Capilano Courier Vol. 45 Issue 21

“Pushing buttons since 1968�

Volume 45

N O R T H V A N C O U V E R / / M arch 1 9 , 2 0 1 2

The

best plant with Gentrification // Human whales // KONY2012 // and so much more ...

Issue N o. 21

TABle of contents Vol. Forty-Five | Issue 21

Pushing buttons since 1968

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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.

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

editor-in-chief

Samantha Thompson

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Columns

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KAtie so

Come Fly With Me

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trikes have been an important factor in Canadian history, particularly with the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919, which saw approximately 30,000 Canadians walk off the job. It began as various industries attempted to negotiate a wage increase with the city. Instead, City Council refused the wage increase and went on to disallow workers from striking, which only further exacerbated the conflict. The Winnipeg General Strike included many civic unions, but also employees in both the private and public sectors – and as a result of their strike, they set the stage for future Canadian labour negotiations.

As of late, however, it seems as though the Canadian government is trying once again to take away the worker’s right to strike – particularly if they work in a sector that is of importance to the “Canadian public”, such as air transportation.

At a recent press conference, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that Air Canada employees needed to come to an agreement with their employer without impacting the Canadian public by striking.

“My concern is not management or labour, my concern is the broader Canadian public, and I think the broader Canadian public overwhelmingly expects the government to act,” Harper said at an event at Toronto’s Billy Bishop airport.

It is with this sentiment that Harper is justifying Bill C-33, the “Protecting Air Service Act”, which will forbid the employer (Air Canada) from locking out its employees, and its employees from striking. It will also call for an arbitrator to provide a final offer selection.

The concerning thing about a final offer is that both sides state the reasons for their requests, and the arbitrator chooses one case over another to create a new agreement.

The Act was rushed through Parliament and was passed on Mar. 15 – a mere three days after it was first introduced in the House of Commons. This type of reactionary legislation is particularly awful because it never looks at the bigger picture. Laws should be made because they hold true for a plethora of situations, and will stand the tests of time as a result of significant debate; laws should be made to last.

Air Canada was planning on locking out their employees at the same time that the employees, including 8,600 mechanics, baggage handlers and other ground crew, and 3,000 pilots, were planning on striking. “We’re not saying the employer is correct and we’re not saying the union is correct,” said Labour Minister Lisa Raitt, in Ottawa. “What we’re saying is the Canadian public is caught in this and we’re going to act because of them.”

What we have to realize, however, is that inconvenience is not an excuse to prevent a group of people from continuing negotiations, including going on strike if necessary. People don’t go on strike because it’s a fun thing to do, or because it’s a pseudo-vacation. They go on strike because they believe they deserve better – because we all deserve better. We deserve to work in conditions that are healthy and safe, and to be paid for our labour with wages that allow us to live comfortably. We are justified in our desire to be respected members of Canada’s labour force.

Among those who identify as right-wingers, unions often have a bad reputation. They are known for causing havoc, allegedly harming the economy, and impeding society’s ability to carry on with business as usual. What seems to be the lesser-known perspective is that unions also advocate for fairer wages, and help to ensure that working conditions are safe and just. They also work to guarantee good benefits like health and dental, and ensure wages increase with inflation.

Katie So is a babe. (www.katieso.tumblr.com)

LEtter to r the Edito Re: Saxton should be defending our right to vote MP Andrew Saxton claims he ran "a clean and honest local campaign" and Conservatives had nothing to do with any misleading calls (North Shore News, March 2, 2012), which they dismiss out of hand.

Yet nothing could be more serious. Our democracy depends on each and every citizen being able to vote for their choice for government.

Interfering with that right is crime that former Chief Electoral Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley said may deserve jail time.

All MPs should condemn any interference in voting, but Mr. Saxton and the Conservative Party are trying to muddy the waters and hide the problem.

Maybe that’s because the allegations seem to benefit Conservative candidates. Maybe because after four years of denial, the Conservative Party was convicted of breaking the law by election exceeding spending limits in 2006 by more than a million dollars.

Too much has happened to dismiss this as the work of a single rogue. Something deeply disturbing is happening to our democracy.

Mr. Saxton should be standing up for a Canada that protects your right to vote, not turning a blind eye.

Yours sincerely, Wayne Easter, MP Liberal Party of Canada

Certainly, unions are the only bodies you ever hear about in relation to strikes. They strike because they have the strength to – their numbers are greater, and when their members work together, they can advocate for a cause and have the chance for a legitimate discussion without intimidation from those in positions of power threatening their job security.

“It’s a sad day for any federally-regulated worker in Canada because this legislation says you do not have the right to strike, period,” Dave Ritchie, head of the Canadian branch of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace workers, told the CBC upon Bill C-33 passing. “This will undermine free collective bargaining and poison labour relations across Canada.”

In Feb. 2012, Statistics Canada reported that 4,570,000 Canadians were either a member of a labour union or covered by a union contract or collective agreement. The average hourly wage for these members is $26.86; those who are not covered by a union have an average hourly wage of $21.99.

When the Conservative government argues that they are enacting legislation against striking for the benefit of Canadians, this justification does not ring true. Although your initial reaction may be relief that your flight is not cancelled, in the long run, this legislation will have a negative impact on Canada. By passing this bill, the government is making it okay for a governing body to legislate in matters that are typically restricted to the employer and the union. They are instilling fear, and setting a precedent that if a contract negotiation is not going well, there is no reason to strike because the government will simply intervene (we see this happening repeatedly in B.C. whenever the teachers’ employment contract comes up for negotiation).

Harper has also said that “the position of Air Canada is different,” and that the bill was only proposed because Air Canada is “the largest airline in the country and a shutdown of service … would have significant impact not only on airline service to Canadians, but on the transportation system as a whole, and potentially on the economy.”

What is overlooked is that unions, too, can benefit the economy. By fighting for secure jobs with fair wages, unions are ensuring that people are comfortable and safe in their employment. As a result, people will have extra money that they can recycle back into the economy by buying more goods and services. In fact, the World Bank released a statement saying unions are good for the economy, because they result in lower unemployment and inflation, higher productivity, and speedier recovery from economic shocks.

Just because something is inconvenient doesn’t mean that we should implement legislation to stop it from happening. Canadians have a right to speak up about their concerns and be heard without it instantly being made illegal. This legislation is actively trying to limit the rights of employees to advocate for fairness and taking away any chance they had to negotiate a better contract.

When we allow the government to intervene in this manner, to make reactionary legislation that is being implemented only because something would be inconvenient for the economy, we are allowing them to take over and think on our behalf – and too often with this government, what is best for Canadians has been overlooked for what is, supposedly, best for the economy. Time and time again, however, we have seen that this not true, because other, more important things have been sacrificed instead. We must speak up and let Harper know that this kind of rushed legislation is unacceptable.

— Samantha Thompson // editor-in-chief

The Voicebox

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) 886-5070.

“What’s the point in all this health food that’s going around?”

Aside from the obvious, I’d say, well, maybe there’s something to be said about taking the sweet nectar of the earth (berries and shit), and shoving it into your mouth. I mean, for me personally, it’s a more viable option than the facial injections that some opt for.

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I guess ultimately it’s about the big picture rather than the little things.

For me, the big picture is about a long-term natural progression into everything sagging down, with a keen attention to doing my best to stop the saggage by buying overpriced products and treatments.

I recently bought a “micro dermabrasion” on Groupon which, to those of you unaware, is a facial treatment in which a woman in a dental hygienist costume comes in and vacuums out your pores while talking to you about the history of skin types. I promise it’s even better than I’m making it sound. Anyway, so this woman starts telling me that the office also offers botox and face lifts, you know, just in case I’m interested. Yeah lady, I know about the bags under my eyes, but let me tell you that they’re only up there because I’m up late at night watching re-runs of The Voice … while drinking my Vega supplement smoothie mixed with Acai berries and spirulina. What up!

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

“Homeless” at Capilano Six students sleep on campus to raise money, awareness

By Leah Scheitel // writer

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 21

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veryone in Metro Vancouver knows that we have a homelessness issue, that we have a lot of people on the streets and that shelters are overcrowded … [but] there is this horrible stigma surrounding it,” says Teresa Grant, social justice coordinator for the Capilano Students’ Union.

Grant was one of the organizers for the 5 Days for the Homeless event, which started on campus on Mar. 12.

“It’s a national campaign, and it essentially involves students from universities sleeping outside to garner attention to the issues surrounding youth homelessness in the city,” Grant explains.

“At Cap, we’re really hitting hard with different events throughout the week to highlight issues specific to Metro Vancouver, and even more specifically North Vancouver. We have six students who are sleeping outside for the five days, and they’re from all different programs.”

Dolly Reno is a film student and was one of the “homeless” volunteers for the event. She has personal reasons for participating in the campaign: “I think that the main reason is that when I was 16, I was homeless. I was in Montreal, and I was homeless for a couple of months. I just got out of a really intense relationship that got me there.

At this point, it just seems so far away from that point to where I am now. Homelessness is still all around me even though it’s not me. It just struck a chord because it’s a really huge issue. I’m well off at this point, but I know that there [are] a lot of other people that could use help.”

Reno also took advantage of the opportunity by filming footage for a documentary about the experience. “[The documentary] is about the event itself and the process of the other five participants and what they go through, intertwined with what this event can do; what it does for the participants and their understanding of what homelessness is,” says Reno.

She plans to make a ten-minute promo of the film for the CSU, as well as a 30-minute documentary that she will send out to film festivals.

For each day of the campaign, Grant focused attention on a different issue related to homelessness, such as mental health and addictions, First Nations homelessness, and youth homelessness.

Grant hopes to raise attention about the homelessness issues specifically in North Vancouver. “When I tell people [about homelessness], people say, ‘Well, it’s a great cause, but there are no homeless in the North Shore’. Actually, the statistics were just released for Metro Vancouver homeless numbers, and the North Shore is tied for third in terms of the worst population of homelessness. It’s clearly an issue here and no one knows much about it,” says Grant.

The last day of the event featured a forum with local politicians and community leaders, including Jane Thornthwaite, the MLA for North Vancouver-Seymour; and Richard Walton, the Mayor of the District of North Vancouver, as well as some representatives from local homeless shelters.

So far, the campaign has raised well over $3,000 dollars from sponsors, and more donations are expected to come in. However, despite

// Jason Jeon the event now being over, Grant hopes that people will continue to donate to the cause. “There are lots of ways that people can donate. If it’s easier, people can go onto our website, 5days. ca.” All of the funds raised by the CSU are going to the North Shore Youth Housespace.

Grant is hopeful that the event has raised awareness and promoted conversations about the issues: “I’m really into visual demonstrations that are respectful, and that foster dialogue. This

is a cool visual way to bring up conversation. It was also really important that we weren’t saying, ‘Oh, here are some privileged, primarily white students who are going to see what it is kind of like to be homeless for five days,” she says, referring to the fact that the supplementary events were put on to provide a deeper analysis of the issues.

Reno thinks that the event resonated with students, as many carry financial burdens while go-

ing to university. “I don’t think we have the total understanding of what it means to have nothing except for the clothing on your back, and sometimes not even a lot of that,” says Reno. “We’re not far off from that situation as students. I think most of us worry about where we’re going to sleep or what we’re going to eat almost everyday, or at least every month, because we can’t afford to pay for our own education, let alone our living.”

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HIGH SCHOOL: “A BABYSITTING SERVICE” BCTF strike ignites much debate

By Victoria Fawkes // staff writer

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n Mar. 5, over 570,000 public school students all over the province rejoiced for three days straight. The reason? Teachers across B.C. went on strike, something that happens most times when the government and teacher’s union are bargaining. The strike affects students, teachers, and parents, often for days at a time. Other than the demand for a pay increase, the grievances that teachers are bringing to light were overcrowded classes, lack of funding, and lack of support for special needs students – all things that are brought up every time a new contract is negotiated.

The last time British Columbia’s teachers went on strike was Oct. 7, 2005. The strike was a response to Bill 12, which was introduced by the Liberal party and ordered an end to job action.

It lasted 15 days, and was only resolved when recommendations from strike mediator Vince Ready were accepted by vote. However, every time that there is a strike, it provokes a debate across the province with many critics either taking a side with the government’s position, or the B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF).

While it may be true that the underfunding of the public school system affects children when they are in elementary and high school, more importantly, it may also affect the performance

of students in post-secondary institutions.

Taylor Ramsay, a first-year student at Capilano University, feels that her high school education did not adequately prepare her for post-secondary school. “I am a firm believer that high school is a babysitting service. I was able to get above average grades with minimal effort, so coming into university was hard for me because I wasn’t taught how to effectively study, which I believe is crucial for getting good grades in university,” says Ramsay, who spent her high school years at Argyle Secondary School in North Vancouver.

Ramsay was also one of the many students affected by the teachers’ strike back in 2005, though at that time she was only in grade six, and saw the strike as a surprise vacation.

Although the teachers’ strike did not affect Ramsay then, she can sympathize with high school students, due to the job action not allowing teachers to do any work outside of regular school hours, which includes writing report cards. This includes grade 12 students, who require such documents for university admission.

Ramsay also believes that there is a serious gap in the number of teachers that deserve the improvements they demand and those who do not: “Some teachers were much more supportive than others. For certain subjects, I don’t think that the curriculum is standardized enough, which gives teachers the ability to teach things that I don’t think are relevant. For the most part, I do

think that teachers could do more, and more importantly that the curriculum should be changed and enhanced.”

“I can personally say that in my entire high school experience, I had one teacher who I didn’t think needed to improve,” she adds.

While Ramsay is one student who was unhappy with her high school experience, a student’s transitional experience from secondary to postsecondary may in part be unavoidable due to the differences between the two types of institutions.

Edward Hamilton, who is the co-chair of the Communications division and teaches first-year classes at Capilano University, believes that any student thrown into an unfamiliar setting may feel overwhelmed: “I think students are more than prepared in terms of their ability to form opinions and gather information, and their willingness to engage in debate and discussion,” he says.

