It Begins.

2

CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2013

FIRST PEEK

When I started at SFU two years ago, I was told that it is a “commuter campus” with little sense of community. While this notion is commonly thrown around, it’s definitely a misconception.

The most important advice I can offer any student — in first year or otherwise — is that the university experience is what you make of it.

If you are a student attending classes and promptly heading home right afterward, you’re opting out of many opportunities to get involved with the many different communities on campus.

September 3, 2013

One of my recommendations for any new student is to check out SFU Volunteer Services.

They link students to many campus opportunities in a variety of fields. Additionally, they provide a chance for a student to network with other students and enrich their community through different passions.

My brief experience with SFU Volunteer Services in my first semester led me to write for the ENGAGE blog, a forum dedicated to exploring the ways a student could get involved on campus. Though that was only a short commitment on my part, it was a valuable experience. I began by explaining what my interests were, and I was recommended an opportunity that suited who I was as a volunteer, and the amount of available time I had. If you find yourself overwhelmed — or the opposite — by the different choices

available on campus, this is the place to find your starting point.

Meeting other people on campus is a great conduit both for making friends and for finding ways to get involved. Many students are affiliated with various groups on campus which welcome new participants at any time. Through this, it is possible to build a social network that allows you to be privy to what is happening on campus while also being able to avoid the potential discomfort of showing up alone. Start by introducing yourself to classmates, because you already have one thing in common by being here.

Another important place where community is fostered on campus is the academic groups within a faculty or department. When you declare a major, minor, or certificate, you are gaining membership into

a group with a plethora of ridiculously cool people. Professors and graduate students may be intimidating when they are teaching you, but they are generally really approachable and love to talk about their research and experiences in the field.

I, for one, feel most comfortable on campus walking through the SFU Linguistics Department, because I feel a part of that community. There is a strong sense of belonging when you can get excited about very specific things in a field and not be questioned about why you have a favourite click. It should

3

also be noted that events hosted by a department tend to feature free food or coffee for those who show up.

Moreover, SFU is home to many communities built around common passions outside of academic fields. For those interested in health or sports, SFU Recreation and Athletics offers ways to support or get involved with SFU’s teams. For the average student, there are options to join sports clubs, intramural teams, and a diverse selection of classes ranging from burlesque to fencing. If social or environmental activism are more your thing, SFPIRG and Sustainable SFU are always looking for students to get involved.

Between academia and broader universal interests, there is community at SFU, if one knows where to look. SFU is only a “commuter campus” for students who view it as such.

4

NEWS

With TransLink starting beta testing on its widely publicized Compass Card system, SFU students can expect to see their UPass transferred onto Compass sometime next year. TransLink is currently in the process of implementing the new system as a digitized way of paying transit fares.

The system presents minimal changes to the way SFU students access TransLink services, though presents more concerns for those not eligible for a U-Pass or similar institutional cards. TransLink’s official website claims the card will be very easy to use, and is an appropriate advancement for the modern transit system.

The Compass Card has been touted as a reflection of the increasing digital/card-based

news editor email / phone

September 3, 2013

representation of finances in modern North America, and features include eliminating the need for loose change, reloading online or via a phone call, and ability to be replaced if lost or stolen. To use, the cards must be scanned in and out when entering or exiting a transit vehicle or area, with appropriate fare being deducted from them.

With the Compass Card, students will no longer need to pick up their U-Pass on campus each month, and can instead top up their existing Compass Card with unlimited fares online or by phone.

“The Compass Card is new technology that has been successful around the world, and it has been very successful in very large transit markets,” said Derek Zabel, TransLink Media Relations. “They offer customers a lot of flexibility and a lot of convenience as well, and students will find that flexibility and convenience aspect of it is going to save them a lot of time.”

Zabel said that the U-Pass “tradition will continue,” with the Compass Card adding no additional costs to students, and offering an unlimited

Alison Roach associate news editor news@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

amount of fare on each institutional card. The main difference, Zabel explained, is “a little bit more peace of mind,” as, unlike the current U-Pass cards, lost Compass Cards can be cancelled and replaced.

ARE YOU THE FACE OF SFU? GEEK, CHIC OR BOTH? WE ARE LOOKING FOR FRESH FACES TO REPRESENT SFU For more information visit us at sfu.ca/creative-services

Soon, the “massive IT project” that comes along with implementing the card will begin with a testing phase. Testing in the early fall will involve volunteers using the system to detect potential problems, a phase which will last for about three or four weeks. Zabel said that phasing in the new cards will involve a “slower transition,” starting later in the year and continuing into early 2014.

Online criticism of the new system exploded when it was announced that with the Compass Card bus fare tickets purchased with cash will not be transferable onto SkyTrain, meaning that paying with cash and starting a journey on a bus will require one to pay two fares. TransLink has cited the cost of upgrading the fare boxes on buses, an estimated $25 million, as too high to justify.

Possible future uses of the

Leah Bjornson

new system have also raised some privacy concerns, as both TransLink and the provincial government have suggested linking the Compass Cards with BC identification cards. Zabel has been quoted in the Vancouver Sun as saying that TransLink is “really interested” in doing so.

The same idea is suggested in the government’s white paper for the new ID card program, as well as the BC Transportation Ministry’s technology plan for 2012–13 and 2014–15.

A similar idea is already being put into practice at UBC, where the new UBCcard will be used as a student’s ID, access card for the gym, library, and other facilities, a prepaid debit card, and the U-Pass.

This use of the Compass Card would provide a convenient means to store information, make payments, and facilitate travel, but as Vincent Gogolek, executive director of the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association has pointed out, this would also seemingly increase the ease of tracking people’s movements by the organizations with such information, as well as stealing identities, with the cards holding so much personal information, according to The Vancouver Sun. Zabel has said that TransLink is keeping Compass “strictly” as a fare payment card for the time being.

NEWS

September 3, 2013

The Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) board of directors is attempting to resurrect SFU events in the shadow of the K’naan debacle with a massive Welcome Back Concert, to take place in Convocation Mall on SFU’s Burnaby campus on Sept. 13.

In fall of 2010, students were frustrated when headliner K’naan failed to take the stage at a concert organized by several student groups, due to a last-minute breakdown in negotiations between the organizers and K’naan’s

manager. After ticket sales for the event fell well below expected totals, organizers were unable to pay K’naan’s total performance fee.

Current SFSS president Humza Khan hopes to have considerably more luck at this year’s event, a Fall Kickoff Concert featuring UK-based DJ Mat Zo, Canada’s Dzeko and Torres, and Norwegian duo Carl Louis & Martin Danielle. These artists will be joined by the winner of an SFU DJ Contest who will get the chance to play the concert. “The first and foremost reason why we wanted to do the event was to provide SFU with something that it’s lacking for the size that it is,� explained Khan. “You think of any other university in North America and they have some big welcomeback event . . . but SFU, to some extent, was lacking that.�

The SFSS expects 2,000 people to attend the main event at

Convocation Mall, and a small number to join in for an afterparty at the Highland Pub. The event, which is completely bankrolled by the SFSS, has a budget of approximately $56,000, and Khan hopes that money will not be a potential showstopping factor on the day of the concert. “The first and foremost difference between K’naan and what we’re doing is that this a student society project, embraced by the board, supported by the board, and completely funded by the board,� said Khan.

According to Khan, the SFSS has a guaranteed budget allocated to the event for expenses.

All payments have been made to the artists set to perform, and most of the payments for production have been made.

The SFSS also worked with entertainment companies Twisted Productions and Galactic Entertainment in the planning and

production of the event.

When asked about relatability of SFU students to the performers, SFSS business representative Brandon Chapman, who has lead the marketing efforts for the event, said that Matt Zo is prominent in the electronic dance music (EDM) scene, and is an energetic performer.

Said Chapman: “Even people who don’t like his music, I’ve

seen them come to his show and really enjoy themselves, just because he’s such an amazing performer. I think anyone who comes is going to have an amazing time.�

Tickets are being sold on a tiered system, starting at $16 and going up to $25. Tickets have been largely reserved for SFU students, with the cheaper $16 and $18 tickets mostly reserved for various SFU groups, clubs, student unions, and departments to sell to their members.

