Category: Community

The road to becoming a published writer is long and challenging. Writing your book is the easy part. Publishing it, on the other hand, is not so easy.

Not only do you have to research publishing houses, but you also have to experience rejection until your book is accepted. And of course, one must also endure the torment of wondering if anyone will ever accept it.

What then can you do? Co-founder of writers’ support group, Invisible Cities, Christina Manolescu recommends self-publishing.

According to Manolescu, the advantages are endless.

“Complete control over the artistic integrity of the work. The ability and freedom to make public a creative work, which one believes is worthy,” says Monelescu.

“The right to keep one’s book alive, available and in print, for as long as one wishes to do so,” she says.

A self-publisher since April 20, 1993, Manolescu has her own publishing company called Prince Chameleon Press.

Something she has never regretted was deciding to take her own route in order to look out for herself.

“In large measure, it was the tremendous sense of frustration that had built up over the years, after sincerely trying to interest many of the larger traditional publishing houses in my work with little success beyond the semi-encouraging remarks, which occasionally graced their standard rejection letters,” she says.

“I took the plunge after dreaming, thinking and talking about it for many, many years.”

Although her first children’s fairy tale, “The Northern Isle of Dreams” was published by Three Trees Press in Toronto in 1982 and reviewed favourably by The Gazette, it was a mixed blessing for many reasons and propelled her to do her own thing.

Since then, Manolescu has written four unpublished novels, three more fairy tales, a three-act play, some non-fiction articles and a collection of poetry.

“Patience is a virtue and it’s true to say that although this has become a lifetime’s endeavor, I can’t imagine a better way of spending my life,” she says.

Writer and artist Raquel Rivera agrees. Since about 1992 or 1993, Rivera has self-published four books, in addition to her position of “Imperial Dictator in Charge of Everything” at Small Books, which publishes smaller-sized artist books.

Her belief? One does not decide to become a self-publisher.

“You just do it while you’re waiting for someone else to validate your brilliant work. Somewhere along the way, you realize that your brilliant work is getting attention, despite the fact that no one commissioned, or published it for you. Then, you are a self-publisher.”

Along with Manolescu, something Rivera strongly believes in is attending a support group of like-minded individuals.

She remembers when she met Manolescu at a function at La Bibliotheque Nationale where Prince Chameleon Press had a table.

“I looked at her books; she looked at mine. She told me about her support-group for self-publishers. Well, I was a self-publisher. I needed support. I went.”

And while she advocates self-publishing, Rivera does not knock the traditional methods of making one’s work known.

One can self-publish, co-publish and be published by others all at the same time. One thing often leads to another anyway. I think it’s important to keep working and trying different approaches, as far as getting work, read or seen.”

Manolescu, however, acknowledges that being a self-publisher is not easy.

Supporting yourself can be burdensome, and with complete control over one’s product she says comes “the danger that a self-indulgent subjectivity and partiality to one’s own creation may blind one to its glaring imperfections and flaws. Considerable time, effort and resources are at stake and mistakes in publishing are particularly costly.”

One way Invisible Cities helps developing and/or aspiring self-publishers is by providing them with constructive criticism on works-in-progress as well as advising them on how to avoid typical pitfalls of the publishing process before they jump into it.

Other downsides are that government grants and certain trade publisher associations are generally unavailable to self-publishers.

The hardest things are marketing, sales and commercial distribution. Yet one must not allow this to be a reason to avoid self-publishing.

For anyone interested in self-publishing, Manolescu encourages him or her to sign up for the practical, hands-on self-publishing seminar workshop that Invisible Cities is offering on Saturday, Sept. 20.

The objectives of the seven hour workshop will be to gain a basic understanding of the technical requirements and bureaucratic procedures involved in book publication, to network with colleagues and to formulate a clear idea of one’s personal book format.

The $45 fee will cover lunch as well as an updated 60-page workbook, which will be used during the session and that people can take home afterwards.

In addition to demonstration samples, instruction and advice focusing on participants’ individual interests/projects will be provided.

And while the workshop is limited to one to six participants, an identical one will run again in October if an interest arises.

All in all, Manolescu encourages people not to be overwhelmed by their fear or apprehension of self-publishing because they will miss out on trying a new way to further their literary endeavors.

“It [self-publishing] has allowed me to take my writing directly to my readers and gauge their genuine response without suppression or interference from others,” says Monelescu.

“It has also given me the means to create a personal legacy; as author-publisher, I control which of my works remain in print, and for how long.”

*If you are interested in signing up for the Invisible Cities’ self-publishing workshop on Saturday, Sept. 20 running from 9:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., you can email Christina Manolescu at christinamanolescu@hotmail.com or call her at 847-9583. The location of the workshop is 427 Rachel St. East, near the Mount Royal metro, cross street St. Denis St.

For more information, visit http://www.princechameleon.com/self-publishingworkshop.htm

This year the Canadian government is set to hand out $1 billion in funding to businesses and homeowners as it begins the first steps toward a workable Kyoto Protocol aimed at slowing global warming. Funding will also be provided for commercial building refits, tens of millions of dollars for ethanol-subsidies, and a whopping $150 million to fund partnerships with province and municipalities on climate-change abatements.