Hamilton continues, “Where students are unprepared is probably the same place that students have always been unprepared - that is, with the culture shock of entering university for the first time. The university is like a foreign country to many; characterized by weird customs, odd rituals, bizarre expectations, and a strange language. We go slow in a society that moves fast.

We expect detailed support and explanation in a society that craves immediate answers.”

When asked whether the teachers’ strike

affected him, Hamilton says that though he was not directly affected by the strike, he did sympathize with the teachers.

“Education is drastically underfunded in this province. B.C. teachers’ compensation is among the lowest in Canada, while the cost of living in Vancouver is the highest. But teachers’ pay is just part of it; the more significant dimension is lack of support to classrooms,” he explains. “Larger class sizes, few teaching aids for students with special needs, fewer resources for teaching and learning. The B.C. government does not support students adequately; this is the major point of the strike.”

Indeed, lack of school support is where teachers think British Columbia’s school system is lacking, which was their main concern during the strike. With ever-growing class sizes and lack of support for special needs students, B.C.’s teachers believe that the government is neglecting them.

And although the strike ended on Mar. 7, the teachers have made their message heard to the public, as the government continues to debate Bill 22 in Victoria, a bill that would ban further job action, among other things.

However, if past precedent is considered, this may cause the teachers to strike in retaliation.

So, whether British Columbia’s teachers deserve the improvements they’re asking for or need to work harder, one thing is for sure: they’re not going down without a fight.

Vacancy at Capilano University Lack of student candidates for Board of Governor/Senate elections

By Victoria Fawkes // staff writer

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document was a more detailed explanation about the process. So, there was almost no change to the process, it just outlined it more clearly, so that if anyone had a question, they could get their own answer and it would be clear and transparent,” says McCredie. “I included additional information around the election process, so the timing of the elections, or the time frame of the elections, as well as some description around campaigning, when elections results are posted, and how appeals would be managed,” she adds.

The new policy may also have been informed by the events of last year’s election, which had to be recalled due to a complaint that were submitted against two student candidates. The complaint alleged that the two candidates, currently sitting BOG/Senate representative David Clarkson and unsuccessful Senate candidate Justin Lew, had broken election rules by campaigning during the voting period. As a result, the registrar decided that the election results should be scrapped and held again, which ended up with all of the same candidates elected except one.

The new procedure provides more detail around how electoral complaints are dealt with.

“There’s an appeal committee, chaired by myself, or the Vice-President Academic and Provost.

[The complaint] is sent to the committee for review, and decision comes out of the committee,” explains McCredie.

However, the proposed policy did not pass without some controversy. Didlick and the other student representatives voiced their concerns to the Senate, following the package of amendments that were suggested by McCredie. She, along with

the other student senators, were worried that the new amendments would have negative effects, and spoke up against the supposed disservice to students. They called for more time to consider the proposed changes.

“The conflict was that, despite the fact that Senate representatives objected to what affected them, it seemed as though we were not able to have a significant enough voice to be listened to and appreciated by the Senate,” says Didlick.

Didlick also sat on the subcommittee that wrote the procedure; however, she felt that her concerns were pertinent enough to bring up again when it came for final approval at the Senate.

The issue that the student representatives were mainly concerned about was the part of the new policy that stated who would be eligible to vote and/or run in the election. According to the rules that were proposed at the January Senate meeting, students who were either on academic probation or had outstanding financial holds did not have the eligibility to vote or stand for election.

At that meeting, the policy was approved, except for the portion that Didlick and the other students expressed concern about, which was sent back for revision. As of the February Senate meeting, though, the definition of an eligible voting student is merely a student enrolled in at least one course at Capilano University.

Despite the fact that different parties have some disagreements on the issues surrounding elections, they all agree on the importance of including the student body in the decision-making process. “I would hate to see a student seat ever be empty. That kind of community engagement is critical to the success of the institution,” says McCredie.

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 21

he way Capilano University elects students and faculty to Capilano University’s Board of Governors (BOG) and Senate may not be as dramatic as the US presidential election or as comedic as the late 1990s coming-of-age film Election, but thanks to new procedures that governed this year’s election, the level of drama and controversy certainly did rise a little higher than normal. Notably, this year’s BOG/Senate election, which was due to conclude on Apr. 2, has seen a lack of interested candidates to contest all of the positions.

The positions that were up for election were for four students to sit on the Senate and two to sit on the Board of Governors, both of which together constitute the highest-governing bodies of Capilano University. However, there was only one nomination for the student position on the BOG, from incumbent Senator Brandon Hofmarks, and only four nominations for the positions on Senate, from Hofmarks, David Clarkson, Jared Nash, and Jenna Theny. All of the nominees were acclaimed to their positions.

The closing date for nominations was during the middle of reading break, which has been brought up at Senate as something that potentially had a negative effect on the turnout of both student and faculty candidates.

Hofmarks is one student member of the Senate who saw a problem with the closing date. “Last year it wasn’t during the break, and at that time, we had eight people nominated for the Board of Governors and six people for Senate, so clearly this year was a mistake,” says Hofmarks.

Many of the faculty positions also suffered from a lack of candidates. “It was expressed by certain faculty members that it might be unreasonable for them to be able to nominate themselves for a Senate position because of the absence of pay and the time commitment,” says Kelsey Didlick, a sitting student Senator, of the increasingly low number of staff senate members.

“Currently, there are five faculty positions vacant, and the Senate is clearly lacking a faculty presence and point of view … There are a lot of decisions that need to be made and I think it’s disappointing that there’s no faculty presence yet,” she explains.

“I think we’ve had inconsistent showing,” says Karen McCredie, Registrar of Capilano University, in reference to the number of candidates every year. “The variation of impact can range widely, so I wouldn’t want to come up with an idea [why].”

McCredie is responsible for administering the election every year. On the subject of how elections are advertised, she says, “Every senator has a responsibility to discuss that [advertising] with their constituents. We also put information up on the TV monitors around campus, and on the Internet. We also send an email to teachers.”

At the last Senate meeting, the possibility of holding a by-election for both faculty and students was discussed, although no decision was made.

The new procedures that governed this year’s election were brought forward by McCredie and the committee responsible for setting election policy in an effort to bring more clarity to the election process.

“The big difference in the procedure

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News

HIGH-RISE ASSEMBLY ON MAIN STREET Mt. Pleasant's development push comes under fire

By Colin Spensley // columns editor

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the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 21

he District, Lido, Majestic On Main, Meccanica by Cressey, and The Rize are a few titles which have been given to the newest development projects slated for construction on the north side of Vancouver’s popular Main Street. What functions to some residents as a vibrant and passionate community is simply a transportation hub for many others in the area, and as large-scale condos and apartment complexes continue to push their way out from downtown core into the less densely populated areas of the city, advocates for stronger communities and social housing have spoken out in force regarding what some are referring to as the monoliths of Main Street.

The Rize development project, which would occupy the entire west corner block of the Main & Kingsway intersection, has residents of this community divided on the issue of sustainability versus community, and growth versus culture. Originally projected as a 26-storey high rise in 2007, the aptly named Rize project has quickly been reduced to a 19-storey complex after members of the community spoke out about the vastness of a 260-foot tall building placed in

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// Jason Jeon

the center of a part of the city known for its low traffic and hip culture.

“We feel high-density development in this location, with such good accessibility to transit, merits a higher form of development. So, we thought that 19 storeys was a reasonable fit for the site,” said city planner Matt Shillito in an interview with the Vancouver Sun. And he's not alone in this belief: advocates for sustainable city planning practices claim that vertical building is the answer to urban sprawl, and this is clearly the case with the 421 additional apartments that would be added to the area upon the completion of the Rize project.

“In conformance with the Mt. Pleasant Community Plan and alongside the city, we submitted our rezoning application in 2010 for the original 26-storey building,” says Christopher Vollan, Vice President of Rize Alliance Properties. “On request from city staff we reduced the building plan from 26 storeys to 19 storeys. The only modification since then was the removal of the artist amenities space as requested by the city [instead giving] a cash donation to the area which worked out to $6.25 million.”

One of the most debated issues since this revisal of the building plan has been the artist

spaces, although city council feels the money could be better spent elsewhere.

“Most of the concern from the opposition comes from the community plan itself and three other identified sites that could become high-rise or high-density,” says Vollan regarding the outcry of disapproval from a large part of the community.

The Mt. Pleasant community plan itself does call for restriction on many high-rise buildings but condones them in certain areas: “Mostly lowto mid-rise buildings, high-rises only on selected sites. Emphasize infill opportunities in achieving density objectives.”

“What we want to see is visible positive change with the funds provided going towards the community,” says Vollan on where the $6.25 million would go. “We would have preferred to keep the artists space, but the money is in the city's hands now and we have no say what is done with it.”

Although where this donated money will go in the community is yet to be determined, Ivan Drury of the Carnegie Community Action Project, a housing activist group, would very much like to see the money donated by Rize go to more social housing.

“CCAP wants all three levels of government to

build social housing in every neighbourhood in Vancouver. Every neighbourhood, even the richest, has low-income people, low-wage workers, women fleeing abuse, people grappling with addictions and other health issues, and every neighbourhood needs social housing,” he explains.

Drury also warns of the effects high-rise development could have on surrounding areas the proposed high-rise: “Immediately to the east of the Rize project are blocks and blocks of apartments where a lot of low-income families, lowwage and irregular workers, racialized migrant people, and Aboriginal people live. Those blocks are some of the only places where some people are able to leave the Downtown Eastside and find housing.”

He adds, “I'm afraid that these apartment blocks may be eyed with interest by speculators and investors if Mt. Pleasant becomes attractive to condo developers.”

With the public hearings still under way at City Hall, it is unclear what city council will do regarding the outcome of the Rize project. With a clear and urgent outcry from a large majority of local residents, the project's future is still uncertain.

Public hearings regarding The Rize continue at City Hall on Mar. 27 at 7pm local time, and can be viewed live via City Hall's website.

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m o n day m a r c h 1 9 THE BEGINNING OF TEEN SPRING BREAK By teen I mean high school. Ughhhh soooo jeaalouuss offff teeeeeeeeeeeennnsss!!!!

TEEENNNSS ARRRREEE SOOOOO COOOOOOOLLL HUULLLKKKIINNNGGGG ARRGGHHH!!!!!

LADY ANTEBELLUM From JJ: Country rock trio plays the barn! It's like Taylor Swift had three older siblings and one of them was really hot! I like that "quarter after one” song, and if you don't like it, then you can suck a lemon! 7 PM. Pacific Collosseum. $41.25 – $108.75

MONDAY KARAOKE LA LA LA LADY’S NIGHT I love karaoke! I love it! Plus crazy cheap drink specials ($10 pitchers yes please thank you)!

The Astoria also has a variety of vegan and non-vegan food and freeee pooool! Check out their song catalogue at karaoke.weekendleisure. com and find yr faveys so you can put ‘em all in at the beginning of the night and be that bitch who keeps goin’ up and singin’! 9:30 PM. The Astoria. Free!

FLO RIDA AND PITBULL Self explanatory! Do I even need to convince you to go to this? Nope. PS just in case you haven’t figured it out yet, Flo Rida = Florida. BAM. Also, Pitbull had that awesome song about hotels.

7:30 PM. Rogers Arena. $61.55/76.50.

RADICAL ARTING AND ZINE MAKING Two art events in one night??? Yes! So, if you don’t know me, go to this if you’re into making radical art and zines. Make friends, make art!

Bring some supplies! 6 – 9 PM. Rhizome Cafe (317 E. Broadway St.). By Donation!

SERIOUS ISSUES According to the event page, this is “a party for young people interested in serious issues and partying. Featuring drinking, dancing, drinking, and short multimedia presentations on creative activism.” Awesomely, this party will be catered

by Nuba Cafe, so you can get your snack on as well as dancing and talking about interesting social issues! 8 PM. The Waldorf Hotel. $10.

HORSE OPERA What is this?? Is this an actual horse opera? I think it’s a really cool band name. Anyways, free live music at Falconetti’s! Horse Opera and Yer Blues. Seriously, there’s always the chance that it’s actually a horse opera. 9 PM. Falconetti’s (1812 Commercial Dr.). Free!

CHEAP SHOW AT THE BILTMORE! Featuring Robert Schwartzmann, frontman of Rooney (remember??), The Relationship (featuring Brian Bell from Weezer OMG WEEZER), and Jasper Sloan Yip, featuring I think at least one dude that goes to Cap. 8 PM. The Biltmore. $8.

TO DINE FOR = BEST NEW RESTAURANT IN TOWN Read my review of it omg you guys it’s so good literally the best burger I’ve ever eaten FUCK THE WORLD ALL THE GOOD THINGS HAVE HAPPENED TO ME I THINK.

ACTUAL EVENT The Zapato Negro Trio is playing at Presentation House! The event page describes them as “Vancouver's finest Afro-Cuban jazz with Andre Carrasquero (piano), Allan Johnston (bass) and Soto (drums).” Check it out! My only complaint about this weekly event is that the free tea options are rather limited. 8 PM. Presentation House (333 Chesterfield Ave.). $10 (free tea/cookies)

DAVID BLAKE AND BRENT MAH TRIO Jazz? Jazz! Dave (guitar) and Brent (saxophone) both used to go to Capilano U’s Jazz Program and now they’re killin’ musicians, so check it out! Plus, the venue, Raw Canvas, is really cool and you can paint in the back room! Canvases cost money but paint is free! 8 – 10 PM. Raw Canvas (1046 Hamilton St.). $5.

HIGHER LEARNING FT. SAFETY SHOW + HERMETIC Fun! “:: live music :: DJs :: $5 (20 oz) Kronenbourg & Peroni :: $6.50 Classic Cocktails.”

