News 2 Biz/Tech 3 Opinion 4 Life 4-5 A&E 6 Editorial 7 Sports 8

NEWS

EDGETutankhamun:

The Golden King

Nov. 24,Art Gallery of

Ontario

Bloor Street Entertains

Nov. 25 Various Loca-tions on Bloor/

Yorkville

Humber’s Got Talent - Finals

Nov. 25 - NoonStudent Centre

Movember Gala Parté

Nov. 256 pm - 9 pm

Guelph-Hum-ber Art Gallery

Children’s Aid JJ Bear SalesNov. 25 & 267 am to 7 pmBloor-Yonge

Station

GAP Adventures

LectureNov. 263:30 pm

Student CentreTravel and

Tourism Club

One of a Kind Christmas Craft

ShowNov. 26-28

Direct Energy Centre

University of Guelph Senate

MeetingNov. 30

6 pmGH Lecture

Halls

Humber Pride Club Pizza

PartyNov. 30

7 pmScreening

Room B

HSF PS3Challenge

Dec. 2 - NoonStudent Centre

RADIXThe University of Guelph-Humber

ARTS LIFE SPORTS

THE

Accessibility Issues Kids Art Exhibit Humber’s Got Talent Hawks Nationals Coverage

LAURA FRANKLIN

Canada comes to campus

Monday November 23, 2009

p.8

NEWS 2 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009

RADIXGuelph-Humber

Students are left stranded at GH

LINDSAY BISHOP

Guelph-Humber has been down to one working elevator for most of the semester, making accessi-bility for the entire student popu-lation difficult.

Vanessa Freitas, a fourth-year Media Studies student, recalls the difficulties she experienced in her first-year at GH. She was in a seri-ous car accident that resulted in a broken pelvis and fractured spine. “I didn’t come to school when I was in a wheelchair, but I came back when I started using crutch-es,” she says.

When Freitas returned to cam-pus she quickly discovered the dif-ficulties of getting around. While it was easy to access her first floor classes, when she needed to get to the third floor she was limited to the elevators, which were time-consuming and unreliable.

The ‘out of service’ sign has become a common sight on GH’s elevators. In some instances, both elevators are out of service, and having more than one functioning elevator has become a rarity.

In an effort to address this problem, Guelph-Humber recently held a meeting to discuss possible solutions.

Solutions include first identify-ing students and faculty that need to use the elevator and then setting up a centralized contact system.

“We’re going to come up with a self-reporting mechanism where students will report to someone, facilities or disability services, so that there is someone to central-ize contact information for people who have a mobility issue,” says Catherine Salole, Manager of Stu-dent Life, Career and Alumni Ser-vices.

Currently, students have no

way of knowing when the eleva-tors are down, until they arrive on campus. Solale says a central-ized system would allow students to be contacted before they come to school to warn them about the elevators. If the elevators go down during the day, faculty will be able to locate students in order to find out whether or not they can wait for the elevators to be repaired.

Solale suggested a commu-nication system similar to one used during lockdowns as an op-

tion. An automatic text or e-mail would be sent out to students that have self-identified themselves as requiring use of the elevators.

An improved communica-tion system is key in improv-ing accessibility standards for customer service, which must be completed by the end of the year according to Njeri Damali Campbell, Human Rights and Diversity advisor at Humber.

A secondary issue that was addressed included the response time of the elevator company.

Presently, if an elevator is down and there is no one trapped in the elevator, the response time is long. In order to reduce the wait-ing time to one hour, it was de-cided that if GH were down to no working elevators it would be re-ported as an entrapment. While someone may not be trapped in the elevator, a student may be trapped on a floor.

GH will continue to rely heavily on elevators for those with mobility issues.

“Guelph-Humber will have academic accommodations, we can set up a temporary space on first floor, perhaps [students can] even participate in their class with a web cam,” suggests So-lale.

Transportation options for students with mobility issues are also a concern. At present, when problems arise at school, such as a canceled class or out of service elevators, they are unable to im-mediately leave campus since services like Wheel-Trans are scheduled.

GH hopes to eliminate this inconvenience by obtaining con-tact information for a transporta-tion company.

Although the elevators remain unpredictable and slow, most stu-dents with mobility issues seem to be adjusted.

GH, along with the province of Ontario, will work to break down all barriers before 2025 under the Accessibility for On-tarians with Disabilities Act.

Automatic texting

and e-mail systems

expands accessibility

for GH students

Lindsay BishopGuelph-Humber students dependent on the elevators are frustrated with the poor services at the school.

MATT KING

The Guelph-Humber Student As-sociation was unable to meet its budget for semi-formal, resulting in overspending.

The selling out of early bird tickets for a Night on the Red Carpet, severely undercut the amount of profit expected.

The GHSA underestimated the effects of lowering ticket prices for the event. All the tick-ets were sold at the $40 early bird price instead of the original $55 price.

Not only did the venue sell out, but Le Jardin, the banquet facility where the gala was held, charged the GHSA $55 per per-son, according to GHSA Vice President of Operations Macken-zie Cuthbert.

“We wanted to make it the best of all the past years and when we sold out of the early bird tickets it left us with less money” said Cuthbert.

The GHSA had to cover the additional $15 per person be-cause of the popularity of the event.

The student association had to pass the budget despite the over

spending. The problem was that money was spent before it actu-ally came in.

Similar problems have oc-cured with spending on the gala in past years.

Manager of Student Life ca-reer and Alumni Services Cath-erine Salole says, “It is the first time for many of the GHSA members. Faculty is simply here in a supportive role.”

Salole said the Humber Stu-dents’ Federation has a more hands on role with the GHSA and their budget.

Ercole Perrone, the Executive Director of the HSF acts as an advisor for the GHSA and says the whole situation was a lesson learned.

“They had good intentions by offering the early bird tickets but sales left them short of the contract. At the end of the day it is better they use the money than try and bank it for years to come.”

