The Confluence Issue 12

onfluence

Bored of Board Games? Paranormal Podcast -page 8 Primer

The

-page 9

Vote to be Rocked -page 7

October 2nd 2012

October 2nd 2012

Contributors These people stepped up to the call, and got their $20 last issue.

Stuart Jamieson Paul Strickland Leila MaheiddiniBonab Jessica Bagnall This could be you next time. Got an idea? Email us at news@cncsu.ca.

Andy Johnson, Editor-in-Chief

Garett Svensen, Production Editor

The Confluence - News

CNC Kicks off College Farmer's Market Garett Svensen, Production Editor For the first time, the local farmer’s Local artisans will also have goods market is coming to CNC. From for purchase.

10am until 2pm, there will be fresh local produce, locally produced meat, The Fall Harvest Market takes place and other local foods. Expect great on Thursday, October 4th in the CNC bread and preserves. atrium.

Environment Canada 5-Day Earth Weather Forecast: For Prince George, BC. 2-7 October 2012 Tuesday, October 2: 10°C, -4°C, Cloudy.

Wednesday, October 3: 10°C, -4°C, Sunny.

Thusday, October 4: 12°C, -4°C, Sunny.

Friday, October 5: 15°C, 0°C, Partly Cloudy.

Saturday, October 6: 17°C, 1°C, Partly Cloudy.

The Confluence is produced biweekly at the CNCSU office on CNC’s Prince George campus by Garett Svensen and Andy Johnson.

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Submissions, inqueries and requests can be made to news.cncsu.ca, in person at the CNCSU office room 1-303, or mailed to “The Confluence c/o CNCSU 3330-22nd Ave. Prince George, BC. V2N 1P8” All submissions are welcome, the authors of edited works used in the confluence receive a $20 cheque upon publication. Advertisement rates are availiable upon request.

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Thanksgiving 14

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Cecil Giscome Poetry Reading 21

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Harvest Market Sisters in Spirit

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Multicultural Club Dance

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Trick or Eat Halloween Allantide Samhain Hop-tu-Naa

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Zombie Walk EI Day of Action

The Confluence - News

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October 2nd 2012

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October 2012 October 2012

October 2nd 2012

MLA Roundtable Highlights, Part 2 Garett Svensen, Production Editor On September 12th, two NDP MLAs visited CNC as part of the Advanced Education and Skills Training Tour.

Michelle Mungal, advanced education critic and MLA for Creston-Nelson, and Gwen O’Mahony, skills training critic and MLA for Chilliwack-Hope, joined NDP candidate for Prince George-Mackenzie and local labour lawyer Bobby Deepak, for meetings with students, faculty and CNCSU members.

The Confluence - Feature

In MLA Roundtable part 1 issues were raised about affordability in the lives of students today. Funding, for both the school and students were top items on the agenda. In part 2, the challenges facing international students and trade students are addressed.

“People without jobs, jobs without people.” The old contradiction is as true now as ever. BC is still facing a huge skilled labour deficit in the coming future, but even with record numbers of students in trades training, the jobs just aren’t getting filled.

Rather than directly pointing fingers, the NDP representatives outlined some of the issues facing the BC labour market.

program gain their full journeyman status. Apprentices are not able to find the mythical jobs promised by employers, and employers are unable to retain useful, fully trained workers.

It would seem that employers want to spare the expense of training, while ITA is unable to certify a journeyman without job experience. The young workers of today, and the foundation of our livelihood tomorrow, are stuck in a limbo of hearing the cries of industry for workers, but being turned down because they only have the first segment of schooling done.

Deepak claimed that without an effort to better organize the in-training labour force, the problem is not likely to be solved any time soon. Just throwing money at the problem, such as in Premier Clark’s recent donation, is bound to be ineffective. Industry training will be bottlenecked, and the necessary workers will never receive their training until ITA, industry, and labour can meet on mutual ground to sort out the logistics.