That’s literally exactly the description on the Facebook event page. Hermetic and Safety Show are sweet though! Partyingggggg!!! 9 PM – 2 AM. Library Square. $6/5.

EXPRESSWAY TO YR VINYL COLLECTION In honour of Sonic Youth’s (unofficial) break-up, “two local nerds are bringing you a Sonic Youth appreciation night” and will be spinning mad Sonic Youth, as well as other old, classic, Sonic Youth-esque vinyl. Wooooop! 9 PM. Pat’s Pub. Price Unlisted (probably cheap).

CENTENNIAL HERITAGE FOUNDATION SHOW Okay, I’m pretty much 100 per cent sure that one of the ladies who sings in the seniors choir that I volunteer with helped organize this, so it’s going in! “Historian Ivan Sayers helps celebrate St. Andrew's United Church's 100th anniversary with a glimpse of the last century through fashion.” And it sounds like it could be neat too! 1 PM. St. Andrew’s United Church (1044 St. George’s Ave.). $25.

THE DEATH OF PROPER ENGLISH “As part of SFU Philosophers' Café, SFU prof Sean Zwagerman asks if Twitter, texting, popular music, and multiple literacies are contributing to the death of grammatical correctness.” LOL WTF rofl rofl rofl. 3 PM. La Zuppa (1544 Lonsdale Ave.). Free!

COLIN JAMES@ELECTRIC OWL “Saskatchewan native Colin James is a multiplatinum selling artist with an international following and 12 solo albums in the blues, rock and neo-swing vein.” He’ll be accompanied by the Black Hen House Band which includes Steve Dawson, Keith Lowe, Geoff Hicks, and (in rotation) either Daniel Lapp on fiddle or trumpet or Chris Gestrin on keys. 8 PM. The Electric Owl. $23 advance/$25 at door.

DESIGNING RESILIENT & REGENERATIVE CITIES AND SUBURBS A full day workshop! Does the idea of “tools for working with social systems to create a context for abundance” sound appealing to you?

Then check out this event, starring author Toby Hemenway, who wrote the book Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture. Neat! Coffee, tea, and morning snacks will be included.

9:30 AM – 4:30 PM. John Braithwaite Centre (145 W. 1st St.). $85.

t u e s day march 20 ART PARTY AT MY HOUSE I’m having people over to do art! If you wanna do art, and I know you, you should come! If I don’t know you, I’ll probably turn you away, sorry.

Unless you’re super rad. So. Um. Yeah. Come to my party (or don’t)! PS: BYOCS (bring your own craft supplies eg. paint, clay, colouring books). 7 PM. My House. Free!

we d n e s day mar. 21 DID ANYONE HEAR ABOUT THE GUY FROM THE KONY2012 VIDEO He got caught masturbating in public LOL LOL I literally can’t stop laughing in my heart about this, what a hilarious mistake. I may regret saying this because more info will probably arise about this and shit, but right now, it’s just like, omg, lol, I want the lol I’m feeling to last forever.

t h u r s day mar. 22 OK VANCOUVER OK RECORD RELEASE + ART SHOW Not only are Ok Vancouver Ok releasing a record, it’s also a tour kickoff and someone’s birthday!

This show will have 100 hand-painted (by Jeff, lead singer/guitar player) album covers displayed and on sale by donation. Entry is free!

7 – 11 PM. Little Mountain Gallery. Free!

friday march 23 ANIMA AND ANIMUS: BRIDGE TO THE SOUL “The Vancouver Jung Society presents a lecture

by Karen Evers-Fahey on the terms Jung used to describe the personification of feminine psychological tendencies within a man or masculine psychological tendencies within a woman.” Mind blowingggg! 7:30 PM. Museum of Vancouver (1100 Chestnut St.). $15.

saturday mar . 24

CANADIAN TUXEDO MASK(ERADE) Cheetah is throwing a RAGER LOL JK IT’S JUST A REGULAR PARTY SO PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL. She claims there will be a prize for most beautiful/creative all-denim ensemble, so you should figure that out asap. “My house gets really hot, it’s really small,” says Cheetah. 9 PM. Cheetah’s House. Free!

sunday march 25 BREAKING NEWS Nicki Minaj calls Justin Bieber a “fake idiot”!

Two of my favey people, oh no! I hate it when celebrities that I like don’t like each other.

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 21

10 YEARS OF THE ARTS Little Mountain Gallery is celebrating its ten-year anniversary! Pro Fact: when it first opened, it was called The Butchershop! Performances by Chris-A-Riffic, Hannah Epperson, Slight Birching, Adrian Teacher, and Loose Tights are to be expected. You know what else can be expected?

Fun Times. 5 – 11 PM. Little Mountain Gallery (195 E. 26th St.). Pay What You Can!

FUNDRAISER SHOW FOR MAYDAY In case you’re unaware, “May day is an international focus day on labour resister history!”

The show features Lunch Lady (COOLEST BAND), Forced Laugh, Menopause, and Consenting Adult. The money raised will go towards supples and space rental for May Day. “Capitalists/cops/ 'professional politicians' are not welcome.”

Yesss!!!!! 6:30 PM. Graceland (The Mansion).

By Donation.

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F e at u r e s

➽

ED I TO R S / / Sarah vitet + Samantha T hompson // s pe c i al fe ature s . c apc o uri e r@ gmai l . c o m

HOW TO BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST Protester and documentarian has all the details

By Eric Mark Do // The Eyeopener (Ryerson University)

T

ORONTO (CUP) – Derek Soberal stands along a police barrier with a crowd in Nathan Phillips Square as a part of a January protest against Toronto budget cuts.

Holding a small camera, he films the scene as tension grows between the protesters and police.

The situation erupts as a protester attempts to break through the line. In the ensuing chaos, a police officer knocks Soberal’s camera down and punches him in the face before stomping on the camera. However, when Soberal crosses the police barrier in an attempt to retrieve his camera, he is arrested and charged with unlawful assembly, mischief, and two counts of obstructing a police officer.

A photo in the Toronto Sun shows Soberal in handcuffs, bruised and bloody. He quotes Martin Luther King, Jr. in rationalizing why he went over the police barrier to retrieve his camera, containing potential evidence of the alleged assault: “I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.”

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 21

BABY STEPS

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Soberal has gone from being unable to recite his phone number without stuttering to being a prominent voice of the Toronto protest scene, featured on the CBC’s Lang and O’Leary Exchange and credited in a G20 edition of The Fifth Estate. He also created an activist-based YouTube channel, TheSecretStore, with over 5,000 subscribers and 3.5 million upload views, as well as the 35,000-member Occupy Canada Facebook page.

But January’s budget protest was not Soberal’s first run-in with Toronto police. His life as an activist and citizen journalist started with the 2010 G20 protests and Ryerson’s now-defunct CKLN radio station’s Word of Mouth Wednesday program.

“Basically, I got involved because of the G20 summit,” says Soberal. “That was my first protest … and I exercised my rights at that time. I got invited onto the show by [host] Daniel Libby to talk about the experience.”

He would become a regular on Libby’s show, eventually earning the title of CKLN programmer.

“Derek is attracted to media attention,” says Libby. “He’s not afraid to talk to reporters when they’re around.”

His ability to speak on the radio and communicate with the media is a hard-earned skill – from the time he was a toddler until his teens, Soberal underwent speech therapy. Today, he speaks with near-perfect clarity, pausing occasionally if his stutter starts to creep back in.

He says this ability to speak publicly is inspired

by Libby: “[Libby] was confident on the radio, and my voice was cracking the first time,” Soberal says. “I learned from him.”

miered at the Student Campus Centre on Gould Street as part of the Ryerson Student Union’s “Xpressions Against Oppression” week.

One scene in the documentary shows security footage from Soberal’s condominium, a block away from Ryerson, about two months after the G20 protests. As he tells it, Soberal noticed a police car across the street with its lights off, so he approached the officer and asked a few questions.

After saying goodbye, the police officer then drove away and came back, accusing him of loitering and forcefully pushing him. After running from the officer who pushed him, Soberal was detained by as many as 12 officers who seem to come out of nowhere. He also claims that while they searched him, they were calling him a drug addict, an alcoholic and mentally unstable.

“My cell phone and iPad were getting searched,” he recalls. Though he was eventually released without charge, he felt it was a message: “I felt like I was being targeted … I felt like it was a threat; I felt intimidated.”

Toronto G20 Exposed was used as a source for The Fifth Estate’s episode "You Should Have Stayed At Home", with Soberal given special thanks in the credits. When the Occupy Wall Street movement was happening, Soberal created the Facebook page “Occupy Canada”.

That prompted a producer from the CBC to contact him to be interviewed on the Lang and O’Leary Exchange. Soberal appeared on the

show on Oct. 14, the eve of mass demonstrations worldwide, including Occupy Toronto.

“We are all a part of the change that we want to see,” says Soberal. “I think university activism and community activism are all connected.”

UP NEXT Soberal says he may be taking action against the Toronto police, but not until his trial for the camera incident is over. Soberal’s father Richard found out about the arrest from a friend.

“I was pretty disturbed … I turned on the TV and they kept replaying it,” he says. “They showed him in handcuffs and bringing him into city hall.

That upset me.”

Four people were arrested at the rally, but only Soberal was detained overnight. Richard says he thinks they purposefully kept Soberal because he had been in the public eye as part of protest movements.

Hel was raised near the intersections of Jane Street and Finch Avenue West, an area with an unsavoury reputation.

“I mean, when we were living there, you had to stick up for yourself,” recalls Richard. “You couldn’t run away from anything because the kids would be on your back. [Derek] got in some fights and that, but you know, it was just normal stuff.”

Soberal says the experience was formative and helped make him who he is. “Growing up in Jane and Finch was a great place — it creates adversity, but it creates character,” he says. “And that’s my home.”

“Moving down here now, down here is just the center of everything, ‘the big city’. If he was living outside the city, I don’t think he would be involved like he is,” says Soberal’s father. Arguably, he’s more concerned for his son now than when they lived at Jane and Finch.

“Personally, I told him to back off [the activism] for a while and that’s the way I feel now,” he says.

"I’m proud of him for what he’s doing, he’s putting in a lot of effort and he knows what he’s talking about, but I’m just scared that something bad is going to happen to him.”

Richard is especially concerned because Derek’s brother Shawn passed away in 2009 at the age of 33. The family has not disclosed the circumstances involved in Shawn’s death. “I lost one son and I don’t want to lose another,” Richard says. “As a father, I’m just worried.”

But Soberal has no plans on stopping. He’s still filming and editing videos, and still strongly believes in activism and citizen journalism. He wears his brother’s jacket when he attends protests, saying he feels protected by it.

“I think everyone has to recognize that we have the freedom of assembly and the freedom of speech and we must exercise all of it,” says Soberal.

“We have voices, we gotta speak out; we have bodies, we gotta stand up," he says. “It’s about being there for something that you stand behind.

We have a climate in Canada where it’s winter and a lot of people can’t get out. We’re hoping for a Canadian Spring.”

GETTING OUT THERE Through the radio show, the pair promoted Toronto G20 Exposed, a documentary produced

by Soberal. The film highlights questionable police actions during the G20 weekend, and pre-

// Sarah Taylor

f e at u r e s

BABY BELUGAS ARE PEOPLE TOO The great cetacean slavery debate in ‘slavery’ is a violation of the Constitution’s 13th amendment, which prohibits slavery between humans.

“With all due respect, the court does not have the authority,” said Theodore Shaw, Sea World’s attorney. “Neither orcas nor any other animal were included in the ‘We the people’…when the Constitution was adopted.”

WHALE GEEKS

By Samantha Thompson // editor-in-chief

“I

GRADUAL IMPROVEMENTS The Vancouver Aquarium has had an interesting history with their cetaceans. They were the first aquarium in the world to capture and display an orca, but in 1996 they signed an agreement with the Vancouver Parks Board that said they wouldn’t capture cetaceans from the wild for display purposes, and would only borrow or transfer cetaceans from other facilities if they met a list of provisions.

The aquarium has allegedly violated this agreement, with the transfer of a dolphin from Japan in 2001. Advocacy groups like No Whales in Captivity (a group that presented at the AAAS’ conference) have accused the bylaw of being full of loopholes. Since 1996, the debate on whether or not cetaceans should be kept in captivity at all has resurfaced several times.

Christianne Wilhelmson, executive director of an advocacy group called Georgia Straight Alliance, notes that the aquarium has made improvements.

“They rescue marine mammals from death, they take them in, they bring them back to health and many times they return them to the marine environment,” she says.

The aquarium is now host to several research and protection programs, including the Marine Mammal Rescue and Rehabilitation Program, the B.C. Wild Killer Whale Adoption Program and the B.C. Cetacean Sightings Network.

“In this day and age you cannot paint these institutions in the way you used to thirty or forty years ago,” says Wilhelmson. “There are obviously still issues, and…we need to continue to have this conversation. [We need to] still look for better ways for those marine mammals that cannot be returned to the environment, how we can give them a good life and then also create a situation where children and adults can get a better connection [with the marine environment].”

PROTECTED BY LAW Although the Declaration of Cetacean Rights is aiming to give cetaceans a list of privileges, in Canada there are already a series of strict rules that are in place. Whales have been protected from commercial whaling in 1972 under the Fisheries Act of Canada, and B.C.’s Wildlife Act (the exception is Aboriginal hunting).

There are also regulations laid out by various bodies that outline the nature in which Continued on page 11 …

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 21

nternational law manifests a growing sense of duty to whales and dolphins; contemporary ethical reflection brings new theoretical tools to bear on cetacean moral status; and scientific research gives us novel insights in the complexities of cetacean minds and societies,” reads a statement on Cetaceanrights. org, a website that details the recently popular Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans.

In late February, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) requested support for this declaration, a document created at a conference in Finland in 2010. The declaration outlines a series of rights for whales and dolphins, including the right to life, freedom of movement, protection of their natural environment, and freedom from being property of a State, corporation, human group or individual.

