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× FEBRUARY 24TH 2014

CAPILANO NORTH VANCOUVER

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COURIER

CARPE DIME : SEIZE YOUR DOLLAR MS. MINT

THE PIXIES

FREE TEXTBOOKS

RICH PEOPLE


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News

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features

calendar

opinions

columns

CABOOSE

Education Abroad

LOL

Oscar Emojis

Bring Your Loonies

Monopoly Study

Against Organic

Regret At High Tide

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Katherine Gillard News Editor

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:

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Capilanocourier.com

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Leah Scheitel Editor-in-Chief

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS:

THE CAPILANO COURIER

@capcourier

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The Staff

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@capilanocourier

of this penny-saving university newspaper...wait...the penny doesnt exist... we're broke

Kristi Alexandra Copy Editor

Andy Rice Arts + Culture Editor

Cheryl Swan Art Director

Therese Guieb Features Editor

Andrew Palmquist Production Manager

Faye Alexander Opinions Editor

Jeremy Hanlon Caboose Editor

Scott Moraes Managing Editor

Ricky Bao Business Manager

Carlo Javier Staff Writer

Lindsay Howe Marketing + Web Editor

Calvin deGroot, Paisley Conrad, Michael Ros, Gabriel Scorgie, Michael Bull, Julia Gabriel, Tomas Borsa, Amy Poulston, Brian Cameron, Erica Charron, Keara Farnan

Alain Champagne, Megan Collinson, Chris Dedinsky, Crystal Lee, Cristian Fowlie, Tina Furesz, Vivian Liu, Jana Vanduin, Danielle Mainman, Sydney Parent, Chantal Rey, Arin Ringwald, Dan Smolinski, Ksenia Kozhevnikova, Jonathan Dy

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 Courier Publishing Society.


LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

money talks “Most people work just enough not to get fired and get paid just enough not to quit.”

Leah Scheitel × Editor-in-Chief

- George Carlin Money is an interesting concept. We strive to have it, bitch about it when we don’t and mock the people who hoard it all. It’s an entirely man-made concept, unnatural to all other species and unique to humans. But now, we are so reliant on it that to wipe away any kind of currency would cause world wide destruction. It has etched itself into the foundation of humanity. It’s nice to think of a world where money isn’t needed. People would be able to trade things and barter, or if they had nothing to trade, they could buy things with smiles and hugs. If all the basic needs are taken care of, what else do people need besides smiles and hugs? Being a good Samaritan would be a currency unto itself, and helping an old lady cross the street would earn you a dozen apples and a can of Coke at the local corner store. Picking flowers for your mom would be worth a bottle of wine. Obviously, my mom would have new flowers on her windowsill every day. But unfortunately, this ideal and fictional world of mine will never come to fruition. We have become dependent on currency and wealth even though it is shaky business and the cause of much corruption and collusion. It’s a form of evil. Much like some of my ex-boyfriends, it’s an evil that I have learned to love despite its faults. And it’s obvious by our never-ending desire for more money and constant measuring of wealth and GDP that I’m not alone in this love affair. I’ve always been horrible at managing my finances. It has been a vice of mine from the moment I found out what money was. Once, when I was a child, I spent my entire allowance on Scotch tape and proceeded to tape up everything in the house. I used an entire roll in an afternoon as a recreational activity. Twenty years later, my spending habits haven’t really gotten any better. I will easily spend half a paycheque at the bar, buying drinks for friends, even when they are so drunk that their right eye won’t open. For years, I’ve tried to master this money beast instead of just feeding it more of my precious pennies. I’ve paid off my Visa bill three times, only to see it climb back up into the thousands months later. And, to be honest, I’m fearful of the coming years. Upon graduation, I’m expected to pay back the debt I’ve racked up in student loans. As of right now, I have no idea how I will do that as I don’t want to have a stereotypical job. I want to write, and to start a career as a writer you almost need a capital investment to live off of until your first break. But I did something financially responsible this week — I bought my first mutual fund. I’ve placed my $1000 into the hands of professionals and am hoping it will come back to me stronger than it was before.

I can only imagine that this is what parents feel when they send their children off to boarding school. Oh, the disappointment and shame if that kid comes back with an affinity for weed and without his virginity. I want my little money baby to come back to me strong and healthy, but it’s not a sure thing. I think I’m going to name the fund Fred and go to the bank to visit him every six months. That’s more often than some mothers go to their kid’s boarding schools. According to the financial experts, the problem with our generation is that we don’t understand some of the basics. A 2012 article in the Financial Post listed the misunderstandings of how credit cards work and not saving for a rainy day as two of the top 10 reasons why we suck at managing our money. Another major problem was failing to recognize how the little things add up. Dubbed the “latte factor”, purchases like a daily coffee or a night out at the bar can add up to thousands of dollars per year. But what I think financial experts don’t understand is that my daily trip to JJ Bean not only gives me a caffeine fix, but also allows me to flirt with the cute guys that make my coffee. My conscience may be telling me to save the money, but my libido is saying that it is totally worth it. Yeah, we may be bad with our money and impulse buy and be prone to going on a whim. And yeah, we may need help understanding how the financial institutions work. But we also have the right to be more skeptical of the system. With the rise of movements such as Occupy Wall Street and the elusive one per cent holding on to so much of the world’s money, we can’t be blamed if we are more reluctant to buy into a system that doesn’t seem to be working. Also, with our student debt rising more than 500 per cent since 1999, and the workforce being overeducated and underemployed, things are looking more dismal for students and our generation as a whole. We are inheriting a broken system, which makes understanding money even more pertinent right now. So, it’s all about money, isn’t it? Well, at least this issue of the Courier is. All about pennies: how to pinch them, where to get them and why people with too many of them can be rude at times. It’s the Financial Issue, and we hope that reading it may help some of your financial issues. From minimum wage battles to the best way to waste money, we’ve got it all in this special edition. As for my financial battles, I’m going to be at the bank, hanging out with my fund, Fred, and hoping he comes back to me like the strong little investment I know he can be.

tweets from their seats

THE VOICE BOX

Tricia Whitaker-ABC @TriciaWhitaker Can't help but laugh at the hashtag #loserkeepsbieber that's trending after the USA Canada Hockey game

with: Scott Moraes

“They're fixing the heating system in my building and I nearly froze to death last night. I bundled up and survived, but there was no way in hell I would get out of bed in the morning, so I skipped class. All classes. I'm texting you from bed. My fingers are stiff. It's 4 p.m. I'm starving. So cold, what do I do?”

“I found a random heart-shaped bag of Hershey's kisses by my car the other day, shortly after Valentine's Day, and that totally creeped me out. This happened on campus. Some creep must be following me around. I felt the chocolates might be poisoned so I fed a couple to my stupid neighbour's dog, and yep... they were poisoned. The dog's alive though. We need campus security!”

This sounds like an awesome story. Pitch it to the film kids at the Bosa Building (they have a really really, really hard time coming up with good stories). Honestly, this sounds like some adorable dorky kid who's scared shitless of approaching you. The chocolate was probably legit, but who knew you'd be totally clueless about dog diets? Don't feed chocolate to dogs, even if they're stupid or annoying. You think infatuated little boys are creepy? Wait 'til you meet the wrath of an animal rights activist. Good luck.

Dele Momodu @DeleMomodu Amazing grace, four years ago, one of the founders of WhatsApp applied for a job at Facebook and was turned down, FB just paid $19B to them!

“I got an anonymous tip that it's your staff writer Carlo's birthday this week. I met him once and I actually think he's pretty cute. Can I send a special little something to the office for him? What should I get him?”

Mayor Rob Ford @TOMayorFord Canada defeats the USA 1-0, sending the men's hockey team to play for gold! #WeAreWinter #GoCanadaGo

Call him at 778-865-2649. Ask him out. For dinner (he eats everything, including snake hearts and insects), for shopping (he likes shopping more than you do, I guarantee), or for a sports night (to watch, not play). Whatever you do, don't wear high heels. Don't ask, just don't.

BBC News (World) @BBCWorld #PussyRiot members beaten with whips by Cossack militia as they perform

Chris Jones @MySecondEmpire "You don't have to panic." No, I think now you have to panic.Thanks to all in #Kelowna, #Banff, #Stavely, and #Golden!

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Jian Ghomeshi @jianghomeshi Moment of Canadian pride as anthem plays at Bolshoy Arena. Congrats again to amazing Cdn women's hockey team. #gold

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The Voicebox is back, ready to humbly respond to your questions, concerns, and comments about anything. To inquire, just send a text to 778 - 689 - 4642 to anonymously "express" and "voice" your "opinion" and "thoughts" on any "subject" or "issue". And, as long as it's not offensive, we will publish it here, right in the Voicebox. It's a win - win, or whine - whine - whatever way you look at it.

Gabby @_gabbyfajardo THE SKYTRAIN CAME TO AN EMERGENCY STOP AND EVERYONE STANDING FELL SO HARD AND GOT SO PISSED HAHAH

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Miss Faye @thecellardoor_ I seriously need to close the porn browser on my phone. Every time I try and google something, it's just anal sex. THE CAPILANO COURIER

Wrap a blanket around you, get up and get dressed up for God's sake. Don't make a fire indoors, that's stupid. Go spend the day somewhere else, like our office in the Maple Building. Our thermostat is often on “sauna mode.” Also, the fact that you're texting a complete stranger in a moment of such dire hopelessness may indicate that you need new friends (not me).

John Leong @johnleongII Thanks to @MrCarloJavier for the second feature on the @CapilanoBlues #basketball team in this weeks @ CapilanoCourier !

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NEWS

KATHERINE GILLARD NEWS EDITOR

NEWS@CAPILANOCOURIER.COM

study international business internationally NEW MASTER'S PROGRAM AT CAPU PRESENTS STUDY ABROAD OPPORTUNITY Paisley Conrad × Writer

× Cristian Fowlie One small post-secondary institution in North Vancouver has been in a state of constant change since 2008, when Capilano College grew into Capilano University. With the fancy new title came a multitude of new programs, and the opportunities for students to receive an undergraduate degree from an accredited university. The next step was taken in September 2013, when CapU provided the opportunity for students to further their level of education even more. The joint master’s in International Business and International Management program has been specifically tailored for those looking to advance their pre-existing skills in business, while studying halfway across the world. Upon completion of the program, a successful student will earn a Capilano

University Graduate Diploma in International Business and a University of Hertfordshire Master of Science in International Business. Students are typically required to have a business background, with an undergraduate degree in business being highly recommended. CapU offers several courses to provide students with the necessary knowledge and experience to succeed. The North American Business Management Post Baccalaureate diploma is a 12-month program which fast tracks students who have already received an undergraduate degree. There is a two-month practicum required, which will be tailored to the student's needs. The North American Business Management Applied Post Baccalaureate Diploma is a 16-month program that is very similar to the aforementioned program, but has a six-month practicum placement. The North American and International Management Graduate Diploma program combines the aspects of the other two courses with that of the master’s program, and at the end of two years, a student will receive a graduate diploma in North American and International Business and a Master’s of Science in International Business. The joint master’s program itself is 12 months long. Students attend CapU full-time in the fall semester and in January head over to the University of Hertfordshire, in Hatfield, United Kingdom. They take four courses during the winter semester at Hertfordshire, where they build upon what they learned at CapU. “It's interesting for students to

get an international business perspective from two completely different places,” says Cheryl Norris, representative for the Graduate Business Program, in regards to the benefit of studying abroad. “It's useful to learn international business, well, internationally.” The final two months of the program consist of a final research project.“Their graduate research project is self-directed but supervised. They receive a lot of guidance from the faculty and staff over in the U.K.; students can tailor their final project to their own career interests, but typically an international business report or plan is what's expected. It's flexible though,” says Norris. The students of this year’s intake arrived in the U.K. this January. “While our current schedule is quite nice, the work load is what would be expected of a master’s program. At the master’s level at the University of Hertfordshire, and the U.K. system in general, it is expected of the students to do a lot of self-learning. We have quite a different structure than what we were used to in Canada,” says Iqbal Noormohamed, a student from the program. “We have an hour lecture for each class which is very much one way – professor lecturing on the given topic – which includes everyone in the program. After the lecture, we have a one-hour seminar which is in much smaller groups and this is the opportunity to have the two-way dialogue that we are used to.” Noormohamed has a Bachelor’s of Business Administration from CapU, and is grateful for the

opportunity to further his career. “The experience so far has been incredible. We have met so many new people from all parts of the world and are beginning to plan out our various European adventures. The entire university team, from professors and support staff to the International Student Team have all been extremely welcoming and quite approachable to any and all matters. Academically, I think it's been incredible to have conversations with various professors about the ‘real-world’ and what the potentials are after this program; it has almost given me a true sense of direction and a path or road map for when I have completed my master’s program.” While this is presently the only master’s program that CapU offers, every year more exciting things are being introduced. For those not interested in business, CapU also offers a general study abroad program. Tuition costs remain at that which a student would typically pay for a course at CapU. To be eligible, a student must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher, have previously completed 60 credits, and be enrolled in at least nine credits worth of courses. As for destination choices, students have the option of going to a multitude of countries such as Australia, South Korea and Switzerland. For more information about the joint master’s program, visit Capilanou.ca/jointmasters/. For further information regarding Study Abroad opportunities at Capilano and a complete list of participating universities, visit Capilanou.ca/study-abroad/

free textbooks IN-DEMAND CLASSES GET HELP Carlo Javier × Staff Writer

THE CAPILANO COURIER

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× Tina Furesz

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BCcampus and the provincial government are collaborating on an initiative that will give students free access to online textbooks for some highdemand classes. The textbook industry is one of the most pricey, but essential, elements of post-secondary schooling, and the B.C. Open Textbook Project is welcome news to both students and professors alike. Near 300 students have already reaped the benefits of the open textbook initiative, each saving about $146 from their regular textbook fees. CapU’s Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani was the school’s first professor to make use of the project. Last semester, students from Dr. Jhangiani’s Research Methods in Psychology class saved $150 each through the use of the free online textbook that the project provided. “Just over the last year, I educated myself about the cost of textbooks in post-secondary education — which has been rising in an extraordinary rate,

to the point that for a research methods course in psychology, a black and white soft-cover textbook costs $150,” Dr. Jhangiani explains. “I also learned among other things that at the moment, the total amount of student loan debt in North America actually exceeds the total amount of credit card debt in North America,” he adds. The B.C. Open Textbook Project is an initiative that was launched by the Ministry of Advanced Education and BCcampus. Their goal is to provide free open textbooks for the 40 highest enrolled first- and second-year courses in B.C. There are three phases to the processing of the project. Phase one involves the reviewing of existing open textbooks, phase two is the adaptation of existing open textbooks and finally, phase three creates new open textbooks. “Last summer I began by reviewing two [open textbooks] to see whether there were any deficiencies and what those were, what possible improvements would it require to bring these open textbooks up to staff,” says Dr. Jhangiani. Furthermore, Dr. Jhangiani took it upon himself to revise a Research Methods textbook and create the first Canadian edition for a Research Methods textbook in psychology. “Because it’s published under a creative commons open license, I was able to upload [it] to the class websites for my students at CapU, so they didn’t have to pay a thing for their textbook last term and this term,”

