André Lavoie, journaliste et critique de cinéma a présenté à la Cinémathèque québécoise du 18 au 22 janvier son projet ambitieux : un cycle de documentaires sur l’évolution du journalisme.

Les documentaires abordent principalement les changements apportés par le développement rapide de médias alternatifs depuis une dizaine d’années et de leur impact sur le journalisme, suivis d’un débat sur la limite floue entre le rôle du documentariste et du journaliste.

Ainsi, dans l’affaire des câbles diplomatiques, le Times n’a servi que de relayeur d’une information détenue en exclusivité par le site Wikileaks.

Les blogs, les réseaux sociaux, les quotidiens gratuits, le « citizen journalism, » sont tant de sources d’information continue et gratuites que s’arrachent un public de plus en plus jeune et varié.

On observe une « explosion de l’information qui tient de plus de l’opinion, de l’humeur, de l’état d’âme, » selon Mario Cloutier, chef de la section arts et cinéma au journal La Presse.

La diversification de l’offre entraîne des pertes de revenues colossales qui ont poussé plusieurs journaux à la faillite, comme le Chicago Sun en 2009, explique Andrew Rossi dans son documentaire Page One : Inside the New York Times.

Afin de survivre, les journaux doivent séduire des lecteurs de plus en plus jeunes.

Cette nouvelle génération de lecteurs, qu’on appelle génération Y, a grandit avec les nouvelles technologies.

Nés entre 1980 et 2000, Myriam Levain et Julia Tissier, auteures de La génération Y par elle-même les décrivent comme peu engagés, individualistes et peu pressés de se considérer « adultes, » mais aussi comme indépendants, réactifs et créatifs.

Leur atout principal : le web, sur lequel ils savent naviguer autant pour s’informer que pour communiquer.

Ces jeunes se tournent aujourd’hui vers les réseaux sociaux et les journaux gratuits financés par une publicité que les grands journaux traditionnels, en perte de vitesse, peinent à attirer.

Les journaux diminuent le financement de ce qui est historiquement leur atout principal : le journalisme d’investigation.

« Le journalisme d’investigation est de plus en plus rare car [les journaux] ont de moins en moins de moyens, et de plus en plus de chroniqueurs, » souligne Christian Nadeau, professeur de philosophie à l’Université de Montréal.

Ce manque de financement a alors un impact direct sur la qualité des journaux traditionnels.

Interaction et échange sont les mots clef de cette nouvelle ère. On peut parler de consommation de l’information, « marketing » et innovation, ces outils commerciaux faisant de plus en plus partie d’un journalisme menacé par la faillite.

Certains journaux comme le New York Times offrent des cartes interactives et tous types de services personnalisés, tandis que Le Monde dédie une section entière de son site aux blogs tenus par ses propres journalistes.

Ces quotidiens sont aussi parmi les plus fréquentés et les plus partagés sur le net. La participation au dialogue est encouragée, le lecteur lui-même peut désormais commenter sur les articles.

Ainsi, comme le soutient un intervenant dans le documentaire de Florian Sauvageau et Jacques Godbout Derrière la toile: Le quatrième pouvoir, « Un article n’est plus la fin mais le début de la conversation. »

Les journaux traditionnels se veulent de plus en plus modernes, mais doivent faire face à un public individualiste qui se désintéresse de l’intérêt général.

« La tendance est à la passivité, on aime que les choses viennent vers nous au lieu d’aller chercher l’information ailleurs, » explique Christian Nadeau.

Cependant, l’objectivité de l’information est mise en péril par cet aspect commercial, poussant certains à prendre parti afin de plaire.

Dans ce cyber-brouhaha où le bourdonnement des rumeurs couvre celui des faits, le rôle du journaliste n’a jamais été aussi important, car il reste plus que jamais celui d’un témoin impartial de la vérité.

« Même si l’objectivité n’existe pas en journalisme, il demeure une certain honnêteté que l’on se doit de respecter, » nous dit Mario Cloutier. C’est une honnêteté, une éthique que les nouvelles formes de journalisme ne possèdent pas, forcément.

Le journaliste possède cette crédibilité et ce savoir-faire qui demeurent l’atout principal des journaux traditionnels qui ont su s’adapter et se réinventer.

Ce n’est pas une mort du journalisme que l’on observe, mais bien de son renouveau, mêlant tradition, technologie et un engagement plus important de la société civile.

« Le travail de journalisme de base va demeurer, parce qu’on en a besoin, rien que pour faire le tri, avoir une base solide, » conclut Cloutier.

Before winning the Oscar for The Barbarian Invasions, Arcand got the nomination for The Decline of the American Empire.

Cinema du Parc is currently showcasing the filmography of one of the most (to many, the number one) internationally renowned Quebecois directors, Denys Arcand. With three Oscar nominations to his name, he is arguably mostly known for directing the Oscar winning film Les Invasions Barbares (2003). Many however believe that his international fame got kick-started by the 1986 film that got the first Oscar nomination, Decline of the American Empire.

You hear that title and I bet sex is the last thing on your mind. Not so for Arcand. It’s one of those conversational films where dialogue is the core strength of the whole piece. However, there are splurges of brilliance apart from the raunchy, crisp and cutting-edge dialogue the characters find themselves in. For example, the opening credit sequence features a long steady-cam shot in the bowels of a university building while a theme by Handel roars through the speakers. It’s a sequence Kubrick would have agreed with.

But it is Arcand’s script that holds the key here. The film is divided into three parts: before, during and after a dinner. A group of university professors gather to discuss intellectual subjects for dinner but the meat of the film, the before part, shows the women at the gym and the men preparing the meal, an ingeniously flipped stereotype if there ever was one.

Sex is the only thing on these people’s minds when not confronted by their respective spouse, partner or opposite sex counterpart. The cast of characters is as colorful as you’d expect this type of film to have in order to keep our attention: Louise the faithful wife, Dominique the older of the femme fatales, Diane the younger of the two and Danielle the innocent girlfriend, in the gym. For the men: Pierre the middle-aged boyfriend, Remy the unfaithful husband, Claude the homosexual and Alain the teenage novice, preparing the meal.

There is no real plot to grab on to and follow here. From start to end we are engaged in the conversations of these characters and the wit of Arcand’s pen. “Age leads to vice” is one of the many quotable quips from Pierre and the rest of the boys and girls, and could also stand as a tag line for the whole movie. This is essentially a film about middle-aged intellectuals whose youth has flown by leaving them starving for lust, desire and passion in their lives.

At one point Remy proudly says, “I may cheat on Louise, but I know she’s the one for me” and laughs. It’s hard to sympathize with someone like that, which leads to the biggest problem here: you can’t really sympathize with anybody in this film. Everyone’s true colors are shown as depraved humans devoid of real emotions, while the most innocent characters (Louise and Danielle) are either too blind or indifferent to the goings on around them.

But maybe Arcand did not want to us to sympathize with these adults. It is after all how he ties in the whole theme of perversion and lust to the decline of a country’s empire. The epilogue has a narrator tell us that the youth is doomed for having “no models to live by. Our own existence is being eroded.” With men talking about STDs like they can’t wait to get them and hide them from their wives, and women giving relationship advice to their girlfriends while sleeping with their husbands on the side, you kind of get what Arcand is saying.

The Decline of the American Empire is a very clever and entertaining exposure of a specific version of adulthood. A little cold and detached, with some characters being quite detestable apart from their sense of humor, it’s a film that many won’t be able to relate to completely; those who still believe in the sanctity of marriage for example. But as the empire continues its steady decline, this deliciously decadent tale feels as contemporary as ever. And that’s the biggest turn-on here.

You will be doing yourself a favor by checking out some of Arcand’s films still showing at Cinema Du Parc. The festival runs until Feb. 9.

In the wake of Concordia’s Board of Governors’ refusal to broadcast its own meetings, student-governor A.J. West decided to take matters into his own hands—quite literally.

West is calling for all concerned students and members of the media to bring their own video cameras to film the Feb. 10 meeting, much to the expected chagrin of the camera-shy governors.

“[If security guards try to kick spectators out], then we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. They can’t kick us all out of these meetings and they certainly can’t kick me out of these meetings,” said West.

“Worst-case scenario, I will bring a camera and I will sit it on the Board table and I will film it myself.”

Needless to say, the Board of Governors is not impressed with their rogue member.

“Should [the Board’s] decision not be respected, the Board of Governors will take appropriate action to ensure that its duly approved decision is respected,” said Concordia’s senior advisor of external communications, Cléa Desjardins.

Desjardins was unaware of and would not comment on any specific actions the Board may take if faced with a crowd of filming spectators.

West’s call-to-action came after the last Board meeting when governors voted down a motion, introduced by graduate-student representative Erik Chevrier, to broadcast and digitally-archive all meetings.

Chevrier originally introduced four motions he says were drafted in the spirit of increasing transparency on the Board—an issue that Board members had been specifically tasked with improving after a report was released by one of its very own committees.

The report, by the External Governance Review Committee, states that, “Universities are public institutions in that they have a responsibility to serve the broader society. In addition, most Canadian universities are substantially supported by the public purse. University governance processes must, therefore, be transparent in that it should be clear what decisions have been made, by whom, on what basis and why.”

And it is on these grounds that West believes he is justified in ignoring the will of the Board.

“The point is, it’s not about pissing them off. It’s about making the precedent that we’re allowed to film. It’s just a matter of when there is [something controversial happening at a meeting], we want to be able to film it,” said West.

West says that he’s not concerned that there will be any legal repercussions, and he appears to be right in that assumption—at least according to an internal memorandum prepared by Concordia’s legal advisors.

The document states, “That no permission is required in order to film or record individuals in a public space. However, normally, consent is required prior to broadcasting unless the context of the recording is in the public interest.”

It is on this last point that the lawyers were less clear. They say it is arguable either way and undecided as to whether the Board is serving a public interest.

For West, though, the issue is clear-cut: the Board is serving a public interest, he says, because they are funded largely by tax dollars.
“I don’t understand why these people on the Board want to represent this university but they don’t want the students or the faculty or the staff to be able to see how they’re doing it,” he
said.

West has one final message for the governors who will be on the receiving end of his and potentially many other cameras:

“If the governors of this university don’t want to be filmed, then they can leave the boardroom; not only for this meeting—but for each subsequent meeting,” he said.

Manga artist Eiji Otsuka is Experiencing the Media Mix’s keynote speaker.

A cross-section of media artists will be coming to Concordia starting Saturday, Feb. 4, to unpack the meanings and models of Japanese animation and gaming.

It’s the fifth edition of the President’s Conference Series, a yearly event exploring the combination of multiple media platforms like video games, anime, and manga.

The three-day convention will include lectures, gaming experiences and guest speakers concerned with the main focus of media mix.

Concordia Japanese History Professor Matthew Penney said we couldn’t escape the mix even if we wanted to.

“Where there once was a single film or novel, now we have networks of film-novel-video game-graphic novel-TV series-Internet sites and so on,” he said. “For example, how could one even start to identify the real Batman at this point?”

Penney is one of many scholars who spent nearly a year coordinating the conference. With an eclectic background in Japanese history, pop culture and manga, Penney earned himself a spot as guest speaker at the conference.

His lecture will explore, critique and analyze the way Japanese graphic novels illustrate history.

“I want to look at some serious attempts to render works like The Communist Manifesto as manga,” said Penney, “but at the same time I want to critique some niche fan products that make Hitler into a cute mascot character or turn SS troops into bikini girls.”

The conference will open with Eiji Otsuka, a renowned writer and theorist of Japanese manga. Although this is one of his first lectures outside of Japan, Otsuka’s The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service and MPD Pshyco have a developed a cult-following in North America.

Otsuka’s works challenge themes of Japanese suicide, organized crime, political extortion and censorship. He explores Japanese war crimes such as the Rape of Nanking by resurrecting the ghosts of victims and perpetrators, giving them a voice to recount a barbaric event some continue to deny.

“In his presentation, he will be going back to the Second World War to examine animated propaganda films,” said Penney. “Otsuka will talk about its visual and thematic roots in Japanese fascism and some of the implications of this for the current industry and Japanese pop culture today.”

While the first day is mainly concerned with lectures, the second day allows guests to engage in a hands-on gaming experience organized by Technoculture, Art and Games.

TAG is a Concordia Research Centre of students, scholars, designers, and engineers with a shared interested in mixed media. They create and collaborate on games studies with digital culture and interactive art.

On the last day of the conference, invited Canadian, American and Japanese graduates together will discuss the ongoing correlation and fusion between novels, films, video games, comic books and soundtracks.

Though Japanese and American media cultures are internationally influential, this yearly conference allows Canada to showcase their own studies, creations, and theories on media mix.

According to Penney, even though Canada tends to be overshadowed by the amount of American pop culture consumed worldwide, there are lots of bright spots, and the future is promising nonetheless.

“Ubisoft Montreal has been central to developing big media mix products,” he said. “ With Canadian and American pop culture production increasingly integrated, there will be more opportunities for locals to participate in the media mix.”

The President’s Conference Series welcomes the public on February 4 and 5 at the auditorium of the Grande Bibliothèque (475 Maisonneuve Blvd. E.)

Photo by Dylan Maloney

Concordia 4 UQTR 3

Nicholas Champion made 35 saves and Michael Blundon scored the overtime winner as the Stingers defeated the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes 4-3 in a closely contested game on Jan. 25.

Charles-Antoine Messier and Eric Begin had two assists apiece and Adam Strumas, Eric Bouchard, and Alexandre Monahan provided the rest of the scoring for the Stingers.

The Stingers were outshot 38-26 by the Patriotes, but Champion stood tall and kept his squad in it long enough to get the game to overtime and allowing Blundon to seal the victory.

“In overtime, anything can happen,” said Blundon. “The puck came back to me at the point and my intention was to just put the puck on net and hope for the best. Luckily it went in and we got the much needed two points from the victory.”

The Patriotes came out of the gates flying, taking an early 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the game on a goal by forward Pierre-Alexandre Joncas. Strumas replied for Concordia, beating UQTR goaltender Guillaume Nadeau midway through the first period. Joncas put his second of the game past Champion with five minutes left in the frame.

Monahan scored the lone goal of the second period while the Stingers were killing a tripping penalty on Roberto Mormina, who spent a total of 14 minutes in the penalty box, 12 of which stemmed from a check from behind that earned him a ten-minute game misconduct to go along with the initial minor penalty for the check.

The lack of discipline didn’t affect the Stingers, though, as the penalty-kill was perfect on the night, killing off all five penalties they were assessed.

The teams exchanged third-period goals, with Bouchard tying the game with less than 10 minutes remaining in the final frame. Blundon capped off the win with his overtime goal just over a minute into the extra period.

Blundon noted that the Jan. 25 game was beneficial for the Stingers as they look to secure one of the eight playoff positions available.

“Last night was a crucial win for us because the standings are really tight this year,” said Blundon. “We entered the game in ninth place and that win pushed us up into seventh. With four games left in our season, it’s going to be essential to pick up as many points as we can in order to solidify a playoff position.”

The Stingers have since slipped to eighth. They have a tough test this Friday as they cross town to take on the McGill Redmen, a team that has only lost twice in regulation this season. The action takes place at the McConnell arena at 7:00 p.m.

graphic by paku daoust-cloutier

This March, Concordia students will vote whether to go “on strike” to combat tuition fee increases. This will be the climax in an academic year that has seen the CSU engage in an intensive campaign against the hikes.

Despite the folly of trying to fight against a budget that has already been voted in as legislation by the provincial government, the CSU is arming itself with language that is likely to eliminate any chance of ameliorating the situation. 

The most obvious problem with the CSU’s campaign is that the tuition increases in question are quite reasonable. Tuition in Quebec has been frozen for most of the last 45 years.

The increases, which will increase by $325 a year for five years, will, adjusted for inflation, bring provincial tuition back to 1968 levels. As well, Quebec students will still be paying some 30 per cent less than students in the rest of the country.  

Regardless of whether the CSU feels the tuition increases are reasonable or not, the fact is that they are happening. They were voted in as part of a legislated provincial budget this past March, which makes them extremely difficult to reverse.

