Uneven and patchy, back cam-pus field is an eyesore beside the Gothic and Romanesque architecture of Hart House and University College. And as any lacrosse or rugby player will tell you, playing on the bumpy field carries an even high risk of injury.

But maybe not for much lon-ger. Chosen as the site of the field hockey tournament of the Pan Am Games in 2014, back campus may soon undergo a much-needed makeover. The proposed renovation—still pending approval by U of T’s Governing Council and Budget Committee—consists of artifi-cial turfing, upgraded lighting,

landscaping, fencing, an irriga-tion system, and accommoda-tion for 3000 spectators. The cost of the renovation is esti-mated at $7.8m, to be split be-tween the government and the university.

Assitant Dean of Co-Curricu-lar Physical Activity and Sport Anita Cornella said the univer-sity had been pushing for the proposal to host the field hock-ey games at back campus. “The University supported that ven-ue in the bid and agreed to re-view the feasability of the field hockey venue on back campus,” she said.

The federal and provincial governments will foot 56 per-cent of the cost, while the Fac-ulty of Kinesiology and Physi-

cal Education will pay for the remainder. The renovation of back campus “would leave a tremendous legacy,” said Coren-ella.

Head Coach of U of T’s Men’s Varsity Lacrosse Team, Joe Nizich, sees the re-turfing of back campus field as long over-due. “The potential for injury under these [field] conditions is great,” he said. According to On-tario University Athletics stan-dards, the field is currently “not fit for play.”

Nevertheless, last season the rugby team held practices at back campus field four times per week. David Balcom, cap-tain of Men’s Varsity Rugby, ex-plained that the mud on back

For many Canadians, it is dif-ficult to believe that healthcare services are not available or ac-cessible to everyone. However, the people who walk through door of the IMAGINE clinic often have few other options when seeking basic care.

Originally conceived by MD-PHD student Sagar Dugani in 2007, the clinic’s name is an acronym for Interprofessional Medical and Allied Groups for Improving Neighbourhood Environments. Housed in the Queen West Community Health Centre (168 Bathurst Street), the clinic is open every Saturday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.. Everyone is welcome, and

patients do not need a health card or identification to be seen by the IMAGINE team. Impor-tantly, the health care services and medication provided to the patients are completely free of cost.

Co-director Enoch Ng ex-plained that inspiration for IMAGINE was twofold. “In par-ticular, the homeless popula-tion, and people who don’t have OHIP were falling between the cracks,” Ng explained. The ab-sence of community outreach programs that specifically ad-dressed the healthcare needs of marginalized populations prompted a team of medical stu-dents, led by Dagani, to put their heads together to create some-

The University of Toronto’s Independent Weekly Since 1978 VOL XXXIV Issue 16 • January 19, 2012the newspaper

Students run free walk-in clinicPatient-centred care for Toron-to’s marginalized populations

IMAGINE all the people . . . receiving free check-ups.

Back campus fields “not fit for play”

see page 3

Robby Müff

Talia Gordon

see page 3

The News:

Child soldiers: vic-

tims or criminals?.

Page 3

The Inside:Put that in your Keystone Pipeline and smoke it.Page 4

The Arts:Coriolanus“Go and be ruled.”Page 6

Pan Am Games provide much-need push for renovations to university fields

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the newspaper

the newspaper1 Spadina Crescent Suite 245Toronto, ON M5S 1A1

Editorial: 416-593-1552thenewspaper@gmail.comwww.thenewspaper.ca

the newspaper is published by Planet Publications Inc., a non-profit corporation.

All U of T community members, including students, staff and faculty, are encouraged to contribute to the newspaper.

Editor-in-ChiefCara Sabatini

News EditorGeoff Vendeville

Associate News EditorYukon Damov

Photo EditorBodi Bold

Associate Photo EditorNana Arbova

Web EditorAndrew Walt

Design EditorSamantha Chiusolo

Features EditorTalia Gordon

Arts EditorVanessa Purdy

ContributorsNana Arbova, Seowon Bang, Aberdeen Berry, Bodi Bold, Samantha Chiusolo, Dan Christensen, Elena Churilova, Yukon Damov, Talia Gordon, Kaneil Hamilton, Vanessa Purdy, Nick Ragetli, Tanya Robinson, David Stokes, An-drew Walt .

