Produced by the Mohawk College Journalism Program Issue 12

201315 April

2013 Varsity Awards

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NEWS

Who You Gonna Call? Stress Busters!Alicia Gallant Ignite News

“I kept myself awake for three days,” recalled Amy Tooper, a fourth year Humanities student at McMaster University. “I was just glued to a computer screen, writing.”

At the end of the school year, plenty of students at Mohawk Col-lege will be experiencing similar feelings. It is exam season, and with that comes the wave of stress and anxiety about papers and tests worth a large portion of your grade.

“A little stress is a motivational tool,” said Peter Young, a counselor at Mohawk College. “When it becomes less manageable and it seems to dominate you, then it’s important to talk about it.”

With high volumes of students making use of the counseling services, the department has introduced a program called Stress Busters to combat these feelings that weigh you down.

“We have noon hour walks where we go out and do a brisk, short hike,” said Young. “That is always a good stress reliever.”

Other activities put on by the Stress Busters include flash yoga, massages, and even a make your own stress ball day. The most talked about event has to be the therapy dogs in the Heath Lounge that was hosted by counselor Larisa Fry.

“Pet therapy is just another way of us using kinetic energy or touch therapy to allow us to connect with something else,” ex-plained Fry. “It is statistically proven that when you’re petting a dog, your anxiety actually lessens.”

All of the dogs that appeared at Mohawk were from Pet Encounter Therapy, which works through the SPCA.

“(The dogs) have all been temperament tested to make sure that they’re good in environments,” said Fry as she watched a spaniel fetch its ball. “They’re here to be a supportive function to the students.”

Although the events only ran until the dog therapy day on April 5th, Fry says that since the events were so successful there is no doubt that Stress Busters will return to Mohawk next year.

Promoting local food

Good things grow in Ontario, and the proposed Local Food Act may ensure Ontarians have more access to local food.

Queen’s Park has resurrected Bill 130, and public response appears to be positive. If this bill is passed, it could help the provincial economy, ensure fresher foods throughout food-related businesses, and help consumers know where their food is coming from.

However, there is still room for improvement according to the project manager of Hamilton Eat Local Karen Burson.

“Although it’s a step in the right direction, it does fall short in certain areas,” says Burson. “What is lacking is a clear definition of local … something that might help a producer at a regional level is dif-ferent from a producer who’s going to be affected by change at the provincial level.”

Some of the other considerations Burson says are important include recognizing the role of the nonprofit sector to carry the burden of proposed projects related to the bill. Burson also believes monetary values need to be reviewed concerning local food procurement.

Despite these suggestions, Burson says she appreciates the initiative.

“In this province, the agri-food sector represents 34 billion dollars in business and employs 700,000 people,” she says. “It’s important that we do what we can to protect and ensure growth in that sector.”

In Hamilton, a variety of local businesses are already incorporating local foods into their practices. Papa Leo’s Restaurant is located on Concession St., and owner Leo Santos says 70 per cent of his supply comes from local businesses or farmers.

“I chose to do it because I wanted to sup-port the local farmers and also to provide the freshest food I can get for my custom-ers and myself,” Santos says of his decision.Santos says many customers compliment his food quality, and are pleased when they learn it’s all fresh and local.

“Some people just get so used to purchas-ing from grocery stores, and over the years

no one’s really been paying attention to where they’re buying from,” says Santos.

However, if the bill comes to fruition, many businesses such as grocery stores, cafeterias, and restaurants may be encouraged to think local. For Santos, that would be good for business and for customers.

“I think that every restaurant is able to, and can, support the local markets and the local farmers in the area,” says Santos.

“The choice is obviously theirs, but in the long run, I think the fact that we have all this, especially in Ontario, at our disposal … there would be no reason not to support it.”

Alicia Gallant Ignite News

Photo: Alicia GallantOntario-grown apples are well known

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Changing to an organic lifestyle

Not long ago, Amber Colbear’s life took an unexpected turn.

Colbear, who studied journalism at Mo-hawk College before going to work in the radio industry, had been given the worst news imaginable.

Already battling Crohn’s Disease, Colbear’s symptoms had gotten so bad she says she only had about a year left to live.

At that point, Colbear decided to take her treatment into her own hands.

“I went natural and removed all chemically-processed foods from my diet,” said Colbear.

Colbear says she also adapted to a self-healing meditative process for energy healing known as Reiki.

Today, Colbear is the Market-ing Events Director for The Green Smoothie bar, a healthy alternative for Hamilton residents that provides the body with – as they say- “the nutrients essential for health and vitality”.

The Green Smoothie bar recently visited Mohawk College for Sus-tainapalooza, an event hosted by the Sustainability Office promoting a sustainable environment and healthy lifestyle.

