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Let Your Geek Flag Fly • Special Insert

concordia’s independent newspaperjournalistic fear factor since 1980

POLLING PROBLEMS: ASFA ELECTION RESULTS IN QUESTION • PAGE 7

PAGE

03 Current Affairs

• JULIAN WARD

Cities across Canada have of-ficially hopped on the OccupyWall Street juggernaut, which hasseen chapters spring up acrossthe western world and as faraway as Hong Kong.

Thousands of activists inMontreal took to Square Victoriaat the steps of the Montreal StockExchange building Oct. 15. Theyset up tents, tarps and tables andhave said that they are not leav-ing any time soon.

“Across the board, people arerealizing that capitalism, as it[stands], isn’t working,” saidJoanne Penhale, one of the occu-piers. “I think the Canadian sys-tem isn’t as fucked up [as theAmerican system], but when

we’re talking about a global econ-omy, we’re all in the same boat.”

“Canada has its own injus-tices, which will be coming out,”she continued. “Some, for exam-ple, want Quebec independence.It isn’t my thing, but it’s impor-tant to discuss.”

Penhale says that the move-ment is a work in progress andthat it is unreasonable to expectsuch a wide variety of voices andopinions to have any sort of con-sensus just yet.

Occupiers wasted no time insetting up what will be their newhome for the foreseeable future.While some were setting up tentsand tarps to block the rain, whichintermittently plagued the day,others were preparing meals tofeed the occupiers.

“To sustain an occupation youneed food because, well, every-one’s got to eat,” said WilliamRay of Food Not Bombs, one ofthe organizations helping withmeals.

Other occupiers spent the af-ternoon distributing political fly-ers, playing music, making signs,and creating a carnival-like at-mosphere that kept the spiritshigh throughout the cold andwindy day.

Though the set-up in SquareVictoria, renamed ‘Place du Peu-ple’ by its occupiers, is based onthe original encampment in NewYork City, there are some dra-matic differences. Occupiers inMontreal are allowed—at leastfor the moment—to use mega-phones, to pitch tents and to

blast music. At the time of publi-cation of this article, there hadalso been no arrests of protesters.

“I’m here supporting theAmerican Occupy Wall Streetprotest,” said Marco Montali, anowner and president of a pulpand paper business, dressed in alarge yellow raincoat with ‘99%’emblazoned on the back.

“We’ve got a long way to go toimprove our situation [inCanada]. It could be so easy forus to slide downhill. If we’re notcareful we could lose it all,” hecautioned.

Occupiers held a general as-sembly in the afternoon whereineveryone gathered around to tryand sort out the logistics of theoccupation and make plans forfurther action.

In a nod to the occupiers inNew York City, the general as-sembly made use of the humanmicrophone, which entails oneperson speaking in fragmentedsentences which are repeated inunison by everyone close by sothe people on the outside of thecrowd can hear.

In the evening, hundreds ofprotesters took to Ste. CatherineSt. and marched through traffic,stopping cars in the middle of thestreet. A police escort eventuallyjoined the marchers who went toa Bank of Montreal building inthe Old Port. While securityguards prevented protesters fromentering the building, they werenot stopped from dancing andchanting “We are the 99 per cent”on the steps of the iconic bank.

Occupy The SquareMontrealers Set Up Camp in Financial District

PHOTOS VINCENT YIPOccupiers in Montreal’s Victoria Square say they’re prepared to remain there for a while.

current affairs 05the link • october 18, 2011 thelinknewspaper.ca/news

• ADAM KOVAC

Montreal and Quebec City maysoon be emulating a controversialVancouver safe drug-injection siteprogram, but another local pro-gram aimed at preventing drug-re-lated health problems has seen itsprovincial funding cut.

According to a press releasefrom the office of Quebec Ministerof Health Yves Bolduc, the ministerhas “spoken with Cactus Montreal[about the] conditions necessaryfor the establishment of a super-

vised injection service in Quebec,including the need to have a realconsensus for such a project.”

Cactus is an outreach and education centre in downtownMontreal that describes itself as an“autonomous, nonprofit organiza-tion, which helps persons who useillicit drugs, or those with poten-tially risky sexual behaviour, to re-duce the risks associated with thosepractices while improving theirquality of life.”

One service already offered atCactus is a safe needle-exchangeprogram, where users can tradetheir used syringes for clean ones.

While Cactus may be operatingas a safe injection site as early asApril, another similar outreachservice recently had to cut back itsoutreach. Head & Hands, locatedon Sherbrooke St. W. in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, had to get rid oftwo street workers in August afterits provincial funding was cut by$75,000.

“They did mobile harm-reduc-tion in NDG, so they would go sup-port clients in parks, metros, bars,”said Head & Hands’ JuniperBelshaw. “They were able to go topeople’s apartments, group homes,youth centres, hotels, massage par-lours and in those spaces they

talked a lot about harm reduction,so they gave information on saferdrug use and safer sex.

“They also ran a clean needleexchange and gave safe inhalationkits as well as tens of thousands ofcondoms a year.”

Belshaw noted that, while theyare still able to hand out condomson-site, the drug-related materialswere no longer available.

“To responsibly do a needle ex-change [program], it’s important tohave staff that can support and sitdown one-on-one with clients andtalk to them about safer use beyondjust giving needles,” he said.

Cactus’ director of communityorganization and outreach, Jean-Francois Mary, said he was con-cerned about what the loss of Head& Hands street workers wouldmean for the NDG area, citing in-creased austerity measures in theneighbourhood.

He said that the reason Cactusis able to maintain its operationsand open the supervised injectionsite, while Head & Hands has to cutback, is because the funding iscoming from a different organiza-tion in the Ministry of Health.

“In general we only receivefunding for prevention of STDs, butfor a safe injection site, dependency

and substance abuse, the fundingshould come from the sector in theMinistry of Health [that deals withdrug dependence].”

A Sept. 30 ruling from theSupreme Court of Canada markedthe end of the eight-year-long courtbattle over the legality of Vancou-ver’s Insite safe injection clinic. Theclinic provides clean needles androoms where clients are able to in-ject pre-bought illicit drugs. It alsoprovides health care services,which its website claims has suc-cessfully treated all 1,418 overdosesthat have occurred since its open-ing in 2003. It shares a buildingwith Onsite, a detox centre staffedwith counselors, nurses and doc-tors that help clients aiming to endtheir drug addiction.

While the Cactus project is stillin its infancy, the Quebec govern-ment has expressed public support,with a press release stating, “Thisruling shows drug addiction is adisease and that supervised injec-tion sites can save lives.”

Though Cactus is so far the onlysite named by Bolduc in Montreal,he has also approached Point deRepères in Quebec City to set up asimilar facility. Mary expressedhope that the supervised injectioninitiative will eventually have more

chapters in Montreal.“We won’t be the only promoter

in Montreal and we don’t want tobe the only promoter in Montreal,”he said. “The context is really dif-ferent from the Vancouver down-town site. The context is muchcloser to cities around Europe,where people are scattered andtherefore we don’t want to have onecentral place, but multiple places.”

Mary added that there is much work to be done before Cac-tus can open as a supervised injec-tion site, including educating thepublic in the area about what thefacility does, organizing and train-ing nurses, setting protocols fordealing with emergencies and othercontingencies.

Bolduc ended his press releaseby saying “Since the supervised in-jection services can represent anadditional tool to fight against thetransmission of blood-borne infec-tions, to reduce the harm associ-ated with misuse of drugs byinjection, in addition to having sev-eral health benefits of people witha drug addiction, I will follow withattention the progress of [Cactus.]”

What that means for places likeHead & Hands remains unclear,however—at least for the timebeing.

Needle Point and Counter PointLocal Injection Site to Open After Syringe Exchange Closure

Cactus community organizer Jean-Francois Mary hopes multiple supervised injection sites will open in Montreal.

“To responsibly do aneedle exchange[program], it’simportant to havestaff that can supportand sit down one-on-one with clients andtalk to them aboutsafer use beyond justgiving needles,”

—Juniper Belshaw

06current affairs the link • october 18, 2011thelinknewspaper.ca/news

• ADAM KOVAC

When the Concordia StudentUnion Council met on Oct. 12, they managed to fill four emptystudent-at-large committeeseats. However, five more posi-tions remained unfilled, as not asingle student has submittedthemselves for consideration.

The student-at-large seatsprovide a level of student over-sight for the various committees.Chris Webster was named toboth the Finance and Policy Re-form committees, while DylanOberont and Gabrielle Brais Har-vey were named to Sustainabilityand External Campaigns, respec-tively.

That leaves vacancies on theClubs & Space, Appointments,Events, Loyola and Ad Hoc

Committees on equity and stu-dent space, respectively.

“It’s pretty standard that committees aren’t always full allthe time, and certainly not at thestart of the year,” said CSU Pres-ident Lex Gill.

“The committees that havebeen really active have beenfilled, like external and cam-paigns, for example. Things likeLoyola and appointments thatare a bit more ambiguous—it’sdifficult to find students thatwant to get involved.”

Gill said that the CSU plans toput up posters advertising theempty positions, and noted thatthe vacancies are posted on thetheir official website. She ex-pressed hope that people willstep forward by the time of theCSU’s November meeting.

The committees are still ableto function as, due to the bylawsof the CSU, quorum for a com-mittee meeting is half of all activemembers.

Besides the appointment of the new committee members,Council was given a presentationby lawyer and Concordia professor Patrice Blais, who hadbeen working in recent monthson changes to the bylaws of the CSU.

Most of the changes had beenapproved in June, but some had been sent to the Policy Re-form committee for further re-view, particularly the section thatdealt with removing a member ofCouncil or the president or VPsfrom office.

“The recommendation of thepolicy committee is that the

members should be able to carryout an impeachment processagainst a member of the execu-tive or a member of council,” saidBlais.

He then outlined a procedurethat would involve Council beingpresented with a petition callingfor the resignation signed by2,500 students in the case of anexecutive, with differing num-bers for councillors from differ-ent faculties.

That would be followed by aspecial general meeting at whichstudents would be able to vote onwhether to impeach or not.

“[The process has been] al-ready decided in principle. It wasa question of how many signa-tures you’d need on the petition,” said Gill, adding that the numbercouldn’t have been decided be-

fore the CSU acquired statisticson the proportion of students ineach faculty.

The changes won’t be offi-cially ratified until students voteon them at a referendum, whichwas announced will take placefrom Nov. 22 to 24.

Other than voting on whetheror not to accept the bylaw revisions, students will also voteon fee levy increase requestsfrom the Frigo Vert and CJLO, as well as filling open councillorseats on Council, which had seen the resignation of fourmembers since the beginning of the year.

There are two vacant positions for representatives ofindependent students, as well astwo for the John Molson Schoolof Business.

Open SeatingCommittees Struggle to Find Student Members at Meeting

PHOTO ADAM KOVAC

TAKING A STAND• JULIAN WARD

Realizing the ongoing threatthat sexual assault poses to stu-dents, the councillors of the Con-cordia Student Union voted tocreate a sexual assault centre forthe university at their meeting lastweek.

“Concordia University does nothave a policy that specifically andcomprehensively addresses sexualassault,” said Laura Ellyn of Con-cordians for a Safer University

Community, who spoke to coun-cil.

“The policies that do exist con-flate sexual assault with sexual ha-rassment. There is no distinction,which makes it impossible for usto tell how many cases of sexualassault and sexual harassmenthappen at Concordia every year,”she said.

Between one in four and one insix women experience some sortof sexual assault while attendingcollege or university, according to

a letter from CSUC detailing theimprovements they want to see oncampus with regards to sexual as-sault policy.

CSUC has made a list of objec-tives they hope to achieve withinthe next year to improve servicesto sexual assault victims and theentire university community.

The CSUC wants to see the cre-ation of a permanent space oncampus for a sexual assault cen-tre, permanent and sustainablefunding for the operations of such

a centre, the implementation ofmandatory sensitivity trainingprograms for security, counselingand development staff, and thecreation of a clear and accessiblepolicy dealing with sexual assaulton campus.

The sexual assault centrewould be funded by Concordia’sadministration.

“In the course of working thiscampaign, we’ve studied a lot ofgreat policies of universities thatwe know it’s possible to have bet-

ter policies than this,” Ellyn said.“We actually sat down with pro-fessionals who look at universitypolicies and the first thing theysaid to us was, ‘This is the mostunclear policy we’ve ever seen.’”

In addition to voicing supportfor the centre, the CSU will be cre-ating a directory of organizationsthat provide assistance or infor-mation to survivors of sexual as-sault and sexual harassment,which will be accessible from theirwebsite.

CSU Votes in Favour of Centre to Aid Sexual Assault Victims

CSU Council voted to support a sexual assault centre after Laura Ellyn from Concordians for a Safter University Community pointed out the lack of policies on campus.

current affairs 07the link • october 18, 2011 thelinknewspaper.ca/news

• JULIAN WARD

If you’re an arts and sciencestudent, you are going to get thechance to vote on whether or notto strike.

At a meeting of the Arts andScience Federation of Associa-tions Council, a motion was in-troduced calling for a specialgeneral assembly at which stu-dents will decide whether tostrike and participate in the Nov.10 Day of Action against tuitionhikes.

“[We’re trying] to mobilizearts and science students to geton board and on the same trackas the Concordia Student Union[with regards to fighting tuitionincreases],” said ASFA PresidentAlex Gordon.

A minimum of 370 studentsneed to show up to make quorumat ASFA’s general assembly,which will be held in the firstweek of November, said Gordon.

The CSU, unlike ASFA, willnot be seeking a strike mandatefrom its members at this point intime.

“It’s our perspective that it’ssignificantly more effective forthe CSU at this point to mobilizedirectly for the Nov. 10 action[and not for a one-day strike],”said CSU President LexGill. “We’re much more inter-ested in encouraging and sup-porting faculty associations anddepartment level associations tohave their own strike mandates.”

Gill stressed that there is nodifference between having astrike mandate for studentsprotesting on Nov. 10 and nothaving one.

“There’s nothing that legallyprotects students who are onstrike at all. There’s nothing inthe law. Unlike a labour union, [astudent union] going on strikereally means nothing other thanyou don’t go to class and you suf-fer the consequences,” she said.

Other undergraduate studentassociations on campus have ei-ther decided to officially not takea stance on tuition increases, orhave yet to formulate an officialposition.

The Concordia InternationalStudents’ Association and the Fine Arts Student Alliancewill be meeting with their respective councils in the comingweeks to decide their officialstances on the Nov. 10 Day of Action.

The two other major under-graduate student associations on campus, the Engineering andComputer Science Associationand the Commerce and Adminis-tration Students’ Association,have decided to remain neutralon tuition increases.

• ADAM KOVAC

A seemingly routine by-electionto fill vacant VP and councillorseats in the Arts and Science Fed-eration of Associations has re-sulted in questions about thevalidity of the vote.

Former ASFA Chief ElectoralOfficer and current Concordia Stu-dent Union Council ChairpersonNick Cuillerier has filed an officialcomplaint with ASFA’s JudicialCommittee, citing what he called“Numerous violations that tookplace and the general lack of over-sight.”

“I don’t find that there is anymalicious intent involved here. Butwhat is clear is that there is grossnegligence, a questionable under-standing of [election bylaws foundin ASFA document] Annex A, anda lack of oversight regarding [cur-rent CEO Marvin Cidamon].”

One of the most serious allega-tions put forth by Cuillerier is thehiring of former ASFA VP InternalNicole Devlin as a polling clerk andballot counter. Cuillerier said that,as CEO last year, he had recom-mended a change to the bylawsthat would prohibit former execu-tives from holding paid positionsin ASFA elections.

“I needed polling clerks,” saidCidamon, who acknowledged thathe knew hiring Devlin would vio-late the bylaws.