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A different challenging student demographic is that of the international students. The NDP representatives seemed quite surprised when Leila Soila Abubakar illustrated many of the problems and hardships unique to international education.

The yawning gulf between skilled For one, it’s expensive. This may trades professions and the training not be entirely surprising, most authority was cited as an area that post-secondary schools worldwide needs improvement. As it stands, ITA have a higher tuition rate for nonis obligated to provide the schooling resident students. Abubakar claimed for apprentices, while employers are that international students, and their obligated to provide the requisite work families, made great sacrifices to experience. A disconnect between the attend college and university here, and two is in the labour element. There yet they are treated like a commodity. are huge retention problems with the She claims that international tuition trades programs, as only about 1/3 faces none of the oversight and of the students that pass through the protections that domestic tuition does

(for instance being locked at 2% a year increase) and that it is, in fact, unregulated. Both the MLAs said that there was no talk of international students, and expressed some degree of surprise at Abubakar’s claims (Mungal is the Advanced Education critic and O’Mahony is the critic of skills and trades development).

As the hour drew to a close, Both Michelle and Gwen responded briefly to an inquiry about Aboriginal youth in post-secondary. As young Aboriginal people are the fastest growing demographic in Canada, I asked if there were any culture barriers that needed to be overcome.

This was the only time when the NDP representatives spoke of the Liberal party in anything but critical tones.

They said that the Liberal government had made great strides in promoting the various First Nations cultures across post-secondary institutes in BC, as well as promoting the value of post-secondary education in First Nations communities. A trend, they said, that needed to continue no matter the results in May. This is one area where institutions, such as CNC, and government have worked together without partisan politics interfering.

In the future expect much of the same.

You may be asked to take on a leadership role, or to teach others today. One of your personal skills, talents, or a craft or hobby could come in handy when dealing with unexpected.

October 2nd 2012

Horoscopes

A B C D E F G H I J K L

Secrets and their consequences are the theme of the day. Now is the time to buy yourself some space, some rest or some free time for a hobby.

Talking with friends and family and networking with close coworkers and associates could lead you to money-making opportunities.

Avoid political or investment arguments.

Your head may be spinning because there is simply too much input. Take frequent rest breaks today, especially if you are spending a lot of time at home.

You may have a sudden and unexpected opportunity to make some money in the stock market, or through an investment in your career future today.

The Confluence - Fun And Games

Something has you into the mood for travel. If you are traveling with romance in mind, pick some place strange and exotic.

Finding balance can be difficult this week.

Seek out the advice of friends, or listen to your heart. Opinions on paper will only confuse you.

The workplace will be full of abundant energy and excitement today. Your employer may decide to add some kind of physical activity in order to boost morale and wellness.

Dramatic and unusual events will put you into highly unusual places today, particularly if you are a patron of the arts, or are an artist yourself.

If you were thinking of making a new investment in your home, it will be a great day to check out home improvement supplies. Find the right contractor, though.

You will be spending a lot of time on the phone today as you field questions from excited and hyperactive friends, siblings and companions.

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Money matters are more a source of joy today.

While you are not likely going to be hearing from your boss today, you could soon hear of a raise.

Andy Johnson, Editor in Chief Anyone born and raised in Prince George are usually of the mindset that, “Prince George is a shithole.”

While this may be the case, I have my reservations of this particular mindset. I have witnessed numerous high school friends who have taken the ‘risk’ of moving away to metropolises such as Victoria, Vancouver, or Edmonton. In most cases, they return six months later to complain about how much more expensive and unforgiving these supposed promised lands are.

While Giscome’s legacy survives through his name, his personal history was explored by Cecil Giscombe in his 1998 book “Giscome Road,” which Giscombe explores what Publisher’s Weekly calls a “powerful, understated meditation on place.”

October 2nd 2012

Histories of the North

man at the age of 75, leaving his landlady $21,000.

returned to Jamaica, while Giscome stayed in California to make a profit.

