Produced by the Mohawk College Journalism ProgramIssue 5

High Hopes:

Men’s Varsity Basketball

Rachael Williams Page 2

Tomi Swick at the Arnie

Casey Wren Page 6

The Cellar Is Back!

Scott Summerhayes Page 3

Pure Heroine Review

Neil Reyes Page 6

Gravity Movie Review

Chris Luckett Page 7

Hamilton Action Strategy

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NEWS

Cheers to the CellarScott SummerhayesIgnite News

After a four-week delay, the Cellar Pub has finally re-opened for business. The Cellar underwent a wide-scale renovation at the end of the 2012-13 school year, and was scheduled to re-open during the first week of school. Unfortunately, some complica-tions hindered the MSA’s ability to follow that plan.

“Construction is what it is. We had a couple of long lead items that took a little bit longer than we expected to come in,” said Rob Morosin, Operations Manager for the MSA. “When you start to pull away drywall or lift up flooring, you run into some unexpected challenges and we had to work around those.”

The new renovations come with all-new flooring, furniture, and a larger, more modern stainless steel bar. As well, each alcove has been adorned with large murals, designed by Mohawk College students. Students can also look forward to an expanded menu and new hours. The Cellar will now be open right through to pub nights on Wednesdays, and stay open until 11:00pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The one thing that has not changed in the Cellar is the brick wall throughout. Well-known for the graffiti that covers the walls, the Cellar is actually designated as a heritage building, preventing the MSA from altering its historical integrity.

Morosin says working with the heritage committee of Hamilton may have also contributed to the delays. “We had to go

through a lot with the heritage commit-tee about what we could do and what we couldn’t do.”

The MSA celebrated the new Cellar’s grand opening on Wednesday night with an all-request pub night. The walls were covered with the Twitter hashtag “#arnierequest”, allowing patrons to communicate directly with the DJ from a mobile device. Steve Kosh, Marketing and Communications Manager for the MSA called the night “a success on social media.”

The Cellar is now fully operational, which means the Arnie will no longer be serving alcohol during the day.

Photo: MSAThe revamped Cellar is now open for your after-school relaxing

Some things haven’t changedPhoto: MSA

New study spaceto open soonAshley SegatoIgnite News

The former Heath Lounge is being reno-vated into a new area where students can go to study. The renovation was proposed last year, but because of all the recent renovations the College has undergone, the Heath Lounge project was pushed down on the list.

Maxwell Brown, VP of Finance for the Mohawk Student’s Association, said, “Because of all the renovations that are happening right now it got put on the back burner.”

Brown explained that the lounge would be a sound proof room that will consist of a large study pod (where about six students can go to study) and single study pods (where individuals can go to study alone).

Kristina Iafrate is a first year student at the College in the Recreation Therapy program and says she is excited for the new changes.

“A lot of things have changed since the last time I was at Mohawk for my other program, so I’m really excited to see everything together,” said Iafrate.

She also said once the lounge is completed she would use it as a study area and said that all the new additions will be very useful.

The lounge is still under construction as workers are currently finishing the new additions.

“It is expected to be finished between mid October to the end of October,” said Brown.

The former Heath LoungePhoto: Ashley Segato

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NEWS

Has SAM been blowing up your phone?Lauren SmithIgnite News

Last week, Mohawk College tested its new Security Alert Messenger (SAM) system with lockdown drills at its Fennell and Stoney Creek campuses. The SAM system is designed to warn students in the event of an emergency situation or campus closure. It sends a warning message when an emergency situation occurs, then an all-clear one after the situation ends.

In the event of an emergency situation, an alarm will sound, with an automated voice informing students and staff of the situa-tion at hand: in the event of a lockdown, the announcement tells students that a lockdown is in place and advises them to

find a place of safety until an all-clear mes-sage is given.

Students can manage their accounts through the SAM tab on Mocomotion, opting-in to text, phone and email mes-sages.

The program still has a number of glitches: some students received multiple messages by phone, text and email, while others received nothing at all.

Media Relations Officer Jay Robb admit-ted that the SAM alerts “could have gone better,” but assures users the school will continue to improve the system. “The reason we have drills is to put things to the test … Hopefully we never have to use it

for the real thing,” he said.

