble, skipping classes to do so, a general short-sightedness when gambling, and more.

“Know the Score shares the signs of problem gambling with students and lets them know where they can get help

A number of aspiring entrepreneurs are about to descend on UNB this week as the Faculty of Business Administration is hosting the 5th annual CIBC Busi-ness Plan Competition this Thursday and Friday.

The competition is divided into graduate and undergraduate divisions and allows students to organize and design business plans, where they will present to a panel of judges who will then select the best and most plausible plan in each division. Cash prizes will be awarded to the winning teams.

Secondary prizes will also be awarded in areas such as best elevator pitch (best 60-second presentation), best vodcast (best video presentation), and best fi-nancials. In total there is over $25,000

in prize money that will be awarded be-tween the 15 teams from across Canada during the two-day competition.

Competition organizer Karen Mur-dock feels that the competition provides a great opportunity for the students involved, saying, “It gives young entre-preneurs a chance to test their skills in front of judges who are experts in the fields of marketing, public relations, entrepreneurship, finance, and other areas. This year, the entrepreneurs are encouraged to network with representa-tives from the First Angel Association, a group of angel investors who are there to run the elevator pitch boot camp, and they may find a venture that they want to back."

Dean of the Faculty of Business Ad-ministration, Daniel Coleman, echoed Murdock's feelings regarding the oppor-tunities the competition can bring to the students and the local economy.

"The CIBC Business Plan Competi-tion has grown from fairly modest roots

to an important regional and national event. We are now attracting participants from a large number of universities. This helps to raise the profile of the Faculty of Business Administration and UNB.

Maybe more importantly, the compe-tition is also helping us to achieve one of our objectives – to help the local and re-gional economy. Several businesses have started that were based on plans that were presented at the competition.

I'm very grateful for the support of CIBC to help build and grow this competition, and I would be remiss if I did not publicly acknowledge the great work that Karen Murdock of my faculty does in organizing the event.”

Aside from the competition itself, Pe-ter Mansbridge, the award-winning host of CBC's The National, will be conduct-ing a seminar with local entrepreneurs on how to interact with the media.

The competition kicks off this Thurs-day afternoon at the Wu Conference Centre.

by Tony von Richter

by Melanie Bell

from Gambling page 1in their local area if they ever need it,” said Couperus.

In all, Couperus feels this pilot project at UNBF was successful and hopes that students have retained some of the infor-mation they learned while the program was promoted here.

“There were great students, and it was a great experience. We really enjoyed being here,” she said. “We got great feedback and saw a couple of hundred students a day.”

Next, the Know the Score program is heading to Mount Allison University to discuss the problems gambling can cause. For more information on the risks of gambling, visit www.knowthe-score.ca.

This is the LAST ISSUE of The Brunswickan for the 2007 Fall Term

Meetings resume in January at the regular time, Wednesday at 12:30pm

JAN. EDITION

Comments & Letters eic@unb.ca • November 28, 2007

Mice should not be the norm

As a proctor in the residence system, I am a thorough believer that residence life can really shape university for a person. I’ve also put up with the food selection for nearly two and a half years.

I eat at McConnell Hall everyday. Next to no one thinks meal hall food is the greatest in the world. When you’re cooking for 500 or more people on a fixed budget, you can’t always afford top notch ingredients. Nor can you ac-commodate 500 individual preferences and tastes. But at the very least, you should expect the food you’re eating to be prepared in sanitary conditions.

When I first heard about mice in last week’s letter to the editor, at first I was more than just a little disheartened. My first thought was, how could Sodexho let this happen? Multiple mice and mice droppings, last time I checked, were not part of the expanded “choice” that the company touts they provide.

Things started to make a little more sense when I had a chance to speak with Martin Bayliss, General Manager of Sodexho at UNB, and James Brown, Executive Director of RLCCS, who manages the Sodexho contract for the university.

They both offered the same reasoning for the occurrence: that this happens all the time, and that mice can easily get into any building.

At first, this seemed like a reasonable explanation. Mice are tiny creatures, and can fit through the tiniest of holes when it means they don’t have to freeze to death.

As someone who reports news and events, I do my best to do so without getting personally involved. But when the sanitation of the food I eat is ques-tioned, I feel that I cannot let this slip by idly. Yes, the health inspector saw all food in sealed packaging, but it has to be unsealed sometime before it gets eaten. Somewhere, somehow, the mice that were found could very well have come

into contact with UNB students’ food.Can we accept this in a meal hall

where more than 500 people eat every day? 1,500 meals are put on those coun-ters each day, with a possible chance of mice droppings underneath – or for all we know, on – those counters at any given time.

The fact that mice can get into the buildings is not Sodexho’s fault. Physical Plant is in charge of the maintenance for the building and, as such, when holes were required to be patched, Physical Plant did their job.

However, the initial inspection was on November 6, and the holes used by mice to enter the facilities were not patched upon re-inspection on November 19. How quickly did Sodexho call Physical Plant? How quickly did Physical Plant respond? Nearly two weeks went by and nothing was done to prevent mice from further entering the building.

We pay nearly $6,000 a year for undergraduate tuition, and residence students pay $3,500 or more annually for the food services they receive as part of their residence fees.

For $9,500, we should not be accept-ing the status quo that mice could be in any building. On November 6, a dead mouse was found beneath the cereal area. Did you eat cereal, or perhaps toast

a bagel that day? How close did you come to that rotting mouse? And for that matter – how long was that mouse sitting there unnoticed?

Even if mice are in every building, as Bayliss and Brown both explain, we should not be accepting them in our dining facilities. Even if it is not So-dexho’s building, if they want to keep a reputation of valued customer service, they should be proving they are pro-actively assuring that the facilities they use are acceptable to the Department of Health: Physical Plant should be im-mediately notified, and this should be given high priority. Why did two weeks go by before any attempt was made to patch the holes?

UNB should be proactively assuring that all of its services are acceptable, not just waiting for a biannual review or a complaint phone call – given the recent incidents, UNB should be proactively assuring that no mice should enter Mc-Connell unnoticed, or at all. The holes should have been patched immediately, and a deeper look should have been taken to assure that this does not happen again – that mice in dining facilities do not continue to be the status quo.

For $9,500, we should not have to see our dining hall listed as yellow – meaning not up to health code – on the

Department of Health website for over half of November.

In a time when UNB’s status as a nationally comprehensive university could be at risk, and President John McLaughlin consistently states that he is calling for transformational change to our university system, we should not accept the status quo. It is unfortunate, however, that in 2007, a mouse-free dining hall could also be considered transformational change. We should not let something like this go unnoticed. We should not accept the status quo of mice getting cold and wanting to go indoors.

If you are unhappy with your food service, contact Martin Bayliss and let him know. If you feel uncomfortable with Sodexho as your food provider, contact James Brown, who manages the Sodexho contract. Unless something truly drastic happens, Sodexho will continue to exclusively provide dining services until 2013.

If you are unhappy with your $9,500 status quo, let President John McLaugh-lin know. A quick trip to unb.ca/ph can get you all the contact info you need.

Or, you can continue to eat your food and sit by idly, wondering how close your plate of fries came to mouse feces this time.

An opinionby Josh O’Kane

This mousetrap was found under the cereal rack at McConnell Hall, near one of the prevous entry points for mice at the back doors.

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

Graham’s Plan for the province: Hope

Another season of the Legislature is upon us this week and once again Premier Graham has outdone himself. Shawn must think that voters are not paying attention, dim-witted, or just plain dumb, because now he wants them to accept an “action plan” that outlines no actions, no plans, no benchmarks, and no timelines. After reviewing the 91 recommendations made by the province’s Self-Sufficiency Task Force, the government last Friday released a report outlining how New Brunswick will become “self-sufficient” by 2026. Just when we thought his plans couldn’t be any more vague or devoid of fac-tual information, he releases a plan that amounts to little more than committing to studying it further and hoping the province will fall into good fortune.

Folks, this has gone far enough. The Liberals have been in government for over a year now, and we haven’t seen much from them. When they aren’t breaking election promises by raising taxes, they’re creating buzz words to divert attention from the lack of any real policy discussion.

We have yet to see what exactly Graham plans to do to achieve his lofty goal of “self-sufficiency.” The details will come later, he says, but this comes as no real surprise because Graham has yet to define what he means by a “self-sufficient” province. Phrases like “a clear identity within the Canadian federation” sound nice while they’re in

vogue, and the Premier talks about them so much that he must want them to have meaning. However, the province will be hopeless if it relies on hype alone in mov-ing forward toward “transformational change”—whatever that means.

It’s funny we should turn to the idea of hope, though, because that’s about all Graham speaks of these days. It’s the only indicator he mentioned when introducing his new plan of action, al-though he bizarrely acknowledged that Statistics Canada has no “hope index” to measure progress.

His words from Saturday’s Daily Gleaner speak for themselves: “As gov-ernment, we have to provide hope for the future. I have faith in our province. I have strong faith in our civil service. And I have every faith in the people of New Brunswick that we will achieve this goal.” That’s ironic, because the report offers few substantive goals, if any.

Now hope is certainly a powerful thing, and faith can help you along the way, but neither supplants logic, rea-son, and a concrete outline in securing the economic prosperity of a province. Nothing will suffice short of a vision that includes benchmarks, quantitative criteria, and actual initiatives instead of further studies.

Mr. Graham, for all the hope you purport to bring this province, you have actually done the complete opposite by failing to reject the PSE report. You have paralyzed the students of Saint John with hopeless uncertainty and the stability of our system is quickly melting away. Soon the only hope we’ll have left is that you stop using the catch phrase “university presence” before it is too late because every day that you let stand the recommendation to reduce Saint John’s university to something other than UNBSJ is another day that our hopes for a quality education in that region erode.

Nick Ouellette, a UNB law student, has served on the UNB Student Union Council and the UNB Board of Governors, and now serves on the UNB Fredericton Sen-ate and as an Assistant Don in UNB’s Residence Community.

by Nick Ouellette

Rousing the Rabbles

Bars and their staff deserve your respect

WATERLOO (CUP) -- University is a time where you do endless amounts of school work, but it's also when you do some of the best partying of your life.

After a long day of hitting the books, most students hit the bar for a good night out. These evenings are amusing for those looking to party, but those few hours of craziness are sometimes dreaded by the establish-ment.

Having waitressed my entire uni-versity career, some students are often unaware they're doing things that either put a damper on the night for those providing service to them or just make them laugh and shake their heads.

Take younger students who just can't handle themselves while drink-ing for instance. They get sloppy and ridiculous, often because they aren't of age in their first year and the bar scene is still new.

There's also the matter of showing respect towards those working. In most university towns, the servers and bartenders are students them-selves. While everyone is out drinking, servers are sauntering around with those desperately needed drinks.

It’s always interesting to stand back and watch the crowd around the bar and observe the variety of tactics used to catch the bartender’s atten-tion. Whistling, crazy arm gestures, a little head nod, leaning right over just to make sure you’re seen. Trust me, they see you.