The declaration demands that the rights and freedoms outlined in the document be protected under international and domestic law.

It was created in 2010, but the recent endorsement of the AAAS created significant publicity.

They held their meeting in Vancouver in late February, and brought together zoologists and ethicists to evaluate the merits of granting these rights to dolphins and whales. Professor Tom White, from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, told the BBC that dolphins were “non-human persons”.

One of the reasons that the Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans was created in the first place, and the reason that PETA can successfully create a court case against the slavery of whales, is because science has proven that cetaceans (mammals best adapted to life in water, including whales, dolphins and porpoises) have welldeveloped brains and a level of self awareness comparable to that of humans.

Cetaceans have demonstrated an understanding of a concept of ‘you’ – they can look in the mirror and know that they are looking at themselves. While most of the studies have been done around dolphins, other cetaceans have demonstrated similar characteristics.

Dolphins have shown the ability to mimic actions that they see in others. For example, in her journal “Observing Cognitive Complexity in Primates and Cetaceans,” Christine M. Johnson described a situation where a baby dolphin released a mouthful of its mother’s milk, mimicking a cloud of cigarette smoke exhibited by an aquarium visitor. Dolphins also exhibit vocal imitation – something that is rare among other mammals.

Johnson explained that: “cetaceans do show the sort of sensitivity to the attention of others that is characteristic of … complex social interactions.”

Dolphins help lead their fellow dolphins by looking back at their pod and then looking the direction that they want to go, signifying that they are sensitive to communication with others, as // Faye Alexander well as aware of the presence of other dolphins in relation to themselves.

“A person needs to be an individual,” White “Science has shown that individuality – consaid. “If individuals count, then the deliberate sciousness, self-awareness – is no longer a killing of individuals of this sort is ethically the unique human property. That poses all kinds of equivalent of deliberately killing a human being.” challenges,” said White.

Although the Declaration of Rights is signifiUNDER LOCK AND KEY cant, it is not the only time that a call has been made to protect marine mammals.

Beyond the mental capabilities, there have been many cases where dolphins and whales in particBORN THIS WAY ular have reacted poorly to being kept in captivity.

In February, five killer whales were successfully In 2010, a trainer at SeaWorld was killed after named plaintiffs in a lawsuit against SeaWorld. an orca named Tilikum dragged her underwater The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and repeatedly struck her – all in front of an au(PETA) has claimed that the whales are treated dience watching one of SeaWorld’s daily shows. like slaves for being forced to live in tanks and Tilikum has been linked to two other SeaWorld perform on a regular basis in both San Diego deaths, one in 1991 where he, with assistance and Orlando. from two other whales, prevented a trainer from “This case is on the next frontier of civil rights,” leaving her tank after she fell in. The other inciPETA’s attorney Jeffrey Kerr, who will represent dent in 1999 occurred when a man was found the whales in the case, told the Telegraph. Upon dead next to Tilikum – and although investigahearing that the judge would take the case, Kerr tion stated he died of hypothermia, there was noted that the day was historic, because for the also an allegation that the whale had initially torn first time in American history, “a federal court off his trunks and bitten him (which orcas do to heard arguments as to whether living, breathing, identify foreign objects, the same way humans feeling beings have rights and can be enslaved touch something to identify it). simply because they happen to not have been However, SeaWorld’s animal training curator, born human.”

Kelly Flaherty Clark has said in a statement that: There were objections raised, because many “participating in shows is just a portion of Tilikum’s were concerned the case would result in a slip- day, but we feel it is an important component of pery slope. Other animals are used for human his physical, social and mental enrichment.” benefit, including bomb sniffer dogs in airports, Although cases where trainers have drowned and scientists’ experiments on marine mammals because of a whale are fairly rare, whales have still living in the wild. often suffered as a result of being kept in captivPETA argues that the whales being kept ity – and most of the whales in captivity are orcas,

a population that has seen a decline in overall numbers because of environmental threats and human actions.

The first whale to be captured for display was Wanda, who was placed in captivity in 1961. She survived for two days before she died. In the fifteen years following Wanda’s capture, more than fifty whales were taken from the Pacific ocean and placed in captivity.

According to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, there are currently 42 orcas in captivity, of the 137 orcas that have been captured from the wild since 1961. Whales born in captivity have had an average lifespan of 4.5 years, whereas in the wild male orcas live to an average of 17 years, and females, 29 years, though this is affected by “high levels of neonatal mortality,” according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ website. “In the wild, mortality between the ages of birth to six months can be as high as 50 percent.”

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f e at u r es

T N A L P THE L L I W THAT E H T E SAV WORLD

Hemp emerges out of the smoke, reveals a long history of cultivation

By Lindsay Flynn // writer

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 21

“C

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an we smoke the clothes?” This is one of the more common questions shoppers jokingly ask of Erin Keast, general manager of Hemp and Company in Victoria, B.C. “Of course there is a stigma around the word hemp and its close association with marijuana,” says Keast. “But we find that most people are becoming more educated and are genuinely interested in sustainable, environmentallyfriendly products. Those who do visit us with a preconception of hemp are providing us with opportunities to educate them on its diversity and history.”

The Basics Though many people might think that hemp and marijuana are synonymous, they actually aren’t at all. Hemp and marijuana are two different varieties of the Cannabis sativa plant. Hemp contains less than one per cent of the psychoactive constituent, Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), necessary in order to have any effect on a human. In plain language, marijuana will get you high, and hemp will not.

While growing, both plants look and smell similar, but compared to the smaller marijuana plant, hemp can grow as tall as 25 feet tall. Hemp

fibres are longer and stronger than cotton, and are naturally anti-mildew, antimicrobial, and biodegradable.

Hemp can be, and has been, used to make clothing, including denim, disposable diapers, shoes, tarps, rope, carpets, canvas, and the list goes on. These are just the uses for long fibre hemp, though. Alternative harvesting practices produce a variety of raw materials which can be put to over 25,000 different uses, including paper, margarine, shampoo, oil paint, cosmetics, stucco, cement blocks, lube, granola, and bio-diesel fuel, to name just a few.

Bio-diesel fuel, such as hemp oil, can run a vehicle, and has been used in some parts of Europe for over 20 years. It emits 80 per cent less carbon dioxide and nearly 100 per cent less sulphur dioxide than fossil fuels.

Hemp fabric has been proven to be stronger, softer, and more durable than cotton, and uses fewer chemicals to produce. It also requires minimal space to farm, with one acre of usable hemp fibre being equivalent in quantity to four acres of trees or two acres of cotton. The crops are pest- and draught-resistant, stand up against cold weather, and reap up to ten tons per acre every four months. On top of that, hemp matures in as little as 100 days, where trees, as we know in B.C., mature in 50–100 years.

Hemp paper is an extremely promising product as well, as it can be recycled more times than

wood fibre paper can, and it resists decomposing with age, thereby outlasting wood fibree paper by hundreds of years. Nearly four billion trees are cut down every year, 35 per cent of which goes to making paper. On average, the world consumes about 300 million tonnes of wood fibre paper every year, and the rates are consistently rising.

The pulp and paper industry is the third-largest polluter in the world, though it also generates a significant amount of income for the producing countries, notably $200 billion in sales every year in the United States. However, the negative impact of deforestation and pollution caused by wood fibre paper production could be cut significantly if the hemp paper industry was more seriously encouraged.

Given all of the uses for hemp that exist and the obvious environmental benefits, it leaves a person wondering why we aren't making everything out of hemp, and hemp supporters advocate for just that. However, once you start digging around in hemp history, you'll see that it is only recently that hemp has been actively discouraged.

they continued to use hemp for many industrial uses. There's also a long history of informationsharing between Chinese and Japanese scholars on the many medical uses of hemp and hemp oil.

In Europe, the ancient Romans also celebrated hemp's medical uses, with Roman surgeon Dioscorides naming the plant Cannabis sativa and beginning documentation of treatments. In 1150 A.D., Spanish Muslims used hemp to found the first paper mill in the West; paper was then made of hemp for the next 700 years.

Major European powers grew hemp to create sails and rigging for ships, and hemp was brought to the New World for further cultivation. In 1564, King Philip of Spain ordered hemp to be grown throughout all of his empire, from modern day Argentina to Oregon.

Hemp also did well in North America: in 1619, hemp cultivation was mandatory in the colony of Virginia. By 1631, the money of the North American colonies was being printed on hemp.

Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson are notorious for having been hemp farmers, and A History of Hemp the first two drafts of the Declaration of IndepenAs far back as 8000 B.C., hemp was harvested dence were written on the same standard paper by early agriculturists in Europe and Asia, while used for all printing in the colonies, including in China, hemp was used to make rope and fish bibles: hemp paper. In Canada, the Lieutenantnets as early as 4500 B.C. The Japanese used Governor of Upper Canada provided free hemp hemp as their primary clothing fibre until the seeds to farmers on behalf of the King of England 17th century, when cotton was introduced, and as early as 1801. Hemp continued to flourish as

f e at u r e s a cash crop, actively endorsed by governments and politicians.

Good Plant Turned Bad By 1919, anti-drug sentiments were on the rise, with the introduction of Prohibition in the United States. Films such as the now comical Reefer Madness, Assassin of Youth, and Marihuana spread fear of the plant, warning users of potential rape, murder, and descent into madness.

Fueled by public hysteria, 1937 saw the Marihuana Tax Act passed by the United States Congress, insuring anyone convicted of growing, using, or distributing marijuana would be charged, imprisoned, and fined. In his book Hemp Horizons, author and hemp advocate John Roulac notes that numerous hemp historians and researchers have suggested various conspiracy theories that helped the Marihuana Tax Act find legal footing. Among the most popular are the idea that newspaper tycoon and forestry owner William Randolph Hearst used political influence to remove competition to his own products.

General public confusion over the difference between hemp and marijuana helped contribute to the decline of hemp production in the United States, with other Western countries following suit. In Canada, the Opium and Narcotic Drug Act was passed in 1938. According to the government's website, it was for the purposes of the “combined international battle against the abuse of THC and other controlled substances.”

The United Kingdom banned hemp production in 1971, Germany in 1981, while France continued production, as they had been growing hemp for 600 years to date. By the early 1990s, almost every industrialized country except France and China had banned industrial hemp production, with world wide production the lowest in history.

Woody Harrelson and singer Willie Nelson. Currently, the majority of industrial countries allow for industrial hemp growth, with Germany and the United Sates as noted exceptions, despite demand for imported hemp fabric in both countries remaining high.

By 1996, the Canadian government passed bill C-8, removing mature hemp stalks from the government's list of banned substances, and in 1998, full legality was given to commercial hemp growing, ushering in a new era of hemp production.

On their website, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada states that “as the world's premier renewable resource, hemp has been the source of food and fibre for the past 10,000 years.” The website goes on to state that by 2007, 900 tonnes of industrial hemp were being exported from Canada, with nearly 60 per cent of that being sold to our neighbours in the United States. According to the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance, “in 2010 it was estimated that 25,000 [acres] were grown.

Hemp has been grown with success from coastto-coast.”

For businesses like Hemp and Company, there are definite drawbacks to the 70 year hiatus of the Canadian hemp industry. Keast notes that while her company has begun creating an in-house clothing line, obstacles remain.

“Currently, there exists no facilities in North America to process hemp into fibre,” says Keast.

“So, we still import our cloth from fair-trade, fair wage suppliers in China, which has never had any regulations against hemp.”

Keast explains that at this point, “most [Canadians] are well aware of [hemp's] uses, especially for eco-conscious British Columbians. While we are fortunate in this respect, hemp is still illegal to grow in the United States, which comprises much of our tourist base.”

The Internet has assisted the flourishing of hemp product supply and demand; however, drawing customers from Australia and all over Europe, though their biggest clients outside of Canada are by far from the United States.

“recent scientific research indicates that essential fatty acids (EFAs) cannot be manufactured by the human body and deficiencies can cause undesirable chronic conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and eczema … Hemp seed and its by-products can be used to supplement diets poor in EFAs in order to maintain health. One by-product, hemp seed oil, contains 30 per cent of its weight in EFA-rich oil, delivering an ideal combination of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids for long term use. Hemp seed oil may have potential health benefits for diabetes, cancer, lupus, asthma rheumatoid arthritis, depression and hypertension.” The fatty acids found in hemp seeds and oil have become a hot commodity in the nutrition world, furthering demand for production.

Manitoba Harvest was founded in 1998, and according to the Canadian Hemp Alliance, are the “world’s largest vertically–integrated, farmerowned hemp food manufacturer.” They, too, have embraced the demand for hemp products, producing everything from hemp protein to hemp butter to hemp beverages.

Going Mainstream

When hemp was reintroduced to the market in the 1990s, companies such as The Body Shop, with their line of hemp body creams, were openly using the symbol of the hemp leaf to attract consumers. Without being armed with more information, it is easy to see why this symbol is often still associated with marijuana and “stoner” culture.

When asked if Hemp and Company has ever felt pressure to cater business to a certain demographic in order to maintain success, Keast says that “the diversity of our product array appeals to all demographics … [The stigma] is usually because of misinformation or lack thereof. The uses of hemp are becoming more known and widespread in Canada and around the world …

It is only a matter of time before the stigma no Hemp Revival longer exists.”

Awareness of hemp as an alternative crop began When looking at the quality of hemp prodA World of Good News again in the 1980s and '90s. The environmenucts and the myriad of uses and environmental tal benefits of hemp were increasingly being Increasingly, knowledge about the health bene- benefits, it is easy to see why hemp producbrought into the limelight by vocal advocates of fits of hemp have also been brought to attention. ers are keen to put prejudice and hysteria in the environmentalist movement, including actor Agriculture and Agri-food Canada states that the past.

whale-watching may occur, and how cetaceans (and other animals) may be used in research, both by scientists and students doing fieldwork at a university. Even though cetaceans do not currently have legal status, there have been provisions put in place over the years to ensure that their populations are being protected.

