Newsbites (Page 2)

Newsbites (Page 2) McGill University

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Home > McGill News > 2008 > Fall 2008 > Newsbites > Newsbites (Page 2)

Newsbites (Page 2)

HALL STANDS TALL

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Earlier this year, THOMAS HALL wasn't even sure he'd be competing in the Beijing Olympics, never mind ascending the podium. The 26-year-old canoeist and McGill physical education and kinesiology student was an Olympic long shot, until he managed breakthrough wins at the Pan American Championships and on the World Cup circuit. Now he can add Olympic medalist to his list of achievements.

Hall finished third in the 1,000-metre single men's canoe race. He had a slow start in the race and was fifth in the nine-man field at the halfway point, but poured it on during the final 250 metres to capture the bronze medal.

"I was obviously ecstatic for about 30 seconds and then close to [knocked] out cold," Hall told CBC Television. "That's one of the first races where I've had literally almost nothing left. I almost didn't think I was going to make it to the dock, which was about 50 metres away."

Two other athletes with McGill ties came close to winning medals in Beijing. Management student MARIE-PIERRE GAGNÉ was part of the Canadian synchronized swimming team that finished fourth. MARTINE DUGRENIER, BEd'08, came within six seconds of winning a bronze in women's freestyle (under 63 kg) wrestling, before settling for fourth place (the match was officially a draw, but ties in the event are settled by who scored last).

Hall put his McGill studies on hold to train for a possible berth at the Olympics, and plans to take a break—and fully absorb his career-changing win—before returning to school. He doesn't rule out a return to the Olympics.

"This is a great thing, but it's a bronze medal and I'd love for it to be gold. I plan to go the Games in 2012… if I'm fortunate enough."

THE WHITE STUFF

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CHRISTIAN LANDER, BA'01, is one of hundreds, maybe thousands, of people who quietly started a blog this past January. But his received a little more traffic than usual.

Within a month, his website of satirical cultural observation was averaging 300,000 hits daily. By Valentine's Day, literary agents were wooing the 29-year-old former sports editor of the McGill Tribune.

By March, he'd quit his day job to expand the blog into a book.

Stuff White People Like: The Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions (Random House) hit bookstores on Canada Day. Nobody is more surprised by this whirlwind than Lander himself.

"It just started out as a joke I thought my friends would like," says the Toronto native, who now lives in Los Angeles. "Every day I'm beyond astonished at what's happening."

From hardwood floors to "having children in their late thirties," film festivals to farmer's markets, Stuff White People Like is a tongue-in-cheek field guide to young(ish) middle-class liberals. "Immediately following graduation but prior to renovating a house," Lander writes in a typical passage, "white people take their first step from childhood to maturity by hosting a successful dinner party." He cites his McGill years as an eye-opening introduction to this strange sub-species.

"Believe it or not, there are a few people at McGill who fit the profile," he quips.

"This generation still has the same need to compete with their neighbours [as previous generations did], but they don't do it in financial terms," says Lander of his peers. "Instead of who has the biggest car, it's who has the most travel experience, or who has the most vintage T-shirt, or who has lower carbon emissions."

The book has earned a flurry of attention worldwide (Australian and Dutch editions are in the works), and while Lander would love to parlay his sudden success into a job writing for The Daily Show or The Colbert Report, he insists there's no master plan at work.

"If someone gave me a ton of money and said, 'Recreate what you did,'" he cheerily admits, "I couldn't do it."

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