3
Frank Appleyard
Letters
Rationale for an appeal pretending?
We do not seek to be given the
MEMBERS OF THE slate, candidates, positions we campaigned for this
and students, election. We merely suggested such a
Our recent appeal has become harsh sentence which has precedent
quite the topic of conversation. We at the University of British Columbia
have heard from people offering and at Carleton University. We have
praise and condemnation. We can suggested a punishment, but we also
deal with both these groups of impos- understand where our role as duti-
tors just the same. What worries us ful members of the SFUO ends and
most are the students who have not where the role of the Student Arbi-
heard all the facts, who wonder what tration Committee begins. Let there
is happening and why. be no mistake; our only demand is
Our appeal is not a political ma- justice.
noeuvre or a coup. Our appeal is, as I will answer those that wonder
the name aptly says, a plea. What do why we even care, saying ‘The elec-
we plead for? We plead because ar- tions are over; why not wait until next
ticle 4.11.1 of the Student Federation year?’ Who would want a leader who
of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) would have complacently watched this
constitution gives every member unravel and said “Justice can wait a
of the SFUO the right to contest an year”? The answer is plain enough: a
election. We plead that the constitu- candidate who would rather be popu-
tion be honoured and promoted. We lar than protect the constitution, or
plead for justice so that those who who would rather speak about issues
will speak in our stead and decide in than solve them, is not a candidate
our names will not have but empty worth having.
words when they invoke justice, hon- This case is simple. There is a single
esty, and integrity. We plead that the rule about campaigning in the SFUO
students of the SFUO be entitled to a Constitution. Article 4.7.1 stipulates
representative body that was elected that no candidates may form a slate.
through merit and hard work, not de- Seamus Wolfe, Roxanne Dubois, Julie
ceit and manipulation. Séguin, and Jean Guillaume formed
There may be some that would a slate, deceived the electorate, and
like to think that all politics are dirty. trampled the Constitution. We will
There are those who think that one demonstrate this to the Student Ar-
group is no better than another; I bitration Committee. We will present
speak not to them. There will always material proof, proof of irregularities
be those that would rather mock the and testimonies from all across the
efforts of others than to do something student population. We will do so
themselves. Our appeal is to those even if it makes us unpopular; even if
who care enough to consider this some label us opportunists, we do so
simple question: are we just or just because no person of integrity would
Contents
News SFUO election results
contested
Three candidates file appeal with the SAC. p. 4
Amanda Shendruk investigates the
definitions of academic freedom. p. 5
p. 4
Arts Coach’s Porn-er
Peter Henderson discovers
hockey erotica. p. 10
Megan O’Meara talks to singer
Lucie Idlout. p. 11
p. 10
Coming up big
Sports
Women’s basketball nets first playoff win
since 2005. p. 18
Local BMX bikers screening film
p. 18 to stop the hate. p. 19
Feature Insert coin
Is the era of the arcade over? p. 14–15
You know you’ve thought about it, but is sex
in space even possible? Di explains. p. 26
p. 14
Feb. 26–March 4, 2009
do otherwise. And regardless of the
outcome we will submit ourselves to
the judgment of the Student Arbitra-
tion Committee.
Renaud-Philippe Garner
Third-year philosophy student
(On behalf of the plaintiffs)
Where is Mother Teresa
when you need her?
IT IS WITH great disappointment
that I witnessed the results of the ref-
erendum on the Millennium Village
Project. Yes garnered 35 per cent of
the vote while No won with 65 per
cent. This shows that the majority of
the voting population of our univer-
sity has decided that spending $6 per
year on the Millennium Village proj-
ect was not a worthy cause or one that
was too much for them to handle. This
is incredible! While admitting that
some students are hard-pressed finan-
cially, turning down an investment at
the cost of about two Starbuck’s Café
Americanos a year by U of O students
in order to improve the lives of fami-
lies ever so slightly in an impoverished
continent such as Africa is insanity, es-
pecially if we look at the real numbers.
Nineteen-thousand children die daily
from easily curable diseases. Eighty
per cent of children under the age of
15 who suffer from HIV are living in
Africa. Seventeen per cent of Africa’s
labour force is estimated to be made
up of children. Twenty-one per cent
of Kenya’s children are not attending
school. One hundred-thirty thousand
children are estimated to be living on
Nairobi’s streets. Two-hundred thou-
sand children are orphans in Rwanda.
The Millennium goals are very ba-
sic and practical: to eradicate extreme
hunger and poverty, to achieve univer-
sal primary education, and to reduce
child mortality. These should not be
lofty goals for modern civilization,
yet in a world such as ours, where 80
per cent of the global resources are
consumed by 20 per cent of us (North
America, Europe, and other developed
countries) with our “what’s in it for
me?” attitude, these goals are colossal
indeed. This is not a good example of a
victory for the human spirit.
We have all heard about the so-
called analyses or excuses from the
vocal opposition to the referendum,
such as “the UN and the World Bank
and other such institutions are cor-
rupt and bureaucratic”. I can only
hope these same individuals have
found other organizations (Oxfam,
Business Department
The Fulcrum, the University of Ottawa’s inde-
pendent English-language student newpaper,
is published by the Fulcrum Publishing Society
(FPS) Inc., a not-for-profit corporation whose
members consist of all University of Ottawa
students. The Board of Directors (BOD) of the
FPS governs all administrative and business
actions of the Fulcrum and consists of the fol-
lowing individuals: Ross Prusakowski (Presi-
dent), Andrea Khanjin (Vice-President), Tyler
Meredith (Chair), Peter Raaymakers, Nick Tay-
lor-Vaisey, Toby Climie, Scott Bedard, Andrew
Wing, and William Stephenson.
To contact the Fulcrum’s BOD,
contact Ross Prusakowski at (613) 562-5261.
Editor-in-Chief
editor@thefulcrum.ca
KEVA, Doctors without Borders) they
consider worthy to provide support
in order to make a difference. Yet, I do
not believe this is the case. These indi-
viduals are probably out disparaging
other goodwill organizations in order
to rationalize their behaviour while
they powder their cappuccinos.
Jeffrey Wong
Second-year linguistics student
A word from the Senate
AS YOUR STUDENT representatives
on the U of O Senate, we want to work
with you and we are committed to
listening to your concerns. In light of
recent concerns raised by students in
the forum of the Senate, we are taking
steps to better collaborate with you be-
fore these issues need to be escalated to
the Senate table. As student senators,
we understand that it is important that
students have the opportunity to ex-
press their concerns, advocate for their
rights, and promote accountability
and transparency on campus. We be-
lieve in these goals and are committed
to promoting them.
The Senate is the highest academic
decision-making body on campus. In
this forum student senators have the
ability to propose motions on academ-
ic policy, make amendments, and raise
the concerns of students on academic
issues. Student senators sit on a variety
of Senate committees, faculty councils,
and collaborate with student govern-
ments on campus. This year we have
consulted with students on campus on
issues of concern and upcoming Sen-
ate agendas will contain some motions
resulting from these consultations.
Recently, we have been consulted on a
motion for photography during Senate
meetings, for which we believe a fair
and progressive policy has been put
forward which acknowledges student
concerns and encourages a spirit of
openness. We will continue to lobby
the Senate to support this motion.
We are working to make ourselves
more accessible to you by creating a
Web page and publishing contact in-
formation so that you can contact us
as concerns arise. We want to open a
dialogue among the student body on
academic topics that are a fundamen-
tal concern for the Senate. For the time
being, please visit the members listing
of the Senate to contact your student
senator: web5.uottawa.ca/admingov/
senate-members.html.
We look forward to the discussion.
Student senators
Advertising Department
Deidre Butters, Advertising Representative
phone: (613) 880-6494
fax: (613) 562-5259
e-mail: ads@thefulcrum.ca
Check out our rate card online.
Go to www.thefulcrum.ca and
follow the link for “Advertisers”.
Multi-market advertisers:
Campus Plus: (800)265-5372
Campus Plus offers one-stop shopping for over
90 Canadian student
newspapers.
The Fulcrum is a proud member of
Canadian University Press:
www.cup.ca
Eric Datars, School of Management
Allison Enright, Faculty of Science
Jean-François Gauthier,
Faculty of Engineering
Samantha Green,
Faculty of Social Sciences
Shamin Mohamed Jr,
Faculty of Health Sciences
Matthew Mount, Faculty of
Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
Joseph Wesley Richards II,
Faculty of Law
Student clubs not for ALL students?
THE BEGINNING OF each new se-
mester brings another Clubs Week,
arranged by the SFUO for student
organizations on campus to let other
students know the purpose of each
club and the benefits of joining and
participating in clubs. And with the
bringing of each Clubs Week, so
comes another struggle for our club
to be recognized by the SFUO.
Each year, the University of Ottawa
Campus Conservatives (UOCC) have
to chase the SFUO clubs coordinator for
information about Clubs Week—infor-
mation which is readily distributed to
most clubs on campus. This past month,
the UOCC was never notified of Clubs
Week by the clubs coordinator, while
the U of O New Democratic Club was
notified well in advance of this event.
Katlyn Harrison
Third-year communications student
Read the rest of this letter at
thefulcrum.ca/letters
thefulcrum.ca poll
Last week’s results
Have you attended a Gee-
Gees game this year?
Yes:
No:
Last week’s results
How are you spending
Reading Week?
Going on a trip:
19%
Visiting family: 19%
Studying in Ottawa: 61%
Got something to say?
Send your letters to
editor@thefulcrum.ca
Letters deadline: Sunday, 1 p.m.
Letters must be under 400 words unless
discussed with the editor-in-chief.
Drop off letters at 631 King Edward Ave. or
email
editor@thefulcrum.ca.
Letters must include your name, telephone
number, year, and program of study. Pseud-
onyms may be used after consultation with the
editor-in-chief. We correct spelling and gram-
mar to some extent. The Fulcrum will exercise
discretion in printing letters that are deemed
racist, homophobic, or sexist.
We will not even consider hate literature or
libellous material. The editor-in-chief reserves
the authority on everything printed herein.

News
Elections
under fire
SFUO vote appealed
amid allegations
that candidates
formed a slate
by Frank Appleyard
Fulcrum Staff
CONTROVERSY HAS ERUPTED on
campus over the hotly contested 2009–
10 Student Federation of the Univer-
sity of Ottawa (SFUO) executive elec-
tions. Only days after the results were
released on Feb. 12, several candidates
filed an appeal over the outcome with
the SFUO’s Student Arbitration Com-
mittee (SAC) on Feb. 17.
Presidential runner-up Renaud-
Philippe Garner, vp finance candidate
Maureen Hasinoff, and vp social can-
didate Alexandre Chaput are chal-
lenging the election results, alleging
that four of the winning candidates in
the Feb. 10–12 elections were guilty
of running together as a slate. The ap-
peal—the details of which had yet to
be made public by press time—specif-
ically targets Seamus Wolfe, Roxanne
Dubois, Jean Guillaume, and Julie Sé-
guin, all of whom were elected to next
year’s executive.
Section 4.7 of the SFUO by-laws
expressly outlaws slates, ruling that
“no candidate for a position on the
executive … may form a slate with
one or more other candidates run-
ning for positions on the executive.
To that effect, no candidate may: a.
spend money together with one or
more other candidates; or b. partici-
pate in any way in the campaign of
one or more other candidates.”
Garner expressed the complain-
ants’ shared belief that the accused
candidates broke this rule during the
10-day campaign.
“The constitution was breached
by at least four candidates in the
election,” the third-year philosophy
student said. “We have evidence. We
have testimonies. We have material
proof linking their actions.”
The Fulcrum has learned that the
accusations levied in the appeal are
seemingly not without merit. A for-
mer SFUO employee close to the
candidates speaking on condition of
anonymity corroborated claims that
Wolfe and the other candidates acted
inappropriately during the campaign.
“They had meetings in November,
talking to prospective candidates,” the
source said, alleging that Wolfe hand-
picked candidates to run alongside
him. “They had meetings all the time
to encourage each other. They would
campaign together. They shared re-
Presidential candidate Renaud-Philippe Garner is leading a trio of candidates
who are appealing the election results of four SFUO executive positions.
sources, volunteers, and equipment.”
Roxanne Dubois denied the allega-
tions that she ran as part of a slate.
“I have worked this campaign
on a total individual basis and have
produced all of my materials on my
own, and have built a team to run the
campaign that I ran during the elec-
tions,” she said, noting that she could
not elaborate further as she had yet
to receive specific information on the
appeal from the SAC.
Séguin also denied the claims.
“I think the accusations are near to
ridiculous,” she said. “I ran my own
campaign with my own money, my
own resources, my own volunteers ...
People have been completely lying to
the three appellants. They’re not get-
ting accurate information. I’m really
curious to see what else they’re going
to come up with.”
Calls to Wolfe were not immedi-
ately returned.
Dubois felt that the appeal is un-
fortunate as it undermines the wishes
of the students who cast ballots in the
Feb. 10–12 elections.
“For me, this is really disappoint-
ing in the sense that the three people
who didn’t win the election are the
ones filing the appeal,” she said. “I’m
really disappointed that we would
question the judgment of so many
students [who] voted, in the election
that we had the highest turnout in so
long.”
However, Garner defended the
spirit of the appeal, indicating that the
protest is more than a simple attempt
to secure the positions that the three
complainants lost in the elections.
“People can cast a cynical view on
anything, and frankly I don’t care. The
truth is we’re doing it because it’s what
any decent person of integrity would
do,” said the two-time presidential
candidate. “If an injustice was com-
mitted, it has to be righted. It’s that
Feb. 26–March 4, 2009
photo by Frank Appleyard
simple. We’re simply demanding that
those who broke the constitution and
who swore to defend it be disquali-
fied. It’s the only just sentence.”
Garner did not understate the signif-
icance of the impending SAC decision.
“If this is not a slate, there will nev-
er be proof of a slate unless someone
gets up and says ‘we defrauded the
voters’. This is as close as we will ever
get to a smoking gun,” he said. “This is
a slate. The fact is that they cheated—
and we can prove it.”
The permissibility of slates is mixed
in student union elections across the
country. The Carleton Undergradu-
ate Student Association elections are
routinely composed of slates of can-
didates, and the U of O’s own Gradu-
ate Students’ Association saw a slate
of candidates in last year’s election.
However, the University of British
Columbia’s Alma Mater Society saw
its president-elect disqualified earlier
this month for participating in a slate.
SFUO President Dean Haldenby was
unsure as to the origin or intent of the
by-law banning slates in the U of O’s
undergraduate elections.
“I don’t particularly know. Unfor-
tunately there’s no dialogue as to why
[it was put in place],” he said. “As with
any part of our organization’s frame-
work, it can always be reviewed, but
this specifically hasn’t been reviewed
or changed for a long period of time.
It’s been in there since I’ve been here
at the university.”
Regardless of the origins of the by-
law, Garner was convinced that the
SAC hearing will prove the accused
candidates violated the rule.
“We’re going to win,” he said.
According to Chief Arbitrator Car-
oline Poisson, the SAC will hear the
case on March 6. Poisson expects the
SAC to submit a decision and official
response by March 20.
—with files from Emma Godmere
Emma Godmere
News Editor
news@thefulcrum.ca
U of O bans pro-Palestinian
group’s posters
Administration calls
Israeli Apartheid
Week posters
‘confrontational’
by Emma Godmere
Fulcrum Staff
JUST OVER A week after Carleton
University administrators banned a
poster advertising Israeli Apartheid
Week, the University of Ottawa’s
communications office decided to
prohibit the same poster, citing its
“confrontational” nature as the reason
for banning it.
The Solidarity for Palestinian Hu-
man Rights (SPHR) group’s posters
were originally approved by the office
on Feb. 13. U of O director of commu-
nications Andrée Dumulon indicated
that when the office’s staff returned to
business on Feb. 17, however, the de-
cision was overturned.
“That’s when ... I was informed of
this poster, and I was told that this
had been approved, and unfortunate-
ly it should not have been,” she said.
The poster depicts a cartoon of an
Israeli helicopter firing a missile at a
small child, whose shadow spells the
word “Gaza”.
Dumulon indicated that the im-
age on the poster conflicts with sec-
tion five of the university’s commu-
nication office’s posting regulations,
which states that “posters with words
or images that incite violence or con-
frontations will be denied posting
privileges.”
SPHR external relations officer
Mahmoud Hmouz disagreed with the
reasoning behind the university’s de-
cision.
“I think that the posters are not
4
showing anything that should not be
shown,” he said. “I think that we have
the right [to] freedom of expression
and freedom of speech. We are not
fabricating anything, we are not mak-
ing anything up, we are just showing
something that actually happened
and we’re not even using real imagery,
which would probably be way more
disturbing.”
Laura Grosman, vp advocacy
for Hillel Ottawa’s Israel Awareness
Committee (IAC), expressed support
for the university’s decision.
“We commend the university for
recognizing that posters such as this
only lead to threats, harassment, and
intimidation on campus,” she said
in an email. “The posters being dis-
cussed do absolutely nothing to pro-
mote any real dialogue on the Middle
East; all this serves to do is to help
foster a toxic and intolerant environ-
ment on campus.”
Hmouz indicated that the univer-
sity’s actions are potentially creating a
more heated debate.
“I think that by them banning our
poster, we’re going to get way more
support and we’re going to get more
reactions out of people,” he said.
“People are going to come out even
more angry and people are going to
come out in [greater] support [of]
us, because this is not just an attack
on us, it’s an attack on freedom of
speech.”
Grosman emphasized that the IAC
supports free speech, but reiterated
the importance of a secure campus.
“While we do not support the re-
traction of free speech, we believe
that the first and foremost item of im-
portance on any university campus is
the right of every student to feel safe
and secure,” she said.
POSTERS contined on p. 9
Breaching boundaries: Defining academic freedom

