see Challenge page 3 see Jewelry page 9 A locally-designed jewelry exhibition reuses computer parts for ecologically- friendly designs On December 27 St.Thomas locked out its faculty and it was the first time that a Canadian academic institution has pre-emptively locked out its academic staff before a strike. by Lauren Kennedy by Hunter Gavin by Mitchell Bernard by Ashley Bursey Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan
The Brunswickan The Brunswickan Volume 141 Issue 14 • Canada’s Oldest Official Student Publication • UNB Fredericton’s Student Paper • Jan. 9, 2008 Strike leaves students in the cold o pinions thoughts on the strike at STU pg.06 a rts curl up with a good book review pg.09 overtime thriller brings home gold pg.13 s ports s ports Do you have a creative idea as to how we can make changes to improve our environment? If so, you can win big bucks for your idea. Toronto Dominion (TD) Bank Friends of the Environment Foundation recently announced a competition open to all undergrad and graduate students from Canadian universities. The TD Friends of the Environment Foundation proudly supports the ef- forts of Canadians who are dedicated to the well-being of our environment. Since 1990, TD Friends of the Environ- ment Foundation has contributed over $42M in support of more than 16,000 environmental projects in communities across Canada. The competition is called the $100,000 Go Green Challenge. TD is actively soliciting creative, workable plans from Canadian college and univer- sity students to promote greener com- munities and make life more sustainable for our future. They are putting money on the line for students who can come up with original ideas to improve our environment. “The environment is a top priority for Canadians; as a result our future leaders will play a dramatic role in influencing the environmental agenda for Canada’s communities. That’s why we’re asking students to start thinking about the types of green communities they’d like to see today,” said Mike Pedersen, ‘Go Green Challenge’ Group Head Corporate Operations, TD Bank Financial Group, and TD’s environment champion. “This chal- lenge provides a forum for new and fresh thinking on the environment from young people with diverse backgrounds. We’re hoping to foster teamwork and creativity and come up with a few smart ideas along the way.” TD Friends of the Environment Foundation have been active in all Canadian provinces, including New Brunswick. Some of its projects within New Brunswick include Science East, which increases knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm of teachers educating youth in New Brunswick. The TD Friends of the Environment Foundation supported ‘Beach Sweep 2004’. This project helped clean up beaches in St. John and Charlotte coun- ties to help protect the marine environ- ment. As well, they supported a sum- mer youth nature camp program. The program was designed to give young people a chance to explore the world around them. It provided education on New Brunswick’s flora and fauna. Students stayed at a camp to encourage conservation and broad-base sustainable resource use. This in turn allowed the students to appreciate the environment on a wide range of topics. The contest rules are as follows: Each team may consist of three of more stu- dents, along with a faculty sponsor. The team must submit an essay, maximum 4,000 words plus supporting documen- tation, of their ideas. The proposals put forth should address changes we can make to the Canadian community to improve environmental impact. The judges are looking for original ideas from the teams. Your submission should include the following: by Mitchell Bernard see Challenge page 3 On Monday night, as The Brunswickan was going to press, STU’s faculty association served the adminstration with notice that they would be on strike as of midnight, Tues- day. The faculty had been in a legal strike position as of Monday afternoon, after a strike vote held over the weekend approved a strike by approximately three-quarters. Lockouts, labour disputes, labour rela- tions situations, whatever you want to call them, they seem to be a trend among Atlantic Canadian universities. Acadia University, in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, had its faculty strike in the fall semester of this academic year and students at that university missed about three weeks of classes waiting for results of negotiation talks between the university and its fac- ulty, as well at the University of Prince Edward Island. As recently as December 27, St. Thomas University locked out its own faculty, approximately 120 full-time staff and 70 part-time staff which, ac- cording to an article in the Globe and Mail was “the first time a Canadian academic institution has pre-emptively locked out its academic staff before a strike.” Despite the arguments of each nego- tiating team, both for St. Thomas as a university and the faculty association of St. Thomas (FAUST), students seem to be trapped in the middle. One of the first steps in order to prevent any dam- age to students’ well-being was that the start date for the 2008 winter term was pushed back from January 3 to the 10 in order to make more time for agreements to be met between both parties. In an email sent out on December 18 by STU Students’ Union President, Colin Banks, he addresses the students potentially being caught in the middle. “The students at this institution are not tools with which to bargain and we have been making it clear to all players involved that we do not wish to be treated as such. I do not want us to have this issue perpetually hanging over our heads throughout the rest of the semester.” STU President Dr. Michael Higgins has been keeping students as best in- formed as he can by sending out emails and updating the STU website as each new development happens. In one of those emails, he addresses the motion for the lockout. “We have not taken this action lightly, we were motivated by the genuine fear that our students would be caught in the middle of this dispute; a fear based on the effects of labour disputes at other universities across the country.” see Lockout page 2 Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan On December 27 St.Thomas locked out its faculty and it was the first time that a Canadian academic institution has pre-emptively locked out its academic staff before a strike. by Lauren Kennedy Sick of Tiffany’s? Why not try your old CPU on for size? It originally started with what Cynthia Ryder calls “a trash pile.” “We’re willing to spend a lot more on a computer now than on a piece of jewelry,” she says. “We use it daily, and value it, and then what happens when it becomes obsolete? It becomes a trash pile that was once worth a couple of thousand bucks.” So Ryder, in conjunction with partner David Ryder, took the idea of trash- turned-treasure literally. As a divergence from the usual (the two make exquisite and award-wining jewelry from precious stones and metals), they began to piece together a jewelry collection with a lot of glitz – and a lot of recycling. Their exhibit, ‘Connectivity’, is showing at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre until January 15. “So many of the pieces, such as CPU parts and a lot of the things like edges in the plug-in cards were gold-plated any- way, and we were looking at that side of precious metals,” she explains. “And the value we placed on [computers] when they were new. There’s so much great hardware that comes out of them.” She laughs. “Nuts and bolts and washers. Oodles of fun hardware.” The two have been creating their handicrafts since 1992, but only delved into baubles in the last five years. This latest exhibition was a challenge, and something Cynthia Ryder had always been interested in exploring. Polymer- coated wires give the jewelry color – and a unique look, when sterling steel is ev- erywhere – and the glittery components are taken directly from old PCs. Rang- ing from pendants, to brooches, to rings and cufflinks, it’s a collection of about 31 pieces – some of which have already been purchased, even though the Ryders didn’t create the line for sale. “We wanted to make people aware and question the value that we place on our electronics in this day and age, and look at how we now use them as a way to communicate, as something we value,” she says. “Things like the word ‘interface’ entered the language with the computer era. We don’t call somebody up and talk to them anymore. We email them, we instant message them.” She laughs, because when I called her to arrange the interview, I had left only an email address, instead of a phone number. “Just like that,” she agrees. And with recent questions being raised about the ethical concerns sur- Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan Cynthia and David Ryder’s exhibit, “Connectivity”, uses old CPU parts and runs at the Charlotte St. Arts Centre until Jan 15. A locally-designed jewelry exhibition reuses computer parts for ecologically- friendly designs by Ashley Bursey see Jewelry page 9 Former UNB hockey player Darryl Boyce has agreed to an NHL entry- level contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs after an impressive first half of the season with the Leafs AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies. Boyce, 23, has played 34 games as a rookie this season with the Marlies, where he has recorded six goals and 16 assists for 22 points – ranking him sixth on the Marlies, and tying him for ninth among AHL rookies. The native of Summerside, Prince Edward Island spent the previous two seasons with UNB, where he collected a combined 65 points (29 goals, 36 assists) in 53 Canadian Interuniver- sity Sport games. In his freshman CIS season, Boyce was named the Atlantic University Sports and UNB Rookie of the Year. In 2007, he was a member of the CIS World University Games gold medal team in Turin, Italy, as well as the UNB National Championship team. Prior to joining UNB, Boyce played 262 games for the Ontario Hockey League’s Toronto St. Michael's Majors from 2001-05, recording 145 points (54 goals, 91 assists). Boyce, ecstatic about his contract said, “Unbelievable! Just a year ago I was playing for UNB and now here I am signing an NHL contract. This is a true testament to hard work paying off, and never giving up.” “It’s very exciting for our program here at UNB to have one of our former players have this special opportunity. Darryl has really dedicated himself in the past two years to going ‘the extra mile’ in his preparation and physical development with Ken Seaman (fitness and strength trainer) and it is certainly paying off for him in a big way,” com- mented UNB Head Coach Gardiner MacDougall. With the Maple Leafs in danger of missing the playoffs for the third con- secutive season, personnel moves are anticipated for the team. While trades are an option, the team could also look to improve from within. As such, Boyce finds himself in an excellent position to see some action with the big club before the end of the season. “There are a number of players with the Marlies who are getting better as pros. The good part is, they’re doing it over time and not just for a two-week blip. We’ve already seen Staffan Kro- nwall and Jiri Tlusty up, we’re getting some quality ice time from players such as Alex Foster, Robbie Earl, David Ling, Derrick Walser, Darryl Boyce, Ben Ondrus, and Jaime Sifers,” com- mented Maple Leafs General Manager John Ferguson. “In his first year of professional hockey, Darryl has stepped right in and proven to be a versatile and important contributor to the success of the To- ronto Marlies in the first half of the season,” added Ferguson. Former UNB star signs with Leafs by Hunter Gavin
Transcript
The BrunswickanThe BrunswickanVolume 141 Issue 14 • Canada’s Oldest Official Student Publication • UNB Fredericton’s Student Paper • Jan. 9, 2008
Strike leaves students in the cold
opinionsthoughts on the strike at STU pg.06
artscurl up with a good book review pg.09overtime thriller brings home gold pg.13
sportssports
Do you have a creative idea as to how we can make changes to improve our environment? If so, you can win big bucks for your idea.
Toronto Dominion (TD) Bank Friends of the Environment Foundation recently announced a competition open to all undergrad and graduate students from Canadian universities.
The TD Friends of the Environment Foundation proudly supports the ef-forts of Canadians who are dedicated to the well-being of our environment. Since 1990, TD Friends of the Environ-ment Foundation has contributed over $42M in support of more than 16,000 environmental projects in communities across Canada.
The competition is called the $100,000 Go Green Challenge. TD is actively soliciting creative, workable plans from Canadian college and univer-sity students to promote greener com-munities and make life more sustainable for our future. They are putting money on the line for students who can come up with original ideas to improve our environment.
“The environment is a top priority for Canadians; as a result our future leaders will play a dramatic role in influencing the environmental agenda for Canada’s communities. That’s why we’re asking students to start thinking about the types of green communities they’d like to see today,” said Mike Pedersen,
‘Go Green Challenge’Group Head Corporate Operations, TD Bank Financial Group, and TD’s environment champion. “This chal-lenge provides a forum for new and fresh thinking on the environment from young people with diverse backgrounds. We’re hoping to foster teamwork and creativity and come up with a few smart ideas along the way.”
TD Friends of the Environment Foundation have been active in all Canadian provinces, including New Brunswick. Some of its projects within New Brunswick include Science East, which increases knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm of teachers educating youth in New Brunswick.
The TD Friends of the Environment Foundation supported ‘Beach Sweep 2004’. This project helped clean up beaches in St. John and Charlotte coun-ties to help protect the marine environ-ment. As well, they supported a sum-mer youth nature camp program. The program was designed to give young people a chance to explore the world around them. It provided education on New Brunswick’s flora and fauna. Students stayed at a camp to encourage conservation and broad-base sustainable resource use. This in turn allowed the students to appreciate the environment on a wide range of topics.
The contest rules are as follows: Each team may consist of three of more stu-dents, along with a faculty sponsor. The team must submit an essay, maximum 4,000 words plus supporting documen-tation, of their ideas. The proposals put forth should address changes we can make to the Canadian community to improve environmental impact. The judges are looking for original ideas from the teams.
Your submission should include the following:
by Mitchell Bernard
see Challenge page 3
On Monday night, as The Brunswickan was going to press, STU’s faculty association served the adminstration with notice that they would be on strike as of midnight, Tues-day. The faculty had been in a legal strike position as of Monday afternoon, after a strike vote held over the weekend approved a strike by approximately three-quarters.
Lockouts, labour disputes, labour rela-tions situations, whatever you want to call them, they seem to be a trend among Atlantic Canadian universities. Acadia University, in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, had its faculty strike in the fall semester of this academic year and students at that university missed about three weeks of classes waiting for results of negotiation talks between the university and its fac-ulty, as well at the University of Prince Edward Island.
As recently as December 27, St. Thomas University locked out its own faculty, approximately 120 full-time staff and 70 part-time staff which, ac-cording to an article in the Globe and Mail was “the first time a Canadian academic institution has pre-emptively
locked out its academic staff before a strike.”
Despite the arguments of each nego-tiating team, both for St. Thomas as a university and the faculty association of St. Thomas (FAUST), students seem to be trapped in the middle. One of the first steps in order to prevent any dam-age to students’ well-being was that the start date for the 2008 winter term was
pushed back from January 3 to the 10 in order to make more time for agreements to be met between both parties.
In an email sent out on December 18 by STU Students’ Union President, Colin Banks, he addresses the students potentially being caught in the middle.
“The students at this institution are not tools with which to bargain and we have been making it clear to all
players involved that we do not wish to be treated as such. I do not want us to have this issue perpetually hanging over our heads throughout the rest of the semester.”
STU President Dr. Michael Higgins has been keeping students as best in-formed as he can by sending out emails and updating the STU website as each new development happens. In one of
those emails, he addresses the motion for the lockout.
“We have not taken this action lightly, we were motivated by the genuine fear that our students would be caught in the middle of this dispute; a fear based on the effects of labour disputes at other universities across the country.”
see Lockout page 2
Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan
On December 27 St.Thomas locked out its faculty and it was the first time that a Canadian academic institution has pre-emptively locked out its academic staff before a strike.
by Lauren Kennedy
Sick of Tiffany’s? Why not try your old CPU on for size?
It originally started with what Cynthia Ryder calls “a trash pile.”
“We’re willing to spend a lot more on a computer now than on a piece of jewelry,” she says. “We use it daily, and value it, and then what happens when it becomes obsolete? It becomes a trash pile that was once worth a couple of thousand bucks.”
So Ryder, in conjunction with partner David Ryder, took the idea of trash-turned-treasure literally. As a divergence from the usual (the two make exquisite and award-wining jewelry from precious stones and metals), they began to piece together a jewelry collection with a lot of glitz – and a lot of recycling. Their exhibit, ‘Connectivity’, is showing at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre until January 15.
“So many of the pieces, such as CPU parts and a lot of the things like edges in the plug-in cards were gold-plated any-way, and we were looking at that side of precious metals,” she explains. “And the value we placed on [computers] when they were new. There’s so much great hardware that comes out of them.” She laughs. “Nuts and bolts and washers.
Oodles of fun hardware.”The two have been creating their
handicrafts since 1992, but only delved into baubles in the last five years. This latest exhibition was a challenge, and something Cynthia Ryder had always been interested in exploring. Polymer-coated wires give the jewelry color – and a unique look, when sterling steel is ev-erywhere – and the glittery components are taken directly from old PCs. Rang-ing from pendants, to brooches, to rings and cufflinks, it’s a collection of about 31 pieces – some of which have already been purchased, even though the Ryders didn’t create the line for sale.
“We wanted to make people aware
and question the value that we place on our electronics in this day and age, and look at how we now use them as a way to communicate, as something we value,” she says. “Things like the word ‘interface’ entered the language with the computer era. We don’t call somebody up and talk to them anymore. We email them, we instant message them.”
She laughs, because when I called her to arrange the interview, I had left only an email address, instead of a phone number. “Just like that,” she agrees.
And with recent questions being raised about the ethical concerns sur-
Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan
Cynthia and David Ryder’s exhibit, “Connectivity”, uses old CPU parts and runs at the Charlotte St. Arts Centre until Jan 15.
A locally-designed jewelry exhibition reuses
computer parts for ecologically-friendly designs
by Ashley Bursey
see Jewelry page 9
Former UNB hockey player Darryl Boyce has agreed to an NHL entry-level contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs after an impressive first half of the season with the Leafs AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies.
Boyce, 23, has played 34 games as a rookie this season with the Marlies, where he has recorded six goals and 16 assists for 22 points – ranking him sixth on the Marlies, and tying him for ninth among AHL rookies.
The native of Summerside, Prince Edward Island spent the previous two seasons with UNB, where he collected a combined 65 points (29 goals, 36 assists) in 53 Canadian Interuniver-sity Sport games. In his freshman CIS season, Boyce was named the Atlantic University Sports and UNB Rookie of the Year. In 2007, he was a member of the CIS World University Games gold medal team in Turin, Italy, as well as the UNB National Championship team. Prior to joining UNB, Boyce played 262 games for the Ontario Hockey League’s Toronto St. Michael's Majors from 2001-05, recording 145 points (54 goals, 91 assists).
Boyce, ecstatic about his contract said, “Unbelievable! Just a year ago I was playing for UNB and now here I am signing an NHL contract. This is a true testament to hard work paying off, and never giving up.”
“It’s very exciting for our program here at UNB to have one of our former players have this special opportunity. Darryl has really dedicated himself in the past two years to going ‘the extra mile’ in his preparation and physical development with Ken Seaman (fitness and strength trainer) and it is certainly paying off for him in a big way,” com-mented UNB Head Coach Gardiner MacDougall.
With the Maple Leafs in danger of missing the playoffs for the third con-secutive season, personnel moves are anticipated for the team. While trades are an option, the team could also look to improve from within. As such, Boyce finds himself in an excellent position to see some action with the big club before the end of the season.
“There are a number of players with the Marlies who are getting better as pros. The good part is, they’re doing it over time and not just for a two-week blip. We’ve already seen Staffan Kro-nwall and Jiri Tlusty up, we’re getting some quality ice time from players such as Alex Foster, Robbie Earl, David Ling, Derrick Walser, Darryl Boyce, Ben Ondrus, and Jaime Sifers,” com-mented Maple Leafs General Manager John Ferguson.
“In his first year of professional hockey, Darryl has stepped right in and proven to be a versatile and important contributor to the success of the To-ronto Marlies in the first half of the season,” added Ferguson.
Former UNB star signs with Leafs
by Hunter Gavin
News2 • January 9, 2008 • Issue 14
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 April 15/2008
301 Main Street472-2361
• Shoe Rental Included • Birthday Parties a Speciality• Restaurant – Licensed Lounge • Air Conditioned • Student Rates
Main StreetBowl-A-Drome
Google’s coming of age
The year 2007 marked countless tech-nological advances and growth in many of the world’s top companies. Google Inc. captured the spotlight more often than not with major multi-billion dol-lar deals, innovations, and a stock price that flirted with the $700 mark during the last two months of ’07, marking an 823% increase since it first went public at $85 a share in 2004.
YouTubeGoogle’s acquisition of YouTube
in 2006 was marred early in 2007 when entertainment giant Viacom (Paramount, DreamWorks, etc.) filed a lawsuit against the popular video shar-ing site and its parent company. The suit, filed March 13, 2007, cites massive intentional copyright infringement and seeks over $1B in damages for an alleged 160,000 clips of Viacom’s entertain-ment programming, which have been viewed 1.5 billion times.