“It was kind of short notice. Iended up planning that entire elec-tion in about a week. Time wasagainst me and I had other

choices, but she seemed like some-one who knew her stuff, and knewhow to deal with an election.”

Devlin, who had been on theASFA executive when the reformswere passed, said she did not re-member that particular change,and could not find it when lookingthrough the online version of thebylaws before applying to be aclerk and counter.

“Throughout the entire elec-tions I saw many executives andpeople and no one said anything,so I thought it was okay,” she said.

Cuillerier said he, too, looked atthe online bylaws and annexes,and found that the updated ver-sion of Annex A, which was votedon by ASFA council in April, wasmissing.

“I had assumed the most up-dated version of Annex A had beenup on the website,” he said. “Whenthis was not the case, I soon real-ized that the one on the website isfrom Dec. 10 and not April 14. Iwas then sent a recent version ofAnnex and upon receiving it, I re-alized there were componentsmissing.

“Annex A is currently missingsome major components, and notonly is it not readily available tothe public, it’s not readily availableto the executive, because they havenot updated it.”

However, ASFA President AlexGordon said that is not the case.

“As far as the website update, Ithink it’s a little self-explanatorythat we didn’t have a VP Commu-nication, and as much as we at-

tempted to learn the application ofthe website, that’s one thing thatunfortunately didn’t get updatedin a timely manner. We do have anupdated version that we’re con-sulting.”

He added that the hiring of ineligible polling clerks was “an oversight by a few differentbodies,” and that Cidamon andASFA VP Internal Schubert Laforest had jointly and voluntar-ily filed a request for an opinionwith the Judicial Committee aboutthe matter.

Cuillerier also cited violationsas varied as a student hired as a ballot counter posting the resultsof the election on Facebook beforethey were official, to hiring pollingclerks and counters who were ineligible to perform those dutiesdue to recent reforms to the ASFA bylaws.

The Link has also learned of po-tential problems in the training ofpolling clerks, which may have re-sulted in students being able tocast multiple votes after one student admitted to having hadthe opportunity to vote multipletimes after going to several pollingstations.

Clerks are supposed to enterthe names of students who have voted into a database, and ifthey attempt to vote again, an ‘in-eligible’ message is supposed topop up.

Cuillerier had asked the JC toconsider whether the results of theelection should be valid, whetherthe CEO, deputy electoral officer

and ineligible polling clerks shouldface disciplinary actions, to look atthe hiring process of the CEO, andto consider dismissing the CEOover the byelection.

“I do this under great frustra-tion,” said Cuillerier. “I spentmany hours last year trying to helpimprove the system and correctsome of the errors that were withinthe system.”

Cidamon denied that the results of the election are in doubt,saying, “All the results are fine. It’snot really a question whether theresults have been tampered with inany way.”

Cuillerier also filed complaintsconcerning the lack of a formal rat-ification of Cidamon by Council—Cidamon says he was busycounting ballots, as the nightwhere the ratification was to takeplace was also an election night—and the lack of an updated electionsection on the ASFA website.

The byelection winners included Alexis Suzuki as VP Communications and Paul Jerajian as VP External & Sustain-ability, as well as Yasmeen Zaharas an independent councillor.

In emails sent to The Link, the ASFA Judicial Committee an-nounced separate hearings stem-ming from the election.

One, to be held on Oct. 19, willdiscuss questions about electionviolations brought to the JC jointlyby Cidamon and Laforest. Theother, on Oct. 24, will be to discussthe allegations put forth by Cuil-lerier.

Controversy Swirls Over Potential Violations of ASFA Electoral Bylaws

ASFA to HoldGeneral Assembly,Vote on StudentStrike

ASFA ElectionsUndermined

GRAPHIC SEAN MCCLURE

08current affairs the link • october 18, 2011thelinknewspaper.ca/news

• JACOB ROBERTS

When Alexandra Juhasz, a pro-fessor in media studies, addressedConU as part of the ConcordiaUniversity Community Lecture Se-ries on HIV/AIDS, she did so in amanner not typically seen in an ac-ademic presentation.

The Oct. 13 talk followed an in-tentionally non-linear progressionthrough the thoughts and feelingsof HIV-positive people. Her entirepresentation served to illustrate ametaphor that connected thewidespread HIV virus with the freeflow of information on the Inter-net.

“A lot of what I was doing, in-tentionally, was throwing out re-ally complicated ideas that wereoften in contradiction with eachother,” said Juhasz.

She showed documentary clipsof AIDS victims telling their talesof survival, focusing on efforts tostay positive in a grim situation.

As part of her intentionally dis-orienting style, she would skipquickly away to something else en-tirely, such as samples of artisticphotography from an HIV-postiveartist to a slide prominently dis-

playing a quote from author andAIDS activist Gregg Bordowitz thatcoldly states, “…beings are bornand then they die.”

With the birth of the Internetand the explosion of informationcoming from it, Juhasz said shewanted to do something for AIDSawareness that wouldn’t becomeanother video on YouTube thatpeople watch a portion of and thenclick away from.

Instead, she decided to incor-porate a “short attention span cul-ture” into her presentation, byamassing a huge amount of infor-mation herself and showing it in achaotic way that mimics the waythat people now take in informa-tion from the Internet.

By doing so, she hoped to drawa symbolic parallel between thehigh-speed information age andHIV/AIDS.

“Do I think of the Internet as adisease?” she said during an inter-view with The Link. “If you thinkabout it as an external agent, thatenters the flows of the biologicalunit that is human being and soci-eties, then sure. Perhaps the ques-tion is, if you think about otheragents that enter the body that

aren’t going to make the body sickthen yeah, that is the Internet.”

Juhasz cautioned the audienceabout the dangers of being ex-posed to the unrestricted flow ofinformation on the Internet.

“This free flow—this free con-nectivity—which we think of as[the] democratic possibility of theInternet, ends up moving informa-tion’s context without stoppingand holding on to it. To connectthat to HIV, what I was doing wasstopping the viral flow that doesn’thave impediments,” she said.

The talk, which Juhasz called a“mixed reality experience,” endedwith a question and answer period,which she explained was as mucha part of the mixed reality as anyother aspect.

Most of the people who stoodup to ask questions were angeredby the presentation. Many saidthat the quick transitions from onetopic and one medium to anothertook emotional value away fromthe videos of HIV victims.

Juhasz addressed their con-cerns, explaining that what shewanted to portray was the coldnessof the digital age that allows one tointerrupt a video of someone with

AIDS sharing their life—to quicklyjump away to the next video orphoto or tab in the browser win-dow.

“I think that there’s somethingdangerous about this idea of ‘viral-ity’—meaning something thatflows without change [and] with-out stopping. The question is, howdo you want to be connected, and how do you want limits on that connectivity?”

Juhasz, who has taught at sev-eral universities and holds a PhDin Cinema Studies, has made sev-eral documentaries since the1980s featuring people who areHIV-positive.

The next guest lecturer in the Community Lecture Se-ries on HIV/Aids will be Dr. Vin Kim Nguyen, speak-ing on Nov 10.

AIDS in the Internet AgeAnnual Lecture Series Brings in Alexandra Juhasz

• LAURA BEESTON

Last week, the Office of theDean of Students sent a missive toall Concordia student clubs andgroups on behalf of the City ofMontreal, telling us to keep thenoise down—or else.

According to the notice, duringthis year’s Orientation, the city reportedly received a number ofnoise complaints.

Authorities then reminded theConcordia administration that “nonoise registering above 80 decibelsis allowed on public or privateproperty,” and that if the noise levelexceeds this limit, fines between$1,500 and $12,000—plus a $375administration fee—may be im-posed on the group responsible forthe racket.

Eighty decibels, however, isroughly the noise produced by aflushing toilet.

“As far as I’m aware, during Ori-entation we only received one noisecomplaint [downtown] on the daythat the Reggie’s terrace hosted theelectronic DJ night,” said CSU VPStudent Life Laura Glover.

“We were asked to turn themusic down, we did, and every-thing was fine. The security agenton site even confirmed that it wasat a healthy noise level.”

While Glover has no idea who

called in the noise complaint, shedoesn’t think it’s necessarily fair.

“It’s important for students tohold and participate in events andsometimes it might get a bit noisy,but students are a huge part of thedowntown community,” she said.“I also think that the universityneeds to take a little bit of respon-sibility and defend student life oncampus in these types of situations.

“From a financial perspective,the university does make a bit ofmoney off orientation events—[theCSU] paid nearly $18,000 into

security expenses,” Glover said.“But they also benefit from Orien-tation in that student life and community building are huge com-ponents of how Concordia wants tobe perceived locally and interna-tionally.”

Concordia spokesperson ChrisMota explained that while therehave been discussions between theadministration and the city in thepast, the determination of appro-priate noise levels and associatedfines are “not within our parame-ters.”

“It’s a long running issue, it’s something we talk to studentleadership about fairly regularly,”explained Mota, adding that the city really started cracking down on noise control a couple of yearsago.

“[We tell] student leadership tobe aware. Even though Concordiais getting the phone call and com-plaint, these are student events andthey are the ones who are liable.We just inform students that thereare massive fines hanging overthem. So they absolutely have to re-

spect those bylaws.”In 2010, former CSU President

Prince Ralph Osei contacted TheGazette to bring what he called a“double standard of what consti-tutes noise in the downtown core”to light.

Why else, he asked, is it okay toclose major downtown thorough-fares—for events the Formula 1concerts on Crescent St., to fashionfestivals, to parades—but not okayto organize outdoor events on thedowntown campus?

“Dazzled by the hypocrisy” of the city for blocking the Orientation concert the CSU wasplanning at the time, Osei said hefound it “shameful” that Ville-Marie makes so little effort to accommodate student initiatives,as student activities and presencebring a ton of money into the downtown core.

“Montreal should have a singlepolicy that applies to all, regardlessof status or political clout,” he said.

While The Link made numerousattempts to contact the City of Montreal spokesperson and Cultural Development officer to inquire about acceptable noise levels and fines—as well as the “double standard” of CrescentSt.—they was unable to respond bydeadline

80 Decibels = $1,500The City Cracks Down on Concordia Noise (Again)

GRAPHIC MYRIAM ARSENAULT

PHOTO FRANK LECOROLLER

Alexandra Juhasz pauses to let the digital portion of her presentation elaborate on hermetaphor combining HIV and the Internet.

current affairs 09the link • october 18, 2011 thelinknewspaper.ca/news

THELINKNEWSPAPER.CA

WEBBEST OF THE

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Aggravatin’ the Admin

Commenter wendykh thought the subject of our article “Who is@Peter_Kruyt?” was a tad subversive,posting a comment saying, “I hope youLinkies took it as a nod of respect [theadministration] asked if you “knew,”since that’s code for “You little shits, thisis you guys after a few beers isn’t it?”

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Musical MotherhouseBoard of Governors Student Rep AJWest was so enthusiastic about our arti-cle “Getting Out of the Habit,” about theGrey Nuns building, that he wrote asong about it. Well, not really, but he didpost this link to a music video he madelast year. Take a gander with your ears:goo.gl/UIfsC

A Poor Plan“It’s a step back for Quebec,” NicolasMainville of Greenpeace Canada said ofdevelopment plans for the colder climesof our province in our article “Controversy Over Development ofNorthern Quebec.” “Plan Nord [is] a plan of accelerationand industrial exploitation with a nice,green veneer. Unfortunately, once youscratch the surface a little, we realizethat it’s just nonsense.”

More MUNACA“What we’re doing here might seem radi-cal [but] it’s just common sense. We needto stand in solidarity with these workerswho deserve what they are asking for,”said a student named Bianca in our arti-cle “Students Sit in Solidarity,” which wasabout the anti-tuition increase group theMod Squad supporting striking MU-NACA workers. “I think all these apa-thetic people walking past us need tolisten to what’s happening and pay attention.”

We Need You... AgainWe got some exciting interviews comingup, and we want your input.

With tuition set to increase, do you havequestions for Education Minister LineBeauchamp or National Assembly mem-ber Amir Khadir? They’re talking to TheLink this week, so send your queries to editor@thelinknewspaper.ca

On Oct. 11, seven Concordiaprofessors came into $7.2 million after the federal govern-ment announced their fundingfor the Canada Research Chairsprogram.

Established in 2000, the program invests millions eachyear to universities across the country to “attract and re-

tain some of the world’s most accomplished and promising minds.”

A third of the almost $204million in available grants wentto Quebec universities.

Concordia professors, whowere selected by an interna-tional committee of researchers,have been “acknowledged as

world leaders” in their fields, ac-cording to Concordia SenatorLarry Smith.

They include Dr Ahmed Kishk from the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, who develops advanced antenna systems,David Walsh from the Depart-ment of Biology, who studies

microbial interactions ofCanada’s oceans and Mia Con-salvo, of the Department ofCommunication Studies, whoresearches player response todigital games, among many oth-ers.

For more information,visit chairs-chaires.gc.ca.

Briefs

$7M FOR CONCORDIA RESEARCH

BOG MEETING CANCELLEDIf you are a disgruntled

undergraduate that was planningto #OccupyBoG this Thursday,you’ll have to wait anothermonth, as it was announced lastweek that the Board of Gover-nors meeting—the venue forConcordia’s highest decision-making body—would be can-celled.

Originally scheduled for Oct.20, the official reason for thepostponement was that “a

substantial number of governorswere unable to attend, making a lack of quorum a real possibil-ity,” according to universityspokesperson Chris Mota. “Cancelling a meeting is not anexceptional event. It tends tohappen at least once per year.”

Quorum on the Board is currently set at 21 out of 41 members.

The meeting was set to discuss, among other things, a

motion put forward by graduatestudents’ representative ErikChevrier calling for Board meetings to be televised, the addition of a public question period, and increased seating for audience members in theboardroom.

The highly anticipated meet-ing would have also been a followup to the Board’s controversialvote about membership makeupfrom their meeting on Sept. 28.

In a secret ballot, the Board cut proportional undergraduate student representation down to a single seat at a table of 25,though undergraduates make up over 35,000 of the 53,000-person Concordia community. Student representatives walkedout of the Sept. 28 meeting inprotest.

The next board meetingwill take place Nov. 17, at8:00 a.m. in EV-2.260.

• LAURA BEESTON

• LAURA BEESTON

• JACOB ROBERTS

Quebec’s Labour RelationsBoard rejected an emergencystop-work order Oct. 4 requestedby striking McGill University em-ployees.

The union representing the McGill University Non-Acad-emic Certified Association had demanded the order in late September to prevent replace-ment workers hired to do theirjobs from being allowed to workduring the strike.

According to MUNACA’s VPMinister of Finance DavidKalant, the Labour RelationsBoard commissioner did notthink that it was an emergency.

“Looking very briefly at the

evidence, [the replacement workers] didn’t seem illegal—atleast the casual workers,” saidKalant.

“So that’s another reason [thecommissioner] denied the emer-gency order,” continued Kalant.“Now McGill put this out as say-ing they’ve been cleared, whichthey haven’t, because we stillhave to have the full hearing withall the evidence, and dates haveto be set for that. It’s not overyet.”

Anti-scab laws differ fromprovince to province. In Quebec,the only people allowed to replacea striking employee are non-union workers already employedby the university who do thesame type of work, or a person in

a managerial position who hasthe power to hire and fire.

According to the report madeby an inspector from the Com-mission des relations du travail,the scab workers seem to be ille-gal.

McGill allegedly has a numberof low managers who are not truemanagers and are not allowed todo the work of a striking individ-ual.

“There is apparently a quote in the report from ‘M,’ a low man-ager, who said, ‘Yes, I am doingthe work of a MUNACA mem-ber,’” said Kalant. “That’s illegaland [they] said that to the inspec-tor.”

Though a date has not beenset, at the full hearing MUNACA

plans to present their evidencefor why the scab workers are in-fringing upon the labour law andMcGill will present their counter-arguments.

