The confluence issue 45

Confluence The

Official CNCSU Publication

MAY 28, 2014

CHAPBOOK REVIEW CARIBOO PULP

POETRY

LEATHER JACKET UNNERVED

14 daycare satire

LOCAL 13 Eric Depenau Chair Person, CNCSU

I would like to thank everyone for the incredible display of support I received during the 2014/2015 student representative election.

I would also like to congratulate you, the students, on choosing an excellent team of representatives for the coming year. It will be my pleasure to work with each and every elected rep during my term as Chair.

The 2014/2015 school year is going to be an exciting time for everyone at CNC. Membership has expanded to regional campuses and a variety of campaigns and events are expected to take place. These coming months will also be a time that ensures the decision makers at CNC, Victoria, and Ottawa are listening to the needs of students.

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Locally we have seen what can be accomplished if we band together. For a notable example, in just the last few weeks the U-Pass contract has been resigned with the City of Prince George and decisions regarding the onsite day care facilities have reflected an understanding of student needs.

I hope you all enjoy your summer and try to squeeze the most out of the precious time you have with your families and friends before returning to the academic toiling. Whether you are joining us again at CNC in the fall or moving on to the next step in your life, we at the CNCSU wish you well.

Hazelton Bound

EVENTS AT A GLANCE

Ryan White Editor-In-Chief Home is where the heart is, but new scenery is always welcomed. I currently have the pleasure of working and volunteering in Hazelton, British Columbia this summer and to simply say that this town is beautiful would be an immense understatement. The people are friendly, the food is amazing, and from my current location, it is only a ten minute walk in any direction to find myself beside waterfalls, lookouts, rivers, forests, and mountain ranges.

It does not get any better than this.

In other news, the College of New Caledonia daycare program is staying open, which is a great relief for the various students and faculty who rely on the services of the daycare to complete school and work. This is also great news for the Early Childhood Education students who rely on the program for a physical practicum experience. Here’s hoping the daycare continues to run for many years to come.

Also, fires have been hitting Prince George like it’s the goddamned apocalypse and one has effected a member of our very own Students Union. This is a public reminder for everyone to educate themselves on fire prevention and safe suppression; pro tip, don’t throw a lit sparkler into a bin of oily rags. Also, for those of you who rent out an apartment complex or suite, look into getting renters insurance, it’s fairly cheap and may save you a lot of money in the event of a disaster.

The Confluence is also looking for submissions over the summer intermission. If you have any stories, travel diaries, comics, art, social discourse pieces, photographs, etc… please submit them to the magazines email address so we can print it, pay you twenty dollars, and slightly immortalize you in a concrete fashion. Submissions can be sent to news@cncsu.ca or the.confluence.magazine@ gmail.com Enjoy the sun and have some fun, I look forward to seeing you all come September.

Exec Meeting

Mother’s Day

Orientation

Orientation

Convocation

Schmooze Fest

The Confluence is produced biweekly at the CNCSU office on CNC’s Prince George campus by Ryan White and Harman Dandiwal.

Submissions, inquiries and requests can be made to news@cncsu.ca, in person at the CNCSU room 1-303, or mailed to “The Confluence c/o CNCSU 3330-22nd Ave. Prince George, BC V2N1P8.

All submissions are welcome, the authors of edited works used in the confluence receive a $20 cheque upon publication. Advertisement rates are available upon request.

Ryan Urban White

Harman Dandiwal

Editor-in-Chief, The Confluence

Production Editor, The Confluence

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Welcome to

27 Paulina Nielson

A guttered mind Flash-mob asphyxiated bliss Because he can carry 4 packs of 12 cans up a flight of stairs

We built our foundation on booze and broken bottles I can taste you at the bottom of coffee cups pull your shirt closer to my skin breathe in the moon through thin curtains We’ve worked out the potential of couches the rhythm of obsessive touch.

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Coming into the beginning of the 90 the obvious acts like a straight jacket and the Bad sleep well

by :Shannon Williams Secretary, CNCSU

Watching the building you live in light on fire and burn is one of the worst experiences you may ever endure. On April 16th, I did just that, with my roommate at my side.

It was like any other day before exams, I was sitting at my kitchen table, doing my accounting homework for the second time, trying to memorize all of the formulas, worksheets and account names.

My roommate was upstairs, getting ready for the day after having just had a bath. Nothing could quite prepare either of us for what happened next.