Standing alongside The Green Smoothie bar’s booth in the Arnie, Colbear preached the significance be-hind taking the time to being attentive to your diet.

“To stay healthy in today’s world is to really listen to yourself and take that time for yourself,” said Colbear. “Ultimately that would be the secret, pay attention to yourself, nurture yourself, nature first.”

Dimitri Perdicaris Ignite News

Tuition fees capped

Tuition won’t cost as much next year as many students had feared. The cost used to be allowed to rise by five per cent each year. Now, that increase has been capped at three per cent.

The news has left many students sighing with relief. MSA president Andy Hall described the cap as “a fair compromise”.

“Obviously, in a fantasy world, we would love to have tuition capped completely, or ultimately we’d have it lower, but unfortunately sometimes that just can’t be the case,” Hall said.

“So, in terms of a nice compromise, it being capped at three per cent rather than the usual five percent, I think it’s definitely a win for the students”.

But the tuition cap could lead to problems for less-popular programs.

“Over the next few years, I think you could see a few programs that are not necessarily being fully utilized, potentially being cut,” Hall speculated.

For the time being, there are no certainties of what could happen either way.

Casey Wren Ignite News

Rick Green shares ADHD experience with Mohawk students

During the ‘90s, TV viewers across Canada knew Rick Green as the scatter-brained Bill on The Red Green Show’s “Adventures with Bill” segments. In the decade when it seemed everyone was being diagnosed with ADD, the character Bill seemed a poster child for the disorder’s effects. Little did Green know that he, himself, had ADHD.

Green was diagnosed with AttentionDeficit Hyperactive Disorder at 47, after his son was diagnosed with it. Since then, he has spent his time researching ADHD and helping others who have it, through speaking appearances, the documentary ADD & Loving IT?!, and a website he designed with psychiatrist Dr. Umesh Jain, TotallyADD.com.

Green spoke at the TEDx Talk in Hamilton about his experiences with ADHD and the challenges both children and adults with ADD or ADHD face. One of the largest difficulties, Green said, is that different learning methods are needed for people with ADD or ADHD, which can be especially tricky if they’re undiagnosed.

“I always say to people, ‘I can increase your hammering power dramatically by getting you to hold the hammer at the right end,’” said Green. “If you’re holding the hammer by the head, it’s going to be hard to nail something. Hold it the right way – the way it’s designed to be used – and man, you can be powerful.”

Green also offered Mohawk College students advice for those who find them-selves burning out from over-studying.

“The way we’re taught to learn is not the way the brain learns,” Green said. “So, all students, take a trick from ADHD people and do focused bursts. Do 10-15 minutes of intense [work], then get up and pace. Let your brain process and absorb. Go do something else, something physical. It’s amazing how many top executives also do needlepoint.”

Chris Luckett Ignite News

Photo: Chris LuckettRick Green battles ADHD

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Supercrawl going ahead, but without extra moneyMichael Black Ignite News

Hamilton City Council has voted to give Supercrawl 2013, scheduled for early Sep-tember in downtown Hamilton, $60,000. That matches last year’s funding, but is less than half of the $125,000 organizers were requesting.

Ward 10 Councilor Maria Pearson had op-posed the funding last month, but agreed to vote in support of the $60k request provided it was “the absolute last time” a funding request is made in this way.

“Will all due respect, I can’t support this,” said Ward 11 councilor Brenda Johnson.

“This is really just against the process, this is not against the event. I have been to it; it is amazing, it’s the process. I know that if I vote for this today I will have at least two of my event coordinators come to me and saying, ‘what gives?’”

Johnson pointed out that the majority of event coordinators go through an extensive process to apply for funding and are always given the same two-percent increase, while Supercrawl organizers have done an end-run around the process and applied through their councillor.

“It seems now that we have three levels of funding,” said Johnson.

“Now I understand there is a third pro-cess, go to your councillor and ask for the money, ‘tada’. If I had known that I can go back to my events now and tell them to go through me and we’ll just go ‘tada’.

Ward 2 Councillor Jason Farr brought the motion for increased funding, arguing that Supercrawl attracts 80,000 people, 20,000 of whom are not from Hamilton, while contributing $6-million to the economy.

Farr described the event as “hugely significant [to] downtown, and the city of Hamilton, a provincial event that gets nation wide coverage.”

“It has created a draw, and God bless all these other festivals, [but] I don’t remem-ber picking up a newspaper in Vancouver and reading about the other festivals other than Supercrawl; it has caught on nationally.”

“I understand the process issue, but I think we need to offer some discretion,” said Ward 8 councillor Terry Whitehead.

“When I look at this particular program and what it has to offer and the value it brings to this community, and to the downtown, the heart of the city, I can’t help but support what is before us here today, in fact I would support more.”

