VOL-08-ISS-05
OCT-27-2015
A graveyard smash since 2009
WHAT SHOULD WE BE
AFRAID OF? RANKING
THE GREATEST THREATS TO
EXISTENCE THIS
Student Athletics
HALLOWEEN
spooky stories
SEASON.
election night coverage
find us online / runnermag.ca / @runnermag / facebook.com/runnerMAG / INSTAGRAM.com/RUNNERMAG
Table of Contents
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News |Eagles Still Flying Despite Varsity Cuts 04
The Kwantlen Eagles did not exactly have a smooth start to the season. With the announcement of funding cuts for varsity sports and the subsequent withdrawal from PACWEST, players and coaches alike were left confused and upset. The Runner is student-owned and operated by Kwantlen Polytechnic University students, published under the Polytechnic Ink Publishing Society. www.runnermag.ca Vol. 08, Issue no. 05 Oct 27, 2015 ISSN# 1916 8241
Arbutus 3710/3720 12666 72 Ave. Surrey, B.C, V3W 2M8 778.565.3801
Culture | Slamapalooza encourages you to applaud the poetry, not the scores 06 In a small café on Commercial Drive, under dim lighting and amidst the chatter of café patrons, Kwantlen’s poetry slam team—Slamapalooza—took the stage.
The Runner recognises 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 Kwantlen is adaptable and changing so is The Runner.
feature | Election Night in the Lower Mainland 08 We covered the excitement and disappointment at a few campaign offices near Kwantlen campuses.
CONTRIBUTORS Aida Garcia Aileen Tran Alyson Laube Ashneil Naress Braden Klassen Danica Johnston Jonathan Fader Kat Nekuryashchikh Keith Harris Kévin Paré
Kyrsten Downton Kyle Prince Louis Marta-Widjaja Mike Zhao Monica Mah Natalie Mussel Pifanida Renée McMillen Rosaura Ojeda Scott Mclelland Stephanie Davies Torin Slik
opinion | Reducing Your Carbon Footprint 13 Perhaps you’ve heard someone say, “If everyone on earth lived like the typical American, we would need six Earths to sustain our planet.” But who are these people who aren’t living like a typical American? Or, more importantly, in what ways are they living differently so as not to take such a toll out of the Earth?
columns | Syria is a chessboard 19 Something that irritates me about mainstream media is the idea that American bombing of Syria is “okay,” while Russian bombing of Syria is somehow “bad.” The Americans will often try to portray their military actions in the Middle East as being battles for liberation and democracy.
COVER ARTIST
#BestPhoto Kwantlen’s finest featuring
from Argel Monte de Ramos (@amdr13 on Instagram) Aboriginal Gathering Place - This place is so BEAUTIFUL. My fave place in kwantlen #kpucampuslife #kwantlen #kwantlenpolytechnicuniversity #kpu #vancity #vancouver #explorebcphoto creds to @norenefrancisco
Pifanida is a Spanish artist currently living in Vancouver. She usually draws funny stuff, and sometimes, she makes her work move. She draws both on paper and digitally, and she sometimes dares to do this on the walls as well.
STAFF
Coordinating Editor
Managing Editor
Tristan Johnston editor@runnermag.ca
Connor Doyle managing@runnermag.ca
Executive Editor
Samantha Thompson executive@runnermag.ca @sampthompson
Production Manager
Art Director
Web Editor
Charis Au art@runnermag.ca
Kenny Chui production@runnermag.ca
Staff Illustrator
Yaunna Sommersby web@runnermag.ca
Photo Editor
Geoffrey Nilson photo@runnermag.ca
Danielle George
Staff Writer
Kier-Christer Junos staff@runnermag.ca @kierjunos
Operation Manager
Scott Boux office@runnermag.ca 778.565.3801
Editorial
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From the editor Waiting for Trudeau.
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Tristan Johnston Coordinating Editor
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Many of the polls for last monday’s election predicted a Liberal win. But not like this. Like a lot of voters, I’m pleased with the result but part of me would have preferred a minority. At the very least, I feel that Trudeau is more “Canadian” than Harper. Being Canadian is about bringing people together, something that Pierre Trudeau believed in passionately. I would say that Trudeau performed an “Obama manoeuvre,” in the sense that he used positivity, inclusiveness, and charisma to propel himself and his party into a majority parliament, something the third-place parties can only dream of. In Canada, opposition parties are sometimes referred to as “gov-
ernments in waiting” because historically, Canada swaps out Liberal or Conservative parties. One of my favourite parts of election night was watching the speeches from all of the leaders, and none of them booing. That, to me, is something extremely Canadian. Both Mulcair and Harper were very cordial, and May seemed like she’d had a glass of wine. While personally I prefer this party over the last one, they will still be held to account, and if the trend continues—and if Trudeau and the Liberals keep their promises—then that should be easier than it was before. The Liberals have promised to have more data available and to respond to more Freedom of Information requests, and I have had an easy experience getting interviews with Liberal MPs. If there’s an indication of change, it’s that Trudeau
held a press conference in the National Press Gallery Theatre, which hadn’t been used in at least seven years. Trudeau took questions, as well as followup questions. This is a breath of fresh air after Harper’s trademark silence. The Liberals have also promised marijuana reform, an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women, and a change to the very electoral system that gave them a majority government. Both of these seem likely, and as well Trudeau has committed to making half of his cabinet female, and already has eight aboriginal MPs in his party. If you include the two aboriginal MPs from the NDP, that makes the 42nd parliament of Canada the one with the highest amount of aboriginal representation. “You gave me clear marching orders,” Trudeau said during his
victory speech, being aware of the promises his party has made. “I know that I am on stage tonight for one reason and one reason only, and you put me here,” said Trudeau in his victory speech. He’s right. Voter turnout for this election was a massive improvement—68 per cent this year, compared to 61 per cent in 2011. B.C. voted in the high 70s. While I was at Lawrence Woo’s office, covering the election results, I met Paula Johal, who was working a polling station near Blundell. “There were way more people at the advance polls that I was at then at the actual polls that I attended this morning,” she told me. When asked about polling problems, she said that there weren’t any that were the fault of Elections Canada, but she did say she got a robocall in 2011, which made her go three kilo-
metres out of her way. “That totally turned me off from the Conservatives,” she added. At her polling station last week, she said she noticed a change in demographic. “At the advance poll, I noticed a lot more young people than I had ever seen voting before,” she says. Johal says that out of the four or five elections she has worked with Elections Canada, this one had by far the most young people voting. “Absolutely. I would like to say totally that I am impressed with the turnout. Way more than I have noticed in any of the polls,” she said. A high turnout is good for democracy, and it’s likely that a high turnout, in youth and other groups, is a reason why we saw such a dramatic shift in our parliament. Democracy was done today.
what’s up this week (Oct 28 - Nov 10) with yaunna sommersby
wed, Oct 28
thur, oct 29
fri, oct 30
Music at Midweek
Return of the Gaming Dead
KPU women’s and men’s basketball
Stop by the Langley campus to enjoy this week’s performance featuring members from the UBC Opera Ensemble.
The Kwantlen Gaming Guild is hosting an event to get gamers into the Halloween spirit. Play some Halloween and horrorthemed games and enter into their costume contest.
Come out to support the KPU Eagles basketball teams as they play against the CBC Bearcats in their season opener.
12:00 p.m., KPU Langley Auditorium. Free
11 a.m. - 7 p.m., Surrey Conference Center. Free
Women’s game: 6 p.m., men’s game: 8 p.m., Eagles’ Nest, Surrey campus. Free to KPU students and staff
mon, nov 2
thur, nov 5
tue, nov 10
KPU Science World Speaker Series
School of Horticulture Info Session
EPT Information Session
Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani is a psychology professor here at KPU and his speech for this event will be looking at the psychology of good and evil.
Want to learn about the Horticulture program? Attend this information session to find out more.
Learn more about the innerworkings of the Environmental Protection Technology (EPT) Diploma program. Be there or be square.
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Science World at TELUS World of Science. Free
6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m., KPU Langley Campus - Meeting Room 1030. Register online.
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m., KPU Langley Campus, Room 1010. Free. Register online.
Got a tip on an upcoming event? Send us an email at editor@runnermag.ca
News
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Eagles Still Flying Despite Varsity Cuts
Players stay focused on the current season, but the future is uncertain.
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Yaunna Sommersby Web Editor
The Kwantlen Eagles did not exactly have a smooth start to the season. With the announcement of funding cuts for varsity sports and the subsequent withdrawal from PACWEST, players and coaches alike were left confused and upset. Despite these announcements, however, both the men and women’s soccer teams have not let their season be affected. Women’s defender Jessica Anderegg has been part of the team for four years and feels everyone in the athletics department has been working hard to make this season run as smoothly as possible.
“This season they’re doing their best to make sure nothing has changed,” says Anderegg. “Although, it was a little bit confusing in the beginning what was going to happen. It was a little unorganized, not having an athletic director or a media coordinator.” Frustrations and confusion aside, the dedication and positive attitude from the teams is clear when standing on the sidelines. “We’re playing with our heart now and playing not only for our school, but for ourselves now. Just to prove to [the administration] that it was a mistake for cutting,” notes defender Samantha Savoy. “It’s really unfair what happened, but we’re still representing the school, we’re still ambassadors
for the school.” Men’s player Nawaf Binsaleh feels Kwantlen’s administration could have handled the situation differently and worked with the athletics department more. “We wanted [the program] to continue and not be terminated without any previous notice. At least, if they had given us previous notice, we could have talked about it in meetings before they made any decisions,” he explains. Binsaleh also noted the budget cuts have slightly affected the current season, as they are “lacking the trainers and physio for the team.” Srdjan Djekanovic, head coach for the men’s team, knows his players work hard for each other and are excited to play each game, and
that they’re still focused on winning. “These guys came for a program and they turned down some pretty big schools to come to Kwantlen for academics and the soccer program. They are here, they are committed, and we’re just looking at it as a game at a time.” Coach Djekanovic believes student athletes who may have not originally considered Kwantlen for post-secondary education came to be involved in the soccer program and academics. “It works both ways. It is something that the admissions office needs to recognize as well. Our success is Kwantlen’s success.” Anderegg is worried about other clubs and student groups around Kwantlen campuses and wants more students to be aware of
Yaunna Sommersby
what is going on. “We’re here to support other groups if they need us as well. Kwantlen’s cutting us because there are only 90 of us. What program are they going to cut next? If we can reach out to other student clubs or organizations just to raise awareness, it kind of feels like no one is safe right now if they’re going to cut people and think it is okay.” At the end of this season, scholarships will still be honoured and graduating students will be celebrated at Graduating Seniors Day, as per Eagles tradition. When asked about next year, Anderegg clarified: “We have high hopes for next year, but we don’t really know what is going to happen there.”
Yaunna Sommersby
KSA to hold public budget consultations They’re looking for feedback on-campus and online.
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Kier-Christer Junos Staff Writer
Look, you’re smart. So much so that your resumé includes that obligatory “skilled with Microsoft Excel” bullet. But if you’re a real keener you’ll add that you penned in a budget consultation session with the Kwantlen Student Association, just to see some real-life spreadsheets. The KSA is steadily tying up their draft budget for the next fiscal year and they’re planning to hold consultation sessions on each campus, where students can prod and ask and suggest all things budget. “Number one, it enables them to know that the fees we are collecting from them are being used,” says
Waheed Taiwo, the KSA’s vicepresident of finance. “Secondly, it enables them to know how they could benefit from the services that we are providing through their fees.” Dates have yet to be posted on the KSA website for when the sessions will be, but Taiwo says there too will be an online venue to provide feedback on the budget, possibly through a designated email. That way no one has to leave the house. Speaking of the internet, the KSA has to post the draft budget online for everyone to see. The newly amended KSA regulation on budgets ensures that—and has always aimed for—some sort of consultation process to be held for the Kwantlen community. Taiwo maintains that the process is mainly for “concerned students,”
but the regulation does specify the Kwantlen community. Taiwo says that would include faculty and even KPU administration, given a couple of factors. “If faculty have ideas about programs we could be offering our students, I’m always open,” says Taiwo. “I love feedback, I love hearing from all of our stakeholders. And from what you’ve seen in some of our meetings, you would have noticed we do support the KPU community, and that involves faculties, administrators—if they are providing programs for our students that we are not currently doing, we’d like to support them.” “That is contingent on the fact that we have the resources, we are not already providing the program—and it’s not something that KPU should actually be doing
within the resources that they have.” Besides the process functioning as a way to inform the KPU community and bounce ideas, Taiwo adds that the consultations function as an indicator of transparency in the governance structure of the KSA. “Especially where money is concerned based on our past experiences,” says Taiwo. “So that all students know the money is there, we are spending it for their benefit, and they have the opportunity to determine how this money is spent.” That said, Taiwo claims that nothing in his recent experience would indicate a student’s feedback could draw heavily on how funds are allocated here or there. He couldn’t immediately speak to the degree that the input could “affect
the whole budget allocation.” But, citing the heightened activity of student club executives, he did say that clubs at least would plausibly “want something to get done.” These consultations have happened in the past, before Taiwo’s time as vice-president of finance. From his own knowledge about them, he’s not that hopeful that there’s going to be a lot of students. Still, he says they’ll try. They’ll announce it on Facebook to all relevant KPU groups among other advertising tactics. They’ll push the idea to all the KSA committees so the word spreads at that level. Taiwo hopes this would draw in a larger number. “At least any number of students that show up at this consultation would be an improvement,” he says.