Khan stated that ticket sales so far have met expectations, and are expected to pick up once students are back on campus. “The aim for this is not to make back all the costs, or even make a profit off this. That’s not what the event is geared towards,� said Khan. “What we really want to achieve through this event is providing SFU students with a great experience.�

WEEK OF WELCOME September 3-6

Get ready for a welcoming week! SFU Student Success is excited to welcome everyone back to campus for the Fall! Join us for Week of Welcome celebrations at all three SFU campuses and take part in fun events and activities, enjoy free food, get free stuff, and have an Xcc$Xifle[ ^i\Xk Ă“ijk n\\b YXZb fe ZXdglj

WHEN AND WHERE SFU Burnaby (10:00-3:00)

September 3rd-6th in Convocation Mall and throughout campus

SFU Surrey (10:00-3:00)

J=L MXeZflm\i ()1''$,1''

J\gk\dY\i +k_ ,k_ Xk ?XiYfli :\eki\ and September 6th at Goldcorp Centre for the Arts

GIVEAWAYS

September 3rd-6th in the Grand Hall

› M`kXd`e NXk\i › :clY @c`X jXdgc\j › =i\\ gfgZfie# ]i\\q`\j# c\dfeX[\# and cotton candy › E\jk\ij DXib\k ^`m\XnXpj

jkl[\ekj%j]l%ZX&nfn ]XZ\Yffb%Zfd&J=Ljkl[\ekZ\ekiXc

ACTIVITIES

› G`ojkXi g_fkf Yffk_ › C`]\ j`q\[ jZiXYYc\ › Kl^ f] NXi › 8\ifY`Zj Xe[ b`ZbYfo`e^ ZcXjj\j › CXl^_k\i pf^X › C`YiXip nfibj_fgj › 99Hj › 8ikj ZiX]kj kXYc\ › ;XeZ\ ;XeZ\ I\mfclk`fe › AldYf A\e^X AldYf :_\Zb\ij › Kn`jk\i

@SFUcentral

5

GI@Q<J

Â&#x203A; ,'' Efc`kflij MflZ_\i Â&#x203A; Fe\ e`^_k jkXp Xk ;\ckX MXeZflm\i Suites Â&#x203A; ;i% ;i\ 9\Xkj Xe[ E`bfe :ffcg`o Camera Â&#x203A; Dflek J\pdfli ;Xp GXjj\j Â&#x203A; 9\jk 9lp dfY`c\ gi`q\j Â&#x203A; J=L 9ffbjkfi\# D\kifkfne# Xe[ <oki\d\ G`kX ^`]k ZXi[j Â&#x203A; J\Zi\k >iXe[ gi`q\

8E; DFI<%%%

Â&#x203A; K_\ 9\Xk 0+%, Â&#x203A; J=JJ N\\b f] N\cZfd\ GlY E`^_k Â&#x203A; K_\ G\Xb (')%. Â&#x203A; M\^^`\ cleZ_

6 NEWS

A recent study released by the Bank of Montreal says that BC students can expect to graduate with more debt than those in any other province.

The federal government estimated the total cost of a post-secondary education in Canada at $14,500 a year. This means that with tuition, school supplies, housing and other expenses, students are paying nearly $60,000 in total for a four-year degree.

According to the 2013 BMO Student Survey, which was conducted by Pollara, BC students graduate university with an average of $34,886 in debt. Compare this number to the national average — $26,297 — and the gap becomes all the more chasmal.

Manoj Bhakthan, SFU director of Financial Aid and Awards, attributed this differentiation to the high cost of living in BC, and Vancouver especially.

September 3, 2013

“I think that part of it is the fact that Vancouver is considered one of the most expensive cities to live in and that an increase in expenses may be related to living costs such as rent, food . . . These would probably be more expensive in BC than in other parts of the country, so from that perspective I could see students perhaps taking on more associated expenses,” said Bhakthan.

“For SFU, there has been a 2% increase in tuition fees for 2013/2014 for domestic students. Since 2005, government policy has limited it to this annually.”

From 2000 to 2010, SFU tuition fees were raised from $2,310 to $4,815 for domestic undergraduate students and from $6,930 to $15,816 for international undergraduate students.

Although tuition costs are increasing, the percentage of Canadian students who receive money from their parents for school has dropped in the last year from 52 per cent to 44 per cent. To cope, 55 per cent of students are relying on loans, up 6 per cent from last year.

Having amassed such large quantities of debt, students can expect to pay off their debt within an average of 10 to 14.5 years after graduating — much longer than the 6.4 years they anticipate, says the study.

Still, Bhakthan has reason to hope that SFU students will not find themselves in such dire straits.

“As much as possible, what we’re trying to do is empower students by providing them knowledge about what’s available, and I think that’s one of the keys to ensuring the financial success of students.”said Bhakthan. “The more information the student has up front, the more proactive they can be about these opportunities.”

The Financial Aid and Awards Office’s services include bursaries, scholarships, awards, work study, and government student loans, in addition to one-on-one advising appointments with students and various workshops to provide students with information about Financial Aid and Award Office programs.

Bhakthan spoke to the importance of the work study program in particular: “This is a part-time on-campus opportunity for students to earn a supplemental

income while gaining experience at SFU, so that could be anything from working with professors on research projects to supporting the CJSF radio station. This is a needs-based program, and those eligible can potentially earn an income to supplement their studies while adding something to their resume and hopefully putting them a step ahead in terms of their career path.”

On average, SFU students’ loan debt is a little bit over $24,000 when they graduate, according to a June 2012 survey. This is dramatically lower than the BC average of $34,886.

For students struggling with money woes, Bhakthan suggested some simple tips and tricks to ease the financial burden. These include living at home instead of renting, purchasing used textbooks or even electronic versions, and evaluating wants versus needs. If these aren’t enough for the overburdened, Financial Aid and Awards is always there to help.

“I’m hoping that students come in and see us if they have questions,” said Bhakthan. “Spend a little bit of time doing research using our financial aid and awards website, and if you have further questions, we’re here to support you.”

ALL-ACCESS PASS

15

$

TICKETS

for ages 30 and younger or full-time students!

30 years old or younger, or a full-time student? Sign up online for the VSOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s TD ALL-ACCESS PASS, and enjoy live Classical and Pops concerts for only $15!

Sign-up for free at

vancouversymphony.ca/allaccesspass @VSOrchestra

SPONSORED BY:

PREMIER EDUCATION PARTN PREMIER EDUCATION PARTNER

8 NEWS

Starting this fall, the provincial government will start a major public consultation process as part of a province-wide liquor policy review. This will be the first time BC’s liquor laws have been reviewed since 1999, and the first review that includes a public consultation process.

Last month, the Ministry of Justice started reviewing what they called “BC’s outdated and inefficient liquor laws” by asking for feedback from major stakeholders, more than 10,000 liquor licensees, and liquor agency stories.

The government had noted several laws that it deemed to

September 3, 2013

be “limitations to convenience and economic activity,” including prohibiting minors that are accompanied by a parent or guardian into pubs that serve food during daytime hours, not allowing wines and local liquor to be sold at farmers’ markets, not allowing establishments like spas to be eligible for licensing permits, and taking upwards of a year to obtain a licence for bars and pubs.

John Yap, the Parliamentary Secretary for Liquor Policy Reform, will be taking charge on the review, gathering feedback, and meeting with local populations and associations throughout September and October.

“I know many British Columbians have a lot of opinions and our government is open to hearing them as we move forward in this process,” said Yap, according to Business in Vancouver.

Yap is expected to submit a final report on the liquor policy

statement. These discoveries followed Saidi’s termination after his position became redundant in January 2012 as a result of restructuring.

Simon Fraser University is seeking to reclaim over $800,000 from its former director of finance for the science faculty, Siamak Saidi, who allegedly used the funds to purchase three properties in the lower mainland.

According to the University’s statement, which was released on Aug. 20, discrepancies involving invoices were noted last year by the Faculty of Science. “Upon further examination, [SFU’s] internal auditor discovered information in 2012 that led the university to contact the RCMP,” read the

During his employment at SFU from June 2010 to January 2012, Saidi allegedly submitted more than 500 invoices to SFU from companies in which he was a director. According to the affidavit filed by Gary Chan, director of internal audit for SFU, “All of these invoices were approved by Saidi and submitted by SFU’s accounts

review by Nov. 25 to attorney general Suzanne Anton, which will be made public.

“Right now, some of BC’s liquor laws go back many years,” said Anton in a public statement. “. . . we are looking to make practical and responsible changes which promote consumer convenience and economic growth in the province, with a strong eye to maintaining public safety and protecting the health of our citizens.

According to Dr. Rob Gordon, director of the school of criminology at SFU, BC’s liquor laws, which have been called Draconian, have been heavily policed by government policy for two main reasons: morality and revenue.

“They wanted to effectively control access to the labour force so that people would not be able to drink themselves into a stupor, and related to that was the access on the part of Aboriginal peoples,” said Gordon.

He continued, “And then

payable department so as to cause cheques to be issued to the vendors in question at the addresses set out in their invoices.”

Concerns over the invoices were raised after SFU noticed that the various supplies and equipment had been bought from vendors with whom the University was not familiar, as well as the fact that the registered office for the companies in which Saidi was a director was Saidi’s residential address.

Saidi, who is currently a chartered accountant with offices on West Pender, is accused of using the money from these payments to purchase three properties — in Burnaby, Belcarra and Abbotsford. These properties were purchased during the time that the false invoices were charged to SFU or or were subject to mortgage financing for which he was responsible, says the suit.

of course there is the revenue issue. Currently, the provincial liquor stores yield significant revenue for government. Government also controls wholesales. It’s less a moral objection there, more a revenue issue.

“The question is, should that be privatized, and the major objection that comes back is well, no, because that’s a significant source of revenue for the government and we would have to make that up in some way.”

Liquor sales currently result in over $1 billion each year

Although the University has stated that it is not in a place to comment, Dr. Claire Cupples, dean of the Faculty of Science, assured The Peak that SFU is taking steps to prevent this from happening again.

Said Cupples, “I understand that the university is taking a serious look at its financial processes in light of this case, and certainly we in the Faculty of Science have worked hard with our eight departments over the last year to update all of our financial procedures.”

in revenue for the provincial government.

When asked whether a completely privatized model like that seen in Alberta would be feasible in BC, Gordon said, “Yes, absolutely. I think what we have is an absurd situation.”

He explained that the approach Europe and the United States have taken treats liquor no differently than any other commodity in a grocery store.

“Wine and beer and liquor are all available in supermarkets,” said Gordon. “You can go into a small corner store in a Parisian suburb for example and buy a bottle of wine, buy beer, buy whatever spirits you want to buy, along with tea and sugar and milk and apples.”

In her statement, Anton reiterated the desire for public feedback: “Once the public consultation process begins in September, British Columbians can let us know how they would like to see BC’s liquor laws reformed.”

