Meet A Club President: Miriam Matejova

Name: Miriam Matejova
Name of club: International Studies Student Association (ISSA)
President of Club for: 3 years
Astrological Sign: Aries
Shoe Size: Varies (7-8)
Other Club memberships: Golden Key International Honour Society, Dodgeball Club, UNBC Chamber Singers
Good at: Many things :-) Mostly good at school work, then at organizing, writing, singing, piano playing, also at learning languages)
Bad at: I don’t like talking about that. Ok, I am terrible at dancing.
Speaks: English, Slovak, Czech, Russian, German (all fluently), Japanese (semi-fluently), French (badly), Latin (can read)
Likes: Food, sports, books
Dislikes: Ignorance, lies (and spoiled kids)
Feels Like Doing Right Now: Reading a good book
Major: International Studies Honours
Minor: Economics
Number of Club Members: Technically, all INTS majors/minors
Purpose of Club: ISSA is one of the oldest clubs at UNBC and is directly associated with the International Studies program. We attempt to bring INTS students and profs together to get to know each other and learn form each other, thus building friendly and effective learning community. We also work with local and international NGOs (e.g. Red Cross, SEVA...), organize fundraisers and social events and try to bring attention to international issues (mostly through speakers we invite).
Events last semester: Pizza night, Bowling night (battle of the INTS classes), Hot Pot, Diana Yudell presentation (speaking on Afghanistan)
Events planned for this semester: Blood Drive, Jean Slick’s presentation on tsunami
relief (Red Cross), Red Cross Malaria campaign, skiing

Rollergirls: the Chance of a Lifetime

by Andrew Bailey
Sports & Clubs Editor

Photo: Rollergirls! Council Members from right: Marissa Balahura, Bryndis Ogmundson, Shannon Marie

It all started on August 13th, 1935, smack in the middle of what is now considered to be the “Great Depression.” People were bummed and Seabiscuit wasn’t exactly the hope-lifting phenomenon that Tobey Maguire would have you believe. A new dance marathon craze was sweeping the nation, which featured shiny nerds dancing horribly with other shiny nerds; it was truly an abysmal time for everyone. That is until Chicago promoter Leo Seltzer came up with a concept that would evolve into one of the greatest spectator sports that I have ever known, and I’m a single dude with an intense cable package who rarely leaves his couch, so that’s saying something.
To compete with the dance marathon craze sweeping the nation Seltzer came up with the first ever Roller Derby. Unlike the mega-sport which we know it as today, Seltzer’s Roller Derby consisted of just one man and one woman teams skating around a track showcasing endurance, it was kind of like cross country skiing, sort of. The sport remained like this until cultural genius, and my personal hero, New York sportswriter Damon Runyan went to a Roller Derby event in 1938 and saw two skaters tussling with each other for a short while and realized immediately how this sport needed to evolve. Soon fierce all-girl Roller Derby leagues were created, demonstrating speed, skill, and toughness. The rest, as they say, is history as such heroes as Midge “Toughie” Brashuhn and Gerry Murray catapulted Runyan’s concept into a widely beloved sport that Uncle Leon and the Alibis sing about so fondly in their hit “Roller Derby Saved My Soul.”
Today’s sport is a hybrid of passionate, durable, young women who compete and have loads of fun by creating unique personas and wearing flashy kick-ass outfits.
Now on to the tremendously terrific news that Andrew Bailey is absolutely stoked about: Thanks to the first ever recipient of Bailey’s heroes award, Bryndis Ogmundson, women in Prince George have the incredible opportunity to participate in the Roller Derby phenomenon. Bryndis has won hero status among her peers, with the help of a small group of ladies in town, by creating an all-female Roller Derby League in Prince George. If you’re a woman reading this article and are over the age of 19 than I strongly encourage you to take advantage of this fantastically unique opportunity. No pre-requisites or any type of athletic ability is needed, and there will be plenty of practices for interested women to take part in before any teams are finalized to give every woman a chance to learn the sport and build on their ability, most notably how to skate on four wheeled shoes. Seriously ladies, dudes dig Rollergirls in the biggest of ways, and it is also an amazing way to meet interesting and fun women like yourself and build incredible relationships in a team dynamic, as well as participating in a sporting event while dressed like a total rockstar! Practices start soon and, as this is a new league, there is tons of space for all women interested. If you can’t skate, or have never even heard of Roller Derby before it does not matter, just come out and participate in practices, because every other woman will be starting from the same place you are, and everyone will develop their skills together.
If you are interested, and you bloody well better be, information and sign up sheets are available at Meow Records downtown (100-300 Brunswick St.), or through Bryndis Ogmundson (pictured next to this article) who is an extremely nice and tremendously approachable lady, usually found around the radio office or Meow Records, and would be ecstatic to answer any questions you may have. If you can’t find either Meow Records or Bryndis, then come by the newspaper office and I’ll point you in the right direction. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by as it will give you a lifetime of memories and stories to trump other ladies at parties. “Oh you won the Nobel prize last year? Well I was a flippin’ Rollergirl!” You’ll see who people are more interested in.
Dudes can also participate through a variety of volunteer opportunities, I myself will be volunteering and really guys, seriously, its Rollergirls, get a clue and get involved. Class dismissed.

