~Concocation Mania: Double Your Graduations,

Double Your Fun by Erin Fagan —

There will be two convocation ceremonies taking place in May for UPEI’s Class of 2002, dividing this year’s large graduating class into a morning ceremony and an afternoon ceremony.

“The numbers of graduates has gone up every year,” explained John DeGrace, UPEI’s Registrar, not- ing that there are now over six hun- dred students in the graduating class.

“The fire marshal made it plain that they would shut it down if the numbers exceeded the limit [of the UPEI Sports Centre],” he added, fac- toring in the numbers of faculty, par- ents, relatives and friends along with the space taken up by the stage area.

“It was getting too unwieldy.” DeGrace claims.

In addition, graduates were limited to having three invitations each in the single ceremony. system. According to the President’s Report in the December 7th Senate minutes, “students had expressed concerns about limitations on the number of

guests that they [are allowed to] invite to the event.” With two ceremonies, students will now be able to invite up to six guests.

While the final arrangements are still under discussion by the Convocation Committee, DeGrace says the rough consensus is that the professional and graduate students, along with the Business graduates, will have their ceremony at 10:00 a.m. The traditional first-entry programs will graduate that same afternoon, beginning at 3:00 p.m. The Baccalaureate service will probably

be held the following Sunday, accord-

ing to the December 7th Senate min- utes.

_ In addition, each ceremony will have a separate guest speaker and two honourary degrees granted per convocation. As a result, there was to be a fourth honourary degree candi- date selected by the end of this month. It is unknown at this point if there will be a single valedictorian speaking at both ceremonies.

Going Japanese, Eh by Marieéve MacGREGOR

It’s evident, this island’s pop- ulation is heavily European-descend- ed. Sure, there are splashes of other cultures here and there, but not many. We don’t have a lot of access to other cultures or exposure to the rich diver- sity of the world. It’s disheartening. Canada is supposed to be so richly colourful, but living on this island, where one-third of the names start with “Mac” or “Mc,” means travelling far and wide to get this exposure. Not all of us have the freedom or cash flow to embark on these kinds of excursions, so what’s an islander to do?

Go to UPEI’s new Japanese Society, Yukinko, that’s what! Coordinated by Tina (I’ll find out her last name later today), with aid from Sensei Nakagawa and his student Joshua (Ill also get his last name later), the society exists to open up students minds to the Japanese cul- ture. There are videos, games that are played in Japanese, and a different Japanese celebration every meeting.

The name Yukinko means snow child. You know, Canada ...

cold. And most students are young

people ... so, snow child. Seems to suit well. It was either that or Go Nihongo

The videos are awesome. One is of a summer festival with giant floats made of delicately painted paper. They are HUGE and illuminat- ed from the inside. They portray

ancient Japanese gods. What’s cool is that these floats are carried by about a hundred people, each running down the street. They make it turn, give it life, and sometimes people will be hanging on to it while it is being pro- pelled in circles. Another video is a documentary about a real ninja. He was very old, but still keen and agile, quite clever and wise. The third video is a kind of a comedy show, one where the hosts take ordinary people and put them in odd situations, like in a race with a bullet train, or in a fight with Jackie Chan (who, for the record, is Chinese, not Japanese).

The next meeting is on Friday, February 8, in room 327 of Main, between 2 and 4 pm. The society will be celebrating Setsubun, which, in short, is throwing beans to keep evil away. Come to the meeting and it will be better explained.

Don’t feel intimidated by the language; it doesn’t matter if you can’t speak it. Society members teach you how to say a few things, if you aren’t taking a course in Japanese. The society is open to all students in Japanese classes, students from Japan, and any other UPEI staff or students wishing to expand their knowledge of Japan. So come and ask questions, talk to the students here from Japan, watch videos (they have the coolest commercials over there), and cele-

. brate Setsubun!

UPEI students engrossed in ninja videos.

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