The Meliorist, Volume 46 Issue 26

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off university of lethbridge budget *non-negotiable only valid in alberta *non-negotiable *non-negotiable CUT YOUR BUDGET BY $11.9 million more *based on 10 classes per year per 7500 undergraduates *limit of one per university SUPER SPECIaL OFFER from alberta government!

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The Independent Student Newspaper of the University of Lethbridge

Transcript of The Meliorist, Volume 46 Issue 26

Page 1: The Meliorist, Volume 46 Issue 26

For the week of Thursday, March 28th, 2013 • Volume 46, Issue 26

Your Independent Student Newspaper

off

university of lethbridge budget

*non-negotiable

only valid in alberta

*non-negotiable

*non-negotiable

CUT YOUR BUDGET BY $11.9 million

more*based on 10 classes per year

per 7500 undergraduates

*limit of one per university

SUPER SPECIaL OFFER from alberta government!

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Kelti BoissonneaultEditor-in-ChiefOpinions [email protected]

Ryan MacfarlaneFeatures [email protected]

Travis RobinsonSports & Lifestyle [email protected]

Leyland BradleyCampus Beat & News [email protected]

Maggie KogutEntertainment [email protected]

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14 - 1516 - 171820 - 2223

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6 - 7Campus BeatFeaturesEntertainmentTop Story

Lifestyle

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Opinion

Procrastination

Sports

ClassifiedsStudents’ Union

News

The Meliorist: Mel-io-rism (meel’e riz’m)

the doctrine that the world tends to become better or

may be made better by human effort

An autonomous body, separate from the U of L Students’ Union SU-166, 4401 University Drive West, Lethbridge, AB, T1K 3M4 Phone: 403-329-2334 www.themeliorist.ca

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The Meliorist is the student newspaper of the University of Lethbridge, published most Thursdays throughout the academic year by The Meliorist Publishing Society, an autono-mous incorporated body. Please address all correspondence to The Meliorist, 4401 University Drive, Lethbridge Alberta, T1K 3M4, or drop it off at room SU-166. Deadline for submis-sions is Friday at 4 p.m. The Meliorist appreciates and encour-ages the writing of thoughtful, concise, timely letters. Howev-er, the Meliorist will only consider for publication those letters that are signed by the author. Special arrangements may be made for those wishing anonymity, but absolutely no pseud-onyms. Letters should contain the author’s legible name, address, telephone number, and student identification number. The address, ID and phone number will not be published. The Meliorist reserves the right to edit submissions and will not print libelous material. Letters may be edited for brevity, clarity, and legality.

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Since the announcement of cutting funding to PSE in the province, questions have been raised as to what the cuts means for post-secondary institutions in the province. Speculation as to how the university will divide the cuts has some people talking specifics. While exact information cannot be known at the moment, the Meliorist asked individuals of influence their thoughts on the cuts, and what they foresee happening in the future.

Leyland BradleyNews Editor

Weadick,Mahon,among others

weigh inon PSE cuts

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Shannon Phillips, policy analyst for the Alberta Federation of Labour, says the PSE cuts to the university will have a severe impact on the Lethbridge economy as a whole.

“A $12 million loss for the university is something that should be a concern for everyone in this city. A large amount of our local economy relies on the public sector. This means job losses, and not just within the universi-ty. Car salesmen should be worried. Coffee shop owners should be worried. This is not business as usual. There is no fat to trim. The provincial government is willing to pull $12 million out of this economy and we should not underestimate the effects this has on the private sector.”

“This is a double whammy for the university – they are receiving less than there were promised, and certainly less than they were counting on.”

Shannon maintains that the city of Lethbridge is different because of its economy and size compared to other Alberta municipalities.

“Unlike, say, Calgary we don’t have as many people – or Grand Prairie. We don’t rely on oil and gas as much as they do. Pulling $12 million means a large loss for our economic develop-ment and future growth. There’s been a total failure on part of our govern-ment to put this into perspective.”

Greg Weadick, the member of legislative assembly for Lethbridge West, says the budget cuts are proba-bly going to be challenging for the university budget, but that students should not worry about the immediate road ahead for tuition increases. “I believe there will be no tuition increas-es above what are allowed.”

Weadick says the challenges experi-

enced with PSE are challenging. He says those in government have been hard at work looking at what is neces-sary for post-secondary – what has been critical for keeping institutions afloat and what can be cut from them.

“Sometimes when we look at things that are less expensive, there are more challenges for those institutions. There are different ways. The students should be protected from any signifi-cant increases at the U of L and the college. These institutions run pretty lean all the time – this will be a challenge.”

Dr. Robert Sutherland, president of the Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations (CAFA) and neuroscience professor at the U of L, maintains that the importance of universities within our province should not be under-mined.

“The core value of a university is to provide university-level education, at the end of the day. That’s the main mission for this university. We remain an economic value to the province.”

“Students who go through a univer-sity level education become economi-cally significant to the province. University students can problem-solve, they get in touch with history, they understand cultural heritage. People with university degrees are less likely to be unem-ployed; they contribute more to the tax system, they are less likely to access social services, the healthcare system, less likely to become a burden for the criminal justice system.”

Sutherland feels that the province’s move to promote trade schools has not been met with the expectation of assistance those schools were count-ing on.

“This is a problem of real short-sightedness on part of our government in thinking of education that way. This is all about short-term gains. At the same time that quality and accessibility is diminishing, so are students’ choices. They’re cutting trade schools too. Who wouldn’t want to have more education for trades so we’re not bringing in foreign workers? But take a look at what the province is doing. MRU has had two of their programs cut already.”

Sutherland foresees students choos-ing to go elsewhere in the country for their education if they feel Alberta’s choices are too limiting for them.

University of Lethbridge President Mike Mahon says that although the cuts are dramatic, student input will be considered in the decision-making process.

“$12 million is a huge cut to our budget, certainly the largest in recent memory. The suddenness of it was especially hard. We have agreed to proceed by first setting out our main principles and values. We’re working through that right now.”

“We’ll be meeting with committees and councils with direct student input. The decisions will be approved by the General Faculties Council – which, of course, has student representatives too.”

“There will be lots of thinking surrounding what to do. We are doing our best to be thoughtful and intelli-gent and systematic rather than moving too quickly. Other institutions have been vocal on their cuts. It’s too soon for us. It’s too premature to know right now what steps we need to take.”

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Well, boys and girls, it’s that time again! The Object Manipulation Club is getting ready to throw our annual Collabaret Masquerave! For those of you who don’t know, the Object Manipulation Club is a university club devoted to enriching the community through the art of spinning. Lately, the club has been involved in a myriad of events located around the Lethbridge area. We recently did a very successful performance in Raymond and just performed at the PRIDE centre’s Valentine’s is Such a Drag event. We also performed at the Theatre Arts Society Twoonie Theatre Event on March 24. The club is always looking for new members to teach different techniques to, and new member interests and forms of spinning or object manipulation. Back to the Masquerave though!

On March 30 we will be having the Collabaret Masqeurave at the Enmax Centre; more specifically, the event will be located in the Canadian West-ern Bank Lounge. One of the features for the event is live LED spinning around the event; this way you can get your dance on underneath an ambient glow! We will also be featuring local DJs who will be spinning (see what I did there?) some fresh beats to fulfill all your electronic needs. With a tenta-tive set list of DJ Soulflower (Selin Bilgin), DJ Rick Sharma, A.I.M., Pez,

ERWIN the INTERN, Disko, and Marty Funkhauser, in combination with multi-ple tag sets, it will be double the fun! The theme for the event is a general costume theme; so bring out your best and most fantastic costumes to wow us! If you forget to dress up, the OMC has a limited number of masks available for the first set of guests. The Masquerave will start at 8 p.m. and will run until 1:30 a.m., so you have hours and hours of dancing to look forward to.

We will be selling tickets from March 18-29 for $8. If you don’t buy a ticket but still want to go (and why wouldn’t you?!) you can get entry at the door for $10. Furthermore, a portion of event profits will be donated to the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lethbridge and District, so your ticket purchase will be contributing to a good cause! If any clubs are interested in collabo-rating with us for the event, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]! One of the main themes of this event is to bring clubs together in the creation of a great event through mutual collaboration. In previous years we have collaborated with PSA, PRIDE, CSSDP, EMC, and many other clubs that have helped to make the Masquerave so fantastic in past years. Hope to see you at the Collabaret Masquerave on March 30!

Natalie WildCampus Beat Contributor

Collaberet Masquerave2013

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There are only three days left until polls close on March 31 for the volun-teer appreciation awards for CKXU DJs.

