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Jonny Harris stepsinto a new role inOut Of The Bog- Page 3Rex Goudieremembers hisdays at Memorial- Page 4June 22, 2006www.themuse caVolume 56 Number 27Buckle UpGrenfell play Fear of Flight has sky-highhopes at Magnetic North Theatre FestivalBY fOHN RIETI"In the seat pocket in front of youthere is a card describing the safety features of this aircraft," reads themonotone voice of a bored flight attendant, "I would like to draw yourattention to the six emergency exitlocations."Passengers grit their teeth as theengines roar to life, many sick withnerves as they look out the tiny ovalwindow and realize the wings seemto be bending a lot. "Please ensureyour seatback and tray table are infull upright and locked positions,"nags the voice.The plane rushes down the runway,and passengers' minds rush alongwith it. Some are afraid of the ascentto 10,000 feet, some are saddened bywho they left behind in the departurelounge, and many are afraid of wherethey're going.Fear of Flight plays on these moments of mile-high reflection, creat-ing an intimate look into the lives ofnine passengers through a series ofmonologues."Every time I'm on a plane I thinkI'm going to crash," said third-yearacting student Kelly Barnes. "I alwaysthink about how pointless it is to havelife-jackets, because if you're in thewater - you're going to die."Barnes plays part of the chorus, 21people who sit behind the nine mainactors and go through regular actions of a plane-ride: Read a magazine, try to fall asleep, panic duringturbulence, look for the snack cart."It's almost like choreography," shesaid. Lighting set-ups at the LSPU Hallwill also help the audience feel as ifthey're looking directly back into thecabin of the plane.While neither Barnes nor her castmate Sandy Gow are afraid of flying,they understand the social tensionsmany feel. "Du ring every flight there'sa point where I've sat there and cometo terms with my life and said 'this isBAK HT! YAR PEERIf a scene like this one gives you the creeps, then Fear ofFlight might be the play for you.what I've got, if this goes wrong I'mOK with who J am, what I've done,"said Gow.What they've done on stage is quiteremarkable. Jillian Keiley and RobertChafe of the Artistic Fraud TheatreCompany created the play as an acting exercise for the Grenfell students.They then commissioned some of thetop playwrights from Canada to create the monologues, providing themwith only the general idea of fear offlight.The play was first done in CornerBrook a year ago, and has been remounted about three times. It is oneof the only Grenfell plays to ever receive the remount treatment, and itis set to become one of the most important student plays in the country,with three showings at the MagneticNorth Theatre Festival.Barnes and Gow see the festival asSEE "STUDENTS' PAGE 3Microgravity and testiclesDr. RichardWassersug lectures atMemorial on vastlydifferent topicsBY f USTIN 1V1ADOLAn internationally renowned spacescientist delivered lectures on two diverse topics last week, during a special visit to Memorial University's St.John's campus.Dr. Richard Wassersug is one ofthe most active research scientistsin Canada, having published approximately 150 articles in a widevariety of fields, ranging from ecology to neurobiology. Wassersug iscurrently a professor at DalhousieUniversity and holds appointmentswith the medical school, and withthe Departments of Biology andPsychology. He has also served on advisory committees for the CanadianSpace Agency, and NASA.Aside from his academic prowess, Wassersug is also well knownfor his appearances on the DiscoveryChannel and for his bi-weekly column on their web site, which he hasbeen involved with for more than adecade. Wassersug was Discovery'sfirst scientist-in-residence and hassince moved on to be a panelist forCBC Radio's Maritime Noon.Wassersug came to Newfoundlandto visit his daughter who is graduating from the School of Medicine hereJUST IN MADOLAs seen in his slide show, Dr. Richard Wassersug covers a wide variety of topics, from rocket science to castration.at Memorial University. While oncampus he offered to give lecture, butone quickly turned into two.Wassersug's lectures, both onFriday, June 16, in the Arts andAdministration building.The first, entitled VertebrateBiology in Microgravity: What WeKnow (and Don't Know) About theBehaviour and Development ofVertebrates in Weightlessness, gavean interesting introduction to thefield of space biology, while focusingon Wassersug's own research on thedevelopment of tadpoles aboard orbiting space stations.When asked how he became involved with such exciting researchWassersug smiled, "I happened to bein the right place at the right time"he said, "One day I got a call fromNASA inviting me to participate inresearch with frogs in space . it ended up lasting for 15 years."His lecture also included videofootage of several different species ofanimals reacting to weightlessness,simulated on planes flying in parabolic flight. This research was donefirst in Japan and then in Canadawith the help of high school studentsand has offered valuable insight intothe development of different vertebrate species here on earth.Diverging completely from therealm of his first topic, \.Vassersug'ssecond lecture focused on the psychological and sociological implications of being castrated in today'swestern world. The presentation,entitled Modern Day Eunuchs: Whois Castrated in Modern Society andWhy? looked at the reasons why menhave their testicles removed in contemporary society. Most often thesereasons are medical, such as for thetreatment of advance prostate cancer or injury, yet Wassersug alsoexplored the reasons for voluntarycastration, which has a surprisingnumber of participants.The bulk of this lecture examined the psychological impacts ofcastration on those who underwentthe procedure as a means to slow thedevelopment of prostate cancer - adisease that Wassersug himself survived.Both lectures were accompaniedby vivid and humorous visual presentations, which were deliveredwith a natural aptitude for conveyinginformation, something for whichWassersug has received awards."I feel [communication] is underemphasized." said Wassersug, "It'simportant for scientists to knowhow to talk and write about theirresearch. Often they don't have experience presenting their work [to thepublic], I feel that shouldn't be."

