Category: Community

Activism has been getting a bad rap lately, what with the recent police disruptions and arrests at last July’s World Trade Organization demonstrations, but there are many activist groups operating out of Montreal making their way in the world and doing good things.

The face of activism isn’t all glory and fame and often goes unnoticed except when it comes to unfavourable media coverage. But where activism truly exists is behind the scenes, organizing, planning and bringing attention to a cause.

“An educated consumer is a compassionate consumer,” explains Andrew Plumby, Director of Global Action Network (GAN), an animal rights group operating in Montreal. “Education is key to meeting our objectives,” he says.

Plumby explains that GAN’s strategy is to create a ripple effect, to get people talking about what they have learned about animal rights. Word of mouth is an essential tool. The message always seems much more personal and enticing when shared by friends. “We want to engage people,” says Plumby, “not just talk at them.”

By educating the public on issues such as factory farming, the seal hunt and the cruelty of animals in circus performances, GAN hopes to change consumer patterns and influence government on all levels “We change consumer patterns we change the world,” says Plumby.

Changing the world is a difficult undertaking, but it is one step at a time, one victory at a time.

Last year, GAN was shocked to learn that the Granby Zoo had planned to create a dolphinarium. The zoo planned to construct a large concrete tank to house six dolphins. “Dolphins are intelligent social creatures that swim great distances in the wild,” explains Plumby. “A small tank would be torture to those poor creatures.”

When GAN also learned that the zoo would be getting 20 million dollars in government subsidies to build the tank, they launched a six-month campaign rallying media and public support to lobby the government to drop the funding. The public was furious that their tax dollars were being spent on such a project. The government and the zoo eventually gave in and scrapped the idea for the dolphinarium.

“The [campaign against] dolphinarium project worked well,” says Plumby. “We budgeted for a quick six month campaign with realistic goals. In the end we got what we wanted.”

GAN is also working to have Montreal circus performances with animal acts banned, as many of these acts mistreat the animals involved.

“To achieve a successful mandate you must break up larger problems into bite-sized achievable chunks,” says Plumby, who believes that groups must define a goal with a timeline, budget, resources and materials, and plan for short term achievable goals that further the long term.

Another group, the self-proclaimed radical randy misfits, the Ass Pirates, don’t really fit into your traditional definition of ‘queer’ so they’re busy trying to create their own scene open to all those free of discrimination.

The Ass Pirates got their name this summer when they hijacked the Gay Pride parade. Pirates have always been seen as being on the outskirts of mainstream capitalist culture, often associated with sexual deviance and debauchery. Agent Mook, Goat Boy and simply Challes represent the Ass Pirates.

Despite the strange name they are making way in the queer community. With their friendly anti-hierarchical order they’re looking to find a place for those who are fed up with the current “non-straight” community.

The Ass Pirates state, “We will not be satisfied with a commercialized gay identity that denies the intrinsic links between queer struggle and challenging power.”

“The Ass Pirates started as a response to the current gay pride activities in Montreal,” explains Agent Mook “We didn’t see anything other than big circuit parties and corporate sponsors.”

The group is a radical queer movement that examines all levels of social dysfunction. The main objective of the group is to inform and inspire other non-mainstream groups like them. “It’s not enough just to be accepted or tolerated,” says Challes, “if we become copies of productive members of the society and political system, that we hate.”

A better known group and one close to Concordia students is the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) Concordia that has been operating since 1989. QPIRG Concordia is an umbrella organization that helps various action-oriented groups get on their feet.

Founded by Ralph Nader in the 1970s PIRGS try to capture the energy and creativity of students to promote social change. Eventually, students in Montreal bounded together to get QPIRG Concordia off the ground.

“QPIRG is not just a student organization,” says Marcie Gibson, one of two co-ordinators at QPIRG.

“We also make stronger links with non-student Montreal based activists and the Montreal community at large.”

QPIRG Concordia acts as a resource to several different actions groups. It supports eight official working groups, which have first priority access to staff support, space, and funding as well as four affiliate groups, which are more independent from the organizations. QPIRG receives almost all its funding from a student levy that takes 30 cents per credit from all Arts & Science, fine arts and independent undergraduates at Concordia.

QPIRG Concordia contribution to the community has been impressive. QPIRG has helped many organizations start up. Some of the projects include Blood Sisters, an organization based on menstrual activism and recyclable menstrual products. The Right to Move Bike shop focuses on sustainable transportation, and Santropol Roulante, a meals-on-wheels bike program which delivers good food to people of all ages.

“A lot of our work is done behind the scenes,” Gibson says. “We do not always have a visible presence, but our membership is there.”

One of the recent working groups of QPIRG is the volunteer group Alcan’t in India, a group that implements a paid training project for South Asian youth in Montreal.

“The youth who participate in Alcan’t will be learning about organizing techniques and examples, and developing a sustainable solidarity campaign against Alcan’s further development in Orissa, India,” says Gibson.

One might think that to be an activist one needs a tough skin.