They serve in a manner that's fair to everyone and being obnoxious will get you nowhere. If you’re at a bar that lets you grab a table for the night, most likely you'll have someone look after you. They'll run around for you most of the night and keep a tab

for your table.When the cheque comes, you may

be surprised by the amount of liquor ingested and some tabs may be higher than you thought. Being a student myself, I understand money is tight at times, but if you can spend $100 drinking with your friends, you've got the money to tip at least 10 per cent if not the regular 15.

You have to pony up at the bar too. If you've ever been to Phil's in Waterloo, you know the sound of cowbell – it’s to make sure everyone knows that someone didn’t tip. Don't forget, students working at a bar are liquor servers making less than minimum wage.

And to all you aspiring party-vandals: breaking glass and stealing things from a bar is never appreciated, nor is it as funny or awesome as you think it is.

So while you sit in class hungover after a night of irritating me, just remember, I’ll be right there beside you, tired from running around all evening.

by Julie Marion, The Cord Weekly

(Wilfrid Laurier University)

SU BOOK BUY AND SELL

DROP OFF: Jan. 7 & 8, 9am to 4pmSELL DAYS: Jan. 9 & 10, 9am to 4pm

PICK UP: Jan. 11, 9am to 4pm Jan. 12, 9am to 12pm

Books will not be tagged by Student Id this semester, instead they will be given a ‘book number’. Students will be given a corresponding card containing the ‘book

numbers’ from the books they’ve dropped off.

Anyone with questions on concerns should contact Bethany Vail at academic@unb.ca

Comments & Letters6 • November 28, 2007 • Issue 13

Long Term comic (Midterms) - VICTORIA (CUP)

Three Alien Angst (CUP)

High Comedic Value (CUP)

The Prodigal: ”The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.” - (CUP)

Mr. Peanut Butter comic - VICTORIA (CUP)

The Great Escape comic- VICTORIA (CUP)

By Andrew MacLachlanNexus (Camosun College)

By Mark N Barker (Intercamp)

By Jovan Zimzovski (Excal)

By Husein Panju (Excal)

By Adrian BinakajNexus (Camosun College)

By Adrian BinakajNexus (Camosun College)

Comics & Funnies

Comments & Letters Issue 13 • November 28, 2007 • 7

What is the worst Christmas gift you have ever given someone?

A picture of a DVD... “You’ll get it soon”

Dave MacDonald

Shaving creamCarl Bradley

My love because it is insincereEric West

A kick in the nutsAmanda Petersen

An autographed portrait of myselfJordan Dashner

A dollar store ring for my fourth grade lover

Evan Scott

CandlesJoseph Rogan

A $5 gift certificate at McDonald’sJamie Reynolds

The ABBA discographyRob Bowie

A razorMatthew Kane

A gift they gave meWilliam McArthur

NothingMatt LeBlanc

Editorial BoardEditor-In-Chief • Jennifer McKenzieManaging Editor • Tony von RichterCo-News Editor • Josh O’KaneCo-News Editor • Lauren KennedyArts Editor • Ashley BurseyPhoto Editor • Andrew MeadeSports Editor • Brian MunnCopy Editor • Alicia Del FrateProduction Editor • Ed Cullinan

StaffAdvertising Sales Rep • Bill TraerDelivery • Mike Lee

ContributorsChristian Hapgood, Brad Conley, Alison Clack, Jordan Gill, Doug Estey, Dan Hagerman, Sean Horsley, Dave Briggs, Melanie Bell, Naomi Osborne, Mitchell Bernard, Ed Bowes, Jason Henry, Nick Ouellette

About UsThe Brunswickan, in its 141st year of publication, is Canada’s Oldest Official Student Publication.We are an autonomous student newspaper owned and operated by Brunswickan Publishing Inc., a non-profit, independant body.We are a founding member of the Canadian University Press, and love it so. We are also members of U-Wire, a media exchange of university media throughout North America.We publish weekly during the academic year with a circulation of 10,000.

LettersMust be submitted by e-mail including your name, letters with pseudonymns will not be printed. Letters must be 200 words maximum. Deadline for letters is Friday at noon.

Editorial PolicyWhile we endeavour to provide an open forum for a variety of viewpoints and ideas, we may refuse any submission considered by the editorial board to be racist, sexist, libellous, or in any way discriminatory.The opinions and views expressed in this newspaper are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Brunswickan, its Editorial Board, or its Board of Directors.All editorial content appearing in The Brunswickan is the property of Brunswickan Publishing Inc. Stories, photographs, and artwork contained herein cannot be reproduced without the express, written permission of the Editor-in-Chief.

21 Pacey Drive, SUB Suite 35Fredericton, NB, E3B 5A3

main office • (506) 447-3388advertising • (506) 452-6099

fax • (506) 453-5073email • bruns.editor@gmail.com

The Brunswickan Post-secondary students need tax breaks

NEW WESTMINSTER (CUP) -- With a surplus of over $11 billion, the gov-ernment plans to use $10 billion of it to pay down the federal debt, and the rest going towards corporate tax cuts. This amounts to more than $14 billion over the next five years, while personal income tax cuts will be cut by some $46 billion. Together, with the GST being cut to five per cent, it will result in sav-ings of $180 for families in the lowest tax bracket.

I’m impressed. Finally I’ll be able to afford an entire college textbook. With that much money floating around Ot-tawa, giving post-secondary students a break in interest on their student loans wouldn’t be too much to ask.

My cousin in Denmark completed her college education recently, with zero debt. She can start her working life with a clean slate while I, her lucky cousin, has to worry about the monthly student loan payments I’ll have to start paying in a few weeks even though I’ve only completed half my degree.

You’ll have to excuse me if I sound bitter, it’s only because I am. It’s not my fault life has thrown me a curve ball with a recurrent medical condition that has resulted in a number of withdrawals and unsuccessful terms at college.

I’ve recently exhausted all the appeals afforded to me through the student loans appeals committee. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not feeling sorry for myself; all I want is to finish my Bach-elors degree. And that’s going to be difficult now that I have to pay the rest of my education working a part-time job, while I start repaying my $40,000 student loan because I don't have the funds to go to school full-time.

There are others who are in the same dire straits, and that’s exactly why I it's appalling the government plans to use $10 billion to pay down their debts while thousands of college and university students sink deeper into their own.

by Sonja Jelaca, The Other Press (Douglas College)

8 • The Brunswickan November 28 • 2007

Arts & Entertainment bruns.arts@gmail.com • November 28, 2007

No time wasted for Jens Jeppesen

Last year, Jens Jeppesen caught the attention of bluegrass lovers every-where with his rollicking first CD and toe-tapping first single, ‘Wasting Time’. When I meet him in a coffee shop several months after first hear-ing his name, he looks exactly the same, but something’s changed. Still soft-spoken, yet intense; it’s almost as though he’s really settled into his lifestyle as a traveling musician.

“I’ve been writing since I’ve been on the road. I gave up everything when I said, ‘This is it, this is full-time music, just me in my van driving around Ontario and Nova Scotia’,” he tells me. “This is my life. I’m going to treat it like a job. If I treat it like, ‘Fuck, I’m going to a bar to play’, [I won’t get anywhere]. I’m supposed to be getting work done, so I’ve been working steady.

“On the road, I wrote a song the other day driving across New Bruns-wick and I almost got in a wreck. I had the paper on the steering wheel and I was looking up, poking holes in the paper I’m writing on because, well, I had a piece of paper on the steering wheel…anyway. Yeah. I’m always working, always writing, since the last album. I’ve been writ-ing songs that went over really well in bars.”

He describes his tunes as ‘cowboy music’ and ‘newgrass’; storytelling with a catchy beat and a little bit of humor thrown in.

And the second CD, which features additional bass and banjo players, as well as another vocalist, is a huge step forward, without steering away from quintessential Jens.

“It’s been quite motivating. This album’s not depressing. I started writing about hobbies, gambling – not that that’s a hobby of mine, but that I see going on,” he says, adding that the album speaks to social con-sciousness at some points.

“[Working with other bluegrass musicians] was an absolute treat.

They’re so good. They actually brought me up another level, musi-cally and performing. They did a lot of work on the album and I could just sit back and play my guitar and sing my songs. I’m really happy with how it turned out.”

A favorite tune, called ‘My Friends’, gives Jeppesen’s view on friends in different places, like fighting in Afghanistan, or even the musicians he’s met in Ontario that he’ll rarely get to see.

Another track, ‘Time to Go’, is a bit of an ironic tune, with sexist lyrics that Jeeppesen laughs are just a joke.

“It’s really a foolish, foolish song,” he says, and begins to quote the lyr-ics. “The leaves are changing color, soon the snow is gonna fall. I best find me a woman to keep me fed and keep me warm.’ I mean, if you’re at St Thomas, you’re liberal arts, you think, ‘That’s so wrong to say!’ There are profs at St Thomas who’d flip out.

“But I have a bunch of feminist friends who are staunch feminists. They hear this, and they just laugh, because…I’m no more sexist or chau-vinistic than anybody else, I just think it’s funny to say.

“If people can’t have a sense of humour, I mean, don’t buy the al-bum.”

I ask if the album is political at all.

“I think that good music and good politics are really important, and until people like your music or think your music’s good, you don’t want to put your idea of what’s good politics in your music,” he says, after a moment. “Maybe if I get well-known and peo-ple like my music, they might share the same political views as me.

“I keep my songs short and my mu-sic upbeat so they can capture people who have short attention spans. I play loud and fast, and people are like, ‘Oh, something’s going on’… it’s only going to take two and a half minutes out of your life, so give it a chance. Hopefully I can get their at-tention with the story.”

Jeppesen’s CD release parties will be held Thursday, November 29 at the Cellar Pub in Fredericton, in New Denmark on the 30, and in Moncton at St James Gate on December 1.

by Ashley Bursey

Why I’m going to lose at the Halo 3 tournament

When Neill House’s Halo 3 tourna-ment was announced, I was ecstatic. Halo 3 is not a game meant to be played by your lonesome. It’s a game that’s meant to be played with a great many people in a social setting. A social setting that involves lots of yelling.

However, I have a problem. I nei-ther own a copy of Halo 3, nor do I own an Xbox 360. This means that, despite my intimidating command of all devices electronic in nature, I stand little to no chance of winning against the residence pros.

On the other hand, I can’t perform too well, either, because the grand prize for the tournament is a Nintendo Wii, and I already have one. So, my goal is to become pretty damn good, but not damn good enough to topple the people that play it all the time.

And so began an arduous journey to ends of the Earth (by which I mean the ends of campus) to find a sage who had the wisdom and insight to train me in the ways of Halo.

But where was I to find such a keeper of knowledge? At first I decided to check down the hill at Head Hall. Being the location of two faculties that often deal with computer applications, I figured that this was an appropriate starting point to my pilgrimage. Alas, my searching turned up plenty of interested parties, but none were the wise masters that I needed.

With the bottom of the hill being a bust, I turned my attentions up the hill. And there, as I hiked up campus hill, I had a revelation. The game Halo 3 itself focuses primarily on the ex-ploits of the cybernetic Master Chief,

the last member of the ‘Spartan’ pro-gram in the game’s universe. Making a small leap of logic, the closest thing to a ‘Master Chief’ that I could find was the University of New Brunswick’s Chief of Campus Police, Angus Mor-rison.