Viacom is not the only company to discount Google’s practices when it comes to infringement, and mounting pressure from other major entertain-ment groups spawned Google’s own home-cooked anti-piracy system for YouTube in the middle of October 2007. The system, however, relies on companies submitting their own con-tent to the system to create a database of copyrighted material from which the system will match to clips posted by us-ers on YouTube.
The automated video ID system will then either delete the clip, post it, or post it with advertisements, where the copyright owner will benefit from shared revenue from the ads, as per the decision of the copyright owner. Amidst squabbling over the fact that YouTube has failed to accept responsibility for
identifying copyrighted material, in-stead placing the onus on the copyright owner, Viacom maintains its suit.
AdvertisingThe trend amongst major search com-
panies this year seemed to be to gobble up all the web advertising companies around, and Google was no exception. Back in April, Google announced its biggest acquisition to date, a $3.1B cash takeover of the online advertising giant DoubleClick. This eclipses Google’s previous record deal, when it paid $1.6B in stock for YouTube in 2006.
However, the merger is still in ques-tion as its completion now depends on the approval of European regulators, after being challenged by rivals like Microsoft, lawmakers and privacy gu-rus voicing unease over antitrust and privacy issues. The US Federal Trade Commission gave its go ahead in late December.
Not to be outdone, rivals Microsoft made a $6B deal acquiring Aquantive, while Yahoo! and AOL each made multiple smaller acquisitions in the same area.
Mobile PlatformYears in the making, with rumours
running rampant about a Google phone and speculation at an all-time high in 2007, Google finally released its plans for the cell phone industry late in No-vember. However, instead of a physical handset or even software that integrates Google applications, the company has developed their own open platform mobile application, Android, that will power thousands of handsets.
Google also introduced to the world the Open Handset Alliance, a group of 34 wireless heavyweights (and counting) who are committed to developing the Android platform. Participants include manufacturers Motorola and HTC, provider T-Mobile US, and chip maker Qualcomm. Android phones will hit the American market mid-2008.
The goal of Android is to develop more user-friendly services and handsets that bring the full power of the internet to mobile devices. The open model will help development and increase avail-ability across devices to offer advanced functionality at lower prices. Android will compete directly with smartphone software from Apple, Microsoft, Nokia, Palm, and Research in Motion.
Wireless SpectrumIn late November, Google officially
announced its application to bid on the 700Mhz band wireless spectrum in the U.S. Federal Communications Com-mission auction on January 24, 2008. If it wins, a Google phone could become more of a reality; Google could build its own network or partner with an exist-ing carrier. In any case, the opportunity presents an important advertising ven-ture for not only the Google brand, but the ability to sell advertising that reaches an entire network.
The 700Mhz band travels far and penetrates walls. It previously had been used to send analog TV signals, but that has since been abandoned with various technological advances in television. Google could control the next generation of wireless networks, expanding the frontiers of the Internet and emblazoning each device with the Google name.
Although Google has declined to comment on their plans for the spec-trum, should they win the auction, the idea is to bring the experience of the Internet on the PC to the mobile world, at a low cost, and probably subsidized by advertising in some way. Consider a little ticker ad running at the bottom of your screen on your cell or smartphone, displaying advertising for local restau-rants and hot spots – that is only one way Google could use the network to bring more eyes to their ads.
The auction, which proceeds in stages and is shrouded in secrecy to prevent antitrust collusion between bidders, may continue into March 2008. The minimum bid is $4.6B.
A similar auction will be conducted in Canada in May 2008 for the 700Mhz band in our country with different rules focused on increasing competition in the cellular industry. As in the States, the size of the spectrum is large enough to create a new national network, in-creasing choices, and hopefully driving prices down to be comparable with U.S. counterparts.
Online Super PowerComing in holding around 64% of
the US market share amongst search websites, there is no question that Google is top dog in that field. With the numerous acquisitions over the years, the expansion into world-class adver-tising business, and a venture into the mobile world, Google is becoming more and more of an online super power.
Besides the business, Google also boasts a number of useful applications. From the revolutionary Google Earth (and sister Google Maps), to GMail and Google Documents & Spreadsheets, Google is always expanding its online tools to increase ad traffic and turn a profit. Some new features this year include “Street View” in Maps, where users can see a 360° shot of many streets in major hub cities in the U.S.; IMAP email access in GMail; and a major increase in productivity for Docs & Spreadsheets, to name a few.
With the upcoming auction and the decision on the DoubleClick deal draw-ing near, Google is poised for greatness yet again. What remains to be seen is what Google can do to capitalize on each opportunity to propel themselves forward in 2008.
by Ed Cullinan
Search giant Google dominates online in 2007, while
expanding its technological grip on the world
Still no classes for St. Thomas students
STU and the union representing its faculty have been attempting to ne-gotiate a new contract for the past 10 months. There are two main reasons at large: wages and workload.
According to the FAUST website, it shows a graphic timeline of the wages in which the President of the university has earned since 2001. They say that academic staff at STU are among the most poorly paid in Canada and have one of the heaviest workloads. They wish to have contracts stating that they have full-time workload standards set in comparison with other institutions in the Maritimes and across Canada, as well as ensuring the part-time staff are properly paid for their work and have suitable working conditions and health benefits.
STU’s administration is saying that if these conditions were met, that would be equal to a 43% increase in compensation over three years and it
would increase tuition at St. Thomas to $1,450 rising to $2,000 by the year 2010. Though, looking at the FAUST website, it argues differently.
It states the faculty does not want higher tuition fees, and their propos-als are not tied to increases. They say that faculty at other universities have reached agreements while seeking similar changes without the tuition fee increase that the STU administration is proposing.
STU’s tuition is currently the lowest in the province.
With the university’s proposal, the av-erage full-time salary would be $85,000 with the average full-time professor earning $111,845.
Negotiation talks resumed into the new year with the university offering a midnight deadline on Sunday, January 6, for a proposed settlement with the union. The faculty union walked away from the bargaining table, saying they would not agree to a settlement dead-line. As a result, the STU administration wanted to move to the province for
answers, going to the provincial labour and employment board to vote on their final offer.
After a media blackout of the infor-mation on Sunday, Higgins announced Monday that talks broke down and the faculty association refused to stay, opting to leave to complete their strike vote.
Student leaders were present at this meeting and have said that they have tried to be as objective as possible but that they are frustrated at the reluctance of FAUST.
What the faculty wanted was a 43% increase in total compensation over three years with an overall reduced course load, the latest offer by the administra-tion was the same thing except for a 25% increase in total compensation. So far, FAUST has not accepted this offer.
In the meantime, STU will no longer ask the Labour and Employment Board to organize mediations and classes are now rescheduled to Monday, January 14.
UNB continues to take a neutral posi-tion on the lockout.
from Lockout page 1
Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan
STU Faculty picket signs on display outside the NRC building on January 3rd
News Issue 14 • January 9, 2008 • 3
UNB receives Recreational Partnership Award from city
by Lauren Kennedy
Highway Overpass: The city’s view
by Naomi Osborne
Even though students have been strongly advised not to cross the high-way, some still do. An overpass along the highway may suppress the safety con-cerns for students living off campus.
When given the option of taking the extra two minutes to go under the bridge and around or crossing the high-way, most students will without hesita-tion choose the more direct path.
In the past, route eight, which con-nects to the Princess Margaret Bridge, has proven to be a very dangerous highway for students to cross.
Though the issue of highway crossing safety is always considered important, some groups have been pushing for greater awareness since UNB student Leslie Bruce was killed crossing the highway behind the Aitken Centre in December 2006.
Mayor Brad Woodside believes that
something needs to be done to provide safety for students. Building an overpass may be a good idea, says Woodside, but he believes it may not be the best solution.
“We need about three overpasses, not just one,” said Woodside. “Then there is the question of, ‘Will people use them at all’? Studies from other cities that have built overpasses have shown that most people still go across the highway even when there are overpasses in place,” said Woodside.
The City has taken measures in the past to prevent high school students from crossing the highway behind the Uptown Centre by putting up a fence. However, according to the mayor, students just cut holes in the fencing instead.
“I think it is human nature to go from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ with the path of least resistance,” said Woodside.
He said that students should realize that if they do not take into consider-ation the speed of the oncoming cars, it could be deadly; something needs to be done to help protect students and educate them on safety issues regarding the highway.
As of right now, there has not been any money set aside for the funding of overpasses along the highway because the City is not certain if it is the best solution. However, the issue has been addressed and is currently being looked at, ensured Woodside.
Overpasses may not be the best solu-tion to the problem, said Woodside, because it is difficult to ensure that students will use them. When it comes down to it, people are going to cross the highway if they want to, and an overpass is not going to stop them.
Woodside feels it is important to put up three overpasses, that way the prob-lem can be addressed in all of the areas where student safety is critical.
“If you put one in the middle, it won’t solve the problem, so it’s a very difficult situation.”
Three overpasses would provide more options for students crossing the high-way. A decision is expected to be made soon so that action can be taken to make sure students are safer.
“The question that needs to be asked is whether or not it is the highway or the lack of responsibility of the person,” said Woodside.
Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan
UNB student Leslie Bruce was struck by a vehicle and killed crossing the highway behind the Aitken Centre in 2006. An overpass may be the solution to ensuring student safety when crossing the highway.
New pension plan beneficial for all parties: Murray
The University of New Brunswick, along with its faculty association has decided on a six-year pension plan that it believes will benefit the students, the faculty, and the university.
After ten extensive months of ne-gotiating, both sides have come to an agreement on a defined budget plan. This plan is better known as the 50/50 plan, where both the university and the faculty association share the risks and costs by taking 50% of each.
Daniel Murray, Vice President of Fi-nance and Corporate Services at UNB, was a part of the process that worked to protect the interests of the students and the university from any increases in costs or tuition.
“Coming to an agreement with unions on pensions is very difficult, but we did it,” said Murray. “We think we protected the university’s interests and put together a plan that protects students from any increases.”
Every year, UNB is given a budget of $160M, where $1.7M is allotted for the pension plan. The budget receives its entire revenue from two different sources, namely, government funding 50-60% and students paying the remain-ing 40% through tuition.
“You could take anything in our budget and say, ‘Well, our students are paying this amount of dollars for heat-ing costs’,” said Murray.
An evaluation of the pension plan was done in 2002, at which time there was a shortfall of $22.5M. There were two reasons for this deficit, the first being that there was a downturn in the stock market, so the returns simply were not good for the whole market in general. The second reason was that more people
had retired from the university than was predicted during 2001-2002, explained Murray.
The university immediately began working with the faculty association on improving the deficit. With the help of an independent consultant, they were able to improve their financial situation.
“We knew at that point that unless we put in a financial improvement plan, it would likely get worse,” said Murray.
The new pension plan essentially puts a cap on the operating budget. Of that budget, 11.5% goes into the pension plan. The worry was that the 11.5% would increase to 13-14%, which would consequently result in students paying more towards the pension plan.
However, with the cap on the per-centage, students no longer have to worry about the costs increasing.
“At the end of the day, we came up with a plan that was approved by the board and the faculty association,” said Murray. “The basic deal was that the faculty members agreed to reduce the value of their pension benefits for six years.”
This will reduce the value of these pensions by 15% over the next six years, decided with the intention of reducing the money poured into the plan.
“People don’t do things like this because they are nice, they do it because it is in their best interests. They wanted a plan with more stability so by agree-ing to the 15% reduction, it allows the plan to continue and be stable,” said Murray.
When the deal was made, $4M was put in upfront, but they spread it out over six years. The university put in $2.5M and the faculty association put in $1.5M, working out to $416,000 every year that goes into the pension plan.
The main goal of the whole process was to make sure that the 40% of the budget that students are paying would not increase. According to Murray, if the plan was not put into action, students would have been paying an extra $150 a year in their tuition fees towards the pension plan.
“11.5% is a high number and we want that number to be lower in future years, but our primary concern was to make sure it didn’t go any higher,” said Murray.
The new pension plan has saved students from paying
extra in their tuition fees
by Naomi Osborne
After a project that was two years in the making and exceeded the $3M mark, the University of New Brunswick’s improvements to Chapman Field have been recognized by the City of Fred-ericton.
Each year the City of Fredericton’s development awards recognize key examples of development projects undertaken by the City; this year they were presented on December 18, 2008. UNB was the proud recipient of the Recreational Partnership Award for the changes to Chapman Field’s soccer
complex.City Councillor Cathy MacLaggan
nominated this prestigious Ward 11 award to the soccer field.
“The improvements to Chapman Field are important to UNB, to the City, and community of Fredericton,” she said. “This facility will benefit local soccer and other sports activities, and will support both youth and adult sports and sports events.”
These improvements include an up-coming installation of a bubble dome structure that will cover a portion of the field and a complete resurfacing of the turf, which was replaced with a synthetic surface. MacLaggan sees the resurfacing as having many benefits.
“The new synthetic surface will be safer to play on and will help keep games on schedule during times of inclement weather, compared to natural grass fields that become unplayable. As well, the synthetic surface will also reduce the use of gas-powered mowers and other maintenance requirements with envi-ronmental impacts,” she explained.
As for the reason why MacLaggan
chose to nominate this particular sector of the city and UNB, it is all about the positive energy that a project creates.
“Public institutions such as UNB and non-profits make an extremely impor-tant contribution to Fredericton and I would like to recognize and support that positive energy whenever I can. That is why I chose UNB’s improvements to Chapman Field, the new and improved home of the Varsity Reds men’s and women’s soccer teams,” she said in her notes during the presentation.
Besides having the students enjoy the benefits of the field’s facilities, the City will profit as well. The improvements will benefit the Fredericton area by creating more recreational opportunities for the citizens to enjoy. Particularly, the City’s Community Services Department will benefit from over 1,500 hours of field time allocated to them from the be-ginning of April to the end of October, in which the hours will be controlled by the department. MacLaggan sees it as very important that the public know of the City’s access to these facilities and recognize the diverse recreation facilities that are available.
UNB Athletic Director, Kevin Dickie, and Men’s Soccer Coach, Miles Pinsent, accepted the award for UNB. The award itself will be displayed in the Chapman Field Club House once it has been completed.
In an interview with the university, Dickie had the following to say: "I'm pleased that we were able to partner with the City of Fredericton to make the Chapman Field Turf Project a real-ity and I'm really glad that we were able to do something that will make such a difference in the community."
“It is a wonderful example of a part-nership of UNB and the City, showing that UNB is a very important part of the community and we are very proud of UNB and its sports teams,” said MacLaggan. “It is truly a good news story to see that the Varsity Reds men's and women's soccer teams have a fine new home field.”
The official opening for Chapman Field was held October 13, 2007.
Award recieved for improvements to
Chapman Field
Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan
The offical opening for the field was held last year.The award will be displayed in the Chapman Field Club House once it is built.
Other academic and non-academic work that supports your submission must be referenced.
Integrate elements of environmental-ly-based community design. This may include, but is not limited to, transpor-tation/transit issues, energy efficiency, water conservation, ecosystem manage-ment, air quality, environmental health, landscaping/tree preservation/urban forestry, and development planning.
Describe what structures/mecha-nisms must be instituted to support your ideas. For example, what changes in regulation, governance structures, technical standards or technology would be required.
Show some benefit for at least one of the following community components: at-risk neighbourhoods, arts and culture institutions, and shared community spaces.
There will be four prizes of $25,000. The participating students will receive $12,500 and the other half of the cash prize will be donated to the student’s university.
The contest is open to all Canadian legal residents currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program at a Canadian university or college.
For more information on the com-petition, visit www.tdcanadatrust.com/gogreen. The deadline for submissions is January 25, 2008 and submissions can be emailed to [email protected]. Winners of the competition will be announced on March 31, 2008 in Toronto.
There are already a number of en-tries made by different schools across Canada. These ideas will hopefully trigger students to begin thinking more about the environment and to become more ecologically friendly. It is up to the youth to take on the initiatives to save our environment. TD Friends of the Environment Foundation is just one of few companies that are encourag-ing students to become creative with ideas to help reduce the impact on our environment.
from Challenge page 1
Students urged to go green
Law professor contests death penalty for Canadian on death row
OTTAWA (CUP) -- A University of Ottawa professor is preparing to take on the Canadian government over its deci-sion to not seek clemency for a Canadian citizen on death row in the U.S.
Alberta resident Ronald Allen Smith was convicted of murdering two Black-foot tribe members in Montana in 1982. He is currently on death row in the U.S. for his crimes.
On November 1, the Canadian gov-ernment announced that they would not help to get Smith off death row.
Now, Craig Forcese, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, has joined three Toronto-based lawyers and filed for a judicial review of the federal gov-ernment’s refusal to seek the commuta-tion of Smith’s death sentence.
Forcese, a professor at the U of O since 2003, said the decision contradicts the government’s historical efforts to secure clemency for Canadians facing the death penalty in foreign countries.
“We are asking a federal court in Canada to quash the decision made by the government in November and com-pel the government to persist in what had to at that point been their consistent efforts to seek [the] commutation of Mr. Smith’s death penalty,” said Forcese.
He said the Canadian government has
“with a nudge and a wink endorsed the death penalty.”
Forcese said his interest in the case stems from a desire to banish the death penalty debate from Canada for good.
“[In the U.S.,] a significant number of the idealistic young people who [come] to practice law do so in hopes of subsequently graduating and combating the death penalty in the U.S.,” he said.
“In Canada, the students I teach come to law school to champion environmen-tal causes, or to promote human rights internationally. I took this case because I don’t want any Canadian law student to ever have to come to a Canadian law school with aspirations of being a death penalty fighter.”
Forcese said that he is determined to see the case through, even if he is feeling little excitement about the idea.
“The decision made ... at the begin-ning of this month was horrendous and called out for close scrutiny under our Charter of Rights and other legal principals,” he said.
“One doesn’t wake up in the morning and contemplate, ‘What am I going to do for the next couple months? Well, I might as well do a death penalty case.’ This is something that you have to do.”
While Smith still has an appeal pend-ing in the U.S. court system, Forcese feels that the commutation decision has become the larger issue.
“The death penalty is abhorrent for two reasons,” he said. “The first is that murder is wrong, whether it’s murder by the individual or murder by the state. If that doesn’t persuade people, the death penalty is wrong because our legal systems — here, in the U.S., and
everywhere — are fallible. We are not omniscient enough as a society or a legal system to presume that we can impose a penalty for which there can never be any retraction.”
On November 1 Minister of Public Safety, Stockwell Day, sparked the controversy.
“We will not actively pursue bringing back to Canada murderers who have been tried in a democratic country that supports the rule of law,” he told the House of Commons.
Both Forcese and Canada’s op-position parties alike have indicated that the statement effectively flouts a long-standing Canadian tradition of lobbying foreign governments to show mercy to its citizens when facing the death penalty.
Liberal Senator Serge Joyal tabled a motion on November 29, urging the government to rethink its decision and seek a commutation to life imprison-ment for Smith.
“The government decision to permit the imposition [of] the death penalty on a Canadian citizen by the state of Montana is contrary to Canada’s in-ternational obligations ... It flies in the face of our heritage, in the belief of the sanctity of life that Canada implemented through its decision to abolish the death penalty 30 years ago,” Joyal said.
“Capital punishment is not a punish-ment that you support in some circum-stances and not others, and claim that you’re still against the death penalty. You’re against the death penalty for fundamental principles,” he said.
“To me, it’s very dangerous to go along that route, as you are paving the way to reintroduce the death penalty.”
by Frank AppleyardThe Fulcrum
(University of Ottawa)
BRUNS NEWScalling all writers. be a part of the action.