“That and the organizational skills to pull it off,” says Gibson. “You need a sense of direction, goal setting, and to keep self evaluating, learning and accepting new challenges and new campaigns.”

To reach GAN e-mail andrew@gan.ca, for QPIRG Concordia, qpirg@cam.org or the Ass Pirates, slutsagainstcapitalism@hotmail.com.

Eight courses! Eight weeks!

That is how long, or short, it takes to get an intensive public relations certificate (IPRC) offered by the centre for continuing education (CCE) at Concordia, but do not be fooled by the low number of courses, or the short span of time that it takes. The workload can be grueling, pressing and nerves are frazzled because the program is intensive.

Students from all over the world, some as far as China, Syria and the Ivory Coast, have come to study to help advance career opportunities, or just to enhance personal development.

Cynthia Nichols, owner of Real Art Gathering Strength Art Gallery in Montreal, is taking PRC to “Learn the art of the schmooze.”

“Selling art is not the issue for me,” says Nichols. “It’s the social content.”

Dealing with multi-cultural diversity is what attracted Nichols to IPRC. Nichols plans to take some time off and travel after the program is finished. “If I should see some art…oh well!” Although there is a lot of work, Nichols is enjoying her time studying, but looking forward to a well-deserved break.

Stephanie Duff has come to Montreal from Newfoundland to study in the IPRC program. “I am changing careers and wanted to find out more about public relations,” she says. Having an undergraduate degree in modern languages from Memorial University of Newfoundland, Duff wanted to continue her education in either marketing or public relations.

“I’ve always been interested in marketing and public relations. I wanted to take an intensive program so that I could find out if it is really what I am interested in before investing too much time into it. I did not want to get another degree just for the sake of getting a degree.”

The program is intensive, fast paced, and is over before you know it, but it does not lack in quality or what can be gained.

When students graduate they will have learned the skills to help a company or organization build and maintain a strong public image. Public relations activities include helping the public to understand the company and its products. Often, public relations are conducted through newspapers, television, magazines, etc, subjects that are included in the program.

“I think three months might have been better,” says Duff. “It’s a lot of work, but I am enjoying it.” Duff also has plans to take a certificate in marketing.

Eliana Castallenos from the Dominican Republic has been in Montreal since June 2002. Castallenos wanted to learn more about the field of public relations, a field that she has already been employed in.

“I’ve worked in the field, and wanted to expand my knowledge,” she says.

Castallenos has also completed two years of business administration from Concordia, as well as certificates in marketing, and electronic office systems technology. She also expects to complete another certificate in communications, also offered at CCE.

Professor Elaine Cohen has been teaching IPRC since it was first introduced about five years ago. Cohen contributes to newspapers and magazines in Montreal and Toronto, but spends most of her time teaching. “I think it is wonderful to meet people from different countries, walks of life and age groups,” says Cohen. “People learn to discipline themselves in an intensive program because they have such tight deadlines. Time management skills are often improved in a program like this. The outside world should take advantage of the people who have taken these courses.

These spirited students will be saying, for most, one final goodbye after an evening of dinner at the Trattoria Dai Baffoni restaurant, at 6859 St. Laurent St., and dancing at the Upper Club, at 3519 St. Laurent St.

You can find the centre for continuing education at La Tour du Faubourg at 1600 Saint-Catherine Street West, or telephone 848-3600, and you can visit the web site at http://carina.concordia.ca/conted.

There is a renewed sense of optimism at Concordia. New buildings, fields and buses complement the record enrollment and promote the thinking that the university is heading nowhere but up.

Amidst the sparkling complex and green grass is the emergence of the Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA) a three-year-old organization representing over 12,000 students.

“There’s so much more to university than going to class,” says VP of Administration Colleen Ryan, one of the six VPs spearheading ASFA’s growth. “You have the opportunity to meet other students in your program, develop friendships, get to know your professors, and network.”

“Kiss my ASFA 2003” was the first Frosh orientation organized for Arts & Science students. Also successful was the free concert by Sky and Shawn Desman, which was among the many diverse concerts offered throughout Montreal during the first weeks of school.

Establishing ASFA among the university’s primary associations has yet to be achieved, however. Many believe it must be run smoothly from beginning to end (the initial group dissolved last year due to internal conflicts) to be taken seriously by faculty and students alike. A lot of that has to do with the participation of the 31 associations under the ASFA umbrella who now find themselves with a stronger voice and increased responsibilities.

“In many ways they are ASFA,” says Mark Ordonselli of the School of Community and Public Affairs.

“ASFA doesn’t exist just for parties throughout the year. It exists for representation and appointments to various councils, among many things.”

Indeed one job of the member association is to appoint students to various committees and sub-committees. At their second meeting of the year, students who presented themselves for nomination were elected based on short speeches to the council.

Time constraints made it difficult for the member associations to make the open positions known to all students eligible, which usually was anyone enrolled in an Arts and Science program.

It is no doubt difficult keeping in touch with a record number of students for the Arts and Science faculty, an amount so high that the university has hired 200 new professors to meet the demand.

