Capilano Courier Vol. 45 Issue 3

“Pushing buttons since 1968�

Volume 45

N O R T H V A N C O U V E R / / S e p te m b er 2 6 , 2 0 1 1

Issue N o. 03

Beyond Bricks and Concrete with capilano's big money // weed // stripping // and so much more ...

TABle of contents Vol. Fourty-Five | Issue 03

Pushing buttons since 1968

N e ws

Contac t u s

Phone

Praise? Damnation? Let us know what you think:

Another cool new building on campus that you will probably never get to use.

604.984.4949

C al e n d a r

Fax

604.984.1787

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That Celina! What a character! No seriously, find out where all the good shit is.

Online

www.capilanocourier.com

Fe a t u r e s

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Cool street art from around the world

Email

editor@capilanocourier.com

Ar t s

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There is a stripper on this page, outrageous!

Cont rib u t i n g Are you a writer/illustrator/photographer? We'll pay you! Come to our story meetings:

on

TUESDAYS at NOON in MAPLE 122 Caveat lector

The Capilano Courier is an autonomous, democratically run student newspaper. Literary and visual submissions are welcomed. All submissions are subject to editing for brevity, taste, and legality.

The Capilano Courier will not publish material deemed by the collective to exhibit sexism, racism, or homophobia. The views expressed by the contributing writers are not necessarily those of the Capilano Publishing Society.

Columns All about Kevin's big acid trip in the desert.

Opinions

The Capilano Courier is brought to you by the following people ... editor-in-chief

editor-in-chief

Samantha Thompson

Sarah Vitet

a rt d i r e c t o r

f e at u r e s e d i t o r

news editor

Shannon Elliott

JJ Brewis

Adélie Houle-Lachance

Gurpreet Kambo

a rt s e d i t o r

opinions editor

Marco Ferreira

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The return of Blake Bamford's pun-ishing comics.

production mngr.

Claire Vulliamy

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People have strong opinions about the government and weed, but mostly weed.

C ab o o s e Sta f f

14

humor

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fiction editor

Kevin Murray

copy editor

Celina Kurz

N OW H I R I N G

Distribution Manager Requirements: — A car — Free monday mornings — Intestinal fortitude (j/k)

Get money get paid s ta f f w r i t e r

Evelyn Cranston

ad

+

events mngr.

Jonty Davies

business manager

web editor

Ricky Bao

Natahsha Prakash

email editor@capcourier.com

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the cove

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n

Stefan Tosheff Stefan Tosheff draws pictures, jams riffs, smooches girls, and plays with dogs. He has learned a lot from playing with dogs. → http://stefantosheff.blogspot.com/

Contest Winner

We finally found loyal reader Stephanie a prize that doesn't suck! It turns out that reading the Courier pays off big time. Check the Caboose for a new contest this week.

{ WORLD* } This

WEEK in the

What’s got us all riled up in the office this week?

from the editor //

Fostering dissent

Y

ou are stupid. You are a complete moron with no ability to think for yourself, identify propaganda, make up your own opinions, or demand the truth. At least, that's what the government seems to believe.

In light of the recent Conservative omnibus crime legislation, it is especially important to be aware of what is the truth and what is propaganda. The Tories are no strangers to twisting reality (and are quite fond of using out-of-context quotes in their attack ads), and their nine new crime bills are no exception.

According to Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, "We’re not governing on the basis of the latest statistics; we’re governing on the basis of what’s right to better protect victims and law-abiding Canadians."

How they came up with their "basis" is somewhat vague, though.

Crime rates in Canada have been trending downward for the past 20 years, and the success rate of parole is high, between 71 to 84 per cent. There is also strong evidence from the US that shows mandatory minimum sentencing and longer prison stays actually raises the rates of violent re-offences, and does not lower crime. Fear mongering is easier for the public to digest than hard facts, though.

As pointed out by Ethan Baron in the Province, the omnibus crime legislation also has very skewed priorities: "A pedophile who gets a child to watch pornography with him, or a pervert exposing himself to kids at a playground, would receive a minimum 90-day sentence, half the term of a man convicted of growing six pot plants in his own home," explains Baron.

The Conservative anti-drug morality agenda is being pushed to extremes, and it is going to mean that a lot of non-violent offenders are put in prison, at an annual rate of $60,000 to $70,000 per inmate. With an already underfunded health care system and public sector, weak environmental initiatives, and a rising national unemployment rate, increasing prison spending is completely out of touch with reality.

The Canadian Bar Association (CBA) has also expressed serious concerns regarding the omnibus crime legislation. A press release on their website quotes the chair of the National Justice Section as saying that northern residents, people with mental illness, as well as Aboriginal people in particular will be negatively impacted by the legislation.

“The Bill’s approach is contrary to what is known to lead to a safer society,” says the press release. The CBA has over 37,000 lawyers, law teachers and law students as their members.

The most obvious contradiction that the Tories stand by is their fervent anti-marijuana stance, though the arguments against marijuana prohibition are both vast and conclusive. In addition to having practically no health risks (this is emphasized when compared to alcohol, tobacco, fast food, and pollution) and despite proven health benefits, there is the glaring fact that keeping marijuana illegal actually

increases organized crime. Small growers are shut down by fear of prosecution, giving all the power to large-scale criminal enterprises.

According to Statistics Canada: "Cannabis cultivation, otherwise known as marijuana grow operations, has more than doubled over the past decade, from 3,400 incidents in 1994 to more than 8,000 incidents [in 2004]." The Conservative government continues to create new legislation to turn marijuana into a societal threat, while ignoring all evidence to the contrary.

The BC Marijuana party website sites an RCMP study that confirms marijuana as the largest funding source for organized crime.

"This report confirms the conclusion of the Senate," says the BCMP, "that the prohibition of marijuana is jeopardizing Canadian society by handing control of a massive marijuana market ($10 Billion in BC alone) to organized criminals." Making any in-demand product illegal promotes organized crime, as shown during the alcohol prohibition in the US, where the number of federal convicts rose by 561 per cent.

If the Conservatives wanted to lower crimes rates and make society safer, they would decriminalize marijuana.

As the justice system affects us all, it is essential that we scrutinize our policy-makers and any legislation that is presented. Even the titles of the proposed bills are misleading and reactionary: "The Ending House Arrest for Property and Other Serious Crimes by Serious and Violent Offenders Act"; "The Protecting Children from Sexual Predators Act”; or "The Penalties for Organized Drug Crime Act." How could you possibly oppose those bills? It is only when you look closely at what they effect that the truth is revealed: the latter bill not only affects organized drug crime, but people who produce substances for their own personal use (such as cannabis oil, which is explored in David Gauthier’s article in this week's opinions section). Legislation that should be protecting citizens is, in reality, putting us at risk, though propaganda rhetoric is being used to conceal the truth. Perhaps Darwin has the best words of caution for this national predicament: "It is worthy of remark that a belief constantly inculcated during the early years of life, whilst the brain is impressible, appears to acquire almost the nature of an instinct; and the very essence of an instinct is that it is followed independently of reason."

—Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, 1871 — Sarah Vitet // editor-in-chief

The Voicebox

Jafar and Scar should get together and do a film of villainous duets

with JJ Brewis Look for the Voicebox on Tuesday afternoons in the Birch cafeteria, to anonymously “voice” your “opinion” on any “topic.” Introverted alternatives include emailing your opinion to voicebox@capilanocourier.com, or texting (778) 228-0048.

The Panago pizza with butter chicken sauce on the top is SO GOOD

Ryan Gosling in Drive, duh.

Dreamboat!

Sorry about trying to give you guys bad prizes, seriously

* List not comprehensive

People in Vancouver are SO cliquey! I just moved here from Edmonton a month ago, and NOBODY here is friendly! Seriously. When I talk to people, they don't even say hi.

Hey there. Welcome to Vancouver. I find it hard to believe that nobody would want to talk to you. It's amazing that in merely thirty days, you were able to talk to the COV's 578,041 inhabitants, and likely ran into some of the 2,116,581 Greater Vancouver Area population along your way. But even if you didn't, you somehow amazingly were able to track down an average of 19,268 citizens each day. That's 802 failed conversations per hour, not allowing sleep! You know, given your amazing ability to contact each and every one of the people in Vancouver, and that not a single one of them would utter a single "hello" to you really says a LOT about our city – since you are able to accomplish so much in so little, the whole lot of those snobby, rude, untalkative Vancouverites should silently walk single file out of the city, and you can breed with yourself, until the population

of the once-hush-hush town can flourish and thrive with vibrant conversation once again. Thank you for saving that quiet shitty place from itself. What a hero. Next letter.

8 4 0 0 .

8 2 2 778.

Text

So, question. Is it weird that I’ve never ever seen any of the “Star Wars” movies but I know random facts about them?

An interesting fact about myself, not that I like jacking my own horn, is that I have also never seen a Star Wars film. Yet, via the flapping horn of pop culture, I also can tell you most of the plots of the series. I think it's something like this: Harrison Ford plays a guy whose dad is James Earl Jones in a black metal suit (as in "the colour black" and "made of metal", not as in the music genre). Harrison is trying to find the only female member of the outer space galaxy world, Princess Leia, and he has to fight a gay robot, befriend a little gnome who looks like a gourd, and sleep with a beastly Sasquatch character. Then, they all go back in time, and Natalie Portman shows up and does that stupid little face she makes in every single movie, and the entire audience simultaneously shouts out, "This is the worst!"

ne w s

EDIT OR // Gurpreet Kambo // ne w s @ c api l ano c o uri e r. c o m

FIGHT FOR SOCIAL HOUSING TAKES TO THE STREET Fifth annual Women’s Housing March protests lack of social housing

By Christine Jamieson // writer

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the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 3

n Sept. 17, hundreds of people of all ages, genders, and social classes marched through the Downtown East Side (DTES) in support of social housing for women. The fifth annual Women’s Housing March toured around the city, visiting key sights such as condos and boutiques that have had, the organizers say, a negative impact on people living in the DTES, particularly women.

One of the main reasons given for the demonstration was to protest gentrification. This word refers to the changes that result when wealthy people acquire property in low-income and working class communities. It is commonly believed that this results in the poorer residents of the neighbourhood being unable to pay for increased rent, house prices, and property taxes, therefore being displaced and pushed out of their homes.

“It’s a problem down here when they have [unsafe and unsanitary] housing,” said Cathleen Brigg, a participant in the protest. “I don’t live in social housing myself; I live in the suburbs, but I do believe that even if we don’t live in the street [or in low-income neighbourhoods], we need to be supportive of [those who do].”

“We focus on specific experiences of women who live here,” said organizer Harsha Walia. “[We

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try to] raise awareness for business and condo owners, as well as show that the lack of safe and affordable housing for women makes them more vulnerable for abuse, for poverty, for addiction, for losing their children.”

The march started at 1:30 p.m. at the intersection of Cordova St. and Columbia St., and proceeded to E. Hasting St. and Main St., where police blocked off traffic for the protest. Many people held signs; others had megaphones or musical instruments like drums or tambourines.

Though the spirits were high, Walia was quick to remind the crowd that this was the site of the recent death of 50-year-old Verna Simard, who fell from her hotel window last Friday night. This was exactly the type of incident that the march was trying to raise awareness of and prevent.

“Without safe and affordable housing, many women are forced into unsafe and violent situations, leading to the ongoing tragedies of child apprehensions and women being murdered,” explains Walia.

The event was put on by the Downtown East Side Power of Women Group, which holds many events during the year to bring attention to women in the DTES. It also helps get women who are in poverty and women who are suffering with addiction back on their feet. Roni Seymour, a participant and organizer of the march for several years, pushed the fact that events and groups like this need more support from the general public

because of what they do for women who are suffering from poverty and addiction.

The march made several stops to point out businesses and sites that the group called ‘gentrifying sites’. One of the stops was a high-end coffee shop, Milano Coffee Roasters, where Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) performed a mime show that ridiculed the customers and workers of the store.

The performers and the crowd asked the customers, “Do you like being stared at? Do you like being gawked at? Do you feel welcome?” Sonny, a resident of the DTES, stated, “[We’re not trying] to be mean, [but] I’m going to be kicked out of my home soon…because of places like these. [Society] is divided into the rich and the poor…[and] the rich are killing us.”

Other places that were pointed out as the

march went past included The Charles, Acme Café, and Salty Tongue.

Police attempted to control the crowd by making threats and blocking off streets on foot and using patrol cars. “We are just doing our job,” stated one officer when asked if the protest was an annoyance. “It’s one of the fundamental freedoms that people are allowed to protest. People also have to feel safe, that is why we are here.”

The march was followed by a ‘DTES block party’ at E. Hastings St. and Main St., where participants were able to enjoy pancakes and listen to DTES residents speak about how development has affected their lives.

“This is our way of asking for help, from society and from the government,” declared Sonny.

“They want less people on the street? Then put in more social housing.”

// Haley Whishaw

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Spread Thick and Thin Cap receives $500,000 dollar donation after controversial spring budget cuts

By Claire Vulliamy // Arts editor

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imes are tight: despite an increased dollar amount of funding to post-secondary schools from the provincial government, the numbers don’t represent the realities. With inflation and expanding student populations, the costs are continuously rising, and where the provincial government drops off, private donors pick up the slack. What area they donate money to, however, is up to them.

On Sept. 8, it was announced that Capilano University would be receiving a $500,000 gift from husband and wife Sheldon Trainor and Emelda Wong. The funds are to go towards the creation of a Centre for International Experience, in their name, an on-campus centre that will assist both students interested in studying abroad, and international students who have decided to study at Capilano. The centre will provide support for students who are incoming and outgoing, making global connections for Capilano University. “My wife and I hope our gift will inspire Capilano students and visiting students alike to broaden their horizons,” said Trainor in a press release.

The centre will make use of existing space on campus. University President Kris Bulcroft says that the donation will cover full costs of remodeling this space, and then some. The plan is that after development is complete, “there will be money left over to use for student awards,” says Bulcroft.

The generous donation comes four months after Capilano University’s board of governors approved a budget that made significant cuts to Adult Basic Education (ABE), a free program

that allows adult students to upgrade their high school level credentials.

While the donation does focus on a specialized aspect of Capilano, Kris Bulcroft says that it does mean prioritization of certain programs over others by the school’s administration. “I don’t think we’re shifting focus at all,” says Bulcroft. “We had more students in ABE than we were receiving funds from the government for. We’re now almost in perfect alignment with what the money we get from the province is designated to do.”

Bulcroft explains, “What we have to do in tight times, which we’re in, is make sure that what we’ve got in all of those programs is quality, so rather than just across the board doing cuts, we’re really trying to be more strategic ... In an environment where there’s no new money, this is the real challenge.”

While donations are generally of great benefit to the University, their outcome can sometimes leave a larger imprint than expected. In 2010, the Bosa family donated $6 million to help fund Capilano’s estimated $30 million Nat and Flora Bosa Centre for Film and Animation. This was Capilano’s largest-ever private donation. The provincial government shouldered the rest of the film building’s construction with infrastructure grants.

John Wilson, former president of the Capilano Faculty Association, explained that while the government has covered the construction of the film building, once it is up and running the price tag will be much higher. “It has half a million dollars a year [in] operating cost[s] and none of that cost is funded,” says Wilson. “The institution has to find the money to operate it.”