The Canadian Council on Animal Care has created standards that researchers using animals for scientific purposes must adhere to. These regulations include details on the handling of observational projects, physical restraint of wildlife, and marking of animals.

The Vancouver Aquarium, too, has been constantly expanding the research aspect of its facility, in particular research surrounding orcas.

“They’ve come a long way in becoming far more of an educational facility … and the scientific research that they do is helping us understand killer whales in particular in the wild,” says Wilhelmson, noting that the research would also assist the government in making “positive changes to protect these animals in the wild.”

As with any situation where animals are held in captivity, an argument can be made that aquariums and related institutions do have a place, as they are educating the public on wildlife and enabling people to gain an appreciation for the beauty of nature.

HOME SWEET HOME Opinions on the legitimacy of the Declaration for Cetacean Rights are varied, but the document does bring attention to a very important issue. Humans have been affecting cetacean populations for decades in a very negative way.

Although more frequently places like the Vancouver Aquarium are bringing in whales only because they couldn’t survive in the wild, the ethics of capturing whales and dolphins for commercial gain have been raised. Protecting marine mammals does go beyond the captivity debate. Our everyday actions can have significant impacts on the marine environment.

“You can try to protect marine mammals, but if you’re not also protecting the food and their habitat, it’s only having part of the conversation,” says Wilhelmson.

There are several ways that we can change the impact we are having on the marine environment, including being selective about the salmon we eat, choosing products with less packaging, and being aware of what we’re pouring down our drains.

“Our impact on the marine environment is highly negative, and we need to re-balance that,” says Wilhelmson. “We need to live our lives with respect to nature [and] in balance with nature. That includes everything from plants through to fish, through to marine mammals.”

When looking at the Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans and similar initiatives, it is important to remember that they are only one piece in the marine environment puzzle. Much progress has been made towards protecting marine mammals, but both internationally and in Vancouver, the debate on cetaceans in captivity is anything but over.

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// Illustrations by Katie So

Cetacean slavery debate cont’d …

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

Roses Are Red Film about young woman’s legacy hopes to ignite global campaign for organ donation

Arts Shorts

AN ENTHUSIASTIC REVIEW OF THE TO DINE FOR EATERY – (333 Terminal Ave)

By Victoria Fawkes // staff writer

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n Mar. 27, 2010, the world lost a truly courageous soul. Her name was Eva Markvoort, and although her life only spanned two and a half decades, her existence helped to raise awareness for the debilitating disease that she battled. Markvoort suffered from Cystic Fibrosis (CF), a genetic disorder that causes thick mucus to form and lead to blockage, particularly in the lungs, which can lead to an infection.

In the last few years of Markvoort’s life, her struggles were recorded in the film 65_Redroses, also the name of her Livejournal blog. The film was directed by Philip Lyall, a lifetime friend of Markvoort, and Nimisha Mukerji, a film student at the University of British Columbia looking for a post-graduation project.

On Mar. 8, the film was shown at Capilano University, greeting a healthy turnout of those both familiar with Markvoort’s story and those who wanted to learn more. 65_ Redroses has also been featured on CBC and has won numerous accreditations and awards.

Additionally, as the film was completed before the death of Markvoort, a revised film released in 2009 that incorporates her death is now shown.

Markvoort was a theatre student at the University of Victoria, receiving her degree at her bedside, in addition to the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Doug Summerhayes award and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, awarded for her commitment to the cause of Cystic Fibrosis.

Markvoort blogged about her condition throughout her treatment, chronicling her lung transplant and eventual transplant rejection until her death. She was initially searching for sup-

port from other CF patients who had undergone the same challenges she was facing, but soon it became clear that she was supporting thousands of other CF patients as well as those with various challenges in their lives. The name of her LiveJournal blog, “65_Red Roses”, stems from the way children suffering from the disease often mispronounce “Cystic Fibrosis”. Markvoort’s favorite color, red, also influenced the name of her blog, which is now frequently updated by her family.

Markvoort had many passions, one of which was working with children. “She always worked in the summertime with kids, with Burnaby Parks and Recreation,” says Markvoort’s mother, Janet Brine. “She wanted to work in hospitals with kids, as a child play worker. I say work, but I really mean play, because that’s what they do with the kids, just to distract them and make them feel better.”

In 2009, Markvoort applied for a job that would allow her to fulfill her dream of working with children, and got the job, but was forced to turn it down because of her failing health.

Even in her final days, Markvoort dedicated herself to keeping in touch with her supporters, posting countless poems, pictures, and updates. However, as her condition grew worse, Markvoort knew that it was time to say goodbye.

On Mar. 25, she wrote the last heartbreaking post on her blog.

“I am not managing, not managing at all. I'm drowning in the medications. I can't breathe.

Every hour. Once an hour. I can't breathe. Something has to change,” she wrote to her supporters. Two days later at 9:30am, Markvoort passed away at Vancouver General Hospital.

After the showing of the documentary 65_Redroses at Capilano, the president of the university Dr. Kris Bulcroft, members of BC Transplant, and co-director of 65_Redroses,

// Shannon Elliott Nimisha Mukerji, were present to answer questions from the audience.

Proceeds from the screening went towards the cause that Markvoort advocated for so fiercely, the BC Transplant campaign urging people to become organ donors. A copy of 65_ Redroses can now be found at the Capilano University Library. The documentary offers information on organ donation and transplants, the current state and future of public health campaigns, and facts on cystic fibrosis and organ donation, including just how many people are affected by organ donation.

It may not seem like it, but organ transplants are a lot more common than most people think. Even at Capilano University, many staff members and students have been recipients of new organs. Last year in B.C alone, 285 people received organ transplants. However, in that same year, there were 432 British Columbians that were still active on the waitlist. Today in Canada, there are more than 800,000 Canadians that are registered organ donors, but as we can learn from Markvoort, there is no greater gift than the gift of a donated organ. This is why the B.C. Transplant campaign urges you to consider registering as an organ donor, if you are not already one.

Markvoort communicated with her supporters in the social media network right up until her death, and as her postings reached people, so did her message of love, life, and hope. Even in Markvoort’s passing, her impact is still felt. And although Brine misses her daughter, she knows she is at peace and that her time on earth made an important influence.

“I think it was a message of hope that she sent.

That’s something she always had with her, even in the final stages. I think the ones for whom that was most meaningful were the people who had challenges in their lives.”

Last Saturday, after a grueling few hours of flea marketing, my friend and I were hungry.

We briefly contemplated a few of our favourite restaurants, but then a place we’d literally never seen or heard of before caught our eye.

With its bright orange, retro diner-style seating and tasteful decor, To Dine For appeared to be the typical “after” picture on the Food Network’s Restaurant Makeover. My friend and I joked that it looked like a futuristic reimagining of a retro diner – lots of shiny chrome, but with a 50’s aesthetic. It looked the part, but would the food match our expectations? (Spoiler: yes, totally).

The waitress brought us our menus and water promptly, and the first thing that I noticed was that they had a variety of vegan and vegetarian options. In addition, there was a note saying that all their burgers were hand-formed daily with meat purchased from long-standing local butcher shop Jackson’s Meats and Deli. As well, all of their condiments, excluding ketchup, are house-made, including vegan aioli – “because vegans are people too.”

While we were tempted by the various Korean fusion items and the Grilled Mac & Cheese, we ultimately decided to both get burgers. To Dine For’s menu advertised a spread of the most unusual – but simultaneously mind-blowingly delicious sounding – burger combinations I’d ever seen. Options included the Peanut Butter & Bacon Burger, Kimchi Burger, Poutine Burger, and one burger featuring something called “bacon jam”– um, yes please. For less adventurous folk, they also offer a Plain Jane burger. As a poutine fanatic, I couldn’t resist the notion of the Poutine Burger, while my friend opted, purely out of curiosity, for the B.J. or Bacon Jam Burger.

They were both so good. The Poutine Burger was perfect, oozing mushroom gravy and cheese curds, the french fries at the perfect level of sogginess. The beef was flavourful and tender, and we couldn’t stop talking about how good our burgers were as we ate them. My dining companion allowed me to try her burger, which I actually liked better than mine – no easy feat, as mine was so good! The bacon jam was intensely smoky and just the right amount of saltiness that allowed all the flavours of the meat to come through.

We raved to the waitress about the food, and she genuinely seemed really happy that we were happy – she even brought out a sample of their Bruléed Grapefruit to try – a grapefruit halved, sprinkled in sugar, and presumably blowtorched until the sugar melted to a delicious golden-brown. So simple, and yet so creative and delicious!

On their facebook page, To Dine For has written, “Let us begin the bastardization of North American comfort food.” If this counts as bastardization, I fully and wholly support it.

By Celina Kurz // Copy Editor

Arts

The Lines Between Broken Borders exhibit explores the effects of Mexico’s drug war

By Mike Conway // writer

“S

ince Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s decision in 2006 to put military troops on the streets in order to fight against drug trafficking, Mexico has been living in a state of emergency. This government policy has resulted in more than 40,000 deaths and a dramatic increase in violence,” writes Adriana Estrada-Centelles, curator of Broken Borders, a Vancouver exhibit that analyzes the artistic production of four Mexican artists in the context of the Mexican Drug War. “The resulting violence and collateral damage to society have shifted the everyday lives of Mexicans into a permanent state of alert, uncertainty, and horror.”

This sets the tone, and theme, for Broken Borders. The relevance of the exhibit, EstradaCentelles believes, is that it “reflects on the sociopolitical situation that has affected Mexico and more recently other countries, such as Canada and the United States for the past six years – the drug war.”

The Mexican Drug War, according the United States Justice Department, is an armed conflict between eight rival drug cartels, or gangs, throughout Mexico in an attempt to gain the most control over drug trafficking routes, as well as the Mexican government, which is attempting to stop drug trafficking.

Mexico and the United States have been actively countering the drug cartels since

Operation Man (1991), a cooperative anti-drug funding effort between the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, Mexican Federal Investigations Agency (AFI), and world financial institutions in an attempt to suspend monetary assets of various drug cartels. However, violence has peaked in the last ten years as a result of military operations undertaken by successive Mexican presidents Vincente Fox (2000-2006) and Felipe Calderon (2006-Present).

The violence has been heightened by corruption scandals throughout Mexican law enforcement, including the AFI, INTERPOL, and the Mexican military. For example, the Attorney General (PGR) reported in Dec. 2005 that nearly 1,500 of the AFI’s 7,000 agents were under investigation for suspected criminal activity and 457 were facing charges.

The war is further complicated by the fact that 90 per cent of the weapons used by the cartels come from the United States, and the drugs being traded are primarily going northward to markets in the United States and Canada.

Broken Borders is strategically located and split between the Satellite Gallery, located on 560 Seymour St., and the Access Gallery, located on 222 East Georgia St., just off Main. In regards to the strategy behind the split location, EstradaCentelles says that it gives the public an “opportunity to engage differently with the streets of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.”

These locations represent to Estrada-Centelles an area of Vancouver where “drug trafficking and consumption is a constant and evident problem.”

However, she explains that the exhibit is “without any prejudice against illegal drug consumption.” “[The idea is that the] exhibition opens up spaces of reflection on the public’s (in)direct participation that feeds violence and strengthens the expansion of the war on drugs,” she concludes.

The Satellite Gallery is on the second floor above Club 560, a nightclub in the centre of downtown Vancouver. A large television with two headphones is immediately visible upon entrance, the work of Rosa Maria Robles, a Culiacan-based artist (a state on Mexico’s west coast).

Robles’ work is themed around the subculture created by the violence, impunity, and power, surrounding the drug war; what she calls “narcoculture”. The exhibit she presents is a documentary which pieces together news, film, and interviews from people, and reports around the Americas in an attempt to connect the nations involved with the conflict.

After Robles piece comes Teresa Margolles Irrigation, a 30-minute video projected on a wall (15 x 10 feet), of a truck driving along a highway with water pouring out of a 5,000 gallon tank.

In the gallery, there are three rugs that lead to a bench that you can sit on to watch the video.

On a tiny piece of paper scotch-taped to a dark wall is an explanation of what the video is about. Margolles, a mortician for Mexico’s Medical Forensic Service, placed pieces of blankets – similar to the blankets used in Mexico to collect the dead mutilated bodies of the victims of the war, and similar to the blankets placed before

// Tiaré Jung the bench on the gallery floor – in the locations of 500 murder sites in the violent border city of Ciudad Juarez. The remains of these fabrics were then soaked in 5,000 gallons of water, which was then dumped on Texas Highway 90 in an attempt to connect the two places; a connection irrigated with death and blood.

Estrada-Centelles explains, “Due to Mexico’s state of emergency, it has become essential to analyse the global impact of the war on drugs in contemporary societies.” Through the artwork of these artists, she continues, “[it] is possible to unveil the structure of the drug war as a well-organized and complex global structure of illegal activities that involves robbery, extortion, kidnapping, prostitution, and money laundering, as well as weapon and human trafficking.”

The effects of the drug war extend well beyond one isolated incident. While often referred to as Mexico’s drug war, the war on drugs exists everywhere.

The Slow Islands Club Two concert reviews for your perusal

By JJ Brewis // Art Director

Islands, at the Rio Theatre

Slow Club, at the Media Club March 6 Just when you think Sheffield, England duo Slow Club are virtually unknown to everyone but yourself, you show up at a packed Media Club, where the entire room sings along with every verse. I had to actually strategically wedge myself halfway between the side of the stage and a large speaker just so I could get an accurate reading of how the male-female harmonies translated into a live set.

Multi-instrumentalist Rebecca Taylor charmed fanboys and girls alike with her smooth

transitions, beginning with peppy vocals, extending to guitar, and eventually perching behind the drum kit by the show's final stretch. Her folksy harmonies with bandmate Charles Watson are somehow almost better live than on the band's recordings. Backed in a live setting with two additional musicians to round out their sound, Taylor and Watson had a great showcase of rounded out, live versions of their well-crafted alt-pop with notes of blues rock, garage, and just a pinch of twee.