Saidi has been charged with fraud over $5,000, theft over $5,000, forgery and using forged documents. The University is seeking to reclaim a total of $846,926 from Saidi, as well as to enforce an order that he be disallowed from disposing of the properties in any fashion. Additionally, SFU is asking that Saidi disclose all of his assets — both personal and professional.

On Friday, Aug. 23, a Provincial Court Judge froze Saidi’s assets, granting the injunction by SFU against its former manager. Saidi has been in RCMP custody since Tuesday, Aug. 21 and will remain there until Sept. 5, when he is scheduled to appear in court.

Saidi could not be reached for comment. The case is currently before for the civil and the criminal court.

OPINIONS

September 3, 2013

opinions editor email / phone

Tara Nykyforiak opinions@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

9

The new Compass Card will take some getting used to. It will be launched into our transit system in late fall of this year and is aimed to be fully implemented by summer 2014. System changes such the the Compass Card can be difficult to grasp for us university students, because our U-Passes remove us from the average user’s experience.

TransLink is doing away with the paper transfers in favour of all fares being paid through a single card. They have installed fare gates at all skytrain stations and Compass Card readers on its buses.

Users have long complained about Vancouver’s primitive transit system, citing the successful systems of London, New York, and Paris. The Compass Card program is a response to these complaints, an overhaul that is long overdue.

Other major cities have fare gates in effect, whether as electronic gates themselves or as worker-operated booths such as those in New York and Montreal. They ensure transit users remain honest riders and actually pay to get on the train. The Compass system brings with it fare gates that will finally prevent riders in our city from getting on for free — a huge frustration under our current system.

Moreover, the Compass Card will change Vancouver from a paper-driven system (bus transfers, monthly passes, faresaver booklets, etc.) to being a more electronic one.

This places users in a more participatory role, because card holders will be able to register for previously unavailable options. On their website, TransLink explains that Compass Cards will come with a “Balance Protection” feature in the event that a card is lost or stolen, and an “AutoLoad” feature for pass renewals and card top-ups.

On their website, TransLink also explains how Compass will help remove current stressors for riders: “Figuring out the fare you need to pay involves checking the time you make your trip, how many zones your route covers, how long it will take . . . Compass will do all of that for you automatically!”

Because the new fare gates will

not accept paper transfers issued on buses, criticism has arisen that riders will have to pay a second time at the station. While this is a valid concern — TransLink spokesperson Derek Zabel states that an estimated 6,000 riders pay with cash daily — I feel that it’s a concern rooted in the time-old fear of change.

Adaptation is possible, and these users need only get used to the system changes and take in the information provided regarding the program. San Diego introduced the Compass Card in May 2009, and successfully eliminated all paper tickets and passes. Vancouver will be able to do the same, and it will be a change to the betterment of our transit system.

Just because Vancouverites will “get used” to the Compass Card does not excuse TransLink’s consistently behindthe-times approach to public transit.

At first glance, the Compass Card seems to be the logical approach to emulate the transit of other cities.

However, unlike cities like London, we do not have more than three million riders daily on 11 train lines.

TransLink’s SkyTrains see about 405,000 riders per day on only three lines. Instead of looking at Vancouver’s unique public transit needs, it seems we are implementing a system we can’t afford, without a shred of innovation.

In terms of finances, the Compass Card system is illogical. In 2005, TransLink itself predicted that a fare gate system would cost more than $30 million per year to install and operate to reduce fare evasion by less than $3 million. Fast-forward to now where TransLink is spending more than $170 million to reduce annual fare evasion by $7 million.

This means the Compass Card will pay itself off right around the time of my midlife crisis.

Also under this new system, the paper fares that cash-paying TransLink customers receive will be useless as soon as they reach a fare gate (as found at any SkyTrain, SeaBus or West Coast Express Station). This means they will have to buy another fare to transfer.

Simply put, the Compass Card system seems to have been designed by those who have never taken public transit in Vancouver. Perhaps I’m lacking in imagination, but I can’t

see how “tapping out” is going to enter into the sardine-like entering and exiting of the 99 B-Line. There are too many people nearly being shoved off the bus to worry about waiting for everyone to tap out.

This is all considering that those without a monthly pass already loaded onto their card haven’t considered how easy it is to “tap in” at Hastings and Granville to board the 160 bus, then “tap out” when it stops one block later and instead of exiting the bus, sitting back down and riding it for three zones to Coquitlam Centre. Those who want to avoid paying for transit will find a way.

Although I agree TransLink needs to collect data about how its system is used, I don’t think implementing the Compass Card to do the work for them is the right approach. Bus drivers will still let people on without paying, because a safe ride home shouldn’t be something you can’t afford.

10 OPINIONS

After recent grievances, it has become apparent to me that SFU should switch its ihaveaplan’s travel insurance provider to one appropriately designed to service BC residents.

Last November, I had to go to the ER while in the US. Before I went to the hospital, I made sure I talked to CanAssistance as instructed by SFU’s Travel Health Passport. I was told which hospital I was allowed to go to, and that my bill should be covered.

However, I received a call the next day from Manitoba Blue Cross telling me they wouldn’t cover my $4,000 bill because they thought I had gone with a pre-existing condition. My condition was not pre-existing, and after hours on the phone with the hospital, I was able to obtain the evidence to prove this.

When I tried to contact Manitoba Blue Cross again, I

learned the number on their forms only works in Manitoba.

In BC, this number connects callers to the closest Blue Cross — the Pacific Blue Cross, for us. For those wondering, their out-of-province number is 1-888-596-1032.

I spent many hours on hold with Pacific Blue Cross while they took my information and tried to process my claim. It was only later that I realized I’d been given the wrong number and was talking to a different insurance company.

Everything took time. I had to wait a week for someone to call me back regarding any questions, and it took weeks for certain forms to be mailed — all of which had to first be submitted to BC Healthcare to prove they weren’t covered by MSP. This took 16 weeks.

A month after I’d been to the hospital, I was contacted by a collection agency. Despite still waiting for my claim to be

September 3, 2013

processed, I was informed that I owed a large amount of interest and that my credit rating would be affected. On the other hand, Manitoba Blue Cross didn’t express sympathy about the collection agency, and explained that I should have paid the $4,000 bill up front and waited for reimbursement. As I’m sure is the case with most SFU students, this was not possible.

Last month, Manitoba Blue Cross paid the hospital for a portion of my bill, because the physician at the ER had a separate bill that had been overlooked. It’s been 10 months since I went to the ER, and I still have a $500 bill that may not be covered because it wasn’t submitted before the deadline.

If I had had the proper information, I would have been able to submit it on time. If I had been able to call Manitoba Blue Cross from the beginning, this could have been avoided.

Employees from both Pacific and Manitoba Blue Cross couldn’t comprehend why a BC resident was using Manitoba’s Blue Cross; they said Manitoba Blue Cross is for Manitoba residents, and that Pacific Blue

Cross services BC residents.

When I did eventually get in touch with Manitoba Blue Cross, I told them they needed to give their BC clients a number that works in BC. The employees I spoke with told me their phone number works in Manitoba, and that it’s the standard number they give out.

Frustrated, I asked to speak with a manager. I was told he would contact me, but I never received any call.

While I continue to wait for answers, I remain frustrated by the preventable challenges that I have had to endure. All of these obstacles could have been avoided had I been provided Manitoba Blue Cross’s out-ofprovince number to begin with, and if SFU’s travel insurance provider through ihaveaplan.ca was one actually designed for those in our province.

OPINIONS

University may seem like an impossible time to save money, but after four years as an undergrad, I’ve learned many ways to stretch my paycheque and save whenever I can.

On top of tuition, students fees, textbooks and a U-pass, there is the additional cost of school supplies to consider. Binders, paper, and pens cost money, but they don’t have to cost a lot. Many thrift stores have an office section where you can purchase previously owned backpacks, binders and notebooks — many of which have hardly ever been used.

Spending dollar store prices on name brand school supplies will save a lot of money over the course of your degree, so why not scour the office aisle of the thrift store instead of buying from the bookstore?

Bringing your own travel mug to to coffee shops is also a great way to get more bang for your buck. The majority of coffee shops award discounts for those

Dear editor, Re: “Religious traditions should be adapted globally” [ July 29, 2013] I’d like to thank Leah Bjornson for her article “Religious traditions should be adapted globally”, because of how forthrightly it sets out the challenge of religious tradition in the face of modern society.

However, I believe she approaches the problem backwards by taking modernity as the normative standard.

The whole point of religious tradition is to oblige us to a certain way of life which may or may not be completely compatible with modern, “global” lifestyles. There certainly is room for adaptation and reinterpretation, but the danger behind such calls is that by adaptation, a tradition risks losing its fundamental meaning.

The traditions do not exist merely for themselves, as Leah seems to suggest, but are meant to perfect human behaviour for the sake of union with the divine. Religious traditions, therefore, do not exist simply as cultural artifacts, but as the direct means by which religious faith itself is propagated within a

September 3, 2013

bringing their own mug, with Renaissance Coffee and Higher Grounds both offering this savings option — 10 per cent is taken off your purchase every time. This may sound small, but over the course of a month or an entire semester, the savings add up and can help stretch your coffee budget further! These two cafés also have stamp card programs, meaning that every eighth or so drink is free.

Even the biggest cost outside of tuition — books — don’t have to cost as much as you may think. There is a Textbook Trade Center page on Facebook where students post used course materials they have for sale, as well as books they are wanting to acquire. Because the texts posted here are used, it’s much cheaper than going to the SFU Bookstore, and you have the potential of making money by selling your old course materials.