" Total amount of student loan debt in North America actually exceeds the total amount of credit debt..." Dr. Jhangiani explains. The textbooks initially available to students ranged from subjects such as math, to psychology, chemistry and business. Some of the notable early results of the Open Textbook Project include a collective savings of $11,220 for physics students at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, where each of the 60 students saved $187. A database management class at Douglas College consists of 35 students who saved a total of $5,600 through Open Textbook, each of the 40 students in a statistics class at the Justice Institute of B.C. saved $100, and $2,060 was saved by 20 management students at Northwest Community College. Dr. Jhangiani didn’t notice any particular drawbacks to open textbooks, students who aren’t accustomed to using online texts are always able to print PDF copies of the book, which will only cost a small fraction of the softcover hard copy. “The good news, I suppose, is since then, around December of last year, BCcampus uploaded my revision into their online repository and they have an agreement with SFU that means that SFU will provide a print, bound softcover version,” Dr. Jhangiani says. He adds that this printed version will not just be a simple coiled, spiro-bound text, but a proper binded version. “To any student who wants it at-cost, the 300-page textbook that I coauthored currently costs students about $13.” Faculty members are still more inclined to use

textbooks released by major educational publishers, however. Dr. Jhangiani sees the extra resources provided by publishers as a major factor that entices teachers to use traditional textbooks. “I think there are some very good reasons why faculty choose to adopt traditional textbooks from the large educational publishers like Pearson or McGraw-Hill,” begins Dr. Jhangiani. “Part of the reason is the quality of the product, part of it [is] the test banks and research manuals that comes with that.” However, despite this advantage that traditional textbooks have, Dr. Jhangiani believes that soon, open textbooks will also be capable of providing further resources. “It’s certainly possible for an open textbook to have higher quality, or even give it higher quality because you are able to revise it much quicker than a traditional textbook’s five-year review cycle; you’re able to keep up to beat in terms of cutting edge research,” Dr. Jhangiani explains. “I think the ministry is now funding programs that allow for development of ancillaries and so on, so I think eventually we’re going to get to a point where I don’t see a good reason why faculty members would stick to traditional textbooks — if the only difference is the cost to the students.” B.C. Open Textbook aims to finish the original 40-subject area this year. Much of the textbooks under revision are U.S.-centric and faculties are working to revise them into Canadian editions.


news

csu changing seats OLD ROLES GET REORGANIZED Katherine Gillard × News Editor On Feb. 6, the Capilano Student Union (CSU) revised the roles of the Student Union representatives, and although there was a struggle to meet and stay at quorum, they managed to pass all of their revised bylaws. Using a PowerPoint to explain how roles within the CSU are very clustered and unreasonable to manage, Brittany Barnes reviewed how the roles would be reassigned and changed from clusters into clear divisions for the roles of the CSU positions (such as Educational Issues Liaison, First Nations Liason, etc.), the Senate and Board of Governors, and the portfolios and working groups. The new system will make clearer what they are responsible for and will be easier for them to manage. Currently, CSU positions are responsible for certain portfolios and the organization of the portfolios creates a confusing payment structure for an outsider to understand, and creates a lot of work for the CSU as a whole. The changes mean the CSU will go from having 16 to 31 positions.

“All of the bylaws were reviewed and basically all of them were revised. We needed to do this in order to completely change the structure of the CSU,” adds Barnes. “It was important for us to move forward with these changes in order to make the organization more efficient and better engage with our members.” At the Special General Meeting (SGM), some people abstained from voting in favour, although the overwhelming majority of students were in favour of making the changes to the structure. Jon Kinsley, the CSU’s Queer Collective Representative, says that, although he supports the changes, he did feel that they were a bit rushed. “Changes as big as these can be overwhelming and it is not only every person's right but responsibility to vote in a way that makes them feel comfortable. If these changes were too much for a person to comprehend all at once, I would most certainly hope that would be reflected with their vote. Only two people abstained though, which I think speaks volumes to the validity of these proposed changes,” says Barnes. The changes are most clearly described as creat-

what the exact pay structure will be at this point. The system will not only engage better with students in a more effective and efficient way, it may also save the CSU money.

ing an executive committee which will consist of a VP of University Relations, a VP of Internal Development, a VP of Student Life and a VP of Student Relations. Within these four groups, the portfolio and working groups will be reorganized, as well as including certain CSU positions. There will be two regional campus representatives, which there haven’t been before, as well as an added 10 faculty representatives (two from each faculty). There will also still be an external chair, Board of Directors and Senate. “The new election structure has already taken effect, along with revisions to who is considered a member. The remaining bylaws will take effect on June 1, 2014,” says Barnes. “One of the major benefits of this new structure is that it allows for more representation on our Board of Directors in a variety of ways. There is always a potential for vacancies, and the best way to fix that is to better promote our elections — this is definitely something our board will be focusing more on, starting immediately,” she adds. The CSU will be having a meeting on March 13 at 11:30 a.m. in the CSU Library Lounge to discuss the stipends for pay. They have not passed

The CSU are very excited to be introducing this new system and are able to answer questions regarding the structure through their website at Csu.bc.ca or Brittany Barnes directly at Brittany.barnes@csu.bc.ca

West Van Run LOCALLY SPONSORED RUN BROUGHT TO LIFE BY CAPU STUDENTS Keara Farnan × Writer On March 2, Capilano University student Kirill Solovyev along with three other organizational staff will be hosting the West Van Run on the seawall at Dundarave Park in West Vancouver. The theme of the run is retro, from the ‘60s to the ‘80s. For each person who registers, money will be donated to the North Shore Special Olympics and the Leukaemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada. The race will be chip-timed and will consist of a 10 kilometre run, five kilometre walk or run, or a one kilometre kids run. "I first decided to create the West Van Run in

on point

2012 while studying at Columbia College," says Solovyev, founder of the West Van Run. The team's main goal is to create a running event that will attract an increased amount of participants yearly. They're also keen supporters in their community and are always looking for new organizations to sponsor. On their campaign page, the team has given participants the option of creating an individual team page for friends or family to join in hopes of raising money for cancer and other locally sponsored organizations recognized by the West Van Run. "West Vancouver is very suitable for any type of physical activity and has no major annual events. I believe that every community should have an an-

We caught up with Markiel Simpson briefly before he went and kicked some volleyball ass. We learned he likes to get low, that he does decent in Flappy Bird, ostriches are special to him and that he still finds time to do well in his arts program.

What would you do if you were neknominated? I’d probably do something around that baseball bat swinging game, and a pool. Favourite Winter Olympic Sport: Hockey. But I did like the slopestyle. Luge or Skeleton: Luge.

21. Favorite Beyonce Song:

I'm liking "Drunk In Love" right now. What's your spirit animal?

Ostrich

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Highest score in Flappy Bird:

"Just getting low, I think I can get lower than just about anyone else."

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Hook, is that a Disney movie? Say Hook, I love Hook.

What’s your go-to dance move?

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Favourite Disney Movie:

ily, Solovyev says that he spends most of his spare time training for races downtown in order to meet new runners and get involved in his community. Through participating in training with various running facilities, Solovyev says that he has created a network with other Vancouver runs such as the Vancouver Sun Run and the Bank of Montreal Marathon. "The West Van Run is dedicated to the West Vancouver community. The idea behind the event is to serve as a fundraising and awareness platform for various non-profits. We'll be partnering with more organizations as the event grows and develops," concludes Solovyev.

THE CAPILANO COURIER

Markiel Simpson

nual event that people look forward to every year. The main thing we concentrate on is building a community and infrastructure around the event," says Solovyev. Although there are currently 14 teams, the West Van Run is still running low on the fundraising part of their campaign as only $510 has been donated to their cause, according to the team's fundraising page. "The goal for the next year is to get the West Van Run out onto one of the main roads, such as Marine Drive and Bellevue Avenue. In order to get there, we need to get the number of participants up to at least 500 this year." As someone who comes from a very athletic fam-

SPORTS shorts

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arts + Culture

ANDY RICE ARTS + CULTURE EDITOR

ARTS@CAPILANOCOURIER.COM

the other side of the coin CANADA'S MONEY FEATURES WORK OF CAPU ALUMNUS Andy Rice × Arts + Culture Editor

THE CAPILANO COURIER

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"...It's such a public thing. It's not like it's just a onetime little show somehwere and everybody forgets they've ever seen it. It's in everybody's pocket forever..."

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When most artists send off one of their finished pieces to be made into prints, the number of reproductions is usually in the low hundreds, sometimes thousands. For one North Vancouver portrait artist, however, that number is over 18 billion and counting. In early 2003, Susanna Blunt designed the current image of Queen Elizabeth II that adorns the back of Canadian coins. The Capilano University alumnus was chosen among nine artists nationwide who competed in a secret contest to create a new effigy of the monarch following her golden jubilee. Talk about changing the face of history. Each artist was asked to create a drawing that looked three-dimensional and was sent a posed photograph of the queen to use as a basis. “It had to look exactly as it would look if it were carved as a relief, so that’s what I did,” she explains. The image was then scanned into a computer to decipher its rough shape before being handed over to a carver to complete the details. “They gave us very little time, I think it was three weeks.” After that, the final decision was up to the queen. “[The Royal Canadian Mint] didn’t want it publicly known until they actually had an image that they decided they were actually going to run with,” says Blunt, who kept her studio door locked and her mouth shut for nearly half a year. “I wasn’t allowed to tell anybody – I didn’t even tell my son.” By the time the project was unveiled on June 2, 2003, she’d actually forgotten about the whole thing. “It was months later and I had given up entirely,” she recalls. “I wasn’t even thinking about it anymore, so I was pretty stunned when I got this phone call, as you can imagine.” The coins officially entered circulation the following September, but not before Blunt snagged a few for herself. “I do have some pennies,” she says. “They were the first pennies to be minted, the first to come out [of ] the chute. I got them, I bought them. I managed to arrange with a very kind man

running the operation that he would pull the first ones off for me to buy before they went to anybody else, which was just awesome.” While she admits it was a thrill to hold the finished product in her hand, there were some changes made to her original sketch that still bother her to this day. “They removed an eye,” she begins. “It’s not supposed to be a profile; it was a three quarter view. They suddenly decided without consulting me about the anatomy that they would simply remove the eye and leave the rest as it was. Well you can’t do that, because if you turn in order not to see the eye, you would have to turn your head more and then you would see less of the forehead and less of the hair et cetera because the head is turned away from you. And they didn’t make any of those alterations, and so, for me, when I see that portrait, it looks really, really peculiar.... It’s not anatomically correct and it doesn’t resemble the drawing that I sent at all.” “When it’s such a public thing, it’s not like it’s just a one-time little show somewhere and everybody forgets they’ve ever seen it,” she continues. “It’s in everybody’s pocket forever and it’s wrong. People who look at their coins are not going to think about that or even know that there’s anything wrong with it but anybody who has any skill as an artist or as a portrait artist will look at it and say ‘god, why did they choose this artist? She can’t even draw.’ So that’s really, really a disgrace. I’m still upset about it more than 10 years later.” Despite those lingering hard feelings, the experience hasn’t stopped her from working with the Mint on a couple of recent projects. “They’ve all been special editions,” she says. “There was one called the ancient cedars. It was a large coin and it shows a picture I did for one side with raised, quite high-relief cedar trees with an eagle and a fish and a river, and then the other side had my queen on it, so that made history, too, because I think I’m the only artist that’s ever had an image on both sides of the coin, which is pretty cool.” Blunt’s career as an artist has taken her around the world through various decades as a painter, portrait artist, collage maker and sculptor. No stranger to competition, she was chosen in the early 1990s by Gerda Hnatyshyn, wife of thenGoverner General Raymon Hnatyshyn, to paint a portrait for Rideau Hall in Ottawa. A painting of Prince Edward also hangs in Buckingham Palace, personally delivered by Blunt herself. That trip to London wasn’t her first, though. In her younger days, she studied art there and later won a scholarship to the Royal Academy. With bills to pay, she spent six months cleaning the home of Yoko Ono and assisting her with various projects – an experience she is often asked about

but insists “wasn’t really that interesting.” Locally, there are signs of Blunt’s work as well. For many years, an optical illusion exhibit she designed was featured at Science World. Many of her smaller pieces can also be found in a number of Vancouver homes and galleries. Above all, however, she says the highlight of her career has been the nine years she spent at Capilano University, first as a student in the studio arts program and later as a member of the art institute on campus, prior to the dissolution of both in 2013. “They have been absolutely the happiest years of my life,” she reminisces. “I would never ever have left it, never. I would be there until I was 90. I would be there until I was 100.” “That school is unique – was unique,” she continues. “Having been a teacher myself for many years, and I taught in the fine arts department at

cell and said, ‘Would you like to have lunch?’ so I wasn’t so lost.” “I was just as scared as any other first-year student,” she continues. “I was terrified. I went up there and was completely at my wit’s end, plus I thought if any of the teachers or students found out that I had an art background they would expect all these great things of me and I haven’t a clue if I’ll be able to produce anything that is any good,” she says. “Everybody found out I did have an art background, of course, because by the time November came around the whole school was running around looking at the Eastside Culture Crawl and there I was,” she laughs. “The coins had just been minted so I had a notice up in my studio and they all saw that and they found out, but by then I was more confident and I was happy up there so I

UBC, what they achieved in that school actually is beyond anything I can properly describe... it’s so brilliant. The students that went through that program, every single one of them has a chance in the world of understanding what art is about and becoming an artist, and you cannot say that about very many arts schools. It’s just the top of the top in terms of expertise and brilliant teachers and a brilliant program. I mean, I have no words to really properly describe what a tragedy it is that it disappeared and how many thousands of lives it’s going to affect because of all the people who can never go there, because it’s not there anymore.” Blunt recalls her first day on campus, now almost a decade ago, surrounded by aspiring artists half her age. Her son was also a student at the time, and took some pity on her unique situation. “I was so happy and grateful that he phoned me on my

wasn’t so scared.” What’s been scaring Blunt these days is the uncertain future for many faculty and students of the now-defunct program. “People have been affected so deeply by that. It’s not like another department where maybe you can get another job or whatever. People in the arts, it is their life. It’s not an academic course that they can go and take at another university, so it’s a mortal blow and it has affected people to an absolutely catastrophic degree, emotionally and psychologically.” Although plans are in the works for a new arts school on the North Shore that will aim to fill the void left by the one at CapU, the ribbon is far from cut. Whether or not the artist behind Canada’s coins will once again have a creative learning space to grow old and grey in – well, that’s going to be a toss-up.


arts + Culture

accessibile affordable art WEEKLY SNAG RAFFLE COMBINES ALL THREE Michael Ros × Writer Art isn't strictly reserved for the wealthy and powerful, let alone big wallets or inflated egos. Meet SNAG, a live painting event that doubles as an art raffle. SNAG is hosted at the Cobalt on Wednesday nights, where the hotel's one-time dive bar has been transformed into a local haven for artists and fans alike. It's an art show with no pretension and, as director Andrew Young likes to put it, the only place on the planet where you have the chance to walk out with an original for as little as $5. “The event just started as a response to an open night available while working here,” he explains. “My boss wanted a live painting event to happen. He wanted to somehow give the work away at the end of it.” That’s why it's called SNAG, as the event’s premise is to give attendees the opportunity to snag various pieces of unique, local art literally right off the easel they were created on. There is no cover charge to get in – admission is free just like the pinball machine and N64 games waiting inside. There is also a resident DJ known as BIKES, who weaves disco and house between hip-hop and funk. Paint fumes aside, the most palatable smell is beer, which the cash bar sells for $4. Finally, for those who are so inclined, raffle tickets are on sale for $5 each, three for $10 or 10 for $20. At the heart of the party, several artists set up