Perrone says that although the GHSA Activities budget has been used up, the rest of their overall budget is still in good shape.

Salole says based on past semi-formals, there was no way to predict the success of the early bird tickets and therefore no way to account for it in the budget.

The semi-formal budget was finalized at just under $8,000, and Cuthbert said the GHSA plans to hold more events re-gardless of the budget.

GHSA galablows the budget

BEN FLIKKEMMA

The Ontario Public Service Em-ployees Union (OPSEU) and part-time workers of Ontario col-leges are battling over whether or not part-timers should be allowed to unionize.

OPSEU says the Ontario gov-ernment is now attempting to stop a union from representing part-time employees at the 24 colleges across the province.

A weeklong vote ended Oct. 27 on the subject to seemingly good reviews according to OP-SEU representatives.

“In my conversations with part-timers on different cam-puses I really didn’t come across people who were negative,” said Nelson Ross Laguna, an OPSEU Campaigns Officer who spent three weeks talking to part-tim-ers about the vote.

Prior to the vote taking place OPSEU representatives went around from college to college getting signatures on member-ship cards in order to force a vote.

But the Ontario College Com-pensation and Appointments Council argues the union did not get the required 35 per cent of part-time workers to sign union membership cards to conduct a valid vote.

Vishita Veerabomma, a second year business student believes a union. “benefits the students so why should it be stopped.”

“They really seemed to push this vote in the beginning,” said Courtney Fisher, a part time worker at Algonquin College. “It really sucks, the results can’t be seen sooner if at all, with how much work went into this.”

The union website, wwww.opseu.org, states “The next main challenge in the part-time support campaign is to get the ballot boxes opened and the votes counted. The ballot boxes are sealed be-cause college lawyers have served notice that they are challenging the union’s application.”

Of approximately 10,000 part time support staff at Ontario col-leges, about 1,500 people voted.

Depending on the outcome of the challenge by the Ontario gov-ernment, the ballots might never be counted.

To stay up to date on this is-sue, continue to check the OPSEU website.

Ontario Government

officials question

unionization vote

Did part-time college workers vote illegally?

Humber to go on strike?

Two weeks ago the Colleges Appointment and Compen-sations Council broke off ne-gotiations with Local 562.

Orville Getz, President of OPSEU 562 which repre-sents Humber’s counsellors, librarians and professors says, “the main issues are workload, wages, benefits and academic freedom.”

However, students are wor-ried about a potential strike. Brett Wimmi, a fourth year Media Studies student says, “it’s frustrating. Next se-mester is my internship and a strike could affect my fu-ture.”

Colleges Ontario proceeded on November 18 with the terms of contract previously offered and rejected by the union.

Local 562 hosted a meeting at noon on Thursday at the Seventh Semester in Hum-ber.

The earliest the union could go on strike would be Decem-ber 21, which is the start of the holiday break.

-Justin Herrington and Tracy Woolcock

3 BIZ/TECHMONDAY NOVEMBER 23, 2009

RADIXGuelph-Humber

ALYSSA OUELETTE

With the release of Microsoft’s new Windows 7 on Oct. 22, us-ers of previous operating systems such as Microsoft’s Vista are

faced with yet another choice. “Basically, Windows 7 is what

Vista should have been,” says Michael Preston, 27, operations manager for Thunderstar Com-munications, an internet service provider in Midland, Ont. and other North American centres.

“They released Vista too early and it really hurt Microsoft so,

they made sure that when they released Windows 7, it was going to be a lot better than Vista,” said Preston.

Kevin Chong, a third-year computing student at the Uni-versity of Guelph-Humber, says “there are many new key/mouse gestures that make using Win-dows 7 even more effi cient.

“Also, effi ciency within the operating system seems a lot cleaner than Vista.”

Yet some Vista fans say they are a little hesitant to make the leap to Windows 7 at such an early stage.

“Vista has new features and is better than Windows XP,” says Sanjay Joshi, third-year Justice

Studies student at Guelph-Hum-ber, speaking of the Microsoft system that preceded Vista.

“It depends on how good the system is, if it’s a lot faster than Windows Vista,” Joshi added. “Then I will switch over [to Win-dows 7.]”

Fans celebrate game release

PEJA BULATOVIC

While it is common to see hun-dreds of Toronto’s youths waiting in line at midnight, some might fi nd it shocking to hear that what they are eagerly waiting is a vid-eo game.

The reality is that nothing short of this could match the hype surrounding the Nov. 10 re-lease of the most recent chapter in the Call of Duty series.

“This will be the number one game this year,” says Ken Laas, manager of EB Games at Yor-kdale Shopping Centre. “I’ve been here selling it every day so I haven’t even had a chance to play it.”

The Yorkdale location was one of several which opened its doors at midnight allowing cus-tomers with pre-orders to get their copy a few hours earlier than the general public.

Laas says that only a “high volume” of pre-sales could war-rant this kind of launch event.

According to Yahoo Finances, on the day of its release, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sold 4.7 million copies generating more than US$310 million of revenue in the United States and Britain.

These totals place the game as the highest-grossing enter-

tainment debut of all time, easily eclipsing even blockbuster mov-ies like The Dark Knight.

Jaime Lazo, a third-year stu-dent at Seneca College, has been a fan of the Call of Duty series for many years and stood in line to buy his copy early that day. He has no doubts that it will live up to the lofty expectations set.

“The main appeal is obviously the series name, but that’s not the reason why [Modern Warfare 2] became so popular,” says Lazo. “High production value, great development and awesome mar-keting all help the game appeal to the mass market.”

The game is available on the Xbox 360, the PS3 and also on PCs, making it one of few fi rst-person shooter games which have not been marketed exclusively to one machine. This ambitious campaign has also led to a sig-nifi cant fl aw.

Lazo had originally planned to purchase the PC version, but as more details were revealed, he quickly realized it was not an op-tion.