News
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Psychology Prof Prepares for Science World Speaker Series Dr. Jhangiani will lecture on the psychology of good and evil.
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Kyle Prince
Monica Mah Contributors
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Aiming to dispel the myths surrounding “evil,” Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani is speaking at the fourth installment of the Telus World of Science-KPU joint talks. He will focus on the psychology of good and evil, and with a background of over a decade spent studying the psychology of genocide, he’s got the tools to unpack this heavy topic. “I believe the topic of my talk— explaining the best and the worst of human nature—is something that most people are interested in,” says Jhangiani. “But whereas many approach this issue from a philosophical or theological perspective, I will bring the empirically-grounded perspective of psychological science.” Jhangiani won’t only talk about the evil lurking underneath, though—he will also delve into what makes people risk their lives to save others. But be warned, this talk isn’t for the faint of heart. There will be mentions of the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, and the cultural genocide of the First Nations peoples of Canada. If you’ve got strong opinions on the subject, or are simply interested to see what the crowd thinks, just wait until the end and there will be a
Q&A session. Jhangiani says his favourite part is, “Engaging with the public, especially during the Q&A period at the end of the talk. Unlike all of my academic talks, here it is difficult to predict the composition of the audience. This makes this as much of a learning experience for me as it—hopefully—will be for the attendees.” Jhangiani is especially pleased that the talk will be held during the Holocaust Education week, which makes his examples that much more relevant. The talks are open to everyone, and this one is happening on Nov. 2. More information can be found online. Dr. Daniel Bernstein, another Kwantlen psychology professor, is the man behind the talks. He got the ball rolling about a year and a half ago when he spoke to the president of Science World and the two of them hammered out a few details which led to the partnership with KPU. “It was his idea to make it all KPU faculty speakers,” says Bernstein. “My initial idea was to have teachers from other universities around including KPU, but just general university speakers talk to the public.” Dr. Bernstein says the intent of the series is quite simple—it’s to make science more accessible, to have the talks be available to anybody who’s interested, and to
feature a wide variety of topics including the social sciences, humanity, and issues related to science. All of this is in pursuit of helping the general public better understand what’s going on. The future of the KPU-Science World partnership looks bright as they plan on expanding into other areas, and Bernstein will remain the driving force behind the speaker series. “KPU and Science World should discuss the partnership that they have built and what they want to do with that into the future,” says Bernstein. The good doctor is also very excited about the upcoming talk, but didn’t want to say too much about it since he would rather leave it to his colleague to explain the finer details of the subject. When asked which of the talks he had seen was his favorite, Bernstein claimed, “That’s not fair … The Borealis String Quartet was great, [the] performance was outstanding … The next talk by Kent Mullinix [about sustainable agriculture] I found absolutely riveting.” As a bonus, the talks are going to be archived on YouTube, so if you can’t make it out to one of the sessions, don’t worry. Although, there is something to be said about seeing them live. As Bernstein says, “This is an opportunity for the public to learn from the instructor. For free.”
Rajiv Jhangiani
Captain of Canada’s Women’s Soccer Team awarded honorary degree President Davis discusses how Christine Sinclair embodies the Kwantlen spirit.
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Stephanie Davies
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She’s an Olympic bronze medalist, captain of the Canadian Women’s National soccer team, and is Canada’s all-time leading scorer. Born and raised in Burnaby, B.C, Christine Sinclair is a pioneer in Women’s soccer. She was awarded an honorary degree from KPU during a special convocation ceremony on Oct. 6. The university defines an honorary degree as being awarded “in recognition of dignified achievements or outstanding service to the public.” Sinclair joined the ranks of honorary degree recipients in the Lower Mainland which include Bill Nye (from SFU), and Rick Mercer (from UBC). President Dr. Alan Davis shares his insights on KPU selecting Sinclair as the recipient of this honor. “It was a very strong nomination for acknowledgment of her success and her leadership as an athlete representing Canada,” says Davis. “She represents Canada very well— she’s very strong, she’s a great team
leader, and she’s very passionate about her sport.” The university had nominated Christine back in 2013 but, due to scheduling conflicts, she couldn’t attend the convocation until this fall. We’re trying to reflect our community and reflect the values of the university when we give honorary degrees” says Davis. “There’s a number of different ways that we look at it. In the end, I think you’re looking at people who have really given themselves and advanced the community as a result of the work that they do. We take pride in them accepting the honor.” Among her many achievements, Sinclair has also been named Player of the Year by the Canadian Soccer Association 12 times, and is also a recipient of a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. This past summer, Sinclair and the Canadian Women’s team competed in the FIFA Women’s World Cup—a record-breaking tournament. Team Canada got an alltime-high of 112 goals and it was the most-watched FIFA Women’s World Cup ever. “In many different ways she
KPU
exemplifies the values at KPU in terms of her tireless pursuit of excellence,” says Davis. “I think she’s very much a role model for young people, it doesn’t matter what field they’re in. Everybody respects her as a leader. She took it to a level at a time when women’s soccer wasn’t that popular. She’s been the person everybody looks to as the face of Canadian soccer.” Davis hopes that KPU has built a relationship with Christine so that when she has the opportunity, she can come visit and engage with students. He wants students to under-
stand the values that Christine has demonstrated—to be in it for the long-term, be persistent, be dedicated, and to strive for the very best. “It’s the notion of tireless pursuit, just like the ‘tireless runner,’ where we get our name from,” explains Davis. “She does that. She doesn’t just sit back and rest on her laurels, she’s always striving for more. Find your passion, go for it, and stick with it. There’s always going to be ups and downs as I’m sure Christine has experienced.” Even though Canada didn’t make it to the finals of the 2012
Olympics, she came back strong, as is the case with the recent FIFA Women’s World Cup. It was a tough loss but she’ll come back and try again. Davis hopes that that notion of dedication and persistence is what students take from her example. “The pay off to her is individual. It’s taking responsibility for your own success and for the richness of your own life. What you put into life is what you get out of it. I think Christine chose that that’s the case. I’m sure she’ll be a force in women’s soccer for many years to come.”
Culture
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Slamapalooza encourages you to applaud the poetry, not the scores Kwantlen’s poetry slam team raises funds to attend the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word.
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Aida Garcia Contributor
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In a small café on Commercial Drive, under dim lighting and amidst the chatter of café patrons, Kwantlen’s poetry slam team—Slamapalooza—took the stage. Their opponents that night, Oct. 10, were Vancouver’s VanSlam team, Vancouver’s Youth Poetry team, and the UBC Slam crew— all seasoned veterans in public speaking and the crafting of poetic scripts. The evening’s host called upon the various groups, who were then allowed to choose between performing a group piece or send-
ing out an individual representative to slam their solo work. When the individual or group finished, the judges would reveal their scores which were recorded to ultimately determine the winner of the competition. This was some serious poeting. For these teams themselves, though, the prospect of winning a slam is far from the most important aspect of these events. “Everyone that comes here is bound to fit in, it’s a really safe environment for people of every age,” says Siling Zhang, a member of Kwantlen’s Slamapalooza team. VanSlam’s coach Al Mader had a similar opinion in the matter.
“Poetry slams are many things. They are entertainment, politics, a social meeting place, and an overall safe haven for people who want to have their voices heard or grow as a person.” This night, however, there was more on the line for Slamapalooza than a good time and a chance to spread creative expression. Team captain Leslie Stark took advantage of the nearly crowded house to inform the poetry-goers that her team was hoping to compete in a few weeks at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Saskatchewan, and to inform them that they did not currently have sufficient funds to achieve this.
That’s right, like something out of Glee or a hip-hop dance movie of the week, the team had to put on the show of their lives to raise enough money so they could make it to nationals. “It really is like our nationals,” says Stark. “We are all very excited about going up against people who do this sort of thing for a living.” The CFSW is Canada’s largest spoken word festival, and competitors from all over the nation meet once a year to square up against one another and battle for the title of Canada’s greatest slam poetry team. Every year the CFSW also seeks out professional artists and performers called “Poets of Honour” who are invited to perform their own sets during the festival. This year’s professionals are going to include Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards winner Joseph Naytowhow, spoken word activist and teacher El Jones, two-time ensemble member of the Victoria Festival of Spoken Word Sabrina Benaim and many more renowned artists from all over Canada. At a local level, most of the Lower Mainland’s poetry scene is directed around the Vancouver Poetry House, which promotes slam events largely out of the Cafe Deux
Soleils, where Slamapalooza decided to hold its CFSW fundraiser. In many ways, Kwantlen’s slam team is modelled heavily after the Vancouver Slam team. “All teams have a very similar structure, and in a way we all form part of a bigger community,” says Stark, who, aside from coaching Slamapalooza, is also on the board of directors for the Vancouver Poetry House. “For Kwantlen and VanSlam, we have one slam a month and then the people who are the top performers compete to make the team.” Inevitably, as the teams succeed and continue to improve their skills, the competitions get progressively more competitive. “Really as you get into the nationals you start encountering people who do this sort of thing for a living,” she says. “That’s when the stakes get higher. But for us we just want to do poetry which we love and it feels like all teams are somehow intertwined.” At the end of the night, regardless of how any of the teams scored, Kwantlen’s slam team raised a significant amount of money through competing with their local neighborhood friends/rivals, and are currently in competition in Saskatchewan as of press time.
CSFW
Conjuring the Demons in English 1202
A class in horror fiction gives KPU students a chance to dance with the devil.
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Torin Slik
Contributor
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Sometimes it feels like there
are only so many ways to get students interested in literature. So Kwantlen Polytechnic University English professor John Rupert enlisted a little help from some friends down below. Kwantlen’s English 1202 class is taught by a variety of different teachers, and each one has a different subject they prefer to focus on. Rupert teaches one such section of the course and his chosen focus is on literature and film designed to induce fear into the human mind. “Horror and the Supernatural” is the title of the course section, and throughout the semester students will look at three different mediums to analyze horror. “I have to train them to analyze literature,” says Rupert. “There’s a lot of coaching to be done.” The first section of the course looks at poetry. By studying poems such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Haunted Chamber” or Clark Ashton Smith’s “Necromancy”, students learn how to analyze images. “They’re looking at the figurative use of language,” says Rupert. “In ‘The Haunted
Chamber’, the poet is using an image of ghosts . . . the ghosts serve as a metaphor to traumatic memory.” The second section of the course looks at short stories. The students read pieces such as H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Rats in the Walls” with the intention of looking at characterizations and the setting. “The theme, the topic, it’s not just horror,” says Rupert. “It’s kind of reducible to a formula: rational mind versus the supernatural. Often, it’s looking at the psychological degeneration of the protagonist as a result of that encounter with the supernatural.” The last section of the course focuses on horror films. The two films students watch are The Shining and The Others. After the section on short stories, right around Halloween, Rupert usually does something special for the class. He puts on a demonstration that many would consider appropriate for the season—a live demon conjuring. This year’s demon conjuration will take place on Oct. 27, and Rupert says that some students are quite apprehensive about the demonstration. Fortunately for them, he assures people that never, any time he had done the
demonstration, has anything out of the ordinary ever actually occurred. Rupert has done an extensive amount of research on the subject, and says there is a plethora of things that need to be done for a conjuring to be successful. What Rupert demonstrates in class is simply the ritual at the end of the process which a conjuror would perform when everything else was prepared. And that preparation can take months. The first two hours of the conjuration class is dedicated to teaching students what would be required to open the door for a demon to come through. There are many different skills a person would need to perform the ritual on their own. “The first step is building your foundational knowledge,” says Rupert. “I go over all the disciplines they would have to know and the various practical skills they would need to develop, like sewing skills to make their own vestments, smithing skills to make the tools, and tanning skills because a lot of the talismans are on parchment. Then I get them to speculate how much time they think they would need before they have all of these skills. It runs into the decades. The point that I make with that is why
the classical image of the wizard is always an old man. There’s a long apprenticeship before you become a master.” Rupert admits that most of the class is a lecture, and that the demonstration at the end is not prepared enough to have any sort of success. So, if there’s no chance of success, why does Rupert do it? What’s the point? “I’ve got to say that part of what I do this for is to try and caution them not to just get a grimoire from Amazon.ca and try one of these things out,” he says. “It does take discipline and a long apprenticeship before you get to the point where you try this out with reasonable assurances that you’re going to survive it and meet with
success.” Whether or not any of the students in Rupert’s class will get the chance to trade their soul to Mephistopheles for a favourable grade come December, though, remains to be seen.