Any change would have to occur in the realm of Parliament or the courts, and certainly not in that of student—or even public—opinion.

In leading the charge against the tuition increases at Concordia, the CSU has coerced people into believing that these protests have the possibility of reversing the tuition increases. The CSU needs to be more honest with the people it is supposed to be representing. 

Student groups across the province, including the CSU, are still riding high after the 2005 student victory against a government plan to cut $103 million from the bursary budget. But a tuition increase and a decrease in bursary money are not the same thing.

The hikes will generate badly needed funding for universities; funding that could very well be directed towards bursaries. If anything, the immature language that the CSU campaign uses to aggravate our government might jeopardize the likelihood of the government increasing those bursaries that they fought for almost seven years ago.

The Charest government could very likely be persuaded to make massive increases in both the availability and amount of student loans and bursaries that would allow more students to attend, rather than fewer, as the CSU’s campaign suggests.

That would go a long way in eliminating any negative effects created by the increases. Unfortunately, the CSU has gone out and begun what amounts to a malicious campaign of intimidation against the provincial government.

From the “Fuck Tuition” events at Concordia’s Reggie’s Bar that see the desecration of Jean Charest in effigy to the plan to jam the fax and phone lines of the provincial government, the CSU seems dead-set on creating a situation where the provincial government will be as unwilling as possible to give students a helping hand. 

In failing to accept what appears to be the new status quo of slightly higher tuition, and in deceiving students into thinking that this can be easily changed, the CSU is doing a great disservice to Concordia.

They need to stop making matters worse by using language and tactics that are likely to alienate the very government body that students need on their side in order to best cope with that new status quo. 

graphic by paku daoust-cloutier

The student-led movement against tuition hikes in Quebec is set to take a turn that is both hypocritical and quasi-fascist.

Student unions from across the province will soon vote on whether they will allow themselves to speak publicly about the specific tactics used by students in their fight.

The motion, drafted by a collection of student groups in Quebec, would prohibit all signatories from commenting on the actions of anyone trying to quash the impending fee-hikes.

If someone throws a smoke bomb into a school, for example, or smashes the windows of a government building, no single student representative would be able to speak out against it.

To be clear, the type of controversial behaviour I’m talking about here involves either physical violence or property damage. I’m not talking about actions like peaceful occupations or hanging banners, which, though they may be illegal, are not destructive in nature.

Notwithstanding individual actions, isn’t it curious that a movement advocating access to education as a human right is simultaneously defending censorship? Evidently, not everyone thinks so. The what is the value of such a self-imposed gag rule?

Some argue that it provides a safeguard against infighting, thus strengthening the solidarity between potentially disparate forces. This might be true, but it also prevents people from denouncing actions that they judge to be truly deplorable, should such actions occur.

In this light, is duct tape really the best tactic for activists to achieve their end goals? I think not.

By standing idly by and not condemning behaviour which they would never undertake themselves, activists convey a message to the unengaged public that violence and property destruction is a tactic of the whole movement, and not just one of a fringe element. The gag order would bring everyone down to the level of the lowest tactics employed in the name of tuition-hike freezes, whatever those end up being.

The message this sends is only amplified by many in the media who are hell-bent on the most exciting aspect of a story, which, frankly, is never the true meaning of the protest, but always the Black Bloc and the windows they smash.

And you know what? I don’t fault those in the media for their tendency to focus on the extreme—over the years, for better or for worse, the mandate to report on things that are in the public interest has increasingly become a preference to report on things that will interest the public.

Nevertheless, those fighting for change need to play by life’s unwritten rules or forever relegate themselves to the back-burner of public discourse.

To get people on their side—which should be the goal of anyone who claims to embrace democracy—activists must engage in publicly acceptable behaviour, and, if necessary, disavow ill-advised violent shenanigans.

When the Concordia Student Union votes next month on whether to gag themselves or be free, let’s hope they make the right choice—one that allows them to be a strong voice for the many rather than the hostages of a few.

graphic by joshua barkman

I know you’re all concerned, as I’ve heard the lamentations and received the singing telegrams, but I figure you all deserve an explanation: I’ve been gone because I’ve been sick, and that bitch of a mistress called science hasn’t done shit to help me.

We can transmit insane amounts of data almost instantaneously around the world. We can screw with the very atomic foundations of life.

We can make toothpaste taste like bubble gum. But when it comes to treating vertigo—a chronic dizziness caused by inner-ear problems—our best researchers have come up with this: “Move your head this way.

Ok, now that way. Feel better? No? Umm… oh. Crap. Good luck with that, I guess.”

Seriously science, I like you, but sometimes, you’re a bit of a dick.

graphic by eric bent

The concept was ‘grandstanding.’

Grandstanding is a verb that connotes someone is putting on a show, attempting to impress or seek approval. The person doing it desires attention from onlookers, spectators and media. 

With so many important and necessary issues which students need to understand this semester, it’s unfortunate that we sometimes waste our time—and ink—covering what amounts to little more than petty politicking bullshit.

We’re pretty certain it’s going to take a whole lot more than isolated, attention-grabbing displays for students to accomplish anything in the weeks ahead. There isn’t much confidence from our end that grandstanding will necessarily preface lasting and effective policy change, quite honestly. Does it ever?

To get a sense of the prevalence of grandstanding at Concordia, why don’t we check out what’s up with the two branches of Concordia governance—student and admin.
The Concordia Student Union is mired deep in the trenches of the anti-tuition hike fight, but frankly, grandstanding will probably not work on the Liberal government of Quebec.

As we’ve seen, there hasn’t been much in the way of gains for the student collective since the Nov. 10 protest that saw 30,000 students on the street. As awesome as it was, one full-day display of “Fuck you, Charest” didn’t move mountains the way we hoped.

When the student groups banded together, it seemed as though communication and information was really getting out there—at least, for a time.

But grandstanding on Nov. 10 only took the student movement so far, and the reality is that it might not be an effective use of time for round two. 

Alone, another huge protest cannot deliver what would, or could, make a second collective action different or more effective, or the murky Liberal budget more understandable. Sure, people paid attention on Nov. 10. But what are the necessary steps that generally precede lasting policy change, and how are we taking them? 

Your guess is as good as ours.  

The lines of communication seem to have gotten crossed at Concordia as well.

While posters cropping up in the hallways pretty much spell out the Concordia Student Union’s position on the hikes (hint: strike), the Provost has proclaimed deliberate actions in March will not hinder business (and classes) as usual in terms of university operations.

Sounds like this is going to be one heck of an exam period. Regardless of where your politics land, can we all agree that it’s pretty sad our governments came to their decisions on the matter seemingly without each other’s input?

Where are the panel discussions? The information sessions? The inter-governmental exchange necessary to take on such an important decision on either side? The fact that communication is absent is a troubling sign.

Now, what about the Board of Governors?

About a year ago, the highest governing body at this school was in crisis mode after unilaterally firing former president Judith Woodsworth.

Not anticipating the intense backlash and media scrutiny, the BoG called for an “open meeting” following an external governance report—ostensibly to help prove to the Concordia community the administrators on top would be more willing to communicate and cooperate in the months ahead.

Fast-forward to 2012: If recent Board meetings are any indication, the entire “open forum” spectacle was—oh yeah, you guessed it—grand-freakin’-standing.

Today, the BoG is essentially evading the community they had promised to engage with in the new year, rejecting motions that would create transparency and ensure that good governance is carried through. 

Specifically, the almighty BoG and Senate defeated motions to have Board meetings filmed and streamed. This would ensure anyone could access them, while also holding individual members accountable to the public institution they claim to serve. These concepts, apparently, don’t interest the BoG.

All this to say, we see through your showy bravado, Concordia. This isn’t progress—it’s posturing.

And we deserve better.

As we were piecing together this special issue, the same dilemma kept coming to mind. By covering individual green heroes, the section might project an overly optimistic image, and that seemed a little negligent, considering how the big picture paints a much gloomier scene.

Every point we wanted to touch on was tied to larger issues that manifest themselves in the giant industrial machine careening ever faster towards the ends of the Earth.

In the developed world, it’s hard to know where the brakes are at all, let alone how to activate them. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking there’s no way to escape being part of the problem.

More and more, we hear doomsday scenarios of a not-so-distant future of resource wars and destruction of nature, looming over human advancement like a giant anvil from a childhood cartoon. It’s easy to lose hope of any solution with a problem this big.

Finding a way to stitch sustainability into the fabric of everyday life to the degree that would realistically fix the world seems all too overwhelming. If everyone acted like the fate of the planet depended on their decisions, then we could be saved. But, of course, it’s not that simple. The choice is so hard simply because each one of us has to make it.

Unnecessary Tragedy

In 1968, ecologist Garrett Hardin’s Science article “The Tragedy of the Commons” gets at this dilemma. He writes about how when individuals can take from shared resources unchecked, everyone will take full advantage.

“Because the privatized gain would exceed the person’s share of the common loss,” Hardin pointed out, “a self-seeking individual would seek more exploitation of the commons. And reasoning in the same way, so would all the others. Ultimately, the common property would be ruined.”

And thus the paradox rears its ugly head—it seems we need to save us from ourselves.

But where does this motivation for maximizing personal wealth—at the expense of everything else—come from? Because while the above model seems to offer little hope, whether it’s an accurate portrait of human nature remains to be seen.

Perhaps even more paradoxically, whatever salvation we can hope to achieve seems to be found in other people, in community—in common efforts. It’s a mindset that we might not be using enough, however.

“The picture which is rewarded and predominated is that individuals are isolated, rational decision makers,” says Sheila Mason, ethics professor in Concordia’s Philosophy department. “That’s the utilitarian picture, and it’s the driving force behind capitalism.”

It’s easy to orient yourself towards the lifestyle of material goods and comfort that a personal fortune confers. It’s easy to forget about the environment that makes all this success possible. But without the fragile natural balance that exists on Earth, human existence and progress wouldn’t be possible.

The more of the planet we ruin trying to preserve this way of life we have become so attached to, the more we undermine our ability to live the way we do. This is unsustainability.

It’s not hard to see how we got to this point. In business, material and legal constraints—which are often comparatively toothless—are the only things checking brute exploitation of the natural world. There’s no explicit force inclining corporations to think about the absurdity of infinite growth within a finite space.

“[How we do business] was designed in a period when the pressure on the ecosystem was not as palpable,” said John Molson School of Business Professor Paul Shrivastava. “Now that we know what we are doing, we need to redesign virtually every aspect of our life.”

Some, like Shrivastava, think our economic system needs to shrink a little bit. He’s the director of the JMSB’s David O’Brien Centre for Sustainable Enterprise, an advocate of a multiple bottom-line approach to business practice that teaches businesspeople to maintain a socially and ecologically sustainable model—while maintaining acceptable profit.

Education might be the only way—as it is, ideas of regulation and reform are branded as an attack on personal freedoms by the lobby money behind the business and politics of expansion.

Business as Usual

A champion of the status quo will readily say, “Go ahead; be an environmentalist. That’s your right,” giving a less than cursory glance at the economic and social forces leading you towards consumer culture. But by the time sustainability becomes a financial imperative rather than just an ecological one, causing such a shift will be even harder than it is now.

The fact remains that environmental ethics has not yet worked its way into our lives the way it needs to order to maintain anything close to our way of life for the next generation. We have not yet put enough pressure on those with the power to shift our course.

The question of how to get everyone to save everyone gets even more convoluted when the most powerful push the idea that greed is, for lack of a better word, good for society.

Can the free market save the planet before it’s too late? The bigger question is whether or not we’re really going to take that risk. Businesses need incentives, and perhaps it is also time to re-evaluate what’s important.

“We all do this together. I’m not a Joan of Arc alone, bitterly composting,” said Mason in explaining the fulfilling motivation of acting with the community in mind. “I’m part of a movement.”

What we need is a movement beyond awareness, and practical application of that background dread for the future. Because sustainability is connected to everything we do. It is inevitably the systemic forces that need to change, but that will never happen if we don’t seriously think about our own actions.

McGill’s radio station, CKUT, and the McGill-operated Quebec Public Interest Research Group might be fighting for their lives after a student-wide referendum keeping them afloat has been rendered inadequate by the university’s administration.

According to Deputy Provost of Student Life and Learning, Morton Mendelson, the question asked to undergrads was too confusing.
“A few years down the road there is a possibility that CKUT will no longer be able to exist as it does now,” said Caitlin Manicom, funding and outreach coordinator at CKUT.

In a letter to both student groups, Mendelson explained the questions were “unclear and, as such, will not provide the McGill’s Board of Governors the assurance necessary to approve renewal of your agreement with the university.”

The agreement is that every five years, both CKUT and QPIRG have to hold an existence referendum.

This year, a question asking whether students should vote in person or use an online system on their student portal to opt out of funding the groups was included with the question about giving the groups the finances to stay alive.

When the opt-out system was first introduced in 2007, CKUT lost $8,000 as students could easily click ‘no’ to the $4.00 funding for CKUT while paying for their tuition, instead of voting it down in person.

Both the McGill Tribune and the McGill Daily raised concerns before the referendum about the students’ inability to choose between renewal and the online opt-out policy on the referendum question.

“If you ask two different questions in one and you get an answer of ‘yes,’ what did the ‘yes’ refer to?” said Doug Sweet, director of media relations at McGill. “Some of the student media have agreed on that.”

The question coming under scrutiny was, “Do you support CKUT continuing as a recognized student activity supported by a fee of $4.00 per semester for full-time undergraduate students, which is not opt-outable on the Minerva online opt-out system but is fully refundable directly through CKUT, with the understanding that a majority ‘no’ vote will result in the termination of all undergraduate funding to CKUT?”

The same question was asked about QPIRG. Both QPIRG and CKUT were voted in, by 66 per cent and 72 per cent of voters, respectively.

Maggie Knight, president of the Students’ Society of McGill University, released an open letter to the Deputy Provost on Jan. 13 expressing concerns that “a democratic decision by the student body [is] being
declared invalid,” after the results were rejected by the university.

According to Knight, it’s recommended that all student groups go to the administration with the referendum question before asking it to the public, something Knight said she was unclear on, so CKUT chose not to run it by administration first.

But Mendelson raised concerns about the clarity of the question prior to the referendum.

“Frankly, I find [the question] to be put in a convoluted, confusing way,” said Mendelson in an email to The Daily. “When questions cannot be implemented because they are not clear, they aren’t implemented.”

While Knight acknowledged that both student groups are talking with the Deputy Provost, she recognized that there were no official procedures for such a situation.

“We are still trying to negotiate with the university,” said Andrea Figueroa, the external coordinator at QPIRG. “We believe the students voted in a clear way to support us this year.”

If the McGill administration maintains its decision, a second referendum would have to be held during the annual elections in March.

“It would be part of our winter referendum. Obviously it requires [student groups] to campaign all over again, which takes their time and energy,” said Knight.

Without fail, he starts his columns by writing that cops are generally violent and oppressive. With equal consistency, he then defends Montreal police against their latest use of violence. He has perfected his method in his latest column, which merits a serious response.

Sparks writes that anti-police brutality activists have made “cheap politics” of the killing of Farshad Mohammadi, an Iranian immigrant with mental health issues who was shot and killed by Montreal police on Jan. 6.

Sparks writes that events surrounding the killing are “unclear.” Given this lack of clarity, he proceeds to write his own history of how events unfolded.

Without any expert opinion he explains how “shooting to wound” is more difficult than it looks on television. “The police have a tough job,” after all, “and many of them do it well.”

Sparks then returns to those “ignorant” activists. How dare they go “rushing to crucify the police without knowing or caring what happened on Jan. 6.”

How ignorant of Sparks?! How ignorant for rushing to defend the police and crucifying the activists without knowing or caring about what they actually did and said.

Sparks’ argument is incoherent, but he rightly argues that “activists devalue their very legitimate cause when discarding facts to fit a prejudiced narrative.”

One should indeed take

precaution in distorting facts
to suit a political agenda.

But this concern should be applied with greater measure by Sparks himself given that he is supposedly a professional journalist.

He has devalued his work by making assumptions about the event itself and the activists that responded to the killing. Anyone who followed these events closely knows that certain anti-police brutality activists were the best informed about this case.

