The Runner: Volume 8, Issue 2 by The Runner

VOL-08-ISS-02

SEPT-29-2015

Inspiring litigation since 2009

Black Smithing

Youth Apathy

Starting a club

find us online / runnermag.ca / @runnermag / facebook.com/runnerMAG / INSTAGRAM.com/RUNNERMAG

Table of Contents

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News |Blacksmithing courses prepare KPU students for knighthood 05

Students will strike the anvil this fall in two blacksmithing courses offered at Cloverdale campus, both surely intended to prepare Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s armoury for the great war. The Runner is student-owned and operated by Kwantlen Polytechnic University students, published under the Polytechnic Ink Publishing Society. Arbutus 3710/3720 12666 72 Ave. Surrey, B.C, V3W 2M8 778.565.3801

www.runnermag.ca Vol. 08, Issue no. 02 Sept 289 2015 ISSN# 1916 8241

Culture | KGG continues to promote student life despite upcoming cuts to club funding 06 On Sept. 22 the Kwantlen Gaming Guild hosted Richmond Revolution, an event which featured a plethora of card, video and board games played across numerous screens and table tops. flat and a mere 50 years ago, we did not know the things we do now about what’s beyond our own planet.

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 | Solidarity in the Student Movement? 10 When you attend a rally for the Canadian Federation of Students, the first thing you’ll likely see are large orange and blue flags with the organization’s logo emblazoned upon them. The second thing you’ll see are hundreds of students, and you’ll hear them chanting one of the group’s many choruses.

CONTRIBUTORS Aida Garcia Aileen Tran Alicia George Awais Mushtaq Calvin Tiu Christa Carr Danica Johnston Daniella Javier Jordan Bray Kyle Prince

Kyrsten Downton Louis Marta-Widjaja Marissa Partridge Mike Zhao Pifanida Preet Hundal Rosaura Ojeda Scott McLelland Torin Slik

OPinions | Tracing hip hop from street corners to iPods 15 Jay-Z once explained in an interview with Oprah that, for an emcee, your voice is your instrument. Coming from one of the greatest rappers to ever touch a mic, I thought the idea was a perfect response to those who dismiss a rap artist’s musicianship.

columnS | Parsing the evidence against aspartame 18 In the late-‘90s there was an uproar over whether aspartame was safe for consumption, and it has since become the most heavily tested food additive of all time.

COVER ART

#BestPhoto Kwantlen’s finest featuring

from @zerlindasaurus on Instagram Look at the beauty that is#Richmond campus #KPU#kpucampuslife @kwantlenu @kpu_ambassadors @kpustulife

Alexander Rodchenko. Trade Union is a Defender of Female Labour. (1925) The cover was largely inspired by posters designed by Russian artist, Alexander Rodchenko. Charis Au took note of his style by incorporating photo collages and contrasting colours to deliver a starkness in the opposite sides of CFS and KSA.

STAFF

Coordinating Editor

Managing Editor

Tristan Johnston editor@runnermag.ca

Connor Doyle managing@runnermag.ca

Executive Editor

Samantha Thompson deputy@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

Correction: In the last issue we ran an article that said an agriculture program was held at Langley campus, when it’s actually Horticulture. We regret this error. Opt-out notice: Students who wish to opt-out of the student publication fee can do so by visiting the PIPS oﬃce in the library by the end of October. Students must have proof of registration, proof of payment and their student ID.

Editorial

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From the editor

News Briefs

No clear winner in recent economy debate.

Tristan Johnston Coordinating Editor

French Leaders’Debate On Sept. 24, five leaders of

John Lehmann / Globe and Mail

Tristan Johnston Coordinating Editor

While watching the Maclean’s debate last month, I thought that our politicians were incapable of letting each other speak. Watching The Globe and Mail debate two weeks ago, I thought that they bickered even more, and I could feel secondhand stress from David Walmsley. I think that a journalist of his calibre should be able to keep the debate on track, but he wasn’t able to on the same level as Paul Wells. But if you had to ask me who won The Globe and Mail debate, I’d have to say Justin Trudeau... but this fits in with my biases. I’m sure that no one would have swung their opinion based solely on this debate. Trudeau came off, to me at least, as being the debate’s most aggressive participant. While every leader on stage went off-topic during the first half, often resorting to talking points, sometimes relying on the same ones multiple times, the second half turned out to be much better. In this later half, Trudeau did

a surprisingly good job at differentiating himself from the other leaders. Announcing openly his plans to leave the budget unbalanced for a few years puts him in an interesting position. I felt as if I actually learned a little bit about the Liberal plan, whereas I didn’t learn much about the NDP or Conservative. Mulcair was much the same as he was in the last debate—calm, collected and slow. He scored what were some clever zingers. Regarding Trudeau’s plan to run a modest deficit, while previously criticizing the Conservative deficit, Mulcair quipped “So I think, Justin, that it’s only fair to say that when your advisors tell you one thing and another, and they’re totally contradictory, pick one. You just can’t say them both.” Another one came when he made a point of Canada flip-flopping historically between Liberal and (Progressive) Conservative, and that for the first time, the NDP was a realistic third option. Harper did his best to be “the only sane person in the room,” and found every moment to emphasize that the other parties would raise

taxes. “The reality is,” seemed to be a very common sentence-starter. He has been Prime Minister for almost 10 years, so he feels that he has the right to speak like he’s seen it all, talking like a business-to-business salesman. An election ago, Harper promised to lower taxes and keep the economy strong. Well, for several years the economy was really, really good. We did incredibly well versus other countries, but in 2015, we’re having trouble. Harper’s plan worked in a different economic climate than the one we have now. As for the actual debate format itself, I was a little disappointed. Walmsley wasn’t very good at reeling the bickering politicians in, and he sometimes “participated” in the debate as well. I would presume that moderators should be as detached as possible, and exist only to enforce the rules. I was also disappointed that they didn’t invite Elizabeth May, considering how well she performed in the Maclean’s debate. However, what I am most surprised about is the lack of movement in the polls after two debates.

While they weren’t televised as widely as the CBC debate was in 2011, I still expected some change. As of Sept. 22, Eric Grenier’s polltracker on CBC reports that the three main parties are around 30 per cent each in the polls, give or take one per cent. Very strange, given that a poor performance by Ignatieff in the 2011 debate possibly tanked the Liberal party, as seen by the immediate shift in the polls following the debate. A poll conducted by Forum Research shortly after the debate last week showed that, out of a sample of 541 people, 30 per cent concluded that no one won the debate. The same poll also showed that 65 per cent of Conservatives thought Harper won, 60 percent of Liberals thought Trudeau won, and only 40 per cent of NDP voters liked Mulcair’s performance. These numbers are very interesting to me, and it seems to suggest that, possibly, party platform might matter more to Canadians than debate performance. I would tend to agree with them.

what’s up this week (sept 29 - oct 12)

with Daniella Javier

wed, sept 30

thur, oct 1

Vancouver International Film Festival

Volunteer Expo 2015 – Surrey Campus

Surrey Urban Farmers Market

Sept. 24—Oct. 9.

11 a.m.—2 p.m.

Until Oct. 7.

SAT, oct 3

thur, oct 8

MON, OCT 12

KPU women & men’s soccer vs Quest University Canada Kermodes

Dracula at the Surrey Arts Centre

Bose Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch

Venues vary. $12/ﬁlm.

Drop by the Volunteer Expo to find valuable opportunities that meet your interest. You’ll also meet reps from organizations in the community and within KPU.

Surrey Campus (courtyard & main atrium). Free.

Come support the KPU women’s and men’s soccer teams at Newton Athletic Park. The women’s game is at 1 p.m. and the men’s game is at 3:30 p.m. Go Eagles!

Get into the Halloween spirit early by indulging in a bit of vampiric delight. Catch Lucy Stewart and Anna Van Helsing confront Count Dracula in this steampunk update of the Victorian classic.

1 p.m., Oct. 3.

Until Oct. 10. 8 p.m.

Newton Athletic Park (7395 128th street). Free.

Surrey Arts Centre. $28/ticket.

Come to the Surrey Urban Farmers Market to buy locally grown products and enjoy a diverse mix of vendors including bread, chicken and baked goods.

City Hall Plaza (13450 104 Ave). Free.

Happy Thanksgiving! Bring your family to the corn maze and pumpkin patch on the Thanksgiving weekend. Make your way through the corn maze, but don’t get lost.

Until Oct. 12.

Arrest made in connection with KPU assault Richmond RCMP have reported

TUE, sept 29 Come take part in one of North America’s largest film festivals and view some of the world’s finest movies. You can watch as many as you’d like.

Canada’s most well-known political parties gathered in Montreal to debate in French. The debate lasted for over two hours, and was hosted and moderated by the CBC/RadioCanada. The debate touched on similar topics to the McLean’s debate, with the leaders debating their points on taxes, the economy, the environment and several other topics. The room became fairly heated when the subject of niqab came up, with Harper mentioning that he would never tell his daughter to cover up, just because she’s a woman. National unity was also discussed, as one could expect with the Gilles Duceppe, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois in the room. Trudeau and Duceppe criticized Mulcair for occasionally making contradictory statements in French and English. Trudeau criticized Mulcair for supporting a ruling that would allow Quebec to separate with a 50 per cent plus one vote. Mulcair retorted, saying “Mr. Trudeau says it will take much more than a simple majority, but he refuses to say how much.” It was clear that both Stephen Harper, and more so Elizabeth May were uncomfortable speaking French, while Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair both grew up bilingual in Ottawa.

64th avenue and 156th street, Surrey. Prices vary.

the arrest of a suspect in connection to a KPU sexual assault. The suspect, who is not a Kwantlen student nor known to police, was arrested on Sept. 22. A 19-yearold student was approached by a 24-yearold male, who professed to be a massage therapy student, who would give a free massage upon completion of a survey. “We are obviously very interested in knowing if there are any additional victims out there,” said Corporal Eric Baskette. In a statement to students through myKwantlen, President Alan Davis said that Jon Harding, KPU’s Vice President Finance and Administration, is reviewing safety and security at all campuses. Davis also said that Jane Fee, Deputy Provost & Vice Provost Students, has been exploring ways to address campus sexual assault for the last eight months. Anyone with information should contact Constable Pam Chu at 604-2781212. 911 should be called in the event of an emergency. KPU has contacts for each campus: Surrey: 778-578-6312 Richmond: 604-514-0297 Tech in Cloverdale: 604-574-2840 Langley: 604-244-0130

News

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Explainer: Proposed TWU law school wants justice B.C. Supreme court judges hearing their appeal.

