Confluence The
Opinion. Poetry. Quesnel.
We go on a road trip, check out local poetry and print the controversy. See inside.
May 31 2013
May 31st 2013
Quesnel Road Trip
Garett Svensen, Production Editor Tomorrow we are going to Quesnel, semi-blind. I, personally, have only spent a few nights in the fine community. I thought it was neat. Lots of four-way stops in downtown, and a decent breakfast at an old-timey restaurant that I think was attached to a casino.
The Confluence - News
The last time I visited Quesnel, I was holed up with a contract fire crew in an old billiards hall. While waiting for a call out, I was dicking around with the lights in the building when a thunderstorm rolled through town, striking off several fires as well as striking the pool hall. As I flipped a switch, the blast struck blue glints off of every reflective surface and the thunder spoke like the voice of some angry deity. I thought I had inadvertently flipped the switch triggering the apocalypse. Shaking from the close strike, we headed to Nazco. We spent the next two weeks in a miserable drizzle, spraying stinking swamp water over the saturated, barely smoldering embers of a lightning-struck fire.
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Not to diminish the town, but it was not a fun fortnight. We were sent home a few days early, due to the rain: our spirits and all of our gear cold and sodden. We arrived back in town in the late evening, offloading our gear as the last helicopters lifted from the fire base. While leaving, an absolutely brilliant rainbow framed what we could see of the Quesnel , now washed clean and gleaming in the evening
Andy Johnson, Editor-in-Chief
light like the promised land. Dinner was gas-station fried chicken and a long drive back to Prince George into a sky dark and violent as the mouth of hell. I was mooching Sirius radio from the vehicle I was tailgating. The guy ahead of me had pretty terrible taste, but there wasn’t great radio coverage on the highway. I’ve been to Barkerville twice, I know it’s not really Quesnel, but it left an impression on me. The first time I visited, I stumbled into a building where a girl was being fitted for a dress, locks notably absent from gold-rush-era construction. The second time I went gold panning and found a few shiny grains, but I suspect every tourist does. The pre-packaged dirt gave it away. I bought rock candy and watched an actor play the Hanging Judge Bigby with relish and aplomb. We got our pictures taken in historical dress, without glasses or modern-day conveniences and printed in sepia. My parents had it hanging in our staircase for years, but they took it down recently because they need to “depersonalize” the house for selling. Our trip is hopefully going to be enlightening. I hear there is a “haunted doll” in a local museum. And that there is a drive-through liquor store, but that might be closed now. It’s a neat town, and I kind of regret not spending more time there, but with the full inclusion of the Quesnel campus in the students’ union, I can make the trip more often.
Garett Svensen, Production Editor
This story originally appeared in the Quesnel issue of The Confluence.The issue was printed on May 22nd and constitutes a “Greatest Hits” collection of stories, articles, comics and art from our two year stint on the student magazine. Quesnel will be paying cfs dues in the fall semester, and so we will be broadening our scope to our sister campus in Quesnel.
Want $20? The Confluence is seeking student submissions for biweekly publication. Submissions are ongoing, so if you have news, opinon, short stories, poetry, comics, pictures or anything else you would like to see in the paper, send them to us and we will pay you $20 for a published submission. Contact us at: news@cncsu.ca
Taren Johnson, Web Manager
May 31st 2013
May 2013 2013 MAY
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The Confluence is produced biweekly at the CNCSU office on CNC’s Prince George campus by Garett Svensen and Andy Johnson. 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”
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Weather
The Confluence - News
SUNDAY
Environment Canada 7-Day Weather Forecast: For Prince George, BC. 31 May-6 June 2013 Friday, May 31: 17°C, Thundershowers. Saturday, June 1: 15°C, 5°C, Rain. Sunday, June 2: 19°C, 6°C, Partly Cloudy. Monday, June 3: 20°C, 7°C, Partly Cloudy.
