From Street to Stage

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FIRST PEEK

September 23, 2013 · Volume 145, Issue 4

THE

SANDLERS OF

CATAN

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FIRST PEEK

Religious and ethnic diversity is something to be cherished in Canada. Unfortunately, there have been attempts lately to undermine this principle. In Québec, the Parti Québécois (PQ) under the leadership of Pauline Marois have recently unveiled a “Charter of Values” purportedly aimed at solidifying the secularization of Québec.

At first glance, the rationale surely seems reasonable. However, a further look uncovers its disturbing intentions. While advocates claim state secularism will be promoted, the proposal fails to meet the supposed goals of its proponents by ensuring loopholes in its provisions. Instead, it’s a furtive attempt to undermine religious diversity.

Therefore, contrary to the officially stated goals of the PQ, its provisions are actually the manifestation of hate-based politics. Perhaps more disturbing is the PQ’s adept strategy of creating an “us vs. them” mentality in an attempt to secure the bill’s passage.

While overt religious symbols from the kippah to the crucifix are no longer permitted to be worn by public employees, this falls short of actually ensuring a “secular” Québec; the bill contains a provision

September 23, 2013

excluding religious symbols considered an integral part of the province’s history. As Québec has a decidedly Catholic past and continues to have a Catholic majority, this means Catholic names and symbols are here to stay.

Not only will thousands of geographic names not be renamed, but the crucifix in Québec’s National Assembly building will also not be removed. With this taken into account, the true intentions of the separatist PQ become much clearer. Rather than seeing a law which applies secularism fairly across Québec for all religious communities, the bill aims to solidify the Catholic nature of Québec, thus imposing a set of double standards throughout the entire province.

These inequities can also be seen in the proposal to remove tax exempt status of all houses of worship. While this applies equally to churches, mosques, synagogues, etc., the reality is that religious minorities — unlike the Catholic majority — would not benefit from the clause recognizing religious symbols that are deemed a part of Québec’s past. Therefore, while increased financial burden will put pressure on smaller congregations of all religions (whereby diminishing their presence), Catholics will fare better in their ability to offset this effect.

This inequity is also made worse by its failure to officially recognize the past influences of other religions. Québec, for example, has had Jewish and Protestant

communities — among others — for more than two centuries. Thus, such a discriminatory bill aims to marginalize religious minorities by seeking to minimize their public presence and recognition in mainstream society.

In an effort to implement a twisted vision of religious inequality under the guise of secularism, the PQ has turned to double standards formally enshrined in the bill. In fact, it has actually been fanning the flames for some time already; a dig of derogatory remarks made not long ago further underscore their true intentions.

In a 2012 Globe and Mail article, PQ politician André Simard (then the PQ’s Agriculture Critic) was quoted making disparaging comments toward the practice of slaughtering livestock in accordance to halal dietary codes, labelling it “inhumane” and incompatible with Québec values.

Such methods actually serve to minimize pain, meaning there is little evidence the comment was made out of sincere concern for the animals involved. Rather, it was a poorly disguised attempt at fostering bigotry and intolerance and — more importantly — stirring up tensions to win support for the PQ’s twisted proposals.

While we sometimes take the notions of diversity and tolerance for granted, the recent happenings in Québec serve as a reminder that we shouldn’t, in fact, do so. Rather, we should be proactive in our attempts to uphold such values in our society.

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NEWS

Brian Park, an SFU software engineering student, spent his summer designing and programming SkaleFree, a free social networking website made specifically for SFU students.

The site, www.skalefree.net, is designed to give students the ability to meet with other students with common interests for purposes ranging from forming study groups, to selling textbooks, to simple friendship.

“A big part of university really is about social networking and the social experience,” said

September 23, 2013

Park. “We just felt, even though there were a lot of different ways you can meet people at SFU . . . the way you can meet people is still the traditional way that you would in the past.”

He continued, “We wanted to take the luck out of it . . . to give people control over who they meet and their own life goals within the university context.”

On SkaleFree, users create a free profile with just an email address and user name, and can create and respond to posts seeking study groups or friends. The user profiles, as well as the posts, include as much or as little information as the user wants, like their personal interests or the classes they are taking.

SkaleFree separates itself from other social networking sites by not promoting the creation of an online image, such as on Facebook or Twitter. According to

news editor email / phone

Park, this image reduces other sites’ ability to effectively encourage social networking.

“Trying to make your image look good,” according to Park, reduces its “use as a social networking tool . . . people are starting to feel like it’s just for entertainment.” SkaleFree does not allow photos, and encourages you to give only “the information you need to share in order to effectively find the right person.”

In response to the potential problems of anonymous meetings through the site, it employs a reputation system, in which users can be voted up or down by others, such as on the large international social networking site, Reddit.

Each profile can only vote on another’s reputation once, requiring users to build substantial relationships with other individual users, says Park. In this way,

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

people who might “use the site in dishonest ways,” or “trolls,” are prevented, and users can gain “social power,” which they could use to become chosen before others for selling textbooks, for instance.

This solution is itself an experiment, according to Park, who describes himself as being flexible on the site’s design, “Until people actually use it and give us feedback . . . then we’ll see

Leah Bjornson

what the problems are and make adjustments.”

Park, who completed a Bachelor’s degree in marketing at UBC before coming to SFU, insists that monetization through the website “is not necessary. I’m not looking for money.” It includes no advertising, and he says that the only advertising he would allow in the near future is that which is schoolrelated, such as on-campus services.

Park can see the site expanding to other universities and communities. He asked, “If its helping people’s lives in the university context, then why not in other universities, or in Vancouver in general?”

At SFU, Park sees the oftencommented upon “commuterschool problem” that he wants to change with SkaleFree. “You should want to come to SFU not just for class, but to meet people,” he stated.

NEWS

There was a palpable curiosity in and around convocation mall on Sept. 13, as tall blue event gates were set up to fence in the night’s festivities. The SFSS ventured to host “the biggest party at SFU,” with their Kickoff Concert, featuring performances from DJ acts Carl Louis & Martin Danielle (CLMD), Dzeko and Torres, Mat Zo, and a lucky SFU student who won the DJ contest. The event boasted a turnout of approximately 1800 people.

As he has been coined on Facebook, “Party President” Humza Khan and the SFSS worked tirelessly to make this incredibly ambitious event a reality and to provide it at a student friendly price, too. It was no easy task, especially since, as Khan said, “Nothing like this had ever happened before at SFU.” An attempt was made in 2010 with the K’naan concert, an event that ended with a noshow from the headliner and hundreds of students requesting refunds. Khan denied to comment on the profitability of the Kick-Off Concert, as the SFSS is still in the process of paying for various services related to the event.

“We are still receiving a lot of the invoices, so an exact number is hard to measure, but the good news is that the event’s expenses are projected to be well within the budget we had prepared, showing that the management of the budget was extremely effective,” said Khan.

Before the party was in full swing, students had the opportunity to visit the various booths set up around the perimeter of the venue, including the Pepsi Taste Challenge, Spirit Bear Coffee Co., information on Build SFU, as well as a free Kijiji photo tent with purple accessories as props.

To begin the event, Sajjid Lakhani, the winner of the SFU DJ contest, had the opportunity to open up the show. The first few acts earlier on in the afternoon enjoyed an audience of few people, but what the event lacked in numbers, it made up for in enthusiasm. A small crowd of approximately 30 people gathered up front as Carl Louis & Martin Danielle (CLMD) took the stage.

September 23, 2013

By the time Dzeko and Torres were well into their set, a huge crowd of students were ready to fully embrace the mantra “Eat, sleep, rave, repeat,” with arms in the air and feet that barely touched the ground.

Typical of any large event, on-site security could be seen handling a few medical situations that arose throughout the night. Close to 9:00 p.m. — an hour before the intended end time — there was an abrupt interruption in programming caused by some minor technical difficulties; however, the technical staff quickly saw to the issue and the show was back on within minutes, allowing Mat Zo to finish the show off strong.

Khan expressed that he was very happy with the event. “I have never seen so much positive feedback from students on any SFSS project, ever since I’ve been at SFU,” he stated.

“There was a sense of pride amongst SFU students and the school spirit on display was very heartwarming.”

Concert-goers ranged from first year students, attending this event as one of their first and highly formative

experiences of SFU culture, to more established students giving SFU events another shot.

“Historically we’ve had a bad reputation with these shows,” Khan stated, and continued to

say that once people have seen the success of this event, “that stigma will be removed.”

“I am really proud [that] my team and I have achieved something no one in SFU’s recent history

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has achieved,” said Khan. “Since most of the basic groundwork has been done already, and we now have the university’s confidence in us, I am sure that hosting such events will be easier in the future.”

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6 NEWS

September 23, 2013

the requirement of a purchased drink, the pub breaks even.

Flipse stated, “Wednesday sells a lot, yes. Does it make any money? No.” It was presented at the meeting that sales on pub nights for the beginning of the fall semester have decreased in comparison to last year. In 2012, the first three pub nights of the semester saw sales of $15,657, $11,883, and $13,071 accordingly. The first three pub nights of this semester pulled in sales of $13,115, $9,408, and $6,936 in comparison — the later two being the nights during which a cover was charged.

Last Friday, the SFSS executive board debated the structure of the Highland Pub’s Wednesday Wings Night, specifically the issues of allowing event bookings, and subsequently allowing cover to be charged.

The current Wednesday pub feature offers discounted wings at 25 cents a piece with the purchase of a beverage, non-alcoholic or otherwise. Wings Wednesday has become an institution on the Burnaby campus, often drawing the most students out of any night of the week, and boasts a host of regulars from the campus and SFU Residence community.

Recently, the Highland has begun regularly accepting bookings by SFU clubs and departmental student unions to host events on Wednesday nights. This entails the club or group helping to pay for security personnel fees in exchange for the right to charge cover at the door.

This semester, two of the three Wednesday pub nights have had events, and have charged cover.

On Sept. 11, the SFSS Events Committee hosted a concert with a $4 cover, and on Sept. 18 a new SFU fraternity, Alpha Kappa Psi, hosted an event with a $10 entry fee.

SFSS board members Moe Kopahi, Member Services Officer and Brandon Chapman, Business Representative, argued in the meeting that allowing a cover fee to be charged on Wednesday nights was repelling regular Wednesday patrons who aren’t accustomed to paying a cover charge.

“I don’t think we should have any charge on Wednesdays. I’ve

The Highland Pub has started booking events on Wednesdays, which will likely charge cover prices. been under a lot of pressure from other student groups and they’re raising good points,” said Kophai who oversees clubs and student union groups on campus. “We’re a student society pub, and most of the time we’re operating, we’re charging an entrance fee. It’s driving people away from our pub, to other sources, such as Club Ilia and Mountain Shadow.”

Chapman echoed the same sentiment. “The last couple weeks at the pub, I’ve heard a lot

of students in residence being extremely disgruntled that we’re charging cover,” said Chapman.

“The Highland Pub has been known as having a free cover Wednesday night for years, and students are used to that. By us adding a cover now and charging for events, it’s not attracting people to the pub.”

The problem is one of cost, John Flipse, SFSS Food and Beverage Services general manager, argued; booking events on

Mark Burnham / The Peak

Wednesday nights is a good way to try to reduce the high deficit that the pub has carried for several years.

According to Flipse, the Highland lost $500,000 last year, and currently for every dollar they sell, there is a loss of 23 cents. He said, “Because of the structure of the operation, it’s not likely . . . to ever make any money. What you’re trying to do is mitigate the loss.”

Flipse also pointed out that with the Wings Wednesday deal, with

Flipse pointed out that an analysis hasn’t been done of other week nights, and it could be the case that the loss is consistent over nights other than Wednesdays.

He also pointed to the fact that operating losses have steadily increased over the past few years.

“The operating processes that are in place and continue to be in place for the last three or four years, allow you to have greater and greater losses,” said Flipse.

“You want to continue doing the same thing, and you’re hoping for a different outcome.”

Chapman countered by saying that there are other ways that those losses can be lessened, including increasing prices. “Charging cover on Wednesday nights is going to scare away a lot of our clients, and we’re not going to be making money if people don’t come to the pub,” Chapman said. “This is the one day a week we think cover should not be charged.”

Kopahi brought the discussion back to the idea of the pub as a service, saying, “If we’re operating five days a week and we’re charging over three days of it, are we actually offiering it as a service to the students.”

At the end of the discussion, a motion was passed that recommended to the Commercial Services Committee to review and evaluate the structure of Wednesday Wing Night for door pricing and bookings.

NEWS

created a community outside the classroom, incorporated design, including study and lounge spaces, and connected them with nature.

One theme that has emerged already from student consultations is the complaint that many students don’t feel connected to nature on the Burnaby campus, despite the vast amounts of parkland and sprawling trails that meander across Burnaby Mountain.

“We’re wondering why that is the case,” said Fontaine; “we’re wondering if it’s because there’s a lot of dirty concrete, and you have to look up from your phone to see nature all around us.