Kier-Christer Junos Staff Writer

Trinity

Western

University

(TWU) is still seeking to reverse the B.C. law society’s 2014 refusal to accredit their proposed law school. The refusal is mainly based on the evangelical Christian school’s covenant, which students must sign, that states that marital sex is allowed solely between a man and women. The law society sees this as discriminatory of LGBTQ people and those in common-law and long-term committed relationships. TWU is currently appealing the B.C. law society’s refusal at the B.C. Supreme Court on the basis of a constitutional violation—their free-

dom of religion. In the law society’s formal argument accessed on their website, they specifically disagree with the covenant’s clauses that prohibit sexual intimacy between married same-sex couples and outside of marriage. The society also sees the covenant as discriminating against women and denying students access to reproductive choice. Finally, they find the covenant, “seeks to not only create an evangelical Christian learning environment, but also, through the covenant, to impose evangelical Christian views and behavioural norms on all, discriminating on the basis of religion.” When TWU law school saw its genesis in late 2013, the ministry

of advanced education (AVED) initially approved them. The B.C. law society even approved it, initially, only to reverse their decision months later. Months after, the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society rejected the law school, while the law societies of Alberta, New Brunswick, P.E.I., Saskatchewan and the Yukon approved them. In 2014, former AVED minister Amrik Virk ended up revoking the approval on the basis of an enrollment technicality, as reported by The Globe and Mail. The Nova Scotia Supreme Court ruled in favour of TWU, and now the N.S. Barristers’ Society is appealing against that ruling. The Ontario Divisional

Court ruled against TWU, and now TWU is appealing that decision too. The hearing in B.C. that was scheduled from Aug. 24-29 has

concluded, and Chief Justice Hinkson has reserved his decision as of press time.

Marissa Partridge

Teaching assistants at Simon Fraser University remain on strike Some SFU students have grades withheld amidst dispute.

Alicia George

At Simon Fraser University, the Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) are currently on strike, and have been without contract since April 2014. The TSSU consist of teaching assistants, tutors, sessional instructors and ELC/ITP instructors. The TSSU consists of 2,000 members and has been active for 36 years. Since May, the TSSU and SFU administration have been in collective bargaining to secure a new collective agreement. During these collective bargaining meetings, neither side has come to an agreement and for this reason, the TSSU decided to hold a strike vote which

resulted in a 92 per cent in favour of a strike. The TSSU believes that there should be consistent seniority for senior sessional instructors, and that instructors who are in the ELC/ ITP program should have access to SFU’s regular benefits package. As well, they argue that teachers’ assistants should be protected from being overworked and underpaid. Recently the SFU administration put forth an “all or nothing” bargaining package for the TSSU to look over and ultimately sign. The TSSU asked that its members vote “no” in order to reject the SFU administration’s proposal and fiveyear collective agreement. TSSU members voted against SFU’s offer last week. The impact of the strike on

students has varied, with some not receiving their grades from the previous semester, hindering their graduation progress. In July, the TSSU asked their active members to withhold grades during the summer months as a way to put pressure on the administration to come to a written agreement. This withholding of grades occurred during SFU’s summer semester because there are a higher number of classes during that period which involve support from TSSU members, making it a perfect scenario to increase pressure and have their message heard. Students at SFU have had mixed reactions to the strike. With one semester left, Jason Nannu, an undergraduate in the Bachelor of Science program, recounts his last

summer semester and his interaction with the TSSU. “I haven’t received my marks for my classes yet from last semester [Summer 2015]. It was frustrating for this term [because] the professors said they can tell us if we passed or failed an exam, but we won’t know the actual mark,” says Nannu.

“I get that they need a contract, so I support them. But I wish it didn’t hinder my education.” To get a better understanding of both sides of the TSSU strike, George Temple, a representative of the TSSU, was contacted for an interview, but The Runner was unable to speak with him by press time due to ongoing mediation talks.

TSSU

Explainer: UBC’s academic freedom crisis

Faculty member’s blog post critical of BOG director opens up old and new wounds.

Kier-Christer Junos Staff Writer

On Aug. 8, UBC professor

Jennifer Berdahl posted to her blog critiques of the upper echelons of UBC administration who, after berating Berdahl for piping up, have ironically landed the school in a spotlight that UBC was trying to avoid. Berdahl was recruited to advance gender and diversity

in leadership at UBC. Her initial blogpost that landed her in hot water discussed the abrupt exit of former UBC president Arvind Gupta after only one year, which Berdahl opines was caused by, essentially, unfair institutional pressures. “I believe that part of this outcome is that Arvind Gupta lost the masculinity contest among the leadership at UBC,” wrote Berdahl, “As most women and minorities do at institutions dominated by white

UBC Public Relations / Flickr

men.” Some of the criticism around Gupta’s unceremonious leave includes that it was simply unceremonious; the details of why he left aren’t clear, while past presidents have made a point to explain their leave of office. On Sept. 2, the UBC Faculty Association sent a letter to the Board of Governors to renegotiate Gupta’s resignation agreement so that his terms of resignation could be fully spoken to. In discussing the fallout from her blogpost, Berdahl wrote that her senior pulled her aside at a Sauder school of business reception and scolded her, telling her to contact the communications director so they could mitigate the blog post’s impact.

“I have never in my life felt more institutional pressure to be silent,” wrote Berdahl. Then, on Aug. 17, reporters at The Ubyssey stumbled upon a secret BOG meeting, reporting that board members wouldn’t comment on it and that a statement would be released later. Later, they confirmed that the meeting was, indeed, on the topic of Berdahl’s blogposts. The hours rolled on. UBC BOG chair John Montalbano released a media statement the next day, which read: “At no time did I intend to impinge [Berdahl’s] academic freedom. At the end of our telephone call, professor Berdahl agreed that we had a productive conversation and though we didn’t agree on all points, she confirmed

that I did not ask for any retraction, that I affirmed her funding and did not interfere in her academic freedom.” The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) and other factions pressured Montalbano to step down, and he did just that on Aug. 25. The Ubyssey reported that he’ll still be on the board, while vice-chair Alice Laberge takes over. On the same day, the Faculty Association of UBC began a factfinding process that will investigate if Montalbano and certain individuals in the Sauder school of business are in violation of any applicable university policies in the wake of Berdahl’s blogpost. The faculty association has until Oct. 7 to submit their reports.

News

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Capilano University alumnus’ Film Explores Youth Apathy The Drop travels across Canada and the U.S. to ask young people about voting.

Aida Garcia

According to the Library of Parliament and Research Publications, the 2011 general election saw a 38.8 per cent participation rate from Canadians aged 18 to 24. New research shown by Elections Canada states that young Canadians are also shown to vote less and less as they age. So what is it about politics that makes young people tune out the government the same way they tune out early morning lectures?

Documentary producer and Capilano University alumnus Kyle McCachen investigated this issue at length in his film, The Drop: Why Young People Don’t Vote, and suggests that there is a lot more to this issue than an apathetic generation. While he recognizes that some young people do fall prey to the concept of “youth apathy,” the overall reason why youths don’t vote is that, according to the film, “To them there’s more ways to communicate a message and get things done faster.” The process to change or make legislation can be extremely

lengthy, and for some people their issues are real and they believe that real change will happen with more immediate actions. Youths have historically been extremely political and the present day is no exception, according to the Kwantlen Student Association vice-president external Alex McGowan: “Youths these days are a lot more active in their communities and volunteer a lot more than past generations.” Young people are more involved than ever before, but they are also less likely to vote than their older counterparts. “We were shocked that so few people knew about an election that was happening so soon,” says McCachen, after interviewing youth across B.C. and questioning them about whether or not they were going to turn out on election day. Initially, his documentary was being produced to illustrate the political process in Canada—

however, he switched topics and focused on the lack of youths voting because, “The issue was fascinating, and we wanted to shine some light on the problem.” The documentary takes the viewer to a variety of locations where co-producer and actor Dylan Playfair interviews various youth about their stance on voting. One of the most exciting settings of the film was the yearly Burning Man event, which happens every summer in the desert of Nevada and hosts up to 70,000 people. “It’s so much more than just another music festival,” says McCachen. “It’s known as being something more cerebral and more about ideas. We found ourselves a pretty wide range of people.” The film also goes to Ferguson, Missouri, where the majority of the town’s black population is still grappling with the aftermath of the Michael Brown shooting. Ferguson had the eyes of the world upon it, as news channels everywhere portrayed the violent clashes between the police and Ferguson’s residents. The Drop shows what young people are doing to make a difference in their community—most importantly by using various tools and mediums, along with a clear objective, to make the world aware of the lack of justice that so many residents have

had to live with. Interestingly, the documentary also has a strong focus on British Columbia, and the young people who call it home. The Drop chose B.C. as a sort of trial ground for the purpose of investigating why youth don’t vote. “All the beautiful shots of nature and young people enjoying it were shot in B.C.,” says McCachen. “Young people in B.C. have a strong sense of being young and we felt it was such an honest starting point.” With the Canadian federal election so close, and youth turnout so low, many Canadians want to know what should be done to reverse this trend. McGowan believes it’s a matter of reducing certain barriers. “A main reason why young people don’t vote is because they face a lot of barriers. A lack of information available for them is one—we are not taught in school how to vote or fill out a voting sheet,” he says. “Young people also move a lot and may not know how to update their information, which can cause more problems when registering for voting.” McCachen and Playfair hope their documentary will help people across all ages realize why voting is so important, and how as Canadians we can help each other make sure we attend the next election.

Blacksmithing courses prepare KPU students for knighthood Course completion grants gloves of +2 forging.

Kier-Christer Junos Staff Writer

Students will strike the anvil this fall in two blacksmithing courses offered at Cloverdale campus, both surely intended to prepare Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s armoury for the great war. The trades faculty assert that modern blacksmithing applications will be imparted upon pupils at the smithy. “Blacksmithing has stepped into the 21st century as a creative art form and a viable career path,” says Tracey Bowles, continuing and professional studies (CPS) faculty member, in an email. Roy Reinmuth will teach the courses this fall, and the CPS and trades faculties say he’s a “very enthusiastic, lifelong blacksmith,”

who apprenticed and worked as a journeyman in Germany. Reinmuth later made a business in architectural ironwork. Bowles says the faculty tends to “keep the class size small,” which allows for the instructor to help students one-on-one. No prior experience is necessary. Students also get their own anvil, quenching basin and tool rest. It’s on the students to bring non-flammable clothing (they suggest cotton), aprons, steel toed boots, safety glasses and hammers with wooden handles. By now, Reinmuth has finished teaching fundamentals of blacksmithing (TRAD9015) which occurred on Sept. 19. The intermediate blacksmithing course (TRAD9016) will be on Oct. 24 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. As its name betrays, the initial course teaches the fundamentals of forging hot steel. Students will have learned how to produce regular forged items like spades—of the garden variety—and other items commonly found in the house or garden. But the intermediate course this October might just fulfill the needs of the LARPers who have $249 to dish out for this one-shot course.