According to McGill, the replacement workers are legallyallowed to do the work they are doing and are therefore notscabs.

The injunction, which has restricted striking activities likepicketing, has been extendeduntil Jan. 21, when MUNACA ex-pects a hearing of the case.

MUNACA has almost 1,700workers who have been on strikesince Sept. 1 to achieve wage par-ity with other Montreal universi-ties, as well as improved pensionsand benefits.

The Struggle Goes OnLabour Board Finds in Favour of McGill on Replacement Workers

PHOTO JACOB ROBERTS

ARTY PARTY: ART MATTERS LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE • PAGE 11

PAGE

10 Fringe Arts

• COREY POOL

In an unassuming apartment inMontreal’s Plateau borough, twoyoung artists are hard at workbringing a ramshackle steel sculpture to life.

Inside the apartment, a thin veilof smoke fills the air with the smellof burnt plastic and in a dark room,two figures hunch over large steelframes with knives in their hands.

Abstract light patterns flash across the wall whilethe wheeze of a projector fan andthe clank of gears and belts emanate from whatever it is theyare concentrating on.

“We’re giving life to inanimateobjects, so to speak,” explained-Daniel Oniszeczko, one of twoartists responsible for OperatingTheatre, a performance/installationproject created by Oniszeczko andhis colleague, Philippe Léonard.“It’s all very Frankenstein, in a way,but I wouldn’t consider it dark orsinister at all.”

Léonard and Oniszeczko areConcordia film production alumni.Both artists met within the experi-mental thread of the film produc-tion program about two years ago.

“Philippe and I had been want-ing to collaborate ever since we meteach other in film school,” ex-plained Daniel. “He asked if I had

any sculptural pieces in mind, and Itold him, ‘Well, fuck yeah […] I’vegot just the thing.’”

That ‘thing’ slowly evolved intotwo strange and cryptic lookingsteel structures, each supporting a16mm projector, and incorporatinga belt drive, an antique Singersewing machine, broken glasspieces, and parts of old clocks.These sculptures became the basisof their latest project.

Operating Theatre is as an expe-rience that synthesizes sculpture,sound, cinema, and performanceart. Throughout the performanceboth artists manipulate the filmrunning through their respectiveprojectors, slicing, scratching, dye-ing, and burning it, allowing light toslowly seep through and create var-ious effects.

“If you see the film strip as a ma-terial object, you can consider thisas a sort of live sculpture,” saidLéonard. “We start with a black filmstrip—there is no light, there isnothing. Then we use surgical toolsto engrave the film, letting lightthrough. It’s kind of a sculpture oflight and time, if you want.”

The visual element of the performance is then only furtherenhanced by the sounds that arecreated within it: an eerie and sometimes menacing soniclandscape is produced by the indus-

trial sculpture and its rhythmic os-cillations. The sounds are then runthrough loop stations, and againmanipulated by the artists.

“We mic the whole structurewith contact microphones,” explains Léonard. “We’re gettingeverything from this machine—sound and visuals. Everything isbound together; it’s very mechani-cal.”

Though much of the perform-ance is aggressive and unnatural,there is a unifying current that runsthrough the project. The stark con-trast between dark and light, andbetween the cold, industrial steelstructure and the impressionable,delicate film play important roles inthe execution of this performance.

Where many modern artists at-tempt to bridge the gap between hu-mans and machines by way of new,over-complicated technology,Léonard and Oniszeczko are takinga different approach.

“We’re doing the same thing inessence, but we’re using really sim-plistic, old, squeaky technologythat’s way out of date,” says On-iszeczko. “We’re using these old me-chanical processes and makingthem humanistic.”

Regardless of the means, the twoartists agree that Operating Theatreis very much about the connectionand interdependence between

human and machine. Likewise, the title of their project

was no coincidence:“It’s very much like an opera-

tion,” says Léonard. “We’re justopening up the film strip, much like

the body of someone, to reveal itslight.”

Operating Theatre / Oct. 18/ Quartier Général (1251 Gil-ford St.)

“It’s All Very Frankenstein...”FNC Lab Welcomes You to the Operating Theatre

• ALEX MANLEY

In a world where Occupyprotests are popping up in publicspaces around the globe like revolu-tionary seedlings, a group of Mon-treal poets is out to occupy St.Laurent Blvd. this week—but theirdemands aren’t necessarily aboutinternational finance.

Starting Oct. 19, the Mile EndPoets’ Festival, which is in its sec-ond year of existence, will feature alitany of literary types both local andimported; Montreal poets will coex-ist with out-of-town guests like per-formance poet Tanya Evanson,Alberta poet Ali Riley and famedgraphic novelist Eric Drooker.

Ian Ferrier, one of the festival’sco-organizers, said of Drooker, whorecently completed a graphic ver-sion of Allen Ginsberg’s famous

poem “Howl,” “[He’s] creating theimage of these times.”

“His images have always beenable to do that,” Ferrier continued.“The face of banks and huge corporations is often shiny towersremoved from humanity. Drookerpaints them as the steaming engine of Moloch, as if Babylonwere now and the furnaces werebeing fed with human sweat.”

Drooker will be presenting high-lights from some of his many worksOct. 21 at La Sala Rossa at an eventpresented by Artists AgainstApartheid.

Ferrier credited “a longstandingrelationship with Stefan Christoff,the musician/activist behind theHowl series and Artists AgainstApartheid” with helping to getDrooker on board.

“Stefan and I both like to present

art with a connection to social jus-tice, but so beautiful and compellingin its own right that you would seeit for any reason.”

Collaborative partnerships wereimportant for the five-day festival,as it teamed up with a number ofother organizations like the En-puku-ji Zen Centre and IntimateSky—a music/poetry series featur-ing local jazz collective Kalmunity.

Along with those two, both ofwhom collaborated with the MileEnd Poets on last year’s inauguralfestival, this year featured ArtistsAgainst Apartheid and JanejaneProductions for the first time.

It might seem like a convolutedmix at first glance, but Ferrier saysthat there’s a lot of commonality be-tween them—the four groups “ei-ther inhabit or regularly presenttheir work in the Mile End, [and

they] represent the artistic, spiri-tual, activist and exploratory natureof the neighbourhood.”

The local organizations weren’tthe only Mile End addition; musi-cian Xarah Dion of Les Momies dePalerme was in just the right placeto get in on the festival’s action, after striking up aconversation with Ferrier at Casadel Popolo, where she works.

“We were just talking aboutwhat we’re up to,” said Ferrier, “andI mentioned the festival and shesaid they’d be interested. I got acopy of their record and was blownaway. So I came back the samenight to see if they’d play and shesaid yes.”

Concerning the egalitarian na-ture of the festival when it comes toartistic genre—the Mile End Poetsmashes up music, visual art, spoken

word, improv, dance and whirling(yes, as in dervishes)—Ferrier didn’tmince words:

“We call it a poets’ festival be-cause it is hosted by the poets of theMile End. Our friends are poets,musicians, dancers and performersand this is what we like.

“The idea behind the festival is tobring together performances thatdemonstrate the beautiful, search-ing nature of the work being donehere—work that you might not oth-erwise see because it happened in alittle café for 18 people and wasbarely publicized.”

For a full list of performance times, locationsand prices, head tolitlive.ca/event/361 or search“Mile End Poets’ Festival” onFacebook.

Fight for Your Right to PoetryMile End Poets’ Festival to Occupy the Main

culture 11the link • october 18, 2011 thelinknewspaper.ca/fringe

>>THELINKNEWSPAPER.CA

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Watch the video interview withthe purple PT Cruiser-crazedDenver music duo.

Rough All OverThe Men Leave Home to Conquer

• ALEX MCGILL

Entering its 11th year, Art Mat-ters, Montreal’s student-run mul-tidisciplinary art festival, is back.Get ready.

Over the years, the festival hasbecome an integral part of Concor-dia student life, an incredibleforum for students to show theirwork and to experience the artisticforays of their peers.

As the largest student-run fes-tival in North America, there is anopportunity to do big things, andthis year’s crop of organizers saythey’re ready to do everything theycan to further the influence thefestival has on both Concordia andMontreal’s artistic communities.

“Art Matters 2012 is lookingpretty exciting right now,” said

Vivien Leung, outreach coordina-tor of this year’s festival. “We havea super dynamic team of produc-ers who are all really intent onpushing the festival frameworkfurther. We want to make moreevents and higher quality events.”

The team has already plannedseveral new additions to the festi-val, including an open houseweekend and a Nuit Blancheevent.

“I am super excited about theopen house weekend, duringwhich people will be able to visitmultiple shows in a day followingour itinerary and we’ll hopefullyalso have some collaborations withlocal art organizations,” saidLeung.

“Open house weekend is goingto be a risk because it’s the first

time we’re trying it, but it’s a veryinteresting new addition to the fes-tival.”

“Caro Loutfi and Zoe Koke, thespecial events coordinator and ex-hibitions coordinator respectively,are planning an amazing NuitBlanche event, but we can’t say toomuch about it now.”

This Thursday marks the festi-val’s annual info party, a free eventheld at La Sala Rossa. The partywill feature displays by Concordiaartists, as well as performances byUN, Mozart’s Sister, The Breezesand Gold Zebra, and the launch ofthe new Art Matters website.

“Patryk Stasieczek, the visualcoordinator, has some really cre-ative ideas for the website to makeit more interactive and informa-tive that I think everyone will want

to keep an eye out for,” addedLeung. The new website will focuson interactivity and serve as themain location for information andupdates on the festival.

On top of the music and visualsto keep you entertained, Art Mat-ters executives will be on hand toanswer any and all questions.

The info party is key in ArtMatters’ goal of increasing com-munication and connectednesswithin the Concordia community,as well as with the larger Montrealscene. Art Matters is all aboutproving that art, well, matters—and that artistic exchange and in-teraction is central within that.

Art Matters Info Party /Oct. 20 / Sala Rossa (4848 St.Laurent Blvd.) / 8:00 pm

ART MINDS & ART MATTERSArt Fest to Hold Annual Info Party, Launch New Website >>FRINGE FOODIE

Learn about Mother Hubbard’s,Concordia’s community kitchen.

• COLIN HARRIS

With dirty distortion, spaceyjamming and Stooge-esque feroc-ity, The Men somehow manage tosound like punk’s roots and its fu-ture at the same time.

They bang through rough,rocking numbers and intenseverging-on-hardcore passages,bringing together elements ofkrautrock and shoegaze for arecord that’s as brilliant as it isvaried.

Their latest LP Leave Homebrought them on their first cross-country tour this past summer,and a whole new audience heardtheir Brooklyn-born sonic assault.

“Depending on how we’re feel-ing we have what we call our‘bangers,’ the punk, faster songs,or maybe we’ll start with thedronier, quieter songs that gradu-ally get louder and end in noise,”said the band’s lead guitarist, NickChiericozzi.

“It depends on the night if weplay the heavy stuff or the psyche-delic stuff. The response has been

good,” he said. “People have beensaying they’ve been liking theslower stuff, along with the heavystuff that Chris [Hansell] usuallysings on.”

The trio added Rich Samis behind the kit after recordingLeave Home, allowing for bothChiericozzi and Mark Perro to ignite their six-string power. Ontheir forthcoming record, tenta-tively titled Open Your Heart andsurfacing this spring, the bandmanaged to discover yet anotherside of their sound.

“Now Mark and I can weaveguitars a little more and doublestuff,” said Chiericozzi. “We want[this time] to be able to discerndifferent stuff that you couldn’t onthe fuzziness on Leave Home,which was cool because it had itsown personality, but we wanted toget things a little cleaner.”

The drums on all their releasedmaterial are played by Perro,Hansell and Chiericozzi, adding asimple, driving rhythmic wall forcrunchy guitar and bass.

“When the three of us were

playing drums, we didn’t reallyknow what we were doing,”laughed Chiericozzi. “Which iscool because I like simple drums,but Rich can do that and he canalso do other stuff that we couldn’tdo. Not necessarily busier, but he’sable to pull more off.”

Pedal-steel and slide guitar findtheir way onto the new stuff, and they’re continuing their punkrock allusions, too. Leave Homeshares its title with an early Ramones album, and the nextrecord will likely give a nod totheir forefathers, Iggy and theStooges.

“If you look at the track orderfor [seminal Stooges album] RawPower, we’re kind of thinkingabout mimicking that, wherethere’s the idea to have the songorder on one side kind of matchwith the other,” he said.

Leave Home was recorded ontape, a first for the band. It was aperfect match for their building,brooding aggression, and OpenYour Heart was done the sameway, also engineered by Ben

Greenberg. “It was something we’d always

wanted to do, but we never foundthe engineer we wanted to workwith,” said Chiericozzi. “So we al-ways went with the digital way. Ithink our sound just fits with thewarmer tone of tape.”

It’s pretty evident when you experience the depth of LeaveHome’s distorted haze and thecrunch of its clipping drum tracksjust how important studio envi-ronment is to this live production.Onstage, it transforms into asweaty, powerful mass of punkfury with influence flying in fromboth sides of the Atlantic. With afull-time drummer, things willonly get bigger.

“Mark and I always wanted tohave the ability to have two guitarsworking together, to be able tobuild off each other,” said Chieri-cozzi. “So it’s really cool to be ableto make that happen.”

The Men / Oct. 20 /Cabaret Mile End (5240 ParcAve.)

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NERD & MEET THE MASTHEAD EDITION

Oct. 21, 2011

Elections will take place in The Link office, Hall Building, room H-649. For more information, email: editor@thelinknewspaper.ca or call

514-848-2424 ext.7407

4:00 p.m. H-649

2011 BYELECTION

ByelectionThe following candidates are running:

• Lifestyle Editor: David Murphy• Current Affairs Editor: Adam Kovac

• News Editor: Julian Ward • Assistant News Editor: Jacob Roberts

Jeff Bush, Josh Davidson, Shoshana Eidelman, Melissa Fuller, Rebecca Hiscott, Adam Kovac, Claudine Lamothe, AmandaLaprade, Brian Lapuz, Caitlin Leroux, David Murphy, Dylan Maloney, Christopher Olson, Corey Pool, Jacob Roberts, Amanda

Siino, Riley Sparks, Julian Ward, Jonathan Woods, Alex Woznica, Nicole Yeba,& current The Link masthead.

The following contributors are eligible to come and vote:

pull–outsection

the nerd issue

oct. 18, 2011

Programming BasicsCOMP201 Introduction to ComputingCOMP218 Fundamentals of Program-mingCOMP232 Math. for Computer ScienceCOMP233 Prob. & Stats. for ComputerScience

Computer Games

COMP345 Advanced Program Designwith C++COMP353 DatabasesCOMP371 Computer GraphicsCOMP376 Introduction to Game Devel-opmentCOMP472 Artificial IntelligenceCOMP476 Advanced Game DevelopmentCOMP477 Animation for ComputerGames

Fine Arts ClassesFFAR 298H The Movie SoundtrackFFAR 298P Pop/Soul & Its RootsFFAR 298T Censoring Pop Culture inAmericaFFAR 398B Hip Hop: Past, Present andFutureFFAR 298A Horror and Fantasy Films FFAR 398T Introduction to Digital Imag-ing

Computation ArtsCART498F Gaming Design Studio 1CART498H Gaming Design Studio 2

<<Nerd Resources>>

Brutopia

1215 Crescent St.Need to flex your brain muscles?Drop by Brutopia on Mondays at9:00 p.m. for some fun nerd-styletrivia. Lead your team to the topwith your giant brain and claimthe winner’s prize: a free round ofbeers. Now that’s brew-topia.

NERD 101Starting this fall, Concordia students can get aminor in sustainability by taking specific coursesfrom programs such as geography, biology, urbanstudies and political science.

