Lest We Forget

November 18, 2013 • 145/12 • FREE

www.the-peak.ca | Thinking of the Philippines since 1965

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FIRST PEEK

November 18, 2013 · Volume 145, Issue 12

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FIRST PEEK

Comedian and actor Russell Brand set out to bring attention to what he felt was a major issue last month when he appeared on Jeremy Paxman’s talk show.

His argument, as summarized in a follow up he wrote for The Guardian, was that “democracy is irrelevant” because the priorities of the government don’t seem to line up with those of “the people.” However, given the seemingly endless struggle of countless numbers of people throughout history to achieve the very democracy he so willingly disregards, I believe that his line of thinking is fundamentally flawed.

To Brand, voting is a useless endeavour since the government’s priorities, as he told The Guardian, “remain the interests of big business, rather than the people they were elected to serve.” As a result, he wrote, “the impact of voting is negligible and it is our responsibility to be more active if we want real change.”

In his rant-like piece, he goes on to state that, “the lazily duplicitous servants of The City expect us to gratefully participate in what amounts to little more than . . . choos[ing] what colour tie the

November 18, 2013

liar who leads us wears.” Among the strong words and seemingly unrelated examples, however, he seems to be missing any sort of action plan for how change can be brought forth without the democratic process.

It is easy to understand, at least, where Mr. Brand is coming from. Many of our political representatives do tend to come from affluent backgrounds, and some do have ties to major corporations. I don’t think there is a system more fundamentally fair than democracy, though.

In case Brand has forgotten, democracy involves citizens being voted into office by their fellow citizens. Sure, multinational corporations and special interest groups can throw millions of dollars into the process, but at the end of the day, it is not money that touches ballots.

Nearly anyone can run for office and, given the support of their constituents, win a position to represent their fellow citizens.

The question following Brand’s outburst remains, then, how would we possibly elect more favourable leadership without democratically choosing it?

On the heels of Remembrance Day, it is difficult not to

think of the millions over the course of human history, and most notably in the 20th century, who have laid down their lives to secure the right to vote. Though Brand and similarly politically indifferent individuals may be too far removed from such situations to consider this, many people still struggle every day for the basic freedom of democracy. It is one thing to not enthusiastically support a specific political party or candidate, but to declare this political system irrelevant or unimportant simply when one’s choices don’t seem good enough devalues the ongoing sacrifice given to attain it.

The only way to save democracy is through democracy. Neither outlandish rants on talk shows nor staying home on election day will cause even a single instance of real change in society.

Brand can continue to call for a ‘revolution’ as election periods all over the world pass him by and, ironically, if he gets his wish, the same subset of people continue to be elected to office.

The reason for this is not a corrupted system, but rather that those voting are engaging the political system and making their selection based on their collective interests. If major political change is in the minds of the majority, that result should, and hopefully will, come about from ballot boxes rather than on set in front of a camera.

In light of the struggle and sacrifice necessary to attain it, while the democratic system may be flawed, that is no reason to abandon it all together.

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NEWS

November 18, 2013

news editor email / phone

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

Leah Bjornson

Leah Bjornson Associate News Editor On Friday, Nov. 8, SUB architects held a public presentation to update the SFU community on their current vision for the project. The architects have narrowed down the sites to Main Street and Crossroads, as the Treehouse site was not preferred by students.

The presentation centered around their preliminary plans for the Student Union Building (SUB) space as well as their space programming interpretations of the information collected from students.

After reviewing the feedback from students collected during Build SFU’s Focus Group sessions, the architects have come up with four areas of focus as outlined in the benchmark statement: student focus, sense of community, outstanding design, and nature.

For student focus, the team outlined a desire to create the SUB as the “heart of the student experience” that instills unity among students, pride in their

school, and includes a clear “wow factor.” They also hope to create a sense of community in a comfortable, fun, welcoming space which provides a “homeaway-from-home” for students.

With regards to design and nature, the team plans for the SUB to be a focal point or “postcard image” of the campus living room that allows students to connect with the natural

Main Street (Net Square Feet)

Crossroads (Net Square Feet)

Administration

3,552

3,552

Student activities/ organization

16,750

16,750

Food/Dining Services

10,650

2,950

Lounge

9,500

17,060

Meeting/Multi-Use

12,730

12,730

mountain environment of the Burnaby Campus.

Marc Fontaine, Build SFU general manager, shared with The Peak the proposed space program for the building, which outlines the net square footage (NSF) allotments for different uses of the space in both Main Street and Crossroads. There is approximately 105,000 NSF total available on each site, and that space is split up similarly in both options.

For administration, which encompasses the SFSS board offices and general office, both sites have allotted 3,552 NSF. Both sites have also designated 16,750 NSF for student activities, organizations, services, and clubs. This space includes eight proposed ‘organization suites’ which are meant for departments of SFSS or other student organizations that are “student centred,” like the FNSA or the Women’s Centre.

These suites come in two sizes: 1,320 NSF, which is roughly the current size of the Women’s Centre, and 820 NSF, which roughly equates to Out on Campus’ current size. However, Build SFU is

planning to create more suites than there are current groups.

“If a group was created in two years and it’s a really active group and the Student Society at that time wanted to provide a space to assist with its function and growth, that group wouldn’t be disadvantaged by not having existed today,” explained Fontaine.

Both sites also feature 12,730 NSF of designated meeting and multi-purpose space. The plans include four meeting rooms which would hold 20 to 25 people, 15 meeting rooms for four to six people, one formal meeting room, one dance rehearsal space, two music rehearsal spaces, and a ‘cabaret’ space which would act as an informal stage or performance space.

There would also be a 4,000 NSF mutli-purpose room, which

could be used for lectures or other public events.

The sites differed in their division of space concerning Food Services and Lounge areas. In the proposed Main Street building, architects allotted 10,650 NSF for food and beverage services; in comparison, Crossroads only has 2,950 NSF, which is planned for a coffee shop and dining seats. Fontaine explained this decision, saying, “The Crossroads site can tie directly into the food court in [MBC].”

What this means for Crossroads is that with the extra space, architects were able to designate 17,060 NSF for lounge area. Compare this with 9,500 NSF in the proposed Main Street building.

Lounge space includes features like common areas, quiet study space, games areas (one in Main Street and two in Crossroads), group lounge space (for between 90 and 200 people), and a multipurpose foyer.

When asked whether this difference could be a key determinant in which building is chosen, Fontaine replied, ““It could be one of the factors. It’s definitely a big piece.”

NEWS

The 13th annual Media Democracy Days (MDD) — organised by SFU’s School of Communication, OpenMedia.ca, and the Vancouver Public Library — took place on Nov. 8 and 9 in downtown Vancouver at the Vancouver Public Library and The Cinematheque.

MDD is a “gateway event,” according to MDD steering committee chair Kathleen Cross, who is also an assistant professor in the school of communication at SFU. “[It’s about] reaching out to people who have never thought about . . . the importance of media in a functioning democracy,” Cross stated.

Cross went on to quote communications professor and media reform activist Robert McChesney: “Whatever your first issue of concern, media had better be your second.”

The event brought together students, citizens and scholars, to discuss and learn about the state of media in Canada.

This year’s main themes reflected the news that has occupied people’s attention over the past 12 months. Information control was chosen in the context of this summer’s NSA and PRISM leaks, while the #IdleNoMore movement, the Northern Gateway Pipeline protests, and the recent RCMP raid on the Mi’kmaq-led anti-fracking blockade in New Brunswick influenced the choice of Aboriginal voices as another main topic.

MDD’s program included a series of practical workshops — from audio production, to information control in the news, to filing a Freedom of Information (FOI) request. The program also included conferences, a media fair exhibition with about thirty social justice and media reform groups, and a packed film screening of Terms and Conditions May Apply (2013, Cullen Hoback), accompanied by a keynote address

by BC’s Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham.

“The media today is filled with power, ideology, bias . . . and spectacle that distract us, and yet

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As part of the proposal to create a new student union building and stadium at SFU Burnaby, the SFSS will be implementing a bursary program to help undergraduate students who have demonstrated financial need.

Starting January 1, 2014, the SFSS will be charging a $10 new membership levy to all students, to increase by $10 every subsequent year until 2022. The levy will cover the costs of funding construction, maintenance, and utility fees.

The board is putting three per cent of collected fees into the bursary, which is meant to reimburse students in financial need. Any surplus will be rolled over into the next semester.

Board members brought up concerns as to the small value of the bursary, which is set to match the levy (which currently stands at $10). Because students in need of financial assistance will most likely be applying for other bursaries, the decision was made to offer the Build SFU Bursary directly through Financial Aid and Awards.

make possible for each of us to reach out to communicate,” said Stuart Poyntz, programming advisor for MDD and assistant professor in the school of communication at SFU. He went on to say that a central objective of MDD is to act as “a platform . . . to connect many of us together, around the recognition that social change and democratic reinvention can only happen today in and through our media system.”

Speaking on the issue of information control, privacy commissioner Elizabeth Denham defended privacy and access rights as “critically important for our democracy, for freedom of opinion and also for open societies.”

Evoking BC-specific issues such as the HST debacle and the “fudge-it budget,” Denham stated: “It’s often not the substance of the issue, but the perception of government secrecy that really is dominating the news; so access rights are really important underpinnings of our democratic system.”

Denham also expressed concerns about privacy and the

emergence of “dataveillance,” echoing the theme of the film that followed her keynote, Terms and Conditions May Apply — which deals with the implications of clicking on the ‘agree’ button on various services’ license agreements.

Other speakers at MDD expressed distress about access rights in Canada. Mike Larsen, professor in the Criminology Department at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, stated: “Right now the [FOI] system is out-dated, inefficient and over-burdened.”

Gwen Barlee, policy director and spokesperson with the Wilderness Committee, who has filed approximately 45 FOI requests, told The Peak that

“privatisation [of public services] is dangerous because as more government services get off-loaded to the private sector, we as a public have less ability to see the inner workings of how the services are delivered.”

Jennifer David, former director of communications at Aboriginal People’s Television Network and author of Original People Original Television introduced the other main topic on the second day, highlighting the need for Aboriginal voices to express themselves “on their own terms and in their own words.”

David explained how the #IdleNoMore movement was illuminating a discrepancy between mainstream media’s coverage of aboriginal news and reality. On #IdleNoMore’s first National Day of Action (Dec. 10, 2012), the IKEA monkey largely overshadowed the protests against Bill C-45 in national mainstream TV coverage.

The MDD event has found national success; this year, not only Vancouver, but Ottawa played host to MDD as well, with Montreal and Waterloo planning to join soon.

President Humza Khan gave an update on the progress of the mediation of the Oct. 11 incident between directors Monique Ataei and Moe Kopahi, reporting that Ataei met with mediator Paula Boddie for the first time over the weekend.

Khan also said that the terms of reference between the society and Boddie were still being drafted, as a point that was omitted has not yet been added. The particulars of the point were discussed in-camera.

External relations officer, Chardaye Bueckert, expressed concern about the pace of the investigation, pointing out that the incident occurred over a month ago. Khan agreed, and welcomed any help from other directors who may be able to offer it.

...continued on page 6

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The Board has opened nominations for the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), which “is the body responsible for ensuring that SFSS elections are free, fair, democratic, and honest, and that all candidates play by the same rules.”

As little interest has been shown thus far in the position of CEO, the board is planning to increase their advertising of the position through social media, the website, and an ad in The Peak.

The CEO’s term is set to begin on Dec. 1, 2013, after which the elected party will be responsible for recommending applicants for IEC commissioners, whom the Board of Directors appoints. According to the SFSS Policy Manual, advertisements for candidates for appointment to any position on the IEC, including the CEO, must be posted at least two weeks prior to the date of the board meeting on which appointments will be made.

November 18, 2013

The pipeline extending between Alberta and northern BC has been under discussion for several months now, but on Tues. Nov. 5, BC and Alberta premiers announced that a tentative agreement has been reached.

The governments of BC and Alberta, led by Christy Clark and Alison Redford, struck a deal wherein BC will join Alberta in the Canadian Energy Discussions. This deal is dependent on the meeting of BC’s five conditions, as outlined by The Globe and Mail: environmental review, marine oil spill response, land spill prevention, aboriginal concerns and economic benefits for BC. These conditions demand the “successful completion of the formal environmental review processes,” the implementation of “world-leading marine oil (as well as land) spill response, prevention and recovery systems,”the assurance that all Aboriginal

issues of legality and treaty rights will be addressed, and that the project will benefit Aboriginal people. Additionally, it is required that the province and its citizens receive a fair share of the economic benefits as befits the “risk borne” by BC. Jonn Axsen, SFU assistant professor in the department of resource and environmental management, says that these conditions do not alleviate any environmental concerns. He told The Peak, “Clark’s framework completely ignores climate change impacts, [and] even having a ‘world class’ response system will not eliminate the risk of having a large scale marine oil

spill, especially in isolated, ecologically sensitive regions.”