Math & Physics Society Symposium

By Simran Lehal
News Editor

The Math and Physics Society not only has MACE to call their own, but has also just successfully coordinated the biannual Math and Physics Symposium for all students on campus.
Talks ranged from proper origami folding to group theory to improving board quality in the forest industry with presenters from Alberta, Kamloops, and UNBC.
Dr. Matt Reid showcased how terahertz technology can be used to see-through objects and vaporize water without the heavy radiation of x-rays or the low resolution of microwaves. Potential applications include use in security screening, military devices, and wood product control.
Dr. Jennifer Hyndman articulated the science behind origami folding, using simple principles of geometry to demonstrate how paper-flaps can be used to create larger and larger shapes of highly-folded paper.
The well-attended talks were non-math/physics-major-friendly. Estimations averaged 20 attendees per discussion, with approximately 40% being non-math/physics major students.
Hal Friesen, the current president of the Math and Physics Society, feels “the symposium always brings together Society members, in part because of the work put into the event, and also brings out people who are just interested.”
The Math & Physics Society also puts on other discussions and social events throughout the year. Interested students wanting to be part can contact Friesen in MACE on the 2nd floor Teaching & Learning Building or at halfriesen@gmail.com.

Get Involved in International Elections

by Christina Bjorn-Hansen
No, we’re not talking about the race between Clinton and Obama, nor are we talking about the Russian presidential election to find a successor to Putin. We want YOU to come forward and either volunteer, or nominate and vote for someone else, to be a part of the 2008/2009 executive board of the International Studies Student Association (ISSA). Alright, it’s not exactly an international election, but how else would we get you to read this?
Don’t confuse us with the International Students Association, which we are not. However, I’m sure we have some things in common, like: being more than averagely interested when listening to the international news (or at least pretending to be), having a desire to travel and learn about other countries, speaking a second language (INTS majors have to, to get their degree), and, ironically enough, the executive board consists of mostly foreigners. Most importantly we, like many other clubs on campus, are having difficulties engaging YOU in YOUR events.
Our impression is that the student body (you) doesn’t seem to take interest in the variety of clubs that are available. Don’t forget that if you don’t use us, we will disappear. We are not here for us to have something to do, we are here to do the things you want us to do. As a student, I know that I can’t join every club that looks interesting or pay for every dinner, ski night, pub night, etc. that is offered. What I can do is take part in shaping my university experience, in school as well as out.
The ISSA is a student driven club that benefits anybody interested in international issues. We arrange a variety of academic and social events, where students and professors exchange ideas and get to know each other a little better. Giving everyone a chance to engage in discussions related to that little world going on, outside of Prince George, without being graded. As we also have the chance to air our ideas at the INTS program meetings, voicing student’s concerns about things like what courses are offered, what jobs are available, etc., we need to know what issues concern you.
Students who are Majors and Minors in International Studies are naturally the main body of the club. But it is open for all! Join our Facebook group, ‘UNBC ISSA’, and you can get more info about our ongoing activities and positions on the executive board that are up for election March 18th, or send us an e-mail at issa.unbc@gmail.com. Upcoming events this month:
ISSA Elections: Tuesday, March 18th, 5pm – send an e-mail (issa.unbc@gmail.com) or join our facebook group ‘UNBC ISSA’, to show your interest and check out the available positions on the ISSA executive board.
Blood Drive:
For those who signed up in January, don’t forget to donate blood on either the 13th, 20th or 27th. Remember to say that you are from UNBC.