Board of Directors:

ChairmanSuzanna Balabuch

TreasurerHelene Goderis

the newspaper is the University of Toronto’s independent weekly paper, published since

1978.VOL XXXIV No. 16

2 January 19, 2012 THE NEWS

Master of Management& Professional AccountingMMPA

• Designed primarily for non-business undergraduates• For careers in Management, Finance and Accounting• Extremely high co-op and permanent placement

To learn more about the MMPA Program, attend our information session:

Thursday, January 26, 2012 11:00 am – 1:00 pmRoom WB 219, Wallberg Building, University of Toronto

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SATURDAY, 9:00 - 5:00For Appointments Call: 416-978-2431

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HART HOUSE HAIR PLACE

Robert Fowler, Canada’s long-est serving ambassador to the United Nations, was sent to Niger in 2008 as the Special Envoy to the Secretary Gen-eral, tasked with brokering a peace between the Niger gov-ernment and the Tuareg re-bels. But in his efforts to bring together two enemies, Fowler was being stalked by a third, one that was gunning exclu-sively for him.

Armed with AK-47s, a gang in a pick-up truck waylaid his SUV. In a moment, Fowler – along with his Canadian assis-tant Louis Guay, and his local driver – had been kidnapped by Al Qaeda thugs. What fol-lowed was 130 grueling days of bruising driving that alter-nated with periods of bare ex-istence spent camping in the Sahara. Robert Fowler related this terrifying experience with outward ease on Sunday, dur-ing a conversation with the editor of NOW Magazine held at the Drake Hotel.

Fowler’s account of being repeatedly filmed in a tent for propaganda videos and being asked to speak about Stock-holm syndrome was initially a little incongruous with the hipster milieu of the Drake. However, Fowler made clear his captors’ abhorrence of the liberties espoused by Western

society, and the telling of his tale in a bastion of that same liberalism added resonance to his words.

Fowler recounted with hor-ror that his lead captor told him that his perfect dream was to don a martyr’s vest and enter a meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission while they were discussing gender equal-ity (Al Qaeda has targeted the United Nations aggressively, destroying its headquarters in Iraq and Algeria). Even as such an account demonstrates the seemingly impassable violence of radicalized Islam, Fowler said how “ashamed” he was when – trotted out to join his captors for “TV nights” (collective viewings of propa-ganda DVDs thanks to a laptop placed on a vehicle hood)– he saw images of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib onscreen.

Juxtaposed with his own situation, these brutalities committed by Western pow-ers revealed that his captors had treated him relatively well, and indeed led credence to their belief that they had the moral high ground. Fowler added that the recent video of U.S. soldiers defiling Afghan corpses would surely become a fixture of these mujahedeen pump-up sessions.

One of the most striking as-pects of Fowler’s story is the odd predicament of a seasoned

geopolitical analyst (and for-mer Deputy Minister of Na-tional Defence) becoming himself the center of the situ-ation. Completely powerless, both he and Guay continued to run through every possible scenario. Fowler credited his time as an Ottawa bureaucrat for influencing his and Guay’s ability to set routines and rules for themselves that made their captivity tolerable (such as 5 a.m. walks, and not allowing each other to share any pessi-mism after lunch).

Ultimately, Fowler, Guay and their driver were released, though the circumstances of this remain deeply mysteri-ous and even disquieting, as it testifies to hidden diplomatic maneuverings. In response to questions from the audience, Fowler recognized the possi-bility that clandestine prisoner exchanges, increased foreign aid funding, and the paying of a ransom could have played a factor in his freedom.

However, now completely re-tired from government, Fowler remarked that he had decided not to press too deeply into the circumstances of his freedom. While he remains largely in the dark regarding who and what caused his release, Fowl-er said that his memories will often turn at random moments in the day to the blinding light of the desert.

David Stokes

Diplomat relays story of captivity to Drake audienceUN Ambassador Robert Fowler recounts experience as Al Qaeda hostage

www.thenewspaper.ca 3 THE NEWS

Student study depicts child soldiers as victims and criminalsUndergrads take their research to the United Nations

thing better. The growing emphasis in the

healthcare sector on interpro-fessionalism also influenced the creation of the clinic. “In the future, healthcare won’t just be provided by physicians, but by whole teams, including doctors, nurses, social workers, pharma-cists, physiotherapists, and the list goes on.” Ng said. Although there had been much talk of in-terprofessionalism across and within these disciplines, many University of Toronto students found that there were not many opportunities to gain first-hand practical experience in a team setting.

Each week, the IMAGINE team is comprised of one medi-cal student, one nursing stu-dent, one pharmacy student and one social work student. All the students work on an unpaid vol-unteer basis. The students are supervised by preceptors from each of their fields, and work as a team to conduct assessments and design courses of treatment for the patients they see.