There is a lot of nature around SFU.” “Students really value the location of the SFU Burnaby campus,” said Foit, “and I think with all the grey and concrete, there’s a sense that you’re not experiencing nature. We want to exploit the fact that we’re on a mountain.

The focus groups allowed students from various clubs,

DSUs, and student groups, to voice their opinions as well, as many of them will be looking to acquire space in the new building once it is completed. “We are approaching all the campus groups to determine what types of spaces they need,” said Fontaine. “Do you need office spaces, or do you need a large meeting room, or do you need anything else?”

Concerns were also voiced that if the “Main Street” location is selected, SFU’s various rotunda groups that occupy that space currently will need to relocate during construction.

The rotunda groups that have space above the Transportation Centre include Out on Campus, SFPIRG, FNSA, and the Women’s Centre.

Another challenge of the “Main Street” site is how it necessitates demolishing a preexisting building, which would ultimately extend the deadline of the project.

Foit was on campus last week for two and half days for student consultations. “In general, I thought the feedback was quite positive,” she said, citing the large number of responses that have been received from the online survey.

There will be more focus groups in the coming weeks, in Burnaby as well as at the Surrey and Vancouver campuses. By the end of consultation, Foit hopes

to have a full vision statement for the building to use as a “measuring stick,” when the project moves into the design phase.

ENGAGING THE WORLD

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

Last week, Build SFU consultations started, allowing students to give feedback on the proposed Student Union Building. Students were encouraged to give their opinions, via an online survey and in-person focus groups on what they want to see in the building in terms of programming and amenities, as well as the three proposed locations.

The three locations under consideration are “Main Street,” located above the central bus stop, “Crossroads,” which is between the Maggie Benston Centre and the AQ, and “Treehouse,” across University Dr. from West Mall Complex.

Students were asked which location or locations they liked, as well as why, in order to give the Build SFU team and the building’s architects, Perkins+Will, a better idea of what students wanted from the building’s location.

“The survey isn’t a voting survey,” Marc Fontaine, Build SFU general manager, stated.

“It’s not to say, please select site one, two, or three. Instead it’s to get students to tell the architects why their experience at SFU isn’t as good as it could be, and what could be changed to make it better.”

Surprisingly, 40 per cent of responses so far have come from new students, many of whom were just hearing of the project for the first time. The focus group specifically for new students also had the best attendance. “New students will be paying for [the building] for a longer period of time than students who are further along in their university career,” Fontaine pointed out, “I think they see the benefit of it because they’re likely to see the building when it’s open.”

“The number one thing the building needs to be, is student focused,” said Jana Foit, one of the architects from Perkins+Will involved in the project . Through the consultation process, Foit said that they found students were interested in a building that

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September 23, 2013

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

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

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

To make a nomination, please write by October 15, 2013, to: University Committee for the Excellence in Teaching Awards c/o Office of the Vice-President, Academic Simon Fraser University Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6 Phone: (778) 782-3925

Fax: (778) 782-5876

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

The winners of the Awards will be selected based upon the following criteria: t "CJMJUZ UP TUJNVMBUF TUVEFOUT UP UIJOL DSFBUJWFMZ BOE DSJUJDBMMZ t %FNPOTUSBUFE DBSJOH GPS TUVEFOU MFBSOJOH t "CJMJUZ UP QSFTFOU DPNQMFY JOGPSNBUJPO DMFBSMZ t %FNPOTUSBUFE FOUIVTJBTN BOE JOOPWBUJPO JO UFBDIJOH t 4VTUBJOFE SFDPSE PG FYDFMMFOU UFBDIJOH t %JWFSTJUZ PG DPVSTF MFWFM More information on the nomination and adjudication of the Excellence in Teaching Awards can be found on our website at: http://www.sfu.ca/vpacademic/Committees_TaskForces/Standing_Committees/Teaching-Excellence/ Or you may contact the Office of the Vice-President, Academic at (778) 782-3925.

8 NEWS

Last Friday, Sept. 20, marked the first Breakfast with the President of the new school year, where SFU President Andrew Petter offered faculty, staff and students, the opportunity to share perspectives about university issues over coffee and a muffin.

The first Breakfast with the President was held in October, 2011, with the intent “to hear first-hand from members of the university community about issues and ideas on their minds,” wrote Petter in Petter’s

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Perspective: Notes from the President.

This year’s breakfast was held at SFU’s Surrey Campus, attracting a mix of students and staff alike who were eager for the opportunity to connect with SFU’s higher administration and share ideas in an informal setting. The group of 20 discussed issues that included concerns over inter-disciplinary cooperation, how to better engage students, and a lack of resources for different programs and student initiatives.

For chemistry graduate student Austin Lee, the session offered an otherwise unattainable opportunity to speak with Petter in an intimate environment. “I thought it was a really nice opportunity to actually meet the President and know what’s going on in the community in general,” said Lee. “Right now I’m a graduate student at SFU Surrey; it’s very isolated . . . I think I lack the chance of

meeting people and knowing what’s going on.”

Lee continued, “As a Surrey resident I’d like to get the chance to meet with the President, who’s interested in talking about how SFU is trying to grow and what sort of programs they’re trying to [implement].”

Carlie Nishi, a 3rd-year communications student, echoed Lee’s sentiments. “This is kind of a rare opportunity for a student if you’re not employed at SFU or go to campus often, so

I really wanted to leverage the fact that I am a student, a current athlete, and a very prominent club member as well as just a regular student wanting to know more.”

SFU President Andrew Petter feels that the breakfast sessions have servced to not only engage the SFU population, but assist in solving the issues presented.

“I want to try to stay as connected as I can to [our] community while being out there representing it,” said Petter.

“This seemed to me one of the number of ways that I could both gain feedback from what’s on peoples minds, encourage some conversation amongst the students, faculty, and staff, which doesn’t always take place by itself, and also be able to answer people’s concerns and questions.”

“I must say, from my point of view, [the events have] been really really helpful,” concluded Petter.

NEWS

September 23, 2013

Rintoul compares mitochondria to little ‘meals on wheels.

Café Scientifique kicked off the first instalment of its discussion series last Wednesday, Sept. 18,

As of October 1, SFU’s Food Bank will be launching a pilot program aimed at increasing awareness of the options available to undergraduate students who may need extra assistance in making ends meet.

After considering several logistical models including a

at the Surrey City Centre Library, where Dr. Gordon Rintoul spoke on the relationship between mitochondrial deterioration and age-related brain diseases.

The series, sponsored by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, features leading Science experts from SFU on topics related to health and popular science. Meant to be a more informal than a lecture, the evenings include discussions with the

voucher program and a food hamper system, the Food Bank working group has decided to offer food certificates for Nesters’ market, the grocery store on Burnaby campus, to students in need.

Students will be able to receive $25 gift certificates to Nesters’ three times per semester during the pilot phase. However, the gift certificates are not conventional; they can only be used for sundries — tobacco, lottery tickets, bus passes, and pharmaceuticals are restricted.

Chardaye Bueckert, SFSS External Relations Officer, expressed the SFSS’s desire to elicit feedback from the SFU

Photo courtesy of Bryce Pasqualotto

audience, supporting SFU’s goal to be an engaged university.

Rintoul spoke on Wednesday about his work on mitochondrial dynamics. Mitochondria are tiny structures within the cells that have traditionally been known as the “powerhouses” of the cell.

Their job is essentially to produce energy in a form that the cells can use to do all sorts of things.

Nevertheless, these organelles may be responsible for

population while providing a food service on campus during this transitional period.

The overhaul of SFU’s Food Bank began this July, when Student Services told the SFSS that they were withdrawing their food distribution services. Student Services cited issues of waste, inadequate cold storage, and a lack of knowledge of best practices when making this decision.

Bueckert explained that Student Services will still play a role in the SFSS Food Bank Program, but as an educator instead of a distributor. Their contributions will include producing educational materials with information about cooking on a budget

age-related brain diseases, such as stroke and Parkinson’s, if they are not fulfilling their proper functions. Rintoul compared their volatility to that of a power plant: “If a nuclear power plant is functioning fine and producing energy that’s great, but things can go wrong with a nuclear power plant that can have really disastrous consequences,” explained Rintoul. “Nasty things can actually leak out of them, and that’s exactly what happens with mitochondria. They can release things that are very harmful to the cells.”

During a stroke, a blocked blood vessel results in a lack of energy delivered to cells in a small region of the brain. The mitochondria respond by malfunctioning, and producing things that are harmful to the cells.

Rintoul’s lab is investigating mitochondrial dynamics: the basic mechanisms that are regulating mitochondrial trafficking and mitochondrial fission and fusion. Mitochondria are able to change their shapes through fission and fusion, and while the purpose of that change is not clear, fragmented mitochondria have been associated with a lot of different disease states, and potentially the aging process as well.

“Our guiding hypothesis is that in some of these neuro d e g e n e ra t i ve d i s e a s e s, we’re having malfunctions of

and resources in the community, as well as creating outreach and volunteer coordination elements and a free food location on campus.

In addition to allowing students to purchase fresh produce and ingredients, the food

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mitochondrial dynamics, and that may be a contributing or may be a causative factor in these diseases,” said Rintoul.

In pursuit of this hypothesis,

Rintoul and his lab are hoping to decipher how mitochondria are participating in the injury mechanisms that harm cells in Parkinson’s and stroke. Said Rintoul, “If we can find out the mechanisms that control these things and find out how they’re being affected in the diseases, that gives us targets for therapeutic intervention.”

This is Rintoul’s first time speaking at the Café Scientifique series, but he believes by reaching out to the community, scientists are fulfilling their duty to the public.

“I really feel it’s the responsibility of scientists to promote science,” said Rintoul. “We are a publicly funded institution, so I think its our duty to get across to the public what we’re doing with their money and show them that we’re using it to work toward worthwhile causes.”

certificate system was chosen for its flexibility and anonymity. The SFSS general office will now be handling a majority of the administrative work, which includes organizing the food certificates so that students can pick them up anonymously after filling out a simple web survey.

The SFSS will be continuing the Food Bank Program pilot phase for the duration of the fall 2013 semester, with intent to continue it in the Spring based on feedback from Food Bank users.

“We really hope that this [program] will ensure that the students in need are able to access it,” concluded Chardaye.

10 NEWS

VANCOUVER (CUP) — Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Kelowna, BC, the weekend of Sept. 14 for a national caucus meeting, as well as to meet with residents opposed to the proposed pipeline projects in the western-most province.

Although details of Harper’s agenda while in the province have not been disclosed, there is a broad consensus that the trip to Canada’s West Coast is to make a big push in support of building the Keystone and Northern Gateway pipelines, as well as expanding the existing Kinder Morgan Pipeline.

The Keystone Pipeline, which has been the focus of intense media attention and scrutiny over the last year, will take bitumen products from Alberta’s oil sands to refineries in Texas. While none of the components of the proposed Keystone Pipeline are to be built in

September 23, 2013

BC, Aboriginal leaders across the country have been vocal in their opposition to it, citing negative environmental impacts.

The Northern Gateway Pipeline project proposes a 1,170km twin pipeline from the oil sands to the port of Kitimat, in northern BC Opposition to the Northern Gateway Pipeline is focused on the company Enbridge, which has a relatively poor record on pipeline safety and security. The proposed flow of oil makes pristine areas of the province potentially vulnerable to oil spills. The oil would be carried onto tankers destined for Asia.

The proposed expansion of the Kinder Morgan Pipeline, however, strikes at the heart of those living in the province’s Lower Mainland.

The current pipeline, which was designed to transport crude oil but now carries refined product from the oil sands, ends at the Westridge marine terminal in Burnaby.

The expansion, which proposes to twin the pipeline, is meant to accommodate more than double the amount of oil, from 300,000 barrels to almost 900,000 barrels per day, to oil tankers in the Burrard Inlet. The oil is then exported to markets in Asia.

In the summer of 2007, the Kinder Morgan pipeline was ruptured accidentally by sewer contractors working for the City of Burnaby, causing an oil spill that forced evacuations and damaged homes and marine wildlife, as well as resulting in traffic disruptions for months after the spill was contained.

Environmentalists and First Nations leaders opposed to the

pipeline say that the government is meeting with them purely as a formality, while the Harper government contends it is consulting with all interested parties.

The debate, especially with regards to the Northern Gateway pipeline, has also led to somewhat frosty relations between BC Premier Christy Clark and Alberta Premier Alison Redford — relations which have warmed

significantly since their respective election victories.

The Prime Minister’s office has directed senior cabinet officials to travel to BC, starting on Sept.

23, to engage in a public opinion campaign which they hope will win them greater support for the building of the Keystone and Northern Gateway pipelines and the expansion of the existing Kinder Morgan Pipeline.

OPINIONS

September 23, 2013

and heteronormative. This is simply not the case. The damage done by heteronormativity is compounded when a queer person internalizes it, as I did at a young age.