Other Social events:
Ski-night
Bowling night
Hot Pot Dinner
Movie Night
Other Academic events:
Various guest lectures from CIDA, Red Cross etc.
International Coffee Hour (starting fall, 2009)

Get Medieval for Charity

by Mitchell Grant

Swords clashed and shields rattled on Saturday, March 1, 2008 as, clad in red and black, the UNBC medieval club fought a charity tournament in the Winter Garden.
The tournament, while organized last minute, consisted of eight “heavy” fighters, fighting with sword and shield and in heavy armor ranging from plate steel to leather or plastic, yet well designed suits. In attendance were also two “light” fighters –a first for the UNBC medieval club- fighting with rapiers in combat similar to fencing, but slightly more aggressive and using real but dulled rapiers.
The fighters were required to pay an entry fee and declare a charity of their own upon entering. Following that they were allowed to purchase extra “lives” for two dollars and people watching were permitted to bid on the fighters to fight for their own charities instead of the fighters’ personal choice. Charities of the day included the SPCA, The Royal Canadian Legion, Cervical Cancer, Prostate Cancer, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund and World Vision.
Ultimately, only one fighter had to win, with Kurgan the Mad crushing all those who challenged his cause of JDRF and raising $522.05 for the noble cause. The club was so encouraged by this result that it is entering plans to hold this tournament annually if not bi or even tri-yearly. It is open to anyone who wishes to attend to bid on fighters and have a charity of their choosing championed, or one may show up to the clubs Thursday practices at 7:00 pm in the Rotunda (first floor of the old lab building with the “echo” circle) and train so they may champion their own cause.
The Medieval club would like to publicly thank all those who turned out in support of charities and hopes that they will again help to make this tournament a success in the future.

