CampusIntel

I’ve never really been one to watch the Olympic games in all honestly, I found them boring as a child, I’d much rather have seen what Bugs Bunny was up to or tuned into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles…you know, things with real passion eh? However, this year I actually sat down and watched the opening ceremonies, and from that moment on I was stuck on the Olympics.

            I don’t know how many other people across Canada alone got the ‘Olympic fever’ but this year for some reason I got it bad. Every morning as I got ready for work I would turn on the TV to the same channel and the journalists would wake up with me. Every evening I’d come home from work or class and I’d tune in to see what events had taken place and what was going on that night. I’d receive texts from my Mom periodically each day updating me on our metal count and what races we’d won in. It was just something outside of my own little world of crazy school and work life that I could sit down, relax and be excited for…and it didn’t hurt that I could actually do school work while watching it (I mean really, I was mostly interested in the Canadian athletes, or on occasion those athletes they did those little pre-game life stories on), so during other athletes’ runs I’d read my textbook…you know how student life is.

            I started looking forward every day to events I would watch in the evening and have people come over to watch anything really, curling, skating, and of course hockey! It didn’t really matter what we watched, we just loved seeing our athletes compete and really took pride in the metals won as though they were our own (I love living vicariously though athletes…makes me feel like I never have to go to the gym).

            The day I found out that the Olympics were ending however a wave of sadness washed over me briefly, I thought to myself, who will wake up with me in the morning? How will I deal with the lack of texts from my Mom? How will I decide what to watch on those nights when there’s no good shows on TV? But I made it though, and although the closing ceremonies were emotional for me, I held to one thing…we kicked butt in both women’s and men’s hockey!

We all know what a library is: You register and get a Library Card, then you may borrow books and other multimedia for free. If you are late in returning the books, you are charged a small fee. Students herd there for research assistance from librarians. Cheapskates are prominent in the newspaper sections, trying to save a quarter.  And, most importantly, you must be quiet at the library. SHH!

Now, this last library component is untrue. A new trend in free information acquisition has surfaced: The Human Library. Conceptualized in 2000 in Copenhagen, Denmark, in cooperation with youth action group Stop The Violence, the idea was simply to educate people about diversity. The books (people) are members of minority groups in society, ones that are often met with prejudice. From police officers to politicians to prostitutes – each Human Book tells his or her story and answers any questions the borrower has. In effect, the Human Books are an attempt to slash prejudice on stereotyped lifestyles through education.

Since 2000, the Human Library has globalised. There are Human Library events held all over the world. There is even one being promoted by Atira Women’s Resource Society in Vancouver, which will be running for the duration of the Olympic Games in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. In fact, there are almost daily Human Library events being held around the world in schools, community centres, and other public institutions as a global front to promote diversity and educate people about prejudism. A full list of events is available at http://human-library.org, along with the history and objectives of the organisation.

I think this is an amazing story. This is one way that we can work towards ending the stereotypes and hatefeul tendencies that are still woven into all cultures, somehow or another. If the popularity of the Human Library grows, maybe our children will be able to pull themselves out of humanity’s odd predisposition to ignorance, stereotyping, and judgment. We all know the idiom you can’t judge a book by its cover. Well, the Human Library has ironically put the sentiment behind this phrase into action.

A Vancouver Olympic Committee parking lot in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside is home to a sea of red tents. The public staging is the reaction of homeless activists in Vancouver who feel the Olympics are problematic for homeless people.

The idea is about catching the public eye. The red tents have bright white blurbs and slogans designed as a visual aid for the homeless movement. Quite simply: Red tents equal homeless movement. It seems the intention has succeeded. There have been stories about the tent activism throughout the media in the past weeks.

The homeless movement in Vancouver has chosen the Olympics as the backdrop for their activism because for Vancouver’s large homeless population, the recent preparation for the Games meant displacing them from the downtown core. The movement asks that instead of spending billions on international sporting events, that Vancouver and other major cities address homeless problems.

The tent city site is one of many major social protests meeting the Olympics. First Nations activists fighting for land rights, environmental activists educating about nature deprivation, domestic violence and women’s activists, them andmany more have all utilized the soapbox the Games provide.

Tent city is expected to remain assembled until the Olympics are over. Small groups of activists have also taken to the streets, handing out free tents to anyone in need. After the games, and gold medal reports, we will see if the tent campaign achieves any success for the homeless cause.

We are now underway with the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. We were bedazzled by the always show-stopping opening ceremonies. We watched on Friday as Jennifer Heil won Canada’s first medal of the games in the downhill mogles. We felt sorrow with the news of the Georgian luger’s fatal accident on the Blackcombe Mountain track. Like every Olympic season, we are all somewhat glued to our televisions watching the world compete at sport.

