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It’s a busy life being a university student. Lectures, tutorials, papers, and exams quickly eat away the hours in the week, along with potential commitments to part-time jobs, clubs, and friends. As a film student, whose spare time is filled with 12-hour days on set, I have an especially busy schedule. So how in the world do I find time to volunteer on top of it all?

The answer is simple: I love working at the Pacific Cinematheque Theatre. Before I began volunteering at the theatre a year ago, I never thought of myself as the volunteer type.

When I thought of volunteering I envisioned someone serving soup, or working with animals in a shelter — activities I could not see myself enjoying.

The Cinematheque is nothing like this. Instead I serve popcorn and sell tickets to

moviegoers. Why then, you might ask, do I not work somewhere like a Silvercity Theatre where I can earn money and do the exact same thing?

The Cinematheque is no regular theatre, as it screens what I would call ‘essential cinema.’ These include new releases, classics, or rarely seen gems, which often stay with me long after I’ve left the theatre. I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey, E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, From Up on Poppy Hill, Tokyo Story, and even Dirty Dancing all for the first time at the Cinematheque.

These movies inspired me with their craft and beauty by stirring my emotions, and by making me question my assumptions about life. As a film student, it means a lot to me that there is a place in Vancouver that screens these types of films — films that otherwise wouldn’t be seen in theatres by audiences today.

The theatre is small, with only one screening room, and a modest number of volunteer employees. Without volunteers, the Cinematheque wouldn’t have the capacity to operate.

The experiences this theatre provided me as a viewer inspired me to help keep it alive, so that others could experience essential cinema as I had.

Along with my passion for the work the Cinematheque does, I also volunteer at the theatre for the benefits it provides.

As a regular volunteer working one shift per week, I receive a monthly pass to see free films at both the Cinematheque and Vancity theatres. This means I get free movies and popcorn!

I also have the privilege of working with amazing people.

I’ve met passionate movie fans, creative artists, and made a few wacky friends along the way.

We even hold volunteer parties where we all come together to watch movies. What else would we do?

All in all, volunteering at the Cinematheque has been a very fulfilling experience for me. Even with my hectic schedule, I still find it well worth my while to spend my Sunday afternoons at the theatre popping popcorn.

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NEWS

October 6, 2014

news editor email / phone

Leah Bjornson associate news editor news@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

Melissa Roach

A lecture last Tuesday at SFU Woodward’s by author and performing artist Carrie MacLeod explored how we might reinvent home in the upheaval of displacement.

The talk considered the multiple meanings of home, and used “unsettling” art-based approaches to examine who is making room for whom when frictions from forced migration play out in Vancouver neighbourhoods and across international borders.

The possibilities for life in residence at SFU are about to increase significantly. The university is currently considering a new residence building, valued between $15 million and $20 million, near its downtown campuses.

SFU has been in conversations with the City of Vancouver and a local developer in the hopes of extending the scope of its residences. If the project goes according to plan, the residences could be in place sometime in 2016 or 2017.

The lot in question is adjacent to Victory Square at the the intersection of Cambie Street and Hastings Street. The plans for the Vancouver Student Residence

project include 52 suites, 36 of which would be studios or single-bedroom apartments; the rest

would be two-bedroom or even three-bedroom apartments.

The project is geared towards graduate students, particularly in the Segal Graduate School of Business, but the provided housing would be available to other students as well.

As of now, a construction agreement has been struck with the developer and a development permit application has been filed.

Vancouver’s Urban Design Panel also reviewed the project and responded favourably to it.

The question of residence has been under discussion at SFU for a long time. VP finance Pat Hibbitts pointed to the limited residence capacity on Burnaby campus. Currently, SFU residence has room to accommodate 1,800 students.

“We’ve always talked about residence expansion, even up here [Burnaby] and at the other campuses — we don’t have a lot of residence capacity and should we be building more? [. . .] We’ve commissioned a person to do a study on if we should expand residences in all places, not just Surrey and

Vancouver, Burnaby too,” explained Hibbits.

She spoke to the significance of the potential expansion. “We’ve traditionally been a commuter school.

The majority of our students are from the tri-cities, Burnaby, and Surrey school boards. So it leads to a different pattern than what you see in other places.” she said.

She continued, “It could change the nature of the school a little bit if you have more people in residence.

“Can you build better student life if you have more kids in residence? That is the question.”

The university is waiting for its hired consultant to come out with recommendations as to the finer details of the Vancouver development as well as the residence potential on both other campuses.

Ultimately, SFU intends to provide student residences for all of its campuses, including Surrey, but three years of conversation with the City of Surrey have yet to yield any concrete plans.

“We do own lots in Surrey, we are trying to expand academically in Surrey, and residence is in our mind, but there’s nothing concrete there,” concluded Hibbits.

Friends and family once again lit candles at Holland Park last Sunday in remembrance of Maple Batalia, a 19-year old Simon Fraser University student who was killed on Sept. 28, 2011 at a parkade at the SFU Surrey campus. Her father, Harry Batalia, spoke: “We are all united [. . .] It’s not only for Maple. It’s for all women unjustly killed. This shouldn’t happen.”

SFU’s annual President’s Faculty Lecture series kicked off last Tuesday with a talk from SFU computing science professor Jian Pei. One of the world’s foremost researchers on big data, Pei explained how data mining — “unlocking and making sense of this vast treasure trove of data” — is of “immense value to essentially every sector, and can yield untold benefits to society and individuals.”

NEWS

SFU’s board of governors has begun consultations with the City of Burnaby regarding the construction of a new recreational facility at SFU Burnaby.

At their meeting on Thursday, September 25, the board mentioned that Facilities Services is working with local contractors and construction managers to complete the development plan for projects that have come to be called the Link Building and the BC Chiropractic Association (BCCA) Facility.

The Link Building would be built in the athletics precinct, potentially linking the Lorne

Davies Complex to the field, and would include a pool, a gym, and a racquetball court, among other services. As stated by the consultation flyers in February, it would aim to “revitalise recreation programming, improve women’s and men’s change rooms, house team locker rooms, and support space for field sports activities.”

The board of governors conducted consultations in February to discern whether the student body was in favour of the proposed recreational facility, which would be built by a private company in return for a 65-year lease of land adjacent to Discovery Park. The private company expressed a desire to use the land to build BC’s first school of chiropractic. “[The consultations came back] mainly positive,” said SFU VP finance and administration, Pat Hibbitts. “Certainly there were concerns raised around what kind of association there would be with the chiropractic [school] and we would certainly

make it clear that they are not part of SFU. They’re a tenant located in a building.”

The independent company was engaged because SFU does not have the capital required to construct a new recreation facility, nor is it able to borrow to fund this project because it is under a borrowing prohibition from the province. Therefore, SFU must investigate what Hibbitts referred to as “creative solutions.”

After the private company’s lease expires, the land would be returned to the university along with the chiropractic school building.

In relation to the amount of influence SFU will have over

the construction of the private company’s building, Hibbitts explained, “We will have some say in terms of, we don’t want the ugliest building down there.

We would want something that fits with us. Other than that, we wouldn’t have much say in it.

We will set standards as to upkeep and all that. It reverts to us, so that’s the kind of thing you do in those [situations].”

The administration is currently working with Athletics and Recreation to determine the functions to be included in the Link Building. Once plans are finalized, they intend to reenter discussion with the private company and engage in conversation with the City of Burnaby regarding zoning and development permits.

“If we can come to an arrangement that the proponent finds satisfactory — [if] what we have is acceptable to them, what they can build for the amount of money they’ve put aside — [then we will] carry on,” said Hibbitts.

driving on the unpaved gravel roads of two months ago,” said Agosti.

Though all the roadways are open and the multi-use pathway (MUP) along Gaglardi Way and University Drive West is in service, the eight month-long project is not quite complete as there is some landscaping yet to be done.

Agosti explained, “There may be some minor impediments, say if they’re putting in a tree beside the pathway or they’re putting in some shrubbery or what have you.”

He warned MUP users that workers are still in the process of fertilizing the gardens along the path. “It may be pungent for another week or two,” he said.

In regards to the West Mall parkade, SFU is considering an alteration to the original entrance and exit off of University Drive West. That section will be closed for potentially a week or two while Parking Services and Safety and Risk Services assess the area.

People parking on the 8000 level of that parkade will still need to use the altered exit and entrance.

Agosti also encouraged drivers to try out new routes: “If you are [driving and] going to the west side of campus — to residence, childcare, recreation and athletics, West Mall Complex — it’s probably worth your while to try going up the new way now. See if that’s faster [or] more enjoyable.”

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

ENGAGING THE WORLD

SFU Burnaby will now have full use of its new campus roads as construction comes to a close.

On Monday, October 6, transit routes will return to what they were last year, before the beginning of the roadway improvement project.

Parking Services director David Agosti said, “That will be a big change and I think a welcome change to students.”

This means that transit users will be able to exit the bus at the Transportation Centre first, before it heads to the bus loop. Buses will also leave the mountain via University Drive West, putting the residence bus stop back in circulation.

Parking Services told The Peak that there have been positive reactions to the road openings. “We’re not driving on the concrete roads of a year ago, but we’re also not

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October 6, 2014

AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING Nominations are now being accepted for Awards for Excellence in Teaching.

All continuing full and part-time faculty members (tenured and tenure-track professors, lecturers, and lab instructors) who have taught a minimum of 5 years in a continuing position at Simon Fraser University are eligible for the awards.

Nominations may be made by Simon Fraser University students, alumni and/or faculty.

To make a nomination, please write by October 15, 2014, to: University Committee for the Excellence in Teaching Awards c/o Office of the Vice-President, Academic Simon Fraser University Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6 Phone: (778) 782-3925

Fax: (778) 782-5876

Include your name, address and telephone number, and reasons why your nominee is deserving of this award.

The winners of the Awards will be selected based upon the following criteria: • Ability to stimulate students to think creatively and critically • Demonstrated caring for student learning • Ability to present complex information clearly • Demonstrated enthusiasm and innovation in teaching • Sustained record of excellent teaching • Diversity of course level More information on the nomination and adjudication of the Excellence in Teaching Awards can be found on our website at: http://www.sfu.ca/vpacademic/Committees_TaskForces/Standing_Committees/Teaching-Excellence/ Or you may contact the Office of the Vice-President, Academic at (778) 782-3925.

6 NEWS

Next time the 145 passes you by, you can air your grievances online using the SFU Student Mobility Advisory Committee’s (SMAC) bus pass-up report form, meant to track transit troubles on the mountain.

SMAC, along with representatives from the SFSS, GSS, and SFU ancillary services, is asking students to contribute to the survey whenever they are passed by buses that are already at capacity — a frequent problem for students going to or departing from campus.

The groups plan to use this data to lobby Translink for improved bus service on Burnaby campus.

“There’s quite a level of frustration on campus about transit, and so it’s really important that we capture this data, this information, so that when we meet with [Translink], we’re able to show what really is the situation,”

Three SFU researchers have joined a new Canadian initiative to address the problems posed to the individual and society by disorders such as dementia.

Over 340 experts in the field of neurodegenerative disease research across the country are involved in the effort coordinated by the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in

October 6, 2014

explained Mark McLaughlin, director of SFU ancillary services.

“The situation is really unacceptable, so we have been in touch with Translink to try to get them to remedy the situation.”

The problem of pass-ups is felt acutely at both the bus loop near Cornerstone and the Transportation Centre. McLaughlin explained, “There is a lot of congestion, a lot of overcrowding, and that results in pass-ups because the buses are full.”

The survey, which has been up since the end of September, asks for students’ emails, the bus stop at which they were passed, the number of the bus, and the time of day. “The information we’re gathering, it’s really coming in rather fast and furious,” McLaughlin commented.

The SFSS has a history of transit advocacy, so when

McLaughlin approached the organization for support on the initiative, they quickly jumped on board. “Obviously there has been issues with [transit on campus],” Darwin Binesh, SFSS VP external said. “People sit at the last stop on the 143 and get passed seven or eight times before a bus actually brings them to school.”

He continued, “If we collect a lot of this data, if people fill out the form online, every time a bus passes them for whatever reason, we can keep track so that when we go to Translink and make arguments for better service, we have our own data to prove it.”

Cheryl Ziola, manager of media relations at Translink, told The Peak that they are well aware of the customer concerns about bus pass-ups at the SFU loop and have had transit supervisors and transit security on site to monitor the situation and ensure customer safety.

“We anticipate that congestion will ease next week when the detours around construction at the lower exchange are complete and all buses return to regular routes,” she explained. “Typically, September

Aging (CCNA), an organization dedicated to examining this growing issue.

With a rapidly aging population in the developed world, this initiative is one of many that are being created globally to combat the emergence of neurodegenerative diseases.

“It is a very large research network that has been set up by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to look at the emerging problems around neurodegenerative diseases,” said Andrew Sixsmith, professor of gerontology at SFU and the director of the Gerontology Research Centre.

Sixsmith, along with SFU engineering science professor Mirza Faisal Beg and SFU biomedical physiology and kinesiology professor Charles Krieger, form one of the 20 multidisciplinary teams involved with the CCNA.

“My particular interest is with dementia. I think we all know that the Canadian population is aging, and the population worldwide is aging. Diseases and conditions like dementia are age related,” Sixsmith told The Peak.

“There are an increasing number of people with neurodegenerative conditions. We need to look at the various ways of attacking it.”

When asked about his team’s particular focus, Sixsmith explained, “We are looking specifically at how we can use information technologies to help people with dementia live independently at home. One of the things that I’m particularly interested in is using readily available technology such as apps on smart phones to help people with very mild dementia live a bit more independently.”