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Tuesday, June 4: 21°C, 10°C, Cloudy. All submissions are welcome, the authors of edited works used in the Wednesday, June 5: 21°C, 9°C, Cloudy, Showers confluence receive a $20 cheque upon publication. Advertisement rates are Thursday, June 6: 19°C, 5°C, Sun and Cloud. availiable upon request.
May 31st 2013
Exploding Salad Dressing
Paul Strickland, Contributor
Long-time contributor Paul Strickland presents a short story about business suits, international wages and salad dressing.
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The Confluence - Culture
On his way to Reno for holidays, Terry, a reporter for The Palliser Springs Chronicle, overheard conversations on the ten-passenger plane Chronos Air ran as a commuter flight from Palliser Springs to Oiltowers International. Two rows of seats ahead, Dieter Aucklander, The Chronicle's managing editor, was talking to Darrell Coop, station manager for TOTE Radio in Palliser Springs, about the high cost of reclaiming his luggage from the baggage labour in Canada. carousel, and present himself on time to the interview panel with a ridiculously “In Guatemala they're happy to work spattered coat and tie, or take his luggage for three dollars a day,” Aucklander into an airport washroom, find an older said. “Wages are too high in Canada for but clean sportcoat and another tie packed businesses here to be competitive.” away in the biggest suitcase, put them on “Right,” Coop agreed. instead and be 10 to 20 minutes late to the At first Terry wasn't sure if he had heard interview. right and thought maybe his boss was On arriving, Terry perceived the air in talking about three dollars per hour for Oiltowers International was completely Guatemalan workers. But, no. He'd heard uncharacteristically hot, close, humid right. His boss repeated his view for Coop and stifling. It wasn't the dry southern that three dollars a day was the ideal to Alberta he had been used to, but rather strive for. reminded him of late June 1969 during a vacation with relatives in Topeka, Kansas, Terry didn't say anything and kept and western Missouri. The dark grey cloud reading the in-flight magazine. After all, Aucklander had put in a word for him for cover seemed menacing. a possible education reporter opening Terry chose the second option he had at The Oiltowers Galaxy. An interview mulled while his flight was descending at the offices of The Galaxy had been for landing. He took his luggage into the conveniently scheduled for a stopover in washroom and fairly quickly found and Oiltowers Friday afternoon two weeks put on his older, slightly frayed sport coat. from now during his return fight from In his nervous ineptness, he had to make Reno. two attempts at tying his alternate tie and making it look presentable. On the second leg of the flight back, between Denver and Oiltowers, Terry He hailed a cab to the offices of The was wearing a coat and tie and hoping he Oiltowers Galaxy, which, fortunately, would look his best for the interview. The weren't too far from Oiltowers jet was more than half full of Houston International.Yet he was still 20 minutes oilmen wearing Stetsons and speaking to late. Four members of the five-member each other in their Texas drawl. interview committee were still there, but he was told the fifth member of A flight attendant brought his lunch. the committee, the managing editor, Terry opened the plastic cover of the inflight meal and then started to peel away concluding after ten minutes Terry wasn't coming, had already left for the day. The the foil on the small container of ranch interview went ahead anyway, and Terry dressing for the salad. did a reasonable job of explaining and defending his writing style and approach “Pow!” Evidently not having been preas evidenced in the file of clips he had pressurized for 32,000 feet, the saladdressing container exploded and splattered sent earlier. The remaining members of its contents of cream-coloured dressing all the interview committee were politely over Terry's sport coat and tie. Now Terry interested in his explanation of his had to decide whether to catch a cab to the philosophy of covering education. interview immediately after landing and
He took a cab back to the airport, and waited for the Chronos Air commuter flight back to Palliser Springs. Breaking news on airport TV screens was about the deadly tornado that had hit a trailer court in Petropatria 300 kilometres to the north and killed more than 20 people. He found a copy of The Oiltowers Trumpet that someone had left on a table in the waiting area for his flight. He read an article about Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's latest speech about the desirability of wider free trade and a more competitive Canadian economy. In addition, he read through a piece by a national columnist who contended high-wage Canada was stagnant and too comfortable to succeed under expanded global trade. There was no air turbulence to speak of on the Chronos Air flight, but Terry felt drained, didn't read anything more and just stared out the window. Driving his Ford Mustang II to work at The Palliser Springs Chronicle the following Monday morning, Terry heard an editorial on TOTE Radio about the need for greater flexibility among members of Canada's overly unionized, pampered work force. There was a clip of Prime Minister Mulroney saying of VIA Rail, “Use it or lose it!” There was tape of the ProgressiveConservative MP from Etzikom echoing this sentiment. Terry pulled into the parking lot and prepared for a long week that would include the Coulee District No. 554 Public School Board meeting that night, the Juniper District No. 338 Catholic School Board meeting Tuesday night, and the Municipal District of Red Rock No. 11 board of directors' meeting all day Wednesday. There were hints of labour unrest at Palliser Springs College, too, and it was best to keep track of its board of directors' committee meetings and also the meetings of the faculty association later in the week.