Word first hit UNB about Dan Ayk-royd’s December 8 visit when the Social Club first circulated posters for its ‘Last Class Bash’ event. Eventually, details of a provincial tour of bars and liquor stores were released, but very little about the Social Club stop was known.
There was some speculation that Aykroyd would head behind the bar and serve up some drinks, but those details were left mysterious as well.
It had also been known that Aykroyd would be heading to a bar on the north side of Fredericton to play with the Downtown Blues Band. When Aykroyd rolled up in his tour bus to the SUB shortly after midnight on the big night, there were less than two hours left until last call, leaving many to believe he had already come from the north side.
This was not the case, however; after a few moments of signing autographs and taking photos, the ‘Soul Man’ Dan Aykroyd gave a minute-and-a-half long speech touting students as the future of our great country.
After telling these students to try his new wine products and Patrón Tequila – in moderation, so they could drink them again another day – Aykroyd took off into the night to make his appointment with the Downtown Blues Band.
Matt Harris, Manager of the Col-lege Hill Social Club, says that though Aykroyd’s visit was brief, he respects his busy schedule.
“Of course, I would have rather seen him in for the entire evening,” says Harris. “To get him behind the bar and hang out would have been awesome, but we also recognize the fact that he's a busy individual with a lot of commit-ments, and we appreciate the fact that
he came in.”Harris says that many Social Club
members approached him after Ayk-royd’s visit to express their enjoyment.
“He was friendly, he signed auto-graphs – I had several customers come up to me saying that he had signed their [DVDs] exactly as they wanted.”
Some students, however, believed that his stay was shorter than they would have liked.
“I was very excited to see Dan Ayk-royd because I’m a big movie fan,” says third-year Multimedia student Greg Melanson. “I was definitely expecting him to be there longer.”
“I think it's reasonable that some people would be disappointed that they didn’t have more of Mr. Aykroyd’s time,” says Harris. “But I think it’s important we also recognize the fact that the guy has been on a zillion stops and is obviously very busy and has a lot of requirements on his time, so he has to spread himself around. I hope everyone enjoyed him being there and had a good time.”
“And,” says Harris, “there’s rumour that he may be back in September.”
Melanson says that he eventually understood that Aykroyd had previous
time commitments.“I didn’t know beforehand that he
had to go off to the north side, so in retrospect, I think he gave us more than he needed to,” explains Melanson.
Harris got wind of Aykroyd’s Decem-ber tour through the product represen-tative he deals with.
“It was offered up to us, and we were asked if we would like to have him make an appearance. We said, ‘It’s Dan Aykroyd, of course’.”
There were no specifics given how-ever, of what time on December 8 he would arrive, nor how long he would be staying.
Aykroyd was not the only familiar face to enter the Social Club that night. Premier Shawn Graham was first in line in his entourage. Harris says the Social Club is familiar territory for Graham.
“Shawn Graham is an old Social Clubber from the old days, so I wasn’t surprised. Shawn went to UNB... He used to frequent the Club, and I kind of know Shawn, anyway. That was a good surprise. He was a good customer.”
The Social Club’s first event of the term is a launch of Pumphouse Blueberry Ale draught, on Thursday January 10.
Dan Aykroyd signs bottles of his wine the next day at the Prospect Street Alcool NB Liquor store.
Christian Hapgood / The Brunswickan
In nearly 20 years of hosting ‘The Na-tional’ on CBC, Peter Mansbridge has become one of Canada's most promi-nent and successful journalists, winning countless awards and being known across the world for his efforts.
Mansbridge began his career in a
manner straight out of a Hollywood movie as he was discovered by a CBC radio employee announcing flight in-formation at the airport in Churchill, Manitoba and after being offered a job began his broadcasting career the very next day.
Just prior to the winter break, Mans-bridge served as the keynote speaker of the CIBC UNB Business Plan Competi-tion where we managed to sit down with him for a few minutes and conduct the following interview.
B: Why did you decide to get into journalism?
M: I found very quickly that I re-ally enjoyed it. I enjoyed the concept of broadcasting, initially it was radio, but I loved telling stories. As you know, if you can successfully tell stories enough to make people interested than you've got a good head start on the business and it's all about telling relevant stories.
B: So how did you get from a small station in Churchill, Manitoba to being anchor of The National?
M: It does seem a little odd doesn't it? I can tell you that when I was in Churchill I had a dream that wound up in the chair I'm in now. I never shared that with anybody at the time 'cause they'd all think I was crazy. I was in Churchill for three years. I started a newscast, at first it was only a few min-utes long, but by the end it was half an hour, every day. I did an open-line show there as well.
There was no TV in Churchill so there was never a question of moving to television, but after three years of telling stories from the north, that had an im-pact on Southern Canada I was offered a job in Winnipeg, in radio with CBC Winnipeg. So I moved to Winnipeg, within a year I was doing television, and then I started anchoring television specials like election nights and things like that. I continued to make a name for myself and was offered a job in 1975 as the national correspondent for The National in Saskatchewan.
I was there for a year and then moved to the parliamentary bureau in Ottawa and was the correspondent there for five years. After that I moved to Toronto and did sort of half-anchoring half report-
One on one with Mansbridgeing, did a stint in Washington and one in London, and then in 1988 got offered the top job and that was that.
B: What are some of the best and worst aspects of your job? What about the long days?
M: Yeah, although that's never really bothered me, you know what it's like in this business that once you start doing it you just kind of expect it and you find yourself wanting to do it. It's crazy.
The best aspect is that it changes all the time, it doesn't get boring because you're meeting new people and you're dealing with new issues so you're always learning something. The worst aspect I guess probably is the time issue and the impact it has on the rest of your life. So that can be something you have to monitor and be careful about. But really, I look back on my time and it's hard to complain about anything. I still kind of go 'They pay me for this?'
B: You didn't go to university and came right out of school to start work-
ing, so what do you think the role of the student press is in Canada?
M: It's an important one. It's not only a formative part of journalism. The two things that consistently over this whole time I've seen research and surveys into what's on Canadians minds it's health care and education, consistently more important than anything else. And, where is the great education in journal-ism that's going on outside of university press? There isn't a lot, which isn't a good thing. All of us are usually trying to find ways to do a better job in that field but for the most part those are just excuses on our part. But, there is no excuse for university press not to be ac-tively covering their beat, and agressivley covering it. Then it performs a function far beyond the university crowd.
B: You've said that your favourite interviews are regular people caught up in extraordinary events, but out of all the 'famous' people you've interviewed who was your favourite?
M: There really are a mix of them. Clinton was a fascinating interview to do, and I'm no Clinton fan, but I really enjoyed talking to him because he really could talk about anything and he was easy to talk to. If you had a basic under-standing of stories he was quite willing to get into it, so Clinton was fun.
Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys, which was a band that was a big deal in my life as a kid. He's one of the great songwriters of the last half-century but is a total nutcase. Interviewing him was an incredible joy.
The Aga Khan I found fascinating to talk to at a time of tension between east-ern and western religions. There's really kind of a mix. Bill Gates, Peter Monk, the kind of people who started out basi-cally with nothing and became extremely successful and kind of effected the way all of us live. It's hard not to be interested in talking to people like that.
B: Obviously you've been all over the world, reporting The National from the rooftops of other countries. Which country was the most interesting?
M: Well, China and India simply because of their size and the impact they've had on the changing world, are constantly fascinating to me and I've
gone back to China since Mao was alive so I've seen a lot of change there. But Afghanistan and Iraq, both which I've been to since 9/11, are pretty heavy-duty places to go to, they've had a real impact on me.
B: So what would you say was the biggest story you've ever covered?
M: 9/11. Not because other stories haven't had a greater impact on the world but because that one happened in front of the cameras. There was no doubt about what happened. I was on air for 44 hours straight so it's hard forget those kind of days, but it really is separate from almost every other big story I've ever covered, it's in an area of its own.
B: With technology rapidly chang-ing obviously social networking, digital media, those types of things being very big, what do you see as the future of the news business?
M: The citizen journalist is having a huge impact on professional journalism
and there's good and bad to that, and I think the challenge for us is to try and marry the two in a such a way that it's going to produce more useful informa-tion for news consumers.
But, you know, things are changing so rapidly, for me it's not about what it was like 40 years ago when I started, it's what it was like ten years ago compared to today. I couldn't have imagined ten years ago that we’d be able to do things we're doing now, who knows what it will be like five or ten years from now, it's mind-boggling the rate of change.
B: Okay so to finish off how about some quick word associations?
Let's start with Steven Harper.M: Very crafty politician.B: Ron McLean.M: Quickest ad-libber I've ever
seen.B: Brian Mulroney.M: The story that keeps on giving.B: Jean Chrétien.M: He's the same as Harper, a very
crafty politician, but in a different kind of way. At the core of it, the same. Very smart in terms of politics, what to say, what to do, at a particular time. Didn't always work, and leadership is defined not by how you handle the ordinary, it's how you handle the extraordinary. In both cases they've found out what that means. [Laughs]
B: George W. Bush.M: Too easy to criticize. I'm always
weary … he became the President of the United States, he can't be totally stupid, because if he is the people are even stupider than he is, right?
B: George Stroumboulopoulos.M: Whoever suggested that the CBC
hire him is brilliant. It was me. [Laughs] No, George is the wave of the future for us, and is the best hire we've made in a long time. He's a very smart, very talented man. I think the opportunities are unlimited for him. It'll really come down to what he wants to do.
B: Last one, Lloyd Robertson.M: Great guy. He's the first anchor
I ever worked with. When I was in Churchill on radio he was a CBC radio anchor and was always being extremely kind and generous to me. He is an icon.
by Tony von Richter
Special to The Brunswickan
Peter Mansbridge, host of CBC’s “The National”, was the keynote speaker for the CIBC UNB Business Plan Competition.
The Brunswickan’s Tony von Richter sits down to
talk with Peter Mansbridge about his life and career
The BrunswickanWe’re back. Can ya’ dig it?
Come meet us, Wednesdays at 12:30 pm.
SUB rm. 35
5 • The Brunswickan January 9, 2008
VICTORIA (CUP) — The strength-ening Canadian dollar should mean falling textbook prices, but prices are skyrocketing.
“There are more than enough ex-amples of publishers that have raised their prices 35 per cent or more in the last year,” said Jim Forbes, director of the University of Victoria Bookstore.
“Some of these examples are just horrendous. We've started to moni-tor price increases by publishers, and in September we saw some books go from $138 up to $175 on the floor.”
Forbes said that one French text-book was being distributed at $110.25 in August.
“It's coming up on a course in Janu-ary, so we just called the publisher on Nov. 27. It's gone to $142.50 net. That's a 30 per cent increase in three months,” said Forbes.
“I sent an e-mail to the president of Nelson Canada on this one, just because I thought they need to know about it, and I'm getting a standard response.”
The price increases are starting to hurt bookstores, too.
Susan Dayus, executive director of the Canadian Booksellers Association, said that some stores might not even be covering their costs.
“The bookstores are having to take a hit, and in some cases they may not be getting a reduction [from distribu-tors] at all, but may be taking the loss,” she said.
“In the case of textbooks, the mark-up is even smaller than trade books, so a campus store could be incurring almost a loss, or at least not bringing in what they need to cover their costs in the store.”
David Scoones, an economist at the University of Victoria, said the price increases are surprising.
“I can see no explanation for why the Canadian dollar would rise and the price of textbooks would be caused to
Prices for textbooks soar; Students footing the bill
by David KarpCUP Western Bureau Chief
go up by that,” he said. One reason for the rising prices
might be that Canadian textbook distributors are well insulated from competition.
Regulations were added to the federal Copyright Act in 1999 which now force Canadian bookstores to buy from a Canadian distributor, so long as the distrubutor is selling the book within 10 per cent of the American price.
Even when a Canadian distributor's price is more than 10 per cent higher than the American price, there are still bureaucratic hoops to jump through.
“We have to contact the publisher and tell them we're going to buy around them because their differential is more than 10 per cent, and it's been very much clouded by the exchange rate,” said Forbes. “They could take you to court and sue you.”
Many Canadian and American dis-tributors also have agreements with each other not to sell to bookstores in the other country.
“What we have is from the McGraw-Hill companies in the U.S. [is] the distribution rights for their products here in Canada,” said Gordon Dyer, chief financial officer for McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd., meaning that their textbooks are often sold to American bookstores at a different price than what Canadian bookstores pay.
A 2005 report by the United States
Government Accountability Office found that American distributors sign these agreements to prevent textbooks from being sold back into the United States at a lower price.
“The price of a U.S. textbook may differ when the book is sold in other countries primarily because publish-ers price their textbooks in order to compete in local markets,” the report said.
“For example, publishers told us that some U.S. textbooks are priced lower in the United Kingdom because they must compete with locally produced textbooks that are less expensive.”
The price of a textbook is also af-fected by teaching styles.
“Textbooks tend to sell for lower prices than in the [United Kingdom than in the] United States because the demand for textbooks is lower.… Instructors in the United Kingdom are more likely to recommend several text-books for students to consider, rather than requiring a specific textbook,” the report said.
Scoones said that part of the prob-lem with textbook pricing is that pro-fessors aren't aware of the cost when they select a textbook.
“It's one of the reasons textbook pricing can be a bit flaky,” said Scoones. “You get sent all these books and you choose it on its pedagodgical merits, and then you learn that the thing was $210.”
Some universities in Canada try to shelter students from these situations. Forbes said that the University of Vic-toria Bookstore tries to call profs when they choose books with an unusually high price, but that it's not always possible while handling up to 3,000 orders per semester.
“We look for any bombs that are coming down the pipe … and we try to go back and communicate to the faculty member what this means for students at the end of the day,” Forbes said.
The revenue from the higher prices isn't getting passed on to textbook au-thors, either said University of Victoria psychology professor Martin Smith.
Martin was a co-author on the first two Canadian editions of Psychology: The Adaptive Mind, but has stopped writing textbooks.
"It was really coming out of my family time," said Smith. "Very few authors can make a lot of money of of textbooks."
Smith said a Canadian co-author typically receives a one or two per cent cut from distributors.
“I'm not happy with the price of textbooks,” Smith said. “And one rea-son I'm not doing it anymore is it's too much, and I really didn't feel comfort-able being a part of that system.”
Scoones said rising textbook prices might be an indication that distribu-tors are trying to get out of the text-
book business.“It's an exit strategy — just squeeze
as much money as you can out of the people who are still willing to buy it and then realize that sales are going to go to zero in the next year or so,” he said.
“If you realize that the market is shrinking and that only the die-hard are left, charge a high price.”
Indeed, Dyer said McGraw-Hill is moving away from textbooks and more toward digital products.
“I think the textbook side of things, as it pertains to college and higher ed, is very much a flat to a modestly declin-ing business this year and last as well. So I don't think that's where the huge growth area is,” Dyer said, but added, “I think the publishing industry is a stable industry as long as publishing companies choose to come out with innovative products.”
Scoones said one of the reasons textbook prices in bookstores are rising might be that price-sensitive students have already found other solutions such as online notes, course packs, used books, online or discount booksellers or photocopying a friend's book.
He said it's possible that people who still buy textbooks are willing to pay a very high price for them.
“[There] might be a dual market, where there's the hardcore people, and then there's the peripherals and they've all been driven out. So maybe
publishers think, 'What the hell. If [the hardcore people will] pay $140, maybe they'll pay $180. Let's do it.'”
Dyer agreed there are some people more resistant to digital products.
“Some professors [and] some de-partments are always going to love the look and feel of the book, the ability to use that book for this year and see the same book next year, and stuff like that,” he said.
“I don't think you can say that people are willing to pay anything for books. I think with the competitive publishing environment that there is in Canada, there is a wide variety of companies selling these products out there. If one company has got them priced way out of wack, you'll find professors opening their minds to other books that are out there.”
A recent trend toward bundling may have also contributed to price increas-es. Publishers will sometimes only sell a book along with supplemental ma-terials such as software, study guides or access to online material, making it hard to sell used books.
“[Sometimes publishers] will not even sell us the supplemental material within the bundle, even if we have a used book supply,” he said.
“Or another tactic is they'll say the supplemental materials are $100 … if you buy them by yourselves.”
Forbes also noted that up to 80 per cent of students never use the bundled material.
Students, though, have had enough.
Bobby Samuel, vice-president of ac-ademics at the University of Alberta's students' union, organized the first ever National Academic Round Table on Academic Materials from Nov. 21 to 23 in Toronto.
“We've been trying to get some type of dialog going with the publishers, bookstores and students nationally for some time, and this just happened to be the year where all the elements came together,” Samuel said.
A dozen student unions sent repre-sentatives to the round table discus-sion.
The Canadian Booksellers Associa-tion, meanwhile, is asking the federal government to stop charging GST on books.
Rising costs of textbooks continue to be a concern in amongst students across CanadaAndrew Meade / The Brunswickan
The audacity of those who dismiss real concern with empty rhetoric never ceases to amaze me, and empty rhetoric is precisely what both the St. Thomas administration and its faculty association have been feeding to the public. Locked out by their employer, professors took to the picket lines late last week amid the turmoil arising out of the most recent labour dispute on the Canadian university scene, and although neither side will officially admit to it, there is more at play here than the amount of courses a person teaches and the wages a professor earns. The struggle has seen both sides vie for student support in an environment that increasingly suggests that students are seen as little more than pawns in the university labour game. The idea seems to be that the group that wins the hearts of students can claim the moral high ground.
Students have always been innocent bystanders in university labour relations. A few years ago, UNB had trouble in reaching a collective agreement with key campus support staff. As uncertainty built about whether the university
would cancel classes as the result of a strike, the only consolation either side could serve up was that they supported students and the doubt was aimed ulti-mately at making sure students receive better service at UNB. The university said, and so did the union.
It’s no different this time around up the hill at STU. James Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers offered the follow-ing to assuage student concerns: “It's important for the students and the community to realize that this short-term interruption in their studies is a long term way of ensuring the quality of their education.”
Fat chance. Apparently, the risk of a truncated or cancelled semester is in the long-term interests of students, but this is a non-starter with any student set to graduate in May. It would be a hard challenge to find a student agree-able to putting his or her life on hold to come back for an additional semester simply because the university and its faculty failed to reach an agreement soon enough.
Arguments that a higher pay will attract more qualified teachers offers equally little comfort to STU students who are not scheduled to graduate this year. Whether or not pay goes up, fac-ulty recruitment efforts will only mini-mally affect the course work of students currently enrolled at the institution; the majority of instructors who do choose STU over other employment because of an increase in wages resulting from the
negotiations will likely teach few courses, if any, to current students. By the time those instructors begin at STU, today’s students will have graduated or will be just about to graduate. Regard-less, the faculty preach to students that they are fighting for them and their education. But no, this isn’t an organi-zation looking to convince a third-party demographic that it is in the right.
For all the faults of the faculty union, though, they are not the only ones with dirty hands at the negotiating table. One of the STU administration’s com-munications to students cites a potential increase in tuition fees if the university caves to faculty pressure and accepts their demands for wage increases. The numbers the university cites may or may not be true; I am not qualified to make that assessment. However, it is a tenuous claim that the threat of a tuition hike is not intended to convince students that the university is concerned with protecting them by using arguments that appeal to emotion.