Furthermore, Wilson explains, “that is a small portion of the costs of keeping the equipment in

building current.” He explains that initially, the film building will be fully equipped using the $6 million contribution from the Bosa family, but that within years, the technology will be out of date. This means that “the institution needs to find about a million dollars a year to be able set aside” in order to replace the equipment.

Overall, this means the total cost of running the film building would be $1.5 million dollars a year, estimates Wilson.

“I think that’s unfair to the North Van community, because the film industry is a provincial industry. It attracts money for the benefit of the province.” He says that in this case, it’s only fair that the government fund the operating costs as well.

This is just part of what Wilson calls Capilano’s overall “structural deficit,” wherein the price of maintaining infrastructure presents a hidden compound cost. He explains that Capilano is at the point where the need to repair buildings cannot be put off any longer. “They must maintain buildings or they will just sort of crumble around them.”

Wilson says that it is his understanding that significant cuts will continue in the year to come, though not in the same departments. “The CFA has been told by the administration that they do not expect funding cuts this year to be in the ABE or Developmental Studies areas,” says Wilson.

Unless the provincial government tables a drastically different budget in the years to come, Capilano University's funding problems may unavoidably continue. Provincial law only allows tuition fees to go up by 2% per year, and increases in government funding are minimal. Higher en-

rollment, inflation, and maintenance continually cause costs to outstrip available funding and as a result the university has to find donations and other private sources to make up for the difference.

Capilano University currently has plans to make many changes and improvements to campus. These include adding more degree programs, building upgrades (including a major renovation to the library building), and plans to build a student residence, but only if the necessary funding is available.

// Karen Picketts

Student to file complaint with Quebec Human Rights Commission over frosh blackface incident HEC wants to turn “regrettable” incident into a “learning opportunity”

By Sarah Deshaies // C.U.P. Quebec Bureau Chief

M

ONTREAL (CUP) — A McGill law student will be filing a complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission after witnessing and recording the use of blackface at a frosh activity on Sept. 15.

Anthony Morgan explained he was walking by the Université de Montréal campus when he passed a group of students, dressed in Jamaican colours and “rasta" hats, who were waving the Jamaican flag, chanting, “More weed, ya mon, ya mon!”

Morgan returned to film the incident and post-

denigration. It should not be used in the way that it was used.”

Meanwhile, HEC is looking to turn the incident into a “learning experience.”

“The [student association] and HEC Montréal have jointly decided to offer the organizers of the different student activities a chance to participate in a training program on intercultural issues, as a way of ensuring that future student activities respect the different values of our increasingly multicultural world,” stated a release issued by the school, without explaining any further details.

“I don't put the students themselves at fault,” said Morgan. He thinks that education is key to preventing incidents like this from occurring, and he hopes that a dialogue can be begin on what he considers a “large problem.”

“This is not just about a few bad apples,” said Morgan. “This is about a greater problem about what we think about, how we value, how we understand, how we discuss – if we discuss – black history, culture and contribution.”

Morgan himself worked on a case where a black man was thrown out of amusement park La Ronde for wearing a Bob Marley shirt with marijuana symbols on it. Bruno Moise was told his clothing did not respect the park’s “family values.” The case was mediated with the Commission’s involvement.

Fo Niemi, director of Montreal’s Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations, suggested this type of activity would not be as likely to happen at an English school.

“We’re talking basically about two solitudes, in terms of each solitude’s understanding as to why this does or does not represent racially-offensive stereotypes,” said Niemi, talking about the difference between the anglophone and francophone communities in Quebec. “In the francophone culture, I don’t think we have the same degree of social or race awareness.”

He pointed to recent jokes and sketches in Quebec culture and entertainment as evidence, like the 2008 TV sketches depicting American president Barack Obama.

Advocacy group Black Coalition of Quebec has since called for a human rights inquiry into the “hateful incident.”

In fall 2010, a management students association at McGill University put a halt to a frosh activity when accusations of cultural insensitivity were raised around its tribal theme. A promotional video showed students in costume and face paint, representing four different tribes: the Zulu, Maasai, Inca and Maori.

The incident at HEC has since been covered by news services around the world, including the UK'sDaily Mail.

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 3

// Miles Chic

ed it on YouTube. He said that when he returned, someone pointed to him, saying, “We’ve got a real black person here.”

“I was just stunned. I couldn't believe what I was seeing,” said Morgan, who is of Jamaican descent. “I felt ... it was very offensive.”

Blackface originated as a form of theatrical makeup in vaudeville to depict black characters, often propagating negative stereotypes.

The students were a group from HEC Montréal, the elite business school affiliated with Université de Montréal. According to a student representative, they were paying tribute to Jamaican sprinter Olympian Usain Bolt.

HEC spokesman Michael Lartigau forwarded an email written by Frank Sciortino, a secondyear student and frosh organizer, to Canadian University Press. Sciortino explained that students had to choose an “ambassador” for an Olympics-themed activity. The group depicted in Morgan's video selected Bolt and “decided to costume themselves” as the sprinter. Sciortino wrote that it was not a racist act.

Morgan does not agree. “That is the part of it that is the most violently racist,” he said in response. “[Being black] is not a costume that you put on.”

“Regardless of what the students intended, that is the problem right there,” Morgan continued. “It is wrong, it is a symbol of hatred and

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news

NEW STUDENT SPACE ON THE HORIZON First Nations students and International student spaces to be moved as well

By Celina Kurz // Copy editor

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 3

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n the spring term of 2000, the CSU passed a motion that allowed them to collect money from Capilano students to fund a new student space. After 11 long years, this project has finally come to fruition: on Sept. 21, the CSU signed a contract with Capilano University for a 30-year lease on a space in the Library building.

The path from passing the referendum to signing the lease has been a long one. After 11 years, many of the students who actually voted for it no longer attend Capilano. Geoffrey Rosen, who has been closely connected with this project since the referendum was passed in 2000, assures that the CSU building committee has kept the lines open to students who wanted to be a part of the process.

“Once or twice a year the committee would meet to discuss where we were at, basically ...

They were open committee meetings, [and] whether students wanted to come or not is unfortunately up to them.” In addition, he mentions, “The lease was presented to the students at a general meetings, [and] if people had concerns it could have been changed.”

While this is the case, when the committee was working on the actual documents they were presenting to the university, there were some meetings closed to students. “You don’t have all of it open to students all the time, because you’ve got to get to a certain stage in the agreement so that you can then move forward,” explains Rosen.

“You can’t have people comment all the time, because then you won’t get anywhere.”

Although the space was originally intended to be an actual CSU building on campus, “building costs have kind of escalated,” according to Rosen, making this not an economically feasible option for the students or student society. The decision to focus simply on new, semi-permanent student space was made in 2008.

Parker Busswood, who was appointed as chairperson of the building committee on Aug. 26, adds to this, saying, “I think this is a really fantastic compromise ... What the university has done for us is they’ve given us prime real estate right in the middle of campus, [and] at quite a good deal, too.”

The lease – which will use $1 million from the building fund – was signed last week on Sept. 21, and will be effective for the next 30 years. Rosen explains that “the lease is basically, for 30 years, a guarantee that students will have lounges on campus.”

The current CSU lounge, which is located in the Maple building, has never been paid for by the CSU, and therefore has never been a guaranteed space. “That’s what makes this so important,” explains Rosen.

Although the money that has been collected over the last 11 years covers the cost of the lease (and then some: the total amount in the fund is between $1.2 and $1.3 million dollars), the building levy will continue to be charged to students.

This is to cover the building and maintenance fees to be paid to university, which come to approximately $9 per square foot per month.

Busswood explains that “[Capilano University] has been great with giving us a really good deal for the space ... [Maintenance fees for] office space or lounge space like this [in North Vancouver and surrounding areas] averages anywhere from $18 to the mid $20s per square foot.”

There is also the cost of architectural design to be considered: the CSU paid approximately

$2200 for a preliminary design of the space to present to students. More recently, the CSU contracted a different company for approximately $36,000 to create two designs. Of the two designs, the one picked by the committee is called “Cabin in the Woods”, and the company will offer “multiple revisions until we get down to final design,” says Busswood.

There will additionally be construction and materials costs, which Busswood says “haven’t [been] finalized ... with the company [Aberdane Construction] yet.”

The new lounge will offer services “basically very similar [to the current CSU lounge],” but its architecture and aesthetic is “more modern,” explains Rosen. If students wish to see the final design, the designs are posted in the CSU office, and should be posted in the lounge by the end of the week.

The new student space will be in the Library building, where classrooms LB 194 and 195 currently are. These two classrooms, which are across from the vending machines, will be “gutted” and renovated. At the same time, the classroom that is currently housing Marketing classes will be swapped with the Centre for International Experience, and the Aboriginal Gathering Space will also be transferred to a new location nearby the new space.

Cindy Turner, Vice-President of Finance and Administration, expresses her excitement about all these student spaces conglomerating into the same area. “We’re actually really pleased, because a lot of campuses have their Aboriginal students over there, and their international students over there, and their CSU over there, and so this is a really nice bringing everything together ... I just wish we could make it happen faster.”

Though the lease was signed last Wednesday, the construction won’t begin until January, as there are classes currently being run out of the two classrooms that the space is currently in.

Turner explains, “When the Bosa Centre opens [in January] ... the classrooms that were being used are going over to the Bosa Centre ...

It will free up enough classrooms so that we can have the CSU space, the International student space, and the Aboriginal gathering space, [and] there will be no net change [in classrooms].”

// Photos courtesy of the CSU

Because the opening of the Bosa Centre was delayed, so has been the construction of the new student space.

The Maple building will continue to act as a student space for the foreseeable future, but it won’t be there decades from now. Rosen explains that, “at some point, Maple building is scheduled to be torn down, and at that time, the space will have to be negotiated elsewhere.” This

new student space will offer students a guaranteed space on campus, and Rosen emphasizes, “The key thing is that the space is for students to use. It’s a lounge in the middle of campus, [and] the idea is that it’s there to promote people to hang out on campus and [promote] community.”

The new student spaces are projected for completion on Apr. 1, 2012.

the ca p ca l e n da r C e l i na W i th

Kur z !

C O PY @ C A PI L A N O C O U R I E R . C O M

Contact us to have your event featured in the calendar.

D on’t forget the date, time, address, and price!

m o n d ay s e p t. 2 6 I WISH BRITNEY SPEARS WAS GIVING A FREE CONCERT IN VANCOUVER MONDAY This is just what I want. “How I Roll” is playing right now in the Courier office. I love this song.

Whenever, whatever. Free!

KEITH URBAN AT ROGERS ARENA There's a lot of gossip about Keith and his famous wife, Nicole Kidman, out there on the internet. ALLEGEDLY, he used to do a lot of drugs, and she's a total bitch! Personally, I don't think their marriage is going great. Check out blinditemsexposed.com for more details.

7:30 PM. Rogers Arena. $32.25 – $101.25

OKTOBERFEST It's happening right now, in Munich! Quick! Get some beer!

Until Oct. 3. In Munich/in your heart. Cost of beer.

ZIGGY MARLEY Here's one for all the high dudes reading this paper. Smoke all the weed! Listen to all the reggae! This is bound to be the night of your life! Personal note, my cousin in Austria plays in multiple reggae bands, and builds pianos. He's only 21! They just make 'em different over there, somehow.

8 PM. Vogue Theatre, 918 Granville St. $36

RUGBY WORLD CUP 2011 LIVE COVERAGE EW I used to play rugby in high school and I was SO BAD at it SPORTS are GROSS they make me SICK, BOOOOOO. All day. The Blarneystone. Free ugh obviously it would have to be.

2ND ANNUAL HOWLING AT THE MOON FUNDRAISER This sounds like a fantastic thing to support!

“The Coming Home Society and the Urban Native Youth Association are holding a benefit concert and silent auction...to support the Young Wolves Lodge alcohol and drug residential recovery program for young First Nation women.”

5:30 PM – 9PM. The Yale Hotel, 1300 Granville St. $15 advance, $17 door.

MANAGING OUR ANGER THE BEST WAY WE CAN “The Canadian Mental Health Association's Janyse Hrynkow discusses ways we can calm ourselves, combat frustration and anger, and reach a realistic solution.” I love the non-confrontational title of this event. I feel like going to this would be worth it just to see the people attending, who I'm assuming will be ex-cons. Exciting! A brush with danger! 7 PM. John Braithwaithe Community Centre, 145 W. 1st St. By donation.

DRUNK PAJAMA WEDNESDAY I made up this holiday last Wednesday. You can celebrate by wearing your pajamas, sitting on Facebook all day, having a few glasses of wine with dinner, and complaining heavily when you finally have to leave your delightful cocoon of pajamas, Facebook, and wine. Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

All day. Indoors. Cost of pajamas/wireless internet/wine.

INDIE NIGHT : A YARN SALE & SWAP Got any knitting accessories or yarn that you just can't find a use for? Head down to the Vancouver Alpen Club and trade them for some new treasures, or just buy some luxurious local gourmet wool. All proceeds from this event go towards Prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome B.C. 6 PM. Vancouver Alpen Club, 4875 Victoria St. $5.

FIRST DAY OF VIFF Vancouver International Film Festival is here!

Catch a crazy foreign film with loads of interesting sex and violence and drama! I love movies!

Check out what films are playing and when at viff.org.

Goes until October 14. Tickets vary in price based on how many you see.

t u e s day s e p t. 2 7 SHINDIG NIGHT #3 Blondewich, Mercy Years, and Tyrannohorse battle it out at the Railway Club! This is going to be gooooood, guys. Pop pop!

9 PM. The Railway Club, 579 Dunsmuir St. $8.

we d. s e p t. 2 8 TWIN SHADOW and DIAMOND RINGS Sassybitches unite! Canadian giant (literally) and American gloomster tour together in a tour bus likely filled with countless boas, makeup kits, and synthesizers. If you like pretty men and/or electronic quasi-dance stuff, put your most fabulous hat on and join the party.

Doors 8 PM, show 9:30. The Biltmore Cabaret, 395 Kingsway St. $17.50

t h u r s day s e p t. 2 9 TORO Y MOI South Carolina "Chillwave" artist also known as the one-man ambient guru Chaz Bundick. The last time I saw him, I was strung out on a lawn surrounded by sexy men, countless glowsticks and smuggled in Four Loko.

Doors 8 PM, Show 9:30. Venue, 881 Granville St. $17.50

ANDRE LACHANCE AT EL BARRIO Did somebody say jazz?~!~?~!~!~! Andre LaChance is a local jazz bassist who, and here's the icing on the cake, teaches at Capilano! He'll be performing with his talent-studded quartet, which includes Joe Poole, Chris Gestrin, and (another of Capilano's own) Brad Turner. Check it out!

9:30 PM. El Barrio, 2270 E. Hastings St. Free!

f ri day s e p t. 3 0 PROOF AT THE COURIER Come visit and see us have a blast as we edit next week's articles! Watch us eat pizza!

Observe as we laugh coquettishly at each other's witty banter! Listen to us listening to Britney Spears! Watch me, Celina Kurz, cat-lover and copy editor, writing the calendar! We aren't going to give you any pizza. 1:30 PM. The Courier Office, Maple building. Free!

