AMPUS NEWS — ororauasio. THE VOICE, THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2013 3 SaeeSn JAMES MCLAUGHLIN photo From left: Dean Tsatouhas, Kate Dunn, Emily Rowlandson and Hayley Smith are enjoying an early morning run before classes start. Club runs on the power of chi New Chirunning technique may help to heal and prevent injuries By JAMES MCLAUGHLIN ombining running with ancient tai chi principles is the founda- tion of the latest New Age health regimen: Chirunning. On March 18, the Langara run club will host a workshop by Chirunning in- structor Angela James in room A218 from 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. “[Chirunning] not only allows you to be injury-free, but it allows you to enjoy the running,” she said. “You don’t feel beaten up and sore after running.” A core principle of Chirunning is cor- rect body posture — not throwing the shoulders back, but aligning them with the hips and ankles. Propulsion while running comes from a slight forward lean. “Every part needs to be aligned. It’s going up and going forward. Often when people aren’t in alignment, that’s then what causes injuries,” said James. Running became a extremely painful for James after she developed Achilles tendonitis. James, who has run over 20 mara- thons and completed the Ironman Can- ada triathlon, said her discovery and adoption of the discipline helped pro- vide relief. She eventually began clock- ing personal-best marathon times. Arecent study conducted at the Uni- versity of North Carolina shows ap- proximately 50 per cent of runners in the United States sustain injuries. The majority of those injuries occur at the knee joint. The study, conducted in 2012, indi- cates Chirunning may be able to reduce stress on the knees and ankles. “These findings suggest Chirunning may be a desirable alternative running style for a runner with a history of low- er extremity overuse injuries or some- one who desires to reduce potentially injurious forces on the lower extremi- ty,” the study said. Remaining conscious of the body at all times is essential to Chirunning. James says this underlying principle can also translate into other parts of life like driving a car, playing a musical instrument or even walking to class. Regardless of the style, Langara run club member Dean Tsatouhas praises the overall benefits of running. “Td be working all day, going to school, doing a million different things and I’d be so drained and tired, just wouldn’t have a lot of energy,” Tsatou- has, who is organizing James’ visit, said. But when he manages to fit in a couple of runs a week, it makes a big difference. “T find that the day’s a lot easier,” said Tsatouhas. “You wake up, you have more energy.” RUN even TUESDAYS run days start at 4:30 p.m. in room C121 LUB ) WEDNESDAYS run days start at 9:00 a.m. in room C121 FRIDAYS run days start at 11:30am in room G109 FOR MORE INFO www.langararunclub.ca Enrolment up at Langara When the economy is bad, people tend go back to school, says spokesman By PATRICK COLVIN students back to school. Langara has seen an enrolment increase of 21 per cent since 2007, mov- ing from 7,716 students to 9,362. Langara spokesman Ian Humphreys says people tend to head back to post- secondary school during tough eco- nomic times. Langara is currently operating at roughly 108 per cent of its funded full- time equivalent student count, mean- ing the college is eight per cent above the number of students the Ministry of Advanced Education has given it fund- ing for. “But we don’t really anticipate that number growing,” said Humphreys. He noted, while there is room for more classes, when factoring in things like study space, library capacity and office space for faculty, “we are probably close to our physical capacity right now.” In the fall of 2007, Langara had 7,716 enrolled students - excluding students registered in continuing education. The year also saw the first signs of a faltering economy in Canada as a pre- cursor to the global financial crisis of 2008. The Canadian economy reached a low in January 2009. By the fall 2010 se- mester, enrolment had jumped to 9,547 students. “We tend to be counter-cyclical in post-secondary education: when the economy is good and jobs are plentiful, salaries are high and enrolment tends to drop,” said Humphreys. This analy- sis corresponds to provincial numbers. According to the ministry, total enrol- ment between 2008 and 2011 for colleg- es in B.C. rose by 10.5 per cent. While overall numbers are higher, Langara’s headcount declined by 185 students between the fall 2010 and spring 2013 semesters. At the same time, the economy has begun a climb towards pre-recession levels. “It’s like a canary in the mineshaft,” said Humphreys. “As soon as we start to see numbers decline, you might see that the economy is about to pick up.” T: financial crisis may be sending Explaining the politics of empire Author’s lecture at Langara focused on American Islamophobia in the post 9/11 world By BEN BULMER ple to go off and die, you have got to have a scary menacing enemy that they fear, that they hate and that they’re willing to then die for.” This is Deepa Kumar’s take on U.S. foreign policy after 9/11 and what she calls the “racist rhetoric” the U.S. gov- ernment uses to dehumanize Muslims around the world to advance their em- pire. The author of Islamphobia and the Politics of Empire gave a speech last Tuesday at Langara titled “Women, Is- lam and Empire,” attended by approxi- mately 30 people, many from outside of the college. “Some of the greatest untapped re- serves of oil and natural gas are found under the Caspian Sea, but that doesn’t make a good story,” said Kumar, an as- sociate professor at Rutgers Universi- ty. “We're going to send your women to college’ makes a better story.” According to Kumar, America at- tempts to justify its costly wars in Iraq I: youre going to try to convince peo- and Afghanistan under the guise of lib- eration. She said, throughout history, the elite in society have created ene- mies to unite their people against a common evil in order to advance their political agendas. Kumar said Islamophobia is not only a form of racism but also a tactic to por- tray Muslims as the enemy. She argued that the U.S. government is reinforcing negative stereotypes which not only affects Muslims but also those perceived to be Muslim. Philosophy student Nabila Jaffer said an understanding of Islam has been instilled into the provincial educa- tion system. She says she has experi- enced some discrimination in high school, though. “They just ask you why you wear your head scarf and [ask] ‘Are you bald under that?” said Jaffer, who was born and raised in Vancouver. Business student Amir Yousefi said he too experienced discrimination not because of his religion, but because he is from the Middle East. However, since leaving high school, both agreed this hasn’t been much of an issue. However, Jaffer and Yousefi said when crossing the border, attitudes suddently change. “It’s a complete different world there,” said Jaffer. “You’re treated dif- ferently. When you’re asking for cus- tomer service at the shopping mall that’s when you receive a little bit of discrimination.” Yousefi said his parents both hold Canadian passports, but are taken into U.S. immigration for fingerprinting when crossing the border. “And when we come back we have to go back to the U.S. border to get checked out,” said Yousefi. Ultimately, Kumar believes this U.S. policy of discrimination, war and inter- vention hasn’t achieved anything, giv- en the high costs of both money and lives. “People need to be involved in their own liberation, so that they can make a society in an egalitarian fashion,” she said. “Bombs have never done that, and never will.” ta ~ BEN BULMER photo Deepa Kumar lectures on her take on American foreign policy and its implications in the Islamic world.