So what if you wanted to get a minor in nerdi-ness? Here are our proposed courses:

TAG

EV 11.425 tag.hexagram.caShort for Technoculture, Art andGames, TAG is an interdiscipli-nary collaboration platform for re-search/creation in game studiesand design, digital culture and in-teractive art. In plain English: asweet room with lots of sweetcomputers for serious geeks to gettheir serious geek on in.

Computation Lab EV 7.760 clab.concordia.caThe C-Lab is an educational re-source to help students with pro-gramming created by theDepartment of Design and Com-putation Arts and targeted to-wards the Fine Arts community.C-Lab gives several workshopseach semester related to pro-gramming issues in the context ofnew media art.

Sensor Lab EV 7.755 slab.concordia.caThe S-Lab is an educational re-source to help students with phys-ical computation created by theDepartment of Design and Com-putation Arts and targeted to-wards the Fine Arts community.

girl Geeks

montrealgirlgeeks.com/aboutThe Girl Geek Dinner is the Mon-treal chapter of international or-ganization geared towards makingtechnology accessible and inter-esting to all age groups and allpeople, particularly women.

Con u Starcraftfacebook.com/groups/concor-diascIf you’re looking for people to playStarCraft with or to share strate-gies, just check out the CSC andZerg out.

Street Fighter

mtlsf.comIf you’re into street fighting—thedigital kind, that is—check theseguys out!

Otaku Anime clubotaku.concordia.caGet involved and check outOtaku’s screenings, a great way todiscover what anime has to offer.

Foulabfoulab.orgThe goal of Foulab is to provideits members an environment andresources that allow the exchangeof knowledge, ideas and explorenew technologies.

1,000,000 Comix 1418 Pierce St.This is the place to find the latestreleases of comic books. They’realso the folks who organized theMontreal Comiccon!

Neo Internet Cafe

1839 Ste. Catherine St. W., Suite110If you’re looking to burn a fewhours instead of studying, headover to Neo Café and get your gameon!

Amusements 2000

1381 Ste. Catherine St.W.Are you drunk? Is it 1:00 a.m.? Doyou like arcades? Go here. ‘Nuffsaid.

oct. 18, 2011

the nerd issue

Since the advent of hipster culture, every 20-year-old with a trust fund and a tank top letthe world know that mainstream culture sucks.Add in a dash of Michael Cera and sprinkle ofawesome Marvel movies and bam! Nerds sud-denly, and somewhat awkwardly, found them-selves at the top of the social totem pole—well,sort of.

The point is, today’s nerds aren’t exclusivelybasement-dwelling agoraphobics with bigglasses and bad skin. They could be dedicatedgamers making six-figure salaries doing whatthey love (page 4). Or they could be a cute girl,drawing web comics about Star Wars andWonder Woman (page 8). They could even be

a sick DJ playing to a packed venue using noth-ing but a hacked GameBoy and a laptop (page7).

So, the two nerdiest editors at The Link de-cided it was time to give some of those subcul-tures a shout-out. Whether you’re one of us—ora total n00b—this issue is for anyone curiousabout nerd culture and technology in Montreal.

Enjoy, get your geek on and if something re-ally pisses you off, don’t be afraid to get on ourwebsite and start a flame war. For those out-siders who still look at us as if we’re somestrange new breed of animal, get used to ournewfound popularity. It isn’t going away any-time soon.

It’s never been cooler to be uncool

–Julia Wolfe & Clément Liu

special issue coordinators

GRAPHIC CLÉMENT LIUCOVER JULIA WOLFE

the nerd issue

oct. 18, 2011

• MICHAEL COHEN

Of those who actually know theterm, few take e-sports seriously.E-sports—also known as compet-itive gaming (as in, videogames)—will never be as professional oraccepted as mainstream athleticsports. But it has been growingsteadily since the ‘90s.

Competitive gaming still re-volves around a limited numberof videogames. Street Fighter,StarCraft and CounterStrike:Source have all stood the test oftime and are still played at a veryhigh and competitive level.

These reasonably priced gamesare accessible to anyone and, un-like the new wave of dance andsports games that have gamersmoving their bodies, give no ad-vantage to those in better shape.In fact, it’s not uncommon forquadriplegics to be able to play ata highly competitive level.

Like other competitive sports,however, success depends onpractice and commitment, andnowhere is this more evident thanat the pro level.

Though on the surface, playerssitting around pushing buttonsmight seem indistinguishablefrom a group of schoolkids rush-ing through levels of Mario, these

players are competing in an or-ganized league over cash prizes orgaming goodies like expensivelimited-edition controllers.

They’re looking at salaries, in-ternational tournaments and rigidtraining schedules of 10 to 12hours a day. And some of theworld’s best players are actuallybased in Quebec.

Andrew “Attero” Golec is a for-mer Concordia student. He’s alsocaptain and coach of Team Dy-namic, one of the most successfulStarCraft teams. Team ReIGN,another major StarCraft group,includes Quebecers Paul-David“Slush” Pagé and Jonathan “Ki-WiKaKi” Garneau.

Their hard work and practicehas paid off: these pro playersearn salaries that can pay themanything from part-time-sum-mer-job money to enough to sup-port themselves year round—and,for the best players, even more.

Their popularity or recognitionisn’t region-based, though; in fact,they’re less famous here in Mon-treal than they are in SouthKorea, where e-sports, governedby the Korean e-Sports Associa-tion, are something of a nationalpastime—hundreds and thou-sands of people watch them playagainst other foreign players.

Some major veterans of Star-

Craft, like Koreans Lee Jae-Dongand Lee Young-Ho, are sponsoredby companies like Korean Air.

They can earn upwards of$100,000 a year and theirmatches are televised nationally.

Of course, it’s not just aboutthe money or the fame. Challeng-ing, varied gameplay and the ex-citement of figuring out how todefeat your opponent—what’s ex-citing about any old-fashionedsport—are the lifeblood of the e-sports world.

Though the phenomenon ismost popular half a world away,Montreal still boasts one of thelargest LAN parties—an eventwhere people bring their comput-ers and compete or play gameswith one another on a local areanetwork.

LAN ETS, which is held annu-ally in March, is celebrating itstenth anniversary next year, a tes-tament to the how long e-sportshave been around.

There’s even a regular viewingparty, called Barcraft, for major e-sports events.

The event is kind of like watch-ing the Super Bowl at a bar… ifthe bar was Club 1234, and thepeople were a whole bunch of ex-cited and pumped-up nerdswatching a 64-inch projector withpowerful surround-sound.

Concordia has its own StarCraft club. Members meetFridays at 5:45 p.m. in the HallBuilding, room H-423.

Get in the GameE-SPORTS GAINING GROUND, COMPETING FOR CRED

MORE INFO

ASIA

$751,330

europe

$175,760

oceania

$16,225

The americas

$123,250

The StarCraftearnings of thetop five playersper region:

GRAPHIC CLÉMENT LIU

oct. 18, 2011

the nerd issue

• ADAM KOVAC

Despite the presence of theword ‘Arts’ in the company’s name,Yan Pepin found his time at Elec-tronic Arts creatively stifling. Thehulking company, the clear finan-cial leader amongst video game de-velopers, was too risk-averse andwas suffering from sequel fever.

Walking away from a securepaycheck, Pepin left EA to start Ar-tifice Studio, a move he said freedhim to pursue avenues that hecould not at a gigantic company.

At Artifice, rather than developanother football game with a nu-merically larger title and a hiddenhipster-themed mini-game, Pepinembraced the opportunity to ex-plore territory that might not ap-peal to all gamers.

The company’s first game, Sang-Froid, is still a few months awayfrom release, but it promises some-thing different. With a story scrib-bled up by the pen of popularFrench-Canadian author BryanPerro and unfolding in 19th centuryQuebec, the PC-based game is in-spired by Canada’s long and richhistory of werewolf legends.

“Our games reflect more whatwe are,” said Pepin. “We can makegames for a more specific, niche au-dience. We don’t have to be asmainstream.

“This couldn’t have been createdin a big company; they don’t reallybother with the small legends of asmall place like Quebec. For a com-pany like EA, it doesn’t appealenough to a large audience.”

Artifice isn’t the only smallgame developer springing uparound here, though.

Speaking to Concordia designprofessor Santo Romano, who hasdabbled with creating his owngames, you’d be hard-pressed notto hear the word “MineCraft” re-peatedly.

Romano cites the 2009 game,which was created by a singleSwedish programmer and becameone of the most popular games ofthe new decade, as evidence thatindie developers are able to com-pete with the giants of the gamingworld.

“One of the things that’s reallygreat about indie developers is thefact that they often produce gamesthat are not within the same genre

as the AAA games,” he said, refer-ring to the industry’s jargon for thehighest-budget games. “They havemore room to be creative.”

“[The big] developers are alwaysgoing to have more money thanGod, so they’ll have larger teamsand a better turnaround time, butthat doesn’t mean indie developerswont be able to produce games ofquality.”

Of course, money is still a con-cern. Pepin said that even a gamelike Sang-Froid, which is being de-veloped by a team of six who workfrom home, requires over$100,000 to produce.

Funding for any business can behard to come by; Artifice’s foundershad to dip into their own savings tofund Sang-Froid’s development,and combine that with a statisticPepin cited, which says that onlyone out of every 10 games turns aprofit, and you’re looking at apretty daunting challenge.

You’d think a company like Ar-tifice would therefore spend a sig-nificant amount of time and moneylooking at the market and trying tofigure out how to design and mar-ket their game to maximize their

chances for success—but you’d bedead wrong.

“When I was at EA, I saw themarketing department guys andI’m not sure of the usefulness ofthose departments for videogames,” said Pepin. “They’re reallyuseful to analyze the trends oncethey occurred, but they’re not sogood at predicting the next trends.

“I think the advantage we haveis that we can be ahead of the times.We don’t analyze the trend to makethe next game, because [if you dothat] you’re always late. If we reallywork hard and create somethingnew, there’s that one chance out of10, then we created a new trend.”

Luckily, Artifice has a secretweapon. Perro is well enoughknown in Quebec that his connec-tion with Sang-Froid is drawing at-tention; not all companies have theadvantage of being associated withan author that has sold over a mil-lion books.

Romano said that one way to goaround this visibility problem is toavoid competing with large devel-opers on the graphics front. In-stead, indie developers can shootfor something too small for EA and

its ilk to bother with, like a basicgame app on smartphones oriPads.

Until recently, indie developershad to rely on a business modelthat was heavily reliant on revenuefrom online advertising.

“People with a background inonline flash games are making theswitch to working in app develop-ment and mobile app developmentin particular. Which is great, be-cause it gives many indie develop-ers the opportunity to make moneythat’s not necessarily generatedthrough advertisements.”

As for the future of small gamecompanies, Pepin envisions a daywhen the big boys help them finan-cially, but let them develop organi-cally.

There will likely never be a timewhen Call of Duty: Anglo-ZanzibarWar doesn’t rake in a billion dol-lars, but as hardcore gamers tire ofthe same old point and shoot, thebig guns will realize the money tobe had in the niche markets as well.

One day soon, we might have autopian era of game collaborationbetween the mega-successful andthe obscure.

INDEPENDENT GAME COMPANIES GO FOR QUALITY ON A BUDGET

Sang-Froid, written by authorBryan Perro,,, takes place in19th century Quebec anddraws from Quebec lore

Developing on the Down Low

,

the nerd issue

oct. 18, 2011

collectors

• NAHILA BENDALI

Hackers have historically gottena pretty bad rap in pop culture.They’re usually portrayed asgreasy, lonely, creepy, shifty whiteguys who don’t know any girls,consume only junk food, and havequestionable moral character.

Freed from some fundamentalmisconceptions, however, the termhas a more positive connotationamong people who actually knowanything about computers.

Hacker culture actually encour-ages sharing knowledge and learn-ing about technologies by building,modifying and creating.

“Crackers are the ones whobreak things, when hackers are theones who build,” explains Concor-dia communications studentChistina Haralanova.

There is also an activist side tothe hacker movement, which iscalled ‘hacktivism’—a way toprotest through computer net-works.

“The term refers to the freedomto use, modify, copy and share anysoftware and hardware, skills and

content,” said Haralanova. “Al-though a lot of people think ofhacktivism and free softwaremovement as necessarily political,it does not have to be.

“It’s not only about groups likeAnonymous, but also people whoenjoy inventing and creating. It ismore about accessibility and free-dom to use, modify and redistrib-ute any software.”

She gives the example of Word-Press, a popular website manage-ment platform. The users who findit handy and useful for their ownpurposes might not necessarily re-alize that it’s considered free soft-ware, but it is.

Hackers usually gather in ‘hack-erspace,’ a term for any learningspace where the member hackerscan come together to discuss com-mon interests like science, comput-ers and software.

Montreal’s own ‘hackerspace,’Foulab, is a non-profit organiza-tion that provides a collaborativeenvironment for exploring newtechnologies and sharing knowl-edge and ideas.

The group started when a few

interested hackers went to theHackers on Planet Earth confer-ence in New York City in 2008, andthought Montreal was missing out.

Three years later, Foulab isbased in a warehouse apartmentwith a red flashing neon arrowsign. The apartment is large andopen and complied with an organ-ized mess of computers—but thehackers don’t mind. The St. Henriheadquarters are abuzz with peo-ple, especially on Tuesdays, thelab’s open house day.

People come and go, exchang-ing ideas, developing projects anddiscussing upcoming workshops.Members are open to explain howthe different tools work, and in-form interested newcomers as towhat Foulab is all about.

The organization offers work-shops on varied topics, from build-ing electronic circuits and makingcomputers react to light and move-ment, to more unconventionallynerdy subjects like the basics ofbrewing, how to use dry ice or howto make mustard.

Sean, a founding member ofFoulab who requestesd his last

name not to be published, said theworkshops have a hands-on ap-proach. People from all walks oflife come to their office. “There arepeople from high school as well aspeople outside of the educationalsystem,” said Sean.

“The age varies greatly, from 17to 60 years. As for gender, the ratiois similar to the engineering pro-grams.”

Foulab even hosts ‘hackfem’nights, every Wednesday from6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., a refresh-ing change from the usual male-dominated atmosphere.

“Here, no one is afraid to learn.Everyone helps everyone, andthat’s the spirit of the hacker-space,” said Sean.

The space is full of eclectic pos-sessions. It has a library with bookson programming—from softwareto radio, among others—and a ‘mu-seum’ houses a collection of oldtechnological artifacts that peopledonated to the group. Randomelectronic parts are packed onshelves, used for projects andworkshops.

One project that Foulab mem-

bers are particularily proud of is anold NASA machine that was rebuiltas a Twitter teletype machine. The‘tweletype,’ a machine about fourfeet tall, prints out a long, continu-ous stream of paper with Twittermessages on it and decorates thewalls of the office.

Why so much emphasis onsharing the knowledge and accessto the technology? MaxD, anotherfounder of Foulab who requestesdhis last name not to be published,said very few people know howtheir computers truly work.

By working with technology,learning the basics of program-ming and not being afraid of goingbeyond theory, anyone can learnhow to fix their gadgets or under-stand the basics of software andprogramming.

This knowledge and these skillscan help people become empow-ered and independent with thehelp of a community. Everyone isthere to learn, and anyone is wel-come—anyone can be a hacker;even you.

—with files from Julia Jones & David Murphy

MONTREAL’S HACKER COMMUNITY FIGHTS MISCONCEPTIONSHack to Basics

Foulab is located at Suite 33B, 999 du Collage Ave. For more info, go to foulaborg.

PHOTOS BAGHDIG BALYAN

There’s probably some nerdin each of us. It’s just thatsome have a little morethan others. And some, thecollectors, have so muchthat it fills their houseswith Pokémon cards andNintendo paraphernalia.

oct. 18, 2011

the nerd issue

• COLIN HARRIS

The name Battle Lava brings somepretty pixelated imagery to mind. Itsounds like it could be an early ‘90s Nin-tendo game that pits a young male protag-onist against a world of traps, henchmen,and evil bosses, all suspended over vastseas of molten, bright orange magma.