Pifanida

Students in this course will have the opportunity to produce an “architectural item” using different forging processes—which suggests swords. Anatomy student Jonathan Kraft maintains that the courses are, “Kinda cool, yeah. Makin’ swords and stuff.” While the course isn’t really contingent on swords, we asked Kraft if he would make a sword. “Uh, no. I dunno,” says Kraft. “That’s not a skill that’s very practical to me.” Music major Gourav Shah wasn’t that impressed when we caught up with him at Langley campus. “When it comes to blacksmith-

ing, I don’t really know what that could be used for,” says Shah. “All I can imagine is that it’s something to do with horses and making horseshoes because there’s so many horses here.” The 21st century applications, however, are numerous according to the CPS and trades faculty. Traditional blacksmithing typically involves forging, riveting and repairing metal parts for farm machinery and other types of industrial and domestic equipment. “But in recent years, there has been a lot of interest shown in artistic blacksmithing,” says Bowles. She says that generally involves “custom work in ornamental rail-

ing, gates and furniture.” The faculty still haven’t determined accurate demand for these courses, despite purporting positive course evaluations. They say that if the demand exists, more sections will be offered. The blacksmithing courses are some of many new courses at KPU that aren’t traditionally offered at other universities, like brewing or marijuana theory. Bowles thinks such courses are an indication of the continued efforts to, “meet the needs of the communities and the demands of industry regionally.” How apt of KPU to offer these courses, for, the beacons are lit. Gondor calls for aid.

Culture

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Louis Marta-Widjaja

gaming guild brings their brand to richmond

KGG continues to promote student life despite upcoming cuts to club funding.

Louis Marta-Widjaja

On Sept. 22 the Kwantlen Gaming Guild hosted Richmond Revolution, an event which featured a plethora of card, video and board games played across numerous screens and table tops. The Richmond campus conference centre took in over 100 visitors during the event, with students from every Kwantlen campus stopping by to take part in the fun. The sounds of rollicking Rock Band music played throughout the room while students helped themselves to free pop and pizza. The selection of games catered to casual and hardcore gamers alike, with the newest games featured alongside

old-time favourites. From console gamers to Magic: The Gathering die-hards, the event brought a large diversity of gaming cultures together to mingle in the arcade-like atmosphere. President of the KGG, Tashi Barungtsang, says, “It’s not just strictly gaming— we use gaming as sort of a vessel to bring students together in a common ground. Our club is mostly about social interactions, coming to campus and not simply just going home, but to stay on campus and have something to do on campus.” The KGG’s goal to promote student culture is no simple task, however. Tanvir Bal, the Guild’s vice-president as well as an arts representative for the Kwantlen Student Association, says that his club’s budget has been cut sig-

nificantly compared to their prior events due to a forthcoming reduction in KSA club funding. In preparation for this, the KGG has taken steps to develop a more sustainable model of operation, using as little KSA funds as possible to hold their events and developing various alternate means ways by which to obtain funds. These means include fundraisers and booster drafts for Magic: The Gathering. Bal, after talking about budget cuts with KSA vice-president of finance and operations Waheed Taiwo, says that the issue is essentially coming from the lack of enrollment at KPU. Regarding the decision to live within reasonable means, Bal says, “I think one of the biggest detriments to Kwantlen in the past has been that people consider it a

college where you go to class then go home. We’re trying to change the culture so that people stay here and so people actually want to go to Kwantlen.” As part of their effort to help support enrollment at KPU, the KGG is working to promote their eSports teams. Bal cites UBC as having the best League of Legends collegiate team in the world, winning a major tournament held in South Korea earlier this month and even holding sponsorships with NOS energy drinks. The KGG, however, aims to follow and perhaps even bypass their UBC rivals. “We’re trying to get Hearthstone teams, Counter-Strike teams, League of Legends teams, some real good professional teams that can actually compete against the bigger uni-

versities. We think that might end up helping with enrollment possibly, showing potential enrollers that there’s actual student culture and life on campus,” says Bal. Barungtsang outlines that the KGG’s most important goal is to improve and promote student life, followed by promoting the gaming culture within campus and the KGG. Bal explains the importance of going into the Richmond campus for their event: “By moving out into Richmond, we’re promoting the KGG brand. We have been sponsored by Red Bull very recently for one of our events that’s coming in October. We think that these events will create opportunities for us to get further sponsorships so we can provide for our membership.”

Shifting to Revolutionary Feminism

Women’s liberation event touches on the movement’s evolution.

Kier-Christer Junos

Kier-Christer Junos Staff Writer

KPIRG’s recent event on women’s liberation provided a substantial overview of modern feminism. The event, held on Sept. 15, was part of KPIRG’s fall Dis/Orientation series, which seeks to educate students with information that challenges traditional backto-school-orientation knowledge. Speakers of the event included Dr. Fiona Whittington-Walsh and two representatives from GrassrootsWomen, an organization that, “was born out of the desire to address the systemic, political and economic marginalization of working class women caused by imperialism,” according to their website. The speakers from GrassrootsWomen were up first. The larger theme surrounding their talk re-

volved around childcare issues and how they related to the struggles of working class women. Their speaking points also included the different levels of feminism throughout the decades and now, a new kind of feminism better defined as “revolutionary feminism.” Mostly their talk remained focused on the facts of gender inequality, a pretty standard component for the canonical feminist argument. Where the presentation truly excelled, though, was in the critiques they offered, which aimed to ultimately dismantle the imperialist and capitalist systems which the speakers posited were the root problem of gender inequality. This anti-imperialism, anti-capitalism part of the conversation added a new level of discussion to traditional and historical feminist thought, and truly justified the “revolutionary” modifier.

On the basis that those systems are inherently harmful, their presentation continued by examining the exploitation of working class women, and how that extends globally. The act of rearing children and maintaining the home are economically invisible—this type of work could pay over $120,000 annually to the homemakers, but it doesn’t. The burden is often passed onto migrant workers who could be away from their families for over a decade. More often than not these workers, according to the stats GrassrootsWomen provided, are women. Whittington-Walsh, the other speaker at the event, was a more practiced speaker by comparison, and it was easy to be enraptured in her presentation. Here, as with the GrassrootsWomen presentation, there were many statistics provided for those in attendance, but

where her talk became the most engrossing was in her discussion of the current backlash against feminist issues, and the misunderstanding behind criticisms of feminism. During question period, The Runner asked if Walsh could speak to the recent conflict at UBC, where people have criticized the unceremonious stepping-down of the president after just one term. UBC faculty member Jennifer Berdahl wrote that the president lost a “masculinity contest.” Walsh directed the question to Martha from GrassrootsWomen who knew better about the issue and culture at UBC, since it was there that she graduated from medicine. “I think that’s the overarching experience within that institution at UBC,” she said. “The gender hierarchy is very present within that university.”

Her anecdote served as a reminder of how the discussion was relevant to men as well as women. Fir 146—the location of the event— was filled with people that afternoon, though I was one of only two men in the room. “I think it was just good to hear about some of the clarification on what feminism is and some of the different backlashes to it,” says Levi, a sociology student. He was the other male in attendance for the event. During question periods following the presentations, others in the room remarked on the dismissive feedback they received from male friends who may have asked what they were up to that afternoon. This reality circled back to the backlash against feminist thought that the speakers addressed in their talks, further highlighting the importance of events like this one.

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Kwantlen Holds Third Annual Pow Wow in Surrey Celebration of aboriginal culture important for all members of KPU.

Kyrsten Downton

On Sept. 19 Kwantlen Polytechnic University hosted its third annual pow wow at the Surrey campus. The main component of the pow wow is a dance competition where members of individual age and gender brackets compete for first, second and third place cash prizes. “It’s just getting bigger, that’s the truth of it. Every year, I’m noticing it increase in size and its outreach,” says Justin Bige, who is a member of the pow wow committee and the aboriginal students’ representative for the Kwantlen Student Association. In 2013, Bige’s sister, Melinda, started Kwantlen’s tradition of holding a pow wow when she herself was the aboriginal students’ representative. One of Bige’s responsibilities, then and now, was

planning the budget and getting the event approved by the KSA. “It’s one of the most important events of the year for me [and] I think it’s one of the most important events all year for KPU,” says Bige. “No matter what the event is, you almost never see how many people you see here, and I think that is just incredible.” On the day of the pow wow the gym in the Cedar building was packed with people ranging from all ages ready to cheer on the drummers and dancers. The event was meant to be a celebration of aboriginal culture, and as such the dancers appeared in traditional dress while moving to traditional drums, and often praying as well. Every part of the ceremony was treated with care and pride. The master of the ceremony, John Miller, stated that all those in attendance should, “Take pride in the

ceremony and take pride in the pow wow.” “I hope the attendees feel welcome,” says Bige. “I hope the attendees pick up on the energy that comes out of this pow wow. It is a very healing place, it’s a very warm place, it’s a good place and that’s what I want them to get out of that. Purely that energy that the pow wow exists in. Our namesake is Kwantlen, and that’s extremely important. When it comes to First Nation tradition, names that are given come with a responsibility. You’ve got to honour the name.” The pow wow, despite only being created three years ago, is already becoming an integral part of life at KPU. Everyone who took a part in it, including Bige, hopes to keep it that way. “There is so much cultural significance,” says Bige. “I can’t imagine it not being important.”

Kyrsten Downton

Love In This Club: Kwantlen Entrepreneurial Student Association KESA offers outside-the-classroom education for its members.

KESA

Preet Hundal Contributor

“Book smarts and an education are a great base. However, they don’t teach you anything about the real world.” So says Jonathan Fader, Director of IT for one of KPU’s most enterprising and ambitious clubs, the Kwantlen Entrepreneurial Student Association. Established last fall, KESA continues to provide an opportunity for entrepreneurialminded students to “develop their skills for the real world,” through networking and seminars. The distinction between “academic” and “real-world” learning

is important to Fader, who believes club members—even those who are already enrolled in a KPU business program—can learn valuable lessons through participating in the club’s activities. One of the ways he, and the other KESA executives, hope to achieve this is through, “connecting students with business owners and professionals in the industry.” “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” says Fader about creating a successful business. As a business owner himself, he speaks from experience. “[KESA] members are extremely connected. As such, if you really want to be in the business world or own your own business, we are the club to join.” KESA is appropriately one of

the most professional clubs at KPU. As of September there are currently five members of the executive team, with approximately 70 more people on the club’s “mailing list.” This is a rare feat for a Kwantlen student organization, most of whom struggle to retain a dozen members and up to three dedicated executives. Though KESA meetings already tend to attract a large number of students, Fader believes the club’s upcoming plans will entice even more students to join, swelling their ranks further. Regarding these future events, Fader says the club will be hosting a “Movember fundraiser,” in addition to hosting guest speakers at their general meetings. One such guest speaker will be Dean Ritchey, a man who “owns

his own corporate consulting firm specializing in executive training.” Ritchey will be attending the meeting on Oct. 2, and his experience in the business world will hopefully prove to benefit to the club’s aspiring entrepreneurs. Richey’s presentation will follow a tradition of KESA speakers, as in previous semester the club has held seminars “where financial planners and advisers came in to discuss financial planning for students,” according to Fader. He adds that these seminars “had about 20 to 30 people show up, many of whom stayed to ask questions long after it was over.” These go-getting club members were able to pick the minds of business professionals for lengthy periods of time, something

they likely could not afford in the confines of a classroom setting. Fader has high hopes for the future of the organization, and even went to say that in the “distant future” he would like it “to be compared to something like the Harvard Business club.” Sounds right for a young executive of an entrepreneurial student organization, doesn’t it? For now, Fader is content with the short term goal of “overtaking the Kwantlen Gaming Guild as the largest club on campus.” For those KPU students whose entrepreneurial minds have been piqued, KESA meetings take place in Room 116 of Surrey campus on Fridays from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

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If Kwantlen Campuses Were Students in Your Class

Cloverdale is… The Tech Geek.