The first alert messages are posted on social media, so students who follow the college on Twitter will see the first alert before the text and email messages go out. “This stuff has to go out instantly,” Robb agreed.

Aside from the alerts, the drills themselves went smoothly. Robb raved about the students’ professionalism and speed in responding to the lockdown.

SAM will also be used for school closures, like in cases of weather emergencies. Robb says that the alerts will reach students at home as well, “so they know to stay under the covers.”

Trouble in the neighbourhoodRachael WilliamsIgnite News

Hamilton is leading the way in the imple-mentation of a Neighbourhood Action Strategy (NAS) to improve impoverished streets, according to an expert from Se-attle.

On October 2, Jim Diers, former Director of Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods, and the NAS team presented its first report to the General Issues Committee (GIC) at City Hall about Hamilton’s urban renewal strategy. It targeted 11 areas in need of improvement.

These areas include Jamesville, Beasley, Keith, Gibson/Landsdale, Stinson, South Sherman, Crown Point, McQuesten, River-dale, Davis Creek and Rolston.

“We’ve been very successful at the evalu-ation phase of this process. Over this past year, our focus has been more about imple-mentation,” said Paul Johnson, Director of Neighbourhood Action Strategies.

After surveying residents of the aforemen-tioned areas, NAS and its partners have compiled a list of 315 potential actions, of

which 137 are underway (43 per cent) and 33 are completed (11 per cent).

This includes community clean-up events, planted community gardens, installed fire alarms in homes, redesigned city parks and began summer camps for youth.

To date, the city has committed $360,000 of the $2 million earmarked for the project. This has leveraged $2.6 million in direct investments from external sources.

“In Seattle, we started with $150,000 and now, 25 years later, it’s a $4.5 million expenditure. Hamilton’s only a year in and

is more than halfway there. It’s moving at a much faster pace,” said Diers.

Although councillors were supportive of the initiative, there were some reservations about the source of the funding. Ward 8 Councillor Terry Whitehead expressed disdain about taxpayers having to fork out money for initiatives that are not address-ing their communities.

“In ward 8 alone there are 22 communities that scream for qualify of life issues, but they don’t get the service. They pay for it, but see no benefits…if you want communi-ties to buy into this, other neighbourhoods need to be given the same attention,” said Whitehead.

Diers and the NAS staff agreed, but urged councillors to show patience.

“We just don’t have the resources to tackle the entire city yet,” said Johnson.

After having successfully organized a Neighbourhood Action Strategy in Seattle, Diers insists that the most important element is transparency and partnership between government and the community.

Jim Diers addresses Hamilton’s GICPhoto: Rachael Williams

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SPORTS

Varsity Spotlight: Mark KaveckasDimitri PerdicarisIgnite Sports

Matthew Schnarr, head coach of the Mo-hawk men’s volleyball team, remembers his first interactions with his current setter and team captain Mark Kaveckas quite fondly.

“When I first started, he was a guy that I had probably been talking to since he was 16,” said Schnarr, discussing the recruiting process. “When Mark chose Mohawk, we were really excited.”

Schnarr admitted that despite Kaveckas’s potential as a rookie with the Mountain-eers, there was still plenty of work that needed to be done to become the player that he is today.

“He really wasn’t physically strong enough to compete where we wanted him to if we were going to be at the top of this league,” said Schnarr. “That kind of sparked a moti-vating factor in Mark.”

Schnarr says that over the last three years, Kaveckas has been in the gym each and ev-ery day, striving to be the best athlete that

he can be and improve not only physically, but mentally as well.

Today, Kaveckas is in his fourth season with the team, studying in his final year of Transportation Engineering.

Kaveckas takes pride in pushing his team-mates both in practice and in the weight room to become stronger for in-game situations. With Kaveckas’s approach to the game being as intense as it is, it’s not uncommon for teammates to take note.

“The biggest thing that stood out for me about Mark is his genuine work ethic,” said Mohamed Sulaiman, a former team cap-tain and teammate of Kaveckas’s. “His goal is to succeed and he doesn’t let anything stand in his way.”

Kaveckas stressed that for the Mountain-eers to find success this season, the team must pay attention to each and every detail, night in and night out.