While there is a bare-bones structure to the agreement, Axsen believes the conditions lack detail and since they are so vague, “it may be easy for the BC government to eventually argue that the conditions have been satisfied.”

He said that the pipeline would double or even triple the operations of Alberta Oilsands, resulting in a great increase in greenhouse gas emissions that would “further handicap our country’s ability to meet our stated emissions reductions targets.” For Axsen, creating a “world-class” set of policies for BC while aiding in Alberta’s expansion of greenhouse

gas emissions would be nonsensical. “That is just silly,” Axsen said.

Both Clark and Redford stressed the importance of provinces working together in their press announcement, but Axsen argues that Clark is not accurately representing her constituents. “My survey data shows the BC citizens are more likely to oppose the pipeline than to support it.” Axsen also feels that Clark is not acting in the best interest of the citizens of BC as the environmental risk just isn’t worth the potential economic and fiscal benefits.

The aim of the project is to make Alberta crude oil available to a larger market, particularly the Asian markets, which would be more accessible with the pipeline in place. BC stands to profit for its part in the transportation and the associated risks. However, Axsen feels that, oil spills aside, the consequences of climate change “will most likely lead to a net loss for society.”

Despite the current agreement, the future of the pipeline is still undecided. While there are strong advocates, corporate and federal, for the pipeline’s going ahead, Axsen believes it will be met with “a very strong resistance in BC, likely resulting in civil disobedience if construction begins.”

NEWS

A new study by an SFU PhD student has found that women suffering from chronic pain have increased sensitivity to specific frequencies and therefore might respond differently to sounds and music — a discovery which opens up new options for treatment through acoustic therapy.

During a study on the therapeutic use of music for chronic pain (CP) patients, lead researcher Mark Nazemi discovered that chronic pain patients were more sensitive to sounds than the control group.

Even more notable was the fact that women experienced this pain more significantly than the male participants.

“Not only did we find this through the data set that we collected using a software that we designed, but also reinforced by the results of the qualitative questionnaires in which female CP patients reported greater sensitivity to everyday environmental sounds,” explained Nazemi.

“For example, [women] tend to listen to music at speech level versus listening to [it] loud, they prefer listening to speakers rather than use headphones, so they have this kind of phobia in terms of wanting to be farther away from sound source.”

A student in SFU’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT), Nazemi first

NTS A W K A THE PE TS! S I N M U COL

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November 18, 2013

became interested in the topic while working on other health related projects. “I noticed that in the field of music therapy they weren’t really looking at the frequency content in music, and they would just generalize the type of music that would have therapeutic qualities example, ‘play some classical music’ or ‘let’s play some jazz,’” related Nazemi.

The problem he noticed, based on existing research, was that chronic pain patients tend to be in a hypersensitive state, so environmental factors can be more damaging than previously thought. Therefore, there is a real need for greater awareness of the effects of

sound on chronic pain patients. “Let’s say if there is a construction site, being able to shut the windows can actually help them feel less pain at home,” said Nazemi.

Building on this research, Nazemi is now looking to develop an interactive sound system for therapy, which could help those suffering from chronic pain. He is doing so by creating a database of “comfortable sounds,” which mainly includes nature sounds, such as birds, the ocean, and even the sound of wind.

Nazemi and his team hope that by compiling these sounds, they can potentially provide patients in medical waiting rooms and similar stressful or uncomfortable environments with “soundwalks” to help lower anxiety and stress while they are waiting.

Said Nazemi, “If patients are really affected by listening to these recordings, if their anxiety levels are reduced, then I would actually want to make this into an actual system that we could implement in clinics and hospitals around the world.”

At the end of December, WebCT will officially be retired from use at SFU. Canvas, an open source learning management system (LMS) by provider Instructure, was chosen as its replacement.

Implementation started at the beginning of the spring 2013 semester and was tested by eight SFU courses as part of a pilot project. The implementation expanded in the summer semester to the point where approximately 5,000 students were using Canvas.

“The implementation has actually been going really well, and we’re quite a bit ahead of schedule, actually,” said Mark Bachmann, communications officer at the Teaching and Learning Centre.

This semester, it was originally forecasted that half of of LMS courses would be delivered in Canvas. In reality, over three quarters of classes used the new platform, something that Bachmann is excited about.

Bachmann points to the fact that more instructors using Canvas than expected as proof that faculty are responding well to the pilot, something that has been echoed in student feedback.

“In terms of Canvas support, the help desks are reporting that there’s less activity than there has been in the past, even though they’re dealing with a new learning management system,” said Bachmann. “Either that means that Canvas is very easy to use, or it means that students are quick to learn. Probably both.”

According to Bachmann, in surveys of the pilot project done at the end of the summer semester, 64 per cent of students were either satisfied or very satisfied with Canvas, and 58 per cent rated it as easy to use.

While the progress of Canvas overtaking WebCT has been quicker than expected, Bachmann said there is still room for improvement.

One huge, and previously unexpected, improvement to the system, is the agreement with Instructure to create a mobile app, something that was not thought possible considering BC’s strict privacy legislation that doesn’t allow institutions like SFU to host information on the Cloud.

However, SFU and Instructure have negotiated an agreement to create a mobile app that doesn’t use Kaltura, a platform for hosting and delivering content that is built right into cloud versions of systems. Instructure and SFU will be building the Canvas app separated from Kaltura, so that it complies with BC legislation.

According to Bachmann, the Canvas mobile app should be available sometime in the spring 2014 semester.

One of the main strengths of Canvas over WebCT is the fact that it is an open source platform, which allows it to be constantly adding new features to the system. With the open source aspect, instructors are able to build their own modules, such as grammar tools or plagiarism checks, that can then be used by other faculty members.

Further adding to its flexibility, Canvas also uses Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI), which allows the system to integrate third-party plugins and modules. Bachmann believes as faculty become more accustomed to the system, use of LTI and modules will deepen the capabilities of the system.

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OPINIONS

“Trans*phobia,” derived from “homophobia,” refers to the aversion to trans* people. This is rather common among cis (non-trans*) people, but it also exists within the trans* community. It occurs when trans*normative people, those who appear cis and believe that other trans* people ought to as well, discriminate against people who do not wish to appear cis.

This is a manifestation of internalized cisnormativity, or the belief that cis people are more normal than trans* people, which ultimately harms all trans* people by suggesting that one’s gender is debatable.

I do not think that trans*normative people are, in most cases, actively trying to oppress non-normative people. Often, appearing cis (or “passing”) is a matter of personal safety, as being visibly trans* makes one vulnerable to abuse. If several trans* people go out together and some are visibly trans*, it may jeopardize the safety of everyone in the group.

A violent trans*phobic person might not care if someone is visibly trans* because it reflects their gender, only that they are not cis. However, this does not

excuse trans*normative people from discriminatory behavior.

I have most often seen this discrimination in the form of refusing to use gender-neutral pronouns, like the singular “they.” Choosing “he” or “she” to refer to someone who does not identify as such assumes that everyone must fit into the gender binary, even against their will. This is especially harmful because refusing to use someone’s preferred pronouns may trigger dysphoria, the disorder that living as one’s actual, rather than designated, gender (or “transitioning”) treats. It is akin to what trans*normative people suffer at the hands of cis people when they refuse to use their preferred pronouns.

I have heard people protest that the singular “they” is grammatically-incorrect. I imagine these same people would be incensed if they saw other neutral pronouns, like “ze/hir,” that non-normative trans* people have had to create simply to communicate comfortably.

As mentioned in my previous article, English itself works against trans* people generally, and therefore it is unfair to claim that grammar is a good reason to cause dysphoria.

Those who use neutral pronouns are attempting to work

November 18, 2013

around a language that is designed to exclude them.

People often justify refusing to respect a non-normative person’s pronouns on the grounds that the person has not had a medical transition, like hormone replacement therapy or surgery. This is simply not defensible. There are many personal reasons why one may not transition in this way, like, for instance, not being able to come out as trans*, which is inevitable when undergoing drastic physical changes.

Oppression within the trans* community creates obstacles on the path to liberation. I hesitated to write this article because I have been told it will open up the community to attacks from cis opponents.

This has been a tactic used by the ruling class against the organized oppressed throughout history and across a range of struggles, and has sometimes been effective, as seen in the homophobic lesbian/feminist divide in the 1970s.

However, history has also taught us that liberation of some at the expense of others is still oppression. This oppression is a reflection of cisnormativity, an insistence that presenting as trans* is bad even if it reflects one’s gender, even if passing as male or female would cause dysphoria. This attitude is harmful even for those who want to appear cis, as it perpetuates trans*phobic attitudes within and without the community.

When we speak of liberation, we must speak of liberation for all. We must imagine a world in which no gender is privileged over another.

opinions editor email / phone

Joel MacKenzie opinions@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

In early November, on a bus in California, a 17 year-old boy allegedly set fire to the skirt of self-identified agendered teen, inflicting second and third-degree burns all over their body.

I’m outraged by this. I’m outraged by the fact that someone can be so compelled to hate and so compelled to hurt someone else over the insignificant act of choosing different clothing, or over something so personal as their gender or sexuality. I’m outraged that someone was hurt due to this compulsion.

And as much as I would love to speak simply about how much this outrages me, I’m discouraged at the prospect. Aside from the story, what else is there to talk about? Everyone that will be outraged is outraged. Simply stating that this upsets me seems to side with those who respect modern gender/sexuality definitions and human rights against those who don’t. And it seems impossible to change the minds of those who don’t.

How will standing on one side of the debate berating the ignorance of those on the

other help solve the problem?

Berating is not respecting the deeply ingrained beliefs that make someone feel this way; it addresses the symptoms, not the problem.

Regardless, if we have the chance to say anything, we must. Even if all we can think to do is berate; even if we feel one side of a debate is exhausted. We have to keep talking, keep debating matters that raise concerns as serious as this one. If a topic is important enough to arouse an opinion, it’s never worthless to join in a conversation about it.

We need to think and talk about the fact that, in the modern world, people’s lives are destroyed for something as personal as their sexuality.

We can’t just leave it to the LGBTQ groups, or those affected by the issue directly to think about it.

In the past, I’ve considered myself lucky for not subscribing to a non-binary gender, for not being able to be tortured like that Californian teen. But I’m not lucky, and he and others aren’t unlucky. As much as I am unlucky to have brown hair because some like red better, or unlucky to have green eyes when some prefer brown, my gender subscription is neutral in the matter.

When people are attacked for wearing clothing of their choice, our society is out of luck. These aren’t problems of ignorant teenagers, or problems to be left to the LGBTQ community; these are problems that concern human rights.

So long as we’re human, we can’t ignore when this happens. We can’t shut this out, call ourselves lucky, and try to let these problems rest on someone else. If you’re given the chance to think about it, do so. Speak about it. Debate it. Vote on it. Not because you can, but because you have to.

OPINIONS

November 18, 2013

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Ben Buckley / The Peak

“Superfoods for Weight Loss,” reads one Self magazine headline. “Moves to Resize Your Butt and Thighs,” reads another.

“Great news — you don’t have to skip the pie this Thanksgiving,” exclaims Women’s Health as they excitedly share the recipe of “the best-ever low-cal pumpkin pie recipe.” Thanks, Women’s Health, but I wasn’t going to skip it. And I’m not going for the low-cal pumpkin pie, as I will bet my student loans that it’s not the “best-ever.”

Everyone’s body is different, yet they have in common the constant call to change them, they are constantly being bombarded with magazine articles and advertisements that tell us to how to change. The part of this that irks me the most of it is done in the name of “health.”

Health is good, we can all agree on this. But these headlines all have the unhealthy fundamental assumptions that skinny equals healthy, that everyone is on a diet, and that if one is not doing either of these, they don’t have the self-control or innovativeness to cut the calories and

“work out like a supermodel” (Self’s words, not mine).

These magazines are constantly perpetrating a link between enjoying food and feeling guilt about it. “Go ahead,” they croon, “have that chocolate.”

Yet these throw-caution-in-thewind sentiments are only ever an introduction to an article about how to burn the most calories.

Anybody who has ever been on a diet or has, for whatever reason, had dietary restrictions has realized what a large part food plays in our social and cultural interactions. Yet women are told they should constantly count their calories, obsess about what they eat, and isolate themselves through diets.