In the first installation of this column, I discussed my own experience of heteronormativity in the heterosexual world, and why it is harmful to queer people. In this installment, I will address the internalized heteronormativity that many queer people — myself included — have to grapple with.

This internalized heteronormativity is something I have heard queer people outright deny. It’s simply not possible, in their minds, to be both queer

Thirteen year-old Sushma Verma of Lucknow, India, is pursuing an education typically reserved for those in their twenties — studying for a Masters in Microbiology at Lucknow’s B. R. Ambedkar Central University.

She graduated from high school at the astounding age of seven, and completed her undergraduate degree this year.

Sushma dreams of becoming a doctor one day, but isn’t

Unfortunately, Sushma’s father had to sell his only piece of land — 10,000 square feet in a village in Uttar Pradesh — to help fund her school fees. Regrettably, even after selling his land, Sushma’s father did not have enough to entirely cover the costs of her education. He explains how “there was opposition from family and friends, but [he] did not have any option.”

Although I was a vocal queer activist in my youth, I was unable to be open with myself or others about my own sexuality. I had always known that I was interested in women, but I did not tell anyone until high school, when I fell in love with Sabrina. She was a student a year younger than I was: tall, pretty, and somehow different from her friends.

permitted to take the test for med school until the age of 18. “So I opted for the Msc and then I will do a doctorate,” she explains of this age barrier. Sushma lives in a one bedroom apartment that she shares with her entire family, but doesn’t let that impede her optimism: “Having no television at home has its advantages . . . there is nothing to do but study.”

Sushma’s father makes less than $3.50 a day working at construction sites, which makes her study table and used computer very precious items. A charity is covering the remainder of her fees in the form of a grant totalling $12,600. As stated by Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak of Sulabh International: “The girl is an inspiration for students.”

One of my best friends, Rachel, had asked why I never had crushes. I said that I did, but that I kept them to myself. She was hurt, as she always told me about her latest love interest, no matter how trifling he ultimately was. I decided to fix this at lunch hour.

“Hey, Rachel,” I said, catching the attention of the other two members of our clique as we stood in a circle. “I have a crush.”

I could not help but smile as her eyes widened.

“Yeah? Who?” “Sabrina van Heusen.” I was unsure how to preface such a shock. My friends, Rachel included, had often asked me if I was gay due to my disinterest in boys, so I knew this would radically alter their image of me.

When asked to clarify, I told them I was bisexual, which they thought very cosmopolitan.

Rachel was appeased, not only because she had the information she sought, but because she had “always wanted a gay friend.” I

ADLER.

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was embarrassed by this tokenism, but I did not have terms like “heteronormative” with which to articulate my discomfort. I was happy that she was happy — I was accepted.

The news spread like wildfire: a grade nine girl had a crush on the tall grade eight girl in the Emily the Strange T-shirt. I was furious with Rachel, who meekly conceded that she had told a handful of people about her new gay friend.

I was grateful that no one knew who it was. When another girl was outed by fellow students two years later, she was not so lucky. A school counsellor told

11

her to suppress her nature in order to preserve her future, as it was “just a phase.”

I was socialized by events such as this to believe that, although queerness was fine at a distance, it was simply something I could not be. I owed it to myself, my friends, and my family to be heterosexual.

I believed that one day I would find a nice, effeminate young man who I could settle for, which never happened. My self-esteem was on a downward trajectory.

Coming out is something I have never regretted. I out myself whenever someone misidentifies me as heterosexual, and I hope they think twice when making assumptions about others as a result. Given the heteronormative atmosphere I — and all queer people — are raised in, living openly is exhausting.

I hope this article not only gives hope to queer Peak readers, but reminds heterosexual readers that their words have the power to remedy this.

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12 OPINIONS

SUB needs, and what students should strive for.

The SUB needs to be a community space, first and foremost.

The lack of community at SFU is a constant topic of conversation, meaning our SUB needs to be a walk-through space — a central hub.

Unless you’ve walked to and from class without looking up, you’ve noticed Build SFU posters everywhere. Architects have begun their focus groups to get a sense of the layout we as students need for the SUB. After gathering information from students, the architects, and what ideas they had laid out, this is what I think the

Although it would have a wicked view and might have fewer issues with accommodating other structures, The Treehouse location is not ideal at all. I feel it’s highly unlikely applied science students, for example, would make the trek from the other side of campus.

So, although this space would be great for me, it doesn’t seem inclusive enough. And let’s not kid ourselves, the Business students would take it over, anyway.

The two other proposed sites can achieve the goals of this building; however, both of

September 23, 2013

them come with building constraints, particularly on top of the Rotunda. That area needs renovations, and it does seem practical to do it all at once, but where does that leave groups such as SFPRIG, Out on Campus, the First Nations Student Union, and the Women’s Centre? Will they even get a place within the new SUB? We can’t just accept a location without asking questions.

So what does a genuine community and accessibility look like? Communities need places to gather. SFU currently lacks a place like this, Convo Mall for example, is too large for anything other than convocation, and other events seem to get lost in the space — it requires music so loud that students interested in participating seem to only end up repelled. For this reason, we need a giant open foyer as a place for people to meet, rally, and be informed.

We also need spaces for student organisations and clubs.

The best way to strengthen community is to get students involved, but it’s difficult when clubs, departmental student unions, and student organisations are hidden in back corners that require you to navigate a labyrinth just to find them (I’m looking at you, Sustainable SFU).

The SUB must also be sustainable. The architects have promised the highest level of sustainability in their plans, and this is a promise that needs to be fulfilled. UBC’s new SUB, for example, is going to be netpositive, so let’s not fall behind.

Would we, as a university, want to be any less than our UBC counterpart? If we’re going to invest, it should be done right — plus, we’re paying for it!

My outlook is hopeful that the firm will deliver what we need, and from what I heard voiced by other students in the Think Tank, we have a lot of common ideas on what the SUB will look like. We don’t need fancy things like games rooms or fireplaces, but I wouldn’t mind if we splurged on comfy seating and a decent place to study — this is a university after all.

Community, student involvement, accessibility, and sustainable architecture are what our SUB needs most. Our SUB needs to facilitate student engagement, and so far, I’m pretty impressed by the ideas I’ve heard. I just hope that promises made to date are kept, and that our SUB will truly meet the needs of SFU students.

OPINIONS

I’m writing this to all the “bros” out there who don’t understand why the UBC Frosh chant was so horrific. Bringing up rape culture clearly makes some of us upset. Every time something like the UBC frosh chant is exposed, the bro-militia rolls out to offer their ill-informed opinions.

I don’t just mean hate speech, I also mean comments like, “I know rape is bad, but people are making way too big of a deal out of the chant.”

I used to be a “bro,” too: I used to laugh at rape jokes, I used to sexualize women to their faces, I even once said oppressive things about a women’s group that I felt was threatening my privilege. But now I’m here to tell you to shut up.

The Frosh chant was a manifestation of rape culture and it perpetuated rape. Period.

I’m not going to explain why the chant is so wrong to you, I shouldn’t have to. There’s already so much information about why it is so wrong, but you probably choose to ignore it. You are probably not interested in the facts; you choose to deny the evidence because you don’t want to claim responsibility for yourself.

Rapists aren’t bogeymen hiding in bushes — they’re family

September 23, 2013

members, teachers, friends, and lovers. People who rape are just like you and I, and if one in three women has experienced sexual violence, then I guarantee you it’s likely you have shook hands with someone who has committed sexual assault.

Maybe, as a “bro,” you’ve participated in something like the Frosh chant, made rape jokes, or used derogatory language to talk about women, or perhaps you’ve even committed an act of sexual violence. When we defend activities like the recently exposed Frosh chant, we contribute to a culture that normalizes rape, trivializes the act, and blames the victim. But I bet you hadn’t thought of that.

When a woman approaches you on the street, I can bet it is not her intentions or your safety that you think about. You don’t know how women experience the world — probably because many of them don’t feel comfortable telling you — and you’ve never even thought to ask. While you’re using your big words to defend violence, you don’t know anything about what it’s like to be half of the population, you only know what it’s like to be a bro.

The fact that you feel the need to defend rape culture

makes me feel sorry for you, because perhaps it is your insecurity and self-doubt that make you say such things when confronted about them. It’s unfortunate that society puts such unrealistic expectations on masculinity and teaches us to be violent. It’s unfortunate that many of us never had a proper male role model.

Men need feminism too, but you probably don’t know what I mean by that. Being a feminist man isn’t about brownie points, it’s about being a decent human being, learning about yourself, and treating women like human beings and not objects.

Your emotions are your responsibility, so the next time you get that squirmy, slimy feeling inside when you find yourself confronted by something like a critique of the UBC Frosh chant, do not use your oppressive voice to state your oppressive opinion. All opinions are not made equal, and yours is not only wrong, but it’s offensive, hurtful, and ignorant — as ignorant as one is when one is not the victim.

You have no right to an audience for your excuses, your trivializing remarks, your statements made in defense, your offensive commentary, your claims of injustice, or your hate speech. Instead of having a temper tantrum, allow yourself to feel the shame you feel in that moment. Trust me, it’s good for you; you’ll not only grow from it but you will also spare making a complete fool out of yourself.

For the past four months, my home has been the meeting place of a weekly dinner party. The dining room becomes filled with close friends (sometimes too many), pots are filled with starchy pasta, and counters are covered in basil, garlic skins, and bottle upon bottle of wine. This may sound like a nightmare to some, but I love it.

Ever since I was a child, I’ve always loved big dinners with a lot of people around, talking loudly while passing the salt, and just generally enjoying each other’s company. Unfortunately for me, my family was always rather small, so this was a rare occurrence. Now that I have my own home, though, I try to have people over as often as I can. This kind of gathering brings together two of my most favourite things: food and good conversation.

In a time when being busy is glorified, iPhones are intimate confidants, and food is prepared quickly and eaten even quicker, there is something satisfying and rewarding about taking the time to sit down and eat, slowly. It doesn’t even matter if the food is particularly good (give me Chinese takeout, for all I care). What’s important is that your day — and the day

13

of your real-life confidants — is slowed down a bit and you have a moment to genuinely connect, in person.

When my boyfriend and I first started inviting people over for dinner once a week, it was a small group, around four or five of us, all connected by a love of literature and art. This was what the group started out as: a place for us to share things we were working on, or just discuss things we’d read and seen.

As the group expanded and changed, so did our conversations. It no longer mattered what the content was, it was the form we all grew attached to.

These nights soon brought out 11 or 12 of our friends, and we had to build an attachment for our table just to fit everyone shoulder to shoulder. One night, a large amount of pasta burned in the pot and I had to run out and buy more. Forgetting my keys, I was locked out of our apartment building, buzzing the front door continuously for 15 minutes (the buzzer goes to my boyfriend’s cell phone, which was on silent).

However, despite this mishap and others — namely involving several broken wine glasses — the evenings were a good opportunity to see friends and sit around a table and eat for hours.

Our Monday nights brought us together when normally, our busy lives would keep us from seeing anyone for weeks at a time. They were always set aside as the time to gather, and it was something we all looked forward to: starting out our weeks on a high note full of pasta, tomato sauce, and red wine.

Now that the semester has started again, and my boyfriend has started grad school, it’s harder for it to be a weekly occurrence, but we are still going to try to welcome people into our home every now and then for good food and company — for our souls and our bellies. Only this time, it’s going to be soup.

September 23, 2013

14

COMMUNITY PHOTOS September 23, 2013

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FEATURE

Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea, parting the waters so that they could traverse the dry ground and escape the enslavement of the pharaoh. Robert Moses, the city planner who almost single-handedly modernized New York City, had a similar aim when designing his Cross-Bronx Expressway.

Built as part of a plan to connect the financial centre of Manhattan directly to New York’s suburban communities, the expressway was one of a series of modernized highways designed to pass directly through New York’s outer boroughs. In 1945, Moses proposed a six-lane expressway that would cross through 113 streets, three railroads, one subway and seven other expressways, some of which were being simultaneously built by Moses himself.

The expressway was built over a 15-year span and was completed in 1963. Moses carved his way through the Bronx and in the path of over 60,000 Bronx residents. Many were left homeless, while others saw their property devalued and their communities infested with violence and drug abuse. In Robert Caro’s Pulitzer Prizewinning biography of Moses, The Power Broker, he accuses him of intentionally directing the expressway

September 23, 2013

through Tremont, a particularly poor South Bronx neighbourhood, rather than choosing a more viable option one block south.

Most of the Bronx’s white population fled to suburban picket fence communities, while racialized black and Latino populations were relocated to public housing projects designed on an idyllic “tower in a park” model first introduced by the modernist architect Le Corbusier. These concrete towers were bleak and isolated, and soon they became riddled with crime.

As marginalized populations moved into previously all-white neighbourhoods, many formed youth gangs as a means of defending themselves from previously existing militant white gangs. Manufacturing jobs were lost, and youth unemployment hit 60 per cent. Drug abuse and violence increased, and the South Bronx quickly drew attention from New Yorkers who felt the community was beyond help. New York Senator Patrick Moynihan famously suggested that the best approach to be taken towards poor black communities was “benign neglect.”

