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ready, Set, BuSted
If you’re prone to drinking and driving,better put some cash aside for a newbreathalyzer initiative.
CharGinG to PlayoffS?
Chargers fans keep fingers crossed in
hopes our sports teams show upstrong at upcoming playoffs.
 Volume 19 Issue 12February 18, 2009
neWS4SPortS9
Camosun’s Student VoiceSince 1990
BalCony Banter
Ebert and Roeper pack their bags sothe Nexus professionals can step inand analyze the Oscars.
 artS—13
Photo: Courtney BrouGhton
 
Fay 18, 2009
 2
teSSa CoGman
StAFF Writer
Campus life canget addicting. Thebeautiful landscape,friendly faces, and helpful faculty can make a student feel safe andat home. We have spent years at school,networking and becoming famil-iar with everyone here. But oncegraduation arrives, the bubble
bursts, reality comes crashing down,
and students are thrown into thereal world, job or no job.I will be graduating fromCamosun this April from the Ap-
plied Communication Program and
I am getting antsy myself. Quite afew of my peers will be moving onto university, but I will be entering
the real world in hopes of pursuing
a career.But when April arrives, my stu-dent loan money will say “bye-bye”and I will be working two jobs just
to keep food in the cupboards while
searching for an ideal position.
Some students enter programs
they have no intention of pursuinga career in, but for students with a
clear goal in mind there’s a tendency 
to lose your head after that gradua-tion cap hits the ground.Printing off resumes for Mc-Donalds and Fairway Market isn’t
very appealing, but to keep the cash
flowing until a career is found asnazzy uniform might be an un-fortunate possibility.But you can stop having res-taurant job-related nightmares,because there’s hope.
Each year, college graduates aresurveyed nine months after the end
of their program.The 2008 survey respondents
said they were 80 percent employed
at a job or business. Of these stu-dents, 88 percent reported they found their job within two monthsof actively looking and 73 percentsaid they were in a job directly related to their studies.Phew! That’s very good news.But with the job losses in BC, howaccurate is that survey this year?The economic crisis has every-one’s panties in a twist, but it’s notlike it’s going to last forever, folks.There’s an economic crisis every other decade and the world hasn’tcome crashing down just yet.Until we get past the mess leftby Bush’s mistakes, it might be alittle harder to find a career, butdon’t give up.Instead of printing off four-
dozen resumes and applying every-
where and anywhere, apply to the jobs you want and apply early.
Be professional, include a cover
letter, and don’t be stuck with no-where to go come graduation. And
hopefully Camosun’s employment
success rates will be even betternext year.The earlier we brace ourselvesfor the road ahead, the softer theride will be.
      L     e      t      t     e     r     s
Next publication date: March 4, 2009Deadline: noon Feb. 25, 2009
Address: 3100 Foul Bay Rd., Victoria, BC,V8P 5J2Location: Lansdowne Richmond House 201Phone: 250-370-3591Email: nexus@nexusnewspaper.comWebsite: www.nexusnewspaper.comPublisher: Nexus Publishing Society
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CONTRIBUTORS:
Guy AlaimoAdrian BinakajCourtney BroughtonChris BurnettCristian CanoBreanna CareyKait CaversAlisha CharmleyMatteus ClementTessa CogmanZan ComerfordMaelina de GrasseSamantha DoneyMichael DuncanChristi KayDonald KennedyKeltie LarterAlissa LaurenKelly MarionChloe Markgraf  Jason MotzMiriam PuttersSarah RankinAndy RobertsShane Scott-TravisEd Sum Joel Witherington
t vws a ps xpss  a sf  as,  f  nxs Ps Scy.o cpy f nxs s avaa p ss,p ps. nxs s p  a mxf 100 a 40 pc cyc pap.Pas cyc y cpy. taks!