For most students, having access to the tools they need to learn is not a major concern. But for some students it is the biggest hurdle standing between them and an education. Accessibility Awareness Day brought these issues to everyone’s atten-tion.

Besides educating students, the day also looked at the different ways in which some people learn. On display at the event were several of the tools that fall into the adap-tive or assisted technology categories.

Greg Gagnon of Accessible Learning Ser-vices works with these technologies every day.

“Assistive technology is any technology that helps students with a disability or an accessibility need to get their schoolwork or do any of their assignments, tests, anything that’s going to help them get their coursework done,” said Gagnon.

Among the tools on display were several computers controlled entirely by voice commands. Students had the chance to test the computers, and find out how steep the learning curve is simply to do a Google search.

Another tool on display was a Braille embosser. The device consists of a simple keyboard with fewer than ten buttons. Pressing a combination of these buttons causes a Braille letter to appear on the sheet of paper.

Everyone who tried the embosser was coached on which buttons to press, but many still struggled to type their names.

Awareness day also demonstrated technol-ogy for those with hearing impairments, as well as featuring displays from Stress Bust-ers, Day of Pink and L’Arche Canada.

Accessibility: the focus on campusCharlie Chase Ignite News

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Mohawk awards recognizevarsity athletes

With the end of the school year fast approaching, varsity athletes had one final task for the 2012-2013 season. On Saturday night, Mohawk held its 46th annual awards ceremony to recognize some of the outstanding efforts of its student-athletes.

Women’s soccer star Jody Hagen was named a SIRC-CCAA Academic All-Canadian and Men’s basket-baller Manny Campbell was recognized for his CCAA All-Canadian award as well. Campbell’s award marked the second year in a row that a Mohawk men’s basketball player made the All Cana-dian team.

Cross-country runner John Miles won the Hap Holman Business Award, for a varsity athlete who excels academically in the school of business. Miles not only managed to maintain an average of 83 per cent, he also shaved nearly three minutes off his personal best from last year.

Lacey Wolters was named best freshman female athlete for her outstanding first season on the women’s basketball team. Wolters averaged more than 9 points per game, with 18 blocks as well as 58 offensive and 81 defensive rebounds for a total of 139. She also had 17 steals and nine assists and was named to the OCAA West Division All-Rookie Team.

Eric Danecke was named best male freshman athlete. Danecke played in 17 out of 18 games for the volleyball team this year. He notched 110 kills, 32 stuff blocks, and 12 service aces for a total

of 154 offensive points. His 2.6 points per game tied him for sec-ond on the Mountaineers, who came out of nowhere to capture the silver medal at the OCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship.

For some athletes, one sport is not enough. Luc Seguin won the All Round Male Athlete Award, recognizing his varsity contribu-tions in cross-country running as well as curling.

Women’s fastball player Nicole Leitch was named Outstanding Female Athlete for a season in which she batted .368 (good for 16th in the OCAA), scoring 13 runs on 17 hits and driving in 10 RBIs in just 15 games. Leitch was also an OCAA League All-Star and was named MVP for the Mountaineers women’s fastball team.

Basketballer Manny Campbell was called back to the stage one last time for another award. Campbell received the Wes Hicks Award for Outstanding Male Athlete. Campbell led his team to a 16-4 regular season record, averaging 13.7 points per game. He had 13 offensive and 63 defensive rebounds for a total of 76,

working out to an average of 4.2 rebounds per game. He had 57 steals, 69 assists and even three blocked shots.

The final award of the evening was the Dr. Sam Mitminger Award, given each year to a graduating student-athlete who achieves consistent academic and athletic excel-lence. Women’s basketball star

Megan Campbell won the award after a season in which she averaged 3.8 points per game, with 11 assists, 16 blocks and 12 steals, helping get her team into the playoffs.

Campbell also won the Ray Lewis Award, which goes to an outstanding College or University student athlete who has made a significant volunteer contribution to the Hamilton Community. In addition to all that, she maintained an average of 91 per cent in her program.

Earlier in the evening, many athletes were recognized by the OCAA with All Academic Awards, given each year to varsity athletes who combine athletics with academic distinction. 41 Mohawk students made the All Academic team this year.

Al Craig Sports Information Officer

Mohawk’s top athletes Manny Campbell (l), Megan Campbell (c) and Nicole Leitch (r)Photo: Elia Koolsbergen

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I’m on the road again...Micky Slinger Ignite News

If I put my foot on the brake right now, we would probably both be dead.

That’s a thought that I think crosses just about every driver’s mind at one point or another while being tailgated. It crosses mine more than twice a day while I’m driv-ing on the 403. Just the other day, I was victim to the worst tailgating that I have ever experienced.