by Amanda Shendruk What is academic freedom? ing and publishing the results thereof, fessor Claude Lamontagne, providing
Fulcrum Staff freedom to express freely their opin- his own perspective on the definition.
A 1997 UNESCO document entitled ion about the institution or system Lamontagne is an active supporter of
Recommendation Concerning the in which they work, freedom from suspended physics professor Denis

I
N THE FIFTH century B.C. Socrates was sentenced to death
for corrupting the youth of Athens with his philosophy, and
in the 17th century Galileo was threatened with torture for
attempting to prove that the Earth circled the sun. In today’s lan-
guage, we would say that these profound thinkers were denied
their freedom of intellectual pursuit. Centuries have passed since
the scholarly struggles of these men; however, the fight for aca-
demic rights is still far from ancient history.
Status of Higher-Education Teach-
ing Personnel offers one of the most
complete definitions of academic
freedom: “higher-education teaching
personnel are entitled to the main-
taining of academic freedom, that is
to say, the right, without constriction
by prescribed doctrine, to freedom of
teaching and discussion, freedom in
carrying out research and disseminat-
institutional censorship and freedom
to participate in professional or repre-
sentative academic bodies.”
“Academic freedom is this princi-
ple that guarantees that there’s at least
one place in society that will not start
doing things for the interests of some
group of people who are seeking more
money or seeking more power,” said
University of Ottawa psychology pro-
Rancourt, whose dismissal from his
position at the U of O over a dispute
about academic freedom is currently
pending.
James Turk, executive director of
the Canadian Association of Univer-
sity Teachers (CAUT), explained the
essence of academic freedom simi-
larly.
FREEDOM continued on p. 7

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www.thefulcrum.ca // 02.26.09 // NEWS // 5
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FREEDOM continued from p. 5
Academic freedom allows professors to “be guid-
ed by their search for truth, without looking over
Staying safe in
can’t,” he said. “But within [the law] you can go
as far as you want.”
Tenure: the guardian of academic freedom?

their shoulders at whether the Board of Gover-
nors is going to like it, or whether the prime min-
ister is going to like it, or whether some wealthy
donor is going to like it, or whether a religious
organization is going to like it,” he said.
Joel Westheimer, U of O professor and re-
search chair in the Faculty of Education, has
had his own experiences with disputes concern-
ing academic freedom. In 2000, he was denied
tenure at New York University for speaking out
in favour of unionizing graduate students.
Westheimer believes that academic freedom
is a concept many don’t fully understand.
“Unfortunately those two simple words are
used to cover an enormous range of ideas, and
that’s problematic,” he said.
Turk also sees this lack of understanding as
a problem.
“There is a really important difference be-
tween academic freedom and freedom of
speech,” explained Turk. “Freedom of speech is
a general right that all Canadians have [and] ac-
ademic freedom is a specific right, not a general
right … It’s a right that academics have because
it’s necessary for them to fulfill their duties.”
How far is too far?
The boundaries of academic freedom are not press unfavourable research,” said Turk.
clearly defined, and may be open to interpreta-
tion.
“There are some aspects of academic free-
dom that are crystal clear,
“It does more damage
and there are some that
fall into a grey area,” ex-
plained Westheimer. to a university
environment to
It is within this blurry
area that professors and
administrators must de-
cide the limits of academ-
preclude a speech on
Sandy Hill
“Tenure is very important because tenure is the
best protection of academic freedom,” explained
Turk, but he was quick to note that tenure doesn’t
mean a job for life. “It’s only that the university
can then dismiss [professors] only for just cause
and only through a fair process.”
The collective agreement of the Associa-
tion of Professors at the University of Ottawa
(APUO) states “tenure means permanency of
appointment until voluntary resignation, re-
tirement, or death, or until termination [with
just cause].”
Disagreeing with the dean or being critical
of the university are not just cause, said Turk.
Actions such as never going to class, abusing
students, or refusing to mark papers would be
considered conditions for termination. photo by Martha Pearce
on how to avoid becoming a victim.
Threatened from all sides Alleged sexual-assault “Have a planned route, walk in public ar-
eas, have a start and end time, and make sure
There are many threats to academic freedom.
cases remind students someone else knows where you’re going,”
McGetrick advised. “Walk in pairs: that’s what
Many corporations are not averse to stifling un- to be aware we always recommend, especially in the late
favourable research, and university donors have
by Megan O’Meara hours in more secluded areas.”
also been known to quiet criticism or uncompli-
Fulcrum Staff While these tips can lower the risks of ran-
mentary findings.
“There are dozens and dozens and dozens of dom attacks outdoors, staying safe in your
SANDY HILL, THE neighbourhood east of home is also important. Nathalie Jacob, coor-
examples of commercial interests trying to sup-
the University of Ottawa campus in which dinator of prevention programs and student
hundreds of students take up residence, has liaison for the U of O’s Protection Services,
Even university administrations have been
seen its share of criminal activity, often involv- provided recommendations for students on
known to stifle outspoken views.
ing theft, drugs, and sometimes assault. One how to stay secure inside your home.
“They don’t like having those critics around,”
recent incident involving alleged cases of ran- “Although Sandy Hill is out of our jurisdic-
said Turk.
dom sexual assaults—occurring as close to the tion, a large number of our students live there
For Westheimer, how-
U of O as Somerset Street East—serves as an and we would like to know that they are safe,”
ever, there is a more se-
rious threat to academic
important wake-up call for the student com-
munity.
Jacob explained via email. “Ensure your doors
and windows accessible from the ground are
freedom.
Eric Joseph Berard, 38, was charged on Jan. locked and secured; close your curtains, es-
“The single biggest
21 with committing crimes of mischief, an in- pecially for rooms accessible from the ground
threat to academic free-
dom is the move towards
decent act, trespassing at night, and voyeur- and fire escape; [and] if you see any suspicious

a certain topic,
ism resulting from two separate incidents on activity or people around your apartment or
ic freedom. part-time or adjunct
the same day. At press time, the investigation house, contact the Ottawa Police immediately
“Part of a professor’s faculty,” he said. Part-
role is to challenge cur- in general, than to time faculty have fewer
was still ongoing. Since the charges have not
yet been proven in court, Ottawa Police Ser-
at 613-230-6211.”
Protection encourages students to use the
allow it.”
rent dominant thinking professional rights and
geant John McGetrick was unable to elaborate Student Federation of the University of Ot-
about certain issues,” said are less expensive for the
on the case’s details, but offered advice on tawa’s Foot Patrol services when walking at
Westheimer. “It’s very im- Joel Westheimer, university to employ. how sexual assault-related incidents can be night. Students are walked home by one male
portant to err on the side “We have the slow
of including things in
U of O professor and research erosion of tenure,” he
prevented. volunteer and one female volunteer, who both
academic freedom rather chair in the Faculty of said, which he fears “The majority of sexual assaults [involve] wear yellow Foot Patrol vests. According to
people [who] are victimized by someone they their website, “a Foot Patrol team will ac-
than excluding them. It Education could lead to the sub- know, so a random attack is almost sensational company you to or from any location, on or
does more damage to a sequent erosion of aca-
[and] not as common,” he explained. “My big- off campus, within a 45-minute walking dis-
university environment demic freedom.
gest advice to university students … is to really tance”. The service is available from 5 p.m. to 2
to preclude a speech on a certain topic, in gen-
monitor your alcohol [consumption] as we get a.m. from Monday to Friday in the winter, and
eral, than to allow it.” Academic freedom at the U of O
a lot of situations where women report sexual from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. from Monday to Friday
For some professors, these boundaries are
assaults to us and they simply can’t remember in the spring and fall.
wider than others. Of the three academic freedom cases currently
[details].”
“It would be a misperception to feel that pro- being investigated by the CAUT, two involve the
While McGetrick indicated the risk of ran- For more information about Foot Patrol, visit
fessors can teach whatever they want,” said Wes- U of O. Independent committees of inquiry have
dom attack is low, he had several suggestions sfuo.ca/services/footpatrol/en.
theimer. been set up to examine Professor Rancourt’s sit-
“The university has an obligation to protect uation and the seizure of research from former
your right to search for the truth [but] it doesn’t U of O mental health researchers Anne Duffy,
have the right to protect any crank,” Turk ex- Paul Grof, and Martin Alda in 2005.
plained. “I can’t teach in a science course that “Is Rancourt the kind of interesting, unusual
the moon is made of green cheese. academic who challenges people … the kind of
“When something is clearly beyond the person that universities actually should have to
bounds of any credible argument, then we don’t make them lively places?” questioned Turk. “Or
defend it,” he continued. “But we define those is he someone who’s gone beyond the limits?”
boundaries pretty broadly.” It is the case of the seized records, however,
As far as boundary defining goes, Lamon- that Turk finds most troubling.
tagne’s might be the broadest. “[It’s] really worrisome, it appears to be one
“Academic freedom goes all the way to wher- of the most serious attacks on faculty we’ve seen
ever the laws of the country ... tell them that they in a long time.”

Staff meetings Thursdays at 2:30 p.m.

THE FULCRUM
Drop by 631 King Edward Ave.
and pick up a story.
www.thefulcrum.ca // 02.26.09 // NEWS // 7
Vote of confidence
The thing with freedom is...
Emma Godmere
News Editor
“FREEDOM” IS THE frontrunner for the University
of Ottawa campus’s buzzword of the year. Conflicts
and cases surrounding academic freedom, freedom of
assembly, and most recently freedom of speech have
garnered extensive attention on this campus over the
past several months and have often pushed the school
into the media spotlight. Oftentimes, the U of O has
been cast in the poorest of light for the administra-
tion’s decisions concerning these various breaches of
freedom.
The latest issue that the administration is facing in-
volves Israeli Apartheid Week posters submitted by the
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) cam-
pus group. The posters, which were banned at Carleton
University over a week ago, aim to promote a series of
lectures and public events that will occur on campuses
in over 40 cities around the world. The U of O’s com-
munications office originally approved the posters on
Feb. 13, but then retracted its decision after reconsid-
eration found that the “confrontational” nature of the
posters was inconsistent with the office’s cross-campus
posting policy.
At first sight, the poster’s image is undoubtedly in-
flammatory. I will not feign knowledge of the intricacies
of this conflict, and in that respect, I cannot comment on
whether or not the poster represents the partial truth or
the whole truth concerning the recent events that have
occurred in the 2008–09 Israel-Gaza conflict. I do, how-
ever, understand the university’s hesitancy in approving
it. The dispute is in no way confined to its physical lo-
volunteer@thefulcrum.ca
8 \\ NEWS \\ 02.26.09 \\ www.thefulcrum.ca
cation—countless people around the world have strong
feelings about this situation, including many in our own
campus community. Unfortunately, due to the sheer na-
ture of the conflict, no matter what it decides, the admin-
istration will be stuck in a catch-22: whether it allows or
bans the poster, the U of O will be ruffling feathers.
SPHR spokesperson Mahmoud Hmouz noted that
by banning the posters, the university is indirectly cre-
ating an even larger group of concerned community
members who are showing their support not just for
Israeli Apartheid Week, but also for free speech. Laura
Grosman, vp advocacy for Hillel Ottawa’s Israel Aware-
ness Committee pointed out that by allowing the post-
ers on campus, the university is fostering a less secure
environment as many students could feel threatened by
the poster’s content.
In the Fulcrum article about academic freedom on
page 7, U of O education professor Joel Westheimer
stated, “It’s very important to err on the side of includ-
ing things in academic freedom rather than excluding
them. It does more damage to a university environment
to preclude a speech on a certain topic, in general, than
to allow it.” Even though academic freedom does not
include students’ freedom or general freedom of ex-
pression on a campus, Westheimer’s perspective still of-
fers food for thought. The university may appear to be
stifling free speech by banning the poster; however, the
university is not banning Israeli Apartheid Week out-
right. And the discussion surrounding free speech and
even the promotion of the week-long event seems to be
happening regardless.
University campuses need to be safe spaces, but
spaces where diverse ideas can be presented to provoke
respectful and thoughtful discussion. Within that dis-
cussion, there should be ample opportunity for others
to respond, express their dissent, and offer alternative
information.
Feb. 23–28 is Israel: A Partner Week on both the Car-
leton and U of O campuses, and March 1–8 is Israel
Apartheid Week, also on both campuses. Take the op-
portunities to attend events, discuss, and learn more.
news@thefulcrum.ca
613-562-5260
News in brief
Concordia Student Union
sues own member
MONTREAL (CUP) – THE CON-
CORDIA STUDENT Union (CSU) has
launched a $125,000 defamation lawsuit
against undergraduate student Patrice
Blais.
Blais, who held various posts within
the CSU between 1997 and 2002 and is
currently practicing law, saw his recent
recall petition against the current execu-
tive thrown out and has spoken against
the CSU executive openly on many occa-
sions. He has since taken the recall peti-
tion to Quebec Superior Court.
According to Elie Chivi, the CSU’s
vp communications, Blais has caused
the student union’s legal fees to build
up while accusing the union of wasting
money.
The statement of claim calls Blais’ al-
legations “baseless, untrue, and mali-
cious.”
Blais says that the CSU’s accusations
are false, calling the lawsuit an “anti-
humiliation tactic” and claiming that it
shows the “lack of respect individuals
have for dissent to their own regime”.
Both parties must meet before the
court on March 16.
—Terrine Friday, The Link
York to raise $5 million for student
aid; government allows OSAP
payment extensions
TORONTO (CUP) – IN AN ATTEMPT
to right the financial wrongs burdening
students in light of the recent class-halt-
ing strike at York University, the admin-
istration and the Ontario government
are opening their wallets.
The university is attempting to raise
$5 million to help relieve some of the
financial burden students are facing.
Money will be distributed on a case-by-
case basis to students most affected by
the strike.
The Ministry of Colleges, Training, and
Universities also announced that the On-
tario Student Assistance Program would
be extended for students who rely on it
for funding. Payments will be extended
through to June 2 and will total $6 million.
This will affect 13,000 York students.
An additional 5,300 students will be
eligible for the Ontario Student Oppor-
tunity Grant, which doesn’t need to be
repaid.
—Scott McLean, Excalibur
Israel, Palestine supporters
clash at York
TORONTO (CUP) – ON FEB. 12,
pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian student
groups held simultaneous protests with
only a wall of campus security guards
separating both sides.
Students in solidarity with the Pal-
estinians stood together to contribute
to what they call a global movement
that asks international governments
to support a boycott, divestment, and
sanctions campaign against Israel in
light of Israel’s December 2008 mili-
tary campaign against Hamas in the
Gaza strip.
Students Against Israeli Apartheid
(SAIA) member Hala Farah said the
pro-Palestinian demonstrators are ask-
ing York University President Mamdouh
Shoukri to release a statement condemn-
ing Israel’s bombing of educational insti-
tutions in Gaza.
Jewish student groups at York Uni-
versity, including Hillel and Hasbara
Fellowships, organized a counter-dem-
onstration in response to the pro-Pales-
tinian rally held by SAIA.
Aaron Rosenberg, co-president of
Hasbara Fellowships at York, said Pal-
estinian supporters are spreading fear
among Jewish students at York Universi-
ty, as many have complained of increases
in anti-Semitism at York University in
recent weeks.
Police were not called and there were
no arrests made.
—Denoja Kankesan, Excalibur
 POSTERS continued from p. 4