Vote online at ckxu.com/vote and pick your favourite program from various show categories including world music, spoken word, metal & punk, news & current affairs, eclectic, and more! There will be one winner only per category, unless there is a tie, in which case two or more people will win the award.

Winners will be announced April 6.

Leyland BradleyCampus Beat Editor

The Social Work Students Associa-tion (SWSA) from the faculty of social work (University of Calgary Southern Alberta Region) dedicated their recent fundraising dollars to a local non-prof-it organization. SWSA was able to donate $1,426 to Meals on Wheels through two fundraisers: a bake sale and a silent auction. The bake sale was held in the Students’ Union building in February and the silent auction was

held at the Social Work Forum on March 6, 2013 during Social Work Week. SWSA's mission is to become actively involved within the Lethbridge community. The students of the faculty of social work identified Meals on Wheels as an organization that SWSA wanted to support because of the goodwill and needed services that Meals on Wheels provides to the community of Lethbridge.

Kala BeersCampus Beat Contributor

Social work students give back

Vote now for your favourite shows on CKXU!

VOTE NOWto keep the

revolutionalive!

Left to right: Kala Beers, Kelsie Brandt, Kylie Kettles, Allan Sketterling, Callista Chasse, Emma Lehmen, Stacy Hill

Jennifer Kolb

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Gretchen Scottwants youto go to school!

A conversation

with Gretchen about PSE cuts,

education, rights and responsibilities, and caring

for one another

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Gretchen Scott, who is currently an academic assistant in the English department, is standing at the front of her classroom, chatting lightly and laughing with students while she waits for the beginning of class. Class begins with a “happy Friday quiz.” As long as you know your own name, you pass. As she takes attendance, she comments on names that she thinks could line a marquee, or that she imagines on a CEO’s name plate. Not to leave out anyone in the class, she reminds everyone that they all have wonderful names, because names are very important. Participation at the beginning of class is non-existent. I can see it clearly disappoints Gretch-en, because she loves literature and wants to spread that love. Her class is lined with her personal anecdotes, which really liven the mood of the class. It begins slowly, but by the end of class students can barely hold back their comments. They are now responding spontaneously and carrying on a sustained discussion with each other. Gretchen allows it. I see her smiling. Clearly, she wishes every moment in class could be like this.

This may be the last semester that any student will have the opportunity to attend one of Gretchen’s classes. She works on two-year contracts, but due to the recent post-secondary education cuts, Gretchen thinks that the university, to save money, won’t renew her contract. She has mixed feelings about leaving academia. Gretchen considers her time with the university to have been the best expe-rience of her life. “No matter how much I want to sleep in, or how much I want to stay home and play with my new puppy, the minute my foot steps on campus, I just think, ‘I am so fortunate to be here.’” She can’t believe, even now, that she is actually being paid for doing something that

she loves so much. Gretchen also understands that the effects of these cuts will be inevitable in some way. “The thought of losing my job is not going to make me happy, but really, if that’s what has to happen to make the university function so that you can still get the education that you deserve, then so be it. That’s just a part of life.” Every student’s education is of unbe-lievable importance to Gretchen – so much so that she’s willing to give up her job for it.

“Everything that we hope to be, the society that we hope to build, is going to depend on you and your genera-tion, and the students that come through the classes. I know every time I stand up in front of a class, I have to look around and I have to just almost bow my head and think, ‘I could be teaching a future prime minister and not even know it. I could be teaching someone who is going to change the world by finding the cure to cancer.’ How humbling is that?”

Gretchen considers this current round of cuts to be unfortunate and unnecessary. Further, she laments the stingy attitude that develops when money becomes tighter. “I don’t remember when things were good anybody saying, ‘you’re paying me too much,’ or ‘I really don’t deserve all these benefits.’ Everybody is more than happy when things are good to take whatever is being offered. Well, I think the same goes in reverse. When things are bad everyone has to be there to say, ‘OK, you know, I enjoyed all the benefits, now maybe I’m going to have to pay for some of it.’”

This isn’t to say, though, that Gretch-en thinks that placing blame is a simple matter in a situation like this. She doesn’t think it should really even be attempted. “It’s easy to say it’s the Harper government, or it’s the Redford government, or it’s the university administration. It’s easy to

place blame, and not so easy to take responsibility.” What Gretchen would like is for everyone to understand whatever privilege they have had up to this point and balance it with the responsibility that goes along with it. “The whole point of a democracy is not just rights, it’s rights with responsi-bility. The sooner we teach that to our children, and we embrace that as adults and as functioning members the community, we’ll be able to move forward in a positive way.”

For students, their responsibility begins and ends with their education, because as Gretchen says, “I think students have the right to an educa-tion, and a good education, at the institution of their choice.” Since education is a right, students have the responsibility to be the best students they can be. “I wouldn’t ask students to pay more, no, but I would ask the students to actively become involved. In fact, go to class, do your work, show up with a good attitude that displays your engagement and appreciation for the time your prof has put in.”

What Gretchen is really asking is that “you appreciate and embrace and take your post-secondary education seriously, and then that will be conta-gious. That ignites, even more so, the passion of the profs. And then we can, hopefully, enter into a meaningful dialogue with the provincial govern-ment.”

Conversely, what Gretchen currently sees is wave after wave of disengaged, disinterested students. “When you have a whole bunch of students who just don’t care, you do tend to get discouraged.” Whether or not a student decides to show up for class isn’t just a personal choice; it sends a strong message to every professor. “‘Maybe I should be stepping aside; maybe I’m not engaging my students anymore.’ Those are the thoughts that go through faculty minds, because

you judge the way you’re doing, the level of your effectiveness, on student response.”

If the responsibility of students is their education, then the responsibility of the broader society is to take care of its future citizens. “I really maintain that you can judge a country by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens, and oftentimes we think of the disabled as being vulnerable, or the aged as being vulnerable – I think students are vulnerable as well, and what differenti-ates students from every other group, as far as I’m concerned, is the immense potential that is located within that group.”

Finally, Gretchen considers that everyone, no matter who they are or where they’re positioned in life, shares one common responsibility. “We have the responsibility to be decent human beings and to be empathetic to those that have less than we do, or those that are at risk.” This responsibility is emblematic of an even broader concern. “We need to be the best citizens that we can be, and I think we need to realize that a strong Canada is a socially united Canada. In other words, we care about the people that live next door, and we care about the person in the office down the hall.”

Gretchen has a few ideas about how to reach this ideal society. “We should be having block parties, because when you know your neighbour, whoever your neighbour is, you tend to have more sympathy and more empathy.” It can be something small-er than that, even. The solution to a complicated problem doesn’t have to be complicated itself. “It really is pretty simple. When you smile at somebody and they smile back, what does that cost? That doesn’t cost anything.”

Ryan Macfarlane Features Editor

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I kind of skipped my 8 a.m. class and I arrived 15 minutes late for work. After work, I decided to run back home and grab a library book that was overdue, and I noticed a folded parking ticket underneath the wipers of my car. That’s the second one this week, by the way. When I got back home, I ate lunch while watching season six, episode one of Charmed on Netflix. An hour later, I went back to school to attend a talk by Dr. Vijay Agnew called “The Enigma of Home,” but I realized that I had forgotten to bring the library book.

Now, I know you must be wondering, why I am so keen to recollect and record this day? It is because, right after this moment, my day completely turned around and became a memo-rable experience that I never want to forget.

I hastily entered PE261, about 25 minutes late, and ran to find a spot. I hoped that nobody noticed, but oh, who am I kidding? Everybody noticed! Dr. Agnew was reading a letter by a

new immigrant to Canada, which described what it felt like to be in a new country where the people have a different culture, different traditions, and a different skin colour. The narra-tive explored everything that I had once experienced subconsciously, and that I sometimes still do, as an immigrant to Canada. During her lecture, Dr. Agnew talked about how immigrants approach the idea of “home,” and how people who have lived in Canada all their life, because they stand out from the crowd, can still get asked the question “where are you from?” That question automatically alienates a person and sends the message, loud and clear, that they don’t belong here.

As I sat there absorbing all that Dr. Agnew had to say, I couldn’t help but reflect on some of the things that immigrants have to face when they move to a mainly white country. We have to change our names so that people can pronounce them. Foreign medical degrees are not recognized

here, and so Canada is filled with doctors who have no choice but to study further even if they are already aging, or choose not to practice medi-cine and end up serving sandwiches or driving cabs. Is this why they studied 15 years of medicine? Is this where they will fully utilize their talents – by delivering pizza or serving coffee?