Despite STU President Dr. Michael Higgins’ claim that the lockout was “motivated by the genuine fear that our students would be caught in the middle of this dispute,” that is precisely what has happened. As much as either side would like us all to believe that everything they do is to “minimize the impact on students,” there is no escaping the fact that there is an impact, and it is a harmful one. Lost teaching days and the risk of losing credits, regardless of ef-forts to “minimize” their impact, expose students and their education to forces against which they have no defence and for which they have no recourse.
In defending his administration’s ac-tions, Dr. Michael Higgins wrote that, “We have proposed a course of action
that is least disruptive to our students.” The fact of the matter is that any disrup-tion whatsoever in a university setting is detrimental to students and as such as wholly unacceptable. To suggest otherwise only reinforces the assertion that students are treated as pawns in the peculiar world of university labour relations.
Perhaps the most stunning evidence of this reality is the following comment made by Shaun Narine, an Assistant Professor of STU’s Political Science department, in an email to other STU faculty: “I think it is highly unlikely that the administration is going to allow the union to use the students as pawns in the current struggle. I say this to be frank, not offensive - one of the tools that we have at our disposal is the abil-ity to hold the students hostage.” If I was a STU student, I would now find it difficult to enroll in a class taught by Assistant Professor Narine. I would find little comfort knowing that I was seen as a person the union was unable to use as a pawn—apparently the preferable route—and that the next best option for those who are supposed to educate me was to hold me hostage.
Meanwhile, one of the university’s communications to students bore the title “STU...moves to protect students,” as if to suggest that Dr. Higgins is at the helm of a big brother organization that will make it all better. In a climate where faculty and administrators circulate these kinds of comments, it is difficult to figure out who exactly is
working to protect students, let alone the university itself. More and more, it seems that nobody has the interests of students in mind.
This is why the administration origi-nally pushed the start of classes from Jan 3 to Jan 10, and why, when talks down early Monday morning, they pushed it back again to Jan 14. A one-week or eleven day delay in classes is workable, albeit difficult. In reality, though, the original Jan 10 start date and the re-vised Jan 14 date were never intended to protect students. They are intended to strong-arm the faculty association with the message, “Look what you have done already; don’t make it any worse for students.”
If it ever did get to the point that failed talks produced an environment in which the Winter 2008 term could not proceed at St. Thomas, it is easy to predict how both sides would try to wash their hands of fault. Ultimately, the message from the faculty and the university would be an “Aw shucks” and a continued insistence that they had the interests of students in mind at all times, and that while it is unfortunate that a resolution was not reached soon enough, they had no control over the ir-rationality of the other side. The faculty association would accuse the university of throwing the first punch by lock-ing out professors, and the university would say they had done that because the faculty were being unreasonable to begin with. “We didn’t start the fire,” we would hear, while neither side would ever admit their own mistakes and their individual and collective failure to pro-tect the interests of the university as a whole as it went up in flames.
I hope, for the sake of every student, professor, and administrator at STU
that it does not get to that point and that a resolution can be reached, and I have the same hope for any labour dispute at any university involving any of its unions—professors, librarians, sec-retaries, support staff, and others. The reason for this hope is quite simple.
When all is said and done, the charred remains of the education of every stu-dent at a university forced to cancel an entire semester because of labour unrest would serve one purpose only. It would settle, once and for all, the question of the role students play in university la-bour disputes. It is true that either the university or the union will have won. However, instead of being treated like the kings they are as the raison d’être of every learning institution ever conceived, students will almost certainly be labeled as the least noble of the characters on a chess board. Far from having their interests protected by anybody, they will be confirmed as the pawns whose educations were decimated as much by the victors as by the defeated.
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
Photo of the Week
Fredericton got a whallop from a few major storms over the break. With no pigeons in sight, this is the scene on the hill.
Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan
Fredericton: The way a city should be?
by Tony von Richter
Mugwump
Sometime before Christmas I was heading downtown when I heard an ad proclaiming the return of the ‘Great Recyclathon Challenge’, imploring Frederictonians to become the first city in Canada to reach the emissions stan-dards laid out in the Kyoto Protocol. While thinking that it would be kind of neat for our fair city to be a leader in pollution control the ad concluded with the city’s slogan, “Fredericton. The way a city should be.”
That’s quite the boastful proclamation,
saying that your town is the standard by which all others should be judged. Is it true, though? Is Fredericton an ideal city?
Well it's fairly safe with its low crime rate, we've got two great universities, and some fairly good public schools (even if they are woefully under funded). For a city the size of Fredericton, there are also a good number of recreational opportunities and a pretty good music scene, highlighted of course by the Har-vest Jazz and Blues Festival.
On the other hand, since it is a smaller place, we don't have some of the ameni-ties of larger cities. This means we don't have a professional sports team, and most touring acts and companies skip over Fredericton as though it doesn’t even exist. Also, since it's a smaller city, there are only so many jobs to go around, and sometimes people will have to go elsewhere to find work in a particular field, which is a huge problem that the city (and really, the entire Atlan-tic region) needs to overcome.
However, I think the appeal of head-ing west to work will begin to lessen within five years, as thousands of baby boomers will begin to retire, thus open-
ing numerous jobs for those of us still in the region.
So is Fredericton the standard by which all other cities should be judged? In the end, I think it all comes down to personal preference. Some people prefer a city like Toronto or Vancouver that’s filled with millions of people and has thousands of things to do and see. Some prefer a small town like Oromocto with its less congested nature and cheaper cost of living.
Granted, I may be a little biased since I've lived in Lincoln my entire life. De-spite this, I have yet seen a place where I would rather live.
Sure, I wish we had a professional sports team or two, that I could count on WWE coming to town at least once a year, and that wages would increase a little, but the negatives to living in a city where these things occur does not outweigh the positives, in my view.
So is Fredericton an ideal place, "the way a city should be?"
No, not quite, but while it's not ideal, it's still a great place to be and I don't think I would want to live anywhere else.
Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan
Comments & Letters Issue 14 • January 9, 2008 • 7
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
VICTORIA (CUP) -- Famous envi-ronmental scientist David Suzuki is a consultant with big corporations, including one of the world’s most well-known and environmentally notorious — Wal-Mart.
Naturally, he was subjected to criticism from his peers about working with the big chain store. Suzuki himself has often criticized Wal-Mart for its practices.
But why would he choose to work with this company? An ideal world wouldn’t have stores like Wal-Mart at all, as anyone who's bothered to do their homework on how the company operates would probably agree. But perhaps this kind of idealism isn’t realistic — at least not now.
A lot of people won’t shop at a place like Wal-Mart for moral reasons. But, let’s face it, Wal-Mart isn’t going anywhere any time
soon because a lot of people shop there. Their stores offer a wide variety of cheap goods, which is just too tempting for the average consumer.
Although Suzuki has been very critical of corporate juggernauts like Wal-Mart, it seems he’s real-ized working with these companies would be more effective.
Sure, Wal-Mart is probably in-terested in more “green” ways of operating their business, not as a
matter of concern for the environ-ment, but as another way to increase their profit margins.
So Suzuki has suggested more en-vironmentally sustainable practices for Wal-Mart, which has reduced their operating costs.
Considering the staying power of Wal-Mart, isn’t Suzuki doing a bet-ter job than other environmentalists by suggesting ways the company can diminish its environmental impact, rather than just wishing against all odds that people will stop shopping at their stores?
Wal-Mart is a bad company in a lot of ways, but most students prob-ably shop there from time to time. Clearly, a lot of people must be, even in a more left-leaning, environmen-tally conscious city like Victoria, otherwise the company wouldn’t be building their new “super centre” in the Town and Country Mall.
It’s good someone like Suzuki can realize these companies just aren’t going to go away, and is willing to work with them to diminish their environmental impact.
If the majority of people aren’t going to change their shopping habits to more environmentally re-sponsible ways, at least there’s some comfort that there are people who will work to reduce the impacts of the rest of us.
by Alan Piffer, Nexus (Camosun College)
Dealing with your Facebook addiction
VICTORIA (CUP) -- Facebook has become an indispensable way to find old friends, schedule events, play games and even send “gifts.” But if you’re doing more living online than off, it might be time to reas-sess. Many students are now seeing Facebook more as an addiction than a networking tool, and psychologists are starting to agree.
Are personal re lat ionships taking a backseat to Facebook? Do you think about Facebook even when you’re of-fline? Do you use Facebook to escape problems or homework? Do you stay on Facebook longer than intended? Have you ever concealed Facebook use?
If you answered yes to any, you might be a borderline addict — no joke.
Frequent Facebook visits actually cause something psychologists refer to as “intermittent reinforcement.” Notifications, messages and invites reward you with an unpredictable high, much like gambling. That anticipation can get dangerously addictive.
Rob Bedi, a registered psychologist and assistant professor at the Uni-versity of Victoria, said that Internet addictions are common on university campuses, often helped by free Inter-net access, web-based assignments and unstructured blocks of time.
Bedi said there’s a difference be-
tween procrastination and addiction. If you’re losing assignment time to Facebook, though, that’s a problem.
The key may be as simple as diag-nosing your triggers and changing your habits.
“Find out what’s missing from your life,” said Bedi. “Whether it’s having too much free time, not knowing anyone or just escaping, think about what made you resort to [Facebook], and what you could be doing instead.”
Bedi suggests keeping a log to track your Facebook usage. If you’re shocked by what you see, try the following: List your Facebook goals. Why did you originally sign up?
Record what you actually do on Face-book. Make a Face-book schedule. Limit time to maintaining your original goals. Update your e-mail addresses to avoid relying on Facebook messages.
Bedi also sug-gested changing your password to something unfamil-iar with numbers, writing it on a piece
of paper and placing it out of reach to make checking Facebook a chore. Repeat if necessary to curb your behaviour.
“This is not something you can quit cold turkey,” said Bedi. “While a cocaine addict can put down his drug and an alcoholic his drink, you can’t preach abstinence to a student society that functions on Internet usage. What you can do is practice control.”
For some people, talking with someone might be the answer. Many universities offer addiction counsel-ing through student services.
If you’re not quite ready for that, you could join one of the 155 Face-book Addicts Anonymous groups on Facebook itself — but that might defeat the purpose.
by Danielle Pope, The Martlet
(University of Victoria)
InternetDavid Suzuki
02/15/08
TANNING SPECIALS
2 FREETANS
20%OFF3 LOCATIONS
530 Queen St.458-9771
1113 Regent St. 454-8267
154 Main St.472-5048
Comments & Letters8 • January 9, 2008 • Issue 14
What are your thoughts on the STU strike?
I’m glad it’s not happening to usChris Hubbard
I hope it’s resolved soonKathy Whynot
It really doesn’t affect me that muchMallory Xiang
It’s unfair to studentsMegan Holland
It’s bullshitRodney Mann
It’s STUpidScott Williams
Senate plays vital role
WATERLOO (CUP) -- I need a senate, particularly on bar nights. I would certainly benefit from a sober second thought about my decisions. And when he used those very words – “sober second thought” – to ex-plain the existence of the Senate, I’m sure John A. MacDonald was draw-ing on the afterthoughts of his own famous alcoholic excursions.
In 1867, this phrase was supposed to comfort concerned citizens. To-day, such paternalistic sentiments are of little comfort to the masses. Now there is an increasingly vocal movement to revisit the existence of the Senate and whether it should be elected. To do so however would be detrimental to the functionality of our democracy.
Based as it was on the British Westminster model, the Canadian Parliament is made up of two bodies – the elected lower house, or House of Commons, and the appointed upper house, or the Senate. Expand-ing on his explanation, MacDonald said the Senate was created to curb
the “democratic excesses” of the Commons.
On the surface of things, this is a sinister sounding justification. Looking at how the Senate has historically functioned, it's clear the upper house has rarely blocked the Commons from doing its job. The rare exceptions typically occur when the government tried pushing through legislation falling outside its mandate.
Take Bill C-43 for example, introduced by the Progressive Conservative government in 1989, designed to remove a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion. The bill came on the heels of a Supreme Court decision and was nowhere to be seen on the Tory policy radar beforehand.
Many interpreted this as an op-portunistic attempt by social con-servatives to entrench their beliefs without consulting the broader population. After passing in the Commons, the Senate blocked it in 1991 in a historic tie vote (don’t ask – the point is that it was blocked).
Only this and three other bills were vetoed by the Senate, all in the 1990s. Each time, the government sought to pass a law which stood in contravention of the governments mandate.
The Senate also admits when it's wrong. After the senate shot down the NAFTA bill in 1988, the Tories called an election on the issue and were swept back into power. The
bill then faced little opposition in either house.
As its role regarding legislation has lessened, the Senate has also taken on other equally important duties. Its committees have pro-duced innumerable useful reports on topics ranging from consumer credit to the state of science in Canada – hardly subjects at the top of most politicians’ to-do lists.
The problem with an elected as-sembly of senators is it would draw much deeper into partisan politics than ever before. Combined with the geographic basis for their ap-pointment, this creates a complex web of loyalties leading to a great deal of confusion and meddling by both party and provincial leaders.
The mandate of an elected upper house would have to become fully engaged into legislation. This would reduce Parliament to the legislative efficiency of the American Congress. Also, those previously mentioned webs of loyalty might easily lead to the kind of pork barrel spend-ing seen in US politics – that is, in order to pass a law, a senator might have to incorporate into a bill the completely unrelated projects of other politicians to gain or maintain support.
Moving to an elected Senate would just throw a huge wrench into our political machinery, and abolishing it robs us of an extremely useful resource.
by Greg Sacks, The Cord Weekly
(Wilfrid Laurier University)
MONTREAL (CUP) -- I grew up with Alcoholics Anonymous. It’s the closest thing I have to a religious belief.
This is awkward to explain at times because of the assumptions people have about the group — that it’s a shadowy,
brainwashing institution or a cult. But despite the misconceptions, I’ve learned a lot from the alcoholics in my life.
I was introduced to the program at age 12 by going to open meetings where people can bring friends and family, as opposed to the closed ones only for alcoholics. The meetings follow the general format of a support group and happen in community halls, hospitals and church basements. People speak in turn, with a loose focus on one of the 12 steps to personal recovery. Some tell personal stories. Others speak in more
general terms.These meetings left strong impres-
sions on me. One is Alcoholics Anony-mous is less a cohesive organization than a large group of autonomous people with a sense of community. The group refuses to affiliate with any ideology or political agenda and its core beliefs are very inclusive. One of the phrases you’ll hear repeated most often is “take what you like and leave the rest.”
The support group does resemble a secret society in that you become part of a large network of people, some of whom you'd never imagine sharing a problem with. Our carpenter, family physician and local minister were all recovering alcoholics. So was my boss at work and numerous people from around town.
Many of the group's teachings have to do with letting go and learning to see your life in a different, manageable way. They realize people are driven to addiction by destructive ways of think-ing. In being as honest with yourself as possible and learning to accept the things you can’t change, (as it says in the Serenity Prayer recited at the end of each meeting) you can also find a way to help you cope. You’re taught to take things one day at a time, to make a thorough moral inventory of yourself and to own up to your shortcomings.
When problems seem overwhelming, you’re encouraged to realize you’re not in control and regain calm by putting trust in some kind of higher power. The idea isn’t to believe in God in any pre-prescribed sense, but to believe there’s something guiding the universe and that it isn’t you.
The Alcoholics Anonymous members I’ve known have been everything from Quakers, Buddhists and pantheistic animists. For some people, God is the feeling they get when they’re out in nature. I’m alright with not knowing. The kind of prayer I say mostly runs along the lines of: “Look. I trust what you’re doing. I’ll try to hold up my end of things over here.” It helps me to sleep at night. That’s the kind of sobriety I need.
The sober benefits of AAby Braden Goyette,
The McGill Daily (McGill University)
Got too many friends?
TORONTO (CUP) -- They’re the shoulder you cry on, the ones you laugh with and the folks you trust. You know these people and they might know you even better — they’re your friends.
You may have a lot of them: pals you’ve had since grade school, high school chums, work buddies, new people you’ve met at university, best friends, friends of friends and friends with benefits. No matter who you are these days, it seems you can never have too many friends.
Variety is the spice of life, and meeting new people and networking does create a fertile ground to plant these seeds. But as widespread as a person’s social circle can be, it can get difficult to reap what you sow.
Now I’m not saying people are busting down my door to hangout with me, but there’s only a certain amount of time we get everyday to juggle school, work, personal lives and the time we spend alone. Digging up those extra hours to fit everyone into a busy schedule can get hectic.
Most people work around their overabundance of friends by harvest-ing a select few as their closer ones. Everyone else lost in the shuffle become acquaintances that may wind up biting the dust. Over time, you grow apart from some people, but you also meet new ones. When you can’t accommodate this stew of old and new friends, let alone your closer ones, the problem reinvents itself and you find out it never really goes away.
You dodge and weave your way around some social invitations. You’ve heard these before: “Well a couple of us are meeting up for drinks tonight, you should come” or “We never hangout anymore.” Of course, being the good friend you are, you say you’ll make it out, or at least you’ll try, but you won’t; you’re just leading them on. After a couple of unreturned phone calls, a string of white lies, a few broken promises and some unanswered e-mails, you become “the friendship tease.”
And nobody wants to be that kind of tease; it just happens. For some of us it’s an easy trap to fall into, since we're often unaware of the number of friends we have until we realize we don’t have time for all them.
There’s an old Seinfeld episode where Elaine makes a new trio of friends from the "bizarro world" and becomes torn between them and her old pals, Jerry, George and Kramer. As she walks toward her new chums, she says “Sorry, I’ve already got all my George,” which suggests there’s a limit to amount of friends we can have at a given time.
And maybe Elaine’s right. You can’t please everyone. Stick to what you know and also, whom you want to know.
Make friends. Enjoy them. And of course, choose them wisely.
It was the year of Britney-gone-bald-and-turned-auntie, of make-ups and breakups, and an almost rehabbed Lindsey. It was the year of dog fights, dog bites, and dog-eat-dog everything. Of Cokerty and Brangelina and Anna Nicole, of babies everywhere (a new ready-to-be-rehabbed population for 2027), of writers’ strikes, of Paris Hilton becoming the latest non-heiress, and Perez Hilton becoming the latest non-celebrity. Scandalicious in every way, this is your pop culture year in review.
1. It all started with Paris Hilton, didn’t it? We’re sick to death of the Larry King Live coverage, the tear-faced reunion pic, and that infamous mug shot, but she was just the tip of the iceberg. From there, we’ve seen ce-lebs like Lindsey Lohan, Topanga (’member her?), Mischa Barton, Mike Tyson, and Mickey Rourke (he was scooter-bound) jumping (drunk-enly) on the bandwagon for celeb DUIs. As one entertainment columnist says, “The mug shot is the new headshot for female celebrities,” – girls who could easily afford a cab, a driver, or perhaps even to pay off a good pal to drive the ol’ Escalade home after a night of too many Jager Bombs.
2. Reuniting is way cooler than start-ing something from scratch, according to the Spice Girls, Van Halen, and Led Zeppelin. Old-school tunes with kick-
Movies, music, and a DUI or two: a poptastic recap
ass new live shows were a huge trend in 2007. Tickets sold faster than you can say “Wannabe” for the Spice shows, which were a worldwide phenom and kicked off close to home, in British Co-lumbia. Posh, Ginger, Baby, Sporty, and Scary joined forces (with the babies in
tow); the Police and Van Halen had, according to Rolling Stone, “block-buster” reunion tours. Only better with age.