As it happens, that’s exactly whatAlexander Westcott was shooting for. TheConcordia student has been creating andperforming music under that moniker, ex-ploring a genre much older than pop cul-ture would lead you to believe.

He’s been writing chip music for thelast couple years, digging deeper into an8-bit universe with each digital EP he re-leases. The resulting work finds muchmore value in the sounds than just nostal-gia for video games gone by.

“I don’t really blame people for seeingit as a novelty,” said Wescott, “but that issomething that I’m trying to destroy.”

The Montreal musician started outplaying bass at 13, then moving to drumsand guitar. Three years ago he began ex-ploring electronic sounds, and upon find-ing the genre perfect for his creative voice,Battle Lava was born.

“I came across chip music just ran-domly, to be honest,” said Westcott. “I al-ways appreciated the audio element ofvideo games and media just in general, butI never thought of it really until I came

across other people doing it.“Within seconds of finding out that

people do this I knew I had to do it.”In discovering production software tai-

lor-made for use on game consoles, thepotential for creating a whole new realmof sounds presented itself to the youngmusician. With this idea firmly in hand,Westcott has been exploring the grainyelectronics of chip music ever since, with‘80s Nintendo technology providing thebase sounds.

The Battle Lava weapon of choice is theDMG-01, the first Game Boy to land in thehands of kids in 1989. It may seem primi-tive now with its four-shades-of-greenscreen and two-dimensional graphics, butit’s an inspiring tool for the ComputationArts student.

Along with the Montreal scene, the on-line chip music community offers a win-dow into a subculture that has much moreto offer than its nostalgic surface value.

It was through the forums that West-cott met the members of Toy Company, agroup of friends that put on Montrealchiptune shows. He stresses how forumculture is far from unique to those whofind inspiration from old handsets.

“I don’t want to say that chip music isa product of the Internet, because peoplewere doing this before they had Internetat home,” said Westcott. “The only waythat I could argue that is the same waythat any [music scene] is. That’s how our

generation is, we live in a virtual space.“I don’t want to make that unique to

chip music because I feel that can be amisconception. I think misconceptions area big thing when it comes to chip music.”

As the craft grows and expands, so willthe scope of chip sounds. For Battle Lava,the goal is to create dance music that is notnecessarily defined by its genetic ties toplumbers and falling bricks.

“Your understanding of the mediumbefore using it is video games, so the stuffyou do in the medium is really related toyour prior experiences with it,” said West-cott. “The more experience you have withit, the less important those prior ones be-come,” however.

On his latest EP, Screen Hallucina-tions, Westcott has really begun exploringthe experimental potential of this process,stretching and distorting tones all themore engaging. Constantly writing newmaterial, he’s sure to keep treading thisless travelled side of chip music.

“I just want to use [a Game Boy] as anold computer. I like to use it for reasons ofappropriation, using the technology in alateral way, the way you’re not supposedto do it,” he said.

“This artistic appropriation is kind oflike a punk aesthetic way to look at themedium. Screen Hallucinations is my firstattempt to not sound like video gamemusic, to try and do something really im-pressive with the technology.”

BATTLE LAVA’S NINTENDO INSPIRATIONPower of the Handheld

• COREY POOL

Chiptune—also called chip music or8-bit—is one of the liveliest, most pro-gressive, diversified, and wildly convo-luted musical genres that you’veprobably never heard of.

Now let’s shuffle through lost GameBoy cartridges, huff and puff into ouroriginal Nintendo Entertainment Sys-tem, and dust off the old Commodore64 in an attempt to dig up the genre’sorigins, and iron out the creases of thisfairly original, oddly nostalgic, andawesomely low-tech brand of music.

Born in the ‘80s, chiptune really

grew from the advent of home com-puter systems and entertainment con-soles like the Atari, the Commodore64, and the NES, as well as their newlyprogrammable audio hardware.

Simply put, chiptune is the soundsor music made from programming mi-crochip-based hardware. Eventuallychiptune became its own genre, whichencompasses a multitude of sub-gen-res and sonic mutations using thoseoriginal, elemental sounds.

In its early stages, most people whogave a damn about it were program-mers making music for video games.But as the technology became out-

dated, and the systems more ad-vanced, chiptunes, and sampling thesechips into electronic music, becamecheap and easily accessible—andsuper-cool.

Thanks to the ease of using suchhardware, people were able to createand emulate sounds found in heavymetal, rock ‘n’ roll, techno and jazz—among others.

Despite its beginnings as a genreborn out of necessity, today chiptune isa retrospective look—a process of un-earthing childhood consoles, andmemories, striving for that authenticsound.

WHAT IS CHIPTUNE, ANYWAY?

Battle Lava, aka Alexander Westcott, is a Concordia computation arts student who writes music with Game Boys. PHOTO MARJORIE BECKER

Battle Lava / Oct. 22 / CFC (6388 St. Hubert St.) / 8:30 p.m.

the nerd issue

oct. 18, 2011

• AMANDA SIINO

Spider-Man, Superman, Bat-man, the X-Men and Thor have allbeen big hits on the silver screenin the last few years, but beforethey were mingling with eachother on the DVD racks, you couldfind them all spending time to-gether on the shelves of comicbook stores.

Comic book adaptations forfilm and TV are bringing more andmore curious first-timers into thestores, according to Rob Steal of1,000,000 Comix, nestled rightnext to Concordia’s downtowncampus a block west of Guy St.

This presents comic bookstores with a bit of a conundrum,since it’s the loyal weekly buyers—seldom approve of these adapta-tions—who are the heart and soulof the comic book store operation.

Wednesdays are new releasedays in the comic book universe,and “85 per cent of [our clients]comes [then],” Steal said.

Though the store is tuckedaway on quiet Pierce St., it stilldraws a steady flow of customersyoung and old, wearing suits orscrubs or scruffy student duds,and most customers depart with a

“Catch you next week!” to Steal. For many customers, after pe-

rusing this week’s wares, it’s notuncommon for them to stickaround for friendly conversationsabout anything from next week’sissues to the latest issues in theirown lives.

True to the stereotype, womenare still a rarer sight in comic bookstores, but Rachel Burke, a Van-couver native and McGill student,is a new weekly buyer at Millen-nium Comics, a store based in theupper Plateau.

“About less than a quarter ofthe buyers I have seen arewomen,” she said.

Before going into the store overa month ago, she would mostlybuy or trade books on Amazon,but Burke started going everyWednesday to buy issues from DCComics’ The New 52, a re-launchof all the existing DC titles with 52new first issues.

“One week I went on Thursday,and some of the 52 I wanted, likeWonder Woman, were alreadysold out,” she said.

That level of popularity for TheNew 52 titles seems to be the trendfor other stores as well; at1,000,000 Comix, Steal said,

“Every single one is sold out.”That kind of dedication to new

issues like these from weekly buy-ers can certainly be daunting fornewcomers. “I was intimidated atfirst because [comic book stores]are usually pretty snobby—butthey were actually friendlier than Iexpected,” said Burke.

“They’re very nice, but they al-ways speak in French with every-one, so it’s difficult for me to nerdout with them, which is often thebest part,” she admitted. “Butwhen they are less busy, they al-ways make an effort to speak withme in English.”

Steal agrees that this seeminglyclosed community wouldn’t turnaway new faces.

“Comic book writers know thatevery comic is someone’s first—soit won’t be a big deal if you start inthe middle of a series,” he said.

The devoted group—Steal, forinstance, claims to have readeverything in the store—doesn’t al-ways embrace nerd status, how-ever.

“I’m not a nerd,” said Steal. “Nerds are supposed to be

smart—we’re more like dorks,”added customer Marc.

• AMANDA SIINO

Katie Cook likes cats. And robots. And monsters. AndStar Wars. And Wonder Woman. And drawing. She re-ally likes drawing—but what she loves is combining thethings that she likes.

Cook is a Michigan-based web cartoonist, but moreimportantly, she is a nerd, born and bred.

“My mom loved B-movies and Star Trek and mybrother was a Trekkie. I grew up knowing every linefrom every episode of the original Star Trek,” she said.“Then I switched over to Star Wars [and] I don’t thinkmy family will ever forgive me.”

But it wasn't just nerd culture that's has been part ofher for as long as she can remember. “I’ve wanted to bea cartoonist since I was in kindergarten,” she explained.Cook was one step closer to her goal after she graduatedfrom the College of Creative studies with a BFA in illus-tration in 2004. She's been working in the field for about10 years now.

“Being a cartoonist amongst a lot of fine artists [incollege] means you’re kind of the lowest person on thetotem pole,” she said. “After college, I worked at a designstudio for a few years. I designed paper products, toys,packaging—a little bit of anything and everything,” shesaid.

Meanwhile, she did freelance work and eventuallydevoted herself entirely to it. She now works for herselffull-time and set up her website under her label,Katiecandraw.

“Pretty much all my life, I was the kid always draw-ing. [I was introduced like this:] ‘Have you met Katie?Katie can draw,’” she said.

Cook also is a regular guest at comic book conven-tions—something she said can get a little silly.

“I was at a convention a few years ago and I satacross from someone who was a total idol of mine. Ispent the whole time awkwardly staring at him, waitingfor his line to dissipate so I could go over there. When Ifinally did, everything came out bumbling, too fast andidiotic [and I] ran back to my table,” she said. A secondattempt at speaking to him, to apologize for her priorawkwardness, also proved embarrassing. “I have somany [awkward moments at Comiccon] I could write abook,” she said. “Really. I probably will write a bookabout them.”

Regardless, Cook does over 10 shows a year and triesto visit a new one each year.

Besides the travel, she said, “I’m such a homebody, Ilike my own bed.” Travelling from her home in Michiganis also difficult since she has a nine-month-old daughter.

Cook said she’s looking forward to sharing some ofher favourite comics—like Jeff Smith’s Bone and BillWatterson’s Calvin and Hobbes—with her daughter.While her projects have always seemed child-oriented,it is her comic Gronk that gets all age groups laughing.

“Gronk came from a project back in college. We weresupposed to do a self-portrait [but] instead, I designedwhat I would look like if I were a monster,” she said.

Cook really lets her nerd flag fly in this strip, but shehas also done decidedly un-nerdy licensed work formany companies, like DC, Marvel, Star Wars, HEROESand The Lord of the Rings. She also considers it a greatpersonal achievement to have worked for the Jim Hen-son Company—creators of the Muppets, Fraggles,Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, etc.—who had a big influ-ence in her life.

“They are the most influential characters and storiesof my childhood. To be able to work for that brand wasa check on my bucket list,” she said.

Her ultimate goal is to do official work on WonderWoman, one of her favourite characters. But for now,she's happy drawing anything. Even her cats.

Katie Can Draw A COMIC BOOK STORE-Y

PHOTO ERIN SPARKS

oct. 18, 2011

the nerd issue

• JACOB ROBERTS

The world of online comicstrips—or webcomics—has prettymuch existed since the Internetwas commercialized in 1995.

James L. Grant has been lurk-ing in the shadows the entire time.

“It was… 1997? I had my firsttech support job at Hewlett-Packard, and I noticed that a fewcartoonists were just putting theirwork out for free on the inter-tubes,” wrote Grant from his homein Dallas, Texas.

“Part of my brain recoiled at theidea of putting out comics for free,but another part of me noted thathell, 90 per cent of my comics hadnever sold to magazines, so itwouldn’t hurt to put them online,would it? So I did, about the sametime as Penny Arcade started.”

Penny Arcade is one of thelongest-run and most successfulwebcomics. Although Grant hasn’tattained the same notoriety as itscreators, Jerry Holkins and MikeKrahulik, his FLEM comics—“more fun than a sack of dead kit-tens,” according to its motto, hasbeen around since the beginning.

Grant started FLEM in highschool—before the Internet evenexisted. The comic, which is told ina mixed format of series, stand-alone strips and single panel

comics, is sometimes autobio-graphical, but just as often simplya vehicle to get out somethingfunny he thought of.

“FLEM is just, as the misspelledname implies, what my brainhocks and spits out on people,”wrote Grant. “There are over 1,200comics in the archives, spanningalmost 13 years of webcomicry,and they run a severe gamut, fromthe whimsical to the totally dis-turbed. FLEM is my personal,homemade therapy.”

While FLEM has maintained amore indie presence in the web-comic world, Grant’s other web-comic, Two Lumps—which iswritten by his wife Mel Hynes—hasgained a more mainstream audi-ence.

Featuring Hynes’ two RussianBlue cats as the main characters,the humour of Two Lumps is toneddown from FLEM’s craziness, butnot by much. Even though Grantdoesn’t write for Two Lumps,Hynes’ sense of humour is so sim-ilar to his that the styles easilyoverlap—for the most part.

“She just refuses to write stripsabout dancing aborted fetuses andlesbian slut ninjas,” wrote Grant.

“When Mel and I started doingTwo Lumps, we realized we had achance to keep it family-friendly,keep it funny, but still push some

boundaries. I maintain to this daythat if you do comics for more thana year and never get any hate mail,you’re doing something wrong. Es-pecially with the Internet crowd.”

In the early days, Grant drewhis work with pen and ink. But in1997, when he decided to move on-line, scanners were a fairly newtechnology for home use and costa fortune.

“Kids today won’t believe that,since you can now get a 1600 dpiUSB scanner in a box of CaptainCrunch, but back in the mid-1990s,scanners were way too rich for myblood. So I started learning how todraw with a mouse. A ball mouse,if you can believe it,” wrote Grant.

“I kept cracking, optical micecame around, and by the year2000 I was a passably good artistwith a mouse.”

As of late, Grant has gone backto drawing with pen and paper, butstill uses computers extensively forhis work. The creative process forTwo Lumps and FLEM is fairlysimilar, Grant explained:

“For Two Lumps, Mel sends mea script to draw. For FLEM, I comeup with an idea that’s just tooawful not to share. Either way, thefirst step of creation is: booze. Beerat first, switching to vodka or rumas common sense dissolves. Then Idraw the strip, scan it, letter it, and

take my pants off.”Though his comics aren’t pri-

marily political, Grant, who grewup in California with three siblingsand a single mother with a heartcondition, still has a very politicalconsciousness. His family lived ina level of poverty so extreme, Grantwrote, “that most Americans don’tactually believe is still happeningin our country.”

“We had to make food stretchlike crazy. Most people I knowtoday have no idea how to makesoup twice out of a single leftoverroast chicken, once it’s been servedfor dinner. The first is to boil offwhat little meat is left. The secondis to boil out the marrow, and getthe microscopic amount of fleshthat still exists.

“Chuck some dandelion greensand wild onions in that broth, andserve it up to four hungry kids.Maybe mix in an egg, if you have it.Ignore their complaints.”

Grant described his frustrationwith the welfare system in theUnited States.

“We live in a country that isoverflowing with wealth, but I’venever forgotten my destitute up-bringing. We can do better, as anation, than to just say ‘screw thepoor,’ but nobody particularlygives a damn. They don’t have to,since the poor don’t have any

power to make their voice heard. “It doesn’t help that those of us

who climbed out of poverty, all toooften, don’t want to talk about it.It’s painful. But until enough of usdo, the system will go on beingbroken, and the poor will continueto get screwed to the dirt.”

Grant moved from California toDallas in his early twenties. Hewould later write a semi-autobio-graphical strip within FLEM thatchronicled the drug-induced,gonzo-esque adventure, known asthe Jay Series.

Over the course of its 500-striprun, the Jay series garnered a cultfollowing that persists today. Grantmade it very clear during the inter-view, however, that Jay is gone forgood—the title character was left torot in prison after being arrestedfor molesting a loaf of bread inpublic—and Grant has no inten-tion of bringing him back.