It is especially difficult when many do not know ASFA even exists. While the first agenda, Frosh, orientation and concert events have put ASFA on the map, they are attempting to establish the means to keep themselves there and spread the word about future events and news.

“The web site is the vehicle,” said VP Internal Farouk Janmohamed at the first ASFA council meeting in early September.

“It is where the associations and students will go to get their information.”

The web site is certainly a place Arts & Science students should bookmark. For example, if you received a INC (incomplete) on your transcript from last semester, information on the web site directed you to apply at the Birks Student Centre no later than Oct. 1 to complete any late work. After the deadline date you have to go through the Student Request Committee to get an extension approved, otherwise a failure will be applied to your transcript.

There is much more to be found on the ASFA web site, and it will only continue to grow with all the information to share. ASFA hopes all associations will be linked to their site by the end of the year. Many associations under ASFA are either creating web sites or already have them established.

Under this format, events of individual associations will get coverage beyond their specific faculty, and uniting events between faculties will be easier. Different associations are already teaming up to throw bigger events, with combined Halloween parties on the horizon as a sign of the exciting events to come.

“Concordia survived for years without any representation for the Arts and Science students,” acknowledges Ryan. “They had a great disadvantage, especially considering that CASA [Commerce and Administration Student Association] and the ESA [Engineering Student Association] are so well organized. Now they [Arts and Science students] have more opportunities to meet and interact.”

ASFA has already shown its worth to its membership. For example, over-achieving students would be interested to know about the eight new Arts and Science bursaries.

The awards of $500 each are split between the arts disciplines and the science disciplines. Four will be to acknowledge outstanding academic achievement (must maintain an annual GPA of 4.0 over the period of one year or 24 credits).

The other four will be to recognize outstanding contribution to Concordia student life while maintaining a GPA of 3.0. It suffices to say that the young ASFA is doing everything it can to help its students.

There is also a ‘Special Projects Fund’ in place, an upcoming trip to New York City and an extravagant Grad Ball planned for the end of the year, a first for Arts and Science students.

At the end of the day, one has to wonder how the ASFA members are able to undertake a task as burdensome as breathing life into such an organization. Most are busy working, going to school and maintaining what social life they can through hectic schedules.

“There’s the ultimate satisfaction of being able to contribute to student life,” says Janmohamed describing why he volunteers all the hours he does.

“I only wish I [had] gotten involved sooner, and I hope more students get involved.”

If ASFA can continue riding the wave it has created, they just might.

For additional information you can contact ASFA by telephone at 848-7966, or visit their web site at www.asfa.ca.

Few would dispute Montreal is a starburst of artistic expression, offering a cornucopia of film, street festivals, theatre, fine art, performance, dance and song. But what about the small press publishing scene? Where are the creators of art books, small books, magazines, comics, experimental fiction, illustrated poetry and other novelties? Where are the works of self-publishers and home grown publishing houses with special focus and local character?

With the greatest of effort, some do manage to obtain limited visibility in certain independent bookshops, such as The Double Hook, The Word and notably, Casa del Popolo’s Distriboto, an ingeniously re-purposed public vending machine.

It’s true to say, however, that this represents just the tip of the iceberg. Many other bookshops are rarely, if ever, seen.

Enter Expozine, Montreal’s second annual daylong event showcasing the talent and originality of the local micro publishing scene. In contrast to Toronto, whose small press fair has been established for over twenty-five years, for Montreal this is a new happening.

It’s all due to the determination of organizers such as Ian Ferrier of Wired on Words, David Widgington, of Cumulus Press, Andy Brown, of Conundrum Press, Billy Mavreas, shopkeeper of Monastiraki, and Louis Rastelli, of Distroboto, who together thought the time had come for such an event in Montreal.

Thanks to their combined efforts, the public can now come to discover the works of the rarely seen independent presses, author-publishers, poets, digital, graphic and fine artists, cartoonists, singer-songwriters, music producers and more.

The public will also be able to sample a plethora of word and art creations in French, because in Expozine’s lively cosmopolitan ambiance, Montreal’s two famous solitudes mingle comfortably side by side.

“Thirty per cent of exhibitors were from French presses last year,” says Widgington. “We’re trying for more this year.”

One of the benefits of a Montreal Expozine for small publishers is to showcase their works. “Not everyone engaged in small press activity has the means to participate in the big Salons du Livre or expensive book fairs that do go on,” says Rastelli. “Also, our fair crosses many types of publishing from established publishers such as Vehicule Press to one-person operations who have just begun photocopying their own small publications. It also crosses many genres, from comics, graphic arts, literary, political, and music to non-fiction publications of all kinds.”

Fellow organizer Widgington agrees. “Basically it’s the underground alternative publishing scene in the city.”

From its very debut in 2002 Expozine was a runaway success. Over 60 Montreal-area publishers exhibited their wares last year, and organizers estimate that close to 1,000 visitors attended the event throughout the day.