3. Britney Spears. Huh. Just the name sums it up, but for those of you living under a rock for the en-tirety of 2007, let’s throw out some choice words so
you can Google the whole story later. K-Fed. Shaved head. Umbrella freak-out. Child negligence. MTV Video Awards. ‘Gimme More’. Cowboy boots. Freak-ish weave. Jamie-Lynn and a bun in the oven. Hotel rooms and paparazzi. Oh-my-god, that Britney’s shameless. Oh, girl. But, hey – at least your album was actually kinda kick-ass.
4. Movie-making in New Brunswick steps it up a notch with a hockey-themed made-for-TV movie ‘Sticks and Stones’, filmed in part in Fredericton and Saint
John. Residents might remember the ‘Support our Troops’ signs and Ameri-can flags around the city last spring. The film, based on a true story and starring ‘Gilmore Girls’’s David Sutc-liffe, told the tale of a peewee team from Massechusetts that, in a tournament in Montreal, were harassed by anti-war protestors angered about the recent invasion in Iraq. Oh, and Fredericton got a kick-ass new rink, too – much of the local filming was done there.
5. Speaking of Canadiana, we’ve got
some rising stars from this side of the border. Think Ellen Page, the 20-year-old star from Halifax who killed it in ‘Hard Candy’ and the upcoming ‘Juno’ with Michael Cera (‘Superbad’). Nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in Juno, the up-and-comer is making huge headlines and putting Atlantic Canada on the map. Film critic Richard Crouse says, “[Page] and Amy Adams are sort of wrestling for the title of 'it girl' right now, now that Lindsay Lohan has snorted herself into irrel-evancy. She's really someone to watch because everyone had her pegged as a young, serious actress and now we all know she can do comedy as well. Juno would not have worked as well as it did if it weren't for Ellen Page.”
Oh, and then there’s Seth Rogan. Maybe you’ve heard of him, in a little film called ‘Knocked Up’. And Canadian directors had a banner year, with films like ‘Away From Her’ (Sarah Polley) and ‘Eastern Promises’ (David Cronenberg) getting huge acclaim and 2008 expected to be a giant year for Canadian film-makers.
6. Speaking of film, critic Richard Crouse has a few favorites from 2007 – big movies that were monster hits. ‘No Country for Old Men’, based on the book by Cormac McCarthy, is the story of a hunter stumbling on a couple million bucks in cash, some dead bodies, and a pile of heroin near the Rio Grande. Crouse calls it the “Cohen brothers’ best movie since Fargo.”
Next, we’ve got some animated, ratty fun: Ratatouille is a “weird mix between Willard and America’s Next Top Chef,” Crouse says. Not quite as pop culture-heavy as ‘Shrek’ or its compatriot ani-mated modern films, it has the appeal of an old school ‘Cinderella’ with that timeless quirk. Of course, superfunny ‘Superbad’ made the list “Fo shoooo.” Everyone loves McLovin and Seth Ro-gan rocks in his minor role as a cop.
And last, we’ve got double-feature ‘Grindhouse’, with ‘Death Proof’ and ‘Planet Terror’. Car chases are great
InternetIt’s a Spice World, with Victoria coming to America and the girls pretty much taking over the globe in their high heels and short hemlines.
by Ashley Bursey
Britney’s disastrous ‘comeback’ performance at the MTV Video Awards cemented her status as a legend - for all the wrong reasons.
Internet
but zombies are better. Double-teaming it? Kick-ass. Crouse calls it “the most fun I had at the movies this year,” so find that Blockbuster card and get the popcorn ready.
7. Of course, no year would be com-plete without a good dose of tension. Let’s talk strike – and no, not the one brewing up the hill. I mean the Writers Guild of America strike in Hollywood, which set several shows (including ‘The Office’ and late-night talk shows) on the back burner while hosts struggled to come up with witty and endearing scripts. (Um…Jay Leno filming a sting of ‘Jaywalking’ was reportedly not so
Internet‘Ratatouille’ was one of the best movies of 2007, according to film critic Richard Crouse.
clever: Jay’s questions were less than imaginative.) Apparently, the strike may soon start to affect the gaming industry because Halo 3’s got some kick-ass dia-logue, if you hadn’t realized.
8. “Even though she’s cracked out, you’ve got to give it up for Amy Wine-house. That skinny chick had a really hot year in music,” says Amy Quarles, of AP Entertainment. And she did. Catchy tunes, unforgettable concerts (…well, Amy probably forgot them) and scandals out the wazoo show she’s got the making of a British Britney. Grab those headlines, girl! And bring your man along with you. It’s no fun being scandalicious all by your lonesome, y’all. From scruffy ballet flats to beehive, she’s got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
9. So then there’s the tiara set. From the almost-dethroned Miss USA to the recent Miss France scandal, pics of her lying in a pool tied to a crucifix shocked the nation, it’s been a year of ups and downs for the girls. Miss America is coming out with a new reality show on TLC (a sad way to refurbish ratings for the slowly-dying franchise) and Miss USA, under Trump’s awesome commercial power, recently released a reality show starring Miss Teen USA, Miss Universe, and two Miss USA queens, all living in the same house. But somewhere, Trump’s kicking up his heels in glee: Tara Connors’ drug and
booze scandal, combined with Rachel Smith’s disastrous body-slam at Miss Universe have made the girlies more popular than ever (can we say “cash cow with a crown”?)
10. It was all neon, bubble dresses, peep-toe platforms and the recurring ballet flat. Colors are getting subdued now and the bubble has become the not-so-figure-flattering (unless you’re a stick-thin celeb) tulip dress. And while 2007 was all opulence – big hair, glittery everything, and animal prints – 2008 is looking to go minimalist. No, not white-everything-and-artsy, this is more like Victoria Beckham, perfectly groomed and with beautiful, simple lines and shapes.
“IT WAS THE YEAR OF DOG FIGHTS, DOG BITES, AND
DOG-EAT-DOG EVERYTHING.”
Korean film to light up the screen
What started out as a homework project has now become a Johnny Endeavour short film production.
‘Pray, My Children’ is a short film written and directed by UNB film stu-dent, Gyu Kang.
The setting for the film is 1935 in Pusan, Korea. It is based on the 26 year Japanese occupation in Korea, and was inspired by the true story of the found-ers of the Christian University in Pusan where Kang graduated.
Kang, who attended the Christian University, heard tales of how the school was founded and it stuck with him.
“He told me the story of two guys who had survived the executions.” said Kang, referring to the killing of Korean soldiers by the invading Japanese. “I couldn’t stop thinking of how it would be if I was actually one of them.”
The short film follows the story of a young Korean man and a village girl as they are forced to bow to the Japanese emperor before being locked into a burning church. Several others in the church were executed, but these two escaped, although Kang is keeping those details a surprise for moviegoers.
Producer Jonathon Driscoll is also a film student at UNB and an active supporter of various co-op projects. He and Kang are both in the film and televi-sion certificate program. They met in a workshop and are working together to create the film.
“This is kind of my way of recon-necting with Asian stories in Canada,” said Driscoll.
The film will be shot in Saint John’s Anglican Church, an old consecrated church that hasn’t been used for ten years.
“It couldn’t just be any church; it has to be stripped down with nothing modern in it. This church has lots of bare wood; it is beautiful,” said Driscoll. “They are actually talking about tearing the church down because it isn’t used anymore.”
They hope that once the film is done they will be able to set up a showing of the film at the church as a fund raiser to prevent it from being destroyed.
The story itself is a small part of a much bigger story. The film is expected to be less than ten minutes, so it is only able to provide a snapshot of what the whole situation was like in Korea in 1935. Regardless, Kang is hopeful that this film will be the first step towards teaching people more about Korean history.
“I want people to know what Ko-reans went through with the Japanese government and how they survived,” said Kang.
It is a story about faith and the resilience of people in the face of op-pression. Kang feels there is a problem with historical education across the globe: Canadians only hear about the history of Japanese, and Chinese and are not educated about Korean history, he says.
“North Americans don’t really know about Korean people. They know about the Japanese and the Chinese, but the Korean culture has always shadowed the other ones,” said Kang.
Kang’s film is scheduled to be shot from January 12 to 13. Working with a crew of 12-15 people, six actors and lots of extras, it will take a whole two days and 16 hours to shoot. So there are plenty of obstacles that have to be overcome.
Transportation and food will be among the biggest challenges. Right now the filmmakers are beginning pro-duction with a very limited budget and it will be difficult for them to find the money to make it all possible.
Kang’s toughest challenge is commu-
nicating his ideas to his crew. English is his second language and because of that it is not always easy for him to explain his ideas.
“I have clear pictures about the movie and how I want to portray it but I can’t really take it out and relay it to other people,” said Kang.
However, these are not the only chal-lenges the two face. For Driscoll the biggest problems are the budget and finding the proper costumes.
“Costumes have to be made we can’t just go to the Salvation Army and get some. Making it look great is really important,” said Driscoll.
The most important appeal of the whole story is that it is something people don’t see very often. With over 250 Ko-rean families living in Fredericton, it will help to provide a better understanding of their culture, said Driscoll.
“People are curious about Korea. Even though it is very short it gives a better understanding and helps to improve the cultural mosaic in Freder-icton,”,” he added.
The film is expected to be finished by March. The two hope to be able to show it in the Korean Cultural Festival taking place in May. If not then they will submit it to the local Silver Wave Film Festival in November.
The entire crew is working hard to ensure that it looks as professional as it can be, so that it properly reflects Korean history.
“It is important that we put it on the map as something people can see,” said Driscoll.
by Naomi Osborne
Local filmmakers aim to tell the story of Korea, annexed as a colony of Japan until the Japanese surrendered to the United States in 1945.
Internet
Arts & Entertainment10 • January 9, 2008 • Issue 14
An intense memoir filled with recollec-tions of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll, ‘Clapton: The Autobiography’ is a definite page-turner. From the begin-nings of his career with the Yardbirds to a life filled with addictions, Clapton vividly describes his career in the music industry.
Eric Clapton, virtuoso guitarist, has seen it all. After successfully defeating addictions to heroin and alcohol, Clap-ton avoided an untimely death much like those of his predecessors.
Released in October 2007, the autobiography has already received exceptional reviews.
Now a man of clarity and spiritual-ity, Clapton is comfortable enough with his past to reflect and note some of the more amateurish decisions he has made.
Clapton, born into a life of confusion and dismay, was raised to believe that his grandparents were his parents and that his birth mother was his sister. When the secret began to unfold, Clap-ton withdrew into himself and found the affection he needed in his guitar.
The aspiring guitarist began to share his love for music with fellow musicians. After a few years of touring across Britain, Clapton was a renowned prodigy. ‘Clapton is God’ graffiti began to surface in London. His talents were catching the eye of some of the greatest musicians of all time and soon enough,
his rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle took off.Clapton leaves out no detail as he de-
scribes the dark years of his life. Broken hearts and bad decisions plague him throughout his rise to stardom.
Clapton recounts his battle with ad-diction by noting just how extreme the circumstances were.
“The cost of our lifestyle was not just high in human terms, it was beginning to cripple me financially. Each week I was spending about £1,000 on hero-in, the equivalent of £8,000 today [about $15 700 USD].”
After a stint in re-hab and the success-ful defeat of a heroin addiction, Clapton turned to another drug. Alcohol began to control every deci-sion he made, which led to even more disas-trous situations for the rock icon.
“A post-psychedelic drunkenness seemed to sweep over everybody in the entertainment business during the early seventies. To be onstage, you were almost expected to be drunk. I remember doing one entire show lying down on the stage with the microphone stand beside me, and nobody batted an eyelid.”
One may be led to believe that you must be a guitarist to understand the life of Clapton. But for his autobiog-raphy, Clapton puts down the guitar and depicts his life so that even the most tone-deaf fans can see the pain he has suffered.
The life Clapton led not only affected his career, but his relationships, too.
Clapton describes his highly publi-cized affair with Pattie Boyd, wife of Beatles guitarist George Harrison. He
denies the rumors that he and Harrison entered into a guitar duel to win the heart of Boyd.
“With his actor’s imagination, I could see him [John Hurt, a British actor who was at the house when Clapton and Harrison were ‘dueling’] creating this scenario in which George and I were somehow engaged in a mu-sical duel for the hand of Pattie, who wafted in from time to time bringing
us tea and cakes. The truth is we were just jamming, although the mythical rumor of that night may have passed around a few dining room tables.”
But Clapton’s life isn’t all about the rock and roll lifestyle. A family man and fa-ther of four daugh-ters, Clapton has
recently settled down to a more relaxing lifestyle and is committing more of his time to his family.
“I considered all of my previous irrational behavior to have been rea-sonably excusable, because it had been conducted with consenting adults,” jokes Clapton.
As he looks back on his life, Clapton is able to recount the events of his past, which together form an engaging rec-ollection to keep the reader wanting more.
‘Clapton: The Autobiography’ is a great read for absolutely anyone. A story filled with drugs, sex, and rock ‘n’ roll – all elements that make up a gripping storyline. It is a must for anyone interested in the sixties and seventies rock era.
An affordable book for its size, the autobiography is worth every penny spent.
‘Beaverbrook: A Shattered Legacy’, by Jacques Poitras, tells the story of a once-influential family in New Brunswick. It is a journey filled with money, relation-ships, politics, and drama.
Poitras is an award-winning journalist for the CBC. He goes behind the scenes to uncover the life of Max Aitken, later known as Lord Beaverbrook, one of the most powerful men in New Brunswick. By sifting through documentations and letters from the Beaverbrook era, Poitras displays an inside look at the demanding press baron.
The book begins with Beaverbrook’s humble beginnings in Miramichi, New Brunswick. After making a small for-tune in Canada, Beaverbrook moves to
Britain to seek other opportunities.He does very well in Britain as a news-
paper owner and eventually becomes a war Minister for Winston Churchill.
A family, which once demanded so much from New Brunswick, now has little control over the province. A dispute between the family and the province over works of art, which is still on-going today, illustrates that the Beaverbrook family name now has little authority compared to the past.
The Beaverbrook Art Gallery was founded in 1959. Beaverbrook himself supplied the core of the gallery. The prestigious collection is now at the heart of a current major dispute between the art gallery and Beaverbrook’s charitable organizations.
The dispute arises from the lack of clarity in ownership of the paintings. Poitras describes the ignorance on behalf of Beaverbrook to keep proper records. Thus, both the Beaverbrook Art Gal-lery and Beaverbrook Foundations in Canada and the U.K. can claim owner-ship over the works in the gallery.
Paintings in the gallery are estimated to be worth over $100M. The collection
includes such pieces as ‘The Fountain of Indolence’ by J.M.W. Turner, and ‘Hotel Bedroom’ by Lucian Freud.
A recent decision was in favour of the Art Gallery, but the dispute is far from over as appeals and court cases shall presume in the near future.
Poitras crafts the story well, following the life of Beaverbrook and his relation-ships with some of the most influential men in Canadian history. Included in the book are excerpts of letters to and from Beaverbrook, which display how just demanding Beaverbrook actually was.
The story is filled with many colour-ful characters, which include former Prime Minister Richard Bennett and Sir James Dunn. Both of these men are New Brunswick-born residents and have had impacts on the province.
The book is a great read for any-one interested in the history of New Brunswick.
‘A Shattered Legacy’ has received positive reviews thus far and is short-listed for the British Columbia Award for Canadian Non-Fiction.
BeaverBrook: a Shattered Legacy
Books that Mitch read...cLaPton: the autoBiograPhy
‘Clapton: The Autobiography’ is the quintessential tribute to a
life in the music lane
A tell-all account of the Beaverbrook family’s
tumultuous life in New Brunswick
by Mitchell Bernard
With the Christmas season comes many things. For me, it included Christmas presents, quality time with my family, and enough turkey to convince me that I’m now more poultry than man. But some of us don’t always get the holiday
How I learned to stop worrying and love the drums
by Dan Hagerman
The FinalScore
Gameplay: Take the best parts of Guitar Hero,
add in some drums with real wooden sticks, and toss in a microphone that measures the pitch of your voice. Basi-cally, like in all rhythm games, notes will scroll down the screen and you have to hit them to the rhythm of the beat. With the guitar, hit certain notes and your ‘Overdrive’ meter will charge, allowing you to unleash your Overdrive, which doubles your points for a short period of time. With the drums, you can activate your Overdrive by doing a short drum solo and mashing on the cymbal. And for the vocalist, all you have to do is yell during a key moment.
Alone, the game is pretty fun. It’s not unlike the other rhythm games out there, but where this game really shines is when you grab a spare guitar, like
from Guitar Hero 2, and get four people in a room and make your own band. Everybody needs to work as a team, especially when deciding when the best time is to use your Overdrive. If a band member fails out, they can be brought back by another teammate using their Overdrive. But you can only be brought back twice, after that you’re out for the rest of the song. And while you’re out, the band’s success gauge rapidly falls, and when it’s empty you fail the song. So there’s extra impetus to not suck, for fear of your band mates throwing heavy objects at you when they have to start the song all over again.
Don’t have any friends? Who needs them! You can also join up with a band online.
Graphics: This game looks pretty darn awesome.
Each band member can be customized with a variety of clothing, hairstyles, and a ridiculously large assortment of fully movable and sizable tattoos. The more you play, the more money you get, which allows you to further customize your character. For instance, my British lead guitarist for my band
‘Red Donkey Stealth Attack’, Dannus, is currently sporting white spiked hair, black eyebrows, and an eye patch. Not to mention my totally metal outfit.
When playing the game, your created band members will be shown rocking out exactly to the music being played, with full lip syncing and instrument animations. All the while, your charac-ters will do all sorts of things depending on what you set your character type as. For instance, during one song, our lead singer leapt into the audience, still con-tinuing to sing along. Show-off.
Controls: These can make or break a game
based entirely on rhythm and custom controllers. The microphone, being the least complicated of the included instruments, works perfectly, minus my ability to sing terribly through it.
The drums, after a fair amount of set-ting up, respond well. The guitar is my least favourite instrument in the set. It’s not a bad guitar by any means, but the strum bar isn’t as responsive as I’d like. Sometimes I’ll miss quite a few notes in a row just because I wasn’t strumming hard enough and didn’t get any tactile response.
But all together, the controls work pretty respectably, and look great to boot. I’m sure that in the short future I will be receiving noise level complaints all the time. But, you know what they say: If you can still hear people complain-ing about how loud you are, you clearly aren’t playing loud enough.
The Final Score: I don’t even own a 360, and this game
was still good enough for me to fork out tons of cash for it. With practice, I’m sure I’ll get even better on all the instru-ments and become a world-renowned fictional rock star! Oh, the possibilities are endless. If anybody would like my autograph before I become famous, I am more than willing to sign photos, casts, t-shirts, and whatever else you want signed. I’m just that good to my adoring fans. Without you guys, I’d be stuck in my basement playing videog-ames all the time. Oh, wait…
9 out of 10 smashed guitars.
vacation that we were looking for. I, for instance, had to work a lot. Not that I mind working at my place of employment. Far from it! However, I’m sure that I’m not the only one that thinks that a vacation isn’t much of a vacation if you have to work.
