Students Feel the Heat as Midterms College Nicole Burton, OP News Editor ASS October is the month of midterms, and a time for intensive studying at any post sec- ondary institution. At Douglas, students are feeling the weight of an increased workload this month, whether they are full-time or part-time working while in school. Amid the dropping temperatures and increasingly sick-and-contagious classmates, workload for all classes is going up. The time has come for all students to pick up their own methods for maximizing study-time and minimizing stress. As they pop the Excedrin and cold-fighting DayQuil, students are also slinging back more coffee and energy drinks—and cutting more corners out of their personal time in order to cram. Sandy is a psychiatric nursing student with a full course load of five classes. She says, “Honestly, right now it just feels like I have no life. I had three exams last Tuesday and I have two coming up this Tuesday (Halloween) and Thursday.” Sandy says that she works out regularly to help herself relax. But during exam time, her usual routine of relieving stress won’t work— either she’s too focused on school or can’t find the time to do her usual activities. “When I’m not as busy and I go to the gym, I feel relieved. I can spend a couple of hours just working out, and I feel like I’m cleansing myself,” she said. “But right now I barely have any time—I think I’d really bene- fit from going just to relax, but there’s no way I can fit it into my schedule.” _ Ashlin is a part-time student who works at an accounting firm when not in class. She says that even though she only has one English class this semester, the pressure is still on. “Our prof. understands that this is the time we need to be studying, so she puts it on Hit Douglas us!” she said. “To be honest, I don’t plan for it very well,” she says, laughing. When asked how she copes with the stress, Ashlin suggests that going for walks is a good way to clear your mind and let off some steam. Most Douglas students who were asked answered that they relieve stress either by working out at the gym spending time with friends, or by going out on the weekends to movie theatres and concerts. However, others say they will simply face the stress as a natural part of student life— hectic and unavoidable. Aly Virani is a Business student taking four courses this semester. He says each of his midterms—all happening’in the next week—will account for between 35% and 45% of his grade. But when asked how he deals with the pressure, he says it’s impossible to escape. “Am I stressed out? Yeah I am. It requires basically all of my attention if I’m wanting to get a good grade this year.” “But there isn’t really any way to relax,” he argues. “Stress is just a part of it all. The best thing to do when you're pressed for time and you can’t think you can do it, is just to ignore the stress.” Aly says that for him, the best way to study is away from the noisy study groups and open areas on campus. He goes up to SFU, where study areas are open 24 hours a day, and works in the tranquility of complete silence. : “Honestly, it’s the best place to go. It’s only 10 minutes from here on the Skytrain, and a 15 minute bus ride. I just go up there for my all-nighter’s—study ‘til morning, sling ’ back a couple of energy drinks, head to class, write my exam, and then take a nap.” 4 THE OTHER PRESS OCTOBER 26 2006 YOU WRITE WHAT - YOU’RE TOLD! Media Democracy Day Provides Challenges, Hope lain W. Reeve, Assistant Editor The 6th Annual Media Democracy Day took place last Thursday, with a major event taking place at SFU’s downtown Harbour Centre campus. The event, organised by SFU com- munications students and sponsored by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Necessary Voices, and the SFU Communications Department amongst oth- ets. Speakers included The Tyee editor David Beers, Bob Hacket and Bill Carroll, profes- sors and co-authors of the new book Remaking Media: the Struggle to Democratize Public Communication, and freelance writer Deborah Campbell. The four speakers, each in their own way, addressed issues relating to media democracy and diversity. All noted the almost unparal- leled level of media concentration in Vancouver, noting that the majority of our news sources, including the Sun, the Province, the National Post, and the Metro, are all owned by the same company, CanWest Global, who also own Vancouvet’s most popular TV news broadcast, Global News. The speakers touched on strategies, principles, and realities for those trying to build a more democratic, representative media. Beers, founded and chief editor of the up start online publication The Tyee, pointed out the inherent bias of corporate news. He stat- ed that corporate owned media will always represent a particular set of values, this is not necessarily their fault but it is inherent in the system. He does not want to eliminate cor- porate news, but says that media sources which draw funds from different places are necessary in order to create a truly diverse media landscape. Bob Hackett added to this, noting that the ever-expanding desire for market shari will lead corporate media sources to focus strategies that will sell newspapers, rather than on quality, responsible reporting. Thi leads to an overwhelming flow of “info-t: ment” and “fear mongering’ news, made make us feel constantly threatened. Campbell, who has worked for both c: porate and independent media, the “belly both beasts” as she put it, noted that the worst CanWest bashing comes not from indie media, but from employees of the media giant. She says she constantly hears stories from embattled reporters who are unable to do the stories they truly feel the should, constrained by a need to not mak the only major employer in town blacklist them. She does, however, criticize such reporters for backing down the second someone threatens their paycheque, sayin, that reporters in other parts of the world such as Iran where she has spent much ti face threats to their safety on a daily busi to deliver the truth. UVIC professor of sociology Bill Car spoke of the sheer numbers of alternativ media outlets which exist, he also pointec the number of activists seeking media democracy in Vancouver alone. He emph . sized that in the research he did for his b he found that very few media activists co sider themselves exclusively such, that the see media teform as an absolutely essenti part of any social movement. Media activ is the gateway to any other form of activ ~ he insisted. The most important message of the 1 was one which called for small media put ors to band together, to gain mutually fre support in numbers. Making it harder, as Beers put it, “to pick off little guys one t one” whenever the opportunity arose. TI night presented challenges, successes, anc gave hope and concern, trying to impart sense of control over the future in the at ence. Time will tell if talk leads to action