Nov 14, 2013

Over The Edge a F m y i p l y p i r Core: T s e l r a h C

UNBC’s Independent Student Newspaper est. 1994

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Volume 20, Issue 6 overtheedgenewspaper.ca

November 14, 2013 ote-newspaper@unbc.ca

The

Masthead

Shelley Termuende

Kelley Ware

Editor In Chief /Publisher

Finance Manager

Isabelle Legault

Jasmine Kirk

Over The Edge is the University of Northern British Columbia’s independent newspaper.

Our office is located on the 2nd floor of the NUSC building in room 6-350.We are an equal opportunity publication which represents students in the UNBC and Prince George community. Our publication supports student writing by welcoming news, arts, sports, culture and opinion articles as well as photography, comics, and creative writing submissions. Every year, we provide employment as editors, designers, and managers to students with a passion for journalism and are always looking for motivated individuals to work and volunteer in our collaborative environment. Over The Edge offers competitive advertising rates for space in our print publication as well as online.

Support is always needed and no experience is required, help make Over The Edge Newspaper better. We want to hear from you! Call us at (250) 960-5633, tweet us @overtheedgeunbc, email us at ote-newspaper@unbc.ca and be sure to like us on facebook. For more information, please visit our redesigned website www. overtheedgenewspaper.ca.

I Mustache You a Question

Next Submission Deadline: November 20th, 2013

Over The Edge But I’m Shaving it for Later Layout Manager

Copy Editor

Nicole Halseth

Tyson Kelsall

News Editor

Culture Editor

Laura Mooney

Adam Vickers

Arts Editor

Sports Editor

Senators Gone Wild Nicole Halseth News Editor

throughout the durations of their time with the Senate.

and consistent reading of the issues involved.”

he Senate has spent over half a million dollars, around $529, 000 and counting, in audits of senators who have been accused of improper spending habits.

On the audit of Ms. Wallin’s expense claims alone, the Senate spent $39, 000. This is more than twice the amount of money Saskatchewan Senator Wallin was eventually required to repay.

These investigations have come about due to a number of recent accusations about improper spending practices within the Senate. This so-called ‘Senate Scandal’ has swept across national headlines in the past few months, and is raising questions about our senators and their practices.

T

Three former Conservatives, all appointed by Prime Minister Harper, face possible suspension from the Senate without pay over the issue of expense claims. Senators Mike Duffy, Patrick Brazeau, and Pamela Wallin are currently being investigated through this process. Early next week, the Senate is expected to vote on the Conservative bill that will suspend these individuals until the end of the legislative session, which is expected to be around 2015. They would, however, be permitted to retain their medical benefits and life insurance.

The initial accusations were made when it was found out these Senators had been claiming numerous business and personal expenses to the Senate,

Additionally, the Senate paid another $138, 784 in auditing housing claims made by Senators Duffy and Brazeau, as well as former Liberal Mac Harb, who quit as a member of the Senate in August.

At the conclusion of these audits, all four senators were ordered to repay a total of $520, 000, $9, 000 less than the amount spent by the Senate on their audits.

Practices within the Senate, and indeed, the existence of the Senate itself, have been questioned for many years now. There are those who claim the Senate is a body of unequal

Though the total is significant, the former chair of the audit committee, Conservative Senator Gerald Comeau, claims “once the audit was ordered, we had to allow it to be fully concluded in order to get a fair

News representation, and does not reflect the current social and political climate within the country. There are also those who say the entire system on which the Senate operates is outdated and ineffective. However, though criticisms of the Senate abound, for the near future, it seems the Senate will continue to operate much in the way it has for decades. It will be interesting to see whether these new allegations will result in any lasting change to how the Senate is run. If so, it is likely that the next few months will prove significant.

Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

WorkSafeBC: Bullying on the Job N

ew policies aimed at decreasing bullying and harassment in BC workplaces are set to take effect very soon, according to an article on the Vancouver Sun website.

WorkSafeBC, the provincial organization aimed at protecting the safety of over two million workers throughout the province, will oversee the implementation of these new policies, which originally passed in March of 2013. A central challenge to this process is engaging employers in implementing these changes into their workplaces. WorkSafeBC claims it will not take a “heavy handed approach” in this process, according to vice-president of prevention services, Al Johnson. Instead, the focus will be on consulting with these employers and encouraging them to follow the changes to the Workers’ Compensation Act, and providing them with the relevant resources to do so.

These new policies clarify a number of issues in regards to the health and safety of BC workers. This includes defining what constitutes workplace bullying and harassment, as well as outlining the duties and responsibilities

of BC employers, supervisors, and workers. Under the new policies, workplace bullying and harassment are defined as including any inappropriate conduct or comments made by one person towards a worker. The responsibilities of employers will include not engaging in these behaviours, taking steps to mitigate the problem, and creating annual workplace policy statements regarding receiving and dealing with claims from workers.

Employers will also be responsible for informing and training their workers and supervisors about their new duties and responsibilities.

According to the article on the Vancouver Sun website, WorkSafeBC expects many questions from employers and

workers alike in the next few months, as these new policies begin to take effect. However, should employers refuse to comply with the new rules, WorkSafeBC claims it may be forced to write enforcement orders.

These new policies have come about due to increased recognition over the years around the issues of bullying and harassment in the workplace.

The process to update the policies goes back to July 2012, when they were updated to include mental disorders caused by harassment and bullying in the workplace. Since then, the agency has worked at creating a comprehensive policy that will be applicable to all workplaces, which was passed in March.

the supposed 30 to 40 percent of Canadian workers who have reported being bullied in the workplace.

Additionally, under this new policy, workers will be able to make complaints of bullying and harassment directly to WorkSafeBC. It is hoped that this will give workers an avenue to use if their employers do not handle their claims competently.

These policies will hopefully improve conditions for workers and employers throughout the province. As many students at UNBC hold jobs (or hope to) within BC, these new policies will be of particular interest within the coming months.

In addition to providing short-term help to those suffering immediate effects of workplace bullying and harassment, the policies are also aimed at public education and awareness. It is hoped that this new initiative will help decrease

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Nicole Halseth News Editor

4

News

Look Ma, No Wine!: Global Shortage

Nicole Halseth News Editor

I

n what is truly an international tragedy, a new study has revealed that global wine production, after peaking in 2004, has continued to fall steadily since then. This has resulted in a wine shortage, with global consumer demand significantly surpassing the available supply of this delicious beverage.

The study that revealed this catastrophe was undertaken by the Morgan Stanley financial services firm, based in the US. According to the research, demand for wine "exceeded supply by 300m cases in 2012."

The study claims this is "the deepest shortfall in over 40 years of records.”

Additionally, wine production appears to have dropped to its lowest levels

in over four decades. The study also reveals that the French still hold the title for the world’s largest consumers of wine, though the US is coming in at a close second.

This shortage is especially evident when compared to peak levels in 2004. In that year, global supply of wine outweighed demand by over 600 million cases.

Tragic.

In regards to global wine consumption, levels have been steadily rising since 1996. Presently, the world consumes around three billion cases of wine each year. Currently, with almost one million wine producers worldwide, total annual production is around 2.8 billion cases.

In the short term, this will likely mean that wine consumers will have to rely on stored inventories from previous years to fill the gaps in supply. In the long term, this means wine prices will rise in the future. You will be paying more for your bottle than ever before.

One of the reasons for this shortage may be attributed to the growing climate in wine-regions in Europe these past few years. Poor weather, among other contributing factors, has contributed to a sharp fall in production across Europe. There was a 10 percent decrease in European production just last year, and there has been a 25 percent decrease in total since the peak year of 2004.

However, while production in Europe

continues to fall, production in other areas of the world is starting to rise.

Places like the US, Australia, Argentina, Chile, South Africa, and New Zealand have been rising in both prominence and production in recent years when it comes to the global wine community.

These countries are picking up Europe’s slack - and its profit - as demand rises.

This also opens up possibilities for more local producers to gain a stronger hold in Canada. In BC alone, the Okanagan Valley is a noted producer of high-quality wine. Along with other entrepreneurs, these smaller producers might just be able to rise to the occasion, and fill the demand (and glasses) of people around the world.

All may not be lost after all.

Peter Pan Grows Up: 2013 Regional Newspaper Conference Nicole Halseth News Editor

P

rince George was the site of the 76th annual fall Western, Prairies and Northern Regional Conference from 25 October to 27 October 2013.

The conference, run by local Over the Edge Newspaper in association with the Canadian University Press, was aptly entitled “The Peter Pan Generation in Modern Media” and was held at the Sandman Signature Hotel for the duration of the weekend.

