Capilano Courier // Volume 48 // Issue 10 by Capilano Courier

VOL UME

NORTH VANCOUVER, NOVEMBER 10TH 2014

ISSUE

N O . 10

THE MILLENNIALS & MARRIAGE & THE ENVIRONMENT & THEIR IMPACT ON YOU

CAPILANO Courier

VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 10

capilanocourier.com

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Do You Even Harvest, Brah?

We Stand On Guard For Thee

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Feat. Ariana Grande

Leah Scheitel Editor-in-Chief

THE CAPILANO COURIER.

@capilanocourier

VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 10

The Staff

@capilanocourier

Therese Guieb News Editor

of this selfie-taking, booty-shaking, orgasm-faking university newspaper

Andy Rice Managing Editor

Alva Tee Arts + Culture Editor

Andrew Palmquist Production Manager

Faye Alexander Features Editor

Cheryl Swan Art Director

Gabriel Scorgie Opinions Editor

Carlo Javier Lifestyle Editor

Ricky Bao Business Manager

Daryl Kostinuk Web Editor

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:

Melissa Verdicchio, Christine Beyleveldt, James Martin, Kevin Kapenda, Keara Farnan, Gurpreet Kambo, Kai-Ping, Cianda Bourrel, Rosanna Hemple, Ben Bengtson, Tristen Schmidhauser, Heather Connor, Rozan Talebian, Ariana Grande CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS:

Megan Collinson, Lucy Webber, Scarlett Aubrey, Ekaterina Aristova, Cristian Fowlie, J.R. Pinto, Brendan Walsh, Olliemoonsta, Paul Wright, James Saville, Tierney Milne, Vivian Liu, Guillem Rovira, Cheryl Swan, Ksenia Kozhevnikova, Jessica Ngo, Jim Sorreda

To advertise in the Courierâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pages, please contact our Advertising Director, Andy Rice, at 778-855-9942 or advertising.capcourier@gmail.com. We are proud to offer discounts to non-profit organizations and North Shore customers. A full media kit with sizes, rates and deadlines is available on our website, CapilanoCourier.com.

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 Leah Scheitel, Editor-in-Chief

Generation Confusion "I was raised on the Internet"

- Lena Dunham

It was a lazy Sunday in the middle of October, and I was plagued by a rancid hangover. I was preparing to type out yet another Courier Calendar (if you didn’t’ know, I am the witty mastermind behind the Calendar) and conquer two essays for my Business and Society class when I got a text from an old friend from tree planting. “Yo, Jimmy is in town,” it read, “Got a window for us today?” Thinking that a window referred to a 20-minute break from work for a coffee, I said yes, and invited the two boys over for a visit. They showed up a half hour later with a 15 pack of beer, four packs of cigarettes and with the full intention of starting a party at my house. For the first hour, John and Jimmy crushed about three beers each and smoked a half pack of cigarettes. I noticed John ashing his smoke straight onto the porch, neglecting to use even a beer bottle as an ashtray. When I told him that my porch didn’t usually double as an ashtray, he looked me straight in the eye, laughed and ashed on the porch again. While they were still lingering on my porch, I went inside and started working. They didn’t comprehend that I don’t have the novelty of a day off. And they definitely weren’t getting the hint – instead of understanding that I had to work, and taking the party to a park or bar, they invited other planting friends over, tried to find drugs and continued to turn my apartment into a bonafide frat house. After another three hours, they had smoked nearly all of their cigarettes, and I looked up from my computer and said, “Its no wonder people are terrified of our generation.” John and Jimmy are a reflection into some negative aspects of the millennial generation. We have been blamed for being lazy, entitled and “wusses” — for more on that, read Faye Alexander’s piece in the Opinions section. Some have called us opportunistic, exploiting everything from Mason jars to social media sites and taking advantage of anyone in our path. And after that Sunday where my two deadbeat friends partied at my place for nine hours because they were bored, I can understand that argument. It’s not like these guys are not smart or motivated. John has two degrees, speaks five languages and is starting his masters in translation. At 25, I’d say that’s accomplished. And Jimmy is one of the handiest guys I have ever met. Give him a paper clip, a pair of tweezers and a toilet plunger and he could probably fix any mechanical problem with those tools. These guys are intelligent, capable and interesting. It’s not their lack of abilities that is alarming – it’s that their levels of apathy outweigh their abilities and passions.

Using my two friends as the poster child for an entire generation, it’s easy to understand why older generations would look at us with disdain – so much potential, so much promise but it’s stunted by our own lack of ambition and direction. Compare and contrast this example of the millennial generation with the self-proclaimed “voice of our generation”, or at least “a voice of a generation”, Lena Dunham and her fictional self, Hannah Horvath. While my friends have talent but lack ambition, Dunham has been blamed for the opposite: more ambition than talent. “What she lacks in literary and intellectual sophistication she made up for in overconfidence,” wrote Kevin D. Williamson in this month’s National Review. His scathing review of her work portrayed her as a narcissistic, over-privileged grown child, which is the bane of our generation. “If she is emblematic of her generation, it is in that her life, in her own telling, is a reminder that being ruined by comfort and privilege is as easy as (perhaps easier than) being crippled by privation and abuse,” Williamson wrote as the closing line to his feature piece. So when others look at our generation, is that all they see — a problem of asymmetric talent to ambition ratio, or privilege being the main ingredient to our indulgent careers? What I find most important about our generation is how much we control while being ignorant of the majority of it. Currently, there are more people aged 23 than any other age. I don’t know what it was about 1991, but apparently it was the year to be born. Our generation outnumbers every other generation and, because we grew up with technology, we have changed the way everything works. We portray our lives for constant validation on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. What other generations find frustrating about us is the fact that we control so much without realizing our impacts. We’re like that hot girl at the party that intimidates everyone, yet doesn’t even notice. We just snap a hot selfie and go about our way, wondering why people look at us differently. It’s because we are different – more different than any generation before us, and if we realize that, we have the power to change the way things work, including governments, social structures and cultural norms. In honour of our confusing generation, this issue is dedicated to all things millennial. From decreasing marriage rates to increasing demand for environmental ethics and the lack of platinum record sales, our generation is the driving force behind all of it. And we’re here to help you notice.

tweets oF the week

the VoiCe box

with

Andy Rice #GOTEBOLA

The Voicebox is back, ready to humbly respond to your questions, concerns, and comments about anything. To inquire, just send a text to 778.855.9942 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.

Imagine if Ebola got to Capilano!! We don’t even have a clinic!!! Gah! #whatdowedo

Who is this @capnaps character on Instagram? They should know that the best nap spot is during class. I found out about this account when they liked a ton of my photos over the weekend. Judging by all the funny and informative captions, the person behind it seems to have both writing and photography skills, so that rules out anyone on our staff. I’m out of ideas — who are these guys? Is it you?

I can’t keep up with all of the free food on campus… I keep missing out and going hungry :( I hear you. In the past week alone there was a pancake breakfast in the Caf, a food truck outside Arbutus, and I’m pretty sure a bowl of leftover Halloween candy in the CSU Library Lounge that nobody said a peep about until it was all gone. I think we need an app, or a synced-up Google Calendar, or something. Somebody needs to write all of this stuff down in advance and spread the word to the entire campus. Wait, isn’t that our job? Shit…

BBC News (World) @BBCWorld President Obama is to ask Congress for $6.2bn (£3.9bn) to fight #Ebola in West Africa & avoid it spreading in US Global BC @GlobalBC Canada spending additional $30.5M on #Ebola Femi Oke @FemiOke "Don’t Let #Ebola Crisis Dehumanize #Africa" @angeliquekidjo on @democracynow Jake Kearney @TheJakeKearney More Americans have been married to @KimKardashian than have died of Ebola. Stop freaking out. Zac Galifianakis @ZacGalifianakis Here’s a joke about ebola, you probably won’t get it though. Matt Cohen @mattcohen4real 4 billion dollars on advertisements is 10x more then the US govt. has committed to fighting ebola Danny Cohen @DannyCohen Powerful reports on @BBCNews on the fight against Ebola. Brave patients, brave doctors, brave nurses, brave journalists. Victor Dukes @VictorDukes23 I honestly think McDonald's bringing the McRib back is a bigger problem in our country than Ebola VICE @VICE Disease Without Borders: On the Front Lines of the Fight Against Ebola

T H E C A P I L A N O C O U R I E R . VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 10

Oh hey there, Chicken Little. Actually, we do have a clinic, but it’s only open by appointment on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the Fall and Spring semesters. So just plan your seasonal Ebola symptoms well in advance and don’t flaunt them on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday and you’ll be just fine (… maybe?). Especially try and avoid any Ebola-related bullshit on Fridays — I don’t even know if it’s possible to get a hot meal around here at the end of the week, let alone first-world medical attention. So there’s that. And for more of my ranting on Ebola and paranoid people like yourself, read my editorial on page 17. General synopsis: you should probably stop worrying.

Do you want me to draw attention to your new Instagram account? Is that what this is about? Seriously though, I do agree that the best napping spot is in class. I used to attend a World Music lecture with this narcoleptic guy named Duncan who would nod off as soon as the teacher so much as swallowed in between sentences. He still managed to ace his tests and get better marks than I did, which ticked me right off. And he’d never stay asleep long enough for anyone to draw anything on him, which was pretty disappointing. Maybe he still goes here? @capnaps should take some photos of him.

Darius from Target @MrLegenDarius The dude sitting in front of me on this plane won't stop coughing #ebola

NEWS

THERESE GUIEB NEWS EDITOR

NEWS@CAPILANOCOURIER.COM

in time for winter BRINGING HARVEST PROJECT TO SCHOOL Carlo Javier × Lifestyle Editor A group of Capilano University students are collaborating with the Harvest Project to bring the urban-relief organization to campus grounds. From Nov. 3 to Nov. 14, students of CapU will get the opportunity to donate clothing articles and non-perishable food items to boxes placed in the Birch cafeteria. “The Harvest Project is a non-profit organization on the North Shore that helps support underprivileged families through various means,” says Hugh McCall, a second year Global Stewardship student at CapU. The community-driven philanthropic group has been active in the North Shore for the past 20 years, with their work involving clothing and food drives, as well as one-on-one client care coaching and drop-in visits. Established in 1993 by David Foster, the Harvest Project began as a way for Foster to help others, after he himself was caught in a turbulent time where he depended in welfare and food banks. In 2013, the Harvest Project totalled nearly 21,000 volunteer-hours from about 180 North Shore residents. They also raised non-perishable food items

that valued up to $540,000. “I worked with the Harvest Project before,” says McCall, “Last year, I was part of two events, under the name Justice High in Byrne Creek Secondary and Carson Graham Secondary. That was for my Global Stewardship public engagement, a necessary component of the program. I believe they’ve got a great cause, and they were good to work with, so I thought they’d be good to work with again.” CapU students working with the Harvest Project will be aiding the organization by setting up donation boxes around campus, and hosting events to raise awareness, “Our two goals are to raise over 100 winter clothing items, and over 100 non perishable food items for the Harvest Project,” says McCall. According to the organization, there is a hierarchical list of items that they need the most. Peanut butter, canned goods and cereals rank as the most sought after food donations while winter clothing items like coats, toques, and gloves are also needed. Similar to the various initiatives, projects, and events that happen in CapU, McCall and his cohorts will be challenged by the campus’ notorious lack of participation. In order to try and alleviate the possibilities of low turn out and involvement, the group has partnered with one of the school’s business associations to gain a wider reach of audi-

what the future holds A LOOK AT CAPILANO'S STRATEGIC PLAN Therese Guieb

THE CAPILANO COURIER.

VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 10

× News Editor

Since the beginning of the 2014 fall semester, the 2015 to 2016 Strategic Plan for Capilano University has been in the process of being drafted. The document will determine what CapU will do in order to achieve the mission that was finalized in the Academic Plan. “The academic plan was a whole year of campus consultation and dialogues,” explains Kris Bulcroft, president of CapU. “If you read the academic plan, it’s a lot of value statements about what we want to do as an institution and the strategic plan says ‘alright these are the things that we value and the way we want to shape ourselves as a student-centred institution.’ So what does that really look like to the programs we offer and the kinds of extra-curricular activity that students need [and] what’s the timeline in the strategy for doing that?” The Senate Strategic Planning Advisory Committee (SSPAC) was the team that took charge in creating the document. “We decided that a subcommittee of SAPPAC (Senate Academic Planning and Program Assessment Committee) is the way to approach preparing the academic plan because the strategic plan is growing out of the Academic Plan,” says Richard Gale, vice president of Academic and Provost at CapU and chair of the SSPAC. “What I did essentially is go to senate at the beginning of this year and said that we need an advisory committee for the strategic plan as well, and suggested that one way of approaching that would be to have the Academic Advisory Committee to serve as the Strategic Planning Advisory Committee so that there would be consistency to the academic strategic plan that was passed by senate in the first place.” The main goal for the Strategic Plan is to achieve student success and before the Strategic Plan was drafted, “background materials” were used in order to guide the SSPAC. “The background materials were submitted by the campus community and some of it was generated by the advisory committee itself. When we saw that there were gaps in our knowledge base, we tried to look for background material that we could use to inform the decision

and to help the community understand exactly what it was we were drafting,” notes Gale, “We were looking for other ways of approaching what student success is and things that we need to know about. There’s a document on both sides of high impact practices: what are the things that universities can do that will help student success need over the five, four years that they’re at university.” Through the various Strategic Planning forums that were open to everyone in the campus community and outside of CapU and the submissions through the CapU Strategic Plan website, the SSPAC was able to acquire additional comments and feedback regarding what should be included in the Strategic Plan. As a result, the strategic plan has been drafted three times. “We've really tried hard in those particular forums to gather written feedback so that we could get it back to all the members of the committee (SSPAC),” says Julia Denholm, dean of Arts and Sciences at CapU and member of the SSPAC, “I think it was the first draft of the strategic plan we had developed was meant to be a provocative draft and it was. And

“If you read the academic plan, it’s a lot of value statements about what we want to do as an institution and the strategic plan says ‘alright these are the things that we value and the way we want to shape ourselves," it created some really interesting conversations,” she adds. Taylor Krekowski, a Global Stewardship student at CapU shares his experience at a strategic planning forum, which hosts most of these conversations about SSPAC, “I found the way we worked in groups to be pretty effective and a good method to get voices out there and I really liked how it was kind of an open forum for discussion and it was a really clear system of facilitation to kind of get everybody’s voices heard.” One of the biggest issues that the SSPAC faced in the process of drafting the Strategic Plan was the lack of student attendance at the forums. “I would've liked, with all of the forums that we

× Lucy Webber ence. “First of all we’re partnering with the Capilano Undergraduate Business Enterprise of Students [CUBES],” shares Rebecca Seldon a fourth year Business Administration student. “Basically, they’ve just been helping with the media and the social media to promote the event. We also have been using the CUBES resources in helping to get the name out there.” Another challenge the Harvest Project collaborators are anticipating to face are the sheer amount of various events that annually happen during November. Seldon and her team have no intentions of competing with other student-organizers on campus. In fact, they’re very much open to having an accommodating relationship with the other students, “We want to just get our message across, and not competing with the initiatives that are just as important and are happening right now.” had, it would've been great to have more students’ feedback,” shares Denholm. The Strategic Plan was drafted to cater to stakeholders of CapU. According to Gale, some of the major stakeholders include “the internal stakeholders: our staff, our faculty, our local partners, our First Nations, our Aboriginal bands, and the students of CapU.” Since the Strategic Plan advocates for student success, the attendance of students to the forum is crucial. “The students are the largest stakeholder group on campus. Every year we represent more than 7,000 Capilano community members,” says Sacha Fabry, vice president of University Relations and Services for the Capilano Students’ Union (CSU). “I haven’t really seen much effort aside from faculty mentioning that the strategic planning forums are a thing that students should attend to,” argues Krekowski. “I think that’s one of the problems, that’s the thing we need to work on…. The document itself could use a lot of work and a lot of student input, such as you know they propose student success but there is no definition of what that is and they’re kind of operating in the dark. They want students to be successful but they don’t really know what the students want to get out of the Strategic Plan.” Another issue that the SSPAC faced is interpreting all of the feedback that the committee got. “The biggest issue for any kind of plan like this is that there are so many competing goods,” notes Gale. “There are so many things that Capilano can do and wants to do it really comes down to a selection process. If you look at what the draft says from the preliminary ideas to draft one to draft two and now to draft three which you’ll see is really a narrowing process trying to interpret the feedback that we get trying to make the steps forward align with the academic plan.” The Strategic Plan working draft three document was presented to the senate on Nov. 4. The advice for changes in the document that the SSPAC received from the senate will be presented to the Board of Governors on Nov. 18, which will either be accepted or rejected. Then the document will be finalized. “I don’t anticipate rejection. I anticipate that it’ll be accepted or accepted with some small changes because the board has also been involved in this process,” says Gale. More information available at Capilanou.ca/ about/strategic-planning/.