As my a m a z -ing luck w o u l d have it, not only was Morrison a chief in his own way, but he also owns an Xbox 360 and Halo 3. At last, I had found my tutor! The training was a long and hard process, but thankfully he has allowed me permission to share my findings.

First and foremost in preparing myself to play Halo 3 against others,

Morrison suggested to treat your own body as if it housed a Spartan. Tak-ing his advice, I immediately went to a grocery store and purchased some Spartan apples. Also, to get myself in the mood of slaughtering countless

amounts of people while pretending to be a Spartan, I watched the movie ‘300’ about four times.

But what of the game itself? Acting like a crazed lunatic is all well and good, but it would all be for naught if I didn’t put my skills to the test. So, I buckled myself in for a bumpy ride and prepared to face the onslaught of

competition that was to come. Upon booting up Halo 3’s online

component, you will very quickly real-ize that there are a lot of people playing Halo 3 online. So, you’ll find it’s very easy to find someone to play with and,

in general, the game matches you up with someone of similar statistics as yourself, for fairness’ sake.

Once you’re in a match, though, it’s a whole new ballgame. If you’re playing on your own, you’re going to get obliterated fairly quickly, like I did. Therefore, as Morrison pointed out, it’s a good idea to play on teams for a

little bit until you’re confident enough to play on your own.

You can kill your opponents in battle via a few different methods. The most obvious ones are the guns. You usually start with an assault rifle, but

can find all sorts of other goodies such as r o c k e t

launchers, flamethrowers, and even an energy sword that’s great for up-close combat. You also can throw grenades for those people that you want to wear down before they get too close.

New to Halo 3 is the inclusion of deployable items that can enhance play. There’s the Bubble Shield, which is great for hiding away long enough

to recharge your shields, or an item that blinds anybody nearby, one that drains shields, or another that boosts shields. Learning how to use each item effectively takes time and practice, but a true Spartan already knows how to use each weapon to the best of their ability.

In addition to knowing how to use your weapons like a true warrior, you need to be able to read your op-ponents. Now, I’m about as psychic as a pet rock, but I’m about three times as tough as one, so it balances out for me. The best players all play in different ways, so truly learning the ways of your opponents is almost to become your opponent. And that’s where Halo 3’s movie viewer comes in handy. The game actually records movies of a fairly decent amount of games that you’ve played so that you can play them back later and analyze your opponents’ strategies.

So, by fuelling myself with Spartan apples and drinking some caffeine energy drinks, my body was good to go. And my mind was prepared by studying my foes online and learning where the best weapons were and how to use them. But what of preparing my soul for combat? This is where the whole purpose of the tournament comes in.

The $15 entry fee for participants goes towards the Canadian Cancer Society, a noble cause if there ever was one for me to hone my Spartan skills. And even if you don’t want to face me on the battlefield, a mere $2 gives you the privilege of watching me play. And believe me, Halo 3 is a lot of fun to watch. It’s almost like a sport, but with substantially higher amounts of explosions and flailing limbs.

Whether you’re good at Halo 3 or if you’ve never picked up an Xbox 360 controller before, you’ll be more than welcome at this tournament. The money all goes to a good place, and I dare you to find me a situation where energy swords and exploding alien vehicles isn’t awesome. Besides, I know plenty of people who’d pay way more than two bucks to see me lose at a video game.

by Dan Hagerman

“ACTING LIKE A CRAZED LUNATIC IS ALL WELL AND GOOD, BUT IT WOULD ALL BE FOR NAUGHT IF I DIDN’T PUT MY SKILLS TO THE TEST.” - DAN HAGERMAN

CanuCk ComiC

Canadian comedian Ron James performed at the Playhouse on Nov 19.Doug Estey / The Brunswickan

Bruns video game columnist Dan Hagerman is preparing for the ultimate challenge: the Neill House Video Game Tournament on Nov 30.Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

CORRECTION

Last week’s article “Doctor’s life reflects NB’s tumultuous health care history” ran a photo with an incorrect photo credit. The photo was taken by Alicia Tremblay. The Brunswickan apologizes for this error.

Arts & Entertainment10 • November 28, 2007 • Issue 13

“A ghost just needs a home...”

Ambition, diversity, and honesty are three words that aren't often attrib-uted simultaneously to the average band. Then again, indie rock quartet Wintersleep from Halifax, Nova Scotia isn't your average group of musicians. Beginning as a side project to now-defunct Kary, Wintersleep started out as a quiet, eerie acoustic concept that quickly developed into a full-time job for the four young Maritimers.

Last Wednesday, after releasing their third full-length studio album ‘Welcome to the Night Sky’, these Halifax natives hit UNB Fredericton at our very own Student Union Building cafeteria, head-lining on campus for the very first time with special guests Basia Bulat.

Unfortunately, I arrived later into the show and missed Basia's set, but my disappointment was quickly offset by the sound of Wintersleep setting up their gear. What started as a side project has almost definitely exceeded the ex-pectations of the four, who kicked off

the show to a screaming crowd of sev-eral hundred young folk chanting their name, a symptom commonly found in something that everyone seems to be chasing these days: undisputed success.

Success is witnessing a group like Wintersleep fronting a show for Sam Roberts in 2006 and subsequently re-turning this year under their own tour, signed to a division of major record label EMI, and producing a bone-chilling new album that entertains wonder-fully live.

That's exactly what they pulled off on Wednesday, captivating the crowd

with beautifully wound compositions such as ‘Miasmal Smoke & The Yellow Bellied Freaks’ and catchy sing-alongs, like crowd favourite ‘Weighty Ghost’. Unleashing all but one of the new songs that comprise Welcome to the Night Sky, they moved on to entertain longtime fans with material from their first two albums that had been released with the (ironically branded) independent label Dependent Music. Notable tracks included ‘Orca’, which put them on the map back in 2003 with its soft tones and haunting lyrics, “I'll be a killer whale when I grow up…”

Wintersleep graced the stage for a solid hour and a half performance, which is more than double the amount of stage time they were allotted at Sam Roberts last year. It was time well-spent (and badly needed) listening to what these musical masterminds have been up to since their last release nearly three years ago.

How does a group from the East Coast make it this big? Let's face it, the Maritimes are a little behind in musical diversity compared to the rest of the country; new sounds aren't as readily accepted here as they are on the streets of Toronto or Montreal. In knowing this, Paul Murphy simply states that the first thing his band had to do was get out on tour across the country, and that's exactly what they did before hitting Europe and the United States.

Ever so slowly, they began gaining popularity among colleges and universi-ties until they were voted Best Band of Halifax in 2005, and again in 2006, and 2007. Weighty Ghost, the first single from their latest and greatest, can be heard frequenting radio stations across the country. And with the entire first floor of the Student Union Building screaming for more at the end of their set, it's safe to say that Wintersleep is well-loved in Fredericton.

And so their cross-Canada tour con-tinues. If you missed this show, check out the band's future dates at www.wintersleep.com.

Wintersleep captivated the crowd at the UNB SUB on Nov 21Christian Hapgood / The Brunswickan

by Doug Estey

Winterlseep’s Fredericton show gave New Brunswickers a chance to really hear the indie

rockers at their best

Seth Green and ‘awesome displays of physics’

Mass Effect (Xbox 360) If there was ever a game that could

rival the might of the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises put together, it would be this game. Immediately upon start-ing it up, it tries to immerse you in the experience by presenting everything like a movie. And not a bad sci-fi B movie,

either, but a true epic. But I’m getting a little ahead of myself

here. What exactly IS Mass Effect? While I’m sure the science-y types out there would be more than happy to explain the concept to me, I’m referring to the RPG for the Xbox 360. Set hundreds of years in our future, the game is about your character: your choice, a man or a woman. From there, you can choose your character’s background, their spe-cialization, and even their appearance.

Then, the game thrusts you into a story filled with corruption, twists, and more blaster fights than you can shake a stick at.

Graphics: Stunning. Positively stunning. While

the game doesn’t achieve photo-realism, it certainly makes its characters present-able and believable in their world. Also, all of the dialogue is lip-synched to near perfection. There were times where I had difficulty remembering I was watch-ing a game and not a CG movie. All of the characters in the game are designed very well, especially all of the alien spe-cies. The game makes ample use of mo-tion blur effects, though, which can be off-putting to some, but the game lets you have the option of turning it off.

Gameplay: Sadly, if you don’t like RPGs, this

game is unlikely to change your mind. You will explore vast environments, talk

to people to gather information, and manage statistics and items to make your party more powerful. However, the combat in this game is more similar to an action game in that it takes place in real time. It has a bit of a tactical side to it, as you can tell your teammates where to go for cover, as well as using special powers to incapacitate your foes with awesome displays of physics.

The game makes liberal use of conver-sations, and you can choose how your character will react to certain situations. You can also choose from different types of responses, ranging from a paragon of

virtue to a renegade, in terms of your character’s personality. Also, different skills give you more things to say.

The only things I don’t really like about the game is that the load times are a little longer than I’d like, and the inventory management is anything but streamlined.

Sound: This game has really good sound. The

voice acting is a very large step above what I’ve come to expect from games. Not once was I annoyed with a voice actor, and, in context of the universe, the characters all seemed believable.

The music itself seems taken straight from the ’80s in terms of the synth-style soundtrack. I immediately thought of movies like The Terminator and Blade Runner, which is far from a bad thing.

Also, all of the dialogue in the game is voiced, and given that the entire game, soundtrack, and dialogue fit onto a single DVD, you can colour me impressed.

The Final Score: I don’t even own a 360, but this game

makes me want one so that I can keep playing it. If you’re just watching, it’s a great sci-fi movie, but if you’re playing, it’s a very engaging role playing game with multiple outcomes. And, Seth Green plays a character in the game. How can you say no?

9 out of 10 laser rifles

by Dan Hagerman

The FinalScore

The cover of the game Mass Effect for Xbox 360

Internet

This ain’t high school behaviour

Interview by Ashley Bursey

Sheet Music

Brunswickan: Tell me a bit about the new album. What was the reason behind releasing this particular record?

Classified: I basically wanted to let people hear some of my older material. My first five albums were never distrib-uted in stores, so I had a lot of songs I wanted to get out there, as well as a few new ones. Also, when I go on the road, a lot of fans ask for the older material and it was never available, so just wanted to get that out there!

B: What was the biggest challenge working on it? What was the best part?

C: Not having to write many new songs, lol. This was definitely a differ-ent process [because] I didn't have to record every song... it was more about just organizing it and picking which songs I wanted to put on there. Having the DVD was cool; I got to put all my videos on it, etc.

B: Why did you decide to name the album While You Were Sleeping? Does it have anything to do with the movie?

C: Nothing at all... the title means, “While you we're sleeping, before you paid attention or heard of Classified, this is what I was doing... now that I woke you up a bit with ‘Hitch Hiking Music’, this is what you missed.”

B: What's the response been like so far for the album?

C: Really good... like I said, it's a lot different than releasing a brand new album, ‘cause people are excited to hear the new songs and what I've been up to. But with this, it's more about people getting excited to hear some of the older material that they might not have heard, and just to let people see the growth I’ve

made over the years. B: You do a lot of tracks with Mari-

time artists. What's it like working with so many people from this neck of the woods? What do you think of the Maritime hip-hop scene?