On the question of SFU’s contribution to the overarching research,

is one of our busiest months as students and teachers return to school. This peak ridership tends to level off as people adjust their schedules to nonpeak class times or seek other alternative transport modes such as cycling or carpooling.”

For the fall, Translink has deployed all available buses to major student hubs as part of their service adjustments. These adjustments include weekday frequency increases to the 135

and 143 and a return to regular service hours for the 145.

The SMAC survey will continue to be offered online indefinitely, with SFU representatives approaching Translink once they have accumulated more data.

In the meantime, SFU will expand the space at the Cornerstone bus loop near the 145 stop in order to ease congestion and make transiting home more comfortable for students.

Joy Johnson, SFU’s VP research, was optimistic: “This consortium, which is being funded by the CIHR, is a large consortium that is crossing Canada and is really engaging top scientists in the field.

Johnson continued. “We partner on a number of international initiatives related to the neurosciences and this initiative really solidifies Canada’s strength in the field.

“I think it will really advance the field and keep Canada on top of what it really is — an international effort to understand issues like Alzheimer’s diseases and other neurodegenerative diseases.”

Sixsmith agreed with Johnson: “SFU has a major role in this particular area of research.

Beyond the CCNA initiative, we recently submitted a large proposal for a network of sensors embedded in senior homes across Canada that would further support independent living.

“Helping support independence of all people is about letting them reach their aspirations, rather than just giving them basic services.”

“The three researchers [from SFU] who are involved with this work are playing an important role in terms of advancing the science and our understanding of neurodegeneration in aging.

“Canada is a world leader in the field of neuroscience,”

NEWS

While students often joke about SFU looking like a prison, many real inmates desire access to post-secondary education.

SFPIRG’s forum “Breaking the Cycle: Education Behind Bars” on October 1 sought to address this issue; students, teachers, and former inmates came together to engage in a dialogue about the lack of, and need for, educational resources within prisons.

According to SFU criminology professor Brenda Morrison, educational resources in prisons are seriously lacking. Correctional Services Canada (CSC) prioritizes high school diplomas, leaving inmates few options for post-secondary education.

Morrison stressed the positive impact that higher education could have on both inmates and society: “If we want people to be coming out of prison making good decisions [and] keeping themselves and others safe and productive, then we really need to think seriously about the tools that we give people in prison.”

Morrison credited universitybased programs, rather than the CSC, with driving post-secondary education in prisons. One such program, Inside-Out, offers universitycredit classes to groups of university students or ‘outsiders’ and incarcerated people or ‘insiders’ within prisons across Canada and the US. Shoshana Pollack, Inside-Out coordinator and professor of social work at Wilfrid Laurier, was one of three speakers at the event.

Pollack described Inside-Out’s unique approach to education as offering multi-disciplinary classes that focus on the knowledge and experience that both groups of students — insiders and outsiders — as well as instructors bring to the table.

The event also featured Liz Fulton Lyne of the Greater Edmonton Library Association (GELA), and Kim Williams, career development coordinator in the criminology department at the University of the Fraser Valley.

October 6, 2014

Fulton Lyne highlighted GELA’s Prison Library and Reintegration Project, which includes book lending programs, book clubs, author visits, and a storybook reading program for incarcerated mothers.

Williams talked about the importance of fostering strong relationships between inmates and staff when working in prisons. Pollack agreed, saying, “Normally as a society [. . .] these two groups of people don’t often have the opportunity to talk with one another as equals, as peers, in a classroom.”

couple of factors in their lives, they themselves could quite easily end up within a prison or jail.”

Carla Stewart, the forum’s coordinator, said she hoped that the event’s participants left with a new awareness of the issues surrounding education behind bars.

Stewart stressed, “It’s important that the information gained goes beyond questions of ‘What can I do to help?’ or ‘What can I do with my criminology degree?’ and enters a deeper consider-ation of why prisons are such broken systems to begin with.”

Morrison concluded, “The only right that prisoners lose when they’re charged with a crime [. . .] is the right to freedom. All other rights remain in place.” As “Education Behind Bars” hoped to address, the right to an education is not a right that should be taken for granted.

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Pollack’s recent study of InsideOut participants, however, suggests that reservations exist on both sides of the prison walls.

When it came to implementing education systems in prisons, Pollack found that insiders were typically afraid that they would be studied or scrutinized, and that outsiders would treat them as unintelligent or dangerous. Outsiders felt open to the experience but, Pollack said, many had assumptions about the degree of difference between themselves and inmates.

What these outsiders soon realised, Pollack explained, was that, “had it not been for a

7

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8 NEWS

A recent study on patterns of homelessness in greater Victoria, led by SFU master’s student in public policy, Hannah Rabinovitch, reported that there are a disproportionate number of seniors utilizing emergency shelters as compared to all other demographics.

Rabinovitch, in partnership with the Centre for Addictions Research of BC (CARBC) at the University of Victoria, conducted a longitudinal study focused on patterns of emergency shelter use in greater Victoria.

Rabinovitch, who began collecting data for the study in April 2010 and ceased collection in May 2014, followed 4,332 individuals and examined approximately 46,000 shelter records.

Over 85 per cent of shelter users accessed the shelters only once or twice. However, 13.6 per cent of users accessed the shelters as many as five times during

October 6, 2014

the four-year period, with an average stay length of 30 days.

The remaining 1.5 per cent — mostly seniors — stayed four to five times over the four years for an average length of six months.

Despite the large sample of individuals followed, Rabinovitch conceded that the results were not fully representative of the population who use homeless shelters. “For example, it’s widely known in research that homeless women avoid emergency shelters for fear they’re unsafe and that their children will be apprehended, and because they lack women’s beds,” Rabinovitch said.

Rabinovitch, who has worked with five out of the seven emergency shelters in Victoria, is worried about the large number of seniors utilizing shelters.

“I was stunned by the number of seniors with complex physical and mental health problems regularly seeking refuge in emergency shelters,” she said.

Rabinovitch also stated, “It really points to the fact that [. . .] there’s a housing gap and that they are finding serious challenges for homelessness.”

Seniors often experience more health problems than other segments of the population, and being homeless further

contributes to these issues. “In general, older people experience more health challenges, and the longer people stay homeless, the worse their health outcomes get,” said Rabinovitch.

The homeless pattern reported in Victoria is similar to those in Ottawa, Toronto, and Guelph. The Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness has partnered with the government, non-profit organizations, and local service providers to work towards eliminating

UFV students launch new art magazine UBC food services to adopt cashless system The University of British Columbia’s Alma Mater Society (AMS) catering service will soon implement a cashless payment system through app developer nTrust.

The app will allow students to transfer funds from an nTrust account in order to pay for items at AMS businesses such as The Pit Pub, Burger Bar, The Gallery, Bernoulli’s Bagels, and Blue Chip Cookies.

The new system aims to reduce time spent waiting in line and could also help students to avoid fees associated with some credit cards.

With files from The Ubyssey

A new student-founded publication has been introduced to the University of Fraser Valley.

PIPE journal provides a space for students to showcase their artwork. Any art submitted must be accompanied by a 500 word statement from the artist.

The journal is geared toward visual arts students, but all UFV students are welcome to enter submissions.

With files from The Cascade

the problem of homelessness in Victoria by 2018.

Bernie Pauly, Rabinovitch’s supervisor and a researcher for the University of Victoria’s Centre for Addictions Research, said that the team is investigating strategies that may contribute to finding a solution: “Those experiencing temporary homelessness would benefit from rapid re-housing, more emergency cash assistance and rental subsidies to prevent or quickly address homelessness.”

Puppies make people happy McMaster University’s faculty of social sciences has welcomed a year-old border collie, Scout, into its midst.

Scout is currently undergoing assessment by the SPCA to become a therapy dog. He will be on campus full-time in the next school year when he has completed his training.

The SPCA dog program will be implemented at the university with the aim to destress social sciences students as well as bridge the divide between students and faculty.

With files from The Silhouette

NEWS

Starbucks’ initiative to serve ethically-sourced coffee has officially expanded. The company announced last Thursday that, beginning in spring 2015, Starbucks Canada will serve fair trade certified espresso at all Canadian university and college locations.

This decision coincides with the anniversary of the fair trade pilot program, which started here at the SFU Starbucks location one year ago.

The company also announced that it will open more locations on Canadian university and college campuses, and will also expand previously existing Starbucks.

In the last two years, Starbucks Canada has increased its growth and presence on campuses by 50 per cent.

Starbucks says that it has become increasingly aware over the past few years of the need for ethically sourced coffee and has set a goal for all of its coffee to be certified through Coffee and Farmer Equity (CAFE) Practices. As of 2013, 95 per cent of Starbucks coffee was ethically sourced and had garnered the necessary verifications and certifications.

Rossann Williams, president of Starbucks Canada, said in Thursday’s press release, “We care about coffee farmers. We know many of these people personally and importantly, we know long term success is linked with theirs.”

She went on to say, “Ensuring that all Starbucks coffee is ethically sourced is a priority

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October 6, 2014

Lukas Grajauskas brought a proposal to council to establish the behavioural neuroscience student society (BNSS) as a departmental student union (DSU). He explained that, currently, behavioural neuroscience is represented by the psychology and biomedical physiology and kinesiology DSUs, but this is problematic because it does not foster a sense of community between behavioural neuroscience students. “I think it’s time for us, as a growing program, to have something more dedicated to students, to give ourselves a voice in the community,” Grajauskas said.

Council voted unanimously in favour of recognizing the BNSS as a DSU and granted it a voting seat on council.

Arts and social sciences representative Brady Wallace and president Chardaye Bueckert spoke to the open textbook project at council on Wednesday night.

Many DSUs have appointed a departmental curriculum committee representative, and Bueckert and Wallace requested they bring the open textbook issue to the respective curriculum committees and push for the usage of free textbooks.

This collaboration was offered as an opportunity to enhance the student experience collaboratively with the board of directors, DSU/FSUs, and the university.

for us and we are proud to offer students a fair trade espresso.”

After being named “Best Campus of the Year” by Fairtrade Canada just last month, SFU’s leadership in utilizing ethically sourced coffee has led other universities and colleges to become active in serving fair trade coffee. Seven other campuses have joined SFU in a movement to make ethically sourced coffee a standard.

Roger Aube, director of Licensed Stores for Starbucks Canada, said in the same release, “We’re excited to build on the incredible success of the fair trade offering at our store at Simon Fraser University and take it country-wide.”

Mark McLaughlin, SFU director of ancillary services, stated, “We are extremely pleased by Starbucks’ announcement to offer fair trade certified espresso in its cafes on Canadian campuses. Students come to our institutions for an exceptional education, and more and more we find that they also come with hopes of changing the world for the better.”

Although Starbucks will offer fair trade certified espresso at all its locations at Canadian universities and colleges, the company will not offer fair trade certified espresso at off-campus locations, and does not have plans to start.

The BCLIP is an educational six-month opportunity for Canadian university graduates to work in British Columbia’s parliamentary system. Your academic training will be enhanced by exposure to public policy-making and the legislative process by working in both the executive and legislative branches of the provincial government at the Parliament Buildings in Victoria.

B.C. residents are eligible to apply if they have received their first Bachelor’s Degree from a Canadian university within two years of the start of the 2016 program.

Apply online at

PROGRAM DIRECTOR Karen L. Aitken Legislative Assembly of B.C. BCLIP@leg.bc.ca

ACADEMIC DIRECTOR Dr. Patrick J. Smith Simon Fraser University psmith@sfu.ca

ACADEMIC ADVISOR Dr. Andrew Heard Simon Fraser University aheard@sfu.ca

www.leg.bc.ca/bclip Deadline

January 31, 2015 Location: Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C. Term: January 4 to June 24, 2016 Remuneration: $26,120 for 6 months

10

OPINIONS

As grotesque photographs of the devastating Ebola outbreak in Liberia filter through my newsfeed, I find it difficult to transcribe my reactions. My feelings are a sadness-stricken medley confused with a dash of relief and a hint of anxiety. Why do I feel these strange emotions toward something that is occurring thousands of kilometres away? And why am I further astonished to understand that many people don’t seem to care about these events?

A couple weeks back, I listened to a TA suggest to the class that foreign news coverage is pointless for Canadian news-watchers, and that headlines of significant relevance to readers are the only items that should concern them.

After all, it doesn’t apply to me. I shouldn’t be interested in Hong Kong’s umbrella-battle for democratic liberties, when I’m safe at home with a smile on my face and a Charter of Rights and Freedoms to soothe me to sleep.

Within the next year, Metro Vancouver citizens will have the chance to vote on a new funding source to support the Mayors’ Council’s $7.5 billion vision for transportation in the region. This plan includes upgrades to services and frequency of transit, an extension of the Millennium Line to Arbutus street, two light rail lines in Surrey, 11 new B-Lines, 2,700 km of bike-ways, and a replacement of the aging Pattullo bridge

October 6, 2014

opinions editor email / phone

Adam Van der Zwan opinions@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

Growing up, the idea that I would someday be interested in global current events was unfathomable. My father’s six o’clock ‘click’ to Global News only supported the fact that Middle Eastern struggles or violent European protests bored the hell out of me. Thankfully, a solid education, curiosity, and a little procrastination now have me skimming sections of Al Jazeera and The Guardian , and realizing the true importance of reading up on world news.

Foreign news gives me a sense of my place in the world as an individual, a citizen, and a human. Yes, it seems selfish and ironic to suggest that I read up on global events to understand myself a little more, but this is the fundamental reason that our access to world news exists. In learning of the ongoing battle against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, I begin to understand my own position as a citizen in my own country.

I am able to reflect on current situations surrounding me, and relate them to foreign situations.

I analyze a snapshot of myself to discover my own fortunes or misfortunes, as compared with those of other individuals or states.