“We fully support each person’s en-

The Fulcrum’s famous... titlement to their beliefs and rights,
and we hope that each student on
Friday afternoon journalism workshops campus will now feel as though
there is a safe and secure academic
environment to discuss the issues at
hand.”
Feb. 26 - Interviewing The Student Federation of the
March 6 - News reporting University of Ottawa (SFUO) has ap-
proved the SPHR group’s posters, and
currently have them displayed under
their supervision in the Unicentre.
All workshops take place at 631 King Edward Ave. at SFUO President Dean Haldenby
1 p.m. No registration required. All are welcome! explained that the SFUO contacted
their legal services and the Ontario
Human Rights Commission in an ef-
fort to back up their decision.
“Carleton University and the U of
O have put out statements, but we
wanted to bring more clarity to the
issue in order to ensure that we are
complying with the Ontario Human
Rights Commission legislation and
the Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms,” he said. “We’re asking the
University of Ottawa for explicit and
tangible reasoning based on legisla-
tion and precedent that would in-
form recent decisions and bring bet-

money back ter understanding to the issue.

“The SFUO actively promotes eq-
uity and human rights in order to

fast
ensure a healthy campus communi-
ty,” he continued. “We want to make
sure that we don’t infringe on other
fundamental rights such as freedom
of speech.”
While a new set of SPHR post-
ers with a different image and more
information about Israeli Apartheid
Week events have been approved by
the university and will be displayed
across campus, Hmouz reinforced
the group’s desire to hear the univer-
sity provide a better explanation for
their decision.
“What we’re looking for is [an]
explanation, a solid explanation why
they refused to put up that poster,”
he said. “I don’t think we broke any
policy.”
SPHR is planning a rally to chal-
lenge both the U of O and Carleton
university administrations for expla-
nations behind their decisions on
Feb. 26.

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www.thefulcrum.ca // 02.26.09 // NEWS // 9

 10
Peter Henderson

Arts & Culture Feb. 26–March 4, 2009

Arts & Culture Editor
arts@thefulcrum.ca

Behind the jockstrap

Five Hole: Tales of
Hockey Erotica
explores the sexy side of
our national game
by Peter Henderson
Fulcrum Staff

DAVE BIDINI IS a man who knows his hockey.

As the author of three books and a hockey blog,
and the writer and host of the Gemini Award-
winning documentary I Am a Hockey Nomad,
Bidini has explored almost every facet of Can-
ada’s national pastime. His play Five Hole: Tales
of Hockey Erotica, adapted from his 2006 short
story collection The Five Hole Stories, premieres
in collaboration with the One Yellow Rabbit
Theatre Company at the Centrepointe Theatre
on Feb. 27.
In Five Hole, Bidini examines the underbelly
of the game of hockey and our complicated re-
lationship with our official winter sport. There
are five stories in the play, involving an NHL
goalie who doesn’t know what team he plays
for, a minor-league player who falls in love with
his team’s lone female player, and a woman who
hates that she comes second in her husband’s
mind behind hockey.
“I would never do anything involving the
game if it wasn’t coming from a bent arc, outside
the curve,” says Bidini. “There’s so much tradi-
tionally minded hockey literature. I thought that
[the play] was a way of contributing to our un-
derstanding and approach to the sport as art.”
One story in Five Hole examines an issue
seldom discussed in mainstream hockey cover-
age—the relationship between a player’s genitals
and their productivity.
“[The story] is kind of a loosely based Bob-
by Hull character who finds himself in a scor-
ing slump,” Bidini explains. “[His solution] is
loosely based on an [AHL owner] Eddie Shore
anecdote that I heard. Eddie Shore actually con- photo courtesy Tracey Howe
cocted a lotion that he instructed his players to disparate ideas matched together. Bidini didn’t talking about it that it should have a musical, cross-pollination. It’s actually kind of cool, be-
rub on their balls when they were having a hard set out to combine the two; rather, hockey erot- rock ‘n’ roll element—marrying the two worlds cause theatre’s the latest thing I’ve been inter-
time scoring [goals].” ica was an idea that evolved from a friend’s odd together, my two worlds.” ested in, but if you go down the line there’s film
Bidini’s approach to theatre is as unconven- request. Bidini’s artistic output has always been diverse. and television, and just really a lot of different
tional as his approach to writing about hockey. “My friend [Brenda Quinn] had an erotic He has written eight books, created documenta- ways to express one’s art. An actor’s life is really
The former rhythm guitarist of Canadian rockers reading series in 1992, and she invited a bunch ries for the CBC, and worked as a journalist cov- not that different from a rhythm guitarist’s life
the Rheostatics, Bidini wrote songs and inciden- of writers to write original erotica,” recalls ering both sports and music. Five Hole: Tales of or a poet’s life, in Canada anyways.”
tal music for the play. He and several other musi- Bidini. “I’d obviously never written any erotica Hockey Erotica is his first play, and he’s currently One thing that shines through in Five Hole
cians perform during the show, but he’s quick to before, and I was probably embarrassed by the working on a second, The Night of the Dogs. and, indeed, in much of Bidini’s work, is his love
point out that it’s not technically a musical. whole idea of it. To make it less embarrassing, I “I think it’s just sort of the folly of an artist’s for the game of hockey.
“It is a play, and the lines are drawn fairly thought I would write about hockey. It went re- curiosity, in a weird way,” says Bidini. “Touring “I just think that there [are] so many layers;
clearly about how the music is integrated,” he ally well, so I decided to do another one. People and being in a band for a long time [and being] there’s so many different colours to the prism.
explains. “Basically, there’s five vignettes in the were drawn to it because it was something that fairly successful, I was able to glean a certain It’s true—whenever I do a book or film about
play—five stories that are dramatized by the hadn’t really been explored before.” kind of confidence artistically from that. Also hockey, I always feel like it’s the last one, and
cast. At the end of every piece we perform a That original story evolved into an idea Bidini because of the band, a lot of different worlds then you hear a story, someone tells you a story,
song that in some cases evokes the narrative, but had for a collection of hockey erotica, and the opened up to me, whether it was film, or litera- or you read about a certain player, or you hear
in a couple of cases it’s a little less direct. idea to do it as a theatre piece came through his ture, or in this case, theatre. Once those paths about hockey in a certain country, and the sub-
“There’s incidental music throughout,” he previous interactions with Calgary’s One Yellow open up, you’d really be foolhardy to not try and ject matter is so tantalizing, rich, and usually
continues. “[The band] drops in every now and Rabbit. walk down them.” unmined. I think the sport is a great sport, and
then. There’s one scene that’s set in the 1940s, “The idea was actually [a member of One Yel- The diversity in Bidini’s artistic output is it deserves great art.”
so the band does a little jazz accompaniment. low Rabbit’s],” explains Bidini. “We had wanted something that he sees as necessary in Canada’s
You wouldn’t call it a musical, because the ac- to do a project with them for a long time. It art world. Five Hole: Tales of Hockey Erotica is at the Cen-
tors don’t sing—I suppose you would call it just was really offhandedly in a tavern one time, I “I think you have to be a little bit diverse in trepointe Theatre (101 Centrepoint Dr.) on Feb.
a play with music.” had said I was working on these erotic hockey Canada, as an artist,” he says. “Because it’s a 27. Tickets are $45 and $39, and are available at
Hockey and erotica are not commonly tied stories, and they said ‘That’s it, that’s what we’re small country, and the artistic community is centrepointetheatre.com. For more information,
together—in fact, it’s hard to think of two more going to do.’ I knew immediately when we were small, these opportunities exist. There’s a lot of visit oyr.org.
 Globetrotting jokester
Sugar Sammy
entertains around
the globe
by Peter Henderson
Fulcrum Staff
MONTREAL COMEDIAN SUGAR Sam-
my is a tourist everywhere he goes. Born
Sammy Khullar, the hardworking comedi-
an has been travelling the world for much
of the last two years, and he stopped by
Ottawa on Feb. 21 to publicize his debut
comedy album, Down With the Brown.
“The last couple years, I’ve been liv-
ing out of a suitcase,” he says. “It’s been
crazy, I’ve been travelling everywhere—
England, Dubai, Asia, Australia, South
Africa—it’s been a crazy travel schedule
the last two years.”
Khullar was the first comedian to per-
form at the English and French editions
of the Just For Laughs Festival in Mon-
treal as well as the Toronto edition of the
show. He also opened for Dave Chappelle
at Massey Hall for three nights in 2006,
which Khullar calls “a career highlight”.
What sets Khullar apart from many
other comedians is his versatility. Born
in Montreal into an Indian family, his
photo courtesy Sugar Sammy multicultural upbringing pushed him to
become fluent in four different languag-
es—English, French, Punjabi, and Hindi.
Khullar performs comedy in all four, and
relishes the challenge of juggling cultures
and languages in search of jokes.
“[Humour] is very language based,
and a punchline that will be funny in one
[language] won’t be funny in another,” he
explains. “Humour is based on cultural
experience, and different countries have
different cultural experiences. Those ref-
erence points change, so you have to ad-
just. Those are the challenges—finding
those adjustments.
“I like having the challenge,” Khullar
continues. “I like not having it easy all
the time. That’s great—I like when it’s not
easy, because it just makes you better.”
Khullar knew from a young age that he
was destined for show business. Always
the class clown and the centre of atten-
tion, he remembers the early experience
that set him on the path to stand-up when
he was eight years old.
“I saw Eddie Murphy Delirious for the
first time, and that was it—I knew it,” Kh-
ullar recalls. “Since then I’ve been chasing
it. I was always chasing that dream; I kept
doing open mics, performing everywhere
I could. When you chase something,
eventually things fall into place, and that’s
just what happened.”
road, Khullar has found that returning
to his hometown wasn’t as easy as he ex-
pected.
“Montreal is where I get my mail, but
that’s pretty much it,” he jokes. “I miss
it, though. I feel like I’m a tourist in my
own city. When I have a couple days I
drive around and I almost start tearing
up at how much I miss everything—my
friends, even just the downtown. I feel
like I’m visiting, and that’s not a good
thing. It’s good that I get to work, perform
my act for all these different audiences
and have them get to know me, but at the
same time I sometimes feel like I’ve lost
that home base.”
The late, great comedian Mitch Hed-
berg had a joke about how comedians are
always asked to write or act—he claimed
it was like saying to someone who had put
in years of chef training, “That’s great, but
can you farm?” Though Khullar embraces
working in other media, his first love will
always be stand-up comedy.
“I definitely want to go into acting,” he
says. “However, my ultimate goal is to have
a great career in comedy. I’m not going to
give up stand-up, I’m not doing this just
so I can walk on the red carpet and get in-
stant fame. I’m really doing this so that I
can build a career that I can look back on
in 20 or 30 years and say ‘Wow, I really had

Bringing swagger back to Ottawa

After spending so much time on the a good body of work out there.’”