Due to the oppressive legislation towards African Americans in California, Giscome migrated in 1856 to Victoria, British Columbia, and then to Quesnel, British Columbia.

It was in Quesnel that Giscome met his Bahamian partner Henry McDame and they decided to join the Cariboo Gold Rush. Giscome and McDame canoed up the Fraser River, hoping that they would reach Fort Saint James, but they were forced to winter in Fort George. The following April, Giscome and McDame were forced One of the reasons I have never to travel by land through what is now moved for more than a month has Hubble Homestead to Summit Lake, been due to the strange and connected which has become known as Giscome histories Prince George seems have Portage. with the world. For instance, the local history of Kathryn B. Gannon—who I Giscome and McDame were among am quite sure is well versed in “prairie the first to successfully prospect style” (whatever it is)—was born in Germansen Creek in 1870. Four years Prince George on 12 April 1969. Gan- later, McDame found a gold vein non’s break from Prince George came around Dease River tributary (now in 1995 when she starred in “Star At- known as McDame Creek). Giscome, traction” under the name Marylin Star McDame and a few other prospectors (anyone wishing to seek this film out formed the Discovery Company and must be 18 or older). successfully prospected this vein for quite a few years.

The Confluence - Feature

Eight years later, Giscombe read at the College of New Caledonia (C.N.C.) from his 2008 release “Prairie Style”—which won the American Book Prize—with local and nationally renowned poet Barry McKinnon.

“Prairie Style” focuses around “the breakdown of location and voice” (www.amazon.ca). While “Prairie Style” is Giscombe’s last release, John Robert Giscome returned back he will be returning to C.N.C. on 15 to Victoria, British Columbia by 1891. October 2012 for a reading in room 1-306 at 7 p.m.

Unlike most of his prospecting contemporaries, Giscome died a wealthy

Kathtyn B. Gannon

While Star never made it onto the Alist of the adult entertainment world, she did make headlines in 1999 when she was charged with insider trading.

The allegations were dropped in 2005, but only after Star served 3 months at the Women’s Correction Center in Danbury, Connecticut and paying roughly $500,000 in legal defense. I would consider this to be risk.

Another local history that I feel I should address concerns John Robert Giscome. Giscome was born in Saint Mary, Jamaica in 1832. In 1854, Giscome and his brother Peter migrated to California to work on the Panama Railway, but by 1855, the railway was completed and Giscome’s brother

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C.S. Giscombe was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1950. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from SUNY, Albany in 1973 and then obtained his M.A. from Cornell University in 1975. In 2000, Giscombe released “Into and Out of Dislocation,” which is part travelogue, part memoir aimed at researching “the ‘facts’ about John R. Giscome, the Jamaican miner, explorer and possible relation whose name graces several geographical features near Prince George, B.C.” (Paula Koneazny, www.amazon.ca).

Cecil Giscombe

October 2nd 2012 The provincial government is responsible for many policies that impact students, including tuition fee levels, public transit funding, and key environmental regulation. As a student you all have a say on who gets to make this decisions on your behalf, it is important to cast your vote and have your voice heard.

Across the Province the Canadian Federation of Students BC, of which we are a part of as Local 13, is lending a helping hand by bringing voter registration to you and making it fun throughout the year by hosting wonderful events that will promote voter registration which will be critical to increasing young voter turnout.

Happy registration, it’s the first step to casting our vote and making our voices heard!

In solidarity Leila-Soila Abubakar Chairperson CNC Students’ Union

The Confluence - CNCSU

Voting is a right best exercised by people who have taken time to learn about the issues. So take a little time from your busy schedules to learn the platforms of the different political parties and how best they serve you.

ADVOCACY CAMPAIGNS

EVENTS

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SERVICES

October 2nd 2012 The Confluence - CNCSU

Rock the Vote Party Garett Svensen, Production Editor Democracy is important. Important enough that registering to vote warrants a super-cool retro party.

