The Runner Vol 11, Issue 13

MARCH 19, 2019 VOLUME 11, ISSUE 13 KPU’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER

PROGRAM INTAKES CANCELLED DUE TO FINANCIAL STRESS Applicants are no longer being admitted to several programs across KPU faculties

NEWS

Recent KSA Election “Marred" by Accusations of Rule-Breaking

CULTURE › 04

KPU Holds Week of Indigenization and Decolonization Events

› 06

OPINIONS

Consent Extends Beyond the Bedroom

› 12

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STAFF Editor in Chief

Aly Laube editor@runnermag.ca

Managing Editor

Connor Doyle managing@runnermag.ca

04 06

Staff Writer

Braden Klassen staff@runnermag.ca

Staff Writer

Cristian Hobson-Dimas writer@runnermag.ca

Production Manager

Sarah Kraft production@runnermag.ca

08 12

Graphics Editor

NEWS

Recent KSA Election “Marred with Numerous Accusations of Candidates Flouting the Rules" According to a report filed by KSA Chief Returning Officer Ron Laufer on Feb. 28, the KSA’s February election “was marred with numerous accusations of candidates flouting the rules and procedures of the election process.”

CULTURE

KPU Holds Week of Indigenization and Decolonization Events The events are all part of Indigenization and Decolonization at KPU: A Week of Sharing and Learning, an event series which includes presentations, panels, round tables, webinars, a book reading, documentary screenings, and a nature walk at the Kwantlen First Nation Reserve.

FEATURES

Program Intakes Cancelled Due to Financial Stress Programs that have had their intakes suspended or cancelled include Music, Health Unit Coordinator, the HRMT Post Bacc program, Public Relations, Foundations in Design, and Fashion Design.

OPINIONS

Consent Extends Beyond the Bedroom I try to be cool around friends who embrace each other at the beginning and end of every interaction, or who are happy to cuddle up on the couch in a human dog pile, but for me, these things don’t come so easily.

Kristen Frier graphics@runnermag.ca

K P I RG A GM

Web Manager

Alex Rodriguez web@runnermag.ca

Operations Manager Scott Boux office@runnermag.ca 778-565-3801

CONTRIBUTORS Sarah Adrian Thomas Buecking Katherine Charlton Ivy Edad Lisa Hedmark Amei-lee Laboucan Nic Laube Jessica Limoanco @RESLUS Kayci Roy Tae Whitehouse Jayne Wright

COVER BY Jessica Limoanco

Arbutus 3710/3720 12666 72 Ave. Surrey, B.C, V3W 2M8 778-565-3801 www.runnermag.ca Vol. 11, Issue no. 13 March 19 // 2019 ISSN# 1916 8241

All submissions to The Runner are subject to editing for style, quality, length, and legality. The Runner will not publish material which the editors deem to be harmful or discriminatory. The views expressed within the publication are not necessarily those of The Runner staff or of the Polytechnic Ink Publishing Society.

The Runner is student-owned and operated by Kwantlen Polytechnic University students, published under the Polytechnic Ink Publishing Society. The Runner recognizes that our work, both in and out of the office, takes place on unceded Coast and Strait Salish territories, specifically the shared traditional territories of the Kwantlen, Katzie, Semiahmoo, Sto:lo and Tsawwassen First Nations. Our name is inspired by the hun’qumi’num meaning of Kwantlen, which is tireless hunters or tireless runners. Just as KPU is adaptable and changing, so is The Runner.

FR IDA Y MA RC H 2 9 TH , 2 01 9 S URR EY C O NF EREN CE C ENT RE CEDA R 12 05 | 1 -4 PM

& E L ECT IO N

NEWS

FROM THE EDITOR

To preserve what little identity KPU has, the university must keep its programming diverse

Aly Laube | Editor in Chief Kwantlen Polytechnic University is in a financial pinch right now, as you’ll read about in the cover story for this issue, and one of the unfortunate consequences is that the administration is cancelling intake into some of the university’s most beloved programs.

The faculties thus far impacted by proposed cuts for the 2019-20 budget include arts, health, trades and technology, academic and career advancement, science and horticulture, business, and design.

Some of the students and faculty that could be affected by these cancellations have been quite vocal about their concerns. Participants in the music program, for instance, are planning a rally to protest the suspension of their intake, and representatives from academic and career advancement have repeatedly spoken to both The Runner and the university administration about why they believe their program should be left alone.

Over the past few weeks, word has been going around that the farrier program is at risk of having its intake cancelled. KPU President Alan Davis addressed those concerns in a recent interview with me, saying it’s a “great program” that the administration wants to keep around.

According to Davis, some of the intake cancellations are only being proposed to allow space and time for the university to make the affected programs more financially sustainable. In other cases, they simply need to be “reassessed” in terms of how they could be made more affordable. For the remaining

SLAMAPALOOZA

The Kwantlen Poetry Slam season rolls on with another competition and open mic. As always, the competition will consist of two three-minute rounds. $100 goes to the first place winner!

7:30 pm - 9:00 pm, Birch 250, free.

MARCH 21 STORYTELLING FOR LEADERS WORKSHOP

According to KPU President Alan Davis, the university administration is hoping to continue accepting applicants to the farrier program. (File photo) courses, KPU needs to determine whether or not it can afford them at all.

The fact remains that with a loss of programming comes a loss of diversity. For example, discontinuing the farrier program due to financial hardship on an administrative level would have burdened and ultimately erased one of the communities at KPU that give it a sense of identity. The same applies to the music program, and for trades and technology, both of which occupy significant spaces on the Langley and Cloverdale campuses respectively.

Notably, although the faculty of science and horticulture is facing course section reductions across all departments, the programs for computer assisted drafting and design, environmental protection technology, and brew-

ing are all exempt. The fact that Davis and the rest of the administration have recognized this by leaving select programs be is, hopefully, a sign that they understand how important it is to preserve niche (albeit expensive) course offerings.

Anyone involved in the goings-on at this university knows that a lack of student life is a huge problem at KPU. Most people don’t feel like they make strong connections here, or they feel like there isn’t a sense of passion or togetherness on campus. That’s why it’s crucial that, when music or farrier or ACA students get upset over the notion that their program might be under threat, the university needs to listen and implement their suggestions as well as they can.

accuracy of the official record of Senate meetings,” wrote KPU President and Chair of the Senate Alan Davis in an email statement to The Runner.

Student Senator and VP University Affairs Murdoch de Mooy says he is worried that this will reduce the transparency of Senate meetings because students have an extra step to obtaining the recordings.

“If it was moved to only being available to the minute-takers, I can understand that. But I feel that that’s not the case; it’s being moved to a location that only students no longer have access to,” he says. “Everybody else on Senate has access to it. Every single admin, faculty, staff person has access to them in KPU—just not students.”

“One of the responses that was provided [from the Senate] is that things can be taken out of context,” explains Student Senator Lincoln Saugstad. “Discussions were raised com-

The KPU Alumni Association is inviting all alumni to a workshop on how to incorporate storytelling into leadership communications. There will also be an optional tour of the new Civic Plaza campus.

6:30 pm - 9:00 pm,

Civic Hotel Ballroom, $25.

MARCH 22 TALK FILM STUDY

Third Age Learning at Kwantlen holds cool events for senior learners. This week they’re screening Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and will be discussing it afterwards.

10:00 am - 12:30 pm,

Fir 238, KPU Surrey campus, free.

MARCH 26 MULTIPLAYER MADNESS

KSA Members Voice Concerns About Online Access to KPU Senate Meeting Recordings During a KSA Council meeting on Feb. 27, members of the student association expressed concerns that recordings of KPU Senate meetings had been made private. They are now accessible only through SharePoint, an online database and platform which can only be used by staff, faculty, and administration.

Students and members of the public will now need to submit a request that is subject to further approval from KPU. Agenda packages and approved meeting minutes will be posted as usual. For instance, the minutes from the latest meeting on Feb. 25 will be approved on March 25 and posted shortly after.

“Senate moved the recordings to the SharePoint website to better align with the intention behind the recording process, which is to provide a short term aid to the minute takers and to Senators in compiling and ensuring the

WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS MONTH

MARCH 21

NEWS BRIEF Braden Klassen | Staff Writer

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paring [KPU] to other universities’ policies.

For the most part, universities don’t make their meetings available in that way. And that’s why the minutes are there in the first place, to summarize and get the gist of what’s being discussed in an objective way where you can’t make those kind of inferences.”

In 2012, controversy arose over the subject of recording KPU Senate meetings, when then-KPU President John McKendry “ordered” former editor for The Runner Matt DiMera to delete recordings he was making while attending the meetings. DiMera later wrote an editorial in which he said that recording the Senate meetings helps attendees keep track of what happens during them and helps with the accuracy of reporting.

The Runner requested access to the recordings through the online portal on March 14, but has yet to be granted approval.

The Kwantlen Gaming Guild’s sixth annual Multiplayer Madness event is taking place near the end of the month.

They’ll have Smash Bros., Just Dance, Cards Against Humanity, and a ton more!

11:00 am - 6:00 pm,

KPU Surrey Conference Centre, free.

MARCH 26

INTERNATIONAL GAMES NIGHT

KPU International is holding an evening of games in the Grassroots Cafe on KPU’s Surrey campus. There will also be free food provided at the event.

4:00 pm - 8:00 pm,

Grassroots Cafe, free.

MARCH 30 MINNEKHADA PARK HIKE

ActiveKSA wants to take you on this fun, intermediate hike through one of Coquitlam's best parks. Register online

by March 25.

11:00 am - 2:00 pm,

Minnekhada Regional Park,

$15 for KPU students.