The conference was host to students and employees of University newspapers across the country, in addition to the long line-up of incredible speakers. Members from student newspapers such as: The Peak, The Other Press, The Phoenix, Over the Edge, and The Omega attended, as well as members from The Gateway, The Sheaf, and The Griff.

After an exciting Friday night pub social and karaoke at the Thirsty Moose, delegates were up bright and early Saturday morning to catch the opening remarks by Shelley Termuende of Over the Edge and Canadian University Press staff, Erin Hudson and Brendan Kergin. After a cup or two (or three) of coffee, courtesy of the Sandman Signature, the first official sessions of the day began. Bill Phillips, editorial

director for The Prince George Free Press led a discussion on working for a community newspaper, while Neil Godbout, managing editor of The Prince George Citizen presented on the future of journalism in the next room. With that, the conference was off and running.

Themes of this years’ conference appeared to be getting a job in journalism and what constitutes ‘good’ journalism. The full list of speakers and their topics is as follows:

but you have to do the reporting.”

Katherine Lapointe, CWA social

Matt Wood, Communications Manager, UNBC: “Crisis News Reporting-His story of reporting during 9/11.”

Keynote speaker, Gordon Hoekstra, The Vancouver Sun: “How to be successful in journalism, what does that mean?”

Robert Murray, Multimedia Sports Reporter, Fort MacMurray Today & CUP alumni: “#Writeforsports.”

These speakers were both interesting and engaging, with a particular relevance for students and individuals interested in possibly pursuing a career in journalism. The real highlights of the sessions were often the interactions between the speakers themselves, as many sat in on their colleagues’ talks.

Christina Doll, Marketing and Communications Manager, Initiatives Prince George: “How your university education can help your career.”

Bill Phillips, Editorial Director, Prince George Free Press: “Rolling with the punches as a community newspaper.”

Katherine Lapointe, Alistair McInnis & Wil Fundal: “Life after CUP: Securing your first job.”

Neil Godbout, Managing Editor, Prince George Citizen: “The future of journalism.”

Kealin McCabe, Head Research Librarian, UNBC: “Improving your online professionalism through social media.”

Andrew Kurjata, CBC Daybreak North radio host: “How to get a job you technically don’t qualify for: My experience of moving up in unconventional ways.”

Adrian Edwards, Digital Development Advisor, The Citizen: “The perfect marketing strategy and how to develop it.”

Kelly Linehan, CKPG News: On her experience with getting a job in the field of journalism.

Brendan Kergin, Mike Davies, Jacey Giib, Natalie Serafini, Isabelle Legault & Sam Brooks: Writing and design critiques.

Mark Neilson and Peter James, Reporters from The Citizen: “Legal journalism and the courts: find great stories without getting sued” and “Social media is a great story source

Andrea Johnson, Writer/editor, Communications Services, College of New Caledonia: “Transitioning from journalism to communications.”

After keynote speaker Gordon Hoekstra of The Vancouver Sun presented to a packed room on his experiences working for The Prince George Citizen, and transitioning to The Vancouver Sun, the conference concluded its official capacity. What followed was a Halloween-themed costume party, ensuring the conference ended on a bang.

Without the combined efforts of all involved, speakers, participants, volunteers, sponsors, and staff, this weekend would not have been possible. A shout out to all of you for your hard work and time, and on behalf of Over the Edge, thank you very much for a great weekend!

Culture

CBC: Lost Independence B

ack in May, Harper’s Conservatives passed legislation to give themselves complete control over the working conditions, including the salaries of workers, within crown corporations. The CBC, Canada Post, and Via Rail felt the greatest impact of what is called Bill C-60. Parry SoundMuskoka, MP, and the President of the Treasure Board, Tony Clement have come out and said, “CBC is always struggling to put out good content at a time of sometimes declining ad revenues and other revenues.”

So, does CBC require the financial direction of the government, or does that put CBC’s journalistic integrity into doubt?

A point that has come up as both a topic of support and condemnation has been CBC’s historical beginnings.

In 1922, when CBC was first initiated, it was with the rationalization that Canada, as a nation, needed to protect and promote their cultural heritage, especially from the neighbouring US's influence. Today, some argue that Canada is a large world power, a distinct nation, and no longer needs the protection. On the other end, there is encouragement to continuously foster the culture within Canada. This includes musicians and artists, but also coverage at home and abroad of what is important to Canadians.

Nahid Taheri Contributor | Opinion

Another clashing point has been the CBC’s role as an independent journalistic body having the ability to hold the governments’ and politicians’ proverbial feet to the fire.

If the government has a tight grasp on the purse strings, will CBC bite the hand that feeds it? The question becomes: who will be there for the people if CBC continues to progress

what is fundamentally important to society, and whether or not hardto-access information will be too resource heavy to fund the research.

Another problem is that small, minority demographics currently represented

by CBC will certainly not be a hot pocket for investments. For example, the Francophone community might receive less concern from private media and,

towards being a state broadcaster?

And if CBC is taxpayer funded, as it is, should it not be in solidarity with the taxpayers? The right-wing population maintains that privatized media does stand-alone from the government and will do the job just fine. However, a private media outlet will always have profit as one of its principal values, and it is debatable whether profit will always align with

undoubtedly, less cultural protection.

Lorne Greene, Reported for the CBC (WWII) CBC

Tyson Kelsall Culture Editor

There has been a little debate in the House of Commons surrounding selling the CBC. A petition was brought up by some Conservative MPs stating that some citizens believe the CBC is overfunded at $1.1 billion annually (roughly $31.5 per Canadian per year) and that the CBC stagnates the flow of growth from private sector media because of the fiscal advantage. Sun

Media, for example, has had to cut many jobs over recent years, and some claim that is due to unfair competition stemming from CBC’s permanent economic base.

Friends of Canadian Broadcasting (www.friends.ca) have started a website, partially dedicated to ‘Free[ing] The CBC From Political Interference’ and has many resources on the subject. They have also created a television advertisement, but it was rejected from being put on-air by CBC News. From the opposing angle, Sell The CBC (www.sellthecbc.ca) has a petition based on its title; they state three points to sell the CBC, including “Canadians no longer require the CBC for the production and dissemination of Canadian programming.” Previously, there was also a campaign for the option of “opting-out” of CBC on an individual basis. Needless to say, there are strong feelings around the nation when it comes to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; are there enough positive cultural consequences to having an independent, public broadcaster, or is the CBC outdated and overfunded? In any case, CBC has a long history in Canada, featuring many well-known personalities such as Rick Mercer, Don Cherry, Lorne Greene, Stuart McLean, and many others; there will be as much emotion as there is empirical evidence whenever the denationalization of the CBC comes up in discussion.

Mind control (Part 1): Mass Media

H

ave you ever watched a movie called The Truman Show? It is about an insurance salesman who discovers that his entire life is actually a TV show. The world he observes is just a large set to record each second of his life; even his wife is a hired actress.

The point of this movie is to understand how isolating someone and providing him or her with selective information affects their lifestyle. This is a method that some psychologists believe mass media is practicing.

Mass media is any media form designed to reach the largest audience possible. This includes television, movies, radio, newspapers, magazines, books, music, video games, and the internet. Many studies have

been conducted in the past century to measure the effects of mass media on the population in order to discover the best techniques to influence it. From those studies emerged the science of Communications, which is used in marketing, public relations and politics.

front of them, the masses can only see where they are supposed to go. One of the reasons mass media successfully influences society is due to the extensive amount of research on cognitive sciences and human nature that has been applied to it.

The TV shows we watch, the music we listen to, the movies we see, and the newspapers we read all influence our lives and shape our minds. A single piece of media often does not have a lasting effect on the human psyche. Mass media, however, by its omnipresent nature, creates a living environment we evolve in on a daily basis. It defines the norm and excludes the undesirable. The same way carriage horses wear blinders so they can only see what is right in

The drive to sell products and ideas to the masses has led to an unprecedented amount of research on human behaviour and on the human psyche. Cognitive sciences, psychology, sociology, semiotics, linguistics, and other related fields, were and still are extensively researched through well-funded studies. The results of those studies are applied to advertisements, movies, music videos, and other media in order to make them as influential as possible. The art of marketing is highly

calculated and scientific because it must reach both the individual and the collective consciousness. In highbudget cultural products, a video is never just a video. Images, symbols and meanings are strategically placed in order to generate a desired effect.

Today’s propaganda almost never uses rational or logical arguments. It directly taps into a human’s most primal needs and instincts in order to generate an emotional and irrational response.