WHAT's NEW CSU Carlo Javier × Lifestyle Editor

New position titles and new initiatives were appointed at the Capilano Students’ Union (CSU) Annual General Meeting (AGM), held on Oct. 30. Opened by the CSU’s First Nations Liaison Taylor George-Hollis, the AGM had no problems meeting the designated 75-student quorum. In a relatively smooth process, the meeting breezed through the slated points in the agenda. The proceedings began with a review of the CSU’s financial statements, where it was revealed that Capilano University’s growth in enrolment led to an increase in revenue and expenditure for the CSU. The financial statements also showed that the CSU’s funds are divided into four different groups operating, capital asset, building and health and dental fund. Other developments discussed at the AGM were the change in the required meetings that some of the directors had to attend. CSU President of External Relations, Brittany Barnes, noted that some directors, on top of their academic responsibilities, had to partake in nearly 17 meetings a month. The motion, which dramatically dwindled the number to two, was passed with ease. Also addressed were some of the positional titles. The Students with Disabilities Liaison was renamed as the Accessibility Justice Coordinator and the Environmental Issues Coordinator was renamed as the Environmental Justice Coordinator. The CSU Lounge also served as the host to the kick-off of Youth and the City, a collection of events that culminated in the municipal elections of 2014. Youth and the City was designed to help increase voting awareness and democratic practice among young people, particularly students of CapU. On Nov. 4, two All-Candidates Debates were held at CapU, bringing candidates from the City of North Vancouver to the Lounge, and candidates from the District of North Vancouver to the First Nations Gathering Space. “The mediator was great,” says district council candidate Amelia Hill, “Usually, they aren’t as precise, so it was a nice change. The room just needed to be bigger.” Among the topics that were brought up to the discussion were transit and transportation, as well as student and affordable housing. Ultimately, Youth and the City’s kick-off provided the informative political activity that students might be hesitant to take part in. For Hill, having the chance to get in touch with some student-voters was more than delightful, “Overall, I’m just glad it happened because it’s very important that students vote.”

news

generation "why" HOW THE MILLENNIAL GENERATION HAS CHANGED TODAY'S CULTURE Melissa Verdicchio × Writer

smartphone apps or mobile friendly sites to gain appeal from this tech-savvy generation. “They don't read newspapers. Instead, they read blogs, Twitter and Facebook. However, some millennials subscribe to online newspapers, but not that many. Huffington Post and CBC seem to be popular amongst Millennials,” comments Laurel and Jonathan. Culture alterations will no doubt have a lasting effect on the millennial generation itself, as well as a possible effect on the generation to come. “The change we see in music and popular culture in general will always reflect and contain the tension of those who stand to benefit from keeping things the same and those who resist the dominant models. It will always be a dynamic site of struggle for both cultural producers and consumers,” explains Isola. There is also the notion that the minds of the Millennials are able to easily and effectively multitask due to technological advances, making it easier for them and possibly the next generation to gain knowledge faster in their social lives but also in their future workplace. Resourceful and

"The millennials born in 1980 are the original digital natives and in my view were at the forefront of the digital revolution in regards to music, marketing and news,” explains Rita Isola, sociology professor at Capilano University. Over the years, music, marketing and news have been altered by the millennial generation. According to CBC, “The millennials are tech savvy, with every gadget imaginable almost becoming an extension of their bodies.” Between the 1980s and the 2000s, there were constant cultural changes that were being made. The millennial generation is used to dealing with operating their music in iTunes, clever marketing strategies, and the content and delivery of news.

MUSIC “The barriers to entry — studio costs, recording costs etc., have decreased significantly giving any musician the opportunity to reach an audience,” Isola says. Different styles of music are being introduced to the millennials and bringing people from all over the world together. “Change is always going to be both positive and negative,” states Isola, “Downloading or the internet or free music encourages one-hit singles and can make it difficult for bands to have sustainable careers based on music sales alone; most have to resort to ancillary markets (t-shirts, concerts).” Laurel Whitney, professor of Sociology, Criminology and Womens' and Gender Studies at CapU discussed with her son Jonathan Contreras-Whitney, a student of the Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies program at CapU, about how the Millennial Generation affected our society. Their comments on the millennial generation were a result of a conversation that they had. “Jonathan is part of the M generation because he was born in 1992. He thinks there are stereotypes about M’s and says we often confuse the M generation with the problems that are structurally embedded in current society that are affecting all of us. The M’s have become the marker or icon or lightning rod for these problems, as a kind of media shorthand,” says Laurel.

“Many people lament and say music is not as good as it used to be. However, perhaps they mean that the lyrics today are morally vapid compared to in the 1970s (the counterculture) and technology means you don't have to be a trained musician to ‘create’ popular music, so it seems to devalue the skill and labour involved,” explains Laurel and Jonathan. Songwriters feel the need to cater to their audience and write something that is most popular at the time. Not all hip-hop, pop, country or any other type of music is degrading and offensive, but there has been a noticeable shift in music culture. The distribution of music has also changed. “Millennials born in 1980 were 10 years old when the worldwide web took over and they grew up web savvy. They were 14 years old when Apple started its ascendance into PC

dominance and coolness and they were the first generation to create and use peer-to-peer music sharing such as Napster,” says Isola. The distribution of music also has a negative effect on the today’s music industry. “People pirate music now, and because of the internet, the big labels are very conservative and won't take risks. Last year, nobody went Platinum,” states Laurel and Jonathan.

MARKETING Celebrity endorsements and the featuring of appealing images in advertisements are only some of the ways marketers convince consumers that they need a certain product. The millennial generation has significantly altered marketing strategies. Companies more often now than before, use thin, beautifully photoshopped models in their ads and campaigns. Millennials have been trapped by this image and some accept it. It's no doubt that there are a number of advertisements featuring more realistic men and women, but the size of celebrities and models has decreased throughout the years. Millennials grew up with an idea drilled into their heads of what being “normal” is supposed to be. The millennial generation is often caught in a company’s trap by what is advertised instead of realizing the importance of the product. Many people are stuck on the idea of having the “next best thing”. An article by the Huffington Post suggested that, “Millennials consume brand and product information when they want to. They would rather find and

NEWS The way news is delivered today makes it easier for people all over the world to have knowledge about conflicts in different countries. Being aware of what is happening in the world almost instantly is, in most ways, a positive alteration of today’s culture. The speed that news reaches the media is so fast that people are more aware of the situation and have more time to adjust to it. Although news is received faster than ever, this can also lead to false information and outbreaks. Magazines, social media and blogs are all examples of ways for serious worldly news to be distorted. When something happens in the world, it's falsely spit out on social media before news outlets have time to collect sufficient non-fictional information on the story. Technology has altered the way many people access news. Companies now have to make their news accessible through social media,

adaptable are two words that can be associated with the millennial generation. The go-getter attitude that most millennials possess is one that is needed in today’s society. This generation believes that they can change the world. With technological, information retaining, and marketing strategy alterations, it only makes it easier for the millennials to achieve what they want. Laurel and Jonathan present the idea that, “When we look back at the millennials’ parents' generation, they took big risks, and had a lot of independence and freedom. But also these movements they were part of eventually failed. They did not bring about an end to poverty in the third world, they did not end discrimination against women or minorities, and they are now somewhat disillusioned, so they convey this to their millennial children by being overprotective helicopter parents.” Although negative alterations do exist, an urge for change is already being witnessed. Companies such as Dove and many others are campaigning in order to show all bodies are beautiful. Religious and cultural discrimination is still an issue but is a changing issue. The acceptance of same-sex marriage is growing rapidly. Knowledge of worldly issues is spreading. Positive changes are making their way into the world. All of these cultural alterations point to one generation: the millennials.

When something happens in the world, it's falsely spit out on social media before news outlets have time to collect sufficient non-fictional information on the story.

T H E C A P I L A N O C O U R I E R . VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 10

The millennial generation is often caught in a company’s trap by what is advertised instead of realizing the importance of the product.

× Scarlett Aubrey

discover things using the tools they feel comfortable with (i.e. - smart phones, social media sites, reviews, blogs, forums, etc.) than the ones you want them to use (television, print ads and billboards).” Since there is such a high demand from the millennials for new and improved products, companies have now been jumping on the social media bandwagon to reach out to their consumers. “Counter-brands are a new way of being unique,” says Laurel and Jonathan, “Big companies have caught on to the power of the counter-brand aesthetic and now they are producing this aesthetic en masse. An example of this is a store like Zara that steals the designs from high fashion and mass produces them.” Social media has given consumers a chance to voice their opinions and thoughts about products directly to the providing company, making it easier for companies to cater to the needs and wants of the millennials. Marketing through social media and on the web makes it easier for the millennials to access products on the go. Having easy access to certain products and services allows businesses to thrive, resulting in a boost in the economy.

Since there is such a high demand from the millennials for new and improved products, companies have now been jumping on the social media bandwagon to reach out to their consumers.

arts + Culture

ALVA TEE ARTS + CULTURE EDITOR

ARTS@CAPILANOCOURIER.COM

sugar, spice and everything nice WONDERETTES JIVE BACK INTO THE JUKEBOX DAYS Melissa Verdicchio × Writer

An adaptation of the stunning Broadway hit, The Marvelous Wonderettes, is coming to Burnaby’s very own Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, presented by the Footlight Theatre Company. This lively production is a musical comedy based on the book by Ovation Award-winner Roger Bean, a writer and director who specializes in jukebox musicals. Bean won his Ovation Award back in 2007 for Best Musical Intimate Theatre for The Marvelous Wonderettes. This show is sure to get the audience up and out of their seats, ready to have a good time. Set in the 50s and 60s, this theatre production follows the lives of four high school girls in a Songleading squad named the Wonderettes. Audience members will be taken back in time to when the girls are unexpectedly called to perform at their high school senior prom. Fast forwarding to the 60s, they are then brought to Springfield High’s 10-year reunion, where the Wonderettes come together again and reminisce “the old times.” Perfect for a family, the play brings the elderly for a stroll down memory lane while those who are younger will be happily bopping along to the music. “From the very first written exclamation of ‘We’re the Marvelous Wonderettes, hmm hmm!’ it had captured my heart,” says Sabrielle McCurdy-Foreman, a Musical Theatre graduate from Capilano University, “I’m a fan of the music of both the 50s and 60s, the complex harmony singing and catchy melodies have stuck with me since I was a kid. I remember hearing “Respect” for the first time and thinking, ‘Man, I wish I could do that.’ Now, I’m not Aretha Franklin, but it sure is fun pretending to be! “This show really is all about the music,” she

continues, explaining her initial thoughts when she was first presented the script. “The script reflects the fun and fancy-free nature of the music it is styled around, with moments of sincerity and tenderness that make the characters, and their stories, relatable and interesting.” This fun-loving production is filled with catchy music that will constantly be playing through the heads of those in the audience for the remainder of the evening. Foreman says that the playlist will be “Music that everyone knows, from bluesy ballads like “Maybe” and “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me” to pop classics like “Lollipop,” “Sandman” and “Heatwave.”” These young, quirky and passionate performers

× Submitted give this particular adaptation something special. It takes talent and knowledge to truly perfect the right atmosphere of the era these actors and actresses have the pleasure of performing in. Stefania Wheelhouse, playing the character of Betty Jean, says what really captures the styles of the 50s and 60s is “definitely the movement. Dancing as well as just our general walking around. We have the costumes, wigs, and makeup of course, but it doesn't work if we shuffle around like its 2014.” Being a CapU graduate from the Musical Theatre program as well, Wheelhouse can confidently say ,“the program helped with the entire aspect of the show. I mean, it teaches you, among other skills, how to

be a part of musicals in the Vancouver community and beyond. For myself, I know the biggest thing I wouldn't have been able to achieve is the level of movement required in Marvelous Wonderettes without having been in this program.” Surely, the dynamic qualities of each character in The Marvlous Wonderettes will help audience members connect to the play in many different ways. “Expect to be dancing in your seat and humming along to the familiar tune,” says Foreman, “Lots of laughs, whether at Cindy Lou’s entitlement, Missy’s persistence, Suzy’s naivety or Betty Jean’s expense.” The contrast between today’s high school environment and the high school environment in the 50s and 60s is fairly different when compared to one another. Foreman says that this production has a quality so unique that it sets it apart from others. “Right from the first rehearsal the director, Wayne Nolan, and the music director, Kate MacColl, were very clear that they did not want these characters to become stereotypes,” she states, “All four of the girls have very distinctive, somewhat stereotypical, personality traits and it would be easy to play them as one-dimensional. We’ve spent a lot of time discussing what lies beneath the simple exterior to try and bring new levels of depth and interest.” Singing and dancing along with the wonderful cast is a must when going to see the show. The youth of the present millennium will swivel their way back to the 50s and 60s to bring the old-fashioned fun into the hearts and souls of the audience. “I don’t think there was a single song I didn’t know before we started,” says Foreman, “I play the 50s on 5 pm and 60s on 6 pm satellite radio stations at work all day. I’m pretty much obsessed with these musical styles and I’m so excited to be performing them on stage." The Marvelous Wonderettes will run from Nov. 6 to Nov. 15. For more information, visit Footlight.ca.

tanks for your time FLOATING YOUR WAY TO BETTER DAYS Alva Tee

THE CAPILANO COURIER.

VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 10

× Arts + Culture Editor

In the busy buzz of preparing for the holidays, the hustling and bustling of the pre-Christmas rush starts, midterms end only to be greeted by the dates of finals, the anticipation for the New Year strikes and the spring semester is just around the corner. There are about a million things that can take over your mind – but not a single one will be finding the time to slow down and treat yourself. Therapy has proven to be a solid escape for many during chaotic times, and unique forms of therapy allow for a chance to collect thoughts, elaborate on them and free the mind altogether. “Floatation therapy: it requires someone coming to visit a float tank,” says Travis McLaren, owner of Cloud 9 Float Spa Inc. in Coquitlam, “They’re all different shapes and sizes; some are open, some are enclosed. They got about 11 inches of water and 900-plus pounds of Epsom salt. This Epsom salt, or magnesium sulphate, is nicely heated to our skin temperature so they’re nice and soothing when an individual is in there. You literally float like you’re in a dead sea, so it’s a really cool sensation. Floatation therapy is for our body and our mind.” Epsom salt is often used in baths because it is most well known to relax the body. In a

× Cristian Fowlie float tank, more than a palette full of salt is dissolved into the water to enrich the body of any floater. “Magnesium sulphate is amazing for our whole system, and most of us are deficient in it just because of our diets,” says McLaren, “With our skin being our largest organ, when you’re floating in there, you can’t help but absorb magnesium into your system.” “Magnesium helps you so you don’t feel sore if you’re a really active athlete or whatnot and it really helps with aches and pains,” he continues, “It really helps detoxify your system because it pulls the toxins out and it’s also really helpful for sleeping.” He says that even those with in-

somnia notice that after floating, they can sleep better for many of the following nights. Aside from the effect of the salts aiding with chronic pains, floatation therapy itself can help one to observe their thoughts. McLaren says that many floaters who are artists are able to gather and brainstorm ideas in the tank as well, coming out with a new sense of inspiration to guide them in their art form — whether that may be in writing, drawing or music. He gets people of all types and ages coming in to float, and they all live with a different experience. With technology engulfing our society and the need for social interaction becoming a norm to every day life, the chance to escape from this warped universe and take the time to be alone is highly valued. “Floatation therapy sounds like a useful experience. In the pace of today’s world, having some time to be weightless and calm and still in an environment away from all the usual chaos is very appealing,” says Dr. Kevin Kirkland, a musical therapy instructor at Capilano University. McLaren believes that it is the uniqueness of floatation therapy that draws people to it. “We are a really over-stimulated society with the amount of phones and how much TV we watch in general, so I think people are looking for ways to escape it,” he says, “I hear from people that it’s nice to just have a break.” That’s something everyone should never forget to do: create time for yourself.

“It’s just their time they have completely to do whatever they want, away from the world,” he continues, “I think that’s one of the most unique things. If you’re going to do a therapy, typically and mostly you’re with someone else. Someone’s working on you, and this is you working on yourself.” Keeping an open mind is a vital factor in enjoying any sort of therapeutic practice. “Different types of therapy offer different opportunities for people. Some of the success of therapy is your own belief and willingness to take part in it,” says Dr. Kirkland, “If you are open to trying new things, then experiencing a variety of therapies may be best for your overall health plan.” Floatation therapy has the potential to give absolutely surreal experiences. “Go in with an open mind. And not having expectation – that’s a big one. If you go in there without any expectations, it just leaves the possibilities of what can happen in there open,” says McLaren, “And if someone really wants to go there and work on something specific, I would just leave it to an intention. Don’t hold an expectation of something happening – it leaves the best space for your float to unfold.”

arts + Culture

out of this world THE MAN IN LOVE WITH THE MOON Christine Beyleveldt × Writer As the night sky is ever so beautiful, a tale of enchantment comes with a lonely man who falls in love with the moon. Loon is a solo performance by Portland-based physical theatre company, the Wonderheads. It explores the deep and complex theme of love, and is guaranteed to fill the audience with wonder. According to Vancouver’s The Snipe review, “the show is visual poetry.” Kate Braidwood and Andrew Phoenix, cofounding artistic directors of the Wonderheads, joined forces in 2009, producing and acting out their first show, Grim and Fischer: a duo-role masked performance that delved into a story of death. “We specialize in full face mask performance… non-verbal, wordless physical theatre in a whimsical, almost cartoonish style,” says Braidwood. They came together with a spark of an idea about a silent, masked performance company, heavily emphasizing the use of expression and the power of the absence of words. “You wouldn’t necessarily think that you could be moved to such laughter and tears… [People] are surprised by how much of an emotional journey they go on as an audience member,” says Braidwood. “The masks really seem to come to life in performance, it’s the strange magic of theatre where this fixed object doesn’t move, but they really do seem to change expression,” says Braidwood, “People are surprised and enchanted by that.” The inspiration came from years of studying at the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre. “We studied all kinds of forms of physical theatre, including clown,

× Wonderheads melodrama and poetic stance. One of the forms that really stuck with us was mask,” she says. As the creative director of Loon, Braidwood carefully crafts the masks herself. She starts with a fully-fledged clay sculpture, working in the line and contours that give the character its whimsy. From the original bust, she casts a mould, and finishes off by getting her hands covered in gloop as she sets about creating her newest face from papier-maché. It receives a layer of paint, and a single expression for the duration of the performance. Each mask can take up to 60 hours to fully complete. The miming and theatrical hand gestures paired with emotional music and many other evoking elements are what bring the masked characters

to life. “I love the challenge of telling stories without words,” Braidwood says. In Grim and Fischer, old granny Fischer goes head to head with the Grim Reaper, and teaches death a thing or two about life. Grim and Fischer embarked on a continental tour, receiving numerous Fringe Festival awards for theatre performance and lauding reviews along the way. But something was missing. “We were two friends making a show in a tiny San Francisco living room, scheduling rehearsals between part-time jobs and bumping into the walls with big masks on our heads,” says Braidwood, “We made a show about death, and we also happened to fall in love.”

This ignited the want to explore a new theme and thus was the birth of Loon, the story of a tragically lonely man who finds love not on earth in the form of a woman, but in the night sky. “Loon turned out to be more of a melancholic look at love than our own experience together,” she says. In Loon, Braidwood takes the stage alone donning an oversized tragicomic mask painted with gloom. She brings to life a lonely janitor named Francis, who has recently lost his mother — the only person in his life he held dearly to his heart — in this crazy world. The moon captures his attention one evening, as he gazes longingly out the window at the mesmerizing glowing orb suspended in the sky. The performance follows his journey of unlikely romance and eventual selfdiscovery as he travels to space and back to find his true love. A huge success was made by the Wonderheads with the creation of Loon, and the project took off with the imaginations of the audience like a rocket to the moon itself. The show has won a number of Critic’s Choice Awards at Vancouver, Edmonton and Orlando Fringe Festivals. Described by Liz Nicholls of the Edmonton Journal as an “expertly wistful, wordless little romantic fantasy”, this twist on a love story illustrates that one doesn’t need worldly elements to thrive, but can simply look to the stars. Loon will be running at the Cultch in Vancouver from Nov. 18 until Nov. 23. For more information and to buy tickets, visit Thecultch.com/events/loon/.

taking up the torch CADET PROGRAM HONOURS VETERAN BY INSPIRING YOUTH Andy Rice × Managing Editor

× Ekaterina Aristova Canadian Forces. The other is to promote physical fitness and healthy living, so to promote a good lifestyle for the cadets, and then the third aim is to promote good citizenship.” Welsh says that most who join the program do so at around 12 or 13 years of age and “age out” at 19. “Really, they come in as kids and they walk out as young professionals and it’s quite an amazing transformation to watch over the years while they grow

up through the cadet program. For myself personally, the air cadet program had a huge impact upon the way I grew up and developed a lot of my skills that I use in my career now.” “I could say in terms of any program I’ve ever been involved in, the Royal Canadian Air Cadets has been the one that today, even years after I’ve been gone, I still draw daily on things that I’ve learned there, just in professionalism and respect,” says Fehr, “Everyone who’s a part of the program comes away from it just with a very respectful and sophisticated way of carrying themselves.” Respect for veterans is another key element of the cadet movement. November is a busy month for many squadrons in the Lower Mainland who team up with the Royal Canadian Legion to sell commemorative poppies in advance of Remembrance Day. Proceeds are distributed between community initiatives and veterans in need, providing a significant source of funding to those who have fallen on hard times. “In some cases it is a lot that adds up if you have two cadets saving up some money to donate,” says Fehr, “But more abstractly what the cadet program does for the veterans is it generates an audience, and people come from the cadet program ready to listen to those stories and ready to carry the memory forward.” On Nov. 11, cadets will stand alongside veterans at Remembrance Day ceremonies across the country, showing support for those who made sacrifices for their homeland. “It’s a great sense of pride for the cadets to be able to have that way to give back… and it means a lot to the veterans in the parades and at Remembrance Day when they’re able to see the cadets

picking up that torch and carrying on the memory for the veterans,” says Welsh, “Unfortunately, veterans — and specially World War II veterans — they’re becoming less and less at each ceremony and they don’t want people to forget, and they’re very pleased and thankful that the cadets are able to be there to carry up that mantle.” As July 2014 marked the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I and the surviving World War II veterans are now pushing their 90s, concern is rising over what might happen to their legacy in the coming decades. “It’s one thing to learn about the history of World War II, about the battles… but the value that comes so much from having veteran speakers is that they were there and they’re human beings who went through the struggle as a part of their human lives, which is something that we can all very much relate to,” says Fehr, “What’s important, I think, is to not lose sight of those stories, because the speakers and the people who were there —inevitably, as time goes by there will be fewer and fewer of them and that’s not something we can stop — and so it becomes doubly important to hear those stories while they are here and for people to take a little bit of responsibility for holding onto that.” “I think we’re at a time right now where technology and the Internet really enables people to get informed about what has happened in our history,” adds Welsh, “There will come a time when there won’t be any more World War II veterans, unfortunately, and it will be incumbent upon each one of us to know our history and know the sacrifices that came.”

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“I learned this the hard way — there are more opportunities for somebody joining the cadets program than there is time in a week,” says Colin Fehr, a chemistry student at Simon Fraser University. The former air cadet chuckles as he recalls constantly juggling his schedule to accommodate public speaking, wilderness survival training and a host of other activities offered by his local squadron. “I tried to do everything and there really is just so much, which is a good problem to have.” Despite its military structure, the Royal Canadian Air Cadets program isn’t just for aspiring soldiers, pilots and marines. “While it is a partnership with the Department of National Defense and a lot of people who are cadets do go on to have careers in the armed forces, there was just such a wealth of other opportunities that existed without any obligation to head in that direction,” Fehr explains, “I have a huge number of friends who took the aviation classes with me that have gone on to get their civilian pilots licenses through the program. Myself, I got an incredible amount of work done learning leadership workshops, public speaking, first aid and a lot of things that are just incredibly applicable to anything you go and do, whether it’s military application or not.” The program is divided into three leagues, effectively mirroring the army, navy and air force branches of the military. “Whether it’s air, sea or army, there are three aims that we have,” says Captain Trevor Welsh, commanding officer of the 103 Thunderbird Royal Canadian Air Cadets Squadron in North Vancouver, “One is to promote an interest in the Canadian Forces and specifically for us in the air cadet program, an interest in the air element of the

art shorts

ANDY RICE ART SHORTS EDITOR

MANAGER.CAPCOURIER@GMAIL.COM

DELTRON 3030 COMMODORE BALLROOM, NOV. 4 Andrew Palmquist × Production Manager I was unsure if I should bring a doobie with me or rely on the crowd to share. I decided to leave the goods at home. Kid Koala opened with a solo set which I had just caught the tail end of — doing what he does best; mixing beats and rhymes with his unique touch. This go around, it was a sing-along song from the children's TV series, Yo Gabba Gabba. Kid Koala introduced the track as an inspiration from watching TV with his kids. The crowd loved the song and did their best to keep up with the dance moves that were being described within. It was like a funky “Hokey Pokey”. That was the end of his set. There was a 20-minute pause, which gave the crowd enough time to roll a couple up. You could see the brims of hats focused to the hands that were in optimum rolling position. Kid Koala came back on stage to fine-tune his equipment. There must have been a button on his keyboard to ignite all the joints at once, because as soon as he pushed this button the crowd went up in smoke. In came

Dan the Automator and Deltron Zero. The gang got things moving with “3030”, from their debut album DELTRON 3030, a track that got Del's rhymes loosened up. Dan, Del and Kid Koala were accompanied on stage by a percussionist and bass player. With a full lineup of instruments the sound was rich. They carried into several more tracks from Deltron 3030 and the crowd seemed very familiar with the lyrics. It was also apparent that the gang is back in the studio working on several new tracks, and they introduced several of them and got the crowd familiar with the chorus so they could get involved. I've always been impressed by the Deltron 3030 roster — Del as the funky lyricist, Dan as the hype man, and Kid Koala mixing it all together. These guys have found a formula to keep your ears interested and feet moving. It was a night of nostalgic tunes mixed in with a hint of something new to come. If you are unfamiliar with Deltron 3030, find “Positive Contact” on the Internet and turn up the speakers. It’s a unique sound from this group that will spark your interest for the rest of their music.

[o] Andrew Palmquist

oh village TO RELY Andy Rice × Managing Editor Two years after the release of their first album, Far Side of the Sea, alternative indie outfit Oh Village have unveiled their follow-up EP, To Rely. Sonically, it picks up where their debut left off, serving as a piano-driven departure from the guitar-heavy aesthetic that often dominates their genre. Though it was already quite evident on that first record, To Rely further certifies that this is a quartet of skilled instrumentalists, creative writers and innovative arrangers. The opening track, “Waver, Worry, Want,” paints a soundscape with strings and horns that leads seamlessly into “Give Thy Fears”, featuring an effective counterpoint between pizzicato violin and keyboards. “How to Swim” starts off slightly more soulful in nature — think Sam Smith meets John Legend — but then veers into

a breakdown of polyrhythms over punchy piano chords. Pianist/Lead Vocalist Scott Currie is at his best here, with band mates Matthew Jake Janzen, David Dueckman, and Stephen Dahl harmonizing marvelously around him. The Abbotsford foursome has never shied away from unconventional time signatures and rhythmic devices, and their penchant for them comes off honestly. While this does push the band into more of an acoustic progfolk category than many of their indie peers, it isn’t a bad thing at all. “In a Dark and Quiet Place” is a perfect example of these techniques being implemented successfully, with a 5/4 time signature that’s subtle in a way that it could almost go undetected, but would be distinctly missed if it wasn’t there. The five tracks on To Rely are dynamic and organic, roaming freely in a category all their own, not unlike the members of Oh Village themselves.

Leighton meester HEARTSTRINGS

THE CAPILANO COURIER.

VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 10

Faye Alexander

× Gossip Girl If there is one artist who singlehandedly brought back the signature headband, Leighton Meester would be it. Known for her statement Upper Eastside fashion triumphs sported throughout her role as Blair Waldorf in the WB teen drama smash, Gossip Girl, Meester has a lot to prove to shake off her actress pants and squeeze into her singer/songwriter blazer. Heartstrings plays like a sugary sweet trip though girlhood — a blend of bubblegum and thick molasses. Her surprising blend of folk-pop on tracks like “Sweet” and “Good For One Thing” showcase that Meester does boast some cred as a singer and songwriter. With small peeks of country feels on tracks like “Runaway”, Meester blends the

lyrics of a ballad with some perfect pop melodies. With the Gossip Girl days long gone, Meester has decided to pursue her passion for music, and with her hands deeply dipped creatively on all nine tracks of her debut – her star quality and talent has the strength to transcend. It might be safe to say that Meester is more in her wheelhouse as a singer and songwriter than she was as an actress. (Does anyone else remember the travesty that was her horror film The Roommate?) “Blue Afternoon” is a stand out for Meester, and really showcases the artist she is evolving into – it’s straight-up weird with a shifting tempo. With all the lovey-dovey lyrics throughout Heartstrings, it’s really hard not to think of the affair or Blair and Chuck and all they went through on Gossip Girl.

Upcoming ART shorts...

the ponderosas UNTIL DAWN James Martin × Writer Of all the many bands that attempt to blend different genres, few arrive at such an acoustically pleasing and convincingly authentic result as The Ponderosas. Rooted in R&B that has been liberally doused in Latin rhythms, Until Dawn flirts with a diverse collection of additional influences such as soul, reggae, rock and jazz while still maintaining a cohesive musical identity. From the very first notes of the opening track, “Molly”, the band puts a good foot forward as they shine a light on their vocal harmonies. The ongoing interplay between lead singers Kristie McCracken and Janette King is a consistently delightful texture throughout the album, and the additional vocal support from trumpeter Lucas Teodoro Da Silva and percussionist Chris Couto is made all the more effective by not being overused. The band sounds very organic throughout the album, allowing the musicians’ real skills to shine rather than having them blurred out by over-production in the studio. One gets the sense

the smalls, buck 65, misfits, les sins, flashdance

while listening that the Ponderosas truly thrive in a live setting, but their recorded sound stands strong on its own merits. Couto’s talented use of multiple percussion instruments adds a very identifiable dimension to The Ponderosa’s sonic collage, and the skillful foundations laid down by bassist Jay Smith and drummer Ian Pierre Cardona cannot be understated. Together, these three bring the album’s up tempo songs alive with infectious, danceable rhythms. One of the most exciting moments on the album is in “Imagination” when Cardona and Couto trade blows in a feverish percussion duel, followed by an equally exciting back-and-forth between Da Silva and trombonist Kevin Tang. Until Dawn’s one major tripping point is “Hey Man”, an unconvincingly executed reggae-ish song featuring overly blunt lyrics about environmental destruction and some annoying texture that sounds like a bad midi accordion. This track is a sore thumb amongst the smart, sophisticated tunes on the rest of the album. Musically intelligent and undeniably groovy, Until Dawn offers up a very palatable taste of something different.

Follow the Art Shorts team on Twitter @CAPCOURIERLIVE

Calendar Mo 10

We 12

CapLive Biltmore Cabaret 8 pm $10

Hardwell M 10

Pacific Coliseum 8 pm $78.50

capilanocourier.com

@capilanocourier

Giller Prize Party Lynn Valley Library 5 pm $20

Hershe Bar: Where the Girls Are M 10

The Red Room 10 pm $15

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Organized by students in the Arts and Entertainment program (where we found the lovely Alva Tee), this is a concert featuring Capilano bands Derrival and Jaguar – which are both good band names. And Derrival just got nominated as a finalists in the Peak Performance Project, and that’s pretty cool. If they win that money, I hope they remember that quirky little paper that supported them all along…

Tickets for this show, yes the overpriced tickets, went on sale months ago. This guy is quite the DJ celebrity, and he was voted number one DJ in the world in DJ Magazine’s top 100 DJs. No wonder he was in demand. Maybe he’s actually worth the price of admission.

CBC Radio personality JJ Lee hosts a reading featured on the shortlist books for the Giller Prize, one of the greatest literary awards in Canada. The Giller prize used to be a Jian Ghomeshi thing, but it’s probably not a good idea for him to show up to this. Definitely….not……a good idea.

Ah, a Monday night at the Red Room and an event titled “Where the Girls Are.” I can’t think of a bigger oxymoron. I can say with full confidence that there is no one at the Red Room on Monday night – guys and girls alike, and this is a last ditch attempt to get anyone through that gate. If you go, please take a tally of how many girls are actually in the bar. Investigate the shit out of that.

A Day to Remember

Canucks vs Senators

Lil' B

Theory of a Deadman

Everywhere All day $ - thoughts and gratitude

T 11

Cable Box 7 pm $ - your freedom

T 11

Fortune Sound Club 8 pm $25

T 11

Commodore Ballroom 8 pm $38.50

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Time to pay some respect to our veterans. At 11:11 am, it doesn’t matter where you are or what you’re doing, just stop and stand in silence for a few moments. It also acts as a break from the bagpipes, the one day a year where they are in abundance. But in all seriousness, it’s a good thing to do.

What better way to celebrate the memory of our veterans and freedom by spending too much money to see grown men race after a tiny object with sticks dangling in their hands. Seriously, what better way…

This guy is a hip hop artist, and I think he made little Carlo Javier’s life forever. I don’t really know how it happened, but I think the timeline was Carlo tweeted him from the Courier account, and he responded by following us. That’s when Carlo crapped his pants and proceeded to tell everyone about the time that “Lil B followed us on Twitter.” Best part is, if he said this to my mom, she wouldn’t understand anything in that sentence. Ah, technology and rapper names.

Our News Editor pointed out that it was slightly ironic that Theory of a Deadman were playing on Remembrance Day, and now that I think about it, it kind of is. And it could be my lack of music knowledge, but whenever I think of these guys, Nickleback lyrics race through my head. So it’s understandable that a lot of effort goes into not thinking about these guys.

Ryan Gosling's Birthday

Les Sins

Career and Job Search

Shovels & Rope

All Day Faye’s Ovaries $ - being really good looking

W 12

Fortune Sound Club 9 pm $15

W 12

Vancouver Public Library (Downtown) 2:30 pm to 4 pm $ - printed resumes

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Rickshaw Theatre 9:30 pm $18

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It’s Ryan Gosling’s 34th birthday, and if you’re wondering why you should care, and what this over-hyped baby-face of man has ever done for you, ask Faye, and she would just say “He was born. That’s enough. Still not convinced? YouTube “Ryan Gosling won’t eat his cereal”. You’ll thank both him and me.

I’m so confused by this guy. First he’s Chaz Bundick, then he’s Toro Y Moi and now he’s undergone yet another metamorphosis and is Les Sins. This Chaz is more confusing than Chaz Bono. At least he knew that one change was enough. Apparently this is more poppy and dance-worthy than his other projects, and that’s according to Carlo.

I’m at my last year at Capilano, and there is a good chance that I will be leaving this institution in the exact way I started it – jobless and bitter. So I’m marking down all the job fairs I can. Get spiffed up, dust off the business cards and network your little buns off until you get that job.

I have this trucker friend, who is a classic trucker dude. But he fills his time on the long road trips by scanning satellite radio and all those weird college blogs for the best music. So when I go for my yearly visits, he makes me the best mix, and one of the mix had two songs from Shovels & Rope, a bluegrass/country band from the States. They’re awesome – my trucker friend says so, and he’s a bonafide expert.

Spring Registration Opens

The Good Person of Setzuan

Allan Doyle

Jeez Louise

Your Computer The morning? $ - your GPA

Th 13

BlueShore Centre 8 pm $ - free?

Th 13

Waterfront Theatre (Granville Island) 7:30 pm $21 - $25

Th 13

Railway Club 8 pm $10

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Check your time ticket, ensure the Internet connection is solid and be prepared to click away on the mouse until you get into your desired classes. And if you want to avoid the student advising offices, I would suggest doing research into what you need to take, so you don’t end up taking all your electives in one semester and leaving the worst classes until your last semester for university. And yes, that’s personal. I am an idiot.

This production is on for a 10-day run at the Blue Shore Theatre, which gives us lazy students ample times to see it. The play is about the Gods who are in search of a good person, and from my experience in online dating, I can understand the God’s frustration – a good man is hard to find. Apparently this play has all the love, mercy and power that you could want in a play.

This guy is the main guy from the east coast band, the Great Big Sea. He has flowing blonde locks and looks similar to the Friendly Giant, if the giant was a real man. But he put down the guitar and picked up the pen and wrote a memoir. He will be talking about the book, Where I Belong. My bet is that it takes a lot about the East Coast — just a stab though.

This sounds like a fine evening of comedy, which is one of the richer cultural scenes in Vancouver. Local comedians and improvisers are doing their things, such as being funny, on stage, for our pleasure. Ryan and Taz from the Sunday Service are performing along with Graham Clark, and it’s only Friday. They should be called the Friday Friskies, mostly because Ryan is a babe. Worth getting frisky over.

Tres Guitarras

Bastille

National Clean Out Your Fridge Day

GWAR

All Day Everyday $ - bleach and wine

Commodore Ballroom 7 pm $32.50

BlueShore Centre 11:45 am $ - getting cultured

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PNE Forum 6:30 pm $45

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While my Spanish doesn’t go past “Pass me a beer please”, I’m going to take an educated guess that this Tres Guitarras means “Three Guitars” in Spanish. Stephen Bowsell, Miri Kim, and Matthew Silverman are jamming together on campus to folk music from all over the world. It’s on campus, it’s free and it’s better than spending your lunch eating by yourself in the café. Campus culture y’all.

Bastille, the foursome from England, have the one song about closing your eyes or something like that. It also features a massive drum, and the only reason I know this is because when they played on SNL, the lead singer, Dan Smith, played it so eagerly I thought his mallet was going to break the drum skin. He really knows how to beat off a drum. If you wanna see that, and I’m sure you do, go to this.

This is a real thing – the day where everyone is supposed to stop what they’re doing, and clean out the horrific contents of their fridge. And if you believe that old adage “You are what you eat,” then this is more than just a fridge exorcism: it’s a look inside the inside of your soul, and the parts that are forgotten and left to wither away behind the half eaten package of Twinkies.

If there is one thing I’m sure of in my crude and charred heart, it’s that GWAR is the fucking coolest. Their song “I Hate Love Songs” is the best romantic ballad of our generation. If you really want to woo a girl, don’t buy her flowers and play her some shitty song like James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful”. No, no – buy her a $3 beer and play this song on full blast and watch the undies melt away. That, or take her to GWAR. Or me. Fuck her, just take me.

International Games Day

Bob Newhart

Tokyo Police Club

Yelawolf

Various Library Branches All Day $ - losing Monopoly

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River Rock Casino 8 pm $59.50

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Commodore Ballroom 3 pm AND 9 pm $26.50

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Venue 8 pm $30

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Libraries all over Vancouver will play host to a series of games for International Game Day. They will supply some, but also feel free to bring your own version of your favourite game. If you’re convinced that you can only win Parcheesi on your own board, then by all means, bring it, and whip those poor old ladies’ bums. My guess it that Courier columnist Jeremy Hanlon shows up with at least a half dozen games that no one else has ever heard of.

Seriously, I want to know what these guys are taking to tour at 90 and up. My dad saw Gordon Lightfoot the other day, and he said he thought that every note he was singing was going to be his last. These guys have terrible savings plans if they have to tour into the age where most of their friends are drooling into their oatmeal. But he’s pretty funny, and if you like funny and Richmond, then go see Mr. Newhart.

Tokyo Police Club grace the Commodore stage not once but twice in one day. So if this band is the one that creates the soundtrack of your life, you may see them at 3:30, then go down to the Bottleneck and pound five of their Jamieson sangrias (it’s a real thing, and it’s glorious), flirt with the incredibly cute bartenders, and then go back for a second show and be nice and lubed up for it. Also, this will double your chance of bagging the drummer – if not him, then probably Steve, the roadie.

I just Googled Yelawolf (and I misspelt it three times while typing it into the Google bar), and he is the most tattooed person I may have ever seen. There is one photo where he looks like the lovechild of Travis Barker from Blink 182 and Kid Rock. Oh, if only men could procreate. We would have some wonderful combinations. Google also tells me that he’s a hip hop artist, and a pretty good one at that.

21st Century Flea Market

INCONS Vintage Clothing Market

Joan Baez

Shakey Graves

Croatian Cultural Centre 10 am to 3 pm $5

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Not your everyday flea market, this place has overpriced everything: handmade dish cloths, insanely-scented soaps and beef jerky that came from the golden cow. But if you’re one of those that wants to relax during the holidays and therefore gets everything bought and wrapped before Nov. 19, then hit this up. You’ll find unique trinkets for everyone. Dibs on the eggnog though – I bet that golden cow has some good milk.

Biltmore Cabaret 11 am to 5 pm $3

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This sounds cool, as my favourite bar is hosting a vintage clothing market. Don’t worry if second hand clothes aren’t your thing – there are also cool things like cameras, furniture, records and even taxidermy. It’s a hipster’s dream, but my roommate’s nightmare – I can’t wait to see how all of that cool new stuff, aka someone else’s junk, is going to fit into our apartment.

Vogue Theatre 8 pm $59.50

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Because my parents were folk lovers, I grew up to Joan Baez. My dad would sing me her songs as lullabies when I was a wee little child. When I was a crying, pooping child, it was either “Oh Darling” by the Beatles, or anything by Joan Baez. I would love to go to this, but with my history with Joan Baez songs, I would probably start snoring half way through the first song.

The Imperial 9 pm $16

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Shakey Graves is a singer from Texas, and in my completely objective and journalistic opinion, it’s simply the best thing to come out of the biggest state in the US. His album Roll Your Bones was my soundtrack to my toothless summer of 2013. He will always be fondly remembered as the music that was playing while I made an plethora of bad blow job jokes to. So see him here, where is playing tunes from his new album…And the War Came.

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past guy I dated broke up with me because I didn’t want a traditional marriage where he would be the breadwinner and I would stay home with the kids,” explains Shannon Elliott, “He wanted to have several kids — that was his goal in life. Whenever I would tell him about what I wanted for the future, it was like ‘oh yeah, I want to travel, and I want to live abroad and have an art career and see the world and not really be tied down by children,’ he would always get really quiet and weird about it.” Elliott is explaining a scenario that is becoming commonplace among many within the millennial generation, especially women. People are getting married later on in life, if even at all. For the first time in known history, single people outnumber their married counterparts. According to a Pew Research survey, the millennial generation is the slowest to marry, with only 26 per cent of them deciding to take the vows. Comparatively, when other generations were in the same age bracket of 18 to 32, 36 per cent of Generation X, 48 per cent of the Baby Boomers, and 65 per cent of the Silent Generation were married. Statistics Canada also recorded this trend in their 2011 Census. “Among the population that was never married, there was a large increase in the proportions for those in their twenties and thirties in 2011 compared to 1981. For young adults aged 25 to 29, the proportion who were never married rose from about one-quarter of this population (26 per cent) in 1981 to close to three-quarters (73.1 per cent) in 2011,” read the report. Even though Facebook feeds may beg to differ, showcasing bridesmaids in matching floral gowns, marriage has become the anomaly .