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NEWS

Recent KSA Election “Marred with Numerous Accusations of Candidates Flouting the Rules”

A report released by the chief returning officer detailed the nature of the allegations and how they were addressed Aly Laube | Editor in Chief According to a report filed by KSA Chief Returning Officer Ron Laufer on Feb. 28, the KSA’s February election “was marred with numerous accusations of candidates flouting the rules and procedures of the election process.”

“Many of the accusations made are difficult to prove, but can substantially erode confidence in the elections,” Laufer wrote in his report to KSA Council. He added that he has “great concern that there was a large degree of slating taking place that [he] simply could not confirm.”

Slating is when multiple candidates run on a common platform and encourage voters to elect them together. Candidates in KSA elections have been prohibited from slating after the notorious RAF scandals that rocked the association in 2006 and again in 2011 resulted in an alleged misuse of “more than $2 million in student fees,” as reported by The Runner.

In the report, Laufer states that he was given a tip that candidates were “physically campaigning together on election day,” but notes that “greater resources would be needed to attempt to ‘police’ and enforce such activities.”

He also recommends “initiating a meeting to look toward reforming the [election] pro-

cess in the future to try and avoid some of the pitfalls that have become more common over the last year.”

Aside from slating, other “pitfalls” that Laufer notes in his report include the fact that only 12 of the 34 candidates attended this year’s All Candidates Meeting, which provides information about how to campaign in accordance with the KSA’s rules and regulations regarding elections.

In addition, Laufer highlights significant complications with voting and running for constituency positions. KSA election rules dictate that both candidates and voters for constituency representative positions must belong to that constituency. For instance, only self-identified women can vote or run for the women’s representative position on KSA Council.

“The constituency positions are certainly being treated by voters as a bit of a farce, as very few members are limiting their voting to the positions they self-identify with,” Laufer wrote in the report. “The fact that each of the positions is attracting at minimum 800 or 900 voters, when the total number of votes is 1,443, makes this clear.

To address this, he suggests “opening voting to all voters or altering the ballot in some

manner to put more psychological pressure on voters to truly vote for constituencies they self-identify with.”

David Piraquive, VP External Affairs for the Kwantlen Student Association, was one of the candidates in the election who was concerned about potential slating and the lack of engagement with the rules from others who were running. He suggests that the definition of “apparent slating” in the KSA’s election rules be made more specific in order to make the practice easier for the chief returning officer to identify.

“It’s not clear-cut what is meant by ‘apparent.’ That’s something that we want to fix,” says Piraquive. “There’s discussion about making it a little bit more tough or allowing there to be slates with certain regulations in place. We would probably follow a model similar to SFU, but we want to be very cautious because we know there’s a history with the KSA where slates have been abused.”

Laufer says that slating and constituency ballot concerns have “started to become more of a pattern” in recent years, but that very specific evidence is needed in order to confirm that it has taken place.

“I totally understand [Piraquive’s] concerns, but it’s hard to nail down these things,” says Laufer. “Evidence of slating could look to be

Chief Returning Officer Ron Laufer listens to a question asked by Councilor Jasika Rai during a meeting on March 15.

(Braden Klassen) many different things. In this instance, we had a video of some people campaigning together, but we could have a number of witnesses come together and say, ‘We witnessed this together and are reporting this as a complaint.’”

Laufer adds that he’s open to seeing the rules regarding slating change as suggested

by Piraquive to “avoid negative situations as best as possible.”

Posters Advertising KPU Student's Study on Consent Draw Criticism

The student association removed posters soliciting participation in the study after receiving complaints about them Braden Klassen | Staff Writer A KPU Psychology student’s study about consensual but unwanted sexual activity is set to be finalized in April and has been submitted to the Society of the Scientific Study of Sexuality, with the hopes of being presented in November.

“We believe it’s a very important study,” says Dr. Cory Pedersen, the Chair of the Faculty of Psychology who is overseeing the research.

“What we’re interested in studying is whether or not people have ever participated in sexual activity that is consensual, but not necessarily desired,” says Pedersen. “In the literature, this is called ‘sexual compliance.’”

The study is being conducted through surveys that ask participants about their experience with participating in sexual activity even though they did not necessarily want to, as well as exploring the circumstances and reasons behind them.

“We intend to dispel these gender stereotypes about men, that they have an insatiable sexual appetite. We also hope to dispel the belief that women play a passive role in sexual initiation,” says Pedersen. “Ultimately, if we can dispel these highly-ingrained gender stereotypes, then it can allow men to be more readily able to reject unwanted sexual activity, and it can alleviate male concerns regarding their gender role.”

The contents of a poster spreading awareness of the study has led to some pushback from members of the Kwantlen Student Association, who say that they received com-

plaints from students concerning the potentially triggering posters that had been put up around campuses. These posters solicited participants for the study with wording that read: “Straight participants needed … for a study on people who consent to unwanted sexual activity.”

“Several students had come to us to complain about the nature and contents of a poster,” says Murdoch de Mooy, KSA VP University Affairs. “They were quite worried and had reactions to the idea that, basically, it was saying ‘consenting to rape,’ which is something you cannot do.”

The complaints motivated the association to take the posters down from KSA-managed notice boards.

“I think people have misinterpreted or misunderstood that this is actually a phenomenon, and that any time it is unwanted, it is therefore rape, and that is just not true,” says Pedersen.

De Mooy says he understands the intention behind the study, and believes that the research that comes as a result of it will be important, but that the posters do not comply with KPU policy.

“KPU spent a fair bit of time working on a sexual misconduct policy, and they spent a fair bit of time making sure that ‘consent’ was quite clearly defined,” he says, adding that the wording of the posters “does not comply with that definition at all.”

The KPU Procedure of Dealing with Sexual Violence and Misconduct defines consent as “voluntary agreement to engage in sexual

activity.”

“The individual must actively and willingly give consent to the sexual activity in question,” it reads.

Additionally, de Mooy says that he believes that there was a flaw in the Research Ethics Board’s procedure of approving the study.

The board has a policy requirement that “public notices (posters, emails, etc.) soliciting participation in the research shall contain reference to the approval of the project by the Kwantlen REB and the project number assigned by the Office of Research Ethics.”

In an email statement, Pedersen confirmed that the study was approved on Nov. 27, 2018, and that she and the student researcher contacted the KSA in late January and early February to discuss the removal of the posters before contacting KPU administration.

“On February 6, the KSA were advised by senior leadership that the posters should not have been removed by the KSA, as posters are governed by KPU policy procedure, not by KSA policies,” wrote Pedersen her email response, adding that “all complaints (whether by students, faculty, or staff) regarding research recruitment—or indeed about the nature of research itself—should be directed to the REB for consideration. Not to the KSA.” De Mooy says he will be meeting with the REB to discuss the complaint process to determine how this situation came about and how similar situations can be avoided in the future.

“They should have a reference to what research they approve, what research they didn’t, and if there [are] any complaints. The

One of the original posters that the KSA removed from notice boards, which does not include the REB approval or project number required for participant notices. (Braden Klassen) fact that we don’t have that calls into question KPU’s research ethic priorities,” he says.

In an email response to an interview request from The Runner, Research Ethics Board Chair Dr. Lisa Freeman stated that the board “does not comment on specific research projects nor its review of research.”

“These matters must remain confidential,” she wrote.

NEWS

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KPU Music Students and Faculty Members Continue to Fight Decision to Suspend the Program's Intake A faculty showcase on March 8 became an opportunity to rally the community against cuts from the administration

Katherine Charlton When news broke that Kwantlen Polytechnic University was suspending intake for its Music program as part of an effort to reduce course offerings for the 2019-20 fiscal year, students and faculty responded almost immediately.

Within a week, representatives of the program were writing angry letters to the Dean of Arts, the Provost, and the President of the university as well as organizing protests against the cuts on campus and speaking to the media about their fight to keep the department alive.

Through these efforts, members of the music community have repeatedly brought up how unexpected the news was and how poorly they feel the university handled the announcement that it was planning to suspend the program’s intake.

“This was really a blindside, just a complete blindside,” says Emma Dotto, President of the Kwantlen Music Student Association.

“I found out through a friend messaging me saying that another friend had messaged her who was in high school [and had applied to the music program] who had just gotten the email from the dean saying that they were no longer accepting intake.”

Though the protestors have not had much of a chance to meet with the administration in the weeks since the news first broke, they did cross paths with the university’s president on

March 8, when the department held a faculty showcase on the Langley campus. The event was narrated by KPU President Alan Davis, and was largely attended by students and faculty members from the music program.

“Ultimately, we just want tonight to be a statement, but as a positive statement and a positive experience for all parties,” says Bradley Patrick, a music student set to graduate this year. “We don’t want to be seen as numbers and right now, that’s what it feels like.”

As the students and faculty had hoped, the Langley campus auditorium was almost full for the showcase and the music faculty was able to put on a phenomenal show for attendees.

Unfortunately, many of the applicants to the music program who were affected by the suspension of intake are still scrambling to find a new institution to enrol in.

“Kwantlen might be their only option if they want to stay at home or if they need a tuition that’s affordable,” explains Dotto.

Emily Hernandez, a KPU music student and music teacher in the community, elaborated on this issue through the effect it had one of her prospective students, explaining that “she had intended on coming to KPU and spending the next four years of her life here, and now it’s all put on hold because of the university’s actions.”

Though intake remains closed, the music students are “ready to fight,” according to Dotto.

“What do musicians do best? We make

KPU President Alan Davis recites poetry at the music faculty showcase. Davis and the university administration received criticism for the cancellation of program intakes.

(Katherine Charlton) noise,” she says. “Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, but we make noise, right?”

The students and faculty of the music program say that they intend to continue to make

as much noise as possible in the hopes that the university’s administration reconsiders their decision to cancel its first year intake.