IMAGINE’s other co-director Yick Kan Cheung, explained, “It’s kind of like any walk-in clinic at first; when you come in, we ask what’s wrong, and try to figure out to help address that one complaint. But upon inves-tigation we’ll ask, ‘Why do you have a cold?’ and find out that the answer is, ‘Oh I live on the street.’” The social determinants of health thus play an important role in evaluating a patient’s healthcare needs.

According to Cheung, that’s

the beauty of an interprofes-sional team. “We can utilize all the different aspects of the team; it’s really holistic care that we’re trying to provide. So we do treat the cold, the medical aspect, but we also treat the social aspect by asking things like, ‘What else is going on in your life?’”

“The people that we see com-ing into our clinics are not just people who are on the street,” said Ng. “Other people who come in are refugees, people who are getting ready to claim refugee status or recent immi-grants.” He noted that some-times people will bring fam-ily members visiting from other countries who don’t have insur-ance here, or at home. Cheung added, “We see a lot of families in general. Usually the fam-ily will bring one person in, but upon further probing, we find other ways that we can help the whole family.”

As the clinic is open on Satur-days, people who work during the week have the opportunity to seek care without compro-mising their job security. Be-cause the students are able to prescribe and hand out certain medications (with the excep-tion of narcotics and benzodi-azepines), a visit to IMAGINE can often bridge the gap be-tween visits to other clinics--or between payments for much-needed prescriptions.

When a patient comes in, the initial interview may be conducted by any combina-tion of students from the four disciplines. “The benefits are that there are so many different perspectives that are brought to

the care of any client that comes in,” said Ng. He elaborated, “We won’t get stuck just thinking from a medical or pathologi-cal perspective. “With a social worker present we can think about social determinants of health like housing and food security, and with a pharma-cist around it’s helpful to think about drug interactions, espe-cially how we could change the drugs we prescribe so that they can be covered under ODSP [Ontario Disability Support Pro-gram].”

One of the most important aspects of the interprofessional healthcare experience is the idea of viewing the patient as part of the team. In addition to the pro-vision of medical treatment and social support, the clinic aims to empower the patient, involving them in decisions about their own care.

Another important goal is to make sure that people in need know about IMAGINE. “Right now we’re trying to find out how we can better access the population,” said Cheung. “We find that it’s a lot of word of mouth. Often, clients won’t go somewhere unless someone they trust tells them, ‘Hey, go here. They can help you.’”

IMAGINE was designed to meet what students identified as a healthcare gap, and to provide an invaluable opportunity for hands-on education. “It really takes a village to raise a child . . . [and] people are people, regard-less of their status,” commented Cheung. Through its ethos and design, the IMAGINE clinic of-fers a thorough, well-rounded

and compassionate healthcare experience to everyone who walks through the door.

from “Image clinic”

Published in 2007, Ishmael Be-ah’s Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier shocked readers worldwide. Beah’s autobiogra-phy tells the story of his teenage years as a child soldier in--and victim of--Sierra Leone’s bloody civil war. However, his memoirs do not convey the plight of fam-ilies whose villages have been devastated by child soldiers such as Beah.

University of Toronto under-graduates in the Peace and Con-flict Studies program, Salvator Cusimano and Sami Atri, spent over three months in Uganda researching the social repercus-sions of recruiting child soldiers. According to Cusimano and Atri’s report, an independent study funded by Victoria Col-lege, “Children are not the sole victims of such interstate/tribal conflicts. They may be victims but they are also victimizers.”

He and Atri hope their report

will draw further attention to the problem of child soldiery in developing countries. Their re-search focuses on two subjects: how displaced families cope with having their livelihoods destroyed; and, how they can re-build their community after an attack.

Cusimano said his and Atri’s approach based on locals’ ac-counts will help improve gov-ernment policies. The two Peace and Conflict Studies stu-dents are trying to jumpstart the policy-making process by presenting their research to the United Nations.“They (the gov-ernment) owe it to the people of Uganda to transform these findings into concrete policy ap-proaches,” Cusimo said.

Cusimano welcomes the steps taken by international NGOs to recognize the terrible challenges faced by communities ravaged by child soldiers. Cusimano ex-plained, “[NGOs] have departed from an earlier approach of pro-

viding individualized social sup-port to child soldiers to ensuring that communities receive long-term medical and financial sup-port.”