× Jonathan Dy shop and get to work simultaneously, crafting new, original pieces that go into the final showcase. At the end of the night, tickets are drawn and many in attendance find themselves walking home with an original. For the average student, art is seemingly locked in the confines of wealth and higher status – a major drawback suggesting that if you can't afford to fit in, you almost certainly aren't even welcome. The goal of SNAG is to create an accessible environment for everyone. Attendees even have the chance to talk to the artists themselves, as if they're just another patron at the bar. “Between leaving the pretension at the door and the curb appeal of the artwork that lives in here, it creates a standard for people who don't know anything,” says Young. “It makes them want to come back because they understand it, and because they

like it, because they were a part of it.” His philosophy is simple: “We all like stuff that looks like stuff.” “My own background is in illustration, and for the most part, all these artists are 85 per cent commercial artists – illustrators or aspiring to be. It's representational art,” Young says, commenting on the style of work. “We've found the genre has a lot of curb appeal, we've found people show a genuine interest in the genre – people who want to lightly go and see what's happening at an art show without being berated by conceptual artwork.” In effect, SNAG has given the scene a standard. It's art, but it's inviting, affordable and exciting for the everyman. The event serves a variety of purposes, even for the artists themselves, and it draws a demographic that they are arguably the most at home with. The budding and talented are

showcased and highlighted every week, with artists and students from the Downtown Eastside, Emily Carr University and even CapU's own illustration department – from where Young himself hails. “They donate themselves, in a way, simply for the sake of it,” he says. Sunny Shah, an illustrator, concept artist and a recent Emily Carr graduate, weighs in on the merits of SNAG. “It's a chance to paint exactly what you want and not worry about clichés or anything,” he says. “It's for fun. You can explain to people what you're painting and what it means, and not fear criticism.” Along with Shah, some of the participating artists this month include Michelle MacDonald, Pandora Young, Michele Miguel, Nomi Chi and Pedro Amato. SNAG is no stranger to attracting other big-name artists in Vancouver, ranging from graphic designers to sign painters, who are all willing to sell their work on the cheap. “In terms of affordability, if you look at the artists who have participated in this night – it's unruly,” says Young. “Works that would typically go for a thousand dollars that you can walk away with from a $5 raffle ticket – you can't find that anywhere else, there's no way you'll find a better deal than that.” For more information on SNAG, visit Snag-thecobalt.tumblr.com.

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arts + Culture

extreme cheapskates at capilano FINDING SAVINGS THROUGH STOLEN MILK + SOGGY LEFTOVERS Calvin deGroot × Writer TLC’s reality show Extreme Cheapskates returned this year, showcasing some of the most frugal people in America. The show’s guests walk a fine line between being resourceful and psychotic, including a New Yorker who believes that toilet paper is a waste of money. Among the 8,000 students at Capilano University, there are also some unusually cheap people, and one of them is communications student Josh Anderson*. Each day, after his classes wrap up at 5:20 p.m., Anderson heads down to the Birch Building for supper. When he gets to the cafeteria, he slowly paces around the perimeter of the room as if he is looking for a group of friends. But he is not looking for people; he is looking for abandoned plates of food that he can eat for dinner. He sees nothing, so he walks over to the vertical racks in the corner of the room that hold used trays and dirty dishes. Still nothing. Anderson is not phased by his luck. He sits at a table, opens his computer and begins working. “It is still a little early for the after dinner rush,” he says. Anderson’s patience eventually scores him a plate of French fries, the most common of the free foods he indulges in at CapU. Anderson grew up in Smithers, B.C., where his Dutch immigrant parents and community taught him, at an early age, about the value of money. However, it was when he first left his hometown and moved to Whistler that his frugal ways really evolved. “It kind of happened out of necessity,” he explains. “The lifestyle in Whistler is really expen-

sive and during the slower parts of the season, work is hard to find but rent always stays the same.” One day at the Roundhouse Lodge, where he claims “the food prices are out of control,” Anderson started noticing how much food was being thrown out. At the time, Whistler had adopted a zero food waste policy where all food scraps were brought back down the mountain for composting, and he observed bussers taking it all downstairs. “I got tired of watching so many people wasting expensive food so I decided to ask one of the diners if they planned on finishing their food,” recalls Anderson. “They said they did not want it, so I asked, ‘Can I have it?’” After initially giving him a weird look, the man surrendered the rest of his poutine. Anderson would not pay for a meal at a Whistler lodge again for an entire year. “Of course, I was nervous to do it at first,” he says, “but as I started doing it more regularly, I really began to enjoy the weird reactions from the people I asked.” In Anderson’s opinion, eating people’s left-overs is not all that weird. “People go into sweaty night-clubs and make-out with complete strangers, but eating each other’s food is disgusting?” Now a student at CapU, not much has changed about Anderson’s frugal ways – in fact, they’ve only increased. Equally as perplexed at the food prices offered on campus, Anderson says he’s come up with multiple cheap alternatives. There are, what he calls, the obvious ways, like attending ChatLive discussion groups for free pizza or CSU events that offer free lunch. Another method includes scrounging for leftovers at the cafeteria, but his most contentious tactic involves stealing milk

× Chris Dedinsky from the coffee stands throughout the campus. “First, I stop over at Superstore to buy some granola,” he says. But Anderson, not about to pay full price for food, has found a way to get it cheap. “I take it to the self-checkout and enter in the code for flour which is much cheaper,” he explains. He then takes his discounted granola up to school and fills a soup cup with free milk and eats his cereal. “In the end, it costs me about 30 cents.” Anderson’s friends have questioned the morality of his cheapskate practices – particularly how he steals milk, but he rationalizes with them by also

buying a coffee when he gets his milk. He is quick to add he does so for a full price. “They factor in the price of milk and cream in the price of the coffee, so I’m not exactly stealing, I am just taking more than they expect.” He adds that the price of cream or milk is also charged to students who take their coffee and tea black, so “in the end, it all evens out.” Parking is another area in which Anderson has managed to keep his costs down at CapU. Currently, he parks for free on Riverside Drive and takes the trails up to school. When he is not on campus, he fills his appetite from free food he receives at the restaurant he works at, again by scrounging left-overs. He also regularly attends Sikh temples that offer free meals six days of the week. Like many students at CapU, Anderson enjoys a night out but cringes at how much it can hurt the wallet. “When I go out, I try to snag as many free drinks as possible,” he says. “After a few drinks people start to abandon their drinks, so I finish them.” Once, he says, it even got him kicked out of a club. People have different reasons for being cheap, but for Anderson it’s the prospect of saving a few bucks. “Spending needless money kind of gives me anxiety,” he explains. “I always feel like I am being taken advantage of.” In the end, he believes his “resourcefulness” – the term he prefers over cheap – saved him over $2500 in 2013 alone. And in a country where health care is free, catching the occasional cold or flu isn’t a huge price to pay for some tasty leftovers. *Name has been changed to protect identity.

school of satire LAUNCH OF NEW IMPROV ACADEMY HAS VANCOUVER IN STITCHES Paisley Conrad

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× Crystal Lee “It's a good time to be a comedian in Vancouver,” says Aaron Read of the Sunday Service improv comedy group. The genre, which can be defined as spontaneous theatre made up entirely on the spot, has felt a boom over the last several years. In fact, two of the main driving forces of the Vancouver improv scene, the Sunday Service and Hip.Bang!, have even joined together recently to train the next wave of Vancouver comedians. Read, along with Caitlin Howden, Devin Mackenzie, Tom Hill, Ryan Beil and Taz VanRassel make up the faculty of Blind Tiger Comedy, a brand new improv and sketch comedy school. Between them are years of experience, over a dozen Canadian Comedy Award nominations and wide recognition throughout the international improv comedy scene. “What we're trying to teach is a commitment to story, and a commitment to a strong technical

scene, but above all a commitment to good comedy,” explains Hill, “so you're going to see the gameyness of companies like the Upright Citizen's Brigade but you'll see strong characters, and the telling of a whole story like Second City Theatre or Bad Dog Theatre. We're still forging our identity.” Indeed, the six founders come from a wide variety of comedic backgrounds. From the main stage of Second City Theatre in Toronto to Unexpected Productions in Seattle, this fusion of influences has been successful for the two groups. “There's a really vague definition of what the game of the scene is, and it's different for different companies in different cities. Finding the game, the content and the dynamic, and what's fun or funny about the scene, coupled with the approach to all of that makes the company and the philosophy. Our personal mandate is getting people to the point

where they can take comedy seriously,” states Read. Blind Tiger Comedy offers a wide selection of classes. “We're still trying to figure out where the demand for classes is at, but so far it is going really smoothly,” says Hill. The recommended starting point for newcomers is the Intro Series, which is catered to those with little to no comedy experience and will cover many of the basics. “There's a general language of improv, and this class will teach you that, and the foundation of what improv is,” says Read. The Intro Series has three levels, and by the end of the third round of workshops, a student will have dabbled in both sketch and improv, and performed in front of a live audience. The Long Form Improv series is geared towards students with ample amounts of previous experience, or those who have gone through the Intro Series. “We're focusing on the Harold style of improv,” says Hill. A Harold is a class improv structure which introduces three separate storylines and follows them through to the end, interspersed with monologues and games relevant to the suggestion. “We want to do technically good improv, and not just keep learning new forms and styles.” The Long Form series will have four terms, culminating in the development of a unique style of improv for showcase. In addition to teaching improv, Blind Tiger also offers sketch comedy classes to provide students with basic comedic scriptwriting skills. Outside of the three series, a scene study class is also offered. “It's very basic,” says Hill. “Ryan Beil just tells you what's wrong with the scene. There's no teaching of forms or skills, just direct feedback. That's what a lot of us feel like we were missing out [on] as we

were learning. The focus should be more of just doing really solid scenes.” Elective courses will be available to the general public. The first elective offered was an intensive workshop focused on the development of strong physical characters. In terms of developing new workshops, the faculty is in tune with what skills their students are looking to improve on. “Performers talk about being in their heads a lot, and not being totally in the moment, so we're working on a month-long scene study focused on getting out of your head,” says Read. The school has set up shop at the Little Mountain Gallery (195 East 26 Ave.). The venue has a reputation for their underground productions, unique improv shows and ridiculously cheap beer. “We're lucky to have the Little Mountain. It fits the tone of the school. It's about learning how to do things the cool way,” says Hill. Ironically, the building appears to lack a heating system. Read is optimistic about where the improv scene, in general, is headed. “Six years ago, you'd kind of stick to your improv places and stand-up places. There wasn't a lot of crossover, which there is now. You're also starting to see sketch, which Vancouver isn't really known for. Everything is broadening up. We're nice, too. It's not like we're dicks or anything. I know that Vancouver has a reputation for being cold but I don't think that's true for the comedy world here.” For more information on the Blind Tiger faculty and the various classes they offer, readers may visit Blindtigercomedy.ca.


art shorts

KRISTI ALEXANDRA ART SHORTS EDITOR

COPY@CAPILANOCOURIER.COM

The Pixies

THE ORPHEUM, FEB.17

Faye Alexander × Opinions Editor It's been 27 years since the Pixies came together, so basically they're older than most of Capilano University's student body. The Orpheum housed a vast sea of fans ranging from fresh faced 19 year olds who just discovered Doolittle to middle-aged punks with corporate haircuts. That's what is so magic about acts like the Pixies, despite originally disbanding in '93, their music continues to connect with new audiences. They made a major impact on alternative rock in the ‘90s and paved the way for some of the decade’s most influential musicians. Take it from Kurt Cobain, "When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily I should have been in that band — or at least in a Pixies cover band." The Pixies have just recorded new material and it's the first time in over 10 years since the band reunited for a 2004 world tour which was met with unrequited enthusiasm. However, co-founder of the group Kim Deal (bassist and backup vocalist) was notably absent and replaced with Paz Lenchantin.

The thing is, the Pixies fell apart due to tension in the band, mostly between lead singer Black Francis and Deal — and you can still see it now. The Pixies never spoke or addressed the audience and barely made eye contact with one another. They were pretty much glued to their places on stage throughout their raging two-hour set. Lenchantin stood out when she would sway and skank and show off her major case of bass face. It's easy to see they are more than just a little over playing together. Lousy attitudes aside, it was the Pixies and they played phenomenally. Delivering their unique brand of off-kilter obnoxious surf-vibing rock, they played "Mr. Grieves". Francis reminded the audience that they are one hell of a heavy band — something easily overlooked when the first thing that comes to mind is "Where is My Mind?" — which had to be the encore Monday night. Unfortunately, it was clear they are so sick of playing that song, that's almost all you could hear. I feel so bad criticizing one of my all-time favourite bands, but if you hate playing together and it's so obvious that you can see it from the balcony, what are you really playing for?

Driving Miss Daisy

ARTS CLUB THEATRE, FEB. 19

Paisley Conrad × Writer

sting + Paul Simon

ROGERS ARENA, FEB. 20 Andy Rice × Arts + Culture Editor

the royal oui

SELF-TITLED ALBUM Kristi Alexandra × Copy Editor

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Vancouver indie-duo The Royal Oui has been garnering a lot of buzz as of late. The husband and wife were signed to local independent label File Under: Music late last year and have since been acclaimed by media outlets like CBC and Exclaim. Their self-titled debut album is a collection of soft, folksy love songs that speak to the couple’s love affair with music – and each other. “Sirensong” kicks off the 11-track record, hammering out acoustic bar chord-driven verses and lilting, ambient choruses. Both Ari Shine and Adrienne Pierce sing equal parts, harmonizing vocals with each other. Second on the album is “True”, an undeniable ode to the band members’ mutual love. Singing in unison, “I will always be true/ I could only ever/ I will

always be true/ I could only ever/ Be true to you,” the tune plays out like it should be featured in the background of an indie-themed wedding video. After a few slow, acoustic ditties, “The Real Thing” picks up the tempo a little bit, as the guitars play around with some Spanish-style affectations. Following suit with the rest of the album, husband and wife both sing in unison in all lyrics. “Bonfire” features some beautiful fingerpicking that slows down the album once again, and coincidentally, it does sound like much of this album should be sung around a campfire in the summertime. “Montuak (This Is The End)” wraps up the album, bittersweetly bringing this collection of love songs to a close – kind of like getting on a plane back home after the most perfect hipster honeymoon.

