volume 41 issue 2

Wednesday, september 21, 2011 | Volume 41, Issue 02 - 1..

brIngIng ducks to school sInce 1971. | Wednesday, september 21, 2011 | Volume 41, Issue 02 .

In This Issue Alberta’s controversial pipeline

News, page 5

Quebec: a new gaming hot spot?

Games, page 10

PDHT injustice

Opinions, page 9

Sections

Campus Life .................................................... 1

News ................................................................ 4

Arts ................................................................... 6

Entertainment ..................................................7

Opinions ...........................................................9

Games .............................................................10

Sports .............................................................11

Alberta’s controversial new plans for a massive oil pipe-line would be an economic leap, but could have dire environmen-tal, social and economic consequences.

What do Eidos, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts and Bioware all have in common? Besides all being big-league game developers with bright reputations, they’ve got something else in common: they all have offices here in Quebec.

Sarah TayehProduction Manager

The obvious first reason is to meet new people and make friends. Joining a club that you have an interest in guarantees that the people you meet in the club will have at least one similar interest with you. The second reason is that you will have a place to sit. Being part of a club has its perks, there’s a lovely club-room involved where you can meet up with your new friends and rest your bot-tom on a semi-comfortable to comfortable chair or couch. It’s better than sitting down on the rough, cold floor in the hallways. Thirdly you can be eligible to receive an SIR certificate. After putting in a xx amount of hours you can apply for an Student Involvement Recognition certificate the is sure to look great on

CVs and university applications. This brings us to the fourth rea-son why you should join one of the fabulous clubs here at John Abbott. Depending on the type of club it can re-ally help with university, for example writing or joining Bandersnatch, JACtivists, SUJAC, etc... The fifth reason to join a club is for a chance to wind down and do some-thing non-school related with peers. This can be great to help out with stress. When you join a club that may require a bit of work you do it voluntarily and therefore there isn’t pressure to become too involved if you can’t. Everyone un-derstands that academics come first. Reason number six to join a club is to learn new things. Whether it be a new game, chess, InDesign or radio experiencing new things is always excit-ing and useful to… Expand your horizons, which is

reason number seven. Doing things that aren’t related to your program can help out with balancing how much time you spend immersed only in a set of given subjects. Reason number eight, an ex-cuse to get out of doing something with someone you want to avoid. For exam-ple: “Sorry I can’t go pick out a lamp for your mom’s birthday I promised I would do something for awesome club name here.” Reason number nine, beating your friends on how busy and tired you are, even if you aren’t. For example “Yeah well on top of all of my homework I need to bake some cookies for Club Day and I will be so much more tired than you, so please don’t com-plain to me”, only more polite.

My final reason why you should join a club is because if you are not someone who is extremely busy (why the hell not man), being part of a club is a good way to kill time, help you get in-volved and give you a reason to come to school. You don’t have to join a club at John Abbott although it would be conve-nient because of its proximity (where you go to school almost everyday). Joining other clubs in your community is equally satisfying and beneficial.

10 reasons why you should join a club

Gifty KwaofioContributor

School has started and teachers are already speaking about exams, quizzes, assignments and field trips? This semester is going to be a very amusing one. Life on the John Abbott cam-pus is quite an adventure with all these unique historic names for our buildings. I never thought I would be in Penfield’s building after see-ing his commercials all the time on the television. Unlike other colleges in this city, this college actually has a campus feel by going in and out of the buildings to get to your classes and seeing unfamiliar faces. It is a big change from high school life. Let’s just say that there is more privacy on who’s dating who, who is wearing what today and

if she already wore it two days ago. Besides that the new tech-nologies in the classrooms are fabulous. What is better than watching your teachers trying to learn how to use them. It is quite funny and entertain-ing and besides, five minutes of watching that is five minutes less of class time. Yoopie! Other than being silly, let’s get serious; the new technology does help quicken the pace of

taking notes, but it is still very amusing to watch your teacher try to find the ON button to start class when it is just on the tip of their nose. But let’s for-get about ON buttons; now let’s talk about 8:30 am class-es. Can you say please just sev-en and a half more hours of sleep? PLEASE?

The worst of all is when you have to climb that horrible f light of stairs to get to the 4th floor. Oh boy, do I miss the elevators at my old school.

Diary of a wimpy first year But then again, these are the times you know how in shape you are. Let’s just say these staircases are showing me low numbers on my scale in the morning before I do my business. One word: ew. Other than all the downfalls of starting school and the amazing new technology in class it feels great to be back in our second home, right? Afterall, knowing we spend more time at school then home. Anyway, by the time you know it, winter break will be here smiling and singing Christmas carols with us, then spring break with the New York trip, then summer break with outdoor swimming and you will be screaming school is out for SUMMER 2012! Other than that, welcome back to fall semester 2011 Abbotters! Oh, sorry, did I get you too excited?!

I was excited for another semester of learning the great skills of my program and moving closer to making a living for my-self once I graduate. What I was met with however, was a bit of a slap in the face.


BANDERSNATCHJohn Abbott College

21275 Lakeshore Road

P.O. Box 2000

Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue,

Quebec, Canada H9X 3L9

Phone: (514) 457-6610 ext. 5389

Fax: (514) 457-6091

Office: H-041

Web: http://www.bandersnatch.ca/

E-mail: [email protected]

Alexander Messina

Editor-in-Chief

Nevada McEniry-Hatajlo

Assistant Editor-in-Chief

Julianna Astorino

Campus Life Editor

Louisa Bielig

News Editor

Kenjah Banfield

Entertainment Editor

Jennifer Smiley

Arts Editor

Bee Clarke

Opinions Editor

Chloe Brynen

Games and Tech Editor

Henry Park

Sports Editor

Sarah Tayeh

Production Manager

Yasmine Mosimann

Production Staff

Laurent Thavarajah

Production Staff

Da-Jeong Kim

Production Staff

Yasmine Mosimann

Office Manager

Zack Duma

Media Administrator

Casey Leigh

Webmaster

Adam Chan

Banner Designer

Bandersnatch is a student run alternative press

at John Abbott College. It is published every two

weeks and is partially funded by the Student

Activities Commitee and by advertising solicited

customers. Submissions are welcome and

become property of Bandersnatch. Submissions

must be sent via e-mail to bandersnatch@gmail.

com and must be in Plain Text format (.txt) or

Microsoft Word Document format (.doc). All

submissions must include the full name and

telephone number of the contributor, as well as

the e-mail address if applicable. Bandersnatch

reserves the right to reject submissions or to

edit any submissions for length, legality, or

clarity. Submissions should be a minimum

of 350 words and a maximum of 650 words.

Articles lower or above these parameters may

be printed at the discretion of the executives.

Spelling and grammar will not be corrected

on submissions as it is the responsibility of the

contributor to correct them. If you should have

any questions or concerns, please contact us

at our e-mail indicated above or visit us at the

Bandersnatch office, located in the basement of

Herzberg, room H-041 (across from the hallway

entrance of The Oval).