Natalie Mussel
Review
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The Cultch Asks Vancouverites, Are We Cool Now? Dan Mangan’s music makes for one hell of an indie rock road trip.
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Braden Klassen Contributor
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“Are you watching – or just waiting to see?” Are We Cool Now, starring Penelope Corrin and Ben Elliot and directed by Amiel Gladstone is a romantic play featuring the heartfelt and introspective songs of Vancouver’s beloved singer-songwriter
Dan Mangan. The play explores the ups and downs of a blossoming relationship between the principal main characters as they travel across Europe and Canada together. Elliot plays an awkward, somewhat timid homebody who has been comfortably anchored in Winnipeg his whole life, while Corrin portrays an impulsive, wanderlustdriven adventurer. Like any traditional romantic comedy, the dif-
ferences between these characters provides the comedic contrast and romantically accentuates their relationship. But it would be a mistake to call this a “traditional romantic comedy.” Are We Cool Now isn’t afraid to acknowledge romantic tropes, but the incorporation of personal sorrow and reflection into the story brings a particularly un-Hollywood-like sense of realism. The
Murray Mitchell
Dracula goes steampunk at the Surrey Arts Centre A modern twist on a classic scary story.
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Kyrsten Downton
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From Oct. 8 to 10, the Surrey Arts Centre put on a very particular adaptation of Dracula, a play based on the classic novel by Bram Stoker. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” says director Ellie King, who used the original script from the 1929 play adaptation, but decided on a particularly trendy deviation from the original. King’s iteration of Dracula is set in a steampunk universe—an interesting way to give the classic story a modern, or faux-modern, twist. Steampunk is a genre that blends technology and design inspired by 19th century steam-powered machinery which has grown increasingly popular over the last couple of years. Even Bard on the Beach featured a steampunk adaptation of A Comedy Of Errors over the summer. In this case, not only do Dracula and steampunk share a gothic theme, Dracula was written in the very cen-
tury which steampunk is based on. This universe was illustrated primarily through the costumes worn by the play’s leading cast. Anna Van Helsing is the first character to wear a complete steampunk outfit while the others begin to wear more Victorian-era gear as the play goes on. “As they believe more in the fact that he is a vampire, they are drawn more into this universe so they become more steampunk as the play goes on,” says King. However, what really brought Dracula’s steampunk universe to life was the set. Gears and bold shapes were painted onto the walls, and at every shift in scenery the play came alive with the movement of the changing set. For example, the desk in Dr. Seward’s office was on railway tracks, and when the office set had to change, the actors pulled a lever to activate the tracks. “This was a challenging set because it has to go from being the office into the boudoir and then into the crypt,” says King. “I came up
Stacey Sherback
with the idea of just flipping it and making it a part of the action. It became a part of the universe so that things are not what they seem to be.” Another twist in King’s adaptation is the character of Van Helsing, Dracula’s nemesis. Traditionally, Helsing is a male but in this version King has changed the gender, a decision which provided more depth and modernization to the script. And while this was a welcomed change for the character itself, a female Helsing also altered the relationship between the play’s primary characters. “I was interested in exploring what would happen if in fact Dracula’s antagonist was a woman,” says King. “There was that sexual attraction because he uses that to pull people to him. So I wanted to explore if the person fighting him is also attracted to him.” Helsing is a lot of things— strong, smart, and independent. Allowing herself to be swayed by Dracula shows that she is human and that even the strongest willed people can be persuaded. As for Dracula himself, he was not your modern 21st century vampire. He was portrayed as a dangerous creature with no empathy, which worked well to bring fear into the play. “We tried to explore him more as an animal,” says King. “We wanted to go back to the roots of the myth, which is that it’s a really nasty monster that feeds on humans and destroys them.” In other words, he didn’t sparkle.
characters are lovably insecure and uncertain of how their stories will be told or how they will end, but they are determined to make it there one way or another. In his song “How Darwinian” Mangan sings “People don’t know what they want, they just know they really want it,” and this theme is thoughtfully expressed throughout the story. The characters grow together amidst a backdrop of Mangan classics, and the songs blend so well into the narrative you could swear they were specifically written to fit the play, instead of the other way around. His music is usually so emotionally stirring that it easily and effectively lends itself to dramatic representation, and works well within the play’s context. As a newcomer to Mangan’s music I wasn’t able to identify each song as it was sung during the performance, which perhaps gave me an advantage in judging the play on its own merit outside of Mangan’s influence or reputation. I could enjoy the songs without any pretext or personal filters, and to me they felt
like the natural expression of the characters themselves rather than a series of complimentary artistic additions to the production. The talent exhibited by the actors and musicians—Anton Lipovetsky on guitar and bass, Spencer Schoening on drums—was impressive, and their performances together were natural and fluid. When asked, the director said his favourite part of the production was witnessing the collaboration of everyone involved, and how everyone brought something different and interesting to the play. Are We Cool Now was the product of a community of artists who had a wealth of shared experiences with which they could relate to the uncertainty and vulnerability of young-adulthood. This pervasive and universal vulnerability is something that the protagonists, like all human beings, are repeatedly forced to cope with, and a lot of Mangan’s songs are about exploring and living with our weaknesses and insecurities, as well as facing our fears—which is why they fit so well into the play.
Meet Atwood’s New Book, Same As Atwood’s Old Book
The Heart Goes Last explores a dystopian future strangely familiar to longtime fans.
McClelland & Stewart
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Ashneil Naress
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Margaret Atwood’s flare for conjuring up dystopian futures, based on the scarier aspects of our current world, has returned. Just a few years after the release of her last book, MaddAddam, she’s found a way to once again make readers question whether the worlds she creates could ever spill off the page and into reality. The main characters of The Heart Goes Last, Stan and Charmaine, have lost their jobs, live in their old dingy car, have little to no money to support themselves, and occupy an area in which danger is constantly imminent. Salvation comes, however, in the form of a town called Positron/ Consilience, where they are chosen to live after a mysterious presentation. There, Stan and Charmaine wonder if this is a paradise they’ve found themselves in, or some sort of bizarre limbo where their notions of infidelity, obsession, desire, disobedience and society must come into question. Atwood is one of the few writers who can harness the flaws of society and incorporate them into a plotline, a story which is all-too-
plausible to a modern reader. When the book was released on Sept. 29, it received mostly rave reviews, which seems to be something of a pattern for a majority of her work. A review by The Guardian suggested that she “has put many younger writers to shame with her enthusiastic early adopting of new technologies.” Another review by The Globe and Mail stated that the book was “deeply witty and oddly beautiful.” Some reviews, of course, weren’t as ecstatic as others. The New York Times review mentioned that the plotline seems to “get lost in Itself,” and that the narrative “careens off the road, skids into the woods, hits its head, loses its memory and emerges as a strange quasi-sex romp concerned almost exclusively with erotic power, kinky impulses and the perversity of desire.” Another point of interest is that this is her first standalone narrative since the release of her 2000 book The Blind Assassin. The Heart Goes Last is expected to do well in sales and garner Atwood possible rewards, both nationally and internationally. And if, by any chance, this book is adapted into a movie starring Anne Hathaway, make sure to get your ticket.
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Liberal MP John Aldag’s ecstatic win in Cloverdale-Langley City
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Braden Klassen Contributor
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In the Charcoal & Woodz restaurant in the heart of Cloverdale, John Aldag wrings his hands as he watches the election results roll in on a wallmounted T.V. “I’m nervous,” he admits. “The Conservative voters still have some time to mobilize.” It’s 6:41 p.m. and the polls close in 19 minutes—but in a race this tight anything could happen, and every minute counts. The room is packed with both Liberal Party members and supporters, excitedly chatting to one another as they watch the steady climb of poll numbers. Aldag paces back and forth across the floor, shaking hands with people and periodically answering his cell phone, all the while keeping a steady eye on the T.V. At his side stands his colleague and mentor Rebecca Darnell, who ran in 2011 as the Liberal MP candidate for the staunchly Conservative Fort Langley-Aldergrove riding. “It was a shitshow,” she enthuses, remembering her campaign from four years ago when Mark Warawa’s Tories garnered 64.5 per cent of the vote to the Liberal’s 9.0 per cent. Tonight, though, she’s chosen to regard this election’s prospects with a bit more optimism. At 6:55 p.m. a cheer erupts from the room as the Liberals are the first party to hit 100 seats federally. The tension in the room seeps away as the numbers show how the Liberals have taken an early and surprisingly large lead over the incumbent Conservatives and, though saying it might jinx it, might even have a chance of forming a majority. Less than 20 minutes later another eruption of cheers and applause breaks out with the an-
nouncement that a Liberal majority has been reached, and that party leader Justin Trudeau will become Canada’s twenty-third Prime Minister. Rebecca Darnell is beaming. “I’m so thrilled, I’m over the moon!” she says proudly. “I probably won’t sleep for a week, I’m so excited. I was really expecting a minority government, but I was totally expecting Justin to come through for us. I think this is just the right time, and I know that Canada is ready for Justin Trudeau.” “I’m excited, absolutely,” Aldag adds. “I’m surprised . . . to go from where the party was to a majority is huge. Although I think that Trudeau, as a leader, put forward a vision and an energy that I’m not surprised that people have responded to.” “We’ve just been without proper representation in our country for much too long, and now we’ll have a government that both governs and listens,” says Darnell. “We’ll be able to actually go to Ottawa, visit a Member of Parliament and have them listen to what we say, take that to caucus and to a Prime Minister who is going to listen to the people of Canada.” Turns out Darnell’s absolutely right about being able to talk to a Liberal MP, because less than an hour later John Aldag is elected by the constituents of CloverdaleLangley City to be their representative in Parliament. People jump out of their seats clapping and cheering, congratulating him on his victory, their energy contagious and electric. Aldag thanks all of his supporters and volunteers with a smile, and though it’s reaching the end of the night, this is just the beginning for him and his career as a federal representative of his riding.
Kier-Christer Junos
Tory Ed Fast retains his seat in historicallyConservative Abbotsford
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Kier-Christer Junos Staff Writer
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No one cried over the numbers at the election night party in Conservative Ed Fast’s campaign office. They at least had one win to smile at. But there were tears in the true blue hearts of Tory supporters across the nation, as the Red Wave washed over Canada on Oct. 19. So ends the decade, the timeline, the era of Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, in whose cabinet Fast was the trade minister. Fast has been MP in Abbotsford, a historically Conservative riding, since 2006. The makeup of Conservative votes this time around was about 46 per cent, much fewer than last election. Fast’s office is behind the Mr. Lube on South Fraser Way—Abbotsfordians typically honk their horns on the SFW when the Canucks win playoff games—and the street of his campaign office was lined with endless vehicles. The office was converted from a garage and extended with a large tent, beneath which were numerous Conservative supporters, some young, most white-haired. All eyes were poised on the TV, hands occasionally shooting up in glee, cheering even, when a riding somewhere in Canada went blue. But that enthusiasm could only carry them so far, and the campaign manager eventually turned the TV off as Global News called it
for the worst. Fast is in the crowd when I shake his hand and ask him for a little interview, but he’s says he’s about to do his speech. We agree to chat afterwards. “Tonight, Canadians have decided that they would like to write a new story,” says Fast, near the end of his speech. “And that’s the way of democracy. Now it is a much riskier story I believe, but Canadians have spoken … I’ll do my very best to write that story in a manner that holds the new government to account, brings honour to our own community here in Abbotsford, and delivers prosperity and security for our nation.” “God bless you all,” says Fast. “And may God continue to bless Canada.” “Amen!” shouts a man in the back, and so begins the standing ovation. I catch Fast at the podium and we walk through the crowd into his office, where a diaperless two-yearold is bouncing around waiting to be changed by his mother. They quickly bustle out. “Abbotsford is a city that was severely neglected the last time the Liberals were in power,” says Fast. “I can assure Abbotsford residents that they will have a very vocal and assertive representa—” The baby somehow opens the door. Fast shuffles him out. “A representative that advocates for their needs,” he finishes.