“We need to make sure we are always fo-cused in the gym, making sure that we are truly working on every touch and every aspect of the game,” said Kaveckas.

Kaveckas has been impressed with the team’s core of returning players, as well the rookies who he believes will be pushing veterans on a nightly basis for starting positions.

When asked about the team’s goals for the season, Kaveckas was both blunt and to the point with his response.

“I have very high expectations for this Mohawk group,” said Kaveckas. “Our overall group goal is to be provincial champions at the end of the season.”

Photo: Mohawk Athletics

Men’s varsity basketball team gears up for season Kyler SandersonIgnite Sports

The Mohawk Mountaineers mens bas-ketball team is going into the season with plenty of confidence after a solid pre-season. The Mountaineers performed well in their exhibition games, which included a dominant 129-62 win over Fleming Col-lege, and an 86-82 win over the McMaster Marauders.

Head coach Brian Jonker was happy with the compete level of his players during the preseason, but knows that the team’s ultimate goal is to compete for a national championship once again.

“We want to win another national champi-onship and we believe we have the pieces

to do that,” said Jonker.

Following the game against McMaster, Jonker was measured in his tone and called the team a work in progress.

“This team is the biggest team we’ve had

no question about it. This will probably be the best rebounding team we’ve ever had here,” added Jonker.

Expect to see a lot of zone defense from this year’s Mountaineers squad.

If you hear anyone’s voice on the court this season chances are it will be coming from the team’s centre, Taylor Dowhaniuk.

“I’m a very loud outspoken person.. I try to lead through my play but my voice always takes over too,” said Dowhaniuk.

Dowhaniuk was a part of the national championship team from 2012 and believes a fast-tempo style of play and a hard work ethic in practice will be the keys to getting back to the top of college basketball in Canada.

Photo: Kyler SandersonCoach Jonker believes that rebounding will be a strength for the team

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SPORTS

McMaster Hall of Fame inductees announcedRachael WilliamsIgnite Sports

Four former student-athletes from McMaster University will be inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

Next month’s ceremony will pay tribute to students who made an impact in the classroom and in their respective sports. The hon-ourees include Kojo Aidoo, Ray Mariuz, Janet Cook and Michelle Greenwood.

“These athletes are accomplished on a number of fronts and it’s a great honour for us that they were a part of the school’s athletic program,” said Athletes Care and Alumni Development Coordi-nator Rebecca Babcock.

Aidoo and Mariuz played on the Marauders football team: Aidoo at running back and Mariuz at linebacker and rush-cover. Both received a number of accolades and pursued lucrative careers in the CFL after graduation.

In 2000, Aidoo led Mac to its first-ever Yates Cup championship and was named MVP of the championship game. He was drafted by Edmonton and played with the Eskimos, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Hamilton Ticats and Toronto Argos.

Mariuz had a very successful career as a Marauder, leading them to OUA championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002. He was the first player to be named a first-team OUA All-Star at two positions. He was drafted by the Argos and won the Grey Cup with the team in 2004. He also played six seasons with the Tabbies.

“I am extremely honoured to be inducted into McMaster’s Hall of Fame and am humbled by the great athletes, coaches and builders that I join…I always enjoy my visits back to Mac, so it’s neat to know that I will have a place in Mac’s rich athletic history,” said Mariuz.

Greenwood played singles and doubles tennis for the Marauders and collected seven OUA med-als. She was also pivotal in advancing Mac to the National Collegiate Tennis Championship and won the national crown.

Cook was a freestyle and butterfly swimmer at McMaster from 1998 to 2002, winning the OUA championship in 1999 and 2000. She won 13 med-als as a Marauder and was named OUA Female Athlete of the Year in 2000. She also swam for Team Canada during the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia.

“I’ve been so lucky with everything I have been able to do over the years with my swimming career and I can’t thank McMaster enough for all the help along the way,” said Cook.