“We expect a few thousand people to visit this year,” says Widgington. “[This is] a marked increase from last year, which was in itself a solid crowd.”

Therefore, the beautiful grey stone monastery building, directly beside the Mont-Royal metro station, was chosen to allow for even greater participation all around. About 90 exhibitors are expected to host tables, and there will be much more breathing space for visitors to browse.

“Many of the folks who were there last year are returning this year,” says Rastelli. “As a new aspect of this year’s event, there will also be contingents from Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto, Chicago and elsewhere.”

Organizers hope to attract more French publishers and those from other cultures. “This may take years to develop,” says Widgington, “but we hope eventually to achieve a huge cross-cultural, trans-neighbourhood, multi-faceted mix of people interested in books, zines and comics of whatever language, as long as they are independent and small and a fresh alternative to the mainstream.”

According to Rastelli, most zines or chapbooks sell for one or two dollars, and there are dozens of alternative voices on display. “Presses such as Vehicule, Conundrum and others typically sell their books for less than the cover price at these events.”

Best of all, publications can be bought directly from the author or publisher, and so useful networking exchanges can also be made. When Sandra Phillips and Stan Posner were promoting their familiar annual bestseller for bargain-conscious Montrealers and city tourists, they discovered more than even they had bargained for.

“It was at Expozine 2002 that we met the graphic designer we hired to design our brand new Drive I-95 Travel Guide,” says Phillips, co-publisher of Travelsmart and Smart Shopping Montreal.

Leila Peltosaari, Publisher of Tikka Books, was also on hand with a stack of cookbooks especially created for students on limited budgets, appropriately entitled College Cuisine.

Invisible Cities, a networking support group for author-publishers, musicians and artists, hosted a display table for its members such as Barbe Silverman who represented the Montreal Science Fiction and Fantasy Association, a very active, eclectic group within the city.

“Last year’s event was crowded, which wasn’t a bad thing,” says Max Salgood, an artist and self-publisher who will be exhibiting again this year. “I’m going more for the fun of it than anything else, but I do think it helps a bit to be present at events like this if you want to part of the local community.”

Cristina Perissinotto, assistant professor of Italian studies at Concordia and a published poet, was a visitor at last year’s fair.

“I met Ian Ferrier, one of the organizers, and I met face to face with all these people [publishers],” says Perissinotto. “I liked speaking to some of them about my new poetry book and the ins and outs of getting it published. In general, I found the fair was an excellent way to get to know the small and big publishers in town.”

Montreal’s 2003 Expozine 2003, 2nd Annual Small Press, Comic, and Zine Fair will be held on Saturday, October 25, from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Relais Mont-Royal, 500A Mont-Royal East near Mont-Royal metro station. The fair is free to the public. For additional information you can visit the web site at www.expozine.ca.

Inside one of the five-story apartment buildings on Bourret Ave in C

Everyday television, radio and the press remind us we’re falling behind when it comes to youth violence; after decades of launching campaigns on violence, drugs, poverty, family disarray and illiteracy, current research and front line experiences of social workers tells us we are in a “stall” stage.

As if that isn’t discouraging enough, we seem to be running out of ideas, energy and front-line workers necessary to achieve change.

Even the rhetoric that surrounds our approach has whitewashed the darker side of this problem. We read about “youth issues” or “youth concerns” where “conflict resolution” programs or “social service” programs are implemented and then often forgotten when the funding dries up.

Yet, under the veneer, you will find that youth are being ripped off when it comes to these programs. According to many front-line workers, programs will only work when backed by parental and community role models, something that is lacking today.

Politicians and the like place the blame on family, saying one reason for the increase in youth violence was parents have been delinquent themselves when it came to raising their children. They note that communities need to do more perhaps creating more “programs” or as many have done in response to the crisis suggesting the government implement and operate some form of National Security Youth Program.

“It is like placing a bandaid on a deep cut,” says Mark Branch, executive director of the Lasalle Boys and Girls Club.

“We build relationships with young people and then the money runs out,” he says. A Concordia Alumni, Branch has worked for more than 15 years with youth. He sees government funding as one part of the issue. “Governments provide money initially but not over a long term. When the time is up organizations scramble to find other sources of income or fold up the program.”

Much of the strategy is aimed at correcting youth problems that seem most pressing. This attacks one problem at a time, one individual at a time, in a desperate attempt to “stop the hemorrhaging.”

Nevertheless, the question remains of what to do.

“The answer might seem like a no-brainer,” says Danial Harcourt of the youth advocacy group Block House. “Young people are little learning machines. If they are raised on a diet of blood and gore, where killing is awarded with video points, and left unattended at home to watch the nightly news, or what has been termed “if it bleeds it leads” somewhere our children will be imprinted with what they witness.”

That is not to say that media is to blame – far from it.

Harcourt is almost subliminally hinting that children are missing parental governing, monitoring and they do not seem to care about community involvement especially when it comes to these “programs.”

