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photographersolivia masontenielle bogdan

contributors this weekrobyn tocker iryn tushabe rikkeal bohmann colton hordichuk paige kreutzwieser kris kleinethan stein britton gray

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The Carillon welcomes contributions to its pages.Correspondence can be mailed, e-mailed, or dropped off inperson. Please include your name, address and telephonenumber on all letters to the editor. Only the author’s name,title/position (if applicable) and city will be published.Names may be withheld upon request at the discretion ofthe Carillon. Letters should be no more then 350 words andmay be edited for space, clarity, accuracy and vulgarity.The Carillon is a wholly autonomous organization with noaffiliation with the University of Regina Students’ Union.Opinions expressed in the pages of the Carillon are expresslythose of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of theCarillon Newspaper Inc. Opinions expressed in advertise-ments appearing in the Carillon are those of the advertisersand not necessarily of The Carillon Newspaper Inc. or itsstaff.

The Carillon is published no less than 11 times each se-mester during the fall and winter semesters and periodicallythroughout the summer. The Carillon is published by TheCarillon Newspaper Inc., a non–profit corporation.

cover

Let her shine. 7

the staff

In keeping with our reckless, devil-may-care image, our of-fice has absolutely no concrete information on the Carillon’sformative years readily available. What follows is the storythat’s been passed down from editor to editor for over fortyyears.

In the late 1950s, the University of Regina planned the con-struction of several new buildings on the campus grounds.One of these proposed buildings was a bell tower on the aca-demic green. If you look out on the academic green today,the first thing you’ll notice is that it has absolutely nothingresembling a bell tower.

The University never got a bell tower, but what it did getwas the Carillon, a newspaper that serves as a symbolic belltower on campus, a loud and clear voice belonging to eachand every student.

Illegitimi non carborundum.

the manifesto

THE CARILLON BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dietrich Neu, Kent Peterson, Edward Dodd, EdKapp, Tim Jones, Madeline Kotzer, Anna Weber

the paper

arts & culture

The Indigenous peoples ofCanada are demanding that theCanadian government listens totheir voices. What began as amovement in November 2012 isgaining momentum, calling oneveryone to support Indigenousrights to land, water, and life.In other news, this week TheCarillon is going to theCanadian University PressNash75 conference, to do jour-nalism-y things and be moreawesome. Like we need it.

How’s my Hairdu? 8

photosnews Robin Schlahta&c Matt Duguidsports Emily Wright

op-ed rabble.cacover Robin Schlaht

Jan. 10 - 23, 2013 | Volume 55, Issue 16 | carillonregina.com

sports

Unlocked. 15

op-ed

Racist no more. 17

In an effort to change the me-dia’s perception, Noor Tagourihas set a goal to be the firstMuslim hijab-wearing womantelevision anchor in America.Tagouri talked to the Carillonabout her dream.

Hockey is back everyone.Some annoying people areprobably whining about howit never left, but true fansknow the good kind has beengone for 113 days. Eventhough I have the NHL again,my New Year’s resolution isstill to get Gary Bettman fired.

Being an artist inSaskatchewan can mean you'llnever have your work cut outfor you. If you want anythingdone, you'll have to do ityourself. With this in mind,Saskatoon musician JasonHattie has started his ownrecord label, Hairdu Records.

Aside from bringing out thebest in people - solidarity,dedication, drive - Idle NoMore has also brought out theworst: biased media, commenttrolls, and blatant racism. A lotof misunderstanding sur-rounds the movement, and it’stime to understand.

News Editor: Taouba Khelifacarillonnewseditor@gmail.comthe carillon | Jan. 10 - 23, 2013news

Idle No More growing stronger stillThe protest movement demands actions, not lip service

Robin Schlaht

The Idle No More peaceful Slow Down Barricade on Highway 1 on Jan. 5

Attawapiskat Chief Teresa Spencewill continue her fast from solidfood if her and other First Nationsleaders’ Jan. 11 meeting withPrime Minister Steven Harperdoes not yield concrete results.

Shawna Oochoo, organizer forTreaty Four GrassrootsMovement, commends the chiefon her bold decision because “forus, Harper’s word is no longerwhat we want. We want actions,”she said.

Treaty Four GrassrootsMovement is a local group thatorganizes and hosts peaceful IdleNo More demonstrations, cam-paigns, and protests within theTreaty Four area.

The team comprises of ninemembers and strives to reach andeducate Treaty Four area commu-nities about the need to “stand forIndigenous Treaties for as long asthe sun shines, the waters flow,and the grass grows,” said teammember Claudette Alexson.

According to Oochoo, sinceIdle No More is a grassrootsmovement, Harper needs to ad-dress both the people and theirleaders at the same time, insteadof meeting just the leaders in pri-vate.

“Our leaders knew about thisa long time ago and nobody in-formed us and we found outwhen it was already too late, “ sheexplained.

While she appreciatesAboriginal leaders’ support forIdle No More and all its endeav-ors, Oochoo is markedly disap-pointed with their continual lackof initiative to voice the needs ofthe people they represent.

“They are in those leadership

positions to represent the needsof the people, and if the peopleare saying ‘no this is not what wewant’ then I’m sorry you need toswitch gears and uphold theneeds of the people,” she said.

Idle No More was started byfour Saskatchewan women in-cluding Nina Wilson, SheelahMclean, Sylvia McAdam andJessica Gordon in November 2012,in response to the Omnibus BillC-45 proposed and passed by theHarper government.

Environmental activists havesaid the bill weakens environmen-tal protection laws and Idle NoMore protesters want the bill re-pealed. But the passing of the billis not the only reason why manyFirst Nations people are enraged.

“It was passed secretly with-out consulting us,” explainedOochoo.

Alexson added that,“wethought that our treaties wouldalways be a part of our heritage asAboriginal people, so when weheard that bill C-45 was passedwithout our knowledge that’swhen we opened our eyes.”

Oochoo and her team believethat every Canadian needs to takea stand against what she callsreckless environmental destruc-tion by the Harper government.

“We are seeing the effects ofmining and industrial pollutionacross the land and vegetation isall ruined,” Oochoo said. “There’sno trees, animals are dying, and

this affects us all and our childrenand grandchildren to come, re-gardless of whether you areAboriginal or non-Aboriginal.”

For Oochoo, since so much ofAboriginal livelihood is tied upwith the land, destroying the landconsequently destroys the lives ofthe Indigenous population. Aswell, she added, the treatieswhich were signed by theIndigenous forefathers very manyyears ago, it is the duty of FirstNations People to protect theland.

According to the Treaty FourGrassroots Movement, there isgrowing concern that the govern-ment might be planning to domore harm to Aboriginal peoplesby taking away parts of their re-serve land.

“That’s where our kukums,our mushums, and our childrenlive. That’s where our sacred bur-ial grounds are, and they want totake those away from us too andturn them into municipalities,”said Alexson.

One of the team’s main goalsis to teach Aboriginal peoplewithin Treaty Four communitiesabout the importance of voting.

Pamela Horsefall, anotherteam member and first year SocialWork student at the University ofRegina, believes that one of themain reasons why Aboriginalpeople don’t usually go out andvote is because of the backward-ness of the reserves where they

reside. “There’s no internet, andtherefore no social media outthere so people don’t know aboutFacebook or Twitter. There’s nocable either, so people don’t votebecause they don’t know how tovote,” she said.

The team plans to quell thispolitical ignorance that prevailson reserves by holding politicalteach-ins about what differentparties have to offer.

“We are being approached bynot only Aboriginal leadership,but we also have the NDP party,the Sask. Party, and Liberals allapproaching us to educate usabout voting so that we can take itout to the communities and edu-cate them as well,” said Oochoo.

“The vote in 2015 really mat-ters and First Nations peopleshould be prepared to vote be-cause really, it might be us whocould tip the scale,” Alexsonadded.

Alexson compares her reserve,Kahkewistahaw, to a third worldcountry.

“We have extremely poorhousing conditions and no cleandrinking water. You run a tap andyou can’t drink that water – wehave to boil our water,” she said.

She added that most reservesstill fetch water from wells.

“There are trucks which fill upwith water from the wells andcome and distribute to houses,and that happens only once ortwice a week. If you run out of

water you are stuck because youhave to wait for the water trucks,”explained Alexson.

The women believe that ifthey had someone in parliamentor in the House of Commons whorepresented the needs ofAboriginal people, the living con-ditions on the reserves would notbe as dire.

The Treaty Four GrassrootsMovement continues to workhard in support of Idle No Moreand implores everybody to “getactive and get involved.”

“This isn’t just about protestor demonstration – it’s about unit-ing as a country and as one na-tion, and to understand how thesebills affect us all,” said Oochoo.

Treaty Four Grassroots move-ment is excited about the globalsupport that Idle No More hasgarnered.

“People from all walks of lifeare sharing their wonderful pic-tures in support of the movementthrough social media, so it seemslike a lot of people are pissed offand wanting to support us,” saidHorsefall.

Future Idle No More eventsplanned by the Treaty FourGrassroots Movement include aweekly fundraiser at Lulu’s NightClub and Lounge on VictoriaAvenue. The fundraisers will runevery Wednesday in January andare put on by the SaskatchewanFirst Nations Potash Issues Panelto raise funds for the movement’sactivities, like providing trans-portation to and from protests.

There will also be a reconcilia-tion walk on Jan. 16 to reinforcethat Idle No More is still alive andgoing strong.

“ That’s where our kukums, our mushums, and our children live. That’swhere our sacred burial grounds are, and they want to take those awayfrom us too and turn them into municipalities.”

Claudette Alexson

iryn tushabecontributor

The University of Regina’s Student Union had a year of lows. With thesurprise resignation of past president Haanim Nur in June, URSU wasleft president-less until September’s by-election saw Nathan Sgrazzuttivoted in as the Union’s new president. Later that month, allegationserupted citing Nur’s resignation as part of an embezzlement scandal be-tween URSU and CFS Saskatchewan. If things couldn’t get any worse,URSU ended its 2012 fiscal year with $202,484 in the red as their finan-cial audit showed a deficit in the Owl’s revenue, and deficiencies in in-formation services. Needless to say, 2012 has left students angry,betrayed, and without many answers or much accountability.

news the carillon | Jan. 10 - 23, 20134

A local, national, and international look at the year that passed

A year in review

The Carillon

taouba khelifanews editor

URSU Drama

The fall 2012 semester kicked off with students, faculty, and staff concerned about the possible changes thatthe U of R may be going through over the next few years. With a decrease in government funding to post-secondary education, the U of R has been facing major financial and resource constraints, leading to insti-tutional budget cuts and increasing student tuition. Students and faculty fear that as the University’sadministration continues to move towards a more corporatized post-secondary education model, the heartand soul of true university learning will be lost for the sake of wealth and money.

uregina.ca

A Strategic Plan?

Michael Fougere was elected as Regina’s 34th Mayor on Oct. 24, replac-ing Pat Fiacco’s 12-year Mayoral rule over the city. Nine candidates ranfor the position of Mayor in the election, with Fougere winning 42.2 percent of the votes. Throughout the election campaign, Regina’s multi-mil-lion dollar stadium project was a major issue of debate and discussion,with Fougere being the sole candidate in support of funding the agree-ment. In the midst of a housing crisis and soaring homelessness andpoverty rates, many people question whether a new stadium is reallyworth the money, when other issues seem more pressing.

Voting for Mayor

fougereformayor.com

Victoria Ordu and Ihuoma Amadi, two U of R students, are still facing deportation to Nigeria for violatingthe terms of their study visas. Last summer, the two women say they mistakenly worked off campus for twoweeks, not knowing that their visas did not legally allow for this. Upon finding this out, they quit their jobs.However, when the Canadian Border Services Agency was made aware of the situation, a nation wide de-portation order was made, forcing Ordu and Amadi to take sanctuary in a Regina church. The two have beenin sanctuary since June, with the federal government showing no remorse or leniency for their case. Orduand Amadi’s story has gained momentum in Regina and across the country, with local student groups andcommunity organizations rallying the government to let the girls stay and complete their education. Bothstudents are in their third year of studies.cbc.ca

Let them Stay

The Northern Gateway Pipelines project was proposed in mid-2000’s byCanadian crude oil company Enbridge, with hopes of building twinpipelines from Alberta’s oil sands to Canada’s West Coast. Nearly 13years later, and the Gateway Pipelines project is still fighting its waythrough the courts, and strong opposition from many First Nationsgroups, environmental organizations, the Liberal BC government, andthe federal NDP opposition. Many critics of the Gateway project say thatwith so much opposition, Enbridge’s project is but a “pipe dream.”

Pipelines

In what has been a historic moment for the United Nations, and the state of Palestine, November saw theUN vote to recognize Palestine as a non-member observer state, issuing what Palestinian president MahmoudAbbas has coined “the birth certificate” for the country’s international recognition. Of all UN members, 138voted in favour of recognizing Palestine, while 9 voted against. Among those who voted against the bid wereCanada, the United States, and Israel.

Palestine

Austrian Skydiver Felix Baumgartner broke several world records in October when he jumped from a balloon hovering 24 miles above the Earth’s surface. Baumgartner reached speedsabove 700 miles per hour, breaking the speed of sound as he pierced through the Earth’s atmosphere.