If we always thought rationally, we probably would not buy 50% of what we own. Babies and children are constantly found in advertisements that target women for specific reasons.

As a result, people must become aware of mass media’s influence, much like Truman’s revelation that his life was fictitious.

6

Culture

Kelley’s “Korner:”

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Underwear Security

Kelley Ware Finance Manager

W

arning: this article may contain triggers for those suffering from trauma.

I recently saw a video about a pair of women’s underwear/shorts designed and created by a company called AR Wear. These shorts feature a locking waistband that is both pull and cut resistant. AR Wear’s shorts adjust and lock both at the waist and thighs so women can wear them comfortably while knowing they are not going to rip or move. If you are an astute reader (or someone who has already seen this video) you likely know the reasoning for this design. For those of you who still need some clarification, AR stands for Anti-Rape - they are meant to protect women from sexual assaults. Ultimately, they are a modern day chastity belt.

Now, I have a couple of problems with this whole idea (some serious and some less so). My first response was along the lines of “How about we teach people not to rape instead?” Do not get me wrong, there are definitely positives to these shorts. AR Wear is designing these with good intentions.

In the case of women who are asleep, date-raped, or had too much to drink, these shorts could very well be a Godsend. They could very likely prevent a sexual assault in those scenarios. So it is not that these shorts are a bad idea per se. Regardless, I still see some problems.

As far as the less serious problems with these shorts go, I am quite skeptical about the idea of a locking waistband. While the concept is to keep them from being pulled down forcibly and without consent (which is a really good idea), I feel as though the lock may prevent more than just potential rapists from pulling the shorts down. Now, it is important to note that when I say locking mechanism, I am not talking about a lock with a key.

The locking mechanism that AR Wear utilizes in their anti-rape shorts is a combination lock. Now I am not sure about you, but I know when I had to open a combination lock frequently, there were times when I was in a rush and either forgot my combination or fumbled with the lock and was unable to properly open my locker.

Now imagine that, but with your pants.

What if you really have to go to the bathroom, and suddenly have to fumble with a combination lock before you can properly remove your pants?

What if you are intoxicated? After all, one of the reasons they were invented was to allow women to go out to clubs being able to feel safer. What if there is some sort of medical emergency and the paramedics are unable to properly help you because your cut-proof, stranger-proof, combination-locked waistband is in the way?

The other problems I have are a little more substantial. First, this may actually offer little more than a false sense of security for women. It would make some feel safer, but I am unsure of how

effective it would truly be. It will prevent some rapists from committing sexual assaults, but it is not going to prevent all. A date-rapist may be deterred; a violent offender would not be. This also assumes that all rape is stranger rape.

That is most definitely not the case; in most instances the offender is known by the victim. Not all rapes are from unknown assailants. There are cases of husbands raping wives, fathers raping daughters, and friends raping friends. As well, there are other ways a person can commit a sexual assault, and without removing underwear. Just because they are unable to physically pull down someone’s pants themselves, does not mean they will be deterred.

Physical violence can be used as a threat to make the woman remove the shorts herself; other types of sexual assault could be committed. Ultimately, if someone is truly dedicated to a rape, these shorts are not going to stop anyone The second big problem I have with this is more theoretical and less practical; AR Wear may unintentionally perpetuate rape culture and victim blaming. If this product does catch on, it would be incredibly easy to simply say that a rape only took place because the woman forgot her antirape shorts. It puts all the responsibility on the woman. While it is important for women to protect themselves, the responsibility of preventing rape should not rest solely on women. Rape is something that we as a community and a collective need to stop, it is not

something that victims should have to prevent. Another question I have is what about men? Men get raped as well, and while it is much less common, they tend to be completely ignored and forgotten in this whole discussion.

Our rape culture is not going to disappear overnight. It is important for a community to change, and for rape culture to be stopped and destroyed, and products like this are not going to help. Problems with their marketing campaign aside (I unfortunately do not have room to address the fact that it only utilized thin, white women; that is a whole other can of worms), AR Wear is definitely fulfilling a type of need. There are many women who would not have been raped had they been wearing this. A significant amount of rapists would be deterred and many crimes would not have happened. Culturally, it would also be a blessing. In some societies, this product would protect them not only from rapes, but the societal shunning that comes with them.

People who are unable to prevent a rape could have more security and feel safer, which is definitely a good thing.

So, all in all, I do have problems with these shorts. Less seriously, the design has me skeptical that it will work quite as advertised. More seriously, I fear that products like this perpetuate rape culture. However, where the biggest problems lie is in the fact that a product like this is even needed.

Culture 7

Protection & Accessibility To Language Tyson Kelsall Culture Editor

D

r. Margaret Anderson, Professor Emeritus of First Nation Studies at UNBC, is one member of a partnership that has been granted $2.45 million from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council over 7 years to work on the preservation and strengthening of certain First Nations languages around British Columbia.

Dr. Anderson’s previous research has been on the Sm’algyax language of the Ts’msyen

people, who have a population of around 8,000 and include the Kitkatla, Metlakatla, Hartley Bay, Kitasoo, Kitselas, Kitsumkalum and Lax Kw'alaams First Nations around Northwestern BC. From a previous grant, Anderson developed an online talking dictionary, which is hosted at http://web.unbc.ca/~smalgyax/ .

Expansion of this resource and the language documentation that it is based on is a focus of the current project.

Dr. Anderson and a number of other researchers will work with 12 First Nation communities, brought together to form the partnership

by Dr. Marianne Ignace of Simon Fraser University, who is the Principal Investigator on this major grant. Dr. Ignace is a professor of both Linguistics and First Nations, and Dr. Anderson speaks very highly of her work on developing teaching materials, and researching several languages throughout her career.

The 12 Indigenous communities that will be working under the partnership that

received the grant include: Skidegate and Old Masset in Haida Gwaii, the Heiltsuk in Bella Bella, the Iskut First Nation, Kwikwetlem First Nation, Chief Atahm School in Chase, Skwxwúmesh Úxwumixw (Squamish First Nation), Spiuy Squqluts Language and Culture Society as well as the Tsilhqot’in National Government in Williams Lake, the Splatsin Tsmaksaltn First Nation, the Tahltan First Nation, Teslin Tlingit First Nation, T’sawassen First Nation, the Ts'msyen Language Authority in Prince Rupert, U'mista Cultural Society in Alert Bay, and the Upper St'at'imc Language and Education Society in Lillooet.

All members of the partnership will pursue their research independently, as well as coming together for shared work on certain parts of the project. Dr. Anderson will help the other communities develop their own language databases if they decide to do so, and to develop online and print dictionaries from them.

Dr. Anderson has said that we have reached a point in time where amongst these cultures in BC there is only a single generation of people who grew

up speaking these languages; one of the partner First Nations has no fluent speakers at all. However, the languages were spoken for thousands of years and developed large literatures and extensive knowledge about the landscapes and the people who lived here. She says that even if the language disappears, people will still practice their cultures. It will be harder to access this knowledge, and it will hurt people not to have access to all the knowledge that their grandparents had accumulated over many generations.

Although the grant is going to be used for general research on the languages and protecting them, there is also going to be a focus on reaching out to youth by developing things like apps for mobile devices. Making language accessible could be a key to its revitalization; with the increases in Indigenous population and a growing mainstream respect for their culture, the potential for the revival of some of these languages remains hopeful.

Canadian Child Care Crisis: Time For A New Direction?

I

n the fall of 2012 the United Nations declared childcare in Canada to be inadequate and unaffordable under the criteria agreed upon at the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In studies done in Ontario, a family with one child pays an average of $925 a month for care. Under $40-a-day can be considered a steal in many British Columbian neighborhoods. In any case, most agree that something needs to be done when it comes to having affordable childcare in many parts of Canada.

Québec, on the other hand, has a universal $7-dollar-a-day plan. The idea, first implemented by Pauline Marois, then a cabinet minister, has become incredibly popular in the province. In any given year, over 200,000 pre-school aged kids will be accessing the service. The programs’ benefits are not only about the children though. A study out of the University of Toronto said that about 70,000 more mothers were able to hold down work due to the affordability of the childcare in 2008, which in turn added $5 billion

to Québec’s domestic income. Also in 2008, Québec surpassed Ontario in regards to the percentage of women they had in the workforce. The universal program costs the province roughly 2.2 billion annually to maintain, but with the increase in GDP (Gross Domestic Product), the study claims that Québec’s childcare plan more than pays for itself.