New Zed Cred Program Announced as Part of Open Education Week

The Associate of Arts in General Studies degree will now be offered with cost-free textbooks Braden Klassen | Staff Writer KPU has added the Associate of Arts in General Studies to its growing list of Zed Cred programs, making it the third program at the university that consists entirely of courses which come with zero textbook costs.

KPU is the leading school in B.C. for offering Zed Cred programs. The first began in 2017 as a way to help post-secondary students access education by removing the financial barriers raised by the increasing cost of textbooks.

Studies have shown that many students in B.C. choose not to purchase at least one textbook during their semester due to the high costs, which can have a negative impact on their academic performance.

Psychology instructor Rajiv Jhangiani has been at the forefront of the open education resources (OER) movement at KPU, and is involved in researching and implementing it by supporting Zed Cred programs.

“There is quite a bit of evidence that, for example, ensuring that students have equitable access to teaching and learning resources makes it more possible for those who can’t afford to attend or complete post-secondary education, and [they] benefit a lot from using OER,” he says.

The program announcement was made a week before the beginning of Open Education Week, which KPU celebrated by launching

its Open Publishing Suite (OPUS). OPUS is a platform offered by the university’s library that will help both students and instructors find, use, or even create their own open education material.

The newest Zed Cred program is a 60-credit, two-year degree, which is the first of its kind in B.C. It covers basic prerequisites like English and quantitative courses, which can be used for credits put towards other Arts degrees.

“The lovely thing about general studies is that it’s flexible, so anyone can look at it as a sort of stepping stone on the way to a Bachelor of Arts degree,” says Jhangiani. “With 20 courses, we’re talking about the equivalent of giving every student a scholarship of $2,250, which is not a small thing. That’s hundreds of hours saved from working a minimum wage job while studying.”

Last fall, Jhangiani presented to the U.N. in New York on how open education can contribute to the organization’s sustainable development goals for improving things like global education, poverty, and social equality. He also was given an award for excellence in open education in January by BCCampus, an organization that works to improve student learning outcomes in B.C. through open education.

Amanda Coolidge, Senior Manager at BCCampus, says that more post-secondary institutions are becoming aware of the benefits of OERs, and that schools like The Justice

(Kristen Frier) Institute of B.C. and Thompson Rivers University have also adopted OERs into some of their curricula.

“We’re seeing a need for things like nursing, we’re seeing a need for business and health sciences,” says Coolidge. “As more and more instructors become aware of this option, as well as administrators, it’s becoming extremely helpful for students at the end of the day.”

BCCampus currently has over 270 open

textbook items available in digital formats on its website, which can help students who use text-to-speech or online translators.

“What we’ve seen through some of the research is that students who have used open textbooks are performing as well as, or better than, when they don’t use those open education materials,” says Coolidge.

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CULTURE

KPU to Host Week of Events on Teaching Decolonization, Reconciliation, and Indigenization Seminars and panels will feature Indigenous elders, students, authors, and academics

Braden Klassen | Staff Writer Faculty members, guest speakers, staff, and students have been working together to prepare a series of events that will be held over four days at KPU campuses in Langley, Surrey, and Richmond.

The events are all part of Indigenization and Decolonization at KPU: A Week of Sharing and Learning, an event series which includes presentations, panels, round tables, webinars, a book reading, documentary screenings, and a nature walk at the Kwantlen First Nation Reserve.

KPU sociology instructor Seema Ahluwalia is the principal organizer of the events, which she says took months to coordinate. She is also the Executive Representative of Decolonization, Reconciliation & Indigenization in the Kwantlen Faculty Association.

“I feel that non-native people, we should be decolonizing. But I feel that only Indigenous people can Indigenize, so for that reason the events are led by Indigenous people and their knowledge and wisdom and their way of imparting it. That is what I really want to focus on,” she says.

On Monday at 1:30 pm, Lilach Marom, an instructor in the department of educational studies at KPU, hosted a public symposium along with a screening of All Our Father’s Relations, a documentary that follows two siblings as they explore the relationship between their Chinese father and their Musqueam mother.

Film producer Sarah Ling took part in the symposium to discuss the documentary and the

historic relations between First Nations and Chinese people in B.C. “I think it’s really important, especially because we have such a diverse student body at KPU,” says Marom. “Many of them are international students hoping to stay in this area, [and] a lot of time they are not really familiar with some of the context in Canada and B.C., but they are coming from communities that have experienced marginalization.”

Marom says that when she emigrated to Canada from Israel, she was unaccustomed to practices like territorial and land acknowledgements, so she believes in the importance of sharing the knowledge of First Nations with students who are new to the country.

On Tuesday, presentations on land rights and solidarity with Unis’tot’en will be held at the Gathering Place, hosted by the KPU Indigenous Student Council. There is also a plan to host a talk on land law and Kwantlen First Nation history on the Langley campus.

On Wednesday, a symposium will be held in the Surrey Conference Centre including guest speakers like Sharon Venne, an Indigenous rights attorney and an expert in international law who worked at the U.N., and Russ Diabo, a senior policy advisor to the Assembly of First Nations. Renowned scholar Tamara Starblanket will also be presenting on her book Suffer the Little Children: Genocide, Indigenous Nations and the Canadian State at the Gathering Place at 4:30, after the symposium.

On Thursday in Richmond, Venne and Diabo will both be participating in webinars hosted by Ahluwalia, along with Idle No More

Indigenization, decolonization, and reconciliation events will be held during a week-long series onKPU's Surrey and Richmond campuses. (Kristen Frier) founder Sylvia McAdam and University of Alberta professor Janice Makokis. A public education symposium featuring KPU faculty, Tsawwassen First Nation Elder Ruth Adams, and members of the Wet’suwet’en Nation and Unis’tot’en Clan will follow in the Melville Centre for Dialogue.

Sarah Strachan, the Kwantlen Student Association’s Indigenous Students Representative and VP of Student Life, as well as a member of the Indigenous Student Council, says that she is looking forward to the upcoming week. It precedes the Revive Your Spirit week events that she plans to facilitate

at the Gathering Place.

“It’s going to be a super busy week,” she says. “I’m happy that someone has come up with this entire week of presentations, and I’m looking forward to going to some stuff.”

“I’m just happy that we’re doing this finally, and I can experience my culture,” adds Joseph Thorpe, KSA President and a member of the Indigenous Student Council. “We need to have events that cater to teaching Indigenous culture and tradition. That’s part of reconciliation, having that educational piece—teaching people who we are and the importance of that.”

KPU Students, Members of the RCMP, and Over 1,300 Children Fight to End Bullying Through Choreographed Dance Don’t bully, just boogie!

Kristen Frier | Graphics Editor The KPU Bhangra team led students from several other schools, as well as officers from the RCMP, in an Anti-Bullying Day flash mob on the lower field of Tamanawis Secondary on March 14.

More than 1,300 students from KPU, Beaver Creek Elementary, Boundary Park Elementary, Cougar Creek Elementary, J.T. Brown Elementary, and Martha Jane Norris Elementary flooded onto the grass wearing their pink shirts to participate in the event. Community members also came out to encourage the students with anti-bullying signs, pink shirts, and big smiles.

This year’s flash mob was the fifth anniversary of the event directed by Sean Bindra.

Bindra is not part of any collective or organization, but is hoping to inspire change through community activism and the celebration of culture.

Members of the RCMP were there in uniform, but that didn't stop them from getting in on the fun.

“It’s nice to get to connect with the community, especially the youth, in a positive setting such as this one,” says Richard Wright, an RCMP officer. “Too often police officers only get involved when intervention

is needed, so it’s refreshing to be a part of something like this which brings everybody together for such a worthwhile cause.”

KPU student Hardeep Brar, who is a member of the university’s Bhangra team and served as one of the leaders of the flash mob, believes that “it’s important for us at the university level to get involved to help the younger students.”

She adds that role models who have had experiences with bullying should speak out against it on behalf of Surrey youth.

For the first time in the event’s history, the flash mob’s Bhangra dance was choreographed by Gurpreet Singh from the South Asian Arts Society.

“It’s not just about the dancing,” says Singh. “It’s the months of preparation that came before today.”

Singh worked with the KPU Bhangra club on the dance and visited elementary schools in the weeks prior to help lay the groundwork for an event of this scale and to teach students the steps.

The Bhangra-western fusion style of the dance was inspired by the residents of Surrey and North Delta, many of whom are of South Asian descent. The intention behind this was to give participants the opportunity to celebrate diversity while working towards a com-

KPU students helped lead Surrey youth in an anti-bullying day Bhangra-fusion dance at Tamanawis Secondary on March 14. (Kristen Frier) mon goal; to fight bullying and, of course, to be a successful flash mob.

While flash mobs and choreographed dancing events do not have the power to single-handedly stop bullying, taking part in a lighthearted, low-pressure activity with more than a thousand other people has the

potential to lift one’s spirits and make people feel a little less alone. Bullying is a tragically common experience that almost everybody has encountered in some form, and having such a wide variety of supporters show up to take a stand against it at a local high school is certainly a step in the right direction.

CULTURE

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Public Relations Cohort Raises Funds to Support Women in the Workforce The cohort of women held a classy fundraiser for Dress for Success Vancouver on March 7 Jayne Wright The public relations cohort at KPU held Works of Art, a fundraiser for Dress for Success Vancouver, at Braid Street Art Studio and Gallery on March 7.

Dress for Success is an international non-profit organization that helps women gain economic independence by giving them the basic tools they need for success. The organization not only provides women with the right professional attire for job interviews, but also assists them with resume writing and job searching.

On the night of the fundraiser, the studio was filled with sparkling lights, a delicious variety of wine and cheese, and most importantly, community members enthusiastic about supporting women’s economic stability.