The Ebola outbreak saddens me because I envision myself in that Liberian world; I empathize with those coping with loss. Though, I’m relieved to not live in that position, but I’m also anxious that I could some day be

struck with such a deadly virus.

Through these emotions I come to comprehend that we are all people fighting for survival in a precarious world of uncertainty.

As Canadians, we relate with national events more directly, but global awareness is the gateway through which we come to see our broader situation. World news stitches us together in a tapestry depicting not only collective struggle and turmoil, but happiness and prosperity. This

is something we can’t afford to bypass or ignore.

Pragmatically speaking, yes, Ukrainian civil unrest does not affect us Canadians directly, but it allows our nation to learn from others’ mistakes and to reflect these learned lessons back to the world as responsibly as we can. So think twice about your lack of interest in the world news section — through it you may find a sense of balance.

between Surrey and New Westminster. A “no” vote on the referendum would be devastating for the region as a whole.

In order to build new transportation projects and improve the existing network, our governments and Translink need capital. Under current circumstances, there is just not enough money for new projects. With all other funding sources considered, the Mayors’ Council’s vision will require an additional $110 to $390 million per year.

It gets worse; according to Translink’s 2014 operating and capital budget report, this year Translink will not be able to expand bus, Seabus or West Coast Express services, nor move ahead on a number of pressing projects on the regional priority list due to limited revenue.

If we stick to the status quo, the situation will be dire. According to Vancouver’s Metro 2040 population projections, in the next 30 or so years, the population of Metro Vancouver is expected to rise by more than one million people. With current levels of transit service and funding, it would be impossible to move that many people and goods around the region.

transportation? The vision is not just about transit. Next time you’re stuck in traffic on Broadway or King George Boulevard, think about how much easier your commute would be if there were 10, 20 or even 50 per cent less traffic on the road.

When the Canada Line was built, many critics assumed that the ridership projections were false, and that the Canada Line would have no effect on congestion. The critics were proven wrong by the more than 120,000 people per day who use the Canada Line to get to work, school, and other activities.

The Mayors’ Council’s vision estimates that drivers could save 20 to 30 minutes per day on some of the most congested corridors if the plan is implemented. A positive vote for new transportation funding means “yes” to less congestion.

The good news keeps on rolling. With the new transportation funding source, there would be major infrastructure projects and upgrades all over the Vancouver region. Those projects mean more jobs in engineering, construction, planning, manufacturing, energy, and all the secondary services that go along with those jobs.

As the dutiful citizens of Metro Vancouver, we have been given a great responsibility and opportunity to voice our opinions. Whether you are a student or professional, blue or white collar, millennial or senior citizen, transit-user or car driver, it doesn’t matter. If you live in Vancouver, this referendum affects you.

Give your support to the new source of funding, and give support to less congestion, better transit, more jobs, and a prosperous region.

Maybe you drive or don’t care about transit, so why should you have to pay for someone else’s

OPINIONS

According to legend, when asked to justify his tyranny over France, King Louis XV responded with the statement “Après moi, le deluge,” translated “After me, the flood.”

While not particularly inspiring, statements such as this can nonetheless be seductive. Political revolutions are risky ventures with justifiable fears that the future may be worse than the status quo.

It was this line of rhetoric that President Bashir al-Assad used to dissuade the Syrian people from being swept up by the hope offered by the Arab Spring. And despite this rhetoric being cynical and selfcentered, history has justified Assad. As bad as the Assad regime was for everyday Syrians, what has followed has been undeniably worse.

Since the onset of the conflict in 2011, the UN estimates over 191,000 Syrians have been killed and over three million have become refugees since the population was first caught in the crossfire between the regime and assorted rebel groups.

With no faction able to gain a clear upper hand, Assad’s tyranny has devolved into a violent multipolar anarchy.

It is unquestionably a humanitarian disaster that deserves

They’re fantastic in soups and salads. They contain vitamins to help your eyesight. They can add a pop of colour and flavour to any bland dish. And don’t forget, they’re often an integral part of the weekly SFU veggie lunch (seriously you should check it out, it’s only five

October 6, 2014

a response. Since the onset, many nations — Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Iran — have intervened, supporting one faction or another as they try to mold Syria’s political fate to their own interests. Until now the United States has done everything in its power to keep out of the conflict, as the nation is still war-wearied from long engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yet with the expansion of the particularly brutal jihadist faction of ISIS, America has finally decided it must do something. Thus Obama, with bipartisan congressional approval, recently agreed to supply modest amounts of arms and training to aid rebels deemed “moderate,” i.e. interested in constructing a liberal democratic state in Syria. This is a noble idea, but is it truly feasible?

The fact is, Syria’s moderate rebels are in no state to restore order or the rule of law to their country anytime in the foreseeable future.

Divided and hopelessly outmatched by both the Assad regime and the more structurally organized jihadist rebels, the moderate Syrian

rebels are not realistic contenders for power, but merely perpetuators of anarchy.

Perhaps if the West was willing to offer serious military commitment, including robust numbers of ground troops for occupation, they could manage to install the moderates into power. But no foreign public would tolerate their leaders embracing such a serious commitment. Instead, what Obama offers is a feel-good policy that gives the perception of doing something without paying the cost it would require.

Rather than trying to give the upper hand to one of the dominant factions in the civil war that could feasibly win, Obama shirks this hard choice and fuels the war’s continuance by supporting a faction with no chance of victory.

Ultimately, while liberty may be preferable to tyranny, tyranny is preferable to anarchy. And sadly, in present-day Syria, only tyrants remain powerful. Whatever Assad’s crimes, they pale in comparison to the brutality of ISIS, which has instituted policies of industrial sexual violence and the genocide of minorities.

If the world is truly serious about pushing back against ISIS, they must rally behind a feasible champion. Unfortunately Syria’s moderate rebels cannot supply this bulwark, but the Assad regime may. In a conflict with no good options, the West must support the lesser of two evils.

bucks). Don’t like the taste of carrots? That’s ok, there are loads of things you can do with carrots that don’t involve eating them. Carrots make good snowman noses, make-shift swords, door-jams, or drumsticks. Come to think of it, what can’t you do with a carrot?

Plastic carrots are the manifestation of all that is terrible in our world. They draw you in, sitting on the dinner table as part of the ‘Fall Harvest Package’ or whatever. They look so lifelike, so real, so enticing, so tasty. But the fact of the matter is that they simply

As students, we strive to complete our post-secondary degrees because we believe education can lead us to a prosperous future. In theory, prisons employ the same ideology. Currently, however, prison inmates do not have access to adequate education — an ironic fact considering that jail institutions say they value education as the most beneficial correctional method.

While volunteering at the Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group (SFPIRG), I came to learn about the current situation for prison inmates in regards to education. Since Correctional Services Canada discontinued accredited university programs in the early 1990s, there are inadequate resources in prison libraries, as access to books and other forms of information has been limited.

Interestingly, many prison inmates inquire about possible postsecondary educational opportunities and whether or not they will have access to them, which further suggests that prisoners are interested in using education to redirect their lives.

Moreover, many experts believe that adequate informational resources will specifically benefit those inmates who are still young, immature, and uneducated. Knowledge is not just for inmates’ well-being but is also beneficial for the whole of society, as it can reduce recidivism and future criminality, thus creating a safer community. Adequate access

aren’t real. Plastic carrots are the Richard Nixon of North American tabletops. They may borrow their shape and colour from their organic brethren in the fridge, but they are not the same. Everything you thought you knew was a lie.

11

to education will also allow inmates to better their chances at finding employment, which will make their transition to the outside much easier.

A Forbes article from last year provides a real life example of how education can help inmates. The article discussed New York’s Cornell College, which works jointly with four maximum-security jails to provide a program that offers inmates a chance to earn an associate degree.

It suggested that, upon graduation from the program, inmates were able to read, write, and communicate more effectively, analyze complex problems, and had a greater chance of finding full-time employment once they were released.

In addition, the article suggests that completion of these degree programs shows that inmates are able to “do good,[. . .] exercise discipline and increase [their] adaptability.” Evidently, access to knowledge has proven to be beneficial for prisoners both inter and intrapersonally.

Education does not guarantee a successful future for inmates, but it is certainly a major determinant.

Without education, inmates will have difficulty transitioning to the outside, as they are more likely to become involved in the illegal activities in which they were previously involved.

This is why Correctional Services Canada should reintroduce accredited university programs in prisons, and prison libraries should be re-stocked with a diverse range of informational resources. An inmate with access to education would be in all of our best interests.

12 OPINIONS

October 6, 2014

pre-existing Broadcasting Act. In recent years, the CRTC proposed changes to the Act but, ultimately, all updates were shut down by the Supreme Court. Furthermore, there is virtually no federal support coming from our end and any regulatory clampdown on Netflix could anger free-trade lawyers in Washington.

What do Corner Gas, Flashpoint, Heartland and Republic of Doyle all have in common? All are television shows made in Canada. Each one of these programs is set in a different province and presents distinct quirks and charms of the various parts of Canada. Canadian content is about more than just filming and hiring locally — it’s about preserving Canadian identity and culture.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) was established in 1967 under the Broadcasting Act, and since then the commission has made it their mandate to regulate and supervise broadcasting in the country — they are committed to the preservation of Canadian culture in our media.

Recently, the CRTC called into question the online movie giant Netflix. The CRTC requested that Netflix share their subscriber data along with information regarding the Canadian content available to their

viewers. The CRTC was simply trying to discern whether the foreign company was adhering to the measures put in place by the Broadcasting Act. Netflix, however, decided to not cooperate. Their dismissal of the CRTC’s request shows their blatant disrespect for the authority that the commission holds, as well as their lack of regard for Canadian identity and culture.

The demand for online movies and television is growing rapidly.

Online outlets could easily become the dominant entertainment provider in the near future, and for this reason, the CRTC saw fit to act.

Sadly, the outcome does not look promising for the CRTC in this feud with Netflix. Because the online movie streaming industry is so new, there are no clear guidelines to follow in the

since kindergarten, as have my parents and my grandparents. The lyric in question has been around for over 100 years — that’s a century of tradition deeply rooted in our Canadian history.

Parliament will soon vote on a bill that proposes the Canadian national anthem reflect gender neutrality. The bill suggests that the lyrics “in all thy sons command” be changed to “in all of us command.”

This gender inclusive line has been proposed to the Canadian government three times over the

last 25 years, with the most recent being in 2010. The Toronto City Council in 1990 voted 12 to seven to change “thy sons” to “us,” claiming that a word change was necessary in order to ensure that women would not feel excluded from celebrating Canadian patriotism.

I, like those across the nation, grew up singing this anthem during school assemblies, at sports matches, and every Canada Day. Our anthem is a piece of our Canadian identity and to change the wording today is simply unnecessary.

Personally, I feel our national anthem was meant to reflect traditional and historical Canadian themes; as a woman, I am perfectly fine with the original lyrics because I have been singing them

To further emphasize this point, the phrase “in all thy sons command” may reference Canadian soldiers, from when the lyric was added to the song in 1914, at the beginning of the First World

So why has the CRTC picked this fight? Because the CRTC was created out of a promise to Canadians — a promise that Canadian identity and culture would always be defended and represented. But as technologies change and megamedia outlets push through the border, we need to be ready to stand behind the CRTC. Any company that broadcasts and benefits from delivering their programs to Canadians should, in turn, contribute to our country’s broadcasting system. Netflix has, until recently, gone without competition in Canada and has therefore

made quite a profit here. Netflix, as a major TV and movie provider in Canada, should adhere to the same rules and show the same respect for the Broadcasting Act as any other Canadian broadcaster.

Much is at stake if we leave the future of broadcasting in the hands of this American corporation. Kevin Finnerty, assistant deputy minister with Ontario’s Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, reported that, in Ontario alone, 200,000 jobs are credited to “screenbased industries” which adds roughly $12 billion a year to the economy. Not to mention that Vancouver is home to ‘Hollywood North,’ a film industry that is a great stimulus for the local economy.

Allowing a creeping Americanization to take place in our broadcasting industry could potentially move jobs south and lead to a deterioration of our national identity. I encourage all of you to think about why the CRTC was created and what the future of broadcasting would look like without them. If Netflix wants to have a stake in our market, then they should adhere to our requirements and contribute to our system, and that means investing in Canadian content.

War. During this time, our Canadian soldiers were sent off to endure their greatest battles yet. To change the lyric now would dismiss a reference to a greatly important piece of our national history.

Viewing the issue from a sexist perspective, I must ask: is it really exclusionary that our anthem addresses only the nation’s “sons”? Our anthem is not about the literal meaning of each line, but about the overall message — that we live in a glorious country that we are willing to protect.

Although the lyric does not explicitly address women, their inclusion is clearly implied. In a society that stresses gender equality, the word “sons” should be recognized as a traditional term that has naturally evolved into

an all-encompassing title for the Canadian people. As a Canadian woman, I recognize and understand this, and therefore am not offended in the slightest.

A national anthem is special to every country, as it promotes feelings of cultural identity and unity.

To sing “thy sons” might seem sexist or outdated to some, but I feel that Canada’s traditional national anthem is embedded in Canadian history and identity, and isn’t just another song that we can change as time goes on. We must keep the lyrics the way they are, as a reminder of what our country means to us and what it has been through, and we must continue to stand proudly as we sing it at sports meets and Remembrance Day ceremonies.

OPINIONS

October 6, 2014

abandon our frivolous ways of life.

Perhaps I would be more inclined to listen to him if his message wasn’t delivered dripping in hypocrisy.

I love celebrities, and like most people, I’m intrigued by the insight they offer into a world that seems so glamorous. Ask me questions about Kate Middleton’s recent pregnancy news or Angelina Jolie’s wedding dress and I’ll sheepishly chime in.