To increase voter turnout, CNC students hosted a party to launch the Rock the Vote BC campaign. After a long day of voter registration, students had a kickin’ rad party with a sweet 80’s cover band.

The Canadian Federation of Students is co-ordinating the campaign with its members, such as CNCSU local 13.

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Said Leila Soila Abubakar, chairperson of CNCSU, “Politicians can be sure students will be at the ballot box in May 2013.”

The alliance is where the game gets interesting. Offensive allies can make all the difference to the offensive player, but can also gain the territory needed to win the game. Defensive allies get a reward commesurate with the amount of defense contributed, if the defense is successful. Since the advantages to an alliance favour the allies more than the encounter participants, the game becomes a chaos of diplomacy as players try to make their case for being invited to the encounter.

A huge problem with games is the so-called ‘mastery effect’ where the game ceases to be fun once a player ‘solves’ it. In the case of Risk or Monopoly, the winning strategy can become fairly obvious early on, and the game becomes a slog as the player The next phase of play involves who gained the advantage grinds his revealing the hand, poker-style. or her way to victory.

There are a wide range of cards that So how do you solve this problem? a player can be dealt, but he or she must use them over the course of the Where a player or players have figured out the optimum strategy and game, even if they’re terrible. There the game ceases to be fun? In the case are definite advantages to playing a of Cosmic Encounter, you constantly terrible card to remove an opponent’s change the rules. Every single game great card from play and cause other players to spread their forces thinly. of Cosmic Encounter uses slightly different rules, and every game forces And the final cherry on the the players to re-adjust. This alone diplomatic cupcake is the mentioned keeps the game fresh from play to rule shift. Every player gains at play, without even going into the least one ability to break a rule in the game mechanics that keep mastery game, and can gain more as the game from turning the game into a bore. progresses. They gain abilities, or can For one, the basic play of the game, deny the abilities of others. So the game becomes even more political as the titular encounter, is more about diplomacy, politics and knowing your other powers are taken into account. opponent than pure game mechanics. The game gets complicated, but I’ll give it one thing: At first glance it looks simple: choose a card from your hand, lay It’s never boring. it face down in front of you while Check me out at NPC-CON, I’ll be running your opponent does the same, then a beginner’s CE game Saturday and an reveal the cards and see who won. intermediate one Sunday In practice, the fairly simple event requires conniving, negotiation and bluffing to succeed.

Table Top Role Playing Games!

LARP! Costume Contest!

(No weapons or

weapon props please)

NPC CON

A gaming convention for the north!

NPC-Con.ca

Doors open at 9am First Games at 10am Saturday and Sunday, October 20th and 21st,

Knox United Church 1448 5th Avenue Prince George BC

See, the encountering players can recruit allies to their side, who typically stand to gain more in an encounter than the actual players engaged in the encounter. A turn proceeds as follows: A player regroups, getting a lost ship back. Then the player draws a card that indicates with whom the encounter is going to take place. The player on offence then chooses the amount of resources to use against the defender in the encounter. Then both

Board Games!

October 2nd 2012

the attacker and defender can pick allies.

$15 a day $20 for the weekend (No Debit or Credit) Student Discount Availiable (With Valid Student ID) Cosmic Encounter, 2008 Edition.

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Garett Svensen, Production Editor Let’s say, hypothetically, that Risk has paled for you. That Trivial Pursuit has outstayed its welcome. Checkers is dull and Monopoly sucks. What you’re feeling is game fatigue. While staples of childhood for many people, many of the popular board games simply lack challenge after a while.

Putting the ‘Play’ in Role-Play.

The Confluence - Fun And Games

Cosmic Encounter

October 2nd 2012

Mysterious Universe

of skepticism. The show’s format along with Grundy’s charismatic voice and open-minded skepticism helped grow Mysterious Universe’s popularity until Imagine this: you wake up in the early 2008 when the show was put into middle of the night and can’t move. ’hibernation’ by Grundy.