Every year, for the final project in the public relations program, students have the opportunity to plan a fundraiser for a cause of their choosing. This year’s head of fundraising, Maddy Rempel, says that she and her colleagues wanted to prioritize “giving everyone an equal chance to work in the workforce.”

“Because we are a cohort of all women, we felt it’s necessary to support women in our community,” she says.

And support women they did—in part by offering activities like a silent auction filled with donations from local businesses and a photo booth complete with fun accessories.

Attendees of the Dress for Success event enjoy a night filled with fun activities for a good cause. (Jayne Wright) Enjoying a glass of red wine and a golden beet stuffed with goat cheese, attendee Lindsay Gilbert emphasized that the cohort “did a really good job” with the Works of Art fundraiser. Stephanie Howes, the dean of KPU’s school of business, agreed. Howes also urged attendees to “acknowledge the hard work these students have put in” and to wish them luck in their future careers during her speech.

Another speech by Geraldine Roxas, a Dress for Success client, left the audience with teary eyes and hopeful hearts. After immigrating

from the Philippines, Roxas had immense trouble as a single mother finding a job to support her and her son. In part due to support from Dress for Success, she now works as an office manager.

She says that “it’s our journey of empowering women to become ... successful in life” that will help change lives all over the world.

Near the end of the night, cohort member Maria Skoczylas said she was happy with how the fundraiser went. Skoczylas explained that it was a happy accident that Works of Art and

International Women’s Day nearly coincided.

“We are all females who are very empowered,” said Skoczylas. “We’re just entering the workforce ourselves.”

She believes that this made the fundraiser even more impactful for the PR cohort as they take the next steps in their promising careers as independent, hard working women.

Growing Room Festival Offers Panel on Diversifying Academia Panelists discussed how to better incorporate marginalized voices into academic spaces

Ivy Edad | Contributor A panel on art and academia was held as part of Growing Room Festival, a feminist literary festival, at Native Education College on March 10. The event moderator, Emily Riddle, asked panelists Lindsay Nixon, Robyn Maynard, and Juliane Okot Bitek about their experiences as both academics and marginalized artists.

Academia has been long occupied by white, male-dominated spaces. Riddle asked how the panelists chose to navigate that environment throughout their scholastic, personal, and professional lives.

Nixon spoke about making sure that their work is representative of people whose voices aren’t often heard within courses and events related to Indigenous studies at universities. Making spaces for queer people, drug-using people, and trans people motivates them to be creative.

Maynard discussed how truly progressive spaces are difficult to find in academia, and that activism and community work needs to be considered more in post-secondary curricula and programming. Maynard says that knowledge gained from academia tends to be sexist, racist, or violent in some way, and that knowledge gained outside of the univer-

sity must be valued as real intellect.

Bitek believes that, in order to think critically about post-secondary schools, she must acknowledge that they are privileged spaces. As a Black woman, she struggles to find voices like hers in academia, and keeps this in mind during her own creative process so that others with similar identities and experiences to hers may see themselves reflected in her work.

The panelists were asked to describe the people they were when they started their degrees in comparison to who they are today.

Nixon, who went to the Simone de Beauvoir Institute in Montreal, described themself as “a fiery activist” with “bright eyes and a bushy tail” in their early days at post-secondary school.

“I was part of the student strikes. I did a lot of organizing in the community of Montreal,” says Nixon. “I really think about the two-spirit youth and queer youth and Indigenous youth who raise each other in all situations. I think that I could have gone in a lot of different paths in my life and it really was the community care that made me the person I am today.”

While Bitek says she’s unsure of how to describe who she was when she started university, she does feel that she was much more

Art and academia panelists Juliane Okot Bitek, Robyn Maynard, Lindsay Nixon, and moderator Emily Riddle at the Native Education College discuss how to navigate academic spaces as women of colour. (Ivy Edad) optimistic in the past. Despite the fact that she is “much more jaded now,” she still feels that she “has work to do” in the community.

Maynard hopes that attendees left the event more aware of the importance of “thinking about people from the Black and Indigenous communities, about who decides

our work is valuable, and why that is important beyond the academy.”

She emphasizes the significance of “writing for our own people, and what it means to be successful from a community perspective and not just from an academic perspective.”

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FEATURES

Program Intakes Cancelled Due to KPU's Financial Stress Applicants are no longer being admitted to several programs across all faculties Aly Laube | Editor in Chief

A draft of the operating budget for Kwan- which have now been suspended. celling intakes into programs with low enroltlen Polytechnic University's upcoming fisIf the proposed budget passes when it is pre- ment or high expenses. cal year proposes a 2.2 per cent reduction in sented to the university’s board of governors Davis notes that, while these measures the overall number of class sections offered on March 27, Davis says the administration “reduce expenses on the delivery side,” the proby the university. As a result, programs from will spend the following semesters reevaluat- posed operating budget also includes cuts to seven separate faculties will have their course ing each of these programs to determine their administration and annual expenditures and intakes suspended or cancelled altogether. economic feasibility in the long run. provides no new funding for strategic initiatives.

While this would deny many applicants In other words, KPU is cutting back on costs “In the one case we’re looking at opportunihoping to become KPU students the opportu- by cutting back on programming—at least for ties to reduce the number of offerings so that nity to study here for the time being, current a little while. we can save money,” he says. “In other areas students will not be directly affected.

This decision comes as a result of what we want to spend more money—for instance, “This represents 126 sections out of a total Davis describes as a self-identified need to on student services, to put more resources to of 5,682. Unfortunately, this will mean a “take corrective action now to keep budgets areas where there are waitlists … and to crenumber of layoffs, but we are working to mit- balanced, as required by legislation, into the ate some room for us to reconsider some proigate the impact as much as possible,” reads future.” Because of the cuts, the university grams that look, on the face of it, to be very a statement emailed to staff and faculty by will be able to present a balanced budget of expensive relative to the number of students KPU President Alan Davis on March 8. “At this $225 million for the upcoming fiscal year. that we are serving.” point we anticipate further reductions of at Davis wants members of the community to least 1.5% each year for the next four years.”

How did it come to this? know that the goal behind these measures is “to make KPU sustainable and therefore make Which programs will be affected?

In preparing KPU’s Vision 2023 document, it stronger, and to really focus on addressing which acts as a five-year plan meant to guide student demand and improving the student Programs that have had their intake sus- the direction of the university, the administra- experience.” pended or cancelled thus far include Music, tion noted that costs had been exceeding reveIn order to create room for that, the univerHealth Unit Coordinator, the HRMT Post Bacc nue for the last several years, and identified a sity needs to be “limiting new costs and creatprogram, Public Relations, Foundations in need to re-calibrate the institution’s finances. ing new revenues,” he says.

Design, and Fashion Design.

“We did some really in-depth analysis and Proposed changes to the Faculty of Aca- sort of long-term projections that showed Could this have been avoided? demic and Career Advancement, members of that, in fact, we couldn’t actually afford which were made aware of potential intake growth,” says Davis.

According to Davis, who has been serving as cancellations in November, have been put on Part of this issue stems from insufficient KPU’s president since 2012, the current finanhold while a KPU task force consults on how government funding to offset the cost of cial predicament might be attributed in part to move forward. The small, though expen- educating students. Davis says that, while to oversights from the administration in longsive, farrier program has also had its proposed operation costs are rising “at about four per term planning. intake cancellation postponed until September. cent every year,” the amount of money that “What has been happening at KPU for many According to Davis, the music program is the university gets from the government has years was sort of taking last year’s budget, five times more expensive than the average stayed the same. rolling it over, and adding a bit more,” he says. program at KPU, which has led the university “We realized that if we didn’t do something “At some point—and I think everybody would to cancel intakes to “make room” for financial to re-calibrate the institution we would be in a understand this—I think periodically you reassessment of the program. deficit position, and we’re actually not allowed have to say, ‘Hold the line here. Let’s look at He also explains that training for health to be in a deficit position,” he says. “I think some things we can do more efficiently, more unit coordinators is not currently in demand, that’s probably a good thing. If we did have a effectively, and let’s not just add in. Let’s try and that, because the “public relations pro- deficit, we would just have to pay it off later.” and get right what it is we’re already doing.’” gram is being completely redesigned and All of this contributed to the administraHe says that there was no “faculty-by-facrevamped,” intake for it was suspended as well tion’s push to “reduce the amount of activi- ulty costing or program-by-program costing” for fall 2019. Finally, in design, Davis says that ty that we have [at KPU] and focus more on during the budgeting processes of the past. there were too few students in specific intakes, quality.” They hope to accomplish this by can- Over the last few years, it became clear to him

that “a more integrated approach to planning was necessary.”

Davis also feels that “higher education has a lot of inertia,” making it difficult to change internal processes in a timely fashion. This, too, may have brought KPU to its current financial situation.

“It’s like steering a very large cruise ship,” he says. “You make adjustments and the ship doesn’t move very much. It takes a lot of time to get decent traction.”

In reference to how the new Surrey Civic Plaza campus might have affected the operating budget, Davis explains that while construction is allocated to a different budget altogether, the cost of expenses like staffing, utilities, and security do impact operations.

What’s more, every year, the university has to put a certain amount of money aside in operating costs in case the new campus needs to be rebuilt in the future.

“It has increased our costs to some degree, but it’s possible that that will be offset if we generate more business there,” he says.

Why can’t KPU’s surplus fix the problem?

Every year, the university moves any extra money it makes into a surplus that can be channeled into a variety of areas. Surplus funds often go into student awards, capital projects, and bank investments that generate interest.

They are not used to address financial issues like those KPU is currently facing, however. This is partially because they are considered a provision of “a margin of error” in regards to accounting.