Despite the historic displacement of votes in Abbotsford this election, Fast says he’s confident that he can deliver for them like he says he has in the last 10 years. But he and other supporters know it will be difficult. “It’ll be hard because the Liberals are a majority,” says Marilyn Schroeder, a Conservative supporter beside the snack table. “They will make their things fly, and it will be a little bit harder for Ed or any of the Conservatives to sort of caution or give advice. They just won’t have the same clout I guess.” “Some of the money that was going to Africa for women to take care of their children, they’re now wanting to allocate that money for abortions rather, for African women,” purports Schroeder. “That’s not something this party is working towards.” Raymond Kobus, 20-year-old infotech volunteer who ran for city council last municipal election, thinks this federal election changes the identity of Abbotsford to some degree. The Abbotsford numbers come on-screen again. “Oh, here’s the numbers—15000 to 10000,” he observes. “It is closer than last time.” Kobus speculates that this dip in numbers for his candidate could be a one-election phenomenon. But, he notes, it could also be a change of tide in this historically Conservative bastion called Abbotsford.
Braden Klassen
Cloverdale-Langley City Abbotsford Liberal
Aldag
Drysdale 18,816 34.8% Smith
8,426
Liberal
15.6%
green Anderson 2,246 4.2% PARTY OF CANADA
Fast
24,599 45.5%
Steveston-Richmond East 23,229 48.3
Peschisolido 19,486 45.1%
Njenga 15,777 32.8
Chiu
16,630 38.5%
Martel 6,593
Stewart
5,248
12.1%
1,587
3.7%
13.7
green Fowler 2,416 5.0 PARTY OF CANADA
Liberal
green Shaw PARTY OF CANADA
Richmond Centre Liberal
Wong
17,622 44.2%
Woo
16,486 41.4%
Trovato 4,602
green Chiu PARTY OF CANADA
1,152
11.5% 2.9%
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NDP Candidate Garry Begg’s Sobering Election Night in Surrey
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night for the NDP at the Aria banquet hall in Surrey, BC. Supporters, volunteers, and family members of three Surrey-based MP candidates, including Garry Begg of the Fleetwood-Port Kells riding, filled the lobby and main hall. There should have been people embracing and congratulating each other. Aria hall should have been filled with laughter and cheers. Instead it was quiet. People were walking around with heads hung low, only raising them to watch the election coverage on the big screens throughout the hall. Food and drinks were quietly served as people talked amongst themselves. There was no celebration. The NDP started the election campaign with high expectations, coasting off of the “Orange Wave” of the 2011 campaign that made their party Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition to the Conservatives. It was thought, early on in the election cycle, that the NDP would likely be the party to unseat Harper’s government. After the 2015 election, however, the NDP dropped to 44 seats, taking up only 13% of Parliament, and losing the Official Opposition
Kells and in all of Surrey, I think, were crime and the desire to get rid of the sitting MP, and by extension the Prime Minister. That was certainly accomplished and hopefully now there will be more time to work on the crime file.” said Begg. However, he was up against top competition in his riding—namely Nina Grewal of the Conservative Party, who has been the riding’s MP since 2004, and the candidate who ultimately took the riding this election, Ken Hardie of the Liberal Party. “I always thought it was very competitive. It was a very respectful campaign and I think we got caught by a rising tide.” said Begg. Indeed, the Liberal party won a majority government with 184 seats in Parliament, a groundbreaking conclusion to what is already being considered a historic election. This election was the longest in Canadian history, lasting 78 days, and some people argue that the unusual length of this campaign may have been a contributing factor as to why the Conservatives and the NDP lost as badly as they did. Begg, however, did not put the blame on the length of the campaign. “To run in a campaign that lasted 11 weeks is a long time, and normally it’s considerably a lot shorter. But I think things unfolded as they
status. At the Aria banquet hall, all three NDP candidates lost in their respective ridings, and two of them lost their seats in Parliament. “We are a little bit disappointed in the results, but we ran what we considered to be a very good campaign.” said Begg. This was Begg’s first time running in a federal election. He retired as an RCMP inspector almost a year ago last November, which is what he focused his campaign on. “The issues in Fleetwood-Port
should. I’m good with the length and the way everything happened.” Clearly, this was not the outcome the NDP and Begg had wanted. However, it would seem they are simply putting it past and getting back to work. Yes, it was quiet and sombre at the Aria hall, but it was also without blame or attack. Nobody fell to the floor crying, kicking or screaming. “It’s disappointing always when you lose but it is an election and people make choices,” said Begg.
Kyrsten Downton
It should have been a celebratory
A Tale of Two Liberals: Joe Peschisolido in Steveston-Richmond East and Lawrence Woo in Richmond Centre
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Tristan Johnston Coordinating Editor
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The moment Canadians had been waiting for arrived when polls began to close in St. John’s. With only a few of the early seats being called, Joe Peschisolido, candidate for Liberal MP of StevestonRichmond East, was cautious—but given his friendly demeanour and all the hands he was shaking, very optimistic. “I feel great, I think we’re going to form a majority government, we’ve been working hard, I feel truly honoured, humbled, and blessed to have so many wonderful people here, and we’ll see what happens tonight,” said Peschisolido just two hours before the polls in his riding closed. The campaign office, a 10-minute walk from the KPU Richmond campus, was quiet around 5 p.m., but started to get busier and busier. Everyone in the room had a phone in one hand and a voter list in the other, and was scrambling to contact as many people as possible to remind them to vote. Halfway across town, at Lawrence Woo’s campaign office on No. 3 Rd and Williams, a small crowd was starting to pack into a tight office which was covered in as many Chinese posters as English ones. The age distribution seemed to be wide, with just as many young as old. Woo said that he was “cautiously optimistic,” and he seemed to be aware of pundits calling his riding a close one. “I guess it’s going to be very close. Hopefully we’ll come out on
Kyrsten Downton
top, but you know, we’ve still got half an hour to go [to polls closing]. You never know what’s going to happen—I don’t know if you can believe the polls or not,” said Woo. He was also happy about higher voter turnout at advance polls, but didn’t think it was a matter of “left or right” and had more to do with a desire for change. As the clock ticked close to 7 p.m., volunteers got off of their phones and moved to the centre of the room, where a television showing the CBC election coverage was set up. The crowd of Liberal supporters was happy to see Atlantic Canada going Liberal, but most were aware that it was typical for the Liberal party. Yet as the night went on, it became more and more clear that the Liberals were doing well, and when CBC called a Liberal majority, the room erupted in applause and cheers. “169, yes, I think a maj170, we got it!” shouted Woo, the rest of the room clapping. “Oh yes, I hope that I can get in there and join the party.” Everyone was riding high with the national result. They only had to wait to find out how Woo did. When 9 p.m. rolled around, someone noticed “Lawrence Woo leads Alice Wong in Richmond Centre” show up on the television, to which the crowd again erupted in applause. Woo smiled, but didn’t show as much excitement as everyone else. He was still “cautiously optimistic.” While his colleague, Joe Peschisolido, had now been elected in Steveston-Richmond East with a clear 3,000 vote lead, Woo was only leading by 400 votes, and only 70
per cent of polls had reported. Still too close to call. Local Chinese media started to show up, such as Omni and Fairchild. CKNW, Richmond News, and other radio reporters were present, as well as a reporter from Langara’s student journalism program. Woo found himself conducting interviews in three languages. Around 10 p.m., 170 of the 177 polls had reported results, with Alice Wong, the Conservative incumbent, leading by 200 votes. Woo, with some of his volunteers and officers, went behind a closed door to check the reported vote counts from the various polling stations. When all polling stations had reported, Alice Wong emerged with a considerable lead. Woo went in front of cameras and microphones, hours after Trudeau had given his own speech, to express his thoughts. “In a way, it’s a win-win situation for everybody. So, for the voters, for the volunteers in both camps, I truly congratulate them. This is an exercise we should all be proud of.” One reporter asked Woo if he believed the Liberal party position on marijuana hurt his local campaign. “I think it was rather unfortunate. There should be more issues that we should be aware of than marijuana. To the majority of people in this country it’s a nonissue, but to some of us in the Chinese community, probably this was the number one issue. I think that contributed to part of our problems and that was unfortunate,” says Woo. Woo isn’t sure if he’s going to run again, too early to tell. Regardless, democracy had been done tonight.
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There’s Nothing to Fear but Famine and Cordyceps Ranking end of the world scenarios on their likelihood of occurrence.
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Connor Doyle Kévin Paré
Managing Editor
Let’s begin with the end. We are all going to die. Eventually, I mean. We don’t like to think of the absolute end of the world on a day-by-day basis because, if we really thought about, we’d never get anything done. We know that one day humanity will have to go extinct and yet we have to reconcile that thought with washing the dishes or getting to work in the morning or logging in some private time with the special someone. Perhaps, if we don’t blow ourselves up before then, we’ll live long enough to see the sun burn out. We’ll see the stars one by one twinkle out of existence. The universe will expand ad infinitum until even the protons cannot reach one another, and all the energy that’s ever been will settle into a dormant state at the heat death of the universe. And that is the best case scenario. Some people use a doomsday clock to measure how close we are to the end. Others mark their calendars based on some pastor’s interpretation of obscure Biblical numerology. Still others watch reports of bizarre weather conditions around the world—such as Hurricane Patricia slamming into Mexico this weekend, becoming the most intense tropical cyclone ever observed in the Western Hemisphere—and figure it’s already too late. But we here at The Runner are the gambling sort, and thought it might be fun—or at least existentially comforting in an absurdist sort of way—to take a crack at guessing what might bring about our ultimate demise. We’ve decided to rank apocalyptic scenarios on their level of likelihood, so read on and try not to let your mortal angst bring you down. Happy Halloween!
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Nuclear War According to KPU History Prof. Tom Thorner, war and disease are historically the two primary causes of death for humankind. War in particular has reigned supreme over the 20th century—what with two world wars, the large-scale failure of global politics, and the advent of more impressive killing machines than ever before—leading some conservative estimates on Necrometrics.com, a website dedicated to figuring out death statistics, to place the number of 20th century wartime dead in the hundreds of millions. And that’s not including all of the people who died in “unofficial” wars, or were killed in peacetime leading up to or coming out of sanctioned conflicts. War has been the most effective mechanism of death in the last 100 years, so it’s not surprising that the most obvious way we’d all meet our maker would be at the business end of a weapon. Maybe a series of nuclear explosions. It’s almost happened a number of times, and would’ve already happened if it had not been for one guy doing his job. On Sept. 26, 1983, Stanislav Petrov saved the world five different times by reporting that a small symphony of distress signals set off by the Soviet’s nuclear early warning system was, in fact, a false alarm. The reflection of sunlight from high clouds was interpreted by Russian computers as a United States nuclear ballistics launch. Not just once, but five times,
each of which Petrol classified as nonsensical. His logic was simple: Why would the USA just launch so few missiles toward Russia? If nuclear war was coming, the sky would be littered with nukes to insure that everyone was hit at once. It made no sense to Petrov, so he concluded it was a systems error based on no additional evidence. Had another man been on post that night he might have reported the “attack,” leading the Soviet Union to retaliate with their own strike against a US President they saw as trigger happy. Such a scenario would have created a full-scale— though incredibly short lived— nuclear war between the Soviet bloc and NATO, which would have obliterated North-America, Russia, most of Europe, and part of Asia. Almost all surviving earthlings would have been left with radiation poisoning, and soon after only the cockroaches would be left to inherit the Earth.