An alternative argument could be, “if things are so bad, why move here in the first place?” Living in a third world country isn’t easy. Even though it’s our country, we don’t make the rules, and unfortunately, we have no control over them. Sometimes people move to a place like Canada, which has a sound legal system and protects human rights, because they don’t get that in their own country. It also helps that there are more cows than people in Alberta, where in our overpopulated country there is no place even to breathe. People migrate for all sorts of reasons: sometimes they are in search of a better life, sometimes they want to get away from certain people or bad

memories, sometimes they want to start a new life, or sometimes they do it just for the sake of adventure.

The majority of the room was filled with women who had emigrated from different countries, so they all shared similar experiences, which resulted in a healthy discussion. There were so many more things that I wanted to ask Dr. Agnew besides the one question that I did in the end. I ate guacamole with nachos, and told Dr. Agnew how pleased I was to meet her, before leaving.

My day didn't end right there, though. I had the privilege to attend another lecture the same day, which was entitled “The Ascent of Women,” given by a marvellous lady, Sally Armstrong.

After a thankfully short line at Tim Horton’s, I entered PE250, but this time 10 minutes early. I noticed that there were not many university students, but many older people. Before the lecture, I was rethinking my decision to attend, but after the talk I

Navreet Kaur DhillonFeatures Contributor

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realized that those two hours of my life were pure gold.

Sally Armstrong is a very well informed journalist, with a remarkable sense of humour and incredibly magi-cal but true stories about women who had gotten together and brought about a movement for change. She spoke with such flair and emotion when she narrated a delightful anecdote about how she met a group of young women in Afghanistan who pledged to uplift the lives of other women in their country. Two young women, aged 21 and 19, realized that 70 per cent of the population of Afghanistan was less than 30 years of age and had no part in the Taliban or in the war. Only Sally Armstrong, with the same passion in her voice, could express their passion and drive to bring about change. These girls wanted to challenge all the illogical orthodox ideas that said women can’t go to school and that they should be told what to think. Armstrong didn’t focus on the horrible things that

happened to these girls, but focused on the fact that they stood up for their rights.

Armstrong believes that the world is taking its first step towards the ascent of women, because people now at least understand the injustice happen-ing to women. Instead of turning around and saying “that’s normal, because she is a woman,” people realize that it is wrong to mistreat women.

Armstrong then moved on to tell us another painful yet incredible story about women coming together to get through a crisis. She told us that every 30 minutes a girl between the ages of three and 15 is raped in Somalia. She also said that these broken yet deter-mined young girls have decided to sue the government for failing to protect them, just like Canadian women did in the past! It was exhila-rating to hear her describe her experi-ence when she had the chance to interview 160 girls living in a shelter. These women were there because

each had been raped by her own father, grandfather, next door neigh-bour, brother, or teacher. Some people in the area apparently have the horribly misconceived notion that having sex with a young girl will cure them of HIV/AIDS.

After hearing all of Armstrong’s disturbing stories, I wondered how those young girls, and even Armstrong for that matter, retained hope despite all that they went through. I remember her saying, “the men in power in these countries said, ‘this is none of your business, you don’t know our country, our culture’ and I replied by saying, ‘you call raping a girl, or beating a girl, culture? This is no culture – it’s violence! And if it’s violence, it’s everybody’s business!’”

Everybody in the room was mesmer-ized by these stories of overcoming hypocrisy and violence. After Armstrong finished with her touching tale, we had a brilliant discussion with meaningful questions. She reminded

us that we can be strong supporters of women-centric movements without being against men or claiming that women are the superior sex; support-ing these movements just means that after years of silence women are now getting a chance to speak. I thought about all my friends and the other university students who had missed these two wonderful lectures, and I felt lucky to have received all this priceless knowledge.

As I walked out to the parking lot, and while I brushed snow off my car, I thought to myself that the worst thing one could do is give up hope and not stand up for what is right. With a silent pledge in my heart to do something for these women, I decided that I will never lose hope, even in the worst situation. Until the earth cracks open or until my very last breath, I will not give up hope, ever!

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According to Rod Macleod of the University of Alberta, there have been only two PSE cuts of a similar magni-tude as the ones announced this year: one in 1972 when “the baby boom generation had passed through their post-secondary years and the demand for spaces at universities and colleges across the province was falling,” and one in “1934, during the Great Depression.”

So what might this third dose of substantial PSE cuts mean for the U of L and other post-secondary institu-tions?

According to a U of L faculty member, “the budgeting process at the U of L is virtually a year-round activity… Committees dealing with budgets are always looking for cuts, because revenue increases (at best) have been at the level of inflation in the recent past.” Sometimes the new ideas developed for saving funds in one area can lead to extra funds that help start new initiatives. The Curricu-lum Redevelopment Centre and some student scholarships are examples. “So cutting is not unusual. It doesn’t even need to be too scary, but this is something different entirely.”

When Redford’s government prom-ised a 2 per cent increase to PSE for the 2013-2014 academic year, even with the increase the general assump-tion was that the U of L would require some of the usual trimming in budget to “keep up with costs.” In this context, a cut of 7.3 per cent is very

significant. These cuts might affect the university

at the student level in many ways. Large cuts to non-academic services are a possibility. “Basically everything that happens outside of the classroom.”

Here is a bird’s eye view of how the cuts may possibility affect the U of L at the departmental level, with the exam-ple of the English department:

First, it may present difficulty in renewing contracts of temporary instructors and replacing  professors who are retiring. “Even before the announcement of the 7.3 per cent cut, the Dean’s Office was telling us there would be very little money to replace term contracts,” says a source from the English department. “I worry as well about whether there will be money to replace retiring faculty down the years, but that’s looking down the road a bit. No one in our department is retiring at the end of this year, and hopefully the financial situation will be better when such retirements do occur and it is time to press for replace-ments.”

Second, it could mean less class choice and larger classes. These two factors “are  possible  outcomes of a longer term lack of funding, but not necessarily. In another possible scenario, professors might have to teach more in order to provide more classes.”

Although these are serious concerns, it is hard to say as of yet exactly what the actual effects will be. However, the ambiguity surrounding the cuts in itself is a concern. “By being vague, and forcing universities to be vague about what will be cut, students are really being left in the dark.”

Tuition can’t rise due to the tuition cap, but student fees can rise, and student services can always decrease. Imagine, for example, “if there are fewer people working in the library, in the Registrar’s Office, or in Academic Advising…” or if “you cannot get required courses in a timely fashion because [they’re offered] less often?  It likely won’t affect students here now, but [what if] a program that your younger relative was considering cannot be offered at the U of L anymore?”

Although PSE is not the only area to suffer budget cuts – according to the Edmonton Journal, “Particularly hard-hit areas were post-secondary education, employment and seniors' programs, while the health and educa-tion sectors faced funding increases much smaller than originally prom-ised” – Redford’s justification for the PSE cuts adds another level of concern.   “The premier said the cut would force greater specialization in the province's publicly funded institu-tions - and help them be the best at what they do.”

“We cannot be all things to all people, everywhere,” said Redford.

“We cannot be 26 post-secondary institutions that all have equivalent departments of political science and English and history and chemistry and biology and business.”

This concerns many, including some U of L faculty members. “So, does that mean, for example, that institutions that do not grant degrees in certain areas of the humanities say, like colleges, will have to downsize to smaller departments just to do the basics for diplomas… or does it mean that some larger institutions, like universities, will somehow have to do without these areas at all?  Could you imagine that all students from across Alberta who want to major in, say, philosophy, might have to go to U of A to do it? Does that mean that business students at the U of C won’t have access to ethics courses for their programs or for electives?  And what about students who start in one program but switch to another? That happens all the time.  Does the premier imagine a situation where that is less possible?”

While concrete effects of these cuts still remain a matter of speculation, one thing is clear: they are not good, to put it in the simplest of terms. Apparently the U of A president was “physically shaken” upon hearing about the cuts. If something worries those at the very top of the university hierarchy that much, then students should also be concerned.

Maggie KogutFeatures Contributor

PSE cutsPSE cuts third time’s a charm

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PSE cuts and you Following are opinions regarding

the budget cuts from a few student and faculty members of the U of L.

“I think that they [PSE cuts] are very

concerning, because they’re very deep and they came out of nowhere. I think that it would be great if we got a lot of student interest to protest these cuts, and I know that LPIRG is working on that. I think that the SU is in conjunction with that. There’s more going on, and I really would like to see more student involvement, because it really concerns our education and the future of the province as well. It’s the equivalent of basically taking out the entire faculty of management. That’s how deep the cuts are.”