“When you’re closing the books at the end of the year, there’s always this pretty intense time where you go, ‘Alright, we’ve got some money there. Let’s hope that’s enough to offset any accounting adjustments that the auditors make,” says Davis. “If you do end up with some money, you put it away for a good cause down the road, but you can’t spend it the next year because you have no offsetting revenue.

You won’t have a balanced budget.”

FEATURES

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A student from the farrier program hard at work. (Flickr/Kwantlen Polytechnic University)

Members of KPU's music faculty perform at a showcase on March 8. (Katherine Charlton)

The surplus is also a one-time, unreliable source of revenue. It’s different every year, and with KPU’s recent instability in enrolment and admissions, it has been particularly difficult to predict offsetting revenues. It’s also rapidly amending, and thus any radical changes to the surplus would have the potential to unbalance the rest of the budget.

For these reasons, KPU cannot dip into the surplus fund to address concerns about its expenses, and instead is cancelling program intakes.

ments across all campuses, as well as Safety and Security, IT, and Facilities projects.

What else is in the proposed budget?

A 5.1 per cent increase in salaries—with 11.4 per cent more for BCGEU staff, 3.4 per cent more for faculty, and 3.2 per cent more for administration—has been put forward along with the allocation of $1 million to track and effectively manage enrolment.

The latter could, hypothetically, prevent financial complications such as those KPU is

currently facing from happening again. The team behind the integrated enrolment management initiative would also help increase the average class size from 22 to 24 students institution-wide, according to Davis, which will bring more revenue to KPU. Another proposed change is to put $300,000 into student services “to improve frontline services, to promote student retention and success, [and] enhance support for students with disabilities and student mental health and wellness,” according to Davis.

Creating new investments to support faculty through the Office of Teaching and Learning—so that they can receive training and experiment with pilot projects—is also recommended in the budget.

The final proposal is for a series of capital investments, including $1.9 million for classroom and library enhancements, $2 million for employee computer, workstation, meeting room, and AV improvements, and $4.8 million in general campus infrastructure improve-

Illustrations made by students in the fashion design program were put on display.

(Flickr/Kwantlen Polytechnic University)

What happens next?

There has been a strong response from the community since the word has spread about the intake cancellations, particularly from students in the music program.

Though Davis says that the administration’s ultimate intention is to save the music program, he stresses that without calibrating costs, it could not survive.

“There’s no way we would be able to afford it.

It’s extremely expensive,” says Davis. “There are different ways to deliver music and we need to explore those, so the cancellation of the September intake provides room for that.”

He says that this is true for all of the programs with intakes at risk in the new operating budget.

“If demand for some of the programs increases or we can find a different way to

deliver them or a more effective way, you’re either going to increase student demand or you’re going to create a delivery model that’s more effective,” he says. “Hopefully we will be able to reintroduce these programs or open up the intake down the road.”

Davis is unsure of when updates on intake statuses and program reassessments will be available, but suspects that more solid plans will be making the rounds within the administration in 2020.

For now, KPU is focused on passing the proposed budget and dealing with any subsequent layoffs to faculty that may result from the cuts.

“I’m really pleased with the levels of engagement from lots of different people, lots of committees and individuals, external and internal, and I think that we’ve done a pretty good job of presenting the situation that KPU’s in,” says Davis. “I think, in time, people will look back and say, ‘Yeah, that was the right thing to do and KPU is stronger and better for it.’”

A student in the Faculty of Academic and Career Advancement works with a tutor in class.

(Aly Laube)

10 OPINIONS

My Experience Filing an Informal Complaint Against an Instructor An instance of racial insensitivity in the classroom drove me and a few peers to take action

Amei-lee Laboucan | Contributor Last semester I experienced racial insensitivity from an instructor that made me so uncomfortable that I skipped a few classes, ultimately affecting my grade.

None of this adheres to KPU’s policies regarding safety and diversity. I decided to file a complaint, but without the encouragement of one of my classmates, I never would have considered taking that step.

The racial insensitivity that took place was towards Black people and Indigenous people, two ethnicities I identify with. Throughout the semester there was pushback from myself and two other students about the insensitivity. Eventually the instructor apologized, and I accepted the first apology directed towards me after talking with friends about what had happened. But that wasn’t the only instance of racial insensitivity.

Later in the semester, when I was on vacation, other offensive comments were made. These sentiments carried over to two other classes.

Around this time, one of my peers was seeing an academic advisor when they mentioned what was happening in class. The advisor told her that she could make an appointment with the Associate Dean of Arts to move forward with filing a complaint.

The following week, we sat down with another student and the Dean of Arts to begin issuing an informal complaint. To do this, you complain about something or someone, and the person handling the complaint will speak

with the individual being complained about.

Afterwards, they come up with a solution to present to those who made the complaint. If the complainants accept the resolution, the complaint process ends there. If the complainants don’t accept the resolution, then the informal complaint becomes a formal complaint, which I did not pursue.

The complaint process, for me, was a good experience. When telling the Dean about our experiences in class he took notes without expressing bias or making excuses for the instructor. All he did was listen and try to understand what had happened. He even accommodated us by having another instructor mark our assignments that were still to be handed in for that course. I appreciated this, as the other students and I were very nervous about losing marks to an overly-critical, partial instructor involved in the complaint process.

When all parts of the investigation were finished, the Dean’s office contacted me and set up an appointment to conclude my complaint. In the follow-up meeting, which was scheduled at my convenience, we went over the initial complaint, what was done as part of the investigation, and the resolution that was decided upon. I felt the resolution was appropriate, so I accepted it and that was all.

According to Kwantlen Student Association Advocacy Coordinator John O’Brian, filing a formal complaint is basically the same process but in writing. What you do is write your complaint out and hand it to the supervisor of the person you’re complaining about so that they can start an investigation. Sometimes,

(Thomas Buecking) depending on the situation, a human resources representative will get involved. After the investigation, a resolution is settled on and the complainant gets a letter thanking them for their complaint.

The Dean told me that if we wanted to make a formal complaint, the investigator would ask for all emails, the syllabus, and assignments outlines before interviewing other classmates about what transpired in class. Although my complaint was informal, other students were interviewed as a part of the investigation for my case.

Something to keep in mind when you file a complaint is what you want out of it. This is a question commonly asked by investigators, according to O’Brian. When we were asked what our ideal outcome would be, I didn’t have a prepared answer, but one of the other peo-

ple I complained with did. That suggestion was taken into consideration and was ultimately one of the resolutions for our complaint.

Students who want to make a complaint but need help or feedback can always ask O’Brian or an appointed KSA representative to come with them to any meetings about the complaint that take place. Additional information about filing complaints can be found on the KPU website under the policy AD2.

As a student, there are supports in place to help you feel safe and respected at KPU. Overall, I would highly recommend making a complaint if you’re feeling like your rights as a student are being infringed on. Even if you choose not to, fill out the instructor feedback honestly so that the instructor can be held accountable for their actions or classroom conduct.

Don’t Miss Out on these KSA Services

Since you already pay for these services through your student fees, you might as well make use of them

Sarah Adrian Recently, many students at KPU were informed about the U-Pass service provided by the Kwantlen Student Association through last month’s U-Pass referendum. This referendum saw students agree to an increase in the U-Pass’s monthly fee to $42.50, proving that services like this are valuable to those attending classes here.

However, the U-Pass is far from the only service provided by the student association to KPU students. The KSA offers many services ranging from technological assistance to free online mental health assessments and resources.

For any KPU student with a laptop, REBOOT is the service to go to when you have computer trouble. REBOOT is run by experts who can answer almost any computer-related questions you have. If your computer or laptop needs repairs, they give free estimates on hardware repairs and will help you get good deals on replacement parts.

You can drop-in at REBOOT’s Surrey office, located at Cedar 1225, from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm Monday to Thursday or the Richmond office, located at Room 1280 and open from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm Wednesday to Friday.

If you are a student who enjoys exercise, ActiveKSA is here for you. ActiveKSA strives

to bring “health and recreational programming to KPU” by providing weekly fitness classes specializing in cardio, strength, mind and body, and dance. All classes are drop-in and available at every campus.

For those who like to spend time in nature, there are various ActiveKSA hikes scheduled such as the Westham Island Nature Hike on March 27 and the Lighthouse Park Hike on April 6. They also offer other off-campus activities such as bowling and mini golf.

One service I believe every KPU student should access is myWellness. This online service is free to all students and has resources to help support your mental health, including information on mental health problems, care providers and therapies, and self-care essentials. On the front page of the website is a link to an anonymous mental health assessment which will provide you with the appropriate tools for managing your mental health.

All of us have felt stressed and overwhelmed while studying, and luckily myWellness has a resource for stress reduction. This resource can teach you skills that will help manage and cope with stress throughout your time at university.

Every KPU student is eligible for the KSA Health & Dental plan. For those who don’t know what this service is, the KSA Health & Dental plan is funded by one of the many

The KSA offers many services, such as the REBOOT program, which students may not be aware of. (Kristen Frier) fees added to our tuition. Students can choose to opt out within 30 days of their semester start date, but those who don’t can use the plan to cover things like doctor’s appointments and eyecare.

One final service that many students don’t know about is the KSA food bank. At times

when you are unable to buy food, the food bank can help you. Each month, eligible students can receive two food hampers meant to provide emergency relief. To sign up for a food hamper, you can fill out an application form on Kwantlen Student Association’s website.

OPINIONS

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The Robot Uprising Has Begun, and It’s Happening Online It’s time to regulate social media and put a stop to online bot manipulation Braden Klassen | Staff Writer The internet just ain’t what it used to be.

What was once a playground of memes, games, and impulse shopping has now become the most effective platform for political manipulation as well as social and economic disruption.