C: The Maritime hip hop scene is the best hip hop scene in Canada, in my opinion. So many people are working on things around here now, and taking the business side serious and trying to expand. Most of the artists I work with are just friends of mine, so working with them is so natural and fun. So every release I have, I try to get a few of the boys on it, just to help get their name out there as well.

B: Do you make it a point to try and collaborate with local artists?

C: Definitely. At least one song on everyone of my albums will be a posse cut with a few guys from the Maritimes, who are also friends of mine that I hang with every weekend.

B: You've also opened for some pretty big names – Busta Rhymes being one of them. What's that like? And do you have a favorite Busta song?

C: Playing with Busta was crazy! Crazy ‘cause it was Busta Rhymes and I've been a huge fan of his for a while. Plus, his live show is the best I ever saw, just crazy hype, timing is perfect…a really good show! My favorite Busta song would probably be ‘Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See’. I love that beat!

B: What's your favorite hip-hop song out there right now?

C: Lol... not too many good ones now-a-days. But I’d have to say ‘The Glory’ by Kanye. I’m a big fan of Kanye's music. Not his attitude, but his music.

B: Congrats on the recent ECMA! What was that like? And, gotta ask – are you psyched about this year's ECMA right here in Fredericton?

C: ECMAs are always a good time. It's like a big party in the Maritimes for three days – who wouldn't like it? I can’t wait for this year, because we're ending our Canada-wide tour in Fredericton at the ECMAs, so this year will be even better!

B:...And lastly...what's next? C: More shows, more recording,

more producing, more music!

In the wake of his newest album, ‘While You Were

Sleeping’, Classified chats about his anonymous years and

Maritime hip-hop

Arts & Entertainment Issue 13 • November 28, 2007 • 11

Sean and Dave drink coffee...sorta

Tim HortonsSean- Someone bitched at me last

week because I get sandwiches through the Tim Hortons drive-thru.

Dave- You are what I hate about this city.

Sean- Well, I don’t drink coffee, so I have to get something.

Dave- Well, I do drink coffee, and you’re holding shit up. Here’s an idea: go somewhere else to get a sandwich.

Sean- I’ll go somewhere else to get a sandwich when Tim Hortons stops selling sandwiches.

Dave- Tim Hortons coffee tastes like it was brewed in a can of Skoal anyway, but they’re everywhere. Sometimes convenience trumps quality.

Sean- The sandwiches are pretty good, though.

Robins Sean- Robins sucks. It’s in a fucking

gas station.Dave- I know, it’s like they ordered a

bunch of Tim Hortons shitty coffee and poured it in their stupid cups.

Sean- You’d probably be better off drinking the gas.

Dave- You’d probably be better off shuttin’ the fuck up.

Second Cup Sean- I’ll have a double latte with

almond extract, extra foam with cin-namon sprinkles, and a side of suit and tie, please.

Dave- I know, I feel like I should be

taking a break from business meetings or learning to play the lute every time I’m in there.

Sean- I interviewed a wannabe actor with an emo haircut in there once… Moses smell the roses. I still have nightmares.

Starbucks Dave- That’s the only coffee shop

that’ll give a bank loan so you can afford their coffee.

Sean- I thought Starbucks was sup-posed to be all over the place? Why do we only have one? And at the mall?

Dave- Because Tim Hortons runs the coffee racket in this town.

Sean- It’s for the best anyway. The fewer places where people go to be seen reading books or writing in laptops, the better.

Dave- Seriously, I’ve felt underdressed there before. Now I carry a tight turtle-neck and dress pants in my trunk at all times just in case I’m ever in the mall and in the mood for a ten-minute line and an $8 coffee.

Sean- So how do you explain what you’re wearing now?

Reids Sean- I don’t even go in that store to

buy Pepsi. They won’t let me in.Dave- It’s a hipster paradise. You

probably didn’t have the right shoes on. Where was your big sweater and your thick glasses?

Sean- Yeah, they had a picture of The Shins that said “You must be this hip to enter.” I didn’t make the cut.

Dave- They do have a wide variety of over-priced magazines, though.

Sean- Yeah, next time I want the lat-est copy of GQ or AdBusters, I’ll know where to go.

“Tell me what you want, what you really, really want”

It’s always an exciting day at the of-fice when record companies send us new CDs (just ask Sean and Dave, or our Photo Editor, Andrew, who waits eagerly while I tear the yellow envelope off the latest soon-to-be hit).

But a few days ago, I received a CD package that set my heart hammering and my mind whirling, straight back to the days of uber-platforms, pigtails, and lip-synching contests.

It started with a Gorillaz CD. I was remotely psyched, vaguely remembering enjoying that Clint Eastwood song that originated back when I was in eighth grade.

But as I was further opening the same envelope, a fact sheet fell out. Picking it up, I was shocked to see “Say You’ll Be There” as one of the songs on the CD I was about to remove.

I damn near tore the packaging in half to get access to the CD – a new one, a beautiful, shining tribute to my days as a teenybopper extraordinaire.

That’s right. For those of you up on the finer points of a Spicy education, you’ll know exactly what I’m referring to. Perhaps you have a favorite Girl. Certainly you have a favorite song.

Maybe you owned the doll (I definitely did) or the posters or the cassette tape of the original album, the one that started it all, launching girl power to new and dizzying heights.

Somehow, somewhere, you’ve surely come into contact with Spice mania.

It was back in the days before being a celebrity was such a scandal and pa-parazzi didn’t hound the famous, aching for the next big-selling crotch (or balls, in Cisco Adler’s case) shot.

I was probably in sixth grade when the Spice Girls first took flight. It was before Britney and Backstreet, but still early enough in the game to shock me when the Girls didn’t all wear some sort of matching outfit in their video or at their concerts.

It was the days of ‘Wannabe’ (and,

similarly, of ‘Barbie Girl’). It was an era where pop music was fresh, fun, lively, and invigorating. It was girl power and all that junk, wrapped in a neat, tidy, fabricated package.

I remember my sister owned the first cassette, and I used to play it over and over. I had a lip-synching party one year, primarily because I could do such a kick ass rendition of ‘Wannabe’ (I even had dance moves). My favorite was Posh Spice, the mayjah glamazon that she is, and I would practice my pout in the mirror and beg my mum for hideous black platform sneakers to try and be as cool as the British superstars.

It was the first movie I ever saw without my parents. Two friends and I waited in line for an hour on opening night, movie tickets gripped between

sweaty fists, anxious to sit in the sold-out movie theatre for our first glance at the Spices in their own environment. (And I can still quote the movie… “Manta rays?”)

I remember their Christmas CD. I remember ‘Lady is a Tramp’ (“not a vixen, not a vamp”). I remember Hal-loween where I was always coerced into being Baby Spice (damn my blonde hair). I remember peace signs and shouting “Girl power!” obnoxiously at everyone I would see, surrounded by a bevy of preteens who would cheer along with me.

But opening up this CD, I’m struck by how times have changed. No longer am I carefree and eager to idolize some-one for their celebrity. And no longer am I impressed with Victoria Beckham’s pouty lips, especially after the disastrous and awkward music video for their latest ‘single’, ‘Headlines’, where the girls are dressed in tummy-baring lingerie and S&M-style ensembles.

It’s similar to my affection, however undue, for Britney Spears. The Spice Girls were a huge part of my childhood. It was the post-New Kids era, the idea of feminism as beautiful, powerful, and distinctly un-bra-burning, and it was triumphant. Glorious, almost. I was too young to realize the implications of it all, but checking out the Spice Girls’ Greatest Hits, I’m flooded by memories, and they’ve all got a soundtrack. A pop-py, but undeniably catchy soundtrack; a bittersweet trip down memory lane.

Zigizag-hah that.

A F.I.E.R.C.E.ly spontaneous evening

It’s a spontaneous phenomenon that’s starting to take flight on campus, and it’s better known as ‘on-the-spot theatre’.

A local improv group, F.I.E.R.C.E., has been performing on-campus shows in the last little while. Their next show is Nov 28 in McLaggan Hall.

For the group, they’re just doing what they do best: making people laugh. Jeremy Varner is a member of the group

and he says that spreading the word about their performances is the tough-est obstacle.

“We try to get as big a turnout as we can. The main problem is, people don’t know what improv actually is,” said Varner. “So at times, it’s really hard to advertise. It is a work in progress but [people] are definitely coming out more and more.”

To Varner, improv is a theatre sport, and requires just as much attention and dedication as an athlete would give to their sport.

“When someone asks me what I play, I say improv,” he says.

During their shows, the group plays games similar to the ones from the famous television show, ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’ The group practices before shows to make sure they are all hitting

the right points and know what they want to do on the stage.

But, as many improv ingénues might not realize, it’s not all spontaneous.

“Like anything else, you have to practice to keep on top of anything. We use this time to sharpen our act,” said Varner.

For example, an event that draws huge crowds and requires extreme amounts of practice and dedication is the National Improv Games, held in Ottawa every year and featuring schools from across the country. There are several different categories, including Theme, Story, and Life.

Teams practice religiously, structuring each event to fit their own style, before heading to Nationals.

But for improv performances, many groups often mix more ‘Whose Line’-

esque activities with the more structured ones.

F.I.E.R.C.E improv group was formed last year when a group of im-prov students from high school met up with others from the Canadian Improv Games while they were performing.

“We wanted to get something going,” said Varner. “We formed it last year and now we are in our second year and go-ing strong.

“If someone were to just come and watch a practice they might think we are just jumping around and being crazy but we are definitely a different type of people… It’s fun.”

Anyone can check out their website (www.fierce-improv.tk).

Varner adds, “It’s just off the top of your head, crazy ideas that you can guarantee will make you laugh.”

by Ashley Bursey

by Sean Horsley and Dave Briggs

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

The Spice Girls have the top-selling debut single of all time with ‘Wan-nabe’, and their reunion tour has sold out shows around the globe

Internet

by Naomi Osborne

The F.I.E.R.C.E. improv troupe has a show on Nov. 28th at

McLaggan Hall

Arts & Entertainment12 • November 28, 2007 • Issue 13

Sean and Dave talk about Tim Armstrong...and CDs

Brockway Biggs AKA Pimp TIn Awe of Simplicity

Dave- I don’t know if this guy’s trying to be like Weird Al or not.

Sean- Word on the street is that he changed his name to Brockway Biggs because nobody was taking Pimp T seriously.

Dave- Rap ain’t really our thing, although Ice Cube’s ‘Death Certifi-cate’ was pretty bad ass.

Sean- This CD is like trans-fat free Doritos.

Skye SweetnamSound Soldier

Dave- Wow, Tim Armstrong worked on this? He must really need money.

Sean- Either that or Avri l Lavigne wouldn’t return his calls so he went for the next best thing.

Dave- Do you want my Rancid albums?

Sean- No. I got rid of mine after I heard the Translplants.

Dave- This chick has a song on an iPod commercial. I threw my iPod out just in case it accidentally had that song on it.

Sean- We can certainly do with-out more chicks like this making music.

Small SinsMood Swings

Sean- I think this CD is the cause of lupus.

Dave- I hope so. Put me out of my misery.

Sean- This CD is more than a small sin. It’s kind of like regicide.

Dave- Yes.

The Dry Heeves420

Sean- I really wanted to like these guys, but I can’t. I just can’t.