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It was an unlikely tour combination with an unassuming name, but Sting and Paul Simon On Stage Together were an undisputed success in Vancouver. Energized and rejuvenated, the two proved they’re still crazy after all these years — crazy good at what they do, that is. Simon has been begrudgingly drifting in and out of musical partnership with Art Garfunkel since their first reunion in 1972, and Sting bit a similar bullet in 2007 for one last hurrah with the Police. This current tour has admittedly been uncharted territory for both performers and offered a palpable feeling of excitement that originated at centre stage. Flanked by a 13-piece band, the two opened with Sting’s “Brand New Day”, proving that Rogers Arena was a brand new venue for their audio engineer, who quickly dialed in what would be a crisp, clean audio mix for the rest of the show. Then it was Simon’s turn for a song. The legends would go back and forth like this all night, trading hits and sharing band members. Early in the show, the lumpy Simon, 72, greeted the audience graciously before making a joke about his touring partner’s “Adonislike” physique. “Is that a muscle suit?” he asked. “You want to borrow it?” quipped Sting, 62. “You can wear it tomorrow.” In addition to being in good spirits, both were in unbelievable vocal form

throughout the evening. Sting has retained all the power and range of his younger years and demonstrated remarkable endurance as a performer. Simon has also held up well, gaining resonance with age and delivering his lyrics with a spontaneity of phrasing that still exists even after four decades. And then there was the hit parade — “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic”, “Message in a Bottle”, “Every Breath You Take”, “Driven to Tears” and “Roxanne” were among the highlights in Sting’s set, and Simon followed suit with “Mother and Child Reunion”, “Late in the Evening”, “Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard”, “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” and “You Can Call Me Al”. Friendly competition kept both singers taking risks and running on all cylinders. Capping off the night was a rousing encore that included a spine-tingling rendition of “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. To Sting’s credit, he paid respectful homage to Garfunkel’s iconic vocal part while taking the song to new heights. He had said in recent interviews that he wasn’t there to imitate, and he certainly didn’t. A true master class in songwriting, performance and musical reinvention, Simon and Sting offered a thrilling two-for-one concert experience — not to mention a unique shakeup for the oft-fatigued nostalgia rock reunion circuit. Let’s hope these 18 shows aren’t the end of their collaboration.

Written in 1987 by Alfred Uhry, Driving Miss Daisy spans 25 years, from 1948 to 1973 in Atlanta, Georgia. A dry comedy focusing on an unlikely friendship between an elderly Southern Jewish woman, and her African-American driver, the wit is fast-paced despite the age of the characters. Driving Miss Daisy calls for a cast of three. John Campbell of Treehouse TV’s 4Square program was cast in the role of Hoke Coleburn, a wideeyed, old African-American man battered by the racist nature of the Southern states, nevertheless optimistic and practical. His choice of a character voice was quite distinct, fluctuating between highs and lows, drawing out each of his words carefully, which at times felt as though it was overkill. However, the earnestness of his portrayal made up for any annoyance. Well-meaning and good-natured, Brian Linds was pleasant enough in his role as Boolie Werthan, a Jewish businessman married to a social-climbing Christian woman. The lady

of the night was, coincidentally, the only lady of the evening. The curmudgeonly Daisy Werthan was acted by Nicola Lipman, who played the aging Jewish matron with rawness and poise. The actress, having received a collection of Canadian Theatre awards throughout her career, was up for the challenge of playing such a blunt and unimpressed character. Despite all her barbed words and no-nonsense attitude, Lipman made Daisy a very endearing and sweet character. What stole the show, however, was Carmen Alatorre’s costume design. As the characters aged, so did their physical appearances. Each of them experienced several changes in wigs, and their bodies became stooped over and their movements slower. The men wore well-cut suits that fit their stations in life and the time period. Daisy’s wardrobe was a force to be reckoned with, her costumes changing every single scene, her shortest costume change being a mere 40 seconds. From smart pencil skirts matched with fitted blazers, to fur stoles layered over elegant blue dresses, Lipman looked every inch the wealthy Georgian woman she was to be.

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FEATURES

THERESE GUIEB FEATURES EDITOR

S P E C I A L F E AT U R E S @ C A P I L A N O C O U R I E R . C O M

Money Matter$

× Alain Champagne

The effect of minimum wage on employers + workers Gabriel Scorgie × Writer

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Minimum wage is supposed to be enough to pay for food, shelter and clothing, but due to the rising cost of living, employees in Canada are finding that basic necessities are becoming more expensive and their wages aren’t improving to reflect that. This has created a situation where the cost of living is now substantially higher than minimum wage. Minimum wage, as it stands, is suitable for a student but particularly for one that lives at home and pays little or no rent, has few bills to pay monthly and doesn’t pay their own tuition. Many people have no other option but to work multiple jobs so they can pay off their bills, leaving little to no room to achieve a higher education to ultimately earn a higher wage. The goal for many is to have a career rather than a job. However, to have a career, a particular set of skills need to be learned in order to be deemed valuable. The skills will vary depending on the job, but the only thing that rarely changes is that they have to be acquired through schooling. It’s hard for someone to go to school when they're working 16 hours a day, five days a week. Currently, the minimum wage makes it difficult, if not impossible, for someone who is down-and-out to get ahead. They get trapped in a vicious cycle where they can’t get a higher paying job because they haven’t gone to school and they can’t go to school because their job doesn’t pay enough.

BLAME IT ON THE MAN When discussing minimum wage, it’s easy to turn it into a debate about the merits of capitalism. Under capitalism, CEOs have the right to have a seven or eight-figure salary and shouldn’t be condemned for having one – even if part of a CEO's salary should go to their workers. It isn’t happening until a law is passed that makes them. If fingers are to be pointed, they should be aimed in the right direction. Blaming offshore investors that buy homes and don’t sell or rent them causes an increase in housing prices. The government, for not raising the minimum wage to match the cost of living, is a much better target than the CEO of the Canadian Railway Company for the sole reason that he makes a lot of money. On Jan. 2, CBC released an article stating that the top CEOs in Canada will make the average worker’s yearly salary by lunchtime. Many people commented on the article, calling their salaries obscene and unnecessary. Some went as far as to use Asian businesses as a model, which sees many executives making less than $200,000 a year, as an example of how businesses should be run. However, what they may not take into consideration is that even if it means outsourcing jobs and paying employees minimum wage, a business is supposed to do whatever it takes to make money. People should hardly be surprised when they hear of companies like Sears outsourcing 1,628 IT jobs or HSBC contracting jobs in India. They’re a source of cheap labour. Why

would they now start following an Asian model and make significantly less money if they don’t have to? Doing whatever it takes to make a profit is the name of the game and the CEOs are merely playing it. The question that should be asked is why does the government continue to pass legislature and allow companies to continue these practices? The fact still remains that business owners are the ones in power and are the only individuals capable of changing the economic landscape. Over the years, there has been little done by Harper to keep jobs in Canada and provincial governments have done nothing to keep wages up at a level that’s comparable to the cost of living. The last minimum wage increase in Canada, before the one happening now in Ontario, was here in B.C. three years ago and it was only to bring up the lowest minimum wage in the country to a level that was already falling behind with the cost of living. If the government prevented outsourcing and raised wages, many companies would lose out on profits, but few would go out of business. Possibly because they don’t consider the effects it has on every other business. “When [the government] make[s] the predictions of lost jobs, they poll business owners and they usually give large numbers,” says David Green, an economics professor at UBC. “Business owners aren’t thinking about their competitors and don’t realize that they’ll have the same issue. They don’t account for other business owners having to face the same obstacles as well and that because the changes affect everyone, there are little ramifications.”

KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY STACK Ask any business owner what their highest overhead is and they will all say it’s their employees. That’s because employees cost more than just a paycheque. Employers also pay for CPP, employment insurance and worker’s compensation. There are a lot of expenses behind the scenes that the average person may not take into consideration. Business owners have a tendency to point to those extra costs as reasons why a minimum wage increase would be crippling to their company. They say they won’t be able to handle the costs and will go out of business, which would put many people out of jobs and in a worse position than they are now. In 2011, B.C. Premier Christy Clark announced that there would be a minimum wage increase in B.C. As soon as this was announced, the doomsday predictors came out of the woodworks. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business predicted that 32,760 to 199,560 jobs would be lost and the Fraser Institute projected around 52,000. “If the minimum wage were to suddenly double then, yes, a number of businesses would be in trouble, but as long as [business owners] can see the changes, they can adapt. Because minimum wages are imposed gradually, with a timeline and final figure announced far in advance, the effect is minimal,” argues Green. “The economy would have a bigger impact on employment numbers than the minimum wage, even though businesses that use a


ON the Cover hours are inconsistent and there isn’t any benefits program. When you move out, you have a lot more to pay for than just rent,” she says. Working 40 hours per week, if you’re lucky enough to get that many hours, at $10.25 per hour means a biweekly paycheque around $750. It’s rare to find a one bedroom apartment to rent for less than $750 per month in Vancouver, so half of your monthly pay would be going just to rent. Ignoring additional costs like utilities, car payments, and groceries, it’s not hard to see why people aren’t happy with their wages and even students are choosing to stay at home until they graduate. Yahoo Finance reported that “51 per cent of Canadians aged 20 to 29 still live at home,” which had gone up to 31

Alain champagne Alain Champagne is a French Canadian cartoonist who's current projects include drawing the Mal & Zombi strip and founding the Colour Gang Comics School in Victoria, B.C. Follow him or check out some of his works at Alainchampagne.tumblr.com

" Social mobility in Canada is overstated. It's very difficult for people from lower backgrounds to move up the economic ladder." per cent in 1998. NEWS 1130 also stated that 45 per cent of B.C. students expect their parents to pay for their financial needs. It wouldn’t be a problem if only students were the ones working minimum wage jobs. They could stay at home or on campus until they start their career, but in Ontario, nearly 40 per cent of minimum wage workers are over the age of 24. “Social mobility in Canada is overstated. It’s very difficult

lot of minimum wage employees will have to make some adjustments.” An increase in worker wages would cut into their profit margin, but part of the reason that McDonalds and Walmart are so profitable is because they rely on their minimum wage employees to keep their costs down. Some of them will see a drop in profitability. However, raising the minimum wage would not break their business.

MEN FROM OVER THERE

that “local businesses were wiped out because they relied on the daily foot traffic.” The problem with failing businesses may not be because they have to pay their employees more, but because there aren’t enough people in the area to shop there. There has recently been some government intervention to reduce the number of offshore investors coming into the country. The controversial Immigrant Investor Program, which requires potential immigrants to have a net worth of over $1.5 million, was scrapped this year by the Canadian government. However, the program had been paused for over a year and there was little effect on the housing market. "We haven't handled investment immigration to Canada for a long time. We don't care about the new rule," says Ma Xiaxue, an immigration consultant. The people who want to invest have still found alternatives to do so. It’s unlikely that this government intervention will have any effect on the cost of living, though it is a step in the right direction.

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" The top CEOs in Canada will make the average worker's yearly salary by lunchtime."

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As much as the minimum wage may need to be raised, people also need to be willing to live a more budget-conscious lifestyle. Minimum wage isn’t supposed to be enough money to buy your first house with, or own a new car or go on vacations with. In fact, it shouldn’t allow you to do much at all. It should, however, be enough to pay for rent in a small apartment, transportation around town, groceries and still have a little left over for leisure. The problem right now is that minimum wage doesn’t even let you do that. "There's no way I could move out on minimum wage. I would need at least another part-time job," expresses Kaylee Nordhoj, a barista at Waves Coffee House. “The

× Alain Champagne

THE CAPILANO COURIER

One of the biggest causes for the high cost of living in Vancouver and its surrounding areas is the expensive market for buying or renting a place. Part of this is because of the offshore investing of real estate in Vancouver. The problem with this type of investment is that many people with too much money to spend just buy property and leave it. They don’t rent it out while they wait for its value to increase. Last year, the Globe and Mail stated in an article that there is enough vacant property due to investors that you could fill 35 towers that were each 20 stories high. Having over 22,000 empty units more than areas like Calgary and Toronto in an already geographically dense location artificially creates a seller’s market and drives up prices since it appears there is less room available than there really is. Empty neighbourhoods are dangerous for small businesses. In Coal Harbour, where one in four condominiums is empty, there are many shops and restaurants that are struggling to stay afloat. Meanwhile, in the West End — a much more populated area — there are many thriving local shops and businesses. “Vancouver has a local culture, focused on foot traffic. For a local business, location and population is huge,” notes Graham Cook, a sociology professor at Capilano University. Cook uses the example of the construction of the Canada Line disrupting businesses based near City Hall, arguing

for people from lower backgrounds to move up the economic ladder,” states Cook. He believes that part of the reason for this is the polarization of the workforce. “More jobs that are high skilled, well paid and have high autonomy, but require specialization, are being created,” he continues. “The jobs in the middle are hollowing out …. Before, people could have jobs working in fields like manufacturing or transport and be able to afford to buy a home and send their kids to university, but those jobs are either disappearing or now require university degrees.” This phenomenon is known as credential inflation, where jobs that previously valued work experience over education now prefer university degrees or higher. “Education is becoming a massive barrier to people,” remarks Cook. If the middle class jobs are shrinking, then the lower class wages need to be raised so people can afford to learn the skills required to advance economically. “We have a minimum wage for the same reason as child labour laws. There are things that aren’t fair and would make us feel uncomfortable. We wouldn’t feel right, as a society, if we allowed people to make a dollar an hour and the minimum wage is a signal that sets that standard,” notes Green. If we don’t feel right knowing the person down the street makes $1 an hour, why should we feel any better knowing they make $10 an hour but still can’t afford heat and electricity? The effect that raising minimum wage will have on businesses is small. The employment rate is almost entirely influenced by the current economy, not how much the lowest employee makes. A higher minimum wage would grant people the opportunity to further their education while being able to keep the lights on and food on the table. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, the only way to go is up.

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FEATURES

THERESE GUIEB FEATURES EDITOR

S P E C I A L F E AT U R E S @ C A P I L A N O C O U R I E R . C O M

and the academy award goes to A LOOK INTO THE 86TH ANNUAL OSCAR NOMINEES Julia Gabriel Best Picture:

× Writer

The Academy Awards have been captivating audiences for nearly 90 years, making it the most illustrious awards ceremony in the film industry. With categories ranging from Best Animated Feature to the coveted Best Picture, film critics and movie viewers have been intrigued by the Academy Awards since 1929, marking this year as its 86th annual ceremony. Held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, the first Academy Awards ceremony cost only $5 to attend and lasted 15 minutes, with the winners of the 12 categories already informed of their achievement three months prior to the event. Now, over 40 million people tune in to the broadcast each year, with an invitation-only attendance, making it an exclusive event. Presented at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, the categories have doubled to 24 and winners are announced on the spot, given only 45 seconds to express their thanks during an acceptance speech. Ellen DeGeneres will be returning to host for a second time this year with large support from both the producers and the Academy. “There are few stars today who have Ellen's gift for comedy, with her great warmth and humanity,” exclaimed producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. “She is beloved everywhere and we expect that the audience at the Dolby Theater, and in homes around the globe, will be as excited by this news as we are.” Perhaps the top television personality following Oprah Winfrey, DeGeneres has compared hosting the Academy Awards to jumping out of a plane, but said that this year she is much more confident about her audience and script. “I am so excited to be hosting the Oscars for the second time. You know what they say – the third time's the charm.” Already a television and social media hit, audiences and fans have spoken out about their approval of this year’s host, anticipating an entertaining evening.