Outside, I heard yelling

and screaming, and promptly ignored it until there was a loud pounding at my door. I ran downstairs, opened my door, and saw all my neighbours standing outside yelling “FIRE! THE BUILDING IS ON FIRE!” I then bounded up the stairs and yelled to my roommate “Get some pants on! The building is on fire!” (It seems that certain types of tragedies lack original ways to describe them) I then proceeded to grab my homework and backpack, which luckily had my keys and wallet within, and ran out the door. My downstairs neighbour had different priorities, I watched him carry out his brand

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THIS GIRL (WAS ALMOST) ON FIRE (AND WHY YOU SHOULD GET TENANT’S INSURANCE)

new flat screen TV and computer.

My roommate didn’t even have time to grab her wallet before the cops were forcing her out of the apartment.

After we left, I got to send one of the best emails I’ve ever sent in my life to my accounting instructor. The subject line was “My house is on fire” and I had to ask for an extension on my final, which was the very next day. Luckily, there was extensive media coverage to back my claim and I was granted the extension.

When the fire was out, we were allowed to go check out our unit, which was as far from the fire as possible in the building.

Walking in and seeing that there was no water damage, no smoke damage, and no sign of entry from fire fighters; that was one of the best experiences of my life. We weren’t sure at that point if we would be allowed back in, but we were relieved. We had not yet purchased tenant’s insurance, which I am now a huge advocate of. If we had had insurance throughout the entire ordeal, I may have avoided the need to take so many Tums.

We are one unit of the lucky few in the building. Out of 13 units, 7 were either completely destroyed or rendered unlivable.

Six (including ours) were practically untouched. We were allowed to move back in two weeks to the day after the fire.

Unfortunately, in that time we were broken into and had some very precious possessions taken from us, but compared to losing everything, we were extremely fortunate.

If you take anything away from reading this story, let it be that insurance should be your first priority when you move into a new place.

PENNY DOUGLAS

LEATHER I met him once, in brief drunken time Old country folk serenading from his guitar Fingers strumming the borderlines of my granite heart Thought himself James Dean, cigarette in hand and thick frames black hair gelled back to the 1950s, enveloped in deep monotone voice Etchings of a previous time displayed on his pale skin of dark metallica Each note he struck - calculations to lighten my leadened feet So hard he tried to resonate a mutual frequency Until he tripped over his forged pitch I played him back, for what I could - for what his little ditty gained An iced smile, so fake and pure to shrivel his leather jacket black he found me again, with cool smile and deceptive wink Oozing self-confidence through his greased back hair, clicking his tongue Eyes distracted - Hovering - Engrossed - by my non-conventional figure Sticky feet creeping up - tactless and assuming Cheap tobacco, shoddy cologne as he tries to slip through A wall of heavy pressed plaid against my back, trying to push me forward I pull away as he fails to vocalize precise syllables, tells me to forget the others Forced politeness strains me to listen but the beat of my rhythm runs too fast and pounds too hard out beyond the reach of any squalid slack jawed poseur

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JACKET

CAN YOU JUST NOT BE MENTALLY-ILL?

From my flawed perspective, such a statement is true in regards to mental health, but I am not going to be an asshole about it.

The error lies in our predispositions towards those that seek attention.

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Have you ever considered not being mentally ill?

Ignoring the mentally ill is the last thing a decent person should do.

Perhaps I am giving to much praise to the decent person.

What an utterly ridiculous conclusion to equate with the mentally ill.

Next time you are around the mentally ill: 1. Don’t be such an asshole.

2. Give them some attention.

3. Don’t equate attention with the mentally ill.

4. Don’t equate the mentally ill with weakness.

5. Come to the realization that only a minuscule percentage of the mentally ill want to piss on your shoes.

6. Realize that you’re just as whacked out as they are, but at least they have the spirit to express themselves.

We’re the echo-boomer generation, if we don’t get a pat on the ass for breathing; we feel that our life is meaningless.

Have you ever considered not shitting hot coffee while having the flu?

If a man was on fire outside of your house, would you continue sitting like some asshole explaining to your friend how he just wants attention or would you go out there, extinguish the fire as best as possible, and ask him if he’s ok like a decent human being?

For example, let’s say a young woman had recently experienced a traumatic event, was born with a chemical imbalance or has succumbed to stress. Emotionally, she is going to feel like a bag of smashed assholes.

Her behavior becomes erratic and she secludes herself from society because she, like us, understands she no longer fits the definition of normal. All she wishes is that somebody, anybody, would pull up on her line as she descends into darkness. Instead of a rescue, people begin to talk. They make statements based purely on observation without forethought. They say she is acting this way because she wants attention.

Everybody wants attention.

by : Joseph Summers

Will ignoring them help? No.

Maybe life had meaning when the Nazi’s were on doorsteps, but this whole social-as-self debacle we have created is a horrible alternative.

I suppose this mindset is a sickness in itself, but I digress.