Photo: McMaster Daily NewsClockwise from top left: Ray Mariuz, Janet Cook, Kojo Aidoo and Michelle Greenwood

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www.ignitenews.ca

ENTERTAINMENT

An acoustic lunch with Tomi SwickCasey WrenIgnite Entertainment

The Arnie was crammed, with no chairs left available on Wednesday. Colourful lights decorated the stage as local musician Tomi Swick entertained the lunch crowd. Swick covered songs from such bands as Mumford and Sons, the Black Keys, and the Lumineers, finishing with Ray LaMon-tagne’s “Jolene”.

Swick is a Juno award-winning musician who grew up with many musical Hamilto-nian influences.

“There was everybody from Tom Wilson and the guys of Junkhouse, to Harrison Kennedy…my brothers-in-law were in bands, back in the early nineties, that I kind of ended up jumping in and playing with,” Swick explained.

Recently, Swick collaborated with Julian Lennon, son of Beatle John Lennon, to work on a song called “December Sky”, which he had written with Julian’s father in mind. The vice-president of Warner Broth-ers, Swick’s then-record label, had called him to ask if he was interested in working with Lennon.

“I was like, of course, obviously I’d be interested!”

They met up in New York, on the 30th anniversary of John’s death, to record together.

“I had already recorded my stuff, and he sang on it, and we hit it off and partied for the next days or so, and we’ve been friends ever since,” Swick explained, grinning.In the past few years, Swick has been a lot of places, including England, L.A, and Ireland. But he is now back at home in Canada, and has a publishing deal Swick explains, “allows me to write for myself, for other people, for TV, for movies and stuff. I do some of that”.

Swick said he has even done some collabo-rations with people from “different levels of music” and musicians from the Ham-ilton area, like Joel Guenther and Dave King. Swick is also busy with writing.

“I got offered a new deal on some new mu-sic, but I’m going to feel it out first,” Swick explained.

“I’ve got to make the right decision on where to go next”.

CTV gets socialBrittney MedeirosIgnite Entertainment

First it was The View, then The Chat, and then The Chew.

It was bound to happen that Canada would get its own show with pretty people sit-ting around a table talking about today’s headlines.

However, the ladies of CTV’s new The Social don’t think their show is anything like The View.

Despite its comparable four-women-sitting-around-a-table-discussion format, that’s where the similarities end. Unlike The View, The Social (as its name implies) lives and breathes via its social connection. Topics, discussions and opinions presented on the show will all be from viewers.

The Social premiered at the end of this summer. It is a one-hour show, airing five days a week on CTV at 1 p.m. The co-hosts are for-mer CP24 Breakfast anchor Melissa Grelo, eTalk reporter Traci Melchor, InnerSPACE host and relationship expert Cynthia Loyst, and celebrity blogger Lainey Lui.

I love the idea of a new talk show com-ing to Canada. Especially something that is not just about decorating or designing. We get to hear about pop culture, the lat-est DIY crazes and just normal, everyday things that people deal with. This show has

a very personal quality about it that I think a lot of viewers will be able to relate to.

With that said, I do believe it’s a bit risky because of the fact that it’s so Toronto-centric. It looks like they’re only going to be focusing on a small niche. I think it would be in their best interest to try and focus on a larger one.

Photo : Neil Reyes

The host of The Social: (From left) Melissa Grelo, Traci Melchor, Cynthia Loyst, and Lainey Lui.

Photo: CTV

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www.ignitenews.ca

ENTERTAINMENT

Review: Lorde -Pure HeroineNeil ReyesIgnite Entertainment

With her strong voice and even stronger songwriting, it’s hard to believe that Ella Yelich-O’Connor, better known as Lorde, is a teenager. On Pure Heroine, her full-length debut album, Lorde establishes herself as one of music’s brightest future stars.

Lorde’s songwriting stands out on every track. The songs capture teenage moments, from taking public transit (“Buzzcut Season”) to drives in the suburbs (“400 Lux”) to classism (“White Teeth Teens”), all intertwined with teenage emotion and boredom. The first single, “Royals”, rhyth-mically drops high-class hip-hop clichés over a simple beat, then declares, “we don’t care”.

The music production complements the sharp songwriting. Spatially, the vocals take centre stage, while electronic drums and bass provide the foundation. Other than a few synthesizers and subtle guitar lines scattered throughout the album, Pure Heroine is pretty simple, allowing the lyrics to rise above the musical elements. Lorde’s vocal harmonies stand out over the elec-tronic elements. Every melody is lyrical and carefully placed.