The Confluence - Culture
Terry sat back in his living-room easy chair, a 1940s-style red-upholstery furniture item that he'd bought from a member of the composing room for $15 when he'd first arrived in Palliser Springs. About the letter of rejection, he thought maybe it was just as well: He was too tired to move to Oiltowers anyway.
Please come out sing and dance with us bubble/boy those brutes that stuffed you in the high/school locker are really long/long gone/gone sing and dance with us wear your poncho bring your father too weaver of the land of song and dance please celebrate with us we don’t care even if you like to get your bottom spanked pro/creation with a turkey baster is ok we guess but be in/joy with your/self get a boner once in a/while your really safe with us we don’t believe in trial by combat no punch punch punch hit hit hit hitler hitler hitler in the alley behind a filthy god/dam dumpster please stay here sing and dance with us besides you can’t go to Sapperton in this condition drop that corpse you carry with your heart sing away the chest/pains dance out of your YANKEE/DOODLE DANDY skin we want you to be here for/ever and ever and ever/more bubble/boy
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Tuesday Terry received a letter at his house from The Oiltowers Galaxy. Signed by the managing editor, it said the committee members were grateful for his having taken the time to visit the newspaper's offices for the interview and found the clips he had submitted were well researched and well written. However, the editor continued, they found most of his articles were too long according to their standards, and they didn't think he would meet their requirements at the present time.Yet they had appreciated the opportunity to meet him, the editor said, and The Galaxy would keep his application and clips on file for six months in case of future openings for which he might be suitable.
Dave Ogilvie, Contributor
May 31st 2013
Untitled
May 31st 2013
Sometimes a Great Notion of Community
Andrew Johnson, Contributor
The Confluence - Culture
On 23 May 2013 I visited the Quesnel, BC, College of New Caledonia (CNC) campus with Garett Svensen (Production Editor of The Confluence), Bobby Chavarie (Executive Director of CNC Students’ Union) and Arnold Yellowman (Secretary of CNC Students’ Union). It’s a joint campus that houses both the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) and CNC. Being familiar with both the CNC and UNBC campuses in Prince George, BC, then entering Quesnel’s joint campus was a slightly surreal experience. The surrealism came primarily from the architecture, which emphasises the best characteristics of CNC’s new trades building and UNBC’s Bentley Centre. The overall aesthetic flows well together and gives one the impression of mechanical practicality combined with organic fluidity. To me, this campus is also unique for another, more personal reason: It promotes a sense of community between CNC and UNBC—which makes entering this campus even more surreal due to the sordid history between the two institutions. While most people I talk to today are dimly aware of this history, it seems that Charles J. McCaffray (president of CNC from 1978-90) is the individual who initiated most of the animosity between both post-secondary institutions. While this, at first, seems unlikely, I recently picked up McCaffray’s book, UNBC—A Northern Crusade, and therein found a gloomy microcosm of the declining notion of community in Prince George.