Lx.,,,,. ·www.themuse.cajune\22, ,2006Rare strain of chlamydia found in CanadaSpread of disease signof general decline insafer-sex practices,doctors sayBY f ESSE NERENBERGMONTREAL (CUP) -A rare strainof chlamydia has made its way toCanadian soil, and experts say people need to be aware of the risks toprevent it from spreading.Called LymphogranulomaVenereum (LGV), the disease iscaused by the bacteria ChlamydiaTrachomatis. But unlike the morecommon form of Chlamydia, whichis easily treatable with one dose ofantibiotics, LGV causes more persistent and invasive infections, andrequires three weeks of antibiotictreatment."Doctors should be vigilant aboutasking their patients about sexualpractices," said Dr. Tom Wong, director of the Community AcquiredInfections Division at the PublicHealth Agency of Canada and part ofthe Canadian LGV working group."If affected groups of individualscontinue their unsafe sex practicesand do not seek early diagnosis andtreatment, I can certainly see the potential for an increase in the occurrence of LGV in Canada."Until recently, cases of LGVwere almost exclusively confinedto Africa, Asia and South America.Then, between 2003 and 2004, 92cases cropped up in the Netherlands.The infection then surfaced in other western countries, includingCanada.Those infected were almost exclusively men who had had sex withmen, many of whom had not recently travelled to regions traditionallyassociated with the disease. Mostof the 38 cases of LGV diagnosedin Canada from January 2004 toNovember 2005 were in big cities inOntario and Quebec. There is a highconcurrent rate of HIV, HepatitisB and C and other sexually transmitted infections among those infected.Symptoms ofLGV can appear anywhere from three to 30 days afterinfection and include the appearance of small painless soars aroundthe area where the bacteria enteredthe body, commonly the genitals,rectum or mouth. Later symptomsinclude low fever, chills, fatigue,joint and muscle ache and swellingand drainage oflymph nodes in theaffected area. Ifleft untreated, LGVcan cause scarring and the mutilation of tissue.One of the biggest problems withLGV is that it is easily misdiagnosed."LGV is not a disease that's veryknown, so treating and recognizingit is not easy," noted Dr. Marc Stebenof Quebec's public health agency.Because it is not highly recognizable, Dr. Barbara Romanowski saidshe believes both doctors and patients need to be aware of the newrisk."It needs to be added to the listof sexually transmitted infectionsthat are a threat in Canada," saidDr. Romanowski, a professor in theDepartment of Infectious Diseasesat the University of Alberta.While there was a slight decline inthe number of reported LGV casesin the last year, Dr. Steben said thatdoes not mean it is no longer a concern. "If we're not careful it's goingto come back," he said.Dr. Wong said that the spread ofLGV is a sign of a general decline insafer-sex practices among Canadiansin the last few years, an opinion echoed by Dr. Romanowski."People have condom fatigue,"said Dr. Romanowski. "I think we'vedropped the ball in not continuingwith safe-sex messages."Alcohol bad in any amount, study saysAccording to researcher, past studiesskewed results, exaggerated benefitsBY ROSIE WESTWOODVICTORIA (CUP) - A glass a daykeeps the doctor away? Not so, suggests a new report headed in part bythe University of Victoria's Centrefor Addictions Research of BritishColumbia (CARBC).The report states that moderate alcohol drinking does not help prevent heart disease, refuting thirtyyears of studies that claim otherwise."Our research says that there areway smaller benefits from low-riskdrinking and slightly higher costsfrom elevated-risk drinking," saidTim Stockwell, director of CARBCand one of the principal investigators of the study.If you're drinking for your health"be cautious," said Stockwell. "Doit in very small doses.""There's a slight chance it mayimprove your health, but don't beton it," he said. "It's unlikely to doany harm."An international team of researchers from Australia, Canadaand the United States reviewed over30 years of studies showing thatlight drinkers are less likely to dieprematurely than both abstainersand heavy drinkers.The report, published in the April2006 issue of Addiction Researchand Theory, examined 54 studies from around the globe and uncovered a common error in moststudies - one that skewed the results and exaggerated the benefitsof what Stockwell calls "low-risk,"or moderate, drinking.The past studies' definition of"abstainers" included people whohad cut down or quit drinkingdue to chronic illnesses, declininghealth, frailty, drug use, or disability. This caused the abstaininggroup to show a higher risk of premature death than moderate drinkers.Of the seven studies that didn'tcontain the error, none showed asignificant protection from heartdisease or other causes of prematuredeath. Canadian low-risk drinkingguidelines suggest no more thantwo drinks a day for men and women, with a weekly total of 14 drinksfor men and nine for women.Stockwell said funding for histeam's research was difficult to secure because alcohol's role in preventing heart disease was widelyaccepted."Future research has to tacklethis problem in a more stringentand careful way," he said.The team plans on looking beyond coronary heart disease to diabetes, strokes, cancers and a rangeof studies that claim to show a relationship between those conditionsand lifestyle choices. Stockwell saidthere might be similar problems inthose reports as well.