Like any good creation myth, the story of hip-hop has many different originators. The griots of Western

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Africa were storytellers who would recount historical events through rhythmic spoken word over drum beats and other instrumentation.

These oral traditions were transported to the Western World via the Atlantic slave trade, and developed in the West Indies, particularly Jamaica.

Blues music, which developed from the work songs and spirituals of slaves in North America, occasionally included spoken word vocals, an early predecessor of rapping. Jazz, funk music, beat poetry, gospel music and reggae have all been cited as inspirations for hip-hop music. Most notable may be dub, a sub-genre of reggae in which artists remix previously existing reggae songs, remove the vocals and emphasize the bass and drums.

But perhaps the most unwitting — and unwilling — originator of hip-hop culture is Robert Moses himself. Despite his best efforts, the South Bronx would eventually opt for creativity and advocacy over gang violence, spawning a historically unprecedented cultural revolution. His gruff persona is echoed in that of the rappers who roses from the ashes of his expressway: “Those who can, build. Those who can’t, criticize.”

15

Twelve-year-old Clive Campbell moved to the Bronx in November 1967: it was the first time he had ever seen snow.

He had grown up in Jamaica during a period of political instability, but also one of social evolution. The ghettos of Kingston had given birth to new genres of music such as ska, reggae and dub.

Campbell had been particularly inspired by Jamaican sound systems — musical collectives which included disc jockeys (DJs), masters of ceremonies (MCs or emcees), engineers and dancers who would throw block parties in the streets of the nation’s capital.

Campbell carried his love for music with him to the dilapidated Bronx housing projects he came to inhabit.

Construction on Moses’ Expressway had begun four years previous, and the “white flight” that had resulted was underway: by the time Campbell reached his 14th birthday, white, black and Puerto Rican gangs had each occupied areas of the Bronx, and the areas in between were designated as no man’s land.

Campbell quickly became involved in the graffiti subculture that had taken the youth of the Bronx by storm: his chosen pseudonym was CLYDE AS KOOL, which he would spray on any empty concrete wall he could find. He also quickly gained recognition at his high school for his skill at track and field and basketball: his classmates took to calling him “Hercules,” which he shortened to Herc. Eventually, Campbell dropped the “Clyde” and combined the two names. Kool Herc was born.

as anyone tried to cause trouble.

Despite noise complaints, the parties attracted little police attention: most seemed to think that they were a positive alternative to the violent gang confrontations that so often occurred in the Bronx at the time.

These block parties were distinguished from the disco sets Herc’s fellow DJs were playing by Herc’s Kingstonian influences: inspired by the sound systems he had seen as a child, Herc enlisted the help of his friend Coke La Rock, who adapted the Jamaican practice of “toasting.”

He would speak over Herc’s sets, spouting rhymed verses, dissing rival DJs and encouraging partygoers to dance and enjoy themselves. He’s generally regarded as the first rapper in history: even though they didn’t know it yet, Herc, La Rock and their crew were laying the foundation for a new musical genre.

But Herc had noticed something: many of the dancers who frequented the party had developed a style of their own. Inspired by kung fu, James Brown and gymnastics, dancers — dubbed “b-boys” and “b-girls” — would wait for the instrumental breaks in the songs Herc played to bust their strongest moves and impress their fellow partygoers. Noticing this trend, Herc developed a technique he called the Merry-Go-Round.

Using two identical records, Herc would cue up the two LPs so that he could endlessly loop a given song’s instrumental breaks. The crowd loved it: Herc would repeat instrumental sec-

After a fire forced the Campbells out of their Tremont apartment and into the building at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Campbell began hosting house parties in the building’s rec centre. Inspired by fellow DJs in the area, who opted for James Brown records over the disco tunes on the radio, Herc’s parties quickly began to attract large crowds.

Once Herc — who had added the moniker “DJ” to his title — had built up a loyal following, he decided to play a block party in the Summer of 1974. “And after the block party,” says Herc in the hip-hop history Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, “we couldn’t come back to the rec room.”

Herc’s parties had only attracted high school students with little to no gang affiliation at first, but once he began playing outdoors, many gang members began to attend. Herc and his crew enforced a strict no violence policy at his parties, and people quickly took note: he would warn people in his booming Jamaican accent that the party would end as soon

tions endlessly, while La Rock spewed rhymed couplets and b-boys and girls showed off their best moves.

“I put all these breaks that I know (sic) I have in my collection together.

When I did that, that experiment went out the window,” Herc said in an NPR interview. “Everybody used to come and wait for that particular format, for me to get into it.” Parties often lasted well into the early hours of the morning, and many members of rival gangs would set aside their differences and enjoy Herc’s perpetual breakbeats.

Historians and fans usually point the historic party where Herc introduced this technique as the genesis of hip-hop. In the years to come, Herc would enlist La Rock and another emcee, Clark Kent, to form Kool Herc & The Herculoids; be hired as a DJ at the legendary Helova Club in the Bronx at the age of 18; and, eventually, watch the empire he had created move on without him. Meanwhile, across the ethnically segregated neighbourhoods of the Bronx, competing DJs were beginning to take note.

No one knows for sure Kevin Donovan’s real age; he refuses to divulge the information himself, and sources list his birthday as being anywhere from June 17, 1957 to April 10, 1960. Still, we can assume that he was still very young when the Hoe Avenue peace meeting of 1971 brought New York’s most dangerous gangs — the Savage Skulls, the Ghetto Brothers, the Young Sinners, the Liberated Panthers and the Black Spades, to name a few — together to discuss a truce.

At a Boys & Girls Club of America, gang warlords sat on folding chairs in the centre of a gymnasium to draw up a peace treaty. Though no lasting peace was established, the meeting did result in a significant decrease in gang warfare.

Then a Black Spade himself, Donovan was deeply moved by this attempt at peacemaking. Intelligent and resourceful, he quickly became one of the gang’s highest-ranking warlords, and developed a reputation throughout the Bronx for his willingness to enter enemy turfs. He established relationships with rival gangs and used his influence to promote peace across the ethnic divides of the Bronx.

When the Spades resisted his attempts at peacekeeping, he defected and formed his own group, which he named the Bronx River Organization.

Inspired by the Zulu warriors who fought British imperialists in the 1964 film Zulu, Donovan changed his named to Afrika Bambaataa, which he told his followers meant “affectionate leader.”

He renamed his movement to the Universal Zulu Nation, whose beliefs included peace, equality and benevolence. “The mission was to bring peace and unity, and to pass knowledge on from one to the next,” Bambaataa told the Miami New Times.

Inspired by DJ Kool Herc, Bambaataa began hosting his own parties — and gangs began to attend in greater numbers. For him, hip-hop was a conduit through which he helped usher a new era of the Bronx. Ethnically diverse groups were united under the banner of Bambaataa’s Zulu Nation.

B-boying, which would eventually come to be known as breakdancing, had become more aggressive: instead of using violence to settle their differences, rival gangs would put their best dancers against each other.

A far cry from the slick choreography of the Step Up series, early b-boying was a dangerous hobby: dancers would throw themselves towards the concrete below, which was often littered with garbage and broken glass. The cuts and scrapes they inevitably received were worn proudly as battle scars.

The best dancers were able to reach the ground and back in a single, smooth motion, and the most talented b-boys, such as Richard “Crazy Legs” Colón, became as well known as the DJs whose parties they frequented.

Joseph Saddler, an aspiring DJ from the South Bronx, frequented Herc and Bambaataa’s parties. He admired their

ability to attract a crowd and to inspire a legion of dedicated followers. But where Herc was inspired by his Jamaican roots and Bambaataa by the social activism of the black liberation movement, Saddler came at hip-hop from an intellectual angle. “I used to take apart electrical items in my mother’s house, including turntables, just to figure out how they work and why they work,” he recalled in an interview with Fresh Air. He perfected Herc’s Merry-GoRound into a seamless loop and added new techniques, including scratching; his friend Grand Wizzard Theodore had invented the practice accidentally by pausing a record with his hand to listen to his mother speak.

Saddler’s sophisticated style took a while to catch on. “The first time I did it, the crowd just stood there, just watched me,” he says in Can’t Stop Won’t Stop.

“And I cried for a week.” Saddler — who had adopted the pseudonym Grandmaster Flash — was too preoccupied with his mixing techniques to be bothered with toasting.

His formula was missing a key ingredient: vocals. So he enlisted Robert “Cowboy” Wiggins, Melvin “Melle Mel” Glover, and Nathaniel “Kidd Creole” Glover. They named their group Grandmaster Flash and the Three MCs. Soon the Three MCs became the Furious Four and, eventually, the Furious Five.

Flash’s crew would be one of the first to prepare their lyrics in advance, rather than improvising them on the spot.

Meanwhile, b-boying had exploded in popularity. The most famous crew of b-boys was formed in 1977 by four young inner city dancers: Jimmy D and JoJo in the Bronx, B-Boy Fresh and Crazy Legs in Manhattan. They called themselves the Rock Steady Crew. “We had the best show in the neighbourhood,” Crazy Legs told The New York Times in a retrospective of the group.

“We had the moves.”

Hip-hop music’s influence was beginning to spread throughout New York City’s boroughs: partygoers would tape DJ sets and exchange them with their friends. Eventually, one of these tapes found its way into the hands of Sylvia Robinson, a blues songstress cum record producer who would go on to found the first hip-hop label, Sugar Hill Records, and release the game-changing single “Rapper’s Delight,” catapulting hip hop into the mainstream.

What had begun as a way for urban youth to express themselves and avoid the turbulence of gang warfare would soon become a cultural phenomenon, the likes of which no one could have expected.

wait for the instrumental to bust their strongest moves.

What You Hear is Not a Test It began just like any other night. Kool Herc, whose parties had become the stuff of legend, was in the midst of a party at a club just shy of the Cross Bronx Expressway called the Executive Playhouse. La Rock, who had been emceeing the event, stepped out for a moment. It was at this point that Herc noticed a young thug making trouble in the crowd. True to his policy of nonviolence, Herc swam into the crowd in an attempt to diffuse the tension.

That’s when the man pulled out a knife.

Within seconds, Herc was being rushed to the hospital with multiple stab wounds; the perpetrator was never caught. “I got stabbed up physically and that backed me up,” Herc told Davey D in a 1989 interview.

“It killed the juice in me.”

Herc spent the next few months in the hospital. By the time he was released, Bambaataa and Flash — both of whom had built up an impressive posse of emcees, b-boys and graffiti artists — were the biggest names in the Bronx. Hip-hop had gone on without him.

Meanwhile, John “Lucky the Magician” Rivas, an aspiring Brooklynian DJ, decided to enrol in the New York School of Announcing and Speech in an effort to improve his oratory abilities. It didn’t take long before he realized his passion wasn’t for performing; it was for radio. “I always kind of wanted to be a DJ on the radio,” Rivas said in an interview with WNYE. After a stint on community radio, he was approached by Frankie Crocker with an opportunity to move his radio show to WHBI-FM. “We started talking and he asked me if I was interested in going to a commercial show with a commercial radio station. I said, ‘Yeah, of course.’” Lucky became Mr. Magic; the show was named Rap Attack.

Featuring hip-hop pioneers such as Melle Mel and the Disco Brothers, Magic’s show spread the word of rap music to every corner of New York.

Sampling Chic’s disco hit “Good Times,” Hank, along with fellow recruits Wonder Mike and Master Gee, recorded the single “Rapper’s Delight” under the name The Sugarhill Gang. The trio was named after Robinson’s label, Sugar Hill Records. Though not the first hip-hop song to be recorded in studio — a distinction that belongs to the Flatback Band’s “King Tim III” — it immediately eclipsed the latter in popularity, and became the first song of the genre to reach the Top 40 charts.

But Hank’s rapped verses, which dominate the track, are not his own. “I’m the CA-S-A, the N-O-V-A / And the rest is F-L-Y,” begins Hank’s second verse — the calling card of his managee, Casanova Fly. Casanova had lent Hank his lyric book a few days before the song was recorded, an action he came to regret.

“I didn’t know about lawyers, or that I could do anything about that,” Vanity Fair quotes Casanova, who now goes by the pseudonym Grandmaster Caz. “I just took it as a loss. Over the years, it became monstrous.”

“Rapper’s Delight” became a sensation, but it also marked an important shift in hip-hop’s trajectory: by using a sample from a previously existing song rather than a DJ switching records, the song took the focus away from the DJ, and gave it to the emcee. The Sugarhill Gang would go on to record several full-length albums, but they would never match the popularity of their debut single.

Still, the damage had been done: “Rapper’s Delight” reached number one in Canada, the Netherlands, and Argentina (where it had entered the charts illegally), and climbed to number 34 in the US. The era of recorded hip-hop — rechristened as “rap” by the music industry — had begun.

Chuck D, the incendiary emcee who would rise to fame as the leader of the

Partygoers would tape DJ sets and exchange them with their friends, spreading hip-hop throughout New York’s boroughs.