Of far greater importance is Sparks’ journalistic focus. People striving for peace should “denounce the violence on which the present system is based,” wrote radical pacifist A.J. Muste. “So long as we are not dealing honestly and adequately with this 90 per cent of our problem, there is something ludicrous—and perhaps hypocritical—about our concern over the 10 per cent of violence employed by the rebels
against oppression.”

In his coverage of the McGill occupation last November and the killing of Mohammadi this month, Sparks has tasked himself with the ludicrous and hypocritical job of
defending the 90 per cent of violence upon which our present system is based.

- Matthew Brett
MA political science

Graphic Clément Liu

In keeping with our special sustainability issue, we asked students what further initiatives do they think ConU could take to be more sustainable?­

Saputo Stadium, home of the Impact, is yet to see any advertisements and still displays their old logo. photo by David Murphy

On Mar. 3 the Montreal Impact play a historic first match against cross-nation rivals, the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Confused already? You’re not alone. Allow me to fill you in.

The Impact is Montreal’s only professional soccer team, and they’re heading into their inaugural season in Major League Soccer—the largest soccer league in North America and home of David Beckham. And believe it or not, some people actually care about the Impact.
Well, perhaps that’s not entirely true.

The group of supporters behind the net at every Impact game—called the ‘Ultras’—probably care. But other than them, the upcoming season doesn’t appear to be garnering attention. There’s no sense of growing anticipation.
This is a stark contrast to the build-up to the Vancouver Whitecaps’ first season in MLS, which started this time last year.

When I was in Vancouver then, posters dominated the city and radio ads filled the airwaves. It was hard not to know soccer was coming to town.  

The Portland Timbers, who also entered the league last year, had posters of busty women with saws as props tantalizing the downtown core in late 2010.

The Whitecaps took this tactic a step further and body painted a naked blonde with their new and improved jersey, slapped her on a banner the size of two semi-trucks, hung it off a five-storey building on the busiest street in the city, and ran a YouTube campaign about it.

This created controversy and had their Facebook page buzzing—some said it was a classless move to display giant, mountainous breasts in a populous area, while others said it was a healthy distraction from the less-titillating North Shore Mountains.

Whether it was socially acceptable or not, it inspired a province-wide discussion and soccer was on everyone’s radar.

While these teams were, in tried-and-true business fashion, spending money to make money in early 2011, the official Impact Facebook page doesn’t even have a wall yet.

In fact, according to Montreal Impact media relations, they aren’t even done finalizing details for their 2012 marketing campaign.

The Whitecaps are a mile ahead with their ‘Round 2’ ad campaign already hitting the town and on social media platforms. The only sports conversation in Montreal is why the Canadiens are still stuck in the basement of the Eastern Conference, instead of a new beginning in a sport that’s proven more popular than hockey amongst Canadian kids.

Tapping into a sports market that is craving low ticket prices is something Montrealers have been looking for ever since the Expos left town for Washington, and not jumping on the chance to engage these sports-starved fans is like standing over an oil reservoir and setting up a lemonade stand.

When the Impact’s marketing campaign finally shows up, however, it better be good. It has to capture the attention of non-soccer lovers and they have to go above and beyond naked women with painted-on jerseys to have an actual impact, and make up for lost time.

Nothing would be more embarrassing than having a losing hockey team, a metro system that breaks down all the time, and a losing soccer team that no one goes to see.

Who are we, Toronto?

So why should you care? Well, despite being a pretty natural thing, sex isn’t actually very sustainable. It’s not the act itself that carries the problems, but rather the consequences and the conditions under which we have sex—many of which we’ve actually created.

Take sex toys for example. It’s no secret that plastic isn’t great for the environment but next time you’re choosing a sex toy take this into consideration: in children’s toys it’s illegal to use more than 0.1 per cent of a group of chemical compounds called phtalates, which are used to soften hard plastics, because of links to infertility, birth defects, and hormone imbalances. Phtalates also don’t chemically bond very well to plastics so they’re commonly and easily released into the environment. Sound like something you want to stick up your ass? If not, you should know that you’ll find phtalates in most sex toys as they’re hardly as regulated.

The good news is that many companies have started producing sustainable sex toys, which are body-safe, animal product free, powered by rechargeable batteries and come in recyclable packaging! There’s even a solar-powered bullet. Plus, most of these are made of wood (repurposed and varnished), unbreakable glass or silicone, so they can last a lifetime.

In case you’re wondering, biodegradable sex toys don’t exist because there’d be the risk of them beginning to decompose while still inside you. If you’re really set on the idea, use a cucumber. If you REALLY want to be sustainable, eat it afterwards.
Latex condoms and dental dams also create issues for the environment. Latex is biodegradable, but condoms and dental dams are rarely made of 100 per cent latex and the lubricants and powders on packaged latex products to prevent deterioration actually affect biodegradability.

It’s also estimated that these products take several years to a decade to decompose, and, at the rates that people are using them, we’re not making much progress. Polyurethane condoms are synthetic so they won’t decompose, and while lambskin condoms will, they don’t protect against STIs and they’re made of lamb intestines so if the goal is to be green, using animal products is pretty much one of the worst things you can do.

If that isn’t enough for you, individual condom and dental dam packaging isn’t biodegradable or recyclable either. So overall, condoms and dental dams aren’t too eco-sexy… but then again, neither are STIs and unwanted pregnancies.

There are few things less sustainable than creating a duplicate of yourself to consume, pollute and essentially double your carbon footprint. So in avoiding making a baby, hormonal methods of contraception might look pretty good. The pill, however, also brings major environmental concerns. Not only does it regulate women’s cycles in a not-so-natural way and have note-worthy side effects, it also causes women to release estrogen into water when they go to the bathroom. This, in turn, leads to increased levels of estrogen in human and water life populations, since most pharmaceuticals make it through treatment processing systems.

A similar thing happens with the antibiotics used to treat STIs (among other things). About 90 per cent of most antibiotics aren’t absorbed in the system, so they make their exit into our water leading to water pollution and antibiotic resistance.
If you’re really committed to going green, consider the all-natural, fertility awareness method as birth control. But I’d only recommend even considering this if you’re in a monogamous sexual relationship, since it doesn’t protect against STIs, and if you’re incredibly organized with a foolproof schedule.

So ultimately, what’s the most eco-friendly way to have sex? Well, with yourself. No but really, it’s looking like the healthiest and most eco-friendly way to have an orgasm is by getting yourself off with your hand. So go ahead and have a guilt-free orgasm!

Submit questions anonymously at sex-pancakes.tumblr.com and check out “Sex & Pancakes” on Facebook.

Photo Pierre Chauvin

Starving students pressed for time and money are putting down the ramen and ordering from Mamita, a student-run company dedicated to delivering delicious, cheap and nutritious meals.

Combining delivery service, an online ordering system and inexpensive fare, employees at Mamita are dedicated to getting students to eat right.

“If you’re a student and you work [for] minimum wage, you’re on a very tight budget,” said kitchen manager Marco Carbone. “We make it easy. We provide hearty, healthy meals that we deliver to your home at a very reasonable cost. It’s win-win for everyone.”

Though it was originally started to cater to friends and family, Mamita, now in its fourth year, is expanding to serve the greater Concordia community.

“Despite things like Facebook or Google, businesses don’t just happen all at once. They develop over the years,” said Carbone.

With a quality-over-quantity outlook, marketing manager George Boustany says he wants to make sure students are getting something similar to what their family would make at home, and with a wide variety of dishes like chicken stroganoff, shish taouk and fish filet, Mamita is sure to please even those with the most discerning of taste buds.

Taste buds aren’t the only concern, however—Carbone knows students are also watching their waistlines, but he has a game plan that he says will ensure that their food is the healthiest his clients have ever eaten.

“All I can say is that we’re working on something new […] and we’ll be maintaining a good balance between food that’s good for you, and excellent taste,” he said.

Photo by Erin Sparks

What is sustainable food? Ask that question of a few local chefs, activists or scholars, and you’ll swiftly be dissuaded from trying to define it. The term, it seems, is a less achievable ideal than sad symptom—its very existence a nod to the disastrous state of the global food system.

“The reality caused the term to emerge,” said David Szanto, a lecturer in both Concordia’s Faculty of Fine Arts and the Université du Québec à Montréal’s Gastronomy Diploma program. “It’s the product of a post-industrial society that takes the ‘unsustainable’ as its status quo.”

“Only a couple decades ago, for instance,” he added, “regional Italian winegrowers would not have used the word ‘sustainability.’ The word wasn’t meaningful to them. They didn’t need it.”
But on to the good news: though ‘sustainable’ food is rapidly becoming mythologized, it has reconfigured our awareness of food systems along the way and—most importantly—left behind a vibrant trail of forward-focused practices.

And though few would give them credit, those aforementioned Italian winegrowers actually seem to have a lot to do with this.

Flashback to October 1985: McDonald’s opens up shop in Rome, their first Italian branch. A feisty group of Piedmont viticulturists, with Carlo Petrini as their figurehead, band together to ensure the protection of their unique and longstanding methods of cultivation, creating the Slow Food Movement.

By coalescing, they also ended up securing the economic viability of small-scale food producers. Whether due to savvy PR or fortuitous timing, the Italian “slow food” concept managed to capture the world’s attention.

Here in Montreal, slow food has also taken hold.

Espousing its forefathers’ campaign for “good, clean and fair” gastronomy, the Montréalais movement has, since 2004, been trying to connect city-folk to regional producers and global food campaigns alike.
But the local wing has never contented itself with lobbying alone. Its upcoming 5 à 7 Slow, for instance, is a rare concoction of superstar local chefs, high-quality Québécois products and innovative culinary spaces.

“We always hold 5 à 7 Slow at a locale embodying one or more of our core values, and we naturally end up partnering with chefs who believe in the philosophy,” said Bobby Grégoire, the association’s Montreal president. This month’s version takes place at Golden Plate-award-winner Martin Juneau’s new restaurant Pastaga (6389 St-Laurent Blvd.).

Paying homage to those original Piedmont producers and their recently-released “Slow Wine Guide,” the evening is centred around six natural Quebec wines, all matched to Juneau’s small, apéritif-sized plates.

Taste and table remain paramount to food advocacy, according to Grégoire.

“The 5 à 7 idea is about conviviality, creating accessible, low-cost spaces for people to come together and enjoy local products,” he says, adding that the price tag (approx. $35) is not inflated with overhead or admin costs like other galas or foodie events. “I think it would be almost impossible to find this much top-quality wine and food for this price.”

Grégoire isn’t on a sales pitch. Most Slow events sell out quickly, so he hardly has to hawk it. Furthermore, call Pastaga for a price list, and you’ll see that $35 normally doesn’t get you much past a wine and a starter.

Past 5 à 7 venues have showcased locavore or fair-trade initiatives in neighbourhoods as diverse as the Plateau, St. Henri, Mile-End and Verdun.

For Szanto, the Slow Food model is useful in that it replaces the weary ‘sustainability’ buzzword with a set of specific, ongoing practices.

“Sustainability, as it’s used today, wasn’t part of Slow Food’s consciousness when it started in Italy. It was about a set of actions, such as educating the public, supporting local producers, or preserving traditional methods,” he said. “In my opinion, this is a much better way to talk about sustainability: break it down into concrete objectives.”

If a participative awareness of the food cycle can heighten one’s gustatory experience, then let it be known that the 5 à 7 Slow is only the tip of the local gastronomical iceberg. Check out the sidebar to the left for a quick and dirty glance at how to grow, cultivate and compost your own food in the city.

COMPOSTING
Slow Ways to Dirty Your Hands

Your apartment didn’t come furnished with a compost heap? You can still send those onion peels to a happy home. Here are five ways:

Santropol Roulant
The award-winning Plateau nonprofit resto began vermicomposting—that’s composting with worms, to the uninitiated—a few years ago to help nourish its rooftop gardens. The initiative, which began in a basement, has grown into a series of workshops offered at their spacious new Roy St. location. They run from spring onward, and you can call 514-284-9335 for more info.

Grow Your Own
EcoCentre Jeanne-Mance offers starter kits and instructions for home vermicomposting. It’s located at 3986 St. Urbain St., and can be contacted at 514-288-1402, or online at urbaniterre.org/services-et-produits.

Compost Montréal
This private eco-minded enterprise works in conjunction with the city’s Department of Parks and Horticulture and will pick up your compost for the reasonable rate of $5.00 per week, or $60 for 13 weeks.
Bonus: free pickup, free bin with weekly biodegradable liner bags, and a load of fresh compost at year’s end. Check it out at compostmontreal.com.

The Plateau
Move to the Plateau neighbourhood. The small but hip quadrangle, bordered by Brébeuf St. to the east, Messier St. to the west, Sherbrooke St. E. to the south and St. Joseph St. E. to the north, is where the city runs its pilot project for home organic-waste pickup.

Sustainable Concordia
Get dirty on campus. Depending on the time of year, Sustainable Concordia runs compost workshops right at your fingertips. Check it out online at sustainable.concordia.ca/ourinitiatives/r4/compost.

GARDENING
Cultivate Your Own Garden
Tired of relying on faraway farmers? Montréal is blooming with possibilities.

Action Communiterre
This a network of “communitized” backyard gardens in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce that allow you to cultivate and harvest your own produce. To join, get in touch at 514-484-0223 or visit actioncommuniterre.qc.ca.

Loyola City Farm
This ConU-based initiative showcases a converted soccer field (and more) which has been turned into vibrant plots for the People’s Potato and other community groups. Learn how to grow, and reap the rewards in a tasty People’s Potato meal! Check out concordialoyolacityfarm.wordpress.com for more info.

Your local borough
Eighteen Montreal boroughs offer 97 community gardens—there’s a plot out there waiting for you. You have to bring your own equipment, however—britches and hoes not included. Find your opportunity for growth at here.

Photo Amanda Laprade

The International Academy of Sports Science and Technology is making sure that more than just the Astro-turf is green in sports stadiums.

Their nearly new initiative has invoked a new precedent for events like the Olympics, but also for minor tournaments in local communities through introduction of the Sustainable Sport and Event Toolkit, a Canadian initiative.

The toolkit gives event planners structured recommendations on how to improve sustainability, a push that has been seen in our everyday world but not fully demonstrated in sport until the Vancouver 2010 Olympics set the standard.

“The toolkit was built on the experience of Vancouver. It’s like a knowledge transfer,” said Scientific Head of Sustainability at AISTS, Dr. Tania Braga from their headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Until the 2010 games, major sporting events had no guide to rely on for green standards and the Olympics lacked any movement towards sustainability outside of a promotional campaign in 1995. Now, the SSET is a backbone to further their sustainability, building on what can be improved based on previous events.

“The SSET [is] a way for Vancouver 2010 to help organizations reproduce the same initiatives they had,” said Braga. “It was more like a legacy—a gift that Vancouver has left to other sports organizations.”

Built on the goals set at the winter games two years ago, the SSET includes action plans on how to initiate, delegate and complete sustainable plans.
Objectives include building eco-friendly stadiums, to simple actions like buying locally grown produce for cafeterias.

This gift is now in full effect at the London 2012 Olympics. The Summer Games have all the same environmental developments and more. London’s expected sustainable initiatives include recycling 90 per cent of material demolished for the parks, making 100 per cent of spectators either walk, bike or use public transport to reach sporting events. They’re also building a 450,000 sq. metre nature park by the Olympic Stadium—the size of 63 football fields—making it the largest urban park in Europe.

There has been some controversy surrounding if the 2010 games actually were green, however, and if the London games are going to be.

A UBC study found greenhouse gas emissions increased eight-fold during the games because of transportation to Vancouver and, according to a Jan. 2 The Guardian article, solid waste increased 10 times after the games were done.

Concordia University Urban Ecology professor Laura Shillington says London is using sustainability as a way to sell and justify the games, and might not be going to full lengths to live up to their sustainable attitude.

“The London Olympics really reflect the way in which sustainability is taken up in city governments, as well as national governments, and planning in general,” said Shillington.