Nevada McEniry-HatajloAssistant Editor-in-Chief

Before I found Bandersnatch, I wandered around the school aimlessly, trying to figure out what I should do between my breaks. If you are in the same situation as I was, do not fret. With the experience I have under my belt, I can now tell you about the best places in this school to enjoy your CEGEP experience. Let’s say you have a class in an hour and all your friends aren’t on break with you. If you want to avoid wandering around the school, may I first suggest becoming a member of any active club. In addition to that, the Casgrain Lounge and the Stewart Hall Lounge are two place where students tend to congregate. The Casgrain Lounge is a common area in the mid-dle of some of the major spots on Campus: the Munchbox, the sports facilities including the pool, the the-ater and the agora. Stewart Hall Lounge is right in front of the book store and the cafeteria. If you’re look-ing to kill a little bit of time, these places are ideal because there is al-ways something happening there. If you’re looking for a more quite space to study, I would go to the library. If you’re unfamiliar with our library, there are 3 floors that you can

access through the main staircase. The basement is always quiet. There are in-dividual spots you can study at and if you’re having a hard time in your English class, you can pay a visit to the Writing Centre. If you’re doing a group project and you’re looking for a spot to work, the library offers individual study rooms which you can rent at the front desk. The basement does have a reputation for how quiet it is and be-cause of that, you might find some students doing things...other than schoolwork down there. The second floor to the library is probably the best place to work. This open area has large tables in which you can study at with friends, as well as individual desks. If you walk past this open area, there is a section that is practical if you just want

some good wholesome study time without interruption. If I was to pick one more spot on campus, I would suggest the Oval coffee shop in Hochelaga basement. You can find comfortable chairs, good music and fresh coffee and snacks there. The school is filled with plen-ty little nooks and crannies. I can’t even begin to write it all down in one article. As the year progresses, finding your way through the school will feel more and more natural. Even if none of these suggestions listed above ap-peal to you, take some time out of your day to discover the rest of the campus. There are so many mysteries that you can uncover behind these walls.

You’re not dumb, you’re just lost

Julianna AstorinoCampus Life Editor

So congratulations, kids, you’ve survived your first month of this fall se-mester! Whether you are freshmen or veterans, it’s always a little odd getting back into the swing of things after the glorious golden season of summer. But here’s looking at you, you’ve done it! Now go ace those midterms and get that physics assignment pinned up on the fridge. Hey! Why don’t you join a club while you’re at it? Take it from this edi-tor, clubs are the best. If you need a reason why, check out page 1 of this is-sue and you’ll find ten! A great opportunity to check out the clubs in-stead of tunnelling down to the caves we call clubrooms is on Club Day. This year it’s happening on Wednesday, September 28. The Agora will be set up with booths for most of the clubs, with keen members of each group waiting to answer your questions and encouraging you to join. It’s a great time to make new friends and dip your feet into the waters

of “getting involved”. Whether you’re an eager beaver or not, swing by and see what it’s like. We welcome you with open arms… and candy. On to more pressing matters; Bandersnatch is introducing its first contest of the school year. This contest is entitled the Six Word Novel Contest, no-tably after Ernest Hemingway’s line, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” The idea is simple, come up with six words that when strewn together hold a deep-er meaning then just a normal sentence; six words with a story behind them. Another example of this is Margaret Atwood’s words, “Longed for him. Got him. Shit.” Send your submissions to [email protected] by Friday, September 30 for your chance to win a super awesome surprise. Can’t tell you what it is, but it’ll be great. Would I lie to you? Finally, I’d just like to remind everyone to keep checking Omnivox and the Info for information about what’s going on around campus. Keep your eyes peeled for services, activities and

trips that the school is offering. For in-stance, if you’re looking into applying to university this year, consider going to Student Services where you can apply for career counselling and acquire infor-mation from the University Center. If you’re interested in going on a trip with the school, now’s the time when most of the trips begin advertising, so be watch-ful. The Humanitarian Aid trip to the Dominican Republic, the Mont Ste-Anne ski trip, and the Archaeological and Historical trip to Sicily have already made appearances on the Omnivox homepage. And if you’re interested in taking a CPR course, guitar lessons or finding out about the Student Involvement Recognition program (SIR program), stop by Student Activities! Everyone at this school is more than willing to make your stay here as com-fortable and enjoyable as possible. So, good luck, friends! I wish you well. And if school is already start-ing to weigh you down, just remember, there’s only ten weeks left until winter break!

Editorial: Club Day, contests and campus, oh my!


Jen SmileyArts Editor

Textbooks at the John Abbott bookstore are expensive, and the lines long. Julianna Astorino, currently in her second year of the Arts and Science pro-gram, shakes her head as she vents, “I think textbook costs can add up quickly, and they’re cringe-worthy, big purchases at the start of every semester.” Some students believe that eBooks would be a good, cost-efficient alternative to textbooks, but others remain in-different, or stand in strong opposition. Julie Reckziegel, tapping away at her laptop, laughs and says, “eBooks would be useful, since everyone brings computers to school anyway.” Reckziegel does most of her assignments on her computer, admitting that it is more organized and manageable than textbooks. Alternatively, Sean Cohen, a Science student who switched into Liberal Arts in his third se-mester solemnly states, “eBooks are good, but better for science,” since they do not allow for exten-sive note taking as is needed in literature based courses. Louisa Bielig in Creative Arts, Literature and Languages says, “it would be good if it was cheaper, but what do students without a laptop do? You can’t make it mandatory that everyone has a laptop, and if you actually use it in class how do you prevent Facebook and computer stuff?” Bielig does not use a computer in class, and neither do her class-mates. “It isn’t necessary,” she says.

Similarly, Astorino be-lieves that if textbooks are inefficient, e-books will not be better. “Some textbooks are use-ful, others are necessary, others don’t have a purpose, but you don’t really know that when you’re buying them. I think teach-ers should only ask for students to buy textbooks that they will for sure need!” Other students do not mind the cost of textbooks, “I ab-solutely hate e-books”, says Alex Prescesky, second year Liberal Arts student. “I see books as a collec-tion – if that makes sense.” He feels textbooks are valuable be-cause they allow the reader to engage in discourse intimately, whereas the e-books are imperson-al, and robotic. But Beatrice Clarke, in her second year of Creative Arts and Literature, sup-ports e-books. “I don’t buy my textbooks if they are too ex-pensive,” and she wishes that the school would “just put them [text-books] on the internet, be-cause then I can pirate all of my textbooks. 200$ notebook, or download it off the internet? I wonder what option I would take.” Clarke is not the first stu-dent to bring up

the issue of pirating, other stu-dents, who wish to remain anonymous, also admit to being inclined to pirating eBooks. Debbie Job, the bookstore manager, says that it would be hard to pirate textbooks online, since the publishing companies are aware of the issue and set up security accordingly. “The thing about e-books,” Job says, “is that you can’t resell them to get money back after your purchase.” A student may choose to buy their textbook for a certain amount of time, in which case it will remove itself from the com-puter hard drive at the expiry date. Besides, students like Chloe Brynen, second year Liberal Arts, believe that secondhand text-books sell at a reasonable price. According to Job, teachers are responsible for deciding whether or not they would like to incorporate textbooks into their

New students, oudated textbooks? curriculum, saying that, “they work together with the book-store.” Penelope Stewart, a Humanities teacher of Art History, whose art book weighs eight pounds and sells for 230.00$ at the bookstore, has looked into the alternative of a $93.33 e-book, but she is frustrated with the proce-dure she must endure with the publishing company, and admits that it needs improvement. Job says that the bookstore is slowly incorporating e-books as a substitute for textbooks, but they are not yet ready for a com-plete switch.