by Megan O’Meara tawa, where she attended Ridgemont

Fulcrum Staff
SHE MIGHT NOT be what mayor
Larry O’Brien was expecting when
he called for Ottawa to become a city
“with swagger”, but Lucie Idlout is a
rising star who’s bringing her own take
on the idea to Ottawa. The rising Inuk
singer-songwriter and her band are
currently touring her recently released
second album, Swagger, and will be
bringing her culturally inspired music
to Zaphod Beeblebrox on Feb. 28.
In 2007, Idlout opened for the White
Stripes in Iqaluit, though she missed
out on meeting the famous Detroit
twosome.
“I’d met Meg [White] before,” says
Idlout. “[It was] during Jim Jarmusch’s
debut screening of [his film] Coffee and
Cigarettes, which was great. But when
we were in Iqaluit, the arena was full
of people, and there are a very limited
number of cabs in town. [We] packed
up and got the hell out of there before
the arena emptied.”
When she’s not touring, the Nu-
navut-born Inuk talent splits her time
between Iqaluit and Toronto. Idlout
grew up in Iqaluit but lived for a time
in several other cities, including Ot-
High School. Idlout claims to have ex-
perienced the best of both worlds, but
she always preferred the North.
“I was always happiest when I was in
the North,” she explains. “When I did
go to school down south, it wasn’t easy
to be an Inuk kid in a predominantly
white high school.”
Idlout’s mother instilled a love of
music in Lucie while she was growing
up. Despite singing and writing lyrics
since childhood, Idlout never consid-
ered music as a career until she actu-
ally began performing.
“There was a lot of music that was
played in the house, [but] music was
never a career goal of mine,” she says.
“I thought I was always going to be
involved in northern politics in some
way or another. It wasn’t until after photo courtesy Lucie Idlout
I had been on stage with a band for Lucie Idlout is getting a post-graduate education in the art of the love song.
the first time that it occurred to me of Swagger, E5-770 deals heavily with politically by the so-called custodians “I did explore [northern political
that this was something that felt really issues of Inuit identity and North- of Canada as a country as anything issues] at one point, but not so much
good and was something I could do.” ern politics. The number code in the other than a big fucking circus act,” she anymore,” she says. “I think mostly I’m
Swagger, released Feb. 10 on Sun title was assigned to her mother in the explains. “I wanted to write something just trying to learn the art of writing a
Rev Records, explores traditional rock 1940s, when the Canadian government that would reflect that.” good love song.”
themes of love and loss. It’s a lyrical de- decided to replace supposedly compli- Currently promoting her album
parture from her debut album, E5-770: cated Inuit names with numbers. on a national tour that will take her Lucie Idlout plays Zaphod Beeblebrox
My Mother’s Name, which was closer “It was that whole policy … that all the way to Edmonton on March (27 York St.) on Feb. 28. Tickets are
reflection of Idlout’s initial career aspi- really brought me to a place where I 7, Idlout is also working on songs for $10 from ticketweb.com or $12 at the
rations. As opposed to the love songs couldn’t think of what was happening her next album. door. 19+.

www.thefulcrum.ca // 02.26.09 // ARTS // 11

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by Ishmael N. Daro
The rise of feminist porn
The Sheaf
SASKATOON (CUP) – IN 1980, FAMOUS
feminist writer Robin Morgan wrote that “por-
nography is the theory; rape is the practice.”
But thanks to the work of pro-sex feminists, the
porn scene is starting to change.
Morgan’s sentiment summarized a common
feminist position on pornography. Many femi-
nists believe porn to be degrading to women be-
cause it encourages rape and violence as well as
the domination and humiliation of women. Al-
though not everyone agrees with this stance, it
wasn’t until recently that mainstream feminists
developed a renewed interest in pornography.
This is largely due to the expansion of the Inter-
net within the last decade, and a growing com-
munity of primarily independent filmmakers
has been making feminist porn as an alternative
to mainstream productions.
Although feminist porn may sound like an
oxymoron to some, it simply means women
have a part in the writing, production, or direc-
tion of a film. Feminist porn also aims to depict
genuine female pleasure and challenge the nor-
mal depictions of sexuality and stereotypes that
are found in a lot of mainstream porn.
“My brand of feminism is pro-healthy sexu-
ality and it’s all about consent,” explains Pam
Ashburn, 22, majoring in women’s and gender
studies at the University of Saskatchewan.
Ashburn says she first came across feminist
porn—and feminism itself—during high school.
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She had been more familiar with mainstream digging,” she says. “The quality that you’re go- 2006. They came about as a result of ongoing
porn, but since discovering an alternative, she ing to find in something that is positive—body conversations employees at the store were hav-
has a different outlook. positive, image positive, everything—is really ing about all the interesting porn that was being
“I don’t want to just see the same bodies,” she well worth it.” produced. In addition to improving the depic-
says. “You want queer bodies, you want trans- Ashburn insists feminist porn isn’t simply a tion of women, the awards also aim to showcase
gender bodies, you want breast cancer survi- quest for political correctness either. pornography that was not racist.
vors. That’s the kind of stuff you want to see.” “The terrains of sexuality are complex and “In way too much of the porn that I have seen,
There is wide- I want to queer ev- people of colour are really reduced to these body
spread frustration ery aspect. That is, I parts,” says Lee.
against mainstream
pornography for be- “I want to complicate want to complicate
what it means to be
Despite the old argument among feminists
about pornography, Lee says the awards have
ing too formulaic,
predictable, and vio-
what it means to be sexual and ultimately
re-define the typical
seen relatively little backlash, although some
feminist blogs complained that the organizers
lent, rather than ex- sexual and ultimately gender roles that are of the awards were supporting rape and other
ploring sexuality in
different ways. To fill re-define the typical assigned to women
and everyone else.
allegations “that are really not true,” says Lee.
The growing amount of feminist porn may
the void, many femi-
nist pornographers
gender roles that are I want to take back
sexuality.”
have started influencing mainstream filmmakers
as well, suggests Lee. For example, a female-to-
are pursuing subjects assigned to women and Ashburn is not male transsexual porn star named Buck Angel has
that are normally ig-
nored. everyone else.” alone in trying to re-
define sexuality. To
seen widespread success, winning the transsexual
performer of the year award in 2007’s Adult Video
One such example Pam Ashburn celebrate the posi- News (AVN) awards. The AVN awards are put on
is the website Erotic tive role women can each year to celebrate over 120 different categories
Red, which features play in pornography, of pornography. The Feminist Porn Awards, by
menstruating women. As Erotic Red’s homep- the Toronto sex store Good For Her has estab- contrast, only have about a dozen categories.
age states: “In an industry where photos of lished the Feminist Porn Awards, given out each This year’s awards will take place on April 24
women being throat-fucked and pissed on are spring to filmmakers in categories such as Fierc- at Toronto’s Berkeley Church, which Lee admits
commonplace portrayals of human sexuality, est Female Orgasm, Deliciously Diverse Cast, is “a little funny”, followed by screenings of differ-
women enjoying themselves on their periods and Most Tantalizing Trans Film. ent film clips the following day at a movie theatre.
are viewed by most pornographers as horrify- “I think that one of the biggest problems with With growing interest in the genre, Lee says femi-
ingly obscene.” mainstream porn is that it really lacks imagina- nist porn is likely going to continue expanding.
Ashburn says alternative depictions of sexu- tion,” says Allison Lee, Good For Her manager “I think that there is a growing understanding
ality are more difficult to find. and organizer of the annual awards. that women, as consumers of pornography, are a
“It’s work and you have to dig and it’s worth The Feminist Porn Awards have existed since growing market,” says Lee.
College of Education
Academic Complex
Niagara University, NY 14109
716.286.8336
NCATE Accredited since 1984
www.thefulcrum.ca // 02.26.09 // ARTS // 13
 Game
over
The end of the arcade era
by Jordan Potter
The Capilano Courier
VANCOUVER (CUP) – THE AR-
CADE ERA was an incredible cultural
movement with millions of adoles-
cents worldwide hunched over flashing
screens. Arcades were the birthplace of
video games, an industry that now out-
sells both box office and music sales. In
2008 alone, video game sales generated
over $21 billion in revenue. But, while
video games have risen to prominence
in the living room, arcades are—with a
few exceptions—all but dead. But to un-
derstand how arcades died, it’s impor-
tant first to appreciate how they lived.
It’s like table tennis,
without the table
The early 1970s—a time when a young
Michael Jackson and his four less-tal-
ented siblings ruled the Billboard charts
with a song about the alphabet, and U.S.
President Richard Nixon found himself
facing impeachment charges for his tape
collection—saw the first Pong cabinets
spring up all over North America.
For many people, this two-dimen-
sional interpretation of ping-pong was
page 14 | the fulcrum
their first experience with electronically
interactive entertainment—the original
name for video games.
You could move your paddle up or
down. That was it.
Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari, the
developer of Pong, said in a June 1983
issue of Playboy: “I defined the simplest
game I could think of, which was a ten-
nis game, and told [my engineer] how
to build it. I thought it was going to be
a throwaway, but when he got it up and
running, it turned out to be a hell of a
lot of fun.”
But, after the initial novelty of “Look
Ma, I made pictures on the TV move!”
wore off, there were few reasons to con-
tinue playing.
A further deterrent was the fact that
the vast majority of Pong machines were
inside bars and liquor stores, so the pool
of potential players was severely limited.
Electronic gaming couldn’t be part of
mainstream culture until everyone had
access to it.
Bushnell realized this and sought to
remedy the situation by releasing Home
Pong, a variant of the arcade hardware
that hooked up to a TV. Home Pong
foreshadowed the forthcoming domi-
nance of household game consoles, sell-
ing over 150,000 copies in the holiday
season of 1975.
While Pong sowed the seeds for what
would eventually become the arcade
scene, the home version set into motion
the home gaming behemoth that would
one day eclipse it.
Eventually, Pong found itself sitting
in a corner collecting dust, reminiscing
about the good times with the pinball
machines that preceded it.
Some sort of invaders,
possibly from outer space
Early game developers bore witness to
the meteoric but short-lived rise of Pong
and were eager to retain the audience
that it left behind.
Enter Space Invaders. Released in 1978,
Space Invaders had players driving a tank
and defending earth from alien space-
crafts. In terms of player interaction, the
game really wasn’t much more sophisti-
cated than Pong. You still moved a knob
from left to right, except now you had a
single button that was used to fire.
But unlike its predecessor, Space In-
vaders enjoyed longevity with its players
and went on to become an international
hit. The game may not impress gamers
nowadays, but keep in mind that Space
Invaders’ heyday came at a time when
the entire world was in a state of Star
Wars-induced hysteria.
Yet, the single biggest contributor to
the popularity of Space Invaders was
that it allowed players to record high
scores under their initials. High scores
had been a huge catalyst for the growth
in popularity of pinball, a factor which
video games expanded by letting play-
ers leave their initials as a legacy. These
abbreviated names added a component
of one-upmanship and competition that
dramatically increased arcade revenues.
According to Mark Wolf, author of
The Video Game Explosion, the popu-
larity of Space Invaders was so sweep-
ing that it caused a shortage of 100-yen
coins in Japan, forcing the government
to triple its production of the coins.
Space Invaders also proved so addic-
tive that doctors were warning patients
that continuous play could permanently
damage one’s manual dexterity and even
lead to early onset of arthritis.
By early 1980s, games like Asteroids,
Defender, Missile Command, and Cen-
tipede had become so popular that the
first dedicated video arcades began
opening across the continent.
 The worst video
game of all time
Video arcades, unlike bars and liquor
stores, provided children and teenagers
with the opportunity to get their hands
on video games, a move that would for-
ever change the industry.
Gaming was now reaching the demo-
graphic of developers’ dreams.
According to Wolf, by 1981 the arcade
gaming scene was estimated to generate
over $25 million annually.
But while arcades were flourishing,
the home console market provided di-
rect competition with the release of the
Atari 2600 and the ColecoVision con-
soles. While the Cold War dominated
headlines at the time, the war between
arcades and consoles was becoming
a bloodbath. The greatest blow to the
Atari home console came with the re-
lease of E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial in
1982. After lengthy negotiations with
director Steven Spielberg and Universal
Pictures, Atari secured exclusive rights
for a video game based on the box-office
smash for $20 million. Unfortunately,
these negotiations dragged on so long
that Atari only had five weeks to com-
plete the game in time for the holiday
season. Comparatively, Atari’s Raiders of
the Lost Ark took seven months to pro-
duce.
It comes as no surprise then that
the resulting product was absolutely
unplayable. Think Star Wars prequels
bad; Matrix sequels bad. That is, unless
travelling six entire screens in search of
Reese’s Pieces sounds like a good time
to you.
Even though Atari was aware of the
problems with the game, they still went
ahead and manufactured an astonish-
ing four million copies, though only 1.5
million sold.
As a result of overproduction, hun-
dreds of thousands of unsold cartridges
were buried in a New Mexico landfill.
The critical reception of E.T. left most
gamers disenfranchised with the poor
quality of many Atari 2600 games, lead-
ing to the home console crash of 1983.
It appeared as though arcades had won
out.
The emergence of Blinky,
Pinky, Inky, and Clyde
The release of Pac-Man was pivotal to
the gaming scene; it remains to this day
the most widely distributed arcade game
of all time. However, its influence on the
industry was more significant than its
off-the-charts popularity or the terrible
Buckner & Garcia pop single, “Pac-Man
Fever”. What set Pac-Man apart was that
Pac-Man was a character.
Journalist Leo Lewis, in a 2005 Times
Online article celebrating the 25-year
anniversary of Pac-Man put it most elo-
quently: “The genius of Pac-Man—and
the reason that in the 25 years since its
release it has been played more than 10
billion times—was its sense of life,” he
wrote. “Pac-Man’s munching action and
the ghosts’ goggle eyes gave the world of
video games colour, humour, and, above
all, character.”
When you played Pac-Man, you
weren’t controlling a spaceship, or a
tank, or a missile launcher. Pac-Man was
like a yellow, round, and appendage-less
person. Oddly enough, Pac-Man’s face-
less, moving semi-circle was the most
marketable image in gaming—and in
the video game industry, there is noth-
ing more important to publishers than
franchises.
Like many other mascots, Pac-Man
went on to transcend his original me-
dium. He appeared on lunch boxes. He
had a Saturday morning cartoon. He
even had his own brand of cereal. Kids
had the Pac-Man board game on their
Christmas lists, next to Duran Duran’s
self-titled debut album.
In response, game developers eagerly
rode the coattails of Pac-Man with more
and more character-driven games, re-
placing their inanimate military vehicles
and racecars with characters like Q*Bert,
Jumpman, and Donkey Kong.
Super Mario conquers
The golden age of the arcade—1979
to 1985—came to a screeching halt in
1986, when the Nintendo Entertain-
ment System (NES) was released in
North America.
Arcades had shrugged off the threat
of home gaming consoles before, an
easy feat with Atari 2600 and its mas-
sive library of bad games. But Nintendo
had something their failed predecessors
lacked: Mario. The coverall-wearing
plumber would eventually go on to be-
come the most beloved icon in all of
gaming.
When Super Mario Bros. launched
alongside the NES console, it changed
everything. Suddenly, the one-to-three
minute standard spurts of classic arcade
gaming weren’t good enough, not when
Super Mario Bros. could take hours to
complete.
In Super Mario Bros., gamers found
a design principle that arcades just
couldn’t offer: discovery. Mario was free
to explore a world that offered alterna-
tive routes, pipes that lead to hidden
rooms of coins, and secret warp zones
that only your cool older cousin knew
about. The once sought-after high score
was ignored in favour of beating the fi-
nal boss.
One of the unavoidable truths of ar-
cade games is that they were designed
to kill the player quickly, as that meant
more quarters for vendors. As a result,
arcade games needed to remain sim-
plistic in order to keep plays short and
revenues high. This inherently prevent-
ed arcades from having any chance at
competing with the more involved su-
perstars in games like Super Mario Bros.,
Legend of Zelda, and Metroid.
Regained arcade mojo
As gamers’ tastes grew sophisticated,
interest in arcade games dwindled and
most arcades closed down. Arcade
machines started disappearing from
doughnut shops and grocery stores.
By the start of the 1990s, the Sega
Genesis and Super Nintendo consoles
had risen to such prominence that ar-
cades were largely forgotten and their
games were relegated to light entertain-
ment for children at Chuck E. Cheese.
Just as it seemed that arcades had gone
the way of the disco ball, a glimmer of
hope appeared in the form of Street Fight-
er II—a fighting game in which players
selected a racial stereotype of their choice
and tried to beat up the opposing player.
Sound revolutionary? It was.
Street Fighter offered a premise sim-
ple enough to lure players to the cabinet
(“Fight!”), but that also offered more
depth than nearly anything on a con-
sole. Street Fighter fostered a competi-
tive environment like no other, as the
game winner got to continue playing for
free. Players were no longer competing
against a score; they were competing
against the person right next to them.
Consoles couldn’t offer this opportu-
nity to face ever-changing competition
and, for a while, it seemed as though ar-
cades had found a niche they could de-
fend. Mortal Kombat followed in kind,
and though it was the fighting game
equivalent of Milli Vanilli—all style and
no substance—its gratuitous violence
attracted throngs of teens back to ar-
cades.
Arcades had found their mojo again.
While both games were ported to home
consoles, they, and their sequels, re-
mained immensely popular throughout
the early 1990s.
The end?
As technology improved through the
mid-point of the decade, it became clear
that 3D graphics were going to be the
next big leap, and this time arcade game
developers didn’t want to be caught with
their pants down.
The philosophy at the time was that if
arcades could offer experiences that one
couldn’t get on a console, then surely
gamers would come. Lightgun shooters
like House of the Dead, immersive rac-
ing simulators like Daytona USA, and
games with cutting edge graphics like
the Virtua Fighter series became the sta-
tus quo.
While these attractions proved su-
premely popular, they also came at a
cost. The high development and hard-
ware costs of these games meant ven-
dors had to charge gamers more. Where
quarters once sufficed, dollars were now
required.
As console graphics improved, ar-
cades needed to buy new machines,
further raising costs. Arcade owners
scrambled to keep up with each other,
spending beyond their means. Yet, gam-
ers were turned off by the now sky-high
prices, especially compared with con-
sole games.
The one advantage arcades held over
console and computer games—human
interaction—was lost to the Internet.
Now, in 2009, the nearly 10 million
World of Warcraft players stomp a death
march around the archaic dollar-boxes.
Home consoles took the cake, as ar-
cades are now all but obsolete. Gamers
prefer to remain comfortably attached
to their sofas instead of standing in dark
corners of seedy bars. Wolf states in his
book: “The rise of three-dimensional
graphic games in the 1990s was just
around the corner, and in the eyes of
many players (and game companies),
arcade graphics could no longer com-
pete with them.”
the fulcrum | page 15
You’ll never eat brunch in this town again