Dave- Some of their song names are pretty funny, like Oxycontin and Halifux.

Sean- And Shithole.Dave- Yeah, Shithole too.

Major MakerPeople Carrier

Dave- An album with six songs and the last one is a re-mix of the first one. Fantastic.

Sean- You’d think if you only had six songs you’d put a little extra work into them.

Dave- I can’t even think a bad enough thing to say about this album. I’m stumped. It’s crappiness has actually affected my ability to think.

Sean- …

Pet Shop BoysDisco4

Sean- So let m e g e t t h i s straight. They take songs and re-mix them, and that’s it?

Dave- Pretty much.Sean- And they’re selling this crap

as an album?

Moustaches and mistletoe

by Ashley Bursey

member David Woodside, smashed the Harrison House guitar in front of the many people from Harrison in attendance.

Darwin, which included co-organizer Brian Beaudette, followed the Brian Koval Experience. Although this was their first show together as a band, they came together quite well. Drummer Ty-ler MacDonald displayed his abilities by performing a drum solo in the middle of the set. Guitarist Cory Vatcher rounded off the band, even composing a few of the songs on the set list.

Eternal Pirate Radio of STU was the sixth band of the night. EPR kept the house shaking by playing covers, like Rage Against the Machine songs. From guitar-shredding licks to exces-sive amounts of profanity, the band was one of the top performers of the evening. They topped off their set with

from Rock page 1

Rockin’ recap

Dave- It’s the Pet Shop Boys. That well’s been dry for a long time.

Spice GirlsG r e a t e s t Hits

Dave- Are you fucking kidding me?

Sean- I ’m not even go-ing to listen to this. I already know it sucks.

Dave- I thought we got rid of this plague like eight years ago. This is the worst thing to happen to music since Metallica kept making music after the Black Album.

Sean- Or since some asshole shot Dimebag.

Dave- Or since the Spice Girls first put these songs out!

by Sean Horsley and Dave Briggs

We blew in the door a minute or two late for Feast Dinner Theatre’s ‘Mistle-toe Affair’, a dinner theatre production at the Back Nine on November 18. The crowd had begun gathering a few minutes before, settling themselves in with tall goblets of wine or colorful, Christmassy drinks, listening to an introduction that played right into the evening’s seating arrangements.

Billed as Atlantic Canada’s longest-running dinner theatre, this particular production (which carries over to the Charlotte Street Arts Centre in early De-cember) centers on the commercializa-tion of Christmas, namely, the Shopping Channel. The cast informs us from the get-go that we are very lucky to be a part of the fabulous filming of an infomercial for the fictitious Mistletoe Network.

We’re seated quickly. Dress is casual to semi-dressy; dress pants and a glittery top are A-OK (I wore dark denim with dress boots and a flowy shirt). And be prepared to guzzle: the special drinks are delicious (try the Christmopolitan, but steer clear of the Tinseltown) and the food was a Christmas-themed delight, with fresh veggies, mashed potatoes, ham, turkey, and chocolaty or pie-related desserts.

But it was the cast that really made the evening sparkle. Actors stayed in char-acter during the duration of the show and worked as servers, proffering wine menus and refilling our glasses at every

opportunity. Our waitress, Veronica Vanhottie (“It’s Dutch!” she giggled) was perky, fun, and enthusiastic.

The plot of the piece revolves around the idea of two competing infomercials: one for an “X-treme X-mas in a Box” (or something along those lines) and the other, a recipe and Christmas fact book written by members of a local orphan-age (cue the ‘awwww’.) While it wasn’t by any means a heavy or involved plot line, there were enough snappy jokes and witty lines to make the audience chuckle.

As well, the actors were, on the whole, quite talented – especially with the ladies. Chauncey McFuntime (and yes, the names are part of the gag) broke about a dozen hearts that night, charming all the ladies (“Ashley, how are things?” he yelled across the room at me at one point) and bringing the audience into the play (“Don’t drink too much, or you’ll look like Patrick, here!”)

My favorite was an improvised dia-logue between the antagonist and protagonist, Chauncey and the meek, religious Jeremiah Carpenter (check out the biblical symbolism). “I like your moustache,” Jeremiah offered, his hands full of empty wine bottles to “bring to the depot for the children at the orphanage.”

“Oh, yeah? I get it done by Mar-cel. It’s the best. Marcel’s Marvelous Moustache. The sign is like, ‘MMM’,” Chauncey replied.

Somehow, the conversation evolved to Scotch. “Scotch and women and Cadillacs,” or something in that vein.

“Like, Scotch mints?”“What are they? Mints you dip in

scotch? Oh, no, like grandma mints, with the glass bowl.”

At this point, my girlfriend and I –

and our entire table – were laughing out loud, enjoying the antics. Really, the improvisational stuff made the entire show for me, especially when Jeremiah said, in a stage whisper, “I don’t trust this man. Moustache, pleats in his pants, long hair…” and shook his head sadly before wandering away.

Great food, an entertaining show, and good company – we quickly made friends with the folks at our table, who even went so far as to request my girlfriend get another drink when she quietly told me she didn’t love the one she had ordered.

My only caution is to book off a night when you’re not too busy: the show ran close to four hours, with lots of long songs and breaks between skits. But if you’re hankering for a good, home-cooked meal and a night out, this is definitely it.

Jeremiah Carpenter, a character in The Mistletoe Affair, will use bottle rebates to fund his orphanage

Ashley Bursey / The Brunswickan

Colin B. Mackay Reading Room – Law Library

Law Library staff invites all mem-bers of our community to drop by and visit the new Colin B. Mackay Reading Room in UNB’s Gerard V. La Forest Law Library. The new space is named in honour of Dr. Colin Mackay, UNB President from 1953-69, for his many contributions to UNB, the Faculty of Law and the Law Library.

New Exhibit – H.R. Stewart Room (HIL)

Harriet Irving Library is hosting a new exhibit in the H.R. Stewart Room (fifth floor) of the library entitled ‘Brick by Brick: Building the Library as Place’.

The exhibit contains a pictorial his-tory of libraries at UNB. Drop by to find out how students of the 1880s influenced the development of UNB libraries. Watch a digital movie of the corner-stone laying at the Harriet Irving Library.

The exhibit is open between 10am-4pm, from Monday to Friday, and will continue until encaenia 2008.

Extended hours at UNB libraries All libraries on the UNB Fredericton

campus are offering extended hours prior to exams. Hours are as follows:

Harriet Irving Library (Beginning November 26) Monday – Friday 8:00 am - Midnight Saturday & Sunday 10:00 am – Midnight

Engineering Library (Beginning November 26) Monday – Friday 8:00 am - Midnight Saturday - 10:00 am - 10:00 pm Sunday - 10:00 am - Midnight

Science & Forestry Library (Beginning November 26) Monday – Sunday 8:00 am - Midnight

Gerard V. La Forest Law Library (November 12 - December 18)Monday – Friday 8:00am – 11:00 pmSaturday & Sunday 9:00am – 11:00 pm

UNB libraries’ staff wish everyone good luck with their exams!

Books & Bytes

by Leanne Wellsfrom the UNB Libraries

a rendition of Neil Young’s ‘Rocking in the Free World’.

The final band of the night was Weak Size Fish, the band I belong to. We flew through a set list of original tunes to cap off the successful evening. We began our set with a laid-back Bob Marley tune, which we thought fit quite nicely with the theme of AIDS awareness.

We followed with a number of upbeat tunes that will be on our upcoming 2008 album.

All the bands did a great job perform-ing and I had a great time meeting all of the acts. Congrats to the organizers, Jessica Stutt and Brian Beaudette, for putting on a great show and raising awareness for a worthy cause.

This year had more acts on the bill than last year, but the quality of music did not change. Thank you to those who came out to support the cause and also to those who came to support the bands. I hope to be back in yet another successful show next year.

Weak Size Fish hang out backstage before their performance at the Rock for Life charity concert for the Stephen Lewis Foundation

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

“Excuse me, I have something in my eye”

For students of English 2170 at UNB, it’s more than just coming up with catchy titles – although ‘That 2170’s Show’ is pretty clever.

The class has been studying mono-logues and partnered scenes from various 20th century writers, including ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘Steel Magno-lia’, and ‘Chapter Two’ by Neil Simon, and they’ll be performing them for an open audience on November 29-30 at Memorial Hall.

The 28 pieces, “from the melodra-matic to the hilarious and everything in between,” says student Will Pacey, have been chosen to showcase and challenge the students’ talent.

If the press release is any indication, the evening should be chock-full of giggles and perhaps a little bit of sar-donic wit.

“Come see what has been described as a tragedy in two parts – ‘That 2170's Show’ – a motley mélange of scenes and monologues presented by the up-and-coming students of

English 2170,” it reads. “Like a batch of cookies just removed

from the oven, these modestly attractive young thespians are fresh on the scene

- ready to deliver a cathartic evening of performances that will make you laugh, ponder, and have some people saying, ‘Excuse me, I have something in my eye’.”

On a more serious note, Pacey says that theatrical training is beneficial for everyone – from the young to the old.

“Theatre is definitely a beneficial thing for anyone, whether they're in an elementary school play, a high school production, or even studying theatre at a university level,” Pacey says. “It gets people out of their comfort zones and encourages them to be more outgoing or extroverted. It gets kids exposed to some great works, while broadening their minds and building character, and in my experience, you also end up making some very deep and lasting friendships.”

The show begins at 8pm at Memo-rial Hall, November 29-30. Admission is only a toonie (or two loonies) at the door.

English 2170 students will perform scenes from 20th century writers on Nov 29 and 30.

Internet

by Bruns Arts Department

Classifieds are a FREE service for members of the university community. Please try to limit submissions to 35 words or less. Your name, student number, and phone number are required at sub-mission, but will not be published. We can accept them at Room 35, SUB, 453-5073 (Fax), or e-mail: bruns-ad@unb.ca. Please do not submit by phone. We reserve the right to edit or refuse publication. All classifieds are subject to available space. For display advertising contact Bill at 447-3388. Classified deadline is Monday at noon.

November 28 • 2007

Classifieds

11/30/07

TANNING SPECIALS

2 FREETANS

20%OFF3 LOCATIONS

530 Queen St.458-9771

1113 Regent St. 454-8267

154 Main St.472-5048

WANTED

Looking for a ride to Ontario after ex-ams. (Dec 14 or later). Will contribute gas money. E-mail: v593w@unb.ca.

FOR SALE

Corner cherrywood computer desk $125. Green leather chair & ottoman $100. Small children’s dresser $80.Duncan Phyffe table $200. Two Lyre back chairs $60 each. Caned seat rocker $50. Call 454-6096.

Yorkshire terrier pups for sale. Home raised, ready now. Call 455-0045 or e-mail: kim.wilson@unb.ca.

Women’s size 7 Brown Doc Marten boots for sale. Worn one winter, great condition. Asking $45. Email: L367Z@unb.ca

Free stuff Saturday at reNeu Boutique (349 King St). Take all the (select items) you want for free...no strings attached! Taking place on Saturday, December 1st...from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Plan on bringing your own bag and reduce on waste.

