Capilano Courier // Volume 48 // Issue 15

VOL UME

48

NORTH VANCOUVER, JANUARY 26TH 2015

BULCROFT TO RETIRE

CAMPUS RAILS

ISSUE

N O . 15

GREAT CANADIAN OIL

CAPILANO Courier

@capilanocourier

VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 15

@capilanocourier capilanocourier.com

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News

A+C

CaleNdar

Features

OpiNiONs

COlumNs

CabOOse

Compass Card On Campus

Bite the Bullet

Super Bowl Super Tits

Reality Hell-e-vision

Stupid Laws for Canadians

Drones are Your Friends

Bulcroft Buick

ON the Cover KseNia KOzhevNiKOva Ksenia Kozhevnikova is a selfprescribed sketchoholic. She uses her life experiences from her Siberian motherland to create incredibly imaginative art. On her rare days off she can be found fencing, drawing dragons, and flipping through art books in the company of her crested geckos.

Wander over to Kseniakoz.com for more sketches.

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:

Kevin Kapenda, Keara Farnan, Melissa Verdicchio, Christine Beyleveldt, Shandi Shiach, Lauren Sundstrom, Joe Louis, James Marin, Jessica Trusz

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS:

Ksenia Kovhevnikova, Crystal Lee, Guillem Rovira, Olliemoonsta, Samantha Smith, Taylor B. Lee, Cristian Fowlie, Ekaterina Aristova, Megan Collinson, J.R. Pinto THANK YOU

To everyone who's assisted, stayed late, missed us when we stayed late, brought beer, sent love and supportive texts, and of yours all you who have picked up the Courier. Hi Mom!

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.

THE CAPILANO COURIER.

VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 15

To advertise in the Courier’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.

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The Staff

Leah Scheitel Editor-in-Chief

Therese Guieb News Editor

of this dreaming, steaming and positvely gleaming university newspaper

Andy Rice Managing Editor

Alva Tee Arts + Culture Editor

Andrew Palmquist Production Manager

Faye Alexander Features Editor

Gabriel Scorgie Opinions Editor

Cheryl Swan Art Director

Carlo Javier Lifestyle Editor

Ricky Bao Business Manager

Brandon Kostinuk Web Editor

Letter From The Editor Leah Scheitel, Editor-in-Chief

Good reasons for endless exhaustion "You don't want to be a fat organization, but sometimes you get too thin that you know you could never miss another meal, and that's kind of where we are getting to." - Jo-Ann Roberts on the CBC I have to start this by going on the record: this is my least favourite week of the entire year. If you’ve been keeping up with the Courier, you’ll know that we just ventured to Ottawa for a five day annual conference dedicated to student journalism in Canada, fondly dubbed NASH. And as inspiring as it is, it’s also exhausting, with seminars and meetings all day, and keynote speakers infused with streams of alcohol by night. Upon return, there is a mountain of work that grew with neglect, only adding to the sleep deprivation and the after-NASH depression. That’s why this week always sucks.

This was my third and final NASH, barring any failure on my end to leave student journalism and become a professional writer. It’s only fitting that I feel it was my most successful one – I didn’t yell at any journalists from the Globe and Mail (à la last year in Edmonton), didn’t get hit on by any male strippers (2013 in Toronto) or get too drunk and yell at my staff for 20 minutes at a gala affair (okay, I kind of did this, but it was for only five minutes).

However, I did manage to win a Twitter battle with Ron Nurwisah, who is the head of social media for Huffington Post Canada and made a new friend in Esquire writer Chris Jones. Jones even started telling the story of the total destruction of my mouth to his friends. To an aspiring story teller such as myself it’s the highest compliment when a master of the craft tells your story like it’s his own.

Over the five days, I didn’t miss a seminar. Whether I wanted to or not, I listened to nearly everything I could. Some seminars I went to merely because the speakers were babes, and others I went to because I was truly invested in their topic of interest. I saw Peter Mansbridge, who was disappointing, and his CTV counterpart, Lisa LaFlamme, who was not. However, the one seminar that I found most inspiring and important was the one I didn’t even plan to go to. It was the very last seminar on Saturday afternoon, and many people opted to spend the extra time to get ready for the final night’s gala event. I, along with our Managing Editor, Andy Rice, went to a panel session of how to save the CBC. There were maybe seven other people in the room, listening to three speakers’ different opinions on the value of Canadian public broadcasting. Jo-Ann Roberts, former host of All Points West was joined be Waubgeshig Rice and Jeanne d’Arc Umurungi, and were discussing valid reasons why we should protect the CBC. There were facts brought up, like the fact that Canadians pay a mere

$29 a year for all of the CBC services. When you break it down, that’s less that’s 10 cents a day.

And there is the fact that the demise of the CBC is disastrous for Canadians and our culture, as it holds other news outlets to a higher standard of journalism. But these didn’t resonate as much as Jo-Ann Roberts and her passion for the subject.

Roberts took an early retirement from the CBC in 2014 because her higher-ups didn’t want her speaking out against the issues that the public broadcaster faces. She felt so passionately about protecting the CBC that she easily retired. Instead of sitting in a cozy host’s chair and earning money, she’s speaking to anyone who will listen about the value of the CBC, most always pro bono. As cheesy as it may sound, I was so enthralled by her passion that I got goosebumps twice during the talk.

It’s not that I have a massive hard-on for the CBC and want it restored to proper health, although that would be nice. It’s that Roberts knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to speak about why the CBC can’t survive in its current state. She wanted to make people care, and in a more heartwarming way, she had a passion and she followed it. She made it seem easy; find something that stimulates you and stick with it, preach about it, make others fall in love with it. She just made it seem so simple. And really, shouldn’t it be that simple?

After scanning old editorials and rants of mine, they all seem to have this underlining tone of not being scared of passions. They seem to preach about the need to follow your intuitions, and though they lead you in weird and tangled paths, have faith that they will lead somewhere good, even if it’s not where you intended to go. I think I preach about it because I’m terrified that I won’t end up where I wanted to be. I started in a ski lodge, and I ended up by the Maple Dumpster in a news office. But it’s simple – I’m doing this because I want to be a writer. That’s the thread, and even though it’s weak, it’s what’s holding my education and career together.

Jo-Ann Roberts reminded me of that. She reminded me the value of getting your talons into something and not letting go, no matter how many people tell you it’s a lost cause. She reminded me that jobs are worth leaving, and there are discussions that are always worth having. She made it seem simple again, and for that, I am happily exhausted this week.

tweets OF the weeK

the vOiCe bOx

*

with

Andy Rice

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.

Can we start a petition to get the lines in Lot 4 painted?

I’m aware of the fact that it brings in the least amount of revenue but peasants enjoy a little order in their day as well. Seriously, people will park sideways if it isn’t laid out for them.

One of your guys was creepily taking photos of cars at the parking lot last week, care to explain that?

Are you guys on social media, like Myspace and shit? You never post!

Yeah, we have everything. Even Myspace I think. We don’t post much but we’re working on it. It’s just one of those things where everybody thinks everybody else is totally going take care of it and then it never gets done.

If you’re looking for us online, check out Facebook.com/ capilanocourier, or Twitter and Instagram @CapilanoCourier. Oh, and at Myspace.com/HahaUr70.

Why doesn’t Cheryl, the Art Director, ever come to story meetings on Tuesdays?

Ahahaha we can hardly get her to show up to proof on Fridays, let alone on Tuesdays, so good luck with that!

Just kidding, Cheryl. The real answer to this question is that she works on a different deadline with all the illustrators. So, basically, if you’re super keen about grammar and spelling you have nothing she wants.

Baron Davis @Baron_Davis Thinkin about droppin an autographed deflated bball in honor of #deflategate & in support of @TheDrewDoc WDYT? lol #drewdoc Funny Or Die @funnyordie Shocking new #DeflateGate evidence reveals Patriots may have used basketballs in key games Women's Humor @WomensHumor “To me, those balls are perfect” – Tom Brady #deflategate Darren Rovell @darrenrovell Put it this way: #DeflateGate hasn't put a dent in Super Bowl interest. Historical StubHub get-in prices Tim Stack @EWTimStack I have no idea what Deflate Gate is but I really like how it rhymes. More rhyming scandals please!

Lizz Winstead @lizzwinstead Those balls should be in the next Cialis commercial. #DeflateGate #TheseJokesAreDeflatingInQuality Jimmy Kimmel @jimmykimmel "I wish people would stop talking about my balls and instead focus on my beautiful face" -- Tom Brady Evan Salveson @evansalveson Wish NFL fans showed this much uproar over PEDs, HGH, DUIs and domestic violence. #DeflateGate Eric Stangel @EricStangel That's it. I'm boycotting Man Uggs... #DeflateGate Alan Beattie @alanbeattie PEOPLE! The NFL does not need reflation. It needs structural reform. #BallGate #Ballghazi

T H E C A P I L A N O C O U R I E R . VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 15

I whole-heartedly agree. I remember paying full price to park in Lot 8 back in the fall of 2009 when it was a greased-up, gravel-coated ripoff. No lines there either, and it always seemed to look as though Stevie Wonder downed a bottle of vodka and went all valet on that shit.

But before I open a Microsoft Word document and start typing out page after page of dotted lines to bring around campus, I want to clear up exactly what you mean by “we”. Are you hoping to get me involved in this petition of yours or do you just want to use our printer here at the office? Have you actually checked with Vinci Park to see if some white lines are on the horizon? Maybe give them a call at 604.983.7593, local 7593, or send a nice little email to capilanou@vincipark.ca. Hey, if I have to publish my phone number and email every week, these guys can take one for the team too. Hit ‘em up! I’m sure they’re nice by ISIS standards.

Okay, it’s officially car week here in the Voice Box. Yeah, Carlo was creeping hard again trying to find some material for our humour section. Check out page 19 of this issue and see if you can spot your ride!

#DeflateGate

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NEWS

THERESE GUIEB NEWS EDITOR

NEWS@CAPILANOCOURIER.COM

NO VACANCY RESIDENTS TO LOSE THEIR HOMES WITHOUT RENT SUBSIDIES Kevin Kapenda × Writer

× Guillerm Rovira

Co-op housing is quite popular with its residents in Vancouver because of its unique approach to the rental experience. Instead of renting from a property owner, co-op residents purchase a membership share from the co-op society in which they live in and pay their monthly rent to the society itself. Since many co-op housing units are non-profit organizations, these properties have provided lowincome residents with rent subsidies for years through mainly federal housing programs.

However, with multi-decade agreements set to expire in coming years, many co-ops across the country, including roughly 50 co-ops in BC, may no longer be able to provide rent subsidies to low-income residents who would rather live in co-ops than apply for social housing.

Housing co-ops require residents to buy shares from the co-op, in addition to paying rent. “Anyone who has a share at the co-op, has the right to live there and vote. Most co-ops in BC have a rental model and are non-profit,” explains Fiona Jackson of the Co-operative Housing Federation of BC (CHFBC). Unlike renting from a landlord, co-ops are different because renters actually have a say in how the property is run and cannot be forced out from their property.

“Members run the co-ops. What makes a coop different than a normal rental is that you own a share, and have more of a sense of ownership than you would in a standard rental. You have a greater sense of housing security because a landlord cannot come and say they want to

live in it themselves,” says Jackson. Co-ops are run by its members, who hold board meetings in which residents can vote on issues related to the property. “Co-ops are ran in a really democratic way and members have more of a say in how they’re ran, then they would if they were renting,” notes Jackson.

Federal housing programs in the late 20th century usually give co-op societies funds to establish properties and pay for the initial mortgages on those properties. Those federal and at times provincial housing programs would also provide rent assistance subsidies to co-ops to help low-income residents move into units.

“Most co-ops were formed by federal programs, and some provincial ones in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s on 35-year agreements. They gave the initial mortgages to groups build or purchase the initial co-ops. Those programs would essentially start the co-ops, and give subsidies to low-income individuals to live in those coops,” explains Jackson. Since the federal government relegated housing oversight to provincial governments, some provinces did support co-op programs, but they didn’t last for long.

“Some of those programs were later taken on by provincial governments, but have also dried up as well in recent years,” says Jackson.

Due to the fact that many federal co-op rent subsidy agreements are set to expire and Ottawa no longer deals with housing projects like they once did, Jackson’s organization is worried about the impact this will have on co-op members in BC and nationwide. “If you are low-income, and the co-op doesn’t have a subsidy, it would be difficult to remain in one, or join one because co-ops wouldn’t want members to spend like 50 per cent or more of their income on rent,” explains Jackson. “All federal programs have stopped providing subsidies for low-income members, due to mortgages expiring. Roughly 32 to 33 per cent of the homes or residents in co-ops depend on those subsidies.

These are people who may also be disabled, seniors or single-parent families. We’re seeing it as a huge crisis across the province, and the country,” says Jackson. CHFBC has turned to the provincial government to step in and fill the void left by Ottawa. CHFBC launched a campaign called “You Hold the Key” to raise awareness and lobby the province, to let them

know just how serious this situation is.

“Because the federal government is no longer responsible for housing, we see it as a problem for the province since housing is a provincial responsibility. [CHFBC] started to engage the province during the 2013 election with a campaign called You Hold the Key. We’ve been trying to make the province aware of this, so the government and MLA’s know about this crisis.

We’ve told them that more and more people are going to lose their homes, because they cannot afford to pay their rent without the subsidies,” explains Jackson, “We believe the provincial government should create a rent supplement program for low-income members, who will otherwise lose their homes and be put on long waitlists for very limited social housing.”

While Jackson and her organization hope the province will adopt their recommendations, she is pleased to see that co-op housing units are being established, even without provincial or federal programs. “Because we no longer have any provincial or federal programs, we thought that we wouldn’t have any co-ops built in 10 years. But, it is possible to create new co-ops, without provincial or federal programs.

The Athletes Village accepted our bid and we got 84 units, and residents recently formed the Olympic Village Housing Co-op. The City of Vancouver gave us four sites that we can use, and we are creating a Fraserview Co-op with a total of 257 units,” explains Jackson. The future of co-op housing in BC is glowing, but may even be brighter if the province adopts CHFBC’s recommendations to assist low-income co-op members.