Since the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, the de-veloper, Infi nity Ward, has cho-sen to remove dedicated server lists, reduce the maximum player limit and restrict custom modifi -cations for the PC.

To a casual player these changes may be insignifi cant or even unnoticeable, but Lazo says more committed gamers are out-raged.

“Infi nity Ward clearly didn’t

listen to their fan base and went and created a catastrophe for themselves,” says Lazo.

Despite this, he is satisfi ed with the gameplay on the Xbox 360 and agrees with Ken Laas in

that it is the game to buy for this holiday season.

Call of Duty earnsover US$310 million on opening day

Windows introduces new operating system

PEJA BULATOVIC

In the near future, students can expect an alternative to thick, heavy and inconvenient text-books.

In the last several years, there has been a boom in the electron-ic-book reader market with Sony, Amazon, and most recently Barnes and Noble offering the most popular products.

These devices have tradition-ally been aimed at casual readers and not students.

Candice Hayman, a represen-tative of Sony Canada, says that this is all about to change.

“We are anticipating that more and more publishers of educational material will offer electronic content to the market,” says Hayman, “making [e-book readers] invaluable.”

This potentially means replac-ing an entire locker or backpack with a single device.

E-books have traditionally been read on laptops or even on cellphones making them imprac-tical for long study sessions and on-the-go use. Recent innova-tions are making dedicated read-ers a viable option.

Readers are now millimetres thin and weigh next to nothing.

Michael Lieu, a pharmaceutic biological chemistry student at York University, says he would welcome this transition, but is sceptical whether it could replace

a full size book. “How small are the diagrams

going to be on that screen?” asked Lieu when shown the Barnes and Noble reader, the Nook.

Similar sentiments are shared by many students who are accus-tomed to reading from standard sized paper but developers are aware of this hurdle.

The most recent wave of e-book readers come with ten-inch screens while maintaining their light weight and mobility.

Lieu says he is impressed by this prospect, but he warns that a device like this cannot substitute for focused, careful reading.

“If you studied hard before, then you will study hard [from a reader],” he says. “But if you can’t study hard now, then this thing isn’t going to help.”

Peja Bulatovic

Students soon can access their textbooks electronically via e-readers.

Peja Bulatovic

Modern Warfare 2, the most recent game in the series, is available on the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Students can look forward to a lighter backpackTextbooks will soon be available on electronic devices

Microsoft off ers an update to Vista

BIZ-TECH issue3page3 2009.indd 1 11/20/09 11:15 AM

LIFE/OPINION 4 MONDAY NOVEMBER 23, 2009

RADIXGuelph-Humber

Swine flu isn’t the end of the world

I had the swine flu. I survived. That may seem harsh but with

the overhyped media coverage of the H1N1 influenza virus, it’s a startling fact to some.

After being released from my own quarantine eight pounds lighter, I slipped back into soci-ety. Anytime someone heard I had the swine flu they looked at me as if I was a walking miracle. Kind of an odd feeling for only being out of commission for a week.

Rewind seven days earlier. Having put in a full eight-hour work day before noon, I waited at the CBC Sports elevator read-ing the H1N1 posters plastered on the walls. Absent-mindedly hand sanitizing as I left the building, I

began to sense that horrible feel-ing that my body was about to ex-perience strep throat once again.

Within the time I got home and made it over to the walk-in clinic, I was significantly feeling worse. After sitting in the un-comfortable waiting room chairs for three hours, surrounded by fellow patients in medical masks, it was finally my turn to see the only doctor on staff that day.

I spent less than three minutes with the doctor. After barely telling the tall blonde woman in front of me my symptoms, she decided it wasn’t too clear what I had but she’d prescribe me peni-cillin even though “it may not do anything” for me.

By the end of the evening, I definitely knew I didn’t have strep throat. Of course, being as lucky as I am, I developed every delightful symptom for swine flu. Fever of 102 degrees, nausea, chills, aching muscles, runny nose and a headache had devel-

oped along with my already sore throat. The sore throat worsened through the night into a full-fledged hacking-up-a-lung type of cough.

After a second three hour wait, at another Lysol wipe-smelling

walk-in clinic, I was prescribed the antiviral drug Tamiflu and amoxicillin for the H1N1 virus.

Seven days later, most of the symptoms were gone except for the fatigue and bronchitis-like cough that lasted another week.

I’ve told this story a hundred times and answered the same questions, “Were you scared?” or my personal favourite, “Would you recommend the vaccine?”

I wasn’t worried because from my journalistic training, I was informed that all the fatalities involved with the swine flu had underlying medical conditions. I was just annoyed at the fact I was stuck watching re-runs of Every-body Loves Raymond while my mountain of responsibilities piled up.

As for the vaccine, after look-ing up the ingredients I would never recommend it to anybody. The H1N1 dose contains a hotdog mixture of formaldehyde, which is used to preserve dead bodies, and mercury which negatively af-fects every bodily system.

My answers are simple. No, I wasn’t scared; and no, I wouldn’t recommend the vaccine. I’m still standing after my encounter with the swine flu.

Student Services/Marketing & Communications

Humber ITAL promotes prevention against the H1N1 virus.

ELISHA ALLENSEN AND LISA MURRAY

Dave Parsons, a Resident As-sistant at North Humber, smiles – his thick bristly moustache following along with his lips. While normally clean-shaven, Parsons likes his moustache. “It’s just fun to grow it out,” Parsons says, “I’m fortunate enough to be able to grow some-thing substantial.”

While touching the rough bristles on his face, Parsons says he plans to keep his ‘stache around for a while to experiment with different styles. However, he does not wear it just for the style itself, but for something much more substantial.

November, also known as Mo-vember, is the month of prostate cancer awareness. Men sport moustaches in an effort to raise money and awareness for pros-tate cancer.

A Gala Parté for Movember will be held on Nov. 25 from 6:00 until 9:00 p.m. in the Guelph-Humber Art Gallery.