Who could blame them? In 1999 in Canada there were over 3,000 government registered and funded “anti-crime” and “anti-violence” youth programs. In 2001, over 300 programs closed and this year 878 of those are on the chopping block.

“I just roll my eyes when I hear about another program,” says Joey Cloudesdale, 23, who found that just having a place to go was enough.

“I got enough programming at school and at home and sometimes I just wanted a place to hang out. Walking into another youth centre and being asked to be part of another conflict resolution program didn’t do it for me.”

Cloudesdale cannot tell you how many youth programs he was introduced to but would be the first to promote the benefits of youth centres. “It was a place where you could structure your life around your friends, school and family,” he says. “It was also a place where someone would listen and offer you advice.”

Youth centres were once called “drop in” centres, but today even the more established youth movements are being called “drop off” centres by parents and youth.

“Parents have to take responsibility for their children,” says Branch, who promotes the idea that along with long-term government funding, parents have to play a larger role.

“They [parents] are just happy that their children have a place to go. The parents expect us to be responsible for homework, discipline and keeping them busy.”

Youth workers such as Branch are talking here about the quality time you and I and Mom and Dad spend -or don’t spend- supporting and encouraging all young people in our communities.

“It isn’t all a problem about what to do with our kids,” says Branch.

“Youth have to be responsible for their own actions as well. We attempt to demonstrate responsible behavior of our youth members at the club and from that we hope it carries over into society.”

Saving society from youth violence has been such a mantra of mass-market sociology and psychology that one might think the adult community is a separate entity and has little to do with the mentoring of youth.

Harcourt does not rule out programs but says communities should take an A to Z approach.

“One of life’s most valuable lessons is that we’re all made better when we help others.”

“Programs offer children hands-on experiences that cultivate caring, respect and sharing with others. Programs also give schools and youth centres the opportunity to extend fundraising to the larger community, involving faculty and administration, school service organizations, community businesses and extended families.”

How would you feel about writing on paper that was produced using natural processes?

Concordia’s Centre for Structural and Functional Genomics (CSFG) says that maybe in the future many of our pulp and paper products will be created in large part by fungi.

Researchers at CSFG are painstakingly sifting through the genetic material of many fungi species, hoping to clue in on how their molecular makeup give them the unique ability to break down wasteful materials in a wide range of environments.

“The main purpose [of the research] is to determine the genetic blueprint…find out what types of enzymes are being used,” says Dr. Adrian Tsang, director at the centre.

“We can see if they can harness these enzymes to mimic them in a factory type environment.”

The enzymes most heavily analyzed in the project have been those in wood degrading fungi, which can potentially be used to replace harmful chemicals in the pulp and paper industry.

Funded by a research grant from the Natural Science and Engineering Council (NSERC), the project partners up with the Biology, Biochemistry and Computer Science departments at Concordia.

The centre was launched three years ago with start-up funds from the National Science and Engineering Research Council totalling $3.6 million for four years.

The project also received $1.25 million from both the federal and Qu

Picture this? In a Monty Python Flying Circus skit, a group of Vikings are sitting in a restaurant singing “U.C.E., U.C.E., U.C.E., lovely U.C.E., wonderful U.C.E., until told to shut up by the very agitated waitress.

Actually, the restaurant skit serves all its food with lots of spam, and the waitress repeats the word several times in describing how much spam is in the items. When she does this, a group of Vikings in the corner start singing, over and over, increasing the tempo, louder and louder, and more Vikings join in, “Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, lovely spam, wonderful spam,” until she tells them to put a lid on it.

What we know as Spam is actually Unsolicited Commercial e-mail, or U.C.E and for the straight talkers it is simply junk mail. Period! It is what clogs and corrupts every corner of our e-mail accounts and bounces back important e-mails. It is an attempt to deliver commercial advertising to someone who would not otherwise want it, think about, care about it and never mind actually buy from it.

Spammers do want you to buy. In 2001, 27 per cent of all mail sent in North America was spam; up 39 per cent from the year before. We do have something to be thankful for, because not all spam gets through. According to Message Labs, a provider of managed e-mail security services the incidence of spam is continuously on the rise. The number of spam e-mails intercepted by Message Labs is now more than 80 million per month – up from 30 million in 2002.

Even with Message Labs on the job, you can expect more offers to refinance without perfect credit, or Re: Your Student Loans, and in case you did not know it, Re: Your Internet connection may be malfunctioning (paranoia sells) and Re: girls. In case we are all dunce heads we may be shocked to discover that Re: Your Life Insurance company does NOT WANT you to know that you are being ripped off. Generic Viagra. Naked teens. Tummy tuckers…Oh shut up already.

A spam attack even interrupted delivery of e-mail to millions of Hotmail users last year, as the company fought off a deluge of marketing messages destined for customers. Yahoo! had to spend three days re-tooling their system after they were hit. Hard to feel too sorry for them, since they have previously done business with spammers, but Hotmail’s and Yahoo!’s woes is just an example of what we get in our Inbox on a daily basis.