Cusimano was drawn to this independent study project out of his “passion for humanitarian affairs.” He and Atri recognized the dearth of available informa-tion on child soldiers, which prohibits victimized communi-ties in Uganda and elsewhere from effectively articulating their concerns to their local gov-ernment.

Although international orga-nizations have conducted stud-ies on child soldiers in Africa, these studies are “ineffective since they do not adequately reflect the perspective of the locals,” according to Cusimano and Atri. They added that locals are not provided with the results of the studies, which means that communities cannot rally their limited resources and press local authorities to take action.

Kaneil Hamilton

Since July 2011, Unit 1 Mem-bers of Canada Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 3902 have been engaged in what has become a prolonged and arduous bargaining process with the University of Toronto Administration. In November, CUPE 3902 called a strike vote, with a historic outcome of 91 per cent members in support of a strike, should the Admin-istration continue their refusal to address key issues. On De-cember 9, the Administration walked away from the bargain-ing table and filed for “con-ciliation,” signaling the next step in a move towards a le-gal strike or lockout for CUPE 3902 members.

CUPE 3902 is the trade un-ion representing teaching as-sistants, lab demonstrators and other contract academic staff at the University of To-ronto. Members have been ne-gotiating a new contract with the Administration aimed at solving a number of problems identified by the Union. These problems include inadequate funding packages for TAs, poor allocation of fellowship mon-ey, and the growing size of un-dergraduate tutorials and labs.

By filing for “conciliation” the Administration has re-quested a conciliator, or me-diator, from the Ontario Min-istry of Labour be present at the bargaining table to help the parties reach a collective agreement. After one day of conciliatory negotiations,

a compromise has yet to be reached; however, three more days of moderated bargaining are scheduled before the end of January.

In the event that the Ad-ministration calls for a lock-out, or CUPE 3902 calls for a strike, there is a 17-day period immediately following, dur-ing which the two parties can try once more to reconcile be-fore taking action. Members of CUPE are hopeful that an agreement will be reached be-fore a lockout or strike is set in motion.

At Wednesday’s town hall information meeting for un-dergraduate students, CUPE 3902 Internal Liaison Officer Katie Mazer emphasized that although the bargaining pro-cess has reached this stage, students should not be imme-diately alarmed. “We’re trying to be creative and keep coming up with new iterations of our proposals,” she explained.

With that in mind, mem-bers of CUPE 3902—particu-larly TAs—have appealed to the undergraduate student body to show their support as the bargaining continues. The graduate students who led the meeting expressed the im-portance of keeping informed and informing others. “The name of ‘the undergrad’ is in-voked constantly,” said Adleen Crapo, CUPE 3902 Undergrad-uate Outreach Coordinator. By showing support for TAs and other CUPE members, ‘the un-dergrad’ can powerfully raise its voice.

campus makes for “sloppier” training sessions. “Rugby is a contact sport and injuries will happen, however, it is important for athletes to be able to control how their bodies move, both for performance and safety. The conditions of the field certainly do make body control more dif-ficult,” Balcom said.

Lacrosse coach Nizich re-

marked that U of T is lagging be-hind other universities when it comes to the quality of its fields. “For all its size and three cam-puses, U of T only has one turfed field (Varsity Centre), and there is great demand to use it. Other schools have multiple turfed fields.”

The Governing Council Plan-ning and Budget Committee is set to vote on the renovation of back campus soon.

from “campus fields”

TAs appeal to under-grads for support in bargaining process CUPE 3902 moves into “conciliation” phase of negotiations with U of T AdministrationTalia Gordon

Visit thenewspaper.ca for this week’s

Dear Suzie advice column

4 January 19, 2012 THE INSIDE

Crude oil dispute: rethinking the Keystone XLBe it resolved that the keystone XL Pipeline will prove beneficial for North America

When President Obama re-jected the pipeline proposal, he clarified that his decision was not based on the merits of the proposal alone. After he de-layed the decision in Novem-ber, a ploy by Congressional Republicans rushed him to de-cide, and the State Department to assess a newly proposed route, in 60 days. Unable to properly conduct such a pro-cess, the Department recom-mended he reject the proposal. “Those pesky Republicans,” he might have muttered. His de-cision does not preclude the proposal from eventually be-ing realized and TransCanada has already re-applied for a

permit. When the President reconsiders, he will realize that to cancel the project al-together would be a mistake.