A brave new music world

Peter Henderson
Arts & Culture Editor
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY as we know it is dying.
Major labels that dominated the record industry
and the music distribution business for decades
are losing millions of dollars to illegal down-
loading, and the recent worldwide economic
downturn has bit hard into ever-shrinking
profit margins. Total music sales in the United
States dropped 4.4 per cent in 2006 and 11.8 per
cent in 2007, following the downward trend that
began in 2004. It’s the end of the major labels as
we know it, but the new wave of creative music
distribution and album promotion is great for
consumers and performers alike.
Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, Oasis, Madonna,
and Paul McCartney are just some of the art-
ists that have reacted to the dying industry by
divorcing themselves from their labels and de-
veloping new ways of getting their music out to
fans. Both Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have
sponsored remix contests for their music, with
NIN going so far as to release several of their on Josh Freese experience that involves a trip crazy schemes on a smaller scale, and home-
songs in GarageBand format, the popular remix- for both of you to Tijuana and a free drum kit. made videos will increase exposure and foster a
ing tool available on all Apple computers. Ra- Other price levels include a mini-golf trip for stronger, closer-knit, and more interesting Otta-
diohead and other bands have performed web- you, Freese, Maynard James Keenan from Tool, wa music scene. It’s a brave new world free from
only concerts, and many artists use YouTube or and Mark Mothersbaugh from DEVO; ingesting the invisible hand of major labels, and Ottawa
other video-sharing sites to share rare videos or hallucinogenic mushrooms and cruising Holly- bands and artists should be adapting to emerg-
new songs with their fans. Rivers Cuomo pro- wood with Freese in a Lamborghini; and getting ing promotion strategies in order to finally get
duced a video for his song “Lover in the Snow” drunk and cutting Freese’s hair in the parking the attention they deserve.
that could never be lot of the Long Beach
played on MuchMu- Courthouse. Of arts@thefulcrum.ca
sic due to its long course, he gets to cut 613-252-2311
spoken-word intro-
It’s the end of the major labels as your hair as well. All
duction that deals we know it, but the new wave of of these adventures
with his relationship creative music distribution and will be filmed and
with his father, his posted on YouTube.
love for soccer, and
album promotion is great for Freese’s bizarre al-
the painful growth consumers and performers alike. bum promotion is
defect that prevent- a great example of
ed him from play- what artists need to
ing the game for years. This kind of intimacy do to gain notoriety and exposure in the new
is amazing for the fans, who seldom get to see online era.
behind the glamour of the major-label market- The new era of distribution and promotion
ing machine. has forced major artists to become as inventive
The demise of traditional distribution models at promoting their work as they are in creat-
has led to promotional experiments by artists ing it. Local Ottawa bands and artists, who re-
in getting their music out—some good, some cord and perform in a city that they have been
bad, and some just plain weird. The weird ex- lamenting pays little attention to local music,
periments include one by Josh Freese—a ses- should take note of these trends and learn from
sion drummer who has performed on over 300 them. Ottawa acts are already postering Rideau
albums with artists as diverse as Avril Lavigne Street to declare album-release shows and using
and The Offspring, and has toured with DEVO, online message boards like punkottawa.com to
Sting, and Nine Inch Nails—offers 11 different promote new albums, but what they’re lacking
levels of pricing for his record, Since 1972, from is this free-spirited innovation. You don’t even
a cheap $5 digital download to a $75,000 full- need money—remix contests, Freese-inspired

President’s

Global knowledge.
Local learning.

Idea lovers: Join us

for uOttawa’s free
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The University of Ottawa is proud to present
the President’s Lecture Series — four stimulating Inaugural Lecture: Professor Professor Stewart Elgie Professor Pierre Bélanger
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16 \\ ARTS \\ 02.26.09 \\ www.thefulcrum.ca

 Good
Film
He’s Just Not That Into You
ROMANCE, MEET REALITY. It’s their re-
lationship that’s at the centre of He’s Just Not
That Into You, the star-studded adaptation of
a best-selling book that gives any dating ad-
vice you’ve ever heard—and any date movie
you’ve ever seen—the middle finger.
He’s Just Not That Into You is based on the
self-help book of the same name, penned by
former Sex and the City writers Greg Beh-
rendt and Liz Tuccillo. Behrendt and Tuccillo
expertly turned straight-up, hard-to-swallow
relationship advice into a dating bible for the
modern single woman. The book’s chapters
(which include “If he’s not calling you”, “If he’s
not having sex with you”, and “If he doesn’t
want to marry you”) become the film’s main
storylines, which explore the tumultuous rela-
tionships among nine principal players.
The cast, including Ginnifer Goodwin, Jen-
nifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Scarlett Johansson,
Justin Long, Jennifer Connelly, and Drew Bar-
rymore, seem to have been selected more for
looks than acting talent, but Johansson, Long,
and Connelly are believable as well as beauti-
ful. Goodwin, though, is a particular standout
in the role of the lovelorn and unlucky Gigi.
While a self-help book isn’t the most com-
images courtesy Touchstone Pictures, Newline Cinema, and Sony Pictures Classics
Independent Corner
THE ANIMATED DOCUMENTARY Waltz
with Bashir tracks the attempts of writer
and director Ari Folman, an Israeli veteran
of the 1982 Lebanon war, to recover his lost
memories of the massacre of Palestinians
in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. The
film employs flashbacks within a present-day
narrative, which is catalyzed by a meeting
between Folman and a fellow veteran who is
being haunted by a recurring nightmare. His
dream involves the wild dogs he was forced
to kill during the war, and it triggers Folman’s
own recollections of the conflict. The deep-
seated memories and moral issues raised by
the war are explored in the present day, while
the stunning visual recreations of the 1982 war
explore soldiers’ alienation and fear. Folman
interviews other veterans and tries to fill the
b+
mon choice for the basis of a screenplay, the
film manages to convey the book’s original
messages about the realities of love and re-
lationships. Director Ken Kwapis (License to
Wed, Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants) has
directed better television than film—his re-
sumé includes stints with The Office, ER, and
Freaks and Geeks—but in this case, his TV
experience is useful. The episodic storylines
are given the chance to grow individually,
leaving the film fleshed out from all angles by
the end.
He’s Just Not That Into You is Love Actu-
ally getting a much-needed kick in the ass.
While the 2003 British film was delightful, it
neglected to realize that not every hook-up
leads to a happy ending, and that there will
always be disappointment no matter which
stage of a relationship you’re in. He’s Just Not
That Into You, on the other hand, delivers the
reality of relationship disasters in a straight-
up and sometimes painful way that leaves you
wanting to fix everything you’ve ever screwed
up before. But be forewarned: the relationship
advice in the film is so frank, you may not
want to see this on a first date.
—Emma Godmere
gaps in his memory. The flashback scenes of
the stories they tell are stunning, particularly
one bloody ambush juxtaposed by a jarringly
lighthearted tune and the bizarre titular scene
in which one interviewee, amid heavy enemy
gunfire, shoots back wildly while dancing in
a Beirut street plastered with posters of then-
president-elect Bashir Gemayel. The chal-
lenging and innovative animation turns the
tall tales into reality, and brings them to life
in a way that is visually more impressive than
any live-action recreation could conceivably
be. The film denounces war-time violence
with its comic-book consciousness, and con-
sidering the recent conflict in Gaza, the anti-
war message apparent throughout Waltz with
Bashir becomes ever more topical.
—David Davidson
Bad
Confessions of a Shopaholic
CONTRARY TO WHAT you might think in this
uncertain economy, the timing couldn’t be more
Film F
the audience is supposed to love right off the
bat. Problem is, the script of Confessions doesn’t
right for the message in Confessions of a Shopa- do her character any favours, portraying her as
holic. This would-be comedy preaches that over- a manic, insipid dimwit. Director P. J. Hogan
spending and being in denial about it will only hasn’t directed a feature film in six years, and it
lead to personal ruin. It’s a shame, then, that the shows. Every comedy situation he tackles gener-
film—‘product’ would be a more apt term—is a ates more squirms than laughs.
lazy, cliché-ridden retread of other, better chick How Confessions of a Shopaholic landed
flicks. Based on the bestselling novel by Sophie its plum cast is anybody’s guess. Kristin Scott
Kinsella, Confessions plays like an episode of Sex Thomas, Joan Cusack, and John Goodman are
and the City that’s been drained of all the com- all funny people; it’s too bad that they’re in the
edy and sly observations that made the series wrong film. Fisher is a gifted physical comedi-
such a success. enne, and as Rebecca, she generates the film’s
Up-and-coming Aussie star Isla Fisher plays only genuine laugh performing a severely off-
Rebecca, a journalist and self-proclaimed shopa- putting fan dance. Unfortunately, forcing herself
holic. Through a serious of unfunny coincidenc- through the inane script, Fisher sinks along with
es, this debt-ridden fashionista ends up writing a the ship. Even Patricia Field, the fashion maven
financial magazine column about how to manage of Sex and the City fame, fails to deliver as the
your money. Unbeknownst to her hunky editor film’s costume designer. The outfits Rebecca
(Hugh Darcy), Rebecca takes on the position cavorts in are hideous. When has a poodle-
to get closer to her dream job at the magazine’s printed fur poncho ever been in? Female-driven
parent company’s flagship fashion behemoth, Al- comedies have a bad rap, and they don’t seem
ette. Complications ensue as Rebecca falls for her to be getting any better—The Women, anyone?
editor, all the while keeping her shopping-based Studios need to shape up and realize the ladies
debt under wraps for fear of losing her job. and the gays want to see a chick flick with some
Like Elle Woods in Legally Blonde or Cher bite and sass. And, of course, laughs would be
Horowitz in Clueless, Rebecca is one of those appreciated.
cutesy, dumb, but endearing characters whom —Nigel Smith
The Fulcrum 2009–10
editorial board elections
The Fulcrum is holding elections for next year’s editorial board. If you have a passion for
student journalism, we have the opportunity for you!
Candidates must prepare a platform outlining their vision for the role they would like to play
next year. Platforms are due at 5 p.m. on the Friday prior to the election date of the position,
and should be emailed to editor@thefulcrum.ca. All elections will take place at the Fulcrum
office at 631 King Edward Ave. during the weekly staff meeting Thursdays at 2:30 p.m.
The election dates and platform deadlines are:
Position Election date Platform due
Editor-in-Chief March 5 Feb. 27
Production Manager March 5 Feb. 27
News Editor March 12 March 6
Sports Editor March 12 March 6
Arts & Culture Editor March 12 March 6
Executive Editor March 19 March 13
Features Editor March 19 March 13
Art Director March 19 March 13
The following Fulcrum staff are eligible to vote in the elections:
Frank Appleyard Peter Henderson Ben Myers Amanda Shendruk
Hilary Caton Hisham Kelati Michael Olender Len Smirnov
Laura Clementson Danyal Khoral Megan O’Meara Alex Smyth
Katie Declerq Sarah Leavitt Anna Rocoski Jessica Sukstorf
Kristyn Filip Jaclyn Lytle Maria Rondon Amlake Tedla-Digaf
Emma Godmere Alex Martin Martha Pearce Nick Taylor-Vaisey
Jolene Hansell David McClelland Ross Prusakowski
For more information or to submit a platform, contact Frank Appleyard at editor@thefulcrum.ca
www.thefulcrum.ca // 02.26.09 // ARTS // 17