Jenn Thomas, a fourth year Business Student, is co-head of the Movember fes-tivities at Guelph-Humber. “We really wanted to do a fundraiser charity event,” says Thomas. “All the artwork that will be at the event is done by the Image Arts students from Guelph-Humber and it’s all going to be moustache themed.

“Gifts and prizes will be given for the best moustaches, the worst moustaches, and the most cre-ative moustaches. There are also

prizes for the Mo Sister, which is a girl who has a boyfriend who is growing a moustache.”

Thomas also says the event will be sponsored by Boston Piz-za, which will be providing free food for all who attend.

Matt Mattucci, fourth year Business student and co-head of Movember Festivities, says the idea for the event was devel-oped out of a class assignment. “It started as an event manage-ment group class,” Mattucci says, “It’s a fourth year class. You have to do an event. So we were try-ing to figure out an idea for No-vember or early December. We figured we would talk to the head of Media [Studies].

“We asked, what about doing something different this year, like a charity? And it just popped up. Prostate cancer, November: there’s an idea.”

Mattucci says Movember is important as prostate cancer af-fects one in six men.

With her own medical history, Thomas knows the importance of cancer awareness.

“I’m a cancer survivor,” Thomas says. “So I just think it’s very important that we get a lot of the post-secondary com-munity and student commu-nity involved in stuff like this because you never know when something is going to affect you.” Thomas says students can get involved with Movember by growing a moustache or col-lecting donations. She also en-courages everyone to come out to the Movember Gala Parté. In the meantime, participants can enjoy their ‘staches.

Parsons is having fun with his. “I’ve got some compliments about the stache,” Parsons says. “I’m just enjoying it. It’s a guy bonding thing. Guys just say, ‘hey, nice stache! Nice Movem-ber!’

“It’s like a symbol for raising awareness and everybody can see it. It’s just right there.”

November is prostate cancer awareness month

At this time of year, many students are fundraising for

charity as class projects in pro-grams like business and public relations. Bake sales are a popu-lar way to fundraise, mixing sug-ary foods with a great cause.

The Student Centre at Humber College is continually lined with students selling brownies, cook-ies, and cupcakes. As I work for the Humber Students’ Federa-tion, I pass through the cafeteria and Student Centre almost daily.

And this year, I haven’t bought so much as a single cookie there.

As a vegan, I don’t eat any ani-mal byproducts; this applies not only to meat, but to eggs, dairy, and honey as well.

Most baked goods recipes call for butter, eggs, or milk, making them unsuitable for vegan con-noisseurs.

As president of the Humber Vegan and Vegetarian Society, I know I’m not the only vegan on campus and I’m certainly not the only vegetarian.

At every bake sale I see, I always make the point to ask if anything vegan is available. I’ve received a myriad of responses from sellers ranging from an out-right ‘no’ to students asking me what a vegan is.

Needless to say, this is dis-appointing. I enjoy cookies and cupcakes as much as anyone else. Instead of buying premade or

store-bought desserts, I settle for baking my own.

Contrary to popular belief, vegan baking doesn’t need to be complicated and doesn’t need to suck. Milk, butter, and even eggs can be easily substituted with plant-based ingredients.

Milk becomes soy, almond, or rice milk; butter becomes vegan margarine or vegetable oil; and eggs can become bananas, crushed flax seeds, vinegar and baking soda, or omitted altogeth-er depending on the recipe.

In my three years at Guelph-Humber, I have seen two bake sales with vegan options. One was done last year by Image Arts students fundraising to go to New York. The other was done a couple weeks ago by students fundraising on behalf of the Clean Train Coalition.

Two of the students had thought to prepare vegan cook-ies, cupcakes, and brownies. I bought several cookies from the Image Arts sale and $17 worth of brownies and cupcakes (to share) from the Clean Train Coalition group.

So I challenge would-be sell-ers of baked goods to offer at least one vegan-friendly item on their table this year. Keep in mind that vegan-friendly baked goods can be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of diet.

If I see vegan baked goods be-ing sold, I promise - as a passion-ate vegan - to make it worth the sellers’ efforts by buying several of what’s offered.

Vegan BrowniesMix in a bowl: 2 cups all pur-

pose flour + 2 cups white sugar + ¾ cup cocoa powder + 1 tsp bak-ing powder + 1 tsp salt

Add: 1 cup water + 1 cup veg-etable oil + 1 tsp vanilla

Mix it all up and bake at 350*F for 25-30 minutes in a 9x13” pan.

Bake until top is no longer shiny and toothpick comes out clean.

Elisha Allensen

Guelph-Humber and Humber students show off their budding mustaches.

Vegan baking: not that hard

Men grow moustaches for charity

STEPHANIEBUTLER

“It’s just fun to

grow it out.”

KATIEMYHALUK

5 LIFEMONDAY NOVEMBER 23, 2009

RADIXGuelph-Humber

Procrastination issues looming

LINDSAY BISHOP

When it comes time to work on that big assignment, students are quick to find something better to do: clean the house, visit the laundromat or watch a marathon of The Hills.

They vow to work tirelessly later but later never shows up. They also promise themselves—while pulling another all-night-er—that next time will be differ-ent.

“Every semester students say the same thing [that they will change]. And I identify that as the single biggest time waster,” says Joe Varamo, University of Guelph-Humber Program Advi-sor for Early Childhood, Family and Community Social Services and Psychology.

Varamo recently conducted a workshop on procrastination as part of the P.O.W.E.R (Prepara-tion, Organization, Work, Evalu-ate, Rethink) to succeed series.

There are two reasons people procrastinate, he says.. One, the

task is too annoying or insignifi-cant or two, the task is too dif-ficult.

There are three different types of procrastinators: the relaxed type, the genius type, and the avoider type (see sidebar).