-U of L student

“I could only give you the standard answers that have been repeated so often about the obvious stupidity and

short-sightedness of the cuts in a time of economic uncertainty and rapid technological change. At this time, the university has not announced how these cuts will be carried out, so the impact to the faculty of fine arts is not yet known.”

-Fine arts faculty member

“The STEP program got cut! 3,000 jobs, or something like that, and my summer job is part of that program. I still have my summer job, but my bosses are going to have to find funding elsewhere, so that’s not fun, and it is jobs likes mine – I work in a library during the summer – that are applicable to my future career. It’s scary in the fact that more students are probably going to be finding retails jobs, and jobs that don’t have as valuable experience.”

-U of L student “As a faculty member, I hope that we

are able to maintain all aspects of our very strong program here at the U of L. It is a difficult time for higher educa-

tion in Alberta, and our program is offering an important piece of the puzzle.  I sincerely hope that even with the cuts we will be able to continue offering a real service to students.”

-Fine arts faculty member “I think partly it’s a little positive that

there’s actually student involvement, and that it [PSE cut] is sparking an interest in the way that our govern-ment and our province is run. I think in that way it could be good. I think Alberta is very laid back and not interested in what’s going on political-ly, and I think it [PSE cuts] can help change that.”

-U of L student “To be honest, we still don't know yet

how and to what degree the cuts will affect the faculty of fine arts.   The senior administrators are working out a plan to deal with the cuts and the means by which this blueprint will affect each faculty.”

-Fine arts faculty member

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Sourced from recital poster

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A plethora of new posters have appeared around campus lately, informing students of upcoming grad recitals.

What exactly are grad recitals? Who can attend? Who is giving the recitals?

I sat down with bachelor of music performance students Danbee Ko and Brittany Norman to find out.

“Grad recital is a requirement for all the students that will be graduating [from the music performance program], and if you finish Studio VIII, then it’s part of the exam that you have to do,” says Danbee. “It is open to the public, and it is free for anyone, so you can bring anyone if you’d like, all your friends, and I think you will enjoy it.”

Both Danbee and Brittany will be doing grad recitals this year. Both recitals are on April 6 in the Recital Hall. Brittany, playing the clarinet, will have her recital at 2 p.m., while Danbee, playing the piano, will have her recital later at 4:30 p.m.

“It’s about one hour long, but there’s an intermission in between, so it’s usually one hour to an hour and 30 minutes,” says Danbee. She then went on to explain that markers will be sitting in the back to evaluate the recital, “while your friends and your colleagues are there supporting you and cheering you on” as well.

Are you glad to have an audience at your graduation recital?

“I like to have more people there, especially my friends, because I think that that will give me more passion to play, and it gets me more excited to perform for them,” says Danbee.

“When we do our Juries it’s just the graders, and that’s actually a lot less nerve wracking, because the graders are the professors at the university. Knowing that there are only three people out there, to me, it’s a lot better than knowing that there are a hundred people in the audience that you may or may not know,” says Britta-ny. “I think it’s great there’s going be an audience, but it is a little scary.”

Can you see the audience while you play?

“They do dim the lights,” answers Brittany. “The audience is dim and

then we’re really bright, but you can see the audience… But the thing is it’s such an almost out-of-body experi-ence that you don’t really remember seeing the audience… In my junior recital I remember seeing two people. That’s all I remember out of everyone who was there.”

What do you do to mentally prepare?

“Lots of people have different things,” says Brittany. “My teacher told me about a person who would run around the basement floor and then throw up… Another person would build a brick wall in their mind so they could block out the audience… I used to eat a lot of banana peppers. Some people eat bananas because it calms you down. People have weird little rituals that they do before perfor-mance, because a performance like this, when it’s just you on the stage for a whole hour, can be pretty scary.”

What will you be playing at your graduation recital?

“I will be playing Litszt, a concert etude, and the next one is a sextet, so five other instruments will be playing with me.” The Woodwind quintet is made up of oboe, bassoon, clarinet, French horn, and flute, but the flute player is out of country, so professor Paul Sanden will be replacing her.

“After intermission I will be playing a Greek piano concerto, which is 30 minutes long,” continues Danbee. I was astonished, “non-stop?” I asked. “Non-stop. And my professor, Deanna Oye, shall be accompanying me… Originally [the piece] is for piano and orchestra, but because I can’t hire the orchestra, Deanna is accompany-ing me,” jokes Danbee. Contrary to what I would think, Danbee’s hands don’t even tire after playing so long, “I think the adrenaline just runs in me, and I get so excited,” she says.

Brittany will be playing “Second Sonata in Eb major, op. 120” by Brahms, “Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo” by Stravinsky,“Sonata for Clarinet and Piano” by Poulenc, and “Trio” by Khachaturian. Accompany-ing instruments for Brittany’s recital include “a piano for most of my pieces, except for the Stravinsky, and

at the end I have a violinist coming in to play too.”

What is your favourite piece? “The last one, the Khachaturian

Trio,” says Brittany. Her eyes light up with excitement as she pulls the piece out of her bag, “I actually have it right here! We get to do all sorts of fun stuff like this,” she says, pointing to complex musical forms of what look like mere squiggles and lines to me.

For Danbee it’s “the Greek concer-to, because I put so much work into it.” Practice for just this one piece has consisted of 12 hours a week since the beginning of the semester. “There are three movements, and I have to mem-orize them all,” says Danbee. “While Deanna has her book with a page turner – because there are so many pages – I’m just sitting there, and I’m just memorizing all the entrances and all of her parts, when to come in when to come out… It’s a big piece, but it’s really fun.”

Danbee has also recently performed this piece at the Kiwanis Music Festival and will be competing at provincials in Edmonton in June.

Having the chance to play the piece at Kiwanis before her grad recital “definitely helped with just putting it out there, because when I play a piece for the first time in front of other people I get really nervous, but after that the more I play the more confident and comfortable I get,” says Danbee.

Brittany is somewhat luckier some may say, as she will not have to play from memory during her recital. “Instrumentalists don’t have to memo-rize,” she says. “Singers and pianists have to memorize… I have played from memory before, and playing from memory you get to be just fully immersed in the music. Playing with a score can take away just that deepest level of connection with the music, but I don’t think it’s really all that notice-able for anyone but yourself, I think – I hope!” I’m sure the recital will sound great with our without memorization. Brittany also has to switch instruments between movements in the same piece. That sounds challenging enough without having to memorize

her pieces. Do you get to choose which pieces

you’d like to play for the recital?“At first I asked Deanna what pieces

I should work on,” says Danbee. Her professor then provided her with a whole list of pieces to choose from. “So they’re basically all pieces that I’ve listened to, and all the favourite ones that I have a passion for.”

Both Brittany and Danbee have put a lot of effort and passion not only into their upcoming grad recitals, but into their present (and hopefully continu-ing) music careers.

“This is probably the most I’ve ever prepared,” says Danbee. “Even for Junior Recital my passion was not as big, and because this is such a big recital I really put a lot of work into it… When practice goes really bad you just feel like ‘I don’t know if music is for me’ or if I’m good enough to be in music, but I think now that I’ve been in this program for such a long time, and being involved in so many competi-tions, I have found the passion, and I just know that this is something that I have to continue with.” After gradua-tion, Danbee will return to the U of L in the fall for one semester to prepare for auditions to master’s programs.

“My dream job would be my profes-sor’s job here,” says Brittany. “She basically plays with the orchestra, she teaches, she’s affiliated with the university. I really want a job like that. So I’m thinking of maybe going for a master’s degree after this… You can actually get a pretty decent job in music just with a bachelor’s, but you’re doing a favour for yourself to get a master’s.”

I’m wishing “break a leg” to all students performing in graduation recitals this semester. If you’d like to check out U of L’s musical talent, watch for the posters on campus. All graduation recitals are free and take place in the Recital Hall.

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With the announcement of the federal budget last Thursday and the surrounding rhetoric, average Canadians may find themselves surrounded by varying opinions on how the Canadian economy is being handled. If you listen at all to the party members of the official oppositions both provincially and federally, you’d know that they are disappointed (to put it mildly) with the direction the budgets are taking their respective regions.

Provincially we are going backwards: broken promises by the Conservatives have many people in Alberta wondering if there’s anything Premier Alison Redford said during campaigning that was true. The slashes to schooling, post-secondary education funding, health care, the penal/justice system, and general infrastructure investment have many Albertans wondering just where the money is going. Truthfully, the province is running a deficit because Big Oil says so.