If you don’t think we all want attention, this argument is wasted on you. Go back to being a waste of skin.

Will attention help the mentally ill? Yes.

I do that sometimes.

The mentally ill require attention, not a social stigma that aggravates their conditions.

The equivalent of such conclusions would be the force-feeding of big-macs to a flu patient and being utterly stumped as to why they are not getting better.

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A MATTER OF ATTENTION!

Both questions ring with an unsettling complacency within our society: that those who are physically ill are “sick” and those with any mental illness are doing so because they want attention.

The ugliness and beauty of the northern British Columbia landscape, its industrial processes, its often dysfunctional social life and its increasingly conformist and repressive intellectual atmosphere are powerfully evident in this compact collection of poems.

A reader is sometimes reminded of Al Purdy and his poems like “Homemade Beer”, especially in these lines in White’s “About a Woman I’ve Only Passed and Never Met”:

‘Glazed iced eyes, too cold and sticky for my maggot army to liberate . . .

Just hanging around till spring, the scabs make (good eggs). . . foxes and coyotes and flightless birds housing in your cage. . . .’

‘and I watch from distances as she throws phones against walls of concrete because I drink too much or care too little . . . .

‘She whistles as she walks now, along the slits of the old highway railway junction, singing of warm beer and cold women, . . . .’

In this chapbook, reflecting White’s experience working in Northern mills, industrial processes find poetic expression, recalling the work of Stephen Spender. Small creatures are inevitably caught up in them, both literally and metaphorically: ‘A beautiful day for rounds, staring into the washers which spin whistling song birds with lung damage into a thick brown pulp ‘strong birds,’ I think., ‘tortured, but strong.’’

The title poem, ‘Cariboo’, juxtaposes Mexican and northern B.C. landscapes, but also draws in some imagery from the Prairies in lines like these: ‘from the topsoil of her buried ash, which stain my jump suits and let wild fires roll like horses along her golden prairie sides.’

A journalist can find too many northern B.C. stories end like this. A reader can also question the standard of toughness that calls on a person to just ‘move on’ from such horror: ‘It was the woods that would label me, not the hard men that never cried, and would never let me.’

This passage stirs memories of Jennifer Warnes’ version of ‘Ballad of a Runaway Horse’, the original version of which was written by Leonard Cohen. But one also thinks for a moment of Purdy’s Cariboo Horses.

‘I Once Loved a Hooker’ further draws on regional references to gritty Northern life. It begins with a playful, jocular tone: “The piano is drunk/ and the hills are laughing.” But then the reader finds himself inside the seediest of locations with “the Edmontonian/bar sluts in swastika laced hooker/boots. . . .” The poem is a whirlwind of vertiginous impressions of inebriation.

In this vast region the forests within their beauty and apparent peacefulness too often hide the ugliness of untimely death, as demonstrated in White’s poem, ‘Body in the Woods’:

And larger creatures are also drawn in and destroyed: ‘deer . . ./drink from the lime ponds while their fur erupts like a drunk camper’s unattended stew, sending smoke signals into the whooshing screech of red effluent skies Strolling workmen will find their bones come spring. . . .’

‘Blue Horse Pill’ is something to which older readers can relate, but also expresses hope about the human spirit and the concept of elan vital: ‘Another trip to the doctor is done.

There is a slight possibility that I have developed a good ol’ case of the shingles. . .

I have developed the body of an old man, and the head of an Andronicus. . .

I’m still here to dance.’

White is pessimistic about the future of what’s left of intellectual and artistic freedom in northern B.C. -- indeed in all of North America.

The legacy of the Beatniks of the 1950s has turned out not to be liberty of expression but a stale ideological conformity. In the first poem in the chapbook, ‘Justice,’ he raises the question of the return of Bolsheviks to northern climes. These would not be the actual Bolsheviks of 1917-24, the ones who caused the murder and starvation of millions in the Soviet Union in the 1920s, and who in turn were put on trial and murdered by Stalin in the late 1930s.

Rather they are people of intellectual influence who have a Bolshevik sensibility -those who think they have the only approach to helping the oppressed and who seek to silence anyone who disagrees with them, whether through ostracism or frivolous, maliciously trumped-up complaints/ “The critics cannot withstand the criticism. . . ,” White says in ‘The Separation of North and State.’

In this connection one becomes especially concerned about political phenomena like the “Check your privilege” movement, which enjoins all potential critics to “shut the f--- up!” If this kind of thing goes very far, we might see, in a way, the resurrection of actual Bolsheviks.

One looks forward to White’s next chapbook and more of his realistic representations of life in the North.