In his workshop, Varamo identifies common traps that stu-dents fall into, including allow-ing themselves to become over-

whelmed by the semester, rather than breaking tasks down into smaller sub-sets and managing priorities.

“Somewhere along the lines they’ve got the tools and they’ve got the assets, it’s just keeping on it,” he says.

Tharaina Pushpapala, a fourth-year Justice Studies stu-dent, attended one of the work-

shops in her first year but ulti-mately found that one strategy does not fit all.

“Everyone’s lifestyle is differ-ent,” she says.

Varamo agrees that every stu-dent has a different strategy for managing their time. Some pre-fer lists while others are more apt to use their electronic agendas.

Husnia Hassib, also a fourth-year Justice Studies student, uti-lizes several methods. She likes to use a calendar and organize her assignments on a piece of pa-per in the order of their respec-tive due dates.

Both Pushpapala and her friend Hassib agree that while they are able to stay on top of their academic priorities, their personal life often shifts to the back burner.

“In order to get something, you have to sacrifice something,” says Hassib.

Both friends admit that while there is less time for family, their parents are understanding and supportive.

Balance is key in managing time and reducing the effects of procrastination including stress, depression and a sense of guilt. By recognizing bad habits and identifying priorities, students can slowly scale back on all-nighters and empty resolutions.

With exams on the horizon, students resort to their last-minute ways

Lindsay Bishop

Making lists and prioritizing can help decrease stress and increase productivity.

Which one are you?The relaxed type makes up 98 per cent of the popula-tion. They intentionally avoid situations that might cause displeasure, indulging instead in more enjoyable tasks.

The genius type usually cares about the task that needs to be done but waits until the last minute to com-plete it. They claim to work best under pressure.

The avoider type are those who have big dreams but are unrealistic with their time. This makes them feel under pressure, and disap-pointed. Perfectionists tend to fall under this category.

SARAH DOKTORDAYNA BRUBAKER

This January, garbage bags filled with wrapping paper, bows, and cards, will fill landfills across the country. ‘Tis the season for eco-friendly gift wrapping.

There are many ways students can enjoy greener holiday gifts including getting creative with do-it-yourself gift-wrap.

“What me and my brother started doing was using newspa-per [to wrap] and other scraps to make cards,” says Natalie Mon-astero, third-year Early Child-hood student at University of Guelph-Humber.

Monastero also recommends saving the nice wrapping paper from gifts you receive to re-use next year.

Instead of newspaper, try us-ing maps, magazines, comics, brown package paper or any oth-er paper you can find at home.

Natalie Kuszper, third-year Justices Studies student, consid-ers eco-friendly gift wrap to be “very important” as gift wrap “only lasts a couple days and then goes straight to the garbage.”

Jill Reigh, Communications Manager with Professional Re-cyclers of Pennsylvania, sug-

gests taking the time to look for recycled wrapping paper or using items you’ve already bought.

“Use wrapping paper scraps, old, or extra Christmas cards for tags on gifts. It puts to use things that would probably get thrown out otherwise” explains Reigh.

There are many companies that sell eco-friendly paper.

“We always recommend peo-ple use recycled and recyclable products,” says Rick Smith, pres-ident of the Green Field Paper Company which sells eco-friend-ly paper supplies.

“So many of the holiday prod-ucts contain glitters and metallic based inks that are bad for the en-vironment when made and prove difficult to recycle,” he adds.

“Breaking down and recycling packaging from toys and gifts is a simple but effective way to stay green during the holidays” says Reigh.

Nicole Gibbs, a second-year psychology student, says she hasn’t tried any eco-friendly wrapping ideas but would con-sider it this year.

Save money, save the planet

Dayna Brubaker

ELISHA ALLENSEN

Many gathered last week to wit-ness students’ many performanc-es at Humber’s Got Talent.

“We’ve done things like Hum-ber Idol, but we’ve never done a wide open kind of Humber’s Got Talent,” says Aaron Miller, Di-rector of Programming at Hum-ber Students’ Federation.“I think it’s really cool because every-body who has any kind of talent can participate rather than just singing.”

Miller says the show, which featured acts from juggling to skill with numbers, was inspired by the need to get more students coming to HSF events.

“It’s just a matter of trying to get as many students involved ob-viously on campus,” Miller says. “There’s so many talented stu-dents out there and a lot of times we don’t even get to see some of their talents.

“They don’t have opportuni-ties to participate in events so this will be one of those times where they can get out and actu-ally strut their stuff a little bit.”

Guelph-Humber Student Life Coordinator, Liana Acri, spoke about the benefits of having both the Lakeshore and North cam-puses participate in the competi-

tion together.“It’s nice to find a way to tie

the two campuses together. It might also create a little inter-campus competition which can also be fun and healthy,” says Acri.

The Humber’s Got Talent pre-liminaries had a big audience. Students crammed themselves into the cafeteria and Student Center to watch the performers.

“Not every day you have a per-formance going on at the school. It’s also more personal, more relative because it’s students at the school. People want to see what they have to offer. You get a chance to see people sing and dance and whatever else,” says Tanya Tulloch.

Students had the opportu-nity to display a variety of dif-

ferent talents. However fourth year Guelph-Humber Business student, Peter Howe, said there could have been more diversity.

“Too many went for the sing-ing thing and I’m wondering why,” Howe said of the perform-ers. “I wish there had been more variety. I was hoping for at least one crazy flipping ninja or some-thing. I had jokingly said before, ‘this isn’t the MuchMusic count-down.’”

Howe’s act for the competition was demonstrating his ability to figure out what day of the week a specific date lies on. He did not make it to the finals.

Those who did will be per-forming on Nov. 25 at the Hum-ber Student Center where they will have a chance to win a cash prize of up to $1,000.

New competition

brings together

Humber North and

Lakeshore campuses

Students show off their talent

Elisha Allensen

This student juggler contributed to the variety of different preformances.