Stratosphere Jump

newsthe carillon | Jan. 10 - 23, 2013 5

2012 has been a year of many firsts for student organized food security projects. Spring kicked off the firstever Green Patch, a student run-garden behind the library. Producing a variety of vegetables and herbs, theGreen Patch beautified the campus, and provided students with a chance to reconnect their relationship withfood and the land. The Green Patch also provided workshops and educational sessions for students and com-munity members about food consumption, waste and composting, and tips on how to start a garden at home.Two-thirds of the food grown in the garden was donated to Carmicheal Outreach.

RPIRG

Food Sovereignty

Having spent his entire youth life detained in Guantanamo Bay, OmarKhadr was finally repatriated to Canada on Sept. 29, to serve the re-mainder of his sentence. Captured at the age of 15 during a firefight be-tween a village group in Afghanistan and US military officials, Khadrwas convicted of war crimes and became one of the youngestGuantanamo Bay detainees. Khadr’s case made headlines in Canadawhen the federal government refused to seek extradition or repatriationfor Khadr, who is a Canadian citizen, despite urgings and pleas fromAmnesty International, UNICEF, and other prominent human rights or-ganizations.

Return to Canada

The seven-month-long student strike in Quebec saw triumph and vic-tory this year, and became one of biggest student movements in NorthAmerica in the past decades. Fighting for better and affordable educa-tion, the Quebec students were able to pressure the province’s govern-ment to implement a tuition freeze, and repeal the controversial Bill 78,which had initially criminalized the students from protesting. Despiteits victory, the students in Quebec say there is more work to be done,and this year they hope to advocate for free education for all.

Students United

In the annual vote for Canada’s 2012 Newsmaker of the Year, theCanadian Press was greeted with outrage after announcing that the ti-tle goes to Luka Rocco Magnotta - a man accused of killing and dismem-bering the body of international student Jun Lin, and mailing variousparts of the body to political offices in Ottawa, and elementary schoolsin BC. After a global manhunt, Magnotta was arrested in Berlin and histrial begins later in the year. Magnotta received 22 per cent of the votes,earning him the title, and finishing ahead of Vancouver-area teenAmanda Todd, and her international story of online bullying and sui-cide.

Newsmaker of the Year

What Jason Russell, founder of the non-profit Invisible Children,wanted was to start an international movement to help captureAfrican militia leader and indicted war criminal Joseph Kony. Whattranspired was a heated controversy about the movement’s legitimacyand morality, resulting in Russell’s public mental meltdown, and afailed campaign. Regardless of KONY 2012’s failure to achieve its goalof capturing Kony, the campaign held international attention, and in-cluded the youth in discussions around war crimes, militia groups,and international justice.

vancitybuzz.com

KONY Fail

Nearly two weeks before Christmas, mothers, fathers, and siblings in Sandy Hook, Connecticut experienced a tragedy that forever changed their town. Twenty-year-old Adam Lanzaentered Sandy Hook Elementary School with a gun on Dec. 14, killing 20 children and 6 adults, before killing himself. The school shooting was the second deadliest school shootingin American history, and the tragedy has opened up debate about gun control policies in the country. In 2012 alone, there were 5 other school shootings in the USA.

Innocence Lost

Fifteen-year-old Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai has become an im-age of hope and inspiration this year to women worldwide. A women’sright activist, Yousafzai promoted education for girls in her town ofSwat Valley, a place where the Taliban had banned women from goingto school. Fighting against this ban, Yousafzai encouraged girls to go toschool, and shared her life story with the world through an onlineblog she wrote for BBC. On Oct. 9 as she made her way home fromschool, Yousafzai was shot in the head and neck in an attempted assas-sination by the Taliban. She is currently being treated in the UK, and herstory has reached a worldwide audience, inspiring many girls to dreambig.

thenewstribe.com

Women’s Education

Going into its third year, the Arab Spring is stillstrong, as the international community continues towitness the power of people overthrowing their gov-ernments, and fighting for their freedom. 2012 hasseen the continuous massacre of the Syrian people bydictator Bashar al-Assad, some hope in Egypt as itwent into its first ever democratically held elections,and the highs and lows of a region where the peoplehave lost their fear, and are standing up for theirvalues and beliefs.

The Arab SpringHurricane Sandy and Typhoon Bopha were two nat-ural disasters the devastated the world, leaving be-hind destruction and death. Hurricane Sandy sweptthrough 7 different countries near the Caribbean andnortheastern America in October, killing more than250 people, and leaving behind $65.6 billion in dam-age, the second costliest after Hurricane Katrina. InDecember, Typhoon Bopha swept through southernPhilippines with winds of 260 km/hr. Bopha de-stroyed villages, wiped out homes and farms, andleft more than 600 dead.

Natural Disasters

December ended with much worldwide panic asmany prepared to call 2012 their last year on earth.As the Mayan Long Count calendar only records upto Dec. 21, apocalypse theories were shared, ex-plored, and discussed throughout the year, with ru-mors that the end of the world will bring with itexplosions, zombies, and war. Come Dec. 22, andpeople worldwide woke up to their regular routines,with the earth still in tact.

We are Still Here

survivial-training.wonderhowto.com

Poverty is still a prevalent prob-lem today in Saskatchewan, espe-cially in Regina. According toPoverty Free Saskatchewan (PFS)– a network of individuals, busi-nesses, organizations, and govern-ments working towards endingpoverty – in 2006 Saskatchewan’soverall poverty rate was 15.3 percent, which affected 140,000 peo-ple. Saskatchewan has the thirdhighest poverty rate in Canada,the national average being 14.5per cent. In 2007, 16.7 per cent ofall children under the age of 18 inSaskatchewan were living underthe poverty line.

PFS states economic inequalityis associated with many social andhealth problems, and these havelinks to crime and teenage preg-nancy.

In 2012, Regina, for the secondyear in a row, had the lowest va-cancy rate in Canada at 0.6 percent according to the CanadaMortgage and HousingCorporation. This rough markethas contributed to the increasingpoverty problem, causing rentalprices to increase by about $50this year alone.

Carmichael Outreach is an or-ganization in Regina that offerssupport to the communitythrough various programs. Of theprograms that Carmichael offers,

two of them stand out. The cloth-ing and small household depot isa place where members of thepublic can drop off donations thatare later sorted and distributed tothose in need, and the food recov-ery program repackages food thatwould otherwise be thrown out,and redistributes it amongst peo-ple in the community. There areabout twenty programs currentlyrunning at the CarmichaelOutreach Centre.

One of the biggest challengeswith fighting poverty in Regina isthe housing issue, says Alaina

Harrison, a housing support coor-dinator at Carmichael Outreach.“Almost everyone we talk to saysthat housing [is] the issue,

whether it be homelessness, couchsurfing [or] precarious housingwhere they may not be able tomake rent next month.”

Finding affordable housing is alarge factor in maintaining a sus-tainable livelihood explainedHarrison. “It’s hard to go aboutother business when they don’thave that security.”

Winter creates even moreproblems, specifically for Regina’shomeless community. In the sum-mer, many sleep in tents campedout throughout the city, but in thewinter, this can be highly danger-ous.

“People we know sleep out-side … we try to provide as manysleeping bags as we can,” saidHarrison.

In the morning, CarmichaelOutreach serves coffee, and dueto the weather, many people try tohang out in the centre as long aspossible. There are not many op-tions for people, Harrison notes.“For a lot of people, [this is] theonly place they can stay.”

Donating money and warmclothing to organizations likeCarmichael Outreach can help agreat deal, said Harrison, but thepublic must also continue to pres-sure all three levels of the govern-ment, to keep the issue on theirradar.

“This problem has come toRegina … [We’ve had the] lowestvacancy rate for a while and it isnot getting better and it is causinghardship.”

VANCOUVER (CUP) — A contro-versial set of changes to the by-laws of the Langara Students’Union (LSU) that would prohibitstudents from attending meetingsof the LSU's board of directors haspassed in a referendum.

The changes are an almost to-tal rewrite of the union’s bylaws.In addition to the restrictions onattending meetings, quorum forannual general meetings dropsfrom 150 to 50, council membersare held to a maximum of twoterms, candidates for election arerequired to provide professionaland academic references and alldirectors must swear an “oath ofoffice.”

Also, LSU members will notbe permitted to copy or take notesfor any records of the union.

The new bylaws were pro-posed by the LSU’s board of direc-tors and developed inconsultation with Victoria-basedmanagement consultancy JannaJorgensen Consulting.

According to a documentfrom the LSU, the bylaws are be-ing changed to “achieve a higherlevel of accountability.”

The LSU declined repeated re-quests for comment.

At an earlier bylaw ‘townhall’event, LSU staffer Saadia Rai saidthe bylaws would increase the

Union’s level of “inclusivity” toan extent not seen at any otherstudent union in Canada.

Under the modified set of by-laws, meetings of the LSU boardof directors will be closed to thestudent body with only directors,staff and approved guests allowedto attend.

This is highly unusual forCanadian student unions. Almostall B.C. student unions hold meet-ings that are open to their mem-bers, including UBC's Alma MaterSociety and the Simon FraserStudent Society.

Pay for councillors has alsobeen changed. Under the old by-laws, directors of the LSU wereonly paid based on reimburse-

ment of expenses for attendingmeetings. The new bylaws allowdirectors to receive a stipend fortheir work, an amount which willbe determined by a vote of theboard.

To approve the changes, stu-dents were required to vote onthree special resolutions, the firstof which was an omnibus ap-proval of all of the bylaw changes,which will take effect on March 1,2013.

The second cancelled aJanuary by-election, delaying ituntil the fall. The final resolutiongrandfathered in current council-lors so that any terms they havealready served do not countagainst them for the term limit.

Every year the LSU receives$2 million from mandatory stu-dent fees, or approximately $390per student.

Media blackout

When the bylaws go into effect,Langara’s student newspaper, theVoice, will no longer be permittedto go to LSU meetings without ap-proval of the board of directors.

Speaking to the VancouverCourier, LSU shop steward DonnaRainford-Cayenne said this didnot concern LSU members be-cause “we’re going to get our ownreporters and publish our ownnewspaper.”

Repeated email, phone and in-person requests from theCanadian University Press, forcomment on the passing of the by-laws were ignored by the LSU.

When asked who their om-budsperson was, an LSU staff per-son told the Canadian UniversityPress that “I don't have to tell youthat” because “I think you havenefarious ideas about what you’lldo with that information.”

The only response received bythe Canadian University Presswas an email reply by GurbaxLeelh, board member at large forthe LSU and the current media li-aison.

“I appreciate your interest incovering the LSU BylawsReferendum. Unfortunately, Ihave a final exam and this issue

has taken much of my time withreporters on campus. I have lostfaith that a well-balanced reportwill be provided to the readers.So I have decided to put my edu-cation first.

“The most I can do to assistyou with your report, is that if yousend me an email of your ques-tions, I can respond to them laternot tonight after me [sic] Exam.”

Though questions were sentto her, the Canadian UniversityPress received no further corre-spondence.

The LSU has been reluctant tospeak with the media all year.

In October when he Voicemade inquiries about the currentcollective bargaining agreementthe LSU has with its staff, whichwas set to be renegotiated in lateNovember, Leelh refused com-ment stating that the documentwas confidential – though they arerequired to be filed with theProvince and be publicly accessi-ble.

“We are not comfortable pro-viding any kind of information re-garding LSU business withoutconsulting with our lawyer,”Leelh later said via email. “I alsowould like to request no articlesbe posted about our organizationsunless it is about promotingevents and awareness about ourservices.”

news the carillon | Jan. 10 - 23, 20136

Regina’s homeless community have few optionsWinter woes cause hardships

Langara Students’ Union bars students fromattending board meetings in new bylaws

Ashley Viens

mayorofvancouver.ca

Living on the streets is not an easy life, and winter makes things more difficult

Sam ReynoldsCanadian University Press

rikkeal bohmanncontributor

“Almost everyone we talk to says the housing[is] the issue, whether it be homelessness,couch surfing [or] precarious housing wherethey may not be able to make rent nextmonth.”

Alaina Harrison

newsthe carillon | Jan. 10 - 23, 2013 7

Noor Tagouri is a 19-year-oldLibyan-American student livingin Washington, DC whose dreamshave caused a tidal wave of ac-tion across North America. Hergoal: to become the first hijab-wearing news anchor onAmerican television. A photo ofher sitting at an ABC news deskwent viral a few weeks ago, andher YouTube video, in which sheexplains her hopes, is gainingpopularity by the day.

Tagouri started university atthe age of 15 in an attempt to geta degree at a younger age and tobe able to start working early. Shehas spent time shadowing bothlocal and national news reportersand has spent time with Lisa Ling,Anderson Cooper, and intends toshadow Wolf Blitzer in the future.But, apart from her aspirations,Tagouri’s goal has brought to lightan important issue in not only thenews world, but in the world oftelevision viewers too. Tagouri ex-plained that at an early age, shenoticed an absence of women ontelevision that looked like her, andthat she dreamed of being aMuslim hijab-wearing anchorsince she was a child. Tagourispoke to the Carillon about herdream campaign “Let NoorShine” and her progress so far.