What's the deal with aramark FOOD SERVICES PROVIDER CONTRACT HAS REACHED ITS END Keara Farnan

THE CAPILANO COURIER.

VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 15

× Writer

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Aramark Canada’s contract as the exclusive food service provider at Capilano University expired back in 2013. Since then, CapU has remained in culinary limbo, with the Food & Beverage Service Committee meeting with Aramark monthly to discuss the management of food services at CapU. According to Mark Clifford, CapU’s Director of Contract Services and Capital Planning, there is no record of how much time is invested in the management of the contract, however, the university intends to ink a new long-term deal by the fall 2015 semester.

Whether or not that will be with Aramark remains to be seen.

“We open our contracts up to the market for competitive bidding to allow us to seek various benefits for the university. In the case of the food services operation it has been under contract with Aramark for ten years and we are now seeking proposals from all interested parties,” explains Clifford. “The lease was renewed with Aramark after 2013, on a month-to-month basis, and Aramark is still providing service to the campus community today. We are preparing a competitive tender to allow all interested and qualified food service providers to offer proposals for the provision of food service here at CapU. We expect to renew our contract by September 2015.”

Aramark currently oversees full-time management of the food services on campus, which are open five days a week when school is in session. The company is in charge of choosing food menu items based on a number of different factors such as trends, customers’ requests and sales values. It also provides custom catering services to groups and committees within the university. The Aramark team manages the food services 24/7 and determines possible changes they would like to make after the new tender has been issued and the proposal has been received and evaluated.

While the main hub of food services on campus remains the Birch building’s food court, Aramark also manages a café in the Bosa Centre, kiosks in the Fir and Cedar buildings, as well as snack and hot beverage vending and catering to various internal and external customers on CapU’s campus.

Over the course of Aramark’s tenure at CapU, the company has partnered with growers, producers, processors and distributors across Canada to help increase the availability and promotion of sustainable foods. Some of these local initiatives include dairy products and a variety of fruits and vegetables from local companies such as Farmers’ Fresh Market located in Vancouver.

“Aramark has expanded their program across Canada to promote responsibly raised protein including poultry, pork, beef and eggs. They have eliminated gestation crate

pork from our supply chain and operations and currently use free run eggs. Also, they are in partnership with OceanWise and have achieved OW Certification to ensure the future health of oceans,” adds Clifford.

Food services at CapU bring in gross sales of approximately $2 million each year. “All costs of the operations are at the sole expense of the food services provider. They are responsible to deliver the services, and all aspects around that,” explains Clifford, “We are looking for services that meet our needs and requirements – this is something that the food services are responsible for. As a professional food services company and a business entity they determine how they will do so to meet the requirements.”

The selection of a new food services provider at CapU will be a 12-step process that considers several factors. Those include the identification of a food services operation, the requirements needed to fit the marketplace, the production of a Request for Proposal (RFP) and interested bidders attempting to sell their food services to CapU. "The food and beverage services agreement with Aramark was extended for a one year period or month-to-month so as to allow Capilano time to go to a proper RFP for other potential food vendors,” says Sacha Fabry, vice president of university relations at the CSU. “Aramark decides its own menu which is problematic for students. Few student opinions are incorporated into the decision making which is what

makes this upcoming contract negotiation so important. The CSU will be advocating for healthier, better food options on campus during this RFP process," he continues. "I do not know how Aramark runs the cafeteria, the RFP process is underway and everything should be finalized by fall of next year. The CSU doesn't feel that the current food options on campus are adequate and will be advocating for an increase in quality and options.”

The Capilano Students’ Union (CSU) works closely with CapU’s Food and Beverage Service Committee, which reviews new food leasing contracts. “The Administration, Students (CSU), Faculty (CFA) and union staff (COPE), as representatives of their various stakeholder groups, are in charge of evaluation and have the responsibility to shape the food services operation on a go forward basis,” says Clifford, “The food services operation is a dynamic operation and will change as the customer desires, and demands change over the years.”

Stakeholder groups will be given a chance to evaluate the submitted proposals and rate them.

“The highest scores are shortlisted and questions about the team’s proposal are answered by the committee and the team with the highest scores is awarded a contract for the provision of food services on our campus,” says Clifford.

BUlcroft To Retire

whats new csu

news

PRESIDENT WILL STEP DOWN IN 2016

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Carlo Javier

Therese Guieb

× Lifestyle Editor

× News Editor

Capilano University President, Kris Bulcroft, has announced that she will be stepping down in 18 months.

“It’s a job that requires an awful lot of stamina and about a year or so ago, I thought to myself, I’m at a chronological age where I think maybe I just need to slow down a little bit,” says Bulcroft.

The past five years have proven to be eventful for CapU. During Bulcroft’s time, the University saw the establishment of the Bosa Centre for Film and Animation, the Centre for International Education and the strategic plan among others. On the other hand, more recent happenings include the continuous budget cuts that ultimately cost the university its Studio Arts program.

For Bulcroft, stamina and her desire to be closer to her family played important roles in her decision to announce her retirement.

“My mother’s in her 80s, I would like to spend more time with my mom, while she’s still active and able to enjoy time with me. My husband and I, we have been married for 33 years and

I’d like to spend more time with him and my daughter,” she continues, “She lives on the east coast so I don’t get much opportunity to see her when I’m working so much.”

Bulcroft’s contract is set to expire this summer, but the President will be staying with university for another year to help the implementation of the recently approved strategic plan. “We spent an awful lot of time and a lot of goodwill building a strategic plan and an academic plan before that, now that that’s all been written and the board and the campus has agreed on the direction we agreed to set, we actually have to start to implement that stuff, so that’s going to be a big agenda,” she says.

“It’s not all going to happen over night, in fact it won’t all be done by the time I leave, but we need to start, and so for the next 18 months, I think its an opportunity for the campus community, the board of governors and government to work together to start to implement the strategic directions that had been set in those documents.”

The Capilano Students' Union (CSU) held their first board of directors' meeting of the spring semester on Jan. 14. One of the major issues that the CSU is facing are the vacant positions in the Social Justice Collective and the continued absence of the CSU’s student representative to the Senate, Natasha Prakash. As of now, the Social Justice Coordinator position is still vacant and it will remain vacant until a new successor is elected next month.

The CSU Maple lounge renovation is expected to be fully completed and furnished by March. In revamping the lounge, the CSU has funded $45,000 worth of furniture.

From Feb. 2 to 6, the CSU representative elections will be held. Capilano University’s Sechelt and Squamish campuses will be part of the voting period as well. A CSU representative from each CapU campus for Sechelt and Squamish is also a position that will be voted for by the campus that they come from.

Andrew Wilkinson, Minster of Advanced Education will be meeting with the CSU at the end of January to discuss the education system at CapU. CSU President, Brittany Barnes, will be going to Victoria to lobby with the Canadian Alliance of Students’ Association next month and represent the students of Capilano.

“IT’S A JOB THAT REQUIRES AN AWFUL LOT OF STAMINA AND ABOUT A YEAR OR SO AGO, I THOUGHT TO MYSELF, I’M AT A CHRONOLOGICAL AGE WHERE I THINK MAYBE I JUST NEED TO SLOW DOWN A LITTLE BIT." - KRIS BULCROFT, CAPU PRESIDENT

R.I.P. U-PASS COMPASS CARDS TO REPLACE MONTHLY PASSES

ALTERNATIVE WAYS TO GET TO SCHOOL

Kevin Kapenda × Writer

RIDE A BIKE CARPOOL WALK RIDE A SKATEBOARD HITCH A RIDE LLAMA SCOOTER WALKING SCHOOL BUS

× Crystal Lee

GET STONED AND DONT GO CAR2GO AQUABUS HOVERBOARD

the first wave of distribution by TransLink.

According to Translink.ca, 1,500 students from Kwantlen Polytechnic University, UBC, Douglas College and the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology, will be the first ones to try out the student Compass program. Compass Cards will have to be loaded on the website Upassbc.translink.ca to load the compass card and have it linked to the U-Pass. The U-Pass program will still be in place. However, the old blue U-Pass cards are not.

TransLink has been meeting with student association representatives to answer all of their questions about the switch from U-Pass to the Compass Card and what it means for students.

CSU President, Brittany Barnes, along with many of her colleagues from Vancouver-area student associations, have raised serious concerns about how the program will and may affect students in the future.

“I sit on the U-Pass advisory committee which is made up of myself and other student

body associations. We have definitely raised concerns,” says Barnes, “One of my biggest [concerns] is the tap-on tap-off situation. As of now, you get on and get off, as our U-Passes are good for three zones. Currently, Compass Cards are charged for the amount of zones you’ve travelled. If a general compass card user forgets to tap off, it charges them for all three zones. As a student, you’ve paid for all three zones. But it matters how they will record the data for student Compass Cards. If a student forgets to tap off, will they document it as three zones, or just a 'forgot to tap off ' incident?”

The way that the data is recorded in the Compass Cards is worrisome to Barnes because it may be used to justify charging students more for their transit passes. “Will they look at the data and say that since students ride a lot more and put a lot of weight on the system, therefore they should pay more, after coming to the conclusion that students often travel for three zones?” she inquires.

Another issue raised by Barnes has to do with TransLink’s procedures in the case of lost or stolen student Compass cards. “Another concern of mine is something [TransLink] has been calling a three strike policy, which is that if you lose your Compass Card three times, you’re locked out of the system. If you pay for a service, how can they lock you out of it?” says Barnes, "I am concerned about that policy because it’s very punitive. Students are already the most penalized individuals in society. So many of us are already in debt and stressed out. Many of the other students’ associations are also concerned about this proposed policy.”

Reception of the Compass Card will depend on how smooth the transition is for students, from the U-Pass dispensary card to the futuristic Compass card that is loaded online.

T H E C A P I L A N O C O U R I E R . VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 15

After much delay, TransLink has decided this year will be the one in which it phases out the U-Pass for Compass Cards in post-secondary institutions across Metro Vancouver. Students will receive their Compass Cards in phases over the next year, starting in the spring and ending in September. While it is clear that TransLink’s goal was to introduce the Compass Card to students, questions have been raised by student associations Some questions include how transit use among students will be tracked and if that information will be used to raise the price of student passes in the future and what burden will be placed upon students if their Compass Cards are to be lost or stolen.

Capilano Students’ Union (CSU) Vice President of University Relations, Sacha Fabry, explains that though the details as to how the Compass Cards will be distributed have yet to be decided, a few hundred CapU students will start using them late next month. The remaining students will receive their compass cards in what are being called “waves” by TransLink. “Cards will be distributed at Capilano in late March, for use in April,” says Fabry.

Compass Cards will then be distributed over the spring and summer, before being given to new and returning students in late August for the fall semester. “Capilano students will receive their cards in the second and third waves,” he adds. “The third wave of cards will be distributed in August for use in September.”

The introduction of the Compass Card will mark the end of the U-Pass which was created in 2010, by the government of former premier, Gordon Campbell.

While CapU students will have to wait longer to receive their Compass Cards, many students at other post-secondary institutions in Metro Vancouver will begin to receive their compass cards at the end of this month. This will be for immediate use in February, after

5

arts + Culture

ALVA TEE ARTS + CULTURE EDITOR

ARTS@CAPILANOCOURIER.COM

BACK IN MY DAY LOOKING INTO BRITISH COLUMBIA'S PAST Melissa Verdicchio × Writer British Columbia has a history that is well worth noting for those that live in the beautiful province. Robert “Lucky” Budd, author of Echoes of British Columbia, tells these stories in depth in his follow-up to his popular novel, Voices of British Columbia. Budd received the nickname “Lucky” by his brother, who believed he was incredibly lucky to have a brother, and has chose to stick with it ever since.

Through all of Budd’s knowledge, he found North Vancouver’s history to be a story that is quite fascinating. “North Vancouver has a rich history that is dense with First Nations occupation and a glorious landscape,” he says, “When stories are told of this area before and as it was settled, the themes tend to be about lush vegetation and strong characters. Furthermore, transportation was water based, not land based. Amazing!”

Budd says that one of his greatest experi-

ences was sitting down with a woman named Maisey Hurley, as it was his “favourite interview from the Orchard Collection about Capilano.”

Hurley lived from 1888 until 1964, arriving to Vancouver by train in 1892.

“Her first memory of Vancouver was an arch bridge and she was stuck by all of the Chinese people looking over the railing to see the train she was on coming into the station,” says Budd, “She had never seen salmon berries or skunk cabbage before and she recalls that they grew on both sides of the street lining the way to the old Vancouver Hotel.”

Budd could get lost simply listening to what Hurley had to say. “She is a wonderful storyteller,” he continues, “One of her fondest memories was an enormous cross that stood at the Indian Reserve in North Vancouver which could be seen for miles. The church was floated across the bay from North Vancouver to the reserve. Her family would go over in a row boat for picnics near the cross.”

Hurley’s experience is one of many that motivated Budd to write Echoes of British Columbia.

“Having access to the stories within Orchard's collection, I felt it my duty to bring forth these stories to the public,” he says, “We have an incredibly rich and colourful history in BC, full of characters and wonderful personalities and I feel that people need to know these stories.

We are so fortunate that these First Nations and first generation BC-ers were recorded. The more we know our history, the more we feel connected to the amazing place that we live in.”

Budd’s biggest passion is to share these stories amongst those living in Vancouver today.

“Echoes from the past can inform our future for as long as we listen,” he says, explaining the meaning behind the title of his book. “What we have in these recorded stories is a window into the remembered past about what BC was like as our infrastructure was being built, communities were established, and people worked together to establish the arteries of the province that we now take for granted.”

Budd hopes that readers will “understand some of the atmospherical [sic], physical and social [aspects] of life better as BC went from

a place with 150 or so non-Native people in 1958, to 400,000 by World War I. Through these stories, facts are embedded in the narrative. However, the character and feeling of place comes through vividly.”

North Vancouver’s history is only one of many stories from the land around us. Budd’s Echoes of British Columbia hopes to educate those on just how beautiful British Columbia came to be. “A story of someone from the Okanagan is totally different than that of someone from the Kootenays or English Bay,” says Budd, “This is because the landscapes give rise to different experiences and therefore different characters. North Vancouver is an amazing place and therefore the characters from there are equally intriguing.