However, while I might follow their advice concerning clothes or beauty regimes, I’m not a lemming.

Following a celebrity’s lead on controversial issues just because we admire their work on the big screen severely discredits our ability to think critically and participate as high functioning members of a democratic society.

When talking about celebrity advocacy on controversial issues, Jenny McCarthy is likely the first person to come to mind. McCarthy, a woman who is best known for

posing in Playboy, brought significant star power to the anti-vaccination movement. Using a debunked study and her autistic son as living proof, McCarthy mobilized an army of mommy-bloggers and the like to stop vaccinating their children.

It is no coincidence that doctors are now seeing a resurgence of infections such as measles, which we were once protected from thanks to herd immunity. It doesn’t matter that non profit advocacy

organizations such as the American Council on Science and Health have stated that “unvaccinated children are left susceptible to disease from people with endemic infectious agents.” What matters is that a woman with no education past a high school diploma is lending her precious celebrity to the movement.

On the other hand, Leonardo DiCaprio has been cavorting around on his climate change high horse and rallying us regular folks to

On a trip to the oilsands in Fort McMurray this August, DiCaprio and his crew toured around as if they were witnessing the apocalypse come to pass, condemning Canada for our environmental destruction. What he fails to mention in his climate change speeches is that his private jet, his multiple mansions, and his recent use of the world’s fifth largest yacht (borrowed from oil billionaire Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan), undoubtedly consume much more petroleum products than are consumed by the average person. So, what message is DiCaprio really trying to convey?

It seems to me that, while DiCaprio encourages us to read by candlelight and travel by horse, he cannot lower himself to the same expectations because, of course, he is a celebrity. Does anyone else feel like this is reminiscent of Marie Antoinette? While the peasants toiled away to refurbish the empty royal coffers at her and her husband’s decree, Marie Antoinette and her crew lived and spent lavishly. For DiCaprio’s sake, let’s just hope heads don’t roll.

So, if you’re planning to support a celebrity’s stance on a controversial issue, I urge you to do a little research. Yes, DiCaprio is one of my favourite actors and his role as Jack Dawson in Titanic holds a special place in my heart, but I don’t think that entitles him to my full, unwavering support.

Lend your support to the researchers and true purveyors of knowledge on controversial subjects. Do not be blinded by the celebrity aura because, at the end of the day, DiCaprio and McCarthy are enjoying champagne on their mansion balconies while you deal with the repercussions down below.

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14 OPINIONS

Despite widespread controversy, the Harper government ratified the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) with China on September 12. The agreement took effect on October 1 and, from here on out, the welfare of Canadian citizens will be disregarded in favour of the prosperity of Chinese investors.

This is not to say that foreign investors do not already influence Canadian industries; Canada has a number of other FIPA agreements, but none are comparable to this lopsided, non-reciprocal agreement made with China. By signing this contract, the Harper government has devalued our country for short-sighted economic benefit.

What’s worse is that these highly

October 6, 2014

controversial decisions were made without public consent.

The first problem with the agreement is that it locks Canada into a 31-year contact. Either party can withdraw only after the first 15 years, as long as one year’s notice is provided. However, any existing investments are preserved for another 15 years. Keep in mind that Canada’s participation in NAFTA can be terminated with six months notice.

Another horrific reality is that the contract’s parameters allow Chinese investors to challenge our provincial and municipal governments’ decisions. For example, if BC rejects or alters decisions regarding the Northern Gateway pipeline, and Chinese investors perceive these

changes to have a negative impact on their investments, they could sue Canada.

This means that Canada will have to choose between a hefty fine or the welfare of its citizens — a position the federal government has inflicted upon itself.

Canada has willingly given the reins to China in an exchange that is not mutual. Specifics of the agreement provide carve-outs, or

exceptions, that each country has outlined to protect itself. Canadian carve-outs are specific and limited to existing entities, while China’s are extremely vague. This means that Chinese foreign investors could block Canadian influence more easily at even a municipal level, which makes the agreement exceptionally beneficial to China.

The situation becomes worse. Not only has the Harper

government put foreign investors first by placing their needs above those of Canadian citizens, but the decision was made with very little debate.

The treaty was quietly tabled by the House of Commons in October 2012, where it was signed

by Stephen Harper without so much as a press release.

Unfortunately, the agreement was only subjected to a one-hour review before the trade committee.

The opinions of Parliament were completely disregarded and the vote was contained within the Cabinet. Despite widespread opposition from the public, the NDP, the Greens, and even members of his own cabinet, the Harper government decided that nobody else’s opinion had any merit or value to the decision-making process.

We get it Stephen Harper — your horrible negotiation skills, along with your complete disregard for public opinion, clearly indicate how much you care about the citizens of your own country. Next time you completely screw us over, at least have the decency to send out a press release.

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COMMUNITY PHOTOS October 6, 2014

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15

written by Max Hi l l layout by Di lara Dinc Photos by Anderson Wang Think of the average college man: what does he look like?

Is he the boozy, womanizing frat boy of films like Old School and Animal House? Is he the brazen college football star, whose ego is as artificially inflated as his GPA? Is he the nerdy shut-in, browsing 4chan and trolling feminist blogs instead of studying for his final exam? Or is he the snobby, pretentious Ivy League rich kid, silver spoon firmly implanted in his mouth?

If these seem like overgeneralizations and stereotypes, imagine how we feel. Young men in Canada and the United States, navigating the minefield between adolescence and adulthood, are in a steep and steady decline. Where their female counterparts are excelling in academics, starting clubs, and joining the workforce, men are getting lower grades, drinking more dangerously, and ignoring their studies.

have claimed that our sense of masculinity is in crisis, or that this is the end of men — and, in a way, it ought to be. But the problem here isn’t just men. It’s our cultural and social conception of what men should be.

They’re also reacting aggressively and often violently to the shifting demographics in colleges and universities across the continent. Business school students chant rape slogans at frosh events; sexual assaults are shared online and victims are blamed for attire and attitude; most recently, Carleton boys wearing “Fuck Safe Space” T-shirts have gained national attention and subsequent scorn.

Campaigns to quell the tide of sexual violence on campuses have begun shifting their focus towards men. Their argument is that, in a society that opposes rather than condones rape, we need to focus on the perpetrators, not just the victims.

These campaigns — as well as our cultural conversation around college men, and indeed all men — are on the right track. But they don’t go far enough. Telling men not to commit rape in college is a temporary bandage on a centuries-old wound that’s been festering since antiquity. Too many cultural critics

work, and express himself chiefly through violence and aggression.

As we age, the line we draw in the sand separating men from women becomes thicker and more pronounced. (As a result, those who don’t fit on either side of the binary tend to be unfairly cast out by our one-or-the-other society.) In that stressful and pivotal proving ground between boy and man is university: a series of culturally codified negotiations between scholastic achievement and party boy thrill-seeking.

This is a sales pitch. Our idea of college, borrowed from comedy flicks and breathless word-ofmouth, is culturally created, in part to woo young people into paying big money for an education they might not actually be interested in. We’ve created an image of college as one big four-year-long party, and this fantasy persists for many, despite the consequences.

It’s more complex than that: in college, we learn to negotiate social situations in a way we’ve never had to before, and issues such as consent

Long before any boy in North America even thinks about applying to a post-secondary, he’s spent years of his life being told what to do and how to act by his parents, his peers, and countless authority figures.

He’s been called a pussy, a faggot, and a queer. He’s either been taunted in locker rooms and hallways, or done the taunting himself.

He’s been threatened with social isolation and humiliation if he doesn’t live up to expectations of our society: namely, that he man up, not show any outward emotion, treat women as prizes to be won, show little interest in school-

and the politics of gender are introduced and explored, often for the first time. Our society does a woefully inadequate job of preparing men to deal with these issues in a respectful and tolerant way — boys are conditioned to react violently and carelessly to what they don’t understand, and what challenges their means of self-identification.

Masculinity is our societal default, our culture in neutral. We so rarely think of men as gendered the way we think of women, or those who exist outside the binary: so much of our society is built on our concept of masculinity, and the way it naturally intersects with values such as confidence, power, and accomplishment. It’s hard to think of a better way to describe the concept of man than as not woman, the same way women are defined as not men. Young boys are conditioned to be terrified of seeming girlish or feminine, and punished when they violate this social code: it threatens our sense of who we are.

But masculinity is a performance, like anything else. It’s made up of a complex language of codes and signifiers, all of which are taught to boys at an age too young to know any better. We don’t cry because men don’t cry. We drink because men drink. We are violent and aggressive and careless because that’s just the way boys are.

These are myths, plain and simple. There’s nothing intrinsic

from the guidelines of freemasonry and other secret societies. It’s impossible to tell the story of the university without telling the story of the fraternity — a quick look at the Fortune 500 or the list of big league politicians in the United States shows just how far the frat boy tag will take you.

Frats are generally the go-to stereotype when we think of the college man; he goes on panty raids, engages in nasty hazing rituals, and drinks enough to tranquilize a horse.

Sadly, there’s plenty of truth to the stereotype. The Atlantic reported earlier this year that over 60 people had died in the past decade as a result of fraternity-related pranks and activities. Many more have suffered serious injuries, engaged in or been victim to sexual assault or harassment, consumed dangerous amounts of alcohol or other stimulants, and ignored their studies.

The last issue is particularly prominent for first-years: multiple separate researchers have indicated a strong link between participation in a fraternity and a decline in both GPA and overall cognitive function.

Frank Harris of San Diego State University notes in an essay on college masculinities that membership in a fraternity is often seen as a measure of one’s popularity and dominance in the university setting — the only men more popular

or natural about the way we think of manliness — it’s a performance that’s been carried on and on for centuries. The cast and the stage might be different, but the script has barely changed.

than frat boys are student athletes, whose statistical connections to physical assault mirror their fraternity brethren. Both subtypes tend to be associated with violence, power, and emotional immaturity — exactly the same archetypes boys are taught from childhood on.

The drinking doesn’t help, either. The world of alcohol has long been male-dominated: beer and spirit commercials uniformly target the frat boy and his grown-up counterpart, promising bikini-clad women and the excesses of unhampered virility. Every year, more than 1,800 college students die from alcohol-related accidents — most of those involved are men, who drink more than women on average. Students most at risk for drinking problems, according to recent research at the University of Washington, are “incoming freshmen, student athletes and those involved in the Greek system [fraternities].”

Where men who fit the narrow definition of manhood in college tend to be rewarded, those who don’t are often ostracized and humiliated. The pointed backlash against men who espouse feminist or egalitarian ideals betrays just how afraid men are of losing the power they’ve inherited. “Fuck Safe Space” T-shirts can be roughly translated as: I feel threatened.

The saddest part is that this reaction is hardly a surprise.

These men have been told by authority figures their whole

Few contexts carry as many assumptions and challenges for our current definition of manhood as college. We think of it as the place where boys become men, as though it isn’t a process that spans one’s entire life. Countless friends and acquaintances, counting down the last days of high school, shared with me their lofty dreams for higher education: to go to parties, have sex, and generally raise hell.

Partly, this fantasy persists because college is historically a boys’ club. The first North American college to allow female students did so in 1833 — centuries after the first institutions opened their doors — and it took another hundred years or so until most colleges stopped categorizing women as ‘incidental students.’ Up to the 1970s, boys in Canadian colleges outnumbered women two to one.

Simon Fraser University, known for its political radicalism, introduced their first Women’s Studies course in 1971, but it took decades for other institutions to follow suit.

At the centre of the male university fantasy is the fraternity: historically all-white, all-male organizations which borrowed heavily

lives that masculinity is the ultimate ideal to live up to; that their dominance and influence

in society is earned, rather than a product of historical power dynamic; that they should react to any challenge of that dominance with aggression and violence.

Yet we’re still shocked when men push back in violent and hateful ways against an increasingly tolerant and progressive society. We, all of us, are the ones who teach them to behave this way. It’s a poisonous and circuitous system, and one that’s best fixed by going straight to the source. To change men, we need to change our definition of what men can be; we need to throw out the rulebook and start fresh.

The truth is that universities, in the grand scheme of things, have only very recently become safe spaces for anyone who isn’t white, male, cisgender, heterosexual, and wealthy. And many would argue, convincingly, that they still aren’t truly safe spaces. The number of sexual assaults on campuses in North America is staggering: in Canada, roughly 29 per cent of female college students will experience some form of sexual assault while earning their degrees. These assaults are almost uniformly perpetrated by men.

And they’re getting worse: between 2001 and 2011, instances of sexual assault on American campuses shot up by 52 per cent.

However, despite these challenges, women continue to excel in the university setting. Between 1971 and 2007, women went from making up 32 per cent to 59 per cent of college graduates in this country. Women in Canada are also much less likely to drop out of college or high school, and tend to be much more involved with extracurricular activities such as student government, clubs, or university media organizations.

Even sororities aren’t associated with the same low grades and violent statistics as their male counterparts — in fact, in secondand third-year students, sororities have been associated with positive trends in GPA and performance.

The increasing prominence of women on campus has inspired more institutions to adopt programs to benefit their needs: women’s centres have become

Some of them are even involved in our fraternity or sports teams, changing the conversation from the inside out. Across the continent, others like them are working to make college campuses safer spaces for everyone.

But most importantly, we to change the way we treat men when they are young. We need to tell boys about consent, and teach them to think of women not as adversaries or sexual goals but as people, as equals, as collaborators. We need to promote respect and tolerance and emotional expression for everyone, and not make arbitrary distinctions based on a chromosome or a different set of genitals. We need to expose our ideas of masculinity for what they really are — a fiction.

In that fiction, there are ideas to reconcile. Strength and self-assurance and confidence are all virtues, and the leadership skills we teach

commonplace, as well as LGBTQ organizations and expanded gender studies departments. The cultural conversation around campus sexual assault has been slow to build but steady, and an increasing outcry for better policies for victims has resulted in serious change at many institutions.