Could this happen again? Global nuclear annihilation isn’t as likely as it was during the Cold War, but straining relations with Russia and the continued proliferation of nuclear arms around the world could soon spell disaster. Oh and Petrov? He was reprimanded by his superiors for not filling out the proper paperwork. No good deed, I suppose. Nuclear War: 3 Horsemen out of 4.
A Super-Virus What if we could achieve the widespread extinction of mankind without all the fuss and muss of a nuclear armageddon? That would call for the work of a super-virus, such as the ones that scientists are always reportedly “creating” or “awakening” in laboratories around the world. One particular virus that scares Brian Pegg, KPU professor of archeologist, is decidedly less sciencefiction than all that— smallpox. Now, some of you might think this a bit silly, seeing as smallpox was eradicated in 1979 after killing as many as 500 million people in its total historical run. However, much like the killer at the end of a slasher movie, some people believe smallpox might just be pretending to be dead, waiting to strike when our defences are down.
Scabs used for inoculation against the smallpox virus were found in a Civil War-era book in the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, and although they were thought to be sterile after all those years, they were still sealed in a biobag by the Center for Disease Control. Although the World Health Organization maintains that the disease is eradicated, the governments of the US and Russia have chosen to retain small samples of the virus for the production of vaccines, should smallpox ever rear its ugly head again. But could smallpox reappear in a new, deadlier form? And could it become immune to treatment? Biology lab instructor Lee Beavington is quick to disclose that things are not that simple. In order to survive, viruses do mutate, but this doesn’t always mean they become super-resistant to vaccines. Sometimes they don’t even become deadlier than they were. Some viruses become less life-threatening after mutation, which is actually beneficial for the virus as they need a host to survive. Even if some other super virus comes out of a jungle or laboratory somewhere, there are remote areas on Earth that could potentially be excluded from a worldwide pandemic, leaving up to 10 per cent of the population alive. So we have that to look forward to! Super Viruses: 2 1/2 Horsemen out of 4
Rosaura Ojeda
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Supervolcanoes
Zombies
This one might not be as romantic—for lack of a better word—as nuclear war or a super virus, but it’s the only entry on this list that has already happened. There’s a controversial hypothesis in biology that about 75,000 years ago humanity came closer to extinction than we’ve ever been before or after. Most scientists who prescribe to the idea point to the eruption of Mount Toba in Indonesia, which ushered in a six-year volcanic winter and bottlenecked the human population in a way that still affects our genetic makeup to this day. If this is correct, we are already living in a post-apocalyptic world. And there’s no reason to assume it won’t happen again. There are volcanoes around the globe that hold the potential cause incalculable disaster for both the local population and the worldwide ecosystem. The temperature of the Earth could shift dramatically, plant life could wither and die as ash fills the sky. Many of these geological timebombs are even located on our continent— there’s the Yellowstone Caldera, the Blake River complex on the Canadian Shield, and the Abitibi greenstone belt in Québec. If Yellowstone alone were to erupt it would jettison dust and volcanic ash up to 1,000 miles away. It might not take out everyone with it, but it could end society as we now know it. Supervolcanoes: 1 1/2 Horsemen out of 4
Possibly the most popular fictional end of the world scenario over the last twenty years has been the zombie apocalypse. Gigantic hordes of mindless flesh-eaters— representing, by turns, communist fear-mongers, consumerism, blind government allegiance, and British malaise—tear through cinemas every few years. But could they ever break off of the big screen and into reality? Is it true that “when there’s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the Earth?” Well, there are iterations of the zombie threat that we can consider, such as a brain parasites. Already up to half of the world’s population is infected with something called toxoplasmosis. Sounds kind of scary right? Luckily for us this is
a mostly harmless infection that’s spread largely through undercooked meat and cat feces instead of good ol’ fashioned zombie love-bites. But if there were a more harmful version of the parasite, one that, affected the actual behavior of the host and essentially turned them into a walking meat puppet designed to spread the infection to others—well, then we’d be talking about cordyceps. Made popular most recently by The Last of Us, and before that the BBC documentary Planet Earth, Cordyceps is that fungus that grows in large yellow stalks out of a host’s head. The image of a fungal rod sprouting out of an ant’s head, and modifying its behaviour to climb onto the top of a blade of grass so as to optimally spread distribution of its spores and therefore continuing the pattern of infection, is enough to cause nightmares in even the most stoic and rational among us. What if cordyceps could infect human hosts? Or what about a super-virulent form of mad cow disease? Or, if we want to explore a more traditional zombie apocalypse, what if some radiation from outer space awakens the dead? Funny enough, there are a lot of reasons to believe a zombie apocalypse wouldn’t actually be that disastrous. Think about it, when a body becomes zombified, they are taking on all the worst attributes of being human—no natural weapons, in-
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ability to survive extreme heat or cold, considerable lack of predatory skills—while retaining nothing of what has put as at the top of the food chain. Zombies can’t plan attacks, they can’t protect themselves, they don’t even have a central nervous system to tell them when they’re hurt. Zombies, despite their Hollywood fame, just don’t have the chops to run with real end of the world scenarios. Zombies: 1 Horseman out of 4
Climate Change Here’s a scary thought. The end of the world might already be happening—and it’s all our fault. Last year the World Health Organization reported that in 2012, seven million people died as a result of air pollution. That’s one in eight of the total global deaths that year, 1.3-million in China alone. If no action is taken to reduce the burning of coal and biomass in major cities, that number could double over the next few decades. Not to mention the host of other health problems air pollution can lead to including allergies, more vector dis-
Danielle George
eases, and an increase in the number of mental illnesses. But that’s only the tip of this iceberg. If we continue down the path of unchecked carbon emissions, we are inviting more natural disasters and environmental destruction than we’ve ever witnessed. Fossil fuel combustion, aerosols, ozone depletion, animal agriculture, deforestation—these are anthropogenic factors, human acts which contribute an irreversible effect on our global climate. The ice caps are melting, the sea levels are rising. The Earth is getting warmer. There’s nothing hocus-pocus about this, we’re ruining our planet. We are also causing the devastation of certain animal populations on an unprecedented level. Some experts have taken to calling this epoch of world history the Holocene Extinction, unprecedented in 65 million years, and the sixth such extinction event since the dawn of time. While the others were the result of unavoidable, natural shifts in the planet’s ecosystem, this one is all our doing. And once a species is killed off, it is never ever ever ever ever ever coming back. Climate Change: 4 Horsemen out of 4
Rosaura Ojeda
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Eagle Lens
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Opinion
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13
Urban Myths to Tell ‘Round The Fire This Halloween Have you checked the children?
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Torin Slik
Contributor
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If someone were to ask me what my favourite thing about Halloween is, it wouldn’t be the candy or the costumes. When it really comes down to it, my favourite part about Halloween is spending time with family and friends—scaring the hell out of each other. I don’t just mean hiding behind a door and waiting for someone to walk past. I’m talking about sitting down with nothing but dim candlelight illuminating the room in an eerie glow. I’m talking about taking turns telling stories about unnatural events and unsettling occurrences. I’m talking urban myths. A family travelling through the Rocky Mountains decides to stay at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in the night. But when they get up to the floor where their room is, they have difficulty finding it. They see a bellman with a nametag that reads Jim walking the halls and ask for directions. The bellman kindly shows them to their room, and they sleep well that night. The next morning, as the family checks out, they comment on how helpful Jim was. The checkout lady smiles and tells them Jim died many years ago, but still enjoys helping travellers. I really like this particular urban
myth because it’s actually one of the first ghost stories I ever heard, and it plays on the good side of human nature. It has an element of unnaturalness to it, which is always intriguing. I’ve often thought that some of the scariest stories are the ones based in possible reality. Perhaps you’ve heard about those crocodiles in the New York sewer. It’s said that some Americans buy baby crocodiles to raise as pets. Of course, they soon realize that these reptiles grow too big to keep so the owner flushes the crocodile down the toilet. These crocodiles then spend the rest of their lives in the sewers, feeding off rats and waiting to pop up above the surface one day and snatch some bigger prey. I like this one because it’s possible. While I don’t actually believe it’s true, it’s not impossible. It’s not like I’ve been in the New York sewer system to confirm it. Of course the scariest, and by far my favourite, urban myths are the ones that delve deep into the darker parts of the human mind. These are stories which question the listener’s preconceived notion of safety. A great example of this kind of myth is “The Killer in the Window.” A young woman is spending her time alone on a cold, snowy night. She’s watching a show on TV when
she sees a man in the sliding glass window brandishing a knife. Letting out a short scream, she covers herself in a blanket and calls the police. She stays under that blanket until the police arrive and they immediately investigate the surroundings of the house. Something’s wrong. If there was indeed a man outside the sliding glass door, there should be footprints in the snow. When they look inside the house, they see wet footprints leading up to the back of the couch where the girl is hiding. She looks at them
expectantly, and they tell her she’s very lucky. The man hadn’t been outside. He had been inside with her. She had seen his reflection. This story always gives me chills. The very concept that someone could invade a home so silently while leaving no footprints in the snow and being so close behind the victim is horrendous. Also, consider that there were wet footprints inside, yet no footprints outside. How does that work? Luckily the victim didn’t die. Why is that, I wonder? If the intent was to murder, why
wasn’t it done? Something far more sinister than a mere mortal was present, perhaps. Regardless of how scary any of these myths are supposed to be, they all have two things in common. They all cross beyond the boundary of normal, and none of them have been confirmed. The question of how real they are furthers their mystique. As H.P. Lovecraft once wrote, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”
Keith Harris
Reducing Your Carbon Footprint Depends on what you eat everyday.
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Renée McMillen Contributor
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Perhaps you’ve heard someone say, “If everyone on earth lived like the typical American, we would need six Earths to sustain our planet.” But who are these people who aren’t living like a typical American? Or, more importantly, in what ways are they living differently so as not to take such a toll out of the Earth? Supply and demand is such a simple concept that we fail to recognize we are ourselves each half of the equation. When we ask ourselves, “What can one person do to make a difference?” we are already giving up on the power one person can have. One person can do plenty—and this goes beyond carpooling, energy-saving light bulbs, and using earth friendly products. The biggest impact one
person can make on their carbon footprint is a change in their diet. A consistent diet that does not include many, if any, meat products is the biggest and most impactful step one person can make towards to their carbon footprint. While this may seem like a drastic change, many are doing it to help preserve the environment. For those who can’t imagine every day without meat try asking yourself, “What changes would I be willing to try if I knew the difference it made in the environment? In climate change? In the quality of animal life?” Could you, for example, have Meat Mondays? And every other day be meatless?
What would that do to the supply and demand of meat in the food and agricultural industry? A documentary called Cowspiracy about this very subject argues that the land required to feed a vegan is approximately one-sixth of an acre. A vegetarian will add dairy to their diet and so animal agriculture comes into play, raising the amount of space to three times that, or half an acre. Meat-eaters, even moderate ones, ultimately need 18 times the space a vegan does. If we were all omnivores, our demands on the Earth would already surpass the planet’s ability to meet them. Livestock plays a major role in global warming. It is the
leading cause of resource consumption and environmental degradation. Livestock, in the United States alone, consumes 34-trillion gallons of water per year, meaning that all meat and dairy products are the most water-intensive products on the market today. To put that into context, the amount of water needed to sustain the animal used to produce a single hamburger is 660 gallons of water. Three hundred gallons of water is what a typical person consumes taking a shower for a month. This is because it takes upwards of 2,500 gallons of water to raise one pound of beef. To date, 136-million acres of rainforests have been cleared to make way for animal agriculture. The rainforests are essentially the lungs of the planet, and we are destroying them to make room for the animals we consume. It’s not be unreasonable to
Natalie Mussell
say, based on the current model, that the Amazon rainforest could be completely gone within 10 years. So, let’s ask ourselves again, “What are some of us doing differently that can help reduce the carbon impact on our planet?” The answer is a diet filled with plantbased products and few or no animal-based ones. It goes a long way. There are many ways to enact this lifestyle change. Try buying locally, choosing in-season fruits and vegetables. Look for locals selling free-range eggs. If and when you choose to buy beef products, look for grass-fed instead of grain-fed, as it’s much less water intensive to have raised them. Last but not least, take a look online or speak to friends for ideas and recipes to eat without meat. Our carbon footprints can be as big or small as we choose. The day may come when we cannot choose anymore, so why not explore the options while we have the time.