Last month, CBC reported that Twitter trolls have been targeting Canadians debating over pipelines and immigration policies with the apparent aim to further entrench political divisions on these issues.

The troll accounts were discovered and deleted by Twitter, but not before they were able to retweet thousands of statements from news articles, activists, and politicians. The deleted accounts were suspected to originate in Russia, Iran, and Venezuela—countries which have a stake in making sure Canada does not become an economic competitor in the fossil fuel market.

The internet has become an essential driver for the global economy, and social media is a large part of that. In this day and age, it’s entirely possible for a person to have a career as a popular figure on Instagram or Youtube, and the online ad economy gives people a way to make money off of their viewership and online metrics. Kylie Jenner reportedly makes millions of dollars for posting on Instagram, ostensibly because she can influence her high number of followers.

How many of those followers are real, and how many are bots or people paid to click links? Introducing the potential to make millions of dollars off of posting should high-

light the need to verify the authenticity of the viewership. Otherwise, what are people paying for?

Companies like Facebook have been repeatedly urged by governments to take meaningful action against the spread of fake news, yet little is done. When a brickand-mortar business can lose substantial amounts of customers and money through a bot-driven online smear campaign that lowers their Yelp rating, the real-life economic threat online suddenly becomes very real.

And when trolls can influence public health by spreading misinformation on Facebook that supports the anti-vaccination movement, the threat to public safety posed by these issues becomes clear.

Responsible government could provide the antidote for online bots, click farms, and state-sponsored manipulation by increasing verification measures like CAPTCHA, or by introducing more consequential legislation and penalties for attempting to manipulate online conversations and metrics.

The practice of spreading misleading news and information through the press is nothing new, but the magnitude and speed at which the information can spread over the internet is definitely unprecedented. I recently visited the New Westminster Museum and Archives and was surprised to find that they were putting on an exhibit about media awareness and fake news.

The exhibit displayed a particularly sobering quote from Cherian George, Professor of Media Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University: “Sustained and large-scale episodes

(Kristen Frier) of intolerance and hate are never the spontaneous outcome of irreconcilable tribal or civilisational differences. They are orchestrated by political opportunists for whom us-and-them identity politics is an irresistibly effective mobilisational tool.”

Unless social media companies can effectively prevent this problem from getting any worse, it seems like government oversight may be our only choice for resolving it.

Finding Your Niche Helps You Find Yourself Super specific obsessions speak to our own identity, goals, and hopes for the future

Cristian Hobson-Dimas | Staff Writer Even within our primary areas of expertise, most of us will discover niche sub-interests that we find endlessly fascinating.

For instance, KPU psychology student and animal lover Patricia Naguiat is drawn specifically to researching meerkats. Because they’re her favourite animal, she knows that they are a matriarchal species, that a group of them is called a mob, and that each mob has a female meerkat in charge.

“If the alpha female has a baby, she makes the beta females nurse them, and if any of the other females have a baby, the alpha female will banish them or kills the baby,” says Naguiat. “Meerkats are fucking gnarly.”

We are drawn to particular niches within our wider range of interests because we can closely identify with the specific elements we find there. The more niche the subject, the more it feels unique to us specifically. In a lot of cases, we might even aim to become part of those niches ourselves.

For example, as part of my passion for music, I am particularly obsessed with the DIY approach to recording. Musically, there’s no one I admire more than artists who can do it all themselves. To me, self-recorded artists such as Flatsound, Mac DeMarco, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and Tame Impala hold an

almost superhuman status. The amount of dedication, patience, creativity, and perhaps even a little bit of madness that goes into making an entire record entirely by yourself is something I cannot help but to marvel at.

It absolutely blows my mind to think that a single human being not only wrote and performed all of the different instruments on a track, but also managed to master the entirely separate skills of recording and sound engineering themselves.

In some cases, niche interests inform our studies and professions as well. Creative writing student Claire, who asked for her last name to be withheld, has occasionally written about her specific interest in urban exploration of abandoned buildings.

“I started with abandoned houses around Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and Hope,” she explains. “My friend group had a lot of photographers who went to take pictures. I suck at photography, but I like the empty houses and I like imagining what used to be there. It makes me feel connected to the past in a way.”

Similarly, DIY recording is not just a style I’ve grown to appreciate as an audiophile.

Many elements of the craft have informed the music I make. To date, my proudest accomplishment is a song that I wrote, recorded, mixed, and mastered entirely myself, which has accumulated just over 13,000 Spotify lis-

Our specific interests could indicate hopes for our future and the future of the world around us. (Cristian Hobson-Dimas) tens. Without getting into the self-recording niche, I wouldn’t have had the knowledge I used to develop and hone those skills.

Another interesting thing about niche interests is that they reflect our values.

Anthropology and sociology enthusiast Mariah Negrillo-Soor explains her interest in the history of the bicycle, and how the invention reshaped North-American society.

It’s the democratizing, progressive nature of this niche that intrigues her the most.

“Circa 1895, when bicycles were becoming popular in America, preachers and other

religious leaders saw it as an evil invention from the devil himself because of how it was truly a revolution in how people got around and socialized,” she says. “It was something everyone could learn to ride, closing the gap between classes, genders, and age.”

Maybe the niches we are fascinated by indicate our hopes for the world around us and for ourselves, whether it’s in the unapologetic dominance of female meerkats, the fearlessness of exploring abandoned buildings, or the social progression made using the modern bicycle.

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OPINIONS

Consent Extends Beyond the Bedroom

Asking your friends if they're comfortable with being touched is a way of respecting their bodily autonomy Tae Whitehouse | Contributor With the popularization of the #MeToo movement, the topic of consent worked its way into bedrooms worldwide, giving people the chance to start a dialogue about the nature of sex in both personal and working relationships.

However, consent can and should extend beyond the parameters of sexual behaviour and relationships into our everyday lives and social interactions.

Personally, consent is a big issue for me when it comes to casual touching. From hugs to handshakes, I am the type of person who finds it difficult to navigate friendly physical contact.

I try to be cool around friends who embrace each other at the beginning and end of every interaction, or who are happy to cuddle up on the couch in a human dog pile, but for me, these things don’t come so easily.

I tense up when I know someone is coming in for an unwelcome hug, and I’m painfully aware of every cell in my skin when I’m sitting next to a friend with our knees touching. I’ve even come close to getting a tattoo with the words “not a hugger” on my arm to try to prevent these awkward moments from popping up, but even so, I know life is packed with spontaneous physical interactions that exceed the limits of my comfort zone.

It may seem strange, but I know I’m not the only person who struggles with this. Whether it’s from past traumas or is just a personality quirk, some people aren’t comfortable with

touching.

Fortunately, I’ve found some relief regarding the concept of non-sexual consent. I’ve begun to realize that my discomfort with physical contact isn’t necessarily always about the touching itself, but in the feeling that it’s out of my control.

When someone asks me if they can hug me, or confirms that their arm being around me is okay, it breaks the tension. Most of my friends know about my aversion to touching and respect it by quickly confirming my boundaries with me. When I know I can decline physical contact before it happens, it doesn’t feel like such a loss of my bodily autonomy. When someone asks if they can hug me, most times the answer is yes, whereas if I hadn’t been asked, I would almost certainly be screaming “no” in my mind while they wrap their arms around my anxiety-ridden body.

Consent isn’t just about whether or not someone wants something. It’s also about making sure you know and respect someone’s boundaries, and that you communicate that respectfully to them. Simply knowing that someone wants you to feel comfortable can make you feel more comfortable, and for those of us who suffer from physical nervousness, it may make us feel less afraid of being touched.

So if you’re going in for a hug, throwing yourself onto your friend’s lap to get the most comfortable seat for your movie night, or putting your arm around your pal’s shoulders in a moment of comradery, be aware that everyone lives in a different comfort zone, and try to respect that by asking for their consent first.

(@RESLUS)

Months After Legalization, Black Market Cannabis is Still More Appealing According to Stats Canada, nearly 80 per cent of cannabis purchased by Canadians is still purchased illegally Lisa Hedmark | Contributor The legalization of cannabis has not prevented Canadians from purchasing cannabis on the black market as the government had hoped it would. If anything, legalization has made cannabis being sold illegally even more appealing due to the variety of products being offered at unlicensed dispensaries and how much cheaper they are than legal weed.

Still, many dispensaries have been forced to close their doors since last October because they don’t operate in accordance with government regulations. Every single dispensary on the North Shore was required to close up shop, and one by one, dispensaries in Vancouver are being forced out of business due to the new and extremely strict regulations and jurisdiction being enforced on them.

The City of Vancouver’s website lists a total of three dispensaries that have a municipal development permit, a provincial retail licence, and a municipal business licence, and around 50 dispensaries that have a municipal development permit. These are just the dispensaries approved by the City of Vancouver.

Many more continue to operate without any approval from the city, and these dispensaries make up most of the black market.

Most dispensaries that choose to operate

outside of government regulations don’t add tax to their products. Whatever the price is on shelves, that’s the price you pay. Licensed dispensaries or “government dispensaries”, as many Vancouverites refer to them, tax cannabis at $1 per gram or 10 per cent on anything over $10 per gram.

According to Stats Canada, that brings the average price per gram to $9.70 at legal dispensaries and $6.51 per gram at unlicensed dispensaries and private suppliers.

Bill C-45, or the Cannabis Act, does not allow for the sale and distribution of cannabis edibles and many forms of cannabis concentrates and topicals. Companies that produce these products, such as Twisted Extracts, Mary’s, and Miss Envy, continue to thrive and distribute their products through unlicensed dispensaries. These products can be essential to users who are not interested in smoking the plant directly, which has been known to cause more adverse health effects than ingesting cannabis in a processed form.