On the bright side, working a lot gives me a lot of money. And with a lot of money comes the urge to go retail-crazy. So I was meandering around a local retail store, when I saw IT. No, not the Stephen King movie (though it would have been pretty awesome to find Tim Curry in EB Games). I’m talking about the box for ‘Rock Band’ for the Xbox 360. It’s also available for the PS3 and PS2, but since I couldn’t find copies for those systems immediately handy, I made the very foolish decision to pick up a copy. Before taxes, this lovely game costs $169.99.
“But Dan!” you cry, “$200 is an incredible amount of money to pay for a game!” And you would be right, except that Rock Band is an incredible amount of awesome, so it balances out perfectly.
Internet
The game Rock Band for Xbox 360 is tough to find in Canada, but Bruns columnist Dan Hagerman found a copy - and spent Christmas break rocking out.
rounding jewelry products (like foreign-sourced gemstones, as in the movie ‘Blood Diamond’), Ryder says the ecological footprint of jewelry has never been as much of a concern as it is right now.
“Most jewelry – there’s the mining industry, potential land destruction, gemstone material is being produced in third world countries, and there’s always the question of is it produced ethically, safely, and that’s a problem as jewelers we run into,” she says. “And what’s fun about utilizing the computer components, is it’s something that’s go-ing to the landfill anyway, so it’s a great use of materials.
“As designers, we try to source other materials in Canada, whether stone or metals, and support the Canadian econ-omy by keeping sources in the country, but we also know that some of what we get isn’t produced here. The computer parts are just that, because we’re going to buy them here…and there they are.
So that’s the fun part. So there’s the excitement in the fact that we’re trying to use recycled components. People are obviously interested.”
Even the larger jewelers’ exhibitions and trade shows have begun taking the three ‘R’s into account, providing reusable bags or emphasizing the im-portance of sourcing and cutting stone locally (the Ryders use pieces from the Bay of Fundy, for example) and ‘think-ing green’.
“What we’re looking at, because of this exhibition and the results of it being very positive, we’re actually in the pro-cess of developing a wholesale line based on the pieces,” Ryder adds. She wants to show at the Atlantic Craft Trade Show. “Price range will probably run between $15 and $100, depending on the item. Small items that will go on a very simple pendant, to some very dynamic earrings, charm bracelets.”
To check out the designs, visit the Charlotte Street Arts Centre to view Connectivity, or go to their website at www.mboot.net.
The age of the eco-baublefrom Jewelry page 1
Arts & Entertainment Issue 14 • January 9, 2008 • 14
Hillary vs Obama vs Chuck Norris...?
We all know what it means to get a Lewinsky.
Hell, my father married my mother because she gave a good (Marilyn) Monroe.
And I think it's safe to assume we all know why the ladies are smitten with Barack Obama.
I like him too. I mean, aren't we all a little curious about him? About what’s going to happen?
This year is gonna be a doozy. With the big presidential elections on their way, we can finally get that illiterate imbecile out of the White House so 9/11 can stop fighting the war for oil and our gas prices will finally go down to 35 cents per litre.
But these elections have me worried. It's not the potential results that I’m
concerned about. I only care about elec-tions up to six months after seeing my last Michael Moore documentary.
It's about entertainment value. I don't think people are going to treat
this election as the joke it really is. And that's got me nervous.The thought of sitting in another Poli
Sci class and listening to some corduroy-wearing, greasy-haired 19-year old with a scruffy beard tell me how evil George W. Bush is and how he steals and lies and this and that. I get sick just think-ing about it.
If I have to hear about how the 2000 election were rigged one more time, I swear I'm going to slap the next Model UN student I see.
And the music videos...don't even get me started. I'd rather hear Avril Lavigne tell me she doesn't like my boyfriend than hear Bono talk about unity. God, I hate that guy.
All this pseudo-passion and feigned interest in these current affairs are mak-
ing jokes about things like stains on blue dresses or trickle-down politics a thing of the past.
Now all we're stuck with are lectures and blogs and articles about all the things other people should be doing to make things better.
People are taking themselves and their opinions way too seriously.
The worst part is that all the opinions are the same.
How many conversations have you had about Iraq where everybody shared your point of view? Probably a lot.
How many people talk about Karl Rove without furling their eyebrows?
All this trendy hatred and fashionable talking points have taken all the fun out of American mainstream politics.
People love to talk about it, but some-times they don't really get it.
What I'm trying to say is, everybody shares your point of view, so just shut up already.
You're not being clever or intel-lectual by reading the Globe and Mail and regurgitating what you've read while drinking cappuccino at Starbucks. You're being a tool.
Nobody cares why you hate George Bush. We all hate him.
That's why I hate political conversa-tions. They're all the same and they're all boring. I place them just under conver-sations about female body image and a stoner's philosophy on Fight Club.
Stop talking about what a crook the president is, we heard it all before.
Talk about Hillary's cleavage or John Edwards’ stupid $400 haircuts because it doesn't matter what you think about anything else. I hate to burst your bubble, pal.
The next time your professor brings up American politics, don't bite that bone. Don't bore everyone around you with why you're angry. We're all angry.
You want to be impressive? Try doing something about it instead of talking about it with people that agree with you. And don't write in your blog...nobody's reading.
So just shut up and realize we watched Colbert last night too and we're all mad about the same thing.
Don't make this year another protest that never happens, and don't take things too seriously because nobody is taking you seriously.
by Sean M.H.
Rip
TORONTO (CUP) -- Whether you need relationship advice, fashion tips, a dose of celebrity gossip or a story about inspirational women who are just like the rest of us, it is all in the one-stop magazine ‘Muslim Girl’.
The bi-monthly magazine, intended for young Muslim women aged 14 and up, was launched in the U.S. in January 2007. The magazine’s Editor, Ausma Khan, is also a human-rights lawyer and activist who left her teaching position at Northwestern University in Illinois to become the Editor-in-Chief.
Muslim Girl magazine has a purpose. It understands Muslim teenage girls are like every other girl, but not entirely. They like to shop, watch movies and hang out with friends, but what makes them different is they also enjoy study-
Take that Cosmo! Muslim girls gain grounding the Qur’an and may also cover their heads for religious purposes.
Some Muslim girls also tend to have different values compared to North American girls of other religions. For example, dating is something that is not allowed in the religion. So, if a Muslim girl picks up Cosmo Girl, YM, or any other women’s magazine, she may not be able to relate to articles such as ‘How to Please Your Man’ or ‘How to Find Out if Your Crush Likes You’.
Although Muslim Girl magazine does discuss romantic relationships, it discusses other kinds of relationships. It focuses on how to strengthen ties with parents, friends, and siblings. It also answers common questions that many Muslim girls may have.
One reader wrote into the advice column to ask how she could explain to someone in her class that she was not permitted to date. These are issues that are not discussed in typical magazines.
Muslim Girl empowers young Mus-lim women. It gives them hope and tells them that although they may look or act differently (according to the norms of North American society), they can still contribute and be as successful as every other female if they work hard and con-tinue to prove stereotypes wrong.
In every issue, a Muslim girl from around the world is recognized for doing something remarkable. In the
November/December issue, a girl from Saudi Arabia named Muna Abusulay-man made headlines for being the first headscarf-wearing television personality in a non-religious, state-owned channel in the Middle East.
The magazine is full of Muslims from places all around the world such as China, Bangladesh, Turkey and Indone-sia, who share their stories and hope to redefine the face of Muslim girls.
Jenna Evans, an avid reader and cover girl for the November/December issue,
finds it hard to fit into the mainstream category because she herself is half Brit-ish and half Indian. She felt quite alone before reading the magazine.
“I was captivated by the magazine’s stories and images because I could see myself and my own experiences reflected in them,” said Evans. “I felt inspired by the young and accomplished women I read about, and I believed that my own story would make an important contri-bution to the message of the magazine. I wrote to the editor persistently for a chance to share my experiences being a mixed Muslim. I want to take the ‘em-brace diversity’ message one step further. We certainly must use diversity to build bridges in our communities.”
The magazine features discussions about different aspects of religion, which is often missing from other magazines. It allows Muslims to stay involved with their interests while continuing to learn about their religion.
Evans said that many of her non-Muslim friends enjoy reading the magazine simply because it contains such diverse material. It is a revelation, break-ing all barriers and giving Muslim girls a public voice. It shows that the headscarf-wearing student could also be an all-star basketball athlete or the president of her school council. The magazine strongly follows its mandate in its attempts to “Enlighten. Celebrate. Inspire.”
by Maleeha SheikhExcalibur (York University)
Internet
Muslim Girl magazine was founded in January of 2007
‘EVEN’ better than ever
He started touring when he was only 14 years old, but P.E.I. native and veritable musical prodigy Timothy Chaisson says he ain’t no Britney Spears.
“I’d probably have a couple of kids running around right now [if I wasn’t playing music], which probably wouldn’t be a good thing for me,” he says. “I could possibly do a little better job than Britney, though.”
It’s highly likely. Chaisson, who released his first album when he was only 15 (and played a whole grocery list of instruments, to critical acclaim) is working on number four, as well as carting around another list… Of awards, that is.
Chaisson took home five Music PEI Awards, including Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Pop Album of the Year for ‘EVEN’ and ‘Weekend Warrior’, which he says “was a cool award to get because it shows a lot of work at playing at the ‘not so classy’ venues to build a fan base.”
And now, he’s been nominated for Pop Recording of the Year at the up-coming East Coast Music Awards, to be held right here, in Fredericton.
But first, he’s got a couple of shows at the Social Club to give him a taste of the city, on January 17 and 18.
The seasoned veteran, a guy who’s got more experience at 20 than most musicians a decade older, says his mix of
“pop, folk, and rock” tunes are difficult to categorize, but he’s already catching the eye of the big names.
A while ago he traveled to California to work with producers Steven Miller (Sting, Pink, Suzanne Vega) and John Fields (Switchfoot, Mandy Moore), as well as honorable mentions for two of his tunes at the Billboard World Song Contest.
“I met [Miller] at the International Delegate meetings at the East Coast Music Awards,” he says. “I showed him some of my music and he really liked it, so I went to L.A. for a week to write and produce some music. It was a pretty surreal experience to work with well-known producers whom I have a lot of respect for.”
Being from the Maritimes, Chaisson says there’s a little bit of Atlantic Canada in everything he does.
“There are definitely advantages and disadvantages being from the Maritimes. There are a lot of really talented directors in the Maritimes, which I discovered at the Atlantic Film Festival this year,” he
by Ashley Bursey
says. “The rural shots in my music video for ‘All Over Again’ were basically in my backyard. I feel very attached to my Maritime roots because I grew up play-ing a lot of folk and Celtic music with my family, which I try to incorporate into my songs from time to time.”
And, just like any good Maritimer, Chaisson knows he needs to be handy to fans – he blogs regularly on his MySpace, and is working on a blog for his under-construction website.
“I think it’s really important for musi-cians to be accessible in that way because a lot of fans want to know what you’re up to and what’s coming up next,” he says. “Personally, I like reading my fa-vourite bands’ blogs and news.”
So what’s next? Chaisson is currently working on his fourth studio album, right on the heels of award-winning number three, ‘EVEN’.
And, of course – ECMA fever.“It was something I was pushing for
a long time,” he says. “It’s nice to get recognition for all the work you put into an album.”
Does a sleeping bag dress seem like a silly idea to you? How about once you realize it inflates to become a cylindrical tent, large enough to house two people?
This is just one of the designs to take home awards (including sweet cash prizes, trips, and cell phones) at the first annual Design to Go competition, a contest sponsored by Palm Canada and enRoute inflight magazine “intended to recognize Canadian innovation in the industrial design industry. The awards
enRoute to easy travel: contest
Monday Night Movie Series
seek to fuse creativity with mobility to create revolutionary ‘on-the-go’ designs for travelers,” a press release explains.
Last year’s awards, including ergo-nomically-functional chairs, modular attachable suitcases, a baggage-tracking system (complete with GPS) for that lost duffle bag, and the ultimate in travel luxury – a mini-bedroom, com-plete with Blutooth functioning pieces and a double bed – granted designers across the country the chance to create original, useful gadgets for the frequent traveler.
And this year, the competition is back, asking for proposals that are “well thought-out, striking, and even a little mind-bending.” The weirder, the better
– as long as it’s something the traveler can actually use.
“Our goal is to make this annual event a reference for the best Canadian designers, whether veterans or newcom-ers. This showcase gives them a unique opportunity to test new ideas and to approach their creative work outside of all the usual constraints. In this way, we hope to help people discover cutting-edge design as it comes into being,” says enRoute Editor-in-Chief Ilana Weitzman.
Fore more information, check out www.enroutemag.com/design/. All submissions are due by May 31, 2008 and must include a dynamic interpreta-tion of the theme ‘Mobility’.
by Bruns Arts Department
P.E.I. native Tim Chaisson plays the Social Club on January 17 and 18.Internet
Jan 14, 2008, 8pmTilley Hall, rm. 102Director: Craig GillespieCast: Ryan Gosling, Patricia Clark-
son, Emily Mortimer, Paul SchneiderRun Time: 106 minutesMaking its world premiere at the
2007 Toronto International Film Fes-tival, Craig
Gillespie's sweetly off-kilter debut fea-ture film of , LARS AND THE REAL GIRL, has already received overwhelm-ing critical acclaim, with Ryan Gosling delivering another dazzling performance in the title role. This perfectly composed first film is the perfect marriage of im-peccable performance and incredible script, and a potent delicacy for the heart and mind.
Set in a Midwestern small town
during a typically snowy winter, Lars Lindstrom
(Gosling, THE NOTEBOOK, HALF NELSON) is an awkward young man who lives in the garage beside his deceased father's house. With a brother and sister-in-law who would like to see him settled down and raising a family (especially after years of living under the shadow of his taciturn widower father), Lars' social life consists primarily of attending church. Lars' family is obvi-ously overjoyed then, when he makes the announcement that has found a special friend. Delight turns to panic, however, when the new girlfriend arrives.
Although lovely in her own way, the fact that Bianca is a realistic full-sized doll with an elaborate back story (charmingly recounted by a boisterously
in-love Lars) leads Lars' family to believe Lars has finally gone off the deep end. At the urging of Dagmar (Patricia Clark-son, DOGVILLE, ALL THE KING'S MEN), a kind but slightly loopy doctor, his worried family is told to go with the flow and pretend that Lars's lady friend is real, in the hope of helping him work through his issues. The local commu-nity ultimately responds with surpris-ing compassion in welcoming the new couple as Bianca goes bowling, starts a career as a model, and is embraced as a member of the community.
At times both hilarious and heart-breaking, LARS AND THE REAL GIRL is a gently naughty comic melo-drama of love found and lost. The film boldly addresses how a damaged person comes to terms with past traumas and
grows into adult responsibilities when faced with death, loneliness and even abuse. Both Gosling's exceptional - in-deed - revelatory - performance and the impressive direction of Craig Gillespie evoke overwhelming empathy for a man and the past he struggles to leave behind.
The film series is open to everyone. Regular admission is $7.00 per screen-ing.
Memberships are available that reduce admission price to $3.00 per screening. Half-Year Memberships (Jan-April 2008) Regular: $20.00 Students/Seniors (65 years and up)/NBFC Members: $12.00
Tickets and memberships are avail-able at Tilley Hall, Room 102, UNB on Monday Nights.
LarS and the reaL girL
Want to meet some cool folks?
Come write for Brunswickan Arts. Maybe you won’t get a chance to meet Salvador Dali, but there are lots of other artists, musicians, singers,
authors, and artisans you’ll get to chat with - rhinos notwithstanding.
Arts & Entertainment12 • January 9, 2008 • Issue 14
Writers’ strike rages on
Typically, as January roles around, the television landscape returns to nor-mal with new episodes replacing the various reruns and holiday specials that dominated the schedule in December. However, due to the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike, things won't be getting back to normal anytime soon.
Since November 5, the WGA has been on strike to win what they consider to be a "fair" contract with the studios who are collectively represented by the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), who have referred to the WGA's proposals as "unreasonable."
After failed negotiations in early November, relations between the two sides appeared to be improving with another round of negotiations sched-uled for mid-December. Unfortunately for TV watchers, these talks proved to be nearly useless as the AMPTP walked away from negotiations and stated that they wouldn't return to the table until the WGA removed six items from their proposals (including the ability to hon-our another union's strike and refuse to cross picket lines and to have real-ity show writers fall under the Guild's jurisdiction).
As it stands now, no new negotiations are scheduled and no one knows how long it will be until more occur.
In the short term this means that, with the exception of a few shows that have a few episodes left to be aired (like Smallville and Prison Break) and series that haven't returned yet (Lost, Jericho), there will be very little in the way of original scripted television on the air this season.
Even if the strike were to end tomor-row, it would be at least a month before
by Tony von Richter
most series were back up and running, making it virtually impossible for the se-ries to complete their scheduled episodes before the end of the season.
Instead, the networks are going to fill their schedule with an influx of game and reality shows, along with episodes of series that have previously aired on their sister cable networks.
Despite this, the late-night talk show scene is already back up and running, although in a slightly different format than usual.
The majority of the shows started back up last week without their writing staff, leading to shows airing without monologues or other scripted segments and consisting mostly of interviews. The lone exceptions are CBS' The Late Show and The Late, Late Show as they are owned and produced independently by David Letterman's company Worldwide Pants who have struck a separate deal with the WGA to allow their writers to return to work.
In addition to the regular slate of shows being affected by the strike, major award shows such as the Golden Globes (which just before press time had been changed to a press conference format) and the Oscars could be affected as well, since the WGA has said that they won't release any of their members to work on the shows. Another problem for the shows are rumored picket lines set up by striking Guild members which may result in some actors and directors refusing to attend to avoid crossing the picket lines.
While the remainder of this televi-sion season has basically been written off, the strike threatens next season as well. No new series or episodes are being developed, which will make the Network Upfronts (where the majority of advertising is sold as the networks show off new and returning shows) very different as the networks will have to try and fill their schedules without any scripted programming.
Internet
The Writers Guild of America strike is still going strong, two months into the debate.
InternetDavid Letterman is one of very few late-night hosts to return to televi-sion after settling a deal with his writers.
Sit back and enjoy the sights of this National Treasure
One doesn't usually expect to like a film with a weak plot and effortless puzzles but, despite everything, I found myself enjoying the confusing and sub-par ‘National Treasure: Book of Secrets’. It's certainly not a high-quality script, but it proves to be more than entertain-ing enough to keep the average viewer satisfied.
The film opens with a very cinematic depiction of the assassination of Abra-ham Lincoln, during which a man named Thomas Gates sits in a tavern, deciphering a message for John Wilkes Booth (Lincoln's assassin, who leaves to do the deed) and an unknown accom-plice. This is the lead-in to Ben Gates' (Nicolas Cage) presentation on Thomas Gates and his heroic refusal to aid those men in the assassination. The younger
Gates is a treasure hunger, and when his rival, Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris) produces a page of Booth's diary con-taining evidence that Thomas Gates was in league with the conspirators, Gates decides to embark on a mission to prove Wilkinson wrong and cement his ances-tor's innocence, as well as eventually finding the lost City of Gold.
The ensuing adventure leads Gates and his team from monument to monu-ment, just as they did in the first movie. They encounter simple puzzles and make great leaps of logic based on what few clues they find. They do the seem-ingly impossible without much trouble (such as finding the President's Secret Book), and everything they do seems
remarkably easy. Even broken mar-riages and rivalries are healed almost effortlessly over the course of the film.