Editorial meetings
Cm    wky nxs a ms,w a Cams ss ca  vv  s wspap. Ms ak pacvy tsay a 11:30 am   nxs fc,rcm hs 201, lasw. Ca 370-3591 -ma xs@xswspap.cm f mfma.
Send a letter
nxs ps s a a 250 ws  ss sps  pvs ss. nxs svs   fs pca f s. lsms c f am a s m (p). nxs accps a s y -ma xs@xswspap.cm
VieWS
op Spac accps smsss fm Cams ss. Smsss  op Spac s 400 ws  ss. rspss  pvs acs  nxs s  250 ws  ss.e-ma smsss  xs@xswspap.cm a c y am a s m.
Open Space 
     N    e    x    u    s     E     d     i    t    o    r     i    a     l
hlp buildu 
nxus dssud vlus
if y w k  w,ak ps,  js wa p  w wspap,   cw s asap!
250.370.3591nexus@nexusnewspaper.comwww.nexusnewspaper.com
Richmond House 201,Lansdowne
 Would you like fries with that?
 andy roBertS
Contributing Writer
For the second Friday in a row,I step into the Campus Caf at Lans-downe, only to nd the sandwich
display empty, the soup urns downto their dregs, the pasta selection re-
duced to smithereens, and the pas-
try selection limited to a few mufns
that have seen better days.
My only choices seem to be deep-
fried junk, overpriced pizza, the
somewhat pathetic Euro Baguette,
or a rather pricey salad.
I ask about sandwiches and am
told some are being made; 25 min-
utes later there stands a row of ham
sandwiches, perfect for someonelike myself who neither eats hamnor red meat.Enough is enough. I’m tired of having my food selection whittleddown to nothing on a Friday after-noon or late in the day. I’m alsosick of Aramark touting their corncutlery and other recyclable condi-ments as a reason to charge higherprices—a responsible company should be eco-friendly as a matterof course. Aramark is a food provider forpeople of limited means and it con-
sistently fails to listen to customers
or serve customers’ needs.
It suddenly dawned on me whatI needed to do, and the solution wasstaring me in the face—boycott the
Caf completely.Rather than ll out surveys orwrite a letter, I decided to hit Ara-mark where it hurts by not givingthem my money. Ever.From now on, I’m bringingfood from home every day, withgranola bars, rice cakes, and fruitas a backup if I’m running late.
I’ll buy my coffee from a nearby coffee shop on my way into campus,
and anything else I need will come
from the bookstore, which is priced
lower than the Caf and alwaysdoes their utmost to stock itemson request.
Better still, I’ll exercise my right
to eat this stuff in the Caf right in
front of their noses. Big, hairy mam-
moth balls to you, Aramark.
I’ve heard enough excuses from
 Aramark and refuse to believe they don’t make a prot or can’t lowerprices and raise quality.I’m pretty sure any other fran-
chise could make a prot and supply 
a decent quality of food. If anotherfranchise set up a mobile cafe andpulled up in the parking lot oneday, an awful lot of money wouldbe made.So long, Aramark. You failedme for the last time.
Put the“e” back in womyn
I was a little con-fused when readingthe recent story,
 Not a
 gentleman’s club
[Womyn’s Centre
column, Feb. 4 issue], by ChloeMarkgraf.
 At rst I thought there were just
shitloads of typos, but I soon real-ized the spelling of “womyn” wasintentional. What’s with that?Do they not want the word“men” involved with anythingfeminist? Lame! If I were a racist
(keyword “if”), would I change theway I spelt “Caucasian” to “Caucey-
sian” so that the word “Asian”didn’t appear? I don’t think so.Changing the way you spell“women” just so the word “men”doesn’t appear is ridiculous andimmature.I totally support equality foreveryone (men and women, andthe people in between), but stuntslike this make people think femin-
ists are just a bunch of bra-burning
yahoos.
eriC mCveiGh
CAMOSUN STUDENT
(Ed. note: For an explanationon the spelling of womyn in the
Womyn’s Centre columns, see Chloe
 Markgraf’s column in the Jan. 21issue.)