Slow Club hover around their debut album Yeah So's foundation, just slightly altering the formula on last year's Paradise which saw the duo straying slightly from their cutesy formula.

The newer songs show the band’s songwriting development, adding in more percussion, which lends itself well to a live set. The band's early songs, such as set standout "Giving Up On Love" seemed to be most popular with the crowd, and fair enough: as exciting as it is to see someone pull off whapping at the drum kit while delivering a passionate vocal, it's audibly satisfying to see the duo lined up at the microphones delivering a two-part love song.

// JJ Brewis The harmonies in their early material have been so perfected over the past half-decade that it's impressive that they still seem so passionate in the delivery. At one point, Watson was shredding on his guitar while Taylor and an additional drummer both banged heavily on the stage's two drum kits, a sound the intimate Media Club could barely handle, but it somehow still translated to tenacious stage energy.

For all the rock-heavy or folksy harmonizing moments, Taylor seemed dead set on proving that they're not one of those pushover bands who just give in to every demand. After about the seventh crowd request for the band's "Christmas TV", she responded to the crowd with "You know that band who play 'My Sharona'? I heard a story where one time a crowd requested it and they played that song straight for a whole hour. And then they made the guy come onstage and take all his clothes off." The story met with a huge audience group laugh, just as Taylor cued the band to spontaneously play ‘TV’, which, though a bit rusty, seemed like it was legitimately a last minute decision – a rare true rock-and-roll moment, which satiated the crowd.

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 21

March 8 With their fourth album A Sleep & A Forgetting recently released, it was no surprise that Islands would stick mostly to material from that release in a live set.

Frontman Nick Thorburn lacks a stage presence, coming off like a shy talent-show hopeful; it's only his shining voice that makes him stand out. Though not much fun to watch onstage, Islands have a well-rounded set list which ranges from honky-tonk piano ditties, to the early 2000s indie-pop favourites from their debut, such as the now-relevantly-titled “Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby”, which got the biggest response of the night.

Much like the light-up skull sitting atop the piano may have suggested, their newer material is getting progressively darker, but it remains accessible to those familiar with their early work, like the die-hard, sing-a-long groupies crowding to the front of the Rio's stage. After all, this is the same Thorburn that once fronted one of Canada's shortest-lived but most-beloved indie bands, The Unicorns.

With mid-‘80s Joy Division gloomster imagery like the industrialized set design and their blackon-black roses cover of Forgetting, it's clear that Islands are visibly moving in a new direction – or at least attempting to. There is a lot of potential here that the band seems to come close to

capturing, but the slightly askew stage presence gets in the way. The banter was barely there at all, with Thorburn introducing a handful of songs by title only, and otherwise never really addressing the adoring crowd. This lack of connection was augmented by the dim lighting during the first set.

By the crowds responsiveness, however, it seems that this detached and fragmented energy is the band's appeal, and like hundreds of punk bands before them, the disconnect between band and audience makes them that much more mysterious.

Overall, the songs stand on their own. One such standouts as the new tortured-heart ballad "Lonely Love", Thorburn's vocal pallet provides a perfect springboard for self-doubt sifted through an alt-country filter. So, perhaps the visual appropriation is just a mere goth tribute, as Islands remain true to their original sound, showing just enough evolution to not get lost in the shuffle.

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Arts

Youtube for Smart People Ryeberg Curated Video offers alternative to ignorant Internet commenting

By Niggie Purrahnama // writer

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rom YouTube to Vimeo, it’s pretty common that the dialogue on these popular video sites is usually idiotic and ignorant.

Erik Rutherford, however, has created an online magazine that allows intelligent and thoughtful pieces of writing related to specific online videos, called Ryeberg Curated Video.

On Mar. 6, Rutherford flew in from Toronto to the Waldorf Hotel in Vancouver to share and promote this website. He brought in four well-established Canadian authors: Miriam Toews, Charles Demers, Micheal Turner, and Stephen Osborne. They each shared one or more video clips that they found inspirational, and supplemented them with a short stories, narration, or humorous commentary. Everyone went home with free issue of this month’s Geist magazine, which one of the presenters, Stephen Osborne, founded.

The event attracted primarily a middle-aged demographic, with some young adults were scattered throughout the venue. Most said that the reason why they had come to the event was because their wife or husband had heard about the event on CBC and thought it would be a good idea to go and check out. Others were there as

// Chris Dedinsky fans of the authors, and were excited to hear them speak and share something personal.

One person, however, said that they came “to learn about online videos, and find out from an intelligent standpoint what can be taken from them,” something that Rutherford would have been proud to hear directly from a patron’s mouth.

The show may have started 40 minutes late due to technical issues, but as soon as it began, the feeling of impatience that lingered amongst the audience was drowned by the introductory clip. The lights went dim and the audience was surrounded by the soulful voice of American R&B singer Brook Benton singing “Mother Nature, Father Time” in a 1965 music

video, while bikini-clad women danced provocatively – or what might have been called provocative at that time - in the background. Shortly after the video, one of the first authors took the stage.

Mirian Toews presented a clip that portrayed the difficult life of a mute. In introducing the clip, she explained that her sister had gone through phases where she would not be able to talk.

Although everyone in the family knew that her sister could speak, the phases were apparently involuntary. When she had gone to a therapist, however, a month before passing away, the therapist saw her inability to speak as a sign of being stubborn and refused to help her.

The second author was Charles Dermers, whose clips were a compilation of people posting what they would do in a “SHTF” (Shit Hit The Fan) moment, an analogy for when the world is coming to an end and in complete chaos. His commentary between clips was hilarious and very eye-opening. He wanted to show the audience what some people thought were “necessary precautions” if there was a large-scale disaster like the supposed millennium catastrophe, Y2K. The third author was Michael Turner, who shared the evolution of the Frisbee through its advertisements. He shared the thoughts that had

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come to him while looking through the different time periods and noted that when the Frisbee had first come to be, it was intended to bring families close together, and then evolved into a way for young adults to play with one another and socialize on the beach. The very last video that he shared with the audience was a 2007 ad for an African cell phone company that used the Frisbee as a way to show the network between people constantly connected but never really seeing one another.

The fourth author was Stephen Osborne, who showcased a 1902 clip of Vancouver from the viewpoint of one of the trolleys used for public transportation at the time. During the video, he read out numerous stories to do with life in Vancouver at that time that he had collected out of old newspapers.

In a way, the setup of the event mimicked the experience of sitting around a computer with a group of friends watching videos, and Rutherford says that this is exactly what he is trying to do: “[I'm] really happy to be doing a presentation where everyone is around to watch and discuss their thoughts about it afterwards.”

Ryeberg, in both its online and live incarnations, creates a space where watching cat videos on Youtube is more than just a diversion – it’s a form of cultural participation.

EDIT ORS // Col in spensl ey // c o l umns . c apc o uri e r@ gmai l . c o m

IT’s business time!

Learning about viral marketing via #KONY2012

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 21

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n the world of viral marketing, the Kony 2012 video broke all the rules. Most successful videos tend to be short – the Kony video was long, at over 27 minutes. Most popular videos online make people laugh – Kony 2012 made people cry. In defying conventions, Invisible Children did something that all social media marketers dream of doing: had their message break through the clutter to reach tens of millions of people almost overnight. Which ingredients did Invisible Children put in their production pot to produce such a viral marketing marvel? We’ll try and find out.

There are three main aspects of the video that persuade viewers to click the share button on Facebook: it’s extremely emotional, it has a deadclear call to action, and the campaign already has a strong and recognizable brand. Of course, the actual message was crucial, but let's just focus on the delivery of that message.

An Emotional Appeal

If you were anything like me, when you watched that scene with Jacob from Uganda (the boy hiding from Joseph Kony) crying and saying he doesn’t want to stay on earth, you felt something.

It hit you deep and you kind of wanted to cry a little too. The process that was at work here is called emotional contagion. When humans see others in pain, feeling joy or any other emotion, they are compelled to mirror those emotions and feel those same feelings. This empathy, this emotional mirroring, is a powerful motivator when it // Karen Picketts comes to donation dollars. They say the easiest

With Jeff Maertz // Columnist

way to a person’s wallet is through their heart.

Perhaps you may have noticed as well that in those emotional moments, the camera was always focused on the young boy's face. This is a technique long used by The United Way and the Christian Children’s Fund in their Saturday morning donation drives. Focusing on the victim's face allows for strengthened feelings of empathy, and greater feelings of empathy translate into greater donation dollars for charities.

In fact, a facial expression displayed on camera and in print is a critical determinant of charitable giving. Consumer behavioural researchers have found that in studies, people donated over twice as much to a charity when the charity's commercials focused on unhappy people’s faces vs. happy people’s faces.

Also, videos that elicit a strong emotional response – like Kony 2012 – are the videos that are most likely to go viral, according to a study out of The University of South Australia. This is especially true if these videos evoke positive emotions instead of negative ones.

The Call To Action In marketing lingo, a call to action is the part where the advertiser states what the consumer should do next. For example, in a TV ad for a car dealership, they might end the commercial by saying, “Come visit our dealership!” In the Kony 2012 video, this call to action was simple Continued on next page …

C o lu m n s Love, awkwardly

EPISODE V: San Francisco Treats

With JJ Brewis // Columnist

not particularly welcome at. We finished our drinks and then began a guided pub-crawl of the Castro in which free drinks were plenty and my brain decided to take a night off. Justin had friends in high places, which in the San Francisco nightlife means he is a bartender who knew lots of people in his profession.

Liquor is a currency that seems to outweigh gold in certain places.

From a patchwork of Shannon's version of the events, I know that Justin was sober and ended up driving us up to his house on the hills after visiting half a dozen hotspots. Apparently I passed out on his living room floor, and while he was out of the room, she told me to go crawl into his bed. I woke up at 7am, which was probably only a few hours after falling asleep. Looking over at the naked man beside me, I barely remembered where I was, never mind what actually happened.

Suddenly all of the booze caught up to me and I ran off to the washroom just in time to vomit the half the contents of my insides out into the toilet, quite vocally and with much groaning. Sadly, I, too, was naked, and suddenly, it started coming out the other end and his likely expensive bathroom rug was now the victim of a massive shit smear which I then had to try to cover up by "washing it out" in the shower. Humiliation had owed me one for a while, and this was probably as bad as it was going to get.

I went back to bed and he was awake, likely due to the loud bathroom visit I'd just had adjacent to his bedroom. We ended up getting ready as he had an appointment, and he returned from the bathroom saying, "What happened to my bathmat?"

I didn't really have the heart to tell him the truth: that I'd let out the biggest shit of my life all over the white mat and then proceeded to discard the evidence in his immaculate bathtub.

"I got sick," I told him, throwing on the biggest pair of puppy dog eyes I could muster. Not telling the truth and not lying are met by a happy medium. "Oh, you poor thing," he said, believing my story, assuming that I'd barfed all over the thing.

"That was so nice of you to clean up after yourself.

That's more than most people would do."

It was our last day in San Francisco, and for those of you who have seen Sex and the City, you know that the day meant spilling the entire story over brunch with Shannon, as we laughed all the way back to Oakland airport, new shopping finds in tow. It was time to go home, and as excited as I was about my new Marc Jacobs jacket, this story was by far my favourite souvenir.

sons viewers actually pressed that share button the pink ribbon, they know it symbolizes breast of Facebook or retweeted #KONY2012. cancer research, and they know to expect a organization that is trying to find a cure. This astute The Kony 2012 Brand branding has helped the Canadian Breast Cancer From its carefully crafted logo, to its charismatic Foundation Raise close to $20 million annually. spokesman, Kony 2012 has branded itself poi- If Kony 2012 can maintain this strong brand, they gnantly. It has become an easily identifiable cam- may be able to tap into funding for many years paign, with a personality, an image, and even a to come. tagline – “Stop At Nothing” – all of which mean There are many other clever techniques that to trigger strong emotions in viewers and prompt Invisible Children use to persuade viewers: the them to donate to the brand. video features emotional, target-market-friendly Careful branding isn’t new with non-profits – music to heighten feelings of sympathy and relook no further then the Pink Ribbon campaign latedness; uses the tool of celebrity endorsement you see on the back of cars and on Canadian to add trust and credibility to their organization; quarters which signify supporting breast cancer and it offers exclusive products that you can only research. Having a well-branded non-profit helps get by joining their club (the bracelets and action people immediately recognize the charity and kit). All are techniques long-used by marketers know what to expect from them. When people see to garner support and a buy-in from consumers.

So, if you're trying to go viral with your video, make sure you follow these three rules:

A

Business Time cont’d … and extremely clear – sign the online pledge, get a bracelet, sign up to become a monthly donor, and spread the word via social media.

Four simple ways to bring Joseph Kony to his knees – and you didn’t even have to get off your chair.

A great call to action needs an even better setup. Infomercials do this perfectly when they first establish a problem, present a product that will solve this problem, and then finally, show an easy way to purchase this product. In the same way, the Kony 2012 video sets up their call to action by presenting an evil child killer, revealing a plan for catching him, and then gives viewers instructions on what they should do next. This deliberate and well-placed call to action is one of the main rea-

→ Make your video evoke a strong and positive emotion. → Have a clear call to action. → Brand your campaign by using logos, taglines, and a charismatic spokesperson.

It’s unclear yet whether Kony 2012 and Invisible Children non-profit will change the world, but it is certain that their video changed the way social media marketers look at viral videos. Kony 2012 is the first real successful merger of social media and advocacy groups, which is a great step forward for these organizations. Besides, every little lesson helps if you're trying to bend the power of social media to your will.

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 21

with no real plans other than to relax and enjoy ourselves.

It was a fantastic week, filled with mostly wholesome activities like the Walt Disney Museum, shopping on Haight Street, and eating at novelty restaurants. On our last night out, though, Shannon and I decided we were going to go big before we went home.