Carillon: What was the reasonyou started the campaign, otherthan to get a job?

Tagouri: Basically, it comes withdifferent angles; breaking the bar-riers and stereotypes that Muslimwomen have in the Western world- that’s the outside perspective ofit for people that aren’t Muslim,on the outside looking in. For theMuslim community, it’s about notbeing afraid to go after whatyou’re passionate about and whatyour dreams are. A lot of first-gen-eration Muslim families want[their children] to immediatelygo into medicine, law, engineeringand that’s it. A lot of people areforced into it, and my parents arethe kind of people that say, “goafter what you’re passionateabout.” I want to show how im-portant it is to go after whatyou’re passionate about, and thisgoes for Muslims and non-Muslims.

Carillon: Would you be upset ifanother hijab-wearing womanreached your goal first?

Tagouri: I wouldn’t be upset, be-cause I know that there’s room forsuccess for everybody. My goal is-n’t strictly to be the first, and I’vewanted this for years. My goal isto be a journalist or an anchorwho is able to get stories out thereand ask questions. I’ve alwaysloved telling stories and askingquestions. At the end of the day,that’s what I want to do. Being thefirst hijabi news anchor or talkshow host, that’s breaking a bar-rier. It’s going to take more thanone person to do that. I’m takingthe responsibility to do that. Itgets people’s attention and gets

them to take a second look, andknow a bit more about what I’mabout. There’s a lot more than mejust wearing a hijab.

Carillon: What reaction to thecampaign have you had from var-ious people in the industry?

Tagouri: The couple of producersI’ve spoken to want me to send inreels, and they’re like “we needto make this happen, we want tomould you into a great journal-ist.” Other people that work in themedia that I know are like “this isreally hard, you’re making a state-ment while you’re wearing yourscarf. A lot of people won’t like it.The directors of the networksmight not let you do that, somewill, but a lot won’t.” I had mynineteenth birthday with LisaLing and I talked to her about it,she was like “go for it!” AndersonCooper saw the video, [and] waspositive and optimistic about it. Iwant to see what really big newsanchors and journalists say. I’veshadowed local news anchors andthey were positive and encourag-ing, but I could tell that they werelike “I don’t know if you can dothis.”

Carillon: Have you experiencednegativity for the campaign? Howdo you deal with that?

Tagouri: Of course I have, and Ithink I’d be worried if I didn’t getthat. It has been extremely mini-mal compared to the support. It’svery ignorant hate. There’s theMuslims who aren’t supportivebecause they don’t think it’s ap-propriate, but honestly you’re al-ways going to have people thatdon’t agree with you.

Carillon: You advocate forMuslim women following theirdreams. Do you find that lots ofyoung Muslim women see you asa role model?

Tagouri: Definitely.

Carillon: A big misconception isthat Muslim women aren’t al-lowed to have jobs or to be publicfigures. Have you experiencedthis?

Tagouri: There are comments thatyou can find somewhere on myfan page, although I try to deletethem. Honestly, that’s a completemisconception of Islam. If youlook at the women’s role in Islamand how women are supposed tobe treated, I would say that Islamputs women on the highestpedestal possible. To the peoplewho say negative things about it,I say “have you looked at the his-tory?” If you look at it outside ofreligion, you need to rememberwe are all human beings, and weall make mistakes.

Carillon: Why have you chosento use the Let Noor Shine cam-paign to begin your career?

Tagouri: I have been working atthis for forever. The reason Istarted college early was to getcloser to my career. The picture

and video going viral happenedwithin a week, and I took that as asign from God to get started atthis. Social media is how peopleget recognized and it is how a lotof people start. I think it’s great,and I want to use social media asa tool of inspiration and as a toolto bring people with me on myjourney. A lot of people think I putup a picture and it just went viralbut I put in a lot of work into it be-fore that. I think it’s a good placeto start.

Carillon: Have you ever experi-enced any racism, or do you fearyou will be turned down becauseyou are a hijabi woman?

Tagouri: Right now I work at oneof DC’s biggest radio stations andeveryone in that radio stationloves me and is like family to me.I’m still a junior in college so I

haven’t applied for jobs yet, butI’ve had others who’ve tried reachout to me. They say “at the end ofthe day, it’s the hijab or the job.” Ihear that and it doesn’t scare mebecause I know that at the end ofthe day I’m going to make it hap-pen. If it’s going to be a challenge,bring it on because I can take it. Ithink people want to see it. It was-n’t just Muslims who reached outto me, it’s the non-Muslims whoare saying “finally, we need this tohappen.” Sure, I’m going to havethe 5 per cent of people who don’tknow anything about Islam andstill think we’re terrorists. That’snot the audience I want to target.I want to tell stories, and reportthings, and give facts to peoplewho want to learn and who wantto expand their knowledge.

Carillon: Do you fear you’ll behired just to make a statement orto simply add diversity to a newsteam?

Tagouri: This has come across mymind, but why would I fear that?If that’s the only reason I get theposition, then they don’t know meyet. I’m going to let them knowwho I am and make them thank-ful they hired me. That’s not a fearI have. We live in a free countrywhere you are given the right tovoice your values and be re-spected. I think everybody is soscared to share their beliefs andnobody says it out loud. As soonas one person does it, you start toget more comfortable. You realizethe person speaking beside you,though a different race, though adifferent religion, is not so differ-ent than you. The first thing youare is a human before you’re ajournalist, and that’s what yourjob is as a journalist, it’s to betterhumanity.

A campaign to become American’s first hijab-wearing Muslim newsAnchor has social media talking worldwide

Let her shine

Noor Tagouri

Tagouri at the ABC news desk, dreaming big

Sophie Longnews writer

A&C Editor: Paul Bogdanaandc@carillonregina.com

the carillon | Jan. 10 - 23, 2013a&c‘If no one’s going to do itfor you, you’ve got to doit yourself’

hairdurecords.com

Group assignments are the worst.The seemingly only way to avoidreceiving an absolutely dismalgrade is by doing all the workyourself. It’s this “fuck it; I’ll do itmyself” attitude that labelfounder Jason Hattie has taken instarting his record label, HairduRecords.

Hattie describes the artistshe’s signed to his label’s roster as“a collection of prairie talent whoare all making dance music orparty music,” including the likesof 911 Turbo, Ricky Rock,Oakatron, and Kusch among oth-ers. This collection of artists can beheard on the label’s first mixtapewhich is set to be released on Jan.15 via the label’s website.

Starting Hairdu Records waswhat Hattie was contemplating“for the last year or two.”While on a trip to Toronto playingwith his band, The Steadies,Hattie began discussing his ideafor Hairdu Records with hisfriends in the downtime of thetour.

“I thought, I’ve got all this freetime sitting around, I should askmy friends that I want on the labeland see if they’d be in to tryingsomething – if I started this labelup if they’d be interested in put-ting music out on it and gettinginvolved with it,” said Hattie.

Hattie was unsure of what toexpect in terms of responses fromhis friends.

“I didn’t know if peoplewanted to do it, if they were finedoing things themselves,” he said.

Nevertheless, all the peopleHattie spoke with generated in-terest in his idea.

“Everyone I talked to was re-ally excited about it, so I got onwith making the website, and get-ting a launch plan, and conceptu-alizing what it would be in thefuture,” said Hattie.

Part of the reason Hattiestarted the label was that he wasalready doing much of the workhe does with Hairdu Records prior to starting the la-bel.

“I play in a bunch of groupsand produce my own electronicand dance music, and I was doinga lot of behind-the-scenes man-agement and doing album re-leases for these groups already,and it seemed like I was doing alot of the same work in differentplaces, and I felt that if it was allunder one roof or one brand thatit would get more accomplishedin the big picture,” said Hattie.

As well as tying together the

work that Hattie was doing, Hairdu Records ties together var-ious artists that listeners may beinterested in.

“Say you like 911 Turbo, oryou like Ricky Rock, or whoever,hopefully it’ll introduce people tothe other artists on the roster.”Hattie said. “You can pick throughit and see what you like, see whatyou don’t like ... It would givepeople a brand or a website or aplace that people could go to findmore music that was similar tosomething they liked already. Itwas basically a unification of proj-ects that I was involved in.”

Even though Hairdu Recordsis a unification of the work Hattiewas doing before, his daybook isstill filled with work, either withhis own music or with label busi-ness.

“It uses up a lot of my timethat I’m not spending either doinggigs or traveling. It’s what I endup doing in all my downtimefrom the stuff I was doing before.But, I mean it depends; I find thatI can put as much, not as little,but as much time as I have into it,and there’ll still be more to do.”

The fact that more work canalways be done was part of thechallenge of starting this label forHattie, to decide to take on a proj-ect of this stature takes an enor-mous amount of commitment.

Still, Hattie doesn’t seem to becompletely overwhelmed just yetwith the amount of work runninga label requires, with his workmantra being, “You just pick awayat it with whatever time you canput into it.”

“I think the big challenge wasjust doing it – deciding that I wasgoing to bite off this commitmentand go for it. It’s a learningprocess; it’s not like I’ve ran arecord label before, but I think

anyone who starts a record label isin the same boat.” Hattie said.“You have your learning curvesand your hiccups and speedbumps, but you push through it,do a bit of research, go with theflow, and make somethingunique.”

One of these hiccups Hattiehad was getting everyone organ-ized and following the same time-line.

“When you’re trying to organ-ize 11 different projects [who are]trying to get you material at the same time for this launch, that’s alittle tricky too,” said Hattie.

Organizing 11 different musi-cal projects becomes increasinglydifficult with the idea of MusicianTime – musicians are generallynever on time for anything. Howmany shows have you been tothat have started late? If and re-hearsal is scheduled for 5 p.m.,expect one person to show up at5:15 p.m., and the rest of the bandto trickle in within an hour oreven later. Having things done“on time” or being somewhere“on time” is a very loosely usedterm for most music-types.

“You’re trying to make sureeveryone’s running on some sortof deadlines, and a lot of the guyswere putting music out them-selves at their own pace on theirSoundCloud before,” Hattie said.“For some people, having dead-lines, when they have to havestuff finished by, was new tothem.”

Nonetheless, this was amelio-rated by the fact that Hattie isfriends with most of the artists onhis label and isn’t afraid to pushthem a bit.

“What’s easy about it is thatit’s a lot of people that I knew al-ready and that were friends ... soit’s not super tough to push peo-ple and work with them or tell

them, ‘We gotta get moving here,’” said Hattie.

The current focus of the labelis getting releases out from all ofthe artists signed, but in the fu-ture Hattie is looking to expandthe label’s roster.

“I think we do have a reallystrong roster right now, and I def-initely want to work with a lot ofpeople who are already on it to atleast get releases out for every-body on the label ... [expandingthe roster] will be something thatcomes with time,” said Hattie.

Yet even though the first mix-tape isn’t out until Jan. 15, Hattieand the folks at Hairdu Recordsare already in the process of dis-cussing the label’s second offer-ing.

“We’re actually already talk-ing about putting out a secondmix tape ... now that this one’s al-most out, I have more people whoare wanting to get involved withit and do features on it. The guyson the roster are already excitedabout putting out new stuff,” saidHattie.

Hairdu Records’ first mixtapewill be available on Jan. 15 at hair-durecords.com. At time of press,Hattie said the details for thelaunch parties weren’t fullyworked out, but more informationcan be found by keeping an eyeon the label’s website.

paul bogdanarts editor

Arts Radar

Jan. 11Living WithLions w/EmpireChoir and ElderAbuseThe Exchange$12 advanceticketsDoors at 8

Jan. 12Prop Planesw/Gunner andPassenger SeatPoetThe Exchange$10 at the doorDoors at 7:30

Jan. 13John WortHannamThe ArtfulDodger$10 adv/$15doorDoors at 7:30

Jan. 14Greg Rekusw/BuffaloNarrowsCreative CityCentre$10 at the doorDoors at 7:30

Jan. 18Pass the HatThe ClubDonationsShow at 9

Jan. 20Into Eternityw/Oblivion Eye,Planet Eater,and DeterminedThe Exchange$15 advancetickets

A Series ofTubesCreative CityCentre$10 at the doorDoors at 7:30

Jan. 24Choke w/400StrongThe Exchange$15 advanceticketsDoors at 8

Saskatoon electronic/dance artist Jason Hattie startsrecord label

a&cthe carillon | Jan. 10 - 23, 2013 9

This should look familiar to mostBlackberry users: “Sorry guys butI’ve upgraded my phone and I’mnot on BBM anymore.” This canbe a very depressing and lonelymoment for the die-hardBlackberry users, but before youconsider changing your smartphone allegiance, Research inMotion (RIM) has something instore that just may convince youto keep thinking Blackberry.

RIM announced that it will re-lease its latest mobile operatingsystem, Blackberry 10, on Jan. 30,2013. With the market already sat-urated with so many bells andwhistles in mobile technology, thenew Blackberry 10 operating sys-tem focuses more on the tiny de-tails of speed and functionality.The new OS is being tested on theDev Alpha B – a prototype deviceRIM has provided to developersto aid in creating new apps andprograms.

At a preview event hosted byRIM this week I had the opportu-nity to try out the new features ofBlackberry 10 for the first time.