Historical boo-boo!
Re:
Cameras offer powerful tool 
 for Palestinian struggle
, Jan. 21issue.Thanks for running this very interesting article. I was in Heb-ron myself once and remember itvividly.However, you need to print acorrection.In the accompanying article,
 An endless struggle
by Staff WriterBrendan Kergin, he states, “Anagreement was struck with thePalestinians already living on theland to split it with the refugeesfounding Israel.”I fear Kergin has made a his-torical boo-boo! The Palestiniansagreed to no such thing.The United Nations imposed
the division, after much lobbying by 
Jewish populations and, I believe,the British government.
SuSan SCott
COMMUNITY MEMBER
Let’s boycott the Aramark bad habit
ra a  svys  w a, i c  Aamak w  sy  v m mymy.F ss w aca a  m,’s a cy s y a afa aa caps  .
grAPhiC: AdriAn binAKAJ
 
xs@xswspap.cm
 
Keltie larter
Contributing Writer
Recent reports released fromStatistics Canada show that overthe past three months the Canad-ian economy lost a jaw-dropping213,000 jobs. Wow.It seems we’ve all been livingin an economic house of cards. And, of course, when the job mar-ket shrinks, so do some people’sminds.I am so tired of hearing peoplecomplain about foreigners “steal-ing” our jobs. Every time layoffs
happen, a bunch of ignorant, selsh
 jerks start moaning about migrantworkers and how we should be tak-ing care of our own rst.
Just because we’ve had the luckto be born in Canada doesn’t meanwe own this country or we’re owed
employment. The jobs do not “be-
long” to us. Besides, everything we
have we’ve stolen from those whowere here before us. A lot of people believe foreignworkers in BC should be sent backto their countries and their jobsgiven to those who have been laidoff, so “real Canadians” can lookafter their families.But what about the familiesof the thousands of workers wesend packing? Most foreign work-ers come from countries wherethere’s no unemployment insur-ance, health care, or welfare, andthe loss of money most Canadians
would nd paltry would be devastat-ing for families relying on the extra
income to survive.
 At least the families of those who
were laid off in BC won’t face star-vation, sickness, or death becauseof their reduced circumstances. And really, would you want towork 12-hour days in a box factory 
or in some hotel scrubbing wealthy 
people’s shit out of toilets for eightbucks an hour?
Because I wouldn’t want to, nor
would most of us spoilt Canadians,which is why employers solicit for-eign labour in the rst place.I met a man last summer wholeft his wife and children back inMexico to work in the elds pick-ing daffodils 14 hours a day forminimum wage.His only day off from the daf-fodil farm was spent working ata neighbouring farm shovelingmanure.He said he felt extremely lucky to have such good jobs, and themoney he made would send hischildren to school and buy heart
medication for his wife, not to men-tion feed them all. It was a humbling
conversation.
 We enjoy a standard of living in
this country which most of the restof the world pays for in one way oranother, so shouldn’t we be happy to share the wealth?
VieWS
B
y
 
eltie
l
 arter
roxanne Smillie
i s mysf cw my acvs wk,as w as sa wkas a s.
Chad KreutzenStein
i av  a w i’  v yas. i p’s smw .
Brie nelSon
Sy vmasccs a wk a c-p pam  as cas. Aay jy f!
ChriS ho
i’  smw  sa f w ma,pfy ca wai wa  ca. Amay ay maksm cas   sas a Yt pa!
PatriCK rooney 
i s mysf s my w fc, v f!
melanie JohnSon
i v yas i s mysf av smw faaway.
eli Bell
i s mysf v a c-p fam, wkas a aa, asks, a fmv.
W  y s ysf  v yas?
miChael dunCan
Contributing Writer
 With the recent release of thefederal government’s budget andeconomic stimulus plan, it’s clearthe issue of student debt relief wasdisregarded. While the budget included per-sonal tax reductions and other
economic measures, there remains
a growing burden on current andformer Canadian students—the$13 billion federal student debt.