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While millennials are hard to define and it’s unknown exactly when the generation began, David Amos, a marketing professor at Capilano University, describes them as “the group or cohort that sits between generation Z and generation X and is sort of like the baby boom echo.” He attests that they range in age from about 19 to 32, meaning that the first millennials were born in the early 1980s. One factor that affected their childhood was the divorce rate, and many millennial children were the products of broken homes or asymmetric parenting. “I won’t pretend to be an expert but the research, as I understand, it definitely says that if you’re a child of divorced parents, your own likelihood of divorce is higher, and you’re likelihood of living common law is higher too,” explains CapU Sociology Professor, Graham Cook, “We could say that this might be a negative thing if we feel like this is people who are somehow putting less store in relationships or more willing to break up rather than see out problems in the relationship — so that’s one interpretation. But again the

"The more successful you are the less likely you are to divorce or separate. As careers even out again, if both partners are in senior management or the high level, maybe they will be more likely to stay together."

flip side interpretation would be, well maybe it’s a good thing that people who find that they can’t live together in a useful kind of way, in a productive way, in a loving relationship, that maybe it’s a good thing that our society allows them to break up and find their own lives.” Before 1970, it was difficult to get a divorce in Canada. New legislation was implemented in the early 70s, which allowed no fault divorce – meaning marriages could dissolve merely because they fell out of love, not just because of abuse or infidelity. This caused a sudden jump in the divorce rate, which sparked a small trend of its own – middle-aged people learning how to date again. “If you look at something that started in the

70s and never happened before – divorced single people were on the market and that was a relatively new phenomenon, because those were the group that had gotten married a bit earlier, and they had to learn how to be single again, and as you approach middle age, they’re certainly more mature,” says Amos. With people choosing to marry later and for reasons more than just financial necessity, the survival rate for marriages is increasing. “The more successful you are the less likely you are to divorce or separate. As careers even out again, if both partners are in senior management or the high level, maybe they will be more likely to stay together. I’m sure sociologist will be studying this one for a while,” says Amos.

ON the Cover

“Following the Second World War, people weren’t getting married, they weren’t getting into long term relationships or having children in the dark period of the Depression and the Second World War because there were no aspirations, there were no possibility of looking into the future and saying things are going to be positive. The end of the war, things turn around completely, and service men coming home, and they have lots of babies in their families because they feel like the future is going to be better than it is today,” explains Cook, “Any time you have a big crisis like that, you do see this entrenchment and people being concerned about the future, and they’re less likely to do all sorts of thing: less likely to get married, less likely to buy a house.” The millennial generation are more skeptical of many of the societal structures that guided other eras, and place little faith in the current economy. This causes people to postpone the happily ever after, even though the economy is recovering slowly from the financial turbulence of 2008. “I think the long-term perspectives for economic growth are pretty stagnant in developed economies for the next few years anyway, and who knows how much further. We’re in a situation now where the centre of gravity for the world economy has moved away from the North

married more as a strategic alliance. Traditionally, women took care of the home and the man in exchange for a share of his wealth. But with the increased education of women and more ladies entering the workforce, women are becoming more independent and thus can afford to be more choosey as to who they spend their life with. “If we go back to 1970s or even 1980, you have a situation where the gender wage gap is bigger and there were few employment opportunities for women. They tended not to have as high levels of education as men did, and all of those things meant that women didn’t have the same opportunity for economic independence,” says Cook, “For all of these reasons, there was a dependency relationship in heterosexual relationships where many women felt — obviously they’d have romance and connection with men — but there was an economic need to have the formalization of the relationship.” Amos echoes this sentiment, and believes that women are becoming more independent and making waves in the job market as well. “Marketers are trying to understand millennials and this new order of society with women becoming more and more prominent in either the C-Suite, which is senior management, or just advancing, so that’s something that is happening,” explains

“Women are postponing marriage as well because they are trying to get their career established. Before, it was do what the guy was doing and the women would follow and now it’s a bit more complicated."

In 2008, the marriage rates in Canada stooped to the lowest they had ever been at 4.4 per every 1,000. That’s under half of what they were in 1972 at 9.2. But what’s interesting is that the marriage rate in 1932, in the heart of the Great Depression, was a mere 5.2 per 1,000 – alarmingly low for the societal standards at the time – proving one important thing: people don’t get married in times of economic turmoil.

SADIE HAWKINS' CHOICE While marriage rates have fluxed with the ebbs and flows of the economy for decades, there is another factor that is leading to the depression in marriage rates that is unique to our era: the levelling of gender roles. For centuries, marriage was fundamental to women, as it was often their livelihood. Using a blanket generalization, rather than marrying for love and romance, women

Amos, “Women are postponing marriage as well because they are trying to get their career established. Before, it was do what the guy was doing and the women would follow and now it’s a bit more complicated. Women want to get established as well.” Both Amos and Cook note that women are becoming more educated, more invested in their futures and more outspoken about following their ambitions. When asked if she would prefer a career or a successful marriage, Elliott answers without hesitation: “Career. Definitely. I feel that if you’re happy with yourself, with what you’ve achieved in life, it will be easier to find love. And if I did have a great husband, I don’t think I would be happy just being a wife or a stay at home mom because I wouldn’t feel fulfilled in my life.” “If we look at the millennial generation, first of all, women are the majority of undergraduates in Canadian universities, majority in law schools and medical schools. In some cases, that does mean that in theory, employment opportunities are much more level,” says Cook. And as Amos explains: “Men are falling behind in general, women are advancing. Scores for men in school are not achieving as high marks as women and this starts in high school. So it’s a levelling or evening of the playing fields. I just think women are more empowered and have more freedom to make decisions.”

Elliott is a perfect example of this new phenomenon. At 26, she is at an age where there used to be a lot of social pressure to get married and start a family. In lieu of marriage, she is pursuing a career, friendships and travel, and she is not alone in her decisions. “Most of my female friends are still single and most of them are still working on their careers at this point. I think a lot of us are either just finishing school or starting new careers and just trying to figure it out,” she says. And because she holds a full time communications position and freelances artwork on the side, Elliott has two streams of income, which allows her the luxury of not marrying for economic purposes. Along with the rise in female independence, another trend has risen – middle age women are crafting their lives without men in them at all. “There was that phenomenon about five or six years ago of women who were 38 to 48 who came to the realization that they would never get married – they probably would never get married – it just doesn’t seem to be happening. And you know, they make life choices from that,” Amos mentions, “I have a lot of female friends out there who are approaching middle age who are not married. I think they’ve been in a relationship with somebody, but they are single out there right now, and they’ve built lives without men. That’s what it’s come to. I won’t say that they’ve given up, but they’ve come to this realization that this is the way it’s going to be and they’ve built their life around that they are going to be by themselves, but they are enjoying life as much as they can.” This is a new market segmented of wealthy, educated and driven women, but it’s proof supporting the idea that a decline in marriage rates isn’t a passing fad. The millennial generation, more than any of its predecessors, are revolting against societal norms. Never has it been so ubiquitous to have multiple long-term relationships before finding “the one.” Never before has a generation put so little trust in institutions like the church and government, and never before have so many women had the choice to marry for love and not for economic needs. But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t looking for love – just one that compliments their goals, and doesn’t hinder them. “I would still want to see someone exclusively, eventually. I don’t think that’s changed with people – they still want exclusivity with the person they are seeing but you’re dating someone for the person themselves, not for a sense of security or money or for society’s norms, which is nice,” says Elliott, “I’m definitely open to relationships but it has to be with the right person. It would have to be with somebody else who is going in the same direction and wants the same things.”

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American, Western Europe at least a little bit so the growth isn’t really taking place here,” Cook continues, “There is also a kind of a cultural parallel thing to that, where increasingly, especially younger people, are starting to look for a life that is not purely materialistic and kind of looking for human connection and all that sort of thing in ways that aren’t purely measurable in terms of economic growth and in terms of the environmental crisis we’re facing, that’s going to be forced on us whether we want it or not. So all those sorts of things are working in favour of, or are working against the economic causes that would bring more people together in big families.”

megAN ColliNsoN Megan Collinson is a recent graduate of Capilano University's IDEA Program. She's a tall illustrator living in Canada. She's hard to spot and is said to be the last of her kind. Wait, that's the Sasquatch.

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BY KEVIN KAPENDA

Single-gender activism is not a recent trend in North America. Feminism and the push for women’s equality, has been going on across our continent since the early 20th century. Joining feminism today is a more recent single-gender movement, called “men’s rights”, which advocates for advancement of male specific issues. To raise awareness and identify supporters, men’s rights activists have been employing various types of new media to spread their message. However, critics of their movement, who are often but not always associated with women’s rights, argue that the majority men’s rights activists are more focused on anti-feminist libel, then findings ways to solve important male issues. "Though the men’s rights cause is multi-faceted and complex, activists claim that the movement’s efforts are mainly focused on three specific categories: adult male issues, father rights and boys’ issues. Men’s rights activist, RK Hendricks, explains that the movement is loosely divided into three sections because some issues affect those stages of life differently than others." “There are many issues related to men that are being ignored by the mainstream media. Issues like why our boys are being left behind in our education system or why suicide rates among men are four times higher than those of women,” explains Hendricks. However, at the end of the day, men’s rights are about exposing the various issues and injustices that are specific to men, and ignored by a society that is bias to women. “Our media, governments and universities are so antimale that there are a lot of issues that [society] cannot talk about. For example, divorce is initiated by women about 70 per cent of the time, and men are four times more likely to commit suicide than women,” argues Hendricks. “Every October, the media participates in Breast Cancer

month, which is great. However, just as many men die from prostate cancer as women do from breast cancer. Yet breast cancer is funded at seven times the rate that prostate cancer is. Why aren’t we talking about prostate cancer the same way we are talking about breast cancer?” While some social movements attract only certain types of individuals, supporters of men’s rights groups appear to be as diverse as the issues they talk about. Hendricks states that the discussion groups he oversees are very diverse because the policies that men’s rights are advocating for affect every male in the developed world, regardless of their race, nationality or age. “What I find fascinating about men’s rights is that feminists have unintentionally united men from all backgrounds and age groups because men are collectively fed up with their anti-male bigotry.” Hendricks also goes on to say that the only time he’s ever seen certain groups or cultures agree with each other is through men’s rights activism. “This movement has even allowed different groups who usually don’t agree with each other to come together and discuss men’s rights, because they too have had enough of the anti-male feminist agenda. I know Muslims and Israelis in the Middle East who are working together to promote men’s rights issues, which is amazing." "To raise awareness, men’s rights groups are using various forms of new media to identify and educate supporters." Popular community news and forum site, Reddit.com, has a prominent men’s rights page with roughly 100,000 readers who actively share information and publish news related to the movement. Hendricks operates multiple Facebook groups and pages based in different countries, including Canada, Australia and the UK, that circulate information on anything related to men’s rights, such as university studies, gov-

ernment statistics, and news stories. “On social media, our movement has over 65, 000 connections all over the globe and growing. We want to give straightforward fathers, and boys a forum to discuss these issues”, says Hendricks. He also believes that social platforms are critical to the movement because the mainstream media often snubs men’s issues. “Feminist misandry has already taken over the media. Our Facebook page gives us a place to spread facts that are ignored." Feminist activists argue that the men’s rights movement has negatively impacted their causes because it’s steeped in patriarchy and backlash. Taylor Smith, Women's Liason Coordinator of the Capilano Students Union (CSU) believes that there has to be a discussion around men’s issues on campus, such as “emotional constipation” among men in North America. “If [men’s rights] was actually about helping men, and getting men to discuss issues like not being able to be emotional and always having to look tough, I’d support men’s rights,” says Smith. However, she argues that the majority of men’s rights activism she has been exposed to is misogynist and focused on rejecting the message of feminists. “Most of the [men’s rights activism] I’ve been exposed to only bashes women and feminist organisations.” Laura Track of the Vancouver Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) concurs with Smith saying that men’s rights activism usually involves more backlash and less discussion about male issues. “Patriarchy tells men to behave in certain ways that are harmful to themselves and women, such as not being able to express emotions other than anger. The men’s rights movement represents a backlash against feminism and women who are getting into positions of power that they were not traditionally in. Our inclusion in the workforce and other positions of power provokes backlash,” explains Track. While disdain for men’s rights amongst feminists is clear, support or disapproval for the

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movement among women in general is surprisingly a little less evident. "Because men’s rights seek to advance male issues that are ignored, Hendricks claims that many women are joining the online movement despite widespread condemnation from many feminist groups." Hendricks explains that support amongst females is surging because almost all women have men in their life they want to see succeed and be treated fairly by a society that is increasingly biased against males. “They’re mothers, sisters, cousins and wives to men out there. They aren’t doing it because they hate women. They are also fed up with the propaganda and mistruths expressed by feminists.” Though there is very little research available as to why “men’s rights” is starting to gain popularity, Capilano University Gender Studies Professor Devon Greyson believes that feat and misconceptions about feminism is what is fuelling the movement. "The men's rights movement is generally understood to be a backlash to feminism," explains Greyson. He believes that men’s rights continue to become more and more relevant, because awareness of women’s issues continues to grow as well. “I think “men’s rights” activism is largely driven by fear: fear of change, the unknown, and fear of loss of power. Historically, “men’s rights” groups organized to prevent women’s emancipation—by which I mean ability to divorce, access to education, respected careers outside the home, etc. However, the prominence of these views has grown since the 1970s, as women’s rights have advanced since then as well,” he says. Though Greyson agrees that some aspects of the movement are misogynist, she also argues that “men’s rights” is too broad to be labelled as sexist. “While some individuals and groups within the movement are unarguably misogynist, there is diversity within the movement itself. Just as there is no one “feminism” there is no single and unified “men’s movement.” While groups that usually oppose feminism are characterized as ignorant and sexist, Hendricks believes that men’s rights activists are often labelled as patriarchal and backwards to silence their message. “We’re not backwards. We’re actually 20 years ahead. Understand the fallacy that exists here; if you sabotage the messenger or paint them to be savage or immoral, you shut down the message. Feminists want to shut us down, by attacking us.” says Hendricks. He argues that men’s rights activists want people to understand that their movement is about promoting equality amongst both sexes, and discrediting the false tales of inequality that are being perpetuated by our feminist culture. “We are pro-species and pro-equality. We are not male supremacists. We want to expose the many circumstances in which men are not equal to women.” Though mutual disdain between feminists and men’s rights activists is clear, Hendricks believes that his camp is at disadvantage because women’s rights is much more established and powerful than his own. “We’re underdogs in this thing. They have politicians, universities and the media who are perfectly okay with spewing their anti-male agenda, but refuse to talk about men’s issues,” says Hendricks. If men’s issues are something that concerns you, it may be worth your while to check out some of the movement’s solutions to many of the problems facing men today in our society. Theboysinitiative.org is a non-profit that focuses on issues related to boys and one of the men’s rights movement’s main sources’ of researched material. Sites like Reddit.com and Facebook.com are also great for connecting with organizers and discussing men’s rights. Just make sure you separate fact from rhetoric when using social media to explore men’s rights issues.