Opinion
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It’s Time to Take a Side on GMo’s
Navigating the concerns and seperating truth from fiction.
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Kyle Prince
Monica Mah Contributors
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The Controversy Genetically Modified Organisms have been a topic of controversy unlike any other. The argument simply doesn’t conform to the “left” and “right” sides of our political system, and in some cases there isn’t even a clear line of demarcation between advocates and critics. For some, GMOs are a viable means to increase worldwide food production capabilities, feeding and fueling the earth far more efficiently than ever before. For others, they are a dangerous precedent against nature, a means by which corporations can exploit crops, and ultimately customers, for immoral gain. The controversy has simply not simmered down over the years, and while lobbyists, politicians and activists argue, many still feel a sense of trepidation when reaching for a source of food that isn’t thought to be grown “honestly.”
Taking Things Slow Dr. Kent Mullinix, the Director of the Institute for Sustainable Food Systems at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, believes the trepidation to be justified. When asked what the term “GMO” means to him his response was two-fold: “Specifically,” he says, “it means Genetically Modified Organisms. It means the introduction of foreign genes into a species. Another answer is that it’s the greatest uncontrolled biological experiment that humanity has ever engaged in.” Most of the concern over GMOs—and genetically modified foods, to be specific—is derived from uncertainty. In an article about the harms of GMO foods, Sayer Ji argues that “a failure of science to positively identify a problem does not mean that a problem does not exist.” It seems that a large portion of the population, at least in North America, agrees with this sentiment. As does Mullinix. “If [they’re] uncertain about [GMOs], I don’t blame people,” says Mullinix. “We should adopt the precautionary principle—proceed cautiously until you know something is absolutely harmless. [Thus far] we do not know that about GMO products. This precautionary principle would just mean
we would wait until we know. Other countries do it this way, European and Asian countries do it this way. We in Canada and the U.S. do not. We do the opposite—until you can prove [something] is detrimental, we do it anyways. Our history of taking this approach is clear, we have caused great harm to the environment and species adopting this approach. It’s time for us to quit, and certainly that is true with GMO products in our food system.”
The “Arms Race” Another major concern is the “biological arms race” that is beginning between GMO crops and weeds. Genetically modified pesticide-resident crops allow farmers to liberally spray their crops with pesticides, protecting them from invasive weeds which would otherwise diminish their returns. The most common one mentioned is RoundUp, which has faced claims of being poisonous. Charles Benbrook, a research professor at Washington State University, replies to this with an answer that seems to favour both sides of the argument. “From the beginning, I’ve always said that glyphosate [the chemical used in RoundUp] is a
great herbicide—it’s one of the safest on the market. But there are real consequences in using too much of it,” he said. Benbrook is referring to the fact that overuse of the pesticide will eventually result in RoundUpresistant weeds. This ultimately leads to the “arms race” between pesticides and weeds, each trying to outdo the other in their attempt to control the crops that become increasingly modified to keep up with the action. One thing that advocates on both sides of the debate agree on is that the public ought to be better educated on GMOs. Where they disagree is what education the public should receive. Both sides can draw on mountains of research and experiments that validate their arguments, while simultaneously ignoring those that contradict them. And while perhaps neither side can truly claim to be “better represented by science,” there is a lot of misinformation available as to the nature of GMOs and how they operate in society. It can be difficult to parse the facts from the rhetoric, so here is a brief summary.
Finding the Truth As beloved Man of Science Neil
deGrasse Tyson says, “We have systematically genetically modified all the foods, the vegetables and animals that we have eaten ever since we cultivated them. It’s called ‘artificial selection.’” Tyson argues that the controversy around GMOs only began in earnest when the modification began taking place in laboratories, giving some people the impression that scientists were suddenly tampering with the inalienable design of nature. In reality, humans have always favoured crops and livestock that are genetically superior, allowing future generations to thrive. Tyson makes the comparison between GMOs created in labs and seedless fruits cultivated through decades of selective breeding. The primary difference being that, in laboratories scientists can explicitly measure the amount of engineering being done, and monitor the progress for optimum, harmless results. William Saletan, a national correspondent for Slate, found that, “The World Health Organization, the American Medical Association, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science have all declared that there’s no good evidence GMOs are unsafe. Hundreds of studies back up that
conclusion.” On top of that, in an “Overview of the last 10 years of genetically engineered crop safety research,” Nicolla, et al. found that, “The scientific research conducted so far has not detected any significant hazards directly connected with the use of GE crops.” There are also the recorded benefits brought about by certain genetically engineered crops, Golden Rice being one of the most prominent examples. Though it has been attacked by Greenpeace due to its genetically modified origins, Golden Rice was made to counter vitamin A deficiencies in areas where people are unable to counter it themselves, typically due to impoverishment. Essentially, rice was modified in such a way to include a property that, when metabolized, would produce Vitamin A for those eating it. To meet potential criticism of Golden Rice at the pass, Tufts University put out a statement which claimed, “Multiple reviews found no concerns related to the integrity of the study data, the accuracy of the research results or the safety of the research subjects. In fact, studies indicated that a single serving of the test product, Golden Rice, could provide greater than 50 per cent of the recommended daily intake of vitamin A in children, which could significantly improve health outcomes if adopted as a dietary regimen.” To put that into perspective, Vitamin A deficiency leads to blindness, and eventually death. Golden Rice can literally save lives.
Conclusion Although this was undeniably a one-sided approach to a hotly contested topic, it’s important to distinguish certain truths amongst the arguments and the fear-mongering. None of this is to say those with concerns over GMOs are completely without merit, but the benefits of GE foods must be recognized, especially amidst worldwide drought, impoverishment and impending climate change. GMOs are still a work in progress, it’s true, but there has yet to be a single major problem created by lab-based genetic engineering. Hesitation can be understood when it’s an unknown, but time and time again, GMOs have passed the tests with flying colours.
Charis Au
QUESTION: Do you agree that the U-Pass BC program be continued for two years for all Kwantlen Polytechnic University students for $39.50 per month of study commencing May 2016 and for $41 per month of study commencing May 2017? Yes or No
Referendum Polling
Tuesday, November 24, 2015 & Wednesday, November 25, 2015 10 AM – 7 PM
Ballot Counting
Wednesday, November 25, 2015 at 8 PM Surrey Campus | In Surrey Main 3801
Surrey Campus | In the Lobby of the Surrey Main Atrium Richmond Campus | In the Hallway between the Bookstore and the Library Cloverdale Campus | In the Student Lounge by the Cafeteria Langley Campus | In the East Building in front of the Bookstore
For more information on the KSA referendum, visit
www.kusa.ca/elections
Chief Returning Officer | Corey Van’t Haaff
Kwantlen Student Association | Cell: 604.889.5437 | Email: kwantlencro@gmail.com
Opinion
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BillS-7, C-51, and the Conservatives’ Misplaced Values “Barbaric cultural practices” aren’t the real problem, they’re a distraction.
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Louis Marta-Widjaja Contributor
In early October, the Conservative
government pledged to open an RCMP tip-line for Canadians to report “Barbaric Cultural Practices.” This tip-line is intended to compliment Bill S-7, the Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act, which aims to strengthen laws against forced marriages, polygamy, honour killings, and under-age marriage. There is prudence in preventing such harmful cultural practices in Canada—after all, forced or underage marriages are outlawed in just about all of the nations in the world. However, Bill S-7 also creates a new measure under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, rendering permanent residents and temporary residents inadmissible to Canada if they practice polygamy. This could make things difficult for someone if polygamy was legal in the place they originated, like Saudi Arabia, or if someone in a polygamous relationship wanted to seek asylum in Canada, where they would be free to contact the RCMP when threatened violently, perhaps unlike their place of origin. In fact some refugees from Syria have multiple wives. Would Canada decline their request for asylum? The Barbaric Cultural Practices Act seeks to prevent all the right
crimes, but does so in a very blunt and divisive fashion. We should seek to minimize violent and exploitative cultural practices, but not doing so while preventing asylum for those who may seek shelter and have broken no laws in their place of origin. The vague, xenophobic wording of the act also doesn’t help much with understanding other cultures, which brings concerns that the label could be used to discriminate. What defines a barbaric cultural practice? Forced marriages and underage marriages are harmful to society and exploitative of women, and are illegal in nearly all nations. Polygamous marriages are also thought of the same way in most countries, but are more of a grey area amongst some Middle Eastern countries. Polygamy is legal in Saudi Arabia, but if it is done willingly is it also just a part of a foreign culture? The challenge in operating under Bill S-7 is outlawing practices that bring harm and divisiveness to society, while still promoting multiculturalism. For all the reasons that the Conservatives define polygamy as a barbaric cultural practice, did they use similar reasons to justify their attack on the niqab? Harper said the niqab is anti-women and has considered banning it in public service, saying it is offensive to Canadians that someone would “hide their identity” while committing to join the Canadian family. But what
harm does wearing a niqab really pose to the community? In addition to Harper considering a ban on the niqab, there’s also Bill C-51 (dubbed the Anti-Terrorism Act) and now the Barbaric Cultural Practices hotline. The Conservative Party’s overreactions to Islamic issues has drawn parallels to the post-9/11 era of American politics that saw the creation of the Patriot Act. Criticism for Bill S-7 has been rooted in its impact on civil liberties and our questionable need for it, as there are already laws in place to prevent and punish acts of terrorism or exploitation. There are concerns that the bill increases racial tension because it suggests certain cultures are more likely to be abusive and condoning of domestic violence. The use of the word “barbaric” has also invited much criticism, deeming it divisive, biased, and xenophobic in nature. There are more widespread, harmful, and exploitative cultural practices outside of those outlined in Bill S-7, such as foreign ownership and tax avoidance resulting in skyrocketing housing costs in several provinces, including right here in Vancouver and Richmond. The government has chosen not to track or validate international buyers, the source of their funds or tax speculations. The Canadian Revenue Agency has lost millions of dollars and had its funding cut, and many of the younger genera-
tion cannot afford homes. In many cases, regardless of other more severe problems the Conservative party choose to focus on Islamic paranoia in the lead up to the election, and it appears to have cost them dearly. The Conservatives’ “Barbaric Cultural Practices Act,” when viewed in comparison to more widespread cultural issues—such as such as missing aboriginal women—reeks of xenophobic pandering to majorities and a lack of sense in the severity of issues. How is Harper claiming to be fighting against ideals of antiwomen culture when he declined to participate in any debates relating to women’s issues? Canada has accepted a large
community of migrants over the years, and has taken pride in its multiculturalism. Measures that prevent harmful and exploitative practices are essential to protect each individual’s freedom and liberty, though we must be able to differentiate between what is a passive foreign practice of culture, and what invites hostility and exploitation to the community. Our vows to multiculturalism are upheld when we balance our own values of liberty with another’s, when respect continues to be a two way street, an equal give and take. We must always be wary for those who do not care for such values, whether they are from outside or within this country.
Scott Mclelland
Everyone should pay their fair share
Big corporations can get away with paying less taxes than the average worker.
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Imagine
Torin Slik
Contributor showing
up
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to
a
community potluck where you didn’t have a lot to bring in the first place, but you were still required to bring a fair amount based on what you could afford. Also invited to the potluck is Joe Blow, someone who could feed an entire province on his own, but is only required to bring enough to fill a plate or two. Now imagine this very same concept with you taxes. As an individual, you have to pay a large chunk of your income to the government. Huge multi-billion dollar companies, on the other hand, pay proportionally less than what you do and get to keep a larger percentage of their income. Let’s take a look at a very large and successful organization that exists in the world today. Facebook is one of the largest social media platforms on the web right now, and it goes without saying that it makes a truckload of money, certainly more than the average
working individual. An article by Rob Waugh, writer for Metro in the U.K., stated that Facebook, Inc. in the United Kingdom makes up to about 105 million pounds through advertising and other sales. Despite making this abundant amount of money, they are said to have paid less than the average British worker in taxes. not proportionally less, mind you. The total number was a mere 4,327 pounds—just under $9,000 Canadian. It is believed that other big companies are able to get away with paying less as well. There are several ways companies can exploit the tax laws in order to get away with this. One way, as pointed out in an article by Sky News, is due to the fact that tax systems were designed at a time where most companies were not working on a global level. With the invention of the internet, working around the world is much easier now than ever before, but the tax systems have not adapted to it. Big organizations should never be able to get away with this kind
of conduct. If a company is making a ton of money, it should be taxed in equal proportion to that of everyone else in the country they are based in. If all fair taxes are based on a percent of the earnings made, everyone will be on equal footing. When big corporations don’t pay their fair share of taxes, they are really hurting themselves in the long run. Sure, they don’t have to pay as much, but Scottish and Southern Energy chief executive, Alistair Phillips-Davies, said it best in an interview with Sky News. “Tax is not a penalty for profit, it is the proper way to contribute to the society that enables your business to be successful.” By paying their fair share of taxes, everyone in that society benefits from it in the long run. This will lead to a more stable economy for everyone. Governments need to crack down on these tax evasion strategies that companies are using. So far, it certainly doesn’t seem to be happening.