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CHAPBOOK REVIEW: Cariboo Pulp

by : Paul Strickland

TAKING CANDY

FROM A BABY by : Kid Horrisone

The collective of students and employees at the College of New Caledonia Prince George Campus can now let out their respective sighs in regards to the fears of the possible closure of the college’s daycare program. Some of you may be wondering what events caused such an event so I am writing to explain in a satirical way the gist of the situation.

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Robert Chavarie, the executive director of the CNC Students’ Union, said it best when he explained, “The daycare centre at CNC provides valuable childcare services for the school and community and plays a vital component in the Early Childhood Education program at CNC. For more than 30

For those of you keeping score at home, that is a very large sum of money that must suddenly be taken away from the school.

As an undercover reporter at the board meetings, a few documented ideas were mulled over by the board members as to where cuts could be made.

The “green-school” aspect used by the University of British Columbia was out of the question because of the consensus that UNBC doesn’t want to use their tuition funds to pay for hydro so they let their students roam the dark hallways.

The possibility of the cafeteria being eliminated was deemed asinine as starvation was out of the question and was also considered bad for public relations.

Thus the daycare was the candidate for the chopping block because children have a terrible reputation of defending themselves, e.g. taking candy from a baby.

However, the board forgot one crucial thing, don’t ever try and pull a fast one over a parent and expect to get out of the situation alive.

Following a series of media reports, campaigning, and protest, the possibility of closing the daycare without serious repercussions was

deemed impossible and new practical ideas were implemented.

Satire aside, a new business plan was introduced and the board members found the funds they needed to keep the daycare open and the parents, faculty, and students happy, at least for now.

The prevention of the daycare crisis concluded with a grim reminder from acting-president Bryn Kulmatycki, who stated, “I think it’s important that people understand that CNC has had to cut $9.67 million from its budget in the last seven years, which has become increasingly difficult and will not get any easier next year.”

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DAYCARE SATIRE

years, the integrated daycare/ ECE centre has been an institution at CNC, paid for, in part, by students at CNC in the form of a small fee collected by the Students’ Union.

We have been contributing to the daycare centre for years. Having a high-quality, accessible, childcare facility on campus is a huge service for our community.”

It is clear that the daycare is a huge asset for the College of New Caledonia because it provides sustainability and support on various levels. For example, enrolled parents and members of faculty can place their children into the program while they perform their duties.

In addition to the peace of mind that comes from knowing their children are in good hands, Early Childhood Education students get to experience the physical practicum of their line of work and the children get to experience a small dose of a structured educational setting at an early age.

All stated pro arguments aside, the daycare was still pushed into the firing line, but why?

The shit-show began in January when the College of New Caledonia board members were alerted of the shortcomings of the College of New Caledonia’s operating budget. More specifically, the College of New Caledonia staff and board members were forced to wrestle with a $1.2 million dollar deficit which needed to be eliminated from their operating budget.

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BEAUTIFUL HAZELTON PHOTOGRAPHY

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PARTY @ CNC - COMIC

by : Marv West

SOLUTION

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by : Michael Brigade

It’s May Day, and another piece of neo-liberal trash legislation has washed up on the hallowed grounds of education. The BC Liberals have drafted a warm pile of legislation that aims to restructure schools, from a PG Free Press article unveiling the plan: “within four years, a quarter of their operating grants will be targeted to programs with identified demand from the job market.

Employment data will determine post-secondary funding, instead of the tradition of block grants to post-secondary schools.” (Tom Fletcher, PG Free Press). It’s a strategy that works basically opposite to one that encourages the kind of innovation and entrepreneurship that Prince George and northern BC desperately needs.

The whole reason that block grants are given to post-secondary schools is the same reason that money gets poured into R&D and startups: innovation brings business. Building a workforce with a limited skillset is ultimately self-defeating. Sure you may have a ready pool of workers to build your LNG boom, but that only lasts so long before it busts and you’re back to square one. The workers will then require further training to move into other fields. Building a solid ground for innovation doesn’t have that immediate short-term payoff, but it does ensure that there will be continued development in the future.

To use an imprecise analogy, at the moment, we are seeing the first few Model Ts roll off the assembly line, only to find that the government is paying for the training of buggy-whip and horse-cart manufacturers while equine transport is still in vogue. It may look good over the four-year political term, but this lack of forethought ultimately leads to a bunch of people with skills in rawhide work when they need to know nuts and bolts to stay relevant in the current job market.

This part deeply concerned me: “Advanced Education Minister Amrik Virk said the student loan program will also be adjusted to market demand, with loans reduced or forgiven for students who graduate with in-demand skills and are willing to move to get work.” So while Newfoundland gets a complete revocation of the student loan system in favour of grants, we get another “solution” predicated on market trends.