Connor Doyle & Danielle George

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*NOT PICTURED: RIchmond s little sister, The Chip and Shannon Wilson School of Design.

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Solidarity in the Student Movement? A (recent) history of the Canadian Federation of Students.

Samatha Thompson Executive Editor

When you attend a rally for the

Canadian Federation of Students, the first thing you’ll likely see are large orange and blue flags with the organization’s logo emblazoned upon them. The second thing you’ll see are hundreds of students, and you’ll hear them chanting one of the group’s many choruses. Something along the lines of, “So, so, so, solidarité,” or “Students, united, will never be defeated!” Standing there, it’s very possible that you’ll feel like you truly are part of the Student Movement. I remember the first time I heard about the Canadian Federation of Students. I had been working at the Capilano Courier, Capilano University’s student newspaper, for only a few months before my editor decided it was time for me to tackle student politics. So I began slowly delving into the history of what was, at the time, the largest student lobbying organization in the country. What quickly became clear was that the CFS had several strong campaigns running on behalf of its members pertaining to access to education, as well as a number of social justice and environmental initiatives. It also became clear that there were multiple student unions who were deeply critical of the organization, and they all wanted out of the CFS at the same time. The thing about the CFS is it can be hard to understand its inner-workings unless you dedicate hours of reading and detective work to try to figure out exactly what has happened. I’m not going to go into the whole history of the organization here, but what is of particular interest to you as a student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, with the Kwantlen Student Association as a member of the Canadian Federation of Students, are the events that have happened since 2009, when my interactions with the CFS first began. At the annual general meeting in November of 2009, a series of motions were put forward that created some heated debate among those in attendance. Membership of the CFS at that time consisted of individual student members of student associations, and the executive (or equivalent) of the associations would select delegates to attend the general meetings to represent the members back home. This AGM made headlines because 13 of the federation’s 80 member associations had expressed their desire to leave, and released a reform package that included 43 motions that needed to be passed in order to resolve some of the dissatisfaction with the CFS. The

motions were moved by the PostGraduate Students’ Society of McGill University, and seconded by our own Kwantlen Student Association, among several others who were all part of a group unofficially known as the “defederation movement.” The package’s goal was to “apply basic democratic tenets and organizing principles to the CFS.” “Our movement reflects the priorities of students on campuses across the country. Like any membership-based organization, sometimes there are groups of students who may not support the aims and goals of our movement and organize to have a referendum,” explains Bilan Arte, the current national chairperson for the CFS. “Despite that, my goal is to focus on working with students across the country to build awareness of our work, find common issues that unite us, and strengthen our movement.” There were motions already on the agenda ahead of the reform package that had caused controversy, perhaps most infamously Motion 6. Prior to Motion 6, if a student association wanted to defederate (now called decertifying), they had to submit a petition to the CFS that was signed by 10 per cent of the school’s population, which in turn would lead to a referendum where students would vote on whether or not they wanted to remain members of the CFS. The referendum had to have 50 per cent of the votes in favour of leaving in order to pass. Motion 6 (which passed), increased the petition amount to 20 per cent, and made it so that only two referenda on continued membership could be held across Canada in a three-month period. If a referendum failed, that student association could not submit a petition for another one until five years had passed. The motion’s text alleged that the defederation movement was a “coordinated plan to destabilize our Federation by a small group of

individuals, including some nonmembers.” “The spirit of the motion was to ensure stability within our movement and to ensure that our bylaws had no loopholes that could be abused in the future,” Kimalee Phillip, then-present of the Carleton Graduate Student Association, told the Canadian University Press. The motion narrowly passed, and it was also reported that the fire alarm was pulled during the debate of Motion 6. The 2009 AGM stands out because, just as 13 student associations had expressed a desire to leave the CFS, the CFS’s bylaws were changed to make that process more difficult.

When Students Consider the Exit Since 2009, a number of student associations have held referendums and their members have voted to end the membership in the CFS. Also since 2009, a number of these referendums have resulted in court cases where the CFS and a student association are relying on the legal system to determine if membership has successfully been terminated. “Schools would want to leave generally because they are big enough or organized enough within their own institutions that they do not require the services that the CFS offers,” says Teresa Grant, who led the “No” side during Capilano University’s referendum in 2014. “The CFS can offer some services to small schools that are valuable, however many schools find that they max out in the institution.” “Our federation is where students across the country work together for change, learning from one another to better our campuses and raising our voices together to better our country. Students, united, are significant agents for change,” says Arte. “We work to reduce tuition fees and student debt, address gender-based violence, and so much more.”

“I think it’s important to remember that our membership is dynamic and changes from year to year and along with changes to membership are differences in priorities,” he says. “I can tell you that this year my focus is strengthening our movement in all parts of the country.” Students at Capilano University voted 75 per cent in favour of ending their membership in the CFS. The CFS accepted the results of the referendum, and the CSU is no longer a member. In this province, the CFS currently has 15 member associations, including the KSA. For some students, part of the reason for wanting out had to do with the way the CFS responds to criticism. Teresa Grant led the “No” side at Capilano (those in favour of voting “no” to the CFS). “In my opinion, they attempt to squash dissent. They are extraordinarily afraid of it, and go to great lengths to squash it,” she says. “I wasn’t on campus during the referendum, however the process exists to ensure that all students on a campus have the opportunity to vote on membership in the organization,” says Arte. Capilano students ended their membership without going to court, which surprised Grant. “We had to fight the entire way through decertification so we anticipated the final vote [of ratification] would be as difficult,” she says. “We were definitely overwhelmed that such a small school like Capilano was able to accomplish something we thought for so long was impossible.” The Capilano referendum was ratified at the AGM in fall 2014. At the meeting, the results of the Capilano students’ referendum were ratified and their membership ended with the CFS. “We were released from the Canadian Federation of Students,” says Grant. “We were surprised that we were able to leave without a fight.”

Our Relationship with the CFS Although there were difficulties cross-country, the Kwantlen Student Association in particular has not had the best relationship with the CFS for s o m e t i m e now. I n

2008, the CFS sued the KSA because of a disagreement over procedures for a proposed referendum on continued membership, and they won. In 2009, the KSA sued the provincial chapter of the CFS, CFSBC, who were refusing to allow the KSA representation on their board. Derek Robertson, then-vicepresident of external affairs for the KSA, had been chosen by the KSA to represent them on the CFS-BC executive committee. However, he had removed himself as a director when he was campaigning against CFS-BC (during the 2008 referendum), but sought ratification after the referendum was over. CFS-BC was opposed to his ratification because they said he had not acted in the best interests of the CFS, but Madam Justice Brown ruled that the ratification process had no power and that they had to reinstate Robertson. By the time the results of the case were declared in 2010, the KSA had not had representation on the CFS-BC executive committee for almost two years. In 2011, the CFS-BC lost their appeal to overturn this decision. In 2014, students at KPU submitted a petition for referendum to the CFS-BC, but they have yet to be granted a referendum. Their launch of the petition was in coordination with a movement in fall 2013 that was referred to as a “mass defection,” similar in spirit to the 2009 “defederation movement.” Fifteen student associations began the petition process simultaneously, including Capilano University, which resulted in their eventual referendum. Richard Hosein, then-vicepresident of external affairs for the KSA, told The Runner that there has been some “animosity” between the CFS and the KSA in the past, and it “seems [the KSA] is neglected on a lot of issues.” The position on the CFS-BC executive for KPU is currently vacant. In 2015, the KSA launched another case against the CFS pertaining to their definitions of membership (this will impact the way a student association can leave the federation). The case is still ongoing.

Conforming to the Not-forProfit Corporations Act The annual general meeting for the CFS in the fall of 2014 also saw adjustments to the organization’s bylaws, to conform with changes in the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act. The adopted amendment altered the bylaw definition of membership to read, “There is one (1) category of member of the

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KSA awaits ruling in case against Canadian Federation of Students Federation; local student associations representing individual students who have been admitted as members by the Federation.” The KSA’s 2015 lawsuit against the CFS is in relation to this change, although until a ruling is announced the ramifications are uncertain. “Members have adopted several bylaw changes over the last couple of years to ensure compliance with the new not-for-profit corporations act. Most of the changes were technical and were created to minimize the impact on the structure of the federation,” explains Ante. “The federation represents more than 500,000 students across the country and that hasn’t changed since making changes to the bylaws. The new Act did require us to clarify that students’ unions are responsible for sending delegations of students to general meetings, amending bylaws and election directors.” Despite fluctuations in membership, Grant says the CFS “has stayed remarkably the same. The only major change I have witnessed is that they have become increasingly paranoid about dissention and the prospect of student unions leaving. I have seen them continue to make it harder to leave with every AGM that passes.” “Membership in the federation changes and it tends to go on, it looks quite a bit different than it did a few years ago,” Zach Crispin told The Runner when he was chairperson of CFS-BC in 2014. “I’m sure in the future it will look different again.” Amidst litigation and bylaw changes, the CFS has continued promoting various campaigns to students. “Right now, we are taking action to ensure that student debt, high tuition fees, and a high youth unemployment are addressed during the federal election, while making sure students are ready to vote,” says Ante. From May 2000 to 2009, student associations with membership in the CFS increased from 60 to 85. According to their website, that number is now at 77, with a majority of member associations in Ontario and none in Quebec. There are now also a number of student lobbying organizations in addition to the CFS, be it the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations at a national level, or the Alliance of B.C. Students in our own province. So, does the student movement still exist? Certainly—but the growth of other organizations, and departure of some from the CFS, could suggest that students no longer want to participate under a single flag.

Bylaw amendments cause uncertainty over membership.