“Sustainability, in the understanding of the London Olympic Organizing Committee, and perhaps the City of London, remains framed by neo-liberal discourses which prioritize capital. The Olympics are now an excellent tool to bring global capital to a city—in this case, London.”

But this is just on the grand stage. The SSET is also something that small and medium sized events and organizations can also pick up—something Braga says is easier and less costly than many think.

Instead of monetary resources, Braga says “drivers” such as ownership’s commitment to sustainability, hosting responsibilities and getting sponsors to demand that sustainable ideals be incorporated into events, leagues or organizations, is integral to tournaments being sustainable.

“When you integrate based only on one person’s wish it’s difficult to go from the interest to the action,” Braga said. “We see this moving when we have one of these three drivers.”

Whatever Braga might think, many organizations think it’s too difficult and too expensive to implement the SSET. “There’s lot of interest, but still little action,” she said.

For Concordia, the new PERFORM Centre was a step with the right direction in terms of sustainable sport.

The new building was built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards, the school’s second building to do so, after the John Molson School of Business building on the downtown campus.

The PERFORM Centre cost Concordia $35 million and has a state-of-the-art cooling system, efficient showers, conservative water faucets and plumbing and a low-energy system that saves 49 per cent in energy costs, according to the university.

The 1967-built Ed Meagher Arena, however, is not as energy efficient.

“The arena itself is old, and we’re doing the best we can do with it,” said athletic facilities manager Marvin Cooper. “When the university decides that they have the funds I’m quite sure they will make it a green arena.”

Although the arena is limited by age, it still meets some of the sustainable practices that Braga preaches as “the little things that can make a difference.”

“We’ve changed our coffee cups, we recycle, we don’t have water bottles for sale and we don’t use a propane tank, we use natural gas… It’s lower pollution and it’s healthier for everyone,” said Cooper.

Although these are some of the practices recommended in the SSET, director of athletics Katie Sheahan said she hasn’t heard of it—but the same ideas are seen through working with Sustainable Concordia.

Sheahan said she has seen a push from the public to be more sustainable, noting two people who play hockey at the arena and bike to the game with a trailer carrying their equipment behind them.

She thinks that the changing social practices—like adopting a plan to have efficient water bottle fill-up stations all around the athletics building—are happening.

“Whenever we introduce something, every time we get positive feedback from people who say, ‘Wow, we like this,’” she said.

“We’re always looking for more realistic ways, a lot of support and a lot of help.”

On Jan. 18, for 24 hours, Wikipedia shut down entirely. So did Reddit. Google blacked out its logo and a torrent of independent websites went down in protest.

This happened because the Internet, as a collective, intelligent body, felt mortally threatened: the Stop Online Piracy Act, a bill set to be voted on in U.S. Congress, was about to enact an Internet censorship system in the United States, with architecture similar to the ones seen censoring legitimate pathways of self-expression in China and Iran.

The U.S. government refused to listen to the experts, and the Internet was left with no other choice. The uproar American netizens produced was too loud to ignore, however, and Congress postponed the bill indefinitely. But this is a conflict that’s been going on for as long as the Internet’s been around, and it is far from over.

By the looks of it, the battle will be moving north of the border in the near future. Bill C-11, the Canadian government’s proposed copyright modernization act, might set the groundwork for Internet censorship and seriously limit digital rights for all.
For example, Bill C-11 would make it illegal to save a DVD on your personal computer, even for fair dealing purposes.

According to Michael Geist, a Canadian law professor from the University of Ottawa, the music industry is seeking to use the bill to introduce website-blocking and even Internet access-termination for alleged repeat infringers.
This won’t stand in Canada, and Canadians won’t stand for it.

So join me, fellow students and fellow Montrealers to fight against this bill in support of civil rights on Feb. 10, at Norman Bethune Square. Come at 2:00 pm—not to listen to our speeches, but to give your own. Not to take pictures, but to be in them. Be part of the solution, and tell everyone that’ll listen why this is a problem for you.

Defend your civil liberties. No one else will do it for you.

Editors Note: On Jan. 31, The Link inaccurately published a headline concerning an upcoming Internet censorship protest slated in Montreal for Feb. 10. We acknowledge that the headline erroneously compared Bill C-11 to SOPA, and want to express that the author of the article, Nadim Kobeissi, had nothing to do with this inference in the paper. A more accurate headline was updated online on Jan. 31, and The Link deeply regrets the error.

You may be surprised what’s waiting in the dumpsters behind grocery stores and food markets. Photo by Laurence Olivier

To most, sustainable shopping is bringing your own bag. But to some, footprint-free groceries means a little more effort—and getting a little dirty. If you’re annoyed with the rising levels of food waste, looking to make a political point or maybe just want some fresh bread, what’s sitting inside Montreal’s dumpsters could be a treasure waiting to be unearthed.

“I had friends who did it, so one day I went to Atwater Market, filled up my bag with a bunch of vegetables from their dumpster and I was set,” said Concordia student Jason Roussel. Even though he only looks once a week, 90 per cent of his groceries come from the garbage.

Although freeganism, or dumpster diving, may require you to add some gloves and a good pair of boots to your usual shopping trip, Roussel says that it gets easier with time. Once you get familiar with the area, even a beginner will know exactly where and where not to go.

A diver for the last few years, he says his new routine is definitely an eye opener—and not just because climbing in the garbage is now a main part of his weekly shopping.

“I had no idea how much good food was wasted,” he said. “Almost all of the vegetables are perfectly good. Usually they’re the ones that have fallen on the ground or are a little banged up [and] have the slightest imperfections—and they throw it all out.”

Claire Evans, a Concordia Fine Arts student whose grocery shopping also includes looking through the trash, said that she had no idea what was being thrown out before she started to look for herself.
“I saw friends bring home bags of bagels, bread and croissants that they had found in bakery garbages,” she said.  “They told me to check the dumpsters if I happened to walk by, and after that I started looking all of the time.”

Forget clipping coupons and shopping from the sale aisle, dumpster diving can allow students to eat in a way that they otherwise might not have been able to afford.

Evans said that, although it does help her save money, eating food deemed unfit by others has actually allowed her to eat healthier as well.

Going through the garbage of commercial stores is sort of a grey area in terms of legality. Both of the self-professed dumpster divers have never had trouble with the police, but say that being courteous of the store’s property is key to having a successful trip.

“Sometimes people will yell at you, tell you that it’s dangerous. Or what will happen is that they’ll be like, ‘There’s glass, you shouldn’t be in that dumpster,’” said Evans. “To that I’ll usually
say, ‘I’m wearing combat boots, and pants, and gloves. I’m really not going to cut myself on anything’”

Roussel and Evans have had similar experiences: no run-in with the law, and both say divers and grocers usually get along well—with a simple policy of respect.

“Usually when I encounter people doing it, they just ignore me,” Roussel said. “It happened only once where someone got mad and told me to get out. They usually just don’t really care, as long as you’re respectful.”

Although they were both ready and willing to give out advice on what to expect, and tips on what beginners should look for, both students were wary about giving out exact locations of their favorite places to look.

“It’s not so much secrecy, but more so a respect to the grocer. If hundreds of people are going through the dumpsters, they’ll probably not be too happy and maybe call the cops or something and try to stop it,” explained Roussel.

As there’s obviously no rule saying that owners must keep their trashes open, there’s also a risk that if someone leaves a mess, the next time you come back, there may be a padlock stopping you from free groceries.

“It has happened before, sometimes dumpsters do get locked if people aren’t cleaning up after themselves,” says Evans. “But if I go to a dumpster and there’s a bunch of food lying on the ground or somebody ripped a bag open, I’ll clean it up so the people from that store don’t get angry that I threw stuff everywhere.”

Although they may not give out the exact locations of their favourite spots, both advise to go to big market like Jean-Talon or Atwater, as well as bakeries around closing time, when they are getting rid of what wasn’t sold.

As for some guidelines to keep diver-to-diver relations friendly, Roussel said that there are a couple of ethical rules to keep in mind.

“Don’t leave a mess, the first person to the dumpster gets dibs, and you should probably share with people if there’s anyone else there,” he said. “Because, after all, it is food for everyone.”

Photos Corey Pool

Whether you like it or not, cycling is fully engrained into the culture of this strange city. Every spring, thousands of rickety bi-wheeled wonders flood the streets as Montrealers take their bought, borrowed or rented whips out for a spin.

Whether you like it or not, cycling is fully engrained into the culture of this strange city.

Every spring, thousands of rickety bi-wheeled wonders flood the streets as Montrealers take their bought, borrowed or rented whips out for a spin.

Over the last 15 years, bike trends have changed dramatically in Montreal and in Quebec. According to Transport Canada, one in six adults were using bicycles as their means of transportation in 2005, and those numbers have continued to rise.

Of course, none of this is by accident. Montreal and its transportation industry, along with groups like Velo Montreal, have been making real efforts to improve the city’s transportation image over the last decade.

During the Montreal Summit of 2002, the city decided that transportation was a key component to the first strategic plan for sustainable development. A large part of that plan involved active transportation and a greater focus on the city’s booming cycle culture.  

Some people took full advantage of this boom and as a result, the bike messenger has become a well-known (though hotly contested) fixture of the urban Montreal environment.

Attaining the Unattainable

There are dozens of courier companies and a couple hundred bike messengers zipping through the streets of downtown Montreal. It’s no news that bikes are the fastest and most efficient way to navigate the congested city streets, yet some companies still rely on postal trucks and cars to do their deliveries. This is especially true once you leave the downtown core.

“Outside of a certain zone there are no bike messengers and there’s a reason for that: [bike messengers] are just more effective in maintaining the downtown customers,” said Cam Novak, owner and founder of Cycle-Bird Courier. “I saw this and didn’t really agree, so I decided to construct a company purely based around cycling.”

In the fall of 2008 Novak founded Cycle-Bird as a cycle-only sustainable alternative to the big courier companies that dominate Montreal. The company has strict rules on pollution and consumption, sends all its invoices electronically, and attempts to offset its waste by donations to a local not-for-profit.

“In an ideal world I’d like to have a business that creates zero pollution,” said Novak. “Of course that’s not entirely possible, but it’s about trying to attain the unattainable.”

Going the Distance

“Being a bike messenger is inherently sustainable, but it hasn’t typically been done for that reason,” said Kelly Pennington, Concordia urban planning student and one of five couriers at Cycle-Bird. “This job has been around long before it was a good business plan to seem sustainable.”

However, Pennington adds that for most companies, if the job seems faster or easier to do by car, it’s sent that way without hesitation.
“We’re really pushing the boundaries of what most people think is possible on a bike,” said Pennington.

Cycle-Bird boasts some impressive credentials, and the lengths at which this small crew goes to provide their speedy service is definitely something to make note of.
“I can send a biker from downtown to the end of the island in 30 minutes if I need to,” said Novak.

The company website lists long distance trips to Ottawa, Quebec City, and Kingston, while their delivery zone covers the entire island of Montreal, from tip to tip on two wheels.
As impressive as this service is, there is still a negative stigma that looms around the bike messenger.

“I don’t like it when people generalize, or when they think that I’m a scumbag because I ride a bike for a living,” said Novak. “But I don’t think that it’s the fault of the people doing the job; I think it’s the industry’s fault.”

An Industry in Disrepair

According to Novak, one of the biggest problems with the courier business is the treatment of its employees.

“It doesn’t take long to figure out that the industry itself is flawed,” said Novak. “There is no minimum wage, zero compensation if you get hurt, and no breaks. It’s an industry that is running wild and can do whatever it wants.”

Along with being one of the only companies to provide an island-wide bike messenger service, Cycle-Bird is also one of the only courier services to pay its employees a fixed daily pay, as opposed to the standard 50-60 per cent of a delivery.

Novak agrees that the percentage system creates incentive for workers, but thinks it fails by creating an unhealthy competition amongst couriers.

“[The percentage system] creates a situation where you’re constantly worrying about your pay check,” said Novak. “Sometimes a courier can make less than $40 in a day, sometimes you can make $100, but you just don’t know. That’s not something that I want my team feeling.”

Though it may be a work in progress, Novak believes that the industry itself needs a big change, and he’s willing to start it.

“One of my goals is not only to be sustainable in what we do day-to-day, but to be sustainable in the way we treat people,” he said.

Graphic Eric Bent

Whether you believe in global warming or not, or the role of trees in keeping the world’s temperature in check, few will speak out against reforestation.

Humans use up a lot of wood, and even the most vehement anti-climate change conservatives will have trouble preferring ghostly, stump-ridden empty fields to the rich, healthy forests that used to cover the continent.

As a result, reforestation—like recycling—is one of those green practices that enjoys a comparatively widespread acceptance in North American culture. Unfortunately, it’s not exactly deserved.

Many people assume, or maybe just want to believe, that after an area of forest is clear-cut, a crew of tree-planters goes in and replants all of the trees. After a few decades, the trees will be well on their way to adulthood and life in the forest will return to normal. By this definition, it’s a sustainable practice. But that’s not exactly how it works.

The Clear Cut Is the Deepest

The Pacific Temperate Rainforest is close to 300,000 sq. kilometres, stretching from Alaska to Northern California. According to the World Wildlife Fund, it is the largest temperate rainforest on the planet and home to the biggest and oldest trees in the world—which can reach past 100 metres in the air and live for 2,000 years.

Due to clear-cut logging that started around the time of World War II, the forest is now about half that size. Except for in certain preserved locations like Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island, the old growth of ancient giants is now almost non-existent.

The logging industry in British Columbia pre-dates the clear-cutting practices, having begun during the 1800s. Back then, the technology was so crude that it could take a team of four or five men with axes and hand-saws weeks to fell a single old growth tree.

That kind of struggle is a thing of the past though, as deforestation technology has been steadily improving over the last century. Now, whole mountainsides worth of trees can now be obliterated in the time it once took to cut down a single tree.

As is the case with any operation designed to transform masses of natural resources into products for human consumption, the process whittles down the wood taken from the forest to a fraction of its original mass. Many of the trees that get logged aren’t big enough or straight enough to be milled into usable construction material—they were just in the way of the good stuff. Those trees get hauled into what are known as slash piles, a pile of forest detritus that is usually burned.

RE:Forestation

Typically, two or three years after an area has been logged and some of the ground vegetation is starting to grow back, crews of tree planters—mostly young men and women, often students—are brought in on trucks, all-terrain vehicles—and sometimes helicopters, in cases where road access to the cut blocks doesn’t exist.

For the price of about 10 cents a tree, they begin the laborious process of replanting a forest.

A decent tree planter can, depending on the terrain, plant between 1,500 and 2,500 trees in one day. Despite those numbers, only about one fifth of the trees planted have a chance of making it to maturity. They will grow in clusters, with one tree taking dominance while the rest act to shelter it from the elements.

A few years after an area has been planted, loggers will come back in and fell the subordinate trees so that the dominant one will have a better chance of survival. Then, the replanted forest will be left alone for close to a century while the trees try to attain the height of their ancestors.

In his book The Golden Spruce, John Vaillant notes that it would take about 250 years to actually re-grow a forest. It’s not just the trees; a forest is also comprised of the delicate ecosystem that flourishes all around them: the mosses, lichens and fungi that grow up their trunks and hang off their branches, the plethora of vegetation that thrives on the forest floor and, of course, the wild fauna that call the forest home.

Most of them will never make it that far. Recently, the very first reforested areas have begun to be harvested—they are, after all, no more than tree farms. At 100 years old, these trees would have been scoffed at by the earliest loggers as not even big enough to consider for firewood. They would have gone almost unnoticed.

Veteran foreign correspondent Chris Hedges gives a bleak assessment of global challenges and the Occupy movement in a keynote speech on Jan. 27. Photo Natalia Lara Diaz Berrio

In a keynote speech ending a day of workshops and discussions on the Occupy movement, veteran foreign correspondent Chris Hedges gave a bleak assessment of the challenges that he thinks the world is facing.

“If we continue to put our faith in traditional systems of power, which are corporate, […] they will kill us. They will kill you and they will kill your children,” said Hedges, addressing an audience of nearly 300 at the Grande bibliothèque nationale’s auditorium on Friday night.