THE CAPILANO COURIER

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PREDICTIONS

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On March 2, the nominations will be narrowed down to 24 recipients, often sparking controversial debate over those who won and lost, the speeches given and the outfits worn. This year’s nominations have been the buzz of conversation in the industry and among viewers. Focusing in on the six most influential aspects, the predictions have been made about who will be taking home an Oscar this year. Peter Knegt, senior writer at Indiewire film magazine, has been covering the Oscars among other publications for seven years. “I liked Wolf of Wall Street, but I wouldn't have personally given it a Best Picture nomination, though I did think both DiCaprio and Jonah Hill gave awesome, often hilarious performances,” says Knegt about the Best Picture nominees and actors featured in The Wolf of Wall Street. Jordan Hughes, creator of indie film blog In The Attic (Imatticted.tumblr.com) agrees with Knegt. “It was well done, but I feel like the reasons it was well done are overlooked. I actually really enjoyed Jonah Hill though, he was hilarious.” Despite the numerous commendations towards Jonah Hill in The Wolf of Wall Street, his nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role will likely be overlooked. According to the Academy Awards predictions on Awardscircuit.com, it is Jared Leto

who will be taking home the Oscar for his role in Dallas Buyers Club. He is predicted to be joined by co-star Matthew McConaughey, nominated for Best Actor in a Lead Role. In regards to Leonardo DiCaprio finally earning his Oscar, Hughes agrees with the predictions on Awardscircuit.com. “I definitely think it would be a surprise if DiCaprio won his first Oscar from this film.” Knegt claims that “DiCaprio is probably unlikely to win this time around, though it's certainly possible.” For now, it looks like McConaughey will be the recipient of what is possibly the most acclaimed award of an actor’s career. There has been much talk over the lead actress nomination involving Amy Adams in American Hustle. She is a first time contender for Best Actress in a Lead Role as she has never been nominated for an Academy Award before. Rumour has it that she’ll be battling for the title against Cate Blanchett, who was nominated for her role in Blue Jasmine. Nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Jennifer Lawrence, though certainly gaining popularity from her role as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, could lose to Lupita Nyong’o. The highly acclaimed supporting actress from 12 Years a Slave easily stole audiences’ attention and so far has been the main competition for Lawrence in this year’s awards. Though American Hustle’s actresses have been attracting much attention, the film itself has remained fairly up in the air. “I think American Hustle is incredibly overrated, though I'm clearly in a bit of a minority there,” Knegt suggests. “It stands a small chance at winning Best Picture, which would be a shame given the high quality of its competitors.” Despite all four of its actors being nominated, as both Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale have joined their co-stars Lawrence and Adams in the ranks, the film seems to have an unpredictable stance among critics, as many believe it to be good – just not great. Spike Jonze’s Her, starring Joaquin Phoenix and the voice of Scarlett Johansson, has already won over 42 different titles. “By far, the best movie of 2013…. Worth every award received. Phenomenal acting, visual effects, music, directing, colours, lighting, sets, story, meanings, and emotions. It raises the bar with quality and meaning,” stated Hughes in his blog. Though nominated for Best Picture, Awards Circuit is placing Her as the frontrunner for Best Original Screenplay, but Knegt claims that its competition would be the aforementioned American Hustle. “I'm a big fan of Her. It's an extraordinarily creative take on loneliness and human connection in the digital age,” notes Hughes. Until the 86th Annual Academy Awards on March 2, the predictions will remain up for grabs. Though the predictions are subjective, the winners will be exclusive and there is no doubt that this year’s competitors are some of the best yet. This year’s Oscars could possibly make or break the success of next year’s actors and directors, making the little golden man one of the most influential figures – quite literally – in Hollywood to date.

American Hustle The Wolf of Wall Street Philomena Nebraska Captain Philips Dallas Buyers Club Gravity 12 Years a Slave Her Predicted: 12 Years a Slave

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Christian Bale (American Hustle) Bruce Dern (Nebraska) Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street) Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club) Predicted: Matthew McConaughey

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Amy Adams (American Hustle) Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine) Dame Judi Dench (Philomena) Meryl Streep (August: Osage County) Sandra Bullock (Gravity) Predicted: Cate Blanchett

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips) Bradley Cooper (American Hustle) Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave) Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street) Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club) Predicted: Jared Leto

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine) Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle) Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave) Julia Roberts (August: Osage County) June Squibb (Nebraska) Predicted: Lupita Nyong’o

Best Original Screenplay: American Hustle Blue Jasmine Dallas Buyers Club Her Nebraska Predicted: American

Hustle

× Meghan Collinson

Did you know? The coveted eight-and-a-half pound statuette stands a mere 13.5 inches tall, and has been held in the hands of Hollywood’s greatest. In fact, studies have shown that 68 per cent of recipients tend to clutch the statuette in their hands while presenting their speeches, and the remaining 32 per cent hoist him in the air. This little golden man is made of gold-plated metal, though plaster, bronze, and 24-karat gold was used as the awards developed through time. Officially named the Academy Award of Merit, the trophy supposedly earned the nickname “Oscar” following a comment made by executive director Margaret Herrick. She claimed that the little man resembled her Uncle Oscar, though this story has been disputed as false. Officially recognized by this name in 1939, Oscar has been distributed to 2,809 recipients, and has become the most coveted award in Hollywood history.


Calendar

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Kristi

Wine Festival Vancouver Convention Centre 6:30 pm to 10 pm $55

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M 24

Fortune Sound Club 9:30 pm $15

M 24

Me So You So Me

To The Arctic

Carlo Javier's Birthday

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The Cultch 8 pm $17.14 to $38.10

T 25

Science World Omnimax 10 am to 5 pm $28.50

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Everywhere All Day $ - a can of hair gel

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Okay CSU, we’ve been giving you a hard time. Thank you for updating the calendar with this very important workshop hosted by CapU’s LGBTQ club, QUMUNITY. Learn what it means to speak up about your pride and let that flag fly. Inclusive to all orientations, gender identities, races and walks of life.

Alluding to Japanese historical and pop culture, classical Indian tabla rhythms and cartoons, Me So You So Me explores the perceptions of self – through a lover’s lense, the outsider perspective on a couple, and the experimental music of Japanese percussionist Asa Chang.

Run around interactive science displays, yell through sound dishes and tap the glass where the reptiles reside like you did as a snot-nosed thirdgrader on a field trip. For $28.50, you can also check out a show in the Omnimax, like To The Arctic, about a mama Polar Bear and her sevenmonth-old cubs.

It’s our staff writer’s birthday. We are going to celebrate by listening to One Direction, dressing up in a suit and tie, and doing our hair all fancy. We are also going to eat a bunch of cake, because the only reason we like birthdays is for the cake. What are you going to do for Carlo’s birthday? May we suggest a sample sale?

Jody Glenham Album Release

Pink Shirt Day

Study and Go Abroad Fair

Conversation with Tibet's PM in Exile

Everywhere W All Day 26 $ - cost of a pink shirt from Value Village

Vancouver Convention Centre 3 pm to 7 pm $ - free

Vancouver has been a town that many superfamous people have loved and left as of late: Beyonce, Miley, even Aaron Carter – but are we forgetting about home-grown talent? I hope not. Support local singer-songwriter Jody Glenham as she releases Dreamer, her new seven-inch LP, at the Biltmore. Good tunes, decent beer.

Recently recognized as a symbol against bullying, pink shirts have been flying off the racks at every Value Village and Sally-Ann in town. Take a symbolic stand against bullying – cyber or otherwise – by donning your salmon-coloured duds. You might even score yourself a seat at a table with the Plastics.

Ever dreamed of taking your CapU education elsewhere like, say, the equally rainy London or to the sunny streets of Barcelona? Skip class to attend the Study and Go Abroad Fair where you’ll meet with universities from around the world, learn about programs abroad and check out the Travel Zone for gap-year, volunteering, internship, language-travel, and work-abroad opportunities.

Whenever the Dalai Lama comes to town, it’s a sold-out event that attracts people from fans of peaceful Buddhism to fans of Brad Pitt and his performance in Seven Years in Tibet. Learn something new about Tibet in a talk with Lobsang Sangay, an expert on international human-rights law, democratic constitutionalism, and conflict resolution.

Moonlight Snowshoe

Going Gatsby

The Wild Feathers

Courier Pizza Party

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Th 27

Performance Works 7 pm $40 for students

Th 27

The Biltmore Cabaret 9 pm $15

W 26

Th 27

C.K. Choi Building, UBC 5:30 pm $ - free

CSU Library Lounge 5:30 pm to 8 pm $ - free

W 26

Th 27

The eighth annual Moonlight Snowshoe event aims to raise $40,000 for at-risk youth. This hourand-a-half guided tour includes live music and snacks, and of course, the ever-helpful knowledge of your moonlight snowshoeing guide. Howl.

Step back in time to the 1920s, where you will be entertained by local talent and local designers, including looks from Plenty, VCC fashion design students and lead designer Madame Moje. Also featured will be a silent auction, 50/50 draw and delicious treats. Plus that Lana Del Rey cover of “Blue Velvet” will play all night long.

It’s a known fact that a lot of America’s greatest music comes from Nashville – the only problem is that you have to get out of Nashville to get recognized. Give these rockers from Tennessee some love as they play tunes from their self-titled debut album, with guests Saints of Valory and Jamestown Revival.

I know some of you have written in expressing interest about certain members of our staff (yes -Katherine is still a “hottie” and our two Andys have dashing smiles). This is your chance to meet us in person. We are hosting a pizza party. Meet us, learn about the Courier, and leave full of pizza farts. Perfect Thursday.

Midnight Movie

February Fury

Monroe Institute Gateway Excursion

The Hobbit

Vancouver Masonic Centre Three-day excursion $273

The Venue (Langley) 7:30 pm $15

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Fraserview Banquet Hall 7 pm $40

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Here’s something I just don’t understand. The Rio Theatre puts on these “Midnight Movies” every Friday night, but they actually start at 11 pm. Do you guys not understand time, or are you, like everyone else, just falsely advertising? Whatever, it’s $8 to see Donnie Darko. Kind of a score.

Join in on this night of live fights with Vancouver martial artists, including muay-thai, kickboxing, MMA, and boxing. It might get a little hard to breathe with all the testosterone in the room … or maybe it’s because someone just sucker-punched you in the chest. Well, here’s to losing teeth!

First, Beyonce and Jay-Z do a mind-blowing performance at the Grammys, throwing up triangle signs and recruiting fans to the illuminati, then the pope’s doves get attacked by Satan birds (aka seagulls), and now the Masonic Centre is offering a three-day retreat into altered states of consciousness. You guys, the New World Order is upon us.

In case you missed the incredibly… long feature film based on the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy epic novel, The Hobbit, come see it in the flesh. Unfortunately, it won’t feature those long, panoramic shots of New Zealand, but if you drive far enough out into Langley, you might feel like you’re on the journey to Mordor.

Ladies First Art Show

Giants vs. Rockets

Hope Sweat and Breathe

Winter Farmer's Market

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Pacific Coliseum 7 pm $20 to $25

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Lynn Valley Elementary 12 pm to 5:30 pm $ - by donation

S 01

Nat Bailey Stadium 10 am to 2 pm $ - free

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For much, much cheaper (and arguably more entertaining) than a Canucks game, you can watch some hockey brawls break out, scream down the ice at the referees and spill beer all over your neighbour. More pocket cash means more beer to buy!

You won’t just be downward-dogging all day long, here’s a yoga-themed tradeshow and fundraiser featuring yoga studios; apparel companies; yogaproduct manufacturers; classes with Mike Nichols, Chris Duggan, Lindsay Collins, and Melissa Donohoe; as well as a diamond-necklace raffle.

Take a stroll through the Nat Bailey Stadium’s Winter Farmer’s Market. You can chow down on some hangover food, like beet fries and sloppy cabbage rolls; buy bunches of kale and organic nugget potatoes; and check out that beardy dude at the vegan pate stand. But don’t you ever forget your reusable canvas tote. Ever.

NHL Heritage Classic

Baker's Market

Kitty Nights Burlesque

Sunday Skate

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Just like A$AP Rocky, I love bad bitches, that’s my fuckin’ problem. In its seventh year, the Ladies First Art Show features works from female pop artists working on all-female themes from all over North America. Doesn’t get more bad ass and babe-ly than this. #allthewomenindependent

THE CAPILANO COURIER

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The Art of Loving 7:30 pm $25

Pride Speak Workshop

Hot Art Wet City 12 pm to 5 pm $ - free S

M 24

I’m not sure that any band that utilizes a celebrity name really has “staying power” as a musical outfit. Case-in-point: what the hell ever happened to buzz band Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head? Who cares. See for yourself if Com Truise, the oh-soclever play on actor and noted Scientologist Tom Cruise, will survive 2014.

The Rio Theatre 11 pm $8 F

Vancouver Aquarium Several Times Daily $25

Com Truise

Once again, the CSU has nothing on the calendar for this Monday. Hey, it’s a Monday… what do we expect here? In lieu of anything campus related, here’s a little info on yet another sex class that’ll give you tips Cosmopolitan never could. Rumour has it Samantha Jones is guest hosting. Just kidding.

Mount Seymour 5:30 pm to 9 pm $20 Th

M 24

Tantric Massage on Men

Capilanocourier.com

When rolling one up and smoking it while your Planet Earth Blu-Ray plays off of your X-Box just isn’t doing it for you anymore – even if you were to have those 3-D glasses – then you might have to take it to the next dimension and experience Planet Earth in 4-D at the aquarium. You can’t bring your bong, though.

The Biltmore Cabaret 8 pm $10

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Planet Earth 4-D

@capcourier

The Vancouver International Wine Festival kicks off at the Vancouver convention centre. Boasting over 1800 different wines over 15 countries, here’s the only time you can walk up to a sophisticated woman exclaiming, “Great legs, full body… let’s see how it tastes,” without getting slapped in the face.

Library 143 11:30 am $ - free T

@capilanocourier

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If you’ve got anywhere from $50 to $300 to blow, come on out to a near-freezing outdoor hockey game without the comforts of seat heaters and a roof over your head. In this NHL Heritage Classic series game, the Vancouver Canucks take on the Ottawa Senators. Oh man, speaking of senators…

Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre 11 am to 3 pm $ - free

Su 02

Heralded as the “sweetest event in Vancouver,” the Baker's Market is a free and fun event – it's where passionate bakers sell their baked goodies to the local community. Free samples, free parking, free admission… free gluten gut?

The Biltmore Cabaret 8 pm $7

Su 02

Vancouver's Reigning Burlesque Queen, Burgundy Brixx continues to bring Vancouver audiences a different lineup of the greatest local and international burlesque stars and starlets every week. Hosted by the fun-loving Purrrfessor, this evening features a highly-coveted weekly door prize.

Robson Square Ice Rink 9 am to 9 pm $ - free skating, $2 rentals

Su 02

If it’s just too cold for that North Shore hike, where animal tracks are frozen in the what-oncewas mud, it might just be the perfect temperature for an outdoor skate. Brought to you by our Olympic hosting city from 2012, this rink boasts free skating and super cheap skate rentals.