Using the library is also a great avenue.

By combining the collective powers of SFU’s

community; it is the means by which society itself is changed.

Religion summons humanity towards something greater than itself, and so it demands that society conform to its standard.

This is in complete contrast to what modernity would have us believe — that individual fulfillment and selfactualization are the highest ideals we ought to uphold.

Rather, religion says that humanity is incomplete without contact or discourse with the sacred. The sacred is not a vague force, but the real foundation of order and meaning for the whole universe, known not merely in religious texts, but through the proper exercise of human reason. Of course such ideas are inconvenient for those steeped in the ideals of modernity, which is probably why calls to adapt religion to contemporary society are so prevalent.

Sincerely, Juan Tolentino SFU Alumnus

libraries and your own local libraries, it can be quite easy to obtain books depending on which courses you are taking.

Between second hand stores, savings

11

programs at coffee shops on campus, and alternative routes to obtaining course materials, it is possible to save bundles of money as an SFU student.

12

FEATURES

n Canada, it’s called the Special Handling Unit. Most prisoners know it as the SHU, or by its colloquial titles, such as “the hole” or “the hotbox”. It’s a tactic reserved for prisoners that are deemed particularly dangerous or threatening, and its prevalence is increasing. Between 2010 and 2013, the number of inmates admitted to the SHU per year rose from 8,000 to 8,600, and experts expect that this number will continue to grow.

But solitary confinement is more than a punishment. It’s a form of psychological torture. For between 22 and 24 hours a day, prisoners are confined to bleak, unfurnished cells for months — sometimes years — on end. They are often denied access to TV or even radio, and are isolated from other prisoners. Most inmates in solitary confinement are allowed a limited supply of books, a bar of soap, photographs of friends and family members, tools for writing, and little else. Some cells lack windows, and virtually all of them are under constant video

September 3, 2013

surveillance.

Ingoing and outgoing mail is heavily monitored. Visits from friends and family — if they are allowed at all — are aggressively surveilled and devoid of any physical contact. The cells themselves range from about 60 to 80 square feet, and the concrete “yards” in which prisoners are allowed to exercise for approximately an hour each day are rarely much larger.

overcrowded jails and Hammurabian “eye for an eye” punishments of the day. They were the first to consider the prison system as a potential conduit for rehabilitation, and the Walnut Street Jail, built in Philadelphia in 1790, was the first prison to resemble our modern institutions.

Expanding on their revolutionary idea of isolation as punishment, Eastern State Penitentiary was established in 1829 as the first

Ironically, solitary confinement was originally envisioned as a humane alternative to the sadistic prison conditions of yesteryear. Social activists of the time – Quakers and Calvinists chief among them – saw solitary confinement as a more ethical alternative to the rotting,

jail made entirely of solitary cells.

But despite noble intentions, the system was quickly revealed to have unintentional effects. Prolonged periods of solitude led inmates to such ends as psychosis, anxiety and suicide.

By 1890, over a century after Walnut Street Jail first opened its doors, the United States Supreme Court condemned the practice of solitary confinement. Inspired by a wealth of medical evidence from around the world, they stated: “A considerable number of prisoners fell, after even a short confinement, into a semi-fatuous condition . . . others became violently insane, others, still, committed suicide, while those who stood the ordeal better were not generally reformed.”

But in the recent past, solitary confinement has regained popularity. According to The Globe and Mail, about 850 of the 14,700 prisoners in federal Canadian prisons are in the SHU. Our neighbour to the south is no better: over 80,000 prisoners are held in solitary confinement in the United States at any given time, the highest percentage of any democratic nation.

Inmates are chosen for solitary confinement based on a wide variety of criteria. Prisoners who are considered at risk of violence from

Are your assignments flatlining?

We're your first response. www.essay-rescue.com

...continued on next page

features editor email / phone

Max Hill features@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

FEATURES ...continued from page 12 other inmates, such as pedophiles or witnesses, are held in the SHU as a form of protective custody.

Super-maximum security prisons – better known as “supermax” prisons – are composed of almost entirely SHU cells.

Prisoners are also put into solitary confinement based on their alleged connections to prison gangs. Many of these connections are tenuous at best — leftist literature and writings on prison rights can be considered sufficient evidence for incarceration, as well as unverified accusations of gang affiliation from prison informants.

One of the most infamous supermax prisons in North America is Pelican Bay State Prison, located just outside Crescent City in California. Of the 1,126 prisoners held in the prison’s SHU, over half have been in solitary confinement for at least five years; over 78 of those inmates have been confined for more than 20.

Having been put in solitary confinement in an Iranian prison himself, photojournalist Shaun Bauer’s investigation of Pelican Bay in 2012 is eye-opening. He describes the cells in the prison as smaller than the one he was confined to for 26 months. His had a window, whereas the rooms in Pelican Bay do not.

All of the gang validation proceedings — that is, the system through which the prison’s gang investigator makes his case for a prisoner’s involvement — are internal, with no judicial involvement. Of 6,300 validations submitted to Sacramento for approval in the past four years, only 25 were rejected. Only the gang investigator and the inmate are present during the sentencing.

Bauer’s report is not only remarkable due to his unique experience with solitary confinement — it is one of the few available reports of its kind. There is an absence of accurate statistics concerning many supermax prisons in the United States and Canada.

As Debra Parkes, a University of Manitoba law professor, told The Globe and Mail, “There are no meaningful mechanisms for accountability in provincial and territorial corrections. . . . We essentially have no idea what goes on inside them.”

Although information concerning the treatment of Canadian prisoners in solitary confinement is troublingly sparse, there is little doubt about the psychological effects of the process. According Terry Kupers, a psychiatrist at the Wright Institute, “What we’ve found is that a series of symptoms occur almost universally. They are so common that it’s something of a syndrome.”

Stuart Grassian, one of the

September 3, 2013

most prominent specialists in this field of study, has referred to this disorder as the “SHU syndrome”.

Grassian described symptoms like increased sensitivity to stimuli, hallucinations, memory loss, and impulsiveness as resulting from prolonged periods in solitary confinement.

Craig Haney, a professor of psychology at the University of California, has included headaches, chronic fatigue, heart palpitations, chronic depression and violent fantasies as potential symptoms.

Roughly half of all suicides occur in solitary confinement.

of violence in prisons — rates that have been climbing steadily within the past five years — those prisoners who eventually see the other side of a jail cell are often incapable of re-assimilating into Canadian society.

Considering the presumably well-intentioned beginnings of the practice, we have to ask ourselves: is solitary confinement ethical?

The United Nations defines torture as “any act by which pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as . . . punishing him for an act he or

The Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture is a treaty that would allow a subcommittee of the United Nations to perform routine investigations into the places where “people are deprived of their liberty”, in order to ensure that no torture is taking place. As of this article’s publication, Canada and the United States have yet to ratify this protocol.

But what about those prisoners who pose a threat to correctional officers and their fellow prisoners? “There will always be a few inmates who simply prove

“People who have been in long-term solitary confinement almost inevitably emerge with major impairments in their ability to cope with the larger world and the larger community,” Dr. Grassian told The Globe and Mail.

Canadian prisons have also seen a rise in violence within the past decade: between 2007 and 2012, the population of Canada’s prison gangs rose from 1,421 to 2,040, according to CBC News.

This rise correlates with the rise of solitary confinement tactics.

But these tactics only serve to separate gang members from each other, rather than rehabilitate them as contributing members of society.

After all, prisoners in solitary confinement have no access to prison programs and treatments. Even if these tactics are successful in segregating gang members and reducing rates

a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”

Juan E. Méndez, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture, has spoken out in favour of banning the practice altogether. “Considering the severe mental pain or suffering solitary confinement may cause, it can amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment when used as a punishment,” he told the UN General Assembly in 2011. “Indefinite and prolonged solitary confinement, in excess of 15 days, should also be subject to an absolute prohibition.”

too dangerous to be in the general population,” says Jamie Fellner, the senior counsel for the United States Program of Human Rights Watch, an organization which advocates for the preservation of human rights.

“For them, some form of segregation may be the only option.

But even then, the nature of segregation should be rethought. No one should be confined in small, empty cells with nothing to do — and no one to talk to — day in and day out, year in and year out.”

This thought is echoed in the recent hunger strike taking place in California prisons. Beginning on July 8, 2013 and the hunger strike reached its 50 day mark last Monday and, at time of publication, is ongoing. It is the largest hunger strike in California’s history. Originating as a protest towards the harsh conditions of Pelican Bay’s

13

SHU, it has spread to several other Californian prisons. An estimated 400 prisoners have participated in the strikes; one of the participants has since committed suicide.

Among the prisoners’ demands are to “end group punishment and administrative abuse,” “expand or provide constructive programming and privileges for SHU inmates”, and “provide adequate nutrition and food.” They have also demanded that prisons “abolish the debriefing policy and modify gang status criteria.”

Debriefing is the most common means through which inmates escape solitary confinement. Prisoners are persuaded into offering incriminating information about their fellow inmates to correctional officers. Prisoners argue that this process places inmates in unnecessary danger, and leads to them being targeted as “snitches.”

Jeffrey Beard, the secretary for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, has characterized the strikes as a “gang power play.” In a recent op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, he vilifies and dehumanizes the inmates participating in the protest: “Many of those participating in the hunger strike are under extreme pressure to do so from violent prison gangs, which called to strike in an attempt to restore their ability to terrorize fellow prisoners, prison staff and communities throughout California.”