You feel a dead weight on your chest, The show was resurrected in as if someone is sitting on you, but 2009 by Grundy and co-host Aaron no one is there. Next, you notice Wright for season two. Mysterious a shadowy, humanoid figure pass Universe’s format changed slightly across your wall. Your eyes follow the shadowy entity to the foot of your to accommodate two hosts, though the familiar tone of open-minded bed and perched there is an old hag skepticism has remained intact. in tattered black rags staring at you.

Suddenly, the encounter stops, the Coming from a scientific background, world is normal again, and you find yourself screaming. Who are you going Wright is a welcome addition to the show. He adds a more scientific view to call? to most of the unusual topics on the show, but at times provides personal In the early days of popular anecdotes about his paranormal podcasting, one subject that seemed experiences. While Wright does not to have a strong presence on iTunes have the same ‘smooth operator’ voice was the paranormal. Yet most of of Grundy, he is charming none the the podcasts that focused on the less and both Grundy and Wright play more esoteric topics either had poor production quality, or lacked content. well off of each other.

More often than not, the two were While Mysterious Universe’s focus blended into a morass of unintelligible is on supernatural topics, Grundy bull, but two podcasts stuck out and Wright enforce the point that, from the sludge: The Paracast and “Mysterious Universe is about Mysterious Universe. entertainment, first and foremost.”

The entertainment aspect really comes The Paracast is set up in a more traditional radio show format, similar across in the news and post-interview sections of the show. Some of the to that of Coast-To-Coast AM. The topics covered by the show are ‘way production for this show is good, but left-of-field’—Colleen ‘Lightwarrior’ the hosts, Gene Steinberg and David Biedny (Biedny left the show in 2010) Thomas’ rants, the claims by a one Aaron McCollum about being a half seem to take a hard skeptic, and at dolphin super solider, or the supposed times mean-spirited approach to the nuclear Olympic false flag operation supernatural topics they cover. that never came to fruition to name On the flipside, Mysterious Universe a few— but they are treated in a fun, is set up in a “forum style” that editorialized fashion that lets listeners features music from the website www. have a laugh. iodapromonet.com. In season one, the host, Benjamin Grundy, approaches the By presenting more taboo or senseless topics in a more lighthearted strange and fantastic topics he covers with a much more open-mind than The way, Grundy and Wright manage Paracast, but also with a healthy dose to debunk the less-than-credible

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The Confluence - Arts

Andy Johnson, Editor in Chief

stories, while still speculating on the possibilities that the stories raise.

On the flipside, the stories that seem genuine —generally listeners’ call-ins or emails— both Grundy and Wright treat with a critical, yet respectful sense of skepticism.

Even though paranormal phenomenon, like Sasquatch, Mothman and UFOs are Grundy and Wright’s “bread and butter,” they also cover non-paranormal topics that, while fascinating, seem to be of a more mundane nature. In particular, the two have a fascination with ancient civilizations and technologies, specifically the ones that contradict the established order of history.

For instance, a few years ago archeologists discovered an unusual clay jar in Bagdad. When opened it was found to contain a rolled-up copper sheet that housed an iron nail and a trace amount of a slightly acidic organic residue. The artifact strongly resembles an electric cell, but it predates Volta’s ‘invention’ of the electrochemical battery by over a millennium.

These stories provide a pleasant break from the show’s typical fare.

Mysterious, eh?

Mysterious Universe has one free weekly show every week, but Grundy and Wright offer MU Plus for $9 a month. This service provides an extension of the free weekly show and an additional show every week. The plus content is often referenced in the free show, giving the free listeners a tantalizing sample of what is offered in the plus section.

For those out there that have a fascination with all things esoteric, visit www.mysteriousuniverse.org, or share an experience by messaging feedback@mysteriousuniverse.org, or call 1 (530) 918-4070.

Paranormal, from the Greek prefix Para, meaning ‘beyond’ or ‘contrary to’ and the Latin Normalis, meaning ‘in conformity with common standards, usual.’