In British Columbia, there has been growing support for $10-dollar-a-day childcare. Many municipalities, including Prince George, have voted in support of a provincial strategy. This plan would also include a clause for free, full-time childcare for families with an income of under $40,000, and $7 a day for part-time care. Funding would also give the facilitators, mostly Early Childhood Educators, a better wage at $25 dollars an hour.

Critics of a universal childcare plan point to the Canadian child tax benefit, saying that the federal government is already taking care of these families with a $100 per month cheque for each family with a child under 6. And although it is generally looked at as a huge success in Sweden, it has also

been argued that the easy access has caused disconnect between children and their parents, and that Swedish parenting skills are deteriorating because of it.

Most agree that $100 hardly takes a bite out of the average monthly childcare bill. On top of that, there could be some side benefits to the program; in Sweden, and now in Québec, there has been a breaking down of class separation between children within the universal program.

Young ones from different areas of town, incomes, cultures and backgrounds come

together to spend their day learning and engaging together.

The emphasis on socialization and diversity at an early age theorizes better interpersonal skills later in life.

In Québec, the plan has only been implemented for 15 years, so no concrete studies have been done on the lasting relationships that have started in childcare.

As public pressure rises on the BC government, it will be interesting to see how it will compare to the other systems in Québec and Sweden.

However, with the economic compensations aligning with affordability for the average family, it does seem like a universal program in some form is in the best interest of the people.

santababy.com

Tyson Kelsall Culture Editor

Feature Charles Trippy in surgery

The

The Power of a YouTube Family Laura Mooney Arts Editor

O

ver the years, YouTube has provided the world with a multitude of entertaining and informative videos. Everything from funny cats to how to cut your own hair has been uploaded and shared with the continuously growing community, but on 17 September 2013, perhaps one of the most compelling videos ever seen was uploaded and shared with the world. A man by the name of Charles Trippy was diagnosed with brain tumors back in 2012, and had already gone through one intense brain surgery to remove them.

However, in the summer of 2013, Charles found out that the brain tumors were back and he would have to undergo brain surgery once again, although this time, he would make things a bit more interesting. Charles picked up his camera, proposed his idea to his surgeons very nicely, and then proceeded to film his own brain surgery.

Charles Trippy along with his wife, Alli, formed their YouTube channel CTFxC (Charles Trippy Family Core) in 2008, with plans to do daily vlogs for at least one year straight. Rapidly, one year turned into five and soon they became one of the top vlogging channels on Youtube. With their videos following them through the most simple daily pleasures like playing with their beloved dogs, Zoey and Marley, to Charles’ proposal to Alli and the

wedding itself, and even Charles going on tour all over the world as a bass player for the band We the Kings.

CTFxC had gained nearly 800,000 subscribers by the time Charles was diagnosed with the tumors, and while in 2012, during the first brain surgery, the couple had chosen not to share too much footage, they knew that this time there was no sense trying to protect their loyal audience from the realness and severity of the situation.

Since Charles was going to be awake during the operation, he saw it as the perfect opportunity to share one of the most personal things he had ever gone through with the CTFxC audience, many of whom had been following Charles ever since he was doing comedy skits back in 2006. He had always said the CTFxC community was really more like a family than any other community on YouTube, and because of that he felt they should be a part of this moment. The video itself comes in two versions, one edited version where you do not actually get to see the brain along with the removed tumor, and one that shows every little gory detail. Most of the video is shot

by Charles himself, and when he got too tired from holding up the camera or wanted to get a better angle, a few kindly surgeons rose to the occasion and took over filming for him. The video shared everything from the steps leading up to the procedure and even the aftermath when he is still under the influence of the pain medication,

and provided an intimate look into what really goes on with brain surgery patients.

The video entitled simply, “Man Films Own Brain Surgery” was featured on multiple news websites and even a couple of news stations, and quickly reached nearly 2 million views, securing its viral video status. It also propelled CTFxC to well over 1 million subscribers, a rarity often not seen for vlogging channels. Although the video was positively received for the most part, it also opened doors and raised question about what you should or should not put online, and the motives behind filming such a personal part of your own life. Many of the more negative comments chose to focus on the fact that this video did gain Charles many more hits on his channel and the video itself, saying that he only filmed it to gain popularity. Others questioned why he would choose to put this on the internet when so many of his viewers are younger teens and even pre-teens, stating that someone so young should not be viewing things like brain surgery. Despite all of the negativity however, both Charles and Alli have stated that the purpose of their channel was to share their daily lives, no matter how sad or personal they may become. They knew how much the audience cared about them, and both agreed that sharing this moment of their lives was a necessity, and despite the negativity that would surround it their true fans would be there for them no matter what.

Although the brain surgery video itself is hard to watch, perhaps even more so are the videos posted in the days after the surgery, during Charles’ recovery. Since the tumor was so large and deep into his brain, Charles lost most of his motor function in his left hand and was not able to speak properly for a couple weeks. The daily vlogs documented his entire recovery and his frustration with not being able to use his hand or communicate the way he wanted to, all the way to the painful discovery that the tumor was cancerous and Charles would have to begin chemotherapy.

Even though some of the videos were nearly too heartbreaking to watch, it was still something not often seen on YouTube; a truly honest portrayal of a family going through a crisis, and the heartwarming support that came from a community of complete strangers from around the world.

So although the cat videos may be entertaining, there is something to be said about letting in the world to see your struggles, and putting a video out there that no one would have ever expected to see. Even though Charles and Alli have a long road ahead of them, they have vowed to keep up with their daily vlogs, knowing that the CTFxC community is their extended family, and will support them no matter what. It is through this that we can see the true power of a social media site, and can only hope that the positivity continues on into the future.

banksyny.com

Culture 9 Banksy in New York City Tyson Kelsall Culture Editor

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November 2013 marked Banksy’s departure from an October residence in the Big Apple. As the world’s most notorious street artist, Banksy ended up stirring the pot while in New York. One of the biggest lures this time around was a painting he bought, customized, and then donated back to a non-profit thrift shop in Manhattan. What was originally a typical landscape painting (oil-on-canvas) became an expensive art piece titled The Banality of the Banality of Evil, after Banksy had enhanced it by adding a Nazi soldier sitting on a bench and gazing off towards the scenery. The original painting, of little worth, now had a starting bid of $65,000 and eventually was auctioned off for $615,000.

Banksy, more controversially, insulted

the One World Trade Center in a blog post, saying it was “104 floors of compromise,” that it “clearly proclaims the terrorists won,” and that “it looks like something they would build in Canada.” This, of course, put many prominent New Yorkers on the defensive, but Banksy’s role has always been one of provoking people to force them to think differently. The artist once pasted up a tropical scene, with vacationing children playing on the beach, directly on the Israeli West Bank barrier in order to make a point.

He also had some ‘mobile’ pieces, the biggest one being a truck driving through New York’s meatpacking district with stuffed animals hanging out the sides, and sound effects of wailing throughout. This was dubbed “Sirens of the Lambs” and was a visual statement on the ethics of producing meat.

Over the month Banksy did at least

"Sirens of the Lambs", NYC's Meatpacking District gothamist.com

one project every day (except one due to “police activity”) that were under the overarching exhibition title of “Better out than in, October 2013.”

Some were small graffiti pieces, and some were larger such as the Sirens of the Lambs, as well as a large Ronald McDonald statue with giant shoes, frowning and having his shoes shined by an actual actor as part of the piece.

Of course, with such a shocking and unique approach, Banksy is bound to split popular opinion on what he is doing; especially considering it often falls on the thin line between being legal and illegal. The New York Police Department was actively searching for Banksy, although his identity is so well hidden, they did not really know where to start. Mayor Bloomberg stated that “Graffiti does ruin people’s property and it’s a sign of decay and loss of control.” Supporters argue most of the work Banksy did was featured

on derelict and/or neglected buildings, and that the ends (Banksy’s statements) very clearly justify the means. In many neighbourhoods in New York, there is already so much graffiti, that Banksy’s contribution hardly makes a difference in terms to the quantity of street art, and considering the price a Banksy piece goes for, the quality must surely have been intensified.

Either way, Banksy has left NYC now, and it seems like he did so relatively unscathed. The NYPD will continue to scan video evidence and try to put the pieces together, but surely many more people will be watching, waiting for the next Banksy to pop up somewhere around the world. As he becomes more popular, there will be more imitators and the ideas of Banksy will flow deeper and deeper through the veins of our cities regardless if he is really there or not.

Science The Future under the Magnifying Glass Mani Samani Contributor

Part 3: Replacement Pills

F

rom single pills providing a day's nutrition to bubble gum that serves you a three-course dinner, bite-sized food replacements have been present in fiction for a long time and the fuss all started with the suffragette.