“I think that people who don't understand the roots of the history of where they live are at a loss to attach themselves to the land,” he continues, “The more we know of the sorts of people that come from the land, the more we will know ourselves.”

FATAL BLINK BULLET CATCH READY TO WOW VANCOUVERITES thrilled and were more than eager to step up on stage and fire a loaded gun at their entertainer.

Others have been too petrified to pull the trigger. Drummond awaits Vancouver’s reaction to his deadly stunt. Now one final question remains, would you be willing to shoot someone in front of a live audience?

Christine Beyleveldt × Writer

THE CAPILANO COURIER.

VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 15

They say practice makes perfect. For Rob Drummond, actor and playwright of Bullet Catch, “Practice,” he says, is the only way he makes sure to live through his own performance every night. In his death defying routine, Drummond is eerily calm.

The Scotland-bred actor claims magic has been with him since his childhood, from the very first time he learned how to make a coin vanish. His tricks have become more advanced since then. “Some audience members are strangely blasé about the whole thing,” he says, “And others can’t stop shaking long enough to pull the trigger.”

The bullet catch is a stunt where a performer attempts to catch a bullet travelling at the speed of sound between their teeth. It is a routine most notoriously known for claiming lives.

Even Houdini, who earned his fame through such deadly stunts, refused to attempt it.

Drummond’s performance follows that of

6

× Rob Drummond. Photo by Niall Walker

2 weeks !!

BULLET CATCH IS SHOWING AT THE REVUE STAGE ON GRANVILLE ISLAND

until 7th Feburary 2015 as part of PuSh

TOP 7 DEADLIEST MAGIC TRICKS BULLET CATCH No surprise here, it is the deadliest stunt.

BURIED ALIVE Unless you’re Uma Thurman in Kill Bill this is scary shit.

× Rob Drummond and audience volunteer. Photo by Megan Verhey William Henderson, Victorian-era magician, who died trying to perform the famous bullet catch in 1912. The trigger is pulled by a stranger in the audience, and that is something that involves a lot of risk.“It’s about the trust involved in asking a person to do such an extreme thing and the results when that trust is misplaced,” says Drummond.

When Drummond makes his first appearance on stage, he is dressed in an early 20th century waistcoat. Sepia toned photographs of Henderson and antique props adorn the awnings. He selects a volunteer, and spends an hour building up a strong connection with them through a series of illusions that distract the audience from the eminent stunt that waits in the end. One of the biggest hits with audiences, but also the hardest part of the show for him, is mind reading. “It’s about remaining totally open to the volunteer and trying to forge some sort of meaningful connection with them whereby the answers just flow effortlessly from them,” he says, “Like when you know exactly what a long-term partner is thinking without them saying a word. I need to get that level of

trust and connection built up in just one hour.”

Other games of chance, object levitation and dazzling tricks are also featured throughout the performance.

After nearly three years of touring, the structure of the show does not get any easier. “No two performances of this show are the same so I can never just fall into a pattern - I’ve got to remain on my toes for the whole run,” he says.

Audience members have been known to leave the theatre right before his grand finale, and others who do stay may be severely shaken.

“On one occasion in Edinburgh, the volunteer just couldn’t do it and so, to my eternal regret, I decided to swap in a different audience member.” Drummond invited his own mother up on stage to fire a loaded pistol at his head. “No sooner had she stepped up on stage than she was pointing the gun at my father as a ‘hilarious joke’,” says Drummond.

The success of the show in part depends on the willingness of the volunteer. One recruit turned out to be a Broadway producer, and was responsible for taking Bullet Catch across the water to New York, where audiences were

CHINESE WATER TORTURE CELL The magician is handcuffed, his ankles are locked into a restraint brace, he is suspended upside down in mid air, and then lowered into a glass tank of ice water, with the restraint locked at the top of the tank.

TORNADO OF FIRE Stand in the centre of a 2000-degree tornado of fire.

SPIKE The magician places a pea under one of three shells, then mixes them up at which point you try to identify the shell with the pea.

FROZEN IN A BLOCK OF ICE A magician freezes himself inside a solid 6-tonne block of ice for 63 hours.

STRAIGHT JACKET ESCAPE Getting out of a straight jacket while under water, hanging upside down from a crane, and being dragged behind a boat. **Do not attempt.

arts + Culture

but first, let me take a selfie

CAMPUS SELFIE HOTSPOTS THOSE WOODEN CHAIRS IN FRONT OF THE LIBRARY

NEW VENUE FOR SELFIE TAKING OPENS IN RICHMOND

When you sit under one, it gives you really cool lighting for some reason. Kind of like a natural hue of a filter, it gives you a warm tone and highlights your picture.

Alva Tee × Arts + Culture Editor

IN FRONT OF BOSA I say this because you can usually get a little bit of BOSA in the background, and being that it’s the newest building at CapU, it makes you look like you’re somewhere super high tech. Definitely cool.

THE NEVERENDING STAIRS IN FIR Ah, yes. The infamous stairs that leave you out of breath by the time you get to the top. During the daytime, taking a photo here will give you some sort of magical glow. The natural light filters in and gives you a pleasant shadow casting on your face.

× Olliemoonsta

“To me, a selfie would be a photo that is taken of yourself, or you and a group of friends, by yourself,” says Carbo Ngai, owner of The Selfie Room in Richmond, “At the Selfie Room, it’s the same idea but the quality of photos are much better.”

Ngai discovered this type of business during a trip to Asia. “I found it very interesting so I decided to bring the idea back to Canada,” she says. Being the first photography studio of its type in Vancouver, it has generated curiosity amongst many Vancouverites and attracted many people, including a crew from the CBC. “The Selfie Room is a place that friends and family members can gather to take professional photos of themselves,” Ngai says, “All they need to do is use our remote selfie button. They all use props, write on the blackboard or change the backdrops to enhance their photos as well.”

The props and backdrops are scheduled to change every now and then so that photos can always stay fresh.

For Melanie Mayede, an avid selfie-taker and kinesiology student at the University of British Columbia, she believes that not all will want to go to those lengths. “It depends on the person and how far they are willing to go to get a good selfie,” she says, “I’m not even sure if I think those photos are considered the modern day ‘selfie’. The idea seems a little bizarre to me, to be honest. That, to me, would be more of a photoshoot for modelling. If you’re willing to pay money, it seems like a pretty fun idea.”

Ngai says that the Selfie Room is about selfexpression and creativity, the ability for users to do whatever they want. “I want all the customers to feel the freedom they have when taking photos at the Selfie Room,” she says, “It’s a professional studio but they don’t have a photographer there telling them what to do. They can

also change the backdrops whenever they want or wear any props they want.”

For Mayede, selfies aren’t all about having fancy gear and fun props. In fact, she doesn’t mind that they are usually taken with more average quality cameras. “I don’t personally think quality matters,” she says, “It shouldn’t be a complicated thing. I feel like the selfie was invented for convenience purposes, unless you’re Ellen and can take elaborate 20-people selfies.”

Location is another major factor in selfie-taking. If there is no one around to take a photo, the front-facing camera comes in pretty handy.

“For example, if you want to take a picture with the statue of liberty and no one is around to take it, take a selfie,” says Mayede, “You’re in New York City, where other people will take your camera and run.”

Ngai’s favourite part of the Selfie Room is

the professional equipment that they have and the quality of photos it provides people. “Selfies are all around us in today’s society,” she says, “Its impact would be to promote oneself and strengthen self-esteem.”

Mayede agrees in the sense that posting photos on different social media forums can help boost self-esteem. “Once in awhile, it’s alright to say ‘Hey, I look good,’ and document and acknowledge that fact,” she says, “Post it on social media and others could potentially help you with that factor as well.”

In Ngai’s opinion, there is no “right” moment to take a selfie, but rather “whenever you want to capture a good moment to create memories.

“All in all, it is a cool idea,” says Mayede, “But some things are best kept simple, and a modern day selfie is something that should be kept simple, it makes the most sense.”

THE CAFETERIA The trendy thing to do nowadays is to take a picture of your food, right? So why not head down to the cafeteria and take a selfie with your mid-day meal. Between the awesome sandwich choices, stir-fry, pastas and various other options, you could almost never run out of foods to selfie with.

ANYWHERE FORESTED The good thing about going to school basically in a forest is the fact that you can step outside anywhere and at least one tree will be close by. I’d say the best pictures are always the ones taken with natural lighting. All that nature makes for a nice background and a lovelier looking photo overall.

All in all, Capilano University is a selfieapproved campus.

Getting tutu technical CLASSIC ROMANTIC BALLET RECREATED IN VIDEO GAME FORM Shandi Shiach × Writer, The Gateway (University of Alberta)

by striking dance poses to select their choice.

Poo Hernandez notes the part of the system that adapts the story to match users’ play styles is inspired by games like the Mass Effect series, and trying to improve upon them. iGiselle joins a growing number of innovative video games in an industry that primarily markets to men.

“Ballet, I guess, stereotypically, tends to attract a more female or feminine audience,” English and Film Studies PhD candidate and dancer Laura Sydora says. “But we want to be able, too, to sort of appeal across gender divides.”

The setting of the game has been adapted into a meta-ballet — students preparing for a production of Giselle.

“I think with all aspects of the game, from the choreography to the narrative to the music, we want the narrative of Giselle to be familiar and also slightly different,” says Sydora. “We’re sort of contemporizing it for a more modern-day setting, but we don’t want to drastically change the essence of the ballet either.”

Stovel hopes to edit a collection of essays under the working title “Creation of iGiselle,” by project participants, to complement her monograph, and to host a colloquium in October

where students and community members may try out the game as an interactive installation.

There’s also talk of maybe releasing iGiselle online, so people can download and play it on their own computer with Kinect game systems.

The project has been supported in part by the University of Alberta Kule Institute for Advanced Study and National Council of Educational Research and Training grants, plus a University of Alberta Killam Small Operating Grant for Stovel to research her monograph, but also offers opportunities to volunteer.

MFA candidate and team member Emilie St. Hilaire said students answered casting calls for voice acting and dancers, and they’re now issuing a call out for general volunteers.

“If people get in touch and want to volunteer, there’s so much basic work right now,” she says.

“Just working with a team is really interesting.

It’s a very long-term project — it’s going to be probably a year and a half total — so you get to know everyone and kind of go through all of this together. It’s pretty cool.”

For updates and the full list of project team members, see Igiselle.ca.

T H E C A P I L A N O C O U R I E R . VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 15

EDMONTON (CUP) — University of Alberta minds — and bodies — have teamed up to create an interactive installation on Microsoft Kinect that challenges users to rewrite the tragic romantic story of Giselle through dance poses.

The game, called iGiselle, is one interdisciplinary facet of a larger project, applying a modern lens to romantic era ballets of the 19th century which typically end in the feminine protagonist’s demise.

“For the game, there’s really two aspects of it,” computer science master’s candidate and iGiselle team member Sergio Poo Hernandez says.

“One is what we’re calling PACE (Player Appraisal Controlling Emotion), which is the project that I’m working on for my master’s thesis, which is how to create narratives interactively (and) adapt the narratives to adapt to players’ emotion. Basically, if the author wants the player to experience a certain level of hope or fear at certain points in the story, matching that with the decisions that players are making.”

Nora Stovel, a professor of English and Film Studies who instigated the project, is trained

as a professional dancer and says her first love is ballet. Her segue into writing about dance and ballet came naturally, and she’s planning a monograph called “Women with Wings: The Romantic Ballerina.”

But her project really took off after a Faculty Club concert dinner at which she was serendipitously seated with Dr. Vadim Bulitko, a colleague from the Department of Computer Science.

“He was working on video games and the whole idea of narrative branching, interactive narrative, and I thought that was really interesting and I started to think, not for the first time, that it would be interesting to be able to change the endings of these ballets,” Stovel says.

“They’re all tragic. Giselle, for example, [in] Swan Lake the ballerina always dies at the end, and I’ve been tempted to take a sort of feminist approach, ideally allowing the woman — the ballerina — some agency, and that would involve allowing her to stay alive. Vadim was quite interested in that possibility too, in terms of a video game.”

As the story of iGiselle unfolds via music, voiceover and images of dancers against changing backgrounds on screen, the Kinect interface requires players to direct each plot turning point

7

art shorts

Follow the Art Shorts team on Twitter @CAPCOURIERLIVE

ANDY RICE ART SHORTS EDITOR MANAGER@CAPCOURIER.COM

LUPE FIASCO TETSUO & YOUTH written by Carlo Javier

Once in a while, the hip-hop community is blessed with a record that so easily shines above the multitude of albums and mixtapes that come out on a regular basis. Lupe Fiasco’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Good Kid, m.A.A.d City are two of such albums that were released in the past five years. The rapper’s fifth studio record, Tetsuo & Youth is the newest entry into rap’s increasing list of modern classics. This album is Fiasco at his finest — he’s focused, carefree and sharp as ever. He foregoes the aggressive and blatant political rapping with smarter allegories and metaphors. In “Dots & Line” he uses geometric terms to take shots at how big name labels can have the tendency to neglect artistic creativity for the sake of radio hits and chart-topping singles. He juxtaposes the lives of an inmate and a correctional officer in “Prisoners 1 & 2” In the near nine-minute mara-

thon, “Mural”, Fiasco exhibits why he’s always been respected as one of rap’s most talented lyricists. Another aspect that truly pushes Tetsuo & Youth into an entirely new ethos is the production work of S1, The Buchanans and DJ Dahi. The predominantly minimalist style allows Fiasco’s voice to shine and the frequent appearance of hip-hop saxophonist Terrace Martin is a constant highlight. Fiasco has had a tumultuous past five years — he’s been through public rifts with his record label, Twitter meltdowns and he has alienated fans with his overtly political views.

However, Tetsuo & Youth marks the return of one of Chicago’s most talented wordsmiths. His shrapnel-laden verses calmly strike every aspect of the American status quo that he so wishes to target and the album’s early 2015 release only creates one problem: the precedent has been set for the rest of hip-hop.

SHRED KELLY SING TO THE NIGHT written by Andy Rice

THE CAPILANO COURIER.

VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 15

Since 2009, Shred Kelly has been pelted relentlessly in the press with puns and analogies pertaining to everything ski. After all, the quintet hails from Fernie, BC where white powder of all varieties remains in high fashion and good supply. It’s certainly tempting to join the trend and come up with a few cheap zingers for this review as well — “Telemarking through a wash of phasers and ambient noise comes the voice of vocalist/banjo player Tim Newton, navigating a slippery melody with keyboardist/vocalist Sage McBride in tow” — but for the sake of a band who’s probably heard it all before, let’s leave that stuff back at the lodge. Sing To The Night is Shred Kelly’s third full-length album. Generally peppy and upbeat, save for a few slower numbers, the record blends the group’s usual folky palate with some new wave synths and electronic effects. But even within the realm of fast-paced rock songs, the band appears to have several notches on their dial, including one that goes to 11. The thrashy piano-pop number “Family Oh Family” registers about a nine on the scale, while the punky “Stereo” offers even more high-

8

voltage intensity. With the exception of a synth outro, “Stuck Between” evokes strong ties to the Buckingham-Nicks era of Fleetwood Mac, and not just vocally either. In fact, the whole band steps into the time machine, with bassist Jordan Vlasshaert channeling John McVie and guitarist Ty West and drummer Ian Page-Shiner taking their best stab at Buckingham and Fleetwood.

While at times Sing To The Night does get a bit predictable and repetitive, “Person of Heart” has all the charisma of delivery of a breakout hit. If it isn’t the band’s radio single of choice for this particular release campaign, it should be. With a strong, sing-able chorus à la Great Big Sea, it’s a solid tune with some refreshing and unpredictable chord progressions. The momentum continues from there with “Move On” and its regal brass-fuelled outro. For the album’s final track, “Eyes Wide Open”, Shred Kelly pulls out all the stops. Fast-paced and complete with banjo picking, snare hits and dozens of animated crescendos, it’s a fitting end to a solid 2015 release.

Shred Kelly will plow their way into Vancouver on March 14 for a show at the Electric Owl.

PUNCH BROTHERS PHOSPHORESCENT BLUES written by Andy Rice Punch Brothers are a five-man bluegrass chamber orchestra from Brooklyn. And not 30 seconds into “Familiarity”, the opening track of The Phosphorescent Blues, it’s abundantly clear that the innovative group is one of the most unique on the global music scene today.

Polyrhythms of prog-rock, dense harmonies of vocal jazz, bouncy guitar of gypsy swing and clearly an admiration for the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds form the main soundscape of the band’s latest work. Produced by the legendary T-Bone Burnett and mixed and mastered to perfection, this new release is perhaps the closest thing to hearing what music sounds like straight from inside the belly of a violin. Chris Thile (vocals/ mandolin), Gabe Witcher (fiddle/violin), Noam Pikelny (banjo), Chris Eldridge (guitar), and Paul Kowert (bass) are instrumental virtuosos in their own right, but with their added vocal harmonies

are a powerhouse worthy of international tours and worldwide acclaim. Highlights include the dead-sexy delivery of a classic drink recipe in “Julep”, the big and bouncy chorus of “I Blew It Off”, the shouty and Bond-esque verses of “Magnet”, and the falsetto-laden country yelping in “Boll Weevil”. On the compositional front, the album even includes two classical cameos

by Debussy and Scriabin, which serve as fitting interludes between tracks. Minimal percussion, mostly done with the slapping of guitar backs and the muting of strings, adds just the right amount of rhythmic reinforcement to the band’s razor-sharp arsenal of musical textures. Factoring in their captivating lyrics, rhythmic variety, and The Phosphorescent Blues becomes a hardto-beat highlight of 2015, even in the first month of the year. Catch them in Vancouver at the Vogue Theatre on Mar. 25 with Gabriel Kahane.

MASTER OF DIGITAL MEDIA INFO SESSION JANUARY 27th

Industry – Focused Graduate Degree Startup Business Support Four Major Canadian Universities Competitive Scholarship Opportunities th NORTHERN WAY TUES / JAN 27 / 6pm / 685 GREAT n REGISTER AT thecdm.ca/info-sessio

a collaboration between

thecdm.ca

Calendar Mo 26

Tu

27

We 28

Th

29

Fr

3O

Su

01

Giving an Oral Presentation Library 119 10 am $ - nerves

F

Giving Good Head Mo 26

The Art of Loving 7:30 pm $35

capilanocourier.com

@capilanocourier

Mo 26

Mayhem and Watain Rickshaw Theatre 7:45 pm $32.50

Movie Mondays My big, comfy bed All day $ - dignity and time

Mo 26

Mo 26

I used to be so bad at public speaking. Admittedly, I’m still not great, but I’m better than the good old days when my face used to go blood red and it looked like I wanted to cry. In my first year, I could have massively benefitted from a workshop like this! And the school puts it on, which is sweet. Maybe Capilano really does love us after all.

Getting erotically educated. Get into it. Apparently this course is supposed to teach you everything you need to know to heighten the pleasure for both you and your partner. But let’s face it, probably more so for your partner. And therefore they should pay for it. Or at least for the majority of it.

I have seen some of my favourite shows at the Rickshaw. They are likely my favourite because I get a little rowdy, think I’m a big girl, and try to mosh or go into that big scary pit of people at the front of the stage. The two times this has happened, I have been knocked down and then helped up by a tall, handsome man who I thanked with a kiss. With these two metal bands, sounds like the perfect scenario for it to happen again.

This Movie Monday is dedicated to my girl Therese, and whatever she wants us to watch. And I think, instead of a movie, she is going to recommend that everyone just binge watch a season of Downton Abbey on Netflix. Apparently, it’s really good, but who knows? Good things can suck too.

CSU All Candidates Forum

Fish Eyes Trilogy

Nucks vs. Ducks

A Conversation About the Future of Pot

CSU Library Lounge 7:30 pm $ - democratic rights

Tu 27

The Cultch 8 pm $19

Tu 27

Rogers Arena 7 pm $ - who even cares?

Tu 27

Frederic Wood Theatre – UBC 7 pm $12

Tu 27

Did y’all know that the CSU is voting on all of their positions? And this is your chance to hear what the candidates have to say about issues that concern you as students. You can ask them about a plethora of issues, like student involvement, financial on-goings, and CSU activities. C’mon guys, get involved!

This is apart of the PuSh Festival, the annual event that tries to inject some culture into the city. This play, written by Anita Majumdar, depicts three teenage girls growing up in Canada. Surely there are a few of us here that can relate to that story. As for the title, I don’t know who can relate to that.

Maybe goldfish?

A note about sports and this paper – we haven’t always gotten along. That is, until we snuck one of Gabe’s friends into a gala event and he was able to mingle under the guise of our Sports Editor. He was so convincing that he now has a job here as a sports columnist. Still won’t make me care about the Canucks though. Nothing will.

Toke up and you’ll likely enjoy this talk a little more. Mark Emery, BC’s most infamous pothead, speaks on his activism, politics and spending time in the slammer for wanting to make weed legal.

Also, it’s been a year since Colorado and Washington legalized – shouldn’t be too much longer for us up here, right?

String Fling Concert

Career + Job Search Tours

Cock Massage Artistry

Rent Cheque

Biltmore Cabaret 7 pm $20

We 28

Vancouver Public Library 2:30 pm $ - desperate desire

We 28

Art of Loving 7:30 pm $40

We 28

The Astoria 10 pm $5

We 28

There was very little description about what this event is or why it’s on for two nights. So I’m going to tell you the best I can: there’s a splattering of performances from a variety of people – Jim Byrnes, Ryan Guldemond and Parker Boddley to name three – and it’s at the Biltmore. That’s what I know. And apparently there will also be some string players. Maybe even wearing g-strings?

We’ll send Carlo and get back to you.

After April, I will be unemployed, yet educated, and I will need a job. Like a big girl job, where you have to wear shoes with slight heels and have to be more appropriate at the staff Christmas parties.

This seminar will teach you how to explore jobs and new career options. Adult life.

I seriously tried everything I could to keep this out of the calendar, but let me tell you, there is absolutely nothing else to do on this Wednesday night in Vancouver. I didn’t want to have an over-sexualized calendar, it just happened. So go out and learn how to give a good hand job. Or just stay home and practice it for free. They also have another event on Tuesday called Backside Love, but that was just too much.

It’s everyone’s favourite stripper night, where anyone can get up on stage, bare some skin, and have the potential to win 500 big ones. Everyone is welcome to try, just so long as you have the courage – or balls – to do so. All genders and bodies are welcome, so their website says. I’ve been once, and gotta say, it’s something that everyone should experience. So go experience strangers’ boobies on stage!

Suit Up!

CSU All Candidates Forum

Bass Drum of Death

Bike Café

CSU Library Lounge 3 pm $ - SWAG

Th 29

CSU Library Lounge 7:30 pm $ - democracy, bitches

Th 29

Fox Cabaret 9 pm $12

Th 29

Tandem Bike Café – 3195 Heather 6 pm $ - a bike ride

Th 29

For handsome Carlo Javier, any excuse to wear a suit is a good excuse. And there is no better excuse than to impress your instructors and get an A++ in SWAGGER. This event is organized by business students, which is odd because most of them saunter to class in yoga pants and UGG boots. Dress to impress, y’all.

The CSU really wants the students to get to know the candidates, and so do we. They are having another All Candidates Forum, where you get to ask them any question you’d like to about student governance and their platforms.

We will be profiling them all next week, where we will likely ask them their favourite flavour of gum. Look out for that too!

If the name of this event – Bass Drum of Death – doesn’t get you excited, I’m going to garner a guess that you are a type that likes to play online crossword puzzles while simultaneously watching reruns of Frasier on the other side of the screen.

Why don’t you let something else toss your salad and scrambled eggs for a night, and check out this ultimate rock party!

Vancouver is a bike friendly city, but even the friendliest things can become friendlier. This is a talk hosted by Chris Bruntlett and talks about ways to make a better bike culture in the city. We at the Courier love bikes. It’s the only reason we can eat all this pizza and still fit through doors.

Of Blossoms + Beaches

City Walls

Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer

Pinata

BlueShore Theatre 11:45 am $ - culture culture

Fr 30

The Imperial 8 pm $14

Fr 30

Millennium Place - Whistler 8 pm $23

Fr 30

Hot Art Wet City Gallery 7 pm $ - donations?

Fr 30

To the untrained, this event sounds like a resurrection of the 90s sitcom Blossom, but this time, it’s set on a beach. But no, this is a part of the Cap Classic Concert series, and features people who can play instruments very well. The only thing I can play that well is the field.

City Walls are a local band, which makes me assume that their name is a reference that they don’t travel much and have been stuck in Vancouver for much of their lives. Of course, I know nothing of their music, leaving me little option but to make witty remarks of their name. Predictable. Anyways, they’re playing with David Newberry and Killing Vogue.

In winter, people like to go to Whistler. They like to strap on a variety of equipment and slide down hills in the cold. Man, Jamaicans must think we are crazy. People in Whistler also like to get drunk and party. And Shawn Hall and Matthew Rogers of Harpoonist and the Axe Murder will put on a show that allows people to do just that. If you’re there, go!

I always get confused when I read synopses about art shows. They make them sound so obscure and interesting. Like the blurb for this starts about talking old movies, sitcoms and soap operas and then ends with “This show features piñatas…” I don’t know how sitcoms parlay into piñatas, but apparently, they do. So yeah, check it out?

The Operators

Bad Suns

Char Bagh

No Kinder Morgan Expansion Benefit

Fox Cabaret 9 pm $15

Sa 31

Electric Owl 8 pm $15

Sa 31

Performance Works – Granville Island 8 pm $27

Sa 31

Biltmore Cabaret 7:30 pm $20

Sa 31

If you missed Therese’s review of The Operators’ new album EPI, let me sum it up for you: she thinks that everyone will love these guys. Even people that aren’t fans of electro music, she is convinced that you will like these guys. So put her theory to the test, and check this out. It’s also my friend Karlyn’s birthday, so that’s more reason to go.

Are people from Los Angles cool? I’ve never met anyone from there, and people in movies always mock them, so I would like an objective opinion.

This show is my opportunity, as this band is from LA and apparently they are pretty good – that opinion I got from their band page, so I’m sure it’s biased. They’re touring to promote their new album, Language & Perspective. Maybe it will give me perspective on LA folks!

This sounds like quite the collection of things that maybe should never been collected together. Part of the PuSH Festival, this show features a hip hop artist with a “social conscience”, a graffiti artist and another guy who likes broken English – eclectic, I told you. Then it is all followed by a dance party, so that’s cool, if you like random shit.

Presented by Sudden Death Records, this is a benefit show to raise money for the legal defense for the protesters against Kinder Morgan. This is a cool place to spend $20 – instead of spending $20 to impress a potential lover, use it to support a bunch of earth lovers who are standing up against a good cause. No brainer.

Super Bowl Sunday

The Taming of the Shrew

Commercial Drive Brunch Crawl

The Romantic Symphony

‘Merica All Fucking Day Long $ - cable & dignity

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People go apeshit for the Super Bowl. It’s massive, with one ticket in the UPPER bowl costing at least $2,000. There are so many things that you could do with $2,000 that would be more beneficial than watching two teams of men wear skin tight clothing and feel each other up. Anyways, give in to peer pressure, get drunk early, and yell at your TV all day while stuffing your face. It’s what the cool kids are doing.

Vancity Theatre 2:45 pm $15

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Apparently there is a whole film series dedicated to Shakespeare, and this is part of it. Old Willie was said to have wrote it between 1590 and 1592, which is a long time ago. For the plot, I don’t know much about it except that the 90s film 10 Things I Hate About You is based on the play, and my teenage self really loved that film. And Heath Ledger.

Famoso Pizzeria 10 am $40

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This is another breakfast outing, which is everyone’s favourite meal. I love breakfast so much that I demanded Therese and Cheryl make me pancakes and eggs at 4 am, and they did, while singing Bruno Mars. This event gets you a “passport” where you can try a variety of good breakfast foods all up and down the drive. To me, it’s the perfect date. Are you listening, gentlemen?