There’s no reason men can’t participate equally in this atmosphere of increased tolerance and understanding. Many do — our school is full of men who see themselves as allies, who support SFU as a positive learning space from those of all genders and backgrounds.

boys have helped to make some of the most remarkable human beings who’ve ever lived.

But these traits needn’t be associated with any particular gender — or person, for that matter. Once we begin teaching boys that there are no limits to who they can be and what they can achieve, we’ll start to see the change our society sorely needs.

To think men can’t change and evolve is shortsighted — we just need to give them the chance.

Want to change the world?

Want to make better, more tolerant human beings? Start them young.

18

ARTS

which the audience followed his instruction was incredible.

Fire-eaters and magicians on the street struggle to enthuse the crowd, forced to ask onlookers copious times to come closer or clap in rhythm to their stomping. Not Rich Aucoin — as soon as he directed, the audience acted.

Aucoin’s performance at Fortune Sound Club on September 16 transformed visuals into raw sound, and music into otherworldly sight. Never have I been so impressed with an artist’s ability to connect with his audience.

I honestly did not really know what to expect walking into Fortune on a Tuesday, of all nights.

When Aucoin jumped into the crowd, embraced the chaos he was swallowed into, and came out as king, I didn’t have any doubts. Here was a legend. There wasn’t a single soul in the room that wasn’t entranced by the emotions he channeled through his lyrics. Emotions that buzzed with barely contained passion on the edge of his skin echoed in the sweat drenching his entire being.

He told the crowd to form a circle around the middle of the room, and the speed with

arts editor email / phone

October 6, 2014

A girl I didn’t know pulled me into the inner circle, right in front of Aucoin, slung an arm around my shoulders, and grinned broadly at me. I grinned back. We both turned back to watch Aucoin fling himself from one edge of the circle to the opposite end, from one corner of the crowd to another.

Girls screamed; guys whooped.

Aucoin’s amazing presence could turn the quietest of mice into a screaming, flailing beast.

His infectious grin made you extend your arm to the stranger next to you and embrace them as

if they were your closest friend.

I was talking to a girl while standing in line at the entrance, and she told me she’d seen Rich Aucoin perform in Halifax before. “He brought out this huge parachute and tried to get everyone underneath it. Of course, not everyone could fit.

Although some people actually chose to stand outside of it, the neanderthals. Why would you want to miss out on the magic?”

Apparently, the parachute is a trademark of Aucoin’s performances because it descended upon us that night. Streaks of yellow and green and purple and red floated on the energy of two hundred hands, and the disco lights pressed down through the canopy like the swirling headlights of flying cars and eerie reflections of owls’ eyes.

Yes, it was exactly as crazy as it sounds. Then the roof was pulled from right over our heads and, on Zeus’ command, the disco ball sent down bolts of illumination in time to the wild, crazy music; it was an epileptic’s nightmare, but a raver’s heaven.

You just need someone as inspiring as Aucoin conducting the madness, and everything truly feels possible. Why would you want to miss out on his magic?

In the 1970s, hip hop was an underground genre beginning to emerge. It started as a form of artistic expression through urban dance parties DJed by hip hop emcees and supported by grassroots local radio and, since that time, its popularity has only grown. Fast forward to present day, and hip hop is everywhere.

Although many hip hop artists have strayed from its origins, there are still those out there who showcase hip hop’s original values of social consciousness and streetwise knowledge. And fortunately, some of these artists can be found right here in Vancouver.

Chance the Rapper (who Jordan lovingly refers to as Chaaaaance), is a modern day hip hop genius whom we both adore.

After seeing him at the Pemberton Music Festival, we could not help but notice his positive attitude which is a contrast to some of the other acts at his level. With his most recent release of “Wonderful Everyday,” a rendition of the Arthur theme song, how can anyone not love this guy?

An East Coast classic, Nas, is coming to Vancouver on October 16 for two shows at the Vogue. He will screen the documentary, Nas: Time is Illmatic, to mark the 20th anniversary of his

Tessa Perkins arts@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

unprecedented Illmatic album.

He will then perform this classic record, one of the best hip hop albums of all time, from start to finish, with some of his other hits sprinkled throughout.

Can’t afford a concert ticket?

Vancouver has a host of great hip hop clubs at your disposal.

At Five Sixty on Friday night you can enjoy three levels of turnt.

We prefer the bottom level where DJs spin hip hop orgasms and you can booty quake with the best of them. If this sounds like your cup of tea make sure that you show up early! The line outside of Five Sixty on Fridays is one anaconda you do not want to mess with.

Shine nightclub on Saturdays is another worthy venue. It has great music and a cool vibe, especially when some of the more eclectic regulars dress to impress. The red room at the back of the club is a personal favourite of ours. This sanctuary offers the chance to people watch, chat, and refuel before returning to the battle ground to dance the rest of the night away.

For the gay hip hop connoisseur who relishes the chance to unbutton the Prada and don a greasy snap-back and oversized tank (speaking purely from experience here), check out Hustla at the Cobalt. This spot proudly advertises its “Homo Hip Hop Night,” and what an event! From the dancers on stage, to drag queens strutting about, this event is a guaranteed good time for LGBTQ and LGBTQ-friendly individuals. One note: this event happens sporadically, so it is important to keep your ear to the ground (or Facebook) if you want to attend.

ARTS

October 6, 2014

19

WALRUS YES

What the hell did I just see? A walrus rendition of The Human Centipede?

A comedy? A fable? One of the scariest damn things ever!

In all my time watching movies, I can’t say that I have ever seen anything quite like this, nor have I had the ‘willies’ scared out of me this much. Tusk blends ethnographic comedy, horrifying visuals, economical characterization, and raw poignancy in a story that is simple yet tight and nearly perfect. This is far better than it has any right to be.

What makes Kevin Smith’s Tusk even odder is the story’s origin. During one instalment of his podcast, Smith and his co-host discussed a possible movie idea based on a peculiar news story they had read: a man was offering free rent so long as the tenant would dress up and act like a walrus for two hours a week.

Smith asked his audience to tweet #Walrusyes if they wanted to see him make a movie with this premise or #Walrusno if they didn’t.

On the surface, the premise seems to be inspired by the infamous midnight horror flick, The Human Centipede. Where that flick artlessly unveiled its one twisted trick, this daring beast has more snarl than just some makeup and practical effects (although these are quite haunting).

The build up allows for the natural suggestion of coming horrors in lengthy conversational scenes and brilliant transitional cuts that simultaneously draw the characters and our heebie-jeebies out.

Tusk is primarily exploitation filmmaking but, underneath all the gonzo evil, there is a message about how greed and power can erode a man’s soul and return it to its animalistic roots.

The protagonist, Wallace, is an American podcaster who travels around to interview internet

sensations in order to embarrass them and profit from their misfortune. He gets what is coming to him when, in Manitoba, he accepts the offer of a weird letter which invites anyone to stay at an old man’s house free of charge if they promise to listen to his grand stories of the past.

The ad is a ploy to draw in vulnerable travellers so that the creepy old man (Michael Parks) can surgically amputate their limbs and put them in a giant walrus suit. Meanwhile, Wallace’s girlfriend and co-host team up with a Quebecois police investigator to find him and the serial killer.

I’m sure you can imagine some of the haunting images that may never escape my mind’s eye, but even your wildest creations will fall short of the onscreen horrors. I literally shrieked at the sight. My friend had to quiet me down! The images are so haunting because they are carefully teased through close-ups and references to the old man’s profound anger.

Smith ignores squeaking doors and jump scares for a lingering dread that comes from his actors’ incredibly powerful performances and from his remarkable command over the film’s tone. Michael Parks is spectacular at holding our interest in lengthy dialogue scenes. He initially presents himself as a civil man, but because we can read Parks’ performance, we see the exaggerated chivalry in his demeanour.

Horror comedies have nearly become synonymous with parodies, but Tusk takes its concept seriously, and the humour naturally arises from the absurdity of the situations or the quirks of the characters. The way this movie makes you laugh and shake in fear simultaneously is genius. #Walrusyes to one of the best movies of the year and one of the greatest midnight horror flicks I’ve ever seen.

The self proclaimed purveyor of the “best cappuccino in town,” Joe’s is an ancient inhabitant of Commercial Drive. Opened about 40 years ago, Joe’s has remained unchanged. It’s a reminder of another time, when coffee was not just a drink you picked up on your way to work, but a social experience.

All kinds of people from the area frequent Joe’s, and anytime you go in, you can expect to have an interesting conversation with one of the patrons. It is not a cafe for sitting alone and scrawling in a notebook, but a cafe for

conversing with real people — a welcome escape in the midst of a wireless world.

As you enter Joe’s Cafe, the first thing you will notice is the prominent bull’s head mounted on the wall. The cafe’s quirky decorations combined with simple white-washed walls lend an unassuming charm to the establishment. Pool tables are available in the back, and the seating is communal. It is an easy mistake to assume that the cafe is Italian, but Joe himself is, in fact, Portuguese, which explains the Portuguese flag in the cafe.

I went to Joe’s on the recommendation of Ton (pronounced Tuh-ln), the grandfather of a friend of mine. Ton, an inquisitive, retired architect from Holland who lived through some of Europe’s darker days, fits right in at the cafe. With him as my guide, we found a table and were

almost immediately engaged in conversation by people from all walks of life.

We spoke to a polite old man in his late 80s, a couple from out of town, and a young man dressed in all Rastafarian colours. At one point, a woman (who, Ton informed me, lives on the street) offered to sell him a poem — when he didn’t have any money to give her, she gave the poem to him anyway.

I ordered a cappuccino, and while it is certainly hard to claim the best anything in a city like Vancouver, I can say that it is the best cappuccino I have had so far. The foam was perfect, and the coffee was rich and smooth.

As a former barista from a certain prevalent chain that shall remain nameless, Joe’s is a breath of fresh air for me, and an experience that every Vancouverite should have.

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Monsters of Schlock and Kinshira will not be performing on October 10-12.

20 ARTS

October 6, 2014

Set to John Cage’s Empty Words, this lengthy work featured four dancers completely in tune with each other and focused on the slightest movements. The quartet demonstrated complete trust in each other as they manipulated each other into various positions and pushed and pulled themselves into elaborate formations where they were all connected.

In the ultimate test of trust, one of the dancers stood straight up on the shoulders of another and fell backwards into the waiting arms of the other two.

With stiff, straight limbs, elaborate patterns, and many sequences of slow, deliberate movement, this choreography was fascinating to watch. There were a few contrasting sections of faster-paced movement with wonderful rhythms stomped out by the male dancers as they galloped around the stage. When

all four of them moved in fastpaced unison, their fierce determination was a powerful sight.

Split into three parts that were each developed separately over the years, the sections were book-ended by the same sequence, marking each transition.

These sequences also served as

a slight break for the dancers as they passed a large water bottle around, incorporating the water break into their movements before continuing on.

Colouring their movements was the abstract composition of John Cage. Using an infamous 1977 recording of Empty Words,

an increasingly disgruntled audience can be heard in the background as the minimalist composer calmly intones abstracted text that seems completely meaningless. Preljocaj’s choreography is an interpretation of this composition, while at the same time a juxtaposing response to it.

Teenage girls have their young adult adaptations; teenage boys have their super hero flicks; older folks, I suppose, have protagonists like Allan Karlson — a hundred year old man who flees his dreary retirement home to

regain his independence. Alan goes on a journey involving biker gangs, millions of dollars, and elephants. Along the way, the film features flashbacks to his glory days which saw him dance drunkenly with Stalin and influence the Manhattan project.

This film sends positive messages about how older people can continue to lead youthful lives even into their golden years, while also presenting a pleasant story bursting with nostalgia and well-recognised historical references. This film is The Big Lebowski meets Forrest Gump for seniors.

There aren’t enough movies like this endearing Swedish film that has already broken box-office records in Scandinavia. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared is a playful mess of a film, bursting with storytelling tangents, absurd contrivances, and ridiculous exaggerations; it’s like a tall tale told by an old man who is disenchanted with the blandness of living in a retirement home. It is all over the place, but that is the fun of it. 100-Year-Old Man’s main flaw is also its greatest pleasure.

For all the crowd pleasing ingredients mixed into the batch,

there is a surprising amount of dark humour that often changes the colour of the mix.

Yet none of this comes off as offensive because each character in the film does the best they can in the situation they are in.

No one in the film is a villain, everyone is in a tough position, which sometimes leads to ridiculous ends and humorous pain.

There is one gut-busting scene in the movie where Alan and another old man are being threatened by a biker who is trying to get $50 million back from the old man. The biker will be killed if he can’t return

It is interesting to see the way a string of unconnected words, or even simple sounds, can still carry meaning for us. Similarly, the often stilted, precise movement of these dancers carries a great deal of meaning even though it is not fluid. Some would say the Cage recording is not music, just as some would say many contemporary dance works are not dance.

Preljocaj explained it well: “The notion of the alienation effect, of the disintegration of the movement and of a new manner of choreographic phrasing, takes precedence over meaning and essence. Through these means this dance work connects with the text

by Henry David Thoreau which was John Cage’s starting point, and attempts to reach the unflappable pugnacity of the mastermind behind that evening [in 1977].”

Empty moves (part I) premiered in 2004 and (part II) was added in 2007. The full work consisting of all three parts premiered in June 2014 at the Montpellier Dance Festival. There is a fourth part to Cage’s recording, and Preljocaj intends to add the final instalment in the coming years.

For more information about The Dance Centre’s Global Dance Connections Series, visit thedancecentre.ca.

the money to its rightful owner, so he threatens the old man and his friend. The two seniors knock the biker out and throw him in a deep freezer, but they forget to shut it off because they probably have some form of dementia, and the poor guy freezes to death.