The key feature of the new OSis the Blackberry Hub. It catalogsall your notifications, messages,emails and events in one place,which are all updated in real time.While using the Hub, users can

either take a peek into the Hub tosee what’s going on or open it tofull screen and respond to emailsand notifications. One of myfavourite parts of the BlackberryHub is that it can be accessed fromanywhere, eliminating the need tojump back to the home screen toview notifications.

If smart phones were as smartas their spell-checkers, then aphone running Blackberry 10 willbe the smartest in its class. Theterm spell-check is an understate-ment when it comes to Blackberry

10. The OS not only checks thespelling of a word but it also theentire sentence, ensuring that thesuggestions it generates arewithin context.

Blackberry 10 also goes a stepfurther and scans all of the user’sdocuments and emails, detectingregular recurrences of names andacronyms which are then ex-cluded from the spell-check. Thisneat little feature is certainly use-ful for those users who are con-stantly using a lot of industryspecific jargon and not having to

worry about spell check errors allthe time.

Blackberry 10 can also be setto auto predict up to three lan-guages at once, meaning multilin-gual users will have no need tochange the language setting whenthey want to type in a differentlanguage.

Ever have trouble hitting thewrong key when texting on atouch screen? The new Blackberry10 solves this problem by adjust-ing the placement of the keys onthe screen to adapt to the user’spatterns of usage.

RIM has also added a newBalance Feature for users whohave to use their work-issuedphone alongside their personalphone every day. Balance allowsfor users to partition parts of theirdevice, essentially creating twouser profiles – one for work, andone for personal use. Balance canalso be locked to prevent unau-thorized access of sensitive infor-mation, which means that you canlet the kids play their favouritegame on your phone without thefear of them sending a broadcasttext message to all your co-work-ers.

However, Blackberry 10 isn’tsolely about smoother workplacefunctionality. Phones using thenew OS system will feature cam-eras equipped with the new TimeShift mode – the first mobile ap-plication of its kind.

In Time Shift Mode, the cam-

era takes several photos each timethe user snaps a picture. If thesubject in the photo closed theireyes the moment it was taken,Blackberry 10 users can now selectthat person’s face and scroll backthrough the previous frames tofind the right moment. This cer-tainly reduces the hassle of tryingto get that perfect shot but also itcan the basis of some really inter-esting apps to come in the future.Other features such as theBlackberry Messenger have re-ceived a new face lift with itsgraphical interface along withother native Blackberry featuressuch as the calendar, browser andalso a new weather app that nowcomes standard with the new OS.

With all these changes on thehorizon for Blackberry users, thenew OS will still maintain a fa-miliar feel as its user interface issimilar to that of the BlackberryPlaybook. The red blinking notifi-cation light and the full keyboardwill still give its users that iconicBlackberry experience. After in-teracting with new Blackberry 10operating system, its functional-ity will be a key selling point tomany users that are in need of asystem that is simple and easy touse while at the same time boast-ing the speed and reliability tokeep them in sync with the workplace.

The holidays have come andgone. I was right: they sucked. Igot sick right around Dec. 23, andit’s an on-going battle. I don’tknow why the miserly pricks likeme can’t at least have our healthto enjoy while all of those cheap,lying, no good, rotten, four-flush-ing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed,ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kiss-ing, brainless, dickless, hopeless,heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed, sacks of monkey shit thatare so insufferably happy duringthis season don’t even get asmuch as a sniffle. Hallelujah! Holyshit! Where’s the Tylenol?

Now, being a week into a newyear, you’d think I’d find it hard tobe angry about something al-ready. To the people who thinkthat, I say: you haven’t been keep-ing up, have you? Actually, I’mkind of cheating. I’ve been hang-ing on to this anger for a little bit.Since I sort of missed writingabout it when it was still relevant,consider this a spot of catch up.

On Dec. 21, 2012, the Mayancalendar ended. Conspiracy theo-rists, religious zealots, and full-blown whackaloons had beensaying that the world was goingto end for years preceding that

date. And yet, to everyone’s greatsurprise, on Dec. 22, the worldwas still spinning.

My problem isn’t with thepeople who believed that theworld was going to end. Have ablast with that. After all, you’renot necessarily wrong about theoutcome, just the timeframe. Myproblem was with the assholes, socalled “spiritual authorities,”who, up until 11:59 p.m. on Dec.20, were making money preyingon the fears of the stupid masses.

Look, making money off ofstupid people is what keeps thejuggernaut of commerce rolling.

Without stupidity, the economy aswe know it would grind to a halt.What irritates me is that so manypeople made so much money offof so much stupidity. For years!The only reason 2012 made somuch money is because it at-

tempted to satiate the humanneed for an ending. It’s the samereason people read books, playgames, watch movies, eat a gal-lon of ice cream in twenty min-utes – people want an outcome.And 2012 provided what would

have been the biggest most finaloutcome of all. Deep down, Ithink everyone knew it was com-plete bullshit. But it didn’t mat-ter. A shitty ending would still bean ending. But here we are, aweek into 2013. The 2012 “spiritu-alists” are sitting on their heaps ofignorance-soaked bills, and laugh-ing. All because they got rich of-fering a cheap ending.

So, here’s my proposal: theworld is going to end on, let’s say,July 22, 2013. That’s when a calen-dar that I just made up comes toan end, so naturally, that’s whenthe world will end. On that day,the world is going to come to anend in the most horrifying fashionyou can imagine. If you want tofind out about how the world isgoing to come to an end, you’llhave to purchase the line of booksthat I have coming out. The firstwill retail for $39.95, and will in-clude a signed Polaroid picture ofme flipping you off. University’snot getting any cheaper, youknow. And I’m not angry. Honest.

New Blackberry operating systemreturns to its roots

Bah! Humbug!

Tenielle Bogdan

I can’t be the only one who legitimately wished this happened, right?

pcmag.com

arthur wardgraphics editor

i’m not angrykyle leitcharts editor

RIM’s new OS focuses on speed and smooth functionality

a&c the carillon | Jan. 10 - 23, 201310

1. Do you make New Year'sResolutions? Why or why not?Kyle Leitch: Never. Resolutionsare like expectations: if you don’tset them, then you’ve got nothingto be disappointed by when youinevitably fail at them.Robyn Tocker: I try to, but hon-estly, I hardly ever keep them. Ithink people make them just tofeel better about themselves andtheir decisions. You don’t have tomake a resolution to break a badhabit or eat better in the new year!Paul Bogdan: I used to, but Istopped a few years ago because Ithink they’re bullshit. If you wantto change something about your-self, don’t wait around for a newyear; just go do it.Julia Dima: I do, admittedly onlybecause it’s popular dinnertimeconversation. What, I'm lonely,okay?

2. Do you end up followingthrough with your proposed res-olutions?KL: Not a once, and I haven’t beendisappointed with myself, yet.RT: As said above, nope!PB: No, which is also why Istopped making them.

JD: I successfully followedthrough with one resolution ever.It was to stop playing Farmville. Ihad a serious problem.

3. Do you have any resolutionsfor this year?KL: That would seem to directlycontradict the answer I gave toquestion one, now wouldn’t it?RT: I kind of do, but it’s mainlyjust to keep my grades up and goto the gym more often. Nothingmind blowing, that’s for sure.PB: New Year’s Resolution for2013: don’t make a New Year’sResolution for 2013. I’m doingpretty well so far. It’s going to takecommitment, but I think I can seethis one through for the entireyear.JD: My resolution this year is tosleep at least three hours a night,which will either result in timemanagement improvement orworse procrastination, since I'lluse those three hours as an excusenot to do stuff I have to do.Probably the latter.

4. Do people make too big of adeal out of the start of a newyear?KL: Absolutely they do. This yearespecially, seeing as how theworld was supposed to haveended a few weeks ago. We sur-vived another revolution of theearth, congratulations. Now sit

down, and shut up.RT: To an extent. I think it’s goodto be excited for a new year withnew possibilities, but when peo-ple start to get all gun-hoe for it, Istart to question their sanity.PB: Yup, especially granted thatmy life hitherto has operated onyears that functionally begin inSeptember, and my brain istrained to work as such. January 1is simply the day after Dec. 31.JD: All people make a big deal outof any milestone date because we

fuck up so hideously, and a newyear, birthday, whatever, gives theillusion of a clean slate. But, if youhad Herpes on Dec. 31, you prob-ably still have it on Jan. 1.

5. What's the most absurd reso-lution you've heard of?KL: Avoid employing my strik-ingly-decent impression ofMickey Mouse's voice when hav-ing sex. I wish I were making thatone up.RT: I haven’t heard a really crazy

one in my time, but I’ll keep myears open for one this year!PB: Anything really. Generally,people make New Year’s resolu-tions because it’s a thing peopledo, and not because they’re legit-imately serious about betteringthemselves.JD: After some conversationabout skittles, Paul resolved to be-come a rainbow in 2013. I justcan’t see it happening. Sorry, bud.

ARTS ROUNDTABLE

Arthur Ward

paul bogdan, robyn tocker,

kyle leitch, julia dimathis week’s roundtable

“New Year’s Resolution for 2013: don’t make aNew Year’s Resolution for 2013. I’m doingpretty well so far. It’s going to take commit-ment, but I think I can see this one through forthe entire year.”

Paul Bogdan

a&cthe carillon | Jan. 10 - 23, 2013 11

With 2012 soundly behind us, and2013 off to an ambling start al-ready, it’s finally time to take alook at the best and worst of filmof the year that the world wassupposed to have ended. Passyour Mayan friend the popcorn,and be thankful you’re still aliveto enjoy (and hate) these films ofsome distinction. The films are inno particular order, so don’t getyour shit in a knot over an imagi-nary hierarchy. Without furtherado:

THE BEST FILMS OF 20121) Moonrise KingdomWes Anderson’s latest piece ofquirky auteurism was without adoubt one of the finest lookingfilms of 2012. Visually stunning,and often laugh-out-loud funny,and starred Bruce Willis, EdwardNorton, Bill Murray and FrancesMcDormand as a police captain, asocially awkward scout masterand two yuppie attorneys. If noneof that sounded appealing, youhave no soul.

2) AntiviralTurns out, the horrifying appledoesn’t fall far from the cerebralhorror tree. Brandon Cronenberg,son of David, released Antiviralon an unsuspecting population onNov. 30. The film was simultane-ously a mockery of the NorthAmerican obsession with celebrityculture and a torturous look at thebody-horror that’s doneBrandon’s father so well over hisforty-year career.

3) To Boldly FleeNow, this one might not techni-cally count, only because so fewpeople actually saw it. To BoldlyFlee was the latest film producedby That Guy With the Glasses, theonline army of comedy reviewersled by Doug Walker aka theNostalgia Critic. The film blendedmeta, black, and self-referentialhumor with sci-fi storytelling con-ventions to produce a low-budget,three hour sci-fi odyssey. It alsomarked the retirement of theNostalgia Critic character. Thisfilm proved that you don’t needan unlimited pocketbook to craft amasterpiece.

4) Seven PsychopathsIt’s hard to explain why most ofthe best films on the list are come-dies of some stripe, but that’s howthe chips fall, sometimes. SamRockwell and Christopher Walkensteal Woody Harrelson’s belovedShi Tzu. Hilarity ensues. MartinMcDonagh’s third film watchesincredibly similarly to his 2008film In Bruges. This is not a badthing at all.

5) The Perks of Being aWallflowerOften considered the quintessen-tial novel about teenaged awk-wardness, this modern-day classicfinally received the film treatmentin 2012, and the results were noth-ing short of spectacular. Thenovel’s author Stephen Chboskydirected the screen adaptation,thankfully therefore, the filmnever lost sight of its source mate-rial. Anyone who was ever ateenager is able to relate to some-thing in this film, and for being souniversally human, this was eas-ily one of 2012’s best.

THE WORST FILMS OF 20121) Marvel’s The Avengers

Being the only person who didn’tlike the Avengers is a bit of alonely existence. Strip away thenational-debt sized budget, andthe Avengers was nothing morethan a weak ensemble movie withshitty characters, no focus, and alacklustre story arc. The only re-deeming thing about theAvengers was that as little as adecade ago, this movie wouldhave been impossible to film.Thanks Herr Mickey, for monopo-lizing all of entertainment andmaking dreams almost come true.

2) The Dark Knight RisesWhat’s the only rational way toend the greatest trilogy of super-hero movies of the 21st Century?Satirize the gist of the recent oc-cupy movements with a com-pletely unintelligible villain, andtry to make screwing in Europefor the rest of your life seem like asad ending. Also, is it a good ideato set off a bat-shaped pyrotechnicright above a ten tonne nuclearbomb?

3) Anything in 3-DI don’t know that I’ve given 3-Denough shit yet or not. This over-priced fad is ruining what would

ordinarily be sufficient films. If Iwanted a headache, I would goheadbutt a brick wall, and Iwouldn’t have to wear a stupidpair of fucking hipster glasses todo it.

4) That’s My BoyBy this point, if Adam Sandlerwere a dog, and were this dog forsale in a pet store, I think yourbest offer would be a shotgun anda barn behind which you could“take care of business.” That’s MyBoy was the perfect storm of un-funny acting, writing, and situa-tions. It’s films like this that’sdriving people to Netflix indroves.