Sports
Gees win Survivor: Playoff Hoops
photo by Alex Martin
Gee-Gees guard Emilie Morasse looks on as
the ball teeters on the rim during Ottawa’s
56-49 win.
18
David McClelland
Feb. 26–March 4, 2009
Sports Editor
sports@thefulcrum.ca
Ottawa out-rebounds,
outlasts, and ousts
Carleton
by Andrew Hawley
Fulcrum Staff
IF THERE WAS anything tighter than the se-
curity for U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit
to Ottawa last week, it was the Feb. 21 Ontario
University Athletics (OUA) East division wom-
en’s basketball semifinal between the Carleton
Ravens and Ottawa Gee-Gees at Montpetit Hall.
The Gee-Gees were seeded second in the East,
giving them home court advantage over the
third-seeded Ravens. The game was Ottawa’s
first post-season appearance in four seasons.
Throughout the game, Ottawa and Carleton
were almost always within a basket of each oth-
er, with the lead switching frequently back and
forth. But the Gees persevered, and eventually
Ottawa pulled away late to emerge victorious
56-49.
Much of Ottawa’s success actually had roots
in the Gees’ last meeting with Carleton, the
Capital Hoops Classic at Scotiabank Place on
Jan. 28. Carleton won that game 62-53 and out-
rebounded Ottawa 38-24, numbers that Gee-
Gees head coach Andy Sparks wanted to reverse
in their playoff encounter.
“Carleton out-rebounded us last time,” he ex-
plained after the win. “So we wanted to win the
rebounding game tonight. We spent three prac-
tices this week focusing on rebounding to make
sure we would be prepared.”
Fourth-year guard Allison Forbes felt that
Sparks’s preparation gave the Gees an important
edge.
“[Sparks] had us extremely well prepared and
we’ve been practicing for Carleton all week.”
It was the crosstown rivals’ third meeting of
the year, which added some intensity to what
was already a highly anticipated playoff match.
In the first quarter, each team fouled five times,
while Carleton built a slim 13-12 lead. The Ra-
vens extended their lead early in the second
frame with a 6-0 run, but the Gees wrestled it
from them with a 7-0 run of their own to tie the
game at 19-19. The intense see-sawing contin-
ued but the Ravens managed to squeak ahead,
taking a 26-25 lead into the locker room at half-
time.
Fourth-year Ravens guard Tanya Perry was
responsible for the bulk of Carleton’s first half photo by Alex Martin
success, scoring 12 of her team’s 26 points. In Fourth-year guard Kyrie Love, who scored eight points, was instrumental in the Gee-Gees’
an unfortunate turn, Perry injured her left ankle first playoff win since 2005.
early in the third quarter and was forced to leave “We’ve played in a hell of a lot of close games Forbes made key baskets. She showed a lot of
the game. Her exit proved to be the turning this year,” said Sparks. “So I don’t think [the guts.”
point in the game. players] were afraid.” “I am very proud of how the girls played to-
“They were a different team without her,” The team’s veterans certainly weren’t. Love and night,” Forbes beamed after the game. “We took
Sparks recalled. fellow veteran Forbes displayed great poise in the it to the next level.”
“You never want to see things like that,” said fourth quarter, calmly scoring key points and “It was a close game, but we kicked it into
fourth-year Gee-Gees guard Kyrie Love. “But increasing the team’s lead by four points to give gear,” added Love. “I’m in my last year, and I
we knew that [Carleton] would respond to it, so the Gees the edge they needed to secure the win. didn’t want it to end. I wanted to leave it all on
we needed to respond to it as well.” The Gees then lit up the board in the final frame, the floor.”
The Gees hit the Ravens hard, as their defence scoring 16 points while holding Carleton to 13 to
limited Carleton to 11 points in the third quar- earn their first playoff victory in four years. Ottawa’s victory eliminates the Ravens and
ter. Still, the Ravens would not give up. After Sparks commended both Forbes and Love for propels the Gees to the OUA East division final
sustained pressure from both sides and an ago- their effort in the win. against the Toronto Varsity Blues in Toronto on
nizing series of lead changes, Ottawa emerged “Kyrie Love stepped it up today by finishing Feb. 25, with the winner of that match moving on
with a 40-37 lead going into the final frame. strong. She was a major positive for us. And Ally to the OUA final on Feb. 28.
by Jaclyn Lytle
Ottawa BMX riders tackle the hate dedicated and motivated [riders].”
Fulcrum Staff
“OTTAWA IS THE city that fun forgot,” declares
Ottawa-based BMX rider-turned-filmmaker
Rich Redmond. Regardless, the 26-year-old
has been riding for a decade now, pursuing his
passion and developing his skill alongside the
close-knit group of equally dedicated riders who
make up the Ottawa BMX scene.
“I’m 26; it’s ten years I’ve been doing BMX.
I was into motocross, like dirt biking, since I
was 12 [but] BMX was a late start. To start when
you’re 17 is pretty late for that kind of hobby, but
it just took off,” explained Redmond.
Although the number of serious BMX riders
in the Ottawa area is limited, those that live for
the sport can be found taking advantage of any
biking opportunities that present themselves
throughout the city. In the summer, riders hit
every park in the Ottawa area, as well as make-
shift set-ups composed of outdoor stairwells or
empty pools. In the winter, to satisfy their crav-
ing for the adrenaline-fuelled sport and stay in
shape, they travel to an indoor park outside of
Ottawa, and have even pooled funds for a ware-
house rental closer to home. There are no pains
the group wouldn’t endure for an opportunity to
ride, explained Redmond.
“BMX is just trick riding to the naked eye. To
us it’s a form of art, and a great outlet for how
you feel and how you think. It’s a community ...
we’re all friends—an extended group,” he said.
“We ride just about every day when the weather
permits, and hit indoor locations in the winter.
You could call it a scene, but it’s compiled of
Around the horn
Women’s volleyball heartbroken
in quarter-finals
AFTER LOSING TO the Brock Badgers in their
final regular season game, the University of Ot-
tawa women’s volleyball team were seeded third
in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East
division, forcing them onto the road for the
playoffs to take on the Toronto Varsity Blues in a
3-0 quarter-final loss on Feb. 14.
While Ottawa was not blown out in any of the
three sets, they were unable to best the Blues,
losing in straight sets; 25-20, 25-19, and 25-19.
Second-year leftside / rightside hitter Stephanie
McGuinty was Ottawa’s top player with seven
kills and six digs.
The game marks the end of the team’s sea-
son, and was also the final game for a number
of Gee-Gees veterans, including leftside / right-
side hitter Véronique Yeon, rightside / leftside
hitter Ariane Thibault and lefside hitter Karine
Gangon.
—Anna Rocoski
McGill downs Gees twice
THERE WAS NO break for the Gee-Gees wom-
en’s hockey team last week, as they played three
games, emerging with a win and two losses.
On Feb. 14, the Gees lost 3-2 to the McGill
Martlets at the Sports Complex, as second-year
defender Kelsey deWit and fourth-year defend-
er Christine Allen notched Ottawa’s two goals.
The next day, the Gee-Gees visited the Con-
cordia Stingers and emerged with a 4-2 win.
Rookie forward Jodi Reinholcz scored twice for
Getting their passion taken seriously can
be a problem for riders in Ottawa, a city that
Redmond says is not supportive of him and his
fellow riders. BMX riders in Ottawa are often
forced to travel out of town to compete and gain
exposure.
“There isn’t much in Ottawa … We get no
support from the city councillors. Other cities,
other places we go have [the kinds of events]
that we bring to our councillors, and they claim
it’s impossible [to have them in Ottawa] because
of insurance, or whatever,” said Redmond. “We
always have to travel for contests. Nobody is
supportive of each other in Ottawa except the
little guys like us.
The lack of support in Ottawa extends beyond
politics. Local riders find public criticism and ste-
reotyping more common than praise or encour-
agement. Redmond, however, is hitting back.
Backed by sponsors and members of Ottawa’s
BMX community, Redmond filmed and edited
his retaliation: Hate This, a 40-minute feature
film displaying the best of Ottawa’s biking talent.
“It focuses [mostly] on riders from Ottawa,
but I have expanded my focus to some riders
from the Toronto, Montreal, Kenora [areas].
This film depicts the best riding of each star- image courtesy Rich Redmond
ring rider and good times had by the scene,” riders, foster independent support in the city, it by the dedication of spending time, money,
said Redmond. “It was filmed over the course of and show critics that BMX riding is here to stay. and [risking] physical health to ride. These guys
more than 365 days. We travelled the world to The purpose, Redmond explains, is to help form love what they do, and I am lucky enough to be
get the footage. We went to Saudi Arabia, Swe- a visible community dedicated to the sport and a part of it.”
den, England, Nigeria, China, all over the U.S., its promotion.
and a lot of Canada.” “The [title] is dedicated to the haters. We have Hate This is showing one day only at the May-
Redmond hopes that by giving the Ottawa a bit of a code in Ottawa. We don’t mind criti- fair Theatre (1074 Bank St.) on Feb. 28 at 4 p.m.
scene some screen time he can promote local cism [but] these guys are for real. You can see Tickets are $5.
Ottawa while Joelle Charlebois and Joyce Spruyt
added a goal each. Fifth-year goaltender Jessika
Audet made 21 saves to earn the win.
Ottawa then played against McGill in Mon-
treal on Feb. 21. The Gee-Gees were unable
to best the unbeaten Martlets in five previous
meetings this season, and squandered their final
opportunity, getting outshot 44-17 en route to
a 5-0 defeat.
Ottawa’s final regular-season game will be
played against the Carleton Ravens on Feb. 28
at 6 p.m. at the Sports Complex. Tickets are $4
for students.
—Anna Rocoski
Swim team competes in CIS championships
over the break
TEAM RECORDS WERE toppled for the Gee-
Gees swim team Feb. 19–21, as the team trav-
eled to Vancouver for the Canadian Interuniver-
sity Sport (CIS) national championship.
No Ottawa swimmers won medals at the tour-
nament, but several swimmers set personal and
team records. The best finish for the Gees was a
sixth-place result in the men’s 4x100m freestyle
relay. The team—made up of Hans Fracke, Rob
Irvine, Chris Reith, and Sean Dawson—set a U
of O record with a time of 7:35.31. The 12 U of O
swimmers also set a team record with the high-
est number of competitors at a CIS swimming
championship in their history. The final results
left the women’s team in 16th place overall with
27 points and the men’s team in 13th place over-
all with 63 points.
—Anna Rocoski
www.thefulcrum.ca // 02.26.09 // SPORTS // 19
 Ending with a whimper run to grab a 23-21 lead.
In the second quarter, both sides
Gees drop regular continued wrestling for the lead. It was
season finale Carleton that came up with the advan-
tage once again, playing with intensity
to Carleton that Ottawa couldn’t match. In the fi-
by Andrew Hawley nal few minutes of the half, the Ravens
Fulcrum Staff outscored the Gees 16-2 to soar to a
41-34 lead, keeping up the momentum
UNLIKE THEIR FEMALE counter- until the buzzer sounded.
parts, the Gee-Gees men’s basketball “We were out-hustled in the first
team could not muster a win against half,” conceded Gee-Gees head coach
the Carleton Ravens at Montpetit Dave DeAveiro after the game. “We
Hall on Feb. 21. Although the Gees played well in stretches, but overall
looked sharper than in their 15-point they played harder than we did. We
loss to their crosstown rivals in the were forced to play catch-up, and that
Capital Hoops Classic on Jan. 28, it makes it difficult because Carleton
was not enough for the win, and the will always be there at the end.”
Ravens downed the Gees 76-69. With Fourth-year guard Josh Wright
the win, Carleton clinched first place agreed.
in the Ontario University Athletics “We came out with a lack of energy
(OUA) East division for the ninth and lack of focus and you can’t do
year in a row. that against the number one team [in
The first quarter looked promising Canada].”
for the home side, as Ottawa held five- Carleton head coach Dave Smart
or six-point leads at multiple times. The saw things similarly.
Gees couldn’t sustain the effort and “We didn’t see the same intensity
were unable to find the basket late in from the Gee-Gees as in the past to-
dap_campusp_4x7-5_sep12.eps
the quarter. Th
09/12/2008
e Ravens took advantage
9:47:52 AM
night,” said Smart. “But we know we’ll
photo by Alex Martin of Ottawa’s dry spell by going on a 7-0 see their best next time.”
Gee-Gees centre Dax Dessureault (15) had a tough time containing Ravens’ forward Kevin McCleery (far right). Smart noted that the Ravens rested
star centre Aaron Doornekamp who
is nursing a bruised foot and hopes
to be healthy for the upcoming OUA
playoffs.
In the third quarter, the Gees looked
to be making a comeback, finding the
net early and often. Ottawa’s strong
defensive rebounding, high free-throw
percentage, and strong effort overall
helped them even the score. Wright
hit a late three-pointer, one of his four
during the night, giving the Gees a 58-
55 lead at the end of the quarter.
Ottawa kept the pressure on early
in the fourth quarter, but Carleton’s
defence responded by eating up re-
bounds and slowing the Gees’ of-
IN THE
C O MPETE fence. A series of offensive fouls then
DY TO R
BE REA OMA O
R DIPL
plagued Ottawa, as Carleton used
E Y O U
. TAK INESS their free throws to bank precious
SINESS A L BU S
A T IO N A L BU E R N ATION points and take the lead. The Ravens
TER N N IN T GE.
D OF IN WITH A COLLE
WO R L LEVEL RENCE
scored 10 unanswered points—seven
N E X T . L A W
E TO TH
E OM ST EED TO of which came from free throws—in
DEGRE ATE FR YOU N
T C E RTIFIC N F ID ENCE . the dying minutes to secure the win.
GEME
N
LS AND
CO PLACE
MANA E S K IL A L M ARKET Despite Wright’s 15 points and 19
OU TH GLO B
GIVE Y GING from fourth-year guard Josh Gibson-
WE’LL E V E R -CHAN
HE
ED IN T
Bascombe, the Gees couldn’t answer
SUCCE Carleton’s dynamic duo of Stuart
RADUA
TE EMENT Turnbull and Kevin McCleery, who
O S T G S S M ANAG
P IN E
A L BU S GE combined for an impressive 49 points.
ATION COLLE
INTERN RENCE N The Gees now have to prepare for
T . L A W ION O
G R A M AT S T IO N SESS US the upcoming OUA playoffs.
PRO FORM
A CAMP
S F O R AN IN , K IN GSTON “This game is done,” said Wright.
JOIN U 7PM
8, 5 TO “Now we look ahead.”
H 1 1 AND 1
MARC Before the game, their last regular
season match as Gee-Gees, the team
S:
ACT U
CONT
recognized fifth-year guard Dax Des-
N.CA
R E A M IT@SL.O sureault and fifth-year forward and
D team captain David Labentowicz for
2
63-075
1-800-4 their contributions to the men’s bas-
ketball program.

The loss leaves the Gee-Gees’ with a

19-3 regular season record, which
earns them the second seed in the OUA
East playoffs. Ottawa will host an
OUA semifinal game on Feb. 28 at 8
p.m. at Montpetit Hall. Their opponent
is TBA. Tickets are $4 for students.