ACCOMMODATIONS

Two bedroom apartment on Graham av-enue. Very close to UNB/STU. Fridge, stove included. Unheated, unlighted. $550 per month. Parking available. Lease to April 30, 2008. No pets allowed. Call 461-8443

Beautiful two bedroom apartment for rent in the Peppercreek area. a quiet country setting five minutes to UNB. heated and spacious, private yard, private entrance and private drive way. New ap-pliances and washer and dryer hook ups. Call 455-6701.

Room for rent: Graduating student leav-ing in December/07. Furnished room available January 1/08 in private super-vised home on Kitchen St.. All utilities included. Share bath and kitchen with one other student. Five minute walk to cam-pus. Call 455-1979 or 451-2979.

One spacious room in a four bedroom house for rent. Three minutes to campus. Laundry, parking, and Internet services available. Please call 459-5465.

PSAs

The Christmas Choice Craft Sale will be held on Sunday December 2 from noon to 4:00 p.m. at Memorial Hall, UNB Arts Center at 9 Bailey Drive UNB Fredericton Campus. This sale features 22 select New Brunswick Artisans, including students, and live music by Steven Peacock. Free admission.

The Fredericton Choral Society presents its annual Christmas Concert at Wilmot United Church on Tuesday, December 11 at 8:00 p.m. Björn Runefors will con-duct the choir and a baroque orchestra in a performance of the Midnight Mass for Christmas, a beautiful and moving com-position by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. The choir will also sing carols from around the world, including English, Canadian, Austrian, Swedish, Finnish and American carols, and the audience will be invited to a carol sing-along. Tickets, as always, are available from choir members, at West-minster Books, Mazzuca’s, and at the door on the night of the concert. Adults $15, seniors & students $10, family rate $30.

The New Brunswick Crafts Council is celebrating its new home in the Charlotte Street Arts Centre with Ornament Your Home, an exhibition designed to show-case New Brunswick craft created for the home. Practical and decorative items will be featured. This group exhibition has broad ap-peal as it includes craftspeople working in various media. Serving platters, furniture, sculptural pieces, vases, napkin rings and cozy blankets are but a few of the types of items that will be available. In addition, hand-made festive ornaments, created by New Brunswick Crafts Council will be on display and for sale as that perfect one-of-a-kind gift. New Brunswick fine craft provides a unique touch to home décor. Out with mass-produced houseware.items. This exhibition encourages people to think and purchase locally. Hand made items created close to home for the home. The opening of Ornament Your

Home takes place Friday, November 30th from 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. at the New Brunswick Crafts Council Gallery located on the main floor of the Charlotte Street Arts Centre in Fredericton. The opening coincides with the New Brunswick Col-lege of Craft and Design’s Holiday Gift Sale and Open House. Enjoy an evening of New Brunswick fine craft and drop by both locations for all your seasonal pur-chases. Come and see how the New Bruns-wick Crafts Council uses locally made fine craft objects to decorate its home during the festive season and year-round.

We are once again recruiting volunteers for the giftwrapping booth at the Regent Mall this holiday Season commencing December 1st through December 24th. We greatly appreciated your time you gave us to volunteer last year and we are look-ing forward to working with you again this year if you are able. Should you wish to volunteer, you can contact myself at 452-5556 or e-mail: Serena.Wallace@rvh.nb.ca.

The Fredericton Shambhala Medita-tion Centre, 20 Serenity Lane (corner of Hanwell Rd), is offering a free public talk on Meditation & Shambhala Principles, taught by senior teacher Mary Campbell of Halifax, on Friday Nov. 30, at 8:00 p.m. This public talk will be followed by a weekend meditation workshop to which meditators new and experienced are wel-come: “The Art of Being Human” on Saturday & Sunday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Workshop cost is $75. For further infor-mation call Jean Ahlgren at 455-0089.

The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (www.cippic.ca) is doing research on identity theft for the Identity Trail project (www.idtrail.org). If you have been a victim of identity theft and are will-ing to fill out a victim impact statement, please contact us. The statement is a ques-tionnaire and will take 15 to 20 minutes to complete. Volunteers will receive $20. You can contact me at: Philippe.shink@unb.ca or phone 457-3956.

The Canadian Cancer Society will be holding our Annual Curl for Cancer – Fun’d’spiel on Saturday, January 12, 2008. Starts at 8:00 a.m. and runs all day at The Fredericton Curling Club, Coli-

seum, Exhibition Grounds. Funds raised from this event will help fund programs in New Brunswick, which include educa-tion, travel assistance, research, wigs, tur-bans, children’s summer camp, training for support groups and advocacy. To par-ticipate – Teams (4 individuals) are asked to fundraise a minimum of $300. ( i.e. $75 per person in pledges/sponsorship). If someone pledges you they will receive a tax receipt. This year we will be attempt-ing to exceed our goal of $10,000. Please challenge your skills in the annual Curl for Cancer Tournament. Whether you are a beginner or a pro, you are invited to en-joy a fun filled day of curling. Bring your friends, your family, your co-workers and your neighbors. Join the fight against can-cer! It will be a day filled with entertain-ment with many things to look forward to: silent auction, lunch, top individual fund raiser, top team fund raiser, most enthu-siastic team, first place , second and third place curling teams. If you are interested in registering a team – Contact 451-1564 or visit the CCS Office on 346 Queen St.

Dr. Maggie Mamen, family psychologist and author, will present an lecture entitled “Parent Power: The Quiet Revolution” on Wednesday, November 21 at 7:30

p.m. at Head Hall Auditorium (engineer-ing building), UNB Campus-Fredericton. The more our children become empow-ered by influences outside the family, the less confident we parents feel when trying to defend our rights and uphold our re-sponsibilities to our children. This presen-tation will explore peaceful ways in which we may regain our confidence and reclaim our families. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.; the event is free and open to all. This event is co-hosted by LEAP! and the Healthy Families, Healthy Communities Associa-tion and http://www.fredkid.com.

Would you like to support a great cause? Our mission: To stop impaired driving and to support victims of this vio-lent crime . If you would like to help the Fredericton Chapter of “MADD”, either by donations or a fund raising event, please contact MADD Fredericton board mem-ber/media rep Councillor David Kelly at 458-8518 or e-mail: david.kelly@frederic-ton.ca or Michelle Doiron at 472-1999 or maddgf@yahoo.ca. You can also check our website for more details at www.madd.ca.

Lintuhtine Choirs present their annual “The Christmas Story”. Special guests include, Derrick Paul Miller as vocal solo-

ist, Katherine Moller on oboe and violin, Barbara Roberts of CBC as narrator, and John Thurber on hand bells. The two concerts, one in Oromcot and one in Fredericton are a definite guarantee to put the Christmas spirit in your heart. while at the same time you will be support-ing a worthwhile cause - the food banks of our area. A monetary donation at the

door witll be collected with the proceeds going to the Oromocto and Fredericton Food Banks. Saturday, December 1, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. at Oromocto United Church, 144 Winnebago Street, Oromocto, N.B. Sunday, December 2, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, 512 Charlotte Street, Fredericton.

The Brunswickan • 13

Limit 1 per person per day. During public bowling times.Cannot be combined with other o�ers. Not valid with group booking. No cash value

1 FREE GAMEStudent I.D. Required.

Valid Until December 15/2007

301 Main Street472-2361

• Shoe Rental Included • Birthday Parties a Speciality• Restaurant – Licensed Lounge • Air Conditioned • Student Rates

Main StreetBowl-A-Drome

444-0121www.sweetsrodeo.com

9pm - Midnite

Check us out on Facebook at“Sweetwaters Rockin Rodeo-Of�cial”

every thursday nite

Sports brunswickansports@gmail.com • November 28, 2007

Downhill death wish

Lace up your skates, strap on your elbow pads, and get your game face on, because Red Bull's Crashed Ice is back for another year full of speed, air, and bruises.

On January 25, this unique com-petition will return to the historic Old Quebec for the third time, as the city begins the celebration of its 400th an-niversary.

The competition, which is a com-bination of downhill skiing, hockey, bobsled, and boarder-cross, winds its way through the stunning Old Quebec landscape, but racers will have no time to admire their surroundings traveling at up to 50km/h. The 535-meter urban ice track is characterized by its hairpin turns, big-air jumps, and huge vertical drops. If that's not enough to get the blood flowing, every thrill and spill will be cheered on by the crowd of nearly 75,000 enthusiastic spectators.

The race is set to start at the base of beautiful Château Frontenac, overlook-ing the Saint Lawrence River; the last chance for racers to rethink their deci-sion. Coming out of the gates, skaters will storm down the rue du Fort to the cheers of the enormous crowd. Racers will reach breakneck speeds before hit-ting a steep right turn in front of Hôtel de la Poste, which sits across from the Parc Montmorency and one of the oldest schools in North America, Petit Séminaire de Québec.

Skaters will battle for position as they fly down Côte de la Montagne and di-rectly under Porte Prescott, one of the remaining arches of the original fortifi-cations that surround Vieux Québec.

Then, in the middle of the steepest part of Côte de la Montagne, the track will make a sharp left at the infamous Escalier Casse-Cou, otherwise known as ‘Breakneck Stairway’.

Before hitting the bottom of the hill, skaters will have to navigate some serious air as they encounter one of the course’s most intimidating jumps before careening down on Place Royale, home of the oldest church in North America, where fittingly, scenes were shot for the Hollywood blockbuster Catch Me If You Can.

With glory and the Saint Lawrence again in sight, the skaters will sprint down the stairs of rue de la Place and hit the finish on Place de Paris.

Construction of this intricate track is set to take up to three weeks. One

hundred pairs of Quebec's strongest arms will be on deck, as forty boxes of crushed ice, each weighing a massive 1,700 pounds, will be spread across the streets of Old Quebec. A cooling system with seven chilling machines will be used to ensure a sleek and smooth ice surface for the racers. Polymer boards will line the track ensuring the safety of the crowd, but let’s not kid around here, they will also act as a means of directing the fallen warriors towards the finish. Providing foundational support are 900 adjustable steel legs and a couple thousands large wood screws.

The race format is simple. To deter-mine a champion, consecutive heats of four skaters racing head-to-head in a double elimination bracket will narrow the field down from the top 64 qualifiers to a final four.

The first one past the finish line will be crowned the 2008 Red Bull Crashed Ice Champion.

I know what you're thinking. Why the hell would anyone want to put their bodies through this form of pun-ishment? What's in it for these brave individuals? The answer is simple: Cash. To the victor goes the green. The top prize is $5,000 awarded to the cham-pion, $3,000 going to the runner up, $1,500 to the third place finisher, and $500 for the fourth place competitor. Essentially, you win enough to cover the hospital fees.

Kevin Olsen of Lethbridge, Alberta, the 2007 Quebec City and Helsinki champion, describes the one-of-a-kind event and the feeling of racing saying, “racing down the course, you body takes a beating. But when you're at the start-ing gate, and you hear the crowd, you don't feel a thing. You forget the pain, you forget it all... I'm just a regular Joe. Most of these guys are. We're not pros. Competing in Red Bull Crashed Ice is such a rush – to win, its even better.”

Registration is now open for those of you who are up to the challenge, or for anyone with a death wish.

There are only 200 spots open per city, so competition will certainly be fierce.