Anne Bennett, senior system administrator at Concordia, says since the university supplies mail servers to students, departments and faculty members, the central Information Technology department is aggressive when it comes to spammers. “Mail comes into the university from the outside through a small number of mail relay hosts which perform basic anti-spam procedures,” she says.

What about not giving out your e-maill address? Think again? According to Steve Linford, of the anti-spam Spamhaus Project, not supplying your e-mail address to anyone may not be enough to protect yourself from spam. Spamhaus has proof that at least one spammer has been conducting a massive dictionary attack against none other than Hotmail, at the rate of three to four tries per second, 24 hours a day, continuously for the last five months. The spammers will eventually get a list of all subscribers to those accounts.

“Hotmail should protect its servers against these sorts of spam attacks,” says Steve Atkins of the anti-spam website Sam Spade. “But that would require a serious cash investment to design, build and deploy such protection for an e-mail system the size of Hotmail,” he says.

Atkins questions how much business incentive there is for Hotmail to do this. Since they are taking care of a lot of those spam messages through their own spam filtering process, users of Hotmail don’t see a large fraction of the spam they could receive. “But that spam is still delivered to the user bulk-mail folder, so it counts toward their mailbox quota,” Atkins says.

Hotmail offers 2 MB of storage space for their users free of charge and since the spam is still delivered and counted toward that limit, the user account can easily fill up. Even if you ask to be removed from a list it is just a way to confirm that your address is valid. Don’t post your address on your website since software is readily available to lift addresses from many sites. There is not much to be done.

Bennett agrees. “Although much can be done to reduce the amount of spam that reaches our users, it is not possible to design software that is 100 per cent accurate in detecting spam, primarily because different people have different opinions as to what E-mail is wanted and unwanted,” she says.

If you want to help out testing additional anti-spam measures at Concordia go to http://clyde.concordia.ca/email/spam/

Money can’t buy happiness – it’s official.

It is pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness; poverty and wealth have both failed! This little bit of wisdom comes from U.S. journalist, humorist, homespun philosopher and creator of the cartoon character “Abe Martin,” Kin Hubbard. Hubbard at one time did say if the entire world reached the American dream then we would truly know happiness.

Psychologists now report the popular notion of the American dream – achieving happiness through influence and money – may not be a recipe for contentment after all. New research suggests self-esteem, feeling competent, in control of your life and close to people you care about are more important for psychological well-being.

Experts say that excessive wealth, particularly for people unaccustomed to it, such as lottery winners, can actually cause unhappiness. But autonomy, competence in what you do, a sense of closeness with others and self-esteem, do bring a well-rounded state.

Dr. Kennon Sheldon, of the University of Missouri-Columbia, used three different groups of students, including one from South Korea, to study happiness levels. He asked the first group to identify what had been the single most satisfying event they had experienced during the last month. The second group was told to look at the most satisfying event of the past week and the last group of students was asked to describe their most unsatisfactory event of the whole university term.

The students rated self-esteem, relatedness (feeling connected with people), autonomy (feeling in control) and competence (feeling effective) as the top four emotions that accompanied feeling satisfied. At the bottom of the list were popularity, influence, money and luxury.

“These aspects of the American dream may not be so desirable after all,” says Sheldon.

The research, published in the American Psychological Association’s Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, found that the three groups returned fairly similar results. For the American students, self-esteem was top of their list. For the South Koreans it was a sense of closeness.

The students also listed a lack of security as something that profoundly affected their stability. “It appears that when things go wrong, people may strongly wish for the safety and predictability that they often take for granted,” says Sheldon.

Sheldon hopes to extend their study “to help individuals find conducive social and vocational niches and to motivate them to develop their skills further within those niches”.

Diana Pidwell, a community and clinical psychologist at Blackpool Wyre and Fyde Community Trust and a member of the British Psychological Society, agreed money could not buy happiness. “Many studies have been done on the importance, or otherwise, of money and what seems to be the consensus is that once you have the basic level then after that it does not make any difference to happiness,” she says. “There is evidence that there are very wealthy people who are very unhappy. Particularly people who were not born to wealth like lottery winners.”

The findings add to a growing body of evidence about what underpins well being and motivation.

For example, the result that emotional needs are more important than financial ones is echoed by over a hundred other studies that conclude that people are more motivated by internal emotions than by external rewards such as money.

Edward Deci, of the University of Rochester in New York, recently illustrated this point by showing that people may be happy to work through puzzles without getting any money, whereas those paid to do so are inclined to stop once the money is withdrawn.

But those who have always been happy say money was never a part of their game plan.

“Happiness is a decision, which is why money can’t buy it,” says Lionel Ketchian, the founder of the Happiness Club. In pursuit of money, working even harder, we are, says Ketchian, on a hedonic treadmill – a phrase that resonates with most of us.

“Right across Europe people report more stress, harder work, greater fear of insecurity, chasing elusive gains. The seven key factors now scientifically established to affect happiness most are: mental health, satisfying and secure work, a secure and loving private life, a safe community, freedom and moral values.”