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BC Place Stadium 1 pm $50 to $300

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opinions

FAYE ALEXANDER OPINIONS EDITOR

OPINIONS@CAPILANOCOURIER.COM

death in america OLD SCHOOL EXECUTIONS REVAMPED Gabriel Scorgie × Writer

× Danielle Mainman On Jan. 28, the Associated Press released an article revealing that some states are considering bringing back more traditional means of execution. Following a year where the United States had a record low of executions and Maryland, the 18th state, abolished the death penalty, state senators have announced that hangings, gas chambers, firing squads and electrocutions may be back. Though at first it may sound like an article from The Onion, this proposal is frighteningly real. What’s even more shocking is that these options are available right now. Eight states allow for electrocution and the last execution was as recent as January 2013. Three states still allow for gas

chamber executions and another three allow inmates to be hung. No word if beheadings are in consideration as well — perhaps once the cost of bullets and rope become too steep. A lethal injection went wrong this year when inmate Dennis McGuire was injected with an untested mix of chemicals and writhed in pain for 26 minutes, making this the longest state death since the state reintroduced the death penalty in 1999, before finally being pronounced dead. The chemicals currently being used in lethal injections are becoming scarce, causing many states to use alternative drugs. The side effects of these drugs aren’t well known and are the reason behind McGuire’s unpleasant, prolonged death. Because of this, a lawsuit has been filed against Hospira Inc., the company that produced the drug, and now lawmakers have become concerned about the effectiveness of lethal injections. States are considering what Missouri State Rep. Rick Brattin believes are “the most humane, yet economical solutions for our state.” Because what’s the point of a humane death if it isn’t cost efficient? Michael Campbell, assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, believes there is a more political motive behind the recommended revival of these methods than the humane and economic — which isn’t hard to believe considering that keeping inmates alive and

in jail conviently fits both criteria. He mentions that the notion that “terrible people deserve to have terrible things happen to them,” appears to be a common theme among the general public and politicians, being the sluts they are, (44 consecutive “Christian” presidents — really?) love to please a majority. However, something feels intrinsically wrong about allowing the general public to have a voice — no matter how unofficial — about policy regarding how a human dies. One may argue that if there is no real humane way to execute someone, and the best alternatives they can come up with are the resurrection of firing squads and gas chambers, then perhaps it may be better to do away with executions. Washington Governor Jay Inslee seemed to agree with this idea when he announced this month that the death penalty would be suspended as long as he was in charge. "I don't question the guilt or the gravity of their crimes. They get no mercy from me," he said in an interview with ABC News. "But I do not believe their horrific offenses override the problems that exist in our capital-punishment system.” Of course, Inslee also noted the high cost of the death penalty, saying that death-penalty cases are usually in the legal system for years and drag on local and state budgets. Inslee is right, of course, the annual cost of the current death penalty system is a staggering $137

million per year. Compared to the $11.5 million yearly cost that a system with a maximum penalty of life in jail would have, it’s hard to find any reason at all to have a death penalty other than the belief that an-eye-for-an-eye mentality is the right approach for society. Changing the methods used in death penalty cases would not reduce the cost because the bulk of the cost is spent in the courtroom and prison cell rather than the chair. This process is more expensive than life sentences because of the long and complex process that is required in all capital cases to guarantee that no innocent men are executed. There’s little reason to support the suggested changes to the death penalty, or the death penalty at all for that matter. Staring down the end of a barrel, or being placed in a room soon to be filled with gas or sitting in an electric chair is no more humane than a bad reaction to untested chemicals, no matter how politicians spin it. The changes don’t provide any real relief to the cost of the death penalty since most of the expenses are court related and even if they did, it would pale in comparison to the relatively low cost of life-in-prison sentences. The fact that these alternatives were ever even thought of, let alone currently being discussed by politicians in America, is a troubling thought.

big money personalities INEQUALITY COSTS EVERYONE, ESPECIALLY THE RICH Calvin deGroot

THE CAPILANO COURIER

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In a small, dark, windowless room at the University of California, a small group of socio-psychologists gathered 200 students to participate in a rigged game of Monopoly. Over the course of a year, students would play one-on-one for 15 minutes, but one player started with twice as much money, could roll twice as many dice (which got them around the board twice as fast), and collected twice as much money every time he or she passed go. When the game began, there was a sense of awkwardness as both players acknowledged how unfair the game was. However, after a few minutes the players who had the advantage began acting noticeably different. They started moving around the board louder and louder, triumphantly celebrating each small advancement; they also started acting ruder by belittling and scoffing at how poorly their opponents were doing, routinely pointing out they would soon be bankrupted and showcasing how successfully they themselves were doing. The winning players also made physical gestures that displayed dominance, power and celebration by raising hands in the air or fist-pumping. Of particular interest was that, after the game when the winners were interviewed, they appeared to forget how the game was originally rigged, and believed they had won by playing skillfully through buying the right properties, thinking they had actually earned their success. The rigged monopoly game study is part of a growing body of research by Paul Piff and his colleagues at Berkeley that examines how wealth and social hierarchies affect interpersonal relationships. Piff’s research reveals that as wealth increases, an individual’s feelings of compassion and empathy

× Jana Vanduin tend to go down and feelings of entitlement and self-interest go up. For example, they watched as drivers of luxury cars disobeyed road rules twice as many times, and as rich individuals were more likely to cheat in a game that actually could not be won. Research also shows that the attitudes of memorable rich Hollywood characters like Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko (1987) who famously claimed that, “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit” are more prevalent as income levels go up. Greed is rationalized and self-interest is viewed as positive as opposed to being compassionate and generous. With a trend of growing inequality in Canada and across the world, Piff’s research becomes more

and more relevant. Just this past January, Oxfam International announced that the 85 richest people in the world have as much money as the 3.5 billion poorest people in the world. Eighty-five people are as rich as half of the world’s population. And just like the rigged game of Monopoly, the richest individuals have more access to resources and more advantages to expand their wealth than the poor. What this means is that if nothing is changed, then income inequality will only continue to rise. For some, rising rates of poverty and inequality is actually a good thing. When CBC’s Kevin O’Leary heard the news that 85 people have as much money as the 3.5 billion poorest people he claimed that it was “great news” on The Lang and O’Leary Exchange. O’Leary believes that if the poorest people in the world see how well-off the richest are doing, it will motivate everyone to do better, increase competition and overall efficiency and, in the end, everyone will benefit. What O’Leary fails to recognize are the growing social problems and costs that accompany inequality. Across different countries and cultures, inequality always leads to less social mobility (moving up and down between classes), less community and social trust, less economic growth, along with poorer physical health, lower rates of life expectancy and lower literacy. Along with social costs, there are also actual fiscal costs of inequality. British Columbia has the highest poverty rate in Canada. According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, when you calculate the costs of healthcare, crime and lost income associated with poverty, it is close to $9.2 billion every single year. At the same time, an effective poverty reduction strategy — including higher wages, social housing and affordable childcare — would require a $4 billion investment. Inequality should concern the rich as much as it concerns the

poor. This is particularly relevant in Vancouver as it recently surpassed New York City as the most expensive place to live in North America. The poverty and inequality rates across the world are worse than they have ever been at any point in history, but there is still hope for a more equal future. First, there is a common assumption that rich people are “meaner” not because of their money, but because, in a culture of capitalism and consumption, self-interest is rewarded. Therefore, it would make sense that rich people are meaner — being mean gives you an advantage. But Piff’s research also challenges this assumption. “What we have found is that small changes in people’s values, small nudges in certain directions, can restore levels of egalitarianism and empathy.” This can come in ways like simply reminding people of the benefits of cooperation and the advantages of community. When this happens, the levels of empathy and compassion between rich and poor people are almost exactly the same — the differences are not innate, they are malleable. And the transition is already under way. In the United States, over 100 of the wealthiest individuals have pledged to give half of their income away, and the 2011 Occupy movement sparked a global conversation that focused on and addressed the growing problem on inequality making it a key issue in the last American election. New ideas, research and policy recommendations are constantly being proposed and the success and overall well-being of countries like Sweden, Norway and Denmark have shown that economic success and income equality are not mutually exclusive. Here in North America, there is still a long way to go and more work to be done.


opinions

Stealing Quinoa WESTERN BOUTIQUE FOODS CAUSE HARM TO GLOBAL MARKET Katherine Gillard × News Editor For many, eating healthy means eating foods that are nutrient rich and often exotic. Nothing says, “I eat healthy” like posting picture of a dragon fruit next to your hemp seed smoothie. However, the repercussions of making exotic foods trendy can’t be seen in your local Whole Foods, the impact lies in the countries that grow them. One prime example of this is snow peas from Guatemala. They are one of the top harvesters of these delicious greens but they are not a consumer. They need to be able to export goods because they need the profits, but they can’t afford to replace the snow pea farms with something else because of North American demand. The latest fad in trendy foods is quinoa. Quinoa brownies, quinoa salad, quinoa porridge — anything you can add quinoa to is abundant in stores and recipe books. It’s not only trending in North America, but Europe, China and Africa as well. Quinoa is from a species of goosefoot, which is grown for its seeds and is harvested by hand and very rarely by machine. For this reason, it is dependent on the farmers who sow it. Its popularity in the health food community likely comes from

cap you

the fact that it’s fairly exotic, coming from dry climates, and that it is high in protein and free from gluten. Gluten-free pastas, flours and cereals are often made with quinoa. The market for quinoa has been booming in the last 30 years. Before this, there was hardly a market for the crop outside of Bolivia and Peru, but now there is huge demand for the crop. Since 1999, Bolivia has increased its production by 50 per cent, which many people might think is a good thing for local harvesters. Increase in demand means more money, and more money means less problems. In Peru, a tonne of Quinoa is worth $3200 which is threefold from five years ago — causing an intense international demand. However, this isn’t really true. Although there are more profits, there is minimal production that actually stays in the country that produces quinoa. The seeds are unavailable in some areas because of demand, and in local stores the price has risen drastically. For people living in Bolivia and Peru that are used to having cheap quinoa available, this is tragic. There are many impoverished areas in these countries, and they are being denied the food they need for the price they’re accustomed because of demand for export.

The poorer non-farm areas are suffering, and a food security issue has arisen from this. Food security issues like this tend to occur in developing countries because of the way that economics change from farming for the country to commercial farming. The rates in markets have reached international market prices, which, according to National Geographic’s February issue, is said to have the heaviest impact on Bolivia’s youngest generation. The United Nations believes that this is an opportunity for these countries to develop and grow even more and wants to help these countries reach their demands. They even named 2013 as International Year of Quinoa because of its booming popularity. "Quinoa can grow in very diverse climactic and environmental conditions, including climates with very little rainfall. And that's especially important on a planet that is warming where desertification and erosion are more pressing than ever," U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said in New York. Bolivia’s farmers are mostly peasants who have been brought back to working on farms because of the effect on all other jobs available. The only way to make any money or profit is to be involved in

× Ksenia Kozhevnikova quinoa — even if your family got out of farming decades ago. The countries are seeing certain benefits from the plant but the only real benefit is for the farmers. North American countries are looking into how to grow their own crops but until they do, is it really beneficial to continue to take crops from a country that is creating more intense poverty through their export? The likely answer is no, and that the U.N. should be looking into creating balance, rather than deeming a year with a name and claiming that quinoa is helpful for climate change.

the cultural side of campus

sponsorships SURE, BUT DON'T GET CORPORATE Carlo Javier

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Similarly, UBC’s Sauder School of Business is another university-based institution that has gone on to become very successful, and has even garnered global acclaim. A $20 million endowment by Dr. William L. Sauder in 1956 led UBC to rename its Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration to the Sauder School of Business, which is now one of the 100 business schools around the world annually recognized byThe Economist, among others. The benefits of sponsorship in schools are apparent. The funds provided are intended directly to the improvement of the school, but when the sponsors are driven by product-placement and advertising, then the spirit of philanthropy is completely defeated. When does commercializing go wrong? Molnar’s team of researchers concluded that

when corporations – instead of philanthropic individuals – step in, varying agendas might be in play. "When corporations enter the schools, there is going to be pressure to create student experiences and shape student attitudes in ways that support, or at least do not undermine, the corporate bottom line,” the NEPC wrote. Last year, amidst harsh criticism, the Calgary Board of Education began entertaining corporate sponsorships. Concerns were raised about students becoming victims of overexposure to advertising as well as contradicting true democracy. In a jarring comment published in the Huffington Post, Kelly Ernst, senior program director at the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership asked, "If we turn classrooms into just another market for ads, is there any reason not to expect that donor and advertising dollars are most likely to flow to the schools and parents who already have the greatest resources?" It remains to be seen as to whether advertising in schools will create a noticeable and wider economic gap amongst students and families. That doesn’t mean that schools should go right ahead and find out, the safe route is to sit back and shy away from corporations. There comes a point when product-placement can be detrimental to an environment that’s dedicated to learning and critical thinking.

THE CAPILANO COURIER

stitutions in B.C. shouldn’t be advocated — they should. However, when seeking financial aid, the × Staff Writer fine line between an educationally-driven endowImagine a Save-On-Foods Centre for Liberal Stud- ment and a commercially-driven corporate sponies, or maybe a President’s Choice School of Com- sorship should be closely examined under the mimunications. How about a Pharmasave Building croscope when being brought into consideration. Alex Molnar, lead author of the NEPC report for Fine Arts? With the much-publicized budget issues CapU told the California Watch, “It's a whole panoply of has faced all year, could it be time for the univer- marketing methods now available to schools, and sity to actively seek financial aid through various it's becoming more and more (prevalent).” One of the least noticeable, yet still not-so-subsponsorships? More specifically, a commercially driven corporate sponsorship? Studies released by tle ways schools are commercialized is through the the National Education Policy Centre, an educa- kind of soda pop they sell. Not a single Pepsi bottle tion policy research group from the University of or sign can be seen around the Capilano campus, Colorado at Boulder, would argue against the idea. Coca-Cola has taken ownership of the market. The Simply put, advertising in classrooms is not phi- case with sponsorships however, is not as simple as the query of “Coke or Pepsi?” lanthropy, it’s marketing. When done correctly, their benefits are obvious CapU is already home to two major sponsored buildings: the Nat and Flora Bosa Center for Film and prominent. The Bosa Centre, for example, imand Animation and the BlueShore Financial Centre mediately received acclaim from Canadian Archifor Performing Arts. The buildings — specifically tect. “The film centre is a self-conscious building the Bosa Centre, are noted for their state-of-the-art in the best possible way, as the site, construction facilities, bringing forth a “cut above the rest” effect technique, conjoining of program and meaning, are all equally rendered. The architects have resistwhen compared to the rest of CapU’s campus. Despite the potential economic benefits and the ed the temptation to become too literal by simply potential benefits of a well-funded state-of-the-art employing cinematic techniques splicing, framing, building, CapU must try to shy away from corpo- editing, cropping-to assign architectural meaning,” states the Canadian Architect feature, after giving rate sponsorships. This is not to say that the Bosa Centre and other the film centre its Canadian Architecture Award of collaborative projects all around educational in- Excellence in 2010.

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columns

LEAH SCHEITEL COLUMNS EDITOR

EDITOR@CAPILANOCOURIER.COM

girls on top THE OLYMPIC GENDER BATTLE Amy Poulston × Columnist

A few things about Amy Poulston: she adores Harry Potter, can finish a crossword like a boss, and has a twin brother. While studying Art History and English at UBC, she also is an open-and-out feminist, and will argue her points in an articulate manner. Her column will explore feminist issues in today’s pop culture. As the Olympics draw to a close, we have seen that there has been a lot of controversy in Sochi. Everything from the ridiculous living conditions of the press, corrupt officials and the killing of stray dogs, to the big elephant in the room – homophobic laws. But while these are all significant issues, especially the last one, another interesting aspect of the Olympics that often gets less attention is gender bias and its history in the Olympics. Men’s ski jumping was introduced in 1924 and now, 90 years later, women are finally able to compete in ski jumping for the first time. Why the delay? In 2005, the Ski Federation President Gian Franco Kasper was quoted as saying that the sport of ski jumping “seems not to be appropriate for ladies from a medical point of view.” Kasper argued that this was because of the high risk of injury, but since so many other Olympic sports women compete in have a high risk of injury, is there another reason? As competing U.S. ski jumper Lindsey Van understands, it’s because people think her uterus might fall out due to the impact. She’s legitimately been asked that question “multiple times.”