One possible reason for this is due to the fear that these companies will simply move to other places where they can get away with it. While this might be the case for some companies, it’s unlikely that all of them will just pack up and move. Even if they did, perhaps it’s better to stick to the principles
of fairness in a society. Perhaps it would be better to let those types go. It would give smaller, more local businesses the opportunities to fill in the holes left by them. For now, it’s fair to say that an injustice is being done. Something needs to change in order to create a more consistent tax system.
Danielle George
Opinion
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17
Are eSports real sports?
eWhatnow? Calling a Spade a Spade.
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Kyle Prince
Contributor
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Sports have been defined as “institutionalized competitive activities that involve rigorous physical exertion or the use of relatively complex physical skills by participants motivated by personal enjoyment and external rewards.” Adding an “e” in front of sport does not and should not change this definition. A better way to look into this would be to go back to Bernard Suits’ work on what makes something a game, and later, what makes a game a sport. First he describes games as having a few distinct requirements—a goal, a set of rules, a means, and a lusory attitude. The “goal” is a bit more than just “winning” the game, and must describe the win conditions. A simple example would be getting three “x’s” in a row when playing tic-tac-toe. The “means” is the way we play the game by making it harder to achieve the goal. We have to play within the marked spots for tic-tac-toe, no playing outside those to make a line. The (arbitrary) rules for playing the game are next—we accept the rules in order to play the game, and the achievement of the goal is limited by the rules. We can only play one “x” on our turn, and it must fit inside the marked spots. Finally, all the lusory attitude means is that the players accept the rules and enter into the game willingly. It’s essentially what stops people from cheating. Play the game by the rules to win, break the rules and you lose. Sports come in here by being a subcategory of games, but with some extra definitions to separate them from just being games. Suits adds that, “They must be games of skill, the skill must be physical, they must have a wide following and achieve a certain level of stability.” Going into more detail, there must be a certain level of physical skill involved, and enough physical exertion to separate a game from a sport. Playing chess requires physical movement, but not physical skill, so it is a game instead of a sport. Darts requires physical skill, but very little physical exertion, so it is a game. Video games require physical and mental skill, but like darts, very little physical exertion, so they are still games. Suppose video games did count as sports, though. We would have
to find out what else would be brought into the fold as the criteria were changed. Keep in mind, there’s no change in the amount of skill involved, the only thing changing here is what counts as physical exertion. We could call it refined physical skill, small movements that have an effect on the outcome would meet the criteria at this point, so darts would have to be included. So far so good, darts could have been on the border anyways. Pool or billiards would obviously be brought in as well, but what else? Rock-paperscissors? Let’s take a look—there’s no argument that it’s a game, and there’s at least a small amount of physical skill involved. The finesse required to make small movements that have an effect on the outcome, definitely meets that criteria. Tiddlywinks? Jacks? For our younger readers, Candy Crush? While there are vast differences in the levels of skill involved, there is very little difference in the physical exertion required. For games like Dota 2 or League of Legends, there are world-wide tournaments, teams that practice daily and put in more work than some people put into their day jobs. Each member must have an immense amount of skill to be able to perform and compete at high levels, but that doesn’t translate over to physical skill and exertion. If we look at chess champions, there is again an immense amount of skill required in order to perform at high levels, but it is still not a sport. Calling it a “game” doesn’t rob these competitions of their legitimacy, nor does adding an “e” clater the definition of the word sport.
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They are… in a sense.
Tristan Johnston Coordinating Editor
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There’s been some mild controversy over the use of the term “eSports,” simply due to the use of the word “sport.” Obviously, when we think of sports, we think of hockey, football, tennis, and so on. We should push our physical limits, while at the same time scoring points in a game, one that usually involves getting a ball past a certain point. It would seem that the ingredients of “sport” are competition, refined skills, team cohesion when applicable, and some sort of “physicality.” But just replace “physical” with “mental” and you have “eSport.” If you check my Steam account, you’ll see that I have around 1,300 hours invested in Dota 2, and about 140 in Counter Strike: Global Offensive. Both of these games are considered to be eSport titles, along with a host of other titles. Now, Dota 2 would take too long to explain, so I’ll use Counter Strike as a better example. The game is easy to understand, and I could explain the goals in a few sentences—to win a round you need only eliminate the opposing team or plant/defuse the bomb. Successful round wins and player eliminations grant the Danielle George team money, which they can use to purchase better weapons. Yes, you point your mouse at an enemy player and shoot, but the way recoil works in the game is very nuanced, and requires lots and lots of practice before you become even somewhat competent. Fast reflexes are also a given. You also need to learn the four or five essential maps so you can know the main hiding spots and where you can find cover. Even if you’re good on a technical level, Counter Strike is a team game. Official competitive matches are always five vs. five, and typically last around 40 to 60 minutes. Team members must coordinate to best position themselves around the map, and positioning is critical, as even above-average players can eliminate you with one or two shots. Intricate factors like these, along with several more, are why I would describe Counter Strike as
“chess with guns.” Now, obviously this isn’t inherently a “sport.” Teams like Fnatic, who won the last major Counter Strike tournament, don’t run around on a field or weight train—but they do practice their craft in a very sport-like fashion. They practice anywhere between eight to 12 hours a day, constantly making sure they remain on top of things. And unlike rugby, you don’t need to adjust the way you play when patches are released. Also like sports, they’re starting to attract a lot of money. The International 2015, an annual Dota 2 tournament held each summer in Seattle, had a prize pool of $18,429,613 USD, the majority coming from the community crowdfunding. For comparison, the prize pool for the Tour de France is around $2.2-million, and even the Masters golf tournament had a $10-million prize pool. The five-man team who won first place at The International would get $6,634,661. This year, it was the team Evil Geniuses, and one of the members, AUI_2000 (real name Kurtis Ling), is from Vancouver. He might be able to now afford a house with his share. With the increase in potential monetary gain comes even more sport-like features. The International had colour commentators and analysis explaining why players were making certain decisions. There was extra analysis between matches, and this is just the Englishlanguage side—Chinese, Russian, Swedish and other language casters and analysts were also brought along. All of this happened at Key Arena in Seattle, a stadium with the capacity for 17,459 spectators. Other sport-like elements, such as coaches and sport-psychologists, are being brought into some of the top teams, and some teams are encouraged to exercise daily, as constant cardio is good for the brain. In regards to player salary, there is still a large gap between eSports and physical sports. Most NHL players enjoy million-dollar contracts just for being on a team. In Dota 2, very few western players are paid a livable salary, depending primarily on tournament winnings and Twitch streaming. When you replace physical with mental exertion, it would seem that we’re beginning to reach a point where there isn’t much difference between competitive eSports and sports in general. Hockey players, like Dota 2 players, practice daily for hours upon hours, enjoy generous prize money, are supported by coaches, and receive huge amounts of attention and praise.
Columns
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The “F” Word
Nicole Arbour’s “Dear Fat People”.
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Aileen Tran Columnist
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Nicole Arbour, a Canadian
comedian popular on YouTube who is known for her vulgar, and oftentimes offensive, sense of humour, quite suddenly achieved massive exposure in September with the release of a video entitled “Dear Fat People.” The video, which gained more than 3-million views just a few days after it was released, isn’t the first to make Arbour the centre of an internet fervour. Despite her Instagram post claiming to be a “lipstick-wearin’, cute clothes-lovin’, booty-shakin, sparkle obsessed feminist,” Arbour has been known to produce videos like “Dear Instagram Models,” wherein she slut-shames Instagram-famous girls for posting provocative photos, and claim that certain women lack any aspiration by calling them “do-nothingbitches.” While Arbour’s humour has caused the odd backlash in the past, she defends her comedy by arguing that it’s “satire,” and it should not be taken seriously. Arbour’s video, “Dear Fat Peo-
ple,” is something more than just satire, though. She opens the video with “I don’t feel bad for you because you are taking your body for granted . . . What are you going to do, fat people? What are you going to do? You going to chase me? I can get away from you by walking at a reasonable pace.” As if “plus-size” people are incapable of being remotely athletic. Tell that to Leah Gilbert, a “plussize” triathlete, and fitness instructor. Gilbert is the founder of “Body Positive Athletes,” a blog that aims to redefine the term “fit” and “athletic.” Gilbert sees those terms as a lifestyle, not a body type. Arbour continues by talking about how the concept of “fatshaming” does not exist, that it is a term “fat” people made up to excuse themselves for an “unhealthy” lifestyle. “Fat-shaming, who came up with that?” she says. “That’s fucking brilliant. Yes. Shame people who have bad habits until they fucking stop. Fat-shaming. If we offend you so much that you lose weight, I’m okay with that. You are killing yourselves. Yep, I’ll sleep at night. ” There’s a fine line between encouraging someone to lose weight
in a healthy way—if that is a goal on their own terms—and simply bullying someone into despair. Arbour’s video is no joke, it’s bullying. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa And Associated Disorders, over 30-million people in the US are suffering from eating disorders. Many of them are familiar of Arbour’s harmful “jokes” due to being bullied by peers and even their family. A study done in 2009 for the Center for Advancing Health looked at 14,000 American high school students and found that teens who believed they were overweight were at greater risk for suicide attempts. Arbour even goes as far as saying that “plus-size stands for plus-heart-disease, plus-knee problems, plus-diabetes.” She complains about a family that she encountered at the airport which she described as “the fattest, most obese—I’m talkin’ TLC special fat.” The family requested special seating due to disabilities and Arbour just makes a mockery of them. Despite not knowing the family at all, she blames them for their own weight-related disabilities. At this point, it is so hard to keep
telling myself that she’s just trying to be satiric. The video moves on with Arbour mocking plus-size people hashtagging “bodypositive” on their photos, telling them that there is nothing positive about being “fat.” But body positive isn’t about meeting the conventional skinny “fitness” body standards—it is about understanding that that not everyone’s bodies are the same. It is about feeling good about your body, however you decide to settle, and living the lifestyle you best choose for yourself. Nicole Arbour’s “Dear Fat People” ends on a suddenly sympathetic note. She states “the truth is, I will actually love you no matter what,” probably in attempt to save her reputation. But that ship sailed about 10 seconds into the video. If she was trying to get that “breakthrough” video to get her famous, “Dear Fat People” was it. Except, she isn’t famous—she’s notorious. After receiving so much hate from the internet, her YouTube channel, along with her videos, were briefly taken down. She received even more attention when she was demanded an apology from her audi-
ence but refused to give one. Arbour appeared on The View to explain her video. “That video was made to offend people just the way I do it with all my other videos. It’s just satire, I’m just being silly,” she said. Arbour also argued that, were she were a male comedian, she would not be receiving the same backlash. It is a true feminist issue that female comedians, like many females in other industries, are subjected to a double standard. However, instead of being a true feminist and trying to break the patriarchal and misogynistic system, she becomes a part of it. You can’t call yourself a “feminist” and then make videos calling girls “sluts” and saying possibly the worst things you can say in a “Dear Fat People” video. In her response video, she states “We’re all trying to be politically correct so that we don’t offend anyone. I don’t care if you’re offended, if you don’t have a sense of humour and you don’t understand jokes, I don’t give a fuck.” But Nicole Arbour, how good of a comedian are you really when you cannot make up any decent jokes that aren’t always so offensive?
Ben Larsen of The Jins and His No-Frills Rock n’ Roll Three-piece guitar-driven rockers reinvigorate Vancouver’s music scene.