While another story is being tactfully downplayed. The negative aspects of the Olympic Games are generally unheard of to sports fans. is about an . On Friday, the streets of Vancouver were also met with thousands of protesters acting in the  international anti-Olympic movement. At times, violent, riotous behaviour broke out, damaging storefront windows and other buildings throughout the city. Vancouver’s riot and swat forces were called out, and several arrests were made.

The opposition meeting the Olympics may be hard for some to believe. After all, who hates the Olympics, right? Some people truly do. It stems from many different grassroots cultural movements that, more and more frequently in our generation, are coming out of the woodwork and making serious claims against society’s ignorance surrounding the Olympics.

At the base of Olympic resistance is Capitalism. In short, the Olympics are one of the biggest corporations in the world, and do what big corporations do best: make money. Living up to the universal reputation of class and showmanship the Olympics embodies means intensive construction of stadiums, hotels, and any other institutions needed for the event. But after three weeks, the world’s athletes leave town, and Vancouver behind.

This means they have more sports arenas, big deal, right? The Olympic resisters have other concerns.

Like the environment. At the most basic of thought level regarding the city construction, there is destruction of wildlife and displacement of people. People are forced to move for expanding highways; small inner-city businesses are trampled by expansion; and, in Vancouver, the homeless are given a one-way ticket to anywhere else.

There’s more. Many First Nations activists are unified with Olympic Resistance. At the root of their cause is the ancestral land that is rightfuly theirs through many unresolved land claims in all of British Columbia. But this is not covered on TSN.

For a more encompassing look at the Olympic Resistance movement, research what the Olympic Resistance Network, they are who organize the peaceful protests and activism for Olympic Resistance. On their website they introduce their 8 reasons why to oppose the Olympic games: http://olympicresistance.net/

From the 2:30 mark, “The International Olympic Committee has the honor of announcing that the 21^st Olympic games in 2010 are awarded to the city of….(dramatic pause)….Vancouver.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpSqv1jx-8M]

I still remember ducking out of my hated construction labor job for 20 minutes in July of 2003; strategically hiding from my boss, taking refuge in my car which I parked out of plain view, reclining the seat and turning up the radio to hear the announcement being broadcast on a local station.  My hair stood straight up and chills ran down my spine when IOC President Jacques Rogge finally said “Vancouver.”  Unfortunately I had to go back to hating my job and life prompty after that, but they were 20 minutes I’ll never forget.  I still get those same chills even when I remember back to it now.  For seven years, I’ve been excited for Vancouver, and Canada, to host these winter Olympics.  I know I’m not the only one either.

An event like the Olympics effects not only one entire nation, but the entire world.  Anytime things of that magnitude occur, opposition naturally follows.  And that’s part of the beauty of our democratic societies; that we allow free speech, and people have the right to balk at things they believe are worth standing against.  Are there bad things that will come out of Canada hosting the games?  Surely.  The $500 million+ dollars pumped into these games could’ve been spent a lot of other ways; especially amongst a recovering economic recession.  Would we have ended homelessness in our country with that money?  Tough to say.  Were we not careful enough with the environment when constructing facilities?  Did we not represent the Indigenous people of Canada, and our other cultural origins correctly?  Did we go overboard on security in an attempt to keep terrorism and other threats to peace out of the picture?  Are there another 100 things that were not done to the liking of our 30 million residents?  Probably.  Is anyone actually making the case that we did things perfect?  Not likely.  Sometimes athletes cheat, sometimes there’s corruption in the IOC.  Sometimes they get away with it, sometimes they don’t.  Some countries get more money to train, and some have to just make due.  Personally, I don’t like the fact that our politicans and corporate sponsors ALL managed to get prime tickets to ALL the events, and the public was subject to an inane online lottery system.  Oh, and that some of those tickets cost $1000 or more.  Athletes get hurt, and probably more unfortunate than anything else, sometimes athletes are fatally injured; as in the case of Georgian Luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili.  So yeah, there’s a lot of imperfect things that the Olympics bring. 

But can we think positively for at least 2 weeks?  If anyone who watched the opening ceremonies that saw the 60,000 Canadians packed into BC Place draped in red and white, waving the Maple Leaf, and resounding in excitement, thinks that Canadians aren’t pleased as punch to be hosting these games, well they couldn’t be more wrong.  For every stick in the mud, there’s an entire tree full of green, growing branches, reaching for the sky and enjoying their time in the sun.  And that’s exactly what Canada has before it; 2+ weeks to shine in international light. 

Canadians love sport, and we love our athletes that compete for us as well.  The thing about athletics is it has the ability to transcend even the thickest cultural and international disagreements in the name of sportsmanlike competition.  If you need any proof of that, look at the nations of Iran and North Korea; absolutely scorned by the Western world as being on the brink of nuclear war with us.  But through all that justified tension, North Korea has sent a speed-skater, and Iran’s sent 2 skiers to compete in the Games; and to, if only briefly, join and be welcomed by the international community.  Even Israel and Lebanon will put aside differences to be a part of the Olympiad.  That’s powerful stuff. 