The former New York Times journalist and author of War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning and Death of the Liberal Class said that the consequences of climate change leave the world very little time to fight against a corporate state that is “hollowing out the [United States] from the inside.”

Hedges emphasized the importance of protest in the face of these threats. He compared the Occupy movement to revolutions he covered in Eastern Europe.

Small, individual protests helped “keep alive another narrative” which, according to Hedges, led to events such as the 1989 revolution that restored democracy to Czechoslovakia.

“No act of resistance is ever wasted,” he said.

During the question period, Hedges stressed that the current protests remain non-violent and the need to incorporate labour into the Occupy movement.

Hedges, who has supported the Occupy movement since its early days and was arrested protesting American investment banking firm Goldman Sachs in November, focused on the history of radical movements in the United States.

He made reference to Canada’s fortune in not deregulating its banking sector and compared Prime Minister Stephen Harper with former American president George W. Bush.

Despite the dire tone of the talk, Dan Parker, an Occupy Montreal protestor who took part in the workshops throughout the day, said that “everyone is going to walk away with a few inspiring points.”

The event, organized by Media@McGill, was often lively.

At the beginning of Hedges’ talk, a man yelled, “Vive le Québec libre!,” and asked Hedges to say a few words in French.

Occupy Montreal members made their presence known, several of them ‘up-twinkling’—the wiggling of the fingers to express approval, common at Occupy protests—whenever they heard something they agreed with.

During the panel discussion before Hedges’ talk, an audience member called a “mic check”—a method of quickly grabbing the audience’s attention—because organizers asked someone who was filming the event to stop.

Within a few minutes a motion was called by the audience to resolve the issue, a block of the audience raised its hands, wiggled its fingers and declared that the man was allowed to continue recording.

The organizers acquiesced soon after, and the panel moderator thanked the crowd for a “helpful and democratic intervention.”

“It wasn’t our intention to ban the filming. It was just our intention to control it,” said Theodora Tsentas, the project administrator for Media@McGill, who helped organize the day.

According to Tsentas, the consent forms that the speakers signed were meant only for certain media outlets and Media@McGill could have been in breach of contract if the talk were to be distributed elsewhere. Tsentas said under the circumstances, however, the organizers decided to permit the filming.

A cursory scan of Canadian daily newspapers will reveal some bleak statistics on gender parity today, as women’s perspectives—as both newsmakers and sources—make up only about 20 per cent of all voices being quoted or reported on.

Working to remedy the scarcity of female opinion in the news, Canadian communications expert Shari Graydon is holding a workshop at Concordia on Feb. 1.

Graydon is the founder of Informed Opinions, an online support and training network that features a growing database of female experts. The mandate is to “explicitly bridge the gender gap in public discourse” by using the website as a tool to make female ideas and knowledge more accessible in media.

It’s a necessary tool, for despite the gains women have made in the last half-century, their media presence is still lacking.

In a two-week study last spring, Informed Opinions discovered a mere 16 per cent of op-eds published in a six-paper sample were written by women, and female columnists made up 15 per cent of regular contributors in English language dailies.

In the French-language papers, the number of female columnists was slightly higher, sitting at 23 per cent.

Another study from McMaster University found men were writing 90 per cent of all commentary on politics, national affairs and economics in 2009.

Graydon makes a convincing case on why it’s increasingly important to have female voices inform the news: primarily, she argues, it makes for “richer, more relevant and more compelling” content.

“One of the messages we deliver when we talk to producers, reporters and editors is that they’re serving the Canadian public [and] their readers are increasingly diverse, so if they’re only reflecting the activities and perspectives of middle-aged white guys, there’s a problem,” Graydon told The Link.

“It’s competitive out there and [including diverse voices in media] is not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do—it’s better reflecting readers and viewers.”

Graydon emphasized that the media is not missing “just one, single, mythical woman’s voice,” but a lack of diversity in general.

“It’s so critical,” Graydon said. “The bigger picture issue here is that we need more voices. […] Many of the intractable problems we face as a country and a world could really benefit from the diverse perspectives of people who have a different daily experience.

“The capacity of any group to problem-solve is exponentially enhanced when the group is diverse. I really think there’s huge opportunity here to make change.”

But there are many different challenges keeping women in particular back from the mic, said Graydon, and often the reasons are “self-perpetuated.”

“If the media is full of male pontificators and experts, and women never see other women in those roles, it’s this very subtle thing, but on an unconscious level, the message that they don’t belong there is reinforced,” said Graydon.

“Marry that with the fact that on the home front, more responsibilities land on women […] and add that to the punishing appearance standards that women are subjected to [on television]—it’s sometimes just an overwhelming hurdle and women just won’t go there.”

More often, female experts also decline the opportunity to be interviewed or write an editorial, said Graydon. Many don’t believe they’re the best person to comment, while “men never say these words.”

The event on Wednesday will seek out solutions to the lack of women’s voices in media, and will be rounded out by a panel discussion with Concordia Journalism Department chair Linda Kay and Montreal Gazette Deputy Editor Katherine Sedgwick.

The event, dubbed ‘Fully-Clothed Female Role Models: Bridging the Gender Gap in the News,’ takes place in on Feb. 1 in the Hall Building, in conference room SH-767 from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Photos by Dylan Maloney

Concordia 4 Ottawa 3

They came, they competed, but they couldn’t stay out of the penalty box.

As a result, Concordia’s women’s hockey team lost 4-3 to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees—their eighth straight loss—which dramatically hurts their chances of competing in the post-season.

“We’ve got to realize that we have to play with a little more passion and a little more intensity at certain times of the game,” said Stingers head coach Les Lawton.

For the first two periods at least, it seemed as though Concordia did have that passion. After Ottawa forward Dominique Lefebvre opened the scoring midway through the first, ConU left-winger Emilie Bocchia scored a goal at the tail end of the period and banked another at the beginning of the second to make it 2-1.

Before Bocchia’s second goal had even been announced, the Stingers nearly netted a third, but it was stopped by Ottawa goaltender Tia Marley.

However, Concordia tended to shoot themselves in the foot throughout the rest of the game.

“We had a couple of penalties against us—that has been hurting us for the past couple of games,” said Stingers right-winger Catherine Rancourt.

The Stingers went to the box seven times in the game—a habit they’ve seen throughout the year. But this hurt them particularly in the second and third periods as Ottawa found the net twice while on the power play. The first came after Jaymee Shell’s elbowing penalty; the second after Ottawa enjoyed a 5-on-3 in the third.

The Gee-Gees nearly ran away with the game following that power play when forward Lauren Coxon got a breakaway. Stingers goaltender Marie-Pier Remillard—who kept the game from becoming a blowout stopping 28 of 32 shots—had no problem denying the scoring opportunity with a good save.

With five minutes remaining, Bocchia completed her hat trick after connecting on a pass from Rancourt to put the Stingers back within one, but it wasn’t enough; the team had already dug their own graves with undisciplined play.
As Lawton points out, this is something of a trend for the Stingers of late.

“There’s a fine line between winning and being afraid to lose. Sometimes we just don’t bring that winning attitude with us,” said Lawton.

That aside, the opposition believes the Stingers have some potential.

“The Stingers have a great team. I don’t think the standings show what kind of team they have,” said Gee-Gees head coach Yanick Evola.

As much as Lawton would like to qualify for the post-season, though, he believes his squad might be in too deep.

“We dug ourselves a bit of a hole,” said Lawton. “Hopefully we can get a bit of a run here. The teams we’re up against, we’ve had success [with] in the past,” he added, referring to Carleton University, the University of Ottawa and the Université de Montréal.

With the loss, the Stingers find themselves six points behind Ottawa, who hold the fourth and final playoff spot, with only five games left to play. They will try to rid themselves of their losing ways when they travel to Carleton this Saturday to take on the Ravens. The puck drops at 7:00 p.m.

Photos by David Murphy

Concordia students may recognize the name Ed Meagher as the title of the old hockey arena at Loyola campus, right next to Loyola High School and the PERFORM Centre.

Loyola High School students associate the name Ed Meagher as one of the top high school sports tournaments in the country comprised of hockey, basketball and wrestling.
Bob Lafave, however, remembers Meagher as a hell of a guy.

“He was one of a kind,” said Lafave. “I remember he used to go to [watch college sports at] Notre Dame every year, he just loved sports. And he brought that passion with him to this tournament.”

Lafave first started volunteering at the tournament 28 years ago and has since worked his way up to chairman of the event.

With over 600 athletes and teams from Toronto and Newfoundland, the high school is reaping the benefits in terms of financing their athletic department.

Lafave reckons over $17,000 is made annually from the tournament, which is in its 42nd year. The money goes directly into equipment such as wrestling mats, scoreboards and weight room supplies.

Randy Burns, the coordinator of the event who was once a student in Meagher’s math class, thinks Concordia is a big reason for the success every year.

“Concordia’s been huge since day one,” said Burns. “They lend us their facilities and we fill the arenas. They are great partners.”

The tournament has allowed before-their-time greats like Eric Lindros and Vincent Lecavalier to glide on Concordia’s ice. But this year Burns is most proud of Loyola’s wrestling team—winning the section of the tournament for the first time in the history of the event over the usual powerhouse Kahnawake.

“The tournament serves as a great development process for the students. It’s a different environment,” said Burns. “There’s big crowds that they’re not used to playing with, they’re playing at 8 p.m. instead of right after school, it’s really exciting for the kids.”

Burns and Lafave feel the tournament could go on for another 20 years, and it’s something that is just expected to happen year after year.

For Concordia Athletics Director, Katie Sheahan, the relationship between the high school and the former Loyola College grows even stronger overtime. “In order for [the high school] to be successful, there has to be a place for organizers here so that it’s almost as if the facilities are theirs all year round, so they can feel at ease.”

[[image_2]]

It’s only fitting the high school feels at ease at the arena, since Concordia renamed their hockey rink after Meager 12 years ago to the day that Loyola lifted the three hockey trophies—bantam, juvenile peewee—on Sunday. In fact, the high school won six out of the seven possible events this past weekend, a testament to the tournament and the benefits brought to the athletic department because of it.

Lafave definitely feels more than comfortable at the event, and with good reason.

“It’s a family event. Me, my son and my grandson played [in the tournament],” said Lafave.

“It started off small, and now it’s one of the finest tournaments in the country.”

Photo David Pike

While Young Empires don’t share the same type of world-domination goals as Napoleon, they do have their eyes set on expansionism.

With the release of their EP Wake All My Youth, the band is finding its footing and embarking on a Canadian tour backed by a soundtrack of synthesized indie pop that occasionally incorporates the magic of the pan flute, and conjures up words like chillwave, disco, world beat and haute rock.

The Toronto-bred quartet, comprised of Robert Aaron Ellingson, Jake Palahnuk, Taylor Hill and Matthew Vlahovich are building their own type of empire, and making music is only the starting point.

“We have a sub-thing called the House of Young Empires,” said guitarist Ellingson. “It’s like an umbrella […] the House of Young Empires could branch into other things. We are interested in fashion so we could do our own t-shirt line that’s under the House of Young Empires or we could be doing music videos and remixes.”

They have already begun a foray into fashion, collaborating with Handsome Clothing, a company out of Toronto, to create a line of band t-shirts, as well as furthering their reputation for sartorial pursuits by performing at charity fashion event Rock the Runway.

But Young Empires aren’t focused on the kind of rapid expansion that sees bands fall into the feared one-hit wonder track—or emperors ultimately exiled to Mediterranean islands.

The band is holding out for flawlessness—they carefully considered record labels before settling on Pirates Blend, an imprint started by Toronto reggae-poppers Bedouin Soundclash, and they’re perfecting video concepts.

“The hardest thing is being patient and waiting for material that is perfect,” said Ellingson. “We wait until something resonates with all members, when we can look at each other and know that something connected.”

The recent addition of a drummer is something that will help them make that same kind of connection with the live audiences. Drum machines guarantee that you will sound the same as what has been released, but you don’t have the ability to change it up for the crowd, says Ellingson.

“Having a drummer frees us up so we can do that and do different songs different ways. We do it a little longer here and a little shorter there depending on how things are going that night. We have the freedom to mix it up,” said Ellingson.

Playing shows with the likes of Chromeo, Jamiroquai, Dragonette, Japandroids and Sleigh Bells, the group has begun to feel the gratifying but “weird feeling” of having people scream out the names of their songs and know their lyrics by heart.

“You want something to be really good on a first listen that grabs people, but you want it to be equally good on the hundredth listen,” said Ellingson. “We like making music that makes people feel sexy, that makes people feel confident and has that balance of being fun but at the same time has some substance behind it.”

Young Empires / Feb. 9 (w/ Honheehonhee) / Le Divan Orange (4234 St. Laurent Blvd.)

Members of the Aboriginal community living with HIV and AIDS need to speak up and share their stories in order to gain strength and persevere, was the message delivered to Concordia students last week.

“We need to talk about [HIV and AIDS], especially given that rates of HIV are on the increase in our communities,” said Doris Peltier, an aboriginal woman living with AIDS, whose speech was part of the Concordia community lecture series on HIV / AIDS.

Peltier, diagnosed with AIDS in 2002, spoke about her efforts to deal with the virus personally and the effects it had within her community.

“As an HIV positive aboriginal woman, I didn’t want to just be another statistic,” she said. “I decided to step out and start speaking about it and disclose my HIV status publicly because we need to talk about it.”

Peltier spoke about how she had been on a trajectory for getting AIDS since the age of three, when her family was torn apart by the residential school system.

The residential school system and all destructive aspects of colonization played a large part in her lecture. Peltier says it is urgent for Indigenous peoples to ‘decolonize’ and regain a sense of culture and belonging.

“How do we reconcile? How do we heal?,” she asked.

“We need to do it ourselves, within our own communities. We talk about decolonizing—it’s really about removing those layers: whether it’s drug addiction, alcoholism, or childhood sexual abuse.”

She concluded in saying that decolonization takes place when people tell their stories. When people talk about what they have experienced, their story is validated, which in turn helps those who are also struggling.

The next lecture in the HIV / AIDS series will be delivered by Dr. Barry Adam on the theme of ‘Neoliberalism, Masculinity, and HIV Risk’ on Mar. 15.

Peggy Nash was one of the candidates in attendance. Photo Damien Kasim.

One thing was immediately clear at the federal National Democratic Party candidates debate at Concordia last week: New Democrats agree with each other on almost everything.

“I would have liked to have seen more disagreement; they all seemed capable and smart and impressive, but for entertainment value, I would rather see more edge,” said Allen Greer, an NDP supporter who does not have favourite candidate.

Of the nine candidates vying for leadership of the nation’s official Opposition party, only Niki Ashton, Brian Topp, Martin Singh, Peggy Nash and Nathan Cullen attended. It is unclear why the remaining candidates—Thomas Mulcair, Paul Dewar, Robert Chisholm and Romeo Saganash—were not there.

Each candidate present answered four questions from the moderator before the floor was opened to a short free-for-all debate between all five.

On tuition, all candidates were all in opposition to the impending increases in Quebec, stating that education is a right and should not be restricted to certain individuals based on their financial status.

Candidates were also united in their opposition to drilling for oil in the Arctic, with Topp saying it should not be allowed under any circumstances and Nash suggesting that corporations should be disallowed for drilling in the North.

On the long-gun registry, Nash took a firm stance in support of stronger gun laws, while other candidates took this opportunity to accuse Stephen Harper of playing rural Canadians off of their urban counterparts in order to create division among voters.

Candidates were then asked whether they would consider a coalition government if it were a possibility after the 2015 election.

Cullen said that in the event of an NDP minority, he would be open to a coalition government, while the other candidates voiced their confidence that the NDP would be in complete power after the next election.

Hype can take you a long way fast; just ask anyone from Odd Future. However, once you make it so far, your image has to be followed with actual talent. In contrast to other new hip hop acts that try to appeal to wider audiences, ASAP Rocky has managed to blow up in less than two months while backing the fame up with quality music. His LiveLoveA$AP mixtape was well received across the blogosphere and caught the attention of both RCA records and the BBC’s ‘Sound of 2012’ poll. But what does this Harlem-based rapper bring to the table?