The Kyoto Treaty calls on industrialized nations to limit or reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide from industry and cars, which many scientist’s believe are raising global temperatures. Kyoto assigns each country a target, requiring it to curb emissions by an average of 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels by 2012.

Through all the rhetoric and flash-cash schemes, critics are fast to point out that Kyoto may just be another initiative headed for the recycling bin. The accord will not come into force until countries representing 55 per cent of global emissions ratify the deal. Russia, with 17.4 per cent of global emissions could ratify the deal this September, but there has been no positive indication that it will do so.

In the past Kyoto has done poorly with elected politicians, both federal and provincial, either in or out of office. Many tend to follow the line of Imperial Oil CEO Bob Peterson, who last December shrugged off the notion of global warming and called Kyoto “the dumbest-assed thing I’ve heard in a long time.” He has since softened his stance but insists that Canada should take more time to ratify the treaty.

Jayson Myers, Chief Economist of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters group, weighed in by saying, “Kyoto implementation will cause severe economic pain, particularly in the energy and manufacturing sectors.”

Enter the U.S. Last March the US National Policy and Analysis Council claimed that the US would have to cut its energy use by one quarter, the equivalent of stopping all highway, rail, sea and air traffic permanently to meet the requirements of Kyoto. That prompted the US to withdraw support for the treaty.

Scientists sign petition

The science world is still at odds over global warming. In 2003, the number of scientists who signed a petition denying global warming rose from 17,000 in 1997 to 44,000. They have signed a petition saying, in part, “there is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate.”

According to Dr. Roy Spencer, meteorologist and team leader of the NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, “the temperatures we measure from space are actually on a very slight downward trend since 1979 . . . the trend is about 0.05 degrees Celcius per decade cooling.”

A survey of 36 state criminologists, scientists retained by state governments to monitor and research climate issues, conducted in 1997 found that 58 per cent disagreed with the statement, “global warming is for real.” While only 36 per cent agreed. A remarkable 89 per cent agreed, “current science is unable to isolate and measure variations in global temperatures caused only by man-made factors.”

There are two reasons behind the anti global warming movement. First, the most reliable temperature data show no global warming trend. Global warming alarmists point to surface-based temperature measurements showing 1997 was the warmest year on record. But satellites and weather balloons rank 1997 as the seventh coolest year since satellite measurements began in 1978.

The second reason is the reliance on global computer models that are too crude to predict future climate changes.

Predictions of global climate change are based on general circulation models (GCMs), complex computer programs that attempt to simulate the Earth’s atmosphere. GCMs help scientists learn more about atmospheric physics, but they have been unreliable as predictors of future climates.

While global temperatures have risen between 0.3 and 0.6 degrees Celcius over the past one hundred years, computer models predict that global temperatures should have gone up between 0.7 and 1.4 degrees Celcius by 1990. The two ranges do not even overlap.

The real Kyoto

Kyoto supporters acknowledge that the treaty represents only a first step toward achieving the goal set by the original climate treaty: to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere “at a level that would prevent dangerous interference with the climate system.”

Kyoto cannot be taken for granted. Its effects will only slow, not halt, the build up of greenhouse gases.

Unlike the 1990 Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer, which will eventually “solve” the problem of ozone depletion, the Kyoto Protocol will not “solve” the problem of climate change, but only begin the long process of weaning the world away from heavy reliance on fossil fuels.

Dr. Robert Watson, chief spokesperson on Climate Change for the World Bank-an unpopular organization, suggests that, “Kyoto is unlikely to have much impact in stopping the effects of global warming, but it does open doors for the production of more energy-efficient technologies.”

If these doors are opened, the evolution of the Kyoto Protocol might resemble the Montreal Protocol, which evolved from a weak agreement into a model environmental treaty as the threat of ozone depletion became clear.

The real hope is that Kyoto will not become a broad, rhetorical, self-congratulatory design that describes existing environment and development programs but do little to redirect them, or attempt to spin off some good.

Tim Larock and his girlfriend sat for two hours, drinking wordlessly, at a loss. When the computer screen flickered and the Windows 98 logo appeared they took deep breaths. When the Norton Anti-Virus logo popped up it came and went without any warning. And then the screen went blue. Control! Alt! Delete! Nothing. “We should have never hooked up from home,” says his girlfriend.

Like many students, Larock left behind the long line-ups at Concordia’s Internet terminals and hooked up to the Internet from home. The security of Concordia’s Internet access is almost like Fort Knox, but late at night lurking behind your home gateway to the Internet are hackers after your papers.

Third-year Concordia student Larock used to think that accessing the Internet from home was as easy as installing an anti-virus program. But that morning he woke to discover that his anti-virus software had been by-passed and his hard drive had been wiped clean. “My 122-page thesis, my personal files and all my applications were gone,” says Larock.

Adding insult to injury, when Larock used a Concordia terminal to check his hotmail account, his thesis was offered back to him at a bargain price, Visa and Mastercard only.