There is nothing deep or intellectual about this absurd film.

It boils down reality and historical events to playful gags. It elevates those trapped to a place where they can forget about their current state through nostalgia for the past and optimism for the future.

ARTS

On October 16, Emerge, a collaborative work by some of SFU’s most talented writing students, will debut. Emerge is an anthology written by participants of The Writer’s Studio, a program at SFU focused entirely on book production.

Guest editor Daniela Ezla will open the launch event at Harbour Centre, during which contributors will perform readings of their works.

Current student and contributor to Emerge, Cormac O’Reilly, describes the process of creating and publishing the anthology. SFU students in the four different cohorts of The Writer’s Studio — poetry, speculative genre fiction, creative non-fiction, and literary fiction — collaborated on this anthology, explains O’Reilly. These students spent the year receiving feedback from both peers and mentors, culminating in their final project, Emerge.

Emerge is the name of the anthology and the class, the class being an elective offered through The Writer’s Studio program. This semester, 17 students took the course, learning to produce and write books. O’Reilly aptly sums up the program as a class that teaches students how to publish a book.

An anthology is released each year by The Writer’s Studio class and usually contains short stories and poetry. For O’Reilly, the process of putting the whole thing together has provided him with “a deeper appreciation of other genres” and allowed him to “learn about different types of writing.”

The Writers Studio is a part-time program based on Iowa Young Writers’ Studio,

October 6, 2014

says O’Reilly. This program guides students through the process of self publishing, as being published by a third party is extremely difficult.

O’Reilly explains that students “learn more about the publishing process,” eventually leading to the publication of their original works in the anthology. He continues, “Emerge, the course, is a good way to find out how things get to print. There’s a story to how the stories come out.”

The process is especially exciting for the students, says O’Reilly, as for many, it is their “first chance to be published, first time to be heard.” The anthology has an open theme, with an emphasis on helping to establish “emerging new voices.” O’Reilly says that the “payoff is both the process, and the end result” noting that, by working with his classmates on the project, it “becomes more of a collaboration.”

In the speculative genre fiction cohort, O’Reilly describes his work as “everything else that doesn’t fit into literary fiction.”

Members of his cohort write historical fiction, science fiction, and fantasy. “I’ve tried dystopian fiction this year,” he says.

In the anthology, O’Reilly’s contribution is entitled “Valentine’s Day Dinner.” He wrote this piece two years ago and has recently revised it. “[It’s] about a scene that unfolds in a restaurant on Valentine’s Day [. . .] it’s supposed to be dramatic,” he explains.

O’Reilly describes the Emerge launch event as the “first chance to share [the Writer’s Studio] experience with others.” He explains that “The Writer’s Studio is designed for people who don’t have time to write” in their everyday lives. He adds, “A lot of us are working other jobs.

[Emerge] establishes that hobbies can be more than just a hobby. For some people, maybe myself included [. . .] the idea of seeing something you’ve created in print form is an extremely powerful experience.”

CJSF has been around as long as SFU, but they just celebrated their 11th anniversary at 90.1 on the FM dial on September 26 at the Astoria Pub. A promising night of indie music and the chance to support SFU’s very own radio team — how could I resist?

It beat watching Gossip Girl reruns on a Friday night.

I brought a friend to the party with me, and she was a little spooked by the venue’s neighbourhood. The Astoria Pub proudly advertises its name in great big neon lights hanging grandly off the front of the building, illuminating the entrance in an eerie red glow. A couple of party-goers were huddled around the entrance, smoking and chatting.

We left cold, litter-ridden East Hastings Street and were swallowed up by the dim, seedy-looking bar, where we were greeted enthusiastically by members of the CJSF team. They certainly seemed excited to be there. Even though my friend and I had gotten there about an hour and a half after the official start time, the pub was still pretty dead. Apparently, fashionably late was the style everyone was going for.

Immediately, I was smitten with the ambience. The shabbiness of it all, and the fact that it felt like there was a layer of grime over every surface, only enhanced the character of the place. The walls were lined with Pac-Man and pinball machines, reminding me of the good ol’ pee-scented Movieland Arcade over on Granville, which tugged at my heartstrings.

Pockets of people were milling around, some at the bar ordering drinks, others by the pool table, taking half-hearted shots and laughing with friends, and some were chatting quietly at tables or hanging around the raffle prize table.

The party featured six local bands. Defektors, Skinny Kids, Soft Serve, Sleuth, Thee Ahs and

21

Hermetic all have a solid presence in the Vancouver indie music scene and CJSF supports them by regularly playing their songs on its programs. I’d neither heard them nor heard of them before that night, but from the sound of it, this group of bands has quite the following.

The bands performed with heart, but some of them were so loud I could barely hear myself think, let alone hear what the guy asking me to buy raffle tickets was saying. Don’t get me wrong, I like alternative rock and heavy metal as much as the next guy, but some of the music being performed was meant for a loud crowd, people screaming in a mosh pit, with energy radiating right back to the passionate performers. The crowd that night was just a different kind of crowd, more introspective and quiet. In the end, it was great exposure to some of the bands Vancouver has to offer.

The party was a celebration of CJSF’s successful first 11 years on the FM dial, and also a thank you to the dedicated employees and volunteers who put music and programs on the air, without whom CJSF’s success would not be possible.

22 ARTS

October 6, 2014

Canadian singer, graphic artist, and activist, Kinnie Star, released her newest album, From Far Away, on September 30. Over the past two decades, Kinnie has shaped a rewarding career that revolves around her many passions. Her new album reflects these; it’s a fusion of rap, poetry, folk music, and lyrics about the earth, our technological dependency, and the growing issues surrounding our global water supply.

Kinnie, a former graffiti and stencil artist, got her start in

music after volunteering at a local event — she simply asked for a chance to perform, which led to some great connections and opportunities she could’ve never imagined.

Since then, her style has stayed true to who she is as an artist, unwavering in the face of pop music that tends to promote homogeneous ideals. Social change and environmental rights are top priorities to Kinnie, both in her life and in her music.

For her, the integral role of technology in so many aspects our lives leads to a sickness of disconnection — a sickness that she acknowledges she isn’t above. A strong believer that people need to get outside more and rely on technology less, Kinnie says that her favourite song on the upcoming album is “Summer Day.” She describes it as a song about “being young in a time before people were stuck on

computers and cell phones,” saying, “it’s a song about the good times before we were robots.”

The environment has always been a priority in Kinnie’s life, and she hopes those who listen to her music take away some newfound respect for nature.

She urges people to become more informed in regards to the environmental issues that surround them, through “studying, reading, and learning.” She says, “[people should] learn about aquifers, learn about underground water, the names

of the rivers and lakes. Watch the salmon spawn, and look at the mushrooms.” According to Kinnie, the study of all of these things can “open your mind.”

We just need to pay attention to these often overlooked pieces of the world around us.

Kinnie hopes that listeners of the album will also take away the idea that they should feel free to think for themselves, and that they shouldn’t hesitate to question authority. She proudly states, “I do music to facilitate social change.”

This fall, Kinnie will take her new music out on a crossCanada headlining tour. She will also join David Suzuki on his Blue Dot Tour for two select dates in Victoria and Ottawa.

She expressed that she is excited and honoured to join so many other environmental activists, and people who wish to create lasting and positive change.

V I F F A T S F U FREE VIFF SCREENINGS AT SFU BURNABY & SFU SURREY SFU B U R NA B Y : O C T 1 & 2 , S F U S U RREY: OC T 8 & 10 See sfuwoodwards.ca for full screening details & trailers!

FILMS IN BURNABY ARE AT SFU THEATRE, FILMS IN SURREY ARE IN THE WESTMINSTER SAVINGS CINEMA

CO-PRESENTED BY SFU WOODWARD’S CULTURAL PROGRAMS AND THE VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL. SUPPORTED BY SFU THEATRE, SFU SURREY, & CJSF 90.1, SFU’S COMMUNITY RADIO.

SPORTS

sports editor email / phone

October 6, 2014

Austin Cozicar sports@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

23

Now entering his second year with the Clan, Ryan Stanford has finally found a home.

A star quarterback on his high school team, the Horizon Huskies, Stanford initially chose to play for the North Dakota State Bison, an NCAA Division I FCS team. During his time there, the team won the first of its three national championships.

However, he was fourth on the quarterback depth chart, and did not see much playing time his freshman year; the team’s contender status made it unlikely that he would see any playing time in the near future.

So, in a bold move, he packed his bags and returned home where he played for Phoenix College, with the hope that another four-year football program would find him.

Luckily, the gamble paid off when then-SFU head coach Dave Johnson recruited him for the Clan’s 2013 season. And after a tough battle at training camp, he finally snagged his

much coveted starting quarterback position.

He stresses, though, that his goals revolve around the team’s success, not individual glory: “I think, as a quarterback, the goal is always to put the team in the best possible chance to win. I’m not really concerned about personal statistics or anything like that. I want to be able to turn this program around, get some wins, some conference wins, and be competitive for years to come.

“Hopefully, [we can] change the culture of what people think about SFU football and take it to the next step,” he added.

Stanford hopes to help drive that culture shift within the team as well. “When I first got here [we had] this culture of accepting mediocrity and losing. We’re trying to change that. We want

to be able to excel and succeed, be the best at what we do, so it starts one practice at a time. It’s not going to happen overnight, but I think we’re heading in the right direction.”

At the end of the day, what really matters is how the team plays on the field, and Stanford believes that this too is heading in the right direction towards contender status: “I think that the record doesn’t show it, but we’re really close and it’s frustrating and promising at the same time because we have the people to do it, but [we’re] just a little bit of confidence away from doing it.”

While the frustration of being close, but not putting up results can often lead to an even deeper hole, Stanford does his best to keep his head up. “It can [hurt],” he says. “I try not to show it. I think that each game we’ve gotten better at believing that we can achieve our goals, but it gets frustrating. It’s something that we have to overcome and will overcome.”

Despite going winless so far in their non-conference games, he still believes that the team can contend with anyone in the Great Northwest Athletic

Conference (GNAC): “Going into every game, I felt we’ve been able to be in a position to win. Of course that’s probably biased from someone who’s on the team, but I don’t think we faced a team, and probably won’t, that is that much better than us.

“I think we’ve made mistakes and that’s what’s hurt us the most but [. . .] conference play starts this week, so all our goals that we set in the beginning of the year can still be accomplished,” said the 6’3 quarterback. “We haven’t given up on those goals yet, so we can still go

out there, win the conference, and go from there.

“I do [believe winning the conference is possible]. If not this year, then this team will be a pivoting point for future teams and we’ll get it done sooner rather than later,” Stanford added.

At Swangard Stadium, home crowds provide the Clan with even more motivation to move in the right direction. But an away crowd motivates the QB as well.

“For me, I like playing away.

I like being able to just go out there and disappoint those other [team’s fans]. I feed off both energies, positive and negative, and it motivates you to either quiet them down or make our own fans louder,” he concluded.

As conference games begin, Stanford will have to channel both the positive and negative energies, and the highs and lows, as he is expected to lead his team to success.

He’s been preparing for a long time, and now it’s his time to shine.

24 SPORTS

In the fifth issue of The Peak, published on September 29, writer Nick Bondi argued that the NHL should sell ad space on their jerseys. His argument essentially boiled down to the fact that “it’s inevitable” (his words) and would “make a hell of a lot of money” (my words).

While I don’t necessarily disagree with either of these claims, I believe that desecrating sports’ most beautiful uniforms for the sake of corporate dollars would be an absolute travesty and isn’t something fans should just take lying down.

The NHL has already allowed advertisers into almost every facet of the game.Whether you’re at the arena or you stay home, you can’t escape an onslaught of promotions for McDonald’s, Budweiser, and other key components to a healthy lifestyle.

The jerseys, however, are still relatively untouched and pure, a remaining symbol of what sports were about before commercialization. Sure, they have the word “Reebok” stitched on the back but, other than that, a jersey still embodies a team and a city instead of any company.

October 6, 2014

If I wear a Canucks jersey, I’m only advertising for the Canucks and the city of Vancouver, something I can be proud of (most of the time). To me, that’s all a jersey should be communicating: the history and culture of the team, and the city in which they play.

As soon as you add corporate branding to the uniforms, it ceases to be that simple.

There may be a similar storied rivalry between Pizza Hut and Domino’s as there is between the Montreal Canadiens and the Boston Bruins, but those fights should be held in different venues.

Unlike board ads or TV commercials, jerseys are for the fans

on a chance to shoot to the top of the league.

For the season opening series, the men’s hockey team hit the road, travelling to face the Eastern Washington University Eagles (EWU) in back to back games. The Clan were able to achieve a win on Friday night, but not on Saturday, losing out

In Friday night’s game, the Clan got off to an early start, as Jesse Mysiorek and Jono Ceci made it 2-0 on a powerplay.

However, the Eagles scored at

to have and to hold. They’re the last vestige of unspoiled team pride and need to stay that way.

Authentic NHL jerseys already cost upwards of $300, and I don’t want to pay anything close to that to be a walking billboard for whichever company pays for the real estate on my favourite NHL team’s upper chest.

the 7:07 mark of the first to cut the lead down to only one.

The second period was marked by a goal from Jesse Williamson, while the third period featured a goal from Nick Sandor, and a clean period of play with no penalties to either team. Jono Ceci was named the first star of the game, with a goal and two assists. The final score was 4-1 SFU. Saturday night’s game was a different story entirely. This time, it was the Eastern Washington Eagles who got off to a quick 2-0 lead. The Clan managed to get to within one with a goal from Jared Eng, but the Eagles scored on a powerplay a

As Bondi states in his article, the main reason that the NHL is opposed to instituting ads right now is that they don’t want to be the first of the big four leagues to do it. This essentially means they’re going to wait until about five years after the NBA does it, seeing as that’s how long commissioner Adam Silver believes his league will hold out on them.

