OCTOBER 22, 2003 | Currure 25 FUNK Off! Fun With Kathleen Comes to an End By Josh Hammerstedt Some hail it as the and of an era. Others, like cartoonist Kathleen De Vere, hail it as the end of some- thing that wound up not entirely special. Fun With Kathleen, staple of the Over The Edge comic sec- tion since 2000-2001, has been brought to a conclusion. Fun With Kathleen (FUNK), the continuing adventures of misguid- ed but intelligent Trevor, and sort- of-friends Mike, Tom, Ursela, and Annika, has garnered much acclaim and controversy over its run, from the cute university antics of early star Kathleen, to the fecal butt joke barrage of the Trevor/ Annika combination. Despite still holding a devout fol- “This may seem like the end of the world to some, but fret not - a new comic is on the way! “ lowing, De Vere decided to end the strip after realising that she wasn’t enjoying making FUNK anymore. “FUNK was like a lame, dying, infected dog, dripping ass jokes behind it,” she says in a quiet (read: not quiet enough for those retards at the other table) library interview. “I just don’t like the direction the comic has taken.” Kathleen mostly blames FUNK’s character dynamic for-its departure from her intended direc- tion. “There have been a few poor character choices; I’ve added char- acters whose personalities dictate an almost unchangeable dialogue from strip to strip,” says De Vere. “Like Annika. Annika’s personali- ‘ty is so much like Trevor’s that all they can do together is make ass jokes.” This may seem like the end of the world to some, but fret not - a new comic is on the way! When asked for juicy, elaborate details, “Fun With Kathleen (FUNK), the continuing adventures of misguid- ed but intelligent Trevor, and sort-of-friends Mike, Tom, Ursela, and_- Annika, has garnered much acclaim and con- troversy over its run.” De Vere stated “it’s going to be more of a step back. J miss doing longer story arcs, but that hasn’t been possible with the direction Fun With Kathleen was taking.” This is honestly all we could get out of her. Incidentally, those hypno-coins you get in boxes of Frosted Flakes. don’t really work. And they don’t do such a bang-up job of shielding you from swing- ing chairs, either. Desperate for details, we asked her to reveal her new comic’s name. De Vere enthusiastically replied:. “[Fun With Kathleen] was a horrible name. I hate’it. It’s so egotistical to name a comic after yourself! The name sucked ass!” Her new project will be titled “Korea,” which she assures. us is “an awesome name” [Ed. note: It’s true!] When asked why she chose this name, De Vere repeated “It’s an awesome name!” [Ed. note: Still true!] ; Korea will begin. its run two weeks from now, in the next issue of Over The Edge, and its premier promises to be a real adventure! [Ed. note: Find a better word than “adventure.”] Check it out at your regular Over The Edge time, at your regular Over The Edge sta- tion! The Women’s Centre Column Pro-life group - Speaker links abortion with Breast Cancer: This is a women’s issue Two fridays ago, Dr. Joel Brind, with the - “Breast Cancer Prevention Institute” provid- ed a history of the research relating to the apparent link between abortion and breast cancer. He contended that there was epide- mological, scientific evidence to support the “ABC” link. Briefly, the theory goes like this: a women’s estrogen levels increase greatly when she becomes pregnant; estrogen stim- ulates undifferentiated cells to proliferate in her breast tissue; if she goes on to have a baby, those cells become milk-producing cells (lowers her risk of breast cancer), BUT, if a woman has an abortion, those undiffer- entiated cells remain, and those undifferen- tiated cells remain, and these cells remain, and these cells are more prone to carcino- gens and consequently, breast cancer. Research studies from 1957 were presented. Many American cancer/health care and feminist organizations believe that there is no supporting research to suggest that there is a causal link between abortion and breast cancer. Moreover, many will argue that these unfounded claims have little to do with breast cancer, and has actually go a lot more to do with abortion (hence, why this research has. become so important for pro- lifers). [have to add that no data/ analysis of Canadian research was presented. Many organizations including the National Cancer Institute (U.S.) and-the National Breast Cancer coalition do not support claims made by the ABC Coalition, “...induced abortion is not associated with an increased risk of breast cancer”, “some contended that this information is disrespectful to women who have, or have had breast cancer, and is nothing more than anti women, fear-mon- gering.” Before the presentation, pamphlets were aggressively handed out with the title, “The single most avoidable risk factor is ‘elective abortion’ opposite and fairly close to the Women’s Centre. The Women’s Centre had nothing to do with the presentation. It is hard to trust that this research is unbiased, given the “messenger” of this presentation, and the group connected with it. I can pos- tulate that it would be difficult to substanti- ate “evidence” on either side of the debate given methodological problems and difficul- ties in finding a reliable sampling methodol- ogy since they used a meta analysis. What do you think? Is there a possible link between abortion and breast cancer? Should this group be allowed to hand pamphlets out/rent rooms on campus?