Food innovations have created every manner of better eating through chemistry. But why don't we have food pills, which would solve problems ranging from world hunger to messy kitchens? Today there are pills to provide the vitamins we need, which leaves just the pesky issue of caloric intake. Although an adult typically needs about 2000 calories per day, the question is why even the most concentrated source (pure fat) can't make that many calories fit into a single pill?

Dr. Stephen Rader, bio-chemistry professor at UNBC, answered some questions: Can we make energy available to our bodies without using food?

This is an interesting question. If you have a pill that you could take to replace food, this would be presumably

convenient because then instead of having to cook to make food and buying things you just take a pill. What we are really talking about is energy density, so the most energy rich food that we have now is things like fats and oils. Butters for example, have the most energy per unit volume in unit weight.

So is it possible to pack more than that into a smaller volume?

Certainly for other processes there is much denser form of energy. For example, you can generate energy by burning wood, but wood doesn’t have much energy in per unit weight in unit volume. It is much more efficient to use the efficient of uranium. There is an example that there is a huge difference in scale that you can operate on and how much energy you can get from a little bit of uranium vs. a little bit of wood is many orders of magnitude difference. But our bodies are really only able to use limited number of things and I don’t know any way to pack those in smaller volumes. So I would have to say no.

Would it be able to solve hunger problems?

If you are providing all of the necessary

vitamins and micronutrients in pill form, then the only other thing that you need is calories, the actual energy that keeps your body running, so in principle then you could make something that is cheap and easily available and you would give it to everybody and you would supplement that with vitamins that you would normally get by eating a range of fruits and vegetables.

But can you really live off of the things we get from food, like fatty acids and carbohydrates, without eating actual food? Dr. Mamdouh Shubair, assistant professor of nutrition and food studies at UNBC claims that it's probably not the best idea. “The matter is satisfactory, if you don’t eat food there is no way to have that satisfaction that comes from enough food when you are happy while eating. In the case of pills it actually doesn’t replace foods.

So pills give you the basics of our bodies’ needs but you cannot live on pills.” He says the problem of switching from food to blended shakes containing all the nutrients and micronutrients humans are known to need is that you are not certain about whether nutrients

in the shakes are natural or made of chemicals.

A few years ago, a man actually spent a week eating nothing but monkey chow and recorded the experience on YouTube called “Monkey Chow Diaries.” Not even halfway through, he was almost manic with cravings for hot food. The repetitious, barely satisfying nature of the diet made him depressed and irritable, and he joked about acquiring monkey-like characteristics– namely, the desire to scream at people and throw poop.

To recapitulate, There's no way we know of to achieve Willy Wonka’s dream of swallowing a pill that tastes like a blueberry pie, and makes a person feel as satisfied as eating a real one.

“I haven’t got it quite right yet.”

-Willy Wonka

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory | Warner Bros.

Art: t s o L e h t f o er

Rat

Lorde Album Review

Laura Mooney Arts Editor

P Laura Mooney Arts Editor

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he Christmas season is just not the same without a multitude of craft fairs featuring incredible amounts of handmade crafts, homemade baked goods, and other essential holiday products as far as the eye can see, and everyone in Prince George knows the craft fair that every person must attend is Studio Fair. Held annually at The Prince George Civic Center, Studio Fair opened its door for the 37th time from 1 November until 3 November 2013, for local and provincial artisans to showcase their products. This year welcomed many returning favourites to the fair, as well as a few new faces all hoping to capture the hearts of fairgoers with the best of what they can produce.

As usual, Studio Fair drew in huge crowds, and the civic center was full to the brim with people eagerly waiting to see what the Fair would hold this year. Before you even entered the main room, the entrance hall was filled with some of Prince George’s best artisan guilds. Featuring the likes of Judy Russell, promoting her yearly Christmas production of The Nutcracker, and pottery and wood turners guilds, as well as many other local businesses, you were able to see some of the best the city has to offer for arts and crafts without even entering the main showroom.

Once you do enter however, you are treated to a lovely atmosphere with low lights and the aroma of the many food booths that the Studio Fair has become so famous for. The entire room emits a certain glow usually only found during the holidays, and an air of happiness emits from everyone who enters the showroom because they know that Christmas is just around the corner.

Some of the standout booths of this year’s Studio Fair included a variety of booths featuring everything from culinary treats to fashionable winter

wear. The always popular “Pook Toque”, who were featured on the hit TV show Dragon’s Den, returned this year with their growing brand name gloves, hats, and now pajamas. Their unique brand of marketing, which includes hand massages and always seeming to know what size gloves you wear, made them a must see booth at the past two Studio Fairs, and here is hoping they will be attending many more.

A few of the standout culinary booths included Untamed Feast, who specialized in ridiculously delicious wild mushrooms, Dvorak Gourmet with their popular specialty nuts and chocolate, and The Fishery Seafood with their smoked salmon pate that would make any seafood skeptic fall head over heels. Along with a number of Indian spice booths and even specialty olive oils, this year’s food booths were truly some of the best they have ever been.

As for arts and crafts, Studio Fair was rich with all kinds of beautiful homemade creations including a new addition Creative Ironworks and Design, which featured handmade iron figures such as flowers and assorted animals for the garden. Their unique beauty was certainly a huge draw in this year’s fair. There were also many booths featuring lovingly knit hats and scarves that were even better than those bought in stores, and jewelry that you would never be able to find anywhere else. One could truly spend over an hour just exploring the multitude of options before even purchasing a single item.

So needless to say the 37th annual Studio Fair was an incredible success, and was a great kickoff to the holiday season. With many more craft fairs to come, those who missed this amazing gathering can look forward to attending a new craft fair almost every week, but nothing will ever compare to the fantastic booths seen at Studio Fair, and the knowledge that this is the beginning of the Christmas season.

Arts

erhaps the coolest artist ever to come out of New Zealand, singer and songwriter Lorde has finally made it overseas to North America where she is bringing her smooth brand of art pop to those in need of something more meaningful and relaxing amongst the multitude of repetitive pop songs.

The sixteen year old with a mouthful of a name, Ella Marie Lani- Yelich O’Connor, released her first EP late in 2012 entitled The Love Club. Through this, she rapidly gained a fanbase in New Zealand and was soon offered a full record contract that would allow her to release her first full- length album called “Pure Heroine,” which quickly escalated in popularity all over the world.

Pure Heroine is a mellow mix of songs that feature a great amount of symphonic melodies and eclectic elements such as tin drums. Despite the peaceful music, for the most part the main thing you notice about Lorde’s music is her amazingly beautiful voice that seems much too mature to be emanating from a sixteen year old.

With a sultry and sexy purr, the sound can be compared to that of another popular female artist, Lana Del Ray, with both women expressing their unique vocal styles with a mild, not overpowering method.

The songs themselves range in meaning from young love all the way to questioning the motives of the music industry, each of which just show how mature this young songstress really is. The more simple songs on the album, such as “400 Lux,” takes on the hollowness of teen love and how it feels when it ends, but as the album continues you can almost feel Lorde opening up and expressing herself like few young artists are able to do.

The hypnotic song entitled “Ribs” discusses the youth’s fear of growing old, and how as you age you lose the innocence and thoughts you once had as a child. You are forced to realize that the sweetness of youth does not last forever and it is a bitter pill that everyone must swallow.

While most of Lorde’s songs do maintain a somewhat light message, two particular songs stand out as being

critical and incredibly insightful for such a young woman. The opening song on the album “Tennis Court” discusses how she is not in the music industry to make money or make connections, she is in it strictly because it is what she loves to do, unlike many others. Alongside the compelling music video, which simply features Lorde standing in a black room with simple hair and makeup, not even singing to her own song, she proves herself to be an artist who refuses to follow convention and lets the world know that she will make her music how she wants to.

The other song that stands out for being interesting and insightful is the most popular song from the album, aptly called “Royals.” The song focuses on the music industry and the outlandish, over the top videos that today’s top artists make, and what the impact is on the kids that view them.

Lorde points out in the song that none of the people watching these music videos that feature fancy cars, insane bling, and bikini clad women, will ever see any of it in their lifetime. It gives them unrealistic expectations about not only what the music industry is all about, but also what their priorities in life should be. Lorde sings about the fact that the youths of today must accept this fact that on average none of them will ever be “royal,” and they must find new role models and new dreams.

So on top of being an incredibly beautiful album to listen to, Lorde’s Pure Heroine is an album that speaks truths not often touched upon, and gives listeners new insight into exactly what they are viewing when they turn on a music station. The best part about this new artist is that she is only sixteen, and if she is this good now, one can only imagine how Lorde will only get better with age.