The new Grant lives in Dallaswith his wife and daughter from aprevious marriage. He continues tocreate FLEM and draw for TwoLumps, which has a table atComicCon International, and isoften recognized on the street.

As for hobbies? “[I] sometimescruise the dark in my black cos-tume and mask, stopping evildo-ers—and showing them how to doevil better.”

Inside the Twisted Mind of a Webcomic Artist

The Third DimensionThe Third Dimension

the nerd issue

oct. 18, 2011

• CHRISTOPHER OLSON

Like some gothic horror story,3D makes a bold return to promi-nence every few decades, feedingon theatre-goers’ dollars before en-tering a period of slumber, to returnagain and feed when the planetshave properly aligned in their pre-ordained cycles.

Or whenever Hollywood gets aburst of confidence as a result ofnew technological developments.You know, whichever comes first.

So it is with great skepticismthat audiences assess the recentresurgence of stereoscopic 3Dfilms, mostly spearheaded by block-busters like 2009’s Avatar and es-pecially by its writer and director,James Cameron.

“The debate isn’t whether 3D ishere to stay,” says Munro Ferguson,an animation director who has pro-duced 3D films for the NationalFilm Board of Canada.

“There will always be 3D films,”continues Ferguson. “The questionis whether 3D will completely over-whelm 2D the way colour filmseventually overwhelmed black andwhite films.”

People forget, says Ferguson,that black and white films oncedominated the cinema, and didn’tsuffer a sudden death with the ad-vent of colour film.

Stereoscopic films represent anew cinematic language, says Fer-guson, and both audiences andfilmmakers are still learning how to

use it.“I think as audiences see more

3D films they’re [...] starting to rec-ognize the difference between good3D and bad 3D and moving beyondthe phase of looking at it as a gim-mick and starting to expect more ofit in terms of storytelling.”

Part of the reason 3D has failedto snowball in the past, says AlisonLoader, a part-time faculty memberof Concordia’s Mel HoppenheimSchool of Cinema, is the relativequality of the stories it told.

“Because it’s so technically dif-ficult to do, you need to attract avery large audience to pay for it,and so the films that have come outhave never been particular good,”she says.

What you typically ended upgetting in the 1950s and 80s, during3D’s previous crop of major re-leases, were monster movies andlackluster franchise films like Jaws3D.

“One of the things that peoplelike to do when they go to themovies is to forget where they are,and it’s hard to forget where you areif you’ve got a stupid pair of glasseson and you’re getting a headache orif the story is so silly that it’s a dis-traction,” says Loader.

Scientifically, 3D vision occurswhen the brain fuses the two differ-ent views from the left and righteye. While advances in stereoscopictechnology have made inroads inreducing the visual anomalies thatmade earlier audiences queasy, no

amount of money invested inequipping theaters with the latesttechnology will overcome audi-ences who bring their own anom-alies into the theatre in the form ofundiagnosed vision problems.

“In a sense [3D] becomes a verygood clinical screener,” says Jo-ceyln Faubert, director of the visualperception and psychophysics lab-oratory of the Université de Mon-tréal, which uses stereoscopictechnology to train athletes, amongother things.

“Some people don’t know theyhave all of these little [visual anom-alies],” he says, because they mighthave been considered too minor tosend up any red flags. “And thosepeople [become] uncomfortable be-cause they’re straining to put twoimages together, and that’s some-thing their brain doesn’t do well.”

Compounding the problem, saysFaubert, is that cinematographersroutinely stretch the limits of whatthe human eye can handle, like ac-commodating swift changes indepth of field, something the eyehas no trouble perceiving in tradi-tional cinema, which uses moresubtler visual cues to suggest depthof field.

“But if people have difficulty ad-justing to 3D now, just imagine howthings were just 60 years ago,” saysLoader.

Analogue equipment was morelikely to produce misaligned leftand right eye views, and small vi-brations in the imagery led to eye-

strain and headaches. Yet the chal-lenges to 3D previous to digital pro-duction and projection were bothtechnical and perceptual.

“If you were to show an audi-ence from 1950 the kind of cuttingyou see in 2D films now, they wouldprobably get upset and their eyeswould hurt and it would annoythem,” she said. “It’s really hard tosay it’s that [filmmakers] have tolearn how to make 3D movies. Well,maybe we also have to learn how towatch them.”

But if the movie is any good,says Loader, people won’t noticethe 3D.

“Hopefully the movie is so im-mersive that it stops mattering.They’ve gotten caught up in thestory or the characters, so they’renot really thinking about it. That’sthe other problem with 3D: if youwatch it for too long, you stopthinking about it. You just sort ofaccept it as natural vision.”

Whatever challenges it contin-ues to face, the medium is finallyreaching critical mass, says Fergu-son, with a large number of theatresalready supporting the medium,and independent filmmakers likeWim Wenders and Werner Herzogexploring the artistic applications ofthe technology in documentaryfilms.

“It’s conceivable that there willbe a future time when people willlook at 2D cinema the same way welook at black and white, as quaintand anachronistic,” he says.

GRAPHIC CHRISTOPHER OLSON

oct. 18, 2011

the nerd issue

• JULIA WOLFE

Every morning at 7:00 a.m.,François Hoang wakes up, checkshis email, gets dressed and—with-out coffee—sits down at his homeoffice. Then he makes sure that hisblog is still running smoothly.With between 100,000 and200,000 views a week, it’s a prettyimportant thing to do.

About three months ago,Hoang got a call from digital artlegend Fabio Sasso asking him totake over Sasso’s site,Abduzeedo.com. Hoang had beena regular contributor for the de-sign and art blog, and was a friendof the editor’s. But Sasso was mov-ing on to Google, and wanted tomake sure it passed into capablehands.

“When this opportunity cameup, I couldn’t say no,” Hoang said.“In my mind, if Fabio [Sasso] callsyou up and asks you to be the edi-

tor of Abduzeedo, you can’t say no.Would you say no?”

The blog has writers fromBrazil to Germany and features tu-torials, inspirations, and free fonts.Conceived in 2006, Abduzeedo iswidely considered to be the first ofits kind, although Hoang says thesite only really took off in 2008.Now, they’re getting up to 10 mil-lion hits a month, and dozens ofemails per day.

The site inevitably crashes 5-6times a month, Hoang said. Butconsidering how heavy the trafficis, that’s actually impressively rare.

Still, most people outside thedigital art community have neverheard of the blog. Hoang’s dad, apainter, is among them. “He’s like,‘What’s a blog?’” Hoang said. “Ijust tell him to compare Ab-duzeedo’s [importance] to Tiëstoin the trance world.”

Hoang isn’t the only Canadiandigital artist getting noticed these

days. James White, another Ab-duzeedo contributor, is a Vancou-ver local whose studio Signal Noiseis also generating a lot of buzz.

In 2006, the United NationsEducational, Scientific and Cul-tural Organization named Mon-treal an International City ofDesign along with only two othercities, Berlin and Buenos Aires.

“[Canadians] have this huge artcommunity,” Huang said. “If youlook at our magazines and news-papers, you know that our design-ers are super talented,” he said.

But this rush into the onlinespotlight is something prettynew—and kind of overwhelming—for Hoang. Growing up, he neverreally considered pursuing art. “Iwanted to be a SWAT guy,” hesaid.

“Then my uncle asked for abusiness card, and I downloadedthe 30 day trial of Adobe, taughtmyself Photoshop and Illustrator

and thought, ‘Wow.’”After that, he realized that he

wanted to be a graphic designer.He went to Concordia’s continuingeducation program and worked to-wards a degree in design, just tosee if he had what it took. Turnsout he did.

“I had this teacher there, andafter class I showed him my port-folio,” Hoang said.

“He said to me ‘What the fuckare you doing here? I don’t see thepoint of you being here.’” The pro-fessor told him that school was awaste of his time, and someone astalented as he was could gostraight into the industry. He fin-ished the session with a 92 aver-age.

After a few years in the indus-try, he eventually started his ownfreelance firm, Aoiro Studios.Through the firm, he offers every-thing from illustrations to web de-sign to photography.

“Whenever I find a client, I sayyes to everything,” he said. “Evenif I can’t do it, I find a way to do it.”

Starting the studio was a bigstruggle, he said, but through wordof mouth he managed to build itup into something that could sup-port him. When he finds time, hesaid he’d add a section on tips fornew designers and freelancers.

He runs the studio on top ofAbduzeedo, a schedule thatdoesn’t leave him with a lot of freetime. He still loves it and says hecould never be sick of design, butit’s a short–term juggle. Hoanghopes to pass on the reins of theblog, which he refers to as his “sec-ond girlfriend,” within five years.

With or without him, though,he’s not worried about the futureof Abduzeedo. He thinks interestin the blog, and other blogs like it,is only going to grow. “[Digital art]is on the verge of taking over,” hesaid. “It’s a lifestyle.”

King of theBlogosphere

MONTREALER FRANÇOIS HOANG BECOMES DIGITAL ART ROYALTY

THE VISIONARY PROCESS BY FRANÇOIS HOANG

a special issue

PAGE

13 LifestyleNOT CHEERLEADERS: THE CONCORDIA SPIRIT SQUAD • PAGE 14

• TYLER FINIGAN

Montreal Impossible isn’t youraverage scavenger hunt.

Teams of 12 will have threedays, starting on Nov. 6, to con-quer the streets of Montreal byperforming different tasks such asuploading cinematic reenactmentsto YouTube or building a func-tional bicycle out of hanger wiresand two-by-four wooden planks.

Francois Vincent, the event’sorganizer, encourages people tosign up for the unusual experi-ence.

“I had initially only intended tohave groups sign up because thefocus of the hunt items are gener-ally things that individual peoplecould not do on their own,” saidVincent.

“I want a group to feel like theywere brought together by knock-ing off the items on the list and tohave them do things that they canlook at each other a few years laterand go, ‘Hey, remember when wedid that thing for Impossible Mon-treal?’”

Each team must consist of atleast two people, a captain and awizard. The captain is the chosenleader of the group that communi-cates with the judging committeeduring the hunt. The wizard is incharge of uploading any tasks tothe Internet.

Organizers suggest that a thirdperson, a pilot, be assigned to nav-igate the streets and have access toa vehicle.

A variety of prizes includes: Around of drinks at Brutopia for thetop two teams, tickets to the Mon-treal Museum of Fine Arts, and aboard game from local companyMJ Games.

The hunt is open to anyoneabove the age of 18. People cansign up as a team or individually—individuals will be added to an-other team on the day of the hunt.

Vincent says the $10 will bewell worth the fun.

“I want it to be so much funthat they drag their friends to tryit again at next year’s edition. Be-sides, who doesn’t like being ahero on a quest?” said Vincent.

Sign-up sheets can bedownloaded online from im-possiblemontreal.com. Thesign up deadline is Oct. 29.

SCAVENGERSIN THE CITYMontreal Search Has High Possibility of Fun

• TYLER FINIGAN

After eight straight hours ofbaseball, the Concordia Stingersgave up their conference crownin a 4-0 loss to the CarletonRavens on Sunday.

ConU played a triple-headerin which a constant flow of errors proved costly, causingthem a loss in the opening andtie-breaking game of the series.

The battle for first seemedevenly matched during the better part of the first game,with both teams posting a run in the first and third inning.

It wasn’t until the fifth thatthe Stingers broke free with aone run lead, but the lead diedquickly as the Ravens posted tworuns early in the sixth.

With one inning left, ConUfailed to answer back.

This was a game where theStingers struggled defensively. Afair amount of botched plays anddropped relays would allow toomany base runners for them tohandle.

This eventually caused start-ing pitcher Kechayen Alex to fal-ter and let up too many runs,losing 4-3. Alex declined to com-ment on his performance.

After losing the first game oflast week’s series against McGill,the Stingers found themselves ina similar position. Despite theabundance of glaring mistakesand lack of hitting, head coachHoward Schwartz stayed confi-dent.

“At least we have the experi-ence of knowing that we have totank a game before we start playing and we certainlytanked,” said Schwartz, “Whenwe want to play, we will win.”

The Stingers brushed offtheir opening loss and pro-ceeded to win their second withthe aid of a three-run homerslugged by shortstop Marco

Masciotra and relief pitcherBrandon Bercovits keeping themalive in the series.

“Feels great, I couldn’t ask foranything else, we’re back toGame 3 again, just like lastweekend, and I’m sure we canpull it off again,” Bercovits said.

The win was well-deserved.ConU’s hitting became an evident factor, along with a sufficient defense game poweredby an acrobatic outfield theRavens were kept behind. TheStingers took their second game6-4.

One game was left to play.Both teams, exhausted fromtheir two previous games, tookthe field, but with ConU comingoff a win, confidence was in theair.

“I have great confidence in the team that they will dotheir best, I think they’ll digdeep and I think they’ll findwhat it takes to get through thisthird game,” said ConU’s Ath-letic Director Katie Sheahan. “Itmeans a lot to them to go into

the championship on top of theconference pile and I think that’swhat they’re going to do, it’ll bewell earned.”

The Stingers’ confidence leveltumbled in the third game, how-ever. This was seen early on, asthey were shut down by theRavens in the first inning, whopocketed two runs with ease.These two runs would be all theRavens needed to take the Con-ference final.

Carleton head coach RickYoung couldn’t be more proud ofhis team’s effort.

“Feels pretty good; we have areally good team. To get two on[Concordia] today was nice tohave. [We had] a lot of doubtsbut in the end, with lots of effortand practice, the final resultpaid off,” said Young.

While the Stingers didn’t get the results they were lookingfor, they’ll have a chance to redeem themselves at the nationals this weekend in Moncton. Their first game is onFriday.

Concordia Baseball Settles For SecondStingers Stand By and Watch Their Title Be Taken

“When we want toplay, we will win.”

— Howard Schwartz

PHOTOS DYLAN MALONEY

14lifestyle the link • october 18, 2011thelinknewspaper.ca/sports

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MEN’S SOCCERConcordia’s men’s soccer team lost Sun-day’s home matchup 4-0 to the Univer-sité de Montréal Carabins. Head coachLloyd Barker said the performance waspoor and the team played with a “lackof heart.” The Stingers head to theClaude Robillard Sports Complex thisFriday where they’ll take on the Univer-sité de Québec à Montréal Citadins.Kickoff is at 8:30 p.m.

WOMEN’S SOCCERUniversité de Montréal was too much forConcordia’s women’s soccer team Sun-day, losing 4-1 on home field. TheStingers play again Oct. 21 againstUQAM Citadins, and again on Oct. 23,when Bishop’s University comes to town.Kickoffs are at 6:30 p.m. and 1:00 p.m.,respectively.

FOOTBALLThe Stingers’ hopes of a second-placefinish were crushed Saturday as toomany turnovers caused the SherbrookeVert et Or to cruise to a 31-11 victory.ConU will try to clinch third place whenDanny Maciocia’s Université de Mon-tréal Carabins visit. Kickoff is at 1:00p.m at Loyola.

WOMEN’S RUGBYConcordia’s women’s rugby team deliv-ered a 56-19 clobbering to the Sher-brooke Vert et Or while on the road.They’ll be opening their playoffs whenthe McGill Martlets come to visit. Thedates and times have yet to be an-nounced.

MEN’S RUGBYThe Sherbrooke Vert et Or edged outConcordia’s men’s rugby team on Friday,losing 12-11. The Stingers close out theirseason this Sunday against the McGillRedmen. Kickoff is at 3:00 p.m. at Loyola.

Show Some Spirit for the Home TeamConcordia’s Spirit Team Is Back and Better Than Ever

In fact, the Spirit squad actsmore like a community outreachgroup, taking donations at gamesand cheering on teams in thebleachers even when they aren’trequired to perform, like at icehockey or baseball games.