Samatha Thompson Executive Editor

The Canadian Federation of Students and the Kwantlen Student Association have once again returned to court. On Feb. 12, the KSA filed a petition to the court stating that on Feb. 6, the KSA’s membership in the CFS and CFSServices was validly terminated. The CFS refuted this claim in their response. The Canadian Federation of Students is a national lobbying organization that represents students at various post-secondary institutions across the country. The Kwantlen Student Association is a member of the CFS. In October 2014, the CFS amended their bylaw pertaining to the definition of membership to read, “There is one (1) category of member of the Federation; local student associations representing individual students who have been admitted as members by the Federation.” This amendment was made in order to comply with the new Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act. Prior to the amendment, student associations and individual students were considered members, albeit in different categories. However with the change, only student associations are now considered members. Following this amendment, the KSA held a council meeting on Feb. 6, where they passed a resolution that they felt terminated their membership with the CFS. The CFS opposed this claim, so the KSA filed a petition to the court stating that they were able to end their membership as a result of the bylaw change, which the KSA argues effectively concludes the CFS’ relationship with KPU students. The KSA believes that this means the CFS no longer has the legal basis to require Kwantlen students to pay individual membership fees, or vote in a referendum that decides whether or not the KSA remains a member of the CFS. “In light of the [CFS]’ elimination of their Individual Membership class, the KSA council resolution … was a valid exercise of the powers and duties of the KSA Council under the KSA’s bylaws and the Society Act,” the petition reads. Steven Button, then-vice-president of student services at the KSA, and Alex McGowan, the current vice-president external are the named petitioners in the case, and both have submitted affidavits to the court. The KSA is represented by David Borins of Borins and Company, which is also the legal

counsel for the Polytechnic Institute Publishing Society that publishes The Runner. The CFS responded on March 13, and stated that “any resolution made by the KSA council was not effective to terminate the KSA’s membership in the [CFS].” They explain that the CFS decided to eliminate the student class of membership because it was impractical to hold a vote of 500,000 students whenever a vote was required. Under the Canada Not-For-Profit Corporations Act this would mean all 500,000 students would need to vote on things like amending the bylaws. They also state that other not-forprofit

federal corporations made similar decisions to eliminate non-voting member classes. The CFS is represented by Martin L. Palleson of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP. According to the CFS’ response, the bylaw amendment “did not, as a practical matter, alter the rights, role and involvement of students in the petition respondents.” Because of this, they consider the amendments to be a “housekeeping matter.” “There is no reason why the KSA cannot enter into an agreement to join an association,” read the response. “If the bylaws of the association require a vote of Kwantlen students to leave the association, that departure process is binding on the KSA as a matter of contract.” The KSA’s concern with this is that the people deciding if they are remaining in an organization are not the ones to whom the membership belongs. In mid-September, the KSA and CFS returned for their second day of court proceedings, with Palleson starting things off. Both plaintiff and defendant focused primarily on the implications of CFS members now being solely defined as the student associations rather than individual students, as well as the impact this would have on the KSA’s requirement to pay membership fees to the CFS. “I think we have a straightforward position . . . if it’s a membership fee, the member has to pay it,” argued Palleson. He further purported that a society can be bound by its board to enter into a contract, and even if that con-

tract involves a third party (in this case, the students of the KSA), it is still binding. He went on to raise the point that until this case, the KSA has acted as though they were bound to CFS bylaws, including the withdrawal procedure for ending their membership (through a referendum). He was followed by Borins,

who argued that the bylaw amendm e n t created a “fundamental change” in the way fees were collected, and that the KSA doesn’t believe it can force students to pay CFS membership fees, which is what this new contract demands. He also suggested that it was ultra vires to have KPU students vote on continued membership, since they’re by definition no longer members of the CFS--and in that case the student association doesn’t get a vote on whether or not they continue their membership, even though it’s theirs. He noted that it was unfortunate if the CFS had neglected to make appropriate changes to their bylaws. The case is now awaiting the judge’s ruling.

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Fashion

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Fall Fashion at KPU

Mike Zhao Contributor

It’s that time of the year again. With temperatures dropping for classic Vancouver weather, out come the thick coats and scarves. Here are students at KPU who have some unique style. Students were asked: A: What’s your favorite piece of clothing that you’re wearing today? B: What do you like most about fall fashion?

Madison Dutkiewicz Criminology a. I like [my shoes] the best... because I love Converse. b. I love scarves, they feel really nice.

Brenna Denexter Human resources a. My favorite piece today is my skirt because my friend, my boyfriend, bought it for me. b. I do love layering and pieces for the fall, it’s really nice.

Maria Santelices Biology a. My shirt because it’s so flowy, makes me feel so comfortable. It’s not so constricting, especially sitting in class for like 2 hours... So my shirt! It’s flowy!

Stephanie Davies Business Admin a. My shoes, I got them in Paris. I went there in the summer. b. Big cozy knit sweaters and big scarves... Yeah, they work with everything.

b. Scarves! Because I’m all about comfort... and security. It makes me feel so secured… just covered up kinda thing. I love it. Makes me warm too.

Reema Al-Khafaji Health Sciences a. My favorite piece is my headscarf, it’s called a hijab. I just like it because it is really colorful. It’s like my identity too. b. Sweaters definitely. Over-sized sweaters. They’re my favorites. I have lots of them.

Opraj Purewal Accounting a. My shoes. I just like the design. b. I think the color blue. Anything that’s blue is good.

Teesha Behl Psychology a. I really like my boots, they’re really comfortable and they look nice too. b. I think I really like over-sized stuff like... Big scarves, big sweaters. Stuff that’s comfortable.

Evan Rozon General Studies a. These pants I’m wearing. Got them from H&M. They’re my staple pants. I wear them with everything. b. I like to wear toques. I also like my big winter jacket. It’s warm and comfy.

Emily Johnson Nursing

Gordon Huang Business

a. Probably my shoes. Very comfy, stylish too.

a. This is a high sleeve, and my pants are multiple layers, make the legs shape better.

b. Scarves and toques. I just like the warmth of it. Big jackets and boots and scarves.

b. Sweaters. They’re comfortable, good for the weather. Simple design.

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Macabre Content, and Why We Can’t Get Enough of It

Horror movies, crime shows and the nightly news make you feel better about your life.

Aida Garcia

There is a reason why our media

covers unsettling content. And don’t worry—liking it does not make you a weirdo. Have you ever wondered why you or someone you know enjoys horror movies? Or why news channels incessantly report on major accidents, such as the recent crane accident in Mecca? Graphic content is churned out week after week and people continue to watch it. It excites us, and has a lot to do with the fact that humans are extremely curious creatures. Most people dislike uncertainty—even if the possibility of a negative outcome is high, they’d still rather know for sure. A teacher who tells his students that the class average for a test was low, yet doesn’t hand out the marks for a very long time, creates a very stressful environment in the classroom. The Claremont Graduate University published an article that

focuses on this very issue, and they based their journal on the concept of Terror Management Theory (TMT). The study tested the effects of TMT on groups of people by manipulating both their “mortality salience”—which involves making an individual aware of the fact that their death is inevitable—and their views on whether or not there is an afterlife. They found that those who had been uncertain about the existence of an afterlife were more likely to sway towards believing that there is one after their mortality salience was tested. This could help explain why people watch fights on YouTube, or why “creepy” television channels that claim to have footage of the paranormal exist. Plain and simple, we just want to know there’s an outcome. We want to confirm, or disprove, what we know. It may not come as a surprise that the society we live in makes us feel guilty for liking a little bit too

much of the macabre. There’s a difference between catching a news report that shows the bloody scene of a shooting, and watching this type of content ad nauseam. Interestingly, the fact that we keep

watching these sorts of images and programs has a lot more to do with the fact that it’s considered “taboo” than because we enjoy someone’s pain. Researchers call this the “Boomerang Effect” and a few years ago it was the focus of the Stanford Research Center. The study exposed youth ranging from 14 to 17 yearsold to anti-smoking ads by famous tobacco companies such as Phillip Morris, and then recorded their attitudes or their degree of curiosity towards smoking. As hypothesized, youth exposed to ads sponsored by tobacco companies actually promoted curiosity in them, and it was found that corporate-sponsored ads did more to enhance their own image than really preventing youths to engage in smoking. On Sept. 12 of this year, someone posted a video on the alternative news channel World Star Hip Hop of two pitbulls attacking a person walking down the street. Only two days later the video had more

than 7,000 comments and 861,812 views, which is impressive for a video that so clearly shows someone having a rather unfortunate day. There is a reason for this, and way back in 1954 social psychologist Leon Festinger came up with a theory called “The Social Comparison Theory” to explain it. Her theory states that we measure our own social and personal growth based on how successful or unsuccessful we are against others. To put it simply, you may or may not believe that you are satisfied with the way your life is going—however, unless you were attacked by vicious dogs this past Saturday, like that person in the video you just watched, your life was pretty good. So what does all this mean? Well, at a ground level, it means that you now have justification for when you beg your friends to see that horror movie you wanted. At a more societal level, however, it means that perhaps our actions, likes and dislikes are guided more by morbid curiosity than we’d like to admit.

Jordan Bray

Swatting Is Not a Prank, It’s Much Worse When online harassment breaks into the real world.

Awais Mushtaq Contributor

Pranks, on the most basic level,

are fundamental to how we interact with others. They can break tension, release stress and promote playful competition. But we must always remember the old saying, “It’s all fun and games until someone shits their pants.” Some forms of pranking have, over the last few years, turned sadistic. A recently publicized, and strangely academized, iteration of this is the infamous act of “swatting.” For those unfamiliar, you may just consider yourself better off remaining in the dark. For the morbidly curious or the already informed, a quick definition: swatting is the act of calling in a fake bomb threat on someone for the purposes of one’s amusement and another’s terror. As media spokesperson for the Vancouver Police Department, Constable Brian Montague explains, swatting is, “basically making a fake call that drives the police to a house or a business. A call that’s made by a suspect that would require us to resource it heavily—sending the Emergency Response Team members, dog team members for larger patrol/ detention, plain clothes officers … and we’d be talking a serious offence with the mention of weapons, hostages or shots being

fired.” Immediately a sane person can find a host of distinctions that removes “swatting” from the general list of acceptable pranks. There’s nothing about sending pizzas to someone’s house that compares to tricking an emergency service dispatcher into deploying armed operatives at an unsuspecting victim’s home. In comparison to traditional pranks, the cost of swatting is much higher for everyone involved. “It’s obviously very traumatizing for the victims, it’s extremely draining on resources for the police, and for the suspect you run the risk of going to jail,” says Montague. Every time a false report is made, the police force has to divert officers and energy away from people that are truly in distress. And then there’s the people who get swatted. As it stands right now, the VPD manages a victim services unit providing victims of swatting with the ability to pursue financial remuneration from the perpetrators of the crime. Currently, those convicted of “swatting” someone can be charged criminally under public mischief—a Canadian criminal code offence—which essentially amounts to providing a false report to the police. “There’s no expert in the field of swatting and we don’t generally talk about it,” says Montague. “It’s kind of like how we don’t talk a lot about people who phone in bomb

Scott McLelland

threats. These are attention seekers, and the less attention they get the fewer the incidents we see.” Because it still happens only sparingly, there’s no identifiable demographic committing this crime. However, some of the more infamous incidents have been perpetrated by youth, including a “B.C. teenager” who copped to 23 charges of harassment, extortion and public mischief as it pertains to swatting just last summer.