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opinions

GABRIEL SCORGIE OPINIONS EDITOR

OPINIONS@CAPILANOCOURIER.COM

ABC's of education SCHOOLS ARE TRYING TO FIX WHAT ISN'T BROKEN Keara Farnan

tions. According to Time.com, cursive writing helps children improve their fine motor skills, and writing out information in long-form helps generate more ideas. Further studies conducted by Time.com have also shown that students who are able to cursively write tend to score better on reading and spelling tests as it helps the student think of words as wholes instead of parts. In elementary school, students have just transitioned from preschool into a proper learning environment where they’re expected to learn new skills each day. If teachers do not × Vivian Liu properly educate elementary school students by teaching them how to write, spell, sign their School districts throughout BC and the US are signature or solve simple math questions, how abandoning their traditional educational cur- are they supposed to survive in high school or riculum by no longer teaching cursive writing, the real world? "We're really trying to work aspects of spelling, or multiplication tables. on self-regulation, that is, getting children to Handwriting, spelling and multiplication ta- develop their own strategies for becoming good bles have been a part of the school system for spellers," said a school district leader of Miseons. By exempting them from the academic souri. However, this school district leader is curriculum, students may fail to be able to forgetting that children need to be guided and read, write, spell or solve simple math ques- supported when they first enter school. × Writer

As mentioned by Maria Konnika in a New York Times article, “Those who suffer from learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, suffer from a brain injury which hinders their ability to write and understand what they read.” Fortunately, students with dyslexia are able to understand cursive aspects of writing as research has shown that cursive writing acts as a teaching aid for those with learning disabilities. However, by taking away cursive writing, students with disabilities may have even more trouble understanding the required learning material, resulting in further frustration. Even though aspects of spelling, math, handwriting and cursive writing are all very arduous subjects to teach, they should not be eliminated from the education system. Incorporating elements of spelling, cursive writing and multiplication are not an easy task for any teacher, as these subjects require much time and patience. However, by eliminating these key aspects from the education system, student learning will only suffer further, resulting in failing grades and complaints from parents. Parents are the ones

who look after their children’s education; they want to see their children succeed, not fall on their faces because the school is trying an unproven method of teaching. According to Desotocountryform.com, students are failing academically because schools have instructed teachers to teach their own curriculum instead of what is required for each grade level. Instead of choosing to take an initiative for student’s learning, teachers are resorting to the Internet or using memorize-and-test worksheets that fail to properly engage their students. Leaving out fundamental elements of learning doesn’t help anybody. If schools continue to try and exempt certain academic subjects from their curriculum they will only be causing controversy within their communities and harming the education of their students. It’s great that teachers want to students to be more proactive about their own learning and develop their own learning strategies, but they should not force this upon elementary school students. Those involved in the education system should be aware that elementary school students have just transitioned from preschool into public school and are just beginning to get used homework and sitting in a small classroom from 8 am to 3 pm each day.

Generation WUSS ONLY POSITIVE FEEDBACK ALLOWED Faye Alexander

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× Features Editor

Bret Easton Ellis is an American author who some might argue became the narrative behind the woes of Generation X. Much of his work focuses on the wealthy and narcissistic 20-somethings of the 1980s, beginning with his successful 1985 debut, Less Than Zero and the major success of his satirical tour de force American Psycho. Ellis holds an affinity for painting portraits of the entitled and hopeless lives of the beautiful and wealthy – as a matter of fact, it’s hard to get through an Ellis novel without the mention of a hefty line of cocaine. Although as a contemporary novelist, Ellis has become a unique voice that has helped in uncovering the materialistic excesses of his trustfund generation, and he has now set his sights on today’s millennials and has appropriately dubbed them “Generation Wuss”. Ellis has placed youth in his cross-hairs. According to him, millennials are oversensitive, self-obsessed and relatively stupid. “My huge generalities touch on their over-sensitivity, their insistence that they are right despite the overwhelming proof that suggests they are not, their lack of placing things within context, the overreacting, the passive-aggressive positivity and, of course, all of this exacerbated by the meds they’ve been fed since childhood by over protective ‘helicopter’ parents mapping their every move,” explained Ellis in his 2,000 word essay for Vanity Fair titled “Millennial: Generation Wuss.” Ellis has no qualms with venting his frustration when it comes to anyone who falls into the millennial category, freely voicing his social findings in interviews with Vice UK, and further spouting his opinion via Twitter and social media. “What we have is a generation who are super confident and super positive about things, but when the least bit of darkness enters their lives, they’re paralyzed,” said Ellis in an interview with Vice. Ellis is a unique sort of modern anthropologist studying the millennial generation through

the guise of a writer. Millennials are quickly shifting the design of businesses and social structures. Millennials were raised on smartphones, instant answers, social media platforms and non-stop connectivity which has become the norm for the first time in our history. “’Millennials’ need for interaction can also manifest in a need for constant performance assessments, with 80 per cent of this demographic wanting regular feedback from their managers. And for a generation used to receiving trophies win or lose, negative criticism can be hard to take,” said Joel Capparella in his article “Why Millennials are Immature, Entitled and the Best Hire” for Entrepreneur Magazine. Now with online culture quickly absorbing and becoming intertwined with our culture offline, Millennials are born with an instant soapbox to stand on. “When Generation Wuss

"When Generation Wuss creates something they have so many outlets to display it that it often goes out into the world unfettered, unedited, posted everywhere" creates something they have so many outlets to display it that it often goes out into the world unfettered, unedited, posted everywhere, and because of this freedom a lot of the content displayed is rushed and kind of shitty and that’s ok – it just the nature of the world now – but when Millennials are criticized for this content they seem to collapse into a shame spiral and the person criticizing them is automatically labeled a hater, a contrarian, a troll," explained Ellis. However, it is not just the fact that constant Wi-Fi access has made a lasting impact, for Ellis most of the blame rests on the parents who offered gold stars, medals and acknowledgement just for showing up. Ellis is critical of Millennials for their need to be liked, from Facebook to personal brands, creating a new type of social anxiety. By Ellis’ accounts, Millennials are only wired to be admired, negativity is the biggest enemy and that

× Ksenia Kozhevnikova limits our social discourse. Websites like eBay and Buzzfeed have made pledges to no longer post negative content – the new generation is systematically shutting down criticism in place of pushing a small ‘thumbs up’ icon. “If there doesn’t seem to be an economic way of elevating yourself then the currency of popularity is just the norm now and so this is why you want to have thousands of thousands of people liking you on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr – and you are trying desperately to be liked,” said Ellis. And so we have a generation of wusses, hell bent on likes and positive comments and tossing new terms around like “cyber bullying”.

Plagued by narcissism, foolishness and neurosis, millennials were brought up in a new age with new challenges. It’s about being politically correct and polite; it’s about finding a way to be neutral but with enough flair to garner a massive social media following. A college degree is now the career equivalent of what a high school diploma used to be. The era of instant gratification has led to a decrease in how we handle upsetting situations, allow for ambiguity, and learn to navigate the normal life circumstances of breakups, bad grades, and layoffs. Without the tools to deal with problems, and all this pressure to be liked, it’s no wonder we’re just a bunch of wusses.

opinions

misguided millennials BIG BUSINESS WILL NEVER BE SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE Gurpreet Kambo × Writer

× Guillem Rovira

Even though the longstanding dominance of baby boomers has yet to subside, millennials are finally coming to an age where they’re beginning to make their mark on society. They’re approaching the age where one leaves the more ‘frivolous’ youthful pursuits behind and begins to wonder about the lasting impact they’ll have on the world. As a result, millennials have overwhelmingly decided that they want companies to be more socially responsible and play a role in solving environmental issues. Some millennials appear to have created a ‘triple bottom line’ strategy for businesses to follow, which is: people, profit, and planet. And while the focus on greater social responsibility by millennials is commendable, their efforts are misguided. Their worry comes from a concern for the environment and for society. The problem here is that ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ as an idea is one that goes against the very concept of large corporations and the reason for their existence. Corporations are responsible to their shareholders who own those shares as a way of making money if the company does well. Corporations, theoretically can act as agents of social change, however their primary purpose above all else must be to produce profit as dividends for shareholders. In essence, the ‘people

and planet’ portion of the motto are sort of like the leather seats and high-end sound system on a new car - nice, but extraneous and ultimately useless if the car can’t effectively get you where you want to go. Western society today is highly materialistic and fickle - note how Apple produces a brand new iPhone every year, huge crowds line up and Apple makes record sales every year. One can appreciate that some companies strive to ensure the products they produce are environmentally

and socially responsible. However, these companies are still required to ensure year over year ‘growth’ - meaning convincing you to buy things you don’t need. Apple is also the perfect example for this, as they have long been accused of engaging in the ‘planned obsolescence’ of their products as a method of pushing you to upgrade to the newest model sooner. What this boils down to is that while the notion of millennials and multi-national corporations being concerned about social responsibility is somewhat commendable, it is a red herring. Automotive companies dismantled public transit systems and destroyed the electric car, as documented in the film Who Killed the Electric Car? Manufacturing continues to move overseas, where thirdworld countries hesitate to implement labour or environmental standards due to the well-founded fear that the companies will pack up and move to other countries even more desperate for jobs. Or perhaps the most ironic example, a few years ago Nestle was advertising the ‘Eco-Shape’ bottled water that used 30 per cent less plastic, ignoring that tap water is free and uses no plastic. These companies have merely adapted their marketing to suit millennial social concerns as a way of further indoctrinating consumer culture. Of course, previous generations of youth were not merely idle when it came to being socially and environmentally concerned. The radicalized youth of the 60s and 70s were very active in ending racial segregation, the Viet-

nam War, impeaching Nixon and questioning women’s subservient place in society. Perhaps in those times, the right and wrong was simpler to distinguish. Still, millennials today should seek inspiration from the youth in those days, they should shake and boil with rage that First Nations continue to be mistreated by the government and continue to live in third world conditions on many reserve; that in Ferguson and across America, young black men continue to get shot and killed by police without cause; that over 60 women from the Downtown Eastside have gone missing or been murdered since 1980 and around 30 on BC’s Highway 16, aka, the Highway of Tears. Environmental scientists such as David Suzuki predict that we are rapidly approaching the point of no return when it comes to maintaining a sustainable Earth. Humanity is nearing the edge and corporate social responsibility is not going to save it. There’s an 18-year-old man, George Khosi, who has been in the news lately because he pinned himself under a Kinder Morgan truck on Burnaby Mountain to protest the pipeline being put in. He mentions two key points that he is opposed to the pipeline due to the environmental risks they pose, and that the land is unceded First Nations territory upon which they neither they, nor the government have the right to destroy. As he demonstrates, as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and many others before demonstrated, meaningful social change is not the providence of big business and profit, but often the opposite of it. Millennials must take inspiration from these examples and demand change with their bodies, hearts and minds - not with their wallets.

lights, camera, no action CANCELLATION COSTS REALITY TV FAMILY THE SAFETY OF SURVEILLANCE Andy Rice × Managing Editor

× Cheryl Swan First of all, I’m pretty sure those kids’ wellbeing went out the window as soon as they signed their contracts. That’s how reality TV works. Shows like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo are one of the biggest forms of child exploitation out there. But there’s a grey area sometimes where having a bunch of cameras in your home might actually do more good than harm. In this case, with Mama June’s child molester ex-boyfriend fresh out of prison and suddenly hanging around the family home, having a production crew there working around the clock would be free surveillance at its finest. Security doesn’t get much tighter than that. The eyes of a nation, the pressure of network executives and the cruel comments of internet trolls would all be criticizing the family in their choice to allow him back into their home — especially if he got any air time whatsoever.

Speaking of choices, I’m really not too surprised Mama June gave McDaniel a second chance, considering the sordid details of her dating history. After doing a quick Google search, it appears as though she doesn’t know who the father is for half of her brood, and the remaining baby-daddies are all in various stages of incarceration for committing crimes of sexual and/or violent nature. Ultimately, it’s been Sugar Bear, the father of her youngest child, Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson, who has stepped up to provide for the three others. His past is pretty dodgy too though. In 1998, he served time for cheque fraud and once he lit someone on fire after robbing them at a logging camp, according to the National Enquirer. I think that’s one of the most badass crimes I’ve ever heard of, from one of the most trustworthy news sources I’ve ever heard of.

T H E C A P I L A N O C O U R I E R . VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 10

For the better part of two years, TLC’s flagship redneck reality show, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo was a fixture of my weekly trash TV regimen. The gassy Shirley Temple wannabe and her chinfinite mother, June, were impossible not to watch. Food fights, furniture bonfires and family farting competitions were a frequent occurrence, and with every new episode came a veritable cornucopia of questionable subject matter ranging from child beauty pageants to aromatic bowel movements. Spaghetti and butter was a regular meal at the dinner table, and it wasn’t uncommon to see someone snacking on something that came from either their nose or the couch they were sitting on. Love them or hate them, this blended family from McIntyre, Georgia was comfortable in their own skin and proud to show it off for the right price — not unlike many reality stars that came before them. But recently, the show’s light-hearted plot began to thicken. In September, Mama June and husband Mike “Sugar Bear” Thompson announced their separation, hoping to “figure out some things” in their relationship. Just a few weeks later, TLC abruptly pulled the plug on the series after learning that Mark McDaniel, one of Mama June’s former flings — a child molester who spent 10 years in prison for sexually abusing her eldest daughter — might have returned from the slammer to take his place. “TLC has cancelled the series Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and ended all activities around the series, effective immediately,” read a statement from the network. “Supporting the health and welfare of these remarkable children is our only priority. TLC is faithfully committed to the children’s ongoing comfort and well-being.”