In crude but crucial terms, Canada the Petro State, and America the Oil-Hungry Neighbour, make a perfect fit. According to the U.S. En-ergy Information Adminis-tration (EIA), Canada’s oil production greatly outstrips its consumption while the U.S. has the reverse situation. As long as this is the case, the U.S. should safely and securely import as much as they need from its neighbour.

In the U.S., thousands of jobs will be created in an economy desperate for them. Trans-

Canada, responding to initial skepticism about the actual number to be generated, has released a report detailing that a close approximate is 20,000 jobs. Thirteen-thousand work-ers will be needed to construct the pipeline and 7,000 will manufacture the materials.

There are various environ-mental arguments against the pipeline, but there is nothing to suggest this pipeline would be anything but routine. In yesterday’s application, Tran-sCanada responded to the biggest environmental obsta-cle--the one that caused the outcry which initially stalled the process--by re-routing the pipeline around an ecological-

ly sensitive area in Nebraska.While promoting Canada as

an energy superpower, Minis-ter of Natural Resources miti-gated concerns about the ef-fect of the source of Keystone’s oil, the Tar Sands, in a speech made Monday at Hart House. “Today, the oil sands account for one-10th of 1 per cent — that is one, one-thousandth — of total global greenhouse gas emissions,” he said. Envi-ronmentalists will dispute the interpretation of those num-bers, but the Tar Sands are be-side the point here. Pipeline or no pipeline, Canadian oil will continue to be exported; if not to the US, then to Asia.

^PRO

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Proponents of the Keystone pipeline commonly cite the financial benefit as its main, if not only, advantage. I admit

that the jobs created by the oil industry are generally well paying and put billions into federal coffers. But while creat-ing jobs and reducing debt is indeed a powerful argument, here’s why I’m not buying it and why you shouldn’t either.

Supported by the federal government, oil companies paid for representatives to mis-lead members of the public with the argument that there’s an urgent demand for the jobs created by that industry. The government and the oil lobby have millions of dollars worth

of advertising campaigns that fill people’s heads with non-sense about what opponents to the pipeline are saying. For every Sierra Club press release, there are a hundred from in-dustry funded propaganda outlets and self-righteous conservative media puppets.

The fact is that the oil indus-try includes the largest and most profitable companies on the planet, and yet receive mil-lions every year in “subsidies,” which should really be called “corporate welfare.” Why do we hand our minimum wage

paychecks to those that already are the richest, most powerful people in the world? Between subsidies to oil and the dou-ble standard that favors the oil industry while putting other energy possibilities at a dis-advantage, it’s no wonder oil looks like such a good choice.

So what are our choices, then? Not to create jobs in oil, but rather to create jobs in alternative industries. Re-newable energy and energy efficiency can and will replace oil as soon as corrupt politi-cians and self-interested cor-

porate titans stop doing every-thing in their power to stop it.

A good place to start is to in-vest in alternatives, seriously and with conviction; not just for the benefit of the environ-ment, but for the benefit of our own future. What good are oil jobs when Canada has put all its eggs in the oil bas-ket and its value drops due to replacements, or the price be-comes too high to be used as the main source of fuel and energy? Don’t buy a fish, Can-ada; pick up a rod and learn to invest in your own future.

Daryn Caister

Yukon Damov

Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama

refused to either immediately approve

construction of the Keystone XL pipeline or

explain why it was not in the interest of the

United States. While the Canadian portion has

already been approved, there are various claims

for and against the proposed infrastructure

to transport crude oil from Canada to Texas.

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www.thenewspaper.ca 5 THE INSIDE

CIUT radio station turns 25Time to start acting like responsible adults^^

Rob Ford: The Opera

As far as larger than life charac-ters in a melodramatic musical mockery go, is there any con-tender more perfect than Rob Ford? With all the controversy and comedy since his election in 2010, there is no shortage of stories. The antics of the city’s chief prima donna have been screaming for a send up, with so-cial gaffes and cases of mistaken identities like something out of a soap opera. Now take just that last word, and voila! Rob Ford: The Opera. It’s real. And it’s all thanks to Starbucks.

That is where Michael Patrick Albano was one afternoon this summer when the inspiration hit him. The stage director of the University of Toronto Faculty of Music Opera training program, Albano was working on an ad-aptation of Antigone at the time, but could not help but overhear a common thread in the sur-rounding conversations. “All around me, everybody is talking about Rob Ford. Everybody,” he

said with a grin. “I just thought to myself, I think I’m miss-ing the boat here. This course, which is supposed to drag op-era—kicking and screaming by it’s heels, perhaps—into the 21st century, we should perhaps be doing something a bit more topical,” he said. And Rob Ford: The Opera, was born.