But hip-hop’s biggest step forward yet took place in a dilapidated New York pizza place. Henry Jackson, better known as “Big Bank Hank”, was an aspiring emcee and producer for Caz and the Mighty Forces, led by Casanova Fly, one of the most revered DJs in the Bronx.

Sylvia Robinson, who had frequented hip-hop clubs and realized its market potential, came upon Hank, who had taken up a day job as a pizza chef. While he kneaded the dough and spread the tomato sauce, Hank recited his favourite Casanova Fly raps to himself. Robinson received more than just a slice when she stopped into Hank’s pizza place — she had found her emcee.

hip-hop group Public Enemy, told the author of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: “I did not think it was conceivable that there would be such a thing as a hip-hop record. I’m like, record? Fuck, how you gon’ put hip-hop onto a record?”

Many lamented the death of hiphop; mainstream attention had led to parties without dancing, emcees and DJs rushed to cash in on a suddenly profitable art form, large groups were whittled down to duos and solo acts, and the benevolent philosophies of the Zulu Nation fell on increasingly deaf ears. But the story of hip-hop had only just begun — and no one could have predicted just how far it would go.

Close to the Edge will be back with Part Two in The Peak’s next issue. So just chill ‘til the next episode!

18

ARTS

team lengthened the festival in 2011 to span the weekend coinciding with Culture Days.

This year, the festival has five days of programming from Sept. 25 to 29, at various locations around Vancouver. Also, with only two episodes of unfavourable weather in 19 years, Word Vancouver has an excellent track record with the weather gods.

At the end of September for nearly the past 20 years, lit lovers and word nerds from all backgrounds gather at Library Square for a free book and magazine festival. Streets are blocked off, large tents emerge, and a stage is erected at the corner of Robson and Homer.

Publishers, booksellers, authors, illustrators, literacy advocates, and performers of all kinds flock to the festival formerly known as The Word On The Street Vancouver.

This year, celebrating its renewal as Word Vancouver, the festival is better than ever. Best known among local literati as a one-day event on the last Sunday in September, the Vancouver

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September 23, 2013

Wednesday, Sept. 25 features the kickoff event for the Automated Poetry Project at the recently opened secondhand bookstore, The Paper Hound. Word Vancouver just wrapped up a month-long crowdfunding campaign to convert old vending machines into poetry dispensers. They managed to raise more than half their intended goal and will be going ahead with the

project, although it may be slightly modified due to budget.

Festival attendees may be conflicted between multiple programs on Thursday: in addition to programming at the Carnegie, the Twisted Poets Literary Salon will be at the Cottage Bistro, and a cooking demo and book signing will be at Banyen Books & Sound.

Friday features a talk about stage and screenwriting at the Historic Joy Kogawa House, and Saturday has professional development workshops for writers at the central branch of the Vancouver Public Library on W Georgia St. Wanda John-Kehewin, a 2011 graduate of The Writers’ Studio at SFU, says the poetry vending machines are something she’s personally looking forward to — she will be reading from her first book of poetry at the festival on Sunday in the Poetry Tent.

Her poetry is influenced by the lives of people. To say she finds inspiration in other people’s pain sounds callous, but she finds it is a “way to make a connection. Pain

Daryn Wright arts@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

is universal; it doesn’t discriminate [between] those in a war torn country [or] people on a Reservation.”

John-Kehewin began writing seriously in 2008 after the Indian residential schools apology. She found herself drawn to global politics and social issues, drawing on events such as the earthquake in Japan or conflicts in the Gaza Strip. Her collection of poetry, In the Dog House, was published with Talonbooks this spring.

The sheer number of events may seem overwhelming, but that is exactly what poet Mariner Janes appreciates about the festival, “The setting is different from a formal reading, it’s literally words on the street with nothing but a tent and a mic. [Word Vancouver] showcases a lot of different authors.” Janes, who earned his BA and MA in English at SFU,

will be reading from his first book of poetry, The Monument Cycles, on Sunday in the Poetry Tent.

The festival, being in various neighbourhoods around the city, gives attendees a chance to see different sides of Vancouver. Janes witnesses this daily while managing a mobile harm reduction unit in the downtown eastside.

“Moving around the city all day — walking, driving — allowed me to think about space and the people within the city.” Janes’ observations resulted in a collection of poetry framed around these themes, stemming from ideas about the role of monuments from a course at SFU. Poetry seems to be a recurring theme at this year’s Word Vancouver, but there is something for everyone including children’s literature and storytelling, magazine talks, writing workshops, booths for local arts organizations, displays for literacy associations, and even musical performances.

Of the festival, John-Kehewin says: “it’s free and all class statuses are welcome, it doesn’t matter your income level.”

ARTS

Bloodied, yet unbowed, Vin Diesel has resurrected another of his franchises that was once bound for extinction. After the abominable 2 Fast 2 Furious, the Fast and Furious franchise got a surge of attention when Diesel returned to the series, and by the fifth film everything that was rescuable, had been rescued.

Now, another series starring Vin Diesel has been revived — it began with Pitch Black and was followed by the critically panned The Chronicles of Riddick. Fittingly, the new movie Riddick, is one that has the titular character stranded on a desolate planet, attempting to rediscover himself, just as the director, David Twohy, and Diesel attempt to do with the film itself.

Picking up right after the events of The Chronicles of Riddick, Richard B. Riddick (Diesel) finds himself betrayed by the Necromongers who put

September 23, 2013

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him into power, leaving him for dead when he attempts to find his home planet, Furya. Left to his own devices, Riddick has no choice but to try and survive on a planet crawling with various alien predators.

The dulcet tones of Diesel’s narration help pass the time as we spend a sizeable chunk of the film’s length merely watching Riddick become the strong warrior that he was in the first film. As interesting as that might sound, serving as a quasi-origin story for how Riddick became the ruthless convict that he was, the plot is non-existent for far too long in this film.

Even when other characters are finally introduced, such as the seemingly insane Santana (Jordi Molla), and the tough, female mercenary, Dahl (Katee Sackhoff ), Riddick does not have enough personality to carry the

movie into its third act. There is a lot of retreading of plot points from Pitch Black, but with a significant lack of tension that the original film was able to convey.

On the bright side, Riddick completely understands what kind of film Pitch Black was, and why The Chronicles of Riddick was such a failure. Characters like Santana highlight the fact that Riddick is very much a Bmovie littered with all the bad

dialogue and ridiculous action you would expect.

The final act of Riddick is when the film soars, and every action scene is illuminated in great detail. The CG aliens that Riddick has to face are sometimes laughable, but most of the time they add to the B-movie feel of the film.

Undeniably, Diesel’s charisma and action star status is what carries Riddick and makes

it a satisfying popcorn flick, until the final scene, when Twohy and Diesel turn the movie into an exercise in brutality and violence.

The film ends with an open for a possible sequel, and while Riddick is entertaining enough to warrant a watch for fans of science fiction and the previous films in the series, this is a movie you watch once and forget about completely until it is revived again.

WHO DO YOU WANT TO BE IN THE WORLD?

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20 ARTS

September 23, 2013

not so sure what to make of this scene, but to me it looked like a huge white fort encompassing nearly the entire room — and two others, like myself, had also discovered it.

There is something about hidden spaces that makes me feel all cozy and warm inside. As a commuter student, I am up at SFU’s Burnaby campus for my classes only, and as soon as they are done I bolt out to catch the 145 bus before having to mingle with the swarm of other undergraduates who are trying to do the same.

On a not-so-special day, walking through the AQ, I thought to myself “where the heck am I going to study for the next hour?” I found myself walking slowly past the SFU Gallery, and lo and behold, a white mass was unveiled. I was

A boy and a girl were sitting on top of the structure with a Persian carpet laid underneath them, their heads nearly grazing the ceiling. Enthralled at this discovery, though slightly confused, I took delight in seeing comfy grey and red pillows strewn along the white painted wood deck. It

made me want to just sit there — and study of course, in my new magical place.

There is an entire room inside the fort structure, hidden away from view. What visitors find here is another makeshift gallery inside the fort that you have to climb into. Paintings such as John Innes’s controversial 1843 James Douglas Building the Hudson’s Bay Post at Victoria, as well as porcelain plates and miniature bronze figures adorn the inside walls, all of which come from SFU’s massive art collection.

Samuel Roy-Bois’s latest exhibition Not a new world, just an old trick is about architecture and space. Indeed, this piece taps into the nostalgia of a long lost childhood with innocent days of exploration and a sense of curiosity. Director and curator of the gallery, Melanie O’Brian, says, “There is an activity happening in this gallery and people are asked

to come and activate the space, experience and play in the space.”

One has to literally walk around the entire white fort structure to see what she means.

With most galleries, there is a “do not touch” sign hung amidst the displays, but this installation asks you to directly engage with it. “You are allowed to climb on it, it’s assessable, it feels intimate — it feels like a fort,” says O’Brian.

Not only is Samuel Roy-Bois a recent recipient of the notable 2012 Vancouver Mayor’s Award for Public Art, there are also many

impressive works within his installation that have been collected by SFU for over 50 years.

“The collection has almost 5,500 works, mostly hidden, although 49 are out on display, hand chosen by the artist himself.”

Of Roy-Bois, O’Brian says, “He is interested in bringing the viewer through a succession of roles and positions, rather than as a classic and passive spectator.”

Evidently, no matter how long you have been going to the Burnaby campus there is always something new to find and discover. Take a break from your usual hangouts spaces and try something new. Believe me, you won’t regret it.

ARTS

The term “butch” is often used to label women within queer communities, but when it comes to “femme,” there is a lack of awareness about who identifies as such. Vancouverbased artist and Capilano University teacher Toni Latour’s latest exhibit, The Femme Project, hopes to change that.

The exhibit, currently at the Firehall Art Centre as well as Capilano University’s Studio Art Gallery, is made up of portraitstyle photography and audiorecorded interviews, with the aim to increase the visibility and representation of self-identified queer femmes in Vancouver. Latour says the project is “meant to capture their ideas, experiences, politics and voices and offer them to viewers.”

Latour’s combination of visuals and audio clips truly brings this underrepresented community to life; it was almost like a large scale yearbook for femmes. For each individual, a brightly lit close-up face shot and full body shot was provided.

The women in the photos vary in race, ethnicity, age and style; some of them are dressed in a colourful and eccentric way, with tattoos and bold prints, while others are dressed conservatively. However, all upheld what most would generally consider to be a traditional feminine appearance.

The invisibility amongst this community seems to stem from this femininity, as femmes identify as queer but maintain an image that some, from both within the queer community and from outside, may mistake as heterosexual, challenging stereotypes of identity and sexuality.

In the recorded interviews, a majority of the women seem to express feelings of not only dismissal — as people would often question their sexual preferences based on their outward appearance — but even discrimination, especially, and surprisingly, from within the queer community itself.

September 23, 2013

Latour says that increasing the visibility and amount of space for femmes to share their experiences has the potential to create a positive and long-term change in Vancouver’s queer communities.

The gallery is made up of 70 photographs, 64 of which can be seen on Latour’s website.

Her efforts to make her work so readily available and accessible to the public, rather than

confined to one space, shows her involvement and dedication in helping to build a visible community for queer femmes.

I had a chance to briefly speak with the Firehall Arts Centre box office manager, who emphasized the importance of an open door concept in galleries and the need to support all types of communities within Vancouver through art.

“Things that are familiar are no longer scary, no longer a threat,” says Latour. “When I showed the work at Capilano University, the audiences were primarily from outside the queer community and many thanked me for introducing them and educating them on a subculture that they didn’t know existed — that was very exciting and worthwhile.”

She says that the femme community has already responded positively, giving the project lots of press and attendance with a “sincere thanks from

many for increasing visibility.”

Latour is also working on The Family Project and The Drag King Project, both with a very similar style of visual execution and goal of empowering and identifying these unique and diverse communities.

21

The Femme project will be on at the Firehall Art Centre until Oct. 6, and at Capilano University Studio Art Gallery until Sept. 28. More of Latour’s work can be seen at tonilatour.com.

22 ARTS

From its impressive 13 track runtime to its album cover — which calls to mind such hip-hop classics as Nas’ Illmatic and The Notorious B.I.G.’s Ready to Die — it’s clear that Canadian-born emcee Drake intends Nothing Was the Same to be his shot at the hip-hop crown.

Unlike his previous record, 2011’s excellent Take Care, Drake’s newest LP is prone to tonal shifts and contradictions: he name-drops Wu-Tang Clan alumni and puffs out his chest as often as he unpacks emotional baggage and pleads to lost lovers.

To be sure, this is still the Drake we’ve come to know. Tracks like

In hindsight, it’s easy to see why Nevermind spread like wildfire. Kurt Cobain’s acidic teen angst lyrics, the band’s punk rock immediacy, their perfect balance of infectious pop and self-aware cock rock — this sort of thing was catnip to

September 23, 2013

“Furthest Thing” and “From Time” are as sensitive and gooey as any of his previous hits, and the album’s production is as squeaky clean as ever.