Congratulations to all the new Congress members for the 2011-2012 academic year:Pre-University: Mira Ahmad, Jean-Philippe Bertrand, Ashley Deegan, Alexander Dubois, Zoe Fortin, Nikzad Ghalkhani, Jordyn Goldstein, Veronica Grasso, Julien Kang, Kathleen Rose Kennedy Chevalier, Emily MacGowan, Roberta MacLean, Sierra Mon, Jessica Pietroniro, Kyle Shaw-Muller, Zhu Yin Xu, and Hao Sheng Zhang; andProfessional: Kevin Chaplin,

Peter den Heyer, and Anika Jaura. Hey everyone…do you want some fun!? Come visit the SUJAC-Club Day on Wednesday, September 28, from 10 am to 3 pm, in The Agora, and for all you DDR die-hards, you can compete in our ‘Dance Dance Revolution’ dance-off! ‘So You Think You Can Dance, JAC!’ should be a lot of fun, so come compete and win a prize for the most points! The SUJAC-Club Day is also a chance to sign up with the Clubs and find out more about them as well as a

chance to meet your SUJAC and Congress reps and find out what SUJAC can do for you! Put Wednesday, Sept. 28, on your calendar! Any full-time student of JAC who is interested in being a voice for the students may come to the Academic Council Student Election on Monday, September 26, at 5:30 pm in P-210A. One Regular and Three Replacement student reps will be nominated to Academic Council—the decision- making Council of John

Abbott--and you can be one of them! If you are interested, come to SUJAC, P-101, to find out more.If you are anxious to join a Club and don’t know what to do, check out the JAC Portal, or if you’d like to start a Club of your own, drop by SUJAC, P-101, to find out how. There is a Club for everyone and SUJAC is always open for some-thing new.


Chloe BrynenGames Editor

Palestine is set to make a bid for statehood this coming UN General Assembly General Debate, slated to occur on September 21. The Palestinians currently have perma-nent observer status at the UN, but should their statehood bid be grant-ed they would be upgraded to full member status, allowing Palestine to actively participate in UN agencies and become party to international treaties. Full member status would also provide Palestine with more in-fluence and power in negotiations. In order for their bid to be granted, Palestine would need nine of fifteen Security Council votes (and no veto). Two permanent Security Council members – China and Russia - already recognize Palestine. However, the United States of America have already promised to use its veto power: “Our fundamental baseline position is that those actions are not going to lead to a Palestinian state,” said Ben Rhodes, deputy

national security adviser. Canada has also expressed its opposition: “We view this unilateral action on behalf of the Palestinian Authority to be not helpful,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper explained earlier this month. “Canada views the action as very re-grettable and we will be opposing it at the United Nations.” A veto would not necessarily end the bid forever: Palestine would still be able to submit a resolution to the General Assembly, requesting non-member observer state status. A delayed vote would then follow, only requiring a majority, with no possi-ble veto. Non-member observer state status would make it easier for the Palestinians to join UN agencies. Palestine is also seeking recognition of the 1967 borders, which have been rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who describes the borders as “unrealistic”. The statehood bid enjoys a majority of Palestinian support, al-though not everyone is in agreement. In the West Bank city of Ramallah, support for the bid is widespread, but in outlying areas the support

thins. “The Israeli army is everywhere here and the settlers are everywhere - they’re armed and they cause a lot of problems and you speak about a state?” one man from a Bedouin com-munity said in an interview with the BBC. Palestinians living in close proximity to Israeli settlements fear that the statehood bid will increase the frequency of attacks, and others fear the bid will anger countries that provide some financial support to

Palestine. Residents in Gaza are even less enthusiastic. “No one came out and told us what the future will look like after we submit the bid at the UN,” a Gaza citizen explained. The radical Islamist group Hamas has criticized Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for the bid, saying that the move is a “great risk”. This is not Palestine’s first statehood claim; in 1988, Yasser Arafat declared Palestine a state alongside Israel.

Palestine to make bid for statehood

Nevada McEniry-HatajloAssistant Editor-in-Chief

Even though the recession tech-nically ended in 2009, the United States poverty numbers have hit a record breaking all time high of 42.6 million people. That 42.6 million is the amount of people who have hit poverty in the United States in 2010. This equals 15.1 percent of the total population, and is the highest amount of poor people re-corded in the United States ever. According to the BBC, it has also been the highest recorded poverty rate since 1983. A ‘poor family’ in the United States is to be considered a family of four whose annual income is less than $22,314. The amount of families record-ed in 2010 who are now considered to be under the poverty line is 9.2 million families. In 2009, the number of poor families in the United States was 8.8 mil-lion. That’s 400 000 families that fell into poverty in only one year. The U.S. government has re-cently taken measures into their own hands. The solution is called “extended unemployment insurance”, which is an extension of the current unemployment

US poverty rates hit century highbenefits. These unemployment benefits have already helped families in poverty for years, and have generated tens of bil-lions of dollars towards their aid. Unfortunately, these benefits will soon expire, leaving half of the unemployed in the United States high and dry. These unemployment benefits have kept 3.2 million out of poverty; without them, the United States will be in even more trouble. Health care issues, welfare, and retirement funds are just some of the many of issues that affect and concern people living in poverty in the U.S. Furthermore, students, both young graduates and people returning to edu-cation, are strongly affected by this as well. Those with bachelor degrees do better than those who have not received full education; however, when one thinks of the amount of money that de-gree costs, it almost doesn’t make sense to go to school in the first place. It has been reported that those with bachelor degrees earn 54 percent more than those who only have high school de-grees. However, students are still burdened by thousands of dollars in stu-dent loans which they have to struggle to pay during the rest of their adult

lives. On average, undergrad students are 22 000$ in debt. Graduates and pro-fessional students are often in 100 000$ and up in debt. In addition to that, even when they do finish their degree, the rate of unemployment in students after they graduate is incredible. This could potentially create a vicious cycle since expensive education that doesn’t lead to employment will soon seem useless to many students.