Throughout the entire run of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, the producers frequently poked fun at the family’s slovenly lifestyle, but never once did they glorify any criminal activity or bad choices made by its members. Instead, they found and accentuated every ounce of role model potential these people possessed — which was a surprising amount, all things considered. In between vignettes involving coupon-cutting and competitive eating, people saw a simple man taking care of his wife, raising her children as his own, and living a clean, crime-free lifestyle. People saw a family accepting their gay, HIVpositive uncle in an area of the US that hasn’t always been the most tolerant when it comes to homosexuality. And, without knowing it, people saw a victim of past abuse making responsible choices that defied the damage of her traumatic past. Daughter Anna, now 20, recently confirmed she was the target of McDaniel’s advances twelve years ago. Today, she’s married and has a child of her own, who she’s been raising away from her inmate-humping mother right from the get-go. As far as I’m concerned, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo was taken off the air because TLC is either too afraid of bad press or too lazy to bother trick-editing yet another convict out of Mama June’s life. However, their most responsible solution shouldn’t have involved editing or public relations at all, but rather in blasting this guy’s face all over network TV, making him so recognizable that even an eight-year-old would know what’s up. It would certainly be harder for him to re-offend under such conditions. But instead, the network has taken the easy way out by removing not only the family’s main source of job security, but their personal security as well — and that’s a boo-boo, honey.

columns

LEAH SCHEITEL COLUMNS EDITOR

EDITOR@CAPILANOCOURIER.COM

finding the goods QUALITY REIGNS SUPREME AT THE OLD FAITHFUL SHOP Ciana Bourrel × Columnist

Born and raised in small town, Grand Forks, BC, Cianda spent most of her youth surrounded by the great outdoors. She moved to Vancouver at the age of 18 to adventure and experience the city. She now resides in Chinatown, where the fruit is cheap and the alleys smell like piss. If you have haven’t been to the Old Faithful Shop, you’d better get on your way. Stocking quality goods and nothing but, Walter Manning and Stephanie Olsen opened a shop that Vancouver needed. At this point, many millennials have discovered the term “quality over quantity” and are embracing it more than ever. Old Faithful is all about this, and if this generation is too, Old Faithful may be the place to shop. The modern day general store was certainly something that Vancouver was lacking; it seemed to be all about the new and improved, or the upscale and over-priced. Manning himself comes from some rich family history of general stores. “Both my mother’s mother and my father’s father owned general stores in outports in Newfoundland. My great grandfathers on both sides of the family owned general stores as well. These stores provided the community with goods and services and re-

Canadiana

ally stood out as hubs of activity with people coming for more than their general needs. I spent my summers kicking around the back room absorbing the vibrant energy that these places contained,” he explains. At some point he realized that he could continue this tradition and create a general store of his own. Together, Manning and Olsen filled a gap in the market, shoving it full of quality goods, history and an unbelievable retail space. Located at 320 West Cordova St. in Gastown, the history of the neighbourhood is extremely well suited to the Old Faithful Shop history. “We were able to secure a space built in 1903 that had char-

"We were able to secure a space built in 1903 that had character and would lend itself perfectly to our overall shop concept." acter and would lend itself perfectly to our overall shop concept,” says Manning. The building is perfect in more than one way: décor, location and background. The fixtures and shelving stand out immensely; featuring beautiful product on beautiful shelving is how it should be. Manning and Olsen built many of the shelves and tables themselves, or discovered them at auctions and antique dealers. Manning mentions one in particular: “Our large cabinet was originally housed in a General Store in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in the late 1800’s. One of the drawers contains signatures by everyone who

has owned the cabinet throughout the years. It was a good feeling to pen my signature alongside all the others.” These small details are what make the store so unique, historic shelving and all. The product selection at the Old Faithful Shop is once again, all about the quality. The shop carries a variety of collections: books, kitchen, utility, bath, scent, pantry, garden, accessories, lighting and the “old faithfuls”. Not only do Manning and Olsen currently have a vast selection of goods, the two are always on the lookout for more. “We look for products that fit in with what we currently have. We also want to make sure that our collections have a full and well-rounded assortment of goods. Overall the product has to be well-made and fit to stand the test of time. We want our products to be a reliable part of someone’s daily life,” says Manning. The entrepreneur mentions a few of his favourite products to be the Faribault Woolen Mill Co.’s wool blanket, Makr’s leather goods and their own design of the OFS Task Lamp. The daily use of these well-made products could improve our lives in some aspects; it’s important to surround yourself with things that you love and can trust. The Old Faithful shop really resonates with you once you leave — the smell of cedar incense, the welcoming employees and the craftsmanship that went into each product. In this day and age, millennials aren’t the ones stuffing their houses full of crap that will last two weeks — it’s all about minimalism. “Our customers come from all walks of

BILINGUALISM + MULTILINGUALISM

Rosanna Hempel × Columnist

THE CAPILANO COURIER.

VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 10

Rosanna Hempel has worked and lived in nearly every province from coast to coast. Thanks to this, she has an intimate knowledge of Canada. Her column will explore how Canada measures up to other countries on different topics. It’s basically a report card for the entire country.

“Hi, Bonjour!” This is one of the most common ways you will be greeted in those uniquely bilingual bubbles along Canada’s ‘bilingual belt’, including Montreal and some regions of New Brunswick, Ontario and Manitoba. Having worked in the service industry in Quebec and New Brunswick, I can firmly say that the constant guesswork and backand-forth switching between French and English all in the span of one conversation, or even one sentence, is an altogether fascinating and mindboggling linguistic experience. Witnessing the co-existence of these languages is certainly uplifting in the face of an on-going national debate on official-bilingualism and multiculturalism that has spanned, well forever? Given Canada’s relatively lenient immigration policy, our country is home to many languages aside from English and French. In 2011, approximately 57 and 21 per cent of Canadians’ mother tongue was English and French, respectively. This leaves about 22 per cent who have another as their native language, where Punjabi, Chinese, Spanish, German, and Italian make up the next-largest language groups after Canada’s official languages. Aside from these, we are also home to many indig-

× Olliemoonsta enous languages unique within Canada’s borders including Cree, Inuktitut, and Ojibway. Most Canadians, around 85 per cent, are fluent in English, whereas only 30 per cent are capable of conversing in French. The average Canadian may assume that French Canadians are limited to the province of Quebec, which isn’t entirely unfounded since the majority of them are; however, it may come as a surprise that large populations of Francophones do live in New Brunswick, Ontario and Northern Ontario in particular, as well as Manitoba. But over the past few decades, the use of French in Canadian households decreased steadily, as opposed to English. Nowadays, a large proportion of French-Canadians are learning English, along with most immigrants. It’s no wonder some provinces, mainly Quebec, are enforcing strict language policies in an attempt to preserve this important aspect of their cultural identity. The Western provinces of Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia report the lowest rates of French use. Given their geographical distance from more Francophone areas and the

influence of new immigrants, the idea of English-French bilingualism may appear far-fetched. This debate has persisted well before and since the 1960s Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, which was influential in the creation of the Official Languages Act of 1969 and in establishing the Canadian government’s emphasis on multiculturalism. But where does this leave us now? Many wonder whether English-French bilingualism is still relevant today. Polls suggest most Canadians do think it is, with many agreeing that it offers a competitive edge in the job market, while also respecting Canada’s cultural roots. However, that being said, many Canadians also firmly support the development of educational opportunities for learning other major world languages or ones relevant to their particular regions in Canada, such as Chinese languages in BC. They suggest our education systems take on a more European Union style of second language programs, where curriculums generally support the study of two additional languages. The demand for more mul-

× James Saville life, but ideally they care about the products they surround themselves with. They would rather pay a little more and purchase a product that will be with them for years to come. Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten,” says Manning. Well-made products are investments sometimes, but in the end they do make us much happier to wake up to each morning. The Old Faithful Shop is one of the few gems in Vancouver, a general store that is owned and operated by people who know what is important in our day-to-day life. “Everything we do is done from the heart and I think that resonates with people,” says Manning. Yes it does — I was there over a week ago and still can’t shake that feel good feeling.

tilingual programs along with French immersion programs is increasing. If anything, this question is relevant given last week’s announcement outlining the government’s 2015 immigration plan set to allow as many as 285,000 new permanent residents in Canada, up 20,000 from last year. Bilingualism and multiculturalism continue to resonate with many Canadians and immigrants seeing as it’s an expression of diversity and tolerance or a way that the different cultures of this country’s peoples can co-exist on some level. Although Canadian history is speckled with imperfections and injustices on this front, we currently maintain a generally positive reputation abroad and many agree that this aspect plays a significant role in shaping our ‘Canadian national identity.’ With our non-official language groups growing every year, to what degree will the importance of our founding languages preside over those who we welcome as new permanent residents? In making up over one fifth of our population, there is no doubt they are also helping to shape modern Canada. Since we are so eager to welcome new permanent residents, how do we balance preserving more rooted cultures and welcoming ‘new’ ones? Both English and French maintain their importance in this country and are capable of coexisting, although others are certainly gaining ground. Whether this will jeopardize Canada’s use of French is yet to unfold. Our French-English bilingualism policy is expensive, although this reality, along with Canada’s multilingual appeal, certainly also supports our economic development through tourism and trade. According to the German writer Goethe, “those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.” Canada’s FrenchEnglish bilingualism policy is perhaps then already lending us greater cultural and linguistic awareness, something that is worth remembering.

columns

the mediator

While these services dealt with particulars – the kind that claim to use sophisticated algorithms to match you with your perfect, ideal lover – Tinder makes no claim to such mathematical matchmaking. Instead, Tinder and others opt for a visceral, intuitive approach. In a recent New York Times profile, Sean Rad,

LOVE SWIPE

Ben Bengtson

"When was the last time you walked into a bar and someone said, ‘Excuse me, can you fill out this form and we’ll match you up with people here?’"

× Columnist Ben Bengtson is interested in all things media, but mostly how corporations are a part of our modern media way of life. Through his column, The Mediator, Ben will explore what aspects of media are thriving while others are decaying to change. His favourite movie is Dazed and Confused, and we think that's pretty cool. While at a bar with a friend last year, I became more aware of the state of modern romance. All evening, my friend kept viciously attacking his iPhone, his fingers stabbing, stroking and swiping the screen like a conductor in the midst of performance. Eventually I might have asked him, “What’s that?” to which he probably replied: “Tinder”. My buddy’s fervent swiping of his iPhone wasn’t actually a flamboyant tick of the wrist, but in fact the physical gesture that accompanies one of the app era’s most successful and divisive products. Tinder has only been around for two years, but it already feels like a natural part of the culture, something that’s always been here and always will be. Tinder is the most successful matchmaking mobile app, and it boasts impressive stats to back that up, such as matching 13 million accounts through its service every day. For many, online dating apps have been a romantic saviour. Who among us doesn’t know at

× Brendan Walsh least one person who’s found their current boyfriend or girlfriend using one? These days though, Tinder can look more like an outlet for the participants of hookup culture, and for those who want to participate, to meet their matches. Tinder has been criticized for a lack of depth in its platform and the shallowness of its appearancebased matchmaking. And dating apps appear to represent two (supposed) truths about millennials: our ability to harness technology in order to achieve our goals, sexual or otherwise, as well as exposing the superficiality that encourages older folk to decry our generation as “empty.” There is certainly the specter of shallowness present in the recent stream of dating apps, but at least we come at this so-called shallowness honestly. Is anyone actually pretending there isn’t a superficial quality to these fast-paced, appearance-based applications? Everyone can remember a time – a time that feels like it was eons ago – when services like OKCupid, Match.com and eHarmony promised cohesion, connection and instant attraction.

co-founder and chief executive at Tinder, said “When was the last time you walked into a bar and someone said, ‘Excuse me, can you fill out this form and we’ll match you up with people here?’” His assertion that this kind of matchmaking is archaic is spot on. On Tinder, you don’t fill out questionnaires about yourself, there is no vague attempt made by the platform to understand who you are and what you’re about. You simply upload a couple photos of yourself from your Facebook account, and you’re ready to start matchmaking. This sentiment is simple and easy – very conducive to today’s modern dating scene that emphasizes quick meet-ups, random encounters, and spontaneity. Rad and his team’s contention is that a user can actually tell a lot more about someone else through a photo than we originally believed. Tinder executives appear to be hinting at something deep here, as if to suggest that a user can almost “sense” who they’d be well-suited to by looking at a picture. I find this idea rather reductive, and it would seem obvious to me that Tinder’s appearance-based matchmaking only serves

to connect users based on their mutual physical attraction. This isn’t to say that only the attractive will find connections on these dating apps. In fact, men and women alike use them for all kinds of purposes. A recent Rolling Stone profile on Tinder’s hookup-factory suggested that women, for example, might be more likely in some cases to swipe left on modelesque pictures of men, considering these images “inauthentic” or “hardened”. Men also can be surprisingly choosy on a dating app, but are still up to three times more likely to swipe right on a user’s profile. Much like the hardware (smartphones!) that allows applications like Tinder to exist – with their emphasis on clean lines, smooth interfaces, and aesthetics – modern dating apps exist in harmony with this technology. Tinder might be scary to an older generation of hardened cynics because it works so seamlessly as to almost take all notion of romance out of the equation. That’s not an invalid point, but more than anything the relative ease by which Tinder functions is largely a result of the mastery of technology that millennials appear to possess. Tinder is fluid, beautiful and easy because it has to be; millennials can be an anxious bunch, moving about at breakneck speeds, trying to do all we can while there’s still time. When it comes to dating, something that we barely have time for as is, apps that appear complicated are not something we have time for. Besides, if millennials are anxious, that’s largely the fault of an older generation that’s burdened us with debt and created a toxic job market – but that’s a topic for another time. No, Tinder doesn’t demonstrate how superficial we are. It demonstrates that when we do act shallow, we come at it honestly, and with total awareness of how superficial we’ve probably all become.

staff editorial EBOLA BE DAMNED, I HAVE A WEDDING TO ATTEND Andy Rice × Managing Editor

"BUT… YOUR MONEY” Like most people in their mid-20s, I’m not exactly rolling in dough. My family and friends know this, and I’ve had multiple people try and sway my decision by mentioning things like “financial stability” and the depletion of my “nest egg.” None of them have seen my bank statements, and they certainly don’t know how hard I work every month to make above and beyond what I need to pay rent and buy groceries. I’m not a frivolous person — I don’t squander my money, and I’ve always saved for trips like this one. Now the time has come, and I don’t want to feel guilty about spending my money how I choose. Nobody, and certainly not I, will ever be in a perfect financial situation and I think there’s a point where we all need to treat ourselves and follow our hearts, even if it sets us back a few thousand dollars toward putting the down payment on a house.

“BUT… YOUR HEALTH” Africa is a continent — a gigantic continent filled with 54 sovereign states and 10 non-sovereign territories spread out over five regions that all contain the word “Africa”. In North America, we’ve always struggled with geography and the ignorance of lumping large and diverse groups of people under the same umbrella. I think that’s a by-product of sometimes forgetting we’re not the only ones inhabiting the earth. So let’s be

clear here: I’m going to the city of Cape Town in the country of South Africa. Ebola —or e-boli as my dad calls it — is currently a problem in three countries in the region of West Africa. Isolated cases have also been quarantined in the United States (Texas and New York) and in Spain (Madrid). The region of Southern Africa isn’t currently afflicted by Ebola at all. Neither is northern, central or eastern Africa. Of course, I should be careful when travelling through international airports, and I will be, but I’m about as at risk for contracting the virus in Cape Town as I am here in Canada. In fact, I’m 2,000 kilometres closer to an Ebola patient from where I’m sitting right now than I will be in a month’s time. I’m also not going to come home with AIDS, thank you for asking. Unless someone slashes me in the gut with a contaminated machete or I go prancing around the city having unprotected sex with random people until I hit the jackpot, I’m just not. And it’s pretty ignorant to think that I will.

those sound like exactly the kinds of people you’d want to have by your side when walking around in an unfamiliar place? They’re also my greatest friends in the world, and the same people I used to travel with long before our lives got busy and we all lived in different cities. We have a rare opportunity to relive the good old days, together as a group once again, and there’s no way I’m missing out on that. Ebola can suck it.