5) Anything Johnny Depp was in21 Jump Street, Dark Shadows,and an episode of Family Guy:2012 has not been kind to JohnnyDepp. There was a time whereDepp could have crapped on astrip of celluloid, and it wouldhave grossed hundreds of mil-lions of dollars overnight. Now’sa bit of a different story. Nextyear’s Lone Ranger remake al-ready looks like a turnaroundfrom this year. Let’s hope so.

Shooting the Shit is less a talkshow in a campus bar and more alightning rod for Regina’s culture.For the unaware, Shooting theShit is a show hosted byJournalism student Austin Davisat the Lazy Owl. Shows consist ofAustin interviewing familiar facesin Regina’s music and culturescenes. Guests have included thelikes of former mayor Pat Fiacco,Nick Faye, Danny Kresnyak, andtornado chaser Greg Johnson. Nomatter who appears on Shootingthe Shit, the show provides a goodpoint of entry into the less-ex-plored corners of Regina culture.

Davis cultivates a communalatmosphere by personally wel-coming every attendee to theshow and engaging in occasionalbanter with the audience. Theshow uses a format that resem-bles a late night talk show; Davisopens with a monologue aboutcurrent events and humorous ob-

servations before interviewing hisguests.

The show I attended featuredsinger/songwriter/bouncer“Tiny” Matchett (a familiar faceto regulars at O’Hanlon’s) tellingstories of his tenure at the bar as

well as his foray into music. Thememory that sticks out to me is“Tiny” discussing the scars on hisforehead (incurred from headbut-ting and bar skirmishes) that helabels his “wall of shame.” Afterthe interview Matchett performed

some of his songs. The show also featured per-

former Casey Wood who special-izes in a performance known as“contact juggling” which consistsof juggling balls while using slightof hand to manipulate the audi-ence’s perception. Some readersmay recognize Wood from hisperformances in the pit at theAdHum building. Davis asked fora definition, but only a demon-stration sufficed in presentingcontact juggling.

The show also featured the au-dience participating in musicalchairs onstage – that incorporateddrinking of course – and a break-down of the differences betweenRegina and Saskatoon fromJournalism student/CBC corre-spondent Peter Mills.

Earlier I mentioned thatShooting the Shit resembled a latenight talk show. I feel that theshow goes beyond this format,however. Not only does Davis ex-change banter with the audience,but everyone – host, guest, audi-ence – takes a drink every time

someone swears on stage; this isthe rule of Shooting the Shit. Thisrule is more than a simple addi-tion to the show; it provides some-thing for everyone to participateand share in. Between everyonedrinking for every swear and theaudience interaction, Shooting theShit is symbiotic. Davis ensuresthat audience participation is anessential element in the show, andas a result the audience becomesdeeply involved in the proceed-ings, voicing their opinions andoffering performance requests forthe host and the guest. Alwaysthankful to those who come to theshow, Davis acts almost as a mu-tual friend introducing his audi-ence to figures in the city’scultural scene.

The next show is scheduledfor Jan. 21. If you want to learnabout local culture and art, startwith Shooting the Shit and gofrom there.

The best and worst films from the past yearThe hits and the shits

Shits and gigglesShooting the Shit takes a look at Regina’s cultural figures

Matt Duguid

this is Austin. Drinking beer out of mason jar. Classy.

aceshowbiz.com

ethan steincontributor

kyle leitcharts editor

collider.com

Sports Editor: Autumn McDowellsports@carillonregina.com

the carillon | Jan. 10 - 23, 2013sportsROUNDTABLE

Layne Murdoch/Getty Images

We need more signs like this.

How many U of R sports gamesdid you attend in 2012? And doyou think this number will in-crease or decrease in 2013?

Dupuis: I don’t know exactly howmany, but I made it to quite a few– more than any other year by far.For the most part, the action wasgreat and the beer cold, and that’sabout as much as I can ask for.With playoffs coming up, chancesare you’ll find me drunkenlycheering (or cursing) at a homegame near you.

Kreutzwieser: I think I only at-tended 3 football games and onebasketball game. So hopefully thenumber goes up, especially sinceI’m a broke student and games arefree so I might as well take ad-vantage of that.

Hordichuk: I haven’t attended awhole lot of U of R sports gamesin 2012. I’ve just been way toobusy, hence my departure fromthe sports roundtable for quitesome time. As always, I’m hop-ing I can get to a few U of R sportsgames this upcoming year.

Klein: I think the number willstay the same at zero. I’m sorry, Ihave school pride or what everthe hell it is but I find that my timeis going to be entirely taken up bywatching a lot of NHL when itcomes back on TV. Oh, and alsokilling Gary Bettman so this neverhappens again.

Gray: I only attended one Ramsgame to show my school supportbut that was the extent of it. I

could just never find the time toget out to it. I would like to in-crease that number in 2013 but Ican’t promise that it will

What was your favourite sportsmoment of 2012?

Dupuis: I tried to think of a mo-ment that could be designated my“favourite” but drew a blank. All-in-all, this was not sports’ bestyear. Lance Armstrong is a fraud,Gary Bettman is a vampire and allmy hockey heroes are overstuffedpigs. Also, all of my favouriteteams suck. I am one disillusionedsports fan, friends. Here’s to hop-ing for a better year in 2013.

Kreutzwieser: Two moments thatare tied, both of which just re-cently happened – Dickey to theBlue Jays and Bills finally firingGailey. Thank you to the sportsgods for doing some good for myteams.

Hordichuk: My favorite sportsmoment of 2012 was when PeytonManning and the Denver Broncosovercame a 24-0 halftime deficitto defeat the San Diego Chargers35-24. I remember seeing the 24-0score when leaving my house togo on-air at the radio station Iwork for and coming home to aBroncos victory.

Klein: It would have to be whenCrosby got knocked out a secondtime. No that’s my secondfavourite. My favourite memorywould have to be the Sept. 29Rider game against the BC Loins.It was a Saturday night game, thecrowd was absolutely off thechain, prairie sodas were flowinglike water and the night endedwith me running down AlbertStreet looking for my ride andthen I crashed a wedding. Scratchthat off the bucket list.

Gray: My favourite sports mo-ment of 2012 would have to bewatching the LA kings go on theirincredible Cup run. It was a thingof beauty watching them defeatteam after team and then seeingDustin Brown raise the Cup.

What is your New Year’s resolu-tion for 2013?

Dupuis: Big half-hearted meh. I’mfar too non-committal for that sortof long-term self-improvement.Also, it’s hard to improve on per-fection, am I right ladies? No? OK.I’m really more of a “New Day’s”resolution guy anyway. I need re-sults now, dammit. Tomorrow’sNew Day’s Resolution? I haven’tthought about it yet. Too lazy.

Kreutzwieser: Watch every singleepisode of Dawson’s Creek.

Hordichuk: I hope I can gatherup some free time to come backon the sports roundtable more of-ten again. Also, I want to keepplaying hockey. I came back lastyear for the first time in threeyears and I’ve had an absoluteblast.

Klein: Probably to take my fat assto the gym.

Gray: My new years resolution isto do better in my school workand maybe while I’m at it win agold medal in something, cure thecommon cold and quit drinking.Should be interesting to see whichones I keep.

Team Canada’s 14-year medalstreak at the World Juniorsended with a devastating 6-5overtime loss to Russia. Canadahas been held without a goldmedal in the tournament since

2009. Do you think Canada’sdominance at the internationallevel is slipping?

Dupuis: I wouldn’t go so far as toput Canada’s hockey reputationon the shoulders of a bunch of un-der-20s, especially consideringwe’re still the reigning Olympicchamps and home to many of thebest players in the world, but thependulum is definitely not swing-ing in our favour at the moment.

Kreutzwieser: Their “poor” per-formance must be the times oftheir games. Like really, I would-n’t want to play at 3 a.m. either.Kidding. I think Canada’s domi-nance is slipping in a lot of ourwinter sports, except figure skat-ing. Aren’t we dominating in thatright now?

Hordichuk: While Canada hasstayed at the same skill level overthe last few years, Sweden hasrisen up as one of the elites as theWorld Juniors. The United Statesare normally always great and sois Russia. Also, Finland is on therise too. Slipping? No, I wouldn’tsay so. I’d just say that otherteams are finally matchingCanada’s talent level.

Klein: Well it is tough to say. Ithink teams have finally caughtup to Canada so Canada doesn’tlook as dominant as they oncedid. That and Canada hasn’t hada legitimate starting goalie tocarry them since Carey Price did itin 2007. Seriously, whenever it’s abig game, our goalies can’t stop abeach ball. Like what the fuck iswrong with that shit?!

Gray: Yeah I believe that Canadais no longer as far ahead in thedevelopment of players as peoplemay think. Our team isn’t as goodas it once was because the other

countries have begun to developtheir players as well as we do, ifnot better.

Who is your choice for this year’sNFL MVP?

Dupuis: There are two commonstorylines that sports fans can’tseem to get enough of: The come-back and the underdog. PeytonManning had a little bit of both in2012. At 36 years old and comingoff an entire season on the bench,there were a lot of questions sur-rounding “The Sheriff” back inSeptember. It was nice to see himput them to rest early and oftenthroughout the season.

Kreutzwieser: I get all the talkabout Adrian Peterson because heis an unbelievable athlete, hadoutstanding numbers, blah, blah,and laugh at me if you want butwhere would the Colts be withoutAndrew Luck? Ok, I’m kind oflaughing at myself now.

Hordichuk: Andrew Luck. That’sit. I don’t even need to say any-more.

Klein: I don’t know, I’m going toguess AP. I really don’t care.Hockey's back! Finally I can stopwatching 2009 Stanley Cup play-offs against the Sharks and Ducks,which is the worst series to watchever.

Gray: Adrian Peterson and thereis no debate about it. The mancame back from an ACL and MCLtear at the end of last year, gothealthy for this year and went onto have the second greatest sea-son a running back has ever had.The man is a Beast!

braden dupuis, paigekreutzwieser, coltonhordichuk, kris klein, brittongraythis week’s roundtable

sportsthe carillon | Jan. 10 - 23, 2013 13

Men’s hockey Record: 9-7-2 Grade: A

Fight for your right to party.

From their last place finish in2011-12, the men’s hockey teamhas improved dramatically thisseason and currently has a kungfu grip on the sixth and final play-off spot in Canada West.

Second-year forward TroyHunter has the hot stick for theCougars this year and has in-creased his points total from 2011,13 times over. After scoring justone point in his entire campaignwith the squad last year, Huntergot off to a surprisingly dominantoffensive start in 2012, scoring 11points in his first 11 games.

However, after being bitten bythe injury bug, the Cougars losttheir leading scorer to a brokenankle in mid-November. Aftermissing the last five games of2012, Hunter appears to have re-turned in prime form, ready toclimb back to his spot atop thestandings.

While numerous players haveput the team on their backs thisyear, it was a change at bench bossthat has propelled the Cougars totheir best start in over a decade.

Teacher comments: It appearsthat the decision to mercy-passthe men’s hockey team last yearworked in their favour, as they arenow producing at a level compa-rable to their peers. If they keepstudying, there is no reason theCougars cannot make the playoffsthis year.

Women’s hockeyRecord: 13-5Grade: A+

From swamp donkeys to top dogs.

Currently riding a seven game

winning streak, the women’shockey team appears to be inplayoff form midway through theseason.

After finishing in second-lastplace in 2011-12, fifth-year scor-ing sensations Paige Wheeler andRianne Wight put the team ontheir backs once again in order tokeep the same fate from happen-ing in their final year. While thismay be a typical scenario for theduo in past seasons, but this timethey are getting a little more help.

With 17 members of the teamregistering at least one point sofar this season, the women’shockey team looks to be playoff-bound early. As the team sits sec-ond in the Canada Weststandings, back just three pointsof Hayley Wickenheiser featuringthe Calgary Dinos, Regina will fi-nally be a force to be reckonedwith down the stretch.

Teacher comments: After receiv-ing a failing grade at the end oflast season, the women’s hockeyteam has done incredibly well.Holding them back an extra yearappears to be the right decisionas the team easily receives theUniversity of Regina’s MostImproved award. However, theystill need to work on their voicecontrol, as their constant screamsduring the games disrupts theirpeers.

Men’s basketballRecord: 3-7 Grade: C

Praying for a miracle.

After missing the playoffs for justthe second time in 16 years lastseason, the men’s basketball teamdoes not look to be heading backto the winning track in the imme-diate future.

Currently sitting in seventhplace out of a possible eight in thePrairie division of the CanadaWest conference, the team is fourplaces back from a playoff spot.

Although a mere six points sepa-rates the Cougars from the finalplayoff position, it will be a diffi-cult deficit to make up in the finaltwelve games of the season.

If Cougar fans are going to seethe men’s basketball team reachthe playoffs this year, it is likelythat newcomer Frank Brownwould play a large part in thismiracle. Averaging 17.2 points pergame, the Cougars rookie hasbeen a bright spot on the courtthis season. However, Brown willneed the support of his teammatesif they are to make a final push forthe playoffs in the second half.