A bald-headed man in a shiny, silver Hyundai SUV came barreling up behind me as I merged into the passing lane to get around multiple large trucks. Usually, after seeing a vehicle move out from one lane into another, the driver will adjust their speed and give the vehicle trying to pass large trucks an appropriate amount of

room to do so. Not this guy. He must have been going 140 km/h easy. My passing speed of 120 km/h did not fit in with his busy life, so he proceeded to attach himself to my rear bumper. I actually thought he was going to hit me.

As I was such a huge inconvenience to this man, he thought he would pass the time attached to my bumper by checking his

phone and having a light snack. I’m not joking. In my rearview mirror, which I checked constantly to make sure I didn’t have a Hyundai badge indented in my bumper, I could see him look up to see the road periodically after looking back down

to his lap to respond to a text or focus on unwrapping his snack of choice.

The line of trucks was ending and I could

see my chance to merge into the right lane as well as lose my unwanted tag-along. As I merged, I saw him speed past with one hand on the wheel and the other wrapped around his passenger seat’s headrest.

If you drive along the 403, you’ll see a bridge that has STOP100.CA spray-painted across it. Stop 100 is a group that is seeking to increase the speed limit from 100 km/h to 120 km/h on the 400-series highways. I used to agree with them. Being pulled over for driving 120 km/h in a 100 km/h zone was ridiculous to me. Everyone drives that fast or faster in the “fast lane”. It was unfair.

Now I can see how ridiculous it would be to increase that speed. Drivers on the 400-series are not focused enough with the task at hand to deal with a 20km/h speed increase. One hand on the wheel with both eyes on your phone (or snack) is not safe and will lead to a crash. In this case, I think a ticket for speeding or distracted driving is a lot cheaper than a serious injury or your life.

And after all, everyone is going to be driv-ing a lot slower than 100kph along the 403 when the emergency vehicles are scraping you (or your tailgater) off it.

Child care: The future needs MohawkLauren Smith Ignite News

I’m not the best crusader. Every cause I come across seems valid. But more often than not, I just don’t have the time to put much energy into them, and they fall by the wayside.

But there’s one cause I’m really serious about: Mohawk College needs a childcare facility.

I know – don’t we already have one? Where are all of those little kids in F-wing coming from? The facility at the College, once a daycare centre, is now an Early Years facility, which means it

doesn’t offer full-time child care: parents are expected to stay with their children while they engage in programs and activities. Since school boards have introduced full-time Kindergarten in many schools, there isn’t as much demand for child care as there was a few years ago. But the reduced demand led to fewer daycare centres.

But what about the people who can’t stay home with their kids? What about the many students who have children and can’t bring them to school?

I talked to several of these students. Here are their stories:

Caroline Corbell’s daughter will be a year old next week. Her daughter spends the day with Corbell’s mother. On days when Grandma isn’t available, Corbell has to skip school to stay home with her child. But she’s one of the lucky ones: she has a support system that provides more help than many other students have.

He thought he would pass the time

attached to my bumper by checking

his phone and having a light

snack.

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Turning up the heat for climate literacyMichael Van Arragon Ignite News

So far, April has been like an iced drink spilled in your lap. The winds carry reck-less gobs of spit from a grey and malevo-lent sky. “Sprung” is hardly the word to describe this year’s Spring.

So when thermometers continue to dip be-low zero at night, it might not surprise you to hear an off-hand remark denouncing climate change. After all, last year’s near- 30-degree days in March were something of a freak occurrence. Weren’t they?

The casual dismissal of accepted clima-tology, even as a joke, is serious. Mark McCaffrey of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CI-RES) says that condition is a result of our “climate literacy”, the public understand-ing of environmental trends and changes. McCaffrey also used the word “abysmal” to describe North Americans’ climate literacy.

“That’s not to say there aren’t some great

programs and hard working people trying to turn the tide, but we’re in a huge hole that has been deliberately dug deeper through manufactured doubt and denial.” McCaffrey says.

The manufactured doubt McCaffrey is talking about is obvious. “One in five students don’t have a grip on what climate change actually means. Little effort has gone into building grassroots under-standing and support to address climate change.”

Canadian climate literacy is affected by a lot of political dissonance. For instance: the federal government spends $1.2b to subsidize large oil companies that are al-ready very profitable. This is said to create jobs, but the lion’s share of those funds is swallowed by the tar sands projects, proj-ects that are under intense scrutiny for the environmental harm they’re said to cause.

The subsidies continue, even as Ottawa makes cuts to Environment Canada, closes a major Arctic Research Station, withdraws

from the Kyoto Protocol and most recently abandons the UN Convention To Combat Desertification. It might not be surprising to hear: Canada ranks 58th out of 61 na-tions in the Climate Change Performance Index of 2013.