Qualifiers are set to take place in 11 cities across Canada, with the Halifax Forum acting as the location for the Atlantic provinces qualifying.

It’s one flat-surface ice rink turned obstacle course. Record one of the fastest qualifying times in your region and you're on your way to the finals in Quebec City!

All participants must be 18 years or older and full hockey pads, gloves, hel-mets, and hockey skates are required.

For more information or to register, visit the Red Bull Crashed Ice website at www.redbullcrashedice.com.

by Ed Bowes

CIS Football: Manitoba Bisons beat up on SMU Huskies in Vanier Cup

A 28-14 victory over the Saint Mary's Huskies on Friday night earned Mani-toba its first Canadian university foot-ball championship since 1970, in a game that was a tale of two teams with hurting offences.

The Saint Mary’s Huskies, without starting quarterback Erik Glavic, were the underdogs heading into Friday night’s Vanier Cup. That changed quickly, however, as Manitoba’s run-ning back Matt Henry had his right femur snapped on a tackle late in the first quarter. But with running back Karim Lowen carrying a heavier load and quarterback John Makie on his game, the Bisons offence hardly missed a beat.

Makie threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Steve Gronick and ran seven yards to score, while Scott Dixon kicked four field goals for the Bisons, who pulled away after trailing the Huskies

7-0. Mike Howard, the five-foot-nine

defensive back who, like Lowen, was appearing in his last college game, tied a title game record by intercepting three passes in front of a Rogers Centre crowd of 26,787.

“It's awesome,” Howard said of help-ing end the 37-year drought.

Lowen ran 19 times for 88 yards in relief of Henry, keeping drives going time and again by barging through holes created by his offensive linemen.

“This is the best way to go out,” he said.

Manitoba Coach Brian Dobie finally won the big one in his 12th year at the helm. He lauded Makie's efforts through the whole season. Makie completed 16 of 31 passes for 261 yards Friday.

“They talk about everyone else ex-cept John Makie,” said Dobie. “He's 22-1 as a starter and he's won a Vanier Cup, now. Slow as molasses, but gets it done.”

On the Huskies side, Ted Abraham, a leftie getting his first start as quar-terback for Saint Mary's in place of injured National MVP Glavic, threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Fraser O'Neil to give the Huskies the early

lead, but Manitoba was ahead to stay before Abraham found Shawn White for an eight-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.

Abraham produced a valiant effort. He was 15 for 32 for 192 yards. The loss wasn't his fault, said coach Steve Sumarah.

“Ted handled himself very well,” said Sumarah. “He was poised and in con-trol. The big difference in the game was that [the Bisons] controlled the lines.”

Manitoba completed its season as the

only undefeated team in the country at 12-0.

Saint Mary's finished with a 9-2 record. Beating ‘No. 1’ Laval in the semis will stand as the highlight of its season.

“It's a pretty high height to fall from,” said offensive lineman Derek Weber.

Coach Steve Sumarah knew when Glavic went down against Laval that his Huskies would be the underdogs.

“Our kids at least played hard,” said Sumarah.

Jacques Lumbala rushed 14 times for 98 yards for the Huskies.

“They were the better team,” Lum-bala said of the Bisons.

Glavic didn’t abandon his team as they battled against Manitoba, as he was on crutches in his number 10 jersey on the sidelines

In the only previous meeting in the history of the programs, Saint Mary's defeated Manitoba 42-16 in the 2001 championship game. Saint Mary's also won in 2002, and this was its first time back.

Manitoba hadn't won the title since taking two in a row in 1969 and 1970. The Bisons are 3-1 in their four trips to the final.

Women’s basketball set to post up in fight against cancer

The UNB Varsity Reds women’s bas-ketball team is off to a great start this season. This past weekend the Reds defeated the Dalhousie Tigers, the first place team in the 2006-07 regular sea-son, 72-69, and 73-69. UNB finished fourth in the regular season last year, and they were elimi-nated by Dalhousie in the semi-finals. This year, the team will be looking to take their game one step higher in the 2007-08 campaign.

But while the Reds will be trying to focus on winning an Atlantic University Championship, something they have not done since the 1998-99 season, they will also be trying to raise awareness for a noteworthy cause.

The UNB Varsity Reds women's basketball team will be hosting a ‘Pink’ basketball game on Saturday, December 1, as part of an initiative by the CIS Women's Basketball Coaches Associa-tion to raise awareness and funds for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

The rUNBuddies will be helping out the Reds in their fundraising efforts. They are a group of people from the

UNB community who raise awareness and funds in the fight against breast cancer. They are proud to be a part of this exciting endeavor and hope to make it an annual event.

The rUNBuddies have been the re-cipients of the CIBC Corporate Spirit Award two years in a row in their fund-raising efforts. They have raised over $20,000 in each of the last two years.

At 1pm on Saturday, December 1, UNB will be playing a regular season game against the Cape Breton Capers in the Lady Beaverbrook Gym. There will be exciting basketball action along with fun games, raffles, and pink items for sale. All proceeds from the admis-sion gate and other events will go to the CBCF. Everyone is welcome to the game and the Reds hope that many will be in attendance to support the cause.

UNB Coach Jeff Speedy heard about the initiative through the Coaches As-sociation and has since taken the lead on the project.

“The event was not my idea but I am proud to be involved. Hopefully we will be able to make a sizable donation in March to the Canadian Breast Cancer Society," noted Coach Speedy.

The WBCA plans to announce the grand total of all money raised at the CIS championship in Saskatoon, in March 2008.

"This is a very exciting initiative and I am pleased to be doing a small part to help make it happen. To see so many coaches and athletic departments step

forward to support this is fantastic. I truly hope we are announcing a huge number in Saskatoon in March," noted the UNB bench boss.

Speedy is entering his second season as the coach of the women’s basketball team. He came to UNB after coaching at the University of Regina for four

years. The fundraising initiative was the

brainchild of Bishop's University Head Coach Rod Gilpin.

"We were raising money through our pre-season exhibition tournament in support of legendary University of Victoria Coach Kathy Shields. In talk-

ing to other CIS coaches, we realized we were not the only program doing this and it only made sense that the WBCA take on this project nationwide,” noted Gilpin.

Kathy Shields is a well-known coach throughout the CIS. She coached an unprecedented eight CIS Champion-

ships and won three CIS Coach of the Year Awards in her 21-year career at the University of Victoria. She is also a former coach of the Canadian National Women’s Basketball team.

Fittingly, the University of Victoria is the school that kicked off the fundraiser on September 28, with the Vikes annual alumni game.

Saint Mary’s will host Acadia on January 4, to finish off the fundrais-ing games in the AUS division. Cape Breton, St. FX, Memorial, and Dalhou-sie have all hosted a similar fundraiser game this season.

To date, over 30 CIS women's bas-ketball programs have jumped on board and will raise money through regular season home games, exhibition tourna-ments, or other special projects.

The Pink game will mark the first meeting between UNB and CBU this season. CBU finished third in the league standings last season and have also been playing great ball so far this season. The evenly matched teams should make for great action on Saturday.

The match against Cape Breton will be the Reds final game until after the Christmas break. The AUS regular season will come to a stop due to exams and will resume in the new year.

The Reds will be hosting the Helen Campbell Tournament from December 29-31 at the Lady Beaverbrook Gym. They will kick off the tournament with action against the University of Prince Edward Island.

by Mitchell Bernard

The V-Reds women’s basketball team opened their home schedule with two straight wins against Dalhousie.Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

Despite a key injury to Matt Henry, Manitoba held on to down SMU.

Tom Barnett (The Excaliber / CUP)

by Brian Munn

Red Bull’s Crashed Ice will take to the streets of Old Quebec City in January. For racers in the Atlantic Provinces, try-outs for the main event in Quebec will be held on December 8th at the Halifax Forum.

Internet

Sports Issue 13 • November 28, 2007 • 15

Video replay and the CIS

What is the hardest position in hockey? Some may say the goalie has the hard-est position because you’re the last line of defence. While others would say a defence man has the most difficult position, some say that being a for-ward is the hardest, but if you talked to my roommate, she would tell you it’s none of those.

She would say the hardest position in hockey is the one wearing the zebra stripes. That’s right, the referee.

I may have to agree with my room-mate, who, as a referee, is clearly biased in this conversation. The thing is, everyone on the ice can make or break a game, even the referee, but the referee has to make sure he or she sees everything on the ice.

This can sometimes be even harder than staying with our man, or keeping an eye on the chest.

NHL. Now, let’s head back to campus,

where we have the number one ranked university hockey team in the country that was recently defeated by the Uni-versité de Moncton. The tight hockey game ended in a shootout. This game was the first loss for the Reds this sea-son, after eleven straight wins.

Now, let’s just say that late in the third, or even in overtime, Moncton scored what was called a goal, but it was kicked in or even worse, the puck didn’t actually go in the net.

How would you, as a UNB fan, coach, or player feel, especially since it ruined a perfect season? I am going to go out on a limb and say pretty crappy.

The CIS is a great hockey league, competitive and fairly well refereed, but the referees are only human and they make mistakes, too. UNB puts a ton of money into their hockey budget with hope that they will see results, but what if the right result doesn’t come out? What if it’s 2-2 in the championship game of the national championship? What if UNB is scored on, with just under a minute to go in the third, and the goal didn’t actually go in? That’s enough to leave a sour taste in anyone’s mouth.

So why wouldn’t the CIS imple-ment video replay into some of its biggest sports such as hockey?

Well, to begin with, it would cost a lot of money. Cameras would need to be installed into arenas across the country, which would probably come out of the university’s athletic budget, not the AUS or CIS budget. This would be extremely expensive, espe-cially for the smaller schools.

You also need to consider how many cameras would need to be installed in each arena, and whether or not they could be installed. Each arena is differ-ent and you may be unable to get the proper camera angles in some cases.

Once the cameras are bought and installed, each team would need to hire someone to be at every home game. This person would need to be familiar with the rules of hockey and competent with video technology. Finding a person who could do this job may be easier said than done and then finding money with which to pay them may be even harder.

In the end though, wouldn’t get-ting it right outweigh paying a hefty price?

I would think so. As mentioned earlier, schools such as UNB spend a lot of money on their hockey team, and even make a fair amount from ticket sales, concessions, and even sponsorships.

Although there have not recently been any controversial calls to scruti-nize, the need for video replay is still there. I just hope that video replay is introduced into the CIS before a championship is wrongfully handed out thanks to a bad call.

The one that got away

Revenge: After being defeated on home ice by the Varsity Reds in the national championship game last season, it is all the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus had on their mind.

And last Wednesday, they got it. U de M downed the V-Reds 5-4 in a shoot-out, adding the only blemish to UNB’s otherwise perfect record.

The Varsity Reds had their 11 game AUS undefeated streak snapped, drop-

ping their record to 11-0-1. But by still claiming a point, they maintained their stranglehold on first place in the divi-sion. The point put UNB four points ahead of Saint Mary’s and kept them five up on Moncton.

UNB had one of their strongest first periods of the season, giving up just four shots while closing out the frame up 3-1. Denny Johnston scored just 25 seconds into the match before Kevin Henderson notched back-to-back goals to give UNB a 3-0 lead just six minutes into the game.