ASAP Rocky (Rakim Mayers) is by no means a deep lyricist, evidenced by lines like “I be that pretty motherfucker / Harlem’s what I’m reppin.‘” In contrast to the hip hop that his home city is known for, Mayers’ variety prioritises the musicality of syllables and the intonation of voice over semantic nuance. With LiveLoveA$AP, his flow stays metric, with dragged out vowels reminiscent of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony in a much slower fashion. In fact, a codeine-infused aesthetic seems to be the underlying theme of the mixtape. The influence of Texas trill, the deep humid sounds of the Houston scene-with all its styrofoam cups and laidback slurring-are quite evident in his bass-laden music.

The production by Clams Casino in this mixtape is particularly noteworthy. The New Jersey-born beatmaker got his start working with hip-hop fringe artists Lil’ B and Soulja Boy, and has since become known for his beautifully crafted, ethereal-minded loops. LiveLoveA$AP is perhaps his best work so far. The sampling of spectral voices mixed in with heavily saturated wall-of-sound-meets-chillwave beats make for a musical bed that turns How To Dress Well’s soulful music jealous. Clams inserts ASAP’s filtered voice in stark contrast to his beats. Although sometimes debased by what seems like at least an octave (reminiscent of DJ Skrew), the rapper continues to sound crisp and contained. Songs like “Bass,” “Peso,” and “Wassup” are good examples of this production-centric approach.

This self-proclaimed pretty motherfucker may just be getting his start, but certain people are already mentioning his debut mixtape when talking about the best new music this year. As with all things hype-worthy, ASAP Rocky’s image has been carefully handed over to the caretaking of VICE. At least for now, the only direction this young rapper can go, is up. If the bass-inclined danceability of his recorded stuff is anything to judge by, ASAP Rocky’s live performance is probably one you don’t want to miss.

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ASAP Rocky / Jan. 29 / Corona Theatre (2490 Notre-Dame Rd. W.)

Angry tenants went fishing today at the Régie de logement office in Montreal in hopes of catching a break from the province.

Approximately 30 tenants and community organizers from Project Genesis, a tenants and social advocacy group, set up their fishing gear outside of the Régie’s office on René-Lévesque Blvd. in an effort to raise awareness of what they see as a systemic injustice.

“Tenants wait an average of 15 months before they get a hearing at the rental board,” said Project Genesis community organizer Nathalie Rech. “In the mean time, of course, they have to continue living in that apartment.”

According to Rech, landlords who go to the rental board with an eviction case against a non-paying tenant will have their case heard in an average of six weeks.

Phyllis Hoekman, a tenant in Montreal, said a case against her landlord took over 25 months to be heard. She’s spent over $150 on registered mail in communication with the Régie during the two-year debacle.

“I have no faith in—and nothing nice to say about—the rental board,” said Hoekman.

Project Genesis is demanding the Régie de logement hire more judges to hear cases until all tenants cases can be dealt with within three months and that all urgent cases be heard within 72 hours.

The Régie de logement did not return The Link’s request for comment by the time of publication.

Photo David Murphy

Petition to Recall President Gill

A petition and website launched by Tomer Shavit in an effort to impeach Concordia Student Union President Lex Gill was dismissed out of hand by councillors and executives as “unnecessary and a waste of time.”
Read the full story here.

Debate on Student Solidarity in Anti-Tuition Movement

A lively debate on the ‘minimum agreement,’ which is essentially a pact between provincial and national student groups to work together against the government tuition hikes and help eliminate in-fighting, was discussed at length. Councillors decided to table voting on the agreement until the CSU meeting on Feb. 8, largely due to widespread confusion over the meaning of the agreement and subsequent motions. A motion was then put forward by councillor Melanie Hotchkiss to “put on paper what [executives] have doing already” and actively work with all student associations in Quebec against the hikes. The motion was passed unanimously.

CSU Spring Election Date Changed

The dates of the CSU election have been changed to be held a week earlier than previously scheduled. This motion was carried to prevent the general election from falling at the same time as the proposed four-day strike against tuition hikes Mar. 26–29.

A Call to Arms to Film Next BoG and Senate Meetings

In response to the Board of Governors’ refusal to broadcast and archive their meetings, CSU BoG representative A.J. West called on all interested students to film the Feb. 10 BoG in protest. West said that if students didn’t take up his call to film the meetings that he would do so himself. For more background on the transparency motions shot down by the BoG, read our story here.

Concordia Introduces Its iPads

Concordia’s libraries have released 49 iPads into circulation and the decision to purchase the iPads over other brands of tablets was a result of extensive student-led research, said CSU BoG member AJ West. The choice came, in part, because of the ability to easily erase user history from the devices. When asked about whether it was ethical to support Apple due to controversy over the labour used to manufacture the devices and their use of minerals from conflict zones, CSU President Lex Gill responded that, at this time, ethical tablets do not exist and thus cannot be purchased.

—with files from Laura Beeston

Lex Gill says the petition is “full of lies”. Photo Riley Sparks

The petition lists the decline of student representation on the Board of Governors, slashed budgets and issues stemming from last semester’s byelection as some of the reasons for Gill to be removed from office.

Co-organized by former CSU councillor Tomer Shavit, Arts and Science Federation of Associations President Alex Gordon and Commerce and Administration Students’ Association President Marianna Luciano, the petition can be found online at stoplexgill.com .

An alternate website stoplexgill.ca swiftly went up later that day.

According to the CSU executive, the current petition does not comply with current bylaws, which state executive teams may be recalled to an election if the CEO receives a petition of 10 per cent of all the members of the student union. In this case, approximately 3,500 students would be required to sign the online document.

In the version of the bylaws currently in effect, Gill explained she could not be recalled to an election or removed from office as an individual.

This, she stated, would make the petition invalid even if it reached the required signatories.

Gill also called the clauses of the petition “rife with conjecture, misinformation, logical fallacies, defamatory statements and straightforward lies about myself, and more importantly the work of my executive team.”

“I am proud of my team, of this year, and will stand by our record,” she said at council.

Members of the executive then went through the accusations against Gill in the clauses and stood by their president, before council unanimously passed a motion of confidence in Gill.

Shavit, who took the CSU to the Judicial Board—the highest independent body of the CSU—over the firing of former CEO Bram Goldstein last semester, told The Link earlier in the day the petition was months in the making, but that “it took a while for everything to fall into place.” He added that volunteers will begin circulating the petition, and a Facebook page will be set up for discussion of the petition.

Later at the meeting, Shavit defended his petition, calling the bylaws to impeach a president “anything but straightforward” and “open to interpretation.” He maintained it was possible to simply impeach the president separately from the executive and would pursue that avenue.

“This is starting to remind me of another government,” said Shavit of the meeting, referring to President George W. Bush. “If we criticize ourselves, the terrorists win. Student governments are just as important.”

This is not the first time a CSU president has been called to resign.

In early 2002, then VP Finance Patrice Blais, who currently works as a lawyer for the CSU, took control of the union after the recall of his executive amidst serious questions about the union’s finances.

Again in 2009, a 3,600-signature petition was created to oust former CSU President Keyana Kashfi and was circulated in part by Blais. The petition was then sent to then-CEO Jessica Nudo, who resigned 25 hours after rejecting it.

More to come.

This story was updated Jan. 25, 2012 following the council meeting.

Concordia 4 Carleton 5

Concordia’s men’s hockey team were eager to get two points over the visiting Carleton Ravens last Saturday, but, playing their fifth game in eight days, they ran out of steam by game’s end, dropping their third of those five games.

Despite the end result, Stingers head coach Kevin Figsby was pleased with the team’s effort. “For us to stay on the game plan as long as we did and battle like we did, I’m really proud of our team today,” said Figsby.

A slow start to the game set the Stingers back, as the Ravens pumped two pucks past Stingers goaltender Peter Karvouniaris despite some magnificent glove saves on his part in the early going.

After coming back from two goals down to tie the game up at three apiece, momentum slipped away from the Stingers. After the they came away from a scuffle in front of the net—in response to some Carleton physicality towards Karvouniaris—with a penalty, Ravens defenseman Matthew Stanisz capitalized on the man advantage, and the opposing squad added another marker before the period was out.

Karvouniaris stood tall in the third, however, stopping all 12 shots Carleton threw at him. “You know they’re going to be defensive with a two goal lead, thus taking less shots, so you gotta be ready when they come,” he said.

Stingers captain Eric Begin closed the gap to 5-4, but the Stingers couldn’t muster up any more offense after that.

Next up for the Stingers is a rematch with the Université du Québec à Trois Rivières Patriotes following Jan. 18’s debacle, which Figsby notes is an important one for a team looking to play in the postseason.

“There’s six teams that are all within two points of each other so every game right now is going to be a tremendous battle,” said Figsby. “We’re in a must-win situation right now, and if you got anything left, you gotta put it out there, and if you don’t have anything left—dig down and find a way,” he added.

The Stingers-Patriotes action takes place on the road this Wednesday. The puck drops at 7:00 p.m.

Photos by Amanda Laprade

Concordia 52 McGill 57

Concordia’s women’s basketball team will not be finishing the 2011-12 season with a perfect record after dropping the ball in last Saturday’s matchup against the McGill Martlets, falling 57-52.

Both teams started hot from downtown, with Stingers forward Anne-Marie Prophete capitalizing five times from three-point range and Martlet forward Hélène Bibeau hitting four from beyond the arch.

“Today when I hit my first three, I felt confident from then on,” said Bibeau. “We made a statement that we can beat the number one team in the league. However, we will have to work harder if we want to beat them again next week.”

In the first, the Stingers held the fort and stopped McGill’s inside game as guard Tiye Traore and Stingers forward Serginha Estime battled it out in the post positions.

ConU came out the first quarter leading 13-11, and enjoyed success in the second quarter too, leading 19-13 at one point. But a trey from Bibeau, coupled with undisciplined play from the Stingers, allowed for the Martlets to take over and never look back, as taking a 26-23 lead into half time.

“It was an all-around frustrating game,” said Stingers guard Natasha Raposo, who nearly tied the game with a missed three-pointer.

McGill took advantage of Concordia, who struggled to score for a five-minute period in the third. Before long, the Martlets held a 39-31 lead.

Before the Stingers had a chance to play catch-up, their fate was sealed in the fourth when both Bibeau and Martlet guard Marie-Eve Martin each scored three-pointers to put the game out of reach for ConU.

The Stingers made a late offensive surge and would close in with four quick points, but it wasn’t enough. Frustrated, Concordia’s head coach Keith Pruden voiced his concerns to the officials—and was given a technical foul.

Despite the loss, the Stingers saw this game as a blip on the radar screen, and believe they’ll come out on top the next time these two teams face each other.

“We played with great intensity, and there’s no doubt we’ll get them when it matters,” said Raposo.

The Stingers will have their chance to redeem themselves this Saturday when they visit the Martlets 24 hours after paying the Bishop’s University Gaiters a visit. Both games are at 6:00 p.m.

You won’t need to resort to streaming that new edgy documentary on your laptop anymore. Montrealers will now have the opportunity to see recent international docs on the big screen with the help of Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal and Film POP.

Following the success of this year’s edition of RIDM, the city will once again be hosting some of the world’s best cinéma verité.

A new monthly series called Docville is launching Thursday, kicking off with Bombay Beach, winner of the Best Documentary Feature prize at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival.

Directed by Israeli-American filmmaker Alma Har’el, the film follows a rural community living on the shores of an artificial saltwater lake in the middle of the Colorado Desert in California.

In the 1950s, developers built an oasis-like resort town called Bombay Beach there, but the experiment failed and what remains today is a remote ghost town that a community of 300 or so calls home.

“There’s something about the landscape of the film; it’s such a strange and surreal place in the middle of the desert,” said Charlotte Selb, director of programming for Docville. “It’s the visual embodiment of the death of the American Dream.”

The film is an interesting hybrid of many cinematic elements, including fiction, choreography and music, presented in documentary format. There are staged sequences and choreographed dance numbers, but ultimately the film presents a story of real characters living in a unique place.

“There’s the whole music aspect of it that I find really interesting, with the music of Beirut and Bob Dylan,” Selb said. “I think it’s a movie that’s really enjoyable. It’s beautifully shot.”

Bombay Beach was chosen to launch the series because of the amount of acclaim it has received since its debut at the Berlin International Film Festival last year. Despite all the recognition however, this will be the first chance for Montrealers to see it.

“We’re looking for films that surprise us, that move us—with a variety of topics. We’re really going in lots of directions,” said Selb.

“We want to make [the audience] discover films they wouldn’t expect, we want to show them what documentary can be. The genre is so innovative these days, [so] we’re trying to show the whole range of what’s being done.”

Bombay Beach will be screened this Thursday at Excentris Cinema (3536 St. Laurent Blvd.) at 7:00 p.m. A discussion with the director—via Skype—will follow.

Docville will premiere a documentary on the last Thursday of every month until September.

_For a complete list of dates and more details, visit ridm.qc.ca/docville

Dinosaur Bones are the real thing.

Not in the regenerated-from-fossilized-amber sort of way, but rather a group of guys from Ontario roaming the country sharing their not-so-Jurassic sounds. Armed with a slightly haunting brand of guitar-driven indie pop, these guys are in it for the long haul.

A group of friends in their mid-20s, Dinosaur Bones have pinpointed the most promising recipe for success—hard work.

It’s obvious that the band wasn’t put together on a whim.

“If you want to be successful creatively, you have to throw everything at it,” said Ben Fox, lead guitarist and singer. Fox decided to commit to music full-time while halfway through a stint at Concordia, studying English literature and political science.

“It wasn’t really something that I ever had to think about. I knew that this was what I had to do,” he said. “I knew that if I didn’t do it, I’d regret it for a long time.”

Undaunted by the track record of once-ambitious, now ex-musicians that chose that same path, Fox said he found it to be the most natural decision he ever made.

“I think back-up plans are probably one of the most creatively stifling elements you can have in your life,” he said.

Growing up in what he describes as a “circle of tons of artists and musicians,” he played music with people throughout high school, some of whom would eventually come to make up Dinosaur Bones.

Luckily, when he decided to drop his studies and take up music, his old friends were on the same page.

“I didn’t have to twist any arms or anything,” he said. “For the most part, we were pretty familiar with how each other work. It was comfortable from the get-go.”

Although last year’s debut LP My Divider may start out with a ballad soft on drums and heavy on lusty vocals, the subsequent tracks don’t shy away from breaking the pattern. The record combines moments of dominant guitar rock with more subdued tracks, focusing on vocals and sophisticated riffs.

Hailing from the burgeoning indie rock circuit in Toronto, the band knows exactly where to draw the line between influence and imitating what came before them. The band entrusted the album’s production to veteran producer Jon Drew, who has worked with Stars and Tokyo Police Club.

The result is a new take on Canadian alt-rock that will probably appeal more to fans of ‘90s mope-rock than those looking for the newest indie-pop hit. That being said, a few of the tracks are still pretty damn catchy.

Fox says that some of My Divider is based on his move from Montreal to Toronto, but admits that the next album, which they are working on already, is turning out to be different.

“A lot of the songs on the album were based on leaving things I cared about behind,” he explained. “But at the same time, I think every band’s first album tends to be a culmination of things and tends to span across a longer period of time. The things that I’m currently writing about will definitely be from a different point in my life.”

After opening for acts like Yukon Blonde and the Arkells, Dinosaur Bones are headlining almost every show this tour. They’re set to hit the road for Montreal this week, and they’ll be heading across southern Ontario for the next couple months.

As for plans in the future, Fox is wary about pinpointing what exactly would mean success for the Bones.

“It’s more a matter of longevity, especially in music, and being able to sustain the quality of work that you’re putting out,” he said. “As well as being consistent as an artist that people are aware of and will continue to care about for an extended period of time.”

Ready to go wherever their mid-tempo indie rock takes them, Dinosaur Bones aren’t interested in taking the safe route. Touring coast-to-coast is the kind of education no university could provide, and the band are quickly becoming upperclassmen, a group of genuine, honest-to-goodness rockers willing to put in all of their efforts to keep living the dream.