Our first stop was at the Nob Hill Adult Theatre near our hostel, which we were informed was the only male full-frontal strip joint on the West Coast.

We weren't quite sure what we were walking into, which ended up being like a scene straight out of Tarantino's lost gay porn flick. Expecting a regular strip bar filled with bachelorette parties and drink specials, we realized our prior conceptions had been way off base.

Thank God we had brought our own alcohol in.

The moment we walked inside, we saw an empty stage with full movie-theatre-style seating, leaving us very confused. Scanning to the back of the theatre, we spotted one sole male patron in his seat, jerking off the buff male dancer giving him a lap dance. We took a seat with our oversized cheap American coolers, and managed to enjoy the show, mostly for the last dancer of the night, Rocky Martin, who Shannon asked to give me a lap dance, which only prompted him to flop his penis in both of our faces while we laughed halfuncomfortably, managing to enjoy it for what it was. Feeling we had seen the best the city had to offer, I figured our evening was finished. With a friend like Shannon, I should have known better.

We got in a cab, and Shannon shouted "To the Castro!" and off we went. We had spent the earlier part of our week perusing this neighbourhood, famous for its pioneering of gay rights, and now populated by many dildo stores, hilarious gaythemed restaurants, and the odd touching piece of history such as the Harvey Milk Plaza – but this night was for something altogether different, and we pulled over at the first gay bar we found.

We rolled into the bar, and upon entry it was as though everyone in our near vicinity smelled the estrogen, and turned to stare at us. Looking around at the leather and all-black tight denims I wondered if we had accidentally just crashed a gay couple's bachelor party, complete with nearly nude go-go boys and Kylie Minogue soundtrack.

Shannon ordered us drinks, which we prob// Lydia Fu ably didn't really need by this point, and I went bridge made of gold. The world’s gay- visiting, but when I heard that round tickets from to the washroom. When I got back, Shannon est gays. Streetcars that TV’s Bob Saget Bellingham were barely over a hundred dollars, was chatting with a tall husky “bear” type named may have touched. To be honest, San it seemed like a logical choice for a getaway. Justin, who then proceeded to explain to us that Francisco was never a city I had big dreams of Shannon and I packed our bags, and hit the road we were at an all-male club that women were

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Columns Keepin’ it reel

Paaaarty time!

“One, here comes the two to the three to the four, Everybody drunk out on the dance floor, Baby girl ass jiggle like she want more, Like she a groupie and I ain’t even on tour” —J-Kwon, “Tipsy”

E

verybody loves a good party, and the world of cinema is no exception. The party movie is a time-honoured cinematic tradition that has been consistent since rock n’ roll first exploded the phenomenon of teenageism into the global consciousness.

It’s plain to see why they’re so popular. Party movies – usually featuring the most raucous good times you could imagine – offering us a chance to live vicariously through the festivities. With the advent of the recent Project X, the question becomes: why do these films keep getting made?

Very little in terms of formula has changed over the decades. We usually watch a group of misfits earn their street cred by sheerly out-awesoming the competition, encountering babes, villains, and loveable stereotypes along the way.

Perhaps the reason these movies are - and will forever be – is that they become touchstones for the generation in which they appear. Every great party flick serves as something of a go-to point for current stylistic precedent. They reflect the tropes and fashions of an era, exemplifying the attitudes of their time. Watching these movies is like opening up a time capsule – they show us how kids of yore liked to get down. It’s like a little walk down the aisles of hootenanny history.

1950s: Blackboard Jungle

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(1955) – Though there is no genre-standard house party in Blackboard Jungle, it simply can’t go without acknowledgement. With the opening credits kicking off to Bill Haley & His Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock”, this was the first movie to capture the lightning-in-a-bottle that was the teen revolution.

Just as the aforementioned track has often been pointed to as the first monumental rock and roll crossover, this movie was the visualization of that sentiment. The landmark film portrays students engaging in anti-social behaviour at an inner-city school in a way that was

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With Jonty Davies // Columnist

practically unheard of at the time. Upon release, it ignited a firestorm of public reaction; teenage audiences rioted in the theatres. The public reaction was mental, and it blew open the doors to the millions of parties that would follow.

Honourable Mention: There are none. This movie started it all.

1960s: Blow-Up (1966) – What a happening decade this was.

The 1960s saw the exercising of personal liberties elevated to great new heights on both sides of the Atlantic: on the American West Coast, the hippies were enjoying psychedelic love-ins, while in NYC, the artsy camp of Andy Warhol was trending hard. But perhaps most groovy of all was Swinging London. Ultra-cool Mod fashion ran the streets and Blow-Up was the film that spoke on its behalf.

Though it follows a deeply psychological murder-mystery that highlights much of the inherent narcissistic uncertainties of the era, it also features a comprehensive walk-through of the most far-out spots in the capitol of cool. In an iconic scene, the protagonist finds himself at an underground concert featuring the Yardbirds that sees Jeff Beck and a pre-Zeppelin Jimmy Page smashing the shit out of their guitars and amps on stage.

Honourable Mention: Endless Summer (1966) – A documentary, Endless Summer follows some surfer dudes as they traverse the globe, literally chasing the summertime. The flick actually did a lot to raise awareness of the ultra-laid back lifestyle of surf, and inspired more than a few people to hit the coast – permanently.

alcohol and as much social disruption as John Belushi and company can cause. This turns out to be a lot. If you are incapable of enjoying this movie, you need a serious fun transplant.

Honourable Mention: American Graffiti (1973) – Directed by a pre-Star Wars George Lucas, American Graffiti is an American classic.

With a great doo-wop soundtrack and a brilliant web of coming-of-age anecdotes, this is one of the greats.

1980s: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Anyone who would suggest that this is not a party film has never encountered the title character.

He’s a walking party. All he does is skip class one day, and before too long he’s leading the goddamn Chicago parade to “Twist and Shout“.

The director of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, John Hughes, was the man responsible for some of the most beloved and most '80s films of them all (The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink, etc.), and this is the one. It’s full of pure positive energy and humour, still making plenty of time for genuine edge-of-adulthood meditation. If everyone were a little more like Ferris Bueller, the world would be a much happier place.

Honourable Mention: Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) – This is the party flick that launched a thousand legitimate dramatic careers. It was written by Cameron Crowe, who went on to make Almost Famous and Jerry Maguire, and stars future Oscar winners Sean Penn and Forest Whitaker, as well as a host of other big names. Keep an eye out for Nicholas Cage in his very first role, flipping patties at the All-American Burger.

1970s: Animal House

1990s: Can’t Hardly Wait

(1978) – Toga! This is the Holy Grail of the party flick genre. No other film has seen such drunkenness and such debauchery; quite simply, no other film has had as much fun. In many ways, Animal House set precedents that are standard to the genre (right down to the crusty old dean trying to put a stop to the party).

The film is set at a ramshackle fraternity house that is being put on the academic kibosh due to legendarily low GPAs. Their battle plan seems to involve little more than extreme amounts of

(1998) – The 1990s saw what were probably the most teen-centric revelations since the 1950s.

With the Baby Boomers (the ones responsible for the first wave of youth revolution) having hit adulthood, they dominated the '70s and '80s.

It wasn’t until Generation X took the stage that the voice of youth guided the overarching stylistic consciousness once again. This came in the form of subversive subculture, Kurt Cobain and his ilk, and the slap-happy good times of the '90s party flick.

Enter Can’t Hardly Wait. Talk about party flicks – this entire movie takes place at the party. Like its later contemporaries American Pie and Ten Things I Hate About You, it follows a standard losingour-virginity-manic-high-school-party tract, but along the way lays claim to heaps of individuality and charm. Suffice it to say, the genre was pretty stacked for the decade.

Honourable Mention: Dazed and Confused (1993) By most standards, Dazed and Confused is the best of these pictures. However, the reason it can’t be taken as the decade-definer is that it doesn’t actually take place in the '90s. Following a wonderful ensemble cast on the last day of school in 1976, it runs the gamut of good-time humour and coming-of-age catharsis. It features a dynamite pop-fly time capsule of a soundtrack, and like all great flashback films, it uses the past as a reflection of the state of contemporary ideals.

Groovy stuff.

2000s: Superbad (2007) – The 21st century brought with it an interesting twist in the standards of pop culture: the self-celebration of the nerd. With guys like Seth Rogen and Michel Cera becoming legitimate movie stars, it became cool to acknowledge your love of RoboCop and video games.

You could say that Superbad was the movie that expressed that in the biggest way. It’s the hilarious adventure of a small gang of hapless nerds as they try to win the party. Of course, the adventure is fraught with pratfalls and triumphs (mostly pratfalls) and along the way they realize that they’re crazy to try and pretend to be what they’re not. It's got its share of quality ridiculousness, but balances itself with a fair degree of sweetness.

Honourable Mention: Old School (2003) – Old School is an awesome take on the college party film. Basically a group of middleaged losers start up their own fraternity to offset their lameness. Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn are at their best, and a pre-Ari Gold Jeremy Piven is the pain-in-the-ass trying to shut them down. How do they win? As usual, it involves booze.

Party on, everyone!

. w w w o n a l i p ca r e i r u co .com

Op i n i o n s

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

Late Night Discrimination Where are all the female writers for TV?

// writer

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here seems to be an uprising of TV shows featuring one girl amongst the ranks of men, The Big Bang Theory and Zooey Deschanel’s New Girl, to name a few. These shows are likely representations of the office where these shows are written, with one quirky female amongst an entourage of men.

In a book about the history of Saturday Night Live called Live From New York, political satirist

// Sarah Vitet This boy’s club scenario is not specific to SNL or even late night TV. In 2009, there were no women writers on the Jay Leno Show, Late Show with David Letterman, and The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. There was one on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, but rumor has it that it was his younger sister, Lynn Ferguson.

Similarly, the lone female writing for the Jimmy Kimmel show is his girlfriend.

Amongst prime-time TV writers, a mere 15 per cent of them are female, which is less than half the amount it was in 2006, at 35 per cent. Since

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 21

By Leah Scheitel

and one of the original writers of SNL Al Franken is quoted as saying, “Saturday Night Live was a very positive experience for all of us. It was really just a wonderful fucking thing for everybody.”

“All of us” was apparently non-encompassing.

Men have a very different experience working at SNL than women. On the next page of the same book, Janeane Garofalo, who worked on SNL from 1994-95, explains her reason for leaving the show, stating, “Life is a boy's club. So SNL is a reflection of that. I’ll admit that I was not ready to deal with that wall of resistance”

the writers strike in 2007, the female writer has become a dying breed – and apparently to be a female writer for late-night TV, you either have to be related to the host or sleeping with him.

The main detriment of losing female writers is that female characters are being primarily written by men, and therefore can be easily misrepresented. Men will be more inclined to write their ideal female characters instead of more realistic females, as a woman could write from experience. This may be detrimental in fueling this ideal of the “perfect female” that is already a symbol in mass media – a size-four woman that can eat endless amounts of potato chips and not get a belly, looks perfect in the morning and wakes up without morning breath, and never suffers from PMS. If young females see these ideal characters, they may strive to be more like these characters, creating a sort of “Barbie-syndrome”.

In an article in the Huffington Post, Maureen Ryan pinpointed advertisers as one of the main reasons why the female writer is becoming increasingly more rare: "We're not making art out here, we're making programming that allows networks to sell ad dollars," says Jill Soloway, a writer for Six Feet Under and Made in America.

“The only ad dollars that appeal solely to women only are diapers and cleaning products.”

Male writer Kurt Sutter echoes that view in an interview on Vulture.com: "Just look at the primary measuring statistic for a viewing audience; the only statistic that matters financially — males 18-49. Networks demand that shows be aimed at that target audience. They have to. That's what advertisers demand of them. No ads, no TV. So by default, for the most part, we are creating television for white guys," he says. And who better to write for white guys between the ages of 18-49 than white guys in that exact age bracket?

With advertisers meddling in the creative process of television writers, the chance of seeing female writers create and write for network television is slim. As Jill Soloway explained to Maureen Ryan, “Sometimes I watch Louie, which, for my money, is one of the best shows I have ever seen on television, and wonder if … a network would air a show where a woman was talking about masturbating and farting (in an awesomely deep way, mind you). The answer is no – not because networks hate women, not because studios refuse to hire women creators – but because there is no brand that would be willing to be associated with the idea of such an antiheroic woman."

The chances of seeing more female writers on programs created for publically-funded television, such as PBS, are greater. Maybe, instead of creating ideal female characters, we should create ideal television networks that have creative control without interference from advertising bullies. That would create cause for more realistic female characters, and increase the pleasure of watching TV without the annoying commercials between every scene. Instead of adding to the problem, maybe we should fix the root of it.

We know that there are good female writers. They just need a medium that won’t be prejudiced to the type of women they represent and write about. Until men and advertisers are comfortable hearing about strong women who menstruate, we won’t be seeing it on network television.

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o p i n i o ns

PLASTIC, FANTASTIC, RICH, AND POWERFUL Real Housewives of Vancouver discredits both their sex and their city

By Erin Knodel // writer

I

t's official, Vancouver: we are relevant. On Apr. 4, the first Canadian instalment of the Real Housewives series, based in Vancouver, will air its two-hour premier. That's right: we got it before Toronto.

The first instalment in the franchise, The Real Housewives of Orange County, began airing in 2006, and has since expanded to include a total of six American cities: Atlanta, New York, Beverly Hills, New Jersey, and, most recently, Miami. The show features women of each city's elite, and reveals what they call “ intimate and often outrageous details about their relationships, career triumphs and pitfalls, sex lives, and family drama.”

The Vancouver instalment promises to follow that winning formula closely. Barbara Williams, Senior Vice-President of Content for Shaw Media, which owns the Slice network (who is airing the show), confirmed that “The Real Housewives of Vancouver [will be] packed with all of the juiciest story lines, drama, power, wealth, and glamour that viewers love about the huge international hit franchise.”

