Birthdays come but once a year… Or do they? FOR THE FIRST 18 years of my life, I operated under the assumption that I was to celebrate my birthday only once a year. As the big day approached, I quietly went about planning a small party or dinner with close friends. The event would come …
Know your sidewalk etiquette STRUTTING THE STREETS of Ottawa the past few months has led me to a new, profound realization: People do not know how to use sidewalks. Every day there are more and more perpetrators bumping into each other, refusing to keep with the pace of traffic, and generally existing completely oblivious of …
Alternative loan system would halt student debt crisis THERE IS A fundamental problem with the way our society values education. Canadians have long believed wholeheartedly that an investment in post-secondary education will inevitably lead to significant gains in future income and an improved standard of living. Simple concept, right? Wrong. This perception of the inherent …
Let’s talk about legitimizing, baby LAST YEAR, SCANDAL hit our school when the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) decided to overturn election results and take on Sarah Jayne King as their vp finance rather than candidate Tristan Dénommée, who won the race by a margin of 114 votes. Over the course of …
Breaking news: Monogamy and marriage go hand-in-hand Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler is about to embark on his third marriage. The 63-year-old rock star proposed to his longtime lover Erin Brady over the holidays and, despite his family’s public protest to the union, he feels he’s found the secret to successful marriage: Monogamy. According to reports, all it took was a lighthearted …
Debating the legalization of organ trade in Canada IRAN IS CURRENTLY the only nation that permits the sale of human organs. By legalizing organ trade, the country has found a way to reduce the number of sick citizens dying as a result of lack of donors. It has also set an ethical precedent for the free sale of organs. A professor at …
Why doesn’t anyone go for the good stuff anymore? I’M NOT A morning person. The only way I won’t sleep through my alarm is if I smell a pot of freshly brewed coffee just begging to be consumed—and I’m not alone. According to the Coffee Association of Canada (CAC), 63 per cent of Canadian adults …
A defence of Canada’s Kyoto drop DEAR MR. HARPER, It’s true I’ve always been a big fan of your policies, and I can’t tell you how excited I was on May 2 when I watched the final numbers roll in and you gained a majority government. But it was on Dec. 11 that you won …
Woman-on-woman hating, and why it has to stop NEW RESEARCH AT the University of Ottawa has concluded that women on campus tend to slut-shame each other on campus. Slut-shaming is the use of words like “slut” or “whore” to make a woman—sexually active or not—feel ashamed of her appearance, her expression of her sexuality, or …
WE’VE BEEN PRETTY damn good at the Fulcrum this year. Between logging hours over our Macs to put the paper out each week, going to classes and getting good grades (or attempting to, anyways), and—sometimes—trying to catch some sleep, our editorial board has been too busy to even think nasty thoughts (Di Daniels notwithstanding). So, …
Sci-fi so foolish? FAMED CANADIAN SCI-FI author Margaret Atwood has spent the last few weeks conducting interviews in support of her new seminal work, In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination. Sparking new debate on the state of Canadian literature and the place of science fiction as a literary genre, Atwood’s novel contains several essays that …
My love affair with a long-dead liar UNBEKNOWNST TO MOST casual readers, this past week marked the 175th anniversary of the birth of a very special man, that sarcastic scamp Samuel Langhorne Clemens—known to you non-English majors as Mark Twain. The famed funnyman, author behind such classics as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The …
Canada Goose coats getting a bad rep A STRANGE TREND is emerging on campus of late. Snarky comments, meaningful glances, and overt mockery are being tossed around like snowflakes in a blizzard. The unwilling target of all this disparagement? Wearers of Canada Goose parkas. I know there’s something to be said for the fact that Canada Goose lines many of its …
Celebrating sans Christmas EVERY YEAR, ONCE December rolls around, the same signs start popping up all over town: Stockings on fireplaces, lights trimming rooftops, spruce trees in living rooms, and milk and cookies by fireplaces. What we also see, though far less often, are menorahs and kinaras in windows as non-Christian families gather to enjoy …
False election promises get on my nerves Katherine DeClerq | Fulcrum Staff BACK IN OCTOBER, students voted in provincial elections across the country. We were faced with many parties, all of which had a post-secondary strategy—a tuition freeze, more money offered through the Ontario Student Assistance Program, or a 30 per cent decrease in tuition. …
New grades, please! Re: SFUO report card (Editorial, Dec. 1) WHILE I FIND the idea of evaluating the executive in this manner quite charming, I have to say I’m not entirely in agreement with the grades that were doled out. I question how the Fulcrum came to the conclusions they did, and what the criteria …
Occupy Xmas accomplishes very little I HAVE A confession to make: I used to be a socialist. I’m not ashamed of it. But when I finally learned about all the socialists before me, I began to wonder why—if it was ever going to work—hadn’t socialism caught on already? The recent Occupy movements are the final …
Amalia Savva | President Strengths: Savva has made herself visible to the University of Ottawa community, frequently making the effort to engage with students and bridge the gap between the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) and both the U of O administration and students. The student survey launched earlier this month and …
And high heels, and spray tans… FAKE NAILS, FAKE eyelashes, fake tan, five-year-old girl. One of these things is not like the other, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to discern which does not belong. Last week, a co-worker and I sat down to watch an episode of TLC’s hit show Toddlers and Tiaras. …
The sadness of one sports fan I’LL PUT THIS as simply as I can: I love sports more than any healthy person should. Growing up and being a high-school athlete, I found myself influenced by various sporting figures, whether it was teams or individual athletes. My attitude, my work ethic—even my mood— were all inspired …
Together yet significantly different Re: “Can I get a side of English, please?” (Opinions, Oct. 12) IN THE OCT. 21 edition, the Fulcrum, the University of Ottawa’s English student newspaper, published an opinion letter entitled, “Can I get a side of English, please?” The author, Jaclyn Lytle, complained that the university’s policy on bilingualism was …
The opinions expressed here are the author’s own RECENTLY AT THE Fulcrum, a debate was sparked among our editorial board about whether or not our private personalities could affect our professional personas. While some agreed that personal and professional are two different spheres, others argued that an individual was just that—one person, no matter how hard they try to split themselves …
Changing our mentality about rape and consent ON NOV. 16, the Ottawa Citizen reported on a local sex offender’s hearing, where a young man accused of rape was judged by a psychologist as fundamentally believing that only “losers” who “can’t get the girls” committed sex crimes. This man has been charged with raping a University …
The closure or continuation of debate in the House matters very little A 138-CHARACTER TWEET by New Democrat MP Pat Martin last week has—yet again—raised concerns over the Harper government’s eagerness to close debate in the House of Commons, with Martin deeming the forced finale of debate on Bill C-13 “a fucking disgrace.” The current session of Parliament has witnessed the capping of discussion on six …
Haven’t you heard? Guns kill. ON DEC. 6, 1989, Marc Lépine walked into the University of Montreal’s École polytechnique with a Ruger Mini-14 rifle, where he killed 14 women before committing suicide. On July 22, 2011, Anders Behring Breivik boarded a ferry to Utoya, Norway, killing 69 people upon arrival with the aid of his …