There seems to be little pressure on the team as they go about their painless business. Wilkinson, the ‘bad guy’ of the film, does almost nothing evil in the entire film, and proves to be a rather
soft villain. Ian Howe (Sean Bean), the villain from the first movie,
seemed much more complex and threatening than ‘Book of Secrets’ Wilkinson.
The movie moves at a good pace, rarely spending too long on one puzzle or clue, and throws in some high-speed chases and tense traps for good measure. The beautiful locations, from Paris to Mount Rushmore, add to the overall entertainment value. These two points alone are enough to counter the simple and confusing plot, and even seem to counter the lack of danger inherent in the characters. The element of fun that the locations and fast pace add to the film also seems to save it from its ter-rible plot.
In short, it's a bad film with a lot of fun elements. National Treasure: Book of Secrets is worth watching if you're up for something entertaining, if not necessarily well-written. It's a movie in which the viewer can relax and enjoy the sightseeing.
by Robert Orth
And thus fell Hagerman
I thought I had been prepared. I had gamed long and hard, I had consumed more than my fair share of Spartan apples, and I actually did a one-armed push-up for the Brunswickan photog-rapher to prove my readiness. But, like Oedipus and Caesar before me, hubris proved to be my downfall.
I lost in the first round. I lost in the first freaking round.
How could such a tragedy occur? Looking back, I can see why it was more difficult than I had originally imagined. For one thing, I had thought that the only way to prepare for this tournament was to play Halo 3. But there were two more Halos that I hadn’t really played! ‘Halo: Combat Evolved’ and ‘Halo 2’ have been out for years, and while they’re not quite exactly the same as Halo 3, they had provided ample practice for some of the other Spartans in the battle chamber with me.
Which brings me to the battle cham-ber itself. The arena, which housed dozens of combatants, was divided amongst four Xbox 360s, each one with
by Dan Hagerman
its own projector, allowing 2 people to play on a screen. The controller that I was assigned, while identical in shape and form to the Mjolnir hammer that I had practiced on back at my tutor’s, was just not the same. And I had forgotten to customize my controls, as the controls I’m used to were basically reversed from what we used.
But enough excuses! I know the real reason I did not win: I was in a room full of Spartans! It appears that I’m not the only one to don the armour of the Master Chief, and boy, did they let me know about it with a hail of Battle Rifle
bullets and sticky plasma grenades. I certainly had no hope against even the more ‘mediocre’ of the combatants.
A special round of applause must go out to the four finalists in the tourna-ment. In fourth place was Kurt Rickard from LBR. Third place was attained by Colin McIntosh of Joy Kidd. Second place was granted to Stephan Bois, hailing from the mystical realm of ‘off-campus’. And, finally, via pulling off headshots, exploding people with grenades, and all-around futuristic soldiery-ness, came Evan Doran from Aitken House. His prize for winning? A Nintendo Wii. But, more importantly, Evan Doran has earned my respect.
Overall, the tournament raised over $550 towards the Canadian Cancer Society. Due to the success of this year’s event, the organizers hope to keep the tournament as an annual event, grow-ing larger every year and appealing to a wider range of on- and off-campus residents. Any more questions about the tournament or how you can help out in the future? Contact Stuart Lock-hart, Neill House’s Charity Committee Representative, at [email protected].
I may have lost at a tournament, but I still fought in the ranks and did my tutor proud by fighting my fears and finishing the fight. Yes, the end of the fight entailed me losing, but I tried. I’m sure that I did the gravely-voiced Master Chief justice.
Internet
Bruns columnist Dan Hagerman competed in a charity video game tournament in December... and lost.
You could almost hear the sigh of relief across Canada on Saturday evening as Canada successfully defended its World Junior Hockey title in dramatic fashion, downing Sweden 3-2 in overtime.
Matt Halischuk’s goal 3:36 into the overtime period gave Canada its fourth consecutive gold medal at the Men’s World Under 20 Hockey Champion-ships, and propelled their record to 6-1 at this year’s tournament in Pardubice and Liberec, Czech Republic.
While any gold medal is sweet, this one was a little extra sweet for Canada. They were defeated by the Swedish team in round robin play, their only loss in the last four World Junior tourna-ments – breaking a streak of 20 straight victories.
Canada got off to a strong start in the final game when Brad Marchand, a Hammond Plains, Nova Scotia native, scored a minute and 27 seconds into the first period. Claude Giroux, a Philadel-phia Flyers prospect, tallied a power play goal that made it a 2-0 game late in the first period, a lead that Canada would hold into the third period.
While Canada did have an offensive spark in the first, it was a costly period as the team lost Stefan Legein after his first shift of the game. Legein, who was one of Canada’s most intense, up-tempo players, separated his shoulder on an awkward hit along the boards.
The Canadians managed to outplay Sweden for most of the first and second periods of the game, but as soon as they
let up, Sweden capitalized. Johnathan Carlsson slipped one by Canadian net-minder Steve Mason early into the third period to make it a 2-1 game.
The Canadians were determined to not allow a repeat of the round robin game versus Sweden, when Sweden scored the winning goal on a sloppy turnover in the final minute, but the Swedes were relentless in their at-tack. With 38 seconds remaining and Swedish goalie Jhonas Enroth on the bench, Tomas Larsson scored in the midst of a scramble to send the game to overtime.
It did not take long for Canada to finish off the Swedes in overtime, as Halischuk slapped home a goal between
the legs of Enroth to clinch Canada’s fourteenth gold at the World Junior Championships.
Marchand was named Player of the Game for the Canadians. He finished with a goal and an assist. This was the second gold medal for the 19 year-old forward, who was traded from Val d’Or to the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League during the tournament.
Defencemen Karl Alzner, who cap-tained the Canadians squad, is the only other returnee from the 2007 tourna-ment in Leskand, Sweden.
Goalie Steve Mason was named the Most Valuable Player of the tourna-ment, in addition to receiving top goal-
tender honours. Mason, like Marchand, was also traded during the tournament, being shipped from the London Knights to the Kitchener Rangers.
The arena in Pardubice was filled with many Canadian fans who witnessed their country take the gold. Over an estimated 2,000 Canadians were in at-tendance, including a Regina family who brought along a 45-pound Canadian flag to display.
Many positives came out of the play of the Swedish team. In only four years, Sweden went from almost being elimi-nated in a regulation game to losing to the Canadians in the final in 2008. This was Sweden’s first medal in the tourna-ment since they took silver in the 1996
in Boston, Massachusetts Sweden has a number of returning
players for the 2009 tournament, which includes defenceman Victor Hedman – who many consider a legitimate number one pick for the 2008 NHL Draft.
In the bronze medal match-up, the Russians were too much for the United States to handle. They jumped ahead to a 4-0 lead early, and held on for a 4-2 victory over the Americans. Nikita Filatov scored twice for the Russians as they settled for third place. Russia won silver medals in the previous three Championships.
Canada defeated the United States last Friday to guarantee a birth in the gold medal match-up. Mason made 33 saves en route to a 4-1 victory.
The tournament all-star team con-sisted of goaltender Steve Mason of Canada, defencemen Drew Doughty of Canada, defenceman Victor Hedman of Sweden, forward Patrik Berglund of Sweden, forward Viktor Tikhonov of Russia, and forward James vanRiems-dyk of the United States.
The Men’s World Under 20 Hockey Championships will be held in Ottawa, Ontario next year. As well, the 2010 tourney will be held in a city to be deter-mined in Canada. Another strong team is expected, as always, when Canada returns for their attempt at the fifth straight gold medal next December.
Team Ontario recently defeated the United States to win the World Under 17 Hockey Challenge in London, On-tario. Many of the players who play for Canada’s Junior team have participated in the Under 17 Challenge in the past. The outlook is great for Canada’s Na-tional Junior program as they attempt to repeat what they did from 1993-1997: win 5 championships in a row.
Team Canada has 10 players from their 2008 roster who are eligible for next year’s tournament. Among the notables includes 17-year old sniper John Tavares of the Oshawa Gener-als, who blossomed in Pardubice after joining Team Canada as their thirteenth forward.
by Mitchell Bernard
Canada’s top young guns downed Sweden 3-2 in
overtime to claim their 14th gold medal
Internet
Oshawa Generals sniper John Tavares became a star for Canada after making the squad as the 13th forward.
Invisible superstars don’t get a fair shot
I absolutely love junior hockey. I catch every Saint John Sea Dogs game I can, and if I’m in a city with a junior club next season, I’ll have season tickets.
The energy of the players, the pas-sion of the fans, and the intensity of the games combine to make Canadian junior hockey, in any of the three re-gional leagues, some of the best hockey you can watch.
The ultimate goal, of course, is to be drafted and make it to the NHL. Some guys are playing junior en route to CIS hockey, like most members of the Varsity Reds. And for others, it’s the end of the line in their hockey careers. But once you’re in junior, no matter how you get there, the opportunities are endless.
A case in point is Chris DiDomenico. ‘DiDo’, as he’s known by Sea Dogs fans, is a Toronto native who went undrafted in the Ontario Hockey League. He was given a tryout by Saint John, and he made the squad prior to the 2006-07 season. He set a team record for rookie scoring last season, which lead to him being selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the sixth round of the 2007 NHL Draft. But that was nothing compared to the offensive show he has put on this season. DiDomenico has 63 points in 40 games, placing him atop the QMJHL scoring race.
Junior hockey has been kind to DiDomenico, but there seems to be a threshold certain players can’t cross. DiDo was a last-minute addition to the ADT Canada-Russia Challenge team for the ‘Q’, despite being a league leader in points. But the biggest snub has to have come from Hockey Canada.
I bet nearly no one has heard of Brett
MacLean, Mark Santorelli, or Mathieu Perreault. John Tavares, Zach Boychuk, Claude Giroux, meanwhile, are house-hold names following the World Junior Championships. What you’re missing, then, is that MacLean, Santorelli and Perreault are beating Tavares, Boychuk, and Giroux in the OHL, WHL, and QMJHL scoring races, respectively.
It seems that if you’re not a member of the ‘elite group’ – the guys who Hockey Canada grooms through the U-17 Championships and into the World Juniors, you don’t have a shot at cracking Team Canada’s line-up.
Zach Boychuk is the member of Team Canada’s 2008 Gold Medal squad with the highest point total in the WHL. The problem is he is 47th overall in WHL scoring. Giroux is sixth in the QMJHL. Tavares is third in the OHL, but made the team as the extra forward and had to earn his playing time.
I’m not naive enough to think that you can judge a hockey player based solely on points. You need to have gritty character players – Stefan Legein types – to make your team successful. But when a team struggles to score in 5-on-5 situ-ations, you have to scratch your head. Doesn’t it make sense to take the most talented team you can?
It seems to be a trend with Team Canada. If you weren’t drafted in the first round of the NHL draft, or aren’t touted to go in the high first round this year, you’re not going to wear the red and white.
No, a line made up of Justin Azevedo, Toby Lafrance, and Tyler Ennis doesn’t have the same appeal as Matthias, Gir-oux and Marchard. Azevedo, Lafrance, and Ennis do, however, have a com-bined 206 points. The Team Canada guys? 154 points.
When the selection camp roster is an-nounced, fans can nearly pick the final roster. If you’ve heard their name at the draft, or on TSN, they’re going to be on the team.
Guys like DiDomenico – with his league-leading 29 goals – will continue to toil with their junior clubs, hoping for a crack at the Memorial Cup. Then, if they’re lucky, they’ll get some time on TSN.
by Brian Munn
The Fifty Mission Cap
It’s that time of year again. Christmas is over and done with, New Year’s has come and gone, and school is about to start up again – unless of course you go to STU. This time of year can only mean one thing: it’s time for the World Junior Hockey Championships.
As you all know, Canada went on to win its fourth straight World Junior Championship on Saturday and many other countries are saying, “So what? It’s only the juniors.” For some reason, though, Canadians seem to take much more pride in this victory.
It may be the fact that we have won four straight titles, but even when Cana-da wasn’t winning, the country was still glued to the television. So what could it be? Why exactly is this tournament a Canadian holiday tradition?
Maybe it is because hockey seems to be the one thing that continuously brings this country together. Lacrosse may be our national sport, but it is not cherished like hockey. Every time a team Canada player hit the ice in this tourna-ment, Canadians seem to be at their pa-triotic peak, cheering as hard as they can even if it is from their own living rooms or from a local bar. Part of the national identity seems to lie with the Canada’s World Junior team, and it seems to bring the country together.
The team itself is made up of different players that come from each regional league and some from the NCAA. Each year, there is a fight to make the team. At the end of November, almost thirty players are invited to a training camp, where the team is picked. This seems to be where the microscope is turned on. These players are dissected by not only
Juniors bring out national pride
the coaching staff, but the media and general public as well. The team is sized up against other squads and even play in a couple exhibition games until the final roster is chosen. This is where the real pressure begins for the players, coaching staff, and Hockey Canada.
From there, a few more exhibition games are played, and often times these games are played overseas so that the team can get used to playing with each other, and the time change that faces them. Even before the tournament has begun, the team is under heavy pressure and intense scrutiny, but every player knows that it comes with the territory.
When Boxing Day hits, it’s time for the tournament to begin. This year, the Canadians began the tournament with a convincing victory, but did have their share of problems during the round robin. During the opening round of the tournament, the heavily favoured Cana-dians blew a third period lead against Sweden, losing their first tournament game in four years. Of course, the criti-cism began. Could the team score five on five? Are they taking the logo on their chest for granted, and thinking they should win just by showing up? Coach Craig Hartsburg tried to make sure that this wasn’t the case.
Playing for this particular national team is not easy, and it did not get any easier after the Sweden game. Many
people were saying that this wasn’t the team that could take Canada to the glory land, but just as any other good Cana-dian team would do, they didn’t stop.
Right away the team was able to get back on their feet, and make the country proud and did so by taking the gold medal home for the fourth straight year.
As the tournament went on, Canadi-ans seemed to wear their pride on their sleeve and showed just how much they loved this team and event.
A rumour I have constantly heard is that TSN broadband had to be shut down in multiple workplaces because people were watching the games live instead of doing their work. Just one more sign that this tournament has brought this country together.
Now that the finals are over, and the gold medal has been handed out to the Canadians for the fourth straight year, everyone in Canada will go back to their normal day jobs, and tune back into NHL hockey.
But no hockey fan in Canada will for-get the run that the Canadians went on this year, and how this single event con-stantly brings our country together.
So here is to another gold medal, and to the hope that the next Team Canada can make it a five peat in the nation’s capital.
Even when the tournament is overseas, Team Canada plays in front of thousands of Canadian fans - like this year, in Pardubice, Czech Republic.
Internet
an opinionby Brad Conley
The World Junior tournament is a highlight for Canadian fans
will certainly challenge the Red Sox and Yankees for the top spot in the American League.
Niedermayer returnsScott Niedermayer finally made up his
mind. In the end, he just could not skate off into the sunset. Niedermayer made his return to the Anaheim Ducks, hop-ing to jump-start a team that has failed to live up to the heights it reached last year. In addi-tion to Nie-dermayer, the Ducks may be on the verge of welcoming back 50-goal man Teemu Selanne. Reports indicate that Selanne has returned to the ice, and is working his was back into game shape. While he is a free agent, Selanne has experienced incredible success as a Duck and Anaheim is favoured as a landing spot for the Finn.
NFL awardsThe NFL
handed out two of its big-gest awards last week, and the recipients surprised very few. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was named league MVP, and was one vote (which went to re-juvenated Green Bay QB Brett Favre) shy of a unanimous decision. Patriots coach Bill Belichick, meanwhile, was named Coach of the Year. Despite the ‘spy-gate’ scandal after the first game of the season, Belichick guided his club to a 16-0 season – the first undefeated coach since Miami’s Don Shula.
All photos courtesy of the internet.
Sports14 • January 9, 2008 • Issue 14
Varsity Reds win Pete Kelly Cup
The UNB Varsity Reds men’s hockey team claimed their second consecu-tive Pete Kelly Cup title, downing the NCAA Division I Union College (Schenectady, NY) Dutchmen 8-3 in the title game.
Union College’s Jason Walters opened the scoring in a physical first period, car-rying the puck out of the neutral zone and fooling Mike Ouzas with a quick backhand shot off the right post. The Dutchmen withstood sustained pressure by UNB and carried a 1-0 lead into the intermission.
The V-Reds tied the game early in the second period, when Alex Aldred jumped into the rush and buried a re-bound past Union goalie Corey Milan. UNB took the lead just over four min-utes later when Rob Hennigar found John Scott Dickson with a pass from behind the net, and Dickson rifled a one-timer past Milan.
Midway through the second, Henni-gar put UNB up 3-1 after being sprung on a breakaway out of the penalty box. After a Dutchmen goal, Hunter Tremblay restored the two-goal lead when he capitalized on a one-on-three attack. However, Union defenseman Mike Schreiber scored to pull the score to 4-3.
Tempers boiled over shortly after, when UNB forward Josh Hepditch got into a shoving match with Michael Beynon. The shoving turned into a fight, which saw both players handed roughing minors, fighting majors, and automatic game misconducts.
Kyle Bailey converted on a two-on-one with Lachlan MacIntosh four minutes into the third, kicking off an all-UNB period. Tremblay put in his second of the game, while Rob Pearce and Justin DaCosta both scored to round out the scoring for the Reds.
The two day tournament, hosted by UNB for the third year, was attended by the St. Thomas Tommies, Acadia
Axemen, and Union College. The tournament was kicked off
with a showdown between STU and Union College, which saw a masterful goaltending performance from STU goalie Guillaume Miszczak. Miszczak made 35 saves in a 3-1 losing effort, earning player of the game honors for the Tommies.
The next game was between the V-Reds and Acadia, with UNB beating the Axemen 3-1. John Scott Dickson scored twice for the Reds, while Kyle Bailey added the third goal. Derek Yeomans was solid in goal, posting 22 saves for the win.
The wins by Union College and UNB advanced them to the championship game, while STU met Acadia in the consolation game. Acadia defeated STU 7-5, marking the first non-overtime game between the conference rivals this season.
The championship game victory was a measure of revenge for the V-Reds, who fell to the Dutchmen 7-5 in an exhibition game prior to the tourna-ment. The game marked the first time
an NCAA Division I team had ever taken to the ice at the Aitken Centre. Union College out-shot UNB 35-24, in what was a well-deserved victory. Mike Ouzas and Derek Yeomans split the game in the UNB goal, combining to make 17 saves.
UNB kicked off the second half of their regular season on Friday night in Antigonish, shutting out the St. Francis Xavier X-Men 3-0, MacIntosh, Dickson, and DaCosta all tallied for the Reds, while Ouzas made 24 saves for the shutout.
The V-Reds then traveled to Halifax to down St. Mary’s 4-2 on Saturday night. Rob Hennigar and Hunter Tremblay had two goals each, while Dickson recorded four assists. Ouzas was between the pipes again, making 34 saves for his eleventh win of the year.
The Varsity Reds open their second-half home schedule on Wednesday, January 9, hosting the Université de Moncton. The Aigles Bleus have handed UNB their only two losses this season, and sit 7 points behind the Reds for third place in the Atlantic conference.
UNB forward John Scott Dickson continued his stellar first-half play, earning tournament MVP honours during the two-day tournament.