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Community seems to be something that has weighed heavily on my mind recently. As Garett pointed out to me a few weeks back, “You’re the only person I know who still goes downtown.” This was slightly alarming to me because I knew what he meant by the observation. I neither work nor live downtown, so for me—a 29 year old, white male—to frequent the downtown core as often as I do is odd. Most people around my age generally opt for sitting around one of the two or three nicer pubs downtown for a few rounds and then head home. But my frequent visits generally start by parking my car somewhere near Books and Company,
Andrew Johnson discusses business, progress and community. on the safer side of 3rd Avenue, and then walking around visiting locally owned shops to browse through used wares, purchase slightly old coffee and stroll leisurely down the mostly dilapidated and deconstructed “Historical George Street.” Cities were not always like this, as Brian Fawcett observes: The development of Western cities since the time of the Greeks has evolved around the concept of a central marketplace, or Agora, that focuses both commercial and civic activities and then surrounds them with the human necessities of housing, education, and recreation in a relatively efficient balance. But the recent evolution of contemporary technological systems is leading us toward a commercial monoculture— the city as merchandise, social life as a retail mall that gives up to scrutiny only its superficial proprietors and profit pathways. I’m talking about Athens in the 3rd-century B.C., or medieval Italy’s Sienna, cities that understood that commerce was necessary but that it was one element in a larger community.The past 40 [now 50] years in Prince George has been one long regression in the complexity of its community and its various environments. (Virtual Clearcut or How Things Are in My Hometown, 18-9) During the trip to Quesnel, Garett and I found ourselves in the downtown core while Bobby and Arnold went to do some outreach work for the CNC Students’ Union. We opted to check out a few shops—most of which are locally owned and operated—before grabbing a coffee. “Someone cared enough [about downtown] to take the time to knit that stop sign a sweater.” Garett said to me as we crossed the street to sit down at the only available
outdoor table across from the Granville Coffee house. It was around this time that we began discussing the lively nature of Quesnel’s thriving downtown in comparison to the untempting downtown of Prince George. Bobby and Arnold returned soon after we finished our short, but poignant conversation and we headed back to Prince George. After spending an afternoon in downtown Quesnel and then returning to Prince George, I seized the opportunity to head downtown to pay a bill for a panel of one of my parents’ garage doors that I had backed into with my car. While the traffic made downtown appear busy enough, the only people who seemed to be walking were the heritage house vagabonds and consumers heading back to their cars— parked in the slanted stalls that have been around since I was born—parked five feet away from the stores they visit. I paid the bill down in the 700 block of 3rd Avenue (which I would consider to be the loneliest part of town), then headed home. It used to be residential and full of life, now it’s devoid of community. My general mood during the drive home that day seems to be paralleled by Fawcett when he recalls the radical “progress” of Prince George from his youth: [W]ild predictions of future wealth made for an atmosphere of glorious opportunity for anyone focused on making their fortune, but for the children growing up in its “let‘er-rip” currents, it wasn’t much fun.The schools were constantly overcrowded and filled with bewildered strangers—teachers and students alike; neighbourhood tree forts and vacant lots disappeared to make room for new houses and streets; the old river sloughs that had served as playgrounds—and parents’ safety nightmares—were filled in
May 31st 2013 The Confluence - Culture
The Sun Sets on Prince George’s Downtown Core.