Still, despite widening his lens, Nothing Was the Same doesn’t reach the heights of Drake’s previous LP. His pastiche of verbal aggression and synthesized sentimentality doesn’t always gel, and some of the album’s themes are reiterated ad nauseum. He misses his ex, he makes a lot of money, he wants a stable relationship, he’s tired of fake friends. They’re common themes in hip-hop, but after three LPs, Drake has run out of new ways to look at these issues.

There’s no denying Drake’s talent: his snicker-inducing wordplay and silky flow have steadily improved since his debut EP, and Nothing Was the Same features some of his most quotable lines.

But the album tries to do too much, and Drake inevitably loses steam.

Highlights like “Too Much” and Kanyeesque album opener “Tuscan Leather” are overshadowed by failed experiments like the half-hearted diss track “The Language” and the Lil Wayne inspired “Started From the Bottom.”

For someone so preoccupied with authenticity, Drake’s attempts to borrow from his diamond in the rough idols feel false. After all, You Only Live Once, Drake — you should be yourself.

disillusioned Gen Y teens brought up on Michael Jackson and old school hip-hop.

But Nirvana weren’t the first, and they knew it. The trio’s influences are all over their sophomore LP. The Pixies’ loud/ quiet dynamics, Sonic Youth’s noise rock sprawl, the Meat Puppets’ sing-along choruses: it’s all here. Nirvana’s blessing — and its curse — was timing. Nevermind was the answer to the question the youth of North America didn’t know they were asking, and once it hit, there was no going back. The kicker? It still holds up.

Sure, opener “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is overplayed, and many of the lyrics have lost their original gut punch effect.

But lesser known cuts from the album’s second half, like “Drain You” and “Stay Away”, are pure punk brilliance. The tension between Kurt’s gravelly vocals, Krist Novoselic’s melodic bass and Dave Grohl’s aggressive drums are enhanced by the album’s studio sheen, making Nevermind’s most hardcore moments digestible for the FM radio masses.

Dragged kicking and screaming into the rock and roll canon, Nevermind is misremembered as the grungy, immature “statement” it was never meant to

What the fuck? Between carnivalesque synths, tribal rhythms, adventurous basslines and lyrics so ironically “weird” they would make The Flaming Lips blush, MGMT’s newest step away from the electro-pop accessibility of their first LP is the sort of mess that only unlimited access to a recording studio can conjure.

Any hope that the duo would try to recreate the radio-friendly simplicity of “Time to Pretend” will surely die with their newest record, the self-titled MGMT. (Do I pronounce it management or em-gee-em-tee?)

Throughout most of its relentless 44 minute run, MGMT feels like a

be. Nirvana were recast as flannel clad prophets, a marketing tool that led to their eventual downfall, but their legacy misrepresents their true talents.

Nevermind was never meant to be the final word on anything. This was an album made by three grubby misfits from small-town Washington doing their

particularly mean-spirited prank played on anyone audacious enough to unironically blast “Kids” at a house party.

The second half of the record is a blistering prog rock acid trip worthy of a Pink Floyd laser show, whereas only a handful of tracks on Side One — such as cheesy opener “Alien Days” or album centerpiece “Your Life is a Lie” — attempt a standard verse-chorus-verse approach.

There’s a self-aware childishness to the LP’s sound pallette that might be charming if it weren’t so artificial; even MGMT’s best moments could pass as tongue-in-cheek satire, as in the psychedelic stomp of “Mystery Disease” or the Panda Bear-lite whisper pop of “I Love You Too, Death.” By the time album closer “An Orphan of Fortune” attempts to restore whatever structure the duo established in the record’s first half, most listeners will have given up.

I’m not among those who took Oracular Spectacular as unimpeachable evidence of the Second Coming, but for those of you who are still pumping “Electric Feel” through Apple earbuds, steer clear of this blissed out hodgepodge. In fact, it’s probably better if you think of the new MGMT as a different group entirely; without a doubt, it’s how they think of themselves.

very best Mudhoney impression, and the album they made was better than any of the myriad it would inspire. Three years after its release, Kurt would be swallowed whole by his own unwanted fame, but more than two decades on, Nevermind remains as dynamic and unstable as ever.

ARTS

September 23, 2013

23

The beauty of any romantic endeavor is its inherent mortality. It is beautiful because it mirrors life: eventually, it will die. This, Love, is beautiful because it is only a moment. In fact, even in its totality it is only ever captured in moments. That look, those legs lying there, that little smile, that mischief, that outrage. Love is a fleeting feeling. We feel it even in the first meeting, we just don’t know to call it love yet. We feel it on the good first dates and hope for more of it. For it to deepen. The romantic moment takes on a transcendent beauty because it is a doomed endeavor. We can say so when we are young because we expect many new romances ahead, and the older folk can say it too, but with more conviction, the evidence of life on their side.

To explore the romantic forest, to play with the tail of Love, that mysterious cat, is to play with death.

At best, we will be long lost in that wonderful forest. We will hear trumpets for a while.

The cat will snuggle up to us and keep us warm. But in the end, the forest will become our tomb; Love will devour us like a helpless mouse. This is not the sentiment of a broken-hearted man. No, Love’s death is the most beautiful thing of all.

Because if not consciously then subconsciously we know all of this. We are well aware that we are doomed. Doomed to heartbreak and doomed to death. But we are blissfully, delusionaly brave in this respect. We are fighter pilots. Some kind of heroes. You may disagree and remind me that we are seeking for happiness, fulfillment, companionship, our soul mates; and you would be right, we are searching for those things. But behind it all, behind all the cowardice that eggs us on into seeking a final answer, we must know that if we are lucky and find it all we will still lose it again. We will lose everything we have gained, and then some.

The decay and death of a romance, the end of the evening, leaves a deeper hole than we began with. So we can say we are brave heroes or delusional cowards but either way, how beautiful is our crusade! We are hopeless yet we fight on hope.

I think this is lovely.

Looking to meet some new people? The Irish Heather offers a twice weekly Long Table Series special, where guests sit together at one big table and pay only $16 for a meal, including an artisan beer or beverage. This week, there’s both the Meatless Monday option, which offers a meal entirely without meat (a popular style of event in New York), as well as the Sunday Roast, which includes roast beef, yorkshire pudding, potatoes and gravy, plus a bottle of Blood Alley Bitter. You can’t beat the price, plus it’s a great way to brush elbows with some new friends.

This Thursday, Sept. 26, Stoop Fam and Art Battle present the LEARNERS album release party at London Pub. Friends With the Help, a local rap ensemble, will gather the hip-hop community with the art community for the launch of their new album.

The evening will feature live painting by the stars of Art Battle, as well as performances by K-Rec, Estea Elements, B-Boy Savage Rock, Claire Mortifee, and Eh Yo. There’s no cover, and double high balls are only $6.25.

The Cultch presents Penelope, a comedic retelling of Odysseus mythology. The long absence of Odysseus, off at the Trojan War, causes men to flock to the Greek island where Penelope patiently waits for her husband to return. These four “ridiculous men” are suitors vying for Penelope’s hand, also waiting patiently for her to make a choice, or to face their deaths waiting. They peacock and preen in a hopeless attempt to court her, and Odysseus’ return seems more ominous and doubtful. The show runs from Sept. 25 to Oct. 13, with the opening night on Sept.26.

Check out thecultch.com for tickets.

This weekend, from Sept.

25 to Sept. 29, Word Vancouver (formerly Word on the Street) kicks off with author readings, exhibits, performances, and more literary fun. There will be free events around the city, including a reading by Evelyn Lau at The Paper Hound on Wednesday, Sept. 25; a chapbookmaking workshop at the Carnegie Learning Centre and a DTES open mic poetry night at Carnegie Theatre on Thursday; a Twisted Poets Literary Salon at The Cottage Bistro also on Thursday; a Genesis of Play and Screenwriting event at the Historic Joy Kogawa House on Friday; as well as the main event, a gathering of publishing professionals and writers at the Vancouver Public Library on Saturday and Sunday.

Treat yourself to some farmers market goodies before the goods run out! There are several farmers markets still lingering around the city, including one in the West End, Mount Pleasant, Kitsilano, Trout Lake, Main Street Station, and more!

It’s a great chance to grab fresh local produce, as well as honey, meat, crafts, and much more.

There are only a couple of weeks left though, as all markets end the weekend of Oct. 19, and then you’ll have to wait until Nov. 2 for the winter farmers market to start up. Check out eatlocal.org for maps and directions on how to find one near you.

24 DIVERSIONS / ETC

September 23, 2013

CLASSIFIEDS@ THE-PEAK.CA CLASSIFIEDS@ THE-PEAK.CA CLASSIFIEDS@ THE-PEAK.CA CLASSIFIEDS@ THE-PEAK.CA CLASSIFIEDS@ THE-PEAK.CA CLASSIFIEDS@ THE-PEAK.CA CLASSIFIEDS@ THE-PEAK.CA

Across 1- Vaporize 5- Lure 10- Owner of Hastings pizza joint 14- Years in old Rome 15- Useful 16- Exhort 17- The wolf ___ the door 18- Confrontation 19- Egyptian canal 20- Crucially important 23- Siouan speaker 24- Falsehoods 25- Structure spanning a river 29- Recover 31- Artful 32- Advanced in years 33- Carefree 37- Caucus state 40- Frenchman’s assent 41- On the ocean 42- Flight attendant’s request 47- Tiny toiler 48- Green men of Warhammer 49- Less cluttered 53- Child’s toy

55- Agitate 57- Long unit of time 58- Cowardice 61- Christmas song 64- Lofty nest 65- Church recess 66- Mont Blanc, par exemple 67- Bridget Fonda, to Jane 68- Will of “The Waltons” 69- Get wind of 70- Challenged 71- Cong. meeting

a lathe 6- Chopin composition 7- Tends 8- Ballet bend 9- Easily argued 10- Japanese dish 11- Capote, to friends 12- Period of human life 13- Pince-___ 21- Latin for “and others”: et ___ 22- ___ Little Tenderness 26- Specks 27- Merriment 28- Icelandic epic Down 30- Banned apple spray 1- Dude who springs 31- Vessel you from the can 34- Cry of a goose 2- Like some inspec35- Pull tions 36- Tabula ___ 3- Dazed 37- Support beam 4- Lo-cal 38- A Chaplin 5- Forming of objects on 39- Unit of power

43- Pineapple vendor 44- Emerald Isle 45- Licorice flavor 46- Spanish muralist 50- Home on the range 51- Rubs out 52- Gardeners, at times 54- President before Polk 55- More tender 56- More than once 59- Sci-fi princess 60- Torn clothing 61- Slangy denial 62- Bullfight cheer 63- US environment agency

Hope to see you there!

SPORTS

It’s hard to improve on a perfect record to start a season, but SFU’s men’s soccer team may have done just that last week. After two close games on the road against California State University-East Bay and the Holy Names Hawks, the Clan flipped the switch at home.

Admittedly, it took a bit longer than one may have hoped, as the Clan fell behind early in their home opener against Hawaii Pacific.

“The guys that started the game played great,” said head coach Alan Koch of his team. “But unfortunately we went a goal down. [HPU] scored on a great free kick, it’s one of their biggest strengths. I give our guys a lot of credit. They dealt with the adversity and stepped up to the plate.

The guys who started the game kept playing well and the guys who came in off the bench took it to a whole other level.”

Jovan Blagojevic was one those players to come off the bench, entering the game in the 33rd minute. Seconds after stepping onto the pitch, the junior from Coquitlam tied the game at one apiece. Before the first half was over, sophomore Colin Jacques put his team up 2–1, a lead the Clan would not relinquish, winning the match by the same score.

“I’ve got to thank my teammates,” said Jacques of his game winner after the game. “They really tired out the [opponent’s] starters in the early going. We came in with fresh legs. We were able to take it to them and score a couple goals.”

Things were a bit different in the Clan’s second home game of the season. “A couple of goals” would have been sufficient. Instead, the Clan fell just one short of double digits in a 9 – 0 romp of the Trinity Lutheran Eagles last Saturday in the last game of their non-conference schedule.

The game winner came early — a penalty kick tally from senior Carlo Basso in the first minute. It was lights out from there. The eagles would score an own goal, and Jacques would

sports editor email / phone

September 23, 2013

make it 3–0 before 30 minutes had been played.

The score actually stayed reasonable until the 70th minute, when the Clan would tally three more goals over a 10-minute span. North Vancouver’s Jason van Blerk scored on a header off a corner, Glenn Paden scored his first as a member of the Clan off another penalty kick, and diminutive senior Lucas Ferritto scored his third of the season to make it 6–0.

And in the final 10 minutes of the game, Ferritto would add another, and Paden two more to complete the hat trick, and the scoring. Paden would later be named Red Lion Player of the Week in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) for his troubles.