More students are discovering that home based access to the Internet is convenient and saves valuable time. But they are also discovering that they are considered “customers” for hackers looking to supply buyers with finished papers and thesis.

Just ask Gail Whil. Whil discovered that her 35-page honours thesis had been sold three times on readymadethesis.com, after some files on her hard drive had been wiped. “The very crooks that stole my paper e-mailed me and tried to sell it back,” she says.

The increase in home access nation-wide is on the increase. According to a Statistics Canada 2001 report, 49.4 per cent of Montrealers were regularly accessing the Internet from home.

It all started when Whil’s husband told her that the computer Gremlins have struck again! When she checked her computer she was greeted by an error message window that stated, “Virus data files are missing – unable to scan downloaded file.”

“When I deleted that window, another popped up stating, “Virus definition files are corrupted.”

Translated-we took your files.

As many have found out the Internet harbors its share of villains. The best targets for these hoodlums are big corporations. It gives them access to credit card numbers and PIN numbers. But there are those who are making big bucks from your hard work. Your 30-page honours thesis on the intricate relationship between swamp water and table water may not seem valuable, but it is tempting for hackers hoping to make a few bucks from your efforts.

Larock’s seemingly harmless paper eventually turned up at freethesis and cheappapers.net

Most experts recommend using anti-virus software and opening only e-mails from people you know. But as Larock discovered his security problem began with his Internet provider. Many Internet providers now offer an online tally giving you exactly how much consumption occurs when you are online. You can then keep track of your online tally.

“I was surprised to see that on days when I was not home, there were still amounts registered,” Larock said. “I can only assume someone was attempting to contact my computer on those occasions.” But when Larock contacted his provider, they defiantly defended their system as hacker safe.

“It is in their best interest to deny any security problems,” says Melissa Barret from Micron Computers in Val David. “In many cases hackers have deliberately set up phoney accounts with the provider and no thorough verification of who uses this account is made.”

Barret estimates that 20 to 25 per cent of her business comes from those who have been attacked. “Many of my customers are trying the Internet for the first time at home and are shocked to learn that even anti-virus programs are not security proof.” Barret adds that it is also easier for someone to lift your data and search it later. “Once inside your system a hacker wants to be out as soon as possible. The in and out grab is safest and no one is the wiser.”

Front-line defences like firewalls and anti-virus software are available but the key to protecting your data is a multi-level approach. Vulnerabilities in many computers include e-mail attachments, persistent connection (the longer you’re online, the more time attackers have to find and compromise you), outdated software and open ports are also points of entry.

Barret also recommends this multi-level approach but mentions that security can start as easily as informing other family members of the danger. “If Mom or Dad download a cute screensaver from a seemingly nice stranger, they could unknowingly provide a small gateway to your hard drive.”

Larock felt he had no choice and was ready to buy back his paper when he remembered that he e-mailed a rough draft to his supervisor. Whil shrugs and confesses that she created no back-up and had no choice but to pay six hundred dollars because she had already been given an extension. “It was that or fail the class,” she says.

She is unaware of who attacked her hard drive but she isn’t shy about sharing her experience. “Make it a regular practice to back up on a floppy disk,” she says. “It will save you a great deal of worry and stress.”

And six hundred dollars!

Professor Wendy Wasliuk had just finished trying to convince a class of undergraduates at the University of Winnipeg that there was a rational explanation for the negative changes in Aboriginal women’s role in the last 500 years, when an agitated young aboriginal woman raised her hand. “But what about your role here at the university?”

 

Some years later, Professor Wasliuk, a Dene woman from Northern Saskatchewan, took that one question and began to do research aimed at documenting the history of the role of aboriginal women in Canada. One late evening she came across an article that revealed a story about an aboriginal woman who was respected in her village and was a part of the social fabric. The sudden impact of how things have changed over time saddened her.

 

“Today in 2003,” she says unhappily, “things are very different for Aboriginal Women. Colonization has stripped Aboriginal Women of every conceivable right.”

 

Walsiuk, 42, who lives in Winnipeg with her three daughters and husband and today teaches Aboriginal Women’s Rights at the U of W, also coordinates a healing lodge for Aboriginal women. She was scheduled to be in Montreal last week to attend a conference on the rights of Aboriginal women, but a family matter derailed that plan.

 

Wasliuk has always been a strong supporter of Aboriginal women’s rights. Her research led her to believe that the rights of the aboriginal woman were once revered.

 

“At one time Aboriginal women did not have to worry about child custody and access to land,” she says in a telephone interview. “Women shaped the social structure and held decision-making power. Every family member held important responsibilities in the wellbeing of children. It was an honor and privilege to have such significant roles in a child’s life, so everyone took their responsibilities very seriously.”

 

The onslaught of colonialism focused its most crushing and long oppression on Aboriginal women, dealing them a triple blow. Aboriginal women lost their position of high esteem first to the dominant power of the colonizing forces which reduced both aboriginal men and women to almost non-status, then they lost it to the dominant hierarchy of the European patriarchal system and were brought down to the general subservient position held by European women, and lastly they lost it in their own nations through the abolition of traditional forms of governance and social decision making, which relegated them to the lowest social rung in their communities.