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Alyson Laube
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If The Strokes and Nirvana had
a one night stand and produced a musical superbaby, you’d get The Jins. Though their recently released, self-titled EP is only six songs long, listening to it guarantees enough raw shouts and body-shaking riffs to satisfy a garage, alternative or pop fan. This isn’t the first time The Jins have been lumped in with Nirvana, either. Lead singer and guitarist Ben Larsen’s raspy halfyell isn’t far off from Kurt’s, and if the frontman’s thin frame, blue eyes and shoulder-length blonde hair made the comparison obvious, toting an electric guitar on stage made it inevitable. The result is a lot of double-takes and namecalling from critics. “I read this one review where the only thing they had to say about us was that we were so transparently influenced by Nirvana,” explains Larsen. “And we don’t really sound like them at all.” In terms of style, he’s absolutely right. The Jins are much more upbeat and pop-inspired than most early grunge. Instead,
they describe themselves as “fun rock,” a label that is undoubtedly more fitting than “Nirvana cover band.” They’re still regularly reminded of the resemblance, but they’re not afraid to have some fun with it. “There was this guy who was heckling me in a crowd and was like, ‘Hey, Kurt! Play ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit!’ So I did it just out of spite,” says Larsen. “It’s not the biggest deal in the world. I like Kurt, I have nothing against him. I would like to craft my own image, though. I feel like I’m being pigeonholed a little bit.” “Pigeonholed” was a convenient word choice for the frontman to use, considering the origins of the band’s name. “The name, The Jins, comes from pigeons,” he elaborates. “When I moved to Vancouver, I lived in the Downtown Eastside in a really ratty old apartment. There were pigeons everywhere down there and I felt like I could relate to them, since they live in our city amongst us but they’re not really a part of our culture.” “Also, they sleep outside and eat garbage and stuff.” Larsen’s avian adoration became associated with the band
Press Photo
when he started calling his friends “the jins.” Two of those friends, Jamie Warncok and Hudson Partridge, became the remaining members of the group. Larsen, Warncok and Hudson all met in Vancouver, and the decision to make music together came naturally for them. “I met Jamie when I moved out of the Downtown Eastside. It was like, you play music, I play music, let’s buy a drum kit and play a show on Halloween,” says Larsen. “So we got this one guy to play bass for us. He was only into it for that one show, but it was a really good time. I dressed up as a baby and had to buy adult diapers, which was kind of embarrassing at the till. I was like, “I swear, it’s for a costume!’ But I just wanted
that shock value. No one else in the band dressed up as a baby. They were too self-conscious.” Hudson replaced “that one guy” as The Jins’ bassist after he and Larsen became pals at animation school. Now they work as animators together, and all three of them are roommates. Since their EP’s debut was last month, the band is working on “getting tighter” more than recording new material. But more than anything, they just want to have some fun. “I’m not trying to get into the industry, really. I’m just trying to catch a feeling,” says Larsen. “We’re a really no-frills, DIY, rock n’ roll pop band. We don’t take ourselves super seriously but it’s a personality conflict. We want to be passionate but we don’t want to be
pretentious. We’re trying to put our music on everyone else’s level and present ourselves as something people can connect to.” “I like to play music that sounds like a friend to someone. Some of my lyrics [off of the EP] are pretty satirical. Some are just me making fun of myself. Some of them are just Freudian slips. Like, I’ll try to write a happy song and think, ‘Oh, that’s not a happy lyric, but it sounds cool so I’ll keep it.’ I think that a lot of my lyrics are pretty naive and underdeveloped on the first EP and I want to work on that more.” Stay posted to their Facebook page @The Jins for updates on their shenanigans, show dates, and releases.
Columns
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19
Going Global
Syria is a chessboard.
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Tristan Johnston Coordinating Editor
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Something that irritates me about mainstream media is the idea that the American bombing of Syria is “okay,” while Russians bombing Syria is somehow “bad.” The Americans will often try to portray their military actions in the Middle East as being battles for liberation and democracy. They bomb today so that the local people can experience fair elections tomorrow. There is often little truth to this. In geopolitics, there are no “good guys” or “bad guys,” only winners and losers. Now, if the Cold War was fought in Eastern Europe and Asia, “part two” is fought in the Middle East. What may be surprising to some is that in late September, Obama and Putin attended the United Nations general assembly, both giving speeches. Both leaders also met privately, and during the meeting between the them—it has been speculated—Putin proposed that in return for dropped sanctions against his country, and for N.A.T.O. to cease support of the Ukrainian government, Putin would engineer a diplomatic exit for the al-Assad government in Syria. Again, this is heavy speculation, but I include it because it seems somewhat plausible. After taking some photos and
shaking some hands, Putin gave the go-ahead for airstrikes in Syria. While he says that the bombings are targeted at ISIS, there’s a good chance that anti-Assad rebels are also being targeted. After these bombing missions were approved by Putin, the Russian air force advised the U.S. air force to stay out of their way. On Oct. 20, the Americans and the Russians signed a deal to stay out of each other’s way.
This chess game is getting exceedingly complicated. Russia, the al-Assad government, and Iran are typically quite friendly with each other. Only a few months ago were the Americans able to sort out a nuclear deal with the Iranians, which would greatly reduce their dependence on the Russians. The removal of Assad would reduce Russian and Iranian influence in the Middle East. Then, on Oct. 24, this situation
took another turn. The Guardian reported that Russia and the U.S. were discussing the prospect of talks between the Syrian leadership and the opposition. Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, has said before that elections were needed in Syria, and that a political solution needs to be found for this conflict, especially now that it has caused a refugee crisis in the western world and a few Middle Eastern states.
A WORD ON CANADA On election night, shortly after the Liberals had been announced as having a majority, Justin Trudeau received a phone call from President Obama where, after exchanging pleasantries, Trudeau noted that he would be pulling the Syrian combat mission. This is a positive development, because as I have said in previous columns, airstrikes alone don’t win wars. Instead of spending $122 million on bombs, Canada can spend it on refugee aid. If you ask me, that’s much more “Canadian.” I actually read a comment on a news article, where someone called Trudeau a “coward” for pulling out. I don’t think it’s possible to find a more ignorant statement. Cowards are politicians who have no military experience themselves ordering a bunch of men and women to risk their lives for something that doesn’t directly affect the country. American bombing destabilized the Middle East, creating this mess in the first place, which can only be solved via a political solution. Trudeau is making a good call. Instead of continuing efforts to make the problems in Syria worse, the very least we can do is offer a triage. Bombing creates refugee, while aid creates hope for refugees.
Science Explained
There’s water on Mars, people!
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Danica Johnston Columnist
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At the beginning of the month, NASA released their findings of the existence of flowing water on Mars. “There had been water discovered near the polar caps of Mars, but never water that flowed through seasonal activities,” explains Dr. Kevin Douglas, Astrophysicist and Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Okanagan College. The most recent NASA discoveries show that water is melting and refreezing, not only at the planet’s poles, but at mid-latitudes, suggesting that Mars experiences seasons, just like here on Earth. The major implications of the study published in Nature Geoscience, “Spectral Evidence for Hydrated Salts in Recurring Slope Lineae on Mars,” was that perchlorates—salts composed of chlorine and oxygen—are increasing the stability of liquid water on Mars, and that these perchlorates are able to absorb water from the atmosphere. When the water is trapped inside the salt’s crystal structure, it is much more stable. “Mars is not the dry, arid planet we thought of in the past,” said Jim
Green, NASA Director of Planetary Science, after the discovery was announced. Although orbital spacecraft imaging has previously shown evidence of liquid flowing down hills on the red planet, NASA has confirmed that water exists on Mars using spectroscopy. Four years ago, orbital images showed dark streaks moving down gradients, suggesting flowing water may be present on the Martian surface. “Over many years, they started to notice these features that would appear at certain times of the year and disappear later, and they looked like water flowing down a hill,” says Douglas. These dark streaks, known as Recurring Slope Lineae, start to grow in the spring and disappear in the fall. Spectroscopic analysis was a key component of this discovery. Spectroscopy can determine the absorbed and reflected light waves of an object very precisely, allowing us to determine the object’s physical properties. When NASA believed that perchlorates were on the Martian surface they did a spectroscopic analysis using their spectrophotometer on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. With this they were
NASA
able to take the spectrophotometric data of many different perchlorates and compare them. NASA focused mostly on the craters on Mars, because the salts there are dense. “Inside a crater, you could think that, that is where chemical enrichment of a planet can take place, because something else has smashed into the planet there,” says Douglas. Since Mars is so far from the Sun, it was always thought that water on Mars would only ever be found in its solid state. On Earth, pure water exists in its liquid form between 0°C and 100°C. On Mars, pure water only exists in liquid form between 0°C to 10°C. This is why the perchlorate hypothesis has been essential to this discovery—with the added salts, water is able to exist
on Mars in its liquid state between -70°C and 24°C. At last month’s Monday’s press conference, Green explained how Mars had a lot of water three billion years ago. Mars had an atmosphere, and an ocean that occupied twothirds of the Northern hemisphere, until it experienced a major climate change, causing it to lose a lot of its surface water. An event, such as asteroid impact, could have caused this, explains Douglas, “a big impact like that would inject a lot of energy, perhaps evaporating a lot of the water, and so it would be lost out into space. Being a rather small planet, Mars doesn’t have a lot of gravity to hold light elements close to it either.” The presence of water on Mars is a big step forward in learning
about life on our closest planetary neighbour. “In many respects, finding water that flows could suggest an ecosystem is present, something that could be the first step towards terraforming,” says Douglas. It is now thought likely that there are microbes living somewhere in the crust of Mars, where it is warmer and more moist. Although it will be a while before humans pick up and move to Mars, the existence of water resources is imperative if people are to live there. “Assuming you can’t take everything with you, to actually make use of the planet’s own resources would be quite important,” says Douglas. “If the human race wants to evolve the way that it can, then by all means, moving out into other planets is not impossible.”
Procrastination
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SUDOKU No. 133
Tough
8
2 1
8 6 6 5 8 7
5 6 4
1 4 9 8 5
2
9 3 2 1 3
4
8 4 7 5 9 6 2 3 1
1
3
The solutions will be published here in the next issue.
© 2011 Syndicated Puzzles, Inc.
5
Previous solution - Medium
2 6 9 4 3 1 8 7 5
3 1 5 2 7 8 6 9 4
5 2 8 7 4 3 9 1 6
4 7 6 1 8 9 5 2 3
1 9 3 6 5 2 7 4 8
9 3 2 8 6 4 1 5 7
6 5 4 9 1 7 3 8 2
7 8 1 3 2 5 4 6 9
To complete Sudoku, fill the board by entering numbers 1 to 9 such that each row, column and 3x3 box contains every number uniquely. For many strategies, hints and tips, visit www.sudokuwiki.org If you like Sudoku you’ll really like ‘Str8ts’ and our other puzzles, Apps and books. Visit www.str8ts.com
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Horoscopes Sagittarius Nov. 23 - Dec 21
Capricorn Dec. 22 - Jan 20
Destroy all who rise against you. Grind their bones to make your stew and savour the lamentations of their loved ones. Lucky numbers are: 4, 13, 23, and 666.
Nah, baby. Nevermind that radio news bulletin warning of the escaped asylum inmate with the hook hand headed right for make-out point. Let’s french.
Trick or treat—smell my feet—St. Peter you’re about to meet.
Pisces Feb 20 - Mar 20
Aries Mar 21 - Apr 19
Taurus Apr 20 - May 20
*sung to the tune of “Desperado”* Nosferatu / why don’t you come to your senses? / You been out robbin’ peasants / of all their blood.
Boo!
”Have you checked the children?” “Yes, they’re fine.” “Oh, well, uh, is your refrigerator running?”
Gemini May 21 - Jun 20
Cancer Jun 21 - Jul 23
Aquarius Jan 21 - Feb 19
Leo Jul 24 - Aug 23
Talking About The Dead. I Mean The Walking Dead. AMC’s The Walking Dead, To Be Precise. We Will Be Talking About It. With Chris Hardwick.
Bad seeds make for bad harvests.
Where we’re going, you won’t need eyes.
Virgo Aug 24 - Sept 23
Libra Sept 24 - Oct 23
Scorpio Oct 24 - Nov 22
As the masked killer lops off Cindy’s head with a single stroke, you silently reflect on how good of a decision it was not to sleep with Taylor.
Alternate names for Halloween: Hellsmas, Spooksgiving, Skeleton Appreciation Day.
Local man mutilates pumpkin, leaves carcass on front porch as a warning to others.