What Would We Do Without The Latest Technology?

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The Confluence - Arts

October 2nd 2012

He never took two- or three-hour lunches no matter how much seniority he'd earned. The only time he had spent two or three hours at lunch was on assignment to cover a Chamber of Commerce business-meeting luncheon Paul Strickland, Contributor time away. followed by a municipal election candidates' forum for directors. The A memo went out from the “Now, with cell phones and e-mail, longest he'd spent at a lunch break was general manager of The Frack City you can never be out of reach,” he said. more than ten years ago with a group Fair Trader, on his return from a “Isn't the new technology wonderful?” of fellow Fair Trader reporters who meeting at corporate headquarters met at a suburban restaurant where in Regina, that reporters must carry Some colleagues agreed with him, service was slow. He'd sheepishly the electronic cameras they had been while others commented he didn't returned to the newsroom at 1:25, issued with them at all times outside know what the real world of work was the city editor looked up frowning at the office, whatever the nature of about. the wall clock, and Terry promised their assignment, or there would be to make up the time at the end of his discipline.

One winter Wednesday Terry met shift. Terry was angry at himself for with a radio station reporter, Alton not having a comeback comment in Terry, however, as court reporter, Beck, for lunch at the Green Wagon response to Alton's remark about the had a problem. It was illegal to have Wheel restaurant. Alton had moved supposed privileges of seniority. cameras inside a courtroom. He didn't the roughly seventy-five kilometres want to take a chance on a contemptfrom Burstall to Frack City to find That evening Terry went back to of-court charge. Ten years earlier he work in his preferred field of broadcast the newsroom. The wire editor said had been charged with contempt by a journalism. After the server took their all the computers were down, and the judge for having written an advance order, uninterrupted conversation technician was doing his best to try to about a pornography trial that appeared lasted about fifteen minutes before solve the problem. in print the day of jury selection.

Alton began checking e-mails through Possibly facing jail or a fine in the his iPhone 4s for what he said “Isn't technology wonderful?” Terry thousands of dollars, Terry had sweated were updates on the stories he was said. for thirty hours and reviewed in his following. Then he began conducting mind what statement of apology he conversations of three to five minutes “Well, even an old-fashioned wooden would make to the court if convicted. each on his phone, and Terry could plow is technology,” the editor Then the judge dropped the charge, and get only a word or two in edgewise responded.

Terry could relax. between these calls. Some of them likely related to assignments. Others “I guess you're right,” he conceded. “I Terry began negotiating with sheriffs seemed to be purely personal. meant the latest electronic technology.” about a way he could check the company camera with them while he Finally, about thirty-five minutes into The computers came back up attended court to cover trials. That the lunch hour, Alton said he had to around 4:00, just before deadline. The way he could comply with the general leave. “I don't have the seniority you following hour and a half was a frantic manager's demand that he have his have, and so I can't take two- to three- effort to get four hours of work done in camera with him whenever he went hour lunches,” he remarked. He paid ninety minutes. outside from the newsroom, but not for the lunch at the cashier because it break the law by carrying a camera into was his turn to cover the cost of lunch Back at home that evening, Terry a courtroom. and hurried out the door. lay on his bed and listened to foreign broadcasts on his 1964 Hallicrafter's On a Friday late in the fall, Fair Terry, who stayed to finish his lunch, short-wave radio.

Trader reporters went to the Asquith was a little annoyed by the comment.

Hotel in downtown Frack City for a few beers and an opportunity to talk shop. Inevitably discussion turned to the effects of technology on the newsgathering process and on their personal lives. Terry mentioned how, when he worked at Palliser Springs Chronicle, he was expected to be always on call.

However, in the 1980s, it was still possible to escape to Oligopolis for the weekend to visit friends and be out of reach of the managing editor's Technology calls to his home telephone. Or he could hide out even in Maple Creek or Litauenbruecken if he needed a little