Teacher comments: The Cougarsare not performing up to their ex-pectations again this year. Theyhave the talent to succeed, but sofar cannot compete at the samelevel as other members of theirage group. If this slide continues,a drastic change may need to bemade in order to spark the teamonce again.

Women’s basketball Record: 9-1Grade: A+

Choking hazard.

After losing their very first gameof the season, the women’s bas-ketball team has been on a tearever since and are currentlyamidst a nine-game winningstreak.

Fourth-year guard MichelleClarke is leading the Cougars of-fensively, averaging 16.6 pointsper game, while fifth-year for-ward Lindsay Ledingham is closebehind with 13 points per game.Having fifth-year post BrittanyRead back in the line up has alsobeen extremely beneficial to theteam, but her history of chronicinjuries is worrisome.

The Cougars are no strangersto being at the top of the CanadaWest standings, but in recentyears they have often been facedwith an early exit from the play-offs. With the added pressure ofhosting Nationals this year, it is

difficult to determine if theCougars will cave under the pres-sure, or use the hometown crowdto their advantage.

Teacher comments: The women’sbasketball team is at the top of itsclass once again. However, theirdesire to over-achieve has ledthem to being the browners of theUniversity. The only concern isthat they continue to choke ingames of significant meaning.

Men’s volleyball Record: 2-10 Grade: D

Andrew Nelson to the rescue.

After registering the most winsthey had in the past six years, lastseason it appeared as thoughUniversity of Regina men’s vol-leyball would finally be a con-tending team in Canada West, butthat is clearly not the case.

Granted, the schedule was notin the Cougars favour during thefirst half of the season this year.With just two wins, it is difficult tohave a positive outlook for a play-off push. Although the Cougarswill face significantly worse teamsin the second half, making up fivespots and eight points in theCanada West standings will be adaunting task.

2011-12 CIS Rookie of the YearAndrew Nelson has avoided thesophomore slump and has been abright spot for the Cougars onceagain this year. Leading the teamin numerous categories includingkills (92) and points (105) even af-ter missing the first portion of theseason due to injury, if theCougars are going to save theirseason it will be largely up toNelson.

Teacher comments: Although in-dividual members of the men’svolleyball team are having a suc-cessful season, the team as awhole shows little promise. IfCougars volleyball is going to beon the map anytime soon, a dras-tic change needs to be made.

Otherwise, the team will continueto receive the participation awardyear after year.

Women’s volleyball Record: 3-9 Grade: C-

Young, and wild, and free.

Sitting 10th out of a possible 12 inCanada West, the inexperience ofthe women’s volleyball team isshowing. With absolutely zerofifth-year players on the team andsix rookies, it is not surprising thatthe Cougars are struggling thisseason.

Cougars newcomer DesireeAtes – who spent time with theUniversity of New Hampshire be-fore joining the squad – has pro-vided some extra offense to thelineup while third-year middleblocker Michelle Sweeting contin-ues her impressive play at netonce again this year.

However, while the rookiesare making a valiant effort, theleadership that comes with hav-ing veterans on the team is obvi-ously missing, and although thefew remaining fourth-years are at-tempting to fill that void, the teamis in the middle of a rebuildingyear.

Although the Cougars are atalented group, they will have towait a few years to be a playoffcontending team.

Teacher comments: Although thewomen’s volleyball team may beone of the best-dressed teams oncampus with their new uniforms,they are struggling to registerwins on the court. With just onewin at home, the Cougars mustfind some way to use the home-town crowd to their advantage,otherwise it will be another longsummer for the Green and Gold.

While some teams pass with flying colours, others should be held back Midseason report card

Emily Wright

Maybe there will be more Cougars fans in 2013. Doubtful.

autumn mcdowellsports editor

sports the carillon | Jan. 10 - 23, 201314

SASKATOON (CUP) — Athletesand coaches spend a lot of timeworking on physical, technicaland strategic skills in a particularsport. But is that enough? Whatabout the mental aspect of thegame? How important is it forathletes to prepare their psycho-logical mindset?

According to Tom Graham,clinical research coordinator withthe University of Saskatchewan’spsychiatry department, trainingthe mind for sport is extremelybeneficial.

“The mental part is huge be-cause it can either unleash or de-rail those technical, tactical andphysical preparations that wespend so much time on,” Grahamsaid.

Here are four key areas Dr.Graham addresses to help athleteshone their psychological sportskills.

Adherence to physical training

As a former Olympic athlete,Graham knows that while eliteathletes are expected to follow aphysical training program, noteveryone does. When an athleteenters competition, their mentalpreparedness for the event de-pends, in part, on the quality oftheir physical training.

Failure to reach one’s physi-cal goals and to follow a trainingprogram, however, can impact anathlete’s mindset, transformingwhat should be an area of confi-dence into an area of worry, con-cern and doubt.

“There is something inside usthat says, ‘I was supposed to getthis much stronger, I was sup-posed to adhere to my program[but] I didn’t do it,’ ” Grahamsaid. “Subsequently, the athlete isentering competition with a ques-tion mark on their forehead,where they should be entering it,had they done everything, withan exclamation mark.”

The ideal performance state

Every athlete uses mental tacticsto get themselves ready for sportscompetitions.

How athletes feel before theycompete has a tremendous impacton how they perform. Thus, whenathletes perform exceptionallywell, it is important to recall howthey felt prior to the event.

Graham calls this pre-compet-itive mindset associated with ex-ceptional performances the “idealperformance state.”

Psychological skills like relax-ation and visualization are oftenused by athletes, and these skillsare far more effective when di-rected towards a targeted state ofmind.

“You can relax and visualizebut you may end up anywhere,”says Graham.“The value in identifying yourideal pre-competitive mindset isthat now those relaxation and vi-sualization skills have a destina-tion.”

Combating self-doubt

Once an athlete can identify andtarget their ideal performancestate, one of the issues they mustovercome is preventing self-doubtfrom creeping into their psycho-logical preparation.

“The worries, concerns,doubts and fears are really themajor monkey wrench issues thatprevent achieving an ideal per-

formance state or positive frameof mind before competition,”Graham said.

Negative thoughts are com-mon and almost all athletes expe-rience them at some time oranother. Self-doubt makes athletesfeel anxious about aspects of theirgame that they have been strug-gling with and it often leads todelayed decision-making in com-petition.

The key to conquering self-doubt and preventing it from af-fecting performance is to identifythe areas that cause worry, con-cern or doubt during competition.Then ask “what can I do aboutit?” Answering this question pro-vides the athlete with a strategy toimprove their performance.

“Contrary to popular belief,athletes play better when theythink less,” Graham said. “Takethe complicated strategy and sim-plify it as much as possible. Takethe five points or 10 points in a

complicated competition plan andboil them down to priorities.”

Season-long preparation for thebig game

Too often, athletes expect career-best performances at importantend-of-year competitions such asplayoffs, but do little during thecourse of the season to make thathappen.

“Consequently, they do noth-ing to prepare and, guess what,they get uncomfortably nervousat the end of the year,” Grahamexplains.

Competitive simulation is amethod used to prepare for im-portant competition. This involvesusing the progression from earlyseason training to tournamentcompetition to prepare for themost important competition at theend of the season.

As the season progresses, theyhave several exposures to playoffpressure and are better able tomanage the most importantevents at the end of the season.

“We want to perform withabandon in playoffs. To do this,we have to apply some competi-tive simulation to the flow of ourseason,” said Graham.

Some athletes won’t put in thetraining time to try extra steps,like improving their mental game,until just before the most impor-tant competition of their careers.But top athletes prepare all sea-son in order to be in the rightframe of mind when the stakesare the highest.

It is probably not common knowl-edge, but curling was named theofficial sport of Saskatchewan in2001.

It is also probably unknownknowledge that the University ofRegina has a curling club, whichhas actually faired pretty well inits official 10 years of affiliationwith the U of R.

Previously, the U of R men’sand women’s teams have won na-tionals and represented Canadain world university competitions,and as Alison Fisher, program as-sistant and Intramural SportsCoordinator, states “not manyuniversities can say that.”

The team’s success is impres-sive considering the tough curl-ing competition in Canada West atthe moment.

“[Olympic gold medalist]Kevin Martin’s kid plays on the[U of A] team, he has experience,”explains Fisher. “He’s watched hisdad curl, he knows what level heneeds to get to, to be successful.”

The teams that the U of Rcurlers will be facing this year area whole new level of competition,says Fisher.

“They are competing againstmen’s and women’s teams of theworld,” Fisher said. “They haveexperience.”

The skips of both the U of Rmen’s and women’s teams thisyear hold the Schneider surname.For those of you who aren’t too fa-miliar with the curling world, thishas a connection with the nameAmber Holland. Which again, for

those of you unfamiliar, won the2011 Scotties Tournament ofHearts.

And the list doesn’t stop there.Many U of R curling alumni haveexcelled well beyond their daysof university and junior curling.

The club is also self sufficient,and does an impressive amountof fundraising. All of the athletesare expected to meet CIS student

athlete requirements even thoughthey are technically not affiliatedwith the CIS.

As with the fate of many cam-pus sports, much of it comesdown to budgeting. The U of Rjust cannot afford to add moreteams at this point, so the athleticsdepartment has allowed the curl-ing team to only represent the uni-versity as an affiliated sport, as

long as the recreation departmenthelps them out. The club also re-ceives support from URSU.

Similar to other campusteams, the curling club is requiredto train and practice as much aspossible however, it can become aburden on the wallets when try-ing to get as much playing time in.

Travel expenses and cost ofbonspiels during the trainingmonths comes out of the team’sown individual pockets, unlikerecognized CIS teams. And we allknow, as students, many of us liveon tight budgets, and curling isnot cheap.

However, Fisher emphasizedthat the attitudes of the current Uof R curling teams are admirable.

“It makes me so proud towatch them,” Fisher said aboutthe team’s dedication to repre-senting the university. “They arejust class acts all the way.”

Fisher has high hopes for theirsuccess this year.

“They have a pretty good shotat being the top two that come outof Canada West,” says Fisher.

Both teams will continue theirsearch for the top in Edmontonfor Canada West playdowns onFeb, 15-18.

Mastering the mental aspect of sportGet your head in the game

Take it to the houseU of R’s decade old club continues to impress

University of Alberta Athletics

Curling eh? Not my thing.

Samantha Braun/The Sheaf

paige kreutzwieser contributor

cole guenterThe Sheaf (University ofSaskatchewan)

sportsthe carillon | Jan. 10 - 23, 2013 15

Just when I thought the NHLcouldn’t get any dumber, they goand do something like this, andtotally redeem themselves.

With the lockout still in fullswing during the Christmasbreak, and team Canada endingtheir 14-year medal streak at theWorld Juniors on Jan. 5, I had at-tempted to eat away my sorrowsbefore bed in an effort to forgetabout all the pain the hockey godshave caused me this year.

However, during the mid-stages of my food coma, I awoketo the sound of an annoyingphone vibration at 5 a.m. onSunday morning. While I nor-mally would have ignored thesound, my comatose state pro-pelled me to check who or whathad rudely woken me up at a timelike this.

However, upon looking at thescreen I received some surprisingnews: NHL commissioner GaryBettman had actually done some-thing good for a change.

113 long, sometimes hellishdays into the lockout, a TSN alertstated that a tentative agreementhad been reached between theNHL and NHLPA.

Once the choir finishedsinging hallelujah, and I had rel-

ished with a few celebratory fistpumps in the air, I attempted tofall back asleep, but with my in-creased excitement this proved tobe exceedingly difficult.

After waking up at a reason-able time a few hours later, andconfirming that I had notdreamed the whole episode, de-tails of the new agreement be-tween the two organizations werereleased.

Although there were many el-ements to the lockout negotia-

tions, including a revenue split, towhich the millionaire players tooka seven perfect decrease – oddlyenough I have trouble feeling badfor them – the element that con-cerns fans the most is the length ofthe season.

As of press time, the NHL isplanning for a 50-game season tobegin shortly, meaning it’s time toblow the dust off of your favouriteteam’s jersey and wear it withpride once again.

Just days ago, with the end of

the lockout seemingly nowhere insight, many fans began to makeoutrageous claims that they

would boycott the season if onewas to in fact happen. With ex-pectations of a season at an all-time low, these lofty claimsseemed like safe bets that wouldnever be put to the test. But, that’snot the case anymore, suckers.

No matter how angry any fanwas during the rollercoaster lock-out ride, it is my lofty claim thatnot one of the stubborn fans willbe able to go an entire 50-gameseason without watching hockey.

One fan boycotting the seasonwon’t change anything now. Ahunger strike would be one thing,but trying to refrain from watch-ing your favourite team during aseason where most of the gameswill actually matter seems like acruel form of self-torture.

If all these crazy fans are try-ing to do is to prove a point abouthow the NHL did not consider thefans during the lockout, then bemy guest. But, if you’ll excuse me,I have a new jersey to buy and agame to watch.

Tebow-mania, Lin-sanity, Bieber-fiever, the Mayan Apocalypse.What do these staples of 2012 allhave in common?

The short answer is hype. Far-reaching, long-lasting, overstatedhype brought about by anoverzealous news media and thepublic’s burning desire to be dis-tracted from anything that holdsany semblance of real-life conse-quence.