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Arts

The Hunger Games | Lionsgate

The Rise of the Female Action Hero Laura Mooney Arts Editor

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ction heroes have been the prominent protagonists in films since before many of us were born.

From Steve McQueen to Bruce Willis, the action hero has been saving lives and kicking butt since the early part of the century. But when one thinks of an action hero, what is the image that first pops into your head? Typically it is a strong, overly muscled, independent, burly man who swoops in to save the world. Whether it is from terrorists, or even aliens, the action hero always wins his battles and always gets the swooning girl before the credits role.

Although this particular description of an action hero is very archaic and was the general archetype for action heroes during the 70s, 80s, and 90s, as the years went by the action hero slowly developed into a character with more substance, eventually the action hero even took on a whole different gender. Action heroes have always typically been male, with many mediums featuring main female characters, but never having them as the lead in the story. However, in order to target the untapped market of young girls looking for a female action hero role model, novels and films began to expand and develop action heroes that were female.

These female action heroes were fully capable of protecting themselves, were independent, not focused on love, and most importantly, were self assured and provided a character to which girls could look up to. One can take a look at the top three female action heroes that have recently been featured in young adult novels, and what exactly makes them not only great action heroes, but also great role models for girls around the world.

1) Katniss Everdeen - Probably the most recognized female action hero is The Hunger Games’ Katniss Everdeen. Since the beginning, Katniss has presented herself as a strong, independent, and confident young girl who has overcome adversity and rose up in dire situations. With her amazing archery skills and proficiency for hunting, Katniss not only shows that she has the fighting skills that make her an excellent action hero, but also provides young girls who love to hunt someone to look up to. Katniss

also chooses to rise up in the face of adversity after her father is killed in an accident. Although she comes from the poorest area of the country and the odds for her family’s survival without a patriarchal figurehead are very slim, Katniss shows her resourcefulness and her own personal feeling of responsibility by taking it upon herself to keep her family alive.

Judging by the usual woman’s role in past action movies, Katniss would have been expected to give up hope and not do much to help until perhaps her mother remarried. Katniss shows just how much of an action hero she really is by saving not only her family’s lives, but by also aiding many of her other neighbours. As well, while most other females in novels and films are generally focused on a romantic interest of some sort, Katniss chooses to focus on the tasks at hand and not worry about relationships. For the most part, Katniss is oblivious to the male attention she receives, with more than one boy in the novels fawning over her. But even when she does finally accept that boys do have feelings for her, Katniss knows that she must not give in to such things, and focuses on the wellness of her family. This shows that like the classic action hero, Katniss is an independent person who would enjoy a romantic relationship, but does not make it her first priority. By using Katniss as a role model, young girls everywhere could see that you do not need to be with someone in order to be happy. It is because of these reasons that Katniss Everdeen is one of the top, upcoming female action heroes and role models.

2) Beatrice Prior - Perhaps one of the best female action hero novels released in the past five years, Veronica Roth’s Divergent introduced the world to a young action hero who was fiercely independent like never before seen in young adult novels.

The story follows Beatrice Prior as she navigates through a dystopian world where young children are forced to choose between multiple factions all specializing in a certain way of thinking, such as favouring bravery or intelligence. Essentially, this is the practice of children choosing what they want to be when they grow up,;but they do not always choose the same faction that their families have

chosen, thus having to leave their families forever. Beatrice shows her action hero roots as she goes against her conservative family’s wishes and chooses the most dangerous faction of them all. Beatrice’s independence and willingness to do what she knows is right for her is a true definition of an action hero, and shows that sometimes you must do what is good for you despite what others may think. Once into her chosen faction, Beatrice overcomes insane obstacles such as the initiation challenges, dealing with bullies, being a minority, and even a sadistic instructor determined to start a revolution. Throughout every challenge presented to her, Beatrice handles them with poise and determination not common to many other female literary characters. She shows readers that sometimes you must face your fears and persevere through a situation in which you are not quite sure what do. In the end, Beatrice provides a solid role model for young women everywhere and shows that she is one upcoming action hero to keep a lookout for.

3) Tally Youngblood - Although the novel by Scott Westfield called Uglies was released back in 2005, Tally Youngblood still remains one of the top female action heroes in young adult fiction to this day. Uglies is the story of a world where once a young person has turned 16, they are subjected to complete cosmetic surgery in order to make them “pretty.” Tally watches as many of her friends go through the transformation but is always unsure about it, until one day an opportunity to run away from the city and not have to undergo the surgery is presented to her. The story follows Tally as she adjusts to her life outside of the city and the repercussions that come with disobeying the government. The story also touches on the major issue of accepting who you are inside and out.

Tally provides the perfect role model for young teens that are questioning their own appearances and feeling as though conformity to a certain way of looking is becoming more prominent in their own society. By running away, Tally shows that she is a true action hero because she refuses to be another statistic, and instead chooses to leave the pack and be her own person, even if it means being different and getting in trouble with the law. Just as any action hero, Tally also proves to be a fearless leader and eventually leads a rebellion against those who have repressed and controlled society for so long. Similar with the other female heroes mentioned, Tally also chooses not to place her focus on romantic relationships. Although she does fall in love, she knows that the rebellion and standing up for what is right must come first. So even though Uglies may not be as well read as The Hunger Games or Divergent, the character of Tally still stands up to the best female action heroes around, all while providing one of the best messages ever delivered in a young adult novel.

Although there are countless other excellent female action heroes and role models out there for young teens, these three have been in the spotlight and have become more recognizable than anyone else before. The encouraging thing is that this trend of female action heroes looks as though it will not be slowing down anytime soon. With The Hunger Games releasing its final two movies in the next couple years, and Divergent having just released its final book with a movie soon to follow, female action heroes look as though they are here to stay and will continue to provide some diversity to the action genre, as well as providing someone whom people can emulate.

Club Spotlight: UNBC Drama Club Devon Flynn Drama Club Actor

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t’s getting to be that time of the semester – morale for doing homework is at an all-time low, finals are just around the corner, and every little distraction looks attractive and fun. Well boy, do we have something to help take your mind off of things!

We in the UNBC Drama Club have a penchant for putting aside the seriousness of school and becoming engrossed in being silly and having a good time. Although people may think we just screw around in the Canfor Theatre and make a lot of penis jokes – don’t get me wrong, it happens – we do have some degree of routine and structure in our club which some students may not be aware of. I’m going to shed some light on the activities the Drama Club is a part of and how you can get involved.

The beginning of school in the fall tends to put the Drama Club in a bit of an excited rush. Our plays are not chosen until after Clubs Day, because we want new members to be involved and have a say in what we perform. Like most clubs and groups at UNBC, Clubs Day is the best time for attracting and recruiting new members. We try to snag ‘em... er... recruit new members early on while there’s time and energy for new students to try new things. Let’s be honest – we would love to see new faces around mid-terms, but we don’t hold our breath.

Our first production in the fall always consists of a series of short, one-act plays. We perform around five short plays, each between 10-30 minutes each. These plays are small enough to give new members - whether theatre virgins or pros - a taste of acting and even directing instead of being thrown into the intimidating metaphorical drama pool. We understand that not everyone wants to be on stage, nor has the time to be part of a play, even small ones. So a few years ago, the Drama Club came up with an idea to encourage new faces to participate for those who really don’t have the time to act: Drop-In. Drop-In – it’s just like it sounds. When you just don’t have the time

to attend weekly rehearsals or you happen to be busy on the scheduled dates of our performances, you can drop in for an hour or two – a small time to set aside for something so fun and entertaining! Some people waste way more time. At Drop-In, we play improv games, just like the comedy show, Whose Line Is It Anyway? All your favourite games – Props, Dating Game, Super Heroes, Sound Effects – we play them all. Want to join us, but are worried you’re not very good?

Don’t worry about it! Practice makes perfect, and we were all beginners at one point. In fact, we just started trying our hand at Hoedown and Irish Drinking Song, and we could use some talented singers. Trust me, you won’t find a more positive and welcoming environment to learn and practice thinking on your feet, being creative, and communicating your ideas, skills that happen to be pretty darn useful in class, *nudge nudge wink wink.* If you find you happen to like the whole ‘being in front of a crowd’ thing and entertaining people, you might like being a part of our larger production in the winter semester.

Our full-length productions have explored a range of themes and styles over the past few years. From Shakespeare’s Macbeth to comedic weddings; we love to flex our acting muscles. Although our bread and butter tend to be comedies, we are always open to trying something new.