File Photo
File Photo
File Photo
by Brian Munn
V-Reds Pink Game a huge success
The UNB women’s basketball team is pleased to announce that $1,708.92 was raised for the Canadian Breast Cancer Society on Saturday at the Lady Bea-verbrook Gymnasium.
The players from the UNB women’s basketball team, parents of the players, and the rUNBuddies, a volunteer group on campus, worked together to raise funds through a Pink Basket Raffle, craft sale, bake sale, jewelry sale, and a giant M&M pink cookie raffle. The rUNBuddies did a great job decorating the gym in pink balloons and stream-ers and the UNB players sported pink warm-up shirts and shoe laces and both head coaches involved in the game had on pink dress shirts and ties. Special thanks to the UNB Athletic Depart-ment for donating the gate proceeds to the cause.
“It was a great opportunity to raise money and awareness to the fight against breast cancer,” commented UNB Head Coach Jeff Speedy. “I was very proud to be one of the many people
who worked together to make this event as success.”
“The game didn’t go the way we wanted but that is secondary to being able to be involved in something big-ger. I am anxious to see the total dollar figure all CIS women’s basketball teams raise.” In March, the CIS Women’s Basketball Coaches Association will announce the total money donated to the Canadian Breast Cancer Society through similar fundraising efforts of most CIS women’s basketball teams across the country.”
by Bruns Sports Department
In case you missed it... Highlights from the Christmas break
The Mitchell ReportFormer Senator George Mitchell
releases his report on the use of per-formance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball. Mitchell, now an exec-utive with the Boston Red Sox, named 88 players, past and pres-ent, with di-rect links to performance-e n h a n c i n g d r u g u s e . Some of the biggest play-ers named in-cluded Roger Clemens, Andy Pettite, Eric Gagne, and Barry Bonds. While some players – including Pettite and Baltimore Orioles start Brian Roberts – have admitted to drug use, Clemens and others maintain their innocence. Clemens has gone so far as to threaten legal action against Brian McNamee, his former trainer, who cooperated with Mitchell in the preparation of the report. The Toronto Blue Jays had two players named in the report: All-Star third baseman Troy Glaus and veteran catcher Gregg Zaun.
The Perfect PatsThe New
England Patri-ots became the first team since the 1972 Mi-ami Dolphins to go unde-feated during the regular sea-son, finishing 16-0. The Pa-
triots beat the New York Giants in their final game of the season, and mounted an impressive second half comeback to claim the victory. The comeback was capped by a long touchdown pass by Tom Brady to Randy Moss. The record-breaking pass was Brady’s 50 TD pass of the season (breaking Peyton Manning’s previous record of 49), and Moss’s 23rd TD reception of the season (breaking Jerry Rice’s record of 22).
Michael Vick sentenced Disgraced Atlanta Falcons quarter-
back Michael Vick was sentenced on dog fighting charges. Vick received a total sentence of 23 months in a federal prison. Recent reports allege that Vick has been moved to a minimum security facil-ity in Kansas, where he will participate in a 12-month drug rehabilitation program. At the conclusion of the program Vick could be released from prison, meaning he could be eligible to return to the NFL for the 2009 season. However, Commissioner Roger Goodell has yet to announce whether Vick will face any suspension from the NFL for his actions.
NHL Winter ClassicIt took a
shootout for the Pittsburgh Penguins to defeat the Buf-falo Sabres 2-1 in the NHL’s Winter Clas-sic, the league’s second out-door regular season game. Colby Armstrong scored for Pittsburgh, while Brian Campbell replied for Buf-falo. Sidney Crosby beat Ryan Miller
to clinch to shootout victory in front of a sell-out crowd at Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. The game was a major success for the NHL, which is now considering making the Winter Classic and annual event. Detroit, Toronto, and Minnesota have all expressed interest.
Parcells to MiamiAfter avoiding the NFL’s first 0-16
season, the 1-15 Miami Dolphins began their off-sea-son shakeup by hiring Bill Parcells as Ex-ecutive Vice President of Football Oper-ations. Parcells has fired GM Randy Muel-ler and Head Coach Cam Cameron, and more changes look to be on the horizon for the struggling franchise.
Tigers land big fishThe Detroit Tigers made baseball
headlines not related to steroids when they scored superstars Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis from the Florida Marlins in exchange for a package of six prospects. Headed to s o u t h e r n Florida are elite prospects Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin, along with Burke Badenhop, Eulogio De La Cruz, Dallas Trahern, and Mike Rabelo. The Tigers then locked up part of their investment, signing Willis to a three-year contract ex-tension. After landing shortstop Edgar Rentaria in an earlier trade, the Tigers now have arguably the most formidable line-up in Major League Baseball, and
by Bruns Sports Department
New England re-ceiver Randy Moss
Free Agent pitcher Roger Clemens
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby
Former Falcons QB Michael Vick
Tigers ace Dontrelle Willis
Dolphins VP Bill Parcells
Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer
Patriots QB Tom Brady
Upcominig V-Reds Events
Wednesday, January 9th
men’s HoCkey
Udem @ UnB7:00Pm @ aUC
Friday, January 11th
men’s HoCkey
UnB @ UPei
Saturday, January 12th
Women’s BasketBall
aCadia @ UnB6:00Pm @ lB gym
Women’s VolleyBall
UnB @ dal
men’s BasketBall
aCadia @ UnB8:00Pm @lB gym
Sunday, January 13th
Women’s BasketBall
aCadia @ UnB1:00Pm @ lB gym
Women’s HoCkey
UnB @ Udem
Women’s VolleyBall
UnB @ Udem
men’s BasketBall
aCadia @ UnB3:00Pm @ lB gym
Sunday, January 6thmen’s VolleyBall montreal – 1UnB – 3 Women’s BasketBall st. FX – 69UnB – 50
men’s BasketBall st. FX – 105UnB – 45
The “Pink Game” raised $1.708.92 for Breast Cancer research.
One crushing defeat was all it took to keep the UNB Varsity Reds women’s basketball team away from the title, as the club finished second in the Helen Campbell tournament. The tournament was hosted by UNB at the LB Gym from December 29-31, 2007.
This is the first time the Helen Campbell tournament was held over the Christmas break. Last year’s tourna-ment was held in early November at the beginning of the regular season. With the tournament being held in Decem-ber, fans had the chance to see the teams in their top form.
to an 84-72 win over the Panthers. It was team effort from the Reds, as 10 of the 11 players on the roster scored points in the game. Katie Springer, a fifth year forward from Fredericton, led the way with 20 points for the Reds while Kathleen Singh notched a double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Angela Aydon finished the game with 12 points and Leah Corby of Fredericton had a game-high nine assists.
It was a bittersweet victory for UNB, who current sit two points up on UPEI in the AUS standings. They dropped their last decision to the Panthers back early November.
In their second game of the tourna-ment, UNB fell behind in the first half, losing to the McGill Martlets 61-50. The loss would end up costing the Reds the first place title in their home tournament.
UNB was outscored 31-16 at the half by McGill. Rikki Bowles went 5-for-5 from the three-point range and finished with 15 points for the Martlets. Singh had 14 points and 8 rebounds for the struggling Reds, while Corby finished with 12 pts and 4 rebounds.
In their final game of the tournament, the Varsity Reds ran up the score against RMC, finishing with a 91-37 victory.
All Reds players contributed to the
Helen Campbell was a member of the Reds from 1931 to 1934. She passed away in 1999 and since, the Varsity Reds have been hosting a tournament in her memory. This year’s tournament featured four teams from across Cen-tral and Eastern Canada: the McGill Martlets, the Royal Military College Paladins, the UPEI Panthers, and the Varsity Reds.
UNB faced UPEI in the first match-up of the tournament. The Reds held a nine point lead at half time, en route
point total against the Kingston squad. Leading the way was Corby with 19 points, while Amanda Sharpe, a second year player out of Fredericton, finished with 17 points.
The lop-sided victory may just be what the Reds need to build their confidence heading into the 2008 por-tion of the regular season. UNB faces a demanding schedule ending at the end of February, when the AUS champion-ships will be hosted by Acadia.
In other tournament action, McGill
thumped RMC 91-45, while UPEI also defeated RMC 82-61. McGill defeated UPEI 66-58 to sweep the tournament and claim the championship. McGill currently sits in 4th place in the Quebec conference.
UNB finished second in the tourna-ment with their 2-1 record, while UPEI finished third at 1-2. RMC rounded out the standings, finishing without a win in their three games.
Katie Springer of UNB was named a Tournament All-Star. The veteran forward had a great tournament for the Reds, as she looks to continue her great play into the 2008 campaign.
Although the Reds were unable to break through and win their own tour-nament, they can take some positives out of their play. All players on the roster contributed to the team play, which will be key in the upcoming games. A grueling schedule can contribute to injuries and the Reds will be looking to the bench to provide some offensive support.
The Reds just completed a weekend road trip of four-point games, visiting Cape Breton and St. Francis Xavier. It was a rough weekend for the team, as they dropped both contests falling 81-76 to CBU and 69-50 to St. FX. For the coming weekend, the Reds will
by Mitchell Bernard
host Acadia at the Pitt. Games times are Saturday, January 12th at 6pm and Sunday, January 13 at 1pm.
Acadia and UNB split their two meeting so far this season. At this point in the season, wins are crucial for teams jockeying for a higher position in the standings. This should make for an en-tertaining game for fans. UNB currently has eight points on the season, placing them in a three-way tie for third with Acadia and the Dalhousie Tigers.
Women’s team looks solid headed into season’s
second half
After a solid outing at the annual Helen Campbell tournament, the Varsity Reds women’s basketball team re-sumed AUS league play with losses against the Cape Bretons Capers and the St. FX X-Women. The V-Reds will be in action at “The Pitt” this Saturday at 1pm and Sunday at 3pm against Acadia.
File Photo
NEW WESTMINSTER (CUP) – Bol Kong, possibly the top basketball pros-pect in all of Canada, wants to be plying his trade south of the border, but he can’t because of his nationality.
Instead the young Vancouver bas-ketball superstar is playing closer to home at Douglas College in New Westminster, BC, waiting patiently for his opportunity.
The only reason the 6’7" Kong isn’t hasn’t gotten on with suitors such as Washington, Hawaii, Idaho, or the University of Las Vegas, is because he has been denied a visa into the United States.
Kong is a citizen of the African coun-try of Sudan, but has lived in Canada since the age of seven on landed im-migrant status. He has applied for a student visa on three separate occasions so he can play for a high profile college or university in the U.S.
Unfortunately, he’s been denied all three times. One possible reason is that his native Sudan is one of five nations designated as ‘state sponsors of terror-ism’ by the U.S. government.
Kong is facing an incredible array of immigration obstacles as a result of the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Reform Act, which was enacted in 2002, which states that “no non immigrant visa…shall be issued to any alien from a country that is a state sponsor of inter-national terrorism unless the Secretary of State determines, in consultation with the Attorney General and the heads of other appropriate United States agen-cies, that such alien does not pose a threat to the safety or national security of the United States.”
Even in dark times, however good things can shine through. Students at Douglas College and basketball fans across greater Vancouver are now privy to watching one of the country’s best.
Kong’s been contacted by too many schools to count, and the Boston Celtics have expressed interest in him since he graduated from St. Georges in Vancou-ver two years ago. He’s drawn consider-
Sudanese basketball superstar destined for US finds temporary home at Douglas College
able interest from over 200 U.S. prep schools, colleges and universities.
He sat out last season, hoping that his unjust visa troubles would get resolved. But until Kong can break through the bureaucratic obstacles keeping him from his dream of playing at a major U.S. school, he’ll remain close to home at Douglas College, keeping in shape and staying sharp.
by Garth McLennanThe Other Press
(Douglas College)
Sign of things to come for CIS?
by Tony von Richter
View From the Sidelines
Welcome back to campus and the first edition of The Brunswickan for the new term. Now as you may have seen elsewhere in this section the big news coming out of the normally quiet Christmas break is former Varsity Reds forward Daryl Boyce signing a contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
After scoring 65 points (29 goals, 36 assists) in 53 games for the V-Reds, Boyce is tearing up the American Hock-ey League this season netting 22 points (six goals, 16 assists) in 34 games for the second-place Toronto Marlies.
Because of Boyce's excellent play there have been rumours suggesting that he may get a late season call-up to the Maple Leafs, and by signing a contract with the big club it appears to be just a matter of time before Boyce gets his shot in the National Hockey League.
Of course this new contract is excel-lent news for the Summerside, PEI native, however it could also be positive news for Canadian Interuniversity Sport as Boyce could bring a new focus to the CIS and its players.
Traditionally, very little attention is given to the CIS by NHL general man-agers: the most notable CIS alumnus to play in the NHL in recent years being Steve Rucchin, who has played in 735 games scoring 489 points, with the Anaheim Ducks, New York Rangers, and Atlanta Thrashers. While Rucchin isn’t a superstar he has had a more than successful career and was a strong two-way centre
Now if a valuable asset like Steve Ruc-chin can come out of the CIS, why not more players?
Obviously NHL GMs aren't stupid (although Anders Eriksson was a first
round pick and Joe Thornton was effec-tively traded for Brad Stuart and a bag of pucks so it's clear they're not geniuses either), but I think they are missing out on a huge talent pool by ignoring Canadian university hockey.
Despite the fact that not much atten-tion is paid to it, CIS hockey is some of the best in the nation and is filled with great players, particularly here in the AUS, which is widely regarded as the toughest university league in the country and the quality of play is improving by the year. Gone are the days of the local boy graduating from the high school or midget team to the university squad as more and more players are coming from all over the country once their CHL eligibility has expired. In fact the vast majority of the current Varsity Reds roster played in the CHL prior to com-ing to UNB.
However, if Daryl Boyce and other
CIS alumni (like former V-Red Colin Sinclair who is currently playing with the Idaho Steelheads in the ECHL) are successful and with the influx of 'rec-ognizable' names from the CHL, with any luck more NHL GMs will look at the CIS for players who fell through the cracks or were simply late bloomers and after a few more years of experience have elevated their game to the next level.
Most of this isn't likely anytime soon, of course, no matter how successful Boyce becomes, as the rate of change for NHL teams and their practices is about as fast as Jason Allison. But maybe Boyce can open a few eyes around the league and get some organizations to reexamine their scouting practices.
Hopefully Daryl Boyce is about to embark upon a long and successful NHL career that will benefit not only himself and my beloved Leafs, but also the entirety of the CIS as well.
File Photo
The CIS has long been an uptapped source of potential NHL talent.
Sports16 • January 9, 2008 • Issue 14
airin’ it out
The Saint John Sea Dogs were ringing in 2008 in style, but the St. John’s Fog Devils certainly crashed the party. The Sea Dogs were in Newfoundland over the weekend, where they dropped con-secutive games in regulation time for the first time this season. After winning 4-1 on Thursday against the Fog Devils, the St. John’s club downed the Sea Dogs 3-2 on Saturday and 61- on Sunday.
Despite the losses, Saint John has been on a roll since Christmas. They have recorded wins over the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, the Lewiston Maineiacs, and the Moncton Wildcats, propelling the team to first overall in the QMJHL Eastern Division.
The solid play has found the Sea
Dogs in uncharted territory. When the Canadian Hockey League released their latest Mosaik MasterCard Top 10 Rankings for Week #14 of the 2007-08 season, the Saint John Sea Dogs, for the first time in franchise history, found their name on the prestigious list. The Sea Dogs are in tenth place on the list, joined by other QMJHL teams the Gatineau Olympiques (sixth) and the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (seventh). The weekly rankings of the Canadian Hockey League¹s Top 10 are selected by a panel of National Hockey League scouts.
Sea Dogs forward Alexander Picard-Hooper, acquired in a trade with the Drummondville Voltigeurs earlier this season, was named the QMJHL of-fensive player of the week for the final week of December.
In three games that week, Picard-Hooper scored four goals on fourteen shots, and added seven assists for a total of eleven points – leading his team
to three consecutive wins. During that stretch, he compiled a +6 rating and participated in eleven of the nineteen goals his team scored (58%). He enjoyed his best game of the week on Friday night versus the Acadie-Bathurst Titan as he registered a new team record with six points (1 goal, 5 assists) in a 9-2 vic-tory. The next day, in a 6-4 win against Lewiston, he added four points to his record with a performance of two goals and two assists. The Montreal native has 40 points in 30 games played since the beginning of the season.
Sea Dogs forward Chris DiDo-menico, meanwhile, has taken over the league lead in scoring. DiDomenico, a sixth round draft choice of the Toronto Maple Leafs, has 63 points (29 goals, 34 assists) in 41 goals this year.
With the Newfoundland road trip finished, the Sea Dogs return to action at Harbour Station on Wednesday, January 9 at 7pm against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.
Sea Dogs crack CHL top ten by Brian Munn
Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan
College Hill was closer and cheaper than Crabbe Mountain for snowboarders after Fredericton received record amounts of snow over the Christmas break. Crabbe Mountain has several events coming up in January, including a Rail Jam Competition on January 19th, and the Mt. Everest Ski and Snowboard Challenge on January 27th.
Hip hop, who knew?
With each New Year comes the pressure of making brand new resolutions in-tended to last the entire year. Sadly, most of us never stay true to these promises and stray away from them even before March break hits.
From my experience as a regular gym user, I think it is a safe assumption that nearly half of the university student population makes getting in shape and going to the gym their New Year’s resolution.
Women, more often than men, are suckers for those crazy, over the top, ridiculous jazz-ercises and fancy yoga things that are out there. Maybe it is for the fact that a healthy lifestyle and consistent exercising significantly reduces the risk of many diseases in women. So these new and fun exercises are more appealing to women who feel uncomfortable at a co-ed gym.
The best thing about these classes is that you don’t have to know anything about it before going in. You can even get by without knowing how to use any equipment properly. So it is perfect for everyone who wants to get in shape but has no clue what types of exercises to do at the gym.
I have even become a slave to these intriguing workouts. I’m a Pilates nut and I’ve tried everything from yoga, to body sculpting, to following the ‘Get a dancer’s butt in 10 days’ tips in Cosmopolitan magazines. I love to do new workout challenges so my friend and I decided to take one of these classes last semester, and it was the workout of my life.
Walking into the hip hop workout class I immediately took notice of our instructor. He wasn’t particularly tall, but he was peppy and full of enthusi-asm, which he used to motivate us. He had flavourful workout clothes and a microphone attached to his ear so we
could all hear him above the loud hip hop music.
He had us doing moves we had never thought of before, everything from squatting on an imaginary toilet to kicking our feet up in fits of joy. No, we didn’t look like dancers in a hip hop video on MTV, but we did look pretty ridiculous and that’s why it worked so well. I had no idea that hip hop could be so versatile. The truth is that by the end of the class I was completely exhausted, but I had never felt healthier.
These are the types of exercises that women need to involve themselves in. Most of the time, simply making a resolution to go to the gym is not going
to be enough motivation. It is extremely easy to slip when there is no one there pushing you along and encouraging you to keep it up.
So my suggestion to ladies – and even guys – everywhere would be to not simply resolve to go to the gym more in 2008, and to pretend that you know what you’re doing.
Rather, you should try to get in-volved in some type of crazy exercise that keeps your attention and motivates you to stay healthy and active for years to come. That way, you might be able to focus your 2009 resolutions on something other than staying fit and losing weight.
Internet
If your New Years resolution is going to see you hitting the gym, orga-nized classes could provide the motivation you need to stick with it.