Albano was not alone in the effort to combine an often inac-cessible medium with Toronto’s most-talked about citizen; he worked with Masters and PhD student composers at the Uni-versity to write the production. Despite having written most of the piece months ago, Albano noted, “It’s amazing that the ba-sic issues [sic] which I tackled when I first wrote the piece in the summer are still very much valid, even more visible than perhaps they were.”

Audience members expecting an opera as over dramatic, over sized and offensive as its lead character—visions of Ford in a traditional Valkyrie costume immediately come to mind—

are not catered to. “I realize that Mr. Ford is quite unpopular with many Torontonians, but I wasn’t interested at all in trashing him; that’s not very theatrically inter-esting,” said Albano.

Instead, he aimed to take on a more surreal tone. “I’ve always been a huge fan of theatre of the absurd; and that sort of ap-proach has never really found its way into opera,” he contin-ued, and referenced a dream se-quence scene in which Magaret Atwood may or may not be God. “When you take the parameters that far, then you have a tremen-dous opportunity for more the-atrical richness and humour...One always wants to avoid what Aaron Sorkin called ‘eat your vegetables’ writing; that never works in theatre—theatre is still a place of irreverence,” Albano observed.

While it seems unlikely that the mayor will add the name-sake performance to his reper-toire of appearances, Albano remains optimistic. “I think it would be a tremendous gesture

of goodwill...I think his presence would be very much appreci-ated and I think he might enjoy the piece,” he said. Equally ex-citing—or perhaps more so—is the rumour that Atwood will be

in attendance.

Rob Ford: The Opera is Sunday, January 22nd at 2:30pm. Macmil-lan Theatre in the Edward Johnson Building. Free admission.

Vanessa Purdy

Hart House opened its doors on Sunday to celebrate the 25 years that University of Toronto Ra-dio has been broadcasting on the FM dial. Since January 15, 1987, CIUT 89.5 FM has been known throughout the city as a distinguished alternative radio station with leading edge music and sharp broadcasters. About 300 of the station’s staff, volun-teers, alumni and listeners at-tended the anniversary celebra-tion. Dynamic performances by Donné Roberts, the Canadian Space Opera Company and oth-ers brought added excitement to the festivities.

University of Toronto radio first emerged onto the airwaves in the mid 1960s, when a group of students founded “Radio Var-sity.” While they started out broadcasting only on campus, the station eventually expanded to FM, which allowed for less interference from neighbouring stations, and officially became CIUT 89.5 FM. Since then, the station has been showcasing non-commercial music, alterna-tive culture and groundbreak-

ing spoken-word programming to the U of T community, Toron-to and beyond.

Ken Stowar, Program Direc-tor, started as a volunteer at the radio station in 1988 and has observed the evolution of CIUT 89.5 FM over the years. “The sta-tion never stays still; it is con-stantly evolving and changing,” he said. “What distinguishes CIUT is balance, presentation and volunteers,” he added.

Stowar stressed the invalu-able efforts of the station’s vol-unteer community, 40 per cent of whom are students. “You are undoubtedly working with the most creative and passionate people from whom you can ex-pect nothing else than a radio that differs,” he said.

One of those individuals is University of Toronto alumnus Jerry Lee Miller. Of his fourteen years at CIUT, Miller said, “I laughed, I cried, I did radio.” His journey into broadcasting began while working at an automobile protection association in the 80s, where he was inspired to develop a show to help students operate cars. Later, his show took on a more environmental

tone. “The beauty of broadcast-ing is that you can be there be-fore anyone else . . . Often, peo-ple remember things you say at the radio long after, it will come back to them when they hear someone else say something similar,” he said.

With the ease of online com-

munication, the important role of listeners has become even more evident. Stowar is happy to see the care put into shows, which are all broadcast out of Hart House, reflected in the re-action of listeners. Recalling a particular email, Stowar related, “One listener said that he had

to pull the car on the side of the road to finish listening to our program. This type of impact cannot be achieved while listen-ing to a mainstream station.”

CIUT streams live online and offers podcasts of some broad-casts. Perhaps the ease of access has also increased the obliga-tion for quality programming, since every person who tunes in holds each broadcaster account-able. “Broadcasting makes you more self-aware,” said Miller. “It made me more considerate and more reflective. People listen to what you have to say—you are taking time out of their life, and you have to take responsibility for that,” he added.

