Student Life

Wearing the poppy or gathering at war memorials across the country are ways many Canadians will commemorate Remembrance Day. Taking two minutes of silence, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the time the armistice of World War I was signed in 1918, is still generally practiced to remember the over 100,000 Canadians who lost their lives.

Our student union president has been thrust into the spotlight since the events of Sept. 9 and has gotten mixed comments by her fellow students. Sabine Friesinger is your average Concordia student. She goes to her classes, occasionally eats in the cafeteria and writes her exams.

During one of the weeks when the whole continent of Europe decides to pack their bags and go celebrate their spring holiday, I decided to go to Belgium. I discovered a beautiful city that unfortunately does not get much attention: Bruxelles, as its French-Belge habitants call it.

Play execution was the name of the game last Saturday as the Concordia Stingers proved to the Laval Rouge et Or that their victory on Oct. 12 was no stroke of luck. In the QIFC semi-finals game that was held in Quebec City last Saturday, the Stingers came onto the PEPS Stadium field with gutsy plays and sharp defensive coverage to eliminate the Rouge et Or by a 29-21 win.

"For our date I wore a gown of white lace petals. Shiny and soft. I shimmered out my front door. Two hours later you tore the petals away. Clawed and ripped them, like a rabid squirrel. I stood, a stern without thorns and watched the petals fall one by one.

Leila Mouammar bears little physical resemblance to the emotionally charged, rock-throwing Palestinians on CNN. She is a poised and stylish Concordia University student with a PhD. Her distinction, however, is her connection with other Palestinian refugees.

"It is a shame that difference seems to divide us, people, so much, but Best Buddies helps to promote similarities and the human aspect of living a full and happy life," says Laura Bailey, the volunteer recruitment co-ordinator at Best Buddies Canada. "I personally believe that Best Buddies is a great opportunity to grow as a person who has a more open mind and loving heart.

In October 1999, I ran on behalf of Sheryl Murphy in the CIBC's La Course a la Vie. Her funeral was on October 8, 2002. Coincidentally, October is recognized as breast cancer awareness month. Sheryl Murphy is not the last one to suffer from this horrible disease.

Alternately cheap and chic, downtown west is a study in contrast. Window displays of shoddy souvenirs and itchy stuffed bears alternate with Diesel sneakers on glass pedestals. Three tall women dressed in immaculate leather file past a vagrant from Edmonton collecting coins outside the Canadian Forces building.

This semester, the events at the university have been an intense experience for any first year student. What started with a demonstration on Sept. 9, preventing former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu from speaking, grew into a moratorium banning all activities that deal with the Middle East in the lobby and Mezzanine in the Hall Building.

It's 5:30 p.m. Friday evening and the Graduate Students Association at 2030 Mackay is buzzing with the sound of students winding down after the week's lectures. The clink of glasses and hubbub of voices spill out from the lounge into the narrow corridor where a path is being worn to the kitchen for refreshments.

She is on her way to becoming a diplomat," says Frederick Francis. "Right now she is in Moscow, as the deputy first secretary. She wants to come back and do a Master's in international affairs at either John Hopkin's University or at Princeton." She was a commerce student who went to Gothenburg, Sweden in 1991-1992 on a student exchange, to experience a new culture and learn a new language.