Like every year before it, 2012had no shortage of artificial hype.Gag-inducing buzzwords, badpuns and internet memes ruledthe interwebz, and we lapped itup like never before.

Now that 2013 is upon us,we’ve got 12 fresh months of dick-punching hype to look forwardto, but, just like a real punch in thedick, who wants to look forwardto that?

WARNING: The rest of this ar-ticle contains copious amounts ofawful puns – some of which areabout as subtle as a punch in thedick. You’ve been warned.

5. Taylor Hall

The Edmonton Oilers of theNational Hockey League havebeen stockpiling young, talenteddraft picks for some time now, buthave yet to see much in the way ofnet benefits.

Year after year, the youngguns start promisingly enoughonly to flame out by mid-season

and finish dead last. Not so in2013. It has become quite obviousthat the media will be showeringOilers’ third-year forward TaylorHall with attention pretty muchregardless of his performance.

The overwhelming media cov-erage will sweep the city ofEdmonton into a frenzied state ofAlco-Hall-ism, helping the Oilerstake the next 12-steps to the play-offs.

4. Kory Sheets

Roughrider hype pretty much ex-ists in a big, rectangularSaskatchewan vacuum, but attimes it can suck so hard youwouldn’t even know it.

First-year Riders running backKory Sheets was responsible for

more than his share of headlinesand bad puns in 2012, but thehype level never quite reached anobnoxious level.

The Rider hype machine willbe firing on all cylinders comesummertime, and Rider Nationwill fall head-over-heels for KorySheets once again.

3. R.A. Dickey

It’s hard to believe that a 38-year-old starting pitcher could generatea sustained erection, let alone sus-tained media hype, but in the bar-ren sports wasteland that isToronto, Dickey might as well bethe second coming of Christ.

By the time the reigning CyYoung winner arrived in Toronto,the city’s baseball fans were al-

ready borderline incoherent fromthe hype of the previous month’sblockbuster trade involving MarkBuehrle and José Reyes.

The addition of Dickey and hisgreying knuckleballs threatens topush the city over the cliff of full-blown Dickey-lirium.

2. Orlando Cruz

Near the end of 2012, one sportsstory in particular caught my at-tention, but not because of catchyand clever puns or a cavalcade ofmedia attention.

In early October, professionalPuerto Rican boxer Orlando Cruzbecame the first pro boxer to comeout as openly gay while still com-peting professionally. This got methinking: What in the fuck? Are

we really this far behind? Is it pos-sible that out of the hundreds andhundreds of professional athletesin North America that none ofthem are gay? Is there still thatmuch stigma behind homosexu-ality that they can’t openly ex-press who they are until they areno longer affiliated with prosports? I suppose there is, andthat’s a damn shame.

We can only hope that Cruzgets the ball rolling in the rightdirection, and 2013 sees a wave ofmedia attention that openly chal-lenges the homophobic culture ofpro sports.

1. Fabe Dia

This French-Italian sprint-athletewho specializes in the 200-metrehas been running under the radarfor some time now, but 2013 ispoised to be an explosive year forher. After failing to qualifyfor the London games by a hair,she could very well bring aplethora of medals in the next 12months. You may think I choseDia for the sole reason ofwrestling a tastelessly obviousand clumsy pun into the finalparagraph of this article, but that’swhere you’re wrong.

I truly believe that, with thehelp of the media, an overwhelm-ing, contagious batch of Dia-rrheawill soon wash across NorthAmerica, making a punch in thedick look like brunch withgrandma by comparison.

The NHL is back baby There is a hockey God

Top five over-hyped athletes of 2012

Marc Serota, Getty Image Files, Postmedia News

Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

That’s right, hang your head, team Canada.

braden dupuissports writer

“ Just when I thought the NHL couldn’t get anydumber, they go and do something like this,and totally redeem themselves.”

what the puck?autumn mcdowellsports editor

Visual Editor: Arthur Wardgraphics@carillonregina.com

the carillon | Jan. 10 - 23, 2013graphics

Op-Ed Editor: Edward Doddop-ed@carillonregina.com

the carillon | Jan. 10 - 23, 2013op-ed

DemocraterrorismIdle No More protests and demonstrationshave been erupting across Canada and theworld in the past few weeks. This countryis motivated to stop the environmentallyand culturally devastating consequencesof Harper’s Bill C-45, and not often do westay so dedicated for so long. Canadianstend to be pacifists. A movement, if it lastsat all, only lasts among a niche group of cit-izens concerned about the issue.

Idle No More, however, is growing.Much of the media coverage has beenpretty negative and let’s be honest, thecomment feeds are a black hole of racist id-iocy. These reactions are precisely becausethe movement hasn’t fallen apart. The fear-mongering government is afraid of a suc-cessful protest. Harper and the Ministry ofIndian Affairs are scared shitless of any-thing that represents the power citizenshave to rise up and overturn a system.

However, it’s not only our leaders whoare afraid, but our neighbours. Those who

close their curtains if they hear noise out-side. The ‘me and mine’ Canadians. Thesepeople rely on the sort of pacification thatkeeps them behind the locked doors oftheir cars. These are the people who makeracist comments about the Idle No Moremovement, who believe that if anythingwent any differently from how it’s goingnow, it would be catastrophic. Sure, thingsaren’t perfect, and our Aboriginal peopleare suffering, but they always have been,and always will be, and our tax dollarscan’t solve that, right?

It’s an easy view to have as long asyou’re not on the suffering side. Some evengo so far as to call the actions of ChiefTheresa Spence of the Attawapiskat FirstNation – who has been on a hunger strikesince Dec. 11 to urge Harper to meet withFirst Nation leaders – acts of terrorism.Take the editorial by Christie Blatchfordwhere she says, “it is tempting to see the ac-tion as one of intimidation if not terrorism:

[Spence] is, after all holding the statehostage to vaguely articulated demands.” Calling a hunger strike an act of terrorismis exactly the sort of thing I’d expect fromfearful Canadians. A hunger strike meansthat someone cares so passionately aboutan issue that they are willing to die for it.And nobody wants that blood on theirhands. The same way anyone who’s op-posed to Treaty rights or makingIndigenous Studies mandatory course ma-terial will say, “I didn’t mistreat Aboriginalpeople. My ancestors aren’t from here. Myhands are clean.”

Guess what, colonialist: You pay yourtaxes and live on this land by choice. Yourhands and mine are soaked in blood. As arethose of our government. So, rather thanaddressing the concerns and honouringtreaty rights, it’s much easier to pass off theactions of a protester as terrorism. We allknow how that buzzword turns all NorthAmericans into pitchfork wielding vil-

lagers screaming “burn the witch!” Theresa Spence isn’t holding the state

hostage, she’s holding it accountable for146 years of broken promises and system-atic racism. The basic understanding of ademocracy is that there’s a dialogue be-tween people and government. When citi-zens have been cut off from this, it’s notundemocratic to challenge the governmentthrough protest, strike, or violence. It’s us-ing a megaphone when your governmenttakes away the microphone. If hungerstrikes, protests and social activism are ‘ter-rorist acts,’ I am wilfully and dutifully athreat to national security.

julia dimaproduction manager

Idle no moreThe Idle No More campaign has gainedworldwide recognition of the abysmal hu-man rights record of Canada and a few ofour allies around the world. With everypassing day, the movement is attractingour attention as it exposes the cultural inac-curacies many people have adopted as tra-ditional Canadian values.Open-mindedness, equality and rights forall, economic opportunity, and freedom areall ideas we use to define and differentiateourselves from the global community.

However, this illusion is quickly un-ravelling as Idle No More exposes the colo-nial roots of Canada. Our colonial roots arenot a secret, yet our society struggles tocome to grips with understanding why theIdle No More movement continues to gainmomentum and what the movement repre-sents. The honest truth as to why we as a‘civilized’ society cannot comprehend isbecause our collective mentality has nevermoved past our colonialist mentality. Timehas moved on, our collective conscious hasnot. We have failed to connect to this move-ment and enter into appropriate discoursein any meaningful way.

The obvious example of our failure tounderstand is the overtly race-based argu-ments presented as a counter-discourse tothe movement. What is interesting about itis the validation these opinions receivethrough the irresponsible main stream me-dia. Even funnier is the idea that these ar-guments are not racist. Let’s make thisclear: when your arguments are based ongeneralities and ethnicities, while lackingcontext and facts – you are making a racistargument.

For example, calling for “transparency”of the so called tax dollars spent onReserves. What is left out of this argumentis context. Anyone making this type of gen-eralization fails to understand the facts thatthe Federal dollars spent on Reserves arehighly scrutinized by the FederalGovernment. Furthermore, we fail to ac-count for the hyper-inflated cost of livingon Reserves, a residual effect of residentialschools and other forms of colonialism. The most comical part is we do not ask forthe same accountability from our own gov-ernments. In fact, the Federal Governmentspent over $110 million in legal services forthe Department of Indian Affairs in 2011-

2012. We only spent $36.8 million of thepublic prosecutor’s office over the sametime period. It makes me wonder howmuch was spent in the pursuit of account-ability, and how much was spent findingways around honouring Treaty Rights. Another concern, and perhaps more dan-gerous, is regarding the Idle No More sym-pathizers. These are the supporters thatcome with bad advice disguised as good in-tentions. This soft paternalism is the baneof every social movement’s existence.These sympathetic voices stress the need toidentify with Prime Minister Harpers per-ceived stakeholders, or abandon any poten-tial disruption of the lives of everydayCanadians in order to win friends to themovement. Despite these warnings, it isimportant to keep up pressure on the gov-ernment and to bring attention towards themovement. Non-violent resistance mayprovide short-term discomfort for someCanadians, but they must realize that the

oppressed cannot simply adopt the ideas ofliberation, tactics, language, and strategiesof the dominant group. If the oppressedcould, they would not be oppressed. Totruly support the self-determination in theIdle No More movement, we have to sup-port the movement by first listening tothose involved in Idle No More.

This brings us to why the Idle No Moreprotests started. The Second Omnibus Bill,C-45, is the primary reason but not the onlyreason. Firstly, Bill C-45 will change 44 fed-eral laws without any Parliamentary de-bate. Furthermore, this bill does notrecognize Aboriginal fishing rights, whileremoving several fish habitat protections.The biggest impact this bill has is thechanges to the Navigable Waters ProtectionAct. The number of lakes and rivers re-moved from the required federal environ-mental assessment program from 32,000 to97 lakes and from 2.25 million rivers to62.99 per cent of our water ways have lost

any required environmental protectionwithout any consultation with FirstNations or with the general Canadian pub-lic.

On top of C-45, there are eight morebills either passed or in the house thatmake dangerous deregulations and under-mine not only Aboriginal rights, but every-one’s rights and are based on racistassumptions about First Nations people. Ifwe are serious about living in a countrythat promotes freedom, democracy, andcivil rights for everyone, then we, as a so-ciety must ensure that these values apply toeveryone without condition.

shaadie muslehbusiness manager

opinion

rabble.ca

op-ed the carillon | Jan. 10 - 23, 201318

Immediately following the events that tookplace at Newtown, Connecticut’s SandyHook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012,CNN television host Piers Morgan took notime to voice his opinion on the UnitedStates’ gun control issue. Although Morganis often criticized by many as being an out-spoken personality, this time around thereis no denying the validity of Morgan’s ar-gument demanding gun control in theUnited States.

“If you don’t change the gun laws when20 poor young kids are blown away withan assault weapon & high-capacity maga-zines, when do you?” Morgan stated onTwitter after the news broke about theschool shooting.

To the surprise of many, though, guncontrol has been an issue that Morgan hasraised in the past. Prior to the Sandy Hookshooting, Morgan talked with law profes-sor David Kopel on CNN about gun controlafter the Aurora, Colorado shooting on July20, 2012.

When Morgan addressed Kopel aboutthe issue, Kopel felt that it was not the ap-propriate time to discuss gun laws andstated in the interview, “I really wish youwould have waited to have this segmentuntil after the funerals.”

Morgan responded, “When you have ayoung man like this able to legally get 6,000rounds of ammunition off the internet, tobuy four weapons including an assault ri-fle, and for all of this to be perfectly legal inmodern America, allowing him to carry outthe biggest shooting in the history of theUnited States, that, I’m afraid, means it’stoo late for this debate.”

Along with the shooting in Aurora,Colorado, which claimed the lives of 12people, the shooter in Newtown claimedthe lives of 20 innocent children and six in-nocent adults, resulting in the two worstshootings in United States history in onecalendar year.

So, what is Morgan’s solution to get il-legal guns off of the streets of the UnitedStates? Treble the sentences for possession

– a suggestion that did not receive positivereception from a vast majority ofAmericans.

As a result of Morgan’s strong opinionon gun control, a group of select UnitedStates citizens have submitted a petition tothe White House to get Morgan deportedfor engaging in a hostile attack against theU.S. Constitution by targeting the SecondAmendment. On Christmas, another peti-tion was submitted to the White House tokeep Morgan in the United States and pro-tect the rights of Freedom of Speech andFreedom of the Press under the FirstAmendment. By Jan. 7, the White House re-leased a statement that addressed the peti-tion to deport Morgan that read, “TheWhite House responds to all petitions thatcross the threshold and we will respond tothis one. In the meantime, it is worth re-membering that the freedom of expressionis a bedrock principle in our democracy.”Despite being controversial in the States,Morgan has been arguably the most honest,colourful, and insightful mind thus far toaddress the United States’ gun control law.Furthermore, in Britain, Morgan’s homecountry, there are an average of 42 deathsby guns per year. Here in Canada, there isan average of 1,300 deaths by guns per year,and overwhelmingly the United States av-erages just over 11,000 deaths by guns peryear.