If the NHL wants to keep any integrity, though, they will do whatever they can to not follow in the footsteps of a league that actually refers to a last-second shot, on their official website, as a “Taco Bell buzzer-beater.”

I understand that professional sports are part of the

few minutes later to restore the two goal lead.

Nick Sandor made it 3-2 in the second period, but due to a lack of Clan discipline, the Eagles were given a powerplay opportunity which they did not squander, bringing the score to 4-2.

The third period ended in a flurry of penalties. SFU’s Jesse Mysiorek and Tanner Hawes of Eastern Washington were both given 12 minutes in penalties: 10 minutes for game misconduct and two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Eagles added an empty net goal after the fact to make the final score 5-2 Eastern Washington.

entertainment business and that, above all else, the NHL exists to make money, but I hope they at least try to keep that aim subtle. Having ads right on players’ jerseys crosses a line — nothing would be sacred anymore and the league would lose all my respect.

It’s like product placement in movies. I don’t love when a character in a movie is clearly drinking a Pepsi, but I’ll sit through the movie, nonetheless. If they stick King Kong in a giant Pepsi sweater, though, I’m walking out.

I really hope the NHL can maintain some integrity, not ruin their jerseys, and keep that 6,000lb Pepsi-sweater-wearing monkey in it’s cage where it belongs.

Head Coach Mark Coletta, was pleased with how the team played over the weekend, however. “I thought we played really well,” he told The Peak in a phone interview. “We deserved to win both [games]. We just couldn’t score in the second game.”

Going forward, Coletta said, “We know we have a strong lineup. We can’t take games for granted like we did Saturday, we have to go into every game with the right mindset.”

The men’s hockey team will open at home on Friday, October 10 at Bill Copeland Sports Complex against Selkirk College.

SPORTS

The SFU men’s soccer team got back to its winning ways on the road Thursday, with a decisive 4-0 result against the Saint Martin’s University Saints (SMU). With that, the Clan snapped a four match winless run and achieved their first victory in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC).

It was a fantastic response to a frustrating setback last weekend against the Northwest Nazarene Crusaders, who handed the Clan their first loss at home this season with a goal in the dying minutes of overtime play.

October 6, 2014

in attack, who then provided the assist for Jovan Blagojevic’s go-ahead goal.

Dhillon would contribute further, less than 10 minutes later, with his third goal of the season thanks to a pass from Nico Espinoza. Blagojevic found the back of the net just three minutes later, taking his tally to eight goals as top scorer in the GNAC. Espinoza, who started for SFU for the first time, made his presence felt tremendously by grabbing the Clan’s fourth goal of the match, as Blagojevic found him open to tap in the ball from the middle of the box.

“Nico’s first start was fantastic,” said Koch. “We expected a lot from him and he exceeded those expectations, he’s a great distributor of the ball and spread play throughout the entire pitch.”

Defensively, the Clan were also top notch, allowing just two shots on target in the match and achieving their first clean sheet of the season.

The men will have to turn this momentum into more wins, in order to make the post-season, in what is turning out to be a highly competitive season in the GNAC.

SFU quickly shook off their disappointment and brought their A-game to Lacey, WA, much to the satisfaction of head coach Alan Koch.

“I’m very happy with how they played; they came here very prepared and put in a great performance,” Koch told The Peak .

“The guys have had a reality check the last few games and been humbled a bit, but today you could see the hunger in them and the willingness to play for each other,” he added.

Sticking with their trademark style of play this season, the Clan started the match guns a-blazing with three goals in the opening 20 minutes. Magnus Kristensen linked up with Ryan Dhillon

The Clan went head-to-head with a giant and lost on Thursday night, as they fell in four sets to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) leader, the Northwest Nazarene Crusaders (NNU).

Despite strong performances at home by key players including Madeline Hait, Kelsey Robinson and Amanda Renkema, SFU was unable to contain the Crusaders, who continued their domination of the conference, pushing their winning streak to 12 games.

Down 24-21 at the end of a back-and-forth first set, SFU took a tactical timeout but unfortunately, not even the jazz band’s rendition of “Eye of the Tiger” could inspire them to claw their way back. NNU won the set after the next serve with a key block on a Clan attack by outside hitter Devon May. SFU continued their strong play into the second set and managed to squeak out a 25-23 victory, finishing up with two straight kills from Kelsey Robinson.

“I think we showed a lot of composure at the beginning,” middle blocker Madeline Hait told The Peak. “It’s tough today because it’s a close game but I’m so proud of how my team played and everyone really came together.”

Hait, who was recently named the GNAC defensive

player of the week, led the Clan offensively with 16 kills.

Unfortunately, the Clan could not maintain their solid play in the third set and decisively lost 25-13, notching only seven kills in the set.

This killed the mood of a home crowd who had been treated to two sets of competitive volleyball, and a highly entertaining blindfolded volleyball contest during the intermission.

However, SFU returned to form, regaining the crowd’s support with a strong performance in the fourth set, featuring many rallies that could have gone to either side. In the end, though, they fell just short 25-21.

NNU’s Elayna Rice, who was named last week’s GNAC offensive player of the week, continued to shine by leading her team with 14 kills and, ultimately, got the best of the Clan.

“She was one of the key hitters and I definitely think that she’s a really good all-around player,”

25

Hait said of Rice. “Something we can improve on is shutting down key hitters.”

The Clan will look to bounce back from this loss and already have their eyes set on Saturday’s tilt against Central Washington.

Head coach Gina Schmidt likened the challenge to the one they just faced and said that she is “expecting another good game, just like this one.”

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26 SPORTS

October 6, 2014

Defensive linebacker Quinn Horton attributed the loss to a lack of urgency, saying, “We can’t rely on someone else to make a big play, we’ve got to go out and make a big play ourselves.”

He noted that, despite the lopsided score, the team had pockets of solid play, particularly for the last 12:44 of the fourth quarter during which CWU scored no points and SFU picked up 46 yards.

“At times our defence would shut down their run, and our offence could move the ball.

When we wanted stuff, we could do it, but by the time we wanted to do it, it was too late,” added Horton.

With this game, the Clan drop to 0-4 for the season. However, as these games do not count toward GNAC standings, they have essentially been exhibition games.

SFSS TRIP TO THE BORDER

At the first ever Battle for the Border, the Clan continued their pattern of horrendous starts. Unfortunately, this time they did not play a redemptive second half.

The Battle for the Border was played against SFU’s closest conference rival, the Central Washington Wildcats (CWU), in a ‘neutral’ location in between the two universities, in Bothell, WA). Despite the fact that they are both in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC), the game did not count toward conference standings.

Just after the third minute of gameplay at Pop Keeney Stadium, the Clan were already down a touchdown. A 56-yard pass caught by Wildcat wide receiver Greg Logan meant CWU only had to go three yards to put up the first points on the scoreboard.

This was only the beginning of SFU’s woes. After only five minutes had passed, CWU scored two more touchdowns.

On both of the seven-pointers, the Wildcat defence prevented the Clan from achieving a first down, notably blocking their punt attempts to run them in for touchdowns both times.

After dropping 21 points, SFU was finally able to stop the bleeding — though only for the rest of the first quarter.

In this period of calm, the Clan were able to put up their first — and only — points of the game, off of a 26-yard pass from quarterback Ryan Stanford to

wide receiver Bobby Pospischil, who led the team with 48 receiving yards.

However, only 1:38 into the second quarter, CWU scored again taking the score to 28-7, incited by another catch by CWU’s Logan, this time for 41 yards.

For the rest of the second quarter, SFU only allowed one more touchdown, and aside from being unable to produce any results offensively, they played a relatively tight defensive quarter. The bottom would not truly fall out until the second half.

When the bottom did fall, though, it fell hard. Up until CWU’s seventh touchdown, SFU could have still fought for a comeback.

However, with 9:43 left in the quarter, that chance evaporated, as CWU took a commanding 42-7 lead.

Before the game was over, CWU had scored three more touchdowns, winning 63-7. Stanford, who was sacked three times and threw two interceptions, was pulled from the massacre, giving second-string quarterback Tyler Nickel a chance to play. Nickel completed eight out of 17 passes — not a bad showing.

For the inaugural Battle for the Border, the SFSS took a bus of SFU students to Bothell, WA to watch the game.

At-large representative Jeremy Pearce previously told The Peak that he wanted to expose SFU to an American NCAA game, where university football is ingrained into the culture, saying, “I want students to experience that atmosphere and then eventually I’d love that atmosphere to carry over up here [at SFU].”

Although the number of students in attendance was smaller than the SFSS had anticipated, causing them to cancel an intended second bus that would have left from the Surrey campus, those who did go seemed to enjoy the experience.

Michiko Araki, a business student and former member of the women’s wrestling team, told The Peak, “I was kind of hoping [the Clan] would do better but it was cool that they had people bus down here for the event.”

Pearce hopes that this will be the first of many such events: “Based on everybody’s responses, hopefully this is something we can build on.”

The Clan cross-country teams competed in the Stanford Invitational on Saturday, October 66 in Palo Alto, CA. The men’s team placed third in their respective class, while the women placed second behind Chico State. Rebecca Bassett finished fourth among non-Division I competitors to lead the women’s team, while freshman Marc-Antoine Rouleau led the men’s team.

The SFU women’s soccer team lost a tight game in overtime to the Western Washington Vikings Thursday night. The Clan were able to hang in for a scoreless 95 minutes before the Vikings put one past freshman goalkeeper Priya Sandhu, who made seven saves in an otherwise perfect night. With the loss — their first GNAC loss — they are now 2-1 in conference play.

Over the weekend, the SFU’s men’s golf team competed in the Golfweek Division II Fall Invitational held at the Crosswater Golf Course in Sunrise, OR. Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) rivals Western Washington and Saint Martin’s also played.

Clan athletes Chris Crisologo, Rebecca Bassett, and Madeline Hait were named GNAC athletes of the week for the week of October 62-28. Crisologo is a member of the men’s golf team while Hait plays on the volleyball team. Bassett received her award for her performance at the Stanford Invitational.

A fundraiser was held at the Academic Public House on Sunday for former SFU football captain and 1996 Calgary Stampeders draft pick, David Lane, who was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. The money will be used to help Lane seek treatment options outside of Canada.

SPORTS

The Canucks have an interesting problem, and for once, it does not have to do with a lack of prospects. In fact, it’s the opposite: too many prospects and too little room. Specifically, I’m talking about Bo Horvat and the difficulty he presents.

Frankly, the AHL is the proper place for Horvat. He wouldn’t be pressured to be NHL-ready too fast, and he would become accustomed to playing in a professional league against men not boys, if you’ll pardon the expression.

However, there is a rule that prevents players aged 20 and under from going to the minor leagues unless they have already played four years in the junior leagues (CHL).

Now, the Canucks have to decide whether they want to bring Horvat up to the big leagues — where he would most likely play fourth-line minutes as he may not yet be NHL ready — or to send him back to juniors to essentially waste a year.

Horvat is the only prospect who is really stuck in this situation. The Canucks may be full on paper, but the other prospects

October 6, 2014

who might be ready to contend for a spot on the team — such as Hunter Shinkaruk or Brendan Gaunce — have played four years in junior, and can go down to the AHL, where they can be called up at any time.

It also looks as though Horvat will shape up to be a possible shutdown forward, not necessarily lacking an offensive edge, but certainly showing more potential in his defensive game, which doesn’t necessarily help his position.

Typically, players who are more defence-oriented require some time in the AHL. To be fair, all players could use AHL time, but it’s usually the high scoring — or potentially high scoring — firstrounders who make the NHL right out juniors, not the defence-first potential future Selke winners.

In what doesn’t seem to be a very controversial opinion, I think that the ruling preventing junioreligible players from playing in the AHL should be thrown out.

Perhaps the rule helps the CHL retain players, as opposed to watching them bolt when drafted.

Or maybe it is meant to protect the players from being sent to the big leagues before they are ready.

But at the end of the day, we’re talking about player development. Oftentimes, a draft bust, or a player not reaching their full potential, can be attributed to rushing that player out of the juniors, straight into the NHL. The rule, as it stands, forces teams to make a hard decision: either rush the player into the NHL, or leave him in the juniors to waste a crucial developmental year. Playing in the AHL would be a much better option in this case.

Luckily, the situation isn’t that dramatic this time around.

Horvat can still play nine games in the NHL before his entrylevel contract kicks in — he could still be returned to the juniors after getting a taste of the big leagues with no consequence (which seems like the likely outcome).

But there should be another choice. If the rule is in place to protect players, then it defeats its own purpose, forcing players to either develop too quickly or stall completely. If the rule is to protect the CHL, it could be adjusted to allow only first round picks to play in the AHL (players most likely to have outgrown the junior level). A change such as this could lead to fewer draft busts and a few more players reaching their full potential.

It was a thrilling match day in the Champions League last Tuesday.

There were a total of eight games, and a total of 20 goals were scored between them, an average of two and a half goals per game.

With an early start time — 9:00 a.m. here on the West Coast — Bayern Munich defeated CSKA Moscow one-nil. Thomas Muller scored the only goal of the game off of a penalty kick drawn by Mario Gotze, who was taken down from behind in the box after trying to dribble around a couple of defenders. Bayern dominated in possession, holding onto the ball for 73 per cent of the match. They are now in control of group E, with two wins in two matches so far in Europe.

The big match of the day was Paris St Germain (PSG) vs. Barcelona, the Group F matchup.