Dinosaur Bones / Jan. 31 (w/ Prussia) / Il Motore (179 Jean-Talon St. W.)

Illustration Julia Wolfe

On a cold winter night in Montreal, a small group of students and activists gathered in the basement of a pub on Ste. Catherine st. to sip cheap beer and scheme ways to rebuild the university as we know it—from the ground up.

The night was heavy with political conversation soaked in happy-hour Labatt Bleue; the mood lively and abuzz with new beginnings as those present officially launched the Alternative University Project.

“The basic goal of the project is to give classes outside of the university and in the community so that people can actually participate in learning while avoiding the commodified process behind [the university system,]” said Concordia Graduate Students’ Association representative Erik Chevrier.

The project aims to redefine the educational system by offering free classes taught by students and professors while encouraging a communal learning structure. It is non-hierarchical, consensus-based and run entirely by volunteer learners and facilitators.

Still in its infancy, the idea for the AUP first arose at McGill University, conceived by students in the midst of tuition protests and the looming possibility of student strikes. It has since grown to include over 50 members and many others who support the idea of stepping outside of the conventional university to learn.

One such supporter is McGill associate professor Kevin McDonough, who specializes in the philosophy of education. He says the idea is a very worthy in principle, even if he doesn’t foresee it overtaking the current university system.

McDonough credits the Occupy movement for prompting university professors to give more informal classes like this on topics related to the concerns surrounding economic inequality and other concerns that the Occupy protests aimed to discuss.

The AUP’s academic calendar currently boasts 11 courses described as “drop-dead gorgeous” that allow one to participate in studies in post-capitalist futures, a programming and web-design study group, a sustainable architecture studies course—and even a knitting class.

Redefining the idea of what a student is and the way in which the student learns is at the forefront of the AUP’s mission.

“We’re in this state of academia where you learn from an expert, and the learning is strictly one-way, rather than a model where we learn with and from each other,” said Galen Macdonald, a McGill student and one of the early organizers of the project.

“We also wanted to break away from the idea that learning is confined to within the walls of the university,” said Macdonald. “[Learning] can happen anywhere.”

As important as it is for the project, the lack of a defined space has been cause for some debate within the group. While the idea of a home base is being considered, currently, classes are slated to take place in cafés, lofts, basements and public spaces.

“People have different ideas about what’s next,” he said.

Though some, like Chevrier, look at the project with long-term goals, Macdonald isn’t entirely sure what the future holds.

True to the nature of the AUP, Macdonald views the project as more of a learning experience.

“I’m more of the thought that this is just a big experiment for a certain amount of time, and we’re going to have to see where we get to, what problems we face, and what we can come up with,” said Macdonald. “It’s exciting, and the possibilities are really endless.”

“We’re doing this for its own sake,” he said. “We’re learning for the sake of learning, and building this community for the sake of having the community. Anything else that comes along with it is just a silver lining.”

McDonough is excited at the possibilities as well, even though he’s never taken part in such a project. He thinks that, given time, people both inside and outside of the ivory tower will come to see the benefits of an alternative university.

“There’s no doubt that, socially, the credential of the university degree is a valuable thing,” he said. “Students wouldn’t pay as much as they do and put as much energy into getting a degree if they weren’t valuable commodities for them.”

But, he continued, “if you don’t want the credential or you don’t see that as essential to what your life is about and you still want to throw yourself full-fledged into [getting an education], you can do it.”

For more information, visit alternativeuniversityproject.tumblr.com.

The Quebec government has indicated it will try to keep moving forward with its planned tuition increase, which will amount to a 127 per cent hike in rates between 2007 and 2017.
In response, Concordia’s Graduate Students’ Association is starting a conversation about student debt this week.

For the most part, two camps dominate the debate over student debt: those who believe students should ‘invest’ in the future earning potential of a degree, and those who feel that the amount being asked is too much.
But there are more fundamental issues to think about.

One of the biggest problems with seeing education as an investment is that it gives little importance to actual learning. The piece of paper at the end becomes far more important than becoming a more knowledgeable, experienced and critical member of society.

Politicians and university administrators have already done a great deal to shorten program lengths, remove prerequisite courses and lighten requirements to grant as many degrees as possible.

As diplomas have increasingly been seen as a way to out-qualify other job applicants, their monetary and educational value has declined. 

Those who graduate with significant debt also face limits on the choices they can make. It seems like everyone knows at least one person who is in a job they hate or putting off dreams and plans because of their debt.
Statistically, Canadians graduating with student loan debt are less likely to have savings and investments, less likely to be homeowners, less likely to go to graduate school and are less wealthy overall than students who graduate without debt.

Moreover, the burden of debt isn’t only financial. Having to dig oneself out of a financial hole tends to make people feel less secure and less happy, which is difficult to quantify but undeniably important when it comes to quality of life.
Debt also exacerbates existing inequalities. A total 65 per cent of Quebec students graduate with debt, and 85 per cent of those students come from families with an income under $40,000 per year.

This means that students from marginalized backgrounds are further disadvantaged at the beginning of their independent lives, and the situation will only be exacerbated as tuition goes up. 

Finally, we have all seen that high levels of personal debt can destroy economies. It’s baffling that so many people compare Quebec tuition levels to those in the United States as a way of arguing for the increase when the American economy is in a continuing consumer debt crisis.

In the U.S., student debt has surpassed credit card debt, and will soon be worth over $1 trillion. Many experts have expressed alarm that these debts are likely to spark another economic meltdown.

In light of this, the GSA is screening Maxed Out, a 2007 documentary on consumer debt—including student debt—in the U.S. The film will be screened Jan. 26 at 6:00 p.m. at the GSA House, located at 2030 Mackay St., with a discussion to follow.

Graphic Joshua Barkman

Usually when a clogged artery happens—let’s say, in your heart—you get it fixed. Very smart doctors attempt to unclog it and widen arteries so blood can get to where it needs to go so you can, well, not die.

You don’t need to be smart to know the exact same scenario is happening in the pedestrian walkway underground in the EV Building, next to Le Gym, where that death trap of a rotating door meets the metro.

Hoards of people attempt to maneuver through the two always-busy-as-shit glass turnstiles everyday, and everyone slows up and awkwardly positions themselves to dive into the spinning disaster that’s going as fast as a teacup ride.

Believe it or not, there’s an awesome solution to this—take the fucking turnstiles out. And do it before someone falls and gets decapitated between the moving doors and standing frame.

The doors were removed last semester, so why that’s not the case right now is hard to understand. It also doesn’t help that idiots stand on the metro side, completely oblivious to the world around them while eating shitty two-dollar pizza and blocking people into an area tighter than my arteries feel when I’m trying to navigate the crush of sweaty, winter-coat wearing bodies.

Let’s get doctor-smart about this, or the stress from walking to my class might lead me to decapitate some people even before the inevitable happens.

–David Murphy,
Lifestyle Editor

Photo by Riley Sparks

It took almost no time for Montreal’s anti-police activists to make cheap politics of the tragic Jan. 6 police shooting of Farshad Mohammadi.

Two days after the shooting, Howl!—a collective that advocates for social justice through art—wrote, “As Canada’s Conservative government moves to enforce economic austerity measures that place the burden of the financial crisis on poor and working people, let us also mark this police killing within the growing calls for social and economic justice in Quebec and Canada.”

A speaker at Howl!’s protest in Bonaventure Metro on Jan. 10 argued that “our economic system killed Farshad Mohammadi,” and that his shooting was evidence that “capitalism kills.” Artist and activist Norman Nawrocki, who spoke to The Gazette that day, was more direct: “The police decide, ‘We’ll take care of the homeless problem for you, we’ll start killing them.’”

Yes, the cops in this city aren’t always great and they make plenty of mistakes. And yes, there are too many homeless in Montreal and more needs to be done to protect them. But the important discussion about the inequalities and economic injustices that cause homelessness is pretty academic when the manifestation of this problem is stabbing you in the face with a pair of box cutters. So let’s set aside politics for a moment, take a step back and look at the facts of the situation.

Like most details about Mohammadi, the events preceding his confrontation with police in Bonaventure Metro are unclear. What is certain is that two police officers approached him in the station and some time later he stabbed one in the chest, neck and face. After a short pursuit, the officers fired three rounds, killing Mohammadi. 

The police just can’t let a violent, armed man run around a busy metro station. Mohammadi had already attacked one person—it wouldn’t have been unreasonable for the police to believe he might try to hurt someone else. Still, did they have to shoot him? What options did they have?

If the officers had been able to clear the area, they might have worked to calm Mohammadi down while they waited for better less-lethal options. But the escalating situation and crowded scene would have made that difficult. Trying to disarm him would have been dangerous. The officers would almost certainly have been cut, and if that cut struck an artery, bleeding to death would take minutes.

Pepper spray and tasers are also not ideal for a rapidly moving situation. Neither are guaranteed to work, and can be defeated by thick clothing, wind or movement. It’s not clear if these officers were armed with stun guns—the Montreal police have only 48 in their arsenal. 

Shooting to wound also isn’t as easy as it looks on TV. Legs and arms are very small, probably moving, targets. There are major arteries in both, so even if the officer did hit their target, the person could still rapidly bleed to death. The shot is also much more likely to miss and hit someone else, as happened last year to Patrick Lamoges, who was killed by a stray police bullet.

The police have a tough job, and many of them do it well. Others, like those who shot Fredy Villanueva and Patrick Lamoges, do not. We can speculate all we want about whether these officers made the right call, but until the Sûreté du Québec investigation wraps up and all of the facts are public, no one will know for sure. 

The presumption of innocence in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies equally to all. And immediately, almost gleefully, rushing to crucify the police without knowing or caring what happened on Jan. 6 is ignorant.

Activists devalue their very legitimate cause when discarding facts to fit a prejudiced narrative of psychopathic pigs murdering the vulnerable.

Hopefully Mohammadi’s death will force the city and province to work harder to help people like him. There are many ways to prevent these situations before they happen, but there’s little the police can do when confronted by a violent, unstable person wielding a knife in a metro station, no matter how disadvantaged or marginalized he or she might be.

Social workers and counsellors, not cops, should be the ones dealing with people like Mohammadi.

Graphic Eric Bent

How passive are we about our education?

Some of us are graduating this year, and lately many of our peers in the same position have been complaining about the state of our university. Some are dissatisfied with the level of engagement we see from our peers in class, the passiveness of some profs, the amount of money we’ve put into getting this degree, maybe not having learned as much as we feel we could have—the list goes on.

Not pursuing a post-secondary education is almost unheard of today, as university has become a natural step after graduating high school. Without a degree, we are presumably left with few career options. Graduating during The Great Recession means that many students are covering their walls with degrees that they otherwise would not have paid for. What does this add up to? A lot of time, money and stress. But is it worth it? Are we satisfied with our post-secondary education? Recent student upheavals, strikes and protests say no.

Maybe we have become so complacent and stuck in how things are “supposed to be” that we’ve forgotten that there can, and should, be alternatives to our current system.

As university students at an institution that encourages our engagement in new ideas, where we should be constantly interacting and learning, where we’re taught to ask questions, think critically and generate new opinions and dialogue, how many students are sleepily working their way towards degrees, hoping that a piece of paper will buy them a job?

On top of this, our governance system, on varying levels, is less than inspiring.

While President Frederick Lowy congratulates Concordia for getting through last year’s administrative exodus and (very public) crisis of government, the Chair who was called to resign is still on top and as contemptuous as ever—shutting down students and closing the door to more transparent meetings.

And while Your Concordia ran a campaign last year that gave many faith in their ability to bring radical new ideas and change to the table in terms of how this university is run, they ultimately failed to live up to these ideals… so far. Cool, a swap shop and some fun events, but how about getting students to actively engage in their university community and, ultimately, in their own learning? Their passion was uplifting and gave students hope for a brighter future. Where is it? 

All of the tuition talk this year has taught us that our education is worth money—a lot of it. But we’re focusing so much on how much it costs that we might be forgetting to ask whether the money we’re spending now is being returned in knowledge.

Talking about a new project being started by university students and professors this week (the Alternative University Project) got us thinking about how much control we have over our own education.

The label of “student” shouldn’t be something that comes off when we walk across that stage to get our diplomas. We battle with the administration over how much our schooling is worth, but how much are we in control of our learning? How engaged are we with our position as students?
A project that focuses on the world of learning outside of the institution of a university is a beginning. It focuses our attention on why we all work so hard to come to school every day: to ­­learn.

Student is a word that isn’t necessarily clearly defined. We are in a position now where we can question everything—our learning, our administration, our rights—and change what we’re not happy with. Projects like Alternative University are starting the dialogue and we should be looking towards them. Our education needs to be about more than a piece of paper.

Together, we can force the provincial government to back down and reverse their $1,625 tuition fee hike and ensure accessible, quality education for future generations.

On Nov. 10, we filled the streets of Montreal with over 30,000 people to denounce the Quebec Liberal Party’s unjustifiable fee hike. This winter, we can do even more.

Despite our determination this autumn, the government hasn’t budged. Not only did they try to minimize the solidarity that gives life to the student movement, but were so petty that they attempted to buy up Google keywords for student associations to promote their pro-increase agenda—as if, by shoving it down our throats, this fee hike would suddenly become acceptable. We know better. Their plan will add to the massive financial burden students carry, promote individual and family debt and will do absolutely nothing to resolve the real problems of university mismanagement!

Following the massive demonstrations this fall, proposals for student strikes are gaining incredible momentum on campuses. Already many associations are planning to consult their members directly on the question, knowing it is perhaps the only way to make the government back down. We urge you to participate in these debates, express your ideas and opinions so that this campaign faithfully reflects your wishes and values.

It is not lightheartedly that we plan a Quebec student strike this winter. No student wants to voluntarily interrupt the course of his or her studies, but it may be the only option—especially compared to the government doing it by force through this massive increase.

Unfortunately, Jean Charest’s government has refused to listen. We have taken every reasonable step to prove the devastating consequences of this increase in black and white, supported by clear data and research. Nevertheless, this government has essentially denied reality and chosen to ignore the inconvenient facts. Are we willing to deny our younger siblings, our friends and allies and future generations access to the education we’ve been privileged enough to have, simply because they won’t be able to afford it? Is this really what we want for Quebec society?

We knew from the start what we were dealing with—an arrogant government, stubborn and obstinate, which has never had the wellbeing of students or their families at heart. They are blinded by neoliberal ideology and a failing “user pays” mentality. It’s the same blindness they had in 2004, when they attacked the poorest students and tried to cut $103 million in student aid—but we fought against it, united, and won.

So get involved! Join the movement! No matter how you participate, we need to send the message to Charest that this hike will not pass, that students will fight to defend accessibility to university studies, that they will not let the Liberals burden us with more debt or shut us out of classrooms.
Students, rise up! Let us be united, work in solidarity. Together, we will win.

Let us make 2012 the year of youth.

–Martine Desjardins
President of the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec

When students are gathered into a room in order to rubber stamp decisions made by their executives, it is not democracy. However, there are examples from across Quebec of student unions holding general meetings or assemblies on a regular basis where students can discuss and bring motions to the floor.

The Concordia Student Union is such a big entity that it is difficult to imagine half of the members getting together in a room and discussing all together.

At most universities in Quebec, a lot of departmental student associations are active and politically engaged. Since they are smaller, they can hold regular general meetings and take positions that reflect the interests and politics of their members. Plus, the smaller size of these meetings allows for more discussions and debates.

If you think the CSU general meeting is not democratic, then stop whining about it and a) get the most people you can at such meetings so it will reflect the opinions of a maximum of students b) organize a general meeting with your departmental association.

This is already happening, as some student associations of the Arts and Science faculty are planning to hold general meetings in the upcoming weeks.

Democracy cannot come from a top-down approach. It needs to start from the bottom up. It starts with the students.

—Hugo Bonin

Ward would replace the GA with some kind of online alternative, using the administration-controlled MyConcordia portal to consult students about a strike targeting the fee hikes the administration wants students to pay.

The GA is not just a matter of consultation. It is about mobilization.

Half the battle is getting people to take the time out of their schedules to actually show up and be counted. People for and against the strike can mobilize and anybody is free to come to the GA, participate in the debate and vote in the tradition of direct democracy. If that is not democratic, I don’t know what is.