Cast announcements made on the network's website sparked a tidal wave of reactions. According to a Shaw Media press release, the video in which each of the five women introduces themselves had been viewed 120,000 times within two days of its being posted on the network's YouTube channel, and the story has also been covered extensively on popular celebrity news sites.

Who will showcase Vancouver's most privileged and glamorous women? Slice network's bio page gives us a glimpse of the five women who are meant to represent us.

Christina Kiesel is described as a “freespirited jet-setter,” who enjoys a life of leisure,

thanks to her two divorce settlements – a classic Vancouver move. Single and with no children, Kiesel logs a lot of time travelling through foreign countries and gossipping with her hairdresser.

Self-described “Martha Stewart on acid,” Jody Claman is another of the very real housewives we're being presented with. She runs a number of high-end clothing stores in West Vancouver, and is married with three children.

The third housewife is somewhat of a philanthropist: Mary Zilba prides herself on work done with a number of charities and organizations, including Tuberous Sclerosis Canada. She is a single mother of three teenage boys, and a former pageant queen. She is also the token recording artist of the series, with a slew of “hit singles” nobody has ever heard of.

Ronnie Seterdahl showcases Vancouver's excessively wealthy population. In conjunction with her husband of ten years, she owns four houses in a gated waterfront community in West Vancouver, a yacht, a private jet, and 200 acres of a Napa Valley vineyard.

Finally, we have “Japanese-Canadian bombshell” Reiko MacKenzie, who flaunts a tough-girl side, studying mixed martial arts and collecting what her official bio calls a “fleet” of luxury sports cars. Scandal quickly arose when it was discovered that she is married to the infamous Sun Mackenzie, who was acquitted of drug-related murder in 1994, and has potential ties to organized crime.

We are being presented with five women whose lifestyles are meant to instill envy in us, called the “elite” of our city, but how do they embody the self-actualized woman? In some senses, The Real Housewives franchise seems to present a facade of female self-will and empowerment, but in truth, it trivializes female power.

While many of the women followed by the franchise's shows are successful business per-

sons, and some are personally involved with charities of their choosing, the importance they put on wealth and social standing, along with their flair for the dramatic and scandalous, seem to discredit the concept of a stable-minded, forward-thinking woman.

It is hard enough today for women's ideas to be heard with the same weight as those of a man. When those the network labels as “powerful women” are so caught up in vapid self-interest and dramatic, reactionary games, it only serves to perpetuate the archaic idea that women cannot handle having important jobs or status with the same responsibility that men are expected to.

Yes, these women are envied. Yes, they are

// Camille Segur outspoken and strong-willed. Yes, they are considered beautiful by many people, and they are wealthy, which lends them a certain kind of power in the world.

I do not, however, see any of this as empowering to women. Their influence is demeaning and destructive.

The target audience for The Real Housewives is women, many of whom watch these shows simply for the scandal and meaningless entertainment. While the need for leisure and diversion are certain, can't we be entertained by something a little more stimulating, thoughtful, or at least not plainly amoral? This show almost makes me embarrassed to say I'm from Vancouver.

THE FELLING OF A GIANT Monuments don't need to be man-made to be meaningful

By Gerald Jacobs // The Manitoban (University of Manitoba)

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INNIPEG (CUP) – This year, one of the oldest living organisms in the world caught fire and burned to death. “The Senator” was the nickname given to a cypress tree that had been living in a Florida swamp for the last 3,500 years. It was 38.1 metres tall, and had a girth as wide as two men’s full armspan. Until that day, it had been considered the fifth-oldest tree in the world, and the largest tree of its kind in North America.

Reactions to the event seem to have ranged from, “That’s a little sad,” to, “It’s just a damn tree,” to “Worse things happen every day. Why is this in the news?”

What I find a sad is just how little attention this story received. I understand that indifferent reactions might be attributed to a lack of reflection on how long 3,500 years is, but the apathy permeating our culture really gets to me – and historical apathy is particularly galling.

Three thousand five hundred years ago, the Greeks were just starting construction on the Parthenon, and the pyramids at Giza were still a relatively new sight. The Egyptians were thank-

ing Anuket for the fertile Nile floodplain and praising Horus for making them the most innovative kingdom on Earth. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic Ocean, a little sprout took root in the middle of a swamp and decided to stick around for a while.

Fast forward 700 years, and that little sprout was probably around 16.8 metres tall and something like middle-aged in cypress-years. Back on the other side of the planet, industrious Romans had started building a city. Another 300 years later, the first public law – the foundation for the later Roman Constitution – was introduced to the Roman Republic in the form of the Twelve Tables, around the time when Socrates was a young man in Athens. Our cypress had reached its average life expectancy of 1,000 years.

Another 1,000 years later, the ancient Greek civilization had long been swallowed by the Roman Empire, which had only recently collapsed itself. Our tree was now twice as old as it could have ever expected to be, much larger, and frequently utilized by local Indigenous groups as a landmark for navigation.

Yet another 1,000 years passed. Our tree had survived three millennia of fires, earthquakes, and hurricanes. It had witnessed untold gen-

erations of American First Nations people, and seen the European colonization of America and everything that followed, bad and good – from the impact of colonialism on the First Nations, to humans walking on the Moon.

The Senator had been there for nearly every major moment of recorded human history, living out its life in quiet solitude. As old empires died and new ones reshaped the face of the Earth, this tree grew without interruption for three times as long as it ought to have.

Had we awoken that Monday to find that the Washington Monument, a national symbol of American achievement, had spontaneously caught fire and collapsed, much of the world would have been in shock. Had one of the Great Pyramids – international symbols of human achievement – suddenly collapsed, we would have collectively wept for the loss. But a 3,500 year-old tree transcends human achievement. It is a natural monument to life itself, a symbol of all the aeons – of a time before man could throw a spear, or hammer stone, or attach symbolic meaning to the things he or she produced.

This giant passed with just a whisper.

I’m not saying people need to start worshiping trees as gods or change their lives in any ap-

// Marco Ferreira preciable way. I just wish that if all you had to say about this event was, “It’s not news; it’s only a damn tree,” you’d take a very brief moment to understand what it meant, both in terms of nature and history.

A monument need not be man-made to be meaningful.

Caboose

Caboose

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

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Edi tor // MIKE BAS T IEN // c abo o s e . c apc o uri e r@ gmai l . c o m

Of dreamers and gamblers

very wise man once said, “You have to have a dream so you can get up in the morning. Without a dream, you always get up whenever hunger strikes, and after that's satisfied, you feel like lying back down.”

On most days, that was the rule for this scrawny old butler. Jobless for tax purposes, but unofficially employed by a pitiful but goodhearted man, able to spare a basement room and a few bucks off his pension. The events surrounding their first encounter and the spark of an unlikely friendship are still unclear, but all agreed there was no harm done to either of them. “An unimaginable symbiosis,” said an impartial scientist.

In recent times, this strange man refused to incur the astronomical expenses of his treatment and spend the money instead in a desperate attempt to achieve the bohemian wonderland he had missed in his youth. He had no children or close relatives: all that was his was his only.

Such a realization brought him much pleasure in a multitude of forms: drugs, alcohol, books, records, and sweets. The butler felt divided about this, and he grew more and more apprehensive as days went by.

On this morning when he got up, dreamless and hungry, and started up the stairs. He felt more than ever before that time was about to run out. He felt the house was awfully quiet (he had learned how to interpret subtle signals) and concluded the worst. He felt a strange persistent chill throughout the night – perhaps that had been why. He slowly walked through the ominous rooms, taking mental pictures of all the tiny things he had grown fond of: the chess board, the tea cups, the dusty books, and tapes in which lived some of his favourite heroes, such

as Chance the gardener and Mr. Stevens. He discretely appropriated a few objects that were of special value to him.

He packed and left, with a conviction that dismissed the need for evidence, and without notifying anyone else. He wanted no suspicion of neglect on his part, in virtue of his position.

In fact, he felt his share of guilt for substandard attention to his master, but full attention would have prolonged the man's suffering at best – precisely the opposite of what he desired. Perhaps he had done him a favour, but the interpretations of the law are often a brutal challenge for a simple-minded old man.

He wandered about and in the afternoon he found himself in a bingo parlour – perhaps to strike another friendship, or borrow a stranger's ears for an overdue confession. He was soon taken away from his grief when from his mouth came the first victorious cry. Providence's way to make up for bad luck, he thought. From that day on, he would have a dream to get him up in the morning: he would have his own butler. He would gamble here and there, and against all odds he would rise to the top of the world.

His old master, upon arriving at home, soon took notice of the unusual state of things. He made his way down the stairs to the basement and, having found it empty, he raised an eyebrow and let out a mystified moan. He was in no mood for deliberating. He cut himself a big slice of a chocolate cake, and had it for dinner, along with a bottle of whiskey and a few cigarettes for dessert. He resented having to do it all himself, especially after a long day out.

In the evening, the butler, troubled greatly by a greasy burger and a cup of coke which hit

him harder than liquor, headed straight to the only place he knew where to go. He broke into tears when he saw the man standing there, more alive than ever before. Vituperations were hurled at him, but were precisely what brought him a

// Desiree Wallace smile. The next morning he refused to get out of bed, and his master brought him breakfast on a tray.

By Scott Moraes // Writer

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 21

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Sponsored by:

Jalapeno and Cheddar Bagel Niggie Purrahnama

Tim Hortons “Latte” Erin Knodel

Canucks Doughnut Bob Fillinger

100 timbit challenge Mike Bastien

My turn to order, and my trademark Everything Bagel with herb and garlic cream cheese was not creating the usual excitement. As my eyes caught the sign for an exciting new menu item, I knew I needed to spice things up. I had become tempted by a burning new desire. As soon as I got to the window and grabbed an aromatic Jalapeno and Cheddar toasted bagel with butter, I knew I had made the right choice. As I feverishly pushed the wrapper aside, exposing this magnificent hunk of a bagel, my mouth began to quiver in anticipation. As my freshly painted red lips wrapped around the first bite, I began to feel my heart race. My tongue was quickly moistened by the slow drips of butter. It was as if all the tastes came in slow motion. It was like Crouching Tiger Hidden Pastry; I could pin-point the moment a jalapeno found its way to the surface of my tongue with the precision of a sniper, creating a burning sensation not unlike the one created in between my thighs. I began to grasp the steering wheel of my car (with the other hand) with more passion and excitement, with the intent to stay focused on driving. However, once the creamy texture of cheese woven in the bagel coated my eager tongue, I found myself overwhelmed and moaning with desire for the next bite. By the time I got to the second half of the devilish bagel, I found myself pulled over, my chair reclined, touching the most intimate parts of my body, and taking my time with every last bite.

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to drink an extra-small (which used to be a medium) quadruple quadruple quadruple, and have it magically arrive hot, then wonder no longer!

Go get yerself a new Tim's Latte, “made with espresso” FYI. I ducked into my local Timmy's this weekend to experience the wonder. Making sure to order enough caramel syrup to mask the bitter swill and scorched milk, I managed to gulp the thing down. I noted the advertised “latte art” smile arrived rather skewed, and looked more like my concerned, reclusive building mate. This was an omen I should have perhaps observed.

The good news is that I rolled the rim and won another gut-wrenching, pallet-abusing cup of “latte.” Mmmm.

There are three things I love, and they are as follows in order of awesome: FUCKIN’ HOCKEY, DA FUCKIN’ VANCOUVER CANUCKS and FUCKIN’ TIM HORTONS DONUTS. Come on people, what are more Canadian than those three things, AM I RIGHT? And if I’m not a patriot for loving the icons of my country, then I don’t know who is. Also this damn fine doughnut is a true hybrid of my two favourite doughy confections: a freakin’ LONG JOHN and a freakin’ BOSTON VANCOUVER CREAM married as one in the name of Luongo; that’s a tasty combo. Eat it with a fork, microwave that shit, shove it all in your mouth, and God bless this beautiful nation in which for a mere $1.17 you can live out your wildest doughnut fantasy. I know I’ll be waking up early every morning from now until this tasty treat gets discontinued and dragging my sorry ass down to the nearest Tim Hortons to grab one of these babies and score some diabetes.

Timbits are freaking genius. Turning the unwanted doughnut leftovers into bite-size packets of flavour is Canada’s greatest accomplishment.America has popcorn chicken; we have these diabetic grenades. To achieve Canadiana nirvana, I decided to tackle the 100 timbit challenge: Timbit 21: This is the best idea ever! There are so many different flavours, I’ll never get tired of any of them. Timbit 35: Boy, let me tell you, I sure love timbits. My friends are doubting me.

Fuck you! I can eat all these timbits. Timbit 57: This is starting to remind me of the time I ate 12 doughnuts. This one guy said that for every doughnut I ate, I would get an inch less. Timbit 82: GODDAMMIT! I only have plain timbits left.

They are so stale and flavourless. My mouth is as parched as a desert from desserts. Timbit 95: I have my left my physical body and transcended into an astral swan, flying above the sea of possibility. Oh timbits … I can see time itself. Timbit 100: After I passed out from a timbit lodged in my esophagus, my friend ground up the remaining five into a smoothie and force fed my twitching corpse. After this glorious triumph, nothing else will be delicious ever again.

e t u o R e Escap

With JJ brewis

The Hot Chart OLD NAVY Winners lite

the capilano courier | vol. 45 issue 21

BUCKET HATS “Blossom” only, please

20

samaritan

MONEYBALL Scrooge McDuck porn JOHNNY DEPP IN: DARK SHADOWS Shoulda used eye cream PICO DE GALLO Americans use this term for salsa, whaaaat U-PASS TO DISAPPEAR? More like poo pass DRAW SOMETHING APP How many times must I draw “bear”?

INTERNET CELEBRITY “MINXY” I have never been more gayer CUPCAKES They’re all gone STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN Not as good as space elevator