With 98 per cent of experts agreeing on the reality of climate change, why is the issue still contested in Canada? It’s possible that climate change denial is based on a psychological construct called “visceral fit”.

Jane Risen, a psychologist at the University of Chicago, describes visceral fit as the ex-perience of judging one’s future state based on one’s current state of being. You could boil it down to this: Canadians are used to it being cold. We expect it will remain cold forever.

So maybe in order to do away with the denial, Canadians need to turn up the thermostat a little, make it hot for the dis-believers. One thing’s for sure, our climate literacy probably won’t reflect our visceral fit for too much longer: summer’s just around the corner.

Laura Herbert got pregnant while in school. She gave birth during midterms in 2011, then brought her newborn son with her to school because she couldn’t afford childcare. This continued for the next 14 months: pumping breast milk in the cafeteria, taking her son across campus to the only washroom with a change table, excusing herself from class when her son needed her attention.

Laura applied for assistance from OSAP and was told that because pregnancy is a “condition” and not a disability, she couldn’t have her funding reassessed until she had proof that her son was born.

OSAP’s website says full-time students with dependents can have an extra $200 per month, per child under the age of 12. Part-time students get no extra help, and it excludes children over 12.

Ally Castonguay gets up at 5:30am every day. She has to, in order to get her daughter to daycare, and then get herself to school or her co-op placement. By the time she and her daughter get home at the end of the day, it’s time for bed.

Ally says a daycare on campus would mean she actually gets to see her daughter: “We’d get to sleep in, take the bus to school together, and leave every day together to go home and spend time together before bed … it would mean an easier life for both of us, without me feeling guilty for trying to better our lives.”

Each of these young mothers told me the same thing: keeping up with school, taking care of their children and making ends meet on a student’s budget is damned near impossible.

So what’s the solution? Better OSAP funding? More grants for students with dependents? Well, yes. But I think the real answer is right out there in our parking lot. What about the new RecCentre? Why can’t we find some space out there for childcare?

After all, if children are the future, and Mohawk promotes itself on being “Futuready”, doesn’t it just make sense? And wouldn’t this be a great way for the college to show it cares about some of the students who have the hardest time balancing school and family?

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and set a CIS record for sacks with 12.5 in eight games. He was also awarded the J.P. Metras Trophy for lineman of the year and was ranked fifth on the CFL’s list of top prospects.

Coach of the Marauders, Stefan Ptasek, says that since joining the team, D’Aguilar has been one of their greatest assets:

“[Since] the day he arrived on campus, Ben has been the most explosive and dynamic athlete we’ve had on the football team. He is extremely fast. His range and his abil-ity to make plays that go away from him as well as plays that come at him is very unique.”

D’Aguilar’s intent is to not only to find success at the NFL level, but to correct the stereotypes of those who believe that Canadian players cannot excel south of the border.

Marauder linebacker sets sights on NFLRachael WilliamsIgnite Sports

On April 7, McMaster Marauders line-backer Ben D’Aguilar travelled to Dallas, Texas to showcase his talents at the NFL Super Regional Combines. 

At 6’2, 240 lbs, D’Aguilar planned to use the Combines to show he’s ready to hit the field against some of the toughest pros-pects in the game.

“I kind of expected all this stuff to happen so it was just a more confirmation,” said D’Aguillar before heading to Texas last weekend. “I’ve been watching the pros for years and training and I know what I bring to the table … someone’s got to like me.”

This season, the McMaster Marauders linebacker had 28 tackles, a forced fumble,

“Some of the guys get a bad rap because they may play well but may not have the athletic numbers and skills that American scouts are looking for. I’m going to show them that contrary to popular belief, I’ve got what it takes.”

D’Aguilar is well-suited for the NFL. He plays the 3-4 defence that most NFL teams have adopted, he can run the 40-yard dash in 4.7 seconds, and his passion for the game is extraordinary.

Admittedly a Buffalo Bills fan, D’Aguilar says he is happy to take any opportunity he is given.

“If you end up playing for your favourite team, it’s a storybook ending, but if you end up on any squad, you’re smiling.”

D’Aguilar will get the chance to find out if all his hard work paid off on April 25, when the NFL holds its annual draft.

Warriors invade AncasterGlen CuthbertIgnite Sports

The Stoney Creek Warriors have an-nounced they’ll be packing their bags and moving to Ancaster for next season.

Warriors owner Ron Vankleef said it’s not something that happened overnight.

“We had numerous meetings with minor hockey groups and local people. Then we got talking to the city and the arena. We looked at the arena and it has everything that we need.”

In the end, Ancaster just wanted it more.

“They’re hungry for hockey there. 20 years they’ve been waiting.”