T-Wolves Heading to Halifax

Photo: T-Wolves Square Off Against Camosun in the Opening Tip-Off

by Andrew Bailey
Sports & Clubs Editor

The UNBC T-Wolves are the Champions of the world. Well, at least the champions of the best part of the world, British Columbia, as they defeated the Camosun College Chargers 71-54 in the BCCAA Provincial gold medal game on Saturday. They will now head to Halifax to represent UNBC in the BCCAA National tournament. The gold medal game was intensely exciting and was played in front of a huge crowd. Without an empty seat in the house many fans were left with standing room only but it was well worth the strain on legs as the T-Wolves provided their fans with one last tremendously memorable performance on their home court this season.
“Coach of the Year” recipient Brett Westcott is a prat who absolutely 100% did not deserve the award. Throughout the game, whether his team was winning or losing, Westcott continuously lost his temper and acted extremely inappropriately and childish. His outrageous behaviour included an embarrassingly red faced rant just 4 minutes into the game into the face of a referee as well as singling out his own players violently pointing his finger in their faces while yelling at them, including a long rant to Charger Post Jill Proudfoot, as she looked away from his face in embarrassment. At one point during the first quarter Charger forward Carmen Lapthorne signaled at her own coach to sit down and relax, not exactly an inspiring moment.
Loralyn Murdoch, on the other hand, was extremely influential and motivating to her T-Wolf players, pacing up and down the bench keeping their intensity and determination high with quick pep talks and keeping a positive attitude among her team. Murdoch was also extremely calm and composed with the referees despite many obvious blown calls during the game, which caused the fans to lose their tempers and boo the refs harshly on many occasions. Murdoch’s positive coaching style proved to be sufficiently more effective that Westcott’s foolishness as the T-Wolfs outpaced and outplayed the Charger women throughout most of the game.
Camosun did have a strong first-half carried by the impressive play of forward Ashley MacKay who was huge in the paint and constantly successful flushing baskets from around 8 feet out. Charger point-guard Kate Carlson seemed to realize this, as she fed MacKay to the max, usually completely ignoring the other three Chargers on the court. Camosun center Carmen Lapthorne did manage to get rare rocks dished to her however, scoring five points in the last thirty seconds of the first quarter by nailing a three-pointer from well beyond the arch and hitting an eleven footer to close off the quarter with the Chargers up by 3.The 2nd quarter saw the same Carlson to MacKay combo remain effective, as Camosun would lead by 2 at the end of the half.
The T-Wolves played a much more team oriented first-half than their opponents. Kady Dandeneau played with her usual Edmund Hillary-like courageousness under the basket causing her to draw a lot of fouls, making use of her meticulously well-polished skills from the free throw line. Lindsay Anderson was incredibly thrilling to watch as she was possessed with an overwhelming drive to win the provincial championship game throwing overhand cross-court Favre like passes and hitting 3 pointers with amazing precision. Jaclyn Nazareno’s leadership and play calling abilities, which she brought to every game this season, was again a huge factor as she played unconsciously well and lead the team with enthusiastic play, highlighted by a tremendous shot clock beater from well beyond the three-point line in the second quarter. Nazareno’s play was also highlighted by a fake pass glide to the lay- in basket, which was so smooth your grandma would wish she could spread it on toast. Nazareno was almost able to tie the game before the close of the half but her buzzer-beater shot rolled around the rim and fell the wrong way, bringing the hearts of T-Wolf fans with it, and the half closed out 39-37.
Now I don’t want to pull the hammy of the whole coaching issue, but if Westcott said anything inspirational to his team at half time his players either did not hear it or just completely ignored his words, as they played the second half with the intensity and desire of a closeted homosexual banging his “just for show” wife. The Chargers were outscored by nineteen points in the second half by Loralyn Murdoch’s inspired UNBC Timberwolves, who ruthlessly hammered the importance of teamwork into the heads of the Charger women.
Ashley MacKay, trying to continue where she left off in the first half, cooled down greatly in the second half largely due to the tighter defense surrounding her, especially from Jaclyn Nazareno who guarding her with, what CBC Hockey analyst Pierre McGuire would describe as, incredibly “active legs,” caused Mackay to travel early in the third quarter. Down by only one point after a three point grate of the cheese from Laurel Wallace, Theresa Smith went up hard and secured a hugely aggressive offensive rebound dishing the ball off to Carlye Hicks who easily put it through the net giving UNBC the lead by one. Another basket by Hicks followed by a huge steal and basket by Laurel Wallace, on the inbound pass, put UNBC up by five points and caused Westcott to panic and call a Camosun timeout to try to stop the Timberwolf momentum. The crowd rose to their feet to give the UNBC Timberwolves a standing ovation as they went to their bench during Camosun’s timeout and it seemed that no one sat down again until the end of the game. The time-out stopped nothing as Lindsay Anderson put in a great effort and found an open lane charging through for the lay-up on the post-timeout possession. With MacKay continuing to struggle and the Chargers with no chance of scoring without their one offensive threat, the Camosun players began falling deeper and deeper into despair and became visibly frustrated, receiving no rallying motivation from their coach who spent the entire game, it seemed, slouched in his chair with arms and legs folded unless yelling viciously at his players.
Adding to the Charger’s scoring frustrations was the incredible defensive abilities of Laurel Wallace and Lindsay Anderson who both had amazing offensive games as well. Anderson’s defensive talents were on display as she saw teammate Nazareno had lost containment on Charger Guard Kate Carlson and came in to help by laying down a huge prime time Sharapova smash rejection on a perplexed Carlson. Wallace also wowed the crowd with a huge rejection when she rode the glass elevator to the ceiling smacking down a shot by the monstrous 5’11” Charger forward Carmen Lapthorne.
T-Wolf freshman Chelsea McMullen played with tremendous tenacity in her first ever BCAA Provincial Championship game, out-hustling every Charger on the court all quarter, and coming up with a huge steal in the third which lead to a beauty finger roll as the T-Wolves began running away with the game with the score at 55-41. McMullen’s tenacity and hustle eventually caught up with her as she was forced to the Accelerated Sport and Spine physiotherapy tent to receive treatment. She would come back late in the fourth quarter, however, with no sign of fatigue getting another steal after which she drew a hard foul and fell to the floor only to bounce back up again showing incredible toughness with no sign of pain. Fellow freshman teammate Kady Dandeneau also played a terrific game and raised the eyebrow of every spectator in attendance with an amazing show of athleticism as being checked to the floor Dandeneau somehow never stopped dribbling while getting up and charged down court. I have never seen anything like it in my entire life, and neither have you.
It was amazing to see the crowd so intensely into the game, even when it became obvious the T-Wolves would be the champions, going ballistic at every basket and booing every bad call. When the final buzzer was heard, with Kady Dandeneau holding the ball and the scoreboard reading 71-54 Timberwolves, the crowd went absolutely nuts. The T-Wolf players themselves were not outmatched in excitement as they flew into each other’s arms celebrating as champions. Lindsay Anderson was named the player of the game, while Laurel Wallace was named the tournament MVP. They will not be celebrating too hard yet, however, as they now move on to the BCCAA National Championships in Halifax from March 14th to 16th. There they will undoubtedly dominate the rest of the field bringing the trophy back with them to the North of British Columbia. Go T-Wolves! Now show some school spirit and give your best Spirit Fingers immediately after reading this article, seriously.