But Beard’s article refused to acknowledge the tortuous and dehumanizing conditions of solitary confinement in North American prisons. In an article by Angela Y. Davis for The Sacramento Bee, she calls the strike “a courageous call for the California prison system to come out of the shadows and join a world in which the rights and dignity of every person is respected.”

If there ever was a time for the United States and Canada to reevaluate their use of solitary confinement as an ethically acceptable form of punishment for prisoners, it is now. The California prison strike only serves to highlight something that many of us already know, but choose to ignore: that solitary confinement is still in widespread use in North America, despite being considered torture by Amnesty International, the United Nations, and the majority of the free world.

Fyodor Dostoevsky once said in his novel The House of the Dead that “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” We must consider the way in which we treat our prisoners in North America, whether or not they are violent, whether or not they are gang members. Our prisons are intended as a means of keeping inmates safe and rehabilitating them, but solitary confinement does neither.

Every university has its own set of quirks and perks that make it unique, and SFU is no different. Still, a commuter campus like ours sometimes needs to take a few extra steps to inspire communal spirit in its student body. To help students new and old get better acquainted with our SFU population and realize that we are all in this together, here are a few tips on how to â&#x20AC;&#x153;engageâ&#x20AC;? with our university and become a true member of the SFU Clan.

1: Simon Fraser University; 2: To be honest; 3: Teaching Support Staff Union; 4: R Sciences; 6: West Mall Centre; 7: Academic Quadrangle; 8: South Sciences Building Student Society; 12: Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group; 13: First Nation

n; 4: Resource and Environmental Management; 5: Society of Arts and Social ilding; 9: Robert C. Brown Hall; 10: Maggie Benston Centre; 11: Simon Fraser Nations Student Association.

16 OPINIONS

It’s September once again, so let me take the time to say welcome back to SFU! I’m so pleased that you’ve picked up The Peak, and even more pleased that your eyes have alighted on this column.

A brief introduction is in order: I’m Natasha, and I’m working on my MA in French Literature here atop Burnaby

Mountain. I’m an American, and have been in Vancouver since April of 2013, making me fairly new to beautiful BC. I have a taste for the undiscovered, for adventure and exploration, and I have a pesky penchant for word-smithery (yes, I did just make that up). And now, I would like to cordially invite all of you to walk with me this semester.

Not literally. I mean, we could meet over coffee or something else of your fancy if you’d like to actually walk with me, but I was speaking metaphorically. Throughout this semester, I am going to explore Vancouver

After a while, reality sets in and you realize you’re on top of a mountain and midterms are coming up fast and it’s autumn now and there’s a whole bunch of “fallen leaves, on the ground” where the sun used to shine. High school never prepared you for lecture halls with hundreds of people engulfing you and not knowing what material would actually

be tested on. Far from the endless keggers and sexy fun times your older brother had told you it would be, all you want to do is “run away before you drown.” But when you and everyone are socked in for good and are stuck seeing the semester through, campus seems like a “crooked little town” where dreams are “lost and never found.”

September 3, 2013

looking for spots that speak to me in some way.

Not to get too la vie bohème on you, but I’m a lover of beauty. The record store wall covered in fraying posters, the warm scent of butter wafting up from a plate, the crooked smile of a bartender, the minute movements of a dancer — I can’t help but be intrigued. I’ll share my experiences of each of the places I uncover here, in this column, every other week.

Get it now? The invitation to walk with me?

This column won’t simply be a review of a person, place, thing or event, because there

are plenty of critics out there who have seen more than I, and who have legitimate credentials and expert opinions. What I will attempt to communicate is a

concept of space and how our surroundings both influence and are influenced by us. I plan to write about really cool places within the context of the subtle

— or not-so-subtle — neighbourhood nuances that make them interesting.

I’m hopeful that this column will provide all of you with a fresh perspective: that of a newcomer, of a non-Canadian, and of an outsider. I’m hopeful that you’ll be able to look at this great city through a shiny new lens and discover along with me what makes it diverse, welcoming, gritty, beautiful, and real.

Like the wrinkles on a wizened face, I’m looking for the quirky and unique places that speak to Vancouver’s personality, for better or worse.

I hope you’ll join me.

ARTS

arts editor email / phone

September 3, 2013

The shows are literally drawn out of a hat. With a “theatre for everyone” mentality and a truly fair and open-minded approach to programming their line-up, the Vancouver Fringe Festival welcomes all kinds of theatre artists. This year’s festival features 91 shows, ranging from one-man dramas, to naked comedy, to a new Jane Austen musical “Promise and Promiscuity.”

From Sept. 5–15, 800 performances will happen at over eight venues on and around Granville Island, including the Waterfront Theatre, Performance Works, and the New Revue Stage. With 100 per cent of box office proceeds going directly to the artists, the Fringe is a great way to support independent theatre artists.

One artist with quite a bit of Fringe experience is Jackie Blackmore of Strapless, a fivewomen comedy show with a variety of smart, funny sketches.

Having performed at the Vancouver Fringe for nine years in addition to a few appearances at the Victoria and Edmonton

festivals, Blackmore said that these festivals are so important because they allow artists to create their own work.

“They don’t discriminate, and the work is welcome no matter how shocking or how avant garde it is. I love the classics of course, but I get fired up about seeing new works on stage, and I think it really expands and pushes theatre in many ways,” she says.

Blackmore also described the atmosphere of the Fringe: “Actors and playwrights come outside their comfort zone, and up and coming directors show what they can do and there is a magical energy in that risk; there’s a creative magic because no one is doing it for money, but for love.”

The Fringe is also a great place for actors to create lasting contacts and build their careers, as well as honing their craft by

just doing it and experimenting.

“That’s how I cut my teeth . . . it was a huge help to my career,” Blackmore says.

Blackmore originally applied to write her own show and was number 97 on the waitlist, but then she was contacted by a few of the women from the Vancouver Film School Sketch Comedy Company who asked her to direct their show and perform with them. Blackmore has known them since she started teaching at VFS about four years ago, which makes preparation and rehearsals fun: “You know it’s going to be a great show when you can’t stop laughing in rehearsal.”

The title and promotional material of Strapless may make some think this show will appeal more to a female audience, but Blackmore says, “Absolutely not.

We had a huge discussion at the beginning about ‘are we feminist or not’ . . . we’re not doing comedy just to give women a voice.”

There are some racier sketches, Blackmore says their show covers a whole range of topics and aims to be universally funny. “It’s a gift to make a room full of strangers laugh.

Entertainment is first and foremost . . . I want people to forget their lives.”

From here, the Strapless comedy girls are going to try to

Daryn Wright arts@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

find other venues to perform their work, and they have been busy applying to other fringes and sketch comedy festivals.

Blackmore is also very excited to be a part of the Vancouver Sketch Comedy Festival that is returning this January after a seven-year hiatus: “There’s a resurgence of comedy in Vancouver and it’s very exciting.”

When asked which shows she is looking forward to at the Fringe, Blackmore recommended Assaulted Fish, a show by a local sketch comedy group, Scotch and Chocolate, a show by one of Blackmore’s ex-students, and Searching for Dick, an existentialist show by her good friend Tara Travis of Monster Theatre.

These suggestions might help get you started, but the performances are just the beginning of the Fringe. Each night there are also free concerts at the St. Ambroise Fringe Bar, including Dominique

17

Fricot, and The River and the Road. If you are unsure about which shows to check out this year, perhaps the Fringe-For-All will help; the whirlwind preview evening allows artists to perform two-minute teasers from their shows. You can join host David C. Jones at Performance Works on Sept. 5 to see which shows catch your attention.

After the festival itself, the fun continues with the Public Market Pick of the Fringe, which takes place from Sept. 18–29 at Performance Works and the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts at SFU Woodwards. The shows in this series are determined by audience votes and judges selecting a few of the most popular ones to hold over for more performances. Ballots are available at each Fringe show, and the winners are announced at the Awards Night at Performance Works on Sept. 15.

BAWA SINGH’S GARDEN A poem 2630 lines long

By

Dr. Gurdev S. Boparai An e-­‐book at Amazon/Kindle for $5

18 ARTS

Poetry: the polarizer of literature. Most people I know either adore poetry or cannot fathom the appeal. To be honest, I don’t know what poetry I like. I enjoy listening to poets read aloud, but I can’t figure out what style of poetry I prefer to read.

“That’s the beauty of an anthology,” counters Susan Musgrave, acclaimed poet and writer, from her Copper Beech House Bed and Breakfast in Masset, Haida Gwaii. Musgrave says she often tells her MFA students at UBC that it is “not wrong to not like something.”

The beauty of an anthology of this size is the diversity of styles, thoughts, and opinions within.

Musgrave suggests I read poetry anthologies at random — pick a page, read a poem; if I like it, seek out more by that writer.

In April 2013, Mother Tongue Publishing released a perfect book for that experiment: Force Field: 77 Women Poets of BC. Edited by Susan Musgrave, the collection was a huge undertaking that began as an idea in the summer of 2010 when Mother Tongue publisher Mona Fertig was staying at Musgrave’s bed and breakfast.

Musgrave says she agreed to the idea, although she later had some apprehension when considering the scope of the endeavour. Recent anthologies have celebrated Canadian women poets and BC poets separately, but there has not been an anthology of women poets of BC in 34 years, and none of this size — Force Field weighs in at 390 pages

September 3, 2013

— since Women’s Eye: 12 BC Women Poets (edited by Dorothy Livesay in 1974) and D’Sonoqua: An Anthology of Women Poets of British Columbia (edited by Ingrid Klassen in 1979).