The assumption is that all women want to lose weight, that all women are of a certain socio-economic status guaranteeing them choice of what they eat, that all women have the time and the money for pilates or a gym membership, that all women are able-bodied, and both capable and willing to follow these tips.

How does a single mother working two jobs make the Kraft Dinner from the food bank “low

cal”? What about self-identified women who feel uncomfortable working out in discriminatory studios and gyms? It seems that “health” only addresses a very slim — so to speak — demographic of women.

It comes as no surprise either that our society’s obsession with a specific brand of health manifests itself in individuals in a fairly recent increase in orthorexia nervosa — literally translating into “fixation on righteous eating.”

“Orthorexia starts out as an innocent attempt to eat more healthfully, but orthorexics become fixated on . . . what and how much to eat, and how to deal with ‘slip-ups,’” according to the National Eating Disorders Association. “Eventually food choices become so restrictive, in both variety and calories, that health suffers — an ironic twist for a person so completely dedicated to healthy eating.”

Not all bodies are healthy when they are thin and women do not need any more guilt-mongering and judgment about what we do with our bodies. We do not need magazines to define what health is, because I guarantee we know ourselves better than Self does. Women’s health comes in all shapes, all sizes, all lifestyles, and all women. When the meaning of “health” is stretched to the point that these magazines take it, we’ve gone too far.

As for the article about “pretty post-workout hair,” pick your battles, Self.

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AT ITS VERY BEST

10 OPINIONS

In an almost comical amount of controversy, Toronto mayor Rob Ford has become the target of a call to step down resulting from the video which surfaced of him smoking crack. In case you have been living under a rock, no, that’s not a joke. And frankly, it falls perfectly in line with the rest of his behaviour throughout his adult life.

However, given that he is currently clearly dealing with difficult substance abuse issues, and that the video comes to us from career criminals attempting to profit, I do not believe that this situation is enough for him to be forcibly removed from office.

Rather, it should entitle him to support from the community and trained professionals to work towards recovery.

I should note first, though, that due to his ridiculous actions, I do not believe that Ford is qualified to be mayor of a Foursquare location, much less of a major city. In the late 90s, at 29, he was charged with driving under the influence in Florida, which he lied about in his 2010 mayoral race. During his

When I first published a story last month entitled, “SFSS internal conflict follows alleged physical altercation,” I knew that I was starting a fire. It’s an extremely sensitive topic in a tinderwood climate: conflict in a governing body, an alleged altercation between a man and a woman. Potential violence.

When I was first approached about the Oct. 11 incident, I knew it was something I wanted to shed light on as fairly and evenly as possible, a line that would be difficult to walk. I

time as an elected representative, he’s suggested a ‘public lynching’ in place of a public meeting about a homeless shelter, been accused of inappropriately touching a female political opponent during a photo-op, and been kicked out of a Maple Leafs game, among many other offences. Given how difficult it must, or should, have been, him being elected and keeping his position is bizarrely endearing.

This particular offense of alleged crack use, though, should not be considered grounds for

didn’t expect that in trying to maintain that line, I was putting myself in the line of fire.

As a community paper, part of The Peak’s mandate — and one that falls largely on the news section — is to act as a watchdog for the institutions that students place their trust and livelihood in. Whether that institution is the university administration, the graduate, or the undergraduate student society, or one of the many programs that student money goes towards, The Peak included, we’re responsible for reporting on what’s being done and discussed.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not a trained journalist, or even a journalist in training.

None of The Peak staff is, as SFU doesn’t have a formal journalism school. I came to SFU to pursue my degree in English. I wanted

November 18, 2013

dismissal. Amongst all the excitement of some actually interesting news in Canadian politics, we can’t overlook the circumstances under which this video emerged.

In early May of this year, an alleged gang member showed the video to a Toronto Star reporter in the back seat of a car, hoping to sell it. The man’s plan nearly came to fruition as Gawker tried to raise $200,000 to buy the footage, while radio station Newstalk 1010 was given the chance to purchase it for $20,000.

to write. I came to news because I showed a genuine interest in campus affairs and an ability to write cleanly.

As news editor, it has been my job to follow the affairs of the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS), a body that represents all undergraduate SFU students and collects fees from them each semester. Student fees pay the wages and stipends of the volunteers and staff members, including the board of directors.

Students are given further power in the SFSS through the election process, where a new board of directors is elected each spring.

After the piece on the alleged incident was published, the hammer came down. The online article got the most traffic, and the most comments, that The Peak website has ever had.

Comments ranged from civil to

This is not the kind of behaviour that should dictate major political change in this country. Deals that involve a Kickstarter named “Crackstarter,” as Gawker’s is, should not be admissible in the sphere of rational discussion. Ford was basically being held hostage by known drug dealers in exchange for their profit.

If Ford is removed from office over this matter, it sets the precedent that thugs can have a profound influence on Canadian politics.

The media and various internet “journalists” have also glossed

. . . not so much. Comments and backlash were directed at everyone involved in the article. It turns out they were also directed at me.

I knew that writing a piece exposing conflict in the SFSS might strain my relationship with that society; however, I did not expect personal attacks from strangers. I was called “patriarchal,” “victim-shaming,” and “the SFU counterpart” to UBC rape culture by a reader who

over the fact that substance abuse, such as the use of crack or large amounts of alcohol, is still regarded as a disease. Rob Ford has openly admitted that he struggles with alcohol, stating that he used crack in “a drunken haze.” The manner in which alcoholism has been, in this case, labeled mocked and used as a means to judge Ford is completely unacceptable in a nation aware of “invisible” illnesses, as Canada is.

This man is clearly not well, and should be supported by the community to battle his demons rather than be called on to resign. Canada is lucky enough to be reaching a point at which such issues are not demonized, but rather faced with a helping hand. Abandoning this could further stigmatize these issues, and deter other sufferers from coming forward.

Despite Ford showing lack of character becoming of the mayor of a major city, and the fact that he really should seek some rehabilitation for an apparent battery of issues, neither the existence of the now infamous crack video nor his substance abuse should mandate his removal from office. The involvement of career criminals with the mayor’s ongoing personal issues should shift the gears of discussion away from his removal and towards finding him help and a path to wellness.

believed that I had portrayed Monique Ataei unfairly.

With any important issue, it’s important that you, as a reader, are critical of how the story has been presented. Has it considered both sides? Does it use leading language? Completely unbiased writing is almost impossible to achieve, but it’s something I aim for.

I would be lying if I said that the process of publishing the story hasn’t made me wary of looking into something like this. And as I will be leaving the news editor position after this semester, it will no longer be my job to do so. I think what I would like to leave readers with is a fairly simple message about how you consume and react to your news, based on my personal experience.

So please, don’t shoot the messenger.

OPINIONS

The lack of theft protection in the SFU Burnaby library is well known. According to campus security, the library is the number one hot-spot for device theft on campus and, while video surveillance has proven to be one of the most powerful mechanisms in crime prevention, as far as I can see, the library is bereft of all but one surveillance camera.

With the number of thefts that occur, it’s time for this university to step into reality and make the worthy investment.

Undoubtedly, more camera technologies will help rid the library of crime once and for all.

Those who frequently visit the library may have noticed that security guards are fairly diligent in patrolling the floors.

The walls are plastered with theft-precaution notices, too.

But let’s face the truth: while these security measures are prominent, they simply aren’t enough to ensure everyone’s security. Video surveillance would actually capture acts of thieving and other crimes, and would preserve these records indefinitely. They would be an invaluable tool for both security and police alike.

Security once told me that they receive around 20 or more theft reports per week, which clearly indicates that criminals are thieving without being caught. Hence, students are at great risk of losing valuable education tools whenever stepping foot in the library. One would assume that, in awareness of theft statistics, SFU would take the utmost precautionary measures to ensure that its students are protected from device-theft while in an environment that promotes academic success.

I encountered my own neartheft incident in Bennett last semester. In my naivety, I’d left my laptop at the study-carrel while visiting the restroom. Two minutes later, I returned just in time to witness a man stuffing my laptop in his bag. The embarrassed man returned my

November 18, 2013

device and feigned innocence, saying he thought it belonged to a friend, before I left him to go to the front desk where I reported the incident and met with security.

We managed to catch the thief and immediately took an unnerving trip to the security office, while the man pleaded with me not to press charges.

While relieved at rescuing my laptop, I felt sickened to realize that if I’d returned from the restroom merely seconds later, I’d have lost one of my most valuable possessions.

Since then, I’ve been frustrated and rather boggled as to why SFU hasn’t implemented as many security measures as it can in Bennett Library. I’m well aware of the issues surrounding

privacy rights of library-users; after all, people may not enjoy being “spied on” while they have their laptops open. But if the library respects individual privacy by placing cameras in nonintrusive areas throughout the building, it could successfully up its crime-stopping game.

The Toronto Public Library does it right. They explicitly state, in their video surveillance policy, that the library “recognizes the need to balance an individual’s right to privacy” while ensuring safety through camera-usage “where deemed necessary” in order to keep the library safe and secure.

While the evidence for better security is overwhelming, SFU must think critically about this and realize that its students will be grateful in the end. Therefore, while allowing students to maintain their privacy, a proper video-surveillance system must be installed in places deemed necessary for observation. This security precaution is essential to establishing a crime-free library at SFU Burnaby, and will greatly reduce the risk of lost valuables and devastated students.

11

LABOUR STUDIES PROGRAM

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Spring 2014 Course Offerings

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12 OPINIONS

Like most, reading “hit and run” in the news makes me stop in my tracks. In early November, upon a double take on such a headline, I read alongside these first ugly words, “wheelchair.” It’s always hard to imagine what goes through someone’s head when they commit such an act, but the invovement of someone so vulnerable is truly terrible.

A 19 year-old Surrey man was hit by a car for the second time in his life, on Tuesday, November 5. Due to his brittle bone disease that requires his use of a power wheelchair, he suffered 5 broken bones after being hit and thrown from his wheelchair.

The remorseless driver fled the scene, while the man ended up in the hospital.

Hit and runs are a taboo subject, something people would rather not talk or think about.

It’s obviously something both society and the law oppose, yet it still happens much too frequently. Maybe the problem lies with driver attitudes. Pedestrians are often disregarded, or regarded with disdain by those driving

Activists from a Vancouverbased group, Rising Tide, recently protested Premier Christy Clark’s collaborative decision with Alberta Premier, Alison Redford, to install the infamous pipeline that would link oil sands in Northern Alberta with the oil-needy on the West Coast.

The group set up fake pipes and a fake oil rig on Clark’s lawn while she was home to protest the pipeline, drawing particular attention to the fact that fracking — the process this pipeline would involve — has made some household water in northeastern BC not

November 18, 2013

their large and powerful vehicles.

Drivers are often too impatient to wait for someone to move down a street or cross a road.

However, impatience is no rational excuse. It is completely acceptable for a pedestrian, in this case a wheelchair user, to travel on the side of the road if

there is no sidewalk, or a sidewalk unfit for a power wheelchair. As a wheelchair user myself, I know how tricky navigating sidewalks in the lower mainland can be, and how inconvenient it can be to travel where there are none.

I can’t begin to imagine how awful the driver must feel in a hit

only undrinkable, but also dangerous for children’s skin.

It’s pretty flippin’ awesome that people are taking the pipeline and its possible consequences so seriously, and such a public demonstration is definitely drawing huge amounts of attention to the issue.

Illegal activity such as this, though, puts more focus on the protesters than the protest. I made a similar argument earlier in the year about self-proclaimed anarchists burning down housing developments in the downtown eastside to protest gentrification. Acts like this, that break the law, put attention on the protesters, and separate the issues further from the general public.

The general public, whose opinion these protesters should be attempting to sway, are less inclined to take a group seriously when they don’t follow the rules. Sure, they’re raising awareness to the issue, and sure, they’re

and run accident. It’s one thing to hit another vehicle on the road, to cause damage to someone else’s property, or scare them in the process. But this person hit another human being with his vehicle. The person was in control, and suddenly lost it, inflicting incomprehensible hurt

probably pissing of Clark, but this puts more attention on the group than the issue. I doubt Clark will see any reason to change her opinion on the topic in light of activists annoying her in this extreme, and I doubt the general public will be swayed on the issue when the extremity of the protest takes precedent over the issues behind it.

While the group’s intentions are good, these activities create a divide between the voting, generally lawabiding public, and themselves.

What reason would the average citizen have to join such a group, if they could potentially be viewed as anti-societal in doing so?

and injury to someone who never meant to have any interaction with him or her.