That hunger was evident this past year, when the Erie Otters held their camp at Morgan Firestone Arena and sold out an exhibition game against the Niagara Ice Dogs. The Dundas Jr. C Blues played a

regular season game there that was also sold out. Vankleef said those games proved Ancaster was ready for junior hockey.

“That’s where you could see the support, and why we felt that was the market we needed to go to, to achieve better atten-dance and better community support. That made our decision easier.”

What the team will be named has not been decided yet, but Ancaster Avalanche is one of the candidates. The Ancaster Minor Hockey League also currently uses that name, and has approved its use.

Warriors captain Jake Milligan said the po-tential increase in fans is definitely some-thing he’s looking forward to.

“I’ve loved playing in Stoney Creek, but it’s always nice to have a lot of people there.”

Living in Brantford, Milligan was one of several Warriors who commuted to Stoney

Creek. He said the move wouldn’t change much for him and the oth-ers.

“I don’t think the move is far enough away to make a difference,” he said. “It’s definitely helpful for me, because it makes the drive a lot easier.”

Vankleef said there are no hard feel-ings toward Stoney Creek.

“I want to thank the Stoney Creek community. We gave it a good run, but unfortunately (the move is)

what’s best for the team.”

Warriors rookie camp begins May 7 at Morgan Firestone Arena.

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Wrestlemania weekend recapBrady LivingstonIgnite Sports

Over 80,000 wrestling fans packed MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday to wit-ness WrestleMania XXIX. Almost all of those fans left with a strange taste in their mouths: the taste of expectedness.

As predicted, John Cena defeated The Rock to win the WWE Championship for a record 11th time, Triple H beat Brock Lesnar, and The Un-dertaker maintained his undefeated streak at the big event with a win over CM Punk.

Despite all the pre-dictable winners, the WWE still managed to put on a respectable show that had fans on their feet. The undercard matches on the show were arguably better than the main events, and the level of talent that was featured on the card made that possible.

Even so, the Undertaker and CM Punk stole the show. Their match displayed an incredible amount of athleticism and great in-ring storytelling. The feel-good ending where The Undertaker paid tribute to the late Paul Bearer brought the crowd

to a standing ovation. It was definitely the best part of the show.

But the night after WrestleMania was arguably the best part of the entire mega-weekend for WWE. What started as a regular episode of Monday Night RAW, turned into a night that wrestling fans will never forget. A hot New Jersey crowd chanted for just about

anything they could think of, from wres-tlers, to food vendors, to chocolate.

The raucous RAW crowd may have created a new star. WWE newcomer Fandango (who wrestles with a ball-room dancer gim-mick) has quickly become the biggest thing in the company.

The crowd began singing along to his theme song, and they didn’t stop, even after he had left the ring.

They didn’t even stop after they left the building. Videos of people singing along to Fandango’s theme have gone viral.

In the professional wrestling industry, the fans usually decide who becomes a star by showing interest in characters, whether that be cheering them, booing them or chanting for them. If Monday night’s episode of RAW was anything to go by, the future looks bright for Fandango.

Blue Jays struggle to take flightNeil Reyes Ignite Sports

When the 2013 Major League Baseball season began, the Toronto Blue Jays had everything going for them: a Cy Young Award-win-ner as an ace, a bevy of former All-Stars, and a healthy Jose Bau-tista to (presumably) lead the Jays to their best season in 20 years. But after an opening day loss, an embarrassing 13-0 drubbing by the Boston Red Sox, and a dismal 3-5 record as of April 11, many fans are wondering what’s going on.

One thing is for sure: the bats are not there. Bautista is currently batting below .200 and Edwin Encarnacion, the Jays’ breakout star last season, is batting below .100. The majority of their offense has come from shortstop Jose Reyes and catcher J.P. Arencibia.

But eight games into the season is not the right time to judge the success of a team. In a 162-game season, losses (and blowouts) are bound to happen. Players will get hot, and others will cool down.

The other troubling issue is the command of ace pitcher R.A. Dickey. After two starts, Dickey’s earned run average sits at 8.44. As the league’s premier knuckleball pitcher, he was expected to baffle hitters with his signature pitch, but so far, that has not been the case, as he has given up ten runs in two games. Once again, it’s far too early to judge a pitcher’s prospects after ten innings of work, but so far, the Jays heralded off-season signings haven’t panned out.

Still, it would be a mistake to jump off the bandwagon now. Start-ing pitcher J.A. Happ’s turned in a brilliant one-hit performance against the Red Sox. And a lot can happen in the remaining 150-plus games. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Photo: WWE

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Live music still thrives

Rock and roll was alive and well in the Arnie as Monster Truck, Yukon Blonde and No Sinner played Mohawk College.