Radix Online

KELLY SCOTT

Prince Charles and his wife Camilla opened The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair on Friday Nov. 6. The Royal ran from Nov. 6 to 15 at the Exhi-bition Place in downtown To-ronto.

The fair offered different animal venues, many shop booths, and different compe-titions and auctions for the whole family to enjoy.

The most popular events are the horse shows. There are different competitions that are divided up depending the age of the rider, type of horse, and style of competitions.

The event feaures a rodeo which also gains a lot of at-tention from those watching. There are many cowboys and cowgirls who join in the fes-tivities. Some of the shows: eti-quette classes, hunter divisions and show jumping divisions.

Read the rest of Kelly’s story online

www.radixonline.ca

RADIX

Artist: WeezerAlbum: RaditudeSARAH DOKTOR

Weezer’s seventh studio album is a collision of genres that will leave old Weezer fans scratch-ing their heads.

The new album has all of the major musical trends of the year tossed up and mixed with Wee-zer frontman Rivers Cuomo’s unmistakable vocals.

The album features dance hits (reminiscent of Fall Out Boy), a Bollywood flair, a guest rapper, heartfelt lyrics and Wee-zer’s old sense of humour. There is no doubt of the group’s ability to produce catchy tunes you can tap your toe to, but this album doesn’t have the same feel as older Weezer releases.

“(If you’re wondering if I

want you to) I want you to” leaves the listener hopeful that this album will not disappoint. Unfortunately Weezer missed the mark with Raditude, pro-ducing a group of unremarkable tunes.

Raditude, released Novem-ber 3, starts off with four catchy dance-pop inspired tracks. Lil Wayne pops up unexpect-edly on “Can’t Stop Partying”, which no doubt would make the perfect club anthem, but lacks any resemblance to past Weezer hits.

The lyrics in several of the songs sound like something you would expect out of a hormon-al teenager, rather than from a middle-aged married man. Halfway through the album they have a change of heart and revert back to heart strummers; although the simplicity of the lyrics remains.

Some ruminates of the old Weezer can be found on “Put Me Back Together” and “Trip-pin’ Down the Freeway” which both sound the way one would expect the new Weezer album to sound, but are not fantastic tracks. “Love is The Answer” is the Jai Ho inspired curveball that confuses more than it ex-cites the listener.

Interscope Records

ARTS 6 MONDAY NOVEMBER 23, 2009Guelph-Humber

Kids Art Exhibit a success

ELISHA ALLENSEN

For Sarah Turner, the mounting of the Kids Art Exhibit at the University of Guelph-Humber was the realization of a proj-ect she and her classmates had planned for six months.

The art exhibit was held on October 28 and featured New-foundland children’s artist Jen-nifer Eliot. Eliot’s art was sold to raise money for the Toronto Make-A-Wish Foundation. Kids, parents, and students attended the event for face painting, crafts, and food.

Beside the event festivities, Nidia Massé stood next to a piece of art in the gallery – her face displaying a humbling smile and her eyes beginning to tear. For her, the event held a more serious meaning.

Massé’s young daughter, Meghan, was diagnosed with dystonic cerebral palsy at a young age. Cerebral palsy is a chronic disorder that affects motor skills as well as muscle development and tone. Dystonia causes the

individual to experience pain-ful muscle contractions, as well as twisting and repetitive move-ments.

Massé was invited to the Kids Art Exhibit to speak about her daughter and her experience with the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Massé talked about why events like the Kids Arts Exhibit are im-portant.

“I think they are important to bring awareness to the communi-ty for these wishes to come true for children,” Massé said.

“My little girl has dystonic cerebral palsy and I know the daily struggles I have with her. They granted our wish and I am eternally grateful because we wouldn’t have had that opportu-

nity otherwise.” First year Humber student

Adam Czich also talked about the event’s importance.

“It’s helping kids with wish-es,” Czich said. “I love wishes.”

Aside from the awareness raised for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a silent auction, featuring artist Jennifer Elliot’s work, was set up to raise funds.

Organizer Sarah Turner, talk-ed about what she hoped the out-

come of the event would be. “We just want a lot of people

to attend and raise a lot of money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and just have a good time.”

Some of the art at the event in-cluded colorful canvases of car-toon-like bumblebees and flow-ers. Other canvases contained cartoon versions of different animals and bugs. Elliot talked about what inspired her to create children’s art.

“I had always wanted to be a children’s writer,” Elliot said. “At some point painting took over and writing ...took a back seat.”

She also spoke about why it is important to involve children with art.

“I think that, for children, an early exposure to art really builds a foundation for the imagina-tion.”

Through sales accumulated by the silent auction, the Kids Arts Exhibit was able to raise $677.82 for the Toronto Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Fourth year Guelph-Humber student Vivian Ho was one of the students who helped put on the event.

“All the money here is going to the cause that once went to-wards [Massé’s] daughter.”

“I think she was really happy with that because she gets to know that other children out there are being supported through an organization like Make-A-Wish.”

Benefit event for

Make-a-Wish

Foundation raises

almost $700

Vivian Ho

Nidia Massé speaks about the importance of the Make-A-Wish Foundation

LISA MURRAY

Up and coming Canadian author Miriam Toews has achieved a lot through out her writing ca-reer. She has written five novels so far: Summer of My Amazing Luck, A Boy of Good Breeding, Swing Low: A Life, A Compli-cated Kindness, and The Flying Troutmans.

Her books have been well re-ceived by the public, as she has taken home several awards includ-ing the Governors General Award for A Complicated Kindness.

Madeline McCrie, University of Waterloo co-op student and head of Guelph-Humber’s Book Club, says Toews “has had lots of success and I’m sure her success is just going to grow.”

On November 9 Guelph-Hum-ber’s Writing Center held a book reading with Toews. The event was held in the Seventh Semester room at noon and lasted for about an hour and a half. Students who attended were able to meet the author, ask questions, get her autograph, and listen to her read from chapter 13 of her newest

book, The Flying Troutman. McCrie says that it is exciting

to meet Toews in person. “When you read a book you hear the per-son, but you don’t really know what they’re like, so just to see what they’re like.”