20 \\ SPORTS \\ 02.26.09 \\ www.thefulcrum.ca

Lighting the lamp

One strike and yer out

David McClelland
Sports Editor
WHEN WE WATCH or play sports, there’s a
certain basic assumption that the game is more
or less fair. The officials are expected to make
just calls and not show bias to either team, and
neither team should have a particular advantage
based on anything other than natural skill of
their players.
These assumptions make the use of steroids
in Major League Baseball (MLB) particularly
insidious. The issue of anabolic steroids some-
times seem like it has reached epidemic propor-
tions, thanks to tell-all books by former stars and
hearings in the United States Congress. Since
the 1990s, steroid use has become rampant in
baseball. And recently, it has been revealed that
Alex Rodriguez, perhaps baseball’s best player
in recent years, tested positive for steroid use in
2003 when he played for the Texas Rangers, a
season in which he hit .298 with 47 home runs
and 118 runs batted in.
Of course, the debate over how steroids af-
fect performance and records has been done
and re-done, but there are deeper issues, such
as the health effects steroids can have. So why
worry about pro athletes? After all, these peo-
ple are multi-millionaires who get paid to play
a game for a living, so it can be hard to care
about what they do to themselves. However, if
athletes at an elite level are taking performance-
enhancing drugs because they feel pressure to
perform, eventually those pressures will work
their way down to lower levels of athletic com-
petition. Athletes down to the university level
may feel they need to take steroids if they want
to break through and become professional ath-
letes, because their natural talent simply isn’t
enough.
Truthfully, steroids are dangerous. They
can help build muscle mass quickly in the
short-term, but long-term studies have found
that steroids can cause aggression and violent
behaviour, mania, and sometimes even psy-
chosis and suicide. The long-term effects of
human growth hormone, a popular alterna-
tive to anabolic steroids, are largely unknown
at this point. Needless to say, allowing young
athletes to be driven to the length of taking
performance-enhancing drugs would be a ter-
rible mistake.
With that in mind, it’s time for the MLB, as the
professional league most affected by steroid use,
to set the standard and introduce a new policy:
test positive, and you’re out for life. Baseball al-
ready bans players who bet after games on their
first offence, and while it’s an entirely different
form of cheating, the standard is still there. Yes,
it’s harsh, but it needs to be if MLB’s rampant
steroid issues are actually going to be resolved
now. And with any luck, this kind of dramatic
rule would be accepted by other leagues and
sporting organizations around the world, mini-
mizing the impacts of performance-enhancing
drugs in the future.
sports@thefulcrum.ca
613-562-5931

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www.thefulcrum.ca // 02.26.09 // SPORTS // 21


McGill Redmen oust
men’s hockey team
by David McClelland
Fulcrum Staff
DESPITE AN INSPIRED effort
by second-year goaltender Riley
Whitlock, the University of Ottawa
men’s hockey team couldn’t top the
high-powered McGill Redmen and
dropped their Ontario University
Athletics (OUA) best-of-three quar-
ter-final series 2-1, making an early
exit from the post-season.
“[There were] opportunities we had
throughout the series to get ourselves
in a good situation [that] weren’t
capitalized on,” said Gee-Gees head
coach Dave Leger after the series.
“I’m certainly proud of how the play-
ers competed. That was a very, very
good McGill hockey team … and we
just had a hard time remaining as a
[contender].”
Ottawa, who barely squeaked into
the playoffs with a 12-11-5 record, fell
flat in their playoff opener. In the first
game of the series in Montreal on Feb.
18, the Gees found themselves in an
early hole down 3-0 by the end of the
first period. While Ottawa responded
with a goal from fourth-year centre
Dan McDonald midway through the
second period, that was all the offence
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Whitlock can’t save Gees
the team could muster. McGill iced
the victory with two second-period
goals to win 5-1.
Game two, played in Ottawa at the
Sports Complex on Feb. 20, was much
closer. Although the Gee-Gees were
outshot 17-5 in the opening frame, it
was rookie Ottawa left-winger Mat-
thieu Methot who opened the scor-
ing, sending a dribbler through the
five-hole of McGill goaltender Kevin
Desfosses.
While fourth-year centre Kevin
Glode and third-year right winger
Keven Gagné tallied two more goals
in the second period, it was Whitlock
who won the game for the Gee-Gees.
Faced with 14 shots in the second pe-
riod and another 17 in the third—a
period in which Ottawa managed
only a single shot on net—Whitlock
stopped all but two shots to preserve
the win. photo by Martha Pearce
“[Whitlock] did a great job,” Gagné There was no shortage of activity around Gee-Gees netminder Riley Whitlock’s goal in all three games against McGill.
said after the win. “Night after night, Much like in game one, Ottawa fell a [high] level of play for a whole 60 maturity and confidence as a goal-
he’s there to support us.” behind early, trailing McGill 2-0 at minutes,” he said. “It wasn’t as [bad] tender.
“You just have to try to keep going, the first intermission. Methot brought in game three, and wasn’t as much “[Whitlock] just has a swagger
shot after shot; stay in the present mo- Ottawa within one with a goal in the of an issue the game we won, but in about him that just makes you think
ment with it and continue to focus on second period and Whitlock shined game one we were down 3-0 from the he can win every game,” said Leger.
each shot,” explained Whitlock, who again with 43 saves, but Ottawa could get-go and we had to come back.” “What you saw [in game two] is simi-
also complimented his teammates. not manage the equalizer. For Leger, the defeat means that lar to what we’ve seen throughout
“Luckily the guys did a great job … Leger believed his team spent too it’s time to begin looking ahead to the year. That doesn’t mean he hasn’t
in boxing [the Redmen] out for me to much time in the series trying to play the next season and thinking about given up bad goals during the year—
see those pucks.” catch-up. replacing graduating players like he has—but what we’ve always found
The final game of the series was “I thought we were always start- McDonald and Gagné. One impor- redemptive through his play is he gets
back in Montreal, and proved to ing from a point of being down, and tant returning player will be Whit- scored on and he just competes hard-
be the end of the road for the Gees. we just had a hard time sustaining lock, and Leger complimented his er and harder after that.”
(20 oz)
G
ON
www.primepubs.com
44 Sparks St • 360 Moodie Dr
260 Centrum Blvd
PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY
STARTS AT 9PM
Rideau Centre 2nd level 613.562.0101
Glebe 799 Bank Street 613.233.2065
Online Store www.magpiejewellery.com
\\ 02.26.09 \\ www.thefulcrum.ca
 The results
President Vice-President University Affairs Arts
Executive

Renaud-Philippe Garner 2293 Danika Brisson

Board of Administration
Ted Horton 2155
Marc Kelly 551 Sidney Loko 1459 Melanie Book
Tyler Steeves 1986 Cameron Montgomery 1314 Michael Cheevers
Seamus Wolfe 2735 Jeremy Stuart 1816
6744 Scott Bédard
Blank 504 Blank 1325 Robert Prazeres
Common Law
Vice-President Finance Vice-President Student Affairs
Arthur Dennis Stark
Roxanne Dubois 4022 Michèle Lamarche 5854
Droit civil
Maureen Hasinoff 2761 NO 978
Bruno Gélinas-Faucher
Blank 1286 Blank 1237
Education
Vice-President Social Vice President Communications Myriam Bérubé
Alexandre Chaput 3060 Julie Séguin 5746 Engineering
Jean Guillaume 3717 NO 1440 Brandon Bay
Blank 1292 Blank 883 Health Sciences
Osama Berrada
Laura Raschotte
Smoke Free Campus Millenium Village ACRES
Referendums

Kyle Ryc
YES 5993 YES 2572 YES 2557 Management
NO 1680 NO 4851 NO 4855 Khandija Kanji
Science
Bon Appétit Student life services Tobacco Ban
Matt Alteen
YES 4824 YES 4514 YES 5249
Richard Mah
NO 2744 NO 2658 NO 2658
Jim Rae
Social Science

27.2%
Cam Gray
Telfer Peter Flynn
Senate

André Huranchyk Sarah Jayne

Michael King
Cheevers
Science Aminka Belvitt
Alex Bevington Kyle Simunovic
Law Iain Brannigan

record turnout Bruno Gélinas-Faucher

Health Science
Medicine
Marie-Ève Bérubé

Shamin Jr. Mohamed

Note Arts
Board of Governors

Melanie Book Amy Kishek

For full and
official election Social Science
results please Kyle Simunovic
visit:
iwillvote.ca Medicine
Andrew Boozary

Opinion
Point/counterpoint:
The best part of elementary school
Sandlot baseball
EVERY LITTLE BOY in Canada dreams of
winning the Stanley Cup. Well, every little boy
except those who came of age during the eu-
phoria of 1993. When Blue Jays right fielder
Joe Carter connected with a hanging slider and
sent that screaming baseball over the left-field
fence, we all woke up and filled the sandlots of
south-central Scarborough. The local Field of
Dreams comprised four dirt bases and a play-
ground fence that everyone hoped to conquer.
The catcher and umpire were positioned behind
the player’s bench of the real ball diamond (go
figure) right behind us. With all the players in
place, every recess was our World Series.
—Nick Taylor-Vaisey
Ball day
SOME ELEMENTARY-
SCHOOL KIDS lived from
Saturday to Saturday, some
from holiday to holiday, but
I lived from ball day to ball
day. Every once in a while—
it could never be predicted—
the janitor would go up on the
school’s roof and toss back all
the various balls kids had roofed
since the last time he was up there. Reminisc-
ing, I think it was the best part of elementary
school because I was a recidivist when it came
to roofing tennis balls, basketballs, soccer balls,
Frisbees, and once even a football. When those
balls were tossed down, it was like a surprise ac-
quittal handed down from the judge dressed in
blue, pardoning me for my persistently miscal-
culated throws, and then everyone would talk
to me again.
—Michael Olender
The back of the school bus
I REMEMBER THE first day of kindergarten: I
was excited, anxious, and petrified shivering in
the rain outside my house waiting for that big
yellow school bus. My life was about to change
forever. My house was the last stop on
the bus route, and there were hardly
any seats available on the bus when I
got on. That first trek to the back of
the bus in search of a seat was ter-
rifying because, as I discovered,
the farther back you go the
older and bigger the kids get.
To my surprise, the Grade
Four students at the very
back took me in with
open arms. We took turns
shouting “Your fly is un-
done!” to pedestrians and
sticking fake tattoos on our biceps. I loved every
minute of my time with the cool kids at the back
of the bus and credit them for my social devel-
opment throughout elementary school.
—Sarah Leavitt
Pogs
THE BELL RINGS at 11:30 a.m. on another
school day in 1996. My pockets, lined with a
Feb. 26–March 4, 2009
hidden stack, bulge in anticipation. We meet on
a smoothly paved corner with the gravel swept
away. The cylinder is drawn and the paper caps
inside are revealed. There are quick glances at
each other’s assortment before the caps are
quickly arranged in a column. The audience
hoots in admiration as each of us brandishes
our weapon of choice. The type of slammer is
unique to the individual. I select metal while my
adversary draws hard plastic. The ivory tower
sits tottering on a grey surface; we begin our
barrage in turn. I’m up, and it only requires one
throw for the faces to flip. It’s all in the wrist.
—Alex Martin
Dodgeball
IF ANYTHING IN el-
ementary school pre-
pared you for the harsh
realities of life, it had to
be dodgeball. Dodge-
ball forced you to work
together with your col-
leagues (whether you
liked them or not) and
the main objective was clear:
hit the other team members with
balls until there are no other players
left. Some of us were catchers, some throw-
ers, some were so talented they could do both,
while others basically functioned as pawns to
hide behind. Memories of dodgeball will never
fade: the beautiful rubber balls that fit perfectly
in the palm of your hand, those majestic catches
that brought the ‘out’ players back from sidelines,
the torpedo throws that knocked the someone’s
glasses off, and the expertly crafted block of
oncoming balls with your own ball. At the end
of elementary school, if you only learned one
thing, it was because of dodgeball: life is a battle,
and if you stand around with your head up your
ass you’re going to get smacked in the face.
—Artur Paliga
Inter-gender role-play scenarios
CRAYONS, HOPSCOTCH, AND swing sets
begone: the best part of elementary
school, by far, was the premature
sexual tension manifested in inter-
gender role-play scenarios. La-
dies, don’t act like you didn’t get
hot and bothered when little
Jimmy, grunting from
exertion, pinned you
against the portables
during Cops and Rob-
bers. And guys, let’s be
honest: the monkey bars,
climbing rope, and tetherb-
all pole were a virtual training
ground for prepubescent strip-
per fantasies. Really, S&M and perversion were
all over the playground, starting with dodgeball
(and little Cindy’s exaggerated squeal of protest
after getting whipped in the face with balls) all the
way up to hide-and-seek (Stockholm Syndrome
fantasy much?). That premature sexual tension
never boiled over because at the time we couldn’t
name that tingle between our legs. But we figured
all that out by the Grade 11, didn’t we?
—Di Daniels
Michael Olender
Executive Editor
executive@thefulcrum.ca
Cross-Country Canada
EVERY TIME I went to the computer lab dur-
ing elementary school, there was always an
incentive to get those boring typing exercises
done as quickly as possible: I wanted to drive a
truck. Unless you were lucky enough to grab the
one computer with a copy of SimFarm, Cross-
Country Canada was easily the most entertain-
ing thing on school computers. It was like being
on the open road, staying in hotels in your trek
across Canada, and hoping that once, just once,
the police wouldn’t pull you over for putting
snow chains on your tires. And where would I be
without the game? I mean, at that age, how else
would I have known that hitchhikers sometimes
rob you? Or that Thunder Bay is approximately
one billion kilometres away from anything else
in Canada? Truly, Cross-Country Canada was
the most valuable part of my early education.
—David McClelland
Young love
GRADE FOUR MARKED the
real beginning of my infatuation
with boys. I remember helping
my teacher display our latest craft
projects outside the classroom
after school, while sneakily en-
suring my paper snowman would
be placed directly beside that of my
latest crush. Desk re-arrangements acted like the
perfect blind date setups, matching you up be-
side the quiet, lanky kid you never considered as
a viable love interest before. Recesses opened the
door for “hook-ups” (getting a “boyfriend” after
playing soccer together) and “break-ups” (being
abandoned by the “boyfriend” after the bratty
brunette scored three goals). Unfortunately,
elementary-school romances could still break
your heart. I remember announcing to the class
that I was get-
ting glasses and
my fourth-grade
crush told me I
wasn’t going to be
beautiful anymore.
I wasn’t aware fourth-
graders could deliver back-
handed compliments.
—Emma Godmere
Pokémon
POKÉMON WAS THE
greatest fad to ever breeze
through elementary school.
It actually consumed the
majority of my childhood. Pika-
chu, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and the infamous Jig-
glypuff became household names for millions
of kids across the world. I still remember mo-
ments on TV such as when Ash let Butterfree go
and when Charmander evolved to save a town
from stampeding Exeggutors. Our parents were
harassed for hundreds of dollars in order to sup-
port our insatiable desire for the merchandise,
video games, and cards. Who can forget clas-
sics such as Pokémon Red/Blue, Pokémon Snap,
or Hey You Pikachu! Pokémon cards were par-
ticularly popular. I can remember fights break-
24
illustrations by Alex Martin
ing out on the playground, and friendships that
were lost over the acquisition of such cards as
a first-edition holofoil Blastiose. No other ele-
mentary-school movement brought about such
strong emotions as Pokémon did.
—Robert Olender
Foot hockey:
Tennis ball + awesome
DRIBBLING PAST OPPONENTS, I feel like
Wayne Gretzky. In much the same way that he
would find a way around defenders, I can by-
pass opponents with agility and grace. While
they search for the puck, I plot my next move.
Of course, the puck is actually a tennis ball. De-
fenders are my third-grade classmates. I am not
the agile Wayne Gretzky, but a child stumbling,
flailing, and kicking a ball towards two back-
packs—our makeshift
goalposts. Whatever
the reality, the fan-
tasy was envelop-
ing for every-
one involved.
Any athletic
movement
that appeared
to have required
foresight was a
mere fluke. How-
ever, in that school-
yard, we were all legends
of the game in our own minds. Just don’t point
out that we were simply playing a tinier version
of soccer.
—Ben Myers
Nanos
NANOS—THOSE LITTLE electronic ‘vir-
tual pets’ that took the preteen world by storm
around 1996—made me a better person. My
mother refused to
buy me one, so I
saved up my meagre
Grade Four allow-
ance for weeks until
I could purchase it
myself. It was shiny
and yellow and hung
from my flared jeans
like a badge of elementa-
ry-school honour. When Santa
brought me a second Nano for
Christmas, I proudly posed with
both of my pets hooked on my belt
loops, in a photo that (unfortunately)
still exists today. But Nanos were more
than just a status symbol. These electronic
dogs, cats, and babies were a responsibility my
friends and I took so seriously that we would
ask to go to the bathroom as a pretext to go to
our book bags and feed our neglected charges.
Nothing could stop me from raising my pixel-
lated baby to full-fledged pixelhood! The person
I am today is largely a result of my experience
with Nanos. I learned the value of a dollar. I
learned the true meanings of dedication and
unconditional love. But most importantly, I
learned that I looked like a dork with electronic
devices hanging from my belt loops.
—Laurel Hogan
 Multiplex: just not that into you
Mayfair, I think this
is the beginning of a
beautiful friendship
by Dave Atkinson
Fulcrum Contributor
I MET THIS movie theatre the other
night and we really hit it off. Actu-
ally, I stayed there all night. We just…
clicked. I fell in love, really. It’s true: I
love the Mayfair Theatre. It was at that
moment, sitting in a comfortable seat
looking around at the ornately mod-
eled showroom that I realized that
the multiplex, that bastion of modern
entertainment and my soon-to-be ex-
theatre, was really high maintenance
and abusive.
I’m still not a one-theatre man
though; I play the field and have this
artsy theatre on the side called the
ByTowne Cinema. She’s really cool—
don’t get me wrong—but she’s a bit
pretentious sometimes. I can hear her
now: “Do you want to come see this
Belgian documentary about depres-
sion and horse-milk pudding?” “Not
really, no, ByTowne.” Where the By-
Towne sticks to new and independent
movies, the Mayfair leans toward the
cult, the strange, and the classic.
The Mayfair is a movie mecca, run
by people who love movies for other
people who love movies. After being
around for ages, it was set to close
permanently but was saved from the
brink of doom in November 2008. It
was bought by four local movie fans:
Paul Gordon, Lee Demarbre, Josh
Yemen, and Ian Driscoll. The best
known of the four is Lee Demarbre,
the man who made one of the finest
pieces of blasphemy ever commit-
ted to celluloid: Jesus Christ Vampire
Hunter.
The multiplex, on the other hand,
is owned by Satan. It gouges you in-
cessantly, herds you like cattle using
those bothersome crowd-control
posts and generally treats you like
a very annoying part of the movie
theatre business. “$10 for a show, sit
down! Hurry up. Popcorn combo,
$12! Stand in line! Not that line!”
Then you get to watch 20 minutes of
commercials for things you probably
can’t afford while the guy behind you
spills a Taco Bell cheesy poutine com-
bo on your head. But there’s nothing
you can do, is there? It’s the only way
to see aliens explode or Brad Pitt age
backwards, right?
Not anymore! The scrappy un-
derdog theatre that could re-opened
in January. The Mayfair’s lineup of-
fers mainstream features, art-house
films, and classics on a big screen in
a beautiful room for $5 (with a $10
year-long membership). And the
theatre has reasonably priced conces-
sions. Corn doesn’t cost $10 an ounce
anymore! I even heard a rumour that
they’re trying to get a liquor license.
The Mayfair is the honest, chill girl at
the party, while the multiplex is the
rich demanding girl with big fake…
screens. The difference is that the
Mayfair cares about you, and cares
about the weird and varied history of
the movies, and probably wears Elvis
Costello glasses.
Movie heaven exists—it’s at 1074
Bank St. and it’s showing something
awesome tonight. Check out show-
times at mayfairtheatre.ca and walk,
bike, hitchhike, or crawl there. Really,
just go support the independent the-
atre by seeing a movie. Like me, you
may realize that you’ve been missing
something in your cinematic experi-
ence, and maybe you too can get out
of that abusive relationship with the
high-maintenance cow that is the
multiplex.
photo illustration by Amlake Tedla-Digaf and Martha Pearce
www.thefulcrum.ca // 02.26.09 // OPINION // 25