Orpheum Theatre 2 pm $20 +

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It’s the season of lovvvvvvvve with Valentine’s Day just around the corner, so this symphony is an ode to everything romantic. Bramwell Tovey (cool name, dude) conducts the VSO in some classical old love songs. Oh man, our grandmothers were serenaded by this – I’m impressed when I guy can remember all the lyrics to “Baby Got Back”. The good old days.

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FEATURES

FAYE ALEXANDER FEATURES EDITOR

After a long day of work and play, we drift to sleep and unknowingly enter the world of dreams. Dreams are one of the many mysteries of humankind, one that has baffled scientists and inspired philosophers and creative minds for as long as we have been conscious enough to dissect them. The process of dreaming and dreams themselves has been opened up to every possible interpretation. However, like most of our unsolved mysteries, people will not be satisfied until we can better understand the abstract and make sense of the unknowable.

Dreams are hard to define in any one way. They are any subconscious collaboration of images and emotions experienced during sleep. While many may not always be able to recall their dreams, they are always there, happening just beyond our conscious reach. From the immensely vivid to the haunting, the confusing to the easily interpreted, they are a reflection of the unconscious mind. It has been estimated that more than two hours of sleep cycles every night are spent dreaming or in a dreamlike state. It’s a world unique to each individual, something we share with only ourselves.

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DRIFTING TO DREAMLAND

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It’s still a mystery why humans and other animals sleep. “The most recognized theories suggests it has to do with memory consolidation to benefit other physiological or neural functions,” says Dr. Najib Ayas, a Vancouver-based specialist in sleep disorders, “But sleep is also considered a good way to increase efficiency, for example animals’ sleep cycles are affected by when it is good to hunt or gather, the risk of accidents go down significantly when you’re sleeping.” Throughout the day, the human body accumulates adenosine, a natural compound, throughout the waking hours, which calls the body back towards the desire to sleep. Breathing slows, heart rates gradually drop, and the body relaxes and drifts into darkness. “Neuroscientists are still struggling to fully understand the mechanisms the brain uses to switch from a state of wakefulness to unconscious sleep,” says Dr. Ayas, “But that transition isn’t just like flipping a light switch, it’s a much more arduous process.” Within 90 minutes, when a doze becomes deeper, people switch to the rapid eye movement (REM) sleep cycle. The pupils begin to dart rapidly behind the eyelid and in the REM cycle, the body remains nearly perfectly still – paralyzed for a brief time – though the brain is just as active while asleep as when fully awake.

That is where the most vivid dreams happen.

Eluding expert explanation, researchers have spent years examining brain activity during sleep cycles while psychologists scrutinize dream journals and attempt to coax out the hidden meaning of the dreams people do remember in their wakened states. So what exactly is it — meaningless images recycled through the mind as the body lies demobilized as scientists would have you believe, or is there a deeper significance to the dreams we see in our minds as psychologists would propose?

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

SCIENCE OF SLEEP

CONTROL CENTRE

“Scientists have still not been able to decode why it is that some people can remember their dreams, while others rarely do. Researchers have used electroencephalography to record electrical activity,” explains Dr. Ayas, “They measured brain activity both with subjects wide awake and with them in deep sleep. They found about half of the participants could recall their dreams nearly every day, while the second half could only remember one or two a month.” Surprisingly, those who are able to recall their dreams on a more regular basis wake up more frequently in the night, which could mean that they are more sensitive to sound, which impacts their dreams and experiences in REM. However, science is quick to consider dreams as a side-effect to the REM sleep cycle. “This deep stage of sleep is considered to serve several functions, such as resting certain parts of the brain as well as replenishing brain chemicals like neurotransmitters,” says Dr. Ayas “It doesn’t necessarily matter what the content of dreams are from a scientific standpoint, what is important is that dreams demonstrate that the brain is active.” However, Deirdre Barrett, a psychologist at Harvard University, has spent years developing her theory on dreaming which sets out to prove that dreams boost our ability to learn and problem solve. “A theory to explain dreams, or any human behaviour for that matter, needs to take into account evolution,” explained Barrett to Scientific American, “Many early theories of dreaming either didn’t address evolution at all or downright contradicted it.”

In Barrett’s opinion, evolution is not wasteful and things always evolve with a purpose, meaning that dreams must, in fact, serve a higher function. “The longer something has existed during evolutionary history, the likelier it is to have other functions overlaid on it,” she said, “I think that dreams and REM sleep have probably further evolved to be useful for really as many of the things that our thinking is useful for. It’s extra thinking time in the state that’s very visual and looser in associations, so we’ve evolved to use it especially to work on those kinds of problems.”

Therefore, some would conclude that dreaming and learning are directly attached to one another and it offers insight as to why humans are drawn to sleep and dream. People spend a third of their lives sleeping, leading experts to believe that our time spent in dreamlike states are used as opportunities for people to problem solve and combine both new information and past experiences.

“The human brain is a magnificent thing,” says Dr. Ayas, “It can take learning in one area and apply it to another, so theoretically that could be why sleeping and dreaming is so imperative to our level of complex understanding.”

As technology has evolved, so has our ability to dream. At Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton, psychology professor Jayne Gackenbach has been sculpting her theory that modern day men and women who were raised on video games are changing the spectrum of dreams altogether, and their ability to control them. Albeit while dreams do occur biologically in the human mind, Gackenbach is trying to create a tie between the

DREAM ON DELVING BEYOND THE CONSCIOUS WORLD FAYE ALEXANDER

KSENIA KOZHEVNIKOVA

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alternate realities we experience in dreams and the alternate realities that we can turn on with an Xbox. “Gamers are used to controlling their game environments, so that can translate into dreams,” Gackenbach hypothesized at the sixth annual Games for Health Conference held in Boston last year.

Greg Cheffins, an avid gamer and carpenter in Vancouver, stands by Gackenbach’s theory. "I can recall gaming affecting myself on several occasions, back in high school when I was addicted to a video game. On days where I spent more of my waking time in the game world than in the real world with 14-hour gaming sessions, I would

"Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives."

- William Dement

dream as if I was my in-game character, rather than myself,” explains Cheffins, “The idea of controlling myself externally seemed more natural, and being tuned into the idea of what you were experiencing being a construct.”

Lucid dreaming is defined as experiences during the REM sleep cycle where the dreamer is conscious enough to realize what it is they are dreaming and can freely remember circumstances of waking life, experiencing a dream that feels vividly real.

In contrast to our nightly dreams, lucid dreaming is also unique because it involves true volition and reflective awareness. “I was suffering from night terrors, reoccurring nightmares that would wake me up in a panic. Giant spiders, I think. I realized I could control the dream, and that I was dreaming to an extent. Manifested a giant can of bug spray and killed the spider. Celebrated, then spent the rest of the dream having fun, flying around,” says Cheffin, illustrating Gackenbach’s theory.

In Gackenbach’s studies, she revealed parallels between lucid dreams and video games; both lucid dreamers and gamers had better spatial skills and were less prone to motion sickness. Both groups had higher levels of concentration, and it was found that these two groups were able to “more actively influence or change their dream worlds."

In a 2008 study conducted by Gackenbach, she reported that regular gamers are more likely to have lucid dreams than the rest of the general public.

“Video game play increases lucidity because game play encourages absorption as well as enhanced reaction time, attention span, spatial skills and problem solving skills,” reads the study, Dreaming. Considering how media-assisted activities have become regular fare for youth today, perhaps the millennial generation are amongst the most vivid and lucid dreamers.

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER

MEANING IN THE MIST While science has been able to shed light on how dreams are related to brain functioning, it is still in the hands of psychologists to continue to better understand the reasons behind why we have them.

“Examining dreams is really a matter of connecting the dots. It’s about understanding the associations in dreams to the patient’s current conflicts.

Most of the time it’s purely emotional,” explains Dr. Joy. “There are still a lot of beliefs that certain objects in dreams hold fixed meanings but I don’t necessarily think that is always the case. There are tons of books available on dream interpretation that put their spin on some of the common dreams many of us share, like flying, falling or losing the ability to speak.”

Common dreams have been deeply interpreted time and time again to help people better understand why we do share common recurring dreams.

Falling down in a dream is believed to be associated with having a major life problem with work or relationships, while the nightmare of showing up in public fully nude represents vulnerability and anxiety and is common to individuals about to start a new job or new school. Dream experts continue to interpret our dreams, but many professionals continue to disagree on meaning and symbolism in the unconscious with no empirical evidence to go on. “If you dream that your partner is being unfaithful to you, it’s likely you’ve noticed they just aren’t spending enough time with you or doing things that don’t involve you,” says Dr. Joy, “Not every popular dream is complicated. When you break it down, dream interpretations can be quite obvious once you talk them out or write them down.”

Freud believed that in order to work properly with the unconscious, a psychotherapist should be well-educated in literature, history, art, music and religion as well as psychological training. “Dreaming is non-essential when it comes to survival as a body, but is essential with regard to our development and evolution as metaphysical beings,” explained Jeffrey Sumber, a psychotherapist who studied the Jungian dream interpretation, in an interview with Pyschology Today, “Dreams are the bridge that slows movement back and forth between what we think we now and what we really know.” Dream analysis is the key component in the process of becoming a whole person and, whether self-analyzing or taking on an expert opinion, is imperative to a deeper understanding of ourselves.

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Dreams are considered some of the rawest material of the human psyche. Famed psychologist Sigmund Freud revolutionized the study of dreams in his work The Interpretation of Dreams originally published in 1899. Freud began to analyze dreams as a tool to help decode aspects of personality.

Freud believed that human urges and impulses were released through dreams, an unchartered world, and studied their contents hoping to uncover a symbolic language. In his theory of dreams, with no limitations in dreamlike states and unaffected by societal norms, dreams had the ability to reveal hidden desires centred around our primal impulses, urges and wish fulfillment. Dreams, in Freud’s eyes, were attempts by the subconscious to solve a conflict.

Freud’s theory is still widely debated by psychologists today and challenged by the scientific community. Psychology professor William Domhoff, from the University of California, has disputed the method of dream analysis. “Waking questionnaires have nothing to do with what people actually dream about,” explained Domhoff in an interview with LiveScience, “There is no manner to accurately measure dream content, rather this method of studying dreams only reflects what people believed they dreamt about once they were awake.” Meaning, researchers are missing a large part of the puzzle.

“Emotions in dreams can be much stronger than the emotions in waking life. If you do dream about killing, look at your aggressive emotions in waking life,” says Michael Schredl, a dream researcher attempting to prove a correlation between dreams and personality traits. His study conducted by the Central Institute of Mental Health’s sleep laboratory in Mannheim, Germany concluded that dreams are often “an amplification of what happens during waking life.” After surveying 443 university students, examining the types of dreams the subjects had and taking into account their character traits. As an example, if a person kills someone in their dream, in their waking life they

are more likely to be aggressive. But, as Domhoff argues, it is hard to fully analyze dreams that we do not always remember.

Therapists today continue to interpret dreams to gain insight into their patients’ psyche. Using modern dream analysis, therapists hope to use the content of remembered dreams to create healing strategies for emotional or psychological problems.

“Even the way a patient verbalizes a dream and interprets it out loud can be therapeutic. There usually is a reason we dream the dreams we do, it’s just a matter of uncovering it. Think about it this way: it’s impossible to really describe the jumble of images that you perceived while you were sleeping, so all you can do is put that dream into words in an attempt to describe your experience – so you’re not talking about the dream, you’re talking about your perception,” says Dr. Leslie Joy, a psychologist with a private practice working in Vancouver.

The focus of dream analysis in psychology is not the dream itself, the focus is on peoples’ own interpretations which brings together the conscious and unconscious thought process. “With therapy, and talking through our dreams, people are able to make a connection between the images in their head and their real life experiences. Sometimes it can trigger memories from past experiences, and then the question becomes ‘why does that memory still resonate? How does that effect you today?’” says Dr. Joy.

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FEATURES

FAYE ALEXANDER FEATURES EDITOR

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

THE PRODUCERS A PEEK INSIDE THE BACK END OF TELEVISION LAUREN SUNDSTROM WORDS

IN THE DOOR “I am currently in journalism school and it was always sort of encouraged to go in that direction by family, since I have an aunt in production and my grandfather was a sportscaster. BCIT is really great for providing internships, so I ended up at Force Four because of a placement I requested” says Laura Taylor, a second year Broadcast Journalism student at BCIT, “As long as you're doing a degree related to journalism or filmmaking, it's not especially difficult to get an internship locally.” Simply searching online for internships in production will bring in a variety of opportunities locally both in television and film, given Vancouver’s powerful movie industry.

Television producers are responsible for putting together the final product for air that viewers tune into each week. Overseeing all aspects of video production, conceiving new ideas for programs, examining budgets and pitching new ideas to networks are all facets of working behind the scenes in television. It’s a fastpaced environment with opportunities to grow.

“I offered to do any job no matter how small when I started, just to get my foot in the door.

I ended up being hired as the assistant director for season one of Real Housewives of Vancouver and then moved up to be the talent producer for season two,” explains Gauthier.

For interns getting a taste of work life in a production company, no two days are ever the same. “For interns, we just do whatever the producers need us to do. It varies from day-

to-day. I've edited call sheets, bought props, created script selections, called people for auditions — you get a taste of everything, which is really fun. Next, I'll be getting my first set days in at the end of the month,” says Taylor.

“One of the great aspects of the job is being surrounded by talent and learning the inner workings of how TV is made. It's much more ‘grassroots’ than you'd think; if the show is unknown, we hit the pavement to spread the word,” explains Taylor, who recently took to the SFU campus to recruit for Tricked, an upcoming prank show airing on YTV, “For me, just having my foot in the door is exciting and the potential opportunities that come with it.

Who knows what the future holds?”

Working for a production company requires a wide skill set and a knack for communications. There are many different levels of responsibilities from the office to the set, but there are no specific education requirements, although a bachelor’s degree does help. “In my experience this type of career appeals to creative, over-thinkers who like to swear and can laugh through the tears,” says Gauthier, “People who are solution driven and will put in long hours because they have a real passion to make a quality product. You can get your foot in the door through your internships and if you prove yourself to be a valuable resource you will be remembered.”