Vancouver’s No Sinner opened the night with their classic bar-band style. Lead vocalist Colleen Rennison took to the stage with an unmistakable swagger in her performance. Armed with what appeared to be a bottle of wine, she and the band entertained the early crowd. The title track from their Boo Hoo Hoo EP closed out their set.

After No Sinner’s brand of gritty rock and roll, Yukon Blonde followed up with their polished indie-rock sound. The Kelowna, BC, four-piece kicked their set into high gear with “My Girl”, the second single from 2012’s Tiger Talk. Yukon Blonde played a high-energy set, eventually closing with “Stairway”, their biggest single to date.

The raucous student crowd was eager to see local rock stars Mon-ster Truck perform, chanting the band’s name prior to their set. The audience immediately responded to Monster Truck’s heavy, hard-hitting sound. Lead singer and bassist Jon Harvey took cen-tre stage with authority as guitarist Jeremy Widerman bounced all over the stage. The crowd fed off the band’s songs as a mosh pit opened up in front of the stage, causing security to pull aggressive moshers aside.

When the opening notes of “Seven Seas Blues” rang through the venue, the crowd erupted in a frenzy, further agitating security and causing them to descend into the pit to try and keep order. Some fans even found their way onstage and dove over the rail into the crowd.

Monster Truck closed out the night with “Righteous Smoke” from the Brown EP. The crowd sang along with the band and pushed and shoved towards the stage. The band declared the show was one of their best ever, in the city they call home. Judging from the flying security guards and piles of crushed beer cans on the floor after the show, it was easily one of the wildest shows the Arnie has ever seen.

The smell of sweaty bodies crammed into one room. The vibra-tion of noise blasting from nearby speakers. The view of bright lights illuminating the eager crowd.

These are the elements of music you don’t get from online down-loads. Musicians and music experts alike all agree on one thing: the way to succeed is to get on a stage and play.

Mark Furukawa of Dr. Disc Hamilton explains.

“The problem is, people’s attention spans are so limited right now. How you capture someone’s attention is through touring and gigs. For a lot of smaller bands to really make a name for them selves, they have to play live. They have to have a decent live show and their music has to translate into live,” he says.

Hamilton Spectator music editor Graham Rockingham agrees.

“That is a musician’s – that is the artist’s – job. Whether it’s your mother or sister or brother, whether you’re paying people off the street, you gotta bring a crowd,” he says.

Once you have a crowd, the experts say that you’re good.

“You’re sort of trapped. It’s like if I’ve invested my time to go to The Casbah or any one of these clubs, I’m not going to leave in five minutes. I’m going to at least be there for a beer or to watch four or five songs minimum,” says Furukawa.

According to local jazz/blues band Tuba4, musicians who are try-ing to break into the music scene live for stage time. Before a band can expect someone to pay for their music online, they have to first be heard and recognized.

“Giving energy in a live environment compromises the musi-cal result a bit. If you watch someone like Ashley MacIsaac play fiddle, does he play the fiddle as well musically when he’s dancing and flailing about? No. Does it make for a better show? Yes. So then if he took that into the studio and didn’t dance, he would get a more pristine performance, but nobody really wants to see that,” says vocalist and keyboardist Bruce Tournay.

Tuba4 member (and tuba player) Jay Burr agrees. Live is always better.

“Nothing is ever the same twice. And as a musician, that’s what I’m here for- being able to just explore,” says Burr.

When it comes down to it, live music is more demanding but more rewarding to both the artists and the audience. The authen-tic engagement between the audience and the performer is some-thing that cannot be recreated in a digital download.

“You have to be able to ante up. And playing live means give ‘er,” says Burr.

Rocking the ArnieNeil ReyesIgnite Entertainment

Chelsey KaufmanIgnite Entertainment

Yukon Blonde performs a set at Mohawk Photo: Neil Reyes

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GritLIT: Battle of the Books

GritLIT has once again returned to the Hammer. Hamilton’s liter-ary festival kicked off last Wednesday evening in fine form, begin-ning with a Battle of the Books at the Hamilton Central Library in Jackson Square.

The event, hosted by CH’s Annette Hamm, saw a panel of ten local personalities who defended the book that had been assigned to them from the Ontario Library Association’s 2013 Evergreen reading list.

Hamm, a panelist during last year’s literary battle, said she was “thrilled” to be back.

“This year it’s great to be back as MC because I didn’t really have to do any homework for tonight,” Hamm joked. “I get to sit back and figure out which of these next books I’m going to read.”

The debate between the panelists can be summed up simply: pas-sionate. Each panelist spoke very fondly about his or her title, often saying they had developed an intimate connection with the literary material. Favorite passages were shared; the lives of the characters were dissected and disseminated with laser-like precision and attention to detail; some panelists also shared their novel’s overarching themes and showed an appreciation for the author’s use of certain plot devices and stylistic techniques.