The difficult part, Musgrave explains, was determining who would be in the book and whom they had to leave out. “We could easily do a second [book], but

I don’t think Mona [Fertig] has it in her,” laughs Musgrave. She believes that the “consciousness [the anthology] raises about women in BC” is valuable.

Fertig and Musgrave started with a list of 30–40 poets they wanted to include — obvious poetic heavyweights such as Lorna Crozier and Daphne Marlatt. They then put out an open call for poets, which resulted in more than 150 submissions.

“We started as 55 [poets], then increased it to 75, and eventually we had to cut it off at 77.”

Still, many poets were not included, such as Sarah de Leeuw, who won the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize this year. Others,

like Rhea Tregebov, bowed out in order to make room for younger poets to be included.

Musgrave was charged with the difficult task of then choosing which poems to include.

“I didn’t just choose poems I liked,” explained Musgrave.

“If I just chose my favourites it would be a very different book.”

After initially asking writers to submit 10 poems, she asked them to narrow them down to four favourites. Arranged alphabetically, each contributor in the anthology received equal space: four pages of poetry preceded by a short bio and headshot.

While gender inequity is an issue in the literary arts, as well as many other fields, Musgrave does not press this point when we speak. She puts more emphasis on how writing reflects the “struggle, suffering, and little joy that life has,” and if writing helps you get through it.

While I still don’t know what style of poetry I like, I’m a little closer to figuring it out.

ARTS

On “Perth”, the opening track of Bon Iver’s self-titled second album, Justin Vernon proclaims, “This is not a place.” Indeed, the ethereal sound of Bon Iver seems not to be part of any physical space. On Repave, his new record as the Volcano Choir, a collaboration with fellow Wisconsin residents Collections of Colonies of Bees, Vernon touches ground.

The band adds musculature and rhythmic focus to the sound developed on the second Bon Iver LP through ping-ponging stereo guitars and warped stadium-rock drums. Announcing that he would be winding down and walking away from Bon Iver, Vernon’s latest record with the Volcano Choir is the declaration of a new beginning.

Sonic Youth were on their third drummer.

They’d toured the States, but found that their enigmatic brand of avant-rock appealed more to Europeans. Their star was

September 3, 2013

19

Repave is an effort to start again, to redefine. Vernon subsumes his identity in the press photos. He is the least visible band member, off to the side, covered in a sort of purple light-leak mist.

Repave is not the first time Vernon has recorded as the Volcano Choir.

2009’s Unmap was a scattered Pro Tools effort, full of rough loops workshopped across continents. It was like a journey into the woods or a long road trip where you just get lost and are okay with it. Repave is what emerges on the other end of the process. Boldly moving forward from the collapse of Bon Iver, heedless of what might be left behind, the Volcano Choir is like the TV screening of a quality movie, cropped to a boxy 4:3, yet brilliant.

Gone is the creaky “Skinny Love” balladry of For Emma, Forever Ago. The closest thing to this is Repave’s “Alaskans” which evokes the warm copper tones of Vernon’s favourite TV series Northern Exposure. On album closer “Almanac” Vernon even attempts a redblooded “Wolf Like Me” era TV on the Radio singing style. “Dancepack” is a standout, managing a subdued yet driving rhythm throughout. This is not a drafty cabin record, it’s as if Vernon and the guys spent a warm winter inside the studio this time and emerged with, yet again, another fine record.

on the rise — each of their four studio albums had sold better and fared better with critics than the last. Critical of the business practices of their previous label, SST, they made the jump to Enigma Records.

Then Daydream Nation dropped.

The 12 tracks on the LP — 14, if you elect to separate album closer “Trilogy” into three distinct songs — are the unofficial high water mark of indie rock. Whether you plan to dominate the charts or win hearts in the underground, Daydream Nation is the album to beat, the one that proves just how good it can be.

Twin guitar virtuosos Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo, both former members of Glenn Branca’s avant-garde guitar orchestra, duel it out over the album’s expansive instrumental passages, short-form versions of the band’s now-legendary live jams.

Kim Gordon’s simple bass-lines anchor the album’s more formless experiments, while Steve Shelley’s energetic drumming simmers to a frantic boil.

But beyond the technical wizardry of Daydream Nation — not to mention its lofty status as indie rock’s creative zenith — this album is fucking awesome. Moore’s vocal was never more emotional; Ranaldo’s,

more polished; Gordon’s, more ferocious.

It’s the latter’s lines that stand out to me the most: her frenzied interrogations of American consumerism and insincerity on tracks like “The Sprawl” and “‘Cross the Breeze” are among the album’s most visceral moments.

Most Sonic Youth fans separate the band’s pre-millennial output as pre and post- Daydream Nation. Before, the band’s output was challenging and esoteric; afterwards, they signed to a major label and went mainstream.

But no record from either period can match this one. Sonic Youth didn’t just perfectly sit on the fence between total discord and rock-and-roll with their fifth studio LP: they built the fucking fence, and painted it, too.

Give arts a taste. arts@the-peak.ca

20 ARTS

Arriving as the third installment in the critical and cult “Cornetto trilogy” started by Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, The World’s End had a lot to live up to: its forebears served roles as genre parodies and blistering comedies with equal aplomb. The series’s capstone is the least of the three in both those respects, it is every bit their equal, and a magnificent conclusion to what has proven the best trio of comedies since Jacques Tati’s Hulot cycle.

The World’s End tells of Gary King (co-writer Simon Pegg), who as a young ne’erdo-well took four friends down the Golden Mile, a crawl through 12 pubs and pints that they never finished.

Two decades later Gary — now a middle-aged ne’er-dowell with the same fashion, same drunkard habits, and same tapes in his tape deck — wants to reunite his domesticated friends Oliver (Martin Freeman), Steven (Paddy Considine), Peter Page (Eddie Marsan), and former best friend Andy (Nick Frost), take them back to their hometown of Newton Haven, and finish the crawl once and for all.

This mostly plays as an aging-male dramedy. In fact, the zaniness that marked Shaun and Fuzz is largely gone from The World’s End, which calms down their hyper-active camerawork and editing. It’s a little surprising coming from director and co-writer Edgar Wright, whose Scott Pilgrim vs. the World seemed a logical apotheosis of his crackerjack style, but in very sudden twists, the town turns out to be infested with robot

September 3, 2013

impostors, and The World’s End turns into the breakneck action movie we all expected.

Edgar Wright handles the action scenes with frantic, close-up camera movements, extending shots into loopy, delirious fistfights. Wright, in his second collaboration with Matrix cinematographer Bill Pope, puts every dollar of their $20 million budget on the screen in the way that Adam Sandler’s ugly-ass $100 mil comedies could only dream of.

And when the robots’ blue blood (“it’s more like ink,” observes the nebbish Peter) starts to spill, the cast — particularly Pegg’s inveterate wild child and Nick Frost’s embittered family man — breaks down from their dramedy manners into caricatures of themselves. They conclude that escape from the town is impossible and, true to Cornetto Trilogy form, that they’re best off acting normal and doing what they were going to do anyway. “Nobody has a better idea, so fuck it,” slurs Andy as he punches his way through a glass door.

That satirical current has run through all three films — “You’re all zombies! You’re like an uppity cult! You’re a bunch of robots!” — and The World’s End brings it to its logical conclusion. Wright and Pegg’s script is literate, unconventional, and unrelentingly bleak, and yet somehow carries a light tone throughout. The whole trilogy is a sort of exercise in anti-character arcs, portraying a classist, complacent culture that is unmoved and unchanged by peril and tragedy, where nothing can change anyone’s daily habits.

Not even an alien invasion.

What is paradise? The Pacific Islands are often thought of as a permanently idyllic place full of white sand beaches, palm trees, and tourism. Curator of the Museum of Anthropology, Dr. Carol Mayer, explains, “The Pacific is thought of as one place that is slightly dangerous, but not really, and the point is actually that isn’t the Pacific. It is large and complicated with thousands of cultures and languages.” The contemporary artists featured in Paradise Lost? have taken on the idea of paradise and are challenging it to set the record straight: “We’re not what you think we are.”

Thirteen artists from Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu explore, through diverse media, themes of cultural heritage, the environment, migration and diaspora, and the confluence of their belief systems with western religions. Their culture is “expressed with just about every material, and each has its own method of speaking,” explains Mayer.

The title of the exhibition is multi-layered, with allusions to Milton’s Paradise Lost and the allegory of the evil snake as the impact of colonialism on the Pacific Islands. The exhibit also questions what paradise is, and asserts that perhaps everyone has their own

interpretation. The “lost” refers to the reality of these places being overtaken by Hollywood and tourism, as well as growing environmental concerns.

The way that the exhibition is scattered throughout the museum requires a map, which gives visitors the experience of being lost or disoriented. Although it ended up that way as the result of another show occupying the gallery space, it has created a tangible, physical sense of being lost.

Along with the exhibition at the museum, two artists are also featured at the Satellite Gallery downtown. Mayer described Shigeyuki Kihara’s amazing video installation: “It’s an analogy between the tsunami in Samoa and colonialism showing that they both cause destruction.”

Coinciding with the Pacific Arts Association Symposium at MOA, this exhibition has a wide range of styles and shows the diversity of contemporary art from the Pacific Islands. One of the most memorable pieces is the giant styrofoam cube by Maori artist George Nuku in collaboration with Haida/Squamish artist Cory Douglas. With a mixture of Haida and Maori designs, the hollow cube has many intricate cut-outs that have been carved

to mimic the traditional wooden pieces surrounding it in the MOA’s Great Hall.