“You have to deal with them as if they are real, there’s no way to determine whether the call is fake at the beginning,” explains Montague. “Once we’ve determined the call is false, we look into determining where that call came from and identifying the individual that made that call. But it can be challenging at times.” Videos of swatting incidents are plastered over YouTube, some depicting bemused gamers on

the receiving end of—what is to them—a well deployed prank, and others showing real life trauma inflicted upon the unsuspecting. Committing a crime like swatting involves a layer of indifference on the part of the perpetrator that reflects other forms of internet harassment. The best we can do to combat things like this is to learn about them in the hopes that we can help raise awareness and take away their power.

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An Unhelpful Guide to Starting Your Very Own Kwantlen Club A story of red tape and tennis.

Kier-Christer Junos Staff Writer

When I figured I’d start Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s first-ever student organization for tennis enthusiasts, I didn’t expect to be reading my weight in “Start a Club” documents. Well actually, my editor told me to start a club, then write about my experience. In doing so, I found out from some standard club forms on the Kwantlen Student Association website that starting a student society is an intensive, highly-regulated affair. The documents, while accessible to an intelligent person’s first foray into society bylaws, suggested a lot more work than I thought was needed for what I had in mind. So I thought I’d offer a quick tutorial for anyone else contemplating club formation. Here it is, dear reader, a largely unhelpful guide to starting your very own, KSA-sanctioned student organization.

Step 1: Dream Big From the start I was hoping my necessarily laissez-faire approach— I’m taking five courses and writing this thing—could be accommodated by the club-creation process. I chose tennis as the club theme thinking surely there are students at Kwantlen just as busy as me that could use a quick 15-love and some Federer-level racket smashing. The as-of-yet unborn KPU tennis club was simply looking to connect tennis players at Kwantlen. Wanna play a set? Drop us a line in the Facebook group or something. Maybe we’ll get back to you when we’re not having a three-week deuce with this annotated bibliography. And if we do get back to you, let’s meet at Newton Athletic Park at six. Ending time’s nominal. Bring your own racket. No crying. Does that really sound like something I should draft a soft and hard year-long budget for?

Step 2: Look For Inspiration From Other Clubs Now, I’m being unfair. It’s not uncommon for a Canadian university club to endure such an extensive process. It’s not uncommon for student unions to have lengthy requirements that need to be filled, just like the KSA’s. But it’s also not uncommon for Canadian universities to have some really bizarre clubs. Macleans On Campus reported that there was a “Super Cool Council” club at Dal-

housie University, whose club description was literally “We are super cool.” Also, a “Campus Crusade for Cheese” club at Waterloo. In contrast, Kwantlen’s clubs are obviously created for respectable, utilitarian ends. I know what the history students’ society probably does (they read, the nerds). There’s no arguing what the debate club probably does. We don’t have to have a cheese club at Kwantlen— but we could, and that would be a laugh. Purely that. No professional development or social justice cause, planning tools or budgets. Just general fun. Because if I was starting a cheese club I’d want my damn cheese club to have a cheddar castle as our headquarters, should the student union accept my funding request. I maintain that our student union was pretty bright about all this clubbery and, from my interpretation, designed the process to allow for the most successful student clubs with the least amount of corruption. The Kwantlen Gaming Guild is about 500 strong, for example, and of course you need to hold the required annual general meetings for such a massive club. Of course you would need to elect their executives and work democratically. Of course you would need to draft a specific constitution for such a club. These people actually have a year of stuff to budget for. Another example is the Kwantlen Model United Nations (KMUN), who have flown out to seminars and booked space for their events. The KSA helps facilitate both endeavours for clubs and that’s great. There are a lot of great club resources, like locker space, photocopies, webspace and opportunities for funding requests.

Step 3: Succumb To The Bureaucracy and Abandon Your Love of Tennis It was this reliance on regulation, in tandem with an already bursting-at-the-seams schedule, that absolutely strangled my unborn tennis club. I never was able to get my innocuous little guild off the ground for all the same reasons the KGG and KMUN can swell to impressive sizes without caving in on themselves. Which is great for them, the regulations work for those groups. But maybe my tennis club only needed the 250 free photocopies. Maybe we just felt like growing the thing by word of mouth. Maybe we just wanted to play tennis, no strings attached.

Pemberton Music Festival / Flickr

Tracing hip hop from street corners to iPods How the argument “rap is not music” is both right and wrong.

Calvin “Kalvonix” Tiu

Jay-Z once explained in an interview with Oprah that, for an emcee, your voice is your instrument. Coming from one of the greatest rappers to ever touch a mic, I thought the idea was a perfect response to those who dismiss a rap artist’s musicianship. The ability to change one’s delivery (cadence, technique, voice) according to an instrumental track should be recognized as a musical talent in itself. It takes a skilled rapper to be able to flow well on an eclectic range of beats. With that said, many hip hop enthusiasts are dissatisfied with the path the genre has taken over the last decade. Rappers are no longer rhyming over simple drum beats and jazz samples, they are gravitating towards complex productions that fuse rock, R&B, pop, psychedelic and other musical genres. While the topic of dumbeddown content within the modern day rap is another debate entirely, the music has undoubtedly evolved. Why has this happened? Because rapping and music are two different entities. Rap is not music. Perhaps this is the first time a rap listener (and rap artist) such as myself is citing a commonly used argument against the artistry of hip hop. Doubters from around the world will put forth the same tired quarrel that “rap is not music” due to its lack of melody and traditional singing. However, what many do not realize when standing by this argument is that from a technical standpoint, it is not a criticism of hip hop at all. Rap isn’t music. Take out the beat to a rap song and what

do you get? A couple verses with rhymes, rhythm, metaphors and other literary devices. Rap without music is poetry. It all started on New York street corners where the black community gathered in groups to speak passionately on political topics such as racism, colonization and segregation through rhythm and rhyme. Rap was poetry from the black community, a source of strength and an art form that provided a voice for an oppressed culture striving for change. The musical aspect of the genre came later from beats created by DJs, beat boxers and producers. As hip hop became commercialized through the ‘80s and ‘90s it was taken over by big name record companies, companies run by white executives. It was then that the historically poetic and political black art evolved into a money-making musical genre where artists of different races could express themselves over a beat. As a hip hop follower of over 10 years, I believe it is extremely important to recognize and respect hip hop’s roots. It’s also important understand where the genre is going, and why it’s growing the way it is. In order for a musical genre to stay relevant, it needs to be able to stretch and reinvent itself. That is what’s happening within the modern hip hop world. Like all musical genres, as it grew in popularity hip hop gave birth to a myriad of sub-genres over the years. While the individual styles vary from artist to artist, some of the more popular styles are Dance Rap (Sugarhill Gang), Gangsta Rap (N.W.A), Conscious Rap (Common), and Pop Rap (Iggy Azalea). Now, there’s no denying that some of these forms are closer

linked to hip hop’s original sound than others, but the more experimental artists and styles are opening up hip hop to an array of new possibilities. Hip hop is no longer solely a political platform for black artists, it is also a musical style that has a colossal influence on modern day society. Newer artists (some of whom were not yet born when hip hop was first catching on) are bringing forth their own unique interpretations of the art. Chance The Rapper’s recently released album, Surf, consists of instrumentation that fuses jazz, soul, gospel, reggae, classical and so much more. While the merging of genres is nothing inherently new, what makes the music groundbreaking is Chance’s unorthodox vocal presence and delivery. The way his rhymes remain melodic throughout a song such as “Sunday CandY” almost makes the listener question if he is rapping at all. It is the pop-like, yet wholly gospel-infused chorus, playful beat and Chance’s ever-changing rhyme patterns that lets us know—yes, this is in fact rap music. The rest of the album features songs that stray even further from the typical hip hop aesthetic. And Surf is just one of the many examples of a rapper finding different (and more melody driven) ways to deliver vocals that match complex and genre bending instrumentation. Because rapping and instrumentation are separate, the music can evolve, delving into other genres while the rapper rhymes over them. Poetry will be poetry no matter what type of beat is behind it. The listener will ultimately decide what style they prefer. In other words, hip hop knows no musical limit.

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letter to the editor

The dangerous myth of youth apathy.

Alex McGowan

Young people have the lowest voter turnout. It’s a fact. A meagre 39 per cent of people aged 18 to 29 voted in our last federal election, and even though that group represents over 20 per cent of the population, they only constitute 14 per cent of voters. When we cast our ballots in such low numbers our collective power is weakened, so why don’t we vote? A commonly-held assumption is that young people are apathetic, and this idea is rarely challenged. “Young people,” old people tell us, “just don’t care about our democracy anymore.” I don’t buy it. Facts don’t support it. Seventy-five per cent of young people claimed to have voted after the last federal election. That means almost half of them lied. That means three quarters of all young people know they should vote, and the ones that didn’t felt

ashamed that they hadn’t. That doesn’t sound like apathy to me. An apathetic person doesn’t care that they didn’t vote. What’s more, a recent study entitled “Message Not Delivered” by Samara Canada showed that young people participate in their democratic institutions more than older people. That’s definitely not apathy. The truth is that there are these things called “barriers to access.” For a variety of reasons, it’s just plain harder for young people to vote than it is for older people. These difficulties push down the voter turnout numbers. For example, a disproportionate number of young people are not registered to vote and must jump through hoops to become so. Young people generally have less information on the options available to them as well as a lack of knowledge of the history of political parties. They have a lack of experience with voting and participating and must undertake new and unfamiliar activities in order to cast their ballots. And there’s sim-

ply a lack of time to devote to overcoming these barriers—young people, especially students and recent grads who are burdened by record levels of student debt, are some of the busiest people in Canada, juggling work, school, extracurricular activities, and some semblance of a social life. And the final nail in the coffin is The Dangerous Myth of Youth Apathy. “Youth Apathy” is a narrative—it tries to explain why young people don’t vote. But what happens when someone tells me that young people just don’t care? My first reaction, and the reaction of most young people, is “I care. I’m not apathetic.” So, you care, that means you’re weird. You’re abnormal. You’re told that you’re not like the rest of the young people who don’t care. Of course, you’re not weird. But you are told that you are for caring about politics, your democracy, and the future of the world. If you buy it, you’re less likely to bring

the subject up with peers who are assumed to be disengaged, the effect of which is to make you less engaged. Next step, let’s acknowledge something: voting has never been and will never be an individualistic thing. Nobody is delusional enough to think their single vote will make a difference. We vote because of collective power. My vote amounts to participation in collective action with a group of likeminded people. Our votes matter when we vote together—my vote on its own is statistically meaningless. And on at least some level, we all know that. So, when we’re told “young people don’t care,” we’re also being told “your group doesn’t matter.” We’re getting the message that we can vote all we like, but the rest of our cohort isn’t voting, so we don’t have collective clout. That amounts to voter suppression—young people are less likely to vote because they’re being told that other young people don’t care.