Martinus Geleynse, a creative entrepreneur and publisher of Hamilton’s Urbanicity, said he felt a real connection with the pro-tagonist of his book, Up and Down, written by award-winning novelist Terry Fallis.

“He’s kind of a dork,” said Geleynse. “He’s really politically in-

David TabronIgnite Entertainment

volved and curious and … I am too. He’s just kind of this guy who’s trying to navigate his way in this big PR firm … it was a relatable character.”

Another panelist, freelance writer Marcellus Durrell, confesses he is a “history geek” and “disturbingly proud of it.” Durrell was delighted with the book that had been assigned to him, a work of historical fiction set in the Russian court during Catherine the Great’s arrival called The Winter Palace, by Eva Stachniak.

Durrell, who is currently writing a novel about Ancient Greece, set during the Persian Wars, says writing historical fiction offers many advantages that other literary genres don’t always afford.

“The way I see it is they’re not challenges so much as opportuni-ties,” said Durrell. “Because you can fill stuff in, you can make stuff up … you only have a rough framework of what actually happened.”

Though every panelist defended his or her work passionately and commendably, the audience eventually selected Graham Craw-ford’s defense of Intolerable as the best presentation of the night.

Crawford, a Hamilton activist and owner of the Hamilton History and Heritage museum, was also undoubtedly the best-dressed presenter of the night, clad in a sporting tuxedo.

Jennifer Gillies, director of the GritLIT festival, also picked up on the passion of each presentation, saying that each year the festival keeps improving.

“The presentations were amazing,” said Gillies. “The audience was great – they were obviously very engaged, so I’m thrilled about it. We’ll just keep getting and better from here.”

The panel was made up of local personalities Photo: David Tabron

Graham Crawford (centre) was the winner Photo: David Tabron

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The day I met Roger EbertChris LuckettIgnite Entertainment

met Roger Ebert once.

It was in the fall of 2008, on the heels of the release of his book Scorsese. I went to a book signing of his with a friend of mine, and after a long wait in line, I found myself face-to-face with the man who’d shaped my love of movies more than any other.

It was a bittersweet experience. Meeting your idol is a blessing not everyone re-ceives and I was thrilled at the opportunity. At the same time, when I did finally get to approach and speak to him, he seemed a shadow of the man I had grown up watch-ing and reading.

After a strenuous bout with thyroid cancer and repeated surgeries, part of Ebert’s jaw had been removed and he had lost the ability to speak. While I had known of this – it was the reason he had left Ebert & Roeper two years earlier – seeing the titan I’d built up in my head looking so humbled and weak was a jarring experience I wasn’t really ready for.

Many people so close to retirement age and hit with such devastating health issues would retreat and quietly fade away. But not Roger Ebert. This was a man who won a Pulitzer Prize for film criticism.

By the 2000s, he was probably most recognized for his TV shows with fellow critics Gene Siskel and Richard Roeper, but he had remained a practicing film critic in writing as well. While losing the

confidence and health to host a TV program was unfor-tunate, Ebert just used that as a catalyst to pour all his passion back into the written word.

His passion was always, in my opinion, what made him such a good critic. He was at his best when he either loved a film or downright hated it. He took just as much pleasure in ripping a horrible movie to pieces as he did effusing over modern masterpieces. Even when you didn’t agree with Ebert’s opinion, he argued his case so well and with such vigour that it always made for great articles and TV segments.

I think Ebert’s enthusiasm for films was the true proof of his mettle as a critic. He wasn’t just reviewing movies for a paycheque. He wasn’t counting down the years until retirement. Pauline Kael, an-other titan of film criticism, retired in 1991 from writing reviews because she lost her love of the medium. But for Ebert, his love of film was what kept him going.

I only had the pleasure of meeting Roger

that one time. Looking back, I can’t believe I didn’t appreciate the true honour in getting to speak to him; I was so caught up in the disappointment of not having met him back when I could have con-versed with him, I failed to realize just how lucky I was to meet him at all.

I guess I always figured I would have that chance again. In some part of my mind, I never truly could fathom a world where I couldn’t read a new Ebert review. He was synonymous with the very profession of film criticism.

There will never be another Roger Ebert, but his impact will forever be felt. Anytime someone records a movie review for TV or YouTube, anytime a person gives some-thing “two thumbs up,” anytime someone just has a heated discussion or argument with someone about a movie they’ve just seen, his legacy is present.

Roger Ebert reviewed movies purely because he loved them. And in the process, he made the world love movies just a little bit more.

Roger Ebert: 1942-2013 Photo: Disney-ABC

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