Another large structure is the plexiglass sculpture by Nuku that fits right in against the glass wall of the museum amongst the wooden totem poles. There are also many paintings, including the colourful work of Pax Jakupa that is used on the promotional brochures. Some of the artists also used textiles or other materials in their work, notably Rosanna Raymond and her garments which were made in an on-site workshop, and Te Rongo Kirkwood’s ceremonial cloaks made of hundreds of fragments of coloured glass. Another impressive work is Cathy Kata’s Bilum, a woven sac made of recycled coffee sac fibre and decorated with candy wrappers, shells, and feathers.

Just outside the gift shop is a beautiful totem pole that was also created onsite: Clan Pole

by Teddy Balangu was carved in the Great Hall out of a European Birch taken from the UBC grounds.

What makes this exhibition unique is the context of each piece. Placed amidst much older works of art, a dialogue is created, often with a very strong sense of belonging. With such diversity in styles and materials, Paradise Lost? provides a vision of the Pacific from the perspective of its contemporary artists, and it is clear from their work that there is no one true “paradise.”

ARTS

September 3, 2013

21

22

SPORTS

The SFU women’s soccer team is no stranger to diversity. Since opening its National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) with an 11–5–3 overall record in their inaugural season, the team has been hit with a bad case of the injury bug. The team’s record the past two seasons has reflected that, and this season the injury situation is no different. But with a healthy frontline for the first time in a long time, this exceptionally young team might now be building towards finding its new identity in the NCAA. Over the past two years, players like Karm Jawanda — now healthy, and a captain this year despite being just a (medical) redshirt sophomore — have been lost to broken feet and torn ACLs that have kept key players out of the lineup for extended lengths of time.

September 3, 2013

This season, Amanda Gilliland, last year’s starting goalkeeper who happened to lead the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) in saves, left the

team due to nagging injury concerns. That left two true freshmen to compete for the starting spot, but matters were made worse when one hit her head

sports editor email / phone

Adam Ovenell-Carter sports@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

in practice, and is currently on the sidelines with a concussion.

Head coach Shelley Howieson says she’ll be forced to use one of her best backline players as the team’s number-two keeper.

“It’s up in the air,” said Howieson. “Is it going to go in this direction, or is to going to go that direction? We’re going to find out in the next couple weeks.”

#are you

SFU?

www.sfu.ca/pamr/contests.html

Find weekly clues on SFU’s Twitter (@SFU) and Facebook page for a chance to win cool prizes!

Howieson is speaking about her current goalkeeping situation, but she may as well be talking about her team as a whole.

There are eight freshman listed on the 22-player roster, some of whom will most likely see the pitch. And players like Jawanda, who lead her team in scoring her freshman year, are returning from long absences. It is, without a doubt, a year of transition for the Clan, as Howieson figures out how her new players—both freshmen and those coming back from injuries—will work themselves into the fold.

“We’re trying to find our feet right now,” said Howieson. “I think the freshmen are going to contribute this year, and I’m looking forward to see how they

gel with some of the returning players we didn’t have on the field last year.”

She’s had a few chances to look at what she’s working with, including a few exhibition games. The results have been positive — so far — but Howieson was quick to emphasize that exhibition games are more for experimentation than for the score sheets.

“These are all just exhibition games,” said Howieson, who’s led the Clan since the team’s inception in 1988. “I’m just trying to shuffle people around and see what’s going on; to get a feel for the team.

“It’s a real conglomeration of trying to get a starting lineup set and get everybody established in their positions.”

The real test will come when the Clan kicks off its conference schedule with a road-heavy opening few weeks.

“We’ve got some heavy competition early on in the schedule, but those games will be good tests for us to see where we’re headed competitively.”

But where this team stands now is uncertain. The goaltending situation is anything but enviable, but getting a handful of players back from injury could be a major shot in the arm. Either way, a youthful team has a chance to grow as a unit that could stay together for a few years, and that’s a positive regardless of whether the team ends up this way or that.

SPORTS

“History” is a word that’s been tossed around quite a bit since the SFU Clan joined the National Collegiate Athletic Association a few years ago (NCAA).

The first Canadian teams to compete in NCAA history, the first to win games in the NCAA — the list goes on. But there’s one team that’s been making a bit more history than the others.

Last year, the SFU Men’s Soccer team became the first team from outside America to win a playoff game, and they won enough to become the first international team to make it to the Final Four of the NCAA Division II Soccer tournament.

And now, as one preseason poll indicates, the team is as poised as ever to become the first international school, in history, to win the tournament.

In mid-August, the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, an organization representing coaches at every level of the game in the United States, released their preseason rankings for Div. II schools. Simon Fraser was ranked third.

The Clan enter the 2013 season as back-to-back Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) champions, and are coming off a season that saw them finish with a laudable 19–2–1 record. But the only two teams ranked ahead of the Clan are Saginaw Valley State University, the team that knocked SFU out of last year’s tournament in the semi-final, and the team that won it all, Lynn University. With that in mind, head coach Alan Koch isn’t ready to rest on his team’s laurels just yet.

“It’s nice to be ranked but honestly, it means nothing, especially in the preseason,” said the South African-born coach. “The only thing that matters moving forward is wins and losses.”

September 3, 2013

Koch, himself a graduate of SFU’s soccer program, will have to earn those wins with a slightly new-look roster. Sixteen members of the squad that reached the Final Four last year return, but there are 13 fresh faces poised to make their Clan debuts. Gone is Michael Winter, last year’s GNAC Player of the Year, lost to graduation, as are GNAC first-team all-stars Helge Neumann and Matt Besuschko.

Last season’s goalkeeper rotation of Hide Ozawa and Sheldon Steenhuis is also gone.

But if the Clan’s third-place ranking tells us anything, it’s that you shouldn’t expect much of a drop off despite the loss of some key players, as Koch still has plenty of talent to play with.

Carlo Basso, 2011’s GNAC CoPlayer of the Year and a firstteam all-star last season returns for his senior season. Midfielder Ryan Dhillon is set to improve on his 2012 season when he took home GNAC Freshman of the Year honours, and Germany’s Chris Bargholz returns after a second-team all-star nod. Although the team might not be as top-heavy on talent as in years past, a staple of every Koch-coached team is depth at every position. And if his threestraight GNAC Championships and Coach of the Year awards are indicative of anything, it’s that he knows how to make the best of it.

The team appears to be in somewhat of a transition year, but don’t expect that to slow Koch and his crew down. It certainly shouldn’t stop the squad from competing for a fourthstraight GNAC crown. And after his team returns from a Costa Rica-based training camp and the season gets underway, Koch gets another shot at that NCAA title as well, and another shot at history.

“Lynn University are the National Champions and somebody will have to try to dethrone them,” he said. “Why not us?

“Every team is undefeated right now so we all have an equal chance of having a great year. I look forward to seeing how we fare on the pitch once we open up the season in a few weeks.”

While the Spring 2013 semester was wrapping up, the SFU Varsity track and field program was just getting underway with their outdoor season. In early April the team began their competitive season, traveling to Washington and California for a flurry of meets as they looked to qualify for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and NCAA Division II Championships.

They did just that as the Clan travelled to Monmouth, Oregon for their third GNAC Championship meet, walking away with three conference titles as the women placed sixth overall and the men finished in seventh place. Captain Helen Crofts won double gold, winning the 1500-metre and 400metre events, breaking the conference record in the latter with a time of 54.46 seconds, only 26 minutes after her first medal. Junior Jade Richardson took the Clan’s third title in the discus throw, her second consecutive conference championship in the event.

finishes from Cameron Proceviat in the 800-metre race and James Young in the 1500-metre.

Luca Molinari and Ben Coles would finish in sixth and seventh positions in the hammer and javelin throws respectively before the exciting final events: the 4x400-metre relays. On the women’s side, the quartet of Crofts, Sawatzky, Kane and Desch combined for a second place finish, just moments behind GNAC rival Seattle Pacific University. Meanwhile, the seventhseeded men’s team of Vugteveen, Proceviat, Zac Conard and Stuart Ellenwood improved three positions to finish fourth in the event.

The best was yet to come. In their first year eligible for the NCAA Division II Championships, the team qualified six women for the championship event in Palo Alto, Colorado and walked away with an individual NCAA Div. II title and three All-American awards.

In her final race in Clan colours, Crofts won the women’s 800-metre race, adding to her NCAA trophy collection having won the indoor 800-metre championship earlier in the year. The senior led the field through two laps before crossing the line on a hot spring afternoon in a time of 2:08.18 minutes.

23

“This was a great way to finish my Clan career,” said Crofts.

“Winning this title was my goal at the beginning of the season, and I am so happy that as a group we showed how strong we are together.”

Her teammates Butterworth and Sawatzky were not far behind as the juniors finished in AllAmercian positions of fourth and sixth to close their impressive seasons. Kane had raced in the 800metre preliminaries but did not qualify for the final.

The Clan also ran the 4x400metre relay at the championships, as Crofts, Kane, Desch and Sawatzky combined for an eleventh place finish that was just short of qualifying for the final.

In the field, Richardson made the final in the women’s discus finishing just outside All-American position in ninth place as the Clan finished their historic meet in fourteenth place out of 58 schools.

It was a successful summer for the Clan track and field program, and a number of the team’s athletes will look to continue that success this fall as they transition into cross-country season, where both the men’s and women’s sides will have a good shot at qualifying for the National Championships.