“I'd say creative people who are proficient writers are attracted to this field. It's very creative and ideas are tossed around all the time — it's a fabulous atmosphere,” agrees Taylor.

With unpaid internships accessible in Vancouver, the greatest way to secure a paying posi-

tion is making the best impression you can in a competitive field. “Getting the internship isn't a big concern, but doing a great job and leaving an impression on the producers is what matters. You'll only get a job if you're good and a hard worker,” explains Taylor.

Taylor has recently begun helping with the upcoming season of First Dates Canada, which airs on Slice Network and has been calling successful applicants to inform them they’ve been accepted for the program, “I'm currently working on two shows: Tricked, which is essentially a kids version of Punk'd that will air on YTV and another one called First Dates Canada, where we set up a restaurant full of singles on first dates. It's really interesting, First Dates in particular. People are so excited to hear that you have a potential match for them; who doesn't love love?” says Taylor.

“Each show has its own set of criteria, I've never had the same job twice it seems. I've had the opportunity to help write the bible for a few shows because we were making them for the first time. This has both its negatives and positives, you get to set the structure and make the rules but you also have to answer for the failures,” says Gauthier, “For example, on the show I'm currently casting I'm working with hidden cameras for the first time and that presents a whole set of new challenges. We had to create a fake research company in order to cast unsuspecting people.”

Be creative, stay organized and work well under pressure is what Gauthier advises for finding success behind the scenes. “Producers play a really important role in the television, film and video industries but the audience never sees you,” says Gauthier, “You get to be the boss of a television program, essentially. We’re the people keeping the projects rolling, make sure that shooting goes as smoothly as possible and offer up our creativity. I’ll never stop being excited about this job because it changes every day.”

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“I ended up in production through a combination of luck and hard work. I was working in the music business, touring as a production assistant when I met an executive producer from the scripted world. He mentioned that he was taking a hiatus from scripted to work on the first season of The Real Housewives of Vancouver and I was all in,” says Leah Gauthier, a producer with Vancouver production company Force Four Entertainment. With offices in both Vancouver and Toronto, the production company has quickly become one of the country’s leading television production companies.

Responsible for notable titles like Border Security: Canada’s Front Line, The Real Housewives of Vancouver and The Bachelor Canada,Force Four has garnered accolades both nationally with 10 Gemini awards, and internationally after winning the Peabody Award For Significant and Meritorious Achievement in Broadcasting. Producing both scripted series such as Seed and reality television series’, work is never dull for producers who are constantly challenging themselves to stay on trend in the spectrum of ever-changing media.

Vancouver is home to a multitude of production companies, including All Over Media, DHC Media LTD and Make Believe Media, among many more, and their productions are just as diverse. However, there is still a downward trend for Canadian content and domestic productions – but that has propelled local production companies like Force Four to push out new and exciting programs that will gain viewership both in Canada and abroad.

“My job is exciting because it's not so structured and lets me be creative, it also attracts other creative people. I'm always blown away by the talent I get to work with every day,” explains Gauthier, “Working on Real Housewives was an

amazing learning experience. Lark Productions is run by exceptional people who recognize talent and potential. I was very green to television when I started with them and they really helped foster my growth and gave me opportunities to challenge myself.”

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THE COURIER’S FAVOURITE SHOWS ANDY PALMQUIST BOB’S BURGERS REASON: LOVES BURGERS

THERESE GUIEB DOWNTON ABBEY REASON: BRITISH ACCENT ENVY

FAYE ALEXANDER THE BACHELOR REASON: SHEER DESPERATION

CARLO JAVIER COMMUNITY REASON: IT’S JUST LIKE CAP

LEAH SCHEITEL SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE REASON: SHE THINKS SHE’S FUNNY

ANDY RICE BROOKLYN NINE NINE REASON: MORE REAL THAN ‘COPS’

ALVA TEE FRIENDS REASON: NEEDS MORE FRIENDS

GABRIEL SCORGIE CALIFORNIACATION REASON: LOVED THE X-FILES

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opinions

GABRIEL SCORGIE OPINIONS EDITOR

OPINIONS@CAPILANOCOURIER.COM

SPOIL the oil WHAT'S MOST ALARMING ABOUT THE FALL IN OIL PRICES Leah Scheitel × Editor-in-Chief Gas prices are a current driving hazard. Drivers do a double take when they drive past a gas station just to make sure that they aren’t dreaming: gas prices in Vancouver have dropped below a dollar for the first time since 2009.

Even if you don’t read the news, it has been hard not to notice the fall in oil and gas prices.

And to some, this seems like a good thing, as its most noticeable benefit is that it doesn’t hurt to fill up at the gas station. However, to many Canadians, this is disastrous. Canada is a resource-based economy, meaning we rely heavily on the exporting of our natural resources to make money and keep people employed. And the resource we like to ship out of here the most is that good old slimy Canadian oil.

This argument is two sided, so first let’s talk about the pitfalls, because they are plentiful.

The fall in the price of oil affects Alberta the most, as they host the majority of the tar sands and large oil corporations in their province.

The tumble in oil prices has caused the province to fall six billion dollars short on their

budget. That’s not something easily made up.

Jim Prentice, Alberta’s premier, has said that the province is looking at every option. They are even thinking of implementing a provincial sales tax, which is something they never had to do before, and something that the majority of Albertans don’t want.

So how does this affect BC, right? We get to enjoy the cheap gas prices while reading the headlines and feeling a slight sense of joy that the Albertans are finally getting theirs when it comes to taxes. While BC does rely heavily on resource extraction — mainly forestry and lumber — we also have an active tourism economy.

Many families make their living from tourism, and in the winter, the most popular tourists are the ones from our neighbouring province who want to enjoy our mountains, drink our beer and employ our finest weed dealers.

Without Alberta oil money trickling into our province through tourists, we will see the wallets tighten across BC, likely only furthering the problem through an economic contraction.

Sure, we may get to enjoy the cheap gas prices, but unless the price of milk, groceries and alcohol also falls, we will probably be just as miserable about the sour price of oil.

The drop in oil is felt in every crevasse and crotch of Canada because it affects the Federal government. Our Finance Minister, Joe Oliver, postponed announcing the 2015 federal budget due to concerns about market volatility. He even quoted Yogi Berra when explaining the problem.

"As the great Yogi Berra once said, 'I wish I had an answer, because I’m tired of answering the question.' That said, given the current market instability, I will not bring forward our budget earlier than April. We need all the information we can obtain before finalizing our decisions,” he reported on Jan. 15.

The reason he is using Yogi Berra to shy away from a question, and the reason he is postponing the budget is simply because the effects of the drop in oil aren’t known yet. They are complex, layered, intricate, and onion-like – just like anything that has a large effect on a large country.

However, there is an upside to this situation, if you’re one of those that like to learn lessons from punishment; our federal government is notorious for being assholes to the environment.

They are stifling scientists, ignoring expert warnings, snubbing public opinion, and just being right jerks about it. Harper didn’t even go to the G8 summit in New York about climate change,

but Leonardo DiCaprio did. Why can’t our Prime Minister, whose job it is to attend these things, go, while an actor whose only mission is to win an Oscar can?

This intense instability on our beloved exports should come as a warning: maybe we should find another industry to depend on. Maybe instead of needing oil and gas to make ends meets, we can invest in something safer and more current.

Look at the trends – most countries worldwide are looking at climate change as a huge issue.

Instead of neglecting that issue and continuing to export this greasy shit, why couldn’t we become the leading experts in how to slow climate change, or solar energy? It’s something that all countries are going to need within three decades, and therefore, it’s something that will be more stable as the desire for oil continues to plummet.

Granted, the second argument is an ideal one, bred from a West Coast hippie, but that doesn’t mean it should hold less value. Think about this: oil prices – and stock prices for that matter – fluctuate for a plethora of reasons. Maybe that reason is people just really want to find an alternative to oil, and soon. Let's at least start looking at other options.

A slaughter in salmon THE NITTY GRITTY OF THE COYOTE + WOLF DERBY Faye Alexander

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× Features Editor

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The quaint county town of Salmon, Idaho lies just beyond the white waters of the Salmon River. With a population of roughly 3,000 people, Salmon basks in the shadows of mild mountains and chances are you’ve never been propelled to visit, and even more likely, this is the first you’ve heard of it. Yet, the town has wriggled its way to the top of headlines in publications such as Newsweek, Vice and USA Today over the past year following the town’s first annual Coyote Derby in December 2013.

“Coyote Derby” may initially bring to mind a large dirt track with coyotes racing around in laps to the tune of “Benny Hill”, watched by locals hooting and hollering for the ultimate scams, but the reality is far less endearing. Idaho for Wildlife introduced the Coyote & Wolf Derby, advertising the event as a great way for families to spend time with their children over holiday break, and bond through the time-old tradition of hunting, more specifically, gunning down and killing as many coyotes and wolves as possible. Nothing says ‘Christmas’ quite like rounding up the young’uns and handing out the shotguns. But Organizer and Executive Director of Idaho for Wildlife, Steve Alder, states that slaying wolves and coyotes is to control predator populations while teaching families hunting and survival skills – and if there is one thing that has been deeply ingrained in American culture time and time again, it’s that guns are imperative to survival, especially with kids.

Offering two $1,000 prizes for most coyotes killed and largest wolf taken down is the highlight of the event. Youth hunters as young as 10 years old are encouraged to attend alongside a parent or adult in tow. The event has special prizes just for kids who come out to join the slaughter. Albeit children do need an adult to

× Ekaterina Aristova part-take, creating an annual event in hopes of ‘bringing families together’ by putting firearms in the hands of children is the gateway to youth gun violence, which has plagued US headlines since the 2002 Columbine shooting. Massacres at Sandy Hook and more school shootings has yet to deter gun enthusiasts from keeping weapons away from kids – in fact, the response has widely been to protect gun rights and those who wield them. Events that promote gun use among youth are just another part of the problem still unresolved in the US. The derby was created in response to a feeling of “hopelessness of local people,” according to Idaho for Wildlife’s website. The rural area is home to many farmlands with residents who largely consider coyotes and wolves a nuisance to their livestock and the local elk population.

So with the backing of local ranchers, Alder was able to find the support within the community to propel the killing forward. This year, over 125

hunters funneled in to Salmon, and the derby has bolstered tourism for the small town.

Animal rights activists have flooded Salmon in protest of the derby. Wolves, a large natural predator, are protected in many areas. Although coyotes are in the clear and may be hunted year round, licensed hunters are only permitted to take down five wolves a season running through the winter months. Despite best efforts to take down wolves, with their sought after pelts going for upwards of $600, this past derby no hunters were able to kill themselves a wolf – but two dozen coyotes were caught in the crossfire. “Rewarding shooters, including children, with prizes takes us back to an earlier era of wanton killing that so many of us thought was an ugly, ignorant and closed chapter in our history,” explain Lisa Kauffman, Idaho state director for the Humane Society, in an interview with Newsweek. In truth, this is the first derby of its kind in the US since 1974. With pressure from activists and advocacy

groups pushing down on Salmon, the location of the hunt and registration site have been shrouded in secrecy to protect hunters and their families.

Earlier in the year, Idaho for Wildlife was granted permission to include land controlled by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) but later withdrew the permit following two major lawsuits brought on by environmental groups.

BLM received over 50,000 complaints when word of the derby hit mainstream media – but the issue goes far beyond the surface of animal rights. When gleaming over Idaho for Wildlife’s website, aside from the promotion of the event and propaganda against wolves and coyotes, there is a clear message looming directly at the top of the page: “To protect Idaho’s hunting and fishing heritage. To fight against all legal and legislative attempts by the animal rights and anti-gun organizations who are attempting to take away our rights and freedoms under the constitution of the United States of America.” Oh right – gun control again.

When the issue of gun control gets thrown on the table, easily overshadowing animal rights and the heinous slaughter of predatory animals, thousands crawl out of the woodwork to protect their rights to bear arms and pronounce their adoration of the Fourth Amendment. And that’s the American way. As long as you hide behind the Fourth Amendment and turn criticisms of the derby into an attack on gun control, the conversation is instantly diverted. No matter how many activists and animal advocates protest and file complaints with BLM or Wildlife for Idaho, it’s a threat to what the hunters value most – their God-given right to shoot, their children’s right to aim a gun, and kill whatever creature crosses the way of their firearm. It’s likely that the derby will continue, and until gun control is addressed responsibly in the US – coyotes and wolves will continue to bleed out in the snow.

opinions

crazy canadians THE MUNDANE LAWS THAT KEEP AMUSMENT IN CHECK Christine Beyleveldt × Writer

WEIRD LAWS OF CANADA 1. In Quesnel BC, you aren’t allowed to exercise in a manner that frightens a horse without the horse’s permission. Because really, that’s just rude.

2. One of Esquimalt's first bylaws prohibited the throwing of snowballs within city limits. Kids there throw rocks instead.

3. It's illegal to set fire to the wooden leg of a wooden-legged person in Alberta. Feel free to set fire to any other part of them though.

4. It was the law that when a prisoner was released from jail that he would be given a gun and horse to ride out of city. We tried to get a prison guard from Alberta to comment on this. Couldn’t find any.

5. On Sunday, people in Toronto are no longer allowed to drag their dead horse down Yonge street. Whether or not other streets are fair play is unknown.

× Cristian Fowlie

Moving away from illegal winter sports in a country that is basically trapped in an eternal winter, perhaps the most absurd is Vancouver’s bylaw against doorknobs. What do our politicians have against doorknobs? Are homes supposed to have thumbprint access and voice recognition like the ones in Back to the Future Part II? As of early 2014, the new adaptable housing bylaw issued by Vancouver City Council introduced a number of mandatory changes, including the expansion of staircases, relocation of electrical outlets, and the reinforcement of bathroom walls. Forget the bathrooms, if any housing complexes need reinforced walls, those would be residence halls on university campuses across the country. But it was the ban on doorknobs that turned a few noses up.

City Council’s reasoning behind the death of the doorknob was all in a vain effort to protect the weak thumb joints of those unable to turn

them. “Doorknobs are usually dated and ugly, and we’re happy to change them,” said Jason Scheide, the owner of locksmith company Spadina Security in an interview with CTV, also adding that in terms of decorative value, levers are far classier than doorknobs.