The frequently wrong predictions “of future wealth” and mostly empty business opportunities that Fawcett points out often come veiled with slogans of being “good for the community.” As McCaffray states in UNBC—A Northern Crusade, “’Northern U’—now UNBC—was a university created by ordinary people who cared to an extraordinary degree about their own society and its future,” (16). While on the surface this appears to be a genuine sentiment, one simply has to turn to pages 28-9 to see how much McCaffray cared for the community in which he lived:
In the interests therefore of enabling the selected community leaders to focus on the task of establishing the new university and of avoiding early and destructive “brush fire” academic wars, the group [a committee McCaffray refers to as either the “No Name” Committee or “The Prince George University Action Group”] started with no involvement by the CNC Faculty or its elected leadership [save for McCaffray]. While regrettable, this was a carefully considered and, in retrospect, well justified decision. While, undoubtedly, McCaffray truly believed northern British Columbia required a university with full degree granting abilities, this raises the question, what “‘brush fire’ academic wars” was McCaffray afraid would be so destructive
to a planning group for a university in the north? Surely the CNC Faculty Association members would have been able to provide valuable—albeit critical—insight into the matter of a northern university situated in Prince George. This is all the more confusing when McCaffray seems to suggest that there were only a handful of initial discussions—as he only discusses the first two meetings—before this project became public knowledge. There is a widely held sentiment among former CNC Faculty and students that McCaffray was not interested in expanding CNC into a university-college campus, but rather favored the idea of a free-standing university. McCaffray seems support this sentiment when he states that, “One option was that CNC should evolve into a university by adding complete undergraduate and then
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and developed one after another. By the time I was in my teens, Prince George bore only a faint and fading resemblance to the town of my early childhood. (Virtual Clearcut or How Things Are in My Hometown, 13)
May 31st 2013
“You’re the only person I know who still goes downtown.”
masters and doctoral work,” yet, “[t]he idea of a degree-granting polytechnic institute [CNC] did not receive a great deal of further examination or support,” (UNBC—A Northern Crusade, 43).
The Confluence - Culture
McCaffray is careful to not mention who—and more importantly why—this option did not receive further exploration. John Harris, former CNC English instructor, states in his book Other Art, that there did appear to be government, as well as CNC faculty, support for this option: [T]he Swedish network university, he [the Minister of Advanced Education] pointed out, was not a university in North American terms but a combination “universitycollege,” incorporating career as well as degree programs. Undoubtedly, he concluded, the most efficient plan would be to expand the present college, capitalizing on its alreadyestablished and very successful (Barry and I cheered and wrote the minister’s exact words into our notepads) university program, allowing it to offer degrees, perhaps at first through the three universities in the south (whose degrees were well-known and very credible), but later, if the experiment succeeded, on its own. (Other Art, 90)
An interesting device was the use of the term ‘group.’ At the outset we avoided any title, formal structure or status.We were not a ‘committee,’ or a ‘board,’ or a ‘society’ in those very early days—just a quiet, deliberately informal, voluntary gathering of public-spirited people prepared to explore and then later commit to a very specific goal. On one occasion in a light-hearted approach to this situation a memo went out to the participants addressed to the “no-name” committee.The whole procedure was a temporary device designed to stress the informality of the group, keeping it free from direct association or affiliation with any other organization or agenda and maintaining maximum flexibility in our discussions and planning. It also made possible a measure of confidentiality while the initial discussion was taking place. People were free to ‘think aloud’ and explore ideas and approaches.Without a name or structure we were also less likely to be targets for the ministry
bureaucracy or the CNC faculty union. (UNBC—A Northern Crusade, 41) McCaffray appears highly intent on secrecy for the progress of the “northern university.” This seems to be, at least to me, indicative of most business practices in Prince George, especially the ones that operate “for the community.” As Brian Fawcett illustrates, “When some poor soul complained to Phil Gagliardi [in regards to the local Pulp Mill], the Bible-thumping provincial minister of highways, Gagliardi laughed long and hard. ‘Why, that’s the smell of money,’ He boomed,” (Virtual Clearcut or How Things Are in My Hometown, 14). Fawcett’s example—in conjunction to McCaffray’s questionable ethics—could be viewed as pointing to McCaffray’s true motivation for hosting a free-standing university in Prince George—which can be applied to the seemingly general business practices of Prince George since the late 1950s—the almighty Canadian dollar. The only bottom line that I’m able to see is that community only interferes with good business.
