The first time I heard that music, it did something to me," Marc Savoy recalls. "It really confused me. I was about five or six years old, and when I heard those instruments together--the accordion, the fiddle--it did something to my head. If I had experienced it as an older person, as a teenager, I would have thought it was something very erotic, very sensual."

There's a certain romanticism to country music, though it may be hard to believe with acts like Shania Twain and Kenny Chesney making a farce of denim and cowboy hats. There was a time when playing country music meant something more than showing your midriff. Kris Kristofferson is living evidence of this classic era, when country music was rugged, dressed all in black with dusty, worn cowboy boots.

Over the course of its 75-year history, the Calgary Zoo has become a respected, world-class facility, deemed as such due to its commitment to conservation and public education. Recently, it was even voted Attractions Canada's top outdoor site in the country. Calgarians should be proud, boasting their hometown is host to such a revered facility. However, the proposed Arctic Shores exhibit--which plans to bring polar bears and beluga whales to Calgary--threatens to tarnish the zoo's reputation.

Editor, the Gauntlet,

[Re: "Escalation not the answer," editorial, July 27, 2006]

I found your article "Escalation not the answer" in the course of a Google search and was pleasantly surprised. Don't misinterpret this as a patronising statement, please! The fact is that I expect North American media--including those linked to academic institutions--to follow uncritically the Zionist line which, alas, is also that of the government of Canada.

Editor, the Gauntlet,

[Re: "Escalation not the answer," editorial, July 27, 2006]

I did not find your editorial entirely unreasonable, at least the part that calls for international intervention to help cease hostilities so that civilians in both Lebanon and Israel can get back to their normal lives. What troubles me, however, is that you seem to be hostage to a lot of misinformation about this conflict.

Editor, the Gauntlet,

[Re: "Escalation not the answer," editorial, July 27, 2006]

The conflict now raging between Israel and Lebanon is a tragedy, one that should have never happened in the first place. Here we are in agreement. Nevertheless, the university is a place where issues should be debated, with both sides analyzed and examined. The article in question failed to do any of that.

This isn't your average finger painting.

Be prepared for a surprise when you visit the Hundred Languages of Children exhibit in the faculty of education, because your opinion about children's artwork is about to be challenged.

The exhibit--on display in the Doucette Library--shows the results of the Reggio Emilia approach to preschool education, which encourages children to use their own hands-on experiences to learn.

In the split second it took for an off-balance landing and a single 'pop,' the volleyball career of Jill Beveridge ended. Beveridge, then a varsity player for Acadia University, tore her anterior cruciate ligament--a debilitating and often career-ending knee injury, which female athletes are between five and 15 times more likely to sustain than their male counterparts.

High gas prices aren't the only thing Albertans should be worried about. A much more serious crisis exists in the form of an acute shortage of heath-care workers, especially nurses.

To help meet this shortage, Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton will implement a four-year bachelor of science in nursing program beginning in fall 2007.

This is the third degree program in a college approved by the Alberta government since 2003.