The black market cannabis industry is projected to account for about 37 per cent of cannabis sales in 2020, according to a February 2019 report by Bank of Nova Scotia outlined in an article by The Georgia Straight. These predictions are based, in part, off of alcohol prohibitions and the time it took for users to

Canadians still find black market weed more appealing, despite legalization.

(Lisa Hedmark) switch to buying the alcohol being sold after prohibition was repealed. Since the Canadian government has decided to group cannabis and alcohol regulation under one branch, statistics and opinions can be skewed as the two substances have very little in common.

The Canadian government’s projected revenue from taxation of Cannabis was nearly half the amount estimated by each province.

According to an article by the Vancouver Sun,

New Brunswick cut its estimate for cannabis taxes to $3.6 million from $6 million in its latest budget. The government’s projected black market cannabis sales are extremely underestimated, especially taking a province like British Columbia, which has a booming and longstanding cannabis industry, into account.

Surely, eliminating black market cannabis sales is going to be more difficult than the B.C. Liquor and Cannabis board has anticipated.

OPINIONS

B.C. Should Prioritize Local Transit Over the Vancouver-Seattle Bullet Train The province shouldn’t contribute to a multi-billion-dollar project before improving its own transportation services Kayci Roy | Contributor While B.C. recently announced that it’s going to invest another $300,000 towards exploring the feasibility of a Vancouver-Seattle train project with Washington state, Metro Vancouver’s own transit network has a slew of problems and lacks the funding to address them.

Last year, TransLink increased fare prices in order to fund its 10-year vision, which includes increased bus service and 56 new Skytrain cars. However, the planned improvements may not be enough to service all of the current and future commuters.

Snowfall over the last month left a lot of commuters frustrated with frequent delays.

Instead of putting money towards fixing these problems so the same thing doesn’t happen again next year, the province has decided to help fund a project that is still in its early stages. To indicate how many people would rather see the money spent on local transit, fifteen per cent of the comments on TransLink’s fare change survey ignored the fare changes and instead asked for improved or more frequent service.

If it’s ever completed, the bullet train project would have around 1.46 million riders in its first year of service. By comparison, the SkyTrain alone provided 9.33 million rides for commuters in May of 2018 alone. 2017 saw 406.84 million boardings across all of TransLink’s services.

As it stands, travellers have to go through

A rendering of what the King George Hub could look like. (Submitted/ PCI Developments) an extensive process to be able to cross the U.S.-Canada border. This likely isn’t something the high speed rail project would be able to cut down on.

In the effort of establishing and strengthening relationships with other countries, projects like these could be a way for B.C. and Washington state to communicate with each other and create something meaningful for their citizens. However, it could be unwise for the province to dedicate this much money to a project that may not move forward—money that could go to services that already exist.

Most of the people who currently struggle with local transit will not be using the high-speed train in order to get to Seattle.

The types of people who will use the proposed train aren’t the same ones that rely on TransLink to get to school or work every

day. According to Daily Hive, only 25 per cent of the potential ridership is estimated to be comprised of Vancouver travellers.

The project won’t be making the province any money for a long time, either. If the highspeed rail is greenlit, construction won’t be completed for at least another 16 years.

TransLink’s need for funding is much more immediate than that.

The Vancouver-Seattle train is an expensive and needless expenditure. Instead of focusing on out-of-province travel, B.C. should direct its funding into local transit options that could benefit more citizens in a much more effective way. Provincial officials should look into the needs and wants of their citizens before looking at building relationships with the States.

Column: Mission Impossible The seemingly boring town of Mission has many unbelievable stories to tell Katherine Charlton I’ve been asked many times to explain exactly what life in the town of Mission is like and, as a local, I can very confidently say that I don’t really know.

Mission exists on what can only be described as an alternate plane of reality, where the most peculiar and curious events seem to become possible. Once, a beaver caused a back up in a Tim Hortons drive through—a rather acutely Canadian experience. Another time, a local Canadian Tire exploded during what started as a lower profile theft. That’s currently what you could call a “hot topic” around town.

Despite Mission being on the smaller side as far as most cities in the Lower Mainland go, there always seems to be something extraordinary happening there. A quick recap of odd events over the past few years would have to begin with one of my personal favorites, the quite literal green space at the only high school in the town, Mission Secondary School. Administration had promised to turn an area of the parking lot into a grassy area to spend lunch. They were clearly determined not to go back on their word.

One day, when we looked out the window,

there was a lone man in the parking lot with a bucket of green paint. The good news for the admins was that the number of online jokes about this largely outweighed the input of the genuinely frustrated students, and the story turned into a fondly-remembered Mission Secondary idiosyncrasy.

There are some nice, uniquely small town things in Mission, like the Ollivanders Wand Shop-esque bookstore run by a rather peculiar old man in the shell of the old movie theatre. For visitors who enjoy organization, this bookstore can be a rather stressful trip, with stacks of books piled up everywhere, including all over the floors. But for most, going there is a rather entertaining experience, often accompanied by soft jazz playing in the background. Unfortunately, the older gentleman who ran the shop has recently retired, and the business is in the midst of a massive closing sale.

Soon, Mission will become the proud home of a new art piece, a large 3D replica of Mission’s tartan, costing roughly $50,300. For those of you struggling to picture what this might look like, we are essentially spending $50,300 on a large cube on a pole. This is a particularly bold artistic statement. What that statement is saying, I am not so sure.

Repairs have already started on the Mission Canadian Tire after a disastrous fire took place there. (Katherine Charlton) I also have to mention the inflatable Christmas decoration bandits who hit houses all across Mission this last winter.

This was, of course, thoroughly discussed on a chaotic closed Facebook page that it seems like the entire town is on. I imagine that shed of stolen Christmas atrocities must look like something out of a Tim Burton film, with deflated Santa skins strewn across the floor.

These are only some of the highlighted excerpts of what our “boring” small town life is like—a series of strange and yet somehow charming events that keep us calling Mission our home.

13

Don’t Take Living in Vancouver for Granted Jayne Wright

We’ve all heard it before: living in the Lower Mainland is expensive, it’s busy, traffic sucks, and it rains. Oh, how it rains. But if everything about this area is so worth complaining about, what’s keeping us around?

I’m brand new to the Lower Mainland, and this is my first semester at KPU. I’m currently renting in North Vancouver and commuting to school so, believe me, I know how burdensome the traffic and the expenses of the city are firsthand. I understand the struggle of making ends meet. But let me tell you, I wouldn’t trade living here for the world.

I come from Vancouver Island where people tend to feel superior to the mainlanders supposedly wasting their lives away in lines of traffic within concrete city walls, but Metro Vancouver is so much more than that.

This city allows us to be part of a vibrant culture. It gives us access to an abundance of live music and art while also surrounding us with natural beauty. By day, you can go hiking on mountain trails that make you feel as if you’re the only person in the forest, and by night you can check out an awesome new indie band downtown.

Areas like Vancouver Island undoubtedly have their own natural splendours, but this city has endless opportunities and cultural diversity that we simply can’t experience anywhere else.

People often talk about Montreal or Toronto as the places they want to be.

“That’s where I’ll end up—where there are all the benefits of the city without the obscene rent and a transit system that won’t shut down after three centimeters of snow,” they say.

Okay people, I hear you! I had the opportunity to visit Montreal over the reading break. Yes, it’s rich with history. It’s fun and as hipster-y as a city can be. But to me, it’s just not home. There’s little access to nature, and their version of water is a long, murky river winding around the city limits.

Vancouverites can stand at the ocean’s edge whenever we please and feel the fresh, salty air tousle our hair and ease our stress. That is priceless.

This city is not perfect, but let’s consider all it has to offer and remind ourselves of what keeps us here or what called us here in the first place. After all, we live in one of the most esteemed cities in the world. Don’t forget to take a minute to open your eyes and see how unfathomably lucky we are. I know I sure won’t.

14 COLUMNS

Afterthought: The West Van B-Line Debate Rages On Communities are polarized over the development of a new bus route, and it’s sad to watch

Braden Klassen | Staff Writer Tensions are running high in the once idyllic hillside communities of West Vancouver and North Vancouver. Residents are fighting over the introduction of a consolidated bus route between Phibbs Exchange and Dundarave planned as part of TransLink’s strategy for increasing the transit capacity throughout Metro Vancouver.

The debate has become so heated that councillors have been publicly expressing their frustration at the lack of civility displayed by community members. Councillor Craig Cameron was quoted in the Vancouver Sun as saying, “I’ve never been so disappointed, even ashamed, of this community as I’ve been during this B-line debate.”

Fun fact: if you look up the word “yikes” in the dictionary, you’ll actually find that quote outlined verbatim.

The pro-bus crowd includes members of the Capilano Student Union who say that the new bus would provide a much-needed option for students who have to take transit to the campus from West Van—and ostensibly anyone who lives in the area who does not own a car, but still would like to go places sometimes.

TransLink did reach out to a number of stakeholders in North Van and West Van, and even presented at an open council meeting on March 12 last year. It also engaged in post-consultation follow-up at council on June 11. Print ads ran in the an edition of

the North Shore News, over 570,000 copies of which were delivered. TransLink also says that 68 per cent of respondents to their consultations supported the proposed changes to be made to the area.

Perhaps the residents claiming that there was insufficient consultation were unaware of these efforts, or perhaps they were aware and they just didn’t care enough to voice their concerns then. Either way, the city councils are not at fault for this, and neither is TransLink.

Most people opposed to the bus route, and the converting of road lanes into bus lanes, come from an online group called Stop the Road Closures (STRC). After the West Van city council voted against the line to Dundarave and decided to cut it off at Park Royal, STRC leader Nigel Malkin said that West Vancouverites “do not want their roads closed, they do not want parking taken away from the business district, and the children do not want articulated buses running past their school.”