THE LIONS VS. THE ESKIMOS GOD do I ever hate sports UGH FOOTBALL BARF. 7:30 PM. BC Place Stadium. $35 – $125

SALSA FRIDAYS AT THE DANCEY BALLROOM Better than taco Tuesdays! This weekly event starts the evening with a one hour salsa lesson, followed by dancing until you can't dance anymore, or 1 AM (whichever comes first). No need to bring a partner, singles will be partnered up! This sounds great.

9 PM – 1 AM. The Dancey Ballroom, 505 Hamilton St. $10.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS VS. EDMONTON OILERS GOD I hate hockey SO MUCH. 7 PM. Rogers Arena. $48 – $6850. Are these people crazy or what.

THEE AHS CD RELEASE PARTY Emphasis on party! This feisty local band is the best and, wait for it, their bass player goes to Capilano! He is a handsome guy named Ridley, if you see him give him one up-top, or squeeze his tushy. Opening for them are a band called Markus Naslund (sport and music combined at last!), Cascadia, and their best-friend band Kidnap Kids! (My band. Is this cheating? Whatever.

I genuinely believe this show is going to rule,

s at u rday o c t. 1

s u n day o c t. 2 KREAYSHAWN GUCCI GUCCI LOUIS LOUIS FENDI FENDI PRADA/ BASIC BITCHES WEAR THAT SHIT SO I DON'T EVEN BOTHER. 9 PM. Fortune Sound Club, 147 E. Pender St. $25.

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS VS. PORTLAND TIMBERS GROSS more SPORTS, I'm seriously gonna VOM already UGH BLEGH. 1:30 PM. BC Place Stadium. $27.25 – $147.25.

been waiting for this CD for ages).

8 PM. Zoo Zhop, 223 Main St. $5.

AMAZON E-BOOK RELEASE OF SCRIBER This book was written by Ben Dobson, brother of Alex Dobson who, and just wait for the cherry on top, is a Capilano student! I guess ... go online?

It's a fantasy book! Support Canadian literature!

WOO! All day long. The Internet, Amazon.com.

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CSS with guests MEN Brazil dance-pop champions FINALLY bring their fine selves back to Vancouver. I can't even make a stupid joke about this because I'm just too god damned excited to shake my shit, and I don't want to jinx myself by saying something about "Brazilians."

Doors 8 PM, show 9. The Commodore Ballroom, 868 Granville St. $25.

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EDIT OR // Ad él ie Houl e- Lachance // s pe c i al fe ature s . c apc o uri e r@ gmai l . c o m

BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER And raise animal rights issues

By Katherine Alpen // Writer

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the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 3

ancouver has been taken over by poultry and no, it is not a Thankskilling sequel. Earrings and hairpieces made out of roosters’ feathers have birds everywhere calling fowl play against North America’s obsession with the accessories. They thought that turkeys had it rough? Thanksgiving only comes once a year; fashion is year-round, baby.

Because the fashion world runs on influence and re-manufactured ideas, it is nearly impossible to trace back to the originator of this trend, but we know that about eight months ago the craze started with the introduction of feather earrings. A thrifty DIY revolution took place almost

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overnight, and entrepreneurial young ladies and gents have since made it their business to fix up their own earrings and hairpieces by buying out angling stores’ entire supplies of dyed feathers; many have gone so far as to post how-to videos on YouTube.

One such artist working on the earrings was Kristy Smithe. “I started making feather earrings after leaving Nelson; it was a big trend out there,” she recalls. “I found some feathers in Vancouver at the fishing-tackle shop, and kind of spent my time meditating and making earrings based on whatever mood I was in. I just get really inspired by the colours of the feathers.”

However, Smithe has since ended her foray into jewelry, as she explains, “I basically stopped just because everybody was making them and I didn’t really feel inspired to do it anymore. So it wasn’t really fun for me, [and] it became more like a burden to sit and make them…I didn’t want to make them in that state of mind. I enjoyed making every single pair really unique, like all my earrings, different and unique, and very like my style.”

Suzuki, who runs a fishing store called Highwater Tackle on Lonsdale, filled me in on the economics of the craze.

“Normally it’s $40 for a cap of a couple hundred feathers; now it’s $25 for individual feathers on eBay,” explains Suzuki. “My suppliers have none. When I went to Japan, I brought 20 or 30 caps; that was all I could get. Then one girl bought them all.”

Let’s do the math: a customer intent on resale buys 25 caps for $40 per piece, each with 150 feathers, and subsequently sells them for $10 per feather. This person could hypothetically make upward of $24,000 on resale. This seems like a staggering figure, especially considering the average price only a year ago.

Some retailers have been refusing to sell the plumage to younger crowds to avoid offending their faithful regulars, who are unable to buy their necessary fishing supplies. It seems that the fly fishermen also get better value for their money: “A single feather, in the hands of a fly fisherman, can produce 3-4 flies,” explained Suzuki.

When asked how the fishermen were reacting to the shortage, he hadn’t so far had many Tackle & Bait Shops Baffled problems. Fishermen themselves are responding All style aside, trends are not only detrimental to variably, explains Suzuki, saying that “some are unique expression, but can have serious reper- frustrated, some not.” cussion for retailers and suppliers alike. A possiFishing acquires a much more patient and seble negative affect that this kind of craze can have rene following than fashion does, and trendseton retailers is a supply and demand nightmare, ters and followers can’t seem to get enough of the where huge orders can quickly become obsolete things. Business is still booming for the feathers, the second the trend dies. though actually finding them is getting more and Uniquely, though, this fashion tsunami could more challenging. not have such a catastrophic climax apart from The Ethics of Feather Accessories suppliers missing out on huge demand. Matt The roosters take about a year to grow to harvesting age, and are then killed for their skins, or “caps”. Never eaten, except sometimes for cat food, these birds are solely raised for their feathers. They are even sometime genetically manufactured to produce longer and more luxurious “saddle” feathers, which are the ones that protrude from the tail of the bird. These feathers sometimes take years to grow.

The darker side of the accessories lies in the raising and captivity of the roosters themselves.

Ryan Huling, manager of College Campaigns from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, also known as PETA, explains that “roosters are typically confined for 30 weeks – the majority of their short lives – in tiny, stacked cages inside deafeningly loud barns before they are killed and skinned.”

In a recent web article, PETA exposed Whiting Farm in Delta Colorado, one of the largest manufacturers of the plumage for its mistreatment of the animals. A quote from the owner of this farm reveals,“[We’re] sentencing [each rooster] to a solitary cage for the last 6 months, with nothing to look at or listen to other than lots of other confined roosters ... [your] sentiments can quickly shift from wanting to evaluate their necks, to wringing [them]. Some of my most sheepish moments in life have been after hurling an especially bad rooster across the barn in utter frustration.”

This violence goes often unquestioned, and the ignorance surrounding this supposed “natural resource” can help fuel the cruelty towards the birds. Huling explains, “The clientele that support this craze may see bird feathers on the street and mistakenly assume that the ones that // Illustrations by Sarah Vitet they’re wearing somehow fell off naturally, but

like rabbit-foot key chains and other accessories, these [feathers] are a direct result of animal abuse, and no conscientious consumer would be caught dead wearing them.

Though PETA currently has no campaign against the rooster feathers, they have just undertaken a court case against a Whiting Farm associate for claiming its feathers to be “cage free” and “treated ethically.”

“PETA hopes to raise awareness about the cruelty [that] animals face when raised and killed in the fashion industry. So, while the feather trade is just one small piece of that, consumers deserve to know the torture roosters face behind the scenes, so that they can make informed fashion choices … Just like minks who are killed for coats, and snakes who are skinned for shoes, roosters suffer when they are exploited for human vanity and profit.”

For those wishing to dress consciously, there are other options available: accessory websites have begun offering cruelty-free options, and synthetic feathers are popping up everywhere to substitute for the real thing. On one such site, called Hair Royalty, fake feather packs containing 10 long feathers are sold for $11.99.

This crafty hobby of making your own jewelry is currently very appealing, as the ideas of reducing, reusing, and recycling are more prominent in our society than ever before. However, just because something is hand-made does not justify it as ethical.

When asked about the feather earrings' ethical side, crafting artist Smithe expresses her awareness. “Well, I didn’t really hear about that, or consider it, until a couple weeks before I stopped, and that was definitely one of those things that I wasn’t too happy about, but it wasn’t the deciding factor.”

As inspiring as it may be to see a generation reaching back to hand-made apparel, hindsight shows that it requires more care and patience than most expect. This is true when considered from a consumer’s point of view, and even more so from the stance of the craftsperson, no matter what level of skill and ingenuity is involved.

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THE SECRETS OF STUDYING Even if you aren’t the studying kind, here are some helpful tricks

By Evelyn Cranston // Staff Writer

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quick glance over your timetable this semester may not look so bad, as postsecondary life requires much less time spent in class than high school does. Some students gawk at the big chunks of uncommitted time and take it as an open invitation to extend their summer holidays. However, for every 80 minute class, students can expect an additional 1-3 hours for studying, reading, or working on a project.

Studying is a time-suck, but it’s easy to view as just a pesky task, easily accomplishable at a later date. Unfortunately, a month and a half of coffee dates, extra sleep, and party nights later, minor assignments and small chapters can balloon into half of a text book to read, and a mad scramble to pull together a 2000 word essay.

The internet, fellow students, and academic professionals offer endless studying techniques and tips, and it’s up to each individual student to find an effective style or routine.

Still, there are a few tricks floating around that may have considerable benefits during crunch time. Some tricks are proven to be beneficial, while other techniques may negatively affect academic performance.

Setting is everything First and foremost is the setting in which you are studying. Some people find their rooms an ideal environment, while others would find it too tempting to have a nap in. Some prefer the energy of a coffee shop, while others are severely distracted by chatter. So whether it's at home, in groups or at school, it's up to you to try and find the method that works for you and will help you achieve the best results.

Dietary Supplements Endorphins

Fish Oil Capsules Studies done on Omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish or sold in capsules, have turned up many interesting results. While there’s still debate, many medical experts suggest that taking it regularly as a supplement can improve brain function, mood, and general well-being. For those who are vegetarian, Omega-3 fatty acids can also be found in Chia seeds, Flax seeds and Hemp seeds.

Probiotics Recent studies were performed on mice at a university in Ireland to show the effects of probiotic bacterium, found in probiotic yogurt. After regular consumption, the specific bacterium used in the study, Lactobacillus, increased the neurologi-

Drugs Prescription Drugs A growing trend among post-secondary students is the illegal use of prescription drugs, specifically medication used to treat the symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Structurally similar to amphetamines, they give the user increased focus, attention, motivation and ability to fight off fatigue – everything a frazzled student would want the night before an exam.

A Capilano University student recalls her experience with a brand of popular “study drugs’’: “I did it on a Friday night, when I had a big research assignment to do. It really, really works to help you focus and it actually made me enjoy what I was doing,” she says.

The effects last 3-4 hours, and linger for a couple of hours past the high. She notes, “The only downside is that if you get distracted at all, it's really bad. Like if you're hungry, you'll go and spend so much time making this big gourmet meal, and then realize that’s not what you're supposed to be focusing on.” Because of easy, ready access to prescription drugs, she states, “It’s very popular, especially during exam time.”

However, as with any drug, there’s a potential for a physical or physiological addiction and dependency: people with ADHD are unlikely to become addicted, as the pleasurable side effects are less pronounced, but to a healthy individual, it’s an easily accessible, extremely useful high. As well, study drug abusers can expect all sorts of responses coming from an unhappy, mistreated body and brain, such as nervousness and anxiety (perfect for an exam!), skin itching and rashes; vomiting, paranoia, excessive repetition of routines or habits; and headaches with dizziness.

// Shannon Elliott

General advice and universal tricks

emotions) they had one group of students write about an arbitrary topic. The students writing about an unrelated topic also earned lower grades in the high-pressure test. These results are Sleeping significant for people who worry and fret before It will come as no surprise to most to learn that an exam. According to this study, you can boost studies have shown first and second-year college your grade by writing about all your negative feelstudents get less sleep than their bodies require. ings, stresses, and worries for ten minutes prior What may come as a surprise, though, is how to an exam. drastic the effects of an accumulated sleep debt Get Outside can be. The short term effects of inadequate sleep sound familiar to everyone: decreased concen- One of the most detrimental study habits a stutration and impaired memory. dent can develop is a tendency to lock the doors, As poor sleep habits become routine, doctoral shut the blinds, and spend the day working student Adam Knowlden states, “[Lack of sleep] away. Richard Ryan, a professor of Psychology affects the whole process. Students aren't able to at the University of Rochester, states: "Nature is learn, they're not able to remember, it's harder to fuel for the soul. Often when we feel depleted, concentrate, and it affects mood. They're working we reach for a cup of coffee, but research sugtheir way through college and they're not maxi- gests a better way to get energized is to connect mizing their learning potential.” When cramming with nature.” for an exam, get some sleep. The memory conSome studies note that 90 per cent of people solidation that happens during sleep will actually feel more energized and motivated after time benefit you for the test later. spent outdoors. During frantic study time, one may be inclined to think that they just don’t Switching it up have enough time for a walk in the woods, but Caffeine If you find you’re getting so tired of studying that these studies show that being outside in nature The most ubiquitous, and potentially the most you can no longer retain anything, find some for just 20 minutes a day was enough to positively harmful, drug on campus is sold right in the caf- way to break the monotony. Have a shower, do impact mood and behaviour. When school work eteria. Coffee, the most widely-consumed psy- some quick calisthenics, stretch while reading, feels overwhelming, a short walk in the secondchoactive stimulant, boldly crosses the blood- change locations. Any change in your environ- ary-growth forests surrounding our campus and brain barrier and attacks our central nervous ment and immediate surroundings will help you a few big breaths of fresh autumn air can make a system in less than an hour after consumption. regain focus! world of difference.

As you study, your neurons are firing at a breakWriting it Down Do The Obvious neck speed, producing and leaving adenosine in the wake. Adenosine is the chemical that makes When it comes down to exam time, extreme All and all, there are two golden rules for studyanxiety can set in. No matter how much you’ve ing, and they also happen to be fairly basic. The you sleep.

Caffeine is chemically similar to adenosine, studied and prepared, doubts and worries can first is to start studying/writing/researching well so the receptors accept it. However, rather than disrupt focus and increase the likelihood of poor in advance. Everyone knows this, and hardly activating the signal to rest, caffeine’s structure exam performance. anyone does it, but it stands as the easiest way to Dr. Sian Beilock, principal investigator at the bump your grades up and avoid stress. The secblocks the receptors from doing their work. Naturally occurring stimulants, such as dopamine, are University of Chicago Human Performance ond is to remind yourself of your motivation to Lab, came upon some interesting study results do well in the course. If you’re taking art or music, now free to run amok inside your brain.