“We have all sorts of different guys who can score so it was nice to see so many players get on the scoresheet and it should give

them confidence heading into conference play,” said Koch after the blowout victory.

It should be enough to give the hard-to-please Koch a little confidence too, as is the play of his goalkeepers: perhaps lost in the nine goals is that his keeper didn’t give up any — the Clan’s first shutout of the season.

“All three of our goalkeepers have played now and have played very well,” he said. All three of the Clan keepers are new to the team this year. “I give Toscanny [Pandu-Oesman] a lot of credit.

He was very composed, his decision-making was very good, his communication was good. I hope as a goalkeeping tandem they can keep giving us strong performances.”

The same could be said for the whole team. Entering the GNAC portion of their schedule, the Clan look poised to make another run at the top spot in the conference, and even the NCAA Division II championship. After their 4–0 start, the squad has climbed from third to second and now to first in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America rankings. The team obviously won’t pot nine goals every game, but it shows what a powerhouse this team can be.

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

25

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26 SPORTS

With a brand-new coaching staff and a new team mantra, the Clan women’s volleyball team is ready to be taken seriously.

The 2012 campaign was far from successful, but the team is ready to apply what they learned from last year’s difficult season, and make their mark in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference this year.

The young team went 4-22 overall in last year’s competitions, winning only one conference match over the threemonth period. But the Clan is ready for 2013 now, headed by a new coaching staff, and fueled by the desire to show the conference that they belong.

Team captains Kelsey Robinson, Amanda Renkema and Brooklyn Gould-Bradbury explain the transition, and their new outlook and passion for the

September 23, 2013

game, “The past few seasons have been tough,” said Renkema, a middle blocker, and the only one of the three to have donned a Clan uniform in 2012.

“The losing wasn’t so much the hardship as much as the not winning. We took so many teams to five sets, and were competitors in every match.

Not being able to finish many games was very tough.”

The 6’1” Delta, BC native was second on the team in points per set and in blocks in 2012, averaging 2.59 points each set, and had 75 blocks on the season, a clear leader on the young squad both on and off the court.

Robinson, a 5’11” left side from Surrey, BC was sidelined by a knee injury for the 2012 season, but the junior found her red-shirt season to be eye-opening as well. “I really learned about the level of passion I have for volleyball when I sat out last season,” she explained. “I feel like I will be a more passionate and competitive player now because of it, which hopefully I can translate into my leadership role.”

Leadership will come from the trio of juniors, as well as from new head coach Gina Schmidt, a former University of Montana assistant.

“The reason that I came to SFU was because I knew Gina from high school ball as well as from playing in college,” explained Gould-Bradbury, a transfer from North Idaho College and a Seattle native. “I respect Gina a lot as a coach and am looking forward to what the team can learn from her expertise.”

Gould-Bradbury joins the Clan after two seasons at North Idaho, where she was named a National Junior College Athletics Association All-American and served as team captain in 2012.

“My role as a leader will be different this year than in years past,”

the 5’7” setter explained. “Not knowing a lot about the school, area, or even other athletes, my role as a leader so far will be on the court. I’ll be focusing on trying to bring hustle, communication, and encouragement to practice and game play.”

“This year’s group of athletes seem more mentally tough than in the past,” continued Renkema. “Everyone wants to succeed, especially as a team, and there have been a lot of selfless actions taken by many players for the betterment of the group as a whole.”

And the 2013 freshman class is an important part of that group, with the incoming selection of players offering both skill and spirit to the team. Freshmen Alison McKay, Devon May and Mackenzie Dunham have already seen the floor, with McKay leading the team in digs after the first weekend of play.

“I am really excited about the freshman class,” outside hitter Robinson shared. “They all bring something unique to the program that we will be able to use throughout the season. They are also extremely competitive,

which bodes well for the future of the program.”

With hard work and perseverance planned for the 2013 season, the women will also be looking to use their NCAA experience to help them move forward, a first for the team who’s junior and senior contingent have been rather diminished in recent years.

“I think we experienced a sort of roller coaster with our mental game last season, which can be attributed to our lack of experience as players, so I am excited for this coming up season,” Renkema said. “Not only do most of the starting players have at least one year of NCAA experience under our belts but also because over the past year, we have become a lot more united, understand our roles as individual players better and have got some new perspective and insight on mental game from our coaches.”

With that kind of attitude, and a goal of completing their first winning season in the GNAC, the SFU women’s volleyball squad is ready for 2013 and the challenges and growth it will bring.

SPORTS

It didn’t take long for new head coach Gina Schmidt to make an impact with the SFU volleyball team.

Just three games into their 2013 season, the Clan already have two wins under their belt.

Last season, in an overall of 26 games, the Clan had just four ‘W’s.

After dropping their season opener in five sets, the Clan got their first win of the 2013 season with a three sets to none victory over the Thompson Rivers University (TRU) Wolfpack last Saturday. Later that same day, they topped the Columbia Bible College (CBC) Bearcats with a three sets to one win.

“I thought we did a good job of coming back from a disappointing loss [in the opener] and just playing steady throughout the whole game,” said Schmidt of the victory,

September 23, 2013

the first of her head coaching career. “[TRU was] able to adjust to whatever came at them today.”

“I think we can take things away from every match. I hope our team takes away the positives from this match and the things we have to learn from as well.”

Surrey native Kelsey Robinson led the way for the Clan in

the opener, posting 15 kills and 12 digs, both team highs. She had support, however: junior Amanda Renkema followed with 10 kills and freshman Alison McKay recorded 10 digs in her first start at libero.

A 25–13 set was sandwiched between two 25–23 sets — a welcome sight, as the Clan too often

found themselves on the wrong end of close games over the past years. But the straight-set victory set the Clan up to get above .500 for the first time since opening last season 2–0, and the team didn’t miss the opportunity.

The Clan came out flying against CBC, storming out of the gates with a 25–9 victory in the

led by junior Cameron Proceviat, who finished 30th in a time of 25:41.08 in the 8-km event. Freshman Oliver Jorgensen wasn’t far behind, crossing the line next for the Clan in 34th place followed only two spots later by team captain James Young. Austin Trapp

and Brendan Wong were also point scorers for the Clan, coming in 46th and 47th respectively.

The cross-country season is a short, action-filled season, and the Clan will be racing throughout the fall to prepare for the GNAC, West Regional and

27

first set, and a 25–19 win in the second. But the Bearcats would edge the Clan in the third, taking the set 25–23, evoking memories of a few blown leads last year.

But the Clan showed resolve that they hadn’t had in years past and took the fourth set 25–22, and the match three sets to one.

Renkema and Robinson again led the team in kills, with 12 and 10 respectively. McKay too had another impressive outing, racking up 13 digs in the match, second only to junior Alanna Chan’s 14.

“I love the way this team is coming together,” said Clan freshman McKay. “We have a great coaching staff and great players. I’ve just been working hard and am glad we got some results today.”

The success of this team will ultimately be measured by whether these types of results can continue. It’s early yet, but the team’s improvement — and optimism — is evident.

championship by only a few points. If the first race of the season is any indication however, both teams should have excellent fall campaigns, with the men making great strides over previous years.

Already with one meet under their belts, the Clan cross-country squads are back in action for their 2013 campaign. After a second and fourth place finish respectively at the Sundodger Invitational in Seattle, WA, the women’s and men’s programs are prepared to run away with the season and hopefully pick up some hardware along the way.

Following the squad’s seasonopening meet at the Sundodger on Sept. 14, the women’s side has picked up several mid-season rankings, coming in near the top of both the regional and national rankings. The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) coaches poll ranks the ladies second in the West Region and sixth in the NCAA Division II. These rankings put the Clan in a similar position to 2012 when the highly ranked team missed qualifying for the national

In that first meet, the women were led by senior captain Lindsey Butterworth who clocked in at 21:29.63 in the 6-km race, for third place overall. She was followed

by Kirstin Allen who crossed in seventh position and sophomore Kansas Mackenzie who came in 13th overall. Rebecca Bassett and Tanya Humeniuk were the final point scorers for the ladies, who finished only behind National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) powerhouse UBC, and ahead of all of their Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) competitors.

The men also had a strong showing in their first competition of 2013 coming in fourth overall

National championships, and will have raced in Spokane, WA this past weeken. Though results were not available at the time of press, if the early going is any indication, 2013 could be a very successful season for both the men and the women.

28 SPORTS

The Clan football program has a rich history in the Canadian Football League, with alumni signing professional contracts almost every year, representing the school and the team in the highest level of football competition offered in Canada.

This year appears to be no different, as two SFU athletes find themselves in the top-15 of the CFL draft rankings. Seniors Casey Chin and Matthias Goossen, both British Columbia natives, made the Fall 2014 cut, ranked 12th and 15th respectively in early September.

With Simon Fraser now a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), recruiters’ eyes are turning more and more in the direction of the sole Canadian school in the league. As a new era begins for the school on the hill, the importance of feeding the CFL becomes even greater.

“There is definitely more pressure to be sending guys to the CFL now,” explained Clan head coach Dave Johnson. “Being able to offer the NCAA experience in Canada is such a draw for young talent, and as we begin to attract the best players in the country, we need to prepare them for potential CFL careers.”

That spirit and passion for the sport in Canada is what excites Johnson as he talks about the Clan’s CFL ties, and the trust that he has in Simon Fraser’s ability to offer a unique opportunity to student-athletes is unwavering.

“We are the only NCAA school in Canada, and I believe that our team needs to be comprised of a Canadian core . . . we aim to develop players to a point where professional scouts are looking at them for the future.”

And that tradition runs deep, with over 140 Clan alumni having signed with CFL teams since the school’s opening in 1965. In 1970 alone, 23 players from the 9-0 Clan squad were drafted into the league.

It was certainly a unique year, but very indicative of the quality of players that have moved through the program.

“I have CFL scouts coming to watch games, and review game tapes; they can’t talk to the guys but

September 23, 2013

they tell me that we really have a different calibre of player here. We are strong, we are tough and that is evident when the draft does come around,” Johnson continued.

With the 2013 season having begun, CFL scouts have certainly not overlooked the talent on Terry Fox Field. Both Chin and Goossen are deserving of the accolade, but equally humble, crediting much of their personal successes to their teammates and the program.

“It was exciting for sure to be recognized, and I have put in a lot of hard work during my time here, but nothing is set in stone,” said Goossen, an offensive lineman.

“Right now I am focussed on this

season with the Clan, so maybe after our season is done I can turn my attention to the draft, but right now we have work to do.”

Chin, a linebacker, had similar comments when asked about the accolade, explaining how important the team’s success is to the individual athletes that comprise it. “I work hard and try to do the right things on and off the field,” he mentioned. “It’s neat to be on the list but it is really about the team, and as we do better the more they notice individual players.”

Johnson is confident that following the 2013 collegiate season even more Clan athletes will be in consideration for professional contracts. “We have a strong senior class this season and I can see upwards of five guys having shots at the CFL from this year’s graduating class alone.” He continued, “We have great calibre athletes on the field which just pushes everyone else to become stronger to learn to play with and against them in every practice.”

Chin agrees, and while he was appreciative of making the initial draft rankings list, he knows that his team’s talent runs extremely deep. “There are a lot of guys on our team that could have been on that list, Matthias and I were just lucky enough to have been chosen.”

As the Clan continue to improve within the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and make history as the first Canadian institution in the NCAA, the pressure to feed Canadian football programs will only increase, but Johnson and the Clan are prepared for the challenge.

“We offer a great, well-rounded program here. Being in the NCAA is a completely one-of-a-kind experience and combine that with the outstanding education that our student-athletes receive, it gives our student-athletes so many options. Our hope is that everyone can continue their athletic careers if they so desire, and our program’s success has and will continue to make that possible in the CFL.”

HUMOUR

September 23, 2013

humour editor email / phone

Brad McLeod humour@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

29

BE SMART ONLINE: Social media advice for today’s youth

BURNABY — According to Tim Burns — a student who must have taken a wrong turn somewhere on his way to the Art Gallery — there is a brand new exhibition that highlights the work of bathroom graffiti artist, as well as a significant tribute to sink fixtures and mirrors.

While SFU galleries’ spokespeople claim that their current featured display is of the work of Samuel Roy-Bois, an artist who, to their knowledge, was not primarily inspired by lavatories, Burns was thoroughly impressed by the work he saw on display, going as far as to say it was “the best work he’s ever seen at the gallery.”

Burns said the work he encountered was quite awe-inspiring and contained some of the most detailed penis sketches he’s ever seen. He also said that he was almost brought to tears by some of the poetry on display, particularly one entitled “Jaspreet is a fag” which was written by a literary genius with the pseudonym “your mom.”

While it seems pretty clear that Burns was just in one of the AQ’s nearby men’s washrooms and not the art gallery, he’s been promoting the exhibit enthusiastically with his only warning to potential visitors being not to use flash photography since fellow patrons take that very seriously and may eject you from the premises.