For Corbin Girard, 17, how-ever, it’s more than that. She

moved to Montreal this fall fromVancouver with few friends in anew city, and she says the transi-tion has made it that much easierbecause of the Spirit team.

“They have been really openand welcoming; a couple of us arefirst-years, and they’ve made itreally nice for us,” says Girard.

“This is where I met my firstfriends here. I love all of them.They are so nice and we go anddo stuff afterwards.”

As the team practice their rou-tine again—this time flawlessly—it’s hard not to notice similaritiesto an athletic sports team. Soph-omore Emily Richler tries to cool

down in the breezy night by fan-ning herself with the bottom ofher shirt, exposing for a second aset of washboard abs.

The next time you’re watching300 lbs-plus men running at eachother, don’t forget that there’s an-other performance happening afew metres away.

Although they now have a fullsquad of girls cheering on thefootball team in front the bleach-ers at Loyola with pom-poms andgold and maroon skirts, Milnerstresses they’re not cheerleaders.

“It’s just a different sort,” saysMilner. “Girls do dancing andpromotions. They can dance andthey can tumble. But we justdon’t do any lifts or anything likethat.”

Even thought the Spirit team

is not a cheer squad, Dana Lam-bert admits there might be acheerleading stereotype—even ifthe team doesn’t have time tohang around with the athleticteams.

“We don’t do that. We havepractice, then we go to school,then we have practice, then we goto school,” said Lambert.

“If they think the Spirit team’sslutty, then they can think theSpirit team is slutty because we

shake our hips instead of runaround.”

The stereotype of the classiccheerleader still remains, sayswomen’s issues expert and Concordia professor AngelaFord-Rosenthal.

“I think the stereotype of thecheerleader is someone who iskind of empty-headed, not thatbright, focused on their appear-ance, out to please the men,” saidFord-Rosenthal.

“People might say that it doesn’t really conform to today’sideas about women. Womenshouldn’t be standing there semi-dressed and displayingthemselves.

“But they can also be seriousstudents. People make assump-tions—that’s the bottom line,”said Ford-Rosenthal. “There’s assumptions made on thesewomen that are probably very farfrom the truth.”

“We’ve gotten a lot better thanlast year I think,” said Lambert.,who has become the unofficialchoreographer, leading and bark-ing orders. It’s no wonder; shehas experience back home at adance studio in Ottawa.

She came to the team in 2009,but it was much different then.Two years ago, the girls didn’thave to try out and no experiencewas needed to be on the team.This led to frustrating momentsand poor performances. Last yearthe team was so incompetent, themajority of them quit.

“I’m a good competitive per-

son. And when 95 per cent of thepeople don’t put effort into it, youget fed up,” said Lambert.

“Picture a football team whereeveryone’s allowed to join. You’regoing to have quarterbacks whocan’t throw. That’s what we had.[…] No practice times, practicesweren’t being run properly; ourmusic was screwing up on per-formance days.”

Since then the power hasshifted, however, and Lamberthas taken on a bigger role in thegroup. An unprecedented num-ber of rookies have joined, too;and for the first time in years, try-

outs were a necessity to cut thehopefuls down to a 20-womansquad.

The new work ethic is clear:it’s their business to be good. Theteam practices three times aweek, three hours a practice, allfor what might not exceed sevenperformances throughout theyear—about the same practicetime as the soccer team, but withhalf the game time.

Among the new recruits isConcordia’s Department ofRecreation and Athletics promo-tions coordinator Samantha Mil-ner, who, like Lambert, has

previous experience: gymnastics,hip-hop, aerobics and jazz danc-ing.

Milner isn’t a bad person to bemanaging the group—she startedher own company, Sassy Sam’s,at the age of 11; it has since soldover $1 million worth of scarves,jewelry and accessories.

Over the years she’s donatedthousands of dollars worth of herprofits to local charities and con-tinues to help the community byoverseeing the Spirit team, help-ing to schedule practices and per-formances—a welcome additionfrom last year’s chaos.

More Than a Hobby

They’re NOT Cheerleaders

Getting Better

• DAVID MURPHY

In three lines, more than a dozen sweat-cov-ered female Concordia students drop, bend, andshuffle to LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” rightnext to the entrance of the athletic complex at theLoyola Campus.

The complex is buzzing with football, basket-ball and rugby teams taking over the artificial turffield, but the poorly lit pavement will have to dofor the the Stinger Spirit squad tonight—there’sno room anywhere else.

It’s chilly and windy; fall’s beginning to set in,but if the girls have noticed it, they aren’t lettingon. They’re working up a sweat, decked-out insweatpants and sweatshirts, but their Spartandress doesn’t deter the soccer team from casuallyslowing their pace as they walk by.

Dana Lambert, 20, one of the team’s seasonedvets, snaps at the back-row for being out of sync—the girls are not ones to be distracted. Their eyesare forward, their backs are straight, and youcould see the whites of their teeth a hundred me-tres away.

This is Stinger Spirit.

Catch the next performance by theSpirit Team on Oct. 22 at 1 p.m. during thefootball game at Loyola.

GRAPHIC ERIC BENTThe Stinger Spirit squad ain’t your typical cheerleaders.

PAGE

15 OpinionsFIRST TIME FISTING?: A HOW TO GUIDE • PAGE 17

• ALEX WOZNICA

When the Occupy Wall Street movementcame to Montreal this Saturday, it camebearing a confused message—one that is un-likely to result in any sort of change, let alonelead to any progress.

The battle-cry behind the Occupy movements around the globe has been oneagainst wealth disparity that cannot con-tinue. But you would never have known it bythe scene on display at Square Victoria thisweekend.

While there were certainly people representing the 99 per cent, standing inprotest against the richest one per cent of theworld, those voices seemed to be diluted by the presence of so many other peopleprotesting for other causes.

A quick tour around the square wouldshow you people advocating for Quebec andPalestinian nationalism, environmentalism,socialism, pacifism, feminism, Republican-ism, anarchism, communism, and a widerange of other isms. There were also groupsprotesting prisons, the police and the primeminister

Theoretically, this protest had the capac-ity to bring a lot of people together againstthe large and growing gap between the havesand the have-nots in our society. Instead, the demonstration manifested itself as a summation of small groups standing in thesame space, each advocating their own petcause.

This had the effect of transforming whatcould have been united stand with a positivemessage into a disjointed protest that endedup having no message at all.

If one were forced to pinpoint a prominent message coming out of Saturday’sprotest, it would be one of opposition of the current capitalist system. It’s unfortunatethough, as anyone who witnessed the protestwould be forced to conclude that its

participants were in no way prepared to takeany real or practical action against that system.

For starters, it’s hard to take someone seriously when they say they want to drastically change the capitalist system whilethey are shrouded in and actively consumingits products.

Many of the the participants at SquareVictoria were wearing brand name clothingand consuming brand name food, coffee, andcigarettes—all while protesting. Given that the profits from the sale of such products arewhat sustains the system they were protest-ing against, their commitment to drasticallychanging it seems suspect.

The fact is that although those involved inthe Occupy movement profess the desire forfundamental change, they are simply notready to take the actions necessary to bringit about.

The richest one per cent of the world has too much at stake in the current capitalistsystem, and is unlikely to relinquish their control of it simply because a couple hundredbohemians spent a day in the rain.

The sort of change those in support of theOccupy movement wish to see would requiremillions making a concerted effort to rejectthe material trappings that fuel the currentcapitalist system.

That is evidently a tall order consideringthat participants weren’t even willing to refrain from doing so during the protest thisSaturday.

While spending a day with friends in apublic square and pretending it’s 1969 maybe fun, doing that alone is not going tochange anything.

Until those in the Occupy movement decide that it’s time to take practical steps towards achieving their professed goal, themovement will remain what the richest oneper cent of the world certainly recognizes itas: a paper tiger.

A PAPER TIGEROccupy Montreal All Isms, No Action

• MEGAN DOLSKI

The movement against the stark inequality of our population, created by thecapitalist and corporate system, is occupyingeverywhere these days—including the Twitter feeds, headlines and front-pages ofalmost every major news source.

But if the 99 per cent want their cause tokeep making headlines, they’re going to haveto stop occupying and start acting.

Initially, the mainstream press was criticized for letting the “occupy” protests flyunder their radars, while the undergroundand independent press picked up the slack.What followed were accusations of left-wingbias and slanted coverage.

Regardless, the movement continued togrow and now the mainstream media is allover it, because it never went away (andprops to the protesters for sticking it out untilthey turned some heads).

This weekend, “occupy” news was at the forefront of every major new source’s coverage—left, right, mainstream and underground—and last week the move-ment’s coverage quadrupled, according toPew’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

But do these protests really merit thefront pages and cover photos they are gettingalmost everywhere?

Jack Shafer of Reuters says no. In aReuters blog he writes, “My imperfect policywas this: If a demonstration created othernews, I might be convinced to assign a story.But covering a demonstration just to cover ademonstration appeals less to me than turn-ing my editorial pages over to a public serviceannouncement about the opening of a spayclinic.”

He has a point. Usually a protest in andof itself isn’t news, but the action that comesfrom it is what makes the news or, at the veryleast, the specific call for action or the demand for change. The outcome is

newsworthy but, unless something extraor-dinary happens, the demonstration itself isonly ever an element of the story.

One could argue that the fact that theseprotests have stretched across over 951 citiesin 82 countries is newsworthy alone. Yes,maybe it is—but not for long. That fact hasbeen printed and the story, like the protes-tors, isn’t going anywhere.

By Shafer’s standards, this movement really hasn’t created any other form of news.

Standing sedentarily in solidarity with no tangible demands is only going to be newsworthy for so long. If these occupationscontinue to exist with no further progress,goals or calls for action, they are going to findthemselves off of the airwaves and out ofprint.

Occupiers would do well to realize thatthe world is watching them now, so if theyare going to incite change they need to haulass and do so before people turn away.

In my lifetime I cannot remember a timewhen capitalism, communism and equality,(or lack thereof) has ever been more widelydiscussed.

Last week the The New York Timesposted a video of a Wall Street hippy and aWall Street moneymaking-big-cheese discussing and debating issues in a café nearZuccotti Park in New York. Discourse between the one per cent and the 99 per centis happening. That itself is an achievement.

This type of discussion is so valuable, andhas the potential to be the beginning ofprogress—but the media won’t be tellingthose stories if nothing moves forward.

So, please, protestors: realize that if therewas ever a time to think big, to use yournumbers, or to actually make a change, thisis it.

Viewers are watching. Readers are reading and media has all eyes on you—dosomething about it before it’s too late.

Occupy Wall Street Needs to Stay NewsworthyTHE COVERAGE CONUNDRUM

PHOTO VINCENT YIPOccupiers gather in Square Victoria this weekend, taking a stance against the current capitalist system.

16opinions the link • october 18, 2011thelinknewspaper.ca/ops

• BENTO GUIMARAES

Montreal’s infrastructure is falling apart—the streets resemble a piece of Swisscheese, the potholes are so bigthey have their own potholesand a few of the city’s bridgeshave been hanging by a threadfor a while now.

The federal government recently announced that they’llbe building a new bridge acrossthe St. Lawrence to replace thecrumbling Champlain Bridge.

This project is necessaryand urgent—but the gravity ofthe situation means that thecost of construction isn’t goingto be cheap and someone’s gotto pay the bill.

Alongside a public-privatesystem, one means of fundingthe new bridge that’s been suggested is implementing atoll system.

The Gazette reported that,although Provincial Transport

Minister Pierre Moreau did notsupport the idea, FederalTransport Minister DenisLebel would be in favour ofusing a toll system to fund theproject, as would MontrealMayor Gerald Tremblay.

Lebel was quoted saying,“The idea of a user-pay systemis a popular one worldwide andit makes sense that we followit.”

Using tolls would provide auseful safety net that couldguarantee that, even if the government needs to reallocateresources due to a financial crisis, the bridge would not beleft alone to crumble.

Considering the currentstate of the Champlain Bridge,I’d say that’s a smart move onLebel’s part. Especially sinceit’s costing the government andtaxpayers a hefty $370 millionin renovations to keep the oldbridge from collapsing untilthe new one is ready.

The toll system could work,but in order for it to be fair and effective, there aresome caveats that must be considered. A flat rate is notthe answer—the fare paid on the tolls should differ according to every individual’susage.

This means that the newlyimplemented toll system musttake into account that peopledriving cars aren’t the onlyones using the roads andbridges. People walk, takebuses, taxis and ride theirbikes.

The new system should alsoconsider that people living in the South Shore that cometo work or study in Montrealseveral times a week—whogenerate income to the city, inessence—should pay a lowerfare.

Tourists and other “casualcrossers” should pay a higherfare. Transport trucks, which

carry an estimated 20 billiondollars a year in products on and off of the island, shouldpay a “by wheel” fare. It’s a system used in many countriesbased on the premise that thebigger the truck, the more itdamages the road— thereforeit should cost more.

The STM should pay a fixedannual fee that could be reflected in a small increase onthe public transport fare. Andcyclists—if the new bridge hasa bike lane (which it should, inmy opinion)—should pay asymbolic fare.

If the government can implement tolls in a fair andbalanced way, then they havemy support. But if I’m payingevery time I cross the bridge, Iexpect the government to betransparent. I want to knowwhere my toll tax is going andI want my fee to be relative tothe amount and way in whichI’m using the bridge.

Ask Not for Whom the BridgeTolls—It Tolls for TheeBudgeting for New Bridge ProjectNeeds Balance

NERD IN THE HALLHow Geeky Are You?• PIERRE CHAUVIN

For The Link’s first-ever Nerd SpecialIssue we decided to take to the halls ofConcordia and find out what how nerdyConU students actually are. We askedstudents what the nerdiest thing aboutthem was. Here’s what they said.

“I’m addicted to video games, and Ilove Star Wars. This is not the nerdyou’re looking for.”

—Jonathan Lai,BA Business Administration

“I can just stay in front of my com-puter instead of sleeping and eating. Itdoesn’t have to be computer games.Sometimes movies, news, even YouTubeor Facebook.”

—Mike Pham,BA Computer Science

“My Bachelor’s—that’s the nerdiestthing about me. I’m [also] a big fan ofcomputer games—and I’m the only girl inEngineering.”

—Micha Kindarji,BEng

“Something weird? I read a lot. Notvery original.”

—Emily J’bari,BA Political Science

“I’m a huge comic book fan. I collectgraphic novels—I guess that would be thegeekiest thing about me. I’m [also] a hugemovie freak. I like Tarantino stuff, PulpFiction and all of that, but I don’t know ifthat would be nerdy or just an interest.”

—Andy Metivier,BA Commerce andAccounting

“I guess I’m a bookworm nerd. I lovereading. I would even pick reading overTV.”

—Jo-Anne Gagnon,BA Education

PHOTO RILEY SPARKS

17opinionsthe link • october 18, 2011 thelinknewspaper.ca/ops

First-Time FistingMy girlfriend and I (a lesbian couple) talk about fisting sometimesand we both really want to try giving and getting it but I don’t want tofuck it up the first time and never get to try again. I’ve tried lookingonline but it’s hard to get through all the stupid forum responses. Canyou tell me how to safely fist my lover?

—Timid But Tempted

I absolutely can! For those of you that don’t know what fistingis, fisting, aka handballing, involves inserting a hand into the vaginaor ass and shaping it into a fist for sexual pleasure.

Interested? Here’s how you do it:Step 1: Have a good talk with your partner to make sure you

both really want to fist. It’s important for the receiving partner toremain calm and relaxed—and that’s going to be impossible if theyaren’t into doing it in the first place.

Keep in mind that for the receiver, being fisted can trigger an in-tense emotional reaction and feelings of vulnerability. Trust, un-derstanding, and strong communication are essential throughout.