Caffeine offers a temporary relief from fatigue; regarding test anxiety: before students started a remember your inspiration; if you’re preparing its high lasts a different amount of time for every- high stakes, high pressure test, half sat quietly in for a math exam, remember that you’ll never find one, but typically half of the caffeine is complete- anticipation while the other half were given the a more honest conversation than you will with ly purged from the body in about 5 or 6 hours. opportunity to write about their emotions in that numbers; if you just need some more credits, When we deprive ourselves of coffee, the excess moment. The students who did the writing exer- consider your future. It will make a huge differadenosine that’s been built up can rush in and cise improved their scores from a previous low- ence in your enjoyment, will help your studying if cause a crash. A physical addiction to caffeine is stress test by 5%, while the students who sat qui- you feel impassioned and motivated about what all too easy to acquire, and it wreaks havoc on etly found their marks drop 12% from the first test. you're reading. These two simple rules are easy to To control the experiment (ensuring it wasn’t make into habits and are likely to forever change our brains and digestive systems, but it may be a the simple act of writing versus the writing of your student life as you know it. necessary evil during exam time.

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 3

Endorphins are like morphine or heroin, but free. Okay, not quite, but they behave in the brain in a chemically similar fashion to opiates.

Endorphins and opiates in the blood bond with receptors in our brain, making us feel awesome.

Endorphins and dopamine are credited with feelings of increased motivation and ability to retain information, and decreasing the sensation of pain and the negative effects of stress. Every student can benefit personally and academically from a negated stress level, and the best thing about it is that it’s the easiest drug to obtain: just go outside and run as fast as you can, or have [safe] sex. Win-win.

cal functions in the brain of the mice related to learning and memory. Does eating probiotic yogurt mean you’re going to ace Statistics without studying? Unfortunately, that’s unlikely: clinical studies have yet to be conducted on humans. It is interesting, however, and everyone likes yogurt anyways, so why not give it a shot?

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Beyond Bricks and Concrete The Scope of Cities Through the Eyes of a Street Artist

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By Claire McGillivray // Writer

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 3

“W

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ar is peace. Freedom is slavery.

Ignorance is strength”: George Orwell wrote these words in the classic novel 1984. In an artistic and eloquent way, “screw that” is the underlying theme that radiates off of Los Angeles local Sebastian Buck’s international street art website, Unurth.

There, Buck showcases international renegade artists from all four corners of the earth. Visual artists from Amsterdam to Buenos Aires; Cairo to Tokyo; and Melbourne to New York are brought together in an artistic and rigorously anonymous space to share their (sometimes illegal) passions with a worldwide community. The styles are varied, and the underlying inspirations and statements are even more diverse.

Artists touch upon mental images of cities in slumber, wrath in friendship, anarchy in innocence, and creatures of the animal kingdom in the concrete jungle, sometimes in quasi-alternate universe manners. Whether it is an allusion to sleep-walking, or a hyperbole in the animalistic nature of humans, each artist represents their own social commentary or statement, and they all do it in a unique and startlingly beautiful way.

Some artists paint in the dead of the night, while others are showcased under their pseudonyms in renowned art galleries around the

world. Throughout Unurth, there is a sense of respect and admiration for fellow artists, even though legal names and relationships from artist to artist are left unsaid. As British artist Mobstr expresses, “It is very interesting to see what other people are painting on walls around the world. It is fantastic [that] such sites exist, and [to see] the dedication involved.”

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Passed Out by Bumblebee (Los Angeles, UNITED STATES) The above artist is known colloquially in Los Angeles as “Bumblebee”. His art carries a delicate sense of humour, and each piece incorporates his trademark yellow and black stripes.

Much of Bumblebee’s work involves taking a negative visual aspect of society and putting a positive artistic spin on it. He has been featured in numerous successful gallery exhibitions, including one at the Carmichael Gallery in Hollywood in 2009. Looking forward, Bumblebee hints that he is “currently working on a secret solo show for 2012.”

In an interview posted on Unurth, Bumblebee explains how his focus on bees through artwork further perpetuates this positivity: “The bees represent a fear that the innocent often embrace. As a child you are sometimes told not to do things

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f e atu r e s simultaneously making art and promoting it.” He even goes as far as to say, “I don’t enjoy pushing my stuff on people beyond having it in their face every day they walk to work.” This rather modest desire has had a positive effect on the respect other artists and art appreciators have for Mobstr.

His ambiguous artist persona has a charming origin, defiant of cultural norms. According to his Flickr page, Mobstr’s chosen name has a three part story: He previously owned a pet lobster called mobster; he partakes in “the illegal business of painting walls without permission”; and his page hints at a third undisclosed reason that has something to do with mirrors.

The story only adds to his ambiguity, which, as a street artist, generally translates to an increased popularity and fan base. “The less I say the better,” Mobstr responded when asked if there are any other details about him or his artwork that he would like to share.

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rebel kids by Alias (Berlin, GERMANY)

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❺ // Photos from Unurth work in the colors black, white, and yellow: It's because I'm actually colour blind.”

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POison tree by mobstr (Newcastle, UNITED KINGDOM) To contrast other artists’ more subtle ideologies, Mobstr’s mission statement declares that his goal is to be “immers[ed] into the chaos and hypocrisy that has arisen in the product of the human condition known as a modern society.” He is only slightly cynical when it comes to the human race, but always daringly honest.

“The work is blunt and raw. I do what I do because I love it.” Mobstr’s visceral passion comes from having “touched on many different disciplines,” and through this experimentation, discovering that “ultimately, painting on walls is what [he is] addicted to.”

One of Mobstr’s more simplistic pieces is a simple black stencil that reads, “HERE GOES YOUR TAX MONEY.” This playful social commentary pokes fun at the United Kingdom government’s spending. The caption reads, “£67.324 million of tax money is spent each year cleaning up graffiti. Painting on walls is bad and leads to harder crime.” Though his name might indicate otherwise, Mobstr is not your everyday urban delinquent.

“Cities have so much scope beyond bricks and concrete. There is a lot of visual amusement to be had,” he says. Playing with such themes of civil disobedience and blindness, Mobstr achieves this amusement, with quite a startling flare. Getting his name out there, however, is not on his to-do list.

“Street art is an interesting discipline, in the sense that if you get up in the right spots, you are

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Monkey by Liqen (San Cristóbal de las Casas, MEXICO) Liqen’s piece, simply titled Monkey, is intriguingly captioned, “An irony between the origins (roots) and the stupid present and future.”

Liqen’s art takes a stab at the theory of evolution, but does so in an extremely simplistic and accessible way. Perhaps that is the beauty of his street art; it is accessible for all to experience and open for a wide variety of conflicting interpretations.

The style that runs through much of Liqen’s work has a playful, almost cartoonish attitude.

His themes are broad and debate-worthy, but the style is simple and pleasing to the eye. Like many of the artists featured on the website, he uses a lot of animal imagery, but he does so in a quasi-alternate-universe manner, where the animals dominate and humans play minor roles in the animal kingdom.

Liqen’s animal artwork is very local to Mexico, mostly found in Guadalajara and a select num-

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Rabbit & Fox by ROA (Vienna, AUSTRIA) Without a doubt, the most elusive persona in the Unurth artist database is ROA. Those three letters are all that define this jet-setting, countryshaking artist. He came. He drew. He went. ‘He,’ the god-like figure, presumed male by his online community of followers, has no legal name, no origin, no gender, no education, and no contact information whatsoever. His Flickr account does not even disclose a relationship status, let alone a phone number. This ambiguity however, does nothing but increase ROA’s popularity in the online artistic community.

Some of ROA’s latest work, such as the exquisite Rabbit & Fox, was done as a part of the Inoperable Art Gallery Exposition in Vienna in August of 2011. The gallery, in conjunction with urban art photographer Toni Tramezzini, secured ROA the space as part of an untitled house project, incorporating numerous artists from around Vienna. As a kind of catharsis, all of the art will actually be demolished along with the old house at the end of 2012.

As sad as the idea of any of ROA’s art getting destroyed, his followers can take comfort in the fact that his art can still be experienced and appreciated in over 11 different countries world-wide.

That number only counts those documented on Unurth. Whether traveling to Croatia, Austria, Germany, Mexico, the United States, Moscow, Italy, Spain, Great Britain, France, or Poland, street art fanatics will always be able to find some of ROA’s trademark grayscale murals.

His pieces are a terrific way to sum up universal street art. They carry personality and attitude in a way that transcends both distance and obstacles. His trademark black and white sketching is perhaps the most noticeable and poignant style represented on Unurth, the effectiveness of which is evidenced in his number of hits.

ROA is Unurth’s number one link under the “popular” section, beating out such renowned artists as Bansky, and even beating out massive street art hubs such as London or urban parts of Italy.

Perhaps ROA’s most outstanding quality is his ingenuity when it comes to street art. Many of his pieces, such as Rabbit & Fox featured above, are actually sketched across surfaces that jut out, giving it a three dimensional pull.

Zooming in on the above photo, the fox’s tail actually bends seven times to accommodate the wall extension and concave window space.

Even more creatively, the door upon which the rabbit’s face is painted actually opens to reveal a sketch of the rabbit’s skeletal features. This could seem creepy to some, but one can’t deny that his methods are unbelievably artistic and genuinely innovative.

There is no peace in war; the only possibility of this occurs in the positive escapism that artists achieve when they wage war against the mundane. Freedom in slavery? Not even close: It is artistic freedom that breaks the chains of apathy in society. From Amsterdam to Buenos Aires; to Cairo and Tokyo; to Melbourne and New York, art is opening the eyes of individuals all across the globe. Whether or not language is a shared understanding, art has the ability to bridge these cultural gaps through shared artistic experience.

And finally, no, ignorance is not strength, but ingenuity definitely is.

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 3

or play with things for the fear of what might happen as a result. To me, that takes away the experience and freedom of trying new things for yourself. I felt that bees would be a great representation of this even if their fear is as small as one. Street art is often feared and criticized as being vandalism and I believe that through my work I can convince people otherwise.”

“I want to make images that are nostalgic and that remind you of what it was like to be that [young] age and that innocent again.” He mentions that people often say that the children he paints have a “haunting feeling to them,” seeming to look out from the walls, and that “their emotions always look to have [that] ‘caught in the act’ look.”

Bumblebee describes the thought process behind his Phone Box Beehive Project: The project, which stretched from Los Angeles, to San Francisco, to Las Vegas, was inspired by the startling number of telephone companies that had “been abandoning their public telephone booths by taking out the phones and leaving the structures behind.” “[I wanted] to reuse these structures as a way of communication with the public once more by replacing that empty space with papier-mâché beehives ... This symbolizes the irony behind the question, 'Where have so many of the bees gone?' and the theory that cell phone signals have been misguiding their normal patterns of migration.”

Not only is Bumblebee a socially conscious artist, but the statements he makes are strong, and represented in a beautiful and simplistic way. His quirks add yet another layer to the man behind the art: “People always ask me why I only

As the West Berlin Art Gallery notes on their website, Alias “delivers a great deal of gravity through his loaded imagery and mindful aesthetic.” At first glance, it is difficult to discern a single concrete meaning for much of Alias’ work, but this is fairly common for much of the work of street artists.

His profound creativity is immediately noticed, however, particularly in his piece Rebel Kids. The juxtaposition here, of an aggressive anarchy represented in the innocence of childhood, is quite effective.

The motives behind Alias’ artwork “are often introverted and emotional but at the same time they have a direct and striking impact.” This is an interesting contrast to the extroverted nature seen in the work of other artists on Unurth. Some of Alias’ goals for his own work are “to inspire people to interpret the motives on their own.”

The audience is given much freedom to interpret what in his art has personal meaning for them as individuals. What might come across as offensive to some might be spiritually and emotionally lifting to others, a fact that Alias can be proud of.

Though Alias never attended art school, he grew up in a creative environment. He describes it as “a kind of street life with skateboarding, graffiti, and lots of self-organized illegal parties.” His main reason for dedicating all his time and energy into street art is because he has always “hated working in a regular job.” Luckily for the artistic community, Alias took that hate for the mundane 9-to-5 lifestyle and twisted it into something that reverberates in both art and life, in all its inspiration and glory.

ber of small Mexican states. He, along with some of his work, has also made brief appearances in Spain, specifically in Madrid, and Ordes, a small municipality in the province of A Coruña. Like his ideology, Liqen’s work has a universal feel, both physically and figuratively, as it expands across two distinct, different countries.

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EDIT OR // Cl aire Vuil l amy // arts @ c api l ano c o uri e r. c o m

BEAUTY PLUS PITY EXPOSES PROBLEMS OF THE PRIVILEGED Local author launches his melancholy coming-of-age tale at strip club

By Sasha Lakic // Writer

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rowing up in the West is supposedly a privilege. There is, for the most part, no civil war, easy access to education, and hope of good work prospects after finishing school. Local author Kevin Chong’s new novel, Beauty Plus Pity, paints another picture: through the main character Malcolm, Chong brings forth the unseen struggles that do afflict the most privileged. He also showcases the dynamics of immigrant families and how, with respect to work, they are changing for good or ill. However, not all is bad.

Inspired by his own mid-twenties turmoil, Chong shows an apparently recurring theme of the sputtering growing-up process of Vancouver’s young adults, and their struggle to make a living in desultory professions. “I think the book is reflective of today’s slow maturation and what it’s like to essentially become a person,” Chong explains.

He even pulls a connection between the struggles of a writing career, and Malcolm’s at times questionable attempts to succeed as a model.

Both professions, nested in respective beauty, are unstable at the best of times and are always at the mercy – maybe pity – of the public.

The book’s title theme is even reflected in its own launch, which took place at the Penthouse Night Club on Sept. 19. “The place has a great his-

tory and I just thought it would be good idea to have the launch there. Also, being a strip club, it has those underlining factors of beauty and pity which connect well with the book,” says Chong.

The idea for the book came to Chong about ten years ago when he was roughly Malcolm’s age – 26. However, he put it on the backburner because of other projects, which included a book on Neil Young’s literal route to success, and another coming-of-age novel named Baroque- a-Nova.

If there ever was a worst-case scenario in a life of a male in his mid-twenties, Beauty Plus Pity depicts it perfectly. Malcolm, after losing his father to cancer and his fiancée to a bisexual doctor, has to find a way to get back into a normal daily routine: something that he has never really had.

His mother is preoccupied with her own artistic neuroticism and, to top it off, he learns that he has a 17-year-old half-sister – a product of his father’s affair.

Even though Malcolm was educated in private school, he has failed to expand on his education or secure a worthwhile profession, partly because of his own lack of impetus, but also because of his parents’ insistence that he pursue a writing career. As expected, the last thing he wants to do is cede to his parents’ wishes, both of whom are artists. Alternately, it could be that his middle-class upbringing has brought about a lack of drive.

This is in contrast with the typical immigrant experience, one that is highly influenced by am-

bition and everyday survival, where losing a day of work might result in going hungry. Malcolm Kwan’s experience is atypical of growing up in a Chinese immigrant household since his parents, as expected, are pushing him, but not into a stable, well-paying job. Instead, they are pushing him to “become more bohemian,” as Chong puts it.

After his father’s death, Malcolm’s discontent towards his elders’ wishes turns more active.

Despite his mother’s orders to do otherwise, he resolves to establish a good relationship with the half-sister that he never knew. It would just so happen that the connection between the half-siblings produces Malcolm’s only functional relationship.