A few paragraphs later, Harris describes McCaffray as, “hurt and angry,” presumably from the Minister of Advanced Education’s support of expanding CNC into a university-college (Other Art, 91). From this portrait, it is not a far leap in logic to view McCaffray as a businessman with a vested interest in a free-standing university, rather than someone with a vested interest in rebuilding community in Prince George.
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This portrait of McCaffray seems to be further supported, not only by his avoidance of the CNC Faculty Association, but by the conspiratorial tone taken when he discusses the “The Prince George University Action Group” (also referred to as the “No Name” Committee) in the initial planning stages of UNBC:
These Trees Should Have a Green and Leafy Community. Like the Lawn. But the Caterpillars Mean Business.
Michael Brigade, Contributor
The Village Green Network heads are heavy hitters in the marketing and advertising world. For instance, its president, Seth Shapiro is a major player in the entertainment industry, winner of two Emmys, an adjunct professor at USC School of Cinematic Arts, and sits on the board of governors of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (The people who give out Emmys). This tells me two The very first thing I found was that things: One, there is a shitload of money blogs are serious business. Going from the behind this. Two, somebody has an agenda. business registry, the blog that originated Item one on the agenda is pretty much the questionable article seems to be a guaranteed “make a shitload more money,” side-venture of a real-estate company but some of the repeating topics on the in Florida. Somewhat surprising, but website have me thinking that either the websites and blogs come from the marketing world has developed a moral strangest places sometimes. Things got compass (unlikely) or someone with deep really interesting, though, when I followed pockets has a great interest in controlling the ad money up the chain. The blog was the discourse surrounding health, food directly affiliated with the “Village Green and lifestyle (far more likely, also probably Network,” a food-and-lifestyle centred several someones). web marketing vehicle. From their Right there in their marketing info, website: you see the key buzzwords: “Real Food, Village Green is the global Allergy Free, Paleo,Weight Loss & Fitness, and Parenting.” The named network for natural and organic topics are the most innocuous key food, healthy lifestyles and green focus of the network: niche markets living.With over 500 blogs and 7 million monthly visits, we connect with dependable, passionate user bases. Another eight categories round out great brands with customers via site. Under their convenient blog custom video, giveaways, sponsored the directory there are a dozen separate posts, podcasts, banner ads, categories, including stuff like couponing product placement and integrated and vegetarianism. But right at the end of campaigns. the category listing is a name that set off my alarm bells, finely tuned by years of VGN features articles, recipes, exposure to the worst of new-age cures videos and online classes in 12 and fad diets in the vain attempts to treat verticals including Real Food, or cure my asthma with crystals, raw-food Allergy Free, Paleo,Weight diets and saltwater nose-enemas: Weston Loss & Fitness, and Parenting Price.
(villagegreennetwork.com)
I didn’t immediately recognise where I saw the name, only that it keyed off an old suspicious mindset, a gut feeling of dread and contempt. I did some perfunctory research into Weston Price and vindicated my gut, which sank lower as I read. The Weston A. Price Foundation is a lobbyist group in the US that provides some of the worst anti-medicine, anti-science rhetoric that pollutes the discourse surrounding health, food and lifestyle today. Named after Weston Price, a dentist who founded the professional association of dentists in the US, the ADA, and was known for fairly outré (and largely discredited) theories about health, nutrition and disease, the foundation actively promotes a diet high in animal fats, the consumption of unpasteurized “raw milk,” and is profoundly anti-vegan. A little more digging on the website revealed that there are also anti-EMF, anti-microwave and anti-fluoridisation sentiments widespread on the site. The only stance I could not find that would make the list of crank altmed topics complete was anti-vaccination, but I’m sure it’s present in some form. Weston Price is the only named foundation on the “Village Green” website, and cursory investigation of the site shows a few features that seem odd in a food/ lifestyle site, but are well in line with the Weston Price creed. There is an odd emphasis on the current fad “paleo” diet which shares some commonality with the foundation’s message, the “real food” section appears to promote the kind of raw, high-fat diet promoted by the Weston Price people, and the two vegetarian blogs have very similar language about
The Confluence - Culture
Is it marketing or conspiracy? Regular contributor Michael Brigade takes an in-depth look at “wellness” marketing.