 

Wasliuk adds that many of the aboriginal leaders have bought into the patriarchal European structure (The Indian Act) and have chosen sexist and misogynist beliefs on which to model band rules and policies.

 

According to Mabel Nipshank, a M

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the world’s most powerful drug watchdog, may finally be burying the hatchet with the public over the aspartame /diet soda health scare. New research suggests that long term use of products containing the artificial sweetener aspartame may affect short and long-term memory. This can have dramatic consequences for students.

Anecdotal evidence that aspartame disrupts memory has been growing since the sugar substitute was approved by the FDA in the early 1980s, though attempts to prove the claim have so far been equivocal. Previous studies have tested memory by asking aspartame users to remember details of personal routines or whether or not a task had been completed– tests of long-term memory.

But according to Timothy M. Barth, Ph.D., a psychology professor at Texas Christian University, those studies also suggested that short-term memory may also be affected.

In his study of 90 students, Barth found that participants who regularly drank diet sodas performed as well as nonusers on laboratory tests for long-term memory. However, users were more likely to report short-term memory lapses.

“These people aren’t crazy,” says Barth. “Instead, their brain chemistry may be under attack from prolonged aspartame use.”

After reporting his findings at a recent Society for Neuroscience meeting, Barth cautioned that aspartame might also effect long-term memory.

“Short-term memory is the very link to our long-term memory,” Barth said. “If that process is affected it will have greater effects on what is stored as long-term memory.”

Concordia Alumni Rodney West, a long time Coke drinker, switched to Diet Coke in 1990 because he wanted fewer calories. That, and long nights studying, eventually began to take its toll on his health and grades.

“I began suffering from bouts of depression and I went from being an A student to a B student in less than six months.”

A year ago Cynthia Duparquet swore off aspartame after guzzling two to three litres a day for the 11 previous years. “I started drinking Diet Coke as way to reduce calories,” the 36-year-old Concordia Alumna said.

“After two months I was having a hard time studying. I could not explain the sudden drop in my grades.”

Her complaints coincide with several Journal of New England studies between 1996-2001, that found a significant decrease in concentration was evident in aspartame users when compared to non-users.

Duparquet eventually dropped out of university but has since returned. She also cleaned out her fridge after reading several of those articles.

“Anything that had aspartame as an ingredient went out with the garbage,” she said. She’s been aspartame free for 13 months and boasts a 3.3 grade point average.

While the FDA has always denied that there is an Aspartame Epidemic, West cannot help thinking about how good he used to feel before 1988. Last month West received an e-mail that challenged him to take the 60-day aspartame free test. The challenge states that if he does not see any change after 60 days, then, as the author of the e-mail so bluntly put it, he could go back to killing himself.

West reports that he has been aspartame-free for 36 days. “I seem to feel less depressed in the last week,” he reports. West also reports that his ability to concentrate has increased. “I admit the test is unscientific, but I cannot dismiss how I feel.”

While aspartame is used in many products, including Pepsi-Cola, it is the Coca-Cola Company that has been subject to the brunt of protests, namely the 1998 Urban Legend and Folklore letter coining the term “aspartame disease.”

This specimen of email scarelore, in wide circulation since mid-December 1998, warns that aspartame (a.k.a. “NutraSweet” and “Equal”) is toxic to humans (just GoogleTM search “Aspartame Disease”). Today there are numerous allegations that aspartame causes headaches, disorientation, panic attacks, shooting pains in legs, numbness, heart palpitations, seizures, manic depression, dizziness, joint pain, blindness and now memory loss. In some cases, though not confirmed, death has occurred.

Most of the allegations in the urban legend letter contradict the bulk of medical evidence but its author offers a convenient explanation: collusion between aspartame’s manufacturers, the medical establishment, and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.

The FDA is not infallible or incorruptible, but the agency has common sense and years of accumulated research on its side when it maintains that the sweetener is safe for most people. The latest finding marks the first time the FDA have openly admitted that there may be a health risk linked to aspartame consumption.

Manufacturers, of course, have plenty to lose. Firms that hold exclusive rights to currently used sweeteners are extremely fearful of the advent of new, safer sweeteners, over which they will have no control. For these firms, the emergence of a totally natural, non-patentable sweetener is the ultimate financial horror.

As to aspartame’s critics, it doesn’t help their cause that the information presented in the email letter is disorganised, hysterical and poorly substantiated.

Former users like West and Duparquet have proven it to themselves. If you consume large amounts of aspartame and are experiencing some health problems take the 60-day challenge, and you judge for yourself.

A writer’s life is not an easy one. It’s blood, sweat and tears, staying passionate and dedicated; revising and revising until the product is finished. It is the heartache of the dreaded rejection letter, while trying to get published. It is also a life of isolation from peers in the artistic community, a community that can offer encouragement, constructive criticism and put you in the public eye. With all these constant obstacles and more preoccupying a writer’s mind, how can one work and stay connected to an encouraging community of fellow writers and artists?

 

Christina Manolescu offers one solution: getting involved in Invisible Cities.

 

Invisible Cities is a group of writers that meet on the first Saturday of each month in order to support one another in their creative endeavors and to provide a literary network to facilitate their goal to either publish or self-publish.