If these problems aren’t fixed quickly, the United States will be in even greater economic danger. A lot of people can’t even begin to understand how complex the US economic structure is, which makes solving this issue much harder. For now, the only thing we can really do is wait it out and hope that the US government and Congress clean up their acts.


Earthquake shakes Himlayan countries After strong earthquakes on the Japanese islands two weeks ago, international attention has turned towards the Himalayan countries of India, Nepal and Bangladesh where at least 63 people died in an earth-quake last Sunday. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the epicentre was located ca. 60 km from the North-Indian city of Gangtok in the Sikkim prov-ince, and 7.4 km below the surface. It affected a large area and even spread to the Indian capital New Delhi, despite it being 1500 km west of the affected province of Sikkim. Panicking crowds assembled on the streets of big cities after the earth began to shake at 6 pm local time. The earthquake reached a magnitude of 6.9 points on the Richter scale around 6:10 pm and caused major destruction around the epicentre. Injured mainly by falling ob-jects, hundreds of people are currently being treated in local hos-pitals. The rapidly rising death tolls

are expected to increase even fur-ther this week, since many people are still missing, possibly trapped or buried under ruins. The military is trying to reach people in Sikkim and other nearby regions as quickly as possi-ble, but land slides have completely blocked some main roads leading to remote areas. Since it is extremely difficult to reach the mainly small affected villages, the risk of starva-tion and lack of water can soon become life-threatening, and even though India and neighbouring countries have dealt with both greater earthquakes and greater death tolls in the past, the current situation certainly requires well-planned help and international support.

Mass Graves discovered in Libya Combats between Libya’s for-mer dictator Muammar al Gaddafi’s troops and the organized group of rebels that pushed him out of office last March, have caused hundreds of deaths and casualties. It was only a question of time for buried corpses to be found, but what Red Cross workers recently discovered all over Libya is quite alarming. At least twelve mass graves with over 160 corpses have been unearthed during the last month, and the humanitarian orga-nization reports that its workers find new corpses “on a weekly base” in dif-ferent areas around hotly contested and strategic cities. Red Cross coro-ners are working constantly on exhuming and identifying dead bod-ies to inform family members and to burry the fallen soldiers and civilians close to their home towns. However shocking the mass graves are, many Libyans are even more enraged about some practices the new regime is using against im-migrants. Over 300 foreigners, mainly the nomadic people of Tuareg from Mali and Niger, have been arrested and tortured because the interim gov-ernment suspects them to be soldiers

from Gaddafi’s troops. Black immi-grants especially have been assaulted and arrested because in the past, Gaddafi has employed many merce-nary soldiers of dark skin colour. Amnesty International re-ported that many of them were “abducted, intentionally held in cap-tivity, tortured and killed” and asked the new government to stop its use of violence and violations of human rights immediately. This is not only crucial to international human right laws, but also an important step for the interim government to prove its credibility as a democratic, non-vio-lent political solution for war-torn Libya.

Brendan McGarry

Contributor

After Saudi Arabia, Canada has the second largest reserve of oil in the world, particularly in Alberta’s tarsands. Currently, 300 000 barrels of bitumen (a raw, un-processed form of petroleum) are being shipped to the US each day, but a new expansion to the Keystone pipeline is in the process of being planned and debated over in both Alberta and the White House. This could result in ship-ping an additional 525 000 barrels of bitumen each day. The conse-quences will be huge, and not necessarily all good. Environmentalists are scrambling to get the plans reject-ed either in Alberta or in Washington. Many activists—alleg-edly hundreds—were arrested in a White House sit-in after they were asked by police to leave and re-fused to. Among these were climate scientist James Hansen, actress Daryl Hannah and author Bill McKibben. A letter to Obama has been signed by nine Nobel Peace Prize winners, urging him to

Keystone Indeed—Alberta’s Game-changing Pipeline Plans

U n d e r t h e m i c ro s c o p eW i t h L o u i s a B i e l i g

reject the Keystone project. Concerns include, but are not lim-ited to, the carbon emissions of improperly handled and harvested bitumen, the possibility of an oil spill if the pipeline leaks, and that the pipeline would go through both key American aquifers and protected First Nations land. Strangely, it hasn’t been mentioned much in the confused free-for-all of debates that about twenty-five percent of the pro-posed extensions to the Keystone pipeline would cross through pro-tected territory that legally belongs to the First Nations. In sec-tion 35 of the Constitution Act of 1982, the aboriginal peoples’ rights are recognized under inter-national law—and they refuse any amount of ownership stake in the project from Enbridge, the energy giant that owns the Keystone pipe-line. Sixty-one First Nations chiefs have signed a petition to reject the pipeline, but the lack of mention of them in the concurrent debate doesn’t bode well for their rights being preserved. The fate of the First Nations land, the environment and

Alberta’s economic growth lie first in the hands of whichever Albertan party leader becomes elected as premier. Former premier Peter Lougheed urges against the trans-port of raw bitumen from Alberta, saying that locally refining is the only economically viable policy. Most candidates of the Progressive Conservative party oppose his view, while some of the opposition want local processing, but would still back the extension of the Keystone pipeline in or-der to transport the refined bitumen. The fi-nal hope for any of the oppo-sition of the Keystone proj-ect is US P r e s i d e n t Barack Obama, who in his 2008 presential cam-paign expressed a desire to go green. However,

with the US government’s recent stress on job-creation and the Keystone project being able to cre-ate a projected 120,000 jobs, Obama may not be able to pass up this opportunity. In addition, Enbridge has hinted that if the US doesn’t bite, then it will try to send its oil to China. In short, Canada is on the verge of becoming an energy su-per-power—but how this plays out, environmentally, socially and eco-nomically, we can only wait and see.


Jack woke up at six forty-five, as he did every morning. He rolled out of bed and shuff led into his shower precisely two min-utes later. After his ten minute shower he ate breakfast, which was the same thing he ate every day for breakfast; one slice of toast with strawberry jam and a half of a glass of milk. After his four and a half minute breakfast he walked out of his house and looked to the right, just as his neighbor got into his car. He then entered his car and pulled out of his driveway just as his neighbor on the opposite side was exiting her house. He then began his drive to work, which would take exactly twen-ty minutes, due to the clockwork nature of the traffic. He parked in his usual spot, walked into the building with his usual mechanical stride, and entered the elevator with the same people that he had for the last eight years. As the elevator conveyed the workers to their various workplaces, there was no noise except for light breathing or an occasional cough. Every one of them had the same blank stare on their face, devoid of any emotion. This was probably due to the fact that none of them