There. I said it. No, keep reading — I justify this

opinion. The fact of the matter provincially is

that the Alberta government is terrified to piss off large corporations that fuel what little of the provincial economy is left. They have slashed royalties, created tax loop-holes, and are kissing ass as much as possible to appease these big corps when really it should be the other way around. Will major Big Oil corps pull out of the provincial resources if the provincial government started playing hardball? No, probably not. Why? Because the oil is here. The deposit doesn’t get up and move to suit Big Oil’s whims. It stays put. Therefore, because the land is owned or controlled by the provincial government, we should be able to charge whatever royalties we want.

So why don’t we? Even if Shell or whoever the hell invests does pull out (which they won’t, given the zillions of dollars they make every year) another big company will zoom in, pay what we are asking, and take their place because they know there is money to be had in this. I’m not advocating charging these oil and gas companies an arm and a leg in royalties: but at least have a few demands of them — they are ripping up our land after all.

Federally we are no better, except

replace corporations with trade partners like the good ol’ U.S. of A. and you’ve pretty much got the picture. Why? NAFTA — the North American Free Trade Agreement signed between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico in 1992 during the Mulroney administration. Thanks for fucking us, Brian.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for free trade between countries, but in this instance you have Big Brother America dictating the terms of the marvellously biased and horrendously outdated agreement that’s almost as old as I am. Canada has been toeing the line pretty well on this one, but the U.S. has not. The Softwood Lumber dispute of the early 2000s, electricity, water rights, oil and gas, beef — the U.S. has had major infractions in all of these industries to which the UN court has not held them accountable. Basically, the U.S. has gotten away with not paying its bill, or manipulating the markets in these industries, to better suit the U.S.

Well played, partner, well played. So what does the federal budget

have to do with NAFTA? Well, let’s talk about the economy for a second. Canada’s economic re-growth after the recession has slowed. We are seeing increased unemployment rates in all demographics (not just the First Nations demographic addressed in the 2013 budget) and we are seeing little-to-no job creation in most sectors. Why? Could it possibly be because we are outsourcing much of our industry to other places – that the Harper Government is getting really friendly with China and their labour practices, or that prime resources (oil, gas, everything) are being sold to other nations for cents on the dollar and the finished products are being sold back to Canada at upwards of 300 or 500 per cent?

Come on, even to a history major this type of economic policy doesn’t make a whole hell of a lot of sense.

Am I an expert? No, absolutely not. But I do notice patterns, and the patterns we’ve been following for the past 20 years leave a bitter taste in my mouth as a Canadian. Come on, Canada, it’s time to re-invest in ourselves!

The first step is a boost to industry, both provincially and federally. Bring manufacturing jobs back to the nation

— give work to your workers so you have people paying taxes instead of receiving financial help through social welfare. Oil should not be piped down to the Gulf of Mexico, or over to Kitimat to be tinkered to China and refined. Build refineries here. Yes — ecologically worrisome, but no more so than pipelines, and this gives skilled tradesmen a reason, and the ability, to work in this fine country. Employ your population and I’m not talking just about the cities — the rural populations of Canada hold a lot of cards too.

Why would I suggest this course of action? Because it’s better than starting a war – another all-time favourite method for bolstering a nation’s economy. Take a look at history. In the 1930s when the economy was really quite marvellously fucked, Prime Minister Bennett introduced his “new deal” which essentially used make-work projects that bolstered the economy and provided jobs to the masses of unemployed workers itching to make a buck. At the time, projects that were considered make-work

projects (ditch digging, highway construction, irrigation canal construction, building pretty much anything) were criticized. The expense of paying for all these projects would cost the governments a lot of money — however, here’s the rub: shit’s getting done and people are paying their taxes.

Revolutionary idea, isn’t it? Invest in your population — give them work to do — and they will pay their taxes to support the programs they have asked be supported. Instead of cutting funding to education, health care, and social assistance, you will have an inflow of revenue. It’s a long-term plan with amazing benefits because not only do you employ your population, you are also giving those employees skills — skills that will enable your workforce to expand, innovate, and create.

Bring industry back to this nation. Bring industry back to this province. Keep corporations in their place — somewhere behind the wants and needs of your demographic, and for the love of whatever you deem holy: listen to your people.

Our truth and effort: Recent budgets are taking Alberta and Canada in the wrong direction Kelti Boissonneault Editor-in-Chief

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Dr. Kiki Benzon loves clothes, and her clothes love her back. This stylish English department member has traipsed across the globe to acquire unique, one-of-a-kind pieces to add to her already impressive collection of clothing and accessories. She cites London, Los Angeles, and Paris as her favourite sartorial spots, and is rarely without a gorgeous print blouse or dangerously high pair of boots purchased in one of these cities.

Kiki loves the high fashion designs of Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen, but can be seen wearing H+M and Joe Fresh pieces if the occasion calls for it. She has also embraced vintage clothing to diversify her wardrobe. This clash of fashion house and mass production is a Benzon staple, and something she has learned to embrace. At once both ostentatious and classical, Benzon builds her outfits around one piece (usually her shoes) to create a look that is both refined and daring. Kiki can combine a sweatshirt with pearls and make it all seem effortless. This juxtaposition is crucial to her aesthetic.

“Frontier meets robot” is the description Kiki uses in articulating her fashion tastes, and although these two things are seemingly contradictory, Benzon makes it work. The results are

truly spectacular outfits that span both time periods and fashion movements. Kiki also keeps her attic stocked with an array of custom-made fabrics for times when she feels like designing and making her own clothes. Before settling into academia, Kiki even contemplated becoming a fashion designer. Although not always privy to such fashions (she grew up in small town BC with little to no clothing stores), Kiki has matured and brought her unique blend of style and sensibility to the University of Lethbridge, albeit in a more conservative manner.

“Clothing is a form of communication,” says Kiki. “I like to make ironic statements to suit the occasion.” Whether it is a public lecture or a private meeting, Kiki is always impeccably dressed. In part one of this ongoing series, I raided Kiki’s closet to get a closer glimpse at her eclectic fashion sense. The outfits were treated like artifacts by Benzon, and photographed as such to be displayed as a relic rather than a commodity. Make no mistake, however; Kiki is not consumed by fashion. She lives it through every ounce of her being, as a natural extension of herself, and as such, is a true sartorialist. Herewith, selections from Kiki’s closet.

Kiki’s closetPhotography and styling by Kiki Benzon

Travis Robinson Lifestyle Editor

12345678

4

Handmade Chinese dress Boots by Burberry

Dress by Peter PilottoJacket by JaegerBoots by Guiseppe Zanotti for Christopher Kane

Vintage Escada duck shirtVest by Roland MouretVintage Leather Skirt

Vintage dressJacket by SmytheBoots by Vivienne Westwood

Vintage Victorian shirtLeather dress by L’AgenceBoots by Vionnet

Dress by SaloniJacket by Jean Paul Gaultier for TargetShoes by Vivienne Westwood

Vintage velvet jacketDress by Dries Van NotenBoots by Marni

Dress by Mary KatrantzouBoots by Chloé

Vintage lace glovesBoots by Etro

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Designer and designer on saleFarfetch http://www.farfetch.com/Matches http://www.matchesfashion.comThecorner http://www.thecorner.comYoox http://www.yoox.com/The Outnet http://www.theoutnet.com/

VintageAdored Vintage http://www.adoredvintage.comRuby Lane http://clothing.rubylane.comNifty Thifty www.niftythrifty.com1st Dibs http://www.1stdibs.com/fashion/Vagabond http://shop.vagabondnyc.com/

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Katie BruceKiki’s Online Fashion Destinations

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In 2004, Ken Jennings attracted international attention with his record-breaking run on Jeopardy! Before his eventual defeat, Jennings won 74 consecutive games and banked over $2.5 million in winnings. Last week on March 20, Jennings spoke at the University of Lethbridge for this year’s annual academic speak-ing event hosted by the Students’ Union. Among his entertaining quips about life as a Jeopardy-winning trivia buff, there was a serious message: technology is changing the world as we know it, but that does not change the fact that learning is important.

A few years after Jennings’ initial run, he was invited back to a special edition of Jeopardy! in which he faced off and lost against IBM’s advanced computer Watson. The experience raised questions for him about the changing role of technology in modern society. “Losing to Watson made me think,” he said. “This was the thing that made me special,” and now a machine could excel at the same task.

Jennings proposed that technologi-cal advances could affect people’s attitudes about learning. He cited studies which have suggested that a person’s hippocampus shrinks when they rely heavily on GPS for their navigation. This led him to wonder, “What about the part of the brain that remembers facts?” Already people no longer bother to remember phone numbers because they are all stored in the phones we carry around in our pockets. People are more inclined to just “Google it” if they do not know something, rather than memorizing facts as was once societally valued.