In fact, our large productions are a time where members can challenge themselves: actors can undertake lead roles, members can try directing or stage managing, and those who eschew the stage spotlight can help build props and sets. There’s a spot for everyone in the Drama Club! Even in

between our theatrical products, we put on some great events that any Drama Club member can join.

UNBC Life

We have worked hard to expand our repertoire of activities in the Drama Club. We perform plays, we do improv, and so much more! Just a few weeks ago, we hosted a murder mystery party, which is quickly becoming a staple of the Drama Club. It was fantasy themed where werewolves, vampires, and even faeries all got together to dress-up, eat, drink, and figure out whodunit. We were thrilled to have new faces join us in the soiree, members who have never acted before (although they could have fooled us!)

As you might imagine, the Drama Club loves to share our passion for storytelling. Early in October, we were flattered to have been invited to be a part of the Literature Week hosted by the UNBC Library. We read passages from our choice of books and literature (dramatically as you might imagine). It was a wonderful opportunity where anyone could have stepped away from the study carrels or computers for a few minutes and enjoyed a thrilling, dramatic reading.

We are often asked, “When is the musical going to happen?” While the Drama Club sincerely appreciates your enthusiasm for the arts, there needs to be some clarification – the Drama Club is not the same as the Musical Club.

Allow me to explain: The Drama Club enjoys a diverse range of members who have differing interests and strengths. Some members prefer singing to acting, others improvising over memorizing lines, and some just cannot dance worth

shit - and that’s okay! (Because it is still entertaining to watch). But it eventually got to the point where there were enough members interested more so in singing and dancing to create a new club – the Musical Club (there is a Dance Club, and we love those guys, but let’s stay on track). It’s been a few years in the making, but there are now two separate clubs that put on theatrical performances at UNBC – the Drama Club and the Musical Club. Confusion usually stems from the cross-over membership between these clubs, sharing tables during Clubs Day, and our mutual love of being part of a show. But we don’t resent that people tend to think these members are part of the same group - in fact, we celebrate it! The two clubs have actually made it a strong point to support each other by sharing mutual resources like lights, props, and backdrops, by networking, and by encouraging club members to attend the others’ performances. It’s a partnership we feel is idyllic for most UNBC Clubs to emulate; rather than strictly segregating ourselves from the other club and standing alone, we work together to help entertain the students and staff at UNBC and anyone else wanting to see our performances (speaking of which, those dates are 22 and 23 November for the Drama Club, 21, 22, 28, and 29 March for the Musical Club).

So as you can see, those involved in the Drama Club, the Musical Club - and here’s your plug Dance Club – are some of the busiest and hardest working students around. We have homework to do and classes to attend as well, but our passions take up a lot of time too. That’s why we do it – because we love to entertain and put on a good show. The Drama Club has provided several venues for students – those with little or ample time - to get involved, participate, and join us. Let me emphasize: the more, the merrier! So whether you’re standing beside us on stage or are a part of the applause coming from the audience, we would love to see some new faces!

UNBC Drama Club – unbcdrama@gmail.com UNBC Musical Club – unbcmusical@gmail.com UNBC Dance Club – unbcdance@gmail.com

Sports Adam Vickers Sports Editor

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ave you ever wondered, “What can I do to not be so sore?” Well, here is a chance to get some insight on how to get rid of that post-workout soreness faster. Although Over the Edge by no means contains a doctor on staff, here are the top five things we think you should be doing to get the best recovery after physical activity: 5) An ice bath. Ice baths are great for recovery because they increas the blood flow to sore muscles. Many professionals use ice baths because it works so well. Ice baths provides an easy, quick, and efficient way to rebuild the muscles. It is really easy to throw some ice in a tub and lay back and enjoy (If you like jumping into ice). The professionals use it because they need to, and athletes often use ice baths during training camps because it allows them to recover quickly. Recovering quickly is essential during training camp

Top Five Recovery Techniques because it is the key to reducing injury and, the fresher your muscles are, the harder you can train.

4) Foam rollers. This somewhat new trend has become quite popular for the average athlete. The foam roller is a long, foam, stick-like figure that rolls over sore muscle, allowing the muscle to relax and for blood to flow freely.

A massage would be more effective, but not many people can afford to get a massage every day. The foam roller allows a person get a relaxing massage independently.

3) Exercising… wait, exercise more?

The idea behind this is to get the body moving in any way possible: row, jog, and walk, whatever gets your body moving. Often, people make the mistake of sitting around when they’re sore, which inhibits the body’s ability to recover. In reality, the more you move, the more blood flow you get and the quicker those sore muscles will go away. Just make sure it’s not too extreme or it will all be for nothing.

Ralph Posteraro | PG Hockey Cub

Leading to a Successful Season Clark Grieve Contributor

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ith the first quarter of the season behind them, the Prince George Cougars are shaping up to be a plucky bunch, not to be underestimated. The WHL hockey season is well under way now, and there are two key indicators of success for the Cougars.

The two keys to the Cougars success are standout players; goaltender Ty Edmonds (named Vaughn CHL Goaltender of the week ending 6 October, posting two shutouts) and the surprisingly strong performing, local, talented, left wing sniper, Chase

Witala.

Witala has demonstrated consistency so far, including an eight game point streak bringing him to a team leading 11 goals and 22 points through the first week of November. When looking at the privilege to be a part of his hometown team, Witala recognizes that “it’s pretty special, you know you don’t see many kids being able to play at home.” The franchise has left an indelible mark since Witala was younger and he reminiscences about the success the team has had in the past. “I can remember the days,”

2) A good diet; the diet is one of the most important things in a workout routine. Eating the right foods, getting enough protein, and getting enough water are all critical to recovering from a workout. With a poor diet, the body cannot get enough nutrients and it cannot build sore muscles back up, making all that work pointless. To be clear, diet not in the sense of watching how many calories you eat, but diet in the sense of watching which foods are being eaten. The more food, the better, as long as it is the right kind of foods.

If you’re worried about getting fat, you should know that if you are eating the right food you shouldn’t have to worry about how much you eat. It is all a matter of what you eat and having a balanced diet that will allow for that to happen. Think of it more like this; the more you eat the stronger you will be, the stronger you are the more you can do, and the more you can do the more calories you can burn. Food fuels the metabolism!

1) sleep; sleep is a major part of recovery because without sleep you cannot properly function. Sleep is the number one because it is essential to living a healthy life and restoring strength to those sore muscles.

According to Muscle Tech magazine, Henry Cavill, the actor who played Superman in Man of Steel, was told to sleep ten hours a day to keep up with the load of preparatory workouts.

The ten hours of sleep was mandatory because Cavill and the crew had a very short time period to get ready for the movie, and sleep was the key to ensuring Cavill could maintain the volume of training he did to become Superman.

Witala adds, “being here and the crowd was just unbelievable so you know it would be pretty cool to have that in here again.”

Certainly the reorganization has displayed a greater emphasis to dress the most competitive team in Cougar uniforms for some time. The club currently holds onto the eighth and final playoff spot and has since the beginning of the season. Now poised to move up the standings over the winter, teams such as the Victoria Royals, Tri-City Americans, and Seattle Thunderbirds will be looking over their shoulders for a primed Cougars team which has hit the road with a quiet, but growing confidence.

In addition to standout play by Chase Witala, this seasons Cougars also features hometown talent from winger Jari Erricson, defenseman Raymond Grewal, and former BCMML Cariboo Cougars alumni, Brad Morrison and Brett Roulston. In all, this crop of supporting players gives the Cougars an added depth that will be drawn on

by Coach Mark Holick, entering his first full season behind the bench.

While some organizations would be content to just get by on the returning core from last season, the Cougars have made two key additional acquisitions. One was selection of Slovakian winger, David Soltes, with the fourth overall pick in the 2013 CHL Import Draft. Soltes provides his European skill set to the offence and is back on the ice, returning from an injury costing him 12 games out of the lineup early in the season. The other, Todd Fiddler, who had over 40 goals last season with the Spokane Chiefs, provides maturity and a scoring sense that the Cougars lacked last season.

The 20-year-old veteran was traded for in early November to help out an unproductive power play.

So these are the top five recovery techniques everyone should follow if they are facing large workouts. The top five is set up so that you can use the recovery techniques most important first and, if those techniques fail to get rid of soreness, add more.