Like every other case when a man finally starts actively taking charge of his life, good things come to fruition. When Malcolm finally comes into his own, he begins to realize what he wants in life, rather than concentrating on what he does not want. It’s as if Malcolm, the passive-aggressive idler, morphs into his own voiced man. This newfound confidence also allows Malcolm to resolve issues in his past. After a surprise run-in with an ex-girlfriend, he finally gets the opportunity to hash out their ugly break-up – the cause of his past petulance.

The pity that is officially covered in the second part of the book – but also sprinkled throughout – fills the fragile shell of beauty, the pursuit of which is as the very centre of the narrative. Mal-

// Tyler Hughes colm’s chronic melancholy can most certainly be tracked to his parents who failed at creating beauty on their own, and who, in the process, neglected their son on a very basic level. Malcolm is left out to ramble in an emotional wasteland where he seeks to recreate normalcy, but fails because he does not know how. What he does learn is that life is best dealt with pragmatically, and that one must roll with the punches, regardless of past failures. Although our first impression of Malcolm’s life is one of broken dreams and their consequences, he inadvertently succeeds at growing up, and even by way of much pity, manages to see and live out life’s beauty.

Beauty Plus Pity was officially launched by Arsenal Pulp Press on Monday, September 19th. It is available at bookstores such as People’s Coop Books and Chapters.

Arcade Fire snag $30,000 Polaris Prize

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 3

Montreal rockers add indie accolade to list of this years’ Grammy, Juno, and Brit award wins

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// Claire Vulliamy

By Emma Godmere // C.U.P. National Bureau chief

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ORONTO (CUP)—If they somehow didn't have indie cred before, one of this year's most successful bands has now certainly solidified their top standing in the Canadian music world.

Montreal's Arcade Fire were announced as the winners of the 2011 Polaris Music Prize for

their album, The Suburbs, at the annual gala held at the Masonic Temple in downtown Toronto on September 19.

"Since the beginning of our career, we've been trying to get paid in an oversized novelty cheque and it's never happened 'til now, so – thanks, Polaris," multi-instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry told the packed crowd as the band accepted their prize.

The indie rockers can now place that giant $30,000 novelty cheque beside their Grammy, Juno, and Brit award trophies they've already scooped up this year.

However, Steve Jordan, founder and executive director of the Polaris Music Prize, doesn't think the band's previous wins will in any way change the way Polaris operates.

"There's no doubt that this is the biggest selling band that's ever won Polaris, and certainly that's going to extend our reach. But it's not our objective to have that kind of reach," he told journalists after the event, emphasizing the prize's goal of celebrating artistic merit above general popularity.

"What we're trying to create – it's not as much about picking a winner at the end of the whole contest as it is about the conversation that happens about music," Jordan explained.

That nationwide conversation reached its peak at the gala, where six out of the 10 shortlisted artists performed for the live audience

made up of former Polaris nominees, fellow critically acclaimed performers from Canada and beyond, as well as international media and industry insiders.

Calgary-by-way-of-Montreal youngsters Braids provided one of the most impressive sets of the night, performing two tracks from their shortlisted debut full-length release, Native Speaker.

“Native Speaker was written and recorded in a very formative period of our lives that I think a lot of people went through, and a lot of people are going through, in that younger demographic,” drummer Austin Tufts told Canadian University Press before the event. “I think, in that way, it makes it more relatable.”

Every nominated act that took the stage that evening – including Ron Sexsmith, Austra, Galaxie, Timber Timbre and Hey Rosetta! – reached out to the young and old in both the live and at-home audiences, who were able to catch the event thanks to web radio and live-streaming.

Several live sets included extra indie star-power: Ohbijou’s Anissa Hart and Jenny Mecija and The Acorn’s Jeff Debutte joined Timber Timbre’s on-stage string section for their haunting performance; and Tasseomancy’s Sari and Romy Lightman sang backup to Austra’s Katie Stelmanis as the Toronto new-wave act turned up the heat early on in the night.

Remaining shortlisters Destroyer, Colin Stetson, The Weeknd, and Arcade Fire were not able to perform, despite the Montreal group’s Parry, Jeremy Gara, and Win Butler being on hand to accept their prize.

The band suggested upon ascending the stage that they would invest the $30,000 winnings into their recording studio.

"To be honest, we hadn't really thought about it much because we didn't expect to win," frontman Win Butler admitted after the gala. "But we started a studio outside of Montreal after our first record, and whenever we haven't been using it, we've let bands go in there and record for pretty cheap," he said, noting that fellow nominees Timber Timbre and Colin Stetson have stopped in before.

"For us, it's been an important part of this band's success to be able to be a band and do the creation part with little to no stress," said Parry. "We were really lucky in making records and having, just from the get-go, people being really generous with us, giving time, giving space, offering something – so I feel like we try to and will try to keep doing that as much as we can.”

"We've been blessed and fortunate enough to have a wealth of resources at our disposal," Parry continued, "and as artists, that's the greatest luxury in life – to have resources and time to just work on the art."

A r ts

Vancouver Learns To Dance Junior Boys moisten up spongy Commodore dance floor

By JJ Brewis // Art director

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or Hamilton, Ontario electronic duo Junior Boys, getting the party started all depends on how many people in the room are getting their move on. As they hit the stage at exactly 11 PM in Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom, the crowd appeared slightly disillusioned, despite the group’s attempt to immediately infect their audience with a catchy menagerie of blips and beeps.

With a set list mainly sticking to the band’s newest album It’s All True and 2009’s Beyond Dull Care, a lot of the material had a similar eerie melodic sound, all carried by vocalist/keyboardist Jeremy Greenspan’s high-range vocals, which juxtaposed electronic guru Matt Didemus’ synth beats. In tracks like the slow but building “Parallel Lines,” Junior Boys showcased a really strong penchant for turning their mellow electronic records into substantial live renditions.

Meanwhile, a plethora of lasers and strobe lights sawed through the crowd, in what seemed like an attempting to divide the loudening conversation between concert goers. The handful of fanboys in the front row sang along to every lyric; however, a major portion of the audience were too involved in smoking weed, talking about which nightclub they’d head to after the show, and leaving to get more overpriced beer to take in the show. Even Didemus looked un-

enthused, as he barely cracked a smile the entire set. (Two days later, Greenspan took to the group’s Twitter to say, “After a decade of touring can I just say, Matt just naturally looks like that.

He IS having a good time on stage, just relax about it.”)

It was almost as if the band had stepped away for a mid-set huddle, as the second half of their performance turned up the octane, and earlier slower songs were followed by the more upbeat and infectious numbers such as “In The Morning,” which had everyone in the house dancing and requesting more.

“We’ve never played here before,” Greenspan announced to the crowd. “We’ve heard the floor is kind of spongy,” he said, and challenged the crowd to put the Commodore’s infamous trampoline-esque floor to the test.

And with that, the group immediately launched into “Double Shadow,” possibly their biggest hit, which had the crowd moving like mad, and the lasers spastically chasing the audience members around the floor. Like all artists who know when to hold back at exactly the right moment, Junior Boys left the stage, and returned for a short yet sweet encore. Their choice was a falsetto-driven version of “Banana Ripple,” a slower cool-down track from True. Leaving the crowd on a mellow note worked well for the guys, as the sweaty and energized audience members left the venue all talking of how impressed they were.

// Author illustration

The man on the radio Q combines best of talk and music on FM dial

By Morgan Modjeski // The Manitoban (University of Manitoba)

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The

Capilano Courier’s

AGM & Board Elections

Alongside maintaining a strong multimedia presence in Canada and the United States, Q has also maintained a reputation that enables the show to be involved Canada’s national conversation.

“We’ve noticed that we do things sometimes on this program that then become a story that a lot of people pick up on,” he added. “We definitely bring things into the conversation and into the national dialogue.”

The National Association of Broadcasters in the United States explains the purpose of their industry and service award is to “recognize radio and television stations, personalities and programs that exemplify commitment to community and excellence in broadcasting.”

Even though this award is designed for broadcasters in the United States, it’s actually a solid description of what makes good radio. It seems like good radio is that which is committed to their audience and the community at large. If that’s the case, then Q is probably some of the best Canadian radio on international airwaves.

The numbers alone solidify this idea. Accord-

// JJ Brewis ing to the show’s website, the show is one of the highest ranking morning shows of all time and its YouTube channel has over 30 million views. Now all this is impressive, but what these numbers are really saying is the undeniable truth: Canadians and Americans want smart radio.

“I’m really proud of what we have done one this program,” said Ghomeshi. “I think it’s changed the broadcasting landscape to a certain extent.

Even five years ago it would have been unheard of for Jay-Z to be on CBC … and we’ve done that and so much more.”

! a z z i Tuesday October 4th p e e r f 11:30am in the Courier Office - Maple 122

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 3

INNIPEG (CUP)—When it comes to the talk radio, some people feel that it’s a genre that has gone the way of the compact disc: one that’s listened to only while driving long distances in the car.

But one show on CBC is redefining what it means to be on the radio – and its host is Jian Ghomeshi.

Ghomeshi hosts Q, one of the CBC’s most popular talk radio shows. He says that the key to the show’s success is its valuable content and availability through a number of different mediums.

Speaking with Ghomeshi on the phone, he explained that when Q became a multi-platform package, he wanted to do it right, and that meant doing more than just putting the radio show on the web.

“I still do believe that content is king,” said Ghomeshi. “People still want strong content, so giving it to people on other platforms doesn’t necessarily mean that it should be any less inter-

esting, provocative or comprehensive.

“We are about long-form and extensive content, and we offer that to people on other platforms.”

Ghomeshi explained that every aspect of Q – from the podcast, the website, video online or the TV show on CBC’s Bold – is specifically fitted for each unique medium.

“I think there is a mistake to be made by just taking what one does [and] just throwing it up everywhere in a passive way and hoping that the other mediums are as successful,” he said.

Ghomeshi and Q have been host to legendary interviews and have become known widely across Canada, especially to a younger demographic. Yet Ghomeshi reveals the show never really had a target demographic.

“To me, it’s not really about catering to a younger demographic,” Ghomeshi said. “We have never explicitly done anything with a demographic in mind. Part of it is in the tone and the story selection. I consciously do a smart show, and I think people still want and respect depth.”

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columns

E DIT ORS // Samant ha Thompson + Sarah Vit et // e di to r@ c api l ano c o uri e r. c o m

The Fallout Files

A caterpillar’s passage “It is the real, and not the map, whose vestiges subsist here and there, in the deserts which are no longer those of the Empire, but our own. The desert of the real itself …the hyperreal.”

—Jean Baudrillard

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here is an old Tibetan proverb that says half the dharma is accomplished when you travel. It may mean that a journey not only brings a new experience, but also a rare slip in the great clockwork of our minds. In the aporia that follows, we see our shadowy selves projected onto the screens of our friends’ faces; on signposts of unknown roads; in the whispers of strangers; on the great effigies that stand in the middle of nowhere.

This past Labour Day I traveled to the desert, to burn on the high alkaline salt flats of the Playa, a Pleistocene seabed in the Black Rock region of Nevada. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the gathering, and more than 50,000 people attended; to camp, to commune, and to witness a skyscraper-sized wooden man burn to the ground. It’s part pagan ritual, part radical art project, and total community performance. Burning Man is not a party that you go to; the party is you.

I attended this year because of the theme: Rites of Passage. As a mature student in my thirties, I suffer from extended adolescence syndrome. All right, it’s not a real syndrome, but I am writing this in a student paper, after all.

In a secular society, the rites of transition from one period of life to another are absent. I mean, who really felt that their high school prom launched anyone into adulthood? Instead, we age, and continue to act with the same selfabsorbed, hedonistic attitudes that marked our teen years.

However, in some First Nations cultures, the vision quest may initiate a child into his adult role, signifying a change in responsibility towards spirit, the community, and the environment; childhood is subsequently cast off. The Catholic tradition offers sacraments of faith for young teens and new religious roles are adopted. The Jewish Bar or Bat Mitzvah operates similarly. These rituals of birth, adulthood, marriage, old age, and ancestorhood are universally present in all cultures – except our own.

The secular, post-modern rejection of tradition has left millions of people in their parent’s basements at 40, playing Warcraft until their eyes bulge. Similarly, childhood practices of playing with dolls and action figures have translated into real-world addictions to the shopping mall. This is culturally sanctioned, since indulgence is a core tenet of a democratic society.

So it goes: the marketplace benefits from our childish consumption.

So with these thoughts, I found myself staring at the back of a Port-a-Potty door in the desert, covered in dust, reading a line in Sharpie ink that said: “I wish I didn’t care so much what people think of me.” These words were the first sign.

Later, I learned that people take these kinds of thoughts and write them on the Man himself, so that they may burn with him, thereby extinguish-

ing the hold on their psyches. I left that fetid plastic stall and walked back to our camp, 9:15 and Liminal Street, in the Northwest quadrant of the city that is designed like a sundial.

I wondered what the man meant for me, what I was truly here to burn away. And then, a strange thing happened: someone passed by me on a bike and said, “Yeah, the Man is the man in front, walking ahead of you.” I looked back to see the sun at midday and my shadow behind me. I thought of fear, dust, and pronoia: strange coincidences and a synchronous relationship between thought and phenomena would continue to unfold all week for many burners, and they would speak of these events in whispers.

Looking up, I saw the sculpture of a great wooden wheel turning in the distance: The wheel was turned by the people who visited the piece, and on it, skeletons rowed until the wheel spun so fast it looked like one single figure: Death himself.

Back at camp, in the interminable space of the endless night or afternoon, I recognized that we had completed the first stage of the rites: we had symbolically broken from our home; we had arrived. I had built a 26’ geodesic dome from iron conduit in the preceding weeks for our community’s shelter, but these were just the preliminaries. We wore costumes, like my caterpillar, and created fake names, like Honey Badger, and Dr. Thrillhaus, Tenacious P., and Mis-Placed.

A random stranger once asked me and my partner as we strolled by, “Which is more real, the playa name or the one your parents gave you?”

The real faded into a question mark in distance.

Our playa address – Liminal – took on special significance, for it marked a transition zone for equally transitional beings.

With Kevin Murray // Humour + Fiction Editor

Our neighbors had an art car, a mutant vehicle that was one of the only allowable motor vehicles on the playa. It was designed to look like a boardroom table, complete with laptops, cellphones and coffee cups. Their logo – Driven by Profit – was, on the surface, a jab at mainstream commodity culture, though it was made ironic because there is no money exchanged at Burning Man: the only things available to purchase are coffee and ice.

Dressed in business suits, they terrorized the city with a bullhorn, ordering people to get back to work, to clean up, to get a job. This moving Marxist manifesto turned out to be one of the most controversial cars on the playa. People

Transition, which burns on the last night of the event, and performed our own ritual.

The Temple acts as the feminine counterpart to the Man, upon which one writes their hopes and prayers. We wrote our wishes for the future on the walls and acknowledged the illusions we have been placing on one another. I saw the ghosts of ex-girlfriends, my mother, and my sister mingling in my perception of her, and we vowed to start again in that moment as the sun set on the sprawling, neon city and its strange sea of people.