After 25 years, keeping things fresh might appear as a daunt-ing task, but CIUT has no plans to slow down. As people in at-tendance at the party would ob-serve, the station is constantly looking toward the future, de-spite being a somewhat vintage medium of communication.

If you are interested to know more or to get involved at the radio sta-tion, visit ciut.fm.

Elena Churilova

Sunday, U of T Hart House. Station members and listeners wish CIUT a happy 25th !

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It’s hard to hide 300 pounds of funStage director of U of T Opera training program makes city mayor surreal

6 January 19, 2012

Unframed honesty: Rodrigo Echeverria Noriega at Oz Studios

THE ARTS

Oz Studios is an inconspicu-ous, small gallery space on Os-sington Avenue. This quaint little space is just enough to host the solo show by Mexican artist Rodrigo Echeverria No-riega. Conservative Honours, the artist’s Canadian debut, uses a variety of mediums to depict a village that draws from image-

ry of the artist’s native country. Upon entering the gallery,

you will notice Noriega’s clev-er touches all over the place—from the walls to floors to win-dows—engaging the whole space for a total, aesthetic experience. I was particularly delighted by a red stripe that runs along the walls of the gal-lery. “I’ve installed a red bulb at the entrance,” Noriega hap-

pily explained, “so that when people walk in, they have red on their minds. Then they see the red stripe and they uncon-sciously recognize it, and feel welcome.”

Noriega’s earthy paintings depict traditional Mexican im-agery of figures and landscapes.Yet, the close embrace of a man and a woman in Redemption is evocative of Klimt’s Kiss (1907-08), and Reclining Woman seems to be in keeping with the long tradition of the reclin-ing nude that goes all the way back to Giorgione.

When I observed that some of his paintings evoke refer-ences from art history, No-riega nodded thoughtfully. Although he didn’t necessarily create his paintings based on those works, he does acknowl-edge the influence. “I value the tradition in art history and learn from the Masters. They’re the ones who got it right, you know? I take the tra-dition, and make something of

my own, something modern and avant-garde,” he said.

Even as his paintings invite nostalgia and contemplation, Noriega does not forgo his creative gestures. In between the paintings are bright or-ange pipes containing flow-ers. While they seem wonder-fully quirky, Noriega said these flowers are for honouring the paintings, one adjacent to the other. Or, they could also be referencing the notorious Pi-ranha Plant as seen in Mario games. “In that case, they’d take on a much more danger-ous role,” added Noriega with a grin.

Noriega likes to experiment, as evident in the exhibit. “My primary focus is always paint-ing, first and foremost,” he de-clared; but his art is undoubt-edly informed by his forays into different mediums. The mediums he experiments with are not the end game, but a means to an end—which al-ways comes back to painting.

Loyal to his work, Noriega intends the paintings to be seen with “unframed hon-esty.” Instead of frames, the canvases are visually enclosed by strips of yellow he painted on the wall. He prefers that the paintings interact freely with the surface of the wall, and that the viewers experi-ence the works in their bare form. “I don’t want my paint-ings to pretend,” explained No-riega. “I don’t want them hid-ing behind a fancy frame, or big stuffy conceptualism. My paintings are honest.”

And that is precisely what I really liked about Conservative Honours. Noriega’s paintings are delightfully down-to-earth, and exude warmth. They are a welcome relief from the Janu-ary blues.

Rodrigo Echeverria Noriega’s Conservative Honours is on view at Oz Studios (134 Ossington Avenue) until 23 January.

Seowon Bang

Installation view of Rodrigo Echeverria Noriega: Conservative Honours at Oz Studios, 2012. Courtesy of the artist.

Artist’s Canadian debut does not hide behind “big stuffy conceputalism”

Film adaptations of Shake-speare have become a catego-ry unto themselves. His plays have been brought to the screen over 400 times in film’s short history. Sure, he may be the greatest writer in the English language, but it’s still tough to keep his stuff fresh.

So director/star Ralph Fi-ennes (a.k.a. Lord Voldemort) does himself a favour by se-lecting one of the Bard’s lesser known tragedies, Coriolanus. It is not surprising that many are unfamiliar with the title as part of Shakespeare’s oeuvre. And from the trailer alone one wouldn’t realize it was the Bard’s work at all.

Fiennes camouflages the true story, which took place in the fifth century BC, in a mod-ern-day setting. Caius Martius (Fiennes) is a Roman general, widely noted for his tactical military genius and bravery, as

well as for his contempt of the Roman citizens.