Look at Ghana, Ethiopia, Nepal, and other impoverished countries that may or may not even see a flake of snow in their countries, but come to the Games with the support of their governments and train between full-time jobs to earn spots on their national rosters to compete because they believe that the Olympics are worth the effort and sacrifice necessary to get to them.  And really, that’s exactly what the Olympics are all about in their purest form; the best amateur athletes in the world, putting aside barriers, competing cleanly, for their country, to showcase the best that their human abilities have to offer in terms of their unique sport. 

The thing is, there’s so much good to be harvested out of such a criticized event.  We ran a little flicker of a flame from Greece, around the entire planet, and through the streets and neighborhoods of nearly every city in our own country.  In Kelowna, we had a kid with cancer cut out a few days of his chemotherapy treatments so he could be a local torchbearer.  Many similarly touching stories laced our national torch relay as well. 

We’ve come together as 6 continents to show that there’s at least one thing we can all be civil and peaceful about, if only for a short time.  The world of sport blends together with art and culture to put on a show unlike any other.  Our troops fighting for our freedom overseas gather around a TV, dressed in Canada clothing and sipping Tim Hortons’ coffee to watch the proceedings of Canadian icons Rick Hansen, Nancy Green, Betty Fox, Wayne Gretzky, and others completing the Olympic opening ceremonies.  We bought pairs of red mittens, various apparel, grocery items, and pretty well anything we could get our hands on that we either knew would support Canadian athletes financially, or just emblazoned “Canada” on them to show our support. 

So, through all the things there are to protest against, there are plenty of others that Canadians are rightfully excited about.  How bananas are we going to all go when a Canadian wins our first gold medal that we’ve ever won on home soil?  Our when our hockey team(s) (hopefully) strike gold as well?  Between the Olympics and Paralympics, it’s going to be an exciting few weeks, and a historical moment for our country.  I hope you choose to enjoy them with the rest of us.  Go Canada go!

read more of Dave at Serenity Now… The SDC Blogs http://davecunning.wordpress.com

By: Dustin Pollack

This year’s Vancouver Olympics marks the 30^th anniversary of the illustrious “miracle” which took place when the U.S.A ice hockey team took down the powerhouse Soviet Union 4-3 in the semi finals on route to winning the gold medal. The victory against the Soviets was coined “the miracle on ice” and is seen as one of the greatest underdog triumphs in sports history.

Since the gold medal victory nearly 30 years ago the American ice hockey team has only medaled once in the Olympics, that being a silver medal when they lost to Canada at the Salt Lake City games in 2002.

Going into Vancouver the Canadian, Russian and the defending champion Swedes are seen as the avorites to compete for the medals.

Skating swiftly under the radar are the Americans.

Backstopping the Americans quest for a medal is Buffalo Sabres goaltender, Ryan Miller. Miller who is in the top three of almost every NHL goalie stat category has the Sabres streaking through the Northeast Divison and the Eastern Conference. Great goaltending is an integral part to Olympic success. In 2006 in was Martin Gerber’s 49 saves which allowed Switzerland to upset the much favored Canadians 2-0 in the preliminary round.

On defense it a mix of young, old, offensive and defensive. L.A Kings, Jack Johnson and St. Louis Blues, Erik Johnson are the youngest in the mix of defenseman with Detroit Red Wings, Brian Rafalski being the veteran and main offensive talent on the back end. With a mix of solid physicality from Pittsburgh Penguins, Brooks Orpik and Toronto Maple Leafs, Mike Komisarek and extra offensive touch from New Jersey Devils, Paul Martin and Nashville Predators, Ryan Suter this defense has the ability to be crafty and punishing.

Up front the American squad has no lack of scoring prowess. Leading the way Chicago Blackhawks, Patrick Kane, New Jersey Devils, Zach Parise and Colorado Avalanche, Paul Stastny. The three youngsters are all in the mix of the NHL’s top 15-point getters. With secondary scoring coming from Anaheim Ducks, Bobby Ryan, Vancouver Canucks, Ryan Kesler, Toronto Maple Leafs, Phil Kessel, Tampa Bay Lightning, Ryan Malone and New Jersey Devils Jamie Langenbrunner.

The one major flaw in the American lineup may be there lack of experience however, with a team of this kind of talent one has to wonder how important experience really is. Just ask Patrick Kane, whose young Chicago Blackhawks were written off as “too young” in the 2009 playoffs before rolling all the way to the Western Conference Final.

The Americans are in no way shape or form favored to win gold in Vancouver or even medal however, if the youngsters were able to pull it off it would be no miracle.