Groups like this are an absolutely reasonable and necessary form of association for people interested in having their voices heard. Unfortunately, their voices tend to be shrill, demanding, and even ignorant.

On March 12, someone posted on the group’s Facebook, which is displayed on the front page of STRC’s website, listing their reasons for why they felt the consultation surveys were flawed.

These reasons included a lack of control over who was allowed to fill out the survey, as well

(Nic Laube) as a complaint that the phone surveys were “read by people with strong foreign accents,” and were thus “unintelligible.”

Their argument is that, because of this, all of the survey results should be made invalid.

For my money, the thought process behind this suggestion sounds far more unintelligible than any “foreign accents” this person seems to be unaccustomed to.

I suppose you can just chalk this up as

another instance of the insular entitlement we’ve come to expect from Vancouver’s most outspoken champions of NIMBYism.

It’s important to review urban development procedures, but the responses need to be evidence-based. They need to be comprehensive, and they need to prioritize social equality and accessibility. Polarizing the discussions and attacking and intimidating people during the reviewing process is absolutely unnecessary.

Artist Spotlight: Devours

“I don’t want to change my values or change my experience for mainstream audiences. I’m just going to make something super gay.”

Aly Laube | Editor in Chief

Jeff Cancade didn’t come out until he was in his mid-twenties, but as soon as he did, the rest of his life started to change.

After moving to Vancouver from Montreal, he was experiencing life as an openly gay man for the first time when he started Devours, a pseudo-goth, synth-heavy electronic project that occupies a uniquely experimental, queer niche in the city.

Devours is the kind of music you might hear at a darkwave disco, or an after hours, neonlit dance party. It’s also the kind of music that listeners might imagine would fill out clubs with crowds of people hoping to boogie the night away. However, getting attention for his music didn’t come easily for Cancade.

He says he had a hard time breaking into the local music scene when he first arrived, and had to work hard as a single performer to make a name for himself within it.

“I didn’t really know anyone in the music community,” he says. “I moved here and then I came out as gay right at that moment, and so that was my community for a number of years. There was kind of no crossover. The music scene is a really, really straight scene.”

Another challenge he cites is that “Vancouver is a rock city,” and although he’s a huge fan of punk, he didn’t see many artists around him who he felt he would fit in with stylistically.

This is why, even now that he’s established in the underground scene, Devours largely stands

alone in Vancouver as a weird, glam, dark, queer electronic dance project.

“Everything was me hustling. It was going out to shows, listening to everyone’s music, supporting them, taking an interest in the community,” he says. “But I think that what I learned from my time in Montreal is that every music scene everywhere is hard to break into … Vancouver is a hard nut to crack, but the community is really, really loyal.”

As the sole artist behind Devours, Cancade has released two albums: Late Bloomer in 2016 and, on March 8 under Artoffact Records, Iconoclast, the more honest, moodier counterpart to the debut LP. With Iconoclast, Cancade wanted to get realer than he ever had before, refusing to make his music more palatable for a heteronormative, mainstream audience and using the project as a platform for claiming his identity as both a musician and a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

“I was really flamboyant, really obviously gay when I was a kid, and then throughout high school with bullying and not wanting to have a serious threat to me physically, I sort of became like wallpaper for a lot of years, wore really boring clothes and tried to not stand out. I think that carried into my late teens and early twenties, of not really having much of an identity,” he says. “Even though I’m kind of older now, it’s never too late to carve out an identity.”

Cancade sees Iconoclast as “a snapshot of

Devours creator Jeff Cancade's signature look features bold, black eyebrows inspired by drag culture. (Aly Laube) where [he] is in [his] gay life,” and a reflection of his current beliefs. As a result, it’s not only more closely tied to his current gender identity and sexuality, but also to his age, what it was like to spend “25 years in denial” of being gay, and his commitment to being a musician.

“It is really weird when you get a little older and you hit 30 and and you’re like, ‘Oh my god, I haven’t made it yet. I’m not a rock star,’ and you have to think, ‘Should I give this up? Should I work at Costco? Should I move to Surrey?” he says. “I’m, like, kind of old now and it’s fine, but I’m an artist, and

I’m going to wear this eyebrow makeup and make this my thing.”

The big eyebrows, pictured above, are part of Devours’ image as “something that’s unique and fun and a blend of masculine and feminine.” According to Cancade, it was also inspired by drag culture.

Iconoclast premiered in Beatroute on March 5 and is now available for streaming online.

As for upcoming performances, Devours will be playing Treefort festival in Boise, Idaho on March 22, and is planning to announce an April show in Vancouver.

OPINIONS

15

READERS RESPOND:

“What Makes You Feel Powerful?”

Kayci Roy | Contributor & Kristen Frier | Graphics Editor

When you’re feeling down or unsure about what’s to come, everyone has something they do to empower themselves. Whether it’s doing yoga or getting dressed up, it’s important to take care of yourself and do whatever makes you feel ready to face the day.

In the heart of the spring semester, a lot of students are finding themselves drained

VANESSA VERGARA

of energy between studying, working, and maintaining their social lives. We decided to ask some students and staff at Kwantlen Polytechnic University what they do to feel empowered so that our readers can pick up some nifty tips.

Share your own empowerment tips by tweeting us @Runnermag.

“I’m all for beauty and fashion. If that means waking up extra early in the morning to get glam or get dressed up, that’s what gets

me through the day. It’s the first thing I look forward to in the morning. A lot of people ask me, ‘Why do you take so long to get

ready? Wouldn’t you rather sleep in?’ but if it makes me feel good I’m going to do it, you know what I mean? Taking care of yourself first is really important.”

ADITYA

DAVID CHUDZINKSKI

“For me, it’s being frugal, saving money.

“Mine’s the complete opposite [from

Being a minimalist.”

Aditya]. Mine is spending money. It makes me feel great.”

ROHIN BAHI

ZAINAB BOKHARI

“I’ll listen to music. [In my music library]

“I’d probably talk to my mom or something,

there’s a lot of $uicideboy$.”

because she’s really uplifting. I’d surround

myself with people who … can uplift me just in

general. I have this one friend, I call her at 3:00

am and it won’t matter, she’ll pick up. Things like

that, you know? Being able to interact with people that really care about you, I feel that being

loved in that way is just really uplifting for me. “

SARAH DUNCAN

PAIGE JAMIESON

“I'm always prepared. I feel most confident when I have a sense of what’s going on and what’s going to happen. I do as much preparation and review as I can, and then I get to the point where I let it go, but I do a lot of preparation. I moved out here about a year ago, and I come from a really small town where there was basically no traffic.

One road took you everywhere. Suddenly I’m living in a city, and I need to drive to so many different places. Things like that throw me off, but if I prepare and check my maps, I feel more confident and I’m more ready and can let things unfold as they will.”

“Personally, I’d probably do yoga myself.

I’m a teacher, so it’s easy for me to get

empowered doing my own practice. If I

need to get empowered for this lab we’re about to go to, I’m not just going to get

into downward dog. I’ll listen to music or even just talk to people.”

JASMEET KAUR

ANGELINE ABINOJA

JASMEEN KAUR

MANJODH DHILLON

“We’re the executive team, so we do a

“We’re part of this club which makes us

“Dance. Bhangra. I’m part of the Bhangra club.”

“I’ll talk to someone who knows about the

confidence and supporting each other,

in Business.”

lot of planning, boosting each other’s women in general.”

feel empowered. It’s called Young Women

situation. They’ve already done it, so they

can tell me about their experience. I spoke to my friend, and she said ‘Chill, man.’ She was so confident!”

PROCRASTINATION HOROSCOPES

Sagittarius

Capricorn

Aquarius

You’ve been called a “feckless catamite” on more than one occasion, but that’s not something you should have mentioned in your job interview.

Priests, Imams, Monks, and Shamans tried for years to get you into religion. They all failed, until one day a Hare Krishna at the mall taught you how to clapback against Satan.

Just write “Korean Abdul-Jabbar” down on a piece of paper, fold it, put it in your pocket, and wait for someone to give you a MacArthur Genius Grant.

Pisces

Aries

Taurus

Despite your best efforts, nobody really considers you to be the “mom friend” of the group. You’re more of the “estranged aunt who knows the names of all the strippers at the nearest male strip club” friend.

“One for the dreams, one for the memes,” is not a reasonable platform for pursuing elected office.

You stare down at the plate of nachos resting on your bulbous stomach, then at the tub of salsa just out of reach on the other side of the couch, and briefly consider declaring a national state of emergency.

Gemini

Cancer

Leo

Your entire life you’ve confused spina bifida with spanakopita, a fact that only came to light after a bewildering conversation with your son’s doctor.

Loudly agreeing with everything that the tallest man in the room says will keep you from getting dunked on by short terrorists.

Stop using words like “turgid” and “discharge” on your tax returns, the CRA have written you three letters about this.

Virgo

Libra

Scorpio

Honestly, go ahead and be spooky this week.

Get into weird mystical shit or whatever. Life is short, reality is fake. Be your own goth girlfriend.

Don't bully people or I'll call the cops to come dance battle some youths at you.

“Scorpio” was invented by Big Horoscope in the 1950s to sell “I’m With Stupid” shirts to people who still think Pluto is a planet.

Nov. 23 - Dec 21

Dec. 22 - Jan 20

Feb 20 - Mar 20

Mar 21 - Apr 19

May 21 - Jun 20

Jun 21 - Jul 23

Aug 24 - Sept 23

Sept 24 - Oct 23

SUDOKU

Look for the answers in the next issue of The Runner.

Jan 21 - Feb 19

Apr 20 - May 20

Jul 24 - Aug 23

Oct 24 - Nov 22