Steven Rhodes, a former bankruptcy clerk turned happiness coach, agrees and perhaps sums it up best.

“If you believe that you will suddenly become happier and more satisfied with life just because you earn 50 per cent more per year or win a lot of money, you might be rich in measure, but not in spirit. Enough will never be enough until you can learn to be happy with what you currently earn.”

As long as you are unconscious of why and how you use money, it will drip through your fingers. You will never be able to hold on to it.

Few would disagree that, to a certain extent, money brings happiness.

But according to Sheldon and his researchers once enough is earned to meet basic needs, money in relation to happiness is a very personal equation.

The Slackers aren’t exactly newcomers when it comes to releasing albums. The soulful ska septet, hailing from New York City, have just released their seventh full-length CD, entitled Close My Eyes on Hellcat Records.

The album builds on the musical insight of the band’s previous albums, while exuding an air of experience and confidence that comes from playing together and recording albums for almost ten years.

However, just because they have experience under their belt, does not mean the Slackers merely repeat the same process for every album. “This is completely different from our other albums,” explains Slacker’s vocal maestro Marc Lyn, a.k.a ‘Q Max.’ “It’s more refined. Every time we put out a record we look at it like, ‘Oh my God, we put out a record! We are so lucky!’ If the record is together and we’ve got the CDs in the packages, then it’s all good. We’re just happy to have a record out.”

In a musical market that is saturated with sameness, the Slackers produce music that matters. It is difficult to listen to any Slackers album without identifying on some level with the group’s message. “We’re all about musicality and content, and we’re not a ‘hey baby, baby’ group. We’d like to think that Slacker’s music is filled with content that people can grab on to.”

The Slackers are more than a band; they are a family. This shows in everything from the musical harmonies on the album, to the group dynamics on stage. “We just feel comfortable playing with each other.”

For a band that has been playing together for almost a decade, being friends is expected, but the Slackers share a comforting closeness that extends beyond the music. “It’s like you can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family. Well, I didn’t choose these guys, they just became my family.”

Those who have been fortunate enough to experience the band’s live show know that what is on the record is only half of the total Slackers experience.

The group, which is renowned for its two-hour sets, truly put the emphasis on entertainment. To celebrate the release of the new album, the Slackers have upped the stakes. “We’ve re-vamped everything. For the rest of this tour Slackers play two sets, because we ain’t got no pyrotechnics, we ain’t got the whole entourage so now Slackers are up to three-hours sets.”

Three hours of the Slackers still seems not to be enough. Their performance at the Rainbow last Saturday night concluded after two encores, and left a full house screaming for more.

What the Slackers may lack in pyrotechnics, they make up for in stage presence. The set, which included a well-orchestrated mixture of old and new tunes, had the whole crowd dancing and the floors of the second-story bar shaking.

The Slackers absolutely constitute money well spent, should it be on the live performance, or the new CD. One thing is for sure, the Slackers may not write music for the masses, but their sound, energy, and attitude truly has mass appeal.

Grade B+

There are certain things, I believe, it’s better for parents not to know about their children’s lives. It would only cause them to overreact and all hell would surely break loose.

But Nikki Reed disagrees. She co-wrote her own teenage horror story with the help of director Catherine Hardwicke, and turned it into a cautionary tale for all with Thirteen.

Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood) is your typical thirteen-year-old. Dying to fit in with the cool crowd, she becomes very conscious of the world that surrounds her, a world where clothing accessories are thought to be revelatory of personality, but she lacks any kind of self-awareness.

Which is why she so easily becomes the victim of Evie (Reed), the bad girl who seems to have done a lot of growing over the summer.

What’s interesting here is that even though the film does point to what is too often seen as the source of all evil in the world, that is mass media and, even more so, advertising, they are not the reason for the changes in Tracy’s behaviour.

Before she even comes in contact with Evie, her room is already filled with torn magazine ads with half-naked men. It is not after female models that she fashions herself, but after Evie. Because it is with Evie she is able to truly see the consequences of dressing provocatively, Evie getting the attention of all the guys.

Yes, the movie does sometimes fall on the patronizing side, but due to the subject matter, it’s hard to see how it could be any other way.

Yet at the fault of occasionally stating the obvious, Thirteen also possesses a lot of subtleties that might fly above the head of the members of the audience it depicts.

When the two female protagonists shared a kiss, a few teenage girls sitting behind me couldn’t help but perform a prolonged ‘eww’ for their large group of friends.

In another highly provocative scene, the two young girls are making out with Luke, a lifeguard who could be accused of statutory rape if he is to let them have their way with him.

It is the most titillating scene in the movie and puts the audience in an uncomfortable position, getting excited by that which both they and the filmmakers condemn.

One of the most interesting aspects of the film though is what it says about parenting.

Since the movie was co-scripted by a teenage girl, one cannot help but feel it contains hints about what teenagers really expect from their parents, despite what they might say.

With powerful performances from both young actresses and Holly Hunter as Tracy’s mother, Thirteen is sure to be one of the movies that will engender the most discussion this year. We can only thank Reed for having the guts to remind us what adolescence is really like.