He succeeds in a bloody campaign against the neigh-bouring hostile Volscians, in-cluding a fierce one-on-one en-counter with Aufidius (Gerard Butler), leader of the Volscians and Martius’ sworn enemy. Upon his welcome return, Martius’ mother (Vanessa Red-grave) convinces him to run for consul, the highest Roman political office, against his best judgement.

However, two officials wor-ried about Martius’ agenda (now honourably named Coriolanus by the senate) or-chestrate popular suspicion and outcry against him. The irascible Martius is publicly spurred into a pseudo-fascist tirade against the weakness and stupidity of the common man, and he is subsequently expelled from Rome.

The military and political

contexts of Coriolanus (sadly) make the blend of ancient and contemporary time periods as seamless as possible. Fiennes need not pull a Baz Luhmann (re “Romeo + Juliet”) and mask any temporal incongruities with a flashy and overdramat-ic directorial style.

Fiennes’ update is quite un-pretentious, and allows the timelessness of the story to do all of the work. Clearly, fidel-ity to the spirit of the original text was a priority in the film’s conception.

Fiennes is doubtlessly a Shakespeare fanatic, having acted in no less than fourteen major stage productions of his work—this past fall he finished a well-publicized run in London as Prospero in The Tempest. As such, it comes as no surprise that his cast’s pow-erful abilities to ignite words of the Bard were the film’s greatest highlight. This is un-

questionably an actors’ piece.Stalwarts Vanessa Redgrave

and Brian Cox (as Menenius, a senator allied to Martius) are in top form. Along with the electrifying Fiennes, they help us through points where the long-winded nature of the characters in Shakespeare’s original is less amenable to screen adaptation.

The style of language will always be a barrier in making Shakespeare modernizations feel natural and comfortable to today’s audiences. Howev-er, submitting yourself to the beauty of each linguistic turn can only pay dividends. And Fiennes’ Coriolanus makes it a definitive pleasure to do so.

www.thenewspaper.ca 7 THE ARTS

Across

1. Needles and storms have these5. Gentle throw9. Paint graffiti artists favour14. Wander15. Devilish man16. Wipe out17. Type of transmission

19. One fewer than 70 across20. Lock openers21. Enjoy a 45 across23. Language of ancient Romans26. New York opera company27. Immerse in water31. Age after bronze32. Harbours

34. Cab35. Antarctica’s emperors37. Requested38. Employ 1 across39. Waste receptacle41. Trio45. Two wheeled men-aces50. Lug along51. Discrete comment, in drama

53. Status54. Rim55. Journey division56. Donkey Kong’s side-kick57. Masticate59. Eject; give the ___61. Sample a flavour64. Not fraternal (as twins)69. Playful aquatic crea-ture70. Divine number 71. Pet bird’s abode72. Garden pests73. Obtains74. Name for a dalmatian

Down

1. Epoch2. Second person pro-noun3. Dine4. On fire5. Food conveyance6. Cereal grains7. Snowboard alternative8. Mystery9. Position in a competi-tion10. Church leaders11. Old bit of cloth12. ___ Wednesday (first day of Lent)13. Still18. Adult males22. Common contraction23. Sass24. We exist; we ___25. Great weight, to an American26. Married woman’s title

28. Acorn producing tree29. Chopping tool30. Young goat32. Dessert option33. The loneliest number36. Application37. None in particular39. Auction wager40. Frozen water41. Definite article42. Be fooled (I’ve been ___)43. Floor covering 44. Formally chosen 45. Large46. Siskel and Ebert47. Young boy48. Conclusion

49. Light shade of blue51. Pub purchase52. Patching, with needle and thread56. Speck58. Matching; his and ___59. Crooked60. Singles61. Another word for 50 across62. Consumed63. Sault ___. Marie65. Be killed66. Baseball hat67. Ontario museum68. Tennis foul

The Crossword

49

87

6

5

31

21

1

9

99

2

22

22

9

4

7 8

6

8

4 8

4

6

685

6

5

1

The SudokuAndrew Walt

42 43 44 41 45 46 47 48 49

50 51 52 53

54

58 57

56 55

59 60

61 62 63

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16

17 18 19

20 21 22

26 30

31

36 37

38 39 40

32 33 34

35

23 27 28 29 24 25

68 64

72

65 67

70 69

73

66

74

71

For once Coriolanus draws in the common citizens“Go and be ruled”Advice given to the title character ought to be heeded by any skeptical movie-goersDan Christensen

“Wingardium Leviosa!”

8 January 19, 2012