We recognized that no one here would supply us with a definition of what any of this all meant, or what we should do, or how we should interpret it. We were free to create the rituals we wanted and to have them witnessed by all. The next day, my camp mate asked me to cut his dreadlocks, and, attended by a random man playing a Japanese guitar and singing a traditional Ainu folksong, I snipped his hair while wearing my caterpillar suit.

My partner was dressed as a butterfly.

My final rite occurred when the Man burned, during which time I led a drummer’s troupe that played for the Fire Conclave – a sprawling group of poi and flame dancers, and percussionists.

My leadership role was unexpected; I had only signed on as a participant, but was asked to be bandleader and to unify a group of strangers into a performing unit. One member of the group gave me a whistle so that I could alert them to changes in the music, and as I took it from him, I recognized that I was taking on a new and unfamiliar role. Like donning a ceremonial ring or a knot, I stepped into a new identity, if only for a time. Looking back, this was an aspect of reintegration, which is traditionally the final stage in a rite of passage.

A week spent being art, rather than consuming it, will not offer enlightenment, but it helped me illuminate a new, shifting paradigm that lies beneath my own changing perceptions. While much // Author photo of this tale has been left out, and much more is impossible to relate, a final symwere outraged that their personal dream-worlds bol emerged from my experience with the Fire were being invaded by this unwelcome vestige Conclave: an O’odham First Nations man named of the outside, and violence almost broke out Andy who played in our troupe showed me the several times. The boardroom disrupted the talisman of his people before we left. vibe and was dubbed “the counter-culture of the It was the I’itoi, or the Man in the Maze. He counter-culture.” My afternoon spent on that car told me that the maze was life, and that the man taught me what it was like to be the man that ev- inside was like a god whom you could ask for eryone hates, to embody the illusions of profit- help when you reached an obstacle. Andy told mad pirates, and to draw the energy back into me the man would always answer if called, and I myself – to feel it. was struck once again by the disintegration of the Several of my campmates didn’t fare as well real, and of that great Pleistocene seabed, shining with the boardroom. They didn’t have suits, and like a mirror. All around me were the suspicious so were ridiculed and excluded from the cor- facts of psychological projection and, at the same porate roleplay. When this standoff occurred, I time, the strange coincidences of the desert; the was transported back to the schoolyard, when wide-eyed stares of the Playa people, dancing cliques of “in-crowds” terrorized the outs. I rec- and wishing their dreams into dust and diesel. ognized that, even as adults, these reactions Reintegration remains another matter. were the same as those of children, and those who grew shy and insecure repeated their pasts After a year away, past editor Kevin Murray is again, solidifying the patterns of behaviour that back at the Courier to make us all think deeply they would use to maintain their identities. and squirm in our seats. His column is an exploraSo, my partner and I went to the Temple of tion of religion and enlightenment.

WILD GREEN PLAN

Swimming in plastic soup

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hen I was young, I remember eating seaweed straight off the beach, after watching an episode of David Suzuki's The Nature of Things where he did the same. It was slimy and salty, but overall not awful; it was also the kind of seaweed that they put in some toothpastes and yogurts. I thought eating something straight from the ocean was one of the coolest things I had ever done, and I used to proudly tell family and friends. With the oceans becoming more polluted every day though, I have to wonder if that would even be safe anymore. Oil spills, such as the one that recently happened in the Gulf of Mexico, are prompting concern about the safety of seafood, as well as the health of sea-dwelling and ocean-reliant creatures. However, oil spills aren't the only thing to worry about.

There is a part of the ocean in the North Pacific which gets called the Great North Pacific Garbage Patch, where the currents carry all the garbage that ends up in the water to swirl around indefinitely. There are several of these patches around the world, where circular ocean currents called “gyres” hold the garbage (most of it plastic) in place and slowly break it down into small pieces. The Pacific garbage patch has gotten to the point where it is just under twice the size of British Columbia, and is well beyond cleaning up. Plastic lasts pretty much forever, and even though the water breaks up the plastic, it can't totally break it down, and we end up with water samples from the area that look like a thick plastic soup.

One of the dangers posed by all this plastic is to the wildlife. Many birds mistake the small, brightly coloured bits of plastic in the ocean for

food, and will take it to their nests to feed to their young. Baby albatrosses have been found starved to death, with only plastic in their stomachs.

Other ocean creatures pass pellets of plastic up through the food chain, ending up in the fish and sea food that we eat.

Much of the garbage comes from small, remote communities that still follow the traditional practice of depositing their waste in the ocean, but that's not close to all of it. Some comes from being left on beaches, or dumped off boats, or from bad waste-removal policy or facilities. For many humans, out of sight is out of mind, so off in the middle of the ocean is not somewhere we think about much. That doesn't work with a system as complicated and interconnected as planet Earth, though. The harm we do to one part of the ecosystem will have effects across the world. We don't yet know what the full impacts of our plastic soup ocean will be, but it won't be good.

Last year Vancouver resident Taina Uitto decided that she wanted to cut plastic out of her life for a full twelve months. Though her singular actions won’t stop plastic from making its way to the garbage gyre, the media and word-of-mouth attention her blog has garnered has helped to spread the importance of her message and inspire others to reduce the plastic in their lives.

Perhaps the attention will be enough to change corporate packaging policies, or perhaps not, but Uitto believes the effort it is worth a shot.

Sometimes refusing plastic meant giving up certain items, such as beverages in plastic bottles, clothing with plastic tags, and most convenience items. At first, Uitto focused a lot on what she would have to give up, but she insists that it was

With Yette Gram // Columnist

no deprivation. “My year quickly became about all the things I was gaining. There is great abundance in going without. And convenience is NOT what makes life colourful.”

When going without wasn't an option, Uitto found alternatives. She used a toothbrush made of bone and boar bristles, her deodorant came as an un-packaged bar, and her cleaning brushes have bamboo handles. Along with her own cup, Uitto carries her own set of cutlery and take-out containers for restaurants, and even has a metal straw for if she buys a drink. Finding alternatives, she says, has been especially rewarding. “I have had to wake that little sleeping beauty inside called ‘creativity,’ which the consumption coma previously silenced.”

North Vancouver brothers Ryan and Bryson Robertson and their friend Hugh Patterson make up a research and exploration team called Ocean Gybe who went sailing around the globe to document the state of the world’s oceans. They visited many uninhabited islands around the globe and recorded how much garbage had washed up on the beaches. They would also collect all the garbage and flotsam from an area of beach on the windward side of the island and record how much and what kind of things they found.

One beach on Cocos Keeling, part of the Cocos Island chain downwind of Indonesia, was so covered with garbage that by the time they had 10 meters of beach cleared of only plastic sandals and bottles, the waves had already carried in enough to replace what they had cleaned up.

The young men of Ocean Gybe say that the plastic pollution in the ocean is probably too big of a problem to clean up. However, they haven’t

given up the cause. “A ‘gybe’ is a movement that brings about change – both in direction and energy,” they explain. “This expedition is about redirecting the energy of humankind towards a sustainable future for our oceans. To achieve this, we will create awareness in every country we visit and inspire action in every person we touch.”

Uitto's refusal of all plastic is one fairly extreme way of doing just that; by living as an example, she hopes to help educate others on how to reduce their own waste. Ocean Gybe hopes to do the same, visiting schools and giving presentations which emphasize the need to reduce the waste we produce. With any luck, their message of reducing and refusing plastic will continue to spread, though change on an individual level probably won’t have the sweeping results our oceans need. Corporate plastic manufacturing is where the real change needs to happen.

Individual consumers do have power though: buying power. If we don't buy plastic, eventually the corporations using it will have to alter their practises. The more pressure we put on companies, the better chances we have of making our oceans healthy again. Maybe I’ll even be able to eat seaweed right off the beach again. →Taina Uitto’s blog: www.plasticmanners.wordpress.com →Ocean Gybe: www.oceangybe.com This is Yette's second year writing for the Courier.

She has also written pieces for the Orillia Packet & Times, the Vancouver Sun, and Youthink Magazine. She is passionate about environmental issues and urban sustainability, and is excited to write about various related topics in this column.

PEOPLE WATCHING

Safety in numbers

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The reason that more and more people are deciding to travel together in big groups may be partly explained by some of the theories published by psychologists. These studies have looked into the effects of people working together in larger groups and consequently gaining direct power. For example, Sigmund Freud's Crowd Behavior Theory points out that people who are in a crowd act differently than people who are thinking individually. The theory suggests the minds of the group merge to form a way of thinking, and thus, each member's enthusiasm is increased. This links to the peer pressure that happens in groups of friends day-to-day, which can be seen in soap operas and reality television on a regular basis, and probably is happening on this campus right this second.

Working the late shift one evening, I had the opportunity to witness another group displaying the classic traits of “Party People on Tour.” I had to close our rooftop patio for the night and, what do you know; lucky for me, the party tour group had taken over the whole area, with legs slumped over chair legs, beer cans crushed into small pyramids on the floor, and takeout pizza boxes strewn like tinsel through the potted shrubs.

That particular evening it was my job to move ten of these hedonists off the roof without getting anyone angry, avoiding fights at all costs, and delivering the guys and girls out

// Columnist

of the hostel before any of the other guests could complain. I tried to play it cool, going with the whole, “I just work here, I don’t make the rules” schtick, and it seemed to be working, probably because I was pretending to join the group and take on their point of view (i.e. against authority). So, after a bit of persuasion, I finally got a load of them into the elevator and sent them on their merry way to The Cambie, promising girls, guys, and cheap pitchers of beer in abundance.

After spending time in an intimate space with the partying lads and lasses, it struck me that this breed of traveler likely wouldn’t be very identifiable if they were on their own. One group of “Party people on Tour” that stayed at the hostel came and bombarded me with questions, five of them staring me down all at once and demanding answers.

Now, when five of them come up to talk to you at once, false eyelashes fluttering, bronzed boobs in your face, and a whiff of Intimately Beckham burning off the back of your eyelids, it’s hard to tell them that no, they can’t book out the shared bathroom just for themselves and no, they can’t get a reduced rate because there are, like, twenty of them. However, get one of them alone, and they stop making those demands.

Their peers aren’t there to back them up, and it’s your word against theirs. A theory of Gustave

Le Bon states that crowds foster anonymity, and this backs up the idea that people feel there are limited or no consequences for their actions if they are working as a group. Somehow, the blame is spread and so, if one person from a group of travelers steals some food from another guest in the hostel, all of them can take the blame and save one’s humiliation.

Many theorists have also studied the “herd mentality” and its effect on society. From Sigmund Freud’s theories relating to “crowd psychology”, Carl Jung’s writings on the “collective unconscious” and Gustave Le Bon’s research on “the popular mind,” all of these theories go some way to explaining group mentality. However, there’s nothing quite like watching it happen right before your eyes.

Yes, I judge groups of travelers with little or no knowledge of what they are like as individuals, in the way most of us do with people we don’t really know. People-watching is entertaining – so let’s just say that most of the time, it’s harmless fun that helps to pass the time.

Heather Welsh is from a quaint little town in England surrounded by fields and sheep. She drinks tea and eats Marmite on her crumpets and once got invited to party with Prince Harry. Her column is a documentation of her experiences working at a Vancouver youth hostel.

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was seated comfortably at the front desk, sipping my morning coffee, when I heard a coach-load of people pull up at the front of the hostel. Deep, gruff voices and a soccer ball came drifting through the open door.

Fifteen people under one reservation: one look at that booking, and I knew it had to be that breed of traveler. The “Party People on Tour” had arrived for their big weekend of fun in Vancity.

The first “Partier” that walked through the door had a pungent smell seeping from his body, created by the unpleasant aroma of stale cigarettes, beer, and way too much aftershave.

“All right guys, we’re here! Where’s the party at, then?” His bleached blonde hair was finely manicured into even spikes. “I thought this hostel had a bar?”

The friends that streamed through the door behind him looked up to the leader of the pack and followed suit, with equally inane questions all related to being macho, drinking, and getting laid.

Spotting large groups of friends traveling together like a pack of wolves has become a common sight across the world, usually because they disturb, provoke, or thoroughly amuse those who cross their paths. A prime spot to catch a glimpse of these creatures is in any major city around the world. They tend to congregate for Stag and Hen nights in the seedier parts of Europe, or, on this side of the world, in Las Vegas.

With Heather Welsh

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Arts Popcourt

The homophobia of hip-hop culture

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or years, celebrities have chosen to use their influence as an opportunity to speak out about causes they see a need to bring to the public attention. In recent years, gay rights have raced to the forefront in such cases, with celebrity advocates, from Lady Gaga, to Ellen DeGeneres, to Hilary Duff, each fighting the “equal rights” cause in their own ways.

Celebrities have a very interesting social advantage over most people, given that they have an automatic platform from which they can choose to project their influence and opinion about subjects close to their hearts. Last year, famous advice columnist Dan Savage's "It Gets

rappers from Dr. Dre to 50 Cent have used the highly sensitive term “faggot” in various songs.

However, even in this genre, heavy hitters have taken a stake in the cause. In 2009, Kanye West famously went on record saying "Take the word ‘gay’ like in hip-hop, that's a negative thing, right?

Kids will say, 'Dude, those pants are gay.' I think that should be said as a compliment. Like, 'dude, that is so good, it is almost gay.'"

Perhaps it was in a chase for press, but he saw the opportunity to take the word 'gay' back, much like black culture and rappers in particular have done with reassigning the “n-word” from hate speech to empowerment.

Better Project" opened a gateway to thousands of regular people as well as a slew of famous ones each speaking out to bullied youth, particularly gay and lesbian youth, aiming for the negative connotations around being “different” to be triumphed by hope and courage.

But while the mainstream focus in the entertainment and media industry may be moving in a positive direction regarding gay rights, the world of hip hop traditionally has not been the most accepting scene. Regardless of the context,

// Author illustration Yet despite support from West, the rap scene saw a continuation of its usage of the hate speak, and particularly the term “faggot”, in 2011, with the major success of Tyler, the Creator, a member of rap group Odd Future. Tyler, a 20-year-old Los Angeles native, has gained quite a name for himself in hip-hop, winning the Best New Artist trophy at this year's MTV Video Music Awards, and releasing his mainstream debut to both critical and commercial praise. But it hasn't been Tyler's award win, nor his success, that has put his name in the

headlines as of late; rather, it is his continuous social battle against his fellow artists, journalists, and human rights groups that has people talking.

Tyler's most recent release, Goblin, has sold over 100,000 copies. It also, according to UK music magazine NME, "uses the word 'faggot' and its variants a total of 213 times" in its 15 tracks.

Given Tyler's quick rise to fame, endorsements

by MTV, and heavy internet buzz, he has become someone with a viable voice, one that young people, music fans, and basically anyone with a pair of ears have been exposed to.

With such excessive use of an already unsavory word on his album, not to mention the countless times he's used such terminology on his Twitter account, Tyler is easily setting himself up as a target for those not willing to sit back and take his behavior lightly.

Sara Quin, of Tegan and Sara, responded to Tyler's popularity in an interview, saying, "While an artist who can barely get a sentence fragment out without using homophobic slurs is celebrated on the cover of every magazine, blog and newspaper, I'm disheartened that any selfrespecting human being could stand in support with a message so vile."