Moncton was able to tie the game in the second, scoring two goals just 44 seconds apart.

UNB once again grabbed the lead in the third, as Rob Hennigar and David Bowman assisted on Hunter Tremblay`s go-ahead tally. A controversial call against UNB shortly after put Moncton on the power play, and they were able to tie the game.

The V-Reds out shot Moncton 9-4 in overtime, but couldn’t beat the Moncton keeper to lock up their 12 straight win.

In the shootout for the second straight game, Justin DaCosta scored to put UNB up by 1-0. However, Brad Efthimiou, Rob Hennigar, and Hunter Tremblay were all stopped on their at-tempts. Moncton won the game in the fourth round of the shootout.

Mike Ouzas suffered his first loss of the season, despite UNB out shooting Moncton 38-25.

The Varsity Reds came out flying on Friday night against the UPEI Panthers,

looking like a team that certainly wanted to prove Wednesday’s loss was not a sign of things to come.

UNB demolished the Panthers 8-1, surrendering only 15 shots against Derek Yeomans, who got the start in place of Mike Ouzas.

Although they controlled the play for much of the period, UNB couldn’t solve UPEI keeper Dayne Davis. Finally, on the 19th shot of the period for the V-Reds, John Scott Dickson beat Davis with just four seconds left in the period. The goal was assisted by Rob Hennigar and Hunter Tremblay, which turned out to be a magic combination for UNB as the game went on.

Early in the second, Dickson scored his second of the night as he capped off a great effort by Tremblay and Hen-nigar to put UNB up 2-0. The same combination worked against for UNB on a 5-on-3 power play just minutes later, as Dickson finished off the natural hat-trick.

UNB tallied once more in the second, as Lachlan MacIntosh came in from the side boards and picked the top-corner over Davis. After two periods, UNB was up 4-0 with a 34-9 edge in shots on goal.

At the seven minute mark of the third, Dickson notched his fourth goal of the night as he fired a shot from the top of the circle past Davis. Hennigar and Tremblay each picked up their fourth assist of the night on the play.

UPEI netted their only goal of the game with just less than ten minutes remaining when Howie Martin scored

on the power play. UNB made up for it 25 seconds later, as Hunter Tremblay was hauled down on a breakaway and scored on his ensuing penalty shot.

Justin DaCosta and Kevin Henderson also scored for the V-Reds, who out shot the Panthers 45-15.

John Scott Dickson and Rob Hen-nigar each recorded four points in the effort, while Hunter Tremblay picked up a goal and four assists.

The win improved UNB’s record to 12-0-1, with just one game to go before the Christmas break. The V-Reds will look for some retribution when they host U de M next Friday at the Aitken Centre.

by Brian Munn

After being edged in a shootout by Moncton, the V-Reds returned to the Aitken Centre in style with an 8-1 massacre of the UPEI Panthers. John Scott Dickson had 4 goals for UNB, while Hunter Tremblay had five points.

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

It is because the referees don’t have eyes in the back of their heads that video replay is used in most major leagues. Take the National Hockey League for example. Every time there is a questionable goal, the phone is picked up, and the referee calling the game talks to someone in Toronto at the NHL’s head offices who is looking at the replay.

The same thing goes for the Ameri-can Hockey League and more recently, the Canadian Hockey League. Even Major League Baseball recently an-nounced that it will have video replay in its upcoming season. Unfortunately, the minor leagues do not offer as many camera angles as they do in the

Although the debate hasn’t reached the CIS, video replay is becoming essential in most leagues.

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by Brad Conley

Wednesday, November 21st

Men’s Hockey UnB – 4 U de M – 5

V-Reds Results

Upcominig V-Reds Events

Friday, November 23rd

Men’s Hockey UnB – 8dalHoUsie – 1

Friday, November 30th

WoMen’s BasketBall cBU @ UnB1:00pM @ lB GyM

Men’s BasketBall cBU @ UnB3:00pM @ lB GyM

Men’s Hockey

UnB at UMaine oRono

JoHn scott dicksonMen’s Hockey

anGela aydonWoMen’s BasketBall

Saturday, November 17th

Men’s Hockey UdeM @ UnB7:00pM @ aUc

V-Reds Athletes of the week

Saturday, November 24th

Sunday, November 25th

WoMen’s Hockey

stFX 8UnB 0 WoMen’s BasketBall UnB 72dal 69

Men’s BasketBall UnB 60dal 62

WoMen’s Hockey

dal 5UnB 2 WoMen’s BasketBall UnB 73dal 69

Men’s BasketBall UnB 61dal 84

Sports16 • November 28, 2007 • Issue 13

Coming this Christmas, to a hockey arena near you...

With the holiday season fast approach-ing, sports fans around the world are getting geared up for a few of the best Christmas traditions going. There’s the Major League Baseball free-agent rush, the Christmas Day NBA games that seem to usually pit Shaq against Kobe, and of course, the World Junior Hockey Championships.

Sure, we all want to see Barry Bonds stay in the Bay Area and play in the Alca-traz penal league and be their backup left fielder. We all want to see Shaq punch Kobe, or Kobe punch Shaq, or the Heat to play as well as they did a couple years ago. And we all expect Canada to win gold, no matter how many Sutters are involved with the team.

But Christmas isn’t about what we all want. It’s the season of giving unto others, and making the world a bet-

ter place. So if I got to play Santa, I’d be sharing the wealth with my fellow sports fans.

I think to begin, I’d give Alex Ro-driguez $25M. Some may see this as a waste and tell me A-Rod doesn’t need the money. But truth be told, there’s only one thing he’s ever wanted – a $300M contract. He’s so close, and I want to make him happy. I’ll save the World Series titles for players who care.

To Patriots fans, I’d give a slight high ankle sprain to Randy Moss. I know, all of New England just yelled, “What ahh ya, retahded?” or at least they would if The Bruns was delivered to Foxboro.

But I assure you, I am not “retah-ded.”

I just think that Pats fans deserve something more than they’re getting this year. They truly deserve to see a good football game that isn’t decided in the first quarter. And no, this Santa isn’t about sabotaging a potentially perfect season. The Patriots can win without with Randy. Heck, the Pats can win with David Givens and Troy Brown.

Enjoy, New England. We’ll see you in the Super Bowl.

I’d like to give the Vancouver Canucks the long-lost Sedin triplet, Sven. The number one question in Vancouver always seems to be who to mix with the Sedin twins. Anson Carter was alright, Taylor Pyatt was decent, but nothing can compare to this. You could match up Sven Sedin on a line with Daniel and Henrik, creating both a referee’s

worst nightmare and the greatest line Vancouver fans will have seen since Naslund, Morrison, and Bertuzzi had chemistry.

I mean, these three have been work-ing on plays since they were in their mother’s womb.

Three Swedes plus Roberto Luongo means the Canucks would only be 19 players away from a Stanley Cup cham-pionship.

Next, I’d like to give a little something that everyone here in the Maritimes could enjoy. Sure, you may say a CFL team in Halifax would make people happy. Maybe a return of the American Hockey League, or even the East Coast Hockey League.

These are all great, but wouldn’t quite cut it. There is one thing, and one thing only that Santa could bring to sports fans across the Maritimes that they could truly enjoy: Nothing. Then we can complain about it until next Christmas, and it’ll keep everyone happy.

The final gift out of Santa’s bag would be a very, very special package. I’d deliver it myself, right to the office of Gary Bettman, the Commissioner of the NHL. And as I stood there, watch-ing little Gary opening the present and pulling out his very own Hamilton Predators jersey, I’d give him a kick in the ass.

“That’s for stealing the Nordiques and Jets! Send some more teams to Canada, Gary!”

See? Give us nothing, and we’ll com-plain about it until next Christmas.

by Brian Munn

The Fifty Mission Cap

All I want for Christmas is a Leafs Cup win

So as you may have seen already, this is the last issue of the Bruns for this semester and with the holiday season upon us, it seemed like a good time to put together a Christmas wish list of gifts for people in the sports world.

First off, as is stated in the headline, I'd really like for all of us Toronto fans to see the Leafs win the Stanley Cup sometime in the near future. Based on their play so far this season, it doesn't seem probable, however the Leafs could go on a Colorado Rockies-like tear (hopefully minus the painful choke job in the finals) and capture their first Cup since '67.

Okay, so I know this isn't going to

happen, but hey, Christmas is a magi-cal time of year and a guy can dream, can't he?

For fans of the Varsity Reds men's hockey team, another national cham-pionship. While the Reds suffered their first loss of the season last week via shoo-tout against Moncton, this Reds squad is the best team in recent memory. As with the rest of Head Coach Gardiner MacDougall's teams, the Reds work hard and are strong defensively, however they are also the most skilled team in the Atlantic conference, which makes for a tough combination for opposing teams to stop.

Hopefully the Reds can continue their winning ways and will bring another University Cup back to campus this spring.

For Barry Bonds: a good lawyer. Obviously we've all heard about the indictment of baseball's reigning home run king* so I'm not going to get into too much detail about Barry's situation, however with the majority of the public already having convicted Bonds in the court of public opinion, it's going to be very difficult to get an unbiased jury for his case. He’s clearly going to need an all-star legal team to get out of this one.

For Canadian Interuniversity Sport, more mainstream media coverage. With all of the attention that the NCAA gets in both the United States and Canada, you'd think more media outlets would be interested in covering the Canadian

equivalent, but that's not the case. This past week was a step in the right

direction with the Vanier Cup becoming part of Grey Cup weekend, and it lead to more coverage of the game than I could remember in recent years, however there is still a long way to go before the aver-age Canadian sports fan pays attention to the CIS, and hopefully this weekend was an indication of things to come.

For all sports fans: an end to the drug scandals. With all the negative press that sports have received this year, I don't understand what's keeping all the major sporting organizations from getting to-gether and agreeing on a standard drug policy, which should probably be the same one as used in the Olympics.

Would this stamp out drug use? Of course not. As long as there are rules, there will be people who try to cir-cumvent them for their own gain. But if every major sporting organization agreed on a unified drug policy and actually enforced it, it would go a long way to eliminating drug use from sports and I think that's something we can all get behind.

So that wraps up the last edition of View from the Sidelines for 2007. It was certainly an interesting year in sports and hopefully 2008 will feature a little less scandal and controversy, and a little more good news than we've had this year. Good luck to everyone on their exams and have a happy holiday season. See you in the New Year.

Rough Weekend

The Varsity Reds men’s basketball team faced a hard start to their home schedule over the weekend, dropping consecutive games to the Dalhousie Tigers at the Lady Beaverbrook Gym. On Saturday night, the Reds were edged 62-60 in front of 450 fans. Michael Anderson led the way for UNB with 24 points, while Thor Jensen chipped in with 22. On Sunday afternoon, the Tigers put together an impressive 84-61 victory. Anderson again led the way for the Reds, scoring 21 points. Sandy Veit put up 15 points for Dalhousie. The team’s next action will be next Saturday, December 1st, when they will host the Cape Breton Capers at 3:00pm in the LB Gym.

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

by Tony von Richter

View From the Sidelines

When Christmas rolls around, there’s only one thing that every sports fan wants - everything. From coaching troubles to offensive woes to misplaced teams, the Santa of sports is going to be a busy guy this year.

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