May 24, 2005

George: 1, Me: 0

I’ll admit it: I’m a nerd. When I first saw the trailer for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith on the big screen at the Gardiners Road theatre, I got, well, pretty excited. There may have been some drooling and flailing. My non-nerdy housemate gave me her best look of disgust and told me …

May 24, 2005

Union Street planning process flawed

At a public meeting on May 5, the Union Street Improvement Project unveiled two preliminary plans to renovate Union Street by constructing a more aesthetically pleasing streetscape. According to pr…

May 24, 2005

No place for sexism in government

Thursday’s vote of confidence on the federal budget was a close call, with a final tally of 153 to 152. In the weeks leading up to the vote, the country saw the establishment of the “NDP deal” betw…

September 28, 2004

Finding the high road

My first experience of Israel involved a Sheraton hotel suite and two police officers carrying submachine guns. Towards the end of the 11 years I spent living in Qatar, a suite in the Doha Sheraton…

Say no to sweatshops

September 28, 2004

Officially licensed Queen’s clothing is a popular commodity around campus. Sadly, the University is not doing all it can to ensure that none of its officially licensed clothing is made in illegal s…

Class sizes far too large

September 28, 2004

It’s no secret that class sizes have been getting progressively larger in the last few years. Some professors have responded to the problem by assigning fewer take-home essays while assigning more …

Who are they, anyway?

September 24, 2004

I’ve grown out of it now, but for six months following grade 12, I was plagued by nightmares of Miss Piggy. Perhaps it was because I was nearly suspended from high school. Perhaps it was because I …

Toronto police go too far

September 24, 2004

Toronto’s police chief Julian Fantino recently proposed the city police establish a fingerprint database of people who have been charged—but not convicted—of certain serious crimes, such as those i…

Dan Rather’s apology

September 24, 2004

One of the most established journalists in the United States has admitted to reporting a false story. On Sept. 8, Dan Rather ran a story on CBS’s 60 Minutes purporting to show that President George…

An apolitical rolling stone

September 21, 2004

I have a confession that one of my t-shirts makes equally well: I love Bob Dylan. I have another confession, one that may sound as inharmonious as Dylan’s irreverent voice: To me, politics is bunk—…

The return of Alfie’s

September 21, 2004

Once again, Alfie’s has been renovated. But while previous attempts to solve the bar’s financial woes by throwing more money toward renovations have consistently backfired, this year’s AMS executiv…

Kofi Annan speaks out

September 21, 2004

The United Nations Secretary General recently said that the U.S.-led war in Iraq was illegal. “I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN charter from our point of view, from the charter…

Communication 101

September 17, 2004

My sixteen-year-old sister tells me I should just let it go and lol. That’s when I get worried. I get worried that MSN messenger is a problem that is seeping into our every waking moment. But befor…

QCARD’s fixable flaws

September 17, 2004

QCARD probably receives more use in September than during any other time of year. It’s hardly surprising then that the service’s largely fixable flaws become most noticeable during this time. QCARD…

Preserve the Greasepole

September 17, 2004

It appears the Greasepole is no longer what it once was. The Frosh Week event challenges first-year Applied Science students to work together as a team to capture a tam that rests atop a tall pole …

Stick a fork in me

September 14, 2004

After a sleepy summer in Kingston, school has once again begun and I don’t think I’ve ever been so bummed out. I’ve tried to talk myself out of this funk. I listen to happy music like Devo every mo…

Regulating violent dogs

September 14, 2004

Ontario’s Attorney General recently announced the province will take legislative action in an attempt to reduce the number of violent dog attacks. Although past efforts have focused exclusively on …

Foremsky still a threat

September 14, 2004

Philip Foremsky, a man who pled guilty to groping, sexually assaulting and robbing six women near the York University campus four years ago, was recently granted a statutory release from a Correcti…

Confronting Genocide

September 10, 2004

On July 22, the United States Congress passed a resolution that used the term “genocide” to describe the situation in Sudan during the last several months. In the realm of international law, the te…

Football and Cold Beer

September 10, 2004

Beer will now be served at Queen’s home football games. Campus activities commissioner Dave Homuth has arranged for a designated area to be established right next to Richardson Stadium where studen…

Canada’s Olympic woes

September 10, 2004

Canada’s performance at the summer Olympics in Athens was one of its worst in recent memory. From track and field to rowing to swimming, many Canadian athletes who were expected to do well fell sho…

Let them drink beer

July 27, 2004

I’ve always enjoyed a healthy dose of beer. I’m not a dangerous drinker by any stretch—I’ve never puked, passed out or forgotten events because of alcohol, and it’s not a pillar of my weekend. But …

Don’t Charge Moore

July 27, 2004

A fourth-year Queen’s student wants Elections Canada to charge American filmmaker Michael Moore with violating the Canada Elections Act. Kasra Nejatian, Comm ’05, claims Moore violated section 331 …

CRTC presents Al-Jazeera

July 27, 2004

Earlier this month, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) decided to allow Al-Jazeera, an Arab cable news network based in Qatar, to broadcast in Canada. However, t…

Along came Belinda …

June 29, 2004

Last year, Aurora Ont. was so insignificant to Elections Canada that the redistribution of electoral ridings tomahawked the town straight down Yonge St. and equally divided its 43,000 inhabitants i…

Fixing University Ave.

June 29, 2004

Queen’s wants to give University Avenue a major facelift. The University says the portion of the road running from Clergy to Stuart streets has deteriorated in the last several decades from a combi…

Time to Grit and bare it

June 29, 2004

Six months ago, or even six weeks ago, it seemed almost unthinkable that the election result would be anything other than a Liberal majority. But last night, the Liberals managed to win only a slim…

The essential trench

May 11, 2004

It has been a week since I wrote my last exam and already I have returned to my old ways. My summer job won’t really begin for another week and the idleness of each passing day has proven conducive…

New Principal chosen

May 11, 2004

After a lengthy search process that took curiously longer than expected, Queen’s finally selected its new Principal. Dr. Karen R. Hitchcock has an extensive background in anatomy and cell biology a…

1,000 words from Iraq

May 11, 2004

The recently released gruesome photos of American soldiers torturing and humiliating Iraqi POWs at the Abu Ghraib prison provide fresh evidence to be skeptical of the Bush Administration’s pledge t…