The fact that you have hundreds of warm bodies in H-110 is of critical importance for the next stage in a strike—striking!

Just try to mobilize the people who click “yes” in a computerized strike consultation. How many people actually show up to something they’ve scheduled on Facebook?

The reason tuition is lower in Quebec than other Canadian provinces is because of student mobilization. One of the reasons we’ve had successful student mobilizations is the tradition of GAs and direct democracy in the student unions of CEGEPs and universities across the province.

The one per cent have their pocketbooks. The 99 per cent need the organs of radical direct participatory democracy like the general assembly to make their voices heard.

—David Bernans
CSU Researcher & Archivist
1999-2006

Illustration by Paku Daoust-Cloutier

The popular site that made it easy to for users to upload music, movies and TV shows for download symbolizes exactly the kind of thing that SOPA and PIPA were attempting to combat—an infinite, perfect warehouse for distributing copyrighted material.

The suit against Megaupload and its related entities charged them with robbing American shareholders of upwards of $500 million.

The American government is worried about the major record companies’ shareholders lost profits—an aspect of illegal downloading that doesn’t even begin to enter the discussion for many who fret primarily about stealing from the artists.

This is a perfect example of the absurdity of the debate that currently encircles copyright protection and illegal downloading.

Masturbation and Marijuana

There’s a moment in Concordia graduate Brett Gaylor’s 2009 copyright documentary RiP: A Remix Manifesto when Cory Doctorow, self-styled “online cultural critic” and writer for the tech website BoingBoing.net, compares the moral aspect of illegal downloading to masturbating.

“I think that what’s happening with copyright is the same thing that happened with masturbation. People are starting to admit to each other, ‘Yeah, I do it too…’”

It’s an interesting comparison, one that also extends to marijuana usage. What does one do about these practices that are condemned as sinful or illegal by the moral arbiters of the day, but are extremely popular and widespread regardless?

It seems as though eventually something has to give—either those at the top change their stance, or the masses at the bottom change their habits.

In the case of masturbation, it was the former. Religion became less of a dominant cultural force, and masturbation—a pretty low-profile sin, let’s be honest—ceased to be an issue for all but the most authoritarian and fundamentalist of believers.

Marijuana hasn’t reached that stage yet, but given the Liberal Party’s recent attempts to legalize it in Canada, perhaps it will eventually. The days of Reefer Madness long gone—it seems every other film and TV show now treats weed with a knowing wink.

Internet piracy remains a pressing issue, however. The SOPA/PIPA issue is proof—the Orwellian bills were misguided attempts to assuage Hollywood and the record companies on the part of American legislators.

Soft on Piracy

When Congress announced it would be postponing the vote on the bills indefinitely on Friday in response to the widespread online outrage, many saw it as a victory for the common Internet user.

Nevertheless, it’s doubtful that this will be more than a reprieve, a temporary cease-fire in a continuing battle. Like the concept that you can make money off your intellectual property, downloading appears to be a hard habit to break.
It’s a problem compounded by the fact that, in many cases, online piracy takes place in the same contexts as perfectly legal content consumption and the distinction is now being made all the murkier by businesses who are adapting to the new model.

If some music makers and companies provide free content, then it’s conceivable that an album might not be worth anything, intrinsically.

Significant portions of the content available online are infringing on copyright as well (just take a tour of YouTube), but their continued presence makes them seem less illegal, while some videos and songs are taken down vigilantly.
As downloading becomes more prevalent, simple, and accepted—the industries realized suing everyday people for exorbitant amounts didn’t make for good optics—and with the growing shift towards free content, a certain entrenching has occurred in the pro- and anti-piracy camps.

That fact became clear when Anonymous, the nebulous Guy Fawkes mask-wearing hacker collective, took credit for a series of distributed denial-of-service attacks that crashed the websites for the U.S. Department of Justice, Universal Music, the Recording Industry of America Association and the Motion Picture Association of America.

As the news broke on Twitter, it was hard not to feel a certain surge of pride. It was a classic David-and-Goliath story, re-writ digital for the 21st century. But in the days that followed, the facts that came out complicated that narrative.

Kingpin Dotcom

With his lavish, jet-setting lifestyle and the shotguns, expensive artworks and multiple luxury cars that were seized during the Jan. 20 raid on his New Zealand home that led to his arrest, it’s hard not to see Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom as Hollywood fodder—and who better to skewer the man than the people he was getting rich stealing from?

With $42 million dollars of profit in 2010 alone, Dotcom’s Megaupload became a gigantic, well-oiled machine for copyright infringement, a website that rose through the seemingly infinite ranks to become one of the web’s most-used tools.
While the site masqueraded as an online content locker that perhaps turned a blind eye to the digital piracy it was being used for, it’s clear in the U.S. government’s indictment that Megaupload’s entire business model revolved around illegal content.

For one, they paid premium users in return for downloading popular material and secondly, while they deleted child pornography and pro-terrorism propaganda, they danced around the issue when it came to simple copyright infringement, deleting URLs to pirated material—but not the copies on their servers, allowing other URLs linking to the same content to remain active.

With the dust beginning to settle, it became clear what Megaupload really is: a sophisticated crime ring that actively sought to encourage piracy in order to enrich its founders.
In that light, the DDoS attacks by Anonymous—which used unsuspecting third-party computers to help crash the sites that had drawn their ire—seem more like misguided, knee-jerk, vigilante justice on the part of a nebulous cyber-gang than anything.

The illegal download business model of people like Kim Dotcom and the hacktivism of the Anonymous collective, however thrilling they might seem in the short term, only serve to undermine whatever arguments there are for keeping the Internet free and unregulated in the minds of the world’s media corporations and policymakers.

If we are to have an open worldwide web, it looks like we’ll have to fight for it. But that’s a fight we’ll have to win in public relations terms if we have a hope of battling legislation that attempts to throw the Internet baby out with the digital piracy bathwater.

However clever and technologically deft Anonymous and its ilk are, the strongest argument for an open Internet isn’t a DDoS attack—it’s a bustling web, alive with downloads both paid-for and free, where, whatever money is made, and however it’s made, the old adage rings true—content is king.

On Jan. 9, The Globe and Mail published an open letter from Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver, who warned that “environmental and other radical groups” were seeking to block the opportunity to diversify Canada’s trade.

A few days later, U.S. President Barack Obama informed Prime Minister Stephen Harper of his administration’s decision to turn down TransCanada’s application to build and operate the Keystone XL pipeline, which was slated to transport oil from the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta down to the American Gulf Coast.

Which leaves one to wonder—does Mr. Oliver think President Obama is a radical?

In an attack on environmental groups, Oliver wrote, “Their goal is to stop any major project, no matter what the cost to Canadian families in lost jobs and economic growth. No forestry. No mining. No oil. No gas. No more hydro-electric dams…

“They attract jet-setting celebrities with some of the largest personal carbon footprints in the world to lecture Canadians not to develop our natural resources.”

One of the natural resource developments Oliver was referring to was the Northern Gateway project.

The project is a proposal by Enbridge, a Canadian oil and gas giant, to build two pipelines that stretch 1,177 km between the oil sands and the West Coast of British Colombia.

Transporting more than half a million barrels of oil per day, this $5.5 billion project would cross salmon rivers, coastal rainforests and sensitive marine waters. From the coast, a tanker would transport the extracted bitumen to refineries in Asia, California and elsewhere.

None of that matters to the minister, however, because, “increasing trade will help ensure the financial security of Canadians and their families.”

But how much will Canadians really benefit from this ‘profitable’ venture? Enbridge itself only estimates that the Northern Gateway will create 104 permanent jobs in Canada, along with 200 subsidiary jobs.

The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada found that shipping unprocessed bitumen crude out of the country means exporting 40,000 jobs out of Canada. You don’t need to be a math whiz to see what’s best for Canada’s trade here.

Not only will the pipeline destroy ecosystems and export jobs away from home, but the Northern Gateway will negatively affect the lifestyles of about thirty First Nations communities.

So when Oliver says, “Our regulatory system must be fair, independent, consider different viewpoints, including those of Aboriginal communities,” he really means that he will listen to them if they approve the project.

Aboriginals in this area depend on the region’s land and water for their livelihoods, culture and health. The pipeline would threaten the economic wellbeing of the communities of British Columbia that depend on fisheries and forests.

Oliver said he wanted financial security of Canadians and their families, so why would he destroy these communities? Most of them are opposed to this project. Does being objective mean not listening to the minority?

The tar sands are the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada and are probably the main reason why Harper decided to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. It’s important to diversify Canada’s energy markets, but why should Canada’s natural resources be sacrificed when other forms of energy are available?

Joe Oliver has failed to present an energy strategy to Canada and, with no energy policy, is still importing more than half of the oil it uses.

When Oliver talks about Canada being on the edge of a historic choice, I think he’s right. Canada’s future depends on whether or not the natural resources minister will be replaced by a more competent person.

Illustration by Paku Daoust-Cloutier

It’s really unfortunate that Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich has suddenly become the gross, 68-year-old poster boy for open marriage.

Last week, his second ex-wife, Marianne Gingrich, revealed in an ABC News interview that Newt had requested to open up the marriage after she discovered he was having a six-year affair with a political aide—who later became his third and current wife.

“I refused,” Marianne told ABC about the alleged conversation. “And I said no, that is not a marriage.”

There are many things wrong with this entire scenario and how it’s being played out in the public consciousness, but let’s start with that reaction: As uncomfortable as you may personally feel about it, Marianne, an open marriage is still a marriage and it’s a real blow to those practicing responsible non-monogamy that you freely declared otherwise.

But open marriage, whatever Newt’s attempts, should never be a loophole to negate infidelity. Despite being relegated to the fringes of society due to conservative and reactionary comments like these, open marriages are a legitimate lifestyle choice of committed couples that recognize the confines of sexual monogamy doesn’t work for their particular partnership.

It should be personal—but now it’s political.

Evidently, this arrangement doesn’t work for everyone and it certainly didn’t work for Mrs. Gingrich the Second at the time, but writing off alternative sexual unions because Newt Gingrich is a lying cheat sets us back light-years in terms of sexual evolution and understanding.

It doesn’t help that her statement is dripping with an undeserved sense of superiority. One form of marriage here is “right,” and the other is set up as profane, perverse—and apparently un-presidential.
But the public reaction to this revelation is, sadly, predictable—with some exceptions actually opening up a discussion about the plurality of ways to engage in romantic and civil partnerships.

British newspaper The Guardian, for example, published an excellent feature called “I could teach Newt Gingrich a thing or two about open marriage” on Jan. 20.

The article outlined how “polyfamily values” force those within the relationship to discuss their behaviour and expectations, negotiating partnerships and freedom in an ethical, open way—rather than going down the Newt path, hoping not to be found out and back-pedaling like crazy when they are.

While it’s understandable people are raising hell about the subject—considering the request for an open marriage was coming from the same man who was hell-bent to impeach Bill Clinton over that famous blowjob, and who hypocritically seeks to moralize and impose laws on sex and love—there is something very disingenuous about associating Newt with this model of marriage.

The pillars of an open marriage, as described in the bestselling 1972 book Open Marriage, are arguably the ideals of any loving partnership: they include trust, flexibility, communication and equality.

Clearly, these were not the things Newt was asking for or aiming to give to his former wife. He played the open marriage card because he was imploring her to turn a blind eye towards his years of philandering and messing around.
It was, as many pundits have stated over the weekend, “retroactive permission.”

If we are to believe what has been alleged about his personal lives and previous wives, the ethics of an open marriage were nowhere to be found.

At this juncture, it’s worth mentioning how super convenient it is that Newt has since publicly stated to have been reformed through the church and recognized the errors of his ways. Apparently, a little God as an afterthought is a good enough cheating cleanse, and makes his transgressions excusable for those Republicans in Camp Newt.

Please, someone, ­make it stop.
At the base of it, the entire debacle has given responsible non-monogamy—which really does have the potential to create more loving and realistic partnerships in a world where divorce rates and depression rates are at all-time-highs—a really ugly and undeserving rap. It’s also what keeps people who are having open marriages from “coming out” about them.

Open marriages are a valid lifestyle choice—maybe not for the Gingriches, but for the estimated two to six per cent of wedded folks who are actively making it work.

If anything, maybe there is hope that Newt’s marriage “bomb” creates some public wiggle room to think critically about social and sexual prohibitions and prescriptions, and why there is still a huge significance placed on sexual exclusivity as the only way for a partnership to work.

Graphic Melissa Fuller

Q: My boyfriend wants me to give him a blumpkin. Why—and is that clean?

— Cautious & Potentially Nauseous

So for those of you who are wondering, a blumpkin is when a man receives oral sex while sitting on a toilet and defecating (aka shitting).

Yeah, don’t feel bad for not knowing that one—apart from a toss-off a reference in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, it hasn’t gained much cultural currency, for obvious reasons.

Now, I think it’s worth noting that the only other references I could find to the blumpkin were on websites whose entire purpose was listing obscure sexual acts, and The Howard Stern Show, which was later fined $27,500 for describing it on air (fun blumpkin fact!).

I think it’s safe to assume that the blumpkin might just be the result of teenage boys trying to out-gross each other by inventing sex acts that they don’t actually intend to do. That being said, my theory when it comes to sex is if you can conceive of it, at least some people are doing it.

So let’s talk about the blumpkin. Why does your boyfriend want you to give him one? To answer that, you’d have to ask him, and while that might sound like an awkward talk, if you’re at the point in your relationship where he’s comfortable enough to ask you for a blumpkin, hopefully you’re comfortable enough to ask him why.

Maybe he has a fetish; maybe he’s just curious. Whatever his reasons, you might want to make sure it’s not just because he thinks it’d be funny.

By the tone of your question, I take it that you weren’t immediately so grossed out as to not even consider the idea. It’s worth reflecting on your initial reaction—experimentation is great, and there’s always the chance that you’ll find something new that you’re really into when you’re pushing the envelope a bit in bed.

At the same time, while it’s great to broaden your horizons, it’s also crucial to be aware of your own personal boundaries so that you can decide which ones are and aren’t negotiable. You should also only be with a partner who respects your limits once your mind is made up. Maybe you chose to write in because this act is a bit past your limits.

So are blumpkins safe? To varying degrees. Any time fecal matter is involved, sanitation is an issue, since you’re exposing yourself to fecal bacteria, but there are ways to make things safer.

If performing this act on a toilet, clean the toilet thoroughly beforehand. With this act, you have the risk of STIs, but you also have the added risk of contact with the bacteria found in feces, so avoiding actual contact with your partner’s feces is your best bet.

What my advice really comes down to, though, is asking yourself if you want to do this. If so, why? If pleasing your partner is the only reason, and this is some kind of deal-breaker for him, then it might be time to think about your sexual compatibility as a couple.

Submit questions anonymously at sex-pancakes.tumblr.com and check out “Sex & Pancakes” on Facebook.

Photo Christopher Curtis

The Concordia Student Union received a surprise $10,000 from the president’s office, which the union is using to cover a majority of the Winter Orientation costs.

Floating in the ether of the Concordia accounting system was $10,000 meant for use three years ago, said Jordan Lindsay, CSU VP Finance. The surprise “kickback” of sorts saved the union from digging into other revenue pools.

The week of events kicks off with coffee and snacks at a meet-and-greet on Jan. 23 in the downtown library.

Jan. 24 is Outdoors Day at Loyola campus, and will feature sporting events and hot chocolate for students. At the end of the day students can warm up at Cultural Night events.

There will also be a Many Tastes of Concordia club fair, a Reggie’s Bar Drink-Off, with a Hangover Breakfast of french toast the following morning.

The CSU had originally set aside $5,500 for the week-long event, but due to the $10,000 from the President’s Office, the CSU will only have to spend $400 on the now $10,400 event.

The breathing room of extra revenue meant the CSU did not need corporate sponsorship, according to CSU VP Student Life Laura Glover.

“We try to avoid external sponsorship in general; it is hard to find companies whose mandates are in line with our ethics, and it’s important to be strict with who we work with,” she explained.