A wheelchair makes the situation all the worse. People automatically feel differently towards someone in a wheelchair, whether they mean to or not.

That’s a part of our life we wheelchair users grow to accept. Any driver with humane qualities at all would feel even worse for hurting someone who already struggles extra hard in life, adding more hardship to that which they already endure.

In the moment of such an event, fear would be overwhelming. A driver would panic, no matter who they are or what circumstances caused the accident. In an almost outof-body experience, undoubtedly the natural instinct would be to flee. There would be overwhelming emotions over hitting someone, especially someone who obviously won’t recover, or possibly survive, with the same ease as others.

As a society, we are being conditioned to take less and less responsibility for our actions.

How long would it take you to own up to your illegal and morally wrongful actions? Would it take a drive around the block, or a day to realize what really happened? Would you not own up at all?

We’ll see where this driver’s moral compass takes him or her.

FEATURES

ven if you don’t follow or care about professional football, you’ve probably heard of the full-blown scandal enveloping the Miami Dolphins that has pushed the crystalball soothsayer ship and fawning that generally composes the 24/7 sports news cycle onto the backburner for past two weeks.

You may have heard the racially and sexually explicit transcripts of voicemails Richie Incognito allegedly left fellow offensive lineman Jonathan Martin in nauseating detail. A polarizing firestorm has since erupted over what is considered normative locker room banter and culture, where some players denounced and belittled Martin, who is of mixed heritage, for “ratting out” a fellow teammate, whilst embracing Incognito, a Caucasian man, as an honorary “brother.”

After Martin walked out of the Dolphins facility and checked himself into an unspecified South Floridian hospital seeking treatment for emotional distress, his replacement Tyson Clabo perfectly summarized the sneering, juvenile mentality that doubtlessly extends beyond Miami’s locker room when he excoriated Martin for failing to “stand up and be a man.” If you don’t get the gist of that statement, he was nonplussed that Martin failed to address the situation by delivering a fist to Incognito’s face.

The liberal white-collar media has used broad brush strokes to paint complex interpersonal dynamics, which

November 18, 2013

themselves are influenced by prevailing social trends, beliefs and expectations. Jason Whitlock of ESPN, who doubtlessly meant well in an article on November 8 entitled “Martin walked into twisted world,” repeatedly compares the Dolphin’s locker room to a prison facility and identifies Incognito as some sort of sadistic cell-block leader cut out of The Shawshank Redemption.

“The Dolphins don’t have the kind of environment to support someone with Martin’s background,” writes Whitlock.

“It takes intelligence and common sense to connect with and manage Martin. Those attributes appear to be in short supply in Miami.” He bases his thesis, that Martin is an incredibly intelligent, well-bred and soft-spoken John Coffey-esque gentle giant solely on Martin having graduated from Stanford, which ap-

The liberal scribes may not be too far off-the-mark, but as always with cases like these, both sides are far too quick to utilise broad labels to depict the behaviour and characteristics of the opposing group. It is unlikely that Martin, given the response of his teammates, will return to Miami’s locker room. He’s been described, variably, in a myriad of emasculating terms — “pussy, selfish, a little girl,” etcetera.

Meanwhile, Martin’s detractors are almost to a man denounced as “thugs,” “gangbangers,” “socially backward” and “uneducated primitives.” If there’s a middle ground to be had in all of this, it’s difficult to find underneath the hail of arrows being volleyed by both sides.

So what do we learn from all of this? In a venerable display of showmanship, a number of former players in the media have

pears to be the rallying point of most of the second-year lineman’s supporters. Of course, if he graduated from an Ivy League school, he has to be far more well-adjusted than the other thugs in the Miami locker room — right?

nodded their heads sagely in insistence that the locker room culture around the NFL has to change.

Michael Irvin, a Hall of Fame wide receiver who won three Super Bowls with Dallas in the 90s, threw his hat into the ring, insisting that he never would have allowed

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something like this to happen in his locker room.

In an interview last week with the Cleveland Browns Daily, Irvin recounted an event on a chartered team flight where former defensive lineman Charles Haley — who was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder — bullied and physically threatened a team staffer. Such behaviour was not out of the norm for Haley at the time. Irvin described in pulsepounding detail how he stood up to the larger Haley and insisted he step down.

Irvin failed to mention however, how, some years later, he again attempted to exercise seniority while waiting in line for a haircut at the Cowboys facility and, in the ensuing argument, stabbed former teammate Everett McIver in the neck with a pair of scissors.

This is not to say that Irvin’s original point is invalid, far from it. The desire to change a locker room culture seeded on macho displays of exaggerated masculinity that serve little to no purpose is a noble goal; but it is not a modern day invention.

It is founded on so much more than sociological trends driven by rap music and glorification of the gang-banger lifestyle, as supposed by the many two-cent behavioural psychologists who populate the mediasphere — whom I count myself among, of course.

But consider that up until Martin stormed out of the team’s cafeteria, the word “bully” or any of its derivatives was hardly a pressing concern in the world of sports — indeed, it barely

13

existed. Homonyms or softer terms were more commonly heard, embraced and even canonized within the cultures of teams: rookie initiations, or rites of passage. According to Miami defensive lineman Cameron Wake, “I don’t want to call it hazing. I mean, that’s rite of passage in this league. It’s a group of elite men. It’s a fraternity, it’s a brotherhood. It’s a lot of things.

And there’s a membership. You have to pay your dues to get certain privileges.”

Bullying is, of course, not simply limited to the NFL. It pervades the locker rooms of all sports at every level, and flowers out into the world of workspaces, schools and offices. It is symptomatic of a broader cultural disease, one that idealises and deifies power and its attainment with a certain sense of modern nobility. In this context, the bully is an individual of greater power and social standing. The bullied individual, the victim, is therefore weaker and subservient.

It is, however, an individual inability to empathize with that all-too-common weakness that enables bullies and further empowers them, even as lives may be irrevocably ruined as a result of their actions.

...continued on page 16

n November 28, 1998, Rita Hester, a trans woman, was murdered in Allston, Massachusetts. Fifteen years later the crime remains unsolved, but her death — and the deaths of countless other transgender and non-conforming gender folks — continue to be commemorated on November 20: the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Rita Hester’s murder prompted Gwendolyn Ann Smith to start the “Remembering Our Dead” web project, along with a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Since then, commemorative vigils and memorials have taken place across North American cities and around the world. The annual event not only serves to publicly mourn and honour the lives of all who have died because of anti-transgender hatred, but also to draw attention to an issue that the media rarely covers.

While there has been increased media pressure to prosecute hate crimes based on race and sexuality, there is comparably little education and awareness of trans issues. The individuals assaulted or murdered because of transphobia are often not provided the justice they deserve.

In fact, Rita Hester’s murder occurred just over a month after the murder of Matthew Shepard, whose much-publicized story led to such a large response from gay rights activists that it eventually brought about the The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, a criminal justice legislation signed by President Obama which imposes harsher penalties for perpetrators of hate crimes. If this took 11 years to implement, what kind of timeline can we expect to bring justice for transgender and gender non-conforming folk?

In 2009, the brutal murder of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado was reported as that of a “gay teen,” and the reports used male pronouns. At the time, murder suspect Juan Antonio Martinez Matos’ statement outlined how he had thought Lopez Mercado was female but then “realized that the teenager was actually male.” The media for the most part has neglected to respect the fact that, at the time of her murder, Lopez Mercado self-identified as female.

These facts stand alone to show, first off, that many of these murders occur because the victim in some way does not conform to the perpetrator’s strict understanding of gender. They illustrate a trend wherein the hatred that led to the attack was sparked by an inability to understand identities or lifestyles that don’t conform to the strict rules of gender binary which many internalize.

The Trans Murder Monitoring project — in cooperation with Transgender Europe (TGEU), a network of trans rights NGOs across the continent — was initiated in April 2009 to collect, monitor and analyze reports of homicides of trans people worldwide.

Today, the project functions in 36 countries. That same year, the update presented information about over 160 people killed because of other people’s violent reactions to their trans presentation or identity — but these numbers fail to tell the whole story.

The media often fails to accurately identify trans folks in their reporting.

Chelsea Manning, formerly Bradley Manning, is a recent example. Despite publicly identifying as a woman following her incarceration, Manning has been referred to via male pronouns by many prominent media outlets, including The Washington Times, The New York Times, USA Today and NPR. This leads to many trans folks

feeling that their identities and lived experiences are not being recognized.

Apart from the insult of using outdated names and pronouns to define trans people, refusing to identify a victim of a violent crime as transgender or gender non-conforming delegitimizes a case’s status as a hate crime and a trans issue — something that is essential in drawing the public’s attention to the severity and rampancy of violence against transgender and gender non-conforming folks.

TGEU recently published its newest findings, and they are shocking: between January 1 and April 30 of this year, 78 trans people were murdered in 13 countries. Since January 2008, there have been 1,233 reported murders of trans people in 59 countries worldwide.

The report also specifies that these murders tend to be particularly gruesome and violent, often including mutilation and other forms of torture. These were preliminary results, and will probably have grown by the time of this article’s publication. Furthermore, these numbers only include murders that are reported as victimizing trans and gender non-conforming folks. Often trans identities — and even murders themselves — go unreported.

Seventy-eight per cent of the globally reported murders of transgender folks (958 murders) were located in Central and South America, with Brazil alone reporting a whopping 468 murders. The highest numbers are reported in countries with strong trans and LGBTQ advocacy organizations, most of which keep careful track of numbers, meaning that the problem worldwide is surely much greater than these numbers express.

In nations with less pronounced trans rights organizations, many murders go undocumented and undiscussed.

Based on the information thus reported, there have been clear patterns

that show intersections of oppression that increase the likelihood of transgender individuals being targeted for violent crimes. There is a level of traditional sexism which plays into the murders: most of the reported names are people with a feminine gender presentation. Socioeconomic status, education levels, and race are all factors that further marginalize transgender and gender non-conforming folks.

A large risk factor is involvement in sex work. In Canada, sex workers have been fighting for legislation to bring about better safety and protection on the job; trans sex workers in particular are at a higher risk for violent victimization. Also, unsurprisingly, the lack of a solid support system for trans and gender-nonconforming people increases their marginalization in society. Many of the individuals in these reports having been rejected by friends, family and employers because of their gender identity and presentation.

However, these problems don’t lie exclusively in lack of public awareness and legislation. Law enforcement officers often display insensitivity or, at the very least, lack of education towards trans rights issues. For example, just over a year ago, 26-year-old January Marie Lapuz was fatally stabbed in her New Westminster home. In a press release, police first identified Lapuz by her male birth name, later noting her legal name change to January Marie.

Many of these murders are not investigated properly or are not presented to the public and the media properly, leaving a large number of cases unsolved and leaving entire communities with no sense of justice or closure.

This year marks the 14th Transgender Day of Remembrance. There are more than 120 scheduled vigils and events around the world, in honour of the countless lives that have

been lost as a result of transphobia.

In an article for the Huffington Post, founder Gwendolyn Ann Smith argued that the Transgender Day of Remembrance “is not a quick and easy oneday way for organizations to get credit for their support of the transgender community. It’s not something to trot out on the 20th of November and forget about. We should be working every day for all of us, living and dead […]

We remember for hundreds of others killed around the world in anti-transgender murders.”

on our campus, in the hopes that education and awareness can contribute to an improvement in the quality of life and rights for folks of all gender identities.

The Trans* & Gender Diversity Project aims to create a resource guide for trans* and gender diverse folks at SFU by collecting personal accounts.

The SFU Queer History Project is working to archive and thus preserve over 40 years of queer organizing and activism at our very own campus. If you have any pertinent information,

By raising awareness that violence against transgender folk is not only present but very rampant, the Day of Remembrance also opens the floor for non-transgender allies to come forward with their support. At SFU, our opportunity comes this week: from November 18 to 20, Out on Campus will set up a display and vigil on campus.

Students and faculty are encouraged to come and pay their respects for those trans people who have been murdered and harassed, and to open a forum on the possible actions the school can take in order to minimize the victimization of its trans community.

For Out on Campus, however, these issues are not limited to a single day: the organization is committed to promoting trans rights all year long, and have made efforts to make SFU a safe space for any and all gender identities and presentations. There are several exciting projects that are happening

please contact Out on Campus at queerhistory@sfss.ca.

Positive Space Network aims to transform our campus into a safe space for all by reducing homophobia and transphobia through an educational program. It is also working to create a network of resource people and safe spaces on campus.