“BUT… YOUR SAFETY” Street smarts are a good idea in any city you visit, and as far as I’m concerned, South Africa carries the same risks as Boston or Puerto Vallarta. You can get mugged or car-jacked anywhere. All you can really do to prevent it is use the same travel safety tips they’ve been preaching for years: inquire about the bad areas before you go, don’t go waving your money or expensive gadgets around, and try and look as little like a tourist as you can. On this particular trip, I’ll be travelling with an insurance broker, a hair stylist, two registered nurses and a professional MMA fighter. Don't

× Tierney Milne

T H E C A P I L A N O C O U R I E R . VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 10

I’m going to South Africa for three weeks in December, and if I hear one more comment about Ebola from someone who hasn’t been there, I’m going to punch them in the boob. This trip wasn’t a snap decision, and I’ve thought long and deeply about it. I’ve weighed my risks, pinched my pennies and done my research. I’m not going there to “find myself ” as young people often do in exotic places — I’m a man on a mission. One of my best friends is getting married and I need to be at her wedding. Trust me when I say that her wrath is far scarier and more deadly than any virus I could ever contract. But even if I didn’t have a good reason to go, I’m not sure Ebola would have discouraged me from visiting a new and beautiful place. I’m a traveller at heart. Fresh out of high school, I went backpacking in Europe for a month, returning twice more for new adventures. Two summers ago I jumped in a van and spent six weeks driving across Canada. I enjoy seeing the unknown — it fascinates me. And while travelling does involve a certain amount of risks, usually they’re calculated ones. Sometimes, though, you simply can’t anticipate what life will throw at you. You can’t control the actions or motives of other people and you definitely can’t predict the unpredictable. All you can do is live your life, know the dangers and act sensibly. Contrary to popular belief, acting sensibly doesn’t mean staying home, and visiting South Africa isn’t an act of reckless abandon. Licking medical waste, walking down dark alleys and uttering racial slurs in the townships is an act of

reckless abandon. This is what I’ve had trouble getting through to people.

CAp you

CARLO JAVIER LIFESTYLE EDITOR

Criterion on demand AN EDUCATIONAL NETFLIX Tristen Schmidhauser × Writer

Students using Capilano University library’s website in recent months are likely to have noticed a colourful slide depicting its newest service, Criterion-on-Demand. The platform provides thousands of streaming movies, all for free, to any CapU student with access to Wi-Fi. “It’s been a long time coming,” says Tania Alekson, CapU’s Liaison Librarian for Fine and Applied Arts, “Previously we’d always bought rights to show films on campus through Criterion, and the recent changes of copyright laws mean that we no longer have to pay to show them for educational purposes. We still have to pay to show them for entertainment purposes, and Criterion was one of two companies that provided that service to us.” With the changes made to copyright laws, it seemed only natural that Criterion change their business model, and so far CapU’s trial run of the updated service has been met with largely positive reviews. “Setting up our end of it was a little bit tricky, but eventually we got it done, and I haven’t heard any big complaints yet,” Alekson

× Jessica Ngo says. There is, however, one problem in that the service will not stream to iPads because it requires Microsoft Silverlight. On the other hand, Criterion remains accessible both on and off campus, which allows students to enjoy it outside the confines of a library or classroom. Not to be confused with the Criterion Collection, as some film students are familiar with, the Criterion-on-Demand service currently

CARLO.CAPCOURIER@GMAIL.COM

provides over 2,000 English, French and international titles for students and faculty to download or stream. The films range from classic Hollywood movies, to more recent titles like Kung Fu Panda and How To Train Your Dragon. “There’s some good stuff in there,” Alekson says, “I believe there are 13 movies that have the word ‘alien’ in the title, so yeah, there’s some good stuff in there too.” CapU isn’t the only post-secondary institution to offer Criterion, as 10 universities and colleges in BC are in the midst of trial runs for the service. Twenty institutions across Canada are currently subscribed. CapU students can download and stream films anywhere, as long as their device is connected to the Internet. They can access the service through the slide on the library’s website, and then browse the list of titles. Although the list might seem confusing due to Criterion attempting to avoid a Netflix-like interface, it is still quite accessible. “Criterion is trying to set themselves up in this market to be the provider of films for educational purposes. They don’t want it to become too much like Netflix, because they don’t want it to be used for purposes that it’s not intended for,” Alekson says. “The license says it’s for educational purposes, so it shouldn’t be like you guys watching movies on weekends for fun.” Alekson is confident Criterion will be an asset to all departments on campus, particularly

those located in the Bosa Centre. “For the costuming, animation and filmmaking programs I think that it’s a really key resource,” she says. The option to show a film at a public event on campus is also available, as long as there is no cover charge or fee for others to view it. Fundraising events are acceptable too, as long as the cost is purely by donation. CapU’s trial subscription of Criterion will face its first review on Nov. 30, and to know whether or not it should be continued, the university is requesting feedback from students. Those willing to offer their input may do so at Capilanou.ca/ library/Resource-Feedback-Form/.

if you have an event contact carlo. if you don't have one, contact him anyways.

pieces of history RETELLING STORIES FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY Heather Connor × Writer

THE CAPILANO COURIER.

VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 10

Capilano University stands as the third stop of the acclaimed Witness Blanket’s national tour. The First Nation wood-based art installation by artist Carey Newman is designed as a visual retelling of stories that come from many aboriginal residential schools across the country. The structure, made with 13 wood panels, stands over eight feet tall and 40 feet wide. It features cedar frames that hold over 800 objects – materials that were collected from residential schools, churches and First Nations families from across Canada. Within the installation is a multi-media presentation that helps connect the viewers in a personal way by demonstrating residential school experiences. It’s inspired by a woven blanket, as they are a form of protection and security. “For many of us, it identifies

who we are and where we’re from – we wear them in ceremony and give them as gifts,” said a statement on the official website for the project, Witnessblanket.ca, “Blankets protect our young and comfort our elders.” Newman, known also as Ha-yalth-kingeme, is a master carver who uses many different mediums such as gems, glass, steel, bronze and paint in his pieces. He became interested in art at a very young age, as many of his family members are involved in wood carving design as well. Newman considers himself a “contemporary artist with a traditional soul,” as his work is unique and innovative but still closely follows the rules of his traditions. “My style is distinguishable by moving lines anchored to traditional figures. If one can see where my figures will make their next movement, I have begun to succeed,” he said on the website. Newman believes that his work is never done as “perfec-

tion is in the details and details go on forever.” The piece educates viewers on residential schools and their effects. Residential schools in Canada date back to the 1870’s and the last one closed in 1996. There were over 130 schools located across the country that were funded by the government. Over 150,000 Aboriginal children were taken from their homes and over 4,000 deaths were reported from the displacement. Residential schools were created to eliminate parental influences on intellectual, cultural, and spiritual development of Aboriginal children. Many hoped to assimilate aboriginals into Euro-Canadian culture through cruel treatment and strict rules. It’s important to document the harsh events that occurred at these residential schools because it allows others to become active participants in the reconciliation process, pay tribute to those affected, and help prevent similar activities in the future.

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For the Witness Blanket, the past year has been spent travelling across Canada, collecting all the different pieces it took to build the structure. The project involved interaction with more than 10,000 people who all inspired and contributed in some way to the piece, whether it was through donating items or by sharing stories. The actual piece was built and put together in Victoria by Newman and his team. “My wish for this piece is that it will affect others the way that the process of making it has affected me,” said Newman, “From the beginning, I have had the belief that this work is bigger than any one person and the collective power of these ‘Pieces of History’ confirms that.” The Witness Blanket is located in Room 126 of the Birch building, next to the Blueshore Centre for the Performjng Arts. It will remain on display until Nov. 28.

caboose

CARLO JAVIER LIFESTYLE EDITOR

CABOOSE@CAPILANOCOURIER.COM

A letter from ariana grande TO MY BELOVED FANS: I know I broke a lot of hearts recently when I ditched out on my performance in New York

× Jim Sorreda

for that charity thing. The media is so quick to paint me with their favourite diva brush and say that I am just being high maintenance or paranoid – but I knew you guys would understand. I’m blessed to have fans as understanding and cool as you. It’s not as if it was my first choice to stay at home cooped up in my nine bedroom bungalow in the Hills! My management team and I have decided it would be best for everyone if I stay confined to my place until this whole Ebola thing cools down. I have been in touch with a lot of experts and the facts they have been giving me one absolutely terrifying. Like, did you know that you can catch Ebola from a handshake? It only takes a little bit of human sweat before you’re basically as good as dead. Part of my job is walking through crowds and brushing my fingertips against the outreached paws of common people – how am I supposed to know who is infected and who isn’t? It's not like I'm a doctor or something. I had requested through the promoters that they label anyone in the crowd who may have been infected with a large red “E” on their forehead to make sure I knew who and who not to touch, but they said it wasn’t a reasonable request. If this is the type of behavior that is causing me to gain a reputation for being a “diva”, what a joke. I’m sure you all don’t want to see me in an incubator and vomiting blood. I can’t imagine what that would do to my vocal chords and my ability to perform my hit single “Problems.” It just wouldn’t be safe. If something were to happen to me, I would no longer be able to share my gift of song with the world and Big Sean would have no one to be his big spoon. A lot of my shows require me to fly to that location, and planes seem to be like the ground zero of viruses. I requested through the airlines that any plane that has been to West Africa be marked with a large red “E”, so I would be able to fly with peace of mind – but they weren’t willing to fulfill my request. I couldn’t believe the way I was treated upon asking, they scoffed at me like I was being completely absurd. You know what is absurd? Putting A-List celebrities like me at risk of death. It’s not as though they didn’t know who I was – I am Ariana Grande! I have a signature ponytail and have been on the cover of Seventeen Magazine. I’m trying to deal with this as best as I can, to make sure that am pleasing all of my wonderful fans. My record label is helping me in designing my own private jet made out of 100 per cent US materials and absolutely no Ebola. I'm having Yves St. Laurent design me a custom-made mask and germ resistant gloves, so I'll be able to make my way out of the house without looking like one of those weird tourists with those dental masks. The most important thing is that I preserve my ability to perform at whatever cost. Since you're a fan, I know you'll agree that a voice like mine truly only comes once every generation. And let's face it, I basically stepped in when Mariah Carey lost her ability to get to that eighth octave she is so proud of. Believe me guys, this is as hard for you as it is for me - but together we can work towards an Ebola free world. I promise I will make up for my absence ten-fold once the scare dies down - being secluded in my own home has offered me more time to work on my next album. You'll have to keep your eyes peeled for my next smash single "Ebola Blues" featuring John Mayer - it's going to be huge. Love and Kisses,

Ariana Grande T H E C A P I L A N O C O U R I E R . VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 10

shotgun reviews MILLENNIAL MEDIA

INSTAGRAM

TWITTER

VICE

SNAPCHAT

The millennial is a generation full of stalkers. The app Instagram is a great example of this because it basically lets people create an account and post random shit through the form of pictures or videos. And guess what, people actually get so into it that they go nuts over getting “followers,” or getting “double-tapped.” People crave having distinct stuff to post on their accounts, like their outfit of the day, a photo of their cat chilling in their laundry basket, or a seemingly cute pic that has “Friendzoned” written all over it. You can be a celebrity through the app too. A fucking celebrity. Like what the fuck did they do to become one??? I think the creator of Instagram was inspired by the original stalkers of the century, which is the band, The Police. Think about it. Every move you make, every vow you break, every smile you fake, every post you make, I’ll be double-tapping it.

2014 is the year we finally realized that Twitter sucks. Wait, no, Twitter is brilliant. So brilliant it helped us realize that humans suck and @gamergate is the last signpost on the final highway exit to burning in the fiery pits of hell. The Internet and social media being the great equalizer, the ‘voice of the masses’, merely lead to sweaty, fat, basement-dwelling, plumber-crack sporting, Dorito-chomping, socially inept turds who act out their inability to lose their virginity by threatening female video game critics, simply for bringing a feminist perspective to their favourite hobby. That games have attracted serious cultural and political critique is merely a sign of the maturation of the medium, though this matters not to those who would rather it stay in the realm of ‘nerd culture’. Apparently Karl Marx wasn’t entirely wrong about the rising of the masses but shot a little wide of the mark on what would rile them up. #thisiswhywecan’thavenicethings #humanityisdoomed #pleasedontdoxmeprettyplease

VICE fucking sucks. First off, I’d like to point out that in 2013, Rupert Murdoch spent $70 Million and bought 5 per cent of VICE Media. Sorry to break your hipster heart, but the guy that owns 21st Century Fox also has his fingers dipped in your ‘alternative media’ as well. Not only that, but working at your local dump pays more than writing for these guys. I know the life of a writer isn’t a glamorous one, but you’d think that once you landed a gig at a company worth $2.5 billion that you’d finally be able to stop eating at McDonald’s. But hey, who cares about that stuff, because at least you get to work with chill people right? Wrong. Instead of paying workers, they give certain employees VICE rings to wear, which is their equivalent of a letterman jacket in high school. If you have one of the rings, then you’re cool, and if you don’t, well, have fun eating lunch in a bathroom stall again. In a nutshell, VICE consists of broke, popularity-obsessed writers that’re working for Rupert Murdoch. Doesn’t that just sound great?

Snapchat can go really bad very quickly, but it can also be really fun. Girls sending flirty selfies looking prime, making you believe they always look that perfect before they are about to go to bed, or boys sending casual topless pictures as if they’re always shirtless around the house in the winter. It can be really exciting, until you start opening your received snaps while at a family dinner and having two-second dick pics pop up on your screen. Just because it disappeared from our screens, doesn’t mean it disappeared from our heads! It’s become so casual to act like a fool in front of a camera and it’s beginning to start a ridiculous trend. I used to think Snapchat was a joke, until it became a joke for me to watch everybody’s stories on how fucked up they are getting on weekends, and how much weed they can handle in a bong rip. That said, there are some snaps that are fabulous — like an awesome concert. Snapchat is fun, especially for the social media whores, so continue uploading pictures of your breakfast, lunch, and dinner, please! Because we all really care!

Therese Guieb // News Editor

the hot ChArt HALF

THE

STAFF

Gabriel Scorgie // Opinions Editor

Rozan Talebian // Writer

AVENUE Q // MAYBE THEY'LL TAKE JIAN?

LABIA // THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

POP STAR PORN // AREOLA GRANDE

DORITOS // WANNA CHIP IN FOR A BAG?

MAYORAL DEBATES // ELECTILE DYSFUNCTION

CAPILANO COURIER // STILL FASTER THAN FEDEX

SAVE LIL SCHEI // THE POPE IS ON IT

GRUMPY CAT // THAT TIME OF THE MONTH

ALEXANDER WANG // SOUNDS LIKE A DICK

I’M NEVER DRINKING AGAIN! // OKAY...

HAPPY HOUR // COCK TALES

FEMALE ROOFING COMPANY // ALL THE SHINGLE LADIES

THE CAPILANO COURIER.

VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 10

Gurpreet Kambo // Writer

× Anthony Labonte