To some degree, even the redundant bylaws serve a purpose to keep society safe for the youth. But the bottom line is that laws have gone in completely the opposite direction. How many times have you heard one of your parent’s tell you that when they were a child they rode to the supermarket standing on the backseat with their head out the sunroof of the car? Kids these days should just strap on their helmets without complaint. It’s about time everybody started taking some responsibility, maybe then we would all be allowed to take our toboggans down the slopes again.

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6. In Ontario, stealing a soldier’s socks used to earn you a death sentence. Don’t worry, now it’s just life in prison.

7. In Fredericton NB people aren’t allowed to wear their pet snakes on their shoulder as a fashion accessory unless it’s in a container.

8. If you’re ever driving through Saint John's, NL, and you notice that there’s an abnormal amount of cows on the street, don’t panic; it’s only because they aren’t allowed in the house.

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It’s quite typical, being Canadians, to want to mock our neighbours to the south regarding their insistence on retaining old laws about gun use that date back to the time of the revolution.

What really takes the cake, however, is that Canadian politicians can be just as full of hot air. For example, Alberta businesses are legally required to provide rails outside of their storefronts for hitching horses. The people of Petrolia, Ontario are perhaps the only Canadians with a true claim to feel the plight of Leonard Hofstadter from The Big Bang Theory, seeing as they are faced with a ban on whistling. It might be time for provincial governments to review the tomes gathering dust at the back of the Parliamentary Library.

As a child, you might remember grabbing one of your mother’s tin cookie pans before skipping out the front door when the first snow of the season fell, plonking yourself down on its cold metal surface and giggling with joy as you slid down the slope of your icy driveway into a pile of fresh powder. It kept you entertained and out of your parents' hair for whole afternoons at a time. Those days don’t exist for the poor generation of children in Ontario’s suburbs who face a fine of up to $5,000 if they are caught tobogganing. The problem is that more and more people are either seeking compensation for their own stupidity or are becoming paranoid about the safety of their children.

“Those of us of a certain age grew up hitting the hills every winter without a thought as to liability and risk exposure,” said John McLennan, a worker at Risk Management Services in Hamilton, Ontario in an interview with the CBC, “In fact, most of us sought out the steepest, fastest hills.” Only two years ago, the city of Hamilton was forced to pay out nearly a million dollars in compensation to a man who injured his spine in a toboggan crash a decade ago. “It’s your fault. You accept that risk,” argued Hamilton resident Laura Cole, “I think we should all accept that risk if we so chose.”

While there is a legitimate concern for the injuries that can be caused by an uncontrollable toboggan, the town of Souris, PEI might be getting a bit ahead of themselves on the note of banning winter pastimes with the introduction of a bylaw that prohibits snowmen. Some municipal politician must have been severely traumatized by Frosty as a child to turn into such a killjoy.

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columns

LEAH SCHEITEL COLUMNS EDITOR

EDITOR@CAPILANOCOURIER.COM

the shape of things to come ENJOY YOUR DRONES WHILE YOU STILL CAN

James Martin × Columnist

Flying miniature remote-controlled helicopters used to be just an expensive and often disappointing hobby. In the past couple of years, however, advances in the technologies behind unmanned flying vehicles have granted drones a huge surge in popularity by making them powerful enough, stable enough, and — most importantly — cheap enough to be put to practical use as more than just a curious toy. The continued development and proliferation of drones holds a lots of interesting and useful promise, but like any other powerful tool drones also have the potential to cause a lot of harm with the wrong person behind the controls. The coming decade will see drones’ roles in public spaces both expanded and restricted in various contexts as increased technical capabilities are met by new regulations seeking to balance their usefulness with the potential harm they could cause when misused.

The current generation of rotorcraft drones is perhaps best known for the new types of video

a tale of two cities STEPPING INTO THE BUSH

THE CAPILANO COURIER.

VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 15

× Columnist

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× Megan Collinson

Joe Louis

Joe Louis has gotten around. Born in Toronto, bred in Seattle, and living in the city, he has weaved through many cities and experiences. Because of this, he is a fan of long walks and hip-hop music, and has a slight penchant for challenging authority.

His column will explore how life can transfer into the classroom, and with any luck, how the classroom can relate back to daily life.

“You’re in!” read the text I had been dreading for a month, hanging in limbo between going back to university for the summer and getting a job as a tree planter. The message was from my cousin Thomas, whom I barely knew at the time, aside from the odd family gathering of rowdy and opinionated discussions. He had provided me a recommendation and sent word to the supervisor, leading to a short interview followed by an endless wait. It was debatable whether she wanted to add another “rookie” on the “veteran” tree planting crew that would assemble in 70 Mile, BC for the start of the season. Thomas sounded excited over the phone, telling me that someone had injured herself, not that that didn’t sound scary. This left an opening in the crew and I had a job if I could get my gear and my ass up to 70 Mile in three days time.

I paced around in circles on my friend’s patio in Burnaby, looking out at the beautiful Van-

couver view, a nervous twitch slowly developing in the hand that gripped my cell phone.

The message on the screen read: “Pack your stuff and meet at camp on Monday.” I gripped the railing with my other hand letting the cigarette ash drift lazily down to the street below.

The smoke clung to the railing momentarily before being swept out into the open air by a gust of wind. In that moment, I was the smoke, clinging on for dear life before being thrown into a turbulent and unknown world.

Over the next three months I would hurl myself into the Canadian wilderness with Nova Scotians, wild westerners and fierce Canadian women. Thomas was encouraging, trying to pump my tires, reassuring me it would be a blast and reminding me about his plans to pack up his massive tower speakers, a canoe, geodesic dome and other toys that would accompany him to the camp in his Mitsubishi Delica. I stood star-

× Taylor Lee

As a long time Courier contributor, we like to think that we know James Martin. He is talented with instruments, and likes any coffee that is right in front of him. His primary hobby is building spaceships for little green men, and dreaming of the world they would live in. It’s because of this hobby that he is able to write about the future of technology, which is what his column is dedicated to.

perspectives they can shoot from. Dazzling footage filmed right in the middle of a fireworks display probably tops the list of amazing shots this technology makes possible, but these flying camera craft have also become very popular tools in more traditional roles at sporting events and television productions. However, the applications of camera-equipped drones go well beyond the realm of entertainment. For example, drones could play a major role in future search and rescue operations if regulations in the United States and Canada were changed to allow such use. For only a small fraction of what it would cost to use a helicopter, a drone could rapidly travel over impassible terrain, survey an area with an infrared camera from high in the sky, or explore an environment too risky to send people into. Similarly, drones will see expanded use by border guards and other security officials, cheaply keeping an eye in the sky open for trespassers, smugglers, and anyone else trying to sneak into places they shouldn’t be. Of course, these capabilities also open the door to misuse. A mobile flying video camera is a dream come true for a voyeur who wants a close peek through their neighbour’s upstairs window. Not only do drones greatly expand the range of prying eyes, they also make it near impossible to determine who the snoop is unless the speedy drone can be followed right back into the hands of the operator.

The next big thing in drones, if Amazon is to be believed, is the common use of delivery drones capable of carrying relatively heavier payloads.

The dream held by forward-thinkers is for the development of a “physical Internet”, a network of autonomous drones by which food, clothes or

novelty knickknacks from Etsy can be instantly delivered at the push of a button just as images, songs and videos are now. Whether this idea will be fully realized remains to be seen, but the concept of drone deliveries has already been put into practice by German-based courier DHL, delivering medicine to a remote island in the North Sea. It also turns out that drones are the ideal means for smuggling drugs and cell phones over prison walls to incarcerated friends and family, and many prisons are now scrambling to figure out how to block the stream of airborne contraband.

As serious as smuggling is, there is an even grimmer reason behind the need for technology that can block or otherwise shut down drones: terrorism. A drone carrying a block of plastic explosive has the ability to anonymously deliver a deadly explosion to nearly any outdoor public space, easily circumventing roadblocks and security checks by merely flying overhead. At a cost of only a few hundred dollars, disposable exploding rotorcraft drones launched from nearby will become the new tool of choice for those

intent on mass murder if countermeasures aren’t put into place. Whether anti-drone measures involve shooting drones down, disabling and capturing them with defence drones, or restricting their sale and use altogether remains to be seen, and will probably be greatly influenced by how severely drones are misused over the course of the next few years.

Perhaps the best solution rests in a middle ground of increased regulation without limiting lawful use. One such solution could be a requirement for all drones to constantly transmit a unique identifier registered to its owner, a sort of digital license plate that would discourage irresponsible use. Or perhaps the more advanced drones will be deemed simply too powerful for private use, and restricted to approved government and commercial entities. In any case it is clear that drones and their increasing abilities will continue to find more roles to play in our society, although new regulations allowing for their expanded use are bound to come with many new restrictions as well.

ing at my red Ford Ranger; it seemed to look back at me with a grin between the front headlights, looking ready for the adventure.

My family has always held a close connection with nature. My parents spent 15 years of marriage in the wilderness of British Columbia before eventually moving to Seattle, where I grew up. Many of my cousins have spent years in the “bush”, working as tree planters and eventually managing crews. This love for nature was distilled with me from a young age, but the stories of harsh conditions, heavy labour and spending three months living in a tent was enough to make me question sanity in cooking up such a wild plan. And yet, I knew it was something I needed to do. I desperately needed to take on my life and learn to be strong in the face of challenges that seem insurmountable.

Tree planting would turn out to be one of the great learning experiences of my life. I came to recognize my strength and limits as I battled my way up hills of stinging nettle, jumped across slippery logs and exposed my flesh to millions of hungry insects, all with heavy bags full of saplings strapped to my waist.

It’s often the little things that have the most impact, although it’s the bright and flashy that we pay the most attention to. The world of tree planting is very much like that: it’s the big events that I remember, but the daily battles of mind and body would be what shaped me. I’ve never forgotten the thrill of bush parties with hundreds of planters or surpassing my personal best.

But the fury of having to replant thousands of trees that wouldn’t go in straight drove me some

days to sit sulking at the truck. I eventually accepted that no one would come to the rescue; I would either get back onto the ‘block’ or not make money for next semester.

Tree planting was more than a job — it was a change in perspective, representing juxtaposition from my relationship with the “built city” environment of Seattle and Vancouver. Planting reminded me to be a connector, drawing people together rather than being a complainer. Growing up in the city real estate is a commodity, something that is bought and sold. Tree planting provided a means of opening my view of the world, becoming self aware to how I relate to it, ultimately shifting my orientation. Planting was my opportunity to understand myself as part of a close group of people. It allowed me to move from a teenage place of angst and alienation, being empathetic and connecting. And not the least I learned how to work hard. I learned to bring more value to myself and take responsibility for my own growth.

Perhaps my supervisor summed it up best in an email sent out in preparation for this coming season, asking, “Are you ready to spend three months with good friends, working hard to make great money in the magnificent outdoors while revelling in the harmonious relationship between body and mind that allows you to perform such a hallowed job whose benefits will be reaped by yourself, the earth and its inhabitants for generations to come?” Even now I’m tempted.

columns

house of common sense NDP PUSHING FOR DEMOCRATIC SENSE Kevin Kapenda × Columnist

Kevin Kapenda has been the Courier’s unofficial political correspondent for the past two years. This year, we just made it a bit more official. Through his column, he will be delving into the world of politics and highlight what students should pay closer attention to.

He’s doing the hard political work so you don’t have to.

Like the United Kingdom, Canada is one of a handful of developed countries that still use the Single Member Plurality (SMP) system in elections. While the SMP system — also known as First Past the Post — does carry many advantages, such as the fact that it provides individual communities with MPs they can petition for services or legislation, it also prevents certain parties from electing numerous candidates to Parliament, because they lack the regional support and financial resources needed to target individual ridings. The realities of SMP are why Canada has only ever had Liberal and Conservative governments who have thrived off of strong regional ties and strong financial backing to win dozens of “safe seats”, and eke out close races in swing ridings. NDP Leader, Thomas Mulcair, has been

advocating for a Proportional Representation electoral system, in which seats would be allocated based on vote share, and not individual races. Though PR has its advantages, convincing Conservatives and Liberals to abandon our current system won’t be easy because their traditional holds on power will be jeopardized.

In the 2011 federal election, the Conservatives won roughly 40 per cent of the vote and 54 per cent of the House’s seats. Forty per cent popular vote is considered to be the majority standard by political scientists and historians because any party who passes that plateau typically wins more than half of the seats contested in said federal or provincial election. Many politicians, including Mulcair, have argued that the SMP system is unjust and unrepresentative because it allows popular win majority governments without securing the majority of votes cast in an election.

“In the last election, Conservatives formed a majority government with only 39 per cent of the vote. In our current first-past-the-post system, they govern as if they have the support of all Canadians, but the fact is 61 per cent of voters wanted someone else in government,” argued Mulcair, in a recent Huffington Post article. There is no doubt that the Conservatives were the most popular party in 2011, and may still be today, based on membership and fundraising numbers, but it’s also just as

clear that they do not have the confidence of 54 per cent of Canadian voters.

Most Proportional Representation elections are determined by party slates, known as PR Lists. Party leaders submit a list of candidates to the election body, who are then elected based on the amount of votes the party receives. Leaders’ names are at the top of the list, followed by the most trusted candidates — people that would usually be given portfolios in government, or asked to serve as high profile critics in opposition. Most countries have vote thresholds that parties must meet in order to elect candidates to parliament, which are usually set at five per cent. In Canada, the way PR would most likely be done is at a provincial level, meaning that its parties would have lists for each region of the country, as opposed to one big list of 338 candidates.

The biggest impact PR would have on Canadian politics would be on the diversity front.

If parties could eclipse more than five per cent popular vote in any given province, we could see the rise of more fringe parties like the Libertarian Party of Canada, the Christian Heritage Party as well as other regional parties similar to the Bloc Quebecois. This system would also put substantial pressure on our three major parties by forcing them to find ways to increase their popular vote and strengthen their relationship with Canadians in all of the country’s

regions, instead of just simply trying to sweep safe provinces and cities. PR would prove disastrous for Harper’s Conservatives who only received 66 per cent of the vote in Alberta, but won 96 per cent of its seats (27 out of 28). In this year’s election, Harper and Trudeau will retain many safe, establishment seats in which their party’s brands are too strong to lose them, even if their candidates’ vote suffers due to constituent dissent. But in the PR system, no vote is ever wasted on losing candidates, and the chances for parties to pick up seats in regions of the country where they are usually shut out would increase dramatically.