Noticeably Southern Selections

Photo: Kady Dandeneau (far right) selected to all-Rookie team

by Andrew Bailey
Sports and Clubs Editor

Since the T-Wolf women’s team got a bye through the first round and the T-Wolf men’s team didn’t make the playoffs, the turn out for the BCCAA Provincial Basketball Championship opening ceremonies on Thursday, February 28th was low, very low. In fact if I had to ball-park the number of UNBC students in attendance I would guess two, and of course I’m counting myself and my photographer, International Club president and man for all seasons, Scott Beaton. As the team names were called out and the many players jogged on to the court to be recognized they looked up and realized that there was virtually nobody there to really, well, recognize them. The few fans that did turn out for the ceremonies were there to support other teams, most likely the women’s teams from Malaspina and Capilano as they were scheduled to play directly after the ceremonies were over. Therefore the crowd did not exactly erupt when the announcer called the home team UNBC Timberwolves onto the floor, but the women looked in high spirits nonetheless as they eyed up their opponents from the other 5 teams from around the province.
The ceremonies were brief, highlighted by the honouring of players who had earned All- Star status among the league. Among these players were UNBC’s own Kady Dandeneau who made the all rookie All-Star list, and Jaclyn Nazareno who made the first All-Star team. There are two All-Star teams, a first team and a second team, kind of like the A and B teams you remember from high school, Nazareno made the A team. I love it when a plan comes together.
Personally I think UNBC’s Laurel Wallace and Carlye Hickswere were grossly over-looked by the selection committee but maybe that’s just because I bleed green and gold. Victoria based Camosun College boasted the highest number of All-Stars selected from their women’s team with three players going to the second All-Star team and one going to the all rookie team. Vancouver based Langara College also had a strong showing as two of their women were selected to the first All-Star team and one to the all rookie team.
Camosun College also won the honour of having both their men’s and women’s coaches win coach of the year. The selection of Camosun College men’s coach Gord Thatcher was puzzling as many believed Jamie Oei would win the coach of the year award, hands down, as his Douglas College Royals completed the season un-defeated. I was personally shocked at the selection of Camosun College women’s coach Brett Westcott, which I think is ridiculous after watching him completely lose his composure here at UNBC, in a game his girls lost to Loralyn Murdoch’s UNBC Timberwolves. I’m going to chalk that selection up to the all encompassing southern bias as I strongly believe Murdoch is a much stronger coach than Westcott, but I’m not on the court, so what do I know? Now go support local businesses by heading downtown for some beer. Wait, didn’t we used to be able to drink beer up here?