The Cougars will be away for the majority of pre-New Year’s play, and the next faceoff at home is on 12 November, against the Medicine Hat Tigers. Now with a new focus on turning the corner and finishing 2013 on a strong note, the Cougars are looking to make a push for the playoffs. “Once we make the playoffs,” says leading scorer Chase Witala, “hopefully we can go as far as we can.” This season, the team has shown a lot more resilience over past campaigns and is looking forward to some big matchups in their remaining home against the Vancouver Giants (29 and 30 November) and the Tri-City Americans (6 and 7 December).

Adam Vickers Sports Editor

T

he world of weightlifting is a complex, controversial, and often exciting display of strength and size. In North America, we often confuse the term weightlifting between different disciplines. The reality is that there are four mainstream weightlifting disciplines out there. The four are strongman, bodybuilding, powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting. Looking at each discipline, we can see what the goals for each are and how each athlete is strong in their own way.

Strongman is the most unique type of weightlifting, with lifts coming in all shapes and sizes. Strongmen are not lifting basic barbells and dumbbells; their lifts vary from huge rocks to massive tires. Strongmen attempt to lift anything big, bold, awkward, and heavy; they take pride in being able to lift any inanimate object within the limits of human strength. These athletes often get ripped up, beat up, and sometimes even broken, as lifting these large and heavy objects requires extreme strength, leverage, and skill. These athletes are tough and would find a way to grow a third skin if they could.

Bodybuilding is the most popular in North America out of the four main disciplines of weightlifting; the most popular former bodybuilders are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno. Bodybuilding is exactly what it sounds like: build-up of the body. The goal of bodybuilding is to be the most muscular, symmetric, and conditioned

Adam Vickers Sports Editor

I

nspired by Brazilian Carlos Brule’s amazing ride of 100-foot wave in Portugal, Over the Edge is going to examine big wave surfing. What is big wave surfing? Big wave surfing is an amazing sport built of very gutsy athletes. The waves they often tackle are up to 20 feet. 20 feet is a good size because it is small enough to paddle and catch the waves; Brule was able to catch his 100-foot wave with the help of a skidoo to pull him on to the wave.

Big wave surfing got started in a place called pinnacle point, the shore 20 miles away from San Francisco.

Three guys named Jim Thompson,

The World of Weightlifting athlete of all. The workout types that these athletes perform are muscle specific resistance exercises. They often work with dumbbells, barbells, cable machines… pretty much anything they can use to build up specific muscles or muscle groups to appease the judges.

These athletes often go through long days of grinding high rep exercises and, at the time of competition, have very low amounts of body fat, making it hard to even walk because their skin is so tight at the bottom of their feet and there is little padding between them and the hard ground. If there is one thing you can take away from bodybuilding, it is that they are determined and discipline in both diet and exercise.

Powerlifting, the weightlifting discipline, focuses on three main lifts: the squat, deadlift, and the bench press. The power lifter’s goal is to lift the most weight possible in one of the three main lifts. Power lifters are probably the strongest of the four weightlifting platforms (but don’t tell the strongmen that) and their competitions focus on getting their one rep max in three attempts at the specific lifts. There are a number of different weight classes which are split into the two divisions of equipped and unequipped. The divisions of equipped and unequipped are separated according to the gear they wear that helps them in the lift.

Doing the lift without gear is often referred to as “raw” lifts because they are doing the lifts without anything to help them, and these lifters often

fall into the unequipped division.

Those wearing gear often fall into the equipped division. To train for powerlifting, athletes focus on doing the main lifts and building up the weak areas by using different functional exercises. Lifters use a combination of heavy, low repetition lifts to build their strength, and then use high repetition exercises to get blood flow to the specific muscle to help the muscle recover. These athletes are strong, they sometimes even attempt to squat weights of 1000+ pounds and will let you know it. They will probably be the ones pounding some heavy metal in the background while yelling at the top of the lifts. Power lifters like to move heavy weight and will not quit until they have lifted more weight than anyone has deemed physically possible. These lifters are big, loud, and tough.

Olympic weightlifting is the most skilled of the four, and is most popular in Europe (it is slowly gaining popularity in North America). Olympic weightlifting is focused on getting the most weight possible over your head in the form of the snatch, and the clean and jerk. The snatch is when you take a wide grip on the barbell and bring it from the ground straight overhead, catching it in the overhead position and standing up. The clean and jerk is the motion of bringing the weight from the ground to a front squat position, and then ,from the top of a front squat, “jerking” the weight over your head and holding it in an overhead position.

Sports15 Olympic weightlifters train much like power lifters, but focus more on parts of the two main lifts. For example, in the clean and jerk, Olympic weightlifters will focus on front squat position for a workout rather than the lift as a whole. Olympic lifters then look at how they can strengthen that position, contributing to the big lifts in the two main lifts. In competition, like powerlifters, they also receive three attempts for lifting the most weight.

These athletes are the most skilled of the weightlifters because the two lifts are the most challenging to accomplish.

Just being off by less than a second in one of the lifts may cause the athlete to find themselves on their back or, worse, with a barbell on their chest.

Olympic lifters have been around since ancient civilizations – they are not afraid to show you how to lift a huge amount of weight over your head and then smash it to the ground right in front of you.

Weightlifting as a sport is definitely something that is no longer black and white, especially since modern technology and science has helped us push the limits of our body and strength. There are no specific methods of training that are completely the same as each person, since each individual has different strengths and weaknesses. The world of weightlifting is an exciting sport growing in popularity. Weightlifting will forever be a sport looked at in amazement, with people pushing the limits of human ability.

The Giants of the Sea Dick Notmeyer, and Alex Matienzo (who named theses waves Mavericks after Matienzo’s dog) began the trend. Although the three never risked bigger waves further out, they started something special. It was not until 1975 that Jeff Clark attempted the unknown heading out to catch these Mavericks.

These waves were so massive that they can be recorded on a Richter scale.

For 15 years Clark used these waves as a personal playground, and in 1990 Dave Schmidt and Tom Powers joined in the fun. Once the two of them got involved with Mavericks, people from all over the world started appearing with photographers, helicopters, and crowds.

In 1999, competition surfing began with the first competition started by Quicksilver called “Men Who Ride Mountains.” The winner of the first event was Darryl “Flea” Virostko. Now at Pinnacle Point they have a yearly invitational, called the Maverick Invitational, hosted by a number of different sponsors (notables being Redbull, Bodyglove, and Go Pro). They only invite 24 of the world’s best surfers to the event. Carlos Brule is among the 24 competitors who have to wait for a call between the dates of 1 November and 31 March for prime conditions to compete. Prime conditions require the best day for the biggest waves; to find these conditions they look at the wind, tides, waves, swell direction, and swell

duration. Once called, competitors have only 24 hours to get ready and get to pinnacle point. The one-day event pulses with different events and activities, and is surrounded by spectators.

Big wave surfing is not for the faint of heart, it requires guts and athleticism.

Even with know-how people are not safe; professional have perished due to risk taking in these waves. Clark saw the potential in Mavericks but predicted, “I’ve seen a lot of people paddle out there, but only a few really ride it. I don’t care if word gets out, Mavericks will always take care of themselves.” Words of wisdom from the innovator of big wave surfing.

DOWN

Coffee Break

ACROSS 1. Decorative case 5. Killed 9. Humid 13. Deliver a tirade 14. Soft drinks 16. Brother of Jacob 17. Boorish 18. American symbol 19. Foundry 20. Cubic meter

1. Makes a mistake 2. Tight 3. Comprehended 4. Go over again 5. South southeast 6. Weight to be borne 7. Nosed (out) 8. Defeat soundly 9. Estate 10. Largest continent 11. Kiln-dried grain 12. Whimper 15. Take by force 21. Arab chieftain 23. Close 25. Gave money 27. Prohibits 28. Colonic 29. Not high 31. Indecipherable

32. Mortise and _____ joint 34. Male sheep 36. Desire 39. Race an engine 40. Flaccid body fat 43. Gossip 44. Yachting cap 46. Margarine 47. Personal journals 49. Ascends 50. What's left behind 53. Employed 55. Hurried 56. Container weight 57. Skin disease 58. Attired 60. Exam 61. X X X X 64. Wild blue yonder

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22. Trace 24. Incline 26. Snoozes 27. Inhumane 30. Goober 33. Toward the front 35. Regenerate 37. Prefix meaning "Modern" 38. Short person 41. Ribonucleic acid

42. A loose coverall 45. Kind of small reed organ 48. Cling 51. Courageous 52. Gorillalike 54. Tiny sphere 55. Numerical datum 59. Give a speech 62. Agreement 63. Noblemen

65. Wild goat 66. Sea eagle 67. Cut of meat 68. If not 69. A whitetail 70. Countercurrent 71. Collections