In the end, this isn’t a debate to keepPiers Morgan in the United States, this is adebate of the right to bear arms verses theright-to-life for children and the safety ofcitizens in the United States.

Morgan brilliantly stated himself, “Youmay not agree with all I suggest, but let’shave the debate. Loudly. Do it for thesepoor kids, and their poor families.”

Teflon Harper

colton hordichukcontributor

Have you ever noticed that nothing sticksto the Prime Minister?

It seems that Stephen Harper is incor-ruptible and nothing can damage his repu-tation. Despite what seems like a steadystream of failure and obfuscation comingfrom the government, Harper remainsabove controversy and accusations of in-competence, which is far more than can besaid for his ministers. Every week, it seems,a story breaks about a minister who says ordoes something embarrassing to the gov-ernment or demonstrating total ineptitudeat their jobs.

But even if Prime Minister Harper him-self isn’t linked to controversy and incom-petence, it boggles the mind that hisgovernment ministers can continually failand still keep their jobs. Consider the caseof Minister of Agriculture Gerry Ritz, whopresided over both the listeriosis outbreakin 2008 when he joked that Canadians weredying a “death by a thousand cold-cuts”from the Maple Leaf Foods recall of con-taminated lunch meat. During the E.Colioutbreak last year at the XL Food plant thatsickened several people and led to thelargest food recall in Canadian history, theminister was nowhere to be seen for muchof the time, and even after both of thosethings, he remains a minister. Resignationsare certainly not unprecedented over thosesorts of failings, and yet there seems littleadmission that there is any responsibility.Ritz is not alone, though. Minister ofDefence Peter Mackay initially tried to sellthe F-35 fighter jets to Canadians by usingthe misleading price of $16 Billion for 65jets, a cost that has since exploded to $45.6Billion in acquisition, development, andmaintenance. In essence, Minister Mackaytried to budget taxpayer dollars for a newcar without factoring in the costs of gasand repairs. Also, the cars cost about $245million dollars each and require constantmaintenance and we didn’t even look tosee if there were other potential cars whichmight be more reliable, cheaper to repair, orbetter for our needs.

The damning thing is it’s not like any-one fell for Mackay’s initial sales pitch. Infact, the opposition’s demand for the realnumbers and Mackay’s subsequent refusalto provide that information to Parliamentand Canadians led to a vote of contempt ofParliament. Essentially, Mackay withheldserious information from Canadians andParliament so that neither could properlyscrutinize the deal Canada was making.And then, once the real numbers finallycame out, Mackay remained Minister ofDefence after essentially doing everythingin his power to lose his job.

These are just brief examples of minis-ters not quite seeming to understand theirportfolio. I could list here Jason Kenney,who broke the fundraising rules ofParliament and remains a minister eventhough in the past ministers have resignedfor even being under suspicion of possiblycommitting something embarrassing to thegovernment. Or Minister of Labour LisaRaitt, whose commitment to labouramounts to committing to force labour backto work through legislation. Or Ministerfor the Status of Women Rona Ambrosewho voted in favour of a motion that couldhave turned back the clock on abortionrights women have fought for over the lastseveral decades.

But it might be time to start looking be-yond these ministers to the person whochooses to keep them in their positions –the Prime Minister. Sure, Harper seems tostand above the fray and have nothing todo with the ineptitude and gaffes of hisministry, but ultimately he decides whetherthey will resign or not. And so far he’s con-tent to keep his ministers in their positionsfor the most part. If anything sticks to thePrime Minister, it should be that fact.

Gun control now

edward doddop-ed editor

We spent money on that?Over the holiday season, our right and ho-nourable Premier Wall was hard at workflying in the face of the democratic processand continuing the proud tradition of do-ing whatever he damn well pleases whenthe whim occurs to him. Literally overnighton Jan. 3, the iconic heritage wheat sheafwas replaced with what appears to be agolden dagger and machete cuttingthrough a couple of oblong triangles. Thisobtuse and frankly confusing logo replacedthe wheat sheaf on the province’s website,news releases, and letterhead. The govern-ment has since assured major news outletsthat the wheat sheaf logo will continue tobe used on signage and the official provin-cial pin.

So yeah. This is a thing now. Our logoonly half-changed, and people are gettingall in a tizzy. Truthfully, these people haveevery right to be upset, and it’s a shamethat more people haven’t joined them.Huffington Post blogger Lonnie Tayloreven had the gall to say that the new logolooks, “classy”.

First of all, think of the cost involved inredesigning a logo. It’s not like Brad Walljust scribbled this thing out on a piece ofbutcher’s paper with a dried turd, regard-less of whether or not it actually appearsthat way. This logo was the product of hun-dreds of thousands of dollars given to adesign firm that spent maybe twenty min-utes on it. Remember Regina’s “InfiniteHorizons” bullshit? It was the campaignthat came with that stupid looking stylized

capital “R?” That “brand redevelopment”cost $445, 000, and that was just at the citylevel. Think of the staggering cost to re-search, redevelop, and replace a logo at theprovincial level.

Secondly, no consultation was done tofind out whether or not people actuallywanted their logo replaced. This might benitpicking, but the whole point of the dem-ocratic process – that we’ve by and large allagreed upon in Canada – is to elect peoplewho, you know, shouldn’t just make majorchanges that affect our appearance, espe-cially when aforementioned changes in-volve the removal of a heritage symbol thatis so synonymous with our province. Onceagain, the Saskatchewan Party has flippeda giant middle finger to the people thatgave it a resounding majority by spendingmoney needlessly on useless shit.

Finally, have you actually looked at thatlogo? Those oblong triangles are supposedto be Saskatchewan. The gold daggers sud-denly aren’t just hacking up childhoodshapes, but are literally cleaving theprovince in half. Whether this is supposedto be indicative of Brad Wall’s Saskaboomtearing the house down, or whether it’s afar more sinister message relaying BradWall’s true feelings towards this provinceremains to be seen. For now, I hope that wecan all agree that this new logo is a hideouswaste of provincial money, a late entry intoa dick-swinging competition that nevereven took place. Instead of spendingmoney so frivolously on pointless shit like

this, perhaps the government should spendsome money on post-secondary education.Or keeping a media person on retainer toclean up all of the public relations night-

mares they seem to incur. Oh, that’s right,I forgot; Brad Wall drove them all away,too.

kyle leitcharts writer

globalsaskatoon.com

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a waste of money

op-edthe carillon | Jan. 10 - 23, 2013 19

What Can’t Be Thrown Away

Imagine this: you're excited about startinguniversity. Either you already know whatyou want to major in or you look forwardto sampling a smorgasbord of first-yearclasses so that you can decide what youwant to study further. Or you've alwayswanted to be an X – engineer, computerprogrammer, name a career – but you'renot sure how to get there.

Here's a surprise: most classes aretaught in Latin, as in medieval Europeancentres of learning. You are expected towrite essays in that language. You are toldthat you, as an aspiring scholar, shouldhave an instinctive knowledge of Latingrammar. If not, you can take a basic Latincourse, but within a year, you are expectedto be fluent. If you have trouble under-standing course material in Latin, and youdon't really know how to construct a sen-tence in Latin, let alone a paragraph or anessay in it, you're likely to fail.

Funding cutbacks have eliminatedsome intermediate and advanced Latin-language courses that might have helpedyou. You choose a major that only requiresone first-year Latin course, not two, butyou still have to write essays in it, and youcan't really expect any of your profs outsidethe Latin Department to tutor you in com-position. There is a Writing Centre for that.Of course, this scenario is a fantasy. Latin isa "dead" language. (Never mind that it ismore like a walking mummy than a corpse,since it is the source of many words cur-rently used in the sciences, religious stud-ies and the practice of law). Most universitycourses in twenty-first century Canada aretaught in one of two living languages:English or French. No problem, right?

Take another look at the fantasy sce-nario. Does any of it seem familiar? If youdidn't learn English as a child, is it easy foryou to read and write in it? Are youtempted to download an essay from theinternet and submit it as your own work, orask a classmate to help you write some-thing that will get you the passing gradeyou need? If you get caught handing insomeone else's words as your own, you arelikely to be expelled faster than you wouldfail by trying to do all your own writing.

Do you find it hard to write essays thatimpress your profs even though you've

been speaking English all your life? Haveyou been told that your writing needs to beclearer? Why do you need writing skills ifyou're not planning to write a novel?

Most of the concepts that you need tounderstand in any subject are expressed inwords. Here at the University of Regina,those words are usually in English.Universities are places where ideas aretaught, learned, discussed, debated, devel-oped and refined. You can't work withideas if you can't express them in a lan-guage.

There was probably never a time whenevery student at this university lovedEnglish classes, or preferred to read booksthan listen to the music of a popular band.I'm trying to be realistic. Even still, as anInstructor of first-year English who remem-bers being a student here in the 1970s, Ican't help noticing that the culture shockexperienced by most students in first-yearEnglish classes seems to be getting worseall the time.

I honestly don't know whether the rulesof grammar are still taught in any English-language high schools. However, I doknow that these rules seem more mysteri-ous to more first-year students every yeareven though most students understandtechnological gadgets better than I do. If aformal knowledge of English grammarseems as outdated as a formal knowledgeof Latin grammar, does anyone really needto learn about sentence construction orverb tenses?

Consider the fantasy scenario. If allyour textbooks are in a language that con-fuses you, do you think you could learn itsimply by staring at the words, or wouldsome instruction be useful? If you want tolearn chess or basketball, wouldn't youwant to learn the rules (which form thegame itself) before jumping in? Skill in anysubject usually requires a combination oftheoretical learning and practice. If youdon't expect to win a tennis game the firsttime you pick up a racquet, why assumethat comprehension and composition skillsin English come "naturally" to some people,while others can never catch on?

Funding cutbacks, particularly the onesthat limit the number of English classeswhile expanding class size, are part of the

problem. Long before the current fundingcrisis, however, there was a widespread as-sumption that English classes are irrele-vant to the needs of most students. Apost-secondary school (not a university)could survive without the kind of EnglishDepartment where literature is studied, butit's hard for me to imagine a school of anykind in which language isn't important. Years ago, a petition was circulated by sev-eral students who wanted first-year Englishcourses to be changed from a core compo-nent of most students’ programs to elec-tives for those with an interest in literature.I was relieved when this campaign didn’tsucceed. If first-year English is “unneces-sary” because students “should” knowhow to write clearly in English when theyarrive at university, how could first-yearEnglish courses be too hard for the major-ity of students? If English is too hard,avoiding or eliminating it is not going tomake textbooks in general easier to read, ormake assignments in any class easier towrite.

If you dread taking English 100, oryou’ve taken it and felt as if you weredrowning, you probably need more in-struction and more writing practice, notless.

Consider another fantasy scenario: allstudents, without exception, must take anEnglish 90 course when they enter univer-sity. The focus in this course is on Englishgrammar, vocabulary-building, composi-tion strategies and close reading of fairlysimple poems and short stories. There areno essay assignments. Students who findthis course easy get high grades that boosttheir average and enable some of them toearn scholarships. Students who find thiscourse challenging have a semester inwhich to learn the basic writing skills theyneed.

There is a low failure rate in English90, so most students go on from this courseto English 100. There they learn to write ac-ademic essays about more complex worksthan they studied before. Students wholove debating – you know who you are –enjoy the process of developing a logical ar-gument and finding evidence to support it.By now, most students are so proud of theirwriting skills that they’re not tempted to

plagiarize. After all, people with plenty ofmoney in the bank are rarely tempted toshoplift.

After English 100, there is English 110.This is only for English majors, right?Wrong. Students who passed English 100with less than 80% could benefit from an-other essay-writing class. The skills thatimpress English profs are likely to impressprofs in any course that involves written as-signments, including science reports.

Obviously this is my own fantasy, butconsider the benefits for students. The fail-ure rate drops as soon as the policy of mak-ing all students take at least two Englishclasses is implemented. First-year Englishis still an uphill climb for many, but it’s notMount Doom.

In this fantasy, dropout rates go down.Suicide attempts go down. Grade point av-erages go up. The failure rate for interna-tional students is no higher than the failurerate for locally-grown Canadians.Relationship breakups go down.

If this scenario looks appealing, con-sider the power of organized students. Noschool could survive without students inthe classrooms. I can’t imagine an adminis-tration that would pay me to converse withmyself.

Words are powerful, and students arepowerful. Consider what students couldaccomplish by speaking out about whatthey need to succeed. Perhaps it’s time foranother petition. And if the next one isabout adding classes rather than subtract-ing them, I will probably tape a copy on myoffice door.

jean hillaboldcontributor

Dietrich Neu

What can be thrown away, however, are those sticky notes. God, I go through so many stickies a semester.

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