But Jennings argued that people should never let technology replace their drive to learn. “There is still value to the stuff we carry around in our head,” he said. For example, each person must have a store of knowl-edge for new facts “to stick to.” If you hear, for example, that Cyprus’ econo-my has plummeted, you need to know a number of things in order to fully appreciate that statement (Cyprus’ geographical location, political

history, etc.). Sometimes decisions must be made quickly, as in the case of Tilly Smith, a little girl who saved a beach full of people at a Thai resort because she knew the signs of an approaching tsunami. Having a wide base of knowledge, rather than relying on technology, can literally save your life.

Retaining a wealth of information can also improve your quality of life, he said, including your ability to form relationships with new people. When you meet someone for the first time and strike up a conversation, your discussion will not go very far unless you know a thing or two about the conversation points they offer. If they say they’re from Fargo, North Dakota, and you at least know where that is and something it might be known for, you can engage with that person as more of an insider. Information connects people, and in an increasing-ly globalized world, individuals are more likely to come in contact with a wider array of people from every corner of the earth.

Jennings said that people always ask him what the secret is to retaining a lot of information. He said people seem to expect some sort of perfor-mance-enhancing pill or brain-stimu-lating mental exercises. Not so. He said the secret is simply to be curious. It’s not our memories that prevent us from learning, he said, but our interest levels. A kid may be struggling with the times tables in school, but have memorized the name and stats of every player on their favourite basket-ball team. The difference is simply a matter of interest. The people who learn the best, he said, are the people who are unceasingly curious. “They hear something they don’t know about and it bugs them – they want to know more.”

Too many people have the idea that once the bell rings they can stop learn-ing, said Jennings. Worse still, people think that their learning is done after they get their degrees. Ken Jennings advocates a life of constant learning, fuelled by a healthy curiosity for the world around us.

James ForbesLifestyle Contributor

Jeopardy champ’s advice to the U of L

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I had the chance to chat with Kelsey Muldoon and Brittney Adams this week, both senior members of the Pronghorns track team. These long-distance runners shared some interesting insights with me regarding their sport and its place in the CIS calendar.Travis Robinson: Why is track so overlooked in the CIS?Kelsey Muldoon: Here at the Universi-ty of Lethbridge, because it’s such a small school and we have such a small team compared to other schools, we don’t hold any competitions here. The track is not regulated, as opposed to U of A and U of C, where the tracks are regulated, so they’re able to hold competitions where they get recog-nized, whereas here we don’t have that. Brittney Adams: I think funding is huge too… we pay for our own uniforms, pay for our track spikes, pay for all our own stuff, our own meals. Even on a more national circuit, I think track and field, in terms of Canadian funding, is definitely not there when you compare it to other sports. TR: Kelsey, you’re from Calgary. What made you want to come to the Univer-sity of Lethbridge?KM: I did two years with the SAIT Trojans on their cross country team. I wanted to transfer from my diploma to a degree, and I wanted to keep up my training, and I enjoy long-distance running, so I figured I may as well join the team here to keep up my training. My career started later than most, as I

came from cross country whereas other athletes came from club teams to run track and field. I only started five years ago, so it was totally differ-ent. BA: I think that’s really important. A lot of our track athletes come from differ-ent backgrounds. We’ve got the cross country backgrounds from some people, the triathlon backgrounds from some people. TR: As distance athletes, can you be groomed into distance running, or do you have to have inherent talent of being able to run the long distances before you participate?BA: I think you have to have inherent talent for sprint for sure. With our middle distance and sprint distance athletes, you either have it or you don’t. I think Larry [Steinke’s] training programs are such that even if you’re from a long-distance background, if you’re used to cross country and stuff like that, you can kind of make the switch over. But that being said, most people who come from different backgrounds aren’t going to become competitive as distance track athletes. There are girls who are years and years ahead of us in terms of how fast they are.KM: They’re really good runners. Their times are like a minute and a half faster than my time.BA: You can pick it up and you can hang with it, but you can’t really be competitive. Our workouts are so difficult that I don’t know why you’d want to [be a long-distance athlete],

unless you felt that you were going to make some progress. There is no reason why someone wants to come in Tuesdays and Thursdays and run seven kilometers of sprint speed work. TR: What is a typical day in your training program?BA: We train from the end of August to the beginning of March, so we have one of the longest seasons of any of the teams. We train for pretty much the entire year. Two times a week we do a morning session of an hour of shorter, speed work stuff. In the evening we practice from five o’clock to seven o’clock, which is five to seven kilometers of hard interval running. Long intervals: 800 to 1,000 meters. A 30- to 40-minute run after that, and then weight training after that. It’s a lot of hours if you add it up from August to March. TR: Would you like to see the track team grow at this university?BA: Yes. I would love to see a bigger team. Bigger team means more people to train with, more recogni-tion. A bigger team would be fantas-tic. KM: It would mean more medals coming to CanWest. More positive results. I’m on my way out, this season is my last one, even though I have one more year left of eligibility, and I’d like to see this team do well.BA: Considering how young we were this year, we actually had some good results. Phil [Rockerbie] got a medal at Alberta Indoor, Cassie [Orr] got a medal at Golden Bear in Edmonton.

KM: A lot of our throwers got personal bests at Provincials. Everybody did really well this year; we only had a couple returning athletes from last year, and a lot of first years did well in their first season.BA: It’s a really young team. I remem-ber when I first joined, and there was a hierarchy in terms of the older vets that had been there for a while, the middle people, and the rookies, and I was the rookie. Next year, I’m going to be the only one who is in their third year or above, and I’m doing my master’s.KM: There are two of us that are graduating this year, and they’re both in their fourth year of eligibility. TR: Looking back, was it nice to have gained an education while still competing in track?BA: Yes. I wouldn’t have known what I would have done otherwise. KM: It just takes me a couple of hours away from the books, away from the stress, especially coming up towards exams. It just takes your mind away from that aspect, which is awesome.

Side notes: Brittney Adams will be continuing on to her master’s degree this upcoming fall at the University of Lethbridge. Her thesis will be concerned with the feminist applica-tions of polygamy in Canada, bringing her love of women’s studies and politi-cal science to the forefront. We wish her the best of luck.

Travis RobinsonSports Editor

Running

down a dream

Left to Right:Kelsey Muldoon, Brittney Adams

Travis Robinson

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I’m really excited for summer. Mostly because I don’t like clothing and summer means I get to wear less of it. A bathing suit and a light long blouse is all I need.-Summer Girl

Estuary… great play!!! The snake thing -> not ok!

I just wanted to commend Ryan on his lovely article about 5 days for the homeless. It was a very thoughtful take on homelessness as an issue and the experience of the volunteers.

Looking for a female roommate! Close to university! Great place to live! For more details email me: [email protected]

To Joe at Tim Hortons,You’re caring and warm spirit is awesome. Thank you for being so personable and bubbly! You help make long study days bearable

Recently lost a purple wallet on the 19th! if found please return it to security & keep the cash. I just need some irreplaceable things in there. Thank you!

…there once was a ribbit who lived on a vibrator and….Keep continuing the story

Story time continued:…died.

Adventure Club! Just check out the Environmental Science & Geography Clubs. Doesn’t need to be your major We have tons of fun, great people & go on adventures! Who knew!

To Dannie,That’s cute!Love your roommates

Dear galileos loungers,Galileos is not a place to act like wild apes! loudly drumming on seats and yelling is annoying and disrespectful to others trying to enjoy the space!

Who do i have to Frappé around here to get a good Frappé!? – SpiderSean

Dear Kilt Guy, you are bloody brilliant! You make my heart go all a flutter and your accent makes me melt. “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” <3

To Luke: The guy who bought my sandwich. Your the best man, thanks!

Meliorist, don’t change. You’re part of the culture of this university, and a few bored and boring conservatives shouldn’t change that.

Library’s Easter weekend (March 29-April 1) hours are: Friday (Mar 29): CLOSED; Saturday(Mar 30): 10am-6pm; Sunday(Mar 31): 1-9pm; Monday(Apr 1): 10am-5pm.

Shoutout to all the people who participated in the “5 Days for the Homeless”! You are all beauty’s for enduring that bitter weather!thank you for your empathy and compassion

Can people hurry up and get better already? Please stop caughing and sneezing all class long.

YAY STUDENT SEX ART!

I want to thank whoever wrote the TLF about 5D4H last week. You definitely made my day!A fox named Sean Glydon

All in favour of turning the library’s level 10 into a study lounge and additional food outlets? Then it’s settled.

I’m pretty sure the Queen of England said the “Keep Calm” thing long before the Chive.

Can’t somebody PLEASE wd40 the library exit doors. Their squeal sounds like Free Willy wanting his family back.