And on top of all this, political parties are told that youth are apathetic, so they’ve stopped engaging with us! In Samara Canada’s recent study, contact with political parties was shown to increase voter turnout significantly. And yet political parties actively choose not to engage with young people because we are assumed to be apathetic. That’s the dangerous myth of youth apathy. It’s a myth because it isn’t true. It’s dangerous because it’s self-reinforcing. I know youth care. And it pisses me off that old people feel so entitled as to tell us that we don’t care. We do care— we’re the largest generation in history and we have a collective muscle that has never before been flexed in Canada. We matter, and on Oct. 19, our voices will be heard. Alex McGowan is the vice-president of external affairs at the Kwantlen Student Association and is coordinating a campaign to get students voting in the upcoming federal election.

Polygamy Is About Freedom of Consent Marriage between two (or more) consenting adults.

Kyle Prince Contributor

Polygamy and polyandry are

still taboo subjects in most of the western world. However, the recent steps forward in marriage equality, specifically the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage this summer, have been forcing people to re-examine what it means to be in love, and whether love need exclusively be between two people. After all, the argument for almost every marriage equality group has been something along the lines of: let consenting adults enjoy their union. Why, then, when we look at adding even one more person into the mix, everyone gets fussy? As long as we’re talking about informed, consenting adults, there isn’t much that makes this form of union different from any other. We have a right to privacy and the freedom to make any choice we want, so long as we don’t harm another person. An interesting opposing argument focuses on economics,

mainly taxes. There’s a tax break for two-person marriages, so clearly there ought to be similar tax options extended to those in polygamous marriages. But the problem here is that this is an easily exploitable system. Arguments can be made from either side here— suppose each member holds down a job, then there’s multiple incomes in one household, which would be how the system could be exploited as each person would pay fewer taxes than they would otherwise. People could enter into polygamous marriages for the sole purpose of receiving tax breaks that were meant to aid families. However, if there’s only one (or two) incomes in a large marriage, then it seems like there ought to be further tax breaks in order to help sustain the family. That isn’t even factoring in the children. I cannot offer a definite solution, but there are ways to deal with this issue. A simple solution would be to give diminishing tax breaks split between each individual. It could simply be worked into marriage taxes, and for each additional spouse or partner, an additional

modification would be made. Each extra level would be less and less, since each new member of the family could bring in another income and so overall there would be less need of a break. This way, each individual would have the same level of tax reduction, and it could be worked into our current system. Beyond that, taxes will just become more complicated—but if that was a legitimate complaint against marriage, we would all be single. Now, I will mention that these arguments apply to polygamy and polyandry, as well as any mixes between the two. There are arguments against one or the other (or both) based on power struggles between male and female members, such as the male having too much power over his wives in a polygamous marriage, but to this I would return to saying it’s a decision that informed, consenting adults made. We might not like decisions some people make, but they are their decisions to make. We should not criminalize decisions, so long as no harm is done to another person.

Rosaura Ojeda

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Science Explained

Parsing the evidence against aspartame.

Danica Johnston Columnist

Aspartame,

the

low-calorie

sweetener known on food labels as E951, was first approved for Canadian consumption in 1981. Aspartame is found in many products, including diet beverages, processed foods, yogurt and chewing gum. It’s also the main ingredient of the coffee and tea sweeteners Nutrasweet and Equal. In the late-‘90s there was an uproar over whether aspartame was safe for consumption, and it has since become the most heavily tested food additive of all time. Just

Tristan Johnston

has rejected these claims, and states that aspartame is safe for anyone who doesn’t have phenylketonuria, a condition that requires patients to follow a diet low in phenylalanine—one of aspartame’s main components. Aspartame is composed primarily of phenylalanine, and aspartic acid, both amino acids required for the body to function. The last 10 per cent is methanol, which metabolizes to formaldehyde—a known human carcinogen. The research that has since come out indicates that aspartame can be anywhere from safe to harmful, making it challenging for consumers to understand whether it is a better alternative than the original sugary refreshment. A study published by the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) states that individuals who have a history of mood disorders are at a higher risk of aspartame’s adverse effects, such as nausea, headaches, depression, nervousness, and forgetfulness. In addition, a prospective cohort study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN) followed 60,000 pregnant Danish women, and found that the consumption of aspartame-sweetened drinks increased the risk of preterm delivery. The sweetened version of the soda did not show the same results, leading researchers to believe it was caused by the aspartame. They concluded that the premature birth was most likely due to the extra methanol, from the diet soda, present in the uterus. A controversial 22-year study

Swan taps into. It’s tempting to argue that The Unﬁnished Swan is, in reality, not a game at all. This isn’t meant to diminish its fun or the other qualities that make it game-like, rather it simply feels more accurate to describe it as an interactive storybook that features a few video game flavours. Beginning with the panels of a children’s book, players are introduced to Monroe—a young boy whose mother, a painter, is well known for abandoning every work of art she has ever undertaken. When Monroe is orphaned, he must choose just one of his mother’s works to take with him to the orphanage from amongst the gallery of discarded canvases. Naturally he chooses his favourite piece—an unfinished portrait of a glorious swan. Simplicity is the hallmark of

what makes this “game” work so well and flow so smoothly, where all the care and attention that is paid towards its traditionallyanimated art design is woven into the game’s overarching story. From a first-person perspective, playing as Monroe is both a simple and enjoyable experience once you understand that, unlike most games, you are not expected to memorize an overwhelmingly long control scheme. The only tools at your disposal here are movement, voice control and the flick of Monroe’s paintbrush, which sends splattering balls of wet paint careening around the environment. The ever-changing nature of The Unﬁnished Swan’s setting is what keeps you replaying levels across the game’s short but unapologetically sweet four chapters. In that space you wander across abandoned kingdoms and darkened forests, all in the search of the swan portrait, which has been stolen from you at the game’s outset. The atmosphere is masterfully achieved here, as it unravels and ultimately envelops you like a

last month Diet Pepsi was reformulated in the United States, replacing aspartame with sucralose, also known as Splenda. Canada’s Diet Pepsi, however, did not get the same alteration. This may lead us to wonder whether Pepsi is just trying to please their customers, or if they know something that we don’t. The late-‘90s saw a conspiracy theory spread via chain letter emails warning that aspartame causes “multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus, methanol toxicity, blindness, spasms, shooting pains, seizures, headaches, depression, anxiety, memory loss, birth defects, and even death.” Health Canada

Video Game Logic

The Unﬁnished Swan shows, doesn’t tell.

Awais Mushtaq Columnist

Genre: First Person Adventure Release: (PS3) October 2012 (PS4 & Vita) October 2014 Platforms: PS4, PS3 and PlayStation Vita

Remember when you were a kid, you could become so engrossed in a story you’d begin to imagine yourself as a character inside it? This is exactly what The Unﬁnished

was conducted at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School to determine whether aspartame consumption increased the risk of certain blood cancers. The results found that only men who drank at least one diet soda a day had increased risk of NHL (non-Hodgkin lymphomas) and multiple myeloma, but also found increased risk in high sugar-sweetened soda consumption. Researchers could not explain the association in the two studies since there was no evidence that sucrose, fructose and sugar consumption increased the risk for these types of cancers. Only 38 per cent of the sample size in the study was composed of men, while the rest was made up of women. Since the sample size of men was relatively small, this could play a role in perceived risk difference between men and women. Despite the controversy of this study, it is important to note that this is the longest study ever conducted on human consumption of aspartame. In December of 2013, the European Food Safety Authority issued a press release discussing their comprehensive risk assessment on aspartame, claiming it is safe at the Acceptable Daily Intake of 40mg/ kg of body weight per day. This would be almost 15 diet sodas for a 150-pound individual. A panel of experts reviewed a large body of published and unpublished aspartame studies concluding it was safe; that it does not cause cancer or gene damage, does not impair cognitive function on the nervous system, and poses no risk to a de-

veloping fetus. In 1965, James Schlatter, a chemist working at the time for the pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle & Company, discovered aspartame. Twenty years later Monsanto, a controversial agricultural biotechnology company, acquired the company and consequently, aspartame. Monsanto then created Searle Pharmaceuticals and the product Nutrasweet, and in 2000 went on to sell Nutrasweet. It is often hard to interpret the large amounts of evidence in cases like aspartame, where science and politics converge. One party, in this case, Monsanto, is spending millions of dollars trying to protect the reputation of their product, and the other party is concerned for the public health and safety. Despite what studies show, diet soda can lead to cognitive distortion, and can confuse the body’s response. When we consume calorie-free beverages, we go on to reward ourselves by spending the saved calories on something else—we indulge in two slices of cake at dessert, rather than just one. Calorie-free sweeteners are often much sweeter than sugar—aspartame and stevia are both 200 times sweeter than sugar in the same concentration. When we consume sweet foods, our brain is expecting calories to follow, and when they don’t our body gets confused and is driven towards consuming more sugar. For reasons such as these, all calorie-free sweeteners have controversies surrounding them. None, however, have quite as much baggage as aspartame.

The Unfinished Swan

warm blanket. Equally important is the score, which embraces minimalism during even the most climactic moments. The developers know that a light touch of sound design trumps a cacophony of unwarranted music every time. The game also works wonders with its sense of scale. Through it you become a child, climbing its treehouse-like game design or finger painting your way through gobs of colour on a canvas that is the world before you. In this way, the traditional goals of leveling up and trophy achievements are no longer the focal point of playing, but rather easter eggs for those inclined to 100 per cent completion. The Unﬁnished Swan is an

adventure “game” wrapped in a mystery. With moments of Penroseesque three-dimensional puzzle platforming, it’s fit to form optical illusions but is equally striking in its storytelling. It utilizes storybook narration to move the plot, and while some may see this as breaking the “show don’t tell” golden rule, it subverts your expectations just enough to demand detective-like examinations of your surrounding world. Where some games manage admirable storytelling while never really having a great story to tell, The Unﬁnished Swan succeeds on both ends, and remains vague enough to allow players to draw thematic conclusions of their own.

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The “F” Word

Columns

Beyoncé’s Brand of Feminism.

Aileen Tran Columnist

The dark stage is suddenly lit. Light pours down towards the massive, capitalized white letters that together spell out “FEMINIST.” A silhouette of a woman stands proudly in front of the sign, locks blowing in the wind. She fiercely, heroically claims a taboo title. It is 2014, and Beyonce Knowles has single-handedly taken feminism to the masses. And she looks sexy as hell doing it. In one moment the “Partition” singer embedded in the world’s mind that this is not a post-feminism era we are living in. She dusted off the title of “feminist” and reminded us that feminism is still very much alive, important and—yes—even trendy. As of late, it seems as though many female celebrities, Beyonce in particular, are stepping up to claim female empowerment. But before we make Queen B the icon of modern feminism, we must ask ourselves: is her mainstream brand of feminism going about the movement the right way?