 

“Since we started on April 1, 2001, we – the core members particularly – have become a kind of family, finding common goals, interests and aspirations. We truly do find that there is strength in numbers,” says Manolescu, the co-founder of Invisible Cities as well as a self-publisher and head of Prince Chameleon Press.

 

Before Invisible Cities, Manolescu co-founded and founded two other writers’ groups, an experience she enjoyed immensely. Having been involved in organizations such as the Small Press Group of Britain by becoming an active member, she was able to survive while she was living in the UK and on her journey to self-publish. Her inspiration to create Invisible Cities, however, came as a result of her astonishment that there were no support groups existing for writers and self-publishers in Montreal as they did in her hometown of England.

 

Now eight to 10 core members meet regularly as well as organize Spoken Word events featuring public readings of poetry and prose. The next event will probably take place in the fall as will the publication of the first Invisible Cities anthology entitled “Voices From The City.”

 

One regularly attending member who benefits from the meetings is Mona Lisa Chanda.

 

“I think you need that energy to grow and develop as an artist. You need support and feedback on your work. No one can exist in a vacuum, and that was my problem before I joined the group. I wasn’t part of a real community I could share ideas with on a regular basis,” says the 28-year-old psychology student at Concordia.

 

“Now I can do that and, more importantly, collaborate with the others on creative projects.”

Part of the musical spoken word duo Mona Lisa and Leonardo, Chanda is currently putting her poetry to music with musician Leonardo De Luca. This act is very eclectic and incorporates a wide variety of musical genres, with everything from punk to bossanova.

 

Fellow artist Cheryl Neill, who only appears as a performer at Invisible Cities’ Spoken Word events, also enjoys the friendly and inclusive nature of the group. For her, the hardest thing about being an artist is to try to self promote and to be an artist at the same time.

 

“There are very few places to play in Montreal and you need to be constantly looking for venues. It also requires you traveling all over whether you are up to it or not,” she says. “Art is not for the faint-hearted. You have to have a great deal of passion and perseverance to want to pursue it as a career.”

 

All in all, networking and community is something Manolescu cannot stress enough. When asked how the name “Invisible Cities” was decided on, she says it was the suggestion of co-founder Cristina Perissinotto who is Assistant Professor of Italian in the Modern Languages Department at Concordia. Invisible Cities is the name of a novel by Italo Calvino, in which the Italian author describes a series of imaginary cities, symbolic perhaps of states of mind or deeper realities.

 

“For us, the name conveys the sense of art and artists flourishing so often invisibly, often unrecognized and unheralded, until and unless somehow they gain prominence in the public eye,” says Manolescu. “There are many of us ‘out there’, which is why we believe there is such promise and scope for a group such as ours.”

 

The next Invisible Cities meeting is on Saturday July 12. Invisible Cities’ meeting convene regularly on a monthly basis one night a month from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at 427 Rachel Street East, near the Mount Royal metro, cross street St. Denis. For more information, you can contact Christina Manolescu at 847-9583 or christinamanolescu@hotmail.com or visit the group’s website: www.princechameleon.com/writers.htm

 

Like many students, you’ve probably left behind the long line ups at Concordia’s Internet terminals and hooked up from your home. While the security of Concordia’s Internet access is almost like Fort Knox, late at night, lurking behind your home gateway to the Internet, are villains after your term papers.

Third year Concordia student Tim Larock used to think that accessing the Internet from home was as easy as installing an anti-virus program. But one morning he woke to discover that his anti-virus software had been by-passed and his hard drive had been wiped clean. “My 122 page thesis, my personal files and all my applications were gone,” he said.

More students are discovering that home based access to the Internet is convenient and saves valuable time. But they are also discovering that they are considered “prime customers” for those looking to supply buyers with finished papers and thesis.

Just ask Gail Whil. Whil discovered that her 35-page honours thesis had been sold three times on readymadethesis.com, after her drive had been wiped. “The very crooks that stole my paper e-mailed me and tried to sell it back,” she said. “Some words had been changed but it was my paper.”

Internet through home access is on the increase nationwide. According to a Statistics Canada 2001 report, 49.4 per cent of Montrealers were regularly accessing the Internet from home.
But as many have found out the Internet harbours its share of villains. The best targets for these hoodlums are big corporations. It gives them access to credit card numbers and PIN numbers. But there are those who are making big bucks from your hard work. Your 30-page honours thesis on the intricate relationship between swamp water and table water may not seem valuable, but it is tempting for hackers. Larock’s seemingly harmless paper eventually turned up at yourthesis.com and cheappapers.com.

Most experts recommend using anti-virus software and opening only e-mails from people you know. But as Larock discovered his security problem began with his Internet provider.
Many Internet providers now offer an online tally giving you exactly how much consumption occurs when you are online. You can then keep track of your online tally.

“I was surprised to see that on days when I was not home, there were still amounts registered,” Larock said. “I can only assume someone was attempting to contact my computer on those occasions.” But when Larock contacted his provider, they defiantly defended their system as hacker safe.