The new PSE budget is sucky, but it's a reality. Given that, fee increases and/or service cuts are inevitable, but I'd like to see a balance between the two, rather than massive fee increases or massive service cuts.

Our education is being sold out to corporations and Big Oil. Why do they continue to receive tax cuts but Universities get budget cuts?

Alberta has a seriously broken revenue system and now it is on the backs of students!

I would hope that the university makes the right decision about where they implement the cuts. I don't want to see any faculty leave.

I'm never voting conservative again!I'm leaving school this semester, so I don't care. Sorry to hear about the rest of you!

Not surprised about the cuts. Oil is more important than education in this province.

Makes me wonder if I should've gone to trade school instead, because everyone is saying there is more stability for those future jobs. Oh well.

I don't know anything about the cuts enough to give an opinion.

These cuts are bogus--the province needs to invest in the post-secondary education of its population, as well as finding jobs for the graduates

I don't mind. There's not a lot we can do. Cuts come every year.

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TLF QUESTION FOR NEXT WEEK:If you could have any super power what would it be?

* Submit your TLFs at www.themeliorist.ca. All TLFs must be submitted via a valid uleth e-mail account. Keep in mind that libelous or offensive TLFs may be edited or omitted. The TLFs do not reflect the view or opinions of The Meliorist Publishing Society. ** Priority for TLFs will be given to those who answer the weekly question!

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March 28, 2013 • 25

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Sudoku

Crossword Across1. Minute pore6. Without hair10. Resembling or covered in burnt residues14. Pertaining to the Pontiff15. Smell16. Fruit of the blackthorn bush17. Tip over18. Wide open19. A people of the Central African Republic20. Confused mental state22. Outflow holes24. Conniptions25. Opposed26. Writer ______ O'Neill29. Oil cartel30. Support undergarments31. Behaved badly towards another37. Securing posts on a ship39. One-thou-sandth of an inch40. Leather

41. Male students44. Standard measure45. Pelts46. Made to happen48. Filled with frozen flaked precipitation52. Air circula-tion devices53. Breakfast food54. Something bothersome58. Look lasciviously59. Pertaining to India61. Cheapskate62. Support63. Negatives64. Plant with flavorful seeds65. Male offspring66. Small fly67. Rent

Down1. Potato2. Adhesive strip3. German car manufacturer4. Political declaration5. 2nd man to walk on the moon Edwin "Buzz" ______6. Spurious7. Biblical first man8. Cut off9. Ship to clear mud from a river bed10. Tropical South American palm tree11. Killed12. Trumpets13. Makes dough rise21. Thing on a list or agenda23. Competitions involving speed25. Appropriately26. Wanes27. Pertaining to urine28. Biblical city in Philistine29. Margarines

32. Small store-room or cupboard33. First archbish-op of Canterbury England34. Earl Grey and orange pekoe, for example35. Where 2 surfaces meet36. Accomplish-ment38. Capital of Bulgaria42. Soothing43. Left by a wound47. Mammal or reptile48. Bards (archaic)49. African-Ameri-can50. A synthetic fabric51. Cries52. Frozen dew54. Concept55. Largest continent56. Loch ____ monster57. Tall woody plant60. French for "No"

Medium

Hard

Tales from False Election Promises

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From March 20-22, the University of Lethbridge Students’ Union sent two delegates to the annual general meeting of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA). CASA is our federal lobby organization that has 25 members from across the country ranging from the University of British Columbia Graduate Students’ Society in Vancouver, to St. Mary’s University Students’ Association in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The annual general meeting is an opportunity for members to get to-gether and evaluate the past year the organization had. This year, three items in particular were on the agen-da: the annual budget for CASA, new policies and updates to existing policies, and the strategic plan.

At this meeting, the annual budget

was approved and we are happy to inform everyone that CASA is in a

the biggest challenges for the bud-get is the ever changing membership of CASA. As the organization is fund-ed by membership fees, even just one large school leaving CASA can drastically change the budget.

CASA also updated 16 policies and approved six new ones. One of these new policies aims to develop a men-tal health policy framework across the country for post-secondary insti-tutions. This policy states that CASA will advocate that the federal gov-ernment increase social spending al-located for mental health, work with the provincial governments on this is-sue, and undertake a study at the na-tional level to better understand this problem. As mental health is an ever growing concern on our campuses across the country, this new policy is

very timely and will be put to good use.

strategic plan and at the annual gen-eral meeting members had the op-portunity to evaluate the plan after

four pillars for CASA: policy and re-search, advocacy, communication, and membership. The plan received general approval from the member-ship and will continue to guide the organization for the next few years.

At the end of the conference, the University of Lethbridge was chosen to be the host school for the next CASA conference, that being the Policy & Strategy Conference at the end of June. We are looking forward to hosting over 60 student delegates from across the country at this confer-ence where CASA will decide what its annual priorities will be for the 2013-2014 year.

Armin EscherPresident

CASA MEETING SUCCESSFUL

Page 27: The Meliorist, Volume 46 Issue 26

LAST LECTURE BIO: NICHOLAS HANSONThe Last Lecture is a yearly event

that began at the U of L in April 2008 and is based off a world-renowned speech given by computer science professor Randy Pausch at Carnegie Mellon University in 2007.

Pausch had been diagnosed with terminal cancer that would claim his life in a matter of months; however, upon delivering his last lecture en-titled “Really Achieving Your Child-hood Dreams,” he provided his au-dience with thoughtful insight about living, not dying. He spoke about overcoming obstacles and seizing every moment because “time is all

that you have less than you think.” Pausch’s speech became a phe-

nomenon and shortly thereafter uni-versities around the world began de-livering their own “last lectures,” not necessarily given by dying professors

but by teachers looking to impart their last words of wisdom.

This year the Last Lecture speakers will be Dr. Peter Dibble (chemistry and biochemistry), Nicholas Hanson (theatre and drama), and Dr. Sheila McManus (history). The event takes place on April 17, at 7 p.m. in the uni-versity’s main theatre.

Over the next three issues of the Meliorist, we’ll be giving you a short introduction to the speakers at this year’s Last Lecture. So, without fur-ther ado, we’d like to introduce you to theatre and dramatic arts profes-sor, Nicholas Hanson.

Hanson grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, before moving to Ottawa, On-tario, where he completed junior high and high school. He then went on to pursue his Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and Bachelor of Education degrees at Queen’s University in Kingston,

where he was awarded the Convo-cation Gold Medal along with over a dozen other academic, artistic, and teaching awards. At the University of Toronto, Hanson also earned his Master of Arts degree, while pursu-ing various theatre projects. Hanson continued westward when, in 2003, he accepted a position as a faculty member with the theatre and dra-matic arts department at the Univer-sity of Lethbridge.

As an associate professor, Hanson splits his time between participating in theatre projects - often rotating between directing, acting, writing, designing, and producing, working as the artistic director of New West Theatre, and teaching courses for the theatre and dramatic arts depart-ment. Most recently he directed Con-fessions of a Paperboy for New West Theatre in 2011 and The Big Friendly

Giant for the U of L in 2009.Hanson frequently presents lec-

tures and workshops on arts-related topics and, since 1998, he has occu-pied many of his summers at Camp Kodiak, a residential summer camp for young people with learning dis-

-tivity Disorder, and autism spectrum disorders.

Outside of creating and attending

and canoeing, as well as playing Ul-timate (Frisbee), basketball, bocce, and mini-golf. Other interests include politics (public policy and demo-graphics), computers and technol-ogy, cameras, and ice cream. When he gets older, Nicholas hopes to have the patience to build those tiny model boats inside of bottles.

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Holy Homophobia with Dr. Tonya callaghanPE 261@ 6:00 pm to 8 PMAp

r 8

Harm Reduction & Drug EducationThe ZOO@ 5:00 PMAp

r 11

Community Dinner & Idea ShareLethbridge Fish & Game HUT (9th ave & 10th st south)@ 6:00 PMAp

r 12

A taste of lethbridge 2013tradesman manufacturing (4437 8th ave north)@ 7:00 PM to 10:00 pmAp

r 13

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swagNOW IN THE BOOKSTORE!

For all the up-to-date local events and information go to:

labeat.ca

Page 30: The Meliorist, Volume 46 Issue 26

March 28, 2013 • 30

Jobs, jobs, jobs!Let us introduce you to CES (Career & Employment Services). CES is a student service office dedicated to assisting you with your career and job search needs. We’re within the Career & Co-op Services office in AH154, along with Applied Studies and the Management and Arts & Science Cooperative Education programs. CCS office hours are 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. – 4 p.m., Monday to Friday.