According to Stats Canada, Northern BC has around an 8% unemployment rate, depending on region.

Most of Southern BC hovers at a little over 6%. Industry-wise, the Canada-wide in-demand skills appear to mostly be in the white-collar professions, based on the past four years’ growth, despite the insistence of the provincial government that there is a constant severe shortage of skilled tradespeople. The “Finance and insurance,” “Professional, scientific and technical services” and “Educational services” fields as listed by Stats Canada each brought a minimum of 1 million new jobs to the table since 2009. As for trades, only “Construction” was able to approach this level of growth in the jobs market, despite a respectable showing by “Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction” which added around half a million jobs Canada-wide. Forestry and related fields were stagnant in this period. While it would be admirable if the BC Liberals forgave student loans for accountants, scientists, technicians and teachers for leaving the north and finding work with their in-demand skillset, the rhetoric thrown about by the government is less than reassuring.

In “B.C. launches skills ’re-engineering’”, Fletcher reported that, “Ministers

avoided identifying areas that will lose funding, but have previously cited far more teaching graduates than there are jobs in the school system.

Premier Christy Clark has lamented a system where students receive a bachelor’s degree and then must take additional training to qualify for jobs.” At this point, I agree to an extent. Trying to start a career as a knowledge worker in the North is difficult and often requires some concessions and additional training. If you take a page from Virk though, and move to where the jobs are in your field, this issue disappears, much like all the intelligent, dedicated, passionate people who disappear from northern BC because of the skills mismatch and employers who are unwilling to invest in employee training.

It has been said that Canada doesn’t have a skill shortage problem, but a skill mismatch problem. One that employers, politicians and regular citizens can correct with a bit of effort.

To steal a popular buzzword from a few years back, what we need to do as a society is to forget some of our misplaced notions of constant growth and progress, and think more about sustainability. We’re rapidly approaching the end of cheap petro-energy to power our civilization. Canada has one of the last major reserves of

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F&#K YOUR MARKET

Over my lifetime I have seen computers and IT grow from a niche, hobbyist field to a major industry in its own right and an inseparable component of our everyday lives and work.

The oil sands went from a geologic curiosity to one of the largest industrial projects in the world. Who knows what kind of new industries might emerge in the future. What I’m getting at is that the job market is not static.

New and lucrative fields have a habit of emerging suddenly and gambling on an ideal outcome for the future based on yetunproven trends is foolish.

Now, imagine if a majority of Northern BC workers had only been trained in a nondiversified lumber, pulp and paper industry. A disaster, like an epidemic in the timber stands or the sudden imposition of trade restrictions from Canada’s main trading partners, could result in widespread unemployment and a workforce that is poorly equipped to transition to other industries like mining or petroleum resulting in an economic slowdown. Oh, wait.

Wrapping the night around me like thin flannel The length on tan leather I’ve developed a soft spot for cigarette ash and the sound of alcohol running through your chest the marks of my teeth on your shoulder I’m hooked on dark wash denim listening to our clock tick I’ll always have a hand at my back my mouth around a bottle to find you faster a loss of self/ self control

untapped petroleum resources, but they are disappearing almost as fast as our polar ice sheet.

Just watching the gas prices steadily climb higher and higher while eating more and more of monthly budgets is an indicator that we are reaching an end of cheap energy. Without some innovation to bring costs down, to find some sustainable solution for the future, we won’t be able to live our current lifestyles a decade down the line.

We’re only going to be able to innovate, though, if we allow for an educated population with a diverse set of skills and knowledge. Continuous growth to the limits of the system is the philosophy of a bacterium, and I

like to think that we, as a civilization, are capable of assessing our system and finding a balance like rational beings.

The population boom of the 1800’s and 1900’s shows some signs of slowing to a selfmaintaining level within the next few decades. There are innovators currently bringing cost-effective renewable alternatives to technology powered by non-renewable sources.

Having a diverse economy with people from wildly different backgrounds and skillsets makes the kind of bubbling interplay of ideas that make innovation possible.

If BC wants to guarantee a solid, prosperous future,

then we as government and citizens need to look beyond the immediate market dollar and make an effort to find a diverse, sustainable existence.

To do that, we need to make sure that our next generation has every tool available to them. Discouraging people from getting their desired education because of some shortsighted adherence to the church of market is ultimately going to keep BC from being a leader in a bright future to come, but instead stuck, chained to a dead petroenergy infrastructure with a population requiring yet another batch of retraining.

I think you’ll be bad for business.

PAULINA NIELSON

UNNERVED

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Two black socks and a silver chain,

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