could feel any sort of emotion, as that was something that humans had lost the ability to express without aid many centuries before any of these workers were born. Work progressed in the same robotic way that it did every day, confined in the same cramped cubicle, sitting in the same beat-up chair, looking at the same dull com-puter screen. After clocking out for the day Jack spent his usual hour at the bar, drinking some water with some relaxation mixed in. It was this single hour of the day where Jack could feel relaxed, as during the course of the day he couldn’t feel any emotion at all. The bar grew even more crowded so he paid his tab and left- it seemed like emotion just continually grew more expensive, but Jack didn’t worry. He actually couldn’t worry. He walked outside into the completely sterile street and entered his car, only to go home and repeat the process the next day.One day an abnormality occurred in Jack’s usual schedule. As he was leaving work he spotted an extremely disheveled man. The man was very clearly an emotion junkie, due to the way that he was shouting and stum-bling about. Jack thought back to one of the many videos he had been forced to learn from as a child, in a white-washed room with a group of twenty-five silent children. “If a person consumes enough emotion

they will become addicted to it, just how an alcoholic would become addicted to alcohol, if alcohol happened to still be legal to drink. Emotion addiction is not only dangerous, but extremely expensive. Often a junkie will re-sort to purchasing baser emotions such as anger or hatred in order to fill their insatia-ble need to be able to ‘feel’. If you are ever approached by such an individual, do not at-tempt to reason with him or her, but instead notify the proper authorities.” Jack was jolted back into the real world as the man made a beeline directly for him. Jack attempted to back away, but the man grabbed a hold of his shirt with both hands and yelled directly into Jack’s face,“Do you see what they have done to us? They have us brain-washed man! Don’t worry; I know a safe place, come on!” The man’s ravings were promptly cut off as a tranquilizer dart sprouted from the base of his neck. He dropped Jack, who was sent sprawling to the ground. It had been fired by one of the city’s enforcers, who then promptly dragged the man away from the public sight.Jack stood up, dusted himself off, and then proceeded with his day as if the event had never happened.

Happy PillsAndrew Rutledge

Contributor

PaintRyan Stirling

Contributor


They think I am a child maybe its what I do and say

perhaps how I convince children to only remain and play

They think I know nothing of the way life can be

but they never stopped to think how the world is the way I see

I used to have a mother and a father was there I’m sure I can’t seem to recall the past

as clearly as when my heart was pure Something long ago must have

spurred me to remain I must have been a masochist

for having stayed throughout the pain It wasn’t all fun and games

like in the stories that you hear we fought and lost over again

I’ve been worn away by the fear I’m sick of losing friends

and having to let go I’m sick of fighting Captain Hook

I don’t remember what started it all you know I wished I never would grow up

but apparently it was a lie because its hard to stay a child

when you have to watch friends die Couldn’t he just let it go

I’m sure I meant no harm Couldn’t I just walk away

hadn’t the fun of battle lost its charm? Now I’m all alone

No one to hear me cry Even TinkerBell is gone No one to help me fly

I’m sick of staying here but I can’t seem to get out

One way out with no way up my throat raw from my shout

Can’t someone hear me? I don’t care who, anyone

A tap on my shoulder, its Captain Hook now our game is done

I have waited a long while for this day to come

Draw your sword and I my knife This ending will be better than some

Its what I’ve waited for all my life ever since this pain began

He stabs me, I don’t fight back. Finally...the long awaited death of Peter

Peter’s CryEmily Faulkner

Contributor

Shinning in the midst of a cold night,was a screeching willow,

yearning for the blessings of the warm, majestic moonlight.

The Light in The DarknessEric Provencher

Contributor

FunAdam ChanStaff Writer

Bee Clarke

Opinions Editor

So Close


Julianna AstorinoCampus Life Editor

I love watching movies. I love watching movies almost as much as I love reading books. Sit me down any-where with a film, be it in a classroom, in my basement or on a plane, and I will find something nearly nauseat-ingly romantic about the situation. There’s nothing like sinking into a cushioned seat in Cinema 7, watching a piece of art that can move so many people at the same time, on a screen so big that it somehow makes the two hours of time you spend there seem infinite. But while these settings are unique and provide a pleasurable ex-perience in their own right, my heart does all it can to keep from melting when I reminisce about movies in the park. The union of two seemingly per-fect things, a movie and a summer’s dusk. And if you were at Abbott on September 8th, there was also the ad-dition of free food, which just ties the whole thing up with a big purple-pol-ka dotted bow. I was there with one other

Pass the popcorn and the bug spray

Jeff Bridges: Your new god?Serag BulurStaff Writer

Think about it. Honestly, just stop and wonder for a bit. How cool would it be if one day all major reli-gions and small cults became obsolete because Jeff Bridges forgot to add the title of “Master and Creator of All Life” on his resume. For those unfortunate to grow up on a strict diet of awful films, let me enlighten you on who Jeff Bridges is and why he looks like a bet-ter version of your grandfather. Jeff Bridges is an actor. A good one. He’s been in many hit films but most nota-bly won an Oscar for portraying himself as a country singer in the film Crazy Heart. You may also remember him from the more recent movie, True Grit, in which he played himself as a mean cowboy though unlike the previ-ous film, he doesn’t sing songs about being drunk and making love to America and freedom. However, if there’s one role he must be remem-bered for, it is the unforgettable and legendary Dude from The Big Lebowski. If you haven’t seen this film, then stop reading this. Whatever you were going to do in the next three hours can wait. This is important. Cancel that wed-ding, visit your sick Nana some other time. Hurry up, time is of the essence!

As much as I’d like to just spend the entire article writing about how im-mortally awesome Jeff Bridges is sadly I cannot. Instead, I’m going to review his self titled country album. Yes you heard me right. I’m going to come out and say this right away, I know close to noth-ing about country music. I’m completely aware that outside of a busy metropolitan city like ours, coun-try music is the best selling genre. I didn’t grow up on it but I’m totally open to dress up like a cowboy and “wrastle” me a bison. That being said Jeff Bridges’ album, titled Jeff Bridges (he’s a simple man of simple tastes), is one of the happiest little albums of the year. The first and probably strongest song on the album and the only single to be released, “What a Little Bit of Love Can Do”, makes me want to slingshot flowers at police officers. This is the kind of song Rosie O’Donnell’s doctors play to calm her down from banging a keyboard against her head and then blogging whatever it typed. But don’t worry; this album isn’t only filled with songs about holding hands and shar-ing. No, no it truly isn’t Jeff Bridges if he didn’t have a song that mirrored his “kiss my balls” attitude. “Tumbling Vine” is that song. Don’t ask me what it is about. I only play it when I want to

have a stare down with people I don’t like. The song “Blue Car” is about a blue car (go figure) and it’s as laid back as you’d expect a song about a blue car to be. Unlike most country albums, there are not that many songs about heartbreak. Maybe I’m missing the lyr-ics or the deeper meaning in his songs but I think it’s pretty straight forward i.e. “Blue Car”. However, “Nothing but Love” came fairly close. The song makes you stop and think that if a life where you can own anything is worth it if you can never own love. In my opinion, I think I’d pass on love if I had a jetpack or something along the lines of that. Regardless, it’s quite the sad song if you’re Ebenezer Scrooge or Mr. Burns. “Nothing Yet” is a very sombre song on the album and it’s maybe my favourite.