 According to the Canadian Fed-
eration of Students (CFS), whotracks the mounting loans, thisfederal debt increases by $1.2 mil-lion every day.This amount doesn’t even in-clude approximately $5 billion inadditional student debt owed toprovincial governments, as wellas personal debt from credit cardsor bank loans.The combination of the cur-rent economic downturn with ageneration of students mired indebt renders both the economy 
and graduates disadvantaged from
the onset.
The current graduate debt aver-
age of $25,000-$28,000 could bereturned directly to the Canadianeconomy if Stephen Harper and
his band of scal conservatives can
expand their mindsets to considerthe benefits of freeing graduatesfrom a decade or more of studentloan repayments.
The federal budget does address
some educational concerns, withan allocation of $500 million forworker retraining in the StrategicTraining and Transfer Fund, and$175 million for a combination of  Aboriginal Skills programs acrossCanada.But the budget does little for amajority of young students.
In response to the current situa-tion, the CFS sent a letter to Finance
Minister Jim Flaherty suggestingan increase to the Canada SocialTransfer for post-secondary educa-tion to $1.2 billion, reducing debt
and tuition fees; more grad-student
funding; an increase in financialsupport for Aboriginal students to$200 million; and a boost in fund-ing of the Canada Summer Jobsprogram to $200 million. According to the CFS, post-secondary education should betreated as a public works “mega-project” that will benet the nextgenerations.
 With an investment in debt relief 
for Canada’s students, whether in
the form of fee reduction, increased
grants, or additional employmentopportunities, the governmentwould not only provide urgentstimulation to education but alsoinvest in the country and students’futures.
 Canadian education needs some stimulation too
 aliSSa laurin
Contributing Writer
 A student is standing in line atthe bookstore, when a woman infront boastfully pulls out a Chanelwallet. Meanwhile, the man at thecounter is sporting a nifty pair of 
Oakley sunglasses on his head. Butare these name-branded items real
or fake?There’s no doubt name brandsare everywhere—in the halls of Camosun, movies, and even on
buses. In our society, things we owncan send out an impression of what
type of person we are.
This is an underlying reason for
our consumption of name brands.
They have the power to make us feel
like we’re paramount for purchas-ing them.
Since many people want to own
the crème de la crème of material-istic paraphernalia, it only makes
sense that there’s undercover copy-
ing of name-branded goods.This is where the black marketcomes in, selling cheap replicas of name brand merchandise for lessthan the original item. This can beheaven-sent for those who can’t af-ford the cost of the genuine article,and want to feel like they can by purchasing a faux.But it’s demeaning; it takesaway from the original creatorof the item and is of much lowerquality.In addition, underground mar-kets make replicated items more
obtainable and less prestigious thanbefore they became accessible to the
rest of the public.This can further confuse con-sumers as to what’s real and betterquality, and what appears to bebut isn’t.The black market used to beundercover and less accessible.Now, largely due to demand forimitation products, black market
items can be found in Victoria malls
during the winter season, in smallboutiques downtown, and even inUVic’s Student Union Building.This is appalling and should be
stopped. Not only do underground
markets sell replicated and stolenideas, they also lead to risk factorssuch as the uncertainty of whatthese pseudo items are made fromand where they come.It’s far better to save up and
invest in authentic products where
quality, trust, and honesty are alsoobtained in a purchase.
 Students shouldn’t support the fake brands
Sc may ppwa  w  cèm a cèm f maascpaapaa,  ymaks ss a’s cvcpy f am-a s.
 Sharing the wealth during tough economic times
evy m  aayffs, a c f a, ss jkssa pss ama ama wks aw w s ak ca f  ws.
Photo: CourtneY broughton
More and more students are wearing name-brand knockoffs around campus.
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