We should recognize first of all the good that Beyoncé has done for feminism. In 2014, Forbes magazine listed her as the top-earning woman in the music business. With her massive, instantly recognizable brand she is uniquely able to take feminism to the masses—which, it should be noted, would be nearly impossible for a middle-class woman of colour to do. In her “Flawless” performance at the 2014 MTV VMAs show, Beyoncé literally spelt out the definition of feminism which many people are ignorant of. That is, a “person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.” Too many young women get caught in the trap of rejecting the feminist title because of an “ugly” image the media perpetuates. However, on stage and all glammed up, Beyonce was able to defeat the negative stereotypes that all feminists are petty, bra-burning, hairy, antimotherhood lesbians. And for the record, so what if some of us are? Queen B is also known for proudly showing off her “bootylicious” and voluptuous figure, which does not fit in the main-

stream “skinny” idealistic standard. Beyonce released a track in 2013, “Pretty Hurts,” in which she addresses the danger of the mainstream beauty standards. Knowles and her army of curvy, full-bottom icons such as Jennifer Lopez and Queen Latifah challenged the media’s body standard by marketing “women with curves” within their

fashion, music, and films. Their body-positive movement had such an impact that new policies were enforced on runway models so that they had to meet a certain healthy weight. However, Beyonce’s feminist efforts are at times undermined by the content of her lyrics. While many of her lyrics do shout female empow-

erment, some of her songs have a strong sense of misogyny in them. Knowles’ 2002 track with Destiny’s Child, “Nasty Girls,” is an example of a problematic, mainstream hit. Feminism, something Beyonce claims to stand for, is supposed to be inclusive to sexual freedom and against the double standards inflicted upon women, but the entire song shames women for having casual sex and wearing revealing clothes. The lyrics tell women to “put some clothes on” or risk being “classless,” as men don’t want a female that has “been around the block.” C’mon, Yoncé, slut-shaming is a basic feminism nono. Granted, that was more than a decade ago. Surely Beyoncé has grown from her misogynistic habits. Well, let’s look at Beyoncé within the last couple of years. She’s married to famous Brooklyn rapper Jay Z, whose work is misogynistic enough to make it onto Elite Day’s list of “The 15 Most Misogynist Lines In Rap History.” In 2013, Beyonce and her rapper husband released a track called “Drunk In Love,” which makes overt references to the abusive relationship

between Ike and Tina Turner, even going so far as to invite comparison between the two couples. Ultimately, Beyoncé Knowles tends not to embrace feminism unless it is marketing to her benefits. Her “feminist” performance at the MTV VMAs was beneficial in so far as it allowed a sensationalized and beloved celebrity to claim a taboo title, which in turn raised awareness for feminism… as a trend. And because it is a trend, her brand of feminism, like most mainstream feminism, lacks depth and seriousness and will eventually die off. However, we should still give Beyoncé credit for taking the opportunity provided to her by a privileged lifestyle to publicly advocate for feminism. Beyonce has an incredible influence on today’s youth and her pose in front of the bolded “F” word might expose the movement to millions. Her feminism still believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes, which we could understand in context as baby steps into the movement—and perhaps it will encourage people to look deeper into feminist thought. Beyoncé’s brand of feminism shows us that we must be mindful of what we consume and what we support, like we do with any other ideologies being endorsed by the mainstream media.

Movement believe that part of the country should succeed and once again become South Yemen. The United States has also been involved for a long time, as part of their War on Terror. The U.S. has been supportive of the Hadi’s presidency, helping his government by conducting drone strikes in parts of the country occupied by Al-Qaeda forces. What a mess. Yemen has always been divided, but is even worse-off now. A military at war with itself is stretched thin, terrorists in the south are taking land, and Iran-supported

tribes in the north are all vying for power. Not only this, but the Americans and Saudi’s are conducting air strikes. When outsiders look at these conflicts in the Middle East, sometimes we jump to conclusions. “All these Muslims hate each other,” one might think. This isn’t the case. There are no “bad guys” or “good guys” in world conflicts, only winners and losers trying to engineer a situation that benefits themselves the most. Religion in this conflict, like in many others, is almost irrelevant.

Going Global Yemen’s Civil War.

Tristan Johnston Columnist

Yemen, at this moment, finds itself in a quagmire. In the southern part of the country you have Al-Qaeda, in the west you have Iran-backed Houthis, in the east and the south you have the former government and their loyalists. On top of all of this, you have bombing runs courtesy of neighbouring Arab states and Saudi involvement. What is going on in Yemen? The bigger picture of this conflict is the Saudi-Iranian cold war. These two countries, which are very close to each other geographically, are very different in every other aspect. Even religiously, Saudi Arabia is a Sunni Wahhabist state, while Iran is Shi’a. Iran happens to be engaging in multiple fronts throughout the Middle East by supporting Assad in Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and involvement in the Bahraini and Qatifi uprisings. Of course, Yemen is part of this big picture. It’s the poorest country in the Middle East, with high unemployment and around half of the population below the poverty line. Food is expensive and needs to be imported, which leads to continuous unrest.

Yemen actually used to be two countries, North Yemen and South Yemen, who were separate due to British colonization and the former Ottoman Empire. It was in 1990 that the two states unified under the rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh, who remained the leader of the country until the Arab Spring occurred. And with that revolution, as with many revolutions throughout history, it began as peaceful protests and slowly becomes more and more violent as time went on. Remember, terrorist groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda always, always benefit in chaotic environments. Along with the Arab Spring in 2011, Saleh eventually saw an assassination attempt carried out against him in September of that year which left four of his bodyguards dead and himself injured and burned. Two months later in November, he agreed to transfer power to his deputy president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. The Houthis were actually working towards peace with the Yemeni government in September of 2014. In exchange for a ceasefire, the Yemeni government would allow for more political representation of the Houthi people and other minorities, who make up around 40 per cent of the country. However, the Houthis

rejected a draft constitution, and ended up kidnapping one of the president’s higher-ups and taking over state television. A few months later, Hadi’s government is removed from power by Houthi rebels, with Saleh acting behind the scenes. The current war in Yemen are pro-Hadi, Sunni forces, who are fighting against pro-Saleh, Houthi, Shi’a forces. The proper Yemeni military has also split up, with some siding with Hadi and others siding with Saleh. This also means heavily diminished effectiveness against local terrorists. The Houthi have always felt under-represented in Yemen, and it is believed that they are funded or somehow supported by Iran as part of the Saudi-Iran cold war. As such, the Saudi military is getting directly involved by carrying airstrikes and moving infantry against Houthi rebels, with the blessings of Hadi. Saudi Arabia doesn’t want to have any spillover into their country. Al-Qaeda is also involved, seeking to exploit the instability in the region. Their goal would be to enter the Sunni areas of the conflict and gain favour in anti-Houthi parts of the country. They have been very successful in the southern part of the country, where some members of the Hadi-aligned Southern

Pifanida

Procrastination

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SUDOKU No. 131

Easy

7 4 9 5 3 8 1 6 2

1 4

7 7 8

2 3 9 1 3

1 5

8 5

9 1 7 2

6 4 7

2 3 9

3 8 1 2 9 6 5 4 7

5 6 2 4 7 1 3 8 9

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32 38

45 48

52 56

57 63

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47 50

Is it possible to rub a YouTube video all over yourself in orgasmic reverie? Spend the business week finding out.

Pisces Feb 20 - Mar 20

Aries Mar 21 - Apr 19

Taurus Apr 20 - May 20

Tell everyone that the Ninja Turtles taught you how to be yourself, then proceed to spend the rest of your life inside a Ninja Turtle costume.

Like no place, there is home.

When approaching the barista, refuse the desire to order a “blumpkin spice latte” and instead live comfortably knowing you are not the lowest form of life in the universe.

Cancer Jun 21 - Jul 23

Libra Sept 24 - Oct 23

Most likely to succeed? Most likely to Don’t let the fact that you’re a great become a celebrity? MOST LIKELY TO supine protoplasmic invertebrate jelly get you down this week. I mean, hey, DIE HISTORIC ON FURY ROAD?!? at least you didn’t get caught peeing into a mug.

36 40

”SIC SEMPER TYRANNOUS!” you shout while furiously kicking over a conservative MP’s sign on your neighbour’s lawn.

Virgo Aug 24 - Sept 23

If you like Sudoku you’ll really like ‘Str8ts’ and our other puzzles, Apps and books. Visit www.str8ts.com

Whenever introducing yourself, simply add “local hero” after your name to instantly receive people’s respect.

To complete Sudoku, fill the board by entering numbers 1 to 9 such that each row, column and 3x3 box contains every number uniquely.

Capricorn Dec. 22 - Jan 20

Why would you do that to Bill Murray Then again, maybe you prefer the you monster? silence.

CROSSWORD 1.1. Round object, often usedused to to Round object, often store computer datadata store computer 5. Form of oxygen 5. Form of oxygen 10. Franklin D.’s mother 10. Franklin D.'s mother 14. Move slowly 14. Move slowly 15. Broadcaster 15. Broadcaster 16. Israel’s Barak 16. Israel's Barak 17. Juan’s water 18. Animal trap 17. Juan's water 19. American 18. Animal space trap agency 20. Like “Don Quixote,” e.g. 19. American space agency 22. Tenth month of the year 20. Like "Don Quixote," e.g. 24. Figs. 22. Tenth month of the year 25. Sailor 24. Figs.duck 26. Noted 25. Sailor 29. 1959 Kingston Trio hit 32. Key ___ duck 26. Noted 36. Human located the 29. 1959 bone, Kingston Trioin hit arm 32. Key ___ 37. Taken care of 36. Human bone, located in the 39. ___ Lingus arm 40. In spite of 37. Taken carecollege of 43. Cedar Rapids 39. Lingus 44. Tin___ plate 45. The populated 40. In most spiteheavily of continent on Earth 43. Cedar Rapids college 46. China’s Zhou ___ 44. Tin plate 48. Small batteries 45. The most heavily populated 49. Primp continent 50. Flight on Earth 46. China's Zhou ___ 52. Kind 48. Smallcountry batteries 53. Ancient in N Africa 57. Lighted 49. Primpby Earth’s satellite 61. Gator’s 50. Flightkin 62. Good 52. Kind___ 64. Architect Saarinen 53. Ancient country in N Africa 65. Opponent 57. Lighted by Earth's satellite 66. Jewelled crown worn by 61. Gator's kin women 62. Good river ___ 67. German 68. Hammett hound 64. Architect Saarinen 69. Colorado resort 65. Opponent 70. Dagger of yore 66. Jewelled crown worn by

Sagittarius Nov. 23 - Dec 21

Gemini May 21 - Jun 20

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Across Across

Horoscopes

Previous solution - Very Hard

2 3 9

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47. Actress Silverstone 49. Arafat's org. 51. Mazda model 52. Herbert Hoover, for one 53. Final Four org. 54. Coffee servers 55. Feminist Lucretia 56. Garage sale sign 57. Trifling 58. The Tower of Pisa does this 59. Dies ___ 60. Sped 63. Doze

Aquarius Jan 21 - Feb 19

Leo Jul 24 - Aug 23 If under the section labelled “Cause of Death” your loved ones write “malaise,” you’ll begin to understand the kind of day I’m having.

Scorpio Oct 24 - Nov 22 Ghosts ain’t got no legs. That’s just science.