It’s a mix of the self deprecating lyrics and the muffled, almost inaudible singing that makes me enjoy this track. I can go on about this album but I’ll end it there because it’s safe for all of you to assume that I really en-joyed every song on the disc. Although I don’t plan on becoming a country music fan anytime soon, I’m definitely more in love with Jeff Bridges and espe-cially that beard of his. If you like country music then this is for you. If you don’t like country, give this album a try. It’s surprisingly upbeat and not nearly as pretentious as you’d think an album by an actor that’s self titled would be. If you missed out on it when it was released in mid August then now is your chance to give it a shot!

friend and our decision to stay was somewhat on a whim, based on a poor-ly constructed pros and cons list that looked a little like this: Pros: There’s free food, it’s the last time we can do this this year, we want to see the movie, we don’t have that much homework, there’s free food. Cons: We have homework. Ultimately, we decided to stay. The Hangover Part 2 was hilarious, a bit raunchy comedy-wise, but that was to be expected as a sequel to the first. It was the absolute perfect movie to watch with a bunch of students on a Thursday night, and with our school workloads just about to pick up left us with a last innocent, carefree evening of summer. So in the midst of young laughter, Zach Galifianakis’s bald head, and the cold grass I had as a seat, I couldn’t help but think that there was something about the way I de-pended on the popped kernels to warm my hands. The way that something so customary in one situation could take on a role so important in another. I

think that’s what I like so much about movies in the park; I love the way that for one night, something so usual, so or-dinary, is taken out of its context to mean something greater, and to have the things around it mean something greater as well. Suddenly, not only was the big screen infinite, but the stars above us were, as were the millions of leaves of grass beneath us. And there we were in the midst of infinity, with our

school bags, lawn chairs, and soda, stretching out the endlessness of sum-mer for a few more hours before class the next day. I’m welcoming the cool weath-er with open arms, excited to bundle up at the Colisée for my next cinematic adventures. But I’ll be eagerly awaiting the time when summer comes around again and I’ll have to apply bug spray before watching a movie.


Adam Chan

Banner Designer

Okay, so before you get the wrong idea, no, I don’t hate John Abbott. I have a few complaints in regards to how things are at the moment, but they’re not all Abbott focused, so bear with me. So this year, despite how much I was looking forwards to coming back this semester and seeing my friends, I was met with some disappointment. I was excited for another semester of learning the great skills of my program and moving closer to making a living for myself once I graduate. What I was met with however, was a bit of a slap in the face. At the risk of getting the faculty riled up again, I feel like I’m being ne-glected. Not personally, but as a part of an overlooked group that is the PDHT (Publication Design and Hypermedia Technology) program. First of all, to those of you who don’t know, the col-lege gives us 100 free pages of a printing budget. Which, don’t get me wrong, that’s a great idea if you don’t have a printer or didn’t get a chance to print something. But here’s where things get a little sneaky. Everyone has these 100 page, or to put this in a monetary

Down with the system!

Zack DumasMedia Admin

There’s nothing like the feel-ing one gets when they are secure and safe. That’s the feeling I had when I was walking into my gym class on Wednesday September 18th, but this feeling was quickly diminished once I returned from my class. Upon my re-turn, I had the unfortunate luck of finding out that my locker had been broken into and my phone and wallet have been stolen. A few other students also found out that a variety of their things were stolen too. What made things worse was what happened when one of the campus’ security per-sonnel arrived to take the report, that report was really the extent of what the security employee could do. This to me is completely outrageous; it so easy for someone to steal and get away with it, and yet nothing is being done. The security person actually said herself that we play on the hon-esty policy and if someone turns it in we’ll get it back to you. What kind of policy is that? If a fight broke out

what would they say? If they feel like stopping we can step in. What’s the point of you even being there if that’s all you can do? Why would he return it if he went though all the trouble to get into my locker and take it? He might as well as just return it to the office or myself. That’s complete gar-bage! No cameras to even get a shot of the person! He stole from the boys locker room during a class time not many people would be coming in and out. A camera could have gotten us an idea of who stole from the lockers, or at least diminish ones confidence when it comes to getting away with it. This suggests that the person who’s done this has done it before, and if it is a reoccurring thing, then I want to know why this is being ig-nored. If this is a first time occurrence then now would be a good time to step up the security around the cam-pus. Like I said earlier, camera. Back in the high school I went to we only had about 700-800 kids and we had cameras everywhere. This is a cegep with thousands of students and not one camera to scare people from do-ing this. Complete garbage. The school needs to do

something about this. The fact that my stuff isn’t safe even when it’s locked up is unbelievable. Speaking of garbage , the bins around campus are bursting at the seams. Who is empty-ing these things? They tell us to make sure we throw out our stuff but there’s no where to put it. It’s disgust-ing. No one really minds recycling, but when the can is overflowing, are you better off throwing it in the gar-bage? Or are you better off having it

Campus Complaints!

sit in the hallway for a couple days be-fore someone looks at the can and decides to empty it? This is another thing that the staff has to look into. Either hire more people or get the em-ployees you have in order. his is a childish problem compared to the other ones around campus like security. Come on people, step up your game!

amount, $5.00. Everyone. But wait a minute that seems fair, you may be thinking. What if I told you that PDHT students used to have a larger budget? The reason for that was because in PDHT we do a fair amount of printing. Hell, printing is half of what we do in that program, whether it’s printing out proofs to see how things turned out, or even printing the final version. Now here’s where things get in-teresting. You know that $5.00 budget I mentioned? Yeah, that’s for the entire school year. So that’s 2.50 per semester. What’s worse, we used to have $30.00 for the whole year ($15.00 per semester) While that amount didn’t carry over to

the next semester, which it does now, that’s still cutting out about 80% of our budget. Now, before the faculty starts hunting me down, they have since raised our budget to $7.50 which is a lit-tle better, but you’d think maybe they’d let us know in advance before making budget cuts that big. Also, don’t make our servers so difficult to access and don’t leave us with mould. That’s not how you welcome someone back. Taking that fancy CSI ultravio-let light that finds all kinds of horrifying and incriminating evidence off of the college, it’s time I turn it onto the STM. I’m sure you’ll agree with me that the STM needs to do something about the

busses that go to Abbott. I mean, seri-ously, is having the bus packed to the doors on a regular occasion an okay thing? Luckily the regular bus schedule is in effect now, so each bus should be in theory less tightly packed. But now that I think about it they did only put that into effect around the first week of sep-tember. Oh, really? Did you not know that people would need to get to school? You know, the one that’s constructing another building to accomodate the massive influx of students? Oh, and let’s not forget the fact that they’re only on campus for opus cards for two days. Days where you’re probably in class or don’t have long enough breaks to wait in the massive line. It’s things like this, as well as making theory classes mandatory for getting a driver’s liscence, that annoy the hell out of me. I find that we’re too bureaucratic as a society. All these high-er ups that have the power to change these problems, but don’t, just add in-sult to injury. It makes you wonder if we’d be better off without all these orga-nizations. Not that I’m in favour for some misguided freedom fight, but all this order is making me crave some chaos right about now.