Despite increased legislation and awareness of trans issues since the death of Rita Hester 15 years ago, transphobic murders and assaults still occur with striking frequency in our society. We recognize the Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20 in order to ensure that all of us at SFU are doing our part to ensure that our campus becomes a safe space for trans and gender-nonconforming students, staff and faculty. Take a moment to reflect on what you can do in order to make your school a positive force in the fight for trans rights.

16 FEATURES

November 18, 2013

...continued from page 13 In a society that values strength as leadership, it is often the most boisterous and vocal individuals who are capable of commanding and holding the attention of others around them.

Richie Incognito is one such individual for the Dolphins. Despite a slew of on and off-the-field issues that saw him bounce from franchise to franchise, Incognito’s overwhelming popularity within the Miami locker room may be rooted in part to his domineering and forceful personality, which was captured a multitude of times on HBO’s Hard Knocks. His capability to express himself and dominate other individuals on the

team, potentially espousing the bully-victim relationship, allowed him to allegedly torment Martin.

In an excellent piece for Slate, Emily Bazelon and Josh Levin dive into how Incognito’s strong level of play absolved him of his sins in the eyes of the Miami Dolphins’ management, and how his forceful personality attracted the admiration of teammates. So much so that they were either unwilling to disagree with his alleged actions towards Martin, or unwilling to rock the boat themselves, “the implication was that if Martin couldn’t hack it in the Dolphins locker room, he was

the one who needed help.” The Dolphins closed ranks around Incognito because in their eyes he was a leader. Jonathan Martin, however, was just a guy, and therefore utterly expendable.

have I been privy to the locker room shenanigans that go on within, so it’s impossible for me to relate to what is and isn’t acceptable in terms of behaviour and convention. Boundaries

I have never played for a professional or collegiate team, nor

vary from team to team based on personnel and personalities, and it is a self-righteous task for any of us with little experience in anything other than a white-collar work environment to harumph at the locker room actions of professional athletes.

But, as it goes with the general issue of bullying (physical or psychological), it remains difficult for us to empathize with victims because to be a victim is considered a self-admission of weakness, a condition only magnified in professional athletes whose job descriptions involve active, aggressive physical violence.

It is all too simple for Tyson Clabo to quizzically ponder why a Martin wouldn’t deck an Incognito, because he himself was not placed in the situation. Instead, Clabo is explaining how he would have acted in the situation Martin was in, without all of the other sources of pressure bearing down on him. He is pontificating on an immediate and emotionally volatile situation while bestowed the benefit of distance and absence of an imminent physical threat.

It’s easy for us to denigrate the victim of bullying or abuse because we feel that if placed in their situation, we would do better. Call it the gut reaction you have when someone enters a dimly lit basement in a horror movie.

The individual ideal of a person — well-adjusted, confident, physically fit, attractive, intelligent — is a dictum we each strive towards and fantasize ourselves to have, at least in part, achieved. Of course, it is nigh impossible to check all those boxes, and self-criticisms may always exist, but these are weaknesses that are actual and tangible. Individuals who do check all these boxes (or at least appear to) are empowered by the remainder of society. Politics runs on this: the development of cults of personality.

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Attractive and positive qualities are magnified while those minor blemishes are excused or forgiven without question because we cannot allow ourselves to believe that they exist.

The weak who are victimized by the strong are, therefore, incapable of fulfilling all of our fantasized tenets. It is difficult to empathise with their plight because with that empathy comes the understanding that anybody can be a victim. This realisation is hard to indulge because we like to think that we are not personally weak enough to be dominated.

This is why we find it hard to empathize with victims of bullying and abuse, and why we as a society tend to look for reasons to blame them for their own victimization. Believing that these victims are at fault for being harassed because they are ‘not tough enough’ is preferable to the idea that they were dominated by someone — and that the same thing could happen to us.

Athletes, whether male or female, are driven by the innate desire to be the dominant individual, engendering a (gender nonspecific) machismo that makes it even harder to relate to those ‘weak’ individuals capable of being bullied. Hazing is rampant within the culture of sports because of the self-propagating nature of it — a belief that team unity and individual acceptance into the group is dependent on kowtowing to the absurd requests of elder statesman.

This is what Cameron Wake was getting at. Those individuals aren’t seen as ‘bullied’ in this hyper-macho environment.

They are ‘inducted.’ And that means sometimes they have to pick up the tab for team dinners (which may run into the tens of thousands), carry pads, stand on tables and sing on command and/or accept torrents of physical, verbal and emotional abuse.

All in the name of T-E-A-M. It is this skepticism and reduction of the victim’s experience that makes our culture one in which it is all too easy to be a bully. It’s the societal painting of the victim as weak, the thorough and systematic emasculation by a society that empowers abusers to ply their trade. Until we fix this, the likelihood of change of any sort is slim to none.

ARTS

arts editor email / phone

November 18, 2013

Daryn Wright arts@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

Why are there so many people in Vancouver crowding into coffee shops only to sit alone and not talk to all the other lonely people?

There might be great romances and friendships waiting to happen, if only we’d let them.

This idea, and coffee shop culture in general, is explored in Cool Beans, a new musical comedy presented by Solo Collective Theatre, written by Anton Lipovetsky — winner of Most Promising Newcomer at the 2013 Jessie Richardson Awards.

The show combines caffeine, romance, hipsters, and the coffee shop environment to create a heartfelt and hilarious story that anyone who’s ever sat alone with a latte can relate to.

We probably all remember being children and listening to bedtime stories with rapt fascination; the stories seemed magical and beautiful, coming to life as our parents or grandparents read to us. As we grew older, we learned to internalize the magic and read on our own, but the feeling of being entranced by an oral tale never truly goes away.

That is the very feeling that Lizzy Karp and Karen Pichen drew on when they set up Rain City Chronicles, a series of live storytelling events that take place around Vancouver. Karp, after moving from Toronto, was disappointed to find that there weren’t really any events established to connect and meet with creative people. She formed Rain City Chronicles with Pichen in 2009 with the aim of showcasing the stories of Vancouverites and their city.

Since the organization began, Rain City has run several successful events with themes ranging from hotel stories to

the hilarious misadventures of driving cross country. This past summer, they also hosted an event showcasing the culture of Chinatown. Of her storytellers, Karp says, “We don’t try to find expert speakers, or people who are the best in their field.

We find people from all walks of life, some who had never even been on stage before, to tell their stories.”

Stories are also brought to life through song and banter by local musicians. The project is nonprofit, designed to bring people together in the spirit of a relaxed community, and Karp focuses on finding intergenerational storytellers that can provide hilarious and inspirational stories for her audiences. Indeed, the community of sharing stories truly is a special and intimate experience.

All of the money made from ticket sales goes right into making future shows the best that they can be.

On Nov. 21 and 22, Rain City will be going back to the embarrassing yet endearing days of public school in their two part series, “ Pencils and Playgrounds” (Elementary School Tales) and “Chalk and Lockers” (High School Stories). Of the event, Karp says, “There are so many funny and awkward school stories. It’s a really

unique time that everyone goes through and they really remember these stories. I wanted to bring the show into unexpected places, so I contacted the Vancouver School Board and they loved the idea.”

Taking place at Strathcona Elementary and Templeton High School — two schools with a rich history in Vancouver — attendees will gather to reminisce about their most memorable school moments. Teachers and principals from the Vancouver School Board will recount their experiences, along with people from across Canada. Rain City is also partnering with a pop up restaurant and three chefs will serve dinner at the school cafeteria to recreate the aura of a nostalgic cafeteria experience.

Oral culture in Vancouver is beautiful and, according to Karp, should be preserved. Of storytelling in the Internet age, she says, “Live, oral storytelling is really important right now [in order] to create an immediate connection that people experience at first with themselves, and then with the people around them. Everybody becomes a part of the story, which is something we don’t experience online.

There is a hunger for that. That is why Rain City Chronicles continues to grow.”

Running from Nov. 21 to Dec. 1 at Performance Works, Cool Beans is directed by Rachel Peake with music direction by Mishelle Cuttler and set design by John Webber and Drew Facey. The show features four characters, played by Jay Clift, Gilli Roskies, Katey Hoffman, and Josh Epstein.

Epstein plays the ambitious Patrick who had removed himself from “coffee culture” and given up on love to chase success in Dubai.

When he returns, he finds that his ex-girlfriend has also changed and is now dating a hipster barista and

17

hanging out with the coffee shop regulars. “They’ve both changed, and they’re in a love rectangle,” said Epstein. “He realizes that the best time of his life was when he had nothing, except for her.”

The idea for this play came from Anton Lipovetsky’s interest in self-identity. “He’s interested in exploring that age group when people are trying to identify who they are . . . they’re constantly asking themselves ‘who do you identity with?’” explained Epstein. “The hipster thing is so interesting too — if all the outsiders are hanging out together, are they really outsiders?”

The songs that Lipovetsky has written for the show cover a wide range of styles with varied influences: “There are songs that remind you of Rent, Book of Mormon, Avenue Q, and even Green Day,” said Epstein, adding, “You need to be able to have that range.” One of Epstein’s songs is “Dreams of Dubai” which he said has a Middle Eastern feel and is “an ode to Dubai.” The show also includes a “power modern musical ballad,” and plenty of rock inspired songs.

Epstein said he wanted to work on this project because Lipovetsky is someone special with great talent and a lot of potential. “It’s rare to work on a good new musical,” he said. In light of Lipovetsky’s success with Broken Sex Doll and his multiple recognitions, including his Jessie Award and Vancouver Mayor Arts Award, this is no surprise.

Although this show pokes fun at hipsters and coffee shop culture, Epstein says, “We’re having fun with it. The heart of the piece is about these people trying to find love. Anton has an amazing ability to write heart and humour. People will get attached to these characters, love the music, and laugh until they cry.” Sounds like the perfect combination to me.

18 ARTS

When Vancouver Was Awesome first made its way onto my desk, a couple of questions immediately formed: 1) Are they implying that Vancouver is no longer awesome, that we have done something to it to make it no longer as great as it once was? And, 2) why is it that no other city has ever had to try so hard to prove its awesomeness?

The coffee table book — part historical account, part celebratory tome — is authored by Lani Russwurm, writer and regular contributor for the blog by the similar name, Vancouver Is Awesome. In a forward, VIA founder Bob Kronbauer recounts the driving force of the blog, and its subsequent offshoot, Vancouver Was Awesome: “The rules were simple . . . only post stories about what makes Vancouver awesome.”

The manageable 159-page account is separated into three chapters, distinguished by particular moments of historical importance in Vancouver: “The Wild Old West: 1910 and Earlier,” “Terminal City: 1911 – 1939,” and “Modern Times: 1940 – 1972.”

Though framed by Vancouver’s vivacious but short timeline, the photographs and stories are a mixed grab-bag, or, as described

November 18, 2013

by Russwurm, “a mix-tape approach to history.” Defining historical events, like the arrival of George Vancouver, are bookended by “B-sides,” like “The Wreck of the Beaver,” a tugboat that was grounded, and eventually sunk, by its drunk crew in 1888. The British Columbia Archives, City of Vancouver Archives, and CBC — among other notable organizations — have helped supply archival material to accompany the stories, bringing history to life on each page.

The second chapter does a particularly good job of illuminating the little-known and short-lived jazz age of Vancouver, creating a narrative that starts with the implementation of prohibition in 1917 and runs into a detailed account of the Patricia Cabaret’s boasting of “Real Jazz Band Music.”

The following pages feature black and white photos of Jelly Roll Morton and Ada “Bricktop” Smith.

Jelly Roll played at the Patricia on occasion, and later returned to form the house-band for Patty Sullivan’s club on 768 Granville Street; and Ada spent two years performing in Vancouver before establishing, with the help of Cole Porter, the famous Chez Bricktop in Paris.

The book is peppered with such accounts of celebrity, but

is not bogged down by it; these details — from Charlie Chaplin’s visit to the Orpheum Theatre in 1911 to Hunter S. Thompson’s appeal to write for the Vancouver Sun in 1958 — illustrate a city drawing the world into its own slowly-forming identity — one that is still in the works.

It is not a comprehensive history, but what Vancouver Was Awesome does well is create accessible, bite-size content for those who think 150 years is too short for an awesome history to emerge. Russwurm is aware of the metropolitan city’s controversial past, and does a good job of noting the kind of subtleties long ignored by history books: the long-time establishment of Musqueam and Squamish communities, the razing of Hogan’s Alley (Vancouver’s black neighbourhood) by the construction of the Georgia Viaduct, and the efforts of workers on the On to Ottawa Trek with the theme of “Work and Wages.”