Before reading from The Fly-ing Troutman, Toews gave a brief explanation of what it was about. “It’s a road trip story and it’s about a young woman in her 20’s. Her name is Hattie, and she gets a call from her 11-year-old niece,

named Thebes. “[She] is asking Hattie to

come take care of them because their mother, Hattie’s older sister, named Min, has had a complete mental breakdown. [She] is com-pletely incapacitated by mental illness, [and] needs to be hospi-talized.

“So, Hattie comes back and stuff happens and she decides that she’s going to go on the road in search of the kid’s father, be-

cause she feels like she can’t take care of the kids.”

Toews handled herself profes-sionally at the reading, as she was asked several questions regarding her writing process; one of them being about character names. “I love making names, you know, I always have to sort of tone down my original, I just love names…that’s one of the great things of having kids is being able to name them.”

She expressed joy to her fans and came with a smile and a sense of humour. “She’s really down to earth, like her writing is really good, its really accessible, its very interesting, and she’s young, she’s very nice and she’s very success-ful,” says McCrie.

Toews gave a piece of advice to students who had a passion for writing, telling them to not ex-clude any aspect of the profession.

“Over time I think you see, you realize what feels best, what feels most comfortable, most natural and go with that.”

Toews was born in Manitoba in 1964. She attended the Univer-sity of Kings College and gradu-ated with a bachelor of journal-ism. She has a vast knowledge of the writing industry; publishing both fiction and non-fiction works in novels, memoirs, magazines, newspaper, and radio.

GH Book Club hosts

Canadian author

Novelist Miriam Toews reads at Guelph-Humber

“One of the great

things of having

kids is being able

to name them”

CD review: Raditude disappoints fans

Kelly Scott

“It’s helping kids

with wishes.”

7 EDITORIALMONDAY NOVEMBER 23, 2009

RADIXGuelph-Humber

EDITOR IN CHIEFMelissa Doyle

MANAGING EDITORSStephanie Butler

Devon McLean

PRODUCTION EDITORKlara Spanjevic

PHOTO EDITORKlara Spanjevic

ART DIRECTORKatie Myhaluk

NEWSJustin HerringtonTracy Woolcock

LIFEOlena Protsiv

Alexandra Works

BIZ/TECHVanessa Wojtala

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENTTyler MunroErin Kann

SPORTSJesse MaidaKyle Brazeau

FACULTY ADVISORSSalem Alaton

Pierre HamiltonKimberley Noble

RadiX

The holidays: a time to rethink gifts

As exams end and the holi-day season falls upon us,

students are now faced with the daunting task of finding those “perfect gifts.”

For many of us, it’s a difficult balancing act between cost and what we’d like to buy for our loved ones.

In this economy we’d like to find the best value for our dol-lar. Something that will not just be an idle trinket, but may prove useful and make a difference.

Retailers have found a way to sell us that gift.

The solution is ethical and fair trade goods.

Ethical and fair trade goods are part of a new buying trend, called ethical consumerism.

Ethical consumerism is the consumption of goods that were created without the harm or ex-ploitation of humans, animals or the environment.

We’ve seen these kinds of products everywhere.

It’s those fair-trade coffee beans from Rwanda in your Starbuck’s coffee, or those en-vironmentally friendly cotton fibres in your Gap sweater.

They’re the ultimate make-you-feel-warm-inside gift, and who wouldn’t want to give one for the holidays?

As many of us are aware, the gift says a lot about the giver.

This is why people don’t want

to give “cheap” gifts, or why we might be considering an “ethi-cal” gift in the first place.

By giving an ethical gift we show that we are conscientious about the welfare of our world, and that we want to share some of that care with the people we’re giving presents to.

So what a gift represents and how it is made can be as impor-tant as the gift itself. Wouldn’t it naturally follow that the way a gift is consumed is just as im-portant?

If a gift results in waste pa-per wrapping and packaging, consumes more energy than is necessary, and causes us to pur-chase something we don’t need in the first place, maybe we should give something that does not compromise our ethical be-liefs.

If we really want to give sentiment, an ethic, or a better world for the holidays, maybe we shouldn’t limit ourselves to what we can buy.

Give your loved ones the change in the world that you wish were possible. Instead of encouraging unnecessary con-sumption, become a producer. Commit to volunteering an al-lotted number of hours at a local homeless shelter, and have your commitment be the gift that you give this holiday.

Not only would this be a gift not resulting in waste, it shows that you care enough about is-sues that affect your loved ones, and your community, that you are willing to try to make a dif-ference. Additionally, this kind of gift can be budget friendly for students in this economy.

Giving of one’s self is the most sincere gift that can be giv-en. Besides, it’s the thought that counts.

This holiday season

students should

consider giving in all

its senses

We asked you...Will you consider buying eco-friendly gifts this holiday season?

Corey MaloneFirst-year Culinary Management (Humber)

“Usually my gifts aren’t really stuff that deals with the ecosystem.”

William DiFruscioFirst-year Kinesiology

“Yes I would because I try to recycle and stuff.”

Deanna FranceschettiSecond-year Kinesiology

“Yeah, I’m an environmentalist-type freak.”

Raadiyah NazeemFourth-year Early Childhood

“Yes, I would. I plan on making a lot of gifts rather than going out and buying stuff.”

Christopher KellySecond-year Culinary Management (Humber)

“Sure, seems like a good idea.”

executive.radix@gmail.comwww.radixonline.ca

Cartoon by Stephanie Butler

They’re the

ultimate make-

you-feel-warm-

inside gift.

SPORTS 8 MONDAY NOVEMBER 23, 2009

RADIXGuelph-Humber

AMANDA SMITH

The passion, desire and drive were all there, but in the end it was simply not enough to win.