Overall, Pure Heroine is a pretty good debut album. Its atmospheric drum and vocals set a great background for songs about teenage emotion, but doesn’t change much throughout. While the album could use a little musical diversity, its relatively simple sound stands out over over-pro-duced pop. It’s refreshing.

Review: GravityChris LuckettIgnite Entertainment

Sometimes, a movie is released that just begs to be witnessed on the big screen. A movie that, if someone waits to watch it on their television, will lose something only evident when sprawled across a large canvas. A movie that you brag to others years later about having seen when it was in theatres. Gravity is one of those movies.

The terrifying and simple plot revolves around astronaut Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), who is repairing a satellite when stray debris destroys the space shuttle she and astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) were planning on using to get back to Earth.

The terror of being utterly lost and alone has been tackled before in movies like Open Water and 127 Hours, but that fear is multiplied exponentially with the prospect of being alone in outer space, with no-where to go, no way to get back to Earth, and a dwindling supply of oxygen.

In addition to being unrelentingly tense, Gravity somehow finds time to be quietly beautiful and almost poetic. It’s an amaz-ing juggling act for which director Alfonso Cuarón deserves complete credit.

From the opening shot (which lasts 17 minutes, including the kinetic and explo-sive destruction sequence of the shuttle), Gravity throws special effect after special effect at you, firing a 90-minute barrage of filmmaking tricks that blend seamlessly

Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures

and perplex the brain long after the credits roll.

The gargantuan size and scope of space is so unfathomable that no movie has ever truly captured it. Some, like Stanley Kubrick’s seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey, have come very close, but none achieved what Gravity does. When watching it, you feel like you’re in space. The accomplish-ment of eliciting that feeling is hard to truly appreciate. (It should be added that the movie’s 3D is flawless, adding an infi-nite depth that helps to truly immerse you in the experience.)

People talk reverently about when they saw visual masterpieces like Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Titanic, The Matrix, or Avatar on the big screen. In a decade’s time, people will be saying the same things about Gravity.

Photo: Warner Bros.Sandra Bullock tries to survive in space

ETC.

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“Move, move, move, move, move!” I chant as I try convincing myself not to embed my Honda badge into the rear bumper of the driver in front of me. Unfortunately, this is all too common on the roads these days. So many drivers just do not know road etiquette and it gets even worse on the highway. Do you constantly ask yourself how the person in front of you is allowed to be on the road? Find yourself blocked when you try to pass? Have to lay on the brakes when a car comes out of nowhere into the space in front of you? Well, this is for you, ladies and gents.

Let’s start with lanes. On a two-lane highway the lanes have specific func-tions: the right lane is for driving and the left lane is for passing. People often call them the fast and slow lane, which gives drivers the wrong idea. The fast lane is for getting around people driving in the slow lane who are driving slower than you are. After passing, you merge back into the driving lane. See? Being polite is easy. The only acceptable excuse you have for hanging out on the left is if you need to turn or exit left in the very near future. If you drive 20km/h under the speed limit and hang out in the passing lane, people will flash their headlights and attach themselves to your bumper.

Now, this next thing is a top-secret government secret, so keep it hush-hush. Some say that attached to the right-hand side of your steering column is a stick

that can move up and down. Depending on the direction you flick it, a magic signal will appear on your dash as well as on the outside of your vehicle. This tells other drivers where you’re going! Incredible, right? On a more serious note, you really have to signal where you’re going if you want to merge. But just because you have your signal on, does not mean that there will magically be a space just for you right there. If the person you’re merging in front of doesn’t react well to you coming over, you will tear their front end off. See, I love

my car. If you tear the front end off of her, I will not hesitate to tear the front end off of you. Glad we have an understanding.

All of this should be common knowledge among drivers. Can you imagine how pleasant everyone’s commute would be if people just drove properly? I hope to one day live in that world. Let’s start a move-ment here, people. Use lanes properly, signal where you’re going, check your mirrors, and don’t hit anything. Didn’t they cover all this in drivers training?

Driving Etiquette:what do you think you’re doing?!

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