× Sydney Parent Rewind back to the first modern Olympics in 1896 and we find that women weren’t allowed to compete because it was a common belief, at the time, that if a woman did, she “wouldn’t be able to bear children” and that “[her] uterus would fall out.” Sound familiar? It’s actually shocking that antiquated "knowledge" from almost 120 years ago is still causing restrictions for women’s sports in our modern day of science. Last time I checked, pretty sure my uterus can’t just fall out, bro. But ski jumping isn’t the only hurdle women have had to overcome. When the Olympics first allowed women to compete, they were only al-

lowed to compete in tennis and golf (1900), and then swimming (1912). It wasn’t until 1960 that women were allowed to run races over 200 metres, having been previously barred because it was felt longer distances made “too great a call on feminine strength” and that the level of endurance would make them “age too soon.” It was only in the year 2000 that women were allowed to compete in weightlifting, even though there had been official world championships for women for 13 years. In fact, it was only at the 2012 Olympics that every sport had a male and female equivalent for the first time. That’s only two years ago!

I know some people will argue that certain sports are not popular enough with women to garner a spot at the Olympics, but it is only by having this higher competitive level available that these athletes receive funding and the sports have a higher chance of becoming popular in the first place. This is because, unlike male sports, the Olympics provide the highest level that female athletes can achieve while also holding the best chance for recognition and financial reward. A great example of the struggles women have to contend with in order to compete at elite levels can be seen in the legacy of Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke. It was only after becoming the first half-pipe world champion at the Freestyle World Ski Championships in 2005 and winning four gold medals at the Winter X Games that she was able to successfully lobby the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to have the sport added to the Olympic program. She was considered a gold medal favourite at Sochi but tragically died in 2012 while training before she could see her sport recognized at the Olympic level. Add insult to legacy, the IOC banned the “Celebrate Sarah” stickers that her teammates and friends proudly sported at the Olympics in her honour because they were considered “political propaganda.” Another argument against women competing in the Olympics is that they will never be able to have the same physical prowess as men. While we can’t ignore some biological truths that give men more strength and a different build than women, there are actually multiple sports in which female athletes have beaten their male counterparts. These include tennis, equestrian events, wrestling, bowling, race car driving, rock climbing and even the ultramarathon. As Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon says, “[Female athletes] don’t have limitations, all we need are opportunities.”

big whoopsie FACELESS DOLLS AND DISPOSABLE SOMETHINGS

Erica Charron

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Erica Charron likes to tell people when they are being stupid, and so naturally, she wants to tell government to stop being assholes, and to work for their people. For good entertainment, buy her a glass of wine and debate about political affairs – the more wine, the more candid it gets. Today, I want to bench the satire and jokes for this issue and talk seriously about a human rights violation that pervades and perverts the very core of Canadian philosophy. Since the day our settlers took this land as their own, a truly irrecoverable fuckup has and will continue to plague the so-called values we stand for as a nation that prides itself as a defender of multi-culturalism and solidarity. This article is a statement to the moment when the personal becomes political. And the treatment of Aboriginal peoples and their culture across time and space reflect a ruthless and shameful history

— one that derails the heart of human rights — masked by the grand altruism of the red and white. Specifically, I want to address and bring awareness to the 800 missing Aboriginal women whose cases remain vastly unsolved and blatantly disregarded. On Jan. 27, 26-year-old Courtney Johnstone of Grande Prairie was the latest of indigenous women to go missing. On Feb. 16, her body was found in the Aquatera Waste Management Site in a garbage bag. A 21-year-old man has been charged with her murder. Johnstone is only the most recent of hundreds of similar cases and one of very few that have actively been pursued and solved. And sadly, she will not be the last. Considering the immediacy of this case, I ask, how many of you have actually heard of Courtney Johnstone? Not many, I’m sure. And before last week, I did not know of her name either. If you Google her case, the information is vague and unemotional as if thrown into the stew of other low-profile homicides never to be attended to. No Facebook groups; no Twitter outpourings; and nothing to be found in the Globe and Mail. Now consider this: if a 26-year-old Caucasian college student was found in a landfill, what kind of attention would she receive? What kind of sympathy would we experience? What about if 800 26-yearold Caucasian women were missing in Canada? How would the world react then?

In 2007, Robert Pickton was convicted of second-degree murder of six women. He then was charged with the death of an additional 20 women. In 2010, he confessed to murdering over 49 women — all drug addicts and prostitutes of indigenous decent in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, missing between 1991 and 2002 — brutally on his pig-farm. The remains of 31 of these women were found strung grotesquely about his property. Meaning nearly 20 of these women are yet to be found, and little to no progress has been made towards their recovery. Pickton is currently serving a life-sentence with no parole. January 2014 was monumental in the activism against the violence of indigenous women, when representatives of the Human Rights Watch testified before the Special Committee of on Violence Against Indigenous Women in the Canadian House of Commons. The testimony urged Canada and its officials to finally take responsibility for the misconduct displayed by police authorities and other sectors of Canadian civil society. On Feb. 13, the president of the Native Women’s Association and many other organizations have called upon Harper to conduct a national inquiry into the epidemic of missing indigenous women that continues to increase at alarming rates. On Feb. 14, Saskatoon organized the first ever annual Memorials March for Missing and Murdered Indigenous

Women (an event initiated by a close friend of Johnstone), and held in solidarity with the rest of the country. These steps are small, but nonetheless monumental. The implications of the events surrounding Pickton and others like it reflect more than just the saturating prejudices against women of indigenous descent. The blatant neglect of our government to even consider one missing woman worthy of the defence and justice that we, as a nation, proclaim as the very stitches of our socio-political fabric. By overlooking these cases we overlook these women’s rights as human beings. We relegate them as subhuman — a lesser race, faceless dolls, a disposable something. If these actions don’t echo themes of genocide, I don’t know what does. So today, I ask you to think of Courtney Johnstone and the other hundreds of women — mothers, sisters, daughters, friends — who have disappeared without a trace and without care. Canada has done more than just fuck up. It has failed these women and their families, and failed a population who created the very makeup this country pushes forward with today. Educate yourself – please visit sites such as The Native Women’s Association and Idle No More for more information and resources.


Columns

for argument's sake ORGANIC BALONEY

Tomas Borsa × Columnist

Whether we call them “sacred”, “taboo”, or simply “off-limits”, some things in life are guarded, and their place of privilege in the collective consciousness is all but taken for granted. They’ve had their time in the sun – it’s time to hold them to the flame, and this is just what Tomas Borsa will do – argue against things that typically wouldn’t be argued against. And argue back, simply for the fun of it. In the past decade, the popularity of organic foods has grown at a tremendous rate. Some people choose the green sticker for social or economic reasons; some have concerns over the long-term health effects of consuming pesticides and preservatives. Still, others simply think the food tastes better. Whatever a person’s reasons for buying organic, and regardless of what the official parameters for organic certification are, the ubiquity of the term has led it to become a rather fuzzy catchall term, essentially taken to mean things found in a grocery store which are natural, without artificial ingredients, or grown without chemical fertilizers. Fair play; few people that I’ve ever met are particularly fond of tomatoes grown in drain cleaner anyway, so a bit of confusion over what exactly qualifies as organic isn’t going to kill anyone. But is organic food really the cure-all it’s chalked up to be? Is demanding a juicier strawberry and insisting on free range, grain-fed, lullabied broccolini really going to save the world, or might there be some unforeseen downsides? Let’s start from the ground up. The most straightforward reason a person might prefer organic over conventionally-grown produce is that it tastes better. Certainly, from the relatively affluent perspective of someone living in one of the most

× Chantal Rey

expensive cities in the world, “taste” might seem a genuine concern. Well, it isn’t. For the 99 per cent of human existence that precedes us, our mangy, werewolf-like ancestors subsisted on tree roots and squirrel brains – and then, out of the ashes of the Industrial Revolution, the middle class stumbled forth, a group at once confused by and obsessed with its newfound access to luxuries formerly afforded only to the most refined ranks of the aristocracy. No longer was food simply food. No longer would we petit bourgeois accept mere sustenance. Words like “canapé” and “bisque” trickled down, and we ate them up like pigs at a trough, only too happy to forget that there was ever a day where a soufflé wasn’t in our immediate grasp. Food became less about sustenance than about passing time or flaunting our status. Today, we pout and moan that the avocadoes we purchased in midFebruary aren’t ripe enough, and ask god-awful questions like, “Are these tomatoes heirloom?” We do all of this, of course, while mass starvation rampages through the rest of the world. Please, for the love of God, remove the term “taste” from your gastronomic lexicon, and let’s move on. But maybe taste was never of particular concern,

and your decision to buy organic stems from a well-meaning health consciousness. In that case, your money is probably better spent elsewhere. Consider a study out of Stanford that compared organic fruits and vegetables with their conventionally grown counter parts for nutrient values. The study concluded that with the exception of phosphorus, organic fruits and vegetables were no more nutritious than their lowly conventionally grown counterparts. Then again, maybe a person chooses to buy organic not because of what it does contain, but because of what it does not contain – namely, pesticides. Well, forgive me if I’m being a bit cavalier, but chemicals are everywhere – not just on your dinner plate – and electing to buy a different type of zucchini is not going to hasten your escape from that grim reality. Ours is an already massively polluted planet; insisting on organic produce simply because it lacks pesticides is roughly equivalent to asking the gas chamber technician to add a pinch of peppermint in with the Zyklon B. Incidentally, just because a farm is organic doesn’t mean the food it produces will be free of potentially toxic elements. While organic standards may preclude the use of synthetic inputs, organic farms often utilize so-called “natural” pesticides, which might

end up containing just as many pathogens as their synthetic counterparts. But hey, maybe you’re thinking about “the big picture,” and you buy organic because you know or once heard from your friend named Willow that organic farming is “better for the environment.” Well, despite what you may have been led to believe, organic farming is neither anti-establishmentarian nor is it synonymous with things like farmers markets, the back-to-land movement or good-old-fashioned brow sweat. Organic farming does not save whales, does not halt global warming and does nothing to nurture the bosom of Mother Gaia. In fact, organic farming demands, on average, one-third more land than conventional farming, and only yields around two-thirds the produce of a conventional farm. To put it in slightly different terms, while you might prefer the taste, a field of carrots grown to meet organic standards will demand more input of time, labour, water and fossil fuels – and because organic fruits and vegetables spoil far more quickly, a good deal of this additional energy input (and the pollution/land degradation resultant from it) is all for nothing. Just some food for thought.

the ocean in St John’s, Newfoundland. When I’d finished high school, I’d been torn between moving to Australia and moving to Whistler to snowboard. A video made by Whistler locals, the Wildcats, swayed me into moving out west from Ottawa, which, in turn, changed my life forever. Last year, the bar I’d been working at hosted a fundraiser for one of the guys in the video, Dave Cashen. Dave had beat cancer at a young age and was raising money to send himself to speak at a young cancer survivor conference. I got the chance to meet one of my childhood heroes who I now consider a friend. Just by chance, when I’d arrived in St John’s, Dave was there for another conference. I reached out to him and we connected in Quidi Vidi, a small neighbourhood just outside St. John’s. There was a famous brewery there that made beer from icebergs. They send a ship out to harvest the ancient ice to use as the water for their $18 per six-pack beer, aptly named “Iceberg”. After leaving the Brewery, Dave, his friend Mason and another cancer survivor Michelle and I went to check out the local pub after being told it was not to be missed. What happened next is nothing short of perfection.

That’s when we met Linda Hennebury, an absolutely inspirational person. Not only had Linda beat cancer three times herself, but she was there on that fateful day that changed a nation. She’d been down at the St. John’s harbour when a young man with one leg dipped his limb in the ocean to mark the start of the Marathon of Hope. She’d been financially struggling for years and only had $10 to her name. After meeting Terry Fox and hearing the incredible task he was putting forward, she gave him her last $10 and became the very first person to donate to this timelessly important cause. So there I was, in that small bar in Quidi Vidi, having just peddled my way across our vast country with one of my childhood (and current) heroes Dave and the one person in the world who was there on that incredible April day in 1980. I felt an overwhelming sense of being right where I was supposed to be in the world. You never really know what will happen when you leave your comfort zone and travel. You just might find yourself in a situation that is so much bigger than you, which I believe is why it’s good to get lost because you never know what you’ll actually find — in yourself and in our big beautiful world.

life money HUSTLING FOR MY HEART

× Columnist Brian Cameron is a writer, traveller, cyclist, and all around good guy. While he is currently based in Whistler, snowboarding the winter away, he is also planning his next adventure. Maybe becoming a Sherpa, who knows? Keep updated on his travels at Neverlostforeverfound.blogspot.ca

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47 ISSUE N O . 18

This past summer I pushed myself to the absolute breaking point. I came to the realization that to really experience the world, I had to truly know my own country. So I decided to experience it in the most up-close way possible — I biked across it. It was 8500 kilometres of long, solo days spanning 55 days of riding and three-and-a-half months away from home. After having a history of heart disease in my family, and losing both my father and grandfather to heart problems, I wanted to do something to

THE CAPILANO COURIER

Brian Cameron

help my own heart and those of others. I biked across the country, raising money and awareness for the Heart and Stoke Foundation. Dubbed Hustle for the Heart, the trip was a major challenge and a feat to accomplish. I rode through snowstorms, heat waves and unstoppable rain. The biggest danger was traffic, and I had a near missed incident near Quebec. But it was all worth it to get to Cape Spear, the easternmost tip of North America on the ninth anniversary of my father passing away. This is a great way to see the country — highly recommended to anyone with a bike and a will. I started and finished my ride at Third Beach in Stanley Park. A group of friends met me at the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal and rode back into Vancouver with me, and that was the most amazing feeling. It’s not always finishing something that is rewarding, but the little details along the way. As I’ve mentioned previously, you never know what can happen when travelling. Things miraculously transpire in a way that’s too good to be true. I followed the route of “the greatest Canadian” Terry Fox, from seeing his memorials in Vancouver, Thunder Bay and the place he’d dipped his leg in

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Staff Editorial how to be cheap and get an education TAKING PRIDE IN PINCHING PENNIES

Katherine Gillard × News Editor

THE CAPILANO COURIER

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VOLUME

47 ISSUE N O . 18

× Cheryl Swan

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I’ve always known what I want out of life. I can’t really pinpoint the exact moment I decided what my future would look like because I’m pretty sure I was still in diapers. Writing and teaching are my passions. I have written for the Courier for two years now, and I was babysitting when I still needed a babysitter. Even in elementary school, I would tell people I was going to teach and write. I think I made about 30 attempts at writing a book before university, failing every time because if there’s one thing writers are better at than writing, it’s procrastination. In high school, I realized that if I was going to go to university, I’d need to get a job so I started babysitting for $10 to $15 an hour, which was a total rip-off, but growing up in Deep Cove, no one seemed to care. I worked a lot, usually working at least three days a week and even gave up my New Year’s plans a few times because I knew I needed money if I was going to get what I wanted. When I was in grade 12, I worked two jobs: doing take-out at a pub and as a barista at a coffee shop. I sometimes would work 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the coffee shop and then 4 p.m. to closing time at the pub. Money is money and I’d take it where I could get it. In high school, I was told by teachers that I was working too much and that students shouldn’t be working and going to school at the same time. I’ve heard similar sentiments at university – teachers claiming that you can’t do well if you are working and going to school. Al-

though I see where they are coming from, for me, it’s just not realistic. Sure, it would be ideal if I didn’t have to work and go to school but it would also be ideal if I could sit on my ass in bed all day and get paid for it. Some things just aren’t going to happen and remarking on it only makes the hard work more depressing. Most students can relate to the pressures that come with working during school, the pressure to socialize with both friends and family. My family has always been very supportive and I couldn’t have asked for better parents – I admire everything they have done for themselves. I know that if I need extra money for school, my parents will help me out, and they do, frequently.