Now playing at the AMC Forum.

You’ve probably had your grandparents give you the talk. How they “walked ten miles to school” or the “we didn’t have cars back then” and the “in my day we just did it” talk.

You roll your eyes and count the tiles on the ceiling. But did you know they might not have been kidding?

“We always did what we had to do,” says 96-year-old Elana Palmiero, grandmother of 16. “I’ve seen it all and frankly I don’t know what the kids today fuss about. We had it just as hard but we worked, played, got married and had kids.”

Palmiero was born in 1907 and became part of what is known as the Lost Generation (born 1883-1907). “I have seen two world wars, many civil wars, and a handful of policing actions,” she says.

“I have been poor, rich and then well off and the term lost should never have been applied to my generation.”

The Lost Generation grew up amidst urban blight, unregulated drug use, child “sweat shops,” and massive immigration.

They became independent and streetwise that lent them a “bad kid” reputation. After coming of age as a flaming youth they were alienated by World War One.

Their young-adult novelists, barnstormers, gangsters, sports stars and film celebrities gave the roar to the ’20s. Mae West. George Patton. Hemmingway.

The Great Depression hit them in midlife at the peak of their careers. The “buck stopped” with their truculent battlefield and horrors of a hot war-and then their frugal and straight-talking leaders of a new “cold” one.

As elders, they paid high tax rates to support their world-conquering juniors, while asking little for themselves.

This generation has faced over a century of hardships, but in the midst they succeeded in passing down their values and morals to the next cohort the Silent Generation.

The Silent Generation, named so because they did not have television, is a small cohort now in their seventies that rose out of the Great Depression and World War Two, a time when all looked bleak. In 1932, not less than 30 million people were out of work in all industrialized countries.

This depression came less than a dozen years after the First World War, which killed, directly or indirectly, 30 million people, destroyed $ 200 billion worth of property, capital, and raw materials, and by the tangled mess of debts, reparations, and tariffs that followed, it practically broke civilization.

By 1938, a Second World War was inevitable, creating a dismal outlook for the future of the world.

Against seemingly insurmountable odds, and faced with the hellish horrors of World War Two, the Silent Generation got high school diplomas, balking at the notion that illiteracy is mostly due to poverty, worked on government make-work programs, shoveled snow and ice rinks, and waited in long soup lines.

Further, the Silent Generation was the last generation not raised on television, rather entertainment involved human interaction, mostly within the scope of the immediate family, God, flag and the country.

After the depression and the Second World War, the Silent Generation could relish in the spoils of winning. This was a time of hope, happiness, and optimism for the future.

“After time the world was ripe for the picking,” says Rosalin Bourke.

Bourke, now 78, worked all her life for an insurance company and says workers back then found themselves holding the bat, and could leave one job in the morning and have another by afternoon. “We began to mass-produce everything and send it around the world.”

Then, in 1946 after World War Two, to 1964, there was a steep increase in the U.S. birthrate. Over 77 million people were born, accounting for nearly one-third of the US population, and called the Baby Boomers.

Since the late sixties, this uneven age distribution has had a multitude of social effects on educational systems, job markets, urban economics and more, including almost every aspect of contemporary life.

The Boomers thrived in a world handed to them; a world ready to change and accept new ideas.

The differences between the Silent Generation and the Boomers are indicated by its own set of experiences, social outlook, and economic opportunities.

The Silent Generation came of age during the great depression and Second World War, and did not have the benefits of security and a wide range of careers so precious to the Baby Boomers.

So what do we tell our nieces and nephews about this generation? Palmiero says “just do it.”

The approach of today’s youth seems to have accepted all of the past. Many of our youth today see the problem of economic, social and environment as one, or as “socio-environmental.”

Rather than flood the planet with goods and services far in excess of what we need or can afford, these harbingers of the future are seeking social equality, saving the environment by composting, consuming less and recycling, thinking globally and acting locally.

And they are doing it. The Teenager Innovative Group Entrepreneurs of Rothsay (TIGER), Manitoba, is just one example.

In 2000, a handful of teens started TIGER when they saw their town becoming a ghost town.

To find work, teenagers had to go to other towns, because even the local grocery store had closed down. Today, because some creative teenagers took charge, Rothsay’s grocery store is opened.

It’s also “in” to go to work for a nonprofit agency. College and high school students are volunteering at soup kitchens, shelters, tree-planting programs, youth centres and the like, more today than at any time since the ’60s, reported Heather McLoud, a thirty-something editor of Who Cares magazine targeted at Generation X, Generation Next, the Baby Busters, and the Millenium Generation.

“They’re [youth] getting involved at the local level, where results are more tangible and concrete,” says McLoud.

“It’s part of the movement away from turning to the government to solve our problems.”

Palmiero has earned the nickname “Hardy” from her family.

“We paid no mind to the difficulties of the world around us,” she says. “We worked with what we had at the time.”

That’s good advice.