The women’s varsity soccer team concluded its season with a bronze medal finish in Provin-cials and a fifth place finish at Nationals.

Team coach Vince Pileggi says that nerves and pressure fi-nally got to the girls.

“We didn’t play our game,” Pileggi says of the results at Pro-vincials. “It was the first time we were down all year. We weren’t able to get that goal we needed for overtime.”

Melissa Migliazza, who plays for the Hawks, calls the Provin-cials result unfortunate.

“There is disappointment,” she says. “It’s unlucky. We couldn’t capitalize. Durham got one shot on net and managed to score.”

This year, Humber went on to Nationals because they hosted.

They lost both of their games, but not before facing double overtime and shoot-outs.

The results at Nationals were disappointing says Pileggi.

“We played hard,” he says. “It was a good learning experience for them and I’m very pleased with their effort.”

The women played a couple of

hard games and Pileggi says they put their hearts into it.

“It was the best soccer all year,” he said. “We held the first place nationally ranked team, British Columbia, to a 0-0 score at the end of regulation. We had good chances out there.”

Migliazza says the team should be proud of the way they played.

“We played great and if you think about it no team has beaten us in regulation time,” she says. “Our two games went to penalty kicks.”

Migliazza says not capitaliz-

ing on chances hurt the team.“We couldn’t get the ball in

the back of the net,” she says. “We had one girl right on the goal line and she kicked the ball out.”

Pileggi noted that many play-ers were injured.

“I’m not going to make ex-cuses,” Pileggi says. “But we had key players out there who were injured during the game.”

Migliazza agrees, “It definite-ly affected our consistency.”

The soccer season is now over and the Hawks are looking for-ward to improve for next year’s season.

Humber welcomes our country’s best

AMANDA SMITH

Hosting Nationals is the college version of a country hosting the Olympics.

This year, Humber College had the opportunity to host the Women’s National Soccer Cham-pionships.

From Nov. 3 through Nov. 7, Humber was home to the best six soccer teams in the country.

Prominent in varsity athlet-ics, the school has often had the chance to host important games and tournaments. This is the third Nationals hosted by Hum-ber in the last 18 months.

Doug Fox, the Director of Athletics and Fitness Leadership, says Humber always tries to step up and go the extra mile.

“We try to make it an event they will remember,” says Fox. “We really try from the minute they get here to entertain [the other teams.]”

Humber students worked as hosts for the teams, and from the time the visiting athletes step off the planes at the airport they are already making an impact.

“They get daily souvenirs to take home, there are goodie

backpacks and we customize the hotel rooms,” says Fox.

“Our hosts have training man-

uals to learn everyone’s name,” he adds. “It’s like the Cheers theme where everyone knows

your name. There is also no lan-guage barrier for the soccer team coming from Quebec.”

A lot of preparation goes into hosting an event like the soccer Nationals.

Fox, along with the help of the athletics department, students, and other departments within the school, had made hosting the Nationals a priority over several seasons.

“It’s been about a year of prep-aration,” says Fox. “We won’t lack in preparation because every detail is important to us.

“The wow factor is hard to achieve. It’s a lot of work and it’s time consuming but the things we do are special. We have a for-mula that works for us.”

All the hard work put into or-ganizing an event like this pays off says Fox.

“Word is out we go the extra mile,” he says. “It helps the repu-tation of the school and it’s kind of fun.”

Hosting Nationals a

success for Humber

Laura Franklin

Leslie Quigley of the Humber Hawks goes for goal in their opening game against Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

“We won’t lack

in preparation

because every

detail is impor-

tant to us”

Heartbreaking

shootout losses lead

to a 5th place finish

Laura Franklin

Humber lost its second game against Mt. St. Vincent on penalty kicks

Hawks fight hard, fall short

MATT KING

Canada looks poised to succeed in Vancouver come February.

The Men’s Olympic hockey team is on everyone’s radar to contend for the top medal. After a victory at the Salt Lake games in 2002 ending a 50 year drought, they lost in Torino without even medaling.

Redemption is on everyone’s mind.

There has been much specu-lation as to who should wear the Olympic jersey for the men’s hockey team. The final decision is up to Steve Yzerman, long time player and two-time Olympian.

The team will be announced on Dec. 31, only weeks before the games begin. Expect to see a younger team instead of play-ers with more experience than in previous years.

The men’s hockey event opens the games on Feb. 16, 2010 against Norway.

Yzerman has a deep talent pool to choose from as Canada is expected to be a hockey pow-erhouse. Nothing short of a gold medal will be acceptable to the team or the fans.

Canada and the United States have predominantly been gold and silver favourites in the past. The Scandinavian countries, Sweden and Finland, have made

leaps in their hockey programs and look to contest for gold as well.

Not only are the men expected to do big things at the Olympics but the women are as well. The women’s Olympic hockey team has won gold medals at the last two Olympic games. They are expecting to have another great team this year and, like the men, will settle for nothing less than gold.

Ivan Chieu, a second year Ki-nesiology student at GH, says “I think it’ll be a lot of fun watching the Olympics occur on our home soil, creating many jobs and hav-ing a location where our athletes are familiar with. “

Other Canadian teams are also expected to have a good shot at a gold medal.

Two sports everyone should be watching the Canadian teams are speed skating and figure skat-ing.

Cindy Klaussen and Patrick Chan are the two strongest ath-letes in these sports, respectively.

Klaussen was Canada’s best medal performer in Torino win-ning a total of five medals and after off-season knee surgery she is looking to have a similar show-ing in Vancouver.

Chan was forced to withdraw from the ISU Grand Prix Event in Russia because of a muscle tear in his left calf. The injury could limit his training but look for Chan in February to put up a good program and hopefully re-ceive a medal.

The Olympic torch is current-ly on a country wide journey and will reach Vancouver at the start of the winter games.

Olympic teams go for gold