Distractions Feb. 26–March 4, 2009
Thursday, Feb. 26
Thryllabus
Book drive: Elmdale Bookfest. 3:45–8:30 p.m.
Elmdale Public School. 49 Iona St.
Sunday, March 1
Play: Wrong Turn at Lungfish. 8 p.m. Ottawa
Little Theatre. 400 King Edward Ave. $10 for
students.
Friday, Feb. 27
Monday, March 2
Lecture: Measuring Canada’s
Environmental Performance: What Works, Film: Che: Part One. 6:35 p.m. ByTowne
What Doesn’t, and Why by Scott Vaughan. Cinema. 325 Rideau St. $9, $6 for members.
3:30p.m. Fauteux Hall. Room 147A. Free.
Tuesday, March 3
Saturday, Feb. 28
Film and discussion: The Invisible Nation.
Women’s hockey: Ottawa vs. Carleton. 6 p.m. 6:30 p.m. Library and Archives Canada
Sports Complex. $4 for students. Auditorium. 395 Wellington St. Free.
Men’s basketball: Ottawa vs. Wednesday, March 4
TBD. 8 p.m. Montpetit Hall. $6 for students.
Concert: James Calkin on the organ.
12:15 p.m. First Baptist Church Ottawa.
140 Laurier Ave. $5.
sudoku answers on p. 21
If you’re reading this, you have the attention to detail
we need in our proofreaders.
Come to 631 King Edward on Tuesday evenings to
keep the Fulcrum error-free.
Sarah Leavitt
Features Editor
features@thefulcrum.ca
Dear Di If you have a question for Di,
email deardi@thefulcrum.ca.
Dear Di,
I am wondering what your views are on sex
before marriage. I recently read Jason Evert’s
If You Really Loved Me: 100 Questions on Dat-
ing, Relationships, and Sexual Purity. Pre-
marital sex was one of the subjects that was
discussed in the book, and it gave numerous
reasons against having sex before marriage.
According to the book, couples who
did not have sex before marriage or
live together prior to marriage, were
generally happier and had significantly lower
divorce rates than those couples who did have
sex prior to marriage. I happen to agree with
the book and its sources, because the reasons
stated make sense. There is also some other in-
formation that I came across that I am hoping
that you will relay to your readers. Apparently
condoms have little to no protection against
STIs whatsoever, and women are more suscep-
tible to STIs than men, regardless of whether
protection is being used or not. They were
originally designed to only ensure women
don’t get pregnant; the whole concept of con-
doms protecting against STIs was started after
STIs became a major health concern, mostly
just to keep sales up.
—Arc
Dear A,
First let me address the information on pre-
marital sex that your book offers, mainly the
idea that premarital sex is a risk factor for un-
happy marriages and divorce. It is true that stud-
ies conducted in the late 1980s and early 1990s
found a correlation between premarital sex and
divorce rates. However, to quote my psychology
professor, “correlation does not equal causation”.
Factors related to the choice to abstain from sex
until marriage—such as religiosity, culture, and
family background—also influence a person’s
perception of what marital satisfaction is and
the likelihood that they will pursue divorce. So
my opinion, in opposition to the book’s, is that
it’s mostly a person’s background, rather than
when they first had sex, really predicts what will
happen to their marriage.
As for my views on premarital sex, I think
it is a personal choice. However, where some
people might see premarital sex as taking a
bite out of the apple before you really should,
I view it as ensuring you have the apple that is
right for you. Although not often discussed, one
of the top causes of marital problems is sexual
incompatibility. In my opinion, taking a bite out
of the right apple will just lead to more of the
same apple, and taking a bite out of the wrong
one ensures that you don’t end up with a rotten
marriage.
The Thryllabus needs lots of events to remain so thrilling.
Email features@thefulcrum.ca with suggestions.
26
No mat-
ter whose apple
you’re munching on or when you’re
doing it, I absolutely agree that it is
always important to protect yourself
and get tested regularly. While absti-
nence is the only way to ensure you don’t
wind up with something freaky going on down
there, condoms really are the next best thing.
They are not 100 per cent guaranteed, but
stringent tests are applied to ensure that they
provide an effective barrier to various STIs. It
is true that when not using condoms, women
are eight times more likely than men to con-
tract an STI. However, the idea that women are
more at risk when using condoms is a myth.
Women are put in a difficult position because,
unless they are using female condoms (which
are more difficult to use and much less com-
fortable), the man is responsible for wearing
the condom (and wearing it properly!). This
may be where the myth originated from, but
make no mistake: if you are properly using a
latex condom sold for the purpose of prevent-
ing STIs, you and your lady will be equally well
protected.
I hope that covers all the bases, Arc. Thanks
for the challenge—I had to do my research on
this one.
Love,
Di
Dear Di,
I’ve always wondered what it’s like to have
sex in space!
—Ahole-o 13
Dear A13,
Um, I’m a sexpert, not an astronaut, but I as-
sume having sex in space would be like having
sex on earth, but without gravity. So… it would
be about a hundred times harder to get it in and
keep it in. Actually, now that you mention it, I
wonder what getting boinked in the T-square
position would be like... Listen, the only real
way to answer your question (actually, it’s not
really a question) is to try the ol’ space-sex thing
out. Personally, I don’t see NASA in my future,
but if it’s in yours, by all means, email me if you
do the zero-gravity bump and grind and we’ll
share the experience with everyone. For brown-
ie points, film it and upload it to XTube for all
of us to see!
Love,
Di
 27
Editorial
f Embracing the
Invading your space
since 1942.
simpler times
Volume 69 - Issue 22
Feb. 26–March 4, 2009
phone: (613) 562-5261
fax: (613) 562-5259
631 King Edward Ave.
Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5
editor@thefulcrum.ca
www.thefulcrum.ca
Recycle this paper or
you’ll be player 2.
Staff
Frank ‘duke nukem’ Appleyard
Editor-in-Chief
editor@thefulcrum.ca
Ben ‘mega-man’ Myers
Production Manager
production@thefulcrum.ca
Michael ‘pac-man’ Olender
Executive Editor
executive@thefulcrum.ca
Martha ‘tails’ Pearce
Art Director
design@thefulcrum.ca
Emma ‘princess peach’ Godmere
News Editor
news@thefulcrum.ca
Peter ‘dogmeat’ Henderson
Arts & Culture Editor
arts@thefulcrum.ca
David ‘gordon freeman’ McClelland
Sports Editor
sports@thefulcrum.ca
Sarah ‘bomberman’ Leavitt
Features Editor
features@thefulcrum.ca
Danielle ‘dr. mario’ Blab
Laurel ‘baby peach’ Hogan
Copy Editors
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Associate News Editor
associatenews@thefulcrum.ca
James ‘cloud’ Edwards
Webmaster
webmaster@thefulcrum.ca
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Volunteer & Visibility
Coordinator
volunteer@thefulcrum.ca
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Staff Writer
Alex ‘crash bandicoot’ Martin
Staff Illustrator
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Ombudsboy
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Staff Proofreader
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On-campus Distributor
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Advertising Representative
ads@thefulcrum.ca
Ross ‘bowser’ Prusakowski
Business Manager
business.manager@thefulcrum.ca
Frank Appleyard
Feb. 26–March 4, 2009
Editor-in-Chief
editor@thefulcrum.ca
W
HEN YOU STOP to think about
it, life is really just one big play-
ground. You start out crawling
and stumbling from see-saws to
slides as a toddler, play kickball and hopscotch
in your elementary schoolyards, and explore the
basement parties and cafeteria dances of your
high-school playground. Regardless of the play-
ground we found ourselves skipping through
as children, we were moulded by our teachers
and parents, who instilled in us the values that
we need to be successful, happy, and ‘good’ in
our lives: sharing, being compassionate, and re-
membering to have a little fun every now and
then.
However, it seems that these principles—
which we are taught to clutch so tightly as
children—simply flutter away once we reach the
lecture halls and midterms that comprise our
university playground.
This shift is easy to understand. In university
the stakes are much higher, and the responsibili-
ties all the more heady. We are on our own in
the world for the first time, striving for grades
that will determine our careers, competing for
illustration by Devin A. Beauregard
high-profile positions, engaging in complex de-
bates, and worrying about whether paying rent something in your life? mother would really like that.
will mean not eating this week. Pretty serious When was the last time you painted? With Lastly, in kindergarten we are all taught
stuff. In attempting to juggle the responsibilities your fingers? While pumping out essays and lab the importance of sharing with others. But
and priorities that have come to define the som- reports, we often forget to exercise the right side unfortunately the individualism of university
bre nature of studenthood, we all too easily for- of our brains or our oft-neglected hearts and life casts this ideal aside. If you have food,
get the values and carefree outlook that defined hamstrings. Pick up a paintbrush, write a short drink, or toys to spare, share. Not everyone
our past playground days. story, shoot some hoops with your friends— at the U of O has a few extra bucks in their
An article on p. 24 of this issue finds students hell, go to Zaphod’s for a dance. Engaging in art pockets, and in the rush to get work done
reminiscing about those simpler times. Where and sports is relaxing—give your mind and your sometimes eating, drinking, and having fun
responsibility meant remembering where you body some fun between essays and lab reports, falls by the wayside. If you have the means,
left your coat, or not spilling apple juice on or you might be in danger of burning out before consider inviting friends over for spaghetti
the annoying kid in class. Where the biggest your undergraduate years are up. and baguettes. Buy a case of Moosehead and
concerns in our days were counting down the Resolving fights in elementary school was so treat friends you haven’t seen lately. Not ev-
minutes to recess, and praying that we didn’t get simple. A teacher would offer some wise words eryone has an Xbox, so invite people over for
bologna for lunch again. and reveal the pettiness of the dispute. But in a deathmatch now and then.
Compare these memories to the snapshot of university we have no such mediation. If you’ve Fundamentally, university is a thin slice of
the campus found in this issue, which includes burned bridges over silly squabbles, it’s time to life in between childhood and adulthood, where
a controversial election appeal, debates over make up. Apologize to the girlfriend you broke students spend more time leaning towards the
academic freedom, and limitations on freedom up with over MSN Messenger. If you aren’t talk- latter with unfailing frequency. We can all ben-
of expression. All of this comes as we study for ing with friends over a Rock Band breakup, call efit from occasionally reconnecting with our in-
midterms and write term papers equal in length them up for a jam session. Ask yourself exactly ner eight-year-old and remembering how much
to War and Peace. It’s difficult to spot anything why you are so at odds with someone in your fun—yes, fun—the university playground can
resembling a carefree existence in university. life—and if the conflict is truly worthwhile. And be.
So ask yourself—and answer honestly—when if things are strained with your parents, think
was the last time you weren’t stressed about about calling them once or twice a week. Your editor@thefulcrum.ca
Contributors
Devin ‘solid snake’ A. Beauregard Artur ‘frogger’ Paliga
Dave ‘companion cube’ Atkinson Anna ‘raiden’ Rocoski
David ‘starfox’ Davidson Nigel ‘mii’ Smith
Des ‘tommy vercetti’ Fisher Nick ‘kirby’ Taylor-Vaisey Cover by
Andrew ‘sub-zero’ Hawley Amlake ‘master chief’ Tedla-Digaf
Jaclyn ‘ratchet’ Lytle
Alex Martin