The book, visually and narratively mapped like a patchwork of emerging moments, mimics the very city it represents: richly diverse, eclectic, contradictory, and determined — it is a box of forgotten photographs under your grandfather’s bed, a postcard tucked away in a dusty memoir.

In an age of rapid gentrification and rising real-estate prices, Vancouver Was Awesome asks us to grapple with what we had and what we might have done instead; it defiantly proclaims awesomeness, then and now, despite the naysayers.

And that’s pretty awesome.

MONTREAL (CUP) — In a windowless one-car garageturned-studio in Outremont, Montreal-based BRAIDS crafted their most introspective and reflective material to date.

“A lot of our inspirations were changing,” said vocalist and drummer Austin Tufts of their latest record, Flourish// Perish. “We wanted to convey some different emotions.”

“We decided we wanted to have a writing and recording style that was more conducive to that palette of emotions,” he says of the dark and intimate recording space. “It’s like 100 per cent different; it’s a completely different beast.”

While their previous material displayed a youthful energy that easily translated into live performances, their sophomore release, fueled mainly by alternative pop instrumentals, boasts an impressive array of sounds and styles.

On tour for their debut album Native Speaker, the trio — which is also composed of keyboardist, guitarist and lead vocalist Raphaelle StandellPreston and bassist, guitarist, percussionist and vocalist Taylor Smith — discovered their appreciation for electronic beats.

“There’s a totally new sonic palette that we were discovering with a lot of electronic music,” says Tufts. “These sonics so much more appropriately reflect what we’re actually feeling and the things we want to express.”

The period between their last record and Flourish//Perish was an emotionally charged one as the band underwent a drastic reconfiguration. Formerly a four piece collective, BRAIDS became faced with the reality of continuing as a trio.

“I almost feel like it’s a transition record,” says Tufts. “We wanted to sort of focus on a more subtle and subdued set of emotions, more melancholy, a little bit more reflective, introspective, because those are the things we were feeling and we

had sort of grown up a little bit, we were not quite angsty anymore I don’t think. Flourish// Perish is a really nice collection of songs that reflects a period in our lives.”

Through their extensive touring, BRAIDS encountered some of the biggest influences in the electronic and house music scene, namely producer Aphex Twin and musician Clark.“It was a totally new and fresh experience for us,” says Tufts of the encounters.

Their ever-evolving sound can be attributed to the band’s refusal to be chained down to a specific style. “I think genres are kind of overrated to be honest,” admits Tufts.“I don’t think we ever nailed down a sound that we were sort of aiming for.”

“There’s no one song that gets the entire album across,” he adds.“I don’t really think there’s any point in trying to pin something down.”

Though native to Calgary, BRAIDS are proud to call Montreal their home now.

What attracts them most to their new music scene is that the city doesn’t necessarily expect you to sound a certain way and is extremely open to different styles.“I think the community that we’re a part of is a very enabling community,” says Tufts. “It’s a community that says ‘yes’ to a lot of different sounds.”

The band connects with the audience not only on a musical level during a hometown show, but on a personal level as well. “There’s always a sense of pride that comes from playing in your hometown,” he says. “It’s always refreshing to go home.”

Before officially unleashing their sound on Montreal almost half a decade ago, the band was initially called the Neighbourhood Council.“That was pretty terrible,” laughs Tufts.

A self-proclaimed “interwoven and interlaced” group, the trio opted for their current moniker instead, which they feel more accurately represents who they are.

“We’re a very tightly knit group of friends, and we’re also very tightly knit musically,” says Tufts. “It’s a good reflection of what we do musically. One of the strongest things you could do to three individuals is to braid them. So if you take three individual pieces of hair, you could break them very easily but if you braid them together, they become very strong.”

ARTS

November 18, 2013

19

DO YOU WANT TO MAKE MONEY FILMING?

The Peak is looking for a videographer! The successful applicant must know how to operate a camera and mic rig, and must be available to work on Fridays. The term of employment is the Spring semester, and the successful applicant will be paid $150 per week. Sound like you? Send your cover letter and resume to jobs@the-peak.ca, or see the-peak.ca/2013/11/videographer for more information.

The folks at Gastown’s Pourhouse and Main St.’s Pizzeria Farina have teamed up to bring Vancouver Ask for Luigi, a cozy Italian joint making its home in the old Two Chefs & a Table location in Railtown.

The pastas are all made in house, and sauces range from the pomodoro to a ragu with chicken liver. There are also starters available, as well as a white-heavy wine list. The place is charming and quaint, with an old-style, white-clapboard store front and out-ofthe-way location, straight out of the early twentieth century.

This week, Big Freedia takes the stage at the Biltmore Cabaret. Known as the Queen of Bounce, Big Freedia is at the forefront of the Bounce rap movement, a sub-genre born out of New Orleans. Her performances are backed by the dance group she calls The Divas. It’s bound to be the most fun you’ve had all week. Doors open at 8:00 p.m. on Nov. 20, and tickets are $17 in advance.

Check out Cocktails at Pam’s

by Stewart Lemoine this week at Studio 1398 (Festival House) on Granville Island, running until Nov. 30. Produced by Staircase Theatre Equity Collective, the 11-person comedy is about a cocktail party that goes awry. Pam attempts to be the perfect hostess, and she believes she has everything under control — until the unthinkable happens. Tickets range from $15 to $20, and can be purchased at cocktailsatpams.bpt.me.

PechaKucha Vol. 30 is going down at the Vogue Theatre Nov. 20 at 6:30 p.m. If you haven’t heard of it before, PechaKucha is a gathering of creatives who present 20 slides for 20 seconds each, allowing them to share their work in a concise way. This edition will feature an opening act by Hannah Epperson, and speakers include author J.B. MacKinnon, artist Zoe Pawlak, and many more. These nights tend to sell out quickly, so get your tickets at pechakuchanightvancouver.com.

This week, starting Nov. 22, the Vancouver Christmas Market returns to its location at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Running until Dec. 24, it’s the perfect place to jolt your Christmas spirit awake. Little wooden kiosks house food, drink, and craft vendors, and the whole lot turns into something right out of a small German town. Grab some mulled wine, German bratwurst, and hunt for some one-of-a-kind stocking stuffers or seasonal ornaments.

20

SPORTS

The Clan women’s basketball team opened their 2013 non-conference season with a split weekend in California. After travelling south for their second road trip of the season, the ladies swapped wins with the Cal Poly Pomona Broncos, in two thrilling games.

In the first game of the doubleheader, the visitors fell by two points, despite an exciting second half comeback that showcased their ability as a team. The Clan started shaky, falling behind by 12 points before the half, shooting only 38 per cent from the floor. But in the second half they staged a period-long comeback, tying the game at 64 with just over two minutes to play.

The Broncos were able to shut them out over the final few minutes, taking the first

It was another up-and-down week for SFU’s volleyball team, as the Clan returned home, winning one game and losing another in West Gym. The win, however, was the Clan’s fifth of the season, marking the team’s highest win total since entering the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

The record-setting victory came at the expense of the Saint Martin’s University Saints, in what was a very one-sided affair.

The Clan narrowly took the first set 25–21, before blowing out the Saints over the final two, 25–13 and 25–15.

Junior middle Madeline Hait led the Clan attack, recording 14 kills, though fellow junior Kelsey Robinson wasn’t far behind with 11. Robinson also led the team with 17 digs, but had

November 18, 2013

match of the double header 66–64. Senior Rebecca Langmead earned her first doubledouble of the season, keeping the Clan in the game with 15 points and 17 rebounds on the night, while co-captain Erin Chambers led the Clan with 20 points. The loss gave the Clan plenty of motivation for round two.

sports editor email / phone

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

Less than 24-hours later, the two teams hit the floor for a rematch, both one game stronger, and more knowledgeable about the other. This time it was the Clan who were able to hold off their opponents, winning 73–64.

Chambers again led the Clan offence, with 21 points in the game.

For the second straight night, SFU started slower than

they would have liked, leading by only one point at the half. In the second period, however, the team came to play, holding the Broncos to 25 per cent shooting from the floor, and dominating the boards in the final 20 minutes. Sophomore Meg Wilson led the Clan in rebounds with ten, while senior Marie-Line Petit brought her experience to

the Clan’s campaign finishing with 14 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals on the night.

The Clan will continue their non-conference schedule at home on Nov. 22, hosting two games against the San Francisco State Gators as well asanother doubleheader against the Academy of Art Urban Nights next weekend. These non-conference games will help prepare the ladies for their Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) season which opens against their cross-border and GNAC championship rivals, Western Washington; the Clan will need all the preparation they can manage.

The Vikings visit the Clan on Dec. 7 for what will prove to be a telling game for the rest of the season. SFU and WWU were ranked third and fourth in the pre-season conference poll respectively, and the Clan will be looking to demonstrate their capabilities in their GNAC opener and set the tone for the remainder of the 2013-14 season.

Western Oregon in either the fourth or fifth sets, dropping them 23–25 and 12–15, respectively, ultimately falling in five close sets.

“I thought both teams were equally skilled and competitive on the floor but, that in the end, it came down to the fine details,”

said sophomore defensive specialist Helen Yan post-game. “Looking forward now, we are going to need to execute as well as we can and close this season on a high note.”

With the loss dropping the conference record to 5–9, the Clan will have to win their final

four games to finish with an even record, a tough task for a developing team. But as evidenced by their best-ever fifth win of the year, and even in the close game against Western Oregon, SFU is playing some of its best volleyball in years.

help on defense, as Alanna Chan and promising freshman Alison McKay each had 13.

The straight-set victory was one of the Clan’s best of the season.

“I think this game we executed individually and executed well as a team too,” said Hait after the match. “Our offence and defence both played well. We’ve been working a lot on defending and turning saves into kills and I think that showed tonight.”

The win pulled the Clan’s overall record above .500 to 10–9, and their conference record to 5–8.

That was until their next game against Western Oregon.

It’s been a running theme for the Clan this season to win one game and drop the next, and the trend continued against the Wolves.

That’s not to say it wasn’t close — it was as close a game as one could hope for. The Wolves took the first set 21–25, before SFU stormed back to take the next two, 25–22 and 25–23, but couldn’t close out

SPORTS

The Clan football team is finally back in the win column following their domination of Humboldt State University in their second last game of the season.

SFU earned their third win of 2013, and their first home victory of the season beating the Lumberjacks 38–17 on Terry Fox Field. In a cold evening match-up, the Clan held a 24-0 lead at the half after a dominant performance from their defensive line, shutting the 2012 GNAC champions out handily.

November 18, 2013

Senior Casey Chin led the defense with 15 tackles and three sacks on the night, earning him the GNAC Red Lion Defensive Player of the Week award. Mitchell Barnett added 10 tackles of his own to the Clan’s efforts, as the defense allowed 15 points less than their season average.

The Clan offence returned to form in the game, with star running-back Chris Tolbert opening the scoring with an eight yard touch-down run. He would score one other touchdown in the game, running for 153 yards on the evening. It was senior wide-receiver Tore Corrado with the highlight of the night however, returning a Humboldt State kickoff 99-yards for his second touchdown of the season. Quarterback Ryan Stanford

also had a good night with two touchdowns and 220 yards through the air. One of those marked the first touchdown for wide receiver Lemar Durant since the season opener, after an injury kept him on the sideline for six games.

The Clan men will close their 2013 campaign at home facing the 2013 GNAC Champions from Asuza Pacific University. The 3–6 Clan will look to boost their season record to a respectable 4–6, as they host their annual Seniors Game, honouring athletes who will finish their eligibility as of that game. To earn the win, the Clan will need to pull together as a team and fire on all cylinders to pull off an upset victory and close out a disappointing 2013 with a bang.

CEO WANTED

It was an entire year in the making, but the SFU women’s cross-country team qualified for their very first NCAA Division II National Championship following their performance at the West Regionals. The Clan women finished in third place overall, booking their ticket to the championships, while the SFU men had their best regional performance to date, coming in at tenth place.

The Clan women were highly ranked both in 2012 and 2013, but fell short last season missing the qualification to the NCAA championships by one position. This time, they made no mistake and will compete two weeks hence on the same course to close out their very successful season.

Captain Lindsey Butterworth led the women’s squad, finishing an impressive fourth-overall, earning AllRegional honours for the first time.

She was followed by GNAC Freshman of the Year Rebecca Bassett in 16th, sophomore Kansas Mackenzie

in 20th and senior Kirsten Allen in 25th. The three ladies were also AllRegion honourees.