“It is in their best interest to deny any security problems,” says Melissa Barret from Micron Computers in Val David. “In many cases hackers have deliberately set up phony accounts with the provider and no thorough verification of who uses this account is made.”

Barret estimates that 20 to 25 per cent of her business comes from those who have been attacked.
“Many of my customers are trying the Internet for the first time at home and are shocked to learn that even anti-virus programs are not security proof.” Barret adds that it is also easier for someone to lift your data and search it later. “Once inside your system a hacker wants to be out as soon as possible. The in and out grab is safest and no one knows the wiser.”

No one knows the wiser until it is too late.

Front line defences like firewalls and anti-virus software are available but the key to protecting your data is a multi-level approach. Vulnerabilities in many computers include e-mail attachments, persistent connection (the longer you’re online, the more time attackers have to find and compromise you), outdated software and open ports are also points of entry.

Barret also recommends this multi-level approach but mentions that security can start as easily as informing other family members of the danger. “If mom or dad downloads a cute screensaver from a seemingly nice stranger, they could unknowingly destroy important documents.”

Tim Larock felt he had no choice and was ready to buy back his paper when he remembered that he e-mailed a rough draft to his supervisor. Whil shrugs and confesses that she made no back up and had no choice but to pay six hundred dollars because she had already been given an extension on her deadline.

She is unaware of how and who attacked her hard drive but she isn’t shy about sharing her experience. “Make it a regular practice to back up [your work] on a floppy disk,” she says. “It will save you a great deal of worry and stress.”

For many students, summertime means freedom to have a healthy social life again and the opportunity to work unimpeded for much needed cash. In addition, relaxation and enjoying some fun in the sun are long overdue luxuries. For others, however, taking a summer class or two is either something they have chosen to do or something they are required to do.

Hoping to graduate this semester, Anna Lyne Poblador is taking four summer classes as well as doing three days worth of office work at Federal Express. Since this is the first time she is taking more than two classes, she says that time management is the most difficult challenge for her.

“I really try not to let it get to me. I balance it as best as I can. That’s what you have to do because when you stress, you can’t do either [work or study] properly,” says the 25-year-old political science student.

But for Leesa Dean stress is something she knows all too well. Besides wanting to be in the sun and suffering from perpetual fatigue and a lack of social life, she says a mixed blessing of summer classes is the speed of them, which makes her weary of taking one next year.

“It goes so fast. I like that it goes fast, but I’m worried about getting my work done,” says the 22-year-old English literature student who is doing five days of office work as well as a class.

Jermaine Walker, a 22-year-old software engineering student, agrees that slacking off is not an option when taking a summer class. This year he decided not to take one because he would not be able to devote the proper amount of time to it since his work at Kraft is extremely physically taxing.
“If you’re physically tired, you have to be careful. I’m not going to do a summer class for the sake of doing a summer class,” he says.

For him, one must be able to fully concentrate on his or her marks, so as avoid getting a mediocre mark. And if he can do this by avoiding a summer class, he will. Yet he does have some advice for those hitting the books during the summer.

“[Take] the right summer class. Certain classes in your program have a bad reputation, so you have to choose the classes carefully,” he cautions.

This is what 22-year-old Communications student Mark Harris did.

“It is the second part of a course that I took last summer, and because it is an art course, I wanted to take something that would be somewhat relaxing,” says the Chapters employee, who works between 30 and 35 hours per week.

“This is not to say that painting is not hard work; it just so happens that this is form of work is meditative for me.”

And for others like 28-year-old independent student Roger Tabry, the opportunity for mental exercise is important.

“The most rewarding thing about taking a summer class is a sense of having my mind working… when it could otherwise be wasting away. It keeps me sharp,” says the graduate of Public Administration who is working as an advertising consultant.

While he admits it is not easy to stay focused because he would rather be swimming or barbecuing when the weather is hot and sunny and having less of a social life is anything but pleasurable, Tabry tries not to let it affect him too much. He is trying to get ahead in his studies before classes start up again in September.

So, how does he go about motivating himself to attend class despite the beautiful weather?
“I just think of class as a part of my role in the world: something I have to do and have no choice. I work myself up to feel guilty about not going, and then I go with the hope that the torture will end three hours after it starts. And that reprieve will be enough to last a couple of days until the next class takes place,” he says.

The life of a student is not easy. Sacrifices must be made, and priorities must be considered. When it comes to reducing one’s workload and thinking of the future benefits of a summer class, Tabry believes it is worth it in the end.

On Oct. 8, 2001 hurricane Iris hit the country of Belize. With winds of up to 145 mph, it was the most violent storm in the Atlantic that year.

More than 18 divers from Richmond, Virginia perished and almost 15,000 people were left homeless in the Placencia region because 70 per cent of the buildings were left without roofs.

While sending money is a good way to help, five students from the Concordia Christian Fellowship (CCF) and seven from the McGill Christian Fellowship (MCF), along with their leaders Cathy and Hank Pott, are sending themselves on a missions trip to Belize.

Their mission is to help out anyone affected by the disaster with relief aid and by spreading the news of God’s love from May 2 to 21. This, in fact, is the second year the two Christian Fellowships will be going to Belize.