Step 2: Groom yourself before getting all up in there. Make sureyour nails are neatly trimmed and rounded (you should probablyfile them too) to avoid scratching or tearing. Wash your hands thor-oughly before and after, wear a latex glove and switch to a new oneif you move between her ass and vagina. This will lower the risk ofSTIs, and can even make the process easier since it’s super slipperywith lube.

Step 3: Get your partner hot—really hot. You may even want tobring her to orgasm before getting started, as it will relax her mus-cles and provide some natural lube.

Step 4: Add lots of lube. Lube is something you can never havetoo much of, so cover your latex-y hand really well and when youthink you have enough, add a little more.

Step 5: Ease your way into it. Start with one finger and addmore fingers as you stretch her more. Don’t force this, and remem-ber that fisting isn’t necessarily going to happen on your first try.This will also really depend on the size of your fist and the size ofher vagina.

Step 6: Getting over the knuckles. The knuckles are the hardestpart, so once you’ve reached five fingers, be gentle and prepareyourselves. The goal here is to make your hand as small as possible,so curl your fingers around your thumb as if you’re making ashadow puppet talk, and try to be as thin as possible.

Move slowly and let the receiver lead the way, since any suddenmovements she’s unprepared for could lead to muscle or tissue in-juries.

Step 7: Next is the big push. When ready, make your way intothe vagina. The receiver should remain calm—breathing slowly andvisualizing her vagina opening up to let your hand in with ease. It’snormal for this to be a bit uncomfortable for both of you, and it’sup to the receiver to say something if it becomes too uncomfort-able.

Step 8: Once you slip through, roll your hand into a fist. Youmight feel a lot of pressure, but whatever you do, don’t pull out ormove suddenly; this could actually hurt her more than staying in-side.

Step 9: Once you’re in and you’re both getting used to it, startto experiment. Depending on how she’s feeling, try different thingslike slowly pumping inside her, twisting your hand around or pul-sating your fist. See what she likes and act accordingly.

Step 10: Once you’re done, make the shadow puppet shapeagain and slowly and gently slide out. You can try doing this as she orgasms since her vaginal contractions might help ease your handout.

That completes this guide to fisting a pussy. You can also analfist—with similar steps—but the process can be a little more chal-lenging and intimidating since anal muscles aren’t as flexible asvaginal ones. Feel free to write in for an anal specific guide, but inthe meantime, fist away!

—Melissa Fuller

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

Occupy The LinkThe Link’s coverage of Occupy

Wall Street in Vol. 32, Issue 7 wasupsetting—and it sheds light on in-herent flaws in our media.

As an active contributor andparticipant with The Link, I amquick to congratulate their goodwork. But I am equally quick toraise points of concern when theymerit attention. Unfortunately, thework by Julian Ward and DavidMurphy last week merits such at-tention.

A few quotes from this article areworth repeating: “…these people[i.e. the participants] refuse, or areintellectually unable, to attach adefinite list of demands to theircause.”

The editorial also noted, “the re-porters we sent told us that […]there were also a ton of, well, id-iots.”

These quotes remind me of thecontempt that mainstream journal-ists expressed for dissidentsprotesting the Iraq War, or evenfurther back to Vietnam. Thesedirty “hippies” are clueless andtherefore not worthy of public con-cern. This speaks directly to the na-ture of our media.

For starters, it is worth reflecting

on why participants in the Occupa-tion are called “these people” withsuch a degree of contempt.

According to the dictates of pro-fessional journalism, reporters arerequired to “objectively” report onevents. The person being inter-viewed becomes an object of analy-sis, and the reporter must detachthemselves from any moral or emo-tional considerations.

This is precisely what leads tothe use of terms like “these people”and “hippies.” Shaming and mar-ginalizing in this way can have dev-astating consequences.

There are alternatives to callingparticipants “idiots” that are “intel-lectually unable” to articulate theiraims. A participatory media wouldengage in discussion with these“hippies” in order to collaborativelycreate media for the public.

Similarly, the fact that reportersare seeking “a definite list of de-mands” from Occupation partici-pants and would like an “officialspokesperson” also speaks to thenature of our dominant mediastructure.

Why are definite demands nec-essary? Why must there be an offi-cial spokesperson?

These are the very structures ofhierarchy that the Occupation is

challenging. There are no “officials”in the commune that has been cre-ated in New York. And there are nodefinite demands, because genuinedemocracy takes careful discussionof conflicting ideas.

Occupy Wall Street participantsare challenging people to questionall forms of oppression and hierar-chy. One would hope that journal-ists are equally reflective about therole and nature of the media. Oc-cupy The Link indeed.

—Matthew BrettBA Political Science

I Am a Cat :3Hey everyone! I’m a cat! :3Today I had some catnip. It was

great!What will my cat adventure be

next week? Who knows! :3

—Nadim KobeissiBA Political Science

Letters@thelinknewspaper.ca

The Link’s letters and opinions policy: The deadline for letters is 4 p.m. on Friday before the issueprints. The Link reserves the right to verify your iden-tity via telephone or email. We reserve the right to refuse letters that are libellous, sexist, ho-mophobic, racist or xenophobic. The limit is 400 words. If your letter is longer, it won’t appear inthe paper. Please include your full name, weekend phone number, student ID number and pro-gram of study. The comments in the letters and opin-ions section do not necessarily reflect those of theeditorial board.

Across5. When nerds dress up as their

favourite characters, sometimeswith a sexy twist. Mostly it’s just terrifying, though.

6. Two plus two is four. Every-one knows that. But if you happento memorize the first 3,000 digits ofπ? Neeeeeeeerd. This subject, likeeverything else in life, is unfair.

10. It’s like regular fiction, onlymore technical and containing farmore paradoxes and three-boobedaliens. (2 words)

11. Shaking the poor man’s handwasn’t enough; you also need a glossy photo of the man with the signature he signs his chequeswith? All those twenties are going right towards reconstructive

wrist surgery, you know.12. Before there were role-play-

ing games, nerds could pretend theycontrolled armies of pawns. Orcshave nothing on pawns.

Down1. Where nerds air their gripes

about plot inconsistencies and thelike, while also basking in preciousanonymity—something they other-wise never experience (Ha). (2words)

2. Sometimes imagining what itwould be like to be Elvish isn’tenough. Sometimes you also haveto find a secluded place in thewoods and beat the shit out of yourfriends while wearing Elvish facialprosthetics.

3. It’s like regular fiction, onlymore improbable and containingfar more witches.

4. Dolls for men. And by “doll” Idon’t mean “lady of the night.” (2words)

7. It’s all fun and games until youaccidentally instigate a nuclearstandoff with a sentient A.I. becauseyou thought it was the software forsome new kind of game. You’re kindof stupid that way.

8. A place where nerds congre-gate, typically in annual intervals.

9. Spend millions of dollars pre-tending Chris Hemsworth can flyand it’s called fun for the wholefamily, but draw Chris Hemsworthflying and publish it in monthly in-stallments and suddenly it’s nerdy?Well, yeah, but—more nerdy?

‘The Nerd Crossword’

CROSSWORD CHRISTOPHER OLSON

18opinions the link • october 18, 2011thelinknewspaper.ca/ops

Nah’msayin?Braindead Bagel Burglars Beware

I love Tim Horton’s. It’s a wonderful,magical place where the holes in the bagelsare formed by magical unicorns thrustingthrough the dough with their glimmeringhorns while magical fairies urinate coffeeinto the pots. It’s basically Disneyland forthe taste buds.

The downside is that, like a real amuse-ment park, Timmy’s line-ups seem to befilled with an awful lot of slack-jawed,drooling tools whose parents would havebeen better off remembering Jesus’ sacredteachings on condoms instead of gettingtheir conceive on.

I seem to have misplaced my English-to-Idiot dictionary, but recently I discoveredthat in Idiot, the word for ‘bagel with creamcheese’ is actually the same as ‘ham sand-wich.’ Crazy!

So please, stupid people—those of youwho possess the intellectual capacities toknow who you are—if you’re capable ofmemorizing Limp Bizkit lyrics and recog-nizing brands of massive spinning hub-capson your fuel-inefficient cars, you’re capableof checking the frigging bag the nice em-ployee is handing you.

For the sake of all that is holy, make sureyou are not about to eat my bagel. (You canunderstand, I hope, that this is particularlyimportant in Montreal.)

Ahhh, who am I kidding? You’re notreading this. You’re looking at all the pretty,pretty pictures on this page instead.

—Adam KovacCurrent Affairs Editor

GRAPHIC SHOSHANA EIDELMAN

Barton Flats COMIC JONATHAN WOODS

Living The Life COMIC CLAUDINE LAMOTHE

19opinionsthe link • october 18, 2011 thelinknewspaper.ca/ops

editor-in-chief

LAURA BEESTONnews editor

JULIAN WARD (ACTING)current affairs editor

ADAM KOVAC (ACTING)assistant news editor

OPENfringe arts editor

ALEX MCGILLfringe arts online editor

COLIN HARRISlifestyle editor

OPENsports online editor

DAVID KAUFMANNcopy editor

ALEX MANLEYopinions editor

MEGAN DOLSKI

community editor

PIERRE CHAUVINphoto editor

ERIN SPARKSgraphics editor

ERIC BENTmanaging editor

JULIA WOLFEcreative director

CLÉMENT LIUcoordinating editor

JULIA JONESwebmaster

OPENbusiness manager

RACHEL BOUCHERad designer

ADAM NORRISdistribution

ROBERT DESMARAISDAVID KAUFMANN

The Link is published every Tuesday during the academic year by The Link Publication Society Inc. Con-tent is independent of the university and student associations (ECA, CASA, ASFA, FASA, CSU). Editorialpolicy is set by an elected board as provided for in The Link’s constitution. Any student is welcome towork on The Link and become a voting staff member. The Link is a member of Canadian University Pressand Presse Universitaire Indépendante du Québec.Material appearing in The Link may not be reproduced without prior written permission from The Link.Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters 400 words or less will be printed, space permitting. The

letters deadline is Friday at 4:00 p.m. The Link reserves the right to edit letters for clarity and length andrefuse those deemed racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, libellous, or otherwise contrary to The Link’sstatement of principles.Board of Directors 2011-2012: Clare Raspopow, Mathieu Biard, Christopher Curtis, Justin Giovannetti,

Morgan Todd, Jamila Musayeva; non-voting members: Rachel Boucher, Laura Beeston. Typesetting by The Link. Printing by Transcontinental.

Contributors: Myriam Arsenault, Baghdig Balyan, Nahila Bendali, Michael Cohen, Shoshana Eidleman,Tyler Finigan, Gabriel Fizer, Melissa Fuller, Bento Guimaraes, Claudine Lamothe, Frank Le Coroller, DylanMaloney, Sean McClure, Christopher Olson, Corey Pool, Amanda Siino, Riley Sparks, Eric White, JonathanWoods, Alex Woznica, Vincent Yip

Cover By:Julia Wolfe

Volume 32, Issue 8Tuesday, October 18, 2011Concordia UniversityHall Building, Room H-6491455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W.Montreal, Quebec H3G 1M8

editor: (514) 848-2424 x. 7405 arts: (514) 848-2424 x. 5813 ads: (514) 848-2424 x. 8682fax: (514) 848-4540business: (514) 848-7406CONCORDIA’S INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERISSUE 7 CROSSWORD SOLUTIONS

‘JUST [SAMUEL L.] JACK[SON]’

editorialTime to Change HandsRecently, there’s been a lot of talk

about today’s youth, representation andradical change. The issues boil down tothe differences between ‘us’ and ‘them,’with both parties saying, “Look: you justdon’t get it.”

On a hyper-local, federal and interna-tional level, you can see it. It’s happeningat this university, within our federal gov-ernment and around the world.

Many on Concordia’s Board of Gover-nors are a decade or more past their setmandates and have been called to resign,yet are still exercising a tight, top-downapproach to meetings and dialogue con-cerning the future of its membershipmakeup, which inevitably marginalizesstudents—the most numerous body ofthis university.

In terms of increasing tuition and thelong term vision of this institution, wealso have a 78-year-old president con-tending with a twentysomething presi-dent—each with radically different ideasabout how the university ought to spendits time, energy and money, as well ashow it ought to be funded and who itought to serve.

On macro level, one could easily applythis thinking to the Canadian politicallandscape—specifically, to the New Dem-ocratic Party’s youthful “orange crush”that swept Quebec in the most recent fed-

eral election.With a third of the official opposition

under the age of 30, the NDP’s “bratpack” saw reporters focus on their age in-stead of their platforms, while the cover-age they’ve received has been highlyskeptical.

Besides the cutesy contempt for thissurge of youth into real representativepower, there also seems to be an unfairexpectation that these “kids” prove them-selves and their credibility.

This is happening all the while plentyof existing MPs, who seem to have no ideawhat the hell they’ve been doing or talk-ing about for the last decade, continue totote the party line without any questionsasked.

“It’s not a matter of age as much aswhat kind of job the ministers are doing,”argued 20-year-old NDP MP Lauren Liuin a Postmedia news article this pastweek. The article was written with a toneof surprise that she seems capable enoughto handle her new responsibilities.

As it turns out, the “kids” are the oneswho are reminding us that the incumbentministers aren’t doing a good job.

Liu recently took her opposition, 68-year-old Environment Minister PeterKent, to task when he told the House theConservative government was “alreadyon top of the [greenhouse gas] situation.”

Demanding immediate action, Liucame right back, calling the government“out-of-touch,” and arguing they haveproduced no concrete plan to deal withthe impacts of climate change.

And she’s right. The government hashad five different ministers in the past fiveyears on their pathetic environment port-folio, and Harper’s Conservatives aren’texactly known to root for the green cause.

Finally, and perhaps most fittingly,this ‘us’ versus ‘them’ model speaks to thebreakaway demonstration Occupy WallStreet—a movement that has unexpect-edly launched an international dialoguewith over 900 demonstrations worldwidethis past weekend.

Granted, the crowd is as diverse as thecauses that fly under its banner, but theoccupiers are overwhelmingly twenty-and thirty-somethings who understandthat the status quo of class warfare beingwaged by those in power, coupled with acorporatized chokehold on future oppor-tunity is very, very real.

The 99 per cent versus one per centnarrative has permeated the politics andtalking points of this event, and the reac-tion from the one per cent has been, forthe most part, unsurprising—they don’twant to give up their power.

“We have to be careful not to allow thisto get any legitimacy,” stressed U.S. Con-

gressman Peter King, who was quoted inthe Huffington Post Canada.

“I’m old enough to remember whathappened in the 1960s when the left-wingtook to the streets and the media glorifiedthem, and it ended up shaping policy. Wecan’t allow that to happen.”

Yet, in all cases, the changes the stu-dents, young politicians and occupiersenvision are not so radical as the rulingminority would have you believe.

In fact, the demands are pretty damnbasic and pretty damn fair. So what’s withthe knee-jerk reaction against youth en-gagement—full of optimism, vim andvigor against all odds, cynicism, contemptand institutional oppression?

The voices of youth are shaking up theboardroom, Parliament and the wholeworld order, offering another, necessaryperspective from a generation who has adifferent vision for the unsustainable“business as usual” world that is on a dan-gerous trajectory.

It’s time that ‘they’ start listening. Those who invest in serving real

democracy don’t have to be lawyers, fin-anciers or CEOs, it’s not something only‘certain’ people can do. Young people are,indeed, leaders. And our very future de-pends on acknowledging it.

—Laura BeestonEditor-in-Chief

editorial cartoon

GRAPHIC ERIC BENT

CorrectionsIn Vol. 32, Issue 7 of The Link, Abbas Chazi was incorrectly re-

ferred to as Abbas Kezouch in the article “Unhealthy Habs Ses-sion.” The Link regrets the error.