If PR where to ever be implemented in Canada, more fringe parties would enter the House of Commons making coalition governments second nature. Harper would not want PR to happen, and nor would Trudeau, because the Liberals dominated 20th century politics in this country by winning 40 per cent majorities as well. The NDP, Bloc Quebecois and Green Party, who are currently coming in third, fourth and fifth respectively in polls aggregated by Threehundredeight.com, would be the parties who would stand to gain the most from PR. If they controlled 30 per cent of Ottawa’s seats, they’d surely have to be included in either Trudeau’s or Harper’s coalition governments, and would enter them with significant bargaining power to get their policies adopted.

many of the back of house and front of house staff are either family members or very close friends, which gives the entire place a great community feel. “It’s all about providing an atmosphere which is comfortable, casual, simple and not trying to be anything other than we are,” says Ram. I lived in Little India for a month last spring, and what I loved the most about living there, was how genuine and friendly the people in the community were once I got to know them. And all it really takes is a few smiles and hellos. The whole crew at the Kebab Hut would bring extra chutneys and sauces to our doorstep, the owner of the late night convenience store would give us items for free in hard times if we promised

to pay him back (which we always did, because that’s the Good Samaritan system). Now, my room is draped in beautiful, authentic Indian fabrics. I have found spices for my mom to send home that I haven’t been able to find anywhere else except from the Spice Market, and just the other day I stumbled upon a mini mall, which was literally dripping from the ceiling to floor in jewels.

Little India offers so many beautiful things to see and explore. The next time you have a few hours to spare take a step back in time and head to this unique neighbourhood. I promise you will take the trip back again and show your friends around the quaint little area, with samosas in hand.

LITTLE INDIA Jessica Trusz × Columnist

Growing up in Fruitvale BC, Jessica Trusz is familiar with local communities and their importance. Over the three years that she has lived in Vancouver, she has probably walked more than anyone you know. Because of this, she has an intimate knowledge of the different neighbourhoods and the communities within. Join her on a walk – it’s guaranteed to be educational.

T H E C A P I L A N O C O U R I E R . VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 15

My mother loves to cook, and to this day, my house in the Kootenays is always filled with delicious smells and happy people telling stories over all kinds of worldly inspired dishes. The process of preparing food is such a wonderful event. Poring over recipe books, writing lists for the grocery stores, comparing products and prices. Then, getting home and setting up the kitchen for slicing, dicing and chopping.

And my favourite part — enjoying wine in the warmth produced throughout the house and the anticipation of all the people coming over to enjoy the homemade goodness.

Little India is a very special place because it reminds me of my communities enjoying food together. Its easy to tell how much love is put into the dishes, and that is why it reminds me of my home in Fruitvale, BC. Little India is a community full of amazing colours, fabrics, jewellery, food and on the weekends the sounds of traditional Indian music wafting from the Plaza speakers. For those of you who haven’t taken the No. 3 bus up to Main and 49th, you’re missing out. I myself would have never ventured up that way if my best friend, Nat, hadn’t gotten a cozy little apartment in the heart of the Punjabi Market.

But even before Nat had moved to Little India, I had heard about a place called All India Sweets, which was supposed to be one of the best Indian food restaurants in the city. Nat and I, of course, had to check this place out and see if the rumours were true. And let me tell you, after laying down in the booths for at least an hour trying to gulp as much chai as we could to settle our full tummies, it was obvious that All India Sweets was indeed one of the best places for Indian food.

I wanted to know more about All India Sweets because it is such a staple to the Punjabi Market. Steve Ram is the restaurant’s co-owner and I went to ask some questions about community and how he values it: “Community is all about give and take, supporting when and wherever you can, and about getting involved.”

Ram practices what he preaches, donating food to the BC Children’s Hospital, South Asian Foundation and the UBC Student’s Facility, just to name a few charities. All India Sweets is responsible for providing all of the food and drink for Vaisakhi, which is a festival happening on April 14 and celebrates the Punjabi New Year. Ram can often be found on the Downtown Eastside, handing out samosas and chai tea when he can. Each year he receives over 200 requests for catering events, and the best part about it is that he has never posted ads about his business — it’s all spread from word of mouth.

Ram then told me that All India Sweets has been up and running for the last 30 years.

A few years ago they gave the outside of the building some love with some renovations and a fresh paint job. They also started changing the inside by doing food ordering on a daily basis, rather than a weekly basis, and have been using local produce as much as they can.

All of the recipes have been the same since the day that the restaurant opened, which is as authentic as you can get. The current head chef has been there for the past 18 years, and

× J.R. Pinto

urban matrimony

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CAp you

CARLO JAVIER LIFESTYLE EDITOR

CAPILANO RAIL JAM

CARLO.CAPCOURIER@GMAIL.COM

Creeper how not to sleep in class

by Carlo Javier

It was a damp drizzly Friday afternoon around campus. Perfect weather for catching a couple "z's." If we' ve learnt anything from @CapNaps, this Friday was shaping itself into prime sleepy time. So we took a creep around campus, and here's who we found:

Sabina Bast 2nd Year Sciences I asked Sabina if she knew about the Courier, she did and it was the sweetest “yes” I’ve ever gotten.

“No, I don’t fall asleep in class.”

and the inclusion of some competitive games of Jenga. At one point, Campbell even challenged the audience into a “twerk-off.” Yet, what truly made the event shine was the participation of two CapU students in an impromptu rap battle.

Students Madhi Anharo and Eric Seeley wowed the crowd with their humour-infused lingo and their colourful mixes of both boastful and selfdeprecating rhymes.

External participation also played an important role in the Rail Jam’s success as Beaver Wax and the Harvest Project made their presence felt in what has been among CapU’s more important early semester campus-wide events.

The reception for CapU’s annual Rail Jam continues what has been a strong start to CapU’s 2015 calendar. The CSU’s Open House was met with a pleasant amount of participation and some of the business events that had been set for early January have also experienced impressive turnouts. For Zofia Rodriguez, CSU vice president of student life, the best is yet to come, “Well, you can expect the biggest end of the year party that Cap has ever seen, because it’ll be on a yacht.”

Yes, this year, CapU’s year-end party will be on a yacht. Yacht to believe it!

Dominic Chan 2nd Year Motion Picture Arts Did you guys know that they had glass bottle Coca-Colas at the Bosa building?

“I pinch myself and remind myself that if I fall asleep the prof is gonna be pissed.”

Heather Schmit 1st Year Costuming for Stage and Screen Heather was kind enough to talk to me after I bothered her at Bosa’s microwave – the only microwave on the northern side of the campus.

“Lots of Coffee.”

Rory Knowler 3rd Year Acting for Stage and Screen There was a lot of second hand smoke during this conversation

“Even more coffee.”

× Therese Guieb

THE CAPILANO COURIER.

VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 15

× Carlo Javier

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Every year, Capilano University’s library courtyard becomes home to a makeshift ski and snowboard course. By hauling in snow from the peaks of Grouse Mountain, students from the Capilano Students’ Union (CSU) and many other volunteers are able to organize the Uncapped Rail Jam – an in-house ski and snowboarding event that not only spotlights the university’s action sports community, but also its strong ties to the community at large.

Last year, the Rail Jam focused on the charitable work that the organization Beyond Boarding stands for. This year, a little more emphasis is placed as a tribute to North Shore Rescue’s famed hero, Tim Jones. “We had met with [North Shore Rescue] prior to the event and they were super keen and wanted to be involved, they kind of tied what the event was supposed to be about, which was about the North Shore community together, and all of Capilano together,” explains Kate Phifer, faculty representative for the CSU and one of the lead organizers for the Rail Jam. The event began with a heartfelt speech from representatives from North Shore Rescue regarding the human responsibility to call for help whenever in need. Tim Jones’ illustrious career represented a beacon of hope for civilians in danger, and the Rail Jam made sure to start off the event with a tribute to one of the North Shore’s most revered figures.

Also this year, the Rail Jam’s turnout proved to be much more exciting than the previous one. “A lot of help, a lot more volunteers and a lot more preparation has been the difference,” says Phifer, “We just rallied. It was definitely difficult with the break, like having that was a challenge because of the promotion beforehand and after that, but the campus really pulled together and rallied.”

From participants to audience, the 2015 Rail Jam showed to be a dramatic improvement from the last one. Crowd reception for emcee Alex Campbell stayed strong throughout the entire event, as Campbell seamlessly worked his wit and humour in his timely play-by-play commentary, “He’s from Whistler and he’s an emcee by profession, so he was definitely a key factor for the event, he definitely made it all happen,” Phifer says.

The Rail Jam also featured several facets that were not included in its previous incarnations, from sandwiches over the CSU classic, chilli,

caboose

CARLO JAVIER LIFESTYLE EDITOR

CABOOSE@CAPILANOCOURIER.COM

T H E C A P I L A N O C O U R I E R . VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 15

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shotgun reviews OUR FIRST JOBS

COULDA BEEN AT PARTY LAND

SPORTMART

HOTEL DID IT SCHEILOFORNIA FOR THE FRIES

When I was a little kid, my dream job was to work at Party Land. That never really panned out. If I remember correctly, the franchise closed and it became a Coles bookstore long before I could live out all my helium-fuelled fantasies. My first parttime job came sometime during middle school, moving plants around at a garden centre, while my first actual job was selling handmade copper ornaments at craft fairs. How I turned out to be a straight journalist with a music degree is beyond anyone’s guess. Scoring a job as staff writer at the Courier three years ago was actually the first time I’d ever done a job interview. That often shocks a lot of people, and I’ll be the first to admit that I’d be screwed if I actually went out in the real world looking for work. I do what I love, and throughout the years that’s changed quite a bit. There are downsides to this lifestyle though. Evidently, I’m severely lacking in gnarly stories about McDonalds, entirely unfamiliar with direct deposit payments, and probably the most uninteresting Shotgun review on this page. But at least 15-yearold me could craft Martha Stewart under the table.

That’s something to be proud of, right?*

I don’t know what to say about my first job, I was there so briefly that it’s hard to have an opinion on it except for the fact that my boss was a douche.

Not just any douche either, but arguably the worst kind of douche: a fitness douche. The kind of despicable human that will hold up a line at Subway to complain about the fat content of their whole wheat bread. The type that wears dry-fit clothing and running shoes everywhere, as if their day-today lifestyle requires them to be ready to go for a run at any given moment. The “I don’t drink because I don’t need alcohol to have a good time,” son of a bitch that always ends up at house parties, even though nobody invites them. I worked at SportMart for six hours before this guy had me so annoyed that I asked to be paid in cash because I wouldn’t be showing up again. Though I don’t remember this horrible man’s name, I can only assume that it’s Todd.

I’m known to be a bitch. At that recent conference we went to, someone tweeted at Carlo, saying “Man, your boss sounds like a bitch.” And let me be clear about something – I am a bitch. I come from a German bloodline whose work ethic is the only thing they have to be proud of – we can’t be proud of our “healthy” thighs or receding hairlines, so we preach about our ethic. Technically, I have been employed since the age of six, and didn’t even know it. It’s a version of child labour that all parents should try.

My family ran a small hotel in a shit town, and my brother and I were sentenced to chores every night.

Sometimes, it was up to six hours a day, and you could never not do your work. It’s like spitting on the family work ethic. My bro and I diligently did the chores, and unbeknownst to us, our mother paid us for every hour we worked. Not in allowance, but in this top secret education fund that we couldn’t open until we were ready for university. We both have two educations – my bro without a student loan, and me with a small one. I cleaned toilets at seven years old, but that’s where I earned my ethic and it made me into a bitch that gets things done.

- Gabe Scorgie // Opinions Editor

- Andy Rice // Managing Editor

- Andrew Palmquist // Production Manager

*Editor’s note: No. No it’s not.

FOOTBALL FOR CANADIANS TOM BRADY // DRAINS YOUR BALLS

THE CAPILANO COURIER.

VOLUME 48 I SSUE N O . 15

THE SUPER BOWL // VERBALLY ABUSING YOUR TV SET SINCE 1967

20

the hOt Chart FOURTH DOWN FAYE & COACH CARLO

- Leah Scheitel // E-I-C

It was thanks to my pops I got my first summer job.

It was the summer after grade 10. My first chest hair had sprouted and I wore it proudly. Little did I know that would be the only chest hair I would achieve.

A bunch of hair grew on my toes as well which I am slightly proud of. How did I notice my toe hair?

Well it was due to the contruction boots I was taking on and off all summer. Yes, I was a construction site labourer with my dear companion Justin "Big Easy" Chelak. Justin and I met in gym class and I convinced him to join our rugby team. He did, and he kicked ass at it. Something about being a six-foot 180 pound grade 10 kid just screams success at contact sports. So naturally when my pops asked if I wanted to work for his friend out at UBC making some money and cleaning up a contruction site he suggested I ask Justin. Our first day out we made sure to bring our lunches and if we got separated we would meet by the Porta-Poties. The older labourers we met that morning had a different idea for us. "Hey Palmquist's kid, and you! Come here. Have you had one of these?" You must been an educated person if you're reading the Capilano Courier. So guess what they offered us? It was all downhill from there.

FANTASY FOOTBALL // GANDALF THE WIDE RECEIVER MY BOYFRIEND // NOT AVAILABLE ON SUNDAYS MY GIRLFRIEND // DEFLATED LIKE THE BALLS FOURTH DOWN // ORAL SEX? RUNNING BACK // FROM WHERE? NFL’S MOST SARCASTIC PLAYER // RICHARD SURE MAN DEFLATED BALLS // SCHEI’S BIGGEST PET PEEVE WIVES OF THE NFL // BLACK EYED BEEZ

YELLING AT YOUR TV // THEY CAN’T HEAR YOU, JACKASS CLEATS // BOWLING SHOES FOR JOCKS