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One night, keyed off from a clickbait sensationalist quasi-news article, I went down a rabbit hole of food, foundations and funding. For the most part, I stick away from the spammy blogs and OMGClickHere-style sensationalist articles, but a friend referenced an article that intersected two things I’m fairly passionate about: food and medicine. Food for two reasons: I love to cook, and I have a wide range of food allergies that restrict my diet. Medicine for much the same reason, my allergies are associated with the so-called “allergic triangle” of a chronic immune disorder I’ve had to deal with all of my life. Reading labels, following dietary restrictions and researching medication are part of my life, and I tend to get a bit testy around what I consider poorly-informed dietary and medical advice. Thus piqued, I investigated from where the blog originated, and tried to suss out a purpose to it.
May 31st 2013
No Tofu For You Until You Eat Your Meat
May 31st 2013
“It is always about power, who has it, and who challenges it. It’s always politics.” “real food ingredients like traditional fats (coconut oil, ghee, butter, etc.), organic fruits and vegetables, pasture raised eggs, fermented foods and natural sweeteners.” (healthyrealfoodvegetarian.com)
that fall in line with the Weston Price foundation ideology. Notably, they are both non-vegan and very fat-heavy. Some further digging into the website as a whole seems to show “Real Food” as code word for Weston Price-compatible on the blogs.
The Confluence - Culture
The anti-vegan stance is one of the stranger sentiments I’ve seen in the health and wellness discourse lately. The rhetoric I’ve seen usually smacks of the same kind of whinging loss-of-privilege as the “men’s rights” movement. In both cases, the dominant, privileged viewpoint (that of the patriarchal male, or the meat-withevery-meal omnivore) is challenged, and in both cases the privileged mistake the loss of a privileged position with oppression and rally against the perceived oppressors. I recall similar rhetoric bandied about in previous years as vegetarianism became more and more prevalent, and in the religious discourse as dominant churches lost their privileged place in the discourse during a surge in atheism/agnosticism and the introduction of other religious groups through immigration. It is always about power, who has it, and who challenges it. It’s always politics.
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Now, New Amsterdam Media, the parent advertising and marketing company that seems to administer the website does not appear to hold any kind of strong political affiliation, or at least one that they are willing to share. Their website is fairly basic: a blog about media and marketing, employee bios, a very impressive list of clients. Unless everyone at the office is a fervent Weston Price nut, and is willing to put in an immense amount of resources to covertly influence the public, the “Village Green Network” has got to be the creation of one or more clients with access to a great deal of resources -fiscal, human or otherwise.
To get a picture of what kind of resources the Weston A. Price Foundation is working with, consider one of their largest current campaigns. The foundation website is soliciting member donations to obtain research space at the University of Illinois at the tune of $300,000 a year. So far they have raised a third of that, and something tells me, that despite the broad appearance of the foundation it is not the key fiscal contributor to the Village Green Network. I could see a consortium of meat and dairy producers (a decent-sized lobby group in their own right) of doing something like this: funding groups like the Weston A. Price Foundation that advance their product, but distancing themselves from the more controversial aspects of the foundation. There is a separate “PricePottenger Nutritional Foundation” that seems to be a less-proselyting and more professional organization run along the same values as the Weston A. Price Foundation. Otherwise, I was not able to find a solid connection higher up. A few loose links to other lobby groups and members of congress, but nothing too concrete. What disturbs me, though, is purely speculative on my part. There seems to be a growing voice, made of thousands of otherwise rational and educated members of society, expousing the same pattern of ideas given by the Weston A. Price foundation. Veganism has suddenly become a controversial lifestyle, to be vigorously debated on web forums. Water fluoridisation went from a standard practice for health to a controversial issue, hotly debated in recent years, like the recent debacle in Portland, USA. Concerns about wireless devices have gone from the fringe to common sentiment, with unsubstantiated claims of EMF allergies poisioning BC Hydro’s “Smart Meter” program. Never mind that gas meters have had the same technology for years with no complaint. Ketosis and paleo diets suddenly have become extremely popular, even promoted on the popular Dr. Oz show, despite several problems with their nutritional theory and practice. The fringe bloc has either had a massive grassroots upsurgeance, or someone’s laying down astroturf.