When asked to define the term “missions trip” Hank Pott, the MCF staff worker, says, “It is an opportunity to go as a group to share Jesus’ love by the things we speak and the things we do. We are invited by the local Belize student movement to come and help them.”

In collaboration with mainly the Belize Intervarsity Christian Fellowship student movement, along with the support of the local church association in Belize, CCF and MCF, which are part of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship Canada, will be picking up where they left off.

According to Pott, last year the group helped school teachers with after school sports and activities in order to give them a break and in doing so got to know their Belizean university peers through working together to paint a school building replaced after the hurricane.

This year they will continue making presentations in schools and churches about Jesus’ love and working with Belize university students in clearing hurricane damage and painting in Placencia.

Placencia will be the second destination visited after the capital city Belmopan where the CCF and MCF will meet with local high school and church members. Also, Punta Gorda will be visited for the first time.

Located in the Northern Hemisphere within Central America, Belize has a population of over 262,000 and its neighbors include Mexico to the north, Guatemala to the southwest, and the Caribbean Sea to the east. The colony’s name was changed from British Honduras to Belize in 1973 with Belizean Independence being declared on Sept. 21, 1981.

Consisting of 10 ethnic groups that include the Mayas, Creoles, Spanish and English, Belize claims English to be its most commonly used language along with Creole, although Spanish is becoming more widely used.

Going to Belize is extremely exciting for CCF President Edward Joseph who went on last year’s trip.

“It was amazing and challenging; amazing because I got to meet people from a different culture [and] challenging because it [meant] dealing with culture shock. There were mainly black people around and, being black, I felt that I should fit in, but I didn’t,” says the 21-year-old drama for human development student. “Also, I’m so North American, and there’s people living in a house the size of my bathroom. It was wild.”

This was not Joseph’s first missions trip, however, since he has traveled throughout the United States and was able to go to the Olympics in 1996 when he went to Atlanta. “[Belize] was my first real overseas trip,” he says. “It was somewhere new, somewhere warm, and it was Spanish, so I was excited.”

This year Joseph will be one of the student leaders specifically looking after working with the team to develop programs for churches and high schools, which might include universities as well.

His definition of the most rewarding aspect out of the missions trip is clear. “Serving people who are in need [and] just seeing God work through you and around you is big; it’s awesome,” he adds.

Cathy Pott, the CCF staff worker, who is a 2001 graduate of applied human sciences and no stranger to missions trips, is anticipating the development of the team. “I’m looking forward to applying my knowledge of team-building and small group leadership as well as sensitivity to cultural diversity to this situation,” she says.

Fellow Concordia student, Kris Gibbs, on the other hand, is a little nervous about going on his first missions trip, though eager to help out in any way he can and hopes to grow in his faith at the same time. “I’m really depending on the Lord to guide me in what it is that He wants me to do, but I hope that I can at least give my testimony to let others know what a huge impact Jesus Christ has had on my life,” he says.

Depending on God in order to raise money is something both Gibbs and Joseph insist on since it costs $2,345 to go to Belize. As a fundraising endeavour, Joseph says CCF will be stationing a booth on the seventh floor of the Hall Building from April 9 to 11 selling cards and chocolates and where people can make a contribution and get more information.

As well, the CCF will be standing on the corner of Mackay and de Maisonneuve on April 9 from 8:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. to collect donations.

And as the trip gets closer, Gibbs knows the time to make a difference is near. “I’m very excited that I will be able to help others with repairing the damage caused by the hurricane. Currently, I don’t do a lot of volunteer work, and it is something that I have wanted to get involved in for a while,” he says.

According to Gibbs, through this experience he hopes that it will open the doors to future volunteering endeavours which are the most rewarding aspects of the missions trips like those to Belize.

For more information visit http://ssmu.mcgill.ca/mcf/

It is one of the best kept secrets in Quebec, but for those who cycle in the annual 100 kilometer Le Tour des Pays-d’en Haut in the Laurentians every Victoria weekend, the abrupt and arduous hills that zigzag and cut into the Canadian escarpment provides cycling fanatics with a physically demanding challenge as well as bragging rights.

Concordia Students looking to break out of the drudgery of exams may want to consider this tour as a way to break into cycling season and shake out the exam doldrums.

The tour isn’t for the faint of heart. While no precise data is available on the tour, there is 61 kilometers of uphill climbing, 25 per cent of that in the last 30 kilometers, which in anybody’s books is steep and certainly deserves a name like Pays-d’en Haut.

The tour is an annual event that for the last 15 years has attracted many cycling enthusiasts who are looking for something a little more physically challenging when it comes to cycling while also offering spectacular scenery.

“It is recommended that you are in cycling shape,” says Pierre Gougoux, one of the committee organizers. “We suggest that participants own a bike that is adaptable to climbing some very steep hills.”

A bike with more than ten speeds is recommended, and your brakes should be in good working condition. It goes without saying that helmets are mandatory.

The tour starts on Saturday morning at Le Place de la Gare Val-David where you pay $25 to register and pick up your t-shirts.