Herndon Graddick, Senior Director of Programs for GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) responded to Tyler's crowing of Best New Artist by writing, "Rather than providing simply a larger platform, MTV and other networks should educate viewers about why anti-gay and misogynistic language has no place in the music industry today. Given Tyler’s history of such remarks, viewers and potential sponsors should refrain from honouring homophobia and in the future look to a more deserving artist."

In the face of such complaints, Tyler failed to step up the plate and properly explain his side of the story, instead choosing the immature and shocking route, stating, "Well, I have gay fans and they don't really take it offensive [sic], so I don't know. If it offends you, it offends you."

While there may be some blindsided gay people out there willing and able to listen to someone yell slurs into their ear, I would think it's safe to say most of the gay public are turned off from Tyler the Creator on principle alone.

Perhaps Tyler the Creator isn't homophobic, but he certainly hasn't gone out of his way to clarify the rumours stating otherwise that he has certainly only brought upon himself. In 2001, Eminem was dragged through the press on speculations of homophobia, based on lyrics. He famously shut down the rumours by taking his friendship with a famous homosexual, Elton John, and performing together at the Grammy Awards. Despite this performance, Eminem never issued a public apology or statement for his behavior, which left his message up for discussion.

Ten years later, when Anderson Cooper asked Eminem to clarify some of the questionably seemingly homophobic and misogynistic lyrics in his earlier albums, he replied by saying, "In the scene that I came up in, that word, 'faggot', was thrown around constantly to each other in battling. I didn't just invent saying offensive things ...

I don't have any problem with nobody."

If Eminem were to apologize for his lyrics, he’d be going against his art – words that he’s written as part of an album as an art piece. But maybe if this type of behavior is something that will never be apologized for, it shouldn’t happen in the first place. West is an example that the hip-hop industry doesn’t need to use “faggot” or “gay” as a

With JJ Brewis // art director

derogatory term to find mainstream success – last year, his album was given 5 stars by Rolling Stone, and sold millions of copies.

Despite not needing to use offensive terminology to find mainstream success, Tyler the Creator does so with no shame. If his predecessors and colleagues hadn’t opened the floodgates and desensitized their audience to such harmful wordplay, Tyler would be less likely to use them.

Responsibility to an industry can only go so far: it’s not as if it’s mandatory to include “faggot” on a rap album. While Eminem is placing the blame in the industry that gave him his career, Tyler is happy to blissfully spew off remarks that really don't satisfy any of the queries.

"I’m not homophobic. I just think 'faggot' hits and hurts people. It hits. And 'gay' just means you’re stupid. I don't know, we don’t think about it, we're just kids," he says. Not only is he blaming his lack of understanding on his young age, he's coming up to bat as a pretty unappealing and uneducated twit. Nothing in his response clarifies anything, let alone makes much sense.

Tyler tries to justify the use of such hateful statements as being just a string of words that don't mean anything other than sounding good.

Turning the conversation onto his own skin colour, and the struggles black people have faced, he says "If you call me a n***a, I really don't care, but that's just me, personally." Unlike Kanye West, who sees the idea of 'taking back' a historically harmful term as a means to empower the people who have been hurt by it, Tyler is flirting with disaster, continuing on the same hateful path that birthed such words in the first place.

Blame him on being a product of the rap industry. However, rap in 2011 is much different than it was decades ago. This year, Nicki Minaj took home the Best Hip-Hop Video trophy at this year’s MTV Awards, trumping woman-beater Chris Brown, and the other all-male artists in her category. Viral internet hip-hop icon Lil B released an album titled I’m Gay (I’m Happy), and in the face of death threats and controversy surround the release, said, “I've really seen that the hip-hop community is being very close-minded and very hateful, very violent ... People use evil words, money, separation, stuff like that. I just wanted to make this to show words don't mean anything.”

Taking responsibility for your own actions, or in this case, lyrics, is a huge start. Hip hop was founded as a form of expression, like most music forms, but especially with this genre, was created as an outlet for a traditionally black culture to express themselves after a historically long oppression. In general, hip hop has a long way to go. Not all rappers need to be painted with the same brush, but sadly, the use of “faggot” in rap has been seen as “normal” for so long that the continuation of its use has been excused as a characteristic of the industry.

It took Tyler the Creator’s high word count of the term to finally result in people saying something about it. Hip hop is made for pushing boundaries, and I respect that. But using insensitive terminology isn't necessary, nor is it really shocking anymore, considering it's been done so many times before.

Rap music has been given more and more credit as a legitimate musical style as the years have gone by, and it’s a wonderful addition in the music industry. But using that creative outlet as a new way to point the finger and spew hatred onto other sects of society is defeating the purpose of an otherwise fantastic means of expression.

Opi n i o n s

Edi tor // Marco Ferreira // o pi ni o ns @ c api l ano c o uri e r. c o m

Warranted Paranoia New cannabis laws harm more than help

By David Gauthier // Writer

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he recipe on the Cannabis Culture website states that all of the cannabinoids (the stuff that gets you high) in one ounce of Marijuana can be concentrated into one gram of honey oil. According to the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, honey oil is one of the purest concentrations of THC (the main psychoactive ingredient in Cannabis Sativa). Because of new advancements in the manufacturing of honey oil, more and more people are making it for themselves.

Unfortunately, thanks to a stringent legal system, one that was recently exacerbated by a Conservative crime bill, the production of honey oil is now considered a crime warranting a minimum sentence of a year and half in prison. All historic evidence shows that this won't slow demand for honey oil. It will, however, delay any further scientific examination of the drug, potentially putting regular citizens at risk as an air of uncertainty clouds new production techniques.

Honey oil has been traditionally manufactured by combining marijuana with an organic solvent , like isopropyl or butane. The resulting combination is strained of raw plant matter then stripped of its active ingredient. The mixture is finally purged, utilizing heat to evaporate the solvent. What remains, in theory, is only the cannibinoids from the marijuana, free from any plant matter. The final product is a honey-like reddishbrown or green gel.

In theory, the molecular integrity of the natural marijuana plant is maintained while hugely intensifying its effects. This means that as long as the solvent is properly evaporated during the refinement process, honey oil has no differing health (physiological or psychological) effects than smoking marijuana or hash in large quantities.

Recently, though, the use of butane as a solvent has become the increasingly popular, and potentially dangerous, norm. The resulting honey oil is called Butane Honey Oil or BHO. Because of the ease of production and lack of scientific study, many users are venturing into the world of BHO without a full understanding of the risk involved.

Due to its low boiling point, butane evaporates and is extracted from the concentrated cannabinoids at room temperature. To make BHO, all you need is a tube sealed on one end with a coffee filter that allows the THC-laced butane to pass through. The most popular homemade extractor material is PVC piping, due to its low price and availability. The material may pose a serious hazard to the purity of the resulting honey oil, as PVC can potentially leach carcinogenic chemicals into the solvents it comes in contact with.

Alternatives to PVC extractors such as glass or steel exist, but remain unpopular, due to cost and the relative difficulty of acquiring them.

The evaporated butane (which is extremely flammable and explosive) is heavier than air and will pool in any enclosed area. All it takes is the sparking of a joint, or an electrical charge travel-

ing within any number of electronic devices, to cause a deadly explosion. Beyond the dangers of fire, Cannabis Culture explains: “Because butane displaces oxygen, it can even cause asphyxia if it fills up a room.” While it is possible to make the drug in an exterior environment, because of the legal danger of refining Marijuana in a public place most producers are forced into the confines of their homes, exposing themselves to incredible and unnecessary danger in the process.

Beyond all of these manufacturing concerns, using butane as a solvent poses some potentially severe health risks. Because butane is not manufactured with human ingestion in mind, some brands of the gas come with additives such as mercaptan, which carries a distinct aroma to help identify leaks in a fuel line. These additives will not only change the flavor for the worse, but

// Katie So also, according to MedScape, are reported to have induced vomiting and may cause pneumonia if repeatedly ingested over time. Brands of butane like Vector, Colibri, or London don't carry mercaptan, and proudly bear a label that reads 'zero impurities,” but even the highest-grade commercially-available butane isn't 100% pure.

As the laws get tougher in the upcoming years, its production will be pushed further underground, and a comprehensive study on the popular drug is looking less likely. The marijuana community is left to discern the oil’s safety with the limited resources that are made available to them. As a result, it seems that the public, many of them medical users of cannabis, will be forced to purposefully but blindly victimize themselves to find out the truth about the drugs they consume.

Students Worth Every Dollar NDP turns its sights towards 2013 election with student grant proposal

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parents are being pressured to save beforehand.

The Registered Education Savings Plan is a current federal education program that distributes grants to parents who invest before their child attends post-secondary school. According to the Canadian Federation of Students, this program is benefiting the families that can afford education, rather the low-income families that need the grants.

Investing in students will positively impact

// Arin Ringwald

all British Columbians. An academic journal

by Michael Paulsen exploring the economics of post-secondary education shows that in Texas, the state received an additional $1.13 in economic activity for every dollar invested in the public high education industry. The journal also demonstrated that when fewer subsidies are made available for low to middle-class families, enrolment from these groups drops. It's both economically and socially sensible to invest in a grant program that makes education more accessible to all income brackets.

Unfortunately, the Liberals have already reacted, condemning Dix's idea. The Advanced Education Minister, Naomi Yamamoto is quoted in [i]The Times Colonist[/i] as saying, "I'm not likely to take financial advice for programming from Mr. Dix,” expressing her opinion that the funding for the program isn't available. The party went on to defend their current education policy, stating that the average tuition paid in B.C. last year was $4,802, which is the fourth lowest in Canada, with average student debt being third lowest.

Still, this recommendation by Dix hints at how hard the NDP party is working to scrape up support for the 2013 election. Education needs to be a priority, but whether the B.C. Liberal party will bother wooing a demographic notorious for low voter turn-out in favour of their usual support base seems an unlikely prospect.

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battle over tuition could make higher education in B.C. more affordable, a win-win scenario // writer for students. drian Dix, leader of the provincial NDP Besides taking out a high-interest student party, is promising $100 million in avail- loan, the only way students have to pay tuition able grants for students. In the last few is either to save enough money, or to have their weeks, the BC NDP have been pushing to not parents foot the bill. Both options are becomonly reinstate the $80 million grant program can- ing less realistic due to the cloud of recession celled by the BC Liberals in 2004, but to increase looming over the economy. Minimum wage is it by $20 million. an inadequate means of paying high tuition, so According to report by the Canadian Federation of Students, the increasing cost of tuition is averaging at 3.6% per year. The same report shows that the average B.C. university undergraduate leaves school $27,000 in debt. These facts combined will weigh heavily on whether many young adults will pursue post-secondary education. The fact that the NDP is addressing education issues at this time shows that they are feeling the heat for the upcoming May 2013 election.

Increasing tuition, decreased access to student grants, and the economic recession are all contributing to making education a viable campaign issue that appeals to both students and parents. According to a poll by Angus Reid, the BC Liberals are still suffering from the results of the HST referendum. With a popularity lead of only 5% over the NDP's 38%, both parties will be encouraged to appeal to voting minorities. Although it is unlikely that the Liberal party will target this demographic, an ensuing

By Liam Loxton

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opinions

NINTENDO REACHES OUT TO SERIOUS NERDS Releases a thing that most people don’t care about

// Stefan Tosheff

By Michael Bastien // Writer

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his past week, the Tokyo Game Show took place, where gaming juggernaut Nintendo revealed its next breakthrough in gaming. The company that first brought us portable touch based games, motion controls, and 3D without glasses repeats its magic again with a second analog nub.

Nintendo is naming this new add-on peripheral for the 3DS the “Slide Pad.” The slide pad will snap onto the bottom of the 3DS and provide an additional analog nub protruding from the right side of the hand-held. The peripheral is expected to retail for $20 and require a single AAA battery to operate.

The new device is clearly marketed toward the “hard-core” gamer. Typically, the hard-core label is saved for those who have large amounts of time and money invested in their gaming hobby. They often play games at a competitive level, and tend to take gaming more seriously than casual consumers.

The NPD Group, a global market research company, reported that the action genre, made up of adventure and shooter games and most popular with the hard-core market, made up 22 per cent of all games sold in 2010. Modern games like Call of Duty, Uncharted, or Resident Evil are all built around the inclusion of a second analog stick. All seven of the announced games to utilize the new 3DS peripheral belong to the action genre, two of which are Kingdom Hearts 3D and Resident Evil Revelations. Having played both Kingdom Hearts and Resident Evil on the original DS, it's arguable that the add-on will greatly improve the gameplay, giving the player dynamic control of the in-game camera, and a high degree of accuracy with on-screen targeting.

It is speculated that Nintendo is releasing the slide pad in an attempt to save the failing 3DS. After the massive success of both the original DS and the Wii, it is hard to believe that a Nintendo console isn’t selling. The handheld had a record opening week in North America, selling 400,000 units. However, sales of the handheld dropped sharply to 194,000 units sold in the entire month of April.

After only 24 weeks of declining sales, Nintendo issued a massive price drop, from $250 to $170. According to the Nintendo website, sales jumped to 185,000 units immediately after the price drop, an increase of 260%. Since recent sales figures have not yet been released, it is unknown if sales are increasing or declining again after the price drop, but it is likely that there will be an explosion of sales during the Christmas season.

There are several reasons why the 3DS isn’t selling well, but the biggest problem that Nintendo is facing is Apple. Due to its massive appeal, the iPhone has almost completely consumed the “casual gamer” audience that Nintendo used to have a firm grasp on. The iPhone provides internet access, plays music and videos, makes phone calls, sends texts, and more thanks the versatility and sheer number of apps. This is something a purely gaming focused device cannot compete with. The iPhone also has revolutionized the gaming market by providing full games for only $1. It is almost certain that if a casual gamer were to spend $40 on videogames, they would get more enjoyment and value out of 40 iPhone games, rather than buying only one 3DS game.

The only market on which Nintendo can now rely is the hard-core gamers, who aren’t yet fully supporting them. At fault may be a glaring lack of exclusive triple “A” titles available for the fledgling console. According to Metacritic, the three

best rated 3DS games are Legend of Zelda: Orcarina of Time 3D, Super Street Fighter IV: 3D edition, and Star Fox 64 3D. Two of these games are graphically over-hauled remakes of tenyear-old N64 titles. The other is a port of a fighter with far superior versions on both the Xbox 360 and PS3.

If the 3DS fails despite the new peripheral, it shouldn’t be the end of Nintendo. While some companies, such as Sega, have gone belly-up due to a failed console, Nintendo has a ton of money and an army of fanboys to fall upon. The last Nintendo portable to bomb was the Virtual Boy, Nintendo’s first attempt at portable 3D technology. Despite the Virtual Boy gracing Time’s “Top 50 worst inventions,” Nintendo could still rely on its console sales to keep it afloat. This combination of portable and home consoles is the key to Nintendo’s success. In order for Nintendo to fail, their next home console, the Wii U, will also have to bomb.

This situation is similar to Sony being saved by the PS3 after the PSP underperformed in sales.

The most common complaint about Sony’s PSP was the lack of a second analog nub, yet no one ever complained about the original DS’s controls. The DS sold well because it offered simple games without much competition. Now, with Apple, things have changed, and Nintendo has to go after the hard-core demographic, and fast, if it wants to save the 3DS.