Remember in the late 2000s, when the “Tea Party” seemed to come out of nowhere on a massive “grassroots” surge to dominate the political discourse in the US and taint the discourse up here? Looking back, it’s pretty obvious that the fringe had a massive cash infusion coupled with a public relations hook-up. By elevating fringe politics to a national stage, a nice smokescreen for lobbying and congressional shenanigans was created. I fear something similar is in the works right now. But again, that’s speculation. I feel like some bloc is playing a long game with their cards held closely to their chest. For all I know, it’s purely a marketing push into the lucrative “wellness” market, using the popularity of fad diets and a growing sentiment of distrust of conventional medicine for profit. That being said, it feels too structured, too focused on specifics that can hurt the mass appeal of the marketing. Something this directed, this focused on altering the discourse, tells me that there are people with deep pockets and a vested interest in controlling the way we live, without letting us know who is doing the controlling.
Lockers FAQ
The Universal Transit Pass gives you unlimited use of Prince George Transit as well as full use of both the Aquatic Center and Four Seasons pool in Prince George.
You may rent your locker at the Students’ Union office, Room 1-303, near the Gathering Place in the main building on the Prince George campus.
What do I need to get a U-pass?
You need to bring your CNC Student Card which can be obtained from the Admissions office.
When can I get my U-pass?
You can get the U-pass up to two weeks prior to your program start date. For example, if your program starts on September 3, 2013, the soonest you can get your U-pass would be August 19, 2013.
Health & Dental FAQ Am I covered?
All full time students enrolled in the Fall semester taking three or more courses or enrolled in a vocational and trades programs that are 14 weeks or longer are automatically included in the plan.
If I already have coverage can I Opt-Out?
Yes, if you already have extended health and dental benefits you are able to be exempted from the plan. Just bring proof of existing coverage to the CNCSU Office room 1-303 before Friday September 27, 2013.
Where do I rent my locker?
When can I rent my locker?
Locker rentals begin two weeks before the start of your program; For example, if your first day of classes is September 3, 2013, you may rent your locker starting on August 19, 2013.
How long may I rent my locker?
Per program term to a maximum three terms (1 full year). You must be registered in a least one course in the term to be eligible to rent a locker.
What do I need to bring to rent a locker?
CNC Student Card or CNC registration statement and Photo ID.
What is the cost to rent a locker? - Half size lockers are $5 per term - Full size lockers are $10 per term - $5 lock deposit fee - Payment method: Cash Only
If I’m a part time student can I Opt-In?
Yes, if are enrolled in atleast one class at CNC Prince George or Quesnel campus you can Opt-In at the CNCSU Office room 1-303 before Friday September 27, 2013.
MEET THE 2013-14 CNCSU EXECUTIVE & STAFF
Joshuah Balsom PG Campus Representative
Arnold Yellowman Secretary
Patricia Obasi International Students’ Representative
Leila-Soila Abubakar Womens’ Representative
Mick Frazier Treasurer
Teleah Old (Staff) Services Coordinator
Robert Chavarie (Staff) Executive Director
*Note: No picture available for Chantelle Quock, Aboriginal Students’ Representative
your students’ union • local 13, canadian federation of students
Page 10
Roxanne Quock Chairperson
The Confluence - CNCSU
What is the U-pass?
May 31st 2013
U-Pass FAQ