It begins on relatively flat paths for easy cycling through Ste-Agathe des-Monts and Lac des Sables but it becomes a series of gradual climbs and descends through Sainte-Adolphe-d’Howard, the picturesque villages of Morin Heights and Saint Sauveur.

As you approach the historic train station at Pr

It’s been a long time coming, but CJLO is finally on its way from being the little station that could to one of the big boys. Situated on Loyola campus, CJLO, owned by the Concordia Student Broadcasting Corp., was the end result of the merger between CFLI and CRSG in 1998, the latter being the former downtown campus radio station.

Though the staff is working on a 100 per cent volunteer basis, 15 per cent being non-students, Ryan Arditi, CJLO station manager says this is definitely a full time job. “I usually spend 40 to 50 hours a week here,” says Arditi, himself being part of that 15 per cent not studying at Concordia.

CJLO plays on the AM dial at 650 at Bonkif and at the Loyola student residence. However Arditi explains that they could rarely be heard there. With that range, it can attain between 200 to 300 listeners at any one time. However, this little station has recently made some big steps forecasting a brighter future.

In September of 2001, CJLO asked for an antenna to be able to broadcast publicly all over Montreal. After much waiting and anticipation, Concordia donated a part of the land on the Loyola football field in June 2002 to set up the antenna. “This was a break because we don’t have to rent land; it’s much cheaper for us,” says Arditi.

Money is a big concern for the station whose funding comes from the student fee levy, but airtime businesses and event organizers can now buy to advertise. CJLO gets 10 cents per credit to keep things afloat, which Arditi estimates is one quarter of the funding McGill’s station CKUT receives. In dollar figures, that comes out to three dollars a year, as opposed to McGill’s $10.

Although Arditi admits that they don’t see many advertising slots, he expects to see a turnaround once the antenna is ready and the CRTC approves their broadcasting license, especially when the sun goes down.

Sunlight interferes with transmission waves on AM and CJLO can only broadcast throughout the island during the day. At night, the antenna will carry waves to Toronto and New York, greatly increasing listener capacity.

“Our ultimate goal is to max out a 10,000 at any one time,” adds Arditi. More listeners bring more advertising, more exposure and more money to run the station.

“It’s going to change enormously the second we get a license,” says Arditi. Let’s hope so, because as it stands now, CJLO’s main listener outlet is Hingston Hall that is proving not to be very fruitful.

“I rarely listen to CJLO; the odd occasion when I am studying I will tune in, but the signal is really weak, so most of the show gets cut anyway,” says Kerry Thompson, a student currently living in residence.

However, with the much-anticipated arrival of the antenna, static and dead air will become a thing of the past.

The station’s current name will also soon become a distant memory. To those who invest so much time and energy into the station, the letters CJLO have little meaning. “It really doesn’t mean anything, just letters put together after the merger in 1998.”

Though he refused to reveal the new name, he did say the station will go back to the school spirit. As well, Arditi hopes that the station will be able to offer six or seven paid positions to heads of departments that he stressed, would be implemented slowly.

Now, while still awaiting an answer from the CRTC, which can take anywhere from six months to one year, CJLO’s DJs are doing their part to keep themselves and the station in the public eye. Once a month, ten DJs show off their talent at Le Swimming on St-Laurent blvd.

Brutopia on Crescent attracts a fair number of people when they play on the first Tuesday of every month. Felicity Hammer, a barmaid who has been working at Brutopia for the past couple of months says that there is definitely a larger turnout when DJ Dyllan and DJ Ilya come to show off their skills. “They are the only DJ’s that play here so it’s a nice switch from the usual. It makes a difference,” she says. She is also a fan of their beats and always stays around to hear them after her shift ends at 9 p.m.

Whatever profits the station makes from both will go to promoting the station through similar gigs and parties.

Airing from 8 a.m. to midnight seven days a week, the station is ultimately looking to be on the air 24 hours. This dream, like all the others, relies on the approval of a broadcast license to become reality.

Two weeks ago, however, the city of NDG almost crushed all of CJLO’s hopes by refusing to allow the 75 foot tower to be erected because of a bylaw regulating a maximum of 49 feet. With such a new development, Arditi was taken aback by the news. CJLO can amend the bylaw, which he was told would be relatively easy to do. “If we have Concordia’s administration support behind us,” he adds.

Arditi says that CJLO will not back down and will fight to have the antenna erected, but adds that they would have to search for another site as a tower only totaling 49 feet would not be worth the investment.

However, this die-hard music junkie is not discouraged. Though he understands how important a broadcast license is for CJLO’s future, he still thinks the main goal is to be student-run, pay a few people to make sure it doesn’t fall apart and give everyone a place to learn. Concordia’s radio station has a long way to go but its little efforts along the way to become heard will ensure its success in the future as a broadcast with serious intensions.

Becoming involved with a community organization develops the skills needed for the real world. After graduating from McGill University with a degree in english literature, Sandra* decided to register for classes as an independent student at Concordia. She took a class on juvenile crime that led to an opportunity to volunteer at Head & Hands, a community organization that works according to an informal first-name basis.

Sandra is one of the eight university and C