Rounding out the racers were Emma Chadsey, Sarah Sawatzky and Michaela Kane, as the sevenwomen team made history as they become the first non-American team to qualify for an NCAA crosscountry championship.

The Clan men also had a good performance over the 10km course, led by GNAC Freshman of the Year Oliver Jorgensen, placing 18th overall, leading his team to tenth in the region, and earning All-Regional honours for his performance — a first for any male Clan cross-country runner.

He was followed by Cameron Proceviat in 37th and Brendan Wong in 53rd before captain James Young and junior Austin Trapp rounded out the Clan point scorers.

Chris Dinsdale and Stuart MacDonald also raced for the team, capping off the season with their final race of 2013.

The women’s team finished behind only Alaska Anchorage and Chico State, with Seattle Pacific and Western Washington coming in fourth and fifth, meaning the

...continued on page 22

STIPENDED POSITION AVAILABLE NOTICE  –  Dated  November  8th,  2013

The  Simon  Fraser  Student  Society  is  seeking  a   YROXQWHHU IRU WKH &KLHI (OHFWRUDO 2I¿FHU &(2 SRVLWLRQ RQ LWV ,QGHSHQGHQW (OHFWRUDO &RPPLVVLRQ ,(&

The  successful  candidate  will  be  paid  a  stipend  and  is  responsible  for  administering  the  student  society  elections.   The  CEO  will  be  appointed  to  a  one-­year  term  commencing   'HFHPEHU VW Prior  experience  with  electoral  process  and  policy  interpretation  is  an  asset.  If  you  are  interested  in  the  position,  please  send  your   resume  and  cover  letter  to  minutes@sfss.ca  along  with  your  contact  information.  The  deadline  for  applications  is  30 0RQGD\ 1RYHPEHU WK Candidates  are  also  encouraged  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  SFSS  Board  of  Directors  at  $0 :HGQHVGD\ 2FWREHU WK Please  refer  to  the  following  links  for  more  information: http://elections.sfss.ca/iec/about/ KWWS VIVV FD VLWHV GHIDXOW ¿OHV GRFXPHQWV 6)66B5 B(OHFWRUDOB DQGB5HIHUHQGDB3ROLF\ SGI

21

22 SPORTS

The 2013-2014 National Hockey League season is now past the quarter mark, and contenders for this year’s Stanley Cup finals have begun to emerge. It’s still too early to predict a winner, but one thing is for certain: the Edmonton Oilers won’t be winning the Cup this year.

So who is going to be crowned NHL champion? The preseason darling in the media was the Pittsburgh Penguins, but Marc Andre Fleury has been known to crumble in the postseason. Add in back up Tomas Vokoun’s blood clots and Pittsburgh’s goaltending situation gets a whole lot murkier.

The defending champs, the Chicago Blackhawks, are another hot choice. What people are forgetting is how much last year’s Cup-winning hero Dave Bolland, since traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, meant to the Blackhawks. The feisty center killed penalties and shut down opposing top lines; Bolland was built for playoff hockey. The Hawks have the talent, but does power forward Bryan Bickell offer enough grit to carry the Blackhawks through the grind and replace Bolland? Only time will tell.

Then there are this year’s two surprise teams: the Colorado Avalanche and Anaheim Ducks. Head coach Patrick Roy has his young Avalanche squad playing well beyond its years, but they’ll slow down soon and the team is too inexperienced when it comes to playoff hockey. Captain Gabriel Landeskog only turns 21 on Nov. 23 and has yet to get a taste of playoff hockey. The Avalanche are definitely on the upswing, but aren’t all the way there quite yet.

...continued from page 21 national championships will feature four teams from the GNAC. The five teams will also have an advantage heading into the nationals having raced in the only regional competition to be run on the same course on which the NCAA will host their national race.

The Clan women entered the race determined to erase the memory of the their disappointing sixth place finish in 2012, and the intensity brought to the

November 18, 2013

Anaheim has a core group of players that have tasted hockey glory in Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.

The main concern is depth, or lack thereof. The Ducks have a great top six, but their bottom six leaves much to be desired. The Stanley Cup is won with the grinders as much as it is won with the superstars, and Anaheim does not boast a strong third or fourth line.

The early picks to represent the Eastern and Western conference in the finals? The Boston Bruins and St Louis Blues, with St Louis eventually winning it all.

Boston made the finals last year behind the strong play of goaltender Tuukka Rask but general manager Peter Chiarelli actually improved his squad by adding veterans Loui Eriksson and Jarome Iginla. Add in strong blue line play from youngster Torey Krug and the Bruins have another championship-calibre squad on their hands.

St Louis on the other hand is seemingly built for playoff hockey.

They have a playoff series-stealing-calibre goaltender in Jaroslav Halak, who did just that for Montreal in 2010. They boast the NHL’s leading goal scorer, so far, in Alexander Steen, who’s a big body with a ton of skill. They have budding superstar defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and a ton of depth up and down their roster.

If recent playoffs have taught us anything, it’s that depth is the key to postseason success, and St Louis has that in spades. With veteran Brenden Morrow leading young guns TJ Oshie and Vladimir Tarasenko, the Blues have tremendous upside.

The National Hockey League boasts incredible parity among its teams, so it may turn out that the next league champion isn’t even mentioned here. But that is what makes the NHL so great; nothing is set in stone, definitely not a Stanley Cup prediction made in mid-November.

2013 Regionals was evident. This year the ladies doubled their AllRegional athlete contingent, with Mackenzie repeating as a twotime honouree. Other highlights were the strong performance by Butterworth, who was ill during the 2012 race, and the addition of Bassett to the squad.

The ladies have two weeks to recover and prepare for the final race of the season, and their first ever NCAA Division II national championships, with a chance to put one final stamp on an already impressive season.

athlete has won the award.

Sophomore Alex Rowley captured Defensive Player of the Year honours while defender Magnus Kristensen was named Freshman of the Year.

Head coach Alan Koch won Coach of the Year for the fourth consecutive season, having won it each year his team has been in the NCAA. It was quite the week for the SFU men’s soccer team. Coming off the high of their double-overtime win against Seattle Pacific, the Clan capped off their regular season with plenty of hardware.

The team swept the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Awards, including Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, and Coach of the Year, to go along with their fourthstraight GNAC title.

Then, the team blew out its first-round competition at the NCAA Div. II national tournament in Los Angeles.

Junior midfielder Chris Bargholz earned Player of the Year honours, improving on his second-team all-star nod from a year ago; it also marked the third-straight year a Clan

But, the Clan are still in the hunt for that one trophy that’s eluded them so far: a Division II championship.

They started the chase off on the right foot however, with a dominant 5–0 win against the California Baptist University Lancers in the first round of the NCAA Championship.

SFU scored early and often in the match, putting up four goals on the Lancers before the first half ended. It was freshman defender Alexander Kleefeldt who opened the scoring on a rocket from

almost 30 yards out — but it was Rowley who was the star of the contest.

Entering the win-or-gohome game with no goals on the season, he picked a good time to score his first two tallies of the year. He scored the Clan’s second and fourth goals of the game, the latter coming just moments before the first half came to a close.

His two goals sandwiched a Ryan Dhillon tally, as SFU cruised to a four-goal lead after 45 minutes. Sophomore Colin Jacques, the Clan’s leading point-getter, scored the fifth and final goal of the game midway through the second half, which was little more than a 45-minute formality.

“Amazing performance by the lads tonight,” said head coach Alan Koch after the game. “The desire and the willingness to work for each other was evident for the full 90 minutes. I am incredibly proud of this group of players.”

The win pushes the Clan to the second round of the Div. II tournament, and one step closer to that one last piece of hardware, a National Championship.

SPORTS

November 18, 2013

Performance-enhancing drugs (PED) use is one of the utmost concerns in the professional sporting world, as the deterioration of once-revered New York Yankee Alexander Rodriguez’s legacy has proven. With most competent athletes being able to avoid detection for years, some argue that performance enhancers should be allowed in order for them to be administered in a safe manner and to, somehow, ‘level the playing field’ amongst athletes.

I, however, would argue that this completely disregards what it means to be a sportsman and puts the athletes in harm’s way.

The only way to truly mitigate the

use of PED in sports is to effectively ban those found guilty of using them.

Perhaps the most convincing argument against loosening the restrictions on PED and in favour of stricter legislation comes from the world of contact sports. No careers are shortened by how fast Lance Armstrong can pedal a bike or how fast a sprinter can run; however, serious injuries can occur when an NFL player can deliver harder hits or when a boxer can orchestrate a more concussive attack. Drugs that allow athletes participating in such sports to encourage an above-normal amount of muscle growth only further opens sportsmen to dangerous injuries.

In addition to the danger that stronger and faster athletes present in high-contact sports, PED also devalue what it means to be a professional athlete. Adding an unnatural substance into the

training regimen goes against the pursuit of pushing the human body to its natural limits.

While they do not negate the necessity of skill, PED allow the possibility of otherwise unworthy athletes being able to force their way into the professional ranks on the basis of ill-gotten gains rather than pure, unadulterated hard work. Professional sport should be a celebration of the skill of a select few who are able to hone their craft better than anyone else rather than a bizarre science experiment.

It may, at first, seem that the system of temporary suspensions currently being used

almost across the board is sufficient to deter users and punish those who have used them in the past. After all, don’t those who have been punished for past use of PED deserve a second chance?

Not at all, says a recent study reported on by the BBC. Research done at the University of Oslo suggests that those who use steroids, even for a short period of time, can reap the physical benefits on a long-term basis, perhaps even a decade after stopping use. If correct, the implication would be that once an athlete has been found to be using PED once, not only would their past achievements be called into question, but all their future outings would also be tainted.

As one of the authors of the study, professor Kristian Gundersen, tells the BBC, “In science if you cheat you are out for life, and my personal view is that it should be similar for

athletes . . . it is a harsh treatment but if you really are cheating, I think that’s reasonable.�

For centuries, sports, both professional and amateur, have given us all a reason to come together and cheer. However, with the growing commodification of the industry, it is only natural to assume that there will be those who want to gain an unfair advantage.

Given all we now know about brain injuries in professional athletics, it is nothing short of irresponsible to let anything increase that risk. Furthermore, PED dilute the standard to which professional athletes should be held, by introducing an unnatural variable into the equation. As a result, those who have been found guilty of using such substances should face a permanent ban from their chosen sport, rather than a temporary suspension or other likewise insufficient punishment.

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November 18, 2013

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Hope to see you there!

HUMOUR

November 18, 2013

YOUR REGION — In a dramatic show of her free spirit, “can’t be tamed” attitude, a 16 year-old girl in your area has decided to go through with piercing her nose even after her parents told her it was okay.

“I don’t care if they’re totally cool with it, I fucking did it anyways,” explained Janis Hopperman, whose parents have also posed no problem with her using the occasional swear word. “And you know what? I’m going to go to that concert downtown tomorrow night even after they agreed to drive me there.”

Friends of Hopperman are not surprised in the least by her gutsy decision to go through with the piercing even with her parents’ consent, and say she’s always acting out within the boundaries.

“She’s such a rebel,” fawned schoolmate Alexis Brill who said she couldn’t even imagine piercing her nose if her parents were supportive of it. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she gets a tattoo that her parents agree is appropriate next . . . she’s just that much of a loose-cannon.”

According to Hopperman’s parents they’re happy to allow her to make her own decisions as long as she continues to get good grades and stay out of trouble.

“Yeah, my parents tried to tell me that I could only get my nose pierced if I made the honour roll,” Hopperman said with a snide grin. “So I just like, worked really hard, made them proud and then got this piercing, like, you know fuckin’ whatever.”

humour editor email / phone

OTTAWA — In an effort to combat their national debts, the governments of Canada, the United States and Mexico, announced yesterday that they have sold the majority of their geographical features to advertisers.

Government officials were quick to defend themselves from the outcry of critics by saying that sports stadiums often have their name sold to the highest bidder and that this was ‘basically the same thing.’

Some of the biggest changes involve the Rocky Mountains being renamed the ‘Coors Light Rocky Mountains,’ Victoria Island is now ‘Victoria’s Secret Island,’ and the Gulf of Mexico was renamed ‘British Petroleum Bay,’ due to an amendment to the recent law which enacts a ‘you break it, you bought it’ policy.

While many have been critical of the decision, claiming that many geographic names carry with them “invaluable historical cultural identities.” The government has largely defended their actions by pointing out that being owned and manipulated by corporations is part of our modern culture, and that this deserves to be reflected in our geographic heritage.