Go to our website for more detailed information on our services: www.uleth.ca/ross/ces.

Workshops to April 12 (to see full schedule and sign up go online to www.uleth.ca/ross/ces/workshops)

CES resume/cover letter workshops:* Wednesday, April 3, 3 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.* Tuesday, April 9, 10:50 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Career exploration 101 workshops:* Thursday, April 4, 1:40 p.m. – 3:40 p.m.* Monday, April 8, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.

CES career portfolios for interviews workshops:* Thursday, March 28, 10:50 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

CES job search & networking workshops:* Wednesday, April 10, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.

CES interview techniques workshops:* Thursday, April 11, 3 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

New Grad ~ Job Search Seminar ~ check out the details on our website www.uleth.ca/ross/ces/workshopsTwo-day seminar to help prepare you for your job search:* Friday, April 5, 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. & Saturday, April 5, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Lunch provided on Saturday.* Thursday April 25, 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. & Friday, April 26, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Lunch provided on Friday.

For full descriptions of the job postings below visit CES online job board!http://www.uleth.ca/ross/ces/job-board

Full time• Management Trainee ~ Guillevin

International (April 30)

• Synthetic Organic Chemist, North York ~ Toronto Research Chemicals (April 30)

• Agribusiness Assistant, AB/SK/MB ~ Richardson International (April 15)

• Marketing/Event Coordinator, Ponoka/Red Deer ~ Jones Boys Saddlery & Western Wear (April 15)

• Warehouse Material Handlers, Edm, Calg, Red Deer, Saskatoon – Consolidated Gypsum (March 30)

• Community Rehabilitation Worker I, Leth – Lethbridge Family Services DACAPO Program (March 30)

• Sales Associates – WIRELESSWAVE, Leth – Glentel (March 30)

• Management Residential Supervisor, Leth – Quest Support Services (March 29)

• Customer Service Representative, People First HR Services ~ Bassano (March 31)

• Research Analyst, Cgy ~ Barclay Street Real Estate (April 4)

• Field Sales Representative, Edm ~ Premier Tech Home & Garden (April 4)

• Assistant Store Manager, Leth ~ DAVIDsTEA (April 6)

• Community Peace Officer, Leth ~ County of Lethbridge (March 29)

• Junior Software Developer, Red Deer ~ Visual-Eyes (April 6)

• Software Developer, Salmon Arm ~ USNR (April 5)

• Associate Sales Representative, Various Locations ~ Cargill (April 15)

• Associate Grain Marketing Advisor, Various Locations ~ Cargill (April 15)

• Associate Production Supervisor, Various Locations ~ Cargill (April 15)

• Junior Financial Analyst, Cgy ~ Colliers International (March 29)

• Development Officer, Leth ~ Lethbridge College (April 14)

• Sales Development Training Program ~ WESCO Distribution (April 11)

• Accountant, Edm ~ Paragon Soil (April 1)

• Administrative Support II, Cgy ~ UofL (April 5)

• Program Manager, Cgy ~ Churchill Park Family Care Society (April 21)

Temporary• Reservations Manager, Blue River ~

Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing (April 26)

• Assistant Equipment Manager, Cgy ~ Glencoe Club (April 1)

• Aquaponics Researcher, Leth ~ Lethbridge College (April 5)

• Project Officer - Intern Position, Ottawa ~ Council of the Federation Secretariat (May 9)

• Marketing & Social Media Manager, Leth ~ Lethbridge Toyota (April 8)

• Office Assistant, Leth ~ DuPont Pioneer (April 5)

• Urban Construction Assistant, Leth ~ City of Lethbridge (April 5)

Summer postings• Dining Hall Steward, Beaver Mines ~

Bert Sheppard Scout Reserve (March 31)

• Summer Camp Counsellor, Bragg Creek ~ Easter Seals Camp Horizon (March 31)

• Summer Swim Coach, Fort MacLeod ~ Sharks Swim Club (April 30)

• Agronomy Student; Agribusiness Student, AB/SK ~ Richardson International (April 15)

• Giftshop Sales Associate, Drumheller ~ Royal Tyrrell Museum (April 30)

• Marketing/PR Internship, Cgy ~ Live Out There Inc (April 30)

• Technical Support Student – Pulp Division, Whitecourt ~ Millar Western Forest Products (March 31)

• Security Analysis Assistant, Calg – The Calgary Airport Authority (March 29)

• Collections Manager Assistant; Education Program Assistant; Tourist Information/Front Desk Clerk; Horticulture/landscaping, Pincher Creek& District Historical Society – (April 26)

• Marketing & Graphics Internship; Sales Planning and Administration Internship (unpaid) , Blue River, BC – Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing (April 5)

• Junior Aquatics Technician, Calg – Tera Environmental Consultants (March 29)

• The Ultimate Summer Marketing Internship, AB & SK – Vivint (March 30)

• Law/Business Analyst Student, Cgy ~ Cenovus (April 10)

• Storm Student ~ Cooperators (March 30)

• Seasonal Interpreter, Fort McMurray ~ Oil Sands Discovery Centre (March 31)

• Museum Interpreters, Dickson ~ Danish Canadian National Museum Society (April 20)

• Store Manager, Sylvan Lake ~ More Moo Ice Cream Parlor & Toy Store (April 10)

• GMR Marketing VIP Event Host, Edm ~ GMR Marketing (April 1)

• Production Intern, Various Locations ~ Cargill (April 15)

• Industrial Herbicide Applicator, Red Deer ~ Renu-l-tech Environmental (April 12)

• Lawn Care Specialist; Flower Bed Specialist, Cgy ~ Empire Yards Services Inc (April 13)

• Marketing Associates, Leth ~ CertaPro Painters (April 14)

• Programs & Visitor Services Assistant; Collections & Visitor Services Assistant, Claresholm ~ Town of Claresholm (April 5)

• Student Tax, Cgy ~ Enerplus (April 17)

• Summer Student, Cgy ~ Alberta Distance Learning Centre (April 17)

• Production Technicians, Leth ~ DuPont Pioneer (April 5)

• Summer Student, Leth ~ Alberta Blue Cross (April 18)

• Summer Marketing Internship ~ Vivint (April 19)

• Aquatic Ecology Research Assistant Position ~ U of L (March 31)

• Crop Scout Intern, Rolling Hills ~ CHS Inc (April 19)

• Interpreter, Cardston ~ Remington Carriage Museum (April 15)

• Web Developer, Leth ~ Internet Solutions Group (April 30)

• Supply Management Student, Cgy ~ Encana (April 7)

• Advertising Coordinator, Leth ~ Graduate Media & Marketing (April 21)

Part time• Guest Services, Cgy ~ Butterfield

Acres Farm (May 1)• Brand Ambassador, various AB

locations – Prime Marketing (April 30)

• Aquafit Instructor, Cgy ~ Glencoe Club (April 4)

• Child Care Provider, Cgy ~ Glencoe Club (April 4)

• Brand Ambassador ~ Prime Marketing (April 1)

• Groundskeeper, Leth ~ Weidner Investment Services (May 5)

• Campus Women’s Centre Co-coordinator, Leth ~ U of L (April 1)

International• English Teacher ~ Ameson Education

& Cultural Exchange Foundation (April 10)

• Teach English in South Korea ~ Eagle Consulting (April 15)

• AYC: Opportunity to Teach in China – Ameson Education and Cultural Exchange Foundation (March 29)

• Primary & Secondary Teachers, London/Kent/Watford/Brighton ~ Synarbor Education (March 29)

• English Teacher Needed, UK ~ Synarbor Education (April 6)

• Teaching Positions, Guadalajara ~ Canadian School Guadalajara (April 6)

• China Paid Internship, Ningbo China ~ Ningbo Wencheng International Student Internship (April 30)

• Science Teacher, UK ~ Synarbor Education (April 12)

• China Internship Program, Beijing ~ CRCC Asia (April 23)

• Travel. Teach. Save! South Korea ~ Adventure Teaching (April 17)

• EFL Teacher, Nanning ~ Canadian Foundation Centre for International Education (April 30)

For details of the postings and information on the application processes, go to www.uleth.ca/ross/ces/job-board.

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Page 31: The Meliorist, Volume 46 Issue 26

Try to find this pronghorn in this week’s issue of the Meliorist. E-mail the page number and a brief description of where you found it to [email protected]. You will be entered to win our monthly pronghorn draw. You can enter as many times in the month as we publish.

Me

dium

Ha

rd

Q: How many Republicans does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A: None. They’ll just let their children take care of it.

Q: What do tight pants and a cheap motel have in common?

A: No ballroom.

Jokes

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