Chloe BrynenGames Editor

What do Eidos, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts and Bioware all have in common? Besides all being big-league game developers with bright reputations, they’ve got something else in common: they all have offices here in Quebec. Sure, Quebec may invoke images of hockey players, lumber and snow, but somewhere between freezing winters and poutine you might want to add in video games. While video games have long been associated with Japan and the United States of America, gaming companies are increasing-ly bringing their business over to Canada. According to a report published by the Entertainment Software Association of Canada, the Canadian gaming industry grew 11% in one year, and is ex-pected to grow at an even faster rate in the future, even in the face of a recession. Quebec in particu-lar has become a hotspot in the sector; there are currently over 500 digital media companies, com-prising of over 12000 jobs. But why make the move to La Belle Province?

The government’s progres-sive incentives program definitely has something to do with it; their programs subsidize every dollar spent paying development staff by roughly 37 cents. This generous program is credited with enticing companies from south of the bor-der and further abroad to move their business to Quebec, includ-ing American developer THQ, whose publishing credits include the Warhammer 40k series and Saints Row. They recently shut down studios in both Phoenix and New York in favour of a new 145 employee strong office in Montreal, with plans to further expand within the next five years. Other companies have expressed similar plans, with Bioware Montreal announcing plans to hire additional employees as they work on the critically acclaimed Mass Effect series. Ubisoft retains the biggest presence in the prov-ince; the French company’s largest development studio is in Montreal, where famed games like the Assassin’s Creed series have been created. “The right ingredients are in Montreal, with the tax incen-tives and the quantity and level of talent,” Dave Gatchel, general manager of THQ Montreal, said in

an interview with the Gazette. In fact, Montreal has nearly stolen the title of Canada’s video game capital, an honour currently held by Vancouver. Could it eventually eclipse tech hotspots like Silicone Valley? “Montréal is envied as a leader in the multimedia field. There are few cities that make that boast,” affirms Stéphane D’Astous, managing director for Eidos Montréal. Eidos Montreal – a divi-sion of Japanese juggernaut

William T. MathieuContributer

Now if you are familiar with what these abbreviations mean, I mean really mean, you’ll notice they all have something in common. They are all free-to-play! It isn’t very long ago that the wonderful makers of these games decid-ed to make their flagship games free-to-play. World of Warcraft became free-to-play just a couple of months ago, but be warned, it is probably the least free free-to-play game out there. Blizzard has abolished their 14-day trial system and made it so that you can play for free for as long as you want, however, you are restricted to a 20 level cap, a 10 gold cap and various other annoyances. Many would say that this is just some clever ploy to get more people to subscribe to their ever-growing money mountain; af-ter all, Blizzard just hit an all-time, record breaking 11 million user high. Do they really need the extra dough? Nevertheless if you are interested in starting a WoW career there is no better time to start.

The second game under this week’s microscope is League of Legends, a self-described action strategy game. It’s basically StarCraft but instead of com-manding armies you command one single unit called a champion, that lev-els up, with the ultimate goal of destroying the enemy’s base. I started playing this one just a couple weeks ago and I’d have to say it’s a lot of fun and instantly addictive. As you play more and more matches you get IP, which you use to buy different champions with dif-ferent abilities. You can also buy RP with real world cash; RP can then be used just like IP. I know all of this is a little confusing and a bit of a data dump, all I have to say is check it out it will explain itself. Finally, we end off with a real gem of a game from the same people who gave us Half-Life and Counter-strike; I give you Team Fortress 2. Now I’m not sure about you but I hadn’t

realized that the console TF2 was differ-ent from the PC equivalent. Sure, the games are essentially the same, howev-er, the PC version has tutorials, the ability to play against bots, and, best of all, unlockable items. As you earn achievements, or just play the game, you will unlock items, which you can use to enhance your character, granting them special abilities or just better looks. There is, like the two other games, a part where they can take your money. Instead of playing for hours to

unlock new items you can just buy them

Gaming in Quebec

WoW, LoL & TF2: F2P from the store, but you will probably play the game so much that payment won’t be an issue. I predict that in the coming months and years there will be more and more free-to-plays as companies re-alize that they can make as much money from micro transactions (spend-ing real world cash in game) as from selling you the actual game. If you haven’t tried any of these games I strong-ly suggest you do they are bucket loads of fun.

Square Enix – recently released their first game, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, to critical acclaim. “It’s definitely in the top three hubs in the world for gaming.” The provincial government certainly agrees, and with its size-able incentives programs and further plans to attract both Asian and American companies, it looks like the future is bright for the gaming industry in Quebec.


Sports with Henry Park

Casey DulsonWebmaster

Estimated finishes for 2011-2012 season.1. The Detroit RedwingsKey arrival: Mike Commodore is hoping he can replace the retired Brian Rafalski. He didn’t play much last season but this could turn out to be a good pick up for the redwings.2. Chicago BlackhawksKey arrival: Daniel Carcillo is a fighter who never backs down. With the Blackhawks I believe he will get 13 goals in the season which would be a ca-reer high for him. I think with the right team he could do well.3 Vancouver CanucksNew arrival: Marco Sterm has the ability to be a number two line player who could score 20 goals a season and 30 assists.4. Los Angeles KingsKey arrival: Mike Richards was a shock-ing trade. He is not afraid to get under other players’ noses. This gives the Kings one of the two best lines in the NHL. 5. San Jose SharksKey arrival: Brett Burns, a very under-rate defenseman. He can score goals, and will do really well on the power play.6. Nashville Predators

Key arrival: Niclas Bergfors is very young and very talented. He just has to develop more.7. Anaheim DucksKey arrival: I think a change of scenery will help Andrew Cogliango succeed. He’s very capable of scoring goals.8. Columbus Blue JacketsKey arrival: Why did the Flyers ever get rid of Jeff Carter? He has everything a player needs to succeed. He’s also a fran-chise player and he can score tons of goals. On this team he will be Rick Nash’s sidekick. I can’t wait to see him play with his new team.9. Colorado AvalancheKey arrival: Semyon Varlamov is a fu-ture superstar and with the right goalie the Avalanche are on their way to the playoffs.10. Minnesota Wild Key arrival: Danny Heatley has the abil-ity to score and a change of scenario might help him succeed. Expect a big, 30 goal season for him.11. Calgary FlamesKey arrival: Lee Stempniak was a steal! This might be great for the Flames, since now Iginla has someone to play with. Helping scoring goals is something the Flames were missing last year. I expect him to have a breakthrough season just like he had in 2006-2007, when he had

27 goals with the Blues. This year I ex-pect him to score 30.12. St. Louis BluesNew Arrival: Jamie Langenbrunner is very good in the locker room and will help the younger player succeed.13. Dallas StarsKey arrival: Michael Ryder will hope-fully have a season like his rookie year, and I believe he will score 30 goals this season. 14. Phoenix Coyotes Key arrival: Raffi Torres is a very good and very gritty third line player. He is the type of player who scores 15 or 20 goals a season. He can step up whenever you

need a boost.15. Edmonton Oilers Key arrival: Eric Belanger is a very good center man who can win a lot of faceoffs. I expect him to do well this year, possi-bly 20 goals.