YOUR REGION — A local man who is just going about his day reportedly has no idea how much of a douchebag you think he is. According to reports, this dick sitting across from you on the bus who you’ve been glaring at for the past half-hour doesn’t even have a clue that he’s infuriating you.

Sources have indicated that the man who is just keeping to himself listening to music has zero awareness for your distaste in those stupid flip-flops he’s wearing and doesn’t even have the slightest idea that you think his haircut looks really dumb. Apparently, the man was too busy selfishly thinking about what he was going to do today — which includes going to the grocery store to buy some fruit, playing basketball at the park and visiting his elderly grandmother for dinner at her retirement home — to look outwards and become aware of your irrational hate for him.

Some sources have also indicated that his mind was even further clouded by thoughts of the shoes he lost recently and his regret that he wasn’t more specific with his barber last week.

While this all remains just speculation, sources inside your own head indicate that he’s probably the worst and there’s a good chance that you’re way better than him.

PHOENIX, AZ — Although no casualties, injuries, or even plane crashes have been reported in the state of Arizona recently, according to the imagination of one incredibly frightful pessimist thousands could been dying right now.

John Kirkpatrick, a 54-year-old man with a lot of time on his hands, is apparently afraid that thousands of people could’ve died in a plane crash during most hours of the day. In the past Kirkpatrick has feared significant death tolls from imagined hurricanes, mass shootings and distinctly remembers waking up on September 11, 2001 with the chilling feeling that hundreds of people had died in a shark-related tragedy.

While Kirkpatrick’s fears are often misplaced, he is always in a constant state of fearing some sort of massive scale tragedy but, somewhat surprisingly, is not afraid of his own death in the slightest.

“When it happens, it happens, there’s no point in worrying or even thinking about it really” Kirkpatrick told The Peak before drifting off in terror thinking about dozens of people who could have died in a freak tobogganing accident somewhere in the world this week.

30 HUMOUR

BURNABY — Friends of Jordano Tonial are reportedly happy to have him back to his old ways after his several month-long self-imposed bout with sobriety came to end last weekend. According to loved ones, “Rooster” gave up drinking for two

months, and reportedly, during that time, never went out, was frequently depressed, and wasn’t fun at all.

“Those were dark days” said Jordano of his two month-long fall into sobriety. “I realized I hit rock bottom when I found myself at home, alone, drinking Fresca and watching reruns on TLC on a Friday night.”

Jordano explained that he used sobriety to feel better about himself, but in the process he pushed away a lot of the people who loved him. “It was very selfish,” Jordano admitted, looking back on his experience, “I was hurting a lot of

September 23, 2013

people who cared about me.”

After realizing that he was isolating himself, he chose to pull himself together and rejoin the community. This decision was met with a lot of support and his friends were ecstatic to see him out at Portside last Friday night.

“I saw him fall down the stairs — TWICE — it was awesome,” said roommate Lynn Nowelselski, one of the many well-wishers who greeted Jordano by telling him that it was good to have him back.

“When someone gets into that kind of a lifestyle, like Jordano did, you don’t know what happens to them. I was really worried

about him, like, did he join a cult or something?” said friend, Zaeem Khan.

While a relapse into sobriety is possible, his friends were

quick to offer their support, including Josh Solman who reportedly stated “I’ll be your sponsor bro! Just call me — we’ll get fucked up!”

Although Jordano asked The Peak not to use his real name, he thought his story could serve as a powerful example to others out there who are also struggling with sobriety.

“I don’t know what personal demons made me slip into something like that,” Jordano explained in closing, “but with the help of my friends and family, any thought of ever not-drinking again has been put to rest.”

HUMOUR

Dear Editor, Do you think you’d ever do a “Letters to the Editor” segment in the humour section, you know where people write in questions and you answer them and then you publish that?

- Sharon Berkley, Vancouver, BC Hey Sharon, Thanks for the letter! I don’t think I’ll ever do a “Letters to the Editor” segment. It just seems like something you’d only have to resort to if you were really out of ideas and I think that I’m a little better than that.

-Brad McLeod, Humour Editor ***** Dear Editor, Could you at least publish my letter and your response to it and then label it “Letters to the Humour Editor?” I think that would be kind of funny.

- Sharon Berkley, Vancouver, BC Hey Sharon, Although I agree that would be “kind of funny,” which is what I strive for, it still seems like something only someone who was very desperate for content would do. I don’t think that will ever happen to me.

-Brad McLeod, Humour Editor ***** Dear Editor, I know what you’re probably going to say but the exchange we’ve had so far would be funny to publish as a “Letters to the Editor” segment. You know, just me suggesting it and you resisting it, and then it’s funny because people will see that you did end up publishing and it be like ‘wow he must actually be desperate despite saying he’s not.’

- Sharon Berkley, Vancouver, BC Hey Sharon, Again, this isn’t a bad idea, it’s just that I don’t think I need to resort to this kind of thing. I have plenty of great content and don’t need to do this kind of thing. However, if I were to do it, I think I’d need to write a couple of fake letters myself to go in between our exchange that had more obvious jokes. You know, just to break it up a little. But again, I don’t envision it ever coming to this.

-Brad McLeod, Humour Editor ***** Dear Editor, What do you think would happen if Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, considered the fastest man in the world, were to spend time with American sprinter Tyson Gay, who is considered the second fastest man on earth?

-Tony O’Toole, Kalamazoo, MI

September 23, 2013

Dear Editor, I think you’re the greatest, someday I’d like to grow up and be just like you. Anyway, I was just wondering, could you think of a funny name for an Adam Sandler themed board game? I’m asking for a friend.

- John ‘Johnny’ Smith, Poughkeepsie, NY Hey Johnny, Thanks for reading! No problem, Sandlers of Catan.

-Brad McLeod, Humour Editor ***** Dear Sharon, Hey, just wondering if you wanted to send any more letters. I still don’t think I’ll ever do a “Letters to the Humour Editor” segment but you know . . . just in case it might be nice to have a few more.

-Brad McLeod, Humour Editor ***** Dear Sharon, It’s been a couple days and I haven’t heard back from you, it’d be great to get some letters. I’m not desperate for content or anything . . . I just decided this is actually a really funny idea. You know, you suggesting the “Letters to the Humour Editor” segment and me rejecting it, that’s hilarious. But, I just don’t think it’ll really work unless it goes on for a long time. Please write back.

-Brad McLeod, Humour Editor ***** Dear Sharon, Any letters? I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings before by rejecting the “Letters to the Editor” segment, I just thought I was going along with the joke. Please write some letters. I’m not desperate, it’s just a really funny idea, you were right!

- Brad McLeod, Humour Editor ***** Dear Sharon, Okay, I’ve been lying! I am desperate for content; I always have been! I NEED to do a “Letters to the Humour Editor” segment! Seriously, I’ve got pretty much nothing else. Please, please, please write another letter to the editor asking us to do a “Letters to the Editor” segment! Come on, answer me! I can’t do this on my own!

- Brad McLeod, Humour Editor *****

Hey Tony, I think they would be fast friends.

-Brad McLeod, Humour Editor *****

fig. 1 : Fast Friends

31

Dear Editor, I’m glad you’ve finally come around on the “Letters to the Editor” segment. I didn’t think you’d ever have to resort to anything like this, I mean how hard can it be to fill a few measly pages every week? I’m pretty sure I could come up with enough ideas.

- Sharon Berkley, Vancouver, BC Hey Sharon, Thank you for writing another letter! This job isn’t as easy as it seems, it’s hard to come with ideas every week. Your “Letters to the Editor” idea was good though so feel free to pitch any of your other ideas, it would really help me out.

- Brad McLeod, Humour Editor ***** Dear Editor, I think I’ve helped you out enough already. Now that I know how little content you’ve got I think I might go another route with my ideas . . .

- Sharon Berkley, Vancouver, BC Hey Sharon, What do you mean?

- Brad McLeod, Humour Editor ***** Hey Brad, If I have more ideas than you, like this brilliant “Letters to the Editor” gag, why should I be writing to you?

-Sharon Berkley, Humour Editor Dear Editor, Wait, how the hell did this happen?

-Brad McLeod, North Delta, BC ***** Hey Brad, Thanks for the letter! Do you think you could send me a few more? I’m not desperate or anything I just think this “Letters to the Editor” thing might be able to take up a whole page if we have a little more back and forth.

-Sharon Berkley, Humour Editor ***** Hey Brad, Goddammit you were right! I’m out of ideas! Can you send me another letter, please? I really think with some pictures this could be a full page! Please, you’d really be helping me out!

-Sharon Berkley, Humour Editor ***** Hey Brad, Whatever, I quit.

-Sharon Berkley, Humour Editor ***** Dear Editor, Have you ever thought about doing a “Letters to the Editor” segment in the humour section?

-Stan Simpson, Burnaby BC Hey Stan, Back the fuck off, YOU’RE NOT STEALING MY JOB! - Brad McLeod, Humour Editor

32 LAST WORD

In our Orwellian modern era of NSA surveillance and spyware, it’s hard to blame tech users for worrying about their online privacy.

In an effort to dissuade fears of hacking, Google recently released a list of common — and therefore insecure — password topics: these include birthdays, holidays, sports teams, pet names and, of course, the word “password.”

These days, most attempts to join a site like Facebook or Twitter will be met with security measures that require your password to be a certain length, and to be comprised of a healthy mix of letters, numbers and obscure symbols.

However, with the announcement of their upcoming iPhone 5S, Apple has announced an alternative to passwords: their new phones will feature Touch ID, a fingerprint scanner which will allow users to log in to their phone, as well as purchase items from the iTunes Store and the App Store, without having to remember anything.

No more numbers, and no more fear of thieves peering over your shoulder. As long as you buy the iPhone 5S — and not its less expensive counterpart, the iPhone 5C — all you’ll need is the touch of a finger.

It’s easy to see why Apple chose to implement fingerprint identification technology: unlike other forms of biometric authentication, such as voice or facial recognition, fingerprints are more difficult to fake and the currently existing technology is far more sophisticated. “Your fingerprint is one of the best passwords in the world. It’s always with you, and no two are exactly alike,” Dan Ricco, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, boasts in a video on the company’s website. But this may be a design flaw: since fingerprints never change, your ability to switch your password is restricted.

Other issues with biometric authentication shed light on why this seemingly intuitive

features editor email / phone

Max Hill features@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560

technology is only now surfacing. When you deposit a cheque at the bank, they compare your signature with the copy that they have on file. Though no two signatures are a perfect match, they employ experts who are able to ensure with near certainty that the penmanship matches. Similarly, no two scans of a fingerprint are exactly the same, even though the fingerprint is.

But even that assurance is questionable: fingers that have been burned or cut will not retain the same print, and damaged, dirty or temperature-sensitive sensors may lose their capacity to accurately read the grooves of an individual print.

The upside here is that you’ve got ten potential passwords — possibly even twenty, as Touch ID can read toeprints — but it’s still a little bit nerve-wracking to have your pool of potential codes limited to a few digits (pun intended).

Numerous studies have confirmed that built fingerprints are able to fool sophisticated authentication technology; some can be tricked by a photocopy, while others require a gelatin mold or a fake finger. Either way, you’re leaving potential copies of your password everywhere you go. Your password is a secret, but your fingerprint is not.

Naturally, debate has already begun over whether the era of password protection is nearing an end. Many have hypothesized that it’s only a matter of time before PIN numbers are replaced by biometric authenticators — of course, this technology is expensive, and banks would need assurance not only that this technology actually works, but that users would be willing to trust it.

To be fair, the early reviews for the Touch ID feature have been almost universally positive. The new iPhone requires an additional security code — a standard four-digit numeric PIN, as previous iPhones have featured — in case biometric systems should

fail. Of course, this is a little ironic, since the feature was likely designed to minimize the microannoyance of numeric codes in the first place.

Apple has done one thing right: once the iPhone recognizes your fingerprint, an algorithm converts the information into a numeric value which is stored on an A7 chip inside the phone. No iCloud, no central database. Users won’t have to worry about their most sensitive personal information being accessed by Apple bigwigs — this is especially reassuring given the recent controversy behind Google’s terms of service for its Drive.

But what about others? If biometric authenticators take off and passwords become obsolete, a stolen fingerprint could mean a one-way ticket into your bank account, smartphone and social networks, all at once; and there’s no doubt that some companies will be less careful than Apple has been.

Consider UPEK Protector Suite, a Windows software that allowed users to log on to their laptops via fingerprint. Elcomsoft, a Russian-based passwordcracking software, found that the passwords were being stored in plain text, without any encryption. “Having physical access to a laptop running UPEK Protector Suite, we could extract passwords to all user accounts with fingerprint-enabled logon,” they advised in 2012.

The main takeaway here is that, until we can be sure that the technology is bulletproof, fingerprints and other biometric measures should be used with passwords and codes, not instead of them. It’s hard to deny that they’re more convenient, and have a scifi coolness factor that makes the nerd in me foam at the mouth.

But with computer hackers remaining a serious threat and government surveillance invading our day-to-day routines, we just can’t be too careful.

September 23, 2013