A Big Fat Mess American Apparel's insensitive campaign draws criticism

By Evelyn Cranston // staff writer

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hen April Flores, plus-size porn star, asked an American Apparel (AA) representative if they had ever considered expanding their consumer base to larger women, she was hit back with, “that’s not our demographic.” AA, known for their Americanmade t-shirts, flashy gold tights, and affinity for soft-core, simply wasn’t interested in the buying power of plus-size hipsters.

At the time of this comment, AA was a thriving business, operating 281 stores and turning out large profits. Beginning in December of 2010, however, AA was faced with a possibility of bankruptcy: they were forced to close 13 underperforming stores, and had negative cash flows. According to the AA fourth quarter financial reports, there existed “substantial doubts as to whether the Company [would] be able to continue.” In 2009, the company had a net income of $1.1 million for the year, whereas 2010 saw a net loss of $86.3 million.

As well, Dov Charney, the company’s founder, was also dealing with the legal consequences of inappropriate behaviour toward his employees.

In 2007, he was accused of threatening to fire a then-underage employee if she ever refused to, according to the New York Post, “send him nude pictures and texts, explain her sexual history in explicit detail, and have sex with him on her 18th birthday and repeatedly thereafter.” In 2004, he masturbated in front of a reporter, and has been called out numerous times for firing employees who don’t dress sexy enough to turn him on.

Something drastic needed to be done to save

both the image of AA, the reputation of its founder, and the company itself. As a symbol of apology for their “exclusive to thin girls” approach to design, AA planned to give a plus sized woman a chance, while simultaneously getting themselves out of the bankruptcy hole that they dug for themselves.

With a financially unstable future and an image in jeopardy, AA turned to a highly hypocritical lastresort marketing campaign to boost their sales.

“The Next Big Thing” campaign called for “XLent, curvaceous, booty-ful” women who needed “extra wiggle room” to fill out AA’s sexy new XL line, to send in photos of themselves “and their junk” for an online voting contest.

The winner would be flown to LA to model in a “bootylicious photoshoot.” In the fine print, it states that the winner will ultimately be chosen by the company rather than the popular online vote. The winner doesn’t get an actual modelling contract, and nor do they get paid for the photoshoot. The winner will, however, be awarded a new wardrobe of the XL line, and all contestants received a gift card for AA's online store.

Nancy Upton, a typical size 12, read the patronizing ad with disdain. AA had no qualms about describing their products as sexy, but the wording of the contest advertisement showed that they felt plus-sized women needed special, witty euphemisms for fat. Upton noted the fact that a "subservient, nearly naked woman has always earned a place in American Apparel’s advertising with no trouble, but that larger women need to vote each other down and compete against one another to even deserve a chance."

In the following days, Upton found herself bathing in ranch dressing and chocolate sauce, and imitating a roast pig by lying naked and

greased up on a table with an apple in her mouth. It was a photoshoot meant to mock and critique the “Next Big Thing” campaign, and though meant only as a joke submission, Upton received the most online votes.

Although Upton clearly stated she had no intentions of working for AA if she did win, it turned out that AA had no intention of offering her the opportunity anyway.

Iris Alonzo, creative director at AA, distributed a statement to Upton and a few major news outlets.

Alonzo's open letter to Upton states: “It’s a shame that your project attempts to discredit the positive intentions of our challenge based on your personal distaste for our use of light-hearted language, and that ‘bootylicous’ was too much for you to handle ... We try not to take ourselves too seriously around here.”

Near the end of the letter, Alonzo casually, and unsurprisingly, mentioned that AA didn’t want her for their campaign. They decided instead to go with ten less controversial contestants who “truly exemplified beauty, inside and out.”

Upton shook the company and its rigid guidelines of beauty to the core with her brave and subversive photoshoot, and her actions continue to fuel a discussion on workers’ rights and sexist

// Alexandra Gordeyeva marketing. In the pop culture realm, an arena of impossible physical appearance, it’s staggering to see a courageous reflection of normalcy.

Upton, with her rebellious sense of self-confidence, desired a rethinking of what is deemed acceptable marketing and ethical company practises. Her stunt garnered enough attention that AA has offered to fly her to LA to tour their factory and have a dialogue with the creative director of the XL competition. Although she won't be on the next American Apparel billboard, the fact that her entry received the most votes shows that the very demographic American Apparel was targeting isn't really buying it.

Caboose F e at u r e d F i c t i o n

Dust-jackets and Windbreakers

By Andrew Zulianit // Writer

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Edi tor // KEvin Murray // c abo o s e . c apc o uri e r@ gmai l . c o m

ames’ feet came down hard on the gravel and he lost his balance, his hand jutting out in front of him to break his fall. He pushed himself upright, tightly gripping a book under his right arm like a football. Neck turned, he strained his sore legs, the muscles burning as he ran from the low retaining wall. His breath pulled against a cotton balaclava that clung to his open mouth with every laboured inhalation of air.

“Hey!” cried the man in the pale linen suit who was climbing down from the ledge in pursuit.

Picking up speed, James sprinted across the gravel parking lot, his heart beating double-time to the pounding of his feet on the loose surface.

Thirty feet lay between him and the parked Volkswagen. He found himself wishing he’d left the engine running.

With ten feet left, he fished with his scraped left hand for the keys in his windbreaker’s pocket.

He glanced backwards – his pursuer, clearly uninhibited by twisted ankles and a habitual avoidance of exercise, was rapidly closing the distance between them.

His pulse vibrating in his ears, James tried to visualize the quickest way to get his body into the car and the car on the road. He wished that he had brought his younger brother along as a makeshift getaway driver. Of course, Jonathan could hardly drive, but he’d only need to go a few

blocks and at this point the risk seemed negligible. Besides, the whole situation was Jon’s doing, and he owed James for it.

He was on the waiting car before he had further time to reflect. He laid the injured palm of his left hand painfully against the cold hood, and vaulted up onto the front of the car, sliding across and landing feet first on the pavement. He jammed the key into the lock, and looked up to see the man closing the final distance. He shoved himself into the driver’s seat, pulled the keys out of the lock, and slammed the door. His bleeding hand pushed a button on his centre console as the other gripped and twisted the keys in the ignition. The car started, the doors locked with a reassuring click, and the Volkswagen drove off into the night. ◆ All of this trouble could have been avoided if Jon would have just kept his 14-year-old paws to himself. James did sympathize with his brother’s intention, having performed similarly misguided acts for the attention of girl, but he was determined to never let Jonathan off of the hook.

He’d nearly strangled his sibling when he confessed to not only stealing – here James refused to use the euphemistic term “borrowing” – his first edition copy of Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast, but having it confiscated by a grade nine mathematics teacher. Jonathan, sitting skittishly on a chair in James’ room, detailed his plot to win the heart of an allegedly pretty French-exchange student:

glowing fire exit sign. The backpack was unimportant. His father would be at his neck for losing his prybar and gardening gloves – he’d work on an alibi. Not now. Now: escape.

Hopping over the turnstile, he pushed open the double-doors with both arms in front of him.

The loud bang of the old wooden doors against their stoppers echoed through the empty hall.

The school librarian, cell phone in hand, ran after the amateur book-thief. Having attended this school for all six years of his high school education, James knew the building like the back of his hand. Instinctively, he turned to the right and sprinted down the hallway of the Science wing, knowing that the door at its end would put him out into the gravel lot where his car was parked.

It had been three years since James had last used this particular exit, and he was surprised to find that at some point during this absence the school had elected to expand its parking lot.

The gentle grass slope that once ran down to the gravel lot had been removed to clear room for an extra row of reserved parking, and as he ran out the door into the night, his eyes adjusted just in time to prevent him from bowling headfirst off of a five-foot retaining wall. Turning his run into a stumbling jump, James leapt gracelessly. In the second or two of airborne silence, he could hear the clang of the door re-opening behind him; then, the crunch of gravel under his feet and the pain of his sloppy landing. He ran for his car with the shouts of the librarian ringing in the air behind him. ◆ Ten minutes later, James’ twisted ankle throbbed as he pulled into his parents’ driveway. The librarian might have called the police, but James didn’t care. A cocktail of adrenaline and endorphins swirled deliciously in his brain. It occurred to him that he was still wearing the balaclava; he removed it and tossed it onto the passenger seat.

Lifting the book from underneath it, he opened the car door, his face fresh and cold in the night air. He glanced down at the object in his hands and then dropped it as if it were a handful of burning coals.

No. In the library I – It was dark but I saw – Could I go back? He would have reported – My wallet in my backpack – What was I thinking, leaving that there… It was worth losing for – the book.

The book.

James kicked the book with a curse and it landed, cover spread, on the green turf of the lawn. The endorphins exited his body and held the door open for nausea. James pulled his windbreaker shut and curled his arms around his chest. Struck with the sensation of confinement and the impression that he was a glowing beacon of red fabric, he tore the jacket off and flung it blindly behind him. He shivered in his tee-shirt and imagined a siren in the distance.

And for what?

The night was dark, but a nearby streetlamp created a soft spotlight that fell on the driveway of the Fields’ suburban home. The yellow pool of light glinted off of the hood of the still-running hatchback; it rested on the hunched shoulders of James, and, playing out over the well-manicured lawn, it illuminated a glossy blue dustjacket that read My Brother, Ernest Hemingway: A Biography.

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 3

// Katie So

“I figured, y’know, I could win her over if she saw how much I loved her home country. Didn’t you say the book was about Hemingway living in France?”

“Jonathan, you moron, it’s a Canadian exchange program. She’s from Montréal. This is her home country.”

His already flawed plan went even more awry when, while casually reading the book with the Eiffel Tower on its cover placed deliberately in view of the petite mademoiselle, his instructor, much aggravated by Jonathan’s plainly exhibited lack of interest over the past months, snatched it viciously from his hands. If it were an English literature teacher, perhaps the man would have acted differently. But this was a mathematics teacher – and, more importantly, an angered mathematics teacher – who, blind to the value of the book, walked out of the snickering room and tossed it into a book donation bin down the hall.

The school’s librarian, coming across the book on his daily rounds of the bins, assumed that some kind-hearted collector wanted to share with the children of his community; by the end of the school day it was received, labeled, and filed away on the much-neglected Classic Fiction shelf of the high school library. ◆ That afternoon, James drove to his old high school with the intent of reclaiming his property. However, within minutes of his arrival he reached a stalemate with the well-dressed but ill-humoured librarian, who found it unlikely that a young man would own such a valuable book. What the librarian did find likely, however, was that a young man would certainly see the advantage of owning such a money-fetching item, and would tell any amount of lies in order to ensure the book’s expedient journey to an eBay auction.

It did not help that James’ claim to the book – it was a gift from an uncle – sounded like a fabrication when spoken aloud, or that his less-thanglowing reputation from his high school career still followed him like a spited ghost. No amount of persuading on James’ part would convince the adult of his rightful ownership. The young man vowed to return to the library that night and retrieve the book through less honest, yet completely necessary, methods.

Several hours later, James frantically searched through the darkened library and found his novel next to an apparently untouched copy of The Old Man and the Sea. Assured of the safety of his property, he doubled back to gather his backpack and assorted breaking-in tools.

He was approaching the end of the Reference section when the lights in the library flickered on.

Why was someone in here? James ducked back into the shadow of the bookshelves. Peering through a gap in the bottom row of encyclopedias, he caught a glimpse of a pair of linen-trousered legs as they walked towards the far end of the library. The legs paused in front of an open window, crouched as the man bent to inspect the rope ladder James had used to scale the distance up to the second story, and then swiveled in a sudden about-face.

Abandoning all stealth in a frantic bolt, James weaved through the stacks – first for the fiction section, then the library’s main entrance. Dashing to where his novel was imprisoned, he grabbed the blue book and in a hairpin turn made for the

19

Caboose

open letters to Local graffiti artists

n u g t o ! s Sh w e i Rev

Dear Mrs. Double Bubble Troubles: Marco Ferreira

Dear Mysterious Monkey Maker: Mike Bastien

Dear Mr. Job 38:22: Kevin Murray

Dear dr. Orb Guy: Jonty Devies

I don't know, I don't like it! What's the point of writing that if you can't even read it? I think graffiti is a menace. We walk down our street and I see these big words I can't read and I imagine they say something like “ANAL” or “DRUG.” I don't want your anal drug gangs forcing their way into our family areas. And I don't want any Double Bubble Troubles, or whatever that says, duking it out while I'm trying to air-plane a spoonful of pureed yams into Marco Junior’s cute wittle mouth!

It already takes all my concentration not to airplane or choo-choo his wittle eye out. We need to get a big pack of man-wolves to gun you crimers to hell where you belong. No more revolving door rides or free slaps on the wrists. We need to lock the keys on you idiots once and for all and clean up these streets!

I fear you, because monkeys ... what can’t they do? Speak, see, and do evil if you’re into profound mumbo-jumbo, but seriously, I have seen these loveable primates play hockey, skateboard, and even be undercover agents. At first glance, your picture is just a bunch of monkeys who love Manic Panic and are having a good time, but I have caught onto your dark anthropoid agenda, oh yes. What I find truly terrifying is that these funky monkeys are showing signs of advanced intelligence. These damn dirty stinking apes are encouraging their fellow primates to rise up and overthrow us humans, just like in that movie, Tarzan. We have to do something to keep your proprimate propaganda picture from spreading or else we will be dealing with a chimp pimp known as Caesar. Just think what a monkey invasion would do to the banana industry! On the topic of phallic fruits, don’t you think that bananas should contain more barium and sodium? Who says all the good chemistry jokes argon?

Your cryptic graffiti message sounds like it might point the way to some kind of secret chamber that Harry Potter wants to go into, in search of a magic orb, except for the fact that he is a dirty pagan whose interest in the occult clearly precludes any future visit to heaven; and further, because magic orbs are obviously found on the backs of newspapers, not to mention that your signature suggests that the whole treasure room thing is really just a not-so-clever ruse to try and trick people into under-the-table employment that only pays a flat rate of $38.22 for cleaning rooms at some third-rate roach motel run by a southern States evangelist preacher named Gord who was too drunk on Colt 45 to even remember his own ‘R,’ which sounds a little too much like a pirate curse for me to feel comfortable about this whole treasure room thing, because curses tend to make your testicles turn around, and then you have to pray to God for a cure, but instead Harry Potter shows up and just fails because he is a fictional character without an orb anyway.

You are a wise old man. But what are you building in there? What kind of blacklight delusions and psychoanalytic nightmares are you dreaming up? I’ve seen you before, oh yes. I’ve seen you doing backflips up paradox staircases that meet back on front while you spit on the feet of gravity and kick sand in the eyes of relativity. I’m pretty sure you’re even reading burnt up books on how my girlfriend is my mother ... Oh, that Oedipal slang. You must be the stone that the builder refused. Or maybe you’re the builder. Or maybe your mind’s the stone and you, the architect. Or maybe you disregard the truth: that you, yourself, are a part of the building – a building made of many stones that houses the thoughts and tags of man and boy that lets us speak with paint and poise. They say that if the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite. Then what do you see, wise old man? Maybe you could use a little Windex.

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 3

// Kevin Murray

20

// Mike Bastien

HIP HOP CROSSWORD

// Blake Bamford