Award PredictionsHart: Rick NashArt Ross: Alexander OvechkinNorris: Shea WeberVeinza: Ryan MillerCalder: Brayden SchennJack Adams: Terry MurrayFrank J. Selke: Ryan Kesler

Who is going to win the west division in hockey?

NFL week 2 recapHenry ParkSports Editor

Week two of the NFL has gone by and as always it never fails to entertain. This week’s Sunday Night matchup featured Michael Vick’s re-turn to Atlanta. His homecoming didn’t fare well at all, as he was pum-meled by Atlanta’s frontline throughout the entire three quarters he played. Late in the third, Vick suf-fered a concussion from an accidental collision with his own lineman. As soon as Mike Kafka took over for Vick, Atlanta immediately shifted the mo-mentum as Matt Ryan rallied his team for the win. The Buffalo Bills hosted a thriller against the Raiders. After trailing 20-3 at halftime, the Bills scored 23 unanswered points, bring-ing them back within reach. Oakland was missing their top string receivers and tight-end Kevin Boss. As a result, rookie Denarius Moore got the start and didn’t disappoint at all with an incredible 156 yards and touchdown.

In addition Darren McFadden shred-ded apart the Bills’ defense, earning 143 all-purpose yards and two touch-downs. However the game came down to a two-minute drill led by Ryan Fitzpatrick, in which he com-pleted a touchdown to David Nelson with 14 seconds left in the game. This is definitely a disappointing loss for the Raiders due to the fact that it was probably the only win they could have earned in the next three games (Jets, Patriots, and Texans). The Indianapolis Colts con-tinue to struggle without Peyton Manning, as they lost embarrassing-ly at home to the Browns. Manning had reportedly traveled to Europe to undergo a stem-cell procedure that will speed up the recovery of his neck injury. Prior to this, he was expected to miss the majority of the season. In Detroit, Jamaal Charles of the Kansas City Chiefs suffered an unfortunate season ending knee injury after awk-wardly colliding with the Detroit mascot on the sideline. Without Charles, the Chiefs are essentially eliminated in the AFC West division. In the NFC, the Packers

emerged over the Panthers after Cam Newton nearly pulled off a game ty-ing drive before throwing his third interception. Drew Brees and the Saints proved to be way too much to handle for Brian Urlacher and the Chicago defense. Overall the Packers are seemingly the most dominate team in the NFC and are currently fa-vorites to win the Super Bowl again. The Philadelphia Eagles seem to be the only team with a defense that can potentially shut down Aaron

Rodgers and his high-powered of-fense. On paper, the Eagles by far have the best secondary in the NFL with Asante Samuel, Nnamdi Asomugha, and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Although they have looked a bit unsynchronized due to various miscommunications, the Eagles secondary defense should gradually develop throughout the course of the season into an elite trio that creates nightmare matchup problems for opposing receivers.


Press ReleaseMEN’S RUGBY OPENS LEAGUE PLAY WITH A WIN OVER DAWSON Sunday afternoon, the Isles rugby team (1-0) opened league play with an impressive 24-8 win over cross-town rivals Dawson College. Dawson was the f irst to open the score in the f irst half and lead 8-5 at half time. In the second half, the Isles stayed true to their game plan and spent most of the half in Dawson’s zone, which resulted in the Isles scoring three times to seal their win over Dawson. Four different Isles scored a try in the game: Michael Mangoni, Jon Vatcher, Anthony McQueen and David Rania. Ronan Coote rounded the scoring with two 2-point conversions.

LACROSSE WINS OVER AHUNTSIC Saturday afternoon, the John Abbott Islander lacrosse team (2-0) started off really slow

in their second game of the sea-son against an improving Ahuntsic squad, as the score was 2-1 in favour of the Isles after one quarter. The Islanders quickly picked up the pace in the second quarter as they took a command-ing 9-2 lead at half time. In the second half, the Isles’ f ire power proved to be too much as they went on to win easily by a score of 19-6. For the second week in a row, Keegan Murphy led the Isles’ attack with six goals and four as-sists, while both Mark Brabant and Fabio Colias also f inished the day with four goals each. Mathieu Péloquin-Letendre also scored 3 goals.

FLAG FOOTBALL REMAINS UNDEFEATED AFTER WEEKEND ACTION The Islander f lag football team is now 3-0 after two big wins against Vanier (21-0) and Brébeuf (28-0) at this weekend’s jambo-ree. In game 1 against Vanier,

quarterback Joy Bermillo was 28/37 yards for 312 yards and 3 TD passes. Bermillo connected with Melanie Gendreau who had over half the yards on offense with 12 catches for 180 yards and 2 TD’s. Taylor Mitchell had an 11 yard TD reception. Sam Kwok had 6 catches for 48 yards. Amber Hayes, Kwok, and Gendreau all had converts. Speedy Valerie Campanelli had a 16 yard TD run. Defensively, Gendreau (4 f lags, 2 knockdowns) and Bermillo had 1 interception each as well as Campanelli who ran one in for a TD. The Islander de-fense had some big 4th down stops and f inished the game with 10 pass def lections the whole game. Rusher Alexa Lapierre had 2 QB sacks. In the Isles second game of the day against Brébeuf, Bermillo was 32/50 passes, for 337 yards and 3 touchdowns. Gendreau who had an unbeliev-able day had 9 catches for 132

yards and 3 touchdowns. Campanelli contributed with a 7 yard rushing TD and 3 catches for 40 yards while Megan Vincelli had 6 catches for 55 yards and Emilie Majka had a 2 point con-vert and kicked in the end zone twice for 2 points. Defensively, the Lady Islanders have yet to allow any points in three games. Against Brébeuf, Gendreau had an inter-ception and Joyce “Big D” Demers had 4 f lags and 2 knockdowns. Taylor Mitchell was on f ire with 3 interceptions and Lapierre had another big game with 3 sacks.Coach Ashraf commented on her team’s great start of the season: “The rookies have come up big in the last 3 games. Bermillo has come into her own and over 600 yards in the last 2 games are big numbers for a rookie QB. The next two games against Joliette and Valleyfield will really show our character.”

Sports with Henry Park

volume 41 issue 2

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