Critics of the renaming have focused on the blatantly oxymoronic renaming of Peace River to Halliburton River, Algonquin Park to Smirnoff Gardens, and Lake Huron to PokerStars.net Lake .

The only geographic feature to retain its name was Hudson’s Bay, whose name was purchased by the Hudson’s Bay Company.

Brad McLeod humour@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

25

CHICAGO — Although fantasy football has seen increases in its popularity every year since its creation, it’s one-time rival ‘sci-fi football’ continues to stay completely unrecognized, a trend which has surprised no one.

‘Sci-fi football’, which originated in the 1960s around the same time as the inception of its “fantasy” counterpart, is a similar game of interactive competition between virtual teams with the only difference being thatin ‘sic-fi football’ the stats are collected from an imagined “parallel universe.”

“It literally made no sense” explained Joey Bosquez, who briefly played in a ‘sci-fi’ league before discovering fantasy football, “I remember in the first week, I had Shaun Alexander and he got 3 TDs and ran 200 yards, but then our commissioner only gave me 2 points because apparently in our league’s universe he only ran 15 yards before he had his head blown off by a ray gun.”

According to Bosquez, who quit the game after only three weeks, the entire ‘sci-fi football’ community is comprised of only four people who he says only play as a substitute to dungeons and dragons which they dismiss as being “fantasy bullshit.”

“The craziest part is that I was in a league with the two most normal of those guys,” Bosquez continued shaking his head. “The other two are only into ‘hard scifi football’ . . . I think they’re still doing their first season because of all the time-travel and wormholes.”

26 HUMOUR

BURNABY —The Gonzales family has had a lot of tough breaks since arriving in Canada including a lack of jobs, repossessions and a house fire earlier in the year. However, nothing compares to their 12 year-old son’s two can-a-day Coke habit.

Bobby Gonzales, who started drinking Coke at the young age of five, was found to have two cavities. He has already previously had one filling. He often has a hard time paying attention in class. His room is untidy with a few cans of coke scattered across the room. These are symptoms common in heavy Coke use.

“His teeth are falling out, his teacher says he talks too much, I just don’t know what to do,” said Flores, the mother of the household, while holding back tears, “He’s out of control!”

The Gonzales’ dentist, Dr David Wong, though calmer, was equally grim in his words

VANCOUVER — Capitalizing on the ever increasing number of specialty restaurants in the city, a new restaurant opened last week which is expected to take the city by storm by really setting its menu apart.

While Vancouver prides itself on its abundance of trendy vegan and vegetarian eateries, places that cater to specific

November 18, 2013

saying, “If he doesn’t get help, I don’t see a scenario that he won’t get another cavity,” and that Bobby “will have to probably have at least four fillings for the rest of his life,” to the audible gasps of the dental hygienists in the room.

When he is not allowed to have a Coke, he will pull drastic stunts such as pout or say moderately hurtful things. Sometimes he will even state statistics that sugar “is not that bad for you.”

“Come on man, what is so bad about Coke? If I want to drink it, I should be able to drink it,” justified Bobby, while sipping some Coke. “Besides everyone is doing it.”

Indeed, he is correct: Coke drinking has become an epidemic, not only reaching school children, but people of all ages.

Drinking of sugary substances

diets, almost all of them have something that could appeal to anyone. The hippest new place in town, The Windbag, however, is expected to appeal to almost no one which could just make the next big sensation in local cuisine.

According to the owner, Alexander Conacher, The Windbag is a “breatharian” restaurant that caters to the lifestyle of those who shun all conventional foods and even water, believing humans can live and thrive on air and sunlight alone.

“Biting, chewing, swallowing; all the shallow mechanisms of eating only distract us from savouring the sweet taste of the

has not been this high since the Pepsidemic of the mid-90s.

However, Dr. Cooper, a soft drink treatment specialist, says it is much worse now.

“In the 90s you had the edgy youth, what we would now call hipsters, drinking Pepsi during the height of the Pepsidemic, maybe a few schoolchildren would have the odd can,” Cooper explained.

“But now, everyone from lil’ Sue in kindergarten to your

universe,” Conacher told The Peak. “But even breatharians should still have a place where they can go out, socialize, and have a good time.”

While food and drinks are not served at The Windbag, all the essential amenities of the breatharian lifestyle are present.

The lighting is designed to be as close as possible to natural sunlight, in order to stimulate photosynthesis and tables are spread out so when patrons take their seats they aren’t accidentally breathing in their neighbours’ “meals.”

“We can serve hundreds of people a night because we don’t need to waste time cooking,”

grandmother are drinking Coke.

I have not seen anything like it in all my years.”

Many addicts are in denial, not realizing the seriousness of their addictions, claiming that “it’s just a drink” or that they “only have one once in a blue moon.” Former addict Sean Howard knows this all too well.

“At first, it was a Coke after work, then it became two, then it became three. My wife and children no longer recognized

Conacher raved, happy to put in as little work as possible. “And all the money that we save on unnecessary plates and cutlery, we put into our state of the art air conditioning system. We even offer a full buffet; just pay at the front and we’ll setup a fan beside your table.”

“So, if you’re ever downtown and you’re looking for a nibble of fresh air, or you’re feeling “green” and just want a “light” snack, drop by at the place with the best “atmosphere” around!”

Conacher said in promotion of The Windbag. “And if you don’t finish your meal, we’ll wrap it up in a balloon and you can enjoy it at home!”

me. I was a wreck,” said Howard, a rough looking man, with not quite white teeth. “Before long, I lost my wife, my job, my home . . . everything to Coca-Cola.”

It was not an easy road to recovery for Howard, a former lumberjack. “I tried cold turkey but it wasn’t working, when I’d go to a restaurant, I’d slip up and order a Coke. It wasn’t until my doctor suggested I try heroin that I fully kicked the habit. I haven’t touched a can of Coke since.”

HUMOUR

SURREY — A 25-minute delay of the 319 bus at Scott Road Station last night has left a local man completely eviscerated after he had no choice but to spend the entirety of his wait loudly complaining to everyone he met.

Although John Frippman, 37, would end up making it home in “fucking twice as long as it should fucking take if only TransLink weren’t so fucked up,” according to family members he was completely depleted of his usual violent rage.

“He just wanted to sit quietly and watch TV” his wife Joan told The Peak in a shaky voice. “He didn’t even have the energy to take any anger out on me or the kids!”

She went on to explain that John used to always get home early and lambaste them with all his problems but recently the persistently late bus has caused him to be lifeless, and almost pleasant to be around at home.

“Last night he was so angry about the late bus that he didn’t even have the energy to yell at

November 18, 2013

27

our son for being five minutes late on his curfew,” Joan continued, almost breaking down in to tears “TransLink is tearing apart our perfectly difunctional family!”

While Joan has said that she’s been doing her best to make up for her husband’s lack of anger by flying off the handle over day-to-day minutia, she said she just isn’t able to replace the feeling of unsafety that used to exist in their house.”

“Sure, I’ve been fully capable of making our house unpleasant but it’s just not the same” Joan explained. “We used to be honestly terrified for our lives, but I haven’t had those feelings in weeks!”

According to those who have seen Frippman at the station, however, he is at the top of his insane anger game.

“Yeah, I’ve seen him out there, he really gives it his all,” said a

fellow transit user who’s been privy to his late night bus riding rants. “He gets right up in everybody’s faces and goes off on everything from TransLink, bus drivers, the government, Obamacare . . . it must be exhausting.”

While Frippman has expressed interest in returning some of his irrational anger to his homelife, he says he feels conflicted over his responsibilities to

all the people at Scott Road Station Bay 7.

“Without me, everyone would just stand in silence waiting for a late bus and be completely unaware of how much they were getting ripped-off,” Frippman said of his duties as a 20-minutea-night transit revolutionary.

“Someone has to band these people together into a pointless feeling of anger, and I seem to be

the only one willing to step up to the plate.”

Frippman went on to say that as long the bus keeps being late, he will rant about it but has vowed to work extra-hard to save some negative energy for his wife and kids. However he also stated it may be impossible if he ever has a late bus and an incompetent Wendy’s employee in the same day.

28 LAST WORD

features editor email / phone

Max Hill features@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

hen I was 16, I was awestruck at the sight of Carrie Bradshaw walking on the streets of Manhattan, shopping at Barney’s. I hoped that I, too, would get a chance to step in those Louboutins and walk on those streets, pulling out my credit card whenever and wherever I wanted. Nearly four years later, I’m older, wiser and have embraced the reality: I will never get a chance to step into that place, and the Marxist in me doesn’t even want to.

Furthermore, taking the store’s recent racial profiling scandal into account, I can safely say I wouldn’t want to shop there even if I had all the credit cards in the world — after all, as a Pakistani-Canadian, I’m not your average “white” female.

Barney’s has received widespread media attention and criticism after allegations of racial profiling, and many have pledged to boycott the store entirely.

So, how did this mess get started? Several weeks ago, Trayon Christian, an 18 year-old AfricanAmerican college student, purchased a $350 Salvatore Ferragamo belt at Barney’s. He was subsequently stopped by undercover police officers (called on by the sales clerk) who believed that the transaction was fraudulent.

Even after showing his debit card, receipt and personal identification, Trayon Christian was still not released, and claims he was detained by the NYPD for two hours. This is disputed by inspector Kim Royster, who claimed in an article for the International Business Times that he was only detained for 42 minutes.

Those who have argued that Trayon could have prevented this course of events are missing the point: no amount of identification or proof will save you from harassment in the case of institutional racism. Racists will do everything in their power to satisfy their mentality, which dictates that people of colour cannot possibly purchase expensive items, and, if they attempt do so, they should be harassed and embarrassed for it.

Consequently, Trayon Christian has returned the belt and been reimbursed in full. He is now suing Barney’s for unspecified damages.

Following this, Barney’s released an official statement, saying: “Barney’s New York has zero tolerance for any form of discrimination. We are a strong proponent of equal rights and equal treatment for all human beings. Our mission is to ensure that all customers receive the highest-quality service — without exception.”

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Barney’s has been accused of discriminating against people of colour. Recently, 21 year-old Kayla Phillips was stopped by four undercover police officers after purchasing a $2,500 designer purse at Barney’s. Kayla told the Daily News that two officers attacked her and pushed her against the wall, while the other two appeared in front of her, blocking the turnstile. Phillips also pressed charges against Barney’s, as well as the NYPD. Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion writer Robin Givhan, in a piece for the Washington Post, explains it accurately when she says, “The very act of shopping at Barneys is an expression of something beyond just a commercial exchange. And to have a police officer confront a teenager and a mom and say that they are not the people that their choices just confirmed them to be, to tell them that they do not belong — that they are fakers — is an insult that differs from: There’s a problem with your credit card.”

So, where exactly does Jay Z fit into this picture?

Hip-hop star Shawn Carter, known by his stage name Jay Z, is engaged in a highly publicized business collaboration with Barney’s.

After the Trayon Christian incident, people began petitioning Jay Z to opt out of the deal, or at least respond with an appropriate response of outrage, disgust, and anger.

After several days, he released this statement: “I am against discrimination of any kind, but if I make snap judgements, no matter who it’s towards, aren’t I committing the same sin as someone

November 18, 2013

who profiles? I am no stranger to being profiled and I truly empathize with anyone that has been put in that position. Hopefully this brings forth a dialogue to effect [sic] real change.”

Many are unconvinced — some have argued that Jay Z’s noncommittal and overdue response resulted from not wanting to give up potential profits, while the rapper has countered that some of the proceeds from the deal will be given to his philanthropic Shawn Carter Foundation.

Since the story has surfaced, online commenters across forums have argued that it’s hard to sympathize with someone wealthy enough to afford to shop at a store like Barney’s.

Several went on to argue that in different parts of the world today — even the United States — people are being deprived of many basic necessities, and the right to live with dignity, because of institutional racism; and that by comparison, it was hard for them to feel bad for privileged people treated poorly in a high-end a store.

What these comments miss is that racism is a problem that should not be belittled or ignored, no matter what the specifics are. No one is denying that prejudice affects people to different degrees, and that their stories need to come to light, but denying someone else their right to be treated respectfully and fairly is indefensible.

These incidents continue to happen because racism is drilled into the mindsets of people by our society — change is inevitable, but painfully slow. Only eight months ago, Trayvon Martin was fatally shot by George Zimmerman; we all know how that story ended.

Racism remains prevalent, and it still exists in every facet of our lives. It is a good sign that people are taking action, that many have decided to boycott Barney’s in the future. The more that we take notice of and criticize these forms of racism, the closer we get to affording each individual the respect they deserve, regardless of race.