The Parisians got the first goal, a left-footed shot by David Luiz from about 10 yards out. Barcelona responded just two minutes later with a beautiful goal, finished off by a strong left-footed strike from Lionel Messi, his 68th Champions League goal.

Marco Veratti gave PSG a 2-1 lead in the 26th minute — a header off a corner. Blaise Matuidi scored in the second half to put PSG up by two, but once again, Barcelona responded two minutes later with an excellent first time finish by Neymar, to cut the lead down to one. That’s as close as Barcelona would come,

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however, and the final score was 3-2 for PSG. This result leaves the group wide open, as both PSG, Barcelona, and to a lesser extent, Ajax, all now have a chance to take the top spot.

In another group E match, Manchester City took on Roma.

The first goal of the game went to Man City as Sergio Aguero was pulled down in the box in the fourth minute, and calmly buried the ensuing penalty kick.

In the 23rd minute, Francesco Totti scored a wonderful chip shot to tie the game. With that goal, he became the oldest goalscorer in Champions League history, breaking the previous record set by Ryan Giggs. The game eventually ended in a 1-1 draw. Man City have made things hard on themselves with this draw — with only one point from their first two games, they’re going to need some wins in the near future if they want to progress.

Chelsea took on Sporting Lisbon in a group G clash. The only goal of the match was scored by Nemanja Matic, a header off of a free kick in the 34th minute. It was quite the even match, as both teams had 15 attempts on goal and the possession was almost split down the middle. Now with four points, Chelsea looks to be in control of the group.

In the other matches, Shaktar drew with Porto 2-2, Schalke 04 drew with Maribor 1-1, BATE beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1, and Ajax drew with Apoel Nicosia 1-1.

28 DIVERSIONS / ETC

October 6, 2014

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Across 1- Charity 5- Luau greeting 10- Milk source 14- Linebacker Junior 15- Squelch 16- Wheel shaft 17- Abducting 19- River sediment 20- Paces 21- Landlord 23- Agreeableness of sound 26- Priest’s square cap 27- Visions 28- Fluent 29- Like beaches 30- Atari founder Bushnell 31- Code-breaking org.

34- Gen. Robert ___ 35- Philosopher Kierkegaard 36- Goblet part 37- D-Day craft 38- Arranges in groups 39- Goatlike antelope 40- Reject LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

42- The land of promise 43- Salt of oxalic acid 45- Ape 46- Eye membrane 47- Thai breed of cat 48- Monogram ltr.

49- Type of cheese 54- ___ kleine Nachtmusik 55- Aspirations 56- Sweater letter 57- Falls behind 58- Omit in pronunciation 59- Other name for taro Down 1- Pop the question 2- Wreath of flowers 3- Deranged

4- Parasol 5- Quaking trees 6- Having prominent lips 7- Elevator man 8- Sweetie 9- Church of England member 10- Pendent ornament 11- Pertaining to existence 12- Ration out 13- Aquarium fish 18- Mote 22- “___ Brockovich” 23- Ford flop 24- Russian range 25- Discerning 26- Bundles 28- Specialty 30- Like Thor

32- George of “Just Shoot Me” 33- Appliance brand 35- Narrow braid 36- Free from dirt 38- Read quickly 39- Mother of Isaac 41- In groups 42- Stiff 43- Bay window 44- Ohio city 45- Pierced with horns 47- Foreign Legion cap 50- “You’ve got mail” co.

51- Was ahead 52- Old Ford 53- Center Ming

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HUMOUR

A poll by an independently-run UK group, conducted in the wake of the failed Scottish referendum, indicates that most registered voters opted against separation from the United Kingdom because of Mel Gibson’s supposed connection to Scottish independence.

The poll, conducted by nonpartisan group UK Statistics Authority, sought to compile and examine reasons behind the referendum’s surprising outcome. With a relatively high voter turnout of 84.6 per cent, 55.3 per cent voted against separation; of those in favour of staying a part of the United Kingdom, 61 per cent reported that their primary reason for voting “no” was the belief that Mel Gibson is somehow behind the Scottish independence movement.

humour editor email / phone

October 6, 2014

Jacey Gibb humour@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

paired with what Scottish independence actually means.”

While Braveheart coincided with the height of Gibson’s popularity, the actor’s reputation has staggered in recent years, with repeated arrests for drunk driving, accusations of homophobia by numerous LGBTQ organizations, and the 1998 action-comedy Lethal Weapon 4. As a result, Scottish dreams of independence and many Scottish National Party (SNP) supporters find themselves in Gibson’s long shadow.

“The fact that Braveheart holds a large sway over people’s ideas of what Scottish independence means can no longer be ignored,” said University of Dundee statistics professor Malcolm MacDuff, after digesting the poll’s findings. “I mean, it’s absolutely ludicrous that people still associate Mel Gibson with a role that’s almost 20 years old, but what are you going to do about it?”

Arguably Gibson’s most famous role, Braveheart found the actor portraying the iconic Sir

William Wallace in his struggle for Scottish independence — the film is also widely regarded as the only film where Gibson’s radical traditionalist Catholic views aren’t overtly promoted.

“The number of Braveheart reruns on TV are so powerful that we now have conclusive proof that many ill-informed individuals actually believe Mel Gibson holds some form of leadership role within Scotland; his own personal beliefs are being mistakenly

Ewan Stuart, a member of the SNP, said the poll’s results weren’t surprising but that the population should be better informed about current political figures, as well as Gibson’s later, more underrated films.

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“That piece of shite makes all of us look like a bunch of boozy, anti-Semites and we simply aren’t,” fumed Stuart, “and I think we can all agree that Braveheart wasn’t his last great film. What about Signs? I’m sure no one’s walking around thinking Gibson’s actually a retired priest who’s struggling to keep his family together during an alien invasion.

At least, I hope not.

“For god’s sake, the man is an actor, not the bloody First Minister of Scotland! Come on, people.

Pick up a newspaper. At least read a Wikipedia article or something!”

In response to the poll’s findings, Stuart has begun advocating for a moratorium on Braveheart re-runs until Gibson is no longer viewed as an important political figure or until people stop parodying the famous William Wallace speech on Youtube — whichever comes first.

“We need to ban re-runs of Braveheart until the damage has been reversed. Or at the very least, make a reboot starring someone likeable and Scottish like Ewan McGregor.”

30 HUMOUR

October 6, 2014

“All of those times you falsely accused someone of taking your lighter or yelled at a sibling for losing the remote again. We never could have suspected this is where it was all going.”

A study released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has revealed what some environmentalists had already feared most: up to 90 per cent of the Great Pacific garbage patch is comprised of crap you’ve continued to lose or misplace over the years.

Widely recognized as the accumulation and literal manifestation of consumerism — particularly non-decomposable plastics and other side effects of a disposable consumer mindset — samples of the garbage patch indicate high levels of mismatched socks, Bic lighters, hair ties, iPod cords, and scrap pieces of paper with that cutie from the bar’s phone number on it.

“It’s troubling, to say the least,” UNEP specialist Kenny Wilkins told press following the announcement.

The ballpoint pen and phone charger cesspool is located in the Pacific Ocean, between Asia and North America, and was first discovered back in 1997. Though the mass’ exact size has been difficult to estimate — with reports typically falling between the size of Texas to as big as the United States — scientists warn that it grows larger every day, “because you lost your keys again.”

“I doubt many would argue we’re facing one of the biggest environmental crises of our generation,” Wilkins continued. “It’s easy to lose track of an old shirt or your drunk friend Tiffany while outside of the club on a Friday night, but people need to be aware of where

all these lost items are going. This out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentality is what caused the Pacific Garbage patch to form in the first place.”

While it’s still unclear what removal or deconstructive initiatives, if any, the UNEP has planned for the waste behemoth, Wilkins emphasized that efforts are focused on future prevention rather than immediate dismantling: “Unfortunately a lot of the damage has already been done; we can, however, work together to prevent the problem from

getting worse. We have to realize that we’re not the ones who’ll have to live with the consequences. It’s our children and our children’s children who will be left to deal with a continent-sized mound of misplaced receipts for electronics we bought on an impulse.”

Several organizations, including Greenpeace Canada and the World Nature Organization, have already begun initiatives to encourage simple, low-cost ways with which

someone forced him to smoke cigarettes against his will.

After hours of speculation from concerned family members, a mother from Vancouver has come out as saying that, although she isn’t mad at her son, she is certainly disappointed in him.

“I understand that he’s just at that age,” Martha Sydor, 47, announced in a calm yet very stern voice, “but that doesn’t mean he gets to disregard our house rules like that. I just don’t know what’s gotten into him lately.”

The announcement comes shortly after reports that her son Tanner came in two hours past

curfew last night and smelled like cigarettes — though Tanner claims the scent originated from someone other than him.

“She’s just being controlling,” Tanner rebutted, following his mother’s comments. “I don’t even smoke. I was at a party and someone must have blown smoke on me, I swear.”

While she’s aware that Tanner had to grow up some day, Martha stands by earlier claims that she thought she and his father “had raised him better than this.” Investigation is still underway, but Martha isn’t ruling out the possibility that her sweet baby boy was overtaken at the party and pinned down, while

Whether the incident will affect Tanner’s ability to attend an upcoming Mother Mother concert is yet to be seen, but sources close to Martha say he will have to earn her trust back before she considers giving him and his friend a ride to the show.

Tanner has yet to release an official statement on his mother’s comments, but he’s responded to them directly by asking her to stay out of his room.

people can stop losing their shit so it doesn’t end up part of the junk vortex. Earlier this week, Greenpeace launched the The Not-Lost Cause campaign to positive response, offering simple suggestions such as rolling your socks into pairs before putting them away, having a specific hook in your house designated for keys, and not getting so blackout drunk that you lose your wallet, phone, and dignity.

HUMOUR

October 6, 2014

31

32 LAST WORD

features editor email / phone

Max Hill features@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

October 6, 2014

he far reaching abilities of the internet have opened many doors for all of us, but they have also exposed us to a new racist, classist, homophobic, and (especially) misogynistic rhetoric that endangers the progressive ideals we’ve spent decades working towards.

Now, don’t get me wrong; I think the internet has been a great tool for spreading equality, and it has certainly been an excellent platform for women and other underrepresented groups around the world to make their voices heard. But increasingly, those who share their opinions and beliefs about injustice online are often met with a series of comments meant to shame them for speaking up.

Consider the efforts made by feminists to open discussion about gender equality. After Emma Watson’s stunning speech at the United Nations promoting the ongoing He for She campaign, she was immediately met with sexual threats and told by anonymous users that naked photos of her would soon hit the net. Despite the revelation that the supposed leak was a hoax, this is still an instance of misogynistic bullying, and a threat we should take seriously.

Watson is still being used as an object to make a point. Every day, women are being abused and harassed online — using Watson as a bargaining chip isn’t going to change that.

We all live two lives: our physical one in the ‘real world,’ and our digital one online. Those with a prejudice against women or others tend to use the latter to express their hateful views.

Operating from behind a veil of secrecy, people are allowed to openly propagate ideas which would be met with harsh criticism in the real world.

Social justice requires accountability, but the nature of the internet makes it difficult

and often dangerous. From behind their screens, trolls attack others with vulgar comments and threats of assault.

But these attacks are only part of the problem. Perhaps an even bigger issue is how our society has normalized these attacks, often writing them off as minor annoyances or simply an unavoidable part of the web. As the real world continues to progress in favour of equality, the digital one is becoming exceedingly weighed down by the regressive forces of online harassment.

As Laurie Penny, British journalist and feminist, put it: “An opinion, it seems, is the short skirt

to know from where and from whom regressive comments are coming. Because of this, we tend to shift the blame for online attacks onto the victims, which is a serious step backwards.

The relationship between the web and society is not as simple as we like to think. The internet has become a sort of modern Wild West — lawless

of the internet. Having one and flaunting it is somehow asking an amorphous mass of almostentirely male keyboard-bashers to tell you how they’d like to rape, kill and urinate on you.”

Society continues to put the blame the women who experience online invasions of their privacy, instead of focusing on the aggressors.

After the recent nude photo leaks,

many countered that, if a woman doesn’t want naked pictures of herself on the internet, she shouldn’t have taken any to begin with.

This is classic victim-blaming, plain and simple. It’s no mistake that the leaked photos were of some of the most powerful and prominent women in our society — this invasion of privacy was an attempt to reaffirm patriarchal ideas of gendered power dynamics.

The anonymity of the internet makes it hard to identify where threats are coming from, and because of this, we put responsibility on women to protect themselves.

This often translates to dissuading women from participating in online discourse, rather than looking to change the problem.

Allowing anonymity on the internet, however, comes with plenty of potential benefits, and threats to remove anonymous outlets on the web have met with backlash. We know that being able to browse and post anonymously protects an individual’s right to privacy. In an effort to track the few who are responsible for hate speech, we would likely punish the large majority of web users who don’t engage in these sorts of exchanges.

Ultimately, we will change people’s attitudes about online

threats and hate speech by recognizing and condemning them when they appear, anonymously or not. Instead of focusing on the victim, we need to call out these attackers and make sure they know that their comments are damaging and unacceptable.

Mob mentality and the feeling that anonymity allows one to get away with anything is what fuels many to keep posting offensive remarks — if we are watching and calling them out, they may think twice.

Blaming victims and dismissing hate speech as ‘trolling’ ignores the strides made by modern feminism, civil rights, gay rights, and other movements; and protects those who are making the internet a less safe place to be. We need to take these comments and threats seriously, just because they’re online doesn’t make them any less harmful or destructive.

I encourage all of you to think hard about the recent online shaming of women — if it had happened anywhere but on the web, would we be talking about it the same way? We need to focus on the real problem here; if we don’t, the internet will never become the safe and constructive environment that it’s meant to be.