"Some students dont work at all and dont understand why I buy cheap clothes from thrift stores or why Ive never had a manicure" However, some of my peers don’t get it. Some students don’t work at all and don’t understand why I buy cheap clothes from thrift stores or why I’ve never had a manicure. This can be frustrating

when I’m trying to save a bit of money and they don’t understand why I can’t go get my nails done after brunch. I reached the peak of my cheap life when I turned 19. I was lucky enough to go to Europe on a study tour that I won a scholarship for, and with some appreciated help from family, I was able to spend my birthday in Vienna. Turning 19 in Europe was great — beers cost less than the equivalent to $3 at home. Coming back to Vancouver and going out for “Welcome Home” drinks with friends was a different matter. The average rum and coke — my go-to drink — costs about $7. For some of my friends, this isn’t a big deal and they go out every weekend. Splurging on Friday nights is so absurd to me that I want to start a petition to rename “girls night out” to “wallet draining night.” Making pizzas and drinking wine is much cheaper than buying them from a gourmet pizza place. Eat and guzzle wine at home before going to the bar — this saves so much money, and lets you lounge in sweatpants a little longer. If you’re going to splurge for that dress you’ll only wear once, hit up the Salvation Army or Value Village. There are a lot of things I’ve learned to do to save money — buying books and clothes second hand, bringing my own food to school and drinking cheap wine. There are times that I flounder, I’m weak for buying junk food while I’m out and sometimes I find myself splurging on a sweater, but for the most part, I try to avoid it.

For financially responsible students, I suggest thinking about how you eat and spend your time. Eating food at school is expensive, packing a lunch might be a bit time-consuming but it’s well worth it. Another thing to consider is what you eat — sure, a bag of chips is cheaper than a bag of nuts but the nuts are more filling and will therefore last you longer. The best way I’ve found to deal with being a poor student is to manage money rather than spend it and be constantly looking for more work. I might not get to travel again until I’m much older, and I might not be able to go out every weekend, but I know the satisfaction of realizing my education and career goals will be satisfying enough to make all of the skipped rum and cokes worth it. For students who are stressed because they’ve heard working and going to school don’t work together — don’t panic. They can go together easily, with a little thought and savvy shopping. I still don’t have a loan and I’ve learned to love cheap wine.


caboose

JEREMY HANLON CABOOSE EDITOR

CABOOSE@CAPILANOCOURIER.COM

Wave Goodbye Michael Bull × Writer Sheldon Waddums withdrew the fat and pale pinky toe of his fat and pale right foot from the water and shivered. Much too cold, he thought. What a dreadful thing anyway, the sea; full of parasites and bacteria and ugly fish and poison fish and fish that looked like clowns and fish that looked like cats and fish that looked like sharks and sharks that looked like fish and sharks that would bite you in half, ripping the flesh from your bones with an indifference that would be almost comical if not for the fact that you were undoubtedly having your flesh ripped from your bones. “But I’m a human being!” you would protest, if speech were not altogether impossible. “I have a wife! She’s a whore! Eat her instead! I’ll bring her back to you if you let me go. I promise!” The shark would shrug its shoulders - if it had any - and casually swim away, your intestines dangling from its massive jaw like a kite string coloured crimson. “No,” said Sheldon, speaking to nobody in particular and trying to shake the thought of sharks from his mind. ”I much prefer the sand.” He strolled up the beach with his ill-fitting, shabby pants rolled to his splotchy shins, careful to avoid a crab scuttling sideways across his path. He watched it disappear beneath the ocean. Feeling the coarse grains of hot sand beneath his feet, Sheldon slowly lumbered his way to a drab olive-coloured beach chair and dry olive-coloured towel. He had, in his haste, forgotten to pack a number of things, his own towel among them, and only after a seemingly endless barter with the hotel staff did he procure all the amenities required of his indeterminately long vacation. The hotel had promised him comfort, rest, and relaxation. In return, other than a surprisingly reasonable monetary guarantee, he promised them nothing. He sat down slowly, resigned to let the evening wash over him. Small waves broke in front of the horizon. How strange it was, to see the water so calm. The ocean, for all its beauty and quiet splendor, was only so to those far away. It was wild and unpredictable, an immortal and relentless bane of sailors and steel-eyed, strong-jawed men adorned in wool sweaters and wool caps, and a home to savage and indifferent monsters. Only when at a distance, from the relatively safe view of an air-

plane or laid out as a dazzling ceaseless blue on a postcard or a picture, did it appear harmless. Up close, the callous and wrenching barbarism of such an uninterrupted unknown surprised no-one. Only with intimacy did one experience terror. Sheldon Waddums knew this all too well. He closed his eyes. On the surface he too was calm, his bulbous posterior wedged ungracefully into his drab olive-coloured beach chair, his squinty eyes looking seemingly at nothing but his own eyelids, and the few remaining hairs of his head quivering with the wind. If one were to look at him, they would most likely not look again. They would assume he was a man of no great triumphs, and of no colossal failures, just, like most people, possessing of a quiet life full of both brief moments of meaning, and a surprising amount of time that could no longer be recalled. Ordinarily, they would be correct. But today, on that beach, under that blistered sun, staring at the small, breaking waves in the distance and thinking about how nice it would have been to see his wife be torn apart by a family of hungry sharks, both Sheldon Waddums and his blood had begun to boil. He was everything but calm. “Excuse me.” A delicate timbre cut through his dreams and he opened his eyes. A man and a woman stood in front of him, blocking the sun and the sea. “I hope we didn’t wake you,” said the woman. She was wearing a wide-brimmed sun hat, too clean to be anything but a recent purchase, and a floral-patterned dress, too antiquated in style to be anything but a perennial favourite despite repeated criticisms and concern from friends and colleagues. Some things can’t be forgotten. “You looked like you were sleeping,” added the man, unhelpfully. Clearly, he had a keen eye. His fanny pack and mustard muscle shirt confirmed this. “Just dozing,” said Sheldon. He rubbed his eyes, and saw stars. “Only dozing.” The stars faded away, and the man and the woman, with all their doe-eyed optimism and young, shitty, doomed love returned. Sheldon Waddums hated them already. Then he saw the child. He remembered walking into the house. As with most days of late, all he wanted to do was to be left alone. His marriage, once an immeasurable beacon of strength to friends and family, had recently come under a significant amount of duress. The particulars were complex, but what was clear

was that both Sheldon and his wife had grown distant, and grown cold. They had no children, and as such had nothing to bind them together as the love they once shared faded and resentment began to tear them apart. Disagreements turned to arguments, and idiosyncrasies, once cherished and adored, now bred contempt. He remembered gently throwing his keys on the small mahogany table next to the door. On that table, a photograph stood in a golden frame. It was his wife, though in the picture she was not yet a woman and showed no signs of the great beauty she was to become. Picking up the picture, Sheldon marvelled at how happy she was. She couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen. Her family, well-to-do and not a miser between the lot of them, had taken her on a series of global escapades during her youth and she had spent her formative years adorned with bronzed skin and freckles borne from the sun. During the infancy of their courtship, she used to tell him in great detail of her adventures, and had, over the years, made numerous mentions of her desire to return to the places of her youth. These days, she made no mention of the life she used to have, though sometimes, late at night, he would catch her staring at the photograph that he held now in his hands, her fingers gently tracing the outline of her former self. He had tried to provide for her, tried to give her all the things he knew she deserved, but he was no beater of the world. Sheldon Waddums was mediocre, average, middle of the road, from his looks to his intellect to his desires, and that unflappable kindness he possessed, that gentle spirit that was given to him seemingly as a consolation prize and had attracted her to him so many years ago, seemed to wither and die a little more every day. Now there was little left but sorrow. He remembered putting the picture down on the small mahogany table and bending over slowly to untie his shoes. All the faces of his wife, both past and present, loomed large in his mind. The joys and triumphs of days gone forever coupled with the endless disappointment and flattening reality of the present glared and glowered, saying nothing. No words needed to be said. Then he heard a moan coming from upstairs, softly at first, then louder. Suddenly, all the faces of his wife melted into one. And she was laughing. This was the face that was laughing now, and it was peeking out from behind her poorly dressed parents, mocking him, mocking everything he

had become. From her frizzy hair to her knobby knees to the freckles that spotted her shoulders and dotted her face, the resemblance to his wife was remarkable. It was like she was standing there in front of him, accusing him of everything that he was, and everything that he could never be, both to her and to himself. She looked at him with those deep, amber eyes, eyes he had been looking at his entire life, eyes unto which he could see the both the whole universe and nothing but her, and all his hate and all his rage disappeared. “I could have been more,” he lamented. He began to weep. “I think we should leave,” said the mother. Sweat was pouring down Sheldon’s face and his eyes, now red and full of tears, were still locked with the child. She was no longer laughing. The wind had begun to blow and the waves, first distant, moved closer towards the shore with every wheezing breath he took and with every tear that fell to the sand. The sun could no longer be seen. “Jack!” the mother cried, to her husband. “Now!” Her husband just stared. She took the hand of her daughter, the hand of his wife, the hand of which he knew every crevice and every wrinkle and every hair, and she began to lead her away. The husband followed dutifully, shaking his head at this fat, delusional, man. Sheldon croaked, “Please. Don’t.” He reached out to touch her, but she was already gone. The family of three walked up the beach. “What happened, mom?” asked Emily, trying to keep pace with her parents. “I don’t know, baby.” “Was he okay?” “I don’t know.” “I hope he’s okay.” Jack picked her up and Emily wrapped her arms around his back. She was getting too big for this, he thought, but he knew he didn’t have much time left. Soon, it would all be different, and he knew he’d never pick her up again. As she was being carried away across the sand, Emily could still see the man in the chair. He was staring at the waves, and though far away now, she could still see him cry. She closed her eyes, and buried her head in the shoulder of her father. The wind had ceased to breathe, and the sun had broken through the clouds. It was a beautiful day.

THE CAPILANO COURIER

× VOLUME

47 ISSUE N O . 18

× Arin Ringwald

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caboose

JEREMY HANLON CABOOSE EDITOR

CABOOSE@CAPILANOCOURIER.COM

SHOTGUN REVIEWS: BEST WAYS TO WASTE YOUR MONEY!

WHAT YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR SAYS

DORITOS AND METH

STRIPPERS

MAKE MUCH MONEY

Scott Moraes // Managing Editor

Andy Rice // Arts + Culture Editor

Carlo Javier // Staff Writer

Steve Tornes // Writer

The annals of the Kingdom of Thrift are littered with bad advice. Want good advice? Never listen to financial advisors. I once got told by one of them that to fix my repeated inability to make rent, I should, paradoxically, spend more money on shit I didn't need. A certain amount on useless appliances, shoes that are two sizes too small so you wouldn't wear them, giant picture frames... for the sole reason that I could later return them and have money to pay rent. Financial people see this as storing your money in “assets.” Problems: any gadget wins you over if you stare at it long enough, some stores pull some surprise “store credit-only policy” on you, and most importantly, fucking receipts disappear into thin air. Really, picketing for a livable wage and facing your alcoholism or compulsive online shopping is what you gotta do (or in my case, well, never mind...). On the other hand, penny-pinching Grandpa is a deep well of knowledge, and really, what else are you going to talk to him about?

I don’t claim to know a ton about either of these synthetic concoctions, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how this winning combination could drain one’s pocketbook. Similar to Rob Ford’s recent diet of crack and jaywalking tickets, Doritos and meth are also guaranteed to land you pretty much jobless, strapped for cash, and in need of serious medical intervention. Now, let me be clear here. Everything I know about meth has been courtesy of Breaking Bad or old reruns of Dog the Bounty Hunter. My experience with Doritos, however, has been a little more handson. I was seven and alone in the corner at a friend’s birthday party when I polished off an entire bag to myself. At the time, it seemed like more fun than watching Scooby-Doo, but it ultimately left me projectile-vomiting half a pizza into his family hot tub. If you’ve ever paid to have a jacuzzi cleaned before, you’ll appreciate how many hours it takes the crew at your local SpaSweepers to pick partially-digested olives out of a chlorine filter by hand. Meth is expensive, obviously, but it’s all the Dorito-related hot tub repairs that’ll get you in the end. Stay in school, kids.

I’m gonna let out a little known fact about me right now: I’m quite the spender. Yes, I splurge on things people may deem unnecessary: blazers, pea coats and what have you. My paycheques basically hang in my closet… or on me. But fashion is not a waste of money. Rather, what siphons my hard earned money is at the complete opposite end of the dress up spectrum – it’s the act of undressing. Yes, yes, unbeknownst to all, I take regular trips to the top strip clubs across the nation. You read that right, the nation. It’s more than just the sultry and sexy eye contact with Destiny or Candy or whatever stripper name they take up after 8 p.m. I get a level of satisfaction just by making it rain on them **** like Weezy or Drake. Sometimes we even have serious one-on-one conversations. You know, like, “So, what school do you go to?” and “What program are you in?” Strippers get a bad rap, it’s not their fault that booty got me like “Oooohhhhh.” Also, I wish Canada had $1 bills. It must hurt getting hit by loonies all the time.

I have always heard of the honesty and generosity of CapU students, which is why I first come to you, my good reader, with a proposition. My father was an American businessman, formally from Nigeria, when the depression hit the housing market. Our family had no part in it, of course, but we had to leave due to the now unfavourable economic climate. Sadly, we could not make more official preparations. However, after hearing of the great honesty and generosity of Canadians, specifically of Cap students, but even more specifically of you, I wish to deposit my family fortune in your bank account. Simply send your banking information to caboose@capilanocourier.com, and when my family wishes to invest our vast fortune again, in the far future, you may take out your share and send the rest to us. We are relying on your trust, my honest and generous reader. Why work when you can have fortune thrust upon you? Please respond without hesitation, or else, you may miss this fateful opportunity. Best wishes, WackyMan69@yolo.com.

W/ CARLO "GOODHAIR" JAVIER SHARED INTERESTS ON TINDER THE TRUE MEASURE OF LOVE GOALIES DOESN’T MEAN YOU CAN’T SCORE FLAPPY BIRD PREQUEL TO ANGRY BIRDS

THE CAPILANO COURIER

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47 ISSUE N O . 18

VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS TOO TALL

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TESSA VIRTUE I WANT TO BE SCOTT TAKEN GIRLS SUCH A SHAME SINGLE GIRLS DOES IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE? READING BREAK … WHAT, WHEN? SPAMBOTS I HATE YOU. ALL OF YOU. KAETLYN OSMOND 13TH IN SOCHI, 1ST IN MY HEART

× Dan Smolinski


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