LOUGHEED VILLAGE BAR & GRILL

ALL REQUEST DJ CRIPPLE CRIP -­‐ ON FRIDAY NIGHTS CLUB NIGHT DJ SPIN OUT -­‐ ON SATURDAY NIGHTS Lindsey Butterworth would take second place behind Crofts in the 1500-metre while Sarah Sawatzky and Michaela Kane finished second and fifth in the 800metre, respectively. Freshman Chantel Desch had a strong weekend with a fifth place finish in the 400-metre and a sixth place finish in the 200-metre. Andrea Abrams would cross the line sixth in the 100-metre hurdles and Kansas Mackenzie finished eighth in the women’s 800-metres, while sophomore Ryley Carr had the fifth furthest toss in the hammer throw.

The men’s side was led by Travis Vugteveen, who nabbed a podium spot in the 1500-metre, placing third in a closely fought battle to the finish. Other notables on the men’s side came from captain Keir Forster who finished fourth in the 5,000-metre, and fifth-place

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY

$3.00 HI BALLS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY

CHECK OUR WEBSITE FOR GREAT FOOD AND DRINK SPECIALS

OUR PRICES ARE UNBEATABLE

www.thelougheed.ca GOOGLE 9304 SALISH COURT, BURNABY DOWNSTAIRS BESIDE FITNESS 2000

24 SPORTS

When you enter a new league such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) — a league featuring some of the best collegiate athletes in the world — as the Clan did three years ago, there will be a learning curve. In SFU’s first few years in the world’s largest collegiate sports league, that curve proved steep for several SFU teams.

After three years, though you might not expect to be world-beaters, you’d at least expect progress.

But in the case of women’s volleyball, after three dismal seasons in the NCAA Division II, it’s tough to say there’s been much — if any. But now, armed with a new coach and a new atmosphere, the squad might finally be trending upwards.

September 3, 2013

To say the team has in fact regressed might sound harsh, but it might not be untrue, especially when looking at the numbers alone. In their first season in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC), the Clan posted 4–14 conference record. In the two seasons since, the team has won just two games total, going a combined 2–34 in GNAC play.

Six conference wins over a span of three seasons was enough to instill a major change in the Clan locker room. Former head coach Lisa Sulatycki stepped down at the end of last season, marking the first step in a change of direction for the team.

The next step was the hiring of Gina Schmidt, a native of Beaverlodge, Alberta, to replace her.

Schmidt, who had a decorated career as a player with Oregon State University, spent the past five seasons as the top assistant coach for Div. I’s University of Montana Grizzlies. That wealth of experience, particularly NCAA

50% did it to graduate.

Do it your way.

MC118027

Having difficulty getting into the courses you need?

Enrol today and combine online and distance courses with your campus studies so you can complete your program on time. Access over 590 courses and 52 programs.

1.866.949.OPEN | truopen.ca

experience, is something the team had sorely been lacking, and something she hopes can help her new team.

“The NCAA is different from the Canadian system [CIS] in a number of ways so obviously my background as a player and coach in the States has been helpful stepping into this position,” she said. “I am already familiar with many of the players in our conference from my time recruiting for Montana and, as a result, I know the kind of athletes I need to recruit to our program in order to be successful. I think if we can expand our recruiting efforts and I can pass on some of my experiences to the current players in our program, we will be heading in the right direction.”

That said, she’ll be the first to tell you that “heading in the right direction” does not mean an immediate turnaround. Far from it.

“There is no such thing as a quick fix when it comes to building a program or changing the culture of a

team [or] organization,” she admits. “However, I believe that there are a lot of pieces already in place here to allow for the rebuilding process to happen sooner than later. But as with anything, it is a process.”

So far, it’s been quite a slow one, but Schmidt is someone who hasn’t been in many losing locker rooms throughout her career (her Grizzlies team won nearly 60 per cent of its games with her on the coaching staff). A new, winning attitude stemming from its new, winning coach might just suit this team well.

And it might just turn that process into progress.

Schmidt, in talking about why she chose to come to SFU, says all the pieces are in place for that to happen.

“I saw this position as a great opportunity. From the outside looking in, SFU is a great school in a great location and the athletic department has had a lot of success in several sports. I figured there is no reason that SFU can’t have that same sort of success in volleyball.

“I only had a few weeks to work with my current team before school got out in April,” she continued, “but I’ve really enjoyed being back in the gym with them this preseason. I think we have great group of girls and I’m looking forward to the season ahead.”

Of course, only time will tell how this team fares in 2013, but for the first time in a while, it’s safe to enter the season with a little positivity.

There’s still a long way to go, as Schmidt will tell you, but for now, we can confidently call it a work in progress.

DIVERSIONS / ETC

September 3, 2013

25

PEAK MEMBERSHIP

Across 1. You’re reading The ____ 5. Daytime TV 9. Popped 14. Reclined 15. Merchandise 16. Deliver a speech 17. Mountain in Thessaly 18. Rapper Rocky 19. Kitchen tearjerker 20. You’ll be hearing these words this week!

23. Just a touch 24. Javanese dagger 25. Bursts of applause 27. Mouths off 30. Hong Kong gambling neighbour, to some 32. Plastic passcode 33. Honing in, for elderly Brits 37. This crossword’s raison d’etre 41. Government grants 42. Ram’s ma’am 43. Encourages criminality 44. Capriciousness 47. Religious retreat 50. Cordelia’s dad 51. Terrifying giant snake

52. Nationally-named fowl 58. Emerald Isle denizen 60. Bad way to run 61. Big seeds 62. One-time Indian metropolis 63. Mario’s transportation method 64. Egyptian fertility goddess 65. “Heir” extensions?

66. Purim month 67. Parrot’s waxy beak base

bands 7. Riyadh resident 8. Salt’s partner 9. Reader’s vanity piece 10. Keats admired a Grecian one 11. Yoghurt condiment 12. Brown ermine 13. Takes care of 21. Proto-metal 22. Anatomical cul-desac 26. Defeat 27. Health resorts 28. Indigenous Japanese people Down 29. Elitist 30. Pharaoh’s foe 1. Furrow 31. Cards to keep up 2. Opposite of difficulty one’s sleeve 3. Grocery store lane, to 33. Glassmaking ingrethe web 2.0 crowd dient 4. Special talents 34. Thing 5. Hindu teachers 35. Scoop 6. “Wonderwall” cover 36. Type of horse

38. Russian ruler 39. Japanese grills 40. Dropsy 44. Less powerful 45. Crone 46. Alanis Morisette isn’t 47. What the Dude does 48. Sensitive spots 49. Flags down a taxi 50. Parkinson’s drug 53. Kimchi cabbage 54. In the thick of 55. Yorkshire river 56. Mix 57. Mexican gangster 59. Miss identification

26

HUMOUR

SFU Public Affairs and Media Relations / Flickr

After another strong performance at the World Pipe Band Championship this summer in Glasgow, Scotland, the SFU Pipe Band has received the enormous opportunity to lead a parade celebrating one of the best pipe bands in the world after being invited to play at the “SFU Pipe Band’s Fourth Place Victory Parade”.

At the parade, the band is also expected to earn the tremendous privilege of playing alongside the recently crowned world’s number one drum major, Jason Paguio, from the internationally renowned pipe band, the SFU Pipe Band.

With files from High Note Times

humour editor email / phone

September 3, 2013

KOMUnews / Flickr

Brad McLeod humour@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

shirokazan / Flickr

According to senior students at your area high school, the graduating class of 2014 could very well shape up to be “totally awesome” with a general consensus among students being that “GRAD 2014 RULES!”

As part of their recent attempts to not let any of their sports buddies find out that they’re anything but a fiercely hetereosexual nation, Russia has banned the Olympics’ official multi-coloured rings logo from appearing anywhere during the games.

Even further, some students are already calling themselves the “best grad class ever” and rumours are circulating that their upcoming “Snowball Dance” could very well end up being the “sickest time ever.”

According to Russian government policy, having over three bright colours in such close contact violates their anti-gay laws. The decision is set to be followed by a detailed investigation by the Kremlin into what this whole “five-man bobsled” activity is all about.

With files from YOUR REGION Weekly

With files from Russia LGBToday

HUMOUR

Listen up son, I know that in the past your mother and I have put a lot of pressure on you to work hard, study and get good grades, but now that you’re in university, I want to let you know that there’s more to life than just school work.

This is your time, and you’ve got to get out there and really experience life, a life that is at least several thousand miles from the house your mother and I live in.

First of all though, let me just make it clear to you how proud I am of you for graduating high school with really tremendous marks and all those scholarships.

Believe me, I was really starting to

September 3, 2013

worry we weren’t going to be able to afford send you to a school that is as far away from where we live as this one.

But now that you’ve done that, feel free to relax a bit. I mean, don’t flunk out, but also don’t worry if your grades aren’t quite as perfect as they were before. I just want you to have some fun and make sure you make as many great memories that aren’t related to living with us as possible.

Listen, university isn’t just a place to learn math and history and how to grow a soul-patch, it’s a place where you should be learning to socialize. So get out there, go to parties, join clubs . .

. those are great opportunities to, I don’t know, meet a future wife you could move in with or maybe find some pals who are from some far away nation that you could decide you want to move to and then never come back to Canada.

I just want you to come into your own and find yourself. And if the place you find yourself is in a foreign nation without any phones or way to contact us, I fully support you!

I know I should’ve told you this in person and not just dropped you off this weekend saying “see you at Christmas” before writing this article for your school’s newspaper in which I reveal that I really don’t want you to come home ever and if you try to, the locks on all our doors will have been changed . . . but somehow this seemed better.

So son, please have the time of your life, and don’t just study all the time, because I really hope I never have to see you again for the rest of your life. Have fun!